Disney apparently wanted to go back to its roots with its 50th animated feature, and so, a la Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, took yet another dark children’s story about a girl in trouble and turned it into Tangled, a sprightly and thoroughly entertaining family flick full of beautiful animation and bouncy musical numbers.
Read More animation, blu-ray, comedy, David, Disney, DVD, family, Mandy Moore, PG-, Rapunzel, Tangled, Zachary LeviSteve Carell makes for a very funny sort-of-bad-guy in Despicable Me, a CGI ‘toon with an amusing premise that kids will find irresistible but as a whole isn’t half as funny as it should, or could, have been.
Read More animation, blu-ray, comedy, David, Despicable Me, DVD, family, Jason Segel, PG-, Russell Brand, Steve CarellI love and respect Emma Thompson, and if you do as well, you will approach the Nanny McPhee franchise in the proper spirit. Emma Thompson produces and stars in the original and the sequel as the enigmatic, magical Nanny McPhee (“little ‘c’, big ‘P’”), a nanny in the tradition of Mary Poppins who appears to [...]
Read More comedy, Emma Thompson, Ewan McGregor, family, Fantasy, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Maggie Smith, Nanny McPhee Returns, PG-, Ralph Fiennes, RobinIt’s gotten to the point now where the mere mention of M. Night Shyamalan elicits either a laugh or a groan. It wasn’t so long ago that he was producing some truly phenomenal films–I for one believe that The Sixth Sense is a genuine masterpiece, even (or especially) when you look past its spooky bits [...]
Read More Aasif Mandvi, action, adventure, Blu-, Dev Patel, DVD, family, M Night Shyamalan, PG-, The Last Airbender, willThe 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-Watching The Karate Kid reminded me again about the influence that “hype” can have on our viewing experience. The critics belittled the artistic merit of this remake, and I expected it to be bad. So I was really surprised, pleasantly surprised, at how much I enjoyed it. Yes, it was a little long at 140 [...]
Read MoreI hated this lazy family flick with, well, a vengeance. It’s awful. Basically an hour and a half of star Brendan Fraser being humiliated by a bunch of animals. You might be able to tolerate it if you’re under 9, but adults should try not to look directly at the screen while it’s playing.
Read More Brendan Fraser, Brooke Shields, comedy, David, DVD, family, Furry Vengeance, Ken Jeong, Matt Prokop, PG-, Ricky Garcia, Roger KrumbleFor this review of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, I asked my grandkids, Jack, age 10 and Abbie, age 9, for their input. We all watched it twice and the kids watched the Deleted Scenes in the Special Features. We all really loved this movie. Jack and Abbie liked it because it was mostly funny, [...]
Read More blu-ray, comedy, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, DVD, family, Jeff Kinney, joyce, PG-, Robert Capron, Zachary Gordon