Review: Sausage Party (2016)

When I posted my ‘2016 Comedy Special’ mini reviews, I thought I’d seen all of the big comedy releases of this summer. Then I spotted someone’s review of Sausage Party in my blogger feed, and I let out a long sigh. There was one I had missed. When Seth Rogen and James Franco are together, they are so hit or miss for me. I’ve never seen one of their movies and thought ‘eh, that was alright’, it’s always one extreme or the other. And I really wasn’t sold by the trailer.

Of course, this animated movie is Seth Rogen’s baby that just so happens to feature James Franco, but I find Seth like that one guy in your friend group or school that's completely lovely and funny on his own, but when he’s with that particular friend, he turns into a complete ass. I sound really bitter, don’t I?

Sausage Party is like every other animated movie you’ve seen starring inanimate objects, with one difference. It’s rude. Like, extremely rude. Sexual jokes, racist jokes, down right dirty jokes, fly left right and center here. The stand out example here is in the opening scene, when a jar of german mustard announces his wishes to eliminate the juice. Say it out loud, and it’ll soon click for you. The ‘f’ in his logo is expertly designed to look like a very infamous symbol, too. That’s when you do that nervous kind of laugh where you know you shouldn’t find it funny, but it’s downright hilarious.

I actually had quite a bit of hope to begin with. If you’re not aware of the plot yet, the movie is about a bunch of groceries in a supermarket, living their lives, waiting to be chosen by the Gods to be taken to the ‘great beyond’. In this particular store, the groceries start each morning with a song all about it, and how certain they are that absolutely nothing will ge wrong should they be chosen. Sorry, but it’s still not quite as funny as Olaf the Snowman wanting to see what summer is all about!

Frank the sausage (Seth Rogen) is the star of the show, alongside his lover Brenda (Kristen Wiig), a hotdog bun. The two get chosen to leave but everything goes wrong, leaving them with the mission of getting back home to warn everyone else. It’s a simple enough story, but my biggest problem with it is that it doesn’t know what it wants to be. Is this a simple, ‘fart jokes’ comedy, or is a comedy with a hidden, deeper meaning? It’s both, which is confusing as hell.

But what really ruined it for me was the scene outside, with the zombie corn. If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll be shuddering right now because you’ll know exactly what I’m on about. A giant, cartoon-rendered turd on the floor being eaten by zombie corn. And it gets worse, because next on screen is a talking, used condom. I mean USED. Ugh.

I don’t know what I expected really. In some ways, Sausage Party was better than I thought it would be, but it’s still largely unfunny, and downright gross. That’s just me though, I know plenty of people will absolutely love this, because it’s the kind of humour they enjoy. At least I can now say I’ve seen all the big 2016 comedies! I think?

Review: Zootropolis/Zootopia (2016)

Before I kick off this post, I have to address the elephant in the room. No, not you Francine, but Happy Birthday. What I mean is the fact that in the UK, this movie is called Zootropolis. Despite being a menace to type without thinking about it, it’s just a ridiculous name. It’s not that uncommon for movies to have different titles in the UK, but there’s normally a sensible reason behind it. For example, Neighbors is called Bad Neighbours here, I’m guessing because of a popular soap opera by the same name. A bit of internet research shows that Denmark are opening a zoo called Zootopia in 2019, but I’m not convinced that’s the reason.

Anyway! Zootropolis/Zootopia is the latest animated movie from Disney, and it’s one of the great ones. Following from The Good Dinosaur (which I still haven’t seen) meant that something half decent would have been applauded, but this time round Disney have done what they do best - pack in a current, serious issue in a way that children and adults alike understand and relate to. Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) has dreamt of becoming a police officer, and against all odds, makes it as the first bunny in ZPD history.

Put straight onto Meter Maid duty, Judy is desperate to prove that she has what it takes to become a real cop, which leads her to follow a sly fox by the name of Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) as he runs an ice lolly scam. Fate brings the two together as Judy blackmails Nick into helping her look for a missing animal, and so Nick helps in the most unhelpful way he can, leading her to the DMV, a government office ran by sloths. A stroke of genius, there!

Obviously the movie is filled with laughs, but it’s Flash the sloth that wins the real comedy prize. It doesn’t matter how many times I watch that scene, it’s equal parts hilarious and painful every time. He speaks and types excruciatingly slow, and the act of him tearing off a receipt from it’s printer is making my hairs stand on edge just thinking about it. If you’ve ever had to visit an office like this, you’ll relate. It’s brilliant.

