David E. Talbert

The sets and "toys" (CGI, I'm sure, but some of the old-timey mechanical ones were pretty amazing in their day) were fantastic, the music and dancing were fine, the characters were okay (Jeronicus had some good moments among the boring or confusing ones), the story had lots of holes, and the conclusion was ridiculous.

I finally gave it three stars because kids will love the toys and music, and won't notice the problems.

The show should have had an Act I that gave us a short biographical history of the Jangle family and why the shop and toys were so important, showed Jeronicus drawing in his books & Jessica creating her robot, established the Dad's use of pretend magic-math, and let us watch him create the dolls and search for the magic potion that would bring them to life.
Would have taken the same 10 minutes that "Up!" used, and should have been part of the Frame story.

Also missed the opportunity to have the Mother Joanne sing "Just Believe" to the Daughter Jessica, and THEN her to Journey, and Journey to Edison. You could even have the Grandma in the framing sequence sing it to the kids.
That frame, BTW, should have been better done or omitted; it's what made the ending ridiculous instead of satisfying - we didn't know anything about their history or relationship.

Minor quibbles:
"Buddy 3000" is so anachronistic to the faux-Dickensian milieu that he pretty much ruined what was left of my interest by that time.

I guess it wasn't important to the writer for us to know what happened to Jessica after she left her dad, whether she went to work or school or got married or not. NOR why she gave her daughter the name "Journey."

The story would not necessarily have been changed if Journey had been given a Dad in residence, although he might have been less likely to send a pre-teen girl off by herself to the big city.… (más)

Morgan works at a law firm, so it makes sense that when she catches her boyfriend cheating on her (by way of a tennis bracelet she found in his closet that turned out to be a present for the other woman), she turns to the law for a solution.

Egged on by her best friend Altima, and Ophelia, the outspoken woman nobody likes, but who's somehow become part of their threesome, Morgan comes up with a dating contract, in which she promises great sex in return for honesty.

When she starts dating a sexy car dealer, she gets him to sign the contract. When she catches him cheating, she sues him.

This was a fun, fun read. Despite the occasional predictability (did anyone not know that the tennis bracelet in the closet was not for Morgan?), and the legal implausibility, which knocked it down to a 4-star read for me, it was fast-paced, funny, occasionally poignant, and sexy.

The characters were interesting, women you could relate to--well, hopefully not to Ophelia, but even she was three-dimensional, and we learn what's behind her prickly exterior. Mostly, it was a story of fun revenge, about sticking up for yourself and not settling for less than you deserve, and about the power of friendship.

I'll keep an eye out for more of David E. Talbert's books.… (más)