Kung Fu Panda

I could watch this movie again and again. I haven't had so much nonstop fun watching a movie in a long while. Jack Black has a tendency to get a little extreme in some of his roles, but in this case, he really brought Po, the fanboy panda, to life.

The set design in Kung Fu Panda is strikingly beautiful. The monastery, high in the hills (a la the karsts of the Li River) is surrounded by peach trees, which can magically blossom and bear fruit at the same time. The moments that the characters share near these trees are not only poetically beautiful (Master Oogway vanishing into the petals), but they are also inspiring. "...no matter what you do, that seed will grow to be a peach tree. You may wish for an apple or an orange, but you will get a peach."

Actually, lessons such as this provided the backbone of my enjoyment of this movie. Even though "the past is history, the future is a mystery, but today is a gift; that is why it is called the present," is hardly innovative, I am considering putting a big banner across my wall that reads "The Scroll Is Blank."

Kung Fu Panda gets a solid four stars, maybe four and a half. It's a lot of fun, and I'm actually looking forward to the sequel, due out this summer.

Coraline

Everything I had to say about thematics, I've already said here. Instead, I'd like to present the following for the reader's consideration:


The soundtrack is a gorgeous mix of haunting chorals and toe-tapping jazz beats that I will be adding to my collection to hear again. It really is reason enough to explore this story beyond the script.

Otherwise, in terms of the adaptation, it did sort of strike me strangely how old the characters were. I realize the script had them in their early teens, but the written story made it easier to envision the characters much younger. I didn't mesh with the voice acting at all, though I do have to give Teri Hatcher credit for shedding most of her flustered Desperate Housewives whine during her transformation into the Beldam. The ghost dialogue bothered me because it felt like video game dialogue; if I'm going to hear video game dialogue, I'd rather it be in a video game.

In terms of the visuals, I think I expected a little too much Nightmare before Christmas in terms of bright, ghostly lighting and eerie shadows, compared to the surprisingly "realistic" fantasy design of this film. Some choices I could have seen differently, but nonetheless, this was an engaging film made remarkable by its sound design. I'm sure it would have been spectacular in 3D as well. I'll give it four stars, because I'm still logged onto Youtube, listening to clips from the soundtrack.

Kiki's Delivery Service

The description on the Netflix sleeve as "gentle" could not be more accurate in describing Kiki's Delivery Service. As a fan of Hayao Miyazaki's work, I figured it would be important to add this movie to the list, though in all honesty, it didn't live up to his other works.

Despite the story centering on a witch, there was surprisingly little magic in the movie, which in some ways helped keep the focus on Kiki's personal journey, but for a fantasy film, I just wanted more. Fairly episodic in structure, it was more of a meditation on growing up than the adventure it claims to be. The conflicts were short-lived and sometimes vague, but in many ways, that embodies those fun pre-teen years.

I could, however, relate to the idea that immersing oneself too heavily in one's work strips the magic away from life. This wasn't just a be-yourself sort of story. Kiki had a mission to which she was entirely devoted: to become a witch. However, while focusing on that one goal, she lost her joy, her best friend, and even her ability to work on her goal. In a way, the message for work-related depression is pretty somber. Nonetheless, the ending turns out happily for all, and we are left with a feel-all-right sort of movie. I'd give it three stars, just because of the director.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

It had been a while since I last saw this movie. In fact, I couldn't remember a moment out of it. Nonetheless, I decided to add it to my queue after it came up in a class on monsters and detectives several years back. I'm actually quite glad I checked it out again, because now, the richness of the world really registered with me.

The blending of animation and live action is so extraordinarily well done, from the lighting on Roger as he moves from set through the work area and out into the real world, to the real effects that Jessica's two-dimensional fingers have as they pinch Eddie Valiant's cheeks. The gags, such as the "cattle call," where a line of cows practiced their lines, felt much wittier now that a few years have passed since the last time I saw the movie.

Nonetheless, the movie was a lot darker and less funny than I remember. It felt like a genuine noir film; it was too self-aware for the cartoon bits to be funny. The only time I really laughed aloud was when Eddie encounters Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny in free-fall and Mickey Mouse gives a giggle before saying "You could get killed." It just seemed a strange phrase to come out of the mouse's mouth. I spent the rest of the time marvelous at how Rob Zemeckis was able to get licensing for both Disney and Warner Bros. characters.

