S5 E2: La Vida Lohan

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I think I'm gonna die in this hooouuuuseeeee.
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I mean, that's going straight to the Halloween playlist.
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Oh yeah.
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Yeah.
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It's just a man talking.
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Yeah, it's just a man talking.
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Which is a which is a true nightmare.
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The true nightmare.
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Terror.
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That is creepy creep, spookies.
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Just men talking.
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What could be scarier?
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Hello and welcome to Poor Unfortunate Podcast, where Disney is what we do...it's what we live for! We're the two besties you never knew you needed.
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I'm Caroline Aimetti.
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And I'm Conor Perkins.
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This is a Disney podcast for grown ups because we believe magic gets better with age.
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Listener discretion is advised.
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Welcome to all of our returning listeners and viewers.
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Thank you so much for joining us once again.
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And welcome to any new listeners or viewers.
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Woohoo.
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Cool.
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All right.
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So we are back for our showdown episode of season five.
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Yeah.
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Caroline, what are we doing today?
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We're kind of going back to our classic showdown style.
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We haven't done one of those in a little while.
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So we are pitting two films against each other.
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And this is a really, really fun pairing.
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We've really been looking forward to doing this episode.
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So we are taking a look at two early 2000s magical realism-esque films, both starring Lindsay Lohan, who is like having her comeback right now, which I love.
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We're also just very much in a early 2000s comeback moment in general.
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So this feels like the perfect time to be doing this episode.
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I love Lindsay Lohan.
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Lindsay Lohan, I mean, don't let me get into the meat of the episode, but she can act.
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She can act her face off.
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Yeah.
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Like I'm ready for her to really take on some stuff now that she's like, she's back, you know?
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Me too.
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So you probably have guessed what the two films are, but today we are going to be talking about Freaky Friday and Life-Size.
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I just have to say, I mean, I love both these films, but Life-Size, when we first started talking about doing Poor Unfortunate Podcast, Life-Size was on my list of things that were like non-negotiable.
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I have to talk about this Disney thing.
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So I'm just so excited that we're doing this.
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Long time coming.
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Yeah.
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Long time coming.
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So excited.
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Um, so we we try to make these a little bit more manageable.
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So we don't talk about these films for five hours because we could.
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So, what we are going to focus on for the showdown specifically, we're gonna really focus on the magical realism aspects of these films.
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So, we are going to take a look at the magic in each film, the transformation and like the quality of how that's portrayed in each film.
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And then we're gonna look at the character arcs that come about because of that.
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So, we're going to judge these films based on those two parameters to kind of keep it focused because there's so much to talk about in these, and we can get sidetracked in a million things: performances, music, like all of it.
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And also, like, I kind of don't want to come away from this saying this one is better.
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Yeah, this isn't like which film is better.
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We're focusing on the magical realism today.
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So let's get into it, baby.
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Let's get to it.
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I should say this before we get started.
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Spoilers ahead.
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So if you have not watched Life-Size or Freaky Friday, the 2003 version, starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan, both are available for you to watch on Disney Plus, but there will be spoilers ahead.
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So go ahead, watch those two movies.
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Each one is like an hour and a half, so it's like it's a good time.
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You can have a fun little rainy day with these two movies, you know.
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Easy.
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Yeah.
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Um, so watch those movies, and we'll be here when you get back.
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And welcome back.
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Woohoo! Let's get into it.
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So, as usual, we have some background information for you.
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We're gonna go in chronological order with our background information.
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So let's start with Life-Size.
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Let's talk about Life-Size.
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All right.
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Life size premiered on March 5th, 2000 on ABC as part of Wonderful World of Disney block.
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First of all, I will be a Wonderful World of Disney girl till the end of time, okay?
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It just provided me with so many of my favorite things.
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Bring back wonderful world of Disney.
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But also, we're very close to March 5th this year.
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This movie is about to be 26 years old.
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Wow.
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Happy birthday.
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Happy birthday, Life-Size.
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That's an adult child who is about to lose their insurance.
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That's right.
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That's right.
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So sorry to Life-Size.
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The producer was Fitch Cady, and it is directed by Mark Rosman.
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The screenplay is by Mark Rosman and Stephanie Moore with a story by Moore.
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So here's a little fun background information on the story in the script.
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So the script written by Rosman based on Moore's story was acquired by ABC after some requested rewrites from the original.
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So in the original script, Eve remained a human and married Casey's father.
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And so Disney wanted that to change.
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But more majorly, before the Disney acquisition, the film was titled Ken and Barbie.
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And we'll get into that in a little while.
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Yeah.
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Because also watching this film after seeing Greta Gurry.
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Yeah, you're welcome.
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Mm-hmm.
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Yes, absolutely.
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So obviously, this title changed because of rights concerns with Mattel.
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Like I said, we'll get into it.
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But wow, does 2023's Barbie owe a lot to Life-Size?
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Yeah.
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But anyway, the composer of the film is Eric Colvin, and the song written for the film "Be A Star" is by Mark Rosman and George Blondheim.
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And y'all.
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It's a bop.
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Good thing we're- that song is in my bones.
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So it's a good thing we're keeping this focused because like be a star.
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It's so good.
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Where you are, be a star.
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So good.
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I can't get sidetracked because if we were talking about this whole film, I mean "Be A Star" would just shoot it right up to the top for me.
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See, and then I would probably come for you with "Ultimate".
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I know, but that's what I would and I would have to agree.
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It would be hard because I was also obsessed with "Ultimate".
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I used to put that on on Radio Disney.
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Let it rock.
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It's gonna play at my wedding.
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It's automatic.
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Oh, that's gonna be so cute.
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Also, quick other thing about be a star.
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First of all, it was originally titled that because Eve was originally going to be named Star.
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Fun.
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Oh and then I'll stop with the fun facts, but I just enjoy this much.
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I enjoy these.
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Um, the dance sequence of them dancing, the cast dancing to be a star at the end, was just like something that they like threw in right when they were about to finish filming, and everybody kind of knew the moves and was super into it.
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And you can feel that.
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And I love that ending of the film so much.
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I do too.
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Yeah.
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Can't anyway.
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All right.
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Life size stars among others, Lindsay Lohan as Casey Stuart.
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This was part of a three-picture contract with the Walt Disney company that started with the parent trap for Lindsay.
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Tyra Banks as Eve.
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Tyra Banks, someone else is having a moment right now, maybe not for all of the best reasons, but Lindsay and Tyra are back in the media, people, okay?
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Oh my God.
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Uh, Jere Burns as Ben Stuart, Anne Marie Loder as Drew McDonald, Garwin Sanford as Richie Ackerman, Tom Butler as Phil, and Jillian Fargey as Ellen.
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Budget, couldn't really find one anywhere.
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Looked and looked, could not find one.
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I would be curious to know.
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Life-Size was released on VHS and DVD on May 30th, 2000, and it only became available on Disney Plus this past November.
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Until then, it had never been available for purchase or rental on digital platforms.
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And I think that is a large reason why it was living rent-free in my head, because I was just like, I need to see it again.
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And so I mean, I still have the the good old crack it open VHS downstairs in the code.
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I do too, babes.
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I do too.
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And I love that cover art.
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But anyway, I'm trying to stay focused.
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It's so hard.
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This episode, we were like, we're gonna focus.
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I can't.
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I love these movies.
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Okay.
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Anyway.
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So this film has a 5.6 on IMDb.
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Whatever.
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It's not for IMDB.
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You know what I mean?
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Whatever.
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I'm in a mood, people, because we were just talking about Wuthering Heights, and I'm just tired of people crapping on everything.
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Okay.
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Anyway.
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It's not for IMDb.
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It's not.
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It's for me.
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It's for me.
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And it also has.
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This is such a silly episode.
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I can't pull it together.
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Okay.
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I have the giggles.
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It also has a relatively incomplete Rotten Tomatoes rating with a 48% popcorn meter score, no tomato meter.
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People aren't really bothering.
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And I get it.
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It's just, it's for us, okay?
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But there is no denying that this film is something of a cult classic.
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Uh, the success of the Barbie movie also gave Life-Size a bit of a comeback in the media.
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And I'm honestly wondering if that's what finally got it to streaming after all this time.
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And if it is, amen.
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A sequel to the film Life-Size 2 aired on Freeform in December 2018.
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Tyra Banks reprised her role as Eve, and Lindsay Lohan was allegedly set to return as well before scheduling conflicts with her MTV show got in the way.
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The sequel centers around Eve returning to our world and befriending Hot Mess Toy Company CEO Grace.
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It doesn't seem to have been received super well, even by fans of the original.
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I mean, I have yet to see it.
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I think I might have seen part of it, maybe?
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Yeah.
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I yeah.
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Well, maybe one day we'll talk about that one too, because I'm now I'm interested.
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However, Tyra Banks has talked about her development of a third film as recently as a year ago, teasing that the story would bring the return of Lindsay Lohan as Casey.
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Who knows if she was just making that up, but if I would be into it, okay?
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I'd be into it.
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Here is a quick plot synopsis from IMDb.
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11-year-old Casey is despondent after her mother's death.
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As she and her father Ben drift apart, she finds a book of magic spells and tries to use one to bring her mother back to life.
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But the plan backfires and she finds that she's animated Eve, a fashion plate dress-up doll.
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Eve is excited to be both alive and nearly six feet tall, but she has much to learn about living in the real world.
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And Casey doesn't think she has the desire or the patience to teach her.
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So that's a little bit about Life-Size.
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All right, I'm gonna walk us through some Freaky Friday stuff.
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So Freaky Friday premiered on August 4th, 2003, in Los Angeles, and then August 6, 2003, in the United States.
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It was produced by Andrew Gunn, directed by Mark Waters.
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The screenplay was by Heather Hach and Leslie Dixon.
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It's based on the children's novel Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers.
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The music is by Rolfe Kent, and it stars among others Jamie Lee Curtis as Tess Coleman / Anna Coleman, Lindsay Lohan as Anna Coleman / Tess Coleman, Mark Harmon as Ryan, Chad Michael Murray as Jake, Harold Gould as Alan, Tess's father, Ryan Malgarini as Harry Coleman, and Rosalind Chao as Pei Pei Chiang.
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The budget was $26 million, and the box office was $160.8 million.
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Woo!
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I will give you some uh just like a couple fun facts because you gave some fun facts.
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Um Jamie Lee Curtis only joined the production within like, I believe, a week of it starting.
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Originally, they were trying to get Jodie Foster, who played the like Anna character, the daughter character in the 1976 version.
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They were trying to get her to come in and play the Tess Coleman, and then she couldn't do it, and then they had some other people, and then they couldn't do it.
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And it was only like after someone like reached out and was like, You should you should look at Jamie Lee Curtis, and Jamie Lee Curtis came in at the 11th hour.
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Also, Lindsay Lohan wasn't going to play Anna either because they saw her audition tape and they were like, it was kind of meh.
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And so, like, they were looking at other people.
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Yeah, they were looking at other people, which is baffling when you can think of what they're actually doing in this movie, and like absolutely.
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Jamie Lee Curtis received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Comedy or Musical for the first time.
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I forgot about that.
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Wow.
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Yeah.
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Wow.
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So that was the right move.
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It was very well received, and it sits at an 88% on Rotten Tomatoes.
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IndieWire named it the best body swap film of all time.
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And most critics uh praised the performances, particularly that of Curtis and Lohan, and the script, while also criticizing the transformation, arguing that it relied on many outdated stereotypes and problematic depictions of Asian characters.
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This is the third adaptation of the novel and the second from Disney after the 1976 version starring Barbara Harris and Jodie Foster.
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And then following the success of this 2003 version of the film, Lohan and Curtis returned for a sequel, Freakier Friday, this time a four-way body swap, and have teased being interested in filming a third time, and they were like, we would do a six-way body swap.
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Can we do a crossover with this and Life-Size 3?
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Maybe.
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Maybe.
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Have you seen Freakier Friday yet?
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I still have not.
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I started watching it.
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It's good as shit, man.
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Oh, okay.
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I gotta watch that.
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I gotta watch that.
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Okay.
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But I will give you a plot synopsis for Freaky Friday, the first one.
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So single mother Tess Coleman and her teenage daughter Anna couldn't be more different, and it is driving them both insane.
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After receiving cryptic fortunes at a Chinese restaurant, the two wake up the next day to discover that they have somehow switched bodies.
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Unable to switch back, they are forced to masquerade as one another until a solution can be found.
00:16:37.610 --> 00:16:42.410
In the process, they develop a new sense of respect and understanding for one another.
00:16:42.410 --> 00:16:49.450
This movie, I hyperfixated on this movie, and I know it like annoyed the crap out of my sisters.
00:16:49.850 --> 00:16:51.129
I didn't know this about you.
00:16:51.450 --> 00:16:52.810
I hyperfixated on this movie.
00:16:52.810 --> 00:16:55.610
I hyperfixated on this soundtrack as well.
00:16:55.610 --> 00:16:59.450
I would like wake up every morning and watch and watch Freaky Friday.
00:16:59.930 --> 00:17:00.410
Really?
00:17:00.730 --> 00:17:01.450
I don't understand.
00:17:01.450 --> 00:17:02.490
Yeah, I don't know why.
00:17:02.490 --> 00:17:03.290
I don't know why.
00:17:03.290 --> 00:17:08.250
Well, that's funny because maybe it's because it's a good movie, and like I know what a good movie is.
00:17:08.809 --> 00:17:13.450
I kind of had that experience with Life-Size, so this is gonna be really fun.
00:17:13.690 --> 00:17:14.650
It's gonna be really fun.
00:17:14.809 --> 00:17:15.049
Wow.
00:17:15.049 --> 00:17:15.930
Okay, I'm excited.
00:17:16.089 --> 00:17:22.410
All right, so now let's talk about the transformation magic rules / like the process of it.
00:17:22.650 --> 00:17:23.129
Yes.
00:17:23.369 --> 00:17:28.009
So I'll start because I'm already talking with Freaky Friday, and then we'll go back to Life-Size.
00:17:28.490 --> 00:17:28.970
Perfect.
00:17:29.210 --> 00:17:32.009
So in Freaky Friday, the way that the magic works.
