Movie 48: Bolt

October 6, 2014October 6, 2014 | Rachel's Reviews

Sometimes there are movies which are not exactly bad but a week after you’ve seen them you can’t remember anything about them, or that you even saw them at all. Bolt is kind of that movie.

There’s nothing wrong with Bolt. I had a pleasant experience watching it but if I wasn’t taking notes I would be able to tell you very little about it just minutes after seeing it. Bolt is like the movie equivalent of fast food- tastes pretty good but no nutritional value.

Production-

Bolt was first created by Chris Sanders, the writer of Lilo and Stitch. However, at the beginning of production his script was swapped out and Chris Williams, the co-director was brought on board.

They made Bolt in only 18 months as opposed to 4 years and John Lasseter from Pixar was involved in rewrites just like Meet the Robinsons.

The voice-cast includes John Travolta, Susie Essman, and Miley Cyrus (if you are thinking you hate Miley she is fine in this).

They developed 2 new technologies for the 3D in the Bolt and it was nominated for Best Animated film but lost to WALL-E (duh!)

The Story-

Here’s a trailer

The biggest problem with this movie is it is too long. Most Disney movies are around 75 minutes. This is 96 and you feel those extra minutes.

Especially at the beginning where we get a scene from Bolt and Penny’s TV show that goes on forever. 25 minutes!! It just starts to get ridiculous after a while.

I know we aren’t supposed to take a movie like this seriously but there are aspects which are tough to believe even in this setting. The idea is Bolt is the star of a TV show where he literally believes he is responsible for saving the world. They keep him sheltered and feed him this lie so he can be a ‘method acting’ dog. Evidently this show has a budget bigger than The Avengers destroying a dozen cars and a helicopter in the first scenes. .

The director claims they never do reshoots and evidently shoot in chronological order so the dog doesn’t know it isn’t real. Insane. Even for TV they would never do that. Especially because Bolt zooms through streets, overpasses and everything else. Plus in filming the shots he has full access to his super powers which would be added by special effects later. He thinks he really has a super bark. He thinks he has laser eyes. He wouldn’t have any idea of those things because they are all added by special effects departments.

But again, not a realistic picture but it was pretty far-fetched thing to swallow. There is so much twisting to make the plot work as opposed to the Toy Story movies which aside from the alive toys and the scene at the end deal with a less strained setting (big moments are birthday party, pizza place, neighbors house, moving truck etc).

Again totally overthinking it but it goes on for so long my mind wandered.

Because the plot requires it, Bolt gets lost and he meets pigeons, a hamster in a ball named Rhino and a cat named Mittens. The animals are very cute and attractively drawn.

Mittens is basically the Woody character from Toy Story (with a little Mr Potato Head thrown in) who is trying to convince Bolt he is a dog, not an action star. (this film feels very Pixar derivative…). It takes an hour before we finally get the scene where Mitten tells Bolt ‘you are not a super hero’ which is so close to ‘you are a toy! You are a child’s play thing. You’re an action figure’. Toy Story had so much more flair at the scene.

Penny’s agent is a real jerk in Bolt. He is constantly telling her to ‘put a pin in it’ making him one of the more unlikable non-villains in a Disney movie.

Just like any road trip movie they have various adventures and travel montages including a stop over in Vegas. There’s one moment where Mittens gives an almost identical speech to Jesse from Toy Story 2 about her person left her except without near the effect. Unlike Sid in Toy Story, there is no real villain, no sense of true peril but just one stop after another.

It uses a lot of road trip cliches but the whole time it is pleasant and fun. It is just too long. There are especially too many chase sequences with trains, cars, on foot etc. They got predictable after a bit.

Mittens does have some good lines that got some chuckles from me.

Like I said, a lot of Pixar jabs but my favorite was from the pigeon when he is pitching a script says ‘Man, don’t freak out. This is how you blew it with Nemo’. That was a good line.

Eventually Bolt makes it back to Penny alive and all is well in the world.

There really isn’t a lot more story than that .

Movie Review-

I think kids will enjoy this movie. That said, I’m equally sure they will have no recollection of it a year from now. Tell that to kids still talking about Frozen all these months later but nevertheless it is harmless fluff.

The animation looks nice, the voice cast is good (even Miley she is fine). the music is an after thought.

The biggest problem is it’s just too long. 96 minutes is too much for this type of movie. There isn’t enough substance to the story and it drags in each section of the film

If you want to see a kids movie with a humorous take on Hollywood try Big Fat Liar. It is a fun movie where kids take on a lying studio exec played by Paul Giamatti. It has a faster pace and the humor is way more on point.

But like I said there is nothing bad in the movie. It’s harmless and will entertain kids and has some nice messages about friendship and loyalty . I would have no problem watching it with my kids; although there are so many other choices which will inspire them more.

Overall Grade- C-

We are nearing the finish line! Some of these next one’s I like a lot so I will try my best to not be defensive to the haters and cynics! I will try!

49- Princess and the Frog

50- Tangled

51- Winnie the Pooh

52- Wreck it Ralph.

53- Frozen

54- Big Hero 6

Which one is your favorite? Mine is Tangled with Frozen a strong second. I’m excited to see Princess and the Frog and Wreck it Ralph because my previous viewings I was not a big fan. We will see!

Consider the Audience

October 6, 2014October 6, 2014 | Rachel's Reviews

As I’ve been watching all these Disney movies a thought has struck me which I want to present to all of you. When is a movie just not made for me? What responsibility does a movie have to please a general audience verses a niche group?

On first glance it seems like there are movies that entertain every demographic. Pixar films are often brought up. However, even their movies have typically pleased some audiences more than others. For instance, Toy Story 3 was universally praised by critics and most audiences, but my nieces found the ending with the incinerator to be too upsetting. They didn’t like it at all.

So should they have taken the incinerator scene out because it upset my nieces? Well, that depends who they are making a movie for? As my nieces were a secondary audience, not the primary the scene stays and is actually a very profound, tense and exciting moment for most viewers.

This invites lots of interesting questions. In fact, my thoughts are very scattered on the topic and I’m struggling to focus them in a coherent way.

Here’s some points to consider:

Small audiences need and deserve stories for them.

Let’s face it. We live in a world where movies are the predominant storytelling device of our age. More so than books and I still think more so than TV, especially for children. So imagine how difficult is to be say 3 or 4 and hear about all the exciting movies your brothers and sisters get to see. Things like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings that are not appropriate for your age group. Even most Disney movies are not made for the smallest kids.

