Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

It’s that time again for another Disney+ Roundup on ‘Bradley’s Basement’ and it’s the second one in 2023. 😀 Today, we’re taking a look at two unrelated films that I saw recently on Disney+. There’s the 2020 film ‘Stargirl’ and the 1961 film ‘The Absent-Minded Professor’, the original ‘Flubber’ movie. 😀

‘Stargirl’ was a film released exclusively on Disney+ in March 2020 around the time the Covid-19 pandemic happened. It’s a musical romance film based on the 2000 book of the same name by Jerry Spinelli. It focuses on two teens who fall in love at high school and how their relationship develops. 🙂

I quite enjoyed ‘Stargirl’ when I saw it on Disney+. I admit, it’s quite unusual as a romance story, especially when the film is taken from the boy’s point of view and he meets this girl called Stargirl who has an enigma to her. There are some songs sung throughout the film that weren’t distracting.

Grace VanderWaal stars as Stargirl whilst Graham Verchere stars as Leo, the boy who falls in love with her. I like how their romance is presented in this film, as it’s not done over-the-top and it’s rather sweet. It’s not exactly a happy ending for the two in the film, but it remains heartfelt enough.

The film also features Giancarlo Esposito (who you may recognise for being in the first two seasons of ‘The Mandalorian’. 😀 ) as Archie Brubaker, Leo’s mentor in the film. There’s Karan Brar as Kevin Singh, who is Leo’s best friend, Darby Stanchfield as Gloria Borlock, who is Leo’s mother in the film. 🙂

Apparently, ‘Stargirl’ got a sequel recently in 2022 called ‘Hollywood Stargirl’. I’ve not seen that film yet and I’m not sure if it’s as good as the first film. Overall, ‘Stargirl’ was a sweet musical romance film to check out on Disney+. It wasn’t quite what I expected, but I appreciated the tender love story.

Like I said, the second film I saw recently on Disney+ called ‘The Absent-Minded Professor’ is the original ‘Flubber’ film. I’m glad I checked this film out after seeing ‘Flubber’ on Disney+ recently. ‘The Absent-Minded Professor’ is not as zany as ‘Flubber’ is, and it’s preferrable and better than ‘Flubber’.

‘The Absent-Minded Professor’ follows the same plot as ‘Flubber’ where Brainard invents a substance that defies gravity. And it is called Flubber in this film. Incidentally, ‘The Absent-Minded Professor’ is a black-and-white film compared to ‘Flubber’. I don’t mind it being in black-and-white. 🙂

Mind you, whereas I know Flubber is a green substance in the 1997 film, I’m not sure if Flubber in ‘The Absent-Minded Professor’ is green or some other colour like brown or something. At least my parents and I found ourselves laughing more in ‘The Absent-Minded Professor’ than in the 1997 film.

Fred MacMurray stars as Professor Ned Brainard in the film. I’ve seen Fred MacMurray in another film before this, which is the 1960 film called ‘The Apartment’ by director Billy Wilder, starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine. It was intriguing to see him as Brainard compared to Robin Williams.

The film also features Nancy Olson (who apparently made a cameo in the 1997 ‘Flubber’ film) as Betsy Carlisle, Keenan Wynn as Alonzo P. Hawk, Tommy Kirk as Biff Hawk, Leon Ames as President Jeffrey Daggett, Elliot Reid as Professor Shelby Ashton, Edward Andrews as the Defense Secretary, Wally Brown as Coach Elkins, Alan Carney as the First Referee, Forrest Lewis as Officer Kelley, James Westerfield as Officer Hanson and Ed Wynn as the Fire Chief. To sum up, ‘The Absent-Minded Professor’ is a real treat.

Out of the two movies I’ve seen, ‘The Absent-Minded Professor’ is more enjoyable than ‘Stargirl’. ‘Stargirl’ is sweet and tender enough as a romance film, but ‘The Absent-Minded Professor’ is more enjoyable due to its comedic nature. It was also interesting to see a black-and-white film on Disney+.

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim 🙂