Scooby Doo: The Mystery Begins
I suppose you could see this as a companion piece to my ‘Phantom Menace’ review, another prequel no-one asked for. I’m not really sure anyone asked for ‘Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed’ either; one of the most unpleasant cinematic experiences I can recall in the past ten years. It was everything bad. I know that’s not a sentence, but it was all kinds of proper bad; insincere, illogical, condescending, and it haemorrhaged money all over the screen.
It was with some trepidation that I approached a return to the live-action Scooby Doo universe. And, surprisingly, I didn’t hate it. You could probably stop reading the review right there. But no, there’s more. It was, in fact, OK. I might even up that to a pretty good. Ask me in a few weeks.
The plot concerns the creation of ‘Mystery Inc,’ and the tale of how an awkward teenage boy found his perfect match, in the form of a dopey (talking!) dog. Oh, and the school, ‘Coolsville High,’ was built over another school which was destroyed by a flood many years ago. So obviously there are ghosts. Obviously.
‘A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away,’ the most anticipated film of all time (?) was released into cinemas and bankrupted poor old book publishers, Dorling Kindersley.
Pinocchio comes to DVD, for the third time, in a newly remastered two disc special edition to mark the 70th anniversary of the picture.
1985 saw the release of the 14th official James Bond film, A View to a Kill and marked the swansong of Roger Moore. It was also notable for being the first James Bond film to not premiere in the UK. The film had its charity premiere on May 22nd in San Francisco‘s Palace of Fine Arts. Now, you might be asking what is the relevance of all this, if any? The film premiered in San Francisco as a special thank you to the city for its participation in the making of the blockbuster, but also to gloss over some controversy that threatened the making of the film. The scene that caused the outrage was set in City Hall and involves the film’s villain, Max Zorin (a suitably insane Christopher Walken), shooting an official in his own office. Sound familiar? No? Have I just ruined the movie? Suffice to say, Harvey Milk’s impact was as important then as it is now, almost halting 007 dead in his tracks, and I’m sure he would have been amused by that fact. … Continue Reading
The DVD release of the new Indiana Jones movie opened my eyes to the horror that is development hell. In one of the interviews, Steven Spielberg claims that the release of Independence Day sidetracked the script for Indy 4. Excuse me? Independence Day? I think we should all count ourselves lucky that we were spared the sight of Harrison Ford flying a WWII fighter jet into the side of a flying saucer. Makes KOTCS look spectacular, right? This prompted me to take a look through my DVD back catalogue to find other films that almost turned out completely unrecognisable.
CERT: 12A
UK DVD RELEASE DATE: 10 November 2008
DIRECTOR: Steven Spielberg
STARRING: Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, Kate Allen, Shia LaBeouf
THE MOVIE
“Nuke the fridge.” This phrase seems to have been banded about quite a bit in relation to Indiana Jones’s latest cinematic adventure – which arrives in UK stores this week. ‘Nuke the fridge’ is a reinvention of the oft-used phrase “jump the shark“, supposedly pinpointing the exact moment when the Indiana Jones film series lost the plot and the respect of fans worldwide. I love to be in the minority and I love to stand up for an underdog, and gosh darn it, I just love ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’.
The moment in question sees Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) fleeing from an atomic blast in a 1950s picture-perfect town etched out of plastic in the middle of the desert. He finds his sanctuary in the form of a lead-lined refrigerator and seals himself inside. The ensuing nuclear blast throws the fridge, and Indy, clear of the devastation and the audience heaves a collective sigh of relief. However, the resulting silhouetted shot is pure Steven Spielberg and I immediately forgave the illogical sequence. Spielberg effortlessly places Indiana into 1950s America, a world as alien to him as it is to us.
Revisiting ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’ offers up a whole new viewing experience. No, George Lucas hasn’t digitally altered the chipmunk in the opening sequence or added a hundred new monkeys to the Tarzan-inspired vine swing, but we know what to expect – and what’s good about the film becomes a lot more obvious: they got the little details right. The classic-style Paramount logo, the font for the opening credits, the references to past characters, and John Williams’s triumphant score (before all his stuff started to sound the same). ‘Quantum of Solace’, the twenty-second James Bond film, suffered from a case of ambiguity: no vodka martinis, no ‘Bond, James Bond,’ and no Monty Norman theme until the final moments. ‘Crystal Skull’ has enough nods to its roots, both audibly and visually, to make it feel like a natural continuation rather than a pointless reinvention. Indy isn’t trying to compete with the Bruce Waynes or Jason Bournes of the world. He’s trying to recapture the heyday of 1980s entertainment, when heroes were free to be infallible and action scenes didn’t always have to be followed by a shot of the characters in pain, literally licking their wounds. Indy simply places that signature fedora back onto his head and he’s ready for another round. This is pure escapism for the whole family.
Harrison Ford is sixty six years old, and he does a damn fine job of kicking ass and taking a beating. However, he’s sixty six fricking years old; of course they were gonna bring in a sidekick to take over the action and, predictably, he became the victim of critical fanboys. Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf) is a pretty thankless role, though luckily it has been cast with a pretty likeable actor. LaBeouf takes over much of the stunt work, particularly during the chaotic jungle chase sequences, and he holds his own as an action hero. Sure, he’s no Indiana Jones, but he gels well with Ford and ‘Raiders’ returnee Karen Allen, and as teen sidekicks go, he’s pretty inoffensive and proactive.
The same can’t be said for Ray Winstone’s Mac. He plays a double/triple/quadruple/whatever agent that inexplicably shouts most of his lines and feels like he’s walked in from an episode of ‘Only Fools and Horses’. As Indiana is trailed by his four (!) sidekicks during the film’s climax, Winstone definitely stands out as one pointless sidekick too many.
Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett) is an interesting if unmenacing villain, declaring psychic warfare on Indiana without… actually… doing anything, but who cares? Blanchett has fun with the role; the accent and haircut being enough to ensure she’s a memorable if not villainous foe.
However, in a wider sense, Blanchett’s role speaks to perhaps the biggest flaw: missed opportunities. Why bring the delightful Karen Allen back into the fold only to give her very little to do? Why tease us with images of the Nazca Lines without fully exploring their significance? Why blacklist Indiana as a communist and then drop the storyline completely? The film feels unfinished; an obvious victim of numerous rewrites and the demands of three Hollywood bigwigs in the form of Lucas, Spielberg, and Ford.
For all its faults, we should be grateful that ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’ turned out as fun as it did. I won’t speak of the plot-holes, the unfortunate use of CGI, or the ludicrous climax, but I will say that personally, it captured my imagination the way films used to do when I was kid. Maybe I was blinded by nostalgia or predisposed to love it no matter what (just like ‘Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace’) but it’s classic family entertainment.
It’s simple. It’s fun. It’s popcorn. And that’s what Indiana Jones has always been about.
THE FEATURES
The film has been given the 2-disc special edition DVD treatment by Paramount and the obligatory Laurent Bouzereau documentaries are typically thorough and entertaining. The moviemaking process is covered from conception to post-production and the documentaries feature on-set interviews with most of the key cast and crew members.
It’s nice to hear from Lucas and Spielberg about the development hell this film lingered in, but what’s missing is an exploration of the film’s reception. Though reviews were generally positive, this film was never embraced fully by the fanbase and it would be nice to hear Lucas and Spielberg’s thoughts as to why this was. Also missing are any deleted scenes and an audio commentary but these will no doubt appear in the inevitable re-release.
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