Uncle Buck

Original Movie Poster

Well here we are again with yet another look back at films from my childhood and of course we are right in the middle of looking at the films that were a little above the normal Disney animated canon and franchise based kid films that other kids my age were watching. I think because my parents had no restrictions or reservations when it came to movies as long as an adult was with me (mostly my dad or both parents) I could watch any movie they did (unless of course they just wanted to go out and see a movie together which I remember they did quite a couple of times). I don't really remember when I first saw Uncle Buck but I do believe that it was probably with my dad mostly because I believe this movie was more in his taste than my mother's because my father was a very funny man not unlike the late John Candy except my father looked more like Tom Selleck (but more on that some other time...)

Imagine Tom Selleck + this suit and face = my late father!

So...What's The Plot?
The Russell Family seem like average suburbanites moved from Indianapolis to Chicago, just one average neighborhood to another with two little kids, son Miles and daughter Maizy, and of course one sullen teenage daughter Tia. Moved away from her friends, Tia takes a lot of teenage angst out on her mother Cindy and it comes to a head when Cindy's father has a heart attack. With no one to look after the kids, Father Bob suggests that perhaps his brother Buck could help out during this time of family emergency but Cindy is none to thrilled with the idea. Buck is an unemployed gambler but he is a fun-loving goof who only seems to really suffer one flaw in having commitment issues with his girlfriend Chanice.

Buck arrives and of course hits it off with the younger children but now he gets to suffer the brunt of Tia's teenaged animosity. Unlike her mother, Buck dishes out just as much sarcasm and snark that leaves Tia to continually push his buttons in a battle of wills. Buck only seems to face one real problem with Tia: trying to keep her away from her punk boyfriend Bug who only wants to use her for sex. All hilarity comes to a stop when Tia leaves for a party and her Uncle Buck must finally face real responsibility for the first time to make sure she doesn't get hurt and her heartbroken. Will this be the thing to finally make Uncle Buck grow up and change all his ways?

Let's hope Buck keeps up the bowling...it's fun!

I know it doesn't seem like much and even what I described of the plot doesn't sound much like a comedy but if you have never seen Uncle Buck...to tell you anymore would surely spoil it for you. For those who have had the privilege to view this movie, you know just how hilarious Uncle Buck can get and what a great film this truly is. Now I don't really think there is an official soundtrack for Uncle Buck but the predominant amount of music that you here in the film is by that great nostalgic artist of the late 80s-early 90s Young MC who's biggest hit ever is "Bust A Move" which so dates how 80s this film is. Another musical tidbit that pops up a few times is Tone Loc's version of "Wild Thing" or more correctly an instrumental version that kind of serves as Uncle Buck's own personal theme which must be seen or heard to believe. A couple of other musical selections are some Perry Como in a bowling alley scene, the song "Laugh, Laugh" by The Beau Brummels which is one of my favorite little oldies that my mom would listen to on the radio in the car and a very cute scene which uses The Chordettes classic "Mr. Sandman" which today would probably creep kids out seeing as it's mostly used in horror films (for some reason I know not why...)

Coming to the acting portion we'll start with one big name and then end with another as we discuss what I think of the cast. First, Macaulay Culkin as Miles is just a big bag of hilarious cuteness! Watching this film which was his first major movie role at age nine, you could tell Macaulay was going to be star because not only was he cute and funny but he didn't really have to act like a kid considering he was a real child. The things I noticed with child actors is that they really either act too grown up or they seem really wooden in their delivery and Macaulay Culkin never seemed to do that. Since I was six when Uncle Buck came out, I must admit that I was kind of crushing on Macaulay Culkin which for me it is very rare since given my history I usually go for the older, foreign-accented type but he was adorable. I think the crush waned after I saw The Good Son and slightly returned when Richie Rich came out and has now all but vanished but my admiration of Macaulay Culkin's acting is still intact (ah the day I talk about the movie I truly love him in seems so far away...)

