Change Your Image
BrinaFlautist
Reviews
Hotel Transylvania (2012)
Not perfect, but not that bad
I didn't have a lot of high hopes for this film. I'm not really an Adam Sandler fan, and the film didn't seem very unique to me. However, when I went to see it in the theater, I found myself pleasantly surprised.
The plot is very basic - After his wife is killed by humans, Dracula builds a hotel to serve as a human-free sanctuary for his monster friends and specifically his daughter Mavis. Mavis is about to turn 118 and desperately wants to see the world outside the hotel, but Drac is extremely over protective of her and firmly believes that all humans are cruel. As Drac is planning Mavis' birthday party, a human backpacker named Jonathan wanders into the hotel. Even worse for Drac, he and Mavis start to fall in love with each other. Eventually Drac overcomes his prejudice against humans and accepts Jonathan as well as the rest of humankind. Your typical coming-of-age narrative.
The one thing that really made me enjoy this film was the animation. It greatly reminded me of those old Chuck Jones Looney Toons (or is it Tunes?) cartoons, with the exaggerated movements and expressions. Drac is particularly expressive, and this was what primarily got a laugh out of me.
Is the film perfect? Of course not. It's still your typical kids film, with morals about family and toilet humor galore. But it's definitely not as bad as one might expect.
Mignonnes (2020)
Good message but very poor execution
I'm gonna come out and say it - I liked this movie. Now before you come at me with pitchforks, hear me out. I really appreciate this movie's message - a coming of age story that tries to address the issues of child exploitation and the sexualization of young girls. I was honestly greatly reminded of my own experiences in middle school and high school - I remember knowing quite a few students who were similar to the "Cuties:" the "popular girls" who tended to be rather promiscuous and went out of their way to try and act more adult than they actually were.
I genuinely enjoyed following Amy's character arc - like any girl her age, she desires acceptance from her peers and a sense of belonging. The Cuties have seemingly achieved these goals, and so Amy is driven to try and become one of them. She starts acting more rebellious and more openly sexual, because she thinks that will garner the approval of her peers, since it seemingly worked for the Cuties. Eventually Amy realizes that being a Cutie does not make her truly happy, and she decides to go back to being a kid again. The final scene of Amy going outside and playing jump rope with the other kids genuinely made me feel happy.
But as much as I admire Mignonnes for the story and lessons it's trying to tell, I am not very fond of how it was told. In trying to criticize the exploitation and sexualization of young girls, it ends up exploiting and sexualizing young girls - the very thing it is preaching against. Usually in movies teenagers aren't actually played by teenagers, especially in movies where those teenagers are shown doing more adult things like having sex. I'm not sure why the same couldn't be done for Mignonnes. It was completely unnecessary to cast actual young girls in a film that focuses on how young girls tend to be sexualized. I honestly feel awful for these poor actresses... I can't even start to imagine the kinds of things people say to them. And let's not forget the Netflix marketing disaster.
In conclusion - I respect this movie's story and message, but it should have been handled A LOT better. I do not recommend it; the story is not worth seeing actual young girls being exploited.
Christopher Robin (2018)
Overwhelming nostalgia
Whenever I watched the ending of "The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" as a child, there was always a burning question in my mind - what happened after? Did Christopher Robin still visit the Hundred Acre Wood? What about when he got older? Did he forget about them? What happened?
This film managed to answer these questions in a frankly perfect way. Christopher Robin is no longer interested in childish things and is now focused on adulthood, so much so that he rarely spends quality time with his wife and daughter. However, when his old friends come back unexpectedly, he gradually starts to get in touch with his inner child once more - and so does the audience.
If you grew up with this silly old bear like I did, I wholeheartedly recommend this. The nostalgia is overwhelming.