Okay. I have a confession. It’s just a little one. No big deal, right?
I…
Wow. Deep breath.
Okay. I… reallylikecheesymonstermovies. *hides her face behind her hands*
I know. I know! It’s a crime against man. Horrible, right? I mean, who besides me could really sit through something like Ghoulies and Ghoulies II – more than once? (“Have you seen my Muffy?” “I thought everyone’s seen your muffy.” *gigglesnort*)
That’s not to say I won’t go for the classier monster movies. I’ll just as happily watch Interview with the Vampire or Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein as I will Leprechaun 4: In Space. The MST3K of Manos: Hands of Fate (yes, you bilingual types are reading that right – “Hands: Hands of Fate”) is one of my favorite craptacular movies. Better when watched with friends to join along the MST3K goodness but, either way, it’s a thoroughly enjoyable, brain-melting, cinematic experience.
I can’t stay away from the stuff. It’s like chocolate. Or coffee. Just one more round of Critters! Noooo, please let me finish Tales from the Crypt: Bordello of Blood! I promise I’ll only watch Demon Knight one more time (this week)! Please!!
However, I’d like to point out that there was still a great deal of originality to this story. Mostly along the lines of the creatures and equipment being used and how these came into play rather than the story arc.
Let me explain. James Cameron had been working on this film for years, putting together a whole new world with different flora, fauna, races, languages, religious beliefs, etc. Most everything you’ll see there is something new, or old with a new twist. (*cough* Six-legged Gorean panthers, anyone? Wait, I don’t know anything about Gor! *innocent look*)
vs. (Strange New Alien from Pandora, or Strange New Alien from Gor circa late-1960’s? You decide!)
The basic story is that a company wants to mine a rare, expensive element called “unobtanium” (please save your groans for later, folks) on the moon Pandora. They are being thwarted by the natives, a species of sentient humanoid aliens called Na’vi. To counter the natives, the company develops a scientific approach of cloning some of the Na’vi and mixing them with human DNA. The miracles of science enable the human scientists on board to link their minds with these “avatar” bodies and interact with and study the locals.
Our hero, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), is chosen to command an avatar when his twin brother is killed. The trouble with this is that Jake is a paraplegic former marine with no scientific training to speak of. The lead scientist, Doctor Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver), takes umbrage at the thought that Jake could possibly replace his highly trained twin on the project.
Yet, Jake excels at this, and soon finds himself a place as a trusted member of the Na’vi society, helped along by Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), a female Na’vi. His allegiance to the company and fellow humans is gradually stripped away as his love for Neytiri and the Na’vi people grows. Soon, he is forced to make a choice – assist the Na’vi to defend against the destruction of the natural beauty of Pandora, or help the company reach their goal of displacing the Na’vi from their sacred grounds and homes so they can reach the unobtanium beneath the village.
It’s very true you can compare this plot to Pocahontas, Dances With Wolves, Fern Gully, whatever, and find more than a few similarities. Sure, the whole font thing was a cop-out. And, yes, I even detected some re-hashed Jurassic Park sound effects in the film.
However, that doesn’t make it a bad movie, or a bad story. It’s visually stunning, the music (courtesy of composer James Horner) is lovely, the plot gripping, and the message refreshingly clear and “clean”. It’s thoroughly enjoyable if you just watch the movie for the sake of entertainment rather than listening to the gripes about what’s wrong with it. Personally, I think its (fairly unobtrusive) message of peace, anti-war, and respect for the environment and others’ beliefs is something to get behind, rather than bitch about.
Plus, the helicopter-lizard things were freaking adorable. C’mon, people who’ve seen it, you know what I’m talking about. Don’t you just want to take one home with you?!
Of course, you can also make “Do You Wanna Date My Avatar” jokes ‘til the cows come home, but it doesn’t detract from the beauty of this film. I’d watch it again anytime.
I don’t entirely know what to make of this film (I suggest seeing it before clicking on this link — it gives away some vital plot points which are best left unspoiled the first time around). I might have to see it again a couple times to get the full impact of this thing.
How to describe it? The music was incredible. The gothic-noir setting captivating. The details behind the story (not so much the story arc as the way it was told) was original and unlike anything I’ve ever seen. It even catered to my love of gore in horror flicks. It’s intentionally gross in parts but that didn’t detract from the story for me.
