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Ice Age movie

Hats off to 20th Century Fox. Through a marketing campaign which can be considered nothing less than astonishing, the studio has managed to convert Ice Age from an adequate (but hardly superlative) example of family entertainment into one of 2002’s handful of must-see movies. Put this one alongside Star Wars, Episode II, the 20th James Bond film, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and The Two Towers on the list of movies that seemingly everyone is aware of. The reason is simple: a computer-generated squirrel who has a hard time hiding his acorn.

Wisely, the previews for Ice Age only give glimpses of the pedestrian main plot. Instead, they center on the devilishly clever, exceedingly enjoyable interludes featuring the aforementioned rodent in situations and circumstances that recall the great animated work of the recently departed Chuck Jones. In fact, it got to the point where I was becoming irritated by the movie’s main plot - I wanted to see the squirrel again. All told, he makes about five appearances (totaling maybe 10 minutes of screen time). The rest of the movie is concerned with the escapades of a woolly mammoth, a sloth, a sabertooth tiger, and a human baby who tries unsuccessfully to be as cute as Monsters Inc.’s Boo.

Discounting Final Fantasy, which was aimed at a much different audience, Ice Age is the eighth Hollywood-financed computer animated film. It follows in the wake of, and borrows liberally from both of 2001’s blockbusters, Shrek and Monsters Inc. In fact, if Ice Age hadn’t been in development before those movies arrived in multiplexes, one might be tempted to argue that the screenplay for this film took elements from its two immediate predecessors, jumbled them together, then dumped them out in the middle of a frozen tundra. Kids, of course, will love Ice Age. Adults will be entertained, but no more. The film doesn’t quite succeed as well on both levels as last year’s Dreamworks and Disney/Pixar productions do.

The time period is the Dawn of Man. The dinosaurs have long since vanished from the Earth, and an ice age is fast approaching. The animals, at least most of them, are headed south for the long, hard winter. Among the exceptions are the industrious, frustrated squirrel, and three larger mammals: Manfred the Mammoth (voice of Ray Romano), Sid the Sloth (voice of John Leguizamo), and Diego the Sabertooth (voice of Denis Leary). These three have banded together on an unlikely quest: return a lost human baby to his tribe. However, while Manfred and Sid have the best intentions, Diego is pursuing his own agenda, which includes turning Manfred into dinner.

The contentious relationship turned to warm friendship between Manfred and Sid is virtually identical to that of Shrek and Donkey. The bonding that goes on between the animals and the baby recalls the way Boo worms her way into the big, bad monsters’ affections. But, despite the many plot similarities, the humor and sophistication of Ice Age never quite reaches the level of the other computer animated endeavors - except on those occasions when the squirrel is on screen. Also, the quality of the animation is a notch lower. It’s not bad, by any means, but it’s a definite step backwards, often more resembling the look of a computer game than that of a big budget motion picture.

Vocal casting is a critical element of any animated movie, and Ice Age gets it two-thirds right. The mistake is Ray Romano, whose trademark low-key delivery turns Manfred into a walking invitation to doze off. He’s boring; the word “animated” hardly seems to apply. Fortunately, Manfred’s dullness is more than adequately counterbalanced by John Leguizamo’s off-the-wall portrayal of Sid. One could make a case that Leguizamo is more effective here, where we don’t see his face, than he has been in any of the outings where we have seen it. Denis Leary offers an interesting portrayal of Diego - there’s not a hint of sarcasm or irony in the performance. Leary, in an unusual move, plays it straight.

Ice Age’s director is Chris Wedge, whose only previous experience behind the camera was making an animated short called “Bunny”. His first foray into feature filmmaking is successful, although Ice Age is not a standout in the still-small subgenre of computer animated films. It’s perfectly acceptable family entertainment - the kind of movie that parents can take their children to without worrying about inappropriate content (for either the youngsters or the adults). And, sometimes, that’s about all you can ask for from a movie.
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Horton Hears a Who movie

Of all of Horton’s endearing qualities, this charming and chubby critter created by Dr. Seuss is faithful 100%. While taking this character from book form to a full-length feature film might be an elephant-sized task, the filmmakers have also managed to stay faithful to everything good and engaging about this whimsical creature.

Horton’s (voice by Jim Carey) role in the jungle hierarchy is to introduce the young animals to the world around them. Most parents are thrilled with his enthusiastic teaching methods. But Mama Kangaroo (voice by Carol Burnett), who orders around the other inhabitants of the tropical forest while “pouch schooling” her joey (voice by Josh Flitter), would gladly discredit his educational endeavors. As a result, when Horton thinks he hears a sound coming from a tiny speck of dust that he catches on a clover blossom, she is quick to condemn him in front of the others.

However, Horton won’t be deterred from what he believes. Protecting the flowering stalk with his oversized and versatile ears, he finally makes contact with the Mayor (voice by Steve Carell) of a miniscule town located on the speck. Even though the members of the jungle community and the citizens of Whoville both refuse to acknowledge the other’s existence, Horton and the Mayor are committed to finding a protected place for the microscopic municipality to dwell. As Horton deals with heckling from his friends, the Mayor tries to convince his wife Sally (voice by Amy Poehler) and his son Jo Jo (voice by Jesse McCartney) that he is not completely cuckoo.

Much like the Seuss book, it’s possible this animated version will appeal to both children and parents who find themselves in theater seats. While the youngest of audience members may be frightened by some cartoon violence, moments of peril, and the Mayor’s misadventures in a dental chair, this film steers clear of all but a couple of brief potty humor jokes and some repeated name calling.

So whether viewers simply sit back and enjoy the story or look for deeper meanings in the message, Horton Hears a Who! is a creative and clever reminder that people’s perspective can be easily limited if they only believe what they see, hear and feel. Still, the most admirable aspect of this playful pachyderm is the kind and gentle way in which he forgives the faults of others. Not always an easy thing to do when you have a memory like an elephant.

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Hoodwinked movie

Someone’s stealing cookies from the cookie jar, or at least the recipes for them. As a result, snack shacks and goody shops are being forced out of business all over the woods at an alarming rate. With the populace is in an uproar, Chief Grizzly (voice by Xzibit) and his deputy (voice of Anthony Anderson) are anxious to catch the thief.

They think they might have found the culprit when an incident at Granny Puckett’s cottage leaves them with four suspicious characters: The Wolf (voice by Patrick Warburton), Red (voice by Anne Hathaway), The Woodsman (voice by James Belushi) and Granny (voice by Glenn Close) herself. After a brief investigation, the chief is ready to book them all and throw them in the slammer. But Nicky Flippers (voice by David Ogden Stiers) isn’t sure they have the whole story yet. Questioning each of them separately, the detective gets a quadruple serving of perspectives as each one of the characters relate their activities over the past 24 hours. With the new information on his plate, Nicky tries to deuce the real story and uncover the Goody Bandit.

Considering the success of the Shrek franchise, it is not surprising fairytales are becoming popular material for movie scripts. Like Shrek, this screenplay runs on two levels, mixing jokes aimed at adults with childhood humor. However, it manages to do so without sinking to the use of sexual innuendo or potty jokes. In fact, the only real concern is the violence that occurs when the Goody Bandit finally gets cornered. He (or she as the case may be) straps a character to a cable car full of dynamite and engages the help of some thugs when the law starts to move in. Other incidents of peril turn out to be little more than a logical misunderstanding once the facts come out.

Although the movie makes some references to other tales, this spoof on Red Riding Hood is built on the retelling of the same incident four times. Luckily, the directors do an excellent job of making all the puzzle pieces fit and tying up all the ends. They also break common stereotypes, give fresh life to well-established characters and introduce some new animals to the story including a yodeling goat (voice of Benjy Gaither) who is under an evil spell.

A snitching sheep and some mild insinuations of trafficking behavior (muffins instead of drugs) will likely going over the heads of youngsters making Hoodwinked fresh take on an enchanted folk story that is apt to engage older children and their parents alike.

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Flushed Away movie

Aardman Animation takes a giant leap towards the future with their first fully CG-animated film, “Flushed Away.” They do try to keep the low-tech vibe alive in the picture, but that only distracts from the fun and sheer velocity of the movie.

