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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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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Illumination Entertainment,

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.

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Universal Pictures, Illumination Entertainment,

Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Benjamin Bratt, Miranda Cosgrove, Russell Brand, Steve Coogan, Ken Jeong, Elsie Fisher, Dana Gaier, Moises Arias

Dru (Steve Carell) is retired from the villain business, and trying his best to adjust to a family life at home. But a super-villain El Macho arises, and the Anti-Villain League decides they need someone from the inside to assist, so they recruit Dru and his minions to find and fight El Macho. Dru joins up with Lucy (Kristen Wiig) to determine if El Macho is really alive, and not believed dead as everyone previously though, but as things are going badly for Dru and Lucy, a plot to kidnap the minions has them disappearing one after another.

There is no doubt about it, Steve Carell is a marvelous villain, awkwardly turned into a good guy at the end of the first movie, and the minions are certainly charming and very cute. But this film is not quite as good as the first. I tried to analyze why I felt that way, and I think maybe it’s because the first time around, the whole concept was really fresh and surprising. The minions were really unexpected comedy relief, and Dru’s efforts to be really, really bad, and not really convincing us that he wasn’t really nice underneath, it caught us by surprise. Now, this time around, it’s not new and fresh. We know who these folks are, and though there’s a certain amount of pleasure seeing these characters again in a new story, it didn’t really capture my interest like the first one did. The story isn’t that great, and I found my interest waning a few times. I know people, especially those with kids, that love the minions will be happy to see them again, and they are really good comic relief, but for the masses, this one is not quite firing on all cylinders. It’s worth the rental, for sure, but it’s just shy of the original in my opinion. If they are going to bring them back again, they better take are really long look at the story, and come up with something a little more original.

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Illumination Entertainment, Universal Pictures,

Zac Efron, Taylor Swift, Betty White, Ed Helms, Danny DeVito, Rob Riggle

Ted (Zac Efron) sees the girl of his dreams, red haired Audrey (Taylor Swift) who is a fan of trees. But in the town of ThneedVille, there are no plants, no flowers, no vegetables, and none of the beautiful Truffula Trees. So Audrey has painted some one her house. Infatuated with Audrey, Ted sets out to find a tree for her. He is told to visit the once-ler who lives in a tower outside town. The Once-ler tells his story about how all the trees were lost and a magical creature called The Lorax who speaks for the trees.

This digitally animated film is based on The Lorax, a book by Dr. Seuss. Naturally a lot of filler material had to be added to a small children’s book, to make it a full length film. There are 4 musical numbers which help to fill it in, and an added back story about a greedy little guy, Mr. O’Hare who took advantage of the Once-ler’s mistake to build the artificial city so that he could sell fresh air. But mostly the movie is very faithful to the book.

The Lorax is a somewhat darker story than most Dr. Seuss stories. But it’s a good thoughtful tale of waste and greed and conservation. I often wondered how far to the left the dear Doctor was, but I think he wasn’t a radical tree hugger. I think he was a reasonable thoughtful man who truly wanted to tell good stories with good values. And certainly they are entertaining. So I don’t think this is a “think green” piece. I think kids will love this story for the colors and the characters. The music is pretty good. For the older folks, the character of Grammy Norma (Betty White) is really funny. She has some of the best lines in the film. The world of Dr. Seuss is brought to the screen in beautiful 3-D.

I really enjoyed this film. It’s fun, and interesting. It’s clever and smart. It’s good for the whole family. There are a lot of critics of this film, mostly by those who haven’t seen it yet. Like many things, people jump on the bandwagon to hate it before they see it. But after seeing it (I went in thinking it was going to be a disaster) I found myself won over. It was a whole lot better than I expected, and I hope people will give it a chance.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog