Now, as an added bonus due to my absence last week and because it's Christmas time, here's the last review of the year.
Now, when I reviewed Arthur Christmas, I mentioned how it added realism to fantasy, but this movie does the opposite, adding fantasy to realism. I'm sure everyone who's seen this movie remembers the ground-breaking (at the time) attention to detail the movie had, making everyone feel so real. Nowadays, the artistic skill hasn't aged well, with many of the animations feeling stiff and robotic, especially in the hot cocoa scene. The overt attention to detail also leads to a pretty nasty uncanny valley, but that isn't to say the movie isn't without its merits.
The theme for one matter is not often portrayed the way it is here. Sure we've had religious movies that discuss faith and belief and even though like the Polar express that use symbolism instead of pure Religion, but maybe it's the fact that I'm a christian myself, but I never saw a problem with it. There were a few times were I felt they were kind of pushing their belief in the story, but they seemed to come around nicely, keeping the story from getting too direct.
The discussion of faith and belief is so very much a discussion of blind faith, but with how Santa can apparently be everywhere on the glob in on night, know what children are naughty and nice, and being able to make any present he wants, often portrays Santa as the child's version of God: Omnipresence, Omniscience, Omnipotent.
Then there's one of my favorite extra characters: The Ghost Hitchhiker. He often questions the faith of the protagonist and points it out when he's having a crisis. The movie is really good, but it's all an emotional film filled with really good effects for its time and some exceptional symbolism and themes.
Merry Christmas everyone
Sunday, December 29, 2013
Arthur Christmas (2011) - an animation review [Outdated, check newer review]
First, I apologize for the two week delay, but christmas sometimes means spending time with your family, and when you live in the middle of nowhere, that means a lot of traveling.
Quite a wonderful movie this is, this movie might just be my second favorite telling of the story of Santa (I'll leave my favorite telling for a special occasion). The story tells what could also very well be one of the most "realistic" tellings of Christmas.
The movie was made by Sony Pictures Animation, just like Surf's Up, and I feel that these guys really know their stuff when it comes to adding realism to the fantasy. And I don't mean that ridiculous "gritty realism" we keep seeing in modern cinema like "The Dark Knight" or in video games like "Call of Duty", I'm talking about where the writers see the world for what it is, and consider it as if this WAS the real world, a movie about Santa in the modern world, delivering presents to every child every year and the real workings of it all.
The movie stars Arthur, the son of the current Santa, Malcolm. He is pretty much a klutz and worries about everything, but he cares deeply for every child in the world, working in the mail room and answering every letter Santa can get. His older brother, Steve, is currently next in line to be Santa and is trying really hard to make Christmas goes as smoothly as possible, using state-of-the-art magitech to solve his problems and figure everything out.
Now, what's Magitech? I won't go too much into it, but basically it means that the technology is powered by Magic. The magic in this case, comes from the Aurora Borealis, up on the north pole, which allows for reindeer to fly and pull sleighs. Frankly, I LOVE this. The logic behind it all feels like it came from the imagination of a child on how Santa works. Which is how it should be.
The story followers suit when Arthur finds out that the present of a young girl was failed to be delivered and he is heartbroken. He eventually gets strung up by his grandfather, who wants to prove that the old ways still work, by getting the present to the girl himself. Problems ensue as Steve is incredibly jaded by his work in delivering presents to every single child that he just can't find it in himself to care for every single one of them. The elves freak out and start to believe that the Santas are betraying them and all seems lost.
The movie is brilliant and has one of the best stories a christmas story has. Almost always people try to shove down the throats of the audience about the "true meaning of christmas", but here Christmas isn't important, it's the children that are.
Quite a wonderful movie this is, this movie might just be my second favorite telling of the story of Santa (I'll leave my favorite telling for a special occasion). The story tells what could also very well be one of the most "realistic" tellings of Christmas.
The movie was made by Sony Pictures Animation, just like Surf's Up, and I feel that these guys really know their stuff when it comes to adding realism to the fantasy. And I don't mean that ridiculous "gritty realism" we keep seeing in modern cinema like "The Dark Knight" or in video games like "Call of Duty", I'm talking about where the writers see the world for what it is, and consider it as if this WAS the real world, a movie about Santa in the modern world, delivering presents to every child every year and the real workings of it all.
The movie stars Arthur, the son of the current Santa, Malcolm. He is pretty much a klutz and worries about everything, but he cares deeply for every child in the world, working in the mail room and answering every letter Santa can get. His older brother, Steve, is currently next in line to be Santa and is trying really hard to make Christmas goes as smoothly as possible, using state-of-the-art magitech to solve his problems and figure everything out.
Now, what's Magitech? I won't go too much into it, but basically it means that the technology is powered by Magic. The magic in this case, comes from the Aurora Borealis, up on the north pole, which allows for reindeer to fly and pull sleighs. Frankly, I LOVE this. The logic behind it all feels like it came from the imagination of a child on how Santa works. Which is how it should be.
The story followers suit when Arthur finds out that the present of a young girl was failed to be delivered and he is heartbroken. He eventually gets strung up by his grandfather, who wants to prove that the old ways still work, by getting the present to the girl himself. Problems ensue as Steve is incredibly jaded by his work in delivering presents to every single child that he just can't find it in himself to care for every single one of them. The elves freak out and start to believe that the Santas are betraying them and all seems lost.
The movie is brilliant and has one of the best stories a christmas story has. Almost always people try to shove down the throats of the audience about the "true meaning of christmas", but here Christmas isn't important, it's the children that are.
Sunday, December 15, 2013
Happy Feet 2 (2011) - An Animated Review
http://megashare.sh/watch-happy-feet-two-online-TkRReU9BPT0
Ok, I know that these movies aren't exactly christmas related, but they are winter related, so in honor of December and Christmas, including Happy Feet from last week, I will be reviewing winter and christmas-themed movies. Hopefully this can be a recurring theme for the later years.
So, here's the sequel to this event and to last week's movie, Happy Feet 2.
This movie is much like the first in that it isn't exactly a conventional film, though the plot is much more evident than before. But first, the characters, since I want to save the plot for last.
We have a return of Mumble, Ramon, and Loveless from the first movie, but aside from Mumbles, the everyone from the first movie has been designated to background character status. Though it is interesting to see old secondary voice actors from the first movie returning to reprise their roles, like the skua who got abducted by "aliens"and such. We do though, get introduced to Erik, Mumble's son, and Sven, a Finnish Tufted Puffin who flew off to Antarctica. Sven is actually a very interesting character, being quite relatable as the movie goes on.
Erik is also an interesting character, playing the naive, but insecure child who can't find his place in the world. Though I'm a little uncomfortable with the underlying message behind the story.
As well as the story of Erik and Mumble, we also get the story of Bill and Will the Krills, two Krills that break away from their swarm and try to find a new life for themselves, only to eventually return to the Swarm with new knowledge.
The plot of the story goes as such. Erik is feeling alone and different as he is not a good dancer and his father has turned his entire civilization into dancers/singers. Running off with Ramon, who is also feeling lonely, with his two friends, Bo and Atticus. Bo is actually a very interesting secondary character, with her motto "an obstacle is nothing more than a challenge" ringing in the background of everything she does.
Erik and friends make their way back to Ramon's old colony where they discover Sven, a Puffin pretending to be a flying penguin due to the color of his feathers. Mumble eventually catches up with them and takes Erik home, but not before Sven imparts some very dangerous false hope about being able to fly.
They meet Brian the Beach Master, an Elephant Seal with a lot to prove. He ultimately gets stuck and needs Mumble to get him out, after which Brian swears an oath of gratitude to Mumble and leaves. Unfortunately, as Mumble and Erik were gone, a huge iceberg came by and blockaded all of Emperorland, leading to terror and confusion, as well as a lot of trouble. Skua try to take advantage, starvation is feared to come, and everyone's plans each begin to fail. Eventually Mumble goes to collect on his oath with Brian to get all the elephant seals to come help, but Brian refuses, being caught with his pride on the line. Luckily, Erik sings a wonderful operatic song that wins the hearts of the seals and they all help, leading to emperorland being saved and Erik finding his place in the world.
Now, I'm a little bit put off by this movie, but the ending does save it. What bothers me at first is that the whole point of the first movie was going outside of what society tells you, but here, Mumble continuously appears to be in the right and Erik and Sven are the delusional ones. What saves the movie from this is when Mumble is unable to convince Brian to help and instead of believing in the impossible like Sven says, or following his father, like Mumble says, Erik makes a beautiful song that touches all their hearts about it all. Proving his place in the world.
I also love that the subplot surrounding the two Krills is very homosexual. And by that I mean, the two male Krill are very clearly in love with one another.
Anyway, another beautiful movie, with beautiful music, my favorite song being the end when Erik sings and good night everyone
Ok, I know that these movies aren't exactly christmas related, but they are winter related, so in honor of December and Christmas, including Happy Feet from last week, I will be reviewing winter and christmas-themed movies. Hopefully this can be a recurring theme for the later years.
So, here's the sequel to this event and to last week's movie, Happy Feet 2.
This movie is much like the first in that it isn't exactly a conventional film, though the plot is much more evident than before. But first, the characters, since I want to save the plot for last.
We have a return of Mumble, Ramon, and Loveless from the first movie, but aside from Mumbles, the everyone from the first movie has been designated to background character status. Though it is interesting to see old secondary voice actors from the first movie returning to reprise their roles, like the skua who got abducted by "aliens"and such. We do though, get introduced to Erik, Mumble's son, and Sven, a Finnish Tufted Puffin who flew off to Antarctica. Sven is actually a very interesting character, being quite relatable as the movie goes on.
Erik is also an interesting character, playing the naive, but insecure child who can't find his place in the world. Though I'm a little uncomfortable with the underlying message behind the story.
As well as the story of Erik and Mumble, we also get the story of Bill and Will the Krills, two Krills that break away from their swarm and try to find a new life for themselves, only to eventually return to the Swarm with new knowledge.
The plot of the story goes as such. Erik is feeling alone and different as he is not a good dancer and his father has turned his entire civilization into dancers/singers. Running off with Ramon, who is also feeling lonely, with his two friends, Bo and Atticus. Bo is actually a very interesting secondary character, with her motto "an obstacle is nothing more than a challenge" ringing in the background of everything she does.
Erik and friends make their way back to Ramon's old colony where they discover Sven, a Puffin pretending to be a flying penguin due to the color of his feathers. Mumble eventually catches up with them and takes Erik home, but not before Sven imparts some very dangerous false hope about being able to fly.
They meet Brian the Beach Master, an Elephant Seal with a lot to prove. He ultimately gets stuck and needs Mumble to get him out, after which Brian swears an oath of gratitude to Mumble and leaves. Unfortunately, as Mumble and Erik were gone, a huge iceberg came by and blockaded all of Emperorland, leading to terror and confusion, as well as a lot of trouble. Skua try to take advantage, starvation is feared to come, and everyone's plans each begin to fail. Eventually Mumble goes to collect on his oath with Brian to get all the elephant seals to come help, but Brian refuses, being caught with his pride on the line. Luckily, Erik sings a wonderful operatic song that wins the hearts of the seals and they all help, leading to emperorland being saved and Erik finding his place in the world.
Now, I'm a little bit put off by this movie, but the ending does save it. What bothers me at first is that the whole point of the first movie was going outside of what society tells you, but here, Mumble continuously appears to be in the right and Erik and Sven are the delusional ones. What saves the movie from this is when Mumble is unable to convince Brian to help and instead of believing in the impossible like Sven says, or following his father, like Mumble says, Erik makes a beautiful song that touches all their hearts about it all. Proving his place in the world.
I also love that the subplot surrounding the two Krills is very homosexual. And by that I mean, the two male Krill are very clearly in love with one another.
Anyway, another beautiful movie, with beautiful music, my favorite song being the end when Erik sings and good night everyone
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Agents of SHIELD Episode 10 - An Adaptation Review
OK, we finally get ourselves a new episode people, and it is quite the game changing doozy. Now, I won't spoil until the end, but people, this is a GREAT episode, there's drama, character development and we finally get a return of Mike Peterson from the first episode, played, once again, by that great actor, J. August Richards. Now, I'm definitely just fanboying since I was a HUGE fan of him in Joss Whedon's Angel, but still, having someone with actual super powers show up again is a huge thing, especially when it's their second time, instead of a purely episodic situation.
But first, the characters that matter most, that stars. Melinda May shows a surprising amount of emotion in this episode and it is showing how her and Agent Ward's relationship is progressing. She's getting a LOT more aggressive and clearly isn't happy that Coulson wants her help to find Skye's parents. It gets pretty juicy when she yells at her and spills that Coulson isn't telling her the whole truth.
Fitz is getting a little weird for me. I mean, at the beginning of the series, he was always a bit over-dramatic and serious about situations (typically in the wrong direction and more about filth and order than actual missions), but he had a lot more range when he would goof and get nervous and make corny jokes. Lately though, he's been getting quite aggressive towards Simmons as well, with this weird "possessive" tone he seems to emit about her. He also seems to be less fun, becoming a real kill-joy and carrying this perpetual scowl on his face from time to time.
Now, for Agent Ward. Ward is becoming an interesting secondary character, but he still hasn't risen to "star" status as of late and he constantly seems to be help back by his own seriousness. But today, he shows a little more character as he shows to actually be a lot more in control of his emotions than even Melinda May is, being the more collected of the two, even in situations where lesser men in shows like these, would go the route of idiot.
Now, the plot of the episode, which means we are approaching spoiler territory.
The events of the story go as such. Edison Po, a military tactician, has been broken out of prison by Centipede with three soldiers using the same Centipede serum that was used on Mike Peterson in the pilot. They've managed to stop the explosion factor thanks to their adventures in Hong Kong, but that doesn't leave it perfect, as the serum needs constant update and refill, something that doesn't seem evident in Mike himself.
It seems the tranquilizer serum Fitz and Simmons used to knock Mike out in the pilot had some kind of chemical reaction that caused his body to adapted the Centipede formula completely into his body without negative reactions. (Though I don't think it still has the regenerative property Extremis was so popular for as Mike gets injured really badly and still seems pretty bad a few hours later). The only negative traits still there is that he gets VERY hungry and needs a LOT more food to eat due to all the energy he uses with his powers.
Centipede discovers that Mike isn't needing the new serum anymore when they try to shut down the project again, and the kidnap Mike's son, and force him to lie to the team and trade Coulson for Mike's son. He does, though he tries to fix it right away, only for Coulson to agree since Mike can't convince them otherwise. After Mike ensures the safety of his son, he runs back after them, only to be caught in an explosion and Coulson gets taken away.
Now, we all know Mike isn't really dead, right? This is the first season and they wouldn't have just brought him back into the show just to kill him off right away. This will clearly be used as a fake out with Mike returning from the dead to save the day somehow, but still, a great episode, though I really want to see a real psychic in this show soon
But first, the characters that matter most, that stars. Melinda May shows a surprising amount of emotion in this episode and it is showing how her and Agent Ward's relationship is progressing. She's getting a LOT more aggressive and clearly isn't happy that Coulson wants her help to find Skye's parents. It gets pretty juicy when she yells at her and spills that Coulson isn't telling her the whole truth.
Fitz is getting a little weird for me. I mean, at the beginning of the series, he was always a bit over-dramatic and serious about situations (typically in the wrong direction and more about filth and order than actual missions), but he had a lot more range when he would goof and get nervous and make corny jokes. Lately though, he's been getting quite aggressive towards Simmons as well, with this weird "possessive" tone he seems to emit about her. He also seems to be less fun, becoming a real kill-joy and carrying this perpetual scowl on his face from time to time.