00:17:32.009 --> 00:17:38.250
So Anna and Tess, they receive fortune cookies at a Chinese restaurant, deliberately given to them by Mrs.
00:17:38.250 --> 00:17:41.369
Chiang, Pei Pei, the restaurant manager's mother.
00:17:41.369 --> 00:17:48.569
Upon opening the cookies, the fortune reads: "A journey soon begins, its prize reflected in another's eyes.
00:17:48.569 --> 00:18:00.410
When what you see is what you lack, then selfless love will change you back." Then an earthquake happens that only the two are able to feel with the body switch happening at midnight of the next day, Friday.
00:18:00.410 --> 00:18:06.009
And then when the spell is broken and the fortune is completed, another earthquake ensues.
00:18:06.009 --> 00:18:10.009
This time everyone else feels except for Anna and Tess.
00:18:10.009 --> 00:18:13.130
And then when the earthquake finishes, their bodies have swapped back.
00:18:13.130 --> 00:18:17.210
And so that's the magic of the body swap in this.
00:18:17.210 --> 00:18:19.049
Let's do magic for Life-Size.
00:18:19.289 --> 00:18:19.769
How's it work?
00:18:20.090 --> 00:18:20.490
Perfect.
00:18:20.490 --> 00:18:22.970
It's it's rather in-depth.
00:18:22.970 --> 00:18:24.009
So let me break it down for you.
00:18:24.330 --> 00:18:24.730
Okay, great.
00:18:24.730 --> 00:18:29.049
Because I'm following all of it, but I'll explain it.
00:18:29.289 --> 00:18:34.970
Again, this was the part of it that being the child that I was, I was like, Oh, I'm telling me about the book.
00:18:35.529 --> 00:18:37.130
Caroline the occultist child.
00:18:37.130 --> 00:18:38.330
Like, this is everything.
00:18:38.730 --> 00:18:39.690
This was that's part.
00:18:39.690 --> 00:18:41.370
I was obsessed with Barbies.
00:18:41.370 --> 00:18:44.090
I was obsessed with like occult kind of mummies, shit like that.
00:18:44.090 --> 00:18:44.970
Like, this was my dream.
00:18:44.970 --> 00:18:45.610
This was my dream.
00:18:45.930 --> 00:18:47.450
Where is Past Pages bookstore?
00:18:47.450 --> 00:18:48.650
Where is Past Pages?
00:18:49.049 --> 00:18:50.730
I wanted to walk through the beaded curtain.
00:18:50.730 --> 00:18:52.490
I wanted to get to the rare books.
00:18:52.490 --> 00:18:52.970
Like, yeah.
00:18:53.210 --> 00:18:55.930
That's another thing I think that these both films both have in common.
00:18:55.930 --> 00:18:56.890
Beaded curtains.
00:18:56.890 --> 00:18:58.009
They both have beaded curtains.
00:18:58.170 --> 00:18:59.450
It's the early 2000s, people.
00:18:59.450 --> 00:18:59.930
Come on.
00:18:59.930 --> 00:19:02.009
All right.
00:19:02.009 --> 00:19:07.370
So, as we know from the plot synopsis, Casey in this film has sadly lost her mother.
00:19:07.370 --> 00:19:14.970
So Casey visits a mysticism and spells website where she researches resurrection in the hopes of bringing her mother back to life.
00:19:14.970 --> 00:19:18.650
The website suggests Holcroft's Book of the Dead.
00:19:18.650 --> 00:19:22.650
After stealing it, it was expensive, okay, from a nearby rare bookstore.
00:19:22.650 --> 00:19:23.529
She only was a little bit more than a few years.
00:19:23.529 --> 00:19:26.330
She paid for as much of it as she could.
00:19:26.330 --> 00:19:26.890
Okay.
00:19:26.890 --> 00:19:35.769
Casey reads the Resurrecting Lost Life Forces chapter, which involves preparing an altar in order to summon the life force.
00:19:35.769 --> 00:19:45.370
The altar includes a seashell, crystals, plants, and more, but most importantly, a remnant from the object to be transformed, placed in the center of the altar.
00:19:45.370 --> 00:19:48.809
Casey decides to use hair from her mother's brush.
00:19:48.809 --> 00:20:01.450
Unfortunately, a well-meaning but very annoying Drew, Ben's friend and coworker, barges in and uses the brush to brush the hair of the Eve doll she just gifted Casey while Casey is in the bathroom.
00:20:01.450 --> 00:20:13.610
Casey lights the required candle and speaks the incantation, which only works once and must be repeated until the transformation is complete: "Zomba Tarka Ishtu Nebarim." Okay?
00:20:13.610 --> 00:20:14.650
Don't forget it.
00:20:14.890 --> 00:20:19.210
That was my "Treguna Mekoides Trecorum Satis Dee." Like that is what that is to me.
00:20:19.210 --> 00:20:20.490
That is that is yours.
00:20:20.809 --> 00:20:25.370
"Zomba Tarka Ishtu Nebarim." Honestly, one day we're gonna need shirts with both of those.
00:20:25.610 --> 00:20:26.730
It's very like "Bet y March, Bet y Guythur, Bet y Gugaun."
00:20:32.730 --> 00:20:33.210
I can't.
00:20:33.210 --> 00:20:34.650
You're gonna break me this episode.
00:20:34.650 --> 00:20:35.130
I can't.
00:20:35.130 --> 00:20:35.529
Okay.
00:20:35.769 --> 00:20:36.569
It's very "Ichita Copita Meleka Mystica...."
00:20:40.650 --> 00:20:46.650
So we see the book shake, glitter, and glow, and so does the Eve doll across the room, unbeknownst to Casey.
00:20:46.650 --> 00:20:51.769
Casey falls asleep chanting the spell and wakes up next to a living human-sized Eve.
00:20:51.769 --> 00:21:01.610
Spells from the book become permanent upon the setting sun of the fourth day and can only be reversed using Holcroft's volume two, The Book of Awakenings.
00:21:01.610 --> 00:21:11.450
A few days later, when Eve realizes her place isn't Sunnyvale, her home, her doll home, she gets her hands on volume two, which teaches her the reversal spell.
00:21:11.450 --> 00:21:14.490
It doesn't seem to require as much, no alter in sight.
00:21:14.490 --> 00:21:23.370
But Eve chants, "Sun of Suns, Moon of Moons, once awakened, now to return." And as the sun sets, she is returned to her doll form.
00:21:23.370 --> 00:21:25.049
So that's how that works.
00:21:25.049 --> 00:21:28.250
Very occult, very, very occult.
00:21:28.730 --> 00:21:38.009
It's also very interesting that like the resurrection spell is this like made-up language, but then Book of Awakenings, to send her back, it's just like, oh, just use English.
00:21:38.009 --> 00:21:38.490
Just use it.
00:21:38.650 --> 00:21:40.330
And you don't need an alter, nothing, nothing.
00:21:40.490 --> 00:21:41.289
No, no, no, no.
00:21:41.289 --> 00:21:42.970
This is just a quick returns line.
00:21:44.170 --> 00:21:44.970
Oh man.
00:21:45.210 --> 00:21:55.289
Okay, so let's talk about we're gonna divide this into the two things execution of the magic, magical realism, transformations, and then the characterization sort of as a result.
00:21:55.289 --> 00:21:59.130
So let's start with what's working for the magic.
00:21:59.370 --> 00:21:59.850
Okay, great.
00:22:00.009 --> 00:22:01.610
Let's let's let's work with Life-Size.
00:22:02.250 --> 00:22:02.809
Great.
00:22:02.809 --> 00:22:08.090
So I think the biggest thing that's working here for me is that the magic is very precise.
00:22:08.090 --> 00:22:11.529
There's a spell book, a spell, an altar.
00:22:11.529 --> 00:22:16.890
I already said this, but I was a child of darkness kind of kid who was obsessed with shit like mummies.
00:22:16.890 --> 00:22:22.170
And so I remember this part of the film specifically having a hold on me.
00:22:22.170 --> 00:22:23.769
It really hooked me into the story.
00:22:24.009 --> 00:22:30.569
Yeah, there's like eggs in the in the altar too, which I'm like, oh, there's more of a page that I can even see.
00:22:30.730 --> 00:22:31.049
Yes.
00:22:31.370 --> 00:22:31.690
Yes.
00:22:32.009 --> 00:22:36.009
I mean, also the other pages that she flips past all have, I want to know what this book says.
00:22:36.009 --> 00:22:36.250
Okay.
00:22:36.250 --> 00:22:37.930
Somebody make it for me.
00:22:37.930 --> 00:22:38.410
Okay.
00:22:38.410 --> 00:22:46.250
And it definitely feels surprising in a setting that is otherwise very Disney channel esque, but I like that about it.
00:22:46.250 --> 00:22:48.410
I do talk about it later and what might not be working.
00:22:48.410 --> 00:22:50.009
It's more of a personal taste thing.
00:22:50.009 --> 00:22:56.569
But for me, personal taste wise, the precision of this and the occult nature of it is working for me.
00:22:56.569 --> 00:23:02.650
Also, Casey's reason for casting the spell to bring back her mom is very heartbreaking.
00:23:02.650 --> 00:23:13.690
And then even though Eve is so fun and we love her and we love watching her, it's interesting that we can also feel like, damn, that was Casey's one chance to see her mom again.
00:23:13.690 --> 00:23:21.289
And so I think the stakes and finality of this spell works really well for again, hooking us into the stakes of this story.
00:23:21.289 --> 00:23:25.850
I'll talk about this when we talk about Freaky Friday as well.
00:23:25.850 --> 00:23:32.490
But just like Freaky Friday, the rules about how long the spell lasts allow us to know that there is an end game here.
00:23:32.490 --> 00:23:40.410
So we can kind of relax and let ourselves get carried with the story because we know we've got kind of a finite amount of time or we've got a goal in mind.
00:23:40.410 --> 00:23:43.850
But in this case, again, I think it also helped add stakes.
00:23:43.850 --> 00:23:49.690
First, having us wonder if Casey was going to be stuck with Eve forever on this timeline that we're working on.
00:23:49.690 --> 00:23:54.410
And then if she would be able to stop her from casting the reversal in time.
00:23:54.410 --> 00:23:58.250
I also think Eve's reaction to the world is on point.
00:23:58.250 --> 00:24:05.690
Like what we have allowed Eve to know and not know or be able to do and not be able to do uh largely tracks for me here.
00:24:05.690 --> 00:24:15.130
And like we've we've touched on a little bit before, like this was kind of the Barbie movie before the Barbie movie, down to her crying for the first time and being like, What's happening?
00:24:15.450 --> 00:24:26.250
Yeah, the the crying scene that's like exact in the cry the crying scene, but also there was a moment where she like looks around and she sees like different people and in love.
00:24:26.250 --> 00:24:33.850
And I was like, And this is the bus stop scene that they tried to cut out of Barbie, that Greta Gerwig is like, if we're not doing this, what's the what the fuck is the point?
00:24:33.850 --> 00:24:34.650
What are we even doing here?
00:24:34.650 --> 00:24:37.289
Yeah, and she was like, This is the scene from Life-Size.
00:24:37.690 --> 00:24:39.610
I'm like, that's probably what she was doing.
00:24:39.610 --> 00:24:41.049
But I'm like, this is the scene from Life-Size.
00:24:41.289 --> 00:24:42.809
Life-Size was doing it.
00:24:43.049 --> 00:24:44.170
Yeah, yes.
00:24:44.170 --> 00:24:53.289
And they're like I said, I just feel like the details of it make a lot of sense to me, even down to the point of like, I don't think when the spell was cast that the Eve doll was holding her purse.
00:24:53.289 --> 00:24:58.170
So the purse is still doll toy purse when she's like, What happened in my purse?
00:24:58.170 --> 00:25:02.170
So we're being specific, we're looking out for details, which I very much enjoy.
00:25:02.170 --> 00:25:06.569
And she only has her one outfit, and you know, her whole wardrobe didn't come to this world.
00:25:06.569 --> 00:25:07.930
It's just Eve in that form.
00:25:07.930 --> 00:25:09.130
And so she's got to buy new clothes.
00:25:09.130 --> 00:25:12.250
Like, we've got rules and we're following and tracking them through.
00:25:12.250 --> 00:25:18.090
And at the end of the day, this is at this time a totally original, magical idea.
00:25:18.090 --> 00:25:19.210
And it's also brilliant.
00:25:19.210 --> 00:25:19.850
What happened?
00:25:19.850 --> 00:25:23.130
What would a doll be like if she came into our world?
00:25:23.130 --> 00:25:28.410
And I think there are only so many ways you can achieve that happening.
00:25:28.410 --> 00:25:30.730
Like, what is the explanation there?
00:25:30.730 --> 00:25:33.850
And it might seem a little bit, again, we'll talk about it a little while.
00:25:33.850 --> 00:25:39.130
It might seem maybe a little bit tonally out of the box to have it be from this like Book of the Dead.
00:25:39.130 --> 00:25:51.529
But at the end of the day, there are really only so many ways you can make it happen because unlike the Barbie movie in which we're in Barbie's world and it's like a fully functioning, like its own version of our world.
00:25:51.529 --> 00:25:54.009
Yeah, there's no decision coming from Eve.
00:25:54.009 --> 00:25:57.450
So she has to be brought here in this supernatural way.
00:25:57.450 --> 00:25:59.210
And there are only so many options.
00:25:59.210 --> 00:26:01.130
And this one very much worked for me.
00:26:01.130 --> 00:26:02.009
So yeah.
00:26:02.009 --> 00:26:02.569
Yeah.
00:26:02.890 --> 00:26:03.210
Yeah.
00:26:03.210 --> 00:26:06.250
I'm I'm have a lot of agreements with you there.
00:26:06.250 --> 00:26:10.730
Like I think a strength is we've got a really cool spell.
00:26:10.730 --> 00:26:14.569
It utilizes a bunch of items and symbols of the occult and resurrection.
00:26:14.569 --> 00:26:17.210
It feels intentional, it's mysterious.
00:26:17.210 --> 00:26:18.650
We've got instructions.
00:26:18.890 --> 00:26:19.130
Love.
00:26:19.289 --> 00:26:24.090
And it also doesn't feel like it's drawing from any one single culture's traditions.
00:26:24.090 --> 00:26:27.289
So it's kind of left a bit ambiguous there.
