Ancient Cult Files #7 -- Recess: School's Out

   Yes, I'm doing a Disney film. But the status of cult doesn't always pertain to the production studio that it was created by; a media's status of cult is defined by its loyal fan-base long after its initial release, and this film certainly has that. Walt Disney Studios produces good films that deserve praise, but they are often times are overly praised due to the advertisement budget and contracts with critics that Disney has acquired over the years. 
   It is a seasoned mega-corporation through and through, but sometimes they overlook some of their best work.
   Recess: School's Out was released in 2001 and was based off the hit television series of the same name. The show followed a friend group made up of T.J. (the scheming, cool boy), Vince (an athletic one), Spinelli (real name Ashley, a tough girl), Mikey (the huge but docile performing artist), Gretchen (the science prodigy), and Gus (a regimented army child). The series portrayed their navigation of academic, social and personal problems throughout the time spent in their recess play period at school.
   The story begins with the last recess of the school year and the gang pulls one last large prank; Spinelli, Vince, Gus, and Mikey catapulting stolen ice cream from the cafeteria onto the playground and T.J. imitating Principle Prickly with a voice-over machine provided by Gretchen making wise cracks about the school's administration and Prickly himself. The real administrator cuts the laughter short and takes T.J. to his office while the other children go back to their classrooms for their final period of 4th grade. Prickly is furious at T.J. but cannot punish him since it is the last day of school.
   With the ringing of the final bell, both the staff and students

School's out!

at Third Street Elementary are joyous over the beginning of summer. T.J. had already planned out the activities he and his friends will get to do, but is broken-hearted to find out that all of them are

going to various camps around the state to work on their skills;

Vince is going to baseball camp, Gretchen to space camp, Spinelli to wrestling camp, Mikey to a musical theater camp, and Gus to a military camp. All his friends say that they need these camps to prepare for their futures and leave on buses the next morning. T.J. rides about town doing the activities he meant to do with the gang in a depressed manner, but also rides by the school, where he sees unfamiliar personnel entering the school and is chased off by hostile security guards. He investigates further, and is horrified to see scientists testing some sort of ray-gun beam on a money safe, lifting it high off the ground. He rushes back to his house and tell his parents what he saw, but they dismiss it as a joke. He then tries the police and they give him the same reaction.

An unlikely ally

   Having no one else to turn to, he finds Principle Prickly at a local golf course and tries convinces him to come and check out the school. Prickly is angered to be removed from his vacation, but decides to go to the school with T.J. Upon their arrival, all the security guards are gone and everything appears normal. However, when Prickly tries to unlock the door, he is electrocuted by a green current and is de-materialized through the door. 
   Knowing now that something is definitely not right, T.J. convinces his older sister Becky (by threatening to post her diary on the internet) to help him in pulling his other friends out of their camps to come investigate the invaders of their school. Once

The tractor beam's blinding ray

he has rounded the gang up, they sneak onto the school grounds at night and steal a crate being transported into the building. However, it contains fairly mundane information; test scores, weather maps, and information about the school. His friends then turn on T.J., believing that he made up the story to bring them back from camp. However, just as they are about to leave, a larger version of the tractor beam T.J. saw being tested earlier, comes out of the school's roof and fires into the sky. It then retracts, and the children are left shocked, especially Mikey who proceeds to faint.
   The other five now believe T.J. and agree to help him keep an eye on the activities at the school with other kids covering for them at night and Becky driving them to and from camp during the day. During one of their stake-outs in T.J.'s tree house, the gang sadly realize

while hanging out in good spirits that their summers together are numbered, much to Gus's despair since this is his first summer with the gang. They lift each other's spirits by singing an old song that they learned together years before.

Phillium explaining something passionately

   While the others are away at camp, T.J. finds Principle Prickly's golf pants in the school's dumpster and sees one of the security guards pretending to be Prickly and going home to his wife every evening. This makes it clear that he is being held hostage in the school. That night, the gang break into the school to discover once and for all what is happening. They discover that their auditorium has been converted into a scientific laboratory for the tractor beam, and the man behind is Phillium Benedict (who on the television in the background earlier in the film was fired from being the U.S. Secretary of Education). The kids are discovered and attempt to flee, but T.J. is captured by the endless personnel (including ninjas) Phillium seems to have on the property. He is put in with Prickly, who reveals that Phillium once was his colleague and the principle of 3rd Street Elementary, but was removed for trying to get rid of recess, the same reason he was removed from his position in the federal government. Phillium then reveals his full plan to the two; he plans to use the tractor beam to move the moon's orbit closer to the earth, which will turn summers into winter-like periods, thus

Phillium's evil plan

forcing children to study instead of playing all summer and will improve test scores. Seeing that the former cabinet member is off his rocker, it's left up to Prickly, T.J. and the gang to save summer vacation.
   Recess: School's Out was both a financial and critical success and is fondly remembered by fans of the television series. James Woods voices Phillium and the voice actors from the show all were in the project as well. 
   The film has faded from memory for the most part, which I consider a loss. It gives a very interesting perspective of how education should be handled, questioning whether testing should be pushed aside to give students the chance to be children, and perhaps that is the actual recipe for quality citizens. It is a bit convoluted with the addition of ninjas, tractor beams, and the villain himself (though one could argue he's gone insane), but it is still geared towards children, so some imagination can be forgiven. The 1960's soundtrack used is amazing to convey the struggle between and underdog and the authority.
   It isn't completely necessary to watch the series before this film since the characters are fairly self-explanatory, though the show is quite good as well.
   Disney's buried treasure may not be as flashy as Frozen or Big Hero 6, but it gives a hopeful and relatable message about growing up and savoring childhood.
   Three and three-fourths of a star, check it out!

