There is a part of me that yearns for silliness, and the adventures of Wallace and Gromit fulfill those yearnings. After three short films they are now in their first full-length feature, and I couldn’t be happier with the results. Two of the previous shorts were reminiscent of the work of Alfred Hitchcock, but Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) embraces the classic horror film genre and throws in a large dose of British humor.
In this movie the world of Wallace and Gromit is expanded, there are many more characters, and the scope of their adventure is on a slightly grander scale. This time they form the Anti-Pesto team, saving the eccentric locals from a rabbit infestation which threatens their gardens on the very eve of the upcoming vegetable competition. Anti-Pesto’s humane solution to the problem (which includes using a “Bun-Vac” to suck the little blighters right out of the ground) suits Lady Tottington (voice by Helena Bonham Carter), who oversees the annual competition. She and Wallace (voice by Peter Sallis) begin an amusing flirtation which angers her jealous suitor, Victor Quartermaine (voice by Ralph Fiennes).
But soon the town vegetables are under attack from a “were-rabbit,” and there is talk of canceling the vegetable competition. It falls to Wallace and Gromit to capture the beast, which turns out to be a more complicated task than they anticipate. Their efforts are not aided by the interference of Victor Quartermaine, who would rather kill a rabbit rather than merely capture it. At first he seems to be just a twit with a toupee and a gun, but later becomes more desperate in his attempts to stop Anti-Pesto and get his hands on Lady Tottington’s estate.
And that’s enough of the plot. Anyone familiar with classic horror films will be able to see what’s coming, but what makes the movie fun is having the genre filtered through the minds of creator Nick Park and his co-director, Steve Box. There are so many fun little moments and throwaway gags, but I must resist resorting to list-making. People who are familiar with the short films of Wallace and Gromit will get the in-jokes, but the film can be enjoyed by those who are just discovering these characters.
The town locals add color to the story, especially Lady Tottington and Victor, but what really matters is the unique friendship between Wallace and Gromit. Wallace is a rather brilliant inventor, but his inventions have a way of causing unexpected trouble. Usually it is Gromit who comes to the rescue. I love that Gromit doesn’t speak. Of course he doesn’t; he’s a dog. I once threw away a book about screenwriting when it declared that complexity of character can only be created with dialogue. I disagree, and present Gromit as Exhibit A. Besides, Wallace talks enough for both of them. I’m sure Gromit would agree.
The entire story is told with tongue firmly in cheek. I think this film would fall into the category of “British eccentricity,” but that doesn’t keep it from being accessible. I don’t imagine that the style of humor in this movie will be to everyone’s liking, but I remember laughing pretty hard when I saw it in the theater. (Interestingly, this was the second stop-motion animation film release in two weeks, following Tim Burton's Corpse Bride, which is also enchanting, but in an entirely different way.) I have so many favorite moments, but what it boils down to is this: I enjoyed every moment. It’s a bloody good show.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Bridge to Terabithia (2007)
I never read Bridge to Terabithia when I was in school. I don’t know why; the book was first published in 1977, the year I was born, and has been read in classrooms ever since. My sister read it and later told the story to me (I remember thinking what a strange word “Terabithia” seemed to be). By the time the movie came along I had forgotten all but the general outlines of the story. After watching the movie I quickly read the book and was pleased to find that everything worth loving in the book is in the movie, and that a few things have been developed and strengthened.
Bridge to Terabithia (2007) tells the story of Jess Aarons (Josh Hutcherson). A talented artist and a bit of an outsider, Jess comes from a good family that has fallen on hard times when money is tight and everybody feels the strain. He’s bullied at school and doesn’t seem to have any friends. His little sister May Belle (Bailee Madison) tags along and looks up to him, but seems to mostly get on his nerves. He also has a crush on his music teacher, Miss Edmunds (Zooey Deschanel).