00:26:27.289 --> 00:26:29.690
And I think that's a plus for it.
00:26:29.690 --> 00:26:36.809
And I think there's just like so much misunderstanding and harmful stereotypes when it comes to portraying mysticism on screen.
00:26:36.809 --> 00:26:43.450
So kind of like muddying it and making it a little bit ambiguous, I think that's like really smart.
00:26:43.450 --> 00:26:47.049
But at the same time, I want to know more about all of this.
00:26:47.049 --> 00:26:49.850
Like I want them to get even more specific.
00:26:50.090 --> 00:26:56.170
Like, I want to turn, I'm like you, I want to turn through the pages of I was like freeze framing and trying to read the other pages because I have a problem.
00:26:56.330 --> 00:26:59.210
I'm like, I want to know, did Holcroft write any other books?
00:26:59.289 --> 00:27:01.210
Like is Holcroft from HalloweenTown?
00:27:01.370 --> 00:27:02.090
Like, what is this?
00:27:02.569 --> 00:27:03.049
Is this person?
00:27:03.049 --> 00:27:04.090
I want the lore.
00:27:04.090 --> 00:27:04.730
I need the lore.
00:27:04.730 --> 00:27:10.170
Speaking of which, I'm like, the the spell book itself was just like really, really cool to me.
00:27:10.170 --> 00:27:22.650
And I think with the magic, the the plot device of needing a volume two to reverse the spell, I think really works in the film's favor of giving it some checkpoints and structure to it.
00:27:22.650 --> 00:27:22.890
Yeah.
00:27:22.890 --> 00:27:25.450
Where it's like, why can't she just reverse this?
00:27:25.450 --> 00:27:26.650
Because you need volume two.
00:27:26.650 --> 00:27:27.370
Duh.
00:27:27.370 --> 00:27:29.130
Like that's a really, really good thing.
00:27:29.529 --> 00:27:29.690
Yep.
00:27:29.690 --> 00:27:32.170
Simple and straightforward, but like super effective.
00:27:32.170 --> 00:27:33.210
Yeah.
00:27:33.529 --> 00:27:34.890
What could be better?
00:27:35.210 --> 00:27:35.529
Okay.
00:27:35.529 --> 00:27:37.769
So I mentioned this before.
00:27:37.769 --> 00:27:48.250
Even though I'm into the spookiness, the Book of the Dead of it all, I can see how some people might say it makes this movie feel a little too Halloween-y and doesn't quite match the rest of the film tonally.
00:27:48.250 --> 00:27:54.809
I don't feel that way, but it does feel like a very different, it feels like a different comes from a different world sometimes.
00:27:54.809 --> 00:27:56.410
I love that about it though.
00:27:56.730 --> 00:28:03.049
See, I mean, I would I think that you're being generous by including that as a weakness, but I'm I'm trying because I know I love this movie.
00:28:03.049 --> 00:28:12.090
Well, we see, but like in in the defense, like basically playing you of it, like you also have to take into account Casey and Casey's characterization.
00:28:12.090 --> 00:28:18.009
We're dealing with death and grief, and you know And Casey's kind of like a tomboyish type character.
00:28:18.009 --> 00:28:24.569
Like she's not gonna go to like sparkle and shine, wake up your mom, like that kind of book of the very true.
00:28:24.730 --> 00:28:30.730
And that and that's a thing that I I guess I didn't mention before, too, is I do think another strength of this magic is that it is born out of grief.
00:28:30.730 --> 00:28:38.490
It's a very interesting story, and it's not something we get in like, you know, straight to TV movies a lot, in children's films a lot.
00:28:38.490 --> 00:28:43.769
Like we really through this magic, we do get to see this family dealing with grief.
00:28:43.769 --> 00:28:46.009
And I think that's really, really special.
00:28:46.009 --> 00:28:56.009
And I think the only reason I can really go into detail to pick the magic apart a little here is because we have the Barbie movie to compare it to, unfortunately.
00:28:56.009 --> 00:29:02.410
So, as I started to touch on in that world in the Barbie film, Barbie is living and sentient in her world.
00:29:02.410 --> 00:29:05.930
And when she lands in our world, she remains as such.
00:29:05.930 --> 00:29:15.289
When Eve transforms back into the Eve of Sunnyvale, when she reverses the spell, she appears in our world in doll form.
00:29:15.289 --> 00:29:20.490
Even though the Sunny Vale we were looking at is sort of in our world too.
00:29:20.490 --> 00:29:23.529
Like that was literally, literally Sunnyvale, right?
00:29:23.529 --> 00:29:28.250
She's not going to this like Barbie world in the way that Barbie does.
00:29:28.250 --> 00:29:32.170
Like she had to literally go to Sunnyvale, and I think that was it.
00:29:32.170 --> 00:29:33.529
Because she was looking at the movie.
00:29:33.850 --> 00:29:35.049
That was a photo shoot place.
00:29:35.289 --> 00:29:37.529
Yeah, but I think that's Sunnyvale.
00:29:37.690 --> 00:29:38.890
Oh, I oh, maybe.
00:29:39.130 --> 00:29:43.529
Because it's like she looked at she was like all seeing all the things she missed, her car and the no one live there?
00:29:43.529 --> 00:29:46.569
I was like, are you is it just you and that Prince Eric?
00:29:46.569 --> 00:29:48.090
Isn't that Prince Eric?
00:29:48.090 --> 00:29:49.370
Prince Eric.
00:29:49.370 --> 00:29:52.890
The fact that they use that is hilarious.
00:29:52.890 --> 00:29:55.210
Um, so I'm kind of confused there.
00:29:55.210 --> 00:30:04.809
But she says she is going to go back to Sunnyvale and change things and kind of like help all the dolls be better, which to me, I'm also like, I think they're all Eve.
00:30:04.809 --> 00:30:06.490
Again, a little questions here.
00:30:06.490 --> 00:30:18.730
So I guess she's sentient in Sunnyvale, but we just can't see it with the human eye, perhaps, which also adds this sort of uncanny quality to like Casey is holding her and like Eve is sort of trapped in there.
00:30:18.730 --> 00:30:19.289
I don't know.
00:30:19.289 --> 00:30:20.090
I don't know how it works.
00:30:20.090 --> 00:30:20.569
I'm confused.
00:30:20.569 --> 00:30:21.930
And with those maybe it's better.
00:30:21.930 --> 00:30:25.210
Yeah, with the when she gets the haircut, I'm crying.
00:30:25.769 --> 00:30:27.130
Um Tyra, baby.
00:30:27.130 --> 00:30:28.330
No, girl.
00:30:29.210 --> 00:30:40.170
And and this part of it, I think, also ties into what I'll talk about later when it comes to character transformation is, you know, Eve at the end is like, I'm gonna bring all of these things to the dolls, to Sunnyvale.
00:30:40.170 --> 00:30:42.730
And I feel like that didn't quite happen the full way.
00:30:42.730 --> 00:30:46.970
And I think part of it is because I don't know how bad how does she do that?
00:30:46.970 --> 00:30:48.730
Where is Sunnyvale to her?
00:30:48.730 --> 00:30:53.049
So, like, does her consciousness separate from the doll when she's in Sunnyvale?
00:30:53.049 --> 00:30:54.410
I mean, none of it is explained.
00:30:54.410 --> 00:30:56.090
We can't, we don't have time.
00:30:56.090 --> 00:31:03.690
But yes, because we don't see Eve existing in any way in Sunnyvale, all of that is left very mysterious.
00:31:03.690 --> 00:31:04.970
And I don't really know how that works.
00:31:05.210 --> 00:31:08.009
I'm gonna tack onto this a little bit because I agree.
00:31:08.009 --> 00:31:14.250
And I think part of it comes from there's a trap of specificity around magic.
00:31:14.250 --> 00:31:27.370
As soon as you start creating so many rules, you start opening a bunch of other doors and you expose yourself, I think, to a lot of people trying to find loopholes and things like that.
00:31:27.370 --> 00:31:36.170
Whereas if you make sort of like very broad strokes of the pen in the way that like Barbie does, where it's like, they're Barbie's.
00:31:36.170 --> 00:31:39.130
Barbie looks like anyone, and you're just like, great.
00:31:39.289 --> 00:31:43.289
So now Barbie just has to like drive forever, and then she like gets stuck.
00:31:43.610 --> 00:31:46.730
Yep, and we're just like we're we have answers for them.
00:31:46.730 --> 00:31:52.009
They're broad strokes, they're simple, and so we just like it shuts a bunch of those those doors.
00:31:52.009 --> 00:32:06.009
And I think because there is like there is an intentionality and meticulousness to the way that this magic works, that there are some things that in the trap of a 90-minute, like sort of made-for-TV film, yeah, you can't address.
00:32:06.009 --> 00:32:09.769
And so then it starts spinning out into a whole bunch of other questions.
00:32:09.769 --> 00:32:16.970
And I feel like that it fell victim to that a little bit in that way, where I I have I have a bunch of questions about the magic.
00:32:16.970 --> 00:32:25.610
Like, if the spell was successful with the mom, would she have just awakened in her coffin since Eve just awakened where her doll ended up?
00:32:25.610 --> 00:32:26.090
Right.
00:32:26.170 --> 00:32:32.250
Because I was wondering also, how do you know that the- you have to keep saying the incantation until how do you know when it's completely how do you know?
00:32:32.250 --> 00:32:32.890
Yeah, yeah.
00:32:33.130 --> 00:32:37.289
When the resurrection spell brings something to life, why does it make Eve bigger?
00:32:37.289 --> 00:32:40.809
Wouldn't she just be like the doll but alive?
00:32:40.809 --> 00:32:44.569
Resurrection implies that something has died.
00:32:44.569 --> 00:32:48.490
So how could that have worked on Eve if she was never alive?
00:32:48.809 --> 00:32:58.490
Well, also you asking this made me go back and it's interesting because the chapter that the spell is from is resurrecting lost life forces, like you said, if it was never alive.
00:32:58.490 --> 00:33:04.410
But the thing that needs to be placed on the altar is just a remnant from the object to be transformed.
00:33:04.410 --> 00:33:12.569
So I guess that's the loophole of like it doesn't have to have been anything that was ever alive before, but then resurrecting is the wrong word.
00:33:12.730 --> 00:33:12.970
Yeah.
00:33:12.970 --> 00:33:13.850
I can't believe that was.
00:33:13.850 --> 00:33:17.210
And then I'm like, what happened with the mom's DNA in the spell?
00:33:17.210 --> 00:33:17.769
How did that work?
00:33:17.769 --> 00:33:19.450
Would they mix together?
00:33:19.450 --> 00:33:24.330
Or is it like the most recent hair or the most prominent hair in the brush?
00:33:24.330 --> 00:33:25.370
Does that get preference?
00:33:25.610 --> 00:33:26.330
Yeah, no, you're right.
00:33:26.330 --> 00:33:30.250
And you know what's so funny is I really sat here and I was like, okay, let's really try to think.
00:33:30.250 --> 00:33:36.009
And the thing that I really was like, okay, there's there's obviously gaps here, is the doll sentient world thing, but you're right.
00:33:36.009 --> 00:33:39.450
The main thing that is an issue here is that it's not a resurrection.
00:33:39.690 --> 00:33:41.370
Yeah, that's interesting.
00:33:41.370 --> 00:33:42.009
That's my thing.
00:33:42.009 --> 00:33:46.170
I'm like, it's like it would be simple if it was just like life spell.
00:33:46.170 --> 00:33:49.210
Like if they just called it like a spell of life or something.
00:33:49.210 --> 00:33:52.410
I I have two other things that I wrote down as weaknesses.
00:33:52.410 --> 00:33:54.569
One is just like very specific.
00:33:54.569 --> 00:33:57.690
The dated CGI is inconsistent.
00:33:57.690 --> 00:34:00.970
Like the initial look of the magic when the spell is being cast.
00:34:01.289 --> 00:34:02.410
It was similar.
00:34:02.410 --> 00:34:03.450
No, it wasn't.
00:34:03.610 --> 00:34:06.410
It was completely different from well, it's a reversal spell.
00:34:06.410 --> 00:34:09.289
One was like blue and like vibraty.
00:34:09.529 --> 00:34:09.849
Yeah.
00:34:10.009 --> 00:34:13.210
And then the other one had like all of these swirly, like magic sparkles.
00:34:13.690 --> 00:34:15.210
First of all, they were both glittery.
00:34:15.210 --> 00:34:15.610
Okay.
00:34:15.610 --> 00:34:21.849
One is a reversal, but they were both giving me a little bit of Brandy Cinderella magic, which I'm living for.
00:34:22.090 --> 00:34:22.329
Okay.
00:34:22.329 --> 00:34:23.289
No, no, no.
00:34:23.289 --> 00:34:24.409
No, that's that's fine.
00:34:24.409 --> 00:34:28.090
But I was just like, the magics, they don't, I didn't think that they look similar.
00:34:28.170 --> 00:34:30.090
And so I'm like, so they didn't know.
00:34:30.090 --> 00:34:32.009
I thought it was because they were different spells.
00:34:32.250 --> 00:34:35.529
I get that they were different spells, but they're there's they should be connected.
00:34:35.529 --> 00:34:40.650
One is basically like, hey, undo, undo, control Z, like kind of, I don't know.
00:34:40.809 --> 00:34:41.130
Right.
00:34:41.369 --> 00:34:47.210
We also like we see the transformation back into a doll, but not the transformation from doll to human.
00:34:47.210 --> 00:34:49.610
And I get that this is a choice.
00:34:49.610 --> 00:35:00.969
Like, we're not we're gonna show it once, but if they're showing it to us once, I'm like, I do think like the magic, even just like the magic color, needs to look the same because it makes me feel like something was hidden from me.
00:35:00.969 --> 00:35:11.210
Where I'm like, if it is two different spells and the two different spells manifest in two different ways, why do we only get to see part of it in the first one and then we get to see the full thing in the second one?
00:35:11.289 --> 00:35:16.569
Like because we're trying to have the same experience that Casey has of like, oh shit, that's it.
00:35:16.569 --> 00:35:16.889
Sure.
00:35:16.969 --> 00:35:17.769
Yeah, no, that's valid.
