Review: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)

Does anyone else think perfume adverts are more than a little ridiculous? Perhaps now 4DX screens are becoming a thing they have a place in the world, but has anyone really ever paid much attention to these ads? You’re probably actually wondering what the hell perfume has to do with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. 

Well, at the cinema the other night, right before the featured trailers aired, an advert of sorts was played for what looked like a period drama movie or TV show starring Domhnall Gleeson (AKA General Hux, AKA my favourite grumpy space ginger). I got so excited I did a little dance in my seat, until I realised it was an advert for Burberry perfume. What. The. Frick?! NOT COOL Burberry, not cool. Although I might buy your aftershave for my husband now...damnit. It works.

Anyway! Harry Potter fans will be aware of the book on every Hogwarts first year’s required reading list, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Who’d have thought all these years later it would be adapted into not one, but 5 movies?! I wish I could go back and tell 12 year old me. This movie is the story of the author of said book, Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) who travels to New York in 1926 to release one of his beasts back into the wild where he/she belongs. Whilst there, several creatures (including the ever adorable Niffler) escape from Newt’s magical suitcase.

Newt gets himself into trouble for involving a no-maj (American muggle) called Kowalski (Dan Fogler) and then not wiping his memory, so gets himself caught by disgraced Auror Tina (Katherine Waterson). Amidst all this, a dark wizard called Gellert Grindelwald is on the loose, an anti-magic cult is throwing their weight around, and a rather dapper Colin Farrell is hunting down a talented young witch. Got it? I sure all hell don’t, there’s so much going on!

Let me first say though how wonderful it is to return to the wizarding world of Harry Potter. The sheer excitement at hearing that familiar music with the Warner Brothers logo was enough to make me cry (for the second or third time that night, after so many Christmas adverts), and there are plenty of references for the hardcore fans to spot. Eddie Redmayne is the perfect choice for Newt, confident in his abilities and passionate in his subject, but terribly awkward at the same time. It’s the first time I’ve ever really loved him on screen.

The beasts themselves are indeed fantastic. The Niffler is the real show stealer, but all the creatures we are shown either bring laughs or a feeling of awe. It’s a lot of CGI to have thrown around, but it works. Almost the entire supporting cast were new to me, but their characters were played so well and even ones that have a high risk of being annoying (I’m looking at you, Queenie) were actually incredibly likeable.

Where this movie falls down is largely the messy plot. Considering this franchise is going to be dragged out into 5 movies, there was too much packed into the first installment. I’m sure I’m not alone when I say I would have been happy for the entire first movie to be an introduction to Newt and Co, chasing down the beasts across New York. Save the dark wizard stuff for movie number 2! Who is the target audience, anyway? This was far too dark for young children, but the plot was far too obvious for the older fans. It’s a shame.

I’ll always be happy for more Harry Potter movies, but I’d have liked them to go down the Star Wars route with a collection of one offs instead. Let’s have Fantastic Beasts, then how about a movie for Hagrid and how he got kicked out of Hogwarts? A Marauder’s movie would be amazing too! There are so many stories that could be expanded, without the need of dragging them out.

Review: The Jungle Book (2016)

My upcoming trip to Disneyland has got me on such a Disney movie hype right now! I wasn’t too bothered about seeing this version of The Jungle Book, the fact that 2 live action remakes got announced at the same time confused me too much, but I’m never one to turn down a trip to the cinema, especially as I’ve gone so few times this year so far.  I have been actively avoiding this, I really wanted to see it initially but then I panicked that it would ruin the original Disney version for me! However, my dad really wanted to see it and how can I say no to an old man ;-)

This 2016 version is, simple, a live action remake of the original Disney movie of the same name, only this version stays a little truer to the novel by Rudyard Kipling. Maybe it’s the realness of it all, but this version definitely feels darker. I’d think twice before letting very little young ones see this.  I jumped out of my skin numerous times and hid behind my coat a few more.  Some of the fight scenes were terrifying, I know for a fact that my three year old niece wouldn't be scared of this (she puts donkeys and swans in headlocks for fun!) but I would not like to be the one with her when she does.  I thought she was going to cry in The Good Dinosaur but alas she didn't....I did!

What’s the criteria for a Disney Short? I was expecting one for this, and then it went from the certificate rating to bam! Right in the action. I would have guessed only the animated ones get shorts, but Cinderella got Frozen Fever...or was that just a one off? Either way, I wasn’t prepared!

I had to keep reminding myself that Mowgli, played by Neel Sethi, is the only real part of this movie. Literally everything else is CGI, which is normally a recipe for disaster, but it’s done so well in The Jungle Book! The scenery is gorgeous, and the facial expressions of the animals and the way they move their mouths is so accurate it’s quite scary. Which is weird, because animals don’t talk. So accurate is the wrong word...but I know what I mean!  This made me properly belly laugh!

The CGI work was truly amazing, normally in movies with CGI you can see where the real boy running becomes a computer generated version but there was nothing, it was perfect. In hindsight, I should have not gone to see this film, with my irrational fear of animals and all, I didn't expect them to be so real I was freakin' terrified!

