Movie – Ondine (2009)

Ondine is one of only two movies I know of that employ the Celtic myth of selkies as part of the plot.  The other is 1994’s The Secret of Roan Inish, which I just reviewed.  Unlike that film Ondine is set in the present day and is darker in tone.  Since it is from director Neil Jordan (In the Company of Wolves, The Crying Game, Michael Collins) you know that if this is a fairy tale, it is not going to be all sweetness.  It is ambiguous for quite a while if there is something fantastical happening or if there are real world explanations for everything.  Unlike Pan’s Labyrinth the viewer does get a definitive answer, which then drives the end of the film.  The result is a great mixture of joy, sadness, mystery, romance, and a little bit of peril.

Movie – The Secret of Roan Inish (1994)

The movie The Secret of Roan Inish uses the Celtic myth of selkies as a central part of its tale.  It is based on the out of print book The Secret of Ron Mor Skerry by Rosalie K. Fry.  John Sayles (Matewan, Eight Men Out, Lone Star) adapted and directed the film.  He shifted the location to western Ireland and changed the name to Roan Inish (Gaelic for Island of the Seals

).  The result is a quite magical movie that can be enjoyed by most anyone.  It may or may not be a little slow for children, but adults will certainly appreciate it.  All ages will like the tales that are told.

Movie – Penelope (2006)

Like my previously reviewed film, Neverwas, Penelope also sat on the shelf for a couple of years.  In this case, Penelope did finally get a theatrical release in 2008.  It was the first film produced by Reese Witherspoon and she also plays a small supporting role in it.  I have no idea why it sat for two years.  As was the case with Neverwas, all I could find were snotty comments from professional critics who apparently didn’t know either, but didn’t want to admit as much.  Penelope is a little lighter in tone than Neverwas.  It is sort of a reverse Beauty and the Beast tale, set in the modern world.  It has some laughs and some romance in it, but I would not call it a romantic comedy.

Movie – Neverwas (2005)

One day Netflix recommended a movie to me that I had never heard of.  By itself this isn’t that strange, since there are probably thousands of movies I’ve never heard of.  What did make it strange was that it starred Aaron Eckhart (Thank You For Smoking), Ian McKellan (The Lord of the Rings), Brittany Murphy (Clueless), Nick Nolte (Warrior), Jessica Lange (Blue Sky), and William Hurt (Children of a Lesser God).  Together they’ve got a whole pile of Oscar nominations and wins, not to mention popular movies they have starred in.  As it turns out, after appearing at a couple of film festivals, Neverwas was put on the shelf for a couple of years then finally released straight to DVD.  It “never was” released to theaters.  (Sorry, couldn’t resist the obvious pun).  This is usually not a good sign, but I did end up liking the movie.  I have some ideas on why it sat for so long.

Movie – Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)

Pan’s Labyrinth was a revelation for me.  Sure writer/director Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy movies were fun, and Mimic was effectively creepy, but nothing I had seen had indicated he had a movie in him with this much depth of story and feeling.  It was nominated for a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, losing to The Lives of Others.  Pan’s Labyrinth is one of the very few films that have managed to combine drama with fantasy elements and have them feel like they belonged together.  It is easily del Toro’s best work to date.

Movie – Ink (2009)

I had Ink in my Netflix Instant queue for quite some time, but never got around to watching it.  I finally did see it recently and I was glad.  It is a film that deals with a little girl being stolen away to another reality, and the beings that fight for her.  Once you see the entire movie you realize how many different elements were important and how they fit into the overall story.  Ink has a few action scenes, has a little bit of humor, and has at least one scene that is heartbreaking.  It is a very good movie.

Movie – Coraline (2008)

Coraline is a stop-motion animated movie based on the Neil Gaiman book.  The film is directed by Henry Selick, who also directed The Nightmare Before Christmas.  Coraline received an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Film, losing to Pixar’s Up.  Like my previous movie review – MirrorMask – Coraline deals with a girl entering another realm where she is in great danger.  While this film was rated PG, and is animated, please do not think it is for children only.  Anyone who has seen Grave of the Fireflies (1988) can tell you that animated does not necessarily mean “for kids”.  In fact, Coraline is the kind of movie that will probably give the youngest viewers nightmares.  As for older children and adults, the film has an engaging lead character and a story with many thriller elements to it.  There’s even a bit of horror mixed in.  The result is a very good movie that should not be ignored by adults.

Movie – MirrorMask (2005)

Do some children still dream about running away from home to join the circus?  Well, what if your parents owned a circus they performed in and your whole life had been nothing but the circus?  You’d probably dream about running away to have a normal life.  This is the situation faced by Helena (Stephanie Leonidas) in MirrorMask.  This film is on the darker side of fairytales – the ones where a child is taken away by bad forces and is in danger.  The film features some truly unique imagery as it blends the real world with the un-real world.  It is probably not for everyone, but I found myself liking it quite a bit – once I got used to its visual style.

