My friend always knows the type of shows that I like, so when she suggested this cartoon, Over the Garden Wall, I was down to watch it.
This is going to get good…
The show follows stepbrothers Wirt (Elijah Wood) and Greg who were out walking in the forest and are lost. As they are trying to figure out how to get home they come across a woodsman (Christopher Lloyd) who tries to help them. He warns them of “the beast” and directs them the way to go. As they try to get home they come upon all kinds of fantastical and spooky people/creatures; and the woodsman himself might not be as helpful as they originally thought. In this world where anything could happen who can you trust? Everything in the show is cute and sweet with an undertone of something sinister.
From Twin Peaks
“Hard Times at the Huskin’ Bee” is the second episode of the series and the two brothers have been wandering in the direction the woodsman pointed out when Greg finds a bird trapped in a bramble bush. She’s a talking bird, Beatrice (Melanie Lynskey), who they met briefly in the previous episode and as Greg saved her, she is now a member of their party.
Beatrice wants to take them to Adelaide the lady of the forest to help them, but Wirt sees a sign to Pottsfield and decides to go in that direction.
We go my way!
When they arrive they find an empty village and only turkeys in the houses. They continue walking through the creepy village, and I’m like if this was me I would go running and screaming from it, I’ve seen plenty of films and read enough books to know things are not going to go well.
They hear music coming from the barn and head over there to ask for directions. When they get to the barn they find these pumpkin straw/scarecrow humanoids running about. Wirt feels safe as he think they are wearing costumes and not real pumpkins.
One girl sees Wirt and comments “aren’t you a little ripe still to be here?”
This whole thing would send me reeling, but the boys don’t leave yet. They do get freaked out when they see a gigantic pumpkin and realize that these aren’t just people having a regular festival, something fantastical and grim is going on here.
When they try to leave they are stopped and have to be punished….
That’s not good.
I was thinking that they were goin to try and smash them, but instead they force Greg, Wirt, and Beatrice to do community service.
Beatrice is still trying to get the kids to leave as she doesn’t trust these pumpkin villagers and is really worried that they have something more sinister planned; especially after the two brothers are digging holes that are the perfect dimensions and depth to be a grave.
The pumpkin people come to check to see if they are finished and Beatrice has Wirt stall them while she tries to pick the locks.
Wirt tells them he found rocks when digging so it took longer, and then continues to ramble. When Wirt sees Beatrice and Greg running away without him, he gives up and is prepared to meet his doom.
From The Wolf Man (1941)
But out of the hole comes skeletons who do not attack him but put on pumpkins and straw. It turns out they never planned to hurt the brothers, they just needed some help getting their friends.
The pumpkins tell the brothers they can stay as long as they want to, but they decline as they are both determined to get home.
I really enjoyed this, it’s the perfect blend of cute, spooky, and grim; with a fairy tale feel. I highly recommend it.
He’s married to a corpse. He has a corpse bride. There must be some way to undo what’s been done.
Every year I do an animated movie as part of my Horrorfest review. As I was trying to decide which one, I finally settled on The Corpse Bride as I thought it was high time I reviewed a Tim Burton film. I have been trying to do Edward Scissorhandsor Sleepy Hollow (1999), for years now but it just seems as if 31 days is never enough time to do everything I wish.
So the first time I watched this movie I wasn’t really into it. I felt the plot wasn’t that interesting and there were too many songs. But my niece really loves it and wanted to watch it (several times) and it is funny, but the more I watch it, the more I like it. I have actually really grown to love it, despite all the things I disliked in the beginning.
So the story begins with Victor Van Groot (Johnny Depp), nouveau rich, as he prepares to marry Victoria Everglot, from an old important family (who unfortunately has no money). There marriage is supposed to be one of convenience, but Victoria and Victor have fallen for each other.
However, even though Victor is in love with Victoria, he is extremely nervous about the wedding and messing things up. He ruins the rehearsal when he drops the ring, (symbolizing his death) and accidentally catches Mrs. Everglot’s dress on fire.
He runs away embarrassed and tries to work on his vows. He manages to knock them out of the park, but when he gets to placing the ring on the finger (a stick off a tree) it turns out that he has awaken the dead, and now has a zombie bride.
