Starring the voices of Elijah Wood, John C. Reilly, and others
[Trailer]
This is a visually beautiful film, and that alone makes it worth seeing at least once. Unfortunately, the storyline doesn't tell anything particularly new or innovative, and the plot is episodic and video-gamey, so it doesn't justify your full nine bucks at the multiplex. Also, it contains scary and disturbing images, and several tense moments, so if you take children to see it, YOU ARE AN IDIOT. Don't do that. There are a lot of really interesting conceptual ideas presented here, and I really wish that more care would have been given during pre-production to developing and thinking through the narrative backbone of the film. Unfortunately, it's clear this was rushed through as soon as the two famed producers signed on, because the rushed result is a lot of rehashed ideas thrown in a blender with some really neat action set-pieces and a muddled, uninspired ending. I noticed several "off-ramps" where the plot could have gone in different and more interesting directions, but instead chose to stay on target and barrel on toward a predictable ending. However, I will say that this sense of familiarity played well during the dread-filled (not at all dreadful) "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" sequence.
Final Verdict: I'm not sorry I saw this beautiful, creepy, but sadly predictable little fable. Definitely worth your Netflix queue slot, dollar at Redbox, or buck-fifty at the second-run movie theater.
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1 comment:
*spoilers*
I didn't like it at all. I left depressed. The whole movie tried to build empathy for the plight of these characters. And in the end? There was neither purpose nor hope for them. The big secret was God made them and died.
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