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The Indian in the Cupboard
Modern Fantasy / English / 1995
WHY'D I WATCH IT?
I honestly think I may have seen this movie all of once or twice in my entire life and while not totally memorable, it's always left a big impression on me and I've long wanted to see it again.
All I remember is a kid finds out toys he puts in his cupboard come to life and there are disastrous consequences for his actions. At some point he takes the "Indian" to school and bad things happen.
WHAT'D I THINK? *SPOILERS*
Basic premise is thus: Main Kid is gifted a toy """indian""" and a random cupboard for his birthday. Using a key left over from his grandmother he discovers that when the toy indian is placed inside, the door closed, locked and unlocked, he becomes Little Bear, an actual Native American plucked from history.
At least the idea that he's plucked from IRL history is questionable, we later see Darth Vader and a dinosaur come to life too, and we all know those aren't real.
Naturally, Little Bear is terrified to find himself the tiny victim of a modern day child, but thankfully he speaks fluent English and Main Kid means well.
By "means well" I here mean he's a giant oppressive bigot, which is my classy way of lampshading the current year interpretation of a white male taking advantage of an indigenous minority only to then flip it on you to once again draw attention to extreme double standard in which this same character kicks a rat down a flight of stairs and needlessly animates a deer for the sole purpose of Little Bear hunting and killing it.
I understand part of the point is to highlight the dangers of playing god, but this is seriously undermined when the same character you trust not to hurt the miniature Native American man casually punts a helpless animal down a flight of stairs just to spite his brothers. Also the deer? And let's not even get into the arranged marriage this character seriously considered before Little Bear was like "Whoa, whoa, hold up, brutalizing and slaughtering helpless animals is all well and good, but can we get a little women's rights up in here?"
Of course the closest this movie actually gets to seriously thinking about any of these things is when Main Kid calls both the Cowboy and Indian "old-fashioned", which I can't say is any worse than if this movie actually had an agenda to swing around, which if it were made today, 100% would have.
This movie's a lot like Toy Story, but it's much darker. Little Bear is attacked by a pigeon very early on and to treat his wounds Main Kid animates a world war medic who describes the awful warzone he was just ripped out of. The second time it happens it sounds like he was about to die, and considering it's never known how the time interaction works, the second time he's de-animated, he may well have been killed. I don't know how that's supposed to be reflected in the toy, can you animate a historical figure at a time in their life when they died?
On at least one occasion we see Main Kid animate another "Injunn" to yoink his bow, but they die of fright, and presumably they de-animate in a dead pose?
Anyway, "cupboard logic" isn't a focus of the movie, and provided that it's dismissed as "magic" and it does nothing to contradict the rules governing this "magic", then it's as acceptable as the dream device in Inception as far as I'm concerned.
Main Kid discovering the magic of the cupboard is cool in every way a little childhood imagination needs it be and I was personally surprised, for a movie this old, that the visual effects to make Little Bear appear tiny actually aged incredibly well. He's basically greenscreened into the scenes and they did an excellent job to make the lighting on him match the background and his movement across it appear natural with the often uneven terrain, like fabric. There are a lot of little touches that they did to sell this miniature person and it's great and of course it makes me want to rewatch The Borrowers.
While the visual effects may be solid, I'm a little bit put off by the cinematography. Really for no other reason than because while the extreme close-ups are necessary for some of the to-scale shots, you also have a dopey-looking mouthbreathing kid with an overbite that the camera cannot leave well enough alone. Nothing against the kid of course, the more vulnerable he looks the more you sell the child wonderment angle, but let's be real, nobody wants to see a low-angle shot of this face engulfing your screen.
Beyond that, the only other thing I can think to add would be that while Main Kid's friend gifted him the indian toy, he was infuriatingly irresponsible with both him and the cowboy he insisted on animating too. Dumb little shit has no concept of any consequences beyond stroking his ego. I honestly would have stopped being friends with him after the shit he pulled in this movie.
Overall, while there are some pretty ugly ethical quarrels this movie casually overlooks, overall I really like what it does. There's something about a mysterious C.S. Louis-esque cupboard and a special skeleton king that can realize the lives you imagined for the cheapo little army figures you had growing up.
I also like that this isn't a conventional conflict for the main character. It isn't really just about concealing their existence from those that could harm them, it's also about having a dependent, taking responsibility for a life you brought into the world, and the consequences that can come from having that kind of power.
It sort of feeds into that "it's desirable because you can't have it" sort of thing where in the end, having a real life tiny indian village in your bedroom sounds frickin' cool, it's also totally ethically prohibitive.
Better for that imagination to stay where it is, lest there be consequences.
