Daddy, I'm a Zombie 2: Dixie Saves the Day! (Mummy, I'm a Zombie / Dixie and the Zombie Rebellion) - review

2014 (Spain)

2014 Lionsgate Double Pack with Daddy, I'm a Zombie DVD R(2)

Contains mild spoilers.

I may not have been the target audience for the cutesy zombiefied animated coming of age drama Daddy, I'm a Zombie, what with its focus on girlfriends, boyfriends and the hardships of teen life at a time the world was moments away from total undead subjugation. But it was hard not to acknowledge the tight cohesive moral story, the imaginative but respectful adaptation of the zombie trope for children and the solid if not spectacular production. It was what it was, and as a rainy school holiday movie treat it satisfied my zombie urge and delighted the littlens, and you can see why they moved for a sequel.

Daddy, I'm a Zombie was a complete story; threads weren't left hanging, the moral message was delivered, the foes metaphorically and physically if one believes Dixie Grimm's (voiced in English by Kimberely Wharton) dream was real were vanquished and everything was left happy ever after. It was always going to be a hard task to fashion a second outing that provided the necessary fan service and call backs, as well as an original and coherent story so perhaps we shouldn't be too surprised Daddy, I'm a Zombie 2 (UK title) aka Mummy, I'm a Zombie (USA), aka Dixie and the Zombie Rebellion as it was titled everywhere else (trans. Dixie y la rebelión zombi) does indeed ultimately struggle.

Daddy, I'm a Zombie followed a simple formula. Dixie has an accident, enters a self-contained dream world, has an exciting quest, and in the process learns some things about herself; it's a successful, intelligent and effortless The Wizard of Oz retelling. But just because something works once doesn't mean it will again. From the start Daddy, I'm a Zombie 2 has that feeling of a film at odds with itself. A film that doesn't really know what it wants to be, content to stutter and trip its way through a convoluted and incoherent premise and story, through to thoroughly unsatisfying ending, that was probably as much a relief to all involved as it is the viewer. And that's the main crux. Daddy, I'm a Zombie 2 has that feel of a film everyone thought would easily fall together but which became increasingly strained and difficult to work with. It's like someone jotted down a rough story and a few ideas which all agreed would probably be good enough, then realising things weren't going so well kept hammering at it till what was left was an incongruent mess; utterly unidentifiable.

Dixie's accident is now a contrived emergency appendix operation and the anaesthetic her gateway back to the zombie-land, her story some convoluted lazy rehash of the first, of the evil Nebulosa (Karen McCarthy) and a quest to recharge the Azoth stone, and the moral message some missed opportunity to do with authenticity and superficiality. I say zombie-land; for some reason directors Ricardo Ramón and Beñat Beitia have decided to ditch the rich alien world instead opting for the real one, but allowing the zombies, skeletons, ghosts and ghoulies of the first free reign to move back and forth. They've also allowed Dixie to remain alive and human, disappointingly overlooking one of the delights of the first film; that shared journey with her slowly learning and accepting she was not only a zombie but probably dead. It's like the easy option was taken each and every time; and though if I'm being kind I can see what they may have been trying to achieve, the film loses much of its identity by not having the clear demarcation and by not exploring her subtle and nuanced struggle with mortality. I'll briefly mention a real zombie bite and infection, and an interesting escalation in the safe child friendly proceedings which could have had deeply exciting and curious connotations if explored, which again was squandered.

Now it would be very easy to brand Daddy, I'm a Zombie 2, a cheap cash-in; an effortless insipid direct to DVD production put together by committee with no real passion, but I do have to remember I'm not the target audience. Garnering the thoughts of my two willing co-conspirators didn't help its case though; the youngest providing neither a thumbs up or thumbs down and the eldest lampooning it for its insultingly inconsistent and simple plot. For a film about authenticity and having the courage to be honest, it's ironic too, that its biggest weakness was incorrectly diagnosing adherence to the formula as the franchises strength, rather than Dixie's real and identifiable personal and emotional journey, and thinking as long as it superficially forced this, all would be good. A real missed opportunity - 3/10.

Steven@WTD.

Goosebumps: Welcome to Dead House - review

1997 (Canada)

2004 20th Century Fox DVD R(1) Watched on Netflix

Contains spoilers.

