Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey

Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey

I've added a new Tag to my list: Better Than the First. There are some movies where I vastly prefer the sequel over the original. I usually won't even bother to buy the original. This is one of them. I find it more entertaining and a better emotional journey than the first. Plus, it's chock full of connected events that lead to an awesome ending.

This is the continuing story of Bill S. Preston, Esq. and Ted Theodore Logan. Together they are Wyld Stallyns. In the first movie they were in danger of flunking history and Ted's dad was going to send him to military school ensuring that their band Wyld Stallyns would not materialize into anything outside of their own heads. That was the worst possible thing since in the future there is peace and prosperity for all thanks to the world-changing music and culture of Wyld Stallyns. A time traveler from the future, Rufus, comes to them in a time machine designed to look like a phone booth (hey, that would be anachronistic today as well as in the past, lol). He gives Bill and Ted use of the phone booth to travel through time and space and learn history so they can pass their big oral presentation in a couple days. Instead of just learning they end up grabbing significant historical figures and bringing them back for the presentation. While exploring medieval Europe they meet two princesses they fall for. At the end of the movie after they pass their test Rufus shows up with the two princesses telling Bill and ted that he brought them because they are part of Wyld Stalliys, too. All four of them grab their instruments and start to play, but they are terrible. Rufus ends the movie by saying that they will get better.

Let's see how the second movie plays out:





The opening scene of the movie is a guy (we find out later his name is De Nomolos) raging against the utopia they live in. He hates Bill and Ted and everything they've brought to society. He plans to go back in time to stop them from their first world broadcast and prevent them from shaping the future. He and his goons break into the university where Rufus is giving a lecture on sound and acoustics with guest speakers from across time. De Nomolos steals the time machine and sends back his secret weapons, robot versions of Bill and Ted programmed to ruin the band, kill the real Bill & Ted, and ruin their reputations for ever. As they activate the time machine Rufus snags a ride hoping to save his friends and the destined saviors of society.






Bill and Ted make it into the Battle of the Bands, barely, as the last act of the night. As they are celebrating that as well as the birthday of their princess girlfriends, they propose to them. The girls accept and the guys are riding high on life. Right after the girls leave the guys get a phone call from the robots pretending to be the girls (robots always seem to be able to mimic people's voices). The evil robots convince the real B & T that their girlfriends, who just accepted proposals from them, suddenly broke up with them. Too bad B & T aren't that bright.





The evil robots show up and pretend to be B & T from the future there to help them get the girls back. The robots convince them that they know where to find the girls (on the phone they said they were going out to the desert to be alone). The robots take B & T to the desert and reveal that they are in fact evil robots there to kill them. They force B & T to walk up a cliff and then push them off the cliff to their deaths. What will become of the future now?






B & T rise up out of their bodies as spirits, confused on what to do now. Then they see Death, the Grim Reaper, and he comes to take them onward. Bill asks if there is any way to go back and Death tells him that they can challenge him. He warns them that if they lose they will have to stay in the afterlife (I guess he means as a spirit on earth) for eternity. Ted asks what happens in they win to which Death replies, "No one has ever beaten me" with a big grin on his face. B & T can't go quietly into the dark night, they have to save their fiancees from the evil robots (I'm actually glad to see that their first priority is the princesses, not their destinies in the future). They decide to give Death a melvin (a wedgie). They tell him that his shoes are untied and then grab his robes around the groin and yank upward. B & T then walk back to San Dimas and have a couple of misadventures as ghosts. They end up crashing a seance and are mistaken for evil spirits. Then they get banished to hell by the seance leader. While in hell they find the devil who sends them to their own private hells and they realize the only way out is to challenge Death. He appears and warns them that the stakes are different now. This time if they lose they will be stuck in hell for all eternity.





As the challengers Bill and Ted get to choose the challenge. We see B & T at one end of a table in a dreary looking grey room and Death at the other. They are in front of Battleship boards (or whatever you call them), with both sides already showing 4 sunk ship counters. They trade a couple of misses and then hits, but B & T are victorious. Death, however, is a sore loser and proclaims that they must play him again for best 2 out of 3.
The second game is Clue. We see Death looking over his suspect sheet and he comes to make his final accusation. He is wrong so B & T win. They ask to go back but Death says it must be best 3 out of 5 now.
All we see is Death overlooking one of those electronic vibrating football games upset with a piece that just spins around. Bill and Ted ask "Best of 7?" "Damn right!" replies Death.
The final game is Twister with Bill and Death on the mat while Ted spins and calls the required spots. Death falls and finally admits defeat.
B & T realize that if they go back now the robots will likely kill them again. Ted comes up with a plan to make good robots to fight the evil robots. They ask Death to help them find someone for the task. He is theirs to command so he must oblige. They go to heaven and sneak into heaven (by stealing the clothes of legitimate entrants). They meet God and he tells them they must find Station to help them build their robots. They are given a map and then find Station, a pair of short Martians playing charades with the brightest minds that have passed from history. Time to go back to Earth.





