I was dragged along to see this film with other parents and kids and really hated it, and definitely regretted spending my money on it.
On the positive side, some of the scenes are very pretty and colourful, and I suppose well made, although I must say I don't know the first thing about film-making.
My main objection to the film, apart from how boring and predictable it is (you only need to watch the first 10 minutes to guess the rest), is how the female character and male characters are portrayed.
On one hand the female protagonist, Sara, looks like an inflatable sex doll: the pouting collagen lips, and the boobs half hanging out in every shot. They even carefully and lovingly draw in the line of her buttocks in every possible scene.
I have nothing against the illustrator drawing in his fantasy female. BUT if you take a look at all the other characters (and except for an elderly woman receptionist, all the other characters are men), all of them are drawn as caricatures: enormous noses, completely out of proportion chins, larger than life muscles, etc. However, no male sexual attributes at all: no bulges in the trousers or even anything remotely attractive about them.
I know that sexism exists in real life and that for a woman it's still considered advantageous to look as sexy and attractive as possible, but do we really have to perpetuate this and teach it to our kids as acceptable? Is that the message of the film: middle-aged ugly, big-jowled unshaven uneducated building site worker gets off with the sex bomb? Just to give it some perspective for people who think this is OK: imagine the roles reversed: older ugly cleaning lady gets together with charming Adonis with large bulge in trousers, because he can see her "inner beauty". I would love to see that at the cinema. :P
I felt embarrassed for my 7 y.o. daughter while watching it. Some of us parents spend a lot of time trying to teach our daughters that they don't need to look like porn actresses to be loved or to succeed in life, and then along comes the film industry...
For me the film could have been quite OK (from a kids' point of view), just by using more graphically-credible or realistic characters.
On the positive side, some of the scenes are very pretty and colourful, and I suppose well made, although I must say I don't know the first thing about film-making.
My main objection to the film, apart from how boring and predictable it is (you only need to watch the first 10 minutes to guess the rest), is how the female character and male characters are portrayed.
On one hand the female protagonist, Sara, looks like an inflatable sex doll: the pouting collagen lips, and the boobs half hanging out in every shot. They even carefully and lovingly draw in the line of her buttocks in every possible scene.
I have nothing against the illustrator drawing in his fantasy female. BUT if you take a look at all the other characters (and except for an elderly woman receptionist, all the other characters are men), all of them are drawn as caricatures: enormous noses, completely out of proportion chins, larger than life muscles, etc. However, no male sexual attributes at all: no bulges in the trousers or even anything remotely attractive about them.
I know that sexism exists in real life and that for a woman it's still considered advantageous to look as sexy and attractive as possible, but do we really have to perpetuate this and teach it to our kids as acceptable? Is that the message of the film: middle-aged ugly, big-jowled unshaven uneducated building site worker gets off with the sex bomb? Just to give it some perspective for people who think this is OK: imagine the roles reversed: older ugly cleaning lady gets together with charming Adonis with large bulge in trousers, because he can see her "inner beauty". I would love to see that at the cinema. :P
I felt embarrassed for my 7 y.o. daughter while watching it. Some of us parents spend a lot of time trying to teach our daughters that they don't need to look like porn actresses to be loved or to succeed in life, and then along comes the film industry...
For me the film could have been quite OK (from a kids' point of view), just by using more graphically-credible or realistic characters.