00:35:17.769 --> 00:35:18.250
That's valid.
00:35:18.250 --> 00:35:20.009
Yeah, I'm just I'm getting nitpicky.
00:35:20.089 --> 00:35:22.250
I think also and I'm also getting defensive.
00:35:22.489 --> 00:35:24.489
No, no, no, it's fine, it's fine, it's fine.
00:35:24.489 --> 00:35:28.969
But also the timing of the spell for me, I think it's a key component of the magic.
00:35:28.969 --> 00:35:30.969
It comes permanent at sundown on the fourth day.
00:35:31.049 --> 00:35:31.369
Yeah.
00:35:31.609 --> 00:35:36.089
And yet throughout the movie, I found it really, really easy to lose track of the timing.
00:35:36.089 --> 00:35:46.969
Like about halfway through the movie, I completely forgot that they were racing against time, in addition to the question of like the will they won't they reverse the spell.
00:35:46.969 --> 00:35:51.049
So I don't know, that's something that brings in a lot of stakes.
00:35:51.049 --> 00:36:03.129
Timing, I think, brings in a lot of stakes, and then it goes away for a bit and then it comes back at the end, as opposed to feeling like it was like consistent pressure on the plot, which I think could have been a little bit more effective to make it.
00:36:03.289 --> 00:36:16.489
And I wonder, I wonder if some of that is it's like if we focused on the stakes of like racing against the clock, all of these feelings that Ben seems to be having about Eve are like, dude, it's been it's been four days, yeah.
00:36:16.489 --> 00:36:18.409
Like, please just like stop.
00:36:19.129 --> 00:36:19.609
Yeah.
00:36:19.609 --> 00:36:23.289
Yeah, which I'm kind of like I could have done without that.
00:36:23.289 --> 00:36:28.489
But then also, like, how do you have Tyra Banks living in your home and like we're not gonna talk about that?
00:36:28.809 --> 00:36:29.849
She's looks so good.
00:36:29.849 --> 00:36:31.129
Yeah, yeah.
00:36:31.369 --> 00:36:32.969
So that that's just my thing.
00:36:32.969 --> 00:36:42.250
But I'm just like, I wish that there would have been and I and I saw them like trying, like in the the it takes a week for the book to get here, but then also like it got there fast.
00:36:42.889 --> 00:36:43.369
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:36:43.369 --> 00:36:44.169
I don't know.
00:36:44.409 --> 00:36:47.289
It was like the timing was like a thing for me.
00:36:47.529 --> 00:36:48.730
Okay, I feel you.
00:36:48.969 --> 00:36:49.289
Okay.
00:36:49.289 --> 00:36:53.129
Let's talk about the magic for Freaky Friday.
00:36:53.129 --> 00:37:00.730
So things that are working, I think its specificity and its simplicity is working really, really well.
00:37:00.730 --> 00:37:04.089
It's a consciousness switching between two bodies, period.
00:37:04.089 --> 00:37:10.409
Internal processes from the brain / consciousness / soul, like habits, mannerisms, monologues.
00:37:10.409 --> 00:37:13.049
They sound like the character that's inhabiting the body.
00:37:13.049 --> 00:37:18.969
All physical characteristics and processes like speech and appearance are that of the opposite person.
00:37:18.969 --> 00:37:20.889
Super clear, easy to learn.
00:37:20.889 --> 00:37:27.769
It doesn't take us long to understand the rules and agree to them, which that's something that like I think the Barbie movie does really well.
00:37:27.769 --> 00:37:30.889
Like they set out the rule, we agree to them, we move on.
00:37:30.889 --> 00:37:35.689
I wasn't like sitting here thinking of like what all the loopholes could be.
00:37:35.689 --> 00:37:42.730
I think it's a strength that the magic is shown through physical, practical effects as opposed to CGI elements.
00:37:42.730 --> 00:37:52.009
Like, in fact, it's often using really interesting camera movement, like the moving aerial shots between two bodies when the actors are changing the sleeping position.
00:37:52.009 --> 00:38:07.289
We've got the split screen across a door and shaking the camera, flickering the lights for that first earthquake, the practical effects, the cinematography, it just makes it all feel very grounded and real so that there's not too much of a leap for us, I think, in the magic.
00:38:07.289 --> 00:38:16.089
Not saying that CGI magic is bad at all, but I was like, they had an opportunity, they were like, we could do CGI, or we could just find ways to ground it in reality.
00:38:16.089 --> 00:38:19.129
And they were like, we'll do that one because we don't need to do anything else.
00:38:19.129 --> 00:38:19.929
So they didn't.
00:38:19.929 --> 00:38:21.369
And I really liked that.
00:38:21.369 --> 00:38:27.609
And then for me, I think a real strength is the time aspect of this spell.
00:38:27.609 --> 00:38:30.809
The spell lasts until the fortune is complete, period.
00:38:30.809 --> 00:38:38.009
There's no time limit on the spell, yet all of the magic of the film is contained to one single day.
00:38:38.009 --> 00:38:43.289
Storytelling-wise, that makes things super clear, gives us some good boundaries for the spell.
00:38:43.289 --> 00:38:55.929
But what I really like is that by the spell being open-ended, it takes away a lot of the pesky loophole questions that inevitably come up around magic because it's just like, no, this is how it is until the spell is satisfied with the change.
00:38:55.929 --> 00:38:58.009
So it's like, oh, but could they do this?
00:38:58.009 --> 00:39:00.569
It's like, well, did it did the spell finish?
00:39:00.569 --> 00:39:01.449
Then no.
00:39:01.449 --> 00:39:06.569
Like you get your answers to a lot of those loophole questions if you're thinking of them.
00:39:06.569 --> 00:39:12.009
And then also, and this sort of falls into a strength in the characters and the transformation arc, too.
00:39:12.009 --> 00:39:26.329
Because there is no time limit on the spell, the pressure that Anna and Tess have to change back and their timeline, it's completely self-generated and therefore can support that character growth journey for each of them.
00:39:26.329 --> 00:39:38.809
The scene at the rehearsal dinner where they accept that they've basically failed and are not going to change back in time for the wedding, is pivotal in getting them to the place they need to actually break the spell.
00:39:38.809 --> 00:39:43.129
At that point, they each decide to sacrifice something for the other.
00:39:43.129 --> 00:39:48.009
Tess, her wedding, so that Anna doesn't have to go through with it in Tess's body.
00:39:48.009 --> 00:39:55.129
And Anna, in giving her approval of Mark in the speech, and not calling off the wedding because she knows what it means to her mom.
00:39:55.129 --> 00:40:08.250
And additionally, because of how open-ended the spell is, they get this kind of like additional layer to the lesson that they can't rush the other person to be who they want the other person to be.
00:40:08.250 --> 00:40:17.689
So in addition to like gaining respect for the other person's perspective and like this, this, that, and the other, there's this other thing of like, don't rush someone to be who you want them to be.
00:40:17.689 --> 00:40:23.449
I just think it really deepens things a little bit, gives more sophistication to the Tess and Anna character arc.
00:40:23.449 --> 00:40:28.329
Because there isn't just like one single takeaway from the overall magical experience.
00:40:28.329 --> 00:40:30.329
There's like multiple things.
00:40:30.329 --> 00:40:33.689
Like, if someone were to like give a test and they were like, What are the takeaways?
00:40:33.689 --> 00:40:34.969
There's not one answer here.
00:40:34.969 --> 00:40:36.409
There's a lot of takeaways.
00:40:36.969 --> 00:40:38.969
Yeah, I had a lot of the same things.
00:40:38.969 --> 00:40:43.849
Like I said, uh, having the guide for breaking the spell is super satisfying.
00:40:43.849 --> 00:40:47.929
We know what the end goal is, and we know that it's a family-friendly movie and they're gonna achieve it.
00:40:47.929 --> 00:40:56.889
So it's more of like we can enjoy the chaos that ensues so much more because we do know it's going to work out because some of these situations are so stressful.
00:40:56.889 --> 00:41:03.609
Um that makes it very it makes it an easy watch as well, which sometimes I'm looking for.
00:41:03.609 --> 00:41:11.769
Like I'll talk about this later, but sometimes in these magical realism films, I'm looking for this comfort factor sometimes, and it gives me that.
00:41:11.769 --> 00:41:16.250
And I also agree that I enjoy that we didn't use any CGI.
00:41:16.250 --> 00:41:26.089
So much of it being sold into performances is what kept us leaning more into the realism part of the magical realism, which I think is right for this story.
00:41:26.089 --> 00:41:30.889
Like I think it's right that Freaky Friday leans a little bit more into the realism part.
00:41:31.449 --> 00:41:36.009
Because so much of the magic has to be in the acting, it's in how you're inhabiting the character.
00:41:36.409 --> 00:41:41.369
And it's yeah, and the lesson is I mean, the lesson of Life-Size is emotional as well.
00:41:41.369 --> 00:41:46.489
But I think Life-Size leaning more into the magic of magical realism is also right.
00:41:46.489 --> 00:41:49.210
I think it really struck the right balance.
00:41:49.210 --> 00:41:59.929
And exactly what you said too, one of the things that really stood out for me is that the magic didn't allow them to pick up skills like Anna's musical abilities, which is a mental rather than physical skill.
00:41:59.929 --> 00:42:03.689
So we were very specific in what they were able to achieve.
00:42:03.689 --> 00:42:05.609
So yeah, absolutely agree.
00:42:06.489 --> 00:42:16.569
Weaknesses, uh I've got one very obvious, very glaring one, which is it relies on dated and problematic racial stereotypes.
00:42:16.569 --> 00:42:18.889
They get addressed in the sequel film.
00:42:18.889 --> 00:42:30.649
I was like, I want to know how they get addressed, and they do Rosalind Chao in the second film, which has a huge Asian cast and is directed by an Asian woman.
00:42:30.649 --> 00:42:34.730
She doesn't do she doesn't do that sort of put-on accent anymore.
00:42:34.730 --> 00:42:38.489
And she has a lot more agency to the point where they're like, Are you doing this?
00:42:38.489 --> 00:42:39.049
Are you doing this?
00:42:39.049 --> 00:42:40.250
And she's like, I don't have time.
00:42:40.250 --> 00:42:47.529
She was like, You really think that I have time to be like trying to solve all of your problems when I have my own like culinary empire that I'm trying to manage?
00:42:47.529 --> 00:42:50.569
Like, no, I'm not trying to teach you lessons or something like that.
00:42:50.569 --> 00:42:56.329
It's so it's like they take little digs away at some of the problems of the first one.
00:42:56.329 --> 00:43:05.529
And you know, it's just like a frustrating choice because the Chinese fortune cookie concept for the Switch doesn't come from either the book or the previous remake.
00:43:05.769 --> 00:43:06.569
That's what I was gonna ask.
00:43:06.569 --> 00:43:08.089
Is that from what is that from?
00:43:08.329 --> 00:43:15.049
It was very much made up for this version of the film, so it just as easily could have been something else.
00:43:15.049 --> 00:43:15.929
What?
00:43:15.929 --> 00:43:27.289
Or if they wanted to do it, because I'm not saying that like you can't do it, but they could have put more intentionality into it and they could have done it a little bit more responsibly than the way that it was done.
00:43:27.289 --> 00:43:43.849
But on a side note, it is nice to see how many people who are involved with its production who are willing to recognize and call out it being problematic and efforts being taken in the sequel film to fix it, they're all very effective and very intentional.
00:43:43.849 --> 00:43:46.809
So, but that's that's kind of like a glaring thing.
00:43:46.809 --> 00:43:49.689
There's a lot of pretty harmful things that have been done with the sequel.
00:43:50.009 --> 00:43:56.329
It's referred to as quote Asian voodoo, which is so fucking horrible.
00:43:56.329 --> 00:44:01.129
I mean, even for 2003, what are we doing?
00:44:01.129 --> 00:44:04.809
And it's like, yes, like you've built it into the story in some way.
00:44:04.809 --> 00:44:10.009
Maybe there's ways to not be so offensive, but you're having someone say that, yeah.
00:44:10.009 --> 00:44:11.129
Come on.
00:44:11.129 --> 00:44:20.409
And it's also like aside from the stereotypes in the characterization, and that that's the fact that that's where the magic comes from.
00:44:20.409 --> 00:44:31.769
You know, with Pei Pei's mother, it's like she causes the switch between Anna and Tess simply because she likes to meddle.
00:44:31.769 --> 00:44:34.889
And that in and of itself is a stereotype it's a stereotype.
00:44:34.889 --> 00:44:38.089
It's a huge that is a huge, very problematic stereotype.
00:44:38.089 --> 00:44:40.649
And we don't know a single other thing about her.
00:44:40.809 --> 00:44:41.049
Yeah.
00:44:41.289 --> 00:44:43.289
Like I she doesn't even have a first name.
00:44:43.289 --> 00:44:47.049
Like that come you're gonna have the catalyst of this magic.
00:44:47.049 --> 00:44:53.529
She doesn't even have a first name or any motivation or any true motivation for doing this, rather than like, I'm not sure.
00:44:53.529 --> 00:44:54.889
She just wants to teach a lesson.
00:44:54.889 --> 00:44:56.089
Yeah, I like to meddle.
00:44:56.089 --> 00:44:57.049
I'm a little like, you know.
00:44:57.049 --> 00:44:59.210
I'm gonna give that little mischievous grin.
00:44:59.449 --> 00:45:04.409
I mean, in some ways, it is kind of giving the Enchantress in Beauty and the Beast, where it's like, I'm gonna teach you a lesson.
00:45:04.730 --> 00:45:05.289
My God.
00:45:05.529 --> 00:45:07.369
But also, like, we don't really like her.
00:45:08.329 --> 00:45:10.889
And that's like, you know, for the good of the kingdom, okay?
00:45:10.889 --> 00:45:12.329
Like this ruler is bad.
00:45:12.329 --> 00:45:12.649
Okay.
00:45:12.649 --> 00:45:15.049
This is these are just two women who are trying to survive.
00:45:15.289 --> 00:45:19.689
Yeah, they're having, they're having a night out with their family, like having someone's getting married in a few days.
00:45:19.769 --> 00:45:21.210
Like, you could have just not done that.
00:45:21.210 --> 00:45:21.689
Okay.
