Allegiant (Movie) Review

Synopsis:

After the earth-shattering revelations of Insurgent, Tris must escape with Four beyond the wall that encircles Chicago, to finally discover the shocking truth of the world around them.

Credit to imdb.com

Gooooooood day, you worldly humans! It's that time again . . . group review time! Yay! Yay! We're getting the band back together again! Yay!

Overall Review (because we're too lazy to do the review in sections):

Kalee: I think Allegiant was better than Insurgent, but not as good as Divergent. (Slight spoiler but) Although the plot was confusing, I liked the part when the Pures went out to the Fringe to steal the children. I found the scene to be pretty powerful yet intriguing. What did you think?

JC: I thought (some of) the action scenes were better in this movie than the others--Four is amazingamazingamazing--but the storyline was kind of . . . super weird. The technology was really . . . super weird. It was just super weird. And, yes, I do agree that Divergent was the best movie of the series. 

Kalee: It was hard to keep up with the plot of the movie, because people kept on betraying other people. I can't sum up the movie in my head without becoming really confused. It didn't really feel like there was a lot of direction in the movie.

JC: Everything was happening really quickly, too. Tris and Four are supposed to have this big fight because of a difference in opinion over this thing (sorry, I'm trying not to spoil) but it seems like it took all of two seconds for them to form said opinions over said thing. And it also seems like as soon as any conflict was brought up, it was solved almost immediately.

Kalee: I liked that they did fight though, because it added tension and drama. I also liked Peter. He was funny, but he only cared for himself which kind of made him more funny. The movie did a good job of fleshing out the world of the Pures and the society seemed interesting.

JC: But I don't like it when they fight :(

Kalee: It added more development to their relationship.

JC: Sad Four and Tris a happy me does not make. But anyway--moving on, I thought that the characters kind of lost some of their seriousness and overall unhappiness in this movie. They seemed a lot less depressed, which is good, but it felt like an entirely different series. But that might've just been me.

Kalee: Tris was unproductive during the middle of the movie. She didn't do much to get plot moving until the end.

JC: I will say that there were some surprising moments. You can ask that lady that we were in the movie theater with. She gasped really, really loudly towards the end, so it must've been quite upsetting.

Kalee: There were a lot of "twists" that made it hard for my brain to comprehend. JC is talking about Christina so I thought I might mention her. She didn't do anything really BIG. She was just THERE.

JC: True, true. But she's still cool because she was cool in the books. Who cares about the movies, amiright? *goes for a high five*

Kalee: *emoji high five*

JC: I'm done here *drops mic*--all yours, Kalee.

Kalee: I can't really tell where the next movie is going, but I hope the ending stays true to the book. *lifts eye brows* This is completely unrelated, but I wanted to mention something about popcorn at the movies. A small bag of popcorn costed $6.50, but a kid's combo, which included (a lot of) popcorn, a small drink and a snack of your choice, only costed $6.00. The pricing seemed odd, but kid's combos are coolio.

JC: (she's just mad because she wanted the small popcorn) Alright, folks, that's it! My rating: 7.5 out of 10 (being generous here).

Kalee: I would give it 8 out of 10. It wasn't that bad.

JC: 'Kay, bye, thanks for reading! Farewell, my (our) friends!

Jurassic World

SYNOPSIS:

Twenty-two years after the events of Jurassic Park, Isla Nublar now features a fully functioning dinosaur theme park, Jurassic World, as originally envisioned by John Hammond. After 10 years of operation and visitor rates declining, in order to fulfill a corporate mandate, a new attraction is created to re-spark visitor's interest, which backfires horribly.

Source for synopsis and image: www.imdb.com

KALEE’S REVIEW:

    "Life will find a way." Words can't explain how excited was for this movie. I first saw Jurassic Park when I was eight and was addicted to them since. Although I wasn't there when it was first released and I didn't feel the amazement of the crowd, this movie still struck me as beyond amazing. The CGI and the animatronics are still many times better than some of the movies we see now. I absolutely loved this movie and everything that came with it. From the characters to the music, everything was astounding. So along with many other people, I was afraid when I heard about Jurassic World.

    Jurassic World embodies the spirit of Jurassic Park nicely, but doesn't surpass its original. It is still a movie worth seeing and, I'm glad to say, stands by the earlier movies nicely. The use of the old Jurassic Park soundtrack was great. I especially love the slow version of the theme (which can also be heard in the trailer). When they revealed the whole park to the viewers and played the Jurassic Park music in the back, I got the feels, haha. The CGI was pure eye candy for anyone. You could see the texture on each of the dinosaurs. However, I do wish they didn't show the aquatic dinosaur (I forget its name) during the trailer. It would have been a nice surprise, because I had not expected there to be any aquatic dinosaurs. But other than aquatic dino and the hybrid (Indominus Rex) there were no new dinosaurs. At least none that I saw. The science behind the dinosaurs was great, too.

    The way the directors approached the science in the beginning was very intriguing. They would give you a whole chunk of information and then flash you with the mega awesome dinosaurs. It was like they were trying to appease the skeptics and the dinosaur lovers at the same time. They were trying to make sure that no one party got too bored. Admittedly, I did get a little bored during the exposition part. The explanations they gave did make sense. I sort of miss the simplicity of the explanations from the old movies. Taking blood from a trapped mosquito was a simple idea that could be grasped by a reader of any age. The training velociraptors part was well done. I thought it would be kind of weird, but somehow they made it work. I felt there was a genuine connection between Owen (Chris Pratt) and the raptors. The casting was great, too.

    Each of the actors played their part very well considering that it's not that easy to stare at air and pretend it's a dinosaur. Did I mention BD Wong returned? I didn't realize he was the only returnee until my Dad and Friend (not JC) mentioned it. It was cool, though. All the throwbacks (some subtle, some not so much) were very nice. I would have really really liked it if some of the old characters at least made a cameo appearance. Now to compare it to the old movies...

    Jurassic World was not as good as Jurassic Park. It didn't really give me that moment of, "Wow that's really amazing." It was also lacking something that I can't mention due to spoilers. I will say it didn't really make me feel emotions besides scared though. Oh, and a bit off topic, but I would like to apologize to JC for talking so much about the movie on the ride home.

JC’S REVIEW:

    When a friend of ours suggested that we go see Jurassic World, I was a little worried because I’d never seen the Jurassic Park movies. I thought that I’d be confused the entire time. But fortunately, this wasn’t the case. Everything was fairly well-explained, and save from a few references to the old movies, Jurassic World could easily be considered a solid stand-alone movie.

    I’m not really the kind of person who loves action movies. I don’t mind them, but I’m honestly more of a chick flick kind of movie-goer. But I have to admit that Jurassic World was very impressive. It was exciting, it was smart, and it was touching in more ways than one.

    One great part of the movie was that it had an amazing cast. Each of the actors and actresses were well-matched to their roles, and they were amazing at showing the depth and dimension in their characters.

    I also really enjoyed, as I mentioned before, the emotional moments. Lessons were learned, people were brought together, and animals were adorable. They were scary, sure. But they were adorable. And the graphics were amazing, but I’m sure that Kalee already mentioned that, since that was what she was all excited about when we went to see it.

    As much as I enjoy drama, I really love comic relief. I also really love New Girl, so when Jake Johnson appeared on the screen, I was, like, internally pumping my fist and all “Yes, yes, yes, NICK!” He was pretty funny in the movie, and even Bryce Dallas Howard, who played Claire, was fairly amusing. And man, could that lady run in heels. And I’m talking sprinting--none of this jogging business. I was so impressed--with those heels, I’d probably fall on my face after two steps.

    The action was top-notch, the graphics were breathtaking, and the acting was amazing. I would definitely recommend this movie to anyone who . . . breathes, basically. There was something for everyone in this film. Well, I suppose I wouldn’t recommend it to little kids who are easily frightened. The dinosaurs were a little scary.

In conclusion, this movie made me eager to see the Jurassic Park films--and anything else that Spielberg cooks up.

(And Kalee, it’s all good. I appreciated the ride.)

This next part is for those of you who enjoyed our review and/or would like to learn more about the movie. Warning: *SPOILER ALERT!*

We are going to try to avoid spoilers, but there will be some.

THE PLOT:

Kalee: The plot is that the hybrid dinosaur, the Indominus Rex is genetically engineered. It is super smart and dangerous. The way they explained the engineering and the dino herself was great. If I remember correctly, this movie took a decade to come out because Steven Spielberg was unsatisfied with the blend of science and action of the script. Just a note, we were one of those crazy people who saw the movie on the opening day... We were just too busy to make a review.

