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There
are certain
stereotypes in film
and TV that I know
to be true. One of
them is that when I
hear
French-accordion
dominating a score
for anything I’m in
for something fairly
bizarre.
The
Beaver
rocks a
French-accordion in
the majority of its
score and
The
Beaver
was an extremely odd
(but not altogether
bad) movie.
Walter Black is a
depressed dude.
Something put him in
the funk of funks
and he can’t get
over his depression.
He’s tried pills,
counseling, drum
circles, he’s
literally tried
everything and he
can’t get better.
All he does is sleep
and mope. Sadly,
that’s taken
everything and
everyone around him
down with him. His
oldest son hates
him. His wife can’t
have anything to do
with him so she
buries herself in
her work. His
youngest son feels
and acts invisible
at home and at
school. His company
is going down the
tubes. Walter’s life
sucks. After his
wife Meredith
(played by Jodie
Foster) kicks him
out of the house,
Walter checks in to
a ratty hotel, goes
through the drunken
depression and tries
to kill himself. He
fails at that too.
When he awakens from
his drunken stupor,
he’s greeted by a
beaver puppet on his
arm. He voices the
puppet (lips moving
and all) and the
puppet simply called
the Beaver, tells
Walter that he’s
going to save his
life. After that the
Beaver takes over,
he and Walter spend
time with the family
and fix the company,
but can having a
Beaver attached to
your arm and living
your life through a
puppet really be
healthy?
The
Beaver
is an odd movie, but
I don’t know if it’s
overly odd. I think
for some depression
sufferers… after
you’ve tried
everything- pills,
counseling, drums…
literally
EVERYTHING, can’t
you see living your
life through a
puppet if it’s
making you happy?
That might seem like
a stretch for some
people, but for
anyone that’s been
around someone who’s
depressed or
suffered it
themselves, it’s not
that big of a leap.
Plus,
Jodie Foster and the
script itself do an
excellent job of
showing you how
desperate Walter is
at the beginning of
the movie. That
makes the
believability of
The
Beaver
viable. Foster
didn’t just do an
excellent job with
setup though, she
does a good job
showing Walter and
the Beaver
interacting. And
Gibson voicing both
the Beaver and
playing the part of
Walter Black…
regardless if you
like Mel Gibson or
not you have to be
impressed with how
seamlessly he
switches between
those two characters
and those two
voices.
The
score with
The
Beaver
is terrible. That I
will say. It’s
supposed to make it
quirky and humorous
but instead a movie
that has some
serious undertones
about depression and
the toll it can take
on a family gets
taken less seriously
because of that
score. That’s really
the lone problem to
go along with some
script holes in the
film.
The
Blu-ray of
The
Beaver
features limited
special features.
The main things are
the standard DVD
special features.
That includes a
short making-of
featurette, a few
deleted scenes, and
a commentary audio
track. Not a ton,
but it works.
Jodie
Foster starred and
directed
The
Beaver
and she did an
excellent job. Mel
Gibson like him or
hate him, did an
admirable job in
this movie too.
The
Beaver
is an interesting
story about a family
dealing with one
member taking the
whole thing down.
Not everybody is
going to like or
rave about this
film, but plenty of
people will like it
and it’s one of
those movies that
everybody HAS to
watch. Can you
honestly keep living
your life fulfilled
without seeing Mel
Gibson talk with a
beaver puppet for a
solid hour?
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