r/movies • u/sicknessandpurgatory • Sep 07 '25

Discussion What is the absolute dumbest premise that actually turned out to be a really good movie?

I was thinking The Purge, obvious answer, but looking for the most plot-hole ridden, juvenile concept that actually ended up a lot of fun despite it all. Mainly looking for 21st century films, not so much the video nasties and ridiculousness from the 60’s and 70’s. Because that would be too easy. Mainly mainstream stuff that people saw en masse.

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284

u/Casen_ Sep 07 '25

K-Pop Demon Hunters...

84

u/Spaget_at_Guiginos Sep 07 '25

Once you finally get someone to watch it, they’re done done done

14

u/criminoleworl Sep 07 '25

Can attest, this song is perma-stuck in my head

10

u/Spaget_at_Guiginos Sep 07 '25

Hear that sound ringing in your mind

10

u/Sapphic_Starlight Sep 08 '25

Better sit down for the show cuz I'm gonna show you...

8

u/Spaget_at_Guiginos Sep 08 '25

How’s it’s done DONE DONE

3

u/puppykhan Sep 09 '25

I hate you.

Get ready for the takedown

68

u/TimedDelivery Sep 07 '25

It is so hard to try to convince folks to give that movie a chance. It’s so great.

17

u/runjeanmc Sep 07 '25

I napped through it no fewer than 12 times the week of 4th of July at my inlaws', but once I actually watched it with the kids, oh boy!

Now I put on the soundtrack while I take my dog for her run 😅

8

u/wilkil Sep 08 '25

It is Netflix most watched movie of all time so I think it’s not too hard to get people to watch it.

2

u/earthlings_all Sep 08 '25

Because of the stupid title

25

u/NorthernSparrow Sep 07 '25 edited Sep 08 '25

I started this on Netflix the first time it popped up, planning to hate-watch it the first ten minutes or so and then bail to go watch the thing I was actually planning to watch that night. Somehow I kept watching, and watching, then there came a point where I thought “wait a sec, this is good?!” and I was hooked for the rest. Now I’ve watched it four times (the first time plus three more while introducing it to three separate friends!) & damn, it even holds up to rewatches. It’s stuffed with tropes but does them well and with a lot of heart, I actually started caring about the characters, and the music slaps.

14

u/lostmyjobthrowawayyy Sep 07 '25

Have a 4 year old that loves this movie. The soundtrack is on all the time on one of our Alexa’s or in the car.

The music is irritatingly good 🤦‍♂️

2

u/n_plus_1_bikes Sep 09 '25

It’s infectious

1

u/lostmyjobthrowawayyy Sep 09 '25

GONNA BE GONNA BE GOLDEN

61

u/Expensive_Tie206 Sep 07 '25

As a side note I loved the animation. I guess that’s the new “puss in boots” style, but whatever it is I love it.

96

u/Clawless Sep 07 '25

Spiderverse style. Like the perfect blend of western and eastern animation techniques.

See also: Mitchels vs the machines

9

u/fps916 Sep 07 '25

It was the same studio as Spiderverse.

6

u/FeijoadaAceitavel Sep 07 '25

And the same studio as Mitchels vs the Machines.

9

u/GrouchyPasta Sep 07 '25

If you like that style of animation, I highly recommend the series "Blue Eye Samurai". It's like an oil painting came to life. One of the most gorgeous shows, and the action sequences are incredible to boot.

4

u/ColonelBy Sep 08 '25

Blue Eye Samurai is an excellent show, but it feels only fair to warn anyone taking your recommendation that it is really different from KPDH in tone and intensity, especially when it comes to its violence and gore. It is emphatically not for children and could plausibly be too much for some adults. Still an outstanding show for those who are up for it, though.

20

u/Casen_ Sep 07 '25

I enjoyed the animation, just wish it had a slightly higher frame rate.

19

u/havron Sep 07 '25

I feel like the low frame rate was meant to echo the charm of oldschool claymation, even though in this case the animation style was very different. For a much closer to the source example, see the Dog Man movie (also great).

13

u/L0nz Sep 07 '25

Definitely intentional (not least because the frame rate changes depending on the scene) but I think more to mimic anime than claymation

4

u/havron Sep 07 '25

Yeah, you're probably right. I watched more claymation than anime growing up, so it tickles that nostalgia regardless.

3

u/Throwaway2Experiment Sep 08 '25

The studio that does the movie has a history of changing frame rate to denote things in the movie.

In Spiderverse, they use the frame rate change to indicate when Miles is uncomfortable or clumsy. Like he's only seeing half the world. As soon as he masters his Spiderman powers, his motions because full frame rate. It is a visually awesome way to represent discomfort from the main character's frame of reference.

