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NEED FOR SPEED (Blu-ray)

August 4, 2014

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

NeedforSpeedcoverGrade: B-
Entire family: No
2014, 132 min., Color
DreamWorks-Touchstone
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Rated PG-13 for intense racing scenes and some violence and language
Featured audio: English DTS-HD MA 7.1
Includes: Blu-ray, Digital HD Copy
Bonus features: B-
Trailer

Watching this 2014 action film from DreamWorks-Touchstone, I felt like a judge on The Voice, but with the chairs in reverse. I was facing the action and had my hand on the button a bunch of times to turn that chair around and give Need for Speed a bad review. But every time I got close to that imaginary button, I’d pull back. Though there’s more action than character development, though the plot has big chunks missing so that director Scott Waugh could get on with the action, and though there was no shortage of cheesy or predictable moments, I still got caught up in this film.

Racing is an adrenalin rush, and so, apparently, is vicariously riding along.

Bryan Cranston’s TV sidekick Aaron Paul breaks a little badder as Tobey Marshall, the main character in Need for Speed who makes more money driving in illegal street races than he does working on high performance cars in his garage. He uses a team that includes not just car people, but a pilot who advises him and others about traffic up ahead. And let’s not underestimate the importance of this pilot, who keeps wanting his pals to call him “Maverick.” The cars are traveling 130-150 miles per hour, driving on both sides of the street and through intersections. I’m no racing expert, but it all looked scarily real to me—which is what you’d expect when the director is a former stuntman.   More

DIVERGENT (Blu-ray combo)

August 2, 2014

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

DivergentcoverGrade:  B
Entire family: No
2014, 139 min., Color
Rated PG-13 for intense violence and action, thematic elements and some sensuality
Summit Entertainment
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Featured audio: English DTS-HD MA 7.1
Includes: Blu-ray, DVD, Digital HD Copy
Bonus features: C+
Trailer

These days, the money seems to be in young adult novels—especially if they’re made into movies. I suppose you could say J.K. Rowling started the trend with a Harry Potter series that began in 1997, and then in 2003 Stephenie Meyer hit pay dirt with the first of her Twilight vampire-werewolf romance novels. The next big score came from Suzanne Collins, whose futuristic Hunger Games novels first emerged in 2008. Now to film comes Divergent, based on a popular young adult trilogy from Veronica Roth that began in 2011 with Divergent, followed by Insurgent (2012), and Allegiant (2013).

In our family of four, my daughter is the target audience for all of these books, while my wife reads them with her. They’re fans of the films as well, and they thought, as I did, that the film version of Divergent is pretty comparable to the The Hunger Games, only instead of Jennifer Lawrence as an archer playing a futuristic survival game in the world’s largest arena we get Shailene Woodley as a free running initiate into a faction of a futuristic society that’s charged with the task of protecting it from outside—and inside—dangers.   More

RIO 2 (Blu-ray combo)

July 15, 2014

James Plath, Family Home Theater Action-Adventure, Animation, Entire Family, G rated Leave a comment

Rio2coverGrade: B+
Entire family: Yes
2014, 101 min., Color
Rated G
20th Century Fox Animation
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Featured audio: DTS-HD MA 7.1
Includes: Blu-ray, DVD, UV Digital Copy
Bonus features: B+
Trailer

I won’t beat around the rainforest. If your family enjoyed Rio, they’ll appreciate this sequel, which brings back all of the original voice talents and offers the same sort of smorgasbord of songs, richly textured animation, and a serviceable plot that combines humor with mild peril. Even when that plot hits an occasional speed bump, the animation is so darned captivating that you don’t really notice.

If Rio showed that 20th Century Fox Animation had finally moved into Disney’s neighborhood, with Rio 2 they’ve taken off their shoes and propped their feet up on the coffee table. This talented bunch is clearly comfortable with what they’re doing, and they strut their stuff at every opportunity, showcasing things like complicated big-cast song-and-dance sequences and the hyper-realistic water and fireworks that used to be the sole province of Disney animators. And the writing, while not on a par with the best of Disney, is certainly good enough to match second-tier Disney efforts.

Other things Fox apparently learned from Disney animators are the importance of character personalities and the impact that small details and quirky comedic moments can have on a film. Rio 2 is loaded with little surprises that catch you off-guard and make you smile or laugh out loud. What’s interesting is that it’s often not the same sight gag or verbal gibe that tickles everyone’s fancy. I watched this with three family members, and it seemed as if each of us blurted out an expression of delight at least once when the rest of the room was silent.

