Tag: Animation

Madagascar: Europe’s Most Wanted review

Director:
Eric Darnell
Cast:
Ben Stiller
Chris Rock
David Schwimmer
Jada Pinkett Smith
Sacha Baron Cohen
Frances McDormand
Rated: PG

The epic conclusion to the Madagascar saga!

“Madagascar 3” follows our main characters from the past two movies, four New York Zoo animals who have by this film explored a lot of the world. In this film we find our characters in Europe preparing to return to New York City along with the genius penguins. However, they are spotted and an animal catcher named Captain Chantel DuBois (McDormand) goes after them stopping at nothing to find them.

Because of this, the animals have to go on the run and join a circus. The plan is to stay with the circus to get back to the United States yet as time goes on they become more involved with the other circus animals and have to decide whether to stay with it and help it out or not.

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The Pirates! Band of Misfits review

Director:
Peter Lord, Jeff Newitt
Cast:
Hugh Grant
Imelda Staunton
David Tennant
Salma Hayek
Rated: PG

Going the animated route is probably the only way Hugh Grant could ever play a pirate.

“The Pirates! Band of Misfits” follows the story of the character The Pirate Captain (Grant), a pirate who has been around for years yet has never reached the pinnacle of success for his field, the pirate of the year award. The year that the story takes place though, The Pirate Captain decides to try and get the award at any means necessary.

One day while out pillaging a ship he comes across Charles Darwin (Tennant). Darwin informs the captain that his parrot that usually sits on his shoulder is actually a rare bird and not a parrot at all, and that he should go to London to win the grand prize from the science exhibit that’s going on. However going to London is dangerous since Queen Victoria (Staunton) hates pirates with all of her being.

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The Secret World of Arrietty review

Director:
Hiromasa Yonebayashi
Cast:
Will Arnett
Bridgit Mendler
David Henrie
Amy Poehler
Rated: G

Surprisingly not directed by Hayao Miyazaki…

The Secret World of Arrietty is the latest film from Studio Ghibli which has been behind such films as “Spirited Away” and “Ponyo.” In this film, the story centers on the character Arrietty, a 14-year-old girl who happens to be a ‘borrower’, which is basically a little person. Her and her family live beneath a large house and borrow things that most people would over look.

The borrowers try to stay out of sight for fear of what would happen if they are discovered. This happens to Arrietty though as a boy who just moved in named Shawn sees her. The two start a bit of a friendship however this causes a bit of an uproar with Arrietty and her family.

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Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked review

Director:
Mike Mitchell
Cast:
Jason Lee
David Cross
Jenny Slate
Rated: G

This movie really started to chip away at my brain after a while. Sorry, that was worse then the title.

The third installment in the epic trilogy of chipmunk films is about the six rodents taking a vacation on a Carnival Cruise (Which is HEAVILY advertised by the way) and it going horribly wrong. Alvin, being the little jerk that he is decides that he wants to go hang-gliding and drags all of his brothers and the chipettes off the ship and out into the ocean where they become shipwrecked on an island. Except in this case they become chipwrecked since they’re chipmunks, so funny right?

The rest of the film is them exploring the island and meeting up with a crazed woman named Zoe (Slate) who talks to balls that she’s drawn faces onto, darn the references were only 11 years too late. During this time, Simon gets hit on the head and causes him to become a different, braver personality, which in turn causes Alvin to become the responsible one, what a twist. Meanwhile the film also follows Ian (Cross) and Dave (Lee) who are searching for the missing animals.

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Kung Fu Panda 2 review

Director:
Jennifer Yuh
Cast:
Jack Black
Angelina Jolie
Dustin Hoffman
Gary Oldman
Jackie Chan
Seth Rogen
Lucy Liu
David Cross
Rated: PG

Add another to the “good sequels list.”

In Kung Fu Panda 2, we once again follow the character Po (Black), the giant panda who became a kung fu master after finding that he was the prophesied ‘Dragon Warrior.’ Now Po lives with the other ‘Furious Five’ fighters as well as their master Shifu (Hoffman) where they are constantly fighting against bandits and the like, keeping the nearby villages safe.

Meanwhile, a new enemy arises, a Peacock named Shen played by Gary Oldmann. Shen has discovered the powers of gunpowder and plans to use them to rule all of China, and the first place he takes over is his city where he was born into royalty and was exiled. Upon finding out that Shen has taken over the city, Po and the Furious Five are sent to deal with the problem, however Shen has a bigger past with Po then the protagonist realizes.

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Hop review

Director:
Tim Hill
Cast:
James Marsden
Russell Brand
Kaley Cuoco
Hank Azaria
Rated: PG

The film follows two characters, Fred O’Hare (Marsden) a man in his 20 somethings who has no real inspiration of what to do, and E.B. (Brand), the son of the Easter Bunny who is more interested in music then taking over the family business. One day, E.B. leaves the Easter Bunny base of operations and goes to Hollywood to try and make something of himself. While going there he is hit by Fred on the highway.

E.B. guilts Fred into taking him in while Fred is house sitting a mansion. The two have a rocky start however they eventually start to grow on each other as the movie goes on. Meanwhile, the Easter Bunny’s right hand man Carlos (Azaria), begins using E.B.’s disappearance to try and take control.

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