“Cars 2" is certainly an entertaining movie, but there's no denying the tang of disappointment that clings to the latest release from Pixar, the king of animation studios.
It may not be fair to judge a movie on anything other than its own merits, but Pixar has set such a high standard that anything less than a wondrous film that delights the soul and mind of children and parents alike registers as a drop-off.
Considered amidst its peers, "Cars 2" is the cinematic runt of the litter.
The sequel takes a bold turn in shunting aside the main character of the original, hotshot race car Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson), in favor of his hillbilly sidekick, Mater the tow truck (Larry the Cable Guy). The story is that McQueen has been challenged to a series of three races all over the world, but Mater steals the show when he's mistaken as an international super-spy.
As Finn McMissile, a snooty British agent (Michael Caine) puts it, "They're fooled because they're too busy laughing at the fool" -- not realizing Mater really is that dense.
It's all just an excuse for one set of action-packed hi jinks after another, with the bad guys divided between a loud-mouthed Italian racer and a mysterious pack of the worst lemon cars in history -- Yugos, Gremlins, Pacers, etc.
"Cars 2" is a fun bit of animation, but compared to "Toy Story" or "Finding Nemo," it's missing a gear.
It's notable that "Toy Story" is the only other story Pixar has seen fit to sequelize. Whereas last year's "Toy Story 3" was a heartfelt romp with a beloved set of familiar characters, "Cars 2" feels slapped-together and hasty, a merchandising opportunity with a movie attached.
"Cars 2" arrives on video in four different versions, with goodies ramping up as you move up in price point.
The DVD and Blu-ray/DVD combo pack come with the same features. There's "Hawaiian Vacation," a cartoon short, plus another all-new short, "Air Mater," and a commentary track by director John Lasseter.
Opt for the five-disc 3D combo pack, and you add deleted scenes, set exploration around the globe, short documentaries and a sneak preview of "Cars Land," a new showcase at Disney's California theme park.
Or you can go all in for the 11-disc Director's Collection, which includes both the original film and sequel plus all the extras.
There is much to like about "Rio," a jaunty, fun animated movie about a bunch of exotic birds having adventures in Rio de Janeiro. It's just that it's made for small children, who will probably enjoy it more than I did.
Unlike other, better animated movies that are inviting to adults -- "Kung Fu Panda" and all the Pixar flicks -- "Rio" is pretty much a cinematic clubhouse for those kindergarten age and under. There might as well be a sign: "Parents Keep Out!"
Jesse Eisenberg provides the voice of Blu, a rare blue macaw brought down to Rio to mate with the only known female in captivity, Jewel (Anne Hathaway). But Blu is about as used to domesticated life as any bird can be, while Jewel wants to soar high in the rainforest. She doesn't dig his neurotic personality, not to mention that Blu never learned to fly.
They're shackled together by circumstance, and spend the rest of the movie on the run from poachers, along with a particularly nasty cockatoo working by the bad guys, who's deliciously voiced by Jemaine Clement.
The movie often feels like it's on autopilot, particularly when it spends time with some fairly unoriginal supporting characters, like a slobbery bulldog and a toucan who's henpecked by his wife.
But it's well-made and bright and shiny, and likely will keep toddlers distracted for awhile.
Video extras are similarly geared more to games and other visual baubles for tykes, rather than anything adults would enjoy.
The DVD version comes with a handful of deleted scenes, a "Welcome to Rio" music video, "Rio de JAM-eiro Jukebox" and a music video by Taio Cruz.
The DVD/Blu-ray combo pack includes all those goodies, plus a digital copy and a number of other features: Things like "Carnival Dance-O-Rama," "Boom-Boom Tish-Tish: The Sounds of Rio," and ... well, you get the idea.
I can't think of a movie I had more fun at so far in 2011 than "Rango," a loopy, occasionally psychedelic animated flick starring Johnny Depp as a bug-eyed lizard. A domesticated pet who lives in a terrarium and invents companions and theatrical productions to amuse himself, he's literally a chameleon, and not just when it comes to the shade of his pebbly skin.
He ends up lost in the Mojave and stumbles into the town of Dirt, populated by every manner of desert critter imaginable. Things are tough in Dirt -- there's a gang of tunneling thieves waiting on the edge of town, a local crime boss looking for newcomers to squish, and the rumor of a slithery gunslinger named Rattlesnake Jake heading back their way.
Through a combination of wild circumstance and his own even more far-fetched boasting, the lizard finds himself appointed sheriff of Dirt, dubbing himself Rango to better suit his new role. Of course, there are all those aforementioned troubles that he's now expected to tackle.
Although kids will surely enjoy it, "Rango" is really a cartoon for adults, stuffed with highbrow humor and sly pop culture references.
Please note, "Rango" hits video outlets on Friday, July 15.
Video features are quite impressive, and you don't have to spring for the top-of-the-line edition to get good stuff.
The DVD version includes both the theatrical version of "Rango" plus an extended cut. To accompany both versions is a feature-length commentary track by director Gore Verbinski and several of his key crew members. There's also a collection of 10 deleted scenes, including an alternate ending, and an educational short about desert animals.
Opt for the Blu-ray/DVD combo pack and you add a number of other goodies, including a digital copy of the film. There's also a virtual tour of Dirt, a doc about this first foray into feature-length animation by Industrial Light & Magic, and a picture-in-picture feature where you can watch the movie in storyboard form.
Movie: 3.5 stars out of four Extras: 3.5 stars out of four
So Pixar, the unfailing wunderkind of animated movies, has finally delivered its worst movie, by far. By that, I mean "Cars 2" is merely pretty good.
The sequel to the 2006 flick -- which many had regarded as the weakest in Pixar's lineup -- lacks the emotional oomph and layered appeal to grown-ups that is a hallmark of their oeuvre: "Finding Nemo," "Wall·E," etc.
"Cars 2" is left with lots of dazzling action scenes, slick-looking CG animation and plenty of goofy humor featuring Tow Mater, the garrulous redneck sidekick from the last movie who's been punched up to the main character. At least they had the decency to give Larry the Cable Guy, who provides the voice of Mater, top billing over Owen Wilson, who also returns as flashy race car Lightning McQueen.
It's notable that "Toy Story," Pixar's first feature film, is the only other franchise the animation studio has seen fit to sequelize. Whereas the "Toy Story" movies grew deeper and more sentimental each time, "Cars 2" seems flashy and hastily assembled.
I'm probably wandering into dangerous territory here, but this movie feels like it was made to give Disney a summer tent pole and to sell another billion dollars or two of toys and other merchandise. With last winter's "Toy Story 3," we could sense the heartfelt devotion the filmmakers put into visiting those characters again; I don't feel it here.
