At first, I thought I didn’t like this movie, but after telling my husband about the plot, I realized how funny it actually was and my opinion changed. When I first watched Wayside, I didn’t think it was funny, at all. I didn’t laugh once. I realized there were situations that were funny, but the situations and the characters weren’t getting anything out of me.

Once I began talking about Wayside with my curious husband, who is a cartoon hound, I realized that it was funnier then I thought. The only problem is, I don’t really have a desire to see it again, because watching it, I don’t think it will be funny. In essence, I believe Wayside had an amazing amount of potential, but when it came to getting to the punchline, it just didn’t deliver until I’d moved on and had plenty of time to think about it.

Wayside is based on the books by the acclaimed author, Louis Sachar. I can only imagine that his idea was great in book form, but just didn’t transfer to film quite as well as anyone had hoped. However, I do think those who liked Wayside were kids, because the movie is being developed into a television show, by Nickelodeon’s animation studios.

The plot for Wayside revolves around Todd, who is a new student at the Wayside School. Wayside School is unusual. The builder who built the school was an idiot. He had his plans the wrong way and built all 31 classrooms vertically instead of horizontally like most schools are built. This means Todd was lucky enough to get placed in the classroom on the 31st floor. I should mention Wayside School does not have a working elevator.

The movie follows Todd through his misadventures in class. While he tries to fit in, nothing seems to work. His teacher, Mrs. Jewels (Kathy Najimy), has it out for him. If you think Forest is slow, then you need to meet Mrs. Jewels. She’s dumber than dumb. For example, whenever Todd tries to say something in class, she will put his name on the chalkboard and puts checks next to them. So many checks and Todd has to ride home with the Kindergarteners. Needless to say, Todd is the only one to have his name on the board at all times.

When Todd finds out something could be happening to harm the students, he tries to warn them. Unfortunately, no one believes him, but when what he says is going to happen, actually starts happening, it could be too late for the classroom to be saved.

The visual quality of the film was fine. It was a low budget type of animation as opposed to a CGI or 3D type of animator’s quality seen from Disney Pixar and other animation studios. I didn’t have any problems with the film, which was transferred at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, but I wasn’t wowed by it either. The audio quality for the film was great. The main sound is Dolby Digital 5.1 audio. While the film is in English, there is dubbing in both French and Spanish on this DVD. I’m disappointed that the film didn’t have any extra features. I like bonuses and this film just didn’t have much of anything except previews for other movies.

Bottom Line: Wayside could have been better than it was. While it might be funny for kids, as an adult I feel it wasn’t anything I can appreciate. I feel it was rushed and the quality was lacking. Nevertheless, I suggest you rent it before buying it because your kids just might like it.

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Technorati Tags: Paramount, Wayside, Animated, Louis Sachar, Wayside School, Cartoon, Nickelodeon

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