Essentially, the movie is a crime case that leaves you guessing as it goes along. For a children’s movie, it’s surprisingly in-depth and surprised me along the whole trail. There are some great references to look out for as well, for all ages. Chief Bogo (Idris Elba) pokes fun at Frozen, and there’s a glaringly obvious Breaking Bad (or should it be Breaking Baa’d?) reference in there, too. As always, the detail demands several rewatches, especially if you’re on the hunt for all those easter eggs.

The final third of the movie really drills home the message, that I swear, just like last year’s Inside Out is more for the adults rather than the children. Kids these days don’t notice things like race, nor do they judge each other on their family’s religion, it’s the adults. All too often we’re told that our gender or our age means that we can’t do certain things, which is wrong. I felt so pumped at the end of this movie, like I really could do whatever I wanted to. Okay, that feeling ended as soon as I got to work the next day, but still.

Bonus/Bragging Rights: We got to meet the adorable Nick and Judy in Disneyland for our Honeymoon! Nick was ever the sly ol' fox, after this photo he linked his arm with mine and marched me off down the road! The cast members had to chase us down!

Review: Anomalisa (2016)

It felt like a lifetime waiting for this movie to be released in the UK! I swear I would move country just to see movies like this earlier. Anyway. I’ve always been a fan of animated movies, and since my Media course in College, I’ve had a real appreciation for the work that goes into it. I produced a 30 second claymation in class that took 2 months, and boy, does it require a lot of patience. 

Anomalisa (2016) is a fantastically quirky movie that not only took 3 years to create, but it was brought to life thanks to the 5,770 crowdfunders on Kickstarter that collectively raised over $400,000. It follows roughly 24 hours of our main character (voiced by David Thewlis) living his mundane life. When he happens to meet Lisa (voiced by Jennifer Jason Leigh), his life looks as though it may change.

I’ve tried to stay away from too many detailed reviews of this movie until I’d seen it myself, but one of the comments that came up often were to do with the fact that it’s so easy to forget that this is an animated movie. Now, that’s a testament to the fantastic work of the animators to create characters and a world that seem so lifelike, but honestly, I would urge anyone to do the opposite, and constantly remind themselves that this is in fact animated. It makes those intricate details that much more fascinating.

Maybe I’m geeking too hard over it, but such simple details like a swinging ‘magic tree’ air freshener in the taxi, or the ice machine in the hotel just had me in awe. Those are things you wouldn’t even think about in a live action movie, but it took hours to film those brief moments. 

This is one I’ll be buying on DVD for sure once it’s released, I think a second viewing will be rewarding. I got really distracted after a while at the fact that every character other than Michael and Lisa were voiced by the same person (Tom Noonan). I tried to tell myself that it was probably down to budget constraints, but I couldn’t shake it from my mind. Of course, it all got explained eventually (and it was a beautifully painful moment) but I definitely missed some details along the way.

There’s one scene in particular that was incredibly difficult to watch, and I’ll try and explain without going into spoiler territory, because this isn’t a complaint in an obvious sense. It’s an intimate scene, and I felt awkward, but not because I’m typically British and things like this make me embarrassed anyway, but the scene was so well done it kind of felt that by watching, I was intruding. Does that make any sense? It’s hard to explain.

The bottom line is, I loved this movie, and would recommend it to others. It’s not for everyone, and you have to be in the right kind of mood. Above all else, don’t try to forget that it’s animated, and appreciate those little details!

Mini Reviews: The Good Dinosaur (2015), Miss You Already (2015) and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip (2015)

This may be the darkest Pixar films I have ever seen.  Any moment that appeared happy was suddenly thrown into emotional tailspin cue my darling niece (at full volume) "Aunty Jenna, he's dead" - waaaaahhhh!  This was all in the first 10 minutes.... (Allie I think she's been taking tips from you and your viewing of The Lion King!!)

Honestly, I didn't enjoy this as much as I would have liked to because I was constantly worried my niece was going to burst into tears.  She didn't.....I did!  Overall, the story is ok but seems to lack the depth and intelligence of the usual Pixar movies.  I felt like the whole idea that the asteroid didn't annihilate the dinosaurs is not really considered after the first scene and there is no real explanation as to how the world works in this place.  On a plus note, the animation was fantastic and I wouldn't expect any less from Pixar but it didn't stand up to the likes of Inside Out, Toy Story or Monsters Inc.

