Jaja Ding Dong For Best Song At The Oscars 2021.
Eurovision Song Contest: The Song of Fire Saga (2020) tells the tale of two loveable, aspiring musicians who are given the opportunity to represent their country, Iceland, in the Eurovision Song Contest and prove that they can pursue their dreams and prove everyone wrong.
Written By Will Ferrell & Andrew Steele and Directed By David Dobkin, I was pleasantly surprised with how much I actually enjoyed this musical rollercoaster hitting many different emotions and really encapsulates the heart and soul of Eurovision. Let's delve deeper into why I came to warm to this heartfelt and all round fun time.
The Film....
Let's just start this off by saying I really wasn't in the mood for this film, in fact I was tempted to dodge it completely as I really couldn't be at all bothered to put myself through its 2 hour 3 min runtime. But I something in me said "NO, watch it and see what the all the fuss is about" and my goodness am I thankful for that little voice in my head. I've never really been a fan of the Eurovision Song Contest because I've never really understood why people love it so much, but I can safely say after watching the movie I can understand the love and the fun people have whilst watching it, it's a celebration of life and bringing us all together with all the bad things happening in the world. The humour is very hit and miss and really all boils down to your humour and trust me I'm hard to please when it comes to humour as I have a very dysfunctional taste but admittedly it got a few laughs out of me so props to the writing team. Even some of the songs, if not all, are a skit at society, for example the song Coolin' With Da Homies is all about how todays rappers mumble and how society is obsessed about materialistic things such as Starbucks and expensive clothing brands. I'm also putting it out in the world now that JaJa Ding Dong SHOULD be the contender for the best song at the Oscars 2021.
I haven't had this much fun with a movie all year and to just let myself kinda sit there and just enjoy it and not take it too seriously. Obviously the film has its moments, many in fact, but the whole point of the movie is to have fun and just not take it seriously. Eurovision is all about being bold, outlandish and in some cases silly and that perfect sums this film up. It takes the viewer on this outrageous journey from a small, unknown town in Iceland to the bright, bash lights of Eurovision which in the movie is taking place in Glasgow. Even some of the camera techniques used were pretty solid, the musical number that brings all the previous real life Eurovision contestants and winners had some rather solid camera movements, I can imagine it was the most technical aspect to film.
The Cast....
The cast comprised of some familiar faces. Our loveable losers Lars Erickssong and Sigrit Ericksdottir are played by Will Ferrell (Elf, Step Brothers) and Rachel McAdams (The Notebook, Mean Girls). Other characters include Lars Erickssong's father Erick Erickssong played by Pierce Brosnan (Die Another Day, Mamma Mia) and playing rival Russian contestant Alexander Lemtov is Dan Stevens (Beauty & The Beast, Downton Abbey).
My standout performance has to be Rachel McAdams, everything she touches turns to gold and she is an absolute joy in this movie. Everytime she came on screen she just filled me with joy. Will Ferrell is good but for me it isn't his best performance, occasionally getting over shadowed by other cast members.
To Conclude....
Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020) is surprisingly not as bad as you might think it is and brings the heart and joy of the Eurovision Song Contest to the "big" screen. You'll also be jamming along to Jaja Ding Dong till the early hours of the night the next day.
Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 /5