Theatrical Review: Frozen 2

Date: Saturday November 23 2019
Time: 11:50am
Party: 3 (my mom, sister and I)

Writers/Directors: Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee
Songwriters: Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez

Cast:
Returning
Anna- Kristen Bell
Elsa- Idina Menzel
Olaf- Josh Gad
Kristoff- Jonathan Groff
Pabbie- Ciaran Hinds
King Angnarr- Alfred Molina
Queen Iduna- Evan Rachel Wood
Newcomers
Mattis- Sterling K. Brown (Randall from "This is Us")
Ryder- Jason Ritter
Yelena- Martha Plimpton

Duration: 103 minutes (+8 trailers)

Write-up:

Some Mild Spoilers Going Forward on both movies...

Opening Comments

I really haven't been that excited for many movies this year. This was one of the few that I had to see and was very glad to the weekend it came out. My dad actually suggested us getting our tickets on Fandango and it worked out really well. The theater wasn't completely full, but full enough where it might have been difficult to get a reasonable seat (reasonable meaning not in the front section with your neck craned backward).

The three of us saw the previous movie together so it was only fitting that we continue that tradition.I didn't fully go into my thoughts on the original Frozen just because I didn't want to give anything away. But like so many people, I got swept up in the magic of it. 
Consequentially, I was maybe one of the few that were thrilled when "Once Upon a Time" announced in a season finale that that was their next direction. I loved the actors they had for the characters. Especially the actress who played Elsa. It annoys me that whenever they have the Disney park characters, Elsa is always wearing this huge white wig with the braid. It just doesn't look natural. "Once" definitely got it right. 
I also liked that they added to the mythology of the story, explaining how they found the gloves that limited Elsa'a powers and how she had an aunt who had the same powers as her that was estranged from the family. Plus they factored in Emma Swan's magic and how she was nervous about not being able to control it. Great for character growth, but it only lasted until the next season began. 
There was a critcism about this movie about Elsa losing the confidence she gained in the previous movie... Emma Swan has probably had more regressions in confidence than anyone I know. She has it one second and then something new comes up and she's immediately back to square one. Honestly. I'm the same way myself because nothing ever stays permanent. I wish I could just "let it go" and never have any doubt in my head again. 

Ok, moving on... trailers...

Coming Attractions 

...real quick... the movie time was 11:50... the trailers didn't start until 11:58 and the trailers went on until 12:18... OMG... I'll say it again, if I wanted to see commericals, I'd just stay home. Theaters are so annoying with all delay before the actual movie starts.

There weren't many trailers that got my interest, honestly.

Call Of The Wild
I saw an ad on the right side of a YouTube video I was watching. I just saw that Harrison Ford was in it. Then this trailer started... right away... can we address the fact that the dog is fake? Completely animated! I looked up the trivia of the movie and they didn't explain why they did that. I mean, is PETA cracking down so you can't have live animals in movies anymore? It's just not normal, especially this dog's expressions. Too human. Plus, the model is based on an actual dog who is the same mix of breeds as Buck is in the book. That part is true to form, but still... somehow I get the feeling this movie is gonna bomb. 

Little Women
This actually looks real good. I mean, this has Saorise Ronan and Emma Watson. What's not to like? (Except maybe Meryl Streep playing their wet blanket of an aunt). I'd never read the book, but we have it in the house, so I really should get around to reading it... for whenever this movie comes out on HBO. But I really hope it's a good movie because I like the look of it. 

Trolls World Tour
I already wrote about this in another post...

Cats
Along with Star Wars, we're probably going to be see this one as well. I have an aversion about the original Broadway production after seeing (and being kept up at night by) it on PBS's Great Performances. The animation looks kinda weird, but I'm all for a fresh look aesthetically and also a reworking on the original Andrew Lloyd Webber score. 

