Ed's Review Dot Com

Hammer & Tongs, Illumination Entertainment, Universal Pictures,

Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Seth MacFarlane, Tori Kelly, John C. Reilly, Taron Egerton, Scarlett Johansson

Buster Moon (Matthew McConaughey) is the owner of a failing theater in the city. He has an idea to host a talent show and pay the owners 1000.00 which is the last of his money, but a clerical error prints the flyers at $100,000. Hundreds of animals line up for a chance to audition to win the grand prize including a misunderstood gorilla son, a very shy elephant, and a fun mixture of musical animals. Buster needs help to try to save the theater or it’s all lost.

On the day after Christmas 5 of my grandchildren and their parents, and my wife and I saw Sing in 3D. I have been waiting for this one for quite some time. I was not disappointed. This was a beautiful little film. The music is really good and the comedy was non-stop. Everyone from the smallest 6 year old to the oldest 65 (myself) and every one in between thought it was really good. The animation is top notch and the picture is great. There are some great voices in there, and the characters were very well played. I must say, “Very Well Done”. If you get a chance to catch this one in the theater, don’t miss the opportunity. Give yourself one more Christmas present this year!

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Rovio Entertainment, Columbia Pictures, LStar Capital,

Jason Sudeikis, Josh Gad, Danny McBride, Maya Rudolph, Kate McKinnon, Sean Penn, Tony Hale, Keegan-Michael Key, Bill Hader, Peter Dinklage

The Green Pigs have found their way to Bird Island where Red (Jason Sudekis) is in Anger Management because the birds don’t believe in anger. But though the pigs promise to bring gifts to the birds, Red is concerned that they may have ulterior motives. When they steal all the eggs, Red is called upon to channel his anger to getting back the children, and in the process we learn the real reason why birds and pigs just don’t get along.

Based on the popular video game, this animated feature is really cute. With excellent voice characters, there is a lot of talent here, and it is very well done. There’s a lot of sort of off color jokes, which surprised me a bit, and is probably the reason behind the PG rating. The kids are probably going to miss it, and it may make it more enjoyable for grown ups, but I’m just not used to the naughty jokes in what looks like a kids film. However, lots and lots of big people (I hesitate to say grown-ups) loved the game however, and maybe the target audience isn’t the little ones. All in all though, it’s a humorous story and by showing us the back story of the war between the angry birds and the green pigs, it is enjoyable. Now we know why the birds are so angry. I really had a good time with this movie, and it’s not half bad if you have an interest in the war of the birds and pigs.

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Dentsu, Fuji Television Network, Illumination Entertainment,

Louis C.K., Eric Stonestreet, Kevin Hart, Ellie Kemper, Lake Bell, Jenny Slate, Bobby Moynihan, Hannibal Buress, Albert Brooks

Max (Louis C.K.) has a great life. He’s been with his owner since he was a puppy, but when she brings home Duke (Eric Stonestreet) Max is really annoyed. He wants to setup Max to get rid of him, but things get real when Max and Duke both are kidnapped. The rest of the pets in the building ban together to rescue them. They want to rescue them and get get back home before the owners get home in this rollicking animated film full of talking animals! Well, they can talk to each other, but not to the people. But these are some clever pets.

I got to take my Grandson and his Dad and Mom to see this at Downtown Disney while taking a break from catching Pokemon in Pokemon Go. (Yeah, we caught a lot). I really enjoyed this film, although there are a couple little problems with it perhaps. I didn’t see those, and it was only after talking to other people that I realized what they were saying. This is a PG film, not a G rated kids film, and there is a good deal of fighting and angry yelling and stuff. There is a band of gang members who are lead by killer rabbit Snowball (Kevin Hart) and the voices of the gangstas could make you think it’s a bit racist and stereotypical. But aside from that, everything ends nicely and everyone gets along in the end. The best part of this is the intense action sequences which are really fun to watch, the one liners that these characters are always spitting out that made me laugh out loud numerous times. Really! This keeps the grown-ups interested throughout, and the kids will be blown away with the really funny and cute animals representing a plethora of species. All in all, I really enjoyed the story, and was easily about to look past the obvious racial and gang stereotypes and I really enjoyed the movie. I recommend it for all but the youngest children, but I think you ought to watch it with them and be available im case there are questions.

Two final comments: There are some really, really funny animated cameos that are really delightful, and the cartoon at the beginning was worth the price of the movie by itself!

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Hanna-Barbera Productions, Warner Bros. Animation,

Frank Welker, Mindy Cohn, Grey Griffin, Matthew Lillard, Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Eric Singer, Tommy Thayer, Jennifer Carpenter, Garry Marshall, Penny Marshall

A horrible ghost starts haunting KISS World amusement park where the rock band KISS is set to play and have chased all the kids away . It looks like the park is going to close until the Mystery INC. gang show up to help, only to find that they’ll have to work with KISS themselves to find the cause of the haunting. That’s not a problem as the gang are major KISS fans anyway as they search to expose the cause of the haunting.

I was definitely not impressed a lot with this movie, although I have to admit I have never been a major fan of Scooby-Doo! in the first place. When my kids were small I used to watch a good many of them, but quickly found them to be all the same. Well this hour and a quarter Saturday Morning cartoon is a little longer, but follows the exact formula of everything else they have done. It’s a TV Animation direct to DVD film that was made, obviously, to make a buck or two from the Scooby and Shaggy fans out there, and it’s good for that. Also, bringing KISS into the mix means that they are able to take the same material that could be a 30 minute cartoon TV show and blow it up to 78 minutes by including many of the classic KISS songs. That is actually one of the highlights of the show as KISS still kicks butt after all these years. So fans are going to like it, but I’m not sure (unless you want to hear the KISS tunes) that the average joe like me is going to care for this very much. Just be aware when you go in that it’s not a feature film. It’s a TV Cartoon with long music breaks. If you don’t expect a lot, you won’t be disappointed.

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Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios,

Jason Bateman, Ginnifer Goodwin, Shakira, Alan Tudyk, Katie Lowes, Tommy Chong, J.K. Simmons, Octavia Spencer, Idris Elba, Jenny Slate, Nate Torrence, Bonnie Hunt, Don Lake, Raymond Persi, Jesse Corti, John DiMaggio, Tommy ‘Tiny’ Lister

The animal kingdom has evolved. In the city of Zootopia, predators and prey live happily side by side with no animosity. Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) is a bunny, who dreams of becoming a real police officer in Zootopia and is anxious to leave the carrot farm of her parents and head out to the big city. After graduating highest in her class at officer’s school, Judy is assigned to parking detail. But when she insists on being give a chance at a missing persons case, with the help of her new found friend Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) to solve the case, she stumbles on a bigger problem, and ends up making a mess of it in this new feature from the Disney Animation team.

This is a very, very well done film. Using traditional animation in a wondrous way, Disney goes back to the truth that it’s not the beauty of the animation, it’s the depth of the story. This is one very well told story. It is similar, in a way, to lots of other tales of a youngster starting out trying to prove their worth with all the cards stacked against them, but this story is really enchanting and it pulls you right in to the heart of the matter. Never boring, I think this is a film that kids and grown ups are going to enjoy side by side. The writing is very good, and that, along with the excellent animation and good voice actors makes a good film. This is one of the better ones of the latest batch of kid’s animation, and one you should make sure the kids get to see. It has great values, good lessons, and yet is very entertaining. Judy is one of the neatest characters to come along in a long time. I highly recommend this movie for all ages. I promise you will absolutely love Speedy, the Sloth

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