Godfather part II (1974)

Today's film is The Godfather part II.  This film is unique in two ways.  First, it is the only sequel that has won an Academy Award.  Second,  it is both a sequel and a prequel at the same time!

The problem with a film that is both a sequel and prequel is that you really really need to have watched the first Godfather film.  Or else you will be really lost.

The sequel part follows Michael Corleone, Vito's son and the new Godfather, as he moves his operation from New York to Nevada.  He has many enemies and his marriage is falling apart.  He goes with his so-called associate to Cuba, before the revolution hits, but is wary he is trying to assassinate him.

The prequel part follows the original Godfather, Vito, as he grows up in Italy in the early twentieth century and later escapes to America.  He is a honest, hard-working man that slowly changes into the Godfather that we see in the first movie.  Vito is played by Robert de Niro, who actually lived in Sicily to learn the correct dialect.  That is some real dedication right there.

A lot of the cinematography is very dark, and the colors are mostly brown.  Brown scenery, brown costumes, brown everything.  It's like the sepia filter on instagram.  They did go a little overboard on it.  The acting was really good, though.  So I will give it an 8/10.

The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972)

Today's film is The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, which comes to us from Germany.  Well, it's not really a plot-driven film, it's more of a character study.

Petra is like the worst kind of person.  The whole movie takes place in her bedroom/studio apartment.  She rarely leaves her bed, even to entertain guests.  That's really weird.  She treats her assistant like a slave, who does nothing but help her.  Petra is rude and ungrateful to everyone.

Petra works as a fashion designer, and much of the film seems to be showing off a slew of bizarre outfits, from all the characters really.

She falls in love at first sight with Karin, a beautiful blonde, who is married by the way. (!!!)  She asks her to move in and somehow Karin agrees.  Sure, Karin sleeps with her but doesn't feel the same way.  She's just using Petra like Petra uses her assistant.  Petra is so smitten that she even pays for the plane ticket for Karin to go see her husband.

Does Petra learn from her experience?  It doesn't look like it.  In the end, even her assistant leaves her.  If you enjoy watching character studies, or character-driven stories, this would be a good film for you.  I will give it a 6/10.

Gimme Shelter (1970)

Today's film is Gimme Shelter, a documentary about one of the greatest rock n roll bands of all time, The Rolling Stones.  The first half shows them making an album and features a lots of great songs everyone is sure to recognize.

The majority of the film focuses on their quest to make a free concert to mimic Woodstock.  The problem is that you can't recreate outdoor festivals because they're all different.  Also, they planned to do it at the Altamont Speedway in California.  There was a lot more drugs and violence at this concert than Woodstock.

Instead of hiring a security firm or off duty police officers for their concert, The Rolling Stones decided to hire the Hell's Angels as their security.  This was probably not the best idea.  However, they did do their job.  One Hell's Angel stabbed a man, but film footage reveals he had a gun drawn and could have easily shot a performer or an audience member.

The crowd was so wild and out of control at this concert.  It's like they had no respect for anything.  This year, I was upset that my husband would not take me to the local outdoor concert because he thought it would be too dangerous for a pregnant woman.  During the Altamont concert, four women gave birth!  60s women are hardcore!

This is a good documentary for us to see a historical event as it happened.  This concert showed the end of the Woodstock-hippie era.  Everyone thought that the hippies would usher in a time of peace and love and harmony.  But the Altamont concert proved that nope, people are still assholes.  If anything, the film shows lots and lots of good music.  It's like listening to an album and watching a film at the same time.  I will give this film a 7/10.

Cría cuervos (1976)

Today's film is Cría cuervos.  It stars children but it is not a child's film.

The term "Cría cuervos" means to "raise ravens (crows)".  This means to say if you raise a raven, they'll scratch your eyes out.  Same way if you raise a child poorly, they'll end up destroying you.

