Brave

Monday 8th February 2016

Director: Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman
Year: 2012
Stars: Kelly Macdonald, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson, Julie Walters (voices)

This was shown on TV at Christmas, and we finally got around to watching it a few days ago. It's a pretty enjoyable Pixar movie - primarily because it's about a girl who doesn't just want to find her Prince. Instead, she wants her freedom. And that's OK.

The majority of the plot concerns her father's fear of bears, her lack of wariness concerning witches, and the curse she ends up having to lift any way she can. Brave is a fun movie with a decent plot, and will keep you watching for its 90 minutes running time. There's not really a lot else to say - watching Brave is simply an enjoyable enough way to spend an hour and a half.

Frozen

Saturday 31st January 2015

Director: Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee
Year: 2013
Stars: Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff, Josh Gad, Santino Fontana, Alan Tudyk (voices)

Considering how popular Frozen is, when a friend mentioned she had this on DVD I figured I should probably ask to borrow it as I still hadn't watched it. She more than happily gave up the DVD, informing me that they had already told their obsessed 2-year-old that it had been lost.

I did actually have the chance to watch this back at Christmas 2013 when it was released (on one of those rare occasions when I actually had the chance to go to the cinema). At the time I chose to go and see Saving Mr Banks, having read reviews and thinking it would be a better movie.

I made the right choice. Frozen does not start well - and I still don't really understand what there is in it for a 2-year-old boy to love (and yes, I do have one). An 8-year-old girl, maybe. There are some very pretty princesses here (oh, maybe that explains it. Two-year-old boys often love princess dresses...). The premise behind Frozen is that one of the princesses can turn everything to snow and ice, but can't control her ability. Queue lots and lots of songs (especially in the first half an hour) and a fair bit of angst.

In fairness, Frozen does improve once the characters stop singing annoying pop songs and the story kicks in properly. There are even some funny moments. Don't get me wrong, I love a good musical. Just not at the expense of any semblance of a story.

In the end, I found Frozen relatively enjoyable, but the first 40 minutes boring me to tears didn't help. Although these are the songs all the kids love, so maybe Disney haven't got it wrong. After all, they're not really trying to appeal to me - although I am the one going out and buying the DVD I guess... (being that my 2-year old can barely sit still and watch an episode of In the Night Garden, which he loves, I doubt he'd care about 1 1/2 hours of Disney movie. He doesn't care for Cars and he loves anything with wheels).

Not a bad movie, but I' still glad I went to see Saving Mr Banks at the cinema, which I really enjoyed.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Disney's A Christmas Carol

Wednesday 3rd December 2014

Director: Robert Zemeckis
Year: 2009
Stars: Jim Carrey, Colin Firth, Robin Wright Penn, Cary Elwes, Gary Oldman (voices)

I've seen Disney's A Christmas Carol before - and blogged about it too. What I cannot believe is that it was back in 2009, 5 years ago. I swear it was only two years ago at most. Apparently not. Sigh. Having enjoyed it quite a lot then, a couple of years ago (I guess...) I went and bought the DVD. So when I had a (very, very) rare afternoon at home to myself a few weeks before Christmas, I decided that was the perfect time to watch it again.

Upon re-reading my original review, all the points I made still stand. Everything I said then I thought when it watched it again. Yes, in many ways it's a good movie - and it places it does make you jump. Yes, having Jim Carrey play all the ghosts is odd (and the ghost of Christmas Past is still rubbish). And yes, Colin Firth still looks odd in stop motion.

The one pity with this viewing is that I wasn't watching it in 3D, because I was watching it at home. Usually that doesn't really bother me, but I know this looked lovely in 3D, and really added to the Christmas feel of the movie. That may be why it's lost half a star in this review. Or maybe I'm just getting harsh in my old age.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Frankenweenie

Tuesday 21st October 2014

Director: Tim Burton
Year: 2012
Stars: Catherine O'Hara, Martin Short, Martin Landau, Charlie Tahan, Atticus Shaffer, Winona Ryder (voices)

Another movie from our netflix trial, I had wanted to see Frankenweenie when it was released at the cinema back in 2012. Unfortunately, we had a 2-month old child at the time, so cinema visits were (and still are) rare.

