Boychoir

Looking at the description of François Girard's latest film Boychoir, one would assume that it's taking some inspiration from last years indie flick Whiplash and a bit of Dead Poets Society, with perhaps some more influence from Boyhood for the title. Even one of the teaser posters is reminiscent of the Billy Elliot poster! But it would be cynical of me to just assume that Boychoir is attempting to be Oscars bait. 

Stet (Garrett Wareing) is a troubled youth who loses his mother at an early age. His father has started another relationship but hasn't let his new family know that he has a son left from his previous wife. He sends Stet to a boarding school, which so happens to be an elite music academy. Stets talent as a singer accelerates him up the ranks, allowing him to go on tours, with the strong-willed choirmaster Carvelle (Dustin Hoffman) encouraging him. However, Stet frequently finds himself alienated amongst his peers and has difficulty maintaining disciplined. This, combined with the secret his father is keeping from his new wife, proves  troubling for Stet.

As a fan of much of the talent behind Boychoir, including Dustin Hoffman obviously, it's sad that my overall reaction to the film was 'meh'. On the one hand it tries to be heart-warming with a positive message, but there's a fine line between inspirational and the stereotypical emotional pleas of Hollywood. Boychoir treads that line, and sadly, often crosses it. The troubled youth trying to fit in, striving to succeed, the role of teachers as role models etc are all themes that have been covered numerous times before, often more originally and successfully. Boychoir certainly manages to avoid many of the other cliches that follow along with this sort of film, but it fails to replace those elements with anything edgy. As such I soon lost interest in the story and only had the characters to pay attention to. Thankfully the characters, whilst far from revolutionary, are interesting enough for a light film, primarily due to the performances. 

Dustin Hoffman brings a sense of restrained emotion, as with many of his other roles, and doesn't overdo the tough-love side of Carvelle. I love Eddie Izzard as both a comedian and an actor, so it's great to see him in another dramatic role, and generally the cast is strong enough to bolster the slightly lacking story. Kathy Bates, Debra Winger and Garrett Wareing as Stet, are all very good.

Boychoir is fairly unoriginal, and lacks a drive in quite a few crucial areas. Having said that, it's still a decent light movie for a lazy Sunday afternoon, if you don't go in expecting a revelation in cinema. 

Robin Williams Tribute Month: Hook (1991)

Only Steven Spielberg could make a live action sequel to the Peter Pan tale that almost lives up to Disney's animated classic, and after viewing, it's almost impossible to imagine anybody other than Robin Williams in the leading part.

Peter Banning (Robin Williams) is a successful lawyer whose relationship with his kids, Jack (Charlie Korsmo) and Maggie (Amber Scott), is on tenterhooks due to his busy schedule and inability to see things from their perspective. The family are on their way to London so Peter can deliver a speech in honour of his wife's grandmother, Wendy Darling (Maggie Smith), who helped Peter find a family when he was an orphaned child.

However, whilst they're out for the evening, Peter's children are kidnapped by Captain Hook (Dustin Hoffman), a scheming pirate and Pan's enemy. Eventually, Tinkerbell (Julia Roberts) turns up to take Peter, who has forgotten that he is really Peter Pan, back to Neverland to beat Hook and save his children.

Written by James V. Hart (Bram Stoker's Dracula, August Rush), the film has an interesting take on the Peter Pan story arc, taking him away from Neverland and letting him grow up, so that he effectively has to start over again to prepare for his fight against Hook. Generally, it's a good script that is creative in the direction it takes the characters and never fails to amuse. However watching it back again all these year later, I would have preferred it to be a bit shorter.

This film has a great cast of actors that fill the roles very naturally. Maggie Smith may slightly overact the elderly lady gestures and tones, but she's still believable, and whilst I might find personally find Julia Roberts a bit annoying, she's great as Tinkerbell. Then there's the late Bob Hoskins, possibly the most cockney man who even lived, who makes the most perfect Smee imaginable. Though if anybody equals or even surpasses Williams in Hook, it's Hoffman as the titular character. Captain Hook's terrifying, barbarous charisma is brought to life more by Hoffman here than even Hans Conried in 1953, and he had animation to help him!

This is one of those roles that seems to fit Robin Williams perfectly. As an adult Peter, he may have grown up, but Williams' energy brings the inner Peter Pan out. His sense of humour comes through too when he's delivering all the great one-liners that are spread throughout. Though playing totally different characters, his performance here is quite reminiscent of some of his other children's films such as Jumanji and Patch Adams.

Ok, so this film certainly has it's issues, not the least of which is it's 2 Hour 20 minute running-time (for a children's movie? seriously?) but it never fails to be enjoyably childish and fun, which is what Peter Pan is all about right?