Lord of the Beans

[Diamond18]

No, I haven't lost my mind or stumbled out of Mirth. That's the title of the VeggieTales version of LotR. I was wondering if anyone has seen it? I've been considering it but keep pulling back because there seems to be equal chance of it being hilarious or just painfully cute. Though painful cuteness can, in some cases, be hilarious in its own painfully cute way.

The description from the back of the DVD box:

It’s a tale of good versus evil with beans! Lord of the Beans follows the fantastic journey of a Flobbit named Toto Baggypants (Junior Asparagus) who inherits a most unusual and powerful bean. With the help of his mentor Randall and a spirited group of friends, Toto embarks on a mission to discover how he should use his gift. On their quest, the group encounters many challenges, including crossing the mountains of Much-Snowia, and facing the dreaded Lord Scaryman – who seeks the bean for misguided, selfish reasons. Will Toto discover the purpose of his giver, or will the scary dude and his Spark army capture the bean and wield its awesome powers? Find out in VeggieTales Lord of the Beans.

[AragornII]

I guess it would be mixture of what you would call hilarious and painfully cute. The names are sort of funny: Toto Baggypants(Frodo), his uncle Bilboy(Bilbo), Randalf(Gandalf), Leg-o-Lamb(Legolas), Ear-a-Corn(Aragorn), Grumpy(Gimli), and another elf that they called the Other Elf, who is apparently Leg-o-Lamb's brother who had nothing to do over the weekend. Some of it is funny, but some of it is like "Alright, the first few things were funny, but now it's kind of old ." Some of it is just random jokes. I think it was okay. There are better Veggie Tales, and there are definitely better LOTRs .

[Diamond18]

Well, I did end up watching it. It was funnier in parts than I dared think. Parts of it made me laugh quite loudly -- for some reason I found the Evil Sporks incredibly funny and their conversion to loyal Cookie Monsters was oddly fitting. The creation of Scary-Man's Sporks in what looked like a giant waffle iron (that went "ding" and switched lights from red to green when they were finished -- see picture) managed to be suitably ridiculous in its own right and paralleled the creation of Saruman's army in the movie cleverly. Other positives I thought, was the extended laughing between Toto and Randalf in the beginning that ended up tiresome and had Toto watching Randalf awkwardly -- just because it parodied the movie scene well. Then there was Randalf's overly dramatic explanation of the Four Beans and the Fifth Bean. The fact that the Fourth Bean grants any kind of small kitchen appliance you could want -- now that could have been in the Entish Bow RPGs here on the 'Downs.

Also I liked the appropos of nothing appearence of the vegetable on the unicycle singing:

Oh I'm a lucky fella,
I'm a lucky boy,
I've got a new umbrella,
And it's me pride and joy!

And the rain may come
And the sun may go
I'll be warm 'n' dry
From me head to toe

Oh I'm a lucky fella
I'm a lucky boy!

It was just one of those "What in Udun was that about?" moments that I find funny because I'm weird that way.... Maybe it was a VeggieTales joke that makes more sense if you watch the show regularly, but its completely non-sensical and out of place quality is what made me laugh. Other funny bits: Grumpy dragging his axe around laboriously, Leg-o-Lamb making a "whooshing" sound whenever he moved about in sneaky Elven fashion, and Ear-o-Corn cutting the heads off of flowers as he walks along. The last bit was so un-Aragorn that I couldn't help but be reminded of all the sutble and not so sutble character changes made in the Jackson movies.

But what had to be, hands down, the funniest thing in the whole show, was the Silly Songs Elvish Impersonator interlude. Ear-o-Corn sporting fake elf ears, playing a guitar, singing like Elvis about his elf girl love -- who comes out and screams at him in Elven (which he doesn't understand) about how terrible he is and she wishes he would leave, etc. -- is just plain funny, especially when she says "I leave now to do laundry." The ending with Leg-o-Lamb taking umbrage with the whole thing was pretty funny, too.

That was what I liked. Most of the too-cute stuff I swallowed best I could knowing that it was a kid's show, but that's the best I can say. The Raspberry Forest or whatever it was called failed completely to be amusing. Maybe just because I'm female and blowing raspberries must appeal more to guys... who knows. I was disappointed that Sam -- SAM of all characters! -- was completely omitted, along with Merry and Pippin. The Other Elf supplied most of the Pippinesque humor of the hobbits, with his ill timed bathroom breaks and supposed good-for-nothingness. It seemed an awful elaborate way to set up the Keebler Elf joke at the end, and though I laughed at it, I would still have rather had Sam and at least one other hobbit in the Fellowship of the Bean. Also, there was no Boromir character. Oh, and I know this is a bit nitpicky, but from the very start in the Shire, Toto was wearing his Elven cloak with the leaf broach.

