"The Croods" Review

There's something about cavemen, man. Our early ancestors have been interpreted and re-interpreted time and time again, varying from outlandish parodies of modern life (see The Flintstones or B.C.) to fairly realistic takes on the prehistoric world (see Quest for Fire or Clan of the Cave Bear). It seems like the world has a natural fascination with humans' granddaddies, and the latest caveman work to hit the screen is Dreamworks Animation's The Croods.

The Croods are a family of Neanderthals - father Grug, mother Ugga, daughters Sandy and Eep, son Thunk, and grandma Gran - living in an extremely loose interpretation of prehistoric Earth. The Croods spend their days holed up in their cave, only venturing outside to grab food, such as the eggs of the dangerous beasts that live outside. They are uncomfortable but happy, save for Eep, who's innately curious about the outside world. One night, she sneaks away from the cave and meets up with Guy, a Homo Sapiens with an uncanny knack for invention, whom she instantly takes a very adorable liking to. According to Guy, the End of the World is imminent, as proven by the coming of earthquakes- one of which almost immediately destroys the Croods' cave. With nowhere else to turn, the family looks to Guy to lead them to the paradise of "Tomorrow"... much to Grug's resentment.

The Croods is co-directed by Chris Sanders, he of the venerable Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon. His latest film features the same imaginative creature design and gorgeous visuals of his prior work, with many truly amazing sights to see. Have you ever seen a pair of lemurs that have the same tail? A giant green tiger with a bulbous head? Whales that scoot about on land? Human-sized flowers that move about on their own? Well, you have now. The love that went into the production is clear from the opening sequence, which introduces the family using a series of animated cave paintings, which look great and have an adorable style to them.  The next scene, showing the family working together to get "breakfast" (it's nightfall by the time they finally succeed), is just as well-done, wisely giving equal focus to the frenetic and breathtaking visuals and the introduction of the family.

Ah, but with a film as lovely looking as this, there is always a very easy trap for the filmmaker to fall into: spending so much time on the visuals, that they forget to keep the story up to scratch. Sanders and co. seem to recognize this, and take some crucial first steps: with that aforementioned first scene, they set up an important dynamic between the characters, giving each their own roles and establishing their personalities, and are aided by a stellar voice cast- like Emma Stone as Eep and Nicolas Cage as Grug. Though the characters are clearly meant to ape some standard "family sitcom" archetypes (dumb dad, level-headed mom, rebellious teen daughter, snarky grandma (who the dad hates), etc. etc.), they're good archetypes that still have plenty of mileage left in them. Eep goes well beyond her Cloris Leachman is always a good choice for a grandma, and Ryan Reynolds plays as good a love interest as always. At The Croods' onset, it feels like we're going to get a family adventure film for the ages...

...but it never really delivers.

For a film with only 7 characters, it still feels like there are too many. Perhaps a longer work could have juggled them all, but the movie can't balance so many in its 90 minute time frame. There is a quick little moment near the film's end between Grug and Ugga, that serves to highlight this: as Grug is apparently about to leave the group, they grasp each other's hands, and intimately touch foreheads. See, this would be very lovely and poignant... if the two characters' relationship was even the least bit explored. As far as I can remember, Grug and Ugga have two conversations, each about 30 seconds long, and otherwise sparsely interact. Ugga has no scenes to herself, either, and I couldn't tell you a single thing about her personality... hell, until I looked the film up, I didn't even remember her name! Thunk, at least, has a few moments to himself: a scene has him find an animal that he decides to keep, which seems to be setting up a "learning responsibility" subplot for him, but this point is suddenly dropped (literally) and never picked back up. Gran makes a few snarky comments and there is a scene or two where she discusses her life, like a typical grandma character, but she doesn't do or say anything of note. Sandy, the baby, seems to undergo some form of maturation - from a feral, animalistic, violent little toddler into a happy and giggling child - with nobody making any comment on it whatsoever. It seems pretty clear that these characters once had more to do, but their scenes were cut out or reworked. It'd have been wise to completely remove one or more of these characters, so the rest of the cast could get better focus.