True to the title, it is an opera, albeit a modernized one. It takes place after an epidemic of organ failure caused countless deaths and left behind a broken society. The company GeneCo forms from the ashes and caters to the people who need surgeries to replace their failing organs. As it grew, a “fad” for corrective surgeries formed. The owner/founder/president of GeneCo, Rottissimo “Rotti” Largo (Paul Sorvino), used his clout to push through a law that legalizes the “repossession” of organs from people who have defaulted on their payments for surgeries rendered. Rotti is terminally ill and needs to decide who to leave his empire to when he dies. He doesn’t think his three children are worthy candidates.
Nathan (Anthony Stewart Head), the lead Repo Man, does some spectacularly violent repossessions that put me in mind of his character Giles’ nickname on Buffy. His ability to portray a heartless killer and a warm, loving father at the same time is creepily awesome. And, let me tell you, that boy can sing.
Amber Sweet (Paris Hilton) cracked me up as the spokesperson for the anti-drug campaign — for the very drug she is addicted to. She goes to GraveRobber (Terrance Zdunich) to get her fix. I loved GraveRobber so very, very much. He acts as the narrator for the film, as well as making appearances to help Nathan’s daughter Shilo (Alexa Vega) now and then. His klepto tendencies were very amusing, and I adored his singing.
I was very pleasantly surprised to see a familiar face in Blind Mag (Sarah Brightman). Her singing, as always, was incredible. Not to mention the costumes — holy cow!
I think the only thing I didn’t like about this movie was the Avril-esque song sung during Shilo’s temper-tantrum. The rest of her songs were amazing; she has an incredible voice.
Overall, I strongly recommend this film to connoisseurs of the strange and unusual, particularly fans of horror and eclectic music.
You know, I love Tim Burton, but this movie was somehow unsatisfying. Maybe I’m too prejudiced in favor of The Nightmare Before Christmas. I still wanted to give Corpse Bride a chance, despite being told by the Sunday Night Movie Madness crowd that it wasn’t worth it.
Johnny Depp was entertaining. Helena Carter did a great job. The story itself wasn’t bad. The music was hit-and-miss with me. I liked Bonejangles (Danny Elfman) telling Victor (Depp) how Emily (Carter) died and came to be the Corpse Bride. I didn’t like how little time was spent developing rapport between Victor and his living fiance, Victoria (Emily Watson). She was too empty and one-dimensional as a character for my tastes. It was great that she makes a very daring and unladylike attempt at rescuing Victor, but it’s too far along into the movie. To me, there just wasn’t enough investment in their relationship to see why a subdued Victorian era miss from a wealthy family would take such drastic action other than as a sort of deus ex machina to move slow parts of the plot along.
Lord Bittern (Richard Grant) was easy to hate. He made a great bad guy, horning in on Victoria while Victor was stuck in the Land of the Dead with Emily.
There were certain things about it that had me laughing, other parts that just had me raising a brow. If this movie was meant for kids, I’m not sure they’d get it. As an adult, I was, as I mentioned, left dissatisfied and probably could have skipped this one in favor of something more entertaining. (Mystery Men, anyone?)
Gross, yet entertaining. Methinks you have to like comedic horror to fully enjoy this movie. I love this sort of thing, but hadn’t gotten around to seeing this movie until Sunday Night Movie Madness (thanks Evi!).
I was startled to notice a resemblance of the aliens’ habits and means of taking over people to the whole whatever-they’re-called in the Animorphs book series. Am I the only one to have picked this up? Not that it’s bad, just the first thing I thought of when those purple slug things started running amuck.
Either way, the whole thing cracked me up. The scene with Officer Pardy (Nathan Fillion) getting the snot beat out of him by the deer was priceless.
I really liked the cast. Nathan Fillion was hilarious, as usual. Michael Rooker was great! I can’t recall having seen him in anything before, but I’ll watch for him in the future. Same with Elizabeth Banks. Also, the little girls were fantastically cute/creepy.
Some of the special effects were not so special. A lot of “groaner” lines, which I will be using as fodder in all conversations for the next month or two (hehehe). Slug-monsters, Thing-like aliens, body-snatcher-like aliens, zombies, and animals ripped to shreds would’ve been cheesy/frightening if not for the humorous digs (”Hey, look how far away this dog’s head landed!”). Awesomely done. There was enough gore to satisfy even the most discriminating connoisseur of horror flicks. The body count at the end was unbelievable.
All in all, I’d watch this again.
Oh, and as a side note, following this movie up with Phantom of the Opera may not have been one of the brighter things the Sunday Night Movie Madness posse has ever done.