A feast for the senses, Rio 2 picks up where Rio left off. You don’t have to know the whole backstory because there are hints embedded in the narrative. But it certainly helps—especially to appreciate the evil cockatoo Nigel’s current predicament. In Rio, Linda (Leslie Mann) had brought her blue macaw Blu (Jesse Eisenberg) to Rio to mate him with Jewel (Anne Hathaway), after she learned from ornithologist Tulio (Rodrigo Santoro) that those two are the last of their species. By film’s end, she had married Tulio and set up a blue macaw sanctuary. In Rio 2 their love-birds have three spirited offspring—Carla, Bia, and Tiago—and on an expedition to release a rehabilitated bird, Tulio and Linda glimpse another rare blue macaw. So the whole group sets off on an expedition deep into the Amazon to discover if there are more.   More

NOAH (Blu-ray combo)

July 8, 2014

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

NoahcoverGrade: C-
Entire family: No
2014, 138 min., Color
Rated PG-13 for violence, disturbing images and brief suggestive content
Paramount
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1, “enhanced” for 16×9 monitors
Featured audio: DTS-HD MA 7.1
Includes: Blu-ray, DVD, UV
Bonus features: B-
Trailer

Darren Aronofsky’s Noah has sparked all kinds of criticism for it’s looser-than-loose interpretation of the story of The Flood that’s recounted in The Bible. The film was banned in China on religious grounds, condemned by Muslims for the way it treats prophets, and branded by the official Vatican newspaper as a “strange” and “perplexing” movie that adds up to a “missed opportunity.” Christian audiences have generally decried its inexplicable departure from the traditional Bible story.

But let’s be fair. There are a number of perplexities in The Bible, none of which have anything to do with Darren Aronofsky (The Black Swan). Adam and Eve are supposed to be the mother and father of all humanity, but the Book of Genesis tells us that they begat Cain and Abel—no daughters. And when Cain is confronted by God after murdering his brother he worries that he will become a fugitive and that whoever finds him will slay him—which implies that people exist apart from Adam’s lineage. Later we’re told that Cain “knew” his wife and begat children of his own. Where she came from is not specified.

As for Noah, The Bible says he was 500 years old when he became the father of three sons, and 600 when God commanded him to build an ark and take into it his sons, their wives, and two of all the beasts of the air and ground. There was no mention of fantastic mud-and-rock creatures called “Watchers” helping him to build this massive boat, as we see in Noah.

When it comes to Hollywood, I don’t expect film adaptations to be exact. I didn’t, for example, mind that the land Noah traverses looked more like a desolate apocalyptic wasteland than the arid, olive tree-filled Holy Land we typically see. But I do expect filmmakers to operate in the general vicinity of truthfulness or reality. Infusing Noah’s story, however fictional or true you believe it to be, with the kind of rock creatures we saw in GalaxyQuest is like trying to tell the story of Geronimo with an E.T.-like alien turning up in the Apache desert to offer his assistance. It’s too over-the-top and, because it stands in such sharp contrast to the biblical account and the kind of God-talk that Aronofsky includes, it’s also more than a little hokey.    More

JUSTIN AND THE KNIGHTS OF VALOR (Blu-ray)

June 26, 2014

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

JustincoverGrade:  B-
Entire family:  Yes
2013, 96 min., Color
Rated PG for mild action and some rude humor
Arc Entertainment
Aspect ratio:  Letterboxed 16×9
Featured audio:  English DTS-HD MA 5.1
Bonus features: D
Trailer

Samuel Johnson once told an aspiring writer, “Your manuscript is both good and original, but the part that is good is not original and the part that is original is not good.”

I thought of old Sam as I watched the animated Justin and the Knights of Valor, which, as I told my wife, had its moments. Unfortunately, that included a moment when a horse started behaving like a dog and it reminded me of Disney’s Tangled, or the main character was blindfolded as he learned how to become a knight and I thought of Luke Skywalker, or the same lad set astride a crocodile with mechanical wings strapped to him gave me How to Train Your Dragon flashbacks, while a swordfight by a giant wheel had a Pirates of the Caribbean look and feel. And so on.

In this new age of computer animation, films like Justin and the Knights of Valor prove that you don’t have to have the resources of a Disney or Pixar to create great graphics with a superior production design and accomplished animation. But those high-quality production values also got me thinking about the difference between films like this one from KANDOR Graphics (Spain) and mega-budget studios.

There’s a whole host of intangibles that keep adults and older children in their seats for a major studio production, while a film like this that’s entertaining, if you give it a chance, may prompt teens and ‘tweens to wander off, one by one, or pull out their hand-held devices. And if you ask them why they’re not watching they’ll shrug, “I don’t know. I just couldn’t get into it.”   More

FATHER GOOSE (Blu-ray)

June 3, 2014

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

FatherGoosecoverGrade: A-
Entire family: Yes
1964, 118 min., Color
Not rated (would be PG for some peril and adult drinking)
Olive Films
Aspect ratio: anamorphic widescreen (16×9)
Featured audio: DTS-HD MA Mono
Bonus features: None
Clip

Father Goose is one of those rare films that appeal not only to lovers of the genre—in this case, romantic comedy—but others as well. There’s humor and WWII adventure in this amiable 1964 film, which will appeal to boys in the family. The girls, meanwhile, will be won over by the seven schoolgirls of varying ages that are rescued by a reluctant (and still very funny and attractive in his second-to-last film) Cary Grant.