Well this is a bit of departure, but I did say I was going to review it all. My daughter's a big fan of the PG rated late nineties adaptation of American author R. L. Stine's horror shorts. They're fun and exciting little self contained stories with Stine getting the fine balance of scary and family friendly right every time and the US/Canadian television interpretations are well made and true to the source with Stine even beginning each with a small narration. Each episode usually drops one or more children, quite often siblings into evil and frightening situations where they, without adult help, have to use their own abilities and imagination to win the day. It's child friendly, so there's never any deaths, the children are never on the receiving end of direct violence and there's always a happy ending, yet Stine, as my daughter will attest, certainly knows how fashion a stressful situations a child can get into.

Egyptian mummies, Monsters, Werewolves and possessed magic items all story themes played with but it's the two part adaptation of his first book published in 1992, and my daughter telling me all about it after watching it on Netflix that's the focus of this review.

Brother and sister Amanda (Amy Stewart) and Josh Benson (Ben Cook) have been forced to relocate some five hundred miles to the town of Dark Falls for their fathers work. It's your typical children's haunted house of horror, the building itself is dilapidated and in desperate need of modernisation and a lick of paint, the neighbour hood is overgrown and run down, and the neighbours act suspiciously and keep to the shadows. No sooner than they arrive Amanda begins to feel something isn't right briefly glancing a face at the bedroom window that of course her parents disregard as a gust of wind or a trick of the light. Things go from bad to worse and in full scooby-doo / gothic-panto glory lightning, thunder, sinister piano music, mystery voices and barking dogs are all used to tell us the Bensons are in for a rough couple of days.

Part 1 ambled along pretty safely; overly friendly neighbours introduced themselves yet shied away from an old family wreath reputed to bring good luck that had been hung, weird pale skinned neighbourhood kids acted strangely and even a few good scary moments, all directed at Amanda with strange sightings, something breaking at the wall in her wardrobe and even a ghostly visitation and dire warning. It was fun, reasonably coherent and well acted family friendly entertainment; not especially my cup of tea but I could go with it. I came into this understanding it was, as my daughter put it, all about the living dead and if these walking talking neighbours were the zombies then that was fine.

I was wrong though and nothing quite prepared for me for where it was all going in part 2. Eventually with the children searching the woods for Petey their dog who'd escaped, they stumbled upon a graveyard, and the entirety of the neighbourhood who had seemingly convened for a town council style meeting. The realtor (estate agent) was here, as was the neighbours daughter, the town fireman, the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker (probably); however gone was the slightly off tone skin tone, and friendly rational demeanour. Here were zombies, grey and blemished rotting undead parasites discussing how they needed to siege the house for the Bensons blood. There was no sugar coating it; they were dead and they wanted Amanda and Josh to join them.

Giving the zombies the two states is quite a fun little idea and not a million miles away from Dead & Buried. On the one hand they're living out some strange fantasy existence pretending to be who they once were to gain the new families trust, however underneath they're vampiric brainless corpses with a singular uncontrollable appetite for blood. They're not who they used to be; they're an echo of their old self, a charade able to remember but only in the pragmatic sense that this might help them to satiate their hunger. For a simple children's story Stine shows a surprising amount of sophistication and the story is refreshingly complete and compelling. The make up is edgy with more than passing resemblance to Romero's offspring, albeit with blood itself off the table, their movements are purposeful and menacing and the final siege of house is scary and suitably relentless with undead bursting through walls and gnashing their teeth, and for a moment I could almost have mistaken it all for something far more grown up.

Welcome to Dead House is fine example of how to make children's horror fun and light yet also not insulting or overly dumb. A great little self contained story; narrative isn't as rigid as it perhaps would be in an adult tale, with several scenes of misdirection never really fleshed out but it all works for a target audience that doesn't really need it to. The central story feels strong and satisfying, production values, music and acting are all as competent as you'd want and the zombies are well made up and genuinely intimidating. Undeniably one for kids (probably not small ones though) there might just about be enough here for big old hairy kids like me too, 6/10.

Steven@WTD.

(Tim Burton's) Corpse Bride - review

2005 (UK/USA)

2007 Warner Home Video Blu-ray R(All)

Contains mild spoilers.

Well, the summer school holidays are upon us again so I'm afraid there will more than likely be more films about Evil Fluffy Bunnies than the Evil Dead the next few weeks, but still, we'll muddle through.

