Go to Work, Disney!
June 15, 2016
Disney is raking in the cash this summer with The Jungle Book still out in theaters, its Marvel properties like Captain America: Civil War, and Finding Dory about to take off. Here is another one to add to it all. The first full trailer for Pete’s Dragon is now here. In cinemas August 12th, the film is an update of the 1970s kids classic. Starring popular movie mom Bryce Dallas Howard, this trailer shows one of my favorites, Karl Urban (Star Trek), leading a charge against said dragon. Looks like it could be a nice family flick, hopefully better than The Good Dinosaur.
Pete’s Dragon
Final Countdown to Fishes
June 10, 2016
It is the final countdown as it is a week away from Disney/Pixar’s new film Finding Dory hitting theaters in the US on Friday, June 17th. Here in the UK we will have to wait until July 29th! A travesty that it is not an international release date, but here is the full length trailer to get us going.
Finding Dory
All Sparkle and No Heart
May 17, 2016
Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016).
D: James Bobin. DP: Stuart Dryburgh. W: Linda Woolverton. Starring: Johnny Depp/Mia Wasikowska/Helena Bonham Carter/Anne Hathaway/Sacha Baron Cohen/Rhys Ifans/Matt Lucas/Andrew Scott. Voice talents of: Alan Rickman/Martin Sheen/Stephen Fry/Toby Jones. (Based on characters created by Lewis Carroll)
Here lies the long to come forward sequel to Tim Burton’s 2010 live action version of Alice in Wonderland. With Burton passing the directorial mantel to Muppets helmer James Bobin, the special effects heavy film appears nearly six years after the first. Unfortunately, this film is more visual tricks than story and once again underwhelms in Underland.
Screenwriter Linda Woolverton again works her Disney resume onto this script. However, where I thought Maleficent was fresh, this script lacks anything really new to say about this world. The film is primarily focused on the Hatter’s (Johnny Depp) past and rescuing his family. Alice (Mia Wasikowska) arrives again in her imagination to insert herself into the action, or lack of, in Wonderland. Alice takes on the Hatter’s mission guided by the Hatters friends. She tricks Time, here literally personified by Sacha Baron Cohen, and steals the cronosphere which allows her to travel back in time. Yet, annoyingly, Alice simply says not once, but twice what the plot-line/action of the film will be. Despite its younger audience this is just lazy writing.
Most if not all the humor lies in the character of Time portrayed by Cohen. He brings his signature deadpan and wit to a film that feels mostly decorative. Colleen Atwood again designs an intricate piece of costuming for the film. Half of Cohen’s head seems to be made of gears and other watch parts and his over accentuated Soviet looking armor makes Cohen even taller than he is. Wasikowska’s older adult Alice is no match for him and she seems to blend into the scenery no matter what Atwood dresses her in. Anne Hathaway returns with her poor British accent as the White Queen whose airiness seems sillier here. Of course, in Wonderland there is nothing wrong with silly, but there is just not enough story to back up these performances.
Of course Depp returns as the Hatter, but he is sick for most of the film and seen in the past. Depp has revved him up since Alice in Wonderland and he is more cartoonish than weird. Maybe without Burton he is left to his own devices and that might not be a good thing. Same with Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen. It is difficult to care about characters who create the same conflicts across films. Rhys Ifans does a nice turn as the Hatter’s father and it is heartwarming to hear dear departed Alan Rickman’s voice again as the blue caterpillar. Ultimately, Alice Through the Looking Glass tries to age Alice up and create a space that Carroll’s second book did not. I applaud the effort, but special effects cannot be everything. You must have a heart.
Leave the Bare Necessities Alone
May 9, 2016
The Jungle Book (2016).
D: Jon Favreau. DP: Bill Pope. W: John Marks. Starring: Neel Sethi. Voice talents of: Idris Elba/Ben Kingsley/Bill Murray/Scarlett Johansson/Giancarlo Esposito/Lupita Nyong’o/Christopher Walken. (Based on Rudyard Kipling’s novel)
It is simply hard to forget the 1967 Disney animated version of The Jungle Book. ‘The Bare Necessities’ tune has become synonymous with our favorite lackadaisical bear Baloo who helps shepherd man cub Mowgli through the forest. Phil Harris who voiced Baloo would go on to work with Disney on The Aristocats (1970) and Robin Hood (1973). His jovial bellow was only matched by George Saunders’ velvety Shere Khan. When I saw his Oscar winning performance in All About Eve (1950) all I kept thinking was, he’s the tiger. Safe to say much of my generation grew up on Disney animation, even films as old as this one.
This live adaptation of The Jungle Book also follows a forgettable 1994 live action with Mowgli as an adult man, which was released by Buena Vista Pictures. Taking on the mantle is director Jon Favreau (Chef, Cowboys & Aliens, Iron Man 2) who tends to produce and direct on a large scale. Executive producing for Marvel, Favreau also continues to act and dip his fingers in many pools. In his version he blends Kipling’s novel and the animated feature with film influences that give the The Jungle Book a fantastic look if nothing else.
