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Episode 81: Barbie as Rapunzel featuring Manolo Moreno and Melisande Osnes
55 Plays24 days ago
Manolo Moreno, host of Dr. Gameshow, is back and with him is Melisande Osnes who’s calling at the bottom of a tower for Barbie as Rapunzel (2002). But Barbie will not let that hair down (don’t hold your breath), because this CGI family tale is about painting and being yourself, even if that means that you can’t tell anyone who you are. It’s not what you’d expect and sits squarely in the uncanny valley. Come for the life lessons, stay to watch a poorly animated otter/weasel coil around Anjelica Houston’s character’s neck. It’s unforgettable, and an inspiration to the child in us all that doesn’t know what to paint, so tune in!
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Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast
00:00:15
Speaker
It's bad to be bad It's bad to be bad And I guess it's understood That you would, that you could And you know that you should Yes, you know that you should
00:00:40
Speaker
Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to your favorite bad movie podcast. the only podcast that's brave enough to ask the question, this movie's so bad, why do you like it so much?
00:00:52
Speaker
We're your hosts.
Meet the Hosts and Guests
00:00:53
Speaker
My name is Chris Anderson, and with me, as always, I have the Penelope to my hobie, Mr. Greg Bossy. Hello, how are you, Chris?
00:01:05
Speaker
Man, I am surviving. How are you holding up, brother? I am hanging in there and I'm feeling pretty all right. That's all we can ask for in this day of age. Yes.
00:01:16
Speaker
We could hypothetically ask for my lovely wife, Anna, to be here. The Rapunzel to my Stefan. ah But the good news is we have a fantastic pair of guests. You'll hardly even notice because we don't have an empty chair.
00:01:35
Speaker
We have... I'm going to say the Gothel and Otto of our show. nis It's Melisand Osnes and Manolo Moreno. How are you guys?
00:01:48
Speaker
Good. Who's Otto? Is it me? No, but I'm lanky. All right. Well, they're both lanky.
00:01:59
Speaker
It's true. Thank I'll have to watch the two of you interact more. We'll weigh in at the end of the show. Does either of you coil around the neck of the other one? He loves to do that.
00:02:11
Speaker
Yeah. It's crazy. I'm definitely a neck coiler. My back hurts. I could bet. Get him off me. That's very Manolo coded behavior. She needs to get a Manolo reduction because her back hurts.
Movie Introduction: Barbie as Rapunzel
00:02:28
Speaker
Well, Melisand, you chose our movie this week and you chose Barbie as Rapunzel. Listeners, if you have not seen Barbie as Rapunzel, and I can only imagine that you must have, ah here is a short summary of the film to hold your mind's eye.
00:02:56
Speaker
As we all know from the classic story, Rapunzel is an orphaned servant girl who loves painting, but her cruel mistress Gothel locks her in tower after using her magical paintbrush to visit a handsome boy in a nearby village and refusing to give up his name.
00:03:13
Speaker
And now she must escape before war breaks out with a neighboring kingdom. Also, she has long hair. Yeah. No reason. Perfect. yeah It doesn't come into play.
00:03:27
Speaker
Yeah, well, it doesn't really. Not very much. It should be called Repaint-Soul. Yes. h Well, Barbie has Repaint-Soul.
00:03:40
Speaker
Yeah, Barbie has Repaint-Soul. But also, Melisande, explain yourself. What? Yes. I love it. i that i watched it a lot. And I think it holds up.
00:03:52
Speaker
I think that it's, you know, it really... The Fever, the Fever... If the animation is one of a kind... That's true.
00:04:05
Speaker
That's very true. Otter is really unforgettable. Yeah. I have seen the other ones, many of the other ones. Oh, that's why he's called Otto. Yeah. i thought yeah hadn't thought about easel I thought he was like a mink. He does seem kind of like, yeah. I don't know if they know difference.
00:04:26
Speaker
Yeah. Otter seems an odd choice for a stole because he's he's supposed to be like a living rap. Yeah. and you know And he doesn't, he's never in water. Yeah.
00:04:38
Speaker
Yeah. So he's probably a weasel. And he doesn't hold hands. Oh, yeah. Or eat of his tummy. Or eating off of his stomach. He doesn't have a favorite rock.
00:04:51
Speaker
Melisande, do you remember how you first saw this one? I have a little sister and it was, i grew up, so I grew up and I didn't have television because my mother was cheap and a hippie.
00:05:07
Speaker
And so when I grew up, I only had ah few vhs tapes to watch. And then um my sister grew up and DVDs existed And um then... Oh, talk about no your relationship to movies and how you would watch a movie and then your mom would walk into the room. and Oh, well, yeah. dave So Disney princesses were ruined. And honestly, i do have to say Barbie is Rapunzel, feminist icon.
Barbie's Cultural Impact
00:05:38
Speaker
but Fair enough. i Yeah, like my mom really ruined all of them because she would just, you know, talk about how, you know, women...
00:05:49
Speaker
aren't well liked in a lot of disney shows and movies fair enough princesses aren't great role models like scott galloway is a young boy yeah i mean i feel like those are fair critiques what are some of the things you would say I mean, I think that she really, Suite Life ah of Zack and Cody was great, but yeah on deck, not great. because
00:06:20
Speaker
And she she made my sister stop watching it because she said that the girls are only stupid. There's no not stupid girl. she's right. ah Yeah.
00:06:35
Speaker
Yeah. i Yeah. She just got rid of all of it. Okay, but Barbie had at least Barbie who was smart. Yeah, and Barbie's a babe. Barbie has all of the jobs.
00:06:48
Speaker
yeah yeah Yeah. And is a mother and a big sister. yeah yeah everything And Yeah, respected in her community, cherished. And she still looks great.
00:07:00
Speaker
She talks to... Is it still passing the Bechdel test if she talks to gay animals? Yeah.
00:07:08
Speaker
that's going to be a different test i think whether an and are they talking about a human or an animal yeah that's fair Manolo, had you seen this one before?
00:07:19
Speaker
I haven't seen this movie before. And but I asked if she had a movie to offer, and it was between this and the other one.
00:07:29
Speaker
And this one was so crazy to me that I was like, this might have a shot for a good yeah choice.
00:07:41
Speaker
It's different. It is different. it's That's true. Were you expecting something like this? No, I never know what to expect. And that's one of the been the real joys of doing the show is like everybody takes the prompt in a different direction. There are things I'd never thought I would watch for this.
00:07:58
Speaker
It's very true. yeah So it's been a lot of fun. And this was definitely a fun addition to the canon. I had not seen any ah Barbie animated films before.
00:08:10
Speaker
I did not. encounter barbie as much as a child i did i did obviously see the recent margo robbie barbie which i thought was a ah blast did you guys watch it together ah me and barbie no you and um greg oh no we're in different states but you you didn't do the you You don't do that where you oh over discord or something. I went to, we, I don't know. We've done that, but not for this one. i just went to the movie theater to see it.
00:08:44
Speaker
What? Oh, no, no, no, no. I meant, I meant, I meant this particular Barbie film. i We watched it separately. We watched it separately. My apologies. Yeah. We normally watch these all separately just for scheduling convenience.
00:08:59
Speaker
Yeah. thats Uh, But we do have regular movie screenings in our Discord listeners. Come watch a movie with us in the old Discord. Greg, what's your background with Barbie as Rapunzel and sort of Barbie in general? Yeah. So I saw Barbie in the theater, as I just said, I enjoyed myself. was a very good time.
00:09:17
Speaker
I showed up at the theater and I had no power or no, they had no manager there. It was very annoying. Cause I like walked a lot, like a mile and a half to get there in the hot sun. And I was just like, I just wanted some AC and some popcorn guys. Like it is, it's like 10 30. I want my popcorn with half, you know, anyway, you wanted to speak to the manager.
00:09:37
Speaker
No, no, the manager just wasn't there. They like didn't show up. So they're like, we're in here, but we can't do anything because the manager has to open all the cash drawers. Oh. And so was like, okay.
00:09:48
Speaker
Well, we'll wait for the manager to show up, and then hopefully me and this family all in the pink shirts can go watch Barbie. Just me and a family. What if I just leave you a crisp $20 bill and give me your largest Pepsi and your largest popcorn and you'll keep the change? I don't think that would cover it, unfortunately. Okay, a small popcorn.
00:10:11
Speaker
But ah so I worked at a bookstore. We had a DVD section and I was like in charge of it for for a hot minute and I had to move the children's section. So all the Barbie stuff was facing where all the employees like signed in and out of the to like for hours and stuff.
00:10:27
Speaker
So Barbie became like a pretty big topic amongst everybody at work. So people were telling me a lot about these. Somebody recommended a number of these movies to me. I feel like Rapunzel might have been one of them.
00:10:39
Speaker
Yes. So it's part of a series. Oh, there's so many. Oh, yes. Yeah. Oh, we're going to talk about the series. But in the meantime, let's move on to the context research. See what I found out about ah the production of Barbie as Rapunzel.
00:11:08
Speaker
I wish I had some context about the background of the film. Script director, actors on set. What was going on on screen? I want to hear some details.
00:11:19
Speaker
Gossips can do all that shit. Can't imagine all that.
