Change Your Image
mr-neil-thorne
Reviews
Zen Motoring (2022)
Outstanding
Blends documentary, humour, rap and the psychedelic in the most delicious way.
The quality of the POV shots from cars is sometimes breathtaking and some of the best POV drone shots I've seen.
The strong undercurrent of peace and love is also highly appreciated...
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009)
Avoid - it's pretty terrible
Went to see this in an early showing in 3D today. Took my 5 year old son. I think I might have laughed the once... but I can't remember what at.
I don't remember hearing my son laugh at all.
I saw Coraline a month or so back and was really impressed by the 3D - 3D was the main draw for me in this film. In Ice Age 3 it just didn't have any impact at all. Often the window of the shot cut off important images at the edges which destroyed the 3D effect.
The new character voiced by Pegg is just plain awful. The jokes are just so obvious they could have been written by a 5 year old.
Some of the faster paced visuals are okay. The one consistently funny character from the other films (Scrat) is also okay - but a very tired character at that.
If your kids are not too easily scared then go and see Coraline, or if they do scare easily then see Monsters vs Aliens. Both are a million miles better than this stinker of a film.
Azur et Asmar (2006)
Beautiful feast for the eyes and the ears
I have seen many great animated tales - from Wall-E, Cars, Ratatouille, Curse of the Were Rabbit, Spirited Away, Belleville Rendezvous, Princess Mononoke, to Ghost in the Shell, Aladdin, Waking Life, The Lord of the Rings and Peter and the Wolf.
This is film has some great qualities of all the above. Firstly the story telling is charming, and time is spent on the characters from the beginning. The animation is more Belleville Rendezvous than Wall-E but it is an exquisitely unique experience as a result.
In this film the intensity always took me by surprise. The incredible contrast of blue eyes, a silhouette frame against the night sky. The intricate detailing of eastern architectures. The vivid saturation of colours. The use of light and dark and colour in particular is possibly the most beautiful of any animation I have ever seen. It had a wonderfully natural quality to the character animation - like the older Disney films, but with striking backgrounds and detailing.
Also interesting is the constant interplay between western and eastern cultures. The dialogue is at times both beautiful, quirky and thoughtful.
I'd recommend this if you have an interest in other cultures, beautiful drawing and quirky storytelling.