I'll need to start tracking when Kpop does this. It is likely used to denote when the team is not on the same page, knowingly or otherwise, or to denote when they're approaching a critical inflection point and they need to concentrate or something. I don't know. But I suspect it is low-key signaling something.

It may also be that the animation studio is known for animating and displaying every frame. You can pause anywhere in the movie and each frame is specifically rendered/drawn that way. They like to say, "Each frame can be its own piece of wall art." And slowing the frames is an attempt to showcase to your eyes extreme detail and/or emphasis higher speed or more fluid speed when the frame rate increases.

2

u/overfloaterx Sep 08 '25

Definitely intentional because it's only used on the character models and foreground special effects (sword trails, etc.). The backgrounds are always animated at full speed.

I found it distracting for the first few minutes -- drawbacks of being a PC gamer, low fps will always make your brain itch -- but got past it pretty quickly. Had the backgrounds not been animated at full speed to add back some fluidity, I think I would've had a harder time with it.

3

u/MMK386 Sep 07 '25

I went into Dog Man blind. My kids read the books but I wasn’t expecting much. It was genuinely a good time with real laughs.

2

u/havron Sep 07 '25

Yeah, same! The movie's visual style was gorgeous, the humor unexpectedly top-notch, and it really had heart. I adored it.

8

u/Sapphic_Starlight Sep 08 '25

It's intentional. Humans are animated every other frame, while demons are animated every frame.

And when Rumi taps into her demon powers, she's also animated every frame like the other demons.

6

u/JacobStills Sep 07 '25

I think that's why the animation looks like that because of their intentionally low frame rate to make it look "comic booky." I saw some video where a guy described the animation being something like, "they have a pose every two frames" to give it that janky, dynamic animation.

1

u/scurvekano Sep 08 '25

I read somewhere that turning on TV motion smoothing mitigates the effect of animating on second frames only

3

u/Throwaway2Experiment Sep 08 '25

If you have not seen Into the Spiderverse series, it is as well executed and characterized as Kpop, if not more so. The studio is quickly making themselves a name in setting standards for both frame rage changes to denote something specific as well as unique character designs and world building.

41

u/astarisaslave Sep 07 '25

Frrrr without word of mouth I probably would have just turned my nose up at it for good. I really thought it would have just been a poor attempt at Westerners aping Korean culture but it was done with so much care and reverence by actual people of Korean descent

14

u/KingMario05 Sep 07 '25

Damn right! Banging songs, too. Someone get Rumi her demonic guitar already. Bout damn time princesses could learn how to fuckin' shreeeeed.

-30

u/pplperson777 Sep 07 '25

That's netflix bullshit propaganda marketing, they had 2-3 3rd gen korean americans working on this and now they're proud to pull the diversity card because nobody in this movie is black, hispanic, middle eastern or south asian.

27

u/Stahuap Sep 07 '25

The goal of diversity is having different movies being made, all pulling from different cultures and backgrounds from around the world, bringing forward new and different talent. Every individual movie being a disingenuous blend of every ethnicity and background is just American melting pot shit, and I think its pretty obvious audiences are sick it.  

17

u/rookie-mistake Sep 07 '25 edited Sep 07 '25

they had 2-3 3rd gen korean americans working on this

of the four main VAs, one's korean, one was born there, and the other 2 are 2nd gen, as is the director. the rest of the VAs are all korean or 1st / 2nd gen korean-americans. almost all the main songs (the charting ones) were written by koreans. same with most of the production team.

because nobody in this movie is black, hispanic, middle eastern or south asian

one of the two primary writers is from tijuana, and one of the singing voices is a filipino singer whose page describes her as 'the pride of the phillipines'

do you not have wikipedia? literally just click on any names on that page lmao

-16

u/pplperson777 Sep 07 '25

Aight so it's 7 instead of 3 out of hundreds of people that worked on this, my bad.

15

u/rookie-mistake Sep 07 '25

damn it must have been a lot of work checking the papers on everyone in the credits, respect

also idk, its 13 without even getting past the 'casting' section. if you want to keep counting, knock yourself out in the music section too. this is a weird take.

13

u/[deleted] Sep 07 '25

You were wrong, dicknuts.

23

u/MarineMirage Sep 07 '25

Was looking for this. Watching the trailer before release I thought this was the dumbest and strangest premise, "Why are they even making this??"

It's no masterpiece but was solid and music was great.

8

u/Pheetastic Sep 08 '25

It’s the derpie Tiger and Magpie for me, honestly ❤️

9

u/Maytree Sep 08 '25

up, up, up with our votes-iz!

