Hi, I'm the Amateur Critic. I review just about anything.
Since LarryBoy and the Fib from Outer Space was a big hit for Veggietales fans, they were more excited
for the sequel. In 1999, Big Idea gave us LarryBoy and the Rumor Weed.
Just
like the Fib from Outer Space
episode, I loved this movie, because of the bold look it takes and the
epic-ness of the story; but that’s a personal
opinion. To be critical, this movie has over-the-top dramatic moments, as well
as weird ones. Plus, the focus isn’t
really on LarryBoy, but on the side characters… well, LarryBoy shows up more in
this movie, but there’s still that feeling that he doesn’t actually solve the
problem. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
It’s
epic, but it’s also overdramatic in many ways. Despite all that, I still love
it. Well, I got a few minutes to waste here, so let’s take a look.
Opening scene:
We
start with two peas walking out of a movie theater…
-Looks like déjà vu, because this
was actually the opening scene to LarryBoy
and the Fib from Outer Space.
The
two kids come across a shady scallion that demands money from them. And what
was the bandit ask for? $1.28.
-Wow! This must be some ghetto robber. But wait: listen to him
explain why-
Bandit: “I’ve been watching you,
kid. Every Monday morning, your mom gives you a dollar and twenty-eight cents…
and I want it!”
-So, this guy isn’t just a bandit,
but also a stalker. You know, this
sort of takes a whole other meaning nowadays. If a total stranger stalks your
kids and goes after them for money, then he’s either a pedophile and/or some
jerk-off that likes picking on kids.
-Plus, $1.28 is a lame sum of money
to steal. You can buy a pack of gum with that kind of cash!
-Example:
Someone saying: Hey, bandit! I’m gonna steal a Kinect system from some old person! You wanna join
me?
Bandit: Forget that! This kid has
$1.28!
So
the bandit steals the kids’ money and climbs up onto a rooftop to taunt them.
On the rooftop, he runs into LarryBoy, who just happened to know that the bandit was coming there and about what he
took from the two kids.
-I guess LarryBoy used his psychic
powers? IDK. (A plot hole?)
LarryBoy
confronts the bandit and intimidates him.
-How much you want to bet that this
scene reminds you of Batman?
Anyway,
LarryBoy sticks one of his plungers to the criminal, shakes him until the money
falls out of the pockets, and throws him onto the top of a police car… that was
conveniently there behind the building.
-Okay, wait a minute. Did LarryBoy
and the cop carpool to get to where
the bandit was escaping to? That makes no sense! Because look:
1.
LarryBoy was conveniently on the
rooftop to apprehend the suspect.
2.
The cop w/the police car was conveniently
behind the building having donuts & coffee.
Wow! LarryBoy must be a bounty
hunter!
We
then cut to LarryBoy chatting with his butler Alfred, when he knocks some
retired-Venus fly trap off the rooftop. And get this: there’s some
technological bullshit when the plant gets electrocuted by a live telephone
wire from someone gossiping on the phone; and then the plant falls into a storm
drain and zaps because… electricity and water aren’t the best of friends?
We
cut back to LarryBoy saying good night to Alfred, because Alfred has to
volunteer at a grade school tomorrow. (…Ooooo-kay.) Then LarryBoy turns toward
a bunch of buildings and vows to go after space aliens that land in Bumblyburg.
-Wow, did he forget that he’s in
the Rumor Weed episode, and no longer
the Fib from Outer Space one? It’s
like the producers kept switching his scripts on him.
After
the rooftop scene, we see that the electrocuted plant from earlier transforms
into… a wannabe-Venus fly shows her pearly whites towards the camera.
-Her smile is worthy of a Crest toothpaste commercial.
-Now, I’m not going to cover the
theme song sequence, because the sequence is nothing but spoiler alerts of what
this movie is gonna be about. (Good call,
movie… good call.)
Grade School Scene:
Alfred
is telling a story to a classroom of kids.
-Now, I’m not giving anything away
here, but one of these people is the main victim. I’ll give you a hint though:
listen for the line: “I think I better go home and recharge my batteries.” Another hint: just look at the reactions
that the kids make after they hear the story and after the line is being said. So… if you guessed Alfred, then
you’re right!
