#FurryFest #HorrorMovie Review - The Banana Splits Movie (2019)

Jesus. That’d be an embarrassing way to die. Mitch

I remember watching The Banana Splits reruns when I was a kid, and I thought it was the weirdest, creepiest thing ever made. One time, my brother and I looked at each other, I was probably six or seven, and we said in unison, this is stupid. We didn’t watch it after that. For a while, Boomerang or one of the cartoon channels played reruns of it several years ago, and I couldn’t bring myself to watch it.

Now, we jump to modern-day and The Banana Splits Movie (2019) is released into the world. Of course, I’m curious and watched the trailer, which confirmed my thoughts as a kid that there was something wicked happening in the background. With it finally being on VOD, I gleefully rented it with the hope that the trailer didn’t show the best parts.

I can’t help but shiver as the movie starts and it’s the same creepy-ass Tra La La theme song, and there they are Fleegle, Bingo, Drooper, and Snorky. To make matters worse, there aren’t people inside the costumes. They are robots.

The story is like a mix of Child’s Play and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which is an interesting mix, and they made it work. The sub-plots weren’t the most original either. The first thirty minutes of the movie seemed to drag since the anticipation of what they were going to do next made me antsy. At least, when the blood flowed, it didn’t leave me disappointed, and then it got stranger than I expected and very fucked up. They even left it open for a sequel, which I’m not sure how I feel about, but I’m sure, if they do, I will watch it.

The acting was better than I expected, and the characters were well developed. Mitch, though, was a douche from beginning to end and his only redeeming quality was the fact that he looked good with a towel around his waist. Harley, played by Finlay Wotjak-Hissong (looking to be an up and coming child actor) was true to himself and belief that Snorky wasn’t like the others no matter what obstacles were thrown in his way.

The Banana Splits Movie was a lot better than I expected, and gave me the gore, while comical, that I needed. I give this film 4 out of 5 Stars.