Free Jimmy (2006)
It's only been a couple of days since my last post, so not much to catch y'all up on. Pretty much the only thing of note that happened to me since then is I had a driving lesson earlier. And I sucked arse. Seriously bad. I dunno if I was to tired, if doing repetitive stuff at work all day just switched my brain off, or I was just having an off day, but I just kept making the same mistakes over and over. Was close to tears of frustration a couple of times. Alternatively, I could just be shit at driving.
So, on to the review!
Free Jimmy (2006)
I have wanted to see this movie for several years now. It is originally a Norwgian film but they made an English, well dub isn't *quite* the right word, I think, as I'll explain. It first came onto my radar when it was announced that David Tennant would be voicing one of the characters in the English version. My interest was piqued, and I dug a bit deeper and discovered that Simon Pegg was writing the screenplay, as well as voicing a character. And this is why I don't really see it as a dub. To me, (and please correct me if I'm wrong) a dub is more of a straightforward translation, like subs but with voices, but to have someone else completely rewrite the screenplay strikes me as going just that step further. Also, from what I can tell, they've actually re-animated the characters' mouths to fit the words.
Anyway, with Simon Pegg on board I was certainly intrigued, and even more so to discover that the cast list contained Woody Harrelson, Jim Broadbent, Emilia Fox (ok, maybe not so much at the time as I wasn't watching Silent Witness back then), Kris Marshall, Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith and Mark Gatiss.
The release date just kept getting pushed further and further back, until eventually it was released Direct to DVD in 2008 with very little fanfare, or indeed, distribution. And I just never got round to watching it. Until now...
...And unfortunately, I think I can say this is the first Love Film film that I just haven't enjoyed. I mean, Wolf was bad, but at least it was straying into "so bad it's good" territory.
I'm not sure I can can quite put my dissatisfaction with this movie into words. It starts with the art, I think. I just didn't like it. They seem to have gone for the "claymation look in cg" thing, but with none of the charm of either. I know this is supposed to be a dirty, grubby movie, and the art is supposed to reflect that, but I just didn't like it. The models for people are fairly stylised, but I wouldn't necessarily say outlandishly so, but the movement is really jerky and unrealistic. And it occasionally goes for really cartoonish violence that just seems out of place. I just didn't really enjoy any aspect of the art. Maybe if I had I would have been sucked into the story more.
And the story? Well, I knew the basics of the story going in, so it's not like I was shocked by the "adult themes" of the plot (and the 15 rating kind of gives it away). Although I could have lived without the sex scene. I just found it kind of boring. Basically, 3 stoners, called Gaz, Odd and Flea, are enticed by a mate, Roy Arnie to take a job at a dilapidated Russian circus, where one of the star attractions is Jimmy, and dilapidated elephant, who is a junkie because they keep him wasted on downers between shows to control him, and then perk him right up with speed when it's show time. It transpires that the reason Roy Arnie was so keen to get his mates to help out was that he hid about £1million worth of heroin in Jimmy's arse (not, incidentally in the usual drug trafficking way, but by cutting him open and sewing him back up). He is also being followed by the Lappish Mafia for some other drug related dodad. I think he stole the arse-heroin off them. They are 3 dudes on motorbikes in ridiculous clothing. I imagine that if you are from Norway, this is some hilarious joke about something, but it just kinda comes of as weird in the English version. Meanwhile, a group of incompetent Animal Rights Activists hear about the circus and decide to, well, Free Jimmy.
And a group of inexplicably Scottish moose hunters are hanging around as well.
Blah, blah, blah, stuff happens, Jimmy gets lost on a Norwegian (oh yeah, the majority of the movie still takes place in Norway) moor, nearly dies from withdrawal, is rescued by a golden horned moose, and eventually all groups; stoners, mafia, activists, hunters and elephant end up in the same place, a mafia dude gets his head comically exploded by one of the hunters shooting him by accident. Which didn't make much sense to me, because, sure, you'd need something powerful to take down a moose, but they way the guy's head actually *explodes* was more like a shotgun, and I wouldn't have thought that's what you'd use. I'd have figured a high powered rifle or something, and I would have expected that to make a mess of the back of his head, but not so much the front. But what do I know?
Then Jimmy accidentally squishes flat the dog of one of the activists and she gets angry and shoots him, coincidentally right in the heroin, killing him instantly. The moose makes an avalanche to cover Jimmy... for some reason, I'd kind of stopped paying attention by this point. The movie ends with Roy Arnie, unaware that Jimmy is dead, heading out into a blizzard to look for him.
As I type the plot out, it reminds me a lot of Snatch or Lock, Stock. And I think that's it, I think that's why I don't like it. It's one of them done badly. The plot has too many twists and turns and doesn't really interleave the separate groups' stories very well. And it's not that the characters are unlikable, because I wouldn' t necessarily call the characters in Snatch or Lock, Stock *likable* it's just that they're lacking any charm to make you interested in them.
