Last night I had the opportunity to sit down and watch Leprechaun Origins featuring WWE's Dylan "Hornswoggle" Postl as the Leprechaun. I'm going to be honest, when I first heard that WWE was making a new Leprechaun film and Hornswoggle was going to be playing the title character, I was thrilled. I'm not really a WWE fan. I do enjoy watching it from time to time, but I don't have the time to invest in watching it. I do know that Hornswoggle is a fun character to watch (or at least he was... I'm not sure if he is still doing much with WWE), so it makes sense to me that he would be a blast as the Leprechaun.
Anyway, I am a big fan of the Leprechaun franchise. It is silly, gory, and fun to watch. Plus, it doesn't take itself too seriously.Warwick Davis is amazing. He is such a charming actor in any role he plays. We should all know the story to the Leprechaun movies by now, but allow me to recap briefly. A Leprechaun, played by Warwick Davis, kills anyone who takes his gold, and most of the deaths are fun and creative. And that's about it. No really, that is about it, but trust me, the movies are fun to watch. I would recommend picking up the whole Leprechaun set from Amazon.
To start off my review of Leprechaun Origins I will say that there will be spoilers, so if you don't want to to know the details but you are still interested in my overall opinion than jump to the bottom of the review.
The film starts off with a young couple running away from what we can only assume is the Leprechaun. We don't see him, but he is snarling and growling. It sounds pretty badass, so I'm instantly pumped about the inevitable reveal. The couple is killed off quickly, and the movie starts with us meeting the main characters.
As far as the characters go, I'm glad they went with relatively unknown actors. I strongly believe that there is so much talent out there that we miss out on because Hollywood wants big names in everything. I only recognized one actor (and that doesn't mean much as I may just miss the movies the others are in), and that is Brendan Fletcher from Freddy Vs. Jason. Leprechaun Origins also features, Stephanie Bennett, Andrew Dunbar, and Melissa Roxburgh. After looking into the other actors, I do recall some of the other films and TV shows they have been in. I will stand by my statement that they are relatively unknown just because they are not A list.
Now really speaking about the characters, I don't know any of their names. I never felt invested enough in the characters to really care what their names were. Honestly I spent the whole time focusing on the Leprechaun (which you will find out is pretty sad). The actors did great, however. I always felt convinced by their performances, but I can't get over not knowing their names. There was Freddy Vs. Jason Guy, Other Guy, Freddy Vs. Jason Guy's Girlfriend, Other Guy's Girlfriend, Big Irish Guy, and Normal Sized Irish Guy.... and Leprechaun was in there somewhere.
That's right. He was in there somewhere. In the original Leprechaun moves, the Leprechaun was center stage. He was constantly talking, making us laugh right before making us cringe. Warwick Davis' Leprechaun was so much fun. Hornswoggle has to be just as fun, right? NO! we hardly ever see him. He is a little monster who never talks. Anytime he is on the screen everything is blurry. The special effects for the Leprechaun are terrible, or maybe they aren't. I don't know because we hardly get a really good look at him. THEY HAD HORNSWOGGLE AND DIDN'T USE HIM!!! I was so disappointed by this.
Anyway, our group is visiting Ireland when they come across a small village. While in the pub, they meet Big Irish Guy. He is a pretty pleasant guy, and I could have been convinced that he was innocent. As a horror movie fan, I trust nobody. He tells our group about some of the village's history, and offers to let them sleep in a cabin he owns so they can set out on a hike in the morning. His son, Normal Sized Irish Guy, shows up to give them a ride. Without the group knowing, the are locked in the cabin by the two Irishmen, and that is when the Leprechaun shows up. The death scenes were primitive. That's not really bad, but I was expecting more creative ways for people to die. There was no pogo stick deaths, no stomachs-full-of-gold deaths. Just people dying. As it turns out, the village knows about the Leprechaun, and they feed people to him to protect their village. It gives the story a lot of potential, but I feel like they didn't use it to their advantage as a Leprechaun film.
In short, the movie, as a Leprechaun movie, gets a 1 out of 5 from me. It was not at all what I was expecting. The acting was good, the writing was good, the directing was good, the atmosphere was good, but it just wasn't a Leprechaun movie like it sold itself to be.
