Categories
Misc

Frozen

The lass spent the whole movie giggling excitedly. The boy spent the whole movie wiggling uncomfortably.

That’s probably the best way to sum up Frozen. It’s called a movie, but I thought it was more a musical than movie by the time it was all done. The first half the characters were breaking into song every 5 minutes or so. It slowed down some in the second half, but there was still plenty of spontaneous eruptions of song.

Which isn’t to say I disliked it. I just didn’t expect so much of it to be told with music. As for the story, the main shortcoming I could come up with was how the loss of the girl’s parents was dealt with. That is to say, it wasn’t. They simply were there for about 20 minutes, and then gone- never to be addressed or spoken of again. Seemed kind of odd given that the girls were supposedly so close to them but then never grieved for them. Not to worry too much though- the 20 minutes they are in the movie is long enough to lay the ground work for what happens in the rest of the movie.

The movie’s strongest point is the ending. The “act of true love” which is needed to resolve the story is setup quite nicely. As a Disney movie, everyone is led to believe it will be one thing. What it actually becomes is much more satisfying and in keeping with the overall heart of the story- the relationship between the two sisters.

Sprinkle in comedy relief from Olaf and Sven, and there’s plenty of story and entertainment for everyone. Except, apparently, for the boy who claimed he didn’t like it. It was almost as comical watching him wiggle in his seat during the “kissy” scenes as listening the lass squeal with delight at Olaf’s goofiness. Disney did a nice job of adding a new twist on their “Princess” canon.

Categories
Family Movies

Rio

Took the kids to see Rio today. It’s a nice little movie, easily suitable for ages 5 and up. The lass loved it; the boy not so much. He liked the humor portion, but the relationship stuff bored him. I guess that makes him a typical 7 year old boy. The lass liked it so much she wanted to get the video already.

The gist of the movie is Rio is the last male “blue macaw” and he is taken from his cozy little existence in Minnesota to Rio to meet Jewel, the last female “blue macaw” in the hopes of fixing their species predicament. The problems arise in the form of a culture clash since Rio has never really known life without a caring human, while Jewel has never known captivity. Right about the time the two of them agree to disagree, some smugglers chain them together. From there on, it’s a typical love bird story.

The plot is spiced up with some help from a Tucan, some other plucky little birds, a Salsa loving bulldog and a rather nasty Cockatoo. Oh, and monkeys. A bunch of monkeys. And I’m not referring to the humans in the story.

While the relationship humor is somewhat over the kids’ heads, the physical humor certainly wasn’t, judging by the frequent laughter coming from them. There’s just enough there for adults and the story is well executed enough to make it an enojoyable 90 minutes. The 3-D aspect of the movie isn’t really important, though it does provide for some remarkable flying sequences. Of course, for just shy of $50 to see the movie, I’d say it’s perfectly understandable to wait for it to come out on DVD or BR.

Categories
Movies

Megamind

Awhile back, the Wife had purchased Megamind. It’s a Dreamworks computer animated movie. We figured it would be a good movie for the kids; however, because it’s rated PG we figured we ought to do our diligence and screen it ahead of time.

I’ll say upfront that I was unaware of the casting prior to watching it. Had I been aware of it, I would in all likelihood have been more averse to watching it at all. Having seen it now, don’t, if you’re not a Will Ferrell or a Tina Fey fan, let the casting affect your decision to watch it. I found the movie entertaining and never once suspected they were in it. So from my standpoint, their brand of humor does not detract from the movie one bit.