The Law Of Bad Movies Sub-Rule 1.1

[captain_slinky]

You may remember some time ago I established The First Rule of Borderline Terrible Movies; if you're watching a movie and you can't tell if it was a bad movie or not? Like you're sitting there and saying to yourself "Well that... that wasn't ALL bad, I think I may have actually enjoyed that movie, but parts of it were just SO BAD that I can't..."? Well the First Rule of Borderline Terrible Movies is that if the movie isn't a musical but it ends with a big musical dance number? It's was a BAD MOVIE. Case in point; Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed. The mystery is solved and they say "Well then I guess there's nothing left to do but DANCE!" and they go on in to a 5-minute dance sequence before the credits roll. It had been borderline before that point, but after that point the scales had been tipped and the movie was deemed as horrible.

COUNTER-POINT would be Shrek. Yes it ends with an entire Karaoke dance number, but the rest of the movie was most assuredly NOT borderline bad so it didn't need to be judged by its ending.

SO the grey area we're speaking to with Sub-Rule 1.1 is the Over-The-Credits Song and Dance. The movie is over, they had a legitimate ending, the credits roll and THEN the characters come back to do a completely unrelated song and dance number. Example A: The Disney movie G-Force. Examples B, C and D: Shrek II, Shrek III and Shrek 4. In these situations where the song and dance are completely separate from the actual movie, judging the movie on the after-movie entertainment is completely optional.

Comments

[colloween.livejournal.com]

Thoughts on "Scrooged?" I didn't think it was a borderline bad movie, in fact it's a holiday staple 'round these parts. But the end credit singalong... *clangg*

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

Well see, THAT'S covered by the first rule; it has to be a borderline BAD movie. The only time these rules apply are when you get near the end of the movie and are kind of on the fence about it. My go-to example is "Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed. It has Seth Green (I like Seth Green). It has Velma (I like Velma). It has Buffy (I like Buffy). But the script, the story, Mathew Lillard and Freddie Prinz Jr... I just don't know how I feel about - OH HERE COMES THE DANCE NUMBER TO FILL THE REMAINING 8 MINUTES OF SCREEN TIME!!!

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

With "Scrooged", the music at the end is a natural extension of the jubilation felt by everybody involved. It's the natural ending and progression of the story, and it fits right. Plus, the rest of the movie is awesome :)