Showing posts with label Animation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Animation. Show all posts
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Kung Fu Panda 2 [ Movie Review ] ★★★1/2
Kung Fu Panda was a blast. It was an awesome American comedic homage to Asian Kung Fu movies. Plenty of funny moments, memorable casting choices, loveable characters, heartwarming at times and blazing Kung fu action sequences that would please most Kung Fu fans. Needless to say, it made lots of money and became a household name. When that happens, Kung Fu Panda 2 naturally happened.
Well most of the original cast are back for this sequel and that's a good news. The Furious Five (Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu, Seth Rogen and David Cross), Sifu (Dustin Hoffman), Mr Ping (James Hong) and Po (Jack Black) will all be back for the second adventure. Gary Oldman will be taking over the antagonist role of Lord Shen and Michelle Yeoh will be spouting words of wisdom as the Soothsayer (effectively a replacement for Oogway). There's also a surprisingly supporting role of Master Croc for Jean-Claude Van Damme, well known for most Hollywood martial arts movie in the 80s and 90s but had been missing from the spotlight in recent years.
Will Kung Fu Panda 2 become a worthy successor or just another disappointing cash grab sequel (like many of it's animated peers)? or will Kung Fu Panda 2 achieved a rarity by being on par with the first one or even outshine the original material like what Shrek 2 and Toy Story 2 did? This review belongs to filmsblitz at blogspot
The Plot
Po is now living his dream as The Dragon Warrior, protecting the Valley of Peace alongside his friends and fellow kung fu masters, The Furious Five – Tigress, Crane, Mantis, Viper and Monkey. But Po’s new life of awesomeness is threatened by the emergence of a formidable villain, who plans to use a secret, unstoppable weapon to conquer China and destroy kung fu.
It is up to Po and The Furious Five to journey across China to face this threat and vanquish it. But how can Po stop a weapon that can stop kung fu? He must look to his past and uncover the secrets of his mysterious origins; only then will he be able to unlock the strength he needs to succeed.
(Plot Write Up taken from Kung Fu Panda's Facebook Page)
The Perspective
In a nutshell, Kungfu Panda 2 was entertaining and enjoyable. But it lacks that special ingredient to make it as awesome as the first one. This review belongs to filmsblitz at blogspot
It could be that the threat that could end Kung Fu wasn't really a legitimate threat that could really stop Kung Fu. It's a threat that any fast moving stealthy martial art experts could get around it and disarm it. It felt that for the sake of a plot device, the Kung Fu experts had to "dance" around it to make it look more fearsome than it actually is.
It also doesn't help that Lord Shen wasn't really that effective as a villain as compared to Tai Lung. Yes, it's a different type of villainy and Gary Oldman was having such a dastardly time with his character that it was remisence of his performance as the over the top DEA officer in Leon but it just lacked the oomph that Ian McShane was able to bring for Tai Lung.
Sifu was notable absence for the bulk of the movie and the pairing of Tigress with Po lacks that certain chemistry that Po shared with Sifu in the first one. Besides Tigress, the other furious four didn't really have much to do except to assist Po for the big fight scenes and tagging along in general. Rather poor usage of the other "main" characters if you ask me. This review belongs to filmsblitz at blogspot
Finally, the last nitpick would be that Jean-Claude Van Damme's Master Croc and the other Master felt excessive and unnecessary to the plot. There wasn't really enough dialogue for him to catch that distinctive Van Damme's accent in his portrayal of Master Croc either.
But then again, there were a few nice touches for Kung Fu Panda 2. Michelle Yeoh was a nice replacement for Randall Duk Kim as the voice of the wise man in this series. The parallelism between Po and Lord Shen's past was a nicely done to entertain both the kids and adults viewers. The choice to explore Po's past was an excellent idea as it helped to build more layers to Kung Fu Panda's mythology and set up some rather touching heartwarming scenes of this movie.
Last but not least, it was a blast to see all the characters once again. It's like meeting up with old friends and Po specially, is still so endearingly funny. It's also impressive to see how they managed to keep the fight sequences fresh and exciting. With all that being said, there's plans to make 6 movies out of Kung Fu Panda franchise and if the quality could maintain at this current standard, I would be catching everyone of them when it's released in the cinema. This review belongs to filmsblitz at blogspot
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Rio [ Movie Review ] ★★ 1/2
The Director of the Ice Age trilogy, Carlos Saldanha is back with another talking animal animation. This time round, it's the topical bird species and the popular Brazil city Rio de Janeiro that's getting the spotlight. Can Carlos Saldanha with a cast consisting of Anne Hathaway, Jesse Eisenberg, will.i.am, Jamie Foxx and many others start another successful animation franchise for Blue Sky Studios?
The Plot
Captured at a young age, Blu ( Spix's Macaw, a rare and critically endangered species of the parrot family) had found home at Minnesota. He lives with a loving bookstore owner and pretty much adapted to the domestic lifestyle.