My next favorite character in the film is Tia so let's talk about her and the actress that plays her Jean Louisa Kelly. I think I love Tia because of course she gets as much focus as Uncle Buck and like the character of Miles ends up stealing a bit of the movie's focus because since Kelly was seventeen when the movie was made she can actually relate to being a teenager which doesn't make the acting a stretch. Today most people know Jean as Kim from the show Yes, Dear but did you know that she got her start as a theater actress and even starred on Broadway in a production of Stephen Sondheim's Into The Woods? Jean Louisa Kelly has a beautiful singing voice and there is evidence of that if you ever get to see Mr. Holland's Opus on TV sometime which caused me to do a double take because I mostly remembered her from Uncle Buck!

Jay Underwood as Bug with Jean Louisa Kelly as Tia

 I thought I would talk about Maizy and Chanice next because the actors who played them in Uncle Buck, Gaby Hoffmann and Amy Madigan respectively, both starred in the film Field Of Dreams a few months before this film was made. In that movie they were daughter and mother but here they get very little screen time together (spoiler) and the characters aren't related but they are both my next favorite characters in the film. Gaby was seven when she starred in this movie so like Macaulay as Miles she had a cute factor and six year old me thought we could be best friends so as she grew up into more mature roles being the same age as me I begin to appreciate her acting. I absolutely love Amy Madigan as Chanice because she can stand up to Buck for all the bull and bunk he gives her but even Chanice can fall to Buck's fun and witty charm and of course Madigan herself is a great actress who can do drama and comedy on an even playing field.

Amy Madigan as Chanice with young Macaulay and Gaby

The actors who play the Russell parents, Bob and Cindy, don't really get a lot of screen time so I don't really think they are important enough to talk about so the only other actors in the film to discuss are two semi-important characters. There of course is Tia's boyfriend Bug played by Jay Underwood who was memorable in the 80s in films such as Not Quite Human and the nostalgic classic The Boy Who Could Fly. He's an okay actor and quite cute in that jerk kind of way and he's probably as close to an antagonist character as we get. Another notable actor playing a kind of important character is Laurie Metcalf who almost everyone knows as Aunt Jackie from Roseanne. In Uncle Buck she plays a neighbor of the Russell family named Marcy Dahlgren-Frost who kind of develops a crush on Buck and since she is a divorced, upper class housewife she's more into country clubs than bake sales. Metcalf has been nominated for Tony Awards and has won three Emmys for her work on Roseanne so its clear she is a good actress and I have to admit I wish she had more scenes because when she plays off John Candy's Uncle Buck it's hilarious!

To make up for not enough video spoilers here's John Candy harassing a clown...

So of course we leave the best and biggest role for last as we talk about John Candy as Uncle Buck. I just love Uncle Buck and thought it was one of the late Mr. Candy's greatest comedic roles if not the greatest but there are so many films he is in that I love we could be here all day talking about him. Speaking of Candy himself as an actor he was one of the greatest that had to be taken too soon even though its been noted that obesity plagued him most of his life and might have been one of the reasons for his heart attack that claimed his life. Besides his movie roles John Candy was apart of my childhood thanks in part to his animated series Camp Candy which I use to watch a lot as a child that in part made me appreciate his film acting and opened my world to this talented and funny man. We really miss you, John Candy, and all the laughter you brought to us and I think most of us would have been honored to have a father or an uncle like you or Uncle Buck in our lives.

John Candy... Rest In Peace, Sir

I hope I didn't get too sentimental on you and I don't want to leave this post on such a somber note when the movie is anything but. There is drama but ultimately Uncle Buck is a comedy classic of the 1980s and if you have yet to view this wonderful John Hughes directed film that is not a teen flick then I recommend it for your next Family Fun Night. For those of you who have seen Uncle Buck but have not watched it in a while... what are you waiting for? Go get your DVD or old VHS copy and prepare to relive the side-splitting laughs again and again!

NEXT TIME: You know how I was talking about horror movie sequels before? Well even my childhood wasn't immune to them! Did you know that one existed to one of the most memorable movies of all time? Yep...it's Grease 2 next blog...

