Category Archives: Animation

Jan 26 2012

Paprika

Viewed – 25 January 2012  Blu-ray

I had previously only been aware of Japanese animation guru Satoshi Kon after seeing the brilliant Perfect Blue some years ago, and on hearing of his  passing in 2010 from pancreatic cancer, I always promised myself I would seek out anything else he had made.  Paprika, adapted from the novel by Yasutaka Tsutsui, follows the story of an experimental device that enables therapists to enter the dreams of their patients in order to help them.  When the device is stolen, chaos erupts as reality and the world of the dream collide.

This is a startlingly visual experience, awash with colour and imagination.  Kon’s movie assaults the senses and really blew my mind.  It plays with your perception of what is real and what isn’t, much like he did in Perfect Blue, but this time its much more avant garde and limitless, showing a director at the top of his game.  Sad it was to be his last feature.  Yet Satoshi Kon has left the world on a glorious high note, delivering one of the most beautiful and imaginative animated movies I have ever seen.  The detail and wonder on display here, along with utterly freaky music and sound, is often quite breath-taking (the reoccurring image of the parade, the gloriously weird theme tune etc).

Ok, it’s quite hard to follow with the kaleidoscopic style and imagery at times overwhelming, but conventional story structure is not the big selling point here, more the look and ideas, with many visual references including classic Japanese TV show ‘Monkey’, and Disney’s Pinocchio.  Christopher Nolan has cited it as his inspiration for the similar Inception, and also in my opinion it has much in common with David Cronenberg’s Videodrome.

A unique, brain-melting event of a movie that I urge you to seek out immediately.

Verdict:  4 /5

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Jan 14 2012

Arrietty

Viewed – 13 January 2012  Blu-ray

I have to admit, I am a great admirer of the movies from acclaimed Japanese animation masters Studio Ghibli, with Spirited Away and Ponyo being two of my favourites.  This latest entry tells the tale of a tiny girl, who along with her mother and father, live under the floor boards of a huge house, unbeknownst to the humans occupying it.  At night they creep out to scavenge for supplies in order to survive … but it’s not stealing, they are Borrowers, as in the classic children’s books by Mary Norton.  Stepping into the shoes of recently retired studio head Hayao Miyzaki is Hiromasa Yonebayashi in his directing debut, and let’s just say, the studio is in good hands.

From the start, this is magical stuff.  The way the world of Arrietty and her family is captured, from their perspective is stunning, with as expected from Ghibli, wonderfully detailed animation and gorgeous art, making you feel like you are right there with them in a huge world.  The sound design is also exceptional and greatly adds to the atmosphere.  Arrietty’s story, that of a little girl who befriends a human boy suffering from a heart disease, is touching and well observed.  The voice casting is generally good, especially from The Lovely Bones’ Saoirse Ronan in the lead, although the boy proves less interesting, with a very bland, wooden performance … which does lessen the movie’s emotional impact.  The story also lacks the sort of peril you might expect, and it’s not all that exciting either.  Even when the house keeper makes an alarming discovery, and a rescue is set into motion – you never feel anyone is in particular danger.

Don’t get me wrong however, this is a movie that despite such gripes, is still filled with wonderful imagination and bags of personality, as well as beautiful animation and a very memorable theme tune.  I found the ending to be a bit of a let down, but overall … this still enchanted the hell out of me.

Verdict:  3.5 /5

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Jan 4 2012

Ice Age

Viewed – 03 January 2011  DVD

I’ll admit it.  I can be a bit of a snob when it comes to some animated movies.  At one stage when considering CGI-based animated fair, if wasn’t by Pixar (Toy Story, Monsters Inc), I would turn my nose up.  Despicable Me proved me wrong however, and so … very late to this one, we have a movie set at the dawn of a very cold winter.

The first thing I noticed was how uninspiring the animation style was, with the characters and scenery all having a plastic-like look to them.  Not the best first impressions, but then the story, that of a Sloth, a Sabre Tooth Tiger and a Mammoth who find a human boy and choose to take him back to his tribe, gradually began to pull me in.  You see, the boy was taken from his tribe by his mother fleeing a Sabre Tooth Tiger attack, and when the Mammoth and co find him, the Sabre Tooth secretly plots to lead them into a trap.  The Sloth was the comedy fodder here, and the different perils the group faced during their journey were certainly entertaining.  Yet the movie’s gentle tone felt a touch too ‘safe’ for me, and it wasn’t exactly laugh-out-loud funny (unless you’re three).  The plot also was nothing particularly different, but I did like how things came together at the end, with some nice twists.

As part of an ongoing franchise, I liked the characters and setting enough to want to check out the sequels … so that can’t be bad.

Verdict:  3 /5

May 21 2011

Tangled

Viewed – 21 May 2011  Blu-ray

It’s very easy to enjoy animated movies.  The often beautiful visuals, the charming character design, the memorable sing-a-long songs and that timeless good overcoming evil storyline.  Disney has long been at the top when it comes to feature-length animation, and following their last effort, the highly entertaining Princess and the Frog, we now come to this, their 50th feature.

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May 6 2011

Monsters Vs Aliens

Viewed – 06 May 2011  Blu-ray

When a unasuming woman on the day of her wedding gets hit by a radioactive meteorite, her life is turned upside down as she turns into a giant, captured by the military and housed in a top-secret facility.  There she meets a gang of outcast monster-types, such as a mad scientist turned cockroach, a weird jelly creature, a colossal hamster-looking-thing and a lizard / monkey hybrid, who the government reluctantly turn to when an evil maglomaniac alien invades earth.

This obvious homage to 50′s B-movies like Attack Of The Fifty Foot Woman and It Came From Outer Space, was fun, even if the rather ugly art-style was distracting and the voice casting not particularly engaging, with the exception of Hugh Laurie and Seth Rogan.  The action and characters were all entertaining, and there was some good jokes, with certain moments causing me to chuckle (the President doing Axel F, anyone?).  Yet with so many CGI animated movies out there, this one felt at times a little Saturday-afternoon throwaway, with little of the emotion or character depth you’d find in the likes of Toy Story or even Shrek, and as far as animation goes, this one falls way behind those and many others.

Verdict:  2 /5

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