The Mystical Adventures of Billy Owens (2008 Video) User Reviews

Fantastic Gem

[mkallevig · 1/10 · 23 March 2011]

If you're the kind of person that loves to watch terrible movies, this is a great one to get. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I swear it was made with iMovie..

You can hear the audio popping in and out, terrible sparkle effects used frequently in the movie, really horrible acting, poor sound quality in general, stupid characters, incoherent plot, and the camera angles are trash. Half the time it's a 2 minute camera view with no transitions. At times you can't see the face of who's talking. Awkward dialog... it's all so great. I'm so happy people decided to put time and effort into this trash...

It's unbelievably horrid and I enjoyed every second of it. It rivals Troll 2 in my book.

Made for youtube?

[michael-miller-495-434969 · 1/10 · 6 October 2012]

My fourth grade daughter found home-made videos on Youtube. In these videos, kids off camera hold various Barbie dolls and "act" out a "drama" they made up themselves. In all honesty, these Youtube videos are vastly more entertaining, better-acted and more professionally made than this so-called film was. This film looks like it was made by a couple of fifth-graders on a computer. The acting is terrible, the continuity is non-existent, the plot meandering and lacking anything of interest, the characters are shallow and one dimensional, the camera work is amateurish and best of all, it is a blatant rip-off of the Harry Potter franchise. This film comes complete with a boy wizard, his obnoxiously precocious female know-it-all friend, and his dull best bud. There's even a bully with blond hair.

If you are looking for a film worth watching, this is not the one. I would not even characterize this as a B movie; D or F seems more appropriate to me.

Amateurish in every respect. Not watchable.

[jodyhey · 1/10 · 8 November 2009]

Amateurish in every respect. Not watchable. This movie was a big disappointment for my wife daughter. We sat down for an evening together and ending up annoyed and feeling cheated. The movie would be useful for anyone interested in how not to make a movie. A well made movie is seamless and the viewer is not distracted while watching to wonder about he skills of those who made the movie. Conceivably a viewer might be forgiven if they thought that anyone can make a movie. This movie is a sure cure of such delusions. Just watch this and get reminded of how much effort it takes to develop a coherent plot, to have words for the characters that don't make them sound repetitious and insane and to set up shots where viewers can actually see what is going on.

Good Goda

[matwi42 · 3/10 · 29 October 2011]

It's hard to make a fun, enjoyable "bad" movie. I've seen a wide selection of b-movies, cheesy plots/writing, stiff acting, cheap effects. Some are good fun to watch. Others are painful to force yourself through without MST3K. This is one of the fun ones, filled with laughable content and easy to watch without outside riffing, one reason I gave this 3 stars.

The plot moves along nicely enough, filled with bad lines (i.e. "The strongest bond between friends is friendship"), stagnant acting from most, and topped off with Roddy Piper's accent - a mash-up of Tom Waits and Christian Bale's "Batman" voice.

Any fan of b-movies should add this to their must-see as a blatant Harry Potter knock-off with parts Narnia, parts Goonies, and parts SyFy Thor with extra cheese.

I was expecting this to be terrible

[nikkebaby · 4/10 · 14 May 2021]

But it was actually pretty ok. I mean is it a shame less harry potter rip off? Yes. But is it funny when its not supposed to be? Yes. Well it was bad but not that bad.

Terrible, but at least a little bit cute

[jessedepoy · 3/10 · 4 June 2013]

You like magic? Imagine a bored parent who writes a school play and then decides to film it with random people in their neighborhood reciting a few lines, followed by cheap effects they threw in on their PC at home. That's about the level of magic here.

When I looked this "movie" up, I was astonished to see that there is a sequel. However, considering that it appeared to have been made for free, then they shouldn't have had a hard time coming up with the money for another one. What's equally disturbing is the fact that it took no less than THREE people to write this, and yet another to work on the "screenplay".

