Ed's Review Dot Com

DreamWorks Animation,

Nicolas Cage, Ryan Reynolds, Emma Stone, Catherine Keener, Cloris Leachman, Clark Duke

The Croods is a stone-age family in a time that’s tough on stone-age people. One by one their friends and neighbors have come to a tragic end, but The Croods are still around due to the diligence of Grug (Nicholas Cage) who teaches his family to “never not be afraid”. The family is not allowed to go outside the cave except in broad daylight and as a group, but never at night. But daughter Eep (Emma Stone) is a free spirit and is really tired of being in the cave all the time. But the world is changing as the continents are dividing and when their cave is destroyed, the family has no choice but to leave their home and head off to safer places. It’s a long journey, but one filled with adventure, new friends, and exciting discoveries.

This is the latest film from the Dreamworks folks who brought us Shrek and the Ice Age series and many other films. This one is a really funny family comedy adventure, and is extremely well done. The humor is really good. There are so many really good gags here, that I found myself laughing out loud numerous times along with the audience. I was interested in the story and the fascinating characters. The little kids loved this movie, and my grandson watched it twice already. But the older folks enjoyed it just as much as it was really a crack up. I didn’t expect a lot from this film based on the previews, and I was prepared to be disappointed, but on the contrary I was very pleasantly surprised. It was an excellent animated film.

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Walt Disney Pictures, Roth Films,

James Franco, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz, Michelle Williams, Zach Braff, Bill Cobbs, Joey King, Tony Cox, Abigail Spencer, Martin Klebba, Bruce Campbell

Oscar Diggs (James Franco) is a carnival magician, and a master of B.S. who courts all the pretty girls in each town. But he goes one step too far and has a strong man from the carnival out to twist his head off for chasing after his girl, so he escapes in a hot air balloon, which is carried away in a fierce storm and carries him to the magical land of Oz long before they ever heard of Dorothy. Now Oz has lost their king, and are looking for a new leader, and the legends tells of a powerful wizard who will drop from the sky, but currently it’s being run by a gaggle of witches, some good and some purely evil. This prequel to The Wizard of Oz uses the characters from the stories and the world of L Frank Baum, the author without stepping on the copyrights, and is a fabulous prequel to the early days of the Land of Oz.

Wow, this was a long awaited picture for me, and I paid the price to see this one in one of the old original real IMAX screens in 3D. It was a long trip to get to see it on a real Imax sized screen, but newer little Imax modified screens just wouldn’t cut a film like this. Oh how I was NOT disappointed by this movie. This is the best movie I’ve seen in many years! If I were to look for a weak spot, it might be James Franco. I’m not sure why they cast him as the lead, and he did his very best, but I know there could be a better casting choice, but then I thought and though and thought, and I can’t really come up with someone who would be perfect for this role. Plus, I am a real fan of the original Judy Garland “Wizard of Oz” and I remember loving it as a kid, and I still do. I also really enjoyed the Oz books, all of them. This film did a tightrope walk of homage to the Wizard of Oz, but they had a couple of problems, and they did a great job of working around them. L Frank Baum’s books are about a real land called Oz, and it was absolutely real. MGM, for some reason, threw that all away and made it a little girl’s dream. “And you were there, and you were there, but you couldn’t have been, and all I could think about was how to get back home.” (This is paraphrased with a lot missing, but you get the point.) Perhaps they figured that audience in that day could not handle a movie with so many strange characters that was not somehow just a dream. But this movie is true to the Land of Oz of Mr. Baum’s books, so they treat it as a real place. Still, as you watch, you’ll see a lot of stuff that is pure homage to the original movie, and the ignore some of the stuff that doesn’t quite work out with a fantasy dream world. Disney did an awesome job building this story.

The greatest strength of this film is the beautiful world that was created. The beauty of this world is the most wonderful place we’ve seen since perhaps Avatar, and it reminds me a lot of the world of the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory with all the whimsy and wonder, but a beauty of waterfalls and flowers that has to be seen (preferably in IMAX) to be believed. There’s some really cute characters that you probably have seen in the previews, but I’m not going to say more because they way the are found and the way they fit in is really wonderful.

The story is A++ and the characters are great, but this is PG rather than G as it might be a little too scary for little bitty kids. Once they’re old enough to understand that it’s a movie and the witches and monsters are just pretend, it would be okay, and this is highly different for different kids, but little kids could really get nightmares from some of the really scary monsters like the witch’s flying baboons and the witch’s threats and really bad attitude. So keep the 1 year old’s away, but older kids, and teens will probably love it. Whether you’re familiar with the original OZ or not (and who isn’t?) there’s very much to enjoy in this film for everyone, so it’s one not to be missed. This is Disney at it’s very best. Go see it as soon as possible.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation

Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Fran Drescher, Steve Buscemi, Molly Shannon, David Spade, Ceelo Green, Jon Lovitz, Brian George, Luenell, Chris Parnell, Jackie Sandler

Dracula (Adam Sandler) is an overprotective Dad to daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez). He protects her from the evil humans who hate all monsters. But he’s also the owner and runs the Hotel Transylvania, a place for monsters of all shapes and sizes to go to have a wonderful vacation without the prejudices of the world. It’s all in jeopardy though when human, Jonathan (Andy Samberg) arrives at the hotel and is instantly smitten with Mavis. Mavis is dying to see the human world, so when a human shows up she’s immediately attracted to him too, but having a human in the hotel can bring their whole world smashing down.

