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Sugar Creek Gang - Swamp Robber, The
Other // Unrated // March 29, 2005
List Price: $19.95 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie
As a parent, I'm all for wholesome entertainment. There's nothing wrong with movies or TV shows which are aimed solely at kids and contain no violence or profanity. But, as a critic, I'm against wholesome entertainment which isn't entertaining. It's easy to see why Hollywood feels that they can get away with pushing questionable material on children when attempts at making true family entertainment often result in truly lame materials. The Sugar Creek Gang: Swamp Robber is a shining example of how good intentions don't necessarily make for good movies.
The Sugar Creek Gang: Swamp Robber is set in an indeterminate time in the past (if I were to guess, I'd say the 1950s), in a rural area. The "Gang" is made up of six kids; Bill (Levi Bonilla), Dragonfly (Kody Brown), Poetry (Samuel Hodge), Circus (Lexi Johnson), Little Jim (Jay St. Onge), and Big Jim (Jacob Velcoff). These children love to play in the woods near their houses, which contain a creek and a little further away, a swamp. Poetry finds a fake beard in a hollow tree in the swamp, and after hearing a news report on the radio, the gang determines that the costume belongs to a bank robber who was spotted in the area. After a suspect is captured, the kids believe that the real robber is still at large and decide to stake out the swamp. This leads to run ins with scary adults and the discovery of a legend in the swamp.
After doing some research, I learned that The Sugar Creek Gang: Swamp Robber is based on a series of novels from writer Paul Hutchens. While I'm not familiar with the books, it seems that the series began in 1939 and ran through 36 volumes, so presumably, there is a legacy and a fanbase here. Well, I can only imagine that Hutchens is spinning in his grave over this awful movie.
The Sugar Creek Gang: Swamp Robber (which is the first in a series of planned films) is a true low-budget independent film, which is admirable, but this grass-roots efforts displays all of the pitfalls of backyard filmmaking. The acting in the film is terrible. Lenient viewers will excuse the fact that the kids come off as amateurish, but the adults in the film seem to have no idea what they are doing either. Writer/director Owen Smith has no sense of pacing and there are often long pauses at the beginning and endings of scenes, as well as between line-readings from the actors. Truth be told The Sugar Creek Gang: Swamp Robber may be the longest 70 minute movie that I've ever seen. To make matters worse, the story is confusing. The bank robber angle is never truly explained (what bank? where?). Characters wander in and out of the story and we never learn the identity of the "Swamp Robber". A small subplot suddenly blooms into a storyline for the last section of the film. A family film which runs a little over an hour should not be this stupifying, but The Sugar Creek Gang: Swamp Robber manages to get the job done. Yes, the film is devoid of violence, sex, and profanity, but it doesn't offer much of anything else either.
Video
The Sugar Creek Gang: Swamp Robber comes to DVD courtesy of Kalon Media Inc. The movie was shot with a 24p digital video camera with a 16:9 lens. The movie has been letterboxed at 1.78:1 and the transfer is enhanced for 16 x 9 TVs. The image is clear and sharp, but closer inspection reveals some problems. Pixellation runs amok on this transfer and many times moving objects will be riddled with haloes. Many shots look quite weird, as the foreground will be in focus, but the background will not only be out of focus, but shimmering as well. (It reminded me of a lenticular 3-D effect.) There are also several shots where video noise is evident. On the plus side, the colors look very good, most notably the green vegetation surrounding the swamp.
Audio
This DVD features a 2-channel stereo audio track. This track isn't mixed very well, as the music (which seems to intrude into every scene) is louder than the dialogue. Thus, one must increase the volume to understand the dialogue, but then the music becomes truly overpowering. The stereo effects are well-done, but they are hard to notice when you are straining to hear the characters speak.
Extras
The Sugar Creek Gang: Swamp Robber DVD contains a few extras. We start with an audio commentary from producer/writer/director Owen Smith and producer Joy Chapman. This is a pleasant talk as this duo frankly discusses the low-budget nature of the project and describes how the movie was made. They talk about working with the actors and how corners were cut and shooting was rushed to get things done. "Behind the Scenes Video" (11 minutes) is exactly that -- video from the set mixed with clips from the film. Some of the actors speak to the camera, but there are no true interviews here. There is one "Deleted Scene", which runs 3 1/2 minutes. The extras are rounded out by a Still Gallery and a 7-minute Gag Reel.
While I admire the tenacity of those behind The Sugar Creek Gang: Swamp Robber, I can't recommend the movie based on the simple fact that it isn't good. Those in search of wholesome family entertainment should just turn off the TV and find something else for the kids to do.