Eep and Guy's relationship, as well as Grug's resentment of Guy's leadership role, are the two plots that are actually focused on, and as a result, they are the ones that work. Eep and Guy actually feel like an original kind of couple- unlike the comical awkwardness and nervousness of so many other teen romances, these two are open and intimate from the onset (as cavemen, with no social standards, probably would). Eep is especially adorable in her open admiration of Guy, and never hesitates to get as close to him as she can. Grug's fear of new things and anger over his growing uselessness is presented as humorous (and it often is), but at the same time, his behavior is always understandable and relatable, and by the end, you'll want to cheer for him.

Well, if there's one thing that The Croods has changed about me, it's that I'm finally able to write words like "Eep", "Grug", and "Ugga" in my reviews, which I've always deeply dreamed of. For those who aren't unprofessional film critics, there's still enough fun to be had with Croods' imagination and creativity, so if you haven't got anything better to do, it may be worth a look.

Stars: ***

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"Rise of the Guardians" Review

Every time you see a poster or watch a trailer for Rise of the Guardians, listen closely. If you listen hard enough, you can hear the regretful moans of countless movie studio executives, tearfully crying out, "Why didn't I think of this?!"

Yes, the central concept of Rise of the Guardians - that of a superhero team consisting of various childhood fables - is so brilliant and full of potential that it's really astounding that no one has tried it before. And with an artist like William Joyce involved (the film is based on his Guardians of Childhood book series), you'd have every reason to expect great things. Well, we've received good things, certainly good things, but a fair share of bad things, too. Rise is good enough for me- but with all the potential it has, it's a bit of a disappointment.

The Guardians of Childhood are a group of world-renowned folk heroes who have been chosen by the Man in the Moon to protect the sanctity and purity of children. The team, for hundreds of years, has consisted of Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, and the Sandman - the "Big Four" - but the Man has finally decided on a fifth: Jack Frost. Frost and the Guardians aren't the only mythological creatures out there, but to have the powers of a Guardian requires children to believe in you. If kids don't believe, you have no such power. This is bad news for Jack, who's long been forgotten by the world. And the world is about to get much worse- a sinister, feared presence, also long forgotten, has appeared to make his mark, and he aims to destroy the Guardians and all that they have worked for.

Rise of the Guardians is a winner based on the art alone. So much imagination went into every single scrap of the Guardians, and it's a sight to behold. Santa's Workshop is filled with toys, elves, and Yetis bustling around and mingling in fun and amusing ways; the Tooth Fairy's castle is run like a bustling business, with little helper-fairies scrambling all across the world to obtain lost teeth; and the Easter Bunny's warren is covered in beautiful and vibrant colors, where Easter eggs grow from flowers (!) and the rivers run in every hue of the rainbow. The Sandman doesn't have a domain, but he does have sand, and what incredible sand! Anyone who knows much about animation understands how incredibly difficult it is to even draw sand on a computer, but Dreamworks has created sand that dances, floats, and flies about in all directions, and it's gorgeous. Jack Frost, similarly, is a wanderer, and he controls snow and ice. Both of these are just as hard to animate, but once again, it's achieved with flying colors. Jack performs some impressive feats with the ice, molding it, controlling it, and drawing on it, but it never stops looking real. At the film's very beginning, where Jack breaks through a frozen lake and it crumbles into fragments around him, it looked so real and so beautiful that I teared up. I really did! And that wasn't even the only time the gorgeous animation moved me so.

Now, with a hero team made up of folk icons like these, there's only one possible choice for their arch-nemesis: the Boogeyman! And, yes, our villain in the film is indeed the Boogeyman... or as they inexplicably insist on calling him most of the time, "Pitch Black". Unfortunately, the otherwise limitless imagination of the film's art design staggers to a complete standstill when it comes to him. While the Guardians have beautifully designed homes and abilities, Pitch is depressingly simple, just a tall man with grey skin and a black coat. His lair is similarly bland- it's just a dark basement with a bunch of cages. The really sad thing is, the Boogeyman is quite possibly the only character of the group that allows complete artistic freedom. While the Guardians each have common depictions or simple requirements that limit the ways they can be designed (Tooth Fairy has to be winged and colorful, Santa has to be a fat old man in red, Easter Bunny has to be a rabbit, etc.), there is absolutely no limitations on what the Boogeyman could look like. I mean, go ahead- name me a physical trait of the Boogeyman! You can't! There was so much they could go with here, especially since Pitch is supposed to be the very embodiment of a child's fears. Is a middle-aged Edward Cullen lookalike really the best they could come up with?

