Friday, February 3, 2012

I'm Santana The Movie (Non-Spoiler Review)

Move over Britney! He’s Santana, bitch.

Okay I’ll be frank. I did not expect much. A few cheap laughs, cursing and scandals could possibly sum up my preconceived notion. However, apart from the cursing and scandals, I was terribly wrong. It was genuinely funny; granted you’d have to be a true Trini to catch most of the subtle jokes and puns that probably still flew under the radars of some locals. This movie was filled with laughs. I particularly enjoyed the simplicity of the opening scene. Clear, direct and gave you something out of the ordinary for the previous Santana clips. The progression of the story was well thought out and I liked that Roger Alexis catered for new fans; if you haven’t seen or heard of any of the Santana short clips, you’d still be able to understand and keep up with the story… YES I know what you’re thinking there actually WAS a storyline, and not a bad one either.

The movie continues from where the last skit left off, with heartbroken or as we like to say ‘tabanca struck’ Santana haunted by the ghost of his past relationship with Janice, who has moved on with her new love interest, Pastor Stewart. Don’t worry this is a tolerable love triangle unlike other films (yes I mean you Twilight). The lovable Narine is present and is still being abused by his wife, Patsy. Some new characters are introduced while familiar faces are pulled back into the plot to create an enjoyable, dramatic, action packed, romantic comedy.

I’m Santana The Movie stuck to its true-to-trini humour and classic only-in-the-Caribbean comebacks and scenarios but don’t let their puppet exterior fool you, adult situations, violence and beeped out profanities mean that this isn’t one for the kiddies.

There were lots of hits and just a few misses. The rapid fire dialogue was quite entertaining and the colourful characters lit up the big screen. The music which accompanied each scene (and I mean every scene – it was almost as though Soca music was the new ‘fade in/out’ option for switching to a new scene) as much as it was, got better as the movie progressed; by the middle your ears no longer felt abused by the music but found that it started to enhance the experience. One miss that I think took away from the ‘Santana’ effect, for me at least, was when they used a little boy or a man with fake dreadlocks to portray Santana at times (see the movie poster for an example). This may not be the general consensus but for me it didn’t seem…right.

This production was jam-packed with superficial stereotypes, which can be entertaining; however, one has to wonder what happens after all have been exhausted? Where does Santana go from there? Luckily for Santana’s producers and creator, unluckily for society, new stereotypes are born every day, so this may not be an issue for some time.

All in all, if you enjoyed the previous Santana shorts, you won’t be disappointed by this production, so go see it! If you haven’t seen them, what are you waiting for? Visit Roger Alexis’s channel on youtube (rogera43) and start watching.

Rating: 8/10


Thanks for reading! Comments? Sure, post away.
Kim :)

5 comments:

  1. Hey, really awesome review, nicely written! I was thinking of going to watch this with a friend yesterday, but we went to the arcade instead. I'll see if I can see it soon!

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  2. Hey there.. Thanks for the feedback! If you're like me you probably had just as much fun in the arcade. Lol.

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  3. Hey Dale, you're very welcome. Thanks for reading..

    @ Nelson thank you for the feedback. Will check out your page.

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  4. hey Kimberly, didn't know you did movie reviews as well, well written though, still have not seen the movie, will do soon.

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  5. Hey Aaron.. What can I say? I've many interests.. Lol. Thanks for reading. Hope all is well. :D

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