Review: ‘Epic’ a Lovely Tale with Hidden Messages

May 24, 2013 By 4 Comments

Don’t let the apparent eco-centric nature of Epic scare you off. It’s not at all an Earth-worship movie.

And don’t let the movie blurb title throw you off. (I hear the next sequel is called “The Best Movie Yet” and “Amazing Thrill-ride.”) This film deserves a better name, not to mention better marketing.

Once you get past the preconceived notions, Epic is a surprisingly satisfying movie which appeals to boys, girls and parents. Its story aligns powerfully with a Christian worldview and even at times approaches Narnian levels.

I know that’s a big statement to make and I’m not saying this film is the next The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. It’s not that (excuse me for this) epic.

But the film is delightful and a nice break from that which we so often see.

The story starts when young Mary Katherine comes home to her estranged father’s country cabin following the death of her mother. She’s mourning, looking for support from the parent she no longer knows. But she seems out of luck. He’s a wild professor, a half-hinged crusader whose life work has been to study the tantalizing clues found in the forest: He believes a parallel civilization inhabits the green trees and flowered glens of the woods.

Mary Katherine (voiced by Amada Seyfried), like her mother before her, finds his theories embarrassing and his devotion to them a poor replacement for an attentive father.

“Just because you’ve never seen something doesn’t mean it’s not there,” he continually repeats to MK’s eyerolls.

But, like many mystics, he’s absolutely correct. The forest hides not only a civilization but a raging war. A menace harasses the verdant kindgom inhabited by living flowers, roly-poly mushrooms, and leaf people. Mandrake (Christoph Waltz) spreads mold and decay with his arrows of death. He gathers his minions to eat trees from the inside out, to block the sun, to wither all that is green and lively.

But Mandrake fights a losing war because every time he spreads death throughout a portion of the kingdom, Queen Tara (Beyonce) users her power of life to revive it. No sooner does Mandrake reduce a glen to ashes than Tara’s seedlings and tendrils push through the decay to reach for the sun again.

Her loyal captain at arms is Ronin (Colin Farrell), dedicated to her personally and all she stands for.

But when Mandrake’s most daring attack yet succeeds in felling Tara with a poison arrow, the Queen uses her dying moments to draw MK into their parallel world and charge her with the care of a pod that will become a new queen.

With the help of a snail and a slug (Aziz Ansi and Pitbull), and a handsome but wayward leaf soldier named Nod (Josh Hutcherson), she must help the bud bloom and thrive.

The movie succeeds in having it all: A beautiful, gown-clad fairy princess type for the girls, not to mention flower people and soldiers mounted on humming birds; Courageous, upright, and brave soldiers for the boys, with plenty of derring-do in the offing. There’s plenty of humor, especially from the snail and slug with ambitions beyond their genus.

Rated PG, the film doesn’t have the type of body humor or rude humor that turns parents off, much less buried innuendo. The action sequences are not particularly scary. This is a film that would work for elementary school students.

The images of decay and destruction fighting the powers of life is particularly useful for people of faith. Where evil intends death, life blooms again. It’s the message of the gospel. This is not entirely wishful thinking, I’m guessing, as once character even marvels that MK “risks everything to save a world that is not her own.”

Sound familiar?

Based on the books The Leaf Men and The Brave Good Bugs by William Joyce, this is the type of movie we so often wish Hollywood would produce more often. Look for most critics (swayed by their innate secularism and addiction to cynicism, poor dears) to pan it. It’s better than they say.

In fact, it’s worth a trip to the theater.

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Review: ‘The Croods’ Tells an Age-Old Story. Again. And Oddly.

March 21, 2013 By

Perhaps it’s time for a new narrative.

The Croods, an imaginative but uneven 3D animated offering from Dreamworks Animation, attempts to tell a story as old as charcoal sketches on a cave wall, but ends up with a confusing and thoroughly modern message.

Like Rapunzel in Tangled, Mavis in Hotel Transylvania, and Merida in Brave, Eep (voice of Emma Stone) chafes at her family’s restrictions. She just wants to spread her wings, fly… you know…have adventures. And her mean old dad just wants to lock her up and keep her from fun, friends, adventure, and the outside world.

But Dad has a point.

Eep, dad Grug, and the entire clan are cave people and the world outside is a terrifying mix of predators with big teeth and predators with even bigger teeth. The safest place is snuggled inside the cave, a big rock blocking the door.

So plucky, spunky, feisty Mavis…I mean Merida…I mean Eep bucks the system, flees the restrictions, and finds not only a dreamy boy who can control fire but a chance to save her family from destruction.

See what I mean that it must be time for a new narrative? Just once, I’d like to see a different set-up.

Some of these films tell this story well (Brave, Tangled), but it can’t be the only story facing children out there. What’s happening in America? Are there really scores of concerned but overprotective parents locking their daughters in padded rooms and not letting them experience any adventures?

Actually, maybe Hollywood has a point.

This particular version of the story has some beautiful, tender moments and a moment of self-sacrifice that soars into something lovely. It also boasts some amusing characters, especially the cantankerous grandmother who refuses to die (Cloris Leachman). In the style of an old fashioned Wile E. Coyote cartoon, the violence is unbelievably over the top and yet inconsequential in its impacts.

In real life, you can only have a multi-ton boulder dropped on you so many times before starting to feel the effects, but in the cartoons, more’s the merrier.

My favorite aspect of the movie, however, was the imaginative world drawn out of a prehistoric setting. No attempt is made to be accurate and this results in some fantastic creatures, half Dr. Seuss and half paleontology. They come as delightful surprises. Some of the artwork is quite lovely.

Sadly, all this promise is mixed with a confusing and downright ridiculous message that is pounded over the children’s heads like, well, a multi-ton boulder.

The surface moral, such as it is, goes something like this: “Sometimes you have to leave your cave and jump off a cliff and ride the sun.” The deeper moral, and redeeming quality of the flick, is self-sacrifice, but it doesn’t have a slogan like the cliff jumping does.

We could probably do some mental calisthenics and find a sweet moral metaphor in “Leave the cave, jump off the cliff, ride the sun.” But the movie doesn’t let us. It’s not a metaphor. They have to literally jump off a cliff. And literally – I’m still a  bit confused on this as I’m sure the screenwriters are as well – they have to ride the sun.

So when the moment of self-sacrifice comes and characters are being hurled into an abyss, part of your brain thinks “how beautiful” and part thinks “Wait..wait..they’re jumping off a cliff. That seems ill-advised.”

It doesn’t quite jive, you see?

So if you’re looking for a movie to enjoy with the kiddos with a muddled but nice message and some good, clean jokes, you’re in luck. The film is a steady stream of cartoon violence, but doesn’t have the kind of veiled inappropriate jokes that set parents’ teeth on edge. Rated PG, It’s a little odd, a little weird at times, but it means well.

It will hardly be a family favorite or a classic, but neither will you regret it.

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Review: ‘Oz the Great and Powerful’ Blows Away Cynicism

March 8, 2013 By

After years of Shrek-like cynicism and fart jokes dominating children’s media, a refreshing tornado of sincerity blows into theaters with  the new spectacular Oz the Great and Powerful. A movie which remains true to the spirit of its source material while entertaining and delighting, it’s the best kids’ flick to come along since 2011′s The Muppets bopped into our hearts.

To understand Oz, one must understand the orginal stories, not just the 1939 blockbuster that revolutionized cinema, but also the books by Frank L. Baum and other writers that encapsulated the optimism of the 1920s. It seems hopelessly naive and innocent now, but in aftermath of the horrors of the first world war, people believed that humanity could create a society that was good and just and free from murder, war, and other sundry evils.

Hitler and his death camps ruined that, of course, and few can say “the inherent goodness of man” with a straight face since then.

From this “Happy Days are Here Again” optimism, the land of Oz was born. It is a place with great magic and clever, sometimes self-absorbed characters, but no death, wars, fighting, or evil. In most of the books, not much happens and conflict has to be imported from the outside in the person of Gnome king who wants to imprison the happy people of Oz, or, alternately, from Kansas.

And so it is that Oz the Great and Powerful roughly follows the storyline of The Wizard of Oz even as it creates a prequel setting the stage for Dorothy’s wild adventure.

A traveling magician called Oz (James Franco) turns down his chance at happiness with Annie (Michelle Williams) because he cannot settle for the black and white existence of a salt-of-the-earth farmer from Kansas. Having rejected a good life with a good wife and a steady, decent job for the potential greatness of showbiz, he becomes incorrigible: chasing women (in a purely PG fashion), abusing his assistant, and generally being a two-bit scoundrel.

A tornado blows him to a vibrant, enchanted land cannot blow his character clean.

This land is under the thumb of an evil witch who sends her flying monkeys out to terrorize the fields, farms, and cottages of simple folk. They’ve been waiting for a wizard to save them.

Since being a wizard comes with mountains of gold and the attentions of beautiful witch sisters Theodora (Mila Kunis) and Evanora (Rachel Weisz), Oz signs on for the job. He knows he is nothing more than a con man and fake, but hey: Gold! Pretty girls!

It’s not until he meets a little girl made from china, as shattered in her porcelain body as in her psyche by the evil witch’s minions, that Oz begins to think outside himself. By then, however, he has callously mistreated the heart of one innocent woman/witch and conned an entire people, two selfish deeds that will haunt him in the final act.

It’s well-known that movie critics in general are a cynical bunch who get twitchy without their daily dose of irony. It’s not their fault, poor dears, but when Glinda the Good (Michelle Williams) looks up at Oz with adoring, pure, saintly eyes and starts talking of the dreams of the people, critics tend to long for a little Quentin Tarantino.

This is why Les Miserables was panned and will have been why Oz the Great and Powerful is not as beloved as it should be.

They are wrong.

The movie is a delight, from the fantasy, jewel-toned visuals to the new characters. The 3D effects play with the technology (look a spear coming at you!) in a way that critics pooh-pooh but kids will love. Although there are shout-outs to the Cowardly Lion, the Scarecrow, the Horse of a Different Color, and so on, Oz gathers his own new little troop traveling the yellow brick road. He befriends a winged monkey named Finley (voice of Zach Braff) and the precocious china girl (Joey King), both of whom elicit more laughs than anyone expects. James Franco occasionally overacts, but ends up acquitting himself well. Michelle Williams shines, as always, in a purely good role, but the meaty role goes to Mila Kunis as an innocent whose heartbreak leads to great trouble.

Rated PG, the movie has definite suspense at times, with scary flying monkeys, a spooky graveyard, and a battle. It will be too intense for the youngest moviegoers. There is no sexuality, inappropriate language, or gore.

But best of all are the simple, decent messages as rich as Kansas farm soil: Greatness is not as important as goodness. The way to find meaning in life is to put others above yourself. Believe in goodness and decency.

And so this movie is fantastic for kids who already know in their little hearts that decency and goodness can, indeed must, exist somewhere. It’s the adults, seeped in a steady stream of violence and sorrow, who need a refresher that the pure in heart will see Oz.

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Review: ‘Wreck-It Ralph’

November 1, 2012 By

If Disney’s latest creation, Wreck-It Ralph feels a little familiar, hewn a little close to the lines of Pixar’s Toy Story, who can say that’s a bad thing?

It’s like comparing a new car to a Ferrari. It may not be entirely original, but it’s darn good.

Like the Toy Story franchise, this film takes us into a world that comes to life when human beings go away. This time, we travel into the circuits of the video games in an arcade and experience the struggles and dreams of those blinking bundles of code that entertain us when we plunk in our quarters.

Those characters that race and fight and fly and bash and eat on the arcade screens? They’re just like us. They work their day job, endlessly taking laps around a track or blasting invading enemies. But when the day ends and the arcade closes, they socialize, celebrate, and dream of bettering themselves.

They travel through the electrical wires to a sort of Grand Central Station of games, where they compare notes and drink root beer at the restaurant game. They celebrate anniversaries, bicker amongst themselves, and hassle each other. They even care for those poor homeless characters whose games broke, leaving them stranded without a job.

Ralph (voice of John C. Reilly), particularly, dreams of bettering himself. A denizen of an old, basic game, he spends each day wrecking a brick building. The hero, Felix (voiced by 30 Rock’s Jack McBrayer), springs into action, fixing Ralph’s mayhem. It’s a living, but Ralph wants more. He would like to be the hero, to win accolades, to build instead of destroy. Besides, the other members of his game see him as nothing more than the villain, leaving Ralph to sigh alone on his pile of bricks while they party the night away with PacMan.

In a cyber mid-life crisis, Ralph breaks the primary law of video game characters. He abandons his post and enlists as a fighter in a shoot-em up, modern sci-fi warfare game. He wants to be a hero and here’s his chance; it’s right there in the game title! Pursued by a no-nonsense, shapely warrior with a suitably sadly written backstory, Calhoun, Ralph careens through the battle-weary game.

But it isn’t until it all goes wrong and Ralph finds himself elbow deep in a pool of chocolate in a candy-themed game that he gets a chance to be a true hero. Little Vanelope (Sarah Silverman) just wants a chance to race in the game’s sticky-sweet cupcake go-cart trails, but she has been relegated to obscurity.

Unfortunately, Vanelope is a glitch, a character with a slight tendency to flicker in times of stress. In King Candy’s confectionery kingdom, she is defined by her disability and restricted from participating in the game.

Ralph knows a little something about being left out. The two outcasts make the perfect team.

Showing the influence of Pixar who merged with Disney in 2006, the movie is a good time with attention to detail and easy humor. There are nods to beloved video games, to be sure, but also a deeper playing with the video game meme. Older, 8 bit characters live and move in jerky, square movements while citizens of newer games are rendered in vivacious 3D. In fact, one thing Fix It Felix first notices about Calhoun (Jane Lynch) is her remarkable, um, rendering.

The wizards of animation really had fun with creating interior worlds for the games. The candy kingdom, complete with cheering lolypop citizens, candy cane forests, and landscaping of gumdrops, is particularly delightful.

But the creators, more than most, understand that a good setting and fun sight gags are secondary to a story with heart. The unlikely friendship of a mild villain and a little glitch carries the movie. At its core, it’s a story of creating family between two lonely hearts.

Rated PG, the film has good-humored crudity, mostly Ralph and Vanelope calling each other mildly rude names in affection (Hello, frazzle-butt! How are you, stinkbrain?). There are some fairly intense parts that may be frightening for younger viewers: A zombie at a villain support group, a swarm of attacking bugs in the shooting game. However, when the true villain is revealed toward the end, he becomes an honest-to-goodness bad guy, complete with a scary clown face and pincers. Even my twelve year old said it was pretty freaky.

Wreck-It Ralph offers a movie that is thoroughly entertaining and satisfyingly warm. I recommend it.

Note: A previous version of this review credited Pixar with making the movie. I can only blame a hurricane-addled brain that lived without power for days for the error. The review has been updated to reflect reality.

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Review: Lackluster ‘Hotel Transylvania’ is Parable for the Crusaders of Tolerance

September 28, 2012 By

The first in the series of animated Halloween movies for kids, Hotel Transylvania trades on lite creepy crawly humor, but has a much more questionable subtext.

Count Dracula (voice of Adam Sandler, who also executive-produced) lives in the modern age far from the judgmental and intolerant eye of human beings. In fact, he has created a refuge high in the Transylvania hills for monsters of all shapes, sizes, and non-shapes. His resort offers all the amenities: zombies as bellhops to slowly meet your every need, a slime-filled pool, and activities to keep you occupied until the burning sun rises. Plus, the touchy French chef Quasimodo (who knew he could cook?) and his Rataouille-esqe rat companion will whip up the best in fake blood, worm cakes, or putrid omelets.

It’s Paradise for the undead set.

They’ve all moved in. Frankenstein (Kevin James)  is in residence with his bride (Fran Descher). The wolfman (Steve Buscemi) has taken rooms with his fertile wolfwife (Molly Shannon) and extensive litter of little were-hooligans. The Invisible Man (David Spade) lurks around, or at least we think he does. Add in a mummy (Cee Lo Green), assorted gremlins, and a honeymooning skeleton couple and you have a veritable who-who of the undead.

But Mavis (Selena Gomez) wants more. Just reaching her adulthood at 118, she’s Dracula’s cherished daughter with his beloved departed wife. (Really departed, not undead or semi-dead or eternally living with no soul, but gone, kaput, truly killed at the hands of humans.)

Mavis wants to see the world, especially a place called Hawaii. Her father thinks the world is not safe for her. But humanity comes knocking in the form of a laid-back hiker dude named Jonathan (Andy Samberg).

That’s the setup, such as it is. There are some cute, creepy gags that get laughs. Sassy, vocal shrunken heads pay the part of “Do Not Disturb” doortags, always with an opinion on what is going on inside the room. Undead greats such as Beetoven show up in employ of the hotel. The best is the Invisible Man as he does things like attempt to play charades with only his hornrimmed glasses bobbing up and down with his invisible gestures.

Rated PG, the movie is about as scary as your neighbor’s Halloween display, the cartoony, fun neighbor, not the maniac with the scary sounds, fog machine, and axe a little too handy. An occasional mildly sexual joke does get through: the guests on their honeymoon, the skeleton who screams “Get your hand out of my wife!” and the invisible man making his hind quarters visible with the help of baby powder. Juvenile, but still slightly annoying.

More annoying, however, if it weren’t so boring and preachy, is the strained metaphor that sustains the movie and makes it a crusade for the forces of “tolerance.” The monsters take refuge from a world that can not accept them, creating a world for themselves. Their memories are full of pitchforks, torches, and screaming human mobs. Jonathan tries to convince Dracula that the world has moved on, but Dracula asks him to promise that if he “came out in the open right now,” everyone would accept him. Jonathan cannot.

The obvious subtext is the gay rights movement, but it could also be about African-Americans forced to take refuge from white society, Muslims in America, Conservative Christians versus the mainstream, or people who dedicate their lives to playing World of Warcraft while everyone else is becoming productive members of society.

The message is clear: No pitchforks. People who resist (whatever) are evil and mean and we should just tolerate the difference among us.

It’s the new morality preached to children.

At the risk of overthinking a stupid kids’ movie, let’s unpack this, shall we?

With the exception of Frankenstein (who should correctly be called Frankenstein’s monster, but we won’t quibble), the monsters represented have long histories of being metaphors for evil.

Dracula and vampires in general, with apologies to Twilight, are a metaphor for carnal hungers that consume a man and make him a threat to innocence, especially sexual hungers. Child molesters and sexual predators are not so far removed from vampires that drain the vitality from their victims.

Werewolves represent the rage and bloodlust of humanity, especially men, that turns them from rational creatures to marauding horrors without reason. The Hulk would be the same thing.

Mummies and skeletons and zombies embody our ancient dread of death, but also represent a soulless, relentless evil that is unyielding in its pursuit of its goals.

And the Invisible Man is about fear of new technology, especially in the hands of someone who would use it for murder and mayhem. Frankenstein’s monster is somewhat the same, although the real monster, we all know, is his creator, not the creation.

The motivation each or of these creatures (except Frankenstein’s monster) is evil. Well worth a few pitchforks and torches.

Even in the context of this kids’ movie, it’s unclear if the assembled monsters were ever killers of people. Dracula now drinks synthetic blood, but did he always? A murder three hundred years ago is still murder.

The movie sidesteps all this. Humanity is irrational in its former condemnation of monsters. Can’t we all just get along?

The problem, of course, is that evil does exist and must not be tolerated. Instead of teaching children tolerance at all costs, they should be learning to recognize and resist evil, be kind to those who are merely different, and protect those who are weaker than themselves. It’s a complicated world out there.

Kids need to be taught discernment, wisdom, and old fashioned work rather than the simplistic message “tolerate.” Movies like Spiderman, The Avengers, Finding Nemo, or The Lion King have these elements.

They make Hotel Transylvania look downright lazy.

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Review: Surprising ‘Brave’ Tells Sweet Tale of Family Love

June 21, 2012 By

Brave, the first release from Pixar to star a female lead, is a bit of a conundrum for the movie critic.

It’s one of those flicks in which a writer should not reveal the central surprise that comprises the bulk of the movie.

Is it a review if I say I liked it very much and just leave it at that?

I suppose not.

I will tell you, however, that the film is nothing like what you expect going in, having seen the trailer and ads.

The set-up is there, to be sure. Merida (voice of Kelly McDonald) looks at first glance to be your now-typical modern girl-power female warrior. A mess of raucous red hair and inappropriate table manners, she does not want to marry a leader of a local clan and settle into a feminine world of gentility. She’d rather shoot her arrows and ride her horse and let her hair flow untamed.

Girls are as good as boys. They can fight too. Blah blah blah. That seems to be about the only story we get nowadays.

But Brave only begins there. That Merida is strong and capable is a given, a starting point.

Her mother (Emma Thompson) desperately wants Merida to conform, and not entirely for selfish reasons. The two females talk but do not speak the same language, hear each other but do not listen.

And so Merida comes to her choice and a spell that sets the story on its path.

The story we expect to be about girl empowerment is, instead, about family love. And it’s lovely.

That’s all I can say.

The film differs from Disney princess movies in tone and content. Although there are funny and light moments, there is no wisecracking animal sidekick such as the chameleon in Tangled or the genie in Aladdin. Nor is there a villain with evil schemes. The witch who does show up is more of a goofy shopkeeper and not at all sinister or bad intentioned, although she is tricky. Little spirits inhabit the woods, but they are helpful sprites. The movie is not a musical, in the sense there are no singing cutlery, menagerie, or undersea creatures.

As one would expect from Pixar, the animation shines, with Merida’s hair alone radiating tangled, curly glory. The Scottish setting is rendered in lush vibrancy, now green and rich with moss, now foggy and mysterious, but always beautiful. Set against a score from Scottish composer Patrick Doyle and Gaelic singer Julie Fowlis, the film evokes the feeling of the Scottish highlands of long, long ago.

Rated PG, there are a few suspenseful sequences which will scare the youngest viewers, but no disturbing violence, no sexuality, and no inappropriate wink-wink jokes.

In fact, the film is an unexpected and delightful departure from ordinary animated family fare. It’s not really a princess movie, and that’s a good thing. Nor is it a wacky animated adventure. Instead, it’s a misty and lovely foray into the heart of families and their love for each other, love that is stronger than either the stubborn will of the heart or exterior dangers.

It’s a welcome change. I highly recommend it.

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Review: Madagascar 3 is Silly, Silly Frothy Fun

June 7, 2012 By

There are movies that touch your soul, that make you weep, just a little, and smile for sweet, sad love of humanity.

Luckily, in recent years, some of these movies have been animated films. The likes of Toy Story 3, Kung Fu Panda 2, and , well, Toy Story 1 and 2 can measure up to any live acted movie out there.

And then there are movies that just want to see giraffes circling and elephants gliding intertwined in ribbons like a Cirque du Soleil act.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted is the latter. All hyperbole and visual gags, the movie is a frenetic laugh a minute with no real heart.

We catch up with Leo the Lion (voice of Ben Stiller) as he and his gang are finding life in vast, empty Africa not as stimulating as the Big Apple. Marty the Zebra (Chris Rock), Melman the Giraffe (David Scwimmer) and Gloria the Hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith) miss the zoo.

Naturally, they chase the penguins to a casino in Monte Carlo, where the feathered fabulosos have teamed with the monkey horde to game the system.

What do you know? Luckily, a visiting circus troop is headed for America and all the former zoo inhabitants have to do is join up. Then it’s home, sweet zoo.

For that, they need an act. But a crazed French animal control officer is doggedly on their trail.

Literally. Doggedly. She’s like a dog-person hybrid.

There’s some attempt at heart with a tiger (Bryan Cranston) who is, oddly, Russian. I thought tigers came from Asia. Anyway, he has lost his nerve for his act.

Plus, Leo finds the most beautiful cat he’s ever seen. She’s Gia (Jessica Chastain) and she’s a cheetah. Or maybe a leopard. Perhaps a puma.

Whatever.

She’s got the sizzle.

These story lines are not the point. The point is to see elephants soar, hippos walk the tightrope, and giraffes snorkel with their long, long necks. The point is snappy dialog full of one-liners that won’t have mom and dad rolling their eyes or covering their kids’ ears.

The point is a day-glo circus act set to Katy Perry’s “Firework” with dogs on rocket-fueled roller skates.

It’s a lot of fun, frankly. And then there’s the “Circus Afro” bit to boot.

It’s everything a mediocre cartoon should be: entertaining and funny and not at all serious.

And there’s nothing wrong with that. Nothing at all.

Rated PG for some mild action and rude humor.

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Review: ‘Pirates’ Swashbuckles into the Fun Zone for Parents and Kids

May 1, 2012 By

Pirates have had their share of onscreen appearances over the past few years. For one, Johnny Depp—whose eccentric personality as Jack Sparrow in 2003’s The Pirates of the Carribbean earned him an Oscar nomination—has become the face of pirates for many theatergoers.

But last weekend, another face of piracy arrived in theaters and this time both parents and young children will be able to enjoy a tale of adventure on the high seas.

The Pirates: Band of Misfits, a feature that relies on stop-motion animation, is a rare treat. It’s a high-quality animated film that wasn’t created by Pixar. Instead, the movie was created by directors Peter Lord and Jeff Newitt, who brought audiences 2000’s delightful Chicken Run.

Pirates tells the story of the naïve but empathetic Pirate Captain, whose quirky crew is full of intriguing characters. Voiced by Hugh Grant, this captain has his eye on one particular prize and it’s probably not the prize you imagine. Instead of seeking gold and treasure, his goal is to win the highly sought-after “Pirate of the Year Award,” a recognition that has alluded him for years. He’s like the Susan Lucci of the pirate kingdom. Although his ragtag gang supports his endeavor, his rivals for the prize mock his ineptitude.

So the Captain takes an adventure that will hopefully bring him to the prize. Along the way, this sensitive seaman comes into contact with the despised Queen Victoria (Imelda Staunton) and– oddly enough—author Charles Darwin (David Tennant). Victoria is known “as the enemy of pirates everywhere” so the Captain and his crew must disguise themselves in her presence or face a near-certain death. The scenes involving Darwin are played for laughs as the author plans to use the Captain’s pet parrot to his own advantage. Watching Darwin appear onscreen, I assumed that the film would focus on his evolutionary research. Instead, it settles for a few sly references to his work and earns a few guffaws along the way.

One of the best things about this film is the creative ways that it incorporates humor into  its endearing story. From the pirates’ attempts to disguise themselves in the company of Victoria to the Pirate Captain’s botched plan to steal money from other ships to a silent monkey’s cue cards that tell audiences what he’s thinking, Pirates inventively earns its laughs time and again.

Children will enjoy the film’s wonderful animation while parents will enjoy its quirky brand of comedy. Additionally, the movie also subtly packs in a strong moral message about the value of friendship over fame.

At one point, towards the end of the film, the Pirate Captains says, “It’s only impossible if you stop to think about it.” It’s a sentiment played for laughs but more valuable than a punch line. With so many children’s films aiming to achieve a low bar and just attract kids into the theater, Pirates is full of surprises.

Movies like this are rare but not impossible to find. “Stop thinking about it” and check out this family film today.

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Review: Winning Humor Pleases in Gentle ‘Mirror Mirror’

March 30, 2012 By

If you’re looking for something new and startling in the Snow White movie “Mirror Mirror,” something along the lines of Hunger Games’ fighter Katniss in a hoop skirt, you’ll have to wait for the next fairy tale movie. “Snow White and the Huntsman,” for example, comes out June 1.

If, however, you’re looking for a lush and beautiful children’s rendition of the classic story that updates the characters while still staying true to the heart of the tale, “Mirror Mirror” is your gig.

Snow White may be modernized but she’s still all about luscious gowns and true love.

Lily Collins plays the title character, a teen kept isolated from the world by her selfish stepmother the Queen (Julia Roberts). Self-indulgent to a disastrous degree, the Queen has run the kingdom into poverty. She seems to think the poor towns people exist for no other reason than to fund her lavish parties. As Snow White approaches 18, like any good modern damsel, she develops a social conscience and begins to fret about the fate of the unfortunate citizens of her father’s once happy realm. There’s a nice small government message here, brief but sure.

When a clueless but big-hearted Prince (Armie Hammer) comes into the neighborhood, he is beset by bandits and forced to appear at court in his skivvies. Partly for his taut abs and partly for his very attractive pots of gold, the Queen determines to marry him. The problem, he’s already set eyes on the lovely, if heavily eyebrowed, Snow White.

That won’t do. Snow White must die. She escapes, of course, or this would be a short movie. The very bandits that abused the poor prince are revealed to be a brotherhood of dwarfs, united in their rejection by society and, eventually, in their adoration of Snow White.

These aren’t your grandmother’s dwarfs, though. Played by real little people, they have distinct personalities that can’t be summed up in a rhyming, diminutive word: The big-talking cowboy who can dish out a world of hurt, the Don Juan who has a soft heart under his bravado, the wild wolf-man who wears fur and howls as he fights.

Forced out of town by the Queen as “undesirables,” the pint-sized everymen just want to be part of the community again. Snow takes them seriously, which helps the audience to do so as well.

Julia Roberts plays the stepmother as relentlessly selfish, with a Scarlett O’Hara fiddle-lee-dee attitude. Desperate to remain young, she submits herself to bird poop facials, scorpion bites to trim fat, and bee stings to puff her lips. Honestly, it doesn’t seem all that different than some of the high-priced spa treatments one hears about. Nathan Lane as her cockroach-esque minion does a fine job.

Lily Collins pulls off Snow White, although she is annoyingly innocent and cloying to begin. As required by the Fairy Tale Synod of 1983, a princess no longer needs a prince to rescue her, being perfectly capable of sword fighting on her own. In fact, she is contractually obligated to rescue him in some way. Haven’t any of these gender wars people heard of team work? Of two being stronger than one?

But I digress. Snow is dutifully shown to be a modern girl able to battle while looking good in a corset.

Corset? Yes. The best things about the film are the lavish costumes and beautiful sets. It feels very fairy land, with dresses that wouldn’t fit through a real-world doorway and castles found only in dreams. Colors are sharp, snow extra white, and no one seems to feel cold, even in his skivvies.

The second best thing is the subtle humor that permeates the film. The queen’s beauty treatments, magic potion, even true love is delivered with a wink and a nod even as its embraced. The humor is fine for kids. Aside from the Queen’s ogling of Prince Charming’s shirtless torso, there’s no inappropriate content or coarse humor. The film is rated PG. Even the final fight at the end won’t scare many children.

It won’t change their lives either, but “Mirror Mirror” does offer a well-made, visually gorgeous way to pass an afternoon with your little girls. And that’s what fairy land is all about.

Read our interview with star Lily Collins, on Julia and little girls who love Snow White

Filed Under: Children's Movies, Featured, In Theaters, Movie Reviews, Uncategorized Tagged With:

“The Muppets,” The Dreamers, and Me

November 22, 2011 By

The first question any Gen X’er will ask about the Muppet movie opening today is “Did they ruin it?”

I’m happy to report no. No, they did not.

In fact, Jason Segel, in his years-long crusade to revive the Muppet franchise, has created a movie that entertains delightfully while subtly throwing down a challenge against the hyper-cynical, low-quality entertainment culture in which we find ourselves.

Like a green, gentle Batman, Kermit appears when we most need him.

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Filed Under: Becky's Picks, Children's Movies, Movie Reviews Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
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