The Aristocats - 52 Years in 52 Weeks

The Aristocats (1970)

Welcome back to 52 Years in 52 Weeks. Each week in 2021 we’ll watch a film I’ve never seen before starting in 1969 moving one year forward every week.

This week, I watched The Aristocats from 1970. Wolfgang Reitherman directed this feline family adventure from Disney. Reitherman is also (at least partly) behind other Disney classics like 1961’s One Hundred and One Dalmatians, 1959’s Sleeping Beauty, and 1970’s The Rescuers, which I believed to be connected to The Aristocats because the mice looked similar in my mind. But I guess that just makes me the racist equivalent for rodents. But I’ll leave the racial stereotyping to the experts over at Disney. More on that later. Reitherman co-directed these films but he’s arguably best known for 1973s Robin Hood and 1967’s The Jungle Book. All the films mentioned are available for streaming on Disney+. What the service might lack in original new programming it inarguably makes up with its rather impressive backlog

Phil Harris, who voices Baloo and Little John in Jungle Book and Robin Hood respectively, does the voice for the most memorable character from the Aristocats. O’Malley. It’s impressive how creepy yet still charming Harris manages to be as the stray cat that helps The Duchess and her three kittens on her way back to their wealthy home.

The plot is fairly simple. When Adelaide Bonfamille leaves all her liquidities to her cats, her butler decides to get rid of them in an effort to inherit his employer's money that he believes to deserve. Funnily enough, Edgar is too dense to realize that he would still get all the money as cats...can’t...spend...money. I know. Mind. blown. But that rather simple world-view runs through the entire plot of The Aristocats. Intense over the top action chase scenes and the occasional song is all we get from the movie. It never tries to be more than a simple - ignore the partly intended terrible pun - cat and mouse game. 

I personally found most jokes to be more miss than hit. For example, the geese characters feel particularly random and unnecessary. Maybe it’s because I just can’t stand the upper-class way of talking from the 40s-70s. Particularly the Duchess is a great example of that. I just can’t stand the way she talks. Perhaps that’s just a ‘me thing’ but I find it distracting. In the context of the story, it makes sense to have an upper-class cat speak in an upper-class manner. It’s just so annoying. But honestly, Thomas O’Malley’s constant ‘baby’ is equally irritating and predatory, to be frank. 

The Aristocats is a movie that’s supposed to be light-hearted. With Thomas O’Malley strolling along the riverside taking the family on an adventure. I just don’t connect as well with movies that I feel like don’t have a purpose or reason to exist. This might be cynical but I dislike cookie-cutter versions of stories that are way too familiar without adding much to anything. You could argue that the purpose of a movie like this is simply to entertain and I’d have to agree. Lots of studio films exist purely for that reason and don’t need any themes on top of that. But I wasn’t even entertained by anything happening in the plot. As you’d expect from a family film, its conclusion is predictable and the moments in between, at least to me, are not charming or memorable enough to leave a good impression. 

And what’s worse than a truly bad movie? A mediocre, boring one. And that’s what The Aristocats is. 

Also giving a cat with Asian features chopsticks to play the piano is at most unexpected but not really funny. In the overall context, that scene simply serves as a colorful, musical pitstop halfway through the movie before they ultimately assimilate to the aristocratic lifestyle at the mercy of an old, white woman.

Maybe I’m reading into this too much but there is that disclaimer at the start of the film that Disney puts in front of some of their older releases deemed controversial. 

Ultimately The Aristocats is a rather weak entry in the long list of animated Disney classics. But at least it’s better than all of the recent ‘live-action’ remakes, but from the recent trend of Disney redoing literally their entire 90s golden age of films, it’s only a matter of time until they’ll produce the inevitable remake for this one.

Next week we’ll watch Spielberg’s feature-length debut Duel.

EMMA.

After Clueless (Amy Heckerling, 1995) comes Autumn de Wilde’s adaptation of the Austen novel Emma. The explanation for her stylized title ‘EMMA.’ is, so de Wilde to RadioTimes, “There’s a period at the end of Emma because it’s a period film”. So it is only right that this version of Emma is set in its original setting; England in the early 19th century.

Spoiled young woman Emma lives with her widowed father (Bill Nighy) alone in a big country house in Highbury. In her daily boredom, she soon discovers that she can entertain herself by playing matchmaker. She engineers the marriage between her beloved governess and a widowed man. But as she is now deprived of the only motherly figure she knows, she turns her attention to naive girl Harriet Smith, whom she declared her companion. Despite knowing that Harriet is in love and courted by a local farmer, Emma coaxed her into refusing Mr. Martin and instead orchestrates a relationship between the vicar Elton and her, whom Emma thinks more fitting. The plot thickens when Emma is soon made aware of the fact that not all her arrangements will work out in her favor. Her neighbour and brother-in-law Mr. Knightley is the only one to be mindful of her vanity and naiveté. At that same time, Emma finds herself attracted to good looking Mr. Frank Churchill, while it is rumored that Knightley himself is taken by the accomplished Jane Fairfax. Being at the center of all these events, Emma gets tangled up quickly.  Capering about in the lavish society, she is ultimately confronted with the question of growing up, assuming responsibility for her actions and finding her place in the world. 

Autumn de Wilde’s directorial debut puts a quirky, rom-comesque spin on the already comedic original story. Watching this film wasn’t a completely different experience than watching Clueless, apart from the admittedly gorgeous setting and decor they pulled off. At times it actually felt like they recast Clueless and then had them dress up and talk fancily. In a good way though. It is definitely an enjoyable film, albeit not outstanding. The cast was splendid, with Bill Nighy portraying a valetudinarian old man (quite honestly one of his better roles) and Johnny Flynn being his cuddly and adorable self through his character of Knightley

De Wilde artfully juggles with banter and benevolent bestialities to deliver a nicely dressed up film. 

If you have read the novel it is definitely fun seeing this film I believe. And if you have loved and worshipped Paul Rudd in Clueless as I have growing up (still do tbh), then don’t worry, Johnny Flynn (almost) does him justice. I think you don’t even have to love period pieces to like this film.

Should I see Emma? Go see it if you wanna know what this famous novel is about (always good to know what people are talking about) and like a quirky movie.

★★★☆☆

Film Release (Switzerland): 5.3.20 - Film Release (Australia): 13.2.20 - Film Release (USA): 6.2.20

Film Data: Director: Autumn de Wilde - Writers: Elanor Catton, Jane Austen - Cast: Anya Taylor-Joy, Johnny Flynn, Bill Nighy, Mia Goth, Josh O'Connor, Callum Turner, Rupert Graves - 124’ - 2020 - UK - Universal Pictures

Photo and Video: © Universal Pictures International Switzerland. All Rights Reserved.

Onward

The world used to be filled with all sorts of magic but the rise of technology made magic redundant in many ways. New Mushroomton, a small town in which all sorts of creatures like dragons, giants, dwarfs and elfs co-exist, has adapted to a magic-free lifestyle and opened the door for modern technology to take over. Most inhabitants of New Mushroomton do not even believe in magic anymore, as everything fantastical in their world has been made fictitious. In doing that, they completely negated their once magical history.

Onward is the 22nd feature film from Pixar and Dan Scanlon’s second Pixar film after 2013’s Monster’s University, the prequel to the critically acclaimed Monster’s Inc. from 2001. 

Tom Holland and Chris Pratt team up once again, this time not to fight Thanos but to voice the elf brothers Ian and Barley Lightfoot. On the day of this 16th birthday, Ian receives a present from his Dad that passed away when he was very young. A magical staff and a spell able to bring his Dad back for one whole day. But the spell goes wrong and only brings back the bottom half of their father, so the brothers are forced to embark on an adventurous quest to find an artifact powerful enough to complete the spell and bring back the rest of his body.

