Crystalstone is a Spanish movie featuring two orphaned children Pablo (Kamlesh Gupta) and his sister, Maria (Laura Goodwin) who are sent to live with their aunt after the death of their mother. After the kids find out about a magic stone known as the Crystalstone which is supposed to bring ultimate happiness, they set out on an adventure to find it. During their search, the two cross paths with a villainous, hook-handed pirate who is also looking for the gem.
From the start, its apparent that Crystalstone didn’t have much of a budget to work with. The cast is comprised of mostly bit actors, the camera work is terrible and the effects are laughable. The lack of plot doesn’t help much either and becomes so ridiculous that I was half expecting a ninja to emerge from the shadows and challenge the pirate to combat. Come to think of it, that probably would have made the picture better…
The pack’s second movie, The Boy and the Pirates, doesn’t fare much better than the first. In fact, the only thing that really helps it is that the movie is so laughably bad that it is good.
In The Boy and the Pirates, a young boy named Jimmy (Charles Herbert, who viewers might recognize as Buck from the original 13 Ghosts or as Tom from the classic “Twilight Zone” episode, “I Sing the Body Electric”) becomes bored with the normal life of a 12-year-old. He’s sick of school, chores and nagging parents and dreams of living the life of a pirate. One day while walking along the shore, Jimmy finds a bottle that contains a genie that grants Jimmy his wish of being a pirate. Of course, a pirate’s life isn’t for Jimmy and he soon wants out. But, as with most wishes there is a catch and the genie informs Jimmy that unless he can return the bottle to the place he found it, he’ll have to swap places with the genie.
Unlike Crystalstone, The Boy and the Pirates is decent family entertainment. Again, it is a bad movie, but it is so bad that adults will laugh at the absurdity of it all while younger kids (at least those can take a story at face value without looking too deeply at it) will likely enjoy it. Unfortunately, the campy “good” of The Boy and the Pirates can’t overcome the abysmal quality of Crystalstone, making the set hard to recommend as a purchase unless you can find it as a bargain buy.