Director by Pixar chief John Lasseter from a script by Ben Queen, "Cars 2" is still a highly entertaining bit of animation, but the soul isn't filled by watching it.
(Speaking of the "Toy Story" gang, they're back from a brief visit with "Hawaiian Vacation," a fun 8-minute short cartoon that precedes the feature.)
The film is fast-paced, even occasionally hurried, and jumps around the globe like the international spy thriller it emulates. Lightning McQueen is challenged to participate in a three-race World Grand Prix held in Tokyo, Paris and London, with the title of fastest car in the world at stake.
His nemesis is Francesco Bernoulli (John Turturro), a loudmouthed Italian open-wheel racer whose fender-less good looks draw the attention of Sally (Bonnie Hunt), McQueen's special lady.
Sir Miles Axlerod (Eddie Izzard), a wealthy British energy tycoon, thinks he's found a green alternative to oil-based gasoline called Allinol, and want to use the races to drum up support for it.
But at the first race, Mater gets mistaken for an American super-spy, and is drawn into a nefarious plot that soon takes precedence over the racing. I won't divulge the details, but the clever upshot is that all the lemon cars of history -- Gremlins, Pacers, Yugos -- are behind it.
Mater's new allies are a pair of British agents: 007-ish Finn McMissile (Michael Caine), an Aston Martin decked out with all sorts of weapons and gizmos, and Holly Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer), a smart rookie on her first assignment in the field.
The joke is the Brits think Mater's rube routine is a ploy -- "they're fooled because they're too busy laughing at the fool," is how Finn puts it -- without realizing he really is that dense.
That sets up a brief and not terribly convincing life-lessons moment about being true to yourself, but it carries so little weight it's practically a throwaway moment.
"Cars 2" is hardly a bad movie, and it's certainly an engaging piece of entertainment. But for the first time, Pixar didn't rev up to its highest gear.
A second-rate rip-off of "Toy Story" mixed with a dose of Shakespeare, "Gnomeo & Juliet" is a British animated film that is meant to be enjoyed by the very youngest audience, and merely tolerated by their parents.
The set-up is that the star-crossed lovers, and all of their kin, are garden gnomes made of clay. They go about their business in the split backyard of an English duplex, tending their gardens and whatnot. When humans come around, though, they revert to their familiar (and tasteless) statuesque forms.
Gnomeo (voice by James McAvoy) is the hell-raising son of the matron of the Blue gnomes, while sweet Juliet (Emily Blunt) is royalty of their arch-enemy Reds. When they fall in love, it sets up a war between the clans, with the unfortunate ones ending up in a pile of smashed bits.
Directed by Kelly Asbury ("Shrek 2"), "Gnomeo & Juliet" has some fairly clever ideas, but always chooses the lowest common denominator when it comes to humor and characterization. The movie is pitched at about a pre-kindergarten level, and anyone more than a few years above that will find themselves frequently bored.
In this terrific age of animation in which we find ourselves, this film just doesn't measure up.
Extras are a bit sparse in the DVD version, and don't substantially improve even if you upgrade to Blu-ray.
The DVD has a "Crocodile Rock" music video, and featuettes with Ashley Jensen (who plays the princess' frog sidekick) and Elton John. That's it.
If you choose the Blu-ray/DVD combo pack (available in both 3D and regular versions), you get all the DVD stuff and several deleted or alternate scenes, including two alternate endings. There's also a "Fawn of Darkness" featurette.
"Rio" is fun, and forgettable. It's a competently-made animated film crafted specifically for the toddler set, who may enjoy the bright colors and boingy action. Older kids and parents will find themselves, if not quite bored, then only modestly engaged.
Still, it's got appealing stars like Anne Hathaway and Jesse Eisenberg doing the voices, and two or three songs worth tapping a toe. I can't quite recommend it, at least not for anyone north of kindergarten age, but the cinematic world is not poorer for having it around.
This film is from Blue Sky Studios, the animation outfit behind those middlebrow "Ice Age" flicks, and director Carlos Saldanha takes a break from prehistoric mammals for a story about modern-day tropical birds. The original -- and I use that term loosely -- screenplay is by Don Rhymer, veteran of bottom-dwelling comedies like "Big Momma's House" and "Deck the Halls."
Eisenberg voices Blu, a rare blue macaw poached from his Brazilian rainforest home as a young'un and shipped to frozen Moose Lake, Minnesota. Things worked out, though, and he was adopted by Linda, a kind-hearted bookworm of a girl who grew into the owner of a bookshop (Leslie Mann, in a nice emotive vocal performance).
True, he's nervous nelly who's a little too fond of his domesticated lifestyle, and never got around to learning to fly. But he's happy.
Or was, until Linda gets talked into bringing him back to Rio de Janeiro by Tulio (Rodrigo Santoro), an avian scientist. It seems he's got the only female blue macaw left in the world, and Linda has the only male -- no word on how Tulio learned this fact, I should note -- and in order to save the species, they've got to make some beautiful eggs together.
But it turns out the lady-in-waiting, Jewel (Hathaway), is not so patient with the dweeby Blu, wanting only to escape to freedom. They're birdnapped by an unscrupulous thief, chained together, and spend the rest of the movie in one big chase to see if they can escape the bad guys, fall in love and learn to fly, not necessarily in that order.
The Rio viewed in this movie is the prototypical image of sun-kissed beaches, colorful buildings and fun-loving people who are perpetually partying in the street. That Rio de Janeiro doesn't exist for me anymore after the bleak truth of "City of God," knowing the paint-splashed tin-roof domiciles hide a festering cancer of crime and crushing poverty. It's not fair, but I resented this movie from trying to pull the veil back over Rio.
Though predictable, the film is not without its charms, derived mostly from a large cast of colorful -- and mostly feathered -- critters. Jamie Foxx and will.i.am. play a pair of local birds who offer Blu romantic advice, and croon a soulful tune or two. George Lopez voices Rafael, a toucan and family man who'd prefer to party at Carnival. And Tracy Morgan plays a slobbery bulldog who can't quite decide if he wants to help the birds or bite their heads off.
Jemaine Clement is a real treat as Nigel, a killer cockatoo who works for the bad guys. He's a dastardly villain, though in a very PG-rated sort of way, sneering in his featured song, "I poop on people and blame it on seagulls!"
Hathaway sings a little too, and I find the sound of her voice never fails to make me smile. Actually, I think the entire cast sings at one point or another, and even the pinch-voiced Eisenberg adds a stanza or two in a surprisingly pleasing tenor.
I'm torn over "Rio." There's enough good stuff here that small children will probably enjoy it, at least in fits, but adults like me will find themselves checking their watches. It never quite achieves liftoff.
