Category: #WWMD

140 Character Movie Review – #140RVW

Funny & visually astonishing picture. Well-realized world is quite ugly, though. Lacks visual & musical punch of Burton’s stop motion work.

Spoiler-free Movie Review of The Boxtrolls:

Based on the children’s book Here Be Monsters! by Alan Snow, The Boxtrolls is a solid, meticulously made film that I really enjoyed. Not sure of its rewatch appeal, however.

While the titular characters are unique and interesting, the story is neither. In a grubby world, a shady and deceitful pest exterminator is using a manufactured crisis to make people fear Boxtrolls and gain power. If the story is familiar, reach for Grimm’s Fairy Tales on your bookshelf and look under Pied Piper. Better still, read Terry Pratchett’s Carnegie Medal winning The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents, which sends up the fairy tale to better effect and is strikingly similar enough to this picture that I’d probably lawyer up.

That’s not to say that the story isn’t entertaining, it’s just not horribly original. The enjoyment of the picture comes almost completely from the Boxtrolls. The human characters are so cookie-cutter and archetypical that they provide few laughs. (With the exception of the troll-catcher assistants Mr. Trout & Mr. Pickles, voiced by Nick Frost and Richard Ayoade, respectively. Tracy Morgan also voices a third, Mr. Gristle, but he’s not all that enjoyable.)

The film is only 97 minutes, but frankly overlong at that. There are far too many characters and they really just spend a lot of time reinforcing the characterization that was immediately evident at their introduction. I mean that the characters are well-defined right at the start, so more time with them should be spent on developing them further – but that doesn’t happen. The bad guy is bad right away – he doesn’t get more bad or less bad. But he has a TON of dialogue and scenes. The whole power conceit involves this idea that the people in charge of the town wear white hats and sit around eating cheese. They are led by Lord Portley-Rind (Jared Harris), father to a girl named Winnie (Elle Fanning). He is pompous self-obsessed and non-involved in his daughter’s life. She is upset that he ignores her. They do this dance through the whole picture – it never develops. Neither seems to realize that there is a Mrs. Portley-Rind. According to the credits by the wonderful Toni Collette, but if she spoke in the entire movie I missed it.

The reason that I quite enjoyed this movie despite the aforementioned shortcomings is the trolls – they are wonderful, possessing all of the depth and character development that the humans lack. The entire picture in a way revolves around these creatures. Not simply the story, but the look of the film. The Boxtrolls look wonderful and set the tone – unfortunately this leads to a production design that is in a word ugly. It really just looks unpleasant, while at the same time being wonderfully realized. I haven’t seen Laika’s other films, Coraline & ParaNorman, but from the footage I’ve seen they share a design sensibility so I guess that’s the studio’s look. It doesn’t work for me.

But while the aesthetic leaves something to be desired, too much praise can not be heaped on the animation. I have always been amazed at the dedication, patience and hard work of stop-motion filmmakers and marveled at the incredible results produced but this effort is really something else. Absolutely breathtaking stop motion – head of the class.

The voice talent is predictably top shelf and I very much appreciate the fact that it is equally populated by professional voice actors and “name” talent.

This review has turned out a bit more negative than I intended and that’s too bad, because I really did enjoy The Boxtrolls. The creatures themselves absolutely make this movie – and make it fun. I wish that the humans were a bit more developed and the story could use a bit more complexity, but it’s a good picture and recommended.

