Ice Age: Collision Course (2016)

Genre

Adventure | Animation | Comedy

Director

Mike Thurmeier

Country

USA

Voice Cast

Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Queen Latifah, Sean William Scott, Simon Pegg, Keke Palmer, Jennifer Lopez, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Jessie J, Adam DeVine, Wanda Sykes, Melissa Rauch, Chris Wedge

Storyline

Since Scrat (Chris Wedge) sets off a series of cosmic events that threaten the planet, Manny (Ray Romano), Diego (Denis Leary) and Sid (John Leguizamo) join up with Buck (Simon Pegg) to save the world.

Opinion

Four years ago, after "Ice Age: Continental Drift", I thought they would end the franchise because that film definitely wasn't a good entry. When I found out they were making a new one, I knew it wouldn't bode well. And this belief was further strengthened when I found out that Buck, one of the best characters in the franchise as well as my favourite, would come back. If you bring back an old character, I told to myself, chances are the material isn't good enough. And I wasn't wrong.

In fact, "Ice Age: Collision Course" is just another entry that completely lacks originality, but mostly important, it's definitely not funny.

The writing, despite the cold setting of the film, is a hot mess. The story is a terrible and very boring stack of an uninteresting and unengaging main storyline and too many unnecessary subplots, unnecessary loaded with drama, like the whole I just want my father-in-law to like me family drama.

But the awful writing doesn't stop there. The film also feature awful new characters whose only purpose is to be plot devices. Some of them doesn't even have a real reason to be there, like Sid's girlfriend. Unfortunately the dreadful work of the writers doesn't end with the new characters. They indeed have managed to destroy the old characters as well. Manny is just an excuse to make the film, Diego has no role in the story, and Sid, well, it's not like he was a great character before. The straw that broke the camel is Buck. I loved him in "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" but they completely ruined him here.

Being a comedy, the film is supposed to be funny, am I right? Apparently this time the dress code was unfunny. In fact the jokes that are mostly based on stereotypical gender roles, are so lame I couldn't believe they actually said that.

And what a shame to waste such good animation in this mess. 

Gnomeo & Juliet (2011)

Genre

Animation | Comedy | Romance

Director

Kelly Asbury

Country

UK | USA

Voice Cast

James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Michael Caine, Maggie Smith, Jason Statham, Ashley Jensen, Matt Lucas, Stephen Merchant, Patrick Stewart, Ozzy Osbourne, Jim Cummings, Hulk Hogan, Julie Walters, Richard Wilson, Kelly Asbury, Dolly Parton

Storyline

While the neighboring gardens are at war, gnomes Gnomeo (James McAvoy) and Juliet (Emily Blunt) fall in love.

Opinion

Transforming one of Shakespeare's most famous plays into an animated film can be a great way to propose the English writer to kids. However, it can also do the opposite job if the film isn't good, and I'm afraid that's what may happen with "Gnomeo & Juliet", this dull and hardly funny film.

I know someone has complained about it, but honestly I don't think there is a problem with recreating the play with garden gnomes. It isn't the brightest of the ideas, but it sure isn't the reason why the film doesn't work.

First of all, it almost seems like the writers didn't know where to focus. At first the story is going in a certain direction, trying to say that love is stronger than everything, and that it doesn't matter who you are or what family you belong to. A little clichéd but it's kind of close to Shakespeare. However, it slowly turns into a banal revenge story. I wasn't expecting the drama, the film is supposed to target kids after all, but neither I was expecting this.

Also, the film - or should I say garden? - is inhabited by unlikable and uninteresting characters that have no depth whatsoever. Of course I'm not talking about the Flamingo. He is the only interesting (side) character and for some weird reason he has more depth than both Gnomeo and Juliet, and it's easier to feel emotionally attached to him.

Another problem is Elton John's contributions. I love his music and personality, but I believe he doesn't have a place in the film. His songs are beautiful, but they just don't fit the film, and his contribution makes the film look like a commercial for his album.

The animation is nice but nothing special really. But when it comes to match the voices, the characters are weird. And just about the voice cast, with James McAvoy and Emily Blunt leading, and many others big names such as Michael Cane and Patrick Stewart supporting, none of the actors, despite their talent, are able to bring any depth to the material.

Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015)

Genre

Animation | Comedy

Director

Genndy Tartakovsky

Country

USA

Voice Cast

Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Asher Blinkoff, Kevin James, Steve Buscemi, David Spade, Keegan-Michael Key, Mel Brooks, Fran Drescher, Molly Shannon, Nick Offerman, Megan Mullally, Dana Carvey, Rob Riggle

Storyline

Dracula (Adam Sandler) and his friends try to bring out the monster in his half human, half vampire grandson (Asher Blinkoff) so to keep his daughter (Selena Gomez) from leaving the hotel.

Opinion

After the worldwide success of the first film, of course the filmmakers decided to make a sequel to that, and we all know the reasons. What is quite shocking to me is that yet again a film linked to Adam Sandler is actually good.

"Hotel Transylvania 2" surely doesn't have the originality or freshness of the previous film, but it still is a funny and entertaining movie for both a young and old audience.

Once again the plot is simple, only this time it doesn't seem to move forward. Basically it's just wasting time until it decides to proceed and do something - I guess that's what happens when you let Adam Sandler write the script - but despite that the film doesn't bore and it still is interesting.

While "Hotel Transylvania" dealt with family and being different, this one deals with a more common theme in animation and movies in general, accepting someone for who they are without discriminating.

If I had to find something that quite bothered me, I'd say it was the technology. I shouldn't be complaining about it because without technology I wound never be able to do what I'm doing right now, but at some points it almost feels like the film is trying to promote the use of technology, showing how fun it is. But the truth is that you can miss so many things in life if you're using your smartphone all the time, and I think the movie is sending a wrong message to the kids.

That being said, the film redeems itself with the beautiful animation, the humour - even though at some points it is quite immature. But again, Adam Sandler wrote it - and the hilarious moments, some when just kids would laugh, some when just adults would laugh, and some others when everybody would laugh.

Hotel Transylvania (2012)

Genre

Animation | Comedy | Fantasy

Director

Genndy Tartakovsky

Country

USA

Voice Cast

Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Kevin James, Fran Drescher, Steve Buscemi, Molly Shannon, David Spade, CeeLo Green, Jon Lovitz, Luenell, Chris Parnell, Brian George, Brian Stack, Jackie Sandler, Sadie Sandler

Storyline

Dracula (Adam Sandler), who operates a high-end resort away from the human world, goes into overprotective mode when a human boy (Andy Samberg) discovers the resort and falls for the count's teen-aged daughter (Selena Gomez).

Opinion

I had no expectations for this film considering that Adam Sandler - and his family - is all over the place. And usually nothing good comes out a film involving Adam Sandler. This time, however, I had to change my mind because "Hotel Transylvania" is actually a funny and entertaining family film.

Just like most of the time, the story is simple and quite predictable but at least it's easy to follow for kids. And just like in "Finding Nemo", the main topic addressed by the film is overprotective parenting, said parent being nobody less than Count Dracula. And there is also a predictable romantic subplot involving Dracula's "teen" daughter - she is 118-year-old - and a human boy.

Fortunately there is more to predictability. Not dull at all, the film indeed is very funny and it has some great moments that will have both kids and adults laughing. And there are a lot of genre references that are not necessarily brilliant but are fun to spot. And it was nice to see the monsters playing the good guys and the humans playing the bad guys - quite realistic, isn't it?

There isn't much of a character development here, and there are definitely a lot of supporting characters there are not so memorable, but they are funny, and they all deliver the funny dialogue - which is basically the films greatest strength.

The voice cast, which isn't very appealing for the most - I mean, didn't they have someone better than Adam Sandler, Selena Gomez, Kevin James and Fran Drescher? -, does a fairly good job. And Steve Buscemi as the Wolfman stole every scene he's in.

The animation is well done and the character design are nice to look at but a little unoriginal. It reminded me of "How to Train Your Dragon"'s characters, especially the bats.

Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012)

Genre

Adventure | Animation | Comedy

Director

Steve Martino | Michael Thurmeier

Country

USA

Voice Cast

Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Seann William Scott, Josh Peck, Peter Dinklage, Wanda Sykes, Jennifer Lopez, Queen Latifah, Josh Gad, Keke Palmer, Nick Frost, Aziz Ansari, Drake, Nicki Minaj, Alan Tudyk, Ester Dean, Kunal Nayyar, Rebel Wilson, Eddie Sotelo, Joy Behar, Alain Chabat, Heather Morris, Chris Wedge, Patrick Stewart

Storyline

When Scrat (Chris Wedge) accidentally provokes a continental cataclysm, Manny (Ray Romano), Sid (John Leguizamo), Diego (Denis Leary) and Sid's granny (Wanda Sykes) get separated from their home. As they sail across the sea with an iceberg for a ship, they encounter sea creatures that are determined to stop them from reaching their home.

