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katlson
Reviews
The Larkins (2021)
It's just so boring
I hate the word 'woke' but having read the original book I have to agree the Larkins give a ridiculously unrealistic view of 1950s Kent. One of the stories in the book (and in the original TV adaptation) is of a young 'Dutch' man who the village falls in love with until they find out he is German and he is ousted by the community. The (original) Larkin family stick up for him. The story would make no sense now because in this new retelling everyone is tolerant and inclusive which as we all know was sadly not the case. I'm very glad it is now, but I don't think rewriting history or literature is sensible at all.
That aside, the storytelling is so very slow and never really gets going. There's no real drama and it's hard to connect to any of the characters who themselves have very little chemistry with each other. The family have no shared physical characteristics and don't in any way look or act like siblings. Bradley Walsh is trying so hard but he just comes across like a Dick van Dyke type, and Mariette, lovely as she is is too old - she looks a good 30 and is supposed to be all of 20.
I really really wanted to love this adaptation as much as I loved the book and the Darling Buds but it's just misplaced, miscast, dull and lacking all of the beautiful charm it should have. It spoils the legacy a bit because it could have been lovely. I've given up after trying for 4 episodes but I just stopped being interested.
I don't know if this will get a second series but I won't be watching if it does.
Spies in Disguise (2019)
Excellent film for 6-12 year olds!
My kids LOVED this. From the punchy opening scenes to the fun soundtrack and excellent storyline, animation and acting, it's the only 'cinema night' film of 2020 we watched twice!
Scoob! (2020)
Just Awful
I've given this film 2/10 and those 2 are for the first 15 mins which are a sweet origin story which is fairly well animated and a good introduction to this new Scooby Doo era.
Sadly the rest of the film was just awful. Awful. Simon Cowell turns up. He can't act, and even his CGI self is badly animated. From there the film becomes a ridiculously over complicated introduction to the Hanna-Barbera universe with a new character popping up every 10 minutes, ultimately it's difficult for young children to follow and I gave up just over halfway in.
There's some amazing films that have come out in 2020, Scoob! Is not one of them. It takes a well established character and manages to make it unlikeable which is quite a feat.
If you haven't seen this yet I wouldn't bother. It's a dud.
D'Artacán y los tres mosqueperros (2021)
A poor film trading on nostalgia, not quality.
First off I've no idea who is giving this film high scores but their reviews seem to indicate they've not actually seen the film.
We have regular 'cinema nights' with the kids (6 and 10) and when Dogtanian came up on Sky Cinema I thought it would be right down our street as I loved the animation as a child.
First off, this film is 1hr45 long, longer than Frozen yet or needed a good 45-50 mins shaved off as it has so many pointless bits which don't add anything other than boring bulk.
The voice acting is awful, you can literally feel the actors struggling to read the script, adding pauses in strange places and mispronouncing words. The story is over complicated for children, quite boring and dull. There's a fart joke 5 minutes in and I'd argue that it was the peak of the film.
The animation is awful, so low budget, it's clear they spent all the money on the rights to a beloved cartoon and had little left. It looks like it was made on an old movie maker package on a 20 year old PC. There are two camera angles and that's your lot. It looks horrible (though the line art 'flashback' was nice and served only to show how rubbish the rest of the film was). It was so poor it distracted from what plot there was.
We turned the film off before the end, I have to admit it. I'm SO disappointed my favourite cartoon as a child has become this. The kids were FINE with us turning it off which I think says it all.
Save your time and watch the old cartoons on YouTube or just watch a different film altogether.