Poster:

Trailer:

Bechdel Test:

Fail

The Representation Test Score: C (5 pts)

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

[schema type=”movie” url=”http://www.theboxtrolls.com/” name=”The Boxtrolls” description=”A young orphaned boy raised by underground cave-dwelling trash collectors tries to save his friends from an evil exterminator. Based on the children’s novel ‘Here Be Monsters’ by Alan Snow.” director_1=”Graham Annable” director_2=”Anthony Stacchi” actor_1=”Ben Kingsley” actor_2=”Isaac Hempstead-Wright” actor_3=”Elle Fanning” actor_4=”Toni Collette”]

Main Cast	Ben Kingsley Archibald Snatcher (voice), Jared Harris Lord Portley-Rind (voice), Nick Frost Mr. Trout (voice), Richard Ayoade Mr. Pickles (voice)
Rating	PG
Release Date	Fri 26 Sep 2014 UTC
Director	Graham Annable, Anthony Stacchi
Genres	Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Family, Fantasy
Plot	A young orphaned boy raised by underground cave-dwelling trash collectors tries to save his friends from an evil exterminator. Based on the children’s novel ‘Here Be Monsters’ by Alan Snow.
Poster
Runtime	97
Tagline	Heroes come in all shapes and sizes…even rectangles.
Writers	Irena Brignull (screenplay), Adam Pava (screenplay)
Year	2014

140 Character Movie Review – #140RVW

Like the 1st, only less so. If you liked the first film, you’ll enjoy this as well, but it’s a less significant picture in most respects…

Spoiler-free Movie Review of Dolphin Tale 2:

This review is going to feel like déjà vu all over again, which is fitting, since so does the film.

The first Dolphin Tale was a huge financial and (mostly) critical success, but a sequel wouldn’t seem to make any sense were it not for a most unlikely – but true – series of events. As in the case of the original picture, the dramatized recreations of the true story were more interesting than the fictionalized extra story material. Unlike in the first film, the extra story material is weak and undeserving of so much screen time.

It’s really remarkable that they could make a sequel to a true story, following it up with another true story, and the tale (heh heh) is almost too perfect to believe. At a wrap party for the first film, volunteers and staff from the Clearwater Marine Aquarium were called away from the event to care for a young female bottlenose dolphin who had been rescued. This dolphin would be named Hope and is the film’s raison d’être.

The film opens with the rescue of a bottlenose dolphin in a sequence narrated by Sawyer (Nathan Gamble), the protagonist of the first picture. It’s been three years and he’s now thriving as an essential staff member at the aquarium. Business has been booming at the facility, which has now expanded and is more of a tourist attraction, which raises the pressures on the team when something goes wrong – which of course it does.

Because part of my mission is to look at these films from a family-friendly perspective, I must tell you that the first act contains the heartbreaking death of Panama, the bottlenose tankmate of Winter. (This isn’t a spoiler – it’s the story catalyst.) It’s done very respectfully but it’s still quite upsetting, so prep your young ones.

With the death of Panama, Winter is now alone in the tank – a regulatory violation – and has become depressed. The Clearwater team will need hope if they are going to be able to keep Winter from being sent to another aquarium.

Story-wise, though, so far, so good. But it’s the whole other story that is tedious. In the first picture screenwriters Karen Janszen & Noam Dromi crafted an interesting allegorical story about humans coping with loss and change much like Winter. Director Charles Martin Smith handled writing duties for this film and is not as successful. It’s basically a coming of age / “should I stay or should I go” story mixed in with a “keep the aquarium going” storyline that’s a retread of the first film. It is appropriately shorter than the first film, but considering how much story there isn’t, it could have been shorter still.

Nearly all of the primary characters have their roles severely reduced, with the exception of Sawyer. Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd & Kris Kristofferson probably could have filmed all of their scenes in an afternoon. I’m not even sure they bothered to check in with the costume department – I think they just walked on to the set in their street clothes. Freeman in particular seems operating on autopilot – he could have (and may have) done this in his sleep.

One character that doesn’t lose any screen time is Rufus the pelican, following the Louis Tully rule of sequels. That’s fine – he’s funny and most of his scenes are with new character Mavis, a rescued sea turtle – and I love sea turtles!

So am I saying to give this film a miss? Not at all. It’s still sweet and cute and fun and the animals are always spellbinding. It’s just the human stuff is a little more pedestrian in this film and I don’t think it’s quite as inspirational of a story. But it is an entertaining film and I could watch these dolphins for hours. The child audience in the theater loved it, including the one I brought, and the rest of us seemed to find it an enjoyable and solid enough movie.

