Why I was disappointed with Toy Story 4

Spoilers follow for all the Toy Story films

[2023 edit: This post was originally written when TS4 was released in cinemas but for some reason I never posted it. However, I re-read it recently and I still feel this way about the film. And now, with rumours of Toy Story 5 rumbling, I thought I may as well post it with a few minor edits.]

There's a law of diminishing returns on sequels. I still rate Toy Story 2. I thought Toy Story 3 was OK, but never felt the need to watch it a second time. 24 years after the first Toy Story movie, Woody and co returned for a 4th cinema outing.

There are some real pro points to the film. Rabbit and Ducky are great new characters and they gave me the best laughs. Duke Kaboom, voiced by Keanu Reeves, is another brilliant new character with probably the single best line in the script. The animation is high class. Bo Peep's sheep steal the show with their antics. The Pixar geek in me loved seeing a nicely animated Tin-Toy in a cameo appearance.

But overall, something just didn't sit right.

This is Woody's film. The film quickly establishes that his new owner, Bonnie, doesn't give a crap about him. She strips him of his sheriff's badge and then throws him back into the cupboard, rejected. Worse still, when he finally escapes the cupboard, her klutzy dad literally stamps on Woody's face twice. It would appear carelessness is genetic.

Weirdly, Woody is still obsessed with caring for Bonnie. He stows away with her to kindergarten to make sure her first day goes alright. Then he fixates on protecting the toy she makes on her first day, 'Forky'.

Even if you haven't seen the film, you'll have seen Forky. He's on all the posters. He's a spork with a crudely applied mouth and googly eyes. He is also easily the most annoying Pixar character ever. Unfortunately for the film, after Forky's appearance all the other established characters, who we have come to know and love as we shared their adventures, are brutally relegated to background characters. Rex, Jessie, Mr Potato Head, Hamm, the aliens, Bullseye, Jessie and even Buzz are now just wallpaper to the Forky story.

Woody believes that Forky is Bonnie's most important toy right now and blah, blah, blah, oh who cares, Woody? More importantly, why do you care? Bonnie doesn't want to play with you! Why don't you just let her be and if she's so stupid as to lose her stupid spork toy, that's on her. Tough love, Woody! Give her some tough love! Maybe then she will take more care of her toys.

Anyway, there's some stuff about how Woody never got over Andy, then he sees Bo Peep's lamp in an antique store and goes in looking for her. At this point the film goes creepy and weird.

We have already had a flashback scene where Bo Peep is sold 9 years previously, presumably on Craigslist or something. She asks Woody to come with her and he says no because Andy needs him. Clearly he is haunted by this, so goes into the creepy, weird antique store. There he meets an old doll who blames her failure to be played with on a defective voicebox, which could be replaced by Woody's voicebox. Her henchmen - a bunch of ventriloquist's dummies - try to rip it out of him until Bo Peep turns up and rescues him.

I quite liked the recasting of Bo Peep from toddler's nightlight to independent woman living her own life by her own rules as a "lost toy" who has actually found herself. She is a feisty, clever, strong-minded role model of a lamp now. I warmed to her.

Various shenanigans ensue. Keep an eye out for the third Combat Carl figure waiting for his high fives. Woody needs to rescue Forky for Bonnie. That means going back into the creepy antique store. There's some stuff with Buzz. Woody ends up sacrificing his voicebox in return for Forky, and then the doll in question ends up rejected by the little girl she desperately wanted to have play with her anyway. (Another kid comes along before the end of the movie so the voicebox thief does get her play companion in the end. Not sure what the message is there. Kidnappers and extortionists get a happy ending too? It feels like anything is possible in America these days.)

So we get to the end of the film and Woody has given everything. His badge is gone. He's had his face crushed. He's been rejected and abused every which way possible. He has been overlooked, abandoned, lost and no one has even noticed he is missing. He has even given away his voicebox - his essential self, as it were, and still Bonnie only really cares about a crummy spork.

And then he has a choice. Stay with Bo Peep - who he has already seen leave his life once before - or stick with the ingrate brat who now owns him. Well it's a no brainer, right? He's got to finally put his own worth over his sense of duty and stick with Bo. Except for some reason the way it played felt so wrong.

I've really examined my feelings on this, and I think this is the reason it felt wrong: Actually, Woody was selfish all along. He always said that Andy was the most important thing. He let Bo leave with just her sheep for company on that dark and stormy night, because Andy was the most important thing. Because, in turn, he was important to Andy. He got played with. He was the leader of the room. He was in a position of respect and authority.

All that stuff about Forky being important to Bonnie was actually about Woody being important to Bonnie, even though she didn't know about it. His self-identity as the important toy was being lived vicariously through Forky. He was there when Forky was made. He was the one who introduced Forky to the gang. He was the one who sat up all night trying to stop Forky jumping into the trash. He was the one who cared, who knew that Forky was oh-so-important to Bonnie, even though there was so little evidence to show that none of the other toys picked up on it.

And that selfishness came to the fore as the other toys were relegated to background characters. Yes, Woody stayed with Bo Peep, but he left Bullseye! He left Buzz! He left Slink! He left all those other loyal to the hilt friends - the ones who braved death on the roads and the elevator to save him from Al the Chicken, the ones who had turned down the safe life of being adored behind glass for him, the ones who had held his hands as they seemed to face imminent immolation in the incinerator at the dump.

There was barely a goodbye.

I know we are meant to see this as Woody's triumph. He finally sheds the sense of duty that consumed him even to the point of robbing him of his voice. He steps out and puts himself first - and we are meant to think this is him actually doing this for the first time. He tastes freedom for the first time.

But when he does it, really he's just revealing his own dark side of selfishness.

And that's why I think I left the cinema feeling more than a tad depressed. A beloved character turns out to be less of the heroic toy cowboy and more like a flawed human.

I didn't need this sequel.

(If you watch it, keep it playing right until the very end for the final Pixar logo.)

Movie review - DC League of Superpets

I went with some nieces and a nephew to watch another comic book movie at the weekend. This time it was animated and focused on the DC Superpets, a spin-off in the DC comics franchise. Mild spoilers follow the picture of the film poster. 

The film centres on Krypto, Superman's super-powered dog, and various other animals from a local rescue shelter who receive superpowers from a fragment of orange kryptonite. They have to work together to thwart the evil scheme of a maniacal guinea pig who had been experimented on by Lex Luthor. It has a strong voice cast, including Dwayne Johnson as Krypto and Kevin Hart as Ace, a dog from the shelter who will end up being Batdog. 

Despite the promising premise, the film suffered from the same problems as pretty much all the other DC movies that have been released. The plotting was sedate. There were scenes and battles that did not add anything to the overall plot and just slowed things down. The final resolution was the same as every other DC film I've seen - a big punch up. (In fairness, this is a problem for almost every comic book movie.)

There were some funny jokes like the dogs playing with squeaky toys of superheroes. There were humorous references to other superhero franchises, like Superman ironing a shirt with his laser vision and toying with the idea of calling himself Iron Man.  I laughed at the recording of Krypto's father that always started the same way and Krypto saying he needed a skip intro button. And I was very amused by the character of a kitten given superpowers who became a living weapon as a result.

However, some scripting choices were a bit off. Merton the sweary tortoise got bleeped on a couple of occasions instead of cutting away or substituting other words as happens in most animated movies. Maybe the studio thought it was in keeping with DC's attempt to be the 'edgy' comic book franchise. I don't think any of the kids watching with us picked up on it, but it felt clunky. 

Another misstep was the production team's assumption that the audience would know who everyone was, especially when human superheroes turned up. I got some of the references and inside jokes, and I imagine DC super-nerds would get more. However, I don't think the jokes are so good it is worth investing the time and effort to become a DC super-nerd just to get the references. 

There were also scenes that play on Batman's origin story and take the mickey out of the darkness in the Dark Knight. But that road has already been well trodden in The Lego Movie and The Lego Batman Movie (reviewed here). The jokes at Batman's expense in Superpets felt hackneyed as a result, so even this self-deprecation by the franchise felt stale.

Overall, I enjoyed the film and don't regret going to see it. But my main impression is that even in an animated film which is supposed to be aimed at children and therefore a bit silly, the DC franchise can't escape from its own drawbacks. 

Cinema trips in 2019

Another end of year review.  I saw 10 new films at various cinemas this year, as well as a special screening of Labyrinth for Cathy's birthday.

