Turning Red (2022)

Whether you view it as an analogy about being embarrassed by your parents, a tale about dealing with the trials and tribulations of starting to menstruate, or just accept that a young girl becomes a giant red panda when stressed, Turning Red is a cute and fun film that many should enjoy. Even if the third act skates very close to Teen Wolf.

Rosalie Chiang voices Meilin, a young girl who tries to do everything in a way that her mother (Sandra Oh) would approve of. But all of the good behaviour and good school grades don’t buy her any goodwill when she has the chance to see her favourite boyband in concert. That’s quite stressful and anger-inducing, and it’s not helped by the fact that Meilin now turns into a giant red panda when she gets too stressed. 

Directed by Domee Shi, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Julia Cho, this is a high-concept film that uses the central idea to explore a number of interesting and relatable themes. The transition period when you are a child dealing with changes in your body is the big one, of course, but there is also a look at the pressure parents can put on their children, as well as cycles of behaviour that can cause real harm to different generations. It isn’t just the relationship between parents and children that are the focus though. There is a look at the value of real friendship, the people who can accept you as you are, and there is a lesson about having difficult conversations long before problems start to snowball from something minor into something major.

Chiang is great in the lead role, just the right mix of cute end occasionally annoying, and Oh is equally good as the overbearing and worried mother. There may not be a load of familiar names scattered elsewhere throughout the cast list, but Wai Ching Ho and Orion Lee are both very good, playing family members with very different perspectives on the situation, and Ava Morse, Hyein Park, and Maitreyi Ramakrishnan are a great trio of friends for our lead to be close to. Tristan Allerick Chen is fun as an irritant known as Tyler, and the wonderful James Hong gets to have fun in a small, but crucial, supporting role.

The animation is pretty gorgeous throughout, especially when incorporating some traditional elements that support and influence the style and nature of the tale, there are a few lively songs accompanying some key moments (although they are used to soundtrack the film, which means none of the main characters actually burst into spontaneous songs), and the third act is enjoyably thoughtful and satisfying.

Although not up there with their very best, Turning Red is a real joy, not least because it has approximately 100% more red panda content than most animated features. And that alone is enough to make it worth your time.

8/10

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Ani-MAY-tion: Encanto (2021)

A Disney tale about a young Colombian woman trying to find her place in her gifted family, Encanto is everything you have come to expect from the best movies created by the House Of Mouse. It's sweet, funny, features some delightfully playful lyrics, and looks absolutely gorgeous throughout.

Stephanie Beatriz voices Mirabel, a member of the Madrigal family. Thanks to a magical candle that has stayed burning for them through decades, every member of the Madrigal family eventually receives a gift that helps people around them, including a local community that has grown and thrived with the Madrigals at the heart of it. Mirabel has one sister who is super-strong and one sister who can make flowers and plants bloom anywhere around her, she has a mother who can heal with her cooking, and there are other family members who can control the weather, shape-shift, have super-hearing, and even communicate with animals. And then there's Bruno . . . but "We Don't Talk About Bruno".

The writing and direction here is credited to Jared Bush, Byron Howard, and Charise Castro Smith, but there's also a fair amount of credit to be given to Lin-Manuel Miranda, who gets a nod for helping to shape the story, as well as being credited for penning the catchy songs, in between a consistently lovely score from Germaine Franco . As much as those people should receive a good amount of praise, every animated film of this calibre feels like the end result of a fantastic collective effort from the many people who work on every different aspect of the animation and the audio.

Everything is helped by a great voice cast too. Beatriz is wonderful as Mirabel, the heart and soul of the tale, Maria Cecilia Botero is suitably imposing as Abuela Alma, Mirabel's grandmother and the protective matriarch of the Madrigal family. Jessica Darrow, Diane Guerrero, and Adassa are wonderful in their respective roles, I have just highlighted them ahead of some others because of enjoying their characters so much, and John Leguizamo is fantastic when we finally get to meet his troubled character.

Encanto is funny and adorable in equal measure, it's also inventive and absolutely determined to make every main set-piece as magical and eye-catching as possible. Every character and detail works, especially as things lead to a third act where things knit together to make the movie equivalent of a supersized family comfort blanket. There are, of course, some valuable lessons to be learned before the end credits roll, and people of all ages will appreciate the central dilemma for a character wanting to help her family while battling against the pressures put upon her (even if those pressures seem to stem, paradoxically, from being reassured that she shouldn't feel any pressure).

Despite the high standard of the animated Disney movies from the last decade, this deserves to be jostling for a spot at the very top of the rankings. It's a potential modern classic, and I would certainly revisit it ahead of some of the other top contenders (I'm side-eyeing you, Frozen).

9/10

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Prime Time: Are We Monsters (2021)

Thinking that I would treat myself to something different in my current selection of animated movie viewings, I opted to give my time to Are We Monsters with the knowledge that it wasn't going to be any kind of traditional animated movie. It does incorporate some animated elements, as well as some horrible special effects, and I was rooting for it to impress me.

It did not impress me.

John Black plays Everett, a young man taught by his father about the existence of werewolves. Everett aims to carry on the family tradition (werewolf extermination) after the death of his father, but the situation might be slightly complicated by the fact that werewolves aren't necessarily the mindless monsters they are assumed to be. A hunt is still on though, and both Maya (Charlotte Olivia) and Luke (Jathis Sivanesan) find themselves in potential danger, whether that is from Everett or from elsewhere.

I sensed that I was in troubled when I saw that this was also co-written by Black. That suspicion was absolutely confirmed when I saw the first sequence that made use of a special effect that I'm pretty sure even someone of my limited technical abilities could have improved. Director Seb Cox certainly has his work cut out for him, but he does himself no favours with the weak script, poor visuals, and amateur cast members.

I won't spend too long being critical of Black, Olivia, Sivanesan, or anyone else in the cast. They're generally not very good, but they also don't have decent material to work with. I'm not sure even the best actors in the world could do enough to elevate this mess.

It's a low-budget project, fair enough, and Cox also takes on a number of other roles (cinematographer, editor, animator), but that doesn't excuse such a poor final product. There is a theme here that is potentially worth exploring, if done correctly. This isn't the right environment for it, and that leaves the cast struggling to be earnest and interesting in between moments that are so mishandled that all you can do is laugh. The animation feels like a lazy solution to a non-existent problem, when it should have felt like an interesting and bold creative choice, and the creature design looks as if someone dropped a load of sausage-shaped putty into a 3D printer and just decided to go along with whatever the end result was.

