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bobby-maddox
Reviews
Brave (2012)
I really wanted Brave to be my new favorite Pixar movie, but it came up short.
The early trailers for this film convinced you that this was going to be an epic and magical adventure (with some whimsical humor) that the geniuses at Pixar were going to take you on--a redemption of Cars 2 of the previous year. As time went on, I began to see newer trailers/tv spots for the film, that left me in question.
Why are they marketing this as a down-right comedy now?
What's with the bear cub and the boobs thing?
Has Pixar lost their minds?
I saw the movie in theaters. I went in alone (as a film critic), still with very high expectations for the film despite the recent questionable advertisements it had.
The film starts out with Merida (the main character) as a little girl. It's her birthday, she gets a bow from her father as a gift. Little Merida goes into the forest to find her lost arrow, and finds what they call "wisps". She retrieves her lost arrow, and goes back to tell her parent what she saw, and then her party gets crashed by a 15 foot monster bear. You'd think all of these things would connect later in the movie or help along the plot... but no. Seriously, this opening sequence has nothing to do with what the film is really about.
Turns out that Merida's mother arranged for her to get married, and the suitors are on their way. Merida doesn't want to get married, and tries to break tradition in her own way, and runs away to find a witch in the forest who gives her a cake that changes her mother into a bear. And because the spell didn't do what she wanted, Merida is trying to get a refund. That's it.
Really there's no need for the movie to be called "Brave" since there were no achievements in bravery in this film. I personally though that "Rebel" would've been a better title since it was basically all about Merida's rebellion against her mother, family, and cultural traditions. And they for some reason throw the 15 foot bear back into the movie, as well as comic nudity (which I found to be more on Dreamworks' level) and a "hilarious" moment where the bear cub lands in a heavy-set servant woman's boobs (which I found had Disney written all over it).
Basically, the animation was beautiful, but the story was a mess. They had too many ideas for the story and it felt like they wanted to please all the story writers so they shoved everything in. This is sad because at one time, Pixar prided themselves on story. Everyone knows if a film doesn't have a good story, it's not going to be good. There are so many examples of that courtesy of Dreamworks Animation (Shrek the Third, Bee Movie, Madagascar 1).
I really wanted Brave to be my new favorite Pixar movie, but it came up short. Just like Cars 2, I enjoyed the Pixar animated short film more than the actual feature film. I will buy Brave on DVD in due time, (since I am a hardcore Pixar fan, and I own every movie), but like Cars 2 (which I also have on DVD) I will rarely watch it.
Disney has very much taken over Pixar, and it's really starting to show ever since Cars 2.
Monsters, Inc. (2001)
Also it was one of the first movies I ever saw, so it has a special effect on me, and always will.
Monster's Inc. is just pure brilliance. Not only is it my favorite animated film of all time, but now its one of my favoite 3D MOVIE ever. In my opinion the jokes are screamingly (no pun intended) funny, and the dialog is one of my favorite ever. I love every single character (Mike is my favorite), and all the voice acting is superb. The animation is fantastic and the cool twist on "the monster in the closet" is fun and very clever. One of my favorite scenes is when Mike and his girlfriend Celia are on a date at Harryhausens (a restaurant in Monstropolis) and Sully comes in with Boo and unintentionally crashes their date and Boo gets loose, it's hilarious havoc, and I love every minute, and of course every other scene in Monster's Inc. Like I said before, I love this movie, it's hilarious, creative, original, featuring awesome characters, this is a great film that everyone can enjoy. Also it was one of the first movies I ever saw, so it has a special effect on me, and always will.
Kubo and the Two Strings (2016)
Stellar artistry.
