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Post by Trey_Vore on May 2, 2020 10:12:58 GMT -5
Hey guys! As you know, Belchic has his review thread where he can review animated films. You can find it at this link: sparkydearly.proboards.com/thread/8735/belchics-animated-film-reviewsBeing something of a film critic myself, I thought I would do the same and post my animated film reviews here. I will start with this one review that I posted on my Facebook profile: Lilo and Stitch (2002) Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures Director: Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois Cast: Chris Sanders (Stitch), Daveigh Chase (Lilo), Tia Carrere (Nani), David Ogden Stiers (Jumba), Kevin MacDonald (Pleakley), Ving Rhames (Cobra Bubbles), Zoe Caldwell (Grand Councilwoman), Kevin Michael Richardson (Gantu) Runtime: 85 min. MPAA Rating: PG (mild sci-fi action) This movie is about two different stories that converge to be one, the first being set in the Turo system in outer space, where the Galactic Federation has sentenced mad scientist Dr. Jumba Jookiba to prison for the illegal creation of Experiment 626, a nigh-indestructible alien terror that evades being marooned on an asteroid and escapes to the Hawaiian island of Kauai. The second story is about a lonely, Elvis Presley-junkie Hawaiian girl named Lilo who is recently an orphan and now in is the custody of her older sister Nani. Desperately wanting a friend, the two sisters head to a pet shelter where the alien is mistaken for a dog. After Lilo adopts the hyper destructive experiment, he is named Stitch and starts to add to the family’s chaos. So now with social worker Cobra Bubbles keeping a close watch on the two sisters and Stitch now having to dodge capture from Jumba and cycloptic Earth expert Agent Pleakley, can the two stories stay together as a unit proving the power of ohana? This movie is #42 (formerly #41, but now #42 due to the inclusion of Dinosaur) in the Disney Animated Film Catalog. During the 2000s, Disney was in a serious rut. Their Renaissance period was seemingly over and other studios like Pixar, DreamWorks and Blue Sky were using all CGI animation which was really kicking all kinds of ass at the box-office; Disney’s original foundation on cel-animation was starting to look like old news. At this time, just about everything they gave us after we left the 1990s either disappointed or outright bombed at the box-office; movies like Fantasia 2000 and The Emperor’s New Groove did well but that was because of the foreign market, Dinosaur did well but was a disappointment considering its budget, Atlantis: the Lost Empire was a dud no matter how you look at it and Treasure Planet was a massive bomb costing $140 million but domestically only made about $39 million (OWW!!) This movie, a brainchild of Chris Sanders, was the lone exception; it proved to be a major hit for Disney when they needed one and momentarily put the idea that cel-animation was on the way out to rest. I imagine that like Shrek was a year earlier, Lilo and Stitch became a success because it was going against the grind of what you were probably expecting from Disney. With a light tone and more mature attitude than normal, combined with an effective marketing campaign (the ‘Inter-Stitch-ials’, which consisted of ad spots where Stitch would be in Simba’s place during his coronation or drop a chandelier on Belle and the Beast), Disney would then slam us with Stitch in the coming years, where by September of 2003 we would have a pilot movie for a cartoon series that would air on ABC and Disney Channel, and two more movies in under 5 years. Many people tend to see this as the last big cel-animated film, though that medium seems a lot less dead now than it did in 2004 ( The Simpsons Movie would later outgross it). So with all that in mind, how well does the movie hold up? Well, I’d say it’s aged fine. …I said fine, I didn’t say fantastic. A reason for that is because I still like the respect for Hawaiian culture, the tributes they give to Elvis Presley, the crisp watercolor art style (courtesy of their former Florida animation unit, I took a watercolor class around the time of its release) and it’s sense of humor, it was very much a sight in 2002, but while it remains watchable it’s not holding up as well as I probably would have liked. We have two stories that are supposed to be very different but only on the outset; an example of which is when Stitch is being carted away to his exile he bites Captain Gantu and then he asks the two ship pilots “Does this look infected to you?”. Then after we head to Hawaii and Mertle teases Lilo she attacks her. It’s then implied that Lilo bit Mertle as she then asks the other girls “Does this look infected to you?”. The heart is still there and maybe this is because times and tastes changed but it almost seems pre-plotted. Did I mention Stitch is too heavy to swim and Hawaii is considered to be waterlocked? As a part of any story, the movie needs conflict, and here we have two sources in the forms of Cobra Bubbles, who wants Nani to prove she’s a competent legal guardian, and the Grand Councilwoman, who wants Jumba and Pleakley to find and recapture Stitch. Because the movie spends about 85% of its time in Hawaii, it feels very much like the movie’s true raison d’etre is Lilo and her strained relationship with Nani. Because of this, while the threat imposed by Cobra Bubbles feels very real, the threat imposed by the Grand Councilwoman is blatant but ultimately meaningless. This takes a lot of credibility away from the alien side of the story. Sure Jumba and Pleakley remain major characters and they are still funny, but other than giving some kind of connection to the alien story and making jokes they don’t maintain a strong role in the movie. If they were cut from the movie it could probably still work, but if you were to do that, wouldn’t that be like saying you could just cut Stitch from the movie and you don’t lose much? But I guess the aliens still have to be there because we don’t want this to seem like some made-for-TV movie you could see on We, Lifetime or the Hallmark Channel so in comes Captain Gantu to tie the two threads together. If I had to say it reminds me of anything, it would be like when you got your NES back in the day and it came bundled with a dual Game Pak of Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt. Not saying anything about the quality while Super Mario Bros. felt like a game that you would fondly remember and still hold a place in gamers’ hearts, Duck Hunt was notable for being the game that required the light gun peripheral and for the dog that trolls you when you fail. While Super Mario Bros. still works no matter what, Duck Hunt by contrast played well on a CRT TV, but it doesn’t work quite as well on a flatscreen TV. Not to mention the NES controller still works but the light gun doesn’t due to age. I honestly don’t like having to say all this because this was a movie that helped get me back into Disney. I was there for the Disney College Program in 2004 when Stitch had essentially full-on invaded Disney World. I was there for the grand opening of “Stitch’s Great Escape!”, a retooling of the ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter that became known as their worst attraction. I was in the middle of all the Stitch-Mania. I still hold fond memories of this movie but its best days are probably behind it. It may sound like I’m being harsh, and while I would have originally given the movie a very high score, now it's still a reasonably high score. I still think this movie is good and at least it will make for a nice family movie in a time like this. Lilo and Stitch (2002) TreyVore rates it: B
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Post by Trey_Vore on May 2, 2020 22:56:02 GMT -5
Mars Needs Moms (2011)
Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures Director: Simon Wells Cast: Seth Green (Milo’s motion capture)/Seth Dusky (Milo’s voice), Dan Fogler (Gribble), Elizabeth Harnois (Ki), Mindy Sterling (Martian Supervisor), Joan Cusack (Milo’s mother), Kevin Cahoon (Wingnut) Runtime: 88 min. MPAA rating: PG (sci-fi action and peril)
This movie is about a 9 year old boy named Milo who lives a normal life with his parents. After an argument involving broccoli, he winds up hurting his mom and wants to make amends but then discovers she’s being abducted by Martians. With the aid of a manchild astronaut named Gribble and a Martian graffiti artist named Ki Milo has to find out why she has been abducted and if he can find his mother, can he rescue her in time?
Before I begin, I will say that I remember back in 1991, an animated Christmas cartoon was made out of Berkeley Breathed’s book Opus n’ Bill in A Wish for Wings that Work. He hated the cartoon after being disappointed with the ratings and feeling that his characters, designs and humor don’t translate to animation, but the cartoon still got a fanbase and is fondly remembered by people. I also remember back in 2016 when I met Michael Bell at a Transformers con I brought up his role as Opus the Penguin and he said I was the first to mention it, being one of his favorite voice roles.
I was at least aware of the book before this movie was released, having seen and read through it at a local Walgreens. If I had to describe the book it is a child’s story of telling kids the importance of appreciating your mother (nothing wrong with that), but I will admit I was a bit offput the visuals—it looks very much like a sentimental story told with “Wacky Packages”-style artwork. Did I mention that was the card series that started the Garbage Pail Kids? And let’s not invoke memories of that movie…
Courtesy of ImageMovers Digital, the movie uses motion capture animation as they had done in the past with their other all-animation movies like The Polar Express and their version of A Christmas Carol.
And then it went under. Despite the technological advances, the story from a well-known cartoonist and the reliable pairing of Robert Zemeckis and Disney, this movie was essentially the death knell for ImageMovers Digital; it cost $150 million to make and made only $39 million worldwide. The suits at Disney were likely channeling their Homer Simpson and yelled “Sweet merciful crap!!” Adding insult to injury, the movie needed the premium prices from IMAX exhibitions and 3D shows to make that.
What went wrong? Oh, I can find more than a few things…
When I finally sat down to watch this movie, no joke, 3 minutes in the first thing I said was “I’m going to hate this!”
1: Lack of world-building. The movie doesn’t bother giving too much info regarding who the characters are supposed to be. I guess Milo is the character we are supposed to gravitate towards, but we learn very little about him other than he likes zombie movies and hates broccoli. His mom is supposed to be a caring parent and… that’s it. Milo says something hateful and that is what sets the movie in motion. The line in question is not really any worse that what I remember Kevin McAllister once said in Home Alone, but the reason why I wasn’t bothered by Kevin’s statement was probably because I had at least some incentive to understand some of the grievances he had with his family. Milo’s just a douche as far as we know. Plus he was aged up for the movie as opposed to his book counterpart and as a result he is acting like he’s a lot younger than he’s supposed to be. It doesn’t better when we go to Mars, do the Martians even need genders if babies just pop up out of the ground like weeds?
