ivanfanatic Reviews

Finding Neverland (2004)

Imagination Creation

[10/10 · 21 June 2005]

Nominated as one of the best films of 2004, "Finding Neverland" sweeps us off our feet with the story of the creation of J.M. Barrie's play "Peter Pan". Playwright J.M Barrie's (Johnny Depp) latest play not only fails him, but also leaves him without hope of ever writing a successful play. One afternoon in the park, J.M. Barrie is attempting to create a play when he is introduced to the widow Sylvia Llewelyn Davies (Kate Winslet) and her four sons. The six of them form a surrogate family and with the memories they create, Barrie finds the inspiration he needs that will help him produce "Peter Pan", his greatest play ever.

The hidden message in this film is that there is imagination in everyone; it just needs to be awakened. There is a scene in the movie where Barrie teaches the Davies boys that if they believe in something hard enough, it can come true. Barrie sparks their imagination by pretending his dog is a bear and dances with it. Peter, one of the Davies boys, refuses to imagine anything and insists the dog is not a bear. Peter is trying to grow up too fast, so it is up to Barrie to reignite the boy's imagination spark. While helping Peter, Barrie finds his own imagination has been revived.

"Finding Neverland" is classified into the drama genre because of the intense character building and character relationships. Historically, this movie was quite accurate, including small details such as Barrie's Scottish accent. The actors cast for this film did a phenomenal job of captivating audiences of all ages and types. As far as music and graphics goes, it only enhanced the beauty of this story. It's no wonder that "Finding Neverland" was nominated as one of the best films of 2004. A story for young and old a like, the creation of imagination will never grow up.

Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001)

A Forest of Failure

[2/10 · 21 June 2005]

"Dr. Dolittle 2" continues the story of Dr. Dolittle (Eddie Murphy), a doctor-gone-veterinarian who can talk to animals. The sequel begins with a raccoon gangster trying to recruit Dr. Dolittle into saving a forest that is going to be taken over by a lumber company. Dr. Doolittle takes the lumber company to court and an agreement is made: if Dr. Dolittle can get the lone Western Pacific bear, Ava, to mate, the forest will be saved under the Endangered Species Act. Comedy and action ensues as Dolittle tries to introduce a circus bear, Archie, into the wild in order to save the forest.

Director Steve Carr's intentions of this movie seems to prove anything can be possible if one puts effort into it. This is shown by Dolittle's attempts to reintroduce a bear which has been raised by humans back into the forest. Another example is when the animals perform various comic scenes of stopping forest destruction (both inside and outside forest), but with the more serious intentions of saving their home in mind. A different perspective from the director is the underlying idea explaining it is important to preserve the forests and their inhabitants. As seen in this movie, many animals, such as the Western Pacific Bear, are becoming extinct.

While this movie had good intentions, in reality it was just a bad movie. The animals were cute, but many of the "comedy" scenes were trying a little too hard to be funny. This movie was supposed to be for kids, but there was a large amount of adult situations in this film. Excluding Eddie Murphy, most of the actors were extremely annoying thanks to corny dialogue and poor character expressions. The only positive about this movie were the themes; a little effort can go a long way and the importance of forest preservation. "Dr. Dolittle 2" is a poor sequel and I would only recommend this movie to someone with a "cheep" sense of humor.

Signs (2002)

What lies behind the Signs

[4 October 2004]

The film "Signs" was released in 2002 which was written, directed, and produced by M. Night Shyamalan. "Signs" takes place in a small farm town of the family of a retired reverend. The reverend Grim (Mel Gibson), along with his two children and his brother Merrill (Joaquin Phoenix), lives on a farm where unusual events involving crop circles have begun to occur. Suspense builds and aliens invade earth, leaving the family to discover a way to fend them off.

The plot of the film includes aliens invading planet Earth, but the underlying theme of the movie is whether or not things happen for a reason or that there are no coincidences. Unfortunate events occurred which caused Grim to retire from the Catholic Church and live as a farmer. The beginning of the movie explains that Grim believes that there are no coincidences and that there is no one watching Earth from above. Merrill believes that there is hope that things will turn out for the better and events do happen for a reason. By the end of the movie, the idea that there are coincidences and that things do happen for a reason is clearly portrayed.

"Signs" could be the ultimate masterpiece created by Shyamalan. The plot of invading aliens combined with the theme of coincidental action gave way to a film full of action, suspense, humor, and emotions. In many films, aliens are characterized as corny looking, but in "Signs" they were respectfully portrayed. Location of a farm town was perfect as crop circles are often associated with extra terrestrial invasions, which made the dialogue and costumes appropriate to the setting. It is hard for me personally to find anything appalling in this film, as everything flowed smoothly from one scene to the next. This is definitely the kind of movie that will not only entertain us, but also cause us to think about why things happen.