Oh, and his minions are just a limitless horde of black horses made of dream dust. "Night Mares", see? Har dee har har.

Easily the weakest part of Rise is its screenplay. Taken on its own merits, it's junk! Most attempts at comedic dialogue fall flat, there's an abundance of cliché lines, and the story structure is sophomoric. I was able to accurately quote entire lines of dialogue, despite having never seen the film before (the villain's annoyingly standard "join me, hero!" scene happens, in the most predictable way possible. And guess how the hero responds!). The plot feels unfocused, and sometimes seems to be structured more like a miniseries than a movie. One 10-minute plot thread has the Guardians helping the Tooth Fairy to help her with her job, and it all goes swimmingly. The next 10 minutes have them trying to save Easter. The next 10, Jack's trying to discover his past. There is no real overarching journey of any kind- or at least, not a physical journey. The intended storyline is basically your standard "Hero's Journey" for Jack, where we're supposed to see him move past his own doubts in himself and become a real hero. The only problem is, this is rather botched. It's not made clear that Jack is insecure about himself, only that he isn't interested in joining a group. This fits his established status as a drifter, and the concept that he's looking for answers in life is only directly informed to us by other characters as they speak to him. The film's climax is disappointing, as despite the global consequences at stake, the final battle is confined to a single small area, and it's over in quite a short period of time.

Rise's is saved, partially by the animation, and partially by the spirit and drive of the cast. Some surprising choices are made, but they all work amazingly. Alec Baldwin is Santa, who has a Russian accent, and yet after the initial surprise wears off, this fits him perfectly. Hugh Jackman is the Easter Bunny, and while his accent is unexpectedly based on a stereotypical Australian (Jack even calls him the "Easter Kangaroo"), it actually fits with his rugged-adventurer personality. Isla Fisher's cute and friendly voice sounds perfect for a fairy, and Chris Pine gives Jack a young, roguish tone that's befitting of Captain Kirk himself. Even Pitch, a bland character as far as design goes, is made at least somewhat interesting by Jude Law's dark, imposing interpretation.

Rise of the Guardians, if nothing else, may go down in my mental history books as the only mediocre movie I've ever actually cried at. If you're like me, and are a fan of animation or appreciate art and character design a great deal, then this is one movie you definitely should see. If you prefer plot, then there's not much to recommend.

Stars: ***
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"Prometheus" Review

Ridley Scott's 1979 film Alien is a landmark in the science-fiction and horror genres, as it took a premise that was quite common by that point in time - a murderous alien attacks an isolated group of people - and revolutionized it by making it actually scary. It was a major success, and led to a series of sequels, of varying quality but consistent entertainment value.

However, even after so many sequels and spin-offs, there has always been one mystery that's remained unsolved:. Near the beginning of the original Alien, the crew of the spaceship Nostromo stumble upon a monstrous dead body, sitting in a giant chair, wearing a bizarre-looking suit- a being known to fans as the "Space Jockey". But, almost as quickly as it appears, the Space Jockey is forgotten, tossed aside in favor of the film's titular beast. Who was the Space Jockey? What was he? What was he doing there? What was the purpose of his chair, and what was he going to use it for?

After a mind-boggling 33 years, we finally have all the answers, thanks to none other than Ridley Scott himself, in Prometheus.

