Acquaria

'Acquaria' is not as bad as I thought it was going to be. All the stories I heard about it weren't good. Not that it is a perfect movie but it has its big moments. In the future the world is one big desert and there are myths about a place called Acquaria. Living a lonely life Junior and his friends live in an empty destroyed village. They are afraid of the 'bad guys' and there it comes the new Sandy – she surprisingly really plays well the mysterious type! The story goes that they want too find a way to Acquaria. Like I said there are some nice moments in this movie. The sets look pretty impressive, and the landscape they are on looks pretty cool too. Some single action scenes are worth watching and the boy, dog gang get some laughs. Still, the movie is filled with clichés and boring coincidences. For a mindless science fiction movie this is entertaining enough, nothing more.

Let's see… from the DVD I've just watched I regard this movie as the ultimate Brazilian production escape. It's exotic, dry and the 'desertscapes' are simply stunning. I guess it's popular to hate Acquaria. But for what reason? Okay, so it never made as much money as Universal wanted, but it's all up there on the

screen and it DID make a profit, didn't it? It's not the flop everyone thinks it is. I found Sandy and Junior to be actually quite effective as the (desert living) people and all the other casting incredible choose to feel it. The action is very exciting and the effects never fails to entertain. But bizarrely enough, the best scenes of the film are the quieter scenes. Actually I'd seriously recommend hunting down the soundtrack CD to this one – well, for those who

like Sandy and Junior, off course. It's a shame the explanations and reasons wasn't very clear on the script,

deeper descriptions on the way/why of living and characters for example would have made this movie much more commercial for its public.

There is no point going through this film and trying to make all the science/ desert feature reality fit. I found this a very enjoyable experience. Great national stuff. I can't wait for the producers to make a sequel.

You know, I have seen a fair share of what come out of Hollywood and National productions, all shrink-wrapped and on the shelves of the local video stores. I have seen horribly constructed 'Xuxa's', stupid 'casseta e Planeta's', dramatic 'Cazuza's', 'Santoro's', awesome and trash Hollywood dragons, green Hulks, some hobbit with a ring, Elvis sing-acting, and even had breakfast at Tiffany's. Now I've seen a post-apocalyptic action drama where our 'national' world has turn dried, and this world has a sand ocean to fish in it and I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the spectacle. There are some comments on plot holes and whatnot, and I totally agree. The 'cliché teen love/hate fights', 'the main actress survival after been lost in the desert for days and her impeccable Make-up' was useful, but why just keep focus on it? Why not tip it into the huge bucket that is the desert? See what happens. Anywho... Where was I? Aaah, yes. The effects were very good. A impeccable direction and the acting was on par; Not a Oscar winning, but fitting, I'd say. And, frankly, I liked the concept. Yes, it might be a better movie, maybe if its public was more specific (target for adults only), but no one in South America 'wild lands' has even tried to think of doing something like it and/or come up with something better, as of 2004. Long story short, I enjoyed the movie and urge my internet film connoisseurs to see this movie. Never mind that just a few people (and a dog – Incredible by the way) share it all in an empty, destroyed, dry city. Get your popcorn, relax and just watch the movie! Cheers, Patrick

I thought I wouldn't like Acquaria at all but when I went to see it now - I was totally blown away. First of all, the looks and the story - a magnificently photography/art and a nice structured screenplay that hit all the right notes. Who says that a great action, science fiction films are made in the action/efx sequences? The reason why the action sequences in this film were so nice, was because the characters were so well drawn out, given time to develop, and it gave us time for us to developed a sense of them, caring about them, and then, the action sequences hit. Such amazing moments. The acting is top notch, especially Sandy, who endowed the character with such depth of feeling. Ever the skeptic, I kept hinting at moments that would go wrong. At times, when the screenwriter would take the cliché way out. But then, something happen, the moment right after the action sequence in the house, a moment when the family is killed, and the baby is inside the piano--- I don't mind saying, that I breathed deeply and tears rolled down my eyes when they were in Acquaria, dancing. Why? because for one second, Flavia Moraes, let me see the heart of the movie. Underneath this glossy, special effects action filled movie, there's something that is all too lacking in the science fiction film production that I have recently seen, and that's a heart as big and as deep as a person's imagination.

Many people in Brazil dismiss the importance of this movie, due to their prejudice to young and popular pop stars like Sandy and Junior, accusing it to be just a commercial movie, aimed to promote their music. Such people couldn't be more than wrong: the movie actually is different from everything that has done before in Brazil. It has a lot of visual effects (seldom seen in Brazilian movies), it doesn't has much action nor long conversations. It's a movie made to delight our view, with beautiful art direction and amazing, poetic (although dry) landscapes. The story is slow-paced, reflective, but the plot just doesn't have enough elements to call you attention, sometimes it seems just too flat. Some important elements in the story just don't receive the required attention, leaving a lot of questions in our minds - I don't know if it was in purpose, to make us think and imagine, but there are just too much of these holes in the plot. Acting also could have been better. Even so, it's a delightful movie well worth seeing, hope to see more Brazilian movies using the same visual resources of Acquaria in the future