I guess that's the whole thing. The movie just lacks any kind of charm to draw you in. With the talent involved in this movie, I expected better. A disappointment.
So, on to the review!
Free Jimmy (2006)
I have wanted to see this movie for several years now. It is originally a Norwgian film but they made an English, well dub isn't *quite* the right word, I think, as I'll explain. It first came onto my radar when it was announced that David Tennant would be voicing one of the characters in the English version. My interest was piqued, and I dug a bit deeper and discovered that Simon Pegg was writing the screenplay, as well as voicing a character. And this is why I don't really see it as a dub. To me, (and please correct me if I'm wrong) a dub is more of a straightforward translation, like subs but with voices, but to have someone else completely rewrite the screenplay strikes me as going just that step further. Also, from what I can tell, they've actually re-animated the characters' mouths to fit the words.
Anyway, with Simon Pegg on board I was certainly intrigued, and even more so to discover that the cast list contained Woody Harrelson, Jim Broadbent, Emilia Fox (ok, maybe not so much at the time as I wasn't watching Silent Witness back then), Kris Marshall, Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith and Mark Gatiss.
The release date just kept getting pushed further and further back, until eventually it was released Direct to DVD in 2008 with very little fanfare, or indeed, distribution. And I just never got round to watching it. Until now...
...And unfortunately, I think I can say this is the first Love Film film that I just haven't enjoyed. I mean, Wolf was bad, but at least it was straying into "so bad it's good" territory.
I'm not sure I can can quite put my dissatisfaction with this movie into words. It starts with the art, I think. I just didn't like it. They seem to have gone for the "claymation look in cg" thing, but with none of the charm of either. I know this is supposed to be a dirty, grubby movie, and the art is supposed to reflect that, but I just didn't like it. The models for people are fairly stylised, but I wouldn't necessarily say outlandishly so, but the movement is really jerky and unrealistic. And it occasionally goes for really cartoonish violence that just seems out of place. I just didn't really enjoy any aspect of the art. Maybe if I had I would have been sucked into the story more.
And the story? Well, I knew the basics of the story going in, so it's not like I was shocked by the "adult themes" of the plot (and the 15 rating kind of gives it away). Although I could have lived without the sex scene. I just found it kind of boring. Basically, 3 stoners, called Gaz, Odd and Flea, are enticed by a mate, Roy Arnie to take a job at a dilapidated Russian circus, where one of the star attractions is Jimmy, and dilapidated elephant, who is a junkie because they keep him wasted on downers between shows to control him, and then perk him right up with speed when it's show time. It transpires that the reason Roy Arnie was so keen to get his mates to help out was that he hid about £1million worth of heroin in Jimmy's arse (not, incidentally in the usual drug trafficking way, but by cutting him open and sewing him back up). He is also being followed by the Lappish Mafia for some other drug related dodad. I think he stole the arse-heroin off them. They are 3 dudes on motorbikes in ridiculous clothing. I imagine that if you are from Norway, this is some hilarious joke about something, but it just kinda comes of as weird in the English version. Meanwhile, a group of incompetent Animal Rights Activists hear about the circus and decide to, well, Free Jimmy.
And a group of inexplicably Scottish moose hunters are hanging around as well.
Blah, blah, blah, stuff happens, Jimmy gets lost on a Norwegian (oh yeah, the majority of the movie still takes place in Norway) moor, nearly dies from withdrawal, is rescued by a golden horned moose, and eventually all groups; stoners, mafia, activists, hunters and elephant end up in the same place, a mafia dude gets his head comically exploded by one of the hunters shooting him by accident. Which didn't make much sense to me, because, sure, you'd need something powerful to take down a moose, but they way the guy's head actually *explodes* was more like a shotgun, and I wouldn't have thought that's what you'd use. I'd have figured a high powered rifle or something, and I would have expected that to make a mess of the back of his head, but not so much the front. But what do I know?
Then Jimmy accidentally squishes flat the dog of one of the activists and she gets angry and shoots him, coincidentally right in the heroin, killing him instantly. The moose makes an avalanche to cover Jimmy... for some reason, I'd kind of stopped paying attention by this point. The movie ends with Roy Arnie, unaware that Jimmy is dead, heading out into a blizzard to look for him.
As I type the plot out, it reminds me a lot of Snatch or Lock, Stock. And I think that's it, I think that's why I don't like it. It's one of them done badly. The plot has too many twists and turns and doesn't really interleave the separate groups' stories very well. And it's not that the characters are unlikable, because I wouldn' t necessarily call the characters in Snatch or Lock, Stock *likable* it's just that they're lacking any charm to make you interested in them.
I guess that's the whole thing. The movie just lacks any kind of charm to draw you in. With the talent involved in this movie, I expected better. A disappointment.