film reviews

The Great Wolf Pack: A Call to Adventure

Posted on by Remy G.

I first heard about Great Wolf Lodge through several commercials and an episode of Undercover Boss (though I didn’t watch said episode completely), with the immediate attraction being the indoor water park chain’s lupine mascot Wiley Wolf, outfitted in an adorable boy scout/park ranger combination uniform. As such, I researched said company and discovered their anthropomorphic animal cast aimed at younger audiences. The characters would endure several aesthetic changes, the latest of which would star in a short movie, The Great Wolf Pack: Call to Adventure, released in 2022.

The film itself stars Wiley Wolf in his latest design as he joins friends like Sammy Squirrel, Oliver Raccoon, and others in an adventure that later involves a clash between two races with a claim to a territory. The characters are cute, the animation is fluid, the themes are relatable, and the voice performances are well-executed. However, there are issues like the general kiddy nature of the movie and lack of appeal to older audiences. Many “why” moments regarding dialogue and conversations also abound, and other oddities like Oliver having red panda parents come at the end. The theme songs during the ending credits are somewhat excruciating as well.

Still, it’s not a long film and is viewable on YouTube.

Bagi, the Monster of Mighty Nature

Posted on by Remy G.

I heard about this 1980s made-for-television anime film from a friend here on Dreamwidth; given the central role of an anthropomorphic cat-woman, I couldn’t resist. It opens in medias res with a score-old Japanese hunter, Ryosuke (or just Ryo), teaming with a South American boy, Chico (with the character costuming largely implying Mexico more than any other country), to track a monster terrorizing the countryside. Five years before, Ryo, also the son of a crime reporter father and geneticist mother, rides with his motorcycle gang and encounters a cat-woman named Bagi, a hybrid of a human and a puma.

The film relates the backstories of Bagi and Ryo’s mother, which culminates in stopping a conspiracy of scientists planning to unleash a strain of rice that can eradicate humanity, eventually returning to the present afterward. Overall, I found this a satisfying watch, even if I had to watch it in Japanese (but luckily with English subtitles), but the performances of the seiyū were superb. Given that the flaws of English voice acting are more readily apparent than those of a foreign language, this wasn’t a bad thing, and all the voices fit their respective characters. It’s on YouTube, so by all means, watch it.

The Wind in the Willows (1995)

Posted on by Remy G.

I may have heard of Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows before seventh grade before I read the actual book, given its intelligent animal cast. After reading it, it remained one of my all-time favorite pieces of literature, mildly influential upon my written word. Numerous adaptations have spawned since the dawn of film and television (most on the latter), with Disney being among the earliest studios to take a crack at it by combining it with their interpretation of Washington Irving’s completely unrelated short story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

Among the more contemporary (sort of) adaptations is the 1995 British animated television film produced by the TVC (Television Cartoons) in London (likely defunct since nothing has come out of the studio since 2001). It opens with a live-action sequence where a Victorian woman begins to tell her children the tale, which quickly morphs into a full-fledged animated film. The story proper starts with Mole, disillusioned with spring cleaning, emerging from his underground home to meet and befriend Ratty (just called Rat in this adaptation), with both having a picnic with another river inhabitant, Otter, and his young pup, Portly.

Then they join the wealthy Mr. Toad, who takes them on a trip with his gypsy caravan, but the amphibian hastily develops a fascination with motor vehicles when one causes his carriage to crash. The following spring, Ratty, Mole, and their friend, Mr. Badger, attempt to dissuade their amphibian friend from his obsessions, but he steals and crashes a car, earning a score-long prison sentence. He ultimately escapes with the help of the jailer’s daughter, encountering various tribulations before reuniting with his companions and taking back Toad Hall when weasels seize it. 

Overall, I enjoyed this adaptation, though I can’t wholly attest to its faithfulness to the source material (but it seems to do so, at least in my memory). The bookends of the Victorian woman telling her children the story seem unnecessary. However, I liked the various costumes of the animal characters, Otter in particular, and the animation was pleasant. I would gladly reread the book were I to get the time and watch its other adaptations, probably excluding the live-action ones since most seem to star humans that look nothing like the animals they allegedly play. Regardless, I don’t regret watching this film and would recommend it.

Jesus Christ Superstar

Posted on by Remy G.

(I watched this to celebrate Good Friday.)

Based on the rock opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, the first film adaptation of Jesus Christ Superstar, directed by Norman Jewison (who had two years before directed that of Fiddler on the Roof) is an incredibly psychedelic take on the story of Jesus that screams “the 1970s,” rife with tons of WTF anachronisms (like a bus of hippies, military soldiers that resemble those of the film’s time, and a few air force jets, among others), and sizably focusing on historical/religious figures like Jewish high priest Joseph ben Caiaphas (whose name and biblical role I now know thanks to the film and his respective Wikipedia article), with bizarre takes on other luminaries like King Herod as well.

