“Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day”, that’s one helluva long name for a movie title. Surely, there are better ways to work around it but upon realising that this is based on Judith Viorsy’s 1972 children’s book of the same name, the movie title stays. Is it a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad film? Well, we wouldn’t say it’s a VERY bad film but it is definitely a film with some cringe-worthy moments.
First, let’s talk about the bad parts of the film. Surprisingly, there weren’t any cringe-worthy moments up until the very last part. The ending is something you might be familiar with if you grew up watching most of the Disney’s films. It could’ve been a lot better instead of that typical cliché ending but really, what can you expect from a fun family film? The kids will love this film (that’s for sure) but for adults, meh, maybe not so much. Steve Carrell is probably the only person that kept us watching without falling asleep.
Ed Oxenbould did a pretty good job portraying the unfortunate Alexander Cooper. However, it would make a whole lot more sense if they showed us how Alexander was always very unfortunate on a daily basis. From our perspective, Alexander just came off as a spoiled brat who whines about a lot of things he should be grateful for.
Alas, it could’ve been the peer pressure from school that caused him to be socially aware and hence, the struggle to fit in. Can’t blame him for having bad days either; gum stuck in his hair, his face being photoshopped into a picture, the popular kid in school holding a birthday party on the same day as his birthday party, etc. It was a nightmare for him.
It does seems like Alexander lives in a completely different world as his family had best days of their lives instead. Alexander’s father, Ben (played by Steve Carrell) was about to get a job as video game designer while his mother (played by Jennifer Garner) was finally going to publish a children’s educational book. His siblings were blessed enough to get everything they wanted in their lives.
But, that was all about to change when Alexander made a birthday wish which turned into a curse for his family. What followed after was a series of unfortunate events that turned his family upside down. The Cooper’s family might need to take a page out of Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar” book because “anything that can go wrong, will go wrong”.
Yes, finally, Alexander’s misery found its company! The unfortunate events that happened to them did offer a good laugh for us because at least, it didn’t consist any of mean-spirited racist or mockery jokes that can be found in “Horrible Bosses 2“. However, the trailer sort of spoiled the whole experience of watching this film because the best parts of the film were seen in the trailer. We already knew what was going to happen to them and the ending was incredibly predictable.
Thus, we can’t help but feel a little disappointed that the ending offered nothing surprising at all. It beacame one of those movies that we won’t be able to remember unless someone showed us the trailer again.
On a positive note, the film was ultimately saved by the cast who tried their very best to portray their bright and lively characters. Despite his short cameo appearance, rapper Childish Gambino delivered a pretty good performance as a video game designer aka Ben’s future boss. Disney star Bella Thorne (can be seen next in”Amityville: The Awakening“) may not be the most likeable character, but it’s fun to see how Alexander’s older brother Anthony (played by Dylan Minnette) tried to please her all the time.
What do we think about this film? We say, give it a chance, because you might just realise that “you got to have bad days to love the good days even more”.
Watch the trailer here:
Directed by Miguel Arteta from a screenplay written by Rob Lieber, the American comedy film is slated for release on Dec 4, 2014.
For more information, visit the film’s official website and Facebook page.
