Cameos, Music, Puns, Oh My: Dissecting The Tropes Of The Muppets

Crossposted on and commissioned by Film.com

Before the fantastic reviews for The Muppets came flooding in, the concerns among fans included questions like, "Will this be the Muppet movie we've been waiting for" and "Will this be a real Muppet movie?" Even if the movie is indeed great, there are still certain elements fans will be keeping an eye out for - the elements that actually make a Muppet movie a Muppet movie. So what are the tropes that define these films and what notes does the new one have to hit to fit in properly with the Muppet movies of yore? We took a look at each of the six theatrical Muppet releases and created a refresher for you. Take a look below for the results.

The Muppet Movie (1979)

The first, the original, the classic, featuring the stellar tunes of Paul Williams and all star cast featuring every single person who was famous in 1979, The Muppet Movie is widely considered the best of the bunch. Perhaps the darkest as well, the film features a villain whose goal ends up being to KILL Kermit. This first movie sets up the foundation of what makes a proper Muppet movie, including meta jokes, puns, the aforementioned celebrity cameos and an ultimately heartwarming message. This story of Kermit deciding to go into show business not for fame or fortune, but to make people happy, and refusing to sell out in the process, is still poignantly relevant, and combining motifs from westerns, 30s gangster flicks and 60s road movies helps add to the films timelessness. All the original muppets are in the house for this movie about a movie about a movie, including a couple brief appearances from Crazy Harry, the muppet who has an affinity for explosives, who was more or less put into forced retirement over the next several films. Self-referencial, violent, and sweet without being saccharin, The Muppet Movie is a rare gem.

Cameos: Everyone was in this. From Steve Martin to Richard Pryor to Johnny Carson to Mel Brooks to Mr Television himself Milton Bearle, the list goes on and on and on until we get to the final cameo of the film from Orson Welles. Can't handle it.

Meta Humor/Breaking the Fourth Wall: Tons of it. It does feature movie within a movie within a movie after all, framed around the Muppets watching The Muppet Movie at a cast & crew screening. Perhaps the best use of breaking the fourth wall in the movie within a movie is Electric Mayhem following the script to know where they are supposed to pop up next. A narrative paradox!

Puns: Tons, perhaps my favorite being when Fozzie declares "drinks on the house!" and all the shady bar patrons run up to the roof, this classic from Kermit - "That's pretty dangerous building a road in the middle of the street. I mean, if frogs couldn't hop, I'd be gone with the Schwinn." or of course, the visual pun of an actual fork in the road.

Heartwarming Message: Making people happy, not selling out, staying true to you and your dreams will come true. This film perfectly meshes subversive humor with a genuine message.

Running Gag: Several here, all fantastic. The best appears three times, the first at the very beginning, Bernie: "You, you with the banjo, can you help me? I seem to have lost my sense of direction!" Kermit: "Have you tried Hare Krishna?" The second time it's mentioned, Kermit even *refers* to it as a running gag. It finally appears on a sign in front of a church, reading "Lost? Have you tried Rev. Harry Krishna?". Another great running gag is the classic Carol Kane "Myth" "Yeth?"And of course Sweetums chasing after the group of Muppets to go with them to Hollywood.

Sesame Street Cameos: The original and the best - Kermit and Fozzie run into Big Bird on the road, and offer him a ride, but he tells "No thanks! I'm on my way to New York City to try and break into public television!" Brilliant.

Musical Numbers: ALL great. Music by Paul Williams and the world's introduction to karaoke staple The Rainbow Connection, though my personal favorite is Moving Right Along

Dark Moments: Pretty dark in general, with Charles Durning wanting to kill Kermit, Mel Brooks trying to lobotomize him and so on. But rather than just one or two moments, the whole film has an edgy vibe.

Piggy fight scene: Piggy takes Kermit by utter surprise and beats up all of the bad guys. Amazing.

Slapstick Humor: In the bar, Kermit and Fozzie getting violently thrown around, Gonzo gets lifted by balloons and drops onto Fozzie's Studebaker, etc.


The rest after the jump!

Great Muppet Caper (1981)

The second in the series, this film follows the Muppets to London where identical twin reporters Kermit and Fozzie and their photographer Gonzo try to solve the mystery of who took Lady Holiday's jewels, ultimately joining together with the band of misfits working and living at the Happiness Hotel to take the culprits down.  The Great Muppet Caper still has a lot of the same charm as the one, while being slightly bigger budget. I found it a little too focused on one character (Piggy) with not enough of the side characters. Even Fozzie sort of gets the shaft, seeming more grumpster than waka wakaster. But some fantastic Gonzo humor, amazing throwaway lines, and a delightfully oddball performance from Charles Grodin keep it one of the best. Plus, Sgt. Floyd Pepper gets some screen time and that's *never* a bad thing. Oh, and it features GROUP bike riding!

Cameos: John Cleese and Peter Falk do the best work here as a bored old man and a homeless guy trying his watch sales pitch on Kermit to less than stellar results. Mostly, I simply didn't recognize anyone else.