Now, for Agent Ward. Ward is becoming an interesting secondary character, but he still hasn't risen to "star" status as of late and he constantly seems to be help back by his own seriousness. But today, he shows a little more character as he shows to actually be a lot more in control of his emotions than even Melinda May is, being the more collected of the two, even in situations where lesser men in shows like these, would go the route of idiot.
Now, the plot of the episode, which means we are approaching spoiler territory.
The events of the story go as such. Edison Po, a military tactician, has been broken out of prison by Centipede with three soldiers using the same Centipede serum that was used on Mike Peterson in the pilot. They've managed to stop the explosion factor thanks to their adventures in Hong Kong, but that doesn't leave it perfect, as the serum needs constant update and refill, something that doesn't seem evident in Mike himself.
It seems the tranquilizer serum Fitz and Simmons used to knock Mike out in the pilot had some kind of chemical reaction that caused his body to adapted the Centipede formula completely into his body without negative reactions. (Though I don't think it still has the regenerative property Extremis was so popular for as Mike gets injured really badly and still seems pretty bad a few hours later). The only negative traits still there is that he gets VERY hungry and needs a LOT more food to eat due to all the energy he uses with his powers.
Centipede discovers that Mike isn't needing the new serum anymore when they try to shut down the project again, and the kidnap Mike's son, and force him to lie to the team and trade Coulson for Mike's son. He does, though he tries to fix it right away, only for Coulson to agree since Mike can't convince them otherwise. After Mike ensures the safety of his son, he runs back after them, only to be caught in an explosion and Coulson gets taken away.
Now, we all know Mike isn't really dead, right? This is the first season and they wouldn't have just brought him back into the show just to kill him off right away. This will clearly be used as a fake out with Mike returning from the dead to save the day somehow, but still, a great episode, though I really want to see a real psychic in this show soon
Sunday, December 8, 2013
Happy Feet (2006) - An animation Review
http://megashare.sh/watch-happy-feet-online-TVRRNQ
First, I'm pretty sure everyone here knows about Happy Feet. The movie scored 1st place for three weeks and was the third most popular animated movie in the US. What makes this movie even more fascinating that just it's public popularity, the movie is also incredibly well received by critics. A few even wrote essays analyzing the themes of the movie.
One thing to say, this movie is unto itself, a very unique movie. It never leads you the way you expect it to happen, it follows no structure or story telling trope at all. In fact, the film itself is just as unconventional as its main character.
The movie stars Elijah Wood as Mumble, an Emperor Penguin who's father accidentally dropped him when he was just an egg, which left him very "unique" to other penguins. Robin Williams takes care of all the comedy needed here, but also a lot of dramatic narration as both Ramon, an egotistical but lovable Adelie Penguin and Lovelace, an incredibly smooth and sexual Rockhopper Penguin who runs a con as being a Guru, giving advice and information to unsuspecting Penguins.
Now, the movie has a LOT of religious undertones and symbolism, which Mumble's entire civilization being kept intact by religious extremists, and the Humans being treated as great Mystic beings/aliens from the beyond. As well as Lovelace's own Guru scam.
The movie also has a huge message about people being different, but I'm not a symbolism major, so let's get down to the music.
Now, this movie uses Music in both a soundtrack and musical style, with each song being intentionally made by the characters, as singing seems to be the ultimate way of Birds expressing themselves. The Music is amazing here. The only problem I have now and then is that they cut a lot of their songs short, which I can understand, since they have a LOT of stuff to tell, I just wish the editing could make it pass down easier.
Anyway, the music is amazing, my favorite number being "Boogey Wonderland" where they all get into a huge marching band and dance and sing.
Now, the story. Basically the plot goes as such, there a fish shortage in antarctica and all the penguins are starving. Mumbles is born without a singing voice and a predisposition to tap-dance, something repeatedly called "not penguin". He eventually gets kicked out of his community when he starts blaming aliens for the food shortage (they believe that it is a higher-power doing it). Mumbles teams up with Lovelace, Ramon, and Ramon's friends, who all want to find out the secret (Lovelace wants to know because he is dying from a six-pack ring around his neck).