I also looked at this movie as its own movie. I took the Leprechaun name off and just watched it for what it is, and if you can also do that then I give this movie a 2.97 out of 5 (not quite a 3). After all, the acting, writing, directing, and atmosphere were all good. It was a pretty fun movie to watch, and I recommend it as a rental.
Anyway, I am a big fan of the Leprechaun franchise. It is silly, gory, and fun to watch. Plus, it doesn't take itself too seriously.Warwick Davis is amazing. He is such a charming actor in any role he plays. We should all know the story to the Leprechaun movies by now, but allow me to recap briefly. A Leprechaun, played by Warwick Davis, kills anyone who takes his gold, and most of the deaths are fun and creative. And that's about it. No really, that is about it, but trust me, the movies are fun to watch. I would recommend picking up the whole Leprechaun set from Amazon.
To start off my review of Leprechaun Origins I will say that there will be spoilers, so if you don't want to to know the details but you are still interested in my overall opinion than jump to the bottom of the review.
The film starts off with a young couple running away from what we can only assume is the Leprechaun. We don't see him, but he is snarling and growling. It sounds pretty badass, so I'm instantly pumped about the inevitable reveal. The couple is killed off quickly, and the movie starts with us meeting the main characters.
As far as the characters go, I'm glad they went with relatively unknown actors. I strongly believe that there is so much talent out there that we miss out on because Hollywood wants big names in everything. I only recognized one actor (and that doesn't mean much as I may just miss the movies the others are in), and that is Brendan Fletcher from Freddy Vs. Jason. Leprechaun Origins also features, Stephanie Bennett, Andrew Dunbar, and Melissa Roxburgh. After looking into the other actors, I do recall some of the other films and TV shows they have been in. I will stand by my statement that they are relatively unknown just because they are not A list.
Now really speaking about the characters, I don't know any of their names. I never felt invested enough in the characters to really care what their names were. Honestly I spent the whole time focusing on the Leprechaun (which you will find out is pretty sad). The actors did great, however. I always felt convinced by their performances, but I can't get over not knowing their names. There was Freddy Vs. Jason Guy, Other Guy, Freddy Vs. Jason Guy's Girlfriend, Other Guy's Girlfriend, Big Irish Guy, and Normal Sized Irish Guy.... and Leprechaun was in there somewhere.
That's right. He was in there somewhere. In the original Leprechaun moves, the Leprechaun was center stage. He was constantly talking, making us laugh right before making us cringe. Warwick Davis' Leprechaun was so much fun. Hornswoggle has to be just as fun, right? NO! we hardly ever see him. He is a little monster who never talks. Anytime he is on the screen everything is blurry. The special effects for the Leprechaun are terrible, or maybe they aren't. I don't know because we hardly get a really good look at him. THEY HAD HORNSWOGGLE AND DIDN'T USE HIM!!! I was so disappointed by this.
Anyway, our group is visiting Ireland when they come across a small village. While in the pub, they meet Big Irish Guy. He is a pretty pleasant guy, and I could have been convinced that he was innocent. As a horror movie fan, I trust nobody. He tells our group about some of the village's history, and offers to let them sleep in a cabin he owns so they can set out on a hike in the morning. His son, Normal Sized Irish Guy, shows up to give them a ride. Without the group knowing, the are locked in the cabin by the two Irishmen, and that is when the Leprechaun shows up. The death scenes were primitive. That's not really bad, but I was expecting more creative ways for people to die. There was no pogo stick deaths, no stomachs-full-of-gold deaths. Just people dying. As it turns out, the village knows about the Leprechaun, and they feed people to him to protect their village. It gives the story a lot of potential, but I feel like they didn't use it to their advantage as a Leprechaun film.
In short, the movie, as a Leprechaun movie, gets a 1 out of 5 from me. It was not at all what I was expecting. The acting was good, the writing was good, the directing was good, the atmosphere was good, but it just wasn't a Leprechaun movie like it sold itself to be.
I also looked at this movie as its own movie. I took the Leprechaun name off and just watched it for what it is, and if you can also do that then I give this movie a 2.97 out of 5 (not quite a 3). After all, the acting, writing, directing, and atmosphere were all good. It was a pretty fun movie to watch, and I recommend it as a rental.
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