 |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| The Entertainment Review |
| Genre: Fantasy Director: Wilson Coneybeare |
There are times that people will watch a film and not be able to make it through the entire films, others are difficult to make it through the
opening credits. Sadly, “Gooby” is a film that makes it difficult for viewers to sit through. It is a wonder how a film like “Gooby” gets
released. From the exhausted viewpoint of an adult, it is a grim fable of a child growing up and leaving his fantasy world behind,
growing to love his checked-out parents. Kids might be amused by the films central story line, a five foot tall stuffed animal that comes
to life, but then kids occasionally lick windows for fun sometimes as well.
Willy Dandridge, played by Matthew Knight, has problems, his parents are Type A business people with no time for him, they are moving
to a big fancy house and away from his only safe space that he knows of. On top of all this, he constantly hallucinates about monsters
and space aliens and he is about 13 years old. However, never fear, because Willy’s childhood toy, an orange stuffed teddy bear,
actually a monster, is about to grow into a human sized somewhat Scottish monster voiced by Robbie Coltrane. Gooby has been sent
to protect Willy as he begins to adjust to a new school that houses new bullies and a new teacher played by Eugene Levy that is named,
and this isn’t a joke though it will sound like it, Mr. Nerdlinger.
As a cut rate “E.T.” that has been released thirty years too late, “Gooby” is basically a real bust. Knight does an admirable job with a
hopeless character; however there is no basis in reality for this adolescent with an overactive imagination. There is only one point in the
movie that he imagines aliens, but his fascination with space aliens isn’t given the proper grounding in emotional or chemical
distress. It just seems weird when all of this comes from a child between childhood and their teenage years. Willy’s barely written,
character lacking parents demonstrate some believability as absentees, that is, there characters are cardboard and Eugene Levy as Mr.
Nerdlinger has refined his furious goon persona in such a way that it makes it extremely uninteresting for the viewer.
Along with the really awkward characters, there is a really slow pacing, with very few jokes and a bunch of musical montages as Gooby
and Willy race around inside grocery stores and such, always being chased by Mr. Nerdlinger, and viewers have got all of the wonder
and humor of an advertisement for Snuggle Fabric Softener, all of which has been drawn out to a feature length film. Scenes featuring
Gooby settling into his new digs in a backyard shed show a little bit of potential, but for what is unclear, as Wilson Coneybeare, the
writer and director of the film, seems content to offer out an average plot just to get a feature film, with a huge cast and crew, on the
screen. A small unenthusiastic threat in an abandoned building serves to root out a reason for dad to be so emotionally distant, and
when Willy realizes what he has to do to figure out Gooby, sensitive parents may feel a bit of a tug at their heartstrings. However, at the
same time their young five year old children may begin crying at the exact same scene, but what do children really know? Still, Gooby is
basically a big and fuzzy inanimate object that doesn’t offer much to its viewers.
The overall production quality of the film offers colors that are naturalistically bland, the images are relatively clear but not terribly sharp,
and aliasing crops up a lot, as well as motion blur during those riotous chase scenes in the grocery store involving Willy, Gooby and Mr.
Nerdlinger. The audio in the film is nothing terrible, but there is a bit of an issue with it, mainly the dialog levels continually fluctuating. It
is because of this that a lot of seemingly unintentional whispery dialog competes with the over used and heavily over scored children
based soundtrack that seems to show up in many films of this type, but end up being more popular to the younger viewer.
Going into watching “Gooby,” many people will think that they will be getting a certain type of film but will be sorely disappointed with the
product that they watch. Viewers will get the substandard story about a kid that needs to get a fake friend in order to deal with reality.
Gooby may have has enough laughter and wonder for the viewers that are aged eight years or younger, but only if those kids are
extremely sheltered in life from their parents and can make a connection with Willy in the film. The film has a lot of heart and a decent
message for children to understand, but it cloaks those virtues in a vast amount of orange fur in the form of a giant teddy bear monster
thing. This tedious fable cements it into the line of films that can be skipped. Also, Eugene Levy casted as the role of Mr. Nerdlinger
doesn’t help the movie out in any way at all. Again, this is the type of a film that children are able to understand, but for any other group
of viewers aren’t going to be able to make it through the first half of the film, let alone the entire film.
opening credits. Sadly, “Gooby” is a film that makes it difficult for viewers to sit through. It is a wonder how a film like “Gooby” gets
released. From the exhausted viewpoint of an adult, it is a grim fable of a child growing up and leaving his fantasy world behind,
growing to love his checked-out parents. Kids might be amused by the films central story line, a five foot tall stuffed animal that comes
to life, but then kids occasionally lick windows for fun sometimes as well.
