Reel Critics

* EDITOR’S NOTE: The Reel Critics column features movie critiques written

by community members serving on our panel.

Show your kids some love with ‘Tigger’

“The Tigger Movie” is about the bouncing-pouncing Tigger and how he tries

to find his family. He searches everywhere, looking for his family tree.

He says it has to have stripes, just like the the ones on his coat. Will

he find his family? You’ll have to see the movie and find out.

“The Tigger Movie” is for kids around 5 and under. There are a lot of

characters that they would like. For example, Winnie the Pooh is a

character that usually doesn’t know what he’s doing. He always tries to

“think, think, think.” Younger kids would probably think that he would be

a funny character.

My favorite character is Roo. He really tries to be like Tigger and wants

him to be his older brother. Tigger teaches him “The Big Bounce.”

When Roo tries the bounce for the first time, he gets all tangeled up

with himself. But he doesn’t give up. He keeps on going, and in the end,

he comes out with something rewarding.

The music for the movie was written by Richard and Robert Sherman. They

also wrote the music and lyrics for the movie “Mary Poppins.” Some of the

songs they wrote for “The Tigger Movie” are “Round My Family Tree,” “The

Most Wonderful Thing About Tiggers” and “Your Heart Will Lead You Home.”

They were very well-written and matched the theme of the story.

“The Tigger Movie” is an adventure that any child would enjoy. Take your

kids to see it and they will feel happy knowing that they have a family

who loves and cares for them.

-- SARA SALAM, 11, is a 6th-grader at Eastbluff Elementary in

Newport Beach. She likes soccer, ballet and writing.

‘The Beach’ will annoy and repulse

Does your vision of paradise include large amounts of marijuana? If not,

then “The Beach” may not be the movie for you. If fact, the newest

Leonardo DiCaprio film will most likely annoy and repulse. Hardly the

things paradise is made of.

Richard is all you need to know. Name only, no background, it doesn’t

matter. A college-age traveler lands in Thailand, ready for adventure,

and realizes that he is just like the rest of the world, venturing far

away from home only to seek out all the comforts of home. In that case,

there really is no adventure. He meets a beautiful girl that captivates

him quickly and easily. Enter her boyfriend. He hides in his room

dejected. At that time, in true Hollywood form, a crazy man appears with

a “treasure map” promising paradise. A beautiful island, hundreds of

miles away from the fast-paced world, is the very essence of Never, Never

Land.

Here, the audience is treated to the first in a long line of disturbing

and bloody scenes. The next day our confident, but disillusioned boy

finds his crazy acquaintance dead in his blood-spattered room, the victim

of suicide.

Ignoring the fact that this is not a good sign, Richard quickly enlists

the dream girl and her boyfriend in his quest and they’re off. Paradise

is found, complete with a lifetime supply of dope. Things couldn’t be

better, they claim, so it must get worse.

DiCaprio captivated the world in “Titanic.” It was a tragic romance,

pulling at all the heartstrings. “The Beach” will also produce a physical

response -- nausea. As an alternately cocky and arrogant showoff and a

raving lunatic on an “Apocalypse Now”-ish adventure, DiCaprio looks plain

silly. His acting abilities certainly aren’t worth $20 million. “The

Beach” is almost as long as his last film, but nowhere near as absorbing.

It would be surprising to find someone who could sit still throughout the

entire movie.

“The Beach” is as bloody as a slasher movie, nearly pornographic in

nature and a complete waste of money. If Leonardo DiCaprio is the draw to

the theater, rent “Romeo and Juliet” or “Titanic.”

Please, I beg you, let my suffering save you. Then the awful experience

might have a positive effect!

--MELISSA RICHARDSON, 19, is a Costa Mesa resident and a junior at

UCI.DiCaprio film worth ticket price

“The Beach” marks the return of Leonardo DiCaprio since starring in

“Titanic.” DiCaprio joins with “Trainspotting” director Danny Boyle,

playing 20-something-year-old, Richard, exploring the allure of the Far

East through a backpacking trip.

First I must tell you that this film is nothing like the trailer. I went

to “The Beach” with my doubts. I had heard that Dean Kish’s book “The

Beach,” upon which the film is based, is incredible and full of layers,

and I was certain that the film would not live up to it.

Based on the trailer, I assumed the film would be a cross between “The

Blue Lagoon” and “Lord of the Flies.” I also expected the film to be

similar in style to “Transpotting,” with bug-eyed close-ups shot through

a fisheye lens. I was partially right and partially wrong.

Richard, in search of “something different,” takes a room in a seedy

motel, where he comes in contact with a psychotic drug-user Daffy (played

by Robert Carlysle). Daffy shares a joint with Richard and tells him an

urban legend about a mythical beach incased in cliffs and cut off from

the world. Richard shrugs it off as a wild story until the next morning

when he finds a map tacked to his door.

Richard teams up with a French couple to find the mythical beach. Richard

and his friends join a secret, secluded beach community that they find by

following the map.

The members of the community don’t have last names, but each gives a

different meaning and purpose to the success of the community. One of the

community’s main purposes is to become as self-sufficient as possible,

due to their fear of additional outsiders discovering them and their

beautiful island.

At one point Richard is effectively cast out from the group and reduced

to isolated sentry duty to protect the community’s seclusion. It is at

this point that the movie makes an abrupt turn. Richard has

hallucinations and generally acts strange.

The sudden change in the film’s tone is confusing, as there is no real

tension or sense of danger, and Richard’s odd behavior is never totally

explained. Then, just as suddenly, Richard snaps out of it and comes to

his senses, and this leads to the film’s climatic and somewhat tragic

resolution.

The end result is a heavily flawed hero that you either hate or are

extremely confused about. This may be due to DiCaprio’s interpretation of

the character or the director’s instructions.

However, the message of the film, that “paradise” is not what is around

you, but rather an attitude, and that no matter how nice the external

surroundings are, the internal condition of yourself is what makes or

breaks your “paradise” seems to get through.

The cinematography was exceptional, and the tension well-developed

(thanks to Richard’s narration, which established the sense of impending

collapse). The film location is aesthetically beautiful, which takes the

film further beyond reality, ultimately making the beach seem even more

spectacular.

At the end of the day, “The Beach” is certainly undeserving of the rather

unattractive review it’s been receiving and is worth the price of a

ticket.

--MICHELLE HANCOCK, 27, lives in Newport Beach with her husband and

works for a Costa Mesa law firm.