First up on the family friendly roster is to give it it's full title Tim Burton's Corpse Bride. An animated fantasy horror from 2005, it was the third stop-motion film produced by Burton, and the first he directed and as such it exudes confidence in the medium. Sumptuous looking and full of his trademark gothic, dark quirky look and feel, it's classic Burton at the top of his game

It's the late 1800s and the title-less but nouveau riche Van Dort family have arranged the marriage of their son Victor (voiced by who else but Johnny Depp) to the cashless daughter of the Everglot family, Victoria (Emily Watson), who can provide the title and social boost they crave.

Causing calamity at the rehearsal but very enamoured by Emily, he escapes to the woods where practicing his vows he inadvertently places the wedding ring on the very dead finger of Emily (voiced by Helena Bonham Carter) which was protruding from her grave mistaken for a branch. Loosely based on an old Jewish folk tale, Victor by completing the wedding ritual has actually betrothed himself to Emily, the corpse bride and an eternal unlife honeymoon in the land of the dead.

Victorian England is a drab and miserable place and always displayed through a colourless monotone lens. The land of the dead however is colourful and vibrant, full of a motley assortment of skeletons, zombies and jazz. It really is quite the contrast and an interesting choice. If anything Burton has chosen to portray the characters in the land of the living as those that are actually doing anything of the sort. Overly burdened with money, rules and titles they've all lost sight of what is actually important and this is never more true when Victoria is quickly re-betrothed to the con-artist Lord Barkis Bitter (Richard E. Grant) at the first sign Victor might not come through. It's a children's film so there's usually an underlying moral message and I like this one, if it is in fact what was meant, it's a little deviant, a little un-respectful and totally anti-establishment.

Is she a zombie and is this a zombie film? Well, she's definitely dead and reanimated but like many children zombie films she's still totally self aware, likeable and never once mentions wanting to eat anyone. She is however blue (a nod to Romero or at least the genre perhaps?), she is missing some flesh on her arm and cheek and is maggot infested even if said maggot is her friendly companion who guides her conscience (Enn Reitel imitating the ubiquitous voice of Peter Lorre). The undead are hotchpotch of walking, talking, music playing skeletons and zombies who all go about their business in the land of the dead with a smile on their faces and a certain amount of aplomb. There is the subtle suggestion they're here because they've left unfinished business though this is never explicitly expressed, but overall they're portrayed in such a way to suggest their colour and life has come from being freed from the superfluous burdens that come with living.

The dead do eventually get their chance to invade the land of the living and Burton does that tried and tested children's tease that the dead are going to go on a murderous rampage but pulls back at the last moment to reveal them as kind and cosy old relatives and more interested in being reunited with their loved ones than eating their brains. It's been done before but I still enjoyed it.

Corpse Bride is a fun, quickly dark humoured tale but maybe one for the slightly older child. Emily is not the perfect dead silhouette of her alive self, she really is a dead rotting corpse. Other denizens of the land of the dead have dangling eyeballs and unsymmetrical bones and faces that things can fall off, and skeletons are never perfectly white. In some ways this isn't an animated film for children with some appeal to adults but maybe an adult movie that has been filmed in such away to still be suitable for children. Either way Victors trips to the land of the dead are always full of imagination, fun and small subtle jokes and flourishes, but it knows never to go too far. Underlying all this is a beautiful score by Danny Elfman, great voice acting from well known actors, and some highly enjoyable musical interludes. 

Both a fantasy horror and moral reminder of what is really important Tim Burton's Corpse Bride is a magical yarn for both young and old and as with most stop motion films, it doesn't embellish or drag out scenes, to move along at a fast, but never forced pace. Ironically his drab portrayal of 19th century England is a little too authentic making for some dreary viewing in places but overall it's all more than made up for by the story being spun. Dreamlike, eerie, with dark humour and depth this is another Tim Burton triumph, 7/10.

WTD.

Daddy, I'm a Zombie (Papá, soy una zombi) - review

2011 (Spain)

2012 Lionsgate HomeEnt DVD R(2) - watched on Netflix

Contains mild spoilers.

When my ever supportive eight year old told me she'd found a zombie film on Netflix and could we watch it together I was at first a little alarmed. I needn't have been though, as the film in question turned out to be the totally family friendly animated Daddy I'm a Zombie or in it's original Spanish Papá, soy una zombi. Never one to disappoint my family I could hardly say no so we dived in.

