"Kubo and the Two Strings" Movie Review

"If you must blink, do it now." 

These are the words that greet the audience before the movie even begins and let me tell you; you should follow that advice. 

Kubo and the Two Strings is the newest stop-motion animation film from Laika; the same powerhouse studio that has created other animated classics such as Coraline,  ParaNorman, and The Boxtrolls. All films have been critical successes, and Kubo is joining their ranks as the most ambitious film Laika has created to date. 

Kubo's mother defends her son with her shamisen.
[Found on Google Images]

The story follows Kubo, the son of a famous samurai and a loving mother who has taught him how to use magic. After tragedy befalls his home and loved ones, Kubo must go on a journey with companions Monkey and the cursed samurai Beetle to find his deceased father's armor, as it's the only thing that can protect him from vengeful spirits who are bent on his destruction. 

I honestly don't even know where to start with this film; so I'll start by saying this is the most beautifully animated movie I have seen to date. I've always been a huge fan of stop motion animation- from watching The California Raisins animated movie as a child (yes, that was a thing), to The Nightmare Before Christmas, Chicken Run, all of the Rankin/Bass holiday specials, James and the Giant Peach- and the fascination has carried on into adulthood. I loved The Fantastic Mr. Fox, Max and Mary and even movies like Monkeybone which are pretty bad, but still impressive to see with their use of stop-motion. 

Kubo and the Moon King
[Found on Google Images]

When Laika's first film Coraline came out in 2009, I was immediately smitten with not only the story telling and the top-notch voice acting, but the world and characters that were created were astounding. And with every Laika film, the characters and worlds just keep getting better and better. The art in Kubo is very stylized as it draws a lot of inspiration from traditional Japanese art. The animation in this film was probably some of the smoothest stop-motion animation I've seen to date. I was so lost in the art on screen that I kept forgetting that what I was seeing was all done by hand. Each of the characters' movements and facial features were absolutely spot on with the dialog and if you consider the fact that each character must have had hundreds if not thousands of different faces that had to be removed, applied, shaped to fit the emotion and lines- it's just astounding to think of. In every scene I was just blown away but the amount of attention to detail that has become a part of Laika films, and has set them apart from all other animation studios. 

Monkey, Beetle and Kubo
[Found on Google Images]

The voice cast also was impressive- Charlize Theron who plays Monkey was amazing; she added not only a hard, cold and concise attitude for this character but there was so much power, strength and love in her performace as well. Matthew McConaughey was hugely entertaining as Beetle, as he has a bad case of amnesia and is constantly adding humor to his scenes. Art Parkinson (Kubo) gave a great performance, as to be expected from anyone working on Game of Thrones. There are also some big names in the supporting cast, like George Takei, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as a few of the colorful villagers, and Ralph Fiennes as The Moon King.

While the art is basically flawless and attentive to Japanese art and culture, you can also hear it throughout the soundtrack, which features a lot of traditional Japanese instruments like the koto, taiko drums, fue and of course, the shamisen as a shamisen is an integral part of the story. And can I just say I feel like western culture needs more shamisen music? There's just something so elegant and simple yet so complex about the shamisen- it's really amazing to hear it used so frequently and masterfully in the soundtrack to this film. It's even featured in the title song "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" by Regina Spektor. 

There is constant danger for Kubo on his journey.
[Found on Google Images]

I was blown away by stunning art and beautiful music for sure, but what really impressed me was the story and the emotion put into this film. Kubo's story is one of courage, family, loyalty, as well as loss and grief. While many animated films that attract younger audiences do have themes of death and grief, they do have a tendency to not focus on the grieving, but rather the healing. That is fine, but for anyone who has ever loved and lost you will know how strong and strange grief can be, and how not only does it take strength to move forward from it, but it takes just as much strength if not more to fully feel and accept the pain we all feel with loss. A big theme in Kubo is that memories are the strongest form of magic, and our hero draws from that in order to defend himself from his enemies, which is an important lesson for not only younger viewers, but also adults, as I said.

One of the evil Sisters.
[Found on Google Images]

Kubo and the Two Strings is being promoted and marketed as a main stream animated family feature, when the film as a whole felt like a much more artsy venture. While the film is thoroughly enjoyable, younger children may find some of the more somber and quite moments boring so that should be something to keep in mind if you want to go see this movie with your kids. Other than that though, I'm having a really hard time finding anything in this movie to dislike. This film is definitely one of the better movies I've seen this year- so far it's in my Top 10, as well as other critics as they are giving the movie raving praise. Kubo is a movie well worth the price of a ticket, as well as a copy on Blue Ray (I can only imagine what that movie will look like in high definition). This film has earned it's place among the other great animated masterpieces that Laika has given us, but will also likely be counted in among other animated masterpieces for years to come. 