Frankenweenie, directed by Tim Burton, tells the tale of Victor Frankenstein (Tahan), a boy whose dog (Sparky) dies in a car accident. Discovering that you can use lightning to bring things back to life, Victor manages to return Sparky to the living. But this being a Tim Burton movie, that's just the start of the story. Queue all sorts of weird and wonderful characters, and their previously dead pets, causing havoc on the town that keeps getting struck by lightning.

As usual with Tim Burton movies, I wasn't disappointed. I think you either love them or you hate them. I love the blend of black humour, oddness and enjoyment that comes with them. A great way to spend a spare hour and a half.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Kung Fu Panda

Monday 29th September 2014

Director: Mark Osborne, John Stevenson
Year: 2008
Stars: Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Ian McShane, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross (voices)

This wasn't a movie I really intended to watch, although I was aware of it and had a vague interest in seeing it when it was first released. Kung Fu Panda just happened to be on when we were staying at a cottage in North Devon for a few days. It therefore seemed like a good opportunity to sit down and relax one evening.

As long as you're not expecting too much, Kung Fu Panda is quite enjoyable. Po the Panda (Black) dreams of being a kung fu master, and ends up getting his chance when he is picked as the Dragon Warrior. However, things aren't usually that easy, and Po has basically none of the skills needed to become the Dragon Warrior. Needless to say, the other kung fu fighters aren't happy about this state of affairs. Neither is Po's dad.

Now, this is an animated children's movie, so I'm sure you've already worked out that things turn out for the best. You know basically what's coming every step of the way, but that's no great surprise with a movie like this. An easy watch if you know what you're getting yourself in to.

Rating: 3 out of 5

The Little Mermaid

Sunday 13th April 2014

Director: Ron Clements, John Musker
Year: 1989
Stars: Jodi Benson, Pat Carroll, Buddy Hackett, Jason Marin, Kenneth Mars (voices)

I have a confession to make. Although I have seen The Little Mermaid, I've never really watched it properly. Being at a friend's house with nothing better to do on a Sunday morning, I sat down to watch this - and realised that I didn't really know the story. So this time, I paid attention. And really enjoyed the movie - as I should.

For those of you who, like me, don't know the story (or didn't, until a week ago), Ariel (Benson) is a mermaid who falls in love with a Prince, and makes a deal with a sea-witch in order to become human and meet the Prince on dry land.

Even if you don't know the story, I guarantee you'll know some of the songs. They stick in your head for ages after you hear them.

I imagine you've already seen The Little Mermaid, and know that you love it - especially if you're a child of the '80s. But if you haven't, just go and watch it.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Rio

Sunday 6th April 2014

Director: Carlos Saldanha
Year: 2011
Stars: Jesse Eisenberg, Leslie Mann, Gracinha Leporace, Anne Hathaway, Jamie Foxx, Will i Am, Jake T Austin (voices)

Rio is exactly what it says on the tin. It features colourful, talking, birds, a madcap story and an American, idealised version of Rio de Janeiro.

The story is all about Blu (Eisenberg), a blue macaw who ends up in Minnesota (or, as the film puts it, not Rio). However, it transpires that he is the last male of his species, so in order to mate and continue the survival of the species, he and his owner Linda (Mann) have to travel to Rio. Cue lots of chaos, kidnapping and comedy.

Rio may not be up with the greats like Toy Story or Shrek, but if you're looking for a fun, animated children's movie you could do a fair bit worse than seeking this one out.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Tangled

Monday 13th January 2014

Director: Nathan Greno, Byron Howard
Year: 2010
Stars: Mandy Moore, Zachary Levi, Donna Murphy

Whilst Gnomeo and Juliet was funny, Tangled is fun. I wanted an enjoyable animation to watch, and Disney's Tangled fitted the bill perfectly.

