A story isn’t always about the destination. The journey is what guides people through the
events unfolding. The journey is the
important part to keep people invested in the characters and what they are
experiencing. That’s why so many movies
involve road trips. Whether a movie is
about driving somewhere, about flying somewhere, or about walking somewhere,
that journey can be as captivating as having the characters reach their goal.
The Ugly Duckling and
Me! was about the journey of Ratso (Morgan C. Jones), a rat with dreams of
stardom. He wanted to make his way to a
carnival where he would be able to put on a stageshow to wow audiences. Along the way, he became the surrogate father
to a bird named Ugly (Kim Larney, Justin Gregg). All the while, a pack of rats tried to track
down Ratso to get their revenge on the sneaky rat.
The journey shown in The
Ugly Duckling and Me! was threefold.
One was the literal journey of Ratso as he traveled from the city to the
carnival. It was a journey of physical
travel, from one location on a map to another.
Then there was the journey of the relationship between Ratso and Ugly. The third journey was a more emotional
one. It was Ratso taking a trip from
being a money hungry, selfish rat to opening up and realizing that he could
care for other characters and their emotions.
It was his psychological journey, and it’s this kind of journey that
becomes the one that people get attached to.
Audiences enjoy watching characters change as people, animals, or other
living beings.
There have been many stories told this way that people might
recognize. Planes, Trains & Automobiles became a Thanksgiving classic due
to the journey of the two characters trying to get home to Chicago for the
family holiday. Lord of the Rings was known for how much walking it contained, but
the walking showed the growth of the characters as much as their quest to get
rid of the ring. The Warriors was about a bunch of characters getting across a city
without getting killed by rival gangs.
Each movie was about a journey, both of the body and of the mind. The
Ugly Duckling and Me!, though not necessarily to the same quality as those,
fit right into that template.
On the surface, the story was much the same as any other
journey movie. There was a starting
point, a destination, and a goal. Any
good travel movie has those elements. The Ugly Duckling and Me! began in the
city. Ratso was chased out of the city
and began his journey to the final destination, the carnival. His goal was stardom, which he thought would
be found at the carnival. It was the
basic structure that each of the movies had.
Planes, Trains & Automobiles
was about a guy stranded in an airport (his starting point), going home to
Chicago (his end point) to see his family on Thanksgiving (his goal). It’s the same basic surface structure with
the specifics slightly changed.
After this basic story, things get a little deeper. The next level down is when you see the
companions themselves. There has to be
some sort of struggle between the characters who travel together. Most of the time, they don’t get along when
things begin. They fight over the
smallest things. One of them tries to
leave the other so he can continue onward in peace. There have been many, many movies that had
this piece of the story included in them.
The Ugly Duckling and Me! had
this relationship between Ratso and Ugly, when they first encountered each
other. Ratso wanted to get back to his
worm friend and go to the carnival. He
later turned around on that decision when he realized how much money he could
make off of Ugly. Further into the
movie, a character named Jessie (Aileen Mythen) joined their party and Ratso
had the same apprehension against her.
He thought she was taking Ugly’s mind off of the carnival. By the end, everyone was friends, which is
how this level tends to work out in every movie. The
Warriors featured something like this.
A woman began hanging around with the gang, and they didn’t get along
with her. She irritated them, especially
Swan, the interim leader. He would grow
to appreciate her presence by the end of the movie, with her basically becoming
a member of their gang.
Going even deeper into the story, you have the characters’
individual journeys. These aren’t them
going from one physical location to another.
These aren’t their connection with the other character that they are
traveling with. This is the part of the
story where the character changes as a person.
The character must go through some sort of a transition. In the case of The Ugly Duckling and Me!, the change within Ratso was that he became
a more caring character. This might seem
similar to the whole becoming friends with his travelling companions part, but
it’s slightly different. Ratso was a
selfish character in the beginning. He
thought solely about what could make him money.
He didn’t care if that hurt the “people” around him. As long as he was making money, that was all
that mattered. By the end, he was
risking his well-being to save the characters he cared about. He left his greed behind, fleeing the
carnival to insure that Ugly would not be harmed. This selfless deed showed how much Ratso had
changed. This could be compared to Merry
and Pippin from Lord of the Rings. The two characters were introduced as
goofballs living in The Shire. Over the
course of the three movies, they matured and travelled away from home. No longer were they goofing off. They were fighting to protect Middle Earth
from the forces of Mordor. The maturity
was how they changed.
The basic blueprint for any travel movie can be split into
those three story levels. Of course,
there are exceptions, but this template can fit the vast majority. Level one is the trip itself. Level two is the relationship between the
characters as they travel. Level three
is how the characters change as “people” while they travel and connect with one
another. The three of them together make
a satisfying story that people will want to watch.
The Ugly Duckling and
Me! might not be the best version of this type of storytelling. It is, however, a good example of how this
storytelling works. It fit the template
pretty well. It had characters
travelling together, bonding, and changing throughout the runtime. Ratso became more compassionate. He bonded with Ugly. They went to the carnival. It was all there.
A story isn’t always about the destination. It’s more often about how the characters get
there. It’s about what happens to them
along the way. Whether you’re looking at
The Ugly Duckling and Me!, Lord of the Rings, The Warriors, or Planes,
Trains & Automobiles, there are more to the movies than the start and
the end. There’s a journey in
between. That is what an audience wanted
to see. They want the starting point and
the destination, but they also want the journey. It’s the best part. The destination is just the cherry on top.
The cherry on top of this post is this list of notes:
- Other travel movies that have been a part of the Sunday “Bad” Movies include The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure (week 39), Anaconda (week 80), The Time Machine (I Found at a Yard Sale) (week 113), The Hero of Color City (week 114), The Happening (week 185), The Da Vinci Treasure (week 268), and Tarzan the Ape Man (week 273).
- The reason I know about The Ugly Duckling and Me! is the DVD that includes A Car’s Life (week 2) and An Ant’s Life (week 122).
- Have you seen The Ugly Duckling and Me!? What are your thoughts about it? What are your thoughts about travel movies? Let me know in the comments.
- The comments and Twitter are two places where you can find me to let me know about movies that I should check out for this blog. New, old, or anywhere in between. I’m open to any and all suggestions and will take them into account when building my schedule.
- Sometimes when I’m watching bad movies, I share bits and pieces of them on Snapchat. If that sounds like something you want to experience, add me (jurassicgriffin).
- Another @thenickisaac suggestion will be coming up next week as I sit down to watch Buffalo Rider. There’s not a lot that I know about this movie, but I’m looking forward to putting another post together for you guys. I’ll see you in seven days with whatever I’ve written.
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