Troop Zero

The year is 1977, NASA is going to send two probes into space on a constant search for someone out there listening, in fact they are still travelling farther to this day already in interstellar space, Voyager I & II. This a fictional story that is set against the background of those probes, on the probes were golden records that contained voices and information from the world at the time. Christmas Flint (Mckenna Grace) has been raised by her father (Jim Gaffigan) and his associate, Viola Davis, in a small rural town in Georgia. Christmas has always been enamored with space and seeking life beyond our own planet, when she catches wind that there is going to be a competition to have the chance to get recorded on the golden records that are going out to space where who knows what may be listening, she instantly jumps at the chance to win. The catch is its the winners of a Birdie talent contest that are going to be recorded, Birdie's are similar to Girl Scouts, Allison Janney presides over the local Birdies who are the plastics to Christmas' tomboy friends, okay she may not have that many friends. Which is one of the hurdle's she has to overcome in order to form her own Birdie troop to attend the talent show with a chance to win the contest, except Janney is out to do what she can to stop the ragtag troop.

Being a non-essential worker during this COVID-19 pandemic I have found myself rooting through streaming platforms for new films I have not seen, since theaters are closed and no mainstream films are being released at this time. This is one that I found going through such process on Amazon, just craving things to watch I have not been too adamant about what they are about or who is in them. Without being in what I feel is quarantine, I do not think I would have ever seen or discovered this film and I am glad that I did. It's not the most involved plot and the characters are not the most intense or have a great deal of depth to them but there is a message in this film about chasing your dreams and that it is okay to be different, that feels genuine. B.