Selfie with a film star 

Subdividing those 10 films into subcategories, I saw 5 animated films, 4 superhero films and the latest episode of the Star Wars franchise.

Here are the films (BEWARE SPOILERS):

How to Train Your Dragon 3: The Hidden World

I don't really remember much about this. There was a theme about the world not being ready for humans and dragons to co-exist peacefully so the solution is for the dragons to be hidden away. Not the most positive of messages. 

The Lego Movie 2

Another disappointing sequel. The first Lego Movie was excellent with a reveal of the human world in the final third of the film. Unfortunately the sequel uses the humans as a plot device from the get-go almost and it just doesn't work. There was a great song midway through and I really liked the subtitled velociraptors, but that wasn't enough to make the movie pop like the first one. Cathy was also very upset at the way Fabuland animals had been enslaved in subterranean mines.

Captain Marvel

I really enjoyed this. Lots of humour, a cracking 90s soundtrack (including Garbage's Only Happy When it Rains), Skrulls, and some backstory in the "Cosmic" part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe including a bit more about the Kree and their homeworld. I thought Brie Larson played the main role very well, being vulnerable enough to be believable as a human and soldierly enough to be believable as a member of an elite Kree battle group.

Shazam!

This vies with Captain Marvel for my favourite comic book movie of the year. Zachary Levi is a brilliant comic actor and he carries off the role of child who finds himself magicked into an adult mage's body in a much more credible way than should be possible. Mark Strong was a great scenery-chewing villain as well. There were some scary scenes which juxtaposed a bit awkwardly with the knockabout comedy. But, overall, this is the first DC Comics Movie in a long while that I've actually wanted to watch again (or at all!)

Missing Link

A stop-motion animation about an explorer who finds an intelligent "missing link" and tries to help the sasquatch find his Himalayan relatives. There's a very funny joke about the name of the valley where the yetis live but not much else really stood out. Worth a watch, though. 

Avengers Endgame

The conclusion of the 10 and a bit year movie arc and, whew! It was about time. There are some good bits. Chris Hemsworth as Thor gone to seed was very funny. The film was also interesting for showing the after effects of the Thanos "snap", with support groups and people trying to rebuild their lives. Superhero movies don't often do introspective like that.

Overall, I quite liked the quantum time travel nonsense plotline because it had to be something like that and as far as time travel can ever work in a movie, it worked. Iron Man's closing line to Thanos was suitably momentous. There was quite a protracted goodbye scene, which dragged as such scenes tend to do. When superhero movies aim for an emotional punch they rarely land it on target.

Toy Story 4

I was very disappointed by this. In fact I wrote a massive blog post about why it annoyed me, although I didn't post it because I felt like I sounded like an old man shouting at the clouds. But, basically, there was no real warmth in the script and the characters I've loved from previous films were sidelined. The real thing that irritated me is that Bonny, the toys' new owner, doesn't really care about her toys. She treats them disdainfully and it may feel strange to say this, but it felt disrespectful. It wouldn't have been so bad if the scriptwriters weren't treating the established characters equally disdainfully.

There were a few things I enjoyed - Bo's radio control skunk vehicle, and the new characters Bunny and Ducky - but I really didn't need this movie.

Spider-Man Far From Home

The Marvel Cinematic Universe returned post-Endgame with this slightly silly movie. I like Tom Holland as Spider-Man. Unfortunately I had spoilered this film for myself by finding out a key plot point, and I think that hampered my enjoyment of the film because I knew what was coming. (Mind you, Cathy spotted the 'twist' before it happened anyway.) It was also a bit juvenile being a school trip to Europe film as much as a superhero film.

Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker

Another "well, that's finally over" franchise movie. My main criticism of this film is that it tried to ram too much in. It had about 3 or 4 stories in there and none of them were given enough time. The mystery of Rey's history was solved, sorta. The resistance won, sorta. Evil was vanquished, sorta. But by the end it felt like there were no original ideas being tapped. Bring back a character from the original trilogy - this time, Lando. Develop a planet-destroying weapon - this time on Star Destroyers. Make up for a plot hole from the original trilogy - in Cathy's words, "a great injustice has been righted". Go back to the idea of Force Power being linked to genetic heritage, because why not? 

Like several of the other sequels I went to last year this was a bit meh. You don't need any more Star Wars films than the Original Trilogy in my opinion. The sequel Trilogy isn't bad, but it isn't great either. 

Frozen 2
I really liked this. I went in with low expectations and it had a few story problems. But it has a great message of keeping on on dark times and if you can't see too far ahead just "do the next right thing", which is an excellent message. They wisely reined in Olaf as a character and there is a fab song with a montage spoofing 80s music videos, which had me laughing out loud. Of all the animated films I saw in the cinema in 2019, this was the best.


My aim for 2020 is to expand my horizons a bit and try to see some films that aren't animated, superhero movies or continuing an existing franchise. (I've already made good on that intent this month, so we'll see how I do over the course of the year.)

2017 film reviews - January & February

This year I am going to try and review films througout the year rather than having a stupidly long list at the end of the year like I did in 2016. So, to start this off here's the list of films I saw for the first time in January and February 2017. The key is as follows: C = cinema, D = DVD, N = Netflix

The Secret of Kells (D) - made by the team who made Song of the Sea (which was my film of the year in 2015). Brendan, an apprentice manuscript artist working in the scriptorium in Kells monastery looks after a manuscript gospel begun by St Aiden on Iona, as Kells comes under attack from Vikings. He is helped in his mission to protect the book by a faerie called Aisling who lives in the forest outside the monastery. The animation is excellent, although not reaching the heights of Song of the Sea, and the story is well told.

Passengers (C) - big budget sci-fi starring Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence, who are both 'passengers' who have paid a huge amount of money to travel to another planet. A few decades into their 190 year journey they wake up. It's hard not to write about this without spoiling it, but it raises interesting questions about being faced with your own inevitable mortality despite having the rest of your natural life to live and what would you do if circumstances trapped you in total isolation from the rest of humanity. The film had a few flaws, but both lead actors were very good and I enjoyed it.

A Monster Calls (C) - Cathy and I had both read the book by Patrick Ness that this is based on, so we knew what to expect. The story focuses on Conor, whose mother is dying from cancer. One night the yew tree in the neighbouring churchyard comes alive as a monster and offers Conor three tales, told in animated sequences, before demanding Conor tell him "the truth". It's not an easy subject to cover in a film but it tries to address the difficult mixed feelings people have in those horrible situations. We both thought it was very well done, but Cathy felt they had missed one of the key aspects of the book. I was a bit thrown to realise halfway through that I recognised Conor's dying mum, Lizzie, as Jyn Erso in Star Wars: Rogue One. Other actors involved include Sigourney Weaver, who gives an understated masterclass in acting as Conor's grandmother.

Ex Machina (D) - science fiction thoughtful thriller from British screenwriter and director Alex Garland. Domhnall Gleeson plays a programmer called Caleb who works for a search engine company and wins a staff lottery to spend a week with Nathan, the reclusive billionaire company founder, at his isolated luxury home. Nathan wants Caleb to run a Turing test on a possibly sentient artificial intelligence he has created. The AI looks feminine, is called Ava and is played brilliantly by Alice Vikander. Caleb starts to believe Ava is genuinely conscious and therefore alive and then has to decide if he will help free her from the secure area where Nathan has contained her. But Ava might have 'her' own plans. This is a thought-provoking film looking at some of the issues involved in creating articifial intelligence and I thought it was well worth a watch.

What's Your Number? (N) - rom-com with Anna Faris as a 30-something woman with a disastrous love life who gets hung up on the number of men she has slept with. Not wanting to bump the number higher she decides to revisit all her ex's in the hope that one of them has developed into marriageable material. She enlists her lothario neighbour, played by Chris Evans (AKA Captain America) to help her track them down and in the process rather predictably they end up liking each other. I did laugh quite a few times, particularly at the scenes involving Faris' real-life husband Chris Pratt who pops up here as one of her ex's. Chris Evans is also funny and very watchable. There's a bit of nudity and frank sex talk, but nothing over the top. Andy Samberg has a very brief cameo, which also made me laugh a lot.

