Tag: Animation

The Book of Life review

Director:
Jorge R. Gutierrez
Cast:
Diego Luna
Zoe Saldana
Channing Tatum
Ice Cube
Ron Perlman
Christina Applegate
Rated: PG

“The Book of Life” follows three central characters, Manolo (Luna), Maria (Saldana) and Joaquin (Tatum). The three are childhood friends, however, circumstances separate them over time. That doesn’t stop young love to develop, though, as Manolo and Joaquin both have a crush on Maria.

Meanwhile, the rulers of the afterlife, Xibalba (Perlman) who looks after the land of the forgotten and Mary Beth (Applegate) who looks after the land of the remembered, decide to make a bet on the young love, to decide which character will win Maria’s heart.

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Planes: Fire and Rescue review

Director:
Roberts Gannaway
Cast:
Dane Cook
Ed Harris
Julie Bowen
Curtis Armstrong
Rated: PG

World Champion plane racer Dusty Crophopper (Cook) is living the perfect life.

He’s winning every match up and has everything he could want. Problems come around, though, when a key engine failure results in Dusty not being able to race anymore. Making matters worse, he soon learns that his hometown needs another firefighter to help protect the city. Dusty decides to become a firefighting plane and goes to train at a forest park under the tutelage of legendary helicopter Blade Ranger (Harris).

The movie “Cars” followed a young hot shot who had a lot of talent but had to learn some life lessons and new tricks from an old mentor if he wanted to be great. The first “Planes” followed a young hot shot who had a lot of talent but had to learn some life lessons and new tricks from an old mentor if he wanted to be great.

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How to Train Your Dragon 2 review

Director:
Dean DeBlois
Cast:
Jay Baruchel
Cate Blanchett
Gerard Butler
Craig Ferguson
America Ferrera
Djimon Hounsou
Kit Harington
Rated: PG

Five years later and none of the main characters have developed Scottish accents.

“How to Train Your Dragon 2” returns audiences to the island of Berk, where the viking warrirors there have adapted to life with dragons. There are dragon races, dragon stalls and other features to make everything work perfectly. The village is happy and the main character Hiccup’s (Baruchel) friends are having a good time racing each other. Hiccup on the other hand, though, seems to be less than content at Berk and spends his time searching the world for new places.

The adventure starts when Hiccup, and his now girlfriend Astrid (Ferrera) discover dragon trappers who are working for the villain Drago (Hounsou). Drago is working to build a dragon army and will take out anyone in his way. After the villain’s plot is discovered, Hiccup goes to try and reason with him. His journey is derailed though when he meets a person who has built a dragon sanctuary, a person that he has a connection with.

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Rio 2 review

Director:
Carlos Saldanha
Cast:
Jesse Eisenberg
Jamie Foxx
Jemaine Clement
Andy Garcia
Anne Hathaway
Rated: G

Does an animated movie about birds need this many sub plots?

“Rio 2” carries on the story of Blu, voiced by Jesse Eisenberg. Blu, who formally lived in Minnesota during the first movie, now lives with his wife Jewel (Hathaway) and their children in a forest sanctuary near Rio, being kept safe as they are the only birds of their kind.

That is until more of their species is discovered by an expedition conducted by the film’s lead human protagonists. Blu’s family and friends eagerly travel to the Amazon where the rest of the species lives and he reluctantly tags along. When they arrive they find out that their species is led by Jewel’s long lost father Eduardo (Garcia).

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Mr. Peabody and Sherman review

Director:
Rob Minkoff
Cast:
Ty Burrell
Max Charles
Ariel Winter
Allison Janney
Rated: PG

This movie was like an ocean of puns, and it was great.

“Mr. Peabody and Sherman” is a film based on animated shorts that were featured in the “Rocky and Bullwinkle” show. The movie, which expands on the original concept, follows the title character Mr. Peabody (Burrell), a genius dog who can do practically anything including building a time machine called the WABAC. Mr. Peabody also is the adopted father of a boy named Sherman (Charles) and teaches him about various historic moments.

Conflicts start up, though, when a mishap occurs at Sherman’s school when he gets into a fight with a girl named Penny (Winter). This brings in a social worker named Ms. Grunion (Janney) who doesn’t think Peabody makes for a good father.