Daddy, I'm a zombie, is a low budget animated Burton want-to-be, fantastical adventure story about a little girl dealing with the trials and tribulations that come along with adolescence. 13 year old Dixie (voiced in English by Kimberely Wharton) lives above a mortuary with her divorced Dad. She wears black clothes, listens to death metal, has no friends and a crush on an unobtainable boy, and is full of teenage angst and depression that of course no one else could possibly understand. This film might have the word zombie in the title but let's be clear, this is a teen-flick and wasn't made for 39 year old grey haired gits like yours truly.

Dixie reluctantly agrees to go to the local fair with her Dad and is tricked by some mean girls from school to go into the ghost/fun house where she sees her supposed best friend making out (I believe is the term) said  boy of her dreams. Running away distraught and in tears she screams out that she wishes she was dead and it unfortunately comes true.

She wakes up in a cemetery face to face with Isis (Ratana) an Egyptian mummy who explains she's in the land of the dead and she, like her is now a zombie. This land of the dead is a place outside space and time where souls of the departed rise up as sentient undead if they left unfinished business when they died. There is however, conveniently, a way out. Isis explains that there's a magical item known as the Azoth that can open a portal back to the land of the living and in the forest there lives a crazy old man called Vitriol who knows just how to do it.

Luckily for Dixie, she is the chosen one and has the Azoth on her. Unluckily, outside the protection of the cemetery the land is ruled by evil zombie queen Nebulosa who has captured all the other zombies, sucked out their souls and is preparing them as an undead army to invade the living world once she gets her grubby little mitts on the Azoth. So begins a journey of friendship to save the world, or something like that with scrapes, adventure, fallings out and redemption.

Like I said, this is fantasy and adventure and it doesn't matter that mummies are zombies or that that Nebulosa's goon hit men are minotaurs. It's a children's story and takes full advantage of the fact that things don't have to strictly speaking make much sense. It's free and bit silly but all in a good way. Isis tells Dixie that zombie food is bugs and worms and Dixie moans she's a decaying corpse and looks terrible but there's no real rotting flesh, blood or gore. It's all been tamed and all what we expect in a children's family cartoon, and it's ok. Still, it's not all unicorns and roses and there are moments where it lets itself get a little dark and tense, and some of the themes and ideas are definitely aimed at the slightly older children. It also manages a few winks and nods to it's horror heritage and I swear I saw the silhouette of a brain at one point which is nice.

Now I'm not an animation expert but even I can tell it's no Disney or Pixar, more that computery cheap animation you see on Saturday morning television. All the colours and lines are sharp and saturated and panning is always done from a fixed point. It's all a bit cheap and garish but it's adequate for what it is and my kids didn't seem to mind. The English voices are great and story for all over the place fantastical nature is actually pretty cohesive and it paces along quite nicely. I'm not sure why it's called what it is though, as at no point is Dixie a zombie in the real world nor does she ever come out, so to speak to her dad.

Daddy, I'm a Zombie is a coming of age flick taking advantage of the current mainstream obsession with all things Z. It's a well intentioned morality tale about learning to be more positive, trusting and nice to others and as said while clearly not targeted in my direction I still enjoyed it for what it was. It's bright, quirky, a little deviant (always a good thing in my book) with some imaginative ideas and a reasonably strong story. I'm really not sure how to score this one though. I'd probably give it something like a 5 and when asked my daughter gave it a 10, so we'll meet somewhere in the middle, 7/10.

Steven@WTD.

Paranorman - review

2012 (USA)

2012 Universal Pictures (Cinema)

Contains spoilers.

Paranorman is a film about fear and prejudice; of how a young boy overcomes the abuse and challenges of being  different to solve an ancient curse, bring peace to the dead and save the townsfolk from themselves. Whilst marketed as a children's film it's also definitely not one for the really young with some darker and more complex themes than you'd get in your average Disney affair.

Young Norman Babcock (voiced by Kodi Smit-McPhee) has a gift. He can see and speak to the dead; those souls that are trapped in spiritual form because they have unfinished business on earth. Because of this gift Norman is misunderstood, feared and ridiculed by his school mates, his neighbours and even his father and feels isolated and alone. He mistrusts and shuns genuine attempts at connecting with him, even the ever persistent chubby school chum Neil Downe (Tucker Albrizzi), and buries himself at home in his love of horror films and paraphernalia. 

