Fantasy

Fable, Allegory, and the Aesthetics of Del Toro Fuel “The Shape of Water”

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Guillermo Del Toro is a master of the modern fairy tale. In The Shape of Water, he tells the story of a budding love between a mute woman named Elisa and a captive fish creature. Like the very best of Del Toro, the film blurs the line between reality and fantasy and succeeds as an … Read more

The Unbalanced Rebellion of “The Last Jedi” Fails to Ascend

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There’s an underlying kernel of irony at the center of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. The film is the freshest film in the Star Wars franchise since George Lucas decided to add to the original trilogy. For all its flaws, it pushes the boundaries of the universe in many different directions, intent on being something … Read more

Stanley Kubrick’s “Lolita” – a Most Ambitious Fantasy

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The fourth entry in Plot and Theme’s year-long look at the filmography of Stanley Kubrick.  Check out all entries here. Introduction In 1962, Stanley Kubrick adapted the Vladimir Nabokov novel Lolita for his sixth feature film.  Though published only 7 years earlier, Nabokov’s novel was already reaching the status of a classic work due to … Read more

Fantastic Catharsis in J. A. Bayona’s Phenomenal “A Monster Calls”

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In J.A. Bayona’s A Monster Calls, the director mixes the hyper-reality of the agonizing struggles of a young boy named Conor O’Malley with a vibrant fantasy world involving a titanic tree monster.  Like in Bayona’s previous feature El Orfanato (The Orphanage), reality and fantasy are blended together in fascinating ways, until it is not quite clear precisely what we are looking at.  Though certainly a daunting task, Bayona and his performers manage to tell an engaging coming-of-age story about grief, coping, and the power of storytelling.

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“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” is a Dour Mixture of Fan Service and Risk-Aversion

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It is a tricky thing to tell a good story when practically every audience member knows the ending.  It is trickier still when you pack your story with abject fan service, telegraphed plot choices lacking any inspiration, and under-developed characters delivering wooden dialogue.  Rogue One:  A Star Wars Story is guilty of all these failings and many more.  It is not a complete disaster, though it coasts off the strength of an exciting third act and a near-fatal dose of nostalgia.  As a result, though the initial hoopla will be to declare Rogue One:  A Star Wars Story as an utter triumph, extra consideration of the film (perhaps with your gender-neuter fanperson beer goggles off) will reveal its many disappointments.

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“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” – a Chimera of Whimsy and Banality

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Like many of the wondrous animals that inhabit its world, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is an amalgamation.  Except, unlike the hippogriff, which capitalizes on the strengths of both the eagle and the horse, David Yates’s film compromises the adventures of Newt Scamander with a plodding police procedural.  The result is less like the streamlined elegance of the hippogriff, and more like whatever happened to Jeff Goldblum at the very end of The Fly.  Every time Newt and his compatriots are on screen, the film is an absolute delight that reminds us why we fell in love with the wizarding world in the first place.  And every time they’re not, we’re reminded that David Yates is responsible for two of the three worst Harry Potter films to date.  Fantastic Beasts ends up somewhere in the middle, with no time-turner available to right the wrong and spare the life of this innocent little hippogriff.

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Despite “Out There” Visuals, Marvel’s “Doctor Strange” Is as Safe as They Come

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For a film meant to expand the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) into the novel territory of alternate dimensions and mind-bending magic, Doctor Strange sure does play it safe.  Though many of the visuals are fascinating, some are overly show-offy, like an elaborate ornament on an otherwise bland facade.  The acting talent and the performances that they deliver are impressive, but they are relied upon to prop up a flimsy story that inadequately introduces us to this new facet of the MCU.  Similarly, most of the characters are unbalanced, uneven, and inconsistent – as though the filmmakers were afraid of allowing Dr. Strange to be too much of an asshole.  Finally, aside from an innovative and interesting climactic sequence, the plot is about as by-the-numbers as one can imagine.  Overall, this is the disquieting flaw of Doctor Strange:  the eye-popping visuals are in direct aesthetic conflict with the safeness of the narrative and thematic choices.  The result is a reasonable entry into the MCU, but a film which isn’t appreciably better than the average origin story.

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A Foundation of Duality: How “Warcraft” Establishes a Unique and Thematic Fantasy World

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The challenge facing director Duncan Jones with Warcraft:  make a high fantasy video-game flick relying heavily on CGI for one of the races.  What could go wrong?  Fortunately, much less than you would think.  Most of the issues with the film involve specific plot elements, and few of the characters are under-developed (especially the human ones).  But, the visuals are astounding, the world-building is impressive, and the lore introduced in this film should provide ample foundation for more nuanced exploration of the world in the future.  Warcraft has its faults, but its unique structure explores themes of racial tension, corruption, and legacy in ways that few other fantasy films can accomplish.

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Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens – Not Mad, Just Disappointed

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You can’t really call Star Wars Episode VII– The Force Awakens a bad film with a straight face. The script is entirely serviceable with few logical inconsistencies or plot holes. Almost every character is well-established (Captain Phasma notwithstanding), and the performances are certainly on par with the original trilogy (especially with regards to the leads). Thematically, this is nothing that surprises us: it is the Light side vs. the Dark side, an allegorical simplification of the struggle between good and evil. But, from the get-go, there is a haunting echo: this doesn’t merely remind of the original trilogy, it outright pilfers its structure in hopes of re-capturing its magic.  As plotpoint after familiar plotpoint falls into place, it becomes clear that this new trilogy is just calculated nostalgia.

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Classic Review Friday – Gary Ross’ “Pleasantville” (1998)

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The strongest fantasy stories depict a world that is different from our own while telling stories which are fundamental to the human condition. In the case of Pleasantville, the idyllic 1950s town is an actual paradise where the high school basketball team never loses, the fire department merely has to rescue cats trapped in trees, and dinner is always ready when you come home. But perfection, safety, and comfort are not the default, and when two real-life children introduce new ideas to the sheltered town, Pleasantville transforms from black-and-white safe space into vivid real-life.

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