FAVORITE FIRST WATCHES OF NOVEMBER 2025 💫
Tagged by @juniperhillpatient !!
My movie watching bestie and I are in the habit of intentionally finding exceedingly mid movies to watch and critique, especially kids’ movies, but we throw actual good quality in there too! So this is gonna be half and half good to bad.
Peak! Absolutely loved both Frankenstein 2025 and this 2014 beauty and the beast film (in original French because we need subtitles anyways so why not get the original performance). If you’ve spent any time on my blog recently you’ll know I loved GDT’s Frankenstein so I won’t go into it too much. But Frankenstein and La Belle et la bete feel fitting next to each other here. They both have fantastical moody romances with beautiful costuming and visuals.
In general, we watch a lot of fairytales/fantasy; there’s something really fun about seeing these different interpretations, especially ones that are actively NOT picking from Disney.
La Belle especially did a lovely job at feeling both more grounded and more fairytale; belle’s home life is more developed with a father, three brothers, and two sisters who lost their family wealth when their fleet of trade ships were lost at sea. I found it interesting how the attacks on the beast weren’t so much for ignorant fear but for the pure greed of ransacking his castle—one of belle’s brothers got into debt with shady people.
The fairytale element is in the very dreamy and magical atmosphere and storytelling. The prince isn’t the best person in the world, but the performances and fantastical setting make it much easier to ignore his flaws and take the romance at face value. My friend and I both agreed that we….didnt actually see the leads fall in love, but it’s actually easier to overlook because once they ARE in love they play it really well. And it sells the mystical quality of the story. The living garden, the prince’s backstory involving gods and secret betrayal like a Greek tragedy, the army of titanic stone soldiers, the healing water that’s just there. The magic isn’t a cost of paint on top of something normal, but a breathing entity that flows through the veins of the estate. Beautiful movie!!
Ok what’s really funny about these two is they essentially have the same exact problem. There’s this cool checklist of things that happen, but the main character doesn’t have any agency or real character arc of her own. Both Jupiter and Thumbelina are dragged around against their will, all they want to do is go home (and be with Love Interest), but they don’t have a strong emotional presence or character independently. Thumbelina fares a bit better in her gentle naivety and playfulness, but in general they don’t really have much character depth or motivation. It makes for a movie that feels disjointed and like it lacks forward momentum or engagement. Both are movies that have great potential, but there wasn’t as much care put into making what feels like a living protagonist. I genuinely kept forgetting Jupiter WASNT an orphan and her mom was alive, because that’s how little her family mattered to her character—which is crazy because the mom connection would’ve been so interesting to explore.
Both are still really fun to watch if you enjoy “bad” movies! Or movies that make confusing decisions despite their potential. Jupiter ascending is both batshit and extremely generic, and thumbelina has gorgeous visuals but feels like bluth’s heart just wasn’t in it. Also thumbelina had way more chemistry with Jacobo the bird to the point it felt almost deliberately romantic. Amazing.
Metamorphosis the Musical! Absolutely ADORE this short film!
I’m just gonna paste the comment I left on the video:
Thank you for the tag !! 🫶 if anyone wants to throw their hat in the ring send a tag my way!!
