The Wind in the Willows and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
are two classic pieces of literature, but I wouldn’t have thought to put
them together. Disney did, though, and the result was the 1949 package
film The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad. It’s unusual in that
it tells just two stories; the package films typically include several
different segments, each of which is shorter than either tale told here.
What it amounts to is about half an hour per story, so there’s room for
some decent development even though neither one is individually of
feature length.
The main thematic tie between the stories
seems to be that they are literary classics, one from England, one from
America. Other similarities can be found; for instance, both integrally
involve a holiday and a horse-drawn cart. Mostly, though, the tie
between the two is that these are books that could be sitting on the
shelf next to each other. Basil Rathbone is the sophisticated narrator
of the first part of the film, which focuses on the reckless Mr. Toad,
and his warm voice is perfectly suited to the task. Bing Crosby feels
like less of a natural narrator for the second half, which deals with
Ichabod Crane, but the role allows him to do some singing, which is the
task at which he really shines.
I prefer the first tale, which
is much livelier, in part because each of the characters is played by a
different actor and there is quite a bit of dialogue. Toads seem to be
inherently troublesome creatures, more so than frogs, which have a bit
of a reputation in fiction for steady dependability. After all, look at
Kermit the Frog (at least, when he’s not blowing a gasket). The contrast
is strongest in Arnold Lobel’s Frog and Toad series, and silly,
sulky Toad with his peculiar whims would certainly have a kindred spirit
in Mr. Toad. They’re not bad fellows, but trouble seems to follow them,
and sometimes they bring it upon themselves.
The story of Mr.
Toad is set in the idyllic English countryside, where the eccentric
millionaire is constantly wreaking havoc with his dangerous obsessions.
It’s up to his faithful, long-suffering friends to keep him out of
trouble and to try to prove his innocence after he runs afoul of the
law. Toad is rather obnoxious but lovable nonetheless. Severe Angus
MacBadger (Campbell Scott), who oversees his affairs, is a fun
character, particularly because of his pronounced Scottishness, but he
is less prominent than the even-keeled Rat (Claud Allister) or my
favorite character, mild-mannered Mole (Colin Campbell). Other
characters, including Mr. Toad’s horse and a freakish-looking villain
named Mr. Winky, come into the picture, but this is the core quartet.
It’s a raucous romp and a touching story of friendship set partially
against the beauty of a pristine English Christmas, and it’s quite
satisfying.
I’m not quite as fond of Ichabod’s story, partly
because it’s just plain creepy. It makes me chuckle that in a film that
includes a Christmas story, Crosby, who is so associated with the
upcoming holiday, narrates the tale set at Halloween. It also strikes me
as funny that the Christmas story comes first. The animation of a fiery
New England autumn is quite appealing, but the human characters aren’t
quite as enjoyable to look at as the animals in the first story. Ichabod
in particular is a bit goofy-looking, though this would not necessarily
be a drawback if he were a more likable character. Unfortunately, this
gangly schoolteacher is a lazy womanizing glutton who can’t wait to
hitch his wagon to the richest girl in town so he can live like a king
for the rest of his days. Hence, although he’s the protagonist, he
doesn’t exactly inspire a great deal of affection from me. It doesn’t
help that there’s so little actual dialogue in this story, and what’s
there is mostly voiced by Crosby. This makes the characters in this
segment feel much more distant, leading to a definite sense of
detachment.
The meat of the story is the rivalry between
Ichabod and burly Brom Bones, who both want the pretty heiress Katrina
Van Tassel for a wife, though love doesn’t seem to be a factor for
either of them. They both appear to see her as more of a prize than a
person. Brom reminds me a lot of Gaston from Disney’s much later Beauty and the Beast
except that he is not quite so immensely popular. Still, he makes a
potent adversary, and his dramatic ghost story is enough to give Ichabod
a major case of the heebie-jeebies. Me too. The headless horseman scene
that follows is truly terrifying, no matter what your interpretation of
the incident is.
I’m not sure that this is the most natural
pair of stories to put together, but it works well enough, and each is
memorable in its own way. While I personally don’t want anything to do
with Sleepy Hollow except around Halloween, I’m happy to pay a visit to
Mr. Toad any time of year.
Showing posts with label Cars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cars. Show all posts
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Does Donald Duck Have What It Takes to Be a TV Star?
There’s something very appealing about the thought of being on TV. My
time on the air has been mostly limited to seeing my face on the screen
at the CROP Walk or some other large event where you might be able to
pick my face out of a crowd of hundreds. I was actually interviewed once
when I attended a local memorial service for Pope John Paul II, but
that’s pretty much the extent of my television experience. Still, I
understand the excitement that grips Donald when a TV crew starts
filming a show nearby in Donald Duck, TV Star!
In this Golden Easy Reader by Mary Carey, Donald has much bigger things in mind than a ten-second spot on the evening news. He wants to be an actor. And when he finds out that what this show needs is a stunt driver, he wants to be a daredevil. But can he really handle those curves, or is he headed for failure? I’ve always loved Donald Duck books, largely because he is always getting himself into ridiculous messes, so it should be apparent right from the get-go that Donald’s road to super-stardom will not be an easy one. The chiming of his nephews’ warnings does not increase the reader’s confidence in him.
Most of the action in this book hinges on the unlikely premise that Donald could simply walk up to a TV producer and say, “Hey, I know how to drive a stunt car!” and have him hand him the keys. Nobody’s going to take that kind of chance on some guy who just came up out of nowhere, especially when there is an expensive racecar at stake. There’s also the fact that he simply tells Donald to drive and starts filming, so Donald has no idea where he’s supposed to be going. In a real TV show, a scene like this would be carefully planned out.
Aside from that, however, this is a fun story demonstrating that dreaming about doing something and actually doing it are two very different things, and sometimes the gap between them can’t be closed. Huey, Dewey and Louie know that making a television show is hard work. Donald likes the glamour and fun of TV but isn’t prepared for what he’ll need to do in order to become a star. There’s a lesson in there about having realistic expectations and a strong work ethic, but mostly, this is just a fun story that offers the chance to see Donald Duck crashing into things. It’s not Blues Brothers territory since he mostly has a clear path, but there’s still concern over how he is going to stop this car that he can’t control and whether he will get hurt in the process.
Donald Duck, TV Star! was written with first- and second-graders in mind, and the sentences are crafted to be easy for those in that age range. The book is very repetitive. Several successive sentences will use the same structure or will refer back to something that was said earlier, echoing it or closely mimicking it. Most of the sentences contain only a few short words. For instance, during Donald’s driving stint, we see two repetitions, with slight variations, of “The car raced down the street. It went very fast. It went faster. ‘Too fast!’ cried Donald.” This helps with ease of reading and allows kids to anticipate what is coming next.
The easy writing and the colorful pictures featuring familiar characters acting in expected ways make Donald Duck, TV Star! a fun story for young readers. While it won’t teach them much about the television industry, it will take them for an entertaining ride.
In this Golden Easy Reader by Mary Carey, Donald has much bigger things in mind than a ten-second spot on the evening news. He wants to be an actor. And when he finds out that what this show needs is a stunt driver, he wants to be a daredevil. But can he really handle those curves, or is he headed for failure? I’ve always loved Donald Duck books, largely because he is always getting himself into ridiculous messes, so it should be apparent right from the get-go that Donald’s road to super-stardom will not be an easy one. The chiming of his nephews’ warnings does not increase the reader’s confidence in him.
Most of the action in this book hinges on the unlikely premise that Donald could simply walk up to a TV producer and say, “Hey, I know how to drive a stunt car!” and have him hand him the keys. Nobody’s going to take that kind of chance on some guy who just came up out of nowhere, especially when there is an expensive racecar at stake. There’s also the fact that he simply tells Donald to drive and starts filming, so Donald has no idea where he’s supposed to be going. In a real TV show, a scene like this would be carefully planned out.
Aside from that, however, this is a fun story demonstrating that dreaming about doing something and actually doing it are two very different things, and sometimes the gap between them can’t be closed. Huey, Dewey and Louie know that making a television show is hard work. Donald likes the glamour and fun of TV but isn’t prepared for what he’ll need to do in order to become a star. There’s a lesson in there about having realistic expectations and a strong work ethic, but mostly, this is just a fun story that offers the chance to see Donald Duck crashing into things. It’s not Blues Brothers territory since he mostly has a clear path, but there’s still concern over how he is going to stop this car that he can’t control and whether he will get hurt in the process.
Donald Duck, TV Star! was written with first- and second-graders in mind, and the sentences are crafted to be easy for those in that age range. The book is very repetitive. Several successive sentences will use the same structure or will refer back to something that was said earlier, echoing it or closely mimicking it. Most of the sentences contain only a few short words. For instance, during Donald’s driving stint, we see two repetitions, with slight variations, of “The car raced down the street. It went very fast. It went faster. ‘Too fast!’ cried Donald.” This helps with ease of reading and allows kids to anticipate what is coming next.
The easy writing and the colorful pictures featuring familiar characters acting in expected ways make Donald Duck, TV Star! a fun story for young readers. While it won’t teach them much about the television industry, it will take them for an entertaining ride.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Cars and Compassion Come to the Forefront in The Mystery of the Vanishing Victim
Two weeks ago Cars 2 arrived in theaters, so I already had cars on the brain when I cracked open The Mystery of the Vanishing Victim,
the 33rd book in the Trixie Belden series of mysteries. In this
installment, written by a ghostwriter assuming the name Kathryn Kenny,
14-year-old amateur detective Trixie and the other six Bob-Whites of the
Glen – her best friend Honey Wheeler, her older brothers Mart and
Brian, Honey’s adopted brother Jim Frayne and their friends Di Lynch and
Dan Mangan – are preoccupied with cars because they are organizing a
rummage sale, and the most generous donation they receive is a Model A
Ford in pristine condition. The donor, kindly Mr. Burnside, suggests
driving the car around town all week to help drum up business for the
sale, and it seems like a wonderful plan, but little sooner do they have
the antique in their care then it conks out on them on the side of the
road, leading them straight into another mystery.
Brian is the eldest of the Bob-Whites, and one of his distinguishing characteristics is his love of cars; his rattletrap old jalopy is one of the most iconic props in the series. Mr. Burnside entrusts the care of his Model A specifically to Brian, who is awed by the privilege and responsibility. Thanks to Mr. Burnside, Brian and the enigmatic title character, who stops to help the Bob-Whites when the car stalls on their way home, the book includes a lot of shop talk about the making and history of various models of cars, so it’s one of the more educational volumes in that regard. Moreover, although Trixie and Honey are more immediately involved in the mystery that follows, Brian is in many ways the standout character here, both because he and the Model A are virtually inseparable throughout the week and because, in a discussion with the “vanishing victim,” he provides the most succinct description of the Bob-White philosophy that I have encountered in the series.
