Category: #WWMD

140 Character Movie Review – #140RVW

Better than the 1st one? Guess so. VERY episodic – doesn’t stand on its own at all. Once again, all the best moments are dialogue scenes…

Spoiler-free Movie Review of Avengers: Age of Ultron:

I really don’t have a lot to say about Avengers: Age of Ultron. I was very excited to see it, thought it would be good and it was.

It was exactly what I expected. You may have to decide for yourself if that is worthy of praise. The film takes approximately zero risks.

Writer/director/franchise-runner/geek god Joss Whedon is making the smart choice hopping off the horse now. I’m not expecting these films to actually start getting worse, but there’s really little room for them to get any better. It’s a little hard to put into words why such a solid effort is not very satisfying. I guess it just lacks the element of surprise.

I don’t mean to suggest that the film is perfect as it most assuredly is not. It’s simply that it fails at nothing meaningful. There are all sorts of fanboy gripes and such, and you can pick apart the narrative for its flaws, but ultimately, who cares? It’s a comic book movie and they really can’t make a film with this lineup of heroes any better than this.

Particularly if you know the direction they are headed in. The stories they are working on adapting are completely joyless – great, but low on levity. The fun level of the Marvel movies is going to continue to drop sharply – hence the need for movies like Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man.

By the way, why does Marvel get a free pass on simply filming the stories that were already comic books? I live to trash DC and Zack Snyder for simply making film versions of graphic novels, feeling that there’s really no point in doing so, but Marvel is even more guilty of this. They don’t even try to pass off their pictures as original in any form, but no one seems to call them on this. Personally, I seldom read these books back in the day, so I’ve really got no skin in the game; whereas I am hugely protective of the old Batman classics. Anyway, I’ve let this pass for too long, so consider yourself warned, Marvel…

If I were to get more specific, I guess I’d say:

• James Spader is a tool – that’s why he has a tool in his name. His voice is just not the right direction for Ultron, but it could maybe work if Ultron wasn’t such a fluid metal CG creation. Speaking of that…
• Ultron’s mouth shouldn’t move. It doesn’t make any sense. He’s a creation of Stark – he should move like Iron Man. He doesn’t. His face can actually give off expressions. That’s absurd…
• Jeremy Renner’s recent comments about Black Widow during the press junket made me actually root for Hawkeye to buy it. The character is never going to be as fun for me again until someone else is filling the role.
• The action being rooted in a slightly more earthly tale this time should help the climactic battle be more rooted in reality. But it doesn’t. It’s still wave after wave of faceless enemies. And the sheer amount of adversaries is just not credible. They’re everywhere. Everything appens so quickly in this one…
• Which is another issue. Condensing a long, multi-title arc into a film is always going to necessitate severe acceleration of the narrative, and it certainly does here. Ultron goes from impossible dream to villain in about 90 seconds.
• Loki’s scepter. Always with Loki’s scepter. Yawn. I hate Loki’s scepter, hate the ability to mind control people. It’s cheap and weak, and this whole massive, overreaching infinity stones thing is making me long for the simplicity of the first Iron Man…
• Despite my love of Guardians of the Galaxy, my interest level in galaxy-wide space villains can’t even be charted…
• Danny Elfman did some of the music, except for the themes he inherited. It’s good, if not up to his usual standards…

• When it comes to dialogue, Whedon is best in class. In fact, he teaches the class. And wrote the textbook…
• The action and effects are excellent, but honestly, that’s table stakes. The humanity, the relationships, the quiet moments – these are what make these films work. Most of the time I’m just biding my time during the action scenes unless they are next-level cool. I want that stuff, I do. But without the brilliant writing of Whedon and acting of the principals I’d be bored.
• After meeting Falcon (Anthony Mackie) in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, it’s kind of a drag that cool characters like him and War Machine (Don Cheadle) are pretty much kept on the sidelines…
• I’m happy that this film isn’t all about Iron Man, which was how it was headed based on the success of that character. Full credit to Kevin Feige for not pulling an X-Men and turning the whole series into Wolverine Fan Club.
• Similarly, while Hulk is smashy good times, they resisted the urge to follow the Louis Tully rule after the green guy practically stole the first Avengers movie. I’m impressed/astonished…

