A rich and eccentric visitor comes to stay in Scarlett's family hotel for the summer, and it quickly becomes the strangest summer any of them have ever experienced. Both for the worst and the better.
Overview
Teen chick lit isn't normally the type of book that I read, but since Maureen Johnson is a friend of John Green's, and I have found her YouTube videos on writing both amusing and insightful, I thought I'd give it a try. It's still not my favorite genre, but I liked it enough to get through the whole thing and get the sequel. However, that is probably because I'm a bit of a voyeur when it comes to functional but quirky families, which is something portrayed in this book. I liked the interactions that Scarlett had with her siblings and like, just as in many families, the siblings had their favorites, those they couldn't stand, and those they just didn't understand. It wasn't a profound book, but I got the feeling it was never meant to be, and that's fine. If you're looking for light read with humor and family drama, I'd recommend this.
Book Club (Spoilers)
I kept thinking that it was going to be revealed at the end that Mrs. Amberson was actually just some crazy mental patient escaped from the institution and that she'd somehow stolen all the money she was giving Scarlett. I was a little disappointed with the actual truth.
I laughed out loud a few times while listening to this book, but one of my favorite lines was the description of Lola's "creepy underwear sandwich."
In my personal opinion this is the best Potter book to film adaptation. The third film is still my favorite, but this one captured all of the most important parts of the 7th book, as well as being pitch perfect on the tone of both the book and the characters. Fans have often lamented than Ron's best lines from the book are given to Hermione in the film. But this was Ron at his best.
Overall, the pacing, which I feel has been the biggest problem in the last two films, was perfectly executed. I never felt things were to slow or too fast. In pacing, it's actually even better than the book, as I did feel the camping dragged on too long, but in the movie it was great character building and well integrated with excitement and suspense.
There were a couple quibbles I had with things being confusing if you hadn't read the books, but I actually saw the film with someone who had never read the books and had only seen the first film. And the only thing she said she didn't understand were the horcruxes.
Finally, the part where they chose to cut it worked surprisingly well. Many fans had been speculating they might cut it at Dobby's death but that it would be really depressing. By having Vodemort stealing the wand be the very last seen they balance that bleakness with suspense. I am eagerly looking forward to part 2.
Spoilers
Okay, so the mirror shard that Harry carries and sees what he thinks is Dumbledore's eye through, was my biggest complaint. They never explained it in any of the films and they didn't in this one either! The girl I was with who hadn't seen them probably assumed it had been explained and perhaps that's why she wasn't confused. But I knew they hadn't, so that annoyed me. But honestly I don't think it's that important. I think they could have left it out entirely. Many fans claim there's no other way to explain how Aberforth knew to send Dobby to help them. But trust me, there's always another way. But I'll reserve final judgement in the hopes they explain the mirror in part 2.
A change I loved was Hedwig saving Harry instead of simply exploding. At least she went out heroically and not trapped in a burning cage.
I also loved Dobby's speech. Only seriously maim. Golden. Some fans seem to feel it was too comedic, but I think it was just right. You can't have the entire film be dark, it would be too much. Plus, considering that we haven't seen Dobby since the second film, I think it was crucial to remind us why we love this little elf before he gets killed. Cruel, yes, but necessary to make us care.
Tangled is hands down the best film since Tarzan ended Disney's golden age. On a list of my six favorite Disney films (based solely on their stories), Tangled is my third favorite. That list is: Mulan, Lilo and Stitch, Tangled, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, and The Little Mermaid.
Like these other Disney films, Tangled has a great story, fun characters, and breathtakingly beautiful animation. There's only one snag that prevents it from being utterly perfect, a disappointing bug in an otherwise tasty porridge. No, it's not the fact that they changed the name from Rapunzel to Tangled because they thought the latter would attract more boys. Really, Disney, did Snow White, Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, or Mulan do poorly just because they had prominent female leads? Still, the name change was a minor annoyance, easily overlooked since it was overall a great film. No, there was something else that bugged me far more. But first I want to go over all the reasons why I loved it and why you should go and see it. What are you doing still reading this? Go now!