2: Unfortunate Implications. On Mars the male martians are treated like inferior beings and thrown in a garbage dump. As a result the female martians now run the planet. However the babies are just too much of a handful for the martian women so they need these nannybots to raise the children for them. Because it’s truly impossible to have both a steady career and be a caring parent right? And is it wrong to have any type of family other than the Leave It to Beaver family?
3: It’s too scary for its intended audience. So how do these nannybots function? Well the Mars society needs to kidnap human mothers from Earth and use their mom essence to power the robots. In doing so, the human mother is drained and then essentially vaporized, and that is just too much for very little kids to take. Imagine being a small child and having to identify with such an issue and that is essentially the conflict of the movie.
4: The message is broken. It wants kids to appreciate their moms. Because if you do, she’ll be abducted and then vaporized. How do you stop this? DON’T appreciate your mom and be a brat? Worse, it’s lampshaded within the movie itself. It is like the movie knows it’s just too stupid for its own message.
5: The Uncanny Valley. The movie uses motion-capture animation and tries to digitally animate the characters to look like they are supposed to be like real people. I never understood the point of this because not only does the animation have no charm, it’s unnerving because we know what a real human looks like. The human characters all look like they are supposed to be plastic dolls with glass eyes and it scares people on accident. Not that the Martians are any better, mind you.
6: It’s emotionally unengaging. Sure the stakes are high and there’s plenty of potential life-or-death scenarios, but despite that the story just feels too fluffy to really make you care if anybody lives or dies. So what can they do? Pick an emotion they want you to feel and force it. How do you think Gribble wound up on Mars? How are the viewers supposed to feel? Sad? Okay so… just go overboard with it, that’s all they can do. Rubber ball against a wall.
7: The villain sucks. The Martian supervisor is supposed to be the conflict in that she thinks the men are worthless and the women should be ruling Mars. But she doesn’t do much other than bark orders (not helping matters is she isn’t even subtitled, so no one can truly understand her, a Klingon she is not). So this villain is not terribly effective.
8: The humor is likely to be lost on the kids. There’s jokes and references to the 1960s and the 1980s courtesy of Milo’s two compatriots, but they probably won’t register because they won’t understand the context. Do they really think kids will get hippie movements or eating Smurfberry Crunch?
Do I really need to go on? I knew I was going to hate this movie after only three minutes and I was right. What was good? Well… it always carries a level of professionalism about it, so at least they were doing their jobs right but failing hard? And the sounds are always clear? I guess that works for it.
So, if you are not picking up the hints, I don’t recommend this movie. You’ll probably only want to watch it once and then never again. I don’t like to pass this kind of judgement off to just any movie, but this is one movie that deserved to be a disastrous, massive box-office bust. At least it looks and sounds great?
Mars Needs Moms (2011) TreyVore rates it: F
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Post by Trey_Vore on May 30, 2020 11:10:36 GMT -5
My Little Pony: the Movie (2017)
Distributor: Lionsgate Director: Jayson Thiessen Cast: Tara Strong (Twilight Sparkle), Ashleigh Ball (Rainbow Dash, Applejack), Andrea Libman (Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy), Tabitha St. Germain (Rarity), Cathy Wesluck (Spike), Emily Blunt (Tempest Shadow), Michael Pena (Grubber), Liv Schreiber (the Storm King), Taye Diggs (Capper), Zoe Saldana (Capt. Celaeno), Sia (Songbird Serenade) Runtime: 99 min. MPAA rating: PG (mild action)
While Twilight Sparkle is put in charge of an upcoming Friendship festival and her friends are all on board to help her make it a success. However, when an invasion by the Storm King, led by his minion Tempest Shadow threatens the festivities and crystalizes the princesses, the six (seven, counting Spike) manage to escape and set out to seek the aid of the Hippogriffs, who are holding a MacGuffin to stop the villains. Can Twilight Sparkle and her friends save Equestria?
This movie is a feature film adaptation of the memorable Hub/Discovery Family series My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. There are times when I wonder about timing when it comes to making a movie about a popular show. If this movie was released in 2013, you know, instead of My Little Pony: Equestria Girls, it probably would have made hundreds of millions of dollars regardless of whether or not it was any good. Coming in the year 2017, one could argue that it might have been a bit late, seeing as the show may have taken a dive in popularity by then. I was a fan of the series up until the Hub dissolved into Discovery Family; during that time I started to lose interest and moved on to other things.
Being that we have a new Pony series coming soon, I felt this would be appropriate, though I do have mixed feelings about it. With another popular product like say, Pokemon, where when it first came to us from Japan, it was seen as the best thing ever; video games were selling themselves, an anime series that debuted in 1998 was top of the ratings charts, merchandise was inescapable, Burger King sold out of toys in a week at best and kids were absolutely wild for it. One could say that the initial craze probably died down in the early 2000s, but despite the fact said craze had passed it keeps coming back in popularity. What might be an explanation is they always push the ideologies of friendship and trust; and in it it’s always within a deep and immersive world. While you as a player might be going along building a strong bond with your Pikachu or Eevee there might be the idea that you always have to be caring and kind and it comes back to you in your partner’s effectiveness. Plus there are kids that start to mature and develop an attachment to the world and characters; it’s also a great way to bond with parents or older siblings that remember playing the game and winning with their favorites. It didn’t depend solely on the original anime series that people nowadays ask “Is that show still on?”
With My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic though… the show may have always remained good and had a consistent level of quality. It managed to appeal to adult men in addition to its intended audience of grade school-age girls and the characters had copious amounts of merchandise invading Hot Topic that people could not get enough of; many people loved the characters as they each where supposed to represent “Elements of Harmony”; pushing the meaning of how to be a nice friend.
Despite that though… once the taboo factor of liking something not originally meant to appeal to you had wore off, it’s success probably would rely on your personal loyalty to the show and if you didn’t have other responsibilities and interests that would interfere. All the while trying to get you to want to run out to buy some plastic toy ponies that don’t really have any significant use. Because of this I can probably say I can't picture this coming back to be popular once more. People probably will have fond memories of watching the show but I can’t see Bronydom suddenly becoming a hot button issue again.
…then again, no matter what I try to use as an example, whether it’s Legos, Ninja Turtles, Sonic, Pokemon, Harry Potter, SpongeBob SquarePants… they weren’t just a toy commercial that spent over 30 years as the butt of everyone’s jokes.
Anyway, now about the movie. I will start by saying it does remain true to the series it’s built around; the movie has plenty of charm and a pleasant disposition. Fans will love the small nods to their favorite episodes and seeing their favorite secondary/tertiary characters. The only thing you would probably need is a 5-pound bag of Skittles and you would have the full experience. The level of animation quality also seems a bit improved from the show; the use of what looks like the series’ traditional animation with clearly integrated CGI is bit sharper than what you might expect.
The course the 6 leading ponies go on is more of an emotional journey rather than physical; the power of Friendship is one that relies on the bonds of the heroines rather than the artifact they must seek. True to the series and they have the same VAs do their traditional voices. The antagonists of the movie are the Storm King and Tempest Shadow, the latter in particular since she is more active. Probably the most developed of the newer characters as she’s supposed to be a fallen unicorn that broke her horn and doesn’t believe in the power of friendship. Her voice fits, her song is blatant but intense, her motivations are reasonable, she’s the best of the characters introduced in the movie. The Storm King is also supposed to be a menace but seems more like a goofball than one you really should take seriously.
I will say though… if you are not already a hardcore fan of the show, it will most likely not change your mind about the series. That creates a few problems. For one, the story doesn’t waste a lot of time on history or give a non-fan incentive to catch up; they expect that you are more than likely a fan of the show and are well-versed in the series’ lore. The movie is very much Twilight’s story and you can’t have it without her. However, the others—Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy and Spike the dragon—are pretty much just there for the sake of continuity; they get some character beats and moments of development but they don’t contribute to the story at least until the climax. The newer friends they make—a con artist cat named Capper, a group of air pirates led by Captain Calaeno, Princess Skystar and her mother Queen Novo—are all characters that just seem to act like a series of examples to fulfill the “Friendship is Magic” quota. Their methods that they use to win them over though are so brief and quick it almost makes me wonder if what the show was saying about friendship was all that effective.
The fact that Twilight Sparkle is such a prominent character is something of a double-edged sword though. For one thing, like her mentor figures, she is an alicorn (a Pegasus/unicorn mix) which was supposed to have happened when she had mastered the art of Friendship. However, the movie seems to make her regress as a character. She starts by being completely timid about the whole Friendship thing, then she seems to get an ego about her, and… did she just try to steal the MacGuffin? What the hell Hero?
Plus if I remember correctly, this movie was supposed to be about the series My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Barring the awkwardness of the movie’s title otherwise (it’d be My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic: the Movie), they left out the “Friendship is Magic” subtitle because the climax does seem to undermine what it says about friendship. During the climax Twilight Sparkle is captured and her friends now get to be meaningful. Do they stop the Storm King and his minions with patience? Kindness? Empathy? Love? No, that’s a load of crap. Likely to appease the “other demograph” (you know, the adult male fans), they use acts of deception, hitting, throwing food, tying them up and even set them on fire. If I had to say that reminds me of anything, it would be like when I was watching Disney’s Pinocchio and how Pinocchio had to prove himself virtuous enough to become a real boy. The Coachman never actually got punished for what he was doing but there was no blood on Pinocchio’s hands at the end of the movie. Sure they rectified that in the video game adaptations where the Coachman acted as a stage boss (and Pinocchio would actually kill the Coachman by kicking him off Pleasure Island and to his death) but we know that video games work differently. If that was in the movie, the Blue Fairy’s end claim would have to be “Prove yourself brave, truthful, and unselfish, and above all you kicked that guy’s ass, you will be a real boy”.
