The L.A. Times points out that Sylvester Stallone is down with the affectionate “First Blood” homage (or jumping off point) of the new British kids movie “Son of Rambow” (purposely misspelled, they are kids after all).
Sly apparently initially assumed the film would be just a mocking send-up of his inaugural Rambo movie.
“When I first heard . . . I assumed it was going to be a very broad and stylized joke-a-minute comedy at Rambo’s expense,” Stallone told the Times via e-mail. However, once he saw the what they call the “playfully rambunctious tale of two boys in 1980s small-town England,” he was pleasantly surprised and smitten.
“The fact that it was so heartwarming is the result of brilliant filmmaking by its creators,” he said.
‘Rambow’ is a cute and endearing film to be sure, but having seen it this weekend, we wouldn’t necessarily say it was a critical must-see. Rather than the kids movie for adults we were hoping for, the sweet tale of unlikely friendship is actually more tailored to the eleven-year-old boys the movie portrays. There were a ton of kids in the audience we saw it with and they seemed like they were having a blast.
It wasn’t really disappointing in any way, it just wasn’t mandatory either. We felt like we’ve sort of seen it all before. Our favorite moment might have been afterwards, watching a 10-year-old girl dance unself-consciously in the aisles to the closing credits of The Cure’s “Close To Me.” That kind of unbridled, genuine display of joie de vivre was exactly what the film was trying to convey. Oh well, at least it spoke to her as it should have (yeah, that’s all the review we can muster [-B])
Some people are reading it incorrectly though. Jeffery Wells excerpted this graph from Manhola Dargis’ New York Times review and made a point to give Wes Anderson fans a head’s up.
“Working in a self-consciously quirky key that owes a strong debt to Wes Anderson’s ‘Rushmore,’ Mr. Jennings keeps his busy pieces in harmonious play, creating a miniaturized world as detailed, painstakingly determined and insulated as an ant farm.”
We felt it our duty to point out that while perhaps connected spiritually and or distant kin, ‘Rambow’ is nothing like the hyper-miniaturized world of Anderson later films (the hyper obsessive detail and pageantry actually begins post-‘RM’) and the film is nothing like the coming-of-age story of Max Fisher (it’s purposefully more wide-eyed and naive than Anderson’s faux-sophisticated teen). Anyone who goes to see the British film hoping to relive their early Anderson days will be sorely disappointed, but your kids will love it.
Further Reading: ‘Son of Rambow’ Soundtrack and Filmmakers
