Movie Review: Arthur Christmas

Arthur Christmas ***

Directed by: Sarah Smith.

Written by: Peter Baynham & Sarah Smith.

Starring: James McAvoy (Arthur),  Hugh Laurie (Steve), Bill Nighy (Grandsanta), Jim Broadbent (Santa), Imelda Staunton (Mrs. Santa), Ashley Jensen (Bryony), Marc Wootton (Peter), Laura Linney (North Pole Computer), Eva Longoria (Chief De Silva), Ramona Marquez (Gwen), Michael Palin (Ernie Clicker).

Arthur Christmas, the character, is so lovable that I couldn’t help but enjoy Arthur Christmas, the movie. I am a sucker for Christmas movies, and this new animated film from Aardman (the creators of Wallace and Gromitt) is a good one. Kids will enjoy it – it is full of action and humour, bright colors and of course Santa. But adults will enjoy it as well. The film has that trademark British wit, and the excellent voice cast does a stellar job with all the verbal wordplay. It isn’t a masterpiece or anything, but for what it is, it is highly enjoyable.

Arthur Christmas is the youngest son of Santa Clause. The tradition is that each Santa does 70 years on the job, before passing it down to his son. The current Santa is about to embark on that 70^th run, and the older son Steve cannot wait until he gets to become Santa himself. He has already overhauled their entire system – lots of gadgets and gizmos, replacing the sled with a rocket ship that travels at the speed of light. Anyone can do Santa’s job – his highly trained team of elves take care of most of the details for him. But after he returns from what everyone assumes will be his final time out, he announces that he cannot wait to make his 71^st run the following year. Steve is angry and disappointed of course. But there is a bigger problem – a child has been missed. To Arthur, who responds to the millions of letters the children send in, this is unacceptable. He doesn’t want poor Gwen to wake up on Christmas morning and think she is the only child in the world that Santa doesn’t care about. But Steve says the ship cannot make another run, at the risk of damaging it, and so they’ll ship to the present to Gwen. It will not get there on Christmas day, but it will get there in the “Christmas window”. Besides, one child in over 600 million is a statistically insignificant amount. Santa agrees with Steve, and totters off to bed. Arthur is heartbroken – but then Grand Santa comes up with an idea. He’ll break out the old sleigh and reindeer that helped him through his 70 runs, and together, he and Arthur will deliver the last present. Bryony the elf tags along as well.

I enjoyed the visual look of Arthur Christmas, even if I do miss the old school play-doh creations Aardman used to make. I understand that the process is long and cumbersome and doesn’t allow the freedom of computer animation – and I appreciate the fact that Aardman tries hard to retain the look of their play doh characters, but it isn’t quite the same. Still, it’s hard to complain too much, as Arthur Christmas is visually charming, recreating pretty much the entire world, as times have changed since Grand Santa’s day, and of course, he and Arthur get lost repeatedly. I liked the touches that the film provides to every country they come across (a particular favourite, of course, was when they fly through Toronto and Grand Santa remarks “Santa’s always come through Canada – nobody lives here”).

And I adored the voice cast as well. James McAvoy is very good as the bumbling, slightly cowardly Arthur. Yes, he makes mistakes, but he has never lost that childhood wonder of loving Christmas – I loved how much he loved his horrid Christmas slippers. Hugh Laurie is fine as the pompous ass Steve, Jim Broadbent has some good moments as Santa, just realizing now that he is little more than a figure head, Bill Nighy is crotchety and funny as Grand Santa, Ashley Jensen makes a lovable elf and Imelda Staunton sounds just like you would imagine Mrs. Clause to sound – especially when she worries about how Arthur not wearing the proper winter clothes.

I can imagine revisiting Arthur Christmas quite a few times over the years. It is fast paced, well animated, funny and charming. What else do you want an animated Christmas film to be?

DVD Review: Rio

Rio ***

Directed by: Carlos Saldanha.

Written by: Carlos Saldanha and Earl Richey Jones & Todd Jones and Don Rhymer and Joshua Sternin & Jeffrey Ventimilia and Sam Harper.