Meta Humor/Breaking the Fourth Wall: The most meta film of the group, perhaps. The whole opening number over the credits is a comment on itself from start to finish, and hilariously so.  From this exhange: Fozzie: "Nobody really reads those. Do they?" Kermit: "Sure they do. They all have families." to this when "BSC" is listed after a crew members name, Fozzie: "What does "BSC" stand for?" Kermit: "I don't know". and more. Later, when Lady Holiday explains a lot of information about her life to Piggy, Piggy asks "Why are you telling me this?" Holliday responds "It's plot exposition, it has to go somewhere" But my favorite moment of breaking the fourth wall is during an argument between Kermit and Piggy where she is begging for his forgiveness which turns into an epic aside between the REAL Kermit and Piggy about her overacting, wherein she threatens to walk off set. Genius.

Puns: Not as many in this one as in the previous, but still some. The one I remember best is when Kermit tells Piggy she is "hamming it up" during the aforementioned meta-fight.

Heartwarming Message: Honestly not so sure about this one. Perhaps they went full subversion with this film? If anything, it's the usual, stick with your friends, be honest and true, etc. etc.

Running Gag: A running gag about getting caught "red-handed." While in prison for being framed, Piggy jokes "What color are their hands now?", knowing it's a silly joke. Later, cab driver and Happiness Hotel resident Beauregard asks the question and means it, therein acting as the perfect follow up to Piggy's "in on the joke" set up earlier. At the end of the movie, a "Caught Red Handed!" headline is featured in the paper.

Sesame Street Cameos. Oscar the Grouch hanging in the trash outside (Truck Driver: What are you doing here? Oscar the Grouch: A very brief cameo. Truck Driver: Me too)

Music numbers: Many lavish musical numbers, emphasis on LAVISH, including the opening, Piggy swimming, Piggy in the ballroom and more.

Dark moments: Gonzo. In general. Plummeting joke, (Gonzo: I'd like to try this without a balloon. Kermit: Try what? Plummeting? Gonzo: Yeah. Kermit: I suppose you could try it once. and Gonzo: I wonder how far you could plummet before you blacked out. Kermit: Uh, don't try it, Gonzo. We need you for this movie. Gonzo: Sure is tempting.) jumping in front of a cab, getting his nose stuck in elevator and liking it, his obsession with poultry...he's WEIRD. And I love it. One of the strongest elements of the film.

Piggy Fight Scene: She saves the day by taking down the bad guys in the end!

Slapstick Humor: Gonzo, Kermit and Fozzie keep getting thrown from high distances i.e. off a plane, on a pretty regular basis

Muppets Take Manhattan (1984)

The first slightly Hollywood one of the bunch, despite taking place in New York City, everything is just a tad more glossy. More sentimental, less subversive. It also is the first to appear to be a story that actually takes place currently, about The Muppets themselves, instead of being a movie within a movie or having a bookended meta-structure. The comedy is a bit more deliberate and the cameos a little more scene-chewy. This is also the first time we see humans as benevolent co-stars. Here, we have a diner owner and his daughter helping them along the way, and later, Broadway star Lonny Price. This also the first time Rizzo begins to have his own wise cracking personally on screen. This was a chance for characters to stretch, as Jim Henson himself touches on in his interviews packaged in the special features on the DVD. Still, despite the sentimentality, it has some truly stand out moments, including introducing the Muppet Babies to the world in one of the best sequences in film history. ... What?

Cameos: 19 year old Brooke Shields is a great one here, rendering Masterson Rat speechless with her beauty and sass. Other cameos include Gregory Hines, Dabney Coleman, Joan Rivers and Art Carney.

Meta Humor/Breaking the Fourth Wall: When the group isn't being successful, someone remarks "Kermit, should we change the script?" and during the wedding, Kermit inquires, "Piggy? I thought Gonzo was going to play the minister." But overall, there is VERY limited meta humor in this one, "I'm a frog" after meeting Jenny could possibly count, but for the most part, it's played as an actual story. Our biggest clue that this is muppets playing themselves in a movie is the fact that the film opens with them in college, and we all know they mostly met during a road trip thanks to The Muppet Movie.

Puns: Oddly not many, though there is this: Pete: "Is grits! Grits! Hominy grits!" Rizzo: "How should I know how many? Count 'em yourself. "

Heartwarming Message: Treasure your friendships, support each other, stick together to follow and achieve your dreams

Running Gag: GREAT gag of Pete the diner owner giving incoherent advice a couple of times. (Hey, I tell you what is. Big city, hmm? Live, work, huh? But not city only. Only peoples. Peoples is peoples. No is buildings. Is tomatoes, huh? Is peoples, is dancing, is music, is potatoes. So, peoples is peoples. Okay?) Also, continuing a joke established in The Great Muppet Caper, the group is chatting and everyone gets silent just as Janice reveals something personal about herself. Even better the second time around. "So I told him 'Look, buddy, I don't take my clothes off for anybody, even if it is artistic,' and... Oh"

Sesame Street Cameo: A lot in this one! Puppets of some Sesame Street characters on a Manhattan street corner, Big Bird toy in the Muppet Babies sequence, and the whole cast attending Kermit and Piggy's wedding.

Music numbers: Many, as usual, but Together Again, the opening/closing number is the one you'd remember most, especially after Kermit plays the main notes on his cups at the diner during his reunion of sorts with the gang. Obviously the Muppet Babies number is my favorite because it's the MUPPET BABIES and is 50s themed, since that's the decade when they would have been born.

Dark moments: The darkest moments in this one involve Dabney Coleman getting into an all too physical altercation with Gonzo and Camilla, construction guys whistling at Piggy, and Animal chasing after women yelling "WOOOMMAAANNN!!". Overall, a lot less subversive than the first two, but still has a pretty grim plot line with Kermit losing his memory and the gang trying to find him.

