Under Wraps 2

In 2022, the sequel, “Under Wraps 2,” was released. However, Harold and the gang have freedom to take the story in a new direction. Alex Zamm returns to direct, along with the main cast, this time working from a script by Josh A. Cagan.

The sequel starts a year later, with Marshall, Gilbert, and Amy being driven in Buzzy’s hearse to Amy’s hometown of Rockport, a Salem-like town that really loves Halloween. Amy is planning a scary party for her father’s (Claude Knowlton and Antonio Cayoone) Halloween wedding, but while they’re in town, they decide to visit Harold and his spouse, Rose, played by Sophia Hammons, who are on display in a nearby museum. They use the ancient amulet to bring the mummies alive to experience the nicer things (like room service and arcades), but they aren’t the only mummies in town.

Sobek, played by T.J. Storm, has been accidentally revived through a meatball falling out of his dinner sub. With museum worker Larry, played by Jordan Conley, hypnotized to carry out his evil mission, Sobek goes on a mission for revenge against his former best friend turned worst enemy, Harold, for stealing his former love.

Along with his safety and that of his friends (mummified or not), this time around Marshall has difficulty being the ignored one to Gilbert and Amy, who have become close while working for the school paper together. Alex DiVincenzo said in his review, “It’s also a pleasant surprise to see LGBTQ+ representation — in the form of a same-sex wedding — handled so matter-of-factly, especially after the recent manufactured outrage over Lightyear.”

DiVincenzo continued, “While Under Wraps is the more well-rounded movie, Under Wraps 2 admirably attempts to one-up the Halloween vibes with a huge festival in the holiday’s honor.” Along with an evil mummy as the villain other than a human also makes it more of a horror movie, even though Larry is always by Sobek’s side to help the scares with comedic relief. It’s nice to see Adam Wylie, who plays Gilbert in the 1997, make a cameo as well.

DiVincenzo ended his review by saying, “It’s unlikely that the new iteration of Under Wraps will have the same impact as the original — with smart devices and streaming services readily available in virtually every household, most kids have unfettered access to untold horrors at their fingertips — but both the remake and its sequel serve their purpose as fun Halloween treats.”

If you want to see this sequel, check it out on Disney+. Personally, I didn’t really see much of a problem, but I don’t think I will be going back to see this again. However, I think this is relatively harmless, so I don’t think it will hurt to see it. Watch it and judge for yourself.

Tomorrow I will be looking at a surprising sequel in “Disney Month 2025.”

Under Wraps (2021)

Premiering on October 25, 1997, “Under Wraps” was the initial Disney Channel Original Movie. Alex DiVincenzo said in his review, “The cornerstone of the network’s programming proved to be as close to appointment viewing as it got for ‘90s kids, along with the likes of ABC’s TGIF and Nickelodeon’s SNICK. Moreover, Under Wraps served as a gateway to horror for many millennials. Before the age of streaming, catching a mummy movie on the same channel where you watched Disney cartoons and Boy Meets World reruns could have been your first exposure to the macabre.”

Disney tried to recapture the effect with the 2021 “Under Wraps” remake. The original movie was successful, and holds up 28 years later, for a lot of reasons. Relatable kid protagonists, a great Halloween atmosphere, and a sense of humor that is meant for them. Director/co-writer Alex Zamm and co-writer William Robertson intelligently keep those elements for the new remake.

Actually, all the major bullets from the original film – written by Don Rhymer and directed by Greg Beeman – are still there in the remake. Though both films are harmless, the original had a little edge to it…as far as ‘90s made-for-TV kids movies go, anyway. DiVincenzo said, “The remake is sanitized to favor playful hijinks over perceived danger.”

12-year-olds Marshall (Malachi Barton) and Gilbert (Christian J. Simon) are best friends even though they are insanely against their views on horror movies. Marshall is a huge fan of them, while Gilbert is afraid of his own shadow. When they believe their scary neighbor, Kubot (Brent Stait), of stealing an ancient Egyptian mummy, the boys join with their new classmate, Amy (Sophia Hammons), to sneak into his house, accidentally bringing the mummy back to life with an amulet.