Movie – Ever After: A Cinderella Story (1998)

Like my previously reviewed film Freeway, Ever After is also a real life movie based on a fairy tale – in this case, Cinderella.  Ever After is nowhere near as “adult” as Freeway, though.  It is a combination of light drama and a little bit of humor – a historical movie with some romance in it, as you would expect from the tale it is based on.  The biggest difference in the two films is in how the fairy tale is integrated into the story.  In Freeway the viewer can understand that this is a Little Red Riding Hood story, but the characters do not.  In Ever After, the Cinderella story is presented as being based on actual historical events that have become confused over the years.  I was expecting something light and forgettable and I found that Ever After had plenty of substance to it and that it was quite enjoyable.

Movie – Freeway (1996)

Freeway is probably going to be the most adult of the movies I review for my Fairytales for Adults category.  It initially received an NC-17 rating from the MPAA purely for the dialogue in it.  (Yes, the MPAA has been laughable for a long time when it comes to ratings.)  After censoring the movie to get an MPAA-approved version, it got released in the U.S. as an R-rated film.  Even then a couple quick scenes had to be removed to get release in the U.K., and it was initially banned in Australia.  Why all the fuss?  Well, this movie is a seriously demented (and I mean that in a good way) retelling of the Little Red Riding Hood fairy tale.  It’s not for everyone, but if you like dark comedies, then it’s probably right up your alley.

Movie – Big Fish (2003)

Like Edward Scissorhands, Big Fish is another tale from Tim Burton of an extraordinary man.  In this case, Burton based the film on the original novel by Daniel Wallace.  Both book and movie tell the life story and adventures of Edward Bloom – sort of.  You see, Edward tells what some people call tall tales, while others, like his son, call them lies.  The result is a bittersweet mixture of the fanciful and the down to earth, and we come to realize that the truth, as it often does, lies somewhere in between.

Movie – Edward Scissorhands (1990)

Tim Burton co-wrote and directed the movie Edward Scissorhands during the break between Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992).  In fact, Burton was in the midst of a great run of movies in the Eighties and early Nineties.  I consider Edward Scissorhands to be Burton’s best film.  It combines elements of Pinocchio, Peter Pan, and even a little bit of Frankenstein.  The result is a modern day fairy tale about a lost, innocent man-child and the dangers that we ourselves would bring to such a person.

Book and Movie – Stardust (2007)

I first read Neil Gaiman’s book Stardust some time in the early 2000s.  I felt it was an interesting and different kind of fairytale – one that adults could enjoy and that was probably not for the youngest of children.  In 2007 I saw the movie adaptation of the book.  As is often the case, I felt that the book was better than the movie, but that it was still a good film.  People who saw only the film liked it better than those who had read the book first.  The biggest difference between the two media is that the book is a darker story, while the movie is funnier and has a happier ending than the novel.

Book and Movie – The Princess Bride (1987)

At some point, when people find out we “like movies” all of us are almost immediately asked, “What’s your favorite movie?”  I’ve always found this a little difficult to answer.  The sheer number of movies I’ve seen would make it tough to pick any single one of them.  When asked, it is tempting to go with some critically acclaimed film such as Citizen Kane or The Godfather (both of which are great, but not for everyone).  If I had to pick a single favorite movie that I have watched more than a dozen times, that has been loved by everyone I have watched it with, that is eminently quotable, that can be enjoyed by all ages, and that is completely entertaining from beginning to end, then that movie would be The Princess Bride.

Fairytales for Adults

Grandson: “They’re kissing again.  Do we have to hear the kissing parts?”

Grandfather: “Someday, you may not mind so much.”

                                                                         – The Princess Bride

By “Fairytales for Adults” I don’t mean X-rated material.  If you were hoping for recommendations there, try the 1976 version of Alice in Wonderland with Kristine De Bell as Alice.

No, what I mean by this category title is stories that are ones that adults can appreciate, be caught up in, and be entertained by.  They may have a little more complex story, or at the very least they do not talk down to the audience.  Fairytales are often dark, too, so yes, there may be greater amounts of sexuality or violence in the stories.  Some may be set in the real world, but be parallels to classic fairytale stories (i.e. 1996’s Freeway where Reese Witherspoon is a teen on her way to her Grandma’s who is given a ride by Bob Wolverton).

This will probably be a little bigger category than normal.  I might recommend a dozen or so movies, depending on how much I stretch the “fairy tale” definition.  For instance, I was going to do a separate category on selkies someday, but I’ve only found two movies that use them (1994's The Secret of Roan Inish and 2009's Ondine), so I will combine them into this category.

As I post the reviews, I will come back and post the links to them here:

The Princess Bride
Stardust
Edward Scissorhands
Big Fish
Freeway (1996)
Ever After: A Cinderella Story
MirrorMask
Coraline
Ink
Pan's Labyrinth
Neverwas
Penelope
The Secret of Roan Inish
Ondine

On to the reviews…