Timewaster's Guide Archive
Departments => Movies and TV => Topic started by: The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers on November 28, 2006, 10:31:21 PM
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reference: http://www.timewastersguide.com/view.php?id=1480
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I really liked this movie and think it deserves to be #1 2 weeks in a row, probably one of the better kids movies I've seen in a long time.
I did find the fishing thing with the UN kind of funny since, you know, there already is a no-fishing law around Antarctica that nations comply with. Heck you can't even take a boat near it without the coast guard getting on your case as happened to Steve Irwin a few years ago.
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I took my 4-year-old to see Happy Feet, and she was bored out of her mind. Granted, she doesn't have a huge attention span, but she was ready to leave after forty-five minutes.
The fishing issue didn't bother me at all, but I was a little annoyed by the weird anti-religion thing at the end. The biggest problem, though, was that it was just too dang serious and depressing--not at all like the commercials make it appear.
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I really liked the music references. But yeah, I don't know that the movie has the ability to maintain an attention span. My boys liked it, but not enough to quote from it as we were leaving the theater--they went back to quoting Avatar:the Last Airbender instead.
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I thought the movie was cute, but the ending was a bit trite. I agree that it resolved just way too quick and easily. The music was really the highlight for me.
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I really disliked this movie. The first thing that bugged me was all the sexual innuendos. Dreamworks does that alot in their movies--like Shrek and Shrek 2. I was willing to overlook it if the plot was good--adults would get the jokes, kids wouldn't. (But I certainly wouldn't want my child to quote things like 'I just need your body' or 'Let's talk about eggs, baby' and other stupid things the songs referenced. So the music had no enjoyment for me at all--it just made me cringe.)
I agree with Nessa that the animation was nice. But also that nice animation does not a good movie make. My 4 year-old nephew and 2-year-old neice were very fidgety and then fell asleep--the movie did not hold their attention. Not a single one of the adults felt it was worth their time--everyone had something to complain about. So it seems that by trying to accomplish too much they failed to appeal to adults or children.
They demonized humans with no retribution. This happens at times in animal fantasies--but it seemed heavy-handed and extreme in this case. And, like HOM said, it was depressing. Not lite and happy at all, like the commercials lead you to believe. And the message at the end is crammed down your throats. After there being so little to eat until then, it just leaves a bad aftertaste. I'm all for saving the environment--but it feels like some radicals with a serious agenda wrote this script.
Yep. Definitely not one I'll purchase, or bother to see again. And I know it's not making it's way into my sister-in-law's DVD collection--she hated this movie with a passion, and the kids could care less.
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Wow, it was the exact opposite in the theater I saw it in, people were enjoying it. And I think everyone is reading too much into the movie, I didn't think they treated humans unfairly or negatively at all, nor did I find it anti-religious or pro-gay like I've heard from some people. It was a little more serious then the advertisements said but I thought that made it a better movie, defiantly better then the Incredibles in my mind though not as good as the Shreks, Cars or Monster Inc.
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I have to say that anyone who thinks Cars was better than The Incredibles has something wrong with them.
;D
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Ditto. My thoughts precisely. No way was Cars better than Incredibles in story, characters, or even animation I think.
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I have yet to see Cars, but I have often gone on record to say that Incredibles was one of my least favorite Pixar movies. Toy Story and Monsters Inc both had better stories and better characters.
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I agree with Fell. Even though I agree that Incredibles was better than Cars, they're both at the bottom of the Pixar totem pole.
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fa. no taste on the Wells family either. WE all know Bugs Life is the worst PIxar movie, followed by Cars. Incredibles is one of my favorites
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If they made a movie with identical art, story, and characterization as Incredibles but about something other than superheroes, you wouldn't like it nearly as much. The storytelling is not as strong.
As for the bottom of the Pixar totem pole, I vote for Finding Nemo. It's the most visually beautiful, but nowhere near as layered or well-told as the others.
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uhm... if it had the same characterization it wouldn't be about superheroes.
So it had a straightforward plot. Cars didn't? I mean, really, give me a break. I think they did a good job on most all the elements. It was funny, it handled supers very well. Cars, on the other hand was obviously better because it was "layered," meaning, it had two different themes that didn't mesh at all and competed for screen time and failed satisfactorily resolve either.
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Wow. Six posts. Not bad. :P
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I'm still thinking about this. And really, I don't understand. What's so "layered" about the Toy Story movies or Monsters, Inc? they're all straight forward and predictable -- there's very little complex about any of them. What makes the Pixar movies so good is how they treat their subject. The toys don't act like people, they act like toys. The monsters don't act like humans, they act like people. The fish don't act like people, they act like fish. The supers don't act like accountants, they act like people would act if superhero vigilante was a real career.
In Bug's Life the Bugs... well, they don't really act like bugs. They act like people who have funny shapes.