Avengers: Age of Ultron is a fantastic superhero movie. Period. We may never reclaim the early excitement and surprise of our first introduction to these characters, but there are beneficial trade-offs to be had in advancing their arcs. And they’re still heaps more fun than the Dour Cynicism movies…

Poster:

Trailer:

Bechdel Test:

Pass

The Representation Test Score: C (4 pts)

(http://therepresentationproject.org/grading-hollywood-the-representation-test/)

[schema type=”movie” url=”http://marvel.com/movies/movie/193/avengers_age_of_ultron” name=”Avengers: Age of Ultron” description=”Marvel Studios presents “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” the epic follow-up to the biggest Super Hero movie of all time. When Tony Stark tries to jumpstart a dormant peacekeeping program, things go awry and Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, including Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye, are put to the ultimate test as the fate of the planet hangs in the balance. As the villainous Ultron emerges, it is up to The Avengers to stop him from enacting his terrible plans, and soon uneasy alliances and unexpected action pave the way for an epic and unique global adventure.

Marvel’s “Avengers: Age of Ultron” stars Robert Downey Jr., who returns as Iron Man, along with Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Mark Ruffalo as Hulk and Chris Evans as Captain America. Together with Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow and Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, and with the additional support of Don Cheadle as James Rhodes/War Machine, Cobie Smulders as Agent Maria Hill, Stellan Skarsgård as Erik Selvig and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, the team must reassemble to defeat James Spader as Ultron, a terrifying technological villain hell-bent on human extinction. Along the way, they confront two mysterious and powerful newcomers, Pietro Maximoff, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Wanda Maximoff, played by Elizabeth Olsen and meet an old friend in a new form when Paul Bettany becomes Vision.

Written and directed by Joss Whedon and produced by Kevin Feige, Marvel’s “Avengers: Age of Ultron” is based on the ever-popular Marvel comic book series “The Avengers,” first published in 1963. Louis D’Esposito, Alan Fine, Victoria Alonso, Jeremy Latcham, Patricia Whitcher, Stan Lee and Jon Favreau serve as executive producers. Get set for an action-packed thrill ride when The Avengers return in Marvel’s “Avengers: Age of Ultron” on May 1, 2015.” director=”Joss Whedon” actor_1=”Robert Downey Jr.” ]

Main Cast	Robert Downey Jr. Tony Stark/Iron Man, Chris Evans Steve Rogers/Captain America, Mark Ruffalo Bruce Banner/Hulk, Chris Hemsworth Thor
Rating	PG-13
Release Date	Fri 01 May 2015 UTC
Director	Joss Whedon
Genres	Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Plot	When Tony Stark tries to jumpstart a dormant peacekeeping program, things go awry and it is up to the Avengers to stop the villainous Ultron from enacting his terrible plans.
Poster
Runtime	141
Tagline	A new age begins
Writers	Joss Whedon (written by), Stan Lee (comic book) …
Year	2015

140 Character Movie Review – #140RVW

Let’s hear it for lowered expectations. After everyone, including my daughter, panned it, I couldn’t help but like this more than assumed…

Spoiler-free Movie Review of Annie:

Here’s the quick version: Annie is a completely unnecessary re-imagining of a story you’ve seen a dozen different times that contains little of the characteristics of the more enjoyable tellings. It messes with the formula with varied results and ends quite badly. Still…

Annie really isn’t as bad as you’ve heard. I’d even go as far as to say it’s got enough decent direction to become a good movie someday and is halfway there.

I attribute the majority of the bad reviews and reception to two main points:

1. “It never should have been made.” Some people are so weary of reboots and re-imaginings that it would never have gotten a fair shake. The analogue to this thought is the beloved status of the 1982 John Huston film version. It was never likely to touch that version and to many audiences was DOA for trying.
2. The film goes downhill and fast; despite a strong start and competent early going, the last half-hour is awful, leaving audiences exiting the theater with the feeling they saw a worse film then they actually did.

