Movie Title: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/10)
Year: 2007
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle official site: http://tmnt.warnerbros.com/

I remember how I used to glue my butt on the sofa and sit still there waiting for cartoon time. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) is one of my favourites alongside Voltron, Baja Hitam, Thundercats. Now that they have Powerpuff Girls, Dexter, Samurai Jack… all those old cartoons seems just incomparable.

It has been a good old 14 years since I last saw TMNT the movie. Back in those days, it was purely live action movie. Trust me when I say I have vague memory of how the previous few movies are about. I really don’t remember anything except the fact that they look like running mascots on the street. Then again, I couldn’t bother much to re-watch the previous 3 TMNT movies to ensure I get the flow correctly. I was pretty much stuck up with work.

Little do I know this movie was the first CGI generated TMNT movie. I always though of this as one of those live action movie… continuing from their good old days but no… they decided to make it to a purely animated movie which honestly, upsets me. What happen to the good old days? It makes the turtles less soulful… we are in year 2007.

Spoiler begins here.
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TMNT begins it’s story by introducing the villain in this 4th TMNT movie. Back in ancient times, an ancient group of warrior headed by their brave general went on conquering the world and would stop for nothing. They are being feared by many as they are unstoppable.

The brave general found a great big stone which acts as a time portal. Every three thousand years, the stars and planet would align to a straight constellation and this would open the time portal. With this, the general would gain immortality. But little does he know the consequences. His other faithful brotherhoods was turned into stones while the portal releases 13 monsters to the earth. Shocked and upset with that he had done, the general went missing and never been heard since then.

Back in present year, villagers who live in a rural jungle was often bullied by this big bully who takes all their food and asked the villagers to pay for protection money. Little does the bully know the jungle is protected by this so called “ghost”. Before reaching to destination they intended to go, the bullies were beaten up and the truck with the food the bullies took from the villagers were sent back to them.

After hearing so many stories about the “ghost”, April (Sarah Michelle Gellar) decides to drop by from retrieving ancient artefacts for Max Winters (Patrick Stewart). She quickly notices that the “ghost” is actually Leonardo (James Arnold Taylor). Leonardo was sent to training by Master Splinter (Mako Iwamatsu) after their defeat of their old nemesis, The Shredder. However, Leonardo refuses to go back after the training thinking he is still a poor leader.

April then tell Leonardo what has happened to the family. Donatello (Mitchell Whitfield) has became an information technology consultant whereby he tries to solve computer related problems through phone. One can actually see he hardly fits the job as he gets a little impatient at times. Michelangelo (Mikey Kelley) takes up a job as a mascots for birthday party known as the “Cowabunga Carl”. He is often bullied by the kids. It cause him to have birthday nightmares. On the other hand, no one knows what Raphael (Nolan North) is up to. He seems to sleep the whole day. However, without anyone knowing, Raphael has been watching the city trying to keep it safe at night. He is being known as the Nightwatcher and help the police with crime.

Leonardo still refuse to return to New York after hearing what happen to the family. April have to go back to deliver the artefacts to his client, Max Winters. Casey (Chris Evans), April’s boyfriend was suppose to send a truck to deliver the artefacts to Max’s place. They then deliver the artefact to Max place only to notice this was the last of all pieces. It was noticeable that Max was up to something after collecting all of the statues.

It is true that Max is actually the great immortal general. By collecting all the statues, his brothers all reunite and he is all ready for his new plan. Max hires Karai (Zhang Zhiyi), one of Shredder’s follower. She gained leadership of the Foot Clan and in this task is to help capture the 13 monsters.

The time has come and Leonardo returns to the city only to know everyone was great and happy that he is home, except for Raphael. Master Splinter then appoint Leonardo as leader of the group which makes Raphael unhappy as he believes he is the one who should be the leader. Master Splinter then asked them to go on a practice and forbids them from fighting crime until they could bond together as a team.

While out scouting, the turtles stumble upon Karai and the Foot Clans fighting this huge monster. Trying to help out, the turtles got in to the fight when Raphael decides to act as hero. However they lost badly and have to retreat when the police arrive. Max’s general on the other hand capture the monster and send it back to Max.

Figuring what happened and how the monster came about, they all secretly trying to figure out without Master Splinter notice as they weren’t allow to fight until he approves so. Master Splinter got to know of their act from the news and grounded Leonardo. Raphael on the other hand kept arguing with Leonardo and tries to prove he is the true leader of the group. He takes of by himself trying to keep the city safe as the Nightwatcher.

