ItsNannerpuss Reviews

Odd Squad (2014–2022)

Something Very Odd Has Happened...

[8/10 · 15 July 2022]

Odd Squad is a great series! The humor fluctuates between silly absurdities and wit in a way that works pretty well for both adult and child viewers. Plenty of kids shows are just painful to sit through as a parent, but I'm always down for some Odd Squad. I'd say I've probably gotten more laughs out of this show than some "grown up" sitcoms. The kids enjoy the general silliness of the stories and the action/adventure/hero themes. The episodes incorporate educational elements into the story lines too, in ways that aren't overly intrusive or distracting. Most of the cast act their roles really well for their ages, and they definitely have some entertaining chemistry.

Highly recommended for parents with younger school-age kids around.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)

Long and Nonsensical

[3/10 · 12 December 2015]

This movie is entirely too long, but what really annoys me... even more than the Grinch's overacting... is the nonsensical direction the story takes.

The film attempts to tell the story of the Grinch, including a fully fleshed out back story of his childhood being emotionally damaged by the thoughtless Who children. Fair enough I suppose, except the original Grinch tale was about consumerism, and the real point of Christmas being love and family rather than gifts.

This Grinch eventually arrives at the same change of heart as the original, quoting the same lines that Christmas "came just the same," before returning the gifts. But why? None of it jives with his poor treatment by the Whos earlier on. Unlike the original Grinch who was only obsessed with the gifts, this version gives no explanation as to why he should have suddenly forgiven all of them. The entire thing feels arbitrary and ill-fitting.

Add that to the excessive runtime and the general unlikability of most of the characters, and we're left with a film that doesn't deserve a spot in the annual holiday rotation.

Parkland (2013)

Dull

[5/10 · 16 December 2013]

I left feeling unsure about what the goal of this movie was. I've seen better documentaries on TV which went much more in depth with the material. Yet being a factual reenactment, they couldn't exactly give much in the way of twists either; the viewer already knows what's going to happen. So it's either a kind of shallow documentary or the world's most predictable drama.

As other reviewers have noted, the film tries to follow several different individuals and does a pretty poor job developing any of them to a meaningful extent. It starts pretty much out of the gate with the big event, so we don't learn anyone's background, nor does it follow them more than a few days beyond the tragedy. So again, all extremely predictable to anyone who has read a book or watched a decent documentary on the topic.