Jungle Cruise: A delightful voyage

Jungle Cruise (2021) • View trailer

3.5 stars (out of five). Rated PG-13, for adventure-type violence

Available via: Movie theaters and Disney+

By Derrick Bang • Published in The Davis Enterprise, 7.30.21 

I know what you’re thinking.

 

Another movie based on a silly Disneyland ride?

 

Our heroes — counterclockwise, from top, Frank (Dwayne Johnson), Lily (Emily Blunt)
and MacGregor (Jack Whitehall) — cannot believe what has just popped out of the
water, in pursuit of their tiny boat.

OK, granted; the first few Pirates of the Caribbean entries were a hoot. But does anybody even remember 1997’s Tower of Terror? Worse yet, can anybody forget 2003’s Haunted Mansion, which almost finished Eddie Murphy’s career?

Yeah, well … scoff if you like, but this one is quite entertaining.

 

Granted, it borrows heavily from Pirates of the Caribbean, Raiders of the Lost Ark and 1999’s The Mummy; and granted, the third act gets needlessly chaotic; and granted, the film runs about 15 minutes too long. (Don’t they all, these days?)

 

No question: This is something of a kitchen sink endeavor, thanks to five credited screenwriters (and likely several more, behind the scenes).

 

But however familiar the wrapping, the contents make the package. And there’s no denying the combined charm of Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt, seasoned with the droll comic relief of Jack Whitehall. As ye olde peril-laden treasure hunts go, this one’s a corker.

 

The year is 1916, at the height of World War I. British researcher Lily Houghton (Blunt) and her brother MacGregor (Whitehall) are introduced while trying to persuade a roomful of stuffy academics to back an expedition to the Amazon jungle. She hopes to uncover the mystery behind an ancient tribal artifact, which is supposed to point the way to something reputed to have miraculous restorative powers.

 

The stuffy academics decline, of course. MacGregor looks and sounds like an aristocratic twit; as for Lily, she’s a woman, for goodness’ sake. Who’d pay attention to anything she believes?

 

Well, the stuffy academics should have clocked the fact that this quest also is of great interest to the Teutonic Prince Joachim (Jesse Plemons), whose malevolent bearing screams “sinister” so blatantly, that he may as well have the word tattooed on his forehead.

 

Indeed, it doesn’t take long for Joachim to reveal his stripes.

 

Elsewhere, we meet charismatic Frank Wolff (Johnson), head of the Jungle Navigation Company — just himself, of course — and skipper of the dilapidated La Quila. He leads unwitting visitors to this scruffy Brazilian harbor community on sightseeing cruises along the Amazon, which are low on substance but high on humor (so he insists). 

 

His “typical tour,” which we experience with his newest load of passengers, is this film’s direct nod to the eponymous Disneyland attraction. The homage is hilarious: same cheesy “special effects,” same awful jokes, same wincing puns, the latter delivered with a relentless lack of shame by Johnson.

Old: Only partly satisfying

Old (2021) • View trailer

Three stars (out of five). Rated PG-13, for dramatic intensity, sexual candor, nudity and fleeting profanity

Available via: Movie theaters

By Derrick Bang

Calling this the best film M. Night Shyamalan has made in well over a decade is damning with very faint praise; this is, after all, the man who unleashed stinkers such as After Earth, The Visit, The Happening and The Last Airbender (the latter one of the worst big-budget fantasies ever made).

 

A creepy discovery — from a clever point of view — is made by, from left, Chrystal
(Abbey Lee), Patricia (Nikki Amuka-Bird), Jarin (Ken Leung), Maddox (Thomasin
McKenzie), Charles (Rufus Sewell), Sedan (Aaron Pierre) and Prisca (Vicky Krieps).

But credit where due: Old is by turns intriguing, mysterious and disturbing. It also holds together, as a story, better than the above-mentioned turkeys: a welcome surprise that can be attributed to the fact that this is not a Shyamalan original script. He has adapted the 2010 graphic novel Sandcastle, by Pierre-Oscar Lévy and Frederick Peeters.

Here’s a bigger revelation: Shyamalan’s altered conclusion — one of his signature twists — is more satisfying than the original’s ruminative metaphor.

 

Mind you, we’re talking a degree of success. There’s still much to complain about here.