He then gets dragged down to…I don’t know actually. Is it is heaven, hell, purgatory, or a final resting place for the townspeople? They never explain.
Is it for everyone or just the village? And how was she even able to drag Victor down if he isn’t dead?
Anyways, they give him the story behind the Corpse Bride, Emily (Helena Bonham Carter). She was engaged to marry a man her parents disapproved of. She stole all their money and jewels as the two planned to elope. But when Emily arrived, her betrothed strangled her and took off with everything. She then decided she would wait there until her true love awoke her.
Victor wants to leave, but Emily doesn’t want him too. He convinces her to let him return to the world above so that they can see his parents. They go, but instead of seeing his parents, he tries to tell Victoria what has happened.
Emily follows him, and upset at his betrayal, drags him back down to the underworld.
Victoria is worried and tries to seek help, but everyone thinks she is crazy. Her parents are desperate for money, so when Lord Barkis, (who has just arrived in town and no one knows him but he gives the appearance of being wealthy and from a distinguished family) offers to marry Victoria, her parents accept. Victoria on the other hand is completely distraught.
Meanwhile, below ground Victor’s coachman has just arrived and given him the news about Victoria. Heartbroken that she would marry another, Victor agrees to spend eternity with Emily. In order to make the ceremony lawful, they must return topside, preform the wedding ceremony, and Victor must take poison so that he can join Emily in the afterlife.
The dead rise and head to the church, coming in right after Victoria and Lord Barkis have performed the ceremony. Everyone is terrified including the townspeople.
However, after they discover that the skeleton/zombie creations are their dead relatives, they are happy to have their loved ones back.
Lord Barkin wants to flee and tells Victoria to get all her family’s money so they can take off. Victoria reveals they have no money, and now both are very unhappy.
Victor and Emily are getting ready to perform the ceremony when Emily sees how much Victor loves Victoria and stops the ceremony. Victor and Victoria are together, but unfortunately they can’t really be together as she is already married, something Lord Barkin reminds everyone. But as he comes to take Victoria away, it is revealed that he was the one who killed Emily.
All the other skeletons and zombies are furious, but there is nothing that can be done by the dead as he is still alive. Lord Barkin laughs at this and takes a drink of the wine set out for the wedding ceremony, making fun of Emily. But the wine he drank was the poisoned wine that was set out for Victor.
Get him!
As he is now dead, Emily can get justice; Victoria and Victor get their happy ending; and Emily is released and able to pass on.
So let’s start with what I did like:
1) The Animation
In a world that was moving from 2D animation to CGI, it is nice to see a throwback like this, I actually wish we had more films like it. I know it was becoming too expensive for a lot of studios to do it and will eventually become totally outmoded, but I like it. There is something so real about these puppets.
2) The Ending
The ending was so cute, it was why I even wanted to watch the film. I mean I loved how Victor and Victoria get together and Emily has peace.
Although, why does she turn into butterflies?
Things I Didn’t like:
1) Too Nightmare Before Christmas
I really felt like Burton was just trying to recapture The Nightmare Before Christmas. He just borrowed too much from his earlier film for me. I mean the creatures had the same style; Emily looked like a Blue Sally; there are two skeleton kids and a dwarf replacing the three trick or treaters; and a bone dog instead of ghost dog; and tons of songs. Even though it is cute it also gives the impression Burton is running out of new ideas.
2) Too Many Songs
Now I love music
But the songs in a film need to be good and have something to do with advancing or enhancing the plot. Quite a few of these songs felt more like filler to lad out the runtime instead of enhancing the story.
3) This Was too Short
Everything felt as if it was moving too quickly. It made me feel as if they couldn’t really think of a way to flesh out the idea they had for the plot and instead decided to jam extra songs in and hurry to the ending.
4) Music is Not Right for a Young Lady
Uh, did Burton do anyresearch? Victoria wants to play the piano, but isn’t allowed as “music is not right for a girl”. Uh, no. Music has always been something young ladies were trained in. Think of the three acceptable arts: piano, painting, and embroidery. I mean remember Mr. Darcy?
“a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, and the modern languages, to deserve the word; and besides all this, she must possess a certain something in her air and manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions, or the word will be but half deserved.’ Caroline Bingley…’All this she must possess,’ added Darcy, ‘and to all this she must yet add something more substantial, in the improvement of her mind by extensive reading.”
6) No Character Development
So Victoria and Victor are cute, but we hardly know anything about them! I mean we know Victoria doesn’t want to wear corsets, or follow society’s rules, but what does she like? What does she want? Who is she? Victor is insecure and frightened, but that’s it. There is nothing else to him.
7) Why Would They Marry Their Daughter Off to Someone They Don’t Know
Now don’t tell me “it is because they need money”. Why would a family that was so concerned over their daughter marrying a rich fish merchant’s son, even though they are filthy rich, just send her off with a guy they know nothing about? That makes no sense. Why wouldn’t they have looked into his background and discovered he has no money either?
8) They Couldn’t Just End an Engagement
So as stated before I guess Burton did zero research as you can’t just switch one engagement for another. Since Victor never actually ended his engagement there could be legal steps taken against the Everglots, and a family that has no money would be careful about that.
9) More Research Issues
So again another problem with the time period they set this film in. The Everglots are angry at Victor and Victoria alone in the room but that wouldn’t be as big an issue, as when a couple was engaged there were a few relaxed rules. I mean Victor couldn’t be in her bedroom, but he could be in the room alone with her for a bit. I mean seriously, Did you do ANY research?
But even though it has quite a few issues, I will admit that it grows on you. The more I watch it, the more I love the characters of Emily, Victor, and Victoria; and thanks to my this has become a yearly watch.
-Update 2019- I think Catherine Morland, if she lived today would love this film.
And bringing back the facebook covers/mini posters. I haven’t been able to do them for the last few posts as I couldn’t find pics I liked that had a horror-ish feel. But I did make one for The Corpse Bride.
So I have a midterm to study for and can’t put up an actual review of a film today. So, I thought I would give you a little tie in with Austen. There is this website JibJab which is so much fun; you can make these great videos and I made a little Halloweeny one! 😀 Unfortunately I can’t post it on here so I did screenshots of the thing.
So here’s a Halloween hip-hop dance done by your favorite Austen men
Fitzwilliam “Shady D” Darcy
Then there is
Henry “Hoody H Face” Tilney
Now Tilney really gots the moves.
And
James “Force Jimmy J” Brandon
My favorite out of them all as his face is priceless
Fredrick “Manic Spin” Wentworth
And lastly, my other favorite as he is really grooving too
Ah but soon there will be a new monster inside, the moon is moving quickly into position…we must turn Shaggy into a werewolf!
Like I mentioned Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School, this is a movie I used to watch all the time as a kid; and still do as my nieces and nephew are always bugging me to watch it with them. We’re all big Scooby fans.
They used to show this all the time in October on Cartoon Network, during their Saturday night Creature Double Feature. They would also show Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School, Scooby-Doo Meets the Boo Brothers, Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island, Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase, Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders, and Scooby-Doo and Scooby-Doo and the Witch’s Ghost. My sister and I used to watch these all the time.
So the story starts out with Dracula getting ready for his grand monster race. He has a multitude of monsters assembked; Frankenstein and his wife Repulsa, The Mummy, The Witch Sisters, Mr. Bonejangles the skeleton, Dr. Jackal/Mr. Synde (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde), The Swamp Thing, and Dreadonia. The only person missing is the Wolf Man. It turns out that he retired and is vacationing in Florida.
“Dracula: What I want to know is, where’s my werewolf?
They can’t have a monster race without all the monsters present.
Everything seems hopeless until Vanna Pira (Vanna White/Vampira), asks why they can’t just get a new one. So Dracula pulls out his book of possible people to become monsters, and finds that the next person who can become a werewolf is none other than Shaggy. Dracula sends his henchmen, the Hunch Bunch, to go and make sure he turns into one. They have three days to do it.
We switch to Shaggy and the gang, who at this point is Scooby-Doo, Scrappy, and Shaggy’s girlfriend Googy. This suprised me as Shaggy has never had a girlfriend in the series/movies before, and after this video, we never see her again.
Anyways, so in this movie they are no longer P.E. instructors but are race car drivers. Shaggy and Scooby are actually really good and have a cool car that is all tricked out. They struggle through the race for a bit, but are able to defeat the other teams and win. They are happily celebrating, not knowing what is about to occur.