Poster:

Trailer:

Bechdel Test:

Pass

The Representation Test Score: B (10 pts)

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

[schema type=”movie” url=”http://www.dolphintale2.com/” name=”Dolphin Tale 2″ description=”It has been several years since young Sawyer Nelson (Gamble) and the dedicated team at the Clearwater Marine Hospital, headed by Dr. Clay Haskett (Connick, Jr.), rescued Winter. With the help of Dr. Cameron McCarthy (Freeman), who developed a unique prosthetic tail for the injured dolphin, they were able to save her life. Yet their fight is not over. Winter’s surrogate mother, the very elderly dolphin Panama, has passed away, leaving Winter without the only poolmate she has ever known. However, the loss of Panama may have even greater repercussions for Winter, who, according to USDA regulations, cannot be housed alone, as dolphins’ social behavior requires them to be paired with other dolphins. Time is running out to find a companion for her before the team at Clearwater loses their beloved Winter to another aquarium.” director=”Charles Martin Smith” actor_1=”Harry Connick Jr.” actor_2=”Morgan Freeman” actor_3=”Ashley Judd” actor_4=”Nathan Gamble” actor_5=”Cozi Zuehlsdorff” actor_6=”Bethany Hamilton” ]

Main Cast	Morgan Freeman Dr. Cameron McCarthy, Ashley Judd Lorraine Nelson, Nathan Gamble Sawyer Nelson, Cozi Zuehlsdorff Hazel Haskett
Rating	PG
Release Date	Fri 12 Sep 2014 UTC
Director	Charles Martin Smith
Genres	Drama, Family
Plot	The team of people who saved Winter’s life reassemble in the wake of her surrogate mother’s passing in order to find her a companion so she can remain at the Clearwater Marine Hospital.
Poster
Runtime	107
Tagline	WINTER’s amazing true story… now has HOPE.
Writers	Charles Martin Smith (written by), Karen Janszen (characters) …
Year	2014

140 Character Movie Review – #140RVW

Exactly what it looks like: cute, family-friendly, inspirational, endearing & completely devoid of any sharp edges. Not a bad thing at all.

Spoiler-free Movie Review of Dolphin Tale:

What a cute movie. You know, sometimes a thing just is what it is – and that’s alright. This movie turned out to be every bit the sweet family fare that it teased. And there is nothing at all wrong with that.

You can sort of tell just by the casting what kind of movie it’s going to be. Some of these actors just broadcast this vibe that there isn’t going to be any heavy lifting involved with what you’re about to see. The folksy compassion of Kris Kristofferson, the worldly (& folksy) wisdom of Morgan Freeman, the folksy wholesomeness of Ashley Judd, the jazzy wholesomeness of Harry Connick Jr. – it’s like the cast of a Lifetime special with more star power. But that’s alright; this isn’t the story for acting fireworks.

And it is a great story. Based simultaneously tightly AND loosely on a real story. It’s sort of an interesting mix. The details about Winter are extremely accurate, while everything else is extremely fictional.

The story of Winter, a dolphin stranded on a beach in Florida after being injured in a crab net, is an amazing one. This is a wonderful animal who was rescued by some brave and inventive people and it’s an inspirational story that you’d have to be made of stone not to warm to. The film features Winter in her home location at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, and in the closing credits of the picture we get to see footage of the events just dramatized. Now, I’m tempted to say that it’s such a good story and the actual recordings are so captivating that a feature film is really unnecessary – that they should have just stuck with a documentary (of which there is one – Winter, the Dolphin That Can – http://www.seewinter.com/winter-hope/real-life-story).

But that would be selling short the job that screenwriters Karen Janszen & Noam Dromi have done in creating a great dramatization that honors the inspirational effect Winter has had on many people. The story of overcoming physical trauma and the adversity it creates is meaningful on so many levels, and the screenwriters have used this as the basis for the film story, which draws parallels with our wounded soldiers. The story is more than a little bit melodramatic and could probably have used a haircut, but it is engaging and well-written.

