Tales From Earthsea is the latest film from Studio Ghibli, the great Japanese animation house, to be released in the States. Not only that, it’s even directed by Miyazaki. But before you get too excited, it’s not the work of Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away, et al) but rather his son, Goro Miyazaki. So the big [...]
Read More adventure, animation, DVD, Fantasy, Miyazaki, PG-13, Studio Ghibli, Tales from Earthsea, willOnce upon a time there was an animated ogre named Shrek. He was in a movie that made a lot of money, so its studio said, what the heck? There are enough ideas for a few more rounds. We’ll make some sequels and try not to run the idea into the ground. They came close, [...]
Read More adventure, animation, comedy, David, DVD, Eddie Murphy, PG-, Shrek, Shrek Forever AfterThe CGI people in A Christmas Carol, director Robert Zemeckis’ latest performance-capture piece, certainly look more realistic than the creepy-faced things that populated The Polar Express. But they’re still just a little off, enough to make this otherwise entertaining version of the beloved Charles Dickens tale feel as cold-hearted as Ebenezer Scrooge himself.
Read More A Christmas Carol, animation, blu-ray, Bob Hoskins, Colin Firth, David, drama, DVD, family, Gary Oldman, Jim Carrey, PG-, Robert Zemeckis, Robin Wright-PennThis year, I’ll dispense with my annual paragraph-long effusion of general hyperbolic delight with all things Pixar. Phew–that certainly frees up some space. Toy Story 3 is indeed another timeless treasure from the folks in Emeryville, a charming, funny and quite poignant conclusion to one of the better trilogies in film history. Set several years [...]
Read More blu-ray, DVD, Pixar, Toy Story 3, willHow to Train Your Dragon is not only the best animated film since last year’s excellent Up, it’s one of this year’s best films period. It’ll make you laugh, for sure, but, you’ll also cry, cheer and thrill to the adventures of a Viking boy and his dragon.
Read More blu-ray, Chris Sanders, Cressida Cowell, David, Dean DeBlois, DVD, Gerard Butler, How To Train Your Dragon, Jay Baruchel, PG-Take heed, gentle reader: we are witnessing the Golden Age of Animation. At this year’s Oscars, the Animated Feature category swelled from its perennial selection of three computer-generated features (usually Pixar’s winner and two also-rans) to five brilliant and varied films, only one of which was computer generated (Up). The surprise nomination was the somewhat [...]
Read More adventure, animation, blu-ray, Brendan Gleeson, DVD, Evan McGuire, Fantasy, Genndy Tartakovsky, Nora Twomey, The Secret of Kells, Tomm Moore, willCalling this follow-up to the 2007 box-office hit a “squeakquel” is bad enough, but it also begs to be the answer to a question on Jeopardy, as in, “What 88-minute movie about a trio of talking rodents has more subplots than Spider-Man 3?”
Read More Alvin & the Chipmunks, animation, Betty Thomas, blu-ray, comedy, David, David Cross, DVD, family, Jesse McCartney, Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler, PG-, Wendie Malick, Zachary LeviI can still recall the resonant voice of Roald Dahl reading aloud his classic children’s book “The Fantastic Mr. Fox” on my oft-played book-on-tape version (yes, I was a cassette-tape-listening child of the 80’s). Since I, at one point, pretty much knew the book by heart, I had to fight hard to avoid stringent comparison [...]
Read More adventure, Alex, animation, Bill Murray, blu-ray, comedy, DVD, family, Fantastic Mr. Fox, George Clooney, Jason Schwartzman, Meryl Streep, Owen Wilson, PG-, Roald Dahl, Wes AndersonDisney makes a much-heralded return to its 2D hand-drawn animation roots with The Princess and the Frog. The return to a medium considered dead (at least in the eyes of dimwitted studio execs) is historic enough. But it also marks the debut of Disney’s first black princess, Tiana. The setting for the story, New Orleans [...]
Read More animation, blu-ray, Disney, DVD, family, Fantasy, G, Musical, romance, The Princess and the Frog, willAnybody reading this who knows the name Hayao Miyazaki probably won’t need any convincing from me to check out his latest film Ponyo. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Japanese master animator, he is widely and ever-increasingly recognized as one of the greatest filmmakers working today, and you owe it to yourself [...]
Read More adventure, animation, blu-ray, Cate Blanchett, DVD, family, Fantasy, G, Hayao Miyazaki, Joe Hisaishi, Liam Neeson, Matt Damon, Ponyo, Tina Fey, will