cult film freak: jack black

Showing posts with label jack black. Show all posts

Written by James M. Tate / 2/24/2018 / No comments / 2018 , action , adventure , dwayne johnson , jack black , karen gillan , kevin hart , reboot , sequel

REBOOT NOT REMAKE PSEUDO SEQUEL OF 'JUMANJI 2'

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTYkl7zR-jNYgxVgE5NZ6N86Y2f9OIO5-to7Jjsh2-4KiV14VTidwvU96YhMxLhf-muQ6CuCCC67TFZR2-fjgE5ENOIVPhf53_rx8-mkjMdgR-iEBS-QoykN4-agzjfor4eWwkXsQdWu2h/s1600/Screen+Shot+2018-02-22+at+11.41.59+PM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="299" data-original-width="506" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTYkl7zR-jNYgxVgE5NZ6N86Y2f9OIO5-to7Jjsh2-4KiV14VTidwvU96YhMxLhf-muQ6CuCCC67TFZR2-fjgE5ENOIVPhf53_rx8-mkjMdgR-iEBS-QoykN4-agzjfor4eWwkXsQdWu2h/s400/Screen+Shot+2018-02-22+at+11.41.59+PM.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Apocalypse Now homage poster RELEASED: 2017</u></td></tr>
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A hybrid of TRON (humans inside a video game), RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (a pulpy jungle mainline) and... well... JUMANJI... that ironically has the least to do with its sequel tag-titled WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE...<br>
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Which can't be held in our usual 80's-kid contempt of using CGI as opposed to classic practical effects since the original Robin Williams comedy adventure rode the wave of JURASSIC PARK's amazing computer technology, with rhinos, monkeys and other creatures replacing dinosaurs, only this time, instead of the jungle encroaching upon reality, four eclectic teens get pulsated inside of a JUMANJI video (as opposed to board) game...<br>

2018, action, adventure, dwayne johnson, jack black, karen gillan, kevin hart, reboot, sequel

REBOOT NOT REMAKE PSEUDO SEQUEL OF 'JUMANJI 2'

Apocalypse Now homage poster RELEASED: 2017 A hybrid of TRON (humans inside a video game), RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (a pulpy jungle mainl...

JACK BLACK IN GOOSEBUMPS

2015, horror, jack black

JACK BLACK IN GOOSEBUMPS

year: 2015 cast: Jack Black, Dylan Minnette, Odeya Rush Director: Rob Letterman Steven Spielberg, whose 1941 rolling rollercoaster is pa...

Written by James M. Tate / 5/08/2015 / No comments / 2015 , buddy , comedy , jack black , james marsden

JACK BLACK AND JAMES MARSDEN IN THE D TRAIN

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigNYMhPPc_ALBc-TT8Rax-7VgWwN51TXfqso5aHvY6BwwPVESE5-kg1BLwtPiVJniD82r1it8OqoPt_C7s2qr6qlNBA6qW9nySNANGDm7MOVL-uwaV_BJNy9MeV9PSb_e7BNJOb7cod5c/s1600/MZ5WT9D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigNYMhPPc_ALBc-TT8Rax-7VgWwN51TXfqso5aHvY6BwwPVESE5-kg1BLwtPiVJniD82r1it8OqoPt_C7s2qr6qlNBA6qW9nySNANGDm7MOVL-uwaV_BJNy9MeV9PSb_e7BNJOb7cod5c/s200/MZ5WT9D.jpg" width="135" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2015 rating: *1/2</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Scenes in the trailer (and the poster image), where Jack Black’s former high school loser parties down with James Marsden’s popular cool guy at their class reunion, come and go in an 11th hour flash, and mean very little in one of the most falsely advertised motion pictures ever made: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After a dry set-up involving Black seeking Marsden in Los Angeles, as his wife and son thinks he's on a business trip, leads to a shocking twist that’s buried in the promotion for two reasons: It might take away from those yearning for Jack to regain the comedy crown from the Zach Galifianakis and Josh Gad types who stole his funny fat guy thunder years ago. And for anyone who actually paid to see a comedy, you might want to hold on to their cash, or waste it on this weekend's other banal buddy flick, <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2015/05/hot-pursuit-RW.html">HOT PURSUIT</a>, which is THE GODFATHER in comparison. The overall execution of what we do get from THE D TRAIN is awkward, slow-paced, and buries a vacant plot that suffers a bigger identity crisis than the dull and pointless main character.</span>

2015, buddy, comedy, jack black, james marsden

JACK BLACK AND JAMES MARSDEN IN THE D TRAIN

2015 rating: *1/2 Scenes in the trailer (and the poster image), where Jack Black’s former high school loser parties down with James Mars...

