Film Review of the Week

Fantasy

A Big Bold Beautiful Journey (12)

Review: When one door closes another opens – metaphorically and in real life – in director Kogonada’s fantastical odyssey of self-discovery, which takes big creative swings, as teased by that tantalisingly ambiguous title. Only a few of the swings squarely connect for me, but I greatly admire and appreciate the bold ambition when other filmmakers might seek refuge in conventional, genre-specific storytelling. I am an eternally hopeful romantic so the otherworldly optimism hard-wired into Seth Reiss’s script should resonate into the marrow of my bones.

There is a curious disconnect between heartfelt material that philosophises about the contradictory nature of love and luminous performances from Colin Farrell and Margot Robbie, whose screen chemistry achieves a pleasing simmer. A slickly choreographed song and dance number materialises unexpectedly in the first hour, showcasing the former’s versatility and natural charisma. The innate star power of the two leads is reason enough for their characters to fall deliriously in love on screen as they tumble through space and time and gain insight into how to shape their futures by scrutinising where they have been. A Big Bold Beautiful Journey gives audiences plenty of food for thought about the masks and personae we wear to fulfil different personal and professional commitments. As one supporting character notes, “Sometimes we have to perform to get to the truth”. I’m not convinced Kogonada’s intriguing picture gets there.

Commitment-shy New York bachelor David (Farrell) prepares to drive to his friend’s wedding with the encouraging words of his father (Hamish Linklater) ringing in his ears: “Life is better when you’re open.” A wheel clamp on his illegally parked vehicle temporarily derails those plans so David hastily acquires a new drive from the mysterious Car Rental Company managed by two nameless agents (Kevin Kline, Phoebe Waller-Bridge), who are oddly familiar with his dating history. At the wedding, David meets fellow singleton Sarah (Robbie) and squanders an opportunity to dance with her. On the way home, the rental car’s GPS asks him if he would like to embark on a big bold beautiful journey.

When David agrees, the virtual assistant guides him to Sarah and the pair follow a winding route between physical doors that open into episodes from their respective pasts, including David’s star turn in his high school’s production of the musical How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying. A fantastical, mind-bending escapade encourages the strangers to relive defining moments and reunites Sarah with her mother (Lily Rabe), who tenderly assures her: “You are capable of being content in this life.”

A Big Bold Beautiful Journey is a curiosity that sustains interest by virtue of myriad stylistic flourishes and the performances. Waller-Bridge is a thickly accented hoot in her two scenes, which bookend the soul-searching. If Farrell and Robbie provide the emotional slaps, she’s the exuberant tickle.

Animation

Diplo: The Mighty Dinosaur (U)

Review: The act of creation, as beautiful and thrilling as it can be, frequently necessitates acts of destruction. These extremes coexist in in Polish filmmaker Wojtek Wawszczyk’s whimsical family-friendly fantasy, which alternates between live-action and animated sequences to chart the daring adventures of a hand-drawn, anthropomorphic green dinosaur, who risks being erased from comic panels by his human creator and thus rendered extinct like his hulking predecessors.

This metafictional dramatic conceit draws parallels to The Neverending Story, which also champions the art of storytelling and the enduring power of the imagination to unshackle us from the harsh realities of day-to-day life. In the case of Diplo: The Mighty Dinosaur, the titular creature is persistently stalked by an unstoppable force called The Blankness – the manifestation of his creator’s eraser moving across illustrated comic panels, wiping out the primeval sprawl that Diplo ruefully calls home. The diminutive hero is orphaned with the casual swish of a hand across a page, a shocking loss that sets in motion one heavy-handed lesson about appreciating the love and support of family and friends in the here and now.

Gifted illustrator Ted (Piotr Polak) has adored dinosaurs since he was a boy and he draws comic strips about a plucky Diplodocus (voiced by Julian Wanderer), who lives with his parents (Marc Thompson, Alyson Leigh Rosenfeld) and pterodactyl grandfather (Thompson again) in a “simple, ordinary, safe” prehistoric world. Alas, Diplo’s antics won’t pay Ted’s bills and his officious publisher (Helena Englert) arrives unannounced at his rundown artist’s studio, demanding a fresh character by 9am the following morning for a new children’s magazine.

She isn’t impressed with Diplo (“Ugly lizards… yuck!”) and implores Ted to scrub away emotional attachments to his previous creations. “Erase them and make room for something new and sweet,” she trills. Ted obliges and Diplo’s world slowly vanishes. The youngster escapes The Blankness by covering his eyes and ears and wishing he was somewhere else. He tumbles through The Bermuda Rectangle and other strange worlds before he settles in Planet Fear and befriends a wacky wizard named Lord Hocus Pocus (Thompson again). Another magical teleportation deposits Diplo and Hocus Pocus in the company of mad Professor Nervekowsky (Mike Pollock) and his trusty partner Entomology (Rachel Butera). They convince Diplo that their scientific experiments will locate the Great Power behind The Blankness.

Diplo: The Mighty Dinosaur is a sweet and charming celebration of creativity, clearly targeted at younger audiences. Writer-director Wawszczyk ricochets between heightened live action and rollicking animation, putting these two worlds on a collision course with an inevitably wholesome resolution that tugs heartstrings and neatly brings the storyline full circle. The script applies a light touch to heavier themes of loss and regret – more of a dino-squeak than a roar.