Tag: Animation

Monsters University review

Director:
Don Scanlon
Cast:
Billyn Crystal
John Goodman
Steve Buscemi
Helen Mirren
Rated: G

Welcome back Pixar.

“Monsters University” serves as a prequel to the 2001 movie “Monsers, Inc.” The film introduces us to the duo of Mike Wazowski (Crystal) and James P. Sullivan (Goodman) when they first meet as they begin their college careers at Monsters University. Unlike the first film though, where the two are best of friends, in this film they start out as rivals.

Mike wants to be a scarer just like Sullivan does, and the two go about it different ways. Mike studies everything there is about scaring through books while Sullivan just tries to ride on his natural abilities.

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Epic review

Director:
Chris Wedge
Cast:
Colin Farrell
Josh Hutcherson
Amanda Seyfried
Beyonce Knowles
Rated: PG

“Epic” is another animated film from the studios that have brought you the “Ice Age” sequels and “Rio,” and like those movies, this one is stunningly mediocre.

The film follows a teenage girl named M.K. (Seyfried), who is planning to live with her father played by Jason Sudeikis. The only problem is that her father is an obsessed scientist who believes that there is a race of tiny people who live in the forest.

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Rise of the Guardians review

Director:
Peter Ramsey
Cast:
Chris Pine
Alec Baldwin
Jude Law
Isla Fisher
Hugh Jackman
Rated: PG

I wonder what group of characters they’ll team up next.

“Rise of the Guardians” mainly follows the story of Jack Frost (Pine), who 300 years ago was chosen by the Man in the Moon to be the one who brings cold, ice and everything in between to the world. Fast forwarding to the present, Frost has no memory of his life before becoming a force of nature and feels like he is largely ignored by most of the world. This causes him to not exactly be much of a team player.

Frost is forced to work with others though when he is called upon to be a member of “the Guardians,” a crew consisting of the Sandman, the Tooth Fairy, Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny. The group is brought together because the Boogeyman, named Pitch Black (Law), is threatening them and the children of the world. Because of this, the five have to go after Pitch, however Frost still feels a bit out of place which causes some mishaps.

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Wreck-It Ralph review

Director:
Rich Moore
Cast:
John C. Reilly
Sarah Silverman
Jack McBrayer
Jane Lynch
Rated: PG

This movie is worth getting some quarters together for.

“Wreck-It Ralph” follows the story of the title character (Reilly), a video game villain in an arcade game where his job is to destroy a tall building and it is up to the game’s hero, Fix it Felix (McBrayer) to repair the building and knock Ralph off the top of the building. The game, and all the inhabitants in it are now 30-years-old and Ralph is fed up with the life of the villain. Because of this, he decides to leave his game and go to another one, Hero’s Duty to get a medal which will change his life and make him a hero.

The plan goes badly in Hero’s Duty though and Ralph ends up in the racing game Sugar Rush. There he meets Vanellope (Silverman), who, after a rough first meeting, the two end up working together to achieve their goals of being better recognized by other characters in their respective games. Meanwhile though, Ralph made a huge mistake in Hero’s Duty and the main character of that game Sergeant Calhoun (Lynch) has to work with Fix it Felix to get Ralph back to his game as well as stop a threat to the whole video game world.

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Hotel Transylvania review

Director:
Genndy Tartakovsky
Cast:
Adam Sandler
Andy Samberg
Selena Gomez
Kevin James
Steve Buscemi
CeeLo Green
Rated: PG

Adam Sandler and his entourage are invading animation now.

“Hotel Transylvani”a is the new film from director Genndy Tartakovsky, who was the director of the cartoon show “Dexter’s Lab.” The film is basically a play on the Universal Monsters from the 40s, with Dracula (Sandler) running a hotel for monsters. Frequent guests are Frankenstein (James) and the wolfman, in this movie named Wayne (Buscemi).

For the most part life is pretty normal for the monsters except that Dracula has a teenage daughter named Mavis (Gomez) who wants to explore the outside world; however Dracula feels it’s important to keep his daughter safe so Mavis is not allowed to leave the castle.

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Brave review

Director:
Mark Andrews
Cast:
Kelly Macdonald
Billy Connolly
Emma Thompson
Julie Walters
Rated: PG

Okay cool Pixar, now can we please get an “Incredibles 2?”

“Brave” is the latest film from the studio that has brought animated classics year after year. Their latest film follows the character Merida (Macdonald), a young princess living in a kingdom in Scotland. Merida is a free spirit and mainly enjoys practicing her archery skills in the vast outdoors surrounding the castle where she lives. Her mother Elinor (Thompson) however wants Merida to be more proper and formal, much to her dismay.

To make matters worse for Merida, she soon learns that she is going to have to marry a suitor to keep peace between the different kingdoms. This becomes the last straw for Merida as she becomes completely fed up with the direction her life is going and decides to try and find a way to change her fate.

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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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