JC: I liked the plot. Since I’d never watched Jurassic Park, Jurassic World was like nothing I’d ever seen in the theatres before. Though throughout the movie (since I’m very easily distracted), I kept thinking that it was kind of like Journey to the Center of the Earth, even though the main ideas were completely different. But overall, I thought the plot was original and clever and very well thought-out.

Kalee: It was a bit slow in the beginning though. The Jurassic Park movies are kind of known for having a fast movie plot and story. There is always some sort of action going on and going to happen. It took a while for anything to get exciting. There were pockets of excitement, but understand that the directors believed that they had to explain the science of it.

JC: You probably thought it was slow just because you didn’t need all the explanations, lol. So I suppose it was a little slow compared to the rest of the movie, but I thought that the way they explained everything was intriguing. The soundtrack helped a lot, too, to make what they were saying sound interesting instead of boring. I did think that there were a few random, unnecessary side plots that I guess were meant to give some of the characters depth and whatever, but I just didn’t really see the point of them.

Kalee: I think the side plots that had to do with trying to show that humans can be just as dangerous as the dinosaurs. (I heard it somewhere, but I can't remember where).

JC: Well, I didn’t really mean those plots, like the guy with his whole military thing and whatever. I thought that was interesting. But I just meant the whole thing with the boys’ parents fighting, and with . . . well, that’s basically it. The whole divorce thing seemed kind of out of nowhere. But that’s kind of my whole problem with it. Nothing else.

Kalee: Hmm, I see what you're saying. Do you think it took too long for the dinosaur to get loose?

JC: Um . . . not really. I liked how they did that, with the whole tricky tricky dino stuff.

Kalee: I do have to ask, what happened to the dinosaurs that lived on the island earlier? Did they find a way to round them all up? Were they the same dinosaurs from the first one? It also feels like they didn't really learn anything from the first movies haha.

JC: I can’t really answer that . . . viewers? Does anyone know? And I agree that everyone was pretty . . . not so smart. At least in the beginning. Except for Owen and that other trainer guy, of course.

Kalee: Overall, I would give the plot a 9.5 out of 10.

JC: I’d give the same. :)

THE CHARACTERS:

Kalee: I liked the characters. I thought that they were all strong and there was positive development.

JC: Yeah, me too. I thought that the actors/actresses were well-matched to their roles. I also thought that the relationships (aunt-nephew, brother-brother, etc.) were portrayed really well and the actors/actresses were well-matched to each other.

Kalee: I liked Chris Pratt, who played Owen. He played a very convincing character. In my opinion, one of the best relationships in the movie was between him and his raptors, haha.

JC: Yeah, that was so cute. And I just have to mention it--Jake Johnson is the best. There. I said it.

Kalee: Who is this Jake Johnson?

JC: He’s Nick from New Girl, but he played the dorky camera control dude with the figurines in the movie.

Kalee: Oh, him. I may be incorrect but I thought I saw the book that Ian Malcolm mentioned in the second movie. I might be wrong though. Maybe he didn't even write a book, but I thought if that was it, then that was a nice little touch. One thing I didn't like was that there was no major character deaths. I didn't feel a lot of emotion throughout the movie. Jurassic Park had a lot of deaths and the characters that died were actually likeable characters.

JC: That wasn’t such a major problem with me . . . As you probably know, I’m kind of a happy-ending kind of person.

Kalee: I like it when you have one those, "Oh, no my favorite character just died," moments. It makes the movie feel more real.

JC: Difference between you and me, my friend. Character deaths don’t necessarily ruin the movie for me or anything, but it makes me kind of not want to watch it again because I know that they die in the end, and I don’t really see the point. But that’s just sometimes.

Kalee: Hmmm, yeah. I guess I kind of expected it after watching the other movies. I thought the brother duo was nice. I like older bro, little bro relationships.  

JC: Yeah, that was cute. I thought both brothers were portrayed really well, and they had great chemistry together.

Kalee: What about the main love interest in the movie? Their relationship was kind of cliche but it worked.

JC: I liked their relationship because it was entertaining to watch how frustrated Owen was getting with Claire. It was kind of an amusing relationship that made me want them to end up together. The one thing I didn’t like was Owen’s last line in the movie. It was kind of badly delivered . . . or maybe it was just badly written. Either way, it was badly something. I thought the last line could’ve been stronger, to say the least.