Starring: Jesse Eisenberg (Blu), Anne Hathaway (Jewel), Jemaine Clement (Nigel), Leslie Mann (Linda), Rodrigo Santoro (Tulio / Soccer Annoucer), George Lopez (Rafael), Jamie Foxx (Nico), Will i Am (Pedro), Carlos Ponce (Marcel), Jeffrey Garcia (Tipa / Bat), Davi Vieira (Armando), Jake T. Austin (Fernando), Wanda Sykes (Chloe), Jane Lynch (Alice), Bebel Gilberto (Eva), Francisco Ramos (Lead Marmoset), Tracy Morgan (Luiz).

Rio is an animated kids movie with enough laughs to please adults. No, it doesn’t rise to the level of the best animated movies, but for what it is, you can hardly complain. It is brightly animated, contains some wonderful voice work, and is genuinely funny.  So many kids movie are painful experiences for adults, but this one works for both age groups.

The movie is about a blue macaw, taken from his natural home in the jungle of Brazil, and shipped to Minnesota to be someone’s pet. But the crate he is in falls off the back of the truck, and that’s when Linda, a little girl, finds him. She names the bird Blu, and the two become best friends. Years later, they’re still best friends, but a strange thing has happened to Blu – he cannot fly. He has the ability, but has never learned to. He never had to. But then a Tulio shows up at the book store that Linda owns. He works at a bird sanctuary in Brazil. Blu is the only male Blue Macaw left, and they have just found the only female Blue Macaw, Jewel. The idea is to get them together and save their species. The problem is that bird smugglers know how rare these two birds are, and once in Brazil, both are kidnapped. They escape, but are chained together, and Blu’s lack of ability to fly upsets Jewel.

The plot is fairly standard – a typical romantic comedy plot, where opposites are forced together, drive each other crazy for most of the movie, but of course end up falling love. Yet, as voiced by Jessie Eisenberg and Anne Hathaway, Blu and Jewel become an interesting couple. Eisenberg gives his trademark nervous energy to his role, and Hathaway is all bluster. They play off of each other nicely. Add in an excellent supporting cast of voice actors – George Lopez as a wisecracking toucan, Tracy Morgan as a big, dumb, lovable dog, Jamie Foxx and Will I Am as two small birds with big attitude, Leslie Mann as Linda and especially the brilliant Jemaine Clement as an evil cockatoo, and you have one of the best voice casts of the year. Even when stuck with fairly standard issue dialogue, they make it funny.

The animation is good as well. I’m not sure how it played in 3-D, but the colors are bright, the character design excellent. The movie moves at a fast pace throughout, throwing in some wonderful chase sequences.

Overall, Rio is an enjoyable little movie. Kids will love it. Adults will at least find it entertaining the first time through. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but what it does, it does well.

DVD Review: Winnie the Pooh

Winnie the Pooh ***

Directed by: Stephen J. Anderson & Don Hall.

Written by: Stephen J. Anderson & Clio Chiang & Don Dougherty & Don Hall & Kendelle Hoyer & Brian Kesinger & Nicole Mitchell & Jeremy Spears based on the works of A.A. Milne & Ernest Shepard.

Starring: Jim Cummings (Winnie the Pooh / Tigger), Bud Luckey (Eeyore), Craig Ferguson (Owl), Jack Boulter (Christopher Robin), Travis Oates (Piglet), Kristen Anderson-Lopez (Kanga), Wyatt Dean Hall (Roo), Tom Kenny (Rabbit), Huell Howser (Backson), John Cleese (Narrator).

My daughter is only two and a half months old, so obviously I have not been able to introduce her to movies yet. One day I will however, and while she doesn’t need to become as obsessed with them as I am (in fact, it will be better for her social life if she doesn’t) I would like her to appreciate film as an art form, as I do. That journey will have to start somewhere, and I can think of no better place than Winnie the Pooh – not necessarily their latest cinematic adventure, but it’s as good as anything else.

I haven’t paid too much attention to Pooh and the gang for years now – Piglet’s Big Movie, The Tigger Movie and Pooh’s Heffalump Movie came and went and barely registered on my radar, and I certainly didn’t watch any. But when the latest one came out, inspired by my new daughter, I decided to rent it and see what I thought. It’s amazing how quickly you can sink back into the characters you remember as children. Lovable, hungry Winnie the Pooh, always on the hunt for honey (or as he spells it “Huny”), his meek, adorable sidekick Piglet. The exuberant Tigger, always full of energy and confidence. Know it all Owl. Rabbit, who I’m pretty sure has OCD. Motherly Kanga, and her son Roo. And my personal favorite, the constantly depressed Eeyore. I’m not sure what it says about me that my favorite is Eeyore, probably nothing good, but I love him anyway. These animals, along with Christopher Robin, are known to pretty much everyone in the world, and although I hadn’t spent any time with them in probably two decades, I sunk back into their world easily.