Bill, Ted, Death, and the two Stations go to a hardware store to get the parts they'll need to build robots in a hurry. While pushing the cart down the aisle Death passes a man smoking (this was before they banned smoking indoors) and said "See you real soon." The man took out the cigarette and stepped on it to signify he was done smoking, for ever. I love that bit.
After they load the back of their band van with the stuff they bought the two Stations decide to play chicken and ram into one another. They fuse into one mass and then it reforms into a single 7 foot tall version of them. He then starts putting together good robot versions of B & T during their drive to the Battle of the Bands.

The character that really sets this movie apart from the prior one is Death. He is so funny. He is insecure, too, which comes out when Bill and Ted start to compliment Station on his work on the robots. "I made the wigs. I took them shopping. I pushed the cart." Even funnier when they compliment large Station on his "excellently huge Martian butt." Death chimes in, "Don't overlook my butt. I work out a lot. And reaping burns a lot of calories."

They finally get to the Battle of the Bands and it is time for Wyld Stallyns to perform. The robots get on stage and proceed to insult the audience. They proclaim that they are Bill S. Preston, Esquire and Ted "Theodore" Logan and together they are Wyld Stallyns. Then to the side of the stage the real B & T come out and say "No, we're Wyld Stallyns." The audience eats it up, thinking it's all a gimmick for the show, of course. The princesses are tied up and hanging above the stage to be dropped to their deaths at the end of the show, so B & T don't have a lot of time. They use the remote controls Station made and have their good robots burst through a wall and charge towards the evil robots. The evil robots look upwards and the good robots hit them with uppercuts and knock their blocks off (heh). Then the good robots punch the evil, headless robots in the chests and they burst into pieces (surprisingly the audience is not hit with debris). The Station Martians (separate again now) let down Joanna and Elizabeth so Bill and Ted can until them and kiss them. Everything looks good until the time machine shows up and De Nomolos is in it. He has a gun and declares that it is time to kill them once and for all. Before he does so, though, he blasts the TV cameras with a ray gun so they transmit to the entire world, not just Channel 12 as they had been, so the world can witness the birth of a new future, one ruled by De Nomolos. Bill and Ted are weighing their options in the face of his gun and Ted remarks that they'd be okay if only they had more time. Bill reminds him that they have all the time in the world. After they defeat De Nomolos they can use the booth and go back in time to set up what they need to defeat him now. A sandbag then falls from above and knocks down his gun. Then a cage falls around him. De Nomolos laughs and says that he can do that too and says that after he destroys them he will use the booth and go back and give himself a key to the cage and another gun. He raises the gun and pulls the trigger and instead of blasting Bill and Ted a banner comes out that says Wyld Stallyns Rule! Bill explains that only the victor can go back and set things up so they are the ones who setup the key and the gun to make him think he was winning. And that is what De Nomolos doesn't get. Even with a time machine, time seems to be set. Everything they do with the time machine has only furthered the timeline he was already in. He can't change it, whatever anyone does is what always happened in the first place. While De Nomolos is standing there trying to figure out what went wrong Death comes up and tells him that his shoelaces are untied. He looks down and Death gives him a melvin. Then Ted's father arrests him and they are free to proceed with the concert. They are now live in front of the whole world and the entire band of Wyld Stallyns is present (Bill, Ted, Joanna, Elizabeth, Death, Station, and the robots as back up dancers). They realize they still don't really know how to play. Good thing they have all the time in the world to practice thanks to the time machine. They take a several months to get good and have a honeymoon with their new wives (and now they have infant sons, too). Time to rock.

They play "God Gave Rock and Roll to You" but really it is Kiss playing. Their concert changes the world and ushers in the age De Nomolos was trying to prevent. Good thing he was a gym teacher not literature, or he would have known about self fulfilling prophecies. By trying to avoid the future he made it happen.

While the awesome song is playing their are a lot of newspapers and magazine headlines spinning across the screen showing how the world is changing thanks to Wyld Stallyns: Peace in the Middle East, no more droughts in the mid-west US, air pollution is being cleaned up, the economy is up, and the space program gets to Mars. The most awesome thing is the Road & Track magazine saying that Death won the Indy 500. He is quoted as saying "I didn't know I could run that fast."

