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Frozen (2013)
Frozen (2013)
2013 | Animation, Family
It's nearly the end of 2019, and I have only just watched Frozen...and I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would!
I would say that I've been actively avoiding watching it, but I guess I heard 'Let it Go' when it was EVERYWHERE and just assumed this wasn't for me.
But I'm glad I out that to one side and gave it a watch.

Firstly, Frozen is filled with heart. It has a whole host of immediately likable characters, and a straightforward plot that gives room for witty and genuinely funny dialogue.
It feels familiar yet fresh, with a typical Disney story of princesses and castles and people being afraid of what they don't understand, but then openly mocks one of the characters for immediately falling for a prince charming, and replaces true love between a princess and prince with the true love shared between sisters
The animation is great, and the whole film is really pleasant to watch.

The songs for the most part are ok, and serve as devices to move the plot along, but I've never been a huge fan of musicals, so this is a weird negative for me, as it's something that's on me, not on the movie.

Frozen isn't anywhere near my favourite Disney film, but it's genuinely enjoyable, and hard to watch without smiling for most of the runtime. All I know is that I would do anything for Sven and I love him 😭
  
The Book of Life (2014)
The Book of Life (2014)
2014 | Animation, Romance
7
7.7 (14 Ratings)
Movie Rating
The Book of Life is an animated film with some big names lending their voices to the characters.

Channing Tatum, Zoe Saldana, Diego Luna, Christina Applegate, Ice Cube, Cheech Marin, Kate del Castillo, and Ron Perlman are all part of the voice cast.

The movie had lots of movement, tons of bright colours, and great music.

The story was good, but I think maybe a bit ‘too much’ for children my sons age (6). He seemed to like it, despite some of the moments that made him uncomfortable or scared.

The tale is of good vs bad and bravado vs true courage and life long friendships.

This movie takes place in long-ago Mexico and revolves around The Day of the Dead. Two boys, one an aspiring bull fighter and guitar player named Manolo (Diego Luna) and one a would-be champion and defender of the town named Joaquin (Channing Tatum), are in love with the same girl, a feisty girl named Maria (Zoe Saldana).

We follow their life paths as the gods above, La Muerta and Xibalba, place wagers on the outcome of the love triangle.

Xibalba cheats in order to win the bet, and the remainder if the film is spent watching Manolo trying to reunite with his true love, Maria.

The movie is fast paced and the music really helps bring it together and help tell the tale.

I would give this movie 3.5 out of 5 stars.
  
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LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated Shazam! (2019) in Movies

May 14, 2019 (Updated Dec 15, 2019)  
Shazam! (2019)
Shazam! (2019)
2019 | Action, Sci-Fi
A refreshing, and often humourous entry into the otherwise troubled DCEU
Contains spoilers, click to show
I went into Shazam! with low expectations, after not being particularly taken with the majority of past DCEU films.

I left feeling pretty positive about the whole goofy experience.

As with most DC material, the film starts on a fairly dark note, introducing us to a young Dr Sivana (a truly old school super villain, dating all the way back to the late 30s).
After a bit of back story as to why he gets all villainy, the movie wastes no time introducing us to Billy Batson (Asher Angel) and the rest of his foster family, and the movie succeeds in making all of the younger characters likable.

After a bit of comic book magic, we're eventually acquainted with the true power of Shazam!
Zachary Levi absolutely shines as he clearly relishes in playing this goofy, excitable teenager trapped in the body of a God. He bounces back and forth with Jack Dylan Grazer pretty well, and for the most part the relentless stream of jokes land nicely.

The film starts to waiver slightly towards the end, as the story hurtles towards a standard comic book movie CGI showdown, with a by the numbers comic book movie performance from Mark Strong, and some sketchy CGI cloud monsters, but it's hard not to grin with the surprise introduction of the Shazam! family (something I would surely expect from a sequel).

Shazam! also struggles at times to balance it's humour with it's more serious beats, but for the most part is an enjoyable origin story that the whole family can enjoy.