I recently uploaded a video of Part 2 of my LarryBoy Fandom Storytime segment. Go check it out on my Youtube channel, or look in the August 2015 archive to access the video there.
Anyway, still in the spirit of LarryBoy, today I wanted to show you my Top 10 facts about LarryBoy and the Rumor Weed. This idea came after I did a Top 10 list for LarryBoy and the Fib from Outer Space. So, just like in the previous Top 10 list, warning: SPOILERS.
10. Sequel to Fib
-Obviously (for LarryBoy fans).
Rumor Weed came about two years after the release of Fib from Outer Space. Rumor Weed acts as a continuation of Fib, because of some of the dialogue telling us so...
Percy Pea (to his brother, in reference to Fib): "Hey, do you remember what we saw the last time we were here?"
Officer Scooter (as Milk Money Bandit falls into the police car): "It's another space alien! (pause) Oh. It's the Milk Money Bandit! We've been looking for you for months!"
...and because some of the scenes are either recycled from the first movie,
or it gives you product-placement of Fib in the background or somewhere.
9. What is this a spoof of?
From what I've looked up on the Internet a few years ago, this movie was said to be a parody of the plant monster from Little Shop of Horrors. And the obvious spoof is how LarryBoy is portrayed as the movie's Batman.
-Kudos!
8. How would this movie set itself apart from Veggietales?
This would be the second Veggietales video to start itself without the usual Veggietales intro (excluding the Silly Song videos), with The Toy That Saved Christmas being the first VT video to establish its own intro within its story.
When I first saw Rumor Weed, I was surprised to have seen that it didn't start with the usual Veggietales intro, as did the Fib from Outer Space. Well, back then, I just found that extremely odd, because what was the motive behind that? Did the animators want to get to the point faster? Did they want to cram in more time to tell the story?
-We may never know.
7. What is the lesson of this movie?
In this movie, the message is to say nice things about people, instead of putting them down with words "that can hurt." As for the cover art of the VHS/DVD, the message is simply "the power of words."
What can this mean in today's day and age? Well, it's open for interpretation, because where we live in now, social media: People troll each other on the Internet; they say hateful things via Facebook, Youtube, etc.; it's like people can easily get away with saying scandalous things either in the media or in real life.
However, I don't want to delve in too deeply into the situation, because all this movie is trying to say is to just be aware that whenever you repeat something you've heard, it may or may not carry along consequences.
6. Better music
The soundtrack for this movie sounds a lot better than in Fib. One of the major reasons, as discussed in the bonus featurettes on the DVD, is that the creators put a lot more effort into this movie than they did in Fib from Outer Space. That makes sense, because Fib, according to them, was a work-in-progress video for the LarryBoy franchise, and that was to pave the way for Rumor Weed.
As you watch the scenes and listen to the musical compositions, they tie together perfectly to its story.
And kudos to that mens' choir, who you can hear every time LarryBoy steps onto a scene- the choir gives more emphasis to how badass LarryBoy can be.
5. Is the villain scary?
Well, yes and no.
In some of the scenes, where the Mother Weed emerges in her terrifying glory, she may seem a bit scary for kids.
Plus, some of the animators, in one interview featured on the DVD, said that one time they were trying to design the Rumor Weed, until one of their kids saw the sketches and were afraid of them, because they felt the sketches were scary.
However, there were also times where I couldn't take the Rumor Weed seriously enough to believe that she's full-blown scary.
-Just wait until you hear the Mother Weed laugh in one scene. You might agree that she can't fully be taken seriously...
4. Better animation
Just like the music, a lot more effort was put into the animation for this movie. The skies look majestic; you have more buildings than before; more detail is put into the stuff around our characters (buildings, cars, objects, rooms, and even the LarryCave); and also the shading and lighting are better presented.
When talking about the animation in the DVD bonus features, the animators claim that they had to "push everything." This means that they took more chances/risks in conceiving this movie, which is very impressive for a show like Veggietales.
-And seriously, they didn't need Kickstarter for any of this... Kudos.
3. What this movie ultimately led to...
You'll also hear the creators say in an interview on the bonus features that how they came up with Rumor Weed was what paved the way for making an actual movie- a feature-length film, if you will. And they even talked about how this movie ultimately led to making the show's first-ever movie on the big-screen in 2002 with Jonah: A Veggietales Movie.
-What I don't get is why the feature-length film- the first official Veggietales theatrical release- had to be about a Biblical story as confusing and open-ended as Jonah? Why Jonah? What was the purpose? In fact, the theatrical release could've been for LarryBoy. It's like trying to decide which of the following games should get a movie: Five Nights at Freddy's or Candy Crush Saga? I betcha that people are gonna lean more towards FNaF...
and a movie's already in the works for FNaF!
Long story short: the creators were like: Wow! We really have a lot of potential as an animation studios, now that we whored out Rumor Weed. Now let's make a real movie...
only have Archibald Asparagus star in it, throw a stupid turban onto his head, and name the movie Aladdin- I... I mean... say that the movie is about a Biblical prophet that's more common and overrated than all the other prophets in the Biblical canon. Yep. This feature-length film will be a big hit... (for anyone high).
2. Edgier than Fib
Compared to the original, Rumor Weed takes a slightly darker tone than Fib. One example is the cinematography- the camera shots and angle emphasize the tone of each scene to where it makes the story more believable... well, for the sake of gaining and keeping the audience.
Just look at this scene where LarryBoy and Alfred are learning more about the Rumor Weed and coming to the horrific truth that there may be a Mother Weed to battle, seeing that the weed has a vast root system under the city. This leads to a dramatic zoom-in on both characters to emphasize how dire the situation is.
-To me, that felt over-the-top, but still effective. Just saying.
Plus, the situations are more serious than in the first movie. From physical fights to the dramatic spewing of lines in an action scene, this movie lends itself into all the suspense and drama of the story.
And this leads me to...
1. The rare trailer
I've talked about this in a past blog, but I'll bring it up again.
-BTW, check out the trailer analysis of the rare trailer, in the February 2015 archive, after reading this post.
This trailer was never used when promoting Rumor Weed. However, instead of trashing the trailer, the creators decided to throw it into the DVD as an Easter egg, which will take some digging on the DVD.
Anyway, when you access the Easter egg,
you'll come across a minute-long explanation of the trailer- well, more or less, the music scoring of the trailer.
The clip is followed by a disclaimer, which is basically saying it portrays a "dark side" of Veggietales...
-...I didn't find it creepy at all. I'll admit that it was different than what to expect out of Veggietales, but the trailer didn't scare me at. I mean, if kids can handle Spongebob Squarepants, then they can totally handle this rare trailer.
So, that was my Top 10 facts about LarryBoy and the Rumor Weed. I hoped you enjoyed it.
Be sure to check out my videos on my Youtube channel. I've been uploading videos lately from reactions to Storytime segments, and they took a lot of time to make. So please support my channel by subscribing, liking, and sharing.
Whatsoever Critic
Sources:
LarryBoy and the Rumor Weed
Five Nights at Freddy's franchise
Jonah: A Veggietales Movie
Courtesy: Big Idea Entertainment; Scott Cawthon/Warner Bros.
