Hot Takes On Film

  Frozen ( 2013 US) Its #FemaleFilmmakerFriday and todays entry is this Billion (with a capital “B”) dollar franchise from Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck. A Princess was born with super powers she has a hard time controlling. This is not a hidden gem that got overlooked. A good chunk of the planet has seen this film so I won’t go into what its about or if its any good. You probably have a good idea by now if you like it or not. However, what I love to talk about in this film is what Lee & Co didn’t say. I originally saw this in theaters with my daughter like every other parent. On the way home we had so many unanswered questions. Why isn’t Elsa a card carrying member of the X-men. She created sentient ice creatures. She had some serious powers going on. How would a queen like this shift the balance of power in Europe and other places. The implication is that it took place in the mid 19th century. The kingdom would not need an army just round the clock guards on Elsa and food tasters.

 Mary and the Witches Flower (2017 JP) A young witch finds a broom and a flower that makes her a witch. In a wonderful cross between studio Ghibli and Harry Potter comes this anime inspired glossed over gem from newly formed Japanese animation Studio Ponoc. If you recognize the art there is a reason for that. Several employees including critical animator  Hiromasa Yonebayashi , left Studio Ghibli to form their own company. This is their first endeavor. Yonebayashi directed this and boy howdy does it look like Spirited Away. Even has a very similar tone. Well that's because he was key animator for Spirited Away. Apparently, Miyazaki was none too happy about this whole drama. The team at Ponoc went to Ghibli with a print of the film to show their former colleagues and Ghibli studio head Miyazaki refused to watch it. He just said, "I'm not watching that". Needles to say if you like studio Ghibli you will like this or more if you like Spirited Away you will like this. Fin

 The Sea Beast (2022 US) Karl Urban voices Jacob Holland, a monster hunter straight out of a Robert Lewis Stevenson Novel encounters a precocious little girl who gets him to see things in a new light. This gem seems to have been overlooked for the most part last year. That's a shame because it had a lot to say. The primary theme was the heights of colonialism in the 18-19th century hence the Stevenson reference (Treasure Island) or even Pirates of Penzance. It even had a Kaiju nod with a smart monster who was neither bad or good but just defending itself. It even had the monster whisperer in the little girl. Super common in Kaiju films. I loved the color grading in it. So pleasing. Sea Beast was directed by veteran animator Chris Williams who has been animating since Mulan. Recently he directed Moana and Big Hero 6. This film was nominated for Best Animated Feature in the last Oscars but lost to Pinocchio.  Tough year. I really did enjoy it and do feel it deserves more fanfare. So

 BoxTrolls (2014 US) An orphan is raised by creatures living beneath the city of Cheesebridge. When the aristocracy comes for the creatures the boy takes action. Based on the book "Here be Monsters". Laika Studios brings you this dark but relevant story about corruption, entitlement, hypocrisy, and marginalized communities. You will remember Laika from some of their other works such as Coraline and Kubo and the Two Strings. I like to call the Oregon based studio a "stop motion factory". I have always despised hypocrites and used the word when I was very young, like 4 yo. Adults were well impressed. Not so impressed when I called them one. I just love stop motion. When you are making it, it's like playing with really expensive dolls. When I was a kid my dolls had quite an involved storyline and backstory so this was a very natural evolution. Don't judge me. What is so lovely about these types of films is that the puppets are hand made as is some of the sets.

 Rango (2011 US) A domesticated Chameleon voiced by Johnny Depp finds himself the sheriff of a corrupt town and he also finds spiritual enlightenment after having an existential crisis.  Salon dot com coined a termed and associated it with this film. They called it Kidult animation. Yup that's about right. So much of this will go over a kiddos head, like way over. For Example this exchange with a prophet armadillo:  Depp: I need to find water Prophet: To find water you need to find dirt. Depp: Umm sure?! You don't get the joke until Depp shows up in a town called Dirt. OK I see what you did there but it took twenty minutes to get to the punchline. Kids won't get that or at least most kids. There was a lot of call backs to classic westerns including Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns. The spiritual element is pretty strong. So yeah, Kidult. Rango won best animated feature at the 2012 Oscars. Well deserved. I don't' know why but for some reason I always thought it did

Treasure Planet (2002 US) Obviously based on the Robert Lewis Stevenson novel Treasure Island. Disney brings to life (sort of) this adventure story about finding hidden treasure in space. I really feel like this film is one of Disney's underappreciated animated films. I'm a space opera fan and its hard to find stories in that genre that haven't been so "done". Don't get me wrong I like franchises like Star trek and Stargate but its fun to find a new story. This is your standard Disney fare so don't expect something that is groundbreaking. Except it has a steampunk vibe to it. It's not steampunk but there are a few similarities. Disney was not big on taking risks back then. Michael "stay the course" Eisner was CEO at the time. He was all about satisfying stories. Bob "if it aint broke" Iger was president so between the two output was pretty standard. Having said that it's just fun to watch. Joseph Gordon-Levitt leads an all-star

Alita: Battle Angel (2019 US) Based on the Manga Gunnm by  Yukito Kishiro . A cyborg in the future enters a brutal game to fight corruption. To be clear Manga is not for everyone. Rotten Tomatoes has this at 63%. However, clearly people liked it because it made bank at the box office. James Cameron, Laeta Kalogridis and Kishiro teamed up on the screenplay with action director Robert Rodriguez directing. It runs like a Manga: good news for Manga fans and not so good news for people who really don't get it. What I liked about it is the mixing of animation styles with live action: CGI and motion capture. The True Detective Mahershala Ali plays the baddie in this and as usual kills it. I don't know why I thought he had passed and was pleased when I looked and discovered that he had not. Sorry Ali, you look great. Long story short; if you like Manga you will like this. If you don't you won't. Find it on Hulu and for rent on most streaming.   

 Soul (2020 US) Pixar brings us this sweet story about a middle school band teacher who has a near death experience and then must figure out the meaning of life.  Yeah they really go there with the meaning of life theme. Jamie Foxx leads an all star cast as Joe Gardner. I loved the animation in this especially when Joe Gardner plays the piano. Animators painstakingly logged the exact key being played in the music and recreated it  visually. The result is pretty stunning. Soul was nominated for many awards including Oscars. I love the color work in this telling a story of its own. Each plain of existence has it's very distinct color pallet. Pixar consulted with an internal cultural trust made up of Pixar employees of color. The result is a multidimensional story with layered and complex characters. I really loved it but you will need the tissue box and not because of a tragic ending. It's just so darned sweet. Find it on Disney Plus for now and available to rent on most streamin

 Raya and the Last Dragon (2021 US) Raya goes on a quest to find the last dragon and save humanity. Its #FemaleFilmmakerFriday and todays entry is this kid friendly film from animator Ami Thompson with a writing credit from Adele Lim (Crazy Rich Asians). I particularly loved the animation from Thompson especially color. Kelly Marie Tran voices Raya and did a great job. I do feel bad for her though. Disney had originally cast Cassie Steele to play Raya but changed their mind and cast Tran. However, Tran knew that she was second choice and felt a bit awkward. Speaking of awkward, Awkwafina voices the dragon. I'm a big fan of hers and she didn't disappoint. This is a film you can watch with your kiddos and enjoy it too. Find it on Disney Plus. 

 America: The Motion Picture (2021 US) George Washington teams up with his historical friends to kick out the British. In my first year in college I took a colonial American History class. It turned out the class was a weeder class meaning it was so ridiculously hard that it weeded out some of the history majors. For some weird reason there are a lot of history majors here in the U.S. Suffice it to say I learned a Shatner ton about Colonial American History. With that said I can assure everyone that this film was not historically accurate. Brought to you by Matt Thompson from Adult Swim. It definitely runs like something from Adult Swim. So don't watch this with kiddos around. Channing Tatum plays George Washington. He does great but I would have gone with Patrick Wharburton. Maybe he wasn't available. Veteran writer David Callaham wrote the script in all of its frat boy ways. But don't worry Callaham and Thompson skews everyone. I can assure you that there is something in

 Bee Movie (2007 US) A bee frustrated with the corporate grind in the hive goes on an adventure in New York where he meets a woman and they start dating. Yeah, you totally read that right. Brought to you mostly be Jerry Seinfeld this comedy animation is now an iconic chapter in the ever evolving book of pop culture. I was speaking with a few Gen Z'ers a while back and they were gaga over this film. I was like "Bee Movie? The one with Jerry Seinfeld?" Well I was confused. Critics hated it and they still do. Rotten Tomatoes has given it a 48% rating. Near as I can tell, Gen Z loves it. It is weirdly prophetic and just plain weird which Gen Z loves BTW. Surrealism is their jam. So I watched it again through the prism of Gen Z and all that they have been through and yet to have to go through. Yup, Yup I can see why they like it. It really speaks to their experiences and concerns. Huh who 'da thunk it?  Never has a character spoken to a generation since Bill and Ted said,

