RALPH BAKSHI'S MULTI-GENERATIONAL MELODRAMA 'AMERICAN POP'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSLlkFGEv0wpZu3A7RVyOrCILBrRWmeBudXWP3kXGFLl_UHZxC-3hj1x6HXAqdEZRV6ApwVwAxy4K-CWS5OMLIi5FTWciwhgZpYROojRtiePw0eNJlZ4GVc3nI_MfNlBOFG1huSl3hjBCAivna_hT6ky9a_ogeSLqzql8A5k9RWvAsIZ4p1Ocaaa0WJcFo/s1974/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-21%20at%208.47.28%20PM%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1010" data-original-width="1974" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSLlkFGEv0wpZu3A7RVyOrCILBrRWmeBudXWP3kXGFLl_UHZxC-3hj1x6HXAqdEZRV6ApwVwAxy4K-CWS5OMLIi5FTWciwhgZpYROojRtiePw0eNJlZ4GVc3nI_MfNlBOFG1huSl3hjBCAivna_hT6ky9a_ogeSLqzql8A5k9RWvAsIZ4p1Ocaaa0WJcFo/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-21%20at%208.47.28%20PM%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Marya Small (now Mews Small) in Ralph Bakshi's AMERICAN POP Year: 1981 Rating: **</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>What's considered animation director Ralph Bakshi's greatest achievement is a searing saga about four generations of failed musicians dating back to the turn of the century... winding up with a singer/songwriter who's supposed to have become famous having written and performed Bob Seger's NIGHT MOVES...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>But the most involving sequences should have been during the first half, dealing with historically iconic topics from vaudville to mobsters to jazz joints to world wars... </p><p><span></span></p>

animated, eighties, mews small, music, ralph bakshi

RALPH BAKSHI'S MULTI-GENERATIONAL MELODRAMA 'AMERICAN POP'

Marya Small (now Mews Small) in Ralph Bakshi's AMERICAN POP Year: 1981 Rating: ** What's considered animation director Ralph Bakshi...

RALPH BAKSHI ANIMATED ADAPTATION 'THE LORD OF THE RINGS'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeu18gkyCLAnneBTQuDxyX9oXOt4Fg5Bt2eP6lON1Cr4QrWsiqBcBS_E75Dv88SjR1kD3_9Gs_9RwDX8o-39TzWbHrajppHecYbKfnxiyeqog2UGGZPtWxx9PkrpI-HZcqXV0ueujeQSFi1-iPOuPJYNBwnvn-Q4YVUlJKQVux2QHzjX39X0eAapIuZ_i2/s1970/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-10%20at%2010.07.24%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1092" data-original-width="1970" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeu18gkyCLAnneBTQuDxyX9oXOt4Fg5Bt2eP6lON1Cr4QrWsiqBcBS_E75Dv88SjR1kD3_9Gs_9RwDX8o-39TzWbHrajppHecYbKfnxiyeqog2UGGZPtWxx9PkrpI-HZcqXV0ueujeQSFi1-iPOuPJYNBwnvn-Q4YVUlJKQVux2QHzjX39X0eAapIuZ_i2/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-10%20at%2010.07.24%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Ralph Bakshi's THE LORD OF THE RINGS Year: 1978 Rating: **</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>As the Hobbits' legendary adventure begins... in animator Ralph Bashki's mostly maligned albeit cult-appreciated version of J. R. R. Tolkien's iconic fantasy THE LORD OF THE RINGS... it's pretty decent, involving...<br><br>And with vibrant colors more richly deep-toned than the intentionally child-geared storybook-aesthetic of the Rankin/Bass HOBBIT from the previous year, RINGS follows pretty close to the source, in both exteriors and interiors, until those chosen little ones... suddenly without their leader Gandalf the Wizard... arrive at The Prancing Pony...<span></span></p><p></p><p></p>

action, adaptation, adventure, animated, anthony daniels, fantasy, john hurt, jrr tolkien, ralph bakshi, seventies

RALPH BAKSHI ANIMATED ADAPTATION 'THE LORD OF THE RINGS'

Ralph Bakshi's THE LORD OF THE RINGS Year: 1978 Rating: ** As the Hobbits' legendary adventure begins... in animator Ralph Bashki...

