Rango

Another cinema trip with the kids, so a rare munchkin-friendly outing with Industrial Light & Magic‘s new showcase piece.

Rango

“Stay in school, eat your veggies, and burn all the books that ain’t Shakespeare.”

Plot-in-a-nutshell: A domesticated lizard finds himself lost in the desert and sheriff of a small frontier town.

ILM haven’t made a full length animated feature before. They’re better known for being one of the world’s premier special effects companies with more films to their credit than I’ve ever likely seen. They’ve gone all out with the technology and casting to make this impressive start (possibly) to a new wing of their business.

With Johnny Depp in the title rôle, it’s off to a good start. Add in the likes of Bill Nighy as an outlaw rattlesnake, Alfred Molina as an armadillo with a death-defying desire to cross the road, Ray Winstone as a cigar-chomping… something and Isla Fisher as the love interest and there’s been no skimping on the vocal talent. Hell, they’ve got Gore Verbinski (all the Pirates of the Caribbean films) to direct.

Depp rarely sounds like himself in this (does he ever?) but you can picture him playing the part in some scenes that seem written for his usual slightly off-kilter self. Rango himself is a strange character. Flung from a car in the opening minutes, he acts his way through the movie taking each event as a challenge and bluffing his way through. More by luck than judgement he ends up being a bit of a hero.

Now, I enjoyed the film although I thought it a teeny bit slow in places. Gill also enjoyed it. The two kids, however, weren’t so keen. It’s dark – not the bright, colourful explosion that appeals to most youngsters. The humour was quick and clever, but way over the heads with very little slapstick. The dialogue, also, was hard to follow in places. Very well acted, but the accents made it tricky for me in places. Younger audience members would surely struggle.

Visually, it’s superb. Absolutely on a plane of its own. The detail and movement make Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within look like a flip-book drawn in crayon. OK, that’s unfair on FF, but the whole look of the film really is incredible. You can tell a bunch of people with incredible mathematical brains have designed this film to show off their fluid dynamics and ray-tracing skills. Every bit of glass reflects and bends light, every grain of sand flows and drifts as realistically as it would in real life. Best of all, none of this takes away from the overall look of the film.

Definitely recommended for those who like their cartoon humour a little more subtle, and who appreciate when a lot of effort has been put into a production. Just hold out for the likes of Rio and that turtle film if  you’re going to be taking nippers with you.

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Sorcerers and Dreamers

I’m in Pattaya, Thailand‘s sex capital. So obviously I spent the evening at the cinema escaping from the rampant lady boys.

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

“This is crazy! But it is fun…”

First film up was the new Nicolas Cage vehicle which I missed the first minute or so of, as I was flipping hungry and ran to A&W before it started. I didn’t miss much, just the “story so far” synopsis which was easy enough to catch up on. It goes something like this:

Back in the day, Merlin (James A. Stephens) was pretty much king of all that is wizardly. However, Morgana (Alice Krige) had plans to defeat him and destroy the world by raising many evil wizards from the dead. Merlin’s understudy Balthazar (Cage) saved the day by trapping Morgana in a Russian doll. Over the years he added “layers” to the doll as he captured other nasty magic-wielders, while searching for the Prime Merlinian – an individual who can cast spells without a magic ring and who is the only person capable of destroying Morgana.

Quick switch to the 21st century and Balthazar finds Dave Stutler (Jake Cherry then Jay Baruchel as the character ages), who turns out to be this Prime Merlinian. A fortuitous find as Dave releases Horvath (Alfred Molina), one of the Morganians who sets out to release and aid Morgana.

OK, plot over. This is an effects-driven movie and said effects are superb. I loved the link between magic and physics – very briefly explained, yet nice and simple. It lends a touch of realism to a fantastical film, and it’s refreshing to hear the things being flung around by magicians being referred to as “plasma”.

I’m gathering that the reviews aren’t that great for this film and that’s a surprise. It’s hugely entertaining. Cage is great in it, obviously having fun, and Baruchel’s not annoying as a young actor can be in films like this. The humour level is spot on, with everything from snappy dialogue to fart gags.

Oh, and not to forget the little film references in there. It’s made by Disney, so there’s a Buzz Lightyear at the start and a very obvious Mickey Mouse-inspired sequence which just had to be included given the film’s name. Even the “hypnosis” moment which instantly made me think of Alec Guinness is name-checked a few seconds later.

This is an ideal popcorn film and something kids and adults alike can enjoy. I just don’t get the poor reviews and attendances. Films are supposed to entertain and this one does the job perfectly.

Inception

“I just want to understand”

A complete counterpoint to the magic of the first offering, Inception is a high-brow sciencey thriller. It’s also a bit of a brainscrambler, often leaving you wondering what the hell’s going on – just like diCaprio’s last outing, Shutter Island.

Leo plays Cobb, a “dream thief”. In this world, people can share dreams and the skilled individual can even create an environment for a third party to explore – so realistic that they don’t know that they’re dreaming. Inside this fake world, others can effectively explore the victim’s psyche and gain information.

The next step is to implant an idea in someone’s head, something regarded as near impossible. This is the “inception” of the title.

Cobb is after one last job to allow him to return to his family in the United States and Saito (Ken Watanabe) offers him this chance. He wants the son of a business magnate to break his father’s companies down into smaller shareholdings to reduce their grasp on the world. To achieve this, the team Cobb forms work out that they will need to “layer” the dreams – one within another within another. This brings about risks – that Cobb is already all to aware of.

As the movie progresses, we not only get a decent twisty plot and some excellent special effects, we also find out a lot more about the history of Cobb.

It’s not that hard to follow once you work out what’s happening and the opening 15 minutes do a good job of explaining it, despite seeming like a short film in their own right. There are plenty of twists and reveals as the two hours plus roll on and it does feel a little long, but that’s a minor complaint.

Told in a good way with extra layers being added as the film progresses, this is definitely a good science fiction film. It also has the best environmental effects since Dark City. Which, if you’ve not seen, you should.

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