Text A makes the film sound witty as well as mind challenging as she tells us how comical she found the scene where the monkey is ‘taking out his false teeth’ and praises the make-up artists for such a realistic and convincing job they did on the actor. Meanwhile Text B explains how pathetic she found Tim Burton’s attempt to bring humour into the film and calls the costumes ‘less than convincing rubber suits and false hair’ Both texts ask opinions of other people who have been to see the movie. Text A asks 46 year old Michael Henry and 12 year old Gavin woods whereas Text B only asks her daughter, for whom she gives no name or age, except to say she is a ‘teenager’. In this I think that Text A gives a more plausible opinion as it has a more personal approach to the text and this makes us feel that other real people out there have loved this movie as much as the writer has.
When talking about actually going to the movie, both texts make us feel the comments are aimed at us personally. In Text A it says the movie ‘should appeal to anyone with a taste for adventure’, which implies that if you don’t go to see this movie, you lack a taste for adventure. Text B uses a different, but equally effective approach by quoting that ‘Monkeys and movies just do not mix-any sensible cinema-goers will agree with me’. This use of alliteration is also an effective way of grabbing our attention, as well as the implied notion that we are not sensible if we don’t hate this movie. As this quote is right at the beginning of the passage, it immediately lets us know the feelings the writer has about the film.
Text B however uses a form of sarcastic humour to show that they are making fun of the text. It is written in such a way that we are immediately agreeing with her and laughing to ourselves about some of the ‘ridiculous’ ideas which are put forward by the movie. An obvious example of this is ‘No sooner have the opening titles and accompanying tension-ratcheting music passed than it 2029 and (wait for it!) there’s a chimpanzee flying a spaceship!’ Later, when describing the text, the writer uses slang terms so that we feel she is not too formal, but almost like a friend describing the movie, for example ‘yuk!’. She makes the movie seem very unrealistic, and the characters unlikely when she describes one of the main characters as ‘a grumpy old space pilot who pretends not to care’ and calls the story-line ‘paper thin’. The use of the word ‘pretends’ instead of ‘acts’ shows us that she is trying to put across the point that he was not a particularly good actor either and the reference to the story line makes the movie sound very dull. The use of puns such as ‘Come on, Mr. Burton, what planet are you on?’ add a comical feel to the piece, rather than just a slanderous one.
Text A, however, felt that the Oscar the movie won was ‘Well deserved’ and also makes references to the actors, but this time describing them as ‘legendary’. This makes us think that the movie must have excellent quality acting if such famous people are starring in it and when describing the movie itself, the first make of the movie is described as ‘a classic’ which tells us that this movie is going to be even better than the last one, especially when the re-make is described as ‘lavish’. This text also uses puns, as well as references to other famous movies, such as saying ‘it is set to blow Pearl Harbour out of the water’ which makes an emphasis on the movie being about a ship. This is a good choice as it is another new and already famous movie.
Text A and B both give opposite points of view. Text A says that ‘perhaps (one of the characters) was killed off too soon’, adding a sense of realism to what they have been saying. Text B says she ‘must try to be fair’ and goes on to say that the film was not ‘entirely bad’ which tells us that there where some decent points in the movie, but she goes on to say it is still ‘ultimately disappointing’.
Text A, in the end, says that the cinema-goers were ‘satisfied’, which makes us think that the movie must have been good, whereas Text B give an ultimatum; ‘lap up the action or be bored, like me’ showing that if you are not interested in that kind of thing you will thoroughly dislike this movie, especially when she describes the screen as ‘littered’ with ‘silly’ visual effects and this says to us “if that’s what your going for, you will be disappointed”.
I found it interesting that both writers put the opinions of the other people last. This could be saying that their own opinions are more important and that the reader should listen to their point of view first.