-Plus, Alfred just says that line
and doesn’t say anymore. Uh… explain,
Alfred! No? Nothing at all? Well, okay, but this is gonna come back and
haunt you later on…
After school:
Junior
and Laura walk home, pondering what Alfred meant when he said he needed to
“recharge his batteries.”
-In answer to your question, you
two: It means to “get some rest.” How
hard is it to tell these kids about figures of speech?! They’re old enough
to understand! I mean, what grade are they in at their grade school? (And don’t say kindergarten!)
After
pondering this, Junior & Laura finally confirm that Alfred is a robot. You
heard right: a robot.
-See what you can do with
over-reactive imaginations? This is the future of our kids if we don’t teach
them what’s real and what’s not real.
Then
the kids come across a talking weed, played by G. Boch.
-G. Boch was the same person that
played Madame Blueberry (in this video) & in the other Veggietales video of the same name, until someone else took over
the role in later Veggietales videos.
-Plus, it’s anything for a
paycheck. Why? Because compared to Madame Blueberry’s French accent, it sounds
as if G. Boch is recovering from laryngitis.
Anyways,
the weed asks the kids what they’re talking about, and get this: the kids
stupidly tell her that they think that Alfred is a robot. The weed promises to
not tell anyone else…
-How much you wanna bet that she
isn’t gonna keep her word? Just don’t count on it; believe me, she won’t.
Neighborhood scene:
The
Rumor Weed goes door-to-door… or hedge-to-hedge, starting this rumor about
Alfred being a robot. One neighbor believes that robots are dangerous; another
neighbor claims that he read a book about robots taking over the world.
-What sucks is that everyone in
that neighborhood believes this weed, and they just add onto the rumor. Also,
how lenient are these people? They
invite a total stranger to gossip about someone!
Larry Manor:
Larry
and Alfred are in their garden, which consists of one petunia (God knows why).
Then the phone reads, and Alfred goes inside to answer it.
Larry
turns and sees that a Rumor Weed is in the flower bed strangling the petunia.
-That petunia had only a few weeks
left until retirement, you moron!
Larry
tells the weed to go away, despite her trying to gossip about Alfred. The
arguing is interrupted by Alfred, saying that the mayor is on the phone.
Larry
walks into the house and tells Alfred about the weed.
-Tell me if you think that Alfred’s
apron looks girly, because of the flower that’s on it.
Larry
takes the phone from Alfred, and… Madame Blueberry is the mayor of Bumblyburg?
-Again, what some people will do
for a paycheck. I mean, wasn’t she happy doing her debut video? And that video
talked about being thankful for what
you had! So, switching from a spoiled French chick with butlers to a mayor
seems contradictory.
Anyway,
Mayor Blueberry tells Larry to get LarryBoy, because many of the talking weeds
are all over town… ruining lawns and making the property values plummet.
-Since when did this movie become
about economics. Kids can’t understand that yet.
-And you know, the movie makes it
clear that nobody else but Alfred knows about LarryBoy’s secret identity, and
that Larry is LarryBoy. So, with that
in mind, why does the mayor call a random citizen to get their superhero, since
the LarrySignal is only used for nighttime? Does she look in a phone book and
pick any random guy’s number? Explain,
movie!
Larry
agrees to “get LarryBoy.” He hangs up the phone and says a clichéd line:
“Alfred, we got some gardening to do!”
-And no, it does not involve
your petunia that was mangled just now.
Rumor Weed Song scene:
The
Rumor Weed goes into Mr. Nezzer’s yard. (Yeah, he’s the insane zucchini from
the Rack, Shack, and Benny video.)
The weed does an evil deed: singing… or rapping? What’s this?
-Is this a song at all? I mean, you
can totally understand the lyrics, but… what’s the melody? The weed is just
rapping the lyrics, along with the neighbors as her back-up singers- I mean, rappers.
In
the “song,” the weed explains that a rumor can be true or false; it can spread
like crazy after it’s out there; and it can ruin one’s reputation.