That conversation becomes the cornerstone for the book as Trixie tries to figure out the motivations of their surly savior, who insists that it was interest in the car alone that compelled him to stop and offer aid, something he normally wouldn’t do. After the anonymous man is the victim of a hit-and-run, the question of his willingness to put himself at risk to help a stranger deeply concerns Trixie, who feels compelled to defend him against the accusations that come his way when he disappears and his identity comes to light. The book ends up being an interesting meditation on the balance that must be achieved between caution and compassion.
I enjoyed the sense of friendly competition that arises when Trixie suggests they break up into teams and see who can collect the most donations for the sale, though Honey seems uncharacteristically harsh on their first outing as she scolds Trixie for chatting with donors, thus wasting valuable gathering time. She even gets in a jab at her in the presence of the other Bob-Whites, which seems rather uncalled for, especially since Trixie only converses out of politeness. It’s only in a couple of chapters that Honey seems a bit off-kilter, however. She’s quite herself throughout the rest of the book, as is everyone else, though this writer seems to have gone a little overboard with Mart; practically every sentence he spews contains at least three or four advanced words, and even I found myself scratching my head a few times over his intended meaning.
This is very much a summertime book, as evidenced by the Bob-Whites’ ability to spend several full days soliciting items for the rummage sale. Hence, I found it easier to slip into than the previous book, which takes place in November. However, despite the early summer setting, Trixie makes two separate references to Christmas, and so does a nefarious character with whom she later tangles. Of course, this isn’t the first Trixie book to mention Christmas in the middle of summer; one of my favorite moments in the series is the impromptu Jingle Bells sing-along that occurs when the Bob-Whites stumble upon a sleigh while exploring a barn on Cobbett’s Island. Still, it made me chuckle to find Christmas come up so often in such an unlikely context at a time when I too have the holiday on my mind despite the soaring temperatures.
The book also includes what I take to be fairly spoilery references to a previous Trixie book that I haven’t read, but hopefully by the time I get around to reading The Mystery of the Ghostly Galleon, I’ll have forgotten most of the contours of that conversation. In any case, that’s the risk you run when you decide to skip around in a series. In this case, I’d say it was a risk well worth taking, leading me to a timely tale that encourages readers, while exercising a modicum of common sense, to follow the Bob-Whites’ lead and love boldly.
Brian is the eldest of the Bob-Whites, and one of his distinguishing characteristics is his love of cars; his rattletrap old jalopy is one of the most iconic props in the series. Mr. Burnside entrusts the care of his Model A specifically to Brian, who is awed by the privilege and responsibility. Thanks to Mr. Burnside, Brian and the enigmatic title character, who stops to help the Bob-Whites when the car stalls on their way home, the book includes a lot of shop talk about the making and history of various models of cars, so it’s one of the more educational volumes in that regard. Moreover, although Trixie and Honey are more immediately involved in the mystery that follows, Brian is in many ways the standout character here, both because he and the Model A are virtually inseparable throughout the week and because, in a discussion with the “vanishing victim,” he provides the most succinct description of the Bob-White philosophy that I have encountered in the series.
That conversation becomes the cornerstone for the book as Trixie tries to figure out the motivations of their surly savior, who insists that it was interest in the car alone that compelled him to stop and offer aid, something he normally wouldn’t do. After the anonymous man is the victim of a hit-and-run, the question of his willingness to put himself at risk to help a stranger deeply concerns Trixie, who feels compelled to defend him against the accusations that come his way when he disappears and his identity comes to light. The book ends up being an interesting meditation on the balance that must be achieved between caution and compassion.
I enjoyed the sense of friendly competition that arises when Trixie suggests they break up into teams and see who can collect the most donations for the sale, though Honey seems uncharacteristically harsh on their first outing as she scolds Trixie for chatting with donors, thus wasting valuable gathering time. She even gets in a jab at her in the presence of the other Bob-Whites, which seems rather uncalled for, especially since Trixie only converses out of politeness. It’s only in a couple of chapters that Honey seems a bit off-kilter, however. She’s quite herself throughout the rest of the book, as is everyone else, though this writer seems to have gone a little overboard with Mart; practically every sentence he spews contains at least three or four advanced words, and even I found myself scratching my head a few times over his intended meaning.
This is very much a summertime book, as evidenced by the Bob-Whites’ ability to spend several full days soliciting items for the rummage sale. Hence, I found it easier to slip into than the previous book, which takes place in November. However, despite the early summer setting, Trixie makes two separate references to Christmas, and so does a nefarious character with whom she later tangles. Of course, this isn’t the first Trixie book to mention Christmas in the middle of summer; one of my favorite moments in the series is the impromptu Jingle Bells sing-along that occurs when the Bob-Whites stumble upon a sleigh while exploring a barn on Cobbett’s Island. Still, it made me chuckle to find Christmas come up so often in such an unlikely context at a time when I too have the holiday on my mind despite the soaring temperatures.
The book also includes what I take to be fairly spoilery references to a previous Trixie book that I haven’t read, but hopefully by the time I get around to reading The Mystery of the Ghostly Galleon, I’ll have forgotten most of the contours of that conversation. In any case, that’s the risk you run when you decide to skip around in a series. In this case, I’d say it was a risk well worth taking, leading me to a timely tale that encourages readers, while exercising a modicum of common sense, to follow the Bob-Whites’ lead and love boldly.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Pixar Meets James Bond in Cars 2
In the second season of Flight of the Conchords,
the oddball HBO comedy about a pair of eccentric New Zealand folk
musicians trying unsuccessfully to make it big in New York City, band
manager Murray introduces New Zealand’s childlike Prime Minister, who is
a little behind the times on most pop cultural matters. One of the
first things he does is express his disappointment at not having seen
the end of Cars,
which was playing on the plane on his way over. These characters may
all be hunks of metal, but you really do get invested in them. At least I
do. I’ve been looking forward to Cars 2 all year.
At its heart, this sequel, like the original and like so many Pixar flicks, is primarily a buddy movie. Everything hangs on the friendship between humbled hotshot racecar Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) and open-hearted redneck tow truck Mater (Larry the Cable Guy). Lightning is smooth and cool, while Mater is a first-class countrified goofball. He’s also my favorite character, so I was delighted to see that he is basically the central character this time around. While Lightning has more big races to win, Mater is the one who fuels the conflict and has the most exciting job to do.
The movie puts us right in the middle of the action with a car we’ve never met, sophisticated Aston Martin Finn McMissile (Michael Caine). It’s a dizzying opener indicative of many of the scenes to follow, with a lot happening at once, to the point of mild confusion. In the first movie, the racing scenes are chaotic, but they’re balanced out by the stretches of time in sleepy Radiator Springs. While we do spend a few minutes in that town and revisit the residents (with the exception of Paul Newman’s Doc Hudson, whose character died along with the actor who portrayed him), we mostly see them away from Radiator Springs, criss-crossing the globe along with their hometown hero.
Lightning’s international tour comes about because Mater locks heads with egotistical Italian speed demon Francesco Bernoulli (John Turturro) over his derisive comments about Lightning on a call-in TV show. Their on-the-air showdown prompts Lightning to intervene and pledge his intention to forego a relaxing summer vacation in favor of a jet-setting, high-pressure one. Once they arrive at the site of the first race, overwhelmed Mater can scarcely contain his excitement, especially once he believes he has scored a date with a hot car, Holley Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer). His exuberance embarrasses Lightning and causes him some serious trouble, leading to a falling-out. For most of the movie, then, Mater is off on his own, trying to find a sense of purpose in a world where he always seems to be doing the wrong thing.
Little does he realize that thanks to Holley, he has now become entangled in a web of international espionage. After mistakenly identifying him as a fellow spy, she and Finn continue to work with Mater and issue instructions to him, but the movie is half-over before Mater really begins to understand what is going on. They think his dopeyness is a cover, an act to throw people off, rather like the signature schtick of expert detective Columbo as played by the late great Peter Falk. It’s not. However, there is one thing he really knows, and that is engines. Hence, he picks up on details that others would miss, and this knowledge proves very useful even if he is in completely over his head as a spy. What’s more, even though he’s just being himself, his bumpkin mannerisms do throw most people off, and that sometimes works to his advantage as well. But can he, Finn and Holley put a stop to the dangerous shenanigans that are threatening the well-being of cars around the world?
Cars 2, directed by John Lasseter and Brad Lewis, is an entertaining and eye-popping movie. Part buddy comedy and part James Bond spoof, it revels in complex action sequences and sly visual jokes. I love the way the movie presents visions of Japan, Italy and England that are rich in recognizable detail but skewered to fit this vehicular world. The high-tech zaniness of Tokyo is discombobulating but amusing, particularly during a sequence in which Mater uses the restroom and is confronted with a trippy talking computer. I loved the sunny brilliance of the Italian cityscape, though I didn’t catch which city it was. It’s in Italy that we actually have a chance to slow down for a bit as Lightning and his friends get the royal welcome from a relative of his pit crew. Then, of course, there’s London, which has been featured in so many Disney movies. Big Ben(tley) is the starting point of a pretty thrilling sequence, and Vanessa Redgrave lends her voice to an endearing vehicular version of Queen Elizabeth II.
When I heard that Pixar was planning a sequel to Toy Story, I was skeptical, but it ended up impressing me just as much as the first movie (and the third reduced me to a blubbering puddle of goo). While I enjoyed the movie, I don’t think that Cars 2 is quite that kind of home run. The first movie is so much about hometown pride and a group of eccentric characters teaching the arrogant but lonely Lightning that there’s more to life than winning races. While Mater is even more prominent in this movie than in the first, the rest of the characters take a backseat, appearing in only a few scenes and not adding that much to the overall story. Meanwhile, aside from Finn, Holley and Francesco, I found the new characters hard to latch onto. Despite the core friendship between Lightning and Mater, the movie feels most concerned with being a send-up of spy films, and as such, it is less focused on character than on explosive displays. Some of these scenes are a lot of fun, but sometimes the movie seems to get a bit bogged down. There’s also the thread of big oil versus alternative fuel running through the sequel, and the ultimate point seems to push going green, but the message is a bit convoluted.
One thing that Pixar fans have come to depend on is end-credits fun, and Cars 2 doesn’t disappoint in that respect. While I think I laughed more at the credits for Cars, I did enjoy the flat, retro-style vignettes showing a series of postcards involving various characters. I also liked the end-credits songs, particularly Brad Paisley’s Nobody’s Fool, a touching song from the perspective of Mater as he realizes how the world perceives him and struggles to come to terms with that identity.
