Animated_Antic Reviews

Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero (2018)

A harmless, but often too safe animated movie.

[6/10 · 25 December 2018]

Movies that are based on a true stories can sometimes either be really good or really bad. I'm one that like films that are based on actual events and historical moments, but I feel sometimes they are played to be cute and heartwarming and I can often get bored with those movies. We don't see a lot of animated films with this kind of caliber and I think for good reason because sometimes they can end up like "Sgt. Subby: An American Hero". Before I start I will say that this is a cute film, but unfortunately it plays more like an educational film to be shown in a classroom and not an animated film released in theaters. That's not exactly a good sign for this film and I feel that it also was trying way too hard to be safe. It really is a shame because the story in the film is quite a fascinating.

With the United States having entered the first World War One, many men have either been drafted or volunteered to fight the war against the Germans. At a military camp in New Haven, one private named Robert Conroy (Logan Lerman) finds that a dog has wandered onto the camp and has grown fond of the soldiers in his division called the Yankees. Conroy and the other soldiers Elmer Olsen (Jordan Beck) and Hans Schroeder (Jim Pharr) have also started to really like the dog as well whom they have named Stubby. After the Yankees division is sent off to Europe, Stubby stows away on a boat and comes to Europe with Conroy and the others. While fighting in France, the duo meet a French soldier named Gaston Baptiste (Gérard Depardieu) and the rest of the story is the trio traveling across Europe to fight the Central Powers and win the war for the allies.

This is really a rather fascinating story and I do think that it's a very good one to tell for a film, but unfortunately the filmmakers decided to make the film way too safe for audiences and not take any big risks or challenges. Like I said it feels more like a film you would typically play in a history classroom in middle school. The story between Conroy and Stubby is done very well, but unfortunately it's not a very suspenseful war movie and feels way too tame. It comes off not only as boring, but also way too safe. The filmmakers decided to make this movie as kid friendly as possible and decided not to put any profanity or blood in it which is very unusual for a war film. If the film was aiming for a G rating, then I would understand that. But the film is rated PG and it unfortunately comes off feeling way to safe which is made even more unspectacular in an era where Disney films and Pixar movies have been brave enough to put profanity and even some blood into their movies. I also wasn't exactly impressed with the animation as it felt rather unfinished at times. The company who made this film Mirkos Images did a fantastic job animating "Captain Underpants" last year for DreamWorks, but it seems that the energy in the animation is sadly gone in this film. The character models sometimes feel rather plastic like and at times I felt like I was watching a student film more than I was an actual theatrical release. As far as the characters go, I wish I could get invested in them. All of them to me felt way too nice and didn't have an edge or a unique personality that stood out. They all just were a little too happy at times and nothing more. I will say though that the bond Conroy does have with Stubby is genuine and I do feel the filmmakers did a great job at planning that out. Had they also made the war scenes more gruesome and not as safe, then the film might've actually been a lot better.

Honestly, that's really by biggest problem with "Sgt. Subby: An American Hero". It's way too safe. The story was way too tame at times especially in its war scenes, the animation is a little unfinished and a little plastic like, and the characters don't exactly have any strong personalities to them. This film really is a shame because I do think there is a good story in here, but unfortunately the filmmakers played it way too safely that I simply can't give a full recommendation to this film. It's harmless enough, but for a animated movie that takes place during the first World War it should've been better and taken more chances.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

An amazing and mind-blowing animated movie.

[9/10 · 18 December 2018]

Spider-Man has gone through a lot in film, hasn't he? From the trilogy directed by Sam Raimi with Tobey Maguire, to Marc Webb's two Amazing Spider-Man films with Andrew Garfield, and being in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Tom Holland. He has really been through a lot. So if you took him as well as many different incarnations of the comic book character and put them into one movie, you'd get "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse". It may seem like a really crazy idea, but here it works. And it works phenomenally well. This is such an amazing animated movie and is also a breakthrough for new animation technologies. I haven't really seen a full length animated movie like this until now and it really is mind-blowing. This seriously is such an amazing movie.

Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) is a teenager living in Brooklyn who is having a complicated life. He has been accepted into a new school despite not really wanting to go and is having a sort of difficult relationship with his parents (Luna Lauren Velez and Brian Tyree Henry). He does though bond closely to his uncle Aaron (Mahershala Ali) over his passion for graffiti. One night though, Miles is bitten by a radioactive spider and then starts to develop very strange powers. It doesn't stop there though. After seeing that Kingpin (Leiv Schreiber) has built a Super Collider in hopes to reconnect with his now deceased family, he then suddenly realizes that the portal has opened up other Spider-Men into his universe including Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson), Spider-Woman (Hailee Steinfeld), Spider-Man Noir (Nicholas Cage), Peni Parker (Kimiko Glenn), and even an actual Spider Pig named Spider-Ham (John Mulaney). Together they must stop the Kingpin's plans of possibly destroying the world with his Super Collider and to get the other Spider-Men home before they glitch and eventually die. I would say more that happens, but I'd rather not spoil because you just need to see the film for yourself.

Last year, I remember Sony Pictures Animation making their worst film to date with "The Emoji Movie". That film was boring, unoriginal, unfunny, painful to sit through, and clearly a product of corporate executive meddling. A year later, they have made their best film to date as it was captivating, funny, and a really thrill ride. For an animated comeback, this really is one of the best I've seen in years. It's clear the company is heading forward as a filmmaker driven studio which allows for more creator influences and ideas and less executive interferences and I'm very happy to see that. The story's main focus being on Miles getting the hang of his powers as well as the responsibility of taking on the role as Spider-Man is the highlight of the film. Seeing him growing as a character and getting through difficulties including struggling at this new school, trying to bond with his parents, and learning from the other Spider-Men characters is what makes the movie fantastic. It's what I expected to see from a superhero movie and I think it really delivered. As for the animation, it's incredible. This is probably the closest movie I've seen that looks like a comic book and it blends traditional animation and computer animation together really well. I've seen the technique dabbled with by Disney in shorts like "Paperman" and "Feast", but never have I seen a full length feature animated movie take on this style until now. Having seen it though, I can easily say I want more. This really is a game changer. The characters in this movie were the real highlight though. Although the character growth of Miles is the highlight of the movie, the other Spider-Men characters are all hilarious and stand out. Peter B. Parker and Spider-Woman are great teachers in a way to help Miles becoming who he is and Spider-Man Noir and Spider-Ham led to some of the funniest moments in the entire movie. I'm so glad they weren't in the trailers and I dare not say them here because they're so funny. This really was a fantastic animated movie, but I can say it's not flawless. For one, the dubstep like soundtrack did grate on me a bit and kind of got on my nerves. I prefer a full orchestra over dubstep any day. Also, I thought Kingpin could've been just a little bit better as a villain. I understood his motives and thought Schreiber did a fantastic job playing him, but I don't think he was quite as intimating and evil as I wanted him to be. He did come across as threatening, but he could've been just a tad bit more for me to legitimately fear. Still though, that's really it.

"Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" is seriously a phenomenal animated movie with a great superhero story, fantastic and groundbreaking animation, and funny memorable characters to really hold it up. This really is such an achievement for Sony Pictures Animation and I'm so happy to see that they can really make a fantastic animated movie. I hope to see some more awesome movies like this in the future because this really did blow my mind.

Arthur Christmas (2011)

A delightful and very charming Christmas film.

[9/10 · 11 December 2018]

The people at Aardman Animations really know how to make very delightful and charming animated movies. From the adventures of "Wallace and Gromit" to the cleverness of "Chicken Run", they have been delighting audiences across the world with their fun stories and flawless stop motion animation. Though in recent years, they've experimented a bit with computer animation. One of their efforts was the film "Arthur Christmas" and it's yet another delight. It only fits that Aardman make a movie that had focused on Christmas, and I think they really delivered here as it has lots of charm and plenty of heart to make it a modern Christmas classic. It was really a fun film to watch.

Every Christmas Eve, it's always the job of Santa Claus to deliver toys to good children around the world in his sleigh pulled by eight reindeer. That's what we would typically think. What we don't know is that there have been many generations of Santa Clauses and the current one in line named Malcom Claus (Jim Broadbent) and his elves has recently been using more advanced ways of delivering presents. They no longer use one tiny sleigh and eight reindeer, but rather a giant high tech airship that looks like a sleigh and are using military precision and advanced technology to help get the presents delivered. As Malcom is getting old and preparing his retirement, he is ready to pass down the torch to his older son Steven (Hugh Larie). But it's not Steven were focusing on, but rather Arthur (James McAvoy). He's the younger and clumsy son of Malcom and is the one who answers the letters for Santa. One year as another Christmas year mission seems to be successfully completed, Arthur notices that they failed to deliver a present to one child who really wanted a bicycle for Christmas. While Steve shrugs it off as he considers this year the most successful Christmas run to date, Arthur and his grandfather Grandsanta (Bill Nighy), and a stowaway gift wrapping elf named Bryony (Ashley Jensen) decide to use the old sleigh and the eight reindeer to deliver the present in time. From there on out, it's a matter of racing the clock to make sure that every child in the world has a very Merry Christmas.

This film really does have everything that I love about Aardman's movies as well as the makings of a modern Christmas classic. The story in particular is very charming. It has a very original concept and a great message about keeping old traditions alive. Though what it really does is pack a lot of heart in it. This is one of the most heartfelt animated Christmas films I've seen in a while and I think it's really what makes it count for being a modern Christmas classic. The animation in the film is also flawless and beautiful. While one of their films "Flushed Away" did still try to retain the stop motion look that "Chicken Run" and "Wallace and Gromit" had, this decided to make it look like a standard computer animated film, and honestly all the better for it. It really does show that Aardman has the capability to make a computer animated film that doesn't look like stop motion and it really stands out as being one of the most beautifully animated movies I have seen from 2011. Everything is so beautifully detailed and rendered that it made really want to see more which is something good animated movies should always do. The characters as well are also a lot of fun. I do love how even though Arthur is clumsy at times, he still has as good heart and is very kind and caring about the children around the world. Steven is a character you also understand and I'm glad didn't go down the road of being the villain. He simply just a flawed character and I feel some animated movies should use that route for their antagonists more often. My favorite character however is definitely Bryony. Even though I'm not a huge fan of quick-talker characters, she was certainly a lot of fun and her skill she has for wrapping presents did lead to some very funny jokes. If I did have one flaw with the movie, it's probably just I do feel some of the scenes were a little too quick at times. I do love fast stuff, but sometimes the film did move a little too fast for me to follow and it was a little distracting at times, though that's honestly just a nitpick.

"Arthur Christmas really" is a fun and heartfelt Christmas film with a very clever and heartfelt story, beautiful animation, and brilliant characters. I really do think this movie is a worthy modern Christmas classic. I do hope it'll be remember for years to come as being an animated favorite because I certainly plan to rewatch this movie in the near future.

Rango (2011)

A very strange, but still amusing animated movie.

[9/10 · 4 December 2018]

I've seen a lot of strange animated movies as a critic. Sometimes they are strange in the right way and sometimes they are strange in the wrong way. If there's an animated movie that can certainly fit into being strange, it's "Rango". This is such a weird movie and it has a very interesting crew. It includes director Gore Verbinski who made it fresh of his endeavor of directing the "Pirates of the Caribbean" trilogy, Oscar nominated screenwriter John Logan, animation from special effects company Industrial Light & Magic, and also having it released by Nickelodeon Movies. This is such an odd combo for an animated movie, yet I still found myself oddly enjoying this film. It's a very weird film without a doubt, but if weird is done right I find myself enjoying it. This was a film I did end up finding myself enjoying.

After a pet chameleon (Johnny Depp) becomes stranded in the Mojave Dessert in Nevada, he then is sent on a journey to a dried up town called Dirt. There he is seen as a stranger by most of the town folks, including an iguana named Beans (Isla Fisher), but quickly comes up with a fake story about being a drifter and taking out the Jenkens brothers with one bullet. He also gives himself the name of Rango. After accidentally killing a hawk that was terrorizing the town, he is then made the town sheriff by the mayor (Ned Beatty). There is a problem in the town of Dirt though, but it doesn't have to do with any outlaws. The town is running quickly out of water. After their last few water supplies are stolen by the town, Rango organizes a posse to help get the water back to the town of dirt. From there, some very strange and weird events occur that would take me a while to explain.

This certainly was a strange movie to watch, but I still had a fun time watching it. The story certainly was probably the oddest part of the film. I think the best way to describe the film is a very bizarre Western and yet John Logan's script really does make it work. It kept me very intrigued and had some quirkiness in it. Even though it does have tropes and cliches that have been done hundreds of times in the past and will be done hundreds more times in the future, they still seemed to be very fresh and new here in this film. The animation was really amazing. This is some of the most beautifully crafted CGI I've seen, then again when you have the Oscar winning effects studio who brought to life special effects for hundreds of live action films like "Star Wars", you know it'll be good. The dessert animation felt so dry and empty that it left me parched by the end of the movie. Watching this movie thirsty made me regret not seeing it without a glass of water nearby. I needed one badly by the end of the movie. As for the characters, I'd say they have some of the quirky charm to them. Rango does start off as a character you don't like at first, but you start to eventually warm up too. Though it's really Beans that is the character that I liked the most in the movie. She definitely has a strong attitude towards her and is a little rough at times, but she still has a good heart. She also isn't yet another damsel in distress and can stand up for herself. Even her odd defense mechanism was amusing. Although I did like this movie, it does have some flaws. For one, the beginning is a little boring and does take time to get fully invested in. Also, the ending of the movie was so abrupt that I didn't exactly like how it finished. I felt that there needed to be one extra scene added to give the film a proper close, but sadly we didn't get it. It did leave me feeling a little disappointed.

Still though, I did find "Rango" amusing enough. The story is weird but still interesting, the animation was certainly fantastic, and the characters were amusing and had some fun quirks to them. I do recommend this movie, though I will say this. If you're seeing it for the first time, have a glass of water near you. Unless you want to be extremely thirsty by the end of the film after looking at dry dessert for nearly two hours, you're gonna need it throughout your viewing.

Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018)

A funny and very heartwarming sequel.

[9/10 · 27 November 2018]

We don't tend to see a lot of sequels from Walt Disney Animation Studios. Since the release of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" back in 1937, the studio has only released about a handful of sequels. This is not including the infamous direct to DVD sequels put out by DisneyToon Studios from 1994 to 2008. Now after almost seven years, Disney Animation brings us back into the world of "Wreck-It Ralph" and brings us to the world of the Internet with "Ralph Breaks the Internet". Going into the film I had very high hopes due to how much I loved the predecessor and how funny the trailers looked and came out very satisfied. This is not only yet another fantastic film from the Disney Animation Studios continuing their fantastic revival they've had this decade, but also a great animated sequel as well. This really was such a fun film and I really enjoyed watching it.

Six years after the events of the first film, best friends Ralph (John C. Riley) and Vanellope (Sarah Silverman) have been hanging out during closing hours at Litwak's Arcade. Their lives seem to be perfect until one day the steering wheel breaks off of Vanellope's arcade game Sugar Rush. Because the company who made the game went out of business years ago, Litwak unplugs the machine which renders the people of Sugar Rush homeless and without a game. Hoping to get a steering wheel for Sugar Rush before Litwak sells the game for parts, Ralph and Vanellope venture into the world of the Internet in hopes to find the steering wheel in time. Along the way, they come across some interesting characters including a clickbait pop ad user named J.P. Spamley (Bill Hader), a racer in a game called Slaughter Race named Shank (Gal Gadot), an algorithm on a website called BuzzTube named Yesss (Taraji P. Henson) and many more that will help in their quest for them to get their steering wheel and get back to Litwak's before it's too late.

This film really was a lot of fun and I feel a lot of that comes down to the story. This movie is funny, clever, has lots of heart, and knew how to make a world where the characters were likable. Yes, this movie does have some memes in it as well as some websites, but at least they do serve a purpose to the plot. When Ralph and Vanellope go to eBay, it actually serves a purpose to the plot and actually does do something funny. For the most part the movie does tend for the characters to go to fictional websites or apps that don't exist in real life. It's how I feel animated movies should be done. Being driven creatively by filmmakers and not by greedy executives. As for the animation, it's once again amazing for Disney. The world of the Internet has lots of unique places and is so vast and open that I wanted to see a lot more of it kind of like the worlds of "Inside Out" and "Zootopia". As for the characters, they were easily the heart of the movie. The new ones were fun with my favorite being J.P. Spamley. I do love how although what he does is essentially annoying and will drive people crazy, he actually ends up being very likable and pretty friendly to Ralph and Vanellope. There's also a hilarious moment involving the Disney Princesses from Snow White to Moana and having the voice actors who originally played most of them come back to reprise their roles really was a bonus. Their appearance even led to a hilarious song number written by the legendary Alan Menken. I laughed pretty hard during the entire number. Though the real heart of the movie comes down to Ralph and Vanellope's friendship. It was something I loved in the first movie and seeing it be developed even more and fleshed out was something I really wanted to see. Even a scene at the ending involving them actually nearly made me cry. I think the duo really has developed since the first film. As far as problems go, I do think the movie is a bit too slow at times especially during the climax. I also did want to see a little more of Felix and Calhoun (Jack McBrayer and Jane Lynch) as I really liked them in the first movie but were barely in this movie. Though since the movie is really Ralph and Vanellope's story, I think that's really only a nitpick.

I still think "Ralph Breaks the Internet" is still a very fun sequel. The story had lots of heart to it and was very fun and clever, the animation was gorgeous and the world of the Internet was very creative, and the old characters were all lots of fun to see again while the new character really did make me laugh. I really did have a lot of fun with this film. It may not be the best animated movie sequel of the year as I think "Incredibles 2" is still the best, but it's still a pretty close second.

Gnome Alone (2017)

A stupid, highly annoying, and unoriginal film.

[2/10 · 20 November 2018]

For some reason, some animation studios think that garden gnomes make interesting movie characters. I don't know why they do, but they keep making movies on these things and have put them as the main focus. The truth is with garden gnomes is that they don't make interesting movie characters since they are essentially decorations you put on you lawn. There's really not much to go off of with these things. Most people may know about animated gnomes in "Gnomeo and Juliet" and its sequel "Sherlock Gnomes", but there's another animated movie focusing on garden gnomes and it's far worse than those two movies put together. It's called "Gnome Alone" and it's made by the studio that made "Happily N'ever After" and the director of "The Nut Job". If that sounds like a disaster waiting to happen, you'd be right. Like "Duck Duck Goose", this was initially intended for theaters, but went straight to Netflix instead and I'm really glad I didn't see it in theaters. It may not be as horrendous as "Duck Duck Goose" was, but it still was really hard to get through.

A young girl named Chloe (Becky G) and her mom (Tara Strong) have moved into an old creepy house in a town called Tenderville (yes, really). When they arrive, Chloe finds weird garden gnomes positioned randomly around the house and she also finds a weird green crystal inside a secret door which she uses to make into a necklace. After she gives the necklace to a popular girl in the school named Brittany (Olivia Holt) in order to become her friend, Chloe soon discovers that the crystal called the Keystone was actually important to the house since the latter unleashes a portal to a world where round purple creatures which are always hungry called Troggs come through. It is also revealed that those weird garden gnomes are actually alive where one named Zook (George Lopez) tells her that the gnomes have been protecting the world by keeping the Troggs in their own dimension and they need the Keystone in order to set things right. Also entangled up in this battle is a nerd next door named Liam (Josh Peck) who has been trying to become friends with Chloe. It's now up to them to take down these creatures and save the world which would be interesting if I cared about this movie, and I don't.

This film really was annoying. I really struggled to sit through it in one sitting because I kept getting annoyed by it. The story was completely unoriginal as it's another movie where two kids save the world from danger with the help of unlikely companions. We've been there and done that so many times that I'm pretty annoyed by it. It's also wildly uncreative. There's barely a single thing original in it. The house they move in to looks creepy like usual, Chloe and Liam don't immediately become friends at first but then warm up, even the trait where Chloe wants to be liked by the popular girls is so old. This movie also has lots of film references as well. This movie loved to quote films like "Lord of the Rings" and "Aliens" for no reason except that they're popular movie quotes. It quickly got under my skin fast. The animation was also pretty bad. The computer animation looked like plastic and barely had any charm to it. The character designs looked pretty unoriginal and the garden gnomes came off as more ugly than they did cute. Speaking of characters, none of them were likable. Chloe was always too obsessed with her phone and came off as annoying for a protagonist and the garden gnomes were all terrible. Not one of them was likable as they were all stupid, mean, and unfunny and the less said about Brittany and her friends the better. Liam was probably the closest character that came off as likable. Then again, I do tend to like Josh Peck at times and him playing a nerd was kind of funny but that's really not saying a lot if anything at all. Also, if you're wondering why it's called "Gnome Alone", it's because Chloe is left alone at the house all day because her mom is out of town with work stuff though it might be because Tara Strong wanted very little to do with this movie. I really don't blame her.

"Gnome Alone" is just an annoying and stupid movie. The story was stupid and annoying as ever, the animation was bad and looked ugly, and most of the characters came off as bland and basic. There's really not much I can say for this movie except that you should avoid it. It doesn't do anything new or noteworthy and there is much better stuff to watch on Netflix than this. It's not worth eighty minutes of your life.