-Here, the neighbors listen to what
she says, but there had to be some
point where one of them should’ve thought, “You know what? We shouldn’t be
saying bad things about Alfred. That would hurt his feelings.” But no, they keep
listening to the weed, in accordance of the plot.
-Plus, what’s with the colors and
disco lighting in this song? It’s like trying to i-Dose the audience with
hysteria.
While
that’s going on, LarryBoy comes into the yard and tries to get rid of the weed
with a weed whacker and a hedge clipper. But none of the tools do any harm to
the weed.
-Okay, wait a minute. If that’s the
case, what is that weed made out of? It’s like she has steel fiber in her stem…
or is it Kryptonite?
LarryBoy
reports his failure to Alfred. Then Alfred tells him to scan the weed with one
of the plunger ears. Larry does this, and the weed treats the ear like a
microphone and then yanks on it. LarryBoy can’t pull away, because the weed has
a strong grip…
-Okay, this is ridiculous! It’s
just a weed! Did she take steroids before shooting this scene?
The
song continues for another half-minute, with LarryBoy still stuck, but then let
go and sent flying off-screen.
-Well, it’s a good thing the weed
didn’t yo-yo him back with his plunger…
LarryCave scene:
Say,
are you a big fan of scenes with over-the-top drama; overwhelming clichés; and
the awkward moments where the characters are either trying to interact with the
audience, or when the characters are looking directly into the camera without any reason
whatsoever? Then this next scene is for you!
LarryBoy
returns to the LarryCave, only to find out that the weed feeds off an unknown
source, instead of the usual photosynthesis routine.
Alfred: “It doesn’t
photosynthesize.”
LarryBoy: “Why do we care if it
takes pictures?”
Alfred: “No, no…”
-Is this gonna be our comic relief?
Telling one-liners?
-Yeah, and there are some obnoxious
moments with the camera. Gee, how many obnoxious times with trying hard to
interact with the audience were there?
Just
1 time.
And how many moments with the
characters looking directly into the camera were there?
About
7 times.
For example, while Alfred is
telling him about their satellite as their GPS to track down the weed… how the
hell do they have that? Did they
order it off of eBay? What’s with the satellite thing now? Explain, movie!
Anyways, while that’s going on, LarryBoy looks at the audience and shrugs, as
if to say, “Do you get what Alfred’s saying? ‘Cuz I don’t.”
Then
Alfred explains that if they don’t stop the weed, then the town will be
destroyed.
-My God, does Alfred’s voice go an
octave higher as he says all this!
Finally,
Alfred gets an idea on how to stop the weed… just by LarryBoy accidentally
bumping into the joystick-thingy. They learn that the weed is actually a
network of the little cretins, and Alfred confirms that the weed has to be
attacked by its roots.
-You heard right! Some old
fashioned gardening will do justice to a supernatural being… This guy is off
his meds.
-Okay, I may be getting ahead of
myself here. The reason for the framing of the shots in this movie is because
the creators of Veggietales wanted to
get ready to produce an actual feature-length film. In the bonus features area
on the DVD, there was a behind-the-scenes reel where the creators, cast, and
crew were interviewed about the movie. In fact, Mike Nawrocki, voice actor of
Larry-Boy and co-creator of Veggietales,
mentioned during the behind-the-scenes clip that:
“We started Rumor Weed as sort of practice, you know, for making a feature film…
just starting to concentrate more on cinematography, and… lighting, and just,
you know, how we frame the shots, and making it more film-like…” Well, that’s
understandable: “learning the craft.”
So now, let’s get back into the
review. I won’t be so hard this time.
LarryMobile scene:
(Now, I’m not gonna time explaining
every single detail of this scene. So I’ll sum it up for you.)
LarryBoy
is in his LarryMobile, and Alfred is telling him that he’ll be there every step
of the way… even though he’ll on the video phone the majority of their time
together.
-Now listen to what Alfred says as
LarryBoy is leaving: “You can do it!”
Hi,
motivational speech!
(Then Alfred is frowning and
looking down and says…) “I hope…”
Good
bye, motivational speech.
The next thing
we know, LarryBoy drives through a forest, and then turns his vehicle into a
plane. In the sky, LarryBoy is instructed to press another button, which takes
away the wings and sends the whole vehicle falling.
-Now seriously, Alfred lost his meds!
He’s putting LarryBoy in a dangerous situation. Well, granted, this just part
of the mission. I mean, it’s not Alfred is trying to scare him in any way.
(Alfred shows Larry on the screen
how much farther towards the ground they are.)
Yep, this guy is demented.
So,
the LarryPlane… or Bullet… or whatever it is now, barrels through the ground
towards where they think the Mother Weed is hiding. This gives the two guys
some time to have a casual conversation…
LarryBoy: “I’m flying under the
ground!”
Alfred: “Well, actually, you’re
boring.”
LarryBoy: “Gee, Alfred, I know I’m
not the wittiest of cucumbers…”
Alfred: “No, no, not that kind of boring…”
-Wow!
Good one, movie. Good one. That was an unforgettable punch line!
So
Alfred tells LarryBoy that the vehicle is heading into the sewer, where they
think the Mother Weed is hiding in.
-Well, everybody’s epitome of trash
talk has to go somewhere…
Sewer scene:
Everything
is running smooth until LarryBoy makes his entrance.
(He crashes his vehicle through the
walls of the sewer.)
-Uh, dude. Why not use the door?
(The airbag deploys, hitting
LarryBoy.)
-I hope this guy has car insurance.
Then
things go wrong when LarryBoy loses contact with Alfred in the sewer.
Alfred: “Master Larry, can you hear
me?”
(then the scene cuts back to
LarryBoy)
LarryBoy: “Alfred, can you hear me?”
-This sounds like a rejected
T-Mobile commercial.
Alfred: “The sewer walls must be
blocking the transmission…”
-Well, what did you think was gonna
happen, silly?
So
Alfred leaps out of his chair and attempts to “save” LarryBoy. His vehicle of
choice? A scooter that goes no less than 20-30 mph.
-I thought LarryBoy’s trouble was
supposed to be urgent!
Sewer scene 2:
LarryBoy
tries to brave out his predicament. He sees a weed planted on the floor, and
believes that that’s the Mother Weed that Alfred told him about. But then his
relief is sucked out of him, when a much bigger weed approaches and reveals herself
as the real Mother Weed, which comes
to a disappointment to our hero.
-What a twist!
Scooter scene:
Alfred
tries to flag down Officer Scooter, who’s trying once again to enjoy his coffee
break. The cop’s reaction when he sees Alfred: “Aaagh! The robot!”
-I guess he had a hot date that he
was late to (?)
Sewer scene 3:
LarryBoy
runs back to his car and tries to contact Alfred. The big weed asks him how his
ear was (you know, when the Rumor Weed was rapping her song and pulling on his
plunger ear?).
He questions this, and then remembers:
LarryBoy: “That’s right! You’re
connected!”
-Connected to what, the Internet? I
don’t follow.
Then
LarryBoy finds a piece of equipment that he thinks will do damage to the weed,
and he says probably the most epic line of the movie:
LarryBoy: “Hasta la vista, weedy!”
-Wow! Did Arnold Schwarzenegger take
over the screenplay?
Unfortunately,
the epic line doesn’t save LarryBoy from more disappointment; because he
presses a button on the machine, and it breaks, leaking out… blue [Fun Dip?]
powder.
Town Hall scene:
Alfred
arrives at town hall where the townsfolk are waiting for him there. He tries
talking to the mayor about LarryBoy’s predicament, but apparently, the rumor
about him got to her, so she doesn’t listen. The mayor tells him to stand back
because he’s a robot. Alfred wonders about this, and thinks that she’s joking,
because he still has his helmet on his head, and then stupidly says that the helmet
“keeps [his] brain safe.” This scares the hell out of everyone, and they go
into defense mode, crowding around him.