Written by James M. Tate / 9/19/2013 / No comments / 2012 , biopic , carl davis , dark comedy , jack black , matthew mcconaughey , pseudo documentary , shirley maclaine

JACK BLACK DELIVERS AS BERNIE

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCPshrl4cGADGI_Egb1zCTiKOmf9v56uGRV4a1GtZRVbflVi-NvQ2jGFfQcDhePawBM7xPeqmOThVlIZW8UNYIOKr3ed0iNC8u3JnBCVQ5pFKFrL6Eq2ktz8qKknpEIczfHnBcCY2IJHsk/s1600/jack+black+bernie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCPshrl4cGADGI_Egb1zCTiKOmf9v56uGRV4a1GtZRVbflVi-NvQ2jGFfQcDhePawBM7xPeqmOThVlIZW8UNYIOKr3ed0iNC8u3JnBCVQ5pFKFrL6Eq2ktz8qKknpEIczfHnBcCY2IJHsk/s640/jack+black+bernie.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2012 cast: Jack Black, Shirley MacClaine, Matthew McConaughey, Sonny Davis rating: ****</td></tr>
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BERNIE is a very pleasant surprise, and a nice way for Jack Black to show anyone not familiar with his music career he has a really soulful voice, and, as a usually comedic actor, that he can do more than goof off.<br />
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Black plays a real life small town Texas mortician Bernie Tiede, thoroughly beloved by all the residents, especially old ladies/widows grieving their late husbands, who Bernie not only prepares for burial but gives each ceremony the sort of personal touch, including hymns and doves, that you won’t find anywhere else.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg63lGHE5ljDNIN078-14mPiZ4CYM0hxheGUjLblJ_lpJBD5odrnPl9MuOnqp-hRZiR03g6TU1d1kjgxZVJPgaIB3MFhxKddRJvUVoGsYj3dpIGlH3oSFRZJw4zYlOXUlhtTGLmhbnFPZqP/s1600/bernie3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="382" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg63lGHE5ljDNIN078-14mPiZ4CYM0hxheGUjLblJ_lpJBD5odrnPl9MuOnqp-hRZiR03g6TU1d1kjgxZVJPgaIB3MFhxKddRJvUVoGsYj3dpIGlH3oSFRZJw4zYlOXUlhtTGLmhbnFPZqP/s640/bernie3.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jack Black and Shirley MacLaine in BERNIE</td></tr>
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Of all the widows, one is worth the most money... she’s also the meanest. Shirley MacClaine plays curmudgeon Marjorie Nugget, heir to big oil money Bernie spends like it’s going out of style but not on selfish things: The town receives gifts ranging from new cars to church buildings to children’s swing sets.<br />
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The best scenes occur during the buildup, introducing Bernie and the small town, and then as he puts up with the bullying Marjorie as she annoyingly chews food and orders menial tasks – all the while they vacation in New York City and Europe. And he’s able to spend even more after her death, which isn’t such a natural cause.<br />
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After Bernie gets caught, this pseudo documentary/dark comedy… with townspeople providing insight in almost every other scene (Sonny Davis' summary of Texas is a hoot)... enters the courtroom where Matthew McConaughey, playing it up as the local D.A., does his best to put poor Bernie behind bars.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy4jS51rJz2ak3RAnqG2OAodwRz7-Caf8pQu7ap80aAdYNAops06XiPeCh3_D-Aw9Mwze-dNujb1Rm42svXy1rxTB9xnUZU8pcbR16fQL6NFC_hOHTQgx7uMTEqNEonDL940eU2WpZq5gL/s1600/bernie1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy4jS51rJz2ak3RAnqG2OAodwRz7-Caf8pQu7ap80aAdYNAops06XiPeCh3_D-Aw9Mwze-dNujb1Rm42svXy1rxTB9xnUZU8pcbR16fQL6NFC_hOHTQgx7uMTEqNEonDL940eU2WpZq5gL/s640/bernie1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Matthew McConaughey promises to uphold justice in BERNIE</td></tr>
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McConaughey, while a talented actor, takes a little getting used to during interview sequences... When he's first introduced with forced "homophobic" rants and macho bias, he deviates from the documentary style and seems like he's doing his best to parody small town mentality. But as the trial begins he gets more realistic and intense, and as a District Attorney heading an open/shut case, extremely logical.<br />
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It's never quite clear whether this quirky biopic sides with Bernie Tiede or not... On the one hand his victim is shown as an annoying witch the entire town wants dead, yet Bernie often comes off as a cartoonish Christian dolt oblivious to reality.<br />
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Either way you'll enjoy Jack Black’s performance, showing more range than ever as a character that, although right up front and open as a book, is still quite mysterious.