Rowdy Roddy Piper, if you can believe it, completely outshines the rest of the cast. You can't really blame unpolished child actors for not being very good, but with any level of decent input from a director or an acting coach (even a grade-school theater teacher) you would have gotten better performances. Since everyone else seemed to just walk in and read a couple of lines, we can't assume they wanted any level of "performance".

As other reviewers pointed out, everything else about it was equally amateurish. The camera work, effects, costumes...probably all provided by the people in the movie, who hopefully didn't get paid for much of anything other than residuals from DVD rentals. As the end credits rolled, I saw that a number of the extras had the last name "Gregg." For his sake, I hope that they aren't related to Clark Gregg, the hilariously dark genius involved in Choke and Avengers, because that would be pretty embarrassing.

Still, the kids were cute, if not good actors, and I disagree with others about letting kids watch it - if they're really young, like mine, it will still entertain them, mostly because they haven't learned how to differentiate this from anything good. I'm giving this 3 stars because Roddy and the hot mom gave fairly decent performances, and the kids did better than the rest of the adults, especially with the obvious lack of any kind of training or direction. Hopefully, if they attempt any sort of careers in the performing arts, they will look back on this movie and see the need for a bit of training (any amount would be better than none) before forging ahead.

Not watchable

[watchtiger1 · 1/10 · 14 January 2011]

If I could give his a minus review I would give is a -10. Even with the synopsis I saw on my in home viewing service, I felt this was a Harry Potter rip-off. I was right to a degree.

You shouldn't watch this movie it just not tolerable. Had the acting been better it would have been something to watch.

Well this is NOT a movie/video on how NOT to make a movie as one review had stated it is one that shows you the actors should get a script long enough before the actual film date so they can be believable.

A lot of the details are filled in by voice over from the "Know-it-all" girl (Hermiony Granger rip-off from Harry Potter)but in an annoying manner. While in HP, Hermiony at least is shown to get her knowledge by reading book. This "Know-it-all" girl just seems get her facts out of thin air and though are factual they come across as annoying.

I couldn't watch it threw the end. I am glad I am not charged for each thing I watch on my in home viewing service.

This is one to skip.

This is NOT the Potter You're Looking For...

[Drakeluvr · 1/10 · 30 January 2013]

Hey! It Harry Potter! XD Oh wait... it's not! Why is that my summary and opening line? Well, I am a great fan of Harry Potter and look for movies of similar content and quality and then, well... I found this and now I just want to gouge out my eyes.

If you are a fan of Harry Potter, with the great cast of actors that actually have acting ability, please take my advice and AVOID this movie like the plague! There's no emotion in this film at all. The kid bully, and his angry face was about the only emotion I saw in this film. I take that back, this hero kid is supposed to be worried according to the narrator, but I think he's confused on looking worried, because he just looks and acts depressed, and either way, I supposed that could be counted as emotion.

The guardian is a troll, alright, I get that, since you can't have a half giant due to copyright and all of that but SURELY you can hire someone to do make up rather than purchasing some cheap dollar store mask, yes? We have the bully and he head bad guy chasing after the kid and his friends in the forest, but - oh, wait, they're just there, their not CHASING them, we'll just stand here and yell, okay? The set design in the 'spooky' cave is simply dreadful and the kids show know fear, or emotion at ALL in times of danger, and I've seen FAN videos that have done a better job than this. This is most definitely not worth the hour and a half long show. I strongly suggest giving it a pass. Now I'm going to go crawl in my bed and hopefully some REAL Harry Potter will help soothe my aching head.

I want to fight this film.

[Agent10 · 1/10 · 29 March 2022]

There is nothing in the world that really makes me angry enough to fight. I am old enough to know that violence is rarely the answer, if ever. But damn, this movie enrages every fiber of my soul.

So what is the story behind this train wreck? I can only guess that director Mark McNabb found some gullible parents that were trying to get their kids into show business. So with the help of four movies, he sought to turn the titular kids in this film into stars, starting with this horrible effort.

