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Reviews
Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985)
Excellent fun... perhaps a bit short
Speaking as and for those of us born in the UK at the tail end of the eighties...
Forget everything you learned about Reubens and Pee-Wee before you watch this.
Pee-Wee Herman as a character is bold and bright and childish, a concept which can be incredibly jarring for the viewer if they are unfamiliar with the character. If you're like me, your only experience with Pee-Wee is through modern American shows that give throwaway references to Reubens or the Playhouse. I feel that the reason it's so jarring is because he portrays his role brilliantly. It's possibly quite difficult for anyone without prior knowledge of Pee-Wee Herman's theatre and television history to reconcile the idea of a sincere manchild with themselves. Which is, of course, a true shame.
The film itself is lots of fun, with a simple plot that rarely branches off. Manchild loses bike. Manchild tries desperately to retrieve bike. Hilarity ensues. It's such a simple formula. The only problem I really had with it was time. I know that most studios don't like their kids' movies being too long so much of what gets filmed ends up on the cutting room floor. In the case of Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, it feels almost as though the "big" part is overstating it a bit, especially since the final part seems a bit rushed after the racing climax.
Since I don't want to give too much away and I want no spoilers in my review, I can't actually say much, but I will say this. Despite the end- of-movie flaws, its familiar humour and charming simplicity will have young and old alike laughing and smiling. Just as long as you can allow yourself to become attached to Pee-Wee Herman. Sure he seems a bit difficult at first but forget your alarm - you'll find, as I have, that Pee-Wee is simply adorable, possibly something like you remember your early years, no matter what age you are now.
SpongeBob SquarePants: Atlantis SquarePantis (2007)
The Rise And Fall And Wobbly Rise Again Of SpongeBob SquarePants And The Suspiciously-Similar-To-Blue-Meanies Creatures From... Somewhere
I'll admit I love SpongeBob SquarePants. I'll also then admit that I had no idea about this episode or David Bowie's involvement, so when it finally aired on Nickelodeon... I missed it. Luckily I wasn't at work or anything, and was browsing the TV channels when I noticed it was on an hour later. I watched it then, and was a little horrified to see the title card declaring "Special Guest Voice - David Bowie as Lord Royal Highness". My first thought was 'You know, the only people psyched about that are probably the animators, a handful of the voice actors, some of the parents of the older viewers and David Bowie.' And, admittedly, me. I couldn't wait to hear it. And so I sat through the first few songs.
And actually, the songs are not that bad. The only real problem with them is they dominate a lot of the episode, and Bowie doesn't even have a song. Probably Bowie didn't want to have a song, and I can understand that, but for a musical episode guest starring a musical genius it really should have given him a song. Also, while Plankton's song's animation is a perfect nod to (rather heavy) political satire the song itself is ruined by half-assed cringe-inducing lyrics and a spoken word rhythm to rival William Shatner. Krabs' song suffers the same kind of fate - if just one line is changed, it wouldn't be quite so bad. My guess is that these song lyrics were not written by people who actually wrote music. However, the Bubble song from the start of the episode is a fun song to listen to (and sing along with), but is badly misplaced; I feel it would have gone better later on in the film when SpongeBob and Patrick do the unthinkable, with a different song at the start. Squidward's song is packed with references, words and puns most younger kids will not get without a large dictionary or maybe an older sibling studying art to explain to them.
However, there are a lot of positives about this episode, too. Staying with the music, Sandy's song and animation is absolutely my favourite. It's a very distinctive song, sounding a little like a style parody, though the actual song it reminds me of escapes me. Videogames + good music = brilliance.
What of Lord Royal Highness? I have to say, I adore Lord Royal Highness. His voice is nothing like Bowie's own, but that is of course the idea of acting. Some people have been complaining because the voice is so different, but he's not playing David Bowie. He's playing Lord Royal Highness, and I'm sorry Bowie fans who only wanted to hear him talking over an animation for 45 minutes, but that is the idea of acting. Can't you be pleased that he's such a great actor? I certainly am! Lord Royal Highness is so wonderfully whimsical, and not at all creepy. No, really. His character design is perfect to the smallest detail - fairly simple but utterly... Bowie-ish, actually. Especially the eyes - one is green and one is blue. Even though Bowie himself does not have heterochromia (one pupil is permanently dilated which gives the illusion that it is darker than the other), this is quite obviously a cheeky nod to the assumption that he does.
The story is a very good one; the gang go to Atlantis which is so wonderful that they don't want to leave, SpongeBob and Patrick are their usual selves and it all turns out hilarious. Unfortunately, the effort seems rushed, the songs awfully spaced (way too many songs for an episode so short). If the script had been actually feature length (like the actual Movie) it would probably have been a lot better, with more of a reason for Lord Royal Highness to not want any more tourists at the end. Also, the ending is a bit of a cop-out, almost like someone went "So... more ice-cream and Plankton is foiled, k?".
Despite that... I did like this episode enough to buy the DVD. I'm not sure if it's just for the beautiful animation, the character of Lord Royal Highness or the other Atlanteans, but I like the episode. A lot. The animation is just gorgeous, and though I don't really like either Plankton's or Mr Krabs' songs, the animation for them is just beautiful (with a great fondness of Plankton's).