00:45:21.689 --> 00:45:30.569
And and beyond that, it's also like, okay, how and why does she have this ability?
00:45:30.569 --> 00:45:32.250
Where does it come from?
00:45:32.250 --> 00:45:37.289
What does she have to do in order to make people undergo this transformation?
00:45:37.289 --> 00:45:39.129
Is she what is she?
00:45:39.129 --> 00:45:46.250
And and so we're just we're assuming that we're giving her these magical abilities because of her ethnicity.
00:45:46.250 --> 00:45:48.329
No, absolutely not.
00:45:48.329 --> 00:45:50.089
There's no specificity to it at all.
00:45:50.089 --> 00:45:51.210
It's just generic.
00:45:51.210 --> 00:45:53.929
Yes, well, of course she would have magical abilities.
00:45:53.929 --> 00:45:54.809
That's fucked.
00:45:54.809 --> 00:45:55.129
Okay.
00:45:55.129 --> 00:45:56.089
That's so fucked up.
00:45:56.329 --> 00:46:03.129
Yeah, I do want to refer to when I was saying when I was applauding the specificity of, I'm talking about the spell in particular, not necessarily where it comes from.
00:46:03.449 --> 00:46:04.409
Yes, absolutely.
00:46:04.409 --> 00:46:19.369
Um, if you're if we're not going to have any kind of explanation or backstory, then we need to be operating in some kind of world where there are a few select people who have abilities, but we're not it, we're in the real world, except for this one magical element.
00:46:19.369 --> 00:46:21.529
So it's we don't have to harp on it anymore.
00:46:21.529 --> 00:46:28.569
And then the only other thing for me is in the what the fortune says, selfless love will change you back.
00:46:28.569 --> 00:46:34.250
This I think this dips a little bit into character arc and transformation for me.
00:46:34.250 --> 00:46:42.809
It doesn't quite explain can you be changed back if one person shows selfless love, or do you both have to?
00:46:42.809 --> 00:46:47.929
Um, because I think "Ultimate"ly what Anna does is selfless.
00:46:47.929 --> 00:46:55.289
But I I think actually it could have gone a little bit further for me in order to be like, okay, we're locked in.
00:46:55.289 --> 00:46:57.929
She did the selfless thing for her mother.
00:46:57.929 --> 00:46:59.049
We're good now.
00:46:59.369 --> 00:47:08.009
Um so it's just like I thought it was clear because she's basically saying, like, I'm accepting, she's saying I'm accepting Ryan.
00:47:08.009 --> 00:47:10.409
And then she's also saying, like, I'm not calling off the wedding.
00:47:10.409 --> 00:47:11.769
I know it's important to you.
00:47:11.769 --> 00:47:13.049
I'm gonna go through with this.
00:47:13.049 --> 00:47:20.089
I'm not gonna make because Tess is like Tess in Anna's body is like, you need to call off the wedding.
00:47:20.089 --> 00:47:25.289
And she's like, and if Ryan is the person that I think he is, then he'll understand.
00:47:25.289 --> 00:47:27.849
But it's like breaking her heart to do that.
00:47:27.849 --> 00:47:40.489
But like that to me is selfless because she's like, I'm not gonna make my daughter go through a wedding to the love of my life when she's still having issues about whether or not she wants him in the family.
00:47:40.489 --> 00:47:47.049
And then Anna's response being like, Yes, I do want him in the family, and I'll go through with this for you.
00:47:47.049 --> 00:47:48.569
I thought that was pretty selfless.
00:47:49.049 --> 00:47:54.569
I just think if the spell was cast on me, I would be like, I'm going to achieve the selfless love.
00:47:54.569 --> 00:47:58.569
Like, I'm gonna try hard to do this as soon as possible because I want to switch back.
00:47:58.569 --> 00:48:01.609
Because the the fortune didn't say that we both had to do it.
00:48:01.609 --> 00:48:03.609
It's like, you know what I mean?
00:48:03.609 --> 00:48:10.969
There's a little bit of like it's nitpicky, it's nitpicky, but it's like but but it's the same thing that you were doing with Life-Size, also.
00:48:10.969 --> 00:48:11.289
Okay.
00:48:11.289 --> 00:48:16.809
Where, but it it is like for me too, if you actually track what the fortune says, okay.
00:48:16.809 --> 00:48:21.129
The oh, so the prize of the journey is reflected in the other person's eyes.
00:48:21.129 --> 00:48:24.489
I guess that is talking about the switch.
00:48:24.489 --> 00:48:30.009
When what you see is what you lack, then selfless love will change you back.
00:48:30.009 --> 00:48:32.730
I don't completely follow the logic of that.
00:48:32.730 --> 00:48:37.689
When what you see through the other person's eyes, or when what you see, you know what I'm saying?
00:48:37.689 --> 00:48:39.689
Like, I I'm not following totally.
00:48:39.689 --> 00:48:43.289
If I got this fortune, I'd be like, this could mean about 20 different things.
00:48:43.289 --> 00:48:46.730
I don't know how to solve this because I don't know what you're asking me to do.
00:48:46.730 --> 00:48:51.369
I got the selfless love part, but I don't know like what I see is what I lack.
00:48:51.369 --> 00:48:58.089
Because I to me, that gives me a little bit more of a story of like you each have something that you also need to take from each other.
00:48:58.409 --> 00:48:58.569
Right.
00:48:58.569 --> 00:49:00.089
And I do think that they get that.
00:49:00.089 --> 00:49:13.289
Like when Tess realizes in Anna's body, like the bravery of going up on stage and like that, that sort of thing, and and like that that's something that she lacks, that sort of bravery.
00:49:13.289 --> 00:49:30.569
And then I think Anna recognizes like the thing that she lacks that her mother offers is I think could be a couple things, but I I think mainly you see it in the scene with her brother when she goes to the parent-teacher conference.
00:49:30.809 --> 00:49:40.169
I just don't see them, I think they learn it and they appreciate it, but I don't see them taking it and being like, hey, there's a good quality about you that I could take and they're, you know, and doing that switch as much.
00:49:40.649 --> 00:49:40.969
All right.
00:49:40.969 --> 00:49:45.289
So let's talk about the character arcs because we're already moving in that direction anyway.
00:49:45.529 --> 00:49:45.849
Okay.
00:49:45.849 --> 00:50:01.049
So for what what was satisfying for me in Life-Size as far as transformation character arcs go is what Eve starts to learn that not being perfect and good at everything is okay, and that she can make mistakes and still be a role model.
00:50:01.049 --> 00:50:05.849
That's a good arc for a doll transformation movie that's more aimed at kids.
00:50:05.849 --> 00:50:10.569
Like that's the right, we're on the right track of like what would this type of character need to learn?
00:50:10.569 --> 00:50:11.929
We'll talk about it in a minute.
00:50:11.929 --> 00:50:15.049
I don't think it went as far as it could have.
00:50:15.049 --> 00:50:18.329
But I think the general lesson for her was a good choice.
00:50:18.329 --> 00:50:21.689
I just wish that she had taken that all the way, but we'll talk about it in a moment.
00:50:21.689 --> 00:50:23.049
But we were on the right track there.
00:50:23.049 --> 00:50:32.969
Also, you know, Casey going from pushing people away to like finding her way back to her dad and her friends post-Eve.
00:50:32.969 --> 00:50:42.329
Again, it ties into what I think makes this really interesting and valuable as a story, is just like the grief factor of it all and like the, you know, her her finding her way through grief.
00:50:42.329 --> 00:50:47.609
And, you know, she she still is in tears at the end of the movie, too, but it's okay.
00:50:47.609 --> 00:50:55.769
Like it's, you know, she when we see her at the beginning of the movie, she is removed and she's so sad, but she's not crying.
00:50:55.769 --> 00:50:59.049
And by the end of the movie, she's crying and she's letting it out.
00:50:59.049 --> 00:51:06.169
And I I love that what we did with her wasn't anything of like, oh yeah, like I can see that dolls are awesome now.
00:51:06.169 --> 00:51:09.369
No, it's just like what she moved through had to do with with grief.
00:51:09.369 --> 00:51:11.769
And I think that's much more sophisticated.
00:51:12.089 --> 00:51:12.409
I agree.
00:51:12.409 --> 00:51:31.609
I said that I think she has like the biggest, most meaningful character journey in the film because she goes from being afraid of moving on after the loss of something to being able to embrace that moving on is a part of the process, and she gets to experience that after Eve makes the decision to leave.
00:51:31.609 --> 00:51:37.609
Like Casey wants her to stay, but Eve is making a decision to leave, and Casey has to learn to navigate that.
00:51:37.609 --> 00:51:46.649
So it's almost kind of like she gets a do-over of the loss of her mother, and now is better equipped to navigate through it.
00:51:46.809 --> 00:51:47.129
Yeah.
00:51:47.369 --> 00:51:52.089
And so I'm like seeing that, I think that's like top tier for me.
00:51:52.329 --> 00:51:52.809
Yeah.
00:51:52.809 --> 00:51:59.369
One moment that really stood out for me, too, is when Eve says to Casey, you really are my special friend, because you're my special friend.
00:51:59.369 --> 00:52:00.730
It's her little catchphrase.
00:52:00.730 --> 00:52:02.009
It's such a beautiful moment.
00:52:02.009 --> 00:52:06.089
And it felt like Eve really learned what that means.
00:52:06.089 --> 00:52:10.649
She moves away from like at the beginning, she's talking about like Eve can do this, Eve can do that.
00:52:10.649 --> 00:52:23.210
I've done every job, I know how to do all these things, to really focusing rather than on Eve, to focusing on Casey and therefore fulfilling her true mission, which is to help girls, helping this one specific girl.
00:52:23.210 --> 00:52:29.609
And so I it wasn't such an overt, like, you know, Eve is this totally self-absorbed person.
00:52:29.609 --> 00:52:38.089
I liked the lighter touch that we took with it, but it still was there, that it was kind of all about Eve, haha, at the beginning.
00:52:38.089 --> 00:52:40.969
And then it became very much about the people around her.
00:52:40.969 --> 00:52:50.809
And you see, and you see Eve touch everybody in that way when it becomes much more about like her looking people in the eye and reflecting something back to them that's beautiful about them.
00:52:50.809 --> 00:52:55.449
I think she gave everybody a really else a beautiful arc because of that.
00:52:55.449 --> 00:53:08.489
We see, you know, with her giving love and attention to Ellit and her her fixing the horrendous coworker of Ben's, who was like sexist and all over women and everything, and just like I'm gonna look at you and I'm gonna acknowledge you, and that can heal you.
00:53:08.889 --> 00:53:16.569
Reminding Ben what's important to the point of like she wrote into his planner that Casey's game was happening, which I'm also just like, bro.
00:53:16.889 --> 00:53:19.369
Yeah, we'll talk about him in a minute.
00:53:19.369 --> 00:53:20.569
Okay.
00:53:21.289 --> 00:53:28.730
Yeah, no, I pretty much I agree with those things, and the biggest strength of this, the biggest transformation for me is Casey.
00:53:28.730 --> 00:53:38.169
And also just like, again, another kudos to Lindsay Lohan, like how this child acts that and navigates through all of that.
00:53:38.169 --> 00:53:42.489
It's so specific, too, and so brave.
00:53:42.489 --> 00:53:44.730
Like she's just so willing to go there.
00:53:44.730 --> 00:53:49.689
Yes, yes, yes, and have it be messy and not pretty, agree.
00:53:49.689 --> 00:53:52.169
Which is, I think, hard for a kid, too.
00:53:53.049 --> 00:53:57.369
Okay, well, now that we're talking about Ben, Casey's father, let's talk about him.
00:53:57.369 --> 00:53:57.849
Okay.
00:53:57.849 --> 00:54:00.489
Here's what's here's what's unsatisfying.
00:54:00.489 --> 00:54:04.169
And part of this is again, I think this happens to me in Freaky Friday.
00:54:04.169 --> 00:54:12.169
It happens to me with both of these movies, is some of this isn't necessarily in the unsatisfying writing of an arc.
00:54:12.169 --> 00:54:14.809
It's more in that, like, some of these people are just shit.
00:54:14.809 --> 00:54:17.929
Yeah, it's like so.
00:54:17.929 --> 00:54:26.889
When Ben finally decides to put Casey above his job, it turns out the forces against him were basically just him.
00:54:26.889 --> 00:54:32.569
When he finally decides to go to the game, his boss doesn't scream at him or threaten to fire him.
00:54:32.569 --> 00:54:34.569
His co-worker's high five.
00:54:34.569 --> 00:54:35.609
High five.
00:54:35.609 --> 00:54:40.489
So it was just him not really having his priorities straight.
00:54:40.809 --> 00:54:45.529
And he does say like it was just he was like, it was really like it was just too hard.
00:54:45.529 --> 00:54:46.409
It was too hard.
00:54:46.489 --> 00:54:48.969
But I'm also just like, well, sorry, sorry, bro.
00:54:49.129 --> 00:54:50.250
You're kind of like a bad dad.
00:54:50.250 --> 00:54:50.649
Yeah.
00:54:51.210 --> 00:54:52.489
You decided to have a kid.
00:54:52.489 --> 00:54:54.569
It's yeah, sometimes you have to be the adult.
00:54:54.809 --> 00:54:57.049
Sometimes you get to be sad to make your kid happy.
00:54:57.529 --> 00:54:57.849
Exactly.
00:54:57.849 --> 00:55:10.409
And so it's funny you say that because honestly, though, this could this could almost go in the satisfying section because super realistic, because I know a lot of dads who would do this exact thing if they suddenly had to single parent.
00:55:10.409 --> 00:55:16.250
And the parent who passed is the one who was showing up and is the one who was like kind of being that person for their kid.
00:55:16.250 --> 00:55:18.809
And I would love to see those guys learn their lesson.
00:55:18.809 --> 00:55:20.009
Sorry, not sorry.
00:55:20.009 --> 00:55:20.649
So who knows?
00:55:20.649 --> 00:55:22.169
Maybe it was satisfying after all.
00:55:22.169 --> 00:55:30.169
But really, like I was waiting for him to like look his boss in the eye and his boss is like, if you leave now, you know, this is gonna happen.
