The promotion of this movie last year started early when Justin Timberlake appeared during the Eurovision Songfestival and performed his song “Can’t stop the feeling” and mentioning the film during his introduction. His song turned out to be one of the biggest hits of the summer, but what about Trolls? Is it just as catchy? Continue reading
We all know that animation isn’t only used to make movies for children (just look at Grave of the Fireflies). Directors Lou Hamou-Lhadj and Andrew Coats, who both work at Pixar, decided to make an animated short in their spare time. It would take them five years before they’d finish it and it has payed off, as the short is in the race for an Oscar. Enough reason to give this short a look. Continue reading
Regularly I come across movies where my expectations are extremely low. They are usually titles I steer clear from and occasionally might give them a chance once they are out on DVD/VOD. Storks was one of those movies which also didn’t get much marketing. But when the kids had a week off from school one of the things I usually do is to take them to the cinema. The youngest one wanted to see this movie. I hoped, like with a dentist appointment, that it would be quick and painless. I didn’t expect I would enjoy this movie so much. Continue reading
Ice Age, made by Blue Skies Studios is in some regards comparable to Carl Douglas. This artist scored a hit in 1974 with the song Kung Fu Fighting. After that he kept making songs with the same theme, hoping he would be able to have the same success as he had with the original. A couple of years ago I saw a documentary where he was saying he was making a new remix, still trying to make money on that one good idea he once had during pop history. When you look at Ice Age, the first movie was successful both financially as critically. And although the sequels still made enough money, the scores on Rotten Tomatoes tell another story how critics received it. The original had a score of 77%, but the sequels that followed scored 57%, 45% and 37%. Of course Blue Skies has made other movies besides Ice Age (Rio, Epic and the Peanuts movie), but would it be better that the studio faces reality and let these prehistoric animals go extinct? Continue reading
When I heard that Finding Nemo would be getting a sequel, I wasn’t immediately enthusiastic. The original movie is one of the best Pixar movies and the story of a father clownfish searching for his son, was very original.. The underwater world was interestingly realized, the movie had strong emotional impact on its viewers and lots of memorable characters. Reading that the sequel was called Finding Dory I was afraid that the storyline would be similar and this would result in a weak copy. With the Toy Story sequels Pixar did prove that they are able to keep quality at the same (high) level. Have they managed to do the same with Finding Dory?
Even though I don’t watch trailers anymore, I’m pretty sure that before this movie came out I still was doing so and can remember watching it several times. It was the fifth Pixar movie and after impressing audiences with their technology for fur used in Monster Inc, it was the first look into the world of Finding Nemo, which was jaw dropping to see. In 2003 computer graphics already had come quite some way, but it wasn’t the level yet it is now and much pioneering was done. Creating a convincing water world therefore was something special. With the release of the sequel, Finding Dory (which I will see next week), and the availability of the original on Netflix it was the right time to revisit this wonderful animated movie. Continue reading
When it comes to animated movies almost all of them involve either talking animals or princesses. That doesn’t mean there is something wrong with that (the recent Zootopia is a good example), but I often get the feeling there aren’t enough variety within the genre. So it was refreshing to see Phantom Boy approach its story differently, with a lot of originality as well. Continue reading
As a parent it isn’t always a joy to go to the cinema. Of course it is great to spend some time with your child at the movies and talk about the film afterwards, but sometimes kids want to head to movies you don’t fancy seeing yourself. Recently I was dragged to a very boring movie about two boring dutch cartoon characters, but the fun my daughter had kind of made up for it. The next movie she wanted to see was Alvin and the Chipmunks and because their weren’t any other movies playing she could see we decided to watch it. This is the third one in the series. The first one wasn’t very good, but I was willing to give this movie a chance. It’s something I shouldn’t have. Continue reading
My daughter has now reached an age when she often asks whether she can watch a movie instead of TV. I do not know if that’s because she finds it fun or because they are long, but it’s nice to see that she enjoys them. That means she regularly watches movies that I refuse to see (especially the ones about talking puppies, there are really too many of them), but if I decide to join in then I make sure I might enjoy this. After a short search on Netflix I came across this title. Since this film, like The Lorax, is based on the books by Dr.Seuss I decided to try it Continue reading
It’s funny to see how certain characters in entertainment become so popular that they are actually more popular than the main characters themselves. This was the case with the Rabbits in the Rayman games where the funny, but also very stupid bunnies eventually got their own games and TV show. In the Despicable Me movies the minions were responsible for comic relief and those were the moments that were often the most fun. A spinoff with just these funny yellow figures was bound to happen (just like a flood of merchandise from dolls to “fart guns”). However, are these characters entertaining enough to fill an entire movie? Continue reading