 

We meet Guy (Gael García Bernal), wife Prisca (Vicky Krieps) and their children — Maddox (Alexa Swinton) and Trent (Nolan River) — en route to a family holiday in a trendy seaside resort. The atmosphere is a bit tense, the dynamic between Guy and Prisca clearly fragile. Troubled.

 

They attempt to mute such feelings, to spare the kids: not difficult, in such a pampered environment, where attentive staff cater to their every whim. This cheerful prologue is quite pleasant; it allows Guy, Prisca, Maddox, Trent and a few of the other resort guests to define themselves.

 

Guy’s family is encouraged to spend the next day at a gorgeous, secluded cove: “Only for our special guests,” promises the resort manager (Gustaf Hammarsten, oozing false sincerity). This invitation clearly troubles young Idlib (Kailen Jude), the manager’s nephew, who has just befriended Trent.

 

The family accepts; they’re joined by Charles (Rufus Sewell), his Barbie-doll trophy wife Chrystal (Abbey Lee), their 6-year-old daughter Kara (Kyle Bailey), and his mother Agnes (Kathleen Chalfant). The shuttle driver (Shyamalan, in his usual cameo role) deftly evades their questions.

 

The promised cove is peacefully picturesque; the little group is augmented by late-comers Jarin (Ken Leung) and his wife Patricia (Nikki Amuka-Bird).

 

They’re all surprised to find somebody else on site: Sedan (Aaron Pierre), brooding and isolated in a distant corner, against the sheer rocky walls that enclose the cove. His presence irritates Charles, who seems to have a hair-trigger temper. Actually, the three family groups seem oddly uneasy around each other.

 

(And for no reason, at this early stage; it’s just Shyamalan, clumsily — and needlessly — heightening the disconcerting atmosphere.)

 

The Ice Road: Thrills 'n' chills

The Ice Road (2021) • View trailer

3.5 stars (out of five). Rated PG-13, for dramatic intensity, violence and occasional profanity

Available via: Netflix

By Derrick Bang

This is an intriguing riff on 1953’s The Wages of Fear: Instead of hauling hazardous cargo, these truckers are traveling on a hazardous highway.

 

Mike (Liam Neeson) and Tantoo (Amber Midthunder) watch in horror, as an expanding
pattern of cracking ice rips toward their trucks.

Writer/director Jonathan Hensleigh’s nail-biting thriller is another ideal vehicle (ahem) for star Liam Neeson, who continues to enjoy his late-career status as an action hero. Hensleigh’s script is completely formulaic — he leaves no cliché behind — but the crisply executed result is sufficiently entertaining.

Events begin deep underground, when part of a Northern Manitoba diamond mine collapses, trapping a couple dozen miners. Rescue requires specialized, heavy-duty wellheads that aren’t on site, and can’t be delivered via plane. Speed also is of the essence, as the miners — able to communicate topside, by rapping Morse code on an exposed pipe — have limited oxygen.

 

The sole option is to haul the equipment with big rigs, and the fastest route — the only route that’ll make it in time — is the “ice road” across frozen Lake Winnipeg.

 

In the dead of winter, that wouldn’t be a problem. But it’s early spring, and the frozen ice isn’t nearly as thick; it may not be solid enough to handle the weight.

 

Goldenrod (Laurence Fishburne), the trucking operator in charge, puts out a call for seasoned drivers willing to risk their lives. By coincidence, just across the border in North Dakota, Mike (Liam Neeson) and his brother Gurty (Marcus Thomas) are between jobs. Steady employment eludes them, because Mike tends to beat the crap out of anybody who teases Gurty, who suffers from PTSD impairment.

 

Goldenrod isn’t in a position to be choosy, particularly when Gurty reveals genius mechanical talents. The only other taker is Tantoo (Amber Midthunder), a feisty young Cree woman with a tendency to get arrested while participating in First Nations protests. She’s also a highly capable big rig driver, and determined to participate because her brother Cody is one of the trapped miners.

 

The plan involves triple redundancy: three trucks — Goldenrod driving the third one himself — each carrying the necessary equipment. Ergo, only one needs to make it. 

 

(One could argue that three heavily laden trucks are much more likely to break the ice than a single vehicle, but you can’t apply that sort of logic to this sort of story.)

Space Jam: A New Legacy — Excessive jam

Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021) • View trailer

Three stars (out of five). Rated PG, for cartoon violence

Available via: Movie theaters and HBO Max

By Derrick Bang • Published in The Davis Enterprise, 7.16.21

As the saying goes — and feel free to insert your debauchery of choice — one milkshake is delicious. Two, three, perhaps even four, are taste bud nirvana.

