[SHORTS REVIEW] Pop (1996)

 

OR

Title: Pop

Country: United Kingdom

Genre: Surrealism / Comedy

Company: Aardman Animations

Directed by: Sam Fell

Year: 1996

MPAA Rating / TV Rating: N/A

Buy on:  N/A

WATCH IT ON YOUTUBE!

The short starts off with a man who is waiting for a soda pop to come out of the machine, while his pet goldfish is getting irritated with being stuck inside a bowl.  But then, the soda finally comes out of the machine and the man is ready to drink the soda, until the soda starts shaking uncontrollably and it flies out of the man's hands and once it reaches the man, the results are explosive!

So recently, I started checking out some of Aardman Animation's older shorts that they made throughout the 1980s and 1990s and one of the shorts that I stumbled upon was "Pop." After I started watching this short, I was quite surprised by how bizarre this particular short was and I was even more surprised that this short came from Aardman Animations, of all animation studios!  When I think of Aardman Animations, I think mostly of "Wallace and Gromit" and "Shaun the Sheep," which are Aardman Animations' most popular animated series.  But I never knew that Aardman Animations had created several shorts in the past and now, I'm more interested in checking them all out!  "Pop" was a very interesting little, short film that was definitely one of the weirdest things that I have ever seen (which is really saying something as I've seen loads of weird shorts over the years).  What made this film so interesting to watch is that it manages to turn its simple premise about a man just wanting to drink a soda pop on its head in the weirdest way possible and I absolutely loved that about this film!  Another thing that I loved about this film were the bizarre designs of the characters.  Now sometimes, a character's design can be a make it or break it scenario for me, depending on how disturbing looking the designs are.  While the designs in this short are definitely creepy at times, I loved how weird the man and goldfish's faces were in this short and I especially loved the bizarre backgrounds in this short as they really made this short stand out from any other short that I have seen!

I don't really have that many issues with this short, but sometimes the designs of the characters can come off as being a bit creepy, especially with the man's eyes being heavily mismatched in some scenes.

Overall, "Pop" is a very intriguing and bizarre short that fans of Aardman Animations will definitely be interested in.  If you are interested in checking out more of Aardman Animations' shorts, then I would definitely give "Pop" a watch!

• Face Like a Frog

• Slow Bob in the Lower Dimensions

• Quasi at the Quackadero

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[TV SHOW REVIEW] The Bremen Town Musicians (1993)

 

OR

Title: The Bremen Town Musicians

Starring: Bob Hoskins

Genre: Comedy / Fantasy / Germany / Animals / Fairy Tale

Company: Rabbit Ears Productions

Directed by: John McCally

Year: 1993

MPAA Rating / TV Rating: N/A

Buy on:  Amazon

The story starts off with a donkey who has become so old that he can't do anymore work on the farm.  Because of this, the farmer decided to kill the donkey and when the donkey finds this out, he decided to run away from the farm and go out to the town of Bremen to start a musical band. Along the way, the donkey meets up with a dog, a cat and a rooster, who are all also running away from home and they all decided to form a band together.  But along the way, the four friends ended up coming to a den of robbers and they decided to try to sing to them in order to not be killed by them.

So, I've been familiar with the fairy tale "The Bremen Town Musicians" for years now and I was surprised that Rabbit Ears Productions actually made their own version of this classic fairy tale.  I really enjoyed the late Bob Hoskins' narration for this story.  To be honest, when I was younger, I only knew Bob Hoskins through "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and there, he was able to pull off a fantastic American accent.  It was only when I watched "The Bremen Town Musicians" that I realized that Bob Hoskins is actually British.  Anyway, Bob Hoskins did a fantastic job at sounding so energetic with the characters, especially with the cocky rooster.  Another thing that I liked about this story was the music by Eugene Friesen. The music was very well done and I loved how kooky yet catchy the music sounds.  I also really enjoyed the story as it's rare to read a story about a bunch of animals trying to form a band together.

My only issue with this story was the artwork.  While I enjoyed David Johnson's artwork in other Rabbit Ears stories like "Thumbelina" and "The Boy Who Drew Cats," I felt that the artwork here was a bit too out of place with this story.  The artwork looked a bit too weird, what with the characters having cartoonish mismatched eyes on realistic bodies and that always made me feel a bit disturbed when watching this story.

Overall, even though the artwork clashes heavily with the story, this was such an enjoyable story to watch and anyone who is a huge fan of the Brothers Grimm classic fairy tale "The Bremen Town Musicians" will definitely enjoy this one!

• The Fool and the Flying Ship
• Crashbox
• Brer Rabbit and the Wonderful Tar Baby

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[TV SHOW REVIEW] Brer Rabbit and the Wonderful Tar Baby (1990)

 

OR

Title: Brer Rabbit and the Wonderful Tar Baby

Starring: Danny Glover

Genre: Comedy / Fantasy / African American / Folktale

Company: Rabbit Ears Productions

Directed by: Tim Raglin

Year: 1990

MPAA Rating / TV Rating: N/A

Buy on:  Amazon

Brer Rabbit was known as the sassiest critter around the woods and because of this, Brer Rabbit always got one over Brer Fox.  Brer Fox got so sick of this, that he decided to create a Tar Baby that he will use to trap Brer Rabbit and eat him.  Now, Brer Rabbit has to find a way to get out of the Tar Baby trap to escape Brer Fox's hungry clutches!

