Rango

Cowboys and westerns never held too much charm for me - and I can count on my fingers the numbers of westerns I have seen. This year's oscar frontrunner True Grit has been the only western that I have really appreciated - and that was because of the brilliant portrayals of Rooster Cogburn and Mattie Ross by the leading actors. But back to our movie of the day - Rango - play on the famous 1966 movie Django perhaps (one of the few I have seen).

Rango is a through-and-through western, right down to the last gunslinger, only told through the medium of animation. The small town of Dirt, in the midst of the western desert, is populated by rodents and reptiles - who are having a difficult time as water is drying up. Enter Rango, a chameleon who is not quite sure who exactly he is - but with tall tales of valour and a lucky encounter with a hawk - earns himself the badge of Sheriff of the town

But he still has to unravel the mystery of the missing water. And impeding him are the Machiavellian mayor of the town and Rattlesnake Jake, a machine-gun toting villian. All of these set up for a climactic standoff in the main street of Dirt

While most animation movies tend me to make light fun out of movie genres, Rango is a serious tribute to it. Hence missing are the jokes, the laughter and the feel-goodiness of a usual Pixar presentation (this is neither a Pixar movie nor Disney). All the jokes are very dry and this is anything but a movie for kids. The animation is of extremely high quality though - it is fun to try and identify each of the animals. The movie itself has a somewhat dark edge to it - not as much as Persepolis or Waltz with Bashir, but similar. Rango didnt work for me at all, even though I loved the other two. Am really not sure who this movie is for, apart from the classic western fans


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Tangled

In case you didn’t know, Tangled is Disney’s 50th animated feature film. It has been a long journey since Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, all the way back in 1934. And I really hope they go on to make another 50 of their fabulously entertaining movies which always seem to paint the world in such optimistic colors. The world could definitely use some of that good cheer

And there is plenty of good cheer in Tangled – from the delightfully cute Rapunzel and the roguish Flynn Rider to the animals Maximus and Pascal. Maximus and Pascal star as the amazingly funny yet cute animals that abound in all Disney movies in the last decade. There are too many to count – Bartok the bat in Anastasia, the cricket in Mulan, Louis the alligator in The Princess and The Frog and many more.

The Disney version of Rapunzel has her as a sassy, spunky teen who yearns to get out of her tower prison. For company, she has her chameleon Pascal and some magical lights which seem to float up in the sky every year on her birthday. Till one day, a thief on-the-run climbs into the tower to hide.

What follows is the typical Disney extravaganza of song & dance, color and laughter. The renderings are gorgeous and 3D adds a special flair to the visuals. The humour is integrated extraordinarily well in the screenplay – much to the joy of us moviegoers. Soundtrack duties are in the hand of 8 time oscar-winner Alan Menken – and results in two standout tracks. “Mommy knows best” and “I have a dream” are picturized memorably and will have you laughing through them or at least smiling widely

Very few movies get a ovation from the audience at the end – even fewer if they are animation movies. Yet the crowd at PVR Phoenix Mills on a Tuesday night saw fit to applaud this movie when the end credits rolled up – for being such a fabulous entertainer. If you are looking for a dose of good laughter and happiness this week at the multiplexes, give Tangled a watch. You wont be disappointed.



If you are planning to watch it in 3D, definitely do try to watch it in a PVR multiplex. The plastic 3D glasses they provide are of much higher quality than the disposable stuff provided at other multiplexes and provide a dramatically better visual experience
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Despicable Me

Despicable Me is one of those "Awwww so cute" animation movies which shamelessly use really big-eyed cute kids and cute furry little creatures to make you smile - and succeed big time at it ! While not breaking any new ground like Wall-E, it has its own adorable creatures - the Minions - tiny yellow capsule shaped creatures that scurry around making you smile at their antics

