Bangarang (17:24)
IMDb; Nostalgia Critic; YouTube

Caution: potential spoilers.

This is an unofficial prequel to the 1991 movie Hook. It was released in June 2017, and it was around that time that I saw an article about it posted on facebook. As a fan of "Hook," I was of course very eager to watch the short film, so I bookmarked the article and... didn't get around to watching the short until April 2018. And I should say that one of the film's executive producers was Dante Basco, who played Rufio in "Hook." In this short, he plays a principal.

So, the story is about a young boy named Roofus, who has a couple of friends named Julani and Ella. They like playing pirates together. And they get bullied by a kid named Sid. And then we learn that Roofus's mother is going to be deported to the Philippines. But because Roofus was born in America, he'll stay here, but be put in a foster home. Meanwhile, he dreams that he can fly. And eventually, it turns out that he can fly. So... he flies to Neverland. That's the basic gist of the story. But there are little details that explain, you know, little details... about how Roofus becomes the Rufio we all know and love. (There's even a rooster crowing motif in the background. We never actually hear Roofus or anyone crowing, but I still thought that was a nice touch.)

Anyway, the short... well, I thought it was basically okay. Not great, maybe a bit corny. Honestly, I can't imagine I would have liked it much at all if I weren't trying to like it because of the deep fondness I have for the movie it's setting up. But I do have that fondness, so I did like the short. (After watching it, I watched a review of it on a webseries called Nostalgia Critic, which I've never watched before but should totally check out some more of. It was pretty funny, making fun of all the many things in the short that were sort of begging to be made fun of, but still... it was done with love. Or at least like. It was good-natured ribbing, okay?)