Fantastic Mr. Fox

Year 3, Day 91 - 4/1/11 - Movie #821

BEFORE: Been meaning to get to this one for a while, since I've enjoyed several Wes Anderson films (most notably "Darjeeling Limited") and I know the animation director of this film, Mark Gustafson. It got pretty great reviews as well. This will wrap up the Talking Animal Caper films for now - I've still got a bunch of animated cat + dog films on the list, so I'll have to double back later. Linking from "Kangaroo Jack" is a snap tonight, since Christopher Walken was in "Wedding Crashers" with Owen Wilson, who voices a small role here.

THE PLOT: An urbane fox cannot resist returning to his farm raiding ways and then must help his community survive the farmers' retaliation.

AFTER: It doesn't matter if a film is animated or not (we in the biz use the term "live-action" for non-animated films, forgetting that most people just call them "films") since a good story is a good story, good (voice) acting is good acting, and good comic timing is...well, it probably means someone hired a good editor.

Because this is a Wes Anderson film in most respects, animated or not. The comic timing is there, the themes of teen isolation and family strife are there - along with the chapter credits similar to those seen in "The Royal Tenenbaums". Mix that film with something like "Ocean's Eleven" (the remake, natch), with characters from "The Wind in the Willows" and action similar to "Chicken Run", and you might come up with something this great.

Of course, this is based on a children's book by Roald Dahl, so most of the inspiration probably comes from there - so good, no theft of storylines or intellectual property tonight.

This could be seen as a film for kids, I suppose - but it feels like someone aimed a bit higher. I don't approve of talking down to kids, either in movies or in real life - talk to them like adults, and they respond accordingly. Or so I'm told. Who says a kids' film can't also be a smart film? Or one with great comic timing? And who the heck decided animation was only for kids, anyway? I beg to differ...

I've had problems with other "heist" films, ones that center on thieves and try to get me to root for them and their battles against the man (or the man's banks). It's easier to root for a fox and his animal friends, even though they're thieves, because they're also wild animals - just being true to their nature. Oh sure, they can work as accountants or writers or real estate agents (it's a fantasy film, just go with it) but eventually their wild sides come out, and it's back to breaking in to a chicken coop.

This worked out rather well, considering that it's April Fool's Day, and the film is all about the animals tricking and outsmarting the farmers.

Starring the voices of George Clooney (last seen in "The Men Who Stare at Goats"), Meryl Streep (last seen in "Falling in Love"), Jason Schwarzman (last seen in "Funny People"), Bill Murray (last seen in "Where the Buffalo Roam"), Willem Dafoe (last seen in "Mississippi Burning"), Michael Gambon, with cameos from Adrien Brody and Brian Cox.

RATING: 8 out of 10 juice boxes

Kangaroo Jack

Year 3, Day 90 - 3/31/11 - Movie #820

BEFORE: Would it help to point out that I recorded this off of cable just to fill a DVD? I hate having empty space at the end of a DVD when the movies are too short, it feels like I'm wasting money. No? What if I mentioned that this is a birthday SHOUT-out to Christopher Walken (last seen in "Wedding Crashers"), born 3/31/1943? No, I didn't think so.

But the birthday rule is in effect, so this film gets the nod tonight over "Stuart Little 2" - so yes, I'm going from mice to kangaroos. I realize that mice are rodents and kangaroos are marsupials, but just work with me here, OK? Linking actors is easy since Matthew Broderick and Christopher Walken both were in that remake of "The Stepford Wives" a few years ago.

THE PLOT: Two childhood friends get caught up with the mob and are forced to deliver $50,000 to Australia, but things go haywire when the money is lost to a wild kangaroo.

AFTER: The comic book blogs are filling up with stories about a grifter who's been appearing on the convention circuit, essentially copying other artists' original works and passing them off as his own, and posting a list of his fraudulent art credits at his booth to legitimize himself. He's about to be banned from the circuit - however I'm cursed with the ability to see the other side of an issue, and I'm questioning where the plagiarism line is about to be drawn - after all, even a respected comic-book artist gets paid at conventions to draw original poses of what are essentially non-original, copyrighted characters. So if Jim Lee gets paid $200 to draw Batman at a convention, DC/Warner Bros. doesn't see any of that money - but should they? I agree that this guy is a fraud, but I think it's a slippery slope once you start defining what constitutes "original" material.