So this is about a boy named Kubo (Art Parkinson). He has already lost one eye back when he was an infant, but his grandfather is on mission to get his other. Kubo most locate pieces of a suit of armor to stand a chance of not going completely blind. Now this is the new stop motion feature from Laika Entertainment, and they have the stop motion animation game on lockdown. Seriously, the process of stop motion is so immensely tedious and time consuming that I cannot even begin to comprehend the man-hours that went into this. They've got something really good with Kubo, and while it's a fairly simple story being told, all of the artistry that went into this is nothing short of breathtaking. The story is not overly intricate, but not every tale has to be. It's very straightforward and will likely be familiar if you have seen more than a half-dozen fantasy movies, or even heard your share of bedtime stories, for that matter. It lays everything out for you in the opening ten minutes with Kubo's storytelling to the townsfolk, and it then proceeds to show you that story happen to Kubo. One of the coolest effects in this is Kubo's special ability: he has this shamisen (an instrument that is similar to a guitar), and when he plays it, he can make paper do whatever he wants. It leads to some jaw dropping visuals, and I quite frankly do not understand how exactly they got this looking as tight and as seamless as they did. Just like in The Boxtrolls, you don't fully appreciate the film until you get to the end credits where they give you just a small taste of the animators at work, and you see them put together a 10 second scene at 100x speed. I honestly don't know how kids are going to respond to this, as there are a number of unexpected horror elements to it; there's a scene pretty early on with "the sisters", and it is something that is straight out of a modern effective horror thriller, which could potentially give children nightmares. There is so much style, great music, and attention to detail, it's hard not to love it, at the very least from an appreciation standpoint. I would love to see a "making of" documentary on this, it really is that well crafted. The animation is the star, and Laika has outdone themselves.
Zootopia (2016)
This is nothing like any other Disney animated movie at all
I'm sure many people saw this as just another CG animal movie, and moved on. This is nothing like any other Disney animated movie at all. It doesn't follow the "rules" as we know them. It's fantastic, and should be seen by a much broader audience, including adults. Heck, I'd say a lot of what is going on here is actually aimed at the older audience. This movie has a lot to say about society and culture, and how anyone who dares to be different is treated.
The animation itself is incredible. Super colorful, with many varied environments. CG animation has truly reached a point of super smooth perfection, and I can't see it getting much better than this.
The story makes this pretty unique over so many other CG animated movies. This is pretty much a detective story. A caper. Crimes are happening, and they need to be solved.
I highly recommend this to everyone.
Puss in Boots (2011)
The classic movie that I will always come back to watch.
I first went into this film expecting a fun animated movie, but the further in I got it got better and better. The Shrek franchise has always had the best looking CGI films and Puss in Boots is no exception. Everything about it looked so realistic, from the water to the fur to the dust to the people, it was breathtaking and really helped you to get more into the story. Speaking of story Puss in Boots has one of the most solid scripts I've ever seen for an animated movie. Everything made perfect sense and there were no unanswered questions which left me completely satisfied. Every single character had depth to them and made have an emotional connection to them, heck *spoiler alert* I even felt really bad when Humpty Dumpty died. And the writers didn't stuff as many fairy tale references as they could into this like they did with Shrek, no they put in the perfect amount. Every story referenced actually impacted the story and eventually led to one of the greatest chase scenes that I have ever seen, no joke! In the end Puss in Boots is a fantastic addition the the Shrek franchise showing us Puss's origin while still delivering a classic movie that I will always come back to watch.
Kung Fu Panda (2008)
Very good animated movie...
The story was great and the background was beautiful, it really felt like an ancient Chinese city. The story is about Po, an overweight panda who is the son of a noodle maker, who dreams of Po following in his footsteps. But Po longs to be a ninja fighter. Po is as you know is a panda bear and the film's unlikely hero: as the bigger than life and completely lovable bear voiced by the comic genius Jack Black. Po is a Sweet but clumsy, bear who hears the news the ancient and long awaited dragon warrior will be named, so he runs (as much as he can) to hear who will be named at the celebration.
Without giving too much away, when an "accident" seems to name Po as the dragon warrior (much to the horror of Master Shifu (voiced perfectly by Dustin Hoffman) and the disappointment of Furious Five: Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Viper (Lucy Liu), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Crane (David Cross) and Monkey (Jackie Chan). Shifu must find a way to train him. One hilarious moment after another continues until Shifu recognizes Po's true driving force. This is just in time as the villain Tai Lung (Ian McShane), a snow leopard has returned as he believe is the true Dragon Warrior.