Sunday afternoon on my own and decided I wanted something light and easy to watch.  I made an epic mistake in my film choice with Miss you already.  Best friends Jess (Drew Barrymore) and Milly (Toni Collette) go through everything together, first kisses, weddings, pregnancies, births and losses.  Then Milly gets diagnosed with cancer and they have to work their way through it together.  

As someone who has seen a lot of this type of situation in real life, this was not a good choice.  10 minutes in, I am blubbing like a baby and I don't stop until its over.  However, this should not take away from the film, it was really well put together and Barrymore and Collette have great chemistry.  What I have to commend is the realism used in the cancer parts of  the storyline, they got into the real dark corners of living with this.  One scene which really stood out to me was Milly trying to explain her illness and treatment to her young children.  Definitely a good film, definitely wouldn't watch it again!!!

Another cinema trip with my niece (technically honorary niece as her Mom is my best friend rather than my sister, but who's splitting hairs!) this time to see Alvin and the Chipmunks: Roadchip.  I know what you are thinking, she can't say anything in this one surely, well you would be wrong, two thirds in and B pipes up "Mommy, he's dead, all dead" *looks of horror from other parents* 

This was actually rather entertaining, not pixar entertaining but not a chore to watch by any means.  The music is also a real plus point, I don't care what anyone says, any song put into chipmunk voices sounds ACE!!  Me and Brogan spent most of the film dancing around and singing along to the soundtrack.  I wouldn't watch this again but it wasn't painful to watch.

Review: Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015)

As I have reiterated numerous times, I like Adam Sandler, most people don't like him and I will happily admit he has made some terrible films but Hotel Transylvania is one of my favourites so the sequel had to be watched.

It took me ages to eventually watch Hotel Transylvania, but I was surprised at how much I loved it, so I was really looking forward to the sequel.

Hotel Transylvania 2 follows on from the first one with Mavis (Selena Gomez) and Jonathan (Andy Samberg) married with a half human half vampire baby, however Dracula (Adam Sandler) is worried that his monster side hasn't come through yet.  To rectify the situation, Dracula sends Mavis to visit her human in-laws and recruits his monster friends to try to encourage Dennis' evil side to come out.

You didn't warn me the first few scenes would make me cry! I'm deep in the middle of a wedding hotel room drama so anything sweet and wedding related sets me off right now. Watching Dracula and Mavis' sweet moments made me do a bit of an ugly cry.

Straight up, this is not as good as the first one.  The jokes aren't as good and the story is pretty poor, however when it does pull a funny, it was really funny.  I laughed out loud countless times and was thoroughly entertained, no naps in this film!! I left my adult self at the door and spent an hour and a half being a kid again, laughing at fart jokes and trying to work out the which voice belongs to who from various Adam Sandler movies.  I was gobsmacked to find Nick Offerman yet again, that man is literally in everything...ever!  Also, did we know that he is married to the awesome Megan Mullally, why did I not know this?!  I would love to be a fly on the wall in that house!

You also didn't warn me that Nick freaking Offerman was in this! We need to talk. Also I had no idea until now that Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally are married. That's awesome on so many levels!

The animation is fantastic as well, the attention to detail never fails to amaze me in modern animation.  Particularly the scenes with big group, such as the birthday party, there are soo many other things happening in the background, I want to watch it again and again to catch them all.

I really enjoyed the story, although this is another case of the sequel not being quite so good. The jokes were okay, but not laugh out loud for me, other than one moment which struck a weird funny bone for me. That moment when both families are having a big meal together, and there's that phantom of the opera styled guy playing the organ. Someone says something a bit controversial and the organ guy just shouts 'AWKWARD' and I don't know why, but it was one of the funniest things I've ever seen!

Don't overthink it and you'll love it!

Definitely worth a watch, but I prefer the original!

Review: Inside out (2015) TAKE TWO!!

How have I not written a review for this yet, I actually thought I had included my thoughts on Allie’s review but it seems not.  Being 30 sucks, my memory is shot!! I feel bad repeated a post that we have just done but I couldn't not review this.  However, I am finally putting together my thoughts on this, at the moment they feel like they are going to be a mass mess of mushy feels….