 

But 762 milkshakes become … well … stale. Tedious. Sensory overload.

 

As a crowd of thousands watches and worries, LeBron James and a digitally upgraded
Bugs Bunny wonder what unpleasant trick their revolting opponents will uncork next.

This new Space Jam goes way beyond sensory overload.

Which is a shame, because — at its core — this film offers a sweet story about the need for fathers and sons to relate to each other.

 

Alas, no fewer than six credited writers — and, I’ve no doubt, many more uncredited hands — turned the result into the world’s most frantic pinball machine. Actually, “frantic” isn’t strong enough. Frenzied. Berserk. Freaked out. Zonkers.

 

Out of control.

 

Definitely out of director Malcolm D. Lee’s control.

 

Lee is best known for overblown, slapstick-laden farces such as Undercover Brother, Girls Trip and Night School, often with stand-up comics in lead roles. He doesn’t know from subtle, pacing, or restraint. He definitely graduated from the school of Throw Everything On The Wall And See What Sticks.

 

And boy, he found a lot to throw on this wall.

 

LeBron James, playing himself, has become a basketball taskmaster with sons Darius (Ceyair J Wright) and Dom (Cedric Joe). The elder Darius is cheerfully eager to follow in his father’s size 16 footsteps, but young Dom has his head in an entirely different game. His passion is coding and IT development; he even has built his own way-cool computer game.

 

Dad is oblivious, much to the chagrin of wife Kamiyah (Sonequa Martin-Green). Basketball is everything; anything else is a distraction.

 

Elsewhere, within the massive server bank at Warner Bros. Studios, an egomaniacal digi-villain dubbed Al G. Rhythm (Don Cheadle) has been up to no good. Hoping to win real-world adulation, Al has developed cutting-edge tech that could digitally incorporate LeBron into an endless array of media projects.

 

LeBron declines, during a presentation meeting with execs played by Sarah Silverman and Steven Yeun. Actually, LeBron calls the proposal monumentally stupid, which enrages Al — monitoring via Wifi-linked devices — into monumental revenge.

 

In the blink of an eye, LeBron and Dom are sucked into Al’s digital realm, where he seduces the impressionable lad with the thrill of being able to fabricate anything — instantly — while employing crocodile psychology to widen the rift between father and son.

Black Widow: Exhilarating grrl power

Black Widow (2021) • View trailer

Four stars (out of five). Rated PG-13, for intense action violence and mild profanity

Available via: Movie theaters and Disney+

By Derrick Bang

The best superhero movies have a substantial human element that helps ground (if only a bit) the landscape-leveling mayhem that dominates the excessive third act.

 

Black Panther and the first Wonder Woman come to mind, as recent good examples.

 

Pausing for breath, while trying to evade the well-named Taskmaster, Natasha
(Scarlett Johansson, left) and Yelena (Florence Pugh) contemplate their next move.

Black Widow belongs in their company.

The script — by Eric Pearson, Jac Schaeffer and Ned Benson — gets its emotional juice from a fractured family dynamic that prompts all manner of interpersonal angst. The result, directed with welcome levels of heart and pathos by Cate Shortland, skillfully balances the slugfests and action sequences with quieter, contemplative moments.

 

This is appropriate, because the title character — Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson), aka the Black Widow — has one of the more complicated back-stories in Marvel Comics lore (which this film’s scripters have made darker still).

 

That said, at 133 minutes, Shortland’s film is at least one frantic melee too long.

 

In terms of the ever-more-convoluted Marvel movie timeline, the primary events here take place in the immediate wake of 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The various Avengers are dividing via their response to increased governmental surveillance at the expense of personal freedom; Natasha is on the run, having (apparently) betrayed SHIELD and U.S. Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross (William Hurt). He wants her head.

 

First, though, this new film opens with a seemingly bucolic 1995 flashback that focuses on adolescent Natasha (Ever Anderson) and her younger sister, Yelena (Violet McGraw). We meet them during carefree, girlish play in suburban Ohio, watched lovingly by mom Melina (Rachel Weisz). But this illusion of white-picket-fence ordinariness is shattered when dad Alexei (David Harbour) arrives home, clearly agitated.