The next day Shaggy and Scooby are hanging out at home trying to watch a monster movie when the Hunch Bunch arrive. Only Scooby sees them, and he tries to tell Shaggy and Scrappy but neither of them believe him.
“Shaggy: Monsters through the roof, huh? Scooby- Doo: That’s right. Shaggy: Okay so then where’s the hole? Scooby- Doo: [points up] Up there. Shaggy: Where? Scooby- Doo: Right up… [looks up and sees the ceiling in one piece] Huh? Scrappy Doo: Don’t worry Uncle Scooby, we still love ya, even if ya are a wacko.”
The Hunch Bunch are foiled in their plan tonight, but eagerly await the next day to try again. This time the Doos and Shaggy are at the supermarket; and once again the Hunch Bunch Brothers fail, but both Shaggy and Scrappy think that Scooby is crazy.
The next night, Shaggy and Googie are on a date at the drive-in. Scooby and Scrappy also came along.
“Scrappy Doo: Thanks for taking us on your date with Googie to the drive-in, Shag. Shaggy: Confidentially I didn’t want to leave your Uncle Scooby home alone, you know how he’s been seeing things that aren’t there lately?”
Meanwhile, the Hunch Bunch twins are finally sucessful, positioning Shaggy just right so that he becomes a werewolf!
The only problem is, Shaggy has the hiccups! Everytime he hiccups he switches from human to werewolf.
No one notices that he is a werewolf, but he leaves to get something from the snack bar to settle his stomach. He ends up scaring everyone there, as they all start trying to chase him down. He finally gets set as a werewolf, and realizes that he is the one everyone is after. At first his friends don’t believe him, but he is finally able to convince them he’s Shaggy. Dracula & Co come after them, spraying them with knockout spray and whisking them away to Dracula’s castle.
Here in the castle, Drac wakes them up and introduces them to the crew.
They are of course freaked out and try to get away. Shaggy tries to get Dracula to change him back, but Dracula doesn’t want to. Eventually they strike a deal where if Shaggy races and wins then he can be human again.
Of course Dracula wants Shaggy to fail, so first he tries to get them to spend all night at the pre-race party. When that doesn’t work he sends the Hunch Bunch to keep him up all night. That also fails and Dracula decides to wreck the Wolfmobile.
All of Dracula’s attempts fail as Shaggy and Scooby are able to fix everything.
“Dracula: I thought I told you to fix that werewolf car so that he couldn’t win the race. Brunch: Ah yes master, but Shaggy unfixed it. Dracula: Well then you un-unfix it. “
The race ensues with everyone cheating to win. Each car has tricks up their sleeves and they use them Throughout the film many cars crash and are totaled, but in the next scene they will show up as good as new.
Ah! If only I was a cartoon
Throughout the whole race Dracula does everything in his power to try and stop Shaggy, but everything fails. Googy and Scrappy really lend a hand in helping him out, even bringing him a spare engine. At one point Dracula sends Genghis Kong their way, but they are even able to get out of that mess!
Everyone: A nightmare called Genghis Kong! Scrappy: He’s got uncle Scooby. You let go of my uncle, or I’m going to ring your gong, Kong.
Eventually the best racer, Shaggy, wins!
He demands that Dracula changes him back, but he doesn’t want to. He tells Shaggy there is no way to change back, but Vanna Pira reveals that the Book of Grim has the words that can change him into a human.
They gang has to defeat Dracula and then Shaggy is turned back into a human.
Shaggy: Oogly boogly wobbly wye, no more a werewolf am i, I’m [gulp] going to be a normal guy.
Everything is back to normal and the gang returns home.
They are just hanging out watching a scary movie when Shaggy starts eating too fast and getting the hiccups again. Googy warns him that he might become a werewolf again, but Shaggy is sure that they won’t go through any of that again.
“Shaggy: Oh, come on Googy, lighten up. Believe me, we’re through with those werewolves and vampires and monsters forever.
Dracula: That’s what he thinks.
Dracula and the Hunch Bunch: [In Chorus] ♪♪ We’re Back!♪♪”
janeaustenrunsmylife 