Two Sequels, Two Animated Movies, Two Reviews In One

It's obvious I have kids because the movies in question are Kung Fu Panda 2 and Cars 2.

Kung Fu Panda 2 has been out in theaters for a while now but this last weekend was the first chance I had to take my kids to see it.

But before I get too much into it, a word about what I've noticed about Dreamworks Animated movies in the past. Too often (The Shrek franchise notwithstanding) their movies have been just a bunch of random, quirky characters put together and stirred. Nothing much by way of a storyline. The Madagascar flicks come to mind especially. That seemed especially guilty of "Hey, we got to have these guys do something to fill an hour and a half".

That being said, I completely expected the first Kung Fu Panda to be along those same veins. So I was surprised when it turned out to have a coherent plot, a multi-tiered story line with themes of revenge, acceptance and redemption. With a few fat jokes and slapstick as well.

There's violence thrown in there-- hence the PG rating-- but what would you expect from a movie that had 'Kung Fu' in the title? And a little bit of mysticism as well but not anymore than the original Star Wars trilogy. If that helps to you something to judge it by.

Also, My wife and I hold Pixar movies to be the gold standard in animated movies. There is the rating system for Pixar movies then that for everyone else. The first Kung Fu Panda movie shattered that glass ceiling in my opinion (How To Train Your Dragon is another one that was well made. Someone must be taking storytelling lessons over there).

Oh yeah. Stick with the credits to the end of the movie for a little gem. Fast forward if you want but it's worth it.

Back to Kung Fu Panda 2.

Po (the panda) is back for another adventure. It's the rule of sequels. Bigger and more. This time they go on a quest to Gongmen City to stop Lord Shen (voiced by Gary Oldman) from taking over China with a brand new weapon-- so powerful that even kung fu can't stand up to it. Along the way Po finds out about his past. Something that everyone else seems to know about but him.

The sensationalized violence is there but again, what would you expect from a movie with 'kung fu' in the title? And about the same amount of mysticism as well.

My issue with the violence is that there isn't any set standard for repercussions from the fighting. Early one, the character of Master Rhino is shot and killed by a cannon round. Later, Po is shot by a cannon as well but survives. Other than Po is soft and was able to absorb the impact of the round much better than a hardened warrior such as Master Rhino, there really wasn't much of a reason why one cannon round killed and the other didn't.

The movie is enjoyable and funny and stands up to the first one. There weren't as many fat jokes in this one. Due to the fact that Po has become the Dragon Warrior. There are more than enough about how Po isn't quite the hardened warrior as everyone else is but that plays into his strength instead of his weakness in the end.

I would give it 8 out of 10 stars.

And now, Cars 2.

It seems that every time I see someone rank the Pixar movies, Cars is always towards the bottom of the list. And 'Merchandising' seems to be the reason why more often than not. Which is okay by me. I'm not sure what their financial situation is right now but I think they are one of the few studio's that is doing well. If merchandising and licensing their intellectually property puts them in firm financial footing where they can make more movies like 'Up', that's fine by me.

That being said, Cars 2 was a disappointment. It entertained the kids but there wasn't any heart to the movie. And it have a very different tone and narrative than the first movie. It fell more along the lines of a Dreamworks movie where they throw a bunch of characters in a blender and hit spin.

Lightning McQueen is challenged to a world wide grand pix of sorts sponsored by an eccentric billionaire, Miles Axelrod. Meanwhile, Mater gets mixed up in a case of mistaken identity of international espionage involving the World Grand Prix.

One thing that did make me visibly cringe was that one character said something about, "Once big oil, always big oil." If only for the reason that whenever I hear moronic leftists protest anything, it's big this or big that. Anyway, I have no idea if this was done because it is accepted to be the politically correct thing to do or if it was because Pixar is nothing but a bunch of dedicated leftists to their core (Please, please let it be option one).

The other thing that surprised me was the amount of violence the movie contained. Several instances of characters yelling out, "Kill him!" and several scenes of car crashes and apparent deaths. Yet this was rated G instead of PG. The only thing I can think of was that this was Pixar movie and not made by anyone else.

Overall, an average movie from a studio that usually delivers much better. Rating it a 5 out of 10. Wait for the DVD is you need to see it.

DVD Review: The Social Network

I finally had the chance to finally catch the movie version of the story of Facebook last night. If you’re a fan of Facebook, it might be of interest of you.

If you never used Facebook before, move along.

It starts out with Mark Zuckerberg, creator of Facebook, and his girlfriend and the time, talking in a bar. But it wasn’t any normal conversation. It was the fast paced, rapid reply type of conversation that no one ever has except addicts in their cocaine addled brain. It almost made me want to stop the disc then and there and take an axe to it if I didn’t have to return it to the library.

Did I mention that the movie was written by Aaron Sorkin? Let’s see:

“It was the fast paced, rapid reply type of conversation that no one ever has except addicts in their cocaine addled brain”.

So it was implied.

It’s a Hollywood version about the origin of Facebook so take that with a grain of salt. If there is a scene that needed to be embellished to show conflict and drama instead of what really happened, 99 times out of a 100, Hollywood will go with the embellishment. Having the movie sacrifice the truth in order to create drama.

Which is what happened here, I think. Most movies need a villain of some kind, no matter how abstract. Zuckerberg happened to be it this time. Instead of a big bad like Darth Vader, he's more of a introverted nerd obsessed with making the best damn social network online today, relationships be damned. And it came back to bite him in the form of a few lawsuits.

The movie itself was beautifully shot, using Johns Hopkins backdrop as a double for Harvard for the first part of the film. Movie lots and a few other select locations where used for the rest.

One thing this movie did affirm for me. Is that Justin Timberlake is the epitome of metrosexuality.

What most people didn’t realize until after the fact is that this movie was a special effects movie without realizing it was a special effects movie. Two actors played the Winklevoss Twins. But you only see one of them. The main actor’s face was digitally superimposed over the other actor’s face. I don’t think most people realized it unless they tried to catch the guy's name in the credits. Depending on which DVD or BluRay disc you have, it's shown how they digitally mapped one face over the other.

The soundtrack is very non-traditional. Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails helped to create much of it. The high point was the track being played during the sculling regatta of “In the Hall of the Mountain King”.

The fast pitched dialog did get on my nerves at times. But that is Sorkin's gimmick. Because he hears it in his head, everyone speaks in a fast, faster retort fashion.

If you want to watch the movie expecting to be told the real story about how Facebook came about, give it a pass. If you’re looking for something about how people come to power, money and influence and how they can stab others in the back, then this might be the movie for you.