Like many of fiction’s best monster, the mummy – named Harold, in honor to Marshall’s hot sauce loving grandfather, played by Phil Wright – is not as scary as he looks. He’s just misunderstood. The kids secretly become friends with the lovable mummy, making a friendship similar to “The Monster Squad.” When learning that Harold only wants to be reunited with his spouse, they help him on his mission. However, it’s easier said than done, as Kubot and his men are right behind them, and they only have until the end of Halloween to return him to his sarcophagus or he’ll turn to dust.

DiVincenzo said, “Most of the tweaks to the material serve to contemporize it. The fish-out-of-water element is played up with Harold encountering modern amenities like an autonomous vacuum and Siri-esque technology.” The cast is also more diverse: Marshall is of Hispanic heritage, Gilbert and Marshall’s mother’s (Jordana Largy) boyfriend (Jaime M. Callica) are Black, Amy’s father is gay, and the horror monster expert the kids trust (Melanie Brook) is a young woman.

Along with the Mummy in his life, Marshall has the usual adolescent problems like having difficulty accepting his parents’ divorce and trouble with the school bully, played by Josh Zaharia. The three child actors are likable and have a natural bond. DiVincenzo said, “Stait, a veteran character actor, chews the scenery appropriately, while Wright utilizes his dance choreographer background to bring the mummy to life. The mummy makeup design by Joel Echallier (1922, Freaks) is standard but effective, featuring an off-set jaw.”

“Under Wraps” doesn’t give any major changes to defend its existence. DiVincenzo said, “It’s more like Disney dug up the film’s mummified remains and gave its sarcophagus a fresh coat of paint — and there’s nothing inherently wrong with that.”

I know this remake isn’t all that good, but if you put this on for your kids, I think they’ll enjoy it just fine. Check it out on Disney+ if you want and see for yourself.

Surprisingly, this remake had a sequel. Stay tuned tomorrow to see how that is in “Disney Month 2025.”

Ron's Gone Wrong

Linda Cook started her review by saying, “There’s a little bit of “Child’s Play” and a smidgen of “her” in “Ron’s Gone Wrong,” a 2021 movie with a theme similar to the other two but directed at kids.”

It’s a film by new animation studio Locksmith, a British company that was created in 2014. The look of this CGI movie isn’t exactly like one other, so it’s really fun to see. It takes a look at our “friendships” with high tech and anything robotic.

The movie starts with the Bubble headquarters and the announcement of “B*bots,” mobile friends for children who can share everything with their friends on the B*bot database.

Barney, voiced by Jack Dylan Grazer, is the only kid in school who doesn’t have a B*bot. that’s just one more attack for Barney, who is used to being ignored and bullied.

He finds peace in his loving home with his single dad (Ed Helms) and Bulgarian grandmother (Olivia Colman). Barney’s dad sells trinkets that don’t make much money for the household, so a B*bot is not something he can ask for.

Then Barney’s dad finds Ron, voiced by Zach Galifianakis, a B*bot that fell out of a truck. Cook said, “Ron, who looks a little like a more bubble-ish BB-8 isn’t … well, programmed right, as the title implies.” Actually, he’s more or less broken – not exactly the right birthday present for Barney, who wants to take him back to the factory.

To start, because Barney soon finds out that while Ron isn’t programmed right, that also means he has a few boundaries, which helps out when Barney’s bullies face him.

However, that also means Ron is prone to getting into, and creating, trouble at every moment.

Cook admitted, “I really enjoyed this movie. While it may not be an Oscar contender, the look of its colorful characters and environments is charming.”

Adults will enjoy the film and have a lot of fun with the jabs at high tech, and kids will enjoy the way Ron gets the best of just about everyone.

This is the type of fun family time kids and adults alike deserve.

I think everyone can check this out on Disney+. The way this film brings up how much we rely on technology and that we can’t live without our devices is relatable. Also, if someone doesn’t have the latest or newest tech, they are not in the clique of people who do. Everyone can see this movie and enjoy themselves to the fullest. Watch it and enjoy with how relatable of a film Disney made.

Tomorrow I will be looking at a remake in “Disney Month 2025.”

The Call of the Wild

Chris Sanders has made three good animated films in his career: “Lilo & Stitch” for Disney, “How to Train Your Dragon” and “The Croods” for DreamWorks. He came back to Disney to make his live-action debut in 2020, but that was a big mistake. With so much CGI, the film is mostly animated already. Also, the small handful of human actors and real locations are only there to underscore how poor the sets and effects look. Kip Mooney said in his review, “Every time I saw a shot of the Northern Lights or an underwater rescue – and there were many – I couldn’t help but be struck how much better it would look as a fully animated movie. (Better yet, a hand-drawn animated movie.)”