My Little Pony: the Movie is ultimately harmless but as I said, if you are a hardcore fan you’ll probably already own it and it won’t make you change your mind on the series if you don’t pledge your allegiance to Princess Celestia. It just never feels like it’s supposed to be anything more than four back-to-back episodes of the series. It’s honest about the fact it’s supposed to be a commercial for toys and I do respect that. If you just take it lightly and don’t harp on it too much then it’s going to do its job.
My Little Pony: the Movie (2017) TreyVore rates it: C
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Post by Trey_Vore on Jun 26, 2020 14:51:35 GMT -5
Arctic Dogs (2019)
Distributor: Lionsgate Director: Aaron Woodley Cast: Jeremy Renner (Swifty), Heidi Klum (Jade, Bertha), James Franco (Lemmy), John Cleese (Otto Von Walrus), Omar Sy (Leopold), Anjelica Hutson (Magda), Alec Baldwin (PB) Runtime: 92 min. MPAA Rating: PG (some mild action and rude humor)
This movie is about a small yet plucky Arctic Fox named Swifty who’s lifelong dream is to be a delivery courier for the Arctic Blast Delivery Service. His aspirations result in him learning of a plot by the villainous Otto Von Walrus, a supervillain who schemes to melt the polar ice caps. With the aid of his allies including PB the neurotic polar bear, Lemmy the scatterbrained albatross, Jade his mechanic love interest, a pair of conspiracy theorist otters named Leopold and Bertha and his grumpy boss Magda, can this unlikely team of heroes stop the villain and save the Arctic?
Before I start this review, I will say that hate is a strong emotion. When I first saw the trailer last year, I had a feeling that this movie was going to be absolute garbage. Why? Well, for starters, it’s from the same studio that made that abhorrent Norm of the North. Its director, Aaron Woodley, was last known for the 2016 dud Spark: A Space Tail. The writers of this movie were behind that overall-pretty bad Escape From Planet Earth and the unwanted Nut Job 2. Plus the top-billing of the all-star cast and the fact it was not initially screened for critics, along with the fact that the studio didn’t seem to have any faith in it as evidenced by the combined lack of marketing and the critics who did see it panned the hell out of it. I honestly was expecting this to be a completely horrible train wreck and with some Bile Fascination decided to see it for myself.
So now that I have seen it how do I feel about it?
Well, it’s not as bad as people are making it out to be, to be perfectly honest. Don’t get me wrong, it’s got some glaring flaws, but… it’s not an unholy abomination that the press leads us to think. Let’s get down to it.
I will start by saying as it is, the story is rather thin and seems to leap around between threads. Maybe there is something I’m just not seeing but the mood swaps around constantly and seems like some of its plot threads are only half-baked. The idea of Swifty wanting to be a sled dog feels like just another “passionate dreamer” story and doesn’t feel unique. It doesn’t seem to make very much sense about why a courier would be seen as a rock star to the residents of Taigasville; I know they’re living in an Arctic tundra but still one would think they are just doing their jobs.
It also uses a lot of clichés that make the movie feel like it’s just supposed to be very average film. You’ve probably seen stuff that this movie has done before and better. Thankfully the animation is fine as it is if a bit uninspired. While acceptable the humor also tends to be rather broad and not terribly funny.
So, that’s a few ideas of why it’s just a bit problematic; more organization was necessary. A unique voice was needed. The voice acting and animation are serviceable but nothing to write home about. The story has some fat that needed to be cut, as I personally thought the three characterized sled dogs were excessive and the movie probably would have been fine if they were something like fictional entities. The characters could stand to be fleshed out a bit more. There’s some questionable behavior that you would probably need to talk with your kids about, like why a secret handshake should not be a punch in the nose. With all that in mind, if you want my honest opinion?
…it really isn’t all that bad.
I know that despite that Thanos snap that it seems had occurred, remember that Swifty was being voiced by Jeremy Renner, who you probably know as Hawkeye in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. With that in mind, I’m going to play Dr. Banner, who you know was the one optimist despite the damage that took place. And remember, who was playing Bruce Banner, Mark Ruffalo? And where was his hometown again?
Despite my first complaints and all the problems that occurred behind the scenes, there is something more that I see. All the issues are just something that needed to be handled better.
Where to start? Well for one, let’s just say what Swifty is supposed to be, I can identify with mighty strongly. I am an Amazonian and it’s my job to help people get their stuff. I’ve been hoping to get a promotion. I never lost sight of what I love as a child. I love culture. I’ve been aspiring for fame, which probably why I do reviews like this one. I would jump at the chance of meeting a hot babe. Let’s just say that his plight hits pretty close to home.
In addition, there were some pre-production images that were leaked onto the web where it seems like the movie’s original plan was supposed to be the struggle against Otto Von Walrus as the centerpiece. Maybe this is just because I see so many superhero movies, but this really would have been amazing if that was the case. After all, I loved Zootopia and was bursting with happiness when it won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Combine that with a comic book property like X-Men and… hot d**n you got yourself a mega-blockbuster on your hands, it could have kicked Toy Story 4 and Frozen 2 to the curb.
For the characters, I found them pleasant, at the very least. As the villain, Otto Von Walrus has a posh British-styled voice courtesy of the ever-reliable John Cleese and he gives a good performance. He’s also got a set of Minion-wannabe henchmen called Puffins who are at least tolerable. Anjelica Hutson is clearly enjoying herself as the grouchy Soviet-accented caribou Magda. Alec Baldwin does fine if unexceptional as PB, Swifty’s best friend, he’s likely just supposed to be a straight character to Swifty being a funny character. Maybe this is just my adoration for culture talking, but I quite enjoyed the conspiracy theorist otters, Leopold and Bertha. Leopold is clearly French and Bertha I imagine is Heidi Klum doing a more exaggerated take on her natural voice. Clearly meant to be partners, I have some theories of my own on why these two are an appealing pair of surrogates. The only character I just did not like is Lemmy, as he just seems to be nothing more than a tool rather than a character.
There is also the factor of Swifty’s relationship with Jade that I found to be rather sweet. When the movie begins, Swifty’s just supposed to be a little boy that has hopes and dreams. Being that I need to understand how juvenile fiction is supposed to work that helps with the identifiability of the character. He also meets Jade as a little girl and they become friends. There’s then a series of storybook like images of their bonding before Jade goes off to continue her studies. She does return after and this is supposed to be a major change in their relationship. Due to her departure and eventual return, it changes their dynamic. Swifty would no longer see her as his childhood friend, but rather a potential lover. During a later bonding sequence Jade reveals she studied Spanish and Swifty’s response is “Oui oui” which we know is French. So, you have a male character that uses French, and the female character is also being voiced by Heidi Klum? Further evidence is when they hold hands and during the climax, kiss. Had the execution in various areas been better, I could just picture the fireworks going off. After all, look at what it did for Simba and Nala in The Lion King.
I know it just sounds like I’m reading an awful lot, but I love to try to put serious thought into writing. I provides food for thought and I may challenge your thought process; after all the movie may have bombed horribly but the question is whether or not it continues to live on. There are movies that fail at the box office but continue to live on regardless. At the same time there are movies that make $300-400 million but no one cares about them. Does it seem like I’m daring you to think differently? Sometimes, one man’s opinion… is all it takes.
For the execs at Lionsgate and Entertainment Studios: you have a potential gold mine with this movie. If you decided to give it a remake I would happily consider seeing it. Just put deeper investment and care in the film and let the creative process flow and well, do I need to remind you of the fact that Disney really scored with Zootopia, and studios are laughing all the way to the bank with comic book hero adaptations? The potential is there, it just needs love and it will succeed. The phone call of potential awesome on the line. Will you except the charges?
Arctic Dogs (2019) TreyVore rates it: B-
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Post by Trey_Vore on Jul 6, 2020 8:22:34 GMT -5
As per my thanks for Belchic approving so strongly with my review of Arctic Dogs, this was a request from him:
The Land Before Time (1988)
Distributor: Universal Pictures Director: Don Bluth Cast: Gabriel Damon (Littlefoot), Candace Hutson (Cera), Judith Barsi (Ducky), Will Ryan (Petrie), Helen Shaver (Littlefoot’s mother), Pat Hingle (Narrator) Runtime: 69 min. MPAA Rating: G (all ages admitted)
This movie, likely set in the early Cretaceous period, is about a baby “Long-Neck” (a sauropod… I am saying “sauropod” to avoid the issues that come with saying “Brontosaurus” or “Apatosaurus”) named Littlefoot who is born during a time when the Earth was changing. One night he is saved from a vicious Sharptooth (Tyrannosaurus Rex) by his mother at the cost of her own life. Now forced to go without her, he winds up befriending four other baby dinosaurs: a prejudiced “Three-Horn” (Triceratops) named Cera, a cheery “Big-Mouth” (Saurolophus) named Ducky, a timid non-flying “Flier” (Pteranodon) named Petrie and a silent “Spike-Tail” (Stegosaurus) named Spike. Together they must journey across various hazardous regions in order to find the lush “Great Valley”, a land untouched by the changing land. Can this unlikely quintet of baby dinosaurs find the Great Valley first, and if they don’t, will the land kill them first or will the Sharptooth?
This movie, the third major Don Bluth movie from the 80s, was originally pitched as “Bambi with dinosaurs” and animated over in Ireland. It had a bit of a troubled production history as the original uncut movie was extremely powerful—so powerful, it was feared by Steven Spielberg and George Lucas that children would be crying and parents would be sending them angry letters. So about 19 minutes of the movie were cut so that the MPAA would rate it G instead of PG. The final movie we got in 1988 only ran for about 1 hour and 9 minutes; to add to its runtime the first segment of Amazing Stories’ “Family Dog” was added to proceed the feature.
