Documentaries or movies inspired from real life incident tops my list always. On my way to Chattogram last week, I opted to watch " The Beanie Bubble ". Aware of the bizarre incident during the Dot Com Bubble and previously watched a few reports on this, I was curious how the Apple TV + production would turn out. With a high expectation, I was disappointed in the end. Jotted down some key points, I figured out what went wrong!!
- Personal Relation over Actual Scenario : The Movie opens up in a refreshing manner, thee 3 ladies who claimed to be shaping up Ty Warner's empire started quite convincingly. Opening 15 minutes set the tone on how the movie will be revealing its true colours. But Alas! It lacked the power of a solid storytelling rather than focused on the individual relation with Ty. While how the business have grown rapidly and how they enchanted a significant market should have been More portrayed, in my opinion, the whole 110 Minutes runtime was more of a dialogue based relationship rollercoaster. Not much to be taken from a business perspective.
- Characters lacked screen time to shine : Considering how the business grew into a massive empire, the role of Robbie and Maya had enough room to grow. The actual show runners as per the storytelling, deserved more time to emphasis on their philosophy, struggles and how they've built the business. The early days with Robbie got some footage but the unveiling of Maya as the master strategist had huge potential to be pinned in between frames. Sheila on the other hand, portrayed by a strong artist like Sarah Snook, looked more like an arm candy, aloof and timid till thee last segment of the movie. Considering hr wrong presence as a whole, she could have been an essential linchpin directing the narrative.
- International Strategies (The cause of bursting the bubble) not explained in a proper manner : The conflict between UK & Asian expansion, which related to the production surge and ultimately dethroned the idea that the beanies are actually collectables and people would go gaga about it could have set the tone for the second half of the movie. Despite going deep into Ty's world, how the business went to bust from boom should have been the go to motto of " The Beanie Bubble ". With an option to be a fantastic business focused movie, weak portrayal of this portion let the movie down to be a rom com. An opportunity wasted!
- Shot the wrong bullet throughout : Unlike the Big Short (2008) or The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) where we've seen in parallels how the narrative and character development walked through side by side, The Beanie Bubble took a step behind. Despite having amazing actors in the form of Zach Galifianakis and Elizabeth Banks on the ranks, the film dodged the timeline bullet totally wrong. In a timeframe of almost 2 hours, in a snap the business blooms, suddenly shifted to a big office, no noteworthy struggle tales, winning through business deals and carving the say upwards all missed! Where the story is no biopic yet holds an incidental narrative, sharp focus was required to stitch it side by side, the strong storyline and magnificent acting of the lead cast.
- Showboating than fact-telling : I understand, the movie is about toys which are colorful as the movie depicts, but the inside feel of the story more of a fact-check would be more welcomed. Such a unique bubble to talk about, never repeated the exact same in the coming days, this could have been a fantastic opportunity to showcase how from the vapor, such business can become an icon. In an overly saturated market and hyper active consumerism, these Himalayan Cat stuffed toys created such. monumental spark which rocked the whole nation. Also the aftermath of the bubble was terribly misplaced, how in an overnight, millions of worth just turned into rubbish could have a decent screentime. Rather than showing the lifestyle of Ty, the movie could well be an epic documentation of the timeline that whole America experienced.
Facts and opinions are there to be differed. I'm glad that a well-budget movie is made based on the massive incident. Though a journey decades back experienced through the frames, the production was well made. Stating the above mention facts could have been kept under consideration. Currently rated 6.3 in IMDB, The Beanie Bubble could easily topple a 7.5+ if it was focused more to the business aspect of the incident rather than focusing making the movie a rom-com.
