Sandra Bullock, Jon Hamm, Michael Keaton, Allison Janney, Steve Coogan, Pierre Coffin
In this prequel to the Despicable Me films, we go back to the very beginning of time to see the creation of the minions. Since prehistoric times, the Minions have sought to help the most despicable criminals of the time, whether it be a T-rex or the Abominable Snowman, but it never seemed to work out for them until they met Scarlet Overkill (Sandra Bullock). She has some great plans to use the Minions to help her become the baddest bad guy of all times.
This documentary feature shows how the minions got started. It’s a very cute movie, and I found I really enjoyed this film much more than the actual Despicable Me films. At least much more than the second one. I think because my favorite parts of the main films were the Minions to begin with. This movie introduces us to three special minions who are chosen to go out into the world and find a new bad guy to support. We get to meet Kevin, Stuart, and Bob, three special guys each with their own talents and personalities. I think this is what made this movie so enjoyable. They have a special bond, and are really funny. There’s a lot of things in this film that made it a lot of fun to watch. Sandra Bullock’s character is a bit over the top, but not as insane perhaps as Dru. Basically I was totally entertained by this movie, and I thought it was very well done. Certainly the story was interesting and very much fun. The kids will love it, but the adults in the group should have fun as well. I think they did an excellent job on this film, and I recommend it as one of the better animated films of the summer.
Matt Jones, Jim Parsons, Steve Martin, Jennifer Lopez, Rihanna
Oh (Jim Parsons) is part of a group of aliens who have arrived on Earth to find a new home. But Oh is a misfit and is well known for making mistakes. The aliens have to relocate the Earthlings to closed in reservations so that they can use the best parts of the planet, but unfortunately Oh makes another major mistake and alerts their enemies to their location putting the entire Earth in danger. Oh sets out to try to repair his mistake, when he runs into Tip (Rihanna), a young Earth girl who is trying to find her mother. The two make an odd pair as they try to help each other, and in the process discover what the real meaning of Home is.
Dreamworks gave us this rip-off of Lilo and Stitch, in a way, but it was actually a pretty decent little movie. Yes, I thought at any moment they were going to break out the “Ohana means family” line, but though it was close it didn’t appear. But the crazy loser alien who ends up on Earth being chased by the leaders of his planet who makes friends with an Earth girl is just the same story. But another very interesting thought that I had was whether Jim Parsons is the lead was annoying as hell, or if it was freaking brilliant. By the end of the movie, I was leaning toward the brilliance side. He plays Sheldon, for sure, and he screws up English much like Yoda putting the words in the wrong order, but there such a nice little charm to it all you you have to like Oh whether you want to or not. Tip is a bit annoying, as is the lady who plays here I’m afraid, but she was a good compliment to the very sweet Oh and gave it some grit. All in all, the movie is pretty decent, and the story was a lot of fun. The kids will probably love this, and as a grown up, I found it interesting enough to keep interested through the whole thing. If you have young ones, this is a good movie for kids, with lots of valuable lessons that are taught in the background. Meanwhile, the characters are funny and cute enough to keep the young ones interested. I think Dreamworks did pretty good on this one, and I recommend it for animation lovers and those with young ones alike.
Amy Poehler, Diane Lane, Kyle MacLachlan, Bill Hader, Mindy Kaling, Phyllis Smith, Lewis Black, Kaitlyn Dias
Riley (Kaitlyn Dias) was born in Minnesota. From the moment she was born, the emotions in her head controlled her actions. In the beginning it was really easy. Mostly Joy (Amy Pohler) ran things as she was a happy baby, but occasionally Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Bill Hader), and Disgust (Mindy Kaling) would take their turns at the controls. Another major task of the emotions was to keep the memories safe, and to transfer them to long term memory at night when Riley slept. But as she grew older, and the family moved to San Francisco, bad things happened and Joy and Sadness were locked outside the control room and they had to work long and hard to try to get back to the control room to prevent something awful from happening to Riley in this animated Pixar feature.
It’s interesting that this film is rated PG, as it’s not a kids film. But the kids will love it, just the same. The meaning of all the goings on here require a lot of life experience to understand, but the colors are bright, the characters are all fun, and the fact that the kids cannot understand the nuances here won’t make any difference. This means that for the grown ups, this film will be very enjoyable as the concepts are complex and little things will remind you of your childhood experiences with an adults understanding of what was going on. But it’s a great film for the kids to enjoy as well. Then 10 or 15 years from now they’ll run across it again, and have a whole new experience seeing how complex this film really is. The price of admission is worth it, just for the short feature “Lava” at the very beginning. Pixar always starts us off with a very good cartoon. This one is a Hawaiian legend put to song that is really good. The movie itself is also very good for all ages, and this is a shoe in for the best animated film of 2015. Pixar has another winner. If you can still get a chance to see this in the theater, it’s certainly well worth it, but if you miss it, be sure to catch it as soon as the DVD is released. This is a MUST SEE movie.
Fawn (Ginnifer Goodwin) believes that you can’t automatically judge someone just because of rumors and whispers, so she makes friend with the NeverBeast. The Scout fairies find out about this and think she is wrong and try to drive off the NeverBeast, but Fawn’s faith cannot be snuffed out, and she and the NeverBeast show the others that everyone has some value.
This is a Disney Toon Studios release to video (streaming) that is certainly not the quality of classic Disney Animation nor the magic that is Pixar, but though it’s TV cartoon quality, it’s still a great story with lots of color, music, charm, and values for the little ones. It is really a good film for kids, truly G rated and with the Disney values. The studios attempts to bring the Fairy/Pixie line into the mix along with all the other Disney Princesses is a good idea and it gives them a lot of directions to go into for new stories. The voices are really good too, and they are all good actors so voicing of the different characters is great. I sometimes have an issue when all the voices are so recognizable, but in this case, for a children’s film they won’t recognize them anyway, and their skill adds a lot of the experience. The story is very simple and predictable, and isn’t groundbreaking in any way, but it certainly is a nice babysitter for you, and if you sit and watch and enjoy WITH the kids, kudos to you as it could be a great bonding experience. This is highly recommended for the younger set and the adults who care for them.
Zarina (Christina Hendricks) is a pixie dust-keeper who is excited to show off her new found skill at creating pixie dust, but an accident caused her to be banished. She stole all the precious blue pixie dust and headed off to join up with a pirate who is interested in the pixie dust. But when Tinker Bell and the other fairies set out to find Zarina and convince her to come home, all kinds of challenges await them.
This is one of the direct to DVD Pixie stories that have abounded to extend the pixie realm from poor TinkerBell to a bunch of her new friends. This was a surprisingly good little TV style movie. The animation is pretty good TV style animation (No this is not Pixar or Dreamworks) and the colors are vivid and very interesting to watch. This is a very typical Disney story of an misunderstood outcast, setting out on his own, and realizing his mistake after it’s too late. Then comes repentance, acceptance, and forgiveness. This is the Disney formula. Still, especially for the kids, this is a really good story that will keep them entertained. This is a great animated film to share with the whole family. I was really pleased with this movie, and I can recommend it for lovers of traditional animation and for families that are looking for something good to share with the young-uns.