Opinion

If you have been reading my reviews for the past month, you then know that I like the Ice Age series. That being said, they should really have stopped, because this fourth installment isn't good. "Ice Age: Continental Drift" indeed is a quite boring, not really enjoyable animated film, the drift of a good series.

Until now I've been saying how simple yet interesting the story was. Unfortuntately this time I cannot say the same. It is so not interesting mainly because the group that was supposed to fight extinction -which happened in the previous three films - somehow ended up fighting pirates.

The story to "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" was definitely unrealistic because there were no dinosaurs during the ice age, but at least it was interesting, and mostly important was made interesting by the characters. And guess what this film lacks of? That's right, interesting characters. Sure, there's Sid's granny who brings some fun to the film that it's not enough to balance the awful villain(s) or Peaches' new friends.

Also there are too many subplots that have no purpose whatsoever. Which is exactly what happened in the last film, meaning the filmmakers do not know how to learn from their mistakes.

But the animation is good and of course better than the three previous films - that's where the half point comes from.

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009)

Genre

Adventure | Animation | Comedy

Directors

Carlos Saldanha | Mike Thurmeier

Country

USA

Voice Cast

Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Sean William Scott, Josh Peck, Queen Latifah, Simon Pegg, Chris Wedge, Karen Disher, Bill Hader, Joey King, Jane Lynch, Kristen Wiig, Carlos Saldanha, Eunice Cho, Maile Flanagan, Clea Lewis, Devika Parikh

Storyline

After stealing three dinosaur eggs, Sid (John Leguizamo) is abducted by their real mother to an underground lost world, and his friends attempts to rescue him.

Opinion

I don't say it often because it rarely happens, but at the third installment of the franchise Blue Sky doesn't misfire and delivers another good animated film. "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" indeed is a nice and entertaining film that appeals both kids and adults (if possible I think I like it even more now that I'm an adult).

Once again, the story is quite simple and easy to follow and it's executed quite well. The whole dinosaurs idea is quite interesting, and I don't care how unrealistic that is, this is a cartoon after all.

Maybe this time the screenwriters worked too much to create all those subplots. The romantic subplot involving Scrat and the female Scratte is nice and has a lot of funny moments, but some others don't have a place in the film. The pregnancy subplot, for example, doesn't have any purpose.

But those little flaws can be forgiven thanks to the characters. Even though Diego has been basically watered down into cameo quality, a new entry steals the show, Simon Pegg's Buck, a looney weasel who joins the herd halfway through. When he makes his entrance, the film completely changes. The earlier few dead moments are replaced with funny ones, and I believe it's impossible not to fall in love with the characters.

There are a lot of jokes and visual gags. The animation is great - I remember watching it in 3D when it came out and it was great. And it's good in 2D as well. And the voice cast does a good job. And yes, I loved Simon Pegg.

Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006)

Genre

Action | Adventure | Animation

Director

Carlos Saldanha

Country

USA

Voice Cast

Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Chris Wedge, Queen Latifah, Seann William Scott, Josh Peck, Will Arnett, Jay Leno, Tom Fahn, Alex Sullivan, Alan Tudyk, Clea Lewis

Storyline

When the valley where they live is threatened by the melt of the surrounding ice, Manny (Ray Romano), Sid (John Leguizamo) and Diego (Denis Leary) join the other animals for a journey to high ground, and discover that Manny is not the last of the mammoths.

Opinion

After four years of hibernation, the most weird animal trio ever came back with "Ice Age: The Meltdown", a funny and enjoyable adventure film that is also a good sequel.

Once again, the plot is quite simple and it rather serves as a pretext to show another adventure starring the same trio of the first time, the talkative sloth Sid, the grumpy mammoth Manny and the loyal sabertooth tiger Diego. New characters also arrive: Ellie, a female mammoth who believe she is a possum, and Crash, and Eddie, her two possum brothers, and they make the storyline much more intriguing.

