Introduction to Rankin Bass Review of 2017

After I reviewed films for Chinese Cinema, it was some time to review what I’m interested in. It has to be a group that not many have reviewed before in its entirety. Pretty tricky to review a company’s or creator’s work that’s still pumping new films to this day. So it’ll be easier to go through a thorough search of a film group that’s mostly inactive for years, as well as something as part of majority of our childhood.

The many animated shows I had in my childhood were The Simpsons, Batman: The Animated Series, Looney Tunes, Animaniacs, South Park, Beast Wars, Pokemon, Digimon, Futurama, Popeye, 80’s Gumby, Nicktoons, and ones that’s been around in most of the time in holidays is the Rankin Bass.

For the longest time, they were entertaining in all the holidays of Easter and Christmas with memorable characters as Rudolph, Peter Cottontail, and Frosty. With the power of the internet, apparently there were a lot more specials and films they did that was rarely seen on TV and stores as Festival of Family Classics, Emperor’s New Clothing, and Mouse of Mayflower. Granted their stop-motion and animation isn’t top notch as today’s standard (compare to vector flash animated shows), but they were a little more important at the time of early TV of the 60’s and crippling time of the 70’s.

     

So from Mid-March to the rest of the year of 2017, I’m going to review all the Rankin Bass films. There’s going to a catch in reviewing them all.

First, all the non-holiday films will be reviewed in chronological order, while the holidays will be reviewed in order of the holidays. So Easter is first, as Christmas is last.

Second, most of the series will be reviewed in whole, not one episode at of time. The only exception is the Festival of Family Classics, as each of their episodes is different story as none of them are tied by the same characters. However, they’re not going to be reviewed first as their two tv shows (New Adventure of Pinocchio and Tales of the Wizard of Oz) will be a review of them later due to scavenger on each episodes available. So whatever none holiday special came first is what to start reviewing.

Third, I’m sadly including the Rankin Bass related sequels, from Frosty Returns to The Miser Brothers’ Christmas. If there’s a remake, I’ll bring them up in the original film(s) themselves as much I bring up other version of that film that exist before and after them.

Fourth, my limit of every review will be around 450 words, so my reviews are going to focus and not short. On top of that, I’m busy with life and drawing for others and even draw for this review when possible. So these reviews aren’t going to be pushed out quickly.

Fifth, most of the reviews are released when possible, while Christmas may have multiple releases since there are more than about thirty-one of them.

Sixth, I’m not reviewing the complete live-action films they did.

Seventh, I’m not reviewing the animated King and I. They may have produced the film, but the film is purely in design and writing of a Richard Rich of NEST film, not Rankin Bass. Granted, Santa Baby is different from Rankin Bass, but the company that made it wasn’t a style on their own, so that count, not King and I.

Eighth, this is my opinion. If you like those films, great.  

So sit back, and enjoy the year of Retahensid’ blogger of Rankin Bass!

           

Zone Pro Site

                                          

                                                     Zone Pro Site

Chan Hsiao Wan is the shy daughter of the late legendary Master Fly Spirit. On her way through train, she met a gourmet doctor named Yeh Ru Hai, as she traveled back to Ai-Fong at her restaurant to get away from the mafia. The Step-Mother named Ai-Fong is a fish saleswoman, and now owner of her husband’s restaurant, but trying to save it, because she lost a bet and business to Master Fly Spirit’s apprentice, Tsai. One day, she was commissioned to do catering for a wedding, but she doesn’t know how to make their specific food, so Wan insist to cook instead. Problem is she doesn’t have a plan and her dad’s cookbook she lost to a bum, so she called the Gourmet Doctor, as he as Hai coincidentally came and make great dishes, so great it became Ai-Fong’s specialty for her restaurant. Luckily, Hai knows some help to cook, as he brings up Hsia aka the Master Tiger Nose. They meet Master Tiger Nose, and tried his famous Fried Rice Noodle. They love the Fried Rice Noodle so much; they cooked it for catering a business meeting. The head of the business meet had an Anton Ego flashback (Ratatooie) after eating the Fried Rice Noodle; he suggested them to enter the National Catering Contest, and to win one million dollars. Ai-Fong spots Master Ghost Head, he tried the special, but didn’t like it as he became a threat, even as Tsai’s secret weapon. Wan’s being trained by Master Ghost Head as his taster, since the Master lost his sense of taste. Wan enters the National Catering Contest in her altered father’s chef uniform, and help of the same mafias, and an expected help. They entered the final round, but desperately needs certain ingredient to win. Will Wan’s team win the contest and million dollars to the mafia, and will the mafia drop the charge since they’re in the team?