The Grinch (2018)

A faithful and fun adaptation of the classic story.

[8/10 · 13 November 2018]

If there was one animated movie this year that I really didn't have high hopes for, it was "The Grinch" and there's a good reason why. With the exception of Blue Sky Studios "Horton Hears A Who!", every Dr. Seuss movie I have seen has been not good. I didn't like Jim Carrey's take on the Grinch, I thought "The Lorax" was a mess, and the less said about Mike Myers' "Cat in the Hat", the better. So when Illumination announced they were gonna do another take on How the Grinch Stole Christmas, I got really nervous. Not only was their last Dr. Seuss movie was "The Lorax" which like I said was a mess, but the advertising for "The Grinch" didn't look very appealing to me. So, you can imagine my surprise when I found out that I actually did enjoy this movie. Yeah, I'm not joking here. "The Grinch" is actually a legitimate good Dr. Seuss movie which I never thought I'd see myself utter. Granted it may not be as good as the Chuck Jones television special which I still find a masterpiece, but still I think this film does the classic story justice.

While the Who's down in Whoville prepare their annual Christmas celebration, the Grinch (Benedict Cumberbatch) is dreading it's arrival due to his unpleasant experiences he has of it. As the celebration plans to get bigger and bigger, the Grinch then plans to steal the holiday from Whoville by dressing as Santa Claus and taking everything Christmas away with the help of his loyal dog Max. The rest of the film does involve him planning on enacting his plan as well as subplot involving the young Cindy Lou Who (Cameron Seely), but I'm not gonna spoil it here since the advertising didn't do it also.

To be honest, I really was expecting to hate this film going in. I didn't think this film was necessary considering we had the Chuck Jones special and I still had bad memories of "The Lorax" as well as Illumination's other mediocre movies like "Minions" and "Despicable Me 3" so I really was surprised to see how faithful the story was the original book. It does capture the original story and it's message perfectly and seeing the Grinch prepare his plot to take the holiday led to some funny moments, but it was the subplot with Cindy Lou Who was pretty much the icing of the cake of the film. I really loved this subplot of the movie because it actually legitimately felt heartwarming and I felt that the writing in the scenes with Cindy Lou and her friends was pretty spot on for young kids. The animation once again is good for an Illumination movie. One thing I was legitimately happy with seeing for this film was that they hired new character designers to work on the movie. I did voice my frustration with having Eric Guillon do the character designers for all of Illumination's previous animated movies as it was pretty unfair for other artists out there, so seeing some new artists work on the film was quite relieving to see. As for the characters, they did have their moments. I do like the new take on the Grinch in this movie and I'll give credit to Cumberbatch and Illumination for doing a new take on the character and not base it off Boris Karloff or Jim Carrey's performances as he does act like the famous Christmas grump we all know and even does have some fun moments with Max. Though it's really Cindy Lou that steals the show for me. She was fantastic due to her determined passion and fun personality and her voice actress Cameron Seely was really good in this movie. I can see a bright future ahead for her and I'm really excited to see what she does next. Even her friends are also a lot of fun and led to some funny moments. Though I did really like Seely's performance in the film, I will say Cumberbatch's voice for the Grinch was really questionable. Rather than doing his regular British accent, Cumberbatch played the character with an American accent and ended up sounding a little odd. In fact, if you didn't tell me that was Cumberbatch I would've assumed that Bill Hader was voicing the Christmas grump. He really sounded like Bill Hader playing this character which made me think if that was the route Illumination was going with then I don't understand why they didn't get Bill Hader to play him. Also, I've got to ask why was Pharell Williams chosen as the narrator? I get that he commonly works with Illumination, but I find it very odd for him to be narrating the film and not even do songs for it. I'll also say some of the jokes do fall flat as well. Like "Smallfoot", this film does have another screaming goat joke which I really think is old and tired now. Though luckily there were other funny jokes that made up for it.

And you know what, I think "The Grinch" gave me what I wanted to see for a Dr. Seuss movie. It gave me a story that was faithful to the original without getting annoying or insulting, animation that was bright and colorful that would go well with the book, and characters that had fun and charm although some of their voice over work did come off questionable at times. I still am up for debate to decide if this movie is better than Horton or not, but in the end I still think it's a good Dr. Seuss movie and I'll take that any day over a bad one.

Teen Titans GO! To the Movies (2018)

A surprisingly silly and hilarious movie.

[9/10 · 6 November 2018]

If there is one cartoon that has really polarized audiences from the day it came out, it was Cartoon Network's "Teen Titans Go!" The show is a reboot in a way of the original "Teen Titans" show, but is done in a more comical and silly way. Some people like this new take on it and find it funny, others hate it and consider it a betrayal to its superior original. Personally, I have mixed feelings on it. It has its moments, but sometimes it can be really unfunny and just painful to watch. When a movie of the show was announced back in October of last year, I was really skeptical of it. To be honest, I couldn't exactly see how in the world this show would be able to translate to the big screen. Nevertheless, I still sat down and watched it. To my shock, I was surprised to see that I really did like "Teen Titans Go to The Movies". It's very silly without a doubt, but it's actually really hilarious. I really found this a great film which I really did not expect.

While the other big DC superheroes including the Justice League have been able to get their own feature length movie, the Teen Titans which include Robin (Scott Menville), Beast Boy (Greg Cipes), Cyborg (Khary Payton), Raven (Tara Strong), and Starfire (Hynden Walch) still haven't. In fact, they're seen as jokes by everyone else as well as too immature and silly. Even superhero director Jade Wilson (Kristen Bell) sees them that way, although she seems to have no problem making a movie based on Alfred or even the Batmobile. Feeling they need to get attention, the Titans decide to do everything they can to make it onto the big screen, which includes try to get an arch villain in the form of Blade (Will Arnett) and other crazy things so insane that I dare not spoil them here. I'll just leave my plot synopsis there because this movie needs to be seen to be believed.

I was shocked by how funny this film was. I really didn't expect to laugh this hard at this movie, but I did. It really took the silliness and humor of "The Lego Batman Movie" and "Captain Underpants" and turned it up to 11. One of the memorable jokes in the film included Slade telling the guards that the Justice League wouldn't be available since they have their mobile devices turned off then turns to the audience and says something along the lines off "At least they're better behaved than some of you!" That was the joke that really made me knew this would be great. I had a terrible theater experience this year with Hotel Transylvania 3 where two teenagers sat in front of me and went on SnapChat throughout some of it. But I digress. The jokes ranged from even poking fun of Marvel, Lion King, to even a small Fantasia homage and it just cracked me up! The story really knew how to be funny and take twists and turns that I wasn't expecting. Not only that, I was surprised how much the emotional moments even worked. They were surprisingly effective and I did legitimately feel for the characters who also are pretty funny. The Titans definitely are goofy and funny as you'd expect and their voice actors do a brilliant job at playing them. Though I did get laughs from the Justice League and Slade in particular. Batman mostly being silent was hilarious and even having Nicholas Cage play Superman was brilliant if you know the history behind that, but I think the real scene stealer is Slade. Will Arnett knew how to make this character great and it really did make up for his questionable appearance in "Show Dogs" this year. Just be sure not to call his character Deadpool though. As for the animation, I'm impressed. Man, it felt great to see some traditional animation again. There's always something about it that really connects with me and I'm happy that the animation was really stepped up from the TV show in every single regard. I loved it. With that said though, there are two things that I didn't like. The first one was that the film, like "Captain Underpants", did get a little too immature at times to the point where I was starting to roll my eyes at certain scenes. The second problem I had was bigger and that involved Slade's plan. I'm not gonna spoil it, but let's just say it did remind me a little too much of "Incredibles 2". It was probably pure coincidence, but it was still pretty distracting.

Nevertheless, I still had a lot of fun with "Teen Titans Go to the Movies". The story was really funny and some great emotional moments, the animation was fun and bright, and the characters were also funny and had charm to them. I can easily say this is yet another animated movie that I wasn't expecting to like but ended up loving. We really need more animated movies like that because I do love surprises. Oh, and be sure to look out for a brilliant cameo. I think you'll get a laugh.

Monster House (2006)

A frightening and surprisingly funny movie.

[9/10 · 30 October 2018]

People really do have mixed thoughts when it comes to motion capture animation. Some love it for it's innovation, others don't like it because of how uncanny it can look. I'm one that likes it personally, but I can understand where others are coming from when they say don't exactly like it. Like "The Polar Express" around the Christmas season, one animated movie I grew watching around Halloween season was "Monster House", a film directed by Gil Kenan and executive produced by Robert Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg. I did like it as a kid for how spooky it was, but then I stopped watching the movie after a while. I then decided not long ago to rewatch the movie to see if it held up and to my surprise, it did. The film's frightening imagery still works to this day, but it's really the humor that seals the deal. I had no idea how funny this film was as a kid and I really was laughing hard at this movie years later.

In a normal neighborhood a day before Halloween, twelve year old DJ (Mitchel Musso) has recently been spying on his neighbor across the street, Horace Nebbercracker (Steve Buscemi), a grumpy old man who wants people away from his house and takes and item that lands on his yard. After trying to grab a basketball belonging to his best friend Chowder (Sam Lerner) off his yard, DJ is then caught by the neighbor who then seems to have a heart attack right in front of him. Nebbercracker is then taken away by an ambulance, but the situation isn't over for DJ yet. He then receives mysterious phone calls from the house and when he and Chowder investigate, the house itself comes alive and tries to attack them. The next morning the two save a girl named Jenny (Spencer Locke) from being eaten, but when they try to tell an adult, in this case DJ's babysitter Zee (Maggie Gyllenhaal), she doesn't believe it. Realizing the house will attack any children that come up to it, the three prepare to destroy the spirit of the house before kids in the neighborhood go out to trick or treat.

Like I said, I was really surprised at how funny and well written this movie is. The kids in this movie are actually written like actual twelve year olds and not like children acting like adults. I think personally children are some of the hardest characters to write for in film, but the writers really managed to pull it off. There really were also a lot of genuine hilarious moments that came from this film when it usually didn't involve the actual house. I think a funny scene came where DJ and Chowder are at a construction lot and where the former is trying to tell the latter about the house, Chowder cares more about how the constitution workers left the keys in the equipment. Sometimes that joke doesn't work, but here it actually surprisingly does. Now, let's talk about the motion capture animation. For what it is, it's still really good. The film definitely looks a lot different from Polar Express and I think most people won't be turned by it's look. The character designs sometimes do look a little plastic-like at times, but I think the scenery still looks great. It really has aged well. The characters are easily my favorite part of the movie. Like I mentioned, the three kids are very well written and how they interact with the adults is pretty funny. I really surprisingly thought Zee was kind of funny too. Being a poor babysitter, you'd think her character would slip into cliché territory, but none of the characters do. I think they are all well written and funny. As far as flaws go with this movie, the cinematography is very odd. The camera moments are very jerky, sometimes to fast to comprehend, and does way too much quick zoom ins that it kind of gave me a headache. It's probably the biggest thing that should've been improved more.

