{"id":4189,"date":"2024-09-27T14:01:07","date_gmt":"2024-09-27T14:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=4189"},"modified":"2024-10-12T22:15:15","modified_gmt":"2024-10-12T22:15:15","slug":"the-oogieloves-in-the-big-balloon-adventure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/09\/27\/the-oogieloves-in-the-big-balloon-adventure\/","title":{"rendered":"The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure\u00a0 <\/strong>(2012)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Kenn Viselman Presents\/Comedy-Musical-Adventure\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 88 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated G (nothing the least bit offensive)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Matthew Diamond\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Scott Stabile\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Joseph Alfuso and Robert Rettberg\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Peter Klein\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: August 29, 2012 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Toni Braxton, Cloris Leachman, Christopher Lloyd, Chazz Palminteri, Cary Elwes, Jaime Pressley, Kylie Dakota, Misty Miller (as Goobie), Stephanie Renz (as Zoozie), Malerie Grady (as Toofie), Maya Stange (as Windy Window), Nick Drago (as J. Edgar), Tara Los (as Schluufy), Randy Carfagno (as Ruffy).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $1M (US)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: *<\/p>\n

\u00a0If I never see another Oogielove for as long as I live, it\u2019ll still be too soon. Given its poor box office performance, it\u2019s likely my wish will come true.<\/p>\n

\u00a0To say that The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure<\/strong> bombed at the box office is a gross understatement. It actually holds the record for having the lowest opening weekend box office take EVER for a movie opening in more than 2000 theaters (2160 to be exact) with a humiliating $443,901. If you do the math, that\u2019s only $206 per theater. In other words, Oogieloves<\/strong> played mainly to empty houses. Personally, I don\u2019t know a single person that saw this movie. No one that would ever admit it anyway. But is it really that bad? Honestly, I\u2019m not sure what to say. It\u2019s not meant for the eyes and ears of anyone over the age of 5. As somebody well past that age, I found it insufferable.<\/p>\n

\u00a0To me, it played like The Rocky Horror Picture Show reimagined (and cleaned up) by Sid and Marty Krofft with elements of Pee-wee\u2019s Playhouse and the Teletubbies thrown in for good measure. You see, Oogieloves<\/strong> has a unique hook in that it encourages audience participation. At various times, the kiddies are invited to dance along with the three main characters. When you see butterflies flutter across the bottom of the screen, it\u2019s time to get up and dance. When you see the turtles, it means it\u2019s time to take your seat again. Sounds like fun, right? Not everybody would agree with that. Certainly not the kids that attended the prelease screening I read about somewhere. The promotions company handling the Saturday morning screening made sure the theater was filled with excited preschoolers (accompanied by less than excited parents, of course). They got up and danced to the first two or three numbers, but by the end, nobody was joining in. Now that\u2019s what I call failed experimental cinema.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I\u2019ll forgive you if you have no idea what an Oogielove is since they failed to catch on with the same kiddies that made superstars out of Teletubbies, Wiggles and Boohbah. I ask you, whatever happened to quality children\u2019s shows like Sesame Street, Mister Rogers and The Electric Company? It\u2019s a mystery yet to be solved. I assume it has something to do with the dumbing down of society.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Getting back to my original point, the Oogieloves are three children (adults in oversized costumes) who live in the idyllic town of Lovelyloveville. They are science whiz Goobie (the one with glasses), multilingual Zoozie (the girl) and fun-loving Toofie (the yellow-haired one). They live in a house with a talking window named Windy Window and a talking vacuum cleaner named J. Edgar. Think about it a moment. Get it? It\u2019s the only remotely mature thing in this movie. It\u2019s a very special day; they\u2019re throwing a surprise birthday party for their friend Schluufy, a talking pillow. You know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men? Apparently, it also applies to Oogieloves. On his way home, J. Edgar loses the five magical balloons they plan to give as a gift. Guess what? They also talk. Guess what else? They\u2019re also the LAST five magical balloons in all of Lovelyloveville. Oh no, what will they ever do?<\/p>\n

\u00a0Now we find out why it\u2019s called The Big Balloon Adventure. Goobie, Zoozie and Toofie set out on their tricycles, accompanied by their talking goldfish Ruffy, to retrieve the balloons before the party starts. It isn\u2019t hard locating them since Windy is a magic window that shows exactly where each balloon landed. But in order to get that valuable info, everybody has to say the following magic phrase; \u201c1-2-1-2-3 Windy Window what do you see? 1-2-1-2-3 Windy Window please show me.\u201d The words appear on screen as a helpful aid to kids who probably can\u2019t even read yet.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Their first stop is a tree with a giant teapot (a \u201ctreepot\u201d!) inhabited by Dottie Rounder (Leachman) and her super-perky niece Jubilee Rounder (Dakota). Dottie is obsessed with all things round while Jubilee loves squares. They next go to Milky Marvin\u2019s Milkshake Manor where they compete in a milkshake drinking contest overseen by proprietor Milky Marvin (Palminteri). His shakes come in any flavor including chocolate-pizza-macaroni-beet. Yuck! Then it\u2019s off to an airplane hangar where they meet singer Rosalie Rosebud (Braxton). She loves roses and insists on being surrounded by them even though she\u2019s allergic to them. She has their balloon and doesn\u2019t want to give it up until they all sing a song together. Next, they go to see Bobby Wobbly (Elwes), a cowboy trucker that prefers to wobble rather than walk. Their balloon is caught on top of his 18-wheeler. Did I mention he delivers bubbles? Yes, bubbles. Finally, they meet Lola (Pressley) and Lero Sombrero (Lloyd), a tango dancing couple who live in a giant flying sombrero. Lero doesn\u2019t talk, instead he communicates by playing the bongos.<\/p>\n

