Another Stupid movie to Overreact to...

[Drtooth]

I said this in another thread.

As awful as the Oogieloves is, there are a lot of even worse, ugly, hideous, scary things out there. No denying they're freaking terrible and that no one cares to see any of those movies... but that Wizard hat and Bunny show? I'd say someone could make a creepy pasta out of it, but there's no way anyone could make that any scarier. That took several years off of my life right there.

Freakin' rabbit sounds like a serial killer with an unnatural obsession with Art Carney.

 

[robodog]

Every so often I see something that hits me the right way. Something I find so creepy that I want to see it torn to pieces. I'm a horror fan. I watch slasher movies for fun. My sketchbooks are filled with horrible monsters and blood soaked death. I don't get creeped out easily. But I've noticed that a lot of the things that push my "Kill it with fire" button are children's show characters. The Oogieloves push that button hard enough to break the console. I love monsters. The more inhuman the better. But the types of characters that stir that feeling with me just seem wrong somehow. There's something off about them. The fact that these types of things are meant to be characters beloved by children just seems all kind of wrong. A lot of the characters featured in Cracked's latest article push that button as well.
There are plenty of horror stories about children's shows gone wrong. I'm fairly certain I've already mentioned the novel Gnelfs in this very thread. Candle Cove is another example. I don't think Candle Cove would be as popular a story as it is if there wasn't some truth behind the concept. Sometimes people create something meant for children that is all kinds of creepy. If the Oogieloves were horror characters I wouldn't hate them. I'd be the first in line to see THAT movie. Because horror movies are supposed to be creepy. But take those same creatures and place them in a children's movie and that's when the true horror starts. Because the Oogieloves and characters like them look like the kinds of creatures that have something sinister beneath the surface. The kinds of creatures that would use their appearance to lure in children, take them to a secluded place, steal their souls and eat them. There were tons of jokes about Barney eating those kids ( and for a really twisted take on this idea look up the Day of the Barney series. An antifanfiction that casts Barney as an eldritch Abomination ) But Barney didn't have that layer of creepiness lurking right beneath the surface that the Oogieloves do. Barney isn't creepy. Annoying as heck, sure, but not creepy. I don't think there's anything creepier than something that's meant to be cute but is just a little off. Because these are children's characters that makes them all the creepier. We give these horrors access to the most vulnerable of our society, children. Imagining what these things might decide to do with that access, that trust, is more horrible than a thousand Slasher films.

 

[Drtooth]

Is Barney torturous to watch if you're over a certain age? Absolutely. Does it have an air of suburban smugness and a patronizing tone? It sure does. But frightening is something Barney is not.

Oogieloves look like one of those medium budget Barney Knockoff from the 90's (not quite a huge budget, but it doesn't look like it was shot in someone's basement). That's the nicest thing I can say about it. They're extremely dated looking, as I've been saying. At least with Yo Gabba Gabba, there's a touch of it being ironic (or at least that's what the hipsters that watch it with their kids think). The era of the big Barney costume is over. Puppets still fly, mainly because Sesame Street is so popular it will never die (we hope), but large, lumbering guys in cheap padded suits (i.e. not to sophistication of a movie TMNT or Dinosaurs radio controlled puppetsuit) are better suited for amusement parks and local softball team mascots. And those Oogies don't look that good.

Of course, I look at Oogieloves and just see an extreme version of everything wrong with kid's entertainment. It's what someone assumes children like. You know, the "hip" things like a character who speaks entirely in outdated slang, and some tame 1990's rap. These people either hate kids or have never seen one. This guy is a marketer. He didn't create Thomas OR the Teletubbies (the latter which was only popular ironically), he marketed them. And so, we end up with a movie that tries way too hard for kids to like it, and in the end, kids feel completely off put by it.

 

[Slackbot]

My mother and I visited my sister's family this weekend. I mentioned Oogieloves as they were flipping about on Netflix for something to watch. And...we watched it. Well, some of it. The first 15 minutes. It made me wish I had a videocamera to record their reactions ala 2G1C. They were all amazed by its dreadfulness. After 15 minutes we hit the wall and switched to Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid. I guess I'm glad for seeing a little bit of this movie and not all of it. And, heh, it was fun heckling it with the family. My 8-year-old niece, a nice little girl, was rooting for the purple character to fall out of the tree and break his costume.

 

[mimitchi33]

My mother and I visited my sister's family this weekend. I mentioned Oogieloves as they were flipping about on Netflix for something to watch. And...we watched it. Well, some of it. The first 15 minutes. It made me wish I had a videocamera to record their reactions ala 2G1C. They were all amazed by its dreadfulness. After 15 minutes we hit the wall and switched to Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid. I guess I'm glad for seeing a little bit of this movie and not all of it. And, heh, it was fun heckling it with the family. My 8-year-old niece, a nice little girl, was rooting for the purple character to fall out of the tree and break his costume.

What was their reaction to Toofie dropping his pants?
Also, I plan on watching this sometime soon, and doing a text review of it, which will be in rhyme.

 

[Drtooth]

My 8-year-old niece, a nice little girl, was rooting for the purple character to fall out of the tree and break his costume.

They created some very endearing children's characters, didn't they? No wonder this freaking thing bombed.

 

[robodog]

Can't say I blame the kid. I've been wishing death on those unholy abominations ever since I first laid eyes on them. Beings as hideous as these just should not be.

 

[mimitchi33]

While browsing the internet to see if there was anything about the sequels yet, I stumbled upon pictures of the upcoming Oogieloves plush toys mentioned on one of the links here:

As for my thoughts, Schluffy looks cuter than she did in the movie. But for the Oogieloves themselves, what's with Zoozie's outfit, eyes and hair? She looks more like Ponyo cosplaying as Zoozie than the actual character.
And now there's an Oogieloves wiki, dear lord...

 

[robodog]

For some reason they're less horrifying in plush form.

 

[D'Snowth]

I was actually thinking the same thing.

That and thinking why can't all officially licensed plush toys look that true to the original source? I mean really, I can usually point out at least one flaw with a SST or Muppet plush, such as a Big Bird beanie I recently purchased: there's too much stuffing in his beak, he looks more like Big Bird with Abelardo's beak. Cookie is almost always too bright a shade of blue than he actually is. I have a Gund Grover, and while it's pretty good, his nose is a tad too big.