The Cobbler (N) - Adam Sandler plays a New York cobbler who's inherited the family firm, including a load of old junk in the basement. Hidden down there is an ancient shoe repair machine with magical properties that means when he puts on the shoes he has repaired he takes on the likeness of the owners of the shoes. This sounds on paper like an awful premise, but it strangely worked, helped by a strong supporting turn from Steve Buscemi and a bit of a twist. Well worth watching for something a bit different.

Good Will Hunting (N) - I know, I know, it's 20 years old and people can't really believe I'd never seen it, but hey, I'm finally caught up. Surely everyone knows the story and the story behind the story - that Matt Damon and Ben Affleck wrote a script and ended up winning an Oscar. Everyone talks about Robin Williams in this, and he is great, but I feel for Stellan Skarsgard who never gets mentioned but is absolutely pivotal. It's weird watching this now, and remembering how fresh-faced Affleck and Damon once were, before fame and Bourne and Batman. They tend to sleepwalk through movies now so it was kind of nice to see them act. Also I think I appreciated the film more, having been to Bawstun and hearing the accents in real life and riding the train through the city.

Sing (C) - Animated film about a city full of animals where a koala puts on an X-Factor style competition to try and save his crumbling theatre. The 'we need to save the theatre' trope was a cliche when the Muppets re-used it for their comeback movie several years ago. So that wasn't promising. The characters are a mixed bag. None get explored in real depth. There's a happy-ish ending and one or two clever jokes, but nothing exceptional.

The Lego Batman Movie (C) - I've already written a (spoilery) blog about how this didn't really work. It will appeal to a lot of kids who like Batman and who like people being silly and will therefore like Batman being silly. They have a lot of fun with the Batman mythos, but as a film it isn't great. There are cameos from villains from other franchises as well.

Birdman (N) - There was some hype about this when it came out and it won an Oscar for Best Picture. Michael Keaton is great as an actor who was famous 20 years previously for portraying a masked vigilante superhero before such films were such big business, and is now trying to resurrect his career in a Broadway play. I do wonder exactly how much of his real life feelings of regret for walking out on Batman back in the mid-90s informed this movie. It's hard not to think Birdman is a bit close to the bone. The film is a bit slow. Some of the other characters are a bit annoying. I didn't really like the ending. But overall I thought it was worth a watch and the cinematography as characters are followed through the twisting backstage corridors of the theatre is fantastic.

Ratchett & Clank (N) - I'm not sure this actually got a cinema release. Certainly it didn't really register. Catching up on Netflix, it's a by the numbers kids science fiction animation based on the vintage PlayStation game(s). Ratchett is a mechanic who wants to join the Galaxy Rangers. Clank is his robot buddy (and is rather adorable). Together they thwart evil, including a villainous robot voiced by none other than Sylvester Stallone. It's enjoyable knockabout stuff which made me laugh along the way, but isn't really a must-see.

2016 film review

I watched 31 films for the first time in 2016. I've decided to lump them in to one blog post with a one paragraph review. Key: C = cinema; D = DVD; I = in-flight movie; N = Netflix

Edge of Tomorrow (D) - Tom Cruise gets to "Live, Die, Repeat" in a Groundhog Day meets Starship Troopers sci-fi adventure. I quite liked this and the idea of exploring different options each time was well done, even if I didn't see any point to the physical training every time he woke up after dying. It's not like he would keep his newly honed muscles.

Kung Fu Panda 3 (C) - the next installment in the adventures of Po the Dragon Warrior and the Furious Five kung fu masters. It was alright as sequels go, as Po and his friends teamed up against a supernatural villain seeking revenge. It has lots of Pandas in it.

Zootropolis (C) - my contender for animated film of the year. Disney do subversive quite well, and the subtext of this - politicians using fear to divide society to gain power - is very relevant. One of the characters even has a Donald Trump hair do.

(Longer reviews of Kung Fu Panda 3 and Zootropolis)

Captain America: Civil War (C) - third in the increasingly bleak Captain America series, all of which seem to end on downers. The Marvel films are a series and this one felt like one of those episodes you get to move the overall plot line on, rather than being enjoyable in their own right. You really need to have seen the previous Captain America and Avengers movies to understand what was going on, which annoys me, even though I have seen those films. There are a load of new characters now in the Marvel movies and I don't care about any of them. The best scenes were the ones with Tony Stark and yet another kid playing Spider-Man, who is now back in the mainstream Disney-owned Marvel Comics Universe instead of the pseudo one being run by Sony.

Deadpool (I) - I wasn't sure about this but I enjoyed it more than I probably should have. Ryan Reynolds obviously loved being Deadpool, although when he wasn't in the mask his 'scarred head make up' did make him look like a decrepit Ted Danson. Much was made of how Deadpool breaks the fourth wall to engage with his audience. This whole film mocks comic book movies and as such the whole thing is a fourth wall breaker.

Our Brand is Crisis (I) - Sandra Bullock plays a washed up political spin doctor who takes a job in South America running an election campaign for a deeply disliked candidate. The film was mediocre, although the comms stuff was quite interesting.

Straight Outta Compton (I) - the story of NWA, as told by the survivors (and it's noticeable how slanted it is towards them). The scene in Detroit where the band ignore police instructions not to play 'F--- the Police', and then get run off the stage by the police, was particularly memorable, as was Ice Cube's visit to his corrupt agent's office with a baseball bat.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (C) - second in the new series of films. The Turtles' good deeds get noticed by the general public. The guy from the TV series 'Arrow' plays Casey Jones. Megan Fox does her usual thing. It is very reminiscent of the cartoon series. (Which I'm not saying is a bad thing!)

The Secret Life of Pets (C) - animated film that follows some well-worn movie cliches, although it did take a diversion about halfway through with a revolutionary chihuahua advocating animal revolution against humans.

Ghostbusters (C) - the reboot more famous for daring to cast women as ghostbusters than anything else. I thought this was OK. There were some clever scenes and I enjoyed the cameos from the surviving original ghostbusters, especially Bill Murray as a sceptic unconvinced by the 'busters ghost-catching exploits. The opening scene in a supposedly haunted house that suddenly gets supernaturally invaded is genuinely creepy and very well done.

Shaun the Sheep Movie (D) - a nice, warm feature film from Aardman, with no dialogue but a lot of charm. Sean and friends go to the city in search of their farmer who has amnesia and is now lauded as a hair styling genius for his shearing skills.

Star Trek Beyond (C) - another sequel and outing for the Enterprise crew. I wasn't convinced by the motives of the main villain and there were too many convenient coincidences. There is a spectacular space habitat, though, if you are into that sort of thing. Karl Urban's version of Bones McCoy is yet again the best thing about the film. Zoe Saldana is, again, woefully under-used in a Star Trek film, which should be a crime.

Finding Dory (C) - sequel to Finding Nemo. Dory sets off to find her parents. Some fun new characters, including Hank the septipus (he only has 7 legs left) and a beluga whale who thinks his echo-location is a superpower. I was sucked in to the emotional scene at the end and got a bit moist-eyed.

Ender's Game (D) - I was sceptical if they could really make a film of the book 'Ender's Game'. My scepticism was well-founded. This film struggles to bring the source material to life and invest it with any energy because its mainly ponderous CGI. The Battle Room sequences are the best bits. Harrison Ford isn't a particularly animated actor at the best of times and was grumpily robotic. Ben Kingsley was hilariously miscast.

Suicide Squad (C) - an utter nonsense of a film, which only made money because of Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn in the trailer. There were so many things wrong with this film I probably need to do a whole separate post for it. Will Smith was woefully miscast.  Frankly, I'd have been happy to see all the members of the Suicide Squad die instead of the only interesting one.

Jason Bourne (C) - it's a 'direct by numbers' action film that rhymes with 'yawn'. I don't think there was anything in it particularly noteworthy. I did go and see it with my friend, Anthony, who is a top bloke and we had a coffee and a long chat afterwards, which was better than the film really.

The Little Prince (N) - I was very excited by this animated version of the Antoine de Saint-Exupery classic book when I saw the trailer for it, with its mix of computer and stop motion animation. I was gutted it didn't get a UK cinema release and then excited again to see it was on Netflix. But, harshly, I can see why it didn't get a release. This is one of those adaptations where they try to do something new based on the source material and missed the mark by a considerable margin. The fox character is very cute in the computer animation and beautiful in the stop-motion and that's probably the best bit.