I don’t want to go into intense depth about the film. However, I will say that it exemplifies my belief that the quality of any form of media like books, film, television, and video games (for me especially), positive or negative, is almost strictly a point of view. Much of the music is enjoyable and sometimes catchy but frequently has abrupt instrumental, stylistic, and tonal shifts, with its other aspects having abundant WTF and YMMV moments. I found the film incredibly entertaining (but as I said, film quality is often a point of view) because I relate to the story of Jesus as an autistic (like being seen as delusional and ostracized by my kind) and have certain biases regarding the religious commentary, in which case it very much deserved the criticism from religious groups it got at its time of release.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie but can easily understand why and how many others would feel otherwise.

Paint Your Wagon

Posted on by Remy G.

Based on the 1951 Lerner and Loewe American Western musical of the same name, the 1969 adaptation of Paint Your Wagon stars Lee Marvin as a prospector, Clint Eastwood as an amnesiac whom he recruits as his business partner, and Jean Seberg as one of a Mormon’s wives that he decides to sell to the highest bidder. I first saw this film as a rental in my town’s Blockbuster Video when that chain was still a thing, the title alone piquing my curiosity, the fact Clint Eastwood was in it being one of the sole things I knew about it. The following knowledge I would get about the film came from a brief spoof in The Simpsons episode “All Singing, All Dancing.”

Despite the title, the musical has nothing at all to do with literally painting wagons, with “paint your wagon” being a (very) dated expression meaning “to get things done.” Marvin’s character, Ben Rumson, dubs Eastwood’s “Pardner” as he recuperates, with a new tent town, “No Name City,” emerging when they discover gold. The male inhabitants become lonely from no female companionship until the mentioned Mormon husband comes and sells his wife Elizabeth to a drunken Rumson. A love triangle quickly emerges when Ben leaves his fiancé under Pardner’s care.

The latter portion of the movie involves Rumson and his men scheming to tunnel beneath No Name City to collect gold dust precipitating through the floorboards of saloons from paying customers, the only notable plot detail of which I had heard, courtesy my high school economics class, before I streamed this film. A zealous parson also comes to town in futile attempts to get its residents to abandon their sinful ways. Of course, many musical numbers abound, and while Marvin and Eastwood have never been known for their singing abilities, they did decently, with the former’s “Wand’rin’ Star” probably being the high point of the film’s songs.

While I know this film gets its share of criticism, much justified, I found it an entertaining watch, with some initial themes like Rumson putting his business partners first and his apathy towards humanity resounding well with me. Mature content like references to venereal disease and prostitution also get some spotlight. Religious themes are front and center as well, given Rumson’s indifference towards God, the references to Mormonism and polygamy, and the ultrareligious preacher. Much of the film likely didn’t fly well with 1969 moviegoers (though modern audiences would probably find it less offensive than, say, Blazing Saddles). However, I think that time has vindicated it somewhat, and don’t regret seeing it.

Wonka

Posted on by Remy G.

I remember watching the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory starring the late Gene Wilder back near the end of fourth grade, and it remained an endearing classic in my mind to the point where I rewatched it a few times when it appeared on television the following decades. I never read the Roald Dahl book and maybe saw Tim Burton’s adaptation once a few years after it was released. It’s been a bit of a curse for film adaptations of Dahl’s work to falter financially at the box office as the 1971 movie did (though Burton’s version and this were exceptions).

This prequel serves as a companion piece to both the 1971 film and Dahl’s original novel, starring Timothée Chalamet (whom I know best as Paul Atreides in the latest adaptations of Frank Herbert’s Dune) as the eponymous fledgling chocolatier, twenty-five years before the events of the first Willy Wonka film. When he returns home, he struggles financially yet finds ways to make ends meet as he grows his chocolate business. An Oompa Loompa named Lofty, portrayed by Hugh Grant like the non-dwarf actors portraying the halflings in the Lord of the Rings films, eventually aids Wonka in his endeavors. Oh, and the film’s a musical.

While I have fond memories of the original Gene Wilder film, I didn’t have any expectations before watching this prequel film but ended up enjoying it. The musical numbers are pleasant, with many original tunes alongside staples of the 1971 movie like “Pure Imagination” and “Oompa Loompa” (with Grant singing a quirky ending credits epilogue for the various characters to its tune). The cast performances are superb, the settings well executed, and the effects brilliant, accounting for an entertaining movie that does the novel and first film adaptation justice.