NYICFF Blog 2 (Curtain Up, Moominvalley)

Happy Sunday! I hope you have all had a great day! I have 2 films for the NYICFF to post my review of today. So let’s get right to it!

Curtain Up

Curtain Up is a very cute documentary about a 5th grade class in NYC’s Chinatown (PS 124) that decides to put on a production of Disney’s Frozen Jr. As they prepare for the musical you get to know the adorable children, their parents and teachers as well. Some of the parents are more supportive of participation in the arts than others and a lot of that comes down to cultures, stereotypes and changing traditions.

As a former theater geek myself watching this was a nostalgic experience. I miss the group experience of theater. At least in the past I could go see live theater if I couldn’t be in it. I miss that. It’s such a great experience to all work on a production and see it all come together on opening night. Curtain Up captures that energy and it doesn’t hurt the kids are super cute!

7 out of 10

Smile Worthy

Moominvalley: The Hobgoblin Trilogy

This Moominvalley trilogy is not really a film at all. It’s 3 episodes of the Moominvalley tv show put together as a trilogy. If you don’t know Moominvalley is a Finnish series based on the Moomin books that also had a stop motion series made about them in the 80s. The characters are the creation of artist Tove Jansson who published them in 9 books over many decades.

The thing that makes the Moomin stories so effective is how incredibly adorable they are. I admit I prefer the stop motion over this CGI version but even here they are so cute. The stories are perfectly fine for little ones but it’s the animation and character designs that make you want to hug them.

The trilogy contains:

1. The Hobgoblin’s hat-a Moomintroll finds a magic hat. At first they are excited but then they grow to be nervous about the hat’s powers. This one is my favorite of the 3
2. Thingumy and Bob- a pair of small creatures come to visit the Moomins. They are cute but a little annoying so this is my least favorite
3. The Trial- the last centers around an argument between Moomins over a special ruby. It’s pretty cute!

Moominvalley: The Hobgoblin Trilogy is just for very little kids but they will love it and be begging for a Moomin plush as soon as they finish watching.

6 out of 10

Smile Worthy