Scoob!
Other than some bits and pieces of the characterizations being too modernized for my liking, this looks like it'll be a fun watch. It's so crazy to think that Scooby-Doo has been around for 50 years. But I guess they can't do any worse than the previous live action versions where there was an overemphasis on gross-out humor. I guess they couldn't have called it "When Shaggy Met Scooby" cuz it's also about the Mystery Gang getting together :P 

Soul
Another interesting looking movie... not sure if the execution is going to fall in line with the intention behind it... it's getting a lot of hype because it's the first Pixar movie with a black lead. Can't we just celebrate diversity without being so on the nose about it? It feels like fulfilling a campaign more than feeling natural. 
Anyway, Jamie Foxx is a jazz musician about to get his first break, but then he falls down a manhole and he turns into a soul... hence the name... and souls are the embodiment of what each person is deep down. Cool concept for sure. It's too bad he probably won't spend that much time human in this movie. 

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Not much to add with this... just gotta wait for the movie to come out...

Onward
They had to squeeze in another Pixar trailer apparently... two brothers get 24 hours with their father, but when they bring him back via magic, they only manage to bring him back from the waist down. Also, the characters are all elves and monsters. I can't get over the "from the waist down" thing... to me, this screams "they've run out of ideas"... yes, even more than doing a Frozen sequel... 

Haha, nice seque... I didn't even plan that. It just happened. 

The Main Event

First off... this was a great audience. The kids were quiet except laughing at the right times and clapping at the end. Mostly they just laughed at Olaf, but that's totally fine.

Now I'm not sure how to proceed.
For starters, I guess I can say that the first movie is still better in a lot of respects. But this movie had a lot of merit too. One review that was in the paper complained that this got a theatrical release and other people have said that this movie proves that Disney is very close to running out of ideas.

The only negative I can vouch for is the songs... 
Even the first time I heard "Into the Unknown" on Dancing With the Stars, I was underwhelmed by it. In the movie, it makes a little more sense because we have context. And Elsa gets two diva moments. I liked "Show Yourself" a little bit more, but neither is "Let It Go." I still remember when they occasionally played that on the radio and it was such a treat :P Unlike most of the general public, I never got sick of that song. I just wish I could sing it without some emotion taking me over... I'm very strange with certain songs. My tear ducts just activate for no good reason. 

I'll give them this: the credits version of "Into the Unknown" was actually really good. I griped so much about Demi Levato doing "Let It Go"... honestly, nobody can do that song, but Idina Menzel... but this credits version was by Panic at the Disco! I knew that voice sounded kinda familiar and I thought at the time it was Patrick Stump from Fall Out Boy. Maybe I'm a bit more familiar cuz he guest starred on a Taylor Swift song.
They also encored "All is Found"... that's one of the highlights of the movie, this song. It's a lullaby by their mom in a flashback. Kinda reminds me of something from Lord of the Rings, but more indictative of the setting of this movie. 

My favorite song was by Kristoff- "Lost in the Woods." If I didn't know any better, I'd think either Peter Cetera or Richard Marx wrote it. It just screams 80's pop power ballad :P I'm a sucker for this sort of thing, but I also really liked the lyrics and how they flowed. 

The lowlight for songs... it's kind of a sad part in the movie and Anna sings about how she needs to do "The Next Right Thing." Why did this need to be a song? Couldn't she have just had a monologue or something? As if things weren't low enough at that point, it was kinda painful to get through because the lyric writing is just so weak. Almost like they gave up trying.

Ok, all the negatives are done... 

Story time...
The gates of Arendelle are still open and Elsa is free to use her powers whenever she chooses. Kristoff is thinking of proposing to Anna-- you can kinda guess where this is going... I knew I did. Olaf has matured a little bit, which is an interesting concept. The idea of a snowman aging and learning and such. 
Then there's this mysterious voice only Elsa is hearing and she has to follow it. This quest leads the sisters to the Enchanted Forest from their own bedtime stories. Their grandfather wanted to broker a treaty with its locals, the Northuldran, a native tribe who lives with magic, but a fight breaks out without warning and their father was able to escape with help.

When the characters get into the forest (after some interesting commentary from Olaf as they trek there in Kristoff's new sled... some of it is relevant so pay attention), they find that the Northuldran and some of their comrades from Arendelle had been trapped there for 30+ years. One of them was Mattias, their father's guard.
In an attempt to catch them up on the last several years, Olaf kinda gives them a one-man show summarizing the events of the first movie. (This was maybe the best part of the movie :P especially his comment about Hans "surprise, I'm the bad guy!"... seriously, I'm still annoyed how that came out of nowhere. Any normal Disney movie drops subtle hints, if it isn't already inherently obvious. All Hans ever said was that he was 11th in line for the throne of his kingdom...)

