I saw this film dubbed in English. Fortunately, the theatre staff lowered the admission to compensate for this crime against humanity. In this case, the dubbing made it impossible to take the film seriously. But even if we ignore the horrible voice acting and lip synching problems (which were vaguely reminiscent of the old Godzilla movies I used to see at YMCA daycare when I was little), this movie is still sappy. So maudlin and overdone, in fact, that I would disagree with all the comments praising "Like Water for Chocolate" to be a refreshing change from Hollywood. It seemed like the director compressed the 10 soapiest films Hollywood has ever spawned (including a twisted version of Romeo and Juliet, surprise surprise) into the longest 116 minutes I've ever experienced. (1) Vaguely sentimental, shapeless music with no definite theme pervades the entire film, even in funeral scenes, which (2) there are a lot of. The director randomly kills off characters attempting to get our sympathy. It backfires. I was more or less laughing (when I wasn't half asleep) throughout the entire movie. (3) Soapy plot disguised as a 'true love' movie. Just one example: Pedro professes his undying love for Tita and wish to marry approximately 10 minutes after having met her. This happens multiple times with different characters). While this may be forgivable, a contradiction in the plot ruins the whole love aspect. Namely, the director fails to convey exactly why Tita prefers Pedro (the stupid horny moron) over the (obviously more sympathetic) Dr. Brown. This completely screws over his story and makes a mockery of all the emotion in the film, especially when the director essentially forces this Romeo and Juliet-esq love onto the characters. (4) Which are quite one dimensional characters. We have the evil bad hypocritical tyrannical mother, the irrepressibly fun loving servant, the Casanova letch, the calm friendly doctor... all of which are presented with all of and only these character traits (The evil mother never is shown humanely, the good doctor is without blemishes, etc. etc. &c.) How can this movie be a refreshing change from Hollywood when it has all these elements? This emperor has no clothes.
Review of Like Water for Chocolate
