Benny Loves You

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In case you haven’t seen the intro from my entry dated 1/26/19 (it’s in my archives whenever you want to read it), I’m no longer going to review every single movie I see.  I’m going to review one, with the occasional bonus, and just give ratings for the rest from now on (unless I decide to pick it up again in the future).  You can always ask me why I gave the ratings for the films without reviews though (via comments or the e-mail addresses under the ‘About Me’ section).

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Benny Loves You                                                         EH

I was interested in this film the minute I heard it involved a killer toy.  I hate when movies end up not being as good as you anticipate, which is the majority of movies nowadays, unfortunately.  The only way you know if they’re any good though is to watch them, and I do still like being surprised with a good film I haven’t seen before.  Anyway, the killer toy in question is a teddy bear, although it looks more like a cross between a shaggy-eared dog and Elmo, named (wait for it…) Benny that somehow comes to life after its 35-year-old owner puts it aside for trash.  Don’t expect an explanation for the stuffed toy becoming sentient, because all that happens is a bunch of fog suddenly appears.  Now, I can overlook certain logic in a movie about a killer stuffed animal if it was actually fun.  Was this fun?  Honestly, not really (I think I may have laughed just one time).  This film was definitely inane, but it simultaneously tried being somewhat serious and the contrasting tones just didn’t work for me.  There is violence, yes, but violence does not always make a movie good, especially if it’s not notable (like here).  I thought it was over a half-hour before it was and I wished it was over; I couldn’t wait for it to be over (needless to say, that’s never a good sign).  The beginning was fine, featuring a spoiled little girl getting exactly what she deserved after throwing her teddy bear out (it wasn’t quite like the beginning of Dolls from 1987 though).  Perhaps this story may have worked better as a short…I don’t know.  Sorry Benny, I can’t say I love you…9/13/2021

Bonus review:

He’s All That                                                               EH

I re-watched She’s All That before watching this remake available on Netflix.  I remember when She’s All That just came out.  I mean, it was only 22 years ago (!) and I was nearing the end of high school.  Now, She’s All That isn’t even (ahem) all that in regards to teen movies, as well as movies in general (now and from when I first remember watching it; the Nineties was arguably the last decade for fun, or at least memorable, teen movies though).  This remake obviously switches genders and makes me wonder if another remake made 22 years from now would be called They’re All That, featuring a trans character, even though that would’ve arguably been more modern now.  Anyway, this is the same movie with different performers (I counted at least two cameos from stars of the original; I think there was a brief nod to Pretty in Pink too).  I mean, sure, besides the obvious difference being that popular girls instead of guys making a bet one can transform an unpopular boy instead of a girl into prom king instead of queen, there are some differences---cell phones weren’t big back in the Millennium era like they are now, not everyone is heterosexual now (or at least they’re more open about it), and there are horses in this one (I don’t remember any of those in the first one).  Oh, and the cost of losing the bet is different here too.  Since I wasn’t too big a fan of She’s All That, I wasn’t exactly a fan of this one either (this one felt a bit sappier too).  Normally the biggest argument against remakes is that the original didn’t need improving, so perhaps improvement could’ve worked here considering the first one wasn’t that great, but there really isn’t much to the story to change other than the obvious ones (i.e. the gender-switch).  Normally I would tell modern audiences to check out the original film over its remake, or at least first, but I’m not too fond of either version here.  If anything, I would just say to check out She’s All That to appreciate the era it came from, but, even then, there are better teen movies to check out from that decade and in general.  9/9/2021

Other movies I've seen and their ratings (see above):

Await the Dawn  >>>EH/OK

The Girl Who Got Away  >>>EH

Mekko  >>>EH

Prey (2021)  >>>OK

   (Netflix; In German with subtitles)

Welcome to the Circle   >>>EH/OK

Witches in the Woods  >>>EH/OK

---Sean O.

9/14/2021