“The Call of the Wild” is tarted mainly at kids ages 4 to 10. It’s a very easy story, and if for some reason you can’t get it, Harrison Ford is here with narration that sounds more bored than the original cut of “Blade Runner.” The protagonist is Buck, a high-spirited, spoiled St. Bernard-Scotch Collie mix, who is only as big as the scene asks. In his early life of domestic paradise, he literally causes the walls of his owner’s house to shake. Later one, he doesn’t look any larger than a fully grown dog you would see in a park.

Buck is kidnapped and sold as a sled dog in Alaska, where he ruins the first few days of travel. He quickly shifts from being a lazy dog to a strong runner, and eventually overtakes the lead, because he apparently is nice to the other dogs. There’s an alright look of adventure here, but then the story suddenly freezes, as the mail route Buck led his masters (Omar Sy and Cara Lee) on close downs, and the team is sold to a greedy prospector (Dan Stevens), then almost immediately rescued by John (Harrison Ford). The two go out on a journey of their own, with Buck going further and further away from the comforts of home.

Mooney said, “The Call of the Wild corrects an issue many had with Disney’s remake of The Lion King: the animals are more expressive, but the animators over-corrected. Now the dogs don’t even react like normal dogs. Their actions are so exaggerated, I kept waiting for them to talk. Their cartoonish eyes make them feel less real, decreasing our connection with the animals.” Yes, the dogs look good. However, that’s not enough to carry an entire movie.

Even though the movie looks good, Harrison Ford some dramatic scenes, it does check enough off the list to the story that may be faithful, even though I never read the book, but we know the mistake that was made. This either had to be live-action with a real dog or completely animated. Also, the story had to be tougher. I think they were trying to be faithful to the story with what they had, and make the protagonists as expressive as they can. This just wasn’t done correctly. I don’t know if people can see this an enjoy it, but if you want to see it on Disney+, then go ahead. I know there is an audience for this out there. I just wasn’t one of them. Might I also add that I have never owned a dog.

Tomorrow we will look at an animated movie that I enjoyed in “Disney Month 2025.”

Heavyweights

Despite “Heavyweights” being a 1995 film, it’s a throwback to the early Disney live-action films that cruised on their ideas and were fine on giving lightweight entertainment and nothing more. James Plath said in his review, “This one begins like “Meatballs” and ends like a summer camp version of “9 to 5.””

It’s written by Judd Apatow and Steven Brill, produced by Apatow, and directed by Brill.

In “Heavyweights,” Ben Stiller plays a fitness instructor (and not just any, but he is completely fit). Here, he plays Tony Perkis, a physical fitness fanatic who turns a fun camp for fat boys run by a nice couple, played by Stiller’s real-life parents, Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, into an intense weight-loss boot camp. His motivation? Plath mentioned, “He’s shooting footage of everything, hoping to use it in an informercial for a weight-loss method he thinks will make him ridiculously rich. So he replaces all the easy-going staffers with a bunch of neo-Nazis in black spandex—one of whom (Tom Hodges) actually speaks with an exaggerated German accent.”

Plath continued, “Stiller doesn’t just flex his way through the sequences—he climbs, he does flips, he does sit-ups and push-ups, he contorts, he runs, he leaps over tall buildings, and I’m sure he has some assistance from a stunt man. But he’s still in the best shape of his professional life—like Derek Zoolander on steroids, and with an attitude.”

What begins as a point-of-view narrative focusing on a first-time camper quickly becomes an ensemble film, with the boy taken in by the camp, the campers, and the idea that result when the owners announce they’ve been bought out and forced to retire. At some time one of the counselors, Pat Finley, played by Tom McGowan, breaks out as a second crucial point, with new nurse Leah Lail as his possible love interest, but it stays, really, one big ensemble. The campers include current SNL guy Kenan Thompson, David Goldman, Joseph Wayne Miller, Cody Burger, and Allen Covert.

After a fast set-up to make paradise before the fall, it feels like a two-act screenplay, with the first act like “Stripes” basic training for the boys, and the second act their revenge. However, that might be too strong of a word for a film like this, and Judd Apatow fans will be surprised at how relatively good the screenplay is, how lacking it is in foul language and bodily function humor. Plath said, “Still, I can’t imagine gross-out humor adding a whole lot. The premise is what it is, and it’s mildly entertaining and equally mildly humorous. As I said, the fun for most people will be to watch Stiller and a young Thompson work through it.”

Plath ended his review by saying, “Though the bonus features say “Heavyweights” has become a cult classic, I’m not sure how big that cult is. But I will say that if I were locked in a room and forced to watch one kids-at-camp film over and over again, I’d pick “Heavyweights” over “Meatballs” quicker than you can say “infomercial.” There are more laughs, and the characters are low-maintenance—the kind I’d like to have a beer with, when they grow up. I’m just surprised that Apatow couldn’t convince Disney to release this in two versions, theatrical and director’s cut, given all of the fun stuff that didn’t make the final print.”

I don’t think this movie is for everyone. Maybe if you had little kids, you could play this on Disney+ for them and just walk out of the room because I don’t think adults will get into this. I never went to camp as a kid, so I can’t say I can relate to the stuff kids did in the film. There is an audience for this film, but I wasn’t one of them. I can definitely say I didn’t enjoy this film, but that’s because I might not be the right age group for this film. There might be some funny moments, but those are few and far between. Everything else is just makes you want to turn to the person next to you and talk about something else while this film is playing. Like I said, you can put this on for your little kids and see what they think, but for everyone else, you can give this a safe pass.

Tomorrow I will be looking at a novel adaptation that I wasn’t really impressed with in “Disney Month 2025.”

Predator: Badlands

Tonight, I went to watch “Predator: Badlands,” which came out last month. After hearing a lot of praise for this movie, I was eager to see this. Seeing how this is the one year we got two “Predator” movies and one of them was really good, despite being released to streaming, how is this theatrically released one?

“Predator: Badlands” is the first Predator film to be rated PG-13 rather than R. That’s a surprise for the new sequel in a franchise that is about an alien species that does beating bodies and plasma cannons that regularly fill the screen with intestines. What’s more surprising is that “Predator: Badlands” is the first time a yautja (as the Predators are called) is a thinking and feeling protagonist.

Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) hasn’t just been exiled from his tribe, he’s been exiled by his father (Reuben de Jong) for his evident weakness. When Dek travels to the most dangerous planet in the galaxy to kill an indestructible beast, he’s not just doing so for pride. He’s doing it to show his father he’s good enough. Kyle Logan said in his review, “These aren’t complicated emotional stakes, but they’re far more than these movie monsters have been afforded before.”

Writer/Director Dan Trachtenberg (creative leader of the franchise and co-director of the animated anthology “Predator: Killer of Killers” earlier this year) adds to Dek’s emotional story with the introduction of Thia, played by Elle Fanning, a fast-talking and emotionally intelligent (so she can better utilize organic lifeforms) android left behind by her crew. Logan noted, “Fanning is essentially a more endearing, less annoying Donkey to Dek’s Shrek, as she’s there to teach him that friendship isn’t weakness.” This is a lesson that’s given some interesting thematic weight, as Dek initially only agrees to team up wit her because he justifies, she’s a tool to be used.

Logan said, “When Thia’s crew of other Weyland-Yutani (the corporation from the Alien franchise) androids returns for their bioproducts, the exploration of what becomes a web of exploitative relationships makes Badlands a better Alien movie than the last Alien movie we got. But more than anything, Badlands is a teen-friendly adventure movie in the vein of the original Star Wars and Pirates of the Caribbean trilogies.” This is filled with amazing combos of practical and digital effects, exciting action, beautifully shot outlooks, and equally heartfelt and humorous character subtleties. This may be unlike any other Predator movie, but it’s all the better for it.

I was tired from work, so I nodded off a few times, so I might have missed some of the first action and a little of the final action scenes. However, with the majority of it that I remember, this is a great entry in the franchise. This is told from the point of view of the Predator, which is something we have not seen before. The way Dek and Thia work off of one another is just amazing. As always, the Predator franchise never fails in the action scenes because they are all engaging. Finally, the way this film ends, it leaves you feeling like they are definitely going to work on a sequel. See this in the theaters if you haven’t because I don’t think it will be playing that must longer. You can’t miss the opportunity of seeing this film in the theater and getting the experience of it.

