 Going back to the days of my childhood, I was one kid who would happily sit down and watch any 'Peanuts' specials TV would have to offer. While 'Great Pumpkin' and 'Charlie Brown Christmas' are titles everyone's familiar with, I was a bit deeper with things like 'Race for your Life, Charlie Brown', and even a really deep one called 'Why, Charlie Brown, Why?' involving a new girl in town who has to deal with Leukemia.
When it came to a 2015 movie adaptation of something as retro as 'Peanuts', of course, I feared the worst. The typical tends to be one of two painfully repetitive tropes (sometimes both). On one hand, they might try to "update" things as to what the studio thinks is "cool" - see 'Alvin and the Chipmunks'. On the other, you might get a fish out of water story involving fantasy characters in our world - see 'Smurfs'. But thankfully, the trailer for this ended up showing basically none of that. The only thing that has really changed here is the CG animated style. But what's truly amazing about it is that it's perhaps the most basic storyline Charlie Brown has ever really been through. The film opens with a bit of 'Peanuts' fan service. It opens in wintertime where we see the kids skating, and we see all of our favourites sort of doing their things. But then Charlie Brown (Noah Schnapp) enters the scene, trying to fly a kite while it's snowing, crashing into a tree, and the kid couldn't be introduced in a much better way. The rest of the gang gets distracted by a moving van that happens to be right across the street from Charlie Brown's house. Enter "The Little Red-Haired Girl" (Francesca Capaldi); the girl he ends up having an everlasting crush on. He wants to talk to her, but he's ultimately too shy, thinking she's something potentially too good for him. So the basic plot of the movie is simply Charlie Brown trying to do what it takes in order to win the Little Red-Haired Girl's heart. She has been a mainstay in 'Peanuts' for decades now, and this is sort of a more positive take on his feelings for her. Charlie Brown has to learn a lot about himself throughout the process here as well, whereas, in older specials, things were much more simplified and you just had a nervous boy with a crush. His faithful dog, Snoopy (the one and only Bill Melendez) helps him along the way as well, but he's got his own story going on with the origins of his ongoing battle with the Red Baron. In many ways, especially between the Red-Haired Girl and the Red Baron, this movie provides perhaps the best way to introduce the Peanuts gang to today's youth. On a personal level, I really, thoroughly enjoy this movie. While its most definite aim is at kids, there is something about the overall simplicity of it that I can't help but admire. It's incredibly respectful to the work of Charles Schulz, and does nothing to try to "make it hip". It was as though the creators watched every 'Peanuts' special and said "nothing that goes beyond any of this!" A good example is the fact that throughout the film, we see the kids using their home phones, still attached to their cords, and there's no sign of cell phone technology. Details like that really make things fit what 'Peanuts' is supposed to be. I truly admire the fact that they stayed true to Schulz's work. This has become one of my go-to movies for times of feeling blue, or inadequate. It's a bit nostalgic, considering it reflects a lot of those old 'Peanuts' TV specials. But more importantly, and as cheesy as it might sound, it just provides this ray of sunshine to the day. This is one of those nice little slice of life movies, it shows kids just being kids, it goes to no extremes with anything, and it just plain feels like 'Peanuts' should. This is one of those movies I can openly recommend to anyone. There's really nothing bad I can say about it. More than anything else, it's that final message the film has that some people could use sometimes. Otherwise, it's just a nice, warm throwback to those good old 'Peanuts' specials we all remember and love.  So, the thing with this title as that as a real, true "screening suggestion" from yours truly, I probably jumped the gun on this. I remembered enjoying this when I was a kid, but watching it now, I really didn't get much from it. So, allow me to try to salvage that because if you're at home with kids this could still be okay for certain reasons. But there's no way I'd recommend it any higher than anything else I have on this Don Bluth lineup.
In New Orleans, 1939, we meet dogs Charlie B. Barkin (Burt Reynolds) and his friend, Itchy Itchiford (Dom DeLuise) who escape a pound and return to their casino riverboat. Not wanting to share the profits of the casino with Charlie, his partner, Carface Caruthers (Vic Tayback) makes it clear he wants Charlie out of the picture, so has him killed by a dog named Killer (Charles Nelson Reilly). Charlie finds himself in Heaven where he's taught by an angel (Melba Moore) that all dogs get into Heaven due to being inherently good and loyal. However, instead of sticking around, Charlie winds back a pocket watch that represents his life in order to come back to life. To this, the angel states that due to such a stunt, he can never come back. Charlie keeps the pocket watch close as he returns to his life, soon finding out that Carface has since obtained a little girl named Anne-Marie (Judith Barsi) who can talk to animals, and therefore rig betting. Charlie and Itchy save her only to use her for their own purposes, while promising to find her a family in return. Of course this eventually leads to certain moral dilemmas on Charlie's part. We see this very clearly in a somewhat disturbing dream he has of a potential "Doggy Hell", and knowing he can't get back into "Doggy Heaven" is even more disturbing. But perhaps Charlie cares more for little Anne-Marie than he lets on and in the end, it could save his soul. When it's all said and done it is a genuinely odd mishmash of material. It's very much on the cutesy side of things with Anne-Marie, but often opposes that with very grown-up themes like Hell and demons, and even getting into the lifestyle of these gambling, drinking, smoking dogs. It's hard to really say who this movie is actually for. As a Screening Suggestion, however, I feel I should at least give it more justification. After all, there was something I enjoyed about this as a kid. What could it have been? I suppose if I really dig deep, there are certain aspects of this that introduced me to very real life situations while maintaining an innocence about it. For one, I had a dog at the time, and I actually do think that the way this ends is a heart-string tugger for anyone who has ever had the pleasure of a dog's company. So I suppose it's a good way to dabble in the darker aspects of life without getting too scary for the kids watching. It's not the best movie in Bluth's list, and I'd recommend it as a way to teach your kids about death and what follows, along with the concepts of "good" and "bad" the film carries with it. As an adult, you won't get much from this other than perhaps a little bit of nostalgia. Even I barely felt that aspect of it, and in truth, it was almost like watching it for the first time all over again. For me, it was an odd combination of things that suggested it was a touch more aimed at adults than kids, but the cutesy side of it gave it that balance. It felt like the movie wanted to be Batman but its mom told it that it needed to be 1960's Batman because anything beyond that was too dark. Other than it being a good way to teach your children about death, it does seem to have a certain appeal for others that I didn't completely get. So if nothing else, it may be worth checking out just to see how much you enjoy it for yourself.... Just be forewarned that the songs are generally pretty bad, so you might want that fast-forward button handy.  While I maintain that on the whole, 'Secret of NIMH' is probably my favorite Bluth film, it seems to go without saying that 'The Land Before Time' is the most popular. It has happened very under the radar, but this 1988 children's classic has spawned a grand total of 13 straight-to-video sequels; the last one coming out as recent as 2016. It's really cool to know that this has actually lasted so long, and that there's still an audience for it somewhere.
I would suggest that this is the Bluth film I feel most nostalgic for, however. This is the one that takes me back to my childhood days, and it was somewhat surprising how much of the dialogue I remembered, as I quoted along while watching with a big grin my my face. I can't deny that this viewing was fun for me, as it had been quite some time since I saw it. But I remembered the love I had for it as a kid, watching it time and time again with friend after friend because, hell, we all liked it. For some reason, dinosaurs were a huge thing in my childhood - and I'm talking years before 'Jurassic Park' came along to perfect it for us. The film first introduces us to the likes of Littlefoot the "Long Neck" (Gabriel Damon) and Cera the "Three Horn" (Candace Hutson), who become separated from their families during a bad earthquake. In the process, Littlefoot also tragically loses his mother (Helen Shaver) who, beforehand, was leading him and his grandparents to The Great Valley; a lush land full of food and water, necessary for their survival. She reminds him how to get there, and the poor kid has to venture there alone. He does, however, eventually come across a few friends who join in the perilous journey; apart from Cera, Ducky the "Big Mouth" (Judith Barsi), Petrie the "Flyer" (Will Ryan) and Spike the "Spiketail" (Frank Welker). Along the way, they must face many obstacles, including a vicious T-Rex named Sharptooth (also Frank Welker). One thing the film never seemed to lose for me was its overall sense of wonder. Composer James Horner along with the animators on this really do manage to take you away to this almost magical land of dinosaurs. Admittedly, the animation can certainly look dated here and there, but I'd urge you to pay closer attention to the backgrounds and environments than the characters, themselves. It does a fantastic job with scale, using very little. A solid reference point would be when Littlefoot's mother introduces him to "tree stars", and brings one down to him with her long Apatosaurus neck. In the meantime, Horner's score does a great job at setting the mood, whatever the case may be. 'The Land Before Time' was a great way to introduce dinosaurs that would speak to kids, and teach about love, death, teamwork, and even friendship among different races. There's a whole concept in here where dinosaurs stick to their kind because they're all different, but the journey includes five different breeds banding together to get to their common goal, as well as bring down a common enemy. And, get this, it does everything within the course of just over one hour. It's a very easy movie to sit down and watch at random, which is perhaps why I probably managed to wear out our VHS recording of it. Side note: recorded on the same tape was THIS half-hour claymation dinosaur musical special, starring 1980 Fred Savage.  This is one I haven't actually seen in years - long enough that the last time I saw it, I was totally ignorant to what this was really about. It's essentially a history lesson wrapped up in an adventurous package, giving you some idea of what Jewish families had to go through back in the late 19th century. The film was directed by Don Bluth, but produced by Steven Spielberg, and based on Spielberg's passion for history, this almost comes across as more him than Bluth.
The two would sadly eventually part ways with their creative differences. However, not before establishing the classic titles that are 'An American Tail' and 'The Land Before Time'; a couple of staples of 80s childhood. It's a shame, they seemingly made a pretty good team. Bluth's style of animation along with Spielberg's imagination made for some pretty awe-inspiring stuff. I'm wouldn't pretend to claim this as one of my favorites in the Bluth collection, really. But it does make my list of Screening Suggestions for the month just due to it being a little piece of cinematic history. If you as any 80's kid now (we're all in our late 30s/ early 40s) about 'An America Tail', I think most of us would look at it with fond memories... but we'd probably go on to say 'The Land Before Time' was better. And I say that while maintaining that I still think this is well done. As the film opens, in 1885, we are introduced to the Russian-Jewish Mousekewitz family as they celebrate Hanukkah. Papa (Nehemiah Persoff) tells his children, Fievel (Phillip Glasser) and Tanya (Amy Green) about the land of America; a land where the threat of cats apparently doesn't exist. Meanwhile, Mama (Erica Yohn) doesn't want Papa scaring the kids with a story about cats. Almost immediately after Papa's story, the human family they live with are the victims of an anti-Jewish attack from a group of Cossacks ("people of southern Russia and Ukraine, noted for their horsemanship and military skill"). To the mice, the threat is represented by cats. When all is destroyed, the Mousekwitz family decides to head to New York and away from the threat - or so Papa believes. While the family is on board a tramp steamer headed for America, a storm stirs up, and Fievel manages to lose the hat Papa handed down to him during the Hanukkah celebration. While chasing it down, however, Fievel becomes separated from his family and the steamer altogether. He manages to ride a bottle to Liberty Island and arrive safely, but the family is otherwise convinced he was killed in the storm. While on a mission to find his family, Fievel inadvertently finds himself teamed up with a group of mice, lead by Bridget (Cathianne Blore); an Irish mouse trying to rally a group in order to fight off the cats who everyone discovers are a part of America after all. The main thing I managed to remember from this movie was the song 'Somewhere Out There', which is by and large probably the most famous song to ever come from a Don Bluth film. It was nominated for an Oscar that year, but managed to lose to 'Take My Breath Away' from 'Top Gun' - both would eventually get a ton of radio play. Otherwise, I barely remembered the likes of the comedy relief characters; a bumbling cat named Tiger (Dom DeLouise), and a cockroach named Digit (Will Ryan) who was basically second fiddle to the film's primary antagonist, Warren T. Rat (John Finnegan); a character I forgot about altogether. I remembered the basics of Fievel being separated from his family, and trying to get back to them. All of the other material was something I forgot about, probably because I didn't entirely understand it at the time. Having said that, I think one would probably actually get a little more out of this as a teenager or adult. It seems to be aimed at impressionable children, but some of them might not be able to grasp some of what's going on. Personally speaking, I definitely got more out of the story now than I did as a kid. In a way, however, that's a bonus, as the film does nothing to talk down to kids. This one is a little more based in history and reality and has a bit more of a serious tone than the wonderful fantasy worlds Bluth otherwise tends to present us with. Personally, I still get more out of 'The Secret of NIMH' and 'The Land Before Time', but I'd still consider this a classic in it's own right.  For the month of March, I thought I'd take a look at the material of classic animator, Don Bluth, and some of his best and highest recommended material from yours truly. With that said, I have to be honest when I say this is also a re-watch for me with a lot of these titles, after spending at least a good decade in the back of my mind. We start this all off with a true classic; 1982's 'The Secret of NIMH'.
If I'm going to be talkign about Don Bluth's best material this month, this is for sure a great place to start, as it's arguably one of his best titles. Most people I know would argue 'The Land Before Time', but for my money, this is Bluth Golden Standard. It's everything you could possibly want from a Bluth movie. It's the perfect combination of fun, dramatic, and fantastic, and even kind of dark. Although it's not without its dashes of goofy comedy, most of this is a testament to how Bluth never wanted to talk down to kids. The fact of the matter is, story-wise, this could give your average Pixar film a run for its money today. In a small world that takes place on the Fitzgibbons' farm, we meet the likes of a widowed field mouse named Mrs. Brisby (Elizabeth Hartman, in her final role) and her family of four children; Theresa (Shannen Doherty), Martin (Wil Wheaton), Cynthia (Jodi Hicks) and the ill-fallen Timothy (Ian Fried). Without understanding Timothy's illness, Mrs. Brisby seeks out the help of Mr. Ages (Arthur Malet); an old friend of her late husband, Jonathan's. Mr. Ages diagnoses Timothy with pneumonia, and warns not to move him and allow him proper rest and medicine for about three weeks. In the meantime, the farmer intends to plow the field where they reside, which means the family must find a way to move without forcing Timothy out of bed, or he risks death. Mrs. Brisby then sets out on a journey, seeking help from the Great Owl (John Carradine), a bumbling crow named Jeremy (Dom DeLuise), and a clan of rats, lead by the seemingly ancient and wise Nicodemus (Derek Jacobi) who holds an intriguing secret based on the rats' friendly relationship with the late Jonathan Brisby. This all creates a more intense and interesting subplot to the film as well, throwing us all a bit of a curveball. Being that this one is from the early 80s, one can appreciate the fact that animation was much tougher to do back then, and Bluth proves to be extremely successful with it here. I absolutely love the dream-like atmosphere that this movie provides, and it's an odd case where I wouldn't actually want to see it cleaned up with CG. There's something about the oldschool animation here that gives this movie so much of its charm, and we'll learn Bluth pulls this off in his early days. Back in the 80s and early 90s, I'd say Bluth movies were to Disney what Dreamworks is to Pixar now - it's a bit of a "lesser" brand in theory, but in reality, sometimes the stories are just as good, if not better. It was an honest to God coin-flip for us kids. I didn't really pick up on this title until much later in my life, but I'm very glad I did, and in my own way, I regret not giving it a proper chance in my early days. I was born the same year this came out, so I've been familiar with the title as far back as I can remember. Nevertheless, this totally holds up, and it's actually a great example of a family film with a strong female lead, if you're looking for one. In its own way, it provided that nostalgic factor, regardless of the fact that I saw it for the first time well into my twenties. That all comes from the style, and the memory that Don Bluth had a way of providing that escape from reality very easily. It's one of the best examples of his more dream-like stuff, and it really does take you away into a whole other world. It's Bluth fantasy at its peak.  Sometimes when I do these Screening Suggestions, the review will be on a movie I haven't seen yet, but has been highly recommended to me. In these cases, my readers can take the "suggestion" to come from my peers rather than me, but I won't post unless it's something I'm fairly certain I'll agree about. The point of Screening Suggestions is to suggest titles one might enjoy, while at the same time being sure it's something I'd recommend based on my own tastes.
In the case of '9', it seems people understand what it is I look for in movies. I went into it fairly blind, but all in all really liked it by the end. This one is fueled by the wondrous imagination of director Shane Acker, whose short film of the same name was nominated for an Oscar in 2005. This is essentially the "full version" of what he was going for, assisted by screenwriter Pamela Pettler, best known for movies like 'The Corpse Bride', 'Monster House' and the more recent animated 'Addams Family'. Together, they make a pretty good team. Even though this was pretty well met in the middle, as far as critics were concerned, it's just otherworldly and interesting enough of an idea that it didn't take much to rope me in. We start things off with a brief monologue about how "life must go on", and are soon introduced to 9 (Elijah Wood); a sort of mechanical sack doll, brought to life through a scientist (Alan Oppenheimer). It turns out the scientist has made 8 others as well, making up a pretty star-studded cast; the frail but friendly 2 (Martin Landau); the cycloptic engineer, 5 (John C. Reilly); the mentally unstable oracle, 6 (Crispin Glover); the stubborn leader, 1 (Christopher Plummer); two scholarly but silent twins, 3 and 4; and the somewhat mysterious and rebellious female, 7 (Jennifer Connelly). To make a long story short, the general plot has to do with their survival against machines that have wiped out mankind. While most wish to hide, 9's idea is to go on the offensive. There's a pretty deep setup to the film that is revealed more than half-way through, giving an explanation as to these sac people's existence. Things end up being a bit of a stretch, considering it's an alternative version of the 1930s and could just be "near future" for its general purposes. In the end, the message is essentially the idea that in the wrong hands, technology can be disastrous to mankind. In many ways, it's reminiscent of 'WALL-E', but this time around there's use of alchemy and magic, and it takes place in a war-torn past rather than the distant future. It's an interesting fantasy, and a sort of "what if" story, but you certainly need a fair share of imagination to get yourself through it. One thing I really liked about this one was just in how dark things tended to get. They've got such concepts in here as soul-sucking, death, what might lie beyond death, and I have to admit that it really earns its PG-13 rating. It's a decent title for anyone looking for a fun, animated adventure that has a sense of edginess and even a certain darkness to it. It's not at all long, so it's a very easy watch, and its atmosphere really brings you into its post-apocalyptic world - you're very much on this adventure with these sac people (or "Stitchpunks" as they have become otherwise known), and it does tug on every little emotion, even if only for a second. While the film isn't entirely what I'd call a masterpiece, it's very well done for what it is, gets its message across quite plainly, and even if you don't like this, there's always the Oscar-nominated short. Speaking for myself, the main draws lie in the all-star cast, the atmosphere and the overall adventure. Although It's perhaps something darker and edgier, complete with a scary scene or two, it's still something the whole family can watch and enjoy. Opinions will vary, but I for one loved it, and I can see it as something I may keep coming back to in the near future if I really need an escape. If you want to be transported to another world, it's a good place to look.  Taking place in 1886, we meet adventurer Sir Lionel Frost (Hugh Jackman). Frosts specialty is the seeking out and proving the existence of modern mythical creatures, which could lead to his dream of being accepted into the Society of Great Men, lead by Lord Piggot-Dunceby (Stephen Fry). To prove himself worthy, Frost makes his next mission to prove the existence of the elusive Sasquatch, after receiving a letter that claims them to be real.