Grant plays teacher-turned-beachcomber Walter Eckland, who dropped out of the world and in return just wants the world to leave him alone. Though war in the Pacific is raging all around him, he’s determined to be neutral and uninvolved. We first meet him when he turns up at British-Australian naval base that’s under fire, and, bothered more by a pelican that keeps hitching a ride on the boat he recently bought than by shells exploding nearby, he proceeds to try to “borrow” cans of gasoline and rations.

FatherGoosescreenThat plays right into the hands of the dockmaster, an old friend named Houghton (Trevor Howard) who’s been ordered to evacuate and set up shop coordinating more than 30 coast watchers spread across the Pacific islands. He needs one more coast watcher and Walter needs supplies, so they strike a deal . . . which Walter had no intention of abiding by, until Houghton “accidentally” rams his boat and forces him to make for the island. Then, to get Walter to actually report Japanese airplane and ship movements, Houghton hides bottles of scotch whiskey and gives Walter the directions to a bottle for every confirmed sighting.

Walter never gets drunk, and his drinking is played for laughs, so most parents won’t find it objectionable. After all, there is a war on, and when Walter ends up rescuing a pretty young teacher (Leslie Caron) and her charges, she immediately sets about trying to reform him. He may be gruff, but he’s still a likable fellow that the girls find as appealing as their teacher does.

Sparks eventually fly, and the action intensifies, and in no time at all you’re rooting for this pair of opposites to come together in spite of all that’s happening in the world around them.

It’s one of the better Cary Grant films to introduce children to, and a darned good “starter” romantic comedy because of all the other distractions. Don’t expect a laugh-out-loud comedy—just a lot of smiles, and a little tension, too, as the world threatens to tear this couple apart before they can even come together. It’s a fun, light adventure that’s perfect for family movie night.

CROCODILE DUNDEE / CROCODILE DUNDEE 2 (Blu-ray)

May 2, 2014

James Plath, Family Home Theater Action-Adventure, Comedy, PG-13 rated 1 Comment

CrocodileDundeecoverGrade: B, C+
Entire family: No
1986, 1988; 97 min., 111 min,; Color
Paramount
PG-13 for adult situations, mild language, violence; PG for violence, language
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1 widescreen
Featured audio: DTS-HD MA 2.0, DTS-HD MA 5.1
Bonus features: N/A, D
Trailer / trailer

The ‘80s were big on a lot of things—like big hair, big shoulder pads, and big techno beats driving the music. In Hollywood, filmmakers were big on fish-out-of-water stories. You saw Eddie Murphy as a streetwise cop who shakes Beverly Hills up while on vacation, and Arnold Schwarzenegger as a cop out of his element as a kindergarten teacher, working undercover to catch a bad guy. But the most surprising fish-out-of-water—make that croc-out-of-water—success story was a 1986 Australian comedy-adventure starring Paul Hogan as Crocodile Dundee. The relatively low-budget film became the second highest grossing movie in the U.S. that year, and also worldwide.

The likable Hogan co-wrote the screenplay and starred as Mick Dundee, an outback guide who draws the attention of a New York journalist on assignment in Sydney. Dressed to the nines in ‘80s style, she heads for the outback to see where this Dundee fellow was when he was attacked by a monster crocodile, but managed to drag himself out of the bush to seek medical help. So the two of them have a little outback adventure all their own as she tries to get him to retrace his steps for her magazine story. Predictably, this Jane starts to fall for her rugged Tarzan, who doesn’t skip a beat in conversation as he picks up a snake near their campfire, breaks its neck, and tosses it aside. There’s mild violence here that’s mostly played for laughs, but there is one moment of peril Sue has with a crocodile that will briefly scare younger children.  More

THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY (Blu-ray combo)

April 19, 2014

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

WalterMittycoverGrade: B
Entire family: Yes, but . . . .
2013, 114 min., Color
20th Century Fox
Rated PG for some crude comments, language, and action violence
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Featured audio: DTS-HD MA 7.1
Includes: Blu-ray, DVD, UV Copy
Bonus features: B
Trailer

Literary purists won’t like it that director-star Ben Stiller strayed so far from the plot of James Thurber’s original short story, or the 1947 film adaptation starring Danny Kaye. Meanwhile, fans of action comedies may think Thurber’s fantasy elements the weakest part of this film. But somehow, out of a no-win situation, Stiller manages to make a likable movie that entertains while also providing a little get-out-of-the-basement inspiration.

