RV (2006) December 7, 2006
Posted by gproject in : Recently Viewed , add a commentDirected by: Barry Sonnenfeld
This family comedy from Men In Black director Barry Sonnenfeld took a bit of a beating from critics when it was released earlier this year. What caused such a reaction I’m not sure, because while it’s quite cartoonish at times, the movie isn’t as stupid as it may appear.
The story is a simple one: The Munro family are preparing for a holiday to Hawaii, when the father, Bob (Robin Williams), suddenly comes under pressure from his demanding boss (played by Will Arnett). In order to save himself from being replaced by a younger hot-shot employee, Bob has to be in a meeting in Colorado during his vacation period. Not wanting to disappoint his family, he comes up with a plan – he’ll hire an RV, and they’ll drive to Colorado for their holiday. Unfortunately, his two kids Carl and Cassie are at the age where spending time in a confined space with your parents could be compared to two weeks spit-roasting in hell. And so starts the dysfunctional road trip of a lifetime.
First off, the cast all work well together. Robin Williams is on fine form, and there are some nice quick-fire one-liners from almost all of the main characters. Jeff Daniels pops up as an over-friendly fellow RV owner, and it’s always a pleasure to see Arrested Development’s Will Arnett in a big screen role. The story might not be very original, especially the whole idea of a family being brought together in madcap circumstances, but it does the job nicely here.
So despite this not being an outstanding film, it’s also not as bad as everyone would like it to be. It’s easy to pigeonhole family oriented movies like this as being the unfunny, nonsensical messes they often turn out to be. This one however, raises itself up out of the pile, reaching the true level of ‘good family entertainment’. And you’ve got to remember that with so many teen movies or R-rated comedies in theatres these days, there’s not that many films a whole family can go to see together anymore. In fact, there are barely any movies for kids under thirteen that aren’t CG animations, and we all know how tedious they’re becoming.
I think you’ve got to enjoy this film for what it is, just over an hour and a half of non-offensive fun. Like the RV itself, the movie is big and colourful, plus it hides some nice morals about not judging people, and appreciating your family (mainly directed towards the kids). It might not be the most thoughtful piece, but at least there’s something for all ages to enjoy. And maybe that’s something we’ve lost sight of in the demographic obsessed, age-targeted Hollywood of today.
Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006) December 3, 2006
Posted by gproject in : Recently Viewed , add a commentDirected by: Carlos Saldanha
The whole gang is back for a sequel to the 2002 CG animated hit Ice Age, which was the surprisingly warm (considering the title) story of animals trying to escape the cold by travelling to more temperate climates. Apparently they’re still not happy though since they’re on the move again, this time to escape a flood.
Central characters Manny the mammoth, Sid the sloth and Diego the sabre-tooth tiger, are threatened by the end of the Ice Age, with snow melting into water all around them. They and their tribe of fellow creatures leave home in search of a boat that can save them from the inevitable flood. Along the way they meet a gang of possums, one of whom is actually a deluded Mammoth (Ellie, voiced by Queen Latifah), who Manny must convince of her true identity. Meanwhile, some dangerous and recently unthawed amphibians stalk the gang through the water – eyeing them up for lunch.
Right off the bat it’s worth mentioning that this is not a patch on the first movie, the plot feeling a lot thinner, especially the awkward first ten minutes. And along with the retread in storyline (another ‘journey’ adventure), there’s not a lot new added into the mix. Each of the main characters has their own little subplot – Manny is lonely as the only mammoth, Sid isn’t getting any respect, and Diego is frightened of water. Of course, all these troubles are nicely solved or overcome during the 91-minute running time.
On the good side, the film features fantastic scoring just like the original. And the animation work is excellent, so while Blue Sky studios might not match up to Pixar in terms of creativity, they’ve certainly produced some strong visuals. Plus the voice acting from Ray Romano, Denis Leary and John Leguizamo is spot on. There’s also more Scrat (that squirrel creature who’s always after the acorn) this time, but whether that’s a good or bad thing is up for debate. I think his little acorn skits break up the flow sometimes, and while everyone seems to love him, I find it interesting that the production team didn’t choose to use his character more effectively in the main plot. Clearly, they didn’t want to take any chances.
At the end of it all this is a non-too subtle attempt at redoing the much better original movie. When I first saw the subtitle ‘The Meltdown’ on the posters, I actually thought Fox were going to do a brave thing and attempt to discuss how the changing world affects these characters as they face extinction. Unfortunately, although they start to, once everyone has learnt their life-lesson or conquered their fears, the impending ‘meltdown’ is conveniently forgotten. Kids may love it now, but I doubt it’ll still be a favourite in years to come.
Review List Added December 2, 2006
Posted by gproject in : News , add a comment
Just a quick update: I’ve added a review list to the ‘Pages’ section of the Journal. I think it’s a convienient way of listing all the reviews written so far, and it means that you don’t have to go trawling through the archives if you’re looking for a particular one.
Each review is listed in the order they were published, and the titles are all quick links stright to that particular review. I’ll keep updating it as I go from now on - I think I have about 5 or 6 pieces in draft, as well as a couple to write at the moment.
To check out the list, you can either click the ‘review list’ link in the tabs at the top of the page, or access it from right here:
Still no review rating system - I’m working on it. Should be the next addition though, I promise.
Gp.