Piggy Fight Scene: She bends metal, chases down the man who steals her bag and later hits Kermit's memory back, but no actual fight scene. But still enough strength that she feels like the real Miss Piggy.

Slapstick Humor: The Dabney Coleman fight and most of Miss Piggy's antics fill the category here

Muppet Christmas Carol

The first Muppet film of the 90s, the first produced without Jim Hensen, and the first co produced and released by Disney, Muppet Christmas Carol displayed a marked difference from the previous three installments. Genuinely frightening and sweet, this film is probably one of the best Christmas Carol movies, if not a "true" Muppet movie. It does away with many of the classic Muppet tropes and instead opts for a relatively faithful retelling of a classic story, peppered with light Muppet humor. This film also features the return of Paul Williams, is the first with a human as a main character, has a cast of principles and extras seeming to be a mix of muppets and humans, instead of mostly humans, and is the most cinematic yet, even opening with a long tracking shot (how did they do it?!) Rizzo makes the official jump to Gonzo's bff, as the two narrate the story we're watching. Overall, the characters are a little more subdued, and a little less in Muppet character. Oddly enough, the ones most true to their characters are folks who normally don't get major roles like  Statler and Waldorf and Sam the Eagle, all of whom have full fledged roles here.

Cameos: One of the Muppet staples that is completely done away with in this film, as the goal is to do a faithful retelling of this story, with some muppet humor and muppet brand thrown in, (making it not a traditional muppet movie)

Meta Humor/Breaking the Fourth Wall: Credits have muppets as characters right off the bat, including Gonzo as Charles Dickens, framing the story, who Rizzo calls out for not actually being Charles Dickens. Something is noted at one point as being"for dramatic emphasis" and Rizzo comments on Gonzo's omniscient storytelling by calling him a "Hoity Toity Mr God-like smarty pants"  One of my favorite moments is when Sam as Scrooge's old headmaster, lets his patriotism seep through a bit, so Gonzo has to correct him.  ( Sam: It's the American way! Gonzo: Sam... Sam: It's the British way!) I also love how it ends with Gonzo noting "If you like this, you should read the book!"

Puns: The only one I noticed was the rats who work for Scrooge saying, "Our assets are frozen"

Heartwarming Message: It's A Christmas Carol. The heartwarming message is built in. The true meaning of Christmas and what not! We must always be loving and giving and caring.

Running Gag: Another trope somewhat done away with unless you consider Rizzo being kind of an idiot to be a running gag

Sesame St Cameo: Zip zero none.

Musical Numbers: Paul Williams is back, so naturally this film has the best music since The Muppet Movie. Much more the structure of a musical, with the intro song introducing the main character, sung by the whole ensemble, and songs spread throughout at proper intervals to advance the story.

Dark Moments: Dark is built in with a retelling of Christmas Carol. Scrooge says the homeless should die if they don't want to go to a shelter.  His family compares Scrooge to a cockroach, rat and leech. The only time we revisit Gonzo's weirdo leanings is with his line when Rizzo falls and lands on a hot flaming goose, "Aw, you have all the fun"

Piggy Fight Scene: Not even any crazy strength for Piggy in this one, she just plays the part of loving wife to Kermit's Bob Crachett, but she does start to get violent at the very end when Scrooge shows up at their house unannounced on Christmas, in a nice nod to Piggy's true character.

Slapstick Humor: Mostly centered around Gonzo and Rizzo falling and breaking things. Everyone else is too concerned with telling the story at hand.

Muppet Treasure Island

The second directed by Brian Henson, and second that features the Muppets retelling a classic story. This one is less concerned with following the letter of the story however and takes more care into trying to be a classic Muppet movie, acting as more of a send-up of Treasure Island, reintroducing some previously absent tropes, and showcasing more of the Muppets themselves. And it's actually better than I remember it being! Once again we get Gonzo and Rizzo as themselves, with their relationship and humor even more defined and Rizzo finally becomes who we know him to be now and gets some of the best lines of the whole movie. Interestingly enough, Muppets seem to make up most of the universe, in a complete 180 from The Muppet Movie, with humans only appearing in the beginning, as the main lead and main villain, and popping up as pirates here and there.

Cameos: Listed as actual roles, but Jennifer Saunders and Billy Connolly are in the first fifteen minutes

Meta Humor/Breaking the Fourth Wall: Significantly more than in Manhattan or Christmas Carol, mostly in the form one one liners, including  Rizzo - "He died? And this is supposed to be a kids movie!" Statler and Waldorf - "It could be worse, we could be stuck in the audience" , Zoot: Hey man, I can't figure out what side we're on. Are we with the pirates or the frog captain? Floyd: Oh, hey, man. Just play the gig. Never get involved in politics. Animal: Politics! Politics!", Long John Silver:  Upstage Lads, This is my only number" and when Swedish Chef randomly shows up on a Pig island, a veggie he is about to chop notes "How else did you think we'd get him into this movie?" Oh and how can we forget the rat tour to the set of Muppet Treasure Island?

Puns: The film goes more for topical/cultural humor (Mickey Mouse, NBA, Evita, Marlon Brando etc.) than nailing a good pun, and where they exist, they are more visual than verbal. Still, there's this:

Benjamina Gunn: You left me standing at the altar. Captain Abraham Smollett: I was on a ship headed for Zanzibar. I got cold feet. Benjamina Gunn: You're a frog. You're supposed to have cold feet.

