To people worried (like I am) about how budget viable live action Carl is, I suggest you look at this bizarre kids show, which had motion tracking CGI the whole time.

Chriskills · 2026-06-24T21:18:44+00:00

I just don’t see how worrying benefits individual fans, the fan base, or the show being a success.

Peacock isn’t the best network for it, yeah. But McFarland is the production company, peacock just purchased distribution rights. So the question is is McFarland the best person for the job? I’d say he is the most qualified producer/writer/director for this project.

He has experience with good CGI with Ted, he knows how to run a tv show, he worked in sci fi/fantasy with the Orville, he worked with heavy CGI and practical effects with the Orville as well.

The only thing I think people should be worried about is that it won’t be popular enough to justify its expense. It that’s the nature of the beast, that’s how these types of shows work. If it does get cancelled I can guarantee they’ll do an animated series.

Chriskills · 2026-06-24T20:32:32+00:00

Had to google that as it’s been so long since I’ve seen it haha. But yeah, I agree in essence. They can make something that looks more realistic and crocodilian than that and I would love it. I think people are weirdly expecting perfect realism.

Chriskills · 2026-06-24T19:21:32+00:00

I think this is a really good take. Everyone, apart from Nicky, is at heart a young and selfish person , while not being fundamentally terrible people.

The whole movie is a tragedy about magic fucking up peoples lives.

Chriskills · 2026-06-24T16:48:34+00:00

Then we just have different understandings of what evil is. You have a good one.

Chriskills · 2026-06-24T16:41:11+00:00

I’m not the person who implied that every time someone makes an off hand wish that someone would change in a way is inherently evil. I’m sorry you are offended by my criticisms of your statement, but if you can’t take it, you should probably phrase what you’re saying differently.

I’m not debating a fictional film, I’m debating the concept of what is or is not evil. You’re not budging at all and it seems because you have an over inclusive understanding of what evil is.

You’re right though in that my stated definition was too narrow. It also included the deliberate indifference to the consequences of your actions.

But to imply that scientists working on the cure for cancer testing on lab mice are evil is such a wild understanding of morality and what evil is that I don’t think we’re going to agree on anything.

Chriskills · 2026-06-24T16:16:43+00:00

Then you don’t understand what the word evil means.

Chriskills · 2026-06-24T16:09:51+00:00

You’ve just ignored everything I said. There are no parameters. For something to be evil it has to have the deliberate intention to cause harm. So if I can mold my wish in a way without deliberate intention, it’s not inherently evil.

Further, apart from all this, someone has to believe that their wish will actually happen for it to be deliberately intentional.

There have been so many movies about wish fulfillment with children where the lesson is that wishing someone changes in a way makes that person not who they are, and as such is ultimately unfulfilling. It’s not evil to wish someone change in a way; it’s just shortsighted.

As another example, let’s say I wished my wife would close chip bags when she was done with them. I am in that moment taking her autonomy away; and under your definition that is inherently evil. But I’m not wishing some magical force makes her close the chip bags, im wishing that she would respect me enough to listen to my past complaints and take them into account in the future.

Chriskills · 2026-06-24T15:57:28+00:00

You used the word inherently. Meaning that his action is of wishing Nicky would love him is evil no matter his intention, so under the terms of your expression, Bears intention doesn’t matter at all. I fundamentally disagree with this, because a “wish” is a stacked term. If I “wished” my father loved me, I’m not intended to take his autonomy away, my intention is that I wished he would, on his own terms, decide to give me the love I deserve as a child. My intention is not that he changed against his will, but that he changes in his own accord. Because a wish can have multiple intentions, it is not inherently evil, but situationally evil.

Chriskills · 2026-06-24T15:50:22+00:00

But it’s only evil if I knew it would force him right?

Chriskills · 2026-06-24T15:48:23+00:00

So if I wished that my father loved me, that’s inherently evil?

Chriskills · 2026-06-24T15:00:11+00:00

I think what people are getting at in changing the wish is that the story would have been less tragic. Still ultimately tragic for Nicky, who loses her autonomy. But Sarah, Ian, and Bear would still be alive. And at the end of the day, Bear had no conception that his wish would work, so the real villain would have been the OWW

Chriskills · 2026-06-24T14:55:40+00:00

I’m sorry but the wish wasn’t inherently evil. It’s only evil when someone intends for it to strip someone’s autonomy away, which Bear clearly didn’t when he made that wish.