To be sure, I love crossovers. Despite the lack of laughs, the film is a feast of cross-references and self-mockery. The Daffy-Donald Duck Duel was just glorious to watch, and well, who can say "No" to Jessica Rabbit? Honestly... As a smart film that is a lot of fun to watch, I'm giving it four stars. It's one of those movies that just has to be seen.

Happy Feet

Happy Feet has been sitting in my Netflix queue for several years now, and I could never figure out why. Baby penguin + dancing + adorable = Kyle love? Well, as part of my animation fix these past few weeks, I decided to give it a shot.

It started off cute enough, the mother and father penguin getting together, the father watching their egg through the cold winter, the father dropping it, the baby hatching with a cute lil' voice to match his cute lil' tap steps. The cute lasted approximately fifteen minutes. As soon as little Mumble (voiced by Elijah Wood) hit puberty, it was as if the cuteness had been attacked and carried off by skuas, then dropped off in the middle of the ice and left to wander, because that's just what happened, journey after journey, from the search for acceptance to the search for friendship to the search for love to the search for the aliens to the search for social reform. In short, the horse on its way to Santa Barbara takes a big ol' detour up to Fillmore.

I suppose the moment I began to get lost was in the dancing. The footsteps just didn't match the feet, and the rhythms didn't really seem to sync with anything else. While this could conceivably parallel the idea of dancing to one's own beat, it just wasn't interesting. It became all the rage among the penguins, then became blasphemous, then became conventional, then became sinful multiple times, which added to the all-around choppiness of the movie.

Happy Feet may have set out to be more epic than it should have been. Creators attempted to chop up so many quest story lines and cram them into an hour and forty minutes that what I thought was intended to be a story about acceptance and self-expression turned into a do-your-part-to-save-the-world PSA with as much subtlety as a mother penguin regurgitating fish into its youngster's mouth. While it did make me feel a little sentimental when Steve Irwin had his cameo, the jumping around from Antarctica to {Florida?} and back to Antarctica completely removed me from the story and made me feel that I'd been watching a rambling ad for WWF for the past hour and a half.

Admittedly, there were some fun parts to watch, and I quite enjoyed Mumble's childhood and everything from the elephant seals to Mumble's captivity. Because of the haphazardly thrown together material surrounding those sections, interspersed with a schizophrenic soundtrack of mish-mashed pop and R&B clips, I can only give this movie three stars. Meh to the max.

How to Train Your Dragon

One comes to expect a lot of things from animated films these days: likable characters, imaginative worlds, the occasional twist, and a whole lotta heart… or at least an attempt.  Often, in an attempt to pander to adult audiences as well, animators have to add in a heaping pile of sarcasm, which just doesn’t work.  Once in a while, however, one has one’s expectations rewritten.  Such was the case with How to Train Your Dragon.

This beautiful movie takes place on a bleak island in the distant north among the Scottish Vikings (which confused me in the beginning but wasn’t a problem after I went with it), who are at war with dragons.  It’s a simple enough premise, and the viewer can tell from the poster alone that young Hiccup (voiced brilliantly by Jay Baruchel) will more than likely take a different perspective.  However, while there were potentially preachy, can’t-we-all-just-get-along moments, they never stepped over the line into cheesiness.  The contrast between Hiccup’s parallel stories of training to be a dragon killer while training an actual dragon sold the message with ease.

I most enjoyed the ingenuity behind the Viking-dragon interactions, especially between Hiccup and Toothless.  The ingenuity that goes into restoring Toothless’ ability to fly and the slow, difficult process of getting Toothless airborne again are both fun to watch and fun to puzzle over.  The imaginative set-up of the dragon bestiary opens up all sorts of potential for a sequel, which I believe is currently in the (Dream)works, and I would probably go see it if it can match the imagination of its predecessor.

To take a moment on imagination, dragons and flight have always held a particular fancy for me, and I mean always, from the first memory.  Though I didn’t have the opportunity to see How to Train Your Dragon in 3D, the thrill of diving toward the sea on Toothless’ back and weaving through the rocky crags was never lost.  There is a feeling of freedom brought about by this movie, guided by a brilliant soundtrack, supported by a fantastic cast of gruffly lovable characters, and filled to the brim with all manners of dragon.  Five stars for imagination, adventure, and non-stop enjoyment.