Movie Reviews

REVIEW: There’s a New King in Town

11 July 2019 by Chris Ryan Leave a Comment

… Or is there?

Before I begin, I think it’s important I say that, like all of the most recent films produced by Disney, I wanted this to do well. I want nothing less than the next great film from the most successful media company there has ever been. That being said, these are my opinions.

To start this review, I actually want to digress into a quick anecdote. One of my favorite new modern bands is a group called Greta Van Fleet. They’re a rock band that sounds pretty similar to Led Zeppelin. However, to quite a lot of people – including one notably scathing review on Pitchfork – they’re just a cheap Zeppelin knock-off, mooching off the successful sound of Robert Plant and the like. I personally like the band, and didn’t really understand why these people had such a strong hatred for them. That is, until I saw 2019’s The Lion King.

There’s no need to worry about spoilers in this review, as this is, beat-for-beat, exactly the same movie that was released 25 years ago. Visually, it obviously does look very different (and we’ll get to that in a second), but at least 95% of the scenes in this are unchanged from the original, even going down to random establishing shots that could have been completely unique.

Can you feel the love tonight…?

THE LION KING – (Top to Bottom) Timon and Billy Eichner, Pumbaa and Seth Rogen and Zazu and John Oliver. Photo by Kwaku Alston. © 2019 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Before we get much farther, it’ll be important to note that this review is much harsher than those I usually write. This movie made me mad that it exists. This is equally as much a review of The Lion King as it is a review of Disney’s presence in the modern box office. I can justify that because very little changed between this and the original, leaving very little to review – though I’ll go over what I can.

The vocal performances (acting-wise) feel very lazy. This is embarrassing, because this has got to be one of the most expensive casts for any movie outside of the MCU lately. Something about this movie makes the completely star-studded cast feel like a B-Team. This is not without exceptions though. Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen steal the show every time they’re on screen. But notable greats like James Earl Jones and Chiwitel Ejiofor feel like they delivered one pass on their lines and left the studio. Everyone else falls very flat.

Song-wise, I really can’t complain. The songs are good regardless of who’s singing them, and since the two leads double as Grammy-winning vocalists, it’s no surprise that they’re good. The songs are actually where I would have wished they’d stayed true to the original. The original soundtrack is fantastic, and the Broadway score only brings more life and material to it. I did enjoy the new Beyoncé track, I just thought it was oddly placed. And the lyric changes to Be Prepared weren’t really terrible, it was just weird that they chose to change that, but leave in the exact same shot of Simba walking past a spiderweb in the Elephant Graveyard.

… because I could not.

THE LION KING – Featuring the voices of JD McCrary as Young Simba, Billy Eichner as Timon and Seth Rogen as Pumbaa, Disney’s “The Lion King” is directed by Jon Favreau. In theaters July 19, 2019. © 2019 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The animation is something that will come up often in discussions about this film. I recently watched Jon Favreau’s The Jungle Book for the first time, and it felt weird to me because of the juxtaposition between a human actor and uncanny valley animated creatures. The Lion King feels as weird somehow, without the use of a human actor.

I want to pause and say that while I have studied and practiced a bit of animation, I am by NO MEANS a professional. I didn’t care much for this movie, but I do give all the credit in the world to the incredible animation team. A lot of this movie does look absolutely amazing. I kept thinking that this would be a great demo reel for Samsung displays or something in the future. That being said, animators, please don’t kill me for the next section.

A lot of the problems I had with the vocal performances were that they were delivered as if it were a typical animated film. If you closed your eyes while watching this movie, I don’t think it would really feel out of place. The problem becomes introduced when the characters are hyper-realistic animals, which in the end, cannot convey complex emotion very well. The original Lion King works as an emotional experience (as do all hand-drawn films) because of how expressive the characters can be, even if they’re animals, or sometimes inanimate objects. When you take all of that facial expressiveness and cartoon performance out, it can be very difficult to connect.

Undoubtedly, people will feel emotions while watching this. Baby Simba is cute. Mufasa dying is sad. But that’s just the nature of animals themselves. I could have walked into the theater and been shown just a still-image of a baby lion, and still would have said, “Aw, cute”.

Long Live the King.

A FUTURE KING IS BORN – In Disney’s all-new “The Lion King,” Simba idolizes his father, King Mufasa, and takes to heart his own royal destiny. Featuring JD McCrary and Donald Glover as young Simba and Simba, “The Lion King” roars into U.S. theaters on July 19, 2019. ©2019 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

I really don’t understand why this was made the way it was, or who it’s for. Most of the audience watching this movie will remember the entire plot of the original, whether they grew up watching it, or just because it’s a big enough piece of pop culture to be ingrained in the minds of anyone who knows its name. So why, then, is it just exactly the same as the original?

My lasting impression was that it was just to make money off of people’s nostalgia, in the laziest (from an executive standpoint) way possible. The acting felt lazy and half-done. The screenplay was just copy/pasted by a temp. The score was legitimately just the original score with one or two new songs, which were moved to the credits.

