Release: September 18, 2019
Focus: Pink Floyd - The Wall
Pink Floyd – The Wall is a 1982 British live-action/animated musical drama film directed by Alan Parker with animated segments by Gerald Scarfe, and is based on the 1979 Pink Floyd album of the same name. But does adapting the album to a more visual medium detract from its messages? Nostalgia Critic takes a look, and the lead singer of Slipknot joins the surreal review of the surreal movie; it's not like a film like this deserved anything normal.
Tropes:
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: The Critic and the video's version of the Teacher go on a dance/rampage as giants in the town for the cover of "Brick in The Wall, Part 2", when one of the students begins questioning the WWII parallels in the visuals of the song being compared to school, The Giant Critic gets on his knees to talk to her and her friend from the other end of a train tunnel
- Bait-and-Switch: At the end, it appears that Corey is going to sing one of his most notable songs, but it ends up being the opening theme to SpongeBob SquarePants
- Clip Show: Like with the Phantom of the Opera review, inverted- while The Wall is an older movie, the big name Pink Floyd songs had to be changed for the episode to have a chance staying on Youtube. However, unlike with the other clipless reviews, the parody songs are so close to the original Pink Floyd tunes, Channel Awesome had to fight to get the claims removed anyways.
- Crossover: With Satellite City, especially towards the end, though Lucy Lacemaker makes cameos throughout.
- Grew Beyond Their Programming: When the Critic is asked to keep an eye out for Lucy Lacemaker, he remarks that Lucy is a fictional character. But he's told that creation is a complex process, and once something is given enough development, things kinda... blur.
- Hypocritical Humor:
- At one point a shirtless Critic starts yelling "Oh my God, doesn't this remind you of Jesus?" to mock the pool scene in The Wall. Considering that the Critic has called The Chronicles of Narnia some of his favorite films, it seems strange that he would mock one movie for making a Christ allegory but not another.
- The song "Bring the Runtime Down" (a parody of "Bring the Boys Back Home") digs at The Wall for being too long and boring. The Wall clocks in at 85 minutes, while the Critic's own film-length projects range anywhere from 91 minutes to a whopping 209 minutes.
- Irony: Satellite City characters animated to sing a cover of "The Trial" criticize the film for not building up the creative visuals and characters used in the segment. In truth the characters in the original movie were either people from other part of Pink's backstory (and thus his reasons for building The Wall), or representations of parts of Pink's mind and reasoning. Lucy Lacemaker and co. are not built up apart from one or two brief glimpses before Sullivan calls the Critic to explain that he should be on the lookout. If you didn't know what Satellite City was beforehand, you don't know who any of the characters that are involved and/or singing are or why the Critic interacts with them.
- Musical Episode: The entire review parallels the movie being reviewed.
- Overly Long Gag: the infamous ad for coupon app Honey, where Doug Freaks out in front of his computer out of excitement, leaving his room and coming back multiple times for about a minute.
- Special Guest: Corey Taylor is the focus of the review's narrative, showing if the music and visuals that were so inspiring and relevant decades ago in his youth still hold up in the modern era. Corey's son, Griff, plays the role of Corey's younger self in flashbacks. And then there's the appearance of Sam Fennah/Sullivan and the Satellite City Kivouachians...
- Strange Salute: One used to make fun of cancel culture is used during the "Waiting for the Worms" cover. A "Hash-Tag" salute performed by holding the forearms out vertically out in front and then horizontally, in order to give the impression of the namesake shape.
- Take That!: To elaborate on the misguided notion that Roger Waters of Pink Floyd is an angsty, petulant, entitled, arrogant brat, the NC's review of The Wall uses a parody of "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" to condemn the American school system for allegedly coddling children, even though the song was an attack on corporal punishment in the British school system. A parody of "Waiting for the Worms" becomes an attack on "outrage culture”.
- They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: The main issue that Lucy Lacemaker has with the movie adaptation of Floyd's music. Lucy believes music can let an imagination run wild, but a film is supposed to take raw ideas and develop them. Each abstract character was fantastically designed and represented something meaningful, but were never developed enough to help the viewer form as strong a connection with Pink's plight as they could have."Style over substance, showcasing a bunch of weird creatures and worlds... not a drop of intellectual development. All pen, no ink."
- Roger Rabbit Effect: Downplayed, The cover of "The Trail" has the Critic interacting with Lucy Lacemaker and other CG animated characters in equally fantastical environments. Lucy stands on top of him, Fontaine (the scarecrow like character) takes off the Critic's hat and plops it back on, and a third character picks up the Critic by the scruff of his jacket and tosses him into a cage. Other than that, The Critic mostly stands and spectates the performances as the scenes shift.
- Your Makeup Is Running: unintentional example. The "Waiting For The Worms" Nameless Foe's make-up used for the dotted line going across his head is visibly a little smeared due to the actor's sweat.