\u00a0My guess is that the minds that conceived Oogieloves<\/strong> raided the Krofft\u2019s stash when they came up with it. Only under the influence of hallucinogenic drugs could somebody come up with something this bizarre. It\u2019s very surreal, but also has an innocent quality to it. In my description of the plot, did you notice something missing? There\u2019s no villain. Everybody in Oogieloves<\/strong> is happy and smiling all the time. Nobody even frowns in this movie. Everybody is just so gosh-darn nice. It\u2019s for these reasons that Oogieloves<\/strong> avoids the dreaded \u201cNO STARS!!!\u201d rating. I\u2019m giving it one star, but only because it\u2019s a painful viewing experience for anybody beyond the Teletubbies stage.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The musical numbers are poorly staged. The songs are instantly forgettable; the dancing consists of little more than jumping around, waving your arms and moving your feet. Like Rocky Horror, there are call-back lines (sort of). There\u2019s a running joke about Toofie\u2019s pants falling down. Everytime it happens (and it\u2019s quite a few times), the kids are expected to join the other two Oogieloves in shouting, \u201cGoofy Toofie, pull up your pants!\u201d What adult hasn\u2019t wanted to yell that same thing at belt-adverse teenagers? There are other lines for the kids to recite, but I\u2019m sure this is the one they\u2019ll remember.<\/p>\n

\u00a0In its defense, Oogieloves<\/strong> is very colorful and vibrant. It\u2019s energetic yet it\u2019s still a nice choice for a bedtime movie when the kids just won\u2019t settle down. It would be pointless to criticize the acting in Oogieloves<\/strong>. Instead, let\u2019s imagine the actors\u2019 reactions when the idea of being in the movie was first pitched to them.<\/p>\n

Leachman: \u201cYou do know I\u2019ve won eight Emmys and an Oscar, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

Elwes: \u201cDoes anybody remember I was in The Princess Bride?\u201d<\/p>\n

Lloyd: \u201cGreat Scott! I was in all three Back to the Future movies! Well, if I agree to do this, I don\u2019t want any dialogue, okay?\u201d<\/p>\n

Palminteri: \u201cWill I be playing a mobster?\u201d<\/p>\n

Braxton: \u201cSure, why not. Beats doing a reality show.\u201d<\/p>\n

All kidding aside, they\u2019re good sports for agreeing to act like silly fools for the kids\u2019 enjoyment. I\u2019ll say this for Oogieloves<\/strong>, it\u2019s in pretty good company. Like Mac and Me, Thomas the Magic Engine and Matilda (the 1978 version about the boxing kangaroo), it\u2019s one of those kid\u2019s movies that adults will watch incredulously. You can\u2019t quite believe what you\u2019re seeing, you cringe, you want to look away but can\u2019t. At least it\u2019s not utterly creepy like The Garbage Pail Kids Movie. My advice to grownups, smoke a joint before putting on the Oogieloves<\/strong>. Who knows, you might get up and dance along with your children. If you\u2019re not into drugs, put it on and hope it will occupy your little ankle-biters long enough for you to finish the laundry and return a few long overdue e-mail and FaceBook messages.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I\u2019d like to end this review with a story I heard from a theater manager in Indiana I was friends with on FaceBook. They got Oogieloves<\/strong>, but only showed it during the day. What\u2019s the sense in having evening shows when they\u2019re past the bedtimes of the intended audience? He told me almost nobody showed up to see it. One day, a lady brought her kindergarten age son to the first show (around 11am). They were the only ones there. About twenty minutes in, the lady approached him in the lobby with her kid in tow. She asked if they could go watch ParaNorman instead. Obviously, they weren\u2019t satisfied. The boy added, \u201cIt\u2019s for babies.\u201d I think that says it all about The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure<\/strong>.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure\u00a0 (2012)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Kenn Viselman Presents\/Comedy-Musical-Adventure\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 88 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated G (nothing the least bit offensive)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Matthew Diamond\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Scott Stabile\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Joseph Alfuso and Robert Rettberg\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Peter Klein\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: August 29, 2012 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Toni Braxton, Cloris Leachman, Christopher Lloyd, Chazz Palminteri, Cary Elwes, Jaime Pressley, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5520,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-this-sucks-so-bad"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/The-Oogieloves-in-the-Big-B.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4189"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4189\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5522,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4189\/revisions\/5522"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}