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjkvzaIEwZr_fzxuHYaltId02MZyB_21Cr366xiSw9eBMgSUSAVw2bVzoIxQIfsZJT-bY1AYjfYMiNqtHQgyUgpDyhSg401vHZxpsyvVUkixzT8LhnW2dRc_M_5hA5Hjn1Q0ot7uYXqoaY/s1600/bernie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="345" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjkvzaIEwZr_fzxuHYaltId02MZyB_21Cr366xiSw9eBMgSUSAVw2bVzoIxQIfsZJT-bY1AYjfYMiNqtHQgyUgpDyhSg401vHZxpsyvVUkixzT8LhnW2dRc_M_5hA5Hjn1Q0ot7uYXqoaY/s640/bernie.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sonny Davis steals the interview sequences scenes in BERNIE</td></tr>
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2012, biopic, carl davis, dark comedy, jack black, matthew mcconaughey, pseudo documentary, shirley maclaine

JACK BLACK DELIVERS AS BERNIE

year: 2012 cast: Jack Black, Shirley MacClaine, Matthew McConaughey, Sonny Davis rating: **** BERNIE is a very pleasant surprise, and a ...

Written by James M. Tate / 11/26/2011 / No comments / jack black , jason segel , tens

THE MUPPETS

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-LVTjy_6i0OdPr_TdkEmPmMQo7x3kOodu-Xt_3NAVfZqKeCU7h-5UcqbMH9x2jQmZippjhZF43w-iuYyql0Xp2UwuT6CJAroW9WbwzqTaFJUnOW76Ygu-IZ29W6HVqtVwYuBWJ6gqWCaX/s1600/kermit-the-frog-in-the-muppets-2011.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5679489532289283298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-LVTjy_6i0OdPr_TdkEmPmMQo7x3kOodu-Xt_3NAVfZqKeCU7h-5UcqbMH9x2jQmZippjhZF43w-iuYyql0Xp2UwuT6CJAroW9WbwzqTaFJUnOW76Ygu-IZ29W6HVqtVwYuBWJ6gqWCaX/s200/kermit-the-frog-in-the-muppets-2011.jpg" style="float: right; height: 200px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; width: 178px;" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">title:</span> THE MUPPETS<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">year: </span>2011<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">cast:</span> Jason Segel, The Muppets<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">rating:</span> **<br />
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The Muppets brought a generation of youngsters (myself included) out of Sesame Street and into a world where they didn’t feel like airhead children any longer. With THE MUPPET MOVIE, Kermit, Fozzie, Miss Piggy and the gang discovered each other on a cross-country adventure that was a true odyssey. But here we’ve mentally gone back to Sesame Street with some silly sing-alongs, flat jokes, and an unexciting journey out of a small town where resides Jason Segel, his school teacher girlfriend, and a puppet named Walter who loves watching – and relating to – the original TV series. They decide to take a trip to the Muppet studio, but it’s but a wasteland. And here they discover a greedy oilman wants to turn the dilapidated theater into his very own goldmine.<br />
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The trio find a melancholy Kermit and they head off to collect the remaining group throughout America and Europe. Thus the road trip begins, which could have (should have) taken most of the film like the original, but it’s but a fifteen-minute rushed romp where not much happens, leading to a big show where the Muppets have to raise ten million dollars to save their studio.<br />
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The Muppets themselves are all present, but they don’t do much nor are they individually vital to the story – but then again, there’s not much of a story to begin with. The fundraiser is a rushed montage of skits lacking what THE MUPPET SHOW had in creativity and humor. As for star/producer Jason Segel, whose effort to get the Muppets back together has merit, the result is too banal for what these characters, and their audience, truly deserve. The entire film centers on the long-lost nostalgia of the Muppets during  the late seventies/early eighties, forgetting the movies made  after the death of Jim Henson, which might have explained their  departure. But perhaps Segel wanted to only remember the golden era; it's too  bad he failed to recreate it.

jack black, jason segel, tens

THE MUPPETS

title: THE MUPPETS year: 2011 cast: Jason Segel, The Muppets rating: ** The Muppets brought a generation of youngsters (myself inclu...