Roddy (voiced tremendously by Hugh Jackman) is a pet rat living the high life alone in his comfy cage when a street rat named Sid rudely interrupts the fun and sends Roddy down the toilet and into the rodent community of the sewer. Frantically searching for a way home, Roddy meets up with Rita (Kate Winslet), a treasure hunter who is being tailed by the evil criminal Toad (Ian McKellen). Striking a deal with Rita, Roddy joins the fight, soon chased by French assassin Le Frog (a playful Jean Reno), and two bumbling henchmen (the wonderful Bill Nighy and Andy Serkis).

Aardman Animation has made a name for itself through its retro, yet pioneering usage of stop-motion animation. Just last year came the delightful “Curse of the Were-Rabbit” feature film that delivered big on both laughs and visual majesty, while also being the rare, clever family film that wasn’t a complete drag to sit through.

But times are changing, and “Flushed Away” is Aardman’s first fully CG animated production. At first, the effect is quite jarring. Using a program that replicates the jittery movement of stop-motion, it seems pointless for the filmmakers to even try and pass itself off as a faux Plastacine creation, especially when the rest of the movie shimmers with traditional CG smoothness and precision. Everything looks Aardman, from the big gumball eyes to the English overbites, but it has a high-tech touch to it that doesn’t digest right when trying to replicate a very unsophisticated process of animation.

Thankfully, an abundance of entertainment in “Flushed” steals the mind away from the technical curiosities. Bathed in a rich history of Aardman English humor and filled out with an international cast of enchanting actors, there’s a snap to “Flushed” that saves it from skidding into mediocrity. Directors David Bowers and Sam Fell keep the material dancing at a neck-breaking velocity, bouncing the zingers around like a tennis ball fight, and pushing the voice talent to match the speed of the animated shenanigans. When presented at its most breathless, “Flushed” is rather likable, moving rapidly around British culture jokes and complicated chase sequences through the sewers of London.

When the tempo slows to figure out the emotional journey of Roddy or to spend time with tepid villain Toad, the film comes to a standstill. This can also be blamed on the script, which favors the relationship between Roddy and Rita over the bad guys, leaving Toad’s scenes of menace more intrusive than captivatingly evil.

“Flushed Away,” with its barrage of Brit quips and a group of Greek chorus slugs who sing the classics, twinkles with wit, but only when it wants to. Thankfully, there’s enough of the good stuff in here to make for an entertaining sit.

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Finding Nemo movie

Leave it to a g-rated cartoon to give the live-action epics a lesson in action, fun and bracing originality. Pixar, the animation house behind Monsters, Inc., A Bug’s Life and the two Toy Story classics, lands another winner for Disney. Kid stuff? You tell me. Little Nemo no sooner loses his mom than he’s kidnapped, leaving his dad to find him before Sonny Boy is sold off or flushed.

If the characters weren’t fish, and deliciously comic, the damn thing would be traumatic. The voice work is exceptional, from Albert Brooks as Marlin, the neurotic clown-fish dad, to Barry Humphries (a.k.a. Dame Edna) as Bruce the shark and Geoffrey Rush as a nosy pelican. Ellen DeGeneres is howlingly funny as Dory, a scatterbrained blue tang who travels with Marlin through the terrors of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef until they find Nemo living in a fish tank owned by a dentist in Sydney. The doc’s young niece, Darla, has braces and a nasty streak for fish. She enters to the theme from Psycho.

The view from the fish tank to the dentist’s chair and the window overlooking the harbor is just one of the visual wonders of a film that rewrites the book on animating water, which experts say is the hardest element to achieve. And I haven’t mentioned the other sea predators, such as the pink jellyfish and a razor-toothed anglerfish. Co-writer and director Andrew Stanton, who also provides the surfer-dude voice of a helpful turtle named Crush, makes miracles look easy. The result is a thing of beauty, hugely entertaining and way cool.

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Final Fantasy- The Spirits Within movie

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within is an animated film, even if the people behind it want desperately to convince you that it is not. As the first film to use completely computer-generated images to create seemingly realistic characters and environments, Final Fantasy takes itself into the monumental status even if it does not fulfill all the desires the audience may ask of it.