Heartwarming Message: You should always be honest and true, that's what it is to be a real friend and a hero? That's what I decided anyway.

Running Gag: The closest I could find was the vacationing rats and how everyone goes to or wants to go to Zanzibar. Other than Kermit mentioning it to Piggy, we get this sort of exchange a couple of times:

Jim: "Wherever the wind may take us!" Gonzo: "Off to Zanzibar to meet the Zanzi-barbarians!" Rizzo: "Oh brother, here they go again...

Sesame St Cameo: Again, none. A trope left in the 80s.

Musical Numbers: Yup! The best is Tim Curry's number about being a pirate. The worst is the bizarre Cabin Fever.

Dark Moments: The return of weird Gonzo! Gonzo "He's got demons?! Cool!" "He said he'd throw a line out the back and let me drag along the bottom!" While being tortured, "Look at this I'm taller, this is so cool!" And of course this exchange, Gonzo: "It feels weird...My pants are filled with starfish" Rizzo: "You and your hobbies" Plus, the film has all of the dark elements of the adventure story, including mutiny, kidnapping, torture, and off screen massacres.

Piggy Fight Scene: She HI-YAs Kermit when they first see each other on camera, then she and Kermit fight the pirates together with the rest of the group in a massive fight scene.

Slapstick humor: Once again, Gonzo and Rizzo mostly hold down this fort. But the blind muppet pulls some weight too at the beginning and there is plenty in the ending fight scene.

Muppets From Space

Perhaps the only film that actually takes place in the Muppet's real life (maybe denoted by the fact that it's the first that isn't a musical), this film, which reveals what Gonzo actually is, is known as the worst of the bunch. Here, all of the Muppets live in a big house together and Gonzo and Rizzo are roommates, carrying on their friendship from the previous two nineties films. New characters from Muppets Tonight pop up here, including Clifford, Pepe and my favorite, Bobo the Bear. As much as it may nuke the fridge in its final act, points must be given to the film for returning to a more classic type of Muppet Movie with an original plot, starring the muppets, filled with celebrity cameos and featuring a human in a main role only as a villain. Still, it misses a lot of the charm and subversion of the original Muppet films and seems way too commercial. When there's only one SHOT of Electric Mayhem, you know there's a problem.

Cameos: They're baaaack. Featuring F Murray Abraham as Noah (yeah, the kids will definitely get THAT one), Jeffrey Tambor, Kathy Griffin, Ray Liotta, David Arquette and Rob Schneider, Hulk Hogan and Josh Charles, the best is Joshua Jackson and Katie Holmes appearing IN CHARACTER as Pacey and Joey from Dawson's Creek.

Meta Humor/Breaking the Fourth Wall: Breaking the fourth wall: Piggy says to the camera "Aw please, you think Ted Kopel never gets excited?" Then nothing until Pepe points out to Joey and Pacey that they are in a Muppet Movie. For the most part, this would lead me to believe this takes place in the actual Muppet universe.

Puns: Actually not many, but a great one is Jeffrey Tambor asking Gonzo, "No nostrils. How do you smell? and Rizzo responding, "Awful. I'm his roommate" Much more of a focus on cultural humor. Spice Girls, Oscar Meyer, HMOs, and film references to Independence Day, Star Trek, Field of Dreams and The Shawshank Redemption replace puns and wordplay.

Heartwarming Message: Power of friendship and accepting yourself, Kermit: "He's one of us and no matter what, we never forget one of our own"

Running Gag: Really not much, actually, the closest being Pepe and Rizzo tricking Gonzo into building a jacuzzi by pretending the aliens asked him to, and Gonzo never figuring out why the aliens wanted him to build it.

Sesame Street Cameo: Will they ever return?

Musical Numbers: First muppets movie that isn't a musical, opts for soundtrack filled with classic songs instead. The closest musical number is to "Celebration" by the aliens at the end. Ugh. Oh. God. it's awful.

Dark Moments: Since this IS a movie about Gonzo, there are still quite a bit of weird Gonzo moments. Someone mentions to him, "You never miss an opportunity to shoot yourself out of a canon", Gonzo reads "insanity faire" he tells Rizzo he had "that weird dream again", and Rizzo asks if it's "the one with the goat and the dwarf and the jar of peanut butter", and so on. Plus Sam the Eagle ogles a woman in a bikini and Pepe hits on Katie Holmes. Odd.

Piggy Fight Scene: Fights a sexy Josh Charles, her platinum belt vs his black belt. Pretty awesome.

Slapstick Humor: Exploding oven, Piggy falling down while strutting, Jeffrey Tambor during the whole ending. The aliens end up finding him "amusing" because of his series of accidental physical gags and ask him back to their planet with them.

So will The Muppets, opening this week, nail everything that makes a Muppet movie true? Will it be more in line with the edgier Muppets of the 70s/80s or the more kids-friendly Muppets of the 90s? Will Rowlf and Floyd get lines? Will Crazy Harry make an appearance? Will Miss Piggy kick some ass? Will Gonzo demonstrate strange and unhealthy behavior? If I've forgotten any tropes or examples of them appearing in any of the films that are your particular favorites, feel free to mention them below!

(And head here for my dissection of tropes in Werewolf movies. Like the Muppets, but not!)

