FAD: A Werewolf Boy Review

5 out of 5

Hi,
This week I look at "Gentle yet Misunderstood" with this 2012 - Korean Drama Movie, A Werewolf Boy.

Initial Thoughts

Here is a poster and trailer to A Werewolf Boy:

When I was watching the trailer but also the start of the movie, my first thoughts were "Is this going to be a horror movie?" as it had a lot of dark themes - lots of dark blue and black - as well as suspenseful music. Even the mention of the haunted old house that the grandmother use to live in, gave me the creeps - I can't handle horror well. However, this poster made me feel excited because of its excellent design and quality. Simple and clean yet also beautiful. One could tell that this is definitely going to be something to look forward to, especially with the amount of awards it has won. However, the poster reminds me of Tim Burton's 1994 Film, Edward Scissorhands. 

Although, frankly it wasn't just the posters that reminded me of the young man with the scissors for hands.

Storyline:

The storyline and execution of this film was really beautiful. The film starts off with an elderly woman receiving a mysterious phone call, expecting it to be her granddaughter living in Seoul to study. The elderly women then travels to Seoul with her granddaughter to a countryside house she once lived in.

The grandmother giving a tip to the granddaughter

Throughout this film, I found it easy to compare it to Edward Scissorhands. This is because both films follow the same storyline and have similar themes. 
At the beginning of both films, you've got the grandmother and granddaughter, however the roles that both the grandmother and granddaughter play in both film is different. In Edward Scissorhands, the grandmother is telling the story to her granddaughter who is snuggled into bed while in A Werewolf Boy, the granddaughter is just there to as a supporting character to look after her grandmother and never actually hears the story of the werewolf boy. Both films tell the story from the grandmother's perspective from when she was a teenager and how it is about a gentle yet misunderstood mysterious boy. 

An All for One pot. The neighbors in this film are a little greedy

The villains in both of the films have a sort of love interest to the heroine, both of them jealous of this mysterious boy that appears and end up manipulating him into doing something unethical and wrong. In the end, the fate of the villains need in the same way. I found it interesting though that the heroine hates the villain in A Werewolf Boy even though, he talks about marrying her all the time. 

At the end, he finally gets to read for her

In the end, I found A Werewolf Boy more dramatic. Although, I do enjoy the film, Edward Scissorhands, I felt it fell short at times. While Edward in Edward Scissorhands had more character development, learning the difference between right and wrong from a range of different people in the town, Chul-Soo (the Werewolf Boy) was learning essential basics such as learning to write and being polite at the dinner table by only one person, Sun-Yi (the heroine of the story). I think this really helped add to the story because it was not just a "ohh, she's a beautiful girl who I coincidentally get to live with", they actually got more of an interaction with each other, Sun-Yi learning Chul-Soo after reading a dog training manual. 

The garden Hideout

I find it interesting that both Edward and Chul-Soo are surrounded by scenery years later. I also love the ending where Sun-Yi comes back to the countryside house that Chul-Soo lives and has a final interaction with her. I feel that gave the perfect touch.

Chul-Soo making a Snow Man

Acting:

I found the acting in this film is really good. Double tick because both main characters to look rather attractive.

Music:

I found this film did not include a lot of music which I think put more emphasis on making the film more dramatic with the acting and helped set the scene. The only time they played music was at the beginning of the film and when Sun-yi plays her guitar which ultimately becomes a theme song.

Final Thoughts:

I highly recommend watching this film. It is one of the best films I have ever seen. It could not get better than this. 5 stars. I watched this film on DramaCrazy

Which do you like better? Edward Scissorhands or A WereWolf Boy? Comment below!