6/7/2023 0 Comments Slapdash kid cartoon![]() What shakes the Bellas out of their routine is nothing more than the line, “Hey, I have a crazy idea,” uttered by Aubrey (Anna Camp), who uses her dad’s military connections to book the Bellas on a USO tour. The moments of self-awareness, in which characters point out obvious setups (such as the apiary that will ruin a snooty party), don’t make the material any stronger. Instead, it’s closer to 2015’s off-key and inelegant “Pitch Perfect 2.” Despite the on-screen intelligence of Kendrick, plus a screenplay co-written by Mike White (“School of Rock”), this is a near-plotless, slapdash comedy marked by low-energy improvisation and strained slapstick. If “Pitch Perfect 3” had stuck with these notes - the sharps and flats of adult life - it might have made a poignant-comic counterpart to the sparkling original film, “Pitch Perfect” (2012). In other words, what college football traditionally is to men, a cappella is to these women: a memory of the glory days. These formerly feted stars are now underemployed as baristas, medical assistants, street buskers or, in the case of Anna Kendrick’s Beca, a music producer chafing under an abusive idiot-artiste named Pimp-Lo (Moises Arias). Jimmy, the Boy Wonder could be entertaining for bad movie devotees, but the level of cynicism evident in the creation of junk like this for children might leave some feeling depressed.A post-college malaise has settled over the a cappella group the Barden Bellas at the start of “Pitch Perfect 3,” in which the one-time singing champs discover that close harmonies and cute dance moves don’t go very far in the working world. The shoddy offhandedness of the dubbing is amazing, as characters' mouths are completely out of sync with the soundtrack, often to the point that the action has already moved on while dialogue is still being spoken. Though the songs are uniformly bad, the worst crime of all is the time-padding addition of a lengthy foreign cartoon about a boy who employs an enchanted globe and the magic of goodness to battle against an evil witch, dubbed into English with Lewis himself providing the voices for several characters. ![]() The attractive (yet matronly) Berg is naturally enthusiastic in her only known screen role, as is villain David Blight Jr., who leaps about the set in a loud plaid sports jacket with all the subtlety of the Hamburglar. Dennis Jones is the most unsuitable child performer ever forced in front of the camera, unable to sing in tune, recite his lines without mumbling, or stop fidgeting long enough for a take to be completed. Unfortunately, Jimmy, the Boy Wonder is crafted as crudely as anything from this director's oeuvre, resulting in a crass, slapdash kid pic that undoubtedly led to restlessness and boredom in children and angry parents at the box office arguing about refunds. Though its theme of magical time alteration is quizzically psychedelic in tone, the film's content is indeed suitable for children, a rarity for Lewis, who normally filled his pictures with ludicrous amounts of violence to draw audiences. Jimmy, the Boy Wonder is one of these mercenary productions, a children's musical that was financed by a producer who wanted a wholesome starring vehicle for his wife (Nancy Jo Berg) that could play the then-profitable kiddie matinee circuit. This peculiar low-budget children's musical fantasy was directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis, who was best known for horror films like Blood Feast.Īt various points in his career, exploitation director Herschell Gordon Lewis took on films for flat fees from outside interests, then washed his hands of the results. Along their journey, Jimmy and Aurora see a hot dog tree, meet some green Indians, weather a jellybean rainstorm, and enjoy a cartoon interlude. Fig is always trying to trick them with detours to Slow Motion Land and a fountain filled with Laughing Syrup. Merlin the Magician (Karl Stoeber) is outraged, and sends his daughter, Aurora (Nancy Jo Berg), to help Jimmy put the pendulum back into the Great Clock "or else time will stop for a thousand years!" They set off for The World's End to fulfill their mission, but the wicked Mr. Fig makes it so, and all over the world people freeze in their tracks. Fig (David Blight Jr.) with his wish that time would stop. It's the first day of school, and a frustrated little boy named Jimmy (Dennis Jones) rouses the magical meanie Mr. Once in every thousand years, the Great Clock of Time opens to admit the rays of the sun, and that is when it is most vulnerable, when even a simple spoken wish can stop its timing.
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