"Joey" is an American / West German co-production from 1985 and the language is German. This film had its 30th anniversary last year. The director and one of the writers is Roland Emmerich, still a pretty big name in Hollywood these days and this 95-minute film we have here is from his early days as a filmmaker around the age of 30. The premise and idea in this film are actually not too bad. A boy mourns over the death of his father, but somehow he keeps being able to talk to him. the reason is a strange demonic creature in the form of a dummy (with a very dark past). And if this is not enough already for 1.5 hours, there is more supernatural in here in terms of all kinds of toys who manage to keep walking around and acting on their own.
The real problem here is that this film is basically nothing more than a collage put together from snippets (in terms of plot and character) that were used in very successful films from the 10 years before this film came out. And that is why I would basically call it nothing more than a copy, but not of one movie, but about half a dozen. It lacks creativity and uniqueness entirely and if it is true that there is a film that had zero individual genius attached to it, then it is this one. Of course, every filmmaker is somewhat inspired in his creativity by the works of other artists, but this one here feels like it has no individual note attached to it at all. The good thing is that at least you can maybe somewhat enjoy it if you are not aware of or have not seen the films that this mix of fantasy, horror and family movie is shamelessly copying. I never thought Emmerich was the most creative filmmaker and sadly this work here confirms this theory. There is not really to say too much about the cast here as there are no big names attached to this movie. Lead actor Joshua Morrell, who plays the title character, never appeared in another film before or after that and maybe this was a good decision as he is not really great in here. But neither are the supporting players. All in all, this was a mediocre film at best and I give it a thumbs-down. Only worth seeing for the biggest fantasy/horror lovers, but then again these may be the ones who despise it the most. Watch something else instead.
The real problem here is that this film is basically nothing more than a collage put together from snippets (in terms of plot and character) that were used in very successful films from the 10 years before this film came out. And that is why I would basically call it nothing more than a copy, but not of one movie, but about half a dozen. It lacks creativity and uniqueness entirely and if it is true that there is a film that had zero individual genius attached to it, then it is this one. Of course, every filmmaker is somewhat inspired in his creativity by the works of other artists, but this one here feels like it has no individual note attached to it at all. The good thing is that at least you can maybe somewhat enjoy it if you are not aware of or have not seen the films that this mix of fantasy, horror and family movie is shamelessly copying. I never thought Emmerich was the most creative filmmaker and sadly this work here confirms this theory. There is not really to say too much about the cast here as there are no big names attached to this movie. Lead actor Joshua Morrell, who plays the title character, never appeared in another film before or after that and maybe this was a good decision as he is not really great in here. But neither are the supporting players. All in all, this was a mediocre film at best and I give it a thumbs-down. Only worth seeing for the biggest fantasy/horror lovers, but then again these may be the ones who despise it the most. Watch something else instead.