Miraculously, Mumbles makes his way to human civilization and wins the heart of everyone there with his Dancing. He leads them to his own show the problem to them and the UN makes a big argument over whether they should do anything for the Penguins. And they all live happily ever after.
The movie is beautifully written an is spectacular and I can't wait to review the sequel later on. You know what? I'm going to end my animation Marathon with Happy Feet 2 and make a bunch of reviews abotu christmas related stuff, Happy Holidays everyone
First, I'm pretty sure everyone here knows about Happy Feet. The movie scored 1st place for three weeks and was the third most popular animated movie in the US. What makes this movie even more fascinating that just it's public popularity, the movie is also incredibly well received by critics. A few even wrote essays analyzing the themes of the movie.
One thing to say, this movie is unto itself, a very unique movie. It never leads you the way you expect it to happen, it follows no structure or story telling trope at all. In fact, the film itself is just as unconventional as its main character.
The movie stars Elijah Wood as Mumble, an Emperor Penguin who's father accidentally dropped him when he was just an egg, which left him very "unique" to other penguins. Robin Williams takes care of all the comedy needed here, but also a lot of dramatic narration as both Ramon, an egotistical but lovable Adelie Penguin and Lovelace, an incredibly smooth and sexual Rockhopper Penguin who runs a con as being a Guru, giving advice and information to unsuspecting Penguins.
Now, the movie has a LOT of religious undertones and symbolism, which Mumble's entire civilization being kept intact by religious extremists, and the Humans being treated as great Mystic beings/aliens from the beyond. As well as Lovelace's own Guru scam.
The movie also has a huge message about people being different, but I'm not a symbolism major, so let's get down to the music.
Now, this movie uses Music in both a soundtrack and musical style, with each song being intentionally made by the characters, as singing seems to be the ultimate way of Birds expressing themselves. The Music is amazing here. The only problem I have now and then is that they cut a lot of their songs short, which I can understand, since they have a LOT of stuff to tell, I just wish the editing could make it pass down easier.
Anyway, the music is amazing, my favorite number being "Boogey Wonderland" where they all get into a huge marching band and dance and sing.
Now, the story. Basically the plot goes as such, there a fish shortage in antarctica and all the penguins are starving. Mumbles is born without a singing voice and a predisposition to tap-dance, something repeatedly called "not penguin". He eventually gets kicked out of his community when he starts blaming aliens for the food shortage (they believe that it is a higher-power doing it). Mumbles teams up with Lovelace, Ramon, and Ramon's friends, who all want to find out the secret (Lovelace wants to know because he is dying from a six-pack ring around his neck).
Miraculously, Mumbles makes his way to human civilization and wins the heart of everyone there with his Dancing. He leads them to his own show the problem to them and the UN makes a big argument over whether they should do anything for the Penguins. And they all live happily ever after.
The movie is beautifully written an is spectacular and I can't wait to review the sequel later on. You know what? I'm going to end my animation Marathon with Happy Feet 2 and make a bunch of reviews abotu christmas related stuff, Happy Holidays everyone
Sunday, December 1, 2013
Surf's Up (2007) - An Animation Review
http://megashare.sh/watch-surfs-up-online-TXprNQ
Ok, first, this is not a great work of art or some phenomenal writing or anything. It is just a sports movie about Penguins surfing. And you know what? This might just be what animation needs to become a mature medium, by going in the opposite direction and making a silly sports film. Animation is always being used to tell great sweeping stories about revolution and heroes and princesses, but what about the normal films. What about the "Juno"s. The movies that don't seem to be anything at all besides just an excuse to make a fun movie.
The point I'm making is, once we start to see Animation as JUST another art form, we can start making all kinds of great movies. And maybe the best way to start that is to just make a generically good movie.
