PuddlesGalore

I loved this movie. It showed the inherent goodness of people even when things go wrong in their lives & they have cause to be angry/depressed/sad etc & act out. The character of Bette is such a breath of fresh air. As another reviewer wrote, she isn't afraid to be herself nor does she let the others' behaviour affect her desire to love them & be of service...& she's very funny & fresh, a joy to behold! She was also incredibly wise (i.e being aware of allowing the devastation of divorce to floor you in the moment rather than suppressing & holding onto resentment forever etc)without trying & just didn't get drawn into the darkness that was visiting the mother & sons. We need more examples of this in movies, more inspiration to do good in the world & to stay buoyant even when things appear 'bad'. She is an advert for resilience & strength.

I was waiting for formulaic moments to pop up but they didn't. I was continually surprised by where conversations/scenes went & that 'messy' was allowed to be messy without having to tidy it all up & make a pretty-looking package, yet at the same time, it didn't descend into huge amounts of drama & cruelty as is often the way. The ultimate package is pretty anyway, cute, brave, sexy, endearing & very real. I didn't want it to end! Sit back & enjoy my friend :))

Only managed to watch half & hour or so & it had me in tears. This is an incredibly violent but, more importantly, cruel film, humanity at its worst & themes of bullying, torture & utter nastiness, most of which was done to a 'child'!! Even my male house-mate found it too much so we turned it off, bit traumatised by the unexpected underbelly of blackened hearts. If you are sensitive in any shape or form, just don't go there! Okay i need more lines, so here goes: It's about an (effectively baby) robot who is learning how to be in the world but the world it has been 'born' into is that of criminals, gangsters, that are simply unsuitable for Chappie's sensitive temperament. He is innocent & willing to learn & be trained but is consistently treated with cruelty & aggression. Why, with all that's going on in the world today do we really need to be subjected to more horror. Yes, some might say it's a metaphor for society & it may well get better later in the movie BUT I cant see that ingesting this kind of thing will make anything better! Deep breaths all around

Somehow i made it to the end of this movie in spite of questioning myself the whole way through as to why I was giving it my time. I think this has more to do with my inability to stop something half-way through or perhaps my willing it to get better & leave me feeling at least somewhat satisfied. Not. This. Film. They were so busy squeezing in the many missed opportunities the leads had of getting together that they forgot to give them personalities or anything for the audience to care about! The script was weak at best (& at times simply confusing in its empty/fast-forwarded-ness), the acting was mostly unconvincing & the characters so badly stereotyped that they couldn't have any credence at all. Add this to some been there, done that, attempts at comedic moments & you have a deeply vapid experience that laughs at the audience for staying the course. As you can tell, i found nothing redeeming in this movie at all & cannot understand why it has 7 stars. There was nothing new or clever or interesting or emotive in this film...so what's the point?