Delicious Appetizer, Mediocre Entrée

Have you ever seen a trailer for a movie and think to yourself, “Oh. My. Gosh. That movie looks awesome!” A trailer so amazing that is blows your mind, so brilliant that it sends chills down your spine? A trailer that makes you say, “I’m going to see that movie. day. one.” And then, when it finally hits theatres, and you’re all settled in to your perfect, popcorn and soda on at the ready, you find yourself thinking, “That’s not what I expected. The trailer made it looks so good! I can’t believe I wasted my time and money on that!”

I think we have all been there – and I know I most certainly have. I can actually list three right off the top of my head! “Super 8′, “Where the Wild Things Are”, and “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.” The most recent culprit is Super 8, so I think I’ll start with that one.

This was the trailer that caught my attention. This was the trailer that made me think the movie would have that touch of magic. A story of innocence, a mysterious creature, incredible music, big explosions – this movie had the potential to be an instant classic. Instead we got this.

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‘Where the Wild Things Are” was a horrible movie. And I don’t mean the content of the movie was inappropriate, I mean that the movie itself was nothing like the book, and especially not like its trailer. In my opinion, the trailer was incredibly deceptive, because it tricked the audience into seeing the movie. And I’ve got to hand it to the director and the people who put the trailer together. They had the perfect formula! They took a widely beloved children’s book and brought it to life in what seemed like an incredibly faithful adaptation to at least the visual style of the source material. Then the trailer itself tugged at your heartstrings by using a surprisingly moving song, combo-ed with words direct right at the audience: “Inside all of us is hope; Inside all of us is fear; Inside all of us is adventure; Inside all of us is a WILD THING!” Seriously, I got goosebumps just typing out those words, because they resonate so well!

Too bad this movie bombed.

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Harry Potter. One of the greatest (and most controversial) series of all time. The first three movies were fantastic, the fourth one was decent, and then they got David Yates to direct the fifth film, which was a travesty. Could the new director manage to reclaim the magic that made the first four movies soar? If this trailer was any indication, he not only reclaimed it, but then he pushed it to its limits. This trailer was everything I was hoping that the movie would be; epic, fantastic, engaging, pushing the limits of what Harry Potter movies could do. The music was phenomenal, the action scenes incredible, and the graphics sublime. Finally we were getting a darker themed Harry Potter film! Finally Harry and co. would face the enemy head on! These movies weren’t just children’s stories anymore, they were fleshed out and real and enticing.

Wait. I’m sorry. I’m talking about the book. You know, the one that this movie was supposed to be based on? No, instead of that, we got a movie that failed to deliver in just about every way possible. The acting, the music, the script, the story – all of it was sub-par! It was such a let down that I actually went back and re-read the book, just to wash the bad taste out of my mouth.

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And that’s it! Those are the three trailers that I believe were better than the movies themselves.

What about you? Do you have any trailers that you thought were better than the movies they represented? Sound off in the comments section!