Beasts of the Southern Wild Review

3 Stars

In a small shrimping bayou town known as The Bathtub, Beasts of the Southern Wild is the story of six year old Hushpuppy who is "raised" by her wildman of a father named Wink.  Her mother is not in the picture and she is more often left in the company of various wild beasts of the bayou rather than family.  At six years old, Hushpuppy believes that life in the bayou and in the universe is fragile and depends on everything fitting together perfectly.  Her world, and the world around her is rocked when Wink contracts a mysterious disease the same time global warming results in melting ice caps and the unleashing of prehistoric beasts.  A storm nearly destroys The Bathtub and Hushpuppy and Wink manage to survive.  Hushpuppy can't bear to watch her dying father so she sets out to find her estranged mother, learning about herself and the real world in the process.

I've been teetering on the fence about giving this 2.5 or 3 stars.   It was a decent movie.  The preview and the plot synopsis were a little misleading.  I was lead to believe that the father was more physically non-existent in young Hushpuppy's life.  The truth is, Wink raised her the best he could, preparing her to be a strong, independent woman who doesn't need to rely on anyone for anything.  Ironically, this completely contradicts Hushpuppy's view on life which is everything fitting together perfectly to keep the fragile universe working properly.  And anything that is done wrong, must be undone to set things in proper motion again.  The preview made it seem like this story would be more of a survival adventure weathering the storm and the aftermath; abandoning her ailing father in search of her estranged mother; epic prehistoric beasts on the loose.  Actually the storm sequence was over pretty quickly, the aftermath was pretty much life as usual in The Bathtub for those who chose to stay behind, she didn't abandon her father but came to understand and accept he wasn't fit to take care of her, the search for her mother lasted all of ten minutes and ended with a weird bayou brothel scene, and the prehistoric beasts were nothing more than a metaphor for those who lived in The Bathtub.

All that made me want to give 2.5 stars, but I bumped it up for the great performance of Quvenzhané Wallis definitely deserves recognition for her role as Hushpuppy.  Oscar worthy?  That may be a little stretch, but only a little.  She was great.  And I also give kudos to young director Benh Zeitlin for getting that performance out of Wallis.  Look for more great things from these two in the future.  So officially, Beasts of the Southern Wild gets 3 stars.  Worth catching a matinee or renting, but most likely won't be making my home collection.  So what movie will be on my mind next?  We shall see.

Beasts of the Southern Wild Preview

In a small shrimping bayou town known as The Bathtub, Beasts of the Southern Wild is the story of six year old Hushpuppy who is "raised" by her wildman of a father named Wink.  Her mother is not in the picture and she is more often left in the company of various wild beasts of the bayou rather than family.  At six years old, Hushpuppy believes that life in the bayou and in the universe is fragile and depends on everything fitting together perfectly.  Her world, and the world around her is rocked when Wink contracts a mysterious disease the same time global warming results in melting ice caps and the unleashing of prehistoric beasts.  A storm nearly destroys The Bathtub and Hushpuppy and Wink manage to survive.  Hushpuppy can't bear to watch her dying father so she sets out to find her estranged mother, learning about herself and the real world in the process.

Beasts of the Southern Wild stars Quvenzhané Wallis in the principle role of six year old Hushpuppy.  It's always tough when the main character is so young to predict how the movie will pan out.  This is her first credited role, so there's nothing to reference.  And this may sound harsh, but the temptation as a critic (and as a movie goer in general) is to somewhat lower your standards if the performance isn't perfect by saying, "Well, she's only six".  The "grown-ups" don't get that leeway and in fact are held up to the standards of DeNiro, Hanks, Streep and Close when the notion of Oscar is brought up.  So what about the director? This is only Benh Zeitlin's fourth credited title as a director and only his first full-length feature film.  Again, not much help in trying to figure out what to expect from Beasts of the Southern Wild.

I'm not sure if it's a good thing or bad for Beasts that I just watched Life of Pi which is also about a youngster facing tragedy with wild beasts all fending for their lives and learning about themselves and the world at the same time.  The problem is that Ang Lee created so many picturesque scenes in Pi that were just jaw-droppingly beautiful, it's hard not to compare that to Beasts of the Southern Wild.  And judging on that aspect alone, Beasts pales in comparison from the preview.  Again, it looks like a good, heart-warming story, but I'm skeptical of a six year old carrying the movie on her shoulders.  I'm predicting a great first effort by many involved in this movie, but we'll see if it lives up to the Oscar hype surrounding it.  I'm predicting 3 stars, but I'm hoping for more.  Am I right?  We shall see.