Review of Cabin Boy (1994) by Jonny 9 — 22 Mar 2011

I'll try to make this as brief as I can since the film itself felt just as so.

A fancy lad named Nathanial graduates from school and instead of embarking on the Queen Catherine which is bound for Hawaii for where his father be he accidentally takes a wrong turn and boards The Filthy Whore. It's crew consist of 5, 6 if you count Nathanial. Each one is crusty, loud, smelly and they hate Nathanial's annoying pleads to drop him off in Hawaii. He convinces, I think, the captain's son to charter a course to Hawaii while the other drunken buffoons are asleep.

It doesn't work out well. The ship has to pass through Hell's Bucket before it can reach it's destination. While stuck in Hell's Bucket they have to put up with a half man half shark, a frozen creature, raging storms and a gigantically anger salesman who tries to kill Nathanial after he slept with his six armed wife.

There's also a love interest named Trina who is swimming across the ocean. Lots of great sets and effects are used in this film giving it a bizarrely surreal feel which got me to stay and watch it until the end. It's very pretty to look at, but the film's screenplay doesn't make much sense and as a comedy it's hardly hilarious. It's far from it. I may have grinned a few times especially with the cupcake spitting tobacco into Nathanial's face, but the rest is like watching a dead fish.

In short, a forgotten Tim Burton production that is more memorable for it's bizarre antics and sets than it is for it's characters and story.