Kubo and his magic will live on in cinematic history for years to come.
[Found on Google Images]

"Nine Lives" Movie Review

Well... This movie certainly did not land on it's feet. 

"Nine Lives" is a family film that unluckily hit theaters the same weekend as "Suicide Squad", which is undeniably one of the most anticipated movies of the summer if not the year. And while critics and some fans have not been kind to "Suicide Squad" in their reviews and ratings, they have definitely been harder on this film. But is "Nine Lives" really deserving of such low ratings? In a way, yes. 

"Nine Lives" tells the story of Tom Brand (played by Kevin Spacey), the billionaire businessman who owns "FireBrand"- some nondescript company that buys things, and builds things, but that's all we really know about it. And FireBrand's big schtick all through the movie is they want to build the world's largest building. Which is one heck of a goal, because apparently people want to throw money at the business that has the biggest building. However, some

Mr. Brand and his daughter Rebecca discussing
birthday gifts. [Found on Google Images]

company in Chicago is constructing a building that is 60 feet taller than the FireBrand building, and that is just the worst thing ever I guess. So, Brand's sleazy right-hand-man Ian (Mark Consuelos) refuses to tell Brand about the height differential, which is "no big deal" to him. 

Then, we are introduced to Tom's wife Lara (Jennifer Garner) and his daughter Rebecca (Malina Weissman) who are moping around the house about how Tom is never home. Actually, Lara is the only one moping over it. Rebecca is just the most optimistic and cheerful Mary-Sue character I've seen since the original film version of "Annie". Anyway, it's the day before Rebecca's 11th birthday, so Lara is pressing Tom to get her something nice, but all Rebecca wants is a cat. Tom hates cats, so he tries really hard not to get one for her, but finally concedes. He goes to this random hole-in-the-wall pet shop called "Purrkins Petshop" run by the eccentric Christopher Walken. Actually, the character's name is Felix Perkins, but really, it's just Christopher Walken in a pet shop. So, Christopher Walken gets Tom to take a fluffy cat named "Mister FuzzyPants" (because of course that's his name), and as Tom is leaving the shop, Walken turns to his horde of cats and says "Let's do this," suggesting that he and the cats have something magical up their sleeves. Boy, are we on the road to disappointment. 

So before he goes back to his home with Mister FuzzyPants for his daughter's birthday, he swings back by the FireBrand building because while at "Purrkin's", he caught a glimpse of a news anchor doing a story about how the Chicago tower is taller than his, so he pulls Ian up on the roof of the building with him and the cat in a rain storm and proceeds to yell at Ian about how he's a failure, and how he's fired, and blah blah blah. Then lightning hits the roof, blowing Tom and Mister Fuzzypants off the side of the building, and Ian just watches Tom and the cat dangle from the side of the building but doesn't want to help them, since he was about to get fired and all. It's amazing how getting fired can change people's minds about letting people fall off buildings. When they eventually fall, however, they crash through a window before they hit the ground.  When Tom wakes up, he sees his body being loaded up on a stretcher, but then he

Perkins (Christopher Walken) talking to
Mister Fuzzypants [Found on Google Images]

realizes he's trapped in Fuzzypants' body, to which his response is, "...Really?". Christopher Walken tracks him down and tells him that in order to be a man again, he has one week to reconnect with his family, or he'll be trapped in the cat's body forever. Oh yeah- Christopher Walken talks to cats in this movie, FYI. 


Normally, I just write a little summary of the plot, and then I move right along with my thoughts on the movie. But for this movie, I felt it was important to explain all of that nonsense, which is what this flick is made up of. This movie was not only painfully predictable, but it is so full of plot holes any rational person can't make it through this film without asking a minimum of 3 questions. The movie literally made no attempt at explaining how Tom becomes a cat, or how Christopher Walken can talk to cats, or what the hell Lara sees in her husband to begin with, or why Tom is so obsessed with his fancy building or anything. At the beginning of the movie we're introduced to Tom by way of showing him and his adult son in a plane getting ready to go sky diving on his way to a press junket. Tom isn't a professional sky diver, or extreme sportsman. In the interior of FireBrand you see panels on a wall with pictures of Tom playing golf and other things, but it's never mentioned if he's an avid sportsman, or if his company could possibly sell sporting equipment, but it never says for sure. So really, not only was the story introducing us to the main character, but also to an endless string of McGuffins that this movie is loaded with. 