Story: The story was fantastic. I know the original Rapunzel tale pretty well, so I could spot the changes. But if I was a fairytale purist, I wouldn't like any of Disney's films. Besides, the changes made, in my opinion, worked very well. They added just enough life and detail to the story to keep up the pace and emotional depth over the course of a full length movie, while still staying close enough to the plot of the original tale. I'll elaborate more in the spoilers section. I am tempted to just do so here. I mean, if you don't know how Disney movies all end by now, then there's no hope for you. But I'll hold back. I do talk about a few specifics in the character section but nothing earth-shattering. You could figure out most of it from watching the trailer.
There was also a good balance of serious emotions and and humor, even though the trailer might indicate otherwise. It might be a little more comedic than the Disney classics, but what I liked is that even the comedic characters had serious sides. Pascal worries for Rapunzel and is her only friend. Maximus may always seem funny, but if you think about it, it's because for most of the film, he's out for Flynn's blood. Humor that involves wanting to kill or maim someone is always the best kind in my book. Same goes for the Vikings they encounter. Good tone is one of the first things I look for in a cartoon and Tangled delivers.
Characters: Rapunzel manages to be a very interesting character for a girl trapped in a tower for 18 years, which also makes her the first Disney princess to reach the age of consent before falling in love! She doesn't let being bored out of her mind make her a boring character, which is a tall order. She's had nothing to do but teach herself things like astronomy, guitar, and painting. She also has the drive and determination to question the woman she thinks is her mother, even though this is the only person she's ever known. And when the chance to escape her tower comes, Rapunzel grabs it (and hits it over the head with a frying pan). I also really related to her when she escapes from the tower. There's an excellent montage of her feeling alternately elated and morbidly guiltily which is absolutely hilarious.
Flynn is a more fleshed-out character than the traditional Disney male leads, like the princes from Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella. But he didn't have quite the character depth of Aladdin, the Beast, or Tarzan. Still, it felt like he did have a good backstory, just like they couldn't fit it in the film. He mentions it a little bit, just not as much as I would have liked. Still, he's the perfect foil to the repressed Rapunzel and the chemistry between them works very well and keeps you invested in both their characters.
Pascal, Rapunzel's chameleon sidekick, is easily on my list of top five Disney animal sidekicks: Mushu, Pascal, Sebastian, Abu, and Zazu—in that order. Pascal doesn't talk, but his expressive face says it all. He's clearly the enforcer of the group.
Maximus kinda reminded me of Phoebus's horse from The Hunchback of Notre Dame, but I still enjoyed his stalwart and honest nature that suffers no fools, particularly not thieving ones. And you have to admire a warhorse willing to pick up a sword and fight his battles himself!
Animation: The lantern festival when all the lanterns started to light easily gave me the same chills I felt when the crowds at the Imperial City bowed to Mulan, visually stunning and emotionally moving when you think about how the lanterns represent love and longing. I also think Disney's made the right decision to do the whole movie in the style of a Rocco painting. Rocco was a reaction to being freed from the oppressive rule of Louis XIV, and this movie is all about freedom. Plus, it's just a pretty and whimsical style of painting, perfect for a cartoon. I could wish that the style of the characters had been a little more organic so it would look more like the actual Rocco style. The backgrounds did feel Rocco, particularly, Rapunzel's tower. But the characters, while charming and cute, look more like the standard plasticine doll-like versions of computer animation which would have looked right at home in Toy Story. But this would be my criticism of all computer animation. Regardless, I still thoroughly enjoyed the 3D, and it fittingly emphasized the action rather than being a gimmick. It makes the lantern scene that much more magical.
The Snag...
Okay, so after all this, you're probably wonder what I possibly couldn't like about this movie. What more is there than story, characters, and amazing visuals?