Kalee: I would give the characters an 9 out of 10. I kind of miss the sense of amazement the old characters gave on screen, but I should stop comparing it to the old movie.

JC: I’d give an 9.3. Onward!

THE CONCLUSION: (spoilers here)

Kalee: I didn't expect the T-Rex to come back. Now that I think about it it was really kind of cliche, but I still didn't expect it.

JC: I didn’t watch the previous movies (which you probably already know since I’ve mentioned it only about a billion gazillion times), but I still felt the . . . nostalgia, I guess? Because I could tell (maybe it was the music, or Claire’s dramatic realization that she had a plan that could work, or . . . idk, something) that the T-Rex was a big part of the previous movies even though I’ve never watched them. (Kalee, the T-Rex was a big part of the previous movies, right? ‘Cause if not . . . that was a really dramatic and incorrect paragraph I’ve just written.)

Kalee: He was the main enemy besides the velociraptors, which were crazy smart. He was like the ultimate dino at the end and it was pretty cool. I got the chills, haha. When I saw the Indominus Rex next to the aquatic dinosaurs exhibit I kind of could guess what was going to happen.

JC: Oh, my gosh, I loved that last part. The aquatic dinosaur was such a small part of the movie until the very end, and I (since Kalee’s obviously the smart one) didn’t expect the aquatic dinosaur to make an appearance at all.

Kalee: I really wanted to see that aquatic dinosaur more in the movie. I really wanted to learn more about it and see more like that one. It felt very unique.

JC: Yeah, I think that that was my favorite dinosaur after the velociraptors. What about you?

Kalee: I liked all of the little references, but I thought the whole park itself was really great. It felt massive and the visuals were beyond stunning.  

JC: . . . no favorite dinosaurs, then?

Kalee: Nah, they were all cool. Sorry, I kind of missed her question the first time.

JC: Okiedokie.

Kalee: The final line was pretty bad though.  

JC: Very. Okay. So what’s your rating of the conclusion? I’d give an 8.9.

Kalee: Me, too and JC, next time you come over, we are watching Jurassic Park. It doesn't feel like an old movie at all.

JC: Lol, okay, fine. Sooo, what do you guys (viewers) think? Was the movie good (if you watched it)? And do you have any other suggestions for book, movie, video game, or whatever else reviews?

Overall Rating: 9.2 out of 10

Thanks,

Kalee and JC

Tomorrowland Review

Picture from imdb.com
If the picture doesn't show up.. I'm sure JC can fix it haha

Tomorrowland

Hello, this is Kalee! I recently went to watch Tomorrowland with a group of friends and ... you probably don't want to be reading this review if you liked this movie. This movie showed a lot of promise. It had an epic, action packed trailer and I honestly thought I was going to like it. The idea seemed interesting and for the first couple minutes I thought it was going to satisfy my expectations. Then it plummeted. My friend, who was hyper after eating too many red vines, was more entertaining than the actual movie.

The trailer was very misleading. It shows an amazing future with cool jet packs and what not. (Spoiler, but necessary if you're thinking about watching this movie) The characters spend very little time in the actual "fun" tomorrow land. They, however spend a lot of time attempting to get to Tomorrowland, which involves a lot of driving. Take this into consideration if you want to see this movie. This movie is not about the future if that is what you or your child was expecting. (Spoiler alert over) All I could think while watching this movie was, "Wow, this looks really expensive." I had bought those extremely expensive movie tickets to get a better picture as well.

The graphics were really nice. A lot of the technology they showed off in Tomorrowland, such as the pool looked greatly innovative and unique. You could tell that they put a lot of emphasis on the scenery and robots. I wish we could have seen more of it.

My overall rating would be a ... 5 out of 10

-Beware there are spoilers-


The overall plot seemed very jumbled and a lot of the steps the main characters did not seem necessary to the overall story. The movie seemed extremely long. The plot got lost and I honestly did not understand the goal of the movie. I did not understand at all when Frank Walker, or George Clooney, was talking about Thomas Edison. I completely missed the part where they were explaining why in the world there was a rocket in the Eiffel Tower. I was still trying to understand the whole Thomas Edison thing. These reoccurring bad explanations were a major problem throughout this movie.

