The Nativity Story (2006)

Starring: Keisha Castle-Hughes, Oscar Isaac, Shaun Toub, Ciarán Hinds, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Stanley Townsend

Director: Catherine Hardwicke

Genre: Drama, Family, Religious

Rating: C+

Despite the fact that I've never really been religious, I've always enjoyed religious movies.  I might not believe that the story actually happened, but I've never found that it's stopped me from enjoying the story itself - much like how I enjoy Harry Potter without believing that Hogwarts exists.

The Nativity Story tells the story of Mary (Castle-Hughes), a young girl who has been told by God that she will become pregnant with His child, who will be named Jesus.  Mary is betrothed to Joseph (Isaac), and through the course of the story the two must struggle with what Mary's pregnancy means for each of them and the world around them.  Also dealing with such a struggle is King Herod (Hinds), who has learned of a prophecy predicting that a man will emerge as King of the Jews - a title which Herod thinks is rightfully his.  Herod is willing to go to great lengths in order to ensure that the prophecy is not fulfilled, and these lengths in turn influence the struggles of Mary and Joseph, the parents (in a manner) of the prophesied man.

This is not an original take on the story, and as such I think it really suffers.  The story that it's telling is one that we've heard many, many times before and thus this movie can be a bit dull.  The acting isn't stellar either, asides from Keisha Castle-Hughes and Oscar Isaac everyone's performance is a bit forgettable.  There's nothing really amazing about this movie - which in itself is sad, given as it's about Jesus.

Where Nativity does do well is in the depiction of the relationship between Joseph and Mary.  I think my favourite part about this entire film was Joseph and seeing him coming to terms with what his life has become.  At one point, Joseph says to Mary "I wonder if I will even be able to teach him anything," and in a single sentence surmises much of the struggle that he's been going through throughout this movie - the actual him having to come to terms with the fact that his wife is pregnant with the child of someone else is dealt with rather quickly.  I love this sentence and I really loved how you can see Joseph's struggle throughout, and in a way relate to it a lot more than Mary's struggle.  As weird as it sounds, the hero of this piece for me was Joseph, not Mary or her unborn child.

Rise of the Guardians (2012)

Starring: Chris Pine, Alec Baldwin, Hugh Jackman, Isla Fisher, Jude Law

Director: Peter Ramsey

Genre: Animation, Adventure, Family

Rating: B

"It is our job to protect the children of the world. For as long as they believe in us, we will guard them with our lives.."

As far as Christmas movies go, this one's a bit awkward.  In a way, it kind of reminds me of The Nightmare Before Christmas simply because while appearing to be about Christmas, it's actually about something more than that and Christmas itself is rather secondary.

Rise of the Guardians follows the spirit of winter, Jack Frost (Pine), on a journey as he comes to realize his destiny.  Opening 300 years ago, we see Jack emerge as Jack Frost, with no memories of who he was before, having been lifted from the ice by the Man in the Moon (who also tells Jack his name).  While Jack has great power, however, he is invisible to everyone, since no one believes in him.  Fast forward 300 years, where Jack is still unbelieved by all, the Guardians of Childhood, lead by North (Baldwin), are informed that the Bogeyman, Pitch Black (Law), has returned and it is up to them and newly appointed Guardian, Jack Frost, to stop him.  Pitch has lived much like Jack, invisible and unbelieved, but has figured out how to attack the children of the world by transforming the dreams created by the Sandman (who does not speak) into nightmares.  Pitch's ultimate goal, however, is to make the Guardians feel what he has felt, and cause all the children in the world to stop believing in them - and thus make them invisible and powerless.