"Toy Story 3" took home the Oscar for animated feature, but "Tangled" was actually the best Disney film of last year.
I mean it -- this delightful mix of music, adventure and romance was the finest princess movie since 1991's "Beauty and the Beast." It's loosely based on the Rapunzel fairy tale from the Brothers Grimm, but has been jazzed up and modernized by screenwriter Dan Fogelman and co-directors Nathan Greno and Byron Howard.
Rapunzel is no blushing maiden eagerly awaiting her rescuer, but a feisty teen (voice by Mandy Moore) hungry for adventure beyond the tall tower in which she's been locked away her whole life. Little does she know evil enchantress Gothel (a terrific Donna Murphy) kidnapped her as a babe from her parents, the king and queen, to exploit the magic of her flowing golden hair.
When Flynn Ryder (Zachary Levi), a charming cad of a thief, hides in Rapunzel's tower, she knocks him cold with a frying pan. Soon they're off on a quest and -- of course -- falling in love.
The movie starts out all fun and games, but gains unexpected heft and emotional resonance as the plot unspools.
Coupled with a handful of Broadway-style showstopper musical numbers, "Tangled" is an old-fashioned charmer.
Video extras vary from meager to decent, depending on which version you buy.
The DVD edition contains only two earlier versions of the storybook opening, and a countdown of all 50 Disney animated features.
The two-disc DVD/Blu-ray combo adds three deleted scenes, a making-of documentary and two extended versions of songs.
Upgrade to the four-disc combo pack and also receive a 3-D version of the film, plus a digital copy for your computer or portable device.
"Mars Needs Moms" is the sort of movie that will be enjoyed by small children and endured by their parents. It feels like an amalgamation of other films' styles and storylines, assembled by a marketing department bent on hitting a demographic sweet spot rather than artists following their muse.
It's also the sort of movie that you need only watch the two minutes of its trailer to know what's in the other 86. An Earth kid named Milo watches his mom abducted by Martians, tags along as a stowaway, gets into all sorts of scrapes with the funny-looking aliens, befriends a human rapscallion living in the Martian junkyard, and Life Lessons are duly imparted.
This film held zero surprises for me. I knew everything that was going to happen before it did, right down to the big emotional scene near the end when Milo's mom shows the sacrifices a parent is prepared to make for their child.
It's a nice moment, but it's never a good thing when the audience knows exactly where a movie is going, and waits impatiently for it to arrive.
"Mars" is being released by Disney, but it was actually made by Robert Zemeckis' motion-capture studio. Zemeckis, a highly successful director of live-action films like "Forrest Gump," famously switched to computer animation with live actors performing their scenes in special suits, which animators then paint over
.
I'm all for new technological toys, as long as they're used in the service of telling a story. Motion capture gave us the triumph of Gollum in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, but I can't really see what it adds to "Mars."
Milo spends most of his time bouncing around in the lighter gravity of the red planet, navigating the tubes and tunnels of their underworld, so a photo-realistic depiction of how a real kid moves isn't even appropriate.
And here's a curious thing: The movie "stars" Seth Green as Milo, because he performed the actions in front of a green screen for the motion capture, but a child actor named Seth Robert Dusky provides the voice. So who really "played" Milo?
If nothing else, this film will force the Screen Actors Guild to revisit their bylaws.
Joan Cusack plays his harried mom, who looks almost exactly like Joan Cusack, which isn't too much of a stretch since she was born to play a cartoon. Dan Fogler plays Gribble, a well-fed human tech nerd subsisting in the Martians' vast subterranean trash cave.
Mindy Sterling is the Supervisor, the stern and very wrinkled leader of the Martians, who resemble humans with extra-wide hips and oval heads like Stewie from TV's "Family Guy." The Supervisor spies on the Earth looking for especially stern mothers, whom she kidnaps so can zap the disciplinarian juice out of them, or something, which she then uses to program the robot nannies who raise Martian babies. (Well, half of them anyway...)
It's a strange world, and one I didn't entirely buy -- even in cartoon form. The film is based on a children's book by "Bloom County" creator Berkeley Breathed, adapted for the screen by Simon and Wendy Wells, with Simon directing.
The Wellses find it necessary to have Milo self-narrate what's happening to him, as if the audience can't see for themselves: "I'm on a spaceship!" "A world of trash!" Truly annoying.
The only real light in "Mars Needs Mom" is the character of Ki, a rebellious Martian played by Elisabeth Harnois. Ki is secretly a graffiti artist who talks like a hippie, having learned English from 1960s Earth television.
Whoever drew Ki added a little crinkle to her cheeks when she smiles, and it's like something of pure spontaneous joy escaping from the factory.
A neon-colored, sun-baked fantasia that's part Western spoof and part surrealist jag through the desert with Johnny Depp as our theatrically unhinged, reptilian tour guide, "Rango" is anything but your standard kiddie animated flick.
It's hard to believe this is the same team behind those "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies, which by the first sequel had devolved into formulaic schlock without a shred of story structure. But director Gore Verbinski, Depp and screenwriter John Logan have joined forces for one of the daffiest and most original animated features in a long, long time.
Maybe it's because "Rango," the story of a domesticated lizard who stumbles into a spaghetti Western, didn't issue forth from one of the animation giants like Disney/Pixar, DreamWorks or Blue Sky. It's a partnership between Nickelodeon, Verbinski's production company and George Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic, a special effects outfit making its first foray into computer-generated cartoons.
All I can say is, based on everything from the dazzling details on the numerous critters' parched faces to the multihued splendor of the arid landscapes to the crisply-paced action scenes, the ILM gang has announced themselves with authority. The animation in "Rango" -- which doesn't fall back on any cheap 3-D tricks, by the way -- is as good as, or better, than anything Pixar and the gang are doing right now.
Depp voices the lonely lizard passing his days inside his terrarium, imagining himself up some friends for his theatrical productions, in a scene that recalls Jack Sparrow trapped in Davy Jones' Locker in "PotC: At World's End." The film is filled to the brim with references to other movies, including a drive-by homage to "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas."
After a mishap leaves him by the side of the road in the Mojave, our scaly friend with a penchant for changing identities as easily as he can shift colors winds up in the town of Dirt.
The townsfolk, comprising every manner of reptile, bird, arachnid and mammal native to the desert, are suffering through a horrid drought and an even worse funk. When our lizard friend accidentally sends a local marauder to boot hill, he's given the job of sheriff.
He dubs himself Rango, and quickly creates the persona of a Clint Eastwood-esque Man from Nowhere. Rango is delighted at his new status -- not to mention the attentions of Miss Beans (Isla Fisher), a local rancher who has a tendency to freeze up when flustered.