00:11:36
Speaker
So Barbie as Rapunzel came out October 1st, 2002. So just in time to get like saturated in the market before the holidays, you know, word of mouth starts to spread.
00:11:48
Speaker
So you got ah two directors on this one, Owen Hurley and Chris Olson. And I found four taglines. Wow. You ready?
00:12:01
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. Tagline number one. A magical twist on the classic fairy tale. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. It does let you know that you're not going to be getting a straight down the line Rapunzel, which is good.
00:12:15
Speaker
No hair used.
00:12:18
Speaker
Tagline number two.
00:12:22
Speaker
Go back in time to a place of magic and dragons where Barbie stars as Rapunzel.
00:12:31
Speaker
That I like. That I like, too. But it also does, it kind of takes away the first one because the first one says, not your normal Rapunzel. And then this one is like, she's Rapunzel.
00:12:44
Speaker
True. And there's two dragons. and And I feel like for some reason it's not grabbing me. For whatever reason it's not grabbing me. It's a little wordy. Yeah. Yeah. All these could stand to be punched up. Okay, this one, this one I think is your worst.
00:13:01
Speaker
Barbie starring in a fairy tale adventure. I got all that information from the title. Yeah, that's stupid. They should have scratched that one. Why do you need four when you could just have three? It's not like I was going to see her just hanging out.
00:13:16
Speaker
She was clearly going to be on an adventure. It's just the middle part of Rapunzel where she's in the tower. ah Last one. This one... A little vague, but arguably my favorite.
00:13:29
Speaker
Love and imagination can change the world. Yes. Yes. I think that's what we need in this time. That could be for anything. Seeing what they are And I think as like trying to sell it to parents, it communicates a good value that I want to communicate to my children.
00:13:49
Speaker
Wait, can you say the last one again? Absolutely. I can. you say the last one again absolutely i can Love and imagination can change the world.
00:14:01
Speaker
m if yeah Yeah. Vote Mom Donnie. Yes, exactly. ah By the time this has come out, the election will be over, so hopefully we'll all be hearing that and smiling.
00:14:17
Speaker
Hopefully he's our new Prince Stefan. Yes. He does make a good prince. He'd make a great prince. Okay, now we're getting into monarchism, and I'm going to give that the thumbs down.
00:14:33
Speaker
He can climb my hair. There you go. That's fine. I mean, saying in front of Manolo feels rude, but I don't know what you guys do.
00:14:45
Speaker
So, Barbie... Barbie is an iconic fashion doll that was released by Mattel on March 9th, 1959, and since then has sold over one billion
Barbie in Animated Films
00:14:56
Speaker
dolls.
00:14:56
Speaker
Oh, is that who Barbie is? That's who Barbie is. Okay. Okay. Thank you for clearing that up. Absolutely. So ah she was created by Ruth Handler, the wife of Mattel co-founder Elliot Handler.
00:15:11
Speaker
She noticed her daughters using paper dolls as pretend grownups. And at that point, most children dolls were representing like babies or toddlers. None of them were like adults. Hmm. So that was like the big breakthrough with Barbie.
00:15:25
Speaker
And the way they came up with the design was they were on a trip to Switzerland in 1956. And she saw a dog called build Lily that was based on the comic strip character, Lily, a sexy lady comic.
00:15:40
Speaker
This doll was marketed to adult fans of Lily, meaning that Barbie was basically inspired by the West German equivalent of a sexy lady anime figurine. Yeah.
00:15:50
Speaker
Okay. And you can see it in the DNA. I've seen i've seen Lily. oh Yeah, I saw her on Wikipedia. Yeah, it's a good looking doll. Yeah, you could see why you'd be like, yeah, I want my doll to look like that. i Yeah, I could see why I would want my child to have a doll like that.
00:16:10
Speaker
Yeah, just real sexy. yeah Go to another country where blow-up dolls were popular. Yeah, it could have been worse. Circle mouths. No. It's
00:16:24
Speaker
Barbie, the opera singer. yeah So ah Barbie has always had close ties to mass media being one of the first toys to have a marketing strategy based on television advertising.
00:16:36
Speaker
She started branching out into other media in earnest in 1984 when they released Barbie the Video Game for Commodore 64. Yes. She got in there early. What kind of stuff did she do?
00:16:50
Speaker
I believe she would change her clothes. Yeah, I played a lot of those. Yeah. Oh, yeah. There was a later one where she would like have dates and she'd have to shop for outfits and get the right outfit for the date.
00:17:06
Speaker
They should do that for what what are those games that y'all play, like Soul Calibur and stuff? Persona? like You're always changing the character at the beginning of the game. Oh, Dark Souls? Dark Souls.
00:17:17
Speaker
yeah Yes, you should have to go to the mall in Dark Souls. I would love that. And then you go on a date. Yes. Yeah. It's like a prompt where it's like, you're going on a picnic.
00:17:29
Speaker
Yes. Dark Souls definitely needs a romance mechanic. Yes. That is 100% what that game needs. But not pervy like the way. No, of course not.
00:17:41
Speaker
joe No. like At the end of the game, you get your first kiss or you hold hands. Knowing it's Dark Souls, maybe someone will eat an eyeball, but that's not sexual. No.
00:17:52
Speaker
No. They do it like a Lady and the Tramp style. Exactly. It's cute. It's cute. Let's suck on this. and This ends of the this orb. but to a Yeah, I'm holding the retina in my teeth and it's dangling. and Wow, we've really gone somewhere.
00:18:10
Speaker
So get at us from software. In 1987, two animated TV specials ah were released. They were made with Deke and Saban.
00:18:21
Speaker
If you remember those two logos, Deke made Inspector Gadget. Saban would go on to make Power Rangers. Yep, yep, okay. and They were Barbie and the Rockers out of this world and Barbie and the Sensations rocking back to Earth. Whoa. Okay. What year? 80s?
00:18:41
Speaker
87. Wow. That's later than I think. I guess while they were out in space, the Rockers changed their name to the Sensations. This is, I'm guessing, after Gem and the Holograms?
00:18:53
Speaker
Yes. They were definitely trying to to steal that vibe. Yeah. Yeah. So there were plans that year to launch a Barbie news magazine for kids.
00:19:04
Speaker
that It would be like a 60 minute for kids that would include live action and animated sequences. Hell yeah. tri Yeah, it fell through, unfortunately. Yeah. You just can't have nice things.
00:19:16
Speaker
Yeah, they should try it now. I could use that. Yes, then it should be targeted towards millennials. Yeah, everything else is. It'll be hard to do the traditional animation for something so topical, like topical news, I'm guessing.
00:19:35
Speaker
Yeah, at least then it's admitting that it's fake. You don't have to worry about it being AI because you know that this is a fake thing. That's the future. Yeah. Yeah. So it wasn't until the 2000s when Barbie's popularity started being threatened by Bratz dolls that they tried to revitalize the brand with the Barbie direct-to-DVD computer animated films.
00:19:59
Speaker
They wanted to incorporate fairy tales, but also didn't want to do ones that Disney already did. Obviously, you don't want to be compared apples to apples. you know yeah You don't want to run into any legal trouble.
00:20:10
Speaker
The way you're talking about it makes it seem like they're too comfortable. And then anytime ah girl thing comes out, they get like scared and then they do something in reaction to it. Like, ah, no, we're the little girl thing.
00:20:25
Speaker
hey Let's make this. I think it's like like Coca-Cola just wants to be 100% dominant. like you've got If you're going to be dominant this whole time from the 1950s, that's not a coincidence. You're putting the work in.
00:20:40
Speaker
Adopt or die. But it's also like, it's different. like Barbie's for the Claire's girls and Bratz is for a Hot Topic. yeah so That's fair. demographics Barbie's got to get over it.
00:20:55
Speaker
Stay in your lane. Stay in your lane, Barbie. Love yourself. yeah Be a doctor. Be a doctor. Be an astronaut. Leave the Bratz to high school. They're just high school girls. You're an adult Barbie. going to end up nuts.
00:21:09
Speaker
nothing yeah they're not gonna the yeah brats are garbage compared to these garbage these brats are gonna their get their game together they're just gonna all end up on only thing no in this economy in this economy sorry No problem.
00:21:29
Speaker
The first one that they did was Barbie in the Nutcracker, which makes sense. There was also being released in October. it'd be perfect for Christmas. That's a good place to get started. And it was also directed by Owen Hurley, just like this one.
00:21:43
Speaker
It was a massive success selling over three and a half million DVDs. Holy crap. Yeah. Well, this was back in the time when DVDs were flying. It's still just, it's still just, just surprising.
00:21:57
Speaker
Yeah. Is that Maybe not. I mean, yeah, no, maybe not actually. Yeah. i forget yeah i ready good I mean, as far as like production value versus sales, it's like interesting, I guess. I think that's kind of what it is. But I also forget that I'm looking at it from my eyes now instead of my eyes then. Yeah, it's true.
00:22:19
Speaker
ah Along with assorted tie-in merchandise, Barbie and the Nutcracker brought in $150 million dollars in sales to the Mattel company. Wow.
00:22:31
Speaker
So it's only natural that they would bring back Owen Hurley and do the same play the next year. Mm-hmm. Before this, he had directed a couple episodes of Transformers Beast Wars, an episode of Reboot, and other sort of little bits and bobs.