I really like it.
Monsters vs Aliens (2009)
7/10
The best that the second tier animated movies has to offer. By second tier, I mean the movies like Megamind and Cars. This movie had me really laughing a lot.
The movie is about Susan. Through an odd turn of events, she is turned into a giant. She is then taken to a compound with other monsters, where no one gets out. But when the world needs help, there is only one place to turn, to the monsters.
Every one in this voice cast is hilarious, starting with Reese Witherspoon. She is great as Susan. Seth Rogan is amazing as B.O.B. much better than his role in Kung Fu Panda. Hugh Laurie is second funniest, behind Rogan, as Dr. Cockroach, Ph.D. Also Kiefer Sutherland is super funny as General W.R. Monger. Being a huge 24 fan, Sutherland in a kids movie was fun to see.
Overall, its not up with the greats in animated movies. But its as close to that first class as any of them.
"You see what I mean? No one's leaving. No one's ever getting out...Good news, monsters! You're getting out!...Until today."
The Boss Baby (2017)
The Boss Baby 6/10
The main problem with "The Boss Baby" is that it's a Good movie in a time where awesome animated movies are made. Let's face it, animated films are not only for kids, studios like Disney and Pixar tend to make films that entertain adults before children (Toy Story, Inside Out) and this step raised the competition level. Don't get me wrong, The Boss Baby is not a bad film, it has really strong material: A great Story, a solid performance by Alec Baldwin and big message to deliver. But still you feel like 80% of the jokes are made for kids (and I mean zero to five years). The animation had some ups and downs, the scenes where we go into Tim's imagination are annoying and the use of colors didn't always help. I don't know if anybody else noticed but there was so many "easter eggs" from other animated film especially by Pixar (The Dinosaur toy looks just like Rex from Toy Story....). The Boss Baby is a good popcorn/late The Boss Baby 6/10
The main problem with "The Boss Baby" is that it's a Good movie in a time where awesome animated movies are made. Let's face it, animated films are not only for kids, studios like Disney and Pixar tend to make films that entertain adults before children (Toy Story, Inside Out) and this step raised the competition level. Don't get me wrong, The Boss Baby is not a bad film, it has really strong material: A great Story, a solid performance by Alec Baldwin and big message to deliver. But still you feel like 80% of the jokes are made for kids (and I mean zero to five years). The animation had some ups and downs, the scenes where we go into Tim's imagination are annoying and the use of colors didn't always help. I don't know if anybody else noticed but there was so many "easter eggs" from other animated film especially by Pixar (The Dinosaur toy looks just like Rex from Toy Story....). The Boss Baby is a good popcorn/late night movie, not more
Snezhnaya Koroleva 3: Ogon' i Lyod (2016)
Deserve your attention
With Snow Queen 3: Fire and Ice Wizart Animation joins Disney Studios in rejecting scenario, where love saves the day. Gerda and Kai come from a tale by Hans Christian Andersen and the action takes place in the land of the trolls. Wizart Animation aims for the international market and Snow Queen 3 was released in many countries included Asia, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe. The film delivers what might be called universal messages. Furthermore, Snow Queen 3 is fully in line with the Disney wholesomeness approach to filmmaking. This film does have its merits! It is strikingly beautiful. The Snow Queen is made in 3-D and it is gorgeous. The fire scenes are especially effective. Rollan with his burning hair and glowing suit is striking, as is Lake Gao, the forbidden lake of fire which Gerda and Rollan must cross. The fire-tossing scenes are vivid as are the scenes where Gerda makes ice formations. Film is highly recommended to watch with the whole family! Everybody finds something interesting in it!
Snezhnaya Koroleva 2: Perezamorozka (2014)
Better than the first one!
SQ2
THIS sequel is much better than the first part. Great visuals, dynamic and interesting plot. While the main idea of the first film continues its logical development in the second, this film is fun to watch it its own. Once again, the viewer is shown that the main battle between good and evil occurs in the soul of every person, that it is never too late to go over to the side of the good and the truth. The movie will be interesting for both adults and children. I liked it!