That’s what makes it nice when movies are made for these toddler to preschool age audience. For example, the Barbie movies, Tinker Bell movies are made for girls 3-7 and for that demographic they are made very well. I haven’t seen all of them but the one’s I have were engaging and very well done. Now a 50 year old movie critic could tear them apart but they aren’t made for him, so who cares? (I’d give boy examples but I only have nieces so don’t know any). I think it is great girls have their own franchises and films to get excited about and learn from. That’s great!

An even more narrow audience for movies is the toddler age. Part of this is because 1-3 aged children can’t sit for the length of a movie. This is one reason I loved the 2011 Winnie the Pooh movie. I don’t want to give away my review but it is a rare Hollywood movie made for very small children. First of all, it is extremely short. It has simple ideas and plot but lovingly told. Even the other Winnie the Pooh movies I have seen are too scary and usually too long for toddlers. It uses repetition and is friendly and happy, which toddlers love. The music is hummable and sweet.

I can’t even think of other movies for toddlers, which are even made, and even fewer that are made well (Curious George movie was a good one that gets a lot of flack from those outside its intended audience). Most entertainment for toddlers is television (and I don’t think toddlers should spend much time in front of the TV if any but most parents need a moment or two for a break. Let’s be honest!). Should these shows worry about being entertaining to teenage boys or 2o year old college students? No. That’s not their audience!

Another example of a narrow audience is religious films . With the affordability of digital film-making, movies can be made for a smaller audience and still be profitable. This gives us movies like the evangelical films of Kirk Cameron or the Mormon films made for my faith.

Should someone making a Mormon film worry about pleasing an Evangelical or an Atheist? No, that isn’t their audience. Any movie who tried to make all religious groups happy would have a tall order. It could be done with good writing but there is something nice about having a movie made, telling a story just from my religious perspective. I don’t think there is anything wrong with that.

Now is an audience an excuse to making a bad film? No. If anything you should put more effort into telling a story for your smaller audience. It should be even better than the average Hollywood schlock because you have a more narrow window of people to appeal too. That’s why I hate when people say ‘it’s for kids’ as if that somehow means it is stupid. The best kids movies inspire their creativity and imagination. The best Mormon films make me want to be a better person (and I’ll be honest I’m not the biggest fan of most of them).

It angers me when I can tell filmmakers of any genre are being lazy. Your audience, no matter how narrow, deserve a good effort. (For the record, I feel the same way about Michael Bay movies. His audiences deserve more of an effort to make a good film). I should be able to walk away from a movie and say ‘well, that didn’t work for me but I can see who they were trying to reach and how some could enjoy it’.

Another problem we can have is when a movie doesn’t understand its audience.

Hunchback of Notre Dame is a perfect example. Even its defenders usually admit it is a mature film not for small children. But the studio still wanted it to be for small children and their families so they threw in kidlike violence and humor which ruined the movie. It’s way too dark for these kids and the immature moments are off-putting for adults. It makes it a tonal mess and a frustrating experience. If they had just said ‘you know what . This movie is for adults’ like Pans Labyrinth or even the later Harry Potter films it would have been a favorite of mine. As it is I just can’t endorse it. Trying to appeal to the wrong audience, or too many audiences, ruined the film.

We can also have films who have a main and secondary audience. This is what Pixar does well. Children are the primary audience with parents being the secondary. This makes sense since both are usually at the theater watching (a lot of the age specific films I listed above are direct to DVD which is probably the best way to appeal to some audiences). What I personally hate is when the secondary audience sullies the primary, or takes over the tone and feel of the film. This was my issue with the Shrek movies . Instead of a few jokes, the innuendo is so strong the films feel vulgar to me. I honestly hate them.

So, the priority is making a good movie but in order for that to happen filmmakers must ask themselves ‘who is my audience?’ and we as filmgoers need to be willing to say ‘this just isn’t made for me’. It’s not bad for a film to be made for toddlers or any other demographic. That is very good because they can participate with us in this great storytelling device of the movies.

All audiences deserve quality and to have movies made for them to enjoy.

Movie 47: Meet the Robinsons

October 5, 2014October 5, 2014 | Rachel's Reviews

The last few nights of movie viewing have been rough going…I try to be kind and positive on my reviews but I would be lying if I didn’t say how much I disliked Brother Bear, Chicken Little and Home on the Range. Treasure Planet was fine but kind of dry. The reviews don’t have any meaning if they are all vanilla and you never either love or hate something.

But it’s tough when there is a stretch of bad reviews. Start to feel like a jerk! I want to like them! Really I do.

Fortunately we get a break from the dreck with Disney’s strange but entertaining 47th animated classic Meet the Robinsons. This is not a masterpiece but as pop entertainment it is creative and bizarre and I liked it.

The Production-

There isn’t a ton to say on production but that Pixar was officially purchased by Disney during the making of the movie, which is why John Lasseter became a producer on the film.

In fact, he saw an early screening and didn’t think the villain was scary enough so he changed it and evidently 60% was changed and retooled. It has the feel of a movie that is a bit overwrought and maybe retooled a bit too much but it still works.

It is also of note because it was the first Disney movie to be released in digital 3D that is so common now.

The movie has a bit of a Simpsons feel with broad humor and bright colors and even has Danny Elfman as the composer of the score (who wrote the Simpsons theme). It’s not as good as the Simpsons or as funny but I would bet it is a creative influence.

The soundtrack has songs by Jamie Cullum, Rob Thomas, They Might be Giants and others and it is very good. Probably Disney’s best pop song soundtrack. (At least it is a step up from The Spice Girls in Chicken Little…)

The voicecast is universally strong and huge (shows how many characters are in the story). Steve Anderson voices 3 parts including the Bowler Hat Guy, Ethan Sandler 5 including Doris. Tom Kenny, Tom Selleck, Laurie Metcalf, Angela Bassett, Harland Williams all provide voices.

The Story-

This movie is impossible to describe without being a huge spoiler for those who haven’t seen it.

Basically it’s kind of Back to the Future meets The Incredibles meets strangeness.

A little kid named Lewis is an orphan who likes to invent things (kind of like Doc Brown as an orphan kid). He even keeps his roommate up all hours of the night with his inventions.

His inventions prevent him from being adopted, so he decides he wants to get to know his mother using a memory scanner he has invented. He then meets a strange boy named Wilbur

Wilbur is looking for a man with a bowler hat who has stolen a time machine. This sends Lewis on quite the journey! The Bowler Hat man is a very good and creepily drawn villain. You will never guess who the Bowler Hat man really is. Or at least I didn’t. It’s very clever!

Lewis and Wilbur meet the Robinson family and I don’t want to give the surprises away but there is a dinosaur and several other inventions. It’s a nutty movie.

At times it gets a little cluttered and convoluted but basically it’s about how Lewis gets to understand his mother, his own potential and the importance of family.

Movie Review/Conclusion-

I don’t want to oversell Meet the Robinsons because it has big problems. It throws a lot at the screen and at a certain point it becomes exhausting, but I’d rather have that than a lazy predictable entry like Brother Bear. Just my personal preference I suppose.

I’m not sure every plot point works out and the writing could be sharper, creating more compelling characters but what we get isn’t bad. In fact, I think it is pretty good.

It’s certainly bright and colorful and the story definitely surprised me. The villain is very well done and like I said caught me off guard. The big reveals work and overall I was charmed by it.

It might be a little hard for kids to keep track of everything and I wish there were a few more laughs but I think enough is there to entertain kids and it’s maybe even more suited to teens.

We do also get some really nice messages about family, being yourself, and getting adequate amounts of sleep each night…!

It’s certainly a huge step up from Chicken Little. That’s for sure. It’s no Pixar. I mean Pixar came out with Rataouille in 2007 and who can compete with that?… (was a weird year for animation because the Bee movie also came out which is a strange mixed bag like Meet the Robinsons).

So looking for some odd and colorful entertainment? Give Meet the Robinsons a shot.

Overall Grade- C

Movie 46: Chicken Little

October 4, 2014October 4, 2014 | Rachel's Reviews

I couldn’t sleep last night and so I put on Chicken Little. I’d love to say that it gave me less nightmares but holy freaking “are you kidding me Disney?”

There is literally one thing I liked in this movie- Chicken Little is kind of a cute design.

I hate doing negative reviews. I’m not trying to dog on films. I have done my best to be positive but I didn’t like this movie at all. It makes me want to go back and be nicer to The Aristocats…

Chicken Little is Disney’s first 3D completely computer animated film. They were trying to compete with Pixar and Dreamworks (especially Dreamworks with this one).

And boy did it fail. It is the lowest rated movie on rotten tomatoes in the entire Disney Canon.

The Story-

I don’t want this review to be super mean spirited but that would be appropriate given the tone of this movie.

Basically the story is Chicken Little see’s the sky is falling and he warns the town. They panic (why would a town panic if a little kid said something like that. Is he like the Dali Lama of the town? Why not just ignore the brat?).

Everyone hates him for getting them worked up including his father. And this father is an awful character. He hates his son. That’s his complete purpose in the story- to be embarrassed and ashamed of his son and to communicate the shame quite clearly repeatedly.

He is the villain of the movie but it doesn’t seem to get that. I guess it thinks the aliens are the villain or maybe the town? I have no idea. But the father is so terrible to his son. He literally hangs his head in shame and tries to deny knowledge of said son in front of the the whole town! Why doesn’t he ask one question of his son? Maybe try to see why he persists with stories that are causing him such harm? Surely there is a reason.

So Chicken (I guess that’s his first name) goes to school and hopes to please his father. There we get introduced to his troop of loser friends.

They all have names that are supposed to be funny if you are 5 like the fish out of water is named Fish Out of Water, or the duckling is named Ugly Duckling. Or this is really funny the giant pig is named Runt of the Litter… Ha, ha, ha, ha…

There’s also scenes where we see supposed ‘sight gags’. This is a joke in the background which is meant to be subtly funny and they can be. The Simpsons uses them all the time (a theater sign or name of a store could be funny in the background) . In chicken Little they have a guy using a goat to clip his lawn. Ha, ha, ha, ha. That’s not funny.

Or we get a fish driving around in a fish car.

What will he do to get out of the fish car? Roger Ebert once said ‘a car has never made a movie funny’ and that is so true. Props of any kind are not inherently funny. It’s what the comic or movie does with said prop that makes (or doesn’t make) the joke. When it doesn’t work it is just confusing. Why are they doing that?

So we get a long painful dodge ball scene and then Chicken decides to join the baseball team (and we haven’t had any reference to the sky falling for some time) because his father was the big hero. He trains and the big game comes with every tired big game cliche ever included in a baseball movie. It makes Casey at Bat from Make Mine Music look subtle… And yet everything had been so awful for the poor cluck I wanted him to have his moment. But even that is ruined and made more an achievement of luck than any kind of real accomplishment from Chicken Little.

The other thing I wonder about is why aren’t there any other chickens? I mean I assume they are all vegetarians in this movie so why aren’t there lots of chickens and they are roughly around the same size. Surely there would be other chicken close to CL’s size but wouldn’t that be a problem given his name is Chicken?

But I’m way overthinking this movie, way overthinking…

So CL is the hero after the game, even to his dear old Dad. But then he see’s the sky falling again. Turns out they are aliens who can replicate the earth with the tiles of their spaceship. Should CL risk telling the town again after his new found fame? Again, why does anyone care about this one little kid in their town? I mean for a character who is repeatedly ignored at school, the adults sure care what he thinks and says.

But the people panic and come but the aliens are invisible again with the tiles so Dad is shamed again and everyone hates CL but his 3 friends. I mean the people in this town are really mean. But the aliens have left a stowaway baby alien. The alien design is pretty unique.. I will give it that.

So then we get our 3rd part of the movie where everyone realizes CL was telling the truth but the aliens are attacking to get their baby back. People get zapped, Dad and CL reconcile way too easily and it turns out the aliens aren’t really bad guys but just misunderstood cool dudes (groan…). Plus, the music during this scene is REM’s ‘It’s the End of the World as We Know It’. Is that supposed to be funny? Don’t get me wrong. I love the song but I HATE IT when movies tell you how to feel and nothing does that more than that kind of music cue.

So now CL is the hero and the story is over.

Movie Review/Conclusion-

Want a point by point 17 minute rehashing of why this movie is an ‘animated atrocity’ check out this video from Animation Atrocities youtube series.

. Major language warning but he is right!

I might be willing to give this movie a pass as junk but it is so mean-spirited. It will do nothing for your kids imagination or creativity. The story is awful and it will make them fear being alone not standing up for yourself. Basically CL only gets love once he is proven right. That’s a great lesson for kids. The Dad says he loves him regardless- hogwash. Say that when you were hiding your face in shame as your son tried to defend himself. It teaches the opposite of acceptance. That people will be judgmental unless you are 100% perfect.

But all of that wouldn’t matter much if it was clever. Instead it is so lazy and didn’t even make me laugh. Not one time and believe me it tries A LOT!

Roger Ebert once said about a film “this movie was not preferable to 1 hour and 45 minutes of looking at a blank wall”

There you go. That’s Chicken Little. I would rather stare at a blank wall for 81 minutes. In fact, I may go and do that for a bit.

Overall Grade- F I’m calling it. Worse than Dinosaur. I agree with Rotten Tomatoes. Worst movie in Canon.

Oh and I almost forgot- there is an entire verse of a Spice Girls song sung by a character which I guess is supposed to be funny? Just cringe inducing to me.

Oh and a strange reference to Indiana Jones at the beginning. Why have one image of a human in the movie? And Indiana Jones? It doesn’t make sense.

Movie 44: Brother Bear

October 3, 2014October 3, 2014 | Rachel's Reviews

I’ll just give a warning before reading this review. If you like Brother Bear you probably don’t want to read further because I did not. It had such potential but everything about it was a failure. So, if reading a review of someone who dislikes something you like is an unpleasant experience for you than STOP READING NOW!

In 2003 I went on a mission for my church so for 2 years I didn’t see any movies and with new movies coming out when I came home I never really got to play catch up. Sure I watched the 3rd Harry Potter movie, The Incredibles and Return of the King but that was about it in the 2003-2005 era. If one had a bad reputation I skipped it and moved on. Brother Bear was one of those films and I hate to say it but I’m glad I did.

I’m sorry guys but this movie stinks.

Literally every choice I would have advised them to reconsider. Everything from the yogi bearish 2D characters on top of the deep canvas which looked strange, the odd voice cast, the underwhelming songs, the uber-predictable story, the painful attempts at humor and the incredibly unlikable lead character made it a very unpleasant experience. Honestly I’m struggling to find anything I like about this one.

bears8 — Just look at the way these characters look? It’s enough for me to know the movie is not for me. I would rather watch episodes of the Gummy Bears and notice our lead character scowling as he does the whole movie...

Unfortunately I’m not the most witty writer in the world (at least I can admit it unlike the writers of this movie…) but my friend over at Disney Movie Year wrote a very funny review of Brother Bear. He liked it about as much I did…

https://disneymovieyear.wordpress.com/2014/09/29/week-44-brother-bear/

The Production-

It is obvious from the start of the movie Brother Bear tries to recycle themes, characters even whole scenes from Lion King, Pocahontas, Tarzan, Treasure Planet, and more. One article I read (information was fairly sparse on this one) said

“Michael Eisner informed the animation department that he wanted a movie about bears. What about bears? The fact that they are readily marketable, in Stepakoff’s estimation. Various ideas were kicked around – “bear King Lear”, “bear Antigone”, none of which came to fruition, surprisingly.

I mean, by God, if “the CEO wants to sell teddy bears” isn’t going to inspire writers to do their best work, what on Earth possibly could? (http://antagonie.blogspot.com/2009/12/disney-animation-well-and-truly-im-on.html)

Well said but even a commercial cash grab can turn out interesting as Disney has proven many times (think Robin Hood) but the choices they made are so strange.

Movie Review/Conclusion

brother_bear_09-1 — **I wish I could get rid of the cartoonish bears and just look at pretty Alaska… I mean look at the bear with the bangs? It looks so strange**

Everything in the movie looked odd to me. The way the characters are designed on top of the Deep Canvas background always felt off. Also the voice casting never seemed to fit.

The songs are super lame and who thinks ‘Intuit bear story’ and then ‘I’ll hire Tina Turner’? I don’t get it? That makes no sense? There were so many strange choices like that.

The story is so predictable. Every time it took the obvious turn I groaned at the screen. And the sentimental moments are not earned by the characters. I don’t believe the journey they are on or even understand why it is completely necessary. I mean does every teenager who mouths off and acts in anger get turned into a bear in the world of this story? Even if you accept his punishment, I saw no change or growth and the events on their road trip are so obvious and so predictable they bored me to the point I kept checking the time left on the netflix stream….It wouldn’t speed up but seemed to have a half an hour left for 3 hours….

Just bad choices all around. The dialogue is awful. The script feels childish and a lot of times we are introduced to characters and then we never hear form them again. Something usually isn’t funny if we have just met a character. Honestly the script left me aghast at it’s stupidity. I expect better from Disney! (No wonder this only has 32% on Rotten tomatoes…)

For example, there is a line in the movie where the two moose are playing ‘I spy’ and they go back and forth spying things and I kept waiting for the joke. There was no joke!! It was just a 2 minute bit of dialogue playing I spy and I guess that’s supposed to be funny? And I guess talking ‘Canadian’ and saying hosier a lot is also supposed to be funny? It certainly didn’t make me laugh.

There were so many befuddling moments like that? Why attempt to treat the Intuit culture so carefully at the beginning and then have modern voices speaking the way modern teens would speak? That was so distracting. There’s one scene where some billygoats who are introduced and forgotten about in like 2 minutes, say shut up 7 times. Is that supposed to be funny characters saying shut up a lot?

bears5 — **Again look at the banged bear. Doesn’t that just look so badly designed?**

Aladdin could get away with modern voiced characters because there was no attempt to be authentic to Arabic culture. Same with Hercules.

The other huge problem is the lead character is so unlikable. I started to watch after a while (I was so bored) to see when we finally get a smile from Kenai. Literally 1 hr 2 minutes before a smile. He is so winy and for things that don’t seem so bad. It’s not like they are stuck in terrible weather or life is miserable? And at the beginning, so he got a love totem? Is that really such a shameful thing? What a cliche for the male character to hate love and kindness. Groan…It seemed so immature for someone having been officially made a man to be continually harping on it.

bear — **Kenai the most unlikable Disney hero I’ve seen so far that’s for sure. Get used to this facial expression you are going to see a lot of it.**

He is either angry, bitter, or complaining the whole movie. This made his transformation at the end completely unbelievable. The relationship between Koda and Kenai doesn’t feel earned as he goes from hating him to loving him in literally one conversation and musical montage. I realize Tarzan kind of does this but the montage shows weeks of interaction and sharing. This is literally a song and them frolicking in the woods. There’s no sense of time elapsing or growth of characters. And even when he finally smiles he is still kind of a grump. I don’t know when I’ve disliked a lead character more in any movie, Disney or not ..

bears3 — **look how weird these bears look especially the one on the left. They all look very out of place and off putting**

I could keep going but really this movie sucks. I think Bongo is a better bear movie…

I’m sorry if I offend people who like it but I thought every choice they made was wrong. Even the pretty scenery was ruined by the Saturday morning cartoons they placed on top of it. And that’s an insult to Saturday morning cartoons…

I’ll say it again but I really thought this movie sucked and it had such potential, so I’m not inclined to be easy on it. Badly done!

Overall Grade- F

Just to show I’m not alone on this one Rotten tomatoes bottom 2 is Brother Bear and Chicken Little of the Disney Canon. They are the only 2 movies in the 30 percentages (which is pretty amazing when you think about it). Nearly every other Disney movie is pretty close to being fresh. I don’t think any other studio could say that. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/guides/best_disney_animated_movies/

Movie 43: Treasure Planet

October 2, 2014October 2, 2014 | Rachel's Reviews

Guys I have a confession to make. Today after work I put on Treasure Planet ready to take notes for my review and about 20 minutes in I fell asleep. It wasn’t for long and I eventually plied my face off my keyboard and rewound back to my last point awake but it is kind of emblematic of my response to Treasure Planet.

That’s not to say it is a total failure like Dinosaur (which I just must have been more rested that day because that was rough going!). In fact, I’m a little surprised I didn’t love Treasure Planet because I really like Steampunk and adventure stories so it seems like a good fit. I’m probably the only person on the planet who liked Atlantis but didn’t care for Treasure Planet. Oh well!

The Production-

Treasure Planet was the brainchild of Disney greats Ron Clements and John Musker going way back to 1987 when the Disney team met with Jeffrey Katzenberg to brainstorm ideas. For some reason Clements and Musker wanted to put Treasure Island in space and it was even considered as an early option but The Little Mermaid was the choice (how different would things have gone…). Eventually it got to Hercules in 1997 and Clements and Musker made a deal with Disney to direct the film if Treasure Planet could get greenlit.

I’m not up on my steampunk trivia but it seems like 2002 was still early on in the movements popularity; although artists like the Disney team my have been more invested in it earlier than the average person (it certainly existed for many years but in last 5 it has grown more popular and mainstream).

If you don’t know, steampunk is when we combine victorian and futuristic elements together in a stylized way. They have heavy influences from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Jules Verne and others. Atlantis had many steampunk elements in particular the design of the ship. Treasure Planet has steampunk pretty much everywhere you look. Here is a photo of steampunk fashion and I think you can see it’s influence on the film

Treasure Planet is probably the most steampunk movie ever made (most of the others have been huge flops like Wild, Wild West or The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen).

For some people having Victorian era technology flying through space is a distraction. It wasn’t for me most of the time. The only time it was a little unclear was when they were facing a storm or super nova because in the scene the characters are racing around but I don’t know what a super nova does. I understand water. In the world of this movie where they have anti-gravity Victorian ships what damage can a super nova do? I don’t know. Since they start with an impossible setting they need to explain a little bit or the tension is lost .

In Atlantis the steampunk elements are more window dressing and add color but don’t factor that much into the story. Treasure Planet they are huge with characters dying in storms on the ships and other key moments. Atlantis has tons of plotholes but none that kept me from understanding what was actually happening,.

The other problem is Atlantis was an original story I had never heard of before about a place Disney animators basically invented through combining various lores and cultures. They even created a new language; whereas, Treasure Planet tries to take a story most of us know and present it in this new way. So in the end, despite the imagery, the story feels predictable.

In a way I feel bad for Clements and Musker because they finally get to make their dream project and it isn’t received well. The budget was 140 million and it made 109…Yikes.

They do get a nice voice cast with Joseph Gordon Leavitt, Martin Short (who is used too little), David Hyde Pearce, Laurie Metcalf, Brian Murray and Emma Thompson (who is fabulous as always).

The music is by James Newton Howard with 2 songs by GooGooDolls frontman John Rzeznik. Some people hate his modern song but I actually liked it given the mashup the movie was. It worked. I think there could have been more songs from him.

They also used a technique for layering hand drawn animation on top of CGI and sometimes it works and other times it doesn’t hold up as well. The planet on the paper moon is the white washed CGI city I’ve seen in a million other movies (I realize not back then but other movies art holds up so can’t give this movie an excuse).

The Story-

The story is what we all know from school. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. A young boy named Jim is reckless and desires to make his mark on the world.

Jim is arrested and ends up burning down his Mother’s inn. His father has left them and he wants to know why and figure out his life goals.

So he finds a map that looks like a globe and learns he can rebuild his mother’s inn with the treasure from Treasure Planet. (If a whole planet is treasured wouldn’t that have been found by someone? I mean Atlantis was way deep down under water and caves which is a little harder to miss than a giant planet?

Nevertheless Jim gets to the ship and we meet our Smarmy crew, captain and Long John Silver.

From there things basically follow the book but on space in ships. Oh and the parrot on Silver is a blob called morph that can change shapes.

There is a supernova they have to fly through which is exciting, if a little bit confusing

Jim and Silver have a nice bond just like in the book, which makes him a complex villain. He is tough on him at first but a warm mentor.

That’s where we get our one song and I really liked it.

In particular, they have a discussion which feels genuine and is very well written:

All of this bonding makes the betrayal of Silver quite devastating, like his father leaving all over again.

Eventually they get to Treasure Planet and they meet BEN the robot voiced by Martin Short. It seemed odd to me to introduce such a big star voiced character so late in the movie but he’s fun. They find a portal to guide them to the treasure and I do not think the CGI on the scene has aged well.

Silver and Jim battle with their respective teams to get the treasure until Silver must decide whether to pick his friend or the money. Then through some quick thinking and bravery Jim and the ship escape out the port and head back home.

Just as in the book Silver is able to escape in a nice scene between him and Jim and they return home with enough treasure to rebuild Jim’s Mother’s inn.

Movie Review/Conclusion-

It may sound strange to say a movie that looks this inventive could be predictable but because they chose such an oft-filmed novel as the base it does. After a few minutes I have accepted the steampunk look and so it doesn’t really surprise me after that and the story is standard.

It’s kind of like if a Baz Luhrmann film where he has all this inventive costumes and look but the story is pretty obvious. Great Gatsby, for instance, is based on a classic novel but it looks and sounds different; however, it didn’t work because the story and pacing was slow and the same Gatsby we all know from high school. The new look on a classic can only get you so far. A story so well done like Great Gatsby or Treasure Island feels predictable and slow very quickly.

