It's finally here. The prequel to one of the greatest and most memorable Pixar films ever conceived. The big question is...does it ruin the original!? Well, no. In fact, it completely surprised me with it's relevancy as a prequel! My expectations were pretty low after seeing the first teaser trailer. My initial reaction was, "Really!? College!? Why would you go to college to work in a factory!?" However, Pixar knows what they're doing and put the college theme to good use. The film tells the tale of Mike Wazowski's (voiced by Billy Crystal) plight to become the greatest "scarer" of all time. He follows this dream to Monsters University, a college in which only the greatest scarers graduate from. Alongside being an origin story for how everything in the original turned out, it also created an enjoyable family film with lots of hilarity and antics.
Liked: All of the voice acting was spot on and believable. All the voice actors fit their roles perfectly. John Goodman and James Buscemi return with Billy Crystal to re-assume their roles from the original. Speaking of Steve Buscemi, it was a pleasant surprise to see Randall getting a back-story along with Mike and Sully. I hadn't seen him in any of the trailers so it caught me completely off guard. Luckily, Randall plays a great role in the film by driving Mike's ambitions to win the Scare Games even further. The animation is top-notch as usual. Pixar doesn't disappoint when it comes to eye-candy. The campus is beautifully vast, my personal favorite detail being the very realistic and aesthetically beautiful trees. I know it seems like just a minor detail, but the trees really brought the setting to life. The story was well paced and intuitive. Some of the morals they conveyed were pretty spot on. Unfair genetics juxtaposed with jealousy was well implemented, along with the "everything eventually turns out okay" trope.
Disliked: I know I said the voice acting was good, but all the characters were just so boring. Even all the returning characters were boring. The mom character was really obnoxious and probably only thrown in for embarrassment humor. Some of the traditional college stereotypes were a bit too blatant, especially the Oozma Kappa team members. Also, there were about a million different variations of the line "You don't belong here!" or "You'll never make it!" constantly being shoved down my throat. Hearing that line be used over and over again got really annoying really fast. The rest of the cast weren't awful per-say but they just weren't anything compelling. I never really cared about any of them. That's why the scene where Mike and Sully are talking alongside the lake never really affected me. It was a beautiful scene with some iconic shots, but when each character opened up and confessed their feelings I didn't really feel bad, sad, or anything for that matter. Sure the issues they were touching upon were very real and relevant today, but my disinterest in the characters made the scene lack that emotional connection other Pixar films execute much better. I didn't like the cameo appearance of Roz as the chief of police at the end at all. The "always watching" joke worked in the original, not this one. The ending was a terrible cop-out and left a bad impression on me. It reintroduced a plot device that was touched upon for a whole five seconds. It made no logical sense and quite frankly made the relevance of Monsters University (the location not the film title) absolutely pointless. I wasn't too upset by it, but I'm sure it detested by many.
Monsters University is good. However, Pixar fans might be let down a bit, as it doesn't hold a candle to the original. I'm thankful that it wasn't a complete trainwreck, but I would've liked more.
Saturday, July 6, 2013
My review of "Life of Pi" (2012)
This movie is a marvel. It's really quite a shame that the studio that produced this has already shut down. The film is about an Indian teenager who was born and raised in a zoo. Upon moving from India to Canada, the cargo boat transporting his family and all of the zoo animals he grew up with sinks, and he is stranded on a lifeboat with a few animals. This is an incredible tale of survival, passion, and belief in god.
Liked: Most of the acting was very good, especially the teenage version of Pi who was stranded. The movie was dazzling and amazing to look at. The scene with the jellyfish was particularly stellar. Even though it was mostly CGI, I enjoyed it all the same. The story was very simple and easy to follow. The atmosphere during the ocean portion of the movie was incredible, especially the few scenes in which the lifeboat appeared to be floating in space. The soundtrack was great, the acting was great, and the story was great.
Disliked: The way the story was told was a little cliched. I haven't read the book this film was based on, but to my understanding it didn't contain the ending where Pi explains his hardships to the Japanese interviewers, and it wasn't being told from an adult Pi to an author. In my opinion they should have maintained the book's storytelling technique because it would've built more suspense to Pi's inevitable survival. Also, apparently in the book there was more religious symbolism which I didn't catch in the movie version.
Overall, Life of Pi is an excellent survival story with stellar visuals and strong performances. I highly recommend seeing it.
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
My review of "Fantastic Mr. Fox" (2009)
This movie is freaking awesome. It's pretty high up on my top 10 favorite movies list, and it might be my favorite animated movie ever. MIGHT BE. I might just be blowing smoke because I just finished watching it, so maybe I'll have to take that incredibly bold statement back. It's based on the book by Roald Dahl, but if you've never read that, here's the story. Mr. Fox (voiced by George Clooney) and his wife (voiced by Meryl Streep) used to hunt birds, but after a near death situation, Mr. Fox promises to his wife that he'll never steal again. Two years after the incident, Mr. Fox sees an opportunity to get back into the thieving game with three incredibly mean and feared farmers that are all conveniently located in the same valley as the foxes' new tree home. One thing leads to another, and Mr. Fox ends up getting himself, his family, and the entire valley of woodland creatures in a lot of danger due to these farmers.
Liked: The animation is fantastic! (how fitting!) It's "claymation", and it looks awesome! It's animated in a really stylistic way that just fits the overall mood of the film perfectly. The soundtrack consists of a few recognizable songs, but mainly of joyful pluckings of a banjo. It feels like you're watching a Saturday morning cartoon from how silly the music gets. But again, it all fits the mood. The writing is clever, witty, and, most importantly, hilarious! The story is entertaining, simplistic, and easy to follow. It has a perfect pace and is filled to the brim with satisfaction and laughs. All the characters are so charming and likeable. There's honestly not a single one I dislike. Kristofferson is my personal favorite.
Disliked: The ONLY thing I don't like is how some story elements seem a little too unrealistic. Like a whole siege of men with guns and bulldozers going after just one fox. And also, how did Mr. Fox get the poison for the blueberries? But that's all honestly. There is little to nothing wrong with this movie.
Fantastic Mr. Fox is an underrated classic, littered with quotable lines, likable characters, hilarious moments, and more. I highly recommend giving it a watch! IT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE!!
- Eamon
Liked: The animation is fantastic! (how fitting!) It's "claymation", and it looks awesome! It's animated in a really stylistic way that just fits the overall mood of the film perfectly. The soundtrack consists of a few recognizable songs, but mainly of joyful pluckings of a banjo. It feels like you're watching a Saturday morning cartoon from how silly the music gets. But again, it all fits the mood. The writing is clever, witty, and, most importantly, hilarious! The story is entertaining, simplistic, and easy to follow. It has a perfect pace and is filled to the brim with satisfaction and laughs. All the characters are so charming and likeable. There's honestly not a single one I dislike. Kristofferson is my personal favorite.
Disliked: The ONLY thing I don't like is how some story elements seem a little too unrealistic. Like a whole siege of men with guns and bulldozers going after just one fox. And also, how did Mr. Fox get the poison for the blueberries? But that's all honestly. There is little to nothing wrong with this movie.
Fantastic Mr. Fox is an underrated classic, littered with quotable lines, likable characters, hilarious moments, and more. I highly recommend giving it a watch! IT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE!!
- Eamon
My review of "Batman Begins" (2005)
Unlike most people to my knowledge, I didn't watch Batman Begins until I had already watched The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises. I finally got around to watching it and I wasn't disappointed. However, I wasn't completely enthralled either. The story of the movie is basically Christopher Nolan's (the director) version of Batman's origin.
Liked: All of the acting was very good except for one role but we'll get to that later. There were epic action scenes and tension-filled moments. Scarecrow was a really cool character and the concept of him using hallucinogens as a weapon was really creative. The story all tied together very well and had a lot of really satisfying moments. You have to give this movie a lot of credit, as it introduced the sinister and dark take on traditionally children friendly comic book heroes.