This factor worked to my personal benefit, as I expected nothing and couldn’t help but be pleased with a film that failed to be truly terrible.

Make no mistake, Annie is not a good film. It just doesn’t really work. But it is nowhere as poor as you’ve been told.

For starters, while I truly loathe the Hollywood project to remake every single earlier film, bear in mind that the seminal 1982 film was already an adaptation of a Broadway musical, itself an adaptation of an old comic serial. So let’s not pretend this 2014 remake was somehow the nadir of originality. And the original film version is hardly without warts.

The story certainly deserves an update, although I disagree that a modern setting is required for modern audiences. It was always a period piece. But if they can create modern-day versions of every other stage production, I don’t know if it’s for me to be critical of a desire to reset the tale in a new time. For the most part, the move to 2014 works.

I generally don’t take notes when watching a film for the first time, believing that I’m not devoting my full attention to the picture. I departed from form on this occasion simply because I fully expected the picture to stink. Shame on me for pre-judging. I’d like to point out, however, that the majority of my comments were positive and I ended up with a favorable review of the picture, so I feel that I made up for my initial read by being particularly attentive.

• Love the rhythmic opening – signals that you’re in for a better movie than you’re likely to get.
• Mixing in the tunes almost like an overture
• The whole picture has good musical and rhythmic flourishes, which is entirely appropriate.
• But auto-tune, ugh…
• What on Earth is going on with this thing?
• Miss Hannigan gets a backstory? She doesn’t need a backstory. Oh, she’s a failed star who was in a band before they broke? C&C Music Factory? Really? Who’s going to explain to 2014 youth who that is?
• Despite my utter dislike of Beasts of the Southern Wild, I like young actress Quvenzhané Wallis – she’s charming and perfect for this role.
• “Maybe” was and is the best song in the whole play. Thankfully they didn’t mess with it too much here.
• Kid is cute enough, but she has no voice at all. She sings ok, but there’s absolutely no projection. Maybe it would be ok to have thin voices, but not since they have amped up all the backing music. I actually don’t mind the updating of the songs, honestly. But it just makes the singing seem even more amateurish by comparison.
• When you make a film out of a Broadway show it should seem more epic, not less. There are only 5 kids and it’s a foster home, not an orphanage.
• I like the action during “It’s A Hard Knock Life”.
• I just don’t know why they feel like they need to hit every song with a backbeat, no matter how inappropriate – we get it  – you’re hip.
• Fantastic imagery during “Tomorrow” – she sees happy families everywhere, even when it’s just workers carrying supplies. Really imaginative and well executed.
• I really like the narrative update, making the meet cute of Annie and the Daddy Warbucks character (reimagined as a mobile phone magnate named Will Stacks for some reason) a random event and providing a plausible reason for him to get involved in her life. Works better than the original story, actually…
• So many extraneous characters…
• “I Think I’m Going to Like it Here” – first song totally off-book – big mistake
• Man, every Sony movie looks like a glossly, brightly-lit commercial. They could have spliced in scenes from The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and you’d never have noticed. I’m not sure they didn’t…
• Cameron Diaz is so miscast. I can’t believe they let her sing…
• Wow – they even rewrote the song (“Little Girls”) – not that I liked the original, but this whole updating of the character and backstory is so absurd. Ms. Hannigan doesn’t need a backstory…
• Of course Jamie Foxx gets a song, which is fair enough, since he’s arguably the only person in the main cast who can sing. I don’t care for his singing, but he certainly knows how.
• I know Daddy Warbucks had “NYC”, which was admittedly a pretty crap song, but this new New York tune is really dreadful.
• Sandy the dog is cute…
• How did they not have enough time to use all of the original showtunes, but enough time for a bunch of “originals”. Why would you adapt a massive hit and then play so loose with the source material? It would have been easier and cheaper to have just made this as an original film…
• Why does there have to have to be an additional plot – she can’t read? That’s like the 10th plotline going on here…
• Now Cannavale is going to try Easy Street? You’re out of your depth, son…wait, Diaz is back singing again – he looks and sounds better already…
• Rooster is my favorite character in the whole story – and they cut him…
• Diaz gets a second song? Or is this the third? C’mon folks, stop writing new songs…
• Man, the wheels came off of this fast. I was mostly enjoying it, due the power of low expectations. But this is going downhill fast…
• The last tune is like the first tune from the musical they’ve done in like a half an hour. Annnnndddd, they’re rewriting it, too…
• Rose Byrne’s voice is a bit thin, too…
• Umm, they forgot to kill off Annie’s parents. Hello? You’re giving up on your parents there, kid. Remember them, they’re your raison d’être?  Every other version of the story made sure that it was known that her parents died some way or another so it wouldn’t be weird that she’s willing to be adopted after protesting for the entire story…
• Mercifully, it’s run out of film before they got themselves into even more trouble.
• How’d they go so wrong? Here’s a clue: there were eight producers of this film. Not executive producers – producers. Eight…

