Crickey mate!

I was going to do a post about characters for Jack's giveaway thingy (whether she decides to actually enter me in the giveaway is her choice - since I've already read the book).
Buuutt then I decided to do something more fun. Movie review! =D

When I was eight or nine I first saw The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course, at my friends house.

 

This movie stars Steve Irwin, better known as The Crocodile Hunter, his wife Terri, and a whole bunch of other people (including the guy who played Faramir! I was watching and going, 'that guy looks so familiar... where have I seen him befor-FARAMIR!!! AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!' It was pretty exciting).

 

Like I said, my friend introduced me to this movie. We watched it together and laughed SO HARD. Especially when the lady toots and the barn explodes....

After watching it with her, I got it out of the library very, very often. It was probably my favorite movie.

Then, in 2006 when I was ten, Steve Irwin was killed (by a stingray, I think). I severed all my connections with him. I was sooooo sad. I haven't seen Collision Course - that favorite movie of mine - since before he died. It was just too painful.

Now, seven years later I am finally brave enough to watch it again.

So I did, tonight. Because we bought it at the thrift store yesterday.

It was as good as I remember. But I did get sad at the end. I have to not think about his death so much, otherwise I get sad.

 

So now the review!

 

Here is what the movie is about:

A space shuttle explodes and a small ball of importantness falls into the Australian Outback. For some reason, the American government wants to get it back so they send two guys (which remind me a LOT of the two government guys in Eva Ibbotson's Journey to the River Sea) to retrieve it. There's also a girl who is trying to get it as well.... I'm not sure if she's working for America or not (to tell you the truth, I wasn't paying that much attention to the actual plotline).

Anyway, a crocodile ends up eating the important ball thing. It happens to be the same crocodile that an angry rancher is trying to shoot because it keeps eating her cattle. Of course, it is illegal to kill crocodiles because that is poaching. That's where Faramir comes in. He's a police guy who tries to keep the angry rancher lady in line.

So all these seemingly separate plotlines are going on... Steve and Terri Irwin are catching all sorts of animals. Then they find the croc and try and get it to a safe place.

Then all the characters intersect and there is a whole bunch of action including a cat/boat/plane chase.

 

It's a wonderful movie. But, of course, there's some content... A few bad words. A couple Australian swear words and then a few d- and h- words. And there are a whole bunch of scary scenes.... Mostly having to do with Steve catching animals. He wrestles with several crocodiles, two poisonous snakes, and a poisonous spider. Yeaahh... It's kinda scary.

 

Other than that, it's a wonderful movie!!! Very funny and fun..... It's like a documentary mixed with a plotline. I LOVE movies like that.... The gods Must Be Crazy is another movie like that. It actually reminds me a lot of Collision Course. Also two Beatles films... Help! and A Hard Day's Night are kind of documentary with a plotline.... I guess it could be described as satire. Which I love. The Princess Bride is the same kind of thing.

 

And now I should go to bed.... You know your tired when you type "The Princess Bride is the kind same of thing" and then stare at it going, 'something is wrong here....'

 

Tomorrow my review of Elementary will be up! And on Friday I might do my character post.... But I'm going to see a certain movie -

 

 

 

 

- with my mom's friend. (Funny story... she came over to so she and my mom could talk fabric - because they like to sew - and then she came in and said to me, "I want to go to the movies on Friday. What are you doing?" And I said "Nothing." So she said, "I want to go see Star Trek. Do you want to come with me?" I thought about it for .0000001 seconds and said, "YES!" So we're going to see Into Darkness of Friday. Even though my Star Trek skirt isn't finished yet.... Maybe I'll have to wear my red shirt instead. Orrr not..... That might be slightly embarrassing. Not to mention dangerous.

Anyway, Friday or Saturday my character post will be up. I might have to do an Into Darkness review as well.

Live long and prosper!

 

P.S. Don't forget to check out my last post - 300th!



The Hobbit.

Well, this is new. I have never done a movie review before!

Movie: The Hobbit Part 1: And Unexpected Journey.

 

Director: Peter Jackson.

Actors: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, and a handful of Dwarves! Also, Andy Serkis and Sylvester McCoy.

Synopsis: Bilbo Baggins, a Hobbit of the Shire, has lived a life of comfort, just as any other Hobibt. One day the wizard Gandalf comes a-knocking on Bilbo's door asking if he would like to share in an adventure. Bilbo says absolutely not, yet the very next evening, thirteen Dwarves and a wizard show up on Bilbo's porch, hungry for dinner.
Bilbo lets them in and hears all about their adventure. Years ago, a dragon named Smaug destroyed the Dwarves home and now they want to take it back again.
Bilbo decides to go with them to retake their home.

