Film Name: 皮皮鲁与鲁西西之罐头小人 / Little Canned Men
I saw Little Canned Men on demand back in August, and made a point of waiting until it was officially released on the Fourth of July to talk more about it. Admittedly, it’s a pretty good live-action children’s movie that both kids and adults can watch, but the experience will be different.
Director Yu Fei’s film has a high threshold for viewing, so if you can’t get into it or get emotionally involved, it will seem boring; but at the same time, I think the threshold for viewing this movie is also very low, because as long as you have a child’s heart, you won’t be indifferent to it.
As usual, I’ll start by talking about the “hardware” level of the movie.
Little Canned Men” is still very attentive in terms of costumes and so on, and it mainly takes care of the sentimental memories of the ‘big kids’ from the 80s to the 90s – you don’t have to go to special memories, but you can just count a whole bunch of ‘icons of the era’. A large number of “era icon” to: the table of the press type kettle, 7-shaped wooden window pins, Huarong Road chess, watermelon eraser, big white rabbit milk candy, game machine cassette …… just these specific elements of the era, it is enough to pull the audience of a little bit of age are back to childhood.
Compared to this, children who are still young/young nowadays will have less empathy for the elements in the film. The school uniforms are indeed more in line with current design and aesthetics, but the children in Tesseract Primary School don’t have to go to tuition classes after school, so this point definitely lacks empathy. ……
Fortunately, the school’s “achievement-oriented” culture hasn’t fundamentally changed in the past few decades, and both older and younger children who have been to school will be able to relate to it. With this in mind, Little Canned Men has captured the maximum number of viewers who can empathize with it.
Which brings us to the bigger question: how well does the movie tell its story?
The story is based on a classic fairy tale, but a good story and a good screenplay are not the same concept at all. Director Yu Fei, who is also the screenwriter, made drastic changes in the adaptation, designed the characters with precision, and chose the safest, most reasonable and effective route: highlighting the joys, troubles and beauty of childhood.
I’m afraid that the movie’s focus on Lucius has this deeper meaning. Compared to the mischievous and rebellious Pippilu, the obedient Lucius also generates privacy, which is better able to show the self-awareness that everyone awakens during childhood.
Ask yourself: how does a child behave when he or she has a secret? In addition to covering it up and trying not to let others know about it, they will also often spend their energy for it, and even fantasize about what kind of joy and superpowers this secret can bring to them.
The movie has added a lot of exciting plot compared to the original film, and one of the more typical scenes is the little climax of Lucius’ exam.
The surface fun of this climactic scene lies in the children and young people, through notes, wires, corners, fans and other props to complete the “impossible task”, and its deep pleasure, from the fantasy come true excitement and pleasure.
In essence, it is the unquenchable desire and longing of your heart ……
In addition to the fantasy part, the reality part of Little Canned Men can also hit the hearts of big and small children, and I personally think that Lucius’s change of heart and the children’s rebellion are the most representative.
Of course, the relationship between adults and children should not be hostile, but in reality, it is often a conflict, the movie did not avoid the corresponding objective reality, but to give the children enough understanding, they have not yet learned to smooth, always can not help but to contradict the unfairness – you and I have had a childhood, we should be able to understand.
Seeing this, I admire more and more the director’s subtlety and sincerity, in fact, looking at the whole film, the storytelling is not much ups and downs, silk, but the movie has always accurately grasp the psychology and position of childhood, retaining the due level-headedness and respect, did not try to do what dry didactic.
As for certain “principle” issues, there is also no need to worry, the children no longer hope to cheat, but through learning to actually improve their grades, and finally the whole climax of the school fire escape scene, also a new plot of the movie, but also highlight the importance of learning to use, the self-confidence of the natural talent, as well as the preciousness of friendship and courage.
I can say that Little Canned Men is a great children’s movie, but I have to admit that it won’t be able to reach all audiences: some younger children who are not old enough or have different experiences won’t be able to empathize with it enough, and some older adults who have completely abandoned or denied the mentality of childhood won’t be able to take it seriously.
But that’s why I believe that Little Canned Men will find favor with many viewers.
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