00:55:30.169 --> 00:55:32.569
I would have loved to see him be like, fuck it.
00:55:32.569 --> 00:55:34.649
I my kid has a game, I don't care anymore.
00:55:34.649 --> 00:55:35.609
I would have loved that.
00:55:36.009 --> 00:55:39.529
Yeah, like even his thing is like, listen, you know how hard I've worked.
00:55:39.529 --> 00:55:45.289
And if this is enough, yeah, this is if this cost me partner, then that's like on you.
00:55:45.529 --> 00:55:45.769
Yeah.
00:55:45.769 --> 00:55:48.169
But the guy's kind of like, no, no, I'll still give it.
00:55:48.250 --> 00:55:49.609
He's like, no, I'll still give you a partner.
00:55:49.609 --> 00:55:52.089
But I'm also just sort of like, he should be like, you know what?
00:55:52.089 --> 00:55:53.369
Fuck being partner.
00:55:53.369 --> 00:55:54.250
This is more important.
00:55:54.250 --> 00:55:55.449
Like that's yeah, exactly.
00:55:55.449 --> 00:55:59.449
That's the energy we were looking for, and it exactly still felt like he was kind of like hedging his bed a little bit.
00:55:59.449 --> 00:56:04.089
He was, he was hey, I should still be considered for partner, but I'm gonna go.
00:56:04.329 --> 00:56:05.689
Yeah, he's kind of annoying.
00:56:05.689 --> 00:56:08.009
So Drew and he deserve each other, so it's fine.
00:56:08.169 --> 00:56:08.489
Kind of.
00:56:08.489 --> 00:56:09.129
They're annoying.
00:56:09.129 --> 00:56:11.529
I'm like, can Casey be a doll too?
00:56:11.529 --> 00:56:13.849
Can can she be like, listen, I'm going with you.
00:56:14.489 --> 00:56:17.049
That's what I was gonna suggest for Life-Size three.
00:56:17.049 --> 00:56:18.969
I want Casey to go to Sunnyvale.
00:56:19.129 --> 00:56:21.129
Casey be like, I hate everything.
00:56:21.129 --> 00:56:23.929
Yeah, my dad sucked.
00:56:24.569 --> 00:56:25.529
Oh man.
00:56:25.529 --> 00:56:35.689
Okay, and so I I touched on this earlier too, but I would have loved to see when we're talking about kind of the magic of like bringing things back to Sunnyvale and what how what does that all entail?
00:56:35.689 --> 00:56:36.569
I have no idea.
00:56:36.569 --> 00:56:37.529
I have no clue.
00:56:37.529 --> 00:56:45.449
Um, but I would have loved to see a little bit more of a change in the Eve dolls once Eve returns to Sunnyvale.
00:56:45.449 --> 00:56:48.009
Yes, they have the updated look, they have the Bob.
00:56:48.009 --> 00:56:49.849
God, not the Bob.
00:56:49.849 --> 00:56:52.489
I'm kind of a that that okay, let me say one thing.
00:56:52.489 --> 00:56:55.049
That feels when she steps out into that look.
00:56:55.049 --> 00:56:59.210
When I was a kid, I was like, I've never seen anything more beautiful in my life.
00:56:59.210 --> 00:57:02.649
This Bob, this pink sweater, the belly shirt.
00:57:02.649 --> 00:57:04.009
Oh my god.
00:57:04.250 --> 00:57:08.809
It's literally what Elle Woods is in Legally Blonde.
00:57:08.809 --> 00:57:11.929
She's like, gave herself a bob with bangs.
00:57:11.929 --> 00:57:14.009
I'm like, that's literally what they just did.
00:57:14.009 --> 00:57:15.529
They gave her a bob with bangs.
00:57:15.689 --> 00:57:21.129
Also, it's funny because that day, like, she needed to go get this but like she had a lot to do that day, but she made time for a haircut.
00:57:21.129 --> 00:57:28.329
And her new catchphrase does reflect her time with Casey because she talks about, you know, you're 100 watts.
00:57:28.329 --> 00:57:29.689
I do love that.
00:57:29.689 --> 00:57:37.849
But I wish what happened was that she had a different catchphrase that was something like the most important thing is that you try your best.
00:57:37.849 --> 00:57:45.769
That's something that Casey's mom taught her that then she passed to Eve, or you're amazing just the way you are, because that's what Eve learned.
00:57:45.769 --> 00:57:46.089
Yeah.
00:57:46.089 --> 00:57:48.089
And you don't have to be perfect.
00:57:48.250 --> 00:57:55.529
So the Eve doll should be teaching girls that it really feels like the only change that happened in Eve is her outfit.
00:57:55.529 --> 00:57:57.769
Is her outfit and her hair.
00:57:58.329 --> 00:58:00.889
And that's why girls like her because she finally looks modern.
00:58:01.129 --> 00:58:04.409
And I'm like, that is so not the story that we told.
00:58:04.969 --> 00:58:05.929
Anyway, that's the thing.
00:58:05.929 --> 00:58:15.769
That's that's the one disappointing thing for me here, is like, even though, yes, there are gaps here for me when it comes to like what is the consciousness of the doll and the magic.
00:58:15.769 --> 00:58:20.009
I actually it doesn't, it doesn't change my enjoyment.
00:58:20.009 --> 00:58:23.529
This does because it feels like we didn't quite stick the landing.
00:58:23.529 --> 00:58:23.769
Yeah.
00:58:23.769 --> 00:58:33.529
Because I want to see Eve teach girls, help girls, the thing that she keeps saying she is desperate to do by telling them that just as they are, they are enough.
00:58:33.529 --> 00:58:35.849
Like that's the whole thing.
00:58:35.849 --> 00:58:37.849
Oh, so sad.
00:58:38.329 --> 00:58:39.129
It really is.
00:58:39.449 --> 00:58:43.529
I also think we could have, and again, maybe I'm being influenced by the Barbie movie.
00:58:43.529 --> 00:58:47.210
We could have gone a bit deeper with Eve's experience with emotions.
00:58:47.210 --> 00:58:50.489
A lot of her journey was learning that she isn't perfect at everything.
00:58:50.489 --> 00:58:58.329
But her feeling what crying is like, she does this the same thing that happens to Barbie, where she like feel feels the tears on her face.
00:58:58.329 --> 00:59:05.129
It felt like a big moment, and then we're racing towards the end of the film, so it didn't really go anywhere.
00:59:05.129 --> 00:59:05.529
Yeah.
00:59:05.529 --> 00:59:08.089
There was just, I think it was like too many good ideas.
00:59:08.329 --> 00:59:12.489
Yeah, those big moments for Eve's arc felt very, very rushed.
00:59:12.730 --> 00:59:15.529
Yeah, too many good ideas for a 90-minute movie, I think.
00:59:15.689 --> 00:59:23.929
And I think it's because they were also, they were trying to have give her like a very complete arc, Casey a very complete arc, Ben a very complete arc.
00:59:23.929 --> 00:59:27.289
And I'm like, I think you might have needed to choose two out of those three.
00:59:27.529 --> 00:59:31.049
Even Drew, they had to have her come back and be like, we're kind of good now.
00:59:31.049 --> 00:59:32.329
Like, you know what I mean?
00:59:32.329 --> 00:59:33.929
It's just who I don't care about her.
00:59:34.169 --> 00:59:35.529
I don't care about her.
00:59:35.529 --> 00:59:37.129
She infuriates me.
00:59:38.569 --> 00:59:39.210
I know.
00:59:39.210 --> 00:59:42.649
Fantastic performance because she gave me the ick.
00:59:42.649 --> 00:59:55.289
But yeah, I it and you know, and I think a lot of it is because this was the first like doll comes to the real world film, and you know, the writers were completely on track, and like there's so many interesting questions there.
00:59:55.289 --> 00:59:59.529
Yeah, and they're just there's not enough for a family-friendly 90-minute movie.
00:59:59.529 --> 01:00:01.769
There's not enough time to kind of address them all.
01:00:01.769 --> 01:00:05.529
So I think maybe then if she's anatomically correct.
01:00:05.529 --> 01:00:08.169
My God, pleased, please.
01:00:08.569 --> 01:00:09.609
And that man who works.
01:00:10.009 --> 01:00:13.049
These men, these men, I mean, all of the men in this movie get rid of them.
01:00:13.049 --> 01:00:13.769
Suck.
01:00:13.769 --> 01:00:20.569
I mean, the sex the sexism is like obviously a part of the story, but it does, you know, bother me.
01:00:20.569 --> 01:00:39.769
But yes, I think if we could have, even though I love the moment when Eve cries and like feels that, I think maybe it would have been cleaner to kind of avoid that and just focus on Eve is going back to Sunnyvale and is going to tell all the dolls there, all the Eves or whoever, and then teach other girls that we are just enough as we are.
01:00:39.769 --> 01:00:41.129
It would have been really clean.
01:00:41.129 --> 01:00:41.529
Yeah.
01:00:41.769 --> 01:00:42.009
Yeah.
01:00:42.009 --> 01:00:59.129
Or like if like if the focus is gonna be on Ben and Casey, then Eve needs to be sort of like a Mary Poppins figure where it's like, yes, there is maybe something that she'll take away, but she is there to catalyze change for these other people, and it's not really about her changing that much.
01:00:59.129 --> 01:01:03.369
Yeah, no, that's that's kind of like what I had.
01:01:03.369 --> 01:01:08.809
Um for Freaky Friday, strengths here for the characterization.
01:01:08.809 --> 01:01:21.049
I just think the characters are so damn clear, and the ways in which both Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan realize and embody these characters is really freaking incredible.
01:01:21.049 --> 01:01:27.929
Like Curtis's performance has been likened to that of Tom Hanks in Big, and I couldn't agree more.
01:01:28.329 --> 01:01:29.210
Yes, it is.
01:01:29.449 --> 01:01:34.730
And Lindsay Lohan's tears will never fail to choke me the F up.
01:01:34.730 --> 01:01:36.809
There is something so special about her.
01:01:36.809 --> 01:01:46.489
That that scene at the rehearsal dinner where she is Tess canceling it and just watching the tears well up, but like not letting them come out.
01:01:46.809 --> 01:01:47.929
It got me too.
01:01:47.929 --> 01:01:50.169
I I got choked up during the rehearsal dinner.
01:01:50.329 --> 01:01:51.289
Oh, it got me.
01:01:51.849 --> 01:01:52.569
It got me good.
01:01:52.809 --> 01:01:56.489
And I just I I forget how how embodied they are.
01:01:56.489 --> 01:02:01.289
I I keep forgetting that I'm like, all right, you're not the adult.
01:02:01.289 --> 01:02:05.289
Like it, I just I believe the magic so much.
01:02:05.289 --> 01:02:06.489
It's so good.
01:02:06.489 --> 01:02:13.769
And then I think the depth of how much these characters are changed by one another is really profound.
01:02:13.769 --> 01:02:18.409
I'll, again, you know, call back to that final speech, moments leading up to it.
01:02:18.409 --> 01:02:28.009
Like remembering where these characters started and where they are now is such a 180-degree turn, but it all feels very earned and realistic.
01:02:28.009 --> 01:02:32.649
Like I never felt like that switch just like happened really fast.
01:02:32.649 --> 01:02:36.809
It did feel like we were steadily moving towards it.
01:02:36.809 --> 01:02:47.689
We started seeing moments of respect for one another happen in private moments, in moments where they were together, like the the pink slip performance.
01:02:47.689 --> 01:02:55.609
But like the fact that the pink slip performance, which so easily could be the climax of the film, is not the climax of the film.
01:02:55.609 --> 01:02:58.329
The climax of the film is the rehearsal dinner.
01:02:58.730 --> 01:02:59.369
Rehearsal, yeah.
01:02:59.609 --> 01:03:02.329
And I'm like, that is really, really good.
01:03:02.329 --> 01:03:09.849
Where it's like you could look at that and be like, oh, this is the most interesting moment, this concert, like they're gonna switch back or whatever, like right there in the middle of the concert.
01:03:09.849 --> 01:03:11.689
And that's a choice, and that could be made.
01:03:11.689 --> 01:03:20.649
But to take that and be like, no, there's something more emotional, there's something deeper if we just push it a little bit further.
01:03:20.649 --> 01:03:25.129
And wow, like the payoff is really, really good with the two of them.
01:03:25.689 --> 01:03:27.449
Yeah, it got me.
01:03:27.449 --> 01:03:37.210
The most satisfying thing for me to see was watching Tess realize how many things were stacked against Anna at school.
01:03:37.210 --> 01:03:40.250
I can't, I don't know why, but I was super into that specifically.
01:03:40.250 --> 01:03:47.289
I think Tess's arc was satisfying partially because like she's got a lot of flaws as a parent.
01:03:47.289 --> 01:03:57.929
For someone who deals with emotions and mental health in her profession, she's very dismissive and belittling of Anna's feelings and needs when she's at a really delicate age.
01:03:57.929 --> 01:04:05.369
So it makes sense then having to have Tess deal with her shitty teacher and her bully.
01:04:05.369 --> 01:04:06.889
It's satisfying.
01:04:06.889 --> 01:04:19.129
But I think again, part of that is like because of the really rough place that Tess is starting in, which I kind of forgot about, or maybe it's coming back to this movie as more of an adult.
01:04:19.129 --> 01:04:22.569
I think back in the day, I was just like, yeah, a typical, a typical mom.
01:04:22.569 --> 01:04:25.529
But there are a lot of things she does that like are not okay.
01:04:25.529 --> 01:04:32.169
Yes, like if Anna was my child and the screaming and the slamming, I mean, it would make me crazy.
01:04:32.169 --> 01:04:38.250
But she really is not, she's got a lot on her plate, but she's not being a great mom.
01:04:38.409 --> 01:04:40.329
Oh, when she shuts the power off.
01:04:41.049 --> 01:04:43.769
The power, taking the door off the hands.
01:04:43.769 --> 01:04:46.089
The door, the door is bad.
01:04:46.089 --> 01:04:52.409
Like, if you told a therapist you did that, they would be like, that's going to make your child feel unsafe with you.
01:04:52.409 --> 01:05:02.169
So all of this to say, um, really seeing Tess have to experience what Anna's going through firsthand was super satisfying because I really was starting to feel like Anna, I'm like, wow, you really don't get it.
