Here with a guest review is one of Veronica Mars’ newest “marshmallows”, Eddie Warfield.
VERONICA MARS (7.5 out of 10) — Directed by Rob Thomas; written by Rob Thomas and Diane Ruggiero, based on the “Veronica Mars” TV series; starring Kristen Bell, Chris Lowell, Jason Dohring and Encrico Colantoni; rated PG-13; in selected release; running time: 108 minutes.
“Veronica Mars” picks up nine years after the events of the third and final season, and we find our title character (Kristen Bell) living in New York, in a steady relationship with her college boyfriend, Piz (Chris Lowell) and fresh out of law school. She has left the P.I. business behind and is interviewing for a high profile job with a corporate law firm. Her life seems to be going great until the news of the murder of an international pop star who was also a former high school classmate comes to her attention. The prime suspect is the pop star’s ex-boyfriend, Logan Echolls (Jason Dohring), who happened to be Veronica’s old flame. He asks for Veronica’s help in clearing his name and suddenly our heroine is swept back into her seedy hometown of Neptune, California where everyone has a secret — secrets that have devastating effects.
I won’t lie, until a month and a half ago I had never seen one episode of “Veronica Mars.” The reason I wanted to watch the series was because the trailer for the movie and several of my friends’ recommendations piqued my interest. Needless to say, I am a new “marshmallow”, and my excitement to see this movie has been immense.
Thankfully, I can happily say that the film delivers for all of us fans.
Kristen Bell dives right back into her character and is a stand out; she’s smart, sexy, and a little dangerous! Witty dialogue? Check. Kristen gets most of the lines that had me laughing out loud but so does Encrico Colantoni as her father. His character was always a highlight of the show and still is in the movie. The father-daughter relationship seems incredibly genuine, and the best moments are when these two are on-screen together.
Supporting characters? Check. Wallace (Percy Daggs III), Mac (Tina Majorino), Eli “Weevil” Navarro (Francis Capra), and Dick (Ryan Hansen) all return and have brief stories that tie up loose ends after the series ended.
Lots of fan service? Big check, and is that any surprise? It shouldn’t be because this was a film funded by fans. When creator Rob Thomas started a Kickstarter campaign to fund the film’s budget, they asked to help raise two million dollars, and they raised nearly six million! Fans broke the record for the fastest project to reach two million dollars, and it is the third highest grossing project in Kickstarter history. This film does exactly what is set out to do, and that is please the fans who paid for it to happen, and I loved it!
This doesn’t mean that “Veronica Mars” is a perfect film, as it has its fair share of problems. The movie begins with Veronica narrating a montage of events from the TV show, which sums up the overarching plot of the series. This is obviously used to refresh viewers’ memories and to help newbies catch up on what went on before. The problem is that it just doesn’t work very well for those who haven’t seen the show as it only gives very basic information which doesn’t seem engaging enough to get non-viewers invested in the characters and story. The plot itself also has issues. Instead of feeling like a movie, it comes off as a really great season premiere that just makes the viewer look forward to a next episode that will never come. The side plots are fun, but the movie never truly answers the questions asked there like it does with the main mystery. In a TV show, this could be forgiven, but as a feature film, it doesn’t tie everything up and just left me wanting.
The biggest and best mystery that “Veronica Mars” offers now is what’s next in this new way of filmmaking. If “marshmallows” can Kickstart a project and get it to the big screen, where do we go from here? Only time can tell, but I’m incredibly excited for it if we get satisfying results like this.
Also, be sure to check out the “Veronica Mars” contest here on Big Shiny Robot! to win a copy of the DVD of the movie and an awesome Neptune, CA trucker hat!