00:22:45
Speaker
It's like the same animation style. I should say, this really felt like a Reboot 2.0. Yeah. yeah It's like the same era of technology. Yeah. For sure. That gave everything a very samey look.
00:22:59
Speaker
ah So he co-directed Barbie as Rapunzel with Chris Olsen. Olsen had previously directed a bunch of episodes of VeggieTales.
00:23:08
Speaker
Yep. Maybe that's where the humor comes in. Yeah. Owen Hurley was brought back to direct the next Barbie film, Barbie of Swan Lake, but Olsen was not. I think they wanted class it back up again.
00:23:21
Speaker
Also a good one. Okay, good to know. So this was ah a huge success. It proved Barbie and the Nutcracker was not a fluke. And Barbie animated films have been coming out consistently ever since.
00:23:34
Speaker
There have been about 40 of them. And we're going to play a game about them later on. All by the same, or at least the majority by the same director? No. Okay. They brought it, like, I think Owen Hurley only directed, like, five of them. Oh, okay. Okay.
00:23:52
Speaker
People will go on runs and then they'll bring in somebody else. Somebody will come back. it They seem to not particularly care. I'm very excited to see what these things are going to be.
00:24:05
Speaker
Okay. It's going to be, they have some good ones.
Plot Deep Dive: Barbie as Rapunzel
00:24:08
Speaker
Yep. ah Other animated films of 2002, just to put you in the headspace of where we were at and what the technology was like at the time.
00:24:16
Speaker
So you got Lilo and stitch. You got the tail end of like good traditional animation coming out of Disney. You got Treasure Planet as well that year.
00:24:28
Speaker
Transition.
00:24:31
Speaker
Back on the computer side, you got Ice Age. oh Okay. So this would be, this obviously does not look as good as Ice Age. No. I'm going to say, as I recall.
00:24:43
Speaker
If you put them side to side, i would say... like Picture that squirrel up against Otto. Or the rabbit. But the voice acting.
00:24:55
Speaker
The voice acting, this was not bad. No. oh We looked up one of them because Melisand, was going to bring it up later, but Melisand was obsessed with the dragon's voice. ah Oh, yeah.
00:25:05
Speaker
ah And see she played a lot of people, but you mentioned Deke. She played Penny. Yep, she played Penny on Inspector Gadget.
00:25:18
Speaker
Okay, so usually... Okay. She's also in the new season. She's been on like the last season or two of Abbott Elementary as the librarian. Yeah, she was in a different world.
00:25:31
Speaker
and love Abbott. Yeah. You would think that she was whitley Whitney, but she's not. She's the other one. Yeah. They're voice talks. Yeah, she's she's a classic voice actress that's been working for like 40 years. She's fantastic.
00:25:48
Speaker
You also got ah Eight Crazy Nights, the Adam Sandler Hanukkah one coming out this year.
00:25:55
Speaker
ah You got The Cat Returns ah out of Japan. ah And I'm to say arguably the most forgotten on the list, Spirit and the Stallion of the Cimarron.
00:26:09
Speaker
Ah, yes, Spirit. What is this? Spirit, the Stallion of the Cimarron. It's a cartoon about a horse. Wait, oh, is it? I didn't know it had the yeah second part, but Spirit?
00:26:22
Speaker
I remember Spirit, but I don't... That turns it bulky in or something. What I remember, every time I would see it in the video store, I would just be like, what is a Cimarron? What is this Cimarron? What is this? It's Tolkien.
00:26:36
Speaker
Spirit is the stallion of the Cimarron. Yeah, yeah. No, I got it. Do you know what it is now? That's thing that witches repeat. No. assuming it's a region or like mountains.
00:26:47
Speaker
I think it's like mountain, like an area of mountains, I guess. a station. Or a state of mind. Maybe. I think you really got to ask Spirit. It's true. Well.
00:26:58
Speaker
well You guys want to talk about the plot of Barbie as Rapunzel? yeah Yes. When you guys were watching it, were you like, when is she going to use her hair? i was 100% saying that. All of the time. yeah is gonna When is she going to sit in a tower and hang her dang hair out the window?
00:27:17
Speaker
in the worst part and we'll get to it but there's like someone's like I'm down a hole reach for me and she's like I'll reach for you i will reach for like use your use your stupid hair Rapunzel Rapunzel let down thy hair Rapunzel you have one job
00:27:54
Speaker
Plot bumper, listen to me. I'm gonna give you the plot summary. Come on, baby. Here's the synopsis.
00:28:06
Speaker
Plot bumper, plot bumper.
00:28:19
Speaker
So we open on an artist's studio and our opening credits are written on assorted art supplies. We meet our artist in residence and it's Barbie.
00:28:30
Speaker
And she has a child friend that's named either Kelly or Shelly. It's her sister. What's her name? It's Kelly. Okay. I think it's Kelly. could swear she said Shelly.
00:28:41
Speaker
She might lisp. She was slurring her speech. She's drunk. Yeah. She's probably tore up on paint thinner.
00:28:50
Speaker
They're painting together, but Kelly is uninspired and doesn't know what to paint. So Barbie sits her down and tells her that classic tale that's inspired artists for generations, Rapunzel.
00:29:02
Speaker
Also, did we mention that this was modern times? Oh, yeah. Yes. This is modern Barbie. This is the Barbie that we all know and love. She's wearing dungarees.
00:29:12
Speaker
Now, it turns out Rapunzel in this story is also Barbie. Thank God. Barbie's not just going to narrate. She's a narcissist. ah Yeah. Imagine the most beautiful woman in the world.
00:29:25
Speaker
Just like me, but with longer hair with no function. Yeah, imagine if I had long hair. That was probably too long. This is better for me. But in the story, it works for this one.
00:29:37
Speaker
ah So she lives in a hidden manor in a magical forest where she works as a servant for her adopted mother, Gothel, voiced by Angelica Houston, the one big name.
00:29:50
Speaker
Yeah, she really brought it. Yeah. Did a great job. Yeah. The whole voice cast. They're not. No, yeah no, no. They're doing good. Also, can we talk about the name Gothel?
00:30:02
Speaker
Yes, please. um Her name's Gothel. It is. That's all I have to say. Yeah, because she's evil like a goth. So I looked up because right before this, I was just like, obviously this is like not Rapunzel, but like how not Rapunzel?
00:30:20
Speaker
Because I don't, all I know about Rapunzel is she just let somebody climb up the tower and her hair, you know? so it's like, what is this story? and it's, yeah, it is nothing like the story, but they did mention a Gothel. So at some point this comes from somewhere.
00:30:36
Speaker
was again Like one interpretation of Rapunzel. Is Gothel the antagonist in Rapunzel? Yeah, it's always the like mo the like me motherly figure that steals Rapunzel and puts her in a tower. And that's what you read, Greg?
00:30:51
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. They just mentioned, it was like the thing that ends up getting her trapped in the tower in the story is she like mentions that the the woman who's holding her captive like looks like her clothes are fitting her tighter or that she says something and she mentions Gothel. That was like the other interpretation of the thing that gets her stuck in there. And I was like, oh, that's so that it's either the character's name or some word I'm not understanding. But that's where it seems to come from.
00:31:20
Speaker
Gothel would make a good name for like a cage company. Sure. A cage company? A company that makes cages? yeah It's Gothel cages. Yeah.
00:31:31
Speaker
Yeah, you're absolutely right. It would be a really good name for a tower company. yeah come Oh, you got yourself a Gothel, huh? Nice. Those are good towers.
00:31:43
Speaker
yeah that's They're so tall and straight. No doors.
00:31:50
Speaker
So, Gothel, or Barbie as Rapunzel, spends her precious little free time hanging out with her best friends Hobie the Rabbit and Penelope the Dragon. Both the, I'm going to say Penelope more likable than Hobie out of the two.
00:32:07
Speaker
Hobie, they gave like this Cockney accent. They made him a coward and Cockney, it went into like ugly comedy. Ugly comedy Cockney. Jesus. Yeah, I mean, and Penelope, I realize, does drive the entire plot forward. Yeah.
00:32:26
Speaker
and yeah yeah Nothing would happen without Penelope. Even though she's annoying. She annoys me so much. She does annoy me a little bit. Because she's klutz. You hate klutzes. Yeah, hate klutzes. You like graceful people.
00:32:38
Speaker
Yeah. only Get it together, Penelope. like Yeah. You like John Wick. Yeah. Penelope. Yeah.
00:32:48
Speaker
Unusual, because most people, they feel the same way about the two.
00:32:55
Speaker
So Barbie is enjoying painting and chatting with friends when Hobie's big ears tell him that Gothel is riding back towards the manor house. Now, Gothel and her pet otter, Otto, who is both queer coded and Brazilian coded for some reason. And so horny.
00:33:15
Speaker
And yeah, he's really lascivious. And the accent is so fantastic. yeah And he definitely likes to spy on Rapunzel in her bedroom as part of the plot of the film.
00:33:30
Speaker
Yep. Hot. The both of them sort of treat Barbie like a slave and disrespect her for painting before ordering her to go make Gothel's afternoon tea.
