Review: "Planes: Fire and Rescue" Flies Past Original

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 50 (of 2014) by Leroy Douresseaux

Planes: Fire & Rescue (2014)
Running time:  84 minutes (1 hour, 24 minutes)
Rating: MPAA – PG for action and some peril
DIRECTOR:  Bob Gannaway
WRITERS:  Jeffrey M. Howard; from a story by Jeffrey M. Howard and Bob Gannaway (based on characters created by John Lasseter, Klay Hall, and Jeffrey M. Howard)
PRODUCER:  Ferrell Barron
EDITOR:  Dan Molina
COMPOSER:  Mark Mancina

ANIMATION/ACTION/DRAMA/FAMILY with elements of comedy

Starring:  Dane Cook, Ed Harris, Julie Bowen, Curtis Armstrong, John Michael Higgins, Hal Holbrook, Wes Studi, Barry Corbin, Regina King, Fred Willard, Kevin Michael Richardson, Rene Auberjonois, Jerry Stiller, Stacy Keach, Brad Garrett, Teri Hatcher, Cedric the Entertainer, Danny Mann, John Ratzenberger, and Brent Musburger

Planes: Fire & Rescue is a 2014 computer-animated fantasy action film and drama that was produced by DisneyToon Studios.  It is a direct sequel to the 2013 film, Planes.  The Planes film series is a spinoff of Pixar's Cars film franchise.  Planes focuses on Dusty, a cropduster plane who dreams of competing in a world-famous aerial race.  In Planes: Fire & Rescue, Dusty learns that he may never race again and begins training as a firefighter to help his hometown.

As Planes: Fire & Rescue opens, Dusty Crophopper (Dane Cook) continues his successful aerial racing career that took off after he won the Wings Around the Globe Rally.  However, the high rates of speed at which Dusty flies leads to some internal damage that may end his racing career.  After an accidental fire closes the airport in his hometown of Propwash Junction, Dusty offers to undergo training to be certified as a firefighter.

He travels to Piston Peak National Park to train under Blade Ranger (Ed Harris), a veteran fire-and-rescue helicopter, and the crew he commands, the Piston Peak Air Attack.  Dusty, however, is over-anxious and his training proves to be a difficult challenge, even as a major fire strengthens and threatens the entire park.

There is no way that I expected Planes: Fire & Rescue to be a better film than Planes, which I really liked, but the sequel surpasses the original.  Why is that?   Fire & Rescue has heart; it's that simple.  Dusty Crophopper's problems:  the dilemmas he faces, his conflicts with his new colleagues, his self-doubts, his grief over a possibly lost career, and his desperation to prove himself all over again make for surprisingly gripping drama.

Yes, I said drama.  Pixar's films are strongly dramatic, even when there is a lot humor or at least a strong undercurrent of humor.  The Planes films are a spinoff of a Pixar series, but are not produced by Pixar.  They are produced by another Disney unit (DisneyToon Studios).  Still, Fire & Rescue feels kind of Pixar-ish, and that is, of course, a good thing.  This film is more of a heartwarming drama than it is a comedy for children.

Fire & Rescue is also a topnotch aerial action film.  It is still hard for me to believe that computer-animated air planes and helicopters in action could be as exciting to watch as live-action airplanes and jets, but it is true.  My interest in the story soared with each new flight scene.

Once again, the voice acting cast supporting Dane Cook is good, and that means a good film for family viewing and a good film in general.  In fact, I think that if more adults gave Planes: Fire & Rescue a chance, they would like it.

