It’s time to look at a horror/thriller film. This one’s about what you would expect. It’s not very good with a bunch of plot twists that don’t help its case. I’ll give the trailer some props for being incredibly misleading with a plot twist. It’s a clever misdirect. Of course, if you were excited for that plot line, it also means that you could be in for a disappointment when you watch the film. Needless to say, I didn’t mind that plot line being cut, but the actual plot in the film wasn’t any better.
Claire and Norman have been married for a long time. Norman can be a little too attached to his job at times, but he’s been a good person. Unfortunately, mysterious things begin to happen. Claire hears voices, she sees things move, her computer even starts typing MEF as much as possible. Norman thinks that she’s just being silly and tells her to cut it out. He’s never very understanding of the whole thing. Then Claire sees her neighbors acting suspiciously. They always seem to fight and the wife was crying about being terrified of something. Claire then becomes confident that she is murdered by the other neighbor and seeks to prove it. A lot of things are happening, but is Claire just making hasty conclusions?
Well, lets talk about some of the twists. We’re entering heavy spoiler land with this review so prepare for that. It’s an old movie so it’s all fair game, but I figure that I’d warn you in advance. One plot twist is that the neighbor’s wife just gets terrified and emotional whenever her husband is away. She has panic attacks, yells, and cries every time he leaves and she just doesn’t want anyone to know which is why she cries in the backyard and then runs if anyone notices her. It’s a very strange explanation and not one that you are very likely to believe. It was a red herring of course, but it’s like the writers couldn’t figure out how to add one in so they just made a very fake one. Not a great move.
You’ll be glad to know that the supernatural part of the film is real and isn’t just a hoax. That being said, it’s one of the weakest spirits in horror movie history. It figures that the one time the ghost is basically a good guy it happens to be weak. I can’t imagine the Grudge or the Ring looking like this. It can’t destroy a single person which is kind of sad. The invisible Ghost want to take him down for the count, but it seems like she needs a lot of help. It also forgets who the main target is at times and just goes wild on everyone. I can appreciate the determination on that, but it just feels very random for the sake of being a red herring once again.
So, one of the big twists revolves around Norman. Apparently he cheated on Claire and then murdered the person to save his own career. This naturally led to her turning into a ghost and vowing to destroy him. Norman also turns on Claire and tries to take her down for the count as well. It’s a very cliche’d route and one that has never worked. Norman also isn’t very thorough as picking another method would have allowed him to have destroyed her a lot quicker. Good thing he likes theatrics.
Claire is an okay character at best. Even as she puts the pieces together, she doesn’t give herself any kind of insurance in case the villain is near. To her defense, it would be hard to guess that Norman is actually evil, but she had cracked a decent amount of the puzzle so she should have thought about it more. Beyond that, Claire also gets possessed rather easily by the ghost or just suffered a nervous breakdown as she helps him relive the moment. It’s another scene that has no purpose in the film.
Lets face it, the romance in the film was poorly handled. The scenes drag on and are mostly just Norman saying “That’s too rough” over and over again during the scene. We get it, Claire’s not acting like herself, no need to keep repeating it. That possession scene was just so random. The film also has an obsession with the bathtub as we get really long scenes of the characters in there. Since Claire is nearly drowned in the bathtub while she is paralyzed, the film uses that as an excuse to keep the scene going. I don’t care for bathtub scenes in any context so that didn’t work for me. Especially not as a climax. We do have some driving at the end as well though and the ghost finally gets to make a move. Better late than never.
The film only works in the first place because of a ton of convenient elements. Claire suffers from intense memory loss because she was so traumatized that she blocked the memories out of something. If not for this, she would have known most of what happened right from the start, but then we’d have no movie. Naturally the cops never figured out the connection between Norman and the girl who went missing either. I like to think that someone would have known what was going on. The ghost was also really weak and couldn’t even help that much before the climax. She could have finished off Norman so easily in many different scenes.
Overall, What Lies Beneath is a thriller that cheats. It doesn’t have much foreshadowing for the events and makes characters act out of character when it suits its purpose. The film should have just played it straight with a vengeful spirit trying to destroy them all. We didn’t need Norman to crack and for the bathtub to be used multiple times as the weapon to destroy them all. There’s nothing really nice to say about the film. The romance is terrible and the film ends on a whimper. None of the characters are likable or even realistic. There’s not much of a soundtrack although I won’t call it bad either. The tunes that were there were likely okay. I can’t recall something sounding out of place at any rate. The film avoided all animal violence and wasn’t that violent in general so that’s a consolation. Still, if you want a good horror film, watch something like The original Mummy film instead. At least it had that retro feel and good writing to back it up.