Frost then travels to the Pacific Northwest and soon meets the Sasquatch (Zach Galifianakis), who speaks perfect English and claims to be the one who wrote the letter that lead Frost here. His motivation is to have Frost help him find his relatives, the Yetis, so that he can find a home and not be so lonely anymore. Frost agrees to help, and get assistance from his old lover, Adelina Fortnight (Zoe Saldana), who has a map to the Himalayas, and along the way helps to develop Frost's character. On their tail, however, is a bounty hunter named Willard Stenk (Timothy Olyphant) who has been recruited by Piggot-Dunceby to seek out to kill Frost to ensure the views of the Society of Great Men go unchallenged. Though Stenk provides a constant threat through the film, a lot of the story is about accepting the "different", and looking past one's pride to see the good in that difference. This is perhaps most well-illustrated by the fact that Mr. Link (as Frost calls him) wants to change his name to Susan. On the surface, the simple reason he wants to be called Susan is that he remembers coming across an explorer named Susan who didn't freak out when she saw him, and she was therefore admirable enough to name himself after. It's played for laughs, but at the same time, it's LAIKA once again standing up for certain rights - Mr. Link wants to be referred to as a woman. Something similar comes up in 'ParaNorman' when we find out a certain character is gay, and to me, it's clear that LAIKA is a company that tries to do the right thing. They still have some ground to cover, but they do a better job than many. One thing all of the LAIKA films have had in common up until this point is playing with certain elements of horror. They all have something to fear in them, whether it be having button eyes, zombie attacks, mankind, the list goes on. In fact, "mankind" is a pretty common theme among them, but it's probably nowhere more evident than here. It's not so much about mankind being the hunter, as something like this would usually do, but mankind just being ugly altogether. Nowhere is that more evident than the "Society of Great Men", who are really just a bunch of snobby assholes who want Frost dead just so their conservative views aren't challenged - yeah, LAIKA can get pretty grown up. Of the collection, I'd have to say that this one is easily the most light-hearted (despite all that was just said) and easiest one to show the kids. LAIKA deals with mature subject matter a bit more to simply dub them as "family movies", but this one is also quite a nice story with a likable, well-developed lead. Somewhere between here and 'Boxtrolls', you have the LAIKA films that the whole family can pretty well watch with no real trouble. The others all have at least a little something that's very disturbing, but the storytelling is always great stuff. It's my humble opinion that LAIKA is easily one of the best animation studios out there, and year by year, they are robbed of a potential Oscar (generally by worthy movies), but it seems to go the way of Ghibli - often nominated, never winning, and even Ghibli got theirs for 'Spirited Away'. Regardless of awards, as we wrap up LAIKA month, I can fully admit that I would highly recommend any film within the LAIKA animation collection. 'The Corpse Bride', 'Coraline', 'ParaNorman', 'The Boxtrolls', 'Kubo and the Two Strings' and 'Missing Link' are all super high on my list for beautiful animation, wonderful storytelling, and above all else, not treating their youthful audience as a bunch of goofy, mindless kids. There are mature and even frightening themes within their list, and it may interest one to know that 'The Adventures of Mark Twain', whose Devil figure has pretty well become a disturbing meme nowadays, is theirs as well. LAIKA is a great company, not afraid to "go there", and I can't wait to see what they have in store for their next project.  While I consider 'ParaNorman' my favorite title in the LAIKA collection, 'Kubo and the Two Strings' provides that potential coin-flip for yours truly, in that I might consider it the best LAIKA film. It's my opinion that a "best" and "favorite" are separate entities - the "best" being the film you'd recommend anyone watching, and "favorite" being the one that you have a personal attachment with. I think this one gets overlooked far too much, and it's powerful stuff for those of us who don't tend to hide the emotion we get from a good story.
The directorial debut of one, Travis Knight ('Bumblebee'), 'Kubo' is the story of a 12-year-old boy named, well, Kubo (Art Parkinson), whose left eye was taken from his grandfather, the Moon King (Ralph Fiennes), Setting the stage for what's to come, the film lets you know right away that it's not messing around. Kubo takes care of his Mother through the nights, who is evidently suffering from Alzheimer's. He makes a living for them, playing his two-stringed shamisen (a Japanese string instrument, similar to a guitar) for the local villagers, and creating origami magic from his music. The paper and his words tell the tale of a samurai warrior named Hanzo; his father. He never finishes, however, as his Mother warns him not to stay out after dark due to the Moon King, and her two sisters, Karasu and Washi (both Rooney Mara) will get him and take his remaining eye. Kubo learns of the Bon Festival, where the living pay their respects and speak to the dead. Kubo goes to try to communicate with his father, and find out who he really was without all of his warrior glory. This keeps him out late, and Kubo is attacked by the two aforementioned sisters. With the sisters and his grandfather hot on his heels, going after his other eye (it is eventually explained why), Kubo ends up living out his own story, finding himself on a journey to find his father's magical armor, and fighting alongside a protective Monkey known as "Monkey" (Charlize Theron) and a bumbling samurai beetle known as "Beetle" (Matthew McConaughey). I know, unoriginal names, but wait until the end because there's even a reason for that. While 'Coraline' is the obvious fan favorite, I still consider this one to probably be the best overall. There's so much imagination and magic with so many underlying grown-up themes, it's one I feel the whole family could watch and get something out of, quite easily. Although, as LAIKA goes, I have to warn that there's some petty creepy stuff going on in this film - like a kid whose grandfather took his damn eye when he was a baby, and wants his other one for whatever the hell reason (again, explained eventually). So, like the whole "button eye" thing in 'Coraline', I could see things getting uncomfortable for the young ones. Still, that creepy plot-line aside, there's plenty of really beautiful animation, and awesome set pieces (including an underwater eye garden... Jesus, what's with LAIKA and eye stuff?), plus this has a really catchy soundtrack, using the shamisen. There's even a half-decent cover of 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' during the end credits. It earned two Oscar nominations, including Best Animated Feature and Best Visual Effects, losing them to 'Zootopia' and 'The Jungle Book', respectively (both well-earned). Finally, it's the highest-ranked LAIKA film on Rotten Tomatoes with a whopping 97%. So maybe all of that means very little nowadays, but one can still look at that and say that the film is, overall, well-liked. Accolades aside, I personally love it based on how much imagination was put into it. I consider it the idea of an anime-style film, but using LAIKA's stop-motion model. While that idea might turn a few people off, I just think it adds to the creativity of it all. Watching this film, at least for myself, is kinda like sitting through someone else's dream. It's beautifully shot, the characters are fantastical, the sets themselves are incredibly dream-like at times, and when it's all over, that cover song sends you off with a bit of a lullaby tone. It's a wonderful film, it gets deep, and I highly recommend checking it out if you're in the mood for a really cool adventure.  In the grand scheme of the LAIKA collection (at least the 6 full-length stop-motion features), I think it's safe to say that this one's likely my least favorite of the bunch. That's saying a lot about how much I enjoy LAIKA studios' creations though, because I still like this one quite a bit. It's just a touch more low-brow and gross-out than the others.
