Pythe
Joined Mar 2001
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Pythe's rating
In the strange and foggy No Man's Land of children's literature betwixt R.L. Stine's Goosebumps series and J.K. Rowling's phenomenal Harry Potter novels, K.A. Applegate reigned supreme. Pound for pound, I daresay Animorphs was every bit as intriguing (and probably better written) than Harry Potter, and leaps and bounds more mature than Goosebumps; and while the series developed problems after a few years (an over complicated, meandering mythology, inferior ghostwriting), I contend that the first spate of books are masterpieces in their own right, leveling an often profound gaze at the effects of war and savagery on formerly untroubled minds.
When I, a fresh-faced young lad of 11, first learned that a television show was in the works to bring my favorite books to life on the small screen, I was elated. I admit my heart sank a bit when I heard it was to be produced by Nickelodeon, who by the late '90s had shifted their focus from the preteen and teen market to a demographic exclusively in the 8-12 range; but realistically, what other network would air such an adaptation? The books were too violent and dark to air on a children's network, but no adult was going to watch a show about high school students turning into animals and fighting aliens. Perhaps it could have worked on the WB, following the success of high-school themed shows like Buffy, but alas, that was not the way things worked out.
Apart from the censorship, the biggest problem a Nickelodeon adaptation would run into was budgetary. The books played out on a grand scale, every installation featuring aliens, spaceships, guerrilla warfare, shapeshifting, and occasionally, entirely different planets. Those elements were either scaled back or dropped entirely for the television series. The alien prosthetics were unconvincing, Applegate's concepts being much more ambitious than the average "wrinkly forehead" aliens featured on the average Star Trek episode. I remember my disappointment at the introduction of Elfangor and the Hork Bajir in the pilot episode. They were underwhelming, to say the least.
When I discovered the show was available on Netflix, I watched it on a whim, in the background, with all the preconceptions of my high expectations dissipated in the course of time. The first few episodes are still pretty abysmal, with lackluster writing and facile direction. There just wasn't enough money or creative freedom to accomplish what Applegate did in the books.
As the series progresses, however, it comes into its own, crafting an identity as its own entity separate from the prose. The characters become more three-dimensional on their own terms; the acting improves; the budgetary limitations are circumvented. True, sometimes (oftentimes) the villains are incredibly stupid and the action sequences don't hold up all that well; the psychological and physical effects of a full-fledged war are neutered by the network mandate to remain "kid-friendly", which means no death or serious trauma can ever really befall the characters. But the basic human interaction, the relationships, improve, and the storytelling finds firmer footing. If you allow yourself to forget the source material, Animorphs stands as a worthy piece of family entertainment.
It's also fun to see a "before-they-were-famous" Shawn Ashmore and Paulo Costanzo, who have since achieved mainstream success via the X-Men franchise and the popular USA comedy/drama "Royal Pains", respectively. Maybe this is through glasses tinted with hindsight, but they are easily the strongest members of the cast (and I'm including the adults in that), with Ashmore growing into his own as conflicted "I didn't ask for this" leader Jake, and Costanzo stealing the show as fish-out-of-water alien-posing-as-human Aximili, who turns a simple cab ride into a comedy of errors.
When I, a fresh-faced young lad of 11, first learned that a television show was in the works to bring my favorite books to life on the small screen, I was elated. I admit my heart sank a bit when I heard it was to be produced by Nickelodeon, who by the late '90s had shifted their focus from the preteen and teen market to a demographic exclusively in the 8-12 range; but realistically, what other network would air such an adaptation? The books were too violent and dark to air on a children's network, but no adult was going to watch a show about high school students turning into animals and fighting aliens. Perhaps it could have worked on the WB, following the success of high-school themed shows like Buffy, but alas, that was not the way things worked out.
Apart from the censorship, the biggest problem a Nickelodeon adaptation would run into was budgetary. The books played out on a grand scale, every installation featuring aliens, spaceships, guerrilla warfare, shapeshifting, and occasionally, entirely different planets. Those elements were either scaled back or dropped entirely for the television series. The alien prosthetics were unconvincing, Applegate's concepts being much more ambitious than the average "wrinkly forehead" aliens featured on the average Star Trek episode. I remember my disappointment at the introduction of Elfangor and the Hork Bajir in the pilot episode. They were underwhelming, to say the least.
When I discovered the show was available on Netflix, I watched it on a whim, in the background, with all the preconceptions of my high expectations dissipated in the course of time. The first few episodes are still pretty abysmal, with lackluster writing and facile direction. There just wasn't enough money or creative freedom to accomplish what Applegate did in the books.
As the series progresses, however, it comes into its own, crafting an identity as its own entity separate from the prose. The characters become more three-dimensional on their own terms; the acting improves; the budgetary limitations are circumvented. True, sometimes (oftentimes) the villains are incredibly stupid and the action sequences don't hold up all that well; the psychological and physical effects of a full-fledged war are neutered by the network mandate to remain "kid-friendly", which means no death or serious trauma can ever really befall the characters. But the basic human interaction, the relationships, improve, and the storytelling finds firmer footing. If you allow yourself to forget the source material, Animorphs stands as a worthy piece of family entertainment.
It's also fun to see a "before-they-were-famous" Shawn Ashmore and Paulo Costanzo, who have since achieved mainstream success via the X-Men franchise and the popular USA comedy/drama "Royal Pains", respectively. Maybe this is through glasses tinted with hindsight, but they are easily the strongest members of the cast (and I'm including the adults in that), with Ashmore growing into his own as conflicted "I didn't ask for this" leader Jake, and Costanzo stealing the show as fish-out-of-water alien-posing-as-human Aximili, who turns a simple cab ride into a comedy of errors.