Great way to end a movie!

The Fifth Element

The Fifth Element

This is a great movie. It's primarily an action movie, but it also has a good deal of comedy and a little bit of romance. Several times during the movie they have what I call meta conversations, meaning that a character will say something to another person. Before that other person can respond the scene changes and someone else says what that 2nd person would have said, but in a totally unrelated situation in response to something else. I love those, it reminds me of a quirk of mine. When someone is talking on a phone within earshot of me I will reply to what they say as if they were talking to me, just to be funny.
I think the main reason I like this movie is because of how connected everything is. I've realized recently that my mind works through a fractal-like network of connecting thoughts rather than in a linear fashion like most other people think. So when I see a movie like this where everything is interconnected and a seemingly random act from the beginning of the movie is used to save the universe, I love it.

Let's get to those connections now.

In 1914 an archaeologist discovers some writings in a pyramid that tell the story of a cosmic event that happens every 5000 years. Three planets enter a state of eclipse and form a black hole between them which is the doorway for the ultimate evil to enter our universe. It's sole purpose is to destroy all life in the galaxy. There is a weapon designed to fight it. There are 4 stones representing the four elements of life: water, earth, fire, and air. They are setup around a 5th element (no, not Boron), a perfect being representing life itself. When all 5 elements are activated they produce a divine light capable of creating life in the farthest reaches of the universe as well as defeating the ultimate evil and banishing it for another 5000 years.
While the archaeologist is making this discovery the plot thickens. The beings that have been activating this divine light in the past show up, they are aliens. They have a contact on earth, a priest who is a servant of life and knows about the fight against the evil one and will pass on his knowledge to another before he dies and so on until it is time for the black hole to open. The aliens tell him that they have come to take the elements away for safe keeping. War is coming and they feel the elements will be better protected in their care. Since the divine light can only be activated there on Earth they pledge to come back in 300 years when it is time.

Fast forward 300 years and a human ship is in space observing the cosmic event birthing the black hole. A planet forms and starts getting bigger. While they are feeding reports back home to Earth and the President Vito Cornelius, a priest who wears a belt buckle with a symbol of the elements, comes forward to explain this odd phenomenon. He tells them that it is evil and wants nothing more to destroy all life in the universe. All it needs to do is stand in place of the 5th element in the chamber with the other elements. When death is there instead of life the ray that is created will destroy all life in the universe permanently.

Time to meet our hero. Korben Dallas (Bruce Willis) is a former military pilot who now drives a taxi (but it's the future so taxis and other cars fly). He lives in a tiny apartment in Brooklyn with his cat (his wife left him some time before) and a collection of guns he takes from people who try to rob him. I love the way he tricks a drug-addict robber to activate the safety on his gun.
He gets a call from an old military friend who asks him to bring in his cab for a six month overhaul. They talk about Korben's lack of a love life and Korben tells him that he is just looking for the perfect woman. Is that foreshadowing? Maybe.

The aliens with the stones contact Earth and tell them they are ready to return. While en route they are attacked by another race of aliens and their ship goes down. The president and his advisers act like it was any other tragedy, but to Vito it is the end of everything. All hope rested on that ship and the elements it was carrying. The mercenary aliens make a call to Earth, they were contracted to fight by Zorg (Gary Oldman), a weapons maker. He tells them their payment is ready for them at his factory.
The humans scoured the wreckage of the downed spaceship and found one survivor. The survivor is the right hand of someone. It was taken to a lab in New York where they plan to reconstruct the individual (how that will work without his brain I'm not sure, they never even attempt to explain it). The president's top general is there to oversee the reconstruction (it appears top level clearance is needed to activate the machine) and also to hit the abort button if the survivor is out of control and dangerous. The head scientist tells him that this person is special. A normal human has 40 DNA memo groups, as he calls them, which is more than enough for any species to perpetuate itself. This being has over 200. When they look at it's DNA it has near infinite "data" encoded in it, almost as if it was engineered. I think this may be our 5th element here.

The machine starts by reconstructing the skeleton, then the muscles, organs, and veins. In a weird exposition the head scientist then says they will bombard the subject with ultra violet rays forcing the body to react to protect itself by creating skin and hair. Terrible science, but the reconstruction itself looks cool. Then they take away the shielding that was in place for the ultra violet bombardment and you see that the survivor is a woman. They give her "thermal ribbons" so she's no longer naked, at least, but not by much. Now she's freaking out because she woke up in a strange place full of strange people and she doesn't speak any English.