The film stars three orphan girls, Irene, Ana, and Maite.  Their mother was sickly, pale, and eventually died of cancer.  Their father was an army man who regularly cheated on her.  The mother gives Ana a jar of baking soda and tells her to throw it out because it is a dangerous poison.  Ana, not knowing what baking soda really is, keeps it for her nefarious purposes.  She puts it in her father's milk to "poison" him, and when he dies of  a possible heart attack, she believes the poison works.

Now that the girls are without both parents, their mother's sister, Aunt Paulina moves in.  Also, their invalid grandmother comes with her.  She is in a wheelchair and cannot speak.  At first, they are happy, but they realize that Aunt Paulina has the exact personality of their dad!  This does not please Ana at all, and she lets everyone know this.

The orphan girls - Ana, little Maite, and Irene.

Ana often dreams of her mother and father, and has conversations with them often.  We can tell these are really dreams instead of visions, because her mother always tells her it's late and she should be asleep.  Well she is asleep.

Aunt Paulina isn't even a good mom, often leaving to do who knows what while the eldest, Irene, has to babysit.  When she's not gone, she's busy at the house making out with married men.  The only person Ana has to talk to about her parents is the family housekeeper, Rosa, who has known her since birth.  But, Paulina quickly shuts them down and won't let her "gossip" about her sister.  Talking about her parents is a healthy outlet and Paulina actively seeks to stop that.  Paulina is incredibly rude towards Rosa.

Ana is so frustrated at Paulina's presence (who really is like father version 2.0)  that she plots to poison her as well.  So, she dumps baking soda in her milk and is shocked to see her alive the next day.  At the end, the summer is over and they are no longer cooped up in the house.  They dress for school and head out into the city.  Maybe being away from the house for awhile will be good for them.  I will give this film a 7/10.

Dersu Uzala (1975)

Today's film is Dersu Uzala.  It is fairly predictable but still a nice film.

It reminded me of Tarzan or George of the Jungle or any other film where someone used to living outdoors in the wild is forced to live in the city.  But the film is based around an actual soldier's journal so we know that this is somewhat true.

So a long time ago, over 100 years ago, a group of soldiers were sent by the Russian government to explore the wild lands of Siberia.  They run into a random dude living out there.  His name is Dersu Uzala and he is a member of the golden people.  He had a family with him, but they all died from smallpox decades ago.

Dersu and the soldier Arsenev become friends, and Arsenev relies on wisdom many times.  Sometimes it even saves his life.  He invites him to come with him, but Dersu wants to stay in the wild where he is comfortable and happy.

Years later, Arsenev comes back with a bigger group. He is happy to see Dersu again!  However, a tiger stalks their camp and Dersu shoots it.  It only wounds the animal so he is now afraid he is cursed.  Soon, his eyesight becomes too poor to focus on the animals to shoot.  Arsenev insists that he come with him because a hunter isn't so good when he can't see.

Why didn't he just go and buy Dersu some glasses?  Well, I mean, he's old so he might have a condition like macular degeneration or hardening of the lenses that glasses won't help.  Or, his problem might be psychological.  He is so upset at wounding the tiger that he can't focus on any targets.  We don't know.

Obviously after watching other films like this, we can see how this is going.  Dersu belongs in the woods and can't cope with city life.  Even though he can't see so well, and can't hunt animals or find other ways to feed himself, he still convinces his host family he needs to go.  Arsenev gives him a really good rifle to hunt with.  Unfortunately, Dersu is killed by someone who stole his gun.  I liked this film but it was just too predictable and I couldn't expect anything.  It was directed by Akira Kurosawa so we knew it was going to be a good story.  He was actually invited by the Russian government to make a film because they didn't much access to American television and needed good filmmakers.  It was a nice change of pace from the other Russian films I've seen.  I will give it an 8/10.

Stalker (1979)

So we are continuing Russian month with Stalker.  I have to say I was quite disappointed with this film.  I was under the impression that this was a great science fiction film and you know me, I love sci fi films.  But I felt this was more under the genre of fantasy rather than science fiction.

