Barbie (5*)
The Boy and the Heron (3.5*)
Nimona (3.5*)
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (3*)
Elemental (3*)
El Conde (1.5*)
To quote from last year’s essay “It is somewhat embarrassing to admit that this is a genre I don’t understand very well. To me there are big overlaps between this genre and those of science fiction and adventure. In fact, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a film in this category that doesn’t also appear in at least one of the others – so it isn’t clear to me how this is different.” Still, it is considered its own genre, so here we go with this year’s entries.
What could be more fantastical than the Barbie doll coming to life, crossing into the real world and discovering that women aren’t treated the same as what she’s used to. People have given me flack for rating Barbie so high, but I stick with it – it is one of the top movies of the year. By exposing the contradictions in our sexual roles with humor and a surgeon’s precision, Barbie is sometimes hilarious, often thought-provoking, and, with so much pink in the costumes and sets, a visual delight. This is cinema at one of its better moments.
There are two other animated movies that I can recommend – but not highly – in this genre. The Boy and the Heron is the most recent from the Japanese animation master, Hayao Miyazaki and his Studio Ghibli. (It also won the Animated Feature Oscar!). The hand-drawn frames are beautifully rendered, but the story appears to be a confusing swan song that speaks to his own mortality. Even he admits that he doesn’t understand the movie and that if you want understanding “…you’re not going to like my movie…”
Nimona is another animated movie that speaks to some people more than others. Based on a graphic novel written by a transgender person, Nimona is someone who bridges gender roles. It is difficult, probably by design, to assign a gender role to them and that will likely generate difficulties for people unwilling to consider those possibilities. For others it creates a simple story of friendship and bonding in a medieval world.
Unfortunately, I can’t recommend the remaining three of this year’s fantasy genre movies. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was well liked by the movie-going public, but I found the some 240 different spider-men/women/creatures to be not just confusing, but hopelessly distracting. While I enjoyed the last live-action Spider-Man flick because it dealt with the multi-verse, but with just a half-dozen spidey’s, this one is, frankly just a mess. Kids will likely enjoy it, adults not so much.
Elemental is this year’s Disney/Pixar animated release and I was really looking forward to it because it explored characters as if they were embodiments of the four elements, earth, wind, fire, and air. The individual world’s they created for each of the elements are terrific – note the fire people use charcoal grills for baby carriages. Unfortunately, the cross-element romance really doesn’t go anywhere. Maybe works for families with small children, but otherwise…
Definitely not for children is the vampire horror/comedy/political satire from Chile, El Conde . Although only in black and white, the blood runs thick, especially as the vampires make blenderized concoctions out of still beating human hearts! If that kind of smoothie is your cup of tea, then go for it. Otherwise steer clear!
Additionally, there are four recommended movies from last year’s list that are considered fantasy genre films. The Best Picture winner – Everything Everywhere All at Once (4.5*) – won’t work for everyone, but if you want a short trip that gets you thinking about your own sanity, this movie is for you. And who can’t love the David Cameron’s sequel Avatar: The Way of Water (4*). filled with terrific computer animation (especially some amazing underwater scenes), rich deep characters, imaginative and fantastic creatures, and a plot that digs at environmental economics. In Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (4*), we see an intriguing mix of stop-motion animation and live-action movie-making telling a simple story of relationships. And the colorful computer animation in The Sea Beast (3.5*) is rich in colors and weaves multiple political metaphors into this film to interest the older members of the family.
And that’s what I have to say about Fantasy, until next year!