I didn't mention Patchy's parts because to be honest... that whole side story could have been left out - though I did like "Back in Encino". Fun ditty.
Overall, good episode, but so very rushed. A big round of applause to David Bowie for his amazing voice talents, and certainly to Tom Kenny for the singing he had to do. I would give this a watch, but it's not for everyone.
Mamma Mia! (2008)
Take A Chance On This
I admit that I went into the cinema to see this with very low expectations. I'm a big ABBA fan, and I've always wanted to see the musical, but never had the chance. I rationalised my reasons for seeing the film until finally deciding it didn't matter my reasoning; ABBA rocks! And I have to say, it's something of a mixed bag. The songs are very good, but brought in under flimsy pretexts ("I'm a little bit confused about who my father is, let's have everyone sing Voulez-Vous at me!"/"I'm a little upset, my friends will help by singing Chiquitita at me!"). Still, if you love ABBA like myself, just try not to sing along. Only the girls at the back and my friends and sister and I were participating in our cinema, but it was fun nonetheless. Although, the girls around you wailing "The winner takes it aaaaaaalllllll!!!!" as they bawl their eyes out is pretty distracting.
Some actors' singing is a little sub-par (Pierce Brosnan performing SOS had me yelling at him to shut up, though some of it was admittedly pretty lovable) and songs are shoved in where they're not needed (Does Your Mother Know?).
But overall, the plot is pretty steady and the acting is solid. Some people cry "over acting", but this isn't really a film to be taken seriously. It's a musical for crying out loud! If you do go to see this film, just enjoy it, join in regardless of "etiquette" and try to ignore any parts grating on you.
It can be enjoyable, the tunes are fun and emotional, sure there have been a few changes to the story (for some odd reason they made Bill a Swedish writer, but Skarsgård played him in some sort of mixed accent; I think he may have been attempting the original accent).
And hey, if you're a Stellan Skarsgård lover (quite literally), it's so worth it. You'll see why ;)
UHF (1989)
We Got It All On UHF!
When I first heard of UHF, I had become so unbelievably obsessed with Weird Al Yankovic that, as I watched it, I just wanted, really wanted it to be good. So of course I was ecstatic that UHF was everything I was told it was and more! Weird Al delivers every joke brilliantly as George Newman, the daydreaming man who goes from job to job, failing miserably at everything because he is, well, just too creative. However, when his uncle gets hold of a UHF TV station 'U62', he needs someone to run it. And, of course, George is the man to do it! However, the station's existing programmes aren't doing so well. Could George save the station by starting a show involving a clown and some dog biscuits? Well, frankly, no, but could a workaholic, child-trapped-in-a-man's body janitor save the day? Well, you'll have to watch UHF to find out. And if you're a fan of modern comedy, spoofs such as Scary Movie, you'll definitely love UHF - Al got here first! Plus, George's daydream sequences are too good to be missed! Watch Al skulk around as Rambo, see him transformed into a perfect pixellated image during the Beverly Hilbillies sequence! We got it all on UHF!
ReBoot (1994)
Best CGI animation ever!
I was about five or six when this came on ITV in Britain. I think my classmates were shocked that I would watch it - it was a given that action/adventure TV shows, especially set in a computer, were only for boys. Needless to say, I didn't care and continued to watch. Despite the fact that I had always been brought up to root for the good guy, my favourite characters ended up being the fearsome Megabyte and the creepy Hexadecimal. I think I wanted to be like Hexadecimal. Even at a young age, I was impressed and excited by the quality of the CGI - very impressive for its time. Unfortunately, then the amazing show stopped showing on ITV, never to be seen on UK TV again. You can imagine how upset I was. And you know? I think if ReBoot had still been showing while I was studying Higher Computing last year, I wouldn't have failed. Typical.
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Beautiful, wonderfully written...
If you haven't seen this film yet, you must be insane because this film is a true cinematic masterpiece. Edward is found by Peg, the local Avon representative, when she goes up to the mansion/castle he lives in to look for customers. Seeing that he is all alone (his father, the Inventor "never woke up") and has frighteningly large scissors in place of hands, she decides to bring him home so that she can give him a new lease of life. When Edward arrives, the quiet little neighbourhood goes into a frenzy over the sweet, innocent young man who has scissors for hands. However, falling in love with Peg's daughter and getting in with the wrong crowd gets Edward into trouble, and things can only get worse... Edward Scissorhands is one of Tim Burton's best creations, and deserves more than 10 out of 10. The acting is all very good, especially from Johnny Depp as Edward, and Vincent Price's small part as The Inventor. It is so symbolic - Edward reaches out for help, but who would be willing to take his scissors in their hands? The part in which the Inventor dies when presenting his creation with his set of hands, skewering them onto Edward's scissors as he collapses really shows that Edward will never be 'normal', he will never be finished without them. Like other young people, he wants to be normal, and when he is presented with the chance to get real, normal hands, he is excited, but unfortunately, he never gets the chance. That is very symbolic of the young person's wish to change, just to be like everyone else, and the painful realisation that it cannot be done. Edward's scissor-hands reflect differences in people that make others unwilling to accept, and many young people feel the same way as Edward does. I believe that this wonderfully spectacular film represents the situation in which a society is unwilling to accept people who they feel are different, something I think we can all relate to.