The Lego Movie (2014) - Funny, heart-warming and way better than it would sound

When the announcement of a movie based on the Lego toy-line was made, I think most of us rolled our eyes. Toy based cartoons have had a bad reputation since the 1980s, where they were everywhere. In the eighties, every toy had it's own cartoon, He-man, Thundercats, My Little Pony, even the Rubik's Cube. I don't think anyone was expecting anything good out of a toy-based property, but then again, in the 2010s we got Generation 4 of My Little Pony, and Lego is a toy-line that encourages creativity. I remember being younger and watching a bunch of random Lego animations online. The Lego Movie had a chance of being good, and in the end, it turned out great.

When Emmet, an ordinary construction worker with a habit of following the rules, gets a mysterious relic stuck to his back, he finds himself being hunted by the evil Lord Business. However, a small group of other Lego people that call themselves "Master Builders" plan to stop him with the relic stuck to Emmet's back, but as Emmet is not a master builder, or even that creative, the builders are not sure he can help them. Plot wise, the movie is smooth as silk, every scene moves well into the other, by the end of the movie, there is no confusion about the ending, even when the movie pulls an interesting reveal, how we get to that reveal is a smooth transition rather than a slam right to reality. It's a smooth plot and works perfectly, no complaints.

Character wise, each character is delightful. Emmet is the every man, and many people can sympathize with his need to feel recognized. The small group of master builders that accompany him are also charming characters, Wyldstyle is the other character that goes through an arc, and it is done well. Vitruvious is pretty great, Batman is hilarious enough to have gotten his own Lego Movie, Lord Business is a hilarious villain, Princess Unikitty is adorable, and even the spaceship obsessed Benny was amusing. None of the characters were dull and each one was a joy to watch. I always wanted to see the next scene my favourites were in, and I also have to say that the voice performances were pretty good. This movie has entertaining characters that are never dull to watch.

The animation is really good too, I can barely tell if this was all CG animation or not, and character animation is quite fluid. As for the art-style, this movie is a visual delight, with all kinds of different settings and their own colour pallets. None of the pallets ever becomes unpleasant to look at, even places that would like the Western themed place or Cloud Cuckoo Land, which is wild and chaotic, they are still pleasing to the eyes and look great.On the other side of the technicals, the audio quality was really strong, sound effects fit with the images and the background music is good at its job. On the technical levels, this movie is solid.

The humor of this movie is solid. I was howling with laughter at the satirical opening, Bad Cop's split personality, and a couple other scenes I do not wish to spoil. Some jokes were not always hitters, but I think the ratio from hit to miss in the humour is in the film's favour. On the other hand, the emotional scenes are done really well, and the message of the movie is given really well. One of my biggest opinions about the recent sequel was that the movie was just a massive joke, with it not taking itself seriously and having a lot of meta humour. I've been told that this movie also doesn't take itself to seriously, but I think it takes itself seriously enough to give this message in the manner it does.

I don't think it is any stretch to say that The Lego Movie was one of the most surprisingly good movies we got in the 2010s. With it's collection of charming characters, myriad of good laughs, plenty of visually pleasing scenes, this is a movie that is sure to please children and adults alike. I don't think it is any wonder this movie got spin-offs and a sequel. It's a funny, well-written, heart-warming movie that is way better than I think most people thought it would be.

Cinderella (1950) - A proper Cinderella story, but with some blemishes

With last week's review of a complete messy disaster of a Cinderella movie, I thought I would take a look at a proper telling of the French fairy tale. This was the movie that saved Disney as a company after their package film era, became an iconic image for the Disney brand, and was even Walt Disney's favourite of the Disney princesses. It has a reputation as one of Disney's best and most beloved classics, and I can see why.

I don't think I have to re-tell the story again. The story has become such a classic, and this is the movie that made it so. This is the movie that made the fairy tale a household staple. The story of a young woman whose father remarries after the passing of her mother. After his passing, her stepmother begins to treat Cinderella like a servant while spoiling her daughters. One night, the king throws a royal ball in hope that his son, the Prince, will find a bride to engage. You know the tale from then, Cinderella's wants to go to the ball, her stepmother sabotages her efforts, her fairy godmother appears and tells her to return by the stroke of midnight, or all her magic will be undone. She loses her slipper trying to race home, a royal proclamation is sent out, "If the shoe fits", Cinderella fits the slipper, happily ever after.

