Michael's Movie Grade: B
Review: Surprisingly very fun film.
This movie may not be extremely original, but it doesn't try to be. Instead it is happy just being a fun little action/comedy and it successeds very well at that. Probably the best thing about this movie is the humor. Much of the comedy is actually laugh out loud hilarious. This is because while this movie follows many movie conventions, it makes just as much fun of them. It is a movie that never takes itself to seriously and that is its charm. Helping make this humor even better is the performances from the actors. Jack Black turns in a fantastically funny performance here. The idea of a materialistic and obsessed with herself teenage girl in Jack Black's body may sound like a joke that would get old quick but it doesn't, because Jack Black plays the part so well. He is obviously having a lot of fun playing this role and so we have a lot of fun watching him play it. This character even manages to get one of the funniest pee jokes I have seen in recent movies. Dwayne Johnson is equally great playing a somewhat stereotypical nerd that is now all the sudden in The Rock's body. Kevin Hart is a comedian, I sometimes find funny and other times unbearably obnoxious. This is one of his better roles and he delivers some good laughs. Karen Gillan is given less to work with for most of this film as she mostly plays the straight role, but she does well with what she has and in the one scene where she is allowed to shine, she sure does. Even more than just the characters themselves though, this movie has great relationships between the characters. You simply enjoy watching them interact with one another and feel that they make each other stronger.
This isn't a perfect movie though and it has some problems. One of these is a weak villain. With the tongue in cheek humor through much of this film, it seems it could have had a much more enjoyable villain that is maybe a parody of movie or video game villains. However all he delivers is nothing but blandness and one disgusting image that this film would have been better without. The world the movie takes place in sadly also seems to be just a generic fantasy world with nothing new to offer. There could have definitely been more imagination that went into this aspect. There is also that fact that before entering the game the movie doesn't seem that interesting. It is not bad per say but it almost feels like a weaker version of The Breakfast Club (still when they enter the game the movie finally gets going and this easily makes up for that fault).
From the previews this movie did not look good to me at all. So I was very pleasantly surprised by just how much fun I had watching it, and if you watch it I hope you have fun too.
-Michael J. Ruhland
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