Scrat has a lot more screen time, and, even though I'm probably one of the few that find Scrat an utterly annoying little animal, and despite the fact that its sub-plot has little to do with the rest of the film, it does have two purpose, make people laugh - which works beautifully - and deliver a message without even talking. What's the message? A pretty common one in kid movies, we should not give up easily.

Between a gag and other, in addition to the central theme of friendship, the film also deals with overcoming fears in the face of danger.

Once again, the animation is beautiful, from every single character to the breathtaking landscapes. And the voice cast once again deliver great performances - I particularly enjoyed Queen Latifah's as Ellie. 

Ice Age (2002)

Genre

Adventure | Animation | Comedy

Directors

Chris Wedge | Carlos Saldanha

Country

USA

Voice Cast

Ray Romano, Denis Leary, John Leguizamo, Chris Wedge, Goran Višnjić, Jack Black, Diedrich Bader, Alan Tudyk, Cedric the Entertainer, Stephen Root, Jane Krakowski, Lorri Bagley

Storyline

Back when the Earth was covered in ice, an odd group of animals, Manny (Ray Romano), a mammoth, Diego (Denis Leary), a sabertooth tiger, and Sid (John Leguizamo), a sloth, find a lost human infant, and they try to return him to his tribe.

Opinion

As the fifth entry in the franchise is set to be released soon - August 25 in this part of the world -, I took the opportunity to rewatch all the films and review them for you. Today I'm back to the roots, when it all began with "Ice Age", a nice looking, funny and entertaining animated flick.

The story is very simple, lacking both of plot twists and deep morals, but at least it's not banal. It simply chooses to just tell a story about the relationship - eventually it becomes a friendship - between a group of different animals. Not only the look completely different on the outside - one is a mammoth, one a sabertooth tiger and the other a sloth - but the reason that pushes each of them to embark on this journey is different.

The three main animals being so different from each other is the film's biggest strength as it brings a lot of comic and funny situations. And you will fall in love with the characters, especially with the prehistoric squirrel and its desperate attempts to bury its nuts.

The voice cast, especially Ray Romano, John Leguizamo and Denis Leary, does a good job and contributes in the making of this entertaining film, that both kids and adults will enjoy.

The animation isn't spectacular, but I have to give Blue Sky Studios and Fox Animation big credits because the budget for this film was relatively small. It's not Pixar's quality, but nobody would have expected that anyway.

The Angry Birds Movie (2016)

Genre

Action | Animation | Comedy

Directors

Clay Kaytis | Fergal Reilly

Country

USA | Finland

Voice Cast

Jason Sudeikis, Josh Gad, Danny McBride, Maya Rudolph, Bill Harder, Peter Dinklage, Kate McKinnon, Sean Penn, Tony Hale, Keegan-Michael Key, Blake Shelton, Anthony Padilla, Ian Hecox

Storyline

When an island populated by happy, flightless birds is visited by mysterious green piggies, it's up to three unlikely outcasts - Red (Jason Sudeikis), Chuck (Josh Gad) and Bomb (Danny McBride) - to figure out what the pigs are up to.

Opinion

I absolutely love the Angry Birds video game apps. I have all of them. I also have Red's plush toy, and tons of other gadgets. So yeah, I was pretty excited about this film, but I didn't have very high expectations. I was afraid it was going to be just a dumb kids movie. I was wrong. 

Visually beautiful and voiced by a talented cast, "The Angry Birds Movie" is a funny, colourful animation flick, for both kids and adults alike.

Hollywood can hardly make a decent video game film, even one with an already good story. But Angry Birds does have a very simple story - Pigs steal eggs, Birds try to get them back - and I'm very impressed with how the writers handled it.

The story brought to the screen is still quite simple so that the kids can follow along, but it is engaging and we finally get to know how it all began. 

But don't worry, there's plenty of inside jokes, visual gags, and all the characters are funny and decently developed which will make you enjoy the film even if you have never played the game.

To be honest, I think adults will enjoy it the most. There's some scenes involving Chuck, the yellow bird, that are definitely an homage to Quicksilver. And there is also a "The Shining" reference with two pigs dressed alike saying redrum.

And it does have a message. Without mincing words, the film says that sometimes you need to get angry, because anger can give you the determination to do the right thing.