Meanwhile, like the other Pixar movies, this one includes a short before the main feature. While most tend to be wordless and feature characters exclusive to that short, this time around we get to check up on the Toy Story gang in the cute Hawaiian Vacation, which finds Woody, Buzz and the whole gang trying to create an idyllic beach retreat for Ken and Barbie after their plan to stow away in Bonnie’s backpack fails to land them passage on her trip to Hawaii. In just a few minutes, each character gets a moment or two in the spotlight. In fact, I would say the short does a more effective job of highlighting Woody’s posse than the feature does of highlighting most of the Radiator Springs residents. They do have their moments, but most of them end up getting a bit lost in the shuffle.
In the end, then, I like Cars 2, but it felt a little too glitzy to me and lacking just a bit in the character department. I’ve heard some comments that this one was all about the money and that it was a disgrace to the Pixar name, and I can’t agree with that. Nonetheless, after two years of sequels, I am really looking forward to the next original Pixar movie.
At its heart, this sequel, like the original and like so many Pixar flicks, is primarily a buddy movie. Everything hangs on the friendship between humbled hotshot racecar Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) and open-hearted redneck tow truck Mater (Larry the Cable Guy). Lightning is smooth and cool, while Mater is a first-class countrified goofball. He’s also my favorite character, so I was delighted to see that he is basically the central character this time around. While Lightning has more big races to win, Mater is the one who fuels the conflict and has the most exciting job to do.
The movie puts us right in the middle of the action with a car we’ve never met, sophisticated Aston Martin Finn McMissile (Michael Caine). It’s a dizzying opener indicative of many of the scenes to follow, with a lot happening at once, to the point of mild confusion. In the first movie, the racing scenes are chaotic, but they’re balanced out by the stretches of time in sleepy Radiator Springs. While we do spend a few minutes in that town and revisit the residents (with the exception of Paul Newman’s Doc Hudson, whose character died along with the actor who portrayed him), we mostly see them away from Radiator Springs, criss-crossing the globe along with their hometown hero.
Lightning’s international tour comes about because Mater locks heads with egotistical Italian speed demon Francesco Bernoulli (John Turturro) over his derisive comments about Lightning on a call-in TV show. Their on-the-air showdown prompts Lightning to intervene and pledge his intention to forego a relaxing summer vacation in favor of a jet-setting, high-pressure one. Once they arrive at the site of the first race, overwhelmed Mater can scarcely contain his excitement, especially once he believes he has scored a date with a hot car, Holley Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer). His exuberance embarrasses Lightning and causes him some serious trouble, leading to a falling-out. For most of the movie, then, Mater is off on his own, trying to find a sense of purpose in a world where he always seems to be doing the wrong thing.
Little does he realize that thanks to Holley, he has now become entangled in a web of international espionage. After mistakenly identifying him as a fellow spy, she and Finn continue to work with Mater and issue instructions to him, but the movie is half-over before Mater really begins to understand what is going on. They think his dopeyness is a cover, an act to throw people off, rather like the signature schtick of expert detective Columbo as played by the late great Peter Falk. It’s not. However, there is one thing he really knows, and that is engines. Hence, he picks up on details that others would miss, and this knowledge proves very useful even if he is in completely over his head as a spy. What’s more, even though he’s just being himself, his bumpkin mannerisms do throw most people off, and that sometimes works to his advantage as well. But can he, Finn and Holley put a stop to the dangerous shenanigans that are threatening the well-being of cars around the world?
Cars 2, directed by John Lasseter and Brad Lewis, is an entertaining and eye-popping movie. Part buddy comedy and part James Bond spoof, it revels in complex action sequences and sly visual jokes. I love the way the movie presents visions of Japan, Italy and England that are rich in recognizable detail but skewered to fit this vehicular world. The high-tech zaniness of Tokyo is discombobulating but amusing, particularly during a sequence in which Mater uses the restroom and is confronted with a trippy talking computer. I loved the sunny brilliance of the Italian cityscape, though I didn’t catch which city it was. It’s in Italy that we actually have a chance to slow down for a bit as Lightning and his friends get the royal welcome from a relative of his pit crew. Then, of course, there’s London, which has been featured in so many Disney movies. Big Ben(tley) is the starting point of a pretty thrilling sequence, and Vanessa Redgrave lends her voice to an endearing vehicular version of Queen Elizabeth II.
When I heard that Pixar was planning a sequel to Toy Story, I was skeptical, but it ended up impressing me just as much as the first movie (and the third reduced me to a blubbering puddle of goo). While I enjoyed the movie, I don’t think that Cars 2 is quite that kind of home run. The first movie is so much about hometown pride and a group of eccentric characters teaching the arrogant but lonely Lightning that there’s more to life than winning races. While Mater is even more prominent in this movie than in the first, the rest of the characters take a backseat, appearing in only a few scenes and not adding that much to the overall story. Meanwhile, aside from Finn, Holley and Francesco, I found the new characters hard to latch onto. Despite the core friendship between Lightning and Mater, the movie feels most concerned with being a send-up of spy films, and as such, it is less focused on character than on explosive displays. Some of these scenes are a lot of fun, but sometimes the movie seems to get a bit bogged down. There’s also the thread of big oil versus alternative fuel running through the sequel, and the ultimate point seems to push going green, but the message is a bit convoluted.
One thing that Pixar fans have come to depend on is end-credits fun, and Cars 2 doesn’t disappoint in that respect. While I think I laughed more at the credits for Cars, I did enjoy the flat, retro-style vignettes showing a series of postcards involving various characters. I also liked the end-credits songs, particularly Brad Paisley’s Nobody’s Fool, a touching song from the perspective of Mater as he realizes how the world perceives him and struggles to come to terms with that identity.
Meanwhile, like the other Pixar movies, this one includes a short before the main feature. While most tend to be wordless and feature characters exclusive to that short, this time around we get to check up on the Toy Story gang in the cute Hawaiian Vacation, which finds Woody, Buzz and the whole gang trying to create an idyllic beach retreat for Ken and Barbie after their plan to stow away in Bonnie’s backpack fails to land them passage on her trip to Hawaii. In just a few minutes, each character gets a moment or two in the spotlight. In fact, I would say the short does a more effective job of highlighting Woody’s posse than the feature does of highlighting most of the Radiator Springs residents. They do have their moments, but most of them end up getting a bit lost in the shuffle.
In the end, then, I like Cars 2, but it felt a little too glitzy to me and lacking just a bit in the character department. I’ve heard some comments that this one was all about the money and that it was a disgrace to the Pixar name, and I can’t agree with that. Nonetheless, after two years of sequels, I am really looking forward to the next original Pixar movie.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Lightning McQueen Tries to Be His Buddy's Keeper in Look Out for Mater!
I’ve started seeing previews for the sequel to Cars,
the 2006 Pixar movie set in a world entirely populated by vehicles. I
loved the original movie, so I’m really looking forward to the second
one. In the meantime, I’ve enjoyed returning to that world now and then
via animated shorts and books, most of which heavily involve my favorite
character, dim-witted but big-hearted tow truck Mater.
In the Little Golden Book Look Out for Mater!, written by Andrea Posner-Sanchez and illustrated by Ivan Boix Estudi, flashy racecar Lightning McQueen is happily settled in the tiny town of Radiator Springs. While he is famous now and receives visits from fans from all around the country, he’s happiest in the company of his sleek girlfriend Sally and rusty best buddy Mater. He and Mater have a lot of fun together, but the tow truck has a way of attracting trouble, so when Sally goes out of town, she makes Lightning promise to look after his friend and keep him out of mischief. But is that too tall an order?
Mater’s defining characteristic is enthusiasm, and that certainly comes across in this book. He wants everything to be an adventure. The most adventurous spot nearby is the gravel pit just outside of town. It’s full of exciting twists and turns, not to mention a very grumpy bulldozer who doesn’t want to be disturbed. Most of the book involves Lightning’s inner conflict as he tries to decide whether it’s better to let Mater have his fun or insist that he find a safer playground.
The characters in this book are recognizably themselves, but they don’t have a computer-animated look to them. Instead, they seem painted in a patchy, rather impressionistic style. It’s fun to see these characters portrayed in a slightly different artistic manner, and the landscapes look especially interesting this way. While none of the other major characters from the movie is mentioned by name, several show up at some point, so it’s fun to be on the lookout for them and point them out as they appear. Meanwhile, Big Bull the bulldozer is delightfully intimidating, especially in one illustration in which he materializes suddenly, glowering.
Look Out for Mater! is a cute book about playing it safe and watching out for your buddies. It is a little heavy-handed with its emphasis on avoiding situations that are clearly dangerous, but that’s not a bad point to drive home, since those are the very situations that so often appeal to spunky kids. It will be a while before we get to see Mater and Lightning on the big screen again, but books like this make the wait easier for fans of these endearing four-wheeled friends.
In the Little Golden Book Look Out for Mater!, written by Andrea Posner-Sanchez and illustrated by Ivan Boix Estudi, flashy racecar Lightning McQueen is happily settled in the tiny town of Radiator Springs. While he is famous now and receives visits from fans from all around the country, he’s happiest in the company of his sleek girlfriend Sally and rusty best buddy Mater. He and Mater have a lot of fun together, but the tow truck has a way of attracting trouble, so when Sally goes out of town, she makes Lightning promise to look after his friend and keep him out of mischief. But is that too tall an order?
Mater’s defining characteristic is enthusiasm, and that certainly comes across in this book. He wants everything to be an adventure. The most adventurous spot nearby is the gravel pit just outside of town. It’s full of exciting twists and turns, not to mention a very grumpy bulldozer who doesn’t want to be disturbed. Most of the book involves Lightning’s inner conflict as he tries to decide whether it’s better to let Mater have his fun or insist that he find a safer playground.
The characters in this book are recognizably themselves, but they don’t have a computer-animated look to them. Instead, they seem painted in a patchy, rather impressionistic style. It’s fun to see these characters portrayed in a slightly different artistic manner, and the landscapes look especially interesting this way. While none of the other major characters from the movie is mentioned by name, several show up at some point, so it’s fun to be on the lookout for them and point them out as they appear. Meanwhile, Big Bull the bulldozer is delightfully intimidating, especially in one illustration in which he materializes suddenly, glowering.
Look Out for Mater! is a cute book about playing it safe and watching out for your buddies. It is a little heavy-handed with its emphasis on avoiding situations that are clearly dangerous, but that’s not a bad point to drive home, since those are the very situations that so often appeal to spunky kids. It will be a while before we get to see Mater and Lightning on the big screen again, but books like this make the wait easier for fans of these endearing four-wheeled friends.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
My Top Ten Movies of the '60s
A grand decade for Disney, the 1960s included some of my all-time
favorite movies, as well as a lot of flicks that are highly watchable
once, with limited replay value. All of my top ten are ones I'd be
happy to sit through multiple times. And have.