The plot of the movie is something only animation studios can come up with. An over-the-hill thief Gru finds himself being upstaged by a younger challenger Vector, who filches the great pyramid and replaces it with a inflatable replica. To one-up on him, Gru decides to steal the moon itself, using a shrink ray - which happens to be in Vector's house. To distract Vector, Gru adopts three cute little orphan girls, whom he intends to dump after he is done with Vector. But ofcourse, we know how it goes

Gru is voiced by Steve Carell, who brings a nice somewhat Russian accent to Gru - while the star of the show are definitely the Minions. Dedicated to Gru, but not above dumb antics, the movie is worth seeing for them alone. Wouldnt be surprised to see a sequel or a derivative of the movie starring the Minions. The animations look similar to Toy Story, and 3D is superflous to the movie - you can easily skip it and watch it in 2D. But between the melt-your-heart kids and the grinning Minions, you will definitely find something to love in Despicable Me.


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Shrek Forever After

After a somewhat lacklustre Shrek 2 & 3, the makers finally figured out what worked for Shrek. It was the story of Part 1 – where the ogre grudgingly tolerates an idiotic non-stop-blabbering donkey and falls in love with Fiona without meaning to. They decide to give us the same story – with a slight twist. In an animated take on mid-life crisis, a now-married and father-of-three Shrek makes a deal with wicked Rumpelstiltskin to get a single day of his carefree bachelor days back – when ogres are still scary and people run pell-mell when they see one.

However the villain, as in countless fairy tales, tricks Shrek and he has only one day to break the spell. And so begins his journey where he comes across Donkey as well as Puss-in-boots – Donkey talkative as ever and Puss-in-boots slightly different – in a hilarious way

The jokes however, dont fly so thick and fast. There are some heavy senti scenes in it – but then Donkey or Puss come up with a howler and all is well in the world.

Shrek Forever After adds the attraction of 3D to the movie and I think it made the movie a little better. Maybe it was the 3D glasses at PVR which made the difference – they are bigger and sturdier – like they were powered by a battery of some kind. Whatever they were, they sure made the characters ‘pop’ out – and made the 3D impact appreciable. But on the downside, they were quite heavy – and I suspect, caused a slight headache by the end of the day.
(I am sure these glasses would have made How to Train Your Dragon more enjoyable)

So Shrek 4 is like a remix of the original Shrek – if you are a fan of the franchise, you will probably watch it. For others, I am not sure it’s a must watch. It’s a teeny bit more senti than your average animated movie, but Donkey and Puss’ jokes are funnier too. But then, there is nothing new in the movie – every character (except Rumpelstiltskin), you have seen before. So it also gets a middling rating.


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How to Train Your Dragon

Welcome to the formulaic world of animation films – where the protagonist is always the non-conformist fellow, who faces ridicule initially, but finally saves the day for everyone. And along the road, everyone learns an important lesson about enjoying life by celebrating our differences etc. However, as much as I crib about their formula based moviemaking, the zest for life and the vivacity of the animation movies keeps drawing me back to the movie halls where I spend two hours completely immersed in a wonderful world drawn by the animators.

How to Train Your Dragon follows a similar storyline, where a scrawny Viking teenager befriends an injured dragon – and discovers that dragons are much more than what they are made out to be. But ofcourse, before that, he has to endure taunts from his schoolmates and sighs of disappointment from his father. The action takes place in an imaginary island somewhere in the Nordic lands where a village is constantly raided by dragons for livestock and the fearless Vikings fight them off.