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Super 8 Blu Ray Review

Crossposted on and commissioned by Film.com

Movie

Oh Super 8, when I think what you might have been … although I thoroughly enjoyed the first half of this movie and appreciated the sentiment behind it, ultimately I don’t believe the film accomplished what director JJ Abrams and executive producer Steven Spielberg set out to do. Consequently, it’s a bit of a failure. As much as I love the cast of kids and their moments together, none of the emotional payoffs with the adult characters are earned, and in the third act, when all begins to reveal itself, logic goes straight out the window. Super 8 is a pale imitation of the movies it was inspired by, filled with unmet potential. The idea initially came from Spielberg and Abrams talking about making a movie about kids making movies — *that* part of Super 8 works. Combining it with Abrams other idea of a train crashing while transporting something from Area 51 is where the film falls flat on its face. Super 8 feels like two movies thrown together because it is. Yes, E.T. was developed this way as well, but the difference is, in E.T. it worked. In Super 8, the marriage is clunky and undermines an otherwise lovely story. I’d definitely say the film is worth seeing, in case it speaks more to you than it did to me, and especially because of this impressive group of preteens, all of whom I hope go on to long and fulfilled careers; I just personally found it to be a mild disappointment.

Extras
Audio Commentary with JJ Abrams, Bryan Burk, and Larry Fong
Analysis of certain moments, instances of where Spielberg was more or less of a tangible influence, anecdotes, memories, the usual. This is where you can actually hear about cinematographer Larry Fong shooting in anamorphic, the sound effects, which sequences were shot on a sound stage versus on location, motivations behind the actors (as far as Abrams knew them to be), how they worked around puberty, and more. Plus, Fong does one of his famous magic tricks during the commentary, and the gang collectively composes emails to Steven Spielberg. Even though we can’t see either, it’s still fun to know they’re going on. One of my favorite fun facts is that because they got the actors for such little time, anytime you see a reverse shot of one of the kids, it’s a stand-in. Overall, the commentary is thorough and engaging and well worth the listen if you have the urge to learn more about the film.

The Dream Behind Super 8 (1080p, 16:28)
Shot stylistically, almost as if this were a short documentary rather than a standard featurette, this piece takes a look at where the idea for Super 8 came from, and features extensive footage of Abrams on set interacting with his cast and crew. We learn the history of JJ Abrams and frequent collaborators Burk, Fong, and Matt Reeves, and see clips of their childhood Super 8 films. Also elaborated on is the relationship between Abrams and Spielberg over the past 20 years and how they came up with the idea for Super 8 together. My favorite bits are a shot of Abrams’ face while Elle Fanning nails the emotional scene wherein Alice talks about her dad, and his speech to the crew upon wrapping, where he offers “Let me know when I can do anything for you because you’ve done so much for me.” I know secondhand at least what a good guy Abrams is, and it’s neat to see him living up to that reputation on set.

FAVORITE FEATURE ALERT
The Search for New Faces (1080p, 17:46)
A look at the six leads of Super 8, from the audition process to wrap, featuring audition tapes of and interviews with the collection of young actors, thoughts from the casting directors, and footage of the kids engaged in behind-the-scenes antics, Abrams directing them, and best of all, the final day of shooting where an emotional Elle Fanning says goodbye and thanks to the crew for all their hard work. Watching the actors hug Abrams, knowing their journey together had come to an end, actually brought tears to my eyes. Favorite moments include learning that Abrams called each kid personally to offer them the part, a funny on-set moment where lead Joel Courtney doesn’t know how to use a rotary phone and Abrams teaches him, and when the cast reminisces about Riley Griffith’s contagious laugh. Since the kids are easily the best part of the movie, this featurette is my favorite, no question.

More after the jump

Meet Joel Courtney (1080p, 14:35)
A profile of Joel Courtney and his life before and during the shoot. This featurette is framed around a long interview with Courtney about his journey, from auditioning to getting the role, to his on-set experience, to how he suspects he will feel when they wrap. We also follow a typical day for Courtney, as he shows off his trailer, gets into makeup, goes to the on-set classroom, makes a visit to craft services (and teaches us how to make the perfect hot chocolate), and more.

Rediscovering Steel Town (1080p, 18:24)
A look at the town of Weirton — how they found it, why they chose it, how it was dressed to go back in time, and the benefits of shooting there. Featuring interviews with production designer Martin Whist, executive producer Guy Riedel, and — coolest of all — production assistant Josh Foglio, who is from Weirton. We are also treated to a history of the town from citizens who live there, complete with old photos and statistics.

The Visitor Lives (1080p, 12:22)
The sole featurette on the alien, which is partly why I enjoy these extras so much. My least favorite part of the film isn’t all they talk about, in fact it’s barely what they talk about! Yaaay! Featuring interviews with visual effects supervisor extraordinaire Dennis Muren (did you know he is the only VFX artist with a star on the walk of fame?), other VFX supervisors Russell Earl and Kim Lebreri, creature designer Neville Page, and animation supervisor Paul Kavanagh. This takes a look at the creature itself, from concept to actualization. Motion tests, rejected art, pre-vis, early animation, CG movement tests, and footage of Bruce Greenwood doing the motion capture as the creature make up the bulk of the piece. Since I couldn’t stand the alien or anything about the alien, this was naturally my least favorite supplement.

Scoring Super 8 (1080p, 5:29)
A look at Michael Giacchino and the scoring process, featuring footage of the orchestra recording the score, clips of Giacchino’s childhood Super 8 films, Giachhino on John Williams’ influence, and more. Would have been nice to go a little bit more in-depth, but I know your average Blu-ray buyer may not be as obsessed with Michael Giacchino as I am.