"Nine Lives" follows the tired plot of "overworked dad must become an animal to become more human" which has been done to death, even by talking animal movie standards. In pacing, plot and predictability this film is right on par with the 2005 remake of "The Shaggy Dog" starring Tim Allen, which was also a remake of the original 1960's classic of the same name. And I say

Jennifer Garner trying to get her keys from Fuzzypants
[Found on Google Images]

that film is a classic because not only did it come out during the Golden Age of live-action Disney films, it was also one of the first movies to capitalize on the fore mentioned theme before it got ridiculously overused. The movie makes it a point to show the audience how "Tom isn't involved with his family", when really, aside from working too much, he seemed to have really good chemistry with his daughter, son, and wife. Sure he could be a little curmudgeonly about certain things, but what parent or working adult can say they've never been cranky, or overworked, or stressed out and acted out from that?  

And in regards to the cat and the cat humor, even that wasn't very good. During the opening credits there are a ton of phone-shot cat videos but none of them are particularly funny. And don't get me wrong- I am a fan of internet cat videos. But if you're going to take the time to show funny cat videos, actually show funny cat videos. I'm telling you, a little "Shock Kitten" or "Ninja Cat" would go a long way. For the most part, I will give it to them, the cat animation was fairly good, especially since the film didn't come from a major movie studio, but there were a few scenes were the animation left a little to be desired. For example, there was one scene in particular that was supposed to be heartwarming that involved Mister Fuzzypants and Rebecca dancing as they were reconnecting, but honestly, the cat's movements were super awkward, and the look he gave his daughter during the scene with his kitty-cat eyes was

Some of the animation in this film was great. Some
was not....
[Found on Google Images]

a little bit creepy. However, I do have to give the movie kudos on one thing; when Tom becomes a cat, he is a man trapped in a cat's body. I know that idea has been incorporated into every "human-to-animal" movie, but this one actually plays it straight- a man trapped in a cat's body. Let's look back to "The Shaggy Dog"- in that film, after Tim Allen became a dog, he would also inherit the dog's tendencies and animal nature even in his human body; tennis balls would be super interesting, growling at people who angered him was an appropriate expression of disapproval, and chasing a cat is a top priority. However, in this film, Tom is not interested with anything cat related. He's disgusted by cat food, he isn't interested in cat toys, can't land on his feet, and is still into manly things like drinking scotch (Yes. There is a scene where a cat drinks scotch). 



I also can't help but feel that another thing that works against this film is its misuse of Kevin Spacey. The majority of Spacey's screen time isn't actually spent on screen. Instead, he's a voice that's imposed over Mister Fuzzypants, but while this is a talking cat movie, there aren't any moving animated mouths; it's all very much like Garfeild but less humorous. While Spacey does deliver a lot of chuckle-worthy jokes (especially at the expense of his ex-wife), on the

CGI Fuzzypants sharing a dance with Rebecca
[Found on Google Images]

whole, a lot of the jokes are just weak. I can't help but feel that this movie underutilized what is essentially one of the strongest actors in Hollywood. Spacey is without a doubt a heavy-weight in the world of film. This also isn't his first foray into animation; in 1998 he played Hopper in Pixar's "A Bug's Life", and while this wasn't one of Pixar's most-loved films, many people can agree that Spacey brought a lot of weight and character into his role. This film, while earnest, just didn't have too much in the way of interesting characters, even when faced with something exciting; like being turned into a cat, for example. 

And moving on to the cast, really I have to give whoever did the casting in this film a big round of applause for even landing Kevin Spacey for this. He was definitely the highest caliber actor they had in the cast. Jennifer Garner honestly has had better performances, but this felt like she just said yes to get a paycheck. I mean with this film, "Miracles from Heaven" and a multitude of Garnier commercials under her belt, this literally had to just be a pad-the-wallet job. And as for Christopher Walken, I'm pretty sure he just wandered onto set and started playing along with the cast. But on the other hand, this film has a pretty good roster for Internet and App-famous cats. For example, there's Hamilton the Hipster Cat, Lil Bub AND Talking Tom gets screen time and film credits. Talking Tom. Let that sink in for a minute. 