00:33:43
Speaker
While making the tea, Penelope accidentally opens a hidden passage to a secret room right beneath the kitchen. It's a good place for it. also it's kind of like barbie you're cleaning that place all the time like that's kind of canon within the plot and you haven't accidentally pushed down the nose of the statue when you're dusting it or something yeah i don't know you've been there for 15 19 years i'm not sure how old propunzel is supposed to be of legal age in the kingdom
00:34:19
Speaker
Yeah. Eight. I also, it's very funny that the the switch like lowers these stairs and then for the rest of the movie, the stairs just stay down. But it seems like that would give away the fact that they're going down there.
00:34:32
Speaker
Gothel never goes in the kitchen. That's Barbie. Maybe that's true. Maybe she should i i she deigns to go into the kitchen. yeah She's in bed all the time. So the hidden room just serves as like Gothel storage.
00:34:48
Speaker
Mostly a bunch of old papers and, like, party invitations, I think they said at one point. Memorabilia. Yeah. yeah Rapunzel does find a beautiful engraved hairbrush with an inscription indicating that it was a gift to her on her first birthday from her parents.
00:35:05
Speaker
But she told that she was abandoned at birth, according to Gothel. So she's like, hmm, maybe this horrible woman that treats me like garbage is also lying to me. Maybe. Maybe.
00:35:18
Speaker
Uh, then she remembers that Gothel is waiting on her tea and she abandons this and runs the tea up to her. And then Gothel and Otter try to like shit some more. And then she goes back downstairs.
00:35:30
Speaker
And while they're trying to like clean things up in this hidden storage room, Penelope accidentally kicks a hole through the floor. So now we're down two levels. yeah This reminds me of Graveyard Shift, where it's like, under the basement is a basement, and under that is a basement.
00:35:48
Speaker
sort yeah Okay. We get to the center of the earth. The last basement's lava.
00:35:57
Speaker
that So, Rapunzel wants to explore the tunnel. The other two are going to stay behind. Penelope can't fit through the hole. So, Rapunzel... Heads out alone, and it leads out to the surface outside of ah the manor's magical force field that she has been imprisoned in.
00:36:16
Speaker
She can see a castle nearby and a small adjoining village, and she decides to check it out. While she's out there, she meets friendly villagers and starts realizing it's a whole great big world out there.
00:36:27
Speaker
like She's living through the opening song of Beauty and the Beast. Except there's just one guy, and he looks kind of weird. which part i don't know i just feel like the everything's kind of empty because they don't want to animate it's the render time so it's like they had to get it out before christmas yeah because the in beauty and the beast it's magical her running around town and everybody's yeah and then the barbie one is just her running into the baker and he's like hey girl what's up I actually wrote this market... what I was ah like, this marketplace is a horror show.
00:37:05
Speaker
Go on. Let's talk about the look of this movie for a happy moment. It's very important. yeah I think one of the big problems is that it looks like it's taking place in like Super Mario 64. That's the sort of level of detail for the world. Where's the animation? could make it on his iPad now.
00:37:28
Speaker
not yeah yeah very easily make an ipad video yeah it's like what you see when people are learning blender yes and like a lot of the characters are like cut and pasty like yeah a lot of same faces well yeah when you get to like the little girls they're all the same person in different clothes they're variants and then the brother is like a variant of them also the tubby And Shelly or Kelly.
00:37:56
Speaker
They're all the same child. Yeah. No, it's ah it is is positively weird looking. It's frightening. It is. Yeah. When you mentioned reboot and Beast Wars, it made sense. It's like that.
00:38:11
Speaker
I do have to say, I think I remember it also being kind of frightening in my youth. So i don't know. Yeah. basis Yeah. I looked up on Wikipedia and like one of the reviews is like, it's stunning. I'm like, I don't know.
00:38:27
Speaker
I mean, I was certainly stunned at times. Yeah. Like even as a child, when I watched reboot and it was really impressing me, i was also just like, this terrifies me also. And it doesn't look very good. I mean, it looks really cool.
00:38:40
Speaker
And I kind of understand that it's taken a computer to do this, which is pretty wild. But also, this doesn't look. I mean, we were watching Lilo and Stitch. But yeah, and it's like that style is kind of like basically if you take those creepy dolls and made a movie with them.
00:38:58
Speaker
Creepy dolls. and Yeah. And make kids like it. Yeah. So like kids liked how to do the at the time, but they didn't know any better. That's fair.
00:39:10
Speaker
Yeah, and think this does like help that it's targeted at ah a really young audience that would be a little bit less discerning. and But it is sort of like when you look at Toy Story and you're like, oh, all the toys look good, and but the people look all fucked up in Original Toy Story.
00:39:27
Speaker
yeah And even though Barbie is a toy, and you can sort of maybe tell yourself, like oh, maybe they're all supposed to look a little bit toy-like. you know They all are... just like very plastic looking and it's just like gross it's gross to look at which is a tough ass it's very it's almost like like a girl-coded liminal space too just like looking at the castle where it's like space for yeah finally and finally the god
00:40:01
Speaker
And then the Slender Man's going to pop out. Yeah, but it's... With a bow. Yeah. The dress. Let's go shopping. Where'd we park the car?
00:40:14
Speaker
Yeah. So, and this this was at the point where I did write down in my notes, when is she going to be in a tower with her hair hanging out the window? This was the point where I thought that. Yeah, yeah.
00:40:26
Speaker
And I realize now this is not particularly a problem for this movie, just that its fans aren't buying it because they're Rapunzel fans. They're buying it because they're Barbie fans. As long Barbie's. just one it's just very It's just very funny to watch it and just be like. me it's a guy who's more interested in Rapunzel. I'm like, what the fuck is this?
00:40:46
Speaker
It's just weird. It's just like, here's my version of Rapunzel. It's like, oh, so your thing where the person climbs the hair. It's like, yeah, but we're not doing that in this one. She's just like got a long hair, I guess. and She looks like me.
00:40:59
Speaker
And she's gorgeous and she's smart and she gets the prints at the end. No, I mean, no yeah it's really great. There's a lot to love. I'm not saying that. yeah But she's no Rapunzel. It should have been Barbie as Bob Ross.
00:41:14
Speaker
It should have been a fucking radio show. It would have been a lot better. man So back at the manor, the animal friends are worried. ah Now ah Penelope's dad, Hugo, he flies up to check on Penelope and wants her to be a fierce dragon someday like him and can't recognize her good qualities.
00:41:33
Speaker
That said, she can't breathe fire and her flying is limited due to her fear of heights. And she's clumsy. And she's very clumsy and she's like, nice. That's what I forgot. he's like, should be serious.
00:41:45
Speaker
We're like, you know, the bar was so low. i was genuinely surprised that they were sophisticated enough to have a B plot. Yeah. ah was like, whoa, there's a B plot in this story.
00:41:58
Speaker
yeah If they had given Hobie something going on, it would have been intense. Can you believe that? You didn't have high hopes for it?
00:42:08
Speaker
No. Like would like a movie without B-plot. She changes probably more than Barbie changes. Like her character arc. Oh, yeah. Her character arc. Yeah. Well, Barbie doesn't need to change. She's perfect.
00:42:20
Speaker
It's like James Bond doesn't change at the end of the movie. That's true. They just have adventures to go on. Yeah. The world changes because of them. That's right. They don't change because of the world.
00:42:31
Speaker
Wow. It's beautiful. that that Oh, yeah. As Hugo flies off, Hubie says, does he have a smile? and Penelope responds, not around me. damn That's pretty good. That's a pretty good cream.
00:42:51
Speaker
So back in town, Rapunzel encounters three little girls named Katrina, Melody, and Lorena who are all awrying riding on an incredibly fucked up looking horse named Botticelli.
00:43:03
Speaker
Ooh, I have a fact about the horse. Tell me, this horse is fucked up. This horse is fucked up. It's funny because they got video of a real horse and they like motion captured it or whatever. What is it?
00:43:18
Speaker
what is it A rotoscope? Yeah, they rotoscoped a real horse. With computers? Which is funny because it looks so bad. and you yeah wasn't even paying attention to the horse because I was too freaked out by the girls. Oh, the girls are also crazy. The girls are creepy, but like there's like thighs on this horse.
00:43:36
Speaker
The problem with the horse is that it eyeballs the size of grapefruits. There's that, too. that's so the proportions are just just madness induced. So they didn't trace the horse properly, but they made it move like one?
00:43:49
Speaker
Yeah, I think they they probably, yeah, rotoscoped it for the motion. Because figuring out how to animate a horse just in your head is difficult. Yeah, you know just a simple walk cycle. You have to do two at the same time.
00:44:02
Speaker
Yeah. problem I mean, you could probably just look at a horse for a little while and figure it out. But hey, takes all time. I animated a horse once and I used, you know, those old fashioned, like when the guy was like photographing people in motion, like the man, black and white, he has one of a horse.
00:44:23
Speaker
And so I use that as like the, whatever, the guide. Yeah. They wanted to figure out if the force had all four feet in the air at the same time. Exactly. Like which one's touching the ground at what time?
00:44:36
Speaker
Yeah. Oh. She's got big eyes. That's a little more realistic compared to the other ones. Are you looking at the eyes? difference between There's not a lot of matching in style. Yeah, it's not matching. and No, she really stands out.