Peter Pan (1960) - Though I'm not a fan of the Disney version of the J. M. Barrie classic about a boy who stays forever young on a magical isle called Never-Neverland, I love this version, a television adaptation of the musical starring Mary Martin. She is endearingly spunky, and I never seem to mind much that she's a girl. Perhaps that softens Peter's bravado; even when he's bragging up a storm with I Gotta Crow, I don't find him nearly as obnoxious as the animated Disney imp. I love the songs throughout the film, and the performance of Cyril Ritchard as sinister but silly Captain Hook / ineffective Mr. Darling is the most entertaining aspect of the whole movie.
Swiss Family Robinson (1960) - Two words: ostrich races. Not to mention the treehouse of my dreams and what may have been the beginning of my love affair with stories about folks shipwrecked on seemingly uninhabited islands.
The Sword in the Stone (1963) - I can trace my love of King Arthur back to this Disney cartoon, in which he is a scrawny kid known as "the Wart" living under the thumb of his corpulent uncle and brutish cousin. Merlin serves as a wise but comical mentor, with some help from the requisite animal sidekick, Archimedes, who bears a strong resemblance to the owl from Bambi. Sticking with the fairly light-hearted portion of T. H. White's The Once and Future King, heightening the slapstick and doing a lot of simplifying, it's among the funniest animated Disney films, even if it was less successful than most.
Mary Poppins (1964) - A real contender for my all-time favorite movie. The songs showcase the Sherman Brothers at their best, from peppy classics like Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious to my personal favorite, the compassionate, religiously loaded Feed the Birds. The cast is wonderful, especially Julie Andrews as eccentric but exceptional Mary and Dick Van Dyke as irrepressibly jolly Bert. An engrossing tale of magic, imagination and parents and children coming to appreciate each other, it's also the movie that made me fall in love with London.
Cinderella (1965) - I've seen many versions of this story, but this television adaptation of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, starring Leslie Anne Warren, will always be my favorite. She makes such a perfect Cinderella, sweet and starry-eyed, dutifully doing her chores amid abuses by her absurd step-mother and step-sisters but taking time to imagine better things. The prince is dreamy, with loads more personality than the Disney version, and Cinderella's step-family is hilarious. The step-sisters even evoke some sympathy, as the lady of the house is scarcely any kinder to her own daughters. It's all very low-frills, with scarcely any props at all, but the story and the fantastic songs more than make up for it. This is my second-favorite Rodgers and Hammerstein musical.
The Sound of Music (1965) - This, naturally, tops the list. Rodgers and Hammerstein's crowning achievement, it's another movie starring Julie Andrews as an unusual nanny who swoops in to repair a family with unruly children and a distant father. But in this case, she plays an aspiring nun who hadn't bargained on falling in love with the dashing captain so excellently portrayed by Christopher Plummer. The sweeping cinematography, the iconic songs, the historical backdrop, the religious overtones, the humor, the romance... It all blends perfectly for a movie I can watch over and over again with rapt enjoyment.
The Russians are Coming, the Russians are Coming (1966) - Quite possibly the funniest movie of the decade. Of course, by the time I saw this, Russians no longer seems a great threat, so I never had much reason to see Alan Arkin's merry band of accidental invaders as antagonists. I just reveled in the relentless slapstick and silly one-liners. But I've also come to think of it as an inspiring tale underneath all that comedy, one that dares to hope that people who are supposedly enemies can be united by a common goal and can overcome suspicions to form unlikely friendships.
The Graduate (1967) - It took a couple of viewings for me to really appreciate this movie, which stars a hilariously awkward Dustin Hoffman as confused young college graduate Benjamin, who is lured into an affair with the wife of a family friend. But now that I've been in Benjamin's shoes - as an aimless college grad, that is, not someone who channeled that aimlessness in such an unhealthy direction - the film seems very apt. And what kind of Simon and Garfunkel fan would I be if I left this off the list?
The Jungle Book (1967) - Another triumph for the Sherman Brothers, this story of a boy raised by wolves features an intriguing array of creatures, each with a distinct personality. No-nonsense panther Bagheera, sibilant snake Kaa, haughty elephant Colonel Hathi, lackadaisical bear Baloo, ambitious orangutan King Louie, sinister tiger Shere Khan and a hapless quartet of vultures all make an impact on Mowgli's journey. With the exception of the cats, they all have a song, too, each in a different style. Kaa has a hypnotic lullaby, Hathi a crisp march, Louie a jazzy scatfest, the vultures a Beatles-esque harmonious ode. Baloo, of course, gets one of the bounciest numbers in Disney history. A simple story magnificently told, with lush animation every step of the way.
The Love Bug (1969) - I just love WV bugs, and this is why. Herbie, the little white beetle with the number 53 on his side, is more lovable than any car ought to be. He doesn't talk; he simply uses a series of mechanical noises to communicate emotion, and he maintains control over his own steering. This is the first of his adventures. Though Dean Jones, David Tomlinson and especially Buddy Hackett make terrific co-stars, this little automobile is clearly the star.
Peter Pan (1960) - Though I'm not a fan of the Disney version of the J. M. Barrie classic about a boy who stays forever young on a magical isle called Never-Neverland, I love this version, a television adaptation of the musical starring Mary Martin. She is endearingly spunky, and I never seem to mind much that she's a girl. Perhaps that softens Peter's bravado; even when he's bragging up a storm with I Gotta Crow, I don't find him nearly as obnoxious as the animated Disney imp. I love the songs throughout the film, and the performance of Cyril Ritchard as sinister but silly Captain Hook / ineffective Mr. Darling is the most entertaining aspect of the whole movie.
Swiss Family Robinson (1960) - Two words: ostrich races. Not to mention the treehouse of my dreams and what may have been the beginning of my love affair with stories about folks shipwrecked on seemingly uninhabited islands.
The Sword in the Stone (1963) - I can trace my love of King Arthur back to this Disney cartoon, in which he is a scrawny kid known as "the Wart" living under the thumb of his corpulent uncle and brutish cousin. Merlin serves as a wise but comical mentor, with some help from the requisite animal sidekick, Archimedes, who bears a strong resemblance to the owl from Bambi. Sticking with the fairly light-hearted portion of T. H. White's The Once and Future King, heightening the slapstick and doing a lot of simplifying, it's among the funniest animated Disney films, even if it was less successful than most.
Mary Poppins (1964) - A real contender for my all-time favorite movie. The songs showcase the Sherman Brothers at their best, from peppy classics like Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious to my personal favorite, the compassionate, religiously loaded Feed the Birds. The cast is wonderful, especially Julie Andrews as eccentric but exceptional Mary and Dick Van Dyke as irrepressibly jolly Bert. An engrossing tale of magic, imagination and parents and children coming to appreciate each other, it's also the movie that made me fall in love with London.
Cinderella (1965) - I've seen many versions of this story, but this television adaptation of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, starring Leslie Anne Warren, will always be my favorite. She makes such a perfect Cinderella, sweet and starry-eyed, dutifully doing her chores amid abuses by her absurd step-mother and step-sisters but taking time to imagine better things. The prince is dreamy, with loads more personality than the Disney version, and Cinderella's step-family is hilarious. The step-sisters even evoke some sympathy, as the lady of the house is scarcely any kinder to her own daughters. It's all very low-frills, with scarcely any props at all, but the story and the fantastic songs more than make up for it. This is my second-favorite Rodgers and Hammerstein musical.
The Sound of Music (1965) - This, naturally, tops the list. Rodgers and Hammerstein's crowning achievement, it's another movie starring Julie Andrews as an unusual nanny who swoops in to repair a family with unruly children and a distant father. But in this case, she plays an aspiring nun who hadn't bargained on falling in love with the dashing captain so excellently portrayed by Christopher Plummer. The sweeping cinematography, the iconic songs, the historical backdrop, the religious overtones, the humor, the romance... It all blends perfectly for a movie I can watch over and over again with rapt enjoyment.
The Russians are Coming, the Russians are Coming (1966) - Quite possibly the funniest movie of the decade. Of course, by the time I saw this, Russians no longer seems a great threat, so I never had much reason to see Alan Arkin's merry band of accidental invaders as antagonists. I just reveled in the relentless slapstick and silly one-liners. But I've also come to think of it as an inspiring tale underneath all that comedy, one that dares to hope that people who are supposedly enemies can be united by a common goal and can overcome suspicions to form unlikely friendships.
The Graduate (1967) - It took a couple of viewings for me to really appreciate this movie, which stars a hilariously awkward Dustin Hoffman as confused young college graduate Benjamin, who is lured into an affair with the wife of a family friend. But now that I've been in Benjamin's shoes - as an aimless college grad, that is, not someone who channeled that aimlessness in such an unhealthy direction - the film seems very apt. And what kind of Simon and Garfunkel fan would I be if I left this off the list?
The Jungle Book (1967) - Another triumph for the Sherman Brothers, this story of a boy raised by wolves features an intriguing array of creatures, each with a distinct personality. No-nonsense panther Bagheera, sibilant snake Kaa, haughty elephant Colonel Hathi, lackadaisical bear Baloo, ambitious orangutan King Louie, sinister tiger Shere Khan and a hapless quartet of vultures all make an impact on Mowgli's journey. With the exception of the cats, they all have a song, too, each in a different style. Kaa has a hypnotic lullaby, Hathi a crisp march, Louie a jazzy scatfest, the vultures a Beatles-esque harmonious ode. Baloo, of course, gets one of the bounciest numbers in Disney history. A simple story magnificently told, with lush animation every step of the way.
The Love Bug (1969) - I just love WV bugs, and this is why. Herbie, the little white beetle with the number 53 on his side, is more lovable than any car ought to be. He doesn't talk; he simply uses a series of mechanical noises to communicate emotion, and he maintains control over his own steering. This is the first of his adventures. Though Dean Jones, David Tomlinson and especially Buddy Hackett make terrific co-stars, this little automobile is clearly the star.
Friday, August 28, 2009
My Top Ten Movies of the '70s
The 1970s were just before my time, so I didn't see any of these in the
theater, but I easily got caught up in their magic from the comfort of
my own home.
Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971) / Pete's Dragon (1977) - Both of these movies are live-action films that creatively incorporate animation. In the first, it's in a lengthy sequence of the movie that takes place underwater and then on an island, where the apprentice witch played by Angela Lansbury goes with the children under her care and their new acquaintance Emelius, portrayed by the always-amusing David Tomlinson. A fun film with enjoyable songs, especially Portabello Road, which I always think of when I read about Harry Potter's first trip to Diagon Alley. In the second, everything is live-action except the title character, otherwise known as Elliot. He's the most unintimidating dragon you've ever seen, except when hard-luck orphan Pete is in danger. The movie has a bittersweet ending, but it's mostly happy. Mickey Rooney, Red Buttons, Shelly Winters and Jim Dale give hilarious performances, and Helen Reddy beautifully sings Candle on the Water, one of my all-time favorite Disney songs.
Fiddler on the Roof (1971) / Jesus Christ Superstar (1973) - Norman Jewison directed both of these musicals. The first is about Russian Jews trying to uphold honored traditions while facing oppression in the tiny town of Anatevka. The songs are outstanding, and Topol is excellent as the robust, philosophical Tevye, who is deeply devoted to God and to his daughters. The second is filmed in the Holy Land, which is pretty neat, though some of the directorial choices are a little strange, like the costumes that sometimes seem more suited to hippies than ancient Jerusalem dwellers and the tanks that Judas imagines trying to plow him down at one point. Still, the songs are amazing in this unconventional look at Holy Week, told entirely in song and focusing on Judas's perspective. The extremely energetic Carl Anderson is exhausting to watch as Judas, and Barry Dennen makes a big impression in his few scenes as the conflicted Pilate.
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) - I enjoyed Tim Burton's remake of this classic very much, but I'll always have a special place in my heart for the original. Gene Wilder makes a wacky, manipulative Wonka, while Julie Dawn Cole and Roy Kinnear are the most memorable child-parent pair as horrendously spoiled Veruca Salt and her cowed father. My favorite character, however, is Charlie's inept teacher, Mr. Turkentine, hilariously played by David Battley. I also love the Oompa Loompa songs and the vignettes at the beginning of the movie showing what ridiculous behavior Willy Wonka's contest has inspired.
Herbie Rides Again (1974) - My favorite of the Herbie sequels, and I may even prefer it to The Love Bug, though I do miss Buddy Hackett's gold-hearted mechanic, Tennessee. Grandma Steinmetz is just as lovable, though, and has plenty of spunk as she stands up to the comically villainous Alonzo Hawk, played by a deliciously over-the-top Keenan Wynn. This movie has nothing to do with racing; it's just Herbie, with some help from some other curiously animated objects and a couple of human friends, helping sweet Mrs. Steinmetz save the firehouse where she has lived for so many years. A very funny movie.
Young Frankenstein (1974) - As is this, though it's a little more adult-oriented. I watched it for the first time when I was about eight, and I laughed myself silly; I watched it again in high school and couldn't believe how many naughty double entendres were in it. They sailed right over my head at the time, which is one nice thing about this movie; kids can enjoy it as a goofy horror spoof and probably won't pick up on the innuendo. Gene Wilder goes from strictly level-headed to demented in his performance as the scientist trying to resist the associations of the family name, and Marty Feldman is a hoot as his hunchbacked assistant Igor, while Peter Boyle, now most associated with cantankerous Frank on Everybody Loves Raymond, makes a sympathetic monster. Usually I'm not a big fan of black-and-white, but in this case I think director Mel Brooks definitely made the right call.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) - Throughout high school, several of my friends told me I needed to see this famous spoof. My English teacher even showed it in class one day, but it was the one day that term I happened to be absent. So it wasn't until after high school that I finally saw it, and I understood what all of the fuss was about. This, too, is full of adult humor, and some of it is more overt than in Young Frankenstein. There are also a couple of scenes, particularly one involving a vicious bunny, that could be traumatizing to youngsters. But as an Anglophile who loves the Arthurian legends, I couldn't stop laughing at the antics of King Arthur and his Knights, and when it comes to sheer silliness, this one gives Airplane! a serious run for its money.
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977) - Given my great fondness for Winnie the Pooh, I couldn't leave this off the list. This humble Disney masterpiece is a combination of three earlier shorts, in which Pooh gets stuck in Rabbit's front door, Piglet loses his house in a dreadful rainstorm and Rabbit plots to rid the Hundred-Acre Wood of the menace that is Tigger. These cozy tales have only the mildest amount of peril, and they paved the way for my all-time favorite cartoon, The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.
Star Wars (1977) - This first installment in George Lucas's trilogy is full of classic characters and scenes. Mark Hamill is an endearingly whiny Luke in the film's early moments, while Carrie Fisher's Leia is bossy and Harrison Ford's Han Solo is cynical. They've all got some growing to do, and their first adventures together help them accomplish that. The trash compactor scene is a compact example of the perfect balance the movie strikes between action and comedy. The special effects aren't groundbreaking anymore, but they still draw us into that world, though not as much as iconic characters like R2-D2, C-2PO, Chewbacca, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader.
Watership Down (1978) - "It's about bunnies," said LOST's Sawyer in a concise description of the novel from which this animated film was adapted. But that doesn't really begin to cover it. It's about survival, migration, faith, industrialism and all sorts of other things, and while the characters are most definitely rabbits, they have a lot to say about the human condition. It's a surprisingly dark movie, but it's lovely nonetheless, especially the segment that features Art Garfunkel singing Bright Eyes, a somber reflection on grief.
The Muppet Movie (1979) - The musical buddy comedy assembles all of the major players from The Muppet Show for an adventure explaining how they got together. For Muppet fans, this is a must-see. Full of that great mix of humor and heart that makes Jim Henson's creations so irresistible, the movie also features comedic performances by the likes of Steve Martin, Bob Hope, Milton Berle, Richard Pryor and Orson Welles. And of course, the songs are terrific, especially Kermit's banjo-assisted soliloquy, The Rainbow Connection, the quintessential Muppet anthem.
Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971) / Pete's Dragon (1977) - Both of these movies are live-action films that creatively incorporate animation. In the first, it's in a lengthy sequence of the movie that takes place underwater and then on an island, where the apprentice witch played by Angela Lansbury goes with the children under her care and their new acquaintance Emelius, portrayed by the always-amusing David Tomlinson. A fun film with enjoyable songs, especially Portabello Road, which I always think of when I read about Harry Potter's first trip to Diagon Alley. In the second, everything is live-action except the title character, otherwise known as Elliot. He's the most unintimidating dragon you've ever seen, except when hard-luck orphan Pete is in danger. The movie has a bittersweet ending, but it's mostly happy. Mickey Rooney, Red Buttons, Shelly Winters and Jim Dale give hilarious performances, and Helen Reddy beautifully sings Candle on the Water, one of my all-time favorite Disney songs.
Fiddler on the Roof (1971) / Jesus Christ Superstar (1973) - Norman Jewison directed both of these musicals. The first is about Russian Jews trying to uphold honored traditions while facing oppression in the tiny town of Anatevka. The songs are outstanding, and Topol is excellent as the robust, philosophical Tevye, who is deeply devoted to God and to his daughters. The second is filmed in the Holy Land, which is pretty neat, though some of the directorial choices are a little strange, like the costumes that sometimes seem more suited to hippies than ancient Jerusalem dwellers and the tanks that Judas imagines trying to plow him down at one point. Still, the songs are amazing in this unconventional look at Holy Week, told entirely in song and focusing on Judas's perspective. The extremely energetic Carl Anderson is exhausting to watch as Judas, and Barry Dennen makes a big impression in his few scenes as the conflicted Pilate.
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) - I enjoyed Tim Burton's remake of this classic very much, but I'll always have a special place in my heart for the original. Gene Wilder makes a wacky, manipulative Wonka, while Julie Dawn Cole and Roy Kinnear are the most memorable child-parent pair as horrendously spoiled Veruca Salt and her cowed father. My favorite character, however, is Charlie's inept teacher, Mr. Turkentine, hilariously played by David Battley. I also love the Oompa Loompa songs and the vignettes at the beginning of the movie showing what ridiculous behavior Willy Wonka's contest has inspired.
Herbie Rides Again (1974) - My favorite of the Herbie sequels, and I may even prefer it to The Love Bug, though I do miss Buddy Hackett's gold-hearted mechanic, Tennessee. Grandma Steinmetz is just as lovable, though, and has plenty of spunk as she stands up to the comically villainous Alonzo Hawk, played by a deliciously over-the-top Keenan Wynn. This movie has nothing to do with racing; it's just Herbie, with some help from some other curiously animated objects and a couple of human friends, helping sweet Mrs. Steinmetz save the firehouse where she has lived for so many years. A very funny movie.
Young Frankenstein (1974) - As is this, though it's a little more adult-oriented. I watched it for the first time when I was about eight, and I laughed myself silly; I watched it again in high school and couldn't believe how many naughty double entendres were in it. They sailed right over my head at the time, which is one nice thing about this movie; kids can enjoy it as a goofy horror spoof and probably won't pick up on the innuendo. Gene Wilder goes from strictly level-headed to demented in his performance as the scientist trying to resist the associations of the family name, and Marty Feldman is a hoot as his hunchbacked assistant Igor, while Peter Boyle, now most associated with cantankerous Frank on Everybody Loves Raymond, makes a sympathetic monster. Usually I'm not a big fan of black-and-white, but in this case I think director Mel Brooks definitely made the right call.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) - Throughout high school, several of my friends told me I needed to see this famous spoof. My English teacher even showed it in class one day, but it was the one day that term I happened to be absent. So it wasn't until after high school that I finally saw it, and I understood what all of the fuss was about. This, too, is full of adult humor, and some of it is more overt than in Young Frankenstein. There are also a couple of scenes, particularly one involving a vicious bunny, that could be traumatizing to youngsters. But as an Anglophile who loves the Arthurian legends, I couldn't stop laughing at the antics of King Arthur and his Knights, and when it comes to sheer silliness, this one gives Airplane! a serious run for its money.
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977) - Given my great fondness for Winnie the Pooh, I couldn't leave this off the list. This humble Disney masterpiece is a combination of three earlier shorts, in which Pooh gets stuck in Rabbit's front door, Piglet loses his house in a dreadful rainstorm and Rabbit plots to rid the Hundred-Acre Wood of the menace that is Tigger. These cozy tales have only the mildest amount of peril, and they paved the way for my all-time favorite cartoon, The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.
Star Wars (1977) - This first installment in George Lucas's trilogy is full of classic characters and scenes. Mark Hamill is an endearingly whiny Luke in the film's early moments, while Carrie Fisher's Leia is bossy and Harrison Ford's Han Solo is cynical. They've all got some growing to do, and their first adventures together help them accomplish that. The trash compactor scene is a compact example of the perfect balance the movie strikes between action and comedy. The special effects aren't groundbreaking anymore, but they still draw us into that world, though not as much as iconic characters like R2-D2, C-2PO, Chewbacca, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader.