Well, from most movies, nothing. But since this is a Disney musical, there's one more element. The music. This is where this movie was a big disappointment. The songs aren't bad, but they are not anywhere close to Disney standards. They were supposed to be a musical mix of 1960s rock and medieval music, which is a great idea. I love modernized medieval music. But while the first song, When Will My Life Begin, starts well with a catchy beat, it fades away in a completely incongruously mellow way that makes it feel like two different songs sewn reluctantly together. The reprise, on the contrary, ended on a very good note but left out too much of the original bouncy nature. All in all, Out There, from the Hunchback of Notre Dame remains Disney's best song about being stuck in a tower.
Plus, other then the faintest possible Irish-like hint in the acoustic beginning, I fail to hear anything medieval about either of these songs. Rather than mixing the two genres, which could have been really fun and original, it seems Alan Menken decided to do one or the other. Although, honestly, none of the songs with lyrics had any medieval flair to them. I'm also not personally a fan of story songs, and all of them, except the love song and the one one the end credits, were tied too closely to the story to be a song that you can later turn into a radio classic.
Mother Knows Best was yet another story song and too musically repetitive, once again, with no good hook, not enough variety to the sounds or build in the middle and end of the song. The whole time she's mostly talking along to music rather than singing. Which I know is actually something they sometimes did in the 60s, but I'm not a fan of it, and the tune isn't strong enough to carry a lack of singing. Plus, it doesn't sound like a 60s song; it sounds like it's from the 50s or from a not very good theater musical.
As for the love song, after several listenings determined to like it, I've managed to appreciate it a bit more than when I first heard it, but it's still nothing special. It doesn't build enough or have a powerful enough hook to make you want to sing it, and I really don't think it challenged the singer's voices enough.
I'm usually not a fan of silly songs, but I've Got a Dream was the one that I actually liked most when I first heard it because it's got the best beat, is the most melodic, the overall tone is consistent, and it is actually sung!
Don't even get me started on the flower song. Musically, it's really pretty if a bit too short. But I can't see myself singing it. It's a song about a flower!
The instrumental score is actually quite good but not so good where I noticed it the first time around (with the exception of the excellent dance music in the town) because I was too busy being disappointed in the other songs.
Finally, the end credits song is good but sorta just stolen and not made for the film, so it doesn't really count. Though, it might have been better if they'd just stolen all the songs.
This is why, sadly, Tangled does not even make the list of my top twenty favorite animated musicals. Now, this list is strictly for the music, not the stories. I like most of their stories, but not all. Tangled doesn't even make it ahead of Lilo and Stitch (not listed), who stole all their music from Elvis. And I'm not even an Elvis fan! Yes, even a few lame Disney sequels had better music. * Note that the 1st, 4th, 5th, 14th, 15th, and 16th movies are NOT even Disney films. They are often mistaken for Disney, but they are NOT.
1.)* Anastasia 2.) Mulan 3.) Tarzan 4.)* Road to El Dorado 5.)* Quest for Camelot 6.) Aladdin 7.) Beauty and the Beast 8.) The Little Mermaid 9.) The Hunchback of Notre Dame 10.) Pocahontas 11.) Hercules 12.) Lion King II13.)Toy Story II 14.)* The Prince of Egypt15.)* Thumbelina 16.)* The Swan Princess 17.) Pocahontas II18)Lion King 19.) Cinderella 20.) Sleeping Beauty
Yes, these are exactly in the order starting with my most favorite and going down from there. Yes, I am a strange person (more evident at the later ones--the first few are pretty standard). But hopefully this gives you an idea of my musical taste so you have something by which to gage my opinion.
Spoilers
Notable differences between this and the original tale:
The whole sun drop turning into a magic flower was completely Disney, but I liked it. Actually far more epic than the original lettuce that Rapunzel is named after.
They reversed Rapunzel and Flynn's social statuses. In the original story Rapunzel, is a commoner, and the man who saves her is a prince. But I was fine with Rapunzel being the lost princess. I know how Disney loves its princesses.