But it's almost like an abridged version of Avatar: The Last Airbender. There are 4 elements that need to be tamed or quelled. One of them takes the form of a cute little lizard. He looks like he could be a distant cousin of Pascal, Rapunzel's chameleon from "Tangled." But they never name him in the movie... Olaf calls a gust of wind "Gale," but they never mention that the lizard's name is Bruni (according to IMDb). 
Despite various objections from Anna, Elsa has to make the rest of their journey alone. The two of them find out where her powers came from and also some things about their parents. 

I guess you could say they were creative in deciding who the bad guy was... but at the same time, I'm still annoyed that Elsa makes this huge journey and finds out the truth via flashbacks and visions. You expect to meet someone after going through all this trouble... granted, the great reveal is compelling and shocking (unless you're really on top of things). But maybe the way it was conveyed could have been done better. 

One thing I will say for the movie overall... I was invested from the first second up until the end. Heck, there was a point where the final conflict was just put to rest and everything was resolved... I just went "crap, that means the movie's almost over."
Sometimes I wish that movies lasted 10 minutes longer so we can revel in the happy ending instead of just getting it and it's "Later, by!" 
Especially movies like this where I just get caught up in the world and I love the characters. Elsa is totally my spirit animal. Makes me wish I could dye my hair that shade of platinum blonde. I just need snow powers and a better singing voice. I'm decent, but I don't have that good of a range. 

What'd I give the previous movie... I gave the original movie an A+
It was pretty near perfection, even with the whole Hans thing.

This movie... not so much... but I still enjoyed it a lot. 

Grade: A-

It was definitely worth waiting all this time for it, but they still could have done some things a lot better.

Theatrical Review: Frozen

Date: December 22, 2013
Time: 11:45am
Location: Pocono Movieplex
Party: 3 (my mom & sister)
Duration: 102 minutes (+2 trailers, an animated short and way too many commercials, lol)

Directors: Jennifer Lee & Chris Buck
Music and Lyrics: Robert and Kristen Anderson-Lopez
Musical Score: Christophe Beck
Type: Disney animation, fairytale-retelling, musical

Cast:
Princess Anna- Kristen Bell
Princess "The Snow Queen" Elsa- Idina Menzel
Olaf- Josh Gad
Kristoff- Jonathan Groff
Hans- Santino Fontana
Pabbie- Ciaran Hinds

Awards potential

Golden Globes for "Best Animated Film" and "Best Original Song" ("Let it go").

Awards Commentary

It'll be a tight race for best original song. Coldplay is always awesome and their song, "Atlas" on the "Catching Fire" soundtrack sets just the right tone for the audience to leave with (as it plays during the ending credits). But "Let it go" really does deserve recognition.

As for animated feature, "The Croods" was really good and I haven't seen "Despicable Me 2" yet, but likely will soon. Another tight race especially because "The Croods" educates as well as entertains, but I have to give to Disney on this one too.

And I'm really hoping the same will play out for Oscars, particularly if there are wins attached 8-)

Trailers

It was a rainy Sunday morning and this movie was released at least 3 weeks ago, so I expected a small crowd. We were among maybe a dozen. A good amount of those were of the target audience. Only one or two chuckles from them the entire movie (unlike me, lol).

The first trailer was for, get this, a Lego movie. They're definitely playing to a younger demographic with this one, between the animation style and the cultural references. I'm a sucker for all those things, but I doubt it's something I'd pay to go see.

Then there was a trailer for the Muppets movie sequel where a criminal doppelganger of Kermit switches places with him to pull off another heist. Features all kinds of celebrities, but prominently Ricky Gervais (who I've yet to forgive for the Golden Globes a few years back) and Tina Fey (who's bound to be hilarious with this Russian accent).

Animated Short

Before the main feature, they showed an animated short called "Get a Horse."
It starts out as a black & white cartoon featuring Mickey, Minnie, Horace Horse-Collar, and Clarabelle Cow with Pete as the main villain. But when Pete captures Minnie, Mickey does all he can to get her back. This is a task made all the more difficult when Pete literally forces our hero out of the cartoon into the real world where he's in colored, three-dimensional animation.