I HAVE seen worse films than this, I'm pretty sure of that. It's hard to think of them right now though. This fails at everything it is attempting to do, and it's depressing to see that Black and Cox have already worked together on some more projects that will add to their filmographies. I am not saying that they should never work again. I am just saying that everyone would be happier if they took some more time to actually figure out the basics of film-making before vomiting up more messy puddles like this.

1/10

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Ani-MAY-tion: Planes: Fire And Rescue (2014)

Dane Cook returns to voice Dusty Crophopper in this strange sequel to Planes, a film that continues to present a world populated by living vehicles, but also complicates the central premise by featuring more scenes in which vehicles are transported along INSIDE other vehicles (this also happened in the Cars movies, but feels a bit a bit more bizarre, and even Cronenbergian, this time around).

In an idea that feels tired and desperate from the start, Dusty Crophopper is already past his racing prime. He has a mechanical issue that means he can no longer push himself to fly at the speeds he once experienced. Ah well, at least he can retrain alongside planes that keep themselves busy fighting fires. This leads to him being taught fire-fighting tactics by Blade Ranger (Ed Harris) while he works to overcome his own fears, and his dangerous cockiness.

I could add more to that plot summary. Of course there’s a raging inferno to be dealt with at some point. Of course there are valuable lessons to be learned along the way. And, of course, Dusty gets a chance to show that he really is up to the task of being a fire-fighter. This is as predictable as expected, and even more humorless than the film preceding it (which wasn’t exactly a chuckle-fest). Okay, there is no rule stating that this should be a comedy, but it needs something in place of heart and/or genuine tension.

Cook still doesn’t make for a great lead in this role, and he isn’t often surrounded by people who can pick up his slack. Harris is great, as you would expect, and there’s a fun turn from Julie Bowen, playing a character who inexplicably takes a shine to Dusty, but the better voice performers (Patrick Warburton, Fred Willard, and John Michael Higgins) are wasted in roles that have very limited screentime. A number of people return from the first film, essentially bookmarking the tale with some moments that help remind you about the first movie, and both Hal Holbrook and Wes Studi get paid to play characters that could have been played by absolutely anyone. I am happy they got the job, but I wish they had been more involved in the main storyline.

Writer Jeffrey M. Howard is responsible for the weak tale, having just limped along the first time around, and this time he shares writing duties with director Bobs Gannaway. The best thing I can say about Gannaway is that he is equally skilled at both directing and writing. Ahem.

The visuals are okay. I will admit that some moments look great, which is especially impressive when it is a story that includes numerous scenes with fire surrounding main characters. That’s about all I am willing to grudgingly compliment though, considering how this just felt like a waste of my time, as well as a waste of some great actors.

Younger viewers will enjoy this more, of course, and that’s just fine. My relatively high rating reflects the fact that this isn’t aiming to be a sophisticated modern masterpiece. There are so many better movies for them to watch ahead of this though. This is sub-par stuff, and hopefully remains the last time we see this character starring in his own feature film.

4/10

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Mubi Monday: Me And You And Everyone We Know (2005)

Some films are destined to be festival darlings. If you've been to just one or two film festivals, and if you've been trying to add some random selections into your schedule, then you will already know this. They can be films where character actors get some time to shine. There's sometimes some uncomfortable comedy mixed in with the drama. And you very rarely get a solid and definitive ending. Some films can be festival darlings AND find life after festivals, but those are few and far between. Me And You And Everyone We Know is one of those films, but I am very much aware that I may just be projecting my own appreciation of it here.

Writer-director Miranda July, making her feature debut here, also stars as a performance artist named Christine. Christine is trying to get her big break, in between a job that has her driving around the elderly (with her main client being Michael, played by Hector Elias). John Hawkes is Richard, a shoe salesman who isn't interested in any kind of break. He's struggling to deal with a separation from his wife, figuring out how to best enjoy the time with his children, Peter (Miles Thompson) and Robby (Brandon Ratcliff). Meanwhile, two young girls (Heather and Rebecca, played respectively by Natasha Slayton and Najarra Townsend) are receiving some highly inappropriate messages from a man (Brad William Henke) who should know better. Coincidentally, Peter and Robby are also sending some very rude messages to someone, but they don't know who it is they are speaking to, thanks to the wonders of the internet. Last, but not least, there's Nancy Herrington (played by Tracy Wright), a woman who has the power to actually give Christine her big break, if she is impressed by her work.

Obviously not full of spectacle and complicated flourishes, Me And You And Everyone We Know could be easily dismissed by viewers frustrated by what is "just" a low-key character piece with various people on journeys that have their life paths intersecting with one another. There's nothing here that necessarily makes this better than so many other films like it, with the notable exception of the cast. 

July is a great female lead, and she does herself a huge favour by casting the absolutely brilliant Hawkes opposite her. Hawkes is the kind of actor who rarely gets a role with this much screentime, and this is a reminder of how much he deserves to be a lead, and how watchable he is. Thompson and Ratcliff are both very good indeed, with the latter having the advantage of being sweet and innocent for many of his scenes, and Slayton and Townsend handle the difficulty of their particular plot strand with surprising ease. Herrington, Henke, and Elias are as good as everyone else, and I also have to mention JoNell Kennedy, Ellen Geer, and Carlie Westerman, who do well in lesser, but no less important, roles.

What else should I mention? Perhaps the music from Michael Andrews. It's not up there with his best work, but it's a nice accompaniment to the visuals  and (lack of) style of the film. Everything feels as if very adult themes are being presented and explored with a child-like naïveté, which is a strange and enjoyable juxtaposition that works for me as much as I can understand it not working for others.

A love or hate movie that I happen to have a soft spot for, Me And You And Everyone We Know is not one I will ever rush to recommend to others, unless I am talking movies with someone who loves John Hawkes as much as I do. If that is you then join me in the small fanbase area right here. If it's not . . . move along, nothing to see here.

8/10

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Netflix And Chill: Godzilla: The Planet Eater (2018)

Here we are, at last. It is the third, and final, instalment of this animated Godzilla movie trilogy, and I wish I had known weeks ago that the first film would easily stand out as the best of the three. It’s done now though, all over, and I can do my part to convince everyone else to ignore what is a truly awful, and horribly dull, Godzilla story arc.

We once again follow on from the events of the preceding movie, but there’s a new addition to the threat in the form of something that is powerful and monstrous, but doesn’t necessarily conform to the laws of our universe. It’s the kind of danger that might be best dealt with by a giant beastie like Godzilla.

