'All Together Now': Auliʻi Cravalho shines in Netflix drama that offers a poor take on Grimms' Fairy Tales
Spoilers for Netflix's 'All Together Now'
Life, as we all know it, is difficult. There are more ups and downs than we can keep count of and more often than not, the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. For Amber Appleton (Auli’i Cravalho), a lot of this is true but she makes it a point that nothing stands in her way. A musically gifted young woman, she aspires to go to Carnegie Mellon and is even invited to audition for them.
But life is, as we mentioned, not all that easy for her. As it turns out, Amber is homeless and lives in a bus with her mother Becky (Justina Machado) and her pet dog Bobby. An optimist through and through (to the point that it might even be sickening for some viewers), Amber does not believe in backing down in the face of adversity. Whatever the problem may be, she has it under control. She has zero qualms about working long hours at a doughnut shop to help support herself and her down-on-her-luck single mom. She also spends time at the local retirement community. At school, she pushes everyone forward, motivating one and all to work towards achieving the next big thing.
Amber toils all day late into the night but is happy regardless. That is, until tragedy strikes. Suddenly, one after the other, things start taking a turn for the worst. Her mother, already a recovering alcoholic, lands back into the arms of her ex-lover, a certain Oliver who is also an alcoholic and has hit her mother on occasions. Another tragedy strikes shortly thereafter. Her beloved dog Bobby is sick with a mass growing on his spleen. An expensive surgery is imperative for him to live. And so begins Amber's downward spiral as she tries to hold on to all of it by herself. She decides to drop out of school and work even longer hours at the donut shop. She even takes up a manual labor shift at the old age home to help earn more money. That is till her friends get together and help her out -- something she had refused this whole time.
'All Together Now' is described as a story about finding hope in the darkest of times. Surrounded by tragedy and remorse, the once-bubbly, peppy young character of Amber is maimed, but she refuses to accept defeat. Pride shines through her refusals to accept help each time that it is offered to her. On some occasions, she's even reluctant to accept gifts that those around her get her. Amber Appleton is a strong female lead who has difficulty accepting love and help. For the longest time, she has been the giver in all her relationships and the idea to receive, for her, is unfathomable. To quote a remarkable line from Stephen Chbosky's 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower', "We accept the love we think we deserve." And Amber doesn't think she deserves any niceties.
Playing her role beautifully is Cravalho, who is charming as the peppy Amber, in many ways reprising the characteristics of the actress's breakthrough role in 'Moana'. Those who have read the book will find many details missing. Bobby is actually a stray that Amber adopts even when she has no money to feed herself. The book also paints Amber as a teenager who tries really hard to be unique and different. The author had also received some flak for writing a teenager in the same rudimentary, half-baked fashion. This criticism is better kept away from as the movie doesn't dabble into any along these lines.
Directed by Brett Haley ('All The Bright Places', 'Hearts Beat Loud') and based on Matthew Quick's novel 'Sorta Like a Rock Star', 'All Together Now' is a decent addition to Netflix's YA collection but it's not the best of the lot. Comparing it to Amazon Prime Video's recent YA movie 'Chemical Hearts', Haley's 'All Together Now' is a crass, big-budgeted production that would have benefitted had it toned down its harping on 'hope' and 'spirit'. While it may not lack in spirit, it becomes very redundant after the midway mark and pretty much gives up on innovating. The movie is a modern-day rendition of a Grimms' Fairy Tale that aims really low but gives plenty of space for Cravalho to shine through as a performer. She is relentless in her journey and greets every day with a spirit that Cinderella would envy.
Watch 'All Together Now' with your family for a (high) dose of bookish optimism and faux human spirit. And if you're keeping expectations, only have them from the protagonist, who doesn't disappoint.
'All Together Now' is currently streaming on Netflix.
