RocketMan (1997) – ★★1/2 (of ☆☆☆☆)

I feel kind of bad giving this film under three stars (Ebert even gave it three), but I can’t help but also be bothered by giving it all three stars. It’s a movie I watched on VHS a lot growing up (and that’s how I just watched it again, because there’s no BD or even a widescreen DVD to look forward to getting), and I’ve always enjoyed its dumb, goofy, childish antics. I’m convinced that my current enjoyment of it is mostly nostalgia goggles, especially because many aspects of the film felt annoying to me now rather than humourous, but I don’t think the enjoyment I still have is a bad thing necessarily.

I would definitely change the film’s constant “throwing crap at the wall” style of making jokes (as in, the films story progression is never given a chance to breathe because every frame or second of sound is filled up with jokes of varying effectiveness and maturity), but for the most part I think this is a fine children’s film that adults can also enjoy (somewhat) with a bit of forgiveness for its more annoying moments.