Readers Needed: No Acting Required

         Jenna has seen some English-speaking programs dubbed in Spanish, but not many foreign language translated into English.  She said she tried to watch “The Snow Queen” and wasn’t impressed.

        Last night we watched “Help, I Shrunk the Family”.  I don’t know if I had heard of it before.  Jenna has watched all the “Honey, I Shrunk the kids”, “Honey, I Blew Up the Kid” and “Honey, I Shrunk ourselves” I assumed that this was related.  It’s not.  Not Disney.  Not American.  Not English speaking – which is okay.  Everybody should have an opportunity to be entertained in his or her own tongue. 

         Apparently I’m a theatre snob.  I think I might have picked some of it up from my brother Corey.  I get bugged when the mouth and speech are not in sync.  More than that I really hate bad acting.  Though the two children who played Nelladella and Johanes seemed to have acting skills (by their facial expressions, it appeared that each was portraying a believable character) the overall reading of the script translated into English was not that great.  All read well, but only two of the English dubbed voices were convincing enough to match the expressions.  The girl who read for Nelladella was not at all believable and neither was the voice that played her dad – but I actually don’t think the guy playing the physical character of the father was all that great of an actor either – or perhaps it was poor direction.

         The over exaggeration of the hurt arm could have been enforced by the director.  I don’t know who was at fault in the scene where they are acting cold.  The kids on screen were believable as they wrapped themselves in their arms while shivering.  The actor that played the father didn’t appear to be cold but looked as though he were fighting a bad case of diarrhea.

         It was Totally kid vid. Both Jenna and I thought of “The Indian in the Cupboard” as we watched each seen when he would talk with the pocket-sized man in the beginning and at the end of the movie.

         The cover makes it appear as if the boy has shrunk the other three.  That’s not what happens.

         It was an okay movie.  I know I would have enjoyed it more if the readers had gotten in character instead of just reading the words.  Perhaps those who watch it (and understand) the language in which it’s filmed may not be as critical.  Jenna and Roland and I thought parts of it were funny.  I think my niece and nephews would enjoy it.