Pixar has always been strong at pulling at the audience’s heartstrings and it has gotten to a point where it has become a cliché to cry when the lamp is done stamping on the ‘I’ and the consecutive story starts to play out. I found myself at a dilemma with this because although moments of the third act did manage to make my eyes quite watery, I do not think this is one of the stronger Pixar outings. The story told in Onward is one that I feel quite personally attached to because of a similar life experience that I had with my father. The brother relationship is another one that I relate to quite a bit, as I have a little brother around the same age as Ian. Therefore, I was really connected to the relationships between the characters, rather than the plot itself. Unfortunately, there is quite a bit of spectacle over substance in the film. This film could have had an even bigger focus on its well-established character relationships, but it went for action-packed chase scenes instead. Ian is a blank canvas, as most protagonists in those types of stories are, in order for people to relate to him. His character traits are; being socially awkward, sad about his father’s death and not believing in himself. But apart from that, he does not resemble someone that would exist outside of this story. 

Fact: Pixar makes the prettiest looking movies. After last year’s gorgeous Toy Story 4, comes Onward with a colorful, quirky animation style that is incredibly detailed. The comedy mostly worked as well, the highlight being all the Weekend at Bernie’s and literal ‘Daddy-only-legs’ humor coming from Wilden, Ian and Barley’s dad.

Onward is filled with moments that are universally relatable to young viewers like believing in yourself and appreciating what you have. As an adult, you pick up on when the filmmakers try to put those moments in and although I noticed when it was happening, it did not feel forced or preachy. When films are able to incorporate inspiring and touching messages into their films without bringing the story to a screeching halt, I applaud them for that. Because a lot of animated movies tend to cater to their target audience way too much. Although, there are a few tense moments in Onward that I wish were not played and broken for lazy attempts at comedy.

Should you see this film? Yes, if you have enjoyed Pixar films in the past, Onward will certainly not disappoint. If not, who are you and who has robbed your childhood that you don’t enjoy Pixar

Onward is an enjoyable family film that will make you laugh, cry and hug your loved ones.

★★★⋆☆

Release Date (CH): 05.03.20 - Release Date (Australia): 02.04.20 - Release Date (US): 06.03.20

Film Data: Director: Dan Scanlon - Writer: Dan Scanlon, Keith Bunin, Jason Headley - Cast: Chris Pratt, Tom Holland, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Octavia Spencer, Mel Rodriguez, Ali Wong, Lena Waithe, John Ratzenberger, Tracey Ullman - 103’ - 2020 - USA - Pixar - Walt Disney Company

Photo and Video Source: Walt Disney Company Switzerland

The Peanut Butter Falcon

Peanut Butter Falcon, the Audience Award in Narrative Spotlight winner at the SXSW Film festival tells the down-to-earth adventure story of Zak, a 22-year-old man with Down syndrome who’s stuck in an elderly home. As well as fisherman Tyler (LaBoeuf) who finds himself in a wild feud with angry crab fishermen from whom he stole their catch. The unlikely pair is forced to work together when Zak, after escaping from the care facility, hides on a boat that Tyler uses to escape from the fishermen. Zak and Tyler embark on a bonding journey towards Florida to fulfill Zak’s life long dream of attending the wrestling school of his idol Salt Water Redneck and becoming a professional wrestler.

The Peanut Butter Falcon is written and directed by the creative team Tyler Nilson and Micheal Schwartz in their directorial feature debut. It stars Shia LaBeouf, Dakota Johnson, and Zack Gottsagen as the main protagonists. This marks Zack Gottsagen’s first feature film performance after writer and director Tyler Nilson discovered the actor at a camp for actors with disabilities and decided to write a story designed especially for him.

LaBoeuf and Gottsagen seem to click well together, which is integral for such an intimate and personal story like this to work. The film has some great moments that feel original and honest, but not all the way through. At a point towards the end of the second act, it starts to tick off the Hollywood plot point boxes and ends rather abruptly. I appreciate the trust in an emotionally intelligent audience because any other Hollywood film might have resorted to a voice-over narrator to explain the essentially obvious plot, and thus making the audience seem incapable of reading emotions themselves. But The Peanut Butter Falcon doesn’t rely on this lazy narrative element.

I especially enjoyed the muted and green-toned color palette which brings out the constantly changing landscape. The camera work is well done and both staging and blocking are conceived in a way that helps convey the story and emotional beats well. This becomes apparent in every scene Dakota Johnson is in as they visually establish the dynamic of the trio in a subtle but effective way.