This animated film is by far the best of the horror cartoon films this year. Much better than ParaNorman, and infinitely better than Frankenweenie, this film is really funny! The jokes are fast and furious. Sandler put together a great cast of comedians, and set them free to make a really funny film. One thing that I appreciated was that it has some classy humor for the big folks so that it’s not boring in the least, but it’s got enough funny happenings and plenty of story for the kids, featuring funny versions of all the classic monsters, to keep the kids interested. This is, in my opinion, the best film of the bunch for the whole family.

Excellent writing, this is an interesting story, and an animated film for the whole gang. I recommend this one!

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Color Force, Fox 2000 Pictures, TCF Vancouver Productions,

Zachary Gordon, Devon Bostick, Robert Capron, Steve Zahn, Rachael Harris

Greg Heffley (Zachary Gordon) is on summer vacation. Mom has an idea he ought to play sports and get lots of exercise, and Dad’s idea is work, but the both agree, NO VIDEO GAMES. This continuation of the popular Diary of a Wimpy Kid series tells us how Greg along with his pal Rowley (Robert Capron) and his big brother Roderick (Devon Bostick) spend their vacation, scamming their dad, and hanging around the country club, no, not as members, but first as a guest, and then as a stowaway. As the lies pile up, the boys get in deeper and deeper and the trouble mounts. This is an awesome summer, despite all the trials.

This third follow up to the previous two films (2010, 2011) is actually, in my opinion, even better than the first two. Certainly better than Roderick Rules, it’s every bit as good as the original, in my opinion. I guess too that I’m getting familiar with the series, since I did not have any kids young enough to be into the original series, and I’m starting to get it a bit better. There is some good “Caddyshack” like humor in this one that is really funny. Zachary is getting really good at playing Greg, and the events at the country club, and on an extremely funny outing with Rowley’s family that naturally ends in disaster. This reminds me of an extremely funny cartoon in the “Tiny Toons” collection where Plucky Duck heads off to Disney World with Hampton the pig’s family. This whole sequence is a scream.

All in all, this is a cool summer vacation film that is fun for both kids and grown ups who are young at heart. It’s really funny, has a little “coming of age” drama, and some dysfunctional family fun. What more could you ask for? This is a really cute PG film, for kids and parents alike.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Blue Sky Studios,

Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Nicki Minaj, Aubrey Graham, Jennifer Lopez, Queen Latifah, Aziz Ansari, Joy Behar, Peter Dinklage, Keke Palmer, Josh Peck, Simon Pegg, Seann William Scott, Wanda Sykes, Patrick Stewart, Heather Morris, Rebel Wilson, Josh Gad

A catastrophic event sends Manny (Ray Romano), Diego (Denis Leary) and Sid (John Leguizamo) drifting away from Ellie (Queen Latifa) and the rest of the herd. They’re trying to work their way back when they are captured by bloodthirsty pirates. After escaping they try to steal the ship and make the long trek back home in this 4th installment of the Ice Age series of animated films.

I will admit that I was never a big fan of the Ice Age movies, not even the first one. I just didn’t get into the characters, nor the story from the beginning, although several of them I have tried to watch multiple times. So it was with a bit of trepidation that I went into this one. I stared at it in the “new releases” before finally deciding to give it a try and put it in my queue. Well, I was not surprised to come to the realization that I’m just tired of this story. Through about seventeen “Land Before Time” straight to video sequels, I didn’t find myself as bored as I was through Continental Drift. In the very beginning we’re treated to another round of that stupid squirrel trying to get his acorn and starting the earth to break up and the continents to split apart. Trouble is that unlike Luxor the Lamp from Pixar or Tinkerbell and the castle from Disney films, they aren’t just a mascot that appears during the opening seconds. We’re instead treated to a mini cartoon with this hysterical (not) creature chasing an acorn. Now Wile E Coyote was a one trick Road Runner chaser, but they were very original and were fun to watch. But this mini cartoon to introduce the film was completely shown in the trailer, so it was absolutely nothing new to see in the movie. I realize that they always do that, but it’s always annoyed me for some reason. (I just watched Wreck-It Ralph again in the bargain theater because my Grandson wanted to see it again, and watched with pleasure the opening cartoon about the guy and girl and the paper airplanes that was as fresh this time as the last time.) But I had seen the trailer for IA4 so many times that I know that bit about the core of the earth too well to enjoy watching it again.

The story is typical of Ice Age films, and a lot like the rest, and also a lot like other animated stories (like Happy Feet Two for example) but just left me disappointed. This has been a rough week, as I faced both Frankenweenie and this one in the same week. Of the two, I’d choose this one, but not by much. Now I must say that the younger folk won’t mind so much that the story is so similar. I have grandkids that have watched Monsters Inc and Finding Nemo hundreds and hundreds of times! The kids will enjoy the action and the animated characters just fine, and if you have a little one to entertain, you can put this on and they’ll love it. I don’t condemn the film, but just feel for me I’ve worn out the concept and I doubt I’ll be watching Ice Age 5 when it’s sure to come around. When it was over, I just said, “Eh!” and shrugged my shoulders. Not awful but just not very exciting.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog