Finding Dory Review

     Finding Dory, though an unnecessary sequel, is still a solid emotional family film that is up to the high standards audiences set for Pixar films.

I was never of the belief that Finding Nemo needed a sequel, none the less having it to do with the character of Dory, a fish with short term memory. Don't take it the wrong way, I like the character of Dory. She brought humor when it needed to be present and was not as annoying as she could have been. I just did not see the potential of basing a movie around this character, especially given that she had a great story arc in the first movie. Also, Disney has not done well with animated sequels (Toy Story aside). Most end up going straight to video and are basically babysitters for young children as they add no value to the story and botch, or worse destroy, traits of beloved characters. With a character like Dory, there was the risk of making her memory loss trait very annoying and maybe even uncomfortable given that memory loss is a very serious mental disorder. But thankfully, the good people at Pixar put their best into this and what we got was a surprisingly good film.

The story takes place one year after Finding Nemo, and focuses on Dory trying to find her parents after remembering them. And its not just, "oh she left home and her parents were just inside the house the whole time", she, much like Nemo, was taken away from her parents by forces out of her control. It's the basic formula for Pixar movies, character gets taken out of home/comfort zone and must find a way back home or get somewhere safe. But it is the characters and the emotions they go through that get us invested in these stories. We want to see Woody and Buzz get back to Andy, we want to see Marlin find his son, and we want Dory to find her parents. It's the characters and their journey that make the story work.

And probably for the best, this movie has a lot of good characters in it. A good Dory movie would have her interacting with characters and have the characters work off of each other. You have a squid voiced by Ed O'Neil who wants nothing more than to be in Cleveland, a pair of whales voiced by Ty Burrell and Kaitlin Olson, and a pair of seals voiced by Idris Elba and Dominic West. The movie does have scenes with Dory on her on and it is very dramatic (I say this in the best way possible). It goes with her character and gives us the emotional moments we look for in Disney movies.

Finding Dory is just as good as its predicessor and is a great film for all members of the family.

Rating: 4 stars

Zootopia Review

When I first saw the trailers and marketing for Zootopia I was expecting a buddy cop movie from Disney that relied on a lot of animal jokes and puns. Something okay but not memorable. Boy was I in for a surprise. Zootopia deals with subjects like race and gender stereotyping, class warfare, attitudes of police officers, roles in society, and many other things you would find in an Ayn Rand novel. I bring this up because like many other critics out there, we were not expecting a movie called Zootopia, a Disney film about cute talking animals, to talk about risky subjects like that. I think that shock value is what is getting the film so much attention but I'm getting ahead of myself.

The story takes place in this world where animals have evolved from their predator/prey to form a society that mirrors ours. In this world our main character Judy Hopps, a rabbit voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin. She is the first rabbit cop in Zootopia which is a big deal because most people don't believe a rabbit should be a police officer. At first she gets hazed for being a rabbit and finds the utopia she thought she would be living in and her dream of making a difference by being a cop where not what she expected them to be. But when she gets involved in a missing animal case she encounters a sly con artist fox named Nick Wilde who is voiced by Jason Bateman. Wilde gets roped into Judy's case and discover what's been going on and how society really works.

I would compare this movie to something like Animal Farm, a story that uses talking animals to discuss hot button social issues. Going back to my earlier thoughts on the high praise the movie is getting, I think most of the praise comes from the unexpectedness of all the heavy themes thrown in with the decent humor of the movie. The humor is not extremely funny but it does its job of relieving tension after the dramatic and scary moments. Yeah, there are scary moments in this movie including a jump scare that will scare even the adults in the audience.

But with that all said is the movie worth the praise it is getting? Yes, yes it its. Zootopia does a fantastic job of dealing with the social issues of today in a very clever way while also sticking to the Disney look and feel of its story and characters. It's a movie I hope one day to show my kids. Its themes and some of its humor plays to an adult crowd but I would take time away from the movie so that you can experience it again from a fresh perspective. When I saw the movie again the shock value of the themes wasn't as poignant as it was the first time but I still chuckled at the jokes.

Grade: A+

What's to Come: 10 Cloverfield Lane review and a look back on Man of Steel.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Review

In October 2012, George Lucas revealed that he sold his production company, Lucasfilm, as well as the Star Wars franchise to The Walt Disney Company. It was also in that month that the world was made aware that sequels to the original trilogy would be made, this time under the guidance of the Disney company. This sent of wild speculations of how much Lucas would be involved given the negative reaction to the prequel trilogy, would there be original story or the one Lucas created, who would direct and most importantly, would the original cast return?

Over the next few years we got our answers. In January of 2013, Star Trek reboot director JJ Abrams was announced as the director of the next Star Wars movie. Over the next couple of months new writers were brought on for the script and the world was told that the saga would continue in December of 2015. But it was not until 2014 that it was revealed that Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill would return to their roles as Princess Leia, Han Solo and Luke Skywalker. But we were not only going to be getting the original characters back, but also some new ones. Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac, John Boyega and Adam Driver were cast as completely new characters in the Star Wars universe.

From there it was back to speculation for fans. Until November 28, 2014 when the first teaser dropped online. It was only 90 seconds but still, it was the first footage of the movie, a movie coming out in only a year. After that, Abrams released images of mock trading cards that revealed the names of  the new characters, those being Rey (Daisy Ridley), Finn (John Boyega), Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), Kylo Ren (Adam Driver). Then we got the second trailer in April of 2015 that blew every fan away. From there it was media coverage and a HUGE mass marketing until the date of December 18th, 2015 , the release date of the movie.

I've brought all this up to remind everyone of how much this movie was built up. For 3 years we waited in anticipation for clips, images and any source of information regarding the movie. And was all the build up worth it? Yes, yes it was. Star Wars: The Force Awakens recaptures the spirit of the franchise that was lost in the prequels. No more boring political drama, no more stiff acting, no more hokey dialogue and especially no more dumb Jar Jar humor. This is the movie fans have been hoping for. SPOILERS AHEAD!

The Force Awakens takes place 30  years after the demise of Darth Vader and the Empire. Luke Skywalker has vanished and the rebels, now called the Resistance, as well as The First Order, a new version of the Empire, are looking for him as he is now the last Jedi in the galaxy. Leading The First Order is the ominous Kylo Ren. Kylo Ren is what fans wanted out of Anakin Skywalker, someone who is being torn apart by both sides of the force and ultimately giving in to the fear and anger that is the dark side. He discovers from Poe Dameron that the map to Skywalker is in a droid, BB-8 who serves as our R2-D2. At the same time stormtrooper FN-2187 is having a moment of realization that he should not be with the First Order, and Ren feels it in him. He helps Poe escape the torture of Ren as Poe gives him the name Finn.

The escape and crash land on the desert planet Jakku, which is home to Daisy Ridley's character Rey. Rey is arguably my favorite character in the movie next to Finn. Her past is a mystery but is one that may be pieced together through her journey and she is a strong and bold female lead that can lead a massive franchise such as this one. There have been those who say she is a Mary Sue character (a female who is so perfect she is annoying) but I feel that those critiques are not warranted. She's good because she knows what she is doing. As a scavenger she has been in an Imperial ship many times to the point she knows how they work and thus she would know how to fly a ship. Also, when it is revealed she has the force, she doesn't immediately move objects with her mind but use the Jedi mind trick to get free and to guide her in battle. She is new to the force and is not fully aware of her strength.

After meeting Rey, it becomes a race to get the map to Skywalker to the Resistance and blow up The First Order's Starkiller base, which is so freaking huge it makes the death star seem tiny by comparison. Now a lot of critics have pointed out the film mirrors the story of A New Hope, the first film released but the forth in the story. And yeah, it does but A New Hope when you get down to it, is a basic hero's journey story. What makes it work here and in the first movie is the characters. We want to see Rey and Finn make it because we care about them, something we didn't when it came to the prequels. Good characters can give an old story new life.

Speaking of new life, practical effects are back and they are a welcoming site from the CGI heavy prequels. Yes CGI can make glorious looking worlds but sometimes we need to see that what's there is really there. There is CGI in the movie and the most notable are the characters of Supreme Leader Snoke, played excellently by motion capture expert Andy Serkis, and Maz Kanata, played by Lupita Nyong'o. They're not bad looking by no means but they stand out in a mostly practical effect heavy movie.

While the movie mirrors a lot of the plot of the first movie and even some story points from Empire Strikes Back, The Force Awakens is the kick in the pants Star Wars needed after the lackluster prequels. We see what our old favorite characters are up to but it also gives us great new characters to adventure with. The movie is sure to please fans and casual movie goers a like. Now with all that said is the most perfect movie of the year? No, it has a lot of unexplained plot holes and continuity errors out the wazoo,  but as a Star Wars movie The Force Awakens is a  fun movie going experience that must been seen in glorious IMAX 3D in order to appreciate what the fandom is getting after years of disappointment.

Grade: A-

The Good Dinosaur Review

While I was still blown away by the Pixar animation and at times emotional story, The Good Dinosaur offers nothing new for long time Pixar viewers. And while there are the heart warming moments seen in most Pixar movies, The Good Dinosaur had the unfortunate pleasure of being the next Pixar release after their mega hit Inside Out, a far superior film in my opinion.

The film takes place in an alternate time where the meteor that took out the dinosaurs missed Earth and instead dinosaurs were allowed to evolve for million of years more. After many years of evolving, we meet Arlo, a young timid dinosaur who wants nothing more to make his father proud of him after his fears get his father killed by a flood. His anger and sadness makes him blame a cave boy for the accident and when chasing him, gets him separated from his families home. So Arlo and the cave boy, named Spot, work together to find a way back to Arlo's home.

The main problem with the film is that it borrows way to much from other film. One moment it's a buddy road trip, the next it feels like Land Before Time, The Lion King and many better movies that did what this movie is trying to do. I am not the only one who sees this problem as that is one of the biggest criticisms the movie is getting. But I wonder how much stems from Inside Out doing a fresh take on an already done idea in a masterful way. This film takes a safe route in giving us a message we all know in a predictable film. And that's something the populace does not want from Pixar, they want clever ideas and re-telling a message with that clever idea. It's the same criticism Cars got.

Would I say this is the worst Pixar movie? No, it has emotional moments and I did find myself liking the characters and I wouldn't say this is worse than the Cars franchise or Monsters University. A bad Pixar movie is not the worse movie of all time, its just a let down of expectations. If you have a kid that wants to go see it, I have no problem with that, but if you're looking for another original Pixar movie you might feel a little let down.

Grade: B-