#96 - Alien From L.A.

It finally arrived, and we were so excited that we watched it twice. I'm not joking, I'm being serious. One of the rules was that we had to have no distractions when we watched the movies, or else it wouldn't really mean anything. Christie came over, but brought her two munchkins with her (4 and 6), so when we tried to watch the movie, we really weren't into it much. Her 6 year old didn't like the music very much, so we were a little worried about her there, and her 4 year old loved the movie so much he was asking questions every 15 seconds about it. Then, there was the fact that I fell asleep for 10-15 minutes of it, and my sister came to visit at some point during the movie. So, at about 75% through the movie, we shut it off, and decided to try again another day.

That other day happened to be the following evening, and Christie complained that she hadn't fallen asleep the first time and had paid attention. Complain all she wants, she had to watch all 90 minutes of it the second time around. Her question asking 4 year old joined us again for round 2, and honestly, he made the movie more interesting.

So, the story is about a girl that goes by the name of Wanda Saknussemm played by model Kathy Ireland who can't pronounce Saknussemm. Wanda is girl who wears really big glasses and wears baggy clothes which apparently makes her ugly. She fears any kind of adventure (she is scared to fly and gets car sick, so no trips for her), and let's not forget her annoying voice. Why oh why did they have to give her that annoying voice (I sure hope for her it wasn't her real voice). To me, it would seem pretty basic that you would want your main character to be at least somewhat likeable to have a successful story.

Apparently, this is supposed to be some sort of spoof about Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth. To be honest, it seems to have more links to The Wizard of Oz, including Wanda stating that she's no longer in Kansas after falling down a very deep hole.

So, our flying fearing heroine goes to Africa to find her father she hasn't seen in 10 years. She flies there during a storm in what appears to be a small cargo plane. Heck, if I was scared of flying, and going from Los Angeles to Africa (not sure where in Africa) I wouldn't go by a big commercial jumbo jet, no, I would go by this sketchy looking plane instead. Brilliant!

Down the rabbit hole she goes, and into the long lost city of Atlantis where her father is held prisoner. The fun starts as we start to realize that the same actors are being used for multiple roles in the movie. Now, this would be fine if they were parallel roles from one world to the next, but they aren't. I mean, one guys plays the cook where Wanda works, and the supreme decision maker in Atlantis. Huh? Oh, and he also plays a bartender which neither Christie, nor I picked up on that. Some play as many as four characters. One actor (Janet Du Plessis) actually plays two important characters, and while one could see the reasoning for those two characters being played by the same actor, she also plays a minor role as a claims officer. Again, huh?

The music in this movie is just awful. There are tons of chase scenes, and sometimes the characters stop and they have a "moment". I can buy that if the music would keep you in tense mood, but no, it goes all soft and lovey dovey. Yes, the pace is that bad. Plus, add in Christie's own pet peeve of weird misplaced camera angles, and you have a movie where you have no idea what you're supposed to be feeling... especially when you don't know if you like the annoying talking heroine.

Overall, the movie is watchable and would have been a decent film had they not made Wanda so annoying, and had they had money to cast more actors.

IMDb Rating: 2.5

JF's Rating: 4 (I rate it just above Police Academy 7)
Christie's Rating: 4 (She rates it just bellow Police Academy 7)

Turn off point: Once again, there were no point during this movie where we were clawing our eyes out and wanted to run out of the room. It's the type of movie that while annoyed at it's badness, you just want to see it through.

Already having access to Kazaam, we will be on track next time... joys!