Speaking of which, can we just stop for a moment to talk about the voice actors? Both this version and Warner Brothers’ upcoming version have really hit the nail on the head here. Ben Kingsley as Bagheera, spot on. Idris Elba as Shere Khan, terrifying. Lupita Nyong’o as Raksha, beautiful. Scarlett Johansson as Kaa, mystifying. I’m starting to run out of adjectives here. Bill Murray as Baloo was simply an amazing choice, and I don’t know whether it’s a good or bad thing that he absolutely stole the show. Move along Mowgli, we want more Baloo! Not much I can add to this other than BILL MURRAY is just the ultimate legend, the man can do no wrong EVER!

My only gripe is the character I was most looking forward to, King Louie voiced by Christopher Walken. Don’t we all just love trying to put on a Christopher Walken impression? I know I do! He just didn’t feel right though. In fact, the whole character felt off. This isn’t the King Louie I remember. He’s...scary, and when he sings ‘I wanna walk like you’ it doesn’t fit, seeings as this King Louie walks to little his fur has literally moulded to the floor he sits on. Ew. Even before the moulded soggy butt hair, I found Louie really nasty and horrid to look at but I have to admit for me the voice was perfect.  They made him seem like a bit of a mobster which is pretty appropriate considering his constantly pushing to get to the top.

This really did blow me away, the voices were so perfect for the characters, the CGI was stunning and I loved the story anyway but this took it to another level.  It was just so entertaining, there was no boring middle bits to get through.

That said though, this was much more fun to watch than I originally anticipated, and it’s definitely up there with Cinderella (2015) as one of the better remakes. I’m interested to see how Warner Brothers’ Jungle Book (currently slated for 2018) will compare! For me this blew Cinderella out of the water, by far the best remake of a Disney film yet!

Brilliant, can't wait to see it again when I can spend more time checking out the CGI scenery.

Review: Descendants (2015)

Yeah, I went there. My local Disney store has had a ton of Descendants merchandise for a while now, and I wanted to find out what it was all about! It’s perfectly acceptable for a 26 year old to watch a Disney Channel movie about the children of the Disney villains, right? Right? As a 31 year old that has just watched a Disney Channel movie about the children of the Disney villains, I say hell yeah!

In the present day, the son of King Beast (Does Beast have a name?! This is going to bother me!) and Queen Belle, Ben (Mitchell Hope) is ready to take the throne. His first decree as king is to offer the chance of redemption to the children of the villains who have all been banished to the ‘Isle of the Lost’, but welcoming them places at the school in Auradon. Before simply opening the floodgates, he first invites 4 children as a trial. These children are Mal (Dove Cameron), daughter of Maleficent, Evie (Sofia Carson), daughter of the Evil Queen, Jay (Booboo Stewart), son of Jafar and Carlos (Cameron Boyce), son of Cruella De Vil.

It’s clear that this is typical Disney within the first five minutes. Loud, colourful characters, beautiful sets, and a musical number just moments into its opening. Only something is off. This first song has very clear dubstep beats to it. I’m also pretty sure Maleficent (Kristin Chenoweth) is speaking the slang that the kids of today are speaking, too. Still, it’s really difficult to not start tapping your feet to the tune of ‘Rotten to the Core’.  Loved the opening, it is still my favourite part of the whole movie, the kids all had the cocky confidence of their evil parents and I loved spotting the ways they had dressed them to match their parents.

Maleficent is happy for the children to be taken away to Auradon, but only because she’s made them promise to steal the Fairy Godmother’s wand and bring it back to her. Queue another musical number in the museum as Mal struggles between wanting to be good and obeying her mother’s orders. Wasn't so sure about this one, think I may have drifted off in the middle, it was the longest Disney song EVER! However, I do love Kristin Chenoweth, she is just made for musical theatre, I would have loved to see her in Wicked on stage.

Honestly, at face value, it’s so easy to hate this movie. It’s cheesy to the level of High School Musical, and hardcore Disney fans will watch with disgust as their favourite villains are turned into comedic characters better placed in slapstick comedy sketches. There’s even a version of Be Our Guest, which I actually struggled with as it’s one of my favourite Disney songs.  

I really liked Carlos, the son of Cruella de Vil and his irrational fear of dogs (felt quite familiar!) and his one liners really made me laugh.  I didn't like Jafar's son, Jay, I think they got their villains and heroes mixed up, they made Jay a small time thief, which is Aladdin's character not Jafar and their version of Jafar was more like the market trader at the beginning of Aladdin!  If my rant hadn't made it obvious, that REALLY annoyed me because the others were so well thought out.

At the same time though, my inner 14 year old self was bursting with excitement. Tweens will absolutely love this movie. The costumes are so well designed, down to the exact colour schemes, the songs are catchy and the girls in particular will fall head over heels for Ben. Descendants is going to be up there in my list of ultimate guilty pleasures.