300 years ago the good townsfolk of Blithe Hollow executed an evil witch. Dragged from her mother and accused of all manner of evil, as she was found guilty and condemned to death she cast a curse on the judge, the witnesses and the town. The legend of the witch still dominates the town and it commemorates, celebrates and relishes in its dark heritage. Or that's what people think. Unbeknown to the town the curse and the witch are still very much present and are only held in stead by an annual ritual performed by the witches descendent, and Norman's Uncle Mr Prenderghast (John Goodman) who also shares the family gift of being able to talk to the deceased.

Things are coming to a head though. Uncle Prenderghast fears he is close to his death and feels it's time to pass on the ritual but dies on the eve of its anniversary leaving young Norman to work it out and save the town all on his own. After a slow and tense build up Norman suddenly finds himself in the middle of a maelstrom; trying to contain the evil spirit of the witch, flee from the judge and seven witnesses who have all burst from the grave and keep all this from his family and the town. With hell about to break out though he is joined by his older cheerleading sister Courtney, his school friend Neil and Neil's older jock brother who all came out to look for him, and school bully Alvin who tagged along just to beat him up. Between them they have to come to terms with the fact that there may actually be something to Norman's gift and also put aside their differences to make sense of what is happening, find the witches grave and perform the ritual before the curse consumes the town.

Evil witches, curses, ghosts, bullying, mobs with pitchforks, zombies that lose limbs and are shot and a prevalent mood of mistrust and fear; Paranorman is a dark film full of dark themes but it's never overly oppressive or sinister. It's behaves like a classic children's fairy tale, painting scenes that aren't really what they seem and reducing the horror before it becomes too much. Like Scooby Doo on Zombie Island after introducing the traditional shambling scary looking zombies and after having an albeit slightly comical but still tense and dramatic chase we discover the zombies aren't actually the big bad baddies the group perceived them as being. They're actually full of regret and sorrow for what they did 300 years ago to the young  Agatha Prenderghast (Jodelle Micah Ferland). They aren't out to massacre the town, they are cursed to eternal un-life until the small girl they condemned to death can find peace and they actually want to help Norman achieve this. The zombies really being good, Aggie like Norman and his uncle all being misunderstood, feared and rejected is all part of the over-arching narrative of acting on assumption and fearing that which one doesn't understand.

Eventually everything comes full circle and the citizens of Blithe Hollow see things how they really are; that with pitch forks and flaming torches ready to burn down the civic hall that they're more the monsters than the zombies, that Norman might actually be the hero with a special gift and the they should learn to tolerate and accept that which they don't understand. It's an old tale done before but here it's presented in a refreshingly original and vibrant way. With an emphasis on engaging dialogue the story of retains all the charm of an animated children's movie, with grittier social commentary and depth for the adult viewer to chew on.

As for the zombies; in so much as they're dead and reanimated that's really as far as it goes. They're not bad, they're not after brains or flesh and they don't really pose a real threat to anyone. They're reanimated because they're cursed and this curse only goes so far as to ensure their spirit can't move on and protects them from being destroyed by being pulled apart, or run over or even being shot, etc. They're still presented to the traditional zombie spec though, with ripped clothes, groans and dry dead skin where I did notice a slight blue tinge; a nod to Romero perhaps? There's also a nod to the comical and absurd side of the genre with many lighter b-movie moments occurring with and to the zombies. All are brilliantly executed and never forced, and they provide necessary and expected relief in a film aimed for the younger audience.

Produced by the Laika, the same stop-motion animated film team that created Coraline, the film shares many of the same intelligent and deviant qualities as well meticulous attention to detail, style and artistry and special mention must go to a final twenty minutes, which are as captivating, dramatic and visually exciting as anything I've probably ever seen, animated or not. Paranorman is sharp and witty with great pacing with a faultless narrative and strong interesting characters. There's never any dumbing down and the film stays true to its themes and visions throughout. Directors Sam Fell and Chris Butler have produced a beautiful and poignant experience and a children's film with real depth; I can't recommend it enough, 9/10.

Steven@WTD.

Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island - review

1998 (USA)

2003 Warner Home Video DVD R(2) 

Contains spoilers.