Volki i ovtsy. Beeezumnoe prevrashchenie (2016)
Another Fairy Tale
The 3D animated movie 'Sheep and Wolves' was released in 2016. The cartoon turned out professional and high quality. Absolutely all the characters in it look very cute, the scoring is perfect, jokes here are nice. Graphic is quality, it's just superb. The plot is simply wonderful, the viewer will plunge completely headlong into the whirlpool of remarkable adventures. The movie looks fun, easy and in one go. I recommend the Sheep and Wolves for family viewing. I wish you all a pleasant viewing and cheering.
Shrek 2 (2004)
Wonderfully funny and fun
Picking up where the first Shrek movie left off, Shrek and Fiona are now happily married and living in Shrek's house in the swamp. Donkey reappears, much to Shrek and Fiona's annoyance. The King and Queen of Far Far Away hear of their daughter's (Fiona) marriage and invite Shrek and Fiona to the palace to celebrate. When the King discover's that Shrek is an ogre he is immediately opposed to the marriage. Prince Charming, who is determined to marry Fiona, appears and he and the King band together to separate Shrek and Fiona and get Fiona to marry Prince Charming. The Fairy Godmother also appears, and she is not as benevolent as you think.
Good fun, with some great jokes. Mixes medieval settings with modern in-jokes and parodies. Quite clever, some of the jokes - definitely not just a movie for kids.
Rollicks along at a good pace. There are some silly sub-plots but these don't consume too much of the time and are glossed over through the frenetic pace.
Great use of well-known characters from children's fables, eg Puss in Boots, Pinocchio, The Three Little Pigs.
Superb animation, as you would expect from DreamWorks.
Spot-on voice casting too. Pick of the bunch, for me, is Jennifer Saunders as the Fairy Godmother. She gets some of the best lines and her deliver is brilliant.
There is a large amount of music in the movie, not to the extent that it is a musical (thankfully), but enough to make it more than just background. The songs are a bit hit-and-miss. Some (eg Eels' ""I need some sleep"") fit in well with the movie and help the tone, while others just feel like populist fluff. On the whole, the choice of music hinders more than helps the movie.
Overall, an entertaining way to spend 1 1/2 hours or so."
Coco (2017)
Best of 2018
This is quite possibly one of the most gorgeous, touching, well-made films Pixar has ever released, and it is certainly my favorite since Tangled. I was not expecting anything quite so fulsilling when I walked into the theater; I was hoping to relax with a cute movie that maybe I'd watch again someday, if it was on. What I was presented with was something that moved me to tears, not only as a young person but as an aspiring artist. I raved about this movie for days after to anyone that would listen, and it took everything in my power not to spoil everything about it in my excitement. I would absolutely recommend this movie for people of ALL AGES. Young people will love the beautiful visuals, interesting characters, and fun music, whereas older audiences will fall in love with the rich storyline and intricate plot twists. It is so refreshing to see a film that is truly built from pure, raw, unadulterated passion. Even the music has a natural, organic feel, unlike the processed songs we've gotten from Disney in the past. This is a must-see.
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009)
something new?
"Ever since he was a kid, Flint Lockwood was an inventor but not a very good one, seeing as how none of his inventions have turned out as planned. So, his father has him work in his bait shop full time. Not going to give up easily, Flint has one more invention up his sleeve, one that should create food out of water for the sardine overdosed population of the island where he lives. And like all the others, this one ends in failure, too, even destroying Sardineland, whose opening Sam Sparks, an intern from the Weather News Network, was covering. But then, there are signs of success...
With animation that is less than satisfying and unimaginative, the best that could be said about ""Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs"" is that it does manage to be silly on occasion with one great joke. And with the exception of Bruce Campbell's fantastic vocal work, that's pretty much it.(Does he do a lot of this or did somebody else miss their calling?) While I do salute the movie for favoring intelligence, especially with women, it does not help that the so called hero is something of a jerk. And the central message surrounding overconsumption and the 'obesity epidemic' is severely heavy handed when considering that Flint's invention would have great potential for those parts of the globe where people are going hungry."