Surf's Up is not a kid movie, or a family movie, it's just A movie. The movie is about Cory Maverick, a Penguin from Shiverpool, Antarctica. This is one of the things I love about the movie, it's basically telling a generic surfing movie, but with birds instead of humans. Another thing I love about it is that it is filmed entirely from an interview perspective. With camera men filming the entire movie on-location. The guys who made this movie clearly knew what they were doing when they made this. People often call shaky-cam a lazy move when making a live action film because it removes us from the film, but in animation, where nothing is real, having a shaky-cam actually ADDS to the realism of the movie.
Well, anyway, the movie is basically about Cory Maverick going from Antarctica to a tropical island called Pen Gun island. He becomes good friends with a surfing chicken, named Chicken Joe, from Michigan and starts a romance with Lani, a lifeguard who is also the niece of "Big Z", a surfing legend that inspired Cory to want to be a surfer. We even get a generic villain named Tank who is actually a lot of fun. Not in the traditional fun Disney villain or the sympathetic Marvel comics villain, more in the, "is this guy really the best villain they could hire?" It really does add to the movie to make it feel like a real life film and nor an animated one.
Tank is a bit of a douche, but he's just weird enough and not shown enough that he doesn't really make you hate him, he just, is the villain. The movie is really a generic Surfing movie. You see all the plot twists that come about just in the first 20 minutes and you're just supposed to enjoy the ride. Shia LeBeouf stars as Cory and he does a spectacular job as him. Shia's best roles are always when he's intended to be this ordinary, realistic guy. And Realism is really all this movie tries for. Not in the gritty realism or even in the humane realism. In the, made by humans with humans and in reality realism.
Anyway, you've heard my review. Hopefully this warm and sunny movie will be a great distraction from how terrible the winter is going to be soon. Cya everyone
Ok, first, this is not a great work of art or some phenomenal writing or anything. It is just a sports movie about Penguins surfing. And you know what? This might just be what animation needs to become a mature medium, by going in the opposite direction and making a silly sports film. Animation is always being used to tell great sweeping stories about revolution and heroes and princesses, but what about the normal films. What about the "Juno"s. The movies that don't seem to be anything at all besides just an excuse to make a fun movie.
The point I'm making is, once we start to see Animation as JUST another art form, we can start making all kinds of great movies. And maybe the best way to start that is to just make a generically good movie.
Surf's Up is not a kid movie, or a family movie, it's just A movie. The movie is about Cory Maverick, a Penguin from Shiverpool, Antarctica. This is one of the things I love about the movie, it's basically telling a generic surfing movie, but with birds instead of humans. Another thing I love about it is that it is filmed entirely from an interview perspective. With camera men filming the entire movie on-location. The guys who made this movie clearly knew what they were doing when they made this. People often call shaky-cam a lazy move when making a live action film because it removes us from the film, but in animation, where nothing is real, having a shaky-cam actually ADDS to the realism of the movie.
Well, anyway, the movie is basically about Cory Maverick going from Antarctica to a tropical island called Pen Gun island. He becomes good friends with a surfing chicken, named Chicken Joe, from Michigan and starts a romance with Lani, a lifeguard who is also the niece of "Big Z", a surfing legend that inspired Cory to want to be a surfer. We even get a generic villain named Tank who is actually a lot of fun. Not in the traditional fun Disney villain or the sympathetic Marvel comics villain, more in the, "is this guy really the best villain they could hire?" It really does add to the movie to make it feel like a real life film and nor an animated one.
Tank is a bit of a douche, but he's just weird enough and not shown enough that he doesn't really make you hate him, he just, is the villain. The movie is really a generic Surfing movie. You see all the plot twists that come about just in the first 20 minutes and you're just supposed to enjoy the ride. Shia LeBeouf stars as Cory and he does a spectacular job as him. Shia's best roles are always when he's intended to be this ordinary, realistic guy. And Realism is really all this movie tries for. Not in the gritty realism or even in the humane realism. In the, made by humans with humans and in reality realism.
Anyway, you've heard my review. Hopefully this warm and sunny movie will be a great distraction from how terrible the winter is going to be soon. Cya everyone
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