Out of the blue, a scientist drop by and revealed that Blu happened to be the last male of his species and there's a female counterpart waiting for him in Rio de Janeiro. The scientist hoped to bring Blu back to Rio so that the birds could mate and save their species from extinct.
Reluctantly, both Blu and his pet owner agreed to give it a try. But as they reached the conservatory, Blu had an unpleasant discovery that Jewel, the female Macaw is one feisty wild bird who is trying to break out of the lab. Their characters are radically different and Blu was tasked with unfortunate mission to win her heart. Too add on to his woes, the lab was broken in by poachers, kidnapping Blu and Jewel for the lucrative black market sale of exotic rare birds.
Jewel and Blu tired to escape from captivity but it's hard when they were chained together. They were also watched and terrorized by the poacher's cockatoo. To make matter worse, the domestic Blu never learned how to fly. But with some luck and interesting variety of new found friends, Jewel and Blu might just escape the crutches of their captivators and return to their respective home.The Perspective
Rio isn't that bad but it isn't that good either. Like many animation movies out there, Rio is out for the kids and ladies' jugular. Ladies would probably be swoon by how cute the birds are designed. There's plenty of samba type of music and songs from will.i.am and Jamie Foxx that probably going to rock the Glee generation. Rio is also cashing in on the Angry Birds popularity by featuring some variety of those beloved cutesy birds in this movie.
Those in the targeted demographic might not be that concern with the plots or setup. But for a cranky old man like this reviewer, the predictable and regurgitated story was tedious to sit through. How many times can the shy / useless hero and the beautiful / strong heroine fall in love after initially hating each other? How many times will the villain depends on his useless sidekicks to
Perhaps it was the frame of mind that I was in when I watched Rio that made me not like this movie so much. I could see how hard it tired to be likeable but somehow it had the opposite effect on me. I guess it will entertain many others but for me, Rio remains as a passable entertainment.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Rango [ Movie Review ] ★★★
The last time Johnny Depp and Gore Verbinski teamed up, we got Captain Jack Sparrow and the Pirates of the Caribbeans franchise. Now they are back with an animation about a pet chameleon roughing it out in a small old west town populated by desert animals.
We have seen Johnny Depp in a variety of memorable roles that range from a murderous barber, the owner of a chocolate factor, a author of a classic story and a character from a classic story. Mostly characters that are a bit weird but always interesting.
Rango, a talking lizard who is out of his elements seemed like a role that suits Johnny Depp like a glove. A domestic pet trying to act tough in face of adversity has plenty of opportunities for laughs and Johnny Depp might just be the man to deliver it. The story of an accidental hero is not new but it might be lots of fun with Johnny Depp in the lead role.
Plus Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) who gave us memorable special effects in Star Wars and plenty of others films, would be providing their first full length computer animation feature. Would be interesting to see if they can challenge Pixar, Dreamworks animation and other animation companies for a piece of the animation market pie.
The Plot
He met Beans (Isla Fisher) and she took her to the Dirt, a small town that looks like the Wild West. He enters a bar and found that it was filled with mean looking animals that are about to chew him up. In a moment of inspiration, he decided to role play as a tough character and called himself Rango. To gain some street cred with the folks in the bar, he decided to share bravado stories of his "past"
Meanwhile, Beans who was trying to save her father's property, discovered that the only bank in town was running out water. Water in this movie is like the money, a prized commodity in this town and without it, the folks are leaving town.
The town mayor decided to make Rango the sheriff of the town and without thinking much about it, he took the job on. A worried Beans then demand Rango to quickly solve the water shortage problem. Town folks also informed him that with the hawk gone, the second super predator, the rattlesnake might return. Rango who was busking in his new found adulation did not take those warning seriously and promised that he will solved the problem eventually.
On the first night as a sheriff, Rango inadvertently gave the mole robbers the bank location and tools to "prospect" the bank. Waking up to the discover that the bank had been robbed, Rango was tasked to form a posses to retrieve the stolen water. Along the way, Rango and Beans noticed that something is fishy about the town running out of water and it might be more than a mere robbery.
The Perspective
From the start, it was incredibly tedious first hour that almost put me to sleep. It could be that I was tired but it felt like a long walk in the hot dry desert. The jokes were mostly flat and the best scenes were already on the trailer. It doesn't help that the movie moves in such a predictable fashion that it felt like it was cut and copy from many classic (cult or otherwise) movies. It's like I seen this movie before, in many different other fashions.
The characterization was a problem here and ironically Rango was the biggest culprit in most part of the movie. It was really hard to relate to this character. Personally, that not much in Rango character that would make me root for this underdog masquerading as a top dog. In fact, he became rather irritating egoistic when he became over confident. Not to mention there a silliness about Rango that seems like a desperate bid to endear himself to the audience. Some might like it but it did very little for me. Using Jack Sparrow as a reference, Johnny Depp's Rango would be like the Captain Sparrow in the last two installments where it would have been better if there's less of Captain Jack Sparrow.