Final Verdict: [Good]
The Indian in the Cupboard
Modern Fantasy / English / 1995
WHY'D I WATCH IT?
I honestly think I may have seen this movie all of once or twice in my entire life and while not totally memorable, it's always left a big impression on me and I've long wanted to see it again.
All I remember is a kid finds out toys he puts in his cupboard come to life and there are disastrous consequences for his actions. At some point he takes the "Indian" to school and bad things happen.
WHAT'D I THINK? *SPOILERS*
Basic premise is thus: Main Kid is gifted a toy """indian""" and a random cupboard for his birthday. Using a key left over from his grandmother he discovers that when the toy indian is placed inside, the door closed, locked and unlocked, he becomes Little Bear, an actual Native American plucked from history.
At least the idea that he's plucked from IRL history is questionable, we later see Darth Vader and a dinosaur come to life too, and we all know those aren't real.
Naturally, Little Bear is terrified to find himself the tiny victim of a modern day child, but thankfully he speaks fluent English and Main Kid means well.
By "means well" I here mean he's a giant oppressive bigot, which is my classy way of lampshading the current year interpretation of a white male taking advantage of an indigenous minority only to then flip it on you to once again draw attention to extreme double standard in which this same character kicks a rat down a flight of stairs and needlessly animates a deer for the sole purpose of Little Bear hunting and killing it.
I understand part of the point is to highlight the dangers of playing god, but this is seriously undermined when the same character you trust not to hurt the miniature Native American man casually punts a helpless animal down a flight of stairs just to spite his brothers. Also the deer? And let's not even get into the arranged marriage this character seriously considered before Little Bear was like "Whoa, whoa, hold up, brutalizing and slaughtering helpless animals is all well and good, but can we get a little women's rights up in here?"
Of course the closest this movie actually gets to seriously thinking about any of these things is when Main Kid calls both the Cowboy and Indian "old-fashioned", which I can't say is any worse than if this movie actually had an agenda to swing around, which if it were made today, 100% would have.
This movie's a lot like Toy Story, but it's much darker. Little Bear is attacked by a pigeon very early on and to treat his wounds Main Kid animates a world war medic who describes the awful warzone he was just ripped out of. The second time it happens it sounds like he was about to die, and considering it's never known how the time interaction works, the second time he's de-animated, he may well have been killed. I don't know how that's supposed to be reflected in the toy, can you animate a historical figure at a time in their life when they died?
On at least one occasion we see Main Kid animate another "Injunn" to yoink his bow, but they die of fright, and presumably they de-animate in a dead pose?
Anyway, "cupboard logic" isn't a focus of the movie, and provided that it's dismissed as "magic" and it does nothing to contradict the rules governing this "magic", then it's as acceptable as the dream device in Inception as far as I'm concerned.
Main Kid discovering the magic of the cupboard is cool in every way a little childhood imagination needs it be and I was personally surprised, for a movie this old, that the visual effects to make Little Bear appear tiny actually aged incredibly well. He's basically greenscreened into the scenes and they did an excellent job to make the lighting on him match the background and his movement across it appear natural with the often uneven terrain, like fabric. There are a lot of little touches that they did to sell this miniature person and it's great and of course it makes me want to rewatch The Borrowers.
While the visual effects may be solid, I'm a little bit put off by the cinematography. Really for no other reason than because while the extreme close-ups are necessary for some of the to-scale shots, you also have a dopey-looking mouthbreathing kid with an overbite that the camera cannot leave well enough alone. Nothing against the kid of course, the more vulnerable he looks the more you sell the child wonderment angle, but let's be real, nobody wants to see a low-angle shot of this face engulfing your screen.
Beyond that, the only other thing I can think to add would be that while Main Kid's friend gifted him the indian toy, he was infuriatingly irresponsible with both him and the cowboy he insisted on animating too. Dumb little shit has no concept of any consequences beyond stroking his ego. I honestly would have stopped being friends with him after the shit he pulled in this movie.
Overall, while there are some pretty ugly ethical quarrels this movie casually overlooks, overall I really like what it does. There's something about a mysterious C.S. Louis-esque cupboard and a special skeleton king that can realize the lives you imagined for the cheapo little army figures you had growing up.
I also like that this isn't a conventional conflict for the main character. It isn't really just about concealing their existence from those that could harm them, it's also about having a dependent, taking responsibility for a life you brought into the world, and the consequences that can come from having that kind of power.
It sort of feeds into that "it's desirable because you can't have it" sort of thing where in the end, having a real life tiny indian village in your bedroom sounds frickin' cool, it's also totally ethically prohibitive.
Better for that imagination to stay where it is, lest there be consequences.
Final Verdict: [Good]