TWO LEFTOVER REVIEWS: PENGUINS & THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnYwpFlN6M_-3bDinTs9trlbKA2KaSO1OhjKLEVRtS_uasTDdPa-ax6_LdOINDIgtfzElrTzMxKvzsM9tcyogXqXP8wKNeHrGj-JSQUXo1uxOw9c1qAJmAp6EeYBWtKM37HkFsg4u-_lQ/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnYwpFlN6M_-3bDinTs9trlbKA2KaSO1OhjKLEVRtS_uasTDdPa-ax6_LdOINDIgtfzElrTzMxKvzsM9tcyogXqXP8wKNeHrGj-JSQUXo1uxOw9c1qAJmAp6EeYBWtKM37HkFsg4u-_lQ/s1600/1.jpg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2014 rating: **</td></tr> </tbody></table> <b>PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR:</b> The coolest chase scene in the Roger Moore James Bond MOONRAKER has nothing to do with outer space but, taking place in Italy, the resilient spy darts through busy sidewalks and canals, including a getaway using one of those romantic canoes going from the water onto land back onto water, and pretty much that exact thing happens in PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR…<br /> <br /> And in keeping with the 1970’s Bond genre vibe, most of the film attempts the same freewheeling aura, on purpose…<br /> <br /> The main villain has an island lair ala Christopher Lee in THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN and is able to live underwater much like the heavy in THE SPY WHO LOVED ME… Only Dave is a bitter Octopus with a rather pathetic backstory: throughout his career as a water park attraction geared for kids, penguins would always steal his thunder… And now he wants revenge. <br /> <br /> PENGUINS starts out pretty good, going back to when they were younger: three (and soon four) rogues wanting to split from the cookie-cutter pack… But ironically, right when their adventure gains momentum, our flightless heroes serve as mere patsies to an overblown, overlong and overcooked spy parody, which any character could have been stuck in. <br /> <br /> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieRUdx8yUk8hoFYMu3_g417FWgcY1EIqt3-vXqACHwdzf7efhCHn4gN7wkDDk6QySBWf498FbQGSI0cQ5CiFukhFxiRm2Vo32-_19yDg8w9W2C5udIqEw2C87hqc57cIlPeyIJ6AoehM8/s1600/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieRUdx8yUk8hoFYMu3_g417FWgcY1EIqt3-vXqACHwdzf7efhCHn4gN7wkDDk6QySBWf498FbQGSI0cQ5CiFukhFxiRm2Vo32-_19yDg8w9W2C5udIqEw2C87hqc57cIlPeyIJ6AoehM8/s320/2.jpg" width="212" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2014 rating: *1/2</td></tr> </tbody></table> <b>THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING:</b> Our subject, Stephen Hawking, was on the verge of discovering THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING, but the director obviously didn’t realize before a montage sequence shows two people getting married, and then their babies growing into toddlers before our very eyes, we should know the characters just a bit. <br /> <br /> The romantic setup at Cambridge University, bathed in an opulent nostalgic glow of academia, does look wonderful. And yet the meeting of Stephen and his first wife Jean is so quick and easy, it’s not one bit interesting. <br /> <br /> As an actor and probably the next Oscar winner, Eddie Redmayne transforms from a quirky, ambitious student into the tortured, wheelchair-bound genius, but the performance shouldn’t be compared to Daniel Day Lewis in MY LEFT FOOT since this particular vehicle seems more like an actor’s workshop than a fleshed-out biopic with a genuine character arc. It’s as if the scriptwriter wanted Hawking’s controversial philosophies on Atheism, through the prism of discovering a powerful Black Hole, to have a cinematic soundboard – with an intellectual date movie buried within the stardust. (Hawking himself said the movie was "broadly true," and it sure is broad.) Yet after tedious bouts of soap opera diatribes we never really know the man behind the suffering and brilliance, and how he managed to bridge his personal life with his breakthrough in science, and beyond. <br /> <br /> Like an actual Black Hole, this particular THEORY has an intriguing design with absolutely nothing inside.

2014, animated, bio

TWO LEFTOVER REVIEWS: PENGUINS & THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING

year: 2014 rating: ** PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR: The coolest chase scene in the Roger Moore James Bond MOONRAKER has nothing to do with ou...