Overall 3/10
As you can tell from the poster, things aren’t looking good for Charlie in this film. It’s been a tough journey and he has to deal with all sorts of threats. The Charlie Brown luck is as consistent as ever. This film switches up the locale which is definitely a blast. I wouldn’t want the series to permanently leave the iconic town, but a switch now and again is always cool. It’s a fun movie and while it isn’t the absolute best Charlie Brown adventure up there, it’s definitely solid.
The time has finally come for Charlie Brown to leave the country. He has grown accustomed to America and isn’t in a real hurry to leave it, but these things happen. There is an international exchange program going on and Charlie Brown has actually been accepted along with Linus, Marcie, and Peppermint Patty. The 4 of them head over to Europe to have a grand ole time, but the experience turns out to be a little different than expected. In particular, Linus and Charlie have a rough time as they approach a deserted mansion during a crazy storm. Why is Europe making things so hard on them?
It’s safe to say that Snoopy has the best plot as always. We find out that he is actually a Tennis superstar who has access to his own court whenever he wants to play. Unfortunately, his reflexes are a little slow due to jet lag so he gets hit by a lot of balls. I don’t think it’s his fault since the situation is obviously rigged against him, but you can’t help but feel bad for the guy. Snoopy entered the court with a lot of enthusiasm and confidence, but things still got tricky. Regardless, he was fun to have around. Snoopy even helped the others with the bread when it counted.
Charlie and Linus’ plot was pretty fun. Charlie made sure to mess things up quite a bit as per usual though. How could he not think to enter with the bread sideways instead of breaking it at the door though? You can’t even blame bad luck or external elements for this one. It’s just a classic Charlie Brown mistake through and through so it makes sense that he wouldn’t be able to have lunch that day. While he may have slipped up a bit, I do think Charlie fared better here than in most of the other specials. When you think back to the film, Charlie didn’t get into a dozen disasters like usual. The bread was mainly the only thing that went seriously wrong….depending on how you look at it at least. The whole being stuck outside during a thunderstorm was some pretty bad luck as well, but it all turned out all right. The ex soldier just needed to let off some steam.
Patty and Marcie’s subplot wasn’t quite as interesting, but I had a feeling about that from the start. They stay at a farm where a kid tries to become Marcie’s friend. Patty makes sure to block his every move though and show the kid the friend zone card. He may have been rather confused at the whole thing, but fortunately she put him in his place. The plot just needed some more star power like Charlie or Snoopy. It’s hard to really have a Peanuts subplot without them although I suppose the point of a subplot is not to have any of the main characters in it. It’s a difficult issue, but that’s just the way it goes.
It was nice to have a change of scenery though. The gang seems to leave their home town once every 10 specials or so as it has happened a few times, but still isn’t the norm. The mansion was fairly atmospheric although you’ll find yourself missing the school. It always reminds me of the Spelling Bee and to this day that is one of the best subplots in a Charlie Brown film. It was just great and a competition that didn’t drag on or last too long. It was just right if you ask me.
The animation is good. The character designs are all on point and the animations are smooth. Snoopy’s tennis match showed that quite well as he dashed from side to side. He just couldn’t be stopped or slowed down as the dog was on a roll. At this point though, you likely know the animation very well. There are dozens of specials and the animation is the same for just about all of them. It’s a very consistent style that is easy to make yourself familiar with. As for the soundtrack, there’s not much of one this time, but not all Peanut specials can have a big one I suppose.
I haven’t talked about the original characters in the special much, but there’s not much to say. I didn’t like the kid from the farming plot but I did like Patty’s rejection of him. The girl from the ex soldier plot was nice enough. For the soldier, I suppose I can see why he wouldn’t be too thrilled about kids being in his house since he’s trying to live the retired life. Doesn’t make up for him being so cold, but it happens I guess. Either way, the main characters and how they handle the new situations are typically the more important part of these specials. While I would have dropped Marcie from the cast here, the rest of the picks made sense. I’d have switched her out for Lucy since having her around is always a chance to get Charlie into more tricky situations thanks to all of her insults.
Overall, It feels like I’m actually near the end of the Peanuts franchise. At the very least, you can see how much progress I’ve made by checking out my older reviews. I’ve been able to get through quite a number of them so I like to pat myself on the back for that. It’s a fun franchise and the specials are all fairly short so they are very convenient. This one would probably be closer to the bottom half of the specials than the top but it’s still a good special. I suppose I enjoyed the traveling to Europe part than actually being over there. Still, if you haven’t seen this special yet you should definitely hurry and fix that.
