Reuploaded because KZfaq scrambled the video in the first one leaving a bunch of glitched frames.

"Action Park"

"Don't be sad because it'll inconvenience others" is the kind of thing that would come up in Bojack Horseman's childhood flashbacks.

Alan Smithee is such a terrible director why does he keep getting work

Blink three times if the corn plushie is holding you hostage.

"the homeopathic version of Inside Out" is a phrase I never thought I'd hear

Ugh, I actually really like the basic premise of “she’s struggling to be creative because she’s worried about her mom” because it feels more accurate to my lived experience than “disappearing into fantasy.” As a “””””creative person”””” with depression, I’m really tired of the message that going through depression or trauma will make me a better artist. I guess losing one’s creativity is a subject better handled in an adults’ movie than a kids’ movie.

When you said she had to save wonderland from the Darkness I imagined a much better film where she has to fight Justin Hawkins

You know, there’s a perfectly workable potential moral in that set-up: imaginative, playful little girl is afraid that without her mother, she doesn’t have the power to create joyful things by herself. Wonder Park is an expression of her best self, and she needs to learn that she can be her best self independently. Heck, you can finish by having her entertain her mother in hospital with the All New Wonder Park Adventures; if you establish that the mother was worried and guilty about how her illness affected the family, that could be a happy ending all round. The best way to repay love is to take the joy people gave you and make something beautiful out of it, that sort of thing. Mind you, it doesn’t sound like its makers were in a state of creative joy when they put it together.

I like the idea that June’s sadness is destroying the park as in depression eats away at memories and/or taints them with negativity. Destroying the park AKA June forgetting it, June’s creations blaming her for ruining it AKA self loathing and guilt. With better direction and a more concise plot I think that would be a really strong start for a story, but if it’s a children’s show on Nickelodeon I don’t think they’re gonna follow through with that kind of metaphor.

Blunder park _lol got em_

I was physically exhausted by the explanation of the setup.

It's funny that the main girl, by whispering the ideas to the bear, is basically like the *director* the park had lost and needed back not to be a wreck. Almost ironic.

"This movie is the homeopathic version of Inside Out" -Dan Olsen. Blurb for the blu ray packaging, for sure.

This sounds like a great movie for Big Joel to philosophize about

Only real 2019 kids remember the glitchy version

As a series animator, I really appreciate your knowledge on the animation pipeline and for touching upon the allegations surrounding the director. Thank you!

Child dealing with loss of parent with villain called "the darkness" - a lot scarier when it was "the Nothing" in Neverending Story (and man was the nothing scary I think that was my first childhood introduction to a metaphor for depression)

The antagonist of the film is called the darkness? So this is part of the Sharkboy and Lavagirl cinematic universe then?

"A childhood safe place called Wonderland that was just a figment of a child's imagination is being corrupted by The Darkness but protagonist defeats it through willpower" sounds like a G-rated movie version of American Mcgee's Alice tbh. The naming must be a coincidence though.

We had The Art of Editing and Suicide Squad, then The Art of Storytelling and The Book of Henry. Will we get a The Art of Directing and Wonder Park? I get the feeling directing is one of those jobs that everyone knows, but nobody knows exactly what they do and how they help produce a great film. Even if this isn't the movie to base it on, I'd love to see a "The Art of Directing" vid from you at some point. Thanks for your work, Dan.

The delivery of the last line was chilling man. There's a joke in this about Action Park's infamous reputation and this movie's plot somewhere.

"Of all the movies Wonder Park wants to be, it wants most to be Inside Out". But from most of the plot all I can think of is "Neverending Story" retold by somebody who didn't get the central metaphors (and these are pretty on the nose).

There's a cool concept lurking in there somewhere but it seems to be executed in the blandest way possible.

i feel confident that in the genre of "white late 30s guy ranting about contemporary children's media", this is probably as good as it gets in 2019

"Yeah, she should have thought about how her sadness would make other people feel" is basically how I was raised. It's a fantastic message for children and doesn't lead to deeply internalized problems at all (obvious sarcasm).

I can't stop staring at hbananaguy in the background, staring existentially at a banana.

God, remember Kubo and the Two Strings? Or Song of the Sea? Weren't they great?

Basically - Go see "A Monster Calls". It's wonderful and not enough people saw it.

