thoda pyaar thoda magic - Notepad

This page has additional observations, other than the ones noted in the main review.

Plot Summary

Ranbir (Saif Ali Khan) lands up in a situation where he is left in charge of four notorious kids. God, wants things to work out and sends Geeta, an angel (Rani Mukherjee) to help things along. Yeah, it's a mish-mash of all movies where kids are imposed on someone and there is a guardian angel who takes them through, here it is literally so! Hum Hai Rahi Pyaar Ke, Sound of Music, Mr. India, Bramhachari, to name a few. Also, Saif's character reminded me a lot of Shammi Kapoor's character in Junglee. Just a curiosity: Why was "Harry met Sally" chosen as the poster to be put up in the penultimate sequence? Was that a tribute to where the director's earlier movie, Hum Tum was taken from?

What Worked

• The way Ranbir's character was established without a single dialogue, just through visuals while the opening credits were being played.
• The special effects of God creating birds and clouds, cycling on the rainbow, angel Geeta playing with clouds.
• The special effects in the museum. Especially with Gandhiji and the war scene ones.
• The shot just before the interval, where Ranbir's reflection is in between the photos of the children on the computer screen. It might as well have been a very well processed photo set-up as the desktop background of the computer.
• Picturization of "Lazy Lamhe", the special effects were both cute and creative.
• Though the tributes were put together abruptly, they were cute. They covered everything from Sholay, Mera Naam Joker, Gaddar, Padosan, Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi, Liar Liar.
• A typical Bollywood dance right infront with Universal Studios in the background - made me laugh!

What did not

• How did they become angels if they are trying to pull another angel (Geeta) down?
• I had a basic problem with the judge imposing the kids on Ranbir. What if he treated the kids badly? The judge would know only after 3 months when the damage would already be done. Or was the judge pretty confident that Ranbir would take care of the kids well? I know-I know, don't think, go with the flow...
• The lighting on the swimming pool at night.
• No "non-uniform" dress to school on her birthday! How sad! And why was the shower running water in the background throughout that scene in the bathroom?
• Is that how Ranbir enter his house every day, stealthily?
• Ranbir's monitor conked off, right? Why was he worried about his files?!
• Why was the little girl standing outside the office when the computer was getting repaired?
• How come none of them are wearing seat belts in the car in Los Angeles and San Diego!! In fact, I'd think the 5 year old would need to be in a booster seat!
• The lip sync was pretty bad in the song shot in Universal Studios.

Nitty-Gritty

• Uh...Ranbir was writing notes with pen and paper from something on his computer!
• Why is God the only male in heaven, no men-angels? No men reach heaven? ;)