7 of 10
A-

Tuesday, November 4, 2014


The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

Review: "A Mighty Wind" Sounds Good

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 173 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

A Mighty Wind (2003)
Running time:  91 minutes (1 hour, 31 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sex-related humor
DIRECTOR:  Christopher Guest
WRITERS:  Eugene Levy and Christopher Guest
PRODUCER:  Karen Murphy
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Arlene-Donnelly Nelson (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Robert Leighton
Academy Award nominee

COMEDY/MUSIC

Starring:  Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, Christopher Guest, Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Bob Balaban, Jane Lynch, John Michael Higgins, Fred Willard, Ed Begley, Jr., Don Lake, Deborah Theaker, Larry Miller, Jennifer Coolidge, Bill Cobbs, Parker Posey, Rachael Harris, and LeShay Tomlinson

The subject of this movie review is A Mighty Wind, a 2003 comedy-drama from director Christopher Guest.  This mock documentary captures the reunion of a 1960s folk trio, as they prepare for a show to memorialize a recently deceased concert promoter.

Christopher Guest’s film A Mighty Wind is the third in his popular series of mock documentary films, or mockumentaries, as fans know them, which also include Waiting for Guffman and Best in Show.  Guest and co-stars Michael McKean and Harry Shearer were also the band in the Rob Reiner’s famous mockumentary, This is Spinal Tap.  This time the comedic trio comprises another movie group, the folk trio The Folksmen.

The neurotic and fussbudget son (the sublime Bob Balaban) of a folk music record company mogul, with some help from his siblings, organizes a reunion of three of his father’s biggest acts:  the aforementioned The Folksmen, The New Main Street Singers, and the very popular duo Mitch and Mickey.  As the groups prepare for a nationally televised show (on public TV) staged at Town Hall in New York City, old tensions and conflicts that caused breakups or hard feelings start to arise.  Will everyone have his or her act together in time to show the nation that folk music is alive and well?

Some consider this to be the least among the Guest-Levy comedies, and A Mighty Wind is often too polished and too smooth.  The documentary aspect of the film is also just window dressing; the film is better when it’s more about personal relationships and less about characters being observed by a camera.  The documentary makes the characters appear to be shallow when they’re obviously more interesting than just the surface appearance.  In the end, the players are more interesting than the film’s conceit.

However, there are times when Guest and Levy deal their wit using only the sharpest instruments of satire and farce, but the brilliance in the writing of this film is that Guest and Levy, for all the fun they poke, actually make folk music quite appealing.  The screwy, peculiar, neurotic, and sometimes wacky characters are all quite loveable.  I found myself laughing good-naturedly more than in derision at the cast.  Would that more movies were so endearing even when they skewering.

The film earned an Oscar® nomination for “Best Music, Original Song” for the fabulous and poignant “A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow,” song by Mitch and Mickey.  Guest, McKean, and Levy, however, did win a Grammy® Award in the category of “Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media” for the movie’s title track, “A Mighty Wind.”  These two songs and many others in combination with a musically talented and funny cast make A Mighty Wind a must see for viewers who want their comedy a notch above profanity and gross out.

6 of 10
B

NOTES:
2004 Academy Awards, USA:  1 nomination: “Best Music, Original Song” (Michael McKean and Annette O'Toole for the song "A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow")

Updated:  Wednesday, February 19, 2014


The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

"Monster House" is an Animated Horror Movie

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 159 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux


Monster House (2005)
Running time: 91 minutes (1 hour, 31 minutes)
MPAA – PG for scary images and sequences, thematic elements, some crude humor, and brief language
DIRECTOR: Gil Kenan
WRITERS: Dan Harmon & Rob Schrab and Pamela Pettler; from a story by Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab
PRODUCERS: Jack Rapke and Steve Starkey
CINEMATOGRAPHERS: Paul C. Babin and Xavier Pérez Grobet
EDITORS: Fabienne Rawley and Adam Scott
Academy Award nominee

ANIMATION/HORROR/COMEDY/MYSTERY

Starring: (voices) Mitchel Musso, Sam Lerner, Spencer Locke, Steve Buscemi, Catherine O’Hara, Fred Willard, Jason Lee, Kevin James, Nick Cannon, Jon Heder, and Kathleen Turner

The new computer-animated film, Monster House, isn’t just a kid’s film, and even if it were, it’s not just any kid’s movie. Monster House is a genuine horror movie, but one made for family viewing (perhaps a little too intense for younger than 8 or 9), and its roller-coaster, action movie ending makes the movie a bit more than standard computer animated fare. Free of all those sometimes annoying pop culture references that beset so many other computer animated films, Monster House is just a good solid ghost story told in a way that will scare the kids and has enough fright to engage older minds.