The reason why Winnie the Pooh is appropriate for even the youngest of kids is because there is nothing really all that scary about it. There is never any real conflict, just a series of adventures the group has. Even in the classic Pooh vignette where he and Piglet think they are being followed, everyone can tell that it’s just their own footprints in the snow that freak them out. In this movie, there are two main storylines. The biggest is about poor Eeyore, who has lost his tail. Everyone pitches in to try and find it, and when they fail to do that, they try to find him a replacement tail – although none suits poor Eeyore. The other involves a note left by Christopher Robin telling them that he will be Bak Sun – which smarty pants Owl interprets to mean that he has been kidnapped by the evil Bak Sun, and they must try and get him back.

At barely an hour long, Winnie the Pooh is short enough for even kids with the briefest of attention spans. It was also just about perfect for me, because while I enjoyed getting back into this world at first, as it moved along, I was less enthralled with it. Nothing much happens in Pooh’s world, and that’s part of its charm, but it also means that after a while, your mind wanders. Nevertheless, I must admit I enjoyed my return trip to see these old friends, so long ago forgotten by me. I’m sure by daughter will love them just as much as I did.

Movie Review: Cars 2

Cars 2 ** ½ Directed by: John Lasseter.
Written by: Ben Queen & John Lasseter & Brad Lewis & Dan Fogelman.
Starring: Larry the Cable Guy (Mater), Owen Wilson (Lightning McQueen), Michael Caine (Finn McMissile), Emily Mortimer (Holley Shiftwell), Eddie Izzard (Sir Miles Axlerod), John Turturro (Francesco Bernoulli), Joe Mantegna (Grem), Thomas Kretschmann (Professor Z), Bonnie Hunt (Sally), Tony Shalhoub (Luigi), Jeff Garlin (Otis).

For the first time in their history, Pixar has made a movie that I have no desire to see again. Even when Pixar has failed to deliver a film up to their almost impossibly high standards in the past – with films like A Bug’s Life or the original Cars – they still made an entertaining film that was miles beyond most animated fare. But with Cars 2, I think they forgot what makes Pixar movies so special. This is a film that is so full of plot and action, that the characters in the film get lost. Most Pixar movies are simple stories, where the characters end up learing something, and also end up touching the audience members hearts. Here, the film is so busy that the film never connects on that emotional level. Each of the last 4 Pixar movies – Ratatouille, Wall-E, Up and Toy Story 3 – not only made my annual top 10 list, but also made me cry like a little girl. Cars 2 is quite simply not in their league.

One of the reasons I don’t think Cars 2 works very well, is because it switches focus off of Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson), the big headed, race car who had to learn to slow down and enjoy life in the first film, to his comic relief sidekick, Mater (Larry the Cable Guy). Mater was, without a doubt, the most popular character in the first film, but he was a supporting character – and that’s where he belongs. He is there to play the “best friend”, not the leading man. Here, his character is asked to carry the movie, and it simply doesn’t work.

The story follows McQueen as he is challenged to take part in the first ever World Grand Prix – a series of three races, where all types of race cars will compete. What that means is the McQueen’s biggest competition will be the F-1 car Francesco Bernoulli (John Turturro), who can go faster than McQueen, a Nascar, but not for as long. The first race is to take place in Japan, and McQueen decides to bring his best friend Mater along with him. But Mater being Mater, turns out to be an embarrassment to McQueen, who snaps at him, and makes Mater sulk away. But little does Mater know that he has becoming an unwilling dupe in a complex spy game – with Finn McMissle (Michael Caine) and Holly Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer) of British Intelligence on one side, and a nefarious group of “lemons” on the other side. It is this plot that doesn’t work, and takes up the vast majority of the running time of Cars 2.

This being a Pixar movie, there are things to praise about it. The animation is still top notch (but, having seen the film in 3-D, I have to say there is little to no reason to shell out the extra money to see it in that format). The background of Cars 2 is filled with excellent, visual touches and jokes – I did particularly love all the anime references when the movie was in Japan.

