Highland

VIFF 2019 Review: Boyz In The Wood

Jon The Blogcentric1 Comment
Boyz Wood
Boyz In The Wood are of four English boys who you think would fail an orienteering assignment in the Highlands, but you’ll be surprised.

Sure, teenagers are a source of comedy. Boyz In The Wood looks to be the right stuff give you the laughs at a teenager’s expense you’re looking for.

The film starts with four English teenage boys who are commissioned by the school to do an orienteering session in the lowlands of the English/Scottish border as part of an orienteering assignment. There’s Duncan who has a knack for destroying public property, Dean who likes to do unique drugs, one boy who thinks of himself as a rising rap star under the name DJ Beatroot, and Ian who’s the nerd just trying to fit in and wants to win the Duke Of Edinburgh award. Under their supervision is Mr. Carlyle who is hoping this exercise will help the three delinquent boys learn some responsibility. Meanwhile the police are trying to solve a crime in the area, but don’t know what crime they’re trying to solve.

Ian appears to be the only one taking the assignment seriously as Duncan brags about what he did at school, DJ Beatroot fancies his future rap career and Dean attempts to smoke a joint of certain concoction and it explodes. The others want to try the drug too. However Dean is too weirded out by the experience. Unknown to the boys at the time are a fancy-dressed rifleman from the Highlands. He’s soon joined by a woman in similar dress. They’re pursuing ‘the Dukes,’ but their pursuits change when they see the four teenage boys. Now the boys’ lives will soon be at stake.

The boys soon learn they are targeted by the two Highlanders. They try fend them off by using a container of Dean’s drugs as a bomb. That only causes the Highlanders to get even more furious. The boys try to get help from the police, but it doesn’t help as they’re more concerned about stolen bread in the region. They try and use a van but end up hitting Mr. Carlyle. Thinking he’s dead, they try and make something like he was in an accident by leaving the van with Mr. Carlyle in reverse. Then Ian is shot by one of the Highlanders. He tries to walk but is stuck. Instead of the boys helping, they leave him for dead.

As time passes, the police are still confused on the issue and the Highlanders are still on pursuit. However the boys appear lost. DJ Beatroot goes into a meeting lodge where he bumps into some local farmers. They recognize him and talk about how much they love his raps. DJ Beatroot gives them a show they just go for. The boys are attracted to the noise and they meet up again. Soon DJ Beatroot leads to where Ian is lying and they rescue him.

The boys have one last blast of fun as they learn that rabbit droppings make for a good hallucinogen. All four engage for one last blast. However as the orientation is nearing its time limit, Ian talks about his issues about being a misfit and left out. That’s when all three admit that they too are the losers of the school too. However they still have to get focused. On top of it, the Highland couple meet up with their fellow Highlanders in pursuit of the four boys.

Soon the police finally get it. They’re searching for a bread thief. The missing bread is the biggest problem in the area. Nothing else happens. So they set out to the Highlands to find the thief. In the Highlands, all the Highlanders have the boys hostage and ready to shoot them at the sound of three. Before the sound of three, the van lands on them all! The police get there and they not only found the boys safe and sound, but they found the stolen bread. The boys are heroes of the region! In the van, Mr. Carlyle isn’t dead! He’s alive and slowly gets his consciousness back and wonders what the heck went on while he was out.

The whole theme of this comedy is idiocy. We have three groups of people and they all show their own unique idiocy in the film. We have the group of teens that are obnoxious or misfits, or both. We have the police force that can’t seem to sort out their priorities on crime in the region. We also have the half-masked Highlanders who feel they have to use brutal violence to solve their issues. This adds to the humor of the film and adds to the story line where the ones most likely to fail end up being the ones that win in the end. The boys unwittingly accomplish their goal and become town heroes at the same time.

This is an against-all-odds comedy that plays out in crazy fashion. Four teens are given an orienteering session as part of an assignment and the hopes of a teacher straightening them out. You have one teen who’s into crazy drugs, one who’s naturally obnoxious, one who only cares about his rapper ambitions, and one nerd who’s trying to belong. Yeah, it sounds pretty similar to The Breakfast Club, or Stand By Me. Take your pick. Their personalities make it look like they’re all bound to fail and everything imaginable goes wrong. Or if it does work out, it will be done in hilarious fashion. It does work out and Ethan finds himself with three new friends: the three you last thought would befriend him. Even that scene where he gets left behind leaves you wondering, but it all works out.

The interesting thing about the film is that is occasionally goes from a story with a beginning, middle, and end to a music video. It’s understandable. The story does feature a rapper with big dreams, even if all he raps about is his penis. The story also focuses on some of the boys trying to get high and it’s trying to recreate a lot of hallucinations and have it done in musical fashion. However there are times when this mesh is a bit distracting and does make the story seem uneven. Yes, it’s fun and entertaining to watch, but it does make you wonder if it was overdone or not.

This is the first feature-length film done by Ninian Doff. He’s done a lot of film shorts and video shorts in the past. Here he’s trying to make a film that is part comedy/drama and part music video. It’s entertaining, but its imperfections are noticeable. Nevertheless it is worth enjoying. The film even caught the attention of Tobey Maguire. Yes, the Tobey Maguire from the Spider-Man movies from fifteen years ago! Tobey is executive producer of this film. The acting was also good and humorous. All of the actors played their parts well. However I feel the show-stealer is Viraj Juneja. DJ Beatroot was quite the charming idiot and he did it very well.