THE BEST OF ME & THE BOOK OF LIFE

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcB5OvRxt62D0dyVHduJDwyyzWHehyphenhyphenTdg3ktwovuSnlCJVRBrN199dilJaZ8-ab8Qhp3_Rujp0Mvdsv1gwPPZtB4NwZt341DG8iMx4E8d1wwmFPuNEjMPMjS2eSd2vyaGafx9kIjonND0/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcB5OvRxt62D0dyVHduJDwyyzWHehyphenhyphenTdg3ktwovuSnlCJVRBrN199dilJaZ8-ab8Qhp3_Rujp0Mvdsv1gwPPZtB4NwZt341DG8iMx4E8d1wwmFPuNEjMPMjS2eSd2vyaGafx9kIjonND0/s1600/1.jpg" width="201" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2014 rating: *</td></tr> </tbody></table> <b>THE BEST OF ME:</b> In a chick flick, it's no surprise when the good rich girl falls for the bad boy... only this boy isn’t bad but he's poor – and dull as a box of hammers…<br /> <br /> That’s the backstory, which jumps to and from what seems to be the mainline: of two melancholy grownups, with different lives, both inheriting the same house.<br /> <br /> As teenagers, Dawson and Amanda are in a relationship that’s much too easy. For her, it's the epitome of love at first site, and she won’t give in until he gives in, and then they’re a couple. That’s pretty much that. <br /> <br /> The problems are ignited by Dawson’s father, a white trash hillbilly who looks more like a scruffy English professor with a hangover. He beats his kid, making Dawson not only scarred but homeless... eventually living with a gentle WWII vet (Gerald McRaney) who recently lost his wife. <br /> <br /> The grownup Amanda and Dawson are played by Michelle Monaghan and James Marsden, both otherwise talented actors. The biggest problem (in a movie loaded with problems) is that the teenage version of Dawson looks absolutely nothing like Marsden – the flashbacks seem like completely different stories, and it’s tough to decipher which is worse than the other. Let’s call it a tie. <br /> <br /> Based on a book written by the film’s producer, Nicolas Sparks, THE BEST OF ME is the very worst of romantic kitsch. The chemistry is awkward and forced in the past... boring and pointless in the present... while the future provides a “twist” ending that should even make THE NOTEBOOK fanatics cringe. <br /> <br /> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbOwXFi117LvjfkomI29dtd093_29s3XIW36jSOoSgrd5cdk2kVD0G9bEptPP5tfYQQscU7M14GaD_UXRBx_ENea0J1mr-xaYED8mT2X8Legiu15jvGC9AFLauFKOtnNCi4ASFeE8JX7w/s1600/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbOwXFi117LvjfkomI29dtd093_29s3XIW36jSOoSgrd5cdk2kVD0G9bEptPP5tfYQQscU7M14GaD_UXRBx_ENea0J1mr-xaYED8mT2X8Legiu15jvGC9AFLauFKOtnNCi4ASFeE8JX7w/s320/2.jpg" width="211" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2014 rating: ***</td></tr> </tbody></table> <b>THE BOOK OF LIFE:</b> In most stories, when you die and go to that place below, it’s not so good. But in BOOK OF LIFE, death rules… It’s a colorful underworld carnival where happiness is everywhere. People are dancing and having one… um… hell of a time.<br /> <br /> We eventually journey to this place with our hero Manolo, a bull fighter nice enough to spare the bull. He’s in love with childhood friend Maria, who has returned from abroad – and he’s not the only one smitten. Their mutual friend Joaquin, voiced by Channing Tatum, is a decorated soldier who desperately wants… well that’s for the viewer to find out.<br /> <br /> The spoiler isn’t that Manolo dies since the main plot involves the journey to find his true love, whom he thinks is also deceased. Much of the adventure, after the first twenty minutes loaded with an overkill of confusing exposition and distracting pop tunes, involves the vivid land reminiscent of WHAT DREAMS MAY COME only with an aeasetic combination of CGI, stop motion and surreal paper cutouts.  <br /> <br /> Guillermo Del Toro, in the Tim Burton fashion, produced this quirky kid's flick with heart and soul and enough eye-candy for a lifetime… and then some.

