Archive for Anime & Animation

Cars (Widescreen Edition) 2006

Posted on Aug 18, 2008 under Anime & Animation, Children & Family | No Comment

Cars (Widescreen Edition) 2006

 Cars (Widescreen Edition)

There's an extra coat of hot wax on Pixar's vibrant, NASCAR-influenced comedy about a world populated entirely by cars. Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson) is the slick rookie taking the Piston Cup series by storm when the last race of the season (the film's high-octane opening) ends in a three-way tie. On the way to the tie-breaker race in California, Lightning loses his way off Route 66 in the Southwest desert and is taught to stop and smell the roses by the forgotten citizens of Radiator Springs. It's odd to have such a slim story from the whizzes of Pixar, and the film pales a bit from their other films (though can that be a fair comparison?). Nonetheless, Cars is another gleaming ride with Pixar founder John Lasseter, who's directing for the first time since Toy Story 2. There's the usual spectrum of excellent characters teamed with appropriate voice talent, loads of smooth humor for kids and parents alike, knockout visuals, and a colorful array of sidekicks, including a scene-stealing baby blue forklift named Guido. Lightning's plight is changed with the help of former big-city lawyer Sally Carrera (Pixar veteran Bonnie Hunt), the town's patriarch Doc Hudson (Paul Newman), and kooky tow truck Mater (Larry the Cable Guy). The Incredibles was the first Pixar film to break the 100-minute barrier, but had enough story not to suffer; Cars, at 116 minutes (including some must-see end credit footage), is not as fortunate, plus it never pierces the heart. Trivia fans should have bonanza with the frame-by-frame DVD function; the movie is stuffed with in-jokes, some appearing only for an instant. Ages 5 and up.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Monsters, Inc 2002

Posted on Aug 18, 2008 under Anime & Animation, Children & Family | No Comment

Monsters, Inc 2002

Monsters, Inc. (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)

The folks at Pixar can do no wrong with Monsters, Inc., the studio's fourth feature film, which stretches the computer animation format in terms of both technical complexity and emotional impact. The giant, blue-furred James P. "Sulley" Sullivan (wonderfully voiced by John Goodman) is a scare-monster extraordinaire in the hidden world of Monstropolis, where the scaring of kids is an imperative in order to keep the entire city running. Beyond the competition to be the best at the business, Sullivan and his assistant, the one-eyed Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal), discover what happens when the real world interacts with theirs in the form of a 2-year-old baby girl dubbed "Boo," who accidentally sneaks into the monster world with Sulley one night. Director Pete Doctor and codirectors David Silverman and Lee Unkrich follow the Pixar (Toy Story) blueprint with an imaginative scenario, fun characters, and ace comic timing. By the last heart-tugging shot, kids may never look at monsters the same, nor artists at what computer animation can do in the hands of magicians.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Finding Nemo (DVD) Review

Posted on Aug 18, 2008 under Anime & Animation, Children & Family | No Comment

Finding NemoFinding Nemo (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)

Winner of the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, Finding Nemo continues the Disney tradition of producing high-quality, blockbuster films that entertain audiences of all ages. Featuring the wonders of the Pixar animation technology, the film is a breathtaking window into the future of animated pictures, with borderline 3-D visual effects and the introduction of original animated film techniques certain to influence future masterpieces. Boasting a slew of talented voiceovers such as Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Alexander Gould, Willem Dafoe, and John Ratzenberger, Finding Nemo is certain to maintain a place in the hearts of children of all ages for generations to come…

The epic story begins somewhere in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Australia. A clown fish named Marlin (Albert Brooks) lives a wonderful life in a peaceful underwater colony of fish and other fascinating sea life with his wife. However, that serene setting is demolished when a vicious predator attacks their home, killing his wife. Distraught, Marlin takes comfort in the egg left behind which grows into his son, Nemo (Alexander Gould).

Because of this early trauma, Marlin is extremely overprotective when it comes to Nemo. He follows a step behind everywhere his son goes, makes Nemo stay in the house whenever possible, and remains quite apprehensive about his son going to school. Marlin’s fears are realized when Nemo is captured on his first day of school and taken away to live in a fish tank on land. Intent on freeing his son, Marlin sets out on a bold and daring quest to retrace the path of the abductor’s boat.