The way this movie was set up made it seem like they were aiming for a wide range of ages. Typically, a movie's main characters are around the same age as their target audience. That way people can connect with our main characters more. The older Frank Walker was for the adults, Casey for the teens, and Athena for the younger audience. So if I, a teenager could not understand the plot, how could say a sixth grader? Admittedly, I was pretty bored through out the movie, so I wasn't trying particular hard to understand it. I think the writers of the script were making the explanations more complicated than they had to be. They tried to hard to make the characters sound smart. It would have liked it better if someone just told the audience, bluntly what in the world was going on and why. There was also plot holes like how did Athena prevent Frank from getting robot laser blasted when the future time telling thingy told her that he would. So if the future time thingy was showing her the future what was it actually showing? Where did it get that image from? There was a cute then awkward romance, too. In that order.

Young Frank and Robot Athena end up falling for each other. They never tell each other as children though. I'm not bugged by the whole falling in love with a robot thing though. The relationship was cute and they did attempt to deal with the "she's a robot" thing. Zeros and ones can't feel genuine emotion. Then Frank is suppose to leave, because he creates a device that can predict the supposed doom day. Athena and old Frank meet up later in the movie. Then its kind of weird. There's romantic tension between the two, but he looks and is much much older than her. It's just sort of ... weird.

The overall theme of the message was kind of cheesy and has been done many times before. It's "We can change our fates" and "Protect the planet or we all gonna die." The second message is presented in a different way though. It's more like, "Us, humans are aware that global warming will kill us all. We are just too lazy to do anything about it because it doesn't effect us now." Of course, they said it in a bit of a more complicated way. I also don't know why they really needed Casey there to tell them that they can change their fates seeing that that's a common theme throughout movies and video games. Just have a chat with someone who knows of Nintendo games, such as Fire Emblem Awakening and they can tell you the same thing.

Just a little nit pick thing. When Casey was watching the trailer thing for Tomorrowland, I would have preferred it if the trailer was meant for the audience member watching it. The trailer revolved around Casey, but I thought it would have been cool if the movie treated the viewers liked they were the ones watching the trailer. Maybe have characters looking at the screen as if they were looking at the viewers. Maybe have the space lady person extend her hand towards the audience. I just thought it would be cool. It could also be an opportunity to get the audience invested in trying to get to Tomorrowland as well. I get that it was character development for Casey though.

This movie isn't as bad as I make it sound but I was disappointed at all of its wasted potential. I feel like the writers could have done a lot more with the story line. The acting was good and the effects were extra superb. I think I would have been a tad more interested if Frank had stayed the main main character though.

Thank you for reading! What movie would you like to see next?

Grave of the Fireflies Movie Review

Synopsis:
A tragic film covering a young boy and his little sister's struggle to survive in Japan during World War II.

Synopsis from imdb.com

Overall Review:
    Grave of the Fireflies, destroyed my heart and soul. This movie is beyond sad, but it really works. The sadness of this movie fit in well with the plot line. This movie takes places during WW2, when the Allies are bombing Japan. Inevitably, every possible tragedy that could occur conflicts the two main characters. I have a love-hate relationship with this movie. I hated it for a while, but when I thought about it later I realized that this movie was powerful enough to move me.

    I'm a sucker for animated films, especially films by Studio Ghibli. Some time two or three years ago, I decided that my sister and I would watch as many Studio Ghibli films as possible during summer break. My Dad had told us he didn't want us watching the movie because it was too sad. A year or so later, I decided to revisit Studio Ghibli and watch Grave of the Fireflies. Then I felt the need to review , because JC just reviewed a sad movie that was set during WW2.
    If you like sad movies, this is your movie. I don't really have a preference for what kind of movies I like to watch. As long as I feel some kind of emotional change, I'm satisfied with this movie. Although this movie is sad, it brings WW2 in the eyes of the Japanese alive. You can really feel the pain and anguish of the people in this movie. Each person's lives are affected in one way or another. You know that the main characters are not the only ones suffering, which makes it even sadder. Every person has their own story and motives if you look into it more, including the Aunt.
    The characters are all great. They make mistakes and really suffer from the consequences. The main characters, Seita and Setsuko are both really well written. Seita just wants the best for his little sister, Setsuko, but is too proud to admit when he does something wrong. Setsuko really feels like a small child and it makes you feel bad that she is stuck in such a horrible situation. And as always, the animation was top notch.
    Everything from the color choice to the animation of the characters themselves was beautiful. The darker color patterns really added to the sadness of the story and bright colors were like rays of light in the darkness. The animation was fluid. The angles and perspective were well done as well. The english voice acting was great, too.
    I don't really care for the dubbed vs. subbed debate. I prefer dubbed, because I find it hard to draw while trying to read subtitles, but that's just me. There are some anime or movies I absolutely can't watch dubbed though, such as No.6, but there are dubs I really love, such as Code Geass. Anywho... Back to Grave of the Fireflies. The dubbing was nice in this movie was great as always in Studio Ghibli movies. The voice actors had a lot of emotion, when they speak. You could really feel the anguish that the characters are feeling. The ending was fitting for the movie as well. This movie took me on an emotional roller coaster and recommended it for people who enjoy sad movies, animation or anything about history.

