A stranger (Nicolas Cage) passing through a small town runs over spike strips, blowing out all the tires on his car. The town mechanic only accepts cash, which the stranger does not have, and the ATM isn't working; thankfully, there is a way for the man to pay the mechanic--by spending the night cleaning up an abandoned family entertainment center filled with animatronic characters (think Chuck E. Cheese, but with less gun violence). This 2021 flick blends a nice balance of horror, comedy, and action, even with a slightly scaled down performance from Cage--in fact, Cage's performance is one with no spoken lines, which inherently brings the Cage crazy down a bit, though we do catch glimpses of the Nic we all love, particularly when he's playing pinball.
Naturally, Willy's has a checkered past, and we learn its history as the movie unfolds. The story tiptoes along grounds we have visited before, but that really doesn't make the movie any less interesting...or fun. Chipping in to help Cage in his battle with the come-to-life animatronics is a group of teens--one of them has a direct link to Willy's Wonderland, none of the rest have any real backstory or character development at all, and none of the people playing these characters have much acting ability. The movie keeps a steady pace, and surprisingly never veers too far into the comedy path. Some questions are left unanswered--why does Cage (his character has no actual name, by the way--he's credited as The Janitor, but he's never named in the film, hence me referring to the actor instead of the character's name) have to down the can of energy drink every time his alarm goes off? This includes when he is about to do battle. Why is playing the pinball game equally as important? Why does he wait until each animatronic comes to life and fights them one on one? He has plenty of opportunity to destroy them while they are still stationary, but he doesn't. Ultimately, none of this matters too much--after all, we're not expecting a Hitchcock masterpiece going into a movie titled Willy's Wonderland and starring Nicolas Cage. The movie does deliver where expected, however, and is quite a fun ride along the way, complete with a fantastic soundtrack--just try getting these songs out of your head.
On A Scale Of One To Ten: 7
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