The plot...oh boy the plot. It veers off into so many directions that it is impossible to figure it out. Something about a scepter and wands and magic and...whatever. Then you got unconvincing bad guys who have managed to stay immortal for years despite not changing their name.

The acting was so bad I felt personally attacked. I know I stink at emoting, but goodness everyone in this movie is dreadful. I hate knocking on kids but what is a man supposed to do when forced to experience this dreck first hand?

I barely made it to the end, and I feel like I deserve a trophy. Where is my damn award Mark McNabb? Is the prize starring in one of your movies? I hope so! I wanna show these kids how to suck at acting. What was I talking about again?

What's that smell????....

[Gabelaire · 31 October 2011]

Oh, that's right, it's the smell of my brain rotting. I started watching the film with an IQ higher than the average person and somehow during the course of the film managed to lose all my ability to think and/or function right for an entire week. The acting was so horrible, it was like these people had just been randomly picked off the street by the director of the film "Excuse me sir, could you give me just maybe two hours of your time? That's all it'll take, I swear. All you'll have to do is say a few lines and don't worry about putting meaning behind the words, it's highly over-rated and we wouldn't want a half-ways descent film that people would enjoy let alone watch. What's that? Oh, you don't want to look stupid on film? OK, we'll find somebody else who's ten times worse than you are." On top of the dreadful acting, the show just seemed to go on and on and on. It never ended. The first five minutes had me wanting to go and violently hurl myself off the edge of a cliff into a shallow pool of water with jagged rocks at the bottom. I didn't even think it was possible to make me WANT to commit suicide. I didn't think it was possible that this movie could reach the level of "Slipstream" that seemed as if it was just thrown together within a matter of seconds. Well it did. It wasn't quite as bad but if you ever have seen the movie with your own two eyes you'd get the picture. Please, please I beg of you, do not let yourself or far worse your children watch this film, it will come back to haunt you and it's just plain torture to sit through an hour and a half of something this abominable. I have set a warning at the bottom of my review.(Oh and by the way this gets a zero out of ten, if it were possible I would rate it lower)

WARNING, Side affects of watching this movie may include: Insomnia, Nightmares, Hallucinations, Nausea, Vomiting, Severe Internal Hemorrhaging, Brain Decay, Diarrhea, Headaches, and a very possible state of Coma. Not meant to be watched in the presence of children age ten or younger. If such an event occurs call an ambulance immediately but by then it's probably too late. Your child has already been scarred.

Ga'll dang that was bad

[thstreetcircus · 1/10 · 19 September 2021]

What you have just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

Why do you let people ruin your name?

[brokercpa-39878 · 10/10 · 7 April 2019]

I learned about your film when it came up on my "recommend" youtube list. Not on you, but on "Bad Bad or God Bad". I don't know why they picked you, and I don't know if they asked and got your permission to use your footage. But I thought the attack on Independent filmmaker is fair. We may not have a ton of money but we made the film to show the world our story and talent. And sadly, not only some people profit from our film by attacking us, but people love seeing the blood and gave a ton of "likes"

Out of all the 120 videos they did, their attack on mine must be the worst. Because they attacked not the films but my name. Since I have a unique Chinese name, their 26,000 view video comes up when people searched me. And despite I had 300+ IMDb festival awards, people believe them. I have about 50% of my cast cancel after confirming with me. And one actress demanded me to shelf my film because she does not want to work with amateur.

I filed copyright claim with youtube and my video was taken down. But I want to give you thumbs up on your film because it deserves it.

this film gave me a goddamn migraine

[cdietrichcarr · 1/10 · 9 February 2020]

This film even made After Last Season look more competent

I wish I could give it less than a one star

[jimvandemoter-50236 · 1/10 · 18 September 2019]

It starts with a really really bad "Neverending Story" rip off and just goes down from there. I didn't think it was possible but the adults were even worse actors than the kids.