The spaceship Prometheus has arrived at the planet known as LV-223, after a long voyage of over two years, during which the 17-man crew has been in a state of hypersleep. Prometheus is on a mission, led by scientists Elizabeth Shaw and Charlie Holloway, to investigate the source of a series of cave paintings discovered on Earth. The paintings have been found far and wide, throughout all sorts of cultures who couldn't possibly have had any contact with each other, yet they all depict the same image: humans worshipping a giant figure, along with five mysterious dots. Shaw and Holloway believe that LV-223 is the key to uncovering the secrets of these paintings, and - so they hope - meet the possible creators of the human race.

Prometheus is not technically a sequel or prequel to the Alien films, as it lacks the series' title characters, but they are heavily connected in ways that anyone who's seen the prior films will recognize. The production itself has many callbacks to the original Alien, such as the same iconic opening sequence (where the opening credits run at the bottom of the screen, over a series of scenic images, while the film's title very slowly fills itself in above them), similar set and costume design, and some clever parallels in camera shots and lines of dialogue. The protagonists are clear analogues for those from the original, as well: the resourceful female scientist (Shaw, played by Noomi Rapace, and clearly channeling Sigourney Weaver's Ripley), the skeptical leader of the operation (Charlize Theron), the businesslike captain (Idris Elba), and the unfortunate unexpected victim (I'm not giving it away!).

Though the many parallels are fun to see and act as nice nods to fans of the prior franchise, Prometheus is very much it's own story, and the story is rather interesting even without its famous connections. On the production side of things, everything works incredibly well: the notorious artist H.R. Giger, designer of the Aliens, has returned to create a whole slew of new beasties, and they all look straight out of your nightmares. Refreshingly, a large majority of the effects are practical, made with conventional set construction and mechanics, rather than overusing green-screen and CGI. The primary characters are all interesting and well-acted, and the dialogue is written properly.

Yet for each thing it does well, Prometheus does one thing wrong. One of the more obvious (if less damning) flaws is that of its own script: the earlier drafts of the film have been described as being "more directly connected" to Alien, and you can smell the rewrites from a mile away. Numerous separate monsters and deadly creatures appear, connected to each other in vague, confusing ways, and it's rather clear that they were meant to be the Aliens, plus their "facehugger" mamas, before the rewrites came in. In addition, the movie tries to juggle too many characters at once, and it really should have known better. When I said that the primary characters were interesting, I did mean only the primary characters: of the 17 crew members of the Prometheus, a good 6 or 7 are completely tossed to the wayside. They have a few lines of dialogue, and make for decent background dressing, but have no concrete role in the story. I'm betting that they were more important at one point in time, but fell to the might of the movie's editor.

Prometheus is a strange enigma: simultaneously the most flawed and most interesting film I've seen all year. Don't go in expecting greatness, and don't go in anticipating a wholly satisfying ride- but, by all means, do go in.

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"The Help" Review

It's often hard to think about just how hard African-Americans had it in the Southern United States of the early 20th century. Mostly working menial jobs, treated poorly by upper-class whites and almost ubiquitously dirt-poor, African-Americans more than earned the rights granted to them by the Civil Rights Movement. But as The Help shows us, the battle for those rights was long, hard, and fraught with danger.

Aibileen Clark is a black maid living in Mississippi in the 1960s, where she looks after the children of rich white Southern mothers, whilst they are off doing whatever it is that rich white Southern mothers do instead of caring for their offspring. Aibileen is downtrodden and blatantly discriminated against in the racist South society, but seems quietly resigned to her fate until a young journalist named Skeeter comes along.

Skeeter wants to write a book about "The Help", and is hungry for interviewees. Unfortunately, if understandably, most of the maids in town are unwilling to speak with her, and initially, only Aibileen takes the plunge- but as the film goes on an the Civil Rights Movement grows and grows, more and more of The Help comes to Skeeter to tell her thee stories.

The central dynamic of The Help is between Skeeter and Aibileen, played respectively by Emma Stone and Viola Davis. Stone and Davis are fine apart but fantastic together, with the personalities bouncing off each other in a remarkably real way. Davis more than earned her Oscar nomination, giving Aibileen a rebellious soul, while at the same time never wavering from her sad, quiet nature. Aibileen is the source of many of the film's most poetic moments.