As a result, Don Bluth considers it to be Old Shame—according to him it may have just fallen below his standards.
You have probably heard this story before, but it’s definitely got its own voice and personality. Tonally, the movie has an odd but fitting mix of mature and immature. The featured characters are most definitely children, but end up having to deal with a mix of mature issues like death, starvation, natural erosion, and prejudice. It’s all coming at a group of childlike characters who you would think are barely preteens.
Another beautiful aspect is the animation. It’s fully cel-animated and Don Bluth’s masterful craftsmanship is fully realized here. Everything is beautifully animated and all the background sets look like they could be framed. The whole thing does an amazing job creating a world that you may have to use your imagination to have experienced. They don’t make ‘em like this anymore.
Because this is a kids’ movie, the characters are children and that helps with the identifiability. The one you probably gravitate towards the strongest might be Littlefoot being that he’s supposed to be the leading character, at least, of the leads. One night he is attacked by a vicious Sharptooth, and saved by his mother, which results in her death. Many people cite this sequence as a very tragic sequence.
However… rant mode on… there are some people that I see where they say “Oh I found this to be much more effective than The Lion King” and listing various reasons. To those people, I’m going to say this:
You are clearly missing the point.
The sequence is most definitely a tragic scene, and there is nothing comical about it; you’re dealing with it and not in any mood to make jokes, if I understand correctly. Under any circumstance the death of family member is the worst possible thing. However there is a silver lining that comes with it: his mother may have died, but now Littlefoot can start calling his own shots. If anything he probably spends too much time grieving over his mother’s death; it creates a somewhat somber tone that the movie takes a while to get over. Even if Littlefoot didn’t meet Ducky and Petrie almost immediately after his mother’s death, that Big-Lipped Alligator Moment with the baby Pterodactyls fighting over a cherry was probably what the movie needed to brighten the mood.
Don't mean to sound Japanese, but... you gotta think happy.
For the other four characters, Cera is basically the anti-Littlefoot. Whereas Littlefoot would be happy to make friends with just anyone, Cera only seems to see those of her own kind as legit. Where Littlefoot holds no grudges against anyone and keeps his pride in check, Cera is completely stubborn and needs to be shamed into admitting she needs aid at times. Ducky and Petrie are respectively the cute one and the funny one and they both add to the charm factor; Ducky’s cheery optimism brightens the mood considerably and Petrie is supposed to be a clumsy goof who needs to conquer his fear of flying. Spike is the only one who just seems to be there just as a bit of muscle power. He doesn’t speak at all which I think is fine; he most definitely will hold up as a character.
Probably the only real problems I have are that the movie has some rather obvious cuts that were made for the sake of the G rating. The Sharptooth is really nothing more than mindless killer and has no personality of his own. I don’t see that as bad if they were trying to make a beast of lethal instinct. Even without that though, the characters do seem to make choices on a dime; in one scene Littlefoot continues to carry an upbeat attitude and thinks he will find the Great Valley; the next he’s seemingly given up and thinks it’s beyond all hope. Spike, Ducky and Petrie have no bigger incentive to join Cera other than she seemingly won a fight. Littlefoot’s mother tells him that to reach the Great Valley, they need to pass the “mountains that burn”, are those volcanoes? When Littlefoot tries to stop Cera from ‘going the wrong way’ those sure seem like “mountains that burn” to me. How do we know Littlefoot’s way was 100% accurate? We’ll never know. And how else would Littlefoot have known Petrie was still alive at the end?
These are minor quibbles though—The Land Before Time is still an amazing movie that still holds up. As a child of the 1980s and dinosaur authority, this movie should be something a child should consider viewing. There are a number of sequels but they do not have the longevity of this film in that they lose any mature angles for childish tones and pointless songs. I give it a very high recommendation.
Side note is if your child has an interest in dinosaurs, it’s been proven that they are smarter than average.
The Land Before Time (1988) TreyVore rates it: A-
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Post by Belchic on Jul 6, 2020 11:33:56 GMT -5
Awesome review, Trey! I think you hit the nail on the head!
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Post by Trey_Vore on Jul 7, 2020 17:57:22 GMT -5
Glad you like Belchic. I wanted to do the film justice and I think I succeeded.
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Post by Trey_Vore on Jul 27, 2020 9:05:07 GMT -5
Spark: A Space Tail (2016)
Distributor: Universal Pictures Director: Aaron Woodley Cast: Jace Norman (Spark), Jessica Biel (Vix), Rob deLeeuw (Chunk), Hilary Swank (the Queen), Susan Surandon (Bananny), Patrick Stewart (Flagship Captain), Alan C. Peterson (General Zhong), Athena Karkanis (Koko) Runtime: 90 min. MPAA rating: PG (mild violence and rude humor)
When Planet Bana falls to the evil General Zhong, he winds up shredding the planet into pieces and now rules what’s left of it with an iron fist. Enter our hero Spark, a monkey who’s living on a remaining piece of the planet with his friends Chunk, an inventor warthog, and Vix, a warrior fox. Upon learning of a plan to threaten other planets so they will suffer the same fate and fall to Zhong’s rule, Spark knows he must put an end to this. Upon learning of his past and his place in the universe, can Spark, with his friends and new allies, take back the planet from the villainous General Zhong and give Bana a chance at peace?
After finding Arctic Dogs to be a pleasant surprise, I was requested to go and take a look at Aaron Woodley’s earlier CGI-animated film from 2016. My first reaction towards it was not all that favorable; it seemed to be getting bad reviews and didn’t get a strong box-office reception (I don’t think it was even released at my local Tinseltown). On the other hand, maybe this is just because I have something of a high opinion of Disney and Pixar and I tend to know what I should expect from a big screen animated movie. Did I mention I studied animation in college?
Now that I’ve seen it, what are my thoughts?
I’ll start by saying I am a fan of animation and a good sci-fi adventure like Star Wars is great fun. However, there don’t tend to be very many good examples of animated sci-fi films. Sure we have some good ones like WALL-E, The Iron Giant and Akira, and I’ll even say that Transformers: the Movie may have needed some time but was ultimately vindicated. However, it goes without saying the bad ones very heavily outweigh the good. Do you remember how movies like Titan A.E., Treasure Planet, Planet 51, Mars Needs Moms and Escape From Planet Earth went over? I once made the analogy when I was in college that a major reason why these movies fail is because they don’t tend to have a concrete audience. These movies generally are meant to appeal to teenage boys, the problem with that is they tend to go through a phase in life then they think animation (at least child-friendly animation) is just for kids and they would rather sneak into an R-rated horror film for some T&A. They aren’t movies that girls would be interested in, so who’s the general demograph?
That being said, I’m going to say that Spark: A Space Tail does nothing to help the cause.
It’s not without its merits though… it has the sense to know that Spark is the character you are supposed be gravitating towards and it has it’s heart in the right place. It wants you to know that it’s okay to accept help when you are offered it and that it promotes teamwork and cooperation. Then there are other messages like thinking before acting and even one person can make a difference.
However, it doesn’t help that it feels like I’ve seen this movie before and done a lot better.
For one, the story feels like it takes a lot of cues from Hamlet and I tend to think it was done much better when I was watching The Lion King. Yeah, I know I draw a lot of references to The Lion King but that’s probably because I happen to have such a high opinion on that film. While The Lion King had it’s own voice, personality and soul, Spark: A Space Tail does not. It’s not really immersive, probably because they don’t take the time to give us much of an idea of what life was like on Bana before General Zhong’s takeover. It also feels rather gimmicky, like “imagine how life would be with that level of technology!”, which leads me to return to that idea of how much better The Flintstones was than The Jetsons.
The animation, I will say, I found to be somewhat limited. I know that having a lower budget means it can’t be like what we would expect to see from a higher-end studio like Disney or DreamWorks, but everything feels rather flat and textureless, with not terribly unique character designs and unengaging space combat. The movie almost looks like some of that cheap animation you’d have seen from a 2000s animated film that doesn’t hold up with progressing technology. It looks about as well as an Xbox or PlayStation 2 video game that you enjoyed at the time of its release but really starts to show its age 10 years later.
The characters on the other hand are more of a mixed bag. Spark is the teenage boy you gravitate towards and I found him to be a decent character, learning there is more to him than he previously thought. His friends Chunk the inventor warthog and Vix the warrior fox are his friends/surrogate parents that do their job just fine, but they don’t get to do much more than that—Chunk is a klutzy inventor who’s like the father Spark never knew anything about, while Vix is the battle-hardened mom who knows how to fight and be a pilot; while they are certainly passable we don’t get to know too much else. Bananny is a grandmother-like robot who dies early on but becomes a Deus Ex Machina later. The space roaches are comedy relief characters that do nothing to enhance the story; the Queen just fulfills her job and does nothing more.
The biggest issue I have with the characters though, is the villain. General Zhong is the Uncle Claudius character who’s killed his brother to usurp the throne. Imagine like if you took Simba’s uncle Scar and merged him with Mojo Jojo from The Powerpuff Girls, he is supposed to be the current king of Bana and wants to spread his rule to the rest of the universe. I know they try to compensate by giving him something of a personality but maybe because of lack of world building, it’s just not terribly effective. He doesn’t appear to have any good intentions; he’s just doing what he does to be a massive douche. Ultimately the villain is weak.
I will also say the Flagship Captain’s running joke about being zapped and suffering memory loss doesn’t get funnier with use and that line “Let’s kick some ass-teroid” was something I’d be more willing to except when it was just a tagline for the Ratchet and Clank poster.
In the end, Spark: A Space Tail is a harmless movie that should satisfy kids, but they’ll likely outgrow it. Go ahead and rent it, but I don’t think it will blow anyone’s mind. I’m just hoping if that Star Fox movie does come to light, they will do its source material justice and prove to be a good example of an animated sci-fi film.
Spark: A Space Tail (2016) TreyVore rates it: C-
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Post by Trey_Vore on Sept 12, 2020 4:13:49 GMT -5
Despicable Me (2010)
Distributor: Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment Director: Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud Cast: Steve Carell (Felonius Gru), Jason Segel (Vector), Russell Brand (Dr. Nefario), Marinda Cosgrove (Margo), Dana Gaier (Edith), Elsie Fisher (Agnes), Will Arnett (Mr. Perkins), Kirsten Wiig (Ms. Hattie), Pierre Coffin (Minions Kevin, Tim, Bob, Mark, Phil, Stuart), Chris Renaud (Minion Dave), Jemaine Clement (Minion Jerry) Runtime: 95 min. MPAA Rating: PG (mild action and rude humor)
When the Great Pyramid of Giza goes missing, supervillain Felonius Gru knows he has to do something extreme to prove his salt as a supervillain, and together with Dr. Nefario and his army of pill-shaped Minions, his plot is to shrink and steal the moon. He needs to obtain a shrink ray to do just that, but when his up-and-coming rival Vector steals it first, he now needs to steal it from him. He decides to use three orphan girls as pawns for his upcoming heist to get his loan from the bank, but soon he has another challenge: the three little girls start to grow on him. So, with this supervillain growing a heart and the moon placing itself in optimal position what choice will Gru have to make, following his plot or throw it away to be a good father?
Back in 2010, despite having studied animation in school somehow I missed this movie in theatres, likely because I wasn’t sure what to think of it, plus this was during a time when Pixar was lightyears ahead of everyone else in the field; after all everyone was gushing over how utterly mind-blowing Toy Story 3 was and even went on to be nominated for Best Picture (and my on-call job likely played a role as well). However, this French-animated movie that put Illumination Entertainment on the map and won the world over, succeeded in its job start a multi-billion dollar franchise. I did go and ask about it when I was at my local Best Buy as they had it playing on their TV screens and the employees said it’s hilarious.
There is another reason I felt I should go and give this movie a review: in the year 2020, Universal was set to distribute Minions: Rise of Gru, a movie that was to mark the 10th anniversary of the original film. However, because of the Coronavirus pandemic, those plans were put on the kibosh. We will be getting the movie next year, though. Recently though, I got to see the original movie on the big screen thanks to Tinseltown, so with that in mind, my thoughts are…?
First, I will start by saying the movie feels very much like a cartoon. Sure it’s animated so you would ask why wouldn’t it feel like a cartoon, but it does carry a lot of Looney Tunes-style slapstick so it doesn’t feel like it’s supposed to be real. If the characters are pointing guns and bombs at each other there is enough cartoonishness to let you it’s meant to be a joke and not something cringeworthy. Despite that, the movie has a genuine heart to it so you know it can emotionally resonate with you as a viewer.
Maybe the story isn’t the strongest, but what truly does drive the movie is the characters. As the protagonist of the story, Gru is supposed to be a career supervillain who is continually vying for success but must make a choice once the initial pawns in his scheme, the three orphan girls Margo, Edith and Agnes, start to find their way into his heart. They have individual oddities that make them endearing, like how Margo feels she must be the responsible one, Edith is a moody tomboy and Agnes is the cute one with a fixation on unicorns. The kids the movie appeals to will probably find them more relatable than the star (or another set of characters I am getting to), with the heart coming from them and Gru having a sense of humor without a lot of over-sentimentality. I will say though, the least compelling character is the movie’s villain—to a villain, natch—Vector. Being an upstarting antagonist he is overly cartoonish and doesn’t do a whole lot at least until the climax to make him…dare I say it?... despicable. He just seems like he’s supposed to be a wealthy brat who’s so sure of his success that he doesn’t take his enemies seriously. Sure the movie does need a source of conflict but he’s not all that menacing. Almost like how I remember playing my copy of Pokemon Blue back in the day and your rival would be nothing more than an immature brat, but later rivals would prove to be more morally questionable.
On the other hand, we have the Minions. These goofy, babble-talking little guys who would see a wide army of imitators were clearly the movie’s comedy relief in an already cartoonish world, but they clearly steal each and every scene they are in. They sound almost like they are speaking in broken French which is already plenty funny. Part of what makes them so appealing is they act like worker bees and you probably can find something relatable to them, in addition to how little boys like to act. Then there is the factor on how animation is supposed to work: if you can turn off the dialogue and still understand what’s going on, then you are truly watching something animated. If you must have the dialogue to make sense of it, then it’s not animation, it’s illustrated radio. It’s no wonder they would go on to become the mascots of Illumination Entertainment.
Another point I will raise is 10 years later, how does it fare? I would say it holds up. Maybe the animation quality seems a little more yesteryear compared to some other films, but that’s only a small complaint; the heart and humor are still there and the characters still mean what they used to. The only things that really suggest the time of which it was made are one sequence where Vector is playing video games on what looks very much like a Wii (and how do the French say yes? Oui, am I right?) and the fact that every time Margo is on screen there is a quiet advertisement for the then-upcoming adaptation of The Lorax, a movie they released in 2012 (what is that on her shirt?)
In the end, I will say Despicable Me is still a fun time and worth your attention. The movie still is witty and charming with lots of goofball humor so it’s still a good movie. I do feel as though it would be outdone in a future movie (Despicable Me 2 is still my favorite) but I still very much recommend this movie.
Despicable Me (2010) TreyVore rates it: B+
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Post by Trey_Vore on Oct 31, 2020 8:38:25 GMT -5
ParaNorman (2012)
Distributor: Universal Pictures, Focus Features and Laika Director: Sam Fell and Chris Butler Cast: Kodi Smit-McPhee (Norman Babcock), Jodelle Ferland (Aggie Prenderghast), Tucker Albrizzi (Neil), Anna Kendrick (Courtney), Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Alvin), Casey Affleck (Mitch), John Goodman (Uncle Prenderghast), Bernard Hill (Judge Hopkins), Elaine Stritch (Grandma Babcock) Runtime: 92 min. MPAA rating: PG (scary action and images, thematic elements, some rude humor and language)
For the uninitiated, I studied animation in school so I do have an idea of what I’m looking at.
In the town of Blithe Hollow, Massachusetts, Norman Babcock is a pre-teen boy with a bizarre gift: he sees dead people. Because of this, he’s not a popular kid as everyone including his own family, especially his father, thinks he’s incredibly weird. One day, he gets a warning from his fellow ghost whisperer of a bum of an uncle that the town’s urban legend of a witch’s curse is real and is about to come to fruition 300 years after her death; he’s the only one who can stop it. So, having to band together with his older sister Courtney, his fellow bullied friend Neil, Neil’s older brother Mitch and the school thug Alvin, can these heroes find a way to end the curse and save the town from certain doom?
I will start by saying this movie originally came out in 2012 and at first, I didn’t think very much of it. It may have had something to do with the fact that I had not heard of the animation studio Laika or their first movie Coraline due to my old job being seemingly ‘on call’ and I had little time for myself, but there were some initial good reviews coming, so my mind changed and I felt I should see it. Plus a year earlier, I remember taking in more scary movies than I probably did in my whole life (I used to absolutely hate horror movies, but thanks to Wizard World that changed), so I gave ParaNorman a chance.
I would say I’m glad I did.
When the movie starts off we are introduced to Norman, who’s something of an outcast and everyone feels he’s a weird kid. This is supposed to be the character we are emotionally attached to being that in some manner we all probably feel like an outsider because we have some bizarre gift. Whatever that bizarre gift might be it just feels like something that would make you feel like you have a blessing/curse and no one understands you. Norman is that character.
That also extends to some advice that his departed grandmother gives as she tells him not to be afraid of your gifts as long as it doesn’t change who you are. I take that as meaning as long as you are a good person, you should be A-OK with accepting yourself. He’s the one who needs to just ignore all everyone else is telling him as everything boils down to him being able to do something to save his town from annihilation, while telling parents that it’s important to listen to your child if something is wrong rather than dismiss it as ‘kid stuff’. At the same time the zombies don’t turn out to be monsters as they are merely trying to help the townsfolk against the witch’s curse.
There is also the factor of the master craftsmanship of Laika—everything is in stop motion and it looks great. There’s a sense of Halloween Eve on this sleepy little town and everything is done to look like a low-key horror film. The characters are not supposed to be cute commercial items for toys but they are made for the purpose of art.
For the characters themselves, I did tell you a bit about Norman, which is our protagonist, but now for something about the others. His friend Neil is a funny character as a fellow outcast due to various he has; probably the best way to judge this character is if you were to take Bart Simpson’s friend Milhouse Van Houten and his doofus friend Ralph Wiggum and merge them to be one character. Alvin, the school thug, is everything that Norman is not; he’s big, a douche and clearly popular with the inner crowd; he provides a good contrast to Norman. Norman’s sister Courtney is a popular cheerleader who’s blonde, shapely and always in a tracksuit and clearly supposed to be shallow; the way she constantly flirts with Mitch is a good idea of her character and needs to help her brother look below a surface. Neil’s older brother Mitch is a riot on his own; he’s got credit as being the first example of an openly gay character in a mainstream animated film. This may lead to some questions from children and parents may need to provide some answers.