The voices are good. The artistry for the most part is good. Some of the CGI does not age well and there are a few times when I didn’t really understand what the stakes were in this steampunk world. I was supposed to feel tension but since I didn’t know what a supernova in space does to Victorian technology it took away the tension.

The characters are good. The appearance is different than typical Treasure Island movies but the personalities are basically the same.

Every other time Disney has done a traditional fairytale or popular story they have injected something new and different into the story (not just the design). For instance, Cinderella has the mice and songs to differentiate it from other Cinderellas. Aladdin has the character of the Genie in a whole new way (not just appearance) to make it feel new.

Treasure Planet thought if they could draw it in a new way it would have the same effect but it didnt. To me it felt tedious, but I admire what they were trying to do.

Overall Grade- C

Movie 42: Lilo and Stitch

October 1, 2014October 1, 2014 | Rachel's Reviews

There probably is not a movie I am more personally divided on in the Disney Canon than Lilo and Stitch. About half I LOVE and the other half not as much… I guess you could say I love the Lilo but not as crazy about the Stitch.

The Production-

As much as I enjoy the big epic Disney movies like Frozen I also love the smaller, more intimate pictures like Lilo and Stitch.

In fact, after 3 or 4 commercial disappointments they decided to embrace the Dumbo strategy. Back in the late 1930s Disney had 2 financial ambitious failures in Fantasia and Pinocchio. Bambi was also full of delays and expenses. Walt decided to pull a few animators and make a simple, easy to draw but likable film and they came up with Dumbo.

Dumbo had watercolor backgrounds instead of the layers like Bambi and the characters were relatively simple and appealing. The strategy worked and Dumbo was a big hit.

Lilo and Stitch followed this strategy all the way down to the stunning watercolor backgrounds.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Looking for an easy to execute idea Disney turned inward and animator Chris Sanders pitched a book he had drawn in the 80s about a girl who adopts the world’s meanest alien.

The animators liked the idea and decided on Kaua’i Hawaii as the setting because of the spirit of family, its visibility from space, culture, music and it had never been done before in an animated film.

They do a great job not just showing the lush paradise of Hawaii but also the poverty and harder sides. It feels like a place people actually live.

small town hawaii — I love this small town Hawaii feel. It nails how it actually looks

The adult actors are all lesser known (more cost cutting) except for Ving Rhames as Cobra Bubbles. Many of the cast like Tia Carrere and Jason Scott Lee who play Nani and David are Hawaiian.

Another cost cutting measure was using traditional Hawaiian songs and Elvis numbers which made the soundtrack easy to put together and had minimal recording. I guess because I love Hawaiian music and Elvis I LOVE the soundtrack!

There’s a personal reason I respond to the Hawaiian setting and culture in the film. In 2007 I was starting to come out of a very dark period. There was a time when I felt I had lost the ability to feel happiness. Then I made big changes in my life in early 2007 but hadn’t made the tough decision to quit my job.

That summer my girlfriends and I went to Hawaii and had the most amazing trip. It was an awakening for me. I realized I could be happy. That life was beautiful and lush. I called my Dad the night before we were leaving and cried my eyes out. The idea of leaving such happiness made me so sad. I realized I needed to quit my job and create a happy life for myself.

I guess you could say the ohana spirit moved me and made me a better person.

I’ve been back three times since then and each time I leave feeling renewed and happy. Watching Lilo and Stitch with its music, surfing, watercolor mountains, hula and everything else brings back those memories which are always close to my heart (I need to get back!)

The intro really captures the ohana magic

It was also the first Disney classic to be nominated for Best Animated Film at the Oscars but lost out to Spirited Away (who wouldn’t lose to that masterpiece?)

The Story-

So let’s continue on this vein by talking about the things in the story that best show the Hawaii I love. Lilo and Stitch is about 2 sisters, Lilo and Nani who’s parents have passed on and are forced to try and make their ‘broken family’ work.

These scenes between the two sisters are perfect. I wouldn’t change them one bit.

Here they are arguing like all sisters do, but I so relate to Nani because I was the older sister carrying for a sister and a brother who were 16 and 18 years younger than me. I get how she was feeling

And then this scene is perfect too. This felt like a real sisterly moment.

The prayer at the end of it just breaks my heart and is one of the few prayers in Disney films. Again wouldn’t change a thing.

I love that Lilo is a weird little girl. She has a strange doll and doesn’t get along with the other little girls. She tries to feed sandwiches to fish and is just a strange kid- like all kids! (especially a kid who has experienced recent trauma).

I also love this is a Disney movie about a little girl. That is actually pretty rare. Most Disney movies are about adolescent girls like Ariel, Belle, Pocahontas etc. I love that little girls have a little girl in a Disney film they can relate too and feel a little less alone in their strangeness.

Unfortunately there are problems for Nani and a social worker is concerned about her problems keeping a job and the stress of carrying for Lilo. He’s not a bad guy- just doing his job, but the threat of the ‘ohana’ being taken away is palatable throughout the movie. Not so much it is depressing but a real fear propelling the story forward.

Now we get to the part I don’t like…

Nani decides to let Lilo adopt a dog. At the shelter the find a weird creature who Lilo names Stitch:

We have seen earilier in the film that Stitch is an alien genetic mutation created by a mad scientist alien for world domination.

I’m sorry but I just don’t like the look of any of the aliens. Stitch looks like a cockroach, which I guess is appropriate for Hawaii but it was so unpleasant to look at (I hate cockroaches btw!). And he is so awful. Everything else in the movie is so sweet and tender having this maniac alien thrown in hurt the tone and I couldn’t wait for him to get off the screen.

The other aliens are all modeled off of sea creatures and they don’t look much better and are kind of boring. I kept wanting it to be done with the alien story and get back to the sisters. This movie should have been simple like The Fox and the Hound but it decided to pay homage to ET. The problem is ET was kind of cute and aside from frogs and resees pieces he didn’t really hurt anything. Plus, Elliott’s family is not in crisis like Lilo’s so it feels like too much for Stitch to destroy their house (literally), make Nani loose multiple jobs and more.

I don’t know how you have enough story without the Stitch but maybe just tone him down a little bit or make him a little bit cuter. Make him something good to the family not another struggle. Hmmm

I did like Lilo teaching Stitch how to dance like Elvis and hula.

The ending drags a bit and it could have been 10 minutes shorter (or follow the example of Dumbo and make it 62 minutes!). I don’t want to give everything away but there is some fun action and the spaceships are pretty cool.