I still think "Monster House" works over twelve years later. The story is funny and well written, the animation looks nice despite it's odd cinematography, and the character are all really funny and work off each other great. I think this is a fun animated movie to watch around the Halloween season. If you haven't seen it, I'd say it's worth a watch. You might have fun with it.

Escape from Planet Earth (2012)

A terrible and infuriating animated movie.

[2/10 · 23 October 2018]

We don't get a lot of animated movies that focus on outer space. There is so much to do with the themes of the setting that it's kind of a shame that most of them turn out bad as they do. The latest animated movie I have watched that involved outer space in someway was "Escape From Planet Earth", and it was honestly a challenge to sit through. There were so many times watching this movie that I was groaning and very close to yelling in frustration at the screen that I lost count. This movie really infuriated me that now looking back, I wonder why I didn't give up watching this movie and just move on to the next film. It's such a disaster that I'm struggling to find something good to say about it.

On the far of planet of Baab (yes, just go with it) the intergalactic hero Scorch (Brendan Fraser) has been traveling to galaxies and doing heroic missions working alongside his brother Gary (Rob Corddry), the head of mission control of BASA. After another successful mission, Scorch tells his fans that he's headed off to the "Dark Planet", a planet that's known for it's aliens disappearing there and never returning. Much to his brothers reluctance, Scorch heads off to the Dark Planet which is essentially Earth, and finds himself captured by the US Government and shipped off to Area 51. Realizing his brother is in danger and the head of BASA, Lena (Jessica Alba) isn't cooperating, Gary heads off to Earth and is also shipped off to Area 51 where he meets three other alien creatures that were captured named Thurman (George Lopez), Doc (Craig Robinson), and Io (Jane Lynch) who've been cooperating with the head of Area 51, General Saunderson (William Shatner) to build a device that could potentially destroy planets. Essentially, he's building a Death Star ray. Realizing that planets are in danger, it's up to Gary to help get the aliens and his brother out of the site, off of Earth, and back to their home planets.

This movie was such a chore to sit through from beginning to end. Almost nothing of this film actually captivated me or tried to make me care. In fact, it just made me angry. Really angry. The story was so confusing, generic, and ridiculous to follow. This film was essentially another alien stranded on Earth story we saw so many times and the writers didn't put any new spin on it. It also has so many subplots involving the General as well as Gary's wife and young son that by the end of the movie I didn't care about anything. Also, one joke of the movie involving the aliens really made me mad. There's a scene where those three aliens explain that they essentially created the internet, social media, and touchscreens in this movie so the government can license the technology to larger companies and the aliens also mention that they even invented computer animation and shows one of them outside the headquarters of Pixar. At that point, I nearly gave up I was so mad. Not only did they show that I could be watching animated movies from a company that clearly knows how to tell better stories than this, but them saying that they invented computer animation just really made me flip my lid. The animation is also a joke. Even from the very opening shot I knew we were in trouble. There's a scene where Scorch is running through snow and he doesn't even create footprints. The animators of the movie were so lazy that they didn't even bother animating them, and it just astonished me. How lazy can you get if you don't even bother animating footprints for characters? Oh and speaking of the characters, they're so bland, boring, and just tiresome. Not one of them works. The closest are those three aliens, but even then that stupid joke where they invented modern technology kind of made me disconnect from them. So, is there anything positive I can say about this movie? Well, I can say the voice actors tried. They tried to make this work, but most of them like Lopez, Lynch, and Shatner have been in better animated projects that it's embarrassing to see their talent wasted in this movie.

If you couldn't tell, I don't recommend "Escape from Planet Earth". At all. The story is a mess, the animation is lazy, and the characters are so bland that I really was angered by this movie. There's better movies involving aliens on Earth out there like "E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial", and I recommend seeing those instead. Don't bother on this garbage.

The Adventures of Tintin (2011)

A fun and exciting adventure from Steven Spielberg.

[9/10 · 16 October 2018]

Director Steven Spielberg really is a director that understands how much of an art form animation is. Since the 1980's, he has been involved in animation in someway which included producing animated films like "An American Tail" and "The Land Before Time" and founding the famed DreamWorks Animation Studios though despite his huge achievements, he had yet to actually direct an animated movie. Then in 2011, he went and directed the animated adventure "The Adventures of Tintin", based on the famed Belgium comics by artist Hergé and boy was it an exciting ride. With great source material like this, you'd have to either go big or go home. Spielberg went big as he brought on some big talent to work on the movie and it surely did pay off.

After young journalist Tintin (Jamie Bell) buys an antique model pirate ship called the Unicorn at a market in Brussels, he and his dog Snowie discover that there is a huge secret behind the ship that the model is based off of. Then one night, he discovers his model ship has been stolen and goes off to discover that the model ships have a mysterious past when the owner of another model named Ivan Sakharine (Daniel Craig) has also had his eyes on the same ship that contains a tiny scroll which will lead to an ultimate treasure. He has gotten one of the ships himself which contains the scroll. All that's missing is a scroll to a third model of the Unicorn. During a scuffle, Tintin finds himself captured and finds himself partnered with a drunk captain of the ship named Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis). Hoping to uncover the actual secret of the Unicorn, the two escape the ship and plan on finding the hidden treasure before Sakharine does.

While watching "The Adventures of Tintin", I began to see that Spielberg really dug down into his routes from "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and the other Indiana Jones movies to make this film and he was the perfect director to helm it. Not just because of his experiences with Indiana Jones, but also because the author of the comics, Hergé, was actually a fan of his work and believed that he could be the only one to do his work justice as he was very unpleased with prior attempts to bring the Belgium reporter to life. Spielberg also brought on some great talent to work on the movie which included Peter Jackson producing it and Edgar Wright as one of the co-writers and they really make a fun and exciting ride for this film. There is lots of fun adventure in the story and it really does have a fantastic combination of the great action from "Raiders" and the fun tone of "Tintin" and it also didn't lack in the humor as well. I was surprised at how funny this film was, but then again when you have the director of "Shaun of the Dead" and "Hot Fuzz" working on your movie, you know the comedy is gonna be great. I was intially worried about the animation considering it was motion capture and I still remember the dreaded "Mars Needs Moms" which was released the same year. Though luckily, my worries quickly passed over when I saw how great it was in the end. Considering that the animation was provided by Weta Digital, the same company that brought to life Middle Earth in "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, they really hit it out of the park. It doesn't go into the uncanny valley and it really does look beautiful. The characters also were great and you couldn't have picked better actors to play these characters. Jamie Bell as the adventurous and brave Tintin, Andy Serkis as the drunken Haddock, Daniel Craig as the evil Sakharine, and Nick Frost and Simon Pegg as the bumbling deceives Thompson and Thompson couldn't have been more perfect. They also don't ham up their roles either and give it all one hundred percent and I'm really happy they did. If I did have to criticize something about the movie, it's that some of the action scenes do go on a little too long. I love good action, but sometimes they can get boring after a while and after so much action, I really needed to catch my breath.

Still though, "The Adventures of Tintin" is yet another fantastic action/adventure from Steven Spielberg. With a fun story, great motion capture animation, and characters that live up to the source material really make it a fun ride that's on par with the "Indiana Jones" pictures. It's certainly something to check out, even if you're unfamiliar with the original comics.

Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (2012)

The zaniest, funniest, and most colorful of the series.

[8/10 · 9 October 2018]

The "Madagascar" series may not be one of DreamWorks' best franchises, but it sure is a series that I still highly enjoy though. Sure, it may not have the emotions the first two "Shrek" films, the "Kung Fu Panda" trilogy, and the "How to Train Your Dragon" series have, but it still does have lots of zany humor, memorable characters, and in my opinion lots of charm. I'm always delighted by this series strangely enough and out of three films in the trilogy, I think "Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted" is the best of them. It steps up the zany humor and delivers on some new memorable characters. It's a film that really is a lot of fun.

When we last left our heroes, Alex (Ben Stiller), Marty (Chris Rock), Gloria (Jada Pickett Smith), and Melman (David Schwimmer) were in Africa while the Penguins (Tom McGrath, Chris Miller, Christopher Knights, and John DiMaggio respectively) went off to Monte Carlo. After awhile, the four get homesick for New York City and decide to get the Penguins and continue their journey home to the Central Park Zoo. Their retrieval of the penguins goes as well as you'd think it does and ends up getting the attention of Captain Chantel DuBois (Frances McDormand), the crazy leader of an animal control in Monte Carlo who is determined to get a lions head mounted on her wall. After an incident gets the remains of the plane they're traveling on destroyed, the gang then decides to hitch a ride on an circus train that has only animals including a seal lion named Stefano (Martin Short), a leopardess named Gia (Jessica Chastain), and a Siberian tiger named Vitaly (Bryan Cranston) and pretend to be circus performers so they can get their way to America. However, in order to get to America, the circus has to get the deal of an American promoter and the circus itself is not very good. Hoping to fix the circus, Alex and the others decide to help turn the circus around and get to New York while also avoiding the crazy DuBois.

The film is definitely the funniest out of the three movies and also the best written which makes sense since Noah Baumbach co-wrote the movie. He's definitely worked on some fantastic movies including "Fantastic Mr. Fox" as well as the Oscar nominated "The Squid and the Whale" and his style does seem odd for a third "Madagascar" movie, but it oddly enough works out well. The zany humor is back and better than ever and the stuff involving the circus is actually really investing. I did want to see this circus succeed and that could because the characters are one again memorable and funny. Alex, Marty, Melman, and Gloria still have their charm to them and seeing the latter twos relationship grow since the last movie was nice to see. I did like how insane King Julien (played again by Sacha Baron Cohen) is in this film as he falls in love with a bicycle riding bear named Sonia, but it's really the new characters that work out well. I did care about them and I can understand how much they love what they do and how the circus means to them. The passion and dreams that both Gia and Stefano have are nice to see, but it's Vitalay who is the most interesting of the bunch. He does seem very cold and heartless from the looks of it, but the film does show why he acts that way and I'll admit that I did get kind of emotional watching it. The character that steals the show though is DuBois. This is one hilarious character and Frances McDormand must've had a ball playing her due to how insane and over the top she is. Now we come to the animation which quite honestly is some of the best DreamWorks has made. There's one particular scene involving the circus that was such a sight to behold as it was filled with so much amazement and dazzle and lots and lots of color. It's scenes like that are why I adore animation. With that said though, the film isn't perfect and does contain problems. For one, the animation was clearly meant for a 3D showing. Seeing the characters sometimes get too close to the screen just looks odd in a normal showing and it's distracting. Another thing, is one scene that I won't spoil does drag a bit, but not too much to get me angry.

