I just got a report from the incredibly 'ga-ga' inducing super-heroine of the silver screen named Susan Bays. (that's a reference you geeks can dig a while on!) Ms. Bays had the honor of seeing the Stuart Gordon directed, Ray Bradury story brought to life, THE WONDERFUL ICE CREAM SUIT. This had a special screening in Park City, Utah while I was up there and I missed it. Well, it looks like I'll never see it on a screen either. Seems like the dude's with the coke bottle glasses at Disney, can't see this charmer big. No, those European-alleyed brained execs can't think of an angle on an apparently very good movie. Perhaps, they'll commit to a limited first tier test release. Perhaps they'd give it a chance to live...
I just saw a screening of Ray Bradbury's The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit. Worldfest Houston Film Festival started tonight and Ray Bradbury came down to introduce the movie. I have to say, he is a cool seventy-seven year old man. I'm a writer, so when I saw the line of people waiting to get his autograph, I jumped right in. Mr. Bradbury tossed popcorn in his mouth with his left hand and wrote with his right hand. He was incredibly good-natured and gracious the whole time. That alone makes him a cool man, but add to that the fact that he's old, and he's really great.
He addressed the audience before the movie. He told us how he grew up in East LA and spent a lot of time with his best friend's family. That is how he inhaled Mexican American culture. He said he named all but one of the characters after people he knew there sixty years ago. He also said he's fond of this movie because the Director, Stuart Gordon (creator of ER, Honey I Shrunk the Kids) filmed the movie without changing a word of the script, which has never been done. In the Q&A after the film, Stuart talked about how much fun the cast was and Sid Caesar kept changing lines but they all checked with Ray to see if it was okay and he said yes.
About the movie: It was produced by Disney. It definitely feels like a Disney movie. That's not a bad thing since I have two kids and tithe to the mouse regularly.
The cast includes Edward James Olmos, Joe Montegna, Esai Morales, Gregory Sierra, and Clifton Gonzalez Gonzalez. They were all great. Joe Montegna's accent seemed a little funny at times, but he was still good. The movie started as a short story and then Ray wrote it as a play. The movie feels like a stage play at times, which is really good for me. The acting felt more like an ensemble than a bunch of stars.
The opening credits were animated. They were magical. The music grabbed me from the beginning. The tempo livened the pace and felt right.
At some point early on, I thought, Disney can really capture the Hispanic market with this movie. I am half Mexican American and I think this movie is the kind of thing families would go see together and enjoy. There's even a song and dance number that was a little like West Side Story.
I won't divulge the plot. I have to tell you that the story centers around a magical suit that the men pool their money to buy. When they wear it, it changes them. What the cinematographer did to make that suit glow was SURREAL. And it was done through the camera and NOT digitally!
It is a cute, funny, touching and fun movie. I knew from the beginning that I would be transported into this movie and I was.
Now for the disappointing news. In the Q&A, Stuart Gordon said Disney made this as a direct to video release. He's hoping enough people like it and will write to Michael Eisner. I'm writing to you cuz we all know that Disney pays some poor drone to read your site and look for stuff like this. It's a good movie. Disney will lose an opportunity to reach the largest growing segment of the US population if they shelve this at the video store. The rest of the country would enjoy this movie, too!
