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Beauty and the Beast (1991)
Beauty and the Beast (1991)
1991 | Animation, Family, Musical
Beauty and the Beast is an example of animated Disney at the top of their game, and stands proudly amongst the string of high quality outputs from Disney during the tail end of the 80s and through the 90s.

The aesthetic is quintessential Disney fairytale material, alternating between the bright and colourful un-named village that Belle lives in, to the dark and gothic castle where The Beast resides. The animation is wonderful, especially when it comes to characters. Characters such as Cogsworth, Lumiere, and Mrs. Potts are bought to life in such a vibrant manner, it's another argument for why the live action adaptions will never quite capture the same magic, and the likes of Belle, The Beast, and Gaston are memorable and visually iconic Disney inhabitants.

The story is straight down the middle for this kind of thing, but it's crowd pleasing, heart warming, with a perfect helping of melancholy, a formula that has always been Disney's bread and butter along with catchy songs. I struggle to get on board with musicals for the most part but some of the music demonstrated here is superbly written and occasionally beautiful.

Beauty & The Beast is classic Disney through and through. It's truly timeless and will be enjoyed for generations to come.
  
Shark Tale (2004)
Shark Tale (2004)
2004 | Action, Animation, Comedy
Ghastly. I mean holy shit these fish are fucking UGLY. I was expecting some sort of ironic enjoyment or overlooked nuance a la something like 𝘍𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵!, but instead I just got an in-your-face assault of nauseating animation and the worst sound design DreamWorks has ever shat out - Angelina Jolie is barely even audible in this. I'm a firm believer that the most aesthetically horrible time period was the 2000s - specifically the mid-2000s - and this tried so hard to be 'in the now' when it was released that it feels like looking back at some sort of garish cave drawing that serves as a reminder for how much society has progressed since then. For instance, you know how you can go back to Finding Nemo and not be repelled because it doesn't open with a fucking "MTV Cribs" parody? I've never been a huge fan of Will Smith's shtick but here it grates worse than it ever has before or since - and with such an irredeemable, downright annoying character like this fugly little idiot to boot. In fact the only intrigue in any of these voice performances are from Jack Black and - er - *checks notes* Martin Scorsese. I can't honestly say it was laugh-free but I can still say it sucks hard.
  
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (2013)
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (2013)
2013 | Action, Animation, Family
Runs at about <0.2x the pace of the first, with the exact same breed of that formularized 𝘙𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘵 & 𝘊𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘬 style non-plot drivel I detest. But otherwise? Yeah it was cute enough to suffice. Still gets docked a half star based solely on the sickly oversweetened last half hour filled with monotonous genre tropes and atrocious, badly-aged family-friendly pop crap (anyone remember Cody Simpson lmfao). But the foodimal designs here are so fucking cute holy shit - and just speaking generally the thing is an energetic, luminous laser light show to look at which manages to not only distinct itself from the original; but also packs ceaseless creativity in practically every inch of every frame. Plus the animation that's used to do so, even looking at it today, is gobsmackingly beautiful. Add in that it's occasionally pretty damn funny (again, if not matching up to the rate of the first) and that these characters are impossible not to root for even if they're merely a shadow of their former selves and you've got yourself a really nice time. I've always liked the subversion and general respect given to the Sam Sparks character in this relationship and I'm glad to see it remains intact with this one. Shame we never got any more of these.
  
Onward (2020)
Onward (2020)
2020 | Adventure, Animation, Comedy
This could have been the whole game, instead just feels like a fetch quest. Gotta say, (sarcasm incoming) really love the idea here to get two once-charming actors who have since had most of their personality sucked dry by the Marvel beast to lend their hardly descript vocal talents to a hardly descript movie of hardly descript characters. Did we just collectively decide against actual voice acting anymore over dry celebrities practically voicing themselves? Ends with a complete cop-out and its breathtaking animation is clouded by either murk or oversaturation seemingly deliberately. Not to mention the character design is ass-ugly. Can't entirely hate it though, not without some charm and handful of okay moments - but whose idea was it to set up this gold mine premise of magic being systematically pushed out of the world by technology for nothing more than simple convenience... and then do fucking nothing with it while setting it in this bland suburbia of normalcy? Potential brilliance in storytelling through an epic, gorgeous video game-esque Disney film is squandered for another antiseptic, indifferent retread of the most basic themes from the company. Not even funny, either. Had more fun with it than I'm probably letting on but I simultaneously loathe what this represents.
  
Llamageddon (2015)
Llamageddon (2015)
2015 | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
8
7.5 (2 Ratings)
Movie Rating
I am here for llama based horror/sci-fi films, I never thought I'd say that but here we are. My only quibble with this film is that there was too much human, not enough llama.

There are so many bad and awkward things about this film when you watch it, but Louie makes up for every single one of them... the extreme close-ups, the horrendous acknowledgement of puns, the dubious montages accompanied by loud music, Floyd's transformation.

But here are all the good things. Louie's laser eyes, his green spit that transforms humans, Louie's understanding of electricity and opening doors, the use of tin foil, the 70s/80s effects, the animation (it's just a shame it's included in the film and not just the titles), eggs, the over-enthusiastic practical effects person with the super soaker of goop, Louie's boxing ability, his always cool attitude, and a father's wisdom. Oh, and the end credit song.

It would be wrong of me to say that everyone got what they deserved... but...

You know what? That's my review. Quite frankly this is the worst and best film I've ever seen and I would watch it again.

Originally posted on: https://emmaatthemovies.blogspot.com/2020/10/llamageddon-movie-review.html
  
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Awix (3310 KP) rated Jason and the Argonauts (1963) in Movies

Oct 5, 2019 (Updated Oct 5, 2019)  
Jason and the Argonauts (1963)
Jason and the Argonauts (1963)
1963 | Fantasy
Corny but much-loved mythological fantasy film. Jason and his men go in search of a magic sheepskin, occasionally with the aid of the gods but without the assistance of modern special effects. A strong, mostly British cast do the usual sterling work while imported stars Todd Armstrong and Nancy Kovack stand around being obviously dubbed.

The script is, to be honest, all over the place: it's episodic, the writers seem to have been making it up as they went (the most memorable character wanders out of the movie half way through), and Jason doesn't actually complete the mission he sets himself at the start (maybe they were hoping for a sequel). However, for a bad movie this has some of the most wonderful special effects ever put on celluloid, namely Ray Harryhausen's brilliant hand-crafted animation. Any amount of stodgy non-acting and dubious costume design would be a small price to pay for sequences like the ones with the bronze titan Talos, the Hydra, or the mob of skeletons at the end (the skeleton battle is such a breathtaking achievement it should really be playing on loop in art galleries around the world). They don't make them like this any more. Even the bad bits are kind of bad in a good way.
  
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Andy K (10821 KP) Oct 5, 2019

I need to watch this again!

    Dinotrux: Trux It Up!

    Dinotrux: Trux It Up!

    Entertainment and Book

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    Dinotrux: Trux It Up! is all about teamwork and cooperation. Plus... there is so much to do! ...