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Joe Blevins 
"Don't I look handsome?"
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 Posted - 04/07/2010 : 00:33:33
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Over the Easter weekend, I caught two recent films -- both in 3D -- with my family: How to Train Your Dragon and Alice in Wonderland. I realize Alice is being discussed in another thread, but I thought I'd talk about both of 'em here if that's kosher.
How To Train Your Dragon - If "Puff the Magic Dragon," Pete's Dragon, The Reluctant Dragon and Dragon Tales weren't enough, here's the movie that makes dragons officially wussified now and forever. Vikings are wussified along with 'em, too. Thanks to the magic of movies, we've now seen ogres, vampires, pirates, and monsters all robbed of their badassness and given the sensitive/misunderstood treatment. Sigh. This movie actually isn't too bad. It has the look and feel of a typical Dreamworks animated movie, but is not nearly as jokey as, say, Shrek or Madagascar. For people who find the usual Dreamworks wackiness too overwhelming, Dragon is your movie. It was a bit heavy-handed for my taste, though. Like it's about this rough tough viking who's disappointed with his clutzy, scrawny kid, right? So right away we can guess that the kid is going to turn out to be really good at something and the grouchy old dad will come around, and (spoiler alert) that's exactly what happens. Nothing wrong with a tried-and-true formula, of course, but the movie deals with this in the most obvious way possible -- through lots of dialogue that deals directly with that father-vs.-son theme -- rather than revealing it through more natural character interaction. The movie has been compared to E.T. and indeed has some plot points in common with that movie, but E.T. has a much more observational, unforced feel that could've helped Dragon. Random accent weirdness -- the adult men are all Scottish, the kids are all American, and the adult women don't speak at all (bad news for feisty young Astrid). GRADE: B
Alice In Wonderland - Just once -- ONCE! -- I'd like to see a movie in which a character is whisked away from a dull, unsatisfying life into a magical fantasyland and then DOESN'T spend the movie's entire running time trying to get back home. Why are characters in these movies always trying so hard to get back to their shitty normal lives? Why don't they ever say, "You know what? Screw reality! I'm staying here in Wacky Crazy Fantasyland!" I know, I know. They're supposed to learn something in Wacky Crazy Fantasyland that will help them in boring old reality. And that's what happens here, too. This movie was fun to look at (and watch), but it doesn't have the feel of a timeless classic. I was kind of surprised at the subtle sexualization of Alice. She's constantly growing and shrinking and always seems to be on the verge of losing her dress. I was also surprised by the level of violence (the eye being plucked out) and the way Anne Hathaway is occasionally seen gagging in disgust. Those were odd choices. Speaking of Anne Hathaway and odd choices, what was up with her lips and eyebrows? She's supposed to be this ultra-glam White Queen character, but she has these very heavy black Joan Crawford-esque eyebrows and huge black lips. Meanwhile, Helena Bonham Carter easily walks off with the movie and appears to be the only one having any fun. GRADE: B+
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Edited by - Joe Blevins on 04/07/2010 03:27:53 |
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ChocolateLady 
"500 Chocolate Delights"
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Posted - 04/07/2010 : 11:26:58
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quote:
Originally posted by Joe Blevins
Just once -- ONCE! -- I'd like to see a movie in which a character is whisked away from a dull, unsatisfying life into a magical fantasyland and then DOESN'T spend the movie's entire running time trying to get back home. Why are characters in these movies always trying so hard to get back to their shitty normal lives? Why don't they ever say, "You know what? Screw reality! I'm staying here in Wacky Crazy Fantasyland!" I know, I know. They're supposed to learn something in Wacky Crazy Fantasyland that will help them in boring old reality. And that's what happens here, too.
Um... well, there are all the Peter Pan movies their spin-offs (Finding Neverland and Hook), but then they too return to reality eventually. |
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silly 
"That rabbit's DYNAMITE."
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Posted - 04/07/2010 : 15:49:22
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quote:
Originally posted by Joe Blevins
here's the movie that makes dragons officially wussified now and forever.
15 years ago Dennis Quaid and Sean Connery showed us how dragons really just wanted to hurt only the evil people, not the kindly peasants.
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Random accent weirdness -- the adult men are all Scottish, the kids are all American, and the adult women don't speak at all (bad news for feisty young Astrid).
I noticed that, too, so looked it up. Gerard wanted his guy to sound even more Scottish, apparently; the filmmakers wanted the kids to sound American to emphasize the generation gap. A little odd, maybe, but my kids didn't care, they thought the grownups sounded tough yet could still relate to the kids. After all, it's supposed to be a kids movie. I kept expecting Shrek or Donkey to pop around the corner, though.
As for the wussified, I think it's ok for a kid's movie. There are still plenty of scary vampires and monsters in other movies.
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Alice In Wonderland - Just once -- ONCE! -- I'd like to see a movie in which a character is whisked away from a dull, unsatisfying life into a magical fantasyland and then DOESN'T spend the movie's entire running time trying to get back home. Why are characters in these movies always trying so hard to get back to their shitty normal lives?
Agreed. I want her pharmacist. |
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Joe Blevins
"Don't I look handsome?"
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Posted - 04/08/2010 : 00:41:39
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quote:
Originally posted by ChocolateLady
quote:
Originally posted by Joe Blevins
Just once -- ONCE! -- I'd like to see a movie in which a character is whisked away from a dull, unsatisfying life into a magical fantasyland and then DOESN'T spend the movie's entire running time trying to get back home. Why are characters in these movies always trying so hard to get back to their shitty normal lives? Why don't they ever say, "You know what? Screw reality! I'm staying here in Wacky Crazy Fantasyland!" I know, I know. They're supposed to learn something in Wacky Crazy Fantasyland that will help them in boring old reality. And that's what happens here, too.
Um... well, there are all the Peter Pan movies their spin-offs (Finding Neverland and Hook), but then they too return to reality eventually.
Funny you should mention Peter Pan. I watched Disney's Pan only about a week ago, and I was surprised by how low the emotional stakes were. That movie boils down to: three kids are whisked off to Neverland, have an adventurous night there without getting terribly attached to anyone or anything, and then safely return home. Very little actually changes. Peter Pan is the boy who refuses to grow up, of course, but there is nothing poignant to his character. Wendy, similarly, is devoid of drama. There should be something bittersweet about the story of a wildly imaginative girl who has to suddenly "grow up" in one night and leave behind the magical world of childhood, but the movie does not wring any pathos from this at all. She seems kind of cheerfully noncomittal by the end, and her father -- never credible as a threat to begin with -- has softened pretty easily in his anti-imagination stance. As for the Lost Boys, there's a moment when Wendy sings them a sentimental song about the importance of having a mother. The song makes the Boys -- who, like Peter, have abandoned the real world to live as eternal children in the fantastic Neverland -- long to return to reality, but then this theme is quickly shrugged off and forgotten. At the end of the movie, Wendy just casually says something about how the Boys "weren't ready" to return yet, and that's that. Nobody is particularly happy or sad about any of this. Peter Pan is a cheerfully shallow little movie that does not really deal with the reality-vs.-fantasy and childhood-vs.-adulthood themes at all. There's lots of potentially interesting subtext here, and the movie ignores virtually all of it. The movie is quite a fun little journey -- apart from the now-embarrassing treatment of the "Injun" characters -- but when it's all over, you realize how little emotional impact the film has had. It should be pointed out that the character animation in Pan is excellent and that Hans Conried is hilarious as usual in his dual role as Captain Hook and Mr. Darling. But on an emotional level, I was underwhelmed. |
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ChocolateLady
"500 Chocolate Delights"
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Posted - 04/08/2010 : 08:26:39
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Hm... Interesting take on it.
I think I should go back and read the book again. |
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Double Review: How To Train Your Alice