Watership Down (1978) - "It's about bunnies," said LOST's Sawyer in a concise description of the novel from which this animated film was adapted. But that doesn't really begin to cover it. It's about survival, migration, faith, industrialism and all sorts of other things, and while the characters are most definitely rabbits, they have a lot to say about the human condition. It's a surprisingly dark movie, but it's lovely nonetheless, especially the segment that features Art Garfunkel singing Bright Eyes, a somber reflection on grief.
The Muppet Movie (1979) - The musical buddy comedy assembles all of the major players from The Muppet Show for an adventure explaining how they got together. For Muppet fans, this is a must-see. Full of that great mix of humor and heart that makes Jim Henson's creations so irresistible, the movie also features comedic performances by the likes of Steve Martin, Bob Hope, Milton Berle, Richard Pryor and Orson Welles. And of course, the songs are terrific, especially Kermit's banjo-assisted soliloquy, The Rainbow Connection, the quintessential Muppet anthem.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
My Top Ten Movies of the Early '80s ('80-'84)
I like to poke fun at the music of the '80s, but movies are an entirely
different matter. I was a little too young to enjoy these movies when
they first came out, but in the decade or so that followed, they became
firm favorites that have lasted to this day.
The Empire Strikes Back (1980) / Return of the Jedi (1983) - What would an '80s list be without Star Wars? The second installment traumatized me, but it also introduced Yoda, who I adore and includes the delightful insult, "You stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf-herder!" Most fans seem to list it as their favorite of the series, and it was even referenced in a recent episode of LOST. My favorite, though, is the concluding chapter of the trilogy, with its powerful themes of family and redemption. And what can I say... I'm a fan of the Ewoks!
The Blues Brothers (1980) - Saturday Night Live can be pretty stupid, but this movie based on characters from the long-running sketch show is one of my favorite comedies. Yes, a lot of cars wind up totaled, but there's also a slew of cameos from the likes of Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin and some terrific performances, my favorite of which is the impromptu rendition of the Rawhide theme song. And the madcap adventure has a worthy purpose, as Jake and Elwood are "on a mission from God" to raise money to save the orphanage where they grew up.
Airplane! (1980) - More one-liners and bad puns than you can shake a stick at, and the visual gags are just as rampant. This is one of the silliest movies I have ever seen, but I love it. Some of the jokes are a little off-color, but most of it is just plain goofy, and no matter how repetitive it gets, I laugh every time. Leslie Nielsen and Peter Graves are particularly funny.
The Great Muppet Caper (1981) / The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984) - Both of these original Muppet movies are lots of fun. I'm especially partial to the first, which features a jewel heist and some very funny performances from Charles Grodin and John Cleese, but the second is terrific as well and is more in keeping with the established Muppet personalities, since Kermit and the gang are performers rather than reporters. There's also that fun sequence imagining the Muppets as babies, a precursor to the popular cartoon.
Superman II (1981) - I love Superman, and I'm particularly a fan of this movie, in which the world is threatened by the sinister Zod, who has arrived with two cronies ready to do some serious damage. Christopher Reeve is terrific as both bumbling Clark and impenetrable Superman, and his rescue of a child who takes a tumble at Niagara Falls is one of my all-time favorite superhero moments.
Annie (1982) - Don'tcha just love tomorrow? This optimistic musical is fun and cheerful, with the title character's spirit uplifting just about everyone she touches, all the way up to the President of the United States. A great rags-to-riches story with terrific songs and the hilarious performance by Carol Burnett as the tipsy, diabolical Miss Hannigan.
The Dark Crystal (1982) - One of Jim Henson's darkest projects, this film depicts a beautifully imagined world ruled by opposing entities. It's a haunting fable all about sacrifice and balance, with gorgeous creatures and landscapes and occasional touches of humor, most courtesy of the gruff Aughra and the Ewok-like pod people.
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) - This pensive film is basically tied with the fourth as my favorite Trek movie. It finds Kirk contemplating middle age while confronting two people he thought were out of his life forever and adjusting to his unexpected role of father. Ricardo Mantalban is deliciously over-the-top as the vengeful Khan, Scotty shows his emotional side after his beloved nephew joins the crew and Spock and Kirk share the most powerful moment in the entire series.
A Christmas Story (1983) / Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983) / A Christmas Carol (1984) - It was a great couple of years for Christmas movies. The first is the funniest, a cult classic that is nostalgic but snarky and is my brother's all-time-favorite Christmas flick. The second is the most kid-friendly, an adaptation of Dickens' classic tale that clocks in at under 30 minutes, casting Mickey as hard-working Bob, Donald as exuberant Fred and, naturally, Scottish miser Scrooge McDuck as old Ebenezer. The third, starring George C. Scott, is my favorite straightforward adaptation of the story. It's much more detailed than the Disney version or even the Muppet version, which is my all-time favorite. Scott is magnificent as Scrooge, and David Warner is truly moving as the best Bob Cratchit I've ever seen.
The Karate Kid (1984) - While the second installment in the trilogy is my favorite, I love the first movie too, and it includes most of the truly classic Karate Kid moments, from "Wax on, wax off" to catching the fly with the chopsticks. While it's exciting to see Daniel transform from a hot-headed fish out of water into a karate champion, it's his relationship with the wise Mr. Miyagi that really makes the movie so much fun to watch.
The Empire Strikes Back (1980) / Return of the Jedi (1983) - What would an '80s list be without Star Wars? The second installment traumatized me, but it also introduced Yoda, who I adore and includes the delightful insult, "You stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf-herder!" Most fans seem to list it as their favorite of the series, and it was even referenced in a recent episode of LOST. My favorite, though, is the concluding chapter of the trilogy, with its powerful themes of family and redemption. And what can I say... I'm a fan of the Ewoks!
The Blues Brothers (1980) - Saturday Night Live can be pretty stupid, but this movie based on characters from the long-running sketch show is one of my favorite comedies. Yes, a lot of cars wind up totaled, but there's also a slew of cameos from the likes of Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin and some terrific performances, my favorite of which is the impromptu rendition of the Rawhide theme song. And the madcap adventure has a worthy purpose, as Jake and Elwood are "on a mission from God" to raise money to save the orphanage where they grew up.
Airplane! (1980) - More one-liners and bad puns than you can shake a stick at, and the visual gags are just as rampant. This is one of the silliest movies I have ever seen, but I love it. Some of the jokes are a little off-color, but most of it is just plain goofy, and no matter how repetitive it gets, I laugh every time. Leslie Nielsen and Peter Graves are particularly funny.
The Great Muppet Caper (1981) / The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984) - Both of these original Muppet movies are lots of fun. I'm especially partial to the first, which features a jewel heist and some very funny performances from Charles Grodin and John Cleese, but the second is terrific as well and is more in keeping with the established Muppet personalities, since Kermit and the gang are performers rather than reporters. There's also that fun sequence imagining the Muppets as babies, a precursor to the popular cartoon.
Superman II (1981) - I love Superman, and I'm particularly a fan of this movie, in which the world is threatened by the sinister Zod, who has arrived with two cronies ready to do some serious damage. Christopher Reeve is terrific as both bumbling Clark and impenetrable Superman, and his rescue of a child who takes a tumble at Niagara Falls is one of my all-time favorite superhero moments.
Annie (1982) - Don'tcha just love tomorrow? This optimistic musical is fun and cheerful, with the title character's spirit uplifting just about everyone she touches, all the way up to the President of the United States. A great rags-to-riches story with terrific songs and the hilarious performance by Carol Burnett as the tipsy, diabolical Miss Hannigan.
The Dark Crystal (1982) - One of Jim Henson's darkest projects, this film depicts a beautifully imagined world ruled by opposing entities. It's a haunting fable all about sacrifice and balance, with gorgeous creatures and landscapes and occasional touches of humor, most courtesy of the gruff Aughra and the Ewok-like pod people.
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) - This pensive film is basically tied with the fourth as my favorite Trek movie. It finds Kirk contemplating middle age while confronting two people he thought were out of his life forever and adjusting to his unexpected role of father. Ricardo Mantalban is deliciously over-the-top as the vengeful Khan, Scotty shows his emotional side after his beloved nephew joins the crew and Spock and Kirk share the most powerful moment in the entire series.
A Christmas Story (1983) / Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983) / A Christmas Carol (1984) - It was a great couple of years for Christmas movies. The first is the funniest, a cult classic that is nostalgic but snarky and is my brother's all-time-favorite Christmas flick. The second is the most kid-friendly, an adaptation of Dickens' classic tale that clocks in at under 30 minutes, casting Mickey as hard-working Bob, Donald as exuberant Fred and, naturally, Scottish miser Scrooge McDuck as old Ebenezer. The third, starring George C. Scott, is my favorite straightforward adaptation of the story. It's much more detailed than the Disney version or even the Muppet version, which is my all-time favorite. Scott is magnificent as Scrooge, and David Warner is truly moving as the best Bob Cratchit I've ever seen.
The Karate Kid (1984) - While the second installment in the trilogy is my favorite, I love the first movie too, and it includes most of the truly classic Karate Kid moments, from "Wax on, wax off" to catching the fly with the chopsticks. While it's exciting to see Daniel transform from a hot-headed fish out of water into a karate champion, it's his relationship with the wise Mr. Miyagi that really makes the movie so much fun to watch.
Monday, August 17, 2009
2006 Delivers a Solid Pack of Movies With No Clear Stand-Out
The year 2006 was a busy one for my family, with one brother graduating
from college, another from high school, an international guest staying
for the summer and a cousin getting married. In the midst of all the
activity, we got around to watching a few movies - though the majority
of 2006 movies I’ve seen were watched later, thanks to Netflix. I don’t
know that I can identify a clear favorite among the films, but there
were several I enjoyed very much. These were my ten favorites.
Akeelah and the Bee - An uplifting movie about a young girl overcoming obstacles to compete in a national spelling bee. Keke Palmer is terrific as the young spelling whiz, while Laurence Fishburne shines as her determined mentor.
Cars - It’s hard to go wrong with Pixar, and Cars is one of my favorite of their films, particularly once we leave the frantic energy of the race track for the drowsy comfort of Radiator Springs, where dwell a colorful collection of automobiles, most of them weathered and rustic, none more so than Mater, a rickety, dim-witted, open-hearted tow truck voiced by Larry the Cable Guy. The characters are lovable, the animation glorious, the vision of a world populated exclusively with vehicles clever. Plus, it has Our Town, an original song by James Taylor, one of my favorite tunes to grace a Disney film in quite some time.
Charlotte's Web - The E. B. White classic was one of the first chapter books I ever read. I’d seen the cartoon many times but was excited for a live action version, and I was quite satisfied with the results. Dakota Fanning is wonderful as always, and the movie has a quiet charm to it most of the time that definitely does justice to the novel. Beautiful cinematography and a lovely theme song by Sarah McLaughlin help make this an exquisite movie.
The Holiday - I didn’t catch this one in the theater, but renting it made for a perfect cozy evening at home. I love the idea of switching houses for a few days or weeks; sounds like a grand way to take an exotic vacation. Here, it’s a workaholic American and a disgruntled Brit who exchange homes and lifestyles, leading each of them to romance and revelation. All four leads are likable, but Eli Wallach steals the show as an elderly screenwriting legend who bonds with Kate Winslet’s character.
Miss Potter - I tend not to be a big fan of Renee Zellweger, but I love her in this gentle biopic about feisty turn-of-the-century author Beatrix Potter. This movie focuses primarily on her beginnings in the writing business, when an enthusiastic young publisher played by an utterly endearing Ewan McGregor sees promise in the project his brothers saw as silly. Their business relationship blossoms into one of the sweetest love stories I’ve seen captured on film.
Nanny McPhee - Emma Thompson stars in this Mary Poppins-like tale of a nanny who tames a bunch of unruly children. She arrives, snaggle-toothed and intimidating, to help the harried single father played by Colin Firth; as her unusual disciplinary methods begin to have an effect, her appearance gradually changes for the better. A funny and tender fantasy.
Pan's Labyrinth - This dark but moving Spanish film written and directed by Guillermo del Toro delves into magical realism as it explores the story of a girl named Ofelia who seeks a fantastical inheritance while the world around her crumbles. Sergi Lopez is a horrific villain, but del Toro’s magnificent vision of Ofelia’s submerged kingdom and Ivana Baguero’s spirited performance as the young heroine, as well as Alex Angulo’s turn as a compassionate doctor, keep the film from getting bogged down in despair. This was the film I’d most hoped to see before the Oscars. I didn’t quite manage it, but when I did rent it I was able to get first-hand confirmation of what all those little gold statues had assured.
The Queen - It was a good year for biopics, and while Forrest Whitaker deserves equal recognition for his towering performance as Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland, the horrors of that movie are such that I don’t think I could stomach another viewing. However, I’d be glad to return to Helen Mirren’s excellent performance as the restrained Queen Elizabeth II trying to wrap her head around the international outpouring of grief for Princess Diana. That incident made a big impression upon me, and it was fascinating to see it portrayed on film from the perspective of the Royal Family.
Superman Returns - I’ve always been a Superman fan, but my fondness for Clark Kent was dramatically refreshed when my brother got me hooked on Smallville in early 2006. Over the course of his last term of high school, we breezed through three seasons of the show, so when the new Superman movie hit theaters that summer, I was especially pumped. So we went to Tinseltown and bought tickets for opening night, and I went in my glow-in-the-dark Superman shirt and cheered as Superman saved the day yet again in a funny, touching, action-packed update.
We Are Marshall - I caught this one in the dollar theater, one of many films whose main draw was a LOST connection. In this case, it was Matthew Fox, who portrays one of the few surviving members of a college football team devastated by a plane crash. Fox is the brooding assistant coach, while Matthew McConaughey plays the enthusiastic newbie determined to rebuild the team practically from scratch. Meanwhile, as Marshall University’s president, David Strathairn fills a small role with great significance. This true tale of resilience in the face of tragedy is one of the best inspirational sports movies I’ve seen.
Well, there you have it. Of course, there are still a lot of major movies from 2006 that I haven’t seen, but what I saw was pretty impressive.
Akeelah and the Bee - An uplifting movie about a young girl overcoming obstacles to compete in a national spelling bee. Keke Palmer is terrific as the young spelling whiz, while Laurence Fishburne shines as her determined mentor.
Cars - It’s hard to go wrong with Pixar, and Cars is one of my favorite of their films, particularly once we leave the frantic energy of the race track for the drowsy comfort of Radiator Springs, where dwell a colorful collection of automobiles, most of them weathered and rustic, none more so than Mater, a rickety, dim-witted, open-hearted tow truck voiced by Larry the Cable Guy. The characters are lovable, the animation glorious, the vision of a world populated exclusively with vehicles clever. Plus, it has Our Town, an original song by James Taylor, one of my favorite tunes to grace a Disney film in quite some time.
Charlotte's Web - The E. B. White classic was one of the first chapter books I ever read. I’d seen the cartoon many times but was excited for a live action version, and I was quite satisfied with the results. Dakota Fanning is wonderful as always, and the movie has a quiet charm to it most of the time that definitely does justice to the novel. Beautiful cinematography and a lovely theme song by Sarah McLaughlin help make this an exquisite movie.
The Holiday - I didn’t catch this one in the theater, but renting it made for a perfect cozy evening at home. I love the idea of switching houses for a few days or weeks; sounds like a grand way to take an exotic vacation. Here, it’s a workaholic American and a disgruntled Brit who exchange homes and lifestyles, leading each of them to romance and revelation. All four leads are likable, but Eli Wallach steals the show as an elderly screenwriting legend who bonds with Kate Winslet’s character.
Miss Potter - I tend not to be a big fan of Renee Zellweger, but I love her in this gentle biopic about feisty turn-of-the-century author Beatrix Potter. This movie focuses primarily on her beginnings in the writing business, when an enthusiastic young publisher played by an utterly endearing Ewan McGregor sees promise in the project his brothers saw as silly. Their business relationship blossoms into one of the sweetest love stories I’ve seen captured on film.
Nanny McPhee - Emma Thompson stars in this Mary Poppins-like tale of a nanny who tames a bunch of unruly children. She arrives, snaggle-toothed and intimidating, to help the harried single father played by Colin Firth; as her unusual disciplinary methods begin to have an effect, her appearance gradually changes for the better. A funny and tender fantasy.
Pan's Labyrinth - This dark but moving Spanish film written and directed by Guillermo del Toro delves into magical realism as it explores the story of a girl named Ofelia who seeks a fantastical inheritance while the world around her crumbles. Sergi Lopez is a horrific villain, but del Toro’s magnificent vision of Ofelia’s submerged kingdom and Ivana Baguero’s spirited performance as the young heroine, as well as Alex Angulo’s turn as a compassionate doctor, keep the film from getting bogged down in despair. This was the film I’d most hoped to see before the Oscars. I didn’t quite manage it, but when I did rent it I was able to get first-hand confirmation of what all those little gold statues had assured.
The Queen - It was a good year for biopics, and while Forrest Whitaker deserves equal recognition for his towering performance as Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland, the horrors of that movie are such that I don’t think I could stomach another viewing. However, I’d be glad to return to Helen Mirren’s excellent performance as the restrained Queen Elizabeth II trying to wrap her head around the international outpouring of grief for Princess Diana. That incident made a big impression upon me, and it was fascinating to see it portrayed on film from the perspective of the Royal Family.
Superman Returns - I’ve always been a Superman fan, but my fondness for Clark Kent was dramatically refreshed when my brother got me hooked on Smallville in early 2006. Over the course of his last term of high school, we breezed through three seasons of the show, so when the new Superman movie hit theaters that summer, I was especially pumped. So we went to Tinseltown and bought tickets for opening night, and I went in my glow-in-the-dark Superman shirt and cheered as Superman saved the day yet again in a funny, touching, action-packed update.
We Are Marshall - I caught this one in the dollar theater, one of many films whose main draw was a LOST connection. In this case, it was Matthew Fox, who portrays one of the few surviving members of a college football team devastated by a plane crash. Fox is the brooding assistant coach, while Matthew McConaughey plays the enthusiastic newbie determined to rebuild the team practically from scratch. Meanwhile, as Marshall University’s president, David Strathairn fills a small role with great significance. This true tale of resilience in the face of tragedy is one of the best inspirational sports movies I’ve seen.
Well, there you have it. Of course, there are still a lot of major movies from 2006 that I haven’t seen, but what I saw was pretty impressive.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
I Go Bananas for Herbie!
Among my Christmas presents this year was a gift card to Target, which I
used to buy the game Apples to Apples. Last year, I also got a Target
gift card, with which I purchased a four-pack of Herbie movies. I spread
out my viewings of the movies, leaving the last for this year. The
title: Herbie Goes Bananas. What can I say? I'm a fruitcake! You
almost have to be to get such a kick out of the idea of a little
Volkswagen beetle with a heart of gold and an ability to drive himself
around town. Herbie sure seems to know what he's doing, despite the
nerve-racking nature of some of his death-defying stunts; I wouldn't
mind having him as my own personal chauffeur. Especially if he came with
that nifty theme song.
But a lot of people don't agree with me. The movies, made during the 70s and 80s, back when Disney was still churning out innocuous live-action family films, are very G-rated, heavy on the corny special effects, marked in some cases by gaping plot holes (beyond the obvious "Wait! Cars aren't alive!" deal). I made the rather grievous error of semi-forcing Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo on my brother over the summer. He was not impressed. In fact, his string of cynical comments left me so jaded that I gave the movie three stars. Poor Herbie! If I wrote the review today, I'm sure I'd rate it much higher, but I'll leave my original rating as a reminder to myself that some movies are best enjoyed only in certain company.
My mom was the only one I subjected to Herbie Goes Bananas. We popped it in late the other night and fell asleep watching it. Tonight I skipped ahead and watched the ending I missed the other day. It's all gloriously cheesy, with hardy little Herbie always saving the day, much more in control of the situation than his human counterparts. It obviously was geared toward children, probably more than the other installments because this one features Paco (Joaquin Garay III), an adorable Spanish-speaking scamp whose pick-pocketing skill is unmatched and whose affectionate nature is wasted on such a cut-throat living. He just wants somebody to love, and he finds that someone in "Ocho," the name he chooses for Herbie when he stows away inside him early in the movie. After they are reunited later, a chorus of children sing a syrupy song about friendship whose lyrics include the cheerful line "I bet you a banana manana you'll have a new friend!" If Nathan had been watching with me, I think he would have hit the mute button.
Even I admit the song is a bit much, but the rest of the movie is pretty solid entertainment. Jim Douglas has passed Herbie on to new owners again; I don't know why he bothers, since Herbie somehow always seems to end up back with him. But the boys who inherit him are a good couple of chaps. His nephew Pete (Stephen Burns) is a dreamboat and a mighty soft touch, easily taken in by Paco's practiced routine, while his toothy compadre D. J. (Charles Martin Smith) seems just a bit more world-wise. It had been so long since I'd seen this movie that when we first started watching, I couldn't recall if they were the good guys or the bad guys, but their actions soon showed them to be men of character.
