Home

TOMORROWLAND (Blu-ray combo)

October 13, 2015

James Plath, Family Home Theater Action-Adventure, Entire Family, PG rated, Sci-Fi/Fantasy Leave a comment

TomorrowlandcoverGrade: B-
Entire family: Yes, but…
2015, 130 min., Color
Disney
Rated PG for sequences of sci-fi action violence and peril, thematic elements and language
Aspect ratio: 2.20:1
Featured audio: English DTS-HDMA 7.1
Bonus features: B+
Includes: Blu-ray, DVD, Digital HD
Promo clip
Amazon link

I’m just going to blurt it out: Tomorrowland is entertaining, but underwhelming—at least in the beginning.

Even under the capable direction of Brad Bird (Ratatouille, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol) Disney’s latest onscreen theme-park ride feels uneven and unnecessarily complicated, especially in the early going. It takes 22 minutes before the film seems to find its footing. Until then, you’ll have family members asking what’s going on and whether the action is taking place in the past, present, future, or distant future. Later, it can be emotionally confusing, as persons we thought were human are struck by a car or beheaded in an explosion (Uh, Disney?)—after which we learn that they’re really highly refined futuristic robots.

Until the plot kicks in, at least the art direction and set decoration and CGI world that the filmmakers create are all bright and shiny and impeccably rendered. Along with the action, it’s enough to hold your attention until everything starts to make more sense. Tomorrowland clocks in at 130 minutes, and if Bird had compressed and simplified that beginning it would have been a B+ film. Then again, that opening was obviously intended as a theme park tie-in. Instead of Disney World it’s the New York World’s Fair in 1964 that we enter, with a voiceover singing the theme song from the Carousel of Progress and one of the main characters urged to hop aboard a ride that just happens to be a modified version of It’s a Small World.

Tomorrowlandscreen1Two very different characters are targeted to receive a “T” button under mysterious circumstances: a boy genius who brings his Electrolux-converted jet pack to a World’s Fair Tomorrowland attraction, and a rebellious teen girl who sneaks onto a decommissioned NASA launch pad and is arrested for her trouble. But it’s only when that teen girl meets the grown-up boy genius that things really start to roll in this fantasy-adventure.

I don’t know about hidden Mickeys, but you can spot Space Mountain in the midst of the futuristic world in Tomorrowland, and the special and visual effects are the film’s chief strength. Not far behind, though, are performances by Thomas Robinson as young Frank, George Clooney as old Frank, and Britt Robertson as Casey Newton. Even Raffey Cassidy as the mysterious Athena, a young girl who spans generations, adds to the mix so that collectively they make us care about the action, however confused it may be at times.

Tomorrowlandscreen2Disney is known for its strong villains, but surprisingly Hugh Laurie as David Nix, the leader of Tomorrowland, isn’t played over-the-top. He’s more of a misguided misanthrope who could be anyone’s dad fed up with society and resigned to its doom. But the stakes are predictably high: the world will end in the near future unless Casey and Frank can do their thing, despite Nix’s attempts to, uh, nix that.

It’s really pretty amazing what can be done with CGI these days, and Disney spared no expense. The film cost anywhere from $190 million to $330 million to produce and market, depending upon whose figures you buy. Meanwhile, the worldwide gross was $208 million, so financially it’s another big-budget Disney disappointment. But both of my teens said they’d definitely watch Tomorrowland again, and that says a lot. Once you get past a muddled beginning the action and story and characters make for an entertaining family movie night.

Language: Mostly “hells” and “damns”
Sex: n/a
Violence: Plenty of sci-fi violence, including a charred and decapitated head that turns out to be robotic, humans are killed by ray guns, a robotic girl is run over by a car, and the female lead bashes the heck out of a robot with a baseball bat
Adult situations: A father asks if his daughter’s on drugs, but that’s about it
Takeaway: Effects are great, but story still matters. And once this story kicks in, Tomorrowland is worth the visit.

AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON (Blu-ray combo)

October 4, 2015

James Plath, Family Home Theater 3D, Action-Adventure, PG-13 rated, Reviews (by Genre), Sci-Fi/Fantasy Leave a comment

AvengersAgeofUltronGrade: A-
Entire family: No
2015, 141 min., Color
Marvel/Disney
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action, violence and destruction, and for some suggestive comments/language
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Featured audio: English DTS-HDMA 7.1
Bonus features: A-/B+
Included: Blu-ray, 3D Blu-ray, Digital HD (DVD sold separately)
Trailer
Amazon link

All superheroes try to save the world. It’s in their contract. But the crisis usually isn’t of their own making, as it is in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

The sequel to 2012’s The Avengers is a slam-bang action and special effects movie that requires you to pay attention to pick up the plot points—which means that family members on the low side of the PG-13 rating might be slow to figure things out, though they won’t care a bit. They’ll be happy enough savoring the breakneck action and appreciating the CGI antics of Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), and Captain America (Chris Evans).

In the pre-title sequence, the Avengers raid a Hydra stronghold in a fictional Eastern European country and recover Loki’s scepter that Hydra scientists were using to experiment on human subjects, including a pair of twins—the now superfast Pietro and mind-manipulating Wanda. But what viewers can see that the Avengers can’t is that Hydra actually wanted them to take that scepter, knowing its power for evil and Tony Stark’s all-or-nothing personality.

Thor is anxious to return the scepter to his world, but trouble ensues when Stark (aka Iron Man) borrows it to upload into his global defense program, dubbed “Ultron,” and the scepter A.I. causes Ultron to go full-blown evil. He eliminates Stark’s A.I., J.A.R.V.I.S., and, like all non-human intelligences, looks around and decides that the world would be a better place without so much bickering flesh and blood. The rest of the film follows the Avengers attempts to track him down—which means a return trip to fictional Sokovia and some pretty cool all-out battles.

AvengersAgeofUltronscreenI’m giving this an A- only because the special effects are uneven. That long pre-title sequence incorporates shortcuts—sped up shots, wildly sweeping cameras, and quick cuts—to generate the appearance of furious action. Thankfully the rest of the film is mostly devoid of those cheap tricks, and viewers can “marvel” at the action as it plays out. In Avengers: Age of Ultron the characters Hawkeye, The Hulk, and Black Widow get more development, and Samuel L. Jackson returns as Nick Fury, but only for the third act. Ultron is the star of this show, and he’s villainous enough to pull the very best out of the Avengers.

Some viewers might have flashbacks to the 1999 remake of The Mummy, in which an evil one tries to “upgrade” himself from walking skeleton to fully flesh-and-blood villain, because the same thing holds true for Ultron. The opening sequence might also remind viewers of the Star Wars series—particularly the speeder bike sequences from Return of the Jedi—because, even more than the first Avengers film, this one goes full-bore CGI in action, backgrounds, settings, and objects.

But it’s accomplished and it’s as entertaining as popcorn movies get. Because of the complexity, because of the accomplished special effects, it’s a film that ought to get plenty of repeat play. The collector’s edition comes with 3D Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and Digital HD, with more than 45 minutes of exclusive bonus features. The DVD is sold separately, but Blu-ray is the way to go, mostly because the sound is so amazing. The picture has plenty of pop, but it’s the immersive soundtrack that sells it. And if you have 3D capability, the depth and tracking during quick scenes is pretty amazing.

Language: A surprising “s-word” early in the film that’s used as a running joke, but otherwise pretty clean
Sex: n/a
Violence: Plenty of fantasy violence, but no graphic blood-letting
Adult situations: Some innuendo, but that’s it
Takeaway: Marvel and Disney are inching closer into Star Wars territory, and creating a series of movies with just as many connections and complexities.