Don't continue to read if you don't want to be spoiled --

Plot:

       It is simple: survive. Seita has to figure out how to keep himself and his little sister afloat. I don't have much to say about the plot. It progresses nicely and the situation continuously gets worse and worse. At the beginning, their mother dies and then they run away from home. Just when you think things are turning good, they take a turn for the worst. Surviving isn't a very original plot, but Miyazaki takes the idea and propels it forward. Even though it's not original of a concept, Miyazaki does make it feel new and fresh. I would give the plot a 9.

Characters:

        It's hard to dislike any of the characters in this film (besides the people who are bombing Japan, which are the Americans) Even if a characters seems to be acting selfishly, they probably are not. For example, the Aunt, who seems cruel to Seita, actually is suffering herself. (I had to think about it for a while but) I think it was correct for her to act, so meanly to Seita, because he really wasn't doing anything to help the war effort. He was just camping out at her house and eating the food that she and her working family could be eating. She kept on telling him to help, but he refused.

       Seita and Setsuko both feel very real. It made me want to cheer for the characters the entire time. Normally, I want to jump into a movie and yell at the characters to do something, because everything they do seems illogical. During this movie, I felt just as at a loss as the characters did. The choices they made all had their reasons to it, and when they were stuck living in a war bombing shelter (thing) I really didn't know what else they could do. Setsuko is cute, too.

Setsuko is the kind of kid you want to pick up and hug. She's a child; a good child at that. It's hard not to like her, and it really made me sad, (major spoiler alert) when she died at the end. I would give the characters a 10.

Conclusion:

The beginning was the end. I didn't realize that until ten minutes after the movie ended... The ending was very fitting. A sad ending to match with a sad story. I was seriously crying. Especially when my Dad came in and saw Setsuko's spirit playing happily in the garden. He said, "Oh, it looks like she's okay now!" Dad, no; it's not okay. She dead.

So basically they both die. After Setsuko's death, Seita succumbs to depression, starvation and sickness. He dies in an area surrounded by other people his age, who are in similar situations, which just makes it sadder. It makes it sad, because you know that his story is not anything too special. There are children just like him who didn't have a chance to have their stories told. Yes, it's a sad ending, but it seems very fitting. I spent a lot of time wrestling over the idea of there being a better ending, but in real life, not everyone gets their happy ending especially during wartime.

It gives you a good idea of what happened during WW2. There was no sugar coating, just harsh reality. Really harsh reality. Another part that struck me was the Mother's death. (Not really part of the conclusion, but it was the mother's conclusion to life)

She died burnt so badly that you could barely tell what she looked like. She didn't look any different from the corpses. After her death, she was unceremoniously dumped into a grave. The image of her dead body did make me recoil in shock... Overall this was a really emotional movie and I don't recommend it for a person who is not ready to take the heavy storyline. I'd give the conclusion a 10.

Overall Rating: 9.67

Formatting will be the end of me,

Kalee

Arigatou

P.S. Formatting's better now. - JC <3

The Boy In The Striped Pajamas Movie Review

Hey, so before I get into the movie, I felt the need to talk about this new poetry obsession I have. Two words: Erin. Hanson. She's a really great poet, and I think that you guys should check out her poems on www.thepoeticunderground.com. Okay, that's all :) enjoy the review!

WARNING: THIS IS A REVIEW FOR THE MOVIE VERSION OF THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS. NOT THE BOOK.

Synopsis:

Set during World War II, a story seen through the innocent eyes of Bruno, the eight-year-old son of the commandant at a concentration camp, whose forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy on the other side of the camp fence has startling and unexpected consequences.