The dragons are cartoonized very nicely, and every few minutes, there is a sequence which will make you smile atleast. A movie that you will thoroughly enjoy, even though you can predict whats coming from a mile

The only reason why this movie isn’t a 4 star is because although it is made out to be a 3D movie, it really isn’t. Which is more than a little disappointing, because you keep expecting some cool 3D effects and there are multiple opportunities for doing it, but the 3D effects are just minor afterthoughts – blink-and-you-miss-it kind. And with all multiplexes starting to charge for 3D glasses, it becomes a bigger bummer

How to Train Your Dragon is a good animation movie – certainly worth your time. However, its predictability and scant 3D effects do not make it worthy of more than 3.5 stars (so don’t know why its in the IMDB top 250 movies of all time)


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The Princess And The Frog

Even after the universally acclaimed new-age animations like Wall-E or Cars, quite a few people feel that animations are meant solely for the children, and no serious adults should be caught watching them. I really feel sad for those people, because in their lame posturing, they are missing out some of the greatest joys cinema has to offer. I confess I am an unabashed fan of animations – and The Princess And The Frog is right up there with best that Disney has offered so far.

For the past few years though, Disney hasn’t been on the cutting edge of the animation - with Pixar producing most of the recent animation masterpieces like Wall-E, Cars, Incredibles, Ratatouille etc and Dreamworks producing Shrek, Kung Fu Panda & Madagascar. All the above movies are all a product of CGI animation and look more expressive and real, compared to the old style 2D animations like Aladdin. The Princess And The Frog too is rendered in the old style, but and what it lacks in technology, it makes up with cheerfulness, vivacity and song-and-dance.

It is a Disney musical like Lion King or Mulan – with lot of fun songs and amazing choreography. The one with the fireflies is incredibly vivid and beautiful – sure to bring a wide smile to your face. And it has its fair share of lovable characters, without which any Disney movie is incomplete. There is a Louis, the jazz-loving alligator and Ray, the romantic firefly. The story is a tweak to the old fable about a Princess and a Frog - only, the story is set in the early 20th century. Where a hard working waitress Tiana is saving up for her own restaurant and runs into the visiting Prince Naveen of Maledonia.

The story is formulaic, and Tiana and prince Naveen are adorably cute – and the baddies are clearly bad. But even with all the predictability, the movie is a joy to watch. So if you feel like you need a helping of good cheer and fun, watch The Princess And The Frog this week. And watch out for the blind Mama Odie.


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A Christmas Carol

The Disney version of one of the most famous christmas stories, A Christmas Carol was perhaps released a bit too early to cash in on the festive season. I watched it on Thanksgiving Day though, so there was some holiday spirit. Made with motion capture and in 3D, the visual quality of the movie is terrific – the animations having a wonderful life-like quality and you easily forget you aren’t watching a movie with regular actors. But unlike Disney regulars, this movie has a few scenes which are quite scary – I am afraid the kids might take home a few nightmares after this movie.

The story hasn’t been tampered with much – on the christmas eve of 1842, miser Ebenezer Scrooge’s dead partner Marley visits him and foretells the arrival of three ghosts – of Christmas Past, Present and Future. The three ghosts show Scrooge his past, present and what could happen in the future – making him see the error of his ways. The visualization of the ghosts ofcourse has been adapted – which is where the movie becomes a little un-Disney.

The Good
Visuals are great, and appear even better if watched in 3D – but it’s not a necessarily-3D-movie. Meaning you would enjoy the movie almost as much without 3D. The motion capture technology enhances the facial expressions and body movements, so Scrooge’s frightened face looks just like an actual old man’s. But then, coming from Robert Zemeckis (maker of Back to Future, Forest Gump, Cast Away & Beowulf), technical perfection is to be expected.

The screenplay is tight – there is no slack anywhere once the ghosts appear – and on the whole it is quite thrilling. But even with this fast screenplay, the moments of tenderness in clerk Cratchit’s family or Scrooge’s nephew Fred’s toast are unmistakable and lend this movie its soul.

Scrooge’s voice is almost unrecognizable as Jim Carrey’s – and other big names like Colin Firth, Gary Oldman & Robin Penn Wright make up the rest of the cast.

