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Yes, the Breaking Dawn FAQ spork is coming, but first I wanted to do a little ramble - this isn't JUST a Twilight blog, after all.
Last night I finally saw Troll 2. Yes, that infamous movie that's neither a sequel to the Troll movie nor about trolls. It's consistently called one of those so-unbelievably-bad-it's-hilarious movies, and it is, but it also got me thinking.
Troll 2, or "Goblins," as it was originally called and that's a much more appropriate title, was one of those movies made to cash in on the success of Gremlins. Yeah, you probably know Gremlins - it's considered a classic and many people, myself included, watch it every Christmas. But you know what, Troll 2 actually has a lot of similarities to Gremlins - weird little creatures run amok and a family must stop them. In fact, if it were handled more competently, the plot of Troll 2 actually could have had potential to be a weirdly charming comedy-horror like Gremlins.
So what makes Gremlins a good movie and Troll 2 a bad one?
You might say that Troll 2 is campy as hell, which it is (I mean, the kid peeing on the goblin food to keep the family from eating it, a baloney sandwich repelling the goblins, how do you get dumber than that?) but Gremlins has its own moments of camp - hell, there's one scene where the gremlins watch Snow White at a movie theater and sing along with the dwarfs, and it's hilarious.
You might say the acting is better in Gremlins, and that's definitely true. In addition to the infamous "OH MY GOOOOOOOOOD!" line that became a meme, all the actors just seem to be reading their lines without putting any feeling into them. The acting in Gremlins isn't Oscar-worthy, but it's competent. Still, acting in and of itself doesn't make a movie good or bad - it's just one element.
Maybe it's that the characters are more likable in Gremlins. To be sure, the family in Troll 2 is stupid as hell - they have plenty of opportunity to hightail it out of the town of Nilbog ("Goblin" spelled backwards, get it? GET IT? Well just in case you don't, they spell it out for you in the movie) when everyone in the town is acting creepy as hell, but Because Plot Demands It, they just plain don't do it. It's hard to get attached to characters when you're too busy groaning at how stupid they are.
And of course, Gremlins has Gizmo, the adorable little mogwai who ends up being the hero.
I mean, look at that face. Troll 2 sure doesn't have anyone as cuteand marketable as that. In fact, if Troll 2 had Gizmo in it, people would probably be willing to overlook more of its flaws because they'd be so busy gushing over how cute Gizmo is.
Then there are the endings of the two movies. Gremlins ends with good triumphing over evil, while Troll 2 seems to end that way as well, but in the last two minutes it decides to go grimdark and has the goblins return and eat the mother (even though the family supposedly destroyed their power . . . so how does that work?). That's not to say that happy endings are automatically better than dark endings, but the ending of Troll 2 is so abrupt that it leaves you going WTF. Gremlins, meanwhile, leaves the viewer satisfied with the ending.
Piece of interesting trivia: Gremlins was originally going to be much more grimdark too - Gizmo was going to become a gremlin himself and both the mother and the dog were going to be killed by gremlins. Yeah, I don't think people would be watching it every Christmas if that had happened.
Why am I rambling like this? I guess what I'm saying is that a concept in and of itself doesn't make a piece of fiction good or bad (unless the concept is fundamentally broken like Growing Around) - what matters is execution.
Last night I finally saw Troll 2. Yes, that infamous movie that's neither a sequel to the Troll movie nor about trolls. It's consistently called one of those so-unbelievably-bad-it's-hilarious movies, and it is, but it also got me thinking.
Troll 2, or "Goblins," as it was originally called and that's a much more appropriate title, was one of those movies made to cash in on the success of Gremlins. Yeah, you probably know Gremlins - it's considered a classic and many people, myself included, watch it every Christmas. But you know what, Troll 2 actually has a lot of similarities to Gremlins - weird little creatures run amok and a family must stop them. In fact, if it were handled more competently, the plot of Troll 2 actually could have had potential to be a weirdly charming comedy-horror like Gremlins.
So what makes Gremlins a good movie and Troll 2 a bad one?
You might say that Troll 2 is campy as hell, which it is (I mean, the kid peeing on the goblin food to keep the family from eating it, a baloney sandwich repelling the goblins, how do you get dumber than that?) but Gremlins has its own moments of camp - hell, there's one scene where the gremlins watch Snow White at a movie theater and sing along with the dwarfs, and it's hilarious.
You might say the acting is better in Gremlins, and that's definitely true. In addition to the infamous "OH MY GOOOOOOOOOD!" line that became a meme, all the actors just seem to be reading their lines without putting any feeling into them. The acting in Gremlins isn't Oscar-worthy, but it's competent. Still, acting in and of itself doesn't make a movie good or bad - it's just one element.
Maybe it's that the characters are more likable in Gremlins. To be sure, the family in Troll 2 is stupid as hell - they have plenty of opportunity to hightail it out of the town of Nilbog ("Goblin" spelled backwards, get it? GET IT? Well just in case you don't, they spell it out for you in the movie) when everyone in the town is acting creepy as hell, but Because Plot Demands It, they just plain don't do it. It's hard to get attached to characters when you're too busy groaning at how stupid they are.
And of course, Gremlins has Gizmo, the adorable little mogwai who ends up being the hero.
I mean, look at that face. Troll 2 sure doesn't have anyone as cute
Then there are the endings of the two movies. Gremlins ends with good triumphing over evil, while Troll 2 seems to end that way as well, but in the last two minutes it decides to go grimdark and has the goblins return and eat the mother (even though the family supposedly destroyed their power . . . so how does that work?). That's not to say that happy endings are automatically better than dark endings, but the ending of Troll 2 is so abrupt that it leaves you going WTF. Gremlins, meanwhile, leaves the viewer satisfied with the ending.
Piece of interesting trivia: Gremlins was originally going to be much more grimdark too - Gizmo was going to become a gremlin himself and both the mother and the dog were going to be killed by gremlins. Yeah, I don't think people would be watching it every Christmas if that had happened.
Why am I rambling like this? I guess what I'm saying is that a concept in and of itself doesn't make a piece of fiction good or bad (unless the concept is fundamentally broken like Growing Around) - what matters is execution.
