Shockingly close to the actual novel, possibly with more quotes from it than most movie adaptations. The story was pretty much a remake of the novel with a lot of Mel Brooks spin. It toes the line from serious to absurd and I personally wish it went further into the absurd.
Story: 0.5
Characters
Then entire cast was having a lot of fun and you can tell. They often over do it in the most delightful way, but at times the jokes fall flatter than I’d like.
Score: 0.5
Dialogue
Oscillating between dick jokes and monologues about beauty that could be pulled from the novel, the dialogue was all over the place and I mean that in the best way. The contrast is what adds an extra level to the humour.
Score: 1
Visuals and Music
The filming style is a perfect match for the old monster movies, which was a little discordant when I saw the background actors with seventies hair styles.
The music was like the dialogue, all over the place. Not sure it worked as well though.
Score: 0.5
Fun
I have a feeling that I could watch this movie yearly and enjoy it on my own. However, it is a very slow-paced and very talky movie sometimes to a self-indulgent level. The kids were bored, but I expected that.
Score: 0.5
Overall
There are glimmers of genius in the comedy of the movie, but it tries too hard to be too many things. Personally, I prefer Brooks when his movies are more absurd and frantic.
Definitely geared towards younger audiences, it’s a solid intro into the secret agent / spy genre. The twist was predictable for me, but I’ve seen a lot of these.
Score: 0.5
Characters
The main three characters are the usual super awesome Barbie and friends. They fit into the basic spy stereotypes very well. The techie computer guy felt really relatable and the over-the-top spy aunt was pretty funny.
The villain felt a little meh and the heel-face turn was abrupt and could have used more set up.
Score: 0.5
Dialogue
The dialogue oscillates between cutesy and inane. There are a few funny jokes and the overall message is good.
Score: 0.5
Visuals and Music
The visuals are standard Barbie movie with lots of cute spy and action bonuses. It’s not great, but it’s not terrible.
The music is catchy… too catchy. They have 1 song and they use it A LOT!
Score: 0.5
Fun
I enjoyed this the first time I watched it. It has constantly been on of my daughters favourite movies since she could ask for it. She used to say she was going on missions with her spy girls and then do a bunch of flips.
Score: 1
Overall
One of the best Barbie movies available with a strong message and catchy music. It’s a great intro into spy and action movies without the gratuitous violence. It’s fun and one of my daughter’s favourite movies.
Today we’re talking about the 1996 film Space Jam.
Story
The movie is a basic underdog sports story with a little bit of cartoon magic. It’s cute and over the top in a way that only Bugs and pals can handle.
I am sad they didn’t include a proper training montage though.
It’s written in a way that even people like me who know nothing about 1990’s basketball can still follow easily.
Score: 0.5
Characters
The main charater is Michael Jordan and he does a great job of playing the cool, Roll-with-it kind of character. The Looney Tunes are mostly alright, although I find the portrayal of Lola Bunny disturbing. She’s a odd combination of damsel, useless, and competent.
Bill Murray playing Bill Murray will always be a treat.
Score: 0.5
Dialogue
There are quite a lot of one liners in this and most of them stick about as well as you’d expect from the Looney Toons. There are a lot of great adult jokes and I love the bits with the basketball players who lost their abilities.
Overall it’s pretty forgettable dialogue.
Score: 0.5
Visuals and Music
The visuals are clean and well shot. They are definitely dated by style and by limits of the 3D tech at the time.
The music is wonderfully nostalgic and well chosen for the oomph needed in a sports movie.
Score: 0.5
Fun
Despite it’s flaws, this movie is a lot of fun and hits all the right beats for a sports movie. It’s exciting, funny, and overall easy to watch. Both my kids were trying to sing the title song by the end.
Score: 1
Overall
Space Jam is a product of it’s time and as such is a strange mashup of timeless sports movie chained to 1996. It’s entertaining and has plenty of background jokes for the basketball fans and the cartoon fans. It’s fun and quirky and easy to watch. In the end, however, it’s also utterly forgettable in everything but nostalgic soundtrack.
Someone found an old 90’s sports movie script and decided to gender-swap the cast and make it about dancing. You’ve got all the usual stereotypes, the slightly goofy sex-obsessed best friend, the nerdy driven main character, the beautiful love interest, the parent who pushes too hard, and the forgettable background characters.
Despite being predictable, it still pulled it off pretty well, no huge loose ends or glaring issues.
Score: 0.5
Characters
The characters were a little stereotypical, but they still felt unique for the most part.
I don’t like that the diva villain is queer-coded. The only remotely queer character being the villain is pretty crappy.
Score: 0.5
Dialogue
For a sports movie selling itself as a romance, this had a lot of very clever humour. I doubt it’ll make it’s way into my daily quoting, but it was believable and funny.
Score: 0.5
Visuals and Music
Visually the movie was very well shot. The dancing wasn’t always the best, but cinematography was good. Several scenes I could have told you were from a dance movie without having seen the movie.
The music was good. I enjoyed the pop heavy soundtrack and my youngest felt compelled to get up and dance more than once.
Score: 0.5
Fun
The angsty bits weren’t too long and other than the terrible relationship between the mom and daughter, I enjoyed this movie. It’s one of the few I’ve reviewed that had the entire family laughing.
Score: 1
Overall
This is a typical sports movie with a romance. The dancing isn’t exceptional, but the story is a lot a fun and quite funny.
I’ve watched a lot of Christmas movies and they’re all a little shallow, but this one felt very surface level. There are 3 major storylines and none of them get the time or treatment they need. The mother’s depression, the older brother’s love story, and the younger brother’s adoption issues are all glossed over with Holiday Magic. However, I do have to give them credit for bringing up emotions and issues that are relatable.
Score: 0.5
Characters
There’s a nice mix of characters with a gay couple and a hispanic love interest. It could have used some more realistic diversity, but it certainly tried. I like that the gay couple weren’t portrayed as perfect or as stereotypes, but as any busy young couple. They were set as the stable couple. Unfortunately, their storyline was short and they were the most interesting characters.
The mom’s depression after retirement was understandable and a little too easily overcome. The main love story was sappy and cute. I don’t feel like any of the characters got enough screen time to talk through their issues, making the whole thing feel like Christmas magic fixed it. I don’t like that.
Score: 0.5
Dialogue
The main character being a TV lawyer led to a lot of really funny lines. There were some great magic puns and the younger brother was nice and wise. The quips between siblings was well done and believable.
Score: 0.5
Visuals and Music
I’ll cut them some slack since Hallmark movies are filmed at breakneck speeds, but there were a lot of editing hiccups and some weird camera angles. The house was gaudy, but not all that fantastic. The actors were pretty though.
The music did what it needed and rarely got noticed.
Score: 0.5
Fun
I enjoyed watching some of my favourite sci-fi tv actors in a holiday movie. Beyond that, it was a lovely, sappy movie that had a smile on my face the entire time.
Score: 1
Overall
This is a step in the right direction, in my opinion, for queer representation. That being said, the movie was a sappy holiday movie with surface level storylines that could have been better served with more talking. It is, however, a joyful stress and angst-lite movie.
It was a cute Christmas story but was derivative and predictable. Each beat (no pun intended) was expected and the middle bits dragged a little.
The emphasis on the necklace felt like an unused thread, and the “magic” inventor granddaughter proved she was smart and then the plot didn’t let her fix or make anything. It also contained one of my most hated tropes, where the adults don’t listen to the kids.
I’m trying really hard to ignore the moral, ethical, and humane questions of creating sentient toys and being able to mass produce a slave toy race that you can “reprogram” when they don’t behave.
Score: 0
Characters
The acting in the movie is superb. The characters are mostly pretty awesome. I didn’t really like the mail woman / love interest. Her constant mis-naming rubbed me the wrong way. Overall she came off as a male Christmas love interest, which I’m not a fan of.
The Jeronicus and his apprentice storyline is sad but extremely well acted. Journey was a joy and should have had a larger part in the plot.
Score: 0.5
Dialogue
The dialogue was appropriately steampunk meets modern day in a way that only a holiday fable could do. Some overly sappy and some kinda deep.
Score: 0.5
Visuals and Music
The sets, clothing, lighting, character design, and worldbuilding are fantastic. The cinematography was amazing and background information on posters, etc is meticulously done.
The music is fantastic, although I would have liked one last big number at the end.
I found the choreography a little repetitive, but not enough to dampen my awe at the music and visuals.
Score: 1
Fun
I was awed by the first few frames and hooked by the first song. It wasn’t until the midway point that I fell a little out of love but it passed fast enough. My family and children were riveted. The 17 month old would stop and watch, or dance, at every song and cooed at the adorable robot.