Wan has a cute personality & appealing style, and it’s rare to have female starring fictional character to be a chef (except to Queen Latifah in Last Holiday to an extent.), despite she rarely cook compare to her step-mom, Hai, and the mafia. Majority of cooking films usually stars males mostly to follow the father’s footstep. This can be done right in films such as Julie & Julia, Food Wars (not to be confused with Restaurant Wars), and Sweeny Todd, as there’s bad example such as Fighting Foodon, and just about any reality food shows that has 95% of the interviewers and 5% actual cooking. Interesting how she doesn’t want to be a chef at first, but family traditions was in jeopardy, and she need to overcome her fear of failure to her father and fish. Hai’s a good gourmet doctor and cook. Surprisingly there’s such a thing as a Gourmet Doctor, it’s definitely refreshing than the food critics you see identically in Chopped. It’s strange that he’s cooking food opposing to Wan in the contest, but he’s a free-range doctor anyone can hire him.  The foods made in the film are very impressive, and how they’re made that I would like to try them at a nearby Tai restaurant. The film does need trimming down for how long the film is being 2 hours and twenty minutes. Probably cut some of the side characters’ scenes short, while they’re entertaining and useful, we probably don’t need moments of mugging and poker games. The mafia are probably the funniest mafias I seen in films lately, since majority of mafia are usually the boring part in any films as hand-me-downs of Godfather or Goodfellas or Fat Tony from the Simpsons. Some of the comedies are quick to the point visually that it’s funny such as the father coming out of his grave.

Overall, Zone Pro Site is a fun, delectable, and sweet kind of film we do need from the bitter dramas that’s gone oversaturated.   

                                                  

                                                    In Love We Trust (2007)

In Beijing, China, a home investor named Mei Zhu has a 5 year old daughter named Hehe, who’s being sick from cancer and has 2-3 years left to live if she doesn’t have a bone marrow transplant. She needed her ex-husband, Xiao Lu to help their daughter by any means. They tried using donating their blood, but neither is a match to save. Their only option is to be together to mate to have another kid, so they can have a matching blood from the umbilical cord to save their child. However, both Mei Zhu and Xiao Lu have their spouse, and Xiao Lu doesn’t want to cheat on his current wife, Dong Fan (actual name of a person, not a pokemon). Dong Fan was furious from Xiao Lu’s choice until she sees Hehe, and realized how important she is. Mei Zhu’s current husband, Xie Huaicai instantly accepts the condition being with Xiao Lu in order to mate to save the daughter she devoted her life to. So Mei Zhu and Xiao Lu are going through trial and errors to see if they can make another kid in order to save their present kid.

This has the combination problem as another film, the supposedly child focus in Dragon Inn that would be stronger and suspenseful, but instead we focus on the couple to have less suspense. With that said, the couples in In Love We Trust are probably more engaging than Dragon Inn’s couple. They don’t distract away from the story, as they are the core of the story. Despite Hehe barely appeared in the film, thus we couldn’t be as emotionally connected to her whether she lived or died. There’s rarely a film that stars the dying child without focusing the parent(s) or friend(s), as proven with Secret of Nimh, Christmas Carol, Balto, Halloween Tree, and to name a few. Even there was a film that has the story of the dying star child, it’ll mostly show he/ she will be fine at the end, unless they did die as we’ll tear up from how much we knew the child and invested we got. The closest film I know is Hayao Miyazaki’s Grave of the Firefly.    