"an army of Chimpanzombies" 10/10 film of the year.

I'm really going to miss the glitched version

I watched Captain Marvel last week, at a busy cinema, and Wonderpark was greatly advertised, with a large cardboard stand and hanging signs. I legitimately assumed it was because it was some independent Australian made animation. Little did I know...

Today when I was at work a kid described a movie to a coworker and me and we just kind of looked at each other like "what?? is this kid talking about?? Do you think they made it up??". I realize now that they were actually describing the plot of this movie, with a pretty high degree of accuracy. I'm actually quite impressed

Honestly, I’m just glad you made this because ever since the first trailer came out, I’ve been STRUGGLING to figure out just what the hell this movie was even about. Because every time I’ve seen advertising for it, it just looked so bland and pointless-the marketing focuses solely on the characters riding rides. Like, that’s cool and all, but what’s the freaking STORY??? I also had no clue this was a tie-in to an upcoming Nick show, and now that you’ve explained that, everything makes a LOT more sense. Still, that’s no excuse to just make a cheap, substance-less movie to help launch the show; just look at the original Jimmy Neutron movie. It was fun, had a coherent story, and character designs were interesting and memorable. Not only that, but they even CHANGED some character designs specifically for the show-Cindy’s pigtails and pink shirt were changed to a ponytail and green tank top (likely because a single ponytail was easier to animate than the double pony action).

I've noticed that animation without directors (e.g. short films made by one guy with Maya/Blender/Whatever) or just with animators as directors, seem to suffer from the syndrome that affected 90s desktop publishing. You know when it was new, and a magazine cover would have 25 different fonts, each in a different size and colour, just because it was possible. They tend to have shots that are too long, too tricksy, etc, just because the animator wants you to see their beautiful work. Instead of because it's good for storytelling.

"An army of chimpanzombies . . ." First thing, I literally almost had a spit take there. And I do mean literally. Second thing, I am so going to introduce that in next week's D&D session. I don't know how, but I will make it happen.

I honestly thought the video's glitches were some kind of meta commentary.

N... no Dan! You can’t put My Neighbor Totoro in a blender. It’s too pure and beautiful

Every time he says "The Darkness" my mind goes "Guitar!"

It's come to my attention that they DID hire a couple of directors, but due to DGA rules they aren't allowed to credit them.

I'm reading that the original director *did* get replaced? By David Feiss, who made Cow and Chicken and I Am Weasel. He didn't get credited because he didn't direct enough of the movie.

I mean, the one thing that society has hammered into me is to hide my depression and don't talk about it, because it inconveniences other people that don't want to help you, but also don't want to feel bad seeing you suffer.

The way Dan introduces his videos always gets me so amped. "There's this MOVIE that just CAME OUT called WONDER PARK."

I'm sure they wanted to call it just "Wonderland" but then it occurred them they couldn't, so they moved from "Amusement Park" to Wonder Park. ...really should've remembered Deadman Wonderland is a thing that exists, tsk tsk

A Monster Calls is based on a book by my favorite author of all time, Patrick Ness. If you liked that movie, please check out his other work! He mostly writes YA novels about coming of age, struggling with mental illness, and overcoming grief. His works are realistic and honest and very raw. My favorite book of his is The Knife of Never Letting Go, which is the first of a trilogy, but if you want something shorter and easier to get into I would recommend The Rest of Us Just Live Here, a story about the other teens in magical YA novels who are just trying to go to school (think background Hufflepuffs in Harry Potter).

I recall seeing a trailer for this movie that was one of those trailers that essentially contains the entire plot. That setup is even more exhausting when it's compressed into the length of a trailer.

I'm just paying attention at that "Ps3 Prison break game" in backround

All I can think of when I see that blue bear is Charmin commercials.

Wouldn't it have been more impactful if the mother actually had died early on, and this whole Wonderland thing was meant to be the girl accepting her grief and treasuring the world and memories they built together instead of retreating into unhealthy coping mechanisms? But...she lives at the end? Weird

watched the entire glitchy version earlier because I knew if I refreshed the page it would be gone 😂 glad to see you were able to fix it though

Took me 11 minutes to realize he was saying Inside Out not Get Out hoo boi

The corn: soon, my friend. Soon.