Mowgli (played by newcomer Neel Sethi) finds himself once again rescued by Bagheera (Ben Kingsley) and adopted by the jungle’s wolf pack. With the rains gone the jungle animals create a peace treaty that allows them to all co-habit a certain watering hole without threat. However, this cannot last for long with the return of Shere Khan (Idris Elba) whose hatred of man threatens the pack and forces Mowgli to be chaperoned by Bagheera to the man village. Thus begins Mowgli’s journey to find his new home and meet new friends along the way.
Regrettably Sethi is not much to watch. He lacks charm and wonder, instead his Mowgli is petulant without tenderness which does not allow you to invest in the emotions of such a familiar tale. Kingsley’s Bagheera is rightfully regal, but is not a voice to match Elba’s Shere Khan. The tiger’s mangled appearance gives him a ruthlessness that is new. Along the road movie timeline Mowgli also meets famous Baloo voiced by Bill Murray. The pair’s friendship gets the most laughs and eventually the shtick of Murray wears away to create a palpable connection between the two. The ‘Bare Necessities’ tune comes up organically, unlike King Louie’s (Christopher Walken) song ‘I Wanna Be Like You.’ Much too much like a musical number, the segment seems part of a different movie and merely acts as a gimmick to get Walken’s signature delivery set to music.
Like the animated feature Favreau uses Disney’s traditional image of an open and closing book to illustrate the story book quality of the film. The ending credits are gorgeous as the book opens to 3D pop-ups of certain scenes. Cinematographer Bill Pope creates a mystical and lush jungle and The Jungle Book at least moves at a good pace. Even with certain changes like making the snake Kaa into a female character, voiced by Scarlett Johansson, I do not that think the film brings anything staggeringly new or different to the tale. Disney and Favreau were perhaps too conflicted in wanting to include the musical songs while also lending a more realistic sheen to the sort material. Details like the fact that the monkeys seem to have no language when they are the closest animal to man get lost in the action sequences that create the beats of the film. Better than the literal Cinderella, the movie cannot compete with its original.
After seeing this version I am intrigued and excited for The Imaginarium’s (Andy Serkis’ motion capture company) take on the Kipling classic that will not release until October 2018. With another all star cast that includes Christian Bale, Benedict Cumberbatch, Cate Blanchett, Naomie Harris and Andy Serkis, the film is being released by Warner Bros. Serkis has already claimed in interviews it will be darker than this version. Even with the Disney owned songs safe to say this The Jungle Book is certainly not light so we shall see where how far this one takes us into the shadows.
A Safe Bet
December 6, 2015
The Good Dinosaur (2015).
D: Peter Sohn. W: Meg LeFauve (with story credit to Peter Sohn, Bob Peterson, Erik Benson, Kelsey Mann). With the voice talents of: Jeffrey Wright/Frances McDormand/Raymond Ochoa/Steve Zahn/A.J. Buckley/Anna Paquin/Sam Elliot.
Delays pushed the release of the new Pixar film, The Good Dinosaur, making it the second release from Pixar in the same year. Bad for business, but also bad for the film as it cannot compete with the superior Inside Out.
Made in the same collaborative process that most of filmmaking relies on, but rarely celebrates, this Pixar squad boosts a lot of great work under their belt. However, the pitch for this film was probably stronger than its final product. The Good Dinosaur follows a family of farming Apatosauruses whose youngest son, Arlo, struggles to make his mark on the farm. The pitch would have included the charming idea of dinosaurs as farmers and ranchers with Southern accents and some amiable non-predator friendships. These episodes and moments cannot sustain a story that relies solely on its underdog.
The story hits on all the common Pixar beats: death of a parent, coming of age, separation from family leading to an adventure and reunion. I’m not spoiling anything here, but it is also why Inside Out is the better film. That being said these are the beats of the beloved Finding Nemo, so it is also what The Good Dinosaur doesn’t do as well that matters. The script is too direct and the dino family’s emphasis on proving oneself through physical chores seems archaic and demonstrative. The lack of other dinosaurs makes me yearn for the 1988 Universal gem, The Land Before Time, a superior children’s film on all accounts.
What does work is the visuals. The backgrounds around Arlo are breathtaking, with the water specifically memorable. Yet somehow little Arlo gets lost within this big gorgeous landscape and its only when he runs through a field with fireflies that we really soar with him emotionally. Arlo’s friendship with a little feral child he nicknames Spot pulls at the heartstrings for sure, but it’s simply not enough. The film feels safe and does not live up to the adult standards of Pixar. But who knows, the children in the theater were laughing, maybe that’s all that matters?