Highly Overrated But Still Good

From my favorite movies..

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

"Joey" is an American / West German co-production from 1985 and the language is German. This film had its 30th anniversary last year. The director and one of the writers is Roland Emmerich, still a pretty big name in Hollywood these days and this 95-minute film we have here is from his early days as a filmmaker around the age of 30. The premise and idea in this film are actually not too bad. A boy mourns over the death of his father, but somehow he keeps being able to talk to him. the reason is a strange demonic creature in the form of a dummy (with a very dark past). And if this is not enough already for 1.5 hours, there is more supernatural in here in terms of all kinds of toys who manage to keep walking around and acting on their own.The real problem here is that this film is basically nothing more than a collage put together from snippets (in terms of plot and character) that were used in very successful films from the 10 years before this film came out. And that is why I would basically call it nothing more than a copy, but not of one movie, but about half a dozen. It lacks creativity and uniqueness entirely and if it is true that there is a film that had zero individual genius attached to it, then it is this one. Of course, every filmmaker is somewhat inspired in his creativity by the works of other artists, but this one here feels like it has no individual note attached to it at all. The good thing is that at least you can maybe somewhat enjoy it if you are not aware of or have not seen the films that this mix of fantasy, horror and family movie is shamelessly copying. I never thought Emmerich was the most creative filmmaker and sadly this work here confirms this theory. There is not really to say too much about the cast here as there are no big names attached to this movie. Lead actor Joshua Morrell, who plays the title character, never appeared in another film before or after that and maybe this was a good decision as he is not really great in here. But neither are the supporting players. All in all, this was a mediocre film at best and I give it a thumbs-down. Only worth seeing for the biggest fantasy/horror lovers, but then again these may be the ones who despise it the most. Watch something else instead.

I dreamed of interrupting this movie halfway through and gouging my eyes out with a fork. That which is seen, cannot be unseen. I always had this sneaky feeling that INDEPENDENCE DAY was really crudely scripted and directed ... this movie confirmed it for me. The director can't direct. The final product is a confusing mish-mash of E.T., POLTERGEIST and about fifty other films the premises were ripped off from. I can't understand the other reviews calling this movie original because everything in it was derivative. It is as if the script review called for every single popular film of the past ten years to contribute some elements to the story.Terrible. Really lousy. Shameful. I would have recommended this director never work again but he made one of the biggest financial blockbusters of all time. That movie was even worse than I remember, in hindsight after watching this turkey.

My girlfriend has a large VHS library she's trying to convert to DVD, but there are some films she's going to have a hard time finding, especially this one. Without looking at the box I was able to watch this movie and pinpoint the year of its release (The E.T. glass, the R.O.T.J. bed sheets and especially the teacher's Velcro shoes were dead giveaways to the production date). Fletcher was a good moment to reminisce about the official Lester dummy I used to have. I found out the hard way my girlfriend is deathly afraid of ventriloquist dummies. This movie was not among her faves when she was a kid because of this. My only complaints about the movie was a flub early in the movie, when Joey is picking up his backpack and you can clearly see the name "Josh" written on the baseball patch on the bag. Then there's the little black boy who conveniently disappears when the fit hits the shan only to turn up for the movie's lackluster finale. Smart move, kid. All in all, a decent movie for its time, but it's no Mac and Me, and that's saying a lot.

up until about a couple of days ago I had no idea what this movie was called.Afew days ago someone answered 1 of my question/comment about the movie Magic.That steered me in the right direction.I am glad that person knew this movie because I'm 28 and I don't want to still be thinking about the title of it. It scared me into frantic!!To this day I still don't like them but in some weird way i am compelled.I ordered it so I should be getting it in the mail.Can't wait!I am pretty sure this is the movie...WOW. I rated it a 10 because from my earliest memories it was awesome.Tales From The Crypt (HBO)had an episode called My Brothers Keeper. It had (I think it had Don Rickles and definitely Bob Golthwait). And to this day I consider it Terrifying! There is a Old twilight zone episode with a dummy in it. Does anyone know what the title of it is??