Pixars’s latest offering follows characters that are effectively emotions in peoples head Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Disgust (Mindy Kaling), Fear (Bill Hader) and Anger (Lewis Black).  It’s mainly focused on Riley (Kaitlyn Dias) and the way she copes with moving house, a new school and growing up and how the emotions in her head are effected.  The changes lead Joy and Sadness on an adventure through Riley’s subconscious to get back to ‘HQ’ to stop her from running away from home.

Pixar tried something new and managed to absolutely knock it out of the park.  One of the key things my Dad has always said he loved about Disney/Pixar movies is that they don’t dumb down emotions for children.  In watching a Pixar and even some of the latest Dreamworks movies, the lead characters are actually dealing with real emotions.  This is something I know I said in my Toy Story 3 review and this film has just reiterated it so well.  The film is based on the emotions that Pixar isn’t afraid to shy away from.  There are some really clever ideas in the film that may be a little advanced for the younger audience but great for the parents and big kids like myself.  The idea that the short term memories are sent to ‘long term storage’ when Riley goes to sleep is in keeping with the theory that that is exactly what our brains do when we sleep. 

I thought there was a lot of feels in Toy Story 3 that made me well up and hide my face from my nieces and nephews every time I watched it but this was a whole new level.  I cried like a baby, it was genuinely heart-breaking and moving and you could easily forget you were watching an animation, I was just so caught up in it all.

Finally, I can’t post this review without mentioning the attention to detail.  The full scenes being played out within the memory balls (some of which I have since found out were Easter Eggs) plus how much of the way the brain works has been considered and accounted for inside Riley’s brain!  It’s far too complicated for any small child to understand but the bright colours and engaging characters will certainly keep them entertained, while the adults can ponder the deep and meaningfuls that continuously crop up (is it ok to be sad sometimes?).

Great for kids, even better for adults. Is anyone else a little bit concerned now about The Good Dinosaur between trying to follow this and the two How to Train your Dragon's we've already had, is it dead before it's even out?!

Review: Inside Out (2015) & Lava (2015)

It’s taken me a long time to get my thoughts on Inside Out into words. Let’s just say I hold this film in a very special regard! It’s extremely rare for me to see a film in the cinema twice, but I saw this once with a close friend of mine on the day I found out that my very poorly Granny was terminal, and then again with my family just a few days after she died. 

From the original trailer, it was difficult to determine a plot for Inside Out, but it made the film a complete surprise which rarely happens now. Too often a trailer gives away so much of the plot it’s barely worth even investing the time at the cinema. So, the plot is simple in theory, a young girl named Riley (Kaitlyn Dias) moves to San Francisco with her parents when her Dad gets a new job. Her emotions, Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (Mindy Kaling) and Fear (Bill Hader) struggle to cope with the move, a new school, new friends, and a difficult life at home.

To begin with, let me quickly mention the short played before Inside Out, Lava. As a Disney fan, I get just as excited for the short as I do for the feature film, and although nothing will be able to top Feast for me, Lava was beautiful. Told in song, Lava is about a volcano in Hawaii who is lonely, and wishes he has someone to love just like everything else around him. This song is absolutely making it onto the wedding playlist somewhere my fiance won’t notice, ha.

Back to Inside Out, and one thing I can’t get over is how complex the whole thing is, but also how simple it is at the same time. I mean, any small child would love this. It’s bright, it’s colourful, it has plenty of funny moments, but as a grown up going through some stuff, this film really spoke to me. Riley has ‘personality islands’ which represent her core beliefs and loves, and I spent the car ride home trying to work out what my own islands would be. I’d have a blogging island, for sure!

Everything to do with your mind and thoughts are in this film. There’s a thought train, which is literally a train, and subconsciousness which is scary as hell. Down in long term memory are little workers who dispose of all the memories that have been disused for so long, they’re deemed no longer needed. That’s why I’ve forgotten nearly everything I was taught in Math class I reckon!

The casting for the main emotions was perfect, too. I know Amy Poehler from Parks & Recreation and she just buzzes with Joy. Phyllis Smith as Sadness was a great choice, too. If you’ve seen her in anything else you’ll know that she doesn’t put on any other kind of voice for Inside Out, that’s just her and she portrays it perfectly.

It was the lesson of the film that hit me the hardest. The fact that sometimes, we need to feel sadness to become happy again was something I’d forgotten all about, and it’s so true. Going to see this with my family whilst we all felt so sad was difficult, but we all said we couldn’t remember the last time we all went to see a film together. In fact, we weren’t even sure it had ever happened, and so that night will be a happy memory of mine forever.