As he bedecks himself in increasingly flamboyant gunslinger garb and spins outrageous tales about killing the evil Jensen brothers with one bullet -- all seven of them -- we begin to wonder if the attention-craving Rango's noodle wasn't already cooked before he ever set a three-toed foot in the desert.
Of course, bigger challenges await. There's a local bully (Ray Winstone) in need of standing up to, a pack of tunneling varmint thieves on the outskirts of town led by a blind mole (Harry Dean Stanton), and a power-hungry Mayor (Ned Beatty) who appears to have been lifted directly out of "Chinatown," right down to the white 10-gallon hat and watery schemes of John Huston's iconic Noah Cross ... except now he's a turtle.
Even worse is the rumor of a dead-eye outlaw named Rattlesnake Jake (Bill Nighy) slithering back into town with the tumbleweeds.
It's a loopy, fun ride as we follow Rango on his (mis)adventures, including a posse hunt that culminates in an epic chase sequence complete with mounted bats and Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" arranged for banjos. Even more unexpected is the hallucinogenic amusement of several dream-slash-vision-quest scenes so bursting with colors and freaky-deaky images, I half expected melting clocks to ooze onto the screen.
A wild mishmash of Sergio Leone and Salvador Dali with an all-critter cast, "Rango" is what happens when animators forget about borders and just ride off into whatever sunset their imaginations take them.
It's a testament to the wondrous state of animation we know find ourselves in that "Megamind" registers as a routine feature rather than something amazing. The computer-generated animation from the DreamWorks crew is top-notch, crisp and full of lots of little details.
But this super-villain tale just doesn't have the storytelling sophistication of a "Toy Story 3," "The Illusionist" or "How to Train Your Dragon" -- which explains why those three films got Oscar nominations, while "Megamind" didn't.
Will Ferrell sassily voices the main character, a blue-skinned evil scientist type with a giant head and even bigger plans for conquering Metro City (which he mispronounces badly, like many other common words). His nemesis is Metro Man (Brad Pitt), a fellow traveler -- they both were rocketed off their respective dying planets as an infant, Superman-like, to find greatness on Earth.
Metro Man is the white-costumed defender of the city, while Megamind decks himself out in studded black leather and builds robots and other gizmos to do his bidding. Roxanne Ritchie, the plucky female reporter (Tina Fey) continually kidnapped by Megamind, who secretly adores her.
It's good clean fun aimed at children under 10, though their parents might long for something a little less doofy.
"Megamind" hits video stores Friday, Feb. 25.
Extras are quite plentiful, and are heavy on interactive games and such aimed at kids.
The single-disc DVD comes with a solitary deleted scene, commentary track by the filmmakers, and a meet the cast feature. It's notable, like the rest of the video features, for the complete lack of participation by Brad Pitt. Too good for goodies, Brad?
The double-disc DVD adds a bunch more featurettes, including a look inside Megamind's lair and the animation process. The highlight is "Megamind: The Button of Doom," a new 16-minute short that's an amusing look at Megamind's post-movie life.
The Blu-ray/DVD combo pack includes all these features, plus four more featurettes and interactive stuff.
Movie: 2 stars out of four Extras: 3.5 stars out of four
Tolerable but forgettable, "Gnomeo & Juliet" is a halfway clever idea executed with minimal effort and ingenuity. In its (allegedly) humorous take on the classic play about star-crossed lovers, the film continuously reaches for the lowest-hanging fruit -- in its jokes, in its animation style and its brazen, narrow appeal to tykes.
Right from the start we're instructed that this is a movie with little patience for complexity. A gnome begins reading the introduction of "Romeo and Juliet," but is banished from the stage for his "long and boring prologue."
The hook is that the entire cast is gnomes -- not the mythical creatures, but garden gnomes. Cutesy to some and horrifying to others, these little ceramic cherub-cheeked critters are like a cross between hobbits and dwarves.
(They also, now that I think about it, bear a startling resemblance to Smurfs, who are getting their own movie soon.)
Not even bothering to hide how much they've lifted from "Toy Story," the gnomes come alive only when humans are not around, but suddenly revert to their statuesque forms if interrupted in their doings.
Interestingly, though they seem to have all the flesh-and-blood urges of people, they're still made of clay or whatever, and shatter if they fall or are struck. All of the older gnomes are chipped and faded, and even young rascal Gnomeo (voice by James McAvoy) has a scratched eyebrow and cheek from getting into so many (literal) scrapes.
The warring clans are the Red and Blue gnomes, marked by their pointed hats and/or clothing, who belong to elaborate gardens nestled side-by-side in a British duplex owned by neighbors who despise each other. (Their addresses are "2B" and a crossed-out "2B," in one of a few funny throwaway puns.)
The gnomes carry on that hostility, led by Lord Redbrick (Michael Caine) and Lady Bluebury (Maggie Smith). Various contests and sorties into enemy territory keep things going, with lawn mower racing being a big thing, and vandalizing the others' flowers and cheesy garden decorations.
Gnomeo, the son of Bluebury, falls for Juliet (Emily Blunt), Redbrick's only child, but of course their love is doomed. Eventually, their romance will overpower the hatred between the Reds and the Blues. I don't think I'm giving away much by saying that this ending is decidedly less tragic -- and G-rated -- than the play.
A few of the supporting characters breathe a little life into the stale proceedings. Juliet has a right-hand-woman, Nanette (Ashley Jensen), a frog statue who dispenses water and flighty advice. Featherstone (Jim Cummings) is an abandoned plastic pink flamingo, who's a bit dazed after 20 years of solitude but has a poignant story to tell.
Director Kelly Asbury ("Shrek 2") seems content to pitch things at about kindergarten level, with a sparse layering of in-jokes to keep parents minimally involved. Elton John is an executive producer, and provides some of his classic songs, plus a few new ones.
"Gnomeo & Juliet" sets some kind of notorious new record for screenwriting-by-committee, with no less than nine people receiving a writing credit -- 10, if you throw in Bill Shakespeare.
Sweet and sad, "The Illusionist" is a cartoon for grown-ups.
Not that this animated French film from writer/director Sylvain Chomet, who made the wonderful "The Triplets of Belleville," wouldn't be suitable for the smallest of children. It's rated PG, and the only reason the MPAA failed to give it a G is because the main character occasionally puffs a cigarette.
(He and other characters also appear stumbling drunk, which apparently doesn't bother the ratings board.)
The real reason little ones might not enjoy "The Illusionist" is that it's simply not intended for them. There are no big, colorful animals, goofy gastrointestinal noises or enchanted princesses. It's a poignant tale about regret, generosity and ungratefulness.
