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Saturday, April 16, 2011

Growing up with Arthur -- Arthur Movie Review

Potato On-the-Go:

We are fascinated with stories of royalties, heirs, famous celebrities... the rich and the famous, those who seem unreachable... unreal.   Then rich boy falls in love with poor girl.  Our fairy tale is then realized.  But sorry to disappoint you, the movie Arthur is beyond that.

From Warner Bros. and directed by Jason Winer, Arthur, the remake of the 1981 film by Steve Gordon, tells the story of Arthur Bach, played by Russell Brand, an immature, playful (and playboy) heir to their family's corporate legacy, the Bach Worldwide.  In able for him to keep his riches, and lifestyle, and for their company to maintain its dominance, he is blackmailed by his mother Vivienne (Geraldine James) to marry a strong willed woman Susan Johnson (Jennifer Garner), who is believed to be the only person who can control and manage both Arthur and Bach Worldwide. Well, with the set-up, everyone's happy, Vivienne will be saved from disgrace, Susan will fulfill her dreams, and Arthur will keep his billion dollar money and way of life.  But carefree illegal tour guide Naomi Quinn (Greta Gerwig) and his no nonsense but witty nanny-bestfriend Hobson (Helen Mirren) showed him what freedom, growth and love can bring him.

Arthur's official movie trailer


What I love about Arthur is the humor it spread through thought provoking and clear crazy lines.  Sometimes, you are being led to realizing a valuable life's lesson then suddenly it will hit you with a line that will make you laugh out loud!  Kudos to Helen Mirren (Hobson)!  There are scenes that you will listen to her, agree with her, nod your head, and smile and then suddenly she will make you fall from your seat with a hilarious punchline!  =D


Jennifer Garner, my Jennifer Garner (who I think is Iza Calzado look alike), went beyond her comfort zone and effectively portrayed the annoying character of Susan. 


But there are funny scenes as well brought about by the hilarious setting, costumes and situations.  Don't forget to look out for Arthur's chauffeur and friend Bitterman (Luis Guzman) and Susan's father Burt Johnson (Nick Nolte) plus Yvander Holyfield and of course... Darth Vader!  =D


As a young at heart myself, I also got fascinated on how Arthur transformed a train station into a romantic place and got envious with his Bat automobile and magnetic bed surrounded by moving heavenly bodies.  =D


Well, just like the character Arthur who's up there and may seem perfectly imperfect by many, there are points for improvement I saw in the film.


Russel Brand, in the first half of the story, portrayed Arthur like a real crazy and stupid guy.  He doesn't speak and dress up normally but he can still get women into bed (well, who can say no with all his riches).  So I just don't know if the character is really like that, immature and awkward most of the time or if Brand really acted it too much.


The film somehow started slow but it did catch up as soon as Arthur faced the problem of dealing with his fiance, and when he finally met Naomi.


As we laugh at Arthur, the movie touches our heart with life's lessons.  It talks about how we should value the people around us, how to give up what we were used to to grow up, and how we should live our life.

The film started as our usual fairy tale but ended like the coming of age movie we usually fall in love with.  Arthur is about growing up, its pain and rewards, even how late it is.  It's told in a funny way perhaps so we could not be so hard on ourselves but as Arthur learned, we can laugh about life but life should not laugh at us, we can do something to be happy, fulfilled and loved. 

Arthur opens in cinemas on April 23, Black Saturday.  Packed with laughter, lessons and "lines", Arthur is such a relaxing getaway and a welcome treat for Easter!  =)

2 comments:

  1. Russel is sweet. My boyfriend and his friends praised his acting in Forgetting Sarah marshell. Have you seen this one or posted information about it?

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  2. Once I received Arthur through the mail from Blockbuster I ended up watching it the same night. And I have to say Arthur was a bit of a disappointment. There were a few good moments, and I suppose it was worth seeing once. Of course it’s always better when you’re barely paying very little for your entertainment. Blockbuster is an outstanding value with a ton of content (including games!) and many new releases out long before Netflix or Redbox can get their hands on them. And to make this even better, as a DISH Network employee/subscriber I love telling new customers that they can get Blockbuster completely free for 3 months in addition to all the other great promotions DISH has going on. You can check it out here if you’d like: http://bit.ly/lCaUkg, it’s definitely worth a few minutes of your time.

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