If this film was fueled by emotions, this movie would be sad in theory. There’s rarely a film that made me sad to tears. There are plenty of films to give different range of emotion. There’s comedy to mostly make laughter, action to mostly make amazement, horror to rarely scare (and Tim Burton’s Mars Attack), a bad film that has horrible visuals and relies on annoyance lead to anger, and a predictably, repetitive, gray, unemotional, wooden, and slow film lead boredom. Sadly, this film is somewhere at the ladder. If this film didn’t spend too long with their slow scenes that goes nowhere. Most of the characters are having around 1 to 3 expression. Mei Zhu has the most expression of sadness, joy, and anger, which understands that her daughter’s sick, but happy to see she’s getting better, and mad that Xiao Lu isn’t trying with the sex. The Spouse has two with happy and sad, while Xiao Lu is mostly stoic. Romance by all variety (boy meets girl, girl meets boy, boy meets boy, girl meet girl, and adult version) is the least interested genre, since they’re mostly the same with them meeting, dating, breaking, or reconnecting, and often get together or apart at the end. It’s no secret that I’m mostly alone in life, not really a romantic cocky kind of man, and has some love to family, pets, and characters in certain films. In Love We Trust has good intention to have a couple to get back together in order to save a child, but with pacing issues and disconnection, this is one love and trust to pass. 

                                                       

                                                       Shanghai Triad (1995)

In 1930’s, a young boy named Shuisheng goes from England to Shanghai to his Uncle Tang as part of the criminal organization as the Triad Boss. In Shanghai, Shuisheng become a servant for a singer named Jinbao. Shuisheng could not do the “simplest” task such as lighting a match for Jinbao, so she gave him the nickname as Bumpkin (as he’ll be called that for the rest of the review). Jinbao’s life starts to get into hazard when Bumpkin’s Uncle Tang and his members were being killed off by the other criminal organization. Jinbao, Bumpkin, and Tang’s remaining member named Song get relocated into a small island with little civilians to be hidden from the public. However, as days goes by, Jinbao is not entirely safe, as the other members of those felonies get close whacking her out.

Bumpkin could be a dull example of a blank slate, but not as bad as Bella Swan from the entire Twilight Series. Yes, the viewer supposed to be in slate’s shoe, but the slate now needs a personality of their own to be interesting that to concentrated to be. When Bumpkin loses his uncle, he doesn’t react with any expression other than the same dull surprise. Jinbao is a singer with a complicated career mostly with the organization, but has retained her childhood with music she used to know. The music she knows and sing with a little girl is the original title of the film, Row to Grandma’s Bridge. Jinbao’s personality is range from calm and collective to a strict prima donna when she doesn’t get her desire. The Crime Organization is criminal organization that’s no different than typical mafia, nothing different from others. They’re kind of threatening to some of the members and Jinbao, but there’s isn’t any investment in any of the other of them. This is in common with the two terrible Baz Lurman films, Moulin Rouge and Great Gatsby; a film stars a witness to record moments with the rich icon with a chance of being killed. The difference with why this film (as well as a bunch of other films) is better than any of Baz Lurman’s film is the music is original and fit the timeline, and most of the scenes last more than five seconds. There’s other body guarding films that’s mostly close in identity. Despite this film came out three years after The Bodyguard with Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston. Shanghai Triad is an interesting take on a young bodyguard to protect a singer, but there’s got to be a better security to be passionate with to raise and take a note. 

