At the rate we’re going we could see a Who Framed Roger Rabbit remake in our lifetime. Hell, not only in our lifetime but probably before next Christmas. The cartoons are running the world. It really is like what happened in that Rabbit movie. Does this mean Christopher Lloyd will continue being weird? Probably. Who will voice the rabbit? Oh, silly, silly, humans. Russell Brand already has our souls.
Kids like movies, and parents need kids to be occupied for minimally two hours every weekend. Everyone wins! Or at least that’s what you think.
1) Rio — $40 Million
Apparently we like singing birds, or pelicans, or cockatoos, or whatever the big blue winged creatures are in this thing. Given Rio is the biggest weekend opener so far this year, I’m beginning to think there’s really no point to not being animated. If there isn’t a colorful, animated, talking animal making poop jokes and doing some sort of musical sing-a-long than this isn’t Toontown! Right? RIGHT? I’d like to think that the Black Eyed Peas doing their little rappa-lappa-ding-dong thing set to autotune and guttural monster sounds would annoy most of the viewing public, but apparently not. Apparently we enjoy birds saying things like “Drop it, drop it low.” Drop what low exactly? Do birds have badonkadunks? Are they rump shakers or club hoppers? Possibly. Oh what Walt Disney must be thinking when the animated world has gone from “Bippity Boppity Boo” to flailing bird asses. Is Rio about bird asses?
2) Scream 4 — $19.3 Million
Well, that’s not really a great number. But who cares, Wes Craven has successfully killed off more kids in a movie! Have we thought about this, really? How long has Wes Craven wanted to kill kids? It’s all a little strange, no? He really has a fixation with the slashing of the teens. Do people invite him into their homes? Or are they all like, “Um, no, Wes. We’d love to have you, but we, you know, have kids.” I would imagine this is like what Stephen King hears when he goes out anywhere. I’m sure it’s like, “Um, no, Stephen. My husband is a clown.” Work hazard, clearly. All in all, I guess it’s a bit of a boon that this movie is number two on the list, but $19 mil is a little low to really mark a movie a true success. Well, unless you’re David Arquette and you haven’t done the whole TV/movie thing in like forever while you watch your ex-wife hitting her stride on a pretty successful TV show co-starring her new boyfriend, a hunky guy who can swim in the ocean without a t-shirt. But you know, David, you can always have Wes Craven over for dinner, because, you’re not a kid.
3) Hop — $11.2 Million
Jesus Bunny Eggs! Well, they’re still popular, and rightfully so. Jesus Bunny Egg Day is literally right around the corner. I’m thinking this movie will hold out in the top five to at least get through the blessed event, because what else says religious glory than Russell Brand and jellybean poop? (The poop. See how it’s part of animation?) Who says Mr. gyrating crotch is a flash in the pan, and that he’ll never open a movie ever again? Clearly this Hop movie says otherwise. The kids and their parents obviously like his funny jokes all trussed up in snarky bunny clothes. He should do more of that then. No, no we don’t mean being himself in a movie while running around like an albino string bean. We mean he should just do animated voices. We like his British-y voice mumble don’t we? Well, I think that’s enough. Obviously we don’t actually need to have his body attached to say “Awww, how cute. He’s a cuddle wuddlekins.” Onward, then! Hop 2: The Jellybean Resurrection should be awesome.
4) Soul Surfer — $7.4 Million
This little movie about Christian surf angels is still trying to hold on. It didn’t rake in much over the weekend, but hey, at least it’s not Arthur. Not really sure what didn’t resonate with this movie. Seriously, James Franco has one of the most gruesome arm severing scenes in history and everyone just completely lost their brainbobbles over that whole thing. This girl gets her arm taken by a shark and everyone is kind of like meh? Like the shark should’ve had on a bib and used a steak knife, I guess. What’s it take to get a little awe around these parts? Yes, sure, maybe the religion angle wasn’t what some folks had in mind, but you would think more people would have gone out to support one-armed surfing, because, man, that’s kind of way cool. Instead, well, Wes Craven is out running around in a ghost mask terrorizing all sorts of Julia Roberts relatives. Or does Eric Roberts always look that way?
5) Hanna — $7.3 Million
Boring Eric Bana’s boring offspring was boring and impassive in this boring movie about a Kung Fu kid and all the surreally wacky crackpots she comes in contact with during her long, boring, running-for-forever movie. What was this thing even about? Was she a super-spy? A miracle child? Just what? At the end I still didn’t know, nor did I care. Cate Blanchett was there though, and even she was boring. I just don’t know. I would have liked there to have been something, just anything that made sense in Hanna. Mostly though it needed more story and less run-judo-chop-run and then that’s it. I’d much rather play the new Mortal Kombat game for PS3. Mortal Kombat= $59.99 and loads of fun. Hanna = $7.3 Million and loads of snoring loudly in the movie theater.