There have been “live action” remakes in the past, and no, none have really been very good. But this one just feels like the most cruel of all. But they make them because they do make money. There definitely is an audience for these movies (whom I have not met). All I’ll say is that you vote with your wallet. Seven years ago, before it was even announced, I never thought I would be advising people against seeing a remake of one of my favorite Disney movies, but here we are.

Ultimately, this movie felt, to me, like a film-student’s final project. The animation is nice to look at, but it serves more as a weird gimmick than an entertaining movie. I could imagine myself scrolling through reddit and finding a post where someone re-animated The Lion King in Cinema 4D, and then it’s just the entirety of The Lion King (2019).

REVIEW: ‘Aladdin’ Could’ve Used a Magical Lamp

22 May 2019 by Chris Ryan Leave a Comment

To begin, I’ll say that this movie entertained me. To be fair, most Disney movies do – they’re lighthearted, often fairly funny, and usually have a bit of a spectacle to them/their experience. 2019’s Aladdin definitely checks all three of those boxes, but it does little outside of that.

Aladdin was fun to watch. From a design point of view, it was very interesting. I’m already very invested in Middle Eastern art and culture, and this film certainly managed to live in that world, arguably far more than the original did. And visually, it’s the equivalent to seeing a well developed Broadway show, like the ones Disney puts on (Aladdin, for example). That is to say, every musical number was a big show stopper that is definitely worth watching.

But outside of that, this film really lacks anything worthwhile.

Even after seeing it, I still wholeheartedly believe that this movie really did not need to be made. I don’t know that anyone was really clamoring for a live-action remake of a movie that’s only 27 years old, and didn’t really have many problems. Fans of the original are better off still watching the original, which is largely more charming than this version. And if you’re specifically seeking a bigger spectacle of Aladdin, the Broadway version still already exists, and while it’s not my favorite musical in the world, I think there is definitely good fun to be had, making this movie ultimately unnecessary.

This movie is admittedly more entertaining than the original, which to me never really stood out from that era’s other animated works. Like I said, the musical numbers are all as big and epic as you could ever want them to be – with all of the CGI in the world assisting Prince Ali make his big entrance. But those don’t necessarily add up to something worth more than the sum of its parts.

Will Smith is Genie in Disney’s live-action ALADDIN., directed by Guy Ritchie.

The musical numbers are actually, to me, the best parts of the film. They take Alan Menken’s wonderful original soundtrack and bring a vibrant new life to it, which fits perfectly in the vivid world the characters now live in. This is of course not including the two new songs written just for this film, both of which are sung by Jasmine. They were stylistically very clashing with the rest of the soundtrack, and felt almost as if Disney was just trying to make a song as “empowering” as ‘This is Me’, from The Greatest Showman, just because of how popular that song has become. Additionally, most of the ‘Prince Ali’ scene has actually already been posted to YouTube, and I think watching that clip is really all you need from this movie. It gives you a taste of exactly what to expect.

Will Smith’s performance is what actually keeps this movie from sinking under though. The musical numbers are great, but they are few and far between. Every time Smith was on screen he stole the show, which is actually important because most of the other performances felt nearly lifeless. Before the release of this, there was a lot of controversy about his appearance in the movie, and how they would pull it off. I didn’t really care one way or the other, but I definitely had no issue with him in the end.

Aladdin (Mena Massoud) meets the larger-than-life blue Genie (Will Smith) in Disney’s live-action adaptation ALADDIN, directed by Guy Ritchie.

Overall, it was indeed entertaining, but lacked any real purpose. The plot was more or less the same as the original, so it’s not as if they’re making any groundbreaking leaps or bounds in storytelling, which is bold for a remake of a movie only 27 years old. You can watch this movie and have fun, but you can watch the original and get the same emotional beats/moments. And simply listening to the soundtrack is enough to be satisfied for a “new” Aladdin.

There is something beautifully ironic about this movie being entirely surface-level though, as it mirrors Prince Ali’s character arc in the original film.

Parts of it felt like a Hallmark movie, parts of it felt like a Disney Channel Original Movie. It was just an odd thing that exists, but I’m not sure why. It was fun in the same way a direct-to-video sequel is fun. It exists purely to be looked at, and will be enjoyed largely because people like the original, and this movie didn’t change anything.

While it’s not a spoiler in any way, this movie ends with a black screen, you hear the words, “DJ Khaled… Anotha one!!” and the credits roll, and that should really speak for itself.

Another Spoiler Free EndGame Review

24 April 2019 by Suzannah Otis Leave a Comment

I never used to be a Marvel fan. Just like I never used to be a Harry Potter fan, or a Lord of the Rings fan, or a Star Wars fan. Then, as with all fandoms, a story spoke to me. With Star Wars, it was those darn adorable ewoks back in 1983. I was 8, and during a time when my sticker collection and unicorns filled most of my time, Star Wars lured me in with fuzzy teddy bear-like creatures. What was their story? What was going to happen to them? And I became a fan. (As a side-note, that fandom has faded for me since I feel like it’s been overdone and shoved down our throats for a few years now, the original trilogy will always be where my heart lies.)