Shower

Liu & his mentally challenged son (Erming) run a Shower Station with customers of men and rarely woman and children. Liu’s elder son, Daming has returned from a misinterpreted letter from Erming, but decided to stay around for a while. Daming is trusted to keep an eye on Liu and their daily routine from running the shower station to jogging at night, but lost him. Luckily, Erming found his way back to the Shower House in the morning. 

Daming worries that Liu was starting to lose conscious, until he died in the bath while Erming was playing his game. Daming worries what will happen to Erming on his own in the Shower House, and the business itself.

It’s rare there’s a film that’s set mostly entirely in a shower station or bath house (at least not set in a gay bathhouse. Yet there’s a listing of those films. I don’t understand how specific those films are either.). There are some side characters that may or not contribute to the characters such as Mr. Wu with his cricket fights with others (think cockfight with crickets. Crocket fight. There’s Cricket Crocket from Cricket on a Hearth?), and singer that’s friend with Erming that can only sing under a shower. They may not be important as the main characters, but they’re here to show who actually go there. In the opening scene of the film, there’s a Public Shower Room that you can go in and out, similar to a car wash for people.

This film is similar to What’s Eating Gilbert Grapes, A Simple Plan, Rain Man, etc. Where Rain Man was based on an actual person, while debatable if he can knows Poker well. Erming’s disability of living in a loop has some advantage that he can run the business on his own as he knows the formula, so he’s not entirely helpless and useless. The downside is he can’t work any other jobs and do anything new in life. It’s made worst is when he loses the bath house and his home. Daming is the straight man/ normal man that’s mostly a blank slate to observe everything. Despite the straight man to the “funny” man is usually the boring part of the film as we’re better paying attention to the funny one. I said funny loosely, because Erming isn’t completely funny yet slightly annoying, but has his own interest to be a character. There’s a flashback involving the characters’ mom, but it was shown twice, and it felt like a separated film with different setting and tone that’s barely a footnote.

Shower is an interesting film. It’s not bad that I would scrub myself hard in the shower to get the bad feeling off. While I don’t know any film I would watch while I’m bathing in a shower, pool, or spa. Though there’s a good reason why not watch a film through electrical device in a watery container. The film itself is just a relaxing film to do a cannonball in.

Raise the Red Lantern

                                              

                                                   Raise the Red Lantern

                   

                          “With blood and rage of crimson red, ripped from…”

-                                                                                                      -  Red Lantern Oath from Green Lantern.

      Oops, wrong one! I mistake the comic to the film I’m reviewing.

In the year of 1920s, a woman named Songlian has been forced to become the fourth mistress for her husband aka Master at a temple. The temple raised their red lanterns upon the fourth mistress, as her servants came. Each Mistress gets their privilege when the red lantern it lit at their part of the temple. She meets the first mistress named Yuru (the bitter, oldest one), and then the second mistress named Zhouyun (the sweet one), and barely the third mistress named Meishan (the singer). The next day, Songlian discover a locked room that Zhouyun revealed to be the Death Room. Songlian meet Feipu (son of Yuru) as he’s playing a flute. Songlian thought her servant, Yan’er stole her flute, but reveal upon searching has found a Voodoo doll of Songlian (that was secretly made by Zhouyun). Turns out Feipu has Songlian’s flute (which was her father’s), but he burned it. Songlian starts to “lose” trust in Zhouyun to the point Souglian slip Zhouyun’s ear while cutting her hair. Songlian became pregnant, as the red lanterns lit day and night all through winter, until she revealed she’s faking it to the point that the husband get furious. Souglian reveal Yan’er hidden lit red lantern as they were burnt to ashes. Songlian will soon lose everyone and her sanity.

        

           Songlian spends the majority of film stoic and cries few times. It’s partly understandable that she’s not passionate to be with a man mainly for the money at the cost of freedom, free will, and possibly her sleep with the lanterns on at night. You barely see the husband as he’s unidentifiable, unless he caught an unfocused glimpse at a distance of him. This is an unidentifiable character “mostly” done right as much as Onceler (Lorax, not the recent CGI crap), The Keys (ET), and the Hunters (Bambi). Although we do see some glimpse, it can lose the mystery of the husband, but it’s not as bad as Dr. Claw (live-action Inspector Gadget) and the humans in Alpha & Omega films.

