Captain Eo (1986) Review With Clip!
February 19th 2011 21:13
I am a fan of Film oddities, and Michael Jackson's film debut “Captain Eo” is possibly one of the most bizarre footnotes in movie history. Late in the 1980's Disney had lots of money to throw around, and decided they wanted to make a film attraction of their Epcot center attraction. Disney had big plans for their movie theater, this wasn't going to be a typical movie
theater. It would feature special effects that would expand beyond the screen, laser blasts and starfields would fill the entire theater, combined with 3d film and a state of the art sound system this would be an film watching experience like nothing else. The only thing that was missing, was a movie to show in this high-tech cinema, and as good as most Disney fare was at the time, Pinocchio probably wasn't going to be apropriate, so what to do? Disney theme parks came up with a plan, they were going to use all their resources, to engineer their own mini-blockbuster.
The producers assembled what they thought would be the ultimate movie dream team. The screenwriter would be none other than Star Wars creator George Lucas. The Score would be penned and conducted by the one and only James Horner. How aobut Director? Let's not mess around, we get Oscar winner and all around legend Francis For Coppola. As if that wasn't enough, the star would be possibly one of the most recognizable faces in the world, Michael Jackson. The special effects were handled by Disney “Immagineers” the same folks who build rides and attractions at Disneyland.
“Captain Eo” has, at best a fairly anorexic story. Captain Eo, (played by Jackson) and his rag-tag crew (That consists entirely of tragically unfunny puppets) Is off to an unamed planet to give the planet's “Supreme Leader” a gift. Angelica Houston plays the hideous cyborg leader of the planet, earning her nearly 3 hours in a makeup chair for only a few seconds of screen-time. Of course, being that this movie is only 17 minutes long, this isn't really all that bad. The movie features two songs and dance numbers, each written by Michael Jackson with the dances choreographed by him.
The dance numbers are wildly entertaining, and perhaps the only redeeming parts of this movie, which quite frankly is abysmal. Michael Jackson, as talented as he is, can't count acting among his talents, he delivers lines in his uncomfortably falsetto voice with all the emotional impact of an unsalted soda cracker. The puppet co-stars of the film are at best irritating, and their dialogue often seems to make no sense at all (“Sir, the ship is in no condition to go into battle. I thought we might start by cleaning Hooter's bunk ” WHAT?!). It feels almost like the dialogue was transalted from some other language very poorly, or written by a six year old.
“Hold on” I can almost hear you say “Wasn't this movie made by a bunch of film legends?”. Eh, well, yes and no. Sure Francis Ford Copila directed it, but that means very little when he was goofy special effects and poor writing to deal with. George Lucas wrote it, and he's an amazing writer, but “Howard the duck” proves he's capable of missing the mark by a wide margin. In the end, we have to acknowledge this movie is in fact a Theme park attraction, and not really meant to stand on it's own.
After a day of riding the teacups and meeting Micky I suppose more people are in such a good mood they can forgive the bad parts and just enjoy the spectacle. That is one thing this movie has in spades, Spectacle. Since I heard that Disney World is offering this movie in their “4D theater” again due to the death of Michael Jackson and renewed interest in his work, perhaps it's time for me to view it again, perhaps with all the bells and whistles it won't be so grating.
Only Jacko and possibly Elton John would be able to pull off an outfit like that.
The dance numbers are wildly entertaining, and perhaps the only redeeming parts of this movie, which quite frankly is abysmal. Michael Jackson, as talented as he is, can't count acting among his talents, he delivers lines in his uncomfortably falsetto voice with all the emotional impact of an unsalted soda cracker. The puppet co-stars of the film are at best irritating, and their dialogue often seems to make no sense at all (“Sir, the ship is in no condition to go into battle. I thought we might start by cleaning Hooter's bunk ” WHAT?!). It feels almost like the dialogue was transalted from some other language very poorly, or written by a six year old.
Some of the best Filmmakers and Entertainers in History worked together on this Movie
“Hold on” I can almost hear you say “Wasn't this movie made by a bunch of film legends?”. Eh, well, yes and no. Sure Francis Ford Copila directed it, but that means very little when he was goofy special effects and poor writing to deal with. George Lucas wrote it, and he's an amazing writer, but “Howard the duck” proves he's capable of missing the mark by a wide margin. In the end, we have to acknowledge this movie is in fact a Theme park attraction, and not really meant to stand on it's own.
After a day of riding the teacups and meeting Micky I suppose more people are in such a good mood they can forgive the bad parts and just enjoy the spectacle. That is one thing this movie has in spades, Spectacle. Since I heard that Disney World is offering this movie in their “4D theater” again due to the death of Michael Jackson and renewed interest in his work, perhaps it's time for me to view it again, perhaps with all the bells and whistles it won't be so grating.
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