Score: 1
Overall
One of the most beautiful movies I’ve seen with some amazing songs and more than a little magic. It falls flat if you think about it too long, and all the beauty and wonderful acting doesn’t cover up the lack of original story.
Oh angsty Christmas. This movie is well thought out both as a comedy and drama. The world building is both enormous in scale and efficiently done.
Score: 0.5
Characters
With the exception of Bryony and Mrs. Claus, I find the majority of the characters annoying. It’s not a flaw of the writing, but more a necessity for the character’s growth. That doesn’t mean I don’t spend a large portion of the movie stopping myself from yelling at the screen.
Score: 0.5
Dialogue
Extremely well acted with unique vocal traits and some great lines. Overall the dialogue is smart, well thought out, and very funny.
I’ve watched this now in Quebec French and in English and both are fantastic.
Score: 1
Visuals and Music
The animation is starting to show it’s age but is still impressive. Lots of background visual gags and the whole thing is quite pretty.
The music is acceptable but nothing special.
Score: 0.5
Fun
I enjoy the movie and I don’t. It’s a lot of angst and a lot of awkward but it does end all nice and fuzzy. There’s also a lot of fun and funny bits.
Score: 0.5
Overall
A Christmas story that revels in it’s worldbuilding without getting boring. The characters grow and angst their way through a heartwarming story with plenty of laughs.
The concept for this story is fantastic, a wonderful idea. The story is a little uneven I really can’t stand the interludes of stupid humour.
Score: 0.5
Night at the Museum 2
The story was an entertaining modern D&D adventure. It was cute and clever but there was something unsettling about the shoehorned love plot. It was also terribly busy and seemed to ignore parts of the first movie. (If Dick Van Dyke can turn the tablet off, why can’t Stiller?)
Also the Smithsonian has the worst security in existence. Why was Ben Stiller not arrested, he should have been on a million cameras.
Score: 0.5
Night at the Museum 3
This is a movie that knew it was the last in a series, but left a lot of openings for spin-offs. (Thank goodness that didn’t happen.) The story was a slight variation on the previous ones with a London twist. Definitely the weakest of the group.
Score: 0
Characters
Night at the Museum 1
The self awareness of Teddy Roosevelt along with the stellar cast and characters makes this movie. Roles that could have been boring or cliché are brought to life with depth and heart. It’s also nice that there wasn’t a romantic subplot with the historian. I truly hate dumb characters and needless bosses which made this less fun. Ben Stiller and Ricky Gervais’s antics are frustrating at best and boring at worst.
Score: 0.5
Night at the Museum 2
Ben Stiller is still annoying but there’s less of him. I felt like leaving the room when he talked with Jonah Hill or the monkeys. There was certainly not enough time given to the characters from the first movie.
That being said, Amy Adams was spectacular as was Hank Azaria. It was also nice to see that Stiller’s character had evolved not reverted which is common for movies.
Score: 0.5
Night at the Museum 3
Ben Stiller’s humour is still not my thing and there were two of him in this. I would have taken another six of him over Rebel Wilson. Not my style of comedy. The rest of the cast, as usual, did a great job. This is Robin Williams’ last live action movie and he’s great. The new additions are funny and well done. It was nice to see the trio of nightguards again.
Score: 0.5
Dialogue
Night at the Museum 1
There are gags and moments of true depth in this movie. Everything from Robin Williams is gold and a lot of the other secondary characters dialogue is wonderful.
Score: 0.5
Night at the Museum 2
The dialogue was much more developed in this one, lots of fantastic banter between the characters.
Score: 1
Night at the Museum 3
When they weren’t making melting nose jokes or peeing monkey commentary the movie had some very funny lines and a few very deep moments.
Score: 0.5
Visuals and Music
Night at the Museum 1
The special effects are a little dated but still hold the beauty and wonder of a museum coming to life. The cinematography has a few moments of genius.
The music is epic and grandiose and used perfectly.
Score: 1
Night at the Museum 2
This movie took all the beautiful visuals from the first one and doubled down. The special effects are bigger and prettier. The hall of paintings was excellent world building. Visually this was wonderful to watch. And that fight scene at the end was fantastic.
The music didn’t disappoint and although I won’t be running out to buy the soundtrack, it was suitably epic.
Score: 1
Night at the Museum 3
The movie is beautiful and absolutely well done visually. The Esher painting scene and the snake dragon thing fight were stunningly beautiful. It was a beautiful movie that was well shot.
