A Month at the Movies - May 2013

It was supposed to be an angry-revenge film, a no holds barred one, or at least that's the impression they wanted to give, but instead gave us rather unconvincing sympathetic scenes and unnecessary racist moments that had no intention of being there in the first place. The plot is devilishly simple, the characters are standard, generic, and in the first 20-or-so minutes we're under the impression it's gonna be unique, but are quickly betrayed of that thought once it passes the aforementioned mark.

Throughout the film I was rather confused: is it an action film? a drama? a harsh look at urban, gang life? a tragic film? I don't know what the original thought behind the film was but it tried to mix all of the above points... and failed. I mean it's a decently enough made film but I would liken it to Daikatana to others Mortal Kombat.

We get to see the rise and fall of this connection through Scrap Dupris's point of view, who is at first a background enigma but becomes the solid voice of the film as time progresses.

Now the boxing: rarely has any other film portrayed a sport as a character in itself. For the characters in the film, boxing is not a sport, but rather a living entity they must visit on a timely basis. We almost never get to see the the boxing. By that I mean we hardly get to see what it represents in the ring, but rather the workings of it - what drives it, the fuel of the game. Approach it correctly and you may be rewarded in more ways than one. Disrespect it and you may lose more than just your reputation. In short, the film is fearless and afraid, simultaneously!

Besides charm and humour, the other thing it showcases is the brilliant martial arts / fight sequences. For a cartoon, they're arguably the best, and rival some of the real film ones. And it's not surprising to see why as Jackie Chan was also featured in the cartoon - as the voice-over for Monkey, one of the Furious Five. Even though the action scenes were very fast and quite blurry, the overall effect was awesome!

Ralph Macchio plays Daniel, the protagonist. Macchio may be a name lost among young teenagers nowadays, me included (I only know him from this film and My Cousin Vinny), he nevertheless gave arguably one of the greatest performances in young adults history. He captured and expressed the smallest nuances of a hero whose soul has been dampened but never defeated. His nervous twitches, body language, muttering under the breath, everything was perfect, realistic. Check out the part when he and Mr. Miyagi are trying to catch a fly using chopsticks. I bet he forgot there were cameras on him.

Although the animation certainly was beautiful - the point is clearly made when very early in the movie a small montage of the Pridelands is shown - and was indeed enchanting in its colourful moments such as the "I Can't Wait To Be King" number and haunting in its monotonous, less-lively scenes such as the elephant graveyard and what becomes of the Pridelands under Scar's rule. Despite that, it still felt a little restrained. Also, the characters, while appearing onscreen, would slide in, as if being pushed from the behind and the side from where they're entering the screen from, left, right, or anywhere. Although it's just a minor thing, the fact that it was released in 1994 should not account for justifying this setback. Many cartoons, both of its time and before, were much more realistic, like 77's Rescuers or 89's Little Mermaid.

Even though I caught up with this movie 10 years too late, I can't wait to see the sequels, hopefully somewhere within this year. As great and somewhat original it was though, Curse acted as a spiritual successor of The Princess Bride at times, especially at the dueling sequences, most notably during the Will Turner / Jack Sparrow duel in a smithy.

The story is nothing to sneeze at. It very well could be written by either Sid Meier - in the epic moments - or by Tim Schafer - in the funny moments - and in the case of the latter, it's not even surprising since the franchise was inspired by the Monkey Island series, one of the many games in which Schafer was involved one way or another. The overall effect is a guilt-free fun and exciting ride.