When Jess’s new neighbor Leslie Burke (AnnaSophia Robb) joins his class, they tentatively strike up a friendship. Leslie has a unique style of dress and a sunny disposition, and immediately becomes somewhat of an outcast. But Jess and Leslie’s friendship exists outside the realms of what the other kids at school think. As their friendship deepens, Leslie is able to unlock Jess’s imagination. As they play in the woods near their homes, they create the imaginary kingdom of Terabithia where Jess and Leslie are the rulers and defenders, and where they can get away from everyday worries.
At this point I must mention that the marketing campaign for Bridge to Terabithia was horribly misleading. The scenes where Jess and Leslie are in Terabithia are seen with great detail to illustrate the power of their combined imaginations. Unfortunately, these were the scenes the movie ads focused on, making it look like some kind of low-rent fantasy film. People complained that the movie doesn’t have enough fantasy in it―that it didn’t meet their expectations, not realizing that, since they were grossly misinformed, their expectations were unrealistic. This is a movie about real life, and about true friendship.
Leslie is the friend that Jess needs, and Jess turns out to be the friend that Leslie needs, too. When Jess sees the way Leslie interacts with her parents, they seem to have a connection that Jess doesn’t have with his own family, but we’re also able to see that Jess has things in his life that Leslie doesn’t have. Josh Hutcherson and AnnaSophia Robb are entirely convincing as the two unlikely friends. Josh Hutcherson is likable and easily gains our sympathy, and AnnaSophia Robb has one of the brightest smiles you’ll ever see.
I have never related to a movie character the way I have with Jess Aarons. It really takes me back to how it felt to be that age, the desire to become an artist, the bullying at school, the dependence on imaginary worlds. Certain moments in this movie reminded me so strongly of my own life that I couldn’t believe how deeply I was drawn in by the characters and the story.
The movie gets so many details right: the way we can love our family members and be annoyed with them at the same time; the way some kids pick on others for seemingly no reason; the way kids view adults; the way your imagination becomes an all-important way to escape when things are hard at school and at home.
I love how the music by Aaron Zigman reflects the adventurous feeling that Jess and Leslie share when they’re together. I like how, after they have fun in Terabithia, the movie cuts to the very ordinary-looking Aarons home. I like that Miss Edmunds, Jess’s first crush, is the one that takes him to a museum for the first time and encourages him as an artist. And I admire the handling of a prank that Jess and Leslie play on the bully Janice Avery (Lauren Clinton) after she goes too far. The results are unexpected and serious but in ways we don’t anticipate.
One of the best things about the movie is how the characters are given full dimensions. People have more depth to their personalities than we can see at first, which Jess comes to realize. Even his teacher, “Monster Mouth” Myers (Jen Wolfe), is revealed to have human feelings. Through much of the film, Jess’s dad (Robert Patrick) is hard on his son, but when times are tough, that’s how kids sometimes see their parents. We eventually get to see just how much Jess’s dad really cares and understands.
I tend to get defensive when I discuss Bridge to Terabithia. Part of the reason why is due to the poor marketing, but another part of it is due to the feeling that people misunderstand the purpose of the story. I think it shows how things really are in our lives, the good and the bad. I think the ultimate point of the story is to show us how to cope, how to rise above, and how to draw strength from friendship and family. Just like in real life.
Bridge to Terabithia (2007) tells the story of Jess Aarons (Josh Hutcherson). A talented artist and a bit of an outsider, Jess comes from a good family that has fallen on hard times when money is tight and everybody feels the strain. He’s bullied at school and doesn’t seem to have any friends. His little sister May Belle (Bailee Madison) tags along and looks up to him, but seems to mostly get on his nerves. He also has a crush on his music teacher, Miss Edmunds (Zooey Deschanel).
When Jess’s new neighbor Leslie Burke (AnnaSophia Robb) joins his class, they tentatively strike up a friendship. Leslie has a unique style of dress and a sunny disposition, and immediately becomes somewhat of an outcast. But Jess and Leslie’s friendship exists outside the realms of what the other kids at school think. As their friendship deepens, Leslie is able to unlock Jess’s imagination. As they play in the woods near their homes, they create the imaginary kingdom of Terabithia where Jess and Leslie are the rulers and defenders, and where they can get away from everyday worries.
