The Fault in Our Stars The Snot Criers are Everywhere (Portfolio article/review)

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Director: Josh Boone

Writers: Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber

Original story: The Fault in our Stars by John Green

Stars: Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort and Willem Dafoe

Certificate: 12A

Plot: Teen cancer sufferer meets dreamy boy in support group and they embark upon a not so magical adventure to meet the very alcoholic author of their favourite book.

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Now, this is a tricky one to review, as when I read the book I never realised how romantic the story was. BUT I AM A REVIEWER OF FILMS and so, must cast aside the book as if it never existed and review this rom-com depress-fest as its own property, divulging all emotions at the risk of losing my manliness (I didn’t know it was possible to sweat from your eyes).

 

To be honest, it has everything a good teen film needs; likeable teenage characters, romance, a trip to Amsterdam (for a teen film other European countries are available) car egging, video games and kids with cancer….oh no, wait, something’s not right here

 

Hazel Grace-Lancaster (Woodley) is a 16 year old cancer sufferer, who is forced by her tyrannical mother (she is actually really nice), to go to a support group led by a man who has no testes, in the literal and metaphorical heart of Jesus. In this group she meets our one legged romantic lead of the hour, Augustus ‘Gus’ Waters (Elgort), whose confident and charming way wins the heart of every woman watching the film. Hazel introduces Gus to her favourite book: Imperial Affliction.

 

Gus, unsatisfied with the ending the book (we have all been there brother), decides to contact the author, Peter Van Houten (Willem Dafoe), and arranges for him and Hazel to meet the author in Amsterdam. However, the world is a very unforgiving place… yes even for teen cancer sufferers.

 

Gus and Hazel’s relationship is portrayed really well on screen, with Ansel and Shailene giving their characters life. I do have to wonder though, if they felt a little awkward, given that their previous film outing depicted them as siblings? Gus’ love of metaphor though, doesn’t come off that well and it makes him seem arrogant and cocky; if it wasn’t for his likeability this trait would start to become rather annoying. For me however, my favourite performance was Willem Dafoe’s; he gives his character (Peter van Houten) the self-destructive quality of a man who has lost something dear to him. This turns him bitter and cynical and, at one point, he goes as far as to berate our protagonists for being spoiled due to their illnesses; which makes him unlikeable, even when the audience finds out why he is like this. Really, it’s a good thing!

 

It needs to be said to the unprepared (basically those who have not read the book), that the film is a tear jerker;  and even to those that are prepared. It’s unavoidable that a story like this only had a handful of clear cut endings that even hint at realism. The film’s realistic credibility (or what there is of it) is stretched in places; characters pop in and out of A&E/ICU faster than most people went through a box of tissues during viewing (if in need of reference points, please refer to the demise of the Laserdisc or my social life). This is probably to maintain a sense of flow within the narrative as well as keep the film to a decent length.

 

I am a huge fan of the way text conversations are shown throughout the film. Instead of  a voice-over, the text is shown in an over the shoulder or POV shot of the phone and little speech bubbles appear behind the characters, which gives us immediate responses to the texts and make it feel more genuine 

 

It is extremely faithful to the source material (some scenes are dropped and a few are added), but it’s nothing to make most fans of the book sad and, honestly, as far as adaptations go it couldn’t have been done better. They have even substituted the awfully cheesy final 5 words of the book for a more believable final few words.

 

I really enjoyed the film, which seems like an odd thing to say given the subject matter and, unlike the many behind me and my girlfriend in the cinema who were blubbing, and snot crying in a literal sea of tears and other bodily by-products, we didn’t cry, I’M NOT HEARTLESS…. I’m just different… OR at least that’s what my therapist tells me about something completely unrelated to my emotional state. 

 

How To Train Your Dragon 2 Went to the Empire Strikes Back School for Sequels (Portfolio article/review)

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Director: Dean DeBlois

Stars: Jay Baruchel, Cate Blanchett, Gerard Butler

Certificate: PG

Plot: Set 5 years after their first outing, Hiccup and his dragon Toothless have helped the village Burk to live in coexistence with dragons, but a slightly deranged man with an army of dragons threatens to undo all their hard work.

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BY ODIN!? –  a director taking inspiration from one of the greatest sequels of all time to produce his own. Not just that, it’s a sequel to How To Train Your Dragon, probably one of the best legitimate family films of that year, standing hand in hand with Toy Story 3 in a meadow of 3D glasses and popcorn. Is this man insane!? Yes….but he delivers.

 

Let’s say one thing first, in terms of a trilogies’ narrative 5 years seems like a long time between instalments, but realistically speaking, how long do you think it would have taken to fully integrate dragons into a society that previously killed them for ‘protection’ and sport? At least one person would probably have suffered PTSD flashbacks and gone on a dragon murdering rampage; maybe there would have been riots, rebellions or a really aggressive knitting circle to contend with; a VSPCD (Viking Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Dragons)? Really, when you think about it, 5 years might be a little short; but I digress.

 

Our Teen Heroes are now 20 year old Dragon Riders; Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) and his dragon Toothless shirk their responsibilities to dragon race, and cater to the needs of this new way of life; to discover new unfound lands and map them whilst performing amazing aerial displays, in a bid to discover who he is (ah to be young….).

 

Our story really kicks off when our Hero sets out, against the wishes of his father Stoick the Vast (Gerard Butler), to try and convince a madman that dragons are lovely creatures and that the VSPCD will come knocking on his door if he doesn’t free his dragon army. On Hiccup’s way he discovers his long lost mother ‘Valka’ (Cate Blanchett) that we have heard about, but have yet to be introduced to. Valka is the Yoda of dragon knowledge; Cate Blanchett owns this role, it’s almost like it was written for her….. AND that would be because it was; DeBlois wrote this specifically with Blanchett in mind and it comes across very well. If there is any criticism of this character it’s everyone’s willingness to just accept her when she magically re-appears after 20 years. Later she is side-lined in the closing stages of the film, and we don’t really get much development of the character; though I guess we need some ideas to encourage interest in the sequel.

 

In quite an odd twist for a family film it is abnormally heavy and fully deserves its PG rating, especially the scenes featuring our favourite madman of the hour Drago Bludvist, where we are taught that just because the hero’s intentions are good there are some who words and reasoning alone won’t change. For the idealistic Hiccup (and maybe some members of the audience) this is ground shattering and turns it into a rather mature film, which kicks you in the teeth if you were expecting just fun and laughs….kinda like a Glasgow pub quiz.

 

The continuation of Hiccup’s character from the first film is a God-send; he could have easily been the nerdy smart mouth we have seen a million times over (see Jesse Eisenberg’s performances), basking in the glory of becoming the village hero. Instead, the writers went for a character who, while witty and confident, has an inner struggle to find who he is and what he wants to be in the aftermath of becoming famous, all this at a time where his generation is being forced to take the helm. Jay Baruchel’s voice is a perfect choice for this character. Hiccup’s bond with Toothless has also grown hugely and even through the toughest of moments they still manage to stick together and fight the great evil, but not in the cheesy or clichéd way we would expect.

 

Relationships between characters have also changed; Stoick is proud of what his son has become, but wishes he would be more responsible; the village now loves Hiccup as opposed to berating him; and love is in the air but it’s not in your face about it. Hiccup and Astrid (America Ferrera) share a moment very early on that perfectly conveys their relationship without so much as a flirty conversation or big sloppy kiss; and the other Male Dragon Riders are after possibly the only available chick left in Burk, however this is used more for comedy than actual substance

 

All in all it’s a really enjoyable film and is well deserving of its acclaim as an Empire Strikes Back of animated film, it being both a great continuation of the franchise as well as an amazing stand-alone film. And knowing that it is a trilogy is already getting me fired up for a How To Train Your Dragon 3….in 2-3 years.