After re-reading those notes, I’m beginning to doubt my opening words about how poor this film wasn’t. See? You have to take time to reflect on the whole picture, not just how a film ends. Many good films have weak third acts. This isn’t a good film, but the theory still holds…

No, it’s not as good as the play. No, it’s not as good as the 1982 film. No, it’s not even as good as the 1999 made for tv film. But it does try some new things by updating the story, a few of which even work. Faint praise, maybe, but have you seen any of the other reviews? Trust me, I’m doing Annie a solid…

Poster:

Trailer:

Bechdel Test:

Pass

The Representation Test Score: (12 pts)

(http://therepresentationproject.org/grading-hollywood-the-representation-test/)

[schema type=”movie” url=”http://www.annie-movie.com/site/homepage” name=”Annie” description=”A Broadway classic that has delighted audiences for generations comes to the big screen with a new, contemporary vision in Columbia Pictures’ comedy, Annie. Director/Producer/Screenwriter Will Gluck teams with producers James Lassiter,Will Gluck, Jada Pinkett Smith & Will Smith, Caleeb Pinkett, Shawn “JAY Z” Carter, Laurence “Jay” Brown, Tyran “Ty Ty” Smith with a modern telling that captures the magic of the classic characters and original show that won seven Tony Awards. Celia Costas and Alicia Emmrich serve as Executive Producers. The screenplay is by Will Gluck and Aline Brosh McKenna, based on the musical stage play “Annie,” book by Thomas Meehan, music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and on “Little Orphan Annie,” © and ® Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Academy Award® nominee Quvenzhané Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild) stars as Annie, a young, happy foster kid who’s also tough enough to make her way on the streets of New York in 2014. Originally left by her parents as a baby with the promise that they’d be back for her someday, it’s been a hard knock life ever since with her mean foster mom Miss Hannigan (Cameron Diaz). But everything’s about to change when the hard-nosed tycoon and New York mayoral candidate Will Stacks (Jamie Foxx) – advised by his brilliant VP, Grace (Rose Byrne) and his shrewd and scheming campaign advisor, Guy (Bobby Cannavale) – makes a thinly-veiled campaign move and takes her in. Stacks believes he’s her guardian angel, but Annie’s self-assured nature and bright, sun-will-come-out-tomorrow outlook on life just might mean it’s the other way around.” director=”Will Gluck” producer=”Quvenzhané Wallis” ]

Main Cast	Quvenzhané Wallis Annie, Cameron Diaz Hannigan, Jamie Foxx Will Stacks, Rose Byrne Grace
Rating	PG
Release Date	Fri 19 Dec 2014 UTC
Director	Will Gluck
Genres	Comedy, Drama, Family, Musical
Plot	A foster kid, who lives with her mean foster mom, sees her life change when business tycoon and New York mayoral candidate Will Stacks makes a thinly-veiled campaign move and takes her in.
Poster
Runtime	118
Tagline	It’s a Hard Knock Life
Writers	Will Gluck (screenplay) and, Aline Brosh McKenna (screenplay) …
Year	2014