INSURGENT (Blu-ray)

August 2, 2015

James Plath, Family Home Theater Action-Adventure, PG-13 rated, Sci-Fi/Fantasy Leave a comment

InsurgentcoverGrade: B
Entire family: No
2015, 119 min., Color
Rated PG-13 for intense violence and action throughout, some sexuality, thematic elements and brief language
Summit Entertainment
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Featured audio: English Dolby TrueHD Almos Mix
Includes: Blu-ray, Digital HD
Bonus features: B+ (four hours!)
Trailer
Amazon link

Some people seem to hate Divergent and Insurgent (the second installment in Veronica Roth’s Young Adult dystopian novels-come-to-film) because they’re not The Hunger Games. Or because they feel so structurally similar. My son hates them because he doesn’t think Shailene Woodley can carry a sci-fi action movie the way Jennifer Lawrence does in The Hunger Games. Then again, he’s a teenager, and it could be as simple as liking Lawrence that much more, or associating Woodley too much with a romantic weeper that he refused to watch: The Fault in Our Stars.

When I reviewed the Divergent Blu-ray a year ago I gave it a B because three out of four family members really enjoyed it, and I thought the film featured a nice balance of moral dilemmas and action packaged inside a relatively believable sci-fi world. Like the first film,  Insurgent was made for audiences, not critics, and the tone and pacing are similar,  with continuing characters and plenty of drama and action.

But this is a trilogy, and frankly we got most of the character development in the first film. In Divergent, Tris was faced with tough decisions, starting with which faction she should join and have to remain in for the rest of her life. Then there was her fight and constant struggle to make it through Dauntless training and keep her identity as a “divergent”—someone who has elements of several factions in her—a secret. To top it off, there was a developing romance between her and one of her superiors, and she seemed more complex that first outing because she was as fragile as she was tough.

InsurgentscreenHere she’s mostly tough, which means Tris really doesn’t grow as a character as much in this installment. What’s more, sci-fi fans might be disappointed that there’s less science fiction in Insurgent and more drama. Insurgent also pushes the main male character Tobias/Four (Theo James) slightly to the fringe while giving the oppressive Erudite leader (Kate Winslet) more screen time as she sends her Dauntless police in pursuit of the two Divergents. These are not bad things, especially if you consider that you’re watching the second act of a three-act extended screenplay.

You’ll need to have watched Divergent to appreciate or even understand what’s going on in this film. The action picks up just after Jeanine’s (Winslet’s) mind-controlled Dauntless obliterated Abnegation and she went on TV to blame divergents for the attack. So Tris and Four go on the run, first through factionless territory and then on to Candor. All the while they’re pursued by Dauntless traitors under the command of the sadistic Eric (Jai Courtney). Then there’s some hokum about a box that only a divergent can open, and that opens the door to criticism about the dystopian sci-fi elements. But if you don’t think too hard and just roll with the action, Insurgent makes for an enjoyable family movie night for households with teens. It’s rated PG-13, though, and deservedly so.

Language: A few “b” words and “a” words pop up, but nothing more. Pretty clean.
Sex: Nothing much, really. Just a kiss and a faux attack.
Violence: Punches and knives are thrown and there are some teen beatings and one suicide. The most traumatic might be semi-successful mass execution.
Adult situations: Some pursuit scenes might scare younger viewers.
Takeaway: Don’t listen to the naysayers. Divergent and Insurgent are decent dystopian sci-fi teen action movies that also hold appeal for viewers outside the target age range.

INNERSPACE (Blu-ray)

July 25, 2015

James Plath, Family Home Theater Action-Adventure, Comedy, PG rated, Reviews (by Genre), Sci-Fi/Fantasy Leave a comment

InnerspacecoverGrade: B+
Entire family: Yes
1987, 120 min., Color
Rated PG for briefly exposed male buttocks, some comic violence, some mild profanity, and drinking
20th Century Fox
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Featured audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1
Bonus features: B+
Trailer
Amazon link

Like Fantastic Voyage, which preceded it by twenty years, Innerspace won an Academy Award for special effects that simulated the interior of a human body—great effects, actually, considering they were accomplished before the advent of computer-generated images. In Voyage, a team of doctors was miniaturized and injected into a human being in a dramatic attempt to save an important political life. But Innerspace director Joe Dante (Small Soldiers) opts for low comedy, not high drama, with Batmanesque villains, pre-Mask morphing, and more than one Austin Powers-style “mini-me.”