 

And we’re suddenly plunged into a Marvel Universe riff on TV’s The Americans.

 

Melina and Alexei are Russian spies, having lived in Ohio as “deep cover” operatives for three years. The latter has just completed their mission, and they must leave now-now-NOW, in order to evade the U.S. government agents hot on his heels. Natasha, old enough to know she prefers their current surroundings to her earlier life in Russia, is horrified to the point of tears; Yelena is too young to have a point of reference.

 

Both young actresses are terrific: particularly Anderson, whose performance — when this prologue hits its climax — is heartbreaking.

 

(Kudos also to the effects team that so convincingly — and spookily — “youthified” Weisz and Harbour.)

No Sudden Move: Suspensefully riveting

No Sudden Move (2021) • View trailer

Four stars (out of five). Rated R, for profanity, violence and sexual candor

Available via: HBO Max

By Derrick Bang

Fans of slow-burn crime thrillers will love this one.

 

Scripter Ed Solomon’s noir-ish saga is given precisely the right look and atmosphere by director Steven Soderbergh and production designer Hannah Beachler. The post-WWII Detroit setting emphasizes the deplorable racial divide between cozy white neighborhoods and decaying inner-city Black districts, and the wary mistrust this prompts from both sides.

 

Having maneuvered their way up the conspiratorial food chain, Ronald (Benicio Del Toro,
left) and Curt (Don Cheadle) are startled by where they've suddenly wound up.

Soderbergh’s camera glides languidly along both sets of streets, as if perched atop a slow-moving vehicle; he frequently employs a fish-eyed lens, which distorts the image at both edges. This adds to the unsettling, overall sense of disorientation experienced by our fish-out-of-water protagonists. (As he has done before, Soderbergh “hides” behind the pseudonym “Peter Andrews,” when he handles his own cinematography.)

The year is 1954. Curt Goynes (Don Cheadle), recently released from prison, is offered a job by shady go-between Jones (Brendan Fraser). It sounds simple enough: babysit the family of low-level General Motors executive Matt Wertz (David Harbour) for a couple of hours.

 

“Babysit,” meaning “guard at gunpoint while something goes down elsewhere.”

 

Jones also recruits Ronald Russo (Benicio Del Toro), similarly down on his luck, who isn’t wild about sharing a job with, ah, someone of color. (Cheadle’s dry amusement, when the two men share the back seat of Jones’ car, is priceless.) The little gang is augmented further by Charley Barnes (Kieran Culkin), who outlines the plan.

 

Charley will “escort” Matt to his office, to retrieve a document from a certain safe. Curt and Ronald will keep Matt’s family at home: wife Mary (Amy Seimetz) and their two children, Matthew Jr. (Noah Jupe) and Peggy (Lucy Holt). The three criminals will remain masked the entire time; if everybody cooperates, everybody lives.

 

The raw intensity of the early morning home invasion is palpable, as Mary and her children are startled by the sudden appearance of these three menacing intruders. Curt’s calming words do little to ease the atmosphere of terror; Seimetz’s performance is sublime, as the terrified Mary — and we — expect something awful to happen, at any moment.

 

Blue Miracle: A heart-warming catch

Blue Miracle (2021) • View trailer

3.5 stars (out of five). Rated PG-13, for brief violence and mild dramatic intensity

Available via: Netflix

By Derrick Bang

As the years pass, I realize that the world is laden with real-life inspirational sagas, just waiting to be found. And shared.

 

While Geco (Anthony Gonzalez, far left) and Omar (Jimmy Gonzalez, far right) watch
apprehensively, Malloy (Dennis Quaid) hastily shows Moco (Miguel Angel Garcia) how
to hold the pole and "play" the line, while trying to land the marlin that has just been hooked.

This is another profoundly uplifting one. Pair it with Dream Horse, and you’ve got a sensational double-feature.

Director/co-scripter Julio Quintana’s Blue Miracle is aptly titled, given its depiction of actual events that only can be described as miraculous. Granted, we know where this story is going — otherwise, the movie certainly wouldn’t exist — but that doesn’t minimize the heartwarming journey.

 

The time is late summer 2014, the setting the Casa Hogar Orphanage in Cabo San Lucas, which houses roughly 40 orphans and runaway boys who’d otherwise be living rough — and likely dying — on the streets. The place is managed by dedicated “foster parents” Omar and Becca Venegas (Jimmy Gonzales and Fernanda Urrejola), who’ve relied on donations to maintain their six-year-old operation.