 9 (2009 US) from producer Tim Burton comes this post apocalyptical animated feature about a rag-doll/robot who awakens to find that humanity is gone. 9 and his buddies try to figure out the mystery. I watched this with my the 9 year old daughter. I figured hey its a cartoon. It will be fine for kiddos. Nope. She hated it and said it was too scary. Years later she is still Salty about that. I will likely be paying for therapy because of this film. However, if you're not 9 years old you will likely enjoy this. The animation is CGI but it really has a stop motion vibe. The production design is dark, you know being post-apocalyptic and all. I'm not a big fan of post op and I talk about why in my scifi tab https://tinyurl.com/4zs3x6au. But a little bit of the right stuff doesnt hurt. Moderation is key. The story is dark as well. Yeah to be expected. It has a deep bench  (lots of talent). Critics hated it; 58% on Rotten Tomatoes. I think that's a bit low. Say what you will its d

 Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009 US) Wes Anderson directs this stop motion film about a married with child fox having a mid-life crisis. As I've talked about before I love stop-motion. What I like about creating animation is that you have so much control in what's in front of the camera, mis-en-scene. You have to put in so much more work but it's a wonderful trade-off. For a director like Anderson this medium is perfect and he certainly makes the most of it. Anderson loves his symmetry and he really leaned into it in this film. That symmetry includes his color pallet which is wonderfully balanced. The film was based on the Roald Dahl book of the same name. I'm told that the film diverges from the book a lot. Apparently, the book did not have enough material to pack a feature length film. Rest assured book purists Anderson somehow got his hands on and used notes written by Dahl featuring scenes and storylines that didn't make it into the book. So its kind of faithful. I real

Watership Down (1978 UK)  A fluffle of bunnies try to survive in South UK rolling hills. I was going to put this up yesterday for Easter, you know because of the bunnies but yeah No. Based on the book by the same name this depiction was very well done but....I saw someone on the internet say that 63 bunnies died on camera. That's a lot. Even if that's not accurate its really close. I hear that the film and the book have been banned in certain school districts because of the violence. I can kind of see that. It may be traumatizing for certain children, like Bambi. I loved the watercolor style art and the backgrounds. The sound editing was very well done. As I've talked about before, sound is very important in animation because it helps our brains fill in the gaps. So when a bunny dies you feel it more. Wonderful! But I do recommend it if you can handle it. If you watched Bambi and haven't been traumatized for life you should be OK here. Find it on HBO and Amazon or for r

Chip 'N Dale Rescue Ranger (2022 US) Disney Reboots the Rescue Rangers to rescue Monterey Jack from bootleggers. 90's kids will love this film. It is just chocked full of cartoon and pop culture references and jokes. Some are Disney owned but many are not including the Coke Bear (not Cocaine Bear). You know the cuddly polar bear wearing a Christmas sweater encouraging viewers to buy Coca-Cola for the holidays. One of my favorites is E.T vs Batman. I feel like I'm in the "I can see it" camp. I think this is one of the most self aware films I've ever seen and I'm here for it. Historically Disney has had Zero (with a capital Z) sense of humor when it comes to their intellectual properties. So, I am happy to see them taking a jab at themselves a bit. I'm also happy to see the company let go of their script structure model that's worked well for them fore a century. It's kind of getting old. I don't think they got rights from Nickelodeon to show

 Shrek (2001 US) Its #FemaleFimmakerFriday and today's entry is this now classic animated kids film directed by Vicky Jenson and Andrew Adamson. An Ogre sets upon rescuing the princess from a tower guarded by a dragon. If you are interested in going to see Dungeons and Dragons you will find there is a similarity to Shrek with D&D being just a bit more mature and live action. Jenson was not the first choice of director in charge of story. Kelly Asbury was first choice but departed to work on another film. Jenson and Adamson had their work cut out for them as a lot was going wrong including their star Chris Farley had passed away. Jenson was in charge of story and she was tasked with finding the right tone and story for the film. She did great and the film won an Oscar for Best Animated Feature. You can clearly see her influence on the film: for instance the princess does not really need rescuing. When I first saw that I was like, "wow! I didn't know they could do that?&