Well, that didn't take long, did it?

[Jordan_Haelend · 11 May 2014]

Even as "Eragon" rode on the, er, dragon's tale of Star Wars, so this arose from the sea to try to bank on Harry Potter. Unfortunately, you have to "best" the original material if you don't want to sink at once and be consigned to the $2.00 movie bargain bin at Wal-Mart.

"Billy Owens is turning 11. Turns out this little rapscallion was born on the 11th day of the 11th month, at 11pm no less, so it ventures to reason he has some powers of the magical variety..."

Well, with credentials like that, it's a dead certainty that he would be able to end a world war, so I suppose that the next stop for Billy is a flick in which he goes back in time and manages to do just that.

Harry Po- wait..

[slytherspell · 1/10 · 29 April 2020]

This is overall a blatant rip-off of Harry Potter. It even comes with a rip-off of each of Harry's friends; Harry's know-it-all (but in a non-annoying way) friend, Hermione Granger, and his dull pal, Ron Weasley. There's even a trio of bullies with the leader being blond. I'm a huge fan of the Harry Potter franchise and it's such an entertainment for me to see other companies make rip-offs and bootlegs of it.

In all honesty, the camera angles are wonky and makes it seem like those skits you can watch in YouTube. You can even tell that they did not use a proper movie camera. The special effects and CGI water dragon thing looked so surreal that it looks like it came fresh from the 90s (no offense). The acting is terrible and you can tell that some actors are struggling on their acting, yet the director did not even bother to cut it off and re-do it. Some of the actors' expressions shows no feelings as well (except for the bully).

Complete Garbage.

[ryrymadrid · 1/10 · 26 January 2020]

Horrible cheap rip off of Harry Potter. Everything is terrible. The acting, special effects, and one of worst stories ever written. Shame on them.

Not horrible but not good, either.

[LaoagMikey · 3/10 · 28 September 2023]

If you try to compare it to Harry Potter, you will rate it a 1 or 2. If you rate it on what it is, maybe 4 or 5. Yes, there is little story and the sets are non-existent but in exchange for that, the acting is pretty bad. Kids look at the camera sometimes. So just watch it when there is no other choice. Of, yeah, some of the dialog is overcome by music is sound effects. Don't worry, you don't really need it, anyway. Think Goonies on 10% of the budget. That's all. 126 characters to go. Why that requirement? Ok, 82 more. Almost done. 55. Will this never end? 28. Bye bye... 15.9.7.4.2 Done, finally.

Awesome movie!

[lilhook-89912 · 10/10 · 15 March 2021]

Well done for a B movie, I thoroughly enjoyed it! It was a fun play on Harry Potter and I think the acting was very good! I'm a huge Joel Hookey fan!

Fun, exciting, and overall a great time 👍

[fakfad · 9/10 · 3 February 2022]

This movie was amazing, if you're a bit older, I can see how this may upset you, but it's certainly still got a ton of charm to it! This is practically the best children's movie that attempts at going for a Harry Potter type of theme, great character development, excellent storytelling, and decent cgi for a small project such as this one. I absolutely adored this movie when I first watched it six years ago, and I'll tell you, it hasn't aged a single bit! I also recommend the sequel, I'd say I liked the that one a bit more, but I still think for any children out there that this is the perfect kids night hit!

A rare perfect film

[jagarschwartz · 10/10 · 19 November 2022]

I didnt have high expectations going into this film. I thought it be just some Harry Potter knockoff, but boy was I wrong. It took everything that made Harry Potter good and twisted it into a new unimaginable way and made it a thousand times better. This is by far Roddy's best character work. The acting is superb. The cgi is undistinguisable from reality. This film has honestly made it hard for me to watch any other movies because they pale in comparison. Shawshank Redemption made me feel nothing after watching this film. Truly a masterpiece. I want to start a petition to get billy Owen's a Oscar award. They snubbed this film over obvious political reasons and I will not stand for this.