140 Character Movie Review – #140RVW

The Secret of Kells filmmaker Tomm Moore has created something even more beautiful & lovely for his 2nd film, if such a thing is possible…

Spoiler-free Movie Review of Song of the Sea:

Earlier this week, in my review of HOME, I wrote of how I despaired of the the state of animated children’s films – at least from the major studios. Today I get to point out how completely this concern does not apply to the more independent studios, such as Cartoon Saloon and its co-founder Tomm Moore, who directed The Secret of Kells and now, in his second picture, Song of the Sea.

I’m afraid that this review may prove to be a bit redundant after writing about The Secret of Kells, as the two films share many traits; gorgeous hand-drawn animation, uniquely Irish cultural hallmarks, astoundingly beautiful visuals, hauntingly gentle music, great stories full of human emotion, wonderful pacing, comfort with an understated feel devoid of the quick cuts and urgency that define modern film, Brendan Gleeson, Oscar nominations for Best Animated Feature (both were robbed of the statues), honor of being my daughter’s favorite films…

Where Song of the Sea differs in large part is in its modern setting. Although one of the nice things about the feel of the film is that modern in this context could mean any time in the past 100 years (or even the next 100). It’s completely free of any technology more time-sensitive than the automobile and portable camera, giving the picture a lasting appeal completely at home with the ethereal quality of its subject matter.

Ben (David Rawle) is a young boy who loses his mother Bronagh (Lisa Hannigan) to an unspecified complication during the birth of his sister Saoirse (Lucy O’Connell). His anger and resentment over his mother’s death keep him from remembering his promise to look after his now six-year old sister, who has yet to speak. But he will have to help her find her voice, as she is a selkie, capable of turning into a seal underwater, and one with an important mission.

When the children are moved from the island where Conor, their father (Brendan Gleeson) is the lighthouse-keeper and brought to live with their no-nonsense grandmother (Fionnula Flanagan) on Halloween, Ben must find a way to get his sister back to the sea where she belongs.

The grandmother character was the only red flag in the picture, as it seemed that it was going to be the old cliche of the stuffy old naysayer who crushes the hopes of the protagonists. The role sort of is just that, but it isn’t as stifling to the narrative as usual. Gleeson, on the other hand, once again gets a nice quiet role that plays to his gentle but stern strengths. I would whole-heartedly support the addition of Brendan Gleeson to every film made. I could listen to his voice all day and he has this disarming manner of being steely and kind, patient but resolved.

It’s so unfortunate that these movies don’t receive the audience they so richly deserve. With so many filler kids movies finding their way into multiplexes every year, it’s a pity (bordering on a crime) that the truly masterful films are so inaccessible. Song of the Sea probably was readily available in other areas of the world, but received only a minor theatrical release in the States. Even in a city like Boston, with an intellectually firm arts crowd and scores of students, these pictures are usually relegated to one of a couple of arthouses for short runs. And if the options are thin on the ground here, at least we have some. Move further away from a major city and the opportunities cease to exist. At least the state of modern film delivery methods through streaming, download and Blu-Ray somewhat level the playing field.

When I reviewed The Secret of Kells, I suggested it was one of the most original and beautiful films I had ever seen. Song of the Sea is even better. With apologies to Miyazaki-san, Song of the Sea may be the most beautiful animated film I’ve ever seen…

Poster:

Trailer:

Bechdel Test:

Pass

The Representation Test Score: B (7 pts)

(http://therepresentationproject.org/grading-hollywood-the-representation-test/)

[schema type=”movie” url=”http://www.cartoonsaloon.ie/” name=”Song of the Sea” description=”From the creators of the Academy Award®-nominated “The Secret of Kells” comes a breathtakingly gorgeous, hand-drawn masterpiece. Based on the Irish legend of the Selkies, “Song of the Sea” tells the story of the last seal-child, Saoirse, and her brother Ben, who go on an epic journey to save the world of magic and discover the secrets of their past. Pursued by the owl witch, Macha, and a host of ancient and mystical creatures, Saoirse and Ben race against time to awaken Saoirse’s powers and keep the spirit world from disappearing forever. As enthralling for adults as for children young and old, “Song of the Sea” is a wonder of magical storytelling and visual splendor that is destined to become a classic.