Do You Believe in Magic? (1080p, 4:29)
A look at Larry Fong’s close-up magic. Yup. The DP is a magician. Literally. “The best magic trick person in the world” according to Griffiths. These tricks are insanely impressive. Even having them on camera, I could see no way to figure them out. In one instance, Fong even does a trick for Tom Cruise, who was visiting the set, and blows his mind. Best DP for a movie starring six kids ever.

The 8mm Revolution (1080p, 8:15)
Spielberg, Abrams, Fong, Muren, Giacchino, and more talking about their history of making 8mm and Super 8 films and what it taught them. Also features interviews with experts on the camera and film stock itself; Norwood Cheek, who created Flicker, a place for people to show their 8mm films; and Paul Korver, EP/Principal of Cinelicious; plus a history of Super 8/8mm and technical specifics and footage of the kids’ reactions to handling the Super 8 camera.

Deconstructing the Train Crash (1080p): 
An interactive grid map of the train crash scene with three main sections, pre production, production, and post-production. The origin is the script, the destination is the clip itself, and the tracks connecting the two explain the entire process through visual aids.

Pre-pro has four “trains” — “Pre-vis,” “Visual Effects Tools,” “Location,” and “Storyboard” — with images, behind-the-scenes clips, storyboards, and interviews making up the “cars” in each.

Production has “Train Set Construction, Filming – Moments Before the Crash” and “Filming – Train Depot is Destroyed,” with script excerpts, production stills, footage, and images of the train models, behind-the-scenes clips, and  production dailies making up the cars.

Post-production has a sole “Visual Effects” train with cars featuring interviews and clips of the visual effects progression.

Kind of a strange setup, and a little overly complicated just to get to one pre-vis image at a time. Plus, considering how long it takes to get to each clip, I can’t help but wonder if there could have been a better way to compile this information. Ultimately, it seemed like too much to do to yield not enough of a satisfying result. But if you care a lot about the train crash for any reason, this is where you’ll find extremely in-depth information.

Deleted Scenes (1080p, 12:47)
“Inside the 7-Eleven,” “Joe Writes New Pages,” “Joe Gives Charles New Pages,” “Jack Searches the Gas Station,” “Inside the Car Dealership,” “Joe Gets in Trouble,” “Lucy Goes Missing,” “Dry Brush Technique,” “Army Navy Store,” “Joe Watches Home Movies,” “Saying Goodnight,” “Cubes Shake the Red Trucks,” “Jack Finds Joe’s Backpack,” and “Joe and Cary Discover the Coffins.”

Every scene is pretty short and the information provided in each is more or less inconsequential, but that doesn’t make watching them any less fun for fans of the movie. Or, if you’re like me, a fan of just the kids, it’s a chance to see them work more. “Dry Brush Technique” and “Army Navy Store,” which feature further interactions between Elle Fanning and Joel Courtney, are my particular favorites.

I have some minor complaints about the special features, including why the Super 8 films Fong, Burk, and Abrams made in their youth aren’t on here in their entirely, and why watching The Case on its own isn’t an option. I wish the featurettes would have gone a little bit more in-depth, covering every other aspect of production, but not every movie can haveLord of the Rings-esque extras, and the commentary more than makes up for what’s lacking otherwise. As strange a choice as the Train Crash special feature is, it still provides valuable information for anyone who cares. Overall, not gonna lie: the special features are better than the movie. I definitely had more fun watching them make the film than I did watching the film itself. Which is why, even if you weren’t a huge fan of the film but enjoyed multiple aspects within it, these special features are a fine way to spend a couple hours.

Movie: B-
Extras: A-
Buy, Rent, or Skip? Rent

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Kinect Disneyland Adventures: A Magically Addictive Exercise In Wasted Potential

Crossposted on Gaming Blend

Because apparently, there's no such thing as muscle fatigue, someone decided to create the very first open world game for Kinect. Fittingly, since the last time I was at Disneyland I lost the ability to feel my feet, this game is Kinect: Disneyland Adventures.

The premise - you're at Disneyland! And that's about it. During your day at Disneyland, you can experience up to 20 attractions, talk to over 40 characters, go on over 100 different "adventures" assigned to you by the various characters in 8 different lands, take photos of landmarks, hidden mickeys and characters, and interact with just about every item in the park. Completing every adventure, earning every pin for doing well on attractions, getting every autograph, and casting a spell on all 2000+ magical items will take you well over 50 hours. Is it worth the time and money? Let's take a closer look.

After creating your child avatar, which, much to my chagrin, is only allowed to have brown eyes, the game begins. The first thirty minutes to an hour of Disneyland Adventures is dedicated to teaching you how to control the game and understand the essential structure of gameplay through interactions with the main six Disney characters: Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Pluto, and Goofy.

So how do you function in an open world kinect game? Move your left or right arm forward to move, hold your arm out all the way to the side to turn, wave to interact with characters and attractions (the quicker and more childlike the wave, the better), and once you master opening your item inventory, which involves holding your right hand up at a 45 degree angle until the menu opens, then selecting the item you need (I promise, it's nowhere near as easy as it sounds), you use your left hand exclusively to walk and your right to control various items. Wave it to cast a spell with your magic wand, hold your hand over a target with your blaster to shoot, hold your arm straight out to take a picture, and so on. As the game progresses, items in your inventory will include those, along with a fishing rod for catching random fish (I still haven't found one), baton for conducting musical groups across the park including the singing statues at the Haunted Mansion and any jazz band hanging around New Orleans Square and more. This beginning section also clues you in on the gameplay structure of meeting characters, receiving tasks, accomplishing these tasks, then reporting back to the character.

