Jarhead and Chicken Little
Jarhead
First of all, I pretty much got dragged to this one. I wanted to see Saw II or Doom or something else. Actually, we were SUPPOSED to start with Chicken Little but the timing sucked. Not that I was AGAINST this movie... not at all... I am just not a war movie fan. I don't really get into war movies or westerns or gangster flicks (or gangstah, either!). Don't know why, but I don't. Anywho, I didn't HATE this movie at all. I laughed and was drawn into some of the character bits. I liked that it showed the slow dive into madness that can come with war and a really great juxtaposition of the Vietnam and Gulf wars. Three times, actually. The acting was pretty spot on and kept me involved for much of it. But see... just like Full Metal Jacket and Stripes, the film does suffer AFTER basic training is over. The benefit THIS film has is that basic is not even half the movie. It has TIME to make you get back into the characters. But then it has a new problem... the wrap up at the end. I mean, I would've preferred the classic white text wrap up instead of the voice-over bs that it has and I really didn't care enough to see "Where are they now" for these soldiers. It's not hard to figure out what was going to happen to them. It basically just SHOWS those folks who couldn't figure it out for themselves. Shame.. would've respected this movie a helluva lot more if it just ended with the end of the war. So, not a terrible movie... but nothing all that special. Certainly not one of the top ten for this year. Or top 20.
Chicken Little
I wanted this movie to be good. Disney doing Pixar's job. I mean... you take what Disney does best and get them doing computer animation. This should've been a no-brainer. Ok, so it IS a no-brainer. That's the problem. What Pixar knew right off the bat and what OTHER companies are learning over time... just because you CAN do that thing doesn't mean you SHOULD do that thing. Even the guys making Shrek stated that no shot would be used that could NOT be done with a real camera. But CL has all these distracting shots that can be done because it is CG. They look fascinating and all but they don't have a damn thing to do with the story. A quick zoom out for no other reason than to do a quick zoom out.. that sort of thing. Sure, the characters look awesome, for the most part. The MAIN characters, anyhow. You can see all the individual feathers and hairs and all that. The threads on the clothing is visible. The fact that they area already DOING decent clothing and such puts them ahead of the game. But the cuteness of the story gets lost. It's like they so wanted to show they could do really swell computer animation that they neglected the story. (cough*matrix*cough) So what does this all mean? It means it's fine if you want to just sit there for 80 minutes and not give it too much thought. But if you are hoping for a Finding Nemo or a Shrek or, hell, even a Lion King... you ain't gonna find it. But it DOES have some good trailers for some OTHER CG movies coming out (Open Season and Over the Hedge) and other Disney movies... and it IS harmless and Gary MArshall DOES use his real voice as the pop so all in all, I still managerd to have some laughs and a smile or two. Just left feeling rather empty, is all.
Not used to that with a Disney movie.
First of all, I pretty much got dragged to this one. I wanted to see Saw II or Doom or something else. Actually, we were SUPPOSED to start with Chicken Little but the timing sucked. Not that I was AGAINST this movie... not at all... I am just not a war movie fan. I don't really get into war movies or westerns or gangster flicks (or gangstah, either!). Don't know why, but I don't. Anywho, I didn't HATE this movie at all. I laughed and was drawn into some of the character bits. I liked that it showed the slow dive into madness that can come with war and a really great juxtaposition of the Vietnam and Gulf wars. Three times, actually. The acting was pretty spot on and kept me involved for much of it. But see... just like Full Metal Jacket and Stripes, the film does suffer AFTER basic training is over. The benefit THIS film has is that basic is not even half the movie. It has TIME to make you get back into the characters. But then it has a new problem... the wrap up at the end. I mean, I would've preferred the classic white text wrap up instead of the voice-over bs that it has and I really didn't care enough to see "Where are they now" for these soldiers. It's not hard to figure out what was going to happen to them. It basically just SHOWS those folks who couldn't figure it out for themselves. Shame.. would've respected this movie a helluva lot more if it just ended with the end of the war. So, not a terrible movie... but nothing all that special. Certainly not one of the top ten for this year. Or top 20.
Chicken Little
I wanted this movie to be good. Disney doing Pixar's job. I mean... you take what Disney does best and get them doing computer animation. This should've been a no-brainer. Ok, so it IS a no-brainer. That's the problem. What Pixar knew right off the bat and what OTHER companies are learning over time... just because you CAN do that thing doesn't mean you SHOULD do that thing. Even the guys making Shrek stated that no shot would be used that could NOT be done with a real camera. But CL has all these distracting shots that can be done because it is CG. They look fascinating and all but they don't have a damn thing to do with the story. A quick zoom out for no other reason than to do a quick zoom out.. that sort of thing. Sure, the characters look awesome, for the most part. The MAIN characters, anyhow. You can see all the individual feathers and hairs and all that. The threads on the clothing is visible. The fact that they area already DOING decent clothing and such puts them ahead of the game. But the cuteness of the story gets lost. It's like they so wanted to show they could do really swell computer animation that they neglected the story. (cough*matrix*cough) So what does this all mean? It means it's fine if you want to just sit there for 80 minutes and not give it too much thought. But if you are hoping for a Finding Nemo or a Shrek or, hell, even a Lion King... you ain't gonna find it. But it DOES have some good trailers for some OTHER CG movies coming out (Open Season and Over the Hedge) and other Disney movies... and it IS harmless and Gary MArshall DOES use his real voice as the pop so all in all, I still managerd to have some laughs and a smile or two. Just left feeling rather empty, is all.
Not used to that with a Disney movie.
posted by wmjwatson at 10:31 PM
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