the movie that sucked my soul from my body (I'm blue)

[Dave]

I don't even know where and how to begin.

THE SMURFS...

I used to like those little blue people when I listened to cartoons in the early mornings while getting dressed and washed up. That was before the 24 hours news cycle...

Now they made them into a movie that sucks the life from anyone that watches it.
It is not happy.
It is not pleasant.
It is like root canal - you're only happy when it is over.

A gagging, saccharine festival of stupid with obligatory predictable dialog, plot, action and all that.

[Losethem]

I didn't know souls were white and sticky.

Meh, got 'nuthin.

[StefanIsMe]

On a vaguely related note (I can't comment directly as I've not seen the smurf movie):

I dislike how movie makers are ghetto-izing cartoon characters.

What do I mean?

The "Gansta" look is becoming so "cool"-oriented they even use it on the Chipmunks.

Take a peek at the DVD cover for that Chipmunks movie from last year; it's a picture (drawing) of the three of them, wearing hats pulled low over the eyes, arms crossed.

Innoculous, nothing to worry about, just 'a look', you say? I say, Bullshit.

It's a threatening pose. It's a glorification of being a douche-baggy, Look-how-tough-I-am, ghetto-ish thug... FOR KIDS.

Ridiculous.

[Paolo]

I felt the same way about "Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban". That one murdered the book so badly. And the consensus is that "Half Blood Prince" was the worst one? I sort of enjoyed that one.

[Dave]

On a vaguely related note (I can't comment directly as I've not seen the smurf movie):
I dislike how movie makers are ghetto-izing cartoon characters.
What do I mean?
The "Gansta" look is becoming so "cool"-oriented they even use it on the Chipmunks.
Take a peek at the DVD cover for that Chipmunks movie from last year; it's a picture (drawing) of the three of them, wearing hats pulled low over the eyes, arms crossed.
Innoculous, nothing to worry about, just 'a look', you say? I say, Bullshit.
It's a threatening pose. It's a glorification of being a douche-baggy, Look-how-tough-I-am, ghetto-ish thug... FOR KIDS.
Ridiculous.

This quote is attributed to Plato:
"The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers. "

[Dave]

I felt the same way about "Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban". That one murdered the book so badly. And the consensus is that "Half Blood Prince" was the worst one? I sort of enjoyed that one.

I don't remember the book "Prisoner of Azkeban" enough to agree or disagree with that statement. Lots of people think "Azkeban" is the best film and I always thought that a little foolish.

Now "Half Blood Prince" both as book and movie suffer from what might be called "the wind up to the climax syndrome" that so many writers fall into -- lit a pit of oblivion.
Two reasons,
One: they shortened "Half Blood Prince" for non-artistic reasons and made it sketchy. As much as I dislike the year separation of "Deathly Hallows" when I watch both those movies one after the other, the story is whole and told well. Tons (or in Brit terms, Tonnes) of backstory is left out and only hinted at. That's a problem with the story is that it is titled "Harry Potter" and Rowling includes way to much Tom Riddle story in the books.
Two: I think that the "Order of the Phoenix" wasted my time and wasted the story. IT cold have been cut in half or a third and would have worked at that drastically shorter length because what comes later - the revelation and search for the Horcruxes and then the final revelation of the almost unhinted at "Deathly Hallows" is so much more important.
I remember wondering while reading the "Sorcerer's Stone" why Voldemort lived when the spell rebounded. Why didn't he die. That was where Rowling should have had one distinct statement about Horcruxes. I've looked and the speculation isn't there.

When I am writing a story, sometimes a few thousand words simply pour out and the story is there on the paper fully formed.
What happens after that is my escape from the "the wind up to the climax syndrome"...
I pick out and emphasize the important themes of the story. I also add external literature references.
I adjust the character development in the story to make sense. People act in certain ways and human nature must be respected.
I also delete intermediate filler that creates oblivion for the reader. Sometimes in the "trip" from A to Z, there are no stops in the story and other times there must be 24 stops in the story. It all depends.

In Rowling's case, I think that the "lure" of teenage dating angst was too great to pass by and although I like it, it added a book to the series and didn't contribute to the plot. "Order of the Phoenix" bored me because of that.

[moi621]

Dave

Sounds like someone needs some

Sponge Bob Square Pants.

[Dave]

Sound like i should avoid this film.

Two things you must understand about my reviews -
1) they are only my opinion and you may disagree with that opinion.
2) I might exaggerate for fun. I write the critical ones with a certain evil merriment in my mind.
Even the good reviews get snarked and sniped, sometimes, not always...

These are meant as fun