As a parent, I'm all for wholesome entertainment. There's nothing wrong with movies or TV shows which are aimed solely at kids and contain no violence or profanity. But, as a critic, I'm against wholesome entertainment which isn't entertaining. It's easy to see why Hollywood feels that they can get away with pushing questionable material on children when attempts at making true family entertainment often result in truly lame materials. The Sugar Creek Gang: Swamp Robber is a shining example of how good intentions don't necessarily make for good movies.
The Sugar Creek Gang: Swamp Robber is set in an indeterminate time in the past (if I were to guess, I'd say the 1950s), in a rural area. The "Gang" is made up of six kids; Bill (Levi Bonilla), Dragonfly (Kody Brown), Poetry (Samuel Hodge), Circus (Lexi Johnson), Little Jim (Jay St. Onge), and Big Jim (Jacob Velcoff). These children love to play in the woods near their houses, which contain a creek and a little further away, a swamp. Poetry finds a fake beard in a hollow tree in the swamp, and after hearing a news report on the radio, the gang determines that the costume belongs to a bank robber who was spotted in the area. After a suspect is captured, the kids believe that the real robber is still at large and decide to stake out the swamp. This leads to run ins with scary adults and the discovery of a legend in the swamp.
After doing some research, I learned that The Sugar Creek Gang: Swamp Robber is based on a series of novels from writer Paul Hutchens. While I'm not familiar with the books, it seems that the series began in 1939 and ran through 36 volumes, so presumably, there is a legacy and a fanbase here. Well, I can only imagine that Hutchens is spinning in his grave over this awful movie.
The Sugar Creek Gang: Swamp Robber (which is the first in a series of planned films) is a true low-budget independent film, which is admirable, but this grass-roots efforts displays all of the pitfalls of backyard filmmaking. The acting in the film is terrible. Lenient viewers will excuse the fact that the kids come off as amateurish, but the adults in the film seem to have no idea what they are doing either. Writer/director Owen Smith has no sense of pacing and there are often long pauses at the beginning and endings of scenes, as well as between line-readings from the actors. Truth be told The Sugar Creek Gang: Swamp Robber may be the longest 70 minute movie that I've ever seen. To make matters worse, the story is confusing. The bank robber angle is never truly explained (what bank? where?). Characters wander in and out of the story and we never learn the identity of the "Swamp Robber". A small subplot suddenly blooms into a storyline for the last section of the film. A family film which runs a little over an hour should not be this stupifying, but The Sugar Creek Gang: Swamp Robber manages to get the job done. Yes, the film is devoid of violence, sex, and profanity, but it doesn't offer much of anything else either.
Video
The Sugar Creek Gang: Swamp Robber comes to DVD courtesy of Kalon Media Inc. The movie was shot with a 24p digital video camera with a 16:9 lens. The movie has been letterboxed at 1.78:1 and the transfer is enhanced for 16 x 9 TVs. The image is clear and sharp, but closer inspection reveals some problems. Pixellation runs amok on this transfer and many times moving objects will be riddled with haloes. Many shots look quite weird, as the foreground will be in focus, but the background will not only be out of focus, but shimmering as well. (It reminded me of a lenticular 3-D effect.) There are also several shots where video noise is evident. On the plus side, the colors look very good, most notably the green vegetation surrounding the swamp.
Audio
This DVD features a 2-channel stereo audio track. This track isn't mixed very well, as the music (which seems to intrude into every scene) is louder than the dialogue. Thus, one must increase the volume to understand the dialogue, but then the music becomes truly overpowering. The stereo effects are well-done, but they are hard to notice when you are straining to hear the characters speak.
Extras
The Sugar Creek Gang: Swamp Robber DVD contains a few extras. We start with an audio commentary from producer/writer/director Owen Smith and producer Joy Chapman. This is a pleasant talk as this duo frankly discusses the low-budget nature of the project and describes how the movie was made. They talk about working with the actors and how corners were cut and shooting was rushed to get things done. "Behind the Scenes Video" (11 minutes) is exactly that -- video from the set mixed with clips from the film. Some of the actors speak to the camera, but there are no true interviews here. There is one "Deleted Scene", which runs 3 1/2 minutes. The extras are rounded out by a Still Gallery and a 7-minute Gag Reel.
While I admire the tenacity of those behind The Sugar Creek Gang: Swamp Robber, I can't recommend the movie based on the simple fact that it isn't good. Those in search of wholesome family entertainment should just turn off the TV and find something else for the kids to do.
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