The kid in me was so excited about the idea of finding out what happened to my favourite characters after the credits rolled on their movies.  I smiled all the way through and would happily watch it again.  Need to get my niece over here so I have an excuse.

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!

Mini Reviews: Max (2015), Bride Wars (2009) & A.C.O.D. (2013)

Max (2015) seemed to fall under the radar for me, but I spotted it on IMDB first. A movie about an army dog suffering with PTSD? I’m in. Why do I love to torture myself like this? To say I was disappointed in this movie isn’t fair, but it wasn’t the movie I thought it would be. I was expecting a drama about trying to rehabilitate this beautiful dog, and the question throughout being whether or not it would work or if he would have to be put down, but instead, this was a family orientated action movie. It’s a good one, but not what I was expecting at all.

So, I’m on the hunt for wedding related movies right now, and Bride Wars (2009) was the first on my list. Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway play two best friends who have always dreamed on June weddings at the Plaza Hotel. Of course, after a mishap, their weddings end up scheduled on the same day, and a war breaks out. Going through the planning experience myself, and being bridesmaid for 2 other weddings in the same year as mine, I could ironically relate to many things in this movie, which I think aided in my enjoyment! It’s amazing how the littlest things are huge problems when wedding planning!

In full swing of a Parks and Recreation obsession, I was on the hunt for a light comedy and spotted A.C.O.D. (2013), or Adult Children of Divorce featuring not only the loveable Adam Scott, but Amy Poehler too! Weirdly though, Poehler actually plays Scott’s mother-in-law, and that was a hard pill to swallow throughout. Adam Scott’s on screen brother, Clark Duke is getting married, but their parents are divorced and well, you can probably guess the rest. It had a really promising cast that never got the chance to show their full potential. An entertaining watch, but forgettable.

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!

 

Blind Spot: My Neighbor Totoro (1988)

This month brings something a little different to the blog. Even as the grown ups we are, we both still enjoy animated films and review them frequently on Flick Chicks, but this is the first time we’ve reviewed an anime film! I was a huge anime fan in my teens (Bleach and Dragonball Z were my favourites) and although I saw Spirited Away years ago, I hadn’t ever watched My Neighbor Totoro.  I however, am a newbie, this is my first anime experience so bear with me ;-)

My Neighbor Totoro is a magical children’s film following the story of two sisters, Satsuki and Mei, who have recently moved house with their Father to be closer to their Mother who is currently ill in hospital. From the first few minutes, the girls discover magical ‘soot sprites’ living in the house, and whilst adventuring, they also come across another magical being, Totoro himself.

What exactly is Totoro? I had him down as a cross between an owl and a bear before watching the film, and then Jenna pointed out he has several rabbit features too. I didn’t expect him to be so loud! He’s still very cute, stood in the rain with his umbrella. Admittedly, it was seeing Totoro’s cheesy grin and his soft belly in every geeky shop I’ve ever been in that made me want to watch the film itself, and I definitely want my own one now! I also want a cat bus, cat bus looked so comfy!  He looked so cute and you expected him to have the sweet soft voice and this great roar pours out of him and suddenly you realise, maybe anime isn't just your everyday kids cartoon! Cat bus scared me, I'm not going to lie, I don't like animals at the best of times and this is a GIANT CAT!!  Nope nope nope!!

I think sometimes it’s too easily to be really critical when reviewing a film like this. It needs to be enjoyed for what it is. One could complain about a slow start, a lack of ‘a moral to be learnt’ which most children’s films have, but to just sit back and take in the story, it’s beautiful. It’s all about family, and friendships, and believing in magic.

Anyone can say there no lessons to be learnt but after stewing on it overnight it really hit home for me.  These children and in the middle of dealing with the possibility of losing their mother.  There lives could be downtrodden and miserable and they could spend day after day crying and missing out on so much of their childhood but no.  Their Father (although works a lot) spends his time with his children, making them laugh and telling them magical stories that their imaginations bring to life in the Totoro, Soot Sprites and the cat bus.  There coping mechanism for this very scary and real situation is to be children and jump in puddles, get dirty and imagine a magical world where they can forget the 'grown up stuff' for a while.  My Mother was ill for most of my childhood but it was never sad, I never even realised what was happening, my childhood was filled with laughter, parties, mud pies, cake making, singing, shopping trips, face paints, dancing, Happy Meals, play houses and tooth fairies. 

Maybe there is a lesson here but for the grown ups rather than the kids :-)

We watched the English dubbed version with the Dakota twins providing voices for Satsuki and Mei, as we were both too tired for subtitles, but I’d like to watch this again sometime soon as it’s meant to be viewed, just for the experience.  Apparently, after reading the trivia for this there are a few differences between the original Japanese version and the English dubbed version, mostly due to language changes.

All in all, I enjoyed this more than I thought I would, and my appreciation grew for it overnight. Definitely a film I’ll see again soon, and a film I’ll keep back for any future children I may have. Now I’m tempted to see another film by Studio Ghibli...does anyone have any recommendations?