This show takes family entertainment to a whole new dimension! The 4D Chocolate Mystery puts you inside all the fun. Through stunning digital animation and special effects, you become part of the show by interacting with the Hershey's Characters to help solve the mystery! (Source- hersheys.com)
Rating- N/R
Genre- Animation
Warnings- Flashing lights
This is an odd one to review, I know, but ever since I went to Hershey Park for the very first time on August 22, 2018 and saw this 4D movie I couldn't get my mind off of it.
Much like chocolate in general, I am a sucker for 4D movies. They're rare to find, and when I do have the chance to see one I will not rest until I watch whatever film they are playing. In this case, Hershey's Great Chocolate Factory Mystery in 4D is only available to watch live at Hershey Park in Pennsylvania and it could be hard to find if you don't know what you're looking for. When I attended the park, it wasn't until nearing the end of my trip that I found out where the movie was located.
It is located inside a building called Hershey's Chocolate World right before you enter the actual theme park, which I think is a good idea if you're going with a big group and just want to do something less hectic at the end of your fun day. It's also an advantage for the park to gain more visitors in case the weather is rainy or snowy; there's still a ton of things to do and a bunch of merchandise to sell all in that spot.
Among the other exciting activities to try including the free chocolate making tour, chocolate tasting, and creating your own chocolate bar, my only interest was to see this 4D movie. Why was I so invested in it? Well, for two reasons. One: I saw the trailer for it before attending the park and it got me curious about what was to unveil in the story. Two: I'm a movie critic.
A movie about chocolate should be a sweet experience, or was it more bitter than it was sweet?
According to the official Hershey Park website, this is a fairly short movie that only last for 30 minutes and you will never see the same movie twice. There are a lot of variables that will determine your viewing experience, so what I ended up seeing and what you may see could be two entirely different things. With that being said, I'll describe the major plot points of the story without spoiling too much (that will be for the spoiler section).
Before you enter the theater to watch the movie, you should be waiting outside of the theater with your 3D glasses along with the rest of the audience members and it is there you are introduced to the main stars of the show: Hershey, Reese, and Kiss. They'll need your help solving a mystery about who has been sabotaging their chocolate factory and why. Afterwards, you can then enter the theater where you will watch the events take place and discover the villain's identity and it is up to toy and the audience to save the day.
I thought the introduction to the film was very cute and it gives the audience an opportunity to interact with the hosts and eventually the characters themselves. If you're a fan of audience participation, then I'd recommend speaking to a host before you enter the theater. There will be a moment where they'll ask questions like, "Is this anyone's first time at Hershey Park?" which to that you will respond and may possibly be featured in the film, getting a special shout out.
If you're shy- like I am- and don't answer the questions, you'll still get a chance to participate throughout the movie. There are cutscenes where one character will ask the audience what to do next in the story and they genuinely react to your responses. They are not computer generated and they don't give you a list of options to choose from; I know for sure because in my viewing somebody said something so outrageous that I don't think a computer could've been prepared for.
Being only a short family film, the mystery wasn't that hard to solve. In fact, the more I think about it, there's was nothing to solve in the first place because the villain was revealed right away. There was no secret to it, and there's no big plot twist either; so I'd recommend not to think too deeply on the plot because it's pretty cookie cutter.
Speaking of the villain, his or her motives were incredibly confusing. When I watched it, there was a flashback scene where the villain is seen being jealous of one of the main characters for being better than him or her, but the thing that they are better than him or her at isn't chocolate making. No, it's a totally different subject that has nothing to do with chocolate and is never brought up again. I think if the flashback did not appear, the motive would've made more sense.
Hershey, Reese, and Kiss fit into the typical group stereotype with Hershey being the stoic male lead with no personality, Reese being the goofball, and Kiss being the motherly female lead with barely any personality. I wasn't looking for anything major character arc, nor do I judge the writers for making the characters as unique as a baking sheet but I could clearly see the character tropes sprinkled over the film. If I had to pick a favorite character, I'd say Reese only because when I saw the movie he was the one that spoke to the audience outside of the movie. The representative out of the trio, basically.
Here is where things get a bit tricky. I saw a photo of the entire cast of the movie, and I saw two characters that I never witnessed on screen which was Twizzler and Icebreaker Mints. I'm not sure if they appear in any other version, but the one I saw had Jolly Rancher instead who's depicted as this laidback skateboard dude who gave me a bit of the creeps when I first saw him. Didn't help that his head was purple, meaning that he was grape flavored, one of my least favorite flavors.
I'm assuming that Twizzler or Icebreaker Mints would have replaced Jolly Rancher in any other version, but if so, then all of them are likely very forgettable. In my show, Jolly Rancher just appeared half way through and I was surprised to see him still hanging around at the ending. He does do one helpful thing though that I found to be clever, and I'm sure with the other sweets they have their own unique advantage.
The 4D aspects of the film were fun and made the audience jump a few times, but none of it was frightening. I feel like any kid could watch this and not be crying out the door afterwards. The website states that the special effects include loud noise, theatrical smoke, and strobe lights which may cause epileptic seizures (though from what I recall, the lights weren't too intense and didn't go on for long). Other than that, I remember water being splashed in my face too, so if you're completely against the idea of getting your face a little wet this might not be for you.
Hershey's Great Chocolate Factory Mystery in 4D was a pleasant experience and I'm glad I got to see it. As a child, I would've loved it even more seeing my favorite chocolate personified as characters to look up to for a little bit. It's a harmless story that while may be cliche, the characters are tropes, and some moments will make you go, "what?" but it does push the morals of being kind to people and forgiveness- which doesn't hurt to teach to children. Plus, you get a special surprise at the end of the movie and that's a treat in itself.
Would I watch it again? Sure. Would I recommend it? Absolutely, you won't find it anywhere else and if all else fails, it gives you a break from walking around the park.
I give this a 3 out of 5 stars.
SPOILERS AHEAD!!! (Note: This is talking about my specific experience, so if you saw a different version, some things I say may not make sense. I'll try to be as specific as I can about what I am talking about)
.
.
.
.
.
One of my brothers spoke to the hosts before we entered the theater and he got a special shot out by Reese. My brother mentioned that he liked to draw nature and Reese told him that he should draw a photo of him riding a dragon, or else. My brother forgot to speak to the hosts to be able to send the drawing, so we are now trapped in our home forever, concerned over what that "or else" is...
Those yellow robot minions are so cute. I want to draw them.
Because of Kiss being nice to the robot, the robots will become good. That is my theory.
This villain seems like your typical twirl your curly mustache, maniacal laughter villain from like the 80s. He reminds me of Waluigi from the Mario Bros franchise.
I wonder what other audiences said on, "What phrase should we say to change the villain's mind?" because we had a question like that and I don't remember what triggered this, but we all said, "Yes!" So we had to chant yes whenever the villain was trying to go against the main characters. I just thought our answer was odd.
The following scene I will describe is the main reason why I decided to make this review, because I just need to vent about it. In my viewing, there is a scene where the villain describes why he wants to reek havoc on all chocolate products and it transitions into this scene where the villain is watching Hershey playing baseball on the field with an audience in the background. Hershey has a baseball cap and it being cheered for with the villain saying that everyone always admired him more than himself and it made him jealous. Instead of trying to rant for too long, I'll just put down my questions that I got from the flashback.
What does baseball have to do with making chocolate? Why is Hershey playing baseball? Why is the villain comparing himself to Hershey with baseball if he's trying to ruin chocolate? Who would put a chocolate bar on their team? Why is this not mentioned again in the story? Did the audience do something wrong to get this weird scene?
Of course, the only female character- Kiss- becomes a victim and everyone else has to save her.
Ahh! Jolly Rancher is terrifying. I could only imagine how I'd react seeing him over my bed at night.
I did like how Kiss' kindness helped save the chocolate and make the robots turn against the villain. It shows that being kind and comforting to others can go a long way instead of being mean and aggressive.
That chocolate pouring down in the back looks so good...
I was hoping the villain was associated with the chocolate in some way. Like a Twizzler in disguise give how tall and skinny he is. Or from the Mnm company.
When Reese asked the audience what we should do with the villain after he was defeated, this kid in the front screamed, "Eat him!" Mind you, the villain was covered in chocolate at this point and frozen in place. The look on Reese's face when the kid said that was so freaking funny. He was like quote, "You...you want to eat him? You do know there's a human under that, right?" and then he went to say something like, "We'll go talk to him and see what we could do." For a moment, I thought they actually had an ending where they ate him. I would've flipped.