The film is based on an original screenplay written by the late Jacques Tati a half-century ago. In the tradition of its mime author, it is virtually dialogue-free -- the characters speak, but in gibberish with a recognizable word in French or English here and there. The gorgeous, largely hand-drawn animation looks like a 19th-century painting of 1930s Paris and London.
Tati reputedly wrote the screenplay intending to make a live-action movie with his daughter, Sophie Tatischeff. The name they share becomes that of the protagonist.
Tatischeff (voice by Jean-Claude Donda) is an itinerant magician who plies his trade in venues grand and squalid. An older gentleman, he carries a quiet dignity to his act, whether the audience is few and indifferent (which is often) or large and rapturous. He seems to have no friends beyond the plump rabbit that's part of his act -- and even it nips at his fingers whenever they're presented.
Performing at a ritzy outdoor party, he's offered a gig at a remote Scottish pub by a stumblebum drunk in a kilt. It requires undertaking a major journey, but turns out to be one of his most receptive audiences in years. Tatischeff also befriends the young servant girl who irons his shirts. Seeing her distressed boots, he buys a pair of red shoes for her with his earnings.
Soon the girl has tagged along on his journey, becoming his surrogate daughter and companion. Permission is not asked or given; they simply find an arrangement that suits both of them, and acquiesce to circumstance.
Tatischeff and Alice (Eilidh Rankin) -- for that is her name, though we never hear it -- come to live in a seedy London hotel whose denizens all seem to be struggling entertainers. There's a clown who doesn't need makeup to look sad, a triplet of acrobats and even a ventriloquist with a funny, red-headed puppet that both resembles and channels himself.
Their relationship grows, deepens ... and sours. Neither is a bad person, but inevitably the things they desire out of life diverge. Tatischeff merely wants to perform his craft for a grateful audience, while Alice is entranced by the dazzling trappings of a big city: Bright lights, fancy restaurants and fashionable clothes.
Tatischeff compromises his principles to give Alice the things she wants, but it's still not enough.
The tone of "The Illusionist" is reminiscent of "Limelight," one of Charlie Chaplin's last films. Both are about an aging vaudevillian whose audiences have mostly drifted away, and then a girl enters his lonely life and changes it.
The outcomes are different, though. "Limelight" was about the old stepping aside for the young. "The Illusionist" has a more mournful lesson: Sometimes we do not appreciate what is given to us, and that lack exacts a toll on bother the giver and the gifted.
Sometimes you like where a movie starts out, but not where it ends up. Such is the case with "Despicable Me," an animated caper about a world populated by super-villains -- no heroes in sight.
Unfortunately, the film starts out snarky and clever, and slowly devolves into a retread of the Grinch story: Black-hearted baddie learns the value of love, and friendship, and little girls who adore unicorns. It's still a fun flick, more for tykes than teens.
Steve Carell voices the Russian-sounding Gru, who has a bulbous body, skinny toothpick arms and legs, and a nose that could be used as a weapon. He looks like a cross between Dr. Evil and Uncle Fester.
Gru dreams of being top dog of the criminal underworld, but so far his best caper is swiping the JumboTron from Times Square. Meanwhile, his nemesis Vector (Jason Segel) foil's Gru's plan to steal the moon by making off with the shrink ray he just stole himself. How rude!
Gru recruits three orphan girls as his unwitting accomplices, and soon finds his heart's no longer in the whole world domination thing. Now it's ballet recitals and quality time instead of building killer robots.
Maybe it's the boy in me, but I wished the movie had given the trio of girls the boot, and stuck with the wicked stuff.
Extra features, just like the movie, are geared more toward small children than general audiences.
The DVD version comes with a commentary track by directors Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud, a featurette on the film's music, "The World of Despicable Me" and a game, Gru's Rocket Builder.
Upgrade to the Blu-ray/DVD combo pack, and there's several more games, a 16-minute feature on the voice cast, and Gru-Control: Funny pop-up features during the movie starring Gru's yellow minions.
Best of all: Three all-new shorts starring various characters from the film. My fave: Minion Orientation Day!
"Tangled" is a delightful amalgamation of new and old animation traditions. It's a slick computer-generated movie available in 3-D, but has an old-school approach with a classic fairy tale at its foundation, coupled with Broadway-style musical numbers.
The movie it most reminded me of is Disney's own "Beauty and the Beast" -- and that's a pretty wonderful thing to be reminded of.
Based on the Rapunzel fable by the Grimm brothers, "Tangled" is a far cry from the story about a long-haired maiden trapped in a tower awaiting rescue from an obliging prince. In screenwriter Dan Fogelman's version, Rapunzel is a feisty teen hungry for adventure, and her supposed rescuer is a thief who was just looking for a place to hide from the king's guards, and gets knocked cold by a frying pan-wielding Rapunzel.
There's more magic and mystery added to the tale, too. Rapunzel's mother the queen, deathly ill while pregnant, was healed by a magic flower that bequeathed its spell to the baby's girl's golden hair. Mother Gothel is an enchantress who needs the magic to keep herself young, so she steals the princess from her royal parents and locks her away in a tower.
Rapunzel grows up believing Gothel is her mother, who keeps her protected from a nasty, brutish world eager to exploit her magical hair. The locks take on a life of their own, cascading behind her like an endless bride's train, which she uses to tie her intruder, Flynn Ryder, into knots.
Flynn's a notorious bandit who's just made off with the royal crown -- unknowingly, it's the one Rapunzel was meant to wear -- and climbs the tower to put his pursuers off the scent. He's a cad who thinks too much of his ability to charm others, but agrees to Rapunzel's demand that he accompany her into town to solve the riddle of the mysterious lights that appear in the sky every year on her birthday. (It's actually the king and queen, lighting lanterns in the hope of one day finding her.)
There are some familiar Disney cues. Rapunzel's sidekick is a chameleon named Pascal who doesn't talk, but makes his intentions known through changing colors and mime. Maximus, the best horse in the kingdom, at first is Flynn's nemesis but comes to be a grudging ally.
The trio of principal voice actors are terrific. Mandy Moore gives Rapunzel an earnest-yet-centered quality -- not to mention some terrific singing pipes. Zachary Levi lends Flynn a rapscallion twinkle, and Donna Murphy nails Mother Gothel's screechy high notes, as well as the slithery charm of the low ones.
Jeffrey Tambor, Brad Garrett and Richard Kiel provide the voices of some thugs who turn out to be not so scary, and Ron Perlman is a treat as the Stabbington brothers, Flynn's partners-in-crime-turned-enemies.