So, I was pleased with "Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted". It had a fun story, colorful animation, and some fun characters that it's certainly enough to give a recommendation. It's not amazing like the other DreamWorks' movies, but considering it's a "Madagascar" film, I didn't expect it to be. I just expected a fun and zany film, and considering that's what I got, I'm pretty satisfied.

Smallfoot (2018)

A sometimes clever, but often predictable movie.

[6/10 · 2 October 2018]

There was a lot of things that "Smallfoot" had going for it. A unique concept with some pretty humorous potential, animation from Warner Bros. Animation, a pretty strong cast, and a great writer/director helming it. This movie seemed to be bound to be pretty good, and sadly it ended up just feeling nothing spectacular. Now don't get me wrong. This is not a bad animated movie and it's certainly doesn't reach awful heights, but it just felt so predictable and basic that it just left me disappointed which is really a shame because I really wanted to like this movie. I honestly really did.

High up in the Himalayan mountains resides a secret village of yetis. They follow legends engraved onto stones which foretold that there is nothing below the clouds and that there is no other creatures except for themselves and yaks. One yeti named Migo (Channing Tatum) does follow the legends and like the other yetis, practices their normal traditions. One day though, he comes into a bit of a shock after seeing an airplane crash down and finds a human whom the yetis call "smallfoots". He tries to tell the other yetis, but ends up getting banished from the village by their leader, the Stonekeeper (Common). He does eventually run into a secret group of yetis named Kolka (Gina Rodriguez), Gwangi (LeBron James), Flem (Ely Henry) and the Stonekeeper's daughter Meechee (Zendaya) who believe smallfoots do in fact exist and have been collecting their objects as proof. After venturing below the clouds, Migo then runs into a human named Percy (James Corden), a TV personality who has been trying and save his sinking nature show. What follows from their are lots of shenanigans and crazy moments which is all I'm going to say on the story.

Considering that Karey Kirkpatrick wrote some great animated movies like "Chicken Run", I did go into the film with high hopes, but the film really left me mostly disappointed. I did say that the films concept was intriguing, and that is true. The idea of yetis being scared of humans and calling them smallfoots is pretty fun and honestly feels straight out of a Looney Tunes cartoon or from the mind of Chuck Jones. It does have some funny moments including the yetis misinterpreting the human objects and some funny slapstick including a scene with Migo on a rope bridge, but it also has unfunny moments including jokes featuring a screaming goat. Seriously, that joke is old now. Also, the story is predictable at times. It goes through the routes you expect it to go and most of the time doesn't really pull any odd twists or turns. It does do something very new and unique by the end of the movie involving one of the characters, but by then it kinda felt too little, too late. The animation was great though. The snow effects felt very well made and the slapstick was terrific. Then again, nobody does slapstick as well as Warner Bros. Though it did have one problem. The character designs looked like they came straight from "Hotel Transylvania". This shouldn't be a surprise since the company that provided the animation was Sony Pictures Imageworks who also animated the Transylvania flicks, but I feel they could've made the designs feel a little more unique. They just felt really similar to Genndy Tartakovsky's brilliant designs from that film. As for the characters, I like most but not all. The yetis are great. I do like how passionate Migo is, the group that believes in smallfoots is also hilarious and I do love how Meechee isn't all tough and eventually warms up to Migo, but instead is already nice to him from the beginning. Percy on the other hand, annoyed me. I don't have anything against James Corden and I do feel he can be funny, but he sadly has been put in some annoying animated movie roles which is a shame. There's also one more thing that I have to talk about before I wrap up my review. One thing the trailers didn't tell us about this film is that it is also a musical. Yes, you read that right. It put in some songs into the film, and it didn't work. They were all forgettable except for two. One for the right reasons, and the other for the wrong. The one that did it right was involved a rap song from Common explaining the yetis situation which did have a somewhat memorable hook to it and surprisingly actually tied into the story. I'll admit, that it was really well done. However, the musical number that did it wrong was a scene where Percy is trying to win back his girlfriend and he gets on stage and starts singing random lyrics to the melody of "Under Pressure" by Queen. I wish I was making that up. It left me baffled.

Overall, I thought "Smallfoot" was fine, but disappointing. The story had some funny moments but was mainly predictable, the animation was great though designs felt to familiar, most of the characters were pretty good, and most of the musical numbers didn't work. This is a film that I think you should instead wait till it comes out to DVD and just rent it. It could've been so much better, but I'll still take it over the disappointment from last year that was "The Lego Ninjago Movie".

ParaNorman (2012)

A funny and surprisingly thought provoking film.

[9/10 · 25 September 2018]

It's kind of crazy how much of an influence "The Nightmare Before Christmas" left on future stop motion animated movies. Before the film, it was mainly seen as a special effect primarily done by Ray Harryhausen, the average Christmas special from Rankin-Bass or even a commercial featuring the California Raisins, the Noid and so forth. Once "Nightmare" came along however, everything changed for the better. I do love how stop motion still has somewhat of a creepy edge to as seen in movies like "Corpse Bride" and "Coraline". It was also still fresh and new when I saw "ParaNorman" as well. Animated by Laika, the same studio that brought us "Coraline", the film takes some horror tropes that have been done before and gives them a brand new coat of paint and added some meaning to it. In all honesty, I really did enjoy this movie.

Eleven year old Norman (Kodi Smit-McPhee) has the ability to communicate with the dead who have now appeared as ghosts. He's gotten used to this and treats the ghosts like average people. However, the town and even his own family don't believe him and have basically isolated him. Although he does make a best friend named Neil (Tucker Albrizzi), he still is having a hard time fitting in. Things get only stranger when the spirit of his late uncle Mr. Prenderghast (John Goodman) tells him that a ritual must be performed at the grave of a witch before sunset. Things don't go according to plan though and the spirit of the which summons up several zombies from the grave. In the end, it's up to Norman, Neil, Norman's older sister Courtney (Anna Kendrick), Neil's older brother Mitch (Casey Affleck), and Norman's bully Alvin (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) to put a stop to the mess. That's really all I can say about the film because you've got to see it in order to witness how great it is.

I really didn't expect this movie to be as good as it was. The film was co-directed by Sam Fell, the director of the decent "Flushed Away" and the not so great "The Tale of Desperaux" and clearly he has made his best movie with this film. The story was really good, not only poking fun at some old horror film tropes, but also giving us a great message for both adults and children alike. It also has lots of funny moments. One instance is where Perenderghast tells Norman to swear and Norman misunderstands him thinking he wants to say the "F word" rather than promise to put an end to the curse. I got a pretty good laugh out of it. The animation is also great. The film definitely looks different from "Coraline" and stands out with it's cozy town compared to the boring Pink Apartments in the former film. It also has one of the best animated climaxes in any stop motion movie with it's striking visuals during the scene. The thing I do love the most about this film is how funny the characters are. I could really relate to Norman. He has a special gift, but everyone does think he's weird in a way including his whole family. Neil and Alvin did provide for some funny moments and I just really loved seeing Courtney trying to flirt with Mitch which led to one of the funniest jokes in the whole film which I dare not spoil here. If I really had to nitpick this movie, I'd say maybe it did feel a little too slow at times. I do get some of the scenes needed to be slow for the audience to catch their breath, but maybe they could've picked things up just a little quicker.

"ParaNorman" is really a surprising movie with a funny and clever story, striking animation, and relatable characters that I'm sure audiences will have a great time. If you liked creepy stop motion movies like "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "Coraline", then I'm sure you'll love "ParaNorman". I really did.

The Pirates! Band of Misfits (2012)

An odd but still funny flick.

[8/10 · 18 September 2018]

As soon as Johnny Depp played the Keith Richards-like Jack Sparrow in the famous "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise, it seemed that the pirate movie genre really started back up again. I do like a swashbuckling adventure with some comedy thrown in there and I feel that "The Pirates! Band of Misfits" does just that. Being the first stop motion movie made at Aardman in seven years, the film marks their return to medium and I'll admit that I did have some fun with it. It's far from their greatest movie, but it was still fun.

In the year of 1837, pirates are notorious at sea roaming the waters and stealing from other ships, that is for The Pirate Captain (Hugh Grant). Wanting to become the winner of the Pirate of the Year contest, he and his crew try to plunder many ships but to unsuccessful results. However, he does then come across the ship the HMS Beagle and it's passenger Charles Darwin (David Tennant). Seeing that the crews pet Polly is actually the last dodo on the planet, Darwin decides to take the crew to London and enter it into a science fair unaware that he's planning on making off with the dodo to impress Queen Victoria (Imelda Staunton) who absolutely loathes pirates. What follows next is one of the craziest, yet still funny mishaps and mayhems that I'm not going to spoil here.

So as you can tell by the plot, this film is quite bizarre. The idea of pirates coming across Charles Darwin (before he came up with the concept of human evolution) seems quite silly, but Aardman was able to pull it off in a very funny fashion. There were definitely a lot of great gags in the movie like Darwin having a pet chimp who communicates through speech cards. It was also great seeing Aardman tackle stop motion once again. They really did do a great job with the computer animation in "Arthur Christmas", but personally nobody does stop motion as well as they do. Everything felt so lively and uptight that you can tell the painstaking work of moving each figure one frame at a time paid off. As for the characters, I think they also do have charm to them. Hugh Grant is delightful as the Pirate Captain and you do feel sorry for him as he tried to become a great pirate. Charles Darwin as the straight man kind of works to considering it's silliness, but the character who stole the show was Queen Victoria. I loved Imelda Staunton's slimy performance as Umbridge in the Harry Potter movies, but seeing her play a psychopathic queen was quite entertaining. Her insanity really stole the show and I feel she could be as good as Mrs. Tweety in "Chicken Run". If I did have one major problem with the movie, it's the American title. Elsewhere in the world (except for Australia and New Zealand I believe), the films title is pretty much accurate; "The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!". Sony claims they changed the title since the book series the film was based on wasn't popular in North America, and that was a pretty silly mistake. I think this movie would actually help introduce the books to a wider audience, so changing it to a title as bland and boring as this was not a bright idea.

Though with all my problems with the title, "The Pirates! Band of Misfits" is still a funny movie to watch. The story is goofy and silly to its advantage, the animation is top notch once again, and the characters are extremely relatable in this film. It may not be as good as "Wallace and Gromit" or "Chicken Run", but I think it's still a good movie nonetheless.

The Lorax (2012)

A misguided and often clumsy Dr. Seuss movie.