The picture is very well made – craftsman-like, but not showy. I’m not in love with the over-clean look of the film, but it suits the movie. DP Karl Walter Lindenlaub had to work with the ill-advised decision to shoot in native 3D – this picture never needed to be in 3D – and perhaps that led to the antiseptic image. More than anything, though, everything and everyone are just too tidy.

Dolphin Tale is a heartwarming picture that can truly be inspirational if you watch it with the right audience and right mind frame. If not, it’s earnestness may seem saccharine. But it is a delight to watch with children and highly recommended.

Poster:

Trailer:

Bechdel Test:

Pass

The Representation Test Score: A (11 pts)

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

[schema type=”movie” url=”http://dolphintalemovie.warnerbros.com/dvd/index.html” name=”Dolphin Tale” description=””Dolphin Tale” is inspired by the amazing true story of a brave dolphin and the compassionate strangers who banded together to save her life. Swimming free, a young dolphin is caught in a crab trap, severely damaging her tail. She is rescued and transported to the Clearwater Marine Hospital, where she is named Winter. But her fight for survival has just begun. Without a tail, Winter’s prognosis is dire “Dolphin Tale,” today serves as a symbol of courage, perseverance and hope to millions of people-both able and disabled-who have been touched by her remarkable story of recovery and rehabilitation.” director=”Charles Martin Smith” actor_1=”Morgan Freeman” actor_2=”Ashley Judd” actor_3=”Harry Connick Jr.” actor_4=”Nathan Gamble” actor_5=”Cozi Zuehlsdorff” ]

Main Cast	Morgan Freeman Dr. Cameron McCarthy, Ashley Judd Lorraine Nelson, Harry Connick Jr. Dr. Clay Haskett, Nathan Gamble Sawyer Nelson
Rating	PG
Release Date	Fri 23 Sep 2011 UTC
Director	Charles Martin Smith
Genres	Drama, Family
Plot	A story centered on the friendship between a boy and a dolphin whose tail was lost in a crab trap.
Poster
Runtime	113
Tagline	Inspired by the amazing true story of Winter
Writers	Karen Janszen (written by) and, Noam Dromi (written by)
Year	2011

140 Character Movie Review – #140RVW

“Practically perfect in every way.” – It’s an exaggeration, but not much of one. Sherman Brothers finest moment seals the deal on a classic.

Spoiler-free Movie Review of Mary Poppins:

To save time, I’m going to list all the problems with this movie first – because there really aren’t many:

• The actors are wearing more makeup than seems possible. It looks like they wandered in from a black & white silent film and the makeup artists didn’t know it was 1964.
• The whole “I Love To Laugh” sequence with the gifted character actor Ed Wynn, while very good, is wholly unnecessary and adds to the run time of an already long film. It’s an extra adventure that doesn’t fit in with the rest of the storyline. It should have been excised and the story would have been much more streamlined.
• When Jack Warner passed over Julie Andrews for the film version of My Fair Lady (which she had been starring on Broadway) in favor of Audrey Hepburn it freed her up for Walt Disney to cast her in her first film performance. That’s not the problem. The problem is that Andrews got the Best Actress Oscar over Hepburn, for which I call shenanigans. Andrews is masterful in this picture, but I don’t believe her performance was better than Hepburn’s. I wonder if Andrews got the edge because she did her own singing (Audrey was looped) or out of sympathy for not landing the Eliza Doolittle role she had made famous. Or maybe someone wanted to show up Jack Warner. In any event, it’s sort of like arguing between best Beatles albums, since they are both magnificent…