The general taunts her with his keycard, saying she'll need to work on her communication skills if she wants to get out of the unbreakable tube she's in. She promptly punches a hole in it and grabs his keycard and lets herself out. She then runs through the wall to get away from the encroaching security and makes her way to the outside. All of the buildings are really tall, we've just built upwards to conserve space, it seems. She jumps off the ledge and crashes through Korben's cab's ceiling. Now that is a meet-cute.





Korben and the 5th element get chased by the police for a little bit. After they evade them She asks Korben to take her to the priest Vito. When Vito meets her he is so happy because there is hope again. Before he leaves Korben introduces himself to the 5th element and finds out her name is Leeloo.
While learning English and Earth history and culture Leeloo tells Vito and his apprentice David about the stones. At the same time we see Zorg meeting up with the mercenaries (shape-shifting aliens) with the case. The case was missing a handle as it was in Leeloo's hand when it was recovered from the wreckage. Zorg opens the case and finds it is empty. Leeloo starts laughing, as if at Zorg's mistake. Vito asks "What do you mean empty?" While Zorg says, "Empty as in the opposite of full." I love that. Two different scenes mashed together. Since Zorg didn't get the stones he isn't going to pay the mercenaries the weapons they want. They threaten him so he leaves them one crate of weapons. What he doesn't tell them is that each weapon is booby-trapped and they summarily blow themselves up.
Leeloo tells Vito that the guardian aliens didn't fully trust the humans so they sent the stones with a courier they could trust who will meet Leeloo at a hotel on the luxury planet Fhloston Paradise. The problem is there is a charity event with tons of celebrities meaning tight security and all the interstellar flights have been booked. When Korben was watching TV earlier, though, he saw an ad about a contest to win tickets to Fhloston Paradise. I wonder if that will have any bearing on plot.

Korben gets a call from his mother complaining that he's not taking her on his trip. He doesn't know what she's talking about so she tells him he's one the contest for two tickets to Floston Paradise. Just then he gets mail but doesn't want to check it since he knows he never entered the contest. The general who was working with the president arrives and asks Korben to go on a mission to save the world. He tells Korben he's being sent to Fhloston Paradise and grabs Korben's mail, takes out the prize notification and hands Korben his tickets. Just then Leeloo knocks on the door and Korben has the general and his attendants hide in the fridge. Leeloo and Vito come in and say they heard about his prize and needs his tickets to save the world. Vito knocks Korben unconscious and takes his tickets and he and Leeloo leave. Korben then grabs the mission briefing from the now frozen general and tells him he accepts.
At the spaceport 4 different people show up claiming to be Korben Dallas: David the apprentice priest, one of the shape-shifting aliens (they heard about the stones on Fhloston Paradise and want to intercept them to screw with Zorg), the real Korben Dallas, and one of Zorg's lackeys. Luckily the real Korben is the one who gets on the flight. Unfortunately for him he is pulled aside to be interviewed by Ruby Rhod, a flamboyant radio host who gets on Korben's nerves. Korben keeps his remarks short which upsets Ruby.
Korben, Leeloo, and Ruby all fly to Fhloston (and Vito has stowed away with the landing gear since David wasn't able to go). Zorg blows up his lackey for failing him and decides to go himself on a private ship.





What follows next is an awesome combination of music, fighting, and some humorous situations involving Ruby Rhod being an unwilling sidekick to Korben. I can't even do credit to the awesomeness of this section of movie to do it justice. I love every minute of it. It culminates with the end of Ruby's radio show. After he signs off he says, "That was the best show I ever did."

Climactic race to save Life:

Now they're back on Earth, they have Leeloo and the stones representing the elements. Everything's good, right? No. The evil planet is now heading towards Earth and is minutes from the temple where it plans to destroy all life in the universe. They set up the stones on their platforms, but Vito doesn't know how to activate them and Leeloo is tired and despondent. She read up on Earth's wars during their flight in and was horrified by them, especially when she learned about their use of nuclear bombs. They eventually figure out that to "open" the stone you have to introduce a bit of its element to it: blow on the wind one, throw sand on the earth one, drop water on the water one, and burn the fire one. Just one problem, Ruby has the fire stone but no fire. Korben has one match left from his cigarettes he picked up in the beginning. With much anticipation he gets it lit and gets the fire on the stone. Leeloo still doesn't want to activate the divine light, though. What's the point she asks when all they do is destroy? Korben tells her there are some things worth protecting, like love. He finally admits that he loves her and they kiss. As the countdown of impact of the dark planet to Earth is sounding it's final seconds Leeloo activates the divine light and a blast hits the planet stopping it in its tracks and shutting it down. The elemental stones then deactivate since they won't be needed again for another 5000 years.
The universe is saved, Leeloo has love for the first time since she was created, and Korben has found himself the perfect woman.

I would have written more, but I spent more time watching the movie getting into the plot that I kept forgetting to stop and write. I guess that's a good sign, right?

A Goofy Movie

A Goofy Movie

I have loved this movie for years, since I was a teenager. Not only is it pretty funny and heart-warming, it has an awesome soundtrack. It's a musical, but unlike Mama Mia, it is not a jukebox musical, they do original music. Unfortunately, also unlike Mama Mia, one of the primary actors doesn't do his own singing but instead uses a voice double. It wasn't his idea, he can sing, but Disney wanted a Broadway singer instead, so they got one of kids from Newsies.
So this movie features your typical teenager-is-embarrassed-by-his-parent story. It is set after the series Goof Troop where Goofy is a single dad to his son Max. For those who don't know Goof Troop, Goofy is a single dad to his son, Max. They live next door to the Petes (Pete Pete, Peg Pete, PJ Pete and Pistol Pete). Pete was a common villain in Mickey Mouse cartoons. Max and PJ are best friends. Pete hates Goofy and all Goofs though his hatred lessens over time. By the time of the movie he and Goofy are best friends, too.
Max is in high school now and has a crush on a girl.

This one will be mostly spoilers, but it's an animated feature from 18 years ago, so are you really going to hate me for not covering the spoilers?

Let's watch.





So right at the beginning Max has a dream. In the dream he is in a wheat field and he hears a sing-song call of his name from Roxanne, the girl he is crushing on. He chases after her and they laugh and fall to the ground. She leans in for a kiss then recoils in horror. The wheat fields around them have turned to brambles. The sun is gone and it is dark. His teeth have grown grotesquely large. Next his ears, fingers, and toes get longer. He starts stretching to be taller and finally the top of his head pops up a little until he resembles... Goofy. Max/Goofy clutches at his throat, trying to keep the sound from coming out, but out comes Goofy's signature laugh. Max wakes up in a panic.
I love how much it followed any of several other nightmare/horror sequences when someone turns into a monster. Only instead of a monster Max turned into his father. As a teenager I think he'd rather turn into a monster.





On the way to school Max start singing the first musical number of the movie "After Today." He's planning some big gesture to get Roxanne to notice him. While he sings about that all of the other kids in school are singing about how vacation starts after today. Everyone is looking forward to how much better everything will be tomorrow. At the end of the musical number Max is at the top of the football bleachers and trips down them. He is helped up by Roxanne. Max gets so nervous he starts laughing and let's slip a hyuk, just like his dad. He gets embarrassed and runs away leaving Roxanne confused.




Max's big stunt is totally awesome. I don't know anyone in my high school who could have pulled off something like that. In the middle of the principal's speech his friends load a projection screen and have live feed of him lip-syncing and dancing to a song from a pop star Powerline. He's dressed just like Powerline from his music video for the song, including big sunglasses, so people aren't really sure who he is. He trips and falls through the screen onto the stage. He's a little nervous until he notices that Roxanne is captivated by his performance. The whole crowd is cheering for him, he gets hooked up to a rope and is swinging above the audience. He's about to reach out to Roxanne's hand when the music stops, the lights come back on, and he's brought right to the principal. The principal takes off his glasses to everyone can see that it's Max Goof who did that cool stunt. Everyone is shocked except for Roxanne who looks even happier.




Goofy and Pete are talking at work about summer plans. Pete is taking PJ camping, but Goofy doesn't think he'd be able to get Max to spend enough time with him for a trip like that. Pete puts ideas into Goofy's head that behavior like that leads to kids getting into gangs and causing riots.
Meanwhile Max is waiting to see the principal but sees Roxanne. He asks her if he could take her to a big party the next week at another student's house to see the Powerline concert on TV. She says yes so he's ecstatic and is dancing around the room after she leaves.
The principal calls up Goofy and goes on about how Max was wearing gang colors and started a riot in the auditorium, just what Pete had said would happen.He decides the best way to save his relationship with his son is to take him fishing for the summer to Idaho, just like he went with his dad and his dad did with his grandfather and so on for several generations of Goofs. When he tells Max he faints- his life is over. He just got a date with the girl of his dreams and has to cancel because his dad is forcing him on a road trip.
Max gets his dad to stop at Roxanne's house so he can break the news to her. He loses his courage and is afraid he'll lose her so he makes up a story about his dad knowing Powerline and that he will be on stage with him during the concert. Now he has to figure out a way to make it happen and hurt his dad, or not do it and hurt Roxanne. If only he hadn't lied in the first place.