One aspect that did not work and felt superfluous was the angry fishermen Duncan and Ratboy’s dedication to hunt down and kill Tyler. It felt a bit excessive and over the top. Even though the story has magical moments, they never cross the line to fantastical, it tonally shifts whenever there was another fishermen scene. In my mind, the story would have worked even better without that spectacle of the eventual explosive confrontation between Tyler and the fishermen. However, it was the initial and to an extent seemingly the main drive to keep LaBoeuf’s character moving, which wouldn’t have happened if there was no big conflict when he initially stole their catch that forced him to run away from his home like Zak did.

Should I watch this movie? It’s a great film to watch for anyone who wants to see an uplifting, emotional story that is able to pull on your heartstrings. The main reason I’d recommend it, is Zack Gottsagen’s performance alone, simply because it’s the best performance I have seen from an actor with Down syndrome and is a real delight to watch.

★★★⋆☆

The Peanut Butter Falcon is an adventure movie about friendship and fulfilling your biggest dreams against all odds. It shines the brightest through the performances of Gottsagen and LaBoeuf but falls victim to a rather predictable plot in the latter half and an abrupt ending that prevents it from being a truly great film.

Release Date (Switzerland): 20.01.2020

Release Date: (Australia): 30.01.2020

Film Data: Director: Tyler Nilson Michael Schwartz - Writer: Tyler Nilson Michael Schwartz - Cast: Shia LaBeouf Zack Gottsagen Dakota Johnson John Hawkes Thomas Haden Church Bruce Dern Jon Bernthal Yelawolf Jake Roberts Mick Foley - 97’ - USA - 2020 - Distributor: Impuls Pictures

Photo and Video Source: © Impuls Pictures AG. All Rights Reserved.

To All the Boys I've Loved Before: P.S. I Still Love You

To All the Boys I've Loved Before: P.S. I Still Love You is the second installment in the Netflix teen romance To All the Boys trilogy, which is based on the novels of Cathy Yan. After the huge success of the first To All the Boys film in 2018, the fans were quickly promised the rest of the trilogy. Principal photography was already finished in 2019. The second installment of the trilogy, P.S. I Still Love You, was directed by Michael Fimognari, who’s best known for his work in cinematography in the drama and thriller genre, for films such as The Haunting of the Hill House (2018) or Doctor Sleep (2019). This marks Fimognari’s debut as a director. 

Spoilers ahead! (Even though, the film’s title will already spoil it for you)

The film follows Lara Jean Covey (Lara Condor) navigating through the milestones and difficulties of a teenage relationship with her boyfriend Peter Kavinsky (Noah Centineo). Instead of the perfect relationship she had always imagined of, Lara Jean is constantly reminded of the past: she worries about Peter’s ex-girlfriend daily and more importantly, she receives a return letter from her middle-school crush John Ambrose (Jordan Fisher, replacing Jordan Burtchett) from Model UN, who was also one of the recipients of Lara Jean’s love letters from the first installment. The rest of the plot is painfully predictable, which can leave the viewer especially underwhelmed. 

Yet, P.S. I Still Love You suffers from more than just a predictable plot. The essential part of Lara Jean’s character, the support system of the three sisters, which is emphasized in the first installment, is now almost non-existent. Lara Jean’s sisters are now replaced by a retirement home resident, played by Holland Taylor. This older lady sure is a fun new addition to the story, yet it seems unfitting as Lara Jean’s beloved sisters are now on the sidelines. One can see even more unfitting character development, when Lara Jean’s current boyfriend Peter is suddenly portrayed as (pardon my language) an asshole, and the returned John Ambrose as an angel. 

The cinematics of the film are fine, it is what you’d expect from a teenage romance on Netflix. What P.S. I Still Love You excels in, is the creation of an idyllic atmosphere, with beautiful use of color, a strong soundtrack and quote-worthy dialogue. The combination of which creates the impression that this film wasn’t intended to be good or award-worthy, but instead, the creators are designing a perfectly repostable facade, appealing to the teenage viewer, which will essentially result in free marketing.