The Lobster (N) - a weird premise. Colin Farrell stars as a man without a partner in a dystopia where you have to have one. He goes to a matchmaking hotel where he must find a new mate or be turned into an animal. The first half is darkly comic, but then he goes to live in the woods with other determined singles and it goes bleakly tragic. The turning point is a distressing scene of animal cruelty. Don't watch this film if you like dogs.

The Magnificent Seven (C) - I don't object to remakes, but if you're going to remake one of the absolute best westerns of all time you need to bring your a-game. Even Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke and Denzel Washington couldn't raise this above the mediocre. Denzel mumbled his way through most of his lines, which got very annoying.

Pride (D) - gay activists in London start raising money for striking miners during the mid-80s union-led unrest. Cue a clash of cultures between the traditional Welsh villages and the flamboyant metropolitan homosexuals. The threat of bigotry and gay-bashing, and the emergence of the AIDS epidemic gives this true life story real depth and show how far we have moved as a society.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (C) - Samuel L Jackson is making some odd film choices these days. This is one of them. It centres on a time travel plot twist, which, as ever with time travel plot twists, just doesn't work. The monsters are scary and eat eyeballs plucked from their victims' heads, which I wasn't expecting in a film pitched as a kids' film.

The Penguins of Madagascar (D) - this is silly, but miles better than Madagascar 3, which is one of the worst animated films released by a big studio I've ever seen. The Penguins are funny and the film's alright. It had enough scenes that made me laugh.

Storks (C) - I'd seen a lot of trailers and that drew the sting from this very well made animated film. Storks no longer deliver babies, just packages for an Amazon-esque company. But then a baby comes along and one stork has to cover up its mistake and deliver the baby to his waiting parents. You have to watch this just for the wolf pack. Seriously! The wolf pack!

Mascots (N) - mockumentary as various sports mascots (the guys in the big animal costumes) compete to be mascot of the year, including a chap from London who is the third member of his family to be 'Sid the hedgehog'. It's a gentle film and worth watching on Netflix, if you have it.

Trolls (C) - stupid (in a good way), bouncy, funny, singfest with some quite nasty villains who want to eat the trolls because that's the only way they can taste true happiness. I'm sure there is some kind of message in that.

I, Daniel Blake (C) - at the end of this film, as the credits started rolling, nobody moved. It was probably thirty seconds or more before people started shuffling in their seats getting ready to stand up and leave the auditorium. This is a visceral look at how years of Tory policy have weaponised the benefits system to deliberately make it hard for vulnerable people to get the help they need. There is a scene in a food bank that is beyond upsetting and lived with me for days. Heavily researched, this film wears its authenticity on its sleeve, and it is relentlessly damning of the people who engineered the situation desperate people find themselves in.

RED (N) - Bruce Willis and some other older actors play 'Retired and Extremely Dangerous' former CIA operatives, who are being targetted for some unknown reason. Except, even though they are retired, they are extremely dangerous, as the bad guys find out to their cost. A silly film, made very watchable by performances from Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich and Helen Mirren. And Bruce.

Moana (C) - Disney animation set in Polynesia. Moana must find the exiled god Maui to challenge the encroaching darkness that threatens to devour her island. Some great music and a very funny meta joke about Disney princesses add to the interesting concept. It's the first cartoon I can remember with such an emphasis on tattoos. I have doubts how accessible it would be to very young children but I really enjoyed it.

Elysium (D) - it's the future and the rich live on Elysium, an idyllic space colony, while the poor live on dust-bowl Earth. Matt Damon plays an engineer who needs to get to Elysium for life-saving medical treatment and makes a deal with a criminal gang leader to perform a heist and get a space on a shuttle trip. Jodie Foster co-stars as the Elysium security chief in what can charitably be described as not her best ever role or performance.

Star Wars Rogue One (C) - I wrote about this here. It's cured me of Star Wars.

Argo (D) - Ben Affleck won an Oscar for this. I can see why. It's a taut drama set after the American Embassy in Tehran was swamped by a mob and all its staff, bar six, are taken hostage. The CIA set up a fake movie production as cover to get the six fugitive Americans, now hiding out at the Canadian ambassador's house, out of Iran. It's the end of the 1970s. Everyone smokes, even on planes (remember that?). I knew the outcome but it was still tense right up until the final scenes. A really, really well-made film.

Animation review: Kung Fu Panda 3 and Zootropolis

In the last few days I've seen Kung Fu Panda 3 and Zootropolis. Both were pretty solid animated films with some surprisingly mature themes. This post includes minor spoilers.

Don't upset the Dragon Warrior

Kung Fu Panda 3 pretty much continues where the second one left off, with Po meeting his real panda father who was a post-credits reveal at the end of Kung Fu Panda 2. The plot is split between Po discovering his panda heritage while also having to fight a new baddy – General Kai, who has returned from the Spirit Realm to steal the chi life force of the living.

For fans of the first film, Ugwe, the turtle who chose Po as the Dragon Warrior is back. I always liked Ugwe. The animation is top drawer, especially a sequence with an elemental dragon towards the end. There are also lots of very cute baby pandas.

If I was a bit critical I’d say the members of the panda tribe were a bit overdone in being goofily clumsy and fat. It was funny at first, but there is only so many time you can see someone bouncing off a massive panda tummy in slow motion and still laugh at it.

The more mature storyline is the conflict between Po’s panda dad and his adoptive goose dad, who has raised Po ever since he discovered him in a box of radishes. I think it covered the difficulty faced by foster fathers and birth fathers quite sympathetically, even if it resolves it more neatly and quickly than things like this get resolved outside animated films. What is telling is that both panda and goose want to see Po happy, and that enables them to get over their differences. Po ends up with two dads, instead of replacing one. That’s a very positive message.

Zootropolis (called Zootopia everywhere else besides the UK) is the latest Disney film. I really enjoyed it. The plot is a nod to police movies and unlikely buddy movies – a rabbit, Judy Hopps, becomes the first bunny to become a police officer in the city of Zootropolis but struggles to be accepted because of her status as a prey species. She teams up with a streetwise fox, Nick Wilde, in an ‘unnatural’ partnership between a predator and prey species to solve a missing persons case that turns out to be much bigger than she first realised.

Wait, this isn't the Number 8 bus...

There were some good jokes along the way. The scene in the DMV run by sloths was no less funnier for being one of the extended trailers for the film, and Flash the sloth pops up again later in the movie in a moment that really made me laugh out loud. There is also an very nice homage to the Godfather as well. The animation is really outstanding, particularly when Judy sits in the observation car of the train taking her to Zootropolis and we see the city, with its different climate zones revealed one after the other. That whole sequence knocks most science fiction movies out of the park for the level of detail and wonder.

The big plot theme here is the relationship between predator and prey species in a clever parallel to racial tensions in the human world. With predators seemingly falling victim to their ‘biology’ and going savage, the prey species are being urged to take action. It’s no accident that one of the more prominent prey politicians has a hairpiece reminiscent of Donald Trump. The assertion that ‘we outnumber them ten to one’ and therefore need to crush them to protect ourselves from them is a bit like the anti-Muslim rhetoric you sometimes hear. Removing a predator cheetah (who is only really a danger to doughnuts) from the front desk of the police station because the powers that be feel as a predator he doesn’t project the right image, really rams the point home about stereotyping.  (Even if the love of doughnuts is in its own way also a stereotype.)

So, Zootropolis has a very deep theme and an important message. It also boasts a fine meta joke - Alan Tudyk voices the thief Duke Weaselton, who is a weasel. In Frozen he voices the Duke of Weaselton. When he is welcomed at Arendel castle as the Duke of Weaselton, he issues a correction and says it's Wesselton. In Zootropolis his name is mispronounced and he corrects it to Weaselton. I doubt any kids will even get the link, but that’s the sort of thing I quite enjoy.

Ratings:

Kung Fu Panda 3: 7.5/10

Zootropolis: 9/10

2015 in review: Films I watched on TV or DVD

I've decided to list all the films I watched for the first time in 2015. I've already listed the 19 I saw in the cinema in another post because otherwise this would be crazily long. As previous, I've listed these films in the order I saw them rather than in order of quality. As I saw them on TV or DVD, some of them are a few years old, although some were released this year.

Freebirds
A fairly poor animation about a group of turkeys who travel back in time to try and stop the tradition of eating turkey at Thanksgiving (and the resultant slaughter of turkeys in the present day). It had its moments, but none of them memorable enough for me to recall for this review. The notion that turkeys suffer because humans want to eat them isn't really explored in any depth, but this film could provide a useful discussion starter with kids about animal welfare and vegetarianism, if you wanted something like that. But then Chicken Run probably does it better.