The Disney logo at the beginning of the film.

   

Ancient Cult Files # 3 -- The Secret of Moonacre

   Some think cult films are synonymous with gore, nudity, and are completely unsuitable for children. This is not at all true. While many of the more well-known bearers of the cult-status are indeed a bit more...graphic...in content, there are plenty of family friendly cult films in the world. Children's films are often hard to make

without major endorsements from Walt Disney Studios or other such corporate giants. But several truly magical children's films have snuck in under the radar through the years.
   The Secret of Moonacre is a 2008 fantasy-children's film directed by Gábor Csupó (best known for his animated Nickelodeon programs such as The Rugrats). The film starred Dakota Blue Richards, Tim Curry, Juliet Stevenson, and also featured Natascha McElhone and Ioan Gruffudd. The story is based off of the novel "The Little White Horse" by Elizabeth Goudge and concerns the magical land of Moonacre Valley. The valley is occupied by two prominent families; the Merryweathers and the De Noir's. The story begins with the homecoming of Maria Merryweather (Richards) and her quirky governess Miss Heliotrope (Stevenson) to

The pearls of the Moon Princess

her ancestral home of Moonacre after the death of her father. The

only piece of inheritance left to by her dept-ridden father was a book of the ancient legends of Moonacre Valley. Upon reading it, she discovers that once there was a woman in the valley known as the Moon Princess, a pure soul who Mother Nature had taken as her own daughter. She gave to the Moon Princess the gift of magical pearls that could grant the wish of whomever possessed them. The day came for the Moon Princess, who was of the De Noir family, to marry, and she was to wed the eldest son of the Merryweather clan. But upon revealing the gift to the two families, they immediately began to fight over who was to be in possession of them. The Moon Princess was disgusted by their greed and after the pearls were lost, placed a curse on the two households that would plunge the entire valley

Sir Benjamin Merryweather and Wrolf

into the ocean forever, and come to pass with the 5000th full moon if the pearls were not returned.
   Maria initially dismisses the book as a fairy-tale, and instead

occupies herself with trying to understand the dynamics of her new home. Her uncle Sir Benjamin (Ioan Gruffudd) is cold and strict, the house servants are extremely peculiar, and the house dog, Wrolf, is seemingly vicious. She also is bewildered by the unexplained elements of the manor; the painted stars on her room's ceiling move, the piano plays itself, and a little white horse that looks to be a unicorn is seen by Maria outside her window nightly.

Loveday's woodland home

   She soon discovers that the tales of the book are true and that the 5000th moon is set to rise, and that she must now play the part of the Moon Princess. Maria then sets out to attempt to find the lost pearls. She meets a variety of other characters such as the woodland-caretaker Loveday (McElhone) who is an estranged member of the De Noir clan. The De Noir's have attempted to capture Maria on several occasions throughout the film, and she deducts that they must be hiding the pearls. She eventually meets Coeur De

Nior (Curry)at the De Nior stronghold who reveals that they do not have the lost pearls as she thought, and it becomes clear that both the families have no idea where they are and have just been endlessly accusing the one another of stealing them. Maria must then read between the lines of the old legends to attempt to lift the curse to save them all.

Maria at the magic piano

   The film was given a very limited release and has since been mostly forgotten. The only way I found it was through a chance scanning through Netflix. This was Dakota Blue Richards second major film after the Academy-award winning The Golden Compass released a year before. 
   The film, while not being as technically advanced as some of the newer fantasy flicks such as Maleficent and Snow White and the Huntsman, the CGI used in combination with the real sets creates an atmosphere like that of stage play. The sets and costumes are absolutely beautiful; Beatrix Aruna Pasztor creates a steampunkish theme in her garments that adds to the near-apocalyptic setting of the plot. The somewhat deconstructed gowns and frayed edges contribute to the Merryweather house that is falling into ruin as the curse nears. 
   The story itself is a bit confusing at points, but mostly flows well. This is because the film makers wanted to include most of the characters from the original novel, but they could have condensed some of them together.

Maria exploring her new room

   Maria is an excellent example to young girls; she is thrown into a new world and takes initiative to act and not be passive as some of the other characters tell her to be, and instead takes the control of her own life and fights for what she believes in. She conquers her fears, such as horse-back riding, and makes decisions about how she feels for herself for the first time in her life. Dakota Blue Richards is excellent in the role.

Maria as "The Moon Princess"

   Some have criticized the film for having a lacking script and instead being a display of pretty clothes and sets and has no depth. Personally, I think that the film is underrated and has much more depth than anything in the effects shows that dominate the fantasy genre today. The film is engaging for the young and gives them an introduction to common elements of story-telling in a way that appears different and more exciting than other, much more dry in story, British films.
   This is a film that deserves much more recognition than it has received, and deserves attention much more than whatever flashy creation starring Johnny Depp that Tim Burton has created to fill the pockets of Disney executives this year.
   The Secret of Moonacre is a lost pearl and has beautiful glow all its own.
   Three stars, watch it.

The Moon Princess and her little white horse