Month: March 2008

The Good: The first half of this film is just plain fun to watch.  The pacing is terrific and seeing the set up and the possibility of winning this big is thrilling.  It was apparent from the Beatles musical Across the Universe that Sturgess had something special, and he proves it here with another great performance. 

The Bad: The second half of the movie just flops.  Once the thrill of winning is over, the characters all start to make stupid decisions for the sake of drama and the unrealistic turn the film makes gets you rolling your eyes on many occasions.  While I haven’t read the true-story book that this movie was based on, Bringing Down the House, I have been told that the real-life events were nothing like what was put on film.  I guess that the real-life events weren’t as cinematic, but I wish the film didn’t feel so immature. 

The Good: You can already guess that kids are gonna love this flick.  It is fast paced with loads of colors and a story that they will eat up.  While the film is not as adult friendly as your average Pixar pic, this one should keep the interest of the parents as well as other non-parental units that might wander into the theater.  The creativity is abundant here and should make most audiences fond of this lesser-known Dr. Seuss tale. 
I do find it very intriguing that the commercials and trailers for the film are trying to sell the voice talent over the film itself.  For those thinking that they are getting a Judd Apatow animated film here, please know that Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill are very minor toons in the story and are only being touted in the ads to get you thinking that you might be seeing a G-rated Superbad.  That being said, Carrey, Carell, and Arnett are all brilliant in their respective roles.

The Bad: Every so often the animation breaks from computer to hand-drawn in a very awkward way.  They even try to throw in a Pokeman sequence which feels very out of place.  Also, the end of the movie ends with a song that kind of ruins the enjoyment being had.  From what I understand, Jim Carey insisted on the song against the studio’s direction, and I really wish the studio had stuck to their guns and nixed it. 

The Good: There is no doubt that the film feels like a big epic.  It’s immense in subject matter and full of great concepts.  The cinematography is pretty spectacular as are the aesthetically beautiful sets.  A lot of skill went into the building of this film.

The Bad: No matter how big your film is, without a decent script, there is no movie.  This script needed some help.  Writer Harold Kloser is a decent music composer, but his first script lacks the complexity and creativity of his music.  The story is not compelling and the characters don’t earn our empathy or interest.  The story has some potential, but doesn’t know what to do with it.  Maybe it’s the distraction that the film steals too many elements from other more successful epics such as Apocalypto and Dances With Wolves, or maybe its that the acting is so poor by most of the cast, but whatever it is, it’s more than apparent that this pic just doesn’t work. 

To make matters worse, the CG isn’t up to snuff.  The mammoths look decent, but the saber-tooth tiger looks completely inorganic.  And lets not discuss the giant birds that look more like dodos than raptors.

I have here exactly the opposite complaint that I had with Semi-Pro last week: this should have been an R-rated film.  You throw in more violence, more bad behavior, and maybe even some decent romance and/or sex, and you might have the ingredients for a pretty strong film on your hands.