LAIKA likes to play with horror elements, while maintaining a light-hearted, comedic tone - this one uses gross-out stuff. 'ParaNorman' was a modern B zombie movie, 'Coraline' is a bit of a 'Body Snatchers' thing, and 'The Corpse Bride' is a little more of an old school 'Bride of Frankenstein' deal (very loosely). That's how I see them, anyway. They all seem to be a bit of a love letter to older styles. The rest will be covered as the reviews for the month continue, but this one is a neat way of doing the reverse fear factor, where the real person to fear is scarier than the "threat" at hand - which, by the way, 'ParaNorman' already did, but there IS more morality to this than just that. Based on the children's novel, 'Here Be Monsters' by Alan Snow, the film tells the tale of a human boy known only as "Eggs" (Isaac Hempstead Wright) who is raised by a community of creatures called Boxtrolls. These creatures come out at night, after curfew, in a town called Cheesebridge. They basically come into town, steal a bunch of seemingly useless stuff, and retreat into their underground home. What they steal helps their community function, and the mean no harm to anyone, least of all Eggs. The town hates them, however, and accuses them of stealing a baby referred to as the "Trubshaw Baby", who we realize from the get-go is Eggs. The town villain, Archibald Snatcher (Ben Kingsley) wants nothing more than a White Hat, which is a high class status symbol that will allow him to sit at a VIP table and taste cheese - even if it does make him react, shall we say, negatively. Lord Portley-Rind (Jared Harris) strikes a deal with him that if he can exterminate all of the "evil" Boxtrolls, he will receive his own white hat. Everything happens very quickly, earning the movie extra points for fast set-up that one can follow very easily. One by one, the Boxtrolls get captured, and before long, Eggs sets out into the light where, with the help of Rind's daughter, Winnie (Elle Fanning), he hopes to rescue his underground family, and bring to the attention of all the townsfolk that Boxtrolls are not to be feared. I claim this one as my least favorite due to a few things that are easier to nitpick about it. The big one, for me, is how the hell Eggs can speak English when he was raised from his baby years by a bunch of grunting, gibberish-talking trolls. There's a few other things, but none of it actually ruins the movie for what it's trying to do. It's like bowling and picking up a spare rather than getting a strike. It's good, but a little adjustment would have made it better. Again, nitpicks. The fact of the matter is, it's aimed at kids, so it works just fine. But maybe that's part of my personal disappointment as well. Up until now, these movies had a genuine creepiness to them, and this is where LAIKA starts to lighten things up a bit. There's more to appreciate here than criticize. The animation and the underground Boxtroll home provides the viewer with a strange and twisted fictional world straight out of a dream. 'Coraline' did it better, but still, this is a well-detailed film with well-detailed sets and characters. The voice acting is great, too. Snatcher is assisted by three people who, in my opinion, really make the film; Mr. Trout (Nick Frost), Mr. Pickles (Richard Ayoade) and Mr. Gristle (Tracy Morgan), all doing great voice work for their respective characters, including Morgan, which means a lot coming from yours truly. Last time I heard him do a voice, he butchered Captain Caveman in 'Scoob'. Then there's the Boxtrolls themselves, voiced primarily by Steve Blum, Dee Bradley Baker, Pat Fraley and Fred Tatasciore - voice actors whose resumes are so huge they're ridiculous. I suppose I look down on this one a little more because I feel like it borrows from things that LAIKA has already done, specifically the moral of unnecessarily fearing something, which 'ParaNorman' did better. But that's also what 'ParaNorman' was all about. This film goes deeper by also giving us a moral about status and whether or not someone really needs it to be happy. So I guess it's easy enough to overlook my nitpickiness on this one, because it's one of those films where as soon as you see a flaw, it's forgiven by something it does well, and the good really does outweigh the bad here. It may not be my favorite in the collection, but it could easily be yours if you give it a chance.  This month, I thought I'd leave an area for some light-hearted material by taking a look at the LAIKA library. In case some of you are wondering about the missing LAIKA titles, here's my review for 'Coraline', and as far as 'The Corpse Bride' goes, I figured it would be best saved for a Tim Burton Month, whenever I decide that will be. We kick things off this month with my favorite film from the studio, 'ParaNorman' - a film I have a strangely deep connection with, but I'll get into why in a bit.
Norman Babcock (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is a strange child. People on the streets see him talking to imaginary people, and his family and peers grow weary of his stories that consist of his strange ability to communicate with the dead. That's not so much in a Ouija, seance form as a 'Sixth Sense', straight up talk to them form. His father (Jeff Garlin) and sister, Courtney (Anna Kendrick) give him a particularly hard time with it, as he insists that he has convos with his grandmother, right there in the living room, as she watches B movies with him. However, soon, he makes a friend who accepts him for who he is, named Neil (Tucker Albrizz). Just when things are starting to look up for Norman, his deranged hobo-ish and dying uncle, Mr. Prenderghast, warns him about protecting his town from a witch's curse. Now that his time is almost up, he has to pass the torch to Norman, who he knows can communicate with spirits, and can therefore keep the curse at bay by reading a bedtime story at the witch's grave site. Upon reading from the book he gets from Prenderghast, however, he unleashes a horde of zombies who begin advancing on his hometown of Blithe Hollow. Now it's up to Norman, Neil, and Courtney, along with the aid of school bully, Alvin (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) and Neil's big brother, Mitch (Casey Affleck) to put a stop to the zombie invasion, and put the witch to rest again. Going back to what I mentioned before about having a deep connection with it, I've always felt a few things about it. I feel like the child version of me can relate to Norman a lot in this, being the misunderstood outcast who's seldom taken seriously. But more than that, without going into it too much, my relationship with my Dad felt very similar to Norman's with his, and I had just lost my father a month before this was released. Something about it really spoke to me, and even taught me a thing or two, and one could say it even offered a bit of closure. Odd coming from a film like this, but that's how it all felt when I first saw it. Putting me and my stuff aside, however, there's plenty for anyone to like here. Neil is an extremely likable character who you really urge Norman towards, because he doesn't see him as a loser or a freak, and he's ever in his corner through the whole movie. His big brother is hilarious, being a sort of meat-headed jock type, with a lot of dumb moments. But what really makes his character is a twist about him in the end you don't really see coming. Everyone has a moment or two here though, it's a lot of fun watching such an odd team up once the film gets going. Perhaps the film's best overall message is to not judge a book by its cover, to keep it plain and simple. It's a theme that keeps popping up here and there, not limited to Norman's odd ability, and having people accept him. I like to tell people who are new to it, that it's essentially 'The Sixth Sense' for a younger audience, and instead of relying on scares, it relies on well-timed comedy. I highly recommend this title as a family watch for the Halloween season, being that it made my 20 Family Friendly Halloween Classics list in 2017. There's a lot here for just about anyone watching, complete with comedy, creepy atmosphere, funny characters voiced by talented actors, and it might even make one take a good hard look at oneself. Check it out. It's my highest recommendation on the LAIKA list - yes, even over 'Coraline'.  Continuing onto more familiar territory for everyone, let's take a look at Trey Parker and Matt Stone's probably most famous film - the 'South Park' movie. Hell, this was even in the running for Best Original Song for the 2000 Oscars. The song was 'Blame Canada', and I actually remember being kinda PO'ed about it at the time. But that was before I really got it. It was more a take on the way the stereotypical American patriot may see us Canadians rather than just a song that makes fun of Canada. Satire at its best, really.
