Bruno and Boots: A Gay Couple at MacDonald Hall

Bruno and Boots are the stars of a series of children's books by Gordon Korman, set at a down-and-out boarding school near Toronto:
This Can't be Happening at MacDonald Hall (1978)
Go Jump in the Pool (1979)
Beware the Fish (1980)
The Wizzle War (1982)
The Zucchini Wars (1988)
MacDonald Hall Goes Hollywood (1991)
Something Fishy at MacDonald Hall (1995)

I haven't read any of the books -- I never heard of them before Netflix - but Bruno is the "let's fill the swimming pool with jello" trickster, Boots the "but we'll get in trouble" superego, and they're surrounded by the usual high school nerds, jocks, and martinet teachers.  The rival school is the snooty York Academy, and Miss Scrimmage's Finishing School for Young Ladies provides a female Bruno-Boots pair to spar with and get crushes on.

A series of movie adaptions has appeared in Canada.  The first, Bruno and Boots: Go Jump in the Pool (2016), now streaming on Netflix, stars:

1. Jonny Gray, a Disney teen, star of the similarly-themed Max and Shred (2014-2015) as Bruno.











Jonny is the one on the far right.















2,  Callan Potter, a newcomer who would go on to star in The Other Kingdom on Nickelodon, as Boots. 













The plot:  In the book, a gay subtext:  Boots is forced to transfer to York Academy so he can compete on their swim team.  Bruno hatches some wild schemes to raise money to buy a pool for MacDonald Hall, so they can stay together.

In the movie:  They just want the pool.  Plus Boots goes out for swimming so he can impress The Girl.

That's right, the gay-subtext motive has been obliterated, and a hetero-horny motive introduced.

I guess because in 2016 you couldn't pretend that gay people do not exist anymore.

I fast forwarded through the other two movies, to see if there was anything good:

Bruno and Boots: This Can't Be Happening at MacDonald Hall (2017): The headmaster tries to separate the duo.

Bruno and Boots: The Wizzle War (2017): They try to get even with a crazy teacher.

Gay characters: The girl-crush is de-emphasized.  You can still read them as a gay couple, if you want. .

Beefcake:  Bruno and Boots rush to class in their underwear, with some blatant bouncing around.  Otherwise nothing much.

My grade: C-