The lead heroine is Dr. Aki Ross (voiced by Ming-Na), a CG-person that producers at Sony have become so concerned with that they had her included in a Maxim Magazine article as a real actress and are rumored to have started developing a cameo appearance by her in an upcoming feature. Her hair is perfectly groomed yet in slight disarray at times, she has a couple freckles and blemished here and there, and her body is not necessarily what would be considered statuesque. But, with all the primping to look ‘normal,’ the Aki-makers still fail to give her the most human qualities — everything she does seems stilted and far from humanly improvised. When her head turns, it’s not like that of a normal actor, but like that of a computer program trying to be one.

Aki is a scientist on Earth in the late 21st century, when humanity must huddle under huge shields to keep the invading alien environment from getting to them. It seems that an asteroid some years earlier landed on Earth and brought some old inhabitants with it. These aliens — a weird fusion of a child’s bedtime monsters and Jello — have an unusual energy force, one that makes their destruction nearly impossible. At the same time, though, they can kill humans by merely coming in contact with them. If an alien just taps a human, they are in a way infected; if the aliens completely go through a human, the human’s soul can be seen withering away.

Aki was once tapped by an alien, but her infection did not lead to her death. As it turns out, she happens to be the first spirit of the ‘eight spirits’ that renowned scientist Dr. Sid (Sutherland) has been looking for. It is his belief that bringing together these eight waves will counter the wavelengths brought out by the aliens’ energy. But, as he and Aki trek to find the other seven spirits (when the film opens, they are up to the sixth), the organization now in charge of the planet (Keith and Simmons voice the two speaking members) feel that this search may take too much time. They have an alternative choice: a war-hawk general (Woods) wants desperately for them to approve of his use of the Zeus Machine, a high-powered gun in space that might kill the aliens, but could also kill the Earth’s spirit, called Gaia by Dr. Sid.

Slowly, but surely, the organization begins to side with the army — memories of Kennedy vs the Pentagon immediately come to mind — while Aki and Sid only get the help of some people called Deep Eyes, who go around the destroyed cities and try to counter the movements of the aliens. The main Deep Eyes member is Gray Edwards (Baldwin, looking eerily like Ben Affleck), who had a relationship with Aki before and now hopes to continue their old affair. These six people in all must counter not only the aliens but also the advancements set forth by a zealous general and a huge gun.

When I finished Final Fantasy, my first thought was 1927’s The Jazz Singer. Sounds weird, but that was the closest I could think of where a film stands as such a landmark achievement without really being much to speak of beyond its standout feat. The Jazz Singer brought the world sound in movies; Final Fantasy brings it entire movies created on a computer. The film, based upon a highly popular video game series, is the next step in the evolution of CGI that began with Tron — just the step between Toy Story, the last CGI benchmark, and Final Fantasy is huge.

Looking at the imagery in Final Fantasy is reminiscent of all the great moments in CGI-history: the plastic sheen on Woody’s forehead in Toy Story, the first glance at dinosaurs in Jurassic Park, the stunning Cloud City in The Empire Strikes Back, and the blurry line between reality and artifice in A.I. Yet the film itself lacks the resonance to stand as more than merely a technical breakthrough. Where each of those other films I just mentioned were great in dealing with their computer generated images, they also grew as stories far beyond their cinematic/scientific advances.

Final Fantasy does dazzle the audience with the visuals — perhaps, as the only point the film even cared about — yet it cannot even stand at the bottom of the tent poles created by special effects visionaries Steven Spielberg and a young George Lucas. This is not to say that Final Fantasy is a complete waste once you get beyond the visuals, but that its lack of caring about pushing the limits anywhere else in the creative process is disappointing.

Sony chose to tap director Hironobu Sakaguchi for the film. This, of course, is a fine decision since the man has been behind almost every aspect of the Final Fantasy games, yet his sole artistic impulses in a way deter the film from the qualities it could have pushed for. He has only made films for the gaming medium; this is his first foray into dramatic cinematography. Had Sony just given him a co-directing credit — one where he took the animated touches — and partnered him with a more cinematic director — where the other person would tackle the story and pacing, on top of balancing Sakaguchi’s videophile tactics — the film might have worked much better. My first choice, though completely improbable, would be someone like David Fincher, who has in done a glorious job using both the gloom that Sakaguchi often goes for and the cinematic ingenuity that his would-be Japanese coworker lacks.

