The Legend of the Five

I guess it depends on who you are.

Five high school students on a class trip get transported to a fantasy world. On their quest to return home they discover they are elementals.

I'll watch anything. But appreciate where it's coming from .And, although it's low budget, it could be WAY worse (Riddle Room -a 2016 movie that was REALLY not worth it! Or The Girl- w/Michael Biehn and Tia Carrere- really OH SO BAD!).

This seemed like a high school play production done outside. The story has potential but the writing could be a little more elaborate.

As it opens, the main character is struggling with her mother's death, but holding it together for her father, who enters the scene. It's hard to tell what the actor's motivation is in the scene. Is he angry? Is he abusive? No? Oh, he's supposed to be sad? Good thing that's his only scene. Bad thing he's in the opening.

The acting was amateurish. Gabi Sproule, in my opinion did best- and this was her only credit on IMDB. The main actor is listed as a producer, her mother as executive producer. Also Joanne Samuel, the director, has her son (Jesse Ahern- also a producer) to do film editing, music editing and supervise visual effects. Although it could have been better, it could have been worse. The ending leads us to believe there could be a part 2. If it happens a better writer, director and editor could greatly improve the ratings.

Aussies should steer clear of making anything fantasy or sci-fi, or horror, we cant do them well. Bad script, terrible and uninteresting characters, bad CGI / VFX. It was shot very well, Ill give it that. Actors were poor choices except for Lauren Esposito, she just passes but at least great to look at. Dont waste your time.

I think Samuels had a decent concept here, and with the luxury of the backdrop of the beautiful Australian Blue Mountains, it should have been a winner. Overall the production let it down for me. The talent misfired all over the place but I will keep a watch on Gabi Sproule, something intriguing there. The rest, not so much, the 'lead' was very disappointing despite the LA hype. Obviously family favours through this production, sad given how many unemployed true professionals are available. But hey, it's a kid's movie so I was hoping my nine year old would enjoy it regardless. Unfortunately he found it confusing (I agreed) and too much with the CGI that could have been toned down, it jolts you out of whatever carriage the movie manages to generate. We didn't stay to the end so I didn't get to see how this was funded. I hope Samuels gets another opportunity with some better production support to get it to hang together in a coherent fashion. A misfire all round given some of the ingredients and the opportunity.

Firstly, it's a kids film. Just remind yourself of that when you watch it.My 10 and 13 year olds loved it. I did not. The characters were annoying and miscast. Javier Torres (played by Nicholas Andrianakos) was a useless character. Probably the hunk character for the girls, but I was hoping he would be killed off. Owen Clarke (played by Leigh Joel Scott) looked like a 30 year old guy. At least he knew things that helped. Kaylee Liu (played by Deborah An) was the arty type who 'grew up'. Yawn. Caitlin Fisher (played by Gabi Sproule) was the bimboesque girl that grew a backbone. She was the most interesting. Zoe Caldera (played by Lauren Esposito) is the lead character. Funny that her sister/mother is the Executive Producer and she is the co-producer. I think another relative is the 'best boy'. Her accent ranged from Australian to American, depending on the scene.

Once you resign to the fact that things don't make a heap of sense, feel free to enjoy the special effects, because boy I had a hard time understanding the flow of the story. The best part was I got a choc-top ice cream!

I like "kids transported to another world" stories. Knowing that it was low budget I didn't expect much, and didn't get much either.

The acting was hit and miss (mostly miss). The story elements borrow heavily from Narnia, Alice in Wonderland, Jumanji, a little Monty Python, and even a hint of the original Land of the Lost. There are too many weird senseless portal jumps leading to confusing continuity with the story. At times it felt like scenes were left out. The elemental powers were woefully underdeveloped and underused. The wrap up completely under delivered.

It wasnt completely terrible though. There was some (if not enough) effort at character development. The Australian scenery was a plus. The overall idea and setting were decent even if derivative. The special effects were ok for a low budget film.

If there was a book I'd read it since it is bound to be better or at least be less confusing. Tighter and more thoughtful writing, more believable acting, and a little better editing and this might have been good: It could have been 6 stars or more. Sadly it wasn't. Waste time on it at your own risk.