Shrek: The Final Chapter

For nearly a decade the Shrek franchise is the figurehead for the unimaginative animated entertainment. Compared to Pixar, a company that seems the genre to reinvent each time it delivers another award-winning CG marvel, stand-up lite humor and constant pop culture shout-outs of tired tent pole DreamWorks’ seems to represent the antithesis originality and creativity. The good news about Shrek: The Final Chapter (formerly known as Shrek After Forever ) is that for once, the creators of this series cracking try something new and fresh. The bad news is that the above attempt at innovation is still shrouded in the same old hackneyed humor.

At first, it seems that everything will be as usual Shrek. Now an anguished father who have no time to wallow in the excesses of his ogre past, our big green Goof (again voiced by Mike Myers) are forced to feed and diaper are windy children put up with the Donkey’s (Eddie Murphy) daily Shenanigans, and suffering his wife Fiona (Cameron Diaz) and scowl disapproval. After an incident at a birthday party, Shrek goes in the “magical contract expert” Rapunzel (Walt Dohrn), who promises him 24 hours of pre-wedding fun for a day in the history of the sample. A pause, Shrek signs long parchment. Within moments, he was transferred to a version of Far Far Away, where anarchy rules, ogres are hunted and used as slaves, and no one remembers our clumsy hero. It is the beast one way to find the spell and getting his slipper, but thankfully back to reality.

Read Full Entry

Shrek Forever After

If and when I ever have kids, before I teach them their ABC’s, before I teach them to walk and definitely before I teach them to talk, I will teach them not to talk…during movies. I don’t care if it’s a kid’s movie or if I take my 4-year-old to see BASIC INSTINCT 5, they will know to save their questions and comments till after the lights come up again. Okay, that tangent aside – from which you can determine the audience that made up my showing – I’d like to say the people at Dreamworks surprised me with their fresh approach to the fourth film in this series.

Sure they had some of the typical jokes dealing with flatulence and Eddie Murphy hamming it up as Donkey singing way too many songs, but the plot device that sets the story in motion is surprisingly adult, and with the endless number of fairy tales at their disposal, they were able to use some new devices to add to their old formula and come up with a funny, enjoyable film that I actually heard most of…despite the best efforts of my younger fellow movie-goers.Shrek (Mike Myers) has a measure of celebrity in the land of Far Far Away, and babies to take care of and continuous playdates with the family of his obnoxious and oblivious friend, Donkey (Eddie Murphy). Because of this, he has a bit of a mid-life crisis and longs for the days of being a feared ogre. In an attempt to get at least a day back of that desired past, he makes a deal with the crafty Rumpelstiltskin (Walt Dohrn – yeah, nobody really knows who he is).

Stiltskin uses the deal to take over Far Far Away in an alternate universe where –IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE-style – Shrek has never been born, where Donkey doesn’t know who he is, where Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) is a Garfield wannabe, and his wife Fiona (Cameron Diaz), is a leader of an ogre resistance. The film is then spent trying to find the way to undo Rumpel’s treachery and get Shrek back to his old life, and in the process we see his army of witches flying at us in 3D, a Gingerbread Man doing a great send up of GLADIATOR, and an underused Pied Piper which had the possibilities for more laughs.The adult theme that SHREK FOREVER AFTER touches on that most kids won’t get is what truly made the film for me. The smarter kids might get the underlying theme of the unhappy monotony of the family man, AKA their fathers, but essentially the construct is used really well in setting up the other situations, most of which are done well. The 3D enhances the animation a bit, but not enough to warrant the bump in price, and the parts that come out at you seem like gimmicks rather than necessary to furthering the story.

The voices we have come to equate with these characters do their job, especially Antonio Banderas as Puss, but the new character – Rumpelstiltskin – that had the most opportunity to add to the story needed to be a recognizable, menacing or conniving voice (maybe Danny Devito or Ben Stiller). Walt Dohrn is an obscure writer and animator who adds nothing in his portrayal of the villain, and that was noticeably lacking. But other than that, this is impressive for the fourth film in a franchise. It is a funny, engaging film for all audiences that did not simply regurgitate the jokes from its previous films. Mike Myers should take note if he ever thinks of making another AUSTIN POWERS flick.

Read Full Entry

Are cartoons just for kids?

Animated movies are a guilty pleasure of mine. When others are out enjoying the sun on a weekend, I'm sometimes hiding in a movie theatre seeing the latest animated offering. However, many times I find myself doing it alone. You see, a lot of the people I know in New Zealand seem to be of the opinion that animated movies are "just for kids". Personally, I disagree with that in a big way.My first job in the UK was working as a Cast Member (Sales Assistant) at The Disney Store. Working in these stores was likened to being part of a show because it was our job to create the Disney magic in a store. I grew up going on holidays to the Disney theme parks and as a result I'm a bit of a Disney fanatic and I'm glad to say that working for them for five years, though enlightening, didn't turn me off Disney films.

There are so many awesome animated films out there. Some of my own favourites include Bolt, How to Train Your Dragon, A Bug's Life, Finding Nemo, Flushed Away, Toy Story, Tarzan, Ice Age, The Little Mermaid, Beauty & The Beast, Shrek and The Lion King. One of my friends said he hasn't seen most of these films; that made me sad.

One of my absolute favourite animated movies isn't considered a classic at all - in fact it was a complete box office failure for Disney. Treasure Planet is not just your average animated film though. The thing that made it different was having a villain who experiences character growth and redemption. Good lord, that's a bit complex for the kids, isn't it? That film was written by Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio, who went on to write Pirates of the Caribbean, and I can't help but wonder if Treasure Planet had been released after that blockbuster, it might have got an audience once Pirates had officially come back "in".