While at the rooftop looking at the city, Casey came disgust in a mask and confronts the Nightwatcher. They both know who each other was but still got in some fights until they saw something interesting. They saw how Max’s generals capture other monsters. The generals then notice Raphael and Casey witnessed what they did and send a men to finish them off.

Raphael and Casey then hide at a room on the rooftop. As the general tries to break in they both panic. Worst when Raphael was shot with jabs. A police helicopter flew by and manage to scare the general away. Casey then help Raphael to his place and called the other turtles to take a look at Raphael.

Leonardo was shocked to see Raphael at the state. There, they found clues that leads to Max Winters. It seems whatever weird thing that have been happening in the town was somewhat related to him and the sculptures which April gather for him.

On the other side, Max is busy gathering all the 13 monsters to return them to where they belong when the portal opens. Max tries to be a normal mortal human being and tries to set his brothers free. His brothers doesn’t see eye to eye with Max’s decision. They wanted to remain as immortal and conquer the world. They soon starts to betray Max and tries to find a substitute to the 13th creature.

Back to the turtles, they were trying hard to figure out what is happening and after listening to April regarding the myth about the stone generals… they started to do a little research. Raphael believes he work better alone as the Nightwatcher and continues his solo act. One day, Leonardo manages to catch up with Nightwatcher and they both had a fight on the rooftop.

Raphael’s identity as the Nightwatcher was exposed. He then challenge Leonardo to a fight thinking he is a more suitable candidate to be the leader. The heated battle continues on the rooftop. The battle ended when Raphael pins Leonardo down with his sai after breaking Leonardo’s ninjaken.

After realizing what he done could have killed Leonardo, Raphael run away. Right after Raphael left, Leonardo was ambushed by the Stone Generals. He was shot and left defend less when Raphael broken his pair of ninjaken from the fight before. The Stone Generals tries to capture Leonardo to fool Max that it is one of the 13 monsters.

While Raphael was running away, he heard Leonardo’s painful scream and tries to run back to save him but he was too late. Raphael ran home being angry with himself and consulted Master Splinter for advice. Raphael finally understand why Leonardo is chosen over him to be the leader. Master Splinter then explain to Raphael that, even if Raphael is not his favourite student… it does not mean he is his least favourite student.

Master Splinter then told the 3 turtle brothers that their hiding time is over. They will have to get together as a family and save Leonardo. Together, the turtles, Master Splinter, April and Casey is all set to save Leornado from Max’s office.

Knowing that the day for the stars to align and open the portal, Max ordered Karai and her Foot Clan to stay guard outside and forbid anyone to enter. The turtles defeat the Foot Clan and manages to enter the office building. At that point of time, the stars has aligned and the portal has been opened.

Max finally notice one of the monsters is a fake one as what supposedly happen fail to happen. The turtles then free Leonardo out from the cage. Raphael then pass a new set of katana to Leornado and ask him to lead the turtles as they needed his leadership.

All this while, the turtles thought of Max as some villain trying to cause more trouble. However his intentions weren’t all bad. He actually tries to return the 13 monsters to where they belong and restore the generals and his own mortality. The Generals then stood up stating that they wish to be immortal and continue conquer the world.

This left the turtles no choice but to fight with the Stone Generals while Casey, April and the Foot Clan go search for the 13th monster. They finally found the 13th monster in the nick of time before the portal closes and things worked as planned. The monsters were sent back to where they belong together with the Stone Generals while Max gained his mortality back.

After the fight, Karai told the turtles that even though they help them this time, they will return for revenge with the help of a familiar face… indicating the return of Shredder. The turtles look at each other with astonishment while Karai and the Foot Clan disappear.

Max then thanked April and the turtles for helping him regain his mortality. Max then starts disappearing in to the thin air leaving behind his helmet. Back at the turtles home, Master Splinter puts the helmet on a shelf along with other helmets and artefacts from the Turtles adventures. Raphael then walks in and asked Master Splinter if there is any space for him to place his Nightwatcher helmet. Michelangelo then walks in and ask Master Splinter if he have any space to put his Cowabunga Carl mask as well. The movie then ended with the turtles jumping from rooftop to rooftop.

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Spoiler ends here.

Probably to many it is a much enjoyed movie but I somewhat felt it was rather disappointing. Firstly, it didn’t much re-cap what happen beforehand. We are talking about a good old 14 years here and I think a little re-cap would do good for viewers out there.

Honestly speaking, I felt the whole movie in 3D was rather fake. The texture for the turtles are weird. The human figures look pretty much like Blythe… which is too cartoony and at some point weird as it doesn’t match with the rest of the characters.