I won't give too much more away, but clearly this was made for 3D and it was insanely entertaining.

History with the Brand

Disney studios got started in full-feature animated by adapting fairytales. Snow White, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty kicked off the "Disney Princess" brand. All of whom aspire to find true love and their happy ending.
Three years ago, my sister and I saw "Tangled" in theaters and loved it. I thought it was a great reimagining of Rapunzel, keeping the essentials in place, but adding a few twists along the way.

Around the same time, TV and movies crossed into [relatively] new territory in a big way.
NBC had "Grimm" (loosely based on tales from the Brothers Grimm). ABC had "Once Upon a Time" (based on fairytale and Disney characters).
Last year, two versions of Snow White were released in theaters and this year had "Hansel & Gretel" and "Jack the Giant Slayer."

I've seen all the above except for "Hansel & Gretel" (I'll get there eventually), but I've found that the biggest successes have been on the small screen. "Once Upon a Time" in particular, I've really grown to love. At the same time, though, it can be frustrating, especially when plots are drawn out and resolutions are unexpected ones.

But "Frozen" did remind me of the things I enjoy about that series. Although it's quote-unquote "loosely based" on the Hans Christian Anderson story "The Snow Queen," it succeeded as an adaption of a story as well as a reimagining... and I believe I read one headline that even said this movie might change the face of Disney movies as a whole.

Notable Cast Members

For the most part, there weren't a lot of recognizable names here.
Kristen Bell was the biggest name by far.
Josh Gad, I'd seen around a few times and giving him the role of Olaf the snowman... he just keeps getting better and better.

A month ago, roughly, Idina Menzel was promoting this movie on Kelly and Michael. I didn't recognize her name, but when I saw her, I knew I'd seen her before.
She played Rachel's mom, Shelby. Two of their most memorable duets was a ballad-ized version of "Poker Face" and Emelie Sande's "Next to Me."

Interestingly, another "Glee" alum made their way into the movie and I didn't recognize him until I looked up the name. Jonathan Groff played Jesse, a member of rival glee club Vocal Adrenaline whose character history also included dated Rachel and served as a creative consultant for New Directions.
Thankfully, he gets a much nicer role here as Kristoff, the ice-seller with a reindeer as a companion.

The Story
which I'll try to keep as spoiler free as I can...

We begin when our heroines are just kids. They're the princesses of the royal family of the fictional kingdom Arrendale, which we're led to assume is located somewhere in Norway.
Elsa was born with her wintery powers, which she'd use on many an occasion to entertain her younger sister, Anna. On one of those occasions, Elsa accidentally struck Anna with her powers, turning a strand of her hair white.
The king and queen take Anna to a clan of trolls who offer two bits of advice. Firstly, they were lucky the ice didn't hit her heart because that's not as easily changed and secondly, they might be better off concealing her powers from the world for everyone's protection, including hers.

Elsa spends the rest of this period shut in her room and Anna keeps asking to play with no response. This relationship becomes even more splintered when, in the true Disney fashion, their parents die in a tragic boating accident and Elsa won't come out to help Anna grieve.

Fast-forward and we're at Elsa's coronation to become the new Queen of Arendelle. Anna is excited because it's the "first time in forever" where they've had people at their castle. Elsa, meanwhile, is trying to curb her anxiety so her powers don't reveal themselves.
Anna quickly finds herself in a true-to-form whirlwind relationship with Hans, Prince of the Southern Isles... to the point where she's engaged to him after one quick musical number. Elsa refuses to give her blessing, which unleashes a chain of events that reveals her powers to the kingdom.
Upon running away, she accidentally plunges the region into eternal winter.

Basically, the rest of the movie is spent with Anna, aided by Kristoff and his reindeer Sven, going after her sister to convince her to return.

The Music

According to Wikipedia, there are 10 songs on the soundtrack, including two versions of "Let it go" (the end credits version is sung by Demi Levato, who really can't compete with Idina's in-film version).

