The Descendants

Ah Yes, February is finally here and you know what that means? Academy Award time. Having seen most of the movies that have been nominated I couldn't help but give "The Descendants" a fair chance as it had received 5 nominations and a lot of praise from the critics.

"The Descendants" is a black dramedy film in which George Clooney plays Matt King, A lawyer whose wife was recently involved in a boating accident and as a result she is in a life - threatening coma. King must learn how to deal with her two daughters and at the same time make an important decision regarding his family's ownership of 25,000 acres of virgin land in Hawaii. This film is based on a novel written by Kaui Hart Hemmings and is nominated for 5 academy awards, including 3 of the so-called "big ones" (Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Director).

While "The Descendants" tries to tell a powerful story, I felt that the story was dumbed down to some degree to appeal to mass audiences, the characters never in any way feel real and instead they feel like caricatures of themselves and clichéd, stock characters (The Clueless dad, The rebellious teenage daughter, the dumb-as-bricks boyfriend). While the performances put on by Clooney and Shailene Woodley as Alex King are outstanding, the script feels fake from start to end.

Another aspect that bothered me quite a bit is the setting, while I understand that Hawaii plays a vital role in backstory, I did not think it was necessary to portray it in the stereotypical fashion this movie did; Must every movie filmed in Mexico feature Mariachi music and People eating taquitos? Must every film set in Paris feature mimes and the Eiffel tower? Of course not, to make this even more ridiculous, the movie starts out with a voice over by Clooney in which he states "My friends on the mainline think just because I live on Hawaii I live on paradise...Are they insane?" and what did the director of this film do? Go and portray Hawaii like a paradise. While the photography and cinematography are exceptional I could not help but stop thinking how poorly executed some aspects of the movie were done.

The plot is good enough to keep you entertained for two hours but it is really nothing exceptional. I really do not understand why this film is getting so much praise as I consider it to be just above mediocre. I really don't see it putting up a fight against for the Academy Awards against the giant that "The Artist" is.

Overall, "The Descendants" does show great acting deliveries by our two leads, excellent cinematography and photography but poor character development. The soundtrack is full of typical ukulele music but it doesn't really stand out. The plot is average but entertaining and the script is seriously lacking. I can't honestly see it competing for any Academy Awards this Feb 26th.