Darby O' Gill (Albert Sharpe) is an old codger who's good friends with King Brien the King of the Leprechauns (Jimmy O' Dea) who both like to outwit each other. After Darby catches him to grant him 3 wishes, the two of them try to match up Darby's daughter Katie (Janet Munro) and a worker taking Darby's place as caretaker named Michael (Sean Connery). However, the nasty town bully Pony (Kieron Moore) wants to marry Katie.
The acting and characters is really great. Our main character Darby is tons of fun to watch who's also really lovable character. King Brien is also a really a fun character too. However, when you put these to fun characters together that's where they are at their best. They're good friends but they like to fight, argue and try to out smart each other since they're both smart and clever, which makes the relationship between them both fun and interesting. My favorite scene is when Darby gets the King drunk while singing "The Wishing Song" which is a song they make up as they go along as distraction to keep him on his farm until morning, where the Leprechaun becomes powerless. I do however wonder how the King was able to use his magic during the day time in one scene, however I'm giving that scene a free pass which is very rare of me to do because the rest of the things surrounding the film is so good.
The daughter Katie is a loving character and Pony the town bully is a fun villain. Speaking of the two I feel like they some what inspired the development of the characters in Disney's "Beauty And The Beast". Belle is as strong and loving as Katie; Gaston is the hunky bully like Pony; and even Maurice is not only a kind loving father like Darby, but raves about what he saw which people find him to be crazy. As for Sean Connery this was before he was James Bond which as a matter of fact they actually chose him to play Bond after seeing him in this film. Sean Connery is great in this film and yes something’s do ironically foreshadow him being Bond such as getting the girl (By the way there's great chemistry between him and Katie) and the Irish brawl at the end. He also sings in this film, some people find it a shocker but did anyone see "Dr.No", he sung a little bit in that film when he first met Honey Ryder (I wonder if that was an homage to this film).
The atmosphere and music is really great and really pulls you into this film's world. The special effects are really creativity, outstanding, and even the cheap ones manage to look cool. Best scene is when Darby is at the Mystical land of the Leprechauns (Some complain where the woman are, but I think that has to do with the fact that most of us see Leprechauns as males, however, I'm not saying their aren't any stories with girl Leprechauns) full of treasure and fun as he plays an old Fiddle where they start dancing, drinking, and riding horses. The effects for the Leprechauns are so great that Walt made the audience believe they were actually Leprechauns and did an episode promoting the film of him meeting them to help him make the film (However, I strongly recommend you see the film first). Speaking of the Leprechaun world, I wonder if the scene when Darby enters the land of the Leprechaun was homage in "Nightmare Before Christmas" for when Jack goes to Christmas Town? The two do look similar. Finally, who can also forget the Banshee and the Death Coach Driver? The effect maybe a little cheap but the build up; the dark atmosphere; idea; and design are what make them so terrifying.
Overall I think it's one of the best live action Disney films of all time and in my opinion I think it deserves to be shown and recognized more. At least Doug Walker promoted this film, but I'd love to see more people recommend it.
RATING 5/5
No comments:
Post a Comment