Did he purposefully call it "Action Park" instead of "Wonder Park" at one point?

It's kinda weird to hear that they still call it "Wonderland" in the movie. I remember the initial trailer (which I got with some kid's movie late last year) had "Wonderland" in the dialogue, then subsequent trailers had the characters saying "Wonder Park." I guess the title and re-dubed trailers were to avoid any sort of confusion with Alice in Wonderland, but to hear they didn't re-dub the actual movie? That's just gonna add more confusion.

Wonder Park director: *accused of sexual harassment, fired* Studio: "Now what?" Hundreds, if not thousands, of talented women trying to make it in the field: "Hi?" Studio: "We don't know what to do!" Women: "Hey, we're right here! Look!" Studio: "I see absolutely nothing. Oh well, better go without a director then!"

Honestly, I think the issue with Wonder Park is that it wasn't dark enough. I know that sounds weird but I really think if they had treated the movie more serious and at the same time, actually talk more loss, the movie would be better. The reason Pixar films are always praised is because they don't talk down to the audience. They treat kids with respect and don't treat them like they're stupid. I feel like that is the main problem with Wonder Park

This is how many times they said "You are the Wonder in Wonderland" | v

I find it super interesting that he contrasts it with A MONSTER CALLS. Both that and WONDER PARK are Spanish co-productions... just stuck out to me as an American living in Spain and, if I didn't know any better, the marketing for both in Spain is so enormous I'd think they're the biggest films of the century.

Hey man! I love your videos. The topics you choose and your perspective is unique and interesting, and I love your voice and your mannerisms. You're great at explaining a complicated thing by using all these rabbit trails, then bringing them all together. I'm a fan. I think you're pretty great.

A film so inept not even Alan Smithee will touch it.

I thought maybe that export error was intentional and leading to something. It took me ~5 minutes to figure out otherwise. I am not a smart man.

Man, "A Monster Calls" has not received the recognition it deserves , such a good movie. "Gut wrenching" is absolutely apt. We had to drive to another city to even see it, because our local (not THAT small) cinema didn't have a single screening.

One movie I never hear this compared to, but I think is a dead-ringer for it, is 2005's MirrorMask. It has many similar themes: a young girl retreating into her own fantasy to cope with her mother's illness; characters kind-of created by her but who act unpredictibly; an external threat within the fantasy that could unravel it all and leave the protagonist broken, etc. The key difference is: it's smart and funny, because it's written by Neil Gaiman. It's gorgeous and visually innovative, because it's directed by Dave McKean. Its design is first-rate, since the makeup and effects were the work of the Jim Henson Creature Shop. Unlike in Wonder Park, there is actually an analogue to the sick mother within the fantasy world, which represents the protagonist's feelings towards both her mother, and the illness. Furthermore, there's the added element that the main character partially blames herself for her mother becoming ill. Granted, it skews to an older audience, since the protagonist is in her mid-teens, and the reason it never seems to be compared to Wonder Park is because I'm fairly sure next to no one remembers it after 14 years. It's admittedly a slightly shallow and tedious film, but anyone who finds themselves curious what Wonder Park could have been, should seek it out.

It’s sad that other Nickelodeon film projects made to spawn tv shows were more successful than this. “Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius” had a competent director and “Barnyard” had a director.

I see the DGA's check cleared. Shameless shilling for Big Director...

I swear I was following along, but I had to stop the video when you called it Action Park because I was laughing so hard trying to figure out how to make a family-friendly film out of the deadliest theme park in America. Hell, I'd rather see THAT.

I remember watching this and getting much the same vibe. Thiugh not as articulate. I especially remember the opening act being very VERY long and rather complex. But the existence of the movie as essentially an extended pilot explains that. Honestly I was expecting the core message to be something like 'to truly put away childish things is to stop fearing the appearance of being a child' and that the main character was destroying the park simply by trying too hard to adult. Making herself miserable in the process. Making her sadness a tangible force causing the destruction just weirdly invalidated that and serves as a prime example of less being more.

I don't know if you've seen Never Ending Story, but the Darkness in Wonder Park sounds quite similar to The Nothing in NES.