Wandering through the ocean depths, he meets up with Dory (Ellen DeGeneres) – an absent-minded, yet friendly – fish who remains determined to help her new friend recover his lost son. Together, they encounter a pack of sharks and a countless array of diverse and fascinating underwater creatures.

Meanwhile, Nemo is plunged into a dentist office fish tank overlooking Sidney Harbor where he meets a number of new and exciting friends. The other aquatic life, long confined to the tank themselves, initiate Nemo into their fraternity, revealing the history of their attempts to escape. Enlisting Nemo as their point man (or fish), they concoct a number of schemes such as clogging the tank’s filter so they can make a break for it when they’re taken out for the tank cleaning. With the threat of the dentist presenting Nemo as a present to his nerdy niece, the stakes are raised for our young hero and time is of the essence…

Sporting one of the best written animated screenplays of all-time and a breathtaking original score by Thomas Newman, Finding Nemo is a pleasurable affair for both parents and children. The writers pull off an admirable job of combining adult and kid humor throughout the script in such a way that it doesn’t detract from the experience for either age group. With a number of likeable characters, the audience will find itself rooting for Marlin, Nemo, and all their friends to accomplish the task before them. Overall, this is a must-see film for all age groups, not only because of the great story and artful performances, but if anything, simply because the animation is a wonder in-and-of itself…

About the Author

Britt Gillette is author of The DVD Report, a movie review site where you can find more reviews like this one of the Finding Nemo (DVD) Review.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! Jim Carrey – Steve Carell

Posted on Mar 23, 2008 under Action & Adventure, Anime & Animation, Comedy, Family | 1 Comment

Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!I don't know if it was the movie or just that I was tired but I ended up falling asleep for a portion of this movie.  I know what it was, it was the movie.  Not to say that this movie is bad.  No, this movie is perfect for the  children between 3 to 12 years old.  I kind of compare this movie to Barney, perfect for kids, mind numbing for adults. 

Horton played by Jim Carrey is the elephant who has a captive audience of all the children in the forest and a huge influence on all of them finds a spec that he happens to find has a whole culture of WHO living on it.  And Hortan with his big ears can hear them.  But that is the problem, he is the only one who can hear them.  All of the adults think that he is making all of this up about the spec and such is influencing the children to believe in make believe and they can't have that.  So, one adult in particular takes it upon herself to try and get rid of the speek.  But anything that she does to get rid of the spec will destroy the WHO and Hortan has guaranteed to protect the WHO at all cost.

Steve Carell plays the Mayor of the town of the WHO who makes the initial contact with Horton and convinces him to take care of them and to get them to a safe spot so that nothing will happen to his beloved town and city.  His problem is that no one believe him either.  Actually, that don't have much confidence in him at all.  But he eventually does win over the town who also implore Horton to protect them also.

This movie is rated G and is for all in the family.  Small children will love and adore this movie.  All the children that were in my showing were laughing continuously throughout the entire film.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Enchanted – Amy Adams, James Marsden

Posted on Mar 21, 2008 under Action & Adventure, Anime & Animation, Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Romance | No Comment

Enchanted

What can I say about this one.  One thing that I can say is that Disney definitely thinks outside of the box.  To take a long lasting love story, re-invent it and drop it right smack in the middle of New York.  But not only that; instead of keeping with the same old musical format were everyone is nice and willing to give everything in the drop of a moment, they change that.  Some people are actually mean.  Not just the evil step mother and her infatuated counterpart, but the extras, the fillers.

When I look at movies and review them I try to look at the movie and it entertainment value.  Does this movie keep my attention?  Does it make me laugh?  Do I get deep feeling of love or hate during the movie.  Well, I have to say that I got every emotion that I previously described out of this movie.  I got hate when Nathaniel, the evil princes’ minion, kept trying to dispose of Giselle, the prince true love.  I felt happiness when the prince came to rescue Giselle.  I felt nervousness when I thought the prince would never find Giselle.  But the strongest feeling of all came when Queen Narissa was introduced as the evil step mother who did not want to give up her throne.Enchanted had a lot of ups and downs.  But the movie kept on movie me along.  I did not find any parts that I just lost interest in.  This is also a movie that the whole family will enjoy.  Not just the children but all the adults should enjoy this one.  This is definitely a rent or buy.  For me I chose to buy it, especially since it is a Disney movie.  They tend to pull these off the rack after a while and I did not want to miss having this one in my collection.

Popularity: 8% [?]