He’s on the verge of puberty, but when his parents head away for the weekend, DJ (Mitchel Musso) still gets a babysitter. To make matters worse, that very afternoon, DJ had a run-in with Nebbercracker (Steve Buscemi), the neighbor who lives across the street in the rundown old house. During their confrontation, Nebbercracker seemingly dies, but that’s not the end of the story. Nebbercracker’s death apparently brings the old house to life as some kind of monster. The front door grows spiky teeth out of boards, and the rug in the front hall becomes a monstrous tongue that darts outside and snatches unsuspecting visitors. Anyone who steps foot on the lawn is monster house food.

The house seems to have a special hate for DJ, so he calls for the assistance of his best friend, the chubby prankster, Chowder (Sam Lerner). It’s not long before the boys add the final piece to their heroic trio when they save the life of Jenny (Spencer Locke), a beautiful young girl about the age of DJ and Chowder, who unwittingly stops by the monster house to sell school candy. It seems, however, that no adults will believe them that the house across from DJ’s is a living, breathing, scary monster. It’s up to them to save the neighborhood, but will it cost them their own lives.

Executive-produced by Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis, two Oscar-winning directors and sometime partners, Monster House is shot in motion-capture animation, the process Zemeckis used for his 2004 film, The Polar Express. In motion-capture, the performances of the live actors are filmed; then, the live action photography is used as a model for the motion-capture computer animation. Monster House, however, looks more like such 3-D animation films as Madagascar or The Incredibles than it looks like The Polar Express.

That said – I like the animation in this movie. Both the characters in their design and in the way they move look like something from one of Tim Burton’s stop-motion animated films (Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride). The film doesn’t look flat, and the characters almost seem like puppets on a set. This unique look makes Monster House stand out from the rest of the jam-packed computer-animation crowd (and 2005 is heavy with 3-D animation).

In terms of story, Monster House looks and feels like something Spielberg or Zemeckis (Back to the Future, Forrest Gump) might have done two decades ago. The story’s setting is vaguely anachronistic, partially situated in the 1980’s, but with some touches that have only recently come into existence. The story has the distinct flavor of Spielberg’s mid-80’s anthology series, “Amazing Stories,” and even a little bit of “Tales from the Crypt, the late HBO series of which Zemeckis was one of the executive producers. Most of the audience will recognize the familiar plot – the neighborhood ghost story or the monster in the house down the street.

Monster House is just a well done film. From the wonderfully vivid colors to the fast-paced scares and thrills, it engages all ages. The lead characters: DJ, Chowder, and Jenny and the young voice actors who play them are appealing with winning comic personalities – giving a human touch to this computer-produced film. Even the supporting voice performances are good (Nick Cannon gives a surprisingly nimble and funny turn as a daffy rookie cop.). That’s why Monster House captured my attention and imagination and gave me thrills and chills the whole way through. Monster House does have a few lapses, but anyone willing to give it a chance just might find a good time. It’s one of those magical summer treasures that the kid in all of us loves to find in our favorite theatre.

7 of 10
A-

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

NOTES:
2007 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Animated Feature Film of the Year” (Gil Kenan)

2007 Golden Globes, USA: 1 nomination: “Best Animated Film”

Review: "This is Spinal Tap" Never Stops Being Funny (Happy B'day, Rob Reiner)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 106 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

This is Spinal Tap (1984)
Running time: 83 minutes (1 hour, 23 minutes)
MPAA – R
DIRECTOR: Rob Reiner
WRITERS: Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, & Rob Reiner
PRODUCER: Karen Murphy
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Peter Smokler
EDITOR: Kent Beyda and Kim Secrist

COMEDY/MUSIC

Starring: Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, Rob Reiner, June Chadwick, Tony Hendra, RJ Parnell, Fran Drescher, Patrick MacNee, Bruno Kirby, Ed Begley, Jr., Billy Crystal, Dana Carvey, Howard Hessman, Fred Willard, Paul Shaffer, Gloria Gifford, and Anjelica Huston

The subject of this review is This is Spinal Tap, a faux documentary that parodies rock documentary films. Directed by Rob Reiner, the film also satirizes the behavior and attitudes of members of hard rock and heavy metal bands.