Mother Gothel isn't actually using Rapunzel for any magic in the original tale. She just wants a child to love. Which actually makes her evilness rather more ambiguous. Sure, kidnapping and dropping the prince from the tower was wrong, but otherwise Gothel is more the archetypical over-protecive parent than evil stepmother. I actually wished Disney had played this up more, but I realize Disney villains rarely have that kind of nuance. I didn't feel they played up her evil nature enough either. I wish there had been more hints that she didn't really love Rapunzel. I don't think her constantly making fun of her really cut it because some parents do that. It makes them bad parents, but at Gothel's level, it wasn't even really verbal abuse. It easily could have just been someone who was too selfish to know better.
The prince gets his eyes gouged out falling from the tower into a bunch of thorns, but Flynn just gets stabbed.
In the original, Gothel cuts Rapunzel's hair but here obviously she couldn't because then it would be useless to her.
Rapunzel's tears do actually heal the prince in the original, but I really wish it had been her hair in this one since it was healing hair and the whole time I thought: “This is perfect because she could use her hair to heal Flynn when his eyes get gouged.” I always thought the tear thing was cheesy in the fairytale. But at least Disney didn't have to change it for a happy ending. The prince always lived at the end of Rapunzel. Interestingly enough, the witch doesn't die in any version I've ever read. The closest she comes is getting stuck in the tower.
Rapunzel has twin babies by the prince in the original. In some it's even how Gothel figures out what's happened. Then Rapunzel wanders the desert for years with her babies until she finds the blinded prince. But I get why they didn't want to explain that to the kiddies.
Moose's life seems to be going better. His sister's finally in the school she needs, his mother spends more time with him, and his friend Scout can finally come to Alcatraz to play ball with him. But the reason Moose's sister got into school was Al Capone, and now it seems like Moose may have to pay the piper.
Overview(No spoilers)
Choldenko's gift of narration and Moose's character kept me turning the pages. I did want to know what happened next. There was everything you needed for excitement--real peril and dastardly plots. However, I didn't get as much character development in this book as I was hoping. Perhaps the author plans to write more books because it made me feel like it was a coming of age story that didn't quite come of age.
6/10 stars * * * * * *
Book Club(Spoilers)
I still hated Piper's character at the end of this book and was annoyed with Moose for being attracted to her in spite of her obnoxious behavior. I don't care if she was having a hard time because of her mother's pregnancy. Maybe if she had been nice in the first book and this marked a change in her character, but she was the same in the first book, so she's just a horrible, selfish person in good times and bad. I also didn't quite get or believe Al Capone could be involved with getting Moose's sister into school and even though there was a jail break on Alcatraz, the children's involvement seemed far-fetched.
However, in spite of these complaints, I would read another of these books because it could simply be that the story isn't finished yet, and I would still love to see how Moose's story continues.
Jason wakes up not remembering who he is, where he is, or how he got there. Unfortunately, the monsters chasing him aren't very considerate of his amnesia. He and his new friends Piper and Leo are soon drawn into a world of ancient Greek gods and beasts of legend. They seek refuge at Camp Half Blood where they discover their godly parents and meet others like them. But the oldest and darkest power is rising, and even the heroes of Camp Half Blood won't be enough to fend it off. Could Jason be the key to finding the help they need, or will he be the instigator of war?
Overview (No Spoilers)
I LOVED this book! It has a slightly more serious tone than the Percy Jackson series. In some ways, I thought of it as American Gods for kids except a whole lot less depressing! This is not just because it's about gods but because it's about how gods need people. There's still plenty of humor, however, and it's just as action-packed as all of Riordan's previous books. My sister likes to say they're about to die on every page, and I'd have to agree with her. I also loved all of the characters almost instantly which is pretty rare for me with any book. For an amnesiac Jason is quite interesting. Probably helps that he has fragmentary memory and that even the reader doesn't know who he was before, so we're not shouting at him the whole time to stop being so stupid. We want to discover his past as much as him and are just as baffled by it.
