Despite dismal reviews, Jack and I quite liked this story of a PTSD patient who creates a miniature town of dolls in his upstate New York home. Displayed in both live action and animation, it's not for kids, with violence, war, and a PG-13 rating. It's based on the lauded 2010 documentary Marwencol (read about it here and/or rent or buy it on iTunes) about Mark Hogencamp.
Steve Carell (last blogged for Vice) is wonderful as Mark, in both his live version and heroic doll persona Hogie. Leslie Mann (her last appearance in these pages was for The Other Woman, though it was out of order chronologically) is sweet as his caring neighbor Nicol-without-an-E. Some of the other women are Janelle Monáe (last blogged for Hidden Figures) as GI Julie, Merritt Wever (after Tiny Furniture she was in seven episodes of New Girl, eighty of Nurse Jackie as Zoey, and made an appearance in Birdman) as Roberta, and Diane Kruger (most recently in these pages for The Infiltrator) as Deja. All of the dolls were animated with the actors doing motion capture.
Director/co-writer Robert Zemeckis (last blogged for Allied) and co-writer Caroline Thompson (co-wrote Edward Scissorhands (1990) and The Addams Family (1991), adapted The Secret Garden (1993) from the children's book, and co-wrote The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) and Corpse Bride (2005)) pay homage to Zemeckis' early work, with definite references to Back to the Future (1985) and Death Becomes Her (1992). See if you can find them.
Kudos to the production design team headed up by Stefan Dechant (worked as art director on Cast Away (2000), Jarhead (2005), Avatar, Alice in Wonderland, the True Grit remake, Oz the Great and Powerful, and The BFG, among his credits).
The soundtrack by Alan Silvestri (most recently in these pages for Avengers: Infinity War) can be streamed from Apple Music and YouTube. There are also lots of songs, listed here and here.
Rotten Tomatoes's critics have not welcomed this movie, averaging 29%, with its audiences only slightly more hospitable at 56. And, with a budget of about $39 million and an opening weekend box office of $2.4 million, it's been officially deemed a flop. We still enjoyed it and there's a chance it will recoup its costs.
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