They're also men of ambition, having traveled to South America to pick up Herbie and drive him to victory in a major Brazilian race. Too bad for them that they get mixed up with Paco, who tangles with a group of troublemaking treasure seekers led by the sinister Prindle (John Vernon). Herbie takes it upon himself to protect the kid, which leads to several embarrassing situations for the lads, particularly when Herbie arouses the ire of the overbearing Captain Blythe (Harvey Korman), captain of the ship on which the young men appeal to their flirtatious aunt Louise (Cloris Leachman) for funds to back their entry into the big race. Problematically, Herbie's antics so enrage the captain that he forces the little car to walk the plank, of all cruel things. But we all know that's not enough to keep a good car down!
Interwoven into the plot are two love stories, neither of which is too prominent. The first involves Aunt Louise's rather ridiculous crush on Captain Blythe, an overdramatic sea dog whose only true loves are the open water and a fine vessel in full sail. The second is between Pete and Melissa (Elyssa Davalos), a severe young doctoral candidate who always keeps her hair up tight in a bun and her eyes shielded behind enormous glasses. While the first never seems to be reciprocal, the second could be, except that it begins merely as a means of winning Aunt Louise's favor, as she is determined to play matchmaker for her traveling companion, who has the capacity to be both pretty and vivacious. Once Melissa finds this out, she is none too pleased, feeling as though she has been used, even though Pete's feelings toward her have changed.
The main action involves Herbie, though, getting himself out of close scrapes while getting the humans closely associated with him into them. He zooms along at top speed. He floats for miles in the water, becoming covered with rust. He plays chicken with a bull - and wins! And of course, as per the film's title, he allows himself to be decorated with bananas in hopes that will throw the bad guys off his scent; later, when the scoundrels show up anyway, he resumes his attempts to thwart them, this time lobbing bananas at them as they try to get away with a massive wheel of pilfered Inca gold. It's quite the slippery spectacle. Other than those small scenes, plus that line in the song, there's little in the movie to suggest the title in any literal sense, but he certainly does "go bananas" throughout the movie if we're talking about acting in a crazily silly way.
We never actually get to see Herbie's big race; the film ends just before it's about to start, with Paco in the driver's seat in a shiny racing suit, having just explained to D.J. that he calls Herbie "Ocho" because "five and three make eight - everyone knows that"! The closest thing to an actual race is the bullfight, but that doesn't bother me much since every major Herbie race tends to play out pretty much the same way as the climactic event in The Love Bug. Herbie's most interesting to me as a sort of metallic Lassie, exuding friendship and coming to the rescue of an assortment of disaster-prone humans. We get plenty of that here, plus the sprightly theme song, so who am I to complain about a few corny moments and pesky plot holes?
But a lot of people don't agree with me. The movies, made during the 70s and 80s, back when Disney was still churning out innocuous live-action family films, are very G-rated, heavy on the corny special effects, marked in some cases by gaping plot holes (beyond the obvious "Wait! Cars aren't alive!" deal). I made the rather grievous error of semi-forcing Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo on my brother over the summer. He was not impressed. In fact, his string of cynical comments left me so jaded that I gave the movie three stars. Poor Herbie! If I wrote the review today, I'm sure I'd rate it much higher, but I'll leave my original rating as a reminder to myself that some movies are best enjoyed only in certain company.
My mom was the only one I subjected to Herbie Goes Bananas. We popped it in late the other night and fell asleep watching it. Tonight I skipped ahead and watched the ending I missed the other day. It's all gloriously cheesy, with hardy little Herbie always saving the day, much more in control of the situation than his human counterparts. It obviously was geared toward children, probably more than the other installments because this one features Paco (Joaquin Garay III), an adorable Spanish-speaking scamp whose pick-pocketing skill is unmatched and whose affectionate nature is wasted on such a cut-throat living. He just wants somebody to love, and he finds that someone in "Ocho," the name he chooses for Herbie when he stows away inside him early in the movie. After they are reunited later, a chorus of children sing a syrupy song about friendship whose lyrics include the cheerful line "I bet you a banana manana you'll have a new friend!" If Nathan had been watching with me, I think he would have hit the mute button.
Even I admit the song is a bit much, but the rest of the movie is pretty solid entertainment. Jim Douglas has passed Herbie on to new owners again; I don't know why he bothers, since Herbie somehow always seems to end up back with him. But the boys who inherit him are a good couple of chaps. His nephew Pete (Stephen Burns) is a dreamboat and a mighty soft touch, easily taken in by Paco's practiced routine, while his toothy compadre D. J. (Charles Martin Smith) seems just a bit more world-wise. It had been so long since I'd seen this movie that when we first started watching, I couldn't recall if they were the good guys or the bad guys, but their actions soon showed them to be men of character.
They're also men of ambition, having traveled to South America to pick up Herbie and drive him to victory in a major Brazilian race. Too bad for them that they get mixed up with Paco, who tangles with a group of troublemaking treasure seekers led by the sinister Prindle (John Vernon). Herbie takes it upon himself to protect the kid, which leads to several embarrassing situations for the lads, particularly when Herbie arouses the ire of the overbearing Captain Blythe (Harvey Korman), captain of the ship on which the young men appeal to their flirtatious aunt Louise (Cloris Leachman) for funds to back their entry into the big race. Problematically, Herbie's antics so enrage the captain that he forces the little car to walk the plank, of all cruel things. But we all know that's not enough to keep a good car down!
Interwoven into the plot are two love stories, neither of which is too prominent. The first involves Aunt Louise's rather ridiculous crush on Captain Blythe, an overdramatic sea dog whose only true loves are the open water and a fine vessel in full sail. The second is between Pete and Melissa (Elyssa Davalos), a severe young doctoral candidate who always keeps her hair up tight in a bun and her eyes shielded behind enormous glasses. While the first never seems to be reciprocal, the second could be, except that it begins merely as a means of winning Aunt Louise's favor, as she is determined to play matchmaker for her traveling companion, who has the capacity to be both pretty and vivacious. Once Melissa finds this out, she is none too pleased, feeling as though she has been used, even though Pete's feelings toward her have changed.
The main action involves Herbie, though, getting himself out of close scrapes while getting the humans closely associated with him into them. He zooms along at top speed. He floats for miles in the water, becoming covered with rust. He plays chicken with a bull - and wins! And of course, as per the film's title, he allows himself to be decorated with bananas in hopes that will throw the bad guys off his scent; later, when the scoundrels show up anyway, he resumes his attempts to thwart them, this time lobbing bananas at them as they try to get away with a massive wheel of pilfered Inca gold. It's quite the slippery spectacle. Other than those small scenes, plus that line in the song, there's little in the movie to suggest the title in any literal sense, but he certainly does "go bananas" throughout the movie if we're talking about acting in a crazily silly way.
We never actually get to see Herbie's big race; the film ends just before it's about to start, with Paco in the driver's seat in a shiny racing suit, having just explained to D.J. that he calls Herbie "Ocho" because "five and three make eight - everyone knows that"! The closest thing to an actual race is the bullfight, but that doesn't bother me much since every major Herbie race tends to play out pretty much the same way as the climactic event in The Love Bug. Herbie's most interesting to me as a sort of metallic Lassie, exuding friendship and coming to the rescue of an assortment of disaster-prone humans. We get plenty of that here, plus the sprightly theme song, so who am I to complain about a few corny moments and pesky plot holes?
Monday, March 5, 2007
Drivers Beware: Amelia Bedelia's Behind the Wheel!
Driving is a dangerous task. You hear about terrible crashes all the
time, often with perfectly competent people behind the wheel. So the
thought of a perpetually perplexed person rolling along down the road is
not a very comforting one, but this is just the situation in Good Driving, Amelia Bedelia, written by Herman Parish, nephew to Peggy Parish, creator of the series.
It's Amelia's birthday, so Mr. Rogers suggests that she take his car and go off to visit her cousin, who is cursed with the one of the strangest names I have encountered. Cousin Alcolu will have to wait, though, because Amelia hasn't driven in years, so her boss offers to accompany her on a test run around the countryside. It's a good thing it's a sparsely traveled dirt road, because things don't go very smoothly. Well, what did Mr. Rogers expect with Amelia in the driver's seat?
Veteran Amelia illustrator Lynn Sweat is still in place here, lending greater continuity to a series whose reins have been passed to the next generation. Although she has the day off, she's still garbed in her black maid's dress with the white apron and the black flowered bonnet. Throughout the book, her face displays a range of emotions from glee to confusion, along with one very fearful scream when, as Parish drolly writes, "Mr. Rogers was about to blow up. The tire beat him to it."
Amelia tries to follow Mr. Rogers' instructions, but is it her fault that he's sending so many conflicting messages? Where is this fork that's supposed to be sitting in the middle of the road? Why is he cross when she turns right after he warns her about the bear to the left? My question is, How in the world did Amelia Bedelia ever get her license in the first place? Maybe she suffered some blunt force trauma to the head between the time she got her license and the time she started working for the Rogerses, addling her wits to an unnatural degree. I guess we'll never know.
One thing we do know is that Amelia Bedelia is as entertaining as ever in Herman's hands. This book is a little shorter than most in the series, and the format is slightly different, as it looks like a typical picture book rather than the I Can Read books, which are thicker but not nearly as wide. Everyone can get a laugh out of Amelia's misadventures here, and a sigh of relief that they're not the ones in the passenger seat.
It's Amelia's birthday, so Mr. Rogers suggests that she take his car and go off to visit her cousin, who is cursed with the one of the strangest names I have encountered. Cousin Alcolu will have to wait, though, because Amelia hasn't driven in years, so her boss offers to accompany her on a test run around the countryside. It's a good thing it's a sparsely traveled dirt road, because things don't go very smoothly. Well, what did Mr. Rogers expect with Amelia in the driver's seat?
Veteran Amelia illustrator Lynn Sweat is still in place here, lending greater continuity to a series whose reins have been passed to the next generation. Although she has the day off, she's still garbed in her black maid's dress with the white apron and the black flowered bonnet. Throughout the book, her face displays a range of emotions from glee to confusion, along with one very fearful scream when, as Parish drolly writes, "Mr. Rogers was about to blow up. The tire beat him to it."
Amelia tries to follow Mr. Rogers' instructions, but is it her fault that he's sending so many conflicting messages? Where is this fork that's supposed to be sitting in the middle of the road? Why is he cross when she turns right after he warns her about the bear to the left? My question is, How in the world did Amelia Bedelia ever get her license in the first place? Maybe she suffered some blunt force trauma to the head between the time she got her license and the time she started working for the Rogerses, addling her wits to an unnatural degree. I guess we'll never know.
One thing we do know is that Amelia Bedelia is as entertaining as ever in Herman's hands. This book is a little shorter than most in the series, and the format is slightly different, as it looks like a typical picture book rather than the I Can Read books, which are thicker but not nearly as wide. Everyone can get a laugh out of Amelia's misadventures here, and a sigh of relief that they're not the ones in the passenger seat.
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