Disliked: So this paragraph will probably be a lot longer than expected, but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the film. Just a heads up. So first of all, the actor who played young Bruce Wayne was god-awful. They couldn't have found a kid that was maybe just a bit more talented? After he witnesses his parents get shot and killed firsthand, he cries like he just scraped his knee or something. It was a very underwhelming and uninspired performance. There were probably better child actors out there. I failed to see the relevance of the Flass, as he didn't really contribute anything to the story. I was disappointed that Victor Zsas basically got the shaft, and had little to no importance in the story. Speaking of the story, the beginning was ridiculously confusing. Everything goes south when Bruce speaks to Falcone (played by Tom Wilkinson) in that club underground. I interpreted it as Falcone told Bruce that the city is corrupt and only criminals make it here, so Bruce becomes a criminal, is trained to fight, then is caught stealing so he is sent to jail, then in jail Henri Ducarde (played by Liam Neeson) offers him training to join the League of Shadows. But why? Just because he's Bruce Wayne? And why is a plane waiting for Bruce beneath the mountain? Some other things were confusing too. Like why was it necessary to fire Earle (played by Rutger Haur)? Just because he fired Fox? But why did he fire Fox!? And why did Rachel (played by Katie Holmes) just out of no where find a love interest in Bruce? In The Dark Knight they talk about how they were in love for a while but in reality it was only the last 6 minutes of the film!? And speaking of The Dark Knight, why was Scarecrow not even an issue to arrest!? He was such a huge threat in Begins and in The Dark Knight he's taken out within the first 15 minutes.
Even though some plot points are just a little too confusing, I still liked this movie. It had strong acting, great action, and nail-biting tension. Christopher Nolan did a great job of introducing a new, edgy, and most importantly dark series of comic book hero movies.
- Eamon
Liked: All of the acting was very good except for one role but we'll get to that later. There were epic action scenes and tension-filled moments. Scarecrow was a really cool character and the concept of him using hallucinogens as a weapon was really creative. The story all tied together very well and had a lot of really satisfying moments. You have to give this movie a lot of credit, as it introduced the sinister and dark take on traditionally children friendly comic book heroes.
Disliked: So this paragraph will probably be a lot longer than expected, but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the film. Just a heads up. So first of all, the actor who played young Bruce Wayne was god-awful. They couldn't have found a kid that was maybe just a bit more talented? After he witnesses his parents get shot and killed firsthand, he cries like he just scraped his knee or something. It was a very underwhelming and uninspired performance. There were probably better child actors out there. I failed to see the relevance of the Flass, as he didn't really contribute anything to the story. I was disappointed that Victor Zsas basically got the shaft, and had little to no importance in the story. Speaking of the story, the beginning was ridiculously confusing. Everything goes south when Bruce speaks to Falcone (played by Tom Wilkinson) in that club underground. I interpreted it as Falcone told Bruce that the city is corrupt and only criminals make it here, so Bruce becomes a criminal, is trained to fight, then is caught stealing so he is sent to jail, then in jail Henri Ducarde (played by Liam Neeson) offers him training to join the League of Shadows. But why? Just because he's Bruce Wayne? And why is a plane waiting for Bruce beneath the mountain? Some other things were confusing too. Like why was it necessary to fire Earle (played by Rutger Haur)? Just because he fired Fox? But why did he fire Fox!? And why did Rachel (played by Katie Holmes) just out of no where find a love interest in Bruce? In The Dark Knight they talk about how they were in love for a while but in reality it was only the last 6 minutes of the film!? And speaking of The Dark Knight, why was Scarecrow not even an issue to arrest!? He was such a huge threat in Begins and in The Dark Knight he's taken out within the first 15 minutes.
Even though some plot points are just a little too confusing, I still liked this movie. It had strong acting, great action, and nail-biting tension. Christopher Nolan did a great job of introducing a new, edgy, and most importantly dark series of comic book hero movies.
- Eamon
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