MovieChat Forums > The Art of Travel (2008) Discussion > One of the worst movies ever...spoilers,...

One of the worst movies ever...spoilers, if you can call it that..

posted 16 years ago by DeadwoodCukSucker
10 replies | jump to latest

I have seen worse films, but these people took a great idea and flushed it down the toilet. The concept of doing a film around the value of experiencing places and things outside your own world prior to settling down or making large decisions is one's life is a great one and probably one of the more true things in life.

The way this was setup by the film was interesting, completely over the top I mean who would actually put the pics under everyone's seats and go thru with the ceremony, but at least it was unique... from here the film just goes south and I am not just talking about its filming location.

The first experience the character has he ends up being robbed of his possessions and clothes, but of course no physical harm comes to him...this dude is supposedly walking down some horrible third world neighborhood in the middle of the night, naked, American and nothing happens to the guy. In reality this dude would have been stuck with a shiv or turned out by the local pimp never to be heard from again, ridiculous...oh and he magically finds his way back to a hotel he has only been to once after being trash drunk, he should have been in a ditch at the very least.

The film just keeps going like this, bad dialogue followed by ridiculous circumstances... such as the expedition into the Darien, where they use machetes to cut a trail thru a rainforest for a freakin Jeep to go thru. Ok, how ridiculous is this, not to mention WTF would you want to take a Jeep thru a rainforest... just stupid....things that come with this magical jeep are an unlimited supply of warm beer (they are drinking this all way up to the end of the over year long trip) unlimited food and oh yeah where the hell did they fill up with gas, are you really telling me they had enough fuel to keep that thing going for over a year... whatever... how did they magically transport it over rivers and recover it after it slides upside down, down a hill....oh yeah its magical!

Beyond this is the constant horrid dialogue that is filled with cliché after cliché piled on with some of the worst acting I have ever seen in a film with an actual budget.

Yet another unreality is during the expedition, they have all these scenes with local tribes, being warmly greeted and accepted, even when they meet up with the local bad guys of the forest, the FARC who are real life bad asses, but just when our little travelers are going to get blown away by these guys, our hero comes thru repeating a quote from a FARC leader he read out of a book. Cut to next scene of local terrorist bad asses, drinking merrily around a fire with our BS expedition team... I mean come on, these guys would have been strung up in the forest never to be seen again, or at the very least robbed and pillaged.

The film has endless unbelievable scenes and scenarios like the above, however I think the real reason why I hate the film is the way it takes traveling and idealizes it in an impossible fashion. Yes, traveling is a great thing to do, that everyone should do, but NO it does not end up so perfectly if you end up in some barrio you are going to die. Go somewhere where you have no freakin clue about, no understanding of culture or language and things are probably not going to turn out in a positive way. And oh yeah, traveling costs money they seem to nicely gloss over that fact in the movie as well.

In the end, the only redeeming items in this movie is the scenery, but go watch the national geographic channel for that and skip this waste of time movie. If you want a more realistic youth travel movie, try the beach, which might make you think twice about going places completely unprepared with the expectation of positive results.

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] sevendust145 15 years ago

This movie was so full of cliches it's not even funny. The whole time I was watching it I kept thinking what a d-bag the main character was and I just wanted to punch him. None of them would have lasted a week in the jungle much less a year. In real life "Connor" would have been left dead lying in a ditch somewhere his first night out of the country. I didn't know a scrawny nerd could be such a chick magnet. The dialogue was painful to say the least. It did have some cool scenery in parts, and "Anna" was some nice eye candy. Otherwise it sucked.

[–] warmislandsun 15 years ago

I agree 100%. Great concept poorly executed. I rated it 1 out of 10. And the lead actor was poorly miscast. I didn't believe him in any of the situations except getting all his stuff stolen.

[–] lifeadventure 15 years ago

I love it. You act as though you lived the movie yourself in a more realistic way. Have you ever been out of the country or are you just writing flamed out reviews from the confines of your basement? If you want physical harm to come to people while traveling go rent Touristas. You're not going to get it with a film that tries to convey the positive spirit of travel and people the way Art of Travel does. Not your cup of tea obviously.

[–] sevendust145 15 years ago

I have no problem with a movie being positive, but this one is so unrealistic as to be basically unwatcheable. I have been out of the country several times, I spent six months in Southeast Asia, including Cambodia and Burma (or Myanmar as it is now called.) There's a difference in going places that are somewhat dangerous and doing something that is flat out idiotic. "Connor" would have been eaten alive hopping on a plane and going it alone just strolling around the streets of South America. Hell I wouldn't do it now even with the places I've been by myself. Not to mention the jungles of South America are one of the most hostile environments in the world, with thousands of plants and insects that can at the least make you extremely ill and more than likely kill you. As the original poster said, the idea of them having a magical jeep and endless supply of booze, fuel, and food is ridiculous, in addition to their magical wildlife repellent.

