sjrozan

Saw "Around the World in 80 Days" yesterday. Heard it wasn't very good, but I'd watch Jackie Chan swing in a hammock for 2 hours, so figured I'd go. The Jackie-Chan-choreographed fights were great, and a bonus was Sammo Hung, whom I'd watch SLEEP. Owen Wilson has a very funny 3 minutes, and Arnold Schwartzenegger has an unbelievably awful 5 or so. The storyline, revised to make Jackie Chan make sense in the Pasportout role, is not bad. BUT, and here's a big but: there's a lot of slapstick violence in the film, and it's nasty, mean-spirited stuff. Good slapstick ends in pratfalls, but not bloody noses and broken arms. And jokes about a shark biting off a sea captain's nipples are not funny no matter what direction you look at them from. This is a Disney film. When I was a kid everything Disney did was sugar-coated. There was a sweetness that was so dependable it could be annoying. No more. This film is outright creepy, and my experience with other Disney movies over the past few years has been similar. The Disney organization is a cutthroat bunch of nasties -- see their reaction to the idea of distributing "Fahrenheit 9/11," and see especially Carl Hiaassen's TEAM RODENT -- and the attitude of the boardroom seems to have thoroughly soaked into the creative studios. A damn shame.

sjrozan I'm a writer, at work on my 11th book. This blog is a record of random and less-random thoughts. If you want to know more about me, check my website, linked here. I also had a blog going from spring through late fall 2004 about the publishing process for my 9th book, ABSENT FRIENDS. That blog's called "Progress" and you can find the link here. I won't make any more entries but I'm leaving it up in case anyone's interested; the process is more or less the same from book to book.
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Previous Entry :: Next Entry Read/Post Comments (9)		2004-07-07 10:03 PM 80 Days Saw "Around the World in 80 Days" yesterday. Heard it wasn't very good, but I'd watch Jackie Chan swing in a hammock for 2 hours, so figured I'd go. The Jackie-Chan-choreographed fights were great, and a bonus was Sammo Hung, whom I'd watch SLEEP. Owen Wilson has a very funny 3 minutes, and Arnold Schwartzenegger has an unbelievably awful 5 or so. The storyline, revised to make Jackie Chan make sense in the Pasportout role, is not bad. BUT, and here's a big but: there's a lot of slapstick violence in the film, and it's nasty, mean-spirited stuff. Good slapstick ends in pratfalls, but not bloody noses and broken arms. And jokes about a shark biting off a sea captain's nipples are not funny no matter what direction you look at them from. This is a Disney film. When I was a kid everything Disney did was sugar-coated. There was a sweetness that was so dependable it could be annoying. No more. This film is outright creepy, and my experience with other Disney movies over the past few years has been similar. The Disney organization is a cutthroat bunch of nasties -- see their reaction to the idea of distributing "Fahrenheit 9/11," and see especially Carl Hiaassen's TEAM RODENT -- and the attitude of the boardroom seems to have thoroughly soaked into the creative studios. A damn shame. Read/Post Comments (9) Previous Entry :: Next Entry Back to Top