The Bad
The appearance of the final ghost is a little over-the-top frankly. Looking like the grim reaper and chasing Scrooge around in London in a carriage drawn by fiery-eyed-black-horses, it caused me to jump a couple of times. Accustomed to sugar-coated Disney movies where bad things are masked in a lot of funny gags, this was a little too grim. I don’t think this Disney movie is going to be too popular with the kids

Though its an animated version of a traditional christmas tale, it lacks the joyfulness and happy nature of Disney classics like Tarzan or Mulan. While A Christmas Carol too ends on a happy note, the overall mood and cinematography of 19th century London is certainly dark. A grown up and mature Disney movie, you might call it. Its definitely worth a watch, but I cant help wishing for a more feel-good holiday movie.


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9

Sometimes you have no clue what to make about a movie - you like it, don’t like it ! And 9 is one such head-scratcher !

The movie is an animation movie first. But then its also a thriller – and a sci-fi movie. And a Matrix like man-vs-machine plot (sans the acrobatics). And a couple of other plots that I cant remember. The characters are also type-cast – the weak leader, the strong & adventurous woman, the friendly side-kick, the dumb muscleman etc. Basically, I was continuously nagged with a déjà-vu feeling that I couldn’t shake off. But because of the unique visuals, I couldn’t place exactly what I was reminded of.

The imagination of the maker is vivid and you cant help admiring his doomsday vision. A brilliant scientist makes an AI (artificial intelligent) robot under the direction of a dictator (the German inspiration is quite obvious). The machines goes berserk and kills off all the humans. The doomed scientist’s last action is to create this tiny creature – out of jute gunny bag (it actually looks a lot like the gingerbread man) – before he dies. And paints the number 9 on its back – hence the name.

9 comes to this world with no memory and no clue who/where he is – and the movie is his story of figuring out the world and his place in it. He discovers that he is not alone - there are others like him. Others who help him realize what he is meant to do. The background setting is unique, but the rest of the movie seems unconsciously inspired from the movies the director has watched before.

The feel of the movie is the early part of the century – the machines are all steam driven and there is no mention of any electronics. The clank and hiss of steam make the machines more fun to watch – in a cartoony way. The city itself is completely ruined and overall very dark and desolate.

The storyline is however not the strongest and the climax was a little too arty. The first part of the movie has a few exciting moments, when something is lurking in the shadows – but as the story unravels, the ending is guessable. The runtime is perfect at 79 minutes – any more and it would have become boring!

The movie is based on director Shane Acker’s 10 minute graduation movie – which the producers liked and decided to make into a feature film. And yes, this is his first proper movie. The movie obviously has high production values and it shows in the visuals – but the story needed some strengthening to make it into a full length movie. So a middle-of-the-road rating for 9.


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Vals im Bashir : Waltz With Bashir

Think animation movie and we usually form images of Shrek, Kung Fu Panda and maybe Wall-E in our head. But there is a school of filmmakers that use animation as a medium to depict darker themes – it provides a distinctive visual experience compared to the regular celluloid. And I am not talking about graphic novels like 300 or Sin City – you need big money bankrolling animation studios for those.

Instead Ari Folman directs a partly autobiographical movie documentary about his efforts to exorcise the demons of his military past – Ari Folman fought for Israel in the Israel-Lebanon war of 1982. A war, which among other things, is principally remembered for the Shatila massacre in Beirut. It was a massacre of Palestinian refugees by right-wing Christian Lebanese militia to avenge the murder of their leader and President-elect Bashir Gemayel, while the occupying Israeli army turned a blind eye.

Folman was there, right outside of the Shatila refugee camp – and yet he cant remember any details about it - nor anything about the war itself. And so he sets out to talk to people who were with him in the war – to discuss what they remember, and hopefully help him find his own memories. And the entire movie is a delectable mixture of Ari Folman’s conversations with his ex-comrades, lawyer friend, psychologist etc and the flashbacks of actual events in 1982. All rendered in a graphic style, which is light as well as disturbing, in parts.