 So, we are not entirely sure what exactly happened, but some sort of meteor hit the earth and it created a room that grants wishes.  Or maybe it wasn't a meteor? The room just appeared?  We are not sure.  However, this is definitely qualifies as magic and fantasy than sci fi.  Sci fi is futuristic or space related and this is neither. It's more like magic.

So, the name Stalker doesn't refer to someone who creepily follows someone, it's what they call the person that leads them to the Zone (the room that grants wishes).  So it's more like a coyote than an actual stalker.  The Stalker takes two men to the Zone, each having their own reason for going.

It is interesting to note that the Zone is very green and full of color, where everywhere else in the country is muddy brown.  The part I didn't like is that the two men never ever stop talking.  This is what my dad calls "walking movies".  The whole time the characters walk towards their destination, and they may or may not make it.  The two men jabber the entire time about existentialism and other philosophical questions and try to reason them out themselves.  Seriously this film is worse than the second Matrix.  It's almost the same film really.

And then here comes the best part, they actually reach the room where the Zone is.  And they don't even go in!  I waited over two hours they had better go in or I will push them in!  If this film starred women, they would have gone in there, said nothing philosophical, got their wishes and they would have been back before their kids got dropped off by the bus after school.

This movie was a huge disappointment.  Magical wish granting rooms is not in any way science fiction.  Also reading one philosopher's book in high school does not make you a genius so shut up no one wants to hear you whining about your existential crisis.  I will give this film a 4/10.

Annie Hall (1977)

I have now watched this film four times because I feel like I have to write about every film on the list.  I can't think of anything positive to say.  All of the characters were unlikable. I don't understand any of the humor involved.  Maybe some of it was meant to be sarcastic, but people like me can't detect sarcasm so it gets really frustrating.  I am so frustrated with watching this film. I think it was meant to be a comedy but I am not 100% sure. I definitely have no reason to watch it again. I will give it a 5/10.

Hausu (1977)

Today’s film is Hausu (House).  It is a very strange film.  It is not
the strangest film I have ever seen.  That would probably be Naked
Lunch.  Also, Mulholland Drive was strange, but it made me angry.
This film did not make me angry.

I have heard many things about this film, but it was near impossible
to find.  But surprise! It randomly appeared on demand for one day
only, so I seized the opportunity and watched it right then.  It was
nothing like I expected, and I have seen plenty of Japanese horror
films.  But, there is so much humor in this film as well.

I believe that Evil Dead II got a lot of its inspiration from this
film.   The gross out humor, body parts, lots of blood, strange magic,
all of this are found in both films.  It starts off as a normal film
where we are expecting horror elements, then goes off on a tangent of
bizarreness.

One of my favorite parts is where the guy doesn’t want any watermelon,
instead he wants bananas, and in the next scene we see he has turned
into bananas!   The girls in the film all go by nicknames.  Melody
loves to play piano, and she gets eaten by one while her fingers
continue to play.   Everyone is going to be killed in strange ways.
There are also elements of magic and witchcraft at play as well.  This
film was unique and very amusing.  I will give it an 8/10.

The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)

Today's film is The Abominable Dr. Phibes.  I love movies with Vincent Price! He can make any movie entertaining.  He knows exactly when to be funny and when to be creepy or scary.  He is everything  that Tim Burton wishes his movies could be. He tries to be cute and creepy and funny at the same time, and it never works.

 There are so many questions unanswered about this movie.  Why did Dr. Phibes use the legendary Egyptian plagues as inspiration for his murder spree? Who exactly  is the beautiful  Vulnavia? She never speaks, and is always there to assist Dr. Phibes.  What is her relationship with the doctor? Did she know his wife personally?

The weirdest part was that clockwork band. Did Dr. Phibes make that? Was he a real medical doctor? I mean he had to be to know how to do blood transfusions.  He also had a degree in art, a PhD in theology, and he was a concert pianist.  Why did it take him four years before he killed anyone, and how did he keep his wife so perfectly preserved?