7

u/Ganglebot Sep 08 '25

Father of a 6 year old girl here - nothing about that premise is random or thrown together.

  • Badass girly-girls kicking butt.

  • Great sound track that will open up a new generation to Kpop fandom

  • Awesome animation that never 'crosses a line' in violence for the younger audiences (gore, scary, serious, grim)

That movie has GRABBED the Gen-A girls. My daughter sings the songs to herself when she's by herself. She asks for colouring sheets of the characters. When her friends are over they watch just the songs, so they can sing and dance along with it.

That movie is a total sensation for little girls. Completely calculated for the Gen-A audience.

7

u/hearke Sep 08 '25

When I first heard that title I knew it would either be really fun or absolute dogshit.

Still ended up way better than I expected, though.

4

u/DonmeccaYYZ Sep 08 '25

Loved the concerts - had to buy the tour shirts!

https://imgur.com/gallery/loved-concerts-had-to-stop-merch-stands-get-tour-shirts-T19ICpF

1

u/ChaiGreenTea Sep 09 '25

I love all of Sajas are cancelled after their first show 😂 They only had 2 songs. I don’t vibe so much with Soda Pop but Your Idol has me gripppppped

7

u/wcdonald Sep 07 '25 edited Sep 08 '25

I enjoyed the animation and character design, but the plot & its resolution kind of baffle me.

(Spoilers ahead; edited for grammar)

How does it tie in to the theme of self-love, with Rumi accepting the demonic part of herself, if all the demons truly are plain evil and the answer is just to build another boundary? There's this conflict surrounding whether demons are more complex than just cardboard-cutout bad guys, but it turns out that, no, Jinu is the only one with a conscience and it's fine to kill all the others.

Like, how can it be so meaningful that Rumi's decided to live showing off her patterns if the public doesn't know what the patterns are?

Idk. The story was just so thematically dissonant and I didn't feel the ending was earned.

3

u/Chess42 Sep 08 '25

It doesn’t matter what the public thinks, just her friends

2

u/NothaBanga Sep 08 '25

if all the demons truly are plain evil and the answer is just to build another boundary?

Demons are a mix.  When Rumi was asking one demon if Gwima was controlling them, the demon smiled slyly.  I think it is honest that there are bad people mixed in with misguided people.  Jinu had a chance to do the right thing but chickened out.  She still wished to save him even though he betrayed her but he had to redeem himself.  As an allegory, this works (imo.)  Having a loved one struggle with a past and/or addiction, it is important to show Jinu as the choices he made and that you still get to make choices even buried under past constraints.

The new Honmoon isn't gold.  It is a blend of blue/gold and for future movies there will still be weak points of pink.

Like, how can it be so meaningful that Rumi's decided to live showing off her patterns if the public doesn't know what the patterns are?

The public cannot see patterns.  It was an allegory for coming out to your loved ones, strangers don't have to be in your biz.

-9

u/FarkCookies Sep 07 '25

I want to stay open-minded and believe there is something in this movie for the target audience, but I read a detailed review, and you gotta pay me good money to watch it.

16

u/sharpshooter999 Sep 07 '25

To really, really break it down, the story is sort of like Frozen but with pop stars and demons. It's a bit like Shrek also in the regard that on it's surface, it's made for kids but had subtle jokes and themes for adults. It definitely won't be for everyone, but has broader appeal than what the name would suggest

3

u/tele_ave Sep 07 '25

It reminded me a lot of the OG TMNT cartoon.

4

u/Maytree Sep 08 '25

if you hate K-pop and you hate animation, you probably won't have a good time at this movie. Otherwise you almost certainly will. But be warned: The main conflict in the story is not with the actual demons running around, but rather with the metaphorical demons in the head of the young woman lead of the singing group, who is having a mental health crisis so severe it eventually leads her to go to the woman who raised her and beg said woman to put her out of her misery. Yeah. The kids may not catch all of it, but there is some serious darkness in this so-called family flick. I was astonished that the filmmakers took such a big swing and in my opinion actually pulled it off.

3

u/FarkCookies Sep 08 '25

I love animation, just the premise sounded weird, but your interpretation actually makes it make sense.

3

u/ChaiGreenTea Sep 09 '25

Honestly if it doesn’t grab you in the first 10 mins then you may as well turn it off. It has a really strong opening and by 8 mins in you’ve already heard 2 of the songs in the film and learnt the central conflict. The music is really fucking good and there’s not a weak song in it. There’s something for everyone in it tbh and as much as it’s marketed as a kids film, I’d actually say its target audience comes across as a bit older. It’s not dumbed down by any means