I have to admit it, I almost threw my toys out of the pram after watching this. I wasn't going to review it, I was mad, and it even soured me on the idea of spending more time in 2024 exploring more Godzilla and kaiju movies. That's how bad it was, both as an individual instalment and as an end to the trilogy.

Hiroyuki Seshita and Kôbun Shizuno once again direct, and it's Gen Urobuchi still responsible for the screenplay, and I can only assume that they had such strong belief in their concept that they convinced everyone else to go along with it. I have rarely actually mentioned the animation in any reviews of the previous films in this trilogy, maybe even forgetting to comment on it at all, but I just don't have the heart to be critical of people who were already so badly let down by such a weak screenplay and flawed premise. There's plenty of potential here, and the animators do a decent job of presenting something that is stylised, impactful when it can be, and fittingly spectacular when Godzilla gets to do Godzilla things.

Mamuro Miyano leads the voice cast again, playing Haruo, and others also return to their roles, but there's no point in once again namechecking them. The main thing to consider is that this is a Godzilla movie that drops the ball when it comes to the most important part, actually handling Godzilla. There ARE moments here that are better than anything in the previous film, but it's a case of too little too late as everything leads toward a hugely disappointing conclusion. It all ends with a whimper, rather than a band, and no Godzilla movie should end that way.

Some people started to warn me away from this trilogy when I started it. I wish now that I had listened to them all, but my completist mindset wouldn't allow it anyway (of course). These movies aren't even decent little time-wasters, especially now that we have a wealth of other Godzilla material to choose from, in the past few years alone. Avoid at all costs.

3/10

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Shudder Saturday: Nightwatch: Demons Are Forever (2023)

While I didn't expect much from this belated sequel to Nightwatch, I knew that I had to give it a watch. Considering that it managed to get back so many people from the original, both behind and in front of the camera, I suspected that it might at least be decent. This was tempered by the fact that I wasn't the biggest fan of the first film though.

In a major twist, worthy of the films themselves, Nightwatch: Demons Are Forever is actually a better film than the original film. That one may have made a name for writer-director Ole Bornedal, and may have provided a great platform for actors Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Kim Bodnia, but this feels like a more assured, and arguably slightly darker, wander through the same territory.

Time has passed for everyone. Some have survived, but one or two haven't. Emma (Fanny Leander Bornedal, daughter of the writer-director) misses her deceased mother, and she also sees the constant toll that the weight of past events has on her father, Martin (Coster-Waldau, reprising his role). Emma decides to retrace some footsteps from decades before, taking a night watch job that allows her to get a bit closer to, and to find out a bit more about, the killer who almost destroyed her parents just under three decades ago.

While this is far from perfect, it's a film that absolutely excels in the times it gets everything just right. Bornedal may lead the cast of newer, younger, characters for the majority of the runtime, but there's enough time spent with Coster-Waldau's character, and a returning Kim Bodnia, to allow viewers to see the repercussions of major trauma rippling through the lives, and forever altering, the survivors of a deadly killing spree. I would say that Bornedal just about gets the right balance, providing a film that is part character study and part tense thriller. I would also say that he delivers something more consistent and intense this time around, showing the development of his skillset that has also been on show in a variety of other projects over the years (from the slick horror of The Possession to the dark comedy of Small Town Killers).

Bornedal is pretty good in the lead role, and certainly does well enough to carry the film along on her shoulders while everything is put in place to wind together for a brilliantly entertaining finale. Coster-Waldau and Bodnia are both able to get back inside their characters with ease, the former being much more outwardly changed by the events of the first film, and Ulf Pilgaard also returns for a number of crucial scenes. Paprika Steen and Sonja Richter are very good, Casper Kjær Jensen is entertaining as the potential villain who seems too obvious to be the real villain, and that's about it. There are other people filling out the cast, but they're uninteresting, and all blur into one another, while viewers wait patiently to rejoin the more captivating central characters.

Maybe it's all down to my expectations, considering how many years I spent misremembering Night Watch as a much better movie, but I ended up being really impressed by this. I would (tentatively) recommend it to those who liked the first movie, and I'll be interested to hear back from anyone who enjoyed it as much as I did.

7/10

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Ani-MAY-tion: Batman: Soul Of The Dragon (2021)

I have enjoyed many of the animated Batman movies from the past couple of decades, some of them rank alongside some of my favourite live-action features, and so I went into Batman: Soul Of The Dragon with a certain amount of optimism. It looked as if Batman was being thrown into the middle of a Bruce Lee escapade, and that was alright by me. Okay, there’s no ACTUAL Bruce Lee here, but we all know this is a pairing of Batman and Lee in everything but name.

The plot revolves around a mystical and powerful sword. It was guarded for years, but now may have fallen into the wrong hands. If the sword is used to open a secret gate then our world will be at the mercy of some grand horrors. Fortunately, Batman is on the case, and he is accompanied by some skilled martial artists who used to train alongside him many years ago.

This should have been a slam dunk. I cannot think of the last time I was so excited by the premise of an animated Batman movie, and I kept putting off my viewing of it with a heavy heart. The fact that it ends up being a sub-par adventure for the Caped Crusader is almost unforgivable. There’s no reason for this to be as relatively dull as it is, and things aren’t helped by a supernatural element coming to the fore in the third act.

Writer Jeremy Adams supplies a dull and lifeless script, seemingly uninterested in using the period and setting to occasionally let loose and have some fun with the characters, and director Sam Liu (who helmed one of my favourite animated Batman films a few years ago) does little to liven things up in between the moments of dialogue. The fights lack a certain amount of power and flair that I was expecting, and the pacing isn’t helped by the non-chronological structure, making things feel a bit too drawn out as we are pulled towards a finale that doesn’t seem half as interesting as other movie ideas I had in my head.

The voice cast do well enough. David Giuntoli is fine in the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman, although he isn’t up there with the best actors to take on the role, but I was much happier to hear the performances from Mark Dacascos, Michael Jai White, and Kelly Hu. I am not saying that I recognised them immediately, but they were a great fit for their respective roles, and I am generally a fan of them in anything they do. James Hong also has a small role, and is always a welcome delight, while Josh Keaton is stuck playing a fairly uninteresting villain.

It’s all okay, I guess, but almost every department deemed a bit more. The visual style should have been bolder, the soundtrack should have been more interesting, and the plot should have mixed in more recognizable elements from one or two classic martial arts movies. We should have been given a great “Bruce Lee” movie with Batman added in as a special ingredient. Instead we got a mediocre Batman movie with “Bruce Lee” and co. mishandled and wasted.

4/10

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Ani-MAY-tion: Planes (2013)

It isn’t always as straightforward as this, but the life of a cinephile is a life of finding films through various connections (directors, stars, writers, cinematographers, composers, themes, etc.). That is all part of the fun, and many connections lead you towards developing a taste for a full and varied smorgasbord of filmic delights. Which is why I ended up watching Planes, and will soon be watching the sequel next week. Planes is a spin-off from Cars, set in the same onscreen universe . . . but with the characters this time around all being, yes, planes.

Dane Cook plays a small cropdusting plane named Dusty Crophopper. He dreams of one day being a celebrated racing plane, but he may not have the ability to really compete with the champions. He also has a fear of heights, which is a bit of a problem for someone wanting to race through the skies. Finding someone willing to mentor him makes his dream edge closer to reality though, and it isn’t long until Dusty is causing quite the stir in the racing world. He’s still viewed as a novelty, but someone has to be last. And it’s the taking part that counts.

Writer Jeffrey M. Howard has a difficult job here. It’s an obvious template being used, and keeping things nice and simple can help keep younger viewers engaged, but it doesn’t ever feel as if it has been given enough care and polish. Things feel a bit rushed in the opening act, none of the characters feel developed enough, and there’s also the problem of Cook not really being a great fit for the lead role (although I have enjoyed him enough in live-action films over the years).

Director Klay Hall ensures that the basics are all delivered competently enough (there’s nothing to complain about when it comes to the visuals, but also nothing to really praise) and at least serves up something that aims to be just the right mix of fun and drama for the target demographic. A couple of the set-pieces work quite well, and older viewers will enjoy a couple of cameo voice roles for people who famously portrayed pilots of the kind of planes they portray here, but it generally lacks some extra ingredient to make it all feel worthwhile. Maybe that is down to the casting.

I have already criticized Cook, who doesn’t work in the lead role, and there aren’t too many cast members I want to rush to praise. Stacy Keach is pretty good as the gruff mentor, Brad Garrett is fun (although I thought he was Elliott Gould until I checked the credits), and Carlos Alazraqui provides a number of laughs. John Cleese works because he is recognizably John Cleese, but none of the female cast members get to make an impact, which is a real shame when you have Teri Hatcher, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Priyanka Chopra in your cast. As for Roger Craig Smith in the role of Ripslinger, the champ who you just know will play dirty to win, he’s sadly nondescript and non-menacing.

It looks fine and didn’t cause me to feel as if my time was wasted, but I won’t ever consider giving this a rewatch. And I am now more apprehensive about the sequel than I was last week.

5/10

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Prime Time: Spirit: Stallion Of The Cimarron (2002)

It’s easy to forget now, but there was a time when Dreamworks didn’t really have any main identity at the heart of their animation department. They have now, and they have had great success, but there were a few years when they tried, and I would say failed, to impress audiences with classic adventures, biblical epics, and this . . . a tale of the old West as shown through the eyes of a strong stallion. And it should be said that I class these films as failures because of how they can be perceived in relation to other films from Dreamworks, not in relation to how I myself view them.

Spirit: Stallion Of The Cimarron isn’t great though. I have no idea how it was turned into a videogame and a number of small-screen spin-offs, considering how surprisingly dull it is, but those wanting more family viewing options featuring this character . . . knock yourselves out.

Matt Damon voices the titular character, a brave and noble stallion who enjoys the US countryside and looking after his friends and family. That is all out at risk when man barges through though, looking to train and tame horses, and looking to put railway tracks down throughout the fields and forests. Headed up by a stubborn and mean Colonel (James Cromwell), the men may spell the end of the blissful life for Spirit and co. 

Co-directed by Kelly Asbury and Lorna Cook, this is a film that had me wary from the very opening scenes. Viewers follow an eagle as it flies over some picturesque scenery, in a scene that feels very much like people showing off how nice they can make their animation. It isn’t the only moment like that, although some other sequences marry the visuals to some enjoyable action and drama, and it ultimately highlights the weakness of the film. This is much prettier than it is interesting.

The script from John Fusco doesn’t help. He has written some fun stuff in the past (a certain Brat Pack Western being one of his best), but he focuses here on a central character, and central message, that ensures the focus remains on the serious messaging of the piece. From the very first lines of dialogue, which are awful, you just know that you are stuck with something that is weighed down by an overload of earnestness.

Damon is fine as the lead character, Cromwell is a good villain, and the other main cast member is Daniel Studi, who does well, but they also have to share some time with songs delivered by Bryan Adams, who seems to have watched the film and then handed over tunes that literally describe what is happening onscreen. Nobody is at their worst, I guess, but they are certainly not at their best either.

It generally stays pleasant to look at, there’s an exciting sequence in the third act with a large steam train, and it certainly didn’t pain me to watch it. I will probably forget it within a few weeks though, and I know I will never deliberately pick it for a repeat viewing. There’s not enough to appreciate or dig into beyond a one-time visit.

5/10

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Ani-MAY-tion: It's Such A Beautiful Day (2012)

I have seen some work from animator Don Hertzfeldt before, and it was quite a treat. Hertzfeldt has a way of delivering material that views the world around us through a witty and macabre lens while highlighting the absurdity of what we often go through every day of our lives.

This feature, made up of three excellent shorts edited together, takes us on a journey with a main character named Bill. Bill has everyday thoughts and anxieties that plague us all, but he also has things going on around him that seem ridiculous and unbelievable. Or do they just seem that way because we are not used to being able to delve deep into the mind of anyone around us.

Blending styles to turn what initially seems like crude animation into genuinely impressive art, Hertzfeldt also provides a crucial narration, his voice perfectly complementing the bittersweet journey of darkness and light that viewers get to experience. Bill may be a fairly nondescript and clumsy figure, but he is also a stand-in for all of us. You may not think it, but there will be one or two moments of recognition here for most people.

It’s hard to write a full and expansive review of such a work, especially when I don’t want to regurgitate the facts about how Hertzfeldt actually created his films (you can find those all over the internet, and I encourage you to do so), but it deserves to have a lot of praise. I watched this because someone reminded me that it existed, and I am now reminding others that it is out there. Don’t miss out.

The only other thing I have to say here, because I somehow worry that I have already both said too much and yet not enough, is a spoiler-free thought about the ending of the film. I never thought I would care so much about what is basically a very loose sketch of a human being, and I certainly didn’t expect this film to take me through the full range of emotions that I experienced. Not only is the ending a glorious surprise that is surprisingly glorious, it’s genuinely beautiful and moving in a way that rivals some of the most iconic moments in all of cinema.

