Thursday, December 17, 2009

I'm Back!!

So, this past month and a half has been quite busy.. and as you may hove noticed the blog has suffered as a result. Job hunting can take up a lot of time. But now that I have a new job I hope that I'll be able to write here more often. Anyway.. it's almost the end of the year so that means a top ten list of my favorite TV shows and movies of the year... but before that, I would like to review two animated movies that have come out in the past month or so... Both of them very good.


First off is "Fantastic Mr. Fox." The film is an adaptation of the children's book by Roald Dahl. As a kid Dahl was one of my very favorite authors... but I didn't remember the book very well. It didn't really matter. The film is directed by Wes Anderson of "Rushmore," and "The Royal Tenenbaums" fame. So if you like that quirky type of humor you'll enjoy this movie. I would say it's probably my favorite Anderson film. I laughed throughout the movie. It's just so hilarious. So if you like either Dahl or Anderson... this movie is for you... PS.. in case you didn't know, this film is stop-motion animation.. but don't let that scare you... it only adds to the charm.


I also saw "The Princess and the Frog" which is Disney's first traditionally animated film in sometime... and the film is gorgeous. John Lassetter the man behind Pixar is now running Disney's entire animation department.. so we can all thank him for the return of hand drawn cartoons. I really enjoyed "The Princess and the Frog," I thought the music was good and the story fun. If you like films like "The Little Mermaid," "Aladdin," or "Beauty and the Beast," you'll probably like this movie. Now I don't know if "Frog" will stand the test of time like those other films but.. it's definitely worth seeing now.

Both films get an A from me... but I probably liked "Fox" better just because it's funnier... and quirkier. Has anyone else seen these movies?

3 comments:

Jillian said...

No but I want and need to see both!

Nells-Bells said...

so, so glad about your new job AND that you will be able to post more often. i can't wait for your countdown of favorite movies from 2009. i was so bummed to not see mr. fox with you guys on thanksgiving but i will definitely have to see it. lots of people have told me how great it is. i too am excited about the good old hand drawn animated films. have you heard about toy story 3? so, so excited. :)

Miskatonic said...

My wife and I saw Avatar in 3D IMAX yesterday. It's definitely the most visually thrilling special effects movie I've ever seen. My wife has been nauseated ever since. Seriously! I loved the SciFi and the world that was created. The characters were extremely "Camronean". Meaning, they were cookie cutter but nowhere near as annoying as "Bayean" characters. The exposition was extremely obvious, and the narrative (outsider assimilated by natives) was straight from Dances with Wolves. Because the film's achievements were mostly visual, I recommend seeing this in IMAX 3D or not at all (perhaps you could get away with regular 3D.)

Sorry for posting this here but I wanted to encourage you to see Avatar in 3D before reviewing it.