There's not really a lot else to say about this movie. It tells the story of Rapunzel (Moore), how she was a Princess stolen at birth by an evil witch and has been locked in a tower ever since, and how she kidnaps a bandit (Levi) and forces him to take her away from the tower to experience life in the outside world.

It's all very Disney and quite fun - if you like that sort of thing. If you don't, you'll hate it. You already know which side you are on.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Gnomeo and Juliet

Thursday 2 January 2014

Director: Kelly Asbury
Year: 2011
Stars: James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Ashley Jensen, Michael Caine, Matt Lucas, Jim Cummings, Maggie Smith, Jason Statham (voices)

This was funny. Properly funny. It had my brother and me in fits within minutes. It's also short, which goes pretty well with funny.

Gnomeo and Juliet broadly tells the tale of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, but here they are gnomes, and rather than being the Montagues and Capulets (although they are that as well), they are better known as the red and the blues. Shakespeare's tragedy is somewhat massacred in places, but the movie makes no bones about this, happily pointing out that parts of Shakespeare's tragedy are long and not exactly appropriate for such a short-and-sweet movie. This was just one of the things that kept my brother especially happy.*

The perfect movie for a feel-good Thursday (or Friday, or weekend day, or any day really).

Rating: 4 out of 5

*It could be concluded from this review that my brother is six. In fact, he's nearly 36.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Sunday 20th October 2013

Director: Phil Lord, Chris Miller
Year: 2009
Stars: Bill Hader, Anna Faris (voices)

I had wanted to watch this for a while, but had never been massively concerned as I didn't necessarily believe it was going to be that good. Until about a week ago, when, for some reason, I decided that it had gotten really good reviews and was going to be a fun movie to watch.

What a let-down the actual movie turned out to be. It's all about Flint Lockwood (Hader), a boy who figures out how to get food to fall from the sky instead of rain. Which is, for some highly convoluted reasons, a good thing (at first at least, anyway). The film also makes a number of attempts at humour. If you were five, they would probably be quite funny jokes. Sadly, I'm not five.

Possibly I might think of this as a better movie if I had children of the right age who enjoyed it, but it just doesn't compete with the best animated movies out there. It was only a week or so ago I watched Finding Nemo, but I spent the majority of this movie wishing I had just put that film on again instead. 

Rating: 2 out of 5

Finding Nemo

Monday 7th October 2013

Director: Andrew Stanton, Lee Unkrich
Year: 2003
Stars: Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Alexander Gould (voices)

I've seen this before. That's probably not too surprising. But when you're stuck at home with your husband and small baby because you're ill, watching a colourful animated movie that you can easily get your hands on is usually a good choice. Especially if that movie happens to be Finding Nemo.

I've always loved this movie. But I enjoyed it even more this time around, because I'd forgotten just how much I love it. I had also forgotten various parts of the movie (only minor things, nothing plot-changing), which, once again, made it all the more enjoyable.

I'm sure most of you know the story, but for those that haven't been underwater for the past ten years, Finding Nemo is all about a baby fish (funnily enough, called Nemo - voiced by Gould) who gets caught by a diver and taken to a fish tank in a dentist's surgery in Australia. His dad, Marlin (Brooks) then goes on a mission to save his one and only son.

Beautifully animated, a brilliant story, and loads of good jokes along the way. Even the baby paid attention at times. What's not to like?

Rating: 5 out of 5

Despicable Me

Sunday 16th June 2013

Director: Pierre Coffin, Chris Renaud
Year: 2010
Stars: Steve Carrell, Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Miranda Cosgrove, Dana Gaier, Elsie Fisher

What is it with Steve Carrell movies at the moment? This is the second one in two days - and another one I didn't actually mind too much.

Here, Carrell plays Gru, an evil mastermind who wants to beat another evil mastermind, Vector (Segel) who is proving to be a younger, better mastermind. In order to do this, Gru adopts three orphan girls... can you see where this is going? Yes, it's not the most cunning of plotlines.