A young looking Dennis Quaid stars as Lt. Tuck Pendleton, a bad-boy Navy pilot with a weakness for alcohol and Lydia, the reporter-girlfriend (Meg Ryan) who walked out on him. Tuck resigns his commission to pilot a submersible pod for an independent lab working on miniaturization. But instead of being Innerspacescreeninjected into a rabbit, as planned, when an industrial terrorist raid interrupts the procedure and a lab technician flees with the syringe containing the tiny Tuck, the pilot is injected instead into the bloodstream of Jack Putter, a frazzled milquetoast supermarket clerk (Martin Short). In a relationship that becomes symbiotic out of sheer necessity, Tuck and Jack party in order to “bond,” then work together to battle personal defects, the bad guys, and (tick, tick) time. Tuck’s oxygen supply is limited, you see, and he needs a microchip the villains have in order to coordinate his reentry into peopledom. But it’s a double search, because the evil Victor Scrimshaw (Kevin McCarthy)–a comic cross between Mr. Freeze and The Penguin–has one microchip and needs Tuck’s in order to complete the technology theft, and he and his henchmen, his oversexed lead doctor (Fiona Lewis), and industrial spy/hit man “The Cowboy” (Robert Picardo) will do anything to get it.

Since Quaid spends most of the movie sitting inside the pod, it’s a tall order for Short to provide all of the visual action and handle most of the proxy interaction with Ryan. But like Paul Blart, Mall Cop, Short’s character rises to the challenge and the trio has a project chemistry that really makes this otherwise lightweight film an engaging adventure—especially on widescreen and in high def. Together, they really sell the situation. Even when Jack begins to fall for Lydia and compete for her attentions, it’s totally credible—which balances the tonally cartoonish villains.

“For a while, we thought we should call it Fantastic Voyage 2,” Dante quips, adding that they chose Innerspace instead because no one could come up with a better title. Dante teams with producer Michael Finnell and co-stars McCarthy and Picardo on a commentary track that’s almost as entertaining as the film. Warner Brothers’ marketing people get roasted, as does Martin Short for bowing out of the commentary, and Quaid for refusing. As the camera pans across the laboratory, one of them tells how the extras were all real scientists from a nearby jet-propulsion laboratory. As the memorable bonding scene between Tuck and Jack runs, another remarks, “I can’t believe that we were gonna cut that scene.” And as the camera pulls closer to the heart valve opening and closing like the beak of the giant squid in 20,000 Leagues under the Sea, threatening to swallow up Tuck’s pod and kill them both, one of them laughs, “The heart valve opening and closing? Two guys with sticks pulling as fast as they can!”

Dante and Finnell said that early on they realized that Innerspace was “a good audience movie,” and self-deprecating humor aside, Innerspace holds up better than Fantastic Voyage precisely because they don’t take themselves or what they’re doing too seriously. Yes, the hair is dated and some of the special effects now seem rudimentary, but the laughs are still here, and the action is pure fun. And it’s rated PG. Innerspace is one of the better, older comedy-adventures and a great candidate for family movie night. Unlike Fantastic Voyage, this one seems to get better with age. Right now at Amazon Innerspace is selling for under $10 on Blu-ray, and the price seems “righter” if you consider the repeat play this one is going to get.

Language: No f-bombs, but a few milder d, s, and h words
Sex: Just a “swapping spit” kiss that’s a plot device
Violence: Fighting, some shooting, a body dissolving to skeleton
Adult situations: Drunkenness, assassin stripped to his shorts
Takeaway: Parodies can actually have a life of their own.

