CURSE OF THE TALISMAN (2001) *1/2 Boy has difficulty getting a drivers license and works in new age bookstore. Boy meets girl, in school. Boy hides stolen religious artifacts from Yorkshire for hippie poet bookstore owner in parents basement, but is instead bit by a keychain. Boy (Jesse Spencer) and girl (Sara Gleeson) have sweet and gentle first kiss, but soon are being chased by a predatory gargoyle. Long-haired friend and crazy priest pitch in to help save the day, even though no alcohol is consumed. Boy gets license and girl, priest continues quest against E-vil. There is a slight surprise at the end, and no my conservative and ultra-religious friends it is not that the gargoyle repellent works just as well on the hippie kid. Film gets on a formulaic track early and refuses to get off, which partly works for it. It's the least scary monster movie I've ever seen but it's satisfied to be there, they just want to stay on formula and entertain us the way that others have entertained them. No pretensions (no one is sitting around reading Nietzsche), no special effects addiction (but funny where used), no sex and gore over-the-topness (the gargoyles are actually kind of cute), no bullshit (or all bullshit, according to taste).
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