WILLY'S WONDERLAND

Roll up! Roll up! For yet another dose of Nicolas Cage madness in Willy's Wonderland, a film that really does have to be seen to be believed. Cage has been pumping out an insane amount of films over the past decade, a varying array of quality being the best way to describe them and, if like me you've seen a large number of them, you'll want to stand up and take notice when I say that this might be the most batshit crazy one yet.

A quiet drifter (Nicolas Cage) is tricked into a janitorial job at the now condemned Wally's Wonderland. The mundane tasks suddenly become an all-out fight for survival against wave after wave of demonic animatronics. Fists fly, kicks land, titans clash -- and only one side will make it out alive.

Pitting Nicolas Cage against a horde of demonic animatronics sounds like the perfect tonic to kick back and relax on the sofa to and rest assured there is plenty of entertainment to be had here however, it does seem to drag an awful lot which is astonishing for a film that runs for just shy of ninety-minutes. My biggest gripe with it was that, as much as I loved the concept, it got repetetive very quickly.

Embracing the absurdity of it all goes a long way in the film sustaining some form of entertainment factor throughout, G. O. Parsons writing a twisted horror-comedy that will never make me look at a theme park mascot in the same way ever again. The concept is simple enough but it could have done with a bit more energy from behind the camera, Kevin Lewis' directing feeling a little lethargic for long periods until the frenetic fight scenes that are scattered throughout.

The saving grace of Willy's Wonderland, rather expectedly, is Nicolas Cage bringing his iconic brand of Cage-Rage to proceedings. He can do a film like this with his eyes closed and many will just laugh it off as another case of Cage overacting but he brings a quality to these films that a lot of actors wouldn't be able to. The rest of the cast were relatively unknown to me and it's probably split down the middle in terms of some being decent enough and others being not so great.

All of that doesn't really matter though as many people will come to Willy's Wonderland for Nicolas Cage taking on demonic animatronics and on that front it well and truly delivers. 

Verdict: ★★★