This is Spinal Tap basically says that, “It’s time to get personal with one of music history’s greatest and loudest rock bands… Spinal Tap.” Documentary filmmaker Marty DiBergi (Rob Reiner) is making a “rockumentary,” a rock documentary of the band’s 1982 tour in support of the release of its 15th album, but the band has falling on some hard times. They’re playing smaller venues in front of an ever-shrinking audience, and the band’s front men: guitarist/co-songwriter David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean), lead guitarist/co-songwriter Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest), and bassist Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer) are older and struggling with inner band turmoil. DiBergi’s documentary gives them a chance to talk about themselves, their history, and their music and gives the audience a behind the scenes look at rare footage and a chance to hear lots of music. Will Spinal Tap survive, or will we die laughing first?

This is Spinal Tap, Rob Reiner’s faux documentary, created a film genre, the “mockumentary” or mock documentary. This is Spinal Tap is a fake documentary that follows the life and times of an aged metal band on an less-than-successful American tour, and everyone involved, especially the band comes across as twits. They don’t, in all seriousness, see themselves as pathetically funny as they actually are. Reiner, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer wrote all the songs for the fake band called Spinal Tap (which some movie audiences initial thought was a real band), and with the rest of the cast, adlibbed most of the dialogue.

Anyone with more than a passing knowledge of heavy metal music and the eccentricities of metal’s most famous practitioners will double over in laughter at this “behind the scenes” look at band infighting, groupies, cancelled concerts, impractical stage sets, musical and performance pretensions, tight pants, misogynistic music, and the long hair and makeup. Even if you don’t like music, This is Spinal Tab is still funny; in fact the magazine, Entertainment Weekly, named it the #1 cult film of all time.

The film’s strength is in the music; one is actors playing the front men are all competent musicians. Spinal Tap’s songs are so funny and so dead on rock and roll and heavy metal, that for all that they are satires of metal songs, they also work quite well as actually metal music. Great parodies have to work as the thing they are parodying; Mel Brooks has made a career on getting the setting right in such films as Young Frankenstein, which looked like the classic black and white Universal Studios Frankenstein films and Blazing Saddles, which looked and acted like a western. The film’s other strength is the cast. Everyone is so good at playing so many absurd situations and saying so many ridiculous things with the straightest faces, as if the entire Spinal Tap scenario were all real and serious. This is Spinal Tap is a must-see for lovers of comedy.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
2002 National Film Registry: National Film Preservation Board, USA

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Review: "Chicken Little" Has Big Action

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 169 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux


Chicken Little (2005) – computer animated
Running time: 81 minutes (1 hour, 21 minutes)
MPAA – G
DIRECTOR: Mark Dindal
WRITERS: Steve Bencich and Ron J. Friedman and Ron Anderson; from a story by Mark Kennedy and Mark Dindal (with additional story material by Robert L. Baird and Dan Gerson)
PRODUCER: Randy Fullmer
EDITOR: Dan Molina

ANIMATION/SCI-FI/FANTASY and COMEDY/ACTION/FAMILY

Starring: (voices) Zach Braff, Garry Marshall, Steve Zahn, Joan Cusack, Don Knotts, Patrick Stewart, Amy Sedaris, Harry Shearer, Wallace Shawn, Fred Willard, Catherine O’Hara, Adam West, Patrick Warburton, Mark Dindal, and Dan Molina

One day a piece of the sky falls to earth and hits Chicken Little (Zach Braff) on the head. The sky is falling her warns, but the townsfolk of Oakey Oaks, including his father, Buck Cluck (Garry Marshall), conclude that an acorn hit the boy chick on the head. The incident swiftly turns Chicken Little into the town joke and embarrasses his father. However, the plucky chicken joins the local baseball team with the hopes of reviving his reputation and earning his father’s respect. Chicken Little does indeed lead the team to an upset victory, and he and his pops are on good terms again.