To start, I really loved the portrayal of the different Guardians, although I was a bit confused by their loss of power.  As we see that Jack Frost still has his powers without being believed in, I had to wonder why the other Guardians didn't also have their powers, or at least some of them.  Although, I guess perhaps we're only seeing the limited manifestation of Jack's powers as it is before he becomes believed by many, and it is not until he is believed in that his true power really begins to manifest - perhaps North, Tooth, and Bunny are all weakened so much because they have forgotten what it's like to not be believed in, since they've all been around for so long.  The worlds that each inhabit, with the exception of Jack Frost who is very much of this world, are absolutely amazing though, so I can't blame them for not knowing how to deal in the real world.  I'm a bit torn on who I loved most here - North, who lives in his snow palace filled with dimwitted elfs and intelligent yetis; Tooth (Fisher), whose airy castle is filled with the baby teeth, and thus memories, of everyone; or Bunny (Jackman), who's bright and festive world is very much reminiscent of Easter Island.  We don't get to see the Sandman's home, but we do get to see much of his sandy dream creations which is awesome, and we also saw Pitch's lair which is completely perfect for his character.  I look forward to a future installment in this series (if it becomes one), where we get to see Jack Frost's home.

I also liked the story, particularly how it wasn't simply about saving Christmas.  The competition between the different characters, even the ones who were technically working together, was great.  The new take on old classic characters was also great - especially as it kind of took things on a completely different path than we're used to.  I love the idea of Santa looking (and sounding) like a member of the Russian mafia.  The whole idea of the Easter Bunny was great too.  This movie was just all around good fun.

Wreck-It Ralph (2012)

Starring: John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer, Jane Lynch

Director: Rich Moore

Genre: Animation, Comedy, Family

Rating: A+

Okay, so I'm just going to stick this out there: I was looking up the movie's cast list for this review when I saw that Alan Tudyk is in this as King Candy.  Nothing bad comes from having Alan Tudyk in your movie or TV show - hell, he was even great in Dollhouse, and Dollhouse wasn't all that great despite being from the mind of Joss Whedon.  He's not starring, but he should be because his role is significant and he's awesome.  Adding to this awesomeness is Jane Lynch, who is equally as awesome!  She is by far the best part of Glee, and I have to say I love watching old shows from the late 90s and early 00s, and seeing her randomly appear.

Wreck-It Ralph is about an old arcade game villain, Wreck-It Ralph (Reilly) who is tired of being the villain.  He is never appreciated for what he does and the essential role that he plays in the game, and wants to be appreciated in some way - to get the kind of recognition that his game's hero, Fix-It Felix, Jr. (McBrayer), gets. After an argument with one of the game's Nicelanders, Mayor Gene (Raymond S. Persi), Ralph decides to leave his game and go in search of one where he can win a medal, like the one that Felix gets daily.  He travels to the first-person shooter Hero's Duty, where he can win a medal for climbing a tower and killing bugs.  In between games, Ralph does just that - but in the process he accidentally hatches a Cy-Bug, which clings to him as he stumbles into an escape pod.  The bug and Ralph fly into the kart-racing game Sugar Rush.  Here Ralph meets game glitch Vanellope von Schweetz (Silverman), who dreams of becoming a racer, despite the hatred that the other citizens of Sugar Rush hold for her.  Meanwhile, Felix has also left Fix-It Felix, Jr, with the realization that if he doesn't find Ralph the game will be unplugged an everyone in it will be left homeless in Game Central Station.  Felix pairs up with Sergeant Tamora Jean Calhoun (Lynch), the hardened lead character of Hero's Duty, who realizes just how bad the escape of the Cy-Bug is.  The bug doesn't realize it's a video game character, and will set out to destroy any game that it's in - before moving on to Game Central Station and infesting other games.

I love the many dimensions to this movie.  There's a lot going on with the plot, but it never feels like it's too much.  The one thing that I didn't like, at least at first, were the many references to "going Turbo", which I felt could have been explained earlier.  To me, "turbo" is the power charge that you get in race type games, and so I had no clue what it meant in the video game land - something that they realize in Wreck-It Ralph, because they do set out to explain it after awhile, but in my mind not soon enough.  I understood why Ralph's disappearance was a threat, but not why they called Ralph's actions "Turbo."  It worked out in the end, but there was that momentary annoyance whenever they mentioned it.

Beyond that, however, there's a lot going on in this movie.  Each of the main characters, really, has their own plot and has to come to different realizations.  I love that, especially given as it's a children's movie.  While I've come to expect depth in a children's movie, I don't expect this much.  I loved it.  Including this, there's also a lot of really little details to this film.  Stuff like the way that Felix and the Nicelanders moved, as if they actually were pixelated creatures - I think it would have been really nice had this continued on to Ralph as well.  There are other things too - early on in the film Vanellope tells Ralph that double striped candy canes disappear when you grab them, and throughout the film you see double striped candy canes.

There's also the humour to this film.  The thing that I love about Disney is that it really nicely balances the juvenile and adult humour.  The relationship between Ralph and Vanellope is so cute and childish that you can't help but love it.  At the same time there are so many little things that bring a smile to your face and are completely for the adult viewer. I love the fact that this is a video game movie that makes references to an entire history of video games.  I loved it.

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

Starring: Danny Elfman, Chris Sarandon, Catherine O'Hara, William Hickey, Glenn Shadix, Ken Page

Director: Henry Selick

Genre: Animation, Family, Fantasy, Musical

Rating: A

It's almost Halloween, which means that it's officially the time to question whether The Nightmare Before Christmas qualifies as a Halloween or Christmas movie.  I personally like to think both.

Jack Skellington (Sarandon, singing voice by Elfman) is the Pumpkin King of Halloween town, but as of late his heart hasn't been in the scarring people business - he wants something more.  This something more is found after Jack discovers the portal to Christmas Town and decides that this year Halloween Town will do Christmas.  With the help of the town he prepares for Christmas, even going so far as to have Lock (Paul Reubens), Shock (O'Hara), and Barrel (Elfman), kidnap 'Sandy Claws' so that Jack can replace him - although unbenknownst to Jack, the trio deliver Sandy to town bogeyman Oogie Boogie (Page).  Watching it all with apprehension is rag-doll and love interest Sally (O'Hara), who is certain that Jack's Christmas is not going to be a success.

It's no surprise that the best part about this movie is the music.  The songs are simplistic, catchy, and well sung.  Honestly, in my opinion one of the best parts about most Tim Burton films is the Danny Elfman soundtrack, and Nightmare really shines as one of his best.  Some of the songs aren't as good, but most of the music is just iconic of the stylings of this film.  It's a perfect blending of the styles of Burton and Elfman - sadly, for actual director Henry Selick he's kind of left out of the limelight a bit here by the two bigger names.

The next thing that makes this movie great is the world that Burton and Selick have created.  It's beautifully crafted stop motion animation, meaning that everything about it has actually been crafted.  The attention to details and what not isn't just some computer program - I realize that there's more to computer animation than just the computer doing it, but it has a different feel to it.  Somehow, the knowledge that the creations in Nightmare are all actually crafted things makes it feel more real.  You might not be able to have as much going on in the background when you're using stop motion, but what happens in the foreground just has this extra little charm to it - and really, Nightmare doesn't lose all that much of the background either.  The fact that they had about 400 heads for Jack alone says something about the time and effort that went into this movie.

Rounding out the greatness is the fact that it's a movie that does, or at least can, appeal to people of all ages.  It's animated and intended to appeal to a younger audience, but it also works really well as a movie for adults.  I actually hated this movie as a kid because I found it to be too scary, but as I got older and it began to reemerge a bit I really got into it.  It's fun, it's cute, it's dark, but it's also light at times.  It's probably the best thing that's come out of Tim Burton, or at least pretty close.  Definitely the best thing Henry Selick's directed.

High School Musical 3: Senior Year (2008)

Stars: Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Lucas Grabeel, Corbin Bleu, Monique Coleman, Olesya Rulin
Genre: Musical, Romance, Family
Rating: C+

The third and, thankfully, the final installation in the High School Musical series, High School Musical 3: Senior Year picks up as the Wildcats are preparing for their high school graduation and the spring musical.  Kelsi (Rulin) has signed up everyone for the show and Gabriella (Hudgens) convinces them to do it - because, of course, singing and dancing still isn't cool, even though this is the third film in the series about the same kids singing and dancing.  It's also revealed that four of the students (Kelsi, Sharpay (Tisdale), Ryan (Grabeel), and Troy (Efron)) are being considered for one scholarship to Juilliard.  Gabriella, meanwhile, has been accepted to Stanford and has an opportunity to go early, despite the fact that she's committed herself to the spring musical.

The overall story of this movie is somewhere in between High School Musical and High School Musical 2. Once again there is a complete revert to start in terms of character development, Sharpay, Ryan, and the Wildcat boys having learned nothing from their experiences in the first two films.  The whole "we have to convince everyone to participate in the musical because they think that singing and dancing is lame" plot is lamer than singing and dancing appears to be in this universe.  It's been done to death and just in the course of three movies.  Likewise, the Sharpay is an evil bitch plot has been done to death.  I'd be fine with it if at the end of each movie she didn't seem to grow as a person and realize that her actions are wrong.  This is also seen, to a lesser extent, with Ryan, although his turn face isn't nearly as complete.  I was, however, really satisfied with the way that the plot was resolved - although I was rather annoyed by Gabriella's behaviour.  To me, it was rather un-Gabriella like, although I will say that it was a nice change in pace; usually I'm annoyed by Troy's behaviour.

In terms of music and general production, High School Musical 3 is far better than it's predecessors, a clear sign of its inflated budget.  Of the three films this was the only one to be released in theatres, the other two having been TV movies.  The music isn't oh my God amazing, but it's catchy and even features a bit of a shout out to the earlier movies.  The singing is still good and the lyrics aren't too ridiculous.  The musical numbers are also a lot flashier.  They looked more like what you would expect from a Disney type movie.

The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008)

Stars: Freddie Highmore, Mary-Louise Parker, Nick Nolte, Sarah Bolger, Seth Rogen, Martin Short
Genre: Adventure, Family, Fantasy
Rating: C-
 

Even by the standard of being a film based on a not exactly good series of books, The Spiderwick Chronicles falls flat.  The film follows Jared Grace (Highmore), his identical twin brother Simon (Highmore), and their older sister Mallory (Bolger) as they encounter a series of magical creatures after moving into their great-aunt’s (Plowright) estate, Spiderwick Estate.  After moving to their new home and discovering Arthur Spiderwick’s field guide to all things magical Jared discovers that a house brownie/boggart, Thumbletack (Short), is living in the home, and that the shape shifting ogre Mulgarath (Nolte) and his goblin army wants the field guide so that they can use it to wage a war against all other magical creatures.  It’s up to the Grace children to save the day.

The movie’s biggest success was Highmore’s performance.  He has shown himself to have the potential to be a great actor, both in this movie and in some of his earlier works.  Here he plays not one but two very distinct characters, and if you pay attention you can easily tell them apart. It’s not even just that the boys have different personalities; Highmore plays them with different mannerisms and different voices – even more of a success if you consider that his accent in this movie isn’t his natural one to begin with.  The other acting isn’t bad, but the characters are all lacking substance so none of the performances really stand out.  This is a problem of the books themselves that the filmmakers chose not to address.  The one problem of the books that they did address was the lack of plot in the individual books themselves.  When taken as a whole, the entire series is good and suspenseful, but individually the books are too short and lacking in climax.  The film addresses this by trying to approach the entire series in one go, instead of each book individually.  As such a lot of the individual elements from the books are removed or condensed, but the overall story remains.  I think in that sense I preferred the movie to the books; while it wasn’t overly gripping or suspenseful, it was one complete story.  It wasn't the best movie... but it also wasn't the worst.

High School Musical 2 (2007)

Stars: Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Lucas Grabeel, Corbin Bleu, Monique Coleman, Olesya Rulin
Genre: Musical, Romance, Family
Rating: C

High School Musical 2 picks up a bit after where its predecessor left off, at the end of the school year, as our favourite geeks and jocks begin to worry about summer jobs – and our ever villainous theatrical types prepare for their summer of leisure at the country club their parents own.  Sharpay Evans (Tisdale) now has her sights on Troy Bolton (Efron), and decides that in order to get him she should have him hired to work at her club.  Somehow, this transpires into all of the Wildcats being hired at the club, because evidently when you’re in a Disney high school you have to work with all of your friends.  Life’s just like that.  Because of Sharpay’s influence Troy is able to rise in the club and gain the attention of the University of Albuquerque’s basketball team, while his friends are forced to wait tables.  Oh, and Sharpay is also manipulating the scene so that Troy will sing at the club’s annual talent show with her and not girlfriend  Gabriella Montez (Hudgens).