00:44:54
Speaker
Yeah. And just the peepers freaked me the fuck she looked like a predator. Yeah. yeah I think they should do that where like... Because it is realistic enough looking that the eyes are really hard to to not be creeped out by. Because if it was a spirit as a... bit of a Stallion of the Cimarron.
00:45:19
Speaker
ah Stallion of the Cimarron. And it would look fine because that's like very much the animated horse. But this is it's uncanny. the je yeah they were like yeah It looks too cartoony, but we need ah push it more towards uncanny valley.
00:45:36
Speaker
Yeah. And girls like big eyes. Yeah. That makes the horse look friendly. Who doesn't? Yeah. Okay. We got a lot of plot to get there. Okay. Okay. We got to.
00:45:47
Speaker
Okay. Anyway, Katrina almost falls in a pit and then Barbie saves her without using her hair. Uh, but she does. Yeah. yeah Teasing her hair.
00:45:59
Speaker
oh So, uh, they, ah do get the help of a friendly neighborhood boy. Uh, Rapunzel and the boy go on a stroll. He's very handsome. and He tells her about how there's a war with a neighboring kingdom.
00:46:13
Speaker
And then a church bell tolls and Rapunzel has to rush back. ah But before she gets back, she gets spotted by Otto the Otter. And when she gets back, Otto has told Gothel because Otto is a snitch.
00:46:26
Speaker
And Gothel is pissed and she wants the boy's name, but Rapunzel doesn't know his name. well And this is key. Yes, yeah actually. She genuinely does not know his name.
00:46:39
Speaker
I said remember. So Gothel locks her up in a tower and smashes all of her paintings and art supplies for good measure. Back in town, we, the audience, learn that the cute boy was named Stefan.
00:46:54
Speaker
He's a prince and that he has a little brother named Tommy who looks like every other small child in this, by which I mean horrifying. he And he asks his weird looking dad.
00:47:06
Speaker
Dad also looks fucked up and I think he's the same model as the baker, but with a beard. And also fat male soldier. There are two soldiers who I don't talk about. Anyway, ah He asks his dad if he can go look for Rapunzel, but dad says he's too busy with war stuff.
00:47:24
Speaker
Happens. yeah ah and That night, Rapunzel has a dream that Stefan climbs her long, beautiful hair. The only time it's ever mentioned. Yeah. Yeah. And I was so confused because I was like, how is this happening? What is going on? Yeah. Because her hair wasn't that long.
00:47:41
Speaker
and No. It was just like, you heard yeah, down to her calves, maybe. Yeah. Yeah. all Yeah, very strange stuff. ah When she wakes up, she sings a song about love, and then her heirloom hairbrush transmogrifies itself into a paintbrush.
00:48:01
Speaker
Only makes sense. Yeah. to Keep the story moving. That's right. Why didn't they make it a paintbrush in the beginning? That's true. Because then Gothel would have smashed it up.
00:48:13
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:48:16
Speaker
So then Gothel runs a little false flag operation in town to keep the two neighboring kingdoms at war. She likes to go in and cause trouble and get the other one in trouble. And she learns that the prince has a birthday coming up and she plans to crash his birthday party.
00:48:32
Speaker
Great way to instigate war. ah Back at the castle, Penelope and Hobie have made some replacement paint for Rapunzel by smashing some local berries.
00:48:44
Speaker
Very nice. Yeah, great friends. They bring it up to her, and she uses... Yeah, it would all be... She'd have to enter her red period, but still better than nothing. Might as well just use blood. Yeah, I'm just saying, girl, like, you make...
00:48:58
Speaker
Yeah, that would be powerful. i mean it had the women I mean, it's natural. It's kind of honestly... It's a performance art. It says a lot. it says I think the story really... you know i yeah i attended ah the filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky talking and he suggested someone use her menstrual blood as paint to let her father know that she is a woman now. and it's like That would be effective.
00:49:30
Speaker
Wow. yeah yeah Very profound moment. Also age, just your birth certificate. Yeah, that's another good way. He was talking about a symbolic gesture. Oh, right, right, right.
00:49:42
Speaker
But also very real gesture, but one that would have a symbolic equivalent. yeah It would be funny if that audience member was 14 years old. That would be very strange.
00:49:53
Speaker
She was not. Thank God. that would be very strange. How do I tell my dad I'm a woman? I tried going to this Jodorowsky speaking and that just didn't do it.
00:50:05
Speaker
he ah So she uses the, uh, Barry paint along with her former hairbrush and it instantly paints a perfect picture of the town.
00:50:17
Speaker
And this is no ordinary mural, but a magical portal. She uses it to teleport back to town and runs into Stefan and they pal around, investigating the origin of her magic brush.
00:50:30
Speaker
Back at the tower, the animal pals hear Gothel and Hugo approaching. Gothel likes to ride Hugo around sometimes. Hugo works for Gothel, too. Works. Yeah.
00:50:40
Speaker
that's all And he sort of acts like a samurai about it. He's like, a dragon is loyal to their capital. Yeah. We were like, alright. He's like all up on Penelope for not being tough, but then also he's letting like an old woman ride him. he's like base It's like, should you just be true training her to be a sub? yeah like be a Yeah, and also be a better dad.
00:51:05
Speaker
yeah You want to know what's super alpha? Being a good dad. and and One hundo.
00:51:15
Speaker
ah you read scott galloway's book haven't you yeah uh penelope warps back into town uh to beg rapun's to come back so that hugo doesn't get killed for letting her escape uh stefan invites her to his birthday ball that night still hasn't mentioned his name apparently don't need to no she says don't tell him because she oh that's right that's right yeah ah So she runs off and she paints a return portal on a door to go back to the tower.
00:51:49
Speaker
Check out this painting. Yes, this painting. Put a little pin in that one, listeners. ah She gets back just in time to be questioned by Gothel, but still refuses to give up a name because she still hasn't learned it.
00:52:04
Speaker
Once Gothel leaves, Barbie busts out the magic brush to whip up a dress for the ball, and we get an outfit montage. Yes. Oh, God. love that outfit montage. Anna said that this was the part of the movie that most simulated the act of playing with a Barbie, of just putting them different goofy outfits. Oh, yeah. I wish I had some of those outfits for...
00:52:25
Speaker
Yeah, there was one really geometric structural look that was really cool. So every time she put on a new outfit, I always assumed that that was going to be the one. And they would show it and I'd be like, oh, that's going to be the one.
00:52:38
Speaker
And they'd be like, no, that's the two. was like, oh, oh, okay, okay. Oh, that's going to be the one. i Not the one. The shapes. It should have been the shapes. Yeah, they played it like it wasn't a joke.
00:52:55
Speaker
Yeah, that's what's really mad. Well, yeah, because you never had like Penelope and Hobie being like, i don't think so. yeah yeah Yeah, they needed those reactions. That's yes.
00:53:07
Speaker
It's like music was magical. It wasn't. Yeah, the music wasn't like yeah the jokey music. Like, wow. well I think I didn't want to put Barbie in like comedy outfits because you want Barbie to always look cool because she's always awesome.
00:53:21
Speaker
so but yeah that's what like a dictator like that's what kept surprising me where it's like oh it's like a dumb kids movie but then there's like weird things that they're sophisticated about i don't know if that part was but it's like it just felt like oh they're kind of smarter than what i assumed that they were i don't know Yeah, I think it's mostly just that they were using cheap technology to rush us out quickly.
00:53:49
Speaker
So it just looks very bad. But everything else is like not that bad. It's, you its it's um you know, it's like it's like a good house like a good house liquor in a bar. You know, like it's it's nothing fancy, but it gets the job done.
00:54:06
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:54:10
Speaker
to tu to so Otto was there watching Rapunzel change clothes but she's using a magic brush so he doesn't see anything ah Gothel storms in pissed and she uses her magic Gothel's magic if I hadn't made that explicit it didn't explain that she was a witch or something she's something i don't know magic lady
00:54:38
Speaker
So she uses her magic to erase the portal painting and smash the magic brush. And then she cuts Rapunzel's hair off at the shoulder blade and kicks out the animal panels.
00:54:50
Speaker
And I think cutting the hair off is definitely like something they put in there. So the little girls at home, when they're playing Rapunzel with their Barbies, they can do that and fuck up their Barbies. And then they have to go buy another Barbie. I feel like that was a Mattel idea.
00:55:04
Speaker
I didn't even pick that up. Actually, so when I read the story of Rapunzel, that's like one of the few things that is actually in Rapunzel. her Yeah. The hair is usually magic, right? Or something.
00:55:17
Speaker
I don't remember. I mean, I just read a synopsis. So it's like. Yeah, because yeah I didn't get all the details. The one thing that understand. I did get that the prince got blinded. oh yeah that was yeah is that like gothel what raised a child for no other reason than to have like kind of a ditzy house made there were yeah well you don't want to spoil it but there's a reason why she kept her well she could have killed her
00:55:49
Speaker
That's true. and also she wasn't that mean. Also, secondly, she had a dragon. but Yeah. yeah anything But you can't have a dragon make you a cup of tea.
00:56:00
Speaker
that Yeah, I guess so. ah That's the other thing. where're like home She's misusing her magic. Yeah. yeah She could destroy villages with her magic, but she uses it to threaten a human being. A young girl. A young girl.
