Lazy Sunday – Call the Midwife and Halloween Fun with Frankenweenie and Hotel Transylvania

Now for another session of Lazy Sunday where I share my favorite lazy day activities of the week.

I am an avowed Anglophile. I love all things British especially literature, television and film. So, when I heard about the new show Call the Midwife I knew I needed to check it out.

Then I heard that it was based on a book of the same name. Well, I grabbed it from my local library ASAP and made sure to read it before I checked out the show. May not have been the best move.

Why? Because I loved the book. It’s a memoir by Jennifer Worth about her time as a midwife in the East End of London in the 1950’s. As you may already know, the East End was a very poor area of London that (at the time of the book) had not yet recovered from the damage wrought by World War II.  Ms. Worth was a nurse and trained midwife who lived and worked in this tumultuous area. The book is a fascinating glimpse into a unique time and place and I devoured it in one day.

Then, I watched the show and….I guess I was too excited. I was asking for a letdown. It just wasn’t as good as the book (as film rarely is) and I had a hard time getting into it. The casting was off, the dialogue was a bit hokey, and it looked like I was watching actors performing on a sound stage the entire time (for me, the key to any period film is that it needs to look like I’m actually watching that period). But, there are only six episodes this season and I’m in it for the long haul. I’m hoping it’ll improve a bit so I can think of it as more than just ok.

Now, when I wasn’t immersing myself in post-war London I was busy attending film previews for two new releases – Hotel Transylvania and Frankenweenie. I’m glad to say I highly enjoyed them both.

 Hotel Transylvania is the story of Dracula and his teenage (? Is 118 teenage for a vampire?) daughter butting heads over her impending freedom. See, Dracula has built the Hotel Transylvania, a safe haven for monsters of all sorts, so that he can protect his daughter from the dreaded humans. Problem is, she wants to see the world. Oh, what’s a dad to do?

For me any non-Pixar cartoon is often a letdown but I really liked this movie. I loved the animation, the jokes made me laugh out loud, and it was a sweet story. I could have done without the overloud pop songs complete with autotune and rap solos but I suppose that what those whippersnappers love these days.

Frankenweenie although also spooky themed is nothing like Hotel Transylvania. This story about a boy’s love of his dog and the lengths he’ll go to make sure he’s always around is also a sweet story but that’s where the similarities end. Where Hotel Transylvania is colorful and energetic, Frankenweenie is black and white and more subdued. Where Hotel Transylvania caters to the masses (see obnoxious pop songs) Frankenweenie is what it is and the audience can like it or not. I think that’s a good thing.

I really liked both movies and couldn’t really say which one I preferred more. They both were very good and perfect for this time of year.

full disclosure:  I attended free preview screenings of Hotel Transylvania and Frankenweenie. Lucky for me because I was planning on paying to see both of them.

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