Babe Watching

As much as I love my brother, I do find it annoying that he has to be so elitist and snobbish when deciding what DVD to watch. 

My brother would say, "What say you we see Natural Born Killers tonight? No? How about American Psycho? A Clockwork Orange? Raging Bull? Scarface? Goodfellas? Fight Club (yet again)? Babel? Do The Right Thing? 2001 Space Odyssey?"

I have concurred with him often, though sometimes the more apt phrase is "surrendered to him". I’d prepare myself to talk to him for hours about what we feel for the film. Most of the time, he’d just rant, about how dystopian the world is now, and about how movies today are not as good as they were in the past. And then he’d look the films up in wikipedia and peruse their reviews from rottentomatoes, while I’d nag, "Why are you so obsessed with what these high brow film critics think of these films? Are you unable to evaluate them on their own terms, and without knowing what others think?!" And then we’d have a few bouts of shouting. And then we’d be at peace. And then we’d watch another movie, and everything would repeat.

Perhaps I was in a sour mood last week when I lashed out:

"Dammit bro! Just why do we always have to see these award-winning, controversy-stirring movies all the hot-damned time? Can’t we watch cartoons for once?"

He shrugged, but that didn’t stop me from watching Babe while he was sleeping. If you don’t know what Babe is about, you can read the synopsis here as I’m too lazy to rewrite it in my own words.

I first saw Babe when I was 11 years old. Although I enjoyed it then, I only had recollections of how cute it was. So, aside from needing a respite from my brother’s obsession to heavy ass movies, I watched it to see if I’d still like it.

To my surprise, I liked it more than before. Reason is that Babe is populated with animals that actually brim with personalities. They’re not simple wisecracking fodder Dreamworks is so wont to use. They have so much character, that they even have individual ways of speech. It’s hard to believe that, with lolcat being too popular now, people used to bother making anthropomorphic animals sound smarter and less predictable. And maybe this is irony, but they’re a lot cuter when they speak like humans, and not like bulk e-mails.

Family movies of now are pretty bad. Instead of being heartfelt, they feel like soulless corporate drivels that only care for box office figures, and have forgotten what it’s like to have an imagination. Heard of Madagascar? Shark’s Tale? Meet the Robinsons? Home in the Range? Back when they were just out, everyone was all suckered to them because everyone just had to, I dunno, freaking guzzle every crap that looks trendy. Who can tell me now, with a straight face, that they remember these movies’ stories and messages? And yet, we keep seeing kid flicks that aren’t about telling a good story, but are more concerned with shiny ass CGs. Or artsy fartsy gothic stupidities. Or loquacious Zebras. Or longwinded fight scenes. Or selling Linkin’ Park soundtracks, Burger King toys, PS2 videogames, and ring tones.

I urge you to see Babe, and get some Kleenex so you can weep for the cartoons they play now.