 

The place is rowdy and humble, but the atmosphere is warm and caring. Omar insists that the boys call him “Papa Omar,” and most are cheerfully willing to oblige. Becca, in turn, works miracles with three shoestring-budget meals each day.

 

But funds and donations have evaporated, and Omar has been dodging calls from the bank; foreclosure seems imminent, which is beyond horrifying. What will happen to all the boys?

 

Adding insult to injury, Hurricane Odile abruptly changes course and slams into Mexico’s southern Baja California peninsula, flooding and severely damaging the orphanage. Now needing additional money for repairs, the situation appears hopeless.

 

On an entirely different scale, the hurricane has depleted entries for the annual three-day, big-money Bisbee’s Black & Blue Marlin Tournament, which has taken place in Cabo every October since 1981. More than 150 teams usually pay $5,000 to enter what is regarded as one of the world’s most prestigious sport fishing competitions, with winners angling for millions in prize money.

 

(Although Quintana and co-writer Chris Dowling don’t take anything approaching a strident tone regarding the disparity between the cash-strapped Casa Hogar Orphanage, and the obscenely wealthy international visitors who arrive with their luxurious sport fishing boats, the contrast is impossible to miss.)

The Tomorrow War: Today's thrills

The Tomorrow War (2021) • View trailer

Four stars (out of five). Rated PG-13, for relentless sci-fi action and violence, and brief profanity

Available via: Amazon Prime

By Derrick Bang

This certainly is the best argument I’ve heard, for accelerating our finding a way to reverse the effects of climate change.

 

Dan (Chris Pratt, second from left), Dorian (Edwin Hodge, second from right) and Charlie
(Sam Richardson, far right) cautiously make their way toward the building that
contains an upper-floor lab, where a team of scientists awaits rescue.

Director Chris McKay’s slam-bang sci-fi epic is a suspenseful blend of 1996’s Independence Day and 1997’s Starship Troopers, with a cool time travel element added. Zach Dean’s original script balances edge-of-the-seat battle thrills with a well-cast roster of appealing characters who — in between breathtaking skirmishes — enjoy welcome opportunities for emotional development.

The plot chugs along in a series of distinct acts, each ramping up the tension while cleverly leading to the next. The entertaining result is thoroughly satisfying in a way that eluded soulless, world-shattering misfires such as Godzilla vs. Kong, Terminator: Dark Fate and Pacific Rim: Uprising.

 

Dan Forester (Chris Pratt), his wife Emmy (Betty Gilpin) and their adorable young daughter Muri (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) are hosting a World Cup soccer party, when the televised game is abruptly interrupted — in impressively dramatic fashion — by a squad of time-traveling soldiers who appear on the field. Taking advantage of the international viewing audience, they announce that they’re from the year 2051, when the entire human race is losing a global war against a terrifying alien species.

 

Our only hope lies with a most unusual conscription: transporting thousands of citizens from the present, forward in time, to join the battle. United in spirit against this common enemy, all the nations of the world participate.

 

For awhile.

 

But as months pass, and the horrific attrition rate gets progressively worse, international cooperation evaporates amid a grinding sense of helpless resignation. (Dean definitely has a bead on the uglier, selfish side of human nature.)

 

Forester, meanwhile, has his own long-simmering problems. He’s a reluctant high school science teacher dismayed by his inability to secure a more prestigious job; an Army Special Operations Command veteran with lingering traces of PTSD; and is burdened by serious rage issues involving his long-estranged father, James (J.K. Simmons). All of this has strained his marriage, which Muri morosely senses.

 

The family anxiety worsens when Dan’s draft number comes up.

 

Boss Baby: Family Business — Nonstop hilarity

Boss Baby: Family Business (2021) • View trailer

3.5 stars (out of five). Rated PG, for mild rude humor

Available via: Movie theaters and Peacock

By Derrick Bang • Published in The Davis Enterprise, 7.2.21

Hang on a moment; I need to catch my breath.

 

(Whew!)

 

Tim is astonished to discover that his infant daughter Tina actually is a clandestine
operative from Baby Corp, sent to recruit him for a super-secret mission.

Calling the momentum of this animated sequel “brisk” doesn't do it justice; director Tom McGrath’s hilarious romp is mega-prestissimo. This is blink-and-you-miss-stuff pacing.