[5/10 · 4 September 2018]

There's something about Dr. Seuss books that seem to work well with television than they do on the big screen. With the exception of "Horton Hears A Who!" from 2008, the Dr. Seuss movies don't really work. "The Lorax" is sadly another one that also doesn't work. Despite boasting the same writers as Horton and having a mostly pretty good cast, the film falls into the trap of a book adaptation that was given the Hollywoodized treatment. Basically, it's where it has to become appealing for mainstream audiences adding cool new hip things at the time that'll become quickly dated in a few years. In short, this film really falls apart.

In the artificial town of Thneedville, a boy named Ted (Zach Efron) has a crush on a high school girl named Audrey (Taylor Swift). Wanting to win her heart, he soon discovers that she really wants to see a real life tree and not a synthetic one that's all over town. He soon discovers that in order to get a tree, he must leave town in search for a mysterious hermit known as the Once-ler (Ed Helms). After arriving, he soon is told the tale of how the younger Once-ler proceeded to make an invention called a thneed resulting in the chopping of a Trufulla tree and the appearance of the Lorax (Danny DeVito), a creature who speaks for the trees. Meanwhile in the present though, the greedy mayor of Thneedville, Aloysius O'Hare (Rob Riggle) sees Ted leaving town constantly to hear the tales of the Once-ler and panics knowing that it could damage his reputation of selling bottles of fresh air to people. What happens next? Well, I guess you might as well know if you know the original tale and can tell by this new story added in.

There are two plots that occur in the story of "The Lorax". One involving Ted trying to get a tree for Audrey much to the chagrin of O'Hare and the other focusing on the Once-ler's mishaps involving his dreaded invention and how he didn't listen to the Lorax. It's pretty clear to which plot is more interesting, but both of them have problems. The newer plot isn't very interesting as it's so predictable and bland that it just begs the question of why it needs to exist. The plot involving the Once-ler and Lorax is a lot more fun, but it's often dated and too rushed at times because it takes a step backwards to the Thneedvile plot line. It's strange as the film had the same writers of "Horton Hears A Who!", but it somehow didn't recapture the same magic and that could be because Blue Sky honestly knew how to pull of the more zany world of Seuss than Illumination. The animation is a big plus for the movie though. It captures the work of Seuss to a tee and has bright, beautiful colors that make the world eye popping. I also do like the character designs as well, with the exception of the Once-ler. The reason why is because in the original book as well as Friz Freleng's original TV special, they kept the character hidden with the exception of his arms which proves that the Once-ler could be anyone. By showing him, it ruins the magic. Also, I imagined him more as an odd creature rather than a human, but that could be just a nitpick. The characters are mostly misses. Ted and Audrey are bland and forgettable, the Once-ler is pretty dated and annoying at times and O'Hare is just a cliche villain that does have any appealing qualities to him. Even his design looks similar to Edna Mode from "The Incredibles". The Lorax and Ted's Granny on the other hand, are pretty fun. That could be because of their actors. I mean, you can't go wrong with Danny DeVito and Betty White. Another thing I have to talk about, and this is the biggest problem of the movie, are the songs. Yikes, were they bad. I think John Powell is a great composer and has given us some fantastic scores with the music in the film being pretty good, but his songs in this film are terrible. I feel they were thrown in last minute due to pressure from the studio and it clearly shows. One lyric in a song (and it's not an ad lib or anything) was "La la la la la la la la la la li". Yeah, that's pretty lazy storytelling.

So, is "The Lorax" a movie I'd recommend? Not really. Despite it's great animation, it's pretty clumsy as it's story is clunky and uninteresting at times, the characters are mostly misses and the songs are really bad. It's not a movie I'd watch again. If you want a better Dr. Seuss movie, I'd just watch "Horton Hears A Who!" or even just stick with the original television specials from Chuck Jones and Friz Freleng. They're much better than this.

Brave (2012)

A pleasant fantasy film.

[8/10 · 28 August 2018]

It was only a matter of time before Pixar decided to tackle the fantasy genre. Even though it's a category Disney Animation has delved into several times with their fairy tales, Pixar typically stayed away it and usually let their sister company handle the movies. Then they decided to bring on board former Disney storyboarded Brenda Chapman and allowed her to direct a new animated movie with Mark Andrews called "Brave". Although it doesn't reach the levels of set by Pixar's other films and does borrow too many elements from Disney, I still found enjoyment in the film. It's flawed, yes, but I certainly don't think it was a bad movie. In fact, I found it pretty good.

In the medieval times in Scotland, a princess named Merida (Kelly Macdonald) is getting frustrated with her mother, Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson), constantly pushing forth protocol towards her at being a proper princess and instead yearns to go through the Scottish landscapes and practice her archery skills. To make things even more dismaying for her, she is intended to be betrothed to one of three sons to her father's allies and wishes not to marry quite yet. However her mother warns her that if she doesn't consent to the betrothal, the kingdom could fall into despair. Frustrated, Merida flees and after following spirit like ghosts known as Will-o'-the-wisps, she stumbles upon the wood cottage of a witch (Julie Walters) with whom she bargains to change her fate. After being given a cake whom she then gives to her mother, Merida is stunned to find her mother transformed into a bear and must figure out how to change her back and sets things right before it's too late.

So as you could tell from the story, it's definitely not one of Pixar's strongest. It takes many elements from Disney's fairy tales as well as "Brother Bear" and combines them together to some interesting results. The good thing about is that it's definitely better than "Brother Bear" as it has a more timeless feel and also has more likable characters and it's especially better than Pixar's mess that was "Cars 2". However, it could've been better. The story just didn't have that feel that the "Toy Story" movies or "Up" brought to the table which is kind of a shame. Still though, I did find some enjoyment in it. The animation is stunning. This is something I definitely would see the movie for because the Scottish world that Pixar created is stunning to look at. It definitely has a cool feel to it and did have the fantasy quality I yearned for and even small details like Merida's bright red curly hair just popped out of the screen. I just really loved the look of the film. The characters are for the most part pretty likable. I did find Merida a little too whiny at times compared to the other Disney princesses and will admit that she did get too annoying, but I certainly didn't find her terrible. I guess she just reminded me too much of a sixteen year old teenager which I will give credit to Pixar for nailing the details on it. The real star of the movies were the supporting characters. The witch Merida comes across in the woods being a humble woodcutter was enjoyable and I certainly loved Merida's rambunctious father played by Billy Connolly. I've always found him enjoyable so hearing him in the movie was pretty fun. Even Merida's mischievous triplet brothers provided some fun laughs.

So, do I recommend "Brave" in the end? Yeah, I think it's worth watching. It's story and some of it's characters may not be up to the standards that are seen in Pixar's other films, but I still found the animation incredible and the supporting characters fun enough. It's a pretty good example of a movie I can consider good, but not great. However, I can still watch a good movie any day and this is a film I can see myself watching sometime again.

Rise of the Guardians (2012)

A beautifully made and epic animated adventure.

[9/10 · 21 August 2018]

There's no denying that "The Avengers" really made a huge splash in pop culture back in 2012. With the film setting a massive box office record, it basically paved the way for epic crossover movies in Hollywood, both good and bad. Near the end of 2012, we got animated movie in veins to Avengers known as "Rise of the Guardians". Based on books written by Oscar winner William Joyce, it teams up childhood icons like Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy and Sandman to have them fight against the Boogeyman. For what I got, I was pretty impressed. Granted it does have some problems, but it was still a very exciting movie that definitely had a lot of great things to it.

Trouble is starting to brew around the world when Pitch Black, aka the Boogeyman (Jude Law) is starting to return to spread nightmares around the world and into the minds of children everywhere. Seeing the danger, North, {Santa Claus} (Alec Baldwin) recruits the help of his fellow Guardians, Bunnymund {Easter Bunny} (Hugh Jackman), Tooth Fairy (Isla Fisher) and Sandy {Sandman}. Who are the Guardians you may ask? They are the ones that spread joy to the children of the world and protect them from dangers brought about. Realizing the dangers, the Guardians learn from the Man in the Moon that a new Guardian has been picked. The new Guardian is Jack Frost (Chris Pine), a mischievous teenaged spirit who has been creating fun winter magic without being guided by the rules. Initially Jack is reluctant to help until he realizes that his lost memories can be found if helped. Together, the Guardians must stop Pitch from spreading his nightmares around the world and worse, making the children forget the Guardians.

The story while good is definitely the weakest element of the movie. It is very predictable at times and doesn't have a lot of surprises, but it's still fun. I was invested in seeing the worlds of the film and loved seeing how the magic of the Guardians worked, but maybe having a little more of it would have made me really love this movie even more. The animation is outstanding. Coming from DreamWorks, this is some of the best stuff I've seen from them that's on par with the "How to Train Your Dragon" films. The colors were so rich and warm and everything was so vastly detailed and huge that it sucked me right in. The imagination seen in this movie is what animation was created for. I just simply adored it. As for the characters, they were also pretty fantastic. The casting of the characters is really what completely sold them for me though. Chris Pine playing the cocky Jack Frost was great, I also loved Isla Fisher's charming personality as the Tooth Fairy, and Alec Baldwin was also surprising as North doing a Russian spin on the Santa Claus character that actually really worked. Sandy was also a delight as he relied on visual acting for his performance rather than dialogue. However, Hugh Jackman as Bunnymund was the real scene stealer. He was really funny having a tough attitude and a thick Australian accent and I don't think anyone could have played it better than him. Apart from the story being a little predictable, I think my only major complaint was that it did feel a little too long. I was highly invested in the movie and excited to see where it was going, but the ending did drag on a bit and it did get me a little impatient. That's really my major complaint with this movie.

"Rise of the Guardians" still was a lot of fun. Despite a rather predictable story, the animation was still outstanding and the character are definitely ones to remember. I think this is definitely a fun movie for children and parents might also have a fun time watching it. Maybe it could've been a tad better more original, but for what I got, I'm more than satisfied.

The Great Mouse Detective (1986)

An exciting and fun Shelock Holmes inspired film.

[9/10 · 14 August 2018]

Not long ago, I had to sit through the Sherlock Holmes inspired animated film "Sherlock Gnomes" and I really didn't like that experience. Not only was it a boring and unnecessary sequel to a film that few remembered, but it was also a poor excuse of a Sherlock Holmes inspired movie. I just remembered the characters being unlikeable and having no charm to them whatsoever as well as the mystery elements being very poor. After watching that film, I began to wonder why couldn't there be a fun animated movie that had been influenced by the Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle when I realized there was already one that was done by Walt Disney Animation Studios back in 1986 called "The Great Mouse Detective". This film is a massive improvement over the former as it's not only a fun Sherlock Gnomes inspired flick, it's also a great animated movie.