The music once again elevated the silliest gag to epic.
Score: 1
Fun
Night at the Museum 1
This movie is entertaining nearly throughout. Again I dislike Stiller and Gervais but the rest made up for it.
Score: 0.5
Night at the Museum 2
There’s a little cringe at the beginning and the whole Brundan thing took too long, but after that it was a fun thrill ride. I still was uncomfortable with the love story though, and that took some pleasure out of it.
Score: 0.5
Night at the Museum 3
This movie had more awkward in it and longer anoying gags. It’s the shortest of the three but felt like the longest. It also felt like it took a long time getting to any sort of plot.
Score: 0.5
Overall
Night at the Museum 1
This is a lovely movie with a good message and some exceptional actors doing their comedic best. It’s fun and despite a few really dumb moments, it’s a classic. I also have to give the film makers credit for a racially diverse group that is actually properly cast.
Finals Score: 3 Stars
Night at the Museum 2
This was a good sequel that built on the first and brought some fantastic action and visuals. Amy Adams is spectacular as is Hank Azaria. Definitely worth a watch.
Finale Score: 3.5 Stars
Okay, so I went and looked at my previous review and it’s pretty consistent.
Night at the Museum 3
It’s a fitting end to a series of movies that was okay but not great. It didn’t fully live up to its potential, but was elevated by brilliant actors.
Less of a consistent story and more of a series of vignettes, usually ending in a pun with more than a few fart/poop jokes.
The way it was tied in at the end was clever and overall it was inoffensive, if juvenile.
Score: 0.5
Characters
The main three characters had growth and a little depth despite themselves. I’m personally sick of the bully actually secretly likes the victim trope; it feels like setting up kids for abusive relationships.
The rest of the characters didn’t even try to be historically accurate and once you get over that, it’s cute.
Score: 0.5
Dialogue
I like puns and wordplay so the quips at the end, and sometimes middle, of the sketches were enjoyable.
Score: 0.5
Visuals and Music
The movie was colourful and quite well animated. Beautiful landscapes and clever use of framing.
The music was epic enough to tie the sketches together into some sort of coherent whole.
Score: 1
Fun
I felt the movie dragged a little at the beginning and the sketches were a little too silly even for me. Once the plot started to kick in midway I started having more fun.
Score: 0.5
Overall
It felt like there was more thought given to the wordplay than the characters or plot. Unfortunately characters and plot will stick with me.
It was a cute and fun movie, but didn’t have much substance.
Today we’re talking about the 2020 film Over the Moon.
Story
This has all the elements of a wonderful Doorway-style story. (Doorways stories are about youths that find a method of travelling to a fantastic world. Think Alice or Dorothy.) The near-Pixar style sadness at the beginning and the Olaf clone are well done and don’t feel trope-y.
Unfortunately the concept is prettier than the story, and once they reach the moon, the story is disjointed and thin, giving too much room to world building and action.
The ending and the moral are heavy handed and uninspired.
Score: 0
Characters
The kids were interesting and realistic for an animation. It’s great to show a character that is into myth and STEM equally, something that isn’t explored enough. I didn’t really like the whole, “I have a super power” story line, since it was done for cheap laughs and a non-funny gag.
The animal sidekicks are plenty and cute, never detracting from the story or getting too annoying.
The woman on the moon was supposed to feel mythological, like dealing with a god or magic power. She came off more as whiny, entitled, and not too bright. Less like a force of nature and more like a toddler.
Score: 0.5
Dialogue
The dialogue was okay. It served its purpose but compared to the complexity of other animated movies I felt like it was a little simplistic. The word humour was well done and the sassyness of the kids was a mirror of reality.
Score: 0.5
Visuals and Music
Pearl has now, after two movies, established itself as a studio that can do quality animation. This movie is stunningly beautiful. The detail, lighting, and cinematography are all beyond anything anyone else is doing outside of top tier Disney and Pixar.
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think making this a musical was the wrong choice. I think it detracted from the emotion and story. The music was however very good, catchy, and insightful.
Score: 1
Fun
This movie was a lot of fun to watch. My kids were enthralled, my wife and I cried, and I still have some of the songs stuck in my head.
Score: 1
Overall
Stunningly beautiful with a mediocre story. The movie could have been so much better, but is still a lot of fun to watch.