Once you learn the basics, you can go off and do whatever you want. This virtual map of Disneyland is an exact recreation of the Anaheim park, to a frightening degree. The attention to detail is astounding. I kept having moments of "I bought a corn dog at that stand!" "I sat on that rock for 20 minutes when I was exhausted!" "I threw a coin at that waterfall!" and so on. One of my favorite things about the park has always been how the trash cans are themed to each land, and the same holds true here. You could lose hours and hours just taking in the accuracy of everything around you. And that's *before* you're gifted a magic want by Cinderella. Once you have the wand, count on spending triple the time wandering around the park. You'll be able cast a spell on anything you see that sparkles. And there are A LOT of things that sparkle in Disneyland, you guys.

Each of the 8 lands has over 30 sets of magical items, and each set has 3 to 35 magical items within. So, aiming low, let's say that's an average of 10 items per set, that would mean a minimum of 300 items per land which means there are 2400 MAGICAL ITEMS TO CAST SPELLS ON IN THIS GAME. NOT including the 8 or so landmarks to take photos of in each land, the 30 something hidden mickeys to find in each land, the couple of blaster mini-games in each land land and so on. For a completionist who has major OCD when it comes to video games, the constant messages that I've completed "2 of 20" or "8 or 36" over and over and over, almost drove me out of my mind and kept interrupting me as I made my way to talk to characters or play attractions. This makes it great for irresponsible parents who need to keep their kids occupied for long periods of time and horrible for OCD ridden game reviewers. In that way that you need to open every drawer in Bioshock, you will need to cast a spell on every single godforsaken magical item in Kinect: Disneyland Adventures.


If you forget about using the items in your inventory to earn both in-game and out-of-game achievements, Disneyland Adventures boils down to meeting characters and going on attractions.

Meeting characters is simple, you wave to begin an interaction, then say autograph for an autograph (they will tell you to put your hands out to get one - don't do it, go with the stellar voice command system, save yourself the headache), bow to dance, high five to high five, hug yourself to hug, and put your arm out to take a picture. Although it should be noted that you can only get an autograph and picture if you have earned enough money through picking up coins in the park and completing attractions to go to a store and buy autograph books and photo albums. You heard right - the game encourages you to buy things from the stores at Disneyland! Sure, it's all part of the proper Disneyland experience, I suppose, but I haven't purchased anything but water from Disneyland for as long as I've understood that Disney eats money, and that's been longer than you might think. Better yet, you can only buy photo albums for each land in a store in each land, and you can't unlock the store until you go on an attraction. So it's impossible to just go from character to character, collecting everything you need. You MUST make money, go to the store, and play the attraction mini-games. You also need to have the brain capacity to understand this. I'm looking at you, tiny children. Who are clearly reading this right now.

The characters also give you a series of "adventures' which reminded me of the missions in Fable 3, where in order to make a friend or gain a lover, you had to waste time running around grabbing items and delivering messages. It felt pointless in Fable 3 and feels pointless here. And yet I COULDN'T STOP. To become a Lost Boy for Peter Pan, you have to play through Peter Pan's Flight, then gather his shadows around Fantasyland, then buy and wear a Lost Boy costume. Stich sends you to find him five hamburgers, and then to find a picture he lost of Lilo. Cinderella has you find sewing items, and then gives you the general mission of finding spools of thread around the park. Aladdin needs you to impress the genie with your magic. Some character named Duffy Bear I've never heard of before needs you to find stuffed Duffy Bears, but because he doesn't speak, you don't know that until you accidentally stumble upon 1 of 10 Duffy Bears. These go on and on and on. 


More after the jump. Yes, there is more.

Ready for some more math? There are over 40 characters. Each character has at least 2 missions, which when accomplished, gets you a shiny new pin. Each mission involves finding at least three things. that's a minimum of 5 items to gather/tasks to accomplish per character, which is BAM! Another 200 things to do right there. Someone shoot me. At least there is a glowing trail that guides you to exactly where these things are, depending on the adventure you select in your Adventure Journal. If left to your own devices to discover all 200 of these things on top of already being left to your own devices to find the 2400 magical items? No. The tantrums I am imagining kids throwing because of this game are too forceful already.

The final element of the game is going on the attractions. Each attraction here features 2-4 mini-games that take place in the same universe as the ride. So instead of just sitting and watching Jungle Cruise unfold around you, you are shooting water onto elephants and hippos from your ship. Instead of watching the Haunted Mansion simply occur in your presence, you are running through the famous haunted house and all of the familiar imagery, shining flashlights on ghosts and grabbing coins. A few of the attractions are a bit closer to the ride itself - Matterhorn has a bobsledding level, and Buzz Lightyear Astroblasters obviously involves shooting, but for the most part the attractions take you inside the world, and try to make the ride a reality. Oddly enough, there are a couple of rides you can just sit on, like the Dumbo ride and Carousel in Fantasyland and the rockets in Tomorrowland. It's a first person perspective, just going around and around, staring straight ahead. It lasts about 45 seconds, then the game asks if you want to ride it again. Spoiler alert: your answer will always be no.