An criminally underused side character in The Help is Minny Jackson, played by Octavia Spencer. Minny is everything that Aibileen is not- outspoken, strong-willed, and entirely unwilling to speak to Skeeter- at least, at first. Minny is a joy to watch whenever she's on screen, and is the source of a great scene where she gets back at her racist former boss (Bryce Dallas Howard) in the most hilariously vulgar way possible.

For all that The Help does right, there are also many things unfortunately wrong with it. As some critics from black community circles have pointed out, the film seems to have a bit of a "white people solve racism" mentality, with the maids mostly being portrayed as oddly uninterested in fighting for their rights until Skeeter introduces the idea. It also seems rather cartoonish in its portrayal of the 1960s South- sure, racist beliefs and people were common in that place and time, but some of the silliness that Skeeter's one-dimensional foils spew is rather hard to swallow.

The Help is a good movie that wants to be great. Racial issues are often difficult to portray on the screen without running into some unfortunate implications, and this film is unable to overcome that hurdle, ultimately to its detriment. There are still some fine performances and writing to be found, though, so I'd still give it a light recommendation.

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"Newsies" Review

A major issue with making films based on a true story is the question of accuracy vs. entertainment. Do you strive to remain true to the original events, or do you spice things up for the audience? Supposedly based on the 1899 New York newsboy strike, Newsies bears little resemblance to the real story- it's a musical, for one thing- and this is only occasionally to its advantage.

In 1899, the newsies of New York are in uproar. Joseph Pulitzer (Robert Duvall) of the New York World has raised the price of his newspaper, and the newsies ain't gonna stand for it! Led by kid outlaw Jack Kelly (Christian Bale), AKA "Cowboy", the newsies decide to go on a strike until their demands are filled- a strike filled with lots of singing and dancing!

One of the major strikes against Newsies is the music. Not that it's bad, mind you- the songs by Jack Feldman and Disney regular Alan Menken are fantastic- it just simply doesn't fit. The songs don't flow with the story, seem to come out of nowhere and are often completely arbitrary (the film wasn't originally planned as a musical, and it shows), and the actors singing them are untalented. The choreography is good, but the way he film is shot prevents the viewer from getting a good look at most of the dancers. It's worth noting that the problems with the music are mostly fixed in the 2012 stage musical version of Newsies, and I recommend listening to the soundtrack of that version to get a feel for how the songs were meant to be heard.

Newsies' casting is mostly a mixed bag. Bill Pullman and Ann-Margret play supporting roles, but Ann-Margret's role is completely superfluous, and Pullman's is only marginally less so. Robert Duvall is quite entertaining as the over-the-top villain, Pulitzer, but he isn't really given enough to do, and neither is Bale- who had already established himself as a talented actor prior to this film, yet displays little of that talent here. Newsies is saved by its supporting cast- mediocre singers they may be, but actors like Marty Belafsky (as "Crutchy") and Gabriel Damon ("Spot Conlon") are immensely fun to watch.

It's not a great movie, but if you're looking for a good way to spend 90 minutes, Newsies will do. It's fun, light, catchy, and - listen up, ladies - full of attractive teenage boys.

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"The Artist" Review

A silent movie, released in 2011? It's not as crazy as it sounds. Traditional in every respect- it's in black-and-white and fullscreen, too- The Artist is a serviceable tribute to an era long past us, and it's a good movie on its own merits.

George Valentin is a massively popular movie star, whose films routinely make big money and positive reception. At the premiere of his latest film, A Russian Affair, in 1927, Valentin bumps into Peppy Miller, a fan of his, and ends up getting her picture on the front page of Variety. Thanks partly to George's influence, Peppy manages to get a job as a dancer in a major film, and gradually makes her way up through the ranks, gaining bigger and bigger roles in each subsequent picture.

Two years later, in 1929, the studio that George is contracted to, Kinograph, decides to cease production on all silent pictures in order to focus on sound. George refuses, declaring that sound is just a fad, and decides to finance his own picture, writing, directing, producing, and starring in it all by himself. But it's no use- audiences flock to see Peppy's first speaking role, completely ignoring George's, and to make matters worse, the infamous stock market crash happens the next day, leaving George in complete ruin. As the years go by, Peppy continues to rise and George continues to fall- will he ever return to his former glory?