01:05:02.329 --> 01:05:02.489
Yeah.
01:05:02.730 --> 01:05:03.369
You don't get it.
01:05:03.689 --> 01:05:03.849
Yeah.
01:05:03.849 --> 01:05:14.569
And and I will say, like, I like that Anna has things to learn too of like what the responsibility is of like being someone who people are going to for guidance.
01:05:14.569 --> 01:05:23.529
Like watching her interact with all of those patients in the office, where I'm just like, yeah, she's feeling feeling those feelings.
01:05:23.529 --> 01:05:40.089
But then also like what Tess's kind of role is as a parent means people are looking to you, are constantly looking at you, looking to you at the rehearsal dinner, on the on the TV show, at the psychiatrist's office, like at in therapy.
01:05:40.089 --> 01:05:47.369
And I think realizing like how many people are looking at her mom, I think like that's a perspective that she didn't get before.
01:05:47.609 --> 01:05:50.250
But I like that she's sort of the TV show was so stressful.
01:05:50.250 --> 01:05:51.769
Please so stressful.
01:05:52.009 --> 01:05:53.849
Oh my god, that's a nightmare for me.
01:05:53.849 --> 01:05:55.449
Um, weaknesses.
01:05:55.449 --> 01:05:56.730
So, okay.
01:05:56.730 --> 01:06:00.169
I don't really have a complaint for the characters or the transformation arc.
01:06:00.169 --> 01:06:01.369
I'm really satisfied.
01:06:01.369 --> 01:06:03.449
I thought they were all executed very well.
01:06:03.449 --> 01:06:06.329
I feel like Caroline, you probably have something that you're gonna say.
01:06:06.329 --> 01:06:15.210
Um the arc with Jake may I think be the only thing I have questions on where I'm like, yeah, why is he at the wedding at the end?
01:06:15.210 --> 01:06:22.250
And then the reset with Anna is helpful, but I'm also just like, how is he rationalizing away what just happened?
01:06:22.649 --> 01:06:23.609
Yeah, yeah.
01:06:23.609 --> 01:06:33.369
I also just like it's I understand it's for comedic value and it's a part of the whole deal, but I didn't need him on the date with the with an older lady.
01:06:33.369 --> 01:06:34.649
I just didn't need it.
01:06:34.889 --> 01:06:37.289
I know, but the chemistry was fire.
01:06:37.289 --> 01:06:38.569
It was really good.
01:06:38.809 --> 01:06:39.289
Oh my god.
01:06:39.289 --> 01:06:41.129
Oh my god, Chad Michael Murray, baby.
01:06:41.369 --> 01:06:46.730
I was Chad Michael Murray, and I'm like, that would have been like a bucket list moment where I'm like, I get to go on a date and flirt with Jamie Lee Curtis.
01:06:47.049 --> 01:06:54.809
Oh my god, when she is when she is smiling, when she is riding on the back of a motorcycle with him, and she's just like that is so funny.
01:06:54.969 --> 01:06:56.250
That is comedy gold.
01:06:56.250 --> 01:06:57.210
That and then more comedy.
01:06:57.210 --> 01:06:58.649
And being right there.
01:06:58.649 --> 01:07:00.409
Perfect.
01:07:00.809 --> 01:07:01.449
My God.
01:07:01.769 --> 01:07:02.169
Go ahead.
01:07:02.169 --> 01:07:03.609
Hit me with your big weakness.
01:07:03.929 --> 01:07:05.049
No, it's not, it's not big.
01:07:05.049 --> 01:07:09.769
I I think probably what I have here might have to do more with me.
01:07:09.769 --> 01:07:12.409
And like, I don't know, my personal thing.
01:07:12.409 --> 01:07:22.809
I get it, of course, that in order to have conflict, we need to have these two kind of not want to help each other out at first as they inhabit each other's lives because they're so pissed off about this.
01:07:22.809 --> 01:07:28.889
And they're in such a and they're in such a difficult place with each other that they're like, yeah, I don't want to help you out.
01:07:28.889 --> 01:07:35.529
But Anna's specific unwillingness to play the part of Tess got very grading to me at times.
01:07:35.529 --> 01:07:37.849
And it kind of made me pissed off at her.
01:07:37.849 --> 01:07:41.449
And I understand that she can't get to a place of being selfless too soon.
01:07:41.449 --> 01:07:43.049
We gotta go on the journey.
01:07:43.049 --> 01:07:56.169
But to me, it didn't feel like as much of a journey as like, I hate, I'm not, I'm gonna cooperate with this as little as possible until the very last instant, which maybe is good for dramatic value.
01:07:56.169 --> 01:08:04.089
But I wish along the way she had these small moments of like, you know, when she when she's seeing those patients of being like, oh shit, that was really hard.
01:08:04.089 --> 01:08:07.289
But instead she's like, no, I'm gonna keep making my mom look like a fool.
01:08:07.289 --> 01:08:09.929
And I'm kind of like, stop, stop that.
01:08:09.929 --> 01:08:11.769
That's not I don't know.
01:08:11.769 --> 01:08:18.329
I needed to say, I understand that it's difficult, but I wanted little moments of her being like, Oh, this is hard to be her.
01:08:18.329 --> 01:08:19.850
Oh, but anyway, you know?
01:08:20.170 --> 01:08:22.649
Yeah, no, I think I think that's valid.
01:08:22.649 --> 01:08:29.369
And I think we see moments of that like in the parent-teacher conference where she sort of softens.
01:08:29.689 --> 01:08:32.170
But that has to do more with her brother than her mom.
01:08:32.569 --> 01:08:34.250
Yes, that that's true.
01:08:34.250 --> 01:08:48.329
But then I think also we see those moments when she's like on the date and she's interacting with Chad Michael Murray, where she's like, I have to check myself, I have to remember that I'm my mom my mom, and my mom wouldn't do this.
01:08:48.329 --> 01:08:52.010
Like those are small, small things.
01:08:52.010 --> 01:08:53.289
But I no, I agree.
01:08:53.289 --> 01:09:00.970
I agree that there could be a couple more moments where like Anna as Tess is like, I've gotta do something.
01:09:01.289 --> 01:09:08.970
Because I think Tess, I think Tess as Anna has those moments where she's like to the teacher, she's like, What the why are you doing this to me?
01:09:08.970 --> 01:09:17.050
Like, you know, and I think I guess that that's what it is for me as is Anna in Tess's existence.
01:09:17.050 --> 01:09:22.409
I feel like a lot of her growth happens as it relates to other people, not Tess.
01:09:22.409 --> 01:09:26.170
Like she has a new, she sees her brother in a new light.
01:09:26.170 --> 01:09:28.409
And then she sees Ryan in a new light.
01:09:28.409 --> 01:09:39.769
I feel like the biggest growth here is that she she ended up learning way more about the good intentions of Ryan, about how he's like, you know, all this time I've been trying to let her come to me.
01:09:39.769 --> 01:09:44.170
And he sees how he sticks up for her in moments that she never even noticed.
01:09:44.170 --> 01:09:49.210
And it's still a great thing to see in a new light.
01:09:49.210 --> 01:09:57.130
But I I kind of expected it to be more of like Anna saying, like, wow, my mom is really balancing and holding together so many things in her life.
01:09:57.130 --> 01:09:59.689
And I, and maybe that's why she is the way she is.
01:09:59.689 --> 01:10:01.609
But it was more about other people.
01:10:01.609 --> 01:10:05.769
So it took a little bit of the focus off of the main relationship for me.
01:10:06.090 --> 01:10:08.010
I I completely understand that.
01:10:08.010 --> 01:10:28.729
And then I think I would also say, like, you could take it as a read of like all of the things that Tess was telling Anna were true, that like Ryan loves her and like respect, like respects her and things like that, and that her brother loves her, and like that Anna was just so resistant to those things being true and wasn't trusting what her mother was seeing.
01:10:28.729 --> 01:10:32.569
That, like, no, these are ways, like you could do a read of that.
01:10:32.889 --> 01:10:34.329
Yeah, no, and I think she was.
01:10:34.329 --> 01:10:40.329
I think that definitely is true, but it it doesn't, it doesn't touch quite enough for me on the selfless love part of it, you know?
01:10:40.329 --> 01:10:44.010
It's yeah, it's not it's it's more of like, you know, I wasn't lying to you.
01:10:44.170 --> 01:10:46.809
Wow, mom's mom's job is really, really hard.
01:10:47.050 --> 01:10:49.929
Yeah, because I want it, because it's like, you know, she's trying to plan this wedding.
01:10:49.929 --> 01:10:57.130
I I I wanted it to, you know, instead of just being like, no, we're not having this fish at this wedding, I kind of wanted her to have this moment of like, oh my God.
01:10:57.130 --> 01:11:03.289
And people are calling me about the wedding, and I have a client and I have to go to the I wanted her to, yeah, I needed that from her a little bit.
01:11:03.289 --> 01:11:07.449
Because as as much as I come down on Tess, she does have a lot on her plate.
01:11:07.449 --> 01:11:08.649
And you know what?
01:11:08.649 --> 01:11:15.050
Maybe it's fine because at the end of the day, I feel like Tess learned more about Anna than Anna did about Tess.
01:11:15.050 --> 01:11:18.809
At the end of the day, this film is kind of for for the Annas.
01:11:19.210 --> 01:11:19.689
Yeah, for the Annas.
01:11:19.929 --> 01:11:23.769
So it's you know, so if that's the imbalance, you know, it is what it is.
01:11:24.010 --> 01:11:24.250
Yeah.
01:11:24.250 --> 01:11:25.050
All right.
01:11:25.050 --> 01:11:27.769
Some final thoughts from from you.
01:11:27.769 --> 01:11:32.489
Where where are we landing on on these two with the magic and the characterization?
01:11:32.970 --> 01:11:45.529
No, I mean what I'll say about what I'll say about Life-Size specifically is that this is one of those movies I wore out as a kid, and I was very, I haven't seen it in years.
01:11:45.529 --> 01:11:48.329
And I was very worried it wouldn't really hold up at all.
01:11:48.329 --> 01:11:49.369
And I think it did.
01:11:49.369 --> 01:11:51.769
It did way more than I thought it was going to.
01:11:51.769 --> 01:11:59.449
Um, there are, you know, problematic, we said it earlier, sexist things happening, though are all they're also kind of part of the story that are cringe.
01:11:59.449 --> 01:12:03.529
But the story and the soundtrack and the performances are all really good.
01:12:03.529 --> 01:12:07.369
And this is truly the Barbie movie before the Barbie movie in a lot of ways.
01:12:07.369 --> 01:12:14.409
I think concept-wise, you know, that's when I try to like, I feel like I always do this in our showdowns.
01:12:14.409 --> 01:12:25.529
Like when we talk about princesses, I'm like, oh, but I want to factor in like this princess wouldn't have existed without this one, where I'm kind of like, you know, Freaky Friday is based on another movie in a book.
01:12:25.529 --> 01:12:28.170
Life-Size at the time was a completely original idea.
01:12:28.170 --> 01:12:29.289
So I give credit for that.
01:12:29.289 --> 01:12:40.409
And in these, in these magical realism-esque films, I'm I'm looking for comfort, a like a world that's familiar with occurrences that feel exciting and make us feel like, oh, I wish that could happen to me.
01:12:40.409 --> 01:12:43.529
And I think both of these films really deliver on that.
01:12:43.529 --> 01:12:47.449
Both with a really nice amount of laughs for good measure, too.
01:12:47.449 --> 01:12:49.689
These are both very funny movies.
01:12:50.010 --> 01:12:53.130
And there's a lot that's really connected between the two of them.
01:12:53.130 --> 01:13:05.369
I think like one of the sort of like unintentional similarity is that so much of the character transformations in both of these are about children and parents, and it's centered around grieving another parent.
01:13:05.929 --> 01:13:06.649
A lost parent.
01:13:06.649 --> 01:13:06.970
Yes.
01:13:06.970 --> 01:13:08.170
It's so interesting.
01:13:08.409 --> 01:13:17.210
Which is not true of Freaky Friday, the book or the previous that is solely invented for this version of Freaky Friday, is that Tess is a single mom.
01:13:17.449 --> 01:13:22.090
Yeah, there's a lot of working through of grief in these, which I really love.
01:13:22.489 --> 01:13:23.529
I do, I do too.
01:13:23.529 --> 01:13:25.050
And I think a lot.
01:13:25.369 --> 01:13:35.529
I think what it really comes down to here for me, and I so I need to think about it for a moment, is I'm getting pulled by what what what had meaning to me as a kid.
01:13:35.529 --> 01:13:45.689
And and the idea coming being a kid who was so obsessed with dolls, the magic of a doll coming to life was so attractive for me.
01:13:45.689 --> 01:13:50.809
More than I was attracted to the idea of like, if I could switch places with somebody, who would I switch places with?
01:13:50.809 --> 01:13:51.130
Yeah.
01:13:51.130 --> 01:13:57.529
So I know that I have a I know that I have a bias when it comes to like what magic am I generally more interested in.
01:13:57.529 --> 01:13:59.449
But let me hear what you have to say.
01:13:59.449 --> 01:14:01.609
I'm I'm I'm I'm marinating.
01:14:01.929 --> 01:14:03.689
I I understand all of that too.
01:14:03.689 --> 01:14:08.809
And I'm trying to be aware of my bias towards how much I wore out Freaky Friday.
01:14:09.449 --> 01:14:10.649
I didn't know that about you.
01:14:10.649 --> 01:14:11.689
That's so interesting.
01:14:12.170 --> 01:14:14.409
Honestly, like kind of didn't really know about myself either.
01:14:14.409 --> 01:14:18.649
Like, I until like Shannon was like, I can't watch that movie anymore with you.
01:14:18.649 --> 01:14:19.769
And I'm like, oh, okay.
01:14:19.769 --> 01:14:33.929
But see, I think for me, like coming down in terms of the the character transformation, the the sort of like arcs of the characters, the emotional depth of it all, I really I think I do come down on the side of Freaky Friday.
01:14:33.929 --> 01:14:38.569
I think the script and everything, it just is really, really deeply satisfying.
01:14:38.569 --> 01:14:41.369
I was watching this, I'm like, that is a solid-ass script.