 If you are expecting a Disneyfied version of this, don't. The film leans more towards the 1881-2 novel by Carlo Collodi. You know, the one where Pinocchio was hung at the end for being a "Bad Boy".  Although, that did not happen in Del Toro's film, he did not spare the audience of some tough moments. A long time ago just after my daughter was born my husband and I went on a date night. We left our daughter with uncles and went to see Pan's Labyrinth. After the movie I was so traumatized by bad things happening to children, that I had to call and see if my baby was OK. What I noticed moving forward is that Del Toro has something bad happening to a child in all of his films. Even the sexy fish film had a moment of that. What I want to know is "who hurt you Guillermo?" "Who hurt you"? This movie was full Del Toro in all of his glory and trauma. Was it good? It sure the heck was. In fact he won best animated feature at the last Oscars. I love how

 Kubo and The Two Strings (2016 US) A young boy must tap into his inherited abilities to defeat an evil that has plagued his village for some time. I just love stop motion animation and one thing I know having actually done it is that it's bloody hard. The process can make you want to crawl up into your safe space and watch reruns. But you just have to put on your big girl panties and get on with it. I did a short which was roughly 120k frames to manage. Wow! though the team on this did great. Of course they had more expensive tools and other resources than I did but still. I love how much Director Travis Knight spent on backgrounds. The detail work on that will most definitely blow your skirt up or at the very least your baggy shirt or may be some socks. So just lock down your clothing when you watch this. I love the script which talks about generational trauma and healing. The littles won't get that though. To them it will be a fun adventure movie. It has quite an all-star ca

 Puss In Boots: The Last Wish (2022 USA) Antonio Banderas leads an all star cast in this cotton candy colored animation about a cat with 9 lives who must come to terms with his own mortality because he has only one life left. Yup you read that right.  Technically, this is a kids movie. Puss is even chased by death depicted as a wolf. I thought at one point they may end up playing chess or Twister but sadly no. Banderas does a great job as the swashbuckling cat who up until now was quite carefree. It has jokes. Some are familiar like the big eyes joke. After the joke they then get back into talking about making the most of your life because you only have one (left). I don't know if I would take kids to this. The younger ones aren't going to get the philosophy but older ones might and I think that's a bit much. I enjoyed it and other adults will likely enjoy it too. Guillermo Del Toro acted as an Executive Producer and had a hand in the script. Yeah, that's totally on bra

 Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023 US) Chris Pine and Michelle Rodriguez lead a campaign in the fantasy comedy. I use the word campaign because it really ran like a D&D campaign complete with side quests. I know its not part of the Animation April campaign but I went to see it yesterday and had to share. It had a lot of FX so that can be a form of animation (CGI). So yeah that's what I'm going with. John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein write and direct. They clearly are D&D fans. In fact I heard that they had the cast play D&D. Believe it or not this isn't the first time a campaign made it to the screen. Vin Diesel admitted that The Last Witch Hunter was his character and campaign. In fact, he told Rodriguez that he was Jelly of her role in this film. Now for the question Du'Jour. Do you need to know D&D to get the film and the answer is "Nope". You can just go and watch. If you do game you will get a ton of references. One s

 My Neighbor Totoro (1988 JP) Two young girls coming to terms with their mothers illness have adventures with the magical forest creatures. Directed by Hayao Miyazaki for Studio Ghibli. Wow this is a gorgeous Anime film. I saw it on the big screen recently in a revival showing and what a treat. Miyazaki's work really resonates with people and I think there are several reasons but primarily his own emotional pain is expressed through his art. For instance as a child Miyazaki's mother was hospitalized for long periods with a health issue that left her without the ability to be mobile even when she was home. In this film the strength of these two protagonists in dealing with their situation has inspired so many. I loved the watercolor art particularly the nature backgrounds. I do think the unsung hero of all of Miyazaki's films but particularly this one is the audio. We focus on the visual art because that's kind of what we do but when you have audio editing that's jus

 The Yellow Submarine ( 1968 UK) Based on the music of the Beatles mostly from the album of the same name. The Fab Four are recruited by a dottering old man to help save Pepperland from the Blue Meanies. Ok stop what you are doing and go watch this film. I know that so many people have not seen it yet and that is a crime. This film is one of the most influential animated films ever. It put animation in the grown-up sphere whereas before it was limited to kids. It was directed by George Dunning and animated by some guys who clearly had been on a lot of trips. Even though the characters were the Beatles the Fab Four did not do the voices cuz really they didn't want to. They did make an appearance at the end as a way to fulfill their contract to United Artists. Although, the Beatles did make another picture with UA after Yellow Submarine. There is a boatload of anecdotes and historical trivia associated with this film which I could go on for days about. The DVD and BluRay have little