Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Moofies - Bunny and the Bull

EXPACTATIONS: I've watched all three series of The Mighty Boosh many times, and this is a film made by the director of Boosh so I'm pretty excited.

REALITY: This was a little bit of a let down, but still had plenty of enjoyable elements.

Firstly, there is a crazy attention to detail, akin to something like Wes Anderson's films; the backgrounds and costumes are filled with so much detail and love. Most of the film is told in flashbacks that include a lot of "crafty" looking crayon and paper animation and surrealistic environments. It gives the film a very unique and cool look.

Secondly, there are lots of familiar Boosh faces who make appearances, which is sweet, and they are all funny and used well.

I think where the film let me down was with its tone and characters. The main characters are Stephen, a quite shy guy, and Bunny, his wild inconsiderate friend. Stephen could have been a funny and incredibly straight straight guy, and there are some moments of that, but in other moments he becomes such a sad pushover that he's hard to stomach. I just wanted to yell at him to "man up" or something. Bunny could have been the funny wild friend, and there are some moments of funny wildness, but he does some things in this movie that just make him fairly unlikable and mean.

I think the tone of the film is as confused as its characters are. At one point we're watching a funny wacky adventure, and then all of a sudden we're supposed to be upset about something serious happening. It left me feeling a bit strange really.

It's cool to see something this visually unique, and I laughed at a lot of scenes, but as a whole it kind of didn't work well. I look forward to seeing what Paul King does next.

***

No comments: