By: Addison Wylie Disney has shown again and again that they rise to the occasion with fairy tales. Their fantasies featuring sparkling animation and lively characters always bring out the bliss in audiences and the bacon at the box office. Frozen is no different. It’s charmed movie goers far and wide with its strong female personalities and fetching tunes. Frozen also serves as being one of the only current family films that has stabilized sturdy…
By: Addison Wylie Hank Azaria – really is – a talented individual. Out of all the projects that would’ve convinced me of this, I never thought a sequel to 2011’s big screen treatment of The Smurfs would bring on this revelation. We’ve all seen actors converse and interact with cartoons in real life environments in movies. However, even the most physically capable slapstick performers have had their troubles convincing us these creations are real. I immediately…
By: Addison Wylie The fine people at Disney usually have a good handle on their films, which is why the occasional slip-up- like Planes or last year’s Cars 2 makes me more sad of its existence than angry at how bad it is. Planes, an animated film taking place in the Cars universe, plays like an undemanding direct-to-DVD time filler. It’s funny that Planes comes out on DVD/Blu-ray a week after Blockbuster announced their final closings…
By: Addison Wylie If you thought the big screen world of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs couldn’t get any stranger, you obviously haven’t visited a world full of live, hybrid leftovers. Directors Cody Cameron and Kris Pearn (the latter having some involvement with the film’s predecessor) are fully aware as to how Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs won audiences over with its wild visuals and bizarre sense of humour. That’s why there’s even…
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 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…
By: Addison Wylie Disney has seemingly hit an oil spring within the past year. As The Lion King’s anniversary was approaching, Disney released a print into theatres where long time fans and youngins new to the film could experience the now-classic tale in a different dimension. Sure, it’s gimmicky but it worked; not only for me but for the movie going public. The Lion King 3D made a boatload of cash. It’s two week engagement…