Talking Tom (above) gets actual screen credit in this film... Really??
But seeing Lil Bub (below) on screen was cool, so there's that I guess...
[Found on Google Images]

Honestly, this whole movie felt a lot like a made-for-TV Hallmark movie, and frankly, Europacorp probably would have saved a lot of time and money just making the film that way. But was it really horrible? Well, I've seen worse movies, like "The Shaggy Dog" remake that I am honestly shocked has a higher rating on Rotten Tomatoes- that movie was awful for so many reasons. This movie, while not the best, was at least an earnest attempt at making a fun family movie. And I'm probably being too harsh of a judge, because the other members of the audience were busting a gut and enjoying themselves. Ultimately, this type of movie doesn't appeal to me, clearly. But if you do enjoy movies like this, who knows- you may just fall in love with it. This film was harmless as far as movies go, but it doesn't make a huge attempt to do anything new for the genre, but rather plays it really safe. This film did have a few highlights, but ultimately it all fell a little short.  

"The Secret Life of Pets" Review

Baxter and I about to go on a bike ride

 

Anyone who knows me knows I love all of my pets. Especially, not to pick favorites; my dog Baxter. I adopted him about 3 years ago and we have been the best of friends ever since. The bond Baxter and I have is just like any loving pet parent and their fur/scale/feather companions- there's something special about owning a pet that just can't be explained. On one hand, it's extremely fascinating for members of completely different species to form bonds with one another as very few creatures are capable of such a feat when left to their own devices, but also there's just so much love that can be felt with our pets that is a very different type of love than the type we build with other people in our lives.


As a pet lover, I was very excited to see this film thanks to its clever and numerous advertisements that perfectly seemed to celebrate not only the bond between owner and pet, but also have fun with the thought "Just what does my pet do when I'm not around?" After what seemed like forever I finally saw the movie and I wasn't disappointed.

I wasn't exactly blown away, but I wasn't disappointed. 

"The Secret Life of Pets" is the new animated film from Illumination Animation and it tells the story of a spoiled terrier mix named Max who lives in New York City with his loving owner Katie. One day Katie brings home a new dog from the pound named Duke and the two dogs automatically start bickering over food, living space, and of course Katie's attention. However, the two pets accidentally wind up getting lost and captured by animal control, but soon they are busted out by the adorable and insane bunny Snowball who is the leader of The Flushed Pets- a group of animals who for one reason or another, have been abandoned by their owners. At the same time, Max's pomeranian neighbor Gidget is desperate to find him, so she teams up with other pets in their neighborhood to track him down and bring him safely home. 

Duke and Max are introduced (above)
- and they aren't too thrilled about it (below)
[Found on Google Images]

This movie lands some pretty solid pet jokes that had me chuckling throughout, and I really liked the upbeat and colorful animation that Illumination is known for. I loved all of the banter between the different animals in the movie and I really was impressed with how they kept the focus not on the owners, but the pets- where the story needed to be. I was also very impressed with how the animation team

and the director were able to tap into the minds and mannerisms that our pets exhibit- from playing with their toys, to being excited when their owners come home, and their interest in chasing butterflies. All of these factors paired with a great cast of some of my favorite comedians (Louis C.K., Jenny Slate, Dana Carvey, Eric Stonestreet, etc.), and a story that does have a lot of humor and heart behind it made for an enjoyable film, but unfortunately it wasn't as great as I envisioned it being.

Fat-cat Chloe has her eyes on a tasty prize
[Found on Google Images]

This movie was cute and entertaining but it wasn't all that much to shake a stick at story-wise. The concept of the movie has been done a thousand times- Character A is living an ideal life until Character B is introduced and upsets Character A's world. After a series of unfortunate events, Character A and B must put aside their differences and work together to get out of their current situation and become friends by the end of the story. Ultimately, it didn't really bring anything new to the table. In regards to certain scenes, especially the scenes that dove deeper into Duke's character as well as the characters of The Flushed Pets; it would have been nice to have a little more focus on why and how they became the way they are during the present. They explored it with Duke more so than the Flushed Pets, but  I feel that had they delved deeper into his past it would have made a more lasting impression with movie goers.

Max enjoying chewing Katie's shoes [Found on Google Images]

 Also, there was a VERY odd scene that literally comes right out of no where and really took me out of the film for a while. If you've seen the movie you'll know EXACTLY the scene I'm talking about, and if you haven't seen it yet consider yourself warned- you'll know it when you see it. It was odd, jarring, has nothing to do with the plot or the progression of the movie and is literally never referred to again. I was reminded of a scene from the movie "All Dogs Go To Heaven" in which a giant musical alligator performs a song-and-splash number that is also never brought up again in the film and has almost nothing to do with the story. I say 'almost' because it does serve as a plot device to aid in the eventual destruction of the villain in that film, but this scene doesn't even do that. It was so beyond anything I was expecting and I'm still not sure why this was even incorporated into the final product- it seems like something that would be much more at home in the "Deleted Scenes" menu on the DVD.  

