![]() ![]() However, one of the movie’s best motifs is Kelly’s A Beautiful Mind-esque cognitive problem-solving. ![]() So it’s too bad that the special effects lean more toward CGI than practical the Grand Guignol’s cadre of “toadies” (toad-like cronies), for example, would have been far more effective as puppets, instead just mere digital distractions. You half expect Olmec from Legends of the Hidden Temple to speak up, or for someone to get slimed at a crucial moment. This has the effect of making every scene that takes place in them, from the movie’s riff on a James Bond gizmo tutorial with Q (here, a teddy bear smoke grenade) to the nightmarish final showdown, have the feel of a racing-clock obstacle course. The sets (both the babysitters’ HQ and the Grand Guignol’s lair) resemble old-school Nickelodeon game shows, tending toward loudly cartoonish instead of subtly scary. So it’s not as if Felton is doing it for a recognizable career shift, like Henry Melling’s recent villainous turn in Netflix’s The Old Guard, nor is it a scene-stealing oddball performance on par with Daniel Radcliffe’s post- Potter roles. By contrast, the Grand Guignol is wreathed in so much dirt and makeup that it’s difficult to recognize the actor underneath. Yet Felton simultaneously lacks David Bowie’s strangely pristine magnetism. Lurking in closets and crooning ominous lullabies, he briefly conjures Labyrinth’s Jareth the Goblin King, who has a penchant for kidnapping. Liz and Kelly’s interactions are paint-by-numbers “old pro teaches newbie the ropes,” and it lacks any surprise.īut the most curious bit of casting involves Harry Potter alum Felton as the Grand Guignol. This is a kids’ level of scary movie, but the order of the babysitters deals in the same thematic issues of not being believed-here in regards to a monster under the bed.Īmong the grizzled adolescent veterans of the babysitter/monster wars is Liz LeRue (Oona Laurence), a post-apocalyptic-looking warrior with a baby strapped to her back, and a chip on her shoulder in the form of her missing brother. One can’t help but wonder if that is a nod to horror’s tendency to dismiss or outright ignore the fears and warnings of girls and women. In fact, the order of babysitters reflects a wide range of backgrounds and mostly skews female. Originally a white girl, Kelly is now Black (allowing Smart to utilize her skills much better than last year’s Are You Afraid of the Dark? reboot did). In adapting his own books (the first of which was published in 2017), Ballarini wisely revisits the diversity of the main cast. Shadow monsters aside, this could have taken place any old night. Yet for a Halloween movie, A Babysitter’s Guide doesn’t take enough advantage of the holiday’s invitation for mischief and mayhem, let alone costumes and alter egos. For here it also means ensuring that boogeymen like the Grand Guignol (Tom Felton) don’t conjure creatures out of children’s nightmares to wreak havoc on the waking world. It shows promise in depicting a world where babysitters’ responsibilities extend beyond enforcing bedtime. Unfortunately when left to its own merits, the movie doesn’t rise to the level of any of these classics. Based on the book trilogy by Joe Ballarani, which blends the hijinks of Adventures in Babysitting with the thrills of Are You Afraid of the Dark?, the inaugural installment also feels like it pays equal homage to Labyrinth and Hocus Pocus. Netflix’s kids’ movie is a clear attempt to kick-start a franchise. But when that adorable child gets snatched by the same otherworldly creature that once haunted Kelly, the hapless caretaker is thrown into a secret underworld and gets her first lesson in A Babysitter’s Guide to Monster Hunting. Zellman (Tamsen McDonough) and her problem child Jacob (Ian Ho). It’s useful, then, that her mother (Crystal Balint) promised Kelly’s babysitting services to her ice queen boss Ms. It’s Halloween night, and the thing that most terrifies teenage misfit Kelly Ferguson (Tamara Smart) is making it through the popular kids’ party without being called “Monster Girl.” After the ill-advised choice to tell her peers about a traumatic incident of almost getting snatched by a monster as a child, the unfortunate nickname has stuck and tanked all hope of ever joining the in-crowd.
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