01:14:41.369 --> 01:14:46.329
That is like the best version of Freaky Friday by far.
01:14:46.329 --> 01:14:49.609
And I just gravitate towards those characters more.
01:14:49.609 --> 01:15:18.090
I find myself like rooting for them to succeed more than I'm I guess I think because we're making Eve such a big character who has an arc, the fact that her arc does not land a hundred percent really bothers me in the way that and I feel like the the landing for Tess and Anna is more of 100 closer to 100% based on that final scene.
01:15:18.489 --> 01:15:23.929
Yeah, I feel like I would give like arc for me, I would give arc to Freaky Friday.
01:15:24.170 --> 01:15:24.889
I would too.
01:15:25.130 --> 01:15:37.849
And I would actually give the magic part to Life-Size again for the originality of the idea, the specificity of the magic-y stuff of all of it, but also then the lack of really offensive shit happening in the world.
01:15:38.010 --> 01:15:51.289
I know that's that's the thing, because I'm also just like, I really love, I thought they were being really creative with the way and and with just how effective the performances are in selling the magic in Freaky Friday.
01:15:51.289 --> 01:15:54.809
I'm like, there's so, so much about it that I like.
01:15:54.809 --> 01:15:59.130
I like how grounded it all is that and the lack of CGI of it all.
01:15:59.130 --> 01:16:01.369
I think it's just like it all feels very real.
01:16:01.369 --> 01:16:10.889
And if we're going for magical realism, making magic feel like it's a part of real life, that feels very right to me.
01:16:10.889 --> 01:16:16.010
But how do you, how do you with that?
01:16:16.649 --> 01:16:18.329
I know, I know.
01:16:18.329 --> 01:16:22.729
Especially because I really was like, oh, this must come from.
01:16:22.729 --> 01:16:23.849
I know the book is old.
01:16:23.849 --> 01:16:26.250
It's gotta come from some outdated bullshit from.
01:16:26.729 --> 01:16:28.170
I looked, I was like, where is this?
01:16:28.649 --> 01:16:30.250
Why did y'all have to do that?
01:16:30.250 --> 01:16:31.529
Come on.
01:16:32.809 --> 01:16:33.529
I don't know.
01:16:33.529 --> 01:16:37.689
So I think I think I can come down in agreement with you.
01:16:37.689 --> 01:16:44.809
I think I do have to keep reminding myself is like the magic of Life-Size is a doll comes to life.
01:16:44.809 --> 01:16:50.090
And that that is that is a big thing.
01:16:50.090 --> 01:16:52.809
Yeah, like that's a that's a big thing for movies.
01:16:53.050 --> 01:16:53.689
Yeah.
01:16:53.689 --> 01:16:57.529
And just the amount of similarities to Barbie really, really.
01:16:58.649 --> 01:17:02.569
I was really having a lot of those moments where I was like, oh, damn.
01:17:02.729 --> 01:17:05.369
Like it was doing some it was doing some stuff.
01:17:06.010 --> 01:17:12.970
Found some of the like the precious nuggets that like Breta Gerwig mined and then refined into this polished, beautiful thing.
01:17:13.289 --> 01:17:16.010
Would a doll in this world cry and she's never done that before?
01:17:16.010 --> 01:17:16.889
And what does it feel like?
01:17:16.889 --> 01:17:18.409
I mean, it's a really interesting question.
01:17:18.729 --> 01:17:28.489
And also the fact that like the role of a doll is to reflect back the most beautiful things about someone else, and that and that that's complicated.
01:17:28.809 --> 01:17:29.130
Yeah.
01:17:29.130 --> 01:17:33.689
And that they could have existential dread about how much people need that.
01:17:33.849 --> 01:17:41.130
Yeah, yes, and the and the pressures that they feel about I have to be perfect at I'm supposed to be perfect at everything, but I'm not.
01:17:41.130 --> 01:17:46.729
Like that's that's what's expected of me, and what happens if I'm not perfect at everything.
01:17:46.889 --> 01:17:48.010
Yeah, yeah.
01:17:48.409 --> 01:17:55.449
Like, there's a lot of those big questions that are central to these types of stories that come out through through Life-Size.
01:17:55.689 --> 01:17:56.649
So I have a lot of respect to the world.
01:17:56.970 --> 01:18:00.250
Both of these films just end with fantastic songs.
01:18:00.489 --> 01:18:01.130
Fantastic songs.
01:18:01.130 --> 01:18:03.529
I do think "Ultimate" is better than "Be A Star," though.
01:18:03.609 --> 01:18:06.090
I will- "Be A Star" till the end of time.
01:18:06.329 --> 01:18:08.010
No, "Ultimate" all the way.
01:18:08.010 --> 01:18:10.569
I could do a split on the magic going to Life-Size.
01:18:11.210 --> 01:18:16.649
I was walking the dog the other day, and I was like, you know, this showdown, I really need to make some choices and stop doing what I do.
01:18:16.649 --> 01:18:19.769
But I do think in this, we were looking at two very specific things.
01:18:19.769 --> 01:18:22.889
Like this, like we said at the beginning, this wasn't which film is better.
01:18:22.889 --> 01:18:28.409
And I think, yeah, I just think each of these is stronger in the two one of the two categories we were looking at.
01:18:28.569 --> 01:18:38.889
Yeah, and I just, I just think that like, I'm sorry, but like racial stereotypes, like that's gonna, that's gonna deduct like 150 points from your overall score in the end.
01:18:39.210 --> 01:18:41.369
And it was oh it was hard to watch.
01:18:41.609 --> 01:18:43.769
It w- it was, it was, it was everywhere.
01:18:43.849 --> 01:18:50.489
It's it's to the point where I'm actually surprised that there wasn't oh, they took all of those away.
01:18:50.489 --> 01:18:53.689
I was gonna say that there wasn't a notification at the beginning of the movie.
01:18:53.849 --> 01:18:54.889
Yeah, they took all of those away.
01:18:55.849 --> 01:18:56.649
Oh, I hate this timeline.
01:18:56.889 --> 01:18:57.529
I know cool.
01:18:57.529 --> 01:18:57.769
Great.
01:18:57.769 --> 01:18:58.250
I know.
01:18:58.250 --> 01:19:00.010
Welcome to the second Trump administration.
01:19:00.170 --> 01:19:00.409
Yeah.
01:19:00.409 --> 01:19:00.889
Uh-huh.
01:19:01.289 --> 01:19:15.210
But I think it's it's kind of like a thing of like, while I think the magic is really, really good in Freaky Friday, and I think that the the character transformation is really, really good in Freaky Friday, those racial stereotypes deduct a lot of points.
01:19:15.210 --> 01:19:27.289
And while I think the character transformations are fine for Life-Size, and I think the the magic is good.
01:19:27.289 --> 01:19:35.210
I think good plus fine is greater than excellent plus good plus racism.
01:19:35.210 --> 01:19:38.889
So I would feel comfortable.
01:19:39.210 --> 01:19:40.170
What a math equation.
01:19:40.409 --> 01:19:41.529
I would feel comfortable.
01:19:41.529 --> 01:19:44.569
This is the logic I have to do in my brain in order to say this.
01:19:44.809 --> 01:19:45.050
Okay.
01:19:45.289 --> 01:19:48.010
Because I of how much I do love Freaky Friday, yeah.
01:19:48.010 --> 01:19:57.289
I would feel okay giving Life-Size the win of this showdown for the magical realism and the character transformations.
01:19:57.289 --> 01:20:04.569
I will give it to that because as much as I think Freaky Friday would win, there's racism.
01:20:05.289 --> 01:20:05.769
Yeah.
01:20:06.090 --> 01:20:08.649
And I can't, and I can't with racism, you know?
01:20:08.809 --> 01:20:09.449
Yeah.
01:20:09.769 --> 01:20:14.170
Um, if it didn't have that, this would blow Life-Size out of the water for me.
01:20:14.170 --> 01:20:15.369
So just like know that.
01:20:15.609 --> 01:20:15.929
Sure.
01:20:15.929 --> 01:20:17.929
I will take that and I'll put it in my pocket.
01:20:18.250 --> 01:20:22.970
Because I think Freaky Friday is a really, really, really, really, really good film.
01:20:22.970 --> 01:20:25.130
Like just an objectively good film.
01:20:25.130 --> 01:20:28.970
But great films also have racism in them, and that's unfortunate.
01:20:28.970 --> 01:20:31.130
It's important that we talk about it.
01:20:31.130 --> 01:20:39.449
Like, I know I know we were kind of iffy about like how are we gonna have this conversation, but I'm like, I think it's really important that we can say, like, hey, we love Freaky Friday.
01:20:39.449 --> 01:20:43.289
There's a lot of great things happening in it, but this is not good.
01:20:43.289 --> 01:20:48.649
Yeah, and sometimes will cost you the win of a showdown on Poor Unfortunate Podcast.
01:20:48.889 --> 01:21:06.569
And it's very interesting to look at it against a movie that could have been made with a doll that is like Barbie, the typical original Barbie, who is a white blonde woman and a black woman was given the role, and she is the epitome of beauty and and who you want to be like.
01:21:06.569 --> 01:21:08.809
Um, that's that pushes it.
01:21:08.809 --> 01:21:13.769
I mean, again, I know we're not looking at that, but then once we bring racism into it, it's doing really well on that front.
01:21:14.010 --> 01:21:23.210
Yeah, that is, as Caroline Aimetti would say, "not for nothing." All right, so congratulations to Life-Size.
01:21:23.689 --> 01:21:32.090
You are a winner of this showdown because when it we're fighting back the Trump administration of it all.
01:21:32.409 --> 01:21:34.569
So Life-Size wins, take that Donald Trump.
01:21:34.889 --> 01:21:38.329
Take that fucking Donald Trump and all of you in the Epstein Files.
01:21:38.329 --> 01:21:40.729
We're we're giving the wind a Life-Size.
01:21:42.809 --> 01:21:44.010
I'm crying.
01:21:44.010 --> 01:21:45.529
I can't.
01:21:46.010 --> 01:21:48.090
Well, thank you all very much for joining us.
01:21:48.090 --> 01:21:49.609
We hope you enjoyed this episode.
01:21:49.609 --> 01:21:52.489
Hope it brought you back a little bit in time.
01:21:52.489 --> 01:21:56.170
Uh or maybe introduce you to some movies that you hadn't seen before.
01:21:56.170 --> 01:22:04.090
If you liked what you heard or watched, please make sure that you hit follow or subscribe wherever you're getting the podcast, opt in for notifications on YouTube.
01:22:04.090 --> 01:22:22.889
And then this is that moment where you want to hit five stars, leave a written review or a comment wherever you're listening or watching the podcast, and then tap the share button, send this to a friend, send this to someone who was your person who you would watch these types of movies with, or send it to your mom or your dad or someone.
01:22:22.889 --> 01:22:23.449
I don't know.
01:22:23.689 --> 01:22:24.649
Or your doll.
01:22:25.050 --> 01:22:26.409
Or send it to your doll.
01:22:26.409 --> 01:22:31.369
Go go dig out the Barbie from the basement of your parents' house and send this to her.
01:22:31.529 --> 01:22:33.130
She'll wanna she'll wanna listen.
01:22:33.130 --> 01:22:34.090
She will.
01:22:34.090 --> 01:22:35.130
She will.
01:22:35.130 --> 01:22:38.090
Please also follow us on social media.
01:22:38.090 --> 01:22:40.729
We are @PoorUnfortunatePodcast Everywhere.
01:22:40.729 --> 01:22:44.569
Instagram, Facebook, no more TikTok for now.
01:22:44.569 --> 01:22:48.010
Threads, BlueSky, I think that's everything.
01:22:48.010 --> 01:22:52.329
We would love to talk to you on there about what you thought about these movies when you were younger.
01:22:52.329 --> 01:22:54.329
What did these mean to you back in the day?
01:22:54.329 --> 01:22:55.369
We would love to hear.
01:22:55.369 --> 01:23:02.329
Or if you're coming to them for the first time, how are they for you without the nostalgia factor that both of us brought to this?
01:23:02.329 --> 01:23:04.010
I'd be very interested to hear that.
01:23:04.010 --> 01:23:06.329
So please comment on our post.
01:23:06.329 --> 01:23:07.529
You can DM us.
01:23:07.529 --> 01:23:15.369
But if you want to have even more of a conversation with us and with other people who listen to the podcast, please join the poor unfortunate fam.
01:23:15.369 --> 01:23:21.929
It is still our private Facebook group, but now, as you probably know, it is also our Discord channel.
01:23:21.929 --> 01:23:24.250
So we will talk about this episode.
01:23:24.250 --> 01:23:32.409
We've been talking about a lot of other things in there, like, you know, some products that may have come out recently we might all be interested in.
01:23:32.409 --> 01:23:34.809
There is a big conversation about that in there.
01:23:34.809 --> 01:23:45.289
So it's a great way for Conor and I to meet who's out there listening, tailor the podcast to what you're interested in, and just make us feel like this is all worthwhile.
01:23:45.289 --> 01:23:47.050
So please come introduce yourself.
01:23:47.050 --> 01:23:48.889
We would be absolutely thrilled to have you.
01:23:49.210 --> 01:23:52.010
And if you're looking for merch, the Poor Unfortunate Shop is open, poorunfortunatepodcast.com/shop.
01:23:54.889 --> 01:24:01.849
And we will have some updates coming to you soon on our collaboration with Most Magical Printing Company.
01:24:01.849 --> 01:24:10.090
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01:24:10.090 --> 01:24:18.250
You can get ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, "Caroline, What's New?", which will make the podcast a weekly podcast for you.
01:24:18.250 --> 01:24:20.010
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01:24:20.010 --> 01:24:25.369
And you can go to patreon.com/poorunfortunatepodcast to join.
01:24:25.369 --> 01:24:31.689
That's P-A-T-R-E-O-N dot com / poor unfortunate podcast.
01:24:31.689 --> 01:24:35.369
Okay, that's gonna do it for us for this episode.
01:24:35.369 --> 01:24:38.569
We will be back with some tips and tricks for you.
01:24:38.809 --> 01:24:39.210
Woo!
01:24:39.689 --> 01:24:42.889
And until then, Beluga Sevruga!