Inside Universal Forums

Welcome to the Inside Universal Forums! Register a free account today to become a member. Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members and unlock our forums features!

  • Signing up for a Premium Membership is a donation to help Inside Universal maintain costs and offers an ad-free experience on the forum. Learn more about it here.

Willy's Wonderland (2021)

Feb 25, 2014
2,524
5,382
While the long-delayed Five Night's at Freddy's looks to finally begin production in Spring, it looks like we've got another killer animatronic film coming out next month, and this one stands-out in more ways than one, one of them notably being it has Nic Cage.



So this film looks bonkers! Nic Cage going on a rampage can always be a treat, especially since one of his last two films was the wonderfully insane "Mandy". I also appreciate the animatronics look like animatronics, which couldn't be said about the Banana Splits movie, and that one -was- supposed to be a FNaF film before WB lost it. I've also seen blurbs from those who've read the script, and they're pretty excited for this one. Don't expect much in terms of plot, but it's gonna' deliver quite a ride.
 
While the long-delayed Five Night's at Freddy's looks to finally begin production in Spring, it looks like we've got another killer animatronic film coming out next month, and this one stands-out in more ways than one, one of them notably being it has Nic Cage.



So this film looks bonkers! Nic Cage going on a rampage can always be a treat, especially since one of his last two films was the wonderfully insane "Mandy". I also appreciate the animatronics look like animatronics, which couldn't be said about the Banana Splits movie, and that one -was- supposed to be a FNaF film before WB lost it. I've also seen blurbs from those who've read the script, and they're pretty excited for this one. Don't expect much in terms of plot, but it's gonna' deliver quite a ride.

Am I supposed to side with Nicholas Cage

He himself is already a large killer animatronic
 
Watched this last night and, honestly, did not do it for me one iota.

I'll preface by saying that I'm not really on the Nick Cage bandwagon. He can be a fine actor given the right role but this recent movement of putting him in scenario x,y or z and letting him be insanely over the top just doesn't do much for me. It's just crazy randomness for the schtick of it and there's nothing really there that entertains me. Still, I wanted to give this a shot because I love splatter horror comedies but I was very disappointed.

The major strike I put against Willy's Wonderland is the complete lack of tension. I fully understand that the selling point of this movie is Cage going nuts against killer animatronic animals but when his character is so ridiculously powerful against them there's just no threat and no entertainment unless you're into seeing Cage acting nuts. The fight scenes themselves are poor and really only one 'finishing blow' of one of the animatronics felt visceral at all (and it was, IIRC, the second one or so).

Outside of the main purpose of Cage v. Animatronics, the acting from the rest of the cast, a set of young adult/teenage lambs to the slaughter, is poor and forgettable. The plot is laughably bad and I was pretty astonished we got not only one blatant exposition scene but two unnecessarily shoved into the movie. The effects were also forgettable, though I did like the design of some of the animatronics themselves in puppet form; there were too many of them, they would have felt more memorable if you could concentrate on only 4 or 5 of them rather than 8. The music was ho-hum although the demented kids' songs were a nice touch. I did quite enjoy the gag of Cage replacing his goofy employee shirt after every battle, that was a nice touch.

If you're not into Crazy Cage, I don't think you'd get much out of having a birthday bash at Willy's Wonderland. If you are, you might get a kick out of seeing Cage dismantle some blood thirsty animatronics. 1/2 Star out of Five for me.
 
Watched this last night and, honestly, did not do it for me one iota.

I'll preface by saying that I'm not really on the Nick Cage bandwagon. He can be a fine actor given the right role but this recent movement of putting him in scenario x,y or z and letting him be insanely over the top just doesn't do much for me. It's just crazy randomness for the schtick of it and there's nothing really there that entertains me. Still, I wanted to give this a shot because I love splatter horror comedies but I was very disappointed.

The major strike I put against Willy's Wonderland is the complete lack of tension. I fully understand that the selling point of this movie is Cage going nuts against killer animatronic animals but when his character is so ridiculously powerful against them there's just no threat and no entertainment unless you're into seeing Cage acting nuts. The fight scenes themselves are poor and really only one 'finishing blow' of one of the animatronics felt visceral at all (and it was, IIRC, the second one or so).

Outside of the main purpose of Cage v. Animatronics, the acting from the rest of the cast, a set of young adult/teenage lambs to the slaughter, is poor and forgettable. The plot is laughably bad and I was pretty astonished we got not only one blatant exposition scene but two unnecessarily shoved into the movie. The effects were also forgettable, though I did like the design of some of the animatronics themselves in puppet form; there were too many of them, they would have felt more memorable if you could concentrate on only 4 or 5 of them rather than 8. The music was ho-hum although the demented kids' songs were a nice touch. I did quite enjoy the gag of Cage replacing his goofy employee shirt after every battle, that was a nice touch.

If you're not into Crazy Cage, I don't think you'd get much out of having a birthday bash at Willy's Wonderland. If you are, you might get a kick out of seeing Cage dismantle some blood thirsty animatronics. 1/2 Star out of Five for me.
Totally respect your opinion and agree throughout most of your post and points, but some have to remember that this film was going for its slapstick style and knows how utterly ridiculous it is.
In other words, it's just dumb fun and shouldn't be held to anything serious, because this film is not that.
 
Totally respect your opinion and agree throughout most of your post and points, but some have to remember that this film was going for its slapstick style and knows how utterly ridiculous it is.
In other words, it's just dumb fun and shouldn't be held to anything serious, because this film is not that.

Absolutely, it's not a serious film at all and I totally understand what the 'appeal' of the film is but at the same time, Evil Dead 2 isn't a serious film and I still feel tension watching that movie at times.

It just didn't work for me, just felt too much of a trying hard situation chipping its name into the Crazy Cage fad.

I enjoyed Colour out of Space more than this, though that film isn't particularly great either, and I loved Mom and Dad so I can get behind Crazy Cage in the right movie, it just didn't happen here. Which is a bummer for me but if you enjoyed it, by all means! I don't have a problem with enjoying anything or being in the minority of an opinion.
 
Absolutely, it's not a serious film at all and I totally understand what the 'appeal' of the film is but at the same time, Evil Dead 2 isn't a serious film and I still feel tension watching that movie at times.

It just didn't work for me, just felt too much of a trying hard situation chipping its name into the Crazy Cage fad.

I enjoyed Colour out of Space more than this, though that film isn't particularly great either, and I loved Mom and Dad so I can get behind Crazy Cage in the right movie, it just didn't happen here. Which is a bummer for me but if you enjoyed it, by all means! I don't have a problem with enjoying anything or being in the minority of an opinion.
I think you are right though when you said the Animatronic's designs were the best part of the film.
 
Top