“Song of the Sea” features the voices of Brendan Gleeson, Fionnula Flanagan, David Rawle, Lisa Hannigan, Pat Shortt and Jon Kenny. Music is by composer Bruno Coulais and Irish band Kíla, both of whom previously collaborated on “The Secret of Kells.”” director=”Tomm Moore” producer=”Cartoon Saloon” actor_1=”Brendan Gleeson” ]

Main Cast	David Rawle Ben (voice), Brendan Gleeson Conor/Mac Lir (voice), Lisa Hannigan Bronach (voice), Fionnula Flanagan Granny/Macha (voice)
Rating	PG
Release Date	Wed 10 Dec 2014 UTC
Director	Tomm Moore
Genres	Animation, Family, Fantasy
Plot	Saoirse, a little girl who can turn into a seal, goes on an adventure with her brother to save the spirit world and other magical beings like her.
Poster
Runtime	93
Tagline
Writers	Tomm Moore (story), Will Collins (as William Collins)
Year	2014

140 Character Movie Review – #140RVW

Typically lazy filmmaking by DreamWorks Animation undercuts promising tale and produces familiar result: a cute, funny, unoriginal yawn…

Spoiler-free Movie Review of HOME:

At the risk of being alarmist, I’m here to suggest that animated filmmaking by the major studios is approaching a 1980’s type nadir. Despite some of the fine work done over the past ten years, CG films for kids have once again become a predictable race to the middle. No studio is more culpable than dead-studio-walking DreamWorks Animation, but every studio is guilty of this cynical homogenizing, even the once unassailable Pixar.

Why do all of these pictures have to share the same look? Even when the story is truly original – which is certainly not the case with HOME – they all look alike. The one possible reason for this sameness that I might accept would be that there’s a financial, economies of scale thing going on here. Animation has never been inexpensive, so if they felt compelled to maintain a visual similarity in order to reuse digital assets for cost containment, I’d understand. But the budgets on these films are always north of $100 million, so it doesn’t seem like there’s much recycling happening. (Although there really should be – all reports indicate that despite putting out 31 features to gross $12.5 BILLION, the company is almost completely tapped out.)

I haven’t read the source material, so I’m not sure how much the story itself is derivative and how much is due to the adaptation and execution. Based on the children’s book “The True Meaning of Smekday” by Adam Rex, it’s true that the tale of an alien befriending a human child is hardly going to strike anyone as original. Add the fact that the alien in question is invading, not simply left behind a la ET or Earth To Echo, and you’ve now covered Lilo & Stitch, as well. But it is a kids book, after all, and maybe it doesn’t need to be quite as worried about being compared to a number of movies. Until it becomes a movie itself, of course…

Honestly, despite the over-saturation of advertising for the film, I had no idea that the conceit of HOME was that these adorable aliens were invading Earth and relocating all of the humans to Australia. None. That seems like an intentional oversight in the marketing of the picture, as though they were afraid that audiences would stay away if they realized the cuddly star of the picture is actually somewhat the conqueror at the outset. They may well have called that correctly; with a change of music this could be Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee…

Okay, maybe that’s overstating things, but it’s certainly true that a more truthful summary of HOME would certainly have raised a few eyebrows: On Christmas Day, aliens invade Earth, literally sucking the humans out of their homes to be processed and relocated to camps on another continent while the newcomers completely settle into the properties they have taken by force and reshaping the land to their own design. Meanwhile, our underage protagonist, who is forcibly separated from her single mother, humorously scrounges for supplies and sustenance before fleeing the city in a car she is not licensed to drive with an alien companion who may have doomed her world to demolition…

Y’know, in other hands, that could have made a good black comedy full of gallows humor. But this is DreamWorks, so instead they’ll gloss over the dodgier parts of the premise and serve up a Stranger in a Strange Land / Odd Couple road picture. There must be entire film classes in Hollywood focused entirely on one recipe: displace one character to a new setting, add in one local and sit back and watch hilarity ensue…

The picture is just so predictable it could have come from a similar class in paint-by-numbers storytelling. The film is quite simply lazy.