Boyz In The Wood is an imperfect but humorous and entertaining comedy about a group of teen males and orienteering. It may not exactly reach the level of stupidity of Beavis And Butt-head, but it is funny and it ends in sensible fashion.

Movie Review: Brave

Jon The Blogcentric2 Comments

Brave is the latest movie from the creation of the Disney/Pixar team. Disney/Pixar already has quite a stellar reputation of churning out first-rate animated movies since 1995 and they promise Brave to be another story with a top quality cast, top-notch animation and a story that’s thrillingly entertaining. The question is do they deliver well enough to keep the Disney/Pixar legacy happening?

The story revolves around Merida: a young Scottish princess who’s first-born of King Fergus of Clan DunBroch and Queen Elinor. Merida is an energetic princess from the start as she gets a bow and arrow for her birthday and her passion for archery grows. Her pursuits include encounters with a will-o’-the-wisp to the demon bear Mor’Du. The bear is successfully fought off at the expense of the king’s leg. Years would pass. Elinor would have triplet boys who are totally mischievous. Merida would grow up to be a free-spirited teenager who has a passion for archery and sword fighting. This charms her father but doesn’t go well with the mother as she wants Merida to grow up to be a traditional princess. Merida doesn’t look forward to the traditional life of the princess. She wants more to be the hero and the fighter instead.

Then the day comes. Merida learns that she is to be betrothed to a first-born son from one of her father’s allied clans. Even though Merida is disappointed, Elinor tells Merida the story of a boy who did his own thing and it led the kingdom to ruin. Even though Merida is still unhappy, she decides for archery at the Highland Games to be the decider for her future husband. Disappointed with the contest Merida openly declares open to compete for her own hand and devastates the efforts of the other boys. This disappoints Elinor greatly and the two have a falling out as Merida goes into the woods.

In the woods she’s led by will-o’-the-wisps to a witch disguised as a wood carver. The witch agrees to give Merida a spell to change her mother but in the form of a cake. To both of their surprise, Elinor turns into a bear after eating the cake. Merida heads back to the witch’s cottage only to find the witch gone. The potion in the cottage contains an automated message from the witch that the spell will be permanent unless undone by the second sunrise. She also leaves a riddle to undo the spell: “mend the bond torn by pride.” As Merida attempts to patch things up with the mother, she sees how her mother has become more bear-like. She also flees an attack form Mor’Du and learns that Mor’Du received the same spell from the witch many years ago. She learns she has to mend a family bond to prevent her mother from being like Mor’Du. To make things crazier, her brothers discovered the cake, ate it, and turned into cubs.

Meanwhile tensions grow at the castle as the clans fight over Merida’s behavior. Merida quells the fighting by declaring that children should get married in their own time. The suitors and the lords all agree. Meanwhile the time for Merida to restore Elinor into a human is running out. Merida and Elinor try to head out of the castle only to be stopped by Fergus who mistakes her for Mor’Du. Fergus pursues Elinor while Merida has to free herself to stop them both. It isn’t until all are confronted by Mor’Du that something has to happen. Elinor lures Mor’Du to a falling menhir which kills him. It isn’t until one final professing from Merida that the spell can be cast free and peace can be restored amongst the clans.

Overall Brave does not rank as one of the best Disney/Pixar movies ever nor does it have one of its best-ever storylines. In fact it was Pixar’s goal to make a more mature movie as compared to their mostly kid-friendly movies like Cars, Up, Ratatouille and Toy Story. That could be why many may feel the typical Disney/Pixar magic is lacking here. What it does do is live up to the promise of a story entertaining for any movie audient of any age even with its darkness at times. It also delivers in bringing charming characters to the table and a heroine that succeeds in making the audience want her to win in the end. That is reason enough to consider Brave an excellent movie in its own rite. The unique thing about Merida is that she’s Pixar’s first ever female protagonist in a feature-length film.

The story itself was even written by a woman: Brenda Chapman. She wrote the story to have it in the same tradition as Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm. She was also to be Pixar’s first female director but was replaced by Mark Andrews following creative disagreements. The presentation of Merida as a strong young woman who defies traditional convention but has a heart of her own also gives a positive female role model for young girls. Good to have since reality show bimbos seem to be the popularity contest winners right now.

The voice acting had excellent choices in terms of picking some of the biggest names to come from Scotland: Kelly MacDonald, Billy Connolly, Craig Ferguson and Kevin McKidd. The addition of English actors Emma Thompson, Robbie Coltrane and Julie Walters also added to the charm of the story. John Ratzenberger, a favorite of Disney/Pixar, again makes a return appearance. The animation was top notch as one would expect from the Pixar team. Once again detail and accuracy pay off. The music, composed by Patrick Doyle, was meant to have the Celtic feel of being in Scotland and included many authentic Scottish instruments and Scottish rhythms in the score’s mix.

Brave is not amongst the best Disney/Pixar movies ever made. Nevertheless it does take the Pixar team in new directions in terms of storytelling and it succeeds in being entertaining to the audience. That should keep the Disney/Pixar continuing on their positive streak.