Being released in the summer of 1999, one should probably keep in mind before watching this that it was released just as the show was getting into its third season. So plenty of what we see in 'South Park' nowadays is yet non-existent for this film. Timmy and Jimmy didn't exist yet, and Butters was there, but really just some background kid at the time, getting his name the following month in the 'Two Men in a Hot Tub' episode... I may know too much about 'South Park'. Anyway, the film's plot centers, brilliantly enough, on a movie adaptation of the boys' favourite raunchy show, 'Terrence and Phillip'. The film manages to completely appall parents, while the kids are absorbing all of the wonderful new foul language it provides, seeing it over and over again and causing problems at school. This ultimately leads to Kyle's Mom taking matters into her own hands, and starting an all out war with Canada due to the harm the movie seems to be doing to their childrens' fragile little minds. The whole movie is pretty much, at least from my perspective, a farce onto itself. It's a metaphor for how censors and the like, will completely overreact to certain situations like movies or video games, without taking some of the responsibility themselves. It's a statement that it's much easier for people to point the finger than blame themselves. The film also plays out like something of a classic Disney animated adventure, in that there's song after song after song, making it a bit of a musical as well. This title also carries some of Trey's best song writing with songs like 'Up There' - seemingly a farce on 'The Little Mermaid's 'Part of Your World' in which Satan is singing about coming to Earth. Let's not leave out the enlongated version of 'Kyle's Mom's a Bitch' either, which is taken from the first season's Christmas special. If I'm perfectly honest, I feel like this movie actually makes for a great intro to what 'South Park' really is all about. It wears this deceptive mask of raunchy comedy with so many of its visuals and so much of its dialogue. But peaking from behind that mask, 'South Park' covers social and political issues with a lot of the subtext. If you can see past a lot of the rude comedy, you can find some brilliant writing, and this film is no exception. Even being such an early addition to 'South Park's library, I can still go back and watch this one today without it feeling too old or outdated. Great for any fan of the show!  We wrap up the year of 2018 with a Screening Suggestion (save a couple of Now Playing reviews) for Christmas Day. As I type this, it's actually far past Christmas Day, sadly, but hey, keep in in your pocket for next year because this is pretty much the end all be all of classic Christmas specials out there that have withstood the test of time.
This is another 20-someodd-minute special that does everything it needs to within its running time, and is a revisit for me every single year. While I clearly stated that 'A Claymation Christmas Celebration' is my favourite Christmas Special of all time, this one is damn close - it's certainly my favourite mainstream one, without question. This Christmas Special sees Charlie Brown in a down and out funk over the holidays. Christmas is coming, magic is in the air for everyone, his friends are playing in the snow and skating, everything ought to be all good. However, Charlie is kinda stuck on what the true meaning of it all really is while others around him succumb to the overall commercialism of the holiday. Snoopy throws up a light display to try to win some cash, his little sister writes a note to Santa asking for some cash, it all just makes him depressed because the magic of it all seems to have faded. Lucy, therefore, suggests that he should get involved with the holiday by directing the Christmas play. Of course, everyone kinda just brushes him off and doesn't take his direction seriously, providing us with a sort of constant Peanuts dancing scene, and ultimately frustrating Charlie Brown to no end. Of course, when Linus takes the stage and tells us all what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown reconsiders the grand scheme things. There's more to it, involving a decrepit tree and whatnot, but I could also sit here and give you a play-by-play of the episode for what it's worth. The real takeaway from this Christmas special is that the commercialism of Christmas isn't something that's gonna go away anytime soon, but if you look hard enough, you can certainly find that Christmas magic somewhere, still. Again, this one is short and sweet, well worth the view, and holds up quite well to this day. There really is something timeless about Peanuts, and this Special is living proof.  Here's another Rankin/Bass Christmas special that's pretty much just as, if not more, popular than 'Rudolph'. Perhaps not as much controversy is drawn to this one, though, so it's pretty well skimmed over every year. People still watch and enjoy it as an annual tradition, but one must admit that its kinda been pushed to the background lately - and unnecessarily so. This is actually one of the best all-around family-friendly Christmas specials in existence. It's HARD to find anything wrong with it.