Identity Thief
Melissa McCarthy steals Jason Bateman's identity and he has to track her down to clear his credit rating. McCarthy is an acquired taste, but I quite like her. Jason Bateman raises the film slightly and it's nice to see him playing the wronged victim for a change.

The Smurfs 2
Sequel to The Smurfs from a couple of years ago, For me, the new characters didn't really work that well, but Hank Azaria as Gargamel puts in another scenery-chewing performance that ensure the film is better than many animated sequels. It's not as good as the first one, which I really enjoyed.

Hoodwinked Too
I didn't think I'd ever see this sequel to Hoodwinked, as it got pulled from cinemas before release for some reason. However, a fellow animation fan had it on imported DVD and loaned it to us. It was very funny, like the original, although not all the characters returned, sadly. It also suffered from the trope of 'baddie was just misunderstood and decides to help the good guys after a short heart to heart conversation', which even in a cartoon isn't really that believable. But easily deconverted villain aside, it was generally well-scripted and quite fun.

10 Years: The Reunion
A cheapie DVD we bought because it had Chris Pratt in it. (After Guardians of the Galaxy and Parks and Recreation, we got slightly obsessed with him.) So, about this film... It's basically the most photogenic bunch of friends who ever went to high school in America reunite for their reunion. Nothing much happens in the course of the film and there are no big questions here. Chris Pratt plays an obnoxious, high-spirited individual and gives some comedy value to the proceedings, but generally this is a forgettable film.

Delivery Man
I quite like Vince Vaughn and he lends a certain air of quality to this fairly average story that illustrates the 'great concept / poor story' conundrum that many films fall into. Vince plays a man who discovers his deposits in a sperm bank have been used to father over 500 children, many of whom are now joining together to find out who their biological father is. Unwisely, he starts to interact with them and it all gets a bit messy. Chris Pratt is his best friend and legal counsel and manages to steal the scenes he is in. Worth a watch, but not one for repeated viewings.

The Nut Job
Animated adventure featuring squirrels trying to steal enough nuts for winter after an accident wipes out their food supply. Covering similar ground to A Bug's Life and Over the Hedge and with a fairly obvious story, this was enjoyable, but not great.

The Five Year Engagement
Jason Segal proposes to Emily Blunt but then life gets in the way and the engagement drags on. It's a sort of anti-romantic comedy up until the happy ending. The stand out moment is Chris Pratt (again) doing a rendition of Billy Joel's 'We Didn't Start the Fire' listing all Jason Segal's former girlfriends at the meal celebrating his engagement. Cringe-inducing but hilarious. Rhys Ifans is also great as a seedy professor with eyes on Emily Blunt.

Crazy, Stupid Love
Steve Carrell is known for slapstick comedy, but it's his darker turns where he really shines. However, he kind of stumbles through this slightly sad film. When his character's marriage breaks down, he comes under the tutelage of ladies man Ryan Gosling who turns him into a hit with the ladies that doesn't help with the hurt and loss he is feeling. There's a twist at the end I didn't see coming and also a highly inappropriate plot-line involving someone taking nude photos of themselves. Despite an almost happy resolution, the film left me feeling a bit gloomy.

Mr Peabody and Sherman 
A big-budget flop and it's not hard to see why. The script cuts so many corners I imagine it was printed on circular paper. There's a villain who is a villain for no other reason than the plot needs a villain. Characters switch allegiances way too easily. The jokes don't work. It feels criminal to waste the talents of Ty Burrell (Phil from Modern Family) in this, but this is the second poor film I've seen him in after the Muppets sequel. Maybe he doesn't have what it takes to make the leap to the big screen.

Quantum of Solace
I watched this on TV to fill in the gap before going to see Spectre. It was alright. Not really sure it added much to the Bond mythos at all. The trope for the Daniel Craig era Bond films tends to be the women he sleeps with end up dead. It happens in this one too as Gemma Arterton gets drowned in oil. Bond doesn't seem to care. The next conquest will be along in a minute. It also suffered from the villain's base having 'Death Star syndrome' as the whole building blows up with the minimum of effort.

Cinderella
Disney's live action version of their cartoon. I really liked this, mainly for the theme of 'Have courage and be kind' - what a great motto! - and for Helena Bonham Carter as the Fairy Godmother. I don't like watching cruelty on-screen so actually found wicked stepmother Cate Blanchett quite hard to watch. They also made Prince Charming into an actual person with his own moral dilemmas. So, all told, well worth seeing.

Elf: Buddy's Musical Adventure
This is an animation using songs from the stage show and the plot-line of the film, Elf. Confused? Well, it's enjoyable nonetheless. The animation is pretty good. The songs are pretty funny. A good film for repeat Christmas-time viewings.

Home
This animation didn't do that well at the box office but I really liked it. The main character, an alien called Oh who is voiced by Jim Parsons (Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory), is a bit annoying, but bearable. The plot isn't totally unique but has enough charm to get past that. The bad guys have a reason for being bad guys, which gives the film an unexpected turn, and overall, this is different and funny enough to justify watching it more than once.

The Muppets: Letters to Santa
Before the Disney-backed revival the Muppets released occasional straight to DVD films. This one is from 2008. It's not terrible, but it's not brilliant either. The film title tells you what you need to know. There's a fun musical number in a post office. Uma Thurman and Nathan Lane appear in cameos. The late Richard Griffiths plays Santa. There's a heart-warming moral, as you'd expect.

Maleficent
Disney's live action retelling of Sleeping Beauty that explores the story of the villain, Maleficent. Some grown up themes of greed and betrayal, loss and vengeance, and a pre-Frozen exploration of the idea that a 'true love's kiss' might not be from a handsome prince. Overall I was impressed with the film. Angelina Jolie is other-worldly as fearsome faerie queen Maleficent, and Sharlto Copley plays the King, and father of Sleeping Beauty, with the right mix of wickedness and tragic doom.

Into the Woods
Disney does Stephen Sondheim in a musical mash-up of various fairy tales. It's very dark. We watched this on New Year's Eve and finished it just past midnight, but I'm counting it in the 2015 list. James Corden is a better actor than you might think and carries this. Emily Blunt is also very good. Johnny Depp steals his scene as the Wolf who encounters Little Red Riding Hood - "There's a difference between nice and good." I also like the Prince's line: "I was raised to be charming. Not sincere."

So, that's 17 films on TV or DVD, making for a grand total of 36 films I've seen for the first time this year. That's 3 a month. Not too shabby.

2015 in review: Films I saw at the cinema

I've decided to list all the films I watched for the first time in 2015. I've split them into cinema releases and movies I watched on TV or DVD, some of which are a bit older - those follow in another post because otherwise this would be crazily long. FYI, I've listed these films in the order I saw them rather than in order of quality.

Kingsman ~ The Secret Service
Comedic take on spy films based on a comic book. Despite the ludicrously over the top violence, I enjoyed this apart from the controversial brief sexual content right at the end. Although the big names in it were Colin Firth, Samuel L Jackson and Michael Caine, it also offered a rare cinematic outing for Mark Hamill, who didn't have much to do except look surprised.

Big Hero Six
Disney animation based on a comic book. A genius kid inherits his brother's robot nurse (naturally, being a Disney film, family members die) and turns it into a super-hero. It was a good film, but the supporting hero team weren't necessary and the villain's actions didn't really make any sense. So it turned into one of those films with some good central characters and not much of a plot.

Selma
Moving drama about the events in Selma, Alabama, during the height of the Civil Rights movement. It really made me aware of how the racism of powerful institutions worked to keep black people subjugated, and the sheer strength of character shown by Dr Martin Luther King and other leaders. I blogged about it here.

Chappie
South African-set science fiction action drama about a robot programmed to become self-aware. I quite liked this because it seemed quite realistic in portraying how a machine would feel when it came alive - shocked and awkward.

Avengers: Age of Ultron
Latest chapter in the Avengers franchise. Didn't really do much for me. Also about machine intelligence, but fell too easily into tropes. Why would a robot decide to create multiple copies of itself when theoretically it could just take over any machine going? Also it passed over spending time with characters in favour of MORE EXPLOSIONS!

