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benderj-1
Reviews
Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Kids (2003)
Wonderfully sweet animation for little ones.
The major complaint reviewers have about this movie is that it is too scary for young kids. Most of the Miss Spider stories are labelled for 4-7 year olds and some even for 5-8 year olds. Keeping this in mind, if people decide to let their 2 or 3 year old watch the DVD, then they shouldn't be surprised the children don't like the movie. It is not aimed primarily at that age group.
I personally don't think it's too scary for my toddler and the pre-schooler I care for. Many Disney movies (Bambi, the Lion King, Brother Bear) contain character deaths, whereas in Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Kids, the villain only threatens to eat the characters. He doesn't actually succeed. He also softens up when he finds a spider to love him.
This brings me to the theme of the movie, that home is with those who love you best. A beautiful theme for young children, especially ones with non-conventional family structure.
The animation is lovely, in my opinion. Bright colours captivate the young ones. And sure, not all the bugs look like bugs do in the real world, but if they did, the movie would truly be too scary. Have you ever taken a close look at insects? Whenever this DVD is played in my house, the children burst into "AGAIN AGAIN" when it's over.
Orca (1977)
Ridiculous? Yes. Jaws rip-off? No.
The plot of the movie is, of course, completely ludicrous. Killer whales aren't blood thirsty, vengeful monsters. They aren't cute, fluffy theme park attractions either. Let me set that record straight first: While killer whale attacks on humans are very rare, orcas will defend their offspring vehemently against other orcas. In the Pacific Northwest waters, there are two types of killer whale; resident and transient. If a transient orca tries to kill a resident orca calf (which happens occasionally), the entire resident pod will attack the transient orca, either killing it or running it out of their territory.
Now that we have the behavior of killer whales out of the way, let's return to the movie. I don't see why people compare Orca to Jaws. It is a very different kind of movie. It is, however, a very clever play on Melville's Moby Dick, with the whale having the unhealthy obsession of killing the human, not the other way around.
********Some Spoilers Ahead******************* The story itself is not about a scary killer animal. I believe those scenes were just thrown in to make the movie marketable for shock value. The real story is about Captain Nolan facing his inner demons. His wife and child were also killed by a careless human. He understands the whale, but hates it, because the whale has the balls to do what Nolan didn't; avenge his family's death.
Sure, it's complete cheese and the writing is horrible, but all in all I wouldn't call it a bad movie. The underlying theme and Harris' performance redeem a lot. I give it a 6/10.