Disney

The Rescuers Down Under – JenEric Movie Review

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Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 1990 film The Rescuers Down Under.

Story

The story set-up made me groan but instead of the traditional love triangle, Bernard’s story was about finding the self-confidence that Bianca had in him the whole time.

The rescuing story was also interesting in it’s conservationist bend and scary smart villain.

Score: 1

Characters

The main characters are just as loveable as before and Bernard’s arc is lovely. The added animals are fun and the humans are extremely clever. Something that is refreshing in a movie with kids getting kidnapped; the boy (like the girl in the previous movie) is extremely clever.

Score: 1

Dialogue

There’s a lot of talking that felt over the top and a little long winded. But overall it was pretty clever. I loved John Candy’s lines and irreverence.

Score: 0.5

Visuals and Music

The art is a great blend of traditional and computer animated. Unfortunately, the computer parts don’t hold up as well as the traditional ones.

The music was good and had some nice epic bits.

Score: 0.5

Fun

This is a well-balanced and fun movie. Everyone in the family loved it. Even the 5yo, who said he didn’t want to watch it, was in the room within a few minutes.

Score: 1

Overall

A classic with excellent art and wonderful characters.

Final Score: 4 Stars out of 5

Tarzan (1999) – JenEric Movie Review

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Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 1999 film Tarzan.

Story

Not a huge departure from the book but the changes are pure Disney. That being said, it is the Disney animated movie with the most deaths other than Mulan.

There’s a nice slow pace to the movie that despite the brutality of the antagonists is kinda refreshing.

Score: 1

Characters

Rebellious Tarzan, curious Jane, overprotective but right father figure. The characters are all fairly cliché but it works.

Score: 0.5

Dialogue

The dialogue is fun and quotable.

Score: 1

Visuals and Music

The animation is spectacular and extremely well done. The movement and details are excellent.

The music went hard and is utterly fantastic.

Score: 1

Fun

I’m not a huge fan of kids dying and the beginning really caught me by surprise. It also annoyed me how privileged and innocent all the English characters were.

That being said, the music, pace, and joy in the movie are worth it.

Score: 0.5

Overall

An oft-forgotten Disney classic with amazing music and great visuals. It does have some sad parts but the happy ones make up for it.

Final Score: 4 Stars out of 5

Deadpool & Wolverine – JenEric Movie Review

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Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2024 film Deadpool & Wolverine.

Story

The story is basicly the same as the second movie (saving his family) and the emotional journey is the same as the first (accepting who he is); this time however they have the lore, budget, and cameos from all of Fox and Disney.

No one is watching this one for the deep storyline but it felt a little reductive compared to the first two.

Score: 0.5

Characters

This was the first time I found Deadpool annoying. It was needed to show his contrast with Logan but it was a little much at times. It was also a reflection of his own insecurities and frustrations.

The Logan storyline was great and all the other characters were awesome but I did miss Domino.

Score: 1

Dialogue

The dialogue somehow manages to top itself from the first two. It’s next-level meta and wonderful.

Score: 1

Visuals and Music

The visuals are spectacular and the fight scenes absurdly well done.

The soundtrack was epic and the score fantastic.

Score: 1

Fun

There was a lot in this movie and it was fast. I feel like it’ll take a few more viewings before I catch all the jokes and references. It felt overwhelming having so much so fast. It’s nearly thirty years of movies referenced in 2 hours. It was a lot of fun.

Score: 1

Overall

Bigger, bolder, louder, and with so many more cameos; the movie doesn’t hold back and integrates Deadpool into the greater universe of Disney. Its impressive, funny, and a little heartfelt. Despite the greater budget and change of studio, the heart, humour, and cussing are, thankfully, the same as the first two films.

Final Score: 4.5 Stars out of 5

Tomorrowland – JenEric Movie Review

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Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2015 film Tomorrowland.

Story

It’s a little heavy handed in some aspects and takes way too much time getting to Tomorrowland. I know there was limited time, but I would have liked to know more about what happened to Tomorrowland itself. It seemed to go from clean and heavily populated to some sort of fascist police state.

Score: 0.5

Characters

I liked the characters but it took a long time for them to get to the point where they get over themselves and start working toward a goal.

Score: 0.5

Dialogue

There’s a lot of funny, interesting, and deep quotes. The dialogue rolls well and is mostly logical.

Score: 1

Visuals and Music

The movie is absolutely beautiful. The cinematography, locations, and special effects are top notch.

The music does it’s job but isn’t particulary impressive.

Score: 1

Fun

This might be a silly gripe on my part but I wish more of the movie was in Tomorrowland. I get it’s a metaphor for needing to strive but I wanted to spend more time in the beautiful hopeful world.

It was fun and action-packed but felt like it got lost in the journey and didn’t give the characters a chance to shine.

The rest of the family really enjoyed it.

Score: 0.5

Overall

An uneven movie that brings the thrills, the wonder, and hope. The movie is a visual feast with fast-paced action and a simple message that more people need to ask; “What can we do to fix it?”

Final Score: 3.5 Stars out of 5

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl – JenEric Movie Review

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Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2003 film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.

Story

The story is a nice reversal of the kidnapped princess trope. It has a lot of back and forth travelling but never feels slow, despite being almost two and half hours long.

That being said, it’s not original and a lot of the plot relies on intelligent characters being idiots.

Score: 0.5

Characters

The characters feel jarringly cartoonish but they fit perfectly in the world. It’s impressive how much depth and understanding the audience gets from the character’s quips and actions.

Score: 1

Dialogue

The movie isn’t historically accurate and no one wanted it to be. The dialogue is quippy, irreverent, and funny.

Score: 1

Visuals and Music

The visuals are all absolutely stunning but suffer from the early 2000’s obsessions with quick-cuts and shaky-cam.

The music is spectacular and makes the movie worth it on it’s own.

Score: 0.5

Fun

Everyone seemed to enjoy the movie. I was worried because we’d watched it with a 2yo Dragon and she’d been bored. Not this time; she was riveted and loved it. Pegasus seemed indifferent. The rest of the family loved it.

I’ll be honest, I don’t like Johnny Depp. He normally has little charisma and plays only two characters. Cpt. Jack however is one of the characters he does extremely well.

Score: 1

Overall

A wonderful historical fantasy with amazing dialogue, music, and scenery.

Final Score: 4 Stars out of 5

The Muppets (2011) – JenEric Movie Review

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Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2011 film The Muppets.

Story

It’s a complete rehash of other Muppet stories, and the attempt to insert family and romantic drama comes off as both distraction and annoyance.

Score: 0

Characters

The human characters are only there to give the audience a proxy and their main character traits are meh. I loved Amy Adams and she managed to pull of the ridiculous character and make it believable.

The Muppets themselves felt like caricatures of the original movie. It felt like they were ignoring everything except the first show and movie.

The cameos were fantastic however and the villain was fun.

Score: 0.5

Dialogue

There were some great moments and gags but the dialogue was burdened by over explaining. It’s like the film makers thought people would get confused.

Score: 0.5

Visuals and Music

The camera work was good and the dance routines were fun.

The music was great and definitely one of my favourite parts.

Score: 1

Fun

I love the Muppets and although this wasn’t them at their best, it was fun. The kids didn’t laugh much but they were glued to the screen.

Score: 0.5

Overall

An interesting attempt at writing the Muppets that relies too much on nostalgia and doesn’t offer much new for the audience.

Final Score: 2.5 Stars out of 5