2014, adventure, animated, channing tatum, chick flick, james marsden, kids, michelle monaghan, romance

THE BEST OF ME & THE BOOK OF LIFE

year: 2014 rating: * THE BEST OF ME: In a chick flick, it's no surprise when the good rich girl falls for the bad boy... only this ...

MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHJzcGco-AFyhA9WD2ftKdchSHpRPjLUKfLfgyAMHAwktH3rnLQ-HVljCVc2ghXlSVpcSCBTMKFLdE555GU8c38o8Spsq7BIJ93OI9Vgec6f3gnm0t1fFlrsMcKbhfzF6nHvEh4zr-36Q/s1600/safe_image.php.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHJzcGco-AFyhA9WD2ftKdchSHpRPjLUKfLfgyAMHAwktH3rnLQ-HVljCVc2ghXlSVpcSCBTMKFLdE555GU8c38o8Spsq7BIJ93OI9Vgec6f3gnm0t1fFlrsMcKbhfzF6nHvEh4zr-36Q/s1600/safe_image.php.jpeg" width="202" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">2014 rating: **</span></td></tr> </tbody></table> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Mr. Peabody has always been smarter than anyone in the room, on the television screen or in this case, the theater, so it should come as no surprise his movie would try simultaneously catering to older and younger audiences, which might just cause all ages to scratch their skull-covered cerebellums at the same time…</span><br /> <br /> Full of pop culture references, bad puns and a relationship between dog scientist and boy doofus that borders on creepy, we get an unnecessary flashback about how the Nobel prize winning mutt wound up adopting a boy, Sherman, who, unlike his canine master, is as dumb as a box of nails.<br /> <br /> This backstory is like explaining why a rabbit talks to a duck, why a moose lives with a flying squirrel or... well... you get the point.<br /> <br /> After a tedious setup, the duo hops back in time to save a little girl, Penny, Sherman’s new friend that joined him in Peabody’s Way-Back Machine. If things go wrong, Peabody won’t be able to keep his son yet it's really about the adventures and misadventures within each particular timeline: From the Trojan War to a stopover at Leonardo DiVinci’s studio, the action scenes are nice to look at but the dialogue is, for the most part, awkward and unnerving, as are most of the side-characters...<br /> <br /> Leading to an 11th hour climax combining a ton of historical exposition that, like our hero namesake, is more brainy than entertaining.

2014, animated

MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN

2014 rating: ** Mr. Peabody has always been smarter than anyone in the room, on the television screen or in this case, the theater, so i...

FREE BIRDS

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJfZ8jIJ4-T_f_sPzhcCj8OasXMkT-d3nQkvfoKjRUWDdhIHWWCPWrUTVeqA4H7lbDvHSaKDgrYGXneQ__vK2EmqTSr7nWSlMI8iLNkFDMSQU2OCNwr4wbc0HK3m04wcD_-5MKs_oxbg0/s1600/free-birds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJfZ8jIJ4-T_f_sPzhcCj8OasXMkT-d3nQkvfoKjRUWDdhIHWWCPWrUTVeqA4H7lbDvHSaKDgrYGXneQ__vK2EmqTSr7nWSlMI8iLNkFDMSQU2OCNwr4wbc0HK3m04wcD_-5MKs_oxbg0/s640/free-birds.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2013 cast: Owen Wilson, Woody Harrelson, George Takei, Keith David, Amy Poehler rating: *1/2</td></tr> </tbody></table> It’s been a while since history class… Was Miles Standish, one of the original Plymouth Rockers, as much a tyrant as General George Custer? Well he is here in this time-traveling kiddie flick about a couple of turkeys going to the past, days before the first Thanksgiving, to make sure Turkeys are off the menu: Owen Wilson, using his signature surfer deadpan, becomes the laidback blue turkey that doesn’t fit in with the others. He's a surprise choice, picked by the President of the United States resembling a square-jawed superhero with Bill Clinton’s voice, to be the one turkey pardoned for his rambunctiously spoiled daughter…<br /> <br /> Soon enough Reggie is abducted by Woody Harrelson’s alpha male Turkey, Jake, from a charmed life in Camp David… A good bulk of the first half takes place inside the spacey underground where the President keeps a top secret time machine... When Jake and Reggie thwart the President’s guards, there’s a whole lotta mindlessly entertaining action… But when they enter the Pilgrim era inside an egg-shaped vessel (voiced by George Takei), the film doesn’t progress… The duo meet up with a band of turkeys holed up underground – despite being targeted for the upcoming dinner, they live a safe and secluded existence. Reggie meets his too-perfect love interest while, on the outside, the evil Miles Standish plans the upcoming slaughter...<br /> <br /> Children will yawn and adults will sigh as the next hour deals with the turkeys, liken to Native Americans battling evil white men. But that’s giving the bickering second act way too much credit… Even the action sequences are tedious and dull, mainly because our heroes deserve to be eaten – which would at least shut them up...