I also loved both Piper and Leo, which I'll go into more in the spoiler's section. But it's not a spoiler to say that Leo reminded me a bit of Marco, my favorite character from the Animorphs (another excellent YA series). They're both, small, funny, and snarky with troubled pasts that make you just want to hug them, and they're both overshadowed a bit by their best friends, but they still transcend the average role of sidekick to be heroes in their own right. It also helps that the story is told from all three points of view. That's also probably what made it so long but hard to mind the length when it's such a page-turner. The chemistry among the three heroes as also so much fun to read! They're the perfect ensemble.
9/10 Stars* * * * * * * * *
Book Club (Spoilers)
One star deducted because he suggested a love-triangle at the end, and I am firmly team Piper. But the jury's still out on that. Riordan has written one of the few, if not only, tolerable love triangles before. He may yet do it again.
It was great that Leo was actually the only one of the three whose godly parent I guessed before they got to Camp Half Blood. In the Percy Jackson books I could pretty much always guess so he's getting better at being mysterious even if you do know the gods. Even though Jason showed he could fly early on that didn't tip me off that his father was Zeus because Thalia never showed any ability (or inclination) at flight. The lightning didn't tip me off either first because I wasn't even thinking Zeus would have another kid since he'd promised not to. Silly me. I even thought it was possible Jason didn't have a godly parent because of all the Roman stuff which baffled me pretty much until the end of the book and it's all still pretty mysterious. I thought he might be something other than a half-blood but clearly I was wrong about that.
I thought it might be Piper's dad who was the god after all because I couldn't think of anyone who fit her ability to talk people into things except for Hermes. But again I was stunned to find her mother was Aphrodite! Yet it made perfect sense even though Piper's the farthest from what one would expect of a child of Aphrodite. Even her beauty didn't tip me off since it was sch a natural beauty and you do always think about magic causing unnatural beauty (like Barbie girl beauty). I loved what he did with this fact, too, showing an entirely more formidable and admirable side to Aphrodite's powers.
I also loved that she had named her zit Bob.
Riordan's use of actual facts are very satisfying as well. I loved that when I looked up Jack London and Wolf House all the things Riordan said were actually true, or even better, were real life mysteries that are solved in his fantasy world. London, for instance, grew up thinking that a man named William Chaney was his father, but when he wrote to Chaney as an adult, the man vehemently denied the relation. Now, in the real world Chaney's accusation that London's mother slept around was either true or he was a deadbeat (or both). But it's more fun to think that London actually was the son of Mercury.
I didn't quite believe they would leave the burnt ruins of London's house on a national park but that's true too!
I liked the end of this book a lot but, of course, this is going to be a whole series so I'm not sure about the second one. On one hand I hadn't even guessed Percy might be with the Romans until the end which is another one of those impressively obvious things. On the other hand, I'm not sure I'm looking forward to an amnesiac Percy since that could get annoying. But if anyone can do it well, it would be Riordan.
After her mother is murdered by her own village, Makenna runs away and only survives by making the unlikeliest of friends--goblins. She renounces her humanity and defends the goblins against people, but soon a plot to destroy them all forces her to accept the aid of a human knight and find a gateway into another world.
Overview (No Spoilers)
I actually owned this book for quite some time, but I didn't read it until recently because goblins aren't really my thing and the cover wasn't that prepossessing. It made me think the story was just some little girl wandering into the woods and meeting plucky goblin friends. But when I got an advanced reader's copy of the sequel, The Goblin Gate, at the library conference back in June, my sister read them both and loved them. Since we usually have similar taste I figured I'd finally give it a chance and I loved it too. The characters have so much mettle from the very first page that I immediately liked them all. Independent, determined, Makenna and her devious but faithful goblin companion, Cogswhallop. I also felt Tobin the knight's perspective of Makenna, the feared sorceress, added a depth to the story that we would not have otherwise had. It's a morally confusing but satisfying mix of rooting both for and against the main characters when they find themselves pitted against each other and having to decide what they truly believe is right.
Another thing I loved about the story was the moral ambiguity in general. The characters struggle throughout, never quite knowing if what they're doing is right, even at the very end. We see both sides are fighting to survive. Is one any more justified than the other? The question's never really answered in this book, but I still loved the characters enough not to care if they were always morally right. I liked the fact that they questioned themselves, but there's never any convenient or easy answer--just like in life.