Good job, Bill. Bloody good job. Don could not have picked a better “leading man”.

10/10

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Mubi Monday: Perfect Days (2023)

I am quite the fan of director Wim Wenders, or so it would appear whenever I check out how I have rated some other titles in his filmography. I never rush to seek out his work though. He crafts takes that I know I have to be in the right mood for. But when everything aligns, oh boy, I certainly end up having a great time. Perfect Days is another successful feature from him, and it is another one I delayed watching until I felt the time was just right.

The plot is very simple. We see the life of Hirayama (Kôji Yakusho), a man who works as a cleaner in the public toilets of Tokyo. That doesn’t define him, but he takes pride in his work. Hirayama also enjoys reading, music, and spending time with a niece who comes to visit him. There’s a sense that this man has had difficult times in his past, or maybe I am projecting, and his habits and comforts are now so ingrained in him that he is impervious to criticism, or even just being viewed negatively by anyone else.

Inspired to make this after being invited along to see the results of the Tokyo Toilet Project, with people thinking that Wenders may make a short film, or series of shorts, about the redesigned facilities, Wenders and co-writer Takuma Takasaki did themselves, and Tokyo, a big favour by constructing a delicate narrative around such a beautiful soul of a main character. Whether accompanied by the sounds of his work, the silence of his own company, or a selection of classic songs, Hirayama is a captivating, and somehow joyful, presence.

There are other people onscreen here, and they all impact the life of Hirayama to varying degrees, but the focus stays very much on our lead at all times. We see him observing others around him, and we see how others view him (and how those views change as they realise how unwavering he is in his approach to every day). The casting is vital, and Yakusho is exceptional as the strong and steady heart of the film. Nobody disappoints, nobody rings any false notes, but they are all helped enormously by orbiting around Yakusho.

If there was any way to improve this then I cannot think of it. The 124-minute runtime passed by quickly enough, every supporting character had one wonderful moment, the soundtrack is full of treats, and there’s even a strange calming effect that comes from someone doing their work so diligently, not to mention the fact that it’s always intriguing to see the advanced Japanese toilet tech that has still not made it over here to the UK.

I hate to end with an obvious statement, but Perfect Days is pretty much a perfect film. If I didn’t have other things to do today then I would probably rewatch it immediately.

10/10

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Netflix And Chill: Godzilla: City On The Edge Of Battle (2018)

Oh dear. The fact that this is the second in a trilogy that has already gone from bad to worse does not bode well, but I'll inevitably be scheduling the third instalment to be watched next week. The completist in me wouldn't have things any other way, but my expectations are now about as low as it's possible for them to be.

It's all of the same people behind the scenes (co-directors Hiroyuki Seshita and Kôbun Shizuno, and writers Gen Urobuchi, Sadayuki Murai, and Tetsuya Yamada) for this continuation of the story that began in Godzilla: Planet Of The Monsters. A battered and bruised Haruo (Mamoru Miyano) still wants to take down the mighty Godzilla, although that might be more difficult now that the real size and power of the legendary kaiju is now known, and he has some more people alongside him to apparently help him in that endeavour. One or two may have strange ideas about precisely how to do that though, especially when they discover a location full of nanometal that was clearly the birthplace of Mechagodzilla, and is therefore named Mechagodzilla City.

Although it looks nice enough throughout, that's all that Godzilla: City On The Edge Of Battle has going for it. The plotting feels weak, especially with the relatively small amount of screentime given to Big G, there's nothing/nobody to invest in (considering what happened to so many characters in the last movie, and considering how individuals are simply defined by their need to fight Godzilla), and there's something particularly depressing about the middle feature of a trilogy that doesn't seem interested in actually progressing things further.

I want to be kind to Miyano, as well as Takahiro Sakurai, Kana Hanazawa, Jun'ichi Suwabe, Reina Ueda, and Ari Ozawa, to namecheck a number of the key players, but there's nothing that feels exceptionally praiseworthy. They're all perfectly fine, considering what they have to work with, but nobody stands out, not even the apparent hero of the whole thing. This is all down to the writing, and the fact that the concept of this animated trilogy mishandles Godzilla, but the cast members subsequently suffer because of the decisions made elsewhere.

I am sure I remember some people enjoying this trilogy when it was first release. I definitely recall people mentioning that things improved after the first instalment. Now I have seen numerous people advising me against wasting my time with this (it's too late now!), but there are still some who claim that it's a treat for Godzilla fans. I assume that those people were maybe desperate for anything that reassured them that their favourite kaiju wouldn't be trapped in the bombastic and wildly-varying American projects built around it. We now know that different Godzilla projects can be delivered concurrently, and I would say that the past few years have handed us quite the full platter to pick and choose from. So there's no need to remember that this exists.

Once I have watched the next, and final, instalment, I'll be doing my best to wipe them completely from my memory. Unless that somehow does enough to make the whole trilogy feel worthwhile.

3/10

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Shudder Saturday: Nightwatch (1994)

I remember Nightwatch being quite highly praised when it was released. A Danish thriller from writer-director Ole Bornedal, it was a film that I soon felt I had to see. So I did. I saw it many years ago, and I saw the 1997 remake (also directed by Bornedal, but with Ewan McGregor in the lead role). I remember quite enjoying both versions of the tale, but nothing remained in my memory decades later. Rewatching this film now, it's understandable.

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau plays a law student named Martin. Martin gets a job as a night watchman as the Forensic Medical Institute, where one of his main duties is checking on the morgue. That morgue is about to gain a number of new residents as a serial killer stalks the streets of Copenhagen, but that doesn't really bother Martin, who is often busy distracting himself with an escalating game of dares that he and his friend, Jens (Kim Bodnia), are engaged in. It does start to bother him, however, when strange things start happening in the morgue, and when the victims of the killer start to show evidence that could incriminate Martin.

Although it's a decent enough little thriller, arguably a little more macabre than most, it's hard to watch Nightwatch nowadays and figure out how it gained such a solid reputation when it was first released. No one element disappoints, and the casting is a big plus, but it feels as if it's a slim, and surprisingly dull, plot padded around a couple of decent set-pieces. The grand finale is decent, and finally adds some genuine tension, but it also seems a bit ridiculous (even in relation to other slick thrillers in this vein).

Coster-Waldau makes for an appealing lead, and Bodnia is a lot of fun as the friend who keeps getting him in trouble with escalating dares and pranks, but I wish the likes of Sofie Gråbøl, Lotte Anderson, and Ulf Pilgaard had been given better material to work with, especially when two of those people are much more heavily involved in the third act. Rikke Louise Andersson is a highlight, in the role of Joyce, but her involvement with the two leading men feels like it could have been spun off into a very different, and potentially more interesting, movie.