During their road trip they have a couple misadventures, including a hilarious run-in with Bigfoot. Goofy was trying to teach Max his family's "perfect cast" for fishing. While casting out the line he snags a steak that Pete was cooking on his RV's barbeque grill. The steak lands across the river and attracts the attention of Bigfoot. They hide from Bigfoot in the car and he is ransacking through their camping supplies. Max says he is hungry and just then a can of soup lands on the hood of the car. Goofy rolls down the window slightly to grab the can. Bigfoot notices and runs to try to get in the car. They get the soup in and roll the window back up, Bigfoot bounces off the car door into their stuff and a box falls on his head. He shakes off the box but Max's headphone/radio is around his ears and "Staying Alive" starts playing. The look on his face when he starts to feel the beat and dance along is priceless. I found a picture online, let me show you.

I mean, how can you not laugh at this?

So Goofy uses the cigarette lighter to heat the soup and while it is "cooking" reminisces about "Hi Dad" soup. When Max was young he used to use alphabet soup to spell out little messages like Hi Dad, Bye Bye, or I Love You. Both Max and Goofy got uncomfortable with that last one as they realized their relationship was not what it used to be. After Max ate his soup the passed the cup back to Goofy before curling up to try to sleep (while Bigfoot was sleeping on the roof of the car). Goofy's eyes began to tear up as he saw Max had written Hi Dad with the letters at the bottom of the cup. Very sweet, Max has taken his first step away from rebellious teenager.

Max wakes up in the middle of the night to Goofy's and Bigfoot's snoring. He pulls out a postcard and starts to write to Roxanne saying how close he is to LA and the Powerline concert. Just then his dad asks for more Hi Dad Soup, talking in his sleep. That makes Max reconsider and he erases his message and apologizes saying "Sorry I lied." He gets frustrated knowing that no matter what he does he's messed things up with Roxanne. He kicks the glove compartment and out pops the roadmap his dad has been using. The same map had been used for this trip for generations of Goofs. He grabs the pencil and erases the trip to the lake in Idaho and remarks the map to go to LA so he can get to the concert.
Before going back to sleep Max rips up the postcard and holds it out the window so the night breeze can carry the pieces away. Before the scene changes we see a piece that had got caught on a branch. Clearly we see the words "I lied" referring to both his story to Roxanne and what he just did with the map.

The next day while eating breakfast at a diner (I guess Bigfoot got bored and left in the night) Goofy decides to make Max the navigator for the road trip and hands the map to him saying he won't even look at it anymore. Now Max can keep his plans to go to LA secret even longer.

They make stops of things that Max wants to do. He realizes that his dad is not having fun so he decided to make some stops for Goofy too, like the house of yarn (a house made from a giant ball of yarn). But the best part, the funniest thing in the whole movie is this: while at a street fair or some such Goofy is watching a mime. Goofy decides to join the mime and makes like he's passing along an invisible wall to get to the mime. The mime then is pulling an invisible rope and Goofy offers his fingers as imaginary scissors. The mime presents the imaginary rope to Goofy, he cuts it with his fingers, and then a real piano falls on the mime. So funny.






Goofy finds out that Max had changed the map but gives him the opportunity to keep true to the trip. They come upon the last junction that they can take left to LA or right to Idaho. Max is indecisive until the last instant and yells out left. Goofy thinks that means his son is up to no good and is just a liar. Goofy stops the car at a scenic overlook by a canyon. He gets out in a huff and Max follows him trying to explain why he changed their destination. Goofy is too upset to listen to Max so Max goes and leans against the car. That's when they discover that Goofy didn't put the brake on. The car starts rolling down the road and they chase after it. All of their stuff gets knocked off from a rock formation and luckily one of the objects that comes flying toward them is Max's skateboard. They both hop on and catch up to the vehicle, still fighting the whole time about who is to blame for their problems. They manage to get into the car but the brake breaks. The car goes careening off the cliff into the canyon and lands on some rock formations, knocking them over one by one until the car lands in a river. Goofy tells Max that all he wanted was to take his boy fishing. Max yells back that he is not a little boy anymore and he has his own life. Goofy responds that he just wants to be a part of that life. They both get quiet and reflective as they sit atop the car floating down the river. They then sing a duet about how even though they are different people they wouldn't want to be in this situation with anyone else. They make up by the end of the song and then Max explains his situation to Goofy while they continue along the river. Goofy wants to help his son get the girl so he vows to help him get on stage for the concert. Max is hesitant and Goofy asks "How come you think I'm always going to lead you into some calamity?" Queue the waterfall they are heading towards. Goofy gets out of the water but Max is still on the roof of the car. Their fishing pole hits Goofy so he grabs it and uses it to catch the car and try to stop it. The log he was bracing against breaks and Max and the car go over the edge. Max then gets caught up in the tarp they used to cover their stuff on the car and the tie down ropes attached to it. It catches the updraft caused by the waterfall and becomes like a parachute holding him aloft. Goofy floats to the edge of the waterfall himself and reaches out towards Max with the fishing pole. The grip on the end comes loose though and Goofy falls. Max turns the fishing pole around and shows that even though he still hated his dad at the time he still paid attention to the "perfect cast" and used it to catch his father and reel him up. Goofy was so touched that he forgot they were in mortal peril.
Now wipe to the concert.