Thank you for joining in on this review tonight. Tomorrow I will be looking at another below average comedy in “Disney Month 2025.”

Clerks

Hardly anybody every works in the movies, except at jobs like cops, robbers, drug dealers, and space captains. One of the many likings of Kevin Smith’s 1994 film, “Clerks,” is that it takes place during an entire shift on the job. The protagonist, Dante Hicks, is a clerk in a convenience store, and his friend Randal works next door in the video store. Roger Ebert said in his review, “Both stores are in a strip mall in Asbury Park, N.J. – marginal operations with ill-paid and disenchanted employees.”

Ebert described, “The movie has the attitude of a gas station attendant who tells you to check your own oil. It’s grungy and unkempt, and Dante and Randal look like they have been nourished from birth on beef jerky and Cheetos. They are tired and bored, underpaid and unlucky in love, and their encounters with customers feel like a series of psychological tests.”

Dante, played by Brian O’Halloran on a right showcase of defensive detachment, has that gift for getting through a bad job by running his personal life at the same time. He’s 22, a college dropout, dating the loquacious Veronica (Marilyn Ghigliotti), and is shocked to read int eh paper that his former girlfriend, Catilin (Lisa Spoonauer), is engaged to an “Asian studies major.” Meanwhile, he’s heading in no direction, and he has had to cancel his hockey game to work on his day off.

His day begins at dawn. He sleeps in his closet. He drink his coffee out of the lid of the cookie jar. When the store’s steel shutters won’t go up, he uses shoe polish to write a big sign: I ASSURE YOU WE ARE OPEN. Ebert said, “He gets in desultory conversations with customers who are opposed to cigarettes, or looking for porno mags, or claim the vacant-eyed guy leaning against the building is a heavy metal star from Russia.”

Next door, Randal, played by Jeff Anderson, is working in the type of video store with a catalog so bad that he goes to another store when he wants to rent a video. He has customers with questions like, “Do you have that one with that guy who was in that movie last year?” He talks deep cinematic questions with Dante, such as: When Darth Vader’s second Death Star was destroyed, it was still under construction, so doesn’t that mean a lot of innocent workers were killed? Many of Dante’s customers are very strange. One is obsessed with finding a dozen perfect eggs, played by Walt Flanagan. Another finds an extraordinary use for the restroom, played by Al Berkowitz. A man named Silent Bob, played by Kevin Smith, is permanently outside the store. He’s allegedly a drug dealer, but business seems very bad.

Seeing how Smith filmed the entire movie in and around the convenience store, he shows originality in finding new set-ups.

There’s a risk that the movie could reduce itself to a series of people standing around talking, but look at the way he handles the conversation between Dante and Veronica, who paints her nails while they talk. Or look at the hockey game, which is finally played on the store roof.

“Clerks,” which has no nudity or violence, was originally supposed to be rated NC-17 by the MPAA just because of the language – which includes the type of graphic descriptions of doubtful intercourse acts that men sometimes go into while killing so much celibate time. (Ebert mentioned, “One sexual encounter does take place during the movie, off screen, and after it becomes clear exactly what happened, we are all pretty much in agreement, I think, that offscreen is where it belongs.”) Quentin Tarantino has become famous as a video store clerk who watched all the movies in his store, and then went out and directed “Reservoir Dogs” and “Pulp Fiction.” Kevin Smith has done him one better, by working behind the counter and then making a movie about the store itself. Ebert said, “Within the limitations of his bare-bones production, Smith shows great invention, a natural feel for human comedy, and a knack for writing weird, sometimes brilliant, dialogue.”

A lot has been written about Generation X and the films about it.

“Clerks” is completely authentic that its heroes have never heard of their generation. When they think of “X,” it’s on the way to the video store.

I saw this movie earlier this year, and I can’t believe I missed out on this. This is one of the best comedies out there. A lot of people could probably relate to the characters in this movie, so you should see this. It’s very enjoyable and you’ll get into this. Currently, it is streaming on Pluto TV, so check it out and enjoy yourselves.

Look out tomorrow to see what I will review next in “Disney Month 2025.”