Don't get me wrong though, I certainly didn't hate this. It's a decent and dark thriller. It's just a film that always seems to pick the least interesting direction when so many scenes provide a crossroads for the narrative. Maybe I had my viewing experience this time around impacted by that first viewing many years ago, but I wasn't ever fully invested in the characters, I didn't sense any ambiguity when it came to the potential killer, and it really dropped the ball when it came to delivering on the potential of the central premise.

Good, but not great, and I'm surprised to find that it has maintained enough of a legacy that we now, three decades later, have a sequel, also written and directed by Bornedal. I guess you already know what I will be watching at this time next week though.

6/10

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Ani-MAY-tion: Kill It And Leave This Town (2020)

This is why I go out of my way to devote almost an entire month to animated movies sometimes. They are not all cute Disney flicks of gorgeous Studio Ghibli presentations. Sometimes you see something, and this was one I hadn’t heard of before someone recommended it to me, that makes use of the medium in a way that feels off-kilter, yet also makes complete sense.

Kill It And Leave This Town is a film about memories. It is also about dealing with loss, and how those memories can help in that regard, even when remembering events that at the time seemed far removed from anything you might view with fondness. I am also going to say that it seems to have more layered throughout it that could be examined and dissected for many hours, so please forgive me for what is ultimately a slightly superficial review after a first viewing of this.

Directed by Mariusz Wilczyński, who developed the material into a feature with the help of Agnieszka Ścibior, this is the story of Janek (voiced by Maja Ostaszewska) and the various worries and views of his parents (voiced by Krystyna Janda and Andrzej Chyra). Their views are shaped by their experiences, and by the world around them, and we see how Janek is moved and shaped by them in a variety of ways.

With an animation style that often leans toward the abstract and the ugly, watching Kill It And Leave This Town is akin to reconnecting with a beloved family member who has been through the worst of times in their recent past. It is jagged and unnerving, but you soon start to recognize the heart of the person standing in front of you, and you can see the truth of their character just visible in the smallest cracks in their carefully-constructed defenses. This is a difficult watch at times, especially when things move in between memories that are swirling and melting together, but it is definitely worth your time and patience.

Thought-provoking, challenging, and surprisingly moving and sweet when you start to understand the experiences that have motivated the main characters, this is a film that makes great use of form to match the emotional core of the whole thing. You may find yourself kept at a distance by the style and structure, initially, but you’ll soon find yourself getting much closer, and eventually being immersed in the unfolding events onscreen.

If you want a better critique of this movie then I encourage you to check out others who will have undoubtedly been more insightful and intelligent than myself. All I can keep saying is that I really liked this. I am glad it was recommended to me, I am glad that I had patience with it, and I am glad that therapeutic (because, well, it IS) art like this has a place alongside the more easygoing features we can also enjoy.

8/10

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Ani-MAY-tion: Cars 3 (2017)

Here I am at last, at the end of my journey through the cinematic world of Cars. I now have to decide whether or not I want to check out both Planes movies, which are also set in this world, as far as I am aware. We all know I will check them out, it’s just a matter of exactly when I will get to them.

Considering how disappointed I was by the second movie, I am happy to say that Cars 3 was a film that I really enjoyed. Yes, it returned to the more formulaic plotting of the first film, but it felt like a natural and worthwhile story that returned the focus back to the main character of Lightning McQueen. 

Having maintained his successful career for many years, McQueen (once again voiced by Owen Wilson) finds himself on a bit of a losing streak. He cannot figure out how to beat the fast and cocky Jackson Storm (Armie Hammer), who has both superior technology and youth on his side. McQueen believes that he can still learn a trick or two to avoid ending his career on a low, but he needs to be willing to see and hear the lessons from his newly-assigned trainer, Cruz Ramirez (Cristela Alonzo). He also misses being able to learn from Doc, but the one way to re-establish that connection is perhaps to find the car that trained his late friend and mentor. That would be Smokey (Chris Cooper). 

Brian Fee takes over the directorial duties here, also helping to brainstorm the story idea that would be shaped into a screenplay by Kiel Murray, Bob Peterson, and Mike Rich. It’s a simple premise - the sports star struggling to accept his inability to stop the advancing years from taking their toll - and it’s handled well, with a consistent message about friendship and hard work being more valuable than fancy technology and large amounts of cash. Falling out of love with something, whether it is a sport, a hobby, or yourself, can lead to a better appreciation when you manage to remember what you loved about it.

While the voice cast all do a great job, and Nathan Fillion is a fun addition (playing a character who only really considers the potential earnings ahead of the real thrill of the racing life), the star here is the animation. That is to be expected, considering the team involved in making this, but I didn’t expect this to be as good as it is. Not only is it colourful and gorgeous throughout, the sense of proper speed is very impressive, and every main racing sequence, of which there are a few, is a real visual treat.

The more I think about this film while writing this review, the more I realise it is my favourite of the three. Easily. The main characters are more appealing, the pacing and plotting is better, and it works as both an entertaining standalone tale and a fitting conclusion to a wildly uneven trilogy. I can see myself rewatching this already, which isn’t a thought I had about the previous movies.

8/10

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Prime Time: Hotel Transylvania: Transformania (2022)

With a lot of the key figures returning, and many of the voice actors reprising their roles (I cannot think of anyone I really missed from this adventure, which may say as much about them as it does about me), Hotel Transylvania: Transformania is clearly aiming to deliver more of the same fun for those who have enjoyed any of the previous three films in the series. And it succeeds.

Dracula (voiced by Brian Hull this time around) is getting on in years, which means he will soon be handing over his beloved hotel to his daughter, Mavis (Selena Gomez), but that means it also ends up being in the hands of her human partner, Jonathan (Andy Samberg). Knowing that his non-monster identity is a big problem for his father-in-law, Jonathan ends up volunteering for a process that will, to use the technical term, monsterfy him. That works, but it also turns a number of main monsters into normal humans, creating confusion and worry while everyone tries to rectify the situation.

The first full feature directed by either Derek Drymon or Jennifer Kluska, both having a wealth of experience in other main roles, this seems like a great way to ease into that role, considering the fun nature of the brand and the many cast members all having fun with their roles. There are three credited writers (Genndy Tartakovsky, returning from the third film, but making this one the first that he didn’t direct, Amos Vernon, and Nunzio Randazzo), and they have a great framework to work with, considering the canny casting of the main characters.