In conclusion, To All the Boys I've Loved Before: P.S. I Still Love You underwhelms with a predictable plot, and problematic character development, which allows for the film to be quickly forgotten as just one of those high school romances. The question now is if the last of the trilogy, To All The Boys: Always and Forever, Lara Jean, will manage to revive the story from sequel fatigue and present us with a worthwhile end to the trilogy, or if it will follow down the path of many failed trilogies, such as Divergent, Legally Blonde, 50 Shades and so on...

★★☆☆☆

If you haven’t caught up with the first part of the trilogy, don’t bother. If you are a fan of teenage romance stories, such as The Fault In Our Stars or Five Feet Apart, go ahead, you’ll have a blast.

Netflix Release Date (Global): 12.02.2020

Film Data: Director: Michael Fimognari - Writers: Sofia Alvarez, J. Mills Goodloe - Cast: Lara Condor, Noah Centineo, Jordan Fisher, Anna Cathcart, Janel Parish, Trezzo Mahoro, Emilija Baranac, Holland Taylor, John Corbett - USA - 102’ - Netflix


Photo and Video Source: Netflix Switzerland. All Rights Reserved.

Horse Girl

Horse Girl is Writer and Director Jeff Baena’s fourth feature film and launched on Netflix this Friday after premiering at the Sundance film festival in late January. This is the second collaboration between Baena and lead Alison Brie after 2017’s The Little Hours. Horse Girl tells the story of a socially awkward woman with a fondness for art and crafts, horses and supernatural crime shows who increasingly finds herself in ludic dreams that trickle into her waking life.

Alison Brie mentioned in interviews that she was inspired to write this story because of her personal family history of mental illnesses. She questioned if her relatives' conditions could suddenly spark up in her as well. Brie’s performance comes across as genuine, raw and honest. The film, however, is never able to match her performance and dedication. Most secondary characters are one dimensional and never serve a more important purpose function than illustrating Sarah’s (Alison Brie) social awkwardness and lack of self-awareness.

The movie starts off somewhat grounded and reasonable but shifts gears in the latter half towards a crash of an ending. The introduction of our protagonist Sarah, a saleswoman at a crafts store called Great Lengths also takes a great length to introduce us to her unusual quirks and daily life structure. At that point, it becomes clear that the story is relatively slow and panders in awkward social encounters for the sake of awkwardness and spends time on a love interest subplot that does not lead to a meaningful conclusion.

Throughout the film, there are a few hints of good ideas and concepts, but they either get abandoned or lose focus in the often stagnant plot progression. Horse Girl is a sad movie about loneliness and susceptibility to extremist ideas when one’s own sanity is questioned. The basis for an introspective Indie film about mental health is given. The film, however, panders in boring subplots and a confusing main plot that switches genres from a Drama to a Sci-Fi Thriller out of thin air in the third act.

Debby Ryan as Nikki, Jake Picking as her boyfriend Brian and John Reynolds as Darren were all fine but suffered from bad writing for their characters. Especially Darren was quite inconsistent and just a plot device to show Sarah’s rapidly increasing deliriousness. The rest of the cast is good as well, but no one as captivating as Alison Brie’s performance.

Should I see this film? I would not recommend this film to anyone other than fans of Alison Brie as her performance is the best part of the movie. See these movies instead as they deal with mental illness in a more interesting way: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Shutter Island, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape or Fight Club.

Horse Girl is a sad movie about loneliness and susceptibility to extremist ideas when one’s own sanity is questioned. The basis for an introspective Indie film about mental health is given, the film, however, panders in boring subplots and concludes in a messy nonsensical open-to-interpretation finale.

★★☆☆☆

Release (Global) 07.02.2020

Film data: Director: Jeff Baena - Writer: Jeff Baena, Alison Brie - Cast Alison Brie, Debby Ryan, Stella Chestnut, John Reynolds, Molly Shannon, John Ortiz, Hazel Armenante, Jay Duplass - USA - 2020 - Netflix

Video and Picture Source: Netflix Switzerland All Right Reserved