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Furry Feathered Friday

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Swapped

by Hope Madden

Director Nathan Greno pulls from a lot of influences for his new feature, the Netflix exclusive Swapped. The vibrant colors and poetically gorgeous woodland creatures conjure Miyazaki, particularly the more serene scenes from Princess Mononoke. And the bit where the little chipmunk looking thing and the big plumy bird switch bodies, that is obviously the Disney classic Freaky Friday. 

Swapped is a visual feast, especially the earliest sequences when a young Pookoo (chipmunk like thing) named Ollie (voiced in youth by Camden Brooks and in adulthood by Oscar winner Michael B. Jordan) explores the waters around Pookoo Island. But Ollie’s mom and dad (Justina Machado, Cedric The Entertainer) warn him that everything off island is dangerous. Everything!

Ollie doesn’t believe them, so things, of course, go terribly wrong. Mean birds steal the seeds that keep the Pookoo alive, and Ollie has to make things right. But instead, he Freaky Fridays with one of those birds (Juno Temple), and suddenly everybody’s in a terrible state.

Swapped takes that time honored tale to share a meaningful fable on the power of empathy. Temple and Jordan both provide strong voice talent—Temple is especially on point.

Tracy Morgan is ideal as Boogle, an enormous, simple-minded fish. Honestly, Swapped offers Morgan more of an opportunity to stretch than any role he’s had in recent memory, and he nails it.

And while the story leans into familiar territory, its tale is important. Greno and his team of writers don’t complicate it beyond what youngsters will gladly follow, nor do they water down their message. The result is emotional, funny, sometimes even harrowing. And really gorgeous.

Swapped doesn’t do enough to set itself apart from other animated wonders, but what it does it does really well. It’s a powerful story beautifully animated and well told.

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Choosing Sides

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Son of the South

by George Wolf

Midway through Son of the South, Bob Zellner – a privileged white college student from 1960s Alabama – is quick to stand up to a young Black man who doesn’t think Bob’s interest in the Civil Rights movement is genuine.

Not far away, another young Black man is preparing for upcoming Alabama protests by trying to remain passive while his friends subject him to some of the verbal and physical abuse that is soon to come.

Director/co-writer Barry Alexander Brown’s juxtaposition is earnest, unmistakable, and surface-layer effective – ultimately a perfect snapshot of the entire film.

Zellner’s story, adapted from his own autobiography, is of one white man shaking off the ugly bigotry of his upbringing and family history to march alongside historical icons such as Rosa Parks and John Lewis.

But more than that, the film is an easily digestible message to well-meaning white America that good intentions mean nothing if they’re left on the sidelines.

We meet Zellner (Lucas Till, TV’s new MacGyver and Havoc from X-Men) when he’s “free, white and 21” in the early 60s, a student at Huntington college with a pretty fiancé (Lucy Hale) and plans for Ivy League grad school.

But writing a paper on race relations leads Bob to attend service at a Black church, where he meets Parks (Sharrone Lanier), Rev. Ralph Abernathy (Cedric the Entertainer) and a townfull of racists who don’t take kindly to fraternizing. One of those is Zellner’s own Grandfather (Brian Dennehy), a proud KKK member who does not sugar coat the stakes.

There isn’t much nuance anywhere in the film, and though that makes for a less riveting narrative, it ends up feeling appropriate. Brown, who has often edited films for Spike Lee (an executive producer here), wisely doesn’t try to mimic Lee’s challenging genius.

Brown seems to be aiming for the crowd that’s still inspired by The Blind Side. Lightening the mood with moments of sly humor (Zellner reading Ebony and Jet) and budding romance, Brown avoids lionizing Zellner while finding an entertaining avenue for making his choices a more universal call to end white silence.

You could call that playing it safe, but you can’t call it dumb.