Alongside Hull, who sounds so much like Adam Sandler in the role that I didn’t realise the change until checking the credits, Samberg, and Gomez (and the focus is often on the first two as they work through the issues putting a strain on their relationship), you get fun turns from Steve Buscemi, David Spade, Keegan-Michael Key, Brad Abrell, Kathryn Hahn, and Fran Drescher. It’s also worth mentioning Jim Gaffigan, playing an enjoyably unhinged Van Helsing. Whether they have been in all of the preceding movies or they have stepped in to take over the voice of a character, everyone does great work.

The animation style is in line with everything we’ve seen before, and there are plenty of wonderful visual gags complementing the dialogue, which makes it hard to imagine fans of this series being disappointed with this instalment. None of the sequels were particularly necessary, and I don’t think they were animated classics, but each one was enjoyably silly and entertaining. And each one presented some enjoyable horror archetypes in a kid-friendly form, while also maintaining focus on some valuable life lesson at the heart of the comedy.

A slight step up from the last film, which was the weakest (but still amusing enough), I recommend this to those who have enjoyed any of the previous animated adventures of Drac and co.

7/10

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Ani-MAY-tion: The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge On The Run (2020)

The third SpongeBob SquarePants feature film, and the first released since the death of SpongeBob's creator, Stephen Hillenburg, I am still trying to decide why I didn’t enjoy this as much as the two previous movies. Did I watch all three too close together, or is it a marked drop in quality when it comes to the silliness and the gags. I am leaning towards the latter, but people should know that the former may be a contributing factor.

Everything is going along as usual in Bikini Bottom, which means that Plankton is still scheming to steal a coveted recipe and cause trouble. He thinks that he is constantly being thwarted by the owner of the Krusty Krab, but he is shown the error of his ways soon enough. The person who most often thwarts Plankton is, you may have already guessed, SpongeBob. To get him out of the picture, Plankton comes up with a plan involving SpongeBob’s pet snail, Gary. This leads to a dangerous road trip to Atlantic City for SpongeBob and Patrick, where they hope to retrieve Gary. Unfortunately, Gary has already been claimed by King Poseidon.

Written and directed by Tim Hill, a pleasingly constant key figure throughout the SpongeBob show and movies, there’s still some fun to be had with this underwater adventure. Hill heads up a group of creative people who have strived to craft a new tale that was worthy of the feature runtime, but they haven’t managed to avoid a certain feeling of diminishing returns. Seeing our characters head along to Atlantic City just doesn’t feel interesting enough, and the animation makeover (which may have started on the show, I am still only a movie SpongeBobber at the moment) gives the whole thing a sheen that works against it. I cannot be the only one who appreciated the paradoxically beautiful ugliness of the classic SpongeBob look, surely.

Thankfully, the voice performers remain as good as ever. Tom Kenny, Bill Fagerbakke, Rodger Bumpass, Clancy Brown, and Mr. Lawrence are all a lot of fun, Carolyn Lawrence gets to enjoy a bit more screentime for her character, Sandy, and newcomers Matt Berry (well, newcomer to his role of King Poseidon) and Keanu Reeves, onscreen in a live-action role that allows him to deliver sage advice and a full Keanu experience, are fantastic additions to the cast, as is Tiffany Haddish in the role of Tiffany Haddock.

I enjoyed this. There were times when I chuckled, and a gag-filled montage at the very end ensures that I was smiling as the end credits rolled. I just didn’t love it. Something is missing, a spark of anarchic lunacy that made the previous two movies so much fun, and I was ultimately disappointed. I wouldn’t rule out revisiting this one though, and a repeat viewing might well lead to me rating it slightly higher. It’s never going to rival the first two movies though.

6/10

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Mubi Monday: Long Way North (2015)

I once again found myself watching a dubbed version of an animated feature, and I once again wasn’t too bothered by it. In my defence, the dubbed version was the only version available to me, and I only found out about any other version when trying to match up the performers to their roles. Anyway, as I have said many times before, animated movies can, in my view, be equally enjoyable in dubbed or subtitles versions, but please know that I would always go for the original language version if I was given a choice. This review will be naming the cast members I heard delivering the dialogue in English.

Sasha (Chloé Dunn) is a young woman who has retained faith in her explorer grandfather, despite his disappearance on a journey to the North Pole. It is the 19th century, and such a trip is even more perilous and uncharted than it is today. A reward is put out on the lost ship, with everyone assuming that the mission was a failure. Sasha thinks they are all wrong though, and she runs away to buy passage on a ship that will take her to the frozen region where she believes her grandfather ended his journey. 

Written by Fabrice de Costil, Claire Paoletti, and Patricia Valeix, this animated tale foregoes easy jokes and spectacle in favour of an exploration of self-belief and courage. It illustrates what it takes to be an explorer in a way that avoids the more easygoing, and childish, view of that lifestyle, yet does so while remaining firmly attached to a young lead character who has the benefit of youthful enthusiasm and optimism on their side.

Director Rémi Chayé has been involved with one or two other celebrated animated films, and he seems happy to deliver something that appears to have been made with a lot of care and love, despite making stylistic and tonal choices that stop it from being an easy option when you’re after some family viewing. Very much like a beautiful picture book throughout, this unfolds at a relatively languid pace, compared to many other films aimed at younger audiences, and the adventuring side of things is depicted with a healthy lack of sensationalism.

Dunn is good in the lead role, and she heads up a cast that includes Antony Hickling, Tom Perkins, Peter Hudson, and Martin Vaughan Lewis. While I am unfamiliar with these performers in other roles, they all do well here, and there’s no distraction that can come from trying to put a face to a celebrity voice.

I enjoyed this, but most of the time I was admiring it more as an interesting piece of art than an entirely satisfying movie. It is definitely worth your time, especially to anyone who has seen this style, or something close to it, in other features, but I probably won’t go out of my way to recommend or revisit it.

6/10

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Netflix And Chill: Godzilla: Planet Of The Monsters (2017)

It is the future. A rampaging Godzilla has pretty much destroyed Earth, making the planet so hostile and uninhabitable that the only hope for humanity is to find another planet to colonize. Captain Haruo Sakaki (voiced by Mamoru Miyano) doesn't think that will happen though, and he's unhappy with the plan to send the elderly ahead as scouts on the planet that has been picked as their potential new home. Convincing people that Godzilla does actually have weak points, a plan to return home and kill the beast is hatched. If it is still alive by the time that they return. Godzilla IS still alive, as are many other creatures that now thrive in the radically altered ecosystem of Earth.

