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Archive for the Animation Category

How To Train Your Dragon * * * *

Posted in Action, Adventure, Animation, Family, Fantasy with tags 2010 on January 24, 2012 by Mark Walker

Directors: Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders.
Screenplay: Dean DeBlois, William Davies.
Voices: Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, America Ferrera, Kristen Wiig, T.J. Miller, Ashley Jensen, David Tennant.

If your a fan of “Shrek” then this recent Dreamworks animation should be right up your street. It’s yet another cartoon that will appeal to both children and adults.

Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) is a young Viking, who’s father Stoick (Gerard Butler) is the Chief of the dragon slayers in their village. Stoick has the same expectations of his young son and longs for the day when he will become a man and take his place in the clan. Unfortunately Hiccup doesn’t seem to have it in him. That is… until he tries to prove his people wrong and make his father proud of him, by venturing out to slay a dragon of his own. He wounds a dragon in flight and when he finds it, he can’t bring himself to kill it. Instead he nurses it back to health and in the process, creates a strong bond with it. The relationship between them brings a new outlook to Hiccup who now believes the way to protect his village and people is by befriending the dragons, not by slaying them, much to the chagrin of his father.

A brilliant little film with good humour, excellent animation and a surprising emotional core throughout, that’s normally not dealt with in animated films. The relationship between Hiccup and his father is delicate and the bonding between Hiccup and “Toothless” the dragon is very well structured and engaging which adds to the exciting, edge of your seat adventure they take you on.

Mark Walker

Ponyo * * * 1/2

Posted in Animation, Family, Fantasy with tags 2008 on January 19, 2012 by Mark Walker

Director: Hayao Mayazaki.
Screenplay: Hayao Mayazaki.
Voices: Tina Fey, Noah Cyrus, Frankie Jonas, Matt Damon, Liam Neeson, Cate Blanchett, Lily Tomlin, Betty White, Cloris Leachman, Laraine Newman.

In a world of CGI animation it’s refreshing to know that Hayao Mayazaki (“Spirited Away”, “Howls Moving Castle”) will take us back to basics with his hand drawn art work, every so often.

This tells the story of Sosuke, a young boy who finds a little goldfish on the seashore one day. Sosuke and the goldfish become very attached and he decides to call her “Ponyo”. Ponyo has human features being the child of a magician and a sea godess and she longs to be fully human one day but her being out of the ocean causes an imbalance in nature and the balance can only be restored if she can be truly loved by Sosuke.

“Ponyo” is a treat for all ages and once again Mayazaki achieves in creating the look and feel of otherworldly places with his basic yet very effective art work. His characters are always endearing and well thought out but the only problem with “Ponyo” is that it lacks the darker side that “Spirited Away” benefited from. This leaves it a little whimsical and straying more to the childish side of animation.

However, this is a small criticism and it’s still difficult not to get swept away by the whole delightful adventure.

Mark Walker

Toy Story 3 * * * * *

Posted in Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Family with tags 2010 on January 14, 2012 by Mark Walker

Director: Lee Unkrich.
Screenplay: Michael Arndt.
Voices: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Ned Beatty, Michael Keaton, Don Rickles, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, R. Lee Ermey, Estelle Harris, Jodi Benson, John Morris, Laurie Metcalf, Timothy Dalton, Bonnie Hunt, Richard Kind, Whoopi Goldberg.

This is most likely the last adventure we’ll have with our plastic and stuffed little friends. So, it’d be wise to lap it up and enjoy it as much as you can. Thankfully, that’s not very hard to do with this wonderfully adventurous final
installment.

This time around, Andy is now 17yrs old, meaning that his old and faithful toys Woody, Buzz, etc. are now relegated to an old box and have not been played with for years. During a clearout before Andy leaves for college, the gang are mistaken for a bag of trash and left for the dumpster. Having escaped this minor mishap, all but Woody agree to be donated to a children’s daycare centre, where they will be valued and adored by kids other than Andy. Once at the daycare centre though, all doesn’t turn out as planned. It is controlled and run like a prison by a jealousy fuelled and tyrannical bear who has been abandoned by his previous owner, leaving Woody to rescue his old chums from their incarceration.

Pixar, yet again, manage to balance their film perfectly for the audience. Like the previous films, it appeals to both adults and children, which is probably the hardest task it had in being successful again. Without taking away from the familiar ones, the story is fleshed out with additional joyous characters, namely, the inclusion of a shallow Barbie & a dark and scheming Ken, to hilarious results. There is also a wonderful little homage to “Cool Hand Luke” when the toys are told if they step out of line they’ll “spend a night in the box”. Visually, it’s outstanding. The animators have really excelled themselves and it should be seen in glorious Imax 3D, to fully appreciate it’s intricate beauty.

A wonderfully exciting treat for all and several of cinema’s best little characters will be sorely missed, but in the words of Randy Newman’s recurrent song…Toy Story’s “got a friend in me”.

Mark Walker

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Shrek Forever After * * * 1/2

Posted in Animation, Comedy, Family with tags 2010 on January 14, 2012 by Mark Walker

Director: Mike Mitchell.
Screenplay: Josh Klausner, Darren Lemke.
Voices: Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, Antonio Banderas, Julie Andrews, Jon Hamm, John Cleese, Walt Dohrn, Mary Kay Place, Conrad Vernon, Larry King.

Everyone’s favourite rotund ogre returns in his final adventure in the land of Far Far Away, as Shrek goes fourth.

The story follows directly on from the third instalment where Shrek is now the married father of three little ogre’s. The problem being that Shrek doesn’t think he’s cut out for family life and starts to miss his previous life of being a swamp dwelling batchelor. It’s during this moment of reminiscence and weakness that he is approached by Rumpelstiltskin who seizes the opportunity to enter into a contract with Shrek, promising him his old life back. Unbeknownst to our green friend though, it changes everything and the land of Far Far Away becomes a dystopian land ruled by the tyrannical Mr. Stiltskin and everything Shrek had known, no longer exists. This being the case, the Shrekster has to set things right and enlist the help of his old and faithful friends.

A welcome return to form for the franchise, following the disappointing “Shrek the Third”. It uses a clever narrative device in the vain of “It’s a Wonderful Life” and allows the story to fall into an alternate reality and change everything that has gone before and with this being the premise, the Shrek tale is given more room for manoeuvre. The fact that Shrek has to re-acquaint himself with old chums, Donkey, Puss in Boots and Fiona is refreshing and works a treat. The only problem with the story is that Shrek himself as a character, is a little flat this time around and it is left up to the ever reliable and hilarious Donkey and a now over indulgent and obese Puss in Boots to provide the laughs. They are both great, if a little underused, as is a newly developed and hardened Gingerbread Man. The introduction of the odious and impish Rumpelstiltskin is also a welcome villian, as well as his accomplice the Pied Piper.

Back on form and as enjoyable as ever. It’s good to know that Shrek has went out on a high note.

Mark Walker