The attractions are hands down the worst part of the game. The designs of all of the environments are top notch, particularly Finding Nemo's Submarine Voyage and Haunted Mansion, and all of them capture the essence of the rides in some way. In every attraction, there are secret mickeys you're supposed to grab, and depending on the number of those you secure, plus how well you do in reaching the mini-game's goals, you are rated 1-5 stars. Your score per mini game is averaged out to an overall rating, which determines whether you get a bronze, silver or gold pin as your reward.

This would be fine if the games involved actual skills in any way that you could develop, so you could eventually get all of the rewards. But - and this where the game ultimately fails - the use of the Kinect technology is SO vastly underdeveloped, there is no way to even know what you are doing in most of these games, let alone figure out how to excel at them. While the idea is fantastic, numerous mini-games that use every form of movement-based gaming there is, the potential is simply never met, to an endlessly frustrating degree.

To make sure it wasn't just me, I recruited a group of people who are universally awesome at video games to try the game out for themselves and give me their opinion. Luckily, at least that part is easy, the game caters to players jumping in and out at any time. But across the board, everyone hated playing the attractions. Once in a blue moon, you find a snowball throwing mini-game (Matterhorn) or a crocodile swatting element to a mini-game (Pirates), but for the most part, the games are heavy on moving through space, while not having a good enough grasp on the technology to read your movements correctly. We were all constantly running into asteroids and walls and boulders, no matter what we did.

This imprecision permeates throughout Disneyland Adventures. As I mentioned earlier, opening up the inventory menu is bizarrely difficult, and don't even bother trying to get an autograph the physical way. The game almost never recognized my hands out of in front of me (oddly in a "please sir, can I have some more?" sort of fashion) and switching back and forth between magic wand and camera in a futile attempt to complete every mission in a certain area proved so impossible to accomplish with ease, I had to give up.

Clearly this game is intended for children. There are disembodied voices all over the park positing suggestions, there is no way to die, the guidebook offers tips like "Kindly do not feed the mermaids", it's a recreation of Disneyland for goodness sakes, but if I were a child playing this, I would want to break it. If I were a parent watching a child play this, I would have to use every ounce of will power within me to not intervene and help out or break it myself. If it's impossible for a 25 year old to be good at any part of the game, how would a 10 year old be good at it? And why did Karen, the tour guide, who you can speak to whenever you see her and learn fun facts about the park, repeat the story about how there used to be an "intimate apparel" store on Main Street three different times in three totally different locations?

There is so much to this game, it's almost too much. Nay, it's definitely too much. What human, of any age, has time for this?! While the game isn't bad per se, save the awful use of the technology that could have easily been fixed by several more months of work, it's fifty hours of nothingness. 50 hours of a fake version of a place that's already pretty damn fake. And to what end??? Accomplish all 8 billion missions and get a free pass to Disneyland? I've never felt that way about a video game before, but with Disneyland Adventures, I can't help but think "why?" Why go to the trouble of recreating Disneyland and make most of the game unplayable? Just to get us all riled up and nostalgic and force us to make our way to Anaheim as soon as possible? Why not just save everyone the annoyance and tired limbs and make using a controller an option?! For your elongated commercial to work, people have to actually want to keep playing, don't they?!

To be fair, there are some parts I enjoyed. The Disney Princess Fantasy Faire, where songs from some Disney movies play as you match the dancing of the princesses, is super fun despite being utterly imprecise, and each character you meet throughout the park feels authentic, down to their dialogue, reactions, movements, and especially the voice acting. Get close enough to a ride in the park and hear the same music that plays when you're standing in that exact area. And while you can't go on every ride, you can at least see them and often, the lines filled with people leading to them. For the moments where you aren't frustrated, it does make you feel like a kid again, and that's never something to sneeze at.

I feel like I could continue talking about this game for 1000 more words, but I'll spare you. There are lots of nice touches and for a Disney fan, it could definitely be worth a rent, just to see how accurate the park rendering is, but giving this to a child almost feels….wrong. Would you want your kid dedicating 50 hours to pretending to be at Disneyland? Being encouraged to hug strange people in giant character suits and buy 20 autograph books? It's one thing to be older and feel nostalgic about your own time at Disneyland as you play, but to try this game at an impressionable age, perhaps even before going to Disneyland to begin with, diluting the magic of seeing the park for the first time? I just don't know. That being said, I still haven't been on virtual Splash Mountain, I still haven't talked to all the characters, and Donald and Mickey are in a close race for major of Toon Town, so I'd be lying if I said I'd never pick it up again, even as a guilty pleasure. Though I would never replay a level, I would still like to try the attractions I haven't done yet, at least to see the environment design.

There's so much unmet potential in this game, I wonder if I'd be more forgiving to the overall message of a Disneyland Park video game, had the gameplay taken proper advantage of the Kinect technology and helped create something truly special. Unfortunately, we'll never know, but in any event, I would recommend at least taking this strange meeting of the awful and wonderful for a test spin. Cause at the end of the day, dancing to Almost There with Princess Tiana, virtual or not, was pretty damn cool. And I can't deny that ultimately, that kind of moment is why a kid would want to play this title.

Players: 1-2
Platform(s): Xbox 360
Developer: Frontier Developments Ltd.
Publisher: Microsoft Studios
ESRB: E 10+ (Everyone 10+)
Rating: 6/10

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