If what you're after is a fun weekend movie that your kids will enjoy, Despicable Me probably fits the bill perfectly well. If you want something a bit more up-beat that both adults and kids will enjoy, try an older, but better, movie like Shrek.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Beowulf: Film #150 of Film 365

Sunday 8th April 2012

Director: Robert Zemeckis
Year: 2007
Stars: Ray Winstone, Robin Wright, Anthony Hopkins, Angelina Jolie

Well, this was better than I was expecting. I've wanted to watch Beowulf for ages because of the interesting choice of using animation rather than live action. But this didn't mean I was necessarily expecting a good plot...

It turns out I was wrong. Half an hour in, I was paying far less attention to the animation than the actual plot. I don't know how close the movie is to the original story (I've never read it properly - the old English language is, to put it mildly, rather hard), but the plot feels, for the most part, too good/ ridiculous/ mad (fighting nine sea dragons anyone?) not to follow the original story in at least most respects.

That's not to say that making Ray Winstone really rather handsome isn't a little off-putting. There were a number of times when I thought "why didn't they just cast Sean Bean for this role?", but then I can understand why they wanted to use the harshness of Winstone's voice. Winstone plays Beowulf, the titular great warrior who comes to save Hrothgar (a Danish King, played by Hopkins), and his town from Grendell, a troll who is terrorising them.

Far more enjoyable than anticipated, and not a bad movie at all.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!: Film #148 of Film 365

Saturday 31st March 2012

Director: Peter Lord, Jeff Newitt
Year: 2012
Stars: Hugh Grant, David Tennant, Imelda Staunton, Martin Freeman, Ashley Jensen, Russell Tovey, Brendan Gleeson, Jermey Piven, Salma Hayek (voices)

Dan had been keen to watch this since he first saw the trailer for it (something to do with the Aardman/ pirates/ scientists combination I think), and I certainly didn't have any objections. The trailer made it look like a traditional, fun Aardman movie - something we've certainly enjoyed in the past.

Pirates! tells the tale of the Pirate Captain, a pirate who wants to win Pirate of the Year. The plot therefore, obviously, involves Darwin, a dodo and the Annual Science Awards.

The movie has plenty of enjoyable gags, both of the visual and narrative kind. I even found the stereotypical librarian joke mostly amusing, rather than offensive. Unfortunately, somehow Pirates! doesn't equal the sum of its parts. Whilst individual scenes/ lines/ moments are memorable, the film as a whole falls down. Perhaps it's the too-straight narrative (there are no puss-in-boots-Shrek type jokes here), or maybe it was just too-high expectations on our part.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Ratatouille: Film # 119 of Film 365

Sunday 7th January 2012

Director: Brad Bird, Jan Pinkava
Year: 2007
Stars: Patton Oswalt, Lou Romano, Brad Garrett, Janeane Garofolo (voices)

Ratatouille is another movie that I didn't get a chance to watch on Christmas Day. So when we were looking for a lazy Sunday afternoon movie, this seemed like a good choice.

Thankfully, it lived up to its promise. Ratatouille tells the story of Remy, a rat who loves to cook. Circumstances lead him to Paris, and to what used to be 5 star restaurant, but is slowly losing them and now only has 3 stars.

Ratatouille is a Pixar movie, and lives up to the name. OK, so it's no Toy Story, but it is funny, enjoyable and a great watch.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa: FIlm #107 of Film 365

Monday 26th December 2011

Director: Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath
Year: 2008
Stars: Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett-Smith (voices)

Madagascar 2 was one of those random movies that is on over Christmas that you watch. I was quite happy to watch it, having seen the first Madagascar and quite enjoyed it.

This time, the animals are trying to fly back to New York, but instead end up crashing in Africa - luckily right in the middle of the reserve Alex grew up, meaning he gets to be reunited his parents. Of course, nothing is that simple in a movie and the New York zoo animals end up learning all about how life in Africa is very different from what they're used to.

