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Reviews
Up (2009)
Fairly uplifiting but highly imperfect
It was a good movie, but not great. The beginning sequence was well-done, tender, and sweet, but it was not quite as emotionally affecting as I expected. I would have liked to see a couple more scenes of Carl and Ellie interacting with dialog because the scenes with them as kids didn't quite cut it for me...I liked how it set up Carl's instantaneous love for Ellie, foreshadowing the endurance of his love for her, but her character came off as unique (which was good) but also kind of annoying. If we got to see a little more of her character and dynamic with Carl, maybe a scene of her showing some love for him, I think the following music-only sequence and the whole movie would have been more emotionally compelling.
Anyway, Carl as a character was a good protagonist, not the stereotypical, grumpy old man one might expect but instead a quiet, relatable human being. Russel, on the other hand, wasn't the best counterpart for Carl; he had some good moments, but was overall pretty typical and annoying at parts.
And while I liked Kevin and Dug, I didn't care for their introduction and their plots. The fact that a giant bird, a pack of talking dogs, and a crazy old man comprise a large part of the story doesn't sit well with me, especially since the movie at first seemed to be rooted in realism (a balloon-propelled house isn't entirely realistic, of course, but it is not cartoonish like the aforementioned elements are).
I would have overall preferred if the movie kept a sense of realism to it; there are plenty of ways to have adventures without all that hyper-cartoonish stuff. Even Muntz was a bit cartoonish for such a movie. However, while I would have liked the movie better without these unrealistic plots, they ended up working pretty well once the real point of them as a new adventure for Carl--an adventure to bring him and Russel together in a strong way and for a common good--was more firmly established and explored. However, this purpose still could have been accomplished in a less cartoonish way.
As for humor, I didn't find many of the jokes to be funny. Maybe a couple were, but overall, it was kind of weak on humor. Several gags were predictable, and even those that were decent weren't great. I also think the writers thought Russel was a lot funnier than he actually was. And as for the emotion, there were some lines and scenes that seemed forced (for example, Russel's stories about his father), but there were other scenes that got the emotion just right; it worked best when it was understated and subtle.
My favorite scene in the movie was when Carl looked through Ellie's "Adventure Book" and saw the photos of their enduring marriage inside with the final note of "Thanks for the adventure. Now have a new one!" A very simple yet powerful scene, in my opinion. And while I found the ending to be very predictable and the scene with the badge lacked the emotional impact it wanted to have, I did like the final scene of Carl and Russel eating ice cream and counting cars (unfortunately, it was the first time I felt a real bond between the characters.) Anyway, the end credits were really great too, very nicely summing up the whole message of the film...one of my favorite parts of the whole movie, actually. And this message of everyday life being an adventure when spent with someone you love was really nice, one of the best things about the movie.
Technically speaking, the visuals were pretty great. I saw it in 3D, and it utilized the 3D well without overdoing it. The only thing that bothered me a little was that parts of Carl looked strange...his ears and hands mainly. But overall, really nice-looking movie. Oh, and the music (particularly the old-fashioned piano music) was awesome.
In précis, probably worthy of a B/B-. Tentative grade, but there it is. Didn't reach the heights of emotion and beauty of "Wall-E"; didn't as successfully accomplish the feeling of friendship and fun like "Toy Story" did, but still a fairly solid Pixar film.
Monsters vs Aliens (2009)
A monstrous movie
I was excited to see this movie, especially since I had never seen a 3D animated feature before. However, I ended up walking out of the theater when the movie was about two-thirds over.
The plot was entirely cliché (wow, Derrick is a selfish jerk who rejects Susan once she's a monster? But Susan actually enjoys being a monster? Didn't see that coming!) and the characters were just as one-dimensional (Susan herself was a stereotypical "sweet" female protagonist who--after being predictably rejected by her love--finds new power and independence in herself, hurray! And her friends all fit into the typical, "sidekick" frames; you have the mad scientist, the arrogant tough guy, and the dumb, likable comic relief.)
Nothing pushed the boundaries here; it was all based on tired clichés and poor, lazy executions of them, including the humor: trite, contrived, unfunny, and failed attempts at being hip and modern and unexpected, catering to that weird demographic of people that most animated movies tend to cater to nowadays...not sure quite what it is, average American parents that they know will be dragged to the movie?
It's as if they are trying to find the most "adult" gags that they can place in a kid-oriented film to get adults laughing "in spite of themselves", even though the gags are aimed towards them in the first place, instead of finding gags that are natural, flow with the story and characters, and appeal to a broad range of ages. And supposedly the 3D animation was innovative for its field, but I found it underwhelming...only a few parts were enhanced by the 3D animation.
Overall, it's not the worst animated film I've seen, but it has barely any (if any) redeeming factors, so it still gets a rating of 1/10 from me.
Robin Hood (1973)
Disney's very finest offering and one of the best movies of all-time
Just saw this movie for the first time this year and rewatched it the other day. The first time I saw it, I thought it was utterly brilliant. The second time? Utterly brilliant. One of the few films that remains just as excellent on rewatch and possibly even gets better.
I'm shocked and disconcerted to hear it's considered by some to be one of the worst classic Disney films. If this movie is an really an example of Disney when it's being half-assed, then I wish it would half-ass its movies more often, because the result of their supposed insouciance is a wonderful, delightful, and perfect movie, an extremely charming, fun, and well-written interpretation of "Robin Hood".
