One of the world’s most beloved and high-flying live performances is leaping back into Houston for in-person shows after a year away due to the pandemic.
Global sensation Cirque du Soleil has announced a fall return to Sam Houston Race Park for its acclaimed production, Alegría. Shows will kick off November 13 under the now-famous Cirque du Soleil Big Top. Tickets for the shows go on sale Monday, June 21.
Redesigned for 2021 audiences, Alegría brings an energetic soundtrack, often-stunning acrobatics, surreal costume designs, vibrant sets, and silly humor. The story centers around the power struggle “at play between the old order and a new movement seeking change in hopes of a brighter tomorrow,” a press release describes.
Colorful, awe-inspiring and sometimes delightfully clownish, Cirque d has attracted more than 200 million spectators in more than 60 countries, since its beginning in 1984. Immersive and splashy, Alegría charts as one of the franchise’s most popular shows.
“We know our artists are ready to get back on the road and fans are eager to reconnect at events,” said Daniel Lamarre, president, and CEO of Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group, in a statement.
“More than 450 days have passed since our stages around the world went dark, and we have been anxiously waiting for this moment. I just can’t wait to see the Alegría lights go back on! Thank you to all of our employees for their perseverance, flexibility, and creativity. Intermission is over.”
When a studio releases a movie in January (aka Dumpuary), the general rule of thumb is that they’re trying to get rid of a movie that isn’t very good. Of course, there are exceptions to every rule, as M3GAN was in 2023, which rode the comedy of a killer AI robot who likes to dance to over $180 million worldwide.
A sequel was a given, and now with a built-in fanbase, M3GAN 2.0is a prime summer release. After running into trouble with her robot invention, Gemma (Allison Williams) has seemingly seen the error of her ways, now focused on creating things like a mechanical exoskeleton that can benefit society. Little does she know that the code she used to create M3GAN (aka Model 3 Generative Android) has been co-opted to create AMELIA (Ivanna Sakhno), a new robot which is being used for nefarious purposes.
Naturally, the only thing to do is to bring M3GAN (played by Amie Donald, voiced by Jenna Davis) back from the “dead,” which is easy to do because — surprise! — she has been lurking inside the smart house in which Gemma and her niece Cady (Violet McGraw) now live. The inevitable showdown between the two robots is alternately helped and hindered by people like billionaire Alton Appleton (Jemaine Clement), fellow tech entrepreneur Christian (Aristotle Athari), co-worker Cole (Brian Jordan Alvarez), and others.
Written and directed by Gerard Johnstone, who also directed the first film, M3GAN 2.0 doesn’t stray from the original formula, delivering way more laughs than scares. Because there’s a familiarity with the character, Johnstone leans into the campy side of things, essentially winking at the audience for much of the film. Whether it’s temporarily imprisoning M3GAN in an innocuous desktop robot or a number of one-liners, there is a lot of comedy to be found.
The film is a type of horror, though, and it delivers in the mild, PG-13 way that won’t offend non-horror fans. AMELIA (aka Autonomous Military Engagement Logistics and Infiltration Android) gives off Terminator vibes, and she lays waste to virtually all challengers. M3GAN doesn’t get to show off her skills as much as she did last time, which might be a tad frustrating for some, but she gets in enough punches and kicks for the experience to be worth it.
The story itself starts off strong before devolving into an overly complicated mess. The arc of AMELIA is particularly strange, as the strength of her powers and the level of her autonomy seem to change at will in the second half of the film. Gemma develops a rivalry with another character that might have worked better if it had been hinted at early in the film instead of being dropped in as a surprise.
Davis’ voice performance as M3GAN is once again fantastic, as she delivers sarcasm and menace equally well. Sakhno isn’t asked to do much but look terrifying, and she accomplishes that job. Williams is up and down in her role, stronger in the moments when she’s not being asked to prove her tech bona fides. Clement is his usual over-the-top self, which suits his character.
As with the first film, if you go into M3GAN 2.0 not expecting anything more than some goofy violent robot action, you’ll walk away satisfied. The unlikely breakout hit for Blumhouse Productions may not be able to support a good story, but it entertains in the way it’s supposed to do.