Written by James M. Tate / 10/20/2011 / No comments / comedy , jack black , jobeth williams , owen wilson , steve martin , tens

THE BIG YEAR

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEI_bo3mNrGWIG9UbzsiHT73-t_fsZ7wUfenFJ_un1B8b5Qqnhm0lgo60yMtHXnWcd0eDiAxayTXsDTMWpZWUDUIjYIoCl-1lIOXF2kFIrxwZ3tX3VRKwNQYlYNkRjWKncHjBaUq93VOey/s1600/2011_the_big_year_001.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5665812119273391170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEI_bo3mNrGWIG9UbzsiHT73-t_fsZ7wUfenFJ_un1B8b5Qqnhm0lgo60yMtHXnWcd0eDiAxayTXsDTMWpZWUDUIjYIoCl-1lIOXF2kFIrxwZ3tX3VRKwNQYlYNkRjWKncHjBaUq93VOey/w332-h400/2011_the_big_year_001.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 200px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; width: 166px;" width="332" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">title: </span>THE BIG YEAR<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">year:</span> 2011<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">cast: </span>Steve Martin, Jack Black, Owen Wilson, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">JoBeth</span> Williams<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">rating:</span> ***<br />
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Though promoted as an ensemble, this really stars Jack Black as a hopelessly drifting thirty-something who loves birds to the point he’s obsessed with “The Big Year,” a competition where bird watchers travel the world to, you got it, watch and count them. Owen Wilson is his arch nemesis, lean and handsome and the best bird watcher around, always one step ahead of our chunky hero, who seems born to lose: which is why he’s so endearing. Steve Martin fills the gap as a successful entrepreneur that befriends Black and becomes a guru of sorts, but that <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">doesn</span>’t mean he lacks his own aspiration of becoming number one birder. But he loses his edge, and the premise is handed entirely to Black, the only character the audience really roots for as he’s up against the overly confident Wilson, who has his own problems at home. The contest itself is a bit shaky, too strange to base a film on... an entire yearlong contest using the honor system is simply ludicrous to buy. But once the characters begin interacting, and with their families and work on the line, things get more interesting: it’s not so much about birdwatchers, but real people. If you’re looking for a laugh-out-loud comedy, this won’t do. But for a feel-good lightweight time-passer, it works just fine. And perhaps if Steve Martin <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">wasn</span>’t in the movie at all, and it only involved Black verses Wilson i.e. the tortoise and the hare, it might have been funnier or sillier in the standard <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">hijinks </span>sense. But the white-capped veteran provides an essential base for all the running around. Though it <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">doesn</span>’t make you want to study birds like SIDEWAYS made you thirsty for wine, one might yearn to travel those lovely spots the birds call home.

comedy, jack black, jobeth williams, owen wilson, steve martin, tens

THE BIG YEAR

title: THE BIG YEAR year: 2011 cast: Steve Martin, Jack Black, Owen Wilson, JoBeth Williams rating: *** Though promoted as an ensemb...

Written by James M. Tate / 6/17/2011 / No comments / computer animated , dustin hoffman , jack black , james hong , sequel , tens

KUNG FU PANDA 2

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD0JjRLWY3Vf7vpdzBcxPk-9KPDtfAK66Dv4ZE2InnfbTfJ3OpzOhgSejxseXdYBKonGZJpvKIa94H_-kS2zOJBL6UvlkalWMj40c4tV6Ekgcm5NWfQJWQW7w-ba90Y0ZbkGe1vwAmLKe1/s1600/kung-fu-panda-2.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5619331908692104514" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD0JjRLWY3Vf7vpdzBcxPk-9KPDtfAK66Dv4ZE2InnfbTfJ3OpzOhgSejxseXdYBKonGZJpvKIa94H_-kS2zOJBL6UvlkalWMj40c4tV6Ekgcm5NWfQJWQW7w-ba90Y0ZbkGe1vwAmLKe1/s200/kung-fu-panda-2.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 200px; margin: 0 0 10px 10px; width: 195px;" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">title:</span> KUNG FU PANDA 2<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">year: </span>2011<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">cast: </span>Jack Black<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">rating:</span> *1/2<br />
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While it looks terrific in 3D… the flashbacks of Kung Fu Master Panda Po’s childhood, shown in old-school animation and weaving in and out of the computerized continuation of the successful, and entertaining, original… the sequel is pretty boring, mainly because the backstory envelopes everything here: centering on where Po (Jack Black) came from, how he fit in a basket and was found by his adopted fowl father, still running his bistro with an iron <i>cha-ching</i>. Dustin Hoffman’s once important teacher, Shifu, makes a quick, pointless cameo in the beginning as Po and his pals, barely making a difference to the proceedings (especially Jackie Chan, who hardly utters a syllable), travel to fight the new villain, Shen, an evil peacock with nefarious pointy-faced wolf minions. Knowing a thing or two about Po’s origins first hand, Shen holds a personal grip on our hero, who's so bogged-down by frustrated melancholy that when fight scenes occur they seem rushed – our cumbersome hero destined to return to that mushy personal quest of what happened to his parents: a yearning only “inner-peace” can quench… zzzzzz. But does it really matter from whence he came? We already know the true beginning is the first film, which this is a pale, lackluster, unfunny shadow of. So next time around… if there is a next time… progression is essential. </div>

computer animated, dustin hoffman, jack black, james hong, sequel, tens