What disappoints me the most is when the storyline goes jumping up and down with no continuity. In the first place, let’s talk about the 13 monsters being released to earth 3000 years ago. They then zoom back to present world.. the monsters seems to have not caused any trouble. But when Max decides to gather them, one by one starts to pop up in New York and cause trouble. Shouldn’t the monsters be scattered by now? Be in across the world. And why come out now after all those years? I really can’t figure.

Then there is this red little monster which seems to be portrayed as the 13th monster. No evidence shows that it have been capture and everyone thought this is the monster they are looking for. But no… the last monster came running in to the office hall was this HUGE gigantic monster and it makes the whole movie seems just so weird.

Sigh… and I thought it would be good after 14 years… *sigh* They didn’t even play the TMNT theme song 😥

Movie Title: Mr. Bean’s Holiday
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (6/10)
Year: 2007
Mr. Bean’s Holiday official site: http://www.beansholiday.com/

A sequel to his first film titled “Bean” (1997), Rowan Atkinson is back to amaze us with his mime acts that never fails to create laughter. No kidding… after a great 10 years and Rowan is still looking same like before. Talk about being a famous comedian.

On the sad part, this movie is said to be the last Mr. Bean story. So I guess people will just have to make do with the Mr. Bean television series (I think I have seen endless times of reruns on the tv). Rite… what can one say, I think I saw the series like since I was a kid. But the amazing thing with me is, I won’t laugh no matter how I think his actions is funny. Everyone around me is laughing but I just sit there and continue watching with a emotionless face.

Having watch the first movie, I sorta think this show lacks of family and people bonding feel. Rather centred on Rowan Atkinson. Then again, it’s probably the very last time we will see him on the Bean movie so I think it is rather forgivable.

Spoiler begins here.
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Mr. Bean(Rowan Atkinson) is back… this time with more disaster coming along. The movie begins by showing Bean driving his signature yellow mini cooper and parked right in front of a church. When he got down from his car, he padlock his car with a classic door lock. Inside the church, there is a lucky draw going on for those who have help donate money to refurbish the church. The grand prize winner will get a vacation package to Cannes beach (travelling by train), a video camera and $200 spending money.

The lucky number is being drawn when Mr. Bean is walking in. The number called out for the grand prize is 919. Much to Bean’s disappointment, his number is 616 and so he threw the paper away. The paper lands on the kids train toy. As he walks by the train toy, he saw the number upside down showing the number 919 and won the grand prize.

The next thing we know, Bean is on the train heading to Paris.. right “France doesn’t stand a chance” against Bean. When bean arrive in Paris, he got down from the train and try to grab a cab to go to the next station, Gare de Lyon to take a train to Cannes. He goes over to a cab and tell the driver the location he would wanna go. He then turn around to pick up his luggage. While he is picking up his luggage, another man board the cab. A guy then ask the new cab to bring them to the Grande Arche. While the guy is calling his partner to board the cab, Bean get on board thinking it was the previous cab.

He sensed something is wrong when he arrived at the Grande Arche. He then tries to ask for directions, however due to language problem, Bean uses sign language trying to communicate to some passer by. None of them understand what he is trying to do. Bean then get to the nearest directory whereby he sets the direction he is heading towards and walking according to the compass direction in straight line.

He walk pass a garden, walking up and down from the benches, walking in the middle of the road which cause a major jam and potential accidents. Against all odds, Bean manage to get to the train station 5 minutes before it leaves. Thinking there are still some time, Bean decided to buy some food from the vending machine. He takes out money from his tie and place it in the vending machine. Not noticing he slipped his tie in the machine as well, he got himself stuck to the vending machine while his train departed.

He will have to wait for the next train which will arrive in an hour time. Feeling hungry, he headed to the restaurant in the train station for lunch. Not knowing what to order since it is all in French, he decides to follow on the waiter’s recommendation. He ordered a seafood platter, one of the restaurant’s famous delicacies. He is shocked to see a big plate filled with shaved ice. Fresh oysters and shrimp were seen resting on top of the ice.

The manager of the restaurant insisted that Bean try their delicacies. Bean pick up the oyster and gives it a try. However, he felt it was too slimy, raw and unpleasant. Sitting there wondering if he should continue eating, the manager is staring at him from far. He then pretends he is eating the oysters, in fact, he drops the oysters in to the napkin. Just as it was about to spill out, Bean manages to pout the oysters in to the handbag of the lady seating next to him.

Bean then continues to chew down the shrimps. It’s really funny seeing how he chow down the hard shell as well. While he is enjoying his shrimp, the lady tries to reach to her bag when her phone rings. It gave Bean a great shock. Fortunately, it was a miss call. Worried that the woman might spot the oysters, Bean quickly pays the bill and leave the place. While he takes the exit, the woman’s phone rings again. This time she reaches in to her bag and gave a big scream.

Mr. Bean then is taking some videos around. On the platform heading to Cannes, he bump in to a man who happens to be a Russian movie director, Emil Duchevsky (Karel Roden). Bean asked Emil to help him shoot a video of him walking towards the train. However there were many obstacles which include staff dragging lines of luggage in front of the video camera and Bean kicked on Emil’s coffee. After a few re-takes, Bean finally boards the train. However right after he board the train, the door closes, leaving Emil trapped outside. Emil is then separated from his son Stephan (Max Baldry). Emil then runs along the platform asking Stephan to get down on the next station to wait for him.

Bean then notices that Stephan is upset and alone. He then sat down right in front of Stephan trying to make him laugh by making funny faces. Stephan on the other hand doesn’t find it funny. Instead he finds it annoying and ended up giving Bean a slap in the face. Bean then moves away and fall asleep. When he wakes up, he saw Stephan getting off the train. He then sat on a bench waiting for his father to come find him. While waiting, a drunk man walk near Stephan. Worried about Stephan’s safety, Bean got down from the train and chase the drunk man away. When he board the train again, Stephan took Bean’s camera and start shooting at him. Bean then noticed that Stephan stole his video camera and tries to get it back. The train closes and leaves the moment he gets off.

Feeling guilty, Stephan returns the video camera. Stephan then tries to imitate Bean trying to cheer him up a little. The next train arrive. Stephan spotted Emil on the train, however the train is not stopping. Emil then holds a paper with his mobile phone number written on it. He then point and hinted to Stephan to call him when he reaches Cannes. Wondering what they should do, Bean got a brilliant idea and decided to shoot it down with his video camera.

He ran following Emil and tripped. They then replay the footage only to notice they got the numbers except the last 2 digit as Emil’s finger was covering them. Bean then list down 100 possibilities and they started to call the numbers one by one. They firstly called and a toddler was playing with the phone and ended up dropping the phone in a drink, they then called and this time the phone is ringing from a dead man’s pocket at the mortuary, the next man commits suicide (jumping from the bridge after the call) while the last one reaches to a cleaner who happens to clean Emil’s room.

When they saw the next train approaching, they quickly hop on. When the train is leaving only Bean notices his passport and money was left behind on the phone booth. Bean then asked Stephan to hide under the chair while he tries to hide in the toilet. Unfortunately, another guy was in the toilet. Bean would have to come out from the toilet. As he came out, he bumped into the ticket lady. Bean and Stephan was thrown off the train when they fail to show their tickets.

At the station, Stephan tries to ask a woman for money. Initially the woman tries to ignore him, Stephan then pretend to cry and the woman gave him some money to call his dad. Bean trying to mimic what Stephan did. However he fails terribly. Instead of getting money, he and Stephan was being chased out of the station.

They both then ran to the local market. Being hungry and tired, all they could do is just shoot picture of the nice foods. They then try to find ways to earn money to get food. Bean got an idea. Stephan distract the CD seller while Bean steals one of the speaker and place it on an empty ground. Bean then dance to the various music the CD seller plays in an attempt to earn money. Initially no one pays attention to them.

Suddenly the CD seller plays a classical orchestra music. Bean starts to do a mime scene. His actions manages to capture a large crowd. He then ask for Stephan’s assistance. Shy and thinking Bean is making a shame out of himself, Stephan initially refuse. After Bean pulled him out, Stephan pretend to be dead while Bean is carrying him. Their act manage to amuse the crowd and they gave them a lot of money.

Bean and Stephan then use the money to buy loads of food and bus tickets to Cannes. Stephan step up to the bus. Just as Bean is to board the bus, he clumsily drops the tickets. The sudden wind blows the ticket off the bus and lands on the ground where a group of chicken is grouped. One of the chicken is jumping around and the ticket got stuck at it’s feet. However, the owner took the chicken and lock it in a cage and drives away with it.

Bean then took a bicycle and tries to catch the owner. After chasing the owner for quite sometime, Bean is tired and manages to hold on to a car. When the car brake, it give Bean a huge momentum. With that, he manages to overtake a group of cyclist. On the other hand, Stephan got out from the bus since Bean is not back with the tickets. He then hitch hike with a group of band who is also heading to Cannes.

Back to Bean, he actually reaches to the famer’s car. However, the dog from the van barked at Bean and he is forced to backdown. Bean follows the van and finally spot the place they stopped. Bean then went in to the barn and saw and empty cage. He then open the door behind to check out the location of the chicken. To his surprised… there were thousands of chicken. Knowing he will never find the ticket, he decides to leave.