Source for image and synopsis: www.imdb.com

Overall Review:

    Okay, so I know that we’ve never done movie reviews before (though we’ve been planning on doing this, we’ve never really got around to it), but I seriously just needed to rant about this crazy movie. I know that the Holocaust was an awful event--we’ve talked about it in school countless times, like when we read The Diary of Anne Frank, when we went on our study trip to the east coast, and when we learned about WWII. But watching this movie still left me with this disgusting, awful feeling in my stomach.

Throughout the entire movie, I was basically thinking WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?! I mean, honestly. The topic is one that everyone should be familiar with, and to have kids in the movie? I’m not talking teenagers or, like, 11-year-olds, even--I’m talking eight-year-olds. Little tiny people who should be playing with toy cars and stuff.

Oh, my gosh, I was pretty much freaking out throughout the entire movie, just like whatintheworldiswrongwiththeseawfulpeoplewhatwhatwhatwhatwhat. Well, I was thinking that and How in the world are things supposed to get better? HOW IS THIS SUPPOSED TO HAVE A HAPPY ENDING?! And then, when we finally got to the ending . . . well, I’ll get to that in a minute.

The acting was great--I was especially impressed with Asa Butterfield’s performance as Bruno. The emotions were raw and tangible. Jack Scanlon wasn’t as convincing as Shmuel, but he was adorable and tiny, so I still felt awful for him when he was in the concentration camp. The older actors were great, too, and the whole movie was intense and brought up lots of intense feelings in my parents and myself. Mostly anger. Because some of the people in this movie were just awful.

The story was interesting and unique, though I probably wouldn’t watch it again. Mostly because it’s super depressing, and I had to watch Pitch Perfect afterwards to cheer myself up. Seriously, I’m not kidding. I would not recommend this movie to people who hate sad movies. It’s not even remotely in the rom-com or feel-good family movie genres.

I’ll sign off now and give my rating, but if you want to see my thoughts on the conclusion, feel free to read on. But there’s a MAJOR SPOILER ALERT, so beware. Don’t read on if you don’t want the entire movie ruined for you. SERIOUSLY. Okay, thanks for reading!

Overall Rating: 6.7 out of 10

Adios, guys,

JC <3

Again, *SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!* I WON’T BE GOING INTO A WHOLE LOT OF DETAIL ON THE CONCLUSION, BUT THE GIST OF IT IS THERE. SERIOUSLY. DON’T READ ON UNLESS YOU WANT THE ENTIRE MOVIE RUINED FOR YOU. IF YOU DON’T CARE, THEN FEEL FREE. :)

The Conclusion:

    Okay, that ending just, like, blew my mind. And not in a good way. As soon as Bruno decided to sneak into the concentration camp, I knew things weren’t going to end well. My mind went from whatintheworldiswrongwiththeseawfulpeoplewhatwhatwhatwhatwhat to nonononononothisisbadthisisbadthisisNOTGOOD. And then it happened. He snuck in, and guess what? HE AND SHMUEL DIED.

Gosh, could this movie be any more disturbing? And talk about an open ending; lives were ruined in the last five minutes of the movie, and they just left us hanging. Well, lives were basically being ruined throughout the whole movie, but I was definitely not expecting Bruno to die! He was the most adorable little boy, and he just. Died. It was awful and disturbing and very sad, and I don’t really like sad endings.

I like sad movies that end happily. I like happy movies that end happy. I’m that kind of person. I don’t like it when they leave you with these unresolved sad feelings. It does not feel good. Which is why I had to watch Pitch Perfect right after.

That’s basically why my rating of the movie is so low; the ending just wasn’t for me. And Bruno’s poor mom and sister were so sad. The dad was sad, too, but a part of me felt like he had bad things coming to him. He wasn’t a good person, in my opinion. Bruno definitely did not deserve what he got, and neither did poor, sweet Shmuel.

The ending definitely caught me off-guard, which is kind of . . . good? I guess? I mean, it’s not predictable. But I didn’t necessarily like it . . . but that’s just due to my preferences. I’m sure that plenty of people love the movie . . . but it just wasn’t for me. Sorry. Do you get now why I gave so many spoiler alerts? Maybe you felt like I was overdoing it, but I don’t think so. If I know that a main character is going to die in the end, I usually don’t have much motivation for watching it.

Alright, I’m done. Hope you enjoyed my review more than I enjoyed that ending. Thanks again for reading, and I hope I didn’t ruin anything for you. Okay, thanks, bye! <3