Thurber’s Walter Mitty was a meek and mild-mannered proofreader who lived a life so dull that he was prone to daydream elaborate scenarios in which he would always emerge the hero—the guy who gets the girl. As a child, I remember liking the film in spite of those fantasy sequences, and apparently some things never change. Even though Stiller severely dialed back on the number and length of the daydreaming episodes, inventively passing them off as Mitty’s propensity for “spacing out,” my teen and pre-teen still hated those parts, as I once did. What’s more, our world has become so much more aggressive that they also didn’t care much for the Mitty character—even though he isn’t nearly as bumbling or hapless as Kaye once played him.

Stiller’s Mitty is more of a work-a-day schlepper who toils in the negative archives of Life magazine and really has no life outside of that. In fact, a dating site he joined recently keeps checking up on him to see if he’s actually done something to add to his blank and not terribly appealing or effective profile.

Adam Scott is entertaining as the “terminator” who bluntly tells Life staffers that this next issue will be the magazine’s last, and that most of them will be let go as they downsize to an online-only format. It’s a nice situational updating that lends new credence to Thurber’s story, actually.   More

WALKING WITH DINOSASURS (Blu-ray combo)

March 30, 2014

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

Walking with Dinosaurs (FHT)Grade: C
Entire family: No (only small children will like it)
2013, 87 minutes, Color
BBC Earth/Evergreen Films/Fox
Rated PG  for creature action, peril, and mild rude humor
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Featured audio: DTS-HD MA 5.1
Includes: Blu-ray, DVD, UV copy
Bonus features: C
Trailer

When Fox got back into the animation game in 1994, I and probably half the world envisioned the kind of spirited competition the studio gave Disney during the Golden Age of cartoon shorts. But that hasn’t materialized. After the promising theatrical debut of Anastasia, only the Ice Age films and Rio could be called hits.

The problem isn’t the animation, which has been accomplished and, at times, jaw-dropping. It’s the concepts and the writing, and there isn’t a better illustration of that than the film version of Walking with Dinosaurs, which was released in theaters as Walking with Dinosaurs 3D. Produced by BBC Earth and Evergreen films, this animated feature has gorgeous CGI artwork and effects and tells an interesting-enough story, even if it does lumber a little too close to Disney’s Dinosaur (2000). But Fox bought the distribution rights and decided that instead of a voiceover narration like the TV series that spawned it, they would make the dinosaurs talk in order to better connect with audiences.

Bad move. So bad, in fact, that BBC Earth must have balked, since the 3D combo pack includes a “Cretaceous Cut” that allows you to watch the film without the unnecessary live-action frame story that the Fox brass tacked on, and without the talking characters.

The addition of wise-guy narration, a goofy tone, and juvenile humor (sometimes the scatological sort) turns this animated feature into something only small children will enjoy. And that’s a shame, given how accomplished the CGI work is. Gradations of color within dinosaur skins really give them a believable complexity, and representations of fire and water are every bit as accomplished as what we get from Disney. BBC Earth cranked it up a notch in producing dinosaurs that look real as can be and move even more fluidly than they did in the TV series. The mammals and birds aren’t as accomplished—more animatronic looking, really—but they don’t surface in the narrative that often. I wish I could say the same about dumb writing.   More

THOR: THE DARK WORLD (Blu-ray)

February 8, 2014

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

ThorDarkWorldcoverGrade:  B+
Entire family:  No
2013, 112 min., Color
Rated PG-13
Disney
Aspect ratio:  2.40:1
Featured audio:  DTS-HD MA 7.1
Bonus features: C+
Trailer

Thor: The Dark World is rated PG-13 for “sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence and some suggestive content.” I don’t know what suggestive content they’re suggesting, but this 2013 sequel is definitely more violent than the first Thor. Main characters die and there are plenty of first-act hack-and-slash battle sequences similar to ones from the Lord of the Rings trilogy, while spaceship battle action will remind you a bit of those in Star Wars: Episode I. Which is to say, Thor: The Dark World seems to owe a substantial debt for its production design, art direction, set decoration, costume design, and battle sequences and effects to those two fantasy franchises.

But I will say this:  at least the special effects and borrowed elements are quite good, and both my teenage son and I thought Thor: The Dark World superior to the 2011 original. There’s more action this time around, and less deliberate manipulation of the Marvel universe. The result is a film that flows better and gives the characters a little more room to be themselves. Despite the frenetic movement and pacing, we actually notice the performances more—and though minor characters and elves tend toward the wooden, the rest are more than good enough to sustain the illusion.    More

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