As he walks out, he saw his bicycle was crashed. From the footage of his video camera, his bicycle was crashed by a big tanker. Bean then continues his journey. He tries to walk along the road and hitch hike. As he waits at the side of the road, he saw a motorcyclist. After waiting for a long time, the motorcyclist still hasn’t reach. When it finally arrive, Bean was offered a ride. However, Bean decides to hijack the motorcycle and wants to leave without the cyclist when he is slow in departing. The speed of the motorbike is actually slower than the motorcyclist walking on foot. The motorcyclist then taps on Bean and ask him to get out of the motor and rides away.

While waiting for cars to pass by, Bean walks in to a wooden hut on the roadside. He accidently lock himself in the small hut. While he was in the hut, many cars passes by which includes the car Stephan is boarding on. Listening to the cars passing by, Bean then pulls out the hut and walks in the middle of the road. He got hit by a truck… but he came out unharmed. Bean then continues to walk.

The next morning, Bean wakes up under a cart in a French Village. The French Village is actually a set for a yogurt commercial. There, Bean saw the beautiful commercial actress, Sabine (Emma de Caunes). Bean tries to save her from explosion and attacks from the tank that ramps his bicycle. The director, Carson Clay (Willem Dafoe) then shouts “CUT” and ask other crew member to take him aside and asked him to dress up like a German soldiers and stay in the background.

After a short break, they continue to shoot the commercial. Bean marches in to the set holding his video camera. He was spotted by Carson and was fired. Before he left, he notices his video camera is out of battery. Bean then unplugs the bomb trigger to charge his camera. Carson was furious when he did not get the explosion he wants as the trigger does not function.

When his camera was fully charged, Bean unplugs and plug the trigger plug back. Carson was so busy scolding his technician then decides to push the trigger himself. When he was at an unprepared condition, the set exploded and this made Carson very mad.

Bean then tries to hitch hike again. This time a car similar to his one stop by. It was Sabine. She then offer to send Bean to Cannes since she is heading that way to the Cannes Film Festival. The show she is acting in is showing during the festival. Sabine then decides to stop at the station as she needs to go to the toilet. Bean then takes this chance to walk around. He then bumped into Stephan and the band. Sabine then decides to take Stephan along thinking he is Bean’s son.

While on the car, Bean spots Sabine’s mobile phone. He then ask Sabine if he could borrow her phone. She then agrees. Bean and Stephan continues to call his dad. However the attempts fail. Bean then ended up playing with Sabine’s phone, flipping through her ringtones. Sabine was exhausted and falls asleep on the steering wheel. Bean then saves the day and manages to swap places with Sabine.

Bean then continues to drive while Sabine and Stephan is soundly sleeping. Bean falls asleep a few times too. However, he tries very hard to stay awake which include attempts like biting himself, burning himself with the car’s cigarette lighter and even use match sticks to keep his eyes open. By morning, they reached Cannes.

They then stop for petrol in a petrol station. Sabine saw the newsflash and found out Bean actually kidnapped Stephan and now Sabine is a suspect as well. Sabine is rushing to the Film Festival, hence she decides to not drive to the nearest police station and clarify the misunderstanding. On the way to the Film Festival, they were stopped by the police for a security check. Stephan dress up as a girl and pretends to be Sabine’s daughter while Bean pretend to be Sabine’s grandmother.

They manage to pass by without being identified. When reach, Sabine wanted to bring Stephan in as well and return him to Emil since he is one of the famous directors. However, her ticket only admits one. Stephan and Bean then tries other ways to get in.

Bean and Stephan then tries to get to the backstage using a fake pass. Bean had to take down the security when he notices the pass was fake. Another security saw what Bean did and tries to catch him. Bean and Stephan runs. After losing the security, Bean hides Stephan behind the screen while he tries to look for Emil.

Among the audiences, Bean finally spot Sabine and Emil. He tries to get over to Emil however on his way to get to Emil, he pass by Sabine. Sabine was upset when Carson cuts of her scenes from the movie. feeling unfair for Sabine, Bean then gets to the projector room and locks himself inside. He then plugs his video camera in and started to pick and play clips from his trip with lots of Sabine and Stephan’s face and play it while Carson’s movie kept narrating.

Carson was angry and try all ways to get in to the projection room. Bean then sneaks out and jumps to the scene’s stage. Emil recognizes him and saw the ending footage with Stephan’s face on the screen. Emil then ask Bean to return his son to him. Stephan then appears from behind the screen and hug his parents. Carson was at first angry and upset with the fact his film was disturbed. When the crowd cheer and clapped, he pretend the whole video and movie combination was his idea.