It makes me wonder what happened in the first half. Was there a change in writers? Why did the story took so long to get where it was going? The last act was the redeeming part of the movie. It makes Rango likable once again and brings some sort of excitement to the movie. If only the movie was consistently good as the last act.
The animation factor. ILM did a commendable job. Some scenes were beautiful to look at. The rendering of Rango and his animal friends were top notch. Personally, I am looking forward to their next animation project.
Watching Rango makes me wonder how is this movie going to be marketed to kids. There are plenty of moments that felt too dark for a kid show. The reference jokes might be lost with them too. Personally, the film is marred by the slow start but somewhat redeemed by the final arc. Rango is entertaining but not as good as expected. Perhaps it's the high expectation or personal weariness that didn't allowed me to enjoy the first half of Rango as much I would like to. I am more than willing to rewatch this movie again to see if the perspective changes.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Gnomeo & Juliet [ Movie Review ] ★★★
Imagine Romeo & Juliet meets Toy Story and you get the set up for Gnomeo & Juliet. Not exactly a good idea? Well this version of the well loved William Shakespeare classic is targeting the kids and ladies who have not out grown their love for all thing cutesy.
So if Gnomeo & Juliet doesn't really sound appealing, perhaps you are not in the targeted demographic.
But for folks who are not kids or cutesy loving folks, this movie is directed by Shrek 2 director Kelly Asbury, the last funny one in the franchise. So there might be hope. The vocal talent for this animation ranges from the likes of James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Hulk Hogan, Michael Caine, Jason Statham, Ozzy Osbourne and Patrick Stewart. Quite an interesting mix if you ask me.
It's also being produced by Elton John and his partner David Furnish. Therefore expect plenty of songs written by Elton John to flood this movie (It should be cheaper to get the song licenses).
The Plot
This movie is set in Verona street, where two households, the Montague and the Capulet are suited side by side. In their gardens, there are garden gnomes that comes alive when the humans are not around. To make it easy for the younger audience, The Montagues are represented by blue color and the Capulets are represented by red color. Like the families they represent, the red hatted gnomes and the blue hatted gnomes are at odd with each other.
Clue in the famous "balcony scene" where Gnomeo sneaked into Juliet's courtyard and overheard her vowing her love for him despite the rivalry between their two gardens. Gnomeo make his feeling known to Juliet and they decided to go on a date at the abandon garden the next morning.
But as their love blossom during their mini adventure at the abandon garden, the fateful conflict between Gnomeo, his best friend Benny and Tybalt that escalate matters was up next. After the tragic and fast paced confrontation between these three, Gnomeo was send into an unexpected form of "exile" and the relationship between the two gardens was at it's boiling point. Eventually a "war" broke out between the two families and Gnomeo mushroom dog tries to get to him to inform him that Juliet is in danger.
The Perspective
To critically review this is pointless. This computer generated animation is made for young kids and ladies who love all things cutesy. In that aspect, Gnomeo & Juliet had done a good job in entertaining the targeted audience.But as one who is not their targeted audience, here are some of my views on this movie.
First of all, the animation was pretty good. Not Pixar good but the texture on the ceramic gnomes were quite realistic reproduced. The wear and tear, the dirt and paint have a very authentic feel to it. There's even ceramic clinging sound to remind us how fragile these gnomes were.The characters are well designed to max out the cutesy factor. It will make the targeted demographic wonder if there are any ceramic figurines or toys of Gnomeo & Juliet out there.
It's also not that good as compared to Shrek 1 and 2 when it comes to the pop culture references and the wordplay of Shakespeare's work. There are subtle references such as the street number houses of the Montague and the Capulet are 2B and 2B with a slash over it. There are also a pair of gnomes who are joined at the base who sigh the Brokeback Mountain famous dialogue "I wish I could quit you". Some were funny and some just tried too hard or didn't hit the mark at all.
Story wise, this is definitely not in Pixar league. The movie is so concerned with cutesy imaginary / moments or cramming it with jokes that it's a miracle that they managed to structure a somewhat decent re-imagined story of Romeo and Juliet.Last but not least, since this movie is catered to the younger crowds, the writers had to adapt the bleak ending of the original classic into something more cheerful. Gnome ended the movie by saying that he preferred this ending. It's ironic as Romeo & Juliet is such an unforgettable story because of the way it ended and Gnomeo & Juliet would probably be forgotten in years to come (unless they made sequels out from it!). In the meantime, Gnomeo & Juliet is out to entertain and even if you are not the ones they are targeting, it won't be such an ordeal to accompany your love ones to catch this.
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