They get into the concert and Max and Goofy get separated. Goofy ends up on stage first while Max is on the lights above. Max encourages Goofy to do the moves required for the "perfect cast" and it ends up being a new dance move that Powerline adopts mid performance. Max falls in and all three of them start dancing. All of the kids from school are watching at home and see them on TV and start dancing themselves. The song that Powerline is singing is called I 2 I - it's about listening to someone's heart and seeing them for who they are, not who you want them to be. Very appropriate for the lessons Goofy and Max learned.

Max then stops by Roxanne's house on the way home and tells her the whole truth. She is a little mad but glad that he told her the truth. She said he didn't need to go to any lengths to impress her, though. She liked him from the first time she saw him and heard him laugh like his dad. He kisses her and then they both laugh, and he sounds just like his dad. He then introduces his dad to Roxanne, proving that he is no longer embarrassed by his dad.

Good story about family, honesty, and Bigfoot.




I used to quote this movie all the time. Here are my favorite lines:

PJ: Oh man. If my dad finds out he's going to nuke my entire existence.

Goofy: We're going to be away from it all.
Max: I don't want to get "away" from it all. I like "it all."

(As he's backing out of the driveway)
Goofy: Goodbye, house. Goodbye, yard. (Backs though the fence) Goodbye, pile of broken wood.

Max: My life is a living-
Lester: Hello!

Lester: Aww, you're so sad. Who's your favorite possum? (I just love the way he says it)

This one is my favorite
Goofy: While half asleep) How many cups of sugar does it take to get to the moon?
Max: Uh... three and a half?
(Goofy falls back asleep)

Mama Mia!

Mama Mia!

I'll be honest, the reason I bought this movie is because I had recently purchased an HD TV and this was not only on blu ray, but also had a free digital copy. I had not seen the movie in the theaters, but I do enjoy musicals (yes, it is possible to like musicals and women) and Abba music is infectious. For those who have not seen it and don't know anything about it, Mama Mia is a jukebox musical, meaning that instead of original songs, a story is made to fit with songs that already exist. They are popular because they choose popular music, of course. Other examples include Across the Universe made from hits from the Beatles and Rock of Ages with hits from the 80's.
I didn't know if they were going to have the actors sing or have voice doubles. Glad to say the actors sang. They may have been cleaned up some, but hey, they tried. I hate musicals when they cast actors who don't sing. What's the point?
The reason I really love musicals is because I love music. Nothing conveys emotions better than music, and that is the point of this blog, I love experiencing my emotions. It's not so much about the expression of the emotions in musicals, it's about the reception of the emotions. You feel it a lot better with music. Then, whenever you hear the song you will be reminded of the emotions. Monologues are great, but a solo is even better.

Let's get started.

So we meet Sophie, a young woman about to get married. She's never known her father and findsan older journal of her mother's and finds that there were three men she had been with in a month's time and any one of them could be Sophie's father. She feels that she has to meet her father, so without her mother, Donna, knowing she invites all 3 men to her wedding. She feels that when she meets her father there will be an instant connection and she'll know exactly which one it is.
The three men arrive on the docks to catch a ride to the small island where Donna owns a hotel, but two of them (Sam and Harry) had missed the ferry. Lucky for them the third guy, Bill, has his own boat and offers a ride. All three men had short summer flings with Donna but none of them know that about the others. As far as they know Donna invited them when in truth she hates them all for leaving her. Sounds like a recipe for wacky sitcom fun, right?





