Movie Review The Grudge 2

The Grudge 2 (2006)

Directed by Takashi Shimizu

Written by Stephen Susco

Starring Arielle Kebbel, Jennifer Beats, Amber Tamblyn, Takako Fuji, Sarah Michelle Geller

Release Date October 13th, 2006

Published October 13th, 2006

Some say that Ju-On, Takashi Shimizu's 2001 horror flick is a Japanese horror classic. I've seen Ju-on and I was not that impressed. I was further unimpressed when Shimizu adapted his film for American audiences in 2004 and called it The Grudge. I missed Ju-On 2, sad for me, however I did see The Grudge 2. If the Ju-On sequel is anything like its American twin I'm sure I would have been just as unimpressed.

Sarah Michele Gellar briefly returns to the role of Karen in Grudge 2. If you recall, Karen was an American student attending school in Tokyo when she was cursed by entering a house where a brutal murder took place. Now Karen is in a mental institution because no one believes that the murder victim, now a ghost, is after her.

In Grudge 2 Karen's sister Aubrey (Amber Tamblyn) arrives to take Karen home but unfortunately she arrives just in time to witness Karen's seeming suicide. (If you are calling this a spoiler you haven't seen the film's trailer which features Karen's death). Of course, Karen's death was no suicide; something Aubrey finds out from a journalist named Eason (Edison Chen). Eason has been following the story of the murderous house and the deaths of the people associated with it and soon he has drawn Aubrey into the ghostly danger.

Meanwhile in another movie, I mean subplot, three teenagers arrive at the Grudge house on a dare and soon find themselves cursed by the house and followed by the deathly pale ghost of a dead woman and her dead son. While two of the teenagers disappear another takes the Grudge ghosts home to America with her where they begin to infect the inhabitants of a stately Chicago apartment building.

The Grudge 2 is what I like to call a 'BOO' movie. Essentially the film plods along with dull expository dialogue, then the eerie soundtrack kicks up, and the bad guy turns to the camera and says 'BOO'. Then more dull dialogue and another 'BOO'.

Director Takashi Shimizu does not know how to craft a creepy atmosphere. His use of gray offset at times by bright colors is interesting. Unfortunately, the atmosphere is the only interesting thing about The Grudge 2. The story of the movie is so convoluted and ludicrous that figuring out the plot is a lesson in futility. What is The Grudge? Is the creepy house called The Grudge? Does the house have a grudge against the people that walk inside it? Does the ghost have a grudge against the living?

I don't need the answers to all of these questions but some recognition of the confusion caused by this odd title is something it would not have killed the filmmakers to provide.

The PG-13 rating of The Grudge 2 takes most of the fun out of the scares. Blood and guts aren't absolutely necessary for a great horror film but the best of the genre certainly make good use of them. The Grudge and now Grudge 2 are pretty well bloodless and rely almost entirely on atmosphere, creepy music and 'boo' moments when something leaps out of the dark, perfectly timed to a screech in a music track.

My main point is this, if your film is so obviously devoid of scares then, at the very least you could spill a little blood, display a little carnage, show a little skin. This is the genre that toys with the senses, titillating in one moment, repulsing in the next. It's one of the things we go to a horror movie for, that push and pull of emotions, the manipulation of the fear response and the gag reflex. Without those elements a movie like The Grudge 2 is just dull.

BOO! can be scary when you aren't expecting it. When you buy a ticket for a horror movie however, you are expecting BOO!. Thus, a good horror movie needs more than BOO!. The Grudge 2 augments the BOO! with a creepy atmosphere but nothing more. That may frighten a two year old but not many two year old's will be attending The Grudge 2.

Movie Review Scooby Doo

Scooby Doo (2002) 

Directed by Raja Gosnell

Written by James Gunn 

Starring Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Geller, Linda Cardellini, Matthew Lillard, Rowan Atkinson

Release Date June 14th, 2002

Published June 14th, 2002 

I came into this review all set to bemoan art in films, Hollywood's lack of creativity and why producers can't find original projects and so on. Then I saw the movie, and while I could still complain about all of those things, I have to be honest and say on some level I enjoyed this product of Hollywood's inability to be original.

As the story begins, we join our heroes Fred (Freddie Prinze of Darkness), Daphne (Sarah Buffy Geller), Velma(Linda Cardellini), Shaggy (Matthew Lillard) and the most famous Great Dane in the world, Scooby Doo. After doing battle with a ghost in Pamela Anderson's toy factory (yes that Pamela Anderson), the gang unmasks a janitor posing as a ghost. Another case solved by mystery Inc., except when approached by the press, Fred takes all the credit. Velma gets upset and quits, so does Daphne, and the gang is no more.

Two years later, Scooby and Shaggy are living in the Mystery Machine when they are approached by a messenger offering them money and all they can eat if they will come to the Spooky Island amusement park and solve a mystery. Fred, Velma and Daphne have also received invites and the gang is reunited. The film is as simplistic as its setup, with simple messages about friendship and teamwork that are aimed at the preschool audience. There are a couple of good chuckles for adults, such as subtle references to Shaggy's pot smoking and numerous send-ups of the cartoons classic setups.