All is well, but another “piece of the sky” hits Chicken Little on the head. Still, he’s reluctant to cause another scene and once again be labeled crazy. Instead, he enlists the help of his friends: Abby Mallard (Joan Cusack), who is also known as the Ugly Duckling because she is so… unpretty; Runt of the Litter (Steve Zahn), a tall, obese pig; and Fish Out of Water (“voice” created by film editor Dan Molina), a fish who wears a water-filled helmet, and the gang embark on an adventure to stop an alien invasion without sending the town into another panic.

Walt Disney’s Chicken Little, of course, spoofs of 17th century, rural English fable, “Chicken Little.” Disney’s new film is also their first fully computer animated film (2000’s Dinosaur combined computer generated characters with live-action background imagery), and also signals the famed movie company’s move away from hand-drawn (2D) animation to computer animated (3D) animation. Clearly aimed at children 12 and under, Chicken Little is filled with clever gags. The script is a hodge podge of sketch comedy, after school special storylines, and the kind of family psychology that would find its way on the “Dr. Phil” and “Oprah.”

The script is Chicken Little’s big problem. The animation is fine, sometimes even outstanding. There are a few moments when it has the quality of the first Shrek, but there are also times when it has the texture and quality of Disney/Pixar’s The Incredibles. However, the film is basically pretty pictures over an ugly story. The script bludgeons the audience with the notion that at this movie’s heart (which it doesn’t have) is the story of a father and son coming together. The father, in this case, Buck Cluck, must learn to accept his son’s physical shortcomings and love him for the plucky fella he is. But unlike Finding Nemo, where the parent/child dynamic seemed so natural, Chicken Little takes that relationship and drapes a cheesy action movie cartoon for children over it.

Chicken Little looks, feels, and sounds like the kind of action movies that have been so popular over the last decade, but tamed for children. Anyone who has seen Independence Day will recognize it in this flick. Chicken Little’s setting, Oakey Oaks, is the same old idealized Midwestern small town that Hollywood has been shoving at audiences for decades. That place is a fairy tale really, but it’s a good setting for War of the Worlds, which is another source reference for this flick. Chicken Little is as noisy and/or as busy as The Rock, Armageddon, Bad Boys II, etc. This is director Mark Dindal’s (The Emperor’s New Groove) Steven Spielberg/Michael Bay movie.

Chicken Little, as voiced by Zach Braff, is actually an endearing character – this movie’s saving grace, in fact. The character itself is a cutey, sort of a riff on “Egghead, Jr.” from those “Foghorn Leghorn” Looney Tunes cartoons. He’s a plucky little fella and the animators lovingly rendered and animated him.

The rest of the cast is mostly trash. The characters aren’t really characters so much as they are stereotypes that get to do stand up routines at different times in the film narrative. I immensely disliked Abby Mallard – nothing more to say about it here – and Runt of the Litter is pathetic. Steve Zahn can play quirky characters whose humor comes through even in crime dramas (Out of Sight), but his comedic gifts are lost because we don’t him here; all we get is his voice in the annoying Runt. Fish Out of Water provides nice slapstick, but the jokes come across as desperation on the writers’ parts. Garry Marshall’s Brooklyn accent is out of place in this film, and as a father, Buck Cluck is like an overbearing mother in his demands on his son, Chicken Little.

I guess the shortest and perhaps best way to describe Disney’s Chicken Little is as Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius with much better computer animation.

4 of 10
C

Saturday, November 5, 2005

Review: Scooby-Doo! Legend of the Phantosaur

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 83 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux


Scooby-Doo! Legend of the Phantosaur (2011) – Video
Running time: 75 minutes (1 hour, 15 minutes)
DIRECTORS: Ethan Spaulding with Kirk Tingblad (animation director)
WRITER: Douglas Langdale
PRODUCERS: Spike Brandt and Tom Cervone
EDITOR: Damon P. Yoches

ANIMATION/ADVENTURE/COMEDY/MYSTERY

Starring: (voices) Frank Welker, Matthew Lillard, Grey DeLisle, Mindy Cohn, Matthew Gray Gubler, Finola Hughes, Kevin Michael Richardson, Fred Willard, Maulik Pancholy, John Di Maggio, Michael Gough, Dave Wittenberg, Cathy Cavadini, and Gwendoline Yeo

Beginning in 1998 with Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island, Warner Bros. has released direct-to-video animated movies based on the Scooby-Doo cartoon franchise. Except for a few years when two movies have been released, there has been at least one movie a year. Scooby-Doo! Legend of the Phantosaur is the 16th movie in this direct-to-video series.

Legend of the Phantosaur begins with a successful conclusion to another mystery – well, not entirely successful. The case has left Shaggy Rogers (Matthew Lillard) with a case of “acute threat avoidance hypertrophy disorder” or “overreaction to fear stimuli.” Also, Fred Jones (Frank Welker) is failing science, so Daphne Blake (Grey DeLisle) comes up with an idea to help both Fred and Shaggy. They will travel to the remote desert town of La Serena, the location of a spa where Shaggy can relax. He can also avoid scary things because La Serena is “the least haunted town in America” (according to the U.S. Bureau of Supernatural Forces). Near La Serena, there is also an archeological dig, which would make a good extra-curricular project for Fred.

The gang arrives at the La Serena Spa and meets its eccentric owner, Mr. Hubley (Fred Willard). Hubley wants to use his own invention, an advanced hypnosis machine with a giant holographic projector, to cure Shaggy. Later, Professor Svankmajor (Finola Hughes), the head of the local paleontological dig, shows the gang the dig site. Velma Dinkley (Mindy Cohn) meets one of Svankmajor’s students, Windsor (Matthew Gray Gubler), who is like an identical male version of Velma, and the two begin a romance.

It turns out that La Serena is indeed experiencing a haunting. The Phantosaur, a local Native American legend, has returned to terrorize the area. The latest mystery the Scooby Gang tackles is like no other. Shaggy has a dual personality, and Scooby-Doo (Fred Welker) is trying to manage them both. There is a local biker gang, and Shaggy challenges their leader, Big Texas or “Tex” (Kevin Michael Richardson), to a motorcycle race. And there are snakes and more dinosaurs waiting in the wings to terrorize. Can the gang solve this mystery when they may not even survive it?

Scooby-Doo! Legend of the Phantosaur is 75 minutes in length, but it seems much longer than that, but not in a bad way. There are so many subplots, character arcs, and lines of conflict that this seems like a live-action film of about 100 minutes in length. This is also something different from other Scooby-Doo straight-to-video films; it is more character driven, and the comedy is built around character situations.

Potential viewers shouldn’t be put off because there are some big action set pieces here – a motorcycle race, a dinosaur invasion of La Serena, and the entirety of the last act. Still, in between the manic fun, there are quite a lot of off-rhythm character drama scenes (if I can call them that). This focus on the characters does bring up a problem; the voice performances for what are essentially supporting/guest characters aren’t that good. Matthew Gray Gubler’s performance as Windsor seems uninspired, and Fred Willard is either awkward or out of place as Mr. Hubley.

Of the three most recent Scooby-Doo moves, Scooby-Doo! Legend of the Phantosaur is the least in terms of delivering fun and entertainment. It’s not bad, and, in fact, the production values and art direction are quite good. But there will be an ebb and flow in how much these movies capture the unique Scooby-Doo spirit and sense of adventure and fun. Scooby-Doo! Legend of the Phantosaur is closer to an ebb.

6 of 10
B

Monday, October 17, 2011

Review: "WALL-E" Was and Still is the Best Film of 2008

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 48 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux

WALL-E (2008)
Running time: 98 minutes (1 hour, 38 minutes)
MPAA – G
DIRECTOR: Andrew Stanton
WRITER: Andrew Stanton and Jim Reardon; from a story by Andrew Stanton and Pete Docter
PRODUCER: Jim Morris
EDITOR: Stephen Schaffer
COMPOSER: Thomas Newman
Academy Award winner

ANIMATION/SCI-FI/DRAMA with elements of action and comedy

Starring: (voices) Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin, Fred Willard, John Ratzenberger, Kathy Najimy, and Sigourney Weaver

In terms of American animated films, WALL-E, a film from Pixar Animation Studios, is a visionary work, and even considering the few exceptional films released in 2008 (like The Dark Knight), WALL-E was the best film of that year. It is the extraordinary story of a lonely little robot that has been doing what he was built for until he accidentally discovers a new purpose in life when he falls in love.

WALL-E is set centuries in the future on a ravaged Earth, devoid of vegetation and with its cities now largely empty ruins. Mountains of garbage, waste, junk, etc. cover the planet, and humans long ago fled the planet in spaceships that resemble cruise-line ships. Left behind to clean up the mess are small robots with melancholy binocular eyes called Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class or WALL-Es, for short.

For hundreds of lonely years, one WALL-E (Ben Burtt) has been compacting garbage into small cubes and piling them up until they form skyscraper-like heaps. WALL-E also collects knick-knacks, keeps a plucky cockroach as a pet, and obsesses over the 1969 film, Hello, Dolly. WALL-E’s life changes when he meets a strange new visitor to the planet, an advanced probe robot called Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator or EVE (Elissa Knight), and falls in love with the sleek female robot at first sight. After EVE comes to realize that WALL-E has inadvertently stumbled upon the key to the Earth’s future, she races into space to return to the human flagship, the Axiom, where she will report her findings. Meanwhile, the smitten WALL-E has followed her.

WALL-E has the usual ingredients of that help make Pixar movies such huge hits, like exotic settings, splendid storytelling, winning characters and quirky but charming concepts. What makes WALL-E even more special is that it is the first Pixar film that is also a cautionary tale. The film assaults so many things that we hold dear: our materialism (as exemplified by the world-controlling mega-corporation, BnL or “Buy n Large”), gluttony (which results in obesity), our throwaway lifestyle (thus, the piles of garbage), and the instant gratification that high-tech gadgets offer.

This is the kind of thoughtful science fiction that American audiences rarely get. Director Andrew Stanton and his co-writers, Jim Reardon and Pete Docter, tackle our modern malaise and short-sightedness, the grasping corporation with their voracious appetites for wealth in almost any form, and our insipid and incompetent politicians.

Yet WALL-E, like other Pixar flicks is inimitably entertaining. All the robots, not just WALL-E and EVE, have such sparkling characters. Perhaps, that is the true magic of Pixar, the ability to fabricate humanity in any fictional characters – from a pack rat robot that picks up garbage and collects odds and ends to a busy-body sanitation robot neurotically cleaning contaminants. The voice performances (especially Ben Burtt’s) make all the characters, even the robots, seem uncannily human. The eventual robot mini-rebellion, which is a much smarter spin on man vs. machine than even The Terminator or The Matrix, provides the frenetic action-comedy that Pixar films always offer.

Thomas Newman’s exuberant score is consistently pitch perfect. It gives color to the film’s silent movie-like first act and helps brings the budding romance of WALL-E and EVE to life. Newman’s compositions turn the drama, conflict, and tension of the last half-hour into a whirlwind of action that just might take your breath away.

What else can I say? As usual, Pixar delivers, but this time WALL-E is especially special. It tells a wonderful love story, and asks us to love our world and to take care of ourselves. This is a visionary work.

10 of 10

NOTES:
2009 Academy Awards: 1 win: “Best Animated Feature Film of the Year” (Andrew Stanton); 5 nominations: “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score” (Thomas Newman); “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song” (Peter Gabriel-music/lyrics and Thomas Newman- music for the song "Down to Earth"), “Best Achievement in Sound” (Tom Myers, Michael Semanick, and Ben Burtt), “Best Achievement in Sound Editing” (Ben Burtt and Matthew Wood), “Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen” (Andrew Stanton-screenplay/story, Jim Reardon-screenplay, and Pete Docter-story)

2009 BAFTA Awards: 1 win: “Best Animated Film” (Andrew Stanton); 2 nominations: “Best Music” (Thomas Newman) and “Best Sound” (Ben Burtt, Tom Myers, Michael Semanick, and Matthew Wood); 2008 BAFTA Children's Award Best Feature Film (Jim Morris and Andrew Stanton)

2009 Golden Globes: 1 win: Best Animated Feature Film; 1 nomination: “Best Original Song - Motion Picture” (Peter Gabriel-music/lyrics and Thomas Newman-music for the song "Down to Earth")

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

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Review: "Anchorman" is Odd and Funny

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 121 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux 

 

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)

Running time: 94 minutes (1 hour, 34 minutes)

MPAA – PG-13 for sexual humor, language and comic violence DIRECTOR: Adam McKay WRITERS: Will Ferrell and Adam McKay PRODUCER: Judd Apatow CINEMATOGRAPHER: Thomas Ackerman (D.o.P.) EDITOR: Brent White

 

COMEDY 

 

Starring: Will Ferrell, Christina Applegate, Paul Rudd, Steven Carell, David Koechner, Fred Willard, Chris Parnell, Kathryn Hahn, Luke Wilson, Bill Kurtis, Monique McIntyre, and Danny Trejo with uncredited screen appearances by Jack Black, Missi Pyle, Tim Robbins, Stephen Root, Ben Stiller, and Vince Vaughn

 

Will the actor/comedian Will Ferrell make a nice, long run of being a comedic leading man? He has a few hits behind him, and even if he ever falters as the star, he’s funny enough to lift quite a few movies to that next level by playing funny and crucial supporting roles.

 

In Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, a film in which he co-wrote, Ferrell is Ron Burgundy. In 1970’s San Diego, he rules the city as the most popular anchorman of the most popular local TV news broadcast. He’s a legend, mostly in his own mind, and he’s God’s gift to women – if only they knew that he isn’t much of a journalist and his news skills rely heavily on a TelePrompTer.

 

Burgundy is also the captain of his station’s news team, a fellow cast of cads that includes a lecherous beat reporter named Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd), Brick Tamland (Steve Carell), a mentally challenged weatherman, and Champ Kind (David Koechner), a chauvinist, dude cowboy sports reporter. All is well in their world of ladies and parties until Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate), an ambitious female with her eye on being a network anchorwoman, arrives to rock their world. For Ron, it’s love at first sight, but all goes bad when Veronica becomes his partner both personally and professionally.

 

Anchorman is quite silly and filled with lots of belly laughs, but it also has a surprising number of satirical and sardonic moments. The humor recalls the mocking antics of Mel Brooks 70’s classics like Blazing Saddles, but the humor here is often deadpan and blunt. It’s also self-mockingly serious and also flat out hilarious. Too bad, the story is soft and the script is mostly a blueprint for jokes, gags, and general silliness.

 

Will Ferrell is his usual funny self, but the Burgundy character is a bit odd and off-putting. It’s not one of Ferrell’s more endearing characters, but he has a knack of making the most annoying characters very funny, even when they’re under your skin. The supporting cast is quite nice. Fred Willard embodies 70’s kitsch, and the three actors that make up Burgundy’s crew are fantastic, especially Carell and Koechner who play their parts with a frightening, scene stealing relish. Ms. Applegate’s performance is a bit odd; she plays Veronica in a never where between cardboard character dumb blonde and sly vixen, but with the gumption to make her character surprise us at every turn.

 

Anchorman will likely stand out as one of the year’s funniest comedies, but in the long run, it may be remembered as an oddity, perhaps a forgotten oddity. But I’m hoping it hangs around, even with some kind of cult status.

 

7 of 10 

B+ 

 

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