This relates to tonight's film, because I question how I should treat a film that stole/borrowed its main plot from "Crocodile Dundee 2", with New York gangsters pursuing people through the outback. Is the presence of an animated kangaroo enough of a change to constitute original material? Well, I'm not a lawyer so I'll leave this issue to the injured parties.

Anyway, this is more similar in tone to "Dumb & Dumber" or "Stealing Harvard", where two idiots are in a situation that keeps getting worse and worse. And supposedly this is based on an urban legend, in which a couple of guys hit a kangaroo with their Jeep, and thought it would be funny to take their picture with the "dead" animal and placed their jacket on the kangaroo, only to have it wake up and leap away, with the car keys (and/or passport) in the jacket pocket. Did it ever really happen? Who knows...

And a few notes about the kangaroo - the animation is actually pretty acceptable. Someone who doesn't know much about this "CGI" thing (kids and senior citizens, I imagine) might wonder how they got a kangaroo to wear a jacket and leap around on cue. And twice in the film the kangaroo talks - during a fantasy sequence when a character is hallucinating, and again during the end credits.

Which sort of raises the question - was the whole film originally planned to be a talking kangaroo film, in the style of "Alvin and the Chipmunks"? Did cooler heads prevail in the editing room, or did someone devise the talking kangaroo sequence just because they could, and they needed to find a way to work it in? And if the kangaroo had talked throughout the film, would that be any better, or much, much worse? In the end, does this constitute "restraint", or not?

Again, I'm cursed with the ability to see the other side of an issue - in this case, how bad this film COULD have been. It's still not a great film, you'll see what passes for plot points coming a mile away, and there's way too much slapstick and scatalogical humor, but I think it could have been a lot worse.

Also starring Jerry O'Connell, Anthony Anderson, Estella Warren, and a quick cameo from Dyan Cannon.

RATING: 4 out of 10 camel farts

The Tale of Despereaux

Year 3, Day 89 - 3/30/11 - Movie #819

BEFORE: Over the hump on Fuzzy Talking Animal Caper week - mice + rats again tonight. And linking's a snap since William H. Macy's voice carries over from last night - I don't even need to point out that Eric Idle co-starred in "Nuns on the Run" with Robbie Coltrane, born 3/30/1950, the recipient of tonight's birthday SHOUT-out.

THE PLOT: The tale of a misfit mouse who prefers reading books to eating them, an unhappy rat who schemes to leave the darkness of the dungeon, and a bumbling servant girl - whose fates are intertwined with that of the castle's princess.

AFTER: This animated film was based on a children's book, so it's hard for me to nitpick on plot details, without knowing much about the original source material. Plus, these animated kid-friendly films sort of exist in their own fantasy worlds, which are often not subject to regular real-life rules, or typical movie rules for that matter.

As with "Alvin + The Chipmunks 2", the film starts off with an accident - a rat falls into a queen's bowl of soup, in a land where soup-making is some kind of national holiday. (Right. Have they tried barbecue? It generally kicks soup's ass.) This accident (and what follows) leads to the banning of soup. And rats. And sunshine and good feelings, for that matter.

Despereaux is an unlikely hero, the tiniest mouse of all, who breaks a few of the mouse rules and is forced to leave Mouseworld (which seems to be in an unused part of the castle? Not sure.) He's banished to the dungeon, which coincidentally also is the location of Ratworld, but since he read about noble knights, he knows how to act nobly and start to put things right.

I guess you have to think like a kid, I might be too logical for this one. I kept looking for the WHYs, expecting things to progress in a sensible manner. But it's a little too freeform as plots go - except where everything ties in together, and all that happens just a bit too neatly.

There's a roaming "soup spirit" that inspires the chef - he's made up of floating vegetables. That was just extra bizarre. Parts with the chef making soup seemed a little too close to "Ratatouille", also. Also some similarities to the film "Flushed Away" since so much takes place underground.

Also starring the voices of Matthew Broderick (last seen in "The Cable Guy"), Dustin Hoffman (last seen in "Kramer vs. Kramer"), Emma Watson (last seen in "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince"), Tracy Ullman, Kevin Kline (last seen in "The Ice Storm"), Stanley Tucci (last seen in "Jury Duty"), Frank Langella (last seen in "The Ninth Gate"), Richard Jenkins (last seen in "Stealing Harvard"), Frances Conroy, Christopher Lloyd (last seen in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest") and Sigourney Weaver (last seen in "Avatar").

RATING: 5 out of 10 mousetraps

The Secret of NIMH 2: Timmy to the Rescue

Year 3, Day 88 - 3/29/11 - Movie #818

BEFORE: Another rodent-based caper tonight. It was a toss-up between this film and "Stuart Little 2", this one allows me to send Birthday SHOUT-out #24 to Eric Idle of Monty Python fame (last seen in "Nuns on the Run"), who provides a voice for this sequel. Linking from last night's film is simple - Steve Buscemi did the voice of a mouse in "G-Force", and he was also in "Fargo" with William H. Macy (last seen in "Thank You For Smoking"), who voices a mouse tonight.

THE PLOT: Timothy Brisby, the youngest son of Johnathan, goes to Thorn Valley wanting to become a hero like his father. He learns from a girl mouse that the mice who were presumed to have been killed during the escape from NIMH are still alive, so he and the rats mount a rescue operation.

AFTER: Ah, beware direct-to-video sequels. Once again we've got lab animals gaining intelligence from experimentation (somehow...). Why do these scientists make the rats smarter, if it makes them smart enough to escape? You'll never get taken seriously in the science community that way...

This film manufactures some loose ends left from the previous film, and in so doing gives itself something of a purpose, tying up said loose ends. A family of mice thought to have been killed in the lab escape is revealed to be alive, and the son of the first film's hero leads an expedition back to the National Institute of Mental Health to find them.

Problem is, things are pretty crazy over at the Mental Health lab (go figure...) and there's a scientist there who's planning to (somehow) take over the world. Also he's done something to turn Timmy's brother evil - or he (somehow) put his brain inside the mouse's body...this part really wasn't all that clear. Anyway, the plan is to (somehow) rule the rats territory by using pigeons and more rats...I think - again, not very clear.

Timmy finally lives up to expectations, finds his inner hero, learns to think things through, and save all of the lab mice, including his brother who (somehow) gets turned back to normal. Whew, what a relief.

Also starring the voices of Ralph Macchio, Dom Deluise, Andrea Martin (last heard in "Jimmy Neutron"), Harvey Korman, Meschach Taylor, Doris Roberts and Peter MacNicol.

RATING: 3 out of 10 hinges

G-Force

Year 3, Day 87 - 3/28/11 - Movie #817

BEFORE: 3 days left in March, and it looks like the month that comes in like a lion is going out like a rodent of some kind. From talking chipmunks I move to talking guinea pigs. And linking is a snap, since Amy Poehler did the voice of a chipmunk last night, and she appeared with her husband Will Arnett in "Blades of Glory", and he's got a role in tonight's film.

THE PLOT: A specially trained squad of guinea pigs is dispatched to stop a diabolical billionaire from taking over the world.

AFTER: I liked this better than the Chipmunks film, if only for the reason that these rodents don't have those high-pitched, sped-up, hard-to-understand voices. The movie doesn't waste a lot of time telling us the origin of these smart, talking secret agents, it just throws us right into a mission with them.

The explanation for how THESE animals can talk - besides the fact that there wouldn't be much of a movie if they didn't - turns out to be somewhat similar to the device used in "Up", to make the dogs understandable. It's a plot contrivance, but unfortunately an impossible yet necessary one.

Kids probably don't mind, they don't get all hung up on things like "Why are the guinea pigs talking?" like I do. Can you tell a kid, "Because it's a movie, that's why!" or does that tend to shatter their dreams? I guess I didn't have a problem with animals talking in films like "The Jungle Book" or "Bambi" when I was a kid - so I guess you can just see the world differently when you're a tot.

I remember there was a series of Blockbuster Video ads a few years ago, with a CGI guinea pig voiced by Jim Belushi and a rabbit voiced by James Woods - they ran during the Super Bowl, if my memory serves. For some reason I thought this film was directly related to those characters - or was directed by the same person. Nope, it looks like another one of those intellectual property lawsuits waiting to happen.