Review: Penguins of Madagascar (2014)

You know those movies you watch for the sole reason that one of your favourite actors or actresses is in it? I’m not the only one who does this, right? Jenna I know you do this too! I might have gone a step too far this time. We’re all a little fed up of Madagascar by now, are we not? I don’t think I could take any more of King Julien, and if I hear that song (I don’t even want to name it) one more time I might just cry, but the other night I watched Penguins of Madagascar.

Because Benedict Cumberbatch voices a wolf. Bonus, Benedict Cumberbatch doesn’t know how to say penguins! Sigh. Even I know I did a terrible thing. But do you know what? I really enjoyed it! The film, too. Ha.

I guess you could say that Pengwings (sorry) of Madagascar follows the same principle as Minions. It takes a bunch of cute, loveable, but minor characters from a major movie and gives them the limelight for an hour and a half. The penguins were actually my favourite characters in Madagascar, in my defence. And boy, Madagascar takes some effort to type! I’ll be a pro by the end of this review.

The film itself starts with an origin story of sorts of how Skipper (Tom McGrath), Kowalski (Chris Miller), Rico (Conrad Vernon) and Private (Christopher Knights) joined forces, and rapidly moves into the main storyline of their lifelong, but unbeknown nemesis, Dr. Octavius Brine, AKA Dave (John Malkovich). Dave might just be my favourite villain ever, I was actually crying with laughter at some of his lines. His little octopus henchmen all have very human names, but each time Dave shouts out a command, it ends up being an actual actor or actress’ name. Such as!

“Nicholas, Cage them!”

“Drew! Barry! More power!”

“Hugh! Jack! Man the battlestations!”

You get the gist. They might eek out a cringe from most, but puns and dad jokes are my favourites. I might even have to dedicate a blog post to some lines like these I’ve thought up myself. Can anyone start me off?

The penguins are supported by an organisation known as North Wind (yes, there’s a fart joke in there) which is headed by a wolf known as Classified (Benedict Cumberbatch). That’s not his name apparently, it’s Classified. Team North Wind try to take over the operation with their fancy gadgets, but I’m sure you can guess how that ends.

Honestly, I was really glad I watched this in the end. It was an entertaining hour and half and much better than I thought it would be. Give it a go!

Review: Minions (2015)

Back in 2010, Universal Pictures gave us an animated film that many never expected to love as much as they did. Three years later we were given a sequel, which failed to wow but certainly reminded us just how much we love Despicable Me. Fast forward to the present day and Gru’s minions are everywhere. They’re on pajamas, sweets, bedspreads, and now they even have their own film. I got the pleasure of watching Minions the way I think it should, with a kid by my side. Who said babysitting your brother had to be boring?

Minions is a prequel of sorts to Despicable Me, and tells us the story of how the minions came to be, and what they did before they found Gru. The story itself focuses on three main Minions, Kevin, Stuart and Bob, as they leave the rest of their pack (group? What’s the collective term for minions anyway? swarm? gaggle?) and try to find a new boss. Their journey leads them to Villain Con in Orlando, where they meet Scarlet Overkill (Sandra Bullock) and do everything they can to impress her.

The start of the film was painfully slow, and although the narration was needed, it felt like I was being read a children’s story and I felt quite bored.  I loved the beginning, although I had seen a lot of it in the trailer but I still loved the story telling and the narration. Once the minions arrived in Orlando though, the pace picked back up and the rest of the film was enjoyable.  I  did however get a bit bored in the middle but luckily my 2 year old niece didn't "Aunty Jenna, loooooooooooook" *points frantically at the screen* It did suffer I thought from the age-old issue of all the funniest moments being in the trailer.

There were two main things I loved about Minions. One was of course the little yellow cuties themselves, but with them being the main characters this time, we got to hear a lot more of their own language, which derives from languages from all over the world (and Bananas), which now makes sense after the introduction to the film. There are moments where I was begging for subtitles, but for the most part you can tell what the little guys are trying to say. I think its more about the body language and the actions to understand what they are saying, I still love the scene with Stuart and the yellow fire hydrant...."Ello papagena...."

What got the most laughs from me was the British stereotyping. I feel like I should be mildly offended? Like I want to assure people that our policemen do not drink and drive (tea from china cups that is) and we don’t all cry ‘blimey!’ when we’re distressed! We do drink a lot of tea though...I type this whilst drinking tea so it must be true, ha!  I too am drinking tea but not driving at the same time but it does explain why the UK area of Epcot in Florida looks the way it does!