Sewer scene 4:
Meanwhile,
LarryBoy is getting his butt kicked off-screen, and then thrown against the
wall, where we see that he’s now battered and bruised. If Larry was going to
take her on, then the Mother Weed was gonna have something to say about that:
Weed: Face it! You can’t stop this
weed! Thanks to your friends out there, I’m getting bigger by the minute! (Evil
laughter)
-Her laughter after saying that
line… it’s like she swallowed a cat and then got a big fur ball stuck in her
throat! Again, anything for a paycheck, G. Boch… It sucks for everybody.
Town Hall scene 2:
The
townspeople accuse Alfred of robot-related bullshit, until the ground starts to
shake underneath them. The people are quick to accuse the butler for that.
-What? Is this a whodunit mystery
game convention where the logic is that the butler always commits the crime?
Then
all hell breaks loose when the Mother Weed pops out of the ground like a demented
jack-in-the-box and kidnaps Alfred. The townspeople thinks that this is
justice, because of the rumor.
Junior
and Laura are standing in the crowd, watching Alfred get his salad tossed.
(Well, he is a vegetable.) Then
Junior’s dad comes by and learns that Alfred is being accused of being a robot.
He questions this: he questions the accusers, and then he questions the weed
herself.
-Finally! The voice of reason!
The
weed tells Junior’s dad that she heard the rumor first from Junior and Laura.
-Listen to how she points out
Junior and Laura in her speech. She shuts them down big-time.
Then
Junior and Laura confess that they started the rumor, because of their
misunderstanding of Alfred when he said he needed to “recharge his batteries.”
Dad says that that was a figure of speech (Told ya.); and then he makes a
really good speech about how rumors can hurt people, and that the only way
things can get better was if people said nice things about each other.
This
motivates Junior and Laura to right their wrong, by spreading the word that Alfred
is not a robot.
The next thing you know, everybody follows suit, saying that Alfred is a “nice
man,” which comes to a disappointment to the Rumor Weed.
Then
there’s this nature-induced magical… whatever it is… and the weed turns into a
flower, freeing Alfred, and him riding down the weed’s stem like a giant slide
from an amusement park.
Everyone
apologizes to Alfred for being stupid for listening to the rumor in the first
place. And the story ends when LarryBoy comes slowly out of a manhole, and
wondering what was going on with the flowers and stuff from one was once the
weed.
-Since he’s still battered and
bruised in this scene, this begs the question: Why don’t the people give him
medical attention? Shouldn’t there be an ambulance in that crowd somewhere?
There are so many characters in this town that there has to be a doctor on sight, right?
Final LarryCave scene:
LarryBoy
and Alfred talk about what we’ve learned today.
-This definitely replaces the usual
countertop scene in the other Veggietales
videos.
-Alfred is off-screen until after
the Bible verse is revealed. Then he says, “Enough with the puns. Can we please
get on with it?” I’ve got to rehearse my
lines for our first feature film Jonah!
The
Bible verse that they mention is Proverbs 12:18. (Makes sense.) They talk a
little about how the verse fits with the show…
-But too bad this message falls on
deaf ears nowadays, because of social media.
They
wrap up the show by clicking off the LarryComputer, and then the credits roll.
And
that was LarryBoy and the Rumor Weed. So compared to LarryBoy and the Fib from
Outer Space, was this an improvement?
Honestly,
this movie was a little better than the original LarryBoy story, but like the
first movie, the first one’s setbacks came back to haunt this one. There were
over-the-top dramatic moments; it was very clichéd; and LarryBoy, like the
first movie, didn’t actually save the day. The side characters are morons; and
our main characters were too oblivious to the problem the whole time.
Despite
all that, this movie was epic. The creators pushed everything in this movie:
the scenes, the lighting, the storyline, and the pure suspense of the movie.
You
know, this movie was the spark that got Big Idea to make their first
feature-length film. I just wished that LarryBoy would’ve been that feature film.
But instead, it later becomes a franchise with 2-D animated series that doesn’t
make it to at least 5 episodes. Crud.
Anyway,
this movie was pretty good to see. In fact, it touched down on an issue that
still exists today: people starting rumors about somebody they know or don’t
know. You know, this would make a great editorial for this movie. But I can
speculate.
Amateur Critic
Source: LarryBoy and the Rumor Weed
All rights go to Big Idea Entertainment.