Snowball has Max and Duke go through "Initiation" to join the Flushed Pets
[Found on Google Images]

But really, I feel like I'm nit-picking a pretty good movie by pointing those minor things out. While the movie wasn't anything that I haven't seen before, it was still very enjoyable and is probably one of the better animated films I've seen so far this year. While "The Secret Life of Pets" is no "Zootopia", it is miles ahead of bland movies like "Ratchet & Clank". 

So ultimately, the film is definitely worth checking out. While it probably won't be the most memorable animated film as the years go by, it is definitely a film that lives in the moment and can bring a smile to everyone's face- much like our beloved pets do. 

The love between pet and owner [Found on Google Images]

"Ratchet & Clank" Movie Review

PlayStation has created some really incredible games over the years, but this year they are trying something different and diving into the world of cinema with their new feature-length film version of their wildly popular game of the same name; "Ratchet & Clank".

The story is set in a far away galaxy where we are introduced to Ratchet, a lombax who is working as a mechanic on a planet that looks a bit like Tatooine from "Star Wars". He dreams of joining the Galactic Rangers, a group of heroic crime fighters who keep their neck of the universe safe. Lately, there have been reports of whole planets being destroyed, so the Rangers are tasked with finding who is behind it as well as finding someone new to join their ranks. Ratchet, who then meets up with a small "defect" robot he named Clank, join forces and are then inducted into the Rangers and move forward with helping save the galaxy.

The Galactic Rangers [found on Google Images]

This film was released along side the new Ratchet & Clank game for the PS4, and both are retellings of the story from the first Ratchet & Clank game. While I never actually played the game as a kid, I heard it was pretty awesome; one of PlayStation's best. Having said that, they probably should have stuck with the game release and kept it at that. While the film wasn't horrible it just was pretty... meh. The animation was alright, the story was mediocre, and the characters didn't really bring anything new or original to really set this film apart from other movies with the same narrative. Ratchet is the A-typical wide-eyed dreamer who wants to do great things and go on adventures; Clank is a brilliant sidekick and is a great straight-man  for Ratchet, but wasn't much of a stand alone character. The villainous Chairman Drek who is behind the exploding planets plot is pretty one dimensional, as is his partner in crime Doctor Nefarious. The Rangers were pretty bland, too; there was the typical smart tech girl who no one takes seriously, the angry girl with attitude, the guy who likes to just shoot things, and the leader Captain Qwark is pretty much just Zap Brannigan sans velour.

There were a few jokes in the film that worked; one involving a Wilhelm Scream and a few old-school pop culture references, but other than that the humor and story were clearly directed to more of a kid crowd. There were also a few PlayStation in-jokes that fans of the console and games should be able to spot.

Qwark, Ratchet and Clank [found on Google Images]

Having said that, there were some things I thought really worked for the movie; mainly the superb voice work. I was really impressed with the film's cast; they not only had some big name actors involved (Paul Giamatti, John Goodman, Sylvester Stallone, Rosario Dawson), but a few of the voice actors from the original games (James Arnold Taylor, David Kaye, Jim Ward) played their characters in the movie, which I thought was really cool. It's always good to get actors and actresses with name recognition, but it's also really great when these phenomenal voice actors who normally aren't known to the same degree as their Hollywood counterparts get some actual recognition. Everyone was really on point with who their characters were, their personalities, and their motivations- it was spot on. There were a couple of times the lips clearly didn't sync with the words, but the voice work is good enough to almost let it slip. Almost.

Dr. Nefarious and Chairman Drek (below)
are the team of villains our heros must face.
[found on Google Images]

Ultimately, this movie was aggressively mediocre at best; it probably would have been a just-as-great movie on Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon or even just go straight to DVD. From what I know of the game the story line of the movie was pretty much identical to it, which is nice that they kept to the source material; we all know how that's normally not the case for video game movies. This film is arguably better than the likes of "Super Mario Bros.", "Bloodrayne" and other horrid movies of the same genre, but it's still not the blockbuster video game film everyone has been waiting for. "Ratchet & Clank" was an okay movie that super fans of the franchise or younger kids will probably enjoy, but at best I can't help but feel this is something parents can play on "Uncle T.V." to keep their kids occupied for 90 minutes. PlayStation, this was a noble attempt and an earnest first try. I'll be waiting for a film version of "God of War" in the meantime.

Ratchet & Clank [found on Google Images]