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CosmoBrown
Reviews
Wreck-It Ralph (2012)
Time for a reality check
Wreck-It Ralph is a very good movie, which I really enjoyed. I would put it right up there with Tangled and Cars and A Bugs Life.
But it is no Toy Story or Who Framed Roger Rabbit, movies to which it is being mistakenly compared. Those movies were masterpieces. This is far from a masterpiece. It has the good fortune of being released in a year of good but flawed animated movies--The Lorax, Brave, Ice Age 4, Madagascar 3, ParaNorman, Frankenweenie, Hotel Transylvania...this is not a stellar movie slate. Release this movie in 2010 (the year of Toy Story 3, How to Train Your Dragon, Despicable Me and Tangled) and it would barely get noticed.
Ralph's quest to get a medal seems arbitrary and artificial, especially when compared to Woody's quest to get back home. The amount of arbitrary rules in this movie is staggering and evidence of lazy writing. And the movie overall felt derivative--from its plot of a bad guy who turns good (Despicable Me, Megamind) to its characters like King Candy (the Mad Hatter from Alice) and Vanellope (Agnes from Despicable Me), to its twist at the end (Who Framed Roger Rabbit). Don't get me wrong--I really liked this movie, and I think it was the best animated movie of the year. But this year that's not saying much.
The Hunger Games (2012)
The first hour was almost perfect. And then the movie fell apart.
I loved the original book, but I read it several years ago, so none of my complaints will be about changes that were made, 'cause I can't remember every single detail.
Up to the point where the games actually began I was completely captivated.
And then I just got more and more bored and disappointed.
I never felt the continuous danger that you should feel being a part of the games (the way I feel when I watch The Walking Dead). The alliance kids seemed more like a group of high school bullies than trained killers. I realize they were going for a PG-13 rating for the teenagers, but the violence just didn't feel real or potent. It's not about how much blood or gore you show, either. It's about how you shoot the scenes, and action scenes are clearly not Gary Ross's forte.
Ultimately, it all just seemed too easy for Katniss and Peeta to win. Which sadly ended up ruining the movie for me.
Kung Fu Panda (2008)
Mediocre Panda
Can't believe the number of glowing reviews this has been getting. The Incredibles, the Toy Story movies, Shrek 2, Monsters Inc.--those movies deserve glowing reviews. This one was entertaining but forgettable.
The story has no surprises at all. Po is named the Chosen One. Po trains to fight bad guy, initially frustrating crotchety trainer but ultimately winning him over. Po fights bad guy and wins. That's it. That's the whole story.
You'd think with a story that thin there'd be lots of room for character development. But there wasn't. There were a lot of pratfalls. Jack Black improvised the occasional bit of funny dialogue, but there weren't a lot of laughs in my theater. The Furious Five characters had no personalities at all. The villain was villainous in the most familiar and boring way possible.
Visually, the movie had some nice moments. The fight scenes were fun to watch. I really enjoyed the villain's escape from a very impressive prison. I also liked the look of the turtle Master. And the scene in which Po is trained to become great at kung fu using his desire to eat a dumpling was great. But overall the movie was unsatisfying.