I didn't mind the far-fetched plot - up to a point. When the evil plan was finally revealed, it sort of led nowhere, and was a huge stretch. (More so than talking secret-agent guinea pigs, even...) Again, kids probably wouldn't notice, but I did.

Also starring Zack Galifianakis (last seen in "The Hangover"), Bill Nighy (last seen in "Underworld: Rise of the Lycans"), and the voices of Sam Rockwell (last seen in "Choke"), Jon Favreau (last seen in "Couples Retreat"), Nicolas Cage (last heard in "Astro Boy"), Penelope Cruz (last seen in "Blow"), Tracy Morgan (last seen in "Superhero Movie"), Steve Buscemi (last seen in "Rising Sun"). Cameos from Niecy Nash and Loudon Wainwright III.

RATING: 6 out of 10 microchips

Alvin & The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel

Year 3, Day 86 - 3/27/11 - Movie #816

BEFORE: Like "Jimmy Neutron", another film based on a TV cartoon - and like "Jimmy Neutron", one that focuses on characters constantly getting into trouble. OK, I know it's not much of a connection - but I'm sticking with animated films because each one gives me about 30 minutes more free time than a regular 2-hour movie does. And yesterday's benefit for the Humane Society has put me on an animal-themed track - I could watch a chain based around cats or dogs, but rodent-based films are going to synch up rather well with this week's birthdays.

Linking actors: Patrick Stewart from "Jimmy Neutron" was in "X-Men" with Anna Paquin, who was in "Almost Famous" with Jason Lee (last seen in "Stealing Harvard"). Took me a while to find that one.

THE PLOT: The world famous singing pre-teen chipmunk trio return to contend with the pressures of school, celebrity, and a rival female music group known as The Chipettes.

AFTER: Not one but TWO crippling accidents in the first few minutes of this film, sidelining both Jason Lee's Dave Seville AND his back-up care-giver (because thinking up different plot points is like, HARD and stuff), placing the chipmunks in the hands of a slacker cousin - like the kids in "Jimmy Neutron", the chipmunks get to run amok (a-monk?) for a while, and Jason Lee gets to phone in his performance - literally, his character calls from the hospital once in a while.

It's hard for me to take films seriously when they're aimed at children - or people with a 5-year old mentality, I reckon. Maybe kids like the singing rodents with the sped-up voices, but I have to judge these films as the adult I am. Why watch this film at all? Aren't there better, more serious films to be watching? Perhaps, but I assure you there is a plan to get to everything on my list, in due time. If I can make it through this week, hopefully better films are on the horizon.

But taking the child-friendly nature of the film into account, it's hard for me to take pot-shots at the plot, which send the famous singing chipmunks to high-school, despite the fact that they're world-famous, and, well, chipmunks. The plot's very formulaic, with the rodents taking part in a "Battle of the Bands" to win $25,000 for their school, to restore the school music program. (Does that ever happen, though?)

So remember, kids, if your school music funding gets cut, just party like a rockstar and sing like a chipmunk - and if you lose the battle of the bands to actual chipmunks, well then I guess you just weren't cute enough, now were you? No education for you!

It's interesting that this came along when I'm thinking about charitable causes - the chipmunks are trying to raise $25,000 - but this film's budget was $75 Million! And it brought in over $219 Million in U.S. box office. It makes me wonder if we, as a society are doing things right - I can think of a lot better things to do with $75 million than make a film like this. You could probably cure a disease, or feed an entire nation of starving people, wouldn't that be better in the long run than having one more goofy talking-animal film in theaters?

By all rights, this should have killed the franchise - but no, there's another "squeakquel" in the works, titled "Alvin & The Chipmunks: Chip-Wrecked". Wanna bet the chipmunks get stranded on a tropical island? I can only hope...

Also starring Zachary Levi (from NBC's "Chuck"), David Cross (last seen in "Year One"), Wendie Malick, and the voices of Justin Long (last heard in "Planet 51"), Matthew Gray Gubler (last seen in "The Great Buck Howard"), Jesse McCartney, Amy Poehler, Anna Faris (last seen in "The House Bunny") and Christina Applegate (last seen in "Just Visiting").

RATING: 4 out of 10 cheez balls