The biggest reason why I won’t give this film an immediate recommendation is if you have little kids, squeamish teens or just don’t like scary movies yourself, this movie is going to prove scary. The opening sequence features Norman watching a scary movie where a curvy babe inadvertently steps on a human brain with her high heel shoe, there is a sequence where Norman sees a slug crawl out of a mannequin’s nose and a teddy bear explodes in a flurry of moths. Then there is also the zombies and the idea of witchcraft, which while not evil, are not immediate child favorites. The movie’s villain is a vengeful witch who it turns out was simply misjudged and needs to remember happier days. While I do like the message, it still may prove scary for some people.
The movie got good reviews, but while it definitely made its budget back, it didn’t make as much as the directors thought. The fact it’s probably a bit scary for the aforementioned reasons is what stops it from making lots of money initially; it’s not a Disney Princess musical by any stretch. You ultimately just need to use some of your own best judgement as to whether or not it’s appropriate for your kids. That didn’t stop me from enjoying and recommending it for you, just it may not be for everyone.
Still in any case I am glad I took the time to see ParaNorman. It’s still fun, witty and still holds up. This movie was the first of three Halloween movies from 2012 (the other two are Hotel Transylvania and Frankenweenie) and it's easily the best of the three. I won’t say it is the best of 2012 (that nod still goes to Wreck-It Ralph) but it’s definitely more of a Halloween treat than a trick.
ParaNorman (2012) TreyVore rates it: B+
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Post by Trey_Vore on Nov 7, 2020 11:58:30 GMT -5
Hey guys, I got another review for you. Just like last one, this is about a seasonal movie:
Free Birds (2013)
Distributor: 20th Century Fox, Reel FX Studios, Relativity Media Director: Jimmy Hayward Cast: Owen Wilson (Reggie), Woody Harrelson (Jake), Amy Poehler (Jenny), George Takei (S.T.E.V.E.), Keith David (Chief Broadbeak), Colm Meaney (Myles Standish), Dan Fogler (Gov. William Bradford), Jimmy Hayward (President, Ranger, Leatherbeak, Hazmat #2, additional voices) Runtime: 91 min. MPAA Rating: PG (some action/peril, rude humor)
This movie is about a competent turkey named Reggie who has always feared Thanksgiving because he’s afraid he’s going to be killed and then eaten. The other turkeys are too stupid to take him seriously but to Reggie’s surprise, the President of the U.S.A. picks him as the “pardoned turkey” and he gets to spend his days enjoying delivery pizza and watching Mexican telenovelas. But when he’s kidnapped by Jake, a ripped turkey who’s on a mission thanks to the “Great Turkey” and now is out to time travel back to the first Thanksgiving to get turkeys off the menu. Hijacking a time machine from deep inside a government research facility, Reggie and Jake go back to 1621 where they are rescued by a tribe of wild turkeys led by Chief Broadbeak. With the first Thanksgiving quickly approaching, and Reggie falling for the Chief’s daughter Jenny, can Reggie and Jake find a way to stop their species from becoming an annual feast?
I’m going to start by saying 2013 was not a good year for animated films. Barring Frozen and Despicable Me 2, the quality of virtually each and every single animated film ranged from “alright”, to “awful”. This movie was definitely unique from most other animated films out there though: for one thing we see plenty of animated movies where the characters are humans, dogs, cats, mice, monkeys, farm animals, but you don’t see too many mainstream animated films where the main characters are turkeys. Not only that, but we see so many animated films that are about Christmas or Halloween, but this one was going to be about the holiday trapped in the middle of those two: Thanksgiving. So, we had reason to be anticipating this one.
Unfortunately, those qualities couldn’t save it from a bunch of serious problems.
For one, the movie begins with a monologue meant to be sarcastic as it allows the movie to have its way with established history. They are aware no one is going to take this seriously, but there’s a few problems with this; for one, it deflates a lot of dramatic tension, especially considering the story is about Reggie and Jake trying to stop their species from slaughter. You can have it one way or the other but you can’t have both guys.
But surely it’s funny, right? The premise of time-traveling turkeys is ridiculous enough so that you know this isn’t meant to be a serious affair, but the movie only goes for cheap laughs and broad slapstick. The chemistry between the leading characters is that we have Reggie, who’s supposed to be the sensible turkey in a flock of idiots, and Jake, the aspiring hero who claims he’s got a greater purpose, out to be buddies in a comedy. The fact we have Owen Wilson and Woody Harrelson, two funny guys, in animated roles should be comedy gold, but the writing isn't smart enough to generate comedy and the material they are given is completely witless. Woody and Buzz Lightyear they are not.
The wildly inconsistent tone is a major problem; it starts goofy and jokey but during the climax it becomes serious and dramatic. That disclaimer at the beginning then starts to feel like a weird defense mechanism rather than one that means we are supposed to take this movie with even a shred of dignity. At the same time, it’s hard to really connect with any of the characters—I guess I’m supposed to identify with Reggie being the outcast amongst a bunch of idiots, but his goal is just not really relatable; I don’t recall ever being afraid of the fact someone was going to come along and start sprinkling salt on my arm before digging in for their dinner. I’m going to add that Reggie's romance angle with Jenny is ultimately pointless and the running gag with her stressed out wonky eye is not funny either.
For the humans, we have Myles Standish, is an okay villain and he’s just ugly; he looks like he could pose as Nasty Canasta from the old Looney Tunes cartoons. And Gov. Bradford… I’m surprised Disney didn’t complain about this guy, considering he’s basically Governor Radcliffe from Pocahontas all over again.
I guess in the end, failure was its only option. It’s taking some grave subject matter and trying to put a wacky spin on it, in a movie meant to appeal to kids. Probably why I chose to put my money on “no, this is not going to work”. Sure the movie does get a happy ending but remember what’s at stake: let's say Reggie and Jake failed and what happens next? They got killed and then eaten. Do you really think kids are going to like that? That’ll get them looking forward to Thanksgiving. But the biggest problem is the fact that commercialism is what saves Thanksgiving; the movie almost comes off as a 90 minute advertisement for Chuck E. Cheese’s.
The movie got some really bad reviews, and it just barely made back its budget. That might be a bit of a reason why when it comes to seasonal movies filmmakers tend to target Halloween and Christmas but ignore Thanksgiving; the holiday definitely carries weight to the Americans but that’s really about it—it’s not like it really means much of anything in Europe, Australia or Japan.
Despite all these complaints though, this movie is not absolutely terrible. The movie is certainly watchable and does no harm; I guess it’s worth watching at least once. Beyond that, you’ll probably go ahead and put this movie on during Thanksgiving. Not because it’s really a good movie, but because it will do its job as a distraction for the kids when you need something longer than A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.
A shame really, as this is one of the few animated Thanksgiving movies.
Free Birds (2013) TreyVore rates it: D
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Post by Trey_Vore on Nov 8, 2020 12:58:51 GMT -5
Hey my peeps, thanks to my local Marcus Ampthitheater, I was able to make another animated movie review. I have a good one for you!
Toy Story (1995)
Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Director: John Lasseter Cast: Tom Hanks (Woody), Tim Allen (Buzz Lightyear), Don Rickles (Mr. Potato Head), Wallace Shawn (Rex), Jim Varney (Slinky Dog), John Ratzenberger (Hamm), Annie Potts (Bo Peep), John Morris (Andy Davis), Erik Von Detten (Sid Phillips) Runtime: 81 min. MPAA Rating: G (all ages admitted)
This movie is about a pull-string cowboy doll named Woody who enjoys his life as his owner Andy’s favorite toy. When Andy’s birthday comes along, he finds his role has been usurped by a space ranger toy named Buzz Lightyear, who is under the delusion he’s the real deal hero. Riddled with jealousy, Woody now takes it upon himself to try to remind Andy of his original favorite toy. But when a plan to get rid of Buzz goes awry, a fight results in them soon becoming lost toys. Needing to take responsibility for his actions, Woody now needs to swallow his pride and must help rescue his foe or be an outcast forever. Plus, with Andy’s family moving in a few days, and a threat imposed by Sid, a destructive neighbor boy who tears toys apart for fun, can Woody and Buzz safely find their way back to Andy?
This movie, while I’m sure needs no introduction, was a revolutionary film; it was the very first all-CGI animated movie. Coming from Pixar, a then little-known animation studio who made animated shorts in the 80s, would soon find themselves as the pioneers of all digital animation. This little movie would be a major game changer for the world of animation.
I won’t lie to you, when this movie was brand new, chances are it was one movie that would find its way into my VHS tape player time and time again. I’ve seen this movie so many times and I just don’t outgrow it. The movie finds its appeal in the idea of life from a toy’s perspective. As kids, we all knew our favorite toy(s) were always there for us, but secretly they had a life and would go on adventures when we weren’t looking. In a way, the toys could very well be extensions on Andy, the human boy. Sure, they might be more mature than advertised, but Andy’s tastes must have played a role.
I’m also going to say there is not even one bad character in the whole she-bang. Woody, our hero, is the central star of a jealousy story to tell kids that envy is not your way to getting what you want. His buddy, Buzz Lightyear, thinks he’s the real deal hero and believes he’s only got a limited time to rendez-vous with Star Command and save the universe, but when what Woody tells him turns out to be true, that causes him to cross into the Despair Event Horizon—he’s left a, pardon the expression, broken toy. Their strong chemistry is the centerpiece and despite being two toys o very different worlds, need to come to understand each other. Andy’s other toys all have unique personalities and are highly memorable as well; Bo Peep is a kinda-sorta love interest, Slinky Dog is his most reliable friend, Mr. Potato Head is a hot-tempered prop comic, Rex is a timid Tyrannosaurus and Hamm is a smartass piggy bank. There are other toys in Andy’s room but their general role is to give Andy’s playthings a sense of society. This creates the idea that Andy’s playroom is, like many of your other favorite animated films, not just the movie’s setting but a world in which, in your mindset, you could actually live. The movie’s writing definitely helps with that atmosphere.