Meanwhile, Bean walks out from the cinema and saw the Cannes beach. Like he always does, he just walk straight, stepping from roof of a bus to a truck to a car to some stools and finally he reach his destination. He was overjoyed and hops around with his video camera. There, he saw many people he previously met. Sabine was interviewed as a superstar, Carson was busy shooting stuff in a Bean manner using a video camera, Stephan and his family was enjoying themselves on the beach. At the end of the movie, Bean and all the other characters get together and sing a finale song.

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Spoiler ends here.

Compared with the previous Bean movie, I somewhat think this was lack emotional and family bonding. Yes, I notice they try to bring some bonds in but it just didn’t work. There isn’t much magical chemistry between each actor and actress. I think they try too hard to stand out as in individual. Most of them were too in to portraying their own charms.

Seriously, one could really make do without people like Carson and Emil. Right, I thought the continuity among scenes was a little messy. Probably it was done on a purpose… but it’s really very messy and I at times have a headache thinking where does this scene continues from.

Then again, it’s Bean’s movie. People doesn’t really care about everything else except Bean and his funny acts. Ah… I guess one could chew some popcorn while watching this movie since I don’t really need to pay attention to any details or script 😄

Movie Title: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (8/10)
Year: 2007
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer official site: http://www.perfumemovie.com/

Ah… What a beautiful poster. That is my first impression when I saw this big standee in front of the cinema. I am still wondering what movie it was at the point of time since I am watching Meet the Robinsons. The name Perfume with such an artistic poster capture my attention.

When I look at the bottom, the sentence “from the director of Run Lola Run”, I know I couldn’t miss it out. And of course it is an excellent choice. Something I would love to say it’s cool. If you are in Malaysia, I would suggest you wait for the uncensored version DVD to come out. Right… lots of nudity, and I mean lots.

Spoiler begins here.
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A movie set in the 18th century Paris, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer is an adaptation from the best selling novel by Patrick Süskind. This movie is extensively narrated by John Hurt. The story begins with the scene whereby Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (Ben Whishaw) is being jailed for mudering more than a dozen woman and will be sentence to death and executed soon. Before so, he was brought to the public and the verdict is being read out loud. The public was cheering happily when they heard the cruel punishment Grenouille will go through before death.

The movie then flashback to a dirty, smelly little town in Paris. Yes, notted for being the smelliest town where lots of fish monger settles. Grenouille was born underneath a fish stall, the same place his mother give birth to his 6 other siblings. However they were born and left there to die together with all the fish disposables. However, being different from the rest, Grenouille takes a deep breath and started to cry. Little does he know, his first cry caused him his mother’s life. His mother was sentence to death for trying to kill Grenouille by leaving him to die.

Grenouille was then being sent to an orphanage. When Grenouille first arrive at the packed orphanage, the children sense something different in this baby boy and tries to kill it. However, Grenouille was saved in time. As he grew up, everyone started to stay away from him. Not that they hated him, but they are just plain afraid of his actions. Grenouille would just pick up anything and everything and smell it. By the age of 5, Grenouille could not speak a word but he could identify lots of smell.. so many smell that some even words couldn’t describe.

As years goes by, Grenouille grew up to have cravings for smell.. any smell as long as they are new smells. That is all he is asking for. The orphanage he is staying in no longer can afford keeping him there. He was then sold as a slave to a place whereby they produce animal skin. There… he work hard, very hard. Normal boy would last a year or two in such places but Grenouille proves to be different. Whenever he have the time, he would sit by the side and look at the city opposite the river.

His chance came when the owner decided to bring Grenouille to town. There, Grenouille was so excited as he could smell a lot of different scent… so many different type of scent he have never smell before. It seems like a whole new world to him. He would walk around the street and savour all the smell he could inhale.

The town open his nose to a brand new world when he pass by a perfume shop. He could smell everything nice, fragrant and when everyone starts praising the perfumer Pélissier (Jaume Montané) and noted him as one of the most innovative perfumer in Paris for creating a popular fragrance “Amor & Psyche”. As he wanders deeper in to the town, he discover a very special scent, a scent so perfect he can’t help but to follow and inhale the scent.

He finally discover the origin of the scent after searching high and low. The scent was actually from a red hair girl who sells plums. Grenouille tries to inhale her smell from close and this scares her. The girl tries to scream and Grenouille quickly muffles her when he notice someone else is around. When the people left, he notices the red hair girl stop moving or making a sound and found her dead. Grenouille then tore open her dress and try to smell every part of the girl only to notice the perfect scent fades of as the girl died.

