Movie 7: Wakko’s Wish (1999)

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I used to really love Animaniacs because it was one of the best cartoon shows at the time. Which goes to show how horrible the quality of the average cartoon show was. Wakko was my favorite character mainly because his clothes were the most colorful and he was the cutest among the Warner brothers (and the Warner sister).

Now when I was still watching the show regularly, I was this naive kid with a nonexistent sarcasm radar. Still, I remember being somewhat aware that Animaniacs was a parody of some sort. I thought that maybe I’d understand the jokes better “when I’m older.” Eight years later, I’m watching Wakko’s Wish and I think: “This is such a piece of crap.” The only thing that keeps me from turning it off is my desperation to remember the good old days.

First off, I still think the artwork is great. I still think Wakko is adorable. For a parody, though, there is nothing remotely funny about it. I didn’t even laugh once, and I’m the kind of person who laughs at everything. I think the producer (yes, Spielberg, I’m talking to you) is too concerned with trying to appeal to adults as well as to children. Well, I think if you’re making a movie for children you need to treat your targeted audience seriously. Enough with the inside jokes – parents who are stuck watching alongside their kids just need to grin and bear the kind of movie their kids are into.

Book 17: Peeps by Scott Westerfeld (2005)

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I read Scott Westerfeld’s other/first book So Yesterday earlier this year and enjoyed it immensely. I thought it was both cute and clever despite the slow beginning. That’s why I tried to remain patient when I was reading Peeps. After a while, however, I just had to give up.

First, I don’t like the premise. Call me old-fashioned or something-phobe, but I become uncomfortable when I read a book about a teenager who is sexually active and doesn’t seem to regret it in any way. Yes, even if the main character is actually nineteen – an older teenager who’s legally an adult.

Second, what works in So Yesterday just doesn’t work here. The main character of that other book is in high school. In high school, it is only appropriate – if not expected – to label yourself as something or other (e.g., “hunter”). Coming from a nineteen-year-old, though, such bizarre classification just seems annoyingly childish.

Someone who has the mentality of a fifteen-year-old and is promiscuous just doesn’t get my sympathy, m’kay.

Book 16: Playing in Traffic by Gail Giles (2004)

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The writing style is too chunky, and the characters take themselves way too seriously. ‘Nuff said.

Movie 6: Howl’s Moving Castle (2004)

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(I wrote an entire blog on this last night, but due to server maintenance it was neither published nor saved. Eugh.)

My second experience with Hayao Miyazaki. I know a lot of his fans are going to kill me for this, but I really hated it.

When I was reading the book, I had the impression that Howl was a handsome devil. A jerk, but a handsome devil nevertheless. This anime portrays him as anything but. He reminds me of Johnny Depp in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The hair! The tight pants! Qué repulsivé!

I was also under the impression that Sophie hated Howl with a passion in the beginning, but in the movie she is quite tolerant of him. The thing is, I don’t even see how the two can be paired up in the first place. There isn’t even one of those moments typically found in a romantic movie where the lead characters suddenly realize they’re in love with each other, you know? Sophie could just as easily be in love with Turnip the scarecrow (whom she kisses) and Calcifer (whom she also kisses).

What Spirited Away lacks in everything else it at least makes up in the animation and the protagonist. With Howl’s Moving Castle, there is absolutely NOTHING. None of the characters are attractive, and though I watched it in Japanese, none of the voices are bearable. Mark is cute only because he’s a small boy. If he were as old as he is in the book (early to mid-teens) he probably wouldn’t have that effect at all.

Yeah, I may be missing the main point here (the romance, the importance of honesty, or something), but this is one of the movies I’d like to not see again.

(By the way, I know I’m breaking away from my three-books-and-a-movie cycle here, but I’m simply not reading three books at the same speed I watch a single movie.)