I wouldn't go so far as to call "Tangled" a musical, but there are at least three knockout tunes. I especially liked "I've Got a Dream," a jaunty bar song with a sweet core. Alan Menken, who composed music for "Beauty and the Beast" and many other Disney flicks, teams up with lyricist Glenn Slater.
Directors Nathan Greno and Byron Howard start out emphasizing action and adventure, but as time goes on the film gains heft and substance. One wordless scene, where the king and queen console one another over the loss of their child, is spellbinding in the gut-punch power of their grief.
Pixar has come to dominate the animation wing of Disney, but "Tangled" portents well for the future of fairy tales. This is one of the best princess stories from the House of Walt, since ever and ever.
"Megamind" is in the unfortunate position of being the second animated movie this year where a super-villain plays the hero (or at least the main character). "Despicable Me" was a disappointment, but the sheer fact it came out first inevitably gives "Megamind" a patina of staleness.
Not that it isn't a wonder for the eyes. The animators at DreamWorks are now on par with the wizards at Pixar, and everything about it visually is a triumph. I especially liked the various robot contraptions built by the blue-skinned, big-skulled mad scientist title character, which have a clunky, mid-century retro look reminiscent of "The Iron Giant."
For those convinced the 3-D fad is just an excuse to squeeze a few extra dollars out of ticket-buyers: I saw "Megamind" in IMAX 3-D and can report that the layered effects were especially sharp and crystal-clear. I can't say as the film would be much diminished by seeing it on a regular screen, though.
The set-up is a takeoff on the old Superman origin, with a babe being blasted off his dying planet to find greatness on Earth. The tweak here is that in addition to lantern-jawed hero Metro Man (voiced by Brad Pitt), another infant traveled through space at the same time on a parallel course, setting up their lifelong enmity.
"Even Fate picks its favorites," Megamind (Will Ferrell) intones during the opening narration, and it's not hard to see why he thinks so. Instead of being endowed with awesome strength, laser vision and the ability to fly, Megamind was born with a big ol' noggin that made him an outcast at school.
While Metro Man landed in a rich couple's home and had everything handed to him, Megamind's spaceship splatted into a prison where he grew up educated by career criminals. Megamind also has the requisite minion, named Minion (David Cross), who's actually a fish whose bowl is connected to a robot exo-skeleton that for some reason resembles a gorilla.
I can't say as I'm the biggest fan of Ferrell's comedic abilities, but I thought his voice work here was proficient. His Megamind has a preening, boastful cadence, and has a tendency to mispronounce commonly used words. (For example, "Metro City" rhymes with "ferocity.")
Tina Fey voices Roxanne Ritchi, who exists in the comic book tradition of plucky, alliteratively-named girl reporters.
The next part of this review contains a spoiler, but since it happens so early in the film, and is so central to the story, I feel compelled to comment upon it.
After years of very public battles, Megamind suddenly is able to defeat his nemesis, annihilating Metro Man with his sun-powered death laser. But without an arch-enemy to fight, he finds himself growing bored. So he stumbles upon a plan to create a new hero by infusing some schlub with Metro Man's powers.
Unfortunately, he chooses Hal (Jonah Hill), Roxanne's lovesick dweeb cameraman, turning him into a rampaging mass of muscles called Titan. For reasons never explained, Titan changes this to Tighten.
Anyway, Tighten decides that being a hero is for chumps and starts tearing up Metro City, leaving Megamind to act the hero to keep things in order. Also, he begins a sneaky romance with Roxanne abetted by one of his nefarious gizmos.
"Megamind" was directed by Tom McGrath, who helmed the "Madagascar" movies, from a script by rookie screenwriters Alan Schoolcraft and Brent Simons. It's reasonably entertaining, though aimed more at the single-digit-age crowd than most such fare.
But in this golden age of "Toy Story 3" and "How to Train Your Dragon," Megamind looks like second-tier goods.
Don't get me wrong, "Toy Story 3" was terrific. But for my money, the best animated film so far in 2010 was "How to Train Your Dragon."
This marvelous computer-animation effort from DreamWorks combined exciting action sequences with slightly subversive humor, wrapped in a subtle life-lessons subtext about overcoming disability.
Jay Baruchel provides the voice of Hiccup, a wimpy teenage Viking who'd rather tinker with gizmos than fight the plague of dragons that constantly attack his village. But when your old man is the battle-scarred chieftain (Gerard Butler), your future is pretty much laid out for you.
Hiccup reluctantly enrolls in Dragon Training class, learning how to combat the various types of beasties breathing fire, spitting noxious gas and spewing lightning bolts. But his real education comes when he befriends a wounded dragon he dubs Toothless, and learns they're not the mindless killers his people have made them out to be.
Toothless has a maimed tail that won't allow him to fly without Hiccup's technology wizardry. And Gobber, the local blacksmith, is missing a leg and a hand. These and other story elements underscore the theme of celebrating our differences, without any of the usual pat smarminess.
Directed by Dean DuBlois and Chris Sanders, the same team behind "Lilo & Stitch," "Dragon" is the sort of smart, sassy kiddie flick that parents secretly slip into the video player after the children have gone to bed.
Extras range from measly to quite good, depending on which version you buy. The single-disc DVD comes with only a behind-the-scenes featurette with cast and crew.
The double DVD edition includes three deleted scenes, a message from author Cressida Crowell, and several games like a "Viking Personality Test," "Learn to Draw Toothless" and so forth.
On top of these features, the Blu-ray/DVD combo pack boasts a filmmakers' commentary track, a featurette on the artistry of dragons, pop-up trivia, and an interactive picture-in-picture feature with storyboards, video and interviews.
Plus, a new animated short: "Legend of the BoneKnapper Dragon."
"How to Train Your Dragon" hits video stories Friday, Oct. 15.
I like the idea of "Despicable Me" -- an animated world in which there are super-villains but no heroes -- more than the final product. It's cute, and the under-10 crowd will doubtlessly find it a delight, what with the generous helping of adorable critters and gastrointestinal sounds.
I just wish the filmmakers could've found some less obvious territory to troll. Gru (voice by Steve Carell, doing a Slavic accent), the bald and pointy-nosed un-hero, learns there's more to life than villainy when he adopts a trio of little girls as part of his mad scheme to steal the moon.
Cue a bunch of scenes of Gru's eyes misting over as his Grinch-like heart grows three sizes while reading the tots a bedtime story, or rearranging his dastardly deeds to make their ballet recital.
I much preferred the stuff about the competitiveness between super-villains -- for instance, Gru's envy spikes when someone steals one of the Great Pyramids, when all he can boast is burgling the JumboTron from Times Square.
