Dinner
and a Movie
By
Steve Herte
The
Wild Life (Lionsgate, 2016) – Directors:
Vincent Kesteloot, Ben Stassen. Stars: Yuri Lowenthal, Doug Stone,
Jeff Doucette, Debi Tinsley, Laila Berzins, Joey Camen, Sandy Fox,
Marieve Herington, Gerald Schaale, & David Howard. Animated,
Color, 3D, Rated PG, 90 minutes.
The trailers for
this Belgian animated feature held so much promise I was eager to see
it. And yes, the animation is very well done. The characters move
smoothly and believably and are far from flat cartoons right down to
the details in feathers. The voice match-ups are excellent and
fitting to the character. The story is a great concept; the tale of
Robinson Crusoe as told from the viewpoint of the animals already
living on the island where he’s shipwrecked. It’s even
politically correct in that it eliminates the character Friday
completely. But how the story is told would not convince a
five-year-old.
One has to wonder
from the start why the miserably seasick Robinson Crusoe (Lowenthal)
is on a wooden sailing ship. The rest of the crew mock him and his
only friend is his dog Aynsley (Stone), a Skye Terrier with a
distinctly Scottish accent. It seems his only purpose on board is to
keep the two vicious cats, Mal (Doucette), and his mate May
(Tinsley), away from the chickens. May dominates the relationship and
vows vengeance on Crusoe and Aynsley for thwarting her dining plans.
Meanwhile, on a
rocky desert island, there’s a luau every night and all the animals
gather food for the feast: Rosie the tapir (Berzins), Scrubby the
goat (Camen), Epi the hedgehog (Fox) who looks more like an echidna,
Kiki the colorful tropical bird (Herington), Pango the pangolin
(Doucette), and Carmello the chameleon (Schaale).
Only Mak, a scarlet
macaw (Howard), is not preparing for dinner. He’s bored with the
sameness of everyday life on the island and is dreaming of another
place far away when he finds a ring on the shore. Not sure what it
is, he pecks away the encrustations and concludes that it’s proof
that somewhere else exists, and he wants to go there.
A violent storm
brews over the ocean and affects both ship and luau. When
our animal friends wake up the next morning, a ship,
broken in two, is on the rocks off shore. As Crusoe and Aynsley
struggle ashore in a barrel, the animals fear of being attacked by
sea monsters. Mak, however, is undaunted; he wants to know more.
There are some great aerial flying scenes as we follow him over,
under, and through the ship’s wreckage. Crusoe was trapped by a
broken main mast blocking the hatch above him, but he manages to
break though and eventually befriends Mak with a biscuit. But when
Crusoe leaves the room, Mal and May attack and Mak dislocates a wing
in the fray. Crusoe heals Mak and renames him Tuesday, which he
estimates would be the current day.
The rest of the
story is Crusoe trying to adapt to life on the island and Tuesday
being his intermediary with the other animals. Mal and May also
escape to the island after a final battle with Aynsley which sets
fire to the ship and explodes the gunpowder cache. Poor Aynsley, my
favorite character, is never seen again.
The animals help
Crusoe build his treehouse and get food and even cooperate in exiling
Mal and May to Curse Island: a rocky outcrop offshore with only bugs
to eat and dangerous currents surrounding it. But the vengeful May is
pregnant and plans her retaliation with her brood of a dozen young.
I liked the fact
that the narration (kept to a minimum, thank you) by Mak was told to
two rats on board the rescue (albeit pirate) ship, but the passage of
time was a little confusing. Granted, animals could care less what
day it was (except for Mak), but I would have liked to have seen some
gauge between May’s announcement of pregnancy and the adulthood of
her kittens. There are just too many unanswered questions for my
taste.
The Wild Life is
a charmingly cutesy movie best seen in 3D as it takes full advantage
of the 3D effects. Several items and characters are sent toward the
audience and there are scenes with items hovering over you. The
script is simple and not as educational as Dora The
Explorer, but entertaining for the little ones. The only
joke I laughed at was when Crusoe finds a pair of glasses for the
near-sighted Scrubby, and he looks at Rosie and says, “Rosie!
You’re not a pig! You’re beautiful!” It doesn’t really have a
moral and the only award it will be nominated for is technical
expertise. I enjoyed it. It just didn’t “Wow!” me.
Rating:
2½
out of 5 Martini glasses.
Narcissa
25 Cooper Square,
New York
Before making my
reservation at Narcissa I was reading a website listing the “100
Best Restaurants in New York” and I found it interesting that, of
the entries, I’d only dined at 23. Most of them I’ve never heard
of, some I didn’t think belonged on the list and a few made the
list simply because they’re the most expensive restaurants in the
city. Ambience and prohibitive prices do not make a good restaurant.
But Narcissa was listed.
The many times I’ve
been to Cooper Square were occasioned by the need to buy sheet music
or the irresistible lure of Indian food. I had no idea that any
high-end restaurant was right on the square. And yet, for two and a
half years, Narcissa was almost hidden at the end of an alleyway next
to a noisy college-scene bar, the Café Standard, a block away from
Cooper Union College.
I saw the name of
the restaurant above the doors at the far end of the alley painted on
the white wall in bright colors with flowers. The Captain’s Station
for the Café Standard in the Standard Hotel (which claims both the
bar and the restaurant) was between me and my destination. Inside, I
breathed a sigh of relief. All was blonde wood and soft gold accents
and white chairs. There were two rooms and a garden.
I ordered the
Mexitaly cocktail – espresso infused Mezcal, amaro Montenegro and
ancho chili liquor, finished off with mole bitters and orange
essence. It was delightful, almost like a smoky fortified wine, had a
beautiful burnt orange color and one could taste the coffee infusion.
The wine steward
came over and and I chose the 2013 Spätburgunder from the Shelter
Winery in the Baden region of Germany. It had a definitely fruity
nose and a medium body, a little on the fruity side but with a
noticeable tannic character. Not sweet, as I might have expected, but
with an edge to it that would accent a spicy dish, it was an
attractive deep ruby color.
My first course was
peekytoe crab with champagne mango, jalapeño and mache (a simple
pastry dough wrapping the main ingredient). The dish was a fantasy in
gold and green, and the delicate crab meat was sparked by the flavor
of the jalapeño slices. The wine turned that spark into a party.
The next course was
duck confit tortellini with spring onions and cranberry beans
garnished with purple pansy petals (say that three times, fast). It
was a pasta and savory soup dish in one.
The
main course was spiced Colorado lamb – a rib section and chop with
semolina gnocchi and sliced, grilled fairytale eggplant. I didn’t
need a sharp knife to carve the tender juicy meat off the bone and
the gnocchi disintegrated under my fork, but they were delicious. I
decided to go totally decadent with the side dish and make my meal a
carnivore’s delight, with grilled pork ribs as a side dish. It was
a first for me. They were tender and a little drier than the lamb,
but just as flavorful.
Afterward, I had to
have dessert, and the name alone would have made me choose it. The
Eton Mess – fresh strawberries and basil under a fluffy blanket of
champagne sabayon. Excellent. I ordered a lovely pot of herbal spiced
chai and a glass of Nonino Quintessentia Amaro to follow it. Narcissa
wasn’t finished with me. Carolyn brought out two home-made brownies
for an after-dinner treat. Perfect.
While there, I
watched the people at the next table and found reasons to return. The
carrots wellington looked scrumptious and I have to try their
watermelon salad. Narcissa definitely deserves to be on my “100
Best” list.
Here's
a shot of the nearby Cooper Union College:
For the Dinner and a Movie archive, click here.
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