Another Stupid movie to Overreact to...

[SuperGzilla12]

What this film did was just have people yell at characters that don't do anything and have a preprogrammed response, so if nothing happens, they sit around answering their own questions. Just like most of kid's television today.

I'll agree with you on that.

At least Blue's Clues had off-screen children awnsering the questions. And even when Barney started talking to his audience (Which was around 2002, with a few earlier cases), he was either suggesting that they follow along with what the other characters were doing, or he was just asking them casual questions - The story was never supported by audience participation.

I think it's safe to say that we can blame that awful Dora the Explorer show for the cluster of "interactive" kid's series' that are out these days.

 

[SuperGzilla12]

I just want to add something to the thread.

From somebody who saw this at the cinema (And no movie since... I really need to get on that)... good lord, you people have NO IDEA how bad these Oogielove costumes looked on the big screen.

 

[Drtooth]

I'll agree with you on that.

At least Blue's Clues had off-screen children awnsering the questions. And even when Barney started talking to his audience (Which was around 2002, with a few earlier cases), he was either suggesting that they follow along with what the other characters were doing, or he was just asking them casual questions - The story was never supported by audience participation.

I think it's safe to say that we can blame that awful Dora the Explorer show for the cluster of "interactive" kid's series' that are out these days.

Not a fan of Blue, either... but his was far more organic than Dora the Explorer. That's the one that broke kid's television. Of course, the show is supposed to be a computer game somehow, and it would have worked better as a computer game.

Still, the idea of a movie that has different sub-categories of what happens next that the audience can control, while it sounds like the coolest thing ever, was WAAAAAY too ambitious on Jim's part. I'm sure if he was still alive, we'd've seen a series of DVD's with that sort of option... maybe theme park attractions or very limited engagement films in theaters, but I don't see it being very mainstream no matter how it turned out. And I swear there were all these visions of the future stories in kids magazines about how that was going to be the norm now. I don't see anything like that catching on.

Also, I'd like to add... Rocky Horror didn't start out with people throwing toilet paper at the screen and reacting to lines. That happened after a while when some ans of the film were making fun of something that was already not taking itself seriously at all. Though I wonder if the Find the Fish segment of Monty Python's Meaning of Life had people shouting out at the theaters like the announcer told them to.

 

[dwmckim]

I dunno how Clue worked before Home video, but a choose your own adventure movie seems completely impossible when it comes to logistics.

I did see Clue in the theatre - the ending was prechosen by movie theatre, audience participation wasn't a factor.

Brilliant cast! Jane Wiedlin's cameo as a singing telegram lady was the most hilarious scene in the entire film.

 

[Drtooth]

I did see Clue in the theatre - the ending was prechosen by movie theatre, audience participation wasn't a factor.

So that basically answers my question. They had prechosen endings, so they only needed the standard amount of reels. Jim's vision wouldn't have worked unless the films were put together in a certain way and shown at specific theaters with the variations, like that film.

And then when VHS and DVD came out, the film worked even better for a home audience, correct? Jim's film could have worked on home video, but it would have been perfect for DVD or even laserdisk. He was around for laser disk, right? Yeah. Weren't Dragon's Lair, Space Ace, and the rare dubbed version of Lupin III called Cliffhanger all Laserdisk videogames? I guess that could have worked like that. As a theatrical film, no.

 

[mr3urious]

So, is this thing out on DVD yet? I'm guessing that if it was, the producers would market the ever-loving heck out of it.

 

[Slackbot]

For whatever it's worth, on Amazon you can sign up to be notified when it becomes available to order. That usually means that it is coming, but a date hasn't been announced yet.

 

[Drtooth]

So, is this thing out on DVD yet? I'm guessing that if it was, the producers would market the ever-loving heck out of it.

It's a matter of defeatism or arrogance if this thing gets marketed. Considering the marketing for the film was TWICE the budget of production, I'd say arrogance over defeatism. If this guy didn't do it under his own production company, he'd be fired in a red hot second after the first weekend box office. That's hypothetically if he didn't get laughed out of the studio for proposing an out of date looking preschool film.

I'm sure when it hits DVD, there's going to try to be a marketing blitz, but the damage is done. It will probably make up something on DVD, where it should have been in the first place.

 

[BobThePizzaBoy]

78 days since Oogust 29 and still no news about a DVD release. Let that speak volumes about this movie's quality and how it was received.

 

[newsmanfan]

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Aaaaand so the tweens don't feel left out of this thread...

Yesterday Rifftrax retweeted this wise sentiment:
For those of you being dragged by your significant other to the Twilight Marathon remember there's always @RiffTrax to help you.
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