TAKEN 3 (Blu-ray)

April 25, 2015

James Plath, Family Home Theater Action-Adventure, PG-13 rated , , Leave a comment

Taken3coverGrade: B-
Entire family: No
2014, 109 min., Color
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, and for brief strong action
20th Century Fox
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1 widescreen
Featured audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1
Includes: Blu-ray, Digital HD
Bonus features: C-
Trailer/Amazon link

In Taken 3, nobody’s really “taken” until the third act, but I guess it was time for the franchise to shake it up a bit.

The original Taken (2008) featured Liam Neeson as a former CIA operative who used his skills to save a daughter kidnapped in France. Then, in Taken 2, a Patriot Games-style revenge theme drove the plot, with the father of the kidnapper from the first film “taking” both Bryan Mills (Neeson) and his ex-wife (Famke Janssen) while they’re in Istanbul. The third time around they’re in L.A., where Mills learns from his now-pregnant daughter (Maggie Grace) that his ex-wife is having marital problems. There’s some hint of their getting back together, but early in the first act he finds his ex- in his bed with her throat slit. When the cops show up, his survivalist instincts kick in again. He goes “down the rabbit hole” to hide and, like The Fugitive, try to clear his name.

Neeson makes a credible action hero, so much so that you have to wonder “what if” he had been given the Bond role back in 2006 when his name was bandied about as a possibility. As cast and filmmakers say in one of the bonus features, the film’s appeal comes from the core principle of a father wanting to protect his family, and Neeson does have an appealing “everyman” quality—despite also having superman survival skills that would have eliminated most ordinary men from the challenge 30 seconds into the film. At times the action and close-call escapes border on the cartoonish because they’re so outlandish, but Luc Besson and his co-writers seem to understand that audiences expect him to survive anything. At some point, they don’t even bother to explain how he managed them, they start to feel that routine.

Taken 3 offers a plot that also feels familiar, and unfortunately relies on the cheap trick of printing sequences with some frames removed and slightly blurring them—a shortcut for action films that we first saw in Gladiator. It produces the kind of strobe effect that can drive some people crazy and basically excuses the filmmakers from having to mount expensive and highly choreographed fight scenes.

That said, Taken 3 is still a credible action film that’s entertaining despite its familiarity, largely due to Neeson’s talents and appeal. But Forest Whitaker is also engaging as the LAPD detective in charge of the investigation, making the best out of a two-dimensional role, and Dougray Scott and Sam Spruell spark enough hatred as the film’s bad guys. Neither sequel can touch the original, but fans of the franchise won’t care.    More

EXODUS: GODS AND KINGS (Blu-ray)

March 18, 2015

James Plath, Family Home Theater Action-Adventure, PG-13 rated , , , , , Leave a comment

ExoduscoverGrade: C+
Entire family: No
2014, 150 min., Color
Rated PG-13 for violence including battle sequences and intense images
20th Century Fox
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Featured audio: English DTS-HD MA 7.1
Includes: Blu-ray, Digital HD
Bonus features: C-/D
Trailer/Amazon link

Last year two modernized biblical blockbusters came to the big screen: Noah, starring Russell Crowe in the title role, and Exodus: Gods and Kings, with Christian Bale playing Moses. Both films took so many liberties with the Old Testament version that if a bell rang every time they veered off-course, we’d all be deaf. But at least there are no fantastic rock monsters in Exodus, the superior of the two.

Exodus: Gods and Kings is Ridley Scott’s attempt to retell the story of Moses and the Israelites’ flight from Egypt, but it’s significantly different from Cecil B. De Mille’s The Ten Commandments, which was closer to King James.