Though The Artist is presented as a silent film, and keeps to tradition for the most part, it can't help but indulge in a little cheating occasionally- to, thankfully, great effect. After viewing a sound picture for the first time, George suddenly begins to experience sound all around him, to the point where his ears are in pain; it's all just a dream of course. The film also gains sound at the very end, where the audience at last views the future that had been discussed throughout the story.

Obviously, without sound to work with, the acting really can't be compared to other modern productions, but still manages to be quite entertaining. Everyone is delightfully over-the-top, as every great silent movie was, and particular standouts include Jean Dujardin as George and John Goodman as the big-tempered boss of Kinograph Studios.

The Artist is a thoroughly entertaining film, but its winning so many Oscars is still a bit befuddling. There's nothing that's really wrong with it, per se, but overall it's nothing more than merely good. The characters are good, the story is good, the writing is good, and even the concept, while novel, is still just good. There were many superior films released in 2011, some of which weren't even nominated for the top honor. Congratulations to the entire production team for their victory, but they didn't really earn it.

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"The Adventures of Tintin" Review

The Adventures of Tintin was originally a classic Belgian comic book series that was released between 1929 and 1976. The series starred a young reporter named Tintin and his dog Snowy, and depicted their adventures as they travelled across the globe. The adventures depicted in the pages were a major influence on many stories produced thereafter, including the Indiana Jones series- so it's only natural that the long-awaited cinematic adaptation would be helmed by Steven Spielberg himself.

On paper, The Adventures of Tintin sounds like an absolute dream: Directed by Spielberg, produced by Peter Jackson, written by Doctor Who producer Steven Moffat, and starring cult actors such as Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and Daniel Craig. Unfortunately, despite the roster of talent on board, the film fails to deliver; though The Adventures of Tintin is far from a total wash, it is simply not as epic or entertaining as it would like to be, or, indeed, ought to be.

One day in an unspecified European city, a young reporter named Tintin (Jamie Bell) buys an elaborate model ship, based on a ship called the Unicorn, from a market, rebuffing an attempt by the mysterious Ivan Sakharine (Daniel Craig) to buy it from him. Later that night, Tintin finds that the Unicorn model has been stolen, and when he tries to investigate, he is shot at and kidnapped. With the help of a drunken sea captain named Haddock (Andy Serkis), Tintin must escape confinement and discover the secrets behind the Unicorn.

The first issue with Tintin is that it begins too quickly. The character of Tintin isn't really introduced before the main plot gets underway; the only clues as to who he even is are a series of newspaper clippings hanging on his wall, which only explain that he is a reporter and has already had several adventures to his name. In the very opening moments of the film, Tintin buys the Unicorn model and the main plot begins immediately. Some build-up and introductions are sorely needed.

The second issue with Tintin, ironically, is that it ends too quickly. The film's running time is a brisk 100 minutes, which doesn't feel like nearly enough time. The characters dash about from one locale to the next at breakneck pace, and explanations of key events occasionally seem rushed. Overall, I would say that the film could stand to have a good 20 extra minutes.

Despite its shortcomings, however, The Adventures of Tintin has its high marks. The performances are, by and large, excellent- particularly Andy Serkis (best known for his past portrayals of Gollum and King Kong) as the lovable drunk Captain Haddock, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost as the bumbling police officers, Thompson and Thomson, and James Bond himself, Daniel Craig, playing the villainous . The choice to use motion capture technology seems somewhat pointless (the characters all look mostly realistic), but regardless, the actors all play their parts well in terms of both voice acting and motion.

The action sequences are phenomenal- this being a Spielberg film, that's a given. One standout scene has Tintin chasing bad guys on a decaying motorbike through the streets of a Middle Eastern city, and it absolutely must be seen to be believed.

Ultimately, The Adventures of Tintin is worth a look if you're into adventure films, but if you're hoping for the next Indiana Jones, look elsewhere.

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