Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps

[handful_ofdust]

...you may wonder what's been going on, chez Files-and-Barringer. So:

Had Christmas Eve and Day with Mom. Took Cal to his very first-ever movie in a theatre, and that went amazingly well...so much better than I'd ever dreamed it would. Helped that there were three people he could move around between, that we bought him popcorn as a distraction, and that the place was not exactly full up with kids who were just as excited as he was. Also, turns out that The Princess and the Frog is A) really good and B) has a musical number roughly ever five to ten minutes: Excellent. So that's a keeper, once it's out on DVD.

Later, we returned on our own to see Sherlock Holmes, which I liked a heck of a lot. It's more faithful than you might think, and entirely engaging. Worth more of a review, too, but not right now.

Next day: Slight shopping, illness, Cal decompressing. Today: Barringers faux-Christmas. More reading Sunburst awards books; I sorted the first load yesterday, separating out maybe six which proved unreadable/deadly boring, then compiling a "Read Now" and "Read Later" pile. First up was Megan Crewe's Give up the Ghost, which proved less fun than Sarah Rees Brennan's in-five-minutes version of the same--but then, most things do. Her version of The Magicians and Mrs. Quent was fairly hilarious as well, and made me long for her to do one of A Book..., not that that's ever likely to happen--though my interests and hers do seem to intersect, overall, there is that little "heinous lack of awesome ladies" problem to consider.

And--that's it. Gotta go catch a train. Back tonight, maybe with a list of prezzies and such.

Comments

[sovay]

Files-and-Barringer

You sound like a model of revolver.

Also, turns out that The Princess and the Frog is A) really good and B) has a musical number roughly ever five to ten minutes: Excellent. So that's a keeper, once it's out on DVD.

Glad to hear it! Will there be a fuller review forthcoming?

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

The set-up: Tiana is a hard-working young woman who dreams of opening a restaurant in 1920s New Orleans; Naveen is the prince of a tiny fantasy country, recently cut off without a cent for being shiftless and self-infatuated. Since his only marketable skills are good looks and playing the ukelele, he's come to New Orleans to find a rich girl to marry, and battens on Tiana's silly but kind-hearted friend Charlotte, for whom Tiana's mother Eudora used to make hundreds of princess dresses.

Before Naveen turns up at the Mardi Gras masquerade party Charlotte's doting Big Daddy usually throws, however, he and his put-upon valet Laurence visit Doctor Facilier, a wily street magician who promises to tell Naveen's fortune. Said fortune, briefly: Facilier will steal Naveen's blood and use it to turn Laurence into a facsimile of Naveen, who will then marry Charlotte and turn control of N'Orleans over to Facilier and his "friends on the other side", while Naveen...ends up being turned into a frog.

At the party, Tiana ruins her dress and Charlotte lends her one of hers. Naveen therefore mistakes Tiana for "a princess", and inveigles her into kissing his slimy countenance by promising to give her money he doesn't have to open her restaurant. Unfortunately, this backfires, turning them both into frogs. Cue the running/hopping, the being chased through the bayou, discovering they can talk to other animals (horn-playing 'gators, Cajun fireflies), the quest for a less shady type of voodoo priestess to turn them back, spatting, flirting, self-discovery, etc.

The humor is character-based and seductively warm, the historical realities not particularly glossed over, and everybody has both their faults and their virtues. People have complained about Facilier's "friends"--characterized as African tribal spirit masks--behaving as though they're classic Satan-sent demons, in that he has obviously hocked his soul to them for power and they are itching to collect. I would venture that this is Facilier's misinterpretation, since that may be the Baptist background he comes from preventing him from seeing them in any other way; they seems more powerful and ruthless than inherently malign, to me. Same with Mama Odie's gospel-influenced song--does it make her "Christian"? She seems more like a classic gentle trickster to me, trying to get Naveen and Tiana to look past their own immediate desires to find their actual needs. Etc.

One way or the other: Love the design, love the music (it's fashionable to shit on Randy Newman for being a presumin' old white dude, but I'll point out that he does have family connection in New Orleans and did live there for a time), love the overall production, love it. See it in the theatre, if you can.

[sovay]

The humor is character-based and seductively warm, the historical realities not particularly glossed over, and everybody has both their faults and their virtues.

Cool!

I would venture that this is Facilier's misinterpretation, since that may be the Baptist background he comes from preventing him from seeing them in any other way; they seems more powerful and ruthless than inherently malign, to me.

I had a description of this character from fleurdelis28 that made him sound like someone who really wanted to be Baron Samedi, but was obviously outclassed by the beings he was working for.

See it in the theatre, if you can.

I have no money, but I'll see what I can do . . .

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

Good description of Facilier! Then again, his name does sort of imply "taking the easy way out", generally...