The casting is pretty bad save for Matthew Lillard who was the perfect choice for Shaggy. He provides most of the film’s best laughs with his physical humor. Freddy Prinze Jr., to criticize him would be pointless so I'll move on. Linda Cardillini as Velma seems uncomfortable throughout the film struggling to ape the cartoon voice and manner of her cartoon counterpart. Sarah Michele Gellar as Daphne may have seemed like a good choice but after performing as long as she has on TV's best show (personal opinion) she looked bored by this material that is obviously beneath her. 

The CGI Scooby turned out surprisingly well. After the first trailer I thought he was going to look creepy. In the film, however, Scooby is well realized and the actors do a good job playing against a character that wasn't really there. Lillard had the most scenes opposite Scooby and he does a great job, it was probably easy for him, after working so often with Freddie Prinze he is used to talking to vacant spaces. I know, cheap shots.

One of the charms of the Hanna Barbera cartoon was that every episode was exactly the same. The film version does a good job at sending up those setups while still living into them. But don't be mistaken, Scooby Doo is a kid’s movie. It's meant for those between the ages of 3 and 12. And on that level Scooby is a partial success

Movie Review: TMNT

TMNT (2007) 

Directed by Kevin Munroe

Written by Kevin Munroe 

Starring Chris Evans, Patrick Stewart, Sarah Michelle Geller, Kevin Smith, Mako, Ziyi Zhang

Release Date March 23rd, 2007 

Published March 22nd, 2007

Yet another retread of the Teenage Mutant Turtles attacks our cultural consciousness and as with so many copies of an original, it is dulled and less compelling, a copy of a copy really. Directed by a videogame veteran with videogame sensibilities, TMNT looks more like an ad for the TMNT game on the XBox 360 than like a feature length film.

The brothers, Leonardo, Raphael, Michaelangelo and Donatello, who make up the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crime fighting team, want only to be on the streets fighting crime and scarfing pizza. However, their sensei Master Shredder has forced them to give up crime fighting out of fear for their safety, not merely from the bad guys but from the good guys who could not easily accept talking turtles.

Each of the turtles has found their own way to deal with seclusion. Michaelangelo and Donatello perform at kids parties, dressed as turtles(?). Leonardo has thrown himself into training with Master Shredder. Raphael, on the other hand, has taken to vigilante-ism. Taking to the streets under the guise of the Nightwatcher, Raphael is inviting a number of dangerous encounters.

When his activities are exposed it leads to a rift between Leonardo and Raphael that nearly comes to blows. However, Raphael's activities do expose the crimes of a shady businessman who has teamed with a group of ninja assassins to steal 13 warrior statues that once gathered can be made real and used to take over or destroy the world.

Directed by video game veteran Kevin Munroe, TMNT delivers a view of the Ninja Turtles that seems to want to be a little darker than previous incarnations. Their is the sense that Munroe and screenwriter Peter Laird want to delve a little deeper into these characters and their motivations. Sadly, they abandon this idea early on in favor of some truly moronic and insulting humor and kid friendly action scenes.

Restricted by the typical rules of kiddie flick etiquette, Munroe and Laird give up any notion of creating really compelling characters and an engaging coming of age story in favor of simpleminded lessons and tropes about family and doing the right thing. Oh and a bit of bathroom humor, also a staple of this vacuous type of story.

There is some promise to TMNT early on and it comes in a showdown between Leonardo and Raphael in his guise of the Nightwatcher. Not knowing who the Nightwatcher really is, Leonardo engages him and the two fight until Raphael's real identity is revealed. The tension extends back home and the conflict is genuine and compelling.

Unfortunately, this interesting bit is quickly forgotten about and the typical tropes about loyalty, family and doing the right thing take center stage in all of their unambiguous, black and white forms. I'm not saying TMNT was ever going to offer great conflict or drama, but this story was interesting before it was jettisoned in favor of more simply manipulated emotions.

As for the animation, keep in mind that director Kevin Munroe comes from a video game background. TMNT looks so much like a videogame that you may be tempted to search around your seat for a controller. The animation of videogames have made great leaps in recent years but movies require a good deal more than mere kinetic, quick cut images.

Conditioned by the beautiful work of the team at Pixar, CG animation is now an art form and if a cartoon feature cannot match the beauty of Ratatouille, Cars or Monsters Inc, we aren't as interested or engaged. Pixar and the teams at Dreamworks Animation (Shrek) and the terrific Sony crew (Ice Age), have raised the bar in CG animation and a film as flat and colorless as TMNT pales in comparison.

Without a great story to pick up for the lack of great visuals, TMNT flounders and becomes tedious by the time the end comes in a mere 84 minutes.

TMNT is a flat, uninspired recreation of an inspired group of characters. The potential was there, but the imagination and daring were lacking leaving TMNT to be yet another product of kid-centric marketing. The makers of TMNT may have been better served dropping the turtles directly into television commercials for Pizza and pop, rather than wasting millions on a theatrical feature.

It's clear from watching TMNT that the only value of these characters can be found in their salability rather than their depth of character. Why not cut out the middleman and just make commercials and toys.