523 - VILLAGE OF THE GIANTS

Synopsis:  This experiment is another from the Notorious B.I.G., Mr. Bert I. Gordon, that “supposedly” is based on H.G. Welles’ novel Food of the Gods.  But this movie really is more like a lot of other Bert I. Pictures, such as The Amazing Colossal Man, Earth vs. the Spider and Beginning of the End, than anything H.G. ever wrote.  In this movie, the “good” teen’s kid brother (played by a young Ron Howard and called Genius because he’s like smart and stuff), accidentally develops some stuff called “Goop” that makes anything that eats it grow big.  After they experiment and grow every animal in the house and yard (including a couple of ducks), the rest of the teens in town find out about the Goop at a dance when the giant ducks show up and start swinging it on the dance floor (By the way, the band featured in this scene named Beau Brummels sounds surprisingly good).  Of course dancing isn’t enough to save the ducks, so at the giant duck BBQ the next day, the “bad” teen (Beau Bridges with a full head of hair) and his gang decide that they will steal the Goop and eat it, which they do.  So now there’s a gang of giant teens running around town and, to prove how big and powerful they are, the first thing they do is start to dance and dance and dance.  They take a couple of kids hostage to keep anyone from disobeying them from their headquarters in a large theatre.  And the rest of the film has the regular sized people, lead by the “good” teen, trying to come up with plans to free the hostages.  Meanwhile, Genius is busy trying to make more of the Goop.  But, instead, the little Genius accidentally makes an Anti-Goop that reduces things back to their regular size, so he uses it to reduce the “bad” teens back to normal.  And then when you think it couldn’t get worse, the movie ends with a lame, and somewhat insulting, joke.

Don’s Review:  This movie is awful – maybe the worse ever from Mr. B.I.G. – and that’s saying a lot!  However, the riffing is pretty good, overall, although not the most memorable by M&tBs, and the movie does move along without ever getting tedious.  But the host segments need special mention because they are hilarious as Dr. F fires Frank and hires Torgo as his replacement.  All-in-all, this is a good episode.

Don’s Rating: