Dumb and Dumber To (2014)

There’s a new craze in Hollywood, spawning sequels, prequels and reboots like mad; it targets the young and old alike and it’s any Hollywood executive’s best friend, and that friend is a little thing called nostalgia. Nostalgia can be a great thing, when in its proper place, like watching an old Disney movie or reminiscing over family photos, but it has now become a tool for movie studios; one they use to trick people into seeing movies they normally wouldn’t watch (prime example: Ninja Turtles). While not all of this is bad (nostalgia is a great feeling after all, even if it’s being exploited) it seems apparent that it won’t be long before this fad is driven into the ground like sparkly vampires and other past trends. From this craze has come the latest in nostalgia trips, the Dumb and Dumber sequel, exactly two decades after the original.

The thing about this sequel is that it’s actually not half bad. It’s definitely not as fresh as the original, but the directors’ decision to keep close to the original spirit of the first film works for them more than against. One key difference is that Harry and Lloyd seem a lot meaner than I remember (and I just recently re-watched the original), sometimes this comes off as pretty harsh (especially some of the tricks they play on the poor blind kid), but I will admit that I personally enjoyed the morbid humor. However, some of the off color humor is a little too crude (at one point Harry and Lloyd yell at a poor young doctor to “show us your tits!”) I personally thought some of this humor crossed the line of likability and the characters walk a fine line throughout the film as well.

Of course, all of the dumb humor that people loved in the original is back in full force, and there is more than a few solid laughs in this film, most of them coming from Jim Carrey. Jeff Daniels does a decent job of reassuming his old role, but it’s Jim Carrey who really shines here; you can tell he’s positively hamming it up, and as an old fan it was nice to see him in a familiar role again (there’s that nostalgia working again).

The plot isn’t nearly as simple as the first movie, but it’s certainly not hard to follow and just as with the original it’s more about the relationship between Harry and Lloyd than anything. If you thought these two had learned from the last movie to think of anyone other than themselves, you’d be wrong; they’re just as selfish if not more so. Harry tries to track down his daughter he’s never met so he can swindle her out of a kidney; and Lloyd only agrees to go because once again he has an alarmingly creepy fantasy, this time involving Harry’s daughter.

For Dumb and Dumber fans, this sequel is definitely not a travesty (in my own humble opinion), rather it’s a solid tribute and when it’s bringing the laughs you manage to forget what horrible people Harry and Lloyd actually are. I wouldn’t recommend this movie to everyone, there’s quite a bit of awfully crude humor and if that’s not your style Dumb and Dumber To is not something you’re going to enjoy. However, if crude humor and dumb jokes are heavily amusing to you (as they are to me) this movie has plenty of laughs. Then again, that could just be the nostalgia talking, but for just this once, I’ll play along.

-Ryan Maples

Rating: 7.5

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2096672/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)

Nostalgia can be a very powerful force; a strong sense of nostalgia can make one remember fondly even the most awful of movies and it can make a grown man look forward to seeing a movie about talking ninja turtles. I’m assuming that the powers that be must at least have some idea of this, what other earthly reason can there be for pouring so much money into a reboot of a late 80’s cartoon? However, in the process of rebooting a legend, the filmmakers forgot one important thing, they forgot to respect the source material.

Teenage Mutant (Roided) Ninja Turtles is a real mess of a film, and that doesn’t mean it’s all bad, just mostly bad. Actually, there are three levels to this movie, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Let’s start with the good.

The turtles are looking buffer than ever, but then again so is Hollywood in general (see Mark Wahlberg in Transformers, when did he get biceps like that?) and while this is a little strange to comprehend at first, I must admit I ended up liking the redesign of their characters (if not necessarily “preferring” them so to speak). The spirit and personality of the turtles is also very much intact, whether or not they’re actually funny is up for debate, but there’s certainly an effort there and that’s nice considering all of what’s not there (more on that later). Shredder has been revamped as well, and while his new overhaul may not be particularly inspiring, it is much more intimidating.

The action sequences are massive and come at a break-neck speed, and if that’s your sort of thing you’re probably going to have a blast during some of these set pieces, which are undeniably well-done if a bit cliché at this point. Also, Will Arnett manages to make a few funnies to lighten up the tension; he’s not laugh out loud hilarious or anything close to that, but his humor is a nice break from all the ninja action. However, even Will Arnett can’t distract from the bad.

Why is anyone doing what they’re doing in this movie? That’s a question I kept asking myself throughout the entire runtime. Shredder has no conceivable reason to be doing anything he does, or at least not any reason I ever heard explained. William Fichtner’s motivations are almost as shaky, and his plot to release the “mutagen” (a more modern name for “ooze” apparently) on the city plays out eerily similar to the rather underwhelming conclusion in Amazing Spiderman. Everything in this movie is predictable, right down to the moment when the turtles save everyone (spoiler?).

Another thing, I’d like to point out that this is not, actually, a film directed by Michael Bay, which seems to have a lot of people confused; however, the movie plays out as if the filmmakers had a Michael Bay directing textbook close at hand. There’s slow motion shots galore and enough explosions to satisfy the most avid Transformers fans, not to mention there’s way too much focus on the human characters (we don’t even catch a glimpse of the turtles until almost a half hour into the movie). None of this even compares though to the ugly.

First things first, why the hell is Megan Fox in this movie? Why is Megan Fox in any movie for that matter? If you thought her acting couldn’t possibly get any worse after Transformers, you’d be terribly wrong. Not only is her acting atrocious, but the writing for her character is as well. I could probably go on all day about how completely awful her whole performance is, but that wouldn’t leave me enough room for Splinter.

This could possibly be the most disappointing part of the film for me. Splinter, the leader and teacher of the ninja turtles, is completely botched in this movie. He looks like a half-shaved mole rat and for some reason he now uses his tail to fight. He’s also introduced as a mean old master and one of his first scenes actually involved torturing the turtles. I’m sorry, but this is not the lovable and wise Splinter I remember from my childhood. Tony Shalhoub as his voice was a complete and total miscasting and it bothered me every time Splinter opened his mouth. Also, instead of learning the art of ninjutsu by watching his former master, he learns it from and old book dropped in the sewer. I really can’t stress enough how terrible this is (apparently the only thing keeping us all from being ninja masters is the right picture book).

If that weren’t bad enough, the ninja turtles’ (and Splinter’s) origin story is even more ridiculous. Apparently, they were a lab experiment and April saved them when she was nine from a fire in her father’s laboratory (she never stops to see if her dad’s okay, however, and he dies).  

I could go on and on about all that’s wrong with this movie, but in the end it still does manage to be somewhat entertaining. I’m sure the kids will enjoy it, but as someone who was almost getting hyped for some nostalgic teenage mutant ninja turtles fun, this movie disappoints.

-Ryan Maples

Rating: 5.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1291150/?ref_=hm_cht_t1