Tomorrowland
Disney live action science fiction story starring George Clooney and Hugh Laurie. It had a surprising theme of hope in the future despite the way the world has been exploited and ruined to the point where it's on the brink of destruction.

Jurassic World
Basically, this is Jurassic Park, except the park and the dinosaurs are bigger. It had a more callous approach to human victims than the original, especially one character, an Executive Assistant, who was marked for death early on because she had a British accent. Chris Pratt starred, continuing his A-list trajectory that started with Guardians of the Galaxy last year.

Spy
Melissa McCarthy divides opinion. But this film was funnier than the trailers would have you believe. Also featured Alison Janney (yay) and Miranda Hart ( no, seriously) along with Jude Law as a slimy James Bond-spoofing chick magnet spy. But Jason Statham stole the show for sending up so many of his own films.

Moomins on the Riviera
A slow animated adventure based on an early Moomins story. If you like Moomins then it's one for you. It's European origins are very obvious.

Minions
The Despicable Me prequel. Being fair, it had some great set pieces. The first 20 minutes or so were fab. But the point about the Minions is they are knockabout background characters and asking them to carry a movie is a bit much. Although the showing we went to see did have the added bonus of a chap showing up in an adult Minion onesie, much to the embarrassment of his friends.

Terminator Genisys
I really enjoyed this. It took the Terminator mythos and turned it on its head. Arnie was back, which was the big seller, and they incorporated his real-world ageing well into the film. He was also deadpan funny. In many ways every Terminator movie is about the same thing - avoiding the fate that seems unavoidable, and this wasn't too different, but the plot was suitably complex to keep me interested. Matt Smith, former Doctor Who, has a small but important part as well.

Ant-Man
I knew very little about this going  in, except that it was Marvel Comics and the trailer looked good. It was very enjoyable, different enough from the main story arc to not feel like a retread of the same old ground (unlike Age of Ultron). In fact, the bit that jarred was the unnecessary attempt to tie in the wider Marvel franchise with an appearance by The Falcon. Although that did lead to a fun on-screen fight. Paul Rudd made a likeable leading man. Michael Douglas is always good value. And the final showdown involves a model train set. Could you ask for anything more?

Inside Out 
The summer's big Pixar movie, starring the emotions inside a little girl's head. As usual for Pixar, this is a top concept and very cleverly done. The basic story is the 'main characters are exiled and need to get back to their home' that worked very well in Toy Story, but didn't work so well here. It does have what I would contend is the cleverest joke to appear in any Pixar movie as a throwaway gag that I think most people missed. My main complaint, however, is the way Pixar allowed their main characters to shill for Sky and Subway, with them appearing in adverts before the film came on screen, That spoiled it for me. There was also an ad for the toys that gave away a key plot point. It would have been a better movie without these commercial spoilers.

Song of the Sea
This is my movie of the year. It's a beautifully drawn animation based on an old Irish legend about a little girl who is a selkie and the last hope of the faerie folk trapped in the human world. The artistry of the animation is gorgeous. The story deals with love and loss and I'm not ashamed to say I was blinking away tears at the end. Thoroughly recommended.

Suffragette
Before seeing this movie I hadn't fully grasped what it meant to be denied the vote and various rights on the basis of what genitals you were born with. I thought the subject matter was well-handled. It didn't glorify acts of terror, but it did made me think about how the boundaries blur. I recognise the sacrifices of the suffragettes, but setting off bombs and destroying property aren't really actions to endorse. Or are they? I've written more about it here.

Spectre
James Bond does what he does best - following his own orders, killing people mercilessly and exploiting vulnerable women for sex. I've written about glorifying a sexual predator here. On the other hand there was a lovely shot of a train in the North African desert, which if you like trains is worth watching the film for.

The Good Dinosaur
Pixar's first flop? Certainly the first Pixar film that I thought borrowed too heavily on other films. A bit of A Bug's Life as Arlo the dinosaur doesn't fit in and makes a mess of things, a bit of the Lion King (why do parents always die in Disney films?). The similarities to non-Disney franchises like Ice Age were also surprising. This film took ages to get to screen apparently and had been in production almost a decade. And yet, while beautifully animated even by Pixar's high, high standards, it was still let down by the story.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (seen x3)
Also known as Episode VII. This was great. Long review WITH SPOILERS here. My Mum loved it as well. In her words "So good to get away from the awful prequels."

Charlie Brown and Snoopy: The Peanuts Movie
I have to admit I found this a bit slow. It is a very loving tribute to the original TV cartoons but there isn't much of a script. However, Cathy is probably one of the biggest fans of Peanuts there is and she really enjoyed it, so that's all that really matters. I did enjoy Snoopy acting out his dogfights with the Red Baron, prompting phone calls from worried kids all over the neighbourhood to Charlie Brown.

And that's it. 22 trips to the cinema to see 19 different films makes for a very full year of movie-going.

Movies of 2012

Instead of doing my round up of films I watched and saying which one was best, I've decided to try and present a few 'awards' in different categories. So, here goes...

Most surprising movie
Disney/Pixar's Brave was a big surprise. I'd been very disappointed by Cars 2 and didn't think the trailers were anything special. I thought it looked like a Scottish-set version of Mulan or something, but the story veered off in an unexpected direction. The animation was top-notch, it had some very funny scenes, and generally I thought it was excellent.

Most underwhelming movie
Prometheus promised much and delivered very little. It somehow managed to combine pretentious ambitions with weak characterisation and a plot that seemed to be mainly made up of holes. Very, very disappointing.

Movie that made me think a bit harder than I expected
I really liked Looper, although I'm pretty sure the central plot device of time travel unravelled right at the end. But it was very well acted - Joseph Gordan-Levitt was excellent, as was Bruce Willis - and the story kept me guessing right to the end. All-in-all, a sci-fi move that was well worth watching.

Enjoyable action movie of the year
I really liked Avengers Assemble. It may not be as cool as the recent Batman films, but it was fast-paced, the actors took the job seriously, but most of all it was the culmination of a series of films that all fed into a much larger picture. As such, it was a believable 'cross-over' film. The characters had back-stories, but this was a move forward for all of them. It maybe was a bit long, but that's about the only criticism I can make.

Movie that made me feel a bit 'meh' afterwards
Two movies vie for this award - The Dark Knight Rises and Skyfall. I don't think either enriched my life. The Batman film had an interesting political edge to it - that without the ruling 1%, all you get is anarchy and terror, while the James Bond film was nihilistic in the extreme (as I said when I reviewed it before). Nihilism can work in a movie (for example, I thought Dredd was very well done), but Skyfall was unremitting for a movie ostensibly about a 'hero'.

Comedy of the year
I didn't see that many comedies this year. Ted was funny, but a bit rude, so I'm going to give this one to Ice Age 4: Continental Drift, mainly because it made a joke about a previous installment in the series involving dinosaurs and said that it "didn't make a lot of sense." That amused me.

Film of the year
And so to the big one - my personal favourite film of 2012 and it has to go to... (drumroll) The Muppets. As I said when I reviewed it back in February, I liked the way the film treated the original Muppet ethos with respect. Disney did a very good job at capturing what made the Muppets work a few decades ago, and it was just a great family movie, with several jokes that made me laugh out loud. On another note, the recent acquisition of the Star Wars empire by Disney hasn't really worried me - given how Disney treated the Muppets, I have high hopes they will capture the spirit of Star Wars in the right way. (And as Cathy has pointed out, they really can't mess it up as badly as George Lucas did with the prequels.)

I'm already looking forward to some of the films due out in 2013, but that was 2012.

Film review: Despicable Me (3D)

There are two things about 3D movies that annoy me. One is when the 3D is completely irrelevant and doesn't really add much to the film. The second is when cinemas charge you extra for watching a film in 3D but don't give you a 2D option. That's just a price hike for no reason.

Also, at Cineworld in Cardiff they add the 3D charge on to the ticket price so that it isn't included in the Orange Wednesdays deal. Having worked in the cinema industry I know why they do that. It's very simple. If a cinema can gouge its customers, it will. Bastards.

Anyway, to the film. It's an animation. It stars the voice talent of Steve Carell, who I find is either hilarious or dreadful. And it's pretty funny.

The basic plot is that an evil super-villain, Gru, ends up responsible for three orphan girls, who aren't afraid of him at all. The outcome is fairly predictable for this kind of movie, but there are some unexpected detours along the way.

