Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

George Lass (Ellen Muth) is a grim reaper. She's been dead for 5 years after getting hit by a toilet seat from space. Der Waffle Haus has burnt down. Rube Sofer has moved on. Cameron Kane (Henry Ian Cusick) is the new supervisor. He has a different take on reaping. Daisy (Sarah Wynter), Mason (Callum Blue) and Roxy (Jasmine Guy) start breaking the rules. George has to reap popular school jock Hudson Hart who is secretly dating George's sister Reggie (Britt McKillip) behind his girlfriend Jennifer Hardick (Shenae Grimes)'s back. George's mother Joy (Cynthia Stevenson) has written a book about grief. George takes over at work from vacationing Delores. George is discovered by Reggie.This is a fine visit from the familiar characters despite the missing Mandy Patinkin and Laura Harris. It's really touching to have George and Reggie together. It wraps up the family's story quite nicely. I'm less taken with Cameron Kane. He's not much of a villain and that side of the movie needs to be much funnier. That half isn't much. Sarah Wynter is an inferior Daisy. In the end, it's great to have George back for a bit.

With that summary title, I'll come up with what I didn't like first. Daisy (Sarah Wynter) was a serious mis-cast. She came across flat and amateurish. It was, literally, painful to watch (and I have watched this movie quite a number of times).They also made a mistake moving the location from Vancouver to Montreal. The West Coast scenery was missing, making it hard to believe it was supposed to be in Washington State. I know you gotta go where the money takes you, but still. And, of course, since the real Waffle House was demolished in New Westminster, that set was gone anyway.But there were also things that I liked. What happens when the team leader gets their lights? The movie was really the job interview for the new team leader, and only George passed it. I had also wondered - was it possible for a reaper's character to grow and mature? The series tantalized this question, with Daisy and Mason moving forward (especially in Season 2), but then also falling back repeatedly. In the movie, George grew. Which is also why she got the reaper promotion.And besides, don't you want to know what happens when a reaper reconstitutes themselves from their ashes and discovers they are in orbit?

I was so surprised to find this movie because I was a big Dead Like Me fan from the start and was looking forward to seeing a wrap-up of it. Unfortunately, I was mostly disappointed. First off, there are some changes to some of the characters personalities. Of course, Daisy, comes to mind. They had to have another actress play her because Laura Harris either couldn't or wouldn't. People complain that Sarah Wynter is poor at depicting Daisy but I'm not so sure it's all her. When the original Daisy would open her mouth, something interesting came out. Not so with this movie. Daisy's lines in general are just boring. Along with that, there are a few changes in the way the original characters act as if whoever wrote the movie didn't participate in the series and didn't have a good grasp as to what it was all about. I thought perhaps they had different writers but the ones who worked on this also worked on the series. I don't want to give spoilers so I'll just say that some things that happen, esp. the ending with their "replacement" character for Rube, seem completely out of character for all of them. It just comes off as stupid and ridiculous. Another thing is, if they couldn't get Mandy Patinkin, they shouldn't have even bothered with this. He's too important for the composition of the characters to go without and the Henry Ian Cusick part was mostly annoying and pointless. I also wasn't too crazy at how George's mother's change in demeanor from sardonic, cynical and sarcastic to upbeat and recovered from her daughter's death was kind of jarring even though it made sense being after a five year period. There's also a edgy quirky darkness that the original had that is sadly missing here. The best most interesting part of the movie is what happens between George and her sister, which I don't want to say to, again, spoil anything but it is the part that makes this movie worth watching.

I only came across the TV series title in the last couple of weeks and sat through both seasons as fast as possible, as I absolutely loved it! After enjoying these immensely, I was looking forward to an extension of the same, within the movie. Unfortunately, the best I can say is that MOST of the acting and MOST of the dialogue wasn't too bad, and they did manage to get SOME story in there. In short, it was such a disappointment to find the movie had less content than an episode, seemed very choppy and forced most of the way through, started without a real beginning and finished without an end! I want my 87 minutes back! I guess as the old saying goes: "What has been seen cannot be unseen"... *sigh*