We do get a nice moment where even Stitch learns he has found his ‘little and broken family’ (that gets me every time!).

And we get a little Elvis which is tons of fun.

Movie Review/Conclusion

So like I said I have mixed feelings about Lilo and Stitch. I wish I could excise all the Stitch stuff out and just make it about the sisters. I loved their relationship. I loved the Hawaiian culture. I loved the watercolor look. I loved the music both Hawaiian and Elvis. I love the focus on families and ohana, and I love that Lilo is a little girl not an adolescent who behaves like a little girl.

I still think Stitch is one of the ugliest animated creatures ever created and the scenes with all the aliens drag. I found myself itching to get back to the sisters. It was so much more compelling. Unfortunately this is a large part of the movie so it is a problem.

It makes giving a grade very difficult .

I guess I’m going to treat it like Bambi. When Bambi works it works so well but when it doesn’t I’m not invested. I gave Bambi a B- so

Overall Grade- B-

Movie 41: Atlantis: The Lost Empire

September 30, 2014September 30, 2014 | Rachel's Reviews

Today is a good example of why I am glad I started this project. In 2001 when Disney’s 41st animated film Atlantis: The Lost Emperor came out I was underwhelmed by it. I remember thinking it was boring (an adjective I try to never use in my reviews because it doesn’t mean anything). It seems hard to believe because the movie I watched today was a fast paced delight. I am truly shocked how much I enjoyed it! (I was 20 by the way in 2001 so it wasn’t like a child who might be more likely to find this boring).

This review is going to be a little different than some of my others because I want to give you guys the chance to go into the film spoiler free. I am spoiler proof. For some reason repetition doesn’t bother me and I legitimately do not care if I know the ending to things. But that said, I think for this type of action adventure movie it will be more fun to not have every detail dissected like other Disney films which most people have seen.

Go out, rent it and give it another shot!!!! At the very least I don’t think you will have a terrible time at the movies and I bet you will enjoy it!

Here’s the trailer to give you an idea of the story (it is a very good non-spoilery trailer. They don’t even give away the villain and I won’t either)

The Production-

I can talk a little bit about the production without giving anything away. After Hunchback the crew wanted to stay together but go in a radically different direction so Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise, Don Hahn and others set out to make Disney’s first science fiction movie and one of their few original stories.

There is a definite steampunk feel with its influences from Jules Verne and Victorian/futuristic mashups. The ship could be the nautilus from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

They visited museums, researched a variety of cultures and created their own version of Atlantis. According to my research it had Mayan, Greek, Cambodian, Indian and Tibetan elements.

atlatnis language — The Atlantean language was created both written and spoken.

They even hired the guy who created the Klingon language to make one for Atlantis. That is just cool.

They had good writers including Joss Whedon who worked on the project for a while and then Tab Murphey took over and it has a Whedon team feel to it. Milo is the lead in the movie looking for Atlantis but he quickly gets joined by a rag-tag crew that is very diverse for Disney and full of surprises. It’s like the Steampunk Avengers!

The voice acting is mostly unknowns except for Michael J Fox as Milo, James Garner as Captain Rourke, John Mahoney as Whitmore, Jim Varney as Cookie and Leonard Nimoy as the King.

They also hired Mike Mignola, creator of the Hellboy comics, as a production designer and you can see his influence in the film even down to the hands he uses in his drawings:

“I remember watching a rough cut of the film and these characters have these big, square, weird hands. I said to the guy next to me, “Those are cool hands.”

And he says to me, “Yeah, they’re your hands. We had a whole meeting about how to do your hands.” It was so weird I couldn’t wrap my brain around it”

I love that comic book influence on the film and yet it avoids cliches in a lot of the characters (yes they fulfill certain tropes like the tough talking female mechanic but then she has moments of softness). There’s a moment where you feel like Milo is alone and it actually seems like he is being left and then the movie is very clever with what happens with the characters and story.

I liked every character in the movie, and I’m not normally a sci-fi person.

They were also influenced by anime at the time and particularly Hayao Miyazaki and his amazing adventure stories, and I think they pull off a lovely homage.

Some of the mysticism is a little convoluted with the blue crystals and everything but for this kind of story I bought it. And the imagery is beautiful.

The only thing parents will want to be aware of is Princess Kida wears very skimpy clothing and bathing suits throughout the film.

The score is by James Newton Howard and it is excellent but there are no songs (funny coming from the troop of Hunchback and Beauty and the Beast!). But I’m glad because they really weren’t necessary. The score is all we need to create tension.

The movie is also very funny. Characters like the Moleman and Cookie were a lot of fun.

It is also one of the few Disney movies that doesn’t really have a strong romance. It just allows you to focus on the characters. I like that.

Movie Review/Conclusion-

I’ll say it again I was genuinely shocked how much I enjoyed Atlantis: The Lost Empire. It was exciting, beautifully drawn, with a fun troop of characters to root for.

Unlike in 2001, I did not think it was boring this time around. In fact, it seemed to clip along quite quickly. There also isn’t tons of exposition. They just present the world, language and everything else and let you figure it out as the characters do.

I liked the women in the picture. Kida isn’t the perfect savage you expect. Mechanic Audrey had some layers to her. Not every decision was easy, and Helga is not someone to get pushed around (she surprised me! Totally kicked butt!).

All the characters have their moment and there is humor and tough action. I loved the sound design. In fight scenes you hear punches and grunts. It helps immerse you in the experience.

There are some holes in the story and things happen in relatively tidy ways but isn’t that usually the case for these kind of movies? I mean if you start to take apart Indiana Jones movies they are very tidy too and completely implausible but it’s a B Summer movie with great action and fun characters so you go with it.

In any case, for whatever reason, I didn’t buy it at 21 but really enjoyed it at 33. Maybe I’m not the same person I was back then? Go figure!

But seriously, give this movie another shot. Go out, rent it, and let me know what you think. I bet a lot of you will be pleasantly surprised like I was!

Overall Grade- A-

It might be a little hard for kids under 7 to follow so keep that in mind.

Movie 40: Emperor’s New Groove

September 29, 2014September 29, 2014 | Rachel's Reviews

Do you think David Spade is funny?

Just like with Tarzan and Phil Collins, it is easy to figure out if Emperor’s New Groove is a movie you will enjoy. The lead character Kuzco is voiced by David Spade and if you think his brand of sarcastic humor is funny you will probably like the movie. If not, this one can be a skip.

Luckily I do think he is funny, and I do enjoy this movie.

