Pose Reviews A Movie. #22: Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (2008)

My diagnosis? Decidedly NOT horrible.

Ever since writing my second one-act play, Heroman!: A Play In One Act, Ill confess I've developed an inextinguishable adoration for stories involving obscure superheroes.

But I'm always willing to settle for tales about obscure supervillains.

My play, which I can't help but mention is now available for rent at GenX as part of the 2010 Laurier Fr!nge Festival DVD, centres around a self-proclaimed minor superhero who deals only with minor inconveniences as opposed to burdening himself with larger catastrophes.

Dr. Horrible, on the other hand, sets his sights considerably higher than the humble Heroman, despite their similar degree of obscurity.

With his ambitious 'freeze ray,' a weapon which allegedly stops time, Dr. Horrible plans to take over the world and win the coveted admiration of the ultimate supervillain, known only as Bad Horse.

Things get progressively more complicated for our anti-hero, however, as he deals with frustrations presented by his nemesis, the seemingly benevolent and irritatingly charismatic Captain Hammer, and the unrequited crush he has on his dream-girl, Penny.

Dr. Horrible may operate on a relatively simple fairy-tale-esque premise, but it isn't entirely predictable--and it certainly doesn't hurt that it's freakin' hilarious.

It isn't difficult to see where Dr. Horrible gets its wild popularity.

Joss Whedon and his brothers, Zack and Jed made Dr. Horrible strictly for online distribution. However, it was so popular that it ended up getting wide distribution on DVD.

Why?

Well, both the dialogue and the music is tremendously well-written, and Neil Patrick Harris takes a script that's already witty and clever and makes it flat-out funny.

What did I like most about Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog? I can't decide.

What three things did I like most about Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog? OK, that I can do.

1. The songs about Bad Horse.
-->You'll have to watch to see what I'm talking about, but these little ditties are classics.

2. Moist
-->Dr. Horrible's inexplicably sweaty sidekick, whose super power is (gasp) the ability to make people feel uncomfortably damp.

3. The Laundromat
-->This won't give anything away, but Dr. Horrible meets his love interest, Penny in a laundromat.

Given that Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog was originally intended for online distribution only, it's nice to see the Whedons revert to some societal roots with a more quaint, community-oriented origin story for the story's romance.

It might be a strange element to pick as a favourite, but it demonstrates that Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog has a surprising depth to it--it may not be Charlie Kaufman deep, but it isn't Judd Apatow shallow either.

Overall, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog made me laugh a lot more frequently than many comedies I've seen of late. And at only 45 minutes, you can watch it twice--perhaps the second time with the creative musical full-length audio commentary, in which the Whedons sing about the making of the film.

Yep. Gooooood times.

Wendy's "Films" of 2010 #59: How I Met Your Mother, Season 1 (2005)

Nearly everyone I know has been blabbering on about How I Met Your Mother for about the past four years, and I never really wanted to hop on the bandwagon. So, until now, I avoided it, but decided recently that I should see what all these people are crapping their pants over. It's pretty good! Not excellent, but there are certainly moments of sheer amusement. I would watch the second season, maybe not next week, but perhaps this year. Of course Neil Patrick Harris is the shining pinnacle of awesome in the show, as you've probably heard, and he definitely gets the best lines. Freeze frame high five, anyone? (That'll probably get old soon, but I'm enjoying it for the moment.) The rest of the cast is great; everyone fits in; no one is annoying, yet, though Ted is close. We'll have to see how long the rest of the series can keep up the search for Ted's future wife and still remain worth watching.