I loved this film (excusing the brief boredom around the middle), but I only ever remotely enjoyed Despicable Me 2 because of these little guys, the rest was a waste of time.  I thought it was as good as Despicable Me and really made me laugh out loud and made my niece squeal with delight (which always makes my day!).

Minions wasn’t as good as good as the original Despicable Me, although the ending made me squeal with glee (I won’t spoil it) and I’d rank it on par with Despicable Me 2. It’s a good film, don’t get me wrong, but I think Minions appeals to a much younger audience.  Maybe I have a lower mental age than you?! 

Review: WALL·E (2008)

Despite my undying love for animated films, every now and again, one slips through the net and it takes me ages to get round to watching it. It was just last year that I watched Up (2009) for the first time, which is bad enough, but one film I’ve been putting off for far too long is WALL·E. It seems to have cropped up again in the blogging community thanks to some blogathons, and that gave me the final push I needed.

The film is set in a waste-filled future, where the situation became so dire that mankind has fled the planet on a giant cruise-ship, whilst waste collecting robots clean the planet up. Hundreds of years later, the plan seems to have failed as one little robot and his cockroach friend seem to be the only ones left on Earth, until one day a ship drops off a robot named EVE to scan the planet for signs of life.

That little plot summary is something I wrote after watching the film; I watched it the other night without reminding myself what it was actually about. The first 20 minutes or so really took me by surprise as it introduced this almost post-apocalyptic scene, and I began to wonder whether this was really meant to be a family film after all. The scene where we are introduced to WALL·E’s little bunker really tugged on my heart strings. I saw this one later than I normally would, I didn't see it at the cinema and felt no urge to watch it for ages, but when I finally did and this little chap popped up on screen there was just too many feels!

Once EVE was introduced and the location of the film changed, we were back into family-friendly territory once again. The shift wasn’t subtle, and honestly I wished we could have been on earth longer, but the second half of the film was at least more of what I was expecting. The concept of these fat, immobile humans was humorous, but a little chilling at the same time. It’s certainly not a future that could be impossible in the real world. Yet another film that poses an actual possibility for future generations, terrifying!

Back to a lighter topic though, I really did enjoy WALL·E. The love story was beautiful and surprisingly emotional, and every time WALL·E pronounced EVE’s name wrong it brought a silly smile to my face. I was also super happy to spot the Pizza Planet truck without having to look it up afterwards, I love things like that. Ohh where was it in this? I can't remember if I found it or not it's been that long since I've seen it! It was really early on when Eve was first scanning Earth for live, the truck was one of the things she scanned :D

WALL.E really showcases what I love about Disney/Pixar films, they don't treat children like idiots.  They know that children of any age deal with situations like loss and love and also deal with the emotions that are tangled within these situations.  These types of movies bring those emotions to the surface and I think highlight to children (and adults alike) that emotions are normal and the world isn't all sweetness and light fairy tales like classic Disney movies (although I do still love those!).  On top of that there is some great animation work here and the background is so detailed, I loved looking around WALL.E's bunker trying to spot things he had collected.

All in all, this was a truly enjoyable film, and I’m still kicking myself for taking so long to watch it. I’m not sure it beats some of my favourites like Toy Story and Finding Nemo, but it’s definitely up there with the greats.  I don't know about but the look of the film from the outside didn't appeal to me, it was only when I watched it that I loved it.  Another case of not judging a book by it's cover....

 

Review: The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (2015)

I am a twenty five year old adult with a grown up job...I am a twenty five year old adult with...oh to hell with it. Cartoons have always been something I’ve loved, from Saturday morning action cartoons when I was a child to the high-as-hell Adventure Time when I was, well...yesterday! SpongeBob is a personal favourite of mine, a cartoon loved by my whole family, who quote it on a near daily basis. Cue dolphin noises instead of swears, explanations on how to blow a bubble correctly to talking (ppthhhhh) like those (ppthhhh) fish when SpongeBob (ppthhhh) was waiting (ppthhhh) for that bus (ppthhh) after being at Glove World.  I thought I was a SpongeBob Squarepants fan but after reading this I am clearly lacking in SpongeBob related knowledge - I bow down to you oh master of SpongeBobness.....

For anyone now wanting to Google ‘ppthhh’, that was my attempt at typing a raspberry sound. Try it! It’s harder than it looks. Thhhuuuurrrrr ?!