Or the Bank of Evil, which appropriately resides in a dark cavernous pit underneath the regular bank, and solely funds criminal enterprises. ("Formerly Lehman Brothers," a sign reads, in a zippy throwaway joke.)
I confess that when summer began and I was surveying the season's offerings, I lighted upon "Despicable Me" as one of the most promising, and now I'm disappointed with it. It's like waiting months for that special toy you wanted so badly, and then you open it up Christmas Day and it's not nearly as much fun as you thought it'd be.
It's not a bad toy, but maybe some other kid would enjoy it more.
But the first rule of film criticism is that we shouldn't criticize a movie for what it is not, but what it is. So if I throw my expectations for something snarkier out the window, I deem "Despicable Me" a moderately entertaining tumble.
Personally, I'd rather take in "Toy Story 3" in for a third time than this one once, but that's me.
The story opens with the prospect of Gru being put out to pasture for a younger generation of villains. The Bank is hesitant to front the money for his moon-stealing caper because an upstart has stolen the shrink ray that Gru himself had just lifted, with which he intended to downscale the lunar body.
What profit or purpose there is in a basketball-sized moon I don't know, though I admit I enjoyed the gag where a werewolf turns back into a human when it gets shrunk.
Gru's nemesis is Vector (Jason Segal), who resembles a young Bill Gates but whose fortress and other hardware all have an antiseptic Apple look to them. (iLair?)
Vector nabs the shrink ray, and soon after places a large cookie order from a trio of cute orphans: Margo, Agnes and Edith (Miranda Cosgrove, Elsie Fisher and Dana Gaier, respectively). Gru plots to adopt the girls and replace their Coconutties with cookie-shaped robots when they make delivery.
The girls don't really have distinctive personalities beyond yearning to be wanted, though Edith, the youngest, has a passion for unicorns that borders on psychoses. ("He's so fluffy I'm gonna die!!")
The CG animation is sleek, but the 3-D is take it or leave it. Directors Pierre Coffin -- which is a great name for a super-villain, by the way -- and Chris Renaud are both new to feature films, and seem to have more flair for the action sequences than the mushy stuff: Gru's complicated relationship with his emotionally absent mother (Julie Andrews) is under-explored territory.
Oh, and Gru has a grumpy old assistant (Russell Brand) and an army of little yellow minions who bear more than a passing resemblance to the aliens from the "Toy Story" movies ... hey, did I mention that "Toy Story 3" is probably playing in the very next cinema?
It's been 15 years since the first "Toy Story" came out, and it's not an exaggeration to say it changed the face of animation forever.
Back then, it seemed a new golden age of hand-drawn creativity was upon us: "Beauty and the Beast," "Aladdin," "The Lion King." Then some folks at a little upstart company called Pixar decided computers could do the job even better.
Within a few years -- certainly by 1999, when the wonderful "Toy Story 2" came out -- it was clear CG was the new king. Flash another decade later, and it was actually a novelty when Disney made a new hand-animated movie, "The Princess and the Frog," released last winter to modest success.
But with "Toy Story 3" now gracing theaters -- and coming not a moment too soon to save us from one of the most dismal summer of movies in memory -- we're reminded that it isn't the canvas or the paint that matters, but the vision of the artist. It's not about dazzling us with coolest new visual technique, but crafting a story and characters that touch us and take us somewhere unexpected.
In short: The wizards at Pixar have done it again.
It's been 11 years since we hung out with Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Jessie the Cowgirl, Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head and the rest of the gang. Seeing them again is both nostalgic and exciting, like old friends come to visit after a lengthy absence.
The toys haven't changed much, of course. But their child, Andy, is all grown up and ready to leave for college. In the hubbub of moving out, the toys get put into the wrong bag and nearly are thrown out before the timely intervention of cowboy leader Woody (voice by Tom Hanks).
Instead, they end up donated to Sunnyside, a daycare center that at first looks like toy heaven on earth. There's tons of toys already there, but also dozens of kids to play with them. Even though, like Andy, the children will grow up and grow bored with them, every year brings a new batch.
"No owners means no heartbreak," intones Lotso (a terrific Ned Beatty), the cuddly old bear -- his name is short for Lots-o-Huggin' -- who runs the show at Sunnyside.
Woody, though, wants the gang to return to Andy so they can "be there for him," even if that means being consigned to the attic for awhile. And it turns out daycare has a nasty pecking order straight out of Orwell's "Animal Farm."
I guess some toys are created more equal than others.
One of the main subplots involves Barbie (Jodi Benson) being introduced to Ken (Michael Keaton). They were literally made for each other, of course, but in their universe they've never met before and instantly fall in love. Though Barbie does have reservations about Ken being Lotso's right-hand toy -- not to mention having an obsession with fashion accessories that's unbecoming even for the original boy toy.
Buzz (Tim Allen) kind of gets shunted to the side in this outing, though an accident triggers some special powers even he didn't know he had.
Mr. Potato Head is sent on a mission that involves detaching all his limbs, eyes, mouth, etc. and using other objects as a temporary host for his consciousness. This has all sorts of metaphysical implications begging for a serious philosophy dissertation: Does the soul reside in the heart? Or the mustache?
"Toy Story 3" is a great new adventure with a grand old gang, and I for one would love to have another -- just don't make us wait another 11 years for it.
I do have to add a note of caution: Despite the G rating, the film contains a scene of genuine terror, when it appears the toys will meet their doom, that may prove disturbing to little ones. Several tykes at the screening I attended visibly recoiled -- heck, I got a bit of the shivers. All kidding aside, a PG probably would've been more appropriate.
Also, "Toy Story 3" is preceded by a 6-minute animated short, "Day & Night." It's a fun little diversion about two creatures whose bodies are windows to the same scene at different times of day. But I'd say it was done mostly for the amusement of the animators who created it, and isn't up to the usual, high standard for Pixar shorts.
I'm not seeing blood red about having to sit through more ogre green -- mostly because the fourth installment in Dreamworks' 800-pound animation franchise, "Shrek Forever After," is reasonably entertaining. Certainly, it's a big improvement over the awful "Shrek the Third."
Still, it's clear the only reason this movie has for existing is also green -- the papery kind.
Consider this: Mike Myers (Shrek), Cameron Diaz (Fiona), Eddie Murphy (Donkey) and Antonio Banderas (Puss in Boots) haven't starred in a single non-Shrek hit movie between them in the last few years.
Heck, Myers doesn't even have much of a career these days outside of voicing the un-jolly green giant. (I don't count "The Love Guru," since in time I wrote this sentence, you could have counted its entire box office gross.)
Let's face it, the "Shrek" machine was already growing tired by the first sequel, which at least had a frenetic energy and a boatload of pop culture jokes to keep the momentum going.