Plot wise, this movie gets all the beats done well, though it does pad out a bit of it's content. A couple scenes are stretched a bit longer and become a bit tiring to watch. One such scene is when the mice are trying to avoid Lucifer the cat while getting some breakfast. Another scene is the musical number the mice sing while sewing Cinderella's dress together. The musical number, in my opinion, should have been reworked. The song itself sucks due to the voices that sing it and it does drag a little. Padding does become less of a problem the further the movie gets, but I do have to wonder why they weren't just trimmed down.

I think when it comes to characters, Cinderella is one of Disney's best lead characters. While she is generally kind and caring, she also does show annoyance at certain things, like her step sisters constantly screaming for her. Side characters are abundant through-out this film, and while the mice are cute enough and the king and grand duke are an amusing duo, the one character that really steals the show is Lady Tremaine, Cinderella's cruel and abusive step-mother. Not only is she animated well, but the cruel lengths she'll go to put her own daughters above Cinderella makes for one of Disney's greatest villains . The way she stares as Cinderella enters her room tells you everything, and when she stares at Cinderella, figuring out it was her that was at the ball with the Prince, it's just creepy.

This would be a perfect time to talk about the animation. I think that this is one of Disney's best looking animated films of the era. Characters are designed really well, Cinderella, Lady Tremaine, the King and Grand Duke and others are well designed and get the characteristics across quite well. Lady Tremaine's stern face and red outfit clash beautifully with Cinderella's softer appearance and mixed colour scheme. The movie's colour palette is wonderful, with soft blues during the royal ball, and heavy shadows when they are needed. The moment where Cinderella opens the door to retrieve the cat Lucifer, and we see the light slowly creepy through the total darkness, it did amaze me. As for the animation itself, it is smooth and fluid, and there were not very many animation errors that I could find easily. While I don't think it is on par with Disney's later films, especially those released during Disney's renaissance, I think it is a visually fine movie.

While I can not deny that this movie has some faults, I think this is still a fine telling of the Cinderella story. As a movie on it's own, it has some fine characters, fine visuals, fine music and fine storytelling. I think this movie has become a classic for a good reason, and especially when compared to the other Cinderella movie I reviewed, this is leagues above that one. On it's own however, it's a fine movie and I think it will remain a classic for years to come.

Cinderella (1994) - A disastrous mess of cheapness

I think there is a part of everyone that enjoys really bad movies, movies like The Room for an obvious example. Movies that have so little actual quality, that they become experiences in their own right. B-Movies and "So Bad They're Good" movies have cult followings for a reason, so finding something like say... A DVD collection of ten knock-off princess movies would be a huge score for someone who is into these kind of movies. Though calling this movie a knock-off is not the most fair as Cinderella is a classic fairy tale, and many people have made their own versions of it, not just Disney. However, watching this movie really makes me think it was made quickly and cheaply to capitalize on the Disney movie.

Why try to capitalize on a movie that came out in the 1950s? Well, during the 90s, Dinsey was going through a period of time known as "The Disney Renaissance" where Disney was on top of their animation game, releasing movies like Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King in this time. It lasted until the mid-2000s, but left a massive legacy. Now, this is only an assumption, but I can't help but feel that it isn't a coincidence that a bunch of these cheap princess movies came out when Disney was back on top.

You all know the tale of Cinderella, a young woman loses her mother and her father remarries a vain and nasty woman with her own vain and nasty daughters, who force her to do all the housework and generally treat her as a servant. One day, the royal family host a royal ball to help their son find a lady to engage, and Cinderella is kept from going to the ball. However, with the help of her fairy godmother, she is able to go to the ball and charm the Prince who falls in love with her, but she has to make it home before midnight and then the Prince tries to find her by means of the glass slipper that fell off Cinderella's foot as she was running off. It's a classic story, needs no updates and it is told in a serviceable way here. I cannot say that this is the best retelling of Cinderella however, as their are a couple things that bother me, such as when Cinderella is told she cannot go to the ball.