Oh, I nearly forgot to criticize the music. It’s dreadful. I’m as happy as the next person that the studio has FINALLY centered a story around an African-American girl (from Barbados, actually), but did it have to get a pop-star to voice her? Rihanna isn’t actually bad as a voice actor, but someone needs to have a quick chat with the producers about casting voice talent that can credibly pass for the age of the characters. Between the lack of story clarity and the voice work, it’s quite hard to have any sense of how old the character is supposed to be.

The bigger problem with casting a pop star is that they will invariably want to sing. Rihanna contributed a fistful of toothless and useless pop songs. Hey, everyone has their own sense of taste – I’m not trying to pick apart kids pop music. My beef is that the songs are integrated into the narrative. There’s a scene in all of the trailers where the alien protagonist, Oh (Jim Parsons) is involuntarily compelled to dance by the incredibly catchy music. The problem is that it isn’t catchy. It’s vapid and innocuous Muzak. Re-imagine the climatic scene at the dance in Back to the Future; Marty McFly blowing the minds of the 50’s kids with futuristic 1980’s music – by Toto. It’s kind of like that. Knowing the long lead time on animated film work (and crappy pop music), I’m thoroughly convinced that the animators developed the entire sequence with temp music that actually had some personality. Probably worked better then.

So if the story is unoriginal and the picture is filled with all the familiar narrative peaks and valleys, and all the usual modern CG animated film hallmarks are here (pop culture references, over abundance of star voice talent, de rigueur end scene with all of the characters humorously getting down to pop music), is there anything good about the picture? Sure…

Even if all of the characters have the same basic look as every other feature of this type, the aliens (“the Boov”) are mostly cute. Well, Oh is anyway. If he was the only alien in the film, it would have been much more effective. But I genuinely enjoyed the character.

Nearly 100% of the enjoyment of the feature from an adult perspective comes from Jim Parsons doing the mixed up dialogue of the Boov as he tries to communicate. It’s essentially the same joke for the length of the picture, but it’s usually good for a chuckle even after you’d expect it to be played out.

There’s also a calico cat named Pig. I love calico cats. So there’s that…

Most importantly, though? My daughter loved HOME. So did every kid in the theater. Which is of course the whole point. So, hey, what do I know…

Poster:

Trailer:

Bechdel Test:

Pass

The Representation Test Score: B (9 pts)

(http://therepresentationproject.org/grading-hollywood-the-representation-test/)

[schema type=”movie” url=”http://www.meettheboov.com/” name=”HOME” description=”When Oh, a loveable misfit from another planet, lands on Earth and finds himself on the run from his own people, he forms an unlikely friendship with an adventurous girl named Tip who is on a quest of her own.

Through a series of comic adventures with Tip, Oh comes to understand that being different and making mistakes is all part of being human, and together they discover the true meaning of the word HOME.” director=”Tim Johnson” actor_1=”Jim Parsons” ]

Main Cast	Jim Parsons Oh (voice), Rihanna Gratuity ‘Tip’ Tucci (voice), Steve Martin Captain Smek (voice), Jennifer Lopez Lucy (voice)
Rating	PG
Release Date	Fri 27 Mar 2015 UTC
Director	Tim Johnson
Genres	Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Plot	Oh, an alien on the run from his own people, lands on Earth and makes friends with the adventurous Tip, who is on a quest of her own.
Poster
Runtime	94
Tagline	Worlds Collide
Writers	Tom J. Astle (screenplay), Matt Ember (screenplay)
Year	2015