Later that night, his owner beat him up badly for leaving his sight. However Grenouille never mind a bit as he can never get over the fact that he lost hold of such a perfect scent. His life is then devoted to find and keep the perfect scent.

Giuseppe Baldini (Dustin Hoffman) is one of the perfumer in Paris. He used to be one of the famous perfumer… however he lost touch with scents as grew older. A once popular perfume shop is now left empty. Chenier (Timothy Davies), Baldini’s helper tries to help him solve his problems when the mayor in Paris asked Baldini to create a replica of the “Amor & Psyche” fragrance for him to use in an event. Troubled by the fact of not knowing the ingredients and it’s formula, Baldini locks himself up at his working space and start to analyse and study the fragrance.

Baldini’s effort meets a dead end when he could not figure out some of the ingredients used in the “Amor & Psyche” fragrance. At that point of time Grenouille drop by sending animal skins to Baldini. He then asked Baldini if he wants to make the skin smell better and mention that “Amor & Psyche” isn’t a good perfume as it is a little too strong in certain ways. Baldini was shocked wondering how Grenouille would know he was analysing the “Amor & Psyche”.

Grenouille then pick and choose and hinted out all the ingredients use to create the fragrance. It very much shocked Baldini. Grenouille then asked Baldini to take him as apprentice as he sees this as a good opportunity to learn methods to preserve smell. Being ego, Baldini insulted Grenouille stating that having a sharp nose and can tell what ingredients used is not good enough. Experience and formula is the keyword.

Disappointed and felt challanged, Grenouille asked for a chance to create the “Amor & Psyche” with his own method. Baldini then agrees to let him try but was out of faith when he sees how Grenouille just throws everything together without even measuring them and making it at some methods Baldini never thought could work. Grenouille then pass what he had made to Baldini, and to Baldini’s surprise… it smell exactly like “Amor & Psyche”.

Grenouille then tell Baldini that the “Amor & Psyche” is not a perfect fragrant and made a few adjustments to it and ask Baldini to try it. Baldini then ask Grenouille to leave the bottle and leave as he needs time to digest and think about things. Grenouille kept asking Baldini to take him in as he leaves the place. When Grenouille left, Baldini opens the bottle and smell it. It was almost like paradise.

The following day, Baldini went to where Grenouille work and bought him over. There, Grenouille helped Baldini creates new perfume with only one condition. Grenouille would create a lot of great perfumes for Baldini but Baldini must promise to teach him the ways to preserve smell.

With Grenouille’s help, Baldini become a famous perfumer in Paris once again. Baldini then teaches Grenouille the basics of a perfume telling him like music, perfume have notes, 4 scent as the base, 4 scent for the start of the scent and 4 scent to end the scent whereby there is a legend stating there are the 13th ingredient that creates the most perfect perfume in the world. It is said that back in the Egyptian times, some people have smell the perfect scent.. they could identify the 12 ingredients.. but no one know what is the 13th ingredient.

Besides teaching Grenouille that, Baldini also shows Grenouille the distillation process whereby Baldini showed how tons and tons of fresh rose is processed only to create a few ml of fragrant oil. Right after Grenouille learn the method, he secretly tries it when Baldini is sleeping. Awaken by the noise at the basement, Baldini saw Grenouille in frustration mode. He walks over trying to ask Grenouille what happened.

Grenouille was angry and called Baldini a liar when he fails to capture the scent of glass, steal and even Baldini’s cat. Upon his failure, Grenouille falls ill with small pox. Baldini was worried as he is too greedy and wanted to get more out of Grenouille. Baldini then told Grenouille that there are other method that can capture the scent of objects. However this method is only used in Grasse, a town whereby all perfumer must work and learn there.

Upon hearing the news, Grenouille recovers in a speedy. Grenouille needs travel papers in order to go to Grasse. Baldini promise to write those travel papers for Grenouille if he agrees to give him 100 perfume formulas. Grenouille never mind a bit as he could even give Baldini 1000 formula if only he will write him the papers. Grenouille then left Paris and head to Grasse.

Baldini on the other hand is very happy with the formulas that Grenouille provide him and hug them to sleep. However he never woke up ever since when his house mysteriously plunge into the river below. Grenouille then carry on his way to Grasse. In the middle of the way, he found this cave which he hide there for years. Yes, he finally found a place which is calm and have no other scent as it was a cave of dead rocks.

