[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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[SURREAL REQUEST HOLE] [SHORTS REVIEW] Face Like a Frog (1987)

 

OR

Title: Face Like a Frog

Genre: Horror / Surrealism / Fantasy

Company: N/A

Directed by: Sally Cruikshank

Year: 1987

MPAA Rating / TV Rating: N/A

Buy on:  N/A

WATCH IT ON YOUTUBE!

*This short was requested by Nova Softlock Circus.  If you would like to suggest a weird movie / TV show / short for me to review, then please leave your suggestions on the Surreal Request Hole page. *

The short is about a female frog asking for the help of a male frog, who just so happens to drive up to the mansion at that time and the female frog wants the male frog to help her deal with the haunted mansion.  Unfortunately, it turns out that the mansion has a lot of terrifying things that the male frog is not prepared for.

So, it's been awhile since I last reviewed anything on this blog.  So, I just recently saw this bizarre little short called "Face Like a Frog" and man, was this short such a wild ride!  I had previously reviewed Sally Cruikshank's other short film Quasi at the Quackadero and that short was just as weird as this short.  However, I do think that "Face Like a Frog" might have beaten "Quasi at the Quackadero" in terms of weirdness.  The first thing that I liked about this film was the animation.  The animation in this film was truly unique as everything, from the characters to the environment that they are in, is constantly moving around and it gives the short a truly bizarre and unique feel.  Another thing that I liked about this short was the music.  I was quite surprised when I found out that Danny Elfman provided the music for this short and the music did a good job at giving this short a bizarre yet creepy feel to it.  I especially loved the song "Don't Go Into the Basement" as it was extremely catchy and I loved the bizarre animation being shown during that scene.

My main problem with this short was that everything moved a bit too fast for me.  Since this short was only 5 minutes long, the characters weren't fully developed and the situation with the two frogs and the haunted mansion went by too quickly. I would have liked it if the short was a bit longer and allowed more room for the characters to be developed, as well as having more adventures between the two frog characters.

Overall, "Face Like a Frog" is a great short that brilliantly shows how to use weird animation to its fullest and it is a nice little short to watch for the Halloween season!  I definitely can't wait to watch more of Sally Cruikshank's works in the near future!

• Quasi at the Quackadero
• Closed Mondays
• Slow Bob in the Lower Dimension

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[HORROR MOVIE CORNER] The Babysitter (2017)

 

Hello horror movie fans! Welcome to the all-new "Horror Movie Corner," where I talk about the horror movies that I have seen over the years!  So, this week's horror movie that I will be reviewing is the crazy Netflix film, "The Babysitter!"

OR

Title: The Babysitter

Starring:  Samara Weaving, Robbie Amell, Judah Lewis, Bella Thorne

Genre:  Comedy / Horror / Action

Company:   New Line Cinema

Directed by: McG

Year: 2017

MPAA Rating / TV Rating: TV-MA

Buy on:   Blu-Ray.com

This movie has graphic violence and strong language and some sexual content.  

The movie starts off with a 12-year-old boy named Cole Johnson who was constantly bullied at school and was always afraid of everything.  But despite all this, Cole is good friends with his babysitter Bee and they would do all sorts of things together.  One day, Cole's parents went on a getaway trip and they left Cole with Bee.  At first, things were going well between Cole and Bee as they enjoyed playing various games with each other.  But as soon as Cole goes to bed, he starts hearing Bee playing some games with her friends downstairs.  Cole then goes downstairs to see what Bee and her friends were doing and it turned out that Bee and her friends were performing a human sacrifice!  It was then that Cole realized that Bee and her friends are in a cult and that they planned on performing human sacrifices in order to have their wishes come true and Cole is the next victim on their list!  Now Cole has to do everything in his power to escape from Bee and her friends!

Wow! I'm actually surprised that I enjoyed this movie as much as I did!  At first, I thought that I wasn't going to like this movie because the premise sounded ridiculous.  But once I watched this movie, I was quite impressed by how funny and scary this film was!  I really loved the performances of all the actors and actresses in this film as they really got into their roles and they made the movie so entertaining to watch!  I especially loved the performances from Samara Weaving as Bee and Robbie Amell as Max as they were the most entertaining characters in the movie!  I loved the way that Robbie Amell made Max into such a comical character, despite the fact that he's an ax-crazy killer.  I also enjoyed Samara Weaving's performance as Bee as she made Bee so friendly yet deadly at the same time.  I also liked the fact that the movie had a nice balance between comedy and horror as there were many scenes that were quite intense.  But at the same time, I was laughing out loud at how over the top the actors' performances were.

The main issue that I had with this film was that I felt that the characters weren't that well developed as I don't know anything about their backstories.  The characters that I was the most curious about were Bee and her friends as their motivations to perform human sacrifices seem a little flat to me because I don't know much about their backgrounds and how they even know about performing sacrifices to have their wishes come true.

Overall, "The Babysitter" may seem like a silly horror comedy film, but it is definitely entertaining to watch because of how over the top the characters' antics are.  And I loved the way that this film turned many horror tropes on its head and made a pretty entertaining movie out of it!