Early on, I felt like they were overloading us with too many songs. Points where I asked myself "did we really need a song here?"
"Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" and "For the First Time in Forever" ran a little too long, but sure enough, they did win me over.

"Let it go" was a huge turning point. It plays during the sequence where Elsa runs away from Arendelle, builds an ice palace in the mountains and [both literally and figuratively] lets down her hair, giving her a completely different look.

Then we get shorter, humorous numbers by Olaf ("In Summer"), Kristoff ("Reindeer(s) are Better Than People") and the trolls ("Fixer Upper").

"Tangled" had a really good soundtrack in a sugary-sweet sort of way. I almost hate to say this about Alec Menken, but his work on that film had nothing on the husband-wife Lopez team.
They didn't just provide a good balance of humor and good songwriting, but their songs had the same kind of magic as the visuals and the story. They swept me up, took me on a journey and in the case of "Let it go," I hadn't felt so strongly about a Disney song since... perhaps, "The Lion King." (One critique called "Frozen" Disney's best since that particular film).

Other Thoughts

I loved that we got two Disney princesses out of this. Both of them are strong characters in their own right. But the best part was how much they cared about one another. How they choose to express that love is what ultimately sets them apart. Elsa keeps herself hidden because she doesn't want to be responsible for hurting her sister with her powers. Anna wants to do everything in her power to reunite with her sister and rekindle the relationship they once had.

We have more great non-human characters. Admittedly, it's a little goofy that Kristoff does a funny voice for Sven when the two of them are alone in a couple scenes, but it's pretty cool that they had an actual reindeer character in this movie.
Olaf the snowman (who we see make a cameo in an earlier scene) is just good fun to watch whenever he's on screen. It's even funnier that his dream is to experience summertime. I'm sure Kristoff was saying exactly what the audience was thinking: "Is somebody going to tell him?"

Something else that was also refreshing was that there was no villain in this movie. Sure, the duke of Weaselton kept making comments about Arendelle being a trading partner and wanted to start a witch hunt to go after Elsa, but nothing seemed more threatening to the happy ending than Elsa's own fears...
or so I thought until the third act when a villain did emerge.
Regarding that, they pushed the envelope just enough for the sake of drama, but it never overpowered the story.

Probably the biggest star of the movie was the visuals. I'm not sure everyone will be feeling all the snow and ice, considering the time of year we're in now with all the shoveling and snowstorms we've had so far. To me, it encompassed all the things I find so beautiful about wintertime. I almost hated to leave it when the movie ended :-P
Going outside afterwards reminded me of the Eagles game a couple weeks ago. I got so used to the wintery conditions that I felt blinded whenever they cut to a game on the west coast. It took a few more seconds to get used to the colorized real world.

Grade: A+

# 90: Fanboys (2009)

 


Code-name: Lucas Spoof

Director: Kyle Newman
Type: Sci-fi/Comedy

Cast:
Windows- Jay Baruchel
Eric- Sam Huntington
Linus- Christopher Marquette
Hutch- Dan Fogler
Zoe- Kristen Bell
Trekkie/Roach- Seth Rogen

Cameos include:
Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, William Shatner, Jay (Jason Mewes) & Silent Bob (Kevin Smith)

Write-up: 

(beware of ample spoilers, both of this movie and the Star Wars films in general)

Also, if you happen to be a fanboy yourself, feel free to leave a comment, whether it's professing your love of this movie, the franchise it's promoting or what have you.

Not is this movie a guilty pleasure (of which I feel ZERO guilt for loving), but it's also a hidden gem. We came across it randomly on a ShowTime channel a couple of years ago and being huge Star Wars fans in my house, we just couldn't look away. The characters knew their stuff inside and out, fit all the memorable quotes into their dialogue and you really saw the love there. The director in the DVD extras did call this movie a "love letter" to the Star Wars franchise.
It also happens to be one of many fanatical obsessions my mom & I have in common, something occasionally shared by a couple of my aunts. 

In order to fully appreciate and reap the benefits of enjoyment, I'd solely recommend this movie to Star Wars fans and those who just go crazy for all these nerd.
That being said, I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to Trekkies because there's an extreme bias against them... for Trekkies who loathe Star Wars, there is an extreme likelihood they will take offense.