By the fourth go-round, the filmmakers are left to rely on rimshot one-liners -- Puss and Donkey call each other a "cat-tastrophe" and "re-donkeylous," respectively -- and overly familiar character quirks: Donkey sings! Puss preens! Fiona frets! etc.
To recap: In the first movie, Shrek learned to set aside his beastly ways and fall in love. In the sequel, he got to meet the in-laws and fight for his, er, woman. In the third flick, he came to terms with becoming a responsible adult and daddy.
So what's the obvious logical step? Yep, the mid-life blues.
Shrek gets fed up with being tied down by a wife and kids and makes a dangerous magical bargain to get a taste of his bachelor days. Of course, he learns to embrace domestic bliss in the end.
What's next? "Shrek: Curse of the Prostate Exam"?
About the only thing that's fresh is the addition of a whole gaggle of ogres. It has seemed awfully suspicious that, up until now, Shrek and his brood have been the only green-skinned folk we've seen.
Shrek bumps into them while traipsing through an alternate reality he helped create. He signed a contract with the mischievous Rumpelstiltskin (Walt Dohrn) to have one day in which everyone is scared of him again. Of course, the sawed-off trickster finds a way to turn the tables so he's the ruler of the land of Far Far Away.
In this universe, Fiona is the chief brigand behind the ogre resistance. Her lieutenant is Brogan (Jon Hamm), Craig Robinson is the chimichanga-spewing cook, and Jane Lynch is the (apparently) only other female ogre.
Turns out Shrek, who we've thought of as a burly behemoth, is actually rather undersized for his race.
Donkey's around, pulling wagons for the army of witches allied with 'Stilstskin. So is Puss, though he's put aside his boots to live the life of a plump, pampered pet kitty. It's all one big fun -- but pointless -- caper with old friends.
Sum it up this way: Imagine if "Shrek Forever After" were not the fourth movie in a series, but the first. Based on its mild amusements, do you think anybody would be dying to make another, and another, and on? That's wishful thinking.
Having recently reviewed Ralph Bakshi's "The Lord of the Rings" for its Blu-ray release, I thought I'd go a little deeper into his oeuvre to see if I could figure out why his style seemed so ill-suited to adapting Tolkien's masterwork.
I saw "Fritz the Cat" years ago -- so long I barely remember it. Ditto for "Wizards," made in 1977, the year immediately before "LOTR." Wizards has a lot of thematic similarities to "LOTR" -- an ancient world of faerie magic in which the forces of good and evil battle for final dominion over all the land.
It's probably no surprise, then, that I was also disappointed while re-watching "Wizards." Actually, I fracking hated the thing. And I think I figured out why I'm not a Bakshiite.
Ralph Bakshi did not make animated films. He made cartoons.
I'm not trying to be dismissive here. Many of my favorite films are cartoons. You don't even have to be animated to be one. "Kick-Ass," given a very favorable review by me, is explicitly and joyously a cartoon.
Nothing wrong with being a cartoon. The problem comes in that Bakshi approaches material that would better be served by being taken seriously in a way that is unserious, flip and ... well, cartoonish.
Let me define my terms. To me, a cartoon is something that doesn't take its subject at face value. Everything it presents is on some level being ridiculed or undermined. Even Bugs Bunny got his comeuppance from time to time. If a cartoon shows you a noble hero on a quest to save a damsel, you know he's going to do something silly before long.
It's pretty obvious why I -- and most fans of Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" -- didn't like this sensibility applied to a world and characters that we so cherished. But I think it ends up ruining "Wizards" as well.
"Wizards" opens with a prologue that presents a world (ours) destroyed by nuclear holocaust. Millions of years later, the Eath is occupied by mutants and faerie creatures. The leaders of the two opposing factions are great wizards, brothers who despise each other: Avatar and Blackwolf.
(With names like that, I don't think I need bother saying which is evil and which is good.)
Now, with a premise like that, you're expecting some pretty grim stuff. But the film opens with Bakshi's trademark puckish humor, cutesy depictions of faeries, and a whole lot of cornball action.
When I first laid eyes on Avatar the Old, I wanted to throw up. He has aged into a diminutive figure who wears clownish robes over his pudge-pot torso and a conical wizard hat complete with a star. He has a bulbous red nose, a long beard that hides his face entirely, and goes about barefoot. He's constantly tugging on a stogie that he clutches between his toes. As voiced by veteran voice actor Bob Holt, Avatar talks in a world-weary growl and distinctly Northeastern accent.
So after that great build-up about a post-apocalyptic world filled with beauty and horror, our guide in this journey is basically Mr. Magoo's grumpy cousin from Brooklyn.
Things get worse from there. Avatar doesn't do much magic these days, and has hired himself out to the president of the good kingdom to instruct his daughter, Elinore, on how to become a full-fledged fairy. Right now she's only about halfway there. (Why a fairy born with wings has to be trained to be one is beyond me.)
Necron 99, a red robot sent by Blackwolf to kill believers of magic, executes the president. Avatar uses his power to change the robot's personality to good, and renames him Peace. He, Peace, Elinore and the elf warrior Weehawk set out to Blackwolf's fortress in Scortch to put an end to his evil ways.
Blackwolf's armies are slowly conquering the world through the use of his secret weapon, which turns out to be a film projector running newsreel footage of Nazi Germany. Just by showing this movie of Hitler raving and Panzers rolling, the good armies fall into a stupor and cannot fight.
Now, a lot of logistical problems with that. First of all, it's made explicit that millions of years have passed since nuclear weapons ravaged the planet. Even if any projectors survived the bombing, they would have turned to dust by now. And celluloid film would have disintegrated within a few hundred years, max.
Next, even if this stuff were somehow still around or Blackwolf managed to recreate them, how does he project the images into the sky above his enemies? Again, the movie specifically shows him using a small projector, not even 35 mm. There are no giant screens suspended in the sky. OK, let's say he's just using his magic.
But even if all these other objections didn't exist, why would the simple image of Nazis make soldiers swoon? They don't know who the hell Hitler is or what the Nazis did. They have no context to be horrified by these images. Seeing tanks shells tearing up a battlefield is certainly nothing that would bother hardened fighters used to hand-to-hand combat.
The film (also written by Bakshi) sets up the struggle as an epic one between nature and technology. In the end, of course, when Avatar finally faces Blackwolf in their final showdown, he pulls out a pistol and shoots him.
This is what I mean about cartoonish. Although it's a great laugh moment, it completely undermines everything that came before. Bakshi always seems to fall back on goofy humor and a drawing style inspired by Scooby-Doo. That's not to say that he didn't have a great imagination; his instincts were just more "Fritz the Cat" than "Lord of the Rings."