Of course, that I’m classifying the beating out Audrey for an award a problem shows just how deep I have to dig for any real criticism of the picture. (Note: I didn’t include Dick Van Dyke’s truly dreadful cockney accent because it’s one of those things that’s so bad it’s almost good. Not only that, it surely convinced filmmakers Albert Broccoli & Ken Hughes that he should just skip the English accent for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang entirely, so there’s that.) The story of bringing author P.L. Travers’s character to movie screens is famously if rather inaccurately chronicled in the feature film Saving Mr. Banks, but even before that picture it was interesting stuff, with Disney’s struggles with Travers being legendary. In the end, they both were probably right in their instincts; Travers was rightfully protective of her work if possibly too attached to recognize how much Disney’s influence could do for her character – Disney and company made a few major missteps with the characters while simultaneously adding immeasurable benefits in the adaptation. It really is a tremendous picture. The plot doesn’t need repeating, as probably everyone has seen the film at some point in the past 50 years, suffice it to say that it’s a classic story, based loosely on the first Mary Poppins novel with some of the second in there. You can’t call any 139 minute film streamlined and it certainly isn’t – it could probably do with a haircut, but at that time many pictures were longer. (Although there’s no official intermission in the movie, there probably should have been and many theaters took it upon themselves to add one anyway.) The acting is over the top as only 1960’s movies can be, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t wonderful. I find the whole picture lacking in subtlety and at times it’s hard to shake the impression that everyone is yelling at you. Your enjoyment of the film likely depends on your feelings on Julie Andrews’ performance. It’s a bit much for me personally, but unquestionably excellent and star-making. Van Dyke is simply wonderful in the picture – one of the all-time great physical actors. David Tomlinson turns in a great performance that works much better the older you are. The film as a whole possesses that quality of being layered and like many great films you take away different things at different times of your life. The music is a complete triumph, the high point in the career of the Sherman Brothers. No wonder they were asked to essentially make it twice with Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Mary Poppins would prove to be one of the biggest hits of Walt Disney’s filmmaking career and is regarded by many as his greatest film. It is marvelous.

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://movies.disney.com/mary-poppins” name=”Mary Poppins” description=”A magic nanny comes to work for a cold banker’s unhappy family.” director=”Robert Stevenson” actor_1=”Julie Andrews” actor_2=”Dick Van Dyke”]

Main Cast	Julie Andrews Mary Poppins, Dick Van Dyke Bert/Mr. Dawes Senior (also as Navckid Keyd), David Tomlinson Mr. Banks, Glynis Johns Mrs. Banks
Rating	G
Release Date	Fri 11 Sep 1964 UTC
Director	Robert Stevenson
Genres	Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Musical
Plot	A magic nanny comes to work for a cold banker’s unhappy family.
Poster
Runtime	139
Tagline	See It Again and Again with that Supercalifragilistic Music! [re-release Australia 1976]
Writers	Bill Walsh (screenplay) &, Don DaGradi (as Don Da Gradi) (screenplay) …
Year	1964

140 Character Movie Review – #140RVW

The 2001 version of Planet of the Apes ensures that nothing else can ever be called Tim Burton’s worst movie, but this sure does its best…

Spoiler-free Movie Review of Alice in Wonderland:

Where do you want to start with this one? The 3D conversion, the disturbing art direction, the overdone cg, the serious tone, the efforts to turn this into an epic battle picture?

I’ve come up with a term for movies made post Lord of the Rings (LOTR) that needlessly and without good reason inject large-scale battle sequences with tons of CG combatants; such films are trying to win the LOTRy. I know, terrible joke – but I needed something to describe this rampant phenomenon. It’s really out of hand – movies are adding massive battles that are supposed to impress with their scope, when in actuality they just numb you with unreal looking scenes of seemingly endless armies of CG characters, which require you to care about none of them. It just ends up being an expensive and time consuming sequence with no actual importance to the picture. Worse yet, these scenes are usually supposed to be the climax of the film. Alice in Wonderland isn’t the worst example of this phenomenon, by far, but it may be the most inexcusable, since it is so completely out of place in this story.