          I don’t get into these melodrama films, mainly because they’re mostly the same with a whiny woman doing the same dating story(ies) range from having or losing a man, and she goes wee-hee happy in the end with rushed conflict, as seen in all Madea films, Mama Mia, and many bad chick flick. What set this film slightly different is the suffering onto the characters, and they’re in real pain and suffering from abuse or isolation, but that’s minor. Any other chick flick would have the main woman wouldn’t have such physical or emotional conflict, thus we wouldn’t relate to them as directors and/or writer would treat them like babies or Stepford Wives (which emotionally wise, they’re about close).   

        

          The temple is nice, and the lighting’s nice, but it gets grating as it’s the only location we’re in, which is the point for the wives. This film is incredibly slow, repetitive, and it does get interesting around the hour mark. If I was in Songlian’s massaged feet, I would go insane from the slow times in this prison. As this is a film I wouldn’t revisit for awhile.

Touch of the Light

Touch of the Light (2012)

Huang-Yu Shiang is a blind man going to a music class in college at Thailand. He’s being guided by his mom and later with his classmates. A woman, named Jie works at Coco (Thailand’s Starbuck) and goes to Dance Class taught by Shiang’s mom. One day, Jie saves Shiang from crossing the street on his own, and they slowly bond with their own goals. Shiang plays music on the piano that would lead him connecting other people and put into the contest with songs such as a remix of Flight of the Bumblebee (not to be confused with Bumble Boogie), Bach music, and As Time Goes By.

The theme is disability, mainly blindness in society and education.

This film was originally going to be a short film based on a real event, but was suggest being a feature length film. That kind of idea can work when done right. Short Stories in books with around 100 pages or less such as The Birds, Shawshank Redemption, Christmas Carols, and (I have to include this for personal reason I’ll do a review in the future after January 2017) Nightmare Before Christmas. These stories may be short, but they were expanded with additional characters that fit the story, explore questions that was asked about the book such as ”Did anyone noticed their Pumpkin King left Halloween?” or “What did they do with the victim and how he/ she escaped?” include music and/ or suspense onto the character(s), and other stuffs that helped the story better. However, there’s a bad way of expanding a short story into films such as Children of the Corn, The Last Mimzy, and recently with Batman: The Killing Joke. In fact, this film is very common with the Killing Joke. A short story that was added with a subplot on a woman (Barbara/ Batgirl and Jie) dealing with a generic life you see in a generic chick flick and an issues that barely connect to the overall story and feels like a separate film. Granted, we would like to see more substance onto the female character, but we want to see something unique from them than to be a love interest, boring, a body count, or a Sex in the City character. One thing that’s unique is a blind person in college, at least in film. 

We’ve seen blind characters in films before. Some blind characters done right such as Toph (Avatar: The Last Airbender), and to name a few, but there’s some done wrong such as Daredevil (the film, not the Netflix show), Garret (Quest For Camelot), and Neil Patrick Harris (Beastly). The kind of blind characters that was written to be blind as an after-thought, yet they have the same slight as if they weren’t blind or (in daredevil’s case) altered visually.

Shiang’s very common with Ray Charles since they’re both blind pianist. The difference is Ray became blind from trauma, got rich, had wife issue, was a singer, and appeared in films, as Shiang got blind from premature birth, won contest dishonorably from the pity of judges, and isn’t on any drugs. We can tell he’s blind as we see his point of view of seeing people as black silhouette in foggy world. The background music sounds nice to listen, and you can see the passion and effort Shiang and his friends when they help him add the remix beat into his piano work. Touch of the Light I would like to watch, but a short story it would work better to focus on.