Norm of the North (2016)

Genre

Adventure | Animation | Comedy

Director

Trevor Wall

Country

USA

Voice Cast

Rob Schneider, Heather Graham, Maya Kay, Ken Jeong, Colm Meaney, Loretta Devine, Gabriel Iglesias, Michael McElhatton, Bill Nighy, Salome Jens, Charlie Adler, G.K. Bowes, Debi Derryberry, Ben Diskin

Storyline

When a real estate (Ken Jeong) development invades his Arctic home, Norm (Rob Schneider) and his three lemming friends head to New York City, where Norm becomes the mascot of the corporation in an attempt to bring it down from the inside and protect his homeland.

Opinion

I am speechless. I've had my fair share of animated films in my 22 years, but never, and I repeat, never before I saw an atrocity like this one.

Easily one of the worst animated films ever made, "Norm of the North" is an embarrassing, horrendous film in every possible way, and while some believes it should have been released straight to DVD, I believe it shouldn't have been released at all.

The story, just another fish-out-of-water kind of story, is utterly boring and unengaging, and it's dragged on and on to fit in 93 minutes of life I'll never get back. The bear can speak human, so he is the one supposed to save the north from humans, but the character is so lame - a twerking bear, seriously? - you don't even care about him, and you are most likely to root for the bad guys.

Okay, this film targets a young audience so you may say it doesn't need to have a good story. What about the message that it is supposed to send to kids then? The film fails completely. It indeed takes for granted the severity of the environmental impact that a human settlement at the North Pole would cause, and even though the adults will understand that, I highly doubt kids will.

"Norm of the North" is also supposed to be a comedy. But is it fair to call a comedy a film that is so unfunny that the only person who would have a smile on his face while watching it would be the Joker? Or maybe not, because the jokes are so atrocious, maybe the Joker will find a way to erase that smile from his face.

And now the most important thing when talking about animated flicks. The animation. Guess what, it's atrocious, so atrocious if this was the first animated film ever made, it would have also been the only one. The early episodes of "The Simpsons" are better animated, and we all know how they looked.

Bottom line, unless you like polar bears twerking and/or you have the IQ of a peanut, don't watch it.

Goosebumps (2015)

Genre

Comedy | Fantasy | Horror

Director

Rob Letterman

Country

USA

Cast

Jack Black, Dylan Minnette, Odeya Rush, Amy Ryan, Ryan Lee, Jillian Bell, Halston Sage, Ken Marino, Timothy Simons, Amanda Lund, Steven Krueger, E. Roger Mitchell, Keith Arthur Bolden, R.L. Stine

Storyline

After moving to a new town, Zach (Dylan Minnette) meets a girl named Hannah (Odeya Rush), but her father, Mr. Shivers (Jack Black), doesn't want him to get close to his daughter. Like all teens, Zach doesn't do what he is told to, and will find out the deadly secret lying in that house.

Opinion

I grew up reading the Goosebumps book series, so you can imagine my excitement for this film. Though I did not have any expectations, knowing it was not an adaptation of a single novel but all the monsters together, and due the fact that I'm not a kid anymore. Happy to say I was pleasingly surprised.

While its scares basically target kids making of it a family-friendly horror, "Goosebumps" has enough humour and fun to entertain everyone, and to bring our your inner child, especially if you were a fan of the books.

According to author R.L. Stine, every Goosebumps story can be broken down into three parts: the beginning, the middle, and the twist. This rule applies to the film as well, and the twist element is really executed well, with some clever twists that give the film an emotional kick.

The story isn't completely original, but it feels fresh and it is beautifully executed, and seeing all those monsters released from R.L. Stine's manuscripts and making an appearance on the big screen was amazing.

The humour works well on both adult and kid levels, but there is some forced humour involving two police officers that just didn't work, and the dialogue is a little bit corny in the romantic scenes.

One of the smartest decisions the filmmakers made in making this film was casting Jack Black. He easily steals every scene he is in. His comedic timing is excellent, and he is able to be hilarious in everything he does as the fictional version of R.L. Stine. He also does a great job as Slappy the Dummy, the character that basically steals the show. The three teens (Dylan Minnette, Odeya Rush and Ryan Lee) are equally effective in their roles, and the chemistry between Minnette and Rush is just sweet.

Rob Letterman certainly knows how to do nostalgia the correct way.