Then of course there was the sickly sweet moralizing. I expected it, seeing as how VeggieTales is designed largely to be a Christian alternative to secular cartoons, and each episode is all about the Lesson, but that didn't make me enjoy it. For a parody of a story whose author stressed how he didn't want it to be a straight allegory or moralizing tale, Lord of the Beans hits the audience over the head with the Lessons well and often. I have to point out that it wasn't the Christian morals that bugged me, it's just the preachiness of any kind that I don't like in a story. Give me Looney Tunes any day, it's nicely lesson free. Except for the subliminal ones, such as that violence is always the answer and the more devious you are the better. Unless you're Wile E. Coyote. Then it just sucks to be you. But I digress.

Anyway, that's my "Yes-I-Just-Wrote-An-Overly-Detailed-Review-of-a-52-Minute-
Children's-Program" review of Lord Of The Beans. The short review is that it could quite possibly shatter the Travest-O-Meter, and is probably best viewed when properly smashed.

[The Only Real Estel]

Posted by Diamond18:

Then of course there was the sickly sweet moralizing. I expected it, seeing as how VeggieTales is designed largely to be a Christian alternative to secular cartoons, and each episode is all about the Lesson, but that didn't make me enjoy it. For a parody of a story whose author stressed how he didn't want it to be a straight allegory or moralizing tale, Lord of the Beans hits the audience over the head with the Lessons well and often.

Surely you're not insinuating that finding a good use for your gift is "Christian."

All in all an interesting review to read. I thought the first half hour or so of the movie was funny (well, maybe 'humorous' is a better word for it) but the more it forges off on its own story plot the less worth watching it got...

[Diamond18]

Originally Posted by The Only Real Estel

Surely you're not insinuating that finding a good use for your gift is "Christian."

I was referring to the concept of one's "gift" being from God (and specifically, Christ) and needing to find out what He intends you to use it for. I think it's pretty clear that VeggieTales comes at their values from a Christian standpoint -- that's the point, ha ha -- so I think it's fair to call it Christian morals. A more secular viewpoint would be more ambiguous about where one's gifts, or talents, come from. Or, as I've more commonly encountered, would say that you have to look inside yourself for guidance, rather than trying to understand what God wants you to do. Both might lead to the same conclusion (throw the Bean in the well, Toto!) but there's a slightly different slant on the reasons why.

Anyway, the main thing I took away from it was that freshly baked cookies are a good defense against raging Sporks. It's a sound strategy.

(PS -- Happy Birthday. )

[Beanamir of Gondor]

LOTB Thread #1: Lord of the Beans

LOTB Thread #2: Any VeggieTales Fans Out There?

Funny, funny movie. I'm guessing this thread is for the more serious aspects of the film, though....

[Diamond18]

Originally Posted by Beanamir of Gondor

Funny, funny movie. I'm guessing this thread is for the more serious aspects of the film, though....

Not really, it's for all aspects of the film, both funny and serious (well, maybe "earnest" is a better word). I put it in Movies after doing a check for reviews here because I thought it fit here, being a movie review thread. I see my comment about not having stumbled out of Mirth is coming back to haunt me now since I didn't look in that forum.

[Legolas in spandex]

Now I simply must see that, but I have to admit that Veggie Tales gets old....

[Lote22]

I think that it had the same meaning and the same lesson that LOTR had just in a funnier way. Not only was the actual movie funny but the commentary was hilarious, and had a lot of origanal jokes. I also loved the way they changed the names of all the characters and added in Leg-o-lamb's brother as a part of the fellowship.

The funniest part of the movie was "Silly Songs with Larry" when he was an Elvish impersonator.

[Elladan and Elrohir]

I am a VeggieTales fan and unashamed of it, and I loved "Lord of the Beans." Some of the ways it rips off LOTR are obvious (like Randalf and Toto's first conversation and the names of the members of the Fellowship of the Bean), but some are really clever and multi-layered (like the army of Sporks and Ear-A-Corn's Silly Song).

Also, Kurt Heineke is a great composer who has previously provided score sound-alikes for veggie rips of "Rocky" and "Indiana Jones." His score isn't exactly Howard Shore-sounding, but his Shire theme is very similar, and he does the 5/4 beat for the Sporks, which I really appreciated as a soundtrack fan.

You may love VeggieTales or you may hate it, but for any LOTR fan, Lord of the Beans is worth at least a screening. And as someone mentioned above, watch the Veggie Commentary too. Larry and Mr. Lunt are crazy.