I like to think of this movie as an early predecessor to Se7en.  Because that guy uses the seven deadly sins to murder people, whereas Dr. Phibes uses the plagues.  However, two of the plagues were replaced with rats and bats for visual reasons. You have to give him credit for being super creative though.

And not only that, he wins.  He always stays two steps ahead of the police, and succeeds in almost everything he sets out to do. I will give this film a 7/10.

The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978)

Today's film is The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith.  It is based on true events.  This happened in the time of the Boer Wars (1899-1902) in which the colony of Australian was sent to fight in southern Africa to help her mother country, Great Britain.  Also at this time, Australia was seeking its independence from Great Britain.

The British settlers saw the aborigines (the original native people of the island) as a lower race not as evolved as they were.  They were given hardly any rights and were basically treated like dirt.  They did not even get the right to vote until 1962.

The film was hard to watch at times, and it is very hard to write about.  I want Jimmie to succeed, but cannot condone violence.  As a person of multiple ethnicities who is married to a Native person, we receive racism from literally every angle.  And it's not 1900 like this movie. It's 2015.  Remember when they try to convince his white wife to leave him and work for them? And she says no because she's married and they don't care about that?  Yeah I get that all the time.  I get hatred from my white side, hatred from my non-white side, and lots of hatred from my husband's family's side.

 It is an endless source of frustration that no matter what he accomplishes he will never be good enough because he's not white.

Jimmie didn't set out to start committing violent acts.  He was driven by intolerance and pure frustration.  But once he started he couldn't stop.  He had to be punished for what he did.

Notice how many people that he and his family encounter aren't racist and try to help him throughout the film.  Only the people in power - cops, wealthy ranchers, educated preacher's wives, are the ones who believe they are better than him and treat him as such.  Maybe that's how they got to be powerful because of their superior attitude towards others.  Look at all the republicans in charge of southerns states here.  I could go on, but there's no way Jimmie could have survived in his own environment or ours.  Nothing has changed.  I will give this film a 7/10.

Superfly (1972)

Today's film is Superfly.  It makes me sad that I missed out on wearing '70s clothes.  Our main character, Priest, is tired of his drug selling lifestyle and decides to make one big score and retire.  He has $300,000 dollars to spend and wants to turn it into $1 million before he cashes out.

Problem is, almost everyone's against him.  The mob, the corrupt drug dealing cops, his former mentor, and his partner/best friend.  Everyone is just using him.  It's easy to see why he wants to escape his life.  He can rely on the women in his life to help him out.  There is one sexy scene but it is too unbelievable as they don't make bathtubs that big.

Besides the photo montage of everyone using drugs, the overall film is unbiased about drug use.  Most films preach about how bad drugs are, but this film shows it as everyone's reality.  Priest's partner tells him if he stops selling dope, then the only thing he can do is be a pimp.  Like those are his only two options in life.  Once Priest escapes with his money, then no one will be able to tell him what he can or can't do.  He has a clever way to escape and keep his money safe from the crooked cops, and it works.  It is overall a straightforward film, and I enjoyed it, especially the music.  I will give this film a 6/10.

Five Easy Pieces (1970)

Today's film is Five Easy Pieces.  Jack Nicholson does a great job in this film.  He plays Bobby, who grew up in high society and was groomed to be a concert pianist, but abandoned it all to live a simple life working on the oil fields.

Bobby is dating Rayette, a not too bright waitress.  His friend, Elton, has a toddler and tries to convince Bobby that babies are great.  He tells him that Rayette is pregnant.  Bobby never asks her about it, nor does she ever tell him herself, so the fact of whether or not she really is pregnant is unknown or just plain ignored.

Bobby makes an impromptu stop at his sister's studio where she is recording piano music.  His sister tells him that their father has suffered from a series of strokes and may not recover.  Even though he doesn't want to, he decides to visit him for the last time.

