By: Addison Wylie There’s no other way to put it: Epic is uninteresting. It’s attractive, but very dry. Almost everything about it amounts to a sigh as the audience waits for Chris Wedge’s animation to go through the usual family friendly motions. I didn’t find the film’s eco-friendly message to be clamouring, but its ability to tell an inventive story is seriously lacking. Especially when the film is visually brimming with imagination. James V. Hart,…
By: Addison Wylie The most impressive attribute about Monsters University, besides its wit and vibrant animation, is its choice to not use nostalgia as a crutch to help connect movie goers – young and old – to the characters they loved in Pixar’s predecessor. Instead, the film uses two main tactics Monsters Inc. utilized to develop excitement and compassion. Those two ingredients are imagination and heart. The campus life of Mike Wazowski and James P….
By: Addison Wylie TV spots for the Dreamworks/20th Century Fox collaboration entitled The Croods describe the prehistoric family as “the first modern family” – I suppose, trying to connect this new animated family to a current popular commodity. It shouldn’t stoop that low because The Croods is a good film and has every right to stand on its own. Grugg (voiced by Nicolas Cage who sounds as if he’s been longing for an animated role)…
By: Addison Wylie Studio Ghibli proposes a challenge for themselves with their latest animated film From Up on Poppy Hill. The studio, which is known for its wild fantastical imagination displayed in such films as My Neighbour Totoro and The Secret World of Arrietty, decides to ditch the creatures and the animals. From Up on Poppy Hill is a coming of age story featuring a young romance that blossoms only for the two lovebirds to…
By: Addison Wylie 2012 was Disney’s year to prove to audiences that 3D conversions aren’t all that bad. That said, the year started with the terribly converted Beauty and the Beast, but then moviegoers were treated to a flawless conversion of Disney/Pixar’s classic Finding Nemo. Now, we find ourselves at the theatre to witness the last of Disney’s 3D offerings of 2012 – a modest and highly enjoyable converted Monsters Inc. Monsters Inc. 3D and…
By: Addison Wylie It’s unfortunate to report that Hotel Transylvania is a disappointment. Even young children will pick up on how often this neat set-up is treated as a one-note joke. Hotel Transylvania has everything a kid could want from a timely Halloween release including oodles of monsters. Frankenstein (voiced by Kevin James), the Invisible Man (voiced by David Spade), a talking werewolf (voiced by Steve Buscemi), and a mummy (voiced by CeeLo Green) all…
By: Addison Wylie Finding 3Dmo, an alternate title that unfortunately isn’t sticking no matter how much I tweet it, is Disney’s latest post-conversion effort. Bouncing back from January’s underwhelming post-conversion work on Disney’s classic The Beauty and the Beast, Finding Nemo 3D is an excellent example as to why these post-conversions are not a waste of time or money. Like they did with The Lion King 3D, Disney can use this new technology to make…
By: Addison Wylie My name is Addison and I speak for movies. And, I come bearing a review. For you, from me. It’s a film about nature and how to cherish it. It’s an important message in a film that’s in the pits. We follow a young boy. A young boy named Ted. Voiced by Zac Efron, should’ve been someone younger instead. Efron is energetic and charismatic to boot. But, he sounds too mature for…