Better Man is the biography of Robbie Williams, a wildly popular British pop star from the 90s and early 2000s.
I am not a fan of Robbie Williams. I barely know who Robbie Williams is. The only reason he wasn't a complete unknown to me was the fact at one point in history, MTV actually played music videos. Back in 2000, Robbie Williams released the video for Rock DJ which featured a mob of super models encircling Robbie while he tore off his own skin and muscle. Although it was pretty gross, it was ground breaking special effects at the time... but now it looks so cheesy.
Because I barely knew who he was, I had absolutely zero interest in learning how he got to where he was... which for me was nowhere. And yet, I watched this movie... AND LOVED IT!!!!
Better Man is one of the best biographies I have ever seen. But what made me watch it since I had absolutely no interest in the topic? Two reasons: Number one, it is one of my son's favorite movies and he asked me to watch it with him. Number two Robbie Williams is portrayed by a perfectly animated CGI monkey. Yes. Robbie Williams is a monkey while everyone else in the entire movie is a human.
I know this idea sounds absolutely silly or insane... but it works. I could not give two shits what happened to Robbie Williams, but oh boy did I care about that monkey! Like every movie following the biography formula, you have to start with the star when they were a child. You need to see what childhood trauma led to them being a drug abusing asshole when they became famous before their inevitable redemption. Although I am sure they could have found a kid cute enough to make you feel sorry for little Robbie, none could elicit as much compassion as the adorable child monkey the created.
Even if you did not care about the story at all, the visuals were mesmerizing. I could have watched it with the sound off and just studied the perfection of the CGI monkey. It was some of the most perfect special effects I have ever seen. If I ever did find myself feeling a little bored, I just found myself thinking "how the hell did they do that"? It was truly a spectacular feet.
Luckily the also told the story in a really compelling way. If it were a fictional story, it would have had a decent plot, great acting, and catchy music. So I appreciated the way the writers did their job as well.
Even if you do not enjoy the entire movie, there is one scene that you simply must see. About half way through the movie, Robbie meets his future wife. They perform one of the most beautiful dance numbers I have ever seen... and one of them is a CGI monkey! It is honestly my favorite dance scene from any movie (outside of Breakin Two Electric Boogaloo of course).
As an added treat, they used some actual Robbie Williams concert footage and laid the CGI monkey perfectly over it so the monkey Robbie perfectly matches the human one. I can't believe how real it looked!
Has anyone else seen this movie? What did you think?