Where to start…. The high point of this film would be in its music, which is for the most part a lot better than the music in High School Musical.  The singing itself is good in both, but in this one the lyrics aren’t nearly as cheesy.  Some of the dancing is, but that’s a whole ‘nother story.  I should note, that the comment on the music being better does not descend to anything sung by Ryan (Grabeel) and Sharpay, which was just all kinds of bad.  The story, is a completely different issue.  As clichéd as the plot was in High School Musical it was at least good.  In fact, it was very Shakespearian, clearly having been inspired in part by Romeo and Juliet.  This story is not as good.  Following the character development in the original movie, Sharpay does a complete heel turn and digresses back to her original character.  The same can be said of Troy’s basketball friends, who are right back at hating singing and dancing like they were in the original movie – they even sing a song about it.  Troy too is back to not wanting to sing and dance, despite having enjoyed doing so previously.  It kind of makes me wonder just what the purpose of High School Musical was – beyond setting up the cannon couple.  My one favourite part of this movie, however, was Ryan’s character development, as he goes from being his sister’s lacky to a genuinely nice guy.  Somehow, I suspect the change won’t stick for High School Musical 3.

High School Musical (2006)

Stars: Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Lucas Grabeel, Corbin Bleu, Monique Coleman, Olesya Rulin
Genre: Musical, Romance, Family
Rating: C+
 

This is a bad movie.  It is cheesy, over the top, juvenile, and really kind of lame.  The singing is good, but the actual music is rather ridiculous.  If you don’t enjoy lame, cheesy musicals, don’t see High School Musical.  That having been said, while High School Musical is lame and cheesy and overall bad, it’s also fun.  And good, but in a “why am I enjoying this” kind of way.  If you enjoy cheesy Disney musicals, then this is the movie for you.

Troy Bolton (Efron) and Gabriella Montez (Hudgens) have chemistry from the first moment that they sing together, at a New Years Eve party they both attend while on a vacation.  As circumstance would happen, Gabriella transfers to Troy’s school in the new year, and pretty quickly the pair begins to stir up trouble.  Troy is the captain of the school basketball team and as their biggest game of the season is coming up his team is counting on them to lead them to victory.  Gabriella is pretty much a genius, and the school’s scholastic decathlon team really hopes that she’ll join and lead them to victory.  Meanwhile, auditions for the school musical are occurring, and both Troy and Gabriella are interested in joining.  Attempts to thwart this desire come from all sides: the basketball team, lead by Chad Danforth (Bleu); the scholastic decathlon team, lead by Taylor McKessie (Coleman); and regular musical stars, Sharpay (Tisdale) and Ryan Evans (Grabeel).  The only person who seems to actually be on their side is pianist and show writer Kelsi Nielsen (Rulin).

Once again, this movie is silly and juvenile.  The singing is what I would expect from a Disney production, but the actual music is not – although, I do have to say, the songs are catchy, and after watching it I found myself singing the closing song, “We’re All in this Together.”  The plot is somewhat completely ludicrous, and utilizes the age-old trope of various cliques within a high school being set against each other.  The way that they all come together in the end, however, is rather heartwarming.  This isn’t a movie that you should really expect much from, or think too much about, but rather watch when you just want to be entertained. 

The Perfect Man (2005)

Stars: Hilary Duff, Heather Locklear, Chris Noth, Mike O'Malley, Ben Feldman, Vanessa Lengies
Director: Mark Rosman
Genre: Comedy, Family, Romance
Rating: D

Is there such thing as a good Hilary Duff movie?  I’ve watched a good many of her movies and I usually enjoy them.  The acting’s not great and the story’s not great, but it’s fun and there’s usually good (albeit pop-y) music.  The Perfect Man, however doesn’t really meet those standards.  The acting isn’t good, the story isn’t good, it isn’t overly fun, and the music… the soundtrack has four Styx songs.  This should be a life lesson: if the soundtrack of a movie depends heavily on Styx don’t see it.  It’s probably not worth it.