The movie’s villain is Sid, the toy-torturing kid next door. This kid, as far as we know, has nothing to do with Andy, but you could argue that he’s everything Andy is not—while Andy clearly never abuses his toys, Sid does nothing but wreck them. The other toys that Sid mutilates into these weird hybrid toys are not monsters as Woody assumes, but they simply want to be cared for; I take this as telling kids that it’s important to care for your belongings.
Then there is the all-CGI animation. Formerly just used for novelty purposes in older shows and movies, this movie suddenly pushed digital animation to dominate the field. While it stopped being guaranteed money-in-the-bank by 2006 and it certainly looks more crude and less polished than it would soon become (in the mid-90s things like hair and liquids proved the medium was still evolving), it still works. Later movies of course improve but this movie started the trend.
And of course it’s still worth watching today. The story, themes, characters, and ideologies still mean something right now and it’s still fresh as a daisy. The only things that really suggest the time in which it was made are the random faux-advertisements for Binford Tools (because Tim Allen was best known as playing Tim Taylor on Home Improvement at the time) and there was a short 3-second moment inside Andy’s mother’s car where the radio is clearly having Timon and Pumbaa singing “Hakuna Matata”. That is not a complaint as the fact The Lion King is a classic film (not to mention, one of my favorites), but one would imagine if this movie was released in say, 2015, we’d probably have heard Elsa singing “Let It Go”.
The only other real problem I tend to have is I felt the movie could have used a stronger ending—at the end it’s supposed to be Christmas and Andy’s surprised that he gets a brand new puppy to Woody and Buzz’s concern. That just seems a little weak and not really as funny as they probably wanted it to be.
Those little flaws are just minor quibbles though—Toy Story is an amazing movie that you have to see at some point in time. Did you wonder why Pixar would become the animation powerhouse that would continue to delight and even twice have their movies be nominated for Best Picture? Sure that would change beginning in 2011 but they left their mark; this movie is their flagship franchise for a reason. Just go watch the movie already!
Toy Story (1995) TreyVore rates it: A+
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Post by Trey_Vore on Nov 20, 2020 12:31:13 GMT -5
Hi guys! If you need a reminder, Belchic did one review of a Christmas film from the 2000s that starred classic cartoon characters. sparkydearly.proboards.com/post/201964So, I now I give you a review of a different Christmas film from the 2000s that stars a different set of classic cartoon characters. Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas (2006) Distributor: Warner Bros. Director: Charles Visser Cast: Joe Alaskey (Daffy Duck, Sylvester, Marvin the Martian, Foghorn Leghorn, Pepe Le Pew), Bob Bergen (Porky Pig, Tweety, Speedy Gonzales), Jim Cummings (Taz, Gossamer), June Foray (Granny), Maurice LaMarche (Yosemite Sam), Tara Strong (Priscilla Pig), Billy West (Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd) Runtime: 45 min. MPAA rating: not rated Daffy Duck is the obscenely wealthy CEO of the Lucky Duck Superstore, a Wal-Mart like shopping center where he is anything but a generous boss. He cuts wages, eliminates health insurance and demands that all his harried employees show up for work at the crack of dawn Christmas morning. Bugs Bunny warns him that lack of holiday spirit will result in him being visited by three spirits to scare it into him. Do you think Daffy is going to learn his lesson? You may have heard about this cartoon when it was released to much hype back in 2006. Remember only a few years ago, Looney Tunes: Back in Action went nowhere and the still-running Loonatics Unleashed was just… no. It got somewhat lukewarm reception and then just kinda faded into the background, turning its head during the Christmas season. I gotta say, if you think the Sonic the Hedgehog fanbase is unpleasable, I can only wonder what the WB animation team has to say about new projects with the Looney Tunes. I’m pretty sure you heard this story before. It’s yet another retelling of Charles d**kens’s A Christmas Carol. Never mind the fact that it’s a dead horse beaten into dust and the Looney Tunes already did this once back in 1979 (see Bugs Bunny’s Looney Christmas Tales), but how does this one fare? I’ll start with the positives. The whole Looney Tunes gang made it into this special and the animation looks really nice. The casting is creative as well, I liked how they selected the characters’ roles; for one thing you have Granny and Tweety as the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Yosemite Sam as the Ghost of Christmas Present and Taz as the Ghost of Christmas Future. I know Mel Blanc was not going to be around forever but the voice cast does an admirable job. The classic Looney Tunes style humor is still intact; I don’t think I remember a version of Charles d**kens’s holiday chestnut that was this slapsticky. But… those are probably the best things about it, as I do have issues with the rest. You probably have fond memories with these characters. All the major and most of the minor Looney Tunes characters are here and they all fill roles in some manner or another. If you knew about how the Termite’s Terrace originally worked most of the classic Looney Tunes shorts had just a small idea for a story and then used that one idea to pile on jokes and slapstick. However, it does feel as though times and tastes have changed since their original heyday. Nowadays we tend to see something meant for children as having some educational/social value and the kids don’t learn from mallets, anvils and dynamite. So what do you do? Well, taking a piece of classic literature and throwing the Looney Tunes in the mix seemed to be the answer. Problem is, it’s just too… orderly. We know that Charles d**kens’s A Christmas Carol has a timeless, proper structure. The Looney Tunes just work best with their patented anarchy. See a problem? Instead of allowing these characters to be themselves, they’re stuck being servants to a story with too much inhibition. They feel too organized and they start feeling worn out if taken out of the 7-8 minute cartoon short. You probably know who the classic Looney Tunes are and who the characters from Charles d**kens’s story are supposed to be so there’s not really a great need to bog us down with elaborate character development, but there are some issues with some of its themes that it tries to get across as even retreading the classic story isn’t all that effective. Due to all its looney slapstick in the beginning, it comes at the expense of the original text; for one thing, we get to see so many of the classic Looney Tunes which I did like and appreciate but the pacing is terrible--I was nervous when the cartoon was more than half over and there was still no sign of the Ghost of Christmas Past. Then there is the themes of the story. All that slapstick comedy that Daffy suffers and the characters doing their classic schtick is great but then you have the sentimental moments as well to try to make it more receptive to kids. Maybe that works great for the classic Disney characters and the Muppets but it just doesn’t fit the Looney Tunes; you have pratfalls, getting shocked, flattened, and blown up and all that looney wackiness but then there is the attempts at heart where a part of the story involves Porky Pig wanting to get his precocious daughter Priscilla a doll for Christmas. Suddenly… “we’re only doing this because we love you” doesn’t exactly come to mind. Also, if Bugs Bunny is meant to be the Cousin Fred character here and he could as easily have told Daffy about the three spirits to scare him into believing in the spirit of the holiday, then is there any point in having Jacob Marley at all? None that I discern beyond giving Sylvester some sort of role. All that said though, Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas is certainly watchable and definitely will hold some appeal. This special is meant to appeal to kids and it does work for them. It’s bright, colorful, full of jokes and it is brimming with holiday cheer, and for a warm holiday story kids like that. Otherwise, there’s just too many superior versions of Charles d**kens’s story for you to really waste time with this one. Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas (2006) TreyVore rates it: C-
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Post by Trey_Vore on Nov 22, 2020 8:05:10 GMT -5
Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer (2000)
Distributor: Warner Bros., Phil Roman and the Fred Rappoport Company Director: Phil Roman Cast: Susan Blu (Grandma Spankenheimer) Michele Lee (Cousin Mel), Alex Doduk (Jake Spankenheimer), Jim Staahl (Santa Claus), Elmo “Dr. Elmo” Shropshire (Narrator, Grandpa Spankenheimer), Cam Clarke (Austin Bucks), Maggie Blue O’Hara (Daphne Spankenheimer), Kathleen Barr (I.M. Slime) Runtime: 51 min. MPAA rating: Not rated
It’s holiday season in Cityville, and people are caught up in the craziness of the holidays. The Spankenheimer family is running a modest general store that sells Christmas necessities. The family does fine (despite a somewhat lax attitude on shoplifting), but Cousin Mel thinks things could be a lot better. Things result in Santa clobbering Grandma with his team of reindeer and now Jake has a limited time to find his Grandma and stop Cousin Mel from stealing an insane amount of money. Can Jake save Christmas?
I’m pretty sure you’ve heard this song on the radio during the Christmas season. It’s meant to be a funny (if dark) Christmas song about the singer’s grandmother being run over by Santa and his team of reindeer and the family mourns her death. It’s probably best to think of this song as a more seasonal “It’s My Party”. Why? For if “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” is “It’s My Party”, it did get a sequel in 1992 called “Grandpa’s Gonna Sue the Pants off of Santa”, so I guess that song would be “Judy’s Turn to Cry”. Unlike those songs though these two Christmas minded songs are a total guilty pleasure.
Then during the late 90s an idea came about to take the song and turn it into an animated holiday special. Sounds crazy, right? Well, it worked for Alvin and the Chipmunks so why not try turning Elmo and Patsy’s song into a cartoon and have it become a holiday staple too? After all everyone wants to take a crack at having a Christmas story to tell for the ages and why wouldn’t you? It’s pretty much money in the bank as you’re likely going to get some air time and for everyone that hates on a special, you’ll surely find some supporters (let’s not talk about the Star Wars Holiday Special okay!?)
I’ll start by saying this: putting it lightly, the effort to take a three-minute song and turn it into an hour-long cartoon was not too successful.