The Polar Bear King

Welcome back followers and I am pretty sure most of you are female as I continue my lighter side of looking at films that I love but if you so happen to be a man I appreciate you sticking it out with me as I talk about today's film. Now I have tackled only one film so far based on a fairy tale and let's admit it was a little heavy-handed and not exactly kid-friendly (if you missed it you can check out my blog post on Snow White: A Tale Of Terror) but today's movie I am going to discuss is quite suitable for children...at least in my opinion. First of all you may ask is why does a 30 year old woman want to talk about fairy tales in the first place? Answer: I enjoy fairy tales because you can do so much with them. Fairy tales come from cultures all over the world and can be told in so many ways such as poetry, music, books, films, plays, ballets, art and other forms of media.

Let's face it we all grew up hearing them at bedtime, during school and most of us grew up watching Disney films based on fairy tales and as we get older we become parents and tell them to our children. For me personally as I have gotten older I have discovered that there are so many obscure fairy tales we never got to discover as children and The Polar Bear King is based on one of those. The plot of this little known movie is actually a mash up of two Norwegian fairy tales, East Of The Sun And West Of The Moon and the almost similar White Bear King Valemon, but also based on Greek mythology and a Scandinavian version basically of the French fairy tale Beauty And The Beast. A lot to take in I know so why don't I just explain the way I always do except since we are dealing with a fairy tale it goes a little more like this...

Once Upon A Plot...
In a kingdom where it is winter all year round, an old king has three daughters and his youngest is of course the prettiest and kindest mostly because her oldest sister is the meanest and her middle sister is well the middle child isn't she? Anyway, the youngest daughter is the heroine of our tale and she has been having dreams about a land where flowers grow and seeing the figure of a handsome prince moving through the trees...well we are meant to believe he is handsome because the princess can never really see the prince's face (this is a major plot point so hold onto your spoilers!). Fortunately for us, we get to see that the prince is indeed handsome since the place our winter princess is dreaming of is quite real: a land of constant summer where the king has died and now his son, Valemon, is its ruler. On the day of his father's death and his crowning as king, a witch who has been lusting after him offers Valemon the chance to rule by her side and when he refuses, she turns him into a polar bear and some what less than stellar 1990s puppetry and animatronics ensue!

Now the Polar Bear King (hence our title) must stay this way for seven years (wow that witch really must have been ticked off huh?) and in that span also find a wife who can look past the bear and love the man within. So naturally the princess finds our bear king and with one look can tell that this is the man she has been dreaming of and accepts from it a golden chain (given to the king by his mother just before he was turned into a bear) that pretty much works as a wedding ring. So leaving her winter wonderland behind, the princess travels to the bear king's kingdom and finds out that at night her husband can come to her as a man but she can never see his face. So whether you find it creepy or romantic, King Valemon and the princess have royal relations at night and though she never sees his face, she bears his royal heirs but every time the witch comes to steal them only for the newborn babies to be spirited away by the king's mother using her more kindly magic.

 Depressed over constantly losing her children, Valemon tells his bride to visit with her family after she receives a gift of enchanted snow (go with me here it's a fairy tale...) from her father which seems to give her strength. So the princess goes home and of course her sisters give her grief over being married to a bear and not seeing the face of the man who has fathered her children when he is no longer a wild animal. The oldest daughter gives her little sister a rather impressive lighter for an enchanted Scandinavian fairy tale land and tells her to finally discover whether she has been hooking up with a troll  even though it's clear from what we saw of the babies that they were perfectly human. Curiosity of course wins out and the princess soon discovers that disobeying her promise to Valemon has now put him in an even worse situation than being a bear for seven years and now she must do whatever it takes to free her husband from the evil witch...

That is as much of the plot as I can tell you without spoiling the whole film but since we are all intelligent people here you can pretty much come to the conclusion that there will be a happily ever after. The middle part of the story as to what the princess must do to save King Valemon from the witch is pretty much the only part that I will not tell you because the fairy tales of which The Polar Bear King are based have different plots concerning our heroine's journey and the way in which the ending of the tale concludes are just as different. I don't expect most of you to watch The Polar Bear King to try and find out unless you have kids or you are just curious but that doesn't mean you also can't get on the Internet or even go to the library or even find a bookseller to find out what happens. If I have done anything it's at least sparked your interest in reading up on obscure fairy tales or even in reading an actual book and that makes me proud because reading is actual quite fun ya know?

