Well I just finished this film. Full disclosure, I lost a bet on whether the Pittsburgh Pirates would go above .500 this season and for some crazy reason they actually finished above .500 so I had to watch this film. With that said, I can say that at times I was thoroughly entertained.
Let's start with the acting, it's hard to imagine why some talented actors chose to work in this film but then it's not that hard to imagine when you think about the one day of shooting for the significant pay day. Listen, every actor or actress was just horrible in the film. Tony Braxton was so self centered that it was almost uncomfortable for me to watch and not one time do I remember her stating who she actually was in the film. Was she playing herself? I'm still left wondering about this one.
Cloris Leachman was the first respectable actress to appear and she essentially played a crazy person. Her character was obsessed with circles. If you just read that sentence and re read it because it didn't make sense then let me spare you the third re read, yes...she was actually obsessed with a circular shape. When the Oogielove trio enters her home and begins speaking with her they mention nothing about this psychopathic problem. If I entered a situation like that, my initial thought would be something like "What the hell is wrong with this woman? I gotta get outta here. This woman is crazy and I legitimately need to be worried about my safety." Instead Cloris's character induces the trio into a disturbing dance about circles that is sure to leave the audience questioning their sanity.
By the way, let me interrupt my character and acting assessment to quickly explain to you the plot of this film. The Oogieloves wake up in the morning and it apparently is their pillow's birthday. Once again, you read that correctly, it is their pillow's birthday. Now there is no explanation for why there pillow is alive or whether it can even speak at this point, as a viewer you just have to go with it and as I tried to immerse myself in the Oogielove world, just for a second I was able to believe that the group was really excited about there pillow's birthday.
Now we are introduced at this point to our first supporting character in the film, a window with a woman's face on it. Think Snow White mirror but a beautiful woman instead. I wish I could say that this talking mirror is the most unique and weird character in the film but frankly it probably doesn't even approach the top three. The talking mirror speaks with a southern accent for really no reason whatsoever. I'm not sure where the accent comes from but it is just accepted despite no one else in the film having that accent.
The window wakes up the Oogieloves and they look into her. She has the magical ability to see anywhere in their mysterious land so she shows them an approaching character. What character you may ask? Well this character is hands down the most unexplained and unbelievable character in the film, it's a talking vacuum cleaner. Why a vacuum cleaner? I repeatedly asked myself that question while watching the movie and came up with no good answer. I'm just going to assume they simply thought of a household object and for some reason believed a vacuum would make for an interesting character. They were wrong.
The talking vacuum accidentally lets go of some helium balloons for the surprise birthday party for the talking pillow because I think he tripped on the sidewalk. (There is a sentence I never would've believed I would've typed in my life.) So the Oogieloves trio set out to go and find the balloons for the party. Now at this point my spidey senses were tingling. I had a ton of issues with their decision making here. So you're telling me they can't just go buy 5 more balloons? The talking vacuum has an answer for that question. No, these are the last balloons in their world. Hmmmmmm...well played director, well played. Well truthfully, we learn later these are magical balloons that can sing but their song was really stupid and basic and I don't really think the talking pillow enjoyed it but I don't want to give away the ending for you all.
So the Oogieloves go from place to place and meet the celebrities. The worst acting performance (and believe me this was not an easy decision) had to go to Christopher Lloyd. In about 10 minutes of screen time he had 1 line...ONE. I mean really? He just blankly stared at the camera and then made weird threatening faces towards the Oogieloves when they stared at Jaime Presley the wrong way. And yes, we were to believe that Christopher Lloyd was hooking up with Jaime Presley. The sad fact is that this was not the most unbelievable subplot of the film.
Listen there is other characters in this film and other terrible story lines that are worth discussing but I think I've talked enough. It was a disturbing film and really entertaining at times. It was an awful film and I don't believe for a second that kids would actually enjoy it (kids aren't stupid) but from a satirical standpoint I somewhat enjoyed it. View at your own risk.
(As a side point you have to love the people that come on here and are hired to write reviews. They are so blatantly hired to write positive reviews and frankly it is comical.)