 

On the road they run into trolls which try to eat them.
Then they run into Radagast the Brown - a wizard who spends most of his time with animals. An evil has come back into Middle Earth.... A Necromancer.
After stopping off at Rivendell, the Last Homely House, Bilbo, Gandalf, and co. attempt to pass through the Misty Mountains where they are captured by goblins and brought far under the Misty Mountains into goblin town.
Bilbo is lost from the rest of the group and finds himself in the cave of Gollum, a creature who lives at the roots of the mountains.
Bilbo finds Gollum's "precious" and unconsciously sticks it in his pocket. Little does he know that it is The One Ring.
Gollum finds Bilbo and wants to eat him, but Bilbo puts off his fate by playing a game of riddles with Gollum. If Bilbo wins, Gollum will show him out. If Gollum wins, he gets to eat Bilbo whole.
Bilbo, of course, wins, but Gollum gets very angry and chases Bilbo out of the cave.

 

Bilbo puts the ring on and finds that he is invisible.
He is then reunited with the rest of the group, who have escaped the goblins.
The whole group descends from the mountains only to be attacked by a roaming group of Orcs with a personal score to settle!
Luckily, the eagles come and save them, dropping the group off at the Carrock. The Lonely Mountain is in sight! But there is still a long journey ahead of the Dwarves and Bilbo.
End part one.

What I liked: It is no secret that The Hobbit is one of my favorite books. I think that Peter Jackson did an absolutely stunning job turning the book into a movie! I can't wait for the next installment!
I loved all the Dwarves - Peter Jackson did a wonderful job of bringing them all to life! I especially liked Bofor, Fili, Kili, and Ori.

 

(Ori.)

"I don't like green food!" The quotes were amazing.
My favorite scene, the "good morning" scene, was perfect.
Also, all of Bilbo's confused looks. Hee hee... The cast was amazing and played their parts wonderfully!
The big plot changes fit perfectly. Most of them came right out of Tolkien's other works (mainly the appendixes at the end of The Return of the King). A number of other things were changed... (namely Azog the White Orc who does not appear in the book (except maybe in a flashback... I believe Thorin actually does kill him). I really liked how they included Azog... It actually gave the Orcs purpose for chasing the Dwarves and also added another dimension to Thorin's character.
All in all, THE MOVIE WAS AMAZING!!!!! And GREAT!! And like the book!!! AMAZING!!

What I disliked: A number of small things were changed which irked me, because they didn't need to be changed.
One was when Bilbo left to join the Dwarves. In the book, Gandalf bursts in on Bilbo's peaceful breakfast and says, "What are you doing? Did you get my note?" and Bilbo's like, "Huh?" and Gandalf's like, "You poor fellow, you really are out of sorts this morning! You haven't even dusted the mantelpiece! If you had you would have found my note saying that the Dwarves have left and that you need to leave right away if you want to join them!" So Bilbo runs out without a pocket handkerchief. In the movie, he makes the decision himself to leave and then runs to catch up to the Dwarves. I found this kind of odd because he didn't even know which way they had went.. Anyway, I like the book version better, but the movie version was alright! "Hey, Mr. Bilbo! Where are you going?" "I'm going on an adventure!"



The second part was in the Misty Mountains when the Dwarves are taken by the goblins. In the book, Bilbo is dropped by a Dwarf and forgotten. In the movie he's just left behind. As I said before, I like the book version better, but the movie was alright.
The only other complaint I have is that the Song of the Misty Mountain (the Dwarf song) could have been played a little less... It was like it was the only soundtrack they had for The Hobbit. It got kind of old after awhile, but since it was a beautiful song, I didn't mind too much. =)

Some people complain that the movie dragged and that there was too much action and not enough character development... I just want to say, the Lord of the Rings is very poetical. It focuses on description and at times, it drags. So really, the movie dragging, is capturing the book perfectly!
As for the character development... With 13 Dwarves and a moving plot, there isn't much time for deep development. The story is about Bilbo and it is fair that Bilbo gets most of the character development.
I think that Peter Jackson did a better job at giving the Dwarves personality that Tolkien did because he gave us something to look at. He gave them full beards and accents.... And fun things that made them them. For instance, Ori is polite and Oin has an ear trumpet (anyone notice that after the trumpet was squished, he grabbed it and tried o listen out of it at the end of the movie?).

Over all, I absolutely loved the movie and can't wait to go see it again!

Live long and prosper!