2013, animated, george takei, owen wilson, woody harrelson

FREE BIRDS

year: 2013 cast: Owen Wilson, Woody Harrelson, George Takei, Keith David, Amy Poehler rating: *1/2 It’s been a while since history class...

ESCAPE FROM PLANET EARTH

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3HcoLcncWkqnXNTnRWLS6WcLCQ9iSUCEYJXZc02wiLD0V5_oEYmPRR6gm6KhIKaiWBgHCznd6O3UaWVqq4WUkPZugAx28AGC9M9D4e5MacuVO3oXV0w2ZtQcoZ6xLzJD8z2n0NhFda6g/s1600/escape-from-planet-earth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3HcoLcncWkqnXNTnRWLS6WcLCQ9iSUCEYJXZc02wiLD0V5_oEYmPRR6gm6KhIKaiWBgHCznd6O3UaWVqq4WUkPZugAx28AGC9M9D4e5MacuVO3oXV0w2ZtQcoZ6xLzJD8z2n0NhFda6g/s640/escape-from-planet-earth.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>year: </b>2013 <b>voices:</b> Rob Corrdry, William Shatner, Brendan Fraser <b>rating:</b> ***</td></tr> </tbody></table> As the people of planet Earth, we see ourselves as being either too polluting and therefore doomed, or else Fallen and thus, damned. So if <i>we</i> don't have that bright an outlook, it’s no surprise other solar systems view us as the most backward/de-evolved globe in the cosmos, or as one alien calls it, The Dark Planet. (Or maybe Hollywood's doing their usual self effacing thing but in a much wider scope.)<br /> <br /> Why one particular alien/astronaut named Scorch Supernova, the big brave Buzz Lightyear of a techie planet known as Baab, whose brother, Gary, is a passive yet brilliant mission control leader, decides to visit the infamous Earth is never quite clear. But he does, immediately crash landing in Roswell, New Mexico, and quickly taken captive by evil General Shanker, who has collected – inside his Area 51 containment center – an assortment of alien prisoners while planning to build something stronger than an Atomic bomb. <br /> <br /> Shanker's world domination plot aside, for a kids movie it’s never too intense, and there are enough action sequences for adults to keep interest. The characters are likable and the settings minimal: Once our blue alien heroes leave their own planet, we have only the prison to escape from, a few white trash trailers outside and one 7/11. <br /> <br /> Despite the overall simplicity, ESCAPE FROM PLANET EARTH never drags and doesn’t try to be more than a basic escape flick and best yet, actors Brendan Frasier (Scorch), Rob Corddry (Gary) and General Shanker (William Shatner) don’t sound like lazy celebrities providing their own recognizable voices while letting the animators do all the work. Now that's something to admire.

2012, action, animated, brendan fraser, rob corrdry, william shatner

ESCAPE FROM PLANET EARTH

year: 2013 voices: Rob Corrdry, William Shatner, Brendan Fraser rating: *** As the people of planet Earth, we see ourselves as being e...