He takes Rayette with him, but dumps her off at a motel before he reaches his parent's island.\ But, after a while, she runs out of money and goes to the island to meet him and his family, something he is quite upset with.  To him, she's simple and irritating (which is highlighted by the constant whiny female country music), and above all, asks for ketchup for a nice meal. Disgusting, I'd want to smack her too.  Later, there's a gathering of semi-intellectuals droning on and on, while Rayette demands to watch TV instead.  Equally uncomfortable by both his family and her, he just wants to leave.

Bobby tries to speak with his father, but it's too difficult as he is unresponsive.  He falls in love with Catherine, a woman practicing music at his house, but that's only because she's the opposite of him and opposites attract.  She has life goals and works hard to achieve them while he just drifts along.  She asks him to play the piano and he chooses to play the simplest song he knows.  He could be something but chooses not to.  Getting nowhere with her and not being able to talk to his dad, he leaves.

While leaving, Bobby and Rayette stop at a gas station.  He hands her his wallet while she goes inside.  He hops into a logging truck and tells the driver he lost everything in a fire.  The driver offers him and jacket and tells him it will be very cold where they're going.  I think they might be going to Alaska because we heard the hitchhikers earlier talking about how clean it is.  Bobby always takes the easy way out and always runs from his problems.  I liked this movie because it highlights and discusses a lot of problems society has, but the characters feel helpless to solve anything.  Bobby couldn't even get his toast per restaurant policy. I feel bad for him.  I will give this film a 6/10.

Saturday Night Fever (1977)

Are you ready for fun happy musical?  Well me neither so today's film will be Saturday Night Fever.  This is the most '70s movie I have ever seen.

Tony works a menial job in a paint store, he can never please his parents, and he lives a mostly boring life.  Once a week, he and his friends go disco dancing at a nightclub.  There's a dancing contest, so he chooses a partner who seems somewhat snobby instead of his usual partner because she is too interested in a relationship with him.

Later, Tony gets a raise a work.  He shares it with his dad, but instead of being proud of him, his jealous dad puts him down every chance he gets.  Meanwhile, Tony's priest brother Frank, whom his parents practically worship, comes home because he quit his job.  He only became a priest because his parents pushed him into it, and now he has to figure out what he really wants to do with his life.  He tells this to Tony so he won't make the same mistake.

Tony's dance partner, Stephanie constantly brags about her job and namedrops all the time.  Tony has a crush on her, even losing his job to help her move.  Once she lets her guard down, we learn she has some problems too.

When Tony and his friends aren't working or dancing, they're either up on a bridge acting a fool, or being generally racist.  Also, scoring women is their #1 goal.  Tony and Stephanie enter the contest and are out-danced by a Puerto Rican couple.  However, Tony and Stephanie are awarded the prize.  Tony realizes the dance contest was rigged and gives the prize to the couple that should have won.  Then, he leaves his parent's house for good and travels on the subway to Stephanie's house. He has decided to stay away from his own and make a life for himself.  What kind of job will he have? What will he do now?  We don't know because the movie ends abruptly.  That was disappointing.  I will give this film a 6/10.

Profondo Rosso (Deep Red) (1975)

Today's film is Profondo Rosso.  After seeing a few of Dario Argento's films, I have realized that they are pretty predictable.  Or, they follow a certain pattern.

In this film, a British musician's psychic neighbor is murdered, and he sets out to investigate.  Meanwhile, more people are being murdered as well.  I had a hard time keeping up with all the people.  It was like they just threw in extra characters so they could be murdered.  The musician is helped by a reporter.  It's not a bad movie.  It is a good mystery, especially with all of its plot twists.  I will give it a 6/10.

I wondered why the psychic's house is covered in all those creepy paintings.

Phantasm (1979)

I told my dad that I was watching lots of horror films this month, and he suggested a movie to me.  He remembered that he watched it in college, and it had a silver sphere that floated around and killed people.  So I researched ‘70s horror films and found out what it was.  Today’s film is Phantasm.