I think one thing that seems to throw some people off about it is that it's not like any Disney movie that came before it. To me, that's part of what makes it so fantastic. Many of the jokes and scenes are ones I wouldn't expect to see from a Disney movie, and it seemed like this was the first Disney movie that wasn't afraid of taking a few risks with its characters, jokes, tone, structure, et cetera. And the risks they took with comedy stand the test of time; the jokes in this movie are not dated or forced in the slightest.
The lack of an overarching plot was another thing I love about the movie. It all flowed very well and sucked me into the world of Nottingham, as the narrative depicted a time period in the lives of the denizens. Instead of offering a formulaic, beginning-middle-end type of plot, it offered several episodes of different events in Nottingham, each intriguing and engaging.
These episodes also balanced each other out quite well in tone; we got to see both the carefree, down-to-earth moments and the darker plights of all the characters, making the whole movie feel very well-rounded and very real. It wasn't as if the movie portrayed everything in black-and-white. There were shades of happiness in the sadness, and it was great to see the characters sometimes be able to forget about their struggles for the time being and just live in the moment. The happy moments made me feel happy and free, and the sadder moments touched me. The emotion was handled in a very rare way: it was subtle and understated, executed perfectly, not overdone, not forced, and not unconvincing.
While this lighthearted yet dark, exciting, and yet down-to-earth tone and the sporadic structure were two things I really love about the movie, I think its strongest point lies in its characters. They were not cookie-cut-outs of their traditional roles and were subtly multifaceted. Robin Hood himself was not exactly a perfect Prince Charming, but yet was much more charming than any of the heroes that preceded him (and most of those who were his successors). He was engaging in every scene he was featured; he was funny, compassionate and selfless, intelligent and clever, jovial and fun despite his mission of great somberness, and is easily one of the most likable and quite admirable Disney heroes.
Maid Marian could have been typical in her role, but instead she still came off as quite unique, as she carried with her none of the usual melodrama and overreactions of most Disney female characters; she was instead genuinely lighthearted, caring, and kind-hearted, a perfect match for Robin Hood. Little John, while not shown as often as I'd like, served as a perfect foil for Robin Hood in the scenes he did have, was just a very entertaining character overall, and really was the one to save Robin Hood from Prince John...he was an overlooked hero, for sure, and his friendship with Robin was endearing.
Of course, Prince John and Hiss were hilarious. John's combination of being utterly insane, pathetic, spoiled, and at times just plain stupid made for an extremely funny and interesting character, and Hiss was a perfect counterpart for him. All the other characters--from the family of bunnies to Lady Cluck to the singing rooster to Friar Tuck to the sheriff--each had a discriminating personality all their own and all contributed something worthwhile to the film. It was definitely an ensemble film, completed with a greatly diversified and captivating ensemble of characters that play off each other wonderfully.
So, the only flaw I find in it is the one that's already been mentioned on here several times: the reused animation and choreography. That's not a major detriment at all though, and I really couldn't care less about it when the overall package of the movie was so spectacular. This movie just oozes with great spirit, camaraderie, fun, charm and delivers the very true and relevant message of the power of unity, hope, and love for one's fellow man in times of hardship. It's a pure joy to watch, my favorite Disney movie, and one of my favorite movies of all-time.
Space Chimps (2008)
Easily one of the worst movies I've ever seen
"There's no intelligent life here." Okay, so my brother and I have a tradition of seeing every animated film that comes to theaters; when we saw the previews for this movie, we thought it looked somewhat dumb but decent for some mindless entertainment nonetheless. I did not predict just how incredibly and irredeemably horrible this movie would be.
I'm someone who usually can be fairly lenient regarding movies as long as they are entertaining somehow. But while this movie certainly entertained me, as it was actually hilarious just how stupidly- and lazily-done the whole thing was, I obviously can't give it points for being entertaining only in the form of inspiring derision and incredulity.
Literally every single scene was a cringe-worthy one, laden with contrivance, predictability, and cliché. The whole story was as formulaic as one could get and pulled all the worn-out stops: the personality of the main character himself--who is pretty much a watered-down, unfunny, Kuzco wannabe; the unconvincing, charmless romance between two characters who supposedly clash at the start and fall in love through their shared adventure; the trite and forced internal conflict of the main character who tries to live up to his dead grandfather; the ridiculous and embarrassing villains; the attempts at sounding intelligent to fool the kids in the audience but failing to fool anyone older than maybe 10-years-old; and the triumphant--albeit completely uninspiring--end for the space chimps.
I honestly can't imagine that anyone would truly connect with the emotion the movie tried to suck out of its lazy and flat conflicts nor laugh at the painfully unfunny jokes seen hundreds of times in films before it. The pacing and writing seemed to make both these tasks impossible.
Every scene was so rushed that the characters and their dynamics with each other lacked any real development, and every attempt at making the audience feel what was going on in the moment (or even caring at all) was murdered by this fact. Obviously, I don't need to say much more about the writing quality than I already have; it was just lazy, lazy, lazy. I couldn't imagine anyone older than 12 writing this drivel, and it seemed as if the writers literally watched every animated film before this and wrote down only the most frequently-occurring, most unfunny gags from each of them, slapped it together, and called it "Space Chimps".
There were only maybe three to five lines that made me genuinely chuckle, but that does not redeem the movie from getting the grade it so deserves: F. And I rarely give F's out to anything, but this is easily the worst animated film I've ever seen. Period.