As for myself, my only experience with Star Trek is the 2009 film and I'm open to an education on the franchise. But I'm definitely for Star Wars through and through.
My story about why I'm a Star Wars fan... that's best saved for another time. But I doubt you'll find another group of guys with this degree of craziness.

They are nerds in every sense of the word, all the stereotypes intact. Their very lives revolve around these movies. Windows owns a comic book store. While it's not well highlighted, Linus has dozens of collectibles, including Pez dispensers, in his room. Hutch still lives in his mom's garage (sorry, it's a "carriage house," as he reiterates throughout the movie) that has comics and posters plastered all over the walls. He also owns a van with a movie poster decal on it with an R2 unit on the roof and it's, get this, complete with Light Speed.

...Well, it has turbo boosters on it, but it's not recommended if you're trying to escape the cops trying to pull you over for speeding.

They generally lack experience with the opposite sex with the exception of their friend Zoe, who we quickly learn has a thing for Windows. Meanwhile, he's recently become preoccupied by his online soulmate "Rouge Leader" who describes herself as a cross between Sarah Michelle Geller and Janeane Garofalo... blissfully unaware of Zoe wanting him more than a friend.

Then there's Eric, who is the only one who tried to leave his fanboy ways behind in an attempt to "grow up." But as we see throughout this movie, nobody ever truly stops being a fanboy.

So, what would be the ultimate for a group of Star Wars fans to make a great movie? 
A road trip to Skywalker Ranch!

It isn't just for the sake of doing a road trip and it isn't just because these guys are dying to see "Episode I: The Phantom Menace." (The movie is set in 1998, six months before the movie comes out).
Now that I think about it, I feel kinda bad for putting it like that because one of the characters is actually dying. Supposedly Linus has cancer, they'd tried everything to treat it, but nothing has worked. Furthermore, this road trip helps reunite Windows, Linus and Hutch with their buddy, Eric, who they more or less lost touch with three years prior.

They supposedly mapped the trip out years ago and have finally decided, for Linus, that they should take a shot at this so they can become legends in the realm of fanboys.

Part A of the plan: meet with Rouge Leader, who has valuable information who can help them get inside to find the rough cut of the movie.
Minor setback: Windows goes to meet her and she turns out to be a 10 year old girl.

But after passing a series of questions posed by her uncle, ultimate fanboy Harry Knowles, they arrange to meet with his guy in Vegas who has the stuff they need.
The password is, get this, "Scruffy Nerfherder"

Part B: meet the "Scruffy Nerfherder" in Vegas

On the way to Vegas, however, an attempt to evade the police goes terribly array and they get arrested. Zoe arrives to bail them out and ends up coming along for the ride.
It's at Vegas when the truth comes out about Zoe's true feelings. It's funny how that happens in Vegas, especially when it takes an escort to see it. 

As laughable predictable as everything is, you enjoy every minute of this ride.

Trekkies come in a couple of times, being the butt of the jokes. Two of these encounters involves Seth Rogen, the second of which lands him in a confrontation with himself.
(His other character, Roach, is the pimp behind the two escorts that "pick up" Hutch and Windows. He happens to be a Star Wars fan, complete with tattoos, which includes one of Jar-Jar Binks... Star Wars fans, feel free to groan on this one).

No matter what the setbacks are, whether it's Eric's dad wanting him to return home to take over the family car dealing business or Linus's condition landing him in a hospital, they do make it into Skywalker Ranch.
And of course it is everything a fanboy would dream it would be. (I'd call it Nerdvana except that that's recently been trademarked by the TBS series "King of the Nerds").

Security does get a hold of them eventually, but after passing another series of tests (deeming them to be true fanboys, between their knowledge of the Star Wars franchise and lack thereof of women), George Lucas gives the okay (over the phone) for Linus, and only Linus, to see the movie.

And as one can predict, the movie ends at the midnight premiere of the movie with everyone in costume.
Then the ultimate kicker, the final line.

Eric: Hey guys, what if the movie sucks?
[screen goes to black]

Cameos: 

Billy Dee Williams plays a judge at the county jail that busted the guys for speeding.
His name: Judge Reinhold. 