Exodusscreen1De Mille made an epic. Scott, like Noah director Darren Aronofsky, made an action movie. There’s no wandering the desert with staff and sandals in Exodus. Scott’s Moses rides a horse across the Red Sea narrows and the wilderness to Midian, with a sword in his bedroll. This Moses wears a breastplate and fights assassins, and when the time finally comes for him to return to Egypt and lead the Israelites to freedom, there’s more talk of rebellion than there is of a “promised land.” He teaches the Israelites to fire bows and arrows and leads them on commando raids. This Moses is more military leader than prophet, and there’s not a single “And the Lord says” to be found here. “They’re Egyptians,” Moses tells Ramesses, “they should have the same rights, they should be paid.”

Much of the language is contemporary, with liberal use of contractions—something my 17-year-old son assures me will go a long way toward appealing to the younger generation. So you have the Pharaoh saying things like, “Everybody but the Viceroy, OUT!” and another ancient Egyptian saying, “I didn’t say exiled. I said DEAD.” In Midian, Moses says, “Your daughters invited me here for food. They didn’t tell me there was going to be an interrogation”—a word that didn’t exist until the late 14th century.

Maybe that’s nit-picking, since Scott manages to create a visually interesting ancient world. He also uses today’s superior technology to wow us when God sends 10 plagues to smite the Egyptians—even though the Nile turns blood red [SPOILER ALERT] because of a giant crocodile that attacks everyone like an ancient Jaws. And later, when the Red Sea rushes over the Egyptians, we briefly see sharks swirling around them in a feeding frenzy. All that too will probably go a long way toward appealing to a new generation of teens and ‘tweens who’ve grown up playing action-filled video games.   More

THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES (Blu-ray combo)

March 15, 2015

James Plath, Family Home Theater Action-Adventure, PG-13 rated, Sci-Fi/Fantasy Leave a comment

FiveArmiescoverGrade: B+
Entire family: No
2014, 144 min., Color
Warner Bros.
Rated PG-13 for fantasy action violence and frightening images
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1 widescreen
Featured audio: English DTS-HD MA 7.1
Includes: Blu-ray, DVD, Digital HD
Bonus features: B+
Trailer

The subtitle says it all. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is pretty much non-stop battle action, from an impressive opening sequence when the dragon Smaug (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch) torches a city, until the converging armies battle and the final arrow is shot. So yes, this 144-minute film is rated PG-13 because of “extended sequences of intense fantasy action violence and frightening images.” There’s no sex, no bad language, and no adult situations to speak of, except for warfare.

The philosopher Bertrand Russell once remarked, “War does not determine who is right—only who is left.” That wordplay aptly describes the third film in the Hobbit trilogy. With so much fighting and no build-up to speak of, the main suspense comes from seeing who will be the last ones standing and whether any major characters in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth will die.

Of course, if you can keep all the characters straight and remember who appears in The Lord of the Rings, you’ll have more emotional investment in what happens and have more of a clue, since the book that inspired the film series was written as a prequel. Given the three Lord of the Rings and three Hobbit films that Jackson has made, it’s strange to think that Tolkien’s books are considered classics of children’s literature. But when you read of battles, the violence is whatever a young reader can imagine. That’s not the case with film, hence the PG-13 rating.

FiveArmiesscreen1For his last foray into Middle-earth, Jackson broke up a single book into three film installments, so the third film functions as a third act—meaning, unlike some trilogies or sequels, The Battle of the Five Armies will seem impossibly confusing to anyone who hasn’t seen (or remembered) the first two installments. It will seem like what it is: all climax and no plot development or complications. Yes, five armies are converging, but if you’re approaching this cold or have forgotten the first two films, what’s missing is why we should care. The only takeaway in this case is that old motivating force, greed—greed for power, greed for gold—and a genocidal undercurrent.  More

NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: SECRET OF THE TOMB (Blu-ray combo)

March 11, 2015

James Plath, Family Home Theater Action-Adventure, Comedy, PG rated , , 1 Comment

NightattheMuseum3coverGrade: B/B+
Entire family: Yes
2014, 98 min., Color
20th Century Fox
Rated PG for mild action, some rude humor and brief language
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1 widescreen
Featured audio: English DTS-HD MA 7.1
Includes: Blu-ray, DVD, Digital HD
Bonus features: B-
Trailer

Quick. Name five action comedies that are rated PG. Can’t do it?