Donna reunites with her friends for Sophie's wedding. When she was young she and her friends were a signing group, Donna and the Dynamos. They come to stay at Donna's hotel which is falling apart. She complains about never having a day off in 15 years, and since it's a musical, sings about not having enough money. I think it's so funny how all of the native Greeks who work at the hotel or who otherwise live on the island sing backup parts in the song. She is singing something and walks into a room and the line is echoed by the people who are in that room even though they aren't really anything but extras. It melds so perfectly together I can't help but enjoy it.






Here comes the wacky sitcom fun. Donna found out that Sam, Bill, and Harry are on the island and is sneaking around trying to get a better feel of why they are there while singing the title song, "Mama Mia." She was mad at Sam for leaving her but from how she feels when she sees him again she's not sure if she's not more mad at herself for letting him go.

One of the most fun parts of the movie- you can't do a movie with Abba music without Dancing Queen. Donna's friends Rosie and Tanya are trying to cheer her up because she's upset about the three men who could be Sophie's father being on the island right before her wedding. She's afraid that they'll ruin the wedding for Sophie. To get her out of her slump her friends start singing Dancing Queen and she can't help but start to get into it and join in. All 3 of them then start to sing and dance around the island picking up more and more women along the way. By the end all the women on the island are down on the docks singing and dancing along and Donna and her Dynamos jump in the water for the finale.





The night before the wedding everyone is partying. The boys have a bachelor party offscreen and the girls have a bachelorette party that gets crashed first by Sam, Bill, and Harry, and then later by all the boys. During a song and dance number all three of Sophie's possible fathers realize that they are Sophie's father (because none of them know the others also had relations with Donna) and all 3 pledge to give Sophie away at her wedding. It is humorous to us the audience, but it is too much for Sophie and she passes out after wrestling with the fact that there are now three men who think they are her father, her mother is going to be furious when she finds out Sophie invited them, she's about to get married, and she's been drinking. But that makes a great segue to move to the next morning.





You know the best part about musicals? That you can be singing right next to someone and they don't even hear you. Donna and Sam sang a duet but neither one was aware of the other. Coincidentally the song, SOS, is about reaching out to another person who doesn't get the cry for help.







Best line of the movie: "Typical. You wait 20 years for a father and then three show up at once."

More Sitcom craziness at the wedding:

So Sophie and Sky are about to get married and Donna announces that Sophie's father is in attendance at the wedding and all three guys stand up. Sophie says she invited her dad and Donna realizes why all three men are on her island. Donna is mad at Sophie for an instant, but then asks Sophie to forgive her for never giving her a father. Sam then comes to the front and is upset that he may not be Sophie's father after all. Harry gets up and says he'll be happy with a third of Sophie. He's gay so Donna was the only woman he'd even been with. He never thought he'd have a daughter. Then Bill gets up and asks for his third too. They all say that they can find out who is really her father if she wants, but the three of them are more than happy to share her. Sophie's about to proceed with the wedding when she realizes she finally knows who she is and isn't ready to get married. She wants to see the world with Sky (why she can't do that while married to him I don't know). They start to leave when Sam asks everyone to remain there at the church. He tells Donna that he's still in love with her and has been trying to tell her since the moment he got on the island. He asks her to marry him so as not to waste the wedding. She thinks he's still married to his first wife so she refuses until he tells her that he's been divorced for years but has loved her even longer. Sam sings to Donna, and it's really funny because the priest joins the band and hits some chimes with a hammer as part of the song. She then accepts his proposal and they get married. The wedding feast prepared for Sophie is now a going away party for Sophie and Sky and a wedding party for Sam and Donna. Sam sings one more song as his toast.

At this point the first time I saw the movie I was actually upset. Not at the plot, of course. It's sweet the way things turned out, but because the movie was over and they didn't have my favorite Abba song. When you finish a song with the line "When all is said and done" it seems like that's the end, right? Wrong. Without barely a pause Rosie decides she wants to date Bill and starts singing "Take A Chance On Me" to him. Finally! She chases Bill around and wins him over by the end of the song.
Everyone is dancing around the courtyard and a mosaic that had cracked earlier in the movie as a sign that the hotel was run down burst apart and water started shooting up, the fabled Aphrodite's Fountain was found. It's waters are said to bring true love and eternal happiness. Seems like a great way to end a movie. Everyone is dancing in the water while a reprise of Mama Mia is playing.
Sophie and Sky then row away on a little boat after getting a send off from all three fathers.

And in case that last ending was too mellow, they start playing Dancing Queen during the credits. You can end on a high note again.


Musicals are very fun. It's a shame that when a boy likes a musical he's given labels. Weird too, since most musicals feature romance between a man and a woman. One day society will get it right.

Wacky hijinks, Abba music, and a story about family, all in all a great flick.