Jean (Locklear) is pretty much a serial monogamous.  She enters into relationships with questionable men then, when things don’t work out, she picks up her life and moves.  While this semi-nomadic life appears to work for her, it does not work for her two daughters, Holly (Duff) and Zoe (Aria Wallace), who both long for stability.  Once settled in their newest home Holly devises a plan with new friend Amy (Lengies) to essentially trick her mother into staying.  Using the wisdom of Amy’s Uncle Ben (Noth) Holly creates a fictional admirer for her mother, so that they won’t enter into the usual pattern.  Hijinks ensue as Holly must work to keep her mother from meeting the real Ben and dissuade Jean from considering the many advances of co-worker and Styx fan, Lenny (O’Malley).  Throughout all of this, she also meets a cute boy (Feldman) who shows interest in her, and must deal with her feelings for him in competition with her fear of getting too attached to one place.  Oh, and she comes to determine that the real Ben is perfect for her mother, despite the fact that he appears to be engaged to another woman.

Even by the standards of your typical Hilary Duff movie, this is a pretty bad movie.  The plot is ludicrous and one has to question just how Holly is capable of keeping all her lies straight (there are a few moments when it really seems like if Jean was in any way intelligent she would be able to figure out that ‘Ben’ was fake).  You also have to question the believability of Locklear as a woman with the kind of dating history that she has.  I have no problem buying her as a serial monogamous or regularly in bad relationships.  She really seems more of the type to date the hot douche (in line with the kind of men that Locklear seems to date in reality) and not the bumbling idiot.  There’s also no real explanation for why some of the men that she dates are so horrible.  Yes, Lenny is a Styx fan and that’s questionable in itself, but despite the fact that he’s not really the brightest and doesn’t have the best taste he actually seems like he’s a pretty good guy.  In the land of a Duff movie, though, balding Styx fans are not respectable potential step-fathers.  Oh, also, as the film is set in… some part of New York where the accents are particularly horrendous, this movie also features Canadian actors with really bad fake New York accents.  Between the accents and the music, it is highly likely that this film might make your ears bleed.

The Pirates! Band of Misfits / In an Adventure with Scientists (2012)

Stars: Hugh Grant, Martin Freeman, David Tennant, Salma Hayek, Jeremy Piven, Imelda Staunton
Director: Peter Lord and Jeff Newitt

Genre: Animation, Adventure, Family

Rating: C

I’m not exactly sure where to begin in explaining my disappointment in this film.  Trailers for it made it look like a cute animated film about a band of pirates who aren’t exactly good at being pirates and are entering the Pirate of the Year competition.  Silly, yes, but cute.  And in the post-Pixar world, I think it’s safe to say that we’ve come to expect adult friendly children’s films.  Sadly, this really wasn’t what The Pirates! Band of Misfits (In an Adventure with Scientists outside of North America) was all about.  Yes, there were pirates, yes they were incompetent, yes there was a competition, but the actual plot was a lot more than just that – and it was in that extra development that the film really lost me.

The Pirate Captain (Grant) is the captain of a crew of pirate misfits; there’s the Pirate with a Scarf (Freeman), Peg-Leg Hastings, the Pirate with Gout, the Surprisingly Curvaceous Pirate, the Albino Pirate, and the Pirate Who Likes Sunsets and Kittens.  They are, very much rightly, ridiculed by the pirating world, especially by the Pirate Captain’s nemeses, Black Bellamy (Piven) and Cutlass Liz (Hayak), two surprisingly competent pirates who frequently win the Pirate of the Year Award.  Determined to prove himself, the Pirate Captain and his crew set out to prove themselves, and while doing so they board the Beagle and take Charles Darwin (Tennant) captive.  Yes, that Darwin.  It is at this point that the plot of the film becomes somewhat overly complicated; it is revealed that the Pirate Captain’s parrot is in fact the last remaining living dodo.  Darwin is very much your modern day stereotype of a science geek, - complete with an awkwardness around girls and a crush on someone far out of his league, specifically Queen Victoria (Staunton) – wants to take Polly to the Scientist of the Year awards, where he’s sure he will win both the top prize and the love and affection of the Queen.  The Captain, however, sees this as an opportunity for him to gather a huge booty and thus win the Pirate of the Year Award.  Queen Victoria, however, is adamantly against Pirates and also collects very rare and endangered animals, for her own devious means.  It is up to the Pirates and Darwin to save the day.

