Rating: 4 shurikens
This is another fine animated feature from DreamWorks. Dreamworks is a company that has tried to match the success of Pixar, by using similar animation techniques and stories. Most of the time, they don't come close, other times they do really nice work. The animation is not the main selling point, although the computer-generated animation genre relies heavily on it. At the core of any good animated movie is a story.
Despicable Me is a great story, about an evil genius who tries to find a caper that will dwarf all others, and insure him infamy and approbation of the public, and the admiration of other super-villains. It is a superhero story without any superheroes. Steve Carrell does the voice of Gru, who is mean and obnoxious, as well as a gross polluter. He drives a huge, ugly vehicle powered by smoke-belching rocket engines, and lives in an ugly house.
when the Great Pyramid is stolen, he is jealous of the real thief, unknown to him. He decides to commit a crime that will make the theft of the pyramid look like small potatoes, but he needs a loan from the Bank of Evil. Unexpectedly, three orphans selling cookies enter his life, and he hatches a plan to use them to further his evil ambitions. The orphans are so cute that they melt his heart, and to tell any more would give away too much of the story.
Gru is helped by his little minions, who resemble cheese puffs. The come in a variety of shapes and talk in unintelligible squeaks. They do most of the work in a secret underground lair below Gru's home.
Despicable Me is an excellent movie. The characters are believable, and the human interactions are just plausible enough to draw you in to the story. The orphans are very cute and loveable. The minions offer a little bit of sidebar humor, and the other villain, Vector, is a good counterpoint to Gru. The story is well-told, even though the plot is predictable. After all, it is a cartoon, and is probably aimed at a younger audience. Even so, it is a very well-spent hour and a half.
I give this one four shurikens, for humor and action, and an interesting story.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Toy Story 3
Rating: 5 Shurikens
The anticipated third installment of the Toy Story series has hit the theaters. It is every bit as entertaining as the first two. Told from the point of view of the toys, it is a bittersweet tale of a child's toys, after the child ha grown and no longer plays with toys. All of Andy's familiar toys are back, and are accientally donated to a day care center. They end up in the room with the very youngest children, and their ordeal is epic. The story is mostly about how they try to reunite with their old owner, even though their future would most likely be life in an attic.
Some other new toy characters are introduced, with their own stories of lost owners, and how they are affected by being lost or replaced. The characterizations are as amazinglly apt, each toy having a personality of its own. They interact as well as m0ost human actors, and in ways the story is more enjoyable than a lot of live-action movies. In fact, it is amazing that a cartoon, which is basically what Pixar movies are, can be so realistic in the depiction of how toys would look and act, and how they would feel if they were alive.
The first Toy Story movie was a ground-breaking expansion of the animated story, and Pixar has been churning out masterpieces ever since. Practically all Pixar movies are good, although some, like Rattatouille and A Bug's Life, are not as good as others, like Cars, Wall-e and Up. Still, even the worst Pixar movie is better than a lot of other studios' works.
The meeting of Barbie and Ken is classic, one of the highlights of the movie. The Potatoheads are great, and the Fisher-Price phone is awesome. Toy Story 3 is a good story, from beginning to end. Some of the story seems to write itself, and some of it is pretty scary stuff for little kids. And for adults, it's a cartoon that can make a grown man cry. It earns a full 5 Shurikens, for action and imagination.
The anticipated third installment of the Toy Story series has hit the theaters. It is every bit as entertaining as the first two. Told from the point of view of the toys, it is a bittersweet tale of a child's toys, after the child ha grown and no longer plays with toys. All of Andy's familiar toys are back, and are accientally donated to a day care center. They end up in the room with the very youngest children, and their ordeal is epic. The story is mostly about how they try to reunite with their old owner, even though their future would most likely be life in an attic.
Some other new toy characters are introduced, with their own stories of lost owners, and how they are affected by being lost or replaced. The characterizations are as amazinglly apt, each toy having a personality of its own. They interact as well as m0ost human actors, and in ways the story is more enjoyable than a lot of live-action movies. In fact, it is amazing that a cartoon, which is basically what Pixar movies are, can be so realistic in the depiction of how toys would look and act, and how they would feel if they were alive.
The first Toy Story movie was a ground-breaking expansion of the animated story, and Pixar has been churning out masterpieces ever since. Practically all Pixar movies are good, although some, like Rattatouille and A Bug's Life, are not as good as others, like Cars, Wall-e and Up. Still, even the worst Pixar movie is better than a lot of other studios' works.
The meeting of Barbie and Ken is classic, one of the highlights of the movie. The Potatoheads are great, and the Fisher-Price phone is awesome. Toy Story 3 is a good story, from beginning to end. Some of the story seems to write itself, and some of it is pretty scary stuff for little kids. And for adults, it's a cartoon that can make a grown man cry. It earns a full 5 Shurikens, for action and imagination.
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