coolfemale Reviews

As the Bell Rings (I) (2007– )

I am fairly tolerant when it comes to shoddiness but... yikes

[1/10 · 24 September 2007]

Hell I love stuff other people can't stand. But even I think this show is AWFUL. It's only funny when your are laughing at how bad it is. The kids really force their acting (I'm holding out hope this the Directors fault and that Daniel Anthony (Danny) is actually good, so that he isn't poor as Clyde in "The Sarah Jane Adventures". I guess I'll find out tonight).

Also, you'd think one of the cast members would give the production team a heads-up on what British schools are actually like! FYI Disney Channel... we wear uniforms, don't generally have locker which look like that, and in every school I went too only the upper years were allowed to hang out in the corridors and classrooms at break-time. All the lower years had to go to the school yard.

This show is just... off. A bit like week old milk.

The Borrowers (1997)

Okay but not nearly as good as the BBC TV series

[6/10 · 5 May 2006]

The Borrowers movie is quirky, fun, and an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon with kids but it lacks the overall charm the books did. This was much better, and more accurately, captured by the 1992 BBC TV series than by this movie.

The plot of this story is okay but it only takes bear elements from the books, inventing new characters and altering the setting - I'm not sure why but I have to admit as a fan of the books I did feel somewhat alienated by this. I understand that books often don't match their on-screen adaptions exactly but this felt to me so drastically different that it was far more jarring than the excellent Harry Potter and Narnia adaptions.

Where did Peagreen come from? Arietty is not supposed to have a brother, let alone a one as whiny as Peagreen. Why to all the humans (save one or two) have American accents and all the Borrowers British? Why was this set in some werid quasi-'50s/'90s alternate reality rather than simply setting it in the original time of the books? (Although I admit there was some appeal in the quirkiness of this setting I did feel confused by it).

I did enjoy this movie but it isn't fantastic, it isn't horrible but I look to the BBC series as much more charming adaption.

Pixel Perfect (2004 TV Movie)

Sweet

[7/10 · 7 April 2006]

It's a Disney Channel movie. So it's not going to win any Oscars, or make use of realistic science, and it's quite predictable. But it's fun, and sweet.

Loretta is quite annoying in places, but I think that was the point. However the dubbing when the girls are singing is very unconvincing, those scenes can be painful to watch I'm afraid. But I loved the sequence near the end in the rain.

A great movie to watch if you can suspend your disbelief enough and have some time to kill and it appears on TV, but I wouldn't hunt it down or anything.