Back to The Polar Bear King as a film, if you aren't that into fairy tales you can at least sit back and enjoy the beautiful scenery of the movie. I'm not much of an outdoor person and certainly not a winter outdoor person but I do like to look at snow when its fresh and white before being trampled over and seeing how beautiful Norway looks in this film, I don't think I would mind it as much. One thing that might throw you off if you do watch The Polar Bear King is that the dialogue is completely dubbed over by American voices I believe if not by the actors themselves speaking English. Most of the actors in the film are Norwegian, Swedish, German or even combinations of the three so for American audiences of children to understand the story you could have it narrated completely (half of the story is actually narrated) but it's always nice to have fairy tales acted out.

Since I discovered this movie when I was about out of elementary school going into middle school, I don't mind the dubbing so much but to find a non-English version with English subtitles might be a nice find and bring out the true beauty of the tale. As an adult, I still love The Polar Bear King for the story and the cinematography but the witch and the "polar bear" are the only aspects that may make me a tad embarrassed.  The actress who plays the witch, Anna-Lotta Larsson, seems to be having a ball but because of the dubbing I don't know if it's really her voice spouting out those over-the-top lines of dialogue. Sometimes translating one language to another isn't easy so I can't tell if it's the Swedish-born Larsson speaking her lines in English making the translation sound so cheesy or if the English speaking actress dubbing over her lines is just over-acting because she's the villain.

The polar bear puppet which ironically was created by Jim Henson's Creature Shop may look okay to a child's eye but now as an adult I can tell how fake it looks with no offense to all things Henson I grew up with. Also when the "bear" speaks it can throw you off a little because it does have a gruff voice but again because of dubbing it might not be that bad in the original. The rest of the cast and their dubbed over performances are not as jarring to me and I actually think they translate well before I even knew this film was dubbed I always assumed they did sound that way. Actor Jack Fjeldstad who plays the princess' father was actually a well-celebrated and respected Norwegian actor and the actress who plays the heroine, Maria Bonnevie, is a Swedish theatrical actress. Bonnevie was only 18 when she made her movie debut in The Polar Bear King and she does look the part of a Nordic princess but not just a pretty face either in showing the strength behind her blonde locks as well.

The last character of note of course is King Valemon and the actor who plays him Tobias Hoesl, a German actor. I mention them both because well I feel sorry that we don't get to see more out of Tobias because well I admit he is quite handsome and sadly, that's all I can say about him. Most of the movie his face is shrouded in shadow because that's just how the story goes as well as being that his character is a bear most of the time. Since the film is dubbed, I can't judge Hoesl's vocal performance either but I seriously want to cling to the fact that maybe he did dub his own voice in English because the voice of King Valemon when he is human is perfect to a romantic like me.

So is The Polar Bear King an Oscar caliber high fantasy film? No but it is a good film to watch with your family because the story is simple to follow. It is beautifully filmed and the costumes are nice. It may not be appropriate for really young children and at times the acting may be over the top but you can blame it on bad dubbing or the story being lost in translation due to trying to decipher the script to English-speaking audiences. In my own personal opinion, The Polar Bear King gets high marks for taking on a less known fairy tale with a strong female hero and having her save the prince or in this case king for a change. In short do I feel silly for enjoying this movie and fairy tales in general? Answer: No not at all and maybe that is the real reason I love fairy tales because of the romance and fantasy because it appeals to me on a level that just refuses to grow up and throw away those rose-tinted glasses of childhood and The Polar Bear King is no exception.

 The Polar Bear King trailer (tiny spoilers)

NEXT TIME: Sticking with the fairy tale theme but going in a whole other direction a more musical one if you will involving The Slipper And The Rose