Much like 'Rudolph', as one might imagine, this is basically an unfolding of the 'Frosty' song in visual form. However, this one is far more basic in its execution, at just a 24-minute run-time, and involving just a few main characters. The whole thing starts on Christmas Eve at a school house where the kids are anxious to get out and play in the Christmas snow. Their teacher brings in a magician to try to distract and entertain the class, by the name of Professor Hinkle (Billy De Wolfe). The kids don't think much of him, and when the bell finally rings, they ditch him to go build a snowman. Hinkle's hat blows onto the new snowman's head, and "Frosty" (Jackie Vernon) - as dubbed by our main character, the young Karen (June Foray), comes to life. The special unfolds as we kinda follow it along with the way the song goes. The kids see that its getting a bit warmer, and Frosty is starting to melt, so Karen takes it upon herself to get Frosty to the North Pole, where he can stay intact forever. Meanwhile, however, Karen is suffering in the constant cold, putting Frosty in a nasty position. He needs the cold to stay alive, but its slowly making Karen very ill. Of course, this all leads to the end sequence where Santa comes in to save the day, but again, it's not just a convenient arrival on his part. He's there to give the viewers a bit of a life lesson, as well as instill the overall Christmas spirit in us all. It all moves pretty quickly, but here we have a cute, completely family-friendly and kid-friendly Christmas special that has somehow withstood the test of time. It's one of few left that you never fail to see come on TV every single year, its never been remade, and any sort of sequel it has just can't been compared to the classic. In my own way, I almost see this as the ultimate fail-safe Christmas special. Its about a snowman, there's really no religious connotations to it, so everything's safe there, and the main villain is just some dude who wants his hat back. It's in no way mean-spirited, it's short and sweet, easy for a kid to get through, and is just about bound to put a smile on your face in the end. Even if you're older, this one does a good job of re-injecting that Christmas spirit into the old blood stream. The ONLY slight problem I see with it is that its pretty dated for today's youth. But still. Everyone needs to see it at least once. It's a classic.  Let's face it. Rudolph has been the victim of a whole whack of crazy controversy lately, along with various other Christmas traditions. 'Rudolph' is too mean-spirited and even sexist, 'Baby, It's Cold Outside' is a song about being taken advantage of, and there's even been a bunch of crap going on right now about Santa "needing" to be gender-fluid (which isn't exactly as blown out of proportion as all that, thank God) - basically, the overall Christmas spirit has been shot right in the face this year, and everyone's got a problem with something. I have my own opinions on things, but for now, I'd like to throw in my two cents about the 'Rudolph' controversy.
This is a special that I've held close to my heart since I was a little kid. There were a few specials that aired on TV that were must-sees every year, and this was one of the big ones. People even forget there are two more Rankin/Bass specials like this; 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town' and 'The Little Drummer Boy', which no one ever seems to talk about these days. This pretty much translates to 'Rudolph' being the stand-out special among the three. So, what the hell is so wrong with it? Let's get into it. The basic plot is the song just being drawn out into a story. Rudolph, with his red nose, and an Elf named Hermey who wants to be a dentist, become runaways when their respective friends and family are assholes about them being so different. In their travels, they run into a prospector named Yukon Cornelius, and the three have a little adventure involving an Island of Misfit Toys, an Abonimable Snowman, and growing up via 'Lion King' style montage. It all just leads to Rudolph returning home, learning the lesson of not being able to run from your problems. I mean, spoiler alert I guess, but I have to make that my first defense. The other takeaway is that Santa sees Rudolph as just a reindeer with a birth defect, until he realizes that he can use him. Either is valid, but the point I'd like to make is that no one seems to be able to find the positives in this Christmas special anymore. Many of these "controversies", if you will, are all things that are fair debate. As a matter of fact, I agree with some of it. The primary example is that Santa, Donner (Rudolph's Dad) and even Comet, are gigantic assholes. But here's the thing, apart from maybe Santa (just because he's Santa) I never had any REAL complaints about this because, dammit, that's what this special is about! Rudolph runs away because of all the ridicule, grows up, and returns with the idea in his head that he cant's run from his problems. But that's just the beginning of the positive takeaways I get from this special. Let's talk about Clarice; the love interest doe who barely shows up throughout, but always has something good to do or say. The prime examples include her telling Rudolph that she likes him because he's different, and her and Donner's wife setting out on their own despite Donner's comment. He says "this is man's work" so they're like "oh, okay, we'll just go on our own to find Rudolph then", thus taking matters into their own hands. Clarice also has the song "There's Always Tomorrow", which was encouraging to those of us who had a lot of bad days as children. The idea of "tomorrow is another day" mostly came from her, for me. And then what about Rudolph, himself, setting out on his own so as not to endanger his friends? I suppose this could be seen as either selfish or selfless, but in my head, it's just him trying to do the right thing. Herbie also gives us the idea of following your dreams despite how ridiculous people around you might find it. I'd even say Yukon is a good example of someone who is unapologetically himself. So, at the end of the day, most of the negatives this special has recently conjured up, do have some sort of a balance to them. The problem is that people aren't looking at things right. I'll be the first to admit that there are some things I can agree with people on (Santa's still a total jerk in this), but it's blown out of proportion now. For me, that was always just a funny realization. I never, in any way thought negatively about the special itself for any reason whatsoever. For me, the positives one can take away from this actually manage to outweigh the negatives. So, think of it what you will, but this is a Christmas tradition that has lasted since the 60s. I'd say, if you do find yourself with these protesters, give it another shot after reading what I have to say. Hopefully you can find new things to like about it.  With the release of the new animated 'Grinch' movie, along with the live action remake from 2000, I thought I'd tackle the one and only old school version of 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' as the Screening Suggestion among the bunch. One, because this month I'm focused on some of the more legendary Christmas specials. But two, because dammit, this is still the best version - and I'm saying that without even giving the new one a chance. It's something I feel I can get away with, mostly because they've apparently softened him up quite a bit, which pretty much goes against everything this special was all about. But I digress, let's dive into it.
We meet the Grinch as he stands on top of Mount Crumpit, surveying Whoville, busying themselves with the preparation of Christmas. He narrates about how much he hates the whole thing, and devises a plan to quite literally steal Christmas away from the Whos. This is achieved by taking away Christmas trees, stockings, candy, toys, food, whatever he can get his hands on that is symbolic to Christmas. Hell, he even takes the last can of Who Hash, whatever that is. The idea is to make the Whos miserable on Christmas morning - my own takeaway being that it's some sort of bitter payback for his years of loneliness and sadness. He wants these Whos to feel what he's feeling. He wants to give them a day of misery without all of their joyous noise, which is the real trigger for him. And I never needed a whole backstory to get that into my head with this 24-minute special. Basically, what we have here is a recluse, antisocial asshole. So, spoiler alert (if it can be called that, at this point in the game), the Grinch, of course, has a three-sized change of heart in the end when the Whos all come out singing, despite missing all of their stuff. This is a special that lends itself to the true magic of Christmas, in the sense that as long as love is in your heart, Christmas will always come when it's due. Nothing material can take away from the love of your family and friends. It ends on this super happy note, and the Grinch is even invited to feast with the Whos after giving everything back. This is a title that teaches kids (or at least it somewhat managed to teach me) that material possessions aren't what makes Christmas so special. An important message to get through to kids, as let's face it, kids are ALL ABOUT the presents! I know I was. While the other films probably have more interesting and thorough storylines to them, the end message is always the same (at least I'd have to imagine it didn't change for the new one), and this says everything it needs to in 24 minutes: The Grinch hates Christmas 'cause it annoys him, and he wants to take it away so the Whos can be as miserable as he is for a day. Done. While the remakes will, no doubt, hold their place in people's movie collections, there's still just no comparison. I enjoy Jim Carrey's portrayal of the Grinch, but I've found that movie has aged kinda roughly - Jim being the only thing that really saves it for me, anymore. And as far as the new one, again, why soften him up? He's supposed to be a jerk, just make him a jerk. Again, I have yet to see it, but I can't imagine it would have anything on this age-old Christmas special that has withstood the test of time incredibly well. It's just a fun time with a positive message at the end, and still holds several laughs with that undying Chuck Jones animation.  While everyone in the world was seemingly still preoccupied with the battle of 'Frozen' vs 'Tangled', with 'Frozen' kinda crushing it because of one very annoying song, some of us went the other direction by 2014 and absorbed this movie as our escape from those "Princess Wars". This was just a straight up animated family feature about, for lack of a better term, superheroes. The last time it happened was 'The Incredibles', and we were ready to see what else Disney could pull out of their superhero box. Or at least anything but princesses for once in a few years.
