My Movie Review on The Burbs (Plus, a Bonus) · 4:17pm Oct 1st, 2020

Greetings, my friends.

This is your top-of-the-line film, TV show, and episode reporter here with another review.

Today, for the first installment of my "Spook Spectacular" series, I'm gonna give you guys my take of "The Burbs".

Here's the rundown of it:

Ray Peterson is on a one week vacation, but in spite of trying to relax he has grown bored with life in the suburbs and normalcy in general.

However, after noticing abnormal activity next door to his house, Ray and his friends, Art Weingartner and Mark Rumsfield, grow leery of their new neighbors, the Klopeks. Especially after they hear rumors that the Klopeks are secretly murderers and one of their old neighbors, Walter Seznick, mysteriously disappears.

Similar to a great many other movies, "The Burbs" was something that I wanted to do an analysis on for quite some time. My family and I used to have a VHS tape of it, and at one point we saw it on Amazon when it was included with Prime. In preparation for reviewing it, though, I ordered a DVD copy of it to re-add the film to the personal collection of movies my family and I have. That, and it wasn't available for free on any of the streaming services we're members of.

Having watched the movie not too long ago after all this time, the one detractor I was able to note was that the cast and production crew went a little too overboard with the cussing. I am aware that this was a common thing that films from the 1980s had, but still. The movie would've been perfect without them.

Other than that...

THIS MOVIE WAS TERRIFIC!!!

Everything about it provided me with a rollicking good time, and judging by the current critical consensus it has on Rotten Tomatoes...it's one of the most underrated films I've ever watched.

For instance, the direction by Joe Dante, and the story by Dana Olsen, were awesome!

The story that Olsen came up with was perhaps one of the most inspired and personal concepts that I've seen so far, and Dante's direction carried an equal sense of passion that made him instantly perfect for helming the project. Every joke that the duo incorporated made me laugh so much that I couldn't contain myself, and the thrills and sense of mystery the film were nicely done too. Plus, there was a surprisingly vast amount of emotional resonance that helped the movie have a soul, and its depiction of suburbanite life was deeply entertaining.

Joe Dante's use of the camera was something that I found to be unique among others. Using the camera, he helped tell the story in a way that was very visual and expressive, which made everything instantly engaging and grappling.

The performances of the cast, casting, characters, and character development were likewise astonishing.

When I read a little while ago that Dante encouraged the cast to improvise, I was deeply astounded. The performers not only incorporated flawless comedic-timings, but they gave their characters dynamically distinct personalities and sense of dimensionalism. The best part of it all was that the cast was clearly having all the fun in the world, and the characters weren't without growth either.

My favorite performers and characters in this movie were Tom Hanks as Ray Peterson, Rick Ducommun as Art Weingartner, and Bruce Dern as Mark Rumsfield. Likewise, Carrie Fisher certainly wasn't afraid of stealing the show every chance she had in her portrayal of Carol Peterson, and the chemistry she and Tom Hanks created between their characters was deliciously entertaining. The same with the chemistry Hanks, Ducommun, and Dern created between their characters, really.

Finally, the music by Jerry Goldsmith was fantastic.

As composer of a film that'd be part of a long-running collaboration between him and Dante before his death, Goldsmith's score truly shined. He gave his score a vast amount of unpredictability and thrills, and the way he got his music to fit the movie's humorous spirit while also giving it a sense of spookiness sent chills down my spine.

In conclusion, "The Burbs" may not be a flawless film, but it's one of the funniest and most joy-hearted comedies I've ever watched. I'm surprised that the rating the film received on Rotten Tomatoes hasn't increased from a 53% rotten to something larger than that, really. Especially the more positive response it's received over the years.

So, I rate "The Burbs" 4½ out of 5 stars.

Before I conclude this post, I'd like to show you all a picture that I made myself.

I know this may seem rather random or weird, but...

This is what I believe it would’ve looked like had Chrysalis also covered Starlight’s mouth after trapping her in the cocoon in part 1 of “The Ending of the End”.

How I did this was by uploading the photo of this moment from the MLP Wikia to my photo app, and then modifying it by first cutting out the excess spacing before coloring a shade of green over Starlight’s mouth. Doing the latter was no easy matter, but I did that on my computer.

I originally tried coloring over Starlight’s mouth using my iPad and an Apple Pencil, but my hands kept shaking and everything kept looking a little messy or out of line. So, I did it on my computer instead, which was much easier.

So, what do you guys think? Of the review? The movie? And the picture?

Also, what do you guys think of the profile picture I put up just now?