Video game movies tend to come in two flavours. They’re either about video game characters in their separate video game world, or they’re about those characters making in their way into the ‘real world’. On both counts, studios have historically struggled with making such movies worthwhile, although with the recent successes of The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (I specify the sequel because the original is still pretty naff), that tide has definitely been turning of late.
I can’t remember the last time a sports movie got me this worked. Hell, I’m not even sure there was a ‘last time’ for the effect this left on me. In real life, I’m quite comfortable in my pudgy lion-bear physique and look, but coming out of the cinema for this, I felt jacked. Like I just climbed those famous Philly stairs and was ready to throw down in the ring. Having sat through all the Rocky films thus far, along with the previous two Creed films… I can’t recall any of them giving me this kind of endorphin rush before.
Over the lifespan of this blog, what began as me going after Happy Madison films for the sake of cheap shots has gradually resulted in me reconnecting with how much Adam Sandler basically ruled my world as a kid. There’s just something about his socially-awkward, hair-trigger, good-natured schtick that still finds ways to warm my neurodivergent heart. Not that that really applies here, though, as this film has Sandler in one of his more dramatic roles, and as the last few years have shown, he’s as much in his element here as he is with his more memetic deliveries and one-liners.
I was worried that they were going to balls this one up. A biopic about the Williams sisters, tennis players so famous that even I know who they are, told from the point-of-view of their father and coach. Not gonna lie, as soon as I saw that setup and the Will Smith-heavy marketing for the thing, I assumed we’d be in for another Dangal, where the attempt to be inspiring with the dramatisation of a real-life woman’s sporting story gets railroaded to give all the emphasis to a particular man in her life. And while that is definitely the perspective given, I’d argue that this works out much better than in Dangal’s case, as using that specific perspective affords the film many opportunities for resonating material, almost all of which are utilised.
Now, on the surface, it makes total sense. It’s about the titular quokka (voiced by Angourie Rice) who, rather than fitting into the cute and non-threatening role that society has laid out for her, wants to become the champion of the World’s Scariest Games, just like her idol Frankie Scales (Sam Neill). It’s a nice juxtaposition, aided by some species-ist subtext since literally every other quokka in this world is in the tourism industry, which mainly consists of taking selfies with said tourists.
However, even with the ultimate message about rejecting societal expectations and redefining who can and can’t excel in a certain field, it really feels like the film missed a trick with its title and its repeated use of the word “scary”. Like, if this was some kind of Monsters Inc. situation, or even just a Halloween-set story about competitive trick-or-treating (an animated film could easily turn that into an Olympic-level event), that would make sense. But the actual World’s Scariest Games are closer to American Ninja Warrior than anything else, with athletes competing in increasingly-hazardous terrains and obstacle courses. I’m just saying, ‘World’s Strongest Animal’ would make a lot more sense and would still fit with the main themes of the story.
I usually try and focus just on what a film is, rather than what it could be, but it’s rare when I get the impression that a film is repeatedly using the wrong word to describe itself. Especially when what really describes this film, to be brutally honest, is likely the reason why I found myself so fixated on that one word: It’s just another sports movie. An underdog athlete is trained by a disgraced former champion, facing resistance from their competition who think they don’t deserve to be there, but gradually winning their respect through their determination and skill at the sport; we’ve all seen this before. As fun as it is to hear Frank Woodley returning as Flightless Feather, here serving as colour commentator on the Games, that nostalgic connection isn’t enough to get past how tired and, even with the animation quality and the plentiful background gags, uninteresting this all is.
I get that I’m not the target audience for these things, as I’ve likely proven with my track record for films about humanoid animals, but I can’t shake the feeling that I wouldn’t be the only one disappointed by this flick. Kids are just as entertained by being scared as adults, and I do think that a film all about a cute little quokka learning how to be proper scary could still work as a family film. But no, it just succumbs to cliché that, unlike Wishmas Tree and Combat Wombat, doesn’t have enough of its own flair to keep things interesting. The additions to the world-building that are made here definitely open up the world of Sanctuary City, but I’d be lying if I said I was super-hyped for where things go from here.
Back when I looked at the latest Tom & Jerry movie, I made an aside saying that I was looking forward to this feature. Well, after a good few months of reflection, and actually sitting down to rewatch the original for the first time in years, I want to wholeheartedly retract that statement. The original Space Jam is a film that didn’t need to exist in the first place, essentially serving as a feature-length adaptation of a commercial that is itself a highly commercialised product. There is not a single good idea to be found in it as a piece of art, but the reason why it remains watchable to this day is that everyone attached to it is having fun despite what they’ve been brought together to create. That, and the soundtrack is still fire after all these years.
Knowing how badly things turned out last time I highlighted a film about horse racing, scepticism feels like the right mood to enter this particular film with. Or I could expect basic sentimentality, given the median age of the cast here and the general pleasantness of the tone I got from the trailer (and, truth be told, the poster). But instead, I’m actually going into this with a certain amount of anticipation, and of course, it’s because I recognise a few of the names attached to this feature. We’ve got Toni Collette in a starring role, which is a start, but there’s also the director: Euros Lyn.
Now, depending on my reader’s familiarity with sci-fi television, that name might ring a bell, given his work on Russell T. Davies-era Doctor Who, Torchwood: Children Of Earth (low-key one of the greatest TV miniseries of the 21st century, and possibly even further back), and the Black Mirror episode Fifteen Million Merits, the one with the exercise bikes and a version of Pop Idol that’s somehow even more depressing than the real thing. Most of his work up to this point has been in TV production, with this apparently being his first theatrical release. Well, if this is his first sprint on the big screen, it’s good knowing all that experience and skill can translate this effectively.
Considering two of my favourite films so far this year have been Chinese efforts, I figured it’d be worth diving into that creative pool once again with this sports biopic about the Chinese women’s volleyball team. And ignoring whatever easy jokes I could make about that particular choice of sport, the film itself presents it in pretty visceral fashion. When their coach says that they need to "shed blood, not tears", he really isn’t kidding, and their physical exertion combined with the sound mixing (that ‘thwack’ as they make contact with the ball is weirdly satisfying) starts the film on solid ground.
2018, more so than a lot of years previously, has shown that
the trend of family films about talking animals has been a scourge on the
landscape of modern cinema. It’s the one sub-genre that I can tie to some of
this year’s worst product, and whichever ones that are actually worth bothering
with are few and far between. And sure enough, we got another weaksauce one today.
