Up (Video Review)
February 8th, 2010
Rating:
Archive
Archive for the ‘Animation’ Category
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
November 18th, 2009
I really liked Batman: The Animated Series when I was growing up. It was a cartoon that dealt with some very weighty subjects, was not often played for simple laughs, and pushed the limits of what could be seen on afternoon network TV in terms of violence and thematic material. But woe to the concerned parent who confuses violence with bloodiness, as the animated bullets were rarely the cause of death, and Batman himself was never one to go around shooting people or even killing his enemies. In fact, the show was more of a morality play than anything else, and certainly dealt with mature life-and-death themes than anything else on TV at the time (think Power Rangers and Animaniacs). But despite my affinity for the Animated Series, I never got around to watching the bigscreen incarnation of the show until just this past week.
From what I could tell before watching Phantasm, it was set to offer more of what made the Animated Series so great: weighty subjects, conflicted heroes, and a world that was far more grey than black-and-white in terms of the good guy/bad guy vignettes that played out in similar TV shows and movies. And while the movie does have these elements, it is also lacking in the sort of grandiose presentation and storyline that I had hoped from a cinematic adaptation of such rich source material.
The story purports to be multi-layered, and in some ways it is, but again, not as much as I suspected it might be. Batman is once again fighting villains, both internal and external, and faces off against one of his longest-running foes as well as a new one, the Phantasm referenced in the title. Local underworld bosses and masters of organized crime leaders are being offed by the Phantasm, a shadowy ghostlike figure impervious to bullets with the ability to appear and disappear at will.
The Phantasm. Has Batman met his match? Tune in next week...same bat-time, same bat-channel!
Trouble is, the public is led to believe that Batman is the one doing the killings, and even good ol’ Commissioner Gordon finally turns on our intrepid hero. Bruce Wayne, meanwhile, is reintroduced to his old flame Andrea, the woman to whom he was once engaged before beginning his days of crimefighting. This type of relationship, the genesis of which is told through a series of flashbacks, is endemic to the series as a whole, as it presents serious themes of desire, longing, and the chasm between reality and the carrot that is perpetually just out of reach not only for Bruce Wayne but for many of us as well. The one thing that will bring the most happiness to Wayne is the one thing he can’t have, and this realization is what leads him to ultimately shut himself off from the real world, and real relationships, and take on a secret identity of reclusive crimefighter.
Origin stories are nothing new to theatrical adaptations like this, and I appreciate that instead of seeing another recap of how Bruce Wayne’s parents were murdered, we see what is essentially the cliffs notes version of Batman: The Teenage Angst Years. Seeing Andrea again brings all these long-buried questions back to the surface for Wayne, and it casts Batman in a different light that I find particularly refreshing and altogether human.
However, the creators bring the ever-present Joker into the mix, at which point the storyline devolves into a more-or-less typical after school Batman episode. Joker is once again running amok in the city but this time the mysterious Phantasm is also trying to thwart his criminal exploits.
Bruce Wayne's old flame, Andrea Beaumont. But is there more to her than meets the eye? Hmm...
The identity of the Phantasm is thus another layer to the plot, but it’s not too hard to figure out and the reveal is somewhat of a predictable letdown. In fact, the climax of the movie has a girl in distress whose only hope is to be saved by Batman. Holy déjà vu!
While I appreciate the effort to flesh out some of the Bruce Wayne/Batman persona, I wish this movie wouldn’t have fallen back on some of the tried-and-true tricks of the trade. I also find the (forgive the expression) cartoonish lack of explanations for various elements frustrating. The Phantasm is, of course, a real person and not a ghost (anyone who’s ever seen an episode of Scooby Doo will know this immediately) but their (and I use the improper plural pronoun on purpose) ability to absorb bullets and disappear in a puff of smoke is never explained. The ending chase/rescue is a bit much to take even by cartoon standards. On a side note, however, it was nice to hear Mark Hamill back at his blood-curdling evil-villain-laughter best once again. :) All in all the movie is decent entertainment, but not as good as it could have been given its wonderfully brilliant pedigree.
Rating: 
The Iron Giant
July 18th, 2009
Before Brad Bird was launched into superstardom (directorially speaking, that is) following the release of The Incredibles, he was a creative talent floating around Hollywood with a penchant for animation and slightly quirky stories. He was a writer and animator for The Simpsons, a consultant for the oddball animated comedy The Critic, and was even involved in a few projects with Steven Spielberg. With the release of The Iron Giant, his animation-meets-CGI opus from 1999, he was given a chance to show the world what he and his rich imagination could do given enough time to develop a full-length storyline. The results were good, but met with a few flaws that keep this film from being among the truly classic works of animation.
At its core, The Iron Giant is a story about a boy and his friend. This boy, named Hogarth, like the protagonists of so many of these kinds of films, is misunderstood by adults, has few companions at school, and spends too much time lost in his own imagination. He’s a bit Calvinlike, in some respects, though not as mean-spirited towards authority. At any rate, it’s no surprise that when an unearthly visitor crash-lands near the boy’s small hometown in Maine, that Hogarth forms an immediate bond with him. Hogarth and the Iron Giant (voiced rather tenderly by the venerable Vin Diesel) spend much of the film simply existing together: playing, relaxing, having adventures, and keeping their secret friendship away from adults and authority figures. Much of the film is a paint-by-numbers exercise in retreading past stories, though: Hogarth’s mom is too busy to pay attention to her son. One man, a government investigator, knows something is going on with Hogarth and is determined to find out. One adult does believe Hogarth and helps him out. Soon enough the secret is out and the authorities do find out. Everyone freaks, people panic, the Army gets involved, and…well, you get the point.
The Brad Bird quirkiness comes from the sheer nature of the story: a kid befriends a 100-foot tall metal behemoth. It’s a bit different from typical Disney fare, you might say. But I had a hard time buying the friendship and the isolation from all adults. Early on in the film the giant causes a train to crash, and this should have been a pivotal turning point in the story. But for the most part people just continue in their daily lives afterwards while Hogarth and his pet giant continue to frolic about in the woods unnoticed, and no one in town (save for the savvy investigator) bothering to ask any questions. I can give animated films a lot of leeway and wiggle room, but I just wasn’t able to let go of some of these types of plot issues.
Like Titan A.E., I get the feeling that this film started out as a fantastic idea, but something got lost in the translation to celluloid. It’s entertaining but not engrossing. Interesting but not engaging. And the emotional core never really came through to me (Hogarth actually says “I love you” to the giant late in the film–a cringe-worthy moment that felt entirely forced and was entirely unbelievable, and seemed like the filmmakers knew they had failed to create a true emotional connection between the two characters and at that point decided to just go for broke.) I suppose if I was younger the movie would have been better, but seeing it for the first time as a guy who’s almost thirty, it just wasn’t as good as I hoped it would be.
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
July 3rd, 2009
Starring: Ray Romano, Queen Latifah, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Simon Pegg. Release Date: July 1, 2009. (PG, 87 min)
Review: ‘Ice Age’ has been a serviceable animated series for Fox. The first movie was decent, the second installment a major bore, and the latest entry again decent. That’s the best compliment I can give it. As a distraction for kids, ‘Dawn of the Dinosaurs’ is better than ‘The Meltdown’ for a few reasons.
The storyline is stronger. Sid (John Leguizamo) stumbles upon three seemingly abandoned eggs beneath the ice surface and takes them to raise as his own. Out hatches three baby dinosaurs and they wreak havoc for Manny (Romano) and Ellie (Latifah) who are expecting their first youngin. When Mama T-Rex comes back for her three babies, Sid is whisked away to a jungle world beneath the ice and it’s up to Manny and team to bring him back with the help of newcomer ‘Buck,’ (the one character that doesn’t work) a swashbuckling, dinosaur-hunting weasel on a continual quest to bring down the greatest dino of them all.
The second pro: it seems as though more screen time was given to Scrat the squirrel and a new sub-plot involving a romance with Scratte, his female counterpart. Scrat’s scenes have always been the best in the series, and it’s proven even further with this sequel.
Final pro: Yes. This one’s in 3-D – and not a pointless 3-D. This is where 3-D sells an otherwise average movie. Pixar’s ‘Up’ didn’t need it. ‘Ice Age 3′ really puts it to use and blends the splendid animation with a surrounding landscape, and it all comes together very well. If you’re at all interested in seeing it with those goofy glasses on, more power to you — this is a strong selling point for the movie. And, at the end of the day, I have to recommend this. It works far better than the last movie, and there’s worse animated fodder that has been released in the past. The movie is short, lively, superbly animated, in a strong 3-D format, sporadically humorous, and a solid choice for kids. No, it’s not quite as good as ‘Up.’ It’s not Pixar. But what else is, really?
-MJV & the Movies.
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