At this point I must mention that the marketing campaign for Bridge to Terabithia was horribly misleading. The scenes where Jess and Leslie are in Terabithia are seen with great detail to illustrate the power of their combined imaginations. Unfortunately, these were the scenes the movie ads focused on, making it look like some kind of low-rent fantasy film. People complained that the movie doesn’t have enough fantasy in it―that it didn’t meet their expectations, not realizing that, since they were grossly misinformed, their expectations were unrealistic. This is a movie about real life, and about true friendship.
Leslie is the friend that Jess needs, and Jess turns out to be the friend that Leslie needs, too. When Jess sees the way Leslie interacts with her parents, they seem to have a connection that Jess doesn’t have with his own family, but we’re also able to see that Jess has things in his life that Leslie doesn’t have. Josh Hutcherson and AnnaSophia Robb are entirely convincing as the two unlikely friends. Josh Hutcherson is likable and easily gains our sympathy, and AnnaSophia Robb has one of the brightest smiles you’ll ever see.
I have never related to a movie character the way I have with Jess Aarons. It really takes me back to how it felt to be that age, the desire to become an artist, the bullying at school, the dependence on imaginary worlds. Certain moments in this movie reminded me so strongly of my own life that I couldn’t believe how deeply I was drawn in by the characters and the story.
The movie gets so many details right: the way we can love our family members and be annoyed with them at the same time; the way some kids pick on others for seemingly no reason; the way kids view adults; the way your imagination becomes an all-important way to escape when things are hard at school and at home.
I love how the music by Aaron Zigman reflects the adventurous feeling that Jess and Leslie share when they’re together. I like how, after they have fun in Terabithia, the movie cuts to the very ordinary-looking Aarons home. I like that Miss Edmunds, Jess’s first crush, is the one that takes him to a museum for the first time and encourages him as an artist. And I admire the handling of a prank that Jess and Leslie play on the bully Janice Avery (Lauren Clinton) after she goes too far. The results are unexpected and serious but in ways we don’t anticipate.
One of the best things about the movie is how the characters are given full dimensions. People have more depth to their personalities than we can see at first, which Jess comes to realize. Even his teacher, “Monster Mouth” Myers (Jen Wolfe), is revealed to have human feelings. Through much of the film, Jess’s dad (Robert Patrick) is hard on his son, but when times are tough, that’s how kids sometimes see their parents. We eventually get to see just how much Jess’s dad really cares and understands.
I tend to get defensive when I discuss Bridge to Terabithia. Part of the reason why is due to the poor marketing, but another part of it is due to the feeling that people misunderstand the purpose of the story. I think it shows how things really are in our lives, the good and the bad. I think the ultimate point of the story is to show us how to cope, how to rise above, and how to draw strength from friendship and family. Just like in real life.
Friday, January 16, 2009
King Kong (2005)
If anybody knows how to film an epic, it’s Peter Jackson. He first proved himself with the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and then turned to re-making the favorite film of his childhood. King Kong (2005) is a grand adventure, taking all the possibilities of the original and bringing them to fruition.
First of all, it's a three-hour movie. I have no problem with that. There are a couple of sequences that go on just a tad too long, but I enjoyed being wrapped within the story. To paraphrase what Roger Ebert wrote about The Best of Youth (which is six hours long!), “when you hear that it is [three] hours long, reflect that it is therefore [three] hours deep.”
Jackson wisely does not even show us the giant ape for the first hour. Instead, the various stories of the human characters are well-established. By the time Kong does arrive on screen, the story is able to devote full attention to his relationship with Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts) without getting bogged down with the task of developing the other characters.
The first hour of the film lays the groundwork as the story begins in Depression-era New York City, circa 1933. Among those we meet are: Ann Darrow, a vaudeville performer who has just lost her job; Carl Denham (Jack Black), a desperate movie director who casts Ann as the new female lead in his movie, even though the studio executives have just pulled the plug; Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody), the playwright who is writing Denham’s movie; and Captain Englehorn (Thomas Kretschmann), on whose ship the characters are traveling to the mythic Skull Island.