The scene would typically go one of two ways, either the stepmother sabotages Cinderella, or, in this movie's case, she makes her do an impossible task. Going this route, you would expect that Cinderella would just miss doing the task on time, or that her stepmother would be picky about how it was done. Instead, she gets her fairy godmother to do it. Yeah, the fairy godmother does not appear in Cinderella's darkest moment, she appears at the start of the movie and does this impossible task, and messes up. It kind of shoots what the Disney movie said about hard-work paying off, and instead this movie goes for the message of "Kindness is more valuable than beauty", which is a fine message, but is not executed well.

Character wise, this movie has none. Characters have the most basic of basic characteristics. Cinderella's step sisters are vain, one likes to eat, her stepmother is cruel, the Prince's parents are parents, the Prince is bland, Cinderella is bland, the Fairy Godmother is bland. Characters aren't engaging or anything really. It is tough to get invested in an emotional scene when the only character we get is told through a pointless narrator. It doesn't help that the voice actors aren't doing their best, or if they are then that is just sad. Character voices are annoying or badly acted, which is worse when the characters start singing. The songs are bland, forgettable and badly sung, and this movie struggles with making me care about the characters singing them.

The technicals of this movie are some of the worst I've ever seen. Animation wise, the movie looks visually fine, but some animations just did not look right, like when characters were spinning, I honestly felt like I could see where the in-betweens would have gone. This is why when a character is spinning, there is usually a model that animators reference, this was something that was figured out back in the thirties with Snow White. Lip Sync is also a problem, but it is not really distracting. What really is distracting is the use of stock sound effects. The use of stock sound effects makes this movie much more cartoony, but the animation is not cartoonish at all, making them sound really out of place. They also added to the idea that this movie was made cheaply to make even the sale of five movies a profit. Technically speaking, this movie is one of the worst.

This Cinderella movie is garbage. Yes, there are worse movies out there, movies that would teach kids awful behaviour and morals. However, what's just as a bad as a movie that offers awful morals is a movie that offers nothing to the viewer. I can imagine the only enjoyment a child would get out of this is when the Fairy Godmother says "Begone" to Cinderella as a friendly fare-well. Other than that, they are gonna find out they got cheated when they watch a real Cinderella movie, not even the Disney ones, Ever After would be a good option too, or you could read them Ella Enchanted instead. This movie has no merits to be recommended on, has bland characters, bad songs, stock sound effects, cheap looking animation and is not a good adaptation of the Cinderella story. This movie is a cringe inducing slog to sit through and I say, that makes it worth avoiding.

First Impressions: Pokemon Detective Pikachu (2019)

I'm not the biggest Pokémon fan you'll ever meet. I grew up with the anime, but it was never my favourite show. I never played any of the games until Gen 5 was already out, and I stopped playing the card game when the store I played at closed down. That being said, I still love Pokémon, it still makes me nostalgic when I hear the opening theme to the first season, even if some of the later theme songs suck (Diamond and Pearl is up there, but there is another one I really loathed), and I can still kill it at the original Pokérap. So, I was pretty hyped for Detective Pikachu, a live action Pokémon movie that's a comedic mystery and isn't rated G? Sign me up, and how was it?

I hate to say it, but I think this is one of the most disappointing movies I've ever seen in theatres. I was in the theatre with many other people who enjoyed it quite a lot, but at the end of the movie I just felt that, it was okay.

I think where the movie falls the most is the humour. I didn't find a lot of this funny, I laughed a couple times, but the humour in this movie just didn't do it for me. Everyone else I was in the theatre with laughed at everything, but even when everyone was laughing all I could think was, "I don't find this funny". It's a real shame, I felt like this movie should have been funnier, but maybe the mystery plot would outshine it and... kind of.

The movie does have an interesting mystery to it, but the twists of the movie are kind of underwhelming. The movie throws you a red herring, a couple actually, and it is kind of cheap. A red herring is a distraction, and most people can see through them, though I'll admit, this one had me second guessing. Really though, the mystery aspect was fine, I kind of have to have some give and take with this movie here, especially since this is a kids movie.