When mouse toymaker Hiriam Flaversham (Alan Young) is kidnapped by a peg legged bat, his young daughter Olivia (Susanne Pollatschek) goes off looking for help in hopes of finding the famed detective Basil of Baker Street (Barrie Ingham). Along the way, she meets Dr. David Q. Dawson (Val Bettin) who has just returned from service in Afghanistan and is looking for a place to stay. The two together meet the eccentric detective and discover that her father was taken by a bat named Fidget (Candy Candido) who in turn is working for the evil Professor Rattigan (Vincent Price) a rat who has constantly slipped from Basil's fingers and is planning on using Faversham to create an evil device in time for Queen Mousetoria's Diamond Jubilee. With the help of Dr. Dawson and young Olivia, Basil plans on stopping the evil rat and save Flaversham before it's too late. I'm not going to give out any more of the plot, because you should probably see this movie yourself.

At a time when Disney was really struggling to get back to their golden era, this a great animated movie. It was made one year after the disaster that was "The Black Cauldron" which felt nothing like a Disney film and turned out pretty unpleasant. This film on the other hand has so much more passion and energy put into it by it's crew compared to that film and there's reasons it shows. One reason why is because the film has fantastic directors helming it including John Musker and Ron Clements, who would later go on to do "The Little Mermaid", "Aladdin", "The Princess and the Frog" and "Moana", as well as story artist Burny Mattinson who had previously directed the charming short "Mickey's Christmas Carol". Another reason it works well is because the story feels like classic Disney as well as classic Sherlock Holmes. It has the charm you expect to see in a classic Disney movie while also having the excitement and suspense from a Sherlock Holmes story. The animation is also a fantastic. The problems that were seen in "The Black Cauldron" like some terrible multiple camera shots were nowhere to be found in this film because the character animation is once again lively and full like a Disney movie with Glen Keane's animation of Rattigan really stealing the show. I also like how well some of the computer animation in the finale has held up all these years later. It was also pretty revolutionary too as although "Black Cauldron" was released first, this was the first animated movie in production to use computer animation. The best part of this movie were the characters who were all likable. The way Basil acts like Sherlock Holmes with his eccentric attitude and Dawson acting like Dr. Watson with his bumbling personality is perfect and even young Olivia is also cute and likable which is saying something because some children characters can turn out annoying at times. The real highlight of the movie though is Professor Rattigan though. Vincent Price's performance is delightfully wicked and is prime example of when a character and voice blend together perfectly. I don't think any other actor could pull of his character as well as Price. If I did have one complaint with the movie, it's that it does feel like it needs a clean up with the animations colors. I remember how well remastered some older Disney movies were and I think this film might be due for a remaster.

So to end things off, I highly do recommend "The Great Mouse Detective". It's the best Sherlock Holmes inspired animated movie I've seen so far with a fun story, animation worth of the Disney name and characters that are bouncy and fun. If you like Sherlock Holmes, I guarantee that you'll like this film. Check it out sometime when you have the chance.

Wreck-It Ralph (2012)

A funny and heartwarming film on video games.

[9/10 · 7 August 2018]

Video game movies suck. There's really no denying that. For the past twenty years Hollywood has tried to turn a video game into a movie and most attempts have completely failed and even some like "Mortal Kobmat: Annihilation" and "Alone in the Dark" have been considered some of the worst films to have ever been made. Where most video game movies end up disasters, "Wreck-It Ralph" is certainly not one. In fact, it's a great animated movie. Made by Walt Disney Animation Studios who has started a big comeback, "Wreck-It Ralph" is not only just another great addition into the Disney canon but also one of, if not, the best animated movies to come out in 2012.

When an arcade called Litwak's closes for the night, the video game characters there take a break from their jobs and go out and socialize with other characters by leaving their games and traveling to a power surge. One of the video games there is Fix it Felix Jr. and while it's titular hero (Jack McBrayer) is loved by the residents of the game, it's villain Wreck-It Ralph (John C. Reilly) is shunned and treated like a typical bad guy despite his friendly attitude and soft heart. Sick of always being left out of the fun, Ralph decides to leave his game behind in search for a metal hoping he can gain the respect of others. He eventually finds one in a shooter called Hero's Duty, but an incident there accidentally lands him in a go-cart game called Sugar Rush. There he meets a little girl named Vanellope von Schweetz (Sarah Silverman) a character who is also mistreated by her peers and prevented from racing for being a glitch. She steals the metal and uses it to enter an upcoming race much to Ralph's dismay. Hoping to get his metal back, Ralph ends up working with Vanellope to help her win a race and get his metal back. Meanwhile Felix and the hero from Hero's Duty, Sgt. Calhoun (Jane Lynch), team up in order to find Ralph before the arcade opens the next morning.

The story in this film is pretty clever. It takes that same old characters coming to life when no ones looking trope we've seen before and turn it into something fresh and new. Despite the trailers having primary focus on famous video game characters like Pac-Man, Zangeif and Bowser, the film like "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" focuses more on the original characters like a great movie should. Speaking of the characters they definitely are what they make the movie great. The glue that ultimately holds the movie together is the friendship developed between Ralph and Vanellope and how similar they are. They're both pretty badly mistreated by the residents of their own games respectively and seeing how both share the same dream of wanting to become respected is really something nice to see. I also like how they don't make Felix the villain of the movie which would've been an easy choice. Instead they actually make him likable and friendly to Ralph and also seeing him team up with Sgt. Calhoun led to some pretty hilarious moments. The animation is top notch quality again and the worlds that Disney built for the film are so eye-catching. The world of Sugar Rush in particular is so outstandingly detailed that it's clear lots of research went into making every candy seen in the game edible. If I did have a problem with the movie, it's just that some of the jokes went on a little too long. The film is pretty hilarious, but I feel at times some of the jokes did drag a bit.

"Wreck-It Ralph" is definitely one of the best movies on video games I've seen with a story that feels fresh and original, very detailed animation and some pretty fantastic characters. This is definitely a great movie for video game fans out there and even if you're not a huge fan of them, I still highly recommended you see this movie. I guarantee there's something in it you might like.

Planes: Fire & Rescue (2014)

A slightly better, but still boring sequel.

[4/10 · 31 July 2018]

Sequels to animated movies are common. We typically see one every year nowadays. It's nothing unusual. What is unusual however is releasing a sequel to a movie only a year after the predecessor which is the case for "Planes: Fire & Rescue". The first film was released not even a full year before this movie came out, and I was not impressed by it. I found it predictable, lazy and nothing more than a cash grab to the Cars franchise which is to be expected for a film initially intended to be released straight to DVD but was rather released in theaters instead. While this film is slightly better than that first movie, it's still pretty bad and I don't find it recommendable.

Dusty Crophoper (Dane Cook) has been having a very successful career racing after winning that race around the world competition in the first movie. However, his racing career is put in jeopardy when his gearbox becomes damaged after being pushed to it's limit. Though that's not the only conflict in the movie. After a fire in his hometown, the airport there is condemned due to not having the proper fire equipment adequacy. Wanting to get his airport back on the map, Dusty decides to become a firefighter to help the airport and flies to a national park to undergo training from a helicopter named Blade Ranger (Ed Harris) as well as his crew. From their on out, the rest of the movie is predictable with ups and downs in terms of plot emotions as well as the many ways the film tries to show children about how park rangers put out fires.

At the beginning of the film, there was a nice dedication to all the fire fighters who risked their lives to save others every single day. I'm glad that Disney went out of it's way to make a dedication like this, though I do wish it went to a better movie. Even though the movie is shorter than it's predecessor, it's so boring. The film just dragged on through it's predictable plot lines and added nothing new to give the film emotion. It relies on a lot of unfunny jokes including one scene where it makes puns on "Howard the Duck" as well as "CHiPs". Yeah, it made a pun on "Howard the Duck". That is just ridiculous. I also found the idea of going from a film about racing to fire safety really odd. I do like the idea of teaching children about fire fighters in national parks, but kids should be learning it elsewhere other than "Planes". The animation is a step better than the predecessor. Even though I thought the fire effects were pretty good, the animation is still not on quality with the levels set by Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar and once again came off as amateur. The characters are once again bland. The new ones are the same one note personality traits you remember from the first movie and the new ones fit in that same boat. One character played by Julie Bowen really got me irritated me and sometimes disturbed me with her odd personality. The soundtrack also kind of got on my nerves. It mostly consisted of rock songs with one entire sequence blasting the AC/DC song Thunderstruck and I really have no idea why. Also like the first movie, it wastes a talented cast, most notably Ed Harris. I have no idea why in the world an Oscar nominated actor like him would sign on to do this cash grab, but then again, most actors just do it for the money.

And I think that's the best way to describe "Planes: Fire & Rescue". Made for the money. The story is boring and predictable, the animation while an improvement is still amateur at best, and the characters are once again bland and cliche. I do feel that fire safety is important and teaching kids about fire fighters and their equipment is an interesting idea though I feel there are better movies, TV shows and books to show kids that have done this same concept.

Duck Duck Goose (I) (2018)

An awful, unfunny, disastrous animated movie.

[1/10 · 24 July 2018]

Back in September of last year, I remember going to "The Lego Ninjago Movie" and having to sit through a trailer for an upcoming animated movie called "Duck Duck Goose" and it looked so bad that I started to dread watching it. Even though it was fortunately, the movie didn't get released on it's original April date and was pushed back to August, it was also unfortunately moved forward to July and just went straight to Netflix and skipped it's original theatrical release. I went into this movie expecting to be a generic bad animated movie and left completely shocked. I'm not going to make this up everyone. It's true. This film is one of the worst animated movies I've ever seen in my life. In fact, it's worse than "Norm of the North" and that film had a twerking polar bear played by Rob Schneider. Yeah, guys. It's that bad.

A gander in China named Peng (Jim Gaffigan) is cited as being the weakest in his flock. He is not the fastest flyer and is ridiculed by his pears, even to the point where he sent to fly with the kids. However after his flock leaves without him, Peng ends up breaking his wing due to an incident with a gong and runs into two ducklings named Chi (Zendaya) and Chao (Lance Lim) who are also separated from their flock and are trying to get to a place called "Pleasant Field". Hoping to get back to his flock, Peng agrees to take them to the flock. What they don't know though is that they're being followed by a cat (I'm not going to bother saying who plays him) who is planning on making them dinner. This is where I'm going to stop talking about the plot because I've already lost some sanity watching it and I don't need to lose anymore.

I seriously was not expecting this movie to be as bad as it was. It looked bad from the get-go, but not as atrocious as it turned out to be. This story is nothing but cliche after cliche. It throws every single, stupid plot line you see from a bad animated movie and tries to pass it off as original. It also throws in lots of butt, fart, and puke joke into the mix to make your brains even more numb. The animation is also very generic and bland. It's so boring to look at. Nothing about it shines out and screams it's beauty. It's just as dull as looking as a blank wall. Wait, I take that back. Blank walls have more personality in them than this movie does! I'm serious guys! This movie is just trash! The characters are also unoriginal. Peng is the liar revealed character you all expect to be, Chi is the sassy smart teenaged character, Chao is the stupid one. There's nothing new. Well, the cat does have sort of a Gollum like split personality but it's not funny. It's just atrocious. Also, the climax is one of the craziest and messed up scenes in animated movie I've ever watched. I'm not exaggerating. It's so brainless and idiotic that I struggled to understand how this movie even got released on a platform like Netflix.

