Anthony Stacchi | Cinema Parrot Disco

Finally! The last of the reviews for what I watched in September! Can move onto October’s horror movies next…

Cryptozoo (2021)

Directed & Written by Dash Shaw

Starring: Lake Bell, Michael Cera, Angeliki Papoulia, Zoe Kazan, Peter Stormare, Grace Zabriskie, Louisa Krause, Thomas Jay Ryan

Plot Synopsis: (via IMDb)
Cryptozookeepers try to capture a Baku, a dream-eating hybrid creature of legend, and start wondering if they should display these beasts or keep them hidden and unknown.

My Opinion:

I’m often a fan of bizarre films & this is indeed a weird one. I quite liked it but I can’t explain why so I guess I’ll keep this short! Reminded me a lot of trippy adult animation from the ‘70s, such as Fantastic Planet, so that may be why as I love that era. Feel like I’d give this a higher rating if it actually was from the ‘70s instead of now. Story was average but I liked the animation & inventive animals.

I’ll add several images below so you can see what this one looked like. Trippy, man.

My Rating: 7.5/10

My Life As A Courgette (2016) (French: Ma vie de Courgette)

Directed by Claude Barras

Based on Autobiographie d’une Courgette by Gilles Paris

Starring: Gaspard Schlatter, Sixtine Murat, Paulin Jaccoud

Plot Synopsis: (via IMDb)
After losing his mother, a young boy is sent to an orphanage with other orphans his age where he begins to learn the meaning of trust and true love.

My Opinion:

This was good. Liked its style & liked the kids. Depressing as hell, though. Can’t stand seeing kids abused or abandoned. But it had uplifting moments. I also find it highly amusing that it’s Zucchini in America & Australia (and Letterbxd) & Courgette everywhere else. As it’s a French film, I’ll stick with calling it My Life As A Courgette.

My Rating: 7/10

Elemental (2023)

Directed by Peter Sohn

Starring: Leah Lewis, Mamoudou Athie, Ronnie del Carmen, Shila Ommi, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Catherine O’Hara

Plot Synopsis: (via Wikipedia)
Set in a world inhabited by anthropomorphic elements of nature, the story follows fire element Ember Lumen (Lewis) and water element Wade Ripple (Athie), who spend time together in the city while trying to save a convenience store owned by Ember’s father, Bernie (Del Carmen).

My Opinion:

I miss when Pixar could do no wrong. This was very average. Pixar’s finest have so many much-loved, amazing characters but I haven’t cared about any of them in recent films. Water Boy was annoying & angry Fire Girl was unlikeable. And I don’t even know their names so that says something. Horny Tree Boy was okay. Bring back things like WALL-E, Monsters, Inc & Inside Out, Pixar! Please. I’m begging.

My Rating: 6/10

The Monkey King (2023)

Directed by Anthony Stacchi

Starring: Jimmy O. Yang, Bowen Yang, Jo Koy, BD Wong, Jolie Hoang-Rappaport, Stephanie Hsu

Plot Synopsis: (via IMDb)
Inspired by an epic Chinese tale, translated into an action-packed comedy, a Monkey and his magical fighting Stick battle demons, dragons, gods and the greatest adversary of all – Monkey’s ego.

My Opinion:

That monkey was an asshole.

Okay, that’s all I wrote on Letterboxd so I’ll add a bit more here. Seriously, though, this monkey was an absolute wanker. I rarely enjoy a film when the main character is just too unlikeable.

Asshole monkey aside, the story was also a mess. Admittedly, I was tired & also annoyed by asshole monkey so I wasn’t paying loads of attention but I didn’t know what the hell was going on. I had to read the entire plot synopsis while in the middle of watching this thing. This is animated entertainment aimed at kids – I don’t want to have to fucking read about it to try to figure out what the hell is going on.

I did read this on Wikipedia: “It is a prequel to the classic Ming dynasty novel, Journey to the West.” Well, shit, I’ve heard of that. Think that’s quite famous? So I don’t want to trash some beloved classic or something just because I have no knowledge of it. It’s probably a great story. Is there an asshole monkey in that?!

I should also add that it reminded me that I went to see Damon Albarn’s & Jamie Hewlett’s stage adaptation, Monkey: Journey to the West (Gorillaz dudes). I had completely forgotten about that! How?! I can’t remember a thing about it. What’s wrong with me?? I certainly don’t remember an asshole monkey in it…

My Rating: 4.5/10

The Boxtrolls (2014)

Directed by Graham Annable & Anthony Stacchi

Based on Here Be Monsters! by Alan Snow

Starring:
Isaac Hempstead-Wright
Elle Fanning
Ben Kingsley
Toni Collette
Jared Harris
Simon Pegg
Nick Frost
Richard Ayoade
Tracy Morgan

Production company: Laika

Running time: 96 minutes

Plot Synopsis: (via Wikipedia)
The film tells the story of an orphaned boy named Eggs (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) who was raised by underground cave-dwelling trash collecting trolls called the Boxtrolls. The Boxtrolls are targeted by an evil exterminator named Archibald Snatcher (Ben Kingsley) and Eggs has to save his family from Snatcher.

My Opinion:

I’ll get straight to the point: I didn’t enjoy this one. At all. I really really wanted to! I thought it looked very promising. Last Halloween, I watched and reviewed ParaNorman and I liked that one a lot. However, I also fell asleep halfway through Coraline YEARS ago and never bothered to finish it, so… I guess that’s only 1 out of 3 Laika films I’ve liked so far. Hmm.

I’ll give The Boxtrolls this: the stop-motion animation is amazing! I can’t fault that in the slightest. I also really liked the overall look & style of the movie. What I didn’t like, however, were the characters or the story so I really couldn’t buy into it all despite the boxtrolls themselves being pretty likeable. Unfortunately, they weren’t IN the movie enough. There was far more focus on the human characters than I was expecting and I got very bored when the boxtrolls weren’t onscreen. I could kind of take or leave the main boy in it (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) but I found the girl (Elle Fanning) quite annoying, especially her voice which I think just didn’t work for the character. Unfortunately, the rest of the human characters were even worse (although I suppose the baddie, Ben Kingsley, is at least a very memorable character). Seriously – The Boxtrolls needed more boxtrolls! I liked them just fine. Although I do this ALL the time when I watch a movie at home, I never do this when I go to the cinema: I fell asleep off & on somewhere in the middle of this thing when it was just the annoying human characters onscreen. Probably not a good sign… 😉

I’m not going to ramble on about this one. Is it bad? No. It just wasn’t for me. If you think it’s your type of thing or that your kids will like it, don’t let me talk you out of going to it. My hubby liked it FAR more than I did. The five-year-old with us also seemed to like it okay, so…. Maybe it IS just me! The movie is an odd one. As for the age it’s suitable for, it’s certainly not as scary as ParaNorman or Coraline, which I would never let a five-year-old watch. This one is aimed younger than those but I’d say kids would have to be six or seven for the most part to actually appreciate it and the main bad guy is probably far too scary for those under five or so. As always, though, every kid is different.

Super Short Summary:

I just didn’t like this one. Sorry! Giving it a lower rating would be unfair, however, as I know it’s not “bad”. Based on ParaNorman, I’d still watch another film made by Laika. Awesome stop-motion animation, at the very least!

My Rating: 5/10