00:56:21
Speaker
Well, yeah. Well, you know, she's got all that other stuff she's doing. She doesn't have time. Most of her time is being obsessed with her ex. That's a big chunk of her day. Not even ex. They didn't even go out.
00:56:33
Speaker
yeah no Yeah, yeah, they were just like close friends and she misread the signals. Yeah. Anyway, keep going. So Gothel, she seals Rapunzel in ah the tower with a magical spell that prevents anyone with a lying tongue from escaping.
00:56:52
Speaker
ah Lying tongue, very important because, of course, as we know, Barbie did not lie in this situation, but she believes herself trapped. She also chains up Hugo, the dad dragon, for fucking up.
00:57:05
Speaker
Yeah. Not cool. not No. And he's like, now I'm like a common dog. remember that And he's a liar. Yeah. Clearly. Yeah.
00:57:15
Speaker
No. So that night at the birthday ball. Oh, sorry, Manu. I think that was just because she wanted him chained up. I don't think. Oh, she didn't have the same conditions.
00:57:28
Speaker
No. oh Yeah. That was just a chain. Yeah. as She magically summoned. Okay. Okay.
00:57:36
Speaker
So that night and goes first that that sorry sorry i mean
00:57:44
Speaker
that night at the birthday ball, Gothel, disguised as Rapunzel, coquettishly leads him off into a hedge maze away from all the other party goers and then attacks Stefan.
00:57:57
Speaker
Back at the hidden manor, Penelope tells Hugo that Rapunzel saved his life by returning to the castle. And that's why Penelope is so loyal to her. And Hugo says that he's proud of her for being a good dragon and serving someone so noble and just.
00:58:13
Speaker
And then gives her the pep talk that she'll need to fly out over the castle's magic barrier. So then she goes, as she tells Rapunzel, you're not a liar, so we can take you out of her. out of here and then ah she rapunzel hobie all fly off to town back at the castle the king of the neighboring kingdom king wilhelm great another character i mean we've talked about him a lot but finally we get king oh yeah yeah and he's the skinny archetype yes yeah man rendered model
00:58:49
Speaker
Yeah, probably the same wireframe as Stefan and the same wireframe as Skinny Soldier.
00:58:58
Speaker
Wilhelm shows up with his soldiers and he's going to lead a raiding party to attack the birthday ball. Yeah, just like him and like seven other dudes. just Just causing a ruckus.
00:59:10
Speaker
yeah Then the kings begin to duel. You got to give this that. At least the kings are the ones who are doing the fighting. ah But then Stefan leads Gothel back to the party.
00:59:22
Speaker
And now that these guys are all assembled, she explains her whole deal. Turns out she's Wilhelm's former not-quite-girlfriend. And she kidnapped his daughter out of jealousy and has since been using the kidnapping to get the two kingdoms to wage war on each other.
00:59:39
Speaker
Old thing's kind of fucked up. yeah But Rapunzel was there and she's heard the whole thing. And she's like, oh, that's my father. And then Gothel like chases her out of there only to be ah led back into the tower portal painting that she was in earlier that, that Bar Rapunzel Jesus that Rapunzel made earlier.
01:00:04
Speaker
And since Gothel is now warped into the tower, she's trapped by her own anti-lying magic because she's been doing all this lying. Yeah. yeah yeah Pretty clever. Telling. So clever. powerful Powerful message for the youth.
01:00:19
Speaker
yeah Don't lie. Then all our storybook heroes reunite and are now happy and friends and family. And then also good news, Rapunzel's hair eventually grew back.
01:00:33
Speaker
There you go. Do they explain what they're going to do with Gothel's house? like that's like I believe they're going to keep her in prison there. I think that's kind of existential, isn't it?
01:00:44
Speaker
I mean, you could turn the house into a museum of some kind, I'm sure. Yeah. Yeah. like Or a prison. my and Prison. Yeah, for all the war criminals from the rival kingdom's war. Oh, yeah. I do like how all of the violence we see is just like one of the kingdom, like one of the neighbor the rival king um just like throws fruit on the ground.
01:01:12
Speaker
Yeah. And that they're like, oh, my God, who did this? No, I love that. They're just like, what will they stoop to next? It's like, yes, we maybe tear down like a meat cart.
01:01:23
Speaker
Yeah. It's like small town problems. He's going to push our elderly. Yeah. They're going to ding dong ditch us. God damn it. I know. Which is wild because the whole time she's shooting lasers out of her hands.
01:01:37
Speaker
She could do so much. Yeah. This is a go story about people who get in their own way. It's true. Yeah. We all need to believe in who we want to be.
01:01:51
Speaker
Yeah. That's was the real moral of Rapunzel. And that imaginary and art and love. Yeah. Imagination and art can change the world.
01:02:03
Speaker
Yeah. true oh yeah And love and love something. Bang in the real world, either Kelly or Shelly now knows that she just needs to do what Rapunzel did.
01:02:14
Speaker
paint what's in her heart and she'll never go wrong the end tagline should be therapy can change the world yeah basically it's just like them having the psychological breakthroughs oh yeah or like big sisters are pretty cool yeah yeah that would be a good tagline my little sister and then maybe she'll believe you
01:02:42
Speaker
yeah So final thoughts, five-star ratings. Where did everybody land in terms of watchability and weirdness? Love it. Greg? so what's your cake is So what's funny is about 10 minutes ago, i was just like, you know, I'm going to have to rate this thing. What is your rating on this one, Greg?
01:03:00
Speaker
ah So this one because it's a children's movie, it's so like out of my norm to rate because there's also like, How do you... It's hard to critique a children's movie in a way. It's to be like a... Yeah, how do you meet it on Yeah, so what I'm going to say is i'm goingnna for watchability, I'm going to give it a three and a half just because it is a children's movie.
01:03:24
Speaker
And for some, they will not be able to watch a children's movie because sometimes you just can't. There's also the fact that a good portion of the time you are going to be creeped out by the visuals. The visuals are maybe worth it to see that if you're into that kind of a thing. And I know some of you out there are, I certainly am, but I'm just going say three and a half.
01:03:44
Speaker
As far as weirdness, I'm going to go two and a half just because those visuals are pretty weird. And I know it's just a remnant of time, but still when you see it, sometimes you're just like, ah,
01:03:57
Speaker
Ah. Yeah. There's a YouTube montage out there, a supercut of all of Otto's weird parts. Otto is very strange. Otto is very strange. lot was
01:04:11
Speaker
so I gave it a one and a half in terms of watchability. I thought it was digestible, but grotesque.
01:04:19
Speaker
and Kind of like eating like a giant bowl of generic Lucky Charms without any milk. It's just like, like I can do this, but it's not pleasant. So it's miniy to me, you have just described what would be a fine breakfast. I was going to say, I do that still.
01:04:35
Speaker
Yeah. Well, I don't. I'm a straight up cheerio. Do you actually have your cereal dry? I need to know this. Me? Yeah. Okay, good. It's nice to meet another. It's nice to meet a fellow dry cereal person. Oh, good, good. The milk freaks me out.
01:04:50
Speaker
No, I don't like it. it's ah If I wanted soggy food, I'd just put water in there, and everyone thinks that's a good idea. And it's just like, why oh wet food. There's a smart idea. like douse all my foods in liquids. It's great.
01:05:02
Speaker
Yeah, if I wanted to eat mush, I i wouldn't. cause I don't like mush. There we go. I don't like all the chewing. think Get it in. I gotta keep moving.
01:05:13
Speaker
there I'm not gonna eat breakfast stew. That's Drake. I'm gonna give it three and a half for weirdness. so In that I thought it was truly unpleasant to look at. And there was a gay Brazilian otter.
01:05:28
Speaker
And also Rapunzel never let her hair out the fucking window. That's true. Those are very weird things about this movie. So five is very weird.
01:05:39
Speaker
yeah Yeah, five is weird. Five is weird. Wow. And five is also watchable. Did your wife ah rate it? i If they did, they didn't tell me what they were.
01:05:51
Speaker
I believe they normally do that extemporaneously. Okay. Where do you guys land Collectively, individually? I'll go first because this is your movie. um ah I was going to give it two, but then I remembered that there I forgot there's like some... There's a B-plot, which was more interesting to me.
01:06:18
Speaker
um Fair enough. So I would give it a three. Yeah. uh and then the weirdness would be i guess i don't watch as many weird movies as you and like the weird stuff i do like i like that are weird but um this one i would say would be four yeah that's fair as as an adult cishet male watching kid's show from a certain that that part of it me the combination of we can't take ourselves out of the equation yeah now it's on you're shaking your head you can't it's weird that she made us watch it i can't believe it
01:07:08
Speaker
Three strapping young men watching a kid's movie. I realize that there's some nostalgia, but my coworker really likes it, and he's a guy. Did he watch like the series? or He's seen a good amount of them. As an adult?
01:07:30
Speaker
Probably. don't know. Every Thursday he's got Barbie night at his house. Oh my God. He should do that. I'll do it. Cause it does make me want to go watch. I remember the Swan Lake one and I really liked the, what is it? Prince in the popper.
