Category: Netflix

Teen movie reviewer -Griffin H.

 Klaus (2019)

Directed and written by Sergio Pablos in his directorial debut, and starring Jason Schwartzman (Fantastic Mr. Fox) and J.K. Simmons (Whiplash), Klaus is a creative, gorgeously animated take on the Santa Claus origin story. It’s a perfect holiday movie for all ages telling the story of our Christmas traditions’ unlikely beginnings.

Jesper Johansson (Schwartzman) is lazy and self-important, his uninterested outlook on life stemming from his family’s enormous wealth from the post office industry. As a last-ditch effort to discipline him, his father sends him to the remote, snow-bound town of Smeerensberg. If Jesper doesn’t post 6,000 letters from the town by next Christmas, he is doomed to be cut off from his family’s fortune forever. As he realizes that the mysterious town is anything but functional, Jesper begins to devise a clever plan to get his letters.

Everything about Klaus is oozing with personality. Every person and object in Klaus moves with such character, enhanced by all the exaggerated and unique character designs. Klaus is an excellently crafted return, and homage, to Disney-style 2D animation classics like The Emperor’s New Groove, Tarzan, and Lilo & Stitch. A hand-drawn “storybook” feeling is maintained throughout, despite the advanced animation technology used behind the scenes, and subtle strides into 3D animation with its highly impressive lighting and depth perception. Visual storytelling is in Klaus at its absolute finest. As for the story, it reuses the well-worn “selfish person becomes loving after life-changing event” story arc – but still manages to keep it fresh with its funny Montague-Capulet-esque clan war and a creative Christmas premise.

Klaus is an instant holiday classic. Personally, I found the clever, not-so-subtle Christmas tradition references scattered throughout the movie to be the best parts. The way that these fall into place is guaranteed to put a smile on your face, and yield a few “ohh” moments from everyone watching. Highly recommended!

Thanks for another great review! – Mrs. Long

Teen Movie Reviewer – Lexi Hugel

The Kissing Booth 

This was an absolutely amazing movie. The actors are well chosen for the roles they portray and are all amazing. I would recommend all high schoolers to watch this movie because it’s truly amazing. If you don’t like romance movies then I would not recommend watching this. 

Joey King who plays the character of Elle Evans did an incredible job of portraying her role. All the emotions that were trying to be portrayed by the writer truly came through. Sometimes the movie gets pretty sad. Also Jacob Elordi and Joel Courtney did an amazing job in their roles as Noah Flynn and Lee Flynn. I love how this movie shows the importance of friendship, but at the same time you should always be happy for your friends achievements.

Thanks for a great review! – Mrs. Long

Teen Netflix Reviewer – Sid Rojinedar

Never Have I Ever (2020)

Created by Mindy Kailing (The Mindy Project) and starring Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, The Netflix series Never Have I Ever, is an entertaining, binge-worthy and cleverly written coming of age, teen drama with every episode having its fair share of conflicts and high school dilemmas. It contains all the ups and downs of a high school life. Every minute is packed with nonstop humor, drama and action. The story centers around Devi Vishwakumar, a 15-year-old girl from Sherman Oaks, California. After a horrible freshman year, Devi wants to change her social status, but friends, family, and feelings don’t make it easy for her. After Devi’s father, Mohan passes away, Devi loses the use of her legs for three months. The following year, she tries to deal with her grief, Indian identity and school life, also struggling with her relationship with her mother, Nalini, her beautiful cousin, Kamala, her 2 best friends, Eleanor and Fabiola, her high school crush, Paxton, and her nemesis, Ben.

Never Have I Ever is a highly recommended watch for anybody that wants to have a fun time and to relive the good old high school days (of course if you’ve already graduated high school). The show will leave its viewers wanting more and with only season released, it has joined the ranks of the popular shows like Stranger Things and Riverdale. The show however leaves some loose ends untied that hopefully will be solved in season 2. But, the future is bright for this show, and this already great sitcom has the potential to be amazing.

~ Sid

Thanks for another great review, Sid!

– Mrs. Long