For one, we have a story where since it is clearly intended for kids, Grandma doesn’t actually die; she just survives and gets a case of amnesia. It’s a little far-fetched that one minor incident could cause such a stir that would ultimately lead to Santa Claus getting arrested and put on trial, and one that could potentially destroy Christmas. At least Miracle on 34th Street did that with some good writing and some actual pacing; it goes from the villain wanting to sell a general store to suddenly becoming a massive get-rich-quick scheme really fast! It becomes weirder when you take into account that there is some very slow decision-making on the characters’ parts and even if Santa was innocent on account of a hit-and-run he could have been found guilty on charges of kidnapping. This story may be set during the Christmas season when snow is all around, but the story being told is one big hot mess.
The animation quality leaves a lot to be desired too; as nothing about it feels terribly inspired. I’m aware that Phil Roman isn’t exactly the Ritz when it comes to animation but this looks and feels cheap. All the character animation, while semi-realistic, looks stiff and unnatural. The painting on everything looks very flat. There are even numerous instances where the camera pans across a still image as though you’re scanning a picture with your eyes!
The characters… there’s just not much to say about them. Jake is the hero of the story but he’s such a flat character. The kid is pure virtue; he always does the right thing, always helps his grandmother when she needs it, believes in the spirit of the holiday… it has to say something if probably the worst thing he does is throw a pillow at his sister! The grandmother is basically the reason for the incident to happen; she’s a glorified MacGuffin. The rest of the characters are basically just one-note sketches--Daphne is the snotty older sister, Santa Claus is just the bare minimum for the character, Austin Bucks is the big corporate developer who's... maybe the villain, maybe not, Grandpa is an old coot and Jake's parents are... his parents. By the time the story is over no one develops, grows or changes. I’m aware that Cousin Mel, who at the most was a passing reference to a way for Grandpa to cope with his wife’s early death, was ambiguous gender-wise and basically adapted into villainy in this cartoon. Despite that, and the fact we are not supposed to want her to win, she and her lawyer are probably the closest things we get to characters that are actually sensible. She isn’t satisfied with the way the family’s general store is being run and thinks they could be doing a lot better. Maybe this is just my inner 80s kid talking but I don’t think just being a simple little general store is all you really want to be; regarding money you really can’t have enough. Would you want to just run a small mom-and-pop store or be the CEO of a mega-conglomerate that pays millions of dollars each and every year? The choice is obvious!
I will say that Cousin Mel does have a really nice figure too, she’s probably the one thing this cartoon has to a redeeming quality. Why am I supposed to see this character as evil? Oh right, because it’s a Christmas special for kids and we need to tell them that there is a greater purpose for Christmas other than the almighty dollar.
In the end, I guess it’s true that like how when you try to adapt a short children’s book into a movie that people would pay money to see, it does take a lot of padding to translate a song into a Christmas special. It shows too. At odd points of the cartoon they take a deliberate time out to either have a random song or make a flat-out reference to its original source material. Sometimes it’s a combination of the two, I’m not joking. They go ahead and point things out through the song as though you were just too stupid to get it for yourself. The songs aren’t even that witty or clever.
Despite all that though, I won’t say it’s completely awful. I guess if you’re in the mood for something cute and silly then this should prove to be what you’re looking for, but this isn’t a good example of how to make a Christmas cartoon. Does the song justice, at least.
Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer (2000) TreyVore rates it: D-
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Post by Trey_Vore on Nov 23, 2020 1:55:25 GMT -5
Bolt (2008)
Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures Director: Chris Williams and Byron Howard Cast: John Travolta (Bolt), Susie Essman (Mittens), Mark Walton (Rhino), Miley Cyrus (Penny), Malcolm McDowell (Dr. Calico), Grey Griffin (Penny’s mother), Greg Germann (Penny’s agent) Runtime: 96 min. MPAA rating: PG (mild action and peril)
Bolt is a show about a white Shepard dog endowed with amazing superpowers who, with his human owner Penny, is on a hunt to try to save Penny’s father from the nefarious Dr. Calico. Unbeknownst to him, he’s just an actor for a popular TV show. During a cliffhanger stunt, Bolt is accidently taped up in a box and mailed cross-country from Los Angeles to New York. There, he is referred to a scrawny alley cat named Mittens who starts to help him realize he’s not simply a prop in the show. After meeting his biggest fan, a hamster named Rhino, they make the trek to get back to California. Will Bolt realize the meaning of being a true hero?
You probably remember the 1970s and the 1980s not being Disney’s proudest times. A large part of that was due to the fact Walt Disney had died and there was not a lot of new direction for the studio. As dark as that was, I would probably argue that the 2000s were a worse time for Disney. At this time, CGI-animation was taking over the field and cel-animated movies started seeing a lot of decline as far as revenue was concerned. Not to mention, this was what Disney’s animation division was founded on; now they had to start making some drastic changes to continue to compete with newer companies like Pixar, DreamWorks and Blue Sky. After largely phasing out cel animation for all CGI, Disney needed to start finding a voice with their newer movies as what seemed to work as high-concept and name-casting. If we forget about Dinosaur for a moment, Disney made three major all-CGI animated films: the first was Chicken Little, second was Meet the Robinsons and the third was Bolt.
This movie had a troubled production history. I remember first hearing about this movie during my time in the Disney College Program back in 2004 when its working title was American Dog. Spearheaded by Chris Sanders as a follow-up to the warmly-received Lilo and Stitch, the story was originally a quirky one about TV actor dog, a testy, one-eyed cat and an oversized, radioactive bunny who are trying to find new homes while the dog still thinks he’s on camera. After John Lasseter gave some pointers on how to improve the story, Chris Sanders refused and was eventually fired. A new team was brought in and movie had to be completed in a year and a half, rather than the usual four years. Chris Sanders would then find work at DreamWorks, where he would give direction to How to Train Your Dragon and The Croods.
So with all that in mind, I did go ahead and revisit Lilo and Stitch and I feel it’s still watchable but its not holding up as well as I would have liked. At the same time, Bolt was under the radar since it left theatres. Does Bolt fare better as a movie?
I remember telling my mom that Bolt was more the Disney that I remember. However, in retrospect its… well, not a masterpiece but it’s fine.
The story is a lot less quirky than before and that’s got its pros and cons. It feels a lot less gimmicky than it did and it feels like there is nothing to potentially screw something up. The trade-off though is it feels a lot more conventional—like imagine how King of the Hill probably was after seeing Beavis and Butthead. The story is very straightforward about a dog named Bolt who wants to return to his owner after being accidently mailed cross-country and meets a bunch of quirky characters along the way. The problem with that though is it feels a little too safe. It doesn’t have the guts to do something bolder and it just doesn’t feel especially confident.
The animation, as previously stated, also lacking in a real personality. Disney was still adjusting to having to do all CGI and while they’ve shown in this film that that they have improved, it just looks like imitation Pixar; the humans in particular look like they were leftovers from an Incredibles movie. That’s not a complaint but again, just no real personality.
With the characters, Bolt is supposed to be a dog that winds up learning he’s more than just a prop. Still, I can’t help but feel like they feel vaguely familiar. Bolt thinks he’s a real-deal hero but just an actor. Like Buzz Lightyear’s sense of duty mixed Pinocchio’s desire to be a real boy. It’s a perfectly fine set up helped by a solid performance by John Travolta. Mittens is an alley cat who is more streetwise and has to contend with making him come to grips with the fact that her new pal isn’t merely an actor. She’s riddled with abandonment issues, which could have potentially made for a daring backstory, but again, they just don’t go far with it out of fear of making some people uncomfortable. Rhino is probably the best character as he’s probably the most identifiable character. They play two opposite ends to Bolt: Mittens is world-weary while Rhino is the optimist. Penny really just bookends the story as Bolt’s motivation to get back home; in this role Miley Cyrus proves she has more competent acting chops, at least above that of Hannah Montana.
The biggest problem with the characters is the fact it doesn’t have a strong villain. The villain isn’t Dr. Calico as you may have thought but rather its… Penny’s agent. A typical Hollywood agent who is always on a hunt to keep ratings up, he’s probably meant to give the movie some satire on the inside of Hollywood. Not overly topical and that means the movie won’t be subject to groan-inducing humor, problem is, it doesn’t really have any bite.
This was one movie that got nominated for Best Animated Feature in 2008, alongside Pixar’s WALL-E and DreamWorks’s Kung Fu Panda. However, while WALL-E definitely deserved to win the award and Kung Fu Panda is an animated film that DreamWorks can be truly proud of, Bolt it seems, is lost and no one ever talks about it—you’d have to time travel back to Thanksgiving 2008 to find anyone who remembers it. Why might that be? Well, Disney had clearly evolved and sharply improved from their experimenting days in the 2000s; movies like Wreck-It Ralph, Frozen, Big Hero 6, Zootopia and Moana proved that they had perfected the art of CG-animation and there’s really no looking back. For a moment, let’s say this movie was not released in its original time—how about… let’s say it came out in 1998. Yeah. Suppose that Disney gave us Mulan as originally planned but they gave us Bolt in Thanksgiving 1998 instead of Pixar’s A Bug’s Life; would it have seemed really special? I’ll bet it would, and probably would have gained lots of fans (although I doubt that in time the CG animation would hold up), but it just feels too safe and pedestrian for a wide audience in 2008.
In the end, Bolt is perfectly fine for a big animated film from Disney. If it came from say, Sony or Blue Sky they would have had something they could truly proud of, but seeing as this came from Disney… it’s a serviceable movie that just does its job right but will not threaten to replace any of your existing favorite Disney films or even be a favorite in general. The fact it even seems to end definitively means there’s likely no chance we’ll be returning to Bolt’s world anytime soon. It never threatens to be bad, but it’s hardly memorable—at least Lilo and Stitch was willing to take a risk. Hardly their best, but never to be judged as their worst.
Bolt (2008) TreyVore rates it: B
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