So, I was actually familiar with the "Brer Rabbit" tales as a little kid and one of the Brer Rabbit stories that I used to watch a lot as a kid, besides "Brer Rabbit and Boss Lion," was "Brer Rabbit and the Wonderful Tar Baby." I was actually surprised that Rabbit Ears Productions had actually made their own version of the famous Tar Baby story and I actually had a pretty fun time with this version!  The story was pretty hilarious and intense as I really enjoyed the crazy antics that Brer Rabbit gets into throughout this story and the scenes with Brer Fox were pretty intense, especially with him trying to eat Brer Rabbit. Danny Glover's energetic and relaxing narration was definitely the highlight of this story for me as Danny Glover made the story come to life in the most intriguing way possible and I especially loved how Danny Glover provided the voices for both Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox as he made Brer Fox sound so deep and threatening throughout the story, while with Brer Rabbit, he made him sound high pitched and energetic throughout the story, that strongly contrasts with Brer Fox's more menacing portrayal.  I also loved Taj Mahal's music as the music sounded so relaxing and fits so well with the somewhat calm nature of this story.

My only issue with this story is the artwork.  Now, don't get me wrong.  I'm a huge fan of Henrik Drescher's artwork and I especially loved his artwork in the other Rabbit Ears story called "The Fool and the Flying Ship."  However, due to the more calming nature of this story, the chaotic artwork clashes heavily with the mood of this story and they often distracted me from the story, as well as creep me out a bit.

Overall, even though the artwork clashes heavily with the calming nature of the story, Danny Glover's narration and Taj Mahal's music all come together to create a truly unique and soothing tale!

• The Fool and the Flying Ship
• Crashbox
• Too Many Cooks

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[MOVIE REVIEW] The Pied Piper (Krysar) (1986)

 

OR

Title: The Pied Piper (a.k.a Krysar)

Starring:  Oldrich Kaiser, Jiri Labus, Michal Pavlicek, Vilem Cok

Genre:  Horror / Fantasy / Romance

Company:   Kratky Film Praha

Directed by: Jiri Barta

Year: 1986

MPAA Rating / TV Rating: TV MA

Buy on:  Amazon

The film starts off with the people of Hamelin doing their daily tasks when suddenly, a large group of rats come and invaded the village, causing mayhem for the townspeople.  The leaders of the town tried to find a way to get rid of the rats when they suddenly meet up with a mysterious man, who stated that he will help get rid of the rats if the town leaders pay him money.  The town leaders agree to this and the Pied Piper ended up getting rid of the rats by using his flute to send the rats to their deaths.  After that, the Pied Piper falls in love with a young woman who is very innocent.  But then, things start to go wrong when the town leaders refused to pay the Pied Piper and so, the Pied Piper decided to take his revenge against the town of Hamelin.

So, for years, I have been watching and reading lots of darker and edgier takes on various fairy tales; but I had never seen a darker and edgier take on "The Pied Piper" before, until I saw this movie.  This movie was such a dark yet entertaining experience for me as I just loved how dark this particular story got as the film goes on.  There were so many dark moments in this film, like how the Pied Piper deals with the rats or how depraved the townspeople really are and those dark moments really made this film stand out to me.  I also loved the bizarre and disturbing designs of the characters and the town of Hamelin itself as everything looks so disjointed and the animation style reminded me so much of "The Nightmare Before Christmas."  Another thing that I loved about this film was that it showed us just how corrupted the townspeople were.  In the original fairy tale, the town leaders did refuse to pay the Pied Piper, but the story seemed to be lighthearted, at least until the end.  Here, the town leaders are corrupted themselves and we get to see just how disturbing and depraved they really are, and it helped upped the bleakness of this film.  I also loved the design of the Pied Piper himself as he is not portrayed as a jolly guy like he usually is in other interpretations of the fairy tale.  Instead, he is portrayed as a creepy and silent man whose only goal is to take down the rats to get his money.  However, I do like the fact that the film tried to give the Pied Piper a softer side as he falls in love with the innocent woman.

One of the issues that I had with this film was that the first half of the film was pretty slow.  Even though the first half of the film was introducing us to the townspeople, it wouldn't be until the halfway point of the film where the Pied Piper shows up and it was a bit of a slog to go through the first half of the film.  I also found the characters of the innocent woman and the fisherman to be a bit bland in comparison to the rest of the townspeople as they don't really have much in personalities other than being more innocent than the townspeople.  I actually wished that they had developed the fisherman and the innocent woman a bit more in this film.

Overall, "The Pied Piper (Krysar)" is one of the best and darkest adaptations of the "Pied Piper" story!  Even though the beginning was very slow and the characters of the fisherman and the innocent woman weren't that well developed, the dark atmosphere and the unique animation really made this film a treat to watch and I would highly recommend this film to anyone who wants to see a darker and edgier take on the Pied Piper story.

• The Nightmare Before Christmas
• Corpse Bride
• MirrorMask

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