For those less aware of the original it followed a penguin called Mumble (Wood) who, in a world where penguins find their soul mates by song, was unable to sing but could pull off some impressive dance movies. Happy Feet 2 follows both Mumble and his son Erik (Elizabeth Daily) who is reluctant to dance and finds a role model in The Mighty Sven, a flying penguin, much to Mumble's disdain. Things get worse for Mumble when the world is shaken by powerful forces, causing him to brings together the penguin nations and their allies to set things right.
Teaser Trailer:
Despite Happy Feet winning an Oscar for best animated film in 2007 and being entertaining, I just can't see this being very good if you don't have a group of kids to take along with you. Very much a kids flick then and whereas some animations aim to put in jokes for adults as well, I can't see this being one of them.
15 - 157mins - Action/Adventure/Sci-Fi - 29th June 2011
Our summer of sequels continues with the Transformers returning to the big screen with their third outing. After the rather disappointing Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen I have to say that my hopes were not particularly high for this one.
Dark of the Moon is set several years after the second movie where Sam (Shia LaBeouf) is struggling to get a job and return his life to normal and yet this still hasn't stopped him from bagging the most attractive girl in the city- Carly (Rosie Huntington-Whiteley). At the same time, the Autobots discover that a Cybertronian spacecraft crash landed on the Moon during the 1960's and race against the Decepticons to reach it first and protect the secrets that it holds. The two storylines overlap and voilà the plot is born.
As always the visuals impress and are the best in the franchise so far but I ended up asking myself how is this different from the previous two and it led me to this answer- there isn't that much of a difference at all. Bay has upped the ante somewhat in regards to the amount of CGI he has crammed into the movie so expect more fighting, more action and a whole lot more slowmo. While many will think great more action, I see it as part of the problem though. There is only so many times that I can be impressed with a vehicle transforming into something else, in slow motion, before it becomes repetitive and I felt like I reached my limit in this film.
Aside from the first 10 minutes which dealt with the space race of the 1960's, it took a while for the film to get going. For the last hour or so though, I was enjoying what the film had to offer where it took on a Black Hawk Down kind of persona during battle scenes in the city.
Several issues I had: at 157 minutes the film tended to drag in several places and led to a rather rushed final scene that should not have been; the comedy element was greatly reduced despite a cameo from Ken Jeong aka Mr Chow from The Hangover; the new love interest did not impress with her acting skills at all and was more than likely brought in merely as token eye candy for the viewers, which she did succeed in; and most importantly, the plot had more holes in it than a Swiss cheese being used as target practice on a shooting range. And that is an understatement. Also there has been zero continuity between the trilogy of films so far which does not go down well with me.
I was more impressed than I thought I was going to be but as I said expectation had been lowered due to the extremely poor second film. I have to be careful here because I think the impressive graphics have partly blinded me to the rest of the cracks that appear throughout. All I can say is if you enjoyed the first movie or like good visuals then you will enjoy this one and if you didn't or want an involved and interesting plot that develops itself and the characters as the movie progresses then you won't get that here.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon just scrapes into the higher rating purely down to the CGI.
War Horse is set against a sweeping canvas of rural England and Europe during the First World War. It follows a young man named Albert (Irvine) and his horse, Joey whom Albert tamed and trained and how their bond is broken when Joey is sold to the cavalry and sent to the trenches of World War One. Despite being too young to enlist, Albert heads to France to save his friend. The film follows the extraordinary journey of the horse as he moves through the war, changing and inspiring the lives of all those he meets- British cavalry, German soldiers, and a French farmer and his granddaughter.
Based on the book of the same name, it was turned into a successful international theatrical performance (check out the amazing horse puppets that are used) and is now coming to screen in this adaptation by Spielberg.
I'm rarely one to speak badly of any film associated with Spielberg as I'm sure the production quality and direction will be fantastic. However this just gives me a feeling of watching Saving Private Ryan/Band of Brothers but with a horse. This will more than likely pick up at least a couple of Oscar nominations but I just find it hard to get excited by this storyline. I look forward to being proven wrong.
Many people have been describing this as the female version of The Hangover. Those people however forgot to do one tiny thing- watch both films! Yes both films revolve around the preparation for a wedding and contain their fair share of low brow comedy but that is where the similarities end.
Bridesmaids follows Annie (Kristen Wiig), the maid of honour for her best friend Lillian's (Maya Rudolph) wedding. While she is preparing for the big day though, the rest of her life is falling apart around her. Her love life is in tatters and she is struggling to keep on top of the bills. All the while she has to set up the wedding, organise the bride and compete with the other eccentric bridesmaids to keep things on track.
The main thorn in her side comes from Helen (Rose Byrne), one of Lillian's new friends and bridesmaids who Annie feels is taking her friend away from her just when she needs her the most. Add to that the other colourful Bridesmaids of Megan (Melissa McCarthy), Rita (Wendi McLendon-Covey) and Becca (Ellie Kemper) with the continual flow of jokes and situations and you get one decent comedy.
What I liked about Bridesmaids was the fact that it did not shy away from all the gruesome details just because the characters were female. Usually women in films are depicted more prim and proper so it was refreshing to have this change. Some might consider some of the scenes to go a little too far or continue for just a bit too long (one scene in particular did start to drag for me) but I felt overall it just about hit the nail on the head.
Wiig, along with her co-stars, impresses throughout the film showing us that she has a place as a comic actress and the addition of Chris O'Dowd as the love interest worked well.
If I were to pick fault with the movie then I would have to say that some of the characters didn't make me want to care that much about what happened to them (but then again this is primarily a comedy not a drama) especially the bride who I never felt had that was enjoying her wedding at any point. Also there were probably a few too many sub-plots and side stories that could have been shaved of to drag the time under 2 hours. Apart from that, I was pretty impressed.
This may be one set out for the females in the audience but it is very much a guys film as well. There is a bit of a romcom element but it takes a backseat to the main female character driven comedy. Some will find the jokes distasteful and not rate the movie because of this but I was chuckling away on more than one occasion. Guys, if your going to be dragged along to one 'chick flick' this year then make sure it's this one.
When terrorists blow up the Kremlin, the US government activates Ghost Protocol and disavows the Impossible Mission Force. With Hunt and Co intentionally blamed for the attack so they can operate outside of the rules, it is up to them to uncover the truth whilst evading capture.
Another generic action film that I don't think will quite cut the mustard. No doubt there will be pretty explosions and lots of shooting but I doubt it will have that special something to lift it above the rest. Farm