I carried some confetti home when they shot it down from the ceiling. I threw it away days later. Why do we do that? Carry things home we know we'll never use? It is our greed. The greed to take all that could be ours, knowing the truth that we are selfish for items who don't deserve our time.
This is an odd one to review, I know, but ever since I went to Hershey Park for the very first time on August 22, 2018 and saw this 4D movie I couldn't get my mind off of it.
Much like chocolate in general, I am a sucker for 4D movies. They're rare to find, and when I do have the chance to see one I will not rest until I watch whatever film they are playing. In this case, Hershey's Great Chocolate Factory Mystery in 4D is only available to watch live at Hershey Park in Pennsylvania and it could be hard to find if you don't know what you're looking for. When I attended the park, it wasn't until nearing the end of my trip that I found out where the movie was located.
It is located inside a building called Hershey's Chocolate World right before you enter the actual theme park, which I think is a good idea if you're going with a big group and just want to do something less hectic at the end of your fun day. It's also an advantage for the park to gain more visitors in case the weather is rainy or snowy; there's still a ton of things to do and a bunch of merchandise to sell all in that spot.
Among the other exciting activities to try including the free chocolate making tour, chocolate tasting, and creating your own chocolate bar, my only interest was to see this 4D movie. Why was I so invested in it? Well, for two reasons. One: I saw the trailer for it before attending the park and it got me curious about what was to unveil in the story. Two: I'm a movie critic.
A movie about chocolate should be a sweet experience, or was it more bitter than it was sweet?
According to the official Hershey Park website, this is a fairly short movie that only last for 30 minutes and you will never see the same movie twice. There are a lot of variables that will determine your viewing experience, so what I ended up seeing and what you may see could be two entirely different things. With that being said, I'll describe the major plot points of the story without spoiling too much (that will be for the spoiler section).
Before you enter the theater to watch the movie, you should be waiting outside of the theater with your 3D glasses along with the rest of the audience members and it is there you are introduced to the main stars of the show: Hershey, Reese, and Kiss. They'll need your help solving a mystery about who has been sabotaging their chocolate factory and why. Afterwards, you can then enter the theater where you will watch the events take place and discover the villain's identity and it is up to toy and the audience to save the day.
I thought the introduction to the film was very cute and it gives the audience an opportunity to interact with the hosts and eventually the characters themselves. If you're a fan of audience participation, then I'd recommend speaking to a host before you enter the theater. There will be a moment where they'll ask questions like, "Is this anyone's first time at Hershey Park?" which to that you will respond and may possibly be featured in the film, getting a special shout out.
If you're shy- like I am- and don't answer the questions, you'll still get a chance to participate throughout the movie. There are cutscenes where one character will ask the audience what to do next in the story and they genuinely react to your responses. They are not computer generated and they don't give you a list of options to choose from; I know for sure because in my viewing somebody said something so outrageous that I don't think a computer could've been prepared for.
Being only a short family film, the mystery wasn't that hard to solve. In fact, the more I think about it, there's was nothing to solve in the first place because the villain was revealed right away. There was no secret to it, and there's no big plot twist either; so I'd recommend not to think too deeply on the plot because it's pretty cookie cutter.
Speaking of the villain, his or her motives were incredibly confusing. When I watched it, there was a flashback scene where the villain is seen being jealous of one of the main characters for being better than him or her, but the thing that they are better than him or her at isn't chocolate making. No, it's a totally different subject that has nothing to do with chocolate and is never brought up again. I think if the flashback did not appear, the motive would've made more sense.
Hershey, Reese, and Kiss fit into the typical group stereotype with Hershey being the stoic male lead with no personality, Reese being the goofball, and Kiss being the motherly female lead with barely any personality. I wasn't looking for anything major character arc, nor do I judge the writers for making the characters as unique as a baking sheet but I could clearly see the character tropes sprinkled over the film. If I had to pick a favorite character, I'd say Reese only because when I saw the movie he was the one that spoke to the audience outside of the movie. The representative out of the trio, basically.
Here is where things get a bit tricky. I saw a photo of the entire cast of the movie, and I saw two characters that I never witnessed on screen which was Twizzler and Icebreaker Mints. I'm not sure if they appear in any other version, but the one I saw had Jolly Rancher instead who's depicted as this laidback skateboard dude who gave me a bit of the creeps when I first saw him. Didn't help that his head was purple, meaning that he was grape flavored, one of my least favorite flavors.