Willy Dandridge, played by Matthew Knight, has problems, his parents are Type A business people with no time for him, they are moving
to a big fancy house and away from his only safe space that he knows of. On top of all this, he constantly hallucinates about monsters
and space aliens and he is about 13 years old. However, never fear, because Willy’s childhood toy, an orange stuffed teddy bear,
actually a monster, is about to grow into a human sized somewhat Scottish monster voiced by Robbie Coltrane. Gooby has been sent
to protect Willy as he begins to adjust to a new school that houses new bullies and a new teacher played by Eugene Levy that is named,
and this isn’t a joke though it will sound like it, Mr. Nerdlinger.
As a cut rate “E.T.” that has been released thirty years too late, “Gooby” is basically a real bust. Knight does an admirable job with a
hopeless character; however there is no basis in reality for this adolescent with an overactive imagination. There is only one point in the
movie that he imagines aliens, but his fascination with space aliens isn’t given the proper grounding in emotional or chemical
distress. It just seems weird when all of this comes from a child between childhood and their teenage years. Willy’s barely written,
character lacking parents demonstrate some believability as absentees, that is, there characters are cardboard and Eugene Levy as Mr.
Nerdlinger has refined his furious goon persona in such a way that it makes it extremely uninteresting for the viewer.
Along with the really awkward characters, there is a really slow pacing, with very few jokes and a bunch of musical montages as Gooby
and Willy race around inside grocery stores and such, always being chased by Mr. Nerdlinger, and viewers have got all of the wonder
and humor of an advertisement for Snuggle Fabric Softener, all of which has been drawn out to a feature length film. Scenes featuring
Gooby settling into his new digs in a backyard shed show a little bit of potential, but for what is unclear, as Wilson Coneybeare, the
writer and director of the film, seems content to offer out an average plot just to get a feature film, with a huge cast and crew, on the
screen. A small unenthusiastic threat in an abandoned building serves to root out a reason for dad to be so emotionally distant, and
when Willy realizes what he has to do to figure out Gooby, sensitive parents may feel a bit of a tug at their heartstrings. However, at the
same time their young five year old children may begin crying at the exact same scene, but what do children really know? Still, Gooby is
basically a big and fuzzy inanimate object that doesn’t offer much to its viewers.
The overall production quality of the film offers colors that are naturalistically bland, the images are relatively clear but not terribly sharp,
and aliasing crops up a lot, as well as motion blur during those riotous chase scenes in the grocery store involving Willy, Gooby and Mr.
Nerdlinger. The audio in the film is nothing terrible, but there is a bit of an issue with it, mainly the dialog levels continually fluctuating. It
is because of this that a lot of seemingly unintentional whispery dialog competes with the over used and heavily over scored children
based soundtrack that seems to show up in many films of this type, but end up being more popular to the younger viewer.
Going into watching “Gooby,” many people will think that they will be getting a certain type of film but will be sorely disappointed with the
product that they watch. Viewers will get the substandard story about a kid that needs to get a fake friend in order to deal with reality.
Gooby may have has enough laughter and wonder for the viewers that are aged eight years or younger, but only if those kids are
extremely sheltered in life from their parents and can make a connection with Willy in the film. The film has a lot of heart and a decent
message for children to understand, but it cloaks those virtues in a vast amount of orange fur in the form of a giant teddy bear monster
thing. This tedious fable cements it into the line of films that can be skipped. Also, Eugene Levy casted as the role of Mr. Nerdlinger
doesn’t help the movie out in any way at all. Again, this is the type of a film that children are able to understand, but for any other group
of viewers aren’t going to be able to make it through the first half of the film, let alone the entire film.
