Hi friends! This month’s blind spot proved to be one of those movies that’s much more fun to talk about than to watch. It’s 1963’s Cleopatra. The film that almost bankrupted 20th Century Fox. Honestly I thought it would be better. I knew it was super long. That’s why I hadn’t watched it but I thought it would be more campy fun but it’s really not. I was shocked how many long processionals there are where nothing is happening. You could almost have it as a screensaver and get as much entertainment out of it.
That said, my friend Molly and I had a great time talking about it on the podcast. Just the story of the producer Walter Wanger is worth its own podcast episode. It’s available on all the podcast platforms so give it a listen.
Next month is the musical Sweet Charity so that should be really fun to check off of my blind spot list!
So back in 2023 I didn’t like the first The Super Mario Bros Movie. In my review I said “If you want to see a basic animated film for kids The Super Mario Bros Movie I suppose will suffice but if you are hoping for something fresh, exciting, creative or funny I’m afraid you’ll have to look elsewhere.”
Well, the last 3 years have worn down this critic because the new movie The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is all of those things I accused the original of being and it is not fresh or exciting and yet I liked it! (I do think it is creative and funny so maybe that’s where it won me over)
The truth is I don’t really remember the original film well nor did I have time to rewatch it. I recall it being more boring than the new film which honestly can be a little crowded in the story department (crowded and yet also quite basic in its storytelling.)
The thing is it’s also really cute… For whatever reason I found almost every scene to be charming with adorable characters I enjoyed spending time with. I liked that Mario and Luigi were together for most this movie where they weren’t in the original. I liked Yoshi and his cuteness. I thought Peach was a fun character and her sister Rosalina were delightful characters. The toadstools are adorable. Sometimes even us critics have basic responses to film, and that was the case here. I found it to be a charming adventure.
Of course there are problems. As I said, the story is crowded and yet also quite basic. There is no attempt to dazzle me with the animation like we have seen in so many recent animated films. Illumination is still as generic as you can get in that department but the way they interwove the animation from the video game was quite clever and surprising. I am sure there are loads of Easter eggs fans will get but even my non-gamer heart caught a lot of them.
I’m seeing a lot of critics going very hard on this film but I also wonder what kind of movie can you do for 2 male plumbers in a fantasy world. It’s not a concept that strikes me as ripe for storytelling. What they came up with is a generic adventure to save a princess but they filled it with lost of cuteness and enough laughs to entertain me.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie gets a recommendation from this princess peach.