[–] lifeadventure 15 years ago

Sevendust145 I appreciate your debate and understand the movie wasn't your speed. As well traveled as you are, I'm surprised that you haven't seen a glimpse of any of what is displayed in Art of Travel. As a traveler myself I have seen much of what this movie offers up. Jeep crossings are common in the Darien and there is plenty of bug repellent available however many who make such a journey know that bugs come with the package, they are there for the adventure instead. In the Darien there are villages that trade goods, these villages are run by the Choco and Kunas, by the tribes explained in the movie, so the jeep is not a magic jeep really nor is beer magically refilled. I think a better movie for you would be "Into the Wild", the movie may be right on your wavelength. I am happy there are filmmakers attempting movies like Art of Travel during a time when you really don't get these kinds of films. I have also been to Central, South America, and even South East Asia as you have and I think by insisting these places are so dangerous and placing them into a stereotype is a general falasy in part of the all american traveler. If you were European or from anywhere else in the world I would be interested to see your point of view then. Home in the U.S is dangerous too. Go to inner city Chicago to see how many people die a year. Anyhow your a fellow traveler and I always enjoys exchanging perspectives so I hope you don't find offense as most people do when dealing with flaming message boards. On another note I have also experienced the companionship of what is displayed in this film. Backpackers come together from all places in the world for shared experiences- this is what I found most inspiring about this movie. Take care.

[–] sevendust145 15 years ago

Again I have nothing against backpackers coming together or a positive story. I have backpacked many places in the world so I do know first hand that backpackers help each other out. Please don't throw the anti-American angle at me, and then point out that the U.S. is dangerous. I know this first hand. I also know strolling around Seim Reap, Cambodia or Bogota, Columbia without a care in the world is dangerous too. I'm not trying to imply that my home country doesn't have more than it's fair share of problems and that tourists in the wrong areas wouldn't get eaten alive. My only points about this movie is that the Amazon rainforest is an extremely dangerous environment that you can't just walk into with some bug repellent and come out alive, which is basically what they did in this movie. Refer to my second post on this. And two, only once did it show them running on to a village in the whole movie. I didn't see the Indian tribes driving jeeps around or with gas stations and liqour stores all over the place, hence the endless magic supplies. Oh and lets not forget the jeep made it's own trail. But like you said to each their own.

[–] yudaazran1995 12 years ago

You are an "CukSucker".

YOU called youself that,just sayin'

[–] gotmyorangecrush 10 years ago

In all honesty, this post reminds me of a post I saw once on IMDB that had a guy who was complaining about the movie Sunshine because of how unrealistic the stellar bomb was or the fact that the ship had gravity, lol. Yes, it is unrealistic to expect to go into the environments they went into, as they did, and expect to have any real success, or even come out alive. So what. 90% of what we see in films is unrealistic in one sense or another. A LOT of people watch films as an escape from the everyday realities of daily life. I honestly feel sorry for people that have serious problems with suspension of disbelief as they wind up missing out on great films, for very stupid reasons.

Oh well, I have travelled extensively over the last 20 years and I really enjoyed the film and I loved the overall messages that this movie put out. Not only am I a huge backpacker/camper, I'm also an architectural photographer and I would estimate that roughly 75% of my jobs require traveling. I always try and schedule a little extra time so I can actually enjoy the area I am traveling too and take some pictures for myself. The best part about my job is the frequent flyer miles. I only work from mid April to late September and then have the rest of the year off. I accumulate enough frequent flyer miles during my shooting months to basically travel anywhere I want to go during my off months, for free. I have been all over Central and South America and Asia. I have taken two boating trips down the Amazon. I know first hand the dangers that those environments pose, yet I was still able to enjoy this movie and the story it was telling.

In all honesty, this film motivated me to get back to my backpacking roots. It had been like 3 years since I really took a big backpacking trip. After seeing this film, I immediately started planning one. My wife and I wound up hiking the Grand Circle of National Parks over a roughly 8 week period in the spring of 2010. Canyonlands, Arches, Bryce Canyon, Capital Reef, Zion, Dixie National Forest, Kodachrome State Park, Escalante Petrified Forest State Park, Havasu Canyon (Grand Canyon), and the list goes on and on. That was one of the best trips of my life and we never would have taken it, at least not when we did, if it weren't for this film. Moab Utah was just a blast. The people we met there were just amazing. We wound up hiking with a group for roughly 10 days. Just super friendly people. All in all, it really was one of the best trips I have ever taken.

Yes, this film is not very realistic. Neither was Jaws or Indiana Jones or E.T. or Close Encounters of the Third Kind etc. I could spend weeks listing great films that were ultimately unrealistic, and not just sic-fi or adventure/action films either. I can list TONS of films regardless of the genre of film your talking about. If your one of those people that nitpick at films for being unrealistic then stay away from this film. If your someone that can enjoy films regardless of how realistic they are, then I highy recommend people watch this film. Its just a fun film with some really great messages at its center.

Still Shooting With Film!

[–] Chickenfeet69 (103) 2 years ago

Even though this post is 14 years old, I agree with the OP. The lead character would’ve been killed, raped, or kidnapped if he was walking around Central America naked, or out in the jungle without being prepared for danger. There were other scenes throughout the film that looked odd.

This movie is WAY too unrealistic, the only good thing about this movie was the wedding scene at the beginning of it. It had a great buildup, but it went downhill after the wedding scene.

I agree with the other comments on this thread saying that “Connor” should’ve been re-casted, as he looked too unbelievable to be the type of character doing any of those things except getting his stuff stolen.