What I loved about that film was its tremendous heart by painting Jim Hawkins as a delinquent lad who hasn't had a father figure in his life since his dad left home. Usually villains (and sometimes the protagonist) in animated movies are basically either just evil to their very core or the ultimate nice guy and neither was the case with this film - which I appreciated. It didn't treat the audience like infants, so when I was watching it I didn't feel like it was patronising. Kids are smart though; they can handle more complexity than we often give them credit for.

Other things I've come to notice in animated movies are the trends and rivalry between some of the animation studios. Dreamworks Animation is headed by Jeffrey Katzenberg, who was responsible for many of Disney's biggest animated hits such as The Lion King, The Little Mermaid and Beauty & The Beast. After Disney let him go, I understand there was some bad blood between them, which became evident when films like Finding Nemo and Shark Tale were out around the same time.

However, I think they took this a little too far when Dreamworks made a film called Madagascar about a bunch of animals breaking out of the Central Park Zoo in New York and going to Africa. Why do they escape the zoo and go to Africa? I haven't the foggiest, and didn't really give a damn. On the flipside was a film Disney made called The Wild about a lion cub from the Central Park Zoo who gets separated from his father when he's trapped in a green shipping container. His father "Samson the Wild" sets out to rescue him along with several other animals including a funny British koala played by Eddie Izzard.

One of these films had a heart, one did not. One of these films had very detailed animation, the other had penguins. One of these films made a lot of money, one of them did not. Madagascar was made and released before The Wild hit theatres and totally stole its thunder. Having seen Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, I can say that the sequel was infinitely better than the first film because they actually bothered to come up with their own story for it instead of shamelessly ripping off a project in development elsewhere. That really damaged my respect for Dreamworks Animation for a long while.

Having seen How to Train Your Dragon last month, I am glad to say that Dreamworks appears to be back on track with what's most important - a great original story combined with eye-popping animation. I found the dragon riding scenes in this film much more spectacular than those in Avatar, and that's not because I was one of the few people on the planet who disliked Avatar. These really are breathtaking visuals - I even shed a tear or two.

Do you think animated films are just for kids or is it okay to like them as an adult? Are you a big kid at heart or far too sensible to be into all that child's play these days?

Read Full Entry

Family Movie Night returns with 'Avatar' ‎

Canyon Lake families will be pleased to know that a favorite summer tradition is back! Taking advantage of warm evenings and a lovely setting overlooking the Lake, Friday night Movie Nights at Holiday Harbor are beginning tonight and will continue twice a month through August. Families are invited to bring their own blankets, chairs and snacks.

Tonight’s show, which begins at 8 p.m., will be “Avatar,” an epic science fiction film written and directed by James Cameron and starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez, and Stephen Lang. The film is set in 2154, when humans are mining a precious mineral called unobtanium on Pandora, a lush moon of a gas giant in the Alpha Centauri star system. The film’s title refers to the genetically engineered Na’vi-human hybrid bodies used by a team of researchers to interact with the natives of Pandora.

Reel People Ron and Leigh Martel gave “Avatar” a rating of A- and A respectively, saying, “’Avatar’ is 161 minutes and rated PG-13 for intense battle sequences, sensuality, language and smoking. Cameron’s meticulous illustrations display exotic plants, bizarre animals, mutant transformers and a lab even more intricate than Doppler 7000. With such spectacular cinematography, see this movie, if only to visit the dazzling Pandora.”

Read Full Entry

Twilight Saga - Breaking Dawn in 3D

As ongoing negotiations are still made with regards to the cast’s salary here is another update for the Twilight Fans out there. Summit Entertainment is making final arrangement as to make the hit movie franchise of Twilight the Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn in 3D.As we all know that movie trends today are gearing up for 3D animated movies and which brought more viewers to the film.

I think that Summit Entertainment are also gearing up for the new trend in the movie industry. This move could give the franchise a more income obviously because of the higher ticket prices and on the other side it could also attract more viewer to watch the film. But negotiations are still on the process and final decisions are still being made. One things for sure thatTwilight Saga: Breaking Dawn is definitely a two part movie. So for those Twilight Fans here is a news for you Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn is set to be released this 2011.

Read Full Entry

Toy Story 3 Gets Exclusive PS3 Content

It's not exactly the huge exclusive that'll drive sales, but Disney Interactive has released details about Playstation Move support and an exclusive playable character only available in the PS3 version of the Toy Story 3 video game.

The game is set for release June 15, ahead of the theatrical debut of the Toy Story 3 movie. Like typical Disney movie-based games, players will progress through a linear story-driven adventure that follows the progression of the film. That's the core mode of gameplay.

There's also a mode called "Toy Box," which lets players complete various missions and walk around in an open-world environment. This is where the PS3 exclusive part comes in.

In Toy Box mode, PS3 owners will be able to play as the main villain, Emperor Zurg. The Dart Vader-inspired toy bad guy will not be available in any other console version of the game. Additionally, even though the game comes out next month, it will be updated to add functionality with the Playstation Move motion controller when that is released this fall.

"It was cool working with Sony and this new technology to create downloadable mini-games designed specifically for this new motion controller," wrote producer John Day on the Playstation Blog. Further details about the Move's compatibility were not discussed, but this makes Toy Story 3 the first third-party game to announce a future game update for Move support. It's rare for a movie tie-in game to make big news, but Toy Story 3 is definitely noteworthy.

Read Full Entry