The Park

Granted, I didn't really have any particular high hopes or expectations to the 2023 movie "The Park" from writer and director Shal Ngo, as I sat down to watch it. Sure, I hadn't heard about the movie, but after having read the synopsis, it sounded like a very bland run-of-the-mill movie with a storyline that has been done and seen before.

But still, I opted to sit down and watch it, as I might perhaps be in for something great here, though it hardly would seem so.

And I wasn't in for anything grand. I have to admit that I found the storyline in "The Park" laughably boring and ridiculous. It was, as I had believed, just another movie that uses the trope of all-adults-in-the-world-are-dead. It has been seen and done before, and writer and director Shal Ngo didn't exactly bring anything new or thrilling to the game.

I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble, but the acting performances were fair enough, despite the fact that I abhorred the storyline and script.

Truth be told, then I didn't finish watching "The Park", and nor do I have any intentions of returning to attempt doing so, because the storyline utterly failed to entertain me.

My rating of "The Park" lands on a three out of ten stars.

Of all the people talking about bad acting or bad story, I'm not sure we watched the same movie. This is a movie with 99% child actors so expecting Oscar worthy performances (I found their acting to be better than average, and 100% better than the really bad movies that are constantly released, e.g. Cheap version of what's about to come out in theaters.) The premise of the movie was decent; how would kids who haven't reached puberty survive in a world without adults. Maybe others are disliking the movie for it being a female protagonist that is stronger than her male counterpart? Just a guess there, anyway....

There are a lot of routes this could go but this movie decided to somewhat focus around an amusement park. It didn't seem to be a primary focus of the "Neverland" the plot description implied so it kinda failed on that route. Regardless the movie does a good job of portraying a world where per-pubescent children have to survive. I enjoyed it and very much was not a waste of my time.

The cinematography, locations and plot were top notch. The premise and plot was interesting, although it wasn't the focus of the story.

The trailer is kind of misleading. Don't expect a horror, survival or action film. Think more of a indie character study rather than a plot driven film. The film can be dark due to it being post-apocalyptic but the kids balance it.

This film covers topics of humanity, survival and empathy. It's unconventional and kinda keeps you guessing on what will happen.

The writing wasn't bad. The dialogue is believable, which most writers struggle when it comes to kids but Shal Ngo did a great job with a nice message at the end.

Most of the reviews that are hating on this gem seem to be miserable boomers who are literally "kids these days" wouldn't survive... It's a fictional film... get over yourselves.

The acting is probably the weakest aspect of the film but it's kids. Some of the kids over act but it's bearable. The main character Ines played by Chloe Guidry is surprisingly well done and subtle. Kuan played Carmina Garay seemed to be over expressive but it kinda fits her character. It does drag towards the middle.

I had to give this film 10 stars to out weigh the unnecessary hate. But the film is probably 7/10. An above average film that made me remember the wonder and hope of being a kid.

The story drags out over the short run time, kids playing adults just doesn't play off the same. Find it's extremely hard to belive , and I really can't tell if the acting is bad or if it's just such an unbelievable and boring premise that it just plays off this way.

There are no answers to any questions you might have over the actual plot events, like what happened and why. But that isn't really important anyways because no one is even likeable in this story- I kind of just was hoping that everyone in it would die because it's so ridiculous.

Save yourself some time and forger this trash even exists !

Adults are dead and now it's Lord of the Flies at the theme park.

From frame one you know this is gonna be a really bad movie. Real bad.

The acting is horrendous. Actually, there is no acting. Just kids reading lines.

The entire concept of the film is dumb if you think about it for 10 seconds. There is no direction and the writing is idiotic.

The only saving grace is that it runs under 90 minutes. You should run away. I can't get that time back now.

The bottom line is....who paid to make this garbage? I hope they are feeling duped and never put up cash to support this horrible writer/director again.