The sequel, The Goblin Gate officially came out just this month, but since I already read that, I must now eagerly await the third book, The Goblin War, which does not yet even have a publication date. I guess that's the only downside to advanced readers copies, now I must wait even longer for the next one!
8/10 stars * * * * * * * *
Book Club (Spoilers)
In the beginning it was Makenna's vengeance on her former town that cemented how I related to her. I know if I had seen someone I loved murdered by villagers she had helped all her life, I too would have wanted to flood the town. I probably would have wanted to do worse, but what she did is clever and so human. We mostly acknowledge that our desires for vengeance are often wrong or won't really solve anything, but almost all of us feel it. I always prefer a flawed protagonist to one who always does the "right thing."
I was also surprised to find that I didn't mind so much that the attraction between Makenna and Tobin never fully blossomed into romance. Although, one can interpret Tobin's actions at the end to be largely based on how he feels about Makenna--they're still also based on the love he develops for the goblin people.
Moose Flanagan always does what he's told. He takes care of his sister, who has autism in the 1930s before science really understood this condition. He moves with his family, who must live on the famous prison island, Alcatraz, so his father can work as a guard there. He even gives up his beloved baseball when he has to take care of his sister instead. But Piper, the Warden's daughter, is a trouble-maker who can even get the obedient Moose in trouble. Even more shocking, is when the heretofore straight-and-narrow Moose finally finds something worth risking everything.
Overview (No Spoilers)
What I liked most about this book was that it wasn't depressing, in spite of the subject matter. It would be so easy to make a Depression era story taking place on Alcatraz with a boy who must care for his severely autistic sister a sob-fest. At the same time, it's also not unrealistically cheerful. It's the mark of good writer that Gennifer Choldenko managed to perfectly balance darkness with humor and light.
It's easy to relate to Moose's problems. Perhaps none of us live them to the extreme of Moose, but many people feel overshadowed at some point in their lives, like Moose does by the needs of his sister. Having to move to Alcatraz and away from everything he's ever known also taps into the lack of control that the majority of children (and even some adults) have over their lives, which makes this a fitting youth book--not surprising that it won the Newbery.
Yet, in spite of his relatibility, Moose is not a tabula rosa by any means. Instead, he feels like a friend walking you through his world, and I was glad that he shared it with me.
I was also pleased to find out this book has a sequel called Al Capone Shines My Shoes, and I look forward to reading it.
7/10 stars * * * * * * *
Book Club (Spoilers)
The amount that I liked Moose is on par with the amount I hated Piper. A spoiled, selfish, and insensitive little rich girl with no redeeming qualities who inexplicably is nice at the end but I still think she wanted something. I hope she and Moose don't end up together. I would like Moose's sensibleness to win over his growing hormones. He was only twelve in this book, so it wasn't played up much, but it was unmistakable that there was an attraction that baffles even Moose himself who simultaneously cannot stand Piper. So I suppose that you're supposed to hate Piper just like Moose does. But I think I hated her more. I am firmly on team Annie. I'd love to see Annie and Moose end up together. Unfortunately, I doubt that will actually happen in the sequel, if he ends up with either one, it'll probably be Piper, so I just hope Choldenko redeems her character somehow.
I was a little bored by the scene where Moose actually plays baseball, but since I liked his character so much, I was sad for him when he couldn't play. The pain and frustration of having something like that promised and ripped away is another thing I think many people can relate to.
I liked the end but it felt unresolved. What did happen with 105? Why was the warden at the dock to meet Piper? Seems strange that it would just be about grades. My theory was that Al Capone never got Moose's letter but the warden did and he managed to get Moose's sister in that school but let Moose believe it was Capone by leaving a note in his shirt. Maybe that's too crazy, but the idea that Capone could do anything from Alcatraz was the only unrealistic thing I found in the story. So I'm interested to see how the sequel resolves these issues.