Anyway, back onto some kind of track. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge out of Water goes back to it’s roots and uses a plot the fans are all familiar with. Yep, Plankton is after the Krabby Patty secret formula once again. Despite it’s title, our beloved main characters only spend about 20 minutes of screen time out of the water! This was the biggest disappointment for me to be fair!

Sponge out of Water caters to the fans. Although little can make sense in a regular SpongeBob episode, there are so many nods and references to the show in this movie that I wouldn’t be surprised if someone new to the franchise slated the movie for being a random acid trip. That’s kind of how it goes though! There’s plenty for the fans to enjoy, and I couldn’t contain my glee when the famous ‘my leg!’ line was said, or yelped even.  So this explains a lot, I was disappointed with the movie because it was just plain bizarre, half the jokes didn't make sense and it was (I can imagine) what an acid trip would be like.... I need to go back watch back to back SpongeBob episodes and then try this again I think!

It’s the style of jokes that make this movie so funny. Think of Plankton, that tiny green little bad guy, creeping across a room. The music changes to the high pitched notes of a key instrument, just two notes played again and again. A few seconds later, we realise that SpongeBob is actually playing a tiny piano placed in his hand! (this bit was hilarious!) On the other hand, we’re provided terrible puns, which just happens to be one of my favourite things. 

“Hey, it’s raining pickles. Now it’s raining...TANKS!”

“You’re welcome.” - I don't get it?! Oh my God! Tanks...sounds like thanks!!

Joke-telling aside, the only thing that really disappointed me was the lack of songs. There are many memorable SpongeBob songs from the episodes that could have been remastered, but all we got was a new one. I’m grateful, don’t get me wrong, but it wasn’t better than the Krusty Krab Pizza.  It turns out a friend that I went with, Shmistine (names have been changed to protect identities) learnt all the words to the theme song in preparation for seeing this and refused to leave the cinema until she had sang the whole thing - full volume, I nearly left her there!!

Did these scenes remind anyone else of Mad Max?!

All in all, this was a fun-filled nostalgia trip for me, and I’ll be watching it again with my brother if we happen to have a movie night sometime.  I really to try this again and re-review it!  You and me are going to have a SpongeBob-a-thon sometime soon, haha!

 

Review: Home (2014)

I saw the trailer for this while I was watching Big Hero 6 and after that being so amazing, I couldn't wait to see this.  Huge fan of Big Bang Theory so using Sheldon Cooper's (Jim Parsons) voice for Oh was a stroke of genius.  Plus they had a whole host of A-listers voicing the supporting characters so it must be great, yes?!

Oh is a Boov, Boovs are a race of aliens whose greatest skill is running and hiding.  If ever they are in trouble, they find a planet, re-home the current inhabitants and take the planet for themselves.  In text this sounds like a horror movie but the Boov's look like this...

This time they are coming for Earth, they take all the humans, extract them and move in themselves.  However, Oh unwittingly sends a 'housewarming' invitation to the whole galaxy pin pointing their location to all the bad guys.  Oh must stop the message from getting out with the help of Gratuity Tucci, known as Tip, the only human left on the planet.

The trailer for this was really funny, however it seemed to me that all the really funny bits were in the trailer, leaving mildly amusing scenes to fill the gaps.  I was desperate to love the whole thing, but honestly I spent the whole film waiting for the next scene from the trailer to happen because I knew it would make me laugh.  There was some laugh out loud moments when you discover what the Boov's decide is unrequired on Earth and so send away (numerous items including but not limited to toilets, umbrellas and bikes!)

I don't think my niece Brogan thought as much of it as Big Hero 6 either.  She bared moved through that film, kept her 3D glasses on all the way through and was a complete angel.  She got bored in this one and had a little bit of a tantrum meaning her Mum missed the funniest  bit! Kids ay!

Anyway, back to the movie.  The animation was ok but after the high quality visuals of How to Train your Dragon and Toy Story to follow, it is lacking.  The story doesn't quite pull through for me either, I found 'Tip' to be honestly, boring.  Moreso being opposite a character who is the opposite, obviously she was required for Oh to interact with but I didn't really care if she found her Mom.  The obvious cast self promotion (at least 2 tracks throughout by members of the cast) was annoying and poorly timed, these pop songs came up when a musical score would have suited much better.

Overall an enjoyable experience but lacking across the board for me.  The worst thing is I REALLY wanted to love it but I just didn't.