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Frozen review

Director:
Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee
Cast:
Kristen Bell
Idina Menzel
Jonathan Groff
Josh Gad
Santino Fontana
Rated: PG
Trailer

Disney’s has made another classic in “Frozen.”

The movie is built on two intertwined character arcs, with the story following the sisters Anna (Bell) and Elsa (Menzel). The plot begins by showing that Elsa has the power to create and manipulate ice. Because of the lack of control over her abilities, her parents decide it’s best for her to hide them from the world, including her sister. After the death of their parents, the movie moves forward to the day of Elsa’s coronation as queen.

Everything seems alright at the coronation for a while, that is until Anna, being the more free spirit that she is, makes a bold announcement that doesn’t sit too well with Elsa. The whole ordeal causes Elsa to reveal her power and flee the kingdom. In the process of running away she freezes the entire land in the middle of summer. To end the cold spell, Anna decides to confront her sister and get her to end the winter that now exists. Along the way she is joined by an ice seller named Kristoff (Groff) and his reindeer as well as a living snowman named Olaf (Gad).

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Free Birds review

Director:
Jimmy Hayward
Cast:
Owen Wilson
Woody Harrelson
Amy Poehler
George Takei
Rated: PG

I didn’t think there was going to be a wide released animated movie this year that was as poor as “Turbo” or “Planes.” I was wrong.

“Free Birds” follows the character Reggie (Wilson), a turkey who tries to warn his fellow flock that they are being used for Thanksgiving meals. Life gets a little easier for Reggie, though, when he is chosen as the Presidential pardoned turkey and gets to live the rest of his life in comfort.

That is until he meets another turkey named Jake (Harrelson) who is on a mission to stop Thanksgiving from happening ever again. To do so, Jake takes Reggie to a time machine (which has an AI system voiced by George Takei) which brings them to the time of the very first Thanksgiving. There, they meet a tribe of tribal turkeys who end up helping them in their quest.

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Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 review

Director:
Cody Cameron, Kris Pearn
Cast:
Bill Hader
Anna Faris
James Caan
Terry Crews
Chester V
Rated: PG

Sometimes with animated movie sequels you get really great films, that didn’t exactly happen with “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2.”

The sequel to the 2009 film that was inspired by a children’s book, “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2” starts off immediately after the first film ended. Once again the movie follows inventor Flint Lockwood (Hader), who was responsible for the machine that produced food that blanketed an entire island.

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Planes review

Director:
Klay Hall
Cast:
Dane Cook
Stacy Keach
John Cleese
Carlos Alazarqui
Roger Craig Smith
Rated: PG

You can probably tell the quality of “Planes” when you see that Sinbad is in the cast.

“Planes” follows the story of Dusty Crophopper (Cook), a crop-duster from a rural area who is tired of living the every day life of working on the farm fields. The movie is set in the world of “Cars” so every being in the film is a machine. Crophopper’s number one goal is to race in a giant world grand prix for planes.

He eventually gets his chance after going through a trial run qualifier. From there he enters the worldwide race after being trained by an old war plane named Skipper (Keach). During the race he ends up meeting a group of different characters from all over the planet.

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Turbo review

Director:
David Soren
Cast:
Ryan Reynolds
Paul Giamatti
Michael Pena
Samuel Jackson
Ken Jeong
Michelle Rodriguez
Maya Rudolph
Rated: PG

What a random concept to base a film around.

“Turbo” follows the title character played by Ryan Reynolds. Turbo is a garden snail living an uneventful life with his brother, Chet (Giamatti) near a number of tomato plants. Turbo has dreams of being fast and racing in the Indy 500, however, obviously, he has little chance to do so. That is until an accident that has Turbo falling into a car engine and getting blasted with the NOS that is seen in “Fast and Furious” franchise movies.

After this happens, Turbo inherits super speed that leaves a trail of blue light behind him. Through a series of events, Turbo and Chet come into contact with a group of other snails led by Whiplash (Jackson) as well as a taco vendor named Tito (Pena) who wants to race the super snail in the actual Indy 500.

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