Carrie Fisher is the nurse at the hospital. She first asks where the guys are heading, insisting that they should stop the trip because Linus is very sick. But she lets them through when they try to break out, with the following exchange:
Linus, after kissing her, says "I love you."
She responds, "I know." 

Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith appear as themselves in what seems to be an obligatory cameo that has NO bearing on the plot whatsoever. Windows sees them while waiting for a gas station restroom. We're put under the impression that Kevin is putting his buddy up to some risque business to get money to get their car fixed... fill in the blanks.

and the ultimate: William Shatner is the "scruffy nerfherder." Sure he has nothing to do with the Star Wars franchise, but I think most nerds go crazy for him in general because he IS Captain Kirk.
He really sells himself with the reassurance "I'm William Shatner, I can score anything."

As for the cast, most of them are general unknowns unless you dive off the mainstream.

Jay Baruchel is probably the biggest name of the four guys and he's probably the most adorkable actor I know. Love him in everything I'd seen him in (with the exception of "Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist" where he plays the exact opposite of his generally awkward characters).
Dan Fogler, I'd never seen before, and probably only one other time... in a TV series that didn't take off.
Christopher Marquette was Joan of Arcadia's boyfriend, Adam, the role I'll always associate him with because he rocked it.
Sam Huntington, I actually saw YEARS ago as Tim Allen's son in "Jungle 2 Jungle," and in recent years, he's played a werewolf in the SyFy series "Being Human" (after maybe 5-6 shows, I lost interest... boredom struck one time too many).

Kristen Bell, for whatever reasons, is an actress I'd never been able to take seriously. Most of it is because of the roles she generally takes, but some might be a little bias on my part because how she looks. The blonde hair with her in particular promotes a "dumb blonde" stereotype that couples with the ho-hum characters she plays. 
Sarah Marshall was very 2-dimensional, but there's a few other things about that movie I don't care for in general. On the other hand, her character in "When in Rome" who came from the same place as far as stereotypes go, but I rooted for her all the way. Maybe it's just because there's a charm to sub-par chick flicks like that where the plot is thin, predictable and rests on its lack of laurels.

But in "Fanboys" as Zoe, she is awesome. She's feisty, a bit of a fangirl and, I don't know, my gut tells me that the brunette wig is a good look for her. Whenever I watch it back, I see Zoe more as a living, breathing character here than an actress playing a role. And of course I gotta add she's got good taste in men.

Further Comments speaking as a Star Wars fangirl:

I'll leave it as this.
I love the Star Wars franchise in general and like many other fanboys and girls, my allegiance resides more with the original trilogy than the prequels. With me, it's more of just a love for the story and the characters a lot more. Plus, you can't really go wrong with the original anything.

However, I didn't become aware until years later that a lot of fanboys didn't care for the prequels. In fact, some of them believe they let down what was otherwise an untouchable franchise. 
I'm probably one of the few people on the planet who liked Jar-Jar Binks as a source of comic relief and I kinda hated it when they made him more serious in the next couple movies.
"The Phantom Menace" I liked a lot, but after that, I'm not quite as lenient. 

Personally, I find the romance between Anakin and Padme a little forced. I still find the chronology between episodes I and II a little hard to follow. 
How much older IS she than Anakin? Meanwhile, he aged at least 8-10 years and she looks exactly the same (except for the fact she's not wearing as much makeup in the later movies).

Then of course all of the fanboys went berserk at the end of the series when they turned Darth Vadar into a complete wuss with his epic "NOOOOOOOOOO!!." (Again, I had to hear from heresay that that moment was the ultimate buzz-kill for Darth Vadar's following).

My mom personally objected to how Padme ended up dying of a broken heart. 
Supposing Nostalgic Critic or one of his brethren were to tell their take of that development, they'd say something like: "screw my kids, my husband doesn't love me anymore so I don't want to live" 

Me personally, in recent retrospect, I personally rejected to Samuel L. Jackson getting offed in Episode III. I mean, the dude is the ultimate bad-ass, and he gets killed by a dude that was more or less manipulated into committing his murder? 
C'MON!

So, if you're a fanboy and you like what you read, or want to use this as a platform to put down your favorite nerd-errific quote, feel free.