"Happy heart, everyone!"
Hello everyone!
And yes, there WILL be a third, coming to your blog screens around this time next week, so make sure you're all caught up before then.
Because boy, does Niko have a few more adventures to share with us all!
As always, you know the drill: until the holiday season lets up, there will be only Christmas-themed posts on this blog, as has been tradition for the last ... who knows how many years at this point?
I don't even know how long I've been blogging! It must be going on a decade at this point.
Wow. Time flies when you're having fun!
So without further ado, let's have a little MORE fun while we're at it, shall we? Because the reindeer will ensure that's definitely what happens.
Let's take a look at Little Brother, Big Trouble: The Christmas Adventure.
Niko, if you remember, is the son of Prancer, one of Santa's reindeer - or in this case, Santa's Flying Forces, and if someone brings out that stupid song ditty again I may consider retaliation lol - and he spends a lot of time with his old man up at Santa's Fell, much to the chagrin of his mother, who seems intent only on keeping her "baby boy" close to her and away from anything she considers remotely dangerous.
I think it's a metaphor for every teenage mom out there, ever.
Anyway, she's also nervous about telling him something else: that she's found another guy, this time a scrawny reindeer named Lenni, who talks a lot about the weather and has one son himself, Jonni.
Now, I think the movie had to accelerate things, obviously, because we only get an hour and change on the action, but it's pretty clear even so that Oona basically just ... dumped this all on Niko and then expected him to be perfectly okay with the situation before he was ready to be, actually even expecting him to behave like this new normal has been in place since forever.
Here's the deal though: it hasn't been, not for him, while SHE's had time to get accustomed to it all. So when Niko looks at this new family unit that's apparently formed while he was doing his own thing (and you have to admit, everyone in this movie is suddenly all over Jonni as if Niko doesn't exist anymore, a classic trope of 'the older kid doesn't need as much attention anyway' which breeds resentment like nothing else), naturally he's annoyed and jealous.
Which means it's only natural he tried to play a prank on Jonni to leave him alone for a little bit, only for it to backfire when suddenly eagles sweep in and whisk the kid away!
Niko, being the good kid that he really is, heads straight after them, while Julius, Wilma and Saga trot on back to tell the parents what happened. Only, the truth never does reach Oona, though it does Lenni, and then he doesn't tell Oona either, so it all becomes a convoluted mess of a lie which culminates with the rest of them heading up to Santa's Fell to talk to Prancer (the only excuse Lenni could come up with).
Niko, meanwhile, gets tossed out of the air by a huge storm, and wakes to find an old reindeer looking after him. The old guy's name is Tobias, and he's been living on his own with rocks and trees for company since forever.
He tags along to help Niko because he knows the lay of the land where they're going in the Eagle's Domain, and meanwhile we learn why Jonni was taken in the first place.
White Wolf, who happens to be Black Wolf's sister (you know, the bad guy who wanted to eat Santa in the first movie?) is out for revenge and wants Niko. The eagles are idiots and got Jonni instead, but she's going to wait for the hero to come by anyway.
Niko manages to sneak in with Tobias' help, but their escape is thwarted and would have ended badly for both the young bucks if Julius hadn't caught up with Tobias by then, and it's revealed that Tobias himself is a flier - so he gets them all out.
Turns out he used to lead the Flying Forces, hiding the fact his eyesight was turning poor, but then he missed two houses one Christmas run, and was so ashamed he disappeared and never returned. He trudges off now too when the parents pop up and the families are reunited.
The kids initially lie - Jonni covering for Niko over what happened - and since they'd already talked to Prancer (not the kind that Lenni insisted he wanted to have, 'reindeer to reindeer' so he'd stop upsetting Oona LOL Prancer outweighs Lenni twice over) they all head back.
But Niko's in general an honest kid, so he admits to everything - which of course unravels the mountain of lies that everyone else got tangled up in, revealing that ONLY Oona didn't know what was really going on.
She's mad, naturally, and while Niko's trying to figure out how to fix this for Lenni, the eagles drop a Flying Forces harness in front of him, which prompts him to rush back to Santa's Fell since he realizes his dad's in trouble.
And oh boy, is Prancer in trouble.
See the White Wolf decided to go for Niko again through a different situation, and caught all the flying reindeer in a trap, now having only to wait. Niko's joined by the usual gang, now including Tobias and Jonni, and all hell breaks loose while they attempt to take down the Wolf and the eagles, and rescue the fliers.
In the end, Wilma does most of the heavy lifting, which is hilarious since she really does leave the easy job to the boys, and White Wolf ends up all trussed up like a Christmas present. Jonni gets to meet Santa and the fliers, and Tobias gets the recognition he deserves, eventually going home with the kids to their family.
The movie concludes with Oona and Lenni having a daughter together, which is hinted at right from the start of the movie, so really the woman's speech to Niko should have gone something like this: So I met this guy, he's cute and I'm gonna marry him, and oh he has a kid so you have to be a big brother now, and ALSO, surprise! I'm pregnant and you're having ANOTHER kid sibling.
Yeesh, Oona really knows how to speed up the timeline!
But as Niko's happy and reaches "Santa Speed" which is basically faster than the speed of sound, the movie ends on a high note.
Just as amusing as the first one, this follows Niko as he matures further and learns that not all families are perfect, and sometimes you don't get everything you might want (he wanted his mom and Prancer to get back together, for example). But boy oh boy is the familial aspect of this rushed and sped up!
The rest of the action is engaging and funny enough, and the magic of Christmas returns with Santa happily out delivering presents.
Make sure to look in again next week when we have a look at just what adventure's waiting for Niko next, in Beyond the Northern Lights!
xx
*images and video not mine
No comments:
Post a Comment