Brewing partner Bill (link is to his better review, and a cool screen-cap that I didn't find last night) came along, as did Dave, who is always willing to drink the beer at least. Erica backed out at the list minute, as she's just too swamped with grad school work right now, because the prof for her current class decided to add three last-minute assignments to be due this week. Did I mention this is the last week of the class? Hey, dumbass, not all of your students are 22-year-olds just off their first degree. Some are actual teachers (you know, with jobs) who plan their days to the minute; springing 6+ more pages of off-syllabus writing on them at the last minute really fucks with their lives.
Sorry, where was I?
Oh, yes.
One of the most beautiful movies I have ever seen. Sumptuous, even.
Solid-to-fantastic performances all around. John Goodman and Susan Sarandon were pitch-perfect as Mom and Pops, and some guy I don't know was just the right amount of over-the-top as the cartoonish bad guy.
Christina Ricci was a great Trixie, and it was nice that the role had more to it than just "the girlfriend." She was sharp. Oh, and pretty damned scrumptious.
Emile Hirch (who was supposedly very good in Into the Wild) was a good choice for Speed. It's been at least 15 years since I've seen an episode of the original cartoon (and I was probably stoned), but he just felt right in the role.
Matthew Fox, inspiration for much Tart lust, was a solid Racer X.
I didn't really have expectations going into this, good or bad, but I was hoping it wasn't another Transformers, pretty but vapid (at least according to everything I heard - I'm not much of a movie person, so I never saw it). Turns out I had nothing to fear.
Now, this ain't Shakespeare, but the plot was more than sufficiently fleshed out, nicely paced, with a perfect balance between comedy and drama. There were plenty of timely theater-wide LOL moments, many involving Chim Chim the monkey and Spritle the little brother.
And did I mention the movie was fucking gorgeous?
Stunning use of color. Remember what a big deal it was a zillion years ago when they did Dick Tracy in primary colors? That idea times 1000. Excellent blend of CGI and meatspace, a nice "illustrated" feel.
If this movie were candy, it would be a Lindt truffle, not a Reese's cup.
My only complaint would be that a couple of the racing scenes were too fast. I honestly can't wait for the DVD, to try to freeze-frame a few of them and figure out what exactly happened.
Rating: 5 stars. Eye candy of the highest order, good story. You will have fun.
My only caveat is that if you are prone to seizures, you might want to stay away. I'm not kidding, I used to date someone who was. We couldn't go to clubs that had strobes or disco balls. This movie might have killed her.
