Review of Machotaildrop (2009) by Magill F — 02 Apr 2010

Even though I saw this movie two days ago, I still can't decide what I think of it. "Machotaildrop" is exactly what you would get if you told Wes Anderson to remake "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", except instead of chocolate and candies, the factory makes skateboards, and you only gave Anderson $100,000 to make it with.

That's not an exaggeration or an embellishment in any way, either - this movie really is the Wes Anderson equivalent of a skateboarding Willy Wonka film. And y'know, it could just be brilliance.

There are moments of total genius, such as the gang of skateboarding nomads known as the MANWOLFS who live in an abandoned amusement park, or the mysterious anesthetic music labelled only as "Frequency #62".

But because the quirky characters, pastel colours, music selection, and block text are all so very close in style to Wes Anderson's, this film could also be accused of being entirely derivative and quirky just for the sake of being quirky.

It's really tough call, and I don't think I'll be able to truly decide until I hear more about the production of the film. This could very easily be a case of someone asking a young, ingenious, visionary filmmaker - the next Terry Gilliam - to make a skateboarding movie, and said filmmaker creating this low-budget insanity with a bit of skateboarding thrown in to please the backers.

And if that's the case, then this gets four stars - all the way. Whatever the case may be, however, James Faulkner's turn as the Baron is terrific.