[Disneycember theme]
[Doug] It's Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century!
And if you think that doesn't date, it take a listen to this!
President Chelsea, Clinton.
Yep, that's the kind of on the nose writing we're gonna be dealing with here.
Well, okay, looking at this, ,aybe it's supposed to be the late 21st century that gives a bit of time, 2049!
Yeah, definitely optimism at the height of foolishness.
But, whatever, it's children's fiction.
What's the story?
Well, Zenon, a tweenage girl, lives on a space station and does all sorts of things that girl that age usually does.
Hang out with her friends, listen to bands, get in trouble, all that stuff.
But when she sees that the biggest funder of the space station seems to be up to no good,
She tries to call him out on it, but nobody believes her.
As punishment for her actions, she's grounded.
Literally, she's grounded down to Earth, which she barely remembers because she left when she was in kindergarten.
As you'd imagine, Earth and the space station are very different from one another,
and she has a hard time fitting in.
Her Aunt Judy is a little odd,
The clothes are all different, people talk different, even the food and gravity are off from what she's used to.
But slowly over time, she starts to make friends,
and they start to realize maybe all those things she was saying about the funder was true.
As those evildoers try to track her down because she has some sort of secret disc.
And ultimately, she ends up trying to save her space station, while also trying to get a dance with her favorite boy band.
Yeah, it's pretty silly.
You should probably imagine there isn't really THAT much in this for adults.
This is clearly made for a very target audience of, I don't know,
let's say five to eleven year olds.
Because of this, a lot of the storytelling
and acting is a little over the top, but I have to admit, when I was that age,
This is the kind of acting and storytelling I liked listening to.
It is exaggerated,
There are a lot of catch phrases,
But the film does try to contribute a few interesting ideas and fun environments.
The space station for example,
It's a really cool design.
I just love looking at.
I love these colors, I love these setups.
Okay, it looks a little cheap,
But, it's almost like being on Deep Space Nine except from the little kids point of view.
I always thought that became a neat idea.
But the nice thing is the fun stuff doesn't stop when she leaves the space station.
Her interactions on Earth are actually kind of interesting.
Because she's not very familiar with it,
She thinks everyone constantly has to dodge tornadoes,
and earthquakes,
and sicknesses.
And if someone grew up on a space station,
that is probably what they would assume.
They say that gravity on Earth compared to the space station is also 30 pounds heavier,
And they demonstrate this very cleverly by just having her go on this bridge
that's at an angle and they tilt the camera,
and that's a very simple way of showing it, but it's also really effective.
There's also fun contrast.
Like even though she constantly gets into trouble and can do all these cool things on the space station,
She's afraid of horses.
She's known as a risk-taker back at home, but she's terrified of trying a burger.
She even has good comebacks for these stereotypical bullies.
Seeing how people on Earth and space station is dressed different,
this one girl goes up to her and asked if she's gonna be in a freak show or dressing up for Halloween
Her response?
[Zenon] You win, it's the Halloween thing,
Now,
lend me that mask you're wearing,
and I'll have the most hideous major costume ever!
[Doug] Oh, snap!
I love that!
You think she's gonna go through the whole movie just with her head down, looking sad and stuff,
But, no!
The first insult she gets, she throws it right back!
I love that they played around with that a little bit.
But, on top of that, it has a clever way of demonstrating a very familiar lesson.
It is a fish out of water story,
and about adapting,
But, it's a kind of adapting that a lot of kids that age can understand.
It's moving from one location to another.
Where the clothes are different,
and the language is different
and tiny things you took for granted can suddenly get you in a lot of trouble.
But by adding that extra element of having it in the future and on a space station, it makes it a little bit more interesting.
It's more fun than creative,
Even if sometimes the effects are pretty laughably bad.
Come on, these were embarrassing even by the standards back then.
But while the effects don't look that great,
They do still take the time to have a character be in a moment.
While the characters
don't look like they're really there,
They feel like they're really there.
The movie takes time to just focus on their reaction,
and play some nice music and feel the environment.
And they give the same thing on Earth too,
where you can appreciate the ocean and landscapes and such.
I think this movie knows
what's gonna be fun about it is the environment.
And they let you as a kid enjoy it.
Is a cliched?
Sure.
Can the characters get annoying?
Sometimes.
But a few imaginative ideas and visuals,
mixed with even a few good performances from the boyfriend and the aunt.
Give it a nice enough atmosphere where if I was the appropriate age they were aiming for?
I would probably enjoy it.
Not much in it for adults, but I don't really think it's meant for adults.
It's meant for kids who need to learn about being out of place.
But also about accepting new ideas and new environments.
And this does have some imaginative ideas and environments.
Most adults would fall asleep, but I think most kids would have a cheesy, but fun time.