GROUCHY GROWNUP REVIEW OF THE LORAX

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY7AoEggQ5jb4eAeIwn3mlqdJEOBLP6Ytyi7MS0t2J3WL_LenW-KiIQx22_gotUvKNs7iLXAMg2tkHeRGq7w2eAZz1YXmp1r1Lycdj_fbS2obeZkK6pfrfB6cPzNB1Fyc5JHOTA9z7xEft/s1600/the-lorax-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="125" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY7AoEggQ5jb4eAeIwn3mlqdJEOBLP6Ytyi7MS0t2J3WL_LenW-KiIQx22_gotUvKNs7iLXAMg2tkHeRGq7w2eAZz1YXmp1r1Lycdj_fbS2obeZkK6pfrfB6cPzNB1Fyc5JHOTA9z7xEft/s200/the-lorax-1.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2012 rating: *1/2</td></tr> </tbody></table> If you think Hollywood is the greediest moneygrubbing plastic city in the world, think again – and welcome to Thneedville, where every overly promoted, abundantly commercialized item costs bundles and, scariest of all, there are no trees.<br /> <br /> Enter Ted, a kid smitten with a gorgeous girl Audrey, who has only one wish – painted along the back of her house are tall skinny things resembling straws harboring wispy windblown cotton candy. These are the long forgotten trees, and she wants one, a real one, badly. Through his wise old granny, Ted learns of The Once-ler, a hermit residing on the outskirts of the shallow metropolis: walled in and policed by a wicked, and very short, dictator O’Hare. But Ted gets easily past the border and, using his power scooter, zips into a dark flatland where he finds a faceless hermit in a spooky house.<br /> <br /> Here he learns the backstory and what the film’s all about: Once-ler was once a poor farm boy who discovered a land abundant in nature and cutesy animals. He realizes, to make his dream invention – what he calls the Thneed (think of a Bionic Snuggie) – he has to chop down a tree: which summons our titular hero, The Lorax.<br /> <br /> This mustached, peanut-shaped, blunt yet lovable orange creature (voiced by Danny DeVito) is an underdog environmentalist that can only point the Once-ler toward wisdom. But becoming a powerful businessman is Once-ler’s priority – and his Thneed's a big hit until all the trees are gone.<br /> <br /> Now we’re back with Ted, whose input means very little – especially since the title character (who has surprisingly minimal screen time and plot relevance) is history and the real tale has been told. Nevertheless, Ted’s final mission is to plant one last seed. Although the greedy O’Hare – who sells clean air in cans and fake trees for big bucks – wants him stopped.<br /> <br /> Kids will enjoy the wonderfully vivid animation and the cutesy characters, especially a bear cub and singing fish residing in the tree-laden forest. Here’s where the most involving, fast-paced action occurs. And the overly obvious environmental message works in scenes where each tree falls: like best friends dying slowly, and painfully, before your very eyes.<br /> <br /> But once the movie ends with a corny singalong about <i>letting it grow</i>, you’ll realize this ninety-minute tale was really just a message with vibrant color: Other than a greedy entrepreneur cutting down trees to make money and then realizing his mistake, not much really happens.<br /> <br /> Yet the real moral of this anti-capitalist movie is that it grossed a whopping $70 million this weekend. But since spending, and making, large amounts of money is a supposedly bad thing, you can do the producers a favor: instead of paying $14 bucks to watch THE LORAX, go plant a tree!

animated, children, comedy, danny devito, ed helms, zac efron

GROUCHY GROWNUP REVIEW OF THE LORAX

year: 2012 rating: *1/2 If you think Hollywood is the greediest moneygrubbing plastic city in the world, think again – and welcome to Th...