Particularly cringe-worthy is the scene with the dying horses – we people have become immune to seeing people die onscreen – even if its gruesome. Yet it was the death of these animals that becomes too much to bear – even animated horses. Ari Folman deftly shows through his canvas, how little sense war makes – and how any race is not immune to performing barbaric acts - without preaching it in so many words.

The title of the movie is derived from one of the interviewees – who describes an ‘insane waltz with a machine gun’ under heavy enemy firing on a Beirut Street with huge posters of Bashir Gemayel. But what is really interesting about the movie is that barring two characters, all the original people have provided their own voices for the movie.

Overall, a superb movie – the kind not to be missed if possible. Watching director Ari Folman’s personal view of the historical events of 1982 – interspersed with a little quirky humour from time to time – is a treat. And it leaves a lasting impression on you as you watch the actual footage of the devastated Shatila camp at the end of the movies.



Waltz With Bashir is playing only in PVR Cinemas
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Ice Age : Dawn of The Dinosaurs

Can’t help but compare the two – actually three - sequels running at your nearest multiplex. While both Terminator : Salvation and Transformers : Revenge of The Fallen have completely lost their bearings, Ice Age : Dawn of The Dinosaurs remains firmly grounded in its origins and delivers yet another really enjoyable experience at the theatre.

The plot is like this – Manny & Ellie have settled down and are expecting a baby mammoth. Diego is feeling out of shape as he can no longer chase down gazelles – he is considering quitting the herd. Sid is feeling left out with all this and he wants a family of his own too. Since he is hardly the perfect mating material, he does the next best thing - he finds three largish eggs in a cave and adopts them as his own.

Only, they hatch into baby dinosaurs !! And very soon an angry momma dinosaur emerges from a hole in the ground to take her three kids back into their world below. And she takes the hapless Sid with her as well. (The existence of the dinosaurs is explained by a Jurassic Park under the ice sheet - somewhat like Journey to The Center of The Earth).

Filled with uncharitable thoughts about Sid, the rest of the team – Manny, Ellie, Diego and the possums follow Sid’s trail to the dinosaur world to try and rescue him …
There are two new characters introduced in the movie – Scratte, a female flying squirrel who more than flutters her eyelashes at Scrat. The other is Buck, a one eyed swashbuckler of a weasel, who navigates the subterranean with aplomb while sounding like Captain Jack Sparrow. And it’s Buck that is the difference between a middling Ice Age 2 and a terrific Ice Age 3.

The movie is a delightful storehouse of gags and laugh-out-loud moments. They even manage to spoof one of the most cliché Hollywood sequences !! Animation quality is amazing and one has to wonder at these wizards of animation – they manage to make T-rex babies look cute and cuddly !!! I didn’t manage to watch the 3D version but I am sure it would enhance the viewing experience even more.

There are a few tacky sequences like Ellie going into labor in the middle of a fight etc, but even those are handled well enough not to distract you from the fun. The verdict is a definite thumbs up for Ice Age 3. Now bring on Ice Age 4 !!


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Monsters vs Aliens

Maybe multiplex-movie producers strike is a good thing – I probably wouldn’t have gone for Monsters vs. Aliens if things had been normal – it seemed more like a kiddie flick. And as I have consistently proven over the year on this blog, I can be quite erroneous in my assumptions !! You should definitely catch this one – with or without kids !!

It’s a DreamWorks animation (makers of Shrek and Kungfu Panda) and its in 3D !! The fact that its 3D is one of the better kept secrets about the movie – I had no clue about it till I walked into the movie. But it does give it that extra fun – things keep whizzing towards you. But even without the 3D coolness – it is still a very enjoyable movie.

Not much of a storyline. Susan Murphy (voiced by Reese Witherspoon) is happily counting minutes till her marriage, when she happens to get hit by a mysterious meteorite and grows 50ft in size. The government locks her away deeming her a public hazard and Susan discovers that she is not the only 'monster' around – there are others locked in the ‘monster’ jail – who become her new friends. And when an Alien robot lands on the earth, the president takes a call to use the monsters to fight the robot. What happens next is for you to watch

The simplistic storyline is more than compensated by the humour and the comic characters. Each of the other monsters – Dr Cockroach, The Missing Link and BOB are hilarious as well as adorable. The wit is intelligent and BOB especially is the one to watch out. You could say it’s a funnier version of Kung Fu Panda – less cuteness and more jokes.