Interestingly, the central message is that Gru became a super-villain because his childhood was spent seeking affirmation from his mother, who never praised him. His eventual emergence as a parent of sorts (the kind every kid would in fact want - who wouldn't want a Dad packing a disintegration ray at a funfair, or genetically modifying the dog?) allows for an interesting redemptive finale.

There are also several stolen scenes featuring Gru's 'minions' - bizarre little creatures bred to serve him. They provide plenty of comedy throughout the film, and are destined to be made into all sorts of merchandise I'm sure.

I doubt this is the last we will see of Gru, his girls, or the minions. A franchise no doubt awaits. Hopefully though, the quality of the animation and the humour will stay at this high level.

Jongudmund's rating: 9/10

Big screen / small screen review, including Toy Story 3

Toy Story 3
I've taken a few days to blog about this film because I've needed to get my thoughts in order. Firstly, it's very good - the usual high Pixar standard. But I found it emotionally challenging.

The themes of growing up and moving on from relationships, as seen in Andy parting with his toys as he leaves for college, was arresting. There's a whole scene where the toys are trying to get Andy's attention, and can't understand why he has moved on. I'm not sure why that troubled me so much (maybe the fact that my house is full of toys plays its part), but it did.

There's a depth to this, that is far more than you'd expect from a 'kids' film'. I'm not sure kids would get it. Most adults won't either, I guess, because people don't expect to be made to think in movies...

Jongudmund's rating: 8/10

The Hurt Locker
The film that beat Avatar to the Oscar earlier this year. A lot of hype. And yet when it came down to it, not as much substance as I expected there to be.

It was very good and I'm glad I've finally watched it. Maybe it was more of a big screen movie rather than a DVD night in, although I'm not sure. There are some excellently shot scenes - a shoot-out in the desert; tense and confusing scenes in the city streets.

It also managed to show how war provides an adrenalin thrill that becomes addictive, without ever going gung-ho, or playing down the horror of war. When a character gets vapourised by an IED, there's a highly believeable atmosphere of shock and horror. People get shot and stay dead. Blood doesn't spurt in cinematic technicolor.

I'd say it's a good film, but I'm not sure it's a great film. But worth watching.

Jongudmund's rating: 8/10

Dead Man Walking
This is one of those films I'd never got round to seeing, and it was on TV last night. The story is well-known, I guess. Susan Sarandon plays a nun who visits a death row inmate played by Sean Penn, who is the 'dead man walking'. Gradually she brings him to the point of repentance when he finally admits his sins and 'saves' him even as he is killed by lethal injection.

The brilliance of this film is the closely observed funny moments that seem to interpolate into the narrative, the way things do in real life. A sign that says 'Have much rabbits' prompts a character to ask "Are they selling or bragging?" "Maybe it's a cry for help."

Again this was an emotional film. When Penn turns to his spiritual advisor and admits he'd never foudn love until she had loved him unconditionally, and thanks her for loving him, I was moved. Redemption comes in many different ways and yet it is always powerful.

Jongudmund's rating: 9/10

THX 1138
This was George Lucas' first film, recently re-released in a Director's Cut. It's set in a dystopic future where humans are enslaved by the state and are not allowed to fall in love. It's very much like other films of that ilk - Equilibrium, The Island, and so on.

There is a dream-like quality to the film. Characters seem to appear, quite literally, out of nowhere. Scenes jump around. I was never quite sure whether I was meant to be seeing reality or what the main character, THX 1138, was percieving the world to be.

I really don't think this is a film for everyone. But if you're into science fiction, it's worth watching.

Jongudmund's rating: 6/10

Planet 51
A knockabout animated kids' film about a human astronaut who causes chaos when he lands on the inhabited 'Planet 51'.

There isn't much depth to this, but the alien pet who looks a bit like the alien from Alien and pees acid onto lamp-posts is very amusing. Truthfully I didn't care much about the other characters, but the animation is good and the design of the film is very nicely done in terms of the 1950s retro style alien vehicles and things.

Jongudmund's rating: 4/10

A massive list of films I’ve seen recently (and some spoiler ‘best bits’)

I seem to have seen quite a few films in the past few weeks both in the cinema and on DVD and not blogged about them, so here goes…

Alice in Wonderland (IMAX 3-D)
Tim Burton’s much-hyped remake that plays a bit fast and loose with the Alice story. I enjoyed it and it was very good but I felt it lacked a certain something, probably because I was very excited by the prospect what with being a bit Tim Burton fan. There’s always that thing that if you go expecting something amazing you’ll end up disappointed. In the end it was a bit more miss than hit really. The visuals like the way the card soldiers were conceived were very good though.

Best bit: An armoured Alice starts listing the six impossible things she believes before breakfast. “Number six! I can kill the Jabberwocky!”
Jongudmund’s rating: 7/10


How to Train Your Dragon (IMAX 3-D)
Dreamworks do a Viking saga with dragons, explosions and lots more. The storyline veered from average e.g. formulaic outcast inventor kid (see A Bug’s Life, Jimmy Neutron, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs) becomes the hero and earns the love of a pretty girl, though to something a but unique, e.g. the reason the dragons have to keep stealing sheep. The film succeeds because by the end I wanted to own a dragon, so obviously it had an impact. My only (minor) gripe was giving the Vikings Scottish accents.

Best bit: The IMAX came into its own with the scene in the ash cloud as wispy ash seemed to float all around me. Otherwise any of the dragon swooping and soaring sequences.
Jongudmund’s rating: 8/10


Date Night (Cinema 2-D)
I have not laughed so much at anything labelled a comedy. That’s because usually Hollywood comedies are usually dire retreads of vaguely funny ideas. This was busting with funny moments, from Steve Carell’s exasperation that Mark Wahlberg won’t put a shirt on, through to lowlife criminals having a domestic, and constant horror that the main characters took someone else’s restaurant reservation. It had a bit of a too neat ending, but I can’t begin to count the laugh out loud moments, and there were one or two excruciating bite-your-knuckles-with-embarrassment moments too.

Best bits: Steve Carell licks a stripper pole (gross!); Tina Fey seeks to play down Carell’s insult to a mob boss – “It’s okay, when he says vagina, he means your face!”
Jongudmund’s rating: 9/10


Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (DVD)
Average animation really. A few laughs. As in How to Train Your Dragon (above), the nerdy protagonist inventor becomes a hero, although his creation (a machine that turns water vapour into food) eventually threatens all life on earth. I think kids would enjoy it, but it’s not going to be one I watch frequently.

Best bit: Honestly hard to think of one. Nice to hear Mr T doing one of the voices.
Jongudmund’s rating: 5/10


Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (DVD)
I loved the first Ice Age movie. The second one was okay, and this is similarly mediocre. For some bizarre reason Sid the Sloth decides to hatch some eggs he finds in a hidden underground valley. Turns out they are dinosaur eggs. What I liked about the first Ice Age movie was the vaguely realistic depiction of strange Ice Age animals, like giant sloths. But I’ve seen enough dinosaurs. Some of the other side characters like the possums are starting to get annoying. This franchise just ain’t cool any more. Although Scrat’s dalliance with a femme fatale who is trying to steal his nuts just about rescues it.

Best bits: One of the dino hatchlings has to cough up other ‘kids’ that he tried to eat in the play-park and keeps coughing up the wrong ones much to Sid's embarrassment; the Scrat versus Scratte love triangle with an acorn
Jongudmund’s rating: 6/10


Sweeney Todd (DVD)
Tim Burton’s bloody filmic version of Sondheim’s blood-letting musical. Bit of a complicated plot (although I followed it), and the usual grimy gothic sets you’d expect with Burton, plus lots and lots of blood. Spurting and splashing and oozing and bubbling blood. Johnny Depp is just scary as Sweeney. Helena Bonham Carter brings a lot of pathos to pie-maker Mrs Lovett. Sacha Baron Cohen is very amusing as a rival barber. And Timothy Spall and Alan Rickman are suitably loathsome as corrupt beedle and judge respectively. Pretty much everyone dies in bloody throat-slitting fashion and for good measure their skulls crack when they drop down the chute under Sweeney’s chair. Oh, yeah, and there’s blood.