Sakaguchi almost gives the film a “members only” quality — probably completely unintentionally — to the point that audience members uninterested in the one-dimensional story structures in the video game world will feel left out by the film’s often closed artistry. Where we — yes, I do consider myself in the uninitiated — can sit and stare at the visual bliss that Sakaguchi creates, we are later left with an unsatisfied taste; the sensibilities found in these games are not like those that we often look for in movies, where it is more important than just thrilling the eyes with unmoving though impressive special effects.

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Final Fantasy VII- Advent Children movie

There’s something almost admirable about a movie as focused and single-minded as “Advent Children”. It is unabashedly constructed with a niche audience in mind. A lot of folks will look at it on the shelf and wonder what the heck happened to “Final Fantasy” II, III, IV, V, and VI, or why it doesn’t seem to share anything with “Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within”. It’s focused on looking good above all else, and if you catch it at the right time, that may be reason enough to forgive its confusing, barely-accessible plot.

That plot is… uh… there was some kind of disaster two years ago where a group of heroes barely saved the world from a corporation that nearly caused a genocide by trying to tap the life forces that circle the planet like a halo for energy. The heroes have gone their separate ways, but now “the planet has struck back” with a plague, a terrorist type is kidnapping orphans to brainwash them, and the new president of the evil corporation is trying something shady. Cloud Strife, the hero of the game, is trying to forgive himself for the people who didn’t make it, operating a delivery service out of friend Tifa Lockhart’s bar while they keep an eye on several orphaned kids.

Or something like that. If you’ve played the game, it probably makes a lot more sense. There’s enough for us newbs to follow, but only just. That’s almost irrelevant as a criticism, though - if you’re not familiar with this information, or aren’t willing to try and piece it together, then this movie isn’t for you. Sit back, enjoy the pretty pictures, and if you get anything out of the story, great. The story really isn’t that bad, although it’s told in a way that is pretty similar to the medium which spawned this movie - information delivered blandly expository dialogue, segue to action scene, segue to obligatory character moments, and repeat.

But at times that’s okay. There’s an action sequence in the center of the movie that runs about forty minutes, and by the time it ended, I had no idea how it started, which is like a game - one thing leads to another, which leads to another, which leads to another, and it ends with a motorcycle chase featuring folks I’m not even sure were around at the start of the whole donnybrook. The final set piece features guys who must be part of the game but had been blink-and-miss-them (if that) presences through the rest of the movie. It’s a pretty spectacular scene, though, with virtual camera work in a long, continuous shot that just may not be possible with live action. It doesn’t have a whole ton of emotional heft, but it’s not completely empty, either - I may not have been totally invested, but I wasn’t disconnected, either.

I think the film might actually benefit from having a smaller budget as befits a direct-to-video release. Directors Tetsuya Nomura and Takeshi Nozue are able to draw upon anime conventions and styles for their film’s look - translated to 3-D, of course, and rendered with astonishing detail, but still with the bold character design and physics-defying action. Unlike The Spirits Within, it’s not trying to ape live action, so where the artifice appears, it doesn’t feel like the film is falling short of its goals. The characters’ faces aren’t terribly expressive, but the exaggerated body language looks less unnatural. It’s not in the same category of what Pixar did with Cars, but it’s not the completely soulless experience that a lot of CGI films with mostly-human casts can be.

It is very mechanical at times - the kids, in particular, seem terribly artificial. I saw it in a theater as part of an anime marathon, surrounded by people who knew the background and were digging it. That’s not how most folks are seeing this flick, and if I instead borrow a DVD from a friend and watch it on my own in my living room… Well, I maybe lose patience and turn it off five minutes in, during the first exposition dump. Unfair, perhaps, but undeniable.

This is an remarkably well-produced niche film. If you aren’t in that niche, there’s a a good chance you’re not terribly impressed. But if you are, I can see it being something special.

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