Becky Thaveth All of Americath Aminalth.
AMERICA 2028 MOVIE REVIEWS, 6
Also posted at chrismaley.com.
A giant helping of heartwarming cutesiness, topped off with the perfect amount of schmaltz to fit these modern times under the rule of the all-great and all-wise President Eric Trump.
President Eric the Great!
President Eric the Wise!
All hail President Eric!
My previous reviews included a war movie, a father/son tale, a superhero origin flick, a college romp and a wall-to-wall dance extravaganza. I needed this light-hearted coming-of-age story featuring a cast of fun-loving, wide-eyed children as a change of pace.
After spending two hours with young, freckle-faced Becky leading her crusade, every person will leave the theater and dodge the radiation storms feeling ten years younger.
Watching this movie, I kept thinking, “If I were a pet owner who was in the process of getting rounded up and taken away to the camps, I’d want a youngster like Becky to show up and find my pet and do her best to look after it.”
Gollygeewillikers! — or, as the main character would probably pronounce this word, ‘gollygeewillikerth!’ — “Becky Thaveth All of Americath Aminalth” hit the cinematic spot.
Set just a few years ago, right as the mass roundups were beginning, it begins in a gentrified neighborhood that could have been any gentrified neighborhood back then.
Much in the same way that D-Day veterans remarked that the opening of “Saving Private Ryan” brought them back to that fateful December morning in 1944, the start of “BTAAA” transported me back to that morning when I turned on the TV and saw the news coverage of the mass, nationwide roundup.
Yes, watching “BTAAA” reminded me that the country did indeed kick the whole mass-roundup plan into high gear not long ago — but the tale reminded me in such a precocious and cheeky manner, I remembered to force my mind to stop wandering down inquisitive, critically-thinking paths. You know as well as I: doing so brings the risk of being rounded up these days.
Thankfully, the makers of this film don’t dwell. I’m assuming that, like the rest of us, they fear being rounded up.
As we viewers are taking in the opening mix of wide establishing shots of old homes mixed with boxy stucco condos — lo and behold — school buses with black tinted windows arrive in a column and line the streets. Moviegoers see rows of brown-skinned people, transgendered folks and same-sex couples. Families, senior citizens, young adults and children. The lines of humans get herded towards waiting buses where they all pile in. (The makers of this film deserve points for realism and capturing the efficiency of the real operation just a few years before.)
Not even two minutes in, we meet five-year-old Becky.
Blonde, pig-tailed Becky, along with her mommy and daddy — three humans, a nuclear family, standing on the street corner and gawking at those being marched away.
Becky — being the hero of the story that she is — can only gawk for so long.
The confusion leaves this young girl’s face to be replaced by a look of horror as she turns to her mommy and utters the movie’s opening line.
“But…but…but Mommy: what’th going to happen to all the peopleth aminalth??? The puppieth and the kittieth…and the fisheith…and the bunnieth…what’th gonna happen???”
Moviegoers get to witness the birth of a freedom fighter. What a treat!
At first, her mother giggles off young Becky’s concern with a “Now Becky, they’re just animals.”
Becky’s portly, smiling father chimes in, telling her that sometimes, animals die and this is just how the world works.
Our heroic Becky rejects her parents and refuses to take no for an answer.
From this point until the credits rolled, Becky single-mindedly strives to save every doggy and kitty and birdie and fishie that were previously owned by American citizens in the process of losing their citizenship.
Whether it’s Becky grabbing a puppy out of the bound hands of the American citizen of South Asian descent and telling this captive boy not to worry about his pet, or Becky rallying a gang of five-year-old white girls and marching across town to the camps where the legion of youngsters conducts inquiries with the camps’ captives to ensure that all of the people’s pets have been accounted for — you marvel at Becky’s zeal and commitment.
Becky’s drive in life is to save every animal owned by a person who has lost their civil rights due to their ethnicity, sexual orientation or religion. And Becky’s drive is a sight for viewers to behold.
“Becky Thaveth All of Americath Aminalth” is not some new spinning of “Old Yeller” and not for one second does it pretend to be. Instead of telling us viewers that death is an inevitability and our relationship with animals teaches us about this concept, this new movie proudly shouts that every pet is special — even pets previously owned by people that have since been deemed undesirable. It doesn’t matter whether their previous owners got incarcerated for being Latino, or black, or gay — Becky and kids like Becky believe that every one of their pets is special and they will do everything in their power to save every one of these pets. Those people crowded into cages can rest easy knowing that some of our nation’s youth demonstrate such levels of concern for their furry friends.
As our country nears the year 2030, we need more heroes like Becky.
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I don’t just write movie reviews about movies that haven’t been filmed yet. I write fiction as well. Check out my Amazon Author Page.