It’s just, to me, Cars 2 is everything that Pixar movies are not. I see no reason why kids – especially little boys – will not love this movie. This is the type of fast paced, colorful, action packed movie that kids will simply love. And more power to them. But to me, Pixar has always succeeded in making movies that work on level for kids – the action, adventure, comic level – and another for adults, where more serious issues of love, loss and aging are brought up. This seemed like a perfect marriage – because kids got what they wanted to, and adults still got to see one of the very best films of the year right along side them. So, if you have kids, by all means, take them to see Cars 2, they’ll love. But for the first time ever for a Pixar movie, I can honestly say that if you don’t have kids, there really is no point in seeing the movie.

Movie Review: Kung Fu Panda 2

Kung Fu Panda 2 ***
Directed by: Jennifer Yuh.
Written by: Jonathan Aibel & Glenn Berger.
Starring: Jack Black (Po), Angelina Jolie (Tigress), Gary Oldman (Lord Shen), Seth Rogen (Mantis), Jackie Chan (Monkey), Dustin Hoffman (Shifu), David Cross (Crane), Lucy Liu (Viper), James Hong (Mr. Ping), Jean-Claude Van Damme (Master Croc), Michelle Yeoh (The Soothsayer), Dennis Haysbert (Master Oxen), Victor Garber (Master Thundering Rhino), Paul Mazursky (Musician Bunny).

I think the reason why most sequels, even good ones, fall short of the original is that they can no longer surprise us. By the time we walk into a second (or third or fourth or fifth) installment in a series, we already know what to expect. Sequels don’t want to be original – they want to give audiences more of what they enjoyed the last time out. Good sequels do that. Great sequels move behind, and push the series into new directions. Most sequels simply fall flat and are best forgotten.

The first Kung Fu Panda was one of my most pleasant surprises of 2008. It was fast paced, well animated, smart and funny and I enjoyed it from start to finish. Kung Fu Panda 2 is probably about as good as the first film – it’s just that since I had seen it before, it didn’t quite seem as good this time around. No matter – kids will enjoy the movie immensely, and parents along for the ride will have fun with it too.

This time, our hero Po (Jack Black), a giant panda with a giant appetite needs to learn who to achieve inner peace. His master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) tells him that he will only truly be a kung fu master when he has achieved it – that he’ll only truly live up to the title of Dragon Warrior he achieved by accident the first time if he can. He is once again teamed up with the Furious Five to fight evil in their small village. But then they get some distressing news – it seems like Lord Shen (Gary Oldman), an angry, bitter peacock, has returned from exile, and has a new weapon, utilizing gun powder. Kung fu may be in danger if Po and the Furious Five cannot stop him. Also, Po discovers the shocking truth from his swan father – that he was adopted. And what’s more, Lord Shen may know about his real parents.

Kung Fu Panda 2 is fast paced and exciting, and also extremely well animated. I liked that director Jennifer Yuh put some more traditional looking, hand drawn animation into the flash back sequences, because for the most part, this has become a lost art in American films. The 3-D in the movie isn’t a distraction in this film, but neither does it really add to the film. Like most 3-D films, it seems to be there in order to bilk an extra three bucks from people.

I enjoyed Kung Fu Panda 2 pretty much from beginning to end. The team behind the movie is obviously trying to learn from Pixar, and the emotional storyline about Po being adopted, and how it frays his relationship with his sweet, loving adoptive father is obviously meant to wring tears from the audience, like Pixar so masterfully does year after year (I have my doubts that Cars 2 will accomplish that trick this year, but we’ll see). It comes close to working here, but didn’t quite have the same impact.

Overall, I cannot see too many people being disappointed in Kung Fu Panda 2. It delivers what it promises, and is far more entertaining and exciting than the other sequels I have seen so far in what has been called “The Summer of the Sequel” (Fast Five, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides). For that, I am grateful. I just wish someone would come up with a new idea.

Movie Review: Rango

Rango ****
Directed by: Gore Verbinski.
Written by: John Logan & Gore Verbinski & James Ward Byrkit.
Starring: Johnny Depp (Rango / Lars), Isla Fisher (Beans), Abigail Breslin (Priscilla), Ned Beatty (Mayor), Alfred Molina (Roadkill), Bill Nighy (Rattlesnake Jake), Stephen Root (Doc / Merrimack / Mr. Snuggles), Harry Dean Stanton (Balthazar), Timothy Olyphant (Spirit of the West), Ray Winstone (Bad Bill), Ian Abercrombie (Ambrose).

Rango is an animated comedy that children are going to enjoy because it’s fast paced, colorful and funny – but that adults, especially adult film lovers – are going to absolutely love. It has been a while since I had as much fun at a movie as I did at Rango, which is proof that Pixar is not the only outfit out there making great animated film. This film is from Gore Verbinski, who has spent the better part of his career making Pirates of the Caribbean movies (although he is not doing the next one). This film, like the first Pirates movie, is fun, fast paced, witty and drowning in movie love. For a film lover like me, nothing could be better.

Rango is a lizard who leads a lonely existence. He fancies himself an actor, and puts on elaborate plays, but there is no one there to watch them, or even to act with him – his companions are a toy fish and a headless Barbie doll. We soon find out why – Rango is someone’s pet, but when the car he is riding in hits a bump, his aquarium falls out and smashes on the ground, leaving Rango, for the first time in his life, to fend for himself. He meets the aptly named Roadkill, who tells him of a town out in the desert, so off Rango goes, crossing the desert on foot. When he gets to the town, it is straight out of an old Western. The town is suffering its worst drought ever, with water nowhere to be found. Rango is not exactly welcomed into the community – so he becomes an actor once again, and puts on a tough façade. Through a series of weird things, he kills an eagle, and becomes a hero. But it isn’t long before the real Rango comes out.

The plot is pretty much standard issue kids movie stuff – the hero acts like a tough guy, even though he’s not, and then gets humiliated and leaves – only to triumphantly return in the last reel. Come to think of it, that describes many Westerns as well. Verbinski is a clever director, and he plays with Western stereotypes the whole way through. Film buffs will love to spot the film references littered throughout the movie, both obvious and not so obvious. Verbinski also fills the screen with so much clever visual details, I have a feeling it is going to take a few times through in order to catch them all.

The supporting cast of characters helps Verbinski a great deal in poking loving fun of the old Westerns. I particularly loved Ned Beatty as the turtle mayor of the small town, who looks, sounds and acts just like you expect Chinatown era John Huston would – if he was a turtle of course. Isla Fisher is the lovable love interest for Rango – a no nonsense farm girl, trying to make her way after her father’s tragic death. Bill Nighy is excellent as the evil rattlesnake (is there any other kind?). Abigail Breslin has the role of the smart aleck kid who gets to tell Rango that “Strangers don’t last long around here” – and the Stephen Root plays a trio of characters, who are comic versions of the stock characters we saw in all those John Ford westerns. And finally, I will not spoil one of my favorite moments in the film, but I did love Timothy Olyphant as the “Spirit of the West”.

But this really is Johnny Depp’s film, even though he is only a voice behind Rango, it continues his string of lovably eccentric characters, where Depp makes interesting choices in his performance. In fact, it was actually quite refreshing to see (or I guess hear) Depp be this good in a film – as it has been a while since he did more than just coast, either on his charm or his weirdness. His Rango truly is a wonderful comic creation for Depp.

I have always thought that Verbinski was an underrated director. He improved upon what I thought was an overrated Japanese horror movie when he made The Ring, and his The Weatherman is one of the most underrated dark comedies of the last decade. The Pirates movies became far more bloated than they should have been as they moved along, and I am glad that he is finally out from under them, but at their best, they did show some great imagination on his part. Rango takes that all a step further, and proves that Verbinski is the real deal. I had an almost impossible amount of fun at Rango – if I see a better animated film in 2011, I will be truly stunned.

Movie Review: The Illusionist

The Illusionist *** ½
Directed by: Sylvain Chomet
Written By: Sylvain Chomet & Jacques Tati.
Starring: Jean-Claude Donda (The Illusionist), Eilidh Rankin (Alice).

It was only during the past year that I discovered the joy of the films of French director Jacques Tati. He was a director born a little too late – he had the soul of a silent cinema clown, perhaps a little more Chaplin than Keaton, but in the same league as both. His films, starring himself as the delightfully clueless Mr. Hulot, were masterworks of physical comedy, but also had a rather sad soul – the feeling that Mr. Hulot was being left behind. Somehow director Sylvain Chomet, who made the wonderful The Triplets of Belleville a few years ago, got his hands on an unproduced screenplay by Jacques Tati, and decided to adapt it for an animated film. This choice was inspired, and the only real way to do the film without Tati – there is no actor out there now who could do Tati better than he could. The Illusionist is a remarkable film in that it combines the work of these two great filmmakers into one film that is pretty much seamless.

