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David McK (3496 KP) rated Aladdin (2019) in Movies

Aug 11, 2019 (Updated Dec 28, 2022)  
Aladdin (2019)
Aladdin (2019)
2019 | Adventure, Family, Fantasy, Musical
Goy Ritchie's Will Smith starring live-action retelling of the 1992 Disney cartoon: a movie that, believe it or not, is now nearly 30 years old (I can't believe I just typed that).

While this does hew pretty closely to the original, this is not quite the shot-for-shot remake I was expecting (or feared), with Jasmine in particular given far more agency here, and with Will Smith's Genie 'bookending' the entire narrative.

Talking of Will Smith: he had some big shoes to fill and - thankfully - he wisely does not attempt a Robin Williams impersonation, instead making the character more his own (although, of course, he has the same musical numbers to belt out).

On the down side, however, this version of Jafar is far less menacing than the original ...
  
The Jungle Book (2016)
The Jungle Book (2016)
2016 | Action, Family
Disney’s animated take on Rudyard Kipling’s classic The Jungle Book is a timeless classic. My mother is even fond of telling me about the Jungle Book theme I had in my room as an infant. So it was with great interest that we covered the new live-action film version which continues a successful tradition for Disney of adapting their animated classics into live-action features. For those not familiar with the story it involves a young boy named Mowgli (Neel Sethi), who was found alone in the jungle by a panther named Bagheera (Ben Kingsley), Mowgli is put in the care of a Wolfpack under the custody of Raksha (Lupita Nyong”o), who raised him as one of her own in the ways of the pack.

Mowgli grew and thrived under this arrangement and was loved and accepted by those in his group. Unfortunately Mowgli eventually draws the attention of a tiger named Shere Khan (Idris Elba), who has a deep disliking and fear of humans and what they’re capable of and thus demands that Mowgli be turned over to him so he removed the human threat from the jungle. Unwilling to let Mowgli be killed, Bagheeera agrees to take the boy to the Human Village where he will have the protection and guidance of his people going forward.

As they embark on a journey filled with sights, sounds, splendor, and danger, they meet all sorts of new characters along the way. From the lovable Baloo (Bill Murray), to the dangerous Kaa (Scarlett Johansson), their adventure is anything but boring especially with Shere Khan constantly lurking and new dangers and surprises around every corner.

Director Jon Favreau keeps the film in line with the source material and offers a lavish and fun production that while heavy on CGI imagery never overshadows the focus being on the characters as they are what propel the story even though the jungle itself very much is a central character to the story. There is action and adventure and parent should be warned that there are a few parts that may be a bit too intense for younger viewers. That being said, the film is just an absolute delight from beginning to end and moves at a brisk enough pace that never drags. There are a couple of musical numbers included which thankfully do not undermine some of the more action intense sequences of the film which had been ramped up considerably from their animated version counterparts.

There’s been talk that a sequel is early in the planning stages and I for one would definitely love to see more adventures especially since it’s reported that the same team that brought this to the screen would be involved in the sequel. The cast is incredibly strong and supports one another very well and what makes this film so great is that like many of the Disney classics it has the broad generational appeal that will allow adults to really enjoy the film rather than feel that they’re simply along to keep the kids happy.
Disney has announced that they would plan to do several live-action adaptations of their animated classics and based on their recent track record of success, in doing so I can’t wait to see what they have next as “The Jungle Book” is an absolute delight that is not to be missed.

http://sknr.net/2016/04/14/the-jungle-book/
  
    WebCricket

    WebCricket

    Sports and Entertainment

    10.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

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    WebCricket is a free cricket scoring application which also has the fantastic feature of live online...

Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017)
Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017)
2017 | Action, Comedy
The Action (2 more)
The Cast
The Robot Dogs
The Double cross could have been done better or not at all (0 more)
Crazy, Outrageous and Bloody Good Fun
Walking into the this movie I was expecting great things. I loved the first one and was actively waiting for number 2. Like all sequels unfortunately it did not live up to the first one. I am not saying it was a bad movie, because it was still fantastic, but it just did not have the same pop as the first.

Some of my favorite things about this movie was the action. Spy movies always have a way of make the crazy look very good. The gadgets they use I wish existed in real life because I would like one of each. Or maybe they are real and CIA and MI6 just keep them hidden from the real world. But as for the action the I was done so well. The fight scenes were done so seamlessly. My personal favorite was the fight scenes with the lassos, I know it was all mostly special effects but I was amazing to see it pulled off.


Comedy in the is movie is fantastic, they got the right group of actors together. Julianne Moore played one hell of a bad ass bad guy. I mean eating someone it just insane. But who knows, maybe I would eat people if it were legal. Her robot dogs were the best, I wish I had a set. Unfortunately they had to be charged to be effective. I think this is the first movie I have seen where robots needed to be charged and were not just ready to be used. Fun twist.


All and all, if you loved the first one, see this one. Just don't go in thinking this one will be better, go in thinking this is going to be a fun action movie.
  
    ZENONIA® 5

    ZENONIA® 5

    Games and Entertainment

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

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    The #1 RPG in over 25 countries worldwide! ZENONIA® 5: Wheel of Destiny The Definitive Action RPG...

Lady and the Tramp (2019)
Lady and the Tramp (2019)
2019 | Family
Cute (0 more)
Some of the changes shouldn't have been made (0 more)
Contains spoilers, click to show
I love the original, and I looked forward to seeing how they would take a much loved classic and make it live action. While it was cute, it was not good enough to stand anywhere near the original. There were several small changes that I could live with, but then there were a few others that should have never been changed.

First off, they took out the Siamese cats. Those cats are a big part of the scene, and they sing a jingle everyone remembers. Putting in a totally different pair of cats and changing the jingle was huge disappointment. Second, they totally took away the beaver. Was the beaver really that important to the plot line? No, not really, but it was a fun aspect that added some humour to the whole muzzle thing. The last thing that irritated me, being a dog person, when Trusty finally gets the scent of the dogcatcher, he didn't bay once. He should have been loud and proud when he picked up that scent.

All in all, worth seeing once just to say you've seen it, but in the long run, I'll stick with the original animated version.
  
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Fred (860 KP) rated Bumblebee (2018) in Movies

Mar 16, 2019  
Bumblebee (2018)
Bumblebee (2018)
2018 | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
G1 Transformers (2 more)
The opening scene on Cybertron
You got the touch!
The stupid "Bumblebee has no voice" crap (1 more)
John Cena is a horrible actor
Robot in disguise
I love the Transformers. I've been a fan since the original cartoon in 1984 & the original comic book run from Marvel. I've loved just about every show & every movie. Yes, they have had their faults, but for pure enjoyment, I loved them too. But now that I've seen Bumblebee, I know that they could have been a lot better.

Yes, this is easily the best of the live-action films. Let's just start by saying G1 versions. That should be enough, but even the story is better than the others. Sure, it's not very original & in one scene there's even a homage (rip off) of the Iron Giant. But it's great entertainment. The action is great, it's funny, but not silly like the others. I like John Cena, when I can see him, but he's terrible in this.But I can overlook it. The Rock has nothing to worry about. My main complaint is they make Bumblebee mute again. So stupid & annoying. Why? What's it bring to the story? Absolutely nothing.

I actually can't wait for the next installment & hope it continues this line instead of the last one.