Overall 6/10
It’s time for another lego film. In this one, we get 2 main plots instead of 3 or 4 like usual. This allows each individual plot to be fleshed out more but of course it means that you have to like both or you’re out of luck. Fortunately, both plots are pretty solid. The Batman plot ends up winning for me, but both of them are on the up and up.
The film starts with Batman’s friends deciding that he needs to take a vacation. As such, Nightwing and Batgirl take him to the place where he first learned how to become Batman. Batman’s master is known as Madame Mantis and she is the one person that he actually fears. It can be a little novel to see Batman actually scared of someone (for 2 seconds anyway) but the next twist made the whole thing even more interesting. Basically, Mantis had actually been kidnapped and Deathstroke had taken her place. Here’s why this is interesting.
For starters..Mantis had actually been beating Batman. That means Deathstroke is even more lethal than he used to be. He also saw a side of Batman that few ever have..his nervous side. Now, Batman claims that he knew this from the start which was a nice save but you have to decide whether you believe it or not. At the very least, Batman did end up winning in the end. It was a great way to start off the plot, but maybe that was also a bad thing. The rest of the story (Batman’s side) isn’t quite as exciting as this initial confrontation. The fight was epic, fast paced, and well choreographed. It was just hard to top it.
Batman and friends discover an underground bunch of beings who work under Madame Mantis and together the gang teams up to take down Deathstroke and foil his evil ambitions. I can’t say that I liked the Trogowogs much and I had to look their name up online because there is no way I was gonna remember it. The revamped origin story of Deathstroke and Batman was pretty cool though. I wouldn’t mind if it became canon since it adds an extra layer of intensity to their rivalry.
Meanwhile, Superman is left in charge of protecting Gotham while Batman is away. Arrogant and over confident as usual, Superman believes that the city’s villains are a joke. This leads to him being tricked by the Joker and losing to Poison Ivy. The whole film is a lesson in humility for Superman. While I could start talking about plot hax and how Batman’s villains really would be a joke to Superman…it’s so self explanatory that I won’t even bother. I don’t mind seeing Superman get put in his place either. His over confidence is why I like the character, but I definitely don’t mind poking a little fun at him. Superman is eventually forced to call in Cyborg and Wonder Woman although they also have a hard time with the situation. It’s a little odd since they certainly aren’t overconfident, but it proves what Batman has been saying for years. He’s the best member, the other Leaguers are just here to back him up!
A big part of the plot is that Robin wants to help out, but Superman constantly patronizes him and reminds the poor boy that kids can’t fight super villains. Superman’s technically correct if this was a normal universe, but in comic book land we all know that kids can be pretty tough. Robin works on his homework for a while, but eventually realizes that without him the team is doomed. He gets set to win and ultimately proves to be the League’s secret weapon. Who’d have thunk it?
As per usual I have to give a shoutout to Batman’s voice actor. The specials really wouldn’t be the same without him since the dialogue is part of why the specials are so fun. Batman just steals the show with ever appearance that he has. The rest of the characters are solid as well and fulfill the parts as best they can, but Batman’s just feels totally legitimate. He sounds like the guy from “How it should have ended” and maybe it’s just easier to voice Batman. Who knows, but either way it works well.
The soundtrack is also pretty good as per usual. The Lego films have been getting progressively better with the fight scenes or at least consistent. The format has shown that it can actually deliver serious fights when it wants to do so. The fight with Batman’s teacher at the beginning was definitely the best one in the film. I’m still not crazy about Lego animation and at this point I don’t think I’ll be changing my mind on that anytime soon, but it won’t take you out of the film. If anything, I’m fairly used to it by now and it still beats Stop Motion. That one’s definitely aged the worst.
The film’s pretty short as always since it’s just over an hour. 70 minutes seems to be everyone’s favorite go to for short films. The old films from the 40’s-60’s were always around 70 minutes like the Universal Monster films and same with anime. Maybe there’s some kind of research which shows that 70 minutes is just right. I do admit that it helps the pacing to stay consistently fast so I suppose it has worked out quite well. With the Lego style, I suppose going to 2 hours could be hit or miss, but if done well it could definitely work.
Overall, This is a pretty fun DC special. It’s not the best Lego adventure, but it can hold its own with ease. I am glad that Batman’s plot got a lot of screen time since a DC special without him just would not work well. This one also didn’t have Supergirl rhyming the whole time like a certain other special so I was down with that. Aside from her, there haven’t really been any poorly written heroes in the Lego specials. We’ve had some bad villains like Vandal Savage, but that’s all. I’d recommend checking this one out if you enjoyed the other DC specials. It’s fairly similar to them and follows a rather safe formula. It hits enough of the right notes to certainly be counted as a good film.
Overall 7/10
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