Best bit: Feeling betrayed by his accomplice, Sweeney waltzes Mrs Lovett into her pie oven and slams the door on her as she burns.
Jongudmund’s rating: 7/10

The Princess & the Frog: Disney get it slightly wrong (again)

It’s ironic that after my rant yesterday about patronising poor people, I spent a good proportion of this film thinking about how patronising this film is of poor, black people.

If you want to set a film in 1920s New Orleans and not mention racism, yet make it aspirational for black people, then this film would give you some tips. Like, ignore history completely.

In fact, go the other way – stereotype your main white character as a spoiled rich kid wishing upon a star while the world is handed to her on a platter, and your black heroine as a hard-workin’, two-jobs-a-day, real-world-inhabiting believer that you are the only person who will make it happen. And you’ll do it through hard work, not crying to your rich plantation-ownin’ daddy.

Disney has copped a lot of flak for it’s ‘Princess’ idea that all you have to do in life is be beautiful and wait for your Prince Charming to turn up. So, fair play, they have tried to reverse that style of thinking. But there is still an undercurrent here that nags – for a black girl to be a princess, she has to be a hard-workin’ girl with ambition and drive and a feisty attitude to win her prince. Whereas all white girls have to do is leave a glass slipper behind, or fall asleep under a spell, or something.

I’m sure plenty more intelligent folks will have plenty to say about the lazy stereotyping of the Bayou, with voodoo, jazz, gumbo, and a population that has nothing else to do than mess around with voodoo, play jazz and eat gumbo. New Orleans is some kind of hedonistic paradise where you can laze away the days with music and fine (fried) food. It's the easiest version of the Big Easy ever. The only thing I’d say is that it’s nice to see Disney stereotyping Americans so badly.

This is, of course, what Disney does: project a fantasy ideal of what life should be like. This is 1920s New Orleans without the bootlegging, or the racism, or the lynch mobs. Everyone smiles. Everyone has enough gumbo to eat. Voodoo works – if you’re a good person, at least. There’s a happy ending. There are no hurricanes.

This commentary makes it sound like I hated the film. I didn’t. It has serious flaws. But the frogs were fun. I liked Louis the jazz-playing alligator and Ray the lightning bug. I liked the dog, although she was hardly in it. There was some character development and growth. The bad guy was genuinely creepy. And most of the songs were by Randy Newman, so were of a good standard.

The problem was I was just left looking for the magic. Maybe the 20th Century isn’t long enough ago to count at ‘once upon a time…’

Films and DVD review: 9, Up in the Air, Cloverfield

Two trips to the cinema within a week is unusual for me. The first one was to the newly revamped Chapter Arts Centre (which is very swanky indeed) to see an oddball animation called 9, produced by Tim Burton, no less.

The set up is this: a small stitchpunk doll comes to life in a strange room in the ruins of a bombed out city. He has the number 9 on his back. He goes outside and meets other like him (numbered 1 to 8). Together they try to work out what happened to all the people.

It’s a promising start, and the animation was done well, but as Cathy said it lacked that certain something. It wasn’t a film I’d take small kids to as it was distinctly more grown up than most animations. There were a few problems with the script – characters seemed to act in quite self-contradictory ways, particularly the traditionalist number 1. So, all in all, I enjoyed it, but it’s not one I’d watch again in a hurry.

We did get to see a trailer for Tim Burton’s next cinematic foray: Alice in Wonderland, which looks like it will be a relatively faithful version of the book in all its weirdness. It’s being made by Disney, but hopefully will still be as dark as a Lewis Carroll/Tim Burton crossover could be.

The second cinema trip was to see Up in the Air, the new George Clooney vehicle. This was made by the same guy who did Thank You for Smoking, which surprised me when I saw it a couple of years ago.

The formula is similar: the main character is a smug git who does a fairly reprehensible job, but does it well, but then has some sort of awakening. There were a lot of thinking points in the film – why is the main character so obsessed with accruing airline miles and loyalty points when he also gives ‘motivational’ lectures telling people to abandon all the relationships that tie them down. That was interesting. What kind of person avoids commitment to people yet value loyalty to corporations?

Helped by a relatively sharp script and some genuinely funny lines, and of course, George in fine form, this film moves along at a good pace. Cathy and I both spotted the twist that was to come near the end, but someone in our audience didn’t, letting out a very loud gasp that caused most of the other punters in the cinema to titter. And generally, I left feeling glad I went, which isn’t always the case.

And now a DVD review. I watched Cloverfield the other day, which I have discovered is a film that bitterly divides people between those who thought it was interesting and enjoyed it and those who thought it sucked mighty ass. As all JJ Abrams projects seem to do.

Personally I’m glad I didn’t see it in a cinema as the handheld camera angle, the running and the shaking were tiresome. But, as a monster movie I thought it worked okay. There were no answers, and characters were left in the dark, which meant you the viewer are in the dark too (literally at one point), but in a way I liked that. I like having to think in a movie and I find them more effective when I have to engage my imagination.

So, for me, Cloverfield worked. I probably won’t watch it again, simply because of time constraints, not because I didn’t like it.

Jongudmund’s Ratings:
9 ~ 5/10 Worth a look
Up in the Air ~ 8/10 Like!
Cloverfield ~ 6/10 One for DVD

My favourite films of 2009

This hasn't been a vintage year for me in terms of seeing new films. A combination of extreme busyness and Cath not being well has conspired to prevent me from going to the cinema as often as I'd like. But still I've see a few good films and as it's New Year's Eve, I thought I'd select my favourites, and disappointments, for 2009.

First up, my absolute favourite:

Up
From the opening few minutes where an entire life of love and loss is told with very few words, but tremendous emotional impact, I knew this was going to be a slightly different 'kid's film'. True, it got a bit silly at times after that, but there were enough subplots and funny moments to laugh at, and above all, it did emotion without lapsing into sentimentality too much. Of course, there was some, because it's a movie. But overall the film was positive and life-affirming. (And I loved Doug the Dog.)

What next? Well, there have been some strong animations out this year. I really enjoyed Monsters versus Aliens, which was very funny and a bit more than your average cartoon. I also thought Coraline was very well made: a genuinely creepy storyline for kids that made me feel slightly scared at times (I don't do horror films as a rule). Surrogates was an interesting science fiction film that posed some good questions and ended at the right point in the story rather than tacking on another half an hour of meaningless explosions and stunts that some films have (The Island, anyone?). And Slumdog Millionaire lived up to the hype for me and was worthy of its Oscar successes.

But my Runner Up Film of the Year would be a tie between the franchise reboot of Star Trek and one I saw just a couple of days ago: Sherlock Holmes, starring Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law.

I admit, after Johnny Depp, Robert Downey Jr is my male eye candy of choice. Combined with Jude Law as bickering buddies, in a silly, but excellently well put together adventure yarn, what's not to like? I felt the film captured the spirit of the Sherlock Holmes stories that I've read, if not the letter. And as my Mum said, it was so nice to see an adaptation that turned Watson into a character, rather than a dullard to enable Holmes to explain the plot to the audience.

As for Star Trek, well, I was just bowled over by it really. I raved about it earlier in the year, and will probably get it on DVD at some point. All the points I made about it in the earlier review still stand - I liked the humour, the nods to the classic series, the acting. Just about everything worked.

So, I was surprised by how much I liked Sherlock Holmes and Star Trek, but for me the title of Most Surprising Film of the Year would have to be 17 Again, featuring teen heart throb Zac Efron. I watched this DVD with no expectations and enjoyed it a lot. There are plenty of funny jokes, Efron can act, the actors around him were very good too, and the plot was corny but the right kind of corny. Definitely better than I expected and I've even been tempted to watch it again.

On to the disappointments. Well, a few sequels fell flat for me. Fast and Furious was, bizarrely, quite slow-paced, and I don't see the point of a stunt film that uses CGI to make the stunts happen. Also to bill it as a reunion of the original cast and then kill off Michelle Rodriguez five minutes in was a bit crap. Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen simply couldn't live up to the brilliance of the original, and didn't. Ironically too many robots and not enough humans did for it.

But my worst film of the year promised much and delivered nothing. Tropic Thunder was a sprawling mess of a movie. The concept could have worked, but it just seemed the director wanted to make too many in-jokes about people in Hollywood. And the problem with in-jokes is that if you're not in on them then they just aren't funny. After about ten minutes I was done, but the movie dragged on far longer, and considering who was in it (Jack Black, Ben Stiller and Robert Downey Jr) has got to be a contender for worst utilisation of filmic talent ever.