FunBlog

This is a quirky little Irish musical that is getting a limited distribution in the U.S. I enjoyed it; the music is great, but I suspect it will have limited appeal for mainstream American audiences.

A street musician (by day he’s a vacuum cleaner repairman) meets an unemployed pianist. They decide to try collaborating, assemble a makeshift band and sort of fall in love. The songs are worked in as a natural part of the story–unlike most musicals there’s no need to suspend disbelief when the characters burst into song.

Don’t expect a conventional happy ending. It isn’t tragic (parts of it are quite funny), but there’s a typical Irish melancholy tone to the story as a whole.

For centuries there have been rumors about a mysterious group of white-haired children, sometimes called “The Children of Béfort.” At age 5 they leave their homes and find each other. They search the world for something or someone, pursued by shadowy enemies. At age 12 they die–only to reappear again shortly thereafter.

Someone had a really great idea for a story here. Unfortunately in this case a great story idea did not result in a great anime, due to flawed execution.
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This movie is the third in a series that has been going steadily downhill. The first movie in the series (Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl) confounded my expectations by being both hilarious and exciting to watch. The second (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest) tried the audience’s patience by stopping half-way through the story, leaving us to wait until the next movie to find out the ending.

The next movie is finally here and it turns out to be a spectacular shark-jumping exhibition. It is full of amazing computer-generated visuals and action sequences that should be thrilling but are not. This is probably because in order to thrill us the people telling the story need to actually believe in it at some level–not just think that they are making up a bunch of crap to sell tickets. There is a romantic ending that on paper should have made me choke up, but didn’t, mainly because it seemed to me that the actors were struggling to avoid laughing. There are a few mildly funny moments but there is none of the hilarity of the original.

At the end of the movie they make it clear that they intend to do yet another sequel. Given this film’s spectacular box office results I’m sure the sequel will be made. I can only hope that the audience, after being burned twice, will stay home next time.