Yep, you read right, Scooby Doo. I originally purchased this not just because I did say I was going to watch and review every zombie film ever, but I fancied something a bit lighter, whimsical and something I could watch with the kiddies. Obviously I got all the light and whimsy I was expecting, but what I wasn't expecting was a genuinely coherent suspenseful and interesting narrative that could easily hold its own with any other film I'd watched, with shocks, real horror and a deep symbolic subtext about the journey from child to adulthood.

The gang are back together, literally. Years after dissolving Mystery Inc. and going their own way, Fred now the producer on 'Coast to Coast with Daphne Blake' decides to bring the group back together for a trip to Louisiana to help Daphne and her goal to find and film a real mystery. Daphne has become disillusioned with how every supernatural mystery always turns out to be just illusion and trickery and some guy in a mask motivated by greed. Velma a mystery book store owner, Scooby and Shaggy recently sacked from an Airport security position for eating all the confiscated food, all jump at the chance to get back onboard The Mystery Machine and they head back out for adventure.

Predictably things return swiftly to how they were before. Villains are unmasked, mysteries are solved and it's as if nothing has really changed; there are certainly no real supernatural shenanigans for Daphne to report on. Until that is, a chance encounter with Lena, an alluring  young lady in New Orleans, who believes she has a solution to their problem and invites them to Moonscar Island and the home of her employer, Simone Lenoir, where she says, they can witness the antics of an allegedly real ghost, the long dead pirate Morgan Moonscar.

So following the Scooby Doo formula we know and love we can hazard a guess the plot will go something like this: they'll arrive at the island, witness all manner of supernatural tricks, Velma will discover a rational explanation for the unexplained and Fred a motive for one of the supporting cast and Scooby and Shaggy after a series of calamitous and comical scrapes will bring the Pirate Captain crashing to his knees for Daphne to whip off his mask and save the day. Right? You couldn't be more wrong...

After a tour of the house, some supernatural warnings telling them to leave and a series of eventful encounters Scooby has with the multitude of cats on the island,  Scooby and Shaggy, separated from the rest of the gang find themselves running for their lives through the New Orleans bayou from Morgan Moonscar and his resurrected zombie pirate gang. Out to rescue them Daphne and Fred manage to snag themselves a zombie and in a then in a sudden whoosh and a whirl everything gets turned around on its head.

It's a profound moment of realisation not just for children but for adults. Try as he might Fred just can't get the zombies mask off. He's the janitor or the old headmaster or the gardener? No, he's a monster and he's real; monsters are real. Everything up to this point had been playful, safe and could be explained and suddenly you realise the gang have grown up and there isn't always going to be a happy ending. They're no longer those meddling kids, they're adults with jobs, dreams, futures and uncertainty and danger. There's a symbolism of the transition from child to adulthood, learning that Father Christmas isn't real and that monsters are, and it's a pivotal moment for the franchise. Nothing can ever quite be the same again; childhood innocence is lost in a second.

Now the illusion is shattered though, anything goes and the writers can play with a narrative that is no longer constrained, where things don't have to be structured in such a way to be explained at the end and the film can embrace a new found freedom. So before saving the day, as well as zombies we're thrown voodoo dolls, ancient cat gods, vampirism, lycanthropy and even a flirt with the idea of romance and relationships. Our gang has gone and got itself all grown up.

An interesting feature of the zombies is actually they're the good guys. They're authentic, shambling, scary looking, definitely dead and would fit neatly into any zombie film and it's a clever narrative twist for a film targeting to children to turn things on their head and make what appear to be the bad guys actually good. Not to break with tradition too much though, later we discover the main villains were under the gangs noses the whole time, just this time there's no masks coming off.

Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island is still a Scooby Doo film. It's an animated box of fun with jokes, gaffs and hilarious set pieces and a joy to watch for both children and adults. It's also easily the best Scooby Doo film I've seen with a narrative and story streets ahead the recent live action films. Whilst the animation is traditional Warner and basic, it's full of warmth and wit, and proves you don't always need an animation team in the 100s and access to super computers to put together a top drawer cartoon.

A great Scooby Doo film and a great Zombie film; Scooby Doo on Zombie Island is dramatic exciting adventure full of all the jokes and scrapes you'd want; but it's more, it's a coherent intelligent narrative and a profound reflective memorable experience, 8/10.

Steven@WTD.