I didn't like Cars for a plethora of reasons. Mostly because I'm supposed to have sympathy for the entire cast for the most pathetic of reasons. There's little reason to like most of them. The underlying elements were of little basic interest for me in the subject material, and the car elements are really superficial. There's conflict where no believable conflict exists.
It's not like I hate Bug's Life, but it's meh at best. and Cars is only a little bit better. Incredibles was very entertaining. And yeah, it's my favorite. But while your accusation that I only like Incredibles because it's about supers is at once unprovable and ... well, impossible the way you phrased it, I can acknowledge my prejudice. I enjoy watching Incredibles *much* more than either Toy Story, but I can, at the same time, realize that Toy Story was a better film. Still, Incredibles is pretty solid because of how it deals with its subject matter.
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I actually haven't seen Cars, and I wasn't including it in any of my statements. Sorry, I should have made that more clear. Also note that when I say "characterization" I mean the way the characters are presented and developed, not the specific things they do.
One of my complaints about Incredibles is that it only existed on one level--it was aimed at an older audience than the other Pixar movies, and younger kids (such as mine) don't really get into it because there's nothing there for them. Monsters Inc., on the other hand, is aimed at young kids, old kids, and adults, and each audience can connect to it on their own level. It includes themes of friendship and fatherhood, and it's one of the most intriguing and well-developed sci-fi premises we've seen in movies for a long time.
Let me make clear, however, that I don't dislike The Incredibles--I just don't think it's as good as most people say it is. It's not the best Pixar movie (that's Toy Story 2) and it's not the best Superhero movie (that's Spider-man 2), and the cantankerous jerk in me can't sit idly by while hearing praise it believes to be unwarranted. Were I to actually rank the Pixar movies it would be:
Toy Story 2
Monsters Inc.
Toy Story
Incredibles
Bug's Life
Finding Nemo
and I haven't seen Cars. And while I'm ranking things, I'll also say that all of the Dreamworks or Fox CG movies, like Shrek and Ice Age, would be lower than Finding Nemo.
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hrm. well, if we're going to dreamworks, I'd put do this:
Toy Story 2
Incredibles
Monsters Inc and Toy Story (don't make me choose)
Ice Age (one and 2)
Finding Nemo
Cars
Bug's Life
Shrek (never saw 2)
(never saw Shark's Tale)
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I'd recommend Shrek 2 as the best of the non-Pixars, but if you didn't like Shrek 1 you probably wouldn't like 2 either.
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I heartily dislike both Shrek 1 and 2, because they're adult movies, full of innuendo and dirty jokes, and marketed as a kid's movie. Just sayin'.
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I didn't hate Shrek 1. But I've seen it once. I laughed a couple times. I have just found myself with no desire to really see it again or watch the sequel. A better movie would have at least gotten me to want to borrow it for free from work where it's readily accessible.
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I love the Shreks, and they are a little crude but nothing worse then most things on Cartoon Network or Nickalodeon, but I don't know where the "Full of innuendo" line came from. Saw Shrek 2 over Thanksgiving and I'm pressed to think of a single example of that.
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Admittedly, I've only seen each of them once, so I can't really quote examples. But I remember, during both, being uncomfortable that all the kids in the room were watching it. (And yeah, I feel the same way about a lot of Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon's stuff.)
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We went to see Happy Feet yesterday and had a lot of fun. The parts meant to be funny were actually funny. I thought the visual and musical composition was very well done.
I was willing to suspend my disbelief about the singing and dancing penguins, as it could be seen as metaphorical. Until, of course, humans noticed him dancing, which was just ludicrous. The movie was overall ridiculous, but we enjoyed watching it.
(This review was hugely spoiler-ridden, giving away the whole plot, by the way. Glad I didn't read it before I went to see it, so I could at least be surprised when the humans got involved.)
Someone at work went to see The Fountain the other day, and the (early 20s, I assume) woman in line behind her was going to see Happy Feet for the 14th time.
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Yes, sorry about the terrible spoilers. They were necessary in being able to explain my issues with the movie. Leaving out that part meant I would have a review that didn't make sense. Fortunately, most people saw it before they read it. Or unfortunately. Whatever.
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Someone at work went to see The Fountain the other day, and the (early 20s, I assume) woman in line behind her was going to see Happy Feet for the 14th time.
Holy cow. That's a serious penguin fixation.
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Oh my goodness! Happy Feet was SOOOOOOO adorable and funny! If you have not seen it you must see it! I absolutely LOVED it! ;D
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Lehea: One o is plenty, no matter how adorable and funny it may have been.
Getting back to our Pixar discussion earlier in the thread, I finally saw Cars two days ago. It was better than E had led me to beleive, but still one of the lesser storytelling offerings from Pixar. Though it may, to my surprise, have actually surpassed Nemo in the beauty of the animation, which is astonishing--it's about cars, for goodness sake, why and how does it look so good?
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The shininess. There's something about shiny chrome that just appeals naturally to the Y chromosome.
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Neon reflecting off of shiny chrome, specifically.