Cut to five years previous, in a prequel to the whole series. The villain sets off after George and Harold, who are in juvie (“not much different from our old school…except that they have library books here.”). There, he witnesses fellow inmate Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) escape in a giant Robo-Suit (later reduced to time-traveling trousers).
To start, in an alternate ending to the previous episode, Principal Krupp ends up in prison (“…a lot like being a student at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School, except that the prison had better funding”). Not that there aren’t pranks and envelope-pushing quips aplenty. Sure signs that the creative wells are running dry at last, the Captain’s ninth, overstuffed outing both recycles a villain (see Book 4) and offers trendy anti-bullying wish fulfillment.
Worst of all, how the authors get their heroes out of trouble and back to the real world seems anticlimactic and, even within the fantastic framework of the story, not entirely believable.Įnding with the promise (or threat) of further adventures, this is clearly intended to be the next big thing-whether it fulfills that ambition remains to be seen. Some details seem gratuitously gross and/or violent, and the dialogue doesn’t always ring true. The text often reads like a script, providing direction rather than description. Secondary characters are even more sketchily drawn, which suits perfectly in some cases but weakens their impact in others.
The children are cardboard characters at best: Cordelia, the brainy, bookish oldest sister Brendan, the hyperactive, game- and sport-obsessed 14-year-old brother 8-year-old Eleanor, spunky and sweet with a learning disability thrown in for spice (and plot potential). The action ping-pongs wildly from a primeval forest peopled by savage warriors to the high seas, festooned with murderous pirates and hungry sharks, to a medieval-style castle ruled by a vicious queen. Three kids lose their parents suddenly-and horribly-before being thrust into a series of manic adventures. Columbus and Vizzini craft a fast-moving, cinematic narrative that packs plenty of punch but may still have trouble measuring up to the competition.
0 kommentar(er)