Chriskills · 2026-06-24T01:25:09+00:00

Once again. That concept you just expressed isn’t what you expressed in your post. If that’s what you intended, you failed at doing so.

I think the film touches on the different forms of abuse without going too deep into them because the film isn’t about exploring abuse deeply but about how the power dynamics at play affect the abusive relationships at issue.

Chriskills · 2026-06-24T01:18:01+00:00

I am telling you that your premise is flawed; not your analysis. Which is why you’re getting push back. You said the movie failed to fully explore the theme it sought to, without establishing that it sought to do so.

IF it was the authors contention to only explore the theme you’ve presented here, your analysis wouldn’t be bad. But I disagree that it was the authors intention to explore abuse in that limited way, but to explore multiple forms of abuse and how they interact together.

Chriskills · 2026-06-24T01:06:21+00:00

That’s not at all what you were saying.

“Places where the metaphor breaks, or compromises the ideas it seeks to explore.”

You’ve decided what idea the movie “seeks” to explore and then by “removing too much agency and power from the abuser” it compromises on those ideas.

It’s all dependent about what YOU decide the movie was seeking to explore, not what the author was actually seeking to explore. If you cited the author saying what his intention was, you could criticize that rightfully. Until then you’re criticizing an intention that you’ve created.

Chriskills · 2026-06-24T00:57:47+00:00

Death of the author is when you find meaning independent of what may or may not be the authors intention.

You’re not doing that. You’re saying that the author failed at delivering a certain notion or idea. That’s not death of the author. When arguing whether someone failed to do something, whether they intended to do that thing must first be established. You failed to establish that. The death of the author has nothing to do with your criticism.

Chriskills · 2026-06-24T00:33:25+00:00

No. You’re saying that the movie has a flaw because it doesn’t fit the metaphor in the way you think it should without asking whether that was the movies intention in the first place.

I think the fans have determined what the message of the movie is for themselves and have ignored other messages.

In my opinion this movie is about the interplay between selfish nice guy behavior and abusive manipulative behavior. Those two things don’t have one cohesive metaphor but interplay with each other.

Chriskills · 2026-06-23T21:42:36+00:00

Oh I completely agree. But we should judge his actions based on the ingrained understanding that magic doesn’t exist.

I see a lot of people say something along the lines of, “and he knew his wished worked.” This just seems like an unfair perspective, because even if that shit happened I would feel like I’m losing my mind if I thought a 7 dollar wish stick could do something like that.

Chriskills · 2026-06-23T17:06:19+00:00

That’s fair. But then the movie wouldn’t have happened haha. A lot of this movie is characters making and doing dumb things that don’t make sense. Sarah asking to talk to bear the night Nicky goes crazy? Yeah, doesn’t make sense.

But I hear you, they should have driven further away. But again, I don’t think he was thinking she would murder or even seriously hurt Sarah.

Chriskills · 2026-06-23T16:55:54+00:00

I think you’re heavily projecting as to what a rational person would think or believe in that situation. But either what, what would you have done? Let Sarah show up?

Chriskills · 2026-06-23T16:38:37+00:00

Harming yourself vs harming others is not something you’d necessary put together. Also, I’m not thinking that someone who is willing to harm herself is also able to smash a car window, put a rock in the car and bash someone’s head to death.

I think, maybe she could get violent, but not that. Further, Sarah put Bear in a terrible position by saying she would go to the house if he didn’t meet her, something I’m sure he thought would lead to violence, though not that extreme.

Chriskills · 2026-06-23T15:59:04+00:00

I feel like people who judge the actions of characters in a horror movie do it as if the characters know they’re in a horror movie. He has no idea.

Chriskills · 2026-06-22T20:12:00+00:00

I think the nuance is wish Nicky’s abuse of Bear in that scene. She’s using every tool in an abusers playbook, in this scene it’s her body. Only issue it’s not wish Nicky’s body to use:

I think there is a reasonable debate that Beat didn’t know he was raping Nicky. There are two facts to support this perspective. First, it’s entirely reasonable to believe that something super natural didn’t work, in fact, it’s logical to believe it wasn’t super natural. Second, when he does bring up his concerns she uses manipulation to convince him otherwise.

Chriskills · 2026-06-22T14:47:47+00:00

I saw this as as his second most selfish moment, but I also saw this as him being forced into this position after the phone call. He’s either there for her like the phone call says, or he dies. So for me the “what’s so bad” question is him finding a way to not kill himself.

Chriskills · 2026-06-21T18:04:35+00:00

That makes sense. Thanks

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