That does lead to the action scenes as well and, they were fine. I'm speaking of someone who hasn't been spoiled by the modern sci-fi action movies of today. Hell, my favourite action movie is Tombstone, a 90s western, barring that, Fight Club. It's safe to say I don't really have high expectations for action scenes in non-action movies. I never really felt the tension, the lead character hangs of the edge of a building and I'm thinking, didn't he jump off the back of a landmass sized Torterra? Pikachu gets knocked down and tossed around like a ragdoll and I'm thinking, "Does this city have a Pokécenter?" The action scenes never impressed me too much, but they weren't bad.

But this movie really shines with it's special effects. Every Pokémon looks like it belongs here. Yeah, some do look like obvious CG, but the effects on Pikachu and Psyduck were really good, and I swear to Arceus, I want to snuggle those Bulbasaur. Mr. Mime did look a little uncanny, but as a whole, the effects were really good, making this world look more real and believable. I think effects wise, this movie is great.

As a whole though, I don't want to say it was bad. I was entertained for a good part of it. I just felt like this movie could have been more entertaining, that it could have been more funny or more mysterious, I don't really think it's one of those movies I can strongly recommend. I think it's a fine movie, but could have been better.

Ice Age (2002) - A hilarious and heart-warming feature

The first release for any studio, not just in animation, is always a risky one. Not only are you betting on the movie being a success, you're counting on it being a big enough success that you can make another movie or game. Basing your first project on a well known source has worked in the past, but what if you wanted to create a whole new original franchise? Blue Sky, as does any studio, had a lot riding on their first release, and in the end, was the risk worth the reward?

While everyone is migrating to the south to avoid the ice age, a mammoth named Manfred goes the opposite way and meet with a sloth named Sid. Meanwhile, a pack of Sabre-tooth Tigers are attacking a human settlement in revenge. They plan to steal a newborn, however their plans are thwarted when the mother jumps off of a near-by waterfall with the infant in her hands. She comes across Manny and Sid and the two try to return the infant to the human settlement, with the help of a Sabre-tooth tiger named Diego. But, Diego has other things planned. The plot is a simple characters go on adventure plot, where the characters will end up in one situation and interact and react, and then move along. This type of plot is dependant on having good characters and interesting settings.

On the character aspect, each character is delightful and charming. Manfred is a grump that gets annoyed by Sid. Sid is naive, clueless and very talkative, but he does know when he should shut his mouth at times. Diego seems to be collected, sophisticated and cunning, but we do get to see a more childish side to him at points. As the movie progresses, we get to see the characters grow and change, we see why Manny is generally grumpy, we see Diego go from luring Manny and Sid into a trap to seeing them as good friends. Character growth is the heart of this movie, and the characters bounce of each other so well. Side characters appear occasionally throughout the movie as well. Characters like the Dodos and Scrat are very humorous and lead to some of the film's funniest scenes. The movie does not struggle with it's characters.

When it comes to the humour, this movie might be one of the funniest animated movies I've ever seen. The movie has lots of different jokes, slapstick, reference, and just funny character interaction. One of my personal favourites is when, after a crazy ice slide, which ends with our trio smashing into a wall of snow, and Diego bursts out of a pile of snow in excitement. I really don't want to spoil a lot of the humour of this movie, but how can I not share things like the Dodos and when Scrat gives them directions via charades. However, the movie isn't just joke after joke, as the film gives the characters lots of emotional moments, like in a cave full of paintings and when Manny and Sid come across the human mother and her infant. These moments are done beautifully with the right music and atmosphere. Ice Age is one of the more surprising movies I've seen in this regard, one would not expect a comedy like this to have such well done emotional scenes.

While the animation does look dated, the movie still looks really good. Lighting and shadow are used really well and the animators made good use of their chosen colour palates. Scenes like the icy cave are full of blues, a small cave where they sit by a fire is warmly lit, the cave paintings scene is animated in a different visual style, helping it to stand out from the rest of the movie. Despite this, the movie does have a lot of browns and whites and these colours are not very appealing to look at, but I think the movie has enough visual pleasing scenes to balance it all out. While Ice Age may not have the best looking animation, models do have that gummy/plastic look that most dated CG animation has, it's definitely not terrible, and I have to give the animation and design team all the credit for making what they had work.

It's not much of a mystery why Ice Age was successful enough to keep Blue Sky Studios around. I was honestly thinking that this movie was one of those movies that you liked the most as a kid, but as you get older you kind of fall out of it, but thankfully, this movie not only had me howling with laughter, but it had me invested in the characters, impressed with the animation, and even feeling for the characters. It's no wonder they kept making sequel after sequel, though I've heard they're not as good as the first movie. Overall, Ice Age is funny, exciting, and even heart-warming at points. I think this is a good movie to show to children, and I'd even recommend adults sticking around to watch it with them for the sheer enjoyment of the movie. Yeah, this movie get's my high rating, and that's a surprise even for me.

First Impressions: UglyDolls (2019)

It's always incredible when you can tell how blatantly transparent a movie is about it's own existence directly from the trailers. From the trailers of UglyDolls, not only did I guess this movie was going to suck, but that this movie was going to be a soulless marketing ploy to sell awful pop music and merchandise. Now, of course expecting a movie to suck and actually wanting it to suck are different things, I would never want a movie to fail without seeing it first. After seeing UglyDolls however, I want it to flop, I want it to flop hard.

I could guess that this was going to be a soulless sell when I saw the cast. Kelly Clarkson? Janelle Monae? Pitbull? I recognize these names, yes, but I have literally not heard of them in years. I mean, the last thing I remember Pitbull from was that time he used the music from A-ha in one of his songs. Anything to keep them relevant I guess. I don't want to sound too harsh on them, they may have had other, better reasons to say yes to this movie, but when I see this cast, and here these songs, all I think is, "Are we relevant again?".

The story is very paint-by-numbers. In many respects, it's like Wonder Park. A paint-by-numbers story that tries to get by on the spectacle of it all. You might also remember another movie like this called The Greatest Showman. Now, I personally love The Greatest Showman, and my first impressions of Wonder Park were much more forgiving than others, especially compared to CellSpex. However, what made The Greatest Showman work was that it was a spectacle. The choreography and music of the movie made it worth seeing. Wonder Park also had the spectacle going for it, being creative enough to spark a child's imagination. UglyDolls has none of that, it has some visually appealing musical scenes, but they don't wow me like The Greatest Showman's does. This movie really is a less impressive Wonder Park.

I guess the message is fine, that our flaws make us who we are. Never will I ever tell someone their flaws are ugly. Hi there, I'm the Entity of Darkness and I wear glasses, have unkempt and tangled hair and am on the autism spectrum, nice to meet you, I'm the last person to say this is a bad message. However, The Greatest Showman did this better, with one song. It wasn't about the world loving you, it was about being able to love yourself, "I am brave, I am bruised, I am who I'm meant to be", it really is tough to recommend this movie when we have a similar movie that does the job much better. Here, the characters already love themselves and try to make the world love them in return. Yes, there is the moment they all hate themselves, but it's pretty much resolved off-screen and the resolution we do see, only happens with one character. It's a shame that The Greatest Showman did this better because The Greatest Showman wasn't even about the circus troupe.

Really, what else is there to say? The songs are bland pop songs, the animation is good but nothing impressive, Hell I even called the villain's twist from the trailers. Really, I guessed that the villain had a secret from the trailers, granted my guess was not accurate, but that is still a mark against this movie. Really, this movie is just a marketing vehicle to make a lousy pop song about embracing who you are popular, and sell some toys on the side. This movie did not need to be made, it does not need to exist. Funny how that's a plot point in the movie, that the titular Ugly Dolls shouldn't exist. Yet, this movie offers nothing that a child can't cobble together with a Spotify playlist, some quick crafts and a camera. It may not be as colourful, but at least the lack of quality could actually be excused.

Maybe I'm being too harsh on this movie, there are worse movies in the world. I mean, in the same year we have Norm of the North 2, it's got some stiff competition. However, there is nothing I can recommend this movie on, and I gave Wonder Park a recommended rating. I'd rather see any other movie get successful than this one. Go see Avengers instead, I haven't seen it myself, and I don't plan to, but I can guarantee you it is a better movie. If you've already seen it, see it again, let this movie flop.

And those were my first thoughts on UglyDolls, see you next time at the odeon.