For some reason we are usually quick to dismiss comedies, whether animated or live action, as being less worthy of praise than dramas or musicals. I’m not sure why this is because if anything making people laugh is harder than making them cry. That’s at least my experience. In writing for Nanowrimo the sections where I am trying to tell a joke are brutal and what I think is funny others don’t give a chuckle. So I stand up for comedies, especially Disney comedies.

While Disney has comedy in most of its movies there are 5 I would classify as outright comedies-

1. Jungle Book

2. Robin Hood

3. Aladdin

4. Hercules

5. Emperor’s New Groove

Each of these comedies for me has strengths but as far as non-stop laughs I think Emperor’s New Groove is the best. Jungle Book has great music, Robin Hood adds some adventure and dry wit, Hercules goes gospel, and Aladdin has the funniest single performance in Disney, but it feels like Emperor’s has a joke every 2 sentences and for me 99% of them make me laugh. Therefore, it is a successful comedy.

I also appreciate the comedy is funny for adults and children. It’s not like Shrek with innuendo and lewd humor. Most of it is very sarcastic asides, oftentimes breaking the 4th wall (the characters talking to the audience).

The story is also cooky enough to also make laughter easy. It’s all so ridiculous it puts us in a mood to laugh. In fact, when I first heard about a Disney movie about a man being turned into a llama I thought it sounded so stupid, but then I saw it at my college theater and laughed a lot. Such low expectations made it feel even better than it was but it has held up and still makes me laugh.

Production-

The production behind this movie is interesting. They had originally assigned Roger Allers from The Lion King to direct a serious picture called The Kingdom of the Sun. They hired Sting to write the songs and his wife made a documentary on the mess (not available I checked everywhere).

Delays kept happening and Michael Eisner was feeling the heat from McDonalds and other companies who were waiting for a movie. He put the pressure on Allers to produce a film but it was still slow so Eisner asked writers Mark Dindal and Chris Williams to write a 2nd script just in case.

It got up to a year and change before the release date. Sponsors were getting nervous so Eisner pulled the plug on Kingdom of the Sun, Allers quit and Dindal and Williams completely retooled their idea into what we see today.

Poor Sting was left with only 1 song in the credits. The only other song is sung by Tom Jones called Perfect World which is our intro to Kuzco.

The movie did fine at the box office but word of mouth has made it very popular.

There are celebrity voices just as in the Lion King including David Spade, John Goodman, Ertha Kitt, Patrick Warburton, Wendie Malick, Jon Fielder

The animation really isn’t that special. It is supposed to be an Incan world but just like with Hercules there is no attempt to be true to the time period or lore of the native people. This is a comedy and it stands only upon its writing, which I liked.

The Story-

The introduction is very good. We see Kuzco as a llama in the rain telling us what a sad situation he is in. He then begins to narrate the story in flashback starting with what a greedy pig he is (but in a comical way)

He’s so greedy in fact that he is going to build a summer home called Kuztopia on the site of a village where our hero, Pacha lives voiced by John Goodman.

He fires Yzma his ‘assistant’ and she grows angry and decides to poison him. Yzma is a great villain voiced by Ertha Kitt. Maybe not the most complex but very funny. I love when they try to use a trap door and it ends up taking her to crocodiles ‘why do we have that lever.’

Unfortunately her poison plot doesn’t go as planned:

Yzma has an assistant named Kronk who is hilarious. He is a loveable buffoon who loves to cook and battles angels and devils on his shoulders (literally). The writing for Kronk is consistently funny.

Yzma tells Kronk to get rid of Kuzco but he puts him on Pacha’s wagon and figures he’s done for.

Pacha finds Kuzco as a llama and is reluctant to help him since he was so rude about the summer home, but being a good guy and hoping he can convince him to change his mind, Pacha rescues him in a very funny section of slapstick (it reminds me of Captain Hook and the crocodile scenes in Peter Pan).

Pacha is very caring towards Kuzco despite his continued bad attitude and rudeness (creating a lot of the humor). For example, there’s a nice moment where Kuzco is cold and Pacha gives him his poncho for the night.

They end up making it back to a bridge and it breaks trapping Pacha. To his horror Kuzco says he is not going to help him and that he is going to have him arrested once they get to the castle. Pacha yells back ‘we shook hands’ calling back to an earlier conversation. Then Kuzco trips and they both end up suspended and we get a funny scene with a nice message on trust and teamwork

On the other side of the bridge it is going to be 4 more days together so they end up at a diner in a very funny scene. Yzma and Kronk are also at the diner but neither of them know it. This is just classical physical comedy

Kuzco realizes Yzma tried to kill him and the llama was just a mistake and they find out Yzma and Kronk are at Pacha’s home.

Pacha’s family is one of the best family’s in all of Disney, and his wife is pregnant which is the first time a pregnant woman has been on an animated feature. Go pregnant women! But seriously cool to show all types of women not just pretty adolescent girls.

The kids are very funny locking Kronk and Yzma in the closet and give Pacha and Kuzco time to run away.

Finally they get to the castle and as they look for the potion Yzma is there and we get a great chase sequence that I think is just as good if not better than the wizards duel in Sword in the Stone (still don’t get all the love for that movie) . They turn into all different shapes and sizes depending on the potion they drink.

My favorite is probably when she turns into a cat and has a new voice:

In the end, Kuzco is changed back, Kronk is head of the junior chipmunks and Kuzcotopia is no longer built on Pacha’s village. (Even that you get a good joke with a man Kuzco threw through a window saying ‘it wasn’t the first time and it won’t be the last time’. That’s funny to imagine an old man frequently being thrown through windows)

Movie Review/Conclusion-

It shouldn’t take you more than 5 minutes to know whether it is for you or not. The tone and type of humor is obvious from the start and it either makes you laugh or it doesn’t. For me, it does, and I think that is worthy of praise.

There is some nice messaging and I think the villain is pretty good but all that would be nothing if the jokes weren’t so consistently funny and so plentiful.

So give it a shot. It’s humor your whole family can enjoy which is actually kind of rare. Nothing inappropriate or offensive. Just sarcastic, silly comedy.

The animation is on the Saturday morning level and it is probably on par with good Disney afternoon episodes of Ducktales or Tailspin in that department.

The voice acting is uniformly good and the Tom Jones number at the beginning is fun (if you have a boy who hates musicals this is a good one for him).

My score is going to seem high but it truly did make me laugh that much, and it is one I find myself wanting to rewatch again and again.

Overall Grade- A-