Review No.168: The Lucky One

To me Nicholas Sparks adaptations appeal to a certain demographic to which I'm not a part though The Notebook was a massive crossover hit, and featured the mighty Ryan Gosling, I've only caught parts of it though since then I've had the misfortune to watch both the dreary Dear John and The Last Song which starred the dreaded Miley Cyrus. So imagine my surprise when I actually sort of enjoyed the latest Sparks adaptation The Lucky One which starred Zac Efron as former marine Logan whose life is saved twice by the picture of an unknown blonde meaning that when he is shipped back to the States he makes it his mission to track her down and walks all the way from Colorado to Louisiana to do this accompanied only by his loyal German Shepherd dog Zeus. After a small search he tracks down Beth who runs a local kennel and whose brother Drake was in the same company as Logan however when she mistakes him for someone who wanted to apply for a job at the kennels he neglects to tell her why he's really there. Inevitably the two get close quite quickly with Logan striking up a bond with Beth's son Ben who he encourages to play the violin however this raises the ire of Ben's father Keith who is the town's local sheriff so attempts to make life hard for his new love rival. Keith eventually gets one up on Logan when he discovers that he was searching for Beth when he first came to town which in turn means that he has to confess all. As is always the way with Sparks' books this isn't the end of their story as a tragedy forces old grudges to be put on hold as torrential weather causes our characters' lives to change forever.

Let's get one thing clear right from the start The Lucky One is completely cheesy romantic tripe that I wouldn't normally like however there was a charm to the story and a believable chemistry between Efron and female lead Taylor Schilling that made the film a lot easier to watch. I think in the past the Sparks adaptations suffered from a lack of chemistry between the leads and a story that I struggled to connect with however director Scott Hicks kept things simple enough as this was just a story of two lost people coming together. Though some snootier critics may steer away from praising him here I felt that Efron gave one of his best performances to date as he has made the effort to actually get in shape and be somewhat believable as someone who is deeply troubled from what he's seen during the war though I did find his early night terrors fairly laughable. Though Efron has no problem with the romantic scenes he still needs some work on the more dramatic side of things with the big rain-soaked tragedy at the end seeing him going slightly over-the-top. Schilling is also believable as a woman who has left her life behind her to hide in the kennels following the death of her brother and the breakdown in the relationship between her and the father of her son there is also reliable support from Blythe Danner as Beth's grandmother. Some of the performances are a bit iffy with Jay R Ferguson's Keith being a bit too much of a clichéd villain and Riley Thomas Stewart being a little too annoying as Ben. Hicks, who directed the Oscar-winning Shine, has always been able to capture great visuals and he does this again with The Lucky One with Alar Kivilo's cinematography adding to the overall feel of this syrupy love story. So though The Lucky One may purport the myth that the best kind of man is the one that can look after a boat and has a loveable dog it is still an easy film to watch with a couple of believable romantic leads and lots of well-shot scenic locations.

Verdict: While it's not my usual cup of tea The Lucky One survives thanks to the chemistry between Efron and Schilling and the ability of director Hicks to create a believable love story so for those reasons it receives 6/10

Review No.148: The Lorax

Hey guys it's the summer holidays which means that it's animation time at the cinemas thankfully as Dr. Seuss adaptation The Lorax was released in the States earlier in the year I don't have to wade through a bunch of unruly school kids in order to watch it. The film sees Zac Efron give his voice to Ted an average, slightly annoying, pre-teen whose only hobby is mildly stalking attractive neighbour Audrey played by Taylor Swift. Both Ted and Audrey have grown up in Thneed-Ville a town in which everybody has to pay for air and in which no wildlife stays where the richest man in all the town Aloysius O'Hare as he's the man who has his own air empire. Audrey's one wish is to see a real tree, rather than the fake ones that O'Hare has, and as Ted wants to get lucky with her he sets off on a quest to find one so with help from his grandmother voiced by Betty White he finds out the man who can help him is the Once-Ler who lives outside the town. When Ted tracks down Ed Helms' Once-Ler he is told the story of how he was an aspiring inventor who came upon a land watched over by The Lorax, voiced by Danny DeVito who was the guardian of the trees and wildlife who he promised to look after the area in return for using the tufts of the trees to harvest his own creation the Thneed. When the Thneed becomes a popular accessory Once-Ler's family comes into mooch off him and his mother eventually convinces him to start chopping down the trees so production can go faster however in doing this he breaks his promise to The Lorax. Though Once-Ler is briefly wealthy he loses the respect and friendship of The Lorax as well as the brief attention of his family who lose interest when the last tree is cut down meanwhile a young O'Hare gets the idea to bottle the air. The Once-Ler entrusts the last remaining seed to Ted who shows it off to Audrey however O'Hare isn't going to let his empire crumble that easily and the film ends with a massive showdown in Thneed-Ville town centre.

As I'm not an American the Dr. Seuss books aren't as much a part of my childhood as they are for people on the other side of the pond so while I'm aware of The Cat in The Hat and The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, mainly from their film incarnations, I'd never heard of The Lorax up to this point. Almost straight away though you're immersed into the Dr. Seuss world of rhyming couplets and colourful characters both of which are over-shadowed by the big important environmental message. Personally I enjoyed the first ten or so minutes of the film, those that occur before Ted goes out to visit the Once-Ler, as I thought the idea of a town in which the air is sold was an interesting one however as soon as we start to hear the central story about The Lorax things become a lot less interesting. I'm aware I'm not the target market for this film and if Iwas a youngster I'd probably enjoy looking at the oddly created Lorax however Pixar managed to make an issue film that children still adored with Wall-E. Though the message of the film wants to be 'big companies should stop destroying wildlife for financial gain' for me it was 'only save the environment if you think you'll get a new girlfriend from it'. As far as the voice cast goes it was Betty White who stole the show as Ted's wild grandmother while Danny DeVito's gruff tones suited the character of The Lorax. One thing that really irked me was the poorly written songs, which again is something that Disney would do a much better job with, as they almost detracted from the action while in addition they seemed to only be there to quicken up the plot in order for the film to be as short as possible. I'm not saying I wasn't entertained by some parts of the film, including the well paced final chase, however the adaptation of the story seems to either have been lost in the additional stories or in the fact that central message is being over-egged.

Verdict: While The Lorax does have some entertaining set piece and some amusing moments it is spoilt by a heavy-handed environmental message and too many overly dull moments so for that reason I will award it 6/10