Christmas 2001

MOVIE REVIEWS


The Johnson’s Go To Minneapolis () Rated G

This little watched flick is a gem of a find. The Johnson’s Go To Minneapolis is an independent, low-budget film put out by The Big Guy Productions. It is a story of a family’s move from suburban Apple Valley to the big city of Minneapolis. Produced and directed by God this film boasts of an all-star cast. Mom & Dad, played skillfully by Chris and Barb Johnson, have a quirky but solid marriage that is able to weather the many storms that come their way during the course of the movie.

The movie starts out in suburban Apple Valley where the Johnson family happily resides. In addition to Mom and Dad there are the children: Evan (Evan Johnson), Nina (Nina Johnson), Molly Dolly (Molly Johnson) and the twins, Tater & LuLu (Aidan & Emily Johnson).

Evan spends the entire movie reading one book or another (or several at a time). Nina and Molly Dolly are best friends and most scenes find them playing together nicely. Tater and LuLu are two delightful two year olds. They actually provide much of the comic relief throughout the movie.

We learn in the first scene that the Johnson family feels led by God to move to Minneapolis and help start an urban church there. The start of the movie consists mostly of Dad scurrying about trying to get their house ready to sell and Mom spending hours checking out prospective houses on the internet (and telling Dad what to fix next).

Early in the movie, the family finds the perfect house in Minneapolis. This creates a bit of a predicament as Mom wasn’t supposed to be looking for houses yet. The Johnson’s house in Apple Valley is nowhere near being ready to go on the market. The scurrying and painting and cleaning reaches a frenzied pace that leaves the viewer exhausted just watching it all.

At this point the story line stretches the limits of believability. There is a wild home-selling scene where 60 prospective buyers walk through the Johnson’s home in 6- hours one weekend. At the end of the weekend they sell their home to the highest bidder. Humorously, most of the Johnson’s personal belongings were crammed in their garage during this exploit. With the house sold, the fast paced frenzy continues until the move takes place in mid-June. Actually, the frenetic pace continues throughout the entire movie!

Never content to be without a home project, Dad immediately embarks on numerous projects to make the new place more livable. Everyone adjusts to the new living arrangement well except for the family’s dearly loved cat who claims the entire basement as her litterbox. This leads up to the tear-jerking scene where the family decides they must put their dear kitty to sleep. Those of you familiar with the prequels to this movie should remember dear Elle kitty from her many appearances in previous story lines.

The funniest line of the movie is when Dad comes home from work and announces, “I was out on the internet today researching boxers.” To which Mom gives a strange look and replies, “You were researching underwear on the internet?”
“Not underwear, dogs!”
This leads to the introduction of a new character to the plot, Snickers, the boxer puppy. Snickers is a favorite of the audience and will no doubt appear in many sequels to this movie.

Near the end of this movie, Mom begins to homeschool Nina (in addition to Evan). This story line could result in an entire movie by itself, a sort of dramatic comedy perhaps.



In a second unrealistic twist in the story line Dad takes three months off of work at the end of the movie to spend more time with the family. Ironically, he spends most of his time off training the new puppy.

Overall, this is a fast-paced movie with lots of laughs and a few tears. For a low-budget film the sets and props are amazingly realistic. Overall, a great family movie!