So, yeah. If you can't tell by this review, I really did not like "Duck Duck Goose". At all. It's honestly one of the worst animated movies I've ever watched. The story is cliche and insane, the animation is bland and boring, and the characters are all traits that have been done to death. I don't know what to say guys. Just skip it. Don't check it out. It's really not worth ninety minutes of your life that I just wasted. I never thought I'd say this, but you're honestly better off watching the film with the twerking polar bear played by Rob Schneider. I mean it.

Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (2018)

A slightly bumpy but still fun sequel.

[8/10 · 17 July 2018]

Why do critics hate on the "Hotel Transylvania" series? Is it because Adam Sandler is in it? That might be it, though I honestly haven't gotten a clue. My reaction to the series is kind of interesting. I thought the first movie was decent but didn't really see rewatch value in it while I thought two was pretty good and actually found it did have rewatch value. Now we have the third movie in the series, "Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation", a film that I also really enjoyed. I don't think it was as good as the second movie, but I still found it a pretty fun watch.

Count Dracula (Adam Sandler) has started to get pretty lonely and bored at being at his famed hotel for monsters. Wanting to see him happy as well as hoping to spend some more time with his family, his daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez), son in law Jonathan (Andy Samberg) and grandson Dennis (Asher Blinkoff) decide to go on a cruise ship for monsters that is en route to the lost city of Atlantis. While on board the ship Dracula immediately falls for the ships captain Ericka (Kathryn Hahn) unaware that she's the great great granddaughter of Professor Abraham Van Helsing (Jim Gaffigan) who is planning to destroy all monsters starting with Dracula. What follows next is seeing the monsters enjoy the cruise while dealing with the actions of the Van Helsing's.

As you could tell from the plot, the film is more of series of jokes strung together to make a movie which is not a bad thing. Most of the jokes actually really work and did give me a good laugh. I particularly loved the creative scenarios they did with the locations. My favorite had to be the Bermuda Triangle. I won't give away what it looks like, but I'll just say it was very creative what they did with it. Also, the soundtrack was finally great! One of my biggest issues with the last two movies was how modern and dated the pop songs were and in this case, I think there was only time it did irritate me. Every other song was great. I don't even have to say that the animation is great once again. Director Genndy Tartakovsky once again delivers some fantastic fast paced animation and some eye popping colors. This film's creativity was so massive that it was clear that he and really turned around the creativity at Sony Picture Animation after the disastrous "Emoji Movie". The characters are mostly pretty good. It was fun to see most of the characters again, Wayne and Wanda had a pretty funny scene together, and also seeing Jonathan and Mavis was also charming. It was also nice seeing more of Dennis and Winnie bonding together. Seeing them work to keep their giant dog hidden was so funny. Even though most of the film was good, there were some problems. Van Helsing as a villain did not work at all. The last two films didn't have a villain to a story and worked well without one and in this film, adding one just slowed down the movie. Not only that, he was also not very funny. Also, I did kind of miss Jonathan's parents. They were pretty funny and I kind of think adding them to this film would've added some pretty funny humor. Though that was kind of a nit pick.

"Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation" was still a pretty good sequel with a weak but still funny story, top notch animation and some mostly pretty good characters. Even though I do think the second movie was the best in the series, I still think this was a pretty good movie and I definitely have plans of watching it in the future.

Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015)

A funny and even sillier sequel.

[8/10 · 10 July 2018]

When the first "Hotel Transylvania" came out back in 2012, it got a very interesting reaction from critics and audiences alike. Where critics hated it and dismissed it as a throw away animated movie, audiences liked it and called it a fun time. I agreed with the audience. Though I didn't see the first movie as a classic, I still found it fun and silly enough to give it a slight recommendation. With the sequel "Hotel Transylvania 2", I actually found it better. It was not only just as funny if not funnier than the first film, but it's even sillier as it has jokes and ideas that I actually could find myself watching again.

A few years after the first movie, Dracula's daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez) and her new human husband Jonathan (Andy Samberg) have married and had a son whom they name Dennis (Asher Blinkoff). With his fifth birthday approaching, everyone's excited, especially Dracula (Adam Sandler) who sees this as the time where he would grow fangs and become a vampire. However, Mavis is starting to become uncomfortable with having Dennis around the hotel as she feels that he might be a human and is considering moving him and Jonathan to California. Hoping to see if his grandson is a vampire, Dracula sends Mavis and Jonathan to California in hopes of seeing what is like there while he, Frankenstein (Kevin James), Wayne the Werewolf (Steve Buscemi), Griffin the Invisible Man (David Spade) and Murray the Mummy (Keegan Michael-Key) try to get Dennis to get his vampire skills in.

This film was really funny. Right off the bat, I knew we were in good hands when the film opens up with some clever jokes about how Jonathan's family felt uncomfortable being with monsters at the wedding. The film definitely plays up a lot of the laughs and also scraps most of the juvenile jokes that were in the opening of the first movie. The scenes with Dracula and Dennis were definitely the highlight of the movie. Seeing them bond together as well as seeing Dracula always get constantly annoyed by the other monsters and some of the stuff Dennis says was really funny. The animation is also a step better than the first film. Though I still stand by my claim that both of these films would have been better if they were hand drawn, the computer animation clearly shined in this film. Not only was it better rendered, but the fast paced energy was lots of fun and it did lead to lots of great slapstick moments. The characters were great as well. Not only did the new ones work their magic again, but even some of the new ones were pretty funny. I liked Jonathan's parents and even Dennis who could have been annoying but actually was charming. I even liked seeing him and Wayne's daughter Winnie bonding together. That was such a cute moment and I seriously wish there was more of it because I didn't feel there was enough in the film. The film isn't fully devoid of problems. Once again, the soundtrack is dated. I really hated hearing these modern pop songs in these movies though I will admit it wasn't nearly as bad as the first film. The product placement in this film did drive me crazy as well. This film really had an over reliance on showing Sony's smartphones which included one scene involving Dracula trying to use it. That was a hard scene to sit through. Also, the film did lag in the third act. I'll admit that I was invested throughout most of the film, but near the ending I did get a little bored and even glanced at my watch. Even though that's never a good sign for any movie I watch, it's honestly just a nitpick.

"Hotel Transylvania 2" is better than the first movie with a funnier story, animation that was really stepped up and new characters that definitely blended in well with the old characters. I really do mean it when I say that this film could have some rewatch value as I did find myself really enjoying this movie. It was certainly a lot of fun.

Hotel Transylvania (2012)

A wild and zany animated movie.

[7/10 · 3 July 2018]

The name Genndy Tartakovsky is a name that most animation fans will appreciate and even if you haven't heard of him, you probably have heard of the shows he created at Cartoon Network like "Dexter's Laboratory" and "Samurai Jack". The name Adam Sandler on the other hand, is not a name most film fans will appreciate. This was the man who did bring us some of the worst comedies ever made like "Jack and Jill" as well as create "Eight Crazy Nights" which despite it's grand and glorious animation is one of the worst animated movies ever made. Seeing the two team up is a little odd, though that's what they did with the help of Sony Pictures Animation which resulted in the movie "Hotel Transylvania", a film that has gotten an interesting reaction from both critics and audiences a like. Where the critics hated this movie, audiences seem to like it. As for me, I think it's decent. Is it a terrible and childish movie? No. So, is it a modern Halloween classic? Also no. I'll get into why in a minute, but first let me sum up the plot.

Count Dracula (Adam Sandler) has built a hotel for all monsters to go to relax and go on vacation away from "evil humans" as well as keeping his only daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez) safe after his wife Martha was killed by the humans years ago. With her 118th birthday approaching, Mavis is curious about the human world and wants to explore it though her father is still reluctant and wants to keep her safe. However, things go upside down for Dracula when a human tourist named Jonathan (Andy Samberg) accidentally stumbles into the hotel. Wanting to keep the guest from being scared, Dracula disguises Jonathan as a sort of Frankenstein monster and only gets into a bigger sticky situation when Mavis starts to develop romantic feelings for Jonathan. What happens next are lots of crazy shenanigans and fast paced humor that explaining the whole story would be too much so I'll just leave it there and get to my thoughts.

This is certainly a very creative film. The idea of monsters staying at a hotel away from humans is a very clever and unique plot which does lead to some creative jokes and fast paced humor, though the film does have moments to let the audience catch their breath with some pretty effective slower moments. The scene where Dracula tells an emotional backstory in the film was actually surprisingly really well handled which is something I was really impressed with by the film. As for the animation, if you want crazy, zany fast paced animation, here it is. This film really knows how to do fast paced animation well which really reminded me of the old cartoons from 40's and 50's or even that Baby Herman short at the beginning of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" yet it does bring me to a small criticism. Though the film worked well in computer animation, it would have really shined had it been hand drawn. These character designs seemed to be made to be drawn by a pencil and not by pixels and it was even clearly proved during the end credits where we see 2D versions of the characters. It's nothing too major, but I feel that seeing it being done traditionally would have been a major plus for this film. Most of the jokes really work. Even though it is kind of juvenile at times particularly in the opening, this film did have some good laughs including a scene that took a stab at "Twilight". Yeah, I have to give credit to this movie. They really made a great anti-Twilight joke. Now how are the characters, particularly Adam Sandler as Count Dracula? Actually, they're mostly fun. I was a little nervous when I first heard the casting of Sandler as Dracula, but he managed to really pull off the character and his voice actually mostly unrecognizable. Even the other monsters in the film work. I think the funniest monster is Eunice who's the Bride of Frankenstein. Having her always push her poor husband around did make me chuckle a lot not to mention having her played by Fran Drescher was also an ideal choice. There are things that I didn't like about the movie, most notably the soundtrack. Man, this is one dated soundtrack. Although Mark Mothersbaugh's score is pretty good, the songs sounded like they came from an eight year old's kid's iPod from 2012. The autotune also really got on my nerves and having to listen to these terrible pop songs just irritated me.

So while I don't think "Hotel Transylvania" is a great movie by any means, I certainly don't think it's as bad as what other critics have said. It does have a creative story, the animation is really fast paced and enjoyable (even though it would've been better hand drawn) and the characters did have some funny things to them. In my opinion, this movie seems to be suited as a fun silly movie to throw on during a party and that's it. I think it's good for a one time watch, but really it's not much of a classic.