I'm assuming that Twizzler or Icebreaker Mints would have replaced Jolly Rancher in any other version, but if so, then all of them are likely very forgettable. In my show, Jolly Rancher just appeared half way through and I was surprised to see him still hanging around at the ending. He does do one helpful thing though that I found to be clever, and I'm sure with the other sweets they have their own unique advantage.
The 4D aspects of the film were fun and made the audience jump a few times, but none of it was frightening. I feel like any kid could watch this and not be crying out the door afterwards. The website states that the special effects include loud noise, theatrical smoke, and strobe lights which may cause epileptic seizures (though from what I recall, the lights weren't too intense and didn't go on for long). Other than that, I remember water being splashed in my face too, so if you're completely against the idea of getting your face a little wet this might not be for you.
Hershey's Great Chocolate Factory Mystery in 4D was a pleasant experience and I'm glad I got to see it. As a child, I would've loved it even more seeing my favorite chocolate personified as characters to look up to for a little bit. It's a harmless story that while may be cliche, the characters are tropes, and some moments will make you go, "what?" but it does push the morals of being kind to people and forgiveness- which doesn't hurt to teach to children. Plus, you get a special surprise at the end of the movie and that's a treat in itself.
Would I watch it again? Sure. Would I recommend it? Absolutely, you won't find it anywhere else and if all else fails, it gives you a break from walking around the park.
I give this a 3 out of 5 stars.
SPOILERS AHEAD!!! (Note: This is talking about my specific experience, so if you saw a different version, some things I say may not make sense. I'll try to be as specific as I can about what I am talking about)
.
.
.
.
.
One of my brothers spoke to the hosts before we entered the theater and he got a special shot out by Reese. My brother mentioned that he liked to draw nature and Reese told him that he should draw a photo of him riding a dragon, or else. My brother forgot to speak to the hosts to be able to send the drawing, so we are now trapped in our home forever, concerned over what that "or else" is...
Those yellow robot minions are so cute. I want to draw them.
Because of Kiss being nice to the robot, the robots will become good. That is my theory.
This villain seems like your typical twirl your curly mustache, maniacal laughter villain from like the 80s. He reminds me of Waluigi from the Mario Bros franchise.
I wonder what other audiences said on, "What phrase should we say to change the villain's mind?" because we had a question like that and I don't remember what triggered this, but we all said, "Yes!" So we had to chant yes whenever the villain was trying to go against the main characters. I just thought our answer was odd.
The following scene I will describe is the main reason why I decided to make this review, because I just need to vent about it. In my viewing, there is a scene where the villain describes why he wants to reek havoc on all chocolate products and it transitions into this scene where the villain is watching Hershey playing baseball on the field with an audience in the background. Hershey has a baseball cap and it being cheered for with the villain saying that everyone always admired him more than himself and it made him jealous. Instead of trying to rant for too long, I'll just put down my questions that I got from the flashback.
What does baseball have to do with making chocolate? Why is Hershey playing baseball? Why is the villain comparing himself to Hershey with baseball if he's trying to ruin chocolate? Who would put a chocolate bar on their team? Why is this not mentioned again in the story? Did the audience do something wrong to get this weird scene?
Of course, the only female character- Kiss- becomes a victim and everyone else has to save her.
Ahh! Jolly Rancher is terrifying. I could only imagine how I'd react seeing him over my bed at night.
I did like how Kiss' kindness helped save the chocolate and make the robots turn against the villain. It shows that being kind and comforting to others can go a long way instead of being mean and aggressive.
That chocolate pouring down in the back looks so good...
I was hoping the villain was associated with the chocolate in some way. Like a Twizzler in disguise give how tall and skinny he is. Or from the Mnm company.
When Reese asked the audience what we should do with the villain after he was defeated, this kid in the front screamed, "Eat him!" Mind you, the villain was covered in chocolate at this point and frozen in place. The look on Reese's face when the kid said that was so freaking funny. He was like quote, "You...you want to eat him? You do know there's a human under that, right?" and then he went to say something like, "We'll go talk to him and see what we could do." For a moment, I thought they actually had an ending where they ate him. I would've flipped.
I carried some confetti home when they shot it down from the ceiling. I threw it away days later. Why do we do that? Carry things home we know we'll never use? It is our greed. The greed to take all that could be ours, knowing the truth that we are selfish for items who don't deserve our time.
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