After the previous season and a half of character departures, character introductions, retooled mythology, and unyielding darkness and despair, "Lord of the Flies" feels like a deliberate attempt to recapture the lightheartedness and simplicity of a certain subset of pre-Doggett episodes. It would have felt right at home in season 6; the storyline of a misunderstood teenager whose unusual powers alternately empower and complicate his unrequited love for an unsuspecting girl would nestle snugly alongside an episode like "The Rain King."
The cast is pretty good for this one, even if Erick Avari is underutilized as the coroner. Michael Wiseman is a standout as the smarmy, pompous Dr. Rocky; his cocky flirtation with an unreceptive Scully finally gives brilliant comic straight (wo)man Gillian Anderson something to do other than shout about her baby and pine over the lost Mulder. (What that woman could do simply by raising an eyebrow...) Look for future TV stars Jane Lynch and Aaron Paul as a well-meaning single mother and a high school bully with a frat-boy mentality, respectively.
Late television director Kim Manners handles the teleplay's uneven tone deftly, imparting the same understated quality to the humor that brought many a Darin Morgan and Vince Gilligan script to life with such grace. As a prolific veteran of the show, Manners crafts an episode that feels familiar, and very much welcome amidst the inexorable momentum of the unceasingly tense Super Soldiers storyline. On its own, "Lord of the Flies" is by no means a great episode, but in the context of the 9th season it is a pleasant diversion.
The cast is pretty good for this one, even if Erick Avari is underutilized as the coroner. Michael Wiseman is a standout as the smarmy, pompous Dr. Rocky; his cocky flirtation with an unreceptive Scully finally gives brilliant comic straight (wo)man Gillian Anderson something to do other than shout about her baby and pine over the lost Mulder. (What that woman could do simply by raising an eyebrow...) Look for future TV stars Jane Lynch and Aaron Paul as a well-meaning single mother and a high school bully with a frat-boy mentality, respectively.
Late television director Kim Manners handles the teleplay's uneven tone deftly, imparting the same understated quality to the humor that brought many a Darin Morgan and Vince Gilligan script to life with such grace. As a prolific veteran of the show, Manners crafts an episode that feels familiar, and very much welcome amidst the inexorable momentum of the unceasingly tense Super Soldiers storyline. On its own, "Lord of the Flies" is by no means a great episode, but in the context of the 9th season it is a pleasant diversion.
I quite enjoyed the Bob Hope noir spoof My Favorite Brunette, which also starred Road to... straight woman Dorothy Lamour and featured Bing Crosby in a brief cameo in the last scene. What with the classic status of this particular series I assumed I would get even more of a kick out of this, the first entry, The Road to Singapore. Unfortunately the film just doesn't have much kick to give.
On the whole it's a rather dull affair that only attempts one or two comic set pieces and pads out the rest of the film with some pretty unimpressive dialog. The only bit that even brought a smile to my face was when Hope and Crosby, trying to con a native crowd into buying their sham cleaning products, recruited the hapless Jerry Colonna and proceeded to decimate his immaculate white suit. The writing is entirely by-the-numbers with very little flair for the comedic, wasting Charles Coburn as Crosby's father. Lamour is charismatic and lovable as the dancer that Hope and Crosby rescue from an abusive showman, but she doesn't get much to do besides look pretty and dispense maternal affection. I wish she'd been allowed to do a little comedy, but then the boys don't get to do much of it either, at that, so I suppose that's a bit of a moot point.
I'm a big fan of musicals from the 1930s, but the obligatory songs in The Road to Singapore are pretty flaccid and uninspired. Like those in a Marx Brothers picture you spend too much time just waiting for the singing to be over. Of course the Marx Brothers got back to their hilarious routines when the musical numbers ended, but nobody remembers to do that in this movie.
Most of the love for this series seems to be centered on one or two of the various sequels. I liked the cast of The Road to Singapore, but the problem was the material, so if future outings prepared them with a better script then I'm all for checking them out. In the meanwhile if while traveling you find this road to be the one less traveled, take the other one.
On the whole it's a rather dull affair that only attempts one or two comic set pieces and pads out the rest of the film with some pretty unimpressive dialog. The only bit that even brought a smile to my face was when Hope and Crosby, trying to con a native crowd into buying their sham cleaning products, recruited the hapless Jerry Colonna and proceeded to decimate his immaculate white suit. The writing is entirely by-the-numbers with very little flair for the comedic, wasting Charles Coburn as Crosby's father. Lamour is charismatic and lovable as the dancer that Hope and Crosby rescue from an abusive showman, but she doesn't get much to do besides look pretty and dispense maternal affection. I wish she'd been allowed to do a little comedy, but then the boys don't get to do much of it either, at that, so I suppose that's a bit of a moot point.
I'm a big fan of musicals from the 1930s, but the obligatory songs in The Road to Singapore are pretty flaccid and uninspired. Like those in a Marx Brothers picture you spend too much time just waiting for the singing to be over. Of course the Marx Brothers got back to their hilarious routines when the musical numbers ended, but nobody remembers to do that in this movie.
Most of the love for this series seems to be centered on one or two of the various sequels. I liked the cast of The Road to Singapore, but the problem was the material, so if future outings prepared them with a better script then I'm all for checking them out. In the meanwhile if while traveling you find this road to be the one less traveled, take the other one.