So take some time out from IPL matches and watch Monsters vs. Aliens this week …


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Madagascar 2 : Escape 2 Africa

Apologies for posting so late - laptop went bust again.

Madagascar 2 continues from where it left off in part 1 - in the island of Madagascar. The New York foursome - Alex the lion, Marty the zebra, Gloria the hippo and Melman the giraffe - have gotten bored with the island and are restless to reach home. So under the able command of the military penguins, and accompanied by King Julien and his trusted Maurice, they take off in an old crashed-in-the-jungle-plane, but only to soon run out of fuel and crash-land in mainland Africa.

Here they find creatures of their own kind and discover their roots. For Alex its more special because he happens to get reunited with his family. The others take to their new surroundings quite well too. However, soon their wildlife preserve is faced with trouble and our foursome has to team up and tackle the challenge – in the process, discovering new bonds between them.

The characters are memorable as ever – especially the two lemurs King Julien and Maurice. The penguins are adorable, but I think the two lemurs steal the thunder from everyone else. There are more characters introduced, like Alex’s family and Gloria’s date – the hilariously named MotoMoto !!

However, while there are funny lines interspersed throughout the movie, Madagascar 2 is not as entertaining or memorable as part one. The first one had the advantage of the freshness - in this one, the characters have lost their novelty – and the new characters are simply not in the same mold. But more importantly, I think the introduction of the Lion King subplot was the weakest point of the movie – couldn’t the creative heads come up with a better subplot for Alex ? Something a little bit funnier ?

The granny from NY also makes an appearance, and would appear to have been given more screentime than necessary. The monkeys also do not come good till the end. But all the same, there are some absolute gems in the movie – the seafood one is a howler.

So definitely do not give this movie a miss. A very good entertainer like every animation – but not quite a great one …


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WALL-E

SUPERB !!!

If you havent watched it yet, what are you waiting for ? Just go ahead and do it (wait a min, that sounds like Nike ... what the hell).

Never mind - its the freshest and most fun-filled movie in a long time. And Wall.E is just adorable ..

And watch out for that Japanese-type cleaning robot (I think his name is Mo or something)

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Kung Fu Panda

I will start with listing the bad parts of the movie. Ever noticed how almost ALL animation movies (Ratatouille, Madagascar, Ice Age, Monsters Inc etc) - doesnt matter what animal or surroundings - is all about how the main character discovering himself/relationships/meaning-of-life etc etc ? Can you remember the last animation which didnt have this main theme ??

So now you are not surprised when I tell you that this movie also has the same theme, are you :) ?

But then again - what was the common thing in the above named movies apart from the fact that they are all animations ?

That they are all BIG SMASH HITS.

And so is this one. Doesnt matter how many times we have seen the same themed movie. The clever wizards at Dreamworks (or Pixar, for that matter) create such a witty situations, that you cant help get engrossed in each of these movies. Kungfu Panda is set in ancient China - yet nothing in the visuals remind you anything about Mulan, the other animation movie set in China. Its only when I sat writing this review that I realized that both of them are set in the same place - such is beauty of the story telling.

Jack Black as Po, the sleepy, lazy, kung-fu-dreaming Panda, has some really hilarious dialogues and the fight sequences are done superbly.
All in all, a great movie - something you will come out of, with a smile.


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Persepolis

A very interesting take on life in Iran through the revolution and the Iran-Iraq war. Someone like Khalid Hosseini would have turned it into a sad tearjerker. But the director shows a remarkable optimism in life and it reflects in the movie - focussing on how people fight to make life more happy than what circumstances allow ....

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