If that all seems a little ridiculous, it’s because it is.  In fact, it’s completely ridiculous and over the top.  It claims to be smart, but really it’s just over the top.  The humour is, for the most part, rather dull and a bit dimwitted, it’s talking down to its audience.  The premise of the plot is extremely implausible.  I love a good fantasy as much as the next person, but I hate it when something attempts to situate itself in the real world and then makes the plot overly complicated and unrealistic.  If it was just about a band of misfit pirates (as it was promoted) who were trying to win the Pirate of the Year award it would be one thing, or even if it was just about that time that Charles Darwin accidentally found a dodo hidden as a pirate’s parrot.  Combining the two just takes it over the top, as does Queen Victoria as the villain.  The characters are all really just absurd caricatures, presenting stereotypes and over the top ridiculousness.  In the post-Pixar world it is easy to expect more of a children’s movie, but The Pirates fails to deliver.

Dr. Seuss' The Lorax (2012)

Stars: Danny DeVito, Ed Helms, Zac Efron, Taylor Swift, Betty White, Rob Riggle

Director: Chris Renaud and Kyle Balda
Genre: Animation, Comedy, Family

Rating: C+

I was a bit disappointed by The Lorax.  The trailer for it made it appear to be a fun movie, a bit of comedy, a bit of romance, a bit of suspense, and the occasional musical number.  While technically it did follow through with this, it did so in a manner that left me wanting.  The story overall was good in theory, but somewhat poorly executed.  In many ways the walled city of Thneed-Ville appears to be a utopian society; everyone’s pretty happy and gainfully employed, and everything is very, very clean – largely due to the complete removal of nature.  Rather than have real trees, dirt, and everything that comes with that the world is covered in cement, Astroturf, and blow up trees, and oxygen comes in bottles.  Everyone is completely satisfied with this state of affairs – everyone, that is except Audrey (Swift), who dreams to see a real tree.  Enter protagonist and love interest Ted Wiggins (Efron), who sets out to find a tree for her, taking him beyond the walls of Thneed-Ville to the home of the Once-ler, who tells him the tale of the Lorax and the trees.  This brings him attention to corporate giant Aloysius O’Hare (Riggle), who has made his fortune from selling air and consequently does not want anyone to bring back the trees.

If you think that this sounds like an environmentalist, anti-corporation film you’d be right, and in that manner it does justice to the book that it’s based on.  I have no problem with the message in general, and in general it’s handled well although a bit heavy handed at times.  Some of it made me roll my eyes, particularly in regards to the use of bottled air, especially as there’s a lack of continuity there – the Thneed-Villians have to buy air for their home, but have no problem breathing outside, it’s just when they leave the city that this becomes an issue.  There is a difference between the ending of the book and the film; in the book, it’s rather ominous and fore boarding.  There is a sense of hope, but just a sense.  In the film, however, things are a lot happier in the end and there is a resolution.  Given the nature of the issue, however, I was a bit disappointed that there was a resolution; it’s an ongoing issue, and I disliked the way that it was resolved with a nice little song and dance.  The point of the book is that there is more to the issue of saving the environment than just the trees, but the trees provide a start.  The film implies more that if you save the trees then you save the world, and everything is hunky dory afterwards.

Other problems… I wasn’t amazed by the voice acting.  It really seemed a bit half assed, which was disappointing given some of the actors.  I don’t really expect much from Taylor Swift or Zac Efron when it comes to acting, but I do have expectations with other cast members, especially Betty White.  Danny DeVito was great, but I think his role was somewhat sidelined, which is odd given as he played the title character.  I was especially disappointed by the Once-ler.  In the book he’s a rather foreboding character, hidden except for his green arms.  It’s easy to believe that he’s this formerly malevolent character, who has seen the err of his ways and holds the last hope for humanity.  In the film, he’s really just a pathetic character who failed to listen to the Lorax, who didn’t have any real power to begin with, then faded into legend as the world was left to deal with the consequences of his actions.  It was a disappointment, as was the film overall.