I’m not surprised. That’s not the direction Hollywood has been going. Most action comedies aim for an adult audience and then try to ratchet down the adult content in order to squeeze by with a PG-13 rating. But like its predecessors, Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb is obviously aimed at children, with an eye toward producing something that adults might enjoy as well.

And wholesome doesn’t mean dumbed down. Sure, there are more silly gags and sequences that will delight kids (like the “rude humor” bit where a monkey takes a page from Gulliver’s Travels and pees to put out a fire). But there’s also some smart writing, and as one of the excellent bonus features on this Blu-ray combo pack reveals, just as much ad-libbing from the stars—nuanced performances that adults can appreciate.

NightscreenBen Stiller anchors the cast again as Larry Daley, a security guard at a New York museum who works at night, when a magical Egyptian tablet brings all the exhibits to life. If your family liked Night at the Museum (2006) and Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009), you’ll like this one too. My wife and I thought it was just as good as the others, while my 13-year-old daughter said it was her favorite of the three. My 17-year-old son liked it except for Rebel Wilson (he hates her) and Larry’s 17-year-old son (Skyler Gisondo), whose character “wasn’t developed enough” for him.

Though Wilson doesn’t get much screen time as a British Museum security guard, the rest of us thought she was every bit as funny as the others. This franchise shifts the spotlight each time, and in Secret of the Tomb newcomer Sir Lancelot (Dan Stevens) and caveman Laaa (also played by Stiller) are featured. Attilla the Hun (Patrick Gallagher) gets more to do this outing, while miniature diorama guys Octavius the Roman (Steve Coogan) and cowboy Jedediah (Owen Wilson) have a side adventure that requires their rescue by Dexter, the stuffed monkey that comes to life with rest of the fake exhibits.

The plot has a Back to the Future vibe to it, since the magic tablet is gradually turning black and the museum gang starts to malfunction and lose mobility. To save them, Larry convinces museum director Dr. McPhee (Ricky Gervais) to let him take the tablet to London, where Ahkmenrah (Rami Malek) can be reunited with his parents, who know the secret of the tablet. Can he find the answer and fix the tablet before his exhibit friends forever lose the ability to come to life?   More

BIG HERO 6 (Blu-ray combo)

February 15, 2015

James Plath, Family Home Theater Action-Adventure, Animation, Entire Family, PG rated 1 Comment

BigHero6coverGrade: A
Entire family: Yes
2014, 102 min., Color
Disney
Rated PG for action and peril, some rude humor, and thematic elements
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1 widescreen
Featured audio: DTS-HD MA 7.1
Includes: Blu-ray, DVD, Digital HD
Bonus features: B
Trailer

“Different, but as good as Frozen,” my wife pronounced it. “Four stars,” both teens said. And Big Hero 6 was easily my pick for Best Animated Feature of 2014. We all loved it, though I have to admit the poster didn’t sell me, nor did my hearing that the story was about a main character named Hiro (Hero?) and his brother Tadashi. How in the world would Disney be able to deliver a robotics story involving Japanese-named characters without being locked into an anime style?

Well, if you’re Disney, you confidently (and I might add, audaciously) create a future city named San Fransokyo, which, we learn in one of the bonus features, combines a geological mapping of San Francisco with the visual and cultural look of Tokyo—a hybrid that allows them to do pretty much anything, visually. That invented city, which was rendered using a new method called “Hyperion,” is so infused with vibrancy that you’re almost blown away by some of the cityscape scenes.

That’s not surprising, given the fact that it’s Disney and they’re all about originality and heart. Both of those traits drive Big Hero 6, which takes its name and spirit (and a few characters) from an obscure Marvel comic book.