The interesting thing about this one was that it was an animated Marvel movie, and thus far the first and only Disney/Marvel animated film to exist on a theatrical scale. That said, this movie is NOT canon in the MCU. The creators have expressed that this is a Disney film over being a Marvel film. 'Big Hero 6' tells the story of a 14-year-old prodigy child named Hiro (Ryan Potter), who's a bit of a genius with technology, and upon seeing his brother, Tadashi's (Daniel Henney) school decides he wishes to go there. When it's discovered that someone has stolen the technology that Hiro uses to wow the school's recruiters, Hiro assembles a team of talented teens to get it back. Joining the cast here are the voice talents of T.J. Miller, Jamie Chung, Damon Wayans Jr, Genesis Rodriguez, and Scott Adsit as the real star of this movie, Baymax; a medical assistance robot that Tadashi creates with the desire to help people in need. This is just such a great movie, through and through. Without spoiling anything, I can admit that this is one of those titles that manages to engage my every emotion, and it pulled me in very quickly. The truth of the matter was this was only my second viewing of it. I somehow managed to miss this one in theaters, saw it in the summer of 2015 for the first time, and just watched it recently to see if I liked it more or less. The answer is clearly more. Although it may be more effective the first time around considering all that happens, there's something to be said about revisiting it with your love for these characters, particularly Hiro, Baymax and Tadashi. This is a title well-worth checking out without having to be a Disney or even a Marvel buff. It's good fun for the whole family, and even remains a bit tough, focusing on deeper issues to do with separation, friendship and even revenge. I'll have to see about it's watchability over the years, but there's a very solid chance this MIGHT be my all-time favorite Disney animated film... MIGHT be. Either way, it's pretty damn good.  With 'The LEGO Batman Movie' spin-off being released this February, I thought it only fitting for my first recommendation to be the movie that made it happen. A personal favorite from 2014, this is 'The LEGO Movie'!
Our story takes place in a LEGO world, where everyone is essentially "lead" by the OCTAN Corporation, and Lord Business (Will Farrell). Within this world, everyone must "follow the instructions" so that everything looks right, and the city can flow perfectly and as repetitious as Lord Business wants it. It's made out in the movie to be a sort of law. In the opening sequence, Lord Business breaks into the resting place of a powerful weapon known as the Kragle, and steals it from a wizard named Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman). We also learn of a prophecy that suggest someone known as "The Special" will come along, and find a relic called "The Piece of Resistance", which will work against the Kragle. Meanwhile, one of the construction workers of the city, and our hero, Emmet Brickowski (Chris Pratt) wakes up one morning for another day of work. The day goes pretty normally, but after hours, he sees a mysterious woman searching the job site for something. Upon inspection of the situation, Emmet finds himself falling down a hole, and finding the Piece of Resistance. After he touches it, he gets flashes of visions and finds himself in the interrogation room of Bad Cop (Liam Neeson), Lord Business' Liutenant. But the woman from the construction site breaks in, rescues Emmet, and introduces herself as Wyldstyle. Believing he is the Special, she takes him to meet Vitruvius. There, Emmett learns that Wylstyle and Vitruvius are known as "Master Builders"; characters who live in the LEGO world, but don't follow and instructions and use their imaginations to create. It's also here when Wyldstyle soon reveals to Emmet that the Kragle is a weapon that Lord Business wants to use in order to freeze the world and keep perfect order. It turns out that Emmet isn't the Master Builder they thought he was, but despite that, Vitruvius and Wylstyle (mostly Vitruvius) believe in Emmet's potential with his unique ideas. One way or another, they are determined to stop Lord Buisiness and his plan to freeze everything into "perfection". Joining the cast along the way, we run into a variety of characters. Unikitty (Alison Brie); a cat-unicorn hybrid whose all sunshine and rainbows (until she gets upset). Metal Beard (Nick Offerman); a giant pirate ship pirate character... not really sure how else to describe him. Benny, the 1980's Space Astronaut (Charlie Day). And of course, Batman, who is by far the funniest character in the movie. With that said though, this movie has a tremendous sense of humour. I'm a fan of animation, and it can usually make me laugh, but this one was pretty special for it. It's very rare that an animated film can make me laugh so much my face hurts by the end. And speaking of the end, I won't spoil it for you here, but there IS a very nice surprise ending to this whole movie. I wouldn't say it comes as a huge shock, but the underlying message is something I can totally relate to, as could anyone who loved playing with LEGO a lot growing up. By far one of the more impressive aspects of this movie is the voice acting. Not so much the flexibility of the voices as the amount of big names that show up with just one or two lines. Aside from everyone I mentioned already, we've also got Jonah Hill as Green Lantern, Will Forte as Abraham Lincoln, Channing Tatum as Superman, Shaquille O'Niel as himself, Cobie Smulders as Wonder Woman, and yes, Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian! This film also gets a few bonus points in my book, personally, because LEGO is my all-time favorite toy. This goes to the extent that I'm 34 and still collect here and there with no shame whatsoever about it. I'm what you'd refer to as an "AFOL" (Adult Fan of LEGO). It's always been something I've been rather passionate about, and if I ever have kids one day, I'd wanna pass it down. My Dad introduced me to it when I was 6 years old, and I basically just never got bored of it for the next 28 years. So, after that, one could easily guess that this was always gonna be a movie that I was gonna enjoy. But it actually ended up going above and beyond what I expected, essentially bringing me back to my childhood days of actually playing with my LEGO. I dunno how else to say it but it ended up making me very nostalgic, and nostalgia is always welcome in my world. Be it the interesting animation, the crazy amount of celebrity voice cameos, the humorous dialogue, or the overall story, I can honestly say Everything is Awesome with 'The LEGO Movie'! |
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