What, I don’t even know the deal about this movie.  The plot is just everywhere.   There is a mortician called the Tall Man, because you know, he’s a tall man.  He takes corpses in his morgue and shrinks them into midget zombies to do his bidding as slaves in a parallel universe.  The gateway to the parallel universe is in the funeral home.

The sphere, I think, is guarding the parallel universe gateway.  It also prevents anyone from getting near the midget zombies.  It shoots spikes at people and can kill them.  It doesn’t appear as much as I thought, especially since this is the only thing my dad remembered about the movie.

The main villain is the Tall Man, rather than the sphere.  He attacks the main character, his brother, and their best friend that happens to be an ice cream man.  This also somehow works into the plot.  There are not enough drugs in my house to fully appreciate/understand this movie.  I am totally baffled.  I will give this film a 3/10 for poor writing, but it was somewhat entertaining.

The Amityville Horror (1979)

Well, I just finished watching the most boring haunted house movie.  Today's movie is The Amityville Horror.  In 1974, in Amityville, New York, Ronald "Butch" Defeo, Jr, shot and killed the other six members of his family while they slept.  He originally appeared to be an innocent witness, but as the detectives chipped away at his story, he was revealed to be a sociopathic killer.  I listened to an interview of his, thirty years after his arrest, and he is downright proud of what he has done.

 

A year later, George and Kathy Lutz, along with their children, moved in.  Supposedly lots of weird shit happened, and they determined that the house was possessed.  This was also one of the first famous cases of the "demonologists"/con artists Lorraine and Ed Warren.  Both actors who portrayed George and Kathy Lutz didn't believe the story at all.

 

There just wasn't enough there to warrant being scared of this movie.  Because of the phony demon story, the Amityville house is one of the most famous "haunted" houses of all time.  It recently went on sale for over a million dollars.  I wanted to tour the house, but my husband was much too scared.  Like I said in my Exorcist review, he believes any demon-related story he hears.  I am including this movie in my list of haunted house films, however I think the real story is much scarier.  Butch appeared to be a sound human being, but underneath lurked a darker side, in which he killed his defenseless sleeping family without warning.  He is in prison for the rest of his life.  During his trial, he stated "When I got a gun in my hand, there's no doubt in my mind who I am. I am God." 

 

I think that the whole haunted house story the Lutzes concocted actually insults the memories of the true victims of the Amityville House.  As for the movie, I didn't expect much, but I ended up being bored.  There's nothing scary in this whole movie.  The film takes itself way too seriously, and doesn't have the scare power to back it up.  If you're looking to watch a haunted house film, I would skip this one.  I'm giving it a 4/10.

Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)

Today's film is Kramer vs. Kramer.  Ted Kramer's wife, Joanna, is tired of her life and fed up with her workaholic husband.  One day she packs up and leaves.  As a result, Ted has to learn how to be a parent for the first time.  I enjoyed watching him grow as a parent.

 For example, the first morning, he is impatient and makes gross terrible french toast.  But by the end, his french toast is perfect.  At first, he drops his son off and rushes to work, not even glancing behind them.  By the end, he looks behind him the entire way as he goes away to work.  First, his priority was work work work, but now his child is his priority.  In fact, he even changes jobs to one that will better allow him to take care of his child. 

Dustin did an amazing acting job.  I really believed that he was a frustrated workaholic that magically transformed into a superdad when his child needed him the most.  I didn't really like Meryl Streep's character, because she abadoned her child, but maybe she had her own reason for doing that.
Then one day, Joanna reappears and wants her son back!  What follows is a bitter hateful custody battle in court, where lawyers coerce them to be mean to each other.  Later, Joanna realizes that Ted is the best person to take care of her son, and she gives up her custody battle.  I will give this film an 8/10.

Deliverance (1972)

Today's film is Deliverance.  I was under the impression that this was a disturbing/terrifying film.  Well, that may have been true when it was made in the 1970's.  It still has its moment though.

Four friends get together to canoe down a river before the whole area is flooded (for a dam I think).  Canoeing and White water rafting is a fun and relaxing pasttime.  Well not this time.  Two of the friends get separated and get out onto land, where one of them is raped by a hillbilly.  That hillbilly is shot by Burt Reynolds, and they all carry him away and bury him together.  There is much arguing and speculation about what the other hillbillies will do once they find out he's missing.

Since there weren't any cell phones back then, and their cars are waiting for them at the end of the river, they have no choice but to continue on the path they're on.  They go over the waterfall and crash down to the bottom.  One of them was not wearing his life jacket and drowned.  Burt Reynolds (I never learn his character names because he's just Burt Reynolds) breaks his leg or something, so the remaining two have to help him get to safety.

One of them scales the cliff to shoot the hillbilly and is careful about coming down.  This is especially exciting since the actor is actually scaling up a real cliff.  They finally make it to their cars, where the creepy banjo playing kid is eyeballing them.  All the hillbillies in this creepy, but not like mutant creepy.  I will give this film a 6/10.

Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974)

It's fun to watch action movies, but sometimes it's hard to write about them because they contain little to no substance.  Today's film is Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, and it was filmed in Mexico.  It's near nonstop gun violence and holds very little interest for me.

A Mexican rancher wants the head of Alfredo Garcia for impregnating his young daughter and promises a $$ reward.  So everyone is after him.  Problem is, he's already dead.  We follow Bennie, an American living in Mexico, and his girlfriend, Elita as they travel to the graveyard and to the ranch to deliver the decaying head of the dead body.

Every few minutes someone is killed by gunfire.  That's the entire movie, people being shot.  Pretty much every character in this film gets shot and killed.  Except Elita, who gets whacked with a shovel.  Even though it's violent, it's far from exciting.  It's not an action movie, more like a drama with too much violence.  I felt it was boring.  I'm giving it a 4/10.

Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too (1974)

Today's animated feature is Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too.  My co-film critic requested that we review this film.  It features the beloved characters that everyone has grown up with, and they're all introduced in the beginning song.  Each character has their own quirks, and they are also the stuffed animals of Christopher Robin.  There's Eeyore the depressed donkey, Rabbit the high-maintenance gardener rabbit, Piglet the worrisome, well, piglet, Kanga and her son, Roo, Owl, and most importantly, Winnie the Pooh and Tigger too.

I think my daughter likes Tigger because he is the most like a three-year-old out of any of the characters.  He's hyper and bounces all the time.  He has enough energy for five people.  My daughter is always bouncing, on the floor, on the couch, on the bed, outside, everywhere.  Especially when I'm trying to relax, she'll take a flying leap and land on me, like Tigger takes a flying leap and lands on Rabbit all the time.  I can see why Rabbit gets fed up with him.

Rabbit gets the brilliant but cruel idea to lead Tigger into the woods and get him lost.  This will somehow make him stop bouncing.  Piglet and Pooh come along with them.  Piglet, Pooh and Rabbit ditch Tigger but instead get themselves lost in the misty forest.  Tigger, who never gets lost, helps lead them home.

Later, Tigger takes Roo boucing through the forest and they bounce all the way up a tree.  Being a feline, Tigger can't get down from the top of the tree. Since there are no firefighters in the Hundred Acre Wood, Christopher Robin and friends come to the rescue.  Tigger swears that he will never bounce again if he is rescued.  When he comes down, he is so happy he wants to bounce, but Rabbit reminds him of his oath.  Eventually Rabbit and everyone realize that they want the happy, bouncy Tigger back.

A lot of Disney animations are based on books, but the Winnie the Pooh movies actually take place in a book.  Tigger even has a conversation with the narrator, who helps him out by tipping the book.  The characters also interact with the letters and words in the book, too.  These movies are short and perfect for young children.  We will give it an 8/10.