Just as with the first Madagascar, the penguins are the best things in this. Unfortunately, the first Madagascar beats this movie in every other way. There's nothing particularly wrong with Madagascar 2 - it's just very standard.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Arthur Christmas: Film #102 of Film 265

Wednesday 21st December 2011

Director: Sarah Smith, Barry Cook
Year: 2011
Stars: James McAvoy, Jim Broadbent, Hugh Laurie, Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton, Ashley Jensen (voices)

As I was in the mood for some Christmas fun, Arthur Christmas seemed like the perfect choice of movie to go and see at the cinema. Clearly I wasn't the only one with that idea four days before Christmas - the theatre was packed. It probably helped that the movie had come recommended by friends who had seen it.

As it turns out, Arthur Christmas probably isn't that special a movie. What it is, though, is a great Christmas movie. Like many movies, you'll know the ending long before it comes - but it isn't really about the ending. Not just that, anyway. It's about the joys of Christmas and the wonder of Santa. If you love Christmas, there's nothing quite like Arthur Christmas to put you in the right mood for it.

A great addition to the Christmas movie canon - it's basically just a big Christmas hug. With a pink twinkly bicycle.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Megamind: Film #78 of Film 365

Friday 23rd September 2011

Director: Tom McGrath
Year: 2010
Stars: Will Ferrell, Brad Pitt, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill, David Cross, Ben Stiller (voices)

In Darkness was the end of the Toronto Film Festival for us. After that, we had a couple of movie-free weeks travelling around Canada before heading home. So the next time I saw a movie was on the flight on the way back to the UK.

Megamind wasn't really a movie I was desperate to see. I was happy to watch it as a distraction, but the fact that the lead character was voiced by Will Ferrell really did put me off. I'm not a big fan of his other work (to put it mildly), but I had been told that Megamind wasn't really a "Will Ferrell" movie by friends who had seen it.

As it happens, I'm really glad I gave it a try. Megamind is a fun, sweet little movie where you really do end up rooting for the bad guy (it's OK, you're meant to). Megamind is all about Metro Man's evil nemesis - in this case, the title character Megamind. You can probably guess the ending fairly easily, but the journey there is definitely a fun one.

Rating: Rating: 4 out of 5

A Monster in Paris: Film #74 of Film 365

Saturday 10th September 2011

Director: Bibo Bergeron
Year: 2011
Stars: Adam Goldberg, Catherine O'Hara, Danny Huston, Vanessa Paradis (voices)

This was the second of our five Toronto International Film Festival movies. It was a Saturday afternoon movie, and billed as a children's movie. I'm not sure I'd agreed with that - it didn't really feel like it was aimed at children.

A Monster in Paris is all about a monster that gets created when some perfumes accidentally get added together. He's huge and scary-looking, so everybody hates him. As with all good monsters though, it turns out he might not be as bad as everybody thinks...

The story here is actually fairly simplistic, but the music is beautiful. The animation is also pretty good, although the people I went with seemed to enjoy this more than me. I didn't really think the animation did Paris justice - but then, I'm not sure there's anything I think could do Paris justice, so maybe that's an unfair opinion to have. I had the songs running around in my head for hours afterwards though, and would happily watch it again just to listen to the singing.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Mary and Max: Film #37 of Film 365

Tuesday 24th May 2011

Director: Adam Elliot
Year: 2009
Stars: Toni Collette, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Eric Bana, Barry Humphries (voices)

I'd read some positive reviews of this when it was first released, and catching a glimpse of the first five minutes made me really want to watch the rest of the movie. The only thing putting me off was the presence of Hoffman - he's not generally one of my favourite actors.

Thankfully, I decided to watch the rest of the movie and it continued in the same way as the first five minutes. It really is a beautiful movie - both in terms of the animation and the incredibly bittersweet story. It's so sweet, and yet so sad.

Mary and Max follows a young girl in Australia (Mary) who starts to write to a middle-aged man in New York (Max). Using letters is a great way of really fleshing out both characters, and as the film develops so does the characters relationship to one another, through the letters they write. Combining two of my favourites things (writing letters and movies), it's really hard for me not to love this movie. I already want to watch it again.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5