01:07:47
Speaker
no good good music um but i do just remember the um the weasel character and just honestly it he made me uncomfortable in my youth too i think i did know what sex was though so kind of did you know what leering was yeah yeah um So out of watchability, i had a
Film Ratings and Personal Thoughts
01:08:13
Speaker
great time. 10 out of 10. It's five. Okay, perfect.
01:08:18
Speaker
But because I'm an adult.
01:08:24
Speaker
It could be whatever. I'll say, ah well, no, I like five because I do only, I watch mostly children's things. I can't handle. Yeah, because. but yeah Fair enough. We've all got our thing. Yeah, yeah.
01:08:36
Speaker
You don't have, you don't watch lot of movies in general. I don't watch a lot of movies in general. In your lifespan. and my ah yeah In yeah, all of it. I would tell people that I was half Amish growing up.
01:08:49
Speaker
That would save you a lot of trouble and a lot of annoying conversations if you just tell people right off the jump. I don't watch movies. Yeah, a lot of the times they're like, oh, I won't ruin it. And I say, I'm not going watch it.
01:09:01
Speaker
You haven't seen The Godfather? i saw I saw that one. Nice. Because I went to my father and I said, I don't have friends. Show me some important ones.
01:09:13
Speaker
He showed me The Godfather and Silence of the Lambs. Wow. Okay.
01:09:22
Speaker
That was probably the last movie we saw. Maybe. no so So you went from Chainsaw to Barbie as Rapunzel. Classics. And then the last movie I saw in theaters was Barbie.
01:09:36
Speaker
Right? It wasn't... um ah What's the... um k Cronenberg's Kids Infinity Pool? No, I think that was before Barbie.
01:09:48
Speaker
Anyway. That was before Barbie. Okay. Anyway. Anyway. And then i out of weirdness, I'd say it's pretty weird. I think it's mostly it's that otter.
01:10:01
Speaker
odd It's that weasel. Well, don't forget about Botticelli. Yeah. The horse. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Honestly, it's weird. And I do remember it not... it also being weird back then. Like, cause I do remember watching it when I had a child's mind and it was frightening.
01:10:20
Speaker
Fair enough. So out of five for weirdness? Nah, we'll do three. Okay. Cause. Yeah. There are weirder things in this world. Yeah. i like got YouTube.
01:10:34
Speaker
It's true. Well, with that, let's head on to Act 3 of the show. I'm to take us on a little bit of a tangent.
01:10:46
Speaker
Sure, the movie's the main event. But that's not the case with this segment. No need to be sad lament.
01:10:59
Speaker
Because we're going on tangent. Tangent.
01:11:05
Speaker
Yeah, that's the name of this segment. Going on a tangent.
01:11:20
Speaker
Yeah. Tangent.
01:11:34
Speaker
So going talk a little bit about an artist named Amanda Dunbar. You might notice that Rapunzel paints in this movie, as does Barbie.
01:11:47
Speaker
And all the paintings in Barbie's room were made by a real painter named Amanda Dunbar, who was 19 years old when this movie came out. Wow. Okay. Good for her.
01:11:59
Speaker
Yeah. Amanda Dunbar is a Canadian-American artist who was a child prodigy. She began painting at 13, and by the age of 16, she had her first gallery show.
01:12:09
Speaker
Wow. Where she had 68 paintings on display and sold the majority of them on the first night for roughly a half a million dollars. Wow. Holy crap. Is she the abstract painter or no?
01:12:21
Speaker
No, she's an impressionist. Oh, okay. Wow. Good for her. Uh... She was born in Thunder Bay, Ontario, and then moved to Texas in her early teens. ah She worked in oils and a French impressionist style.
01:12:34
Speaker
And her early successes led to profiles in People Magazine and Southern Living, and also multiple appearances on Oprah. Those helped raise her national profile and gave her direct exposure to high-test girl boss particles.
01:12:51
Speaker
From there on in, she's like, I'm going to model myself after Oprah business-wise. Oh. So ah since then, she's been named to the Texas Women's Hall of Fame and was awarded the Americanism Medal by the Daughters of the American Revolution.
01:13:08
Speaker
It's a funny honor to give a Canadian woman, but that's fine.
01:13:13
Speaker
The one that changed the textbooks in the South. ah I don't know probably and I don't trust the daughters of the American Revolution nancy see why there's like that there's a group after the Civil War of women that changed the educational system where they made it them say things like ah slaves liked being slaves they daughters of the Confederacy maybe a lot of daughters in the south I guess yeah I know what you're talking about that i know I remember her yeah
01:13:48
Speaker
So these days she's branched out into making fine art guitars for something called Precious Rebels. Okay. She covered one in Swarovski crystals, does that kind of stuff.
01:14:00
Speaker
and They appear to sell for thousands of dollars. All right. God bless you, Amanda Dunbar. I'm jealous, Amanda. Get that bag. And her paintings are not bad. I i think they're a pretty nice little imprint. Better than I can fucking paint, that's for sure.
01:14:15
Speaker
Oh, hell yeah. Okay. But with that, we made up some time in that segment, so now we can really luxuriate in our game.
The Barbie Film Title Game
01:14:23
Speaker
yeah you guys want to play a little two out of three are real?
01:14:26
Speaker
Yes.
01:14:31
Speaker
He's this He's this guy. He's that guy. He's that guy. But there ain't no way he ever played the third guy.
01:14:43
Speaker
I know how you feel.
01:14:48
Speaker
But two out of three are real I said I know how you feel But two out of three are real Baby, we can talk all night
01:15:11
Speaker
But now it's time for the segment
01:15:20
Speaker
That's right. It's time for the segment. We're going playing ah two out of three are real with the filmography of Barbie.
01:15:30
Speaker
So since 2001, there have been 44 computer animated Barbie films. What I'm going to do is I'm going to give you three titles. Two of them are real Barbie films. One is the fake.
01:15:41
Speaker
I want you to tell me which one is fake. This is a buzz in game. You'll buzz in by saying your own name. And if you get it wrong, your opponents will have the chance to steal. Is everybody ready?
01:15:52
Speaker
I sure am. ye All right. Question number one, which one of these is fake? Barbie and the mermaid squad. Barbie mermaid power.
01:16:06
Speaker
Barbie, Fairy-topia, Mermadia.
01:16:11
Speaker
Greg. Greg? Barbie, Mermaid Power.
01:16:20
Speaker
No, I'm sorry. Manolo or Mellison, could you steal? Manolo Party. Manolo? Is it um
01:16:32
Speaker
the first one? Barbie and the Mermaid Squad? Yeah. Bing! You're correct. So you're saying there's two mermaid-themed movies? yeah memaid There's at least two. There's Mermaid Power and Flipper... What was it again?
01:16:52
Speaker
Fairy-topia Mermaidia. That's the one. There's definitely more. that sounds yeah That sounds like outcast album. mean, there's only so many girl things. That's true. They stayed in the pocket.
01:17:03
Speaker
Mm-hmm. You're going to hear a lot of them as the quiz goes on. Question number two. Barbie Spy Squad, Barbie Undercover Model, or Barbie Video Game Hero?
01:17:21
Speaker
ah What was the first one again? Barbie Spy Squad. Malisande. Malisande? Barbie Undercover Model? Mm-hmm. Bing again.
01:17:34
Speaker
Correct. What is he saying? Bing again? Thank you. Yeah, it's from Groundhog Day. oh Yeah, maybe I'll rotate that one out. Maybe this will be the last week for the Tobolowsky babies.
01:17:47
Speaker
Question number three. Barbie and Teresa, recipe for friendship. Barbie and Gina, back to basics. well Barbie and Chelsea, the lost birthday.
01:18:00
Speaker
Greg. No, already. ah Barbie and Gina back to basics.
01:18:08
Speaker
Yeah. they Nobody goes back to. We're always growing. Yeah, that's what our is the point. We're always growing, especially empowered women. And I don't think Jean is a character in the Barbie verse.
01:18:21
Speaker
She's a thrift stop. I mean, I didn't recognize Teresa Chelsea either. If I'm being honest, I think Chelsea is one of the sisters. Okay. Question number Clearly you didn't have Barbie growing up.
01:18:35
Speaker
Barbie and her sisters in the puppy caper. Barbie and her sisters in the great puppy adventure. Barbie and her sisters in a puppy chase. Manolo party.
01:18:50
Speaker
Manolo party. Is it puppy chase?
01:18:56
Speaker
a I'm sorry. It wasn't Barbie and her sisters in a puppy chase. What were the, what were the two that are left? Puppy caper or great puppy adventure. Ooh, Greg, Greg, great puppy adventure.
01:19:11
Speaker
Okay. I was going to say the other one. Yeah. Is that true? i don't remember. Honestly, you get the point either way. ah like With that, Melisande takes the lead. Question number five.
01:19:26
Speaker
Barbie and the Diamond Castle, Barbie Dolphin Magic, or Barbie barbie in the Witch's Spell.
01:19:38
Speaker
Whoa. Melisande. Melisande? Barbie and the Witch's Spell. Bang! Correct! I actually definitely had someone at my job recommend to be Diamond Castle. Like, you've got to see Barbie and the Diamond Castle. People love Barbie! Really?