The film is about an Illusionist, a magician if you prefer, in the late 1950s. The days of vaudeville, when he was a star, are long gone, but he still dutifully travels the circuit, playing to smaller and smaller crowds, who would rather see rock groups then his classic tricks. His travels take him to Scotland, where the drunken crowd seems to love him. He ends up travelling with a young woman named Alice – nothing romantic mind you, but she wants out of her small town life, and he wants a companion that won’t bite him like his uncooperative rabbit does. They are two lost souls who connect, if only briefly.

The film is full of little moments of humor and humanity. That damn rabbit, who is always getting into trouble by jumping out of the hat at the wrong time. A wonderful sequence where the illusionist takes a job as a mechanic on the night shift to try and make ends meet – but proves himself woefully inept at it. The looks exchanged between him and Alice – and later between Alice and a young man her own age, as she grows away from the illusionist. And the sad sequence where the illusionist has to perform his act in a store window, as a means to sell perfume.

The animation by Chomet is wonderful at every turn. The Illusionist really does look like Tati, and moves like him as well. You cannot mistake Tati’s movements for anyone else’s – just like you cannot mistake Chaplin’s or Keaton’s. Tati was a fully formed comic persona, and this movie does him proud. But it is also perhaps a little more sad that Hulot’s films – the Illusionist is not Mr. Hulot, who was clueless to his surroundings most of the time. The Illusionist here is all too aware of what is going on – but seems powerless to stop it.

The ending of the film is really where it all comes together. There is a sequence after the characters leave the story, of just buildings – old theaters as they shut down, and this is a quietly brilliant moment, a stretch of film that regretfully shows the passing of an era never to be heard from again. It is a brilliant moment.

If at the end of the day I do not feel that the film is quite as good as Tati’s work – or The Triplets of Belleville for that matter, it is perhaps because as a strange amalgam of the two director’s style, it lacks a little bit of the originality of both. Watching the film, I wondered at times what Tati would have done with the material – what touches he would have brought both in his direction and his acting. As well, I kept wondering what the film would have been like if Chomet hadn’t decided to make it slightly more in Tati’s style – the strange shapes, the surreal characters of his first feature are lacking through much of the film (although I love the impossibly skinny singer at the beginning of the film).

But that is a minor complaint to what I think is an excellent film. Chomet and Tati have collaborated in a strange way here – without one of them even knowing it (Tati died in 1982). The result is a film that neither would have made the same way without the other. And it is certainly one of the best animated films of the year.

Movie Review: Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole ***
Directed by: Zack Snyder.
Written By: John Orloff and Emil Stern based on the books by Kathryn Lasky.
Starring: Jim Sturgess (Soren), Geoffrey Rush (Ezylryb), Helen Mirren (Nyra), Emily Barclay (Gylfie), Abbie Cornish (Otulissa), Joel Edgerton (Metalbeak), Ryan Kwanten (Kludd), Sam Neill (Allomere), Anthony LaPaglia (Twilight), Miriam Margolyes (Mrs. Plithiver), Hugo Weaving (Noctus / Grimble), David Wenham (Digger), Leigh Whannell (Jatt).

Zack Snyder has made a name for himself directing ultra violent films like Dawn of the Dead, 300 and Watchmen. His films are largely visceral experiences that depend more on visuals than on writing or either logic. I admired Dawn of the Dead as a straight ahead horror film, hated 300 because it was overly repetitive and quite enjoyed Watchmen, even if it showed little imagination in translating Alan Moore’s classic graphic novel. What I did not expect from Snyder was for him to go from those three films to an animated film about owls. But now having seen the film, I can say with confidence that Legend of the Guardians is precisely the animated film about owls you would expect from the director of 300. It is much darker and more violent than most animated films aimed at children. But it is dark in the way that children’s films used to be dark - preying on the fears of children to get into their heads. When you think back to films like The Wizard of Oz or some of the early Disney films, they did something similar. Yes, this film is more violent and stylized than those films, but I was still reminded of them when watching this film.

