Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2017 21:08:33 GMT
I've just been to see this new film from the people who brought you The Secret Life of Pets (which had a poop joke as its intellectual high point) and Minions (an emotional travelator of a film that sucked more than the suckiest thing to ever suck in the history of suckage), and found it surprisingly engaging.
The trailers had left me with mixed expectations and I was prepared for something mildly entertaining that wouldn't make much of an effort to draw me in, but after a while I was liking it considerably more than I'd anticipated. Part of its appeal is that the core of the story is tied to the fortunes of its theatre setting far more than the trailers had suggested, and I suspect that aspect of it will resonate with people on this forum rather more than it will with the general public. The opening minute or so in particular will strike a chord with everyone here. The humour is somewhat more sophisticated than recent offerings from Illumination, the characters are considerably more appealing, and the entire thing is a whole lot more enjoyable. I think I'll be buying this one when it's out on BD.
The only thing I did find a little off-putting is that while the first half of the film handled the difficulties of running a failing theatre reasonably realistically (or as realistically as it could hope to be for a theatre owned by a koala) the second half kind of lost sight of the limits of the possible. The cast of the show have to set up a temporary stage on a budget of nothing and what they come up with would put a major tour to shame. It's a bit nit-picky, but for a flat-broke group of people to fill the entire rear wall of a stage with lights is stretching unreality too far. It starts to feel weird when the fact that the lighting is controlled by a sheep is the most plausible part of the scene.
It's worth staying for the first half of the credits to see the performing squid.
The trailers had left me with mixed expectations and I was prepared for something mildly entertaining that wouldn't make much of an effort to draw me in, but after a while I was liking it considerably more than I'd anticipated. Part of its appeal is that the core of the story is tied to the fortunes of its theatre setting far more than the trailers had suggested, and I suspect that aspect of it will resonate with people on this forum rather more than it will with the general public. The opening minute or so in particular will strike a chord with everyone here. The humour is somewhat more sophisticated than recent offerings from Illumination, the characters are considerably more appealing, and the entire thing is a whole lot more enjoyable. I think I'll be buying this one when it's out on BD.
The only thing I did find a little off-putting is that while the first half of the film handled the difficulties of running a failing theatre reasonably realistically (or as realistically as it could hope to be for a theatre owned by a koala) the second half kind of lost sight of the limits of the possible. The cast of the show have to set up a temporary stage on a budget of nothing and what they come up with would put a major tour to shame. It's a bit nit-picky, but for a flat-broke group of people to fill the entire rear wall of a stage with lights is stretching unreality too far. It starts to feel weird when the fact that the lighting is controlled by a sheep is the most plausible part of the scene.
It's worth staying for the first half of the credits to see the performing squid.