ARTHUR CHRISTMAS

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9zVgDdCP4twzs2j6_bD3rbRrBrtwTAAXZe8HU_rWel7zCcudTlBULIZXcHAdnn8WRVyMq-TN0Hp59qtTjcGQ_B8N5V3D23lFBwMNuCb20dwO-tWfHBNxLgiyn2pVfoQnIqL9dMLWO7aQ5/s1600/arthur-christmas-movie-poster-teaser-01.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5679930466299849042" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9zVgDdCP4twzs2j6_bD3rbRrBrtwTAAXZe8HU_rWel7zCcudTlBULIZXcHAdnn8WRVyMq-TN0Hp59qtTjcGQ_B8N5V3D23lFBwMNuCb20dwO-tWfHBNxLgiyn2pVfoQnIqL9dMLWO7aQ5/s200/arthur-christmas-movie-poster-teaser-01.jpg" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 141px; height: 200px;" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">title:</span> ARTHUR CHRISTMAS<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">year:</span> 2011<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">voices:</span> Bill Nighy, James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie, Jim Broadbent<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">rating: </span>***<br /><br />In the spirit of those great Rankin/Bass Christmas movies like RUDOLPH THE RED NOSED REINDEER and FROSTY THE SNOWMAN comes ARTHUR CHRISTMAS, and while it’s computer animated, the film has the vibe of the stop-motion stuff of yesteryear. The place is the North Pole, and Santa Claus doesn’t use a sled with reindeer any longer. Instead there’s a giant space ship with tons of “Elf Ninjas” who have it all down to a science: every good kid is counted for. But something goes wrong and one child's left out. Just happens to be the same little girl who’s letter touched Santa’s youngest son’s heart… His name is Arthur Christmas, he’s a clumsy slacker and is degraded to reading letters for pop. And while Santa and the oldest militaristic son, in line for the big white beard the following season, call it a night: Santa’s father, the last of the sled riding Claus's, takes a forlorn but dedicated Arthur on a retro journey to deliver the girl’s bike before sunup. Till then a whole lot happens and the suspense keeps building to the very finish. And despite pockets of downtime with too much exposition, and some intricate British humor that might fly by youngsters, this has a good (if forced) message: no kids are to be left behind. And beware anyone over eleven years old: instead of an animated short there's a video of Justin Beiber singing “Santa Claus is Coming to Town." And if you could imagine how bad this is… it’s even worse. Thank goodness the film makes up for it till the end credits and the song repeats, reminding you of that nightmare all over again.

animated, children, tens

ARTHUR CHRISTMAS

title: ARTHUR CHRISTMAS year: 2011 voices: Bill Nighy, James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie, Jim Broadbent rating: *** In the spirit of those great ...

HAPPY FEET 2

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1Nft5SLAkvaPklS_ejHTwlF45w0KhmKl6EXhsqpX3fk0eDrG4m5Yt61Ps7a4xufAe2Z1lO7oT6a4_4vwsJoa626AVhLPqnN613iQfAgNudXimgnD8vV_1m4aeUVmMnGhfFTbEjVMmCHAa/s1600/Happy%252BFeet%252B2.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5676963576416040082" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1Nft5SLAkvaPklS_ejHTwlF45w0KhmKl6EXhsqpX3fk0eDrG4m5Yt61Ps7a4xufAe2Z1lO7oT6a4_4vwsJoa626AVhLPqnN613iQfAgNudXimgnD8vV_1m4aeUVmMnGhfFTbEjVMmCHAa/s200/Happy%252BFeet%252B2.jpg" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 154px;" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">title: </span>HAPPY FEET 2<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">year:</span> 2011<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">voices:</span> Robin Williams, Elijah Wood, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">rating: </span>**<br /><br />There’s a wee bit of actual adventure as a few brave penguins, when they’re not singing popular pop tunes and dancing, venture off to save their world – these are the best parts of the movie. And although the tunes are the purpose for a musical involving penguins, the songs and the frolicking get downright annoying. Our new hero is the son of Mumble and Gloria, Erik... with a voice so cutesy you’ll want to squeeze the cheeks of the theater screen (or else punch the heck out of it). He lacks confidence and can’t dance, but these are the least of his problems. The ice caps are melting (inverted political message) and the penguin city is trapped – and it’s up to Mumble and Erik to save the day. Peripheral characters include a flying penguin who’s become a counterfeit messiah to the race and his flamboyant spokesman: both part of a backstory weird enough to confuse even Rod Serling’s children. And beneath the water... involving the best special effects, especially in 3D whenever whales appear... are two whining Krill (Brad Pitt and Matt Damon, sounding like themselves) who yearn to be independent from the vast herd – eventually realizing they might be headed for Brokeback Mountain. It’s Robin Williams’s mohawked underdog penguin Ramon who makes the movie; it’s too bad he’s hardly in it at all. What's needed is a fuller story and more places to go. Although young kids... really, really young kids... will enjoy themselves.

animated, brad pitt, george miller, matt damon, robin williams

HAPPY FEET 2

title: HAPPY FEET 2 year: 2011 voices: Robin Williams, Elijah Wood, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon rating: ** There’s a wee bit of actual adventure...