This Skull Island is some place. Our heroes first encounter a disturbingly bizarre native tribe, and then have to fight off all kinds of creatures: dinosaurs, giant insects (lots of ‘em), man-eating slugs, giant bat-like creatures, and Kong himself. At one point, the men are caught in a dinosaur stampede and the digital effects aren’t quite as convincing as they could be. To quote Roger Ebert again: “But special effects do not need to be convincing if they are effective, and Jackson trades a little realism for a lot of impact and momentum.”
Kong himself is the best special effect, given life through the motion-capture work of the amazing Andy Serkis. All of his skill is brought home in the key scene of the movie, when Ann uses her instincts as a performer and somehow entertains the giant ape. One last quote from Ebert: “The scene is crucial because it removes the element of creepiness in the gorilla/girl relationship in the two earlier Kongs (1933 and 1976), creating a wordless bond that allows her to trust him. …The movie more or less faithfully follows the outlines of the original film, but this fundamental adjustment in the relationship between the beauty and the beast gives it heart, a quality the earlier film was lacking. Yes, Kong in 1933 cares for his captive, but she doesn’t care so much for him. Kong was always misunderstood, but in the 2005 film there is someone who knows it.”
At this point in the film, Kong becomes Ann’s personal protector. They even share a beautiful sunset in a scene that makes subtle use of James Newton Howard’s gentle music. The character of Ann was primarily a screamer, but now she is given more depth than Fay Wray was ever allowed in the original film. Many of Naomi Watts’s scenes with Kong have very little dialogue and involve quiet looks of curiosity and understanding.
I have hardly mentioned the other performances. Jack Black makes a good Carl Denham. In the original movie the character was sort of based on Cecil B. de Mille, but now seems a bit more like Orson Welles. But this is not a comedy role, and Black is effective in the moments when his assistant, Preston (Colin Hanks), begins to see just how deep Denham’s obsession really goes. Adrien Brody is wonderful as the writer falling in love with Ann, who will have to survive Skull Island if he wants to write comedies. The supporting performances by Thomas Kretschmann, Kyle Chandler, Jamie Bell and Evan Parke are equally effective.
Fans of the original film will be able to recognize plenty of lines of dialogue that are spoken in this version, albeit a little more convincingly. There are necessary changes, but Jackson is faithful and pays homage to the original, sometimes in ways that are not so obvious. Even the credits at the end of the movie resemble the credits of the 1933 version. (Here’s some hardcore trivia: There’s an in-joke reference to the original movie in some dialogue between Carl Denham and Preston early in the movie.)
Is there anybody left that doesn’t know how King Kong ends? The third act of the story takes place back in New York City, where Kong and Ann eventually find themselves atop the Empire State building. But before that there is a beautiful scene between them that takes places on a frozen pond in Central Park. I remember tears came to my eyes when I watched this scene for the first time in the theater. Knowing how people in the story react to Kong’s presence, and knowing how the story ends, seemed to lend the scene a certain sadness.
I have always had a hard time describing why I love this movie so much. It’s a strange story, really. Who could identify with a giant ape and the woman he protects? Maybe I want to identify with two characters that find a mutual understanding and trust that almost no one around them can see. Maybe there is a little anger at the way men try to destroy or control what they don’t understand. The way Ann can look into Kong’s eyes and find beauty in his soul seems to resonate within me.
I think Peter Jackson has created a great modern epic, a true journey of adventure and discovery that looks a little deeper than we expect. Strange that such a large movie is really about discoveries of the heart.
First of all, it's a three-hour movie. I have no problem with that. There are a couple of sequences that go on just a tad too long, but I enjoyed being wrapped within the story. To paraphrase what Roger Ebert wrote about The Best of Youth (which is six hours long!), “when you hear that it is [three] hours long, reflect that it is therefore [three] hours deep.”
Jackson wisely does not even show us the giant ape for the first hour. Instead, the various stories of the human characters are well-established. By the time Kong does arrive on screen, the story is able to devote full attention to his relationship with Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts) without getting bogged down with the task of developing the other characters.