01:19:56
Speaker
Like, ironically? No, no, she's very serious. It's never ironic. Good to know. All right. I'll put it on the plex.
01:20:07
Speaker
Question number six. Barbie in Rock and Royals. Barbie, the princess and the pop star. Or ah Barbie and the musical dragon.
01:20:21
Speaker
Manolo Party. Manolo? Musical dragon. Correct.
01:20:30
Speaker
I'm a master. You're great. You're catching up. Question number seven. Still plenty game left to play. Barbie is coastto coast to coast. Barbie epic road trip or Barbie big city big dreams.
01:20:46
Speaker
Greg. Greg. Barbie is coast to coast.
01:20:53
Speaker
Correct. I was going to get that one wrong anyway. Is it a tie? ah You're still in the lead. Melisande is in the lead. Greg and Manolo are tied.
01:21:04
Speaker
Two questions to go. Okay. Let's tie. Still anybody's game. It's true.
01:21:13
Speaker
Barbie and the magic of the Pegasus. Barbie and the golden fleece. Barbie, a fashion fairy tale. Melisande. Malisande? Barbie, a fashion fairy tale?
01:21:28
Speaker
That one's real. Greg? Greg. Barbie in the golden fleece. Bang! Correct! Greg is now tied for first. Manolo, you can still tie this up.
01:21:42
Speaker
I could make up a sudden death overtime question if we have to. Let's luxuriate on this game.
01:21:49
Speaker
Question number nine. Barbie as the island princess. Barbie, the pearl princess. Barbie in the dragon princess. Manolo party.
01:22:04
Speaker
Manolo party. Barbie and the island princess.
01:22:13
Speaker
I'm really glad Greg wasn't the one to try that accent. and what were the What were the two... the The Pearl Princess or In the Dragon Princess? In the Dragon in the dragon Princess?
01:22:30
Speaker
You've got it Greg. Greg is our big winner. Yes. I don't actually care, but still.
The Batty Awards Ceremony
01:22:38
Speaker
e congrats It's the Batty Awards. Yes.
01:22:49
Speaker
Now you're messing with the Batty Awards. Now you're messing with the Batty Awards. Now you're messing with the Batty Awards.
01:23:00
Speaker
Now you're messing with the Batty Awards.
01:23:06
Speaker
Congratulations to all the nominees.
01:23:13
Speaker
That's right. Congratulations to all our nominees. Congratulations to you, listeners. You've made it to the Baddy Awards, the awards that we give out on the show.
01:23:24
Speaker
Greg, do you have a baddie award? I do. My baddie award ah goes to the best the best deserving one out there, and that's to Botticelli the horse because bonticeli needs more Botticelli needs more than just an apple.
01:23:38
Speaker
Botticelli needs a little love and respect because, wow, do they look fucked up. ah and Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I'm definitely gonna have to put some pictures of Botticelli on the socials. I just love the like, would you like an apple Botticelli? was like, they named the horse Botticelli?
01:23:58
Speaker
Touche, Barbie. Yeah. Well, I'm going to give my award ah to the couple that I wish got more screen time together.
01:24:10
Speaker
And that's Hobie and Otto. They were a natural fit for a C plot. Otto trying to eat Hobie. Maybe by the end they fall in love. Otto's got to get it out of his system.
01:24:25
Speaker
I love that baby.
01:24:30
Speaker
Yeah, he needed to stop groaning and pleasure. and Manola does that when he wraps around my neck sometimes. Hmm.
01:24:44
Speaker
Manolo, do you have a Batty Award? um We forgot to talk about this, but there's three little girls in there. And one of them has a little, like, you know, C-plot-ish type of thing where she like the play it safe, smart girl. Yeah, she's. the like i'd rather be re oh yeah she's like yeah yeah too cool for they like almost have personalities they're this close yeah and then at the end she says something and then she's like what i call it like i see it but i something about like love and then and all of our friends are like oh my god girl you're talking about love you you always talk about a good book
01:25:28
Speaker
Yeah, but she got to see a fairy tale come to life. Yeah, that is baddie. That's a baddie moment. yeah And so did we, the audience.
01:25:38
Speaker
Or I would give it to the title, Barbie as Rapunzel. Out of all the titles you said tonight, Barbie as Rapunzel? That's like a credit. Yeah, it's true. And Barbie as Rapunzel. At the end of the movie.
01:25:54
Speaker
Well, that's how they got the title. ah so Yeah, it was just the first one that came up when the credits started rolling and they're like, oh, that's what but that must be the title. away My baddie award goes to the zaddy Stefan's dad.
01:26:11
Speaker
Okay. yeah because He's a true short king. He's a short king. Love a short king. He's got great facial hair. yeah like, you know you can see he just gets down, I bet.
01:26:26
Speaker
Yeah. what he's He's definitely got that vibe. The love of the party. he's Yeah, he's got a good vibe. Yeah. yeah Yeah, you can trust a short, chubby king. That's a good one. Yeah, short king.
01:26:43
Speaker
Well, thank you guys so much for coming out. Thank you for bringing us for having a movie that I never would have watched on my own.
Future Reviews and Nostalgia
01:26:51
Speaker
Really expanded my horizons. Well, but The Prince and the Pauper.
01:26:56
Speaker
Okay. Well, what's the other one we were going to do? Diamond Castle. It was going to be that one. No, I thought it was going to be the Dana Carvey one. Oh. Master of Disguise? Master of Disguise. Yeah, that one's yeahwlter No, I love that movie, too. Turtle.
01:27:13
Speaker
Well, maybe we'll have you back. That one's on my list. That's on my my wish list of movies to cover at some point. wow i would love to. i when i was When I watched that, I grew up in a frat neighborhood, like in a college neighborhood. And I had like frats on either side of me.
01:27:29
Speaker
And me and my friend, when we watched that movie, we put pillows. We got green t-shirts and put pillows in them. And we like went and like rang the frats around.
01:27:42
Speaker
I will read. Doorbell. We were young. Very young. Probably like, yeah i And we did the, am I not turtley enough for the turtle club?
01:27:54
Speaker
To these like frat boys that just really did not know what to do. We also, yeah. Did you just run? And then we ran away. Yeah, we ran away. Naturally. Yeah. We did that one. You know that scene from, um what is it? The Life of Brian? Or no.
01:28:11
Speaker
Monty Python, Holy Grail, where they like the guys are like walking with the books and they slap and they knock. I did that. Me and my friends did that going past slowly.
01:28:23
Speaker
Um, a frat party too. but ah nice That's just what you want to see when you look out the window of your frat party. you're like Oh good. The little neighbor girl's hitting herself in the face with a book.
01:28:36
Speaker
Now the party's really getting started.
Closing and Other Projects
01:28:38
Speaker
right is that my teacher's daughter they're all frat finance bros now yeah oh wow the cats and the cradle and the silver spoon do you guys have anything to plug i i just uh i'm solo hosting dr game show now and it's it's it's a lot of fun and a lot of work Yes.
01:29:04
Speaker
i It is a lot of work, brother. I don't doubt you on that. Listeners, if you haven't checked out Dr. Game Show, it's always a lot of fun. It's a great vibe. Manolo obviously is a great hang.
01:29:17
Speaker
And if you like the games on our show, it's nonstop games over there. You got to check it out. Infectious energy. yes Yeah, obviously, you see you hear Manolo and you can't just start bouncing off the walls. I freak out.
01:29:35
Speaker
well Yeah, it's where I do my zoomies. Literally. no um ah You have, like, art you're selling or something? Yeah, well, if, you know...
01:29:47
Speaker
or anig If you want to find me, I do practice my type five at my cafe. If you come and wait in line and tip me money, I'll tell you some jokes.
01:30:02
Speaker
There you go. Oh, it's a cafe grumpy, the one in park slope. All right. Go tip Melisande Cafe Grumpy and Park Slope, you guys. Yeah, if you tip me in cash the same amount of as you drink, I won't charge you. Don't tell my boss I said that.
01:30:20
Speaker
Shh.
01:30:24
Speaker
But join us next week. ah We're going to be talking about North, I believe, with Lucy Valentine of Boonta Vista and Savant Garde. I believe Lucy Valentine will be here.
01:30:36
Speaker
She hasn't confirmed yet, so I hate to jinx myself. But yeah I'm saying it. ah And so I'm very excited for that. And listeners, like I said before, come join our Discord. Come watch a movie with us.
01:30:50
Speaker
Or find us on social media. You can find us on Instagram. You can find us on Blue Sky. And while you got your phone in your hand, you can give us that five stars.
01:31:01
Speaker
Five stars is free, brother. That's what I always say. And comment and stuff on the on the Spotify. That's like a thing now. comment Yeah, yeah. If you can leave a comment leave and leave ah a subscribe or follow.
01:31:16
Speaker
Just any of the buttons that you can press that aren't like report or thumbs down. Press those buttons. Like and subscribe and report us and hit that bell.
01:31:28
Speaker
And oh, there was one song that was used for almost every musical cue in this entire movie, which was also very strange. Sorry to be mentioning that as the very last thing, but it's actually a symphony of the new world by Antonin Javorak. That's our outgoing song this week.
01:31:43
Speaker
Okay. I'm sure I pronounced his name wrong. So until next week, be good and goodbye. Goodbye. Bye.