Amy Adler
Jimmy (Tobey Maguire) is a teen still seething from his parents divorce. All too often he gets angry at school and, finally, he is suspended for confronting a teacher. His mother (Laraine Newman) loses patience and forces Jimmy to spend some time with his wealthy but uncaring dad. Now, Jimmy has lists of chores to do and nothing is ever good enough for his working-on-my-tan father. The only bright spot is the chance to see his grandfather (Mickey Rooney), a semi-invalid who bunks with his son. When they get some free time, G-pa and Jim fly the older man's prize possessions, two remote control airplanes. One of the flying machines is a WW I American vessel, the other, a replica of the Red Baron's plane. One day, sadly, Grandpa has a fall and ends up in the hospital. After this, strange events occur. The Red Baron plane begins to fly on its own, with a nasty mini-German pilot with an urge to kill. Jimmy has a few narrow misses and his dad sends him to counseling, refusing to believe his story. Then, Dad gets attacked in his own swimming pool and dies. Jimmy is blamed and jailed. But, at a tense moment, his mother comes to realize her son is telling the truth and breaks her son out of lockup to escape. Will they? Can anything stop this Chucky in the air? This horrible film is for absolutely nobody. Children should definitely not be allowed to see it and fans of horror films probably won't like it either. Rooney, who is still charming, must have been out of his mind to agree to star in it, and Maguire, Newman, and all of the others were likely temporarily insane, too. With a different approach, such as the Red Baron just making messes instead of murdering folks, it might have worked. But, no costumes, script, direction, actors, or anything else could save this bomb. The best revenge here is to steer far, far away from this disaster of a flick.
Wizard-8
Most actors do not start off their careers by appearing in lead roles in "A" movies. Usually they have to get whatever parts they can get, and that includes Tobey Maguire, who appeared in this Roger Corman production before he was famous. After watching this movie, I am sure that today he is very embarrassed by this early effort, especially when it was re-released on DVD with his name prominently plastered on the front of the DVD case.What went wrong with this movie? Plenty! First of all, while this movie is marketed towards a family audience, it is NOT appropriate for children. The first clue should be its PG-13 rating ("For some violence", according to the MPAA) This movie has some scenes of violence that will freak some kids out, like the protagonist's father being electrocuted to death, people shot and sporting bloody wounds, and much more. But the movie also earns its rating with plenty of foul language, with characters using words such as "s**t" and "a**hole".So the movie is not for kids. But it's also not for adults. There is not one likable character in the movie. Even the paramedics are shown to be nasty! Add terrible special effects, unconvincing acting, really stupid decisions by the characters, and no explanation as to how the protagonists lose their "wanted" status by the police at the end of the movie, and you have one terrible movie. It's not even so-bad-it's-good to watch.
Seth Alexander
Seriously, I threw up this movie was so bad. That has never happened to me before. This movie and the holocaust are god's biggest over sights. Watching porn with the good bits blurred out would most likely yield a better acted movie. I hope no one else has to ever see this movie because it really was a crime. The devil is the only thing that could create such a horrible thing is Al-Zarquawi but thank god he is dead now. The words i am about to use to describe this movie don't come close to describing the heinous crime that was committed by making this movie. THe words i was about to use are: Ugly, OH MY GOD MY EYES ARE BLEEDING AND MY FACE IS MELTING, I HAVE LOST ALL SANITY, YOUR KEEPING THE BABY,NO NOT HER!!!, That wasn't there when i went to sleep last night.
legal_action_org
Yesterday I saw this film on TV. The description (I have digital cable) said something along the lines of 'toy possessed by the spirit of the red baron stalks a family'. My thoughts: "Sounds odd, but I guess I can give it a whirl". What I wasn't prepared for though was that it was going to be one of the worst movies I have ever seen.The story: An old man (Mickey Rooney) who shot down the red baron years ago (and then built a toy airplane from the scraps of the 'barons' plane), and his family that he lives with begin to be attacked by said toy airplane after a big storm somehow magically transmits the 'barons' vengeful soul into said toy airplane.Yes, the concept is bad already, but the poor dialog, ultra cliché characters, overacting, poor special effects, and countless continuity errors strive to drive one thought into your head: "Why was this movie made"? For a "B" movie though, this does have its share of cheesy yet clever one-liners (mainly from the 'baron' as he needlessly slaughters many an innocent victim) that manage to evoke some pleasure from this film's viewing.This film has to have some of the most annoyingly cliché characters in the history of cinema. From the 'overly harsh' dad who doesn't make any time for his son, to the son (played by a young Tobey Maguire) who everyone else sees as 'troubled and untrustworthy', the the 'obnoxiously nosy' neighbor, to the 'fat cop' who is convinced 'the kid did it' even without a shred of real evidence, to the 'very rude' nurse and doctor. There are even a few more, but I think you get the idea. And with the exception of Maguire, Rooney, and Laraine Newman (the 'mom'), all of them make for some extremely unlikable characters.Special effects: strings. Yes, in almost every shot of the toy plane, you can see strings holding it up. Also, a few times the bullet holes in people don't show up at quite the right time when the 'baron' fires magically endless amounts of ammo from the small, fake, gun turrets on the plane.Speaking more of the magic bullets: one point in the film the 'baron' *SPOILERS* comes across a few shotgun shells. And somehow now he has unlimited machine gun ammo.I give this film 2* out of 10, only because a few specs of enjoyment can be scraped from its insanity.