McGrath took the same approach when he helmed 2017’s Boss Baby, so we shouldn’t be surprised; that said, this one feels even more frantic … which isn’t always a good thing. Michael McCullers’ script stumbles a bit out of the gate; the initial 15 to 20 minutes are too randomly chaotic, as if the story has trouble deciding which direction to take.

 

This sequel also assumes intimate knowledge of its predecessor. Viewers starting here will be overwhelmed by the preliminary information dump, along with the workings — and gadgets — of BabyCorp, the clandestine organization that carefully monitors the health of the “pie chart of love” between all the world’s parents and their children.

 

(Just in passing, I’ve always argued that a sequel should stand on its own; failure to do so suggests filmmaking arrogance.)  

 

The ride smoothes out once the core plot is established, and the feverish velocity feels more in service of the action, and less an affectation for its own sake.

 

Many years have passed. Tim (voiced by James Marsden) and his younger brother Ted (Alec Baldwin) have become adults, and drifted away from each other. Tim and his wife Carol (Eva Longoria) have two young daughters: Tabitha (Ariana Greenblatt), a whip-smart 7-year-old; and newly arrived infant Tina (Amy Sedaris).

 

Ted, the former “boss baby,” has put his business savvy to excellent use, and become a successful hedge fund CEO. He acknowledges all birthdays and important holidays with piles of lavish gifts, but rarely visits; he’s always “too busy.” This is particularly distressing for Tabitha, who idolizes her rarely seen uncle, and hopes to become just like him.

 

This worries Tim — still very much in touch with his childhood imagination — who fears that his elder daughter works too hard, and is missing out on childhood joys. Indeed, she’s top of her class at the prestigious Acorn Center for Advanced Childhood, which seems to be molding her into an obsessed Renaissance scholar.

Skater Girl: Rolls with style

Skater Girl (2021) • View trailer

3.5 stars (out of five). Rated PG, for no particular reason

Available via: Netflix

By Derrick Bang

Coming-of-age sagas aren’t always about surviving adolescence or the angst-laden teen years; sometimes the focus concerns finding one’s bliss.

 

Although initially frightened by this new "toy," Prerna (Rachel
Saanchita Gupta) soon becomes infatuated with her skateboard,
thanks to help from her little brother Ankush (Shafin Patel).

Director/co-writer Manjari Makijany’s Skater Girl is a sweet, heartfelt study of the uncomfortable clashes between expectation and desire, between tradition and disruption.

Teenage Prerna (Rachel Saanchita Gupta, in a deeply touching acting debut) lives a grinding, joyless life in a remote village in Rajasthan, India. Her expression, her very bearing, is resigned and withdrawn. Smiles are infrequent; she’s old enough to realize that her future holds little — if anything — beyond an arranged marriage and then remaining within this same poverty-laden community.

 

The one bright spark is her mischievous little brother, Ankush (Shafin Patel), whose effervescence is impossible to ignore. He can draw a rare grin from Prerna, because he isn’t old enough to understand the notion of limitations. Indeed, he’s puzzled by the fact that he shouldn’t mix with the upper-class students at his school.

 

The dynamic shifts with the arrival of Jessica (Amy Maghera), a London-bred advertising exec who wants to learn more about her late father’s childhood. All the children find her a fascinating novelty; their parents regard her with wary suspicion. Jessica is charmed (as are we) by the resourcefulness with which these children fabricate playthings from scrap material, particularly in the case of Ankush’s rudimentary skateboard.

 

Jessica, trying hard to tread carefully, is relieved by the unexpected arrival of Erick (Jonathan Readwin), an unabashed free spirit who literally cruises into the village on a skateboard. A real skateboard.

 

The children — particularly Ankush — are goggle-eyed.

 

Even Prerna is curious.

 

Jessica, sensing a means to curry favor, arranges for several cartons of skateboards and parts to be delivered to the village. Although the kids are overjoyed, their infatuation with this new sport becomes all-encompassing, to the detriment of everything else. This does not endear Jessica and Erick to the older villagers: particularly the local schoolmaster, whose classroom suddenly is mostly empty.

 

Some sort of (ahem) balance becomes necessary.

 

At the same time, Prerna’s growing interest worries and annoys her father, Ramkesh (Ambarish Saxena), who bitingly asks, “Why are you playing with things meant for boys?”