The whole picture is an exercise in CG run amuck. Not only is virtually every character and location digitally realized – there’s not a single practical effect in sight – Burton uses CG to wildly distort even the human characters. I may never forgive the man for the gross enlargement of Helena Bonham Carter’s head. He even manages to make Crispin Glover look more creepy than usual, no small feat.

I simply cannot fathom what was going through the filmmaker’s heads when they decided on this art direction. It’s mental. Hideously ugly and intentionally bizarre, seemingly just for the sake of being “weird”. They also chose to give the characters full names, each more absurd than the one before. Even the cake has a name…

Depp is a nightmare. The character design is dreadful, the characterization more so, and the decision to make the Mad Hatter a main character is worst of all. Never hire stars before planning a script – you end up writing the role to the level of star appeal instead of the other way around. I get the idea of the mercury poisoning being the reason for his madness and that’s why he looks like that; it’s an interesting idea, but ultimately unnecessary. After all, everyone else in the world is mad, so why does he need a special story? And what’s with the whole Glaswegian accent?

The whole story of Alice returning to Underland is frankly a mess and unnecessarily complicated. The serious storyline of a fractured world torn apart by warring monarchs – ridiculous. Worse, it strips all of the fun from the thing. Shouldn’t a story set in this world be more enjoyable? The filmmakers envisioned this not as a reimagining and not as a sequel, but something else entirely. And it’s something else, alright…

But it’s not all bad, which is why this review is written more out of frustration than dislike. Mia Wasikowska is absolutely lovely and near perfect casting. She is very charismatic and works even with the parts of the story which pose her as a warrior, even if she’s frankly more interesting in London than in Underland.

The movie is at its best at the outset, when it places Alice against the backdrop of high society, where the people are even more bizarre than any creature she will encounter in the next 100 minutes. The nods to Wonderland characters depicted in London society is a great tip of the hat and gives the thing a Wizard of Oz dreamlike quality.

The other time that the movie really frustrates you by showing the potential is when they show some flashbacks to Alice’s previous visit as a child – this is the movie they should have made.

Finally, one spoiler-filled thought – what is up with the ending? I love that Alice has become a confident young woman not content with the life her society has carved out for her, but it’s ruined a bit when you realize that she has decided to head off to China as a colonial trader. That’s disturbing. Will the sequel find Alice exporting opium?

I find it extremely hard to believe that this is Burton’s most successful picture, which really only highlights the folly of judging movie success on dollars alone. These metrics should always have been based on ticket sales, not receipts, otherwise what’s the point? (In fact, adjusted for inflation, Batman was a much bigger success.)

Burton the great adapter is a bad role for someone so talented and creative. He has always been at his best with material he wrote or helped to develop. Alice in Wonderland is a supremely frustrating film and a missed opportunity. The only rousing success of the picture is the score by Danny Elfman, which is beautiful and haunting in that Elfman way.

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://movies.disney.com/alice-in-wonderland-2010″ name=”Alice in Wonderland” description=”Nineteen-year-old Alice returns to the magical world from her childhood adventure, where she reunites with her old friends and learns of her true destiny: to end the Red Queen’s reign of terror.” director=”Tim Burton” actor_1=”Mia Wasikowska” actor_2=”Johnny Depp” actor_3=”Helena Bonham Carter” actor_4=”Anne Hathaway” actor_5=”Crispin Glover”]

Main Cast	Mia Wasikowska Alice Kingsleigh, Johnny Depp Mad Hatter, Helena Bonham Carter Red Queen, Anne Hathaway White Queen
Rating	PG
Release Date	Fri 05 Mar 2010 UTC
Director	Tim Burton
Genres	Adventure, Family, Fantasy
Plot	Nineteen-year-old Alice returns to the magical world from her childhood adventure, where she reunites with her old friends and learns of her true destiny: to end the Red Queen’s reign of terror.
Poster
Runtime	108
Tagline	You’re invited to a very important date 3/5/10
Writers	Linda Woolverton (screenplay), Lewis Carroll (books)
Year	2010