The Oscars have
been handed out, and we leave film season and enter movie season.
Now, I don’t go to the theater, I head out to the multiplex.
During “award season,” you can count on solid performances
and gritty, heart wrenching stories in lush settings, beautifully
photographed; the rest of the year, not so much. It’s hit or
miss. Over the last few weeks, I ended up with one movie that looked
great and had a ton of potential that I didn’t like, and one
that I went to for my daughters, that I absolutely loved.
Leading up to “Jumper”, the story of a guy who discovers
his ability to transport himself anywhere in the world, just by
thinking about it, I thought it sounded, at least, original. The
actors were familiar and reputable, but I was most interested in
the director, Doug Liman. His contribution to film has given us
the action hits, “The Bourne Identity” (2002) and “Mr.
& Mrs. Smith” (2005). With a solid director, a hip, young
cast and a unique premise, how could it fail?
When I’m asked to suspend belief, like traveling through space
with just a thought, I am a willing, mindless hostage. Once I go
with you, though, don’t go out of your way to insult me. The
edgy part of this movie, the “jumping,” is not where it
went wrong. The explanation was just enough to hook you, without
leaving room for too many, “yea, but,” moments. The special
effects were cutting edge and strongly supported the fantasy.
The wheels came off with the actions and reactions of the characters
and the extraordinarily weak dialog. It played like a really bad
cross between a bad episode of “The O.C.” and any installment
of the “Friday the 13th“ flicks. The only way you could
happily walk out of this one is if you were a fourteen year old
boy.
The movie that pleasantly surprised me the most was “The Spiderwick
Chronicles”, the story of a family who moves into an old inherited
home and begins to unlock the secrets of their ancestor’s life’s
work. My daughter had read the book series and was very excited
to see this; I was barely hopeful that the movie would do justice
to the books. From the first scene, I was wrapped up and taken away.
Everything in this movie is rich and layered and doesn’t talk
down to kids, but includes them.
In contrast, “Jumper” takes a PG-13 story and alienates
everyone under the age of twelve and over the age of fourteen, while
“The Spiderwick Chronicles” takes a PG tale and includes
all ages and generations. Recently, I’ve been more impressed
with family films because they seem to be more inclusive. It started
around the time of Disney’s Beauty and The Beast (where the
cartoon was playing to the parents as well). As much as I enjoy
film, I enjoy my family more. When I can combine the two and everyone
is happy, I’m happy.
If I leave my family to see something outside of their maturity
level, you better knock my socks off so I can justify the time spent.
If only I could get the Disney Channel to catch on to that.