The first hour of the film lays the groundwork as the story begins in Depression-era New York City, circa 1933. Among those we meet are: Ann Darrow, a vaudeville performer who has just lost her job; Carl Denham (Jack Black), a desperate movie director who casts Ann as the new female lead in his movie, even though the studio executives have just pulled the plug; Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody), the playwright who is writing Denham’s movie; and Captain Englehorn (Thomas Kretschmann), on whose ship the characters are traveling to the mythic Skull Island.
This Skull Island is some place. Our heroes first encounter a disturbingly bizarre native tribe, and then have to fight off all kinds of creatures: dinosaurs, giant insects (lots of ‘em), man-eating slugs, giant bat-like creatures, and Kong himself. At one point, the men are caught in a dinosaur stampede and the digital effects aren’t quite as convincing as they could be. To quote Roger Ebert again: “But special effects do not need to be convincing if they are effective, and Jackson trades a little realism for a lot of impact and momentum.”
Kong himself is the best special effect, given life through the motion-capture work of the amazing Andy Serkis. All of his skill is brought home in the key scene of the movie, when Ann uses her instincts as a performer and somehow entertains the giant ape. One last quote from Ebert: “The scene is crucial because it removes the element of creepiness in the gorilla/girl relationship in the two earlier Kongs (1933 and 1976), creating a wordless bond that allows her to trust him. …The movie more or less faithfully follows the outlines of the original film, but this fundamental adjustment in the relationship between the beauty and the beast gives it heart, a quality the earlier film was lacking. Yes, Kong in 1933 cares for his captive, but she doesn’t care so much for him. Kong was always misunderstood, but in the 2005 film there is someone who knows it.”
At this point in the film, Kong becomes Ann’s personal protector. They even share a beautiful sunset in a scene that makes subtle use of James Newton Howard’s gentle music. The character of Ann was primarily a screamer, but now she is given more depth than Fay Wray was ever allowed in the original film. Many of Naomi Watts’s scenes with Kong have very little dialogue and involve quiet looks of curiosity and understanding.
I have hardly mentioned the other performances. Jack Black makes a good Carl Denham. In the original movie the character was sort of based on Cecil B. de Mille, but now seems a bit more like Orson Welles. But this is not a comedy role, and Black is effective in the moments when his assistant, Preston (Colin Hanks), begins to see just how deep Denham’s obsession really goes. Adrien Brody is wonderful as the writer falling in love with Ann, who will have to survive Skull Island if he wants to write comedies. The supporting performances by Thomas Kretschmann, Kyle Chandler, Jamie Bell and Evan Parke are equally effective.
Fans of the original film will be able to recognize plenty of lines of dialogue that are spoken in this version, albeit a little more convincingly. There are necessary changes, but Jackson is faithful and pays homage to the original, sometimes in ways that are not so obvious. Even the credits at the end of the movie resemble the credits of the 1933 version. (Here’s some hardcore trivia: There’s an in-joke reference to the original movie in some dialogue between Carl Denham and Preston early in the movie.)
Is there anybody left that doesn’t know how King Kong ends? The third act of the story takes place back in New York City, where Kong and Ann eventually find themselves atop the Empire State building. But before that there is a beautiful scene between them that takes places on a frozen pond in Central Park. I remember tears came to my eyes when I watched this scene for the first time in the theater. Knowing how people in the story react to Kong’s presence, and knowing how the story ends, seemed to lend the scene a certain sadness.
I have always had a hard time describing why I love this movie so much. It’s a strange story, really. Who could identify with a giant ape and the woman he protects? Maybe I want to identify with two characters that find a mutual understanding and trust that almost no one around them can see. Maybe there is a little anger at the way men try to destroy or control what they don’t understand. The way Ann can look into Kong’s eyes and find beauty in his soul seems to resonate within me.
I think Peter Jackson has created a great modern epic, a true journey of adventure and discovery that looks a little deeper than we expect. Strange that such a large movie is really about discoveries of the heart.
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