As a young owling Soren hears tales from his father about the legendary Guardians of Ga’Hoole, a band of heroic owls who fought bravely against the evil Metalbeak to free all the owl kingdoms. His brother Kludd doesn’t put much stock in these stories, but Soren eats them up. It isn’t long however before their idyllic life is broken when both brothers are kidnapped and taken to the home base of Metalbeak, who is rebuilding his army of Pures, to take another run at the Guardians. These scenes are perhaps the most disturbing of any in the film - the images deliberately call to mind the Holocaust, with the “lower” owls being turned into mindless slaves of the upper class. Of course, it isn’t long before Soren escapes and goes looking for the Guardians to once again save the day. Kludd on the other hand, buys into Metalbeak’s philosophy hook, line and sinker - setting up a classic brother vs. brother climatic fight. When Soren does finally get to the Guardians, they are everything he dreamed of and more - especially the wise old Ezylryb, who takes him under his wing to make him a better owl.

Like all of Snyder’s films (and judging on the previews for Sucker Punch, this trend will continue), Legend of the Guardians is hyper stylized - perhaps too much so at times. He loves to use slow motion to heighten reality and violence and to try and make his films more visceral and impactful. It works here better than at other times in his career - after all, animation is all about style. Yet, to a certain extent I think Snyder will be a better director when he learns that sometimes less is more - you don’t have to direct every scene dialed up all the way to 11.

Legend of the Guardians is a dark film - a violent film - and it will likely not be good for really young children, who are going to be scared by much of the film - especially the evil Metalbeak. But older children will most likely eat it up - and fans of Snyder’s other films, which were all hard R rated action films, should give it a chance as well - it delivers what they want out of a Snyder film no matter who the main characters are. For the second time this year (following Toy Story 3), an animated film invokes images of the Holocaust for affect. When Toy Story did it, it made me cry. When it was done here, it was more disturbing.

Legend of the Guardians is a fine film. It was animated in the same style that Happy Feet used - by George Miller another director known more for live action than animation. It perhaps moves too quickly - never really settling down and instead trying to go for the throat at all times. But while I don’t think it’s a great film, it is a very good one, and a worthy film in Snyder’s continuing development as a director.

Movie Review: Tangled

Tangled ***
Directed By: Nathan Greno & Byron Howard.
Written By: Dan Fogelman based on the Grimm Brothers Fairy Tale.
Starring: Mandy Moore (Rapunzel), Zachary Levi (Flynn Ryder), Donna Murphy (Mother Gothel), Ron Perlman (Stabbington Brother), M.C. Gainey (Captain of the Guard), Jeffrey Tambor (Big Nose Thug), Brad Garrett (Hook Hand Thug), Paul F. Tompkins (Short Thug), Richard Kiel (Vlad), Delaney Rose Stein (Young Rapunzel / Little Girl).

I have mixed feelings about Tangled – although perhaps it’s not fair to blame the movie for them. On one hand, Tangled is an animated movie in the best tradition of Disney – a beautiful princess, a roguish hero, an evil “stepmother”, lovable animals and cheery songs (although it must be said that this time, the songs are mostly forgettable, even if they work in the movie). On the other hand though, I really do think Tangled should have been a traditionally animated Disney movie. The animators do a decent job at recreating the classic character designs we have seen in the Disney animated movies, but the fact that this time it is all computer generated means for me something was lacking. Comparing Tangled to The Princess and the Frog from last year, which maintained that traditional feel, I preferred The Princess and the Frog. That is just something not quite right about this type of animation applied to the Disney formula. The kids won’t care though – they’ll have a blast at Tangled – but for adults raised on Disney cartoons like myself, it just didn’t seem right.

That doesn’t mean I didn’t like Tangled –once I got past my hesitation about the animation, and just let the movie work on its own terms, I really quite enjoyed it. Tangled does what Disney movies have done for decades – take an existing fairy tale, and made a highly enjoyable movie out of it. This time, it is the story of Rapunzel – that princess with the really long hair, locked away in a tower for her whole life by an evil stepmother Gothel (great name by the way), who wants the healing power her hair possesses all for herself. She has told Rapunzel, who is really the long lost daughter of the King and Queen, that she is her mother and that the world is a mean and evil place and that she could never survive by herself. But Rapunzel has dreams of getting out in the world. Every year on her birthday, she sees floating lights in the sky, and wants to see them up close. She doesn’t know of course that those lights are released by her parents and their subjects as a tribute to her. When a thief named Flynn Ryder shows up at her tower, on the run both from his cohorts and the King’s guard for stealing the Princess’ crown, she makes him a deal. She will let him leave with the crown, if she’ll take her to see those lights on her birthday in a few days. She thinks she has dispatched with Gothel for a few days, and what she doesn’t know won’t hurt her. Of course, things never work out as simply as Rapunzel thinks they will.

I enjoyed Tangled for what it is. This is a fairy tale, although one with a little bit more of a modern feel to it, I enjoyed the voice work by Zachery Levi (from TV’s Chuck) as Flynn, and really quite liked Mandy Moore who does a wonderful job with Rapunzel – making her lovingly naïve and sweet. Donna Murphy has the appropriate evil dripping out of her voice as Gothel, and the rest of the cast is fine as well.

And even if I think it should have been traditionally animated, I did like a lot of the animated touches to the movie as well. I loved Rapunzel’s chameleon friend Padel, who changes colors to fit in everywhere, and I really loved the horse Maximus, who acts like a hound dog, and has a series of wonderful facial expressions. The human characters aren’t quite as well done, but they are acceptable, and the settings are fine. There really are some wonderful touches here. I generally dislike 3-D immensely, so I saw it in 2-D, and the colors were bright and sunny, and worked wonderfully well.

Kids, especially little girls, are going to love Tangled. My niece loves all of those Disney Princesses, and Rapunzel fits in right alongside them quite well. Perhaps when Disney does another of their more traditional animated films in this style, I will simply accept it and move on. This time though, seeing the classic Disney story fitted into computer animation felt a little disconcerting at times. Not enough for me not to like Tangled – but enough for me not to love it.

Movie Review: Megamind

Megamind ***
Directed by: Tom McGrath.
Written By: Alan J. Schoolcraft & Brent Simons.
Starring: Will Ferrell (Megamind), Brad Pitt (Metro Man), Tina Fey (Roxanne Ritchi), Jonah Hill (Tighten), David Cross (Minion), J.K. Simmons (Warden), Ben Stiller (Bernard).

A super villain cannot really exist unless he has a superhero to duel with. Life would become too boring if he was simply able to roll over everyone in their path with their superior intellect, strength or weaponry. This is the problem that poor Megamind faces early in his movie. He may not have been born to be a supervillian, but given his childhood it’s not really a surprise that he became one. As his galaxy was being eaten by a black hole, his parents sent him to earth in one of those pods – unfortunately another child from another planet was also sent at the same time. While Megamind is blue and has a huge head, and ends up being raised in a prison, the other child looks human, although incredibly attractive, and is raise by rich people. Megamind cannot seem to do anything right, while the other kid does everything perfectly – and can fly to boot. They hate each other from the beginning, and when they grow up, they start a war in Metro City, where poor Megamind always loses to his foe – now known as Metro Man. Megamind’s only friend is Minion, his fish. But then a strange thing happens – Megamind wins. Metro Man is killed, and no one can stand in Megamind’s way anymore. He can everything he always wanted – and he is miserable.

Megamind, the movie, feels right at home in the superhero genre. It is a bright and colorful animated film, that knows the rules of the genre and has a lot of fun with them. It doesn’t reach the heights of The Incredibles a few years ago, or even Despicable Me from earlier this year which also centered on a supervillian, but it’s fun in its own right.

I particularly loved the voice work in the film. Will Ferrell is certainly having fun as Megamind – I love the way he slightly mispronounced words (like Metrcity instead of Metro City). He is wonderful as the supervillian suffering delusions of grandeur, and relishing in his own evil, and he also does a nice transition when Megamind finds his conscience. Brad Pitt, who I think may be doing an impression of his friend George Clooney, is great as Metro Man as well – all perfect and shiny, it can’t be easy to be a hero like him. I love the overly dramatic David Cross as Megamind’s Minion, appropriately named Minion (which, I presume coincidently, is what Gru’s minions were called in Despicable Me). Jonah Hill is quite good as a loser cameraman who becomes a hero – and then a villain – pretty quickly. And Tina Fey is perhaps best of all as a spunky female reporter – aren’t they all.

Megamind is not a great animated film. It is a little too by the numbers for that, and as I mentioned, the film doesn’t reach the thrilling heights of The Incredibles, and doesn’t quite melt your heart like Despicable Me. And yet, it is a film that I think is a must see for super hero fans. So many of the superhero movies now take themselves so seriously – even great ones like The Dark Knight. It’s nice to see a movie in this genre with a sense of humor about itself. And Megamind fits the bill.