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Techtite's DVD Reviews! |
"Arrrrrgh goes Nora when she slides into a grocery display. Arrrrrgh goes Nora sliding on ice. Arrrrrgh goes Luther when falling off the roof trying to put up holiday decorations. Arrrrgh goes Nora when Vic's gloves get stuck in her car window. Arrrrrgh goes the theater audience when they realize they could've gone back to see The Incredibles." --from the review ------------- Sidebar :: ------------- A guest review... ...which you can offer too. Just go to the submissions page for details. ...
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Christmas With the KranksNot yet released on DVD; Click Here for any release date info. A Guest Review by "Bill Bored"If that submissions offer is on the level [which it is--Ed.] allow me to post "My Two Bits" about Christmas With the Kranks. The only reason I'd rate this a Near Miss, as your site often calls it, is because I like Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis too much. Let's just say if it wasn't Thanksgiving I'd be less forgiving and this whole review would be different. The story is based on a book by John Grisham. Luther and Nora Krank (Tim and Jamie Lee) have a daughter who's headed elsewhere for the holidays. The parents decide if they're going to be alone for the holidays why not go on vacation? We're supposed to feel the Kranks must learn the true meaning of Christmas because they do not intend to decorate their home while they're gone. It makes little sense for the neighbors to reprimand them for decorating a house they don't even intend to be in at the time but that's the idea here. The core film has the Kranks trying to avoid neighborhood bigmouth Vic (Dan Ackroyd), whose biggest demand is the film's running gag to "Free Frosty." Vic claims that in order to have true Christmas spirit every house must have Frosty the Snowman on their rooftop. I hope this is meant to be as silly sounding as it is because Frosty has the least to do with Christmas than any holiday cartoon character. The three kings did not give baby Jesus a snowman. Aside from an overrated holiday cartoon Frosty doesn't even have anything to do with Santa. You'd think an entire neighborhood of plastic snowmen would be meant as a joke but it's meant to show how the Kranks are Scrooges. The overdone finale is the last straw. No sooner do the Krank parents breathe a sigh of relief when their daughter calls with the intent to be home for the holidays after all. This was meant to deliver a happy ending but to me it just ruined the film even more. It's pretty selfish for the daughter to think that her parents' holiday plans were hers to command at the push of a switch. The idea is to have added laughs as the Kranks try to decorate and furnish their home for the holidays at the last minute, but why should they have to try? I'm a big fan of the message at the end of How the Grinch Stole Christmas (that holiday spirit doesn't come from a store) and I don't like the way that message is tarnished here. In a parting thought I think this comedy suffers from what I'd call The Curse Of The House Of Arrrrrrgh. In Monty Python and the Holy Grail they had to go to Arrrrgh to find the grail. I'd say this movie wants us to go there too. Too many actors are looking straight at the camera going, "Arrrrrgh!" Arrrrrgh goes Nora when she slides into a grocery display. Arrrrrgh goes Nora sliding on ice. Arrrrrgh goes Luther when falling off the roof trying to put up holiday decorations. Arrrrgh goes Nora when Vic's gloves get stuck in her car window. Arrrrrgh goes the theater audience when they realize they could've gone back to see The Incredibles.
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