Hey, anybody remember The Wiggles? You know, the 4 costumed
guys who would sing and have adventures with their friends and sometimes
assorted children? Yeah, they were entertaining, and they had a good idea
behind them: meeting stars like Steve Irwin to sing a song and running into
misfit characters like Henry The Octopus, Dorothy The Dinosaur and my favorite,
Captain Feathersword. It was fun to watch when you were little, but somehow you
managed to like watching it when you were an adult (or maybe my dad was a
special case). Or, at least it was when the Wiggles were the originals.
Since then, 3 of the 4 Wiggles have quit. Murray, Greg and
Jeff are all retired and have been replaced. I honestly can`t say I`m familiar
with the new Wiggles, but I know one is a girl with a bow in her hair. This
comes off as odd to me seeing as how I grew up with the 4 men. But I`m not
talking about The Wiggles today. As much as I would love to, I`ve got something
terrible to review that attempted to follow the style of The Wiggles and failed
horrendously. This monster of an idea is known as The Oogieloves in The Big
Balloon Adventure, or as I like to call it, Jim Henson`s Nightmare.
This does not have the charm that The Wiggles had. It does
not have the fun aspect. It does not have the creative characters. It`s quite
simply the stereotypical bad children`s show- the one they always play in
cartoons to illustrate the idea that kid`s TV is stupid. Where The Wiggles gave
us memorable songs like `Fruit Salad` (Yummy, Yummy) and `Do The Twist` (and
their Magnum Opus, `Six Months In A Leaky Boat`), The Oogieloves gives us
`Scratchy Sneezy Cough Cough` and `March And Moo`. I was intrigued when I saw
that something like the Oogieloves would be played in theaters everywhere (in
contrast, the Metropolitan Operas are only in a few select theaters), and when
I looked it up online later, I was not at all surprised to see it was a box
office flop. So grab some fruit salad and a cup of rosy tea- it`s time to
discover what makes The Wiggles look like a serial drama.
Before the actual movie begins, we are introduced to the
Oogieloves, 3 humanoid puppets with apparent traits and skills: the green one,
Goobie, is smart. The purple one, Toobie, is athletic. And the yellow one,
Zoozie, is a girl and can apparently speak every language in the universe (I`d
like to see her speak Klingon sometime). We are told that we can shout and
stand up to dance and sing throughout the movie, and that it is good to sing
and dance in a movie theater. While this may work for a small child`s idea of
film, it wouldn`t exactly be good to burst out into song during a screening of,
say, V for Vendetta or Silence Of The Lambs, would it? Bad advice, Oogieloves.
We open the actual movie with the Oogieloves emerging from
their beds, arms outstretched in what I can only say is a salute to the Third
Reich, as they see their friends Ruffy the grumpy fish and J. Edgar the vacuum
cleaner (because clearly small children will understand and appreciate the
reference to J. Edgar Hoover) assisting them in preparing for the birthday of
Schluufy (yes, Schluufy) the pillow. Everything is set, until J. Edgar trips
and loses the 5 magic balloons that they wanted to give to Schluufy. How the
vacuum cleaner managed to trip is unknown, but the balloons fly off. The
Oogieloves ask the advice of their friend Windy Window (the downright creepiest
window with a human face ever), who can show them where the balloons are. The
Oogieloves grab Ruffy and the group go on a quest to recover the balloons. Why
can`t they just buy some more? Because apparently those were the last magic
balloons in all of Lovelyloveville (no, really. That`s the name.) .
The group discovers the first balloon at the top of a tree.
The tree belongs to Dotty Rounder and her granddaughter Jubilee. The two are
happy to sing a song and dance with the Oogieloves about shaking your body
(with polka dots), but then tell the heroes that nobody has ever climbed the
enormous tree before. Toofie accepts the challenge and manages to climb all the
way to the top. Dotty and Jubilee give the puppet monsters a present for
Schluufy to say thank you along with the balloon.The Oogieloves give a cheer
and are off to locate the next balloon.
The second magic balloon is at Milky Marvin`s milkshake
joint, where it is to be given out as a prize for the milkshake drinking
contest going on. Marvin, his milkshake making cow Lulu, and a very bored
waitress lead the patrons of the area in a song about marching and mooing to
get milkshakes, which is very repetitive but tolerable. The group get
Milkshakes and enter the contest (the milkshakes, might I add, are gross
flavors like pickle and pizza). Ruffy, always angry, refuses a milkshake but is
forced to have one to enter the contest. The Oogieloves do not win, but Ruffy
chugs down his disgusting drink the fastest and wins the gang the second
balloon. Milky Marvin also hears about the pillow`s birthday and gives them a
special milkshake for Schluffy (I don`t quite remember it, but I thought I
heard `blueberry` and `bacon`).
The third balloon is being taken on tour by a superstar with
constant allergies. I don`t remember much about this part, but they sing a song
about having allergies and being sick, with the loving and heartwarming title
of `Scratchy Sneezy Cough Cough`. The Oogieloves convince the starlet to give
up her 3rd balloon before she goes, and she gives them some flowers for
Schluufy as a token of thanks.
The fourth balloon is on top of a bubble truck belonging to
Bobby Wobbly, played by Cary Elwes, better known as Wesley (or the Dread Pirate
Roberts) from The Princess Bride. His trucker bird friend tells Zoozie that she
can`t fly, and Toofie cannot climb the truck because Bobby doesn`t want it to
be damaged. Bobby arrives and sings a country song with the Oogieloves about
wobbling and wiggling (leave The Wiggles out of this!). Zoozie then convinces
the bird to try to fly. She does, and grabs the balloon for the Oogieloves.
Bobby also gives them some bubbles for Schluufy (is it me, or does everyone in
this world have some kind of weird obsession?).
The 5th and final balloon is at the top of a windmill that
is so big even Toofie won`t climb it. The group decides to hurry to finish the
task and comes across an enormous sombrero maintained by Lola Sombrero (Jamie
Presley). She then says the sombrero moves and is powered by dancing. We meet
her husband, who whirls around to reveal.....my god, it`s Christopher Lloyd!
Yeah, Christopher Lloyd, best known for Judge Doom and Doc
Brown, is somehow in The Oogieloves. He must have fallen on some hard times to
be playing the mute Lero Sombrero.
Anyway, the group dances and gets to the windmill. They
retrieve the last balloon and head back to Schluufy. The birthday goes great
and the movie is over. Thank god. Where are you, Wiggles? We known you would
never come up with that kind of vomit. Officer Beeples would have arrested you
by now.
OVERALL RATING: 1/10
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This should not exist. It`s not the most horrific thing in
the universe, but as a critic and a young adult, I REALLY don`t like it.
Advantage: Wiggles. If you want a good children`s movie with songs, I`d suggest
the new Disney movie `Frozen`. It`s much better than this and has probably one
of the best animated soundtrack songs EVER in `Let It Go`. Just avoid it.