I've been reading The Neverending Story so when he starts talking about the park being consumed my brain immediately went "...by the Nothing?"

always interesting to hear your thoughts, but I'm thrilled you mentioned a Monster calls. I know almost nobody who knows this film, and it touched me so very deep

This video is only 15 minutes long??? Bro, I remembered it being at minimum 30 with the plot! That train wreck plot made this video feel so much longer than it actually was 😭 Rewatching this made me curious about that new Hatchling movie. I want depth with puppets and whimsy!

I'm so glad you were able to put it back up so quickly

You said "Action Park" once instead of "Wonder Park"...boy, wouldn't that have been a different movie, a magically created version of the death park...which actually could tie in with the process of grief, come to think of it. It wouldn't be a children's movie but having Wonder Park become Action Park as a result of dealing with grief destructively/unhealthily, that...that might actually work.

My friend used to work at a movie theater and at some point in summer 2019 he came over for a bonfire. He offered to provide paper for kindling bc I didn’t have any newspaper, and went to his car to go grab it. He came back with like 10 or 15 giant promotional posters for wonder park he got from work. We burned some of them but it turns out they weren’t great for kindling (they burned too fast for the wood to light???) and made giant paper hats out of the rest

I can't stop looking at the Rise of the Robots box... I rented that game once about 25 years ago and I still have flashbacks of how bad it was.

Are those pictures at the back Hbomberguy and Lindsay Ellis? Because if they are, I *love* that Dan art (tried to type "fan" and mistyped "Dan" but hell, I'm keeping it)

Coming back to this after realizing the animated series still hasn't released lol. Wikipedia says the first season has been finished already.

I worked as an (\unpaid\) intern in the studio for a couple months in the development of this movie. With now a couple of years in the industry i can say that 9:00 is what i felt during my internship.

Yay! I was so confused when the link didn't work

And underrated take on theses themes is the 2015 film "the little prince" (based in part on the st-exupéry book of the same name). It manages to have a complex array of themes, from society trying to format children into ideal workers, the power of dream and imagination, acceptation of grief, communication between generations, the passing down of stories and how we appropriate them and so on. Seriously if you have time check it out.

From a distance the American Tail cover art looks like a blushing face.

Oh please oh please oh PLEASE do a video on A Monster Calls!! The book and movie are two of my favorite stories of all time and it deserves so much more love than it gets!!

I remember seeing the trailer for this when I went to see the Lego Movie, and it looked really confused story-wise.

Yay! A mention of A Monster Calls! Such an underrated gem.

THANK YOU!! I was just sitting here wondering what it would be like if Carl Sagon did a review of Gilligan's island.

Aw man! I was so excited about the concept for this movie!

This is actually one of my favorite movies and I was sad to hear your review but I do understand your opinion of it.

No biggie, just means I get to watch the video twice!

I hope you do a video about a tv show eventually because you’re analysis of movies is great.

you said every thing on muy list of opinions on this movie and more. great work man! appreciate it!

Heyyy! Didn't quite work the first time, you had me worried Dan!

What the hell, they went back to Wonderland for the name of the park? That’s bonkers. There’s an actual trailer out there where they say “Wonder Park” all through it. Also, they couldn’t have come up with a better name for a theme park than EITHER of those? Wonderland manages to be extremely generic, the name of several real world parks AND a reference to a Disney-related IP. Baffling.

A monster calls was the 1st film I saw in 2017 (or was it 2016?). It was great and one of my favourite of the year. It was beautiful, touching, subtle and had a great cast. I don't understand why nobody talked or talk about it.

Did they ever actually make a TV show off of this, or was it such a failure that they dropped the project? I never did find out and really can't be arsed to go to the trouble.

I think Pan's Labyrinth is my favorite 'retreating into fantasy to escape the pain of reality' movie.

Im literally watching this video while in the theater watching wonder land by myself

This was interesting for me, as about 20 miles away there's a small amusement park called Wonderland where I rode my first roller coaster etc. It's theming is the closest I've ever seen to "default Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 park themeing" I've seen in a park and has a handful of unique prototype water rides and coasters

weird comparison and four years late i realize, but the "rejecting fantasy because of traumatic life events" is VERY much the theme of the peter pan sequel (return to neverland) that i watched a bunch as a kid

You haven’t been on my recommended list in a while. I’ve missed you buddy😁

I can barely listen to this, I'm too distracted by the blue butt-chest man. Who did this.