Co-directed by Hiroyuki Seshita and Kôbun Shizuno, and written by Gen Urobuchi, this is a strange feature for many Godzilla fans. On the one hand, it's always good to see the big monster used in ways that keep it in the public consciousness. On the other hand, it's a bit odd to suddenly be served up some animated Godzilla that isn't a return to the late '70s cartoon that had such a great theme tune, and the cuteness of Godzooky. Setting up an animated trilogy, and I'll be getting to those next two instalments in due course, Godzilla: Planet Of The Monsters feels like something that should have been a short prequel to the main adventure. Unfortunately, it has been stretched out to 88 minutes.

The voice cast are all perfectly fine, but they're portraying characters who aren't all that interesting. Nobody stands out here, aside from Sakaki, which makes the work feel much harder to appreciate. Still, it's worth mentioning Takahiro Sakurai, Kana Hanazawa, Tomokazu Sugita, and Yûki Kaji, alongside Miyano. Of course, many (most? all?) Godzilla films take more care with the monsters than with the human characters, so having a cast of people we don't ever really care about isn't exactly a reinvention of the formula. It's just a shame that the rest of the film doesn't deliver enough spectacle to make up for the weak characters.

It's all just a bit lacking in actual kaiju action, and the plotting doesn't let the one or two main points make the impact that they should. The animation is mostly nice and smooth though, and the third act is more enjoyable when we finally see some proper action. I am hoping the next instalment is better though. This sits quite near the bottom of the rankings when compared to all other Godzilla movies, but I might feel a bit different about it if everything has been put in place for an epic story that needs three features to do it justice.

4/10

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Shudder Saturday: The Spine Of Night (2021)

I tried to watch The Spine Of Night before, but things conspired against me. I ended up busier than expected, had to stop the film, and then just never got back to it. I always thought I was missing out, and I figured that the film might be something I would love. A year or so later, I discover that I was completely wrong. The Spine Of Night is a boring waste of a great cast.

Described on IMDb as an "ultra-violent, epic fantasy set in a land of magic" that "follows heroes from different eras and cultures battling against a malevolent force", this is all about a powerful woman (Tzod, voiced by Lucy Lawless) who battles to retain possession of a mystical flower known as the Bloom. It, or something akin to it, has been guarded by others over many years (with one of those guardians voiced by Richard E. Grant), but it has fallen into the hands of a major baddie named Ghal-Sur (Jordan Douglas Smith).

Co-written and co-directed by Philip Gelatt and Morgan Galen King, this rotoscoped dark fantasy has a number of obvious influences feeding into it, and anyone who enjoys those influences should find something to like here, but they will struggle to maintain that enjoyment as the film makes one mis-step after another. Although the runtime is only 93 minutes, the pacing makes it feel much longer, and makes it feel like quite a slog at times. The characters are hard to care about, the environments shown onscreen feel like disconnected backgrounds, as opposed to a real world, and the central quest never becomes as interesting or involving as it should be.

The animation style also works against it slightly. I appreciate some good rotoscoping, but it works best when it feels like a vital component. This is a choice, and an ill-advised one. There's nothing here that couldn't have been improved by either a different style of animation or, perhaps, a live-action presentation of the unfolding events.

As for the cast, both Lawless and Grant are great picks for their roles, Smith does well as the villain, and there are roles for Patton Oswalt, Joe Manganiello, and Larry Fessenden, as well as quite a few others, but nobody is given good enough material to work with. I don't mind something that mixes in plenty of familiar elements, there's a comfort and fun in enjoying ingredients mixed into a new recipe, but this feels, perhaps as intended, like a tale that was written back in the 1970s and dusted off for modern audiences without any extra re-writing or polishing of the material.

I could recommend you plenty of animated movies to watch ahead of this, from the fantasy, sci-fi, and horror genres, and some of those show a much better way to make use of rotoscoping. I'm sure The Spine Of Night has some fans, but I'm never going to want to revisit it, and I'll probably forget it exists at all within the next few months.

3/10

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Ani-MAY-tion: Cars 2 (2011)

While I was pleasantly surprised by my recent, long overdue, viewing of Cars, I knew that I shouldn’t get my expectations too high for either of the sequels. Although I have forgotten the full conversation, I remember hearing that one was dire and one was a pleasant surprise. I hope the third Cars movie is a pleasant surprise, because this one wasn’t very good.

When Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) rises to the challenge of racing Francesco Bernoulli (John Turturro) he ends up unwittingly amidst a scheme that could lead to the death of many cars. It’s all to do with selling fuel, but a couple of secret agents (voiced by Michael Caine and Emily Mortimer) are on the case. Unfortunately, a misunderstanding leads to them thinking that Mater (Larry The Cable Guy) is working alongside them. There are chases, there are death traps, and there are many moments that have Mater defying the odds to make progress in his “mission”.

While I understand the need to avoid a complete replay of the first movie, Cars feels like a movie series with a limited number of plot options. And, let’s face it, many successful franchises have managed to repeat a formula over and over again, with minor tweaks, including a certain other huge Pixar title. Kids are especially pleased by repetition, which makes the road taken here (no pun intended) all the more bizarre.

Writer Ben Queen does what he can with the premise, presenting a kid-friendly James Bond adventure with Mater being the accidental hero of the piece, but he ends up delivering something incredibly weak. The main lesson feels overwhelmed by the secret agent shenanigans, and the secret agent shenanigans pale in comparison to almost any other film in this vein that you can think of. It doesn’t help that co-directors John Lasseter and Bradford Lewis don’t seem to have any interest in elevating the material, relying on the voice cast to make up for the many weaker elements.

That would be okay if the voice cast was better, but it’s not great. Caine and Mortimer ARE great, but they are absolute highlights here. Wilson is fine, but sidelined in favour of everything else going on, Turturro is equally undone by his relatively limited dialogue (he is fun when he gets time to chatter away), and the likes of Eddie Izzard, Joe Mantegna and others are wasted in supporting roles that don’t give them enough to do. The person who gets to do plenty is Larry The Cable Guy, who is enjoyable enough as Mater, but also quite an acquired taste (although there’s a chance that younger viewers will just lap up everything he says and does).

I didn’t absolutely hate this, mainly thanks to the slick visuals and a couple of small gags that made me chuckle, but it was very disappointing. Am I wrong for wanting another plot that saw Lightning McQueen having to learn some new tactics for a different kind of racing? Probably. Could that have been better than this bit of silliness though? Probably. It gets bonus points for the casting of Caine though, who is the best thing about it.

4/10

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