Big Hero 6 tells the story of a 14-year-old robotics prodigy named Hiro (Ryan Potter) who’s already graduated from high school and hopes to be accepted into the nerdy robotics school his older brother Tadashi (Daniel Henney) attends. He visits the school and meets some of the other students, a quirky group that includes a tough bicycle-loving woman named GoGo (Jamie Chung), the neurotic and overly self-protective Wasabi (Damon Wayans, Jr.), and a fast-talking hyperexuberant chemistry wiz named Honey Lemon (Génesis Rodríguez).

It’s an origin story, really, about how this group of brainy misfits comes together to form a superhero group called Big Hero 6, but it’s also every bit as much of a relationship story between a boy and robot as a film like The Iron Giant. The plot is set in motion when Hiro’s project on microrobotics blows away the competition at a big school science fair, and Professor Robert Callaghan (James Cromwell) hands Hiro a letter of acceptance after warning him not to sell his idea to billionaire businessman Alistair Krei (Alan Tudyk).

BigHero6screen1As one of the animators says in a bonus feature, Disney has never shied away from the issue of loss, having traumatized one generation with Bambi and Old Yeller and another with The Lion King. A new generation will vicariously learn to deal with loss through this film, which begins with two already orphaned boys living with their aunt (Maya Rudolph) and introduces three situations where a loved one may have been killed. That’s as much as I can say without getting into spoiler territory, except to add that Big Hero 6 is full of emotion. It’s also full of humor, with the soft vinyl robot Baymax (voiced by Scott Adsit) sharing the comedic duties with all the nerdy characters and a rich wannabe superhero friend named Fred (T. J. Miller).

More

101 DALMATIANS (Blu-ray combo)

January 31, 2015

James Plath, Family Home Theater Action-Adventure, Animation, Entire Family, G rated 1 Comment

101DalmatianscoverGrade:  A-
Entire family:  Yes
1961, 79 min., Color
Rated G
Disney
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1 (with a border option)
Featured audio: DTS-HD MA 7.1
Includes: Blu-ray, DVD, Digital Copy
Bonus features: B+
Trailer

Kids who love Frozen owe a big thank-you to the Disney staffers who made 101 Dalmatians. Animation had grown to be such an expensive proposition that it took 600 people to bring the previous film, Sleeping Beauty, to the big screen in 1959. And so the folks who worked on 101 Dalmatians were told that they had to find a way to make an animated picture that didn’t cost so much, or Walt Disney would reluctantly pull the plug on all future animated projects. The animation staff had already been trimmed to 300, but that still wasn’t enough. What saved animation for Disney was the discovery that you could eliminate the step of “inking” the drawings by Xeroxing them directly onto acetate sheets and save one tedious and expensive step in the animation process.

That’s the backstory, but what everyone knew in 1961 was that Disney had come up with another winning animated feature that included one of the most memorable Disney villains to date: Cruella De Vil, a devil of a woman who even had her own catchy theme song. She couldn’t change herself into a dragon, like Maleficent, but her driving was frightful and her obsession—to turn cute little Dalmatian puppies into a fur coat—was as evil and monstrous as any scheme that young viewers could comprehend. Even her henchmen were memorable because they combined comic relief and true menace.

101 Dalmatians turned out to be the ninth highest grossing film of 1961, and while it didn’t do as well as two Disney live-action features (The Absent-Minded Professor and The Parent Trap), it kept Disney animation alive for future projects and future generations of viewers.

101Dalmatiansscreen1The late Roger Ebert called it “an uneven film, with moments of inspiration in a fairly conventional tale of kidnapping and rescue,” and it’s hard to dispute that. But I do take exception with Ebert’s assessment that it’s only “passable fun.” 101 Dalmatians is more than that, especially for dog lovers and families with pets—and according to the Humane Society, that’s 47 percent of all American households. The puppies are cute as the Dickens and drawn, in typical Disney fashion, from live models so that they’re incredibly realistic in their movement.   More

Older Entries Newer Entries