He slept and rested there for years when suddenly he woke up after having a bad dream. He soon notice he have no scent of his own and this starts to scare him. He then speed up his way to Grasse knowing he has wasted a lot of time. When he reach Grasse, he catches a scent similar to the perfect scent he get from the red hair girl in Paris. This time, it was a scent from another red hair girl, Laure (Rachel Hurd-Wood), daughter of Antoine Richis (Alan Rickman), the second consul and the richest man in Grasse.

Grenouille knows he would have to learn the method of keeping the scent before he do anything stupid and lost the scent again. Hence, Grenouille begins to learn from a widow perfumer, Madame Arnulfi (Corinna Harfouch) who inherited her perfume business from her late husband. Durot (Paul Berrondo) is Madame Arnulfi’s journeyman and also lover. Grenouille stands out from the rest and Madame Arnulfi always praise him for being delicate and passionate about his work. Durot felt threaten hence he always pick on Grenouille.

There, Grenouille killed one of his fellow colleague and tries to keep her scent using the maceration method. However he fails. He then walk down the street to look for a hooker. He decided to pay her to let her try coating her with animal fat while trying the effleurage method. The hooker quickly rejected Grenouille. Anger by rejection and curious to know the outcome, Grenouille killed her and tries the effleurage method on her. It was proven to work.

After that, Grenouille is all set to gather all the best scent to create the PERFECT perfume. He started killing all the beautiful virgin girls to collect their scent as the base of his perfume. Everyone in the town of Grasse was terrified when they know a murderer is set loose. The murderer would kill the town’s most beautiful girls, leaving them naked with all their hair cut off.

The people starts to worry as their theory of the girls being raped was proven wrong when they all show no evidence of being raped. Antoine Richis soon see the pattern and starts to worry when a men the government caught who claim to admits to the killing in Grasse was actually not the true murderer. He decides to leave town with her daughter and brought her to a nearby inn.

Thinking he could deceive the murderer, Richis and her daughter travel separate ways from the carriage man. Able to track scents, Grenouille quickly follows Laure’s smell as he needed her scent to complete the collection. At the inn, Richis told Laure why they are running away as he dream of her death. He then decides to marry her to someone she doesn’t love. This disappoints Laure.. and to make matters worst, Richis lock Laure up.

Grenouille manage to sneak in and stole the key and killed Laure in the inn. With her scent, he completed the PERFECT perfume before he was arrested and tortured by Richis for killing her daughter. The movie then ties in back with the starting of the movie whereby Grenouille is brought to the public hearing and was sentenced to death.

On his execution day, thousands of angry citizens gather around waiting to see how such a cruel murderer will be killed. However, everyone was shocked to see him dress nicely and arriving at the town in a carriage. It was shown that Grenouille dap a few dap of perfume on his body and handkerchief. The guards that escorts him rudely soon felt like they were in heaven and everybody starts treating him nicely. Even the executioner and the angry citizens hatred and anger turns to love.

The authorities, executioner and citizens soon abandon the idea that he should be punished stating that he is an angel. Being happy, he dapped the handkerchief with more perfume and let it go. Everyone goes crazy and started to fight over the handkerchief. The whole town then starts to touch one another and everyone started to take off their cloths and make love in the middle of the town.

Grenouille is pardoned from his crimes and even Richis apologizes to Grenouille for what he has done. Grenouille then leaves town and returns to Paris with his PERFECT perfume. He knows he hold the greatest weapon in the world. He could make everyone bow down and be the king and conquer the world. He soon realize that he would not be loved and he could never love someone as what the people really fall in love with is actually the perfume he creates.

He return to the place he was born. There, he saw a group of homeless. Right in front of them, he opened the bottle of perfume and pour every single drop of it on him. The people soon goes crazy and tells him how much they love him and start to pile on him. The effect is so overpowering that they want to hold him as an angel and own a piece of him, at which point they tear him to pieces in a frenzy and eat his remains leaving behind his cloths and the empty perfume bottle.

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Spoiler ends here.

I personally think it was a great movie with strong and powerful actors and actress. Everyone sort of fit their roles except the fact that I felt the red hair girl in Paris looks less attractive than the rest. Hmmm… then again.. beauty lies in the eye of the beholder.< I love how the storyline goes as it is really interesting and creates a lot of tension which makes one addicted to continue watching it. I seriously not find any boring moments watching this show. Not to mention lots of lovely ladies to look at. However I am kinda disappointed with the fact that a lot of the movies was censored due to nudity. Ah... now.. one would wonder why lesser people goes to cinema and watch movies like this. I strongly recommend this movie if you like something interesting, with strong storyline and new faces. Well, what can I say, I think it worth every penny of the investors since this is the most expensive German movie to date (2006).