With Lord of the Rings, I took longer to discover this amazing series. I had read The Hobbit in 4th grade and haaaaated it. It seemed so boring to me and I did not enjoy the story at all. Fast forward to many years later, when the buzz was everywhere about The Lord of the Rings. I had grown up loving fantasy and fairytale stories, so I figured I better read the Lord of the Rings trilogy before the movies came out. I dug in and was lost in those books for an entire summer, following up with The Silmarillion and a Tolkien biography. I became a super fan. (Like, obsessed for a while. Tolkien was a genius and I am still in awe of the worlds and entire languages he created!)

With Harry Potter, I tried to avoid them as long as I could. I felt like J.K. Rowling was totally ripping off Lord of the Rings lore, and I refused to read or see any of the movies. One night, Chamber of Secrets was on ABC Family. I got sucked in. I actually liked it. (Oddly it’s now my least favorite of the movie series.) So I read all the books (that were out at that time) and even attending midnight release parties of the last few books. Yet another super fan was born. [And yes, I promise we’ll get to EndGame – but if you are going to see it, get used to long backstories leading up to the action. 😉 ]

But with Marvel, it was different. I never read Marvel comics growing up. I read Donald Duck and Casper and Archie comics to pass the time during summers in Ogunquit, Maine. I was never really into superheroes and aside from Superman movies in the 80’s didn’t care too much about any of them.

Then, Iron Man happened. I have always loved Robert Downey, Jr. and instantly fell in love with his egotistic-but-brilliant-bad-boy-billionaire-with-a-change-of-heart character. The stories, the visuals, the blurring of lines between good and evil, I loved it all. What I found so interesting is that while the Marvel Comics already existed for decades, how a story ended or crossed over with another character, did not mean it would end up that way on screen. So there were still surprises in many cases for everyone, even the comic fanboys and girls.

I guess then I became a Marvel fan, because each movie drew me in and I wanted more. (I still have never seen 2008’s The Incredible Hulk but eventually I’m sure I will just for completist reasons along with Captain Marvel which I missed the screening for and just haven’t had time to see but I will, I swear!) I loved that they were funny while still having tons of dramatic action and also showing life lessons that each of the characters learn along the way. That’s part of what makes the series so great; there is a hero for everyone. I love something about every single Avenger. The dynamics that have grown and shifted between all of them are a great legacy for fans.

So as a fan, of course, the prospect of an “end game” of any sort was a tad depressing. Just as I did not relish the ending of the LotR trilogy in Return of the King, or the final book or movie in the Harry Potter series, I was not looking forward to the ending of such an epic, 10+ year set of stories. That said, it was an action-packed, shocking, cathartic, dramatic, draining, and satisfying (in most cases) ending to this phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

What follows is the rest of my spoiler-free review of Avengers: Endgame – (You can read Christian’s spoiler-free review here)

I was very glad that EndGame picked right up with what everyone had been doing since the end of Infinity War. After Infinity War ended, we were all dumbstruck. We needed to see that it we weren’t alone in our grief. I think we all hoped for the best to happen with most of the characters who became dust, and were less hopeful for those who had truly met their end, like my dear Loki (but you just never know with that trickster). I think this may be why the runtime of the movie was so long. There is a LOT to cover and explain and get to, and I’m glad they did. [sidenote: I was very worried about making it thru the entire movie without a bathroom break, but I drank nothing for 2 hours before and was fine :P]

I can’t really say too much else without giving away any plot points…I wish I could…if you see the movie and want to discuss, come find me! 😉 What I can and will say is that I cried. A LOT. There are thankfully also a lot of comedic moments to cut the tension of these big, serious themes, so it is a balance. (I anticipate quite a few memes being born from EndGame.) I definitely heard a few sniffs of crying in our audience, but nothing major, so I will just say that I am an emotional person, I cry at anything even remotely resembling any sort of relationship bond. I have always been a mushy person, a trait which has been further compounded by 20 years of motherhood and the passing of ever-fleeting time. Your mileage may vary.

These weren’t just sad tears, though. What I felt every time I cried was a gratefulness for the family that Marvel created and shared with all of us. If they didn’t do a good job of establishing these bonds of friendship and kinship, we wouldn’t care enough to even get emotional when it all ends. There are several moments throughout the film where this display of family is pretty epic.

To bring it back to Lord of the Rings again, it really reminded me of the final Return of the King. I remember being so sad that it was over, but thankful for being able to experience the entire journey over the years. These are the life-changing moments that allow us to see and appreciate how far they’ve come, how far we’ve come, and be able to move on.

It’s been eleven years. Eleven. How much has your life changed in that time? I know mine has changed immensely since then. Eleven years ago, I had 2 kids, not 3. And those two were 8 and 9 years old. Now they are 20 and 18, and I have a 10 year old. I have gotten divorced and remarried and moved 4 times, gone back to work full time. Even this blog didn’t exist 11 years ago (though we’re coming up on the 10th anniversary!). I’m pretty much a completely different person. And so are our Avengers. To quote that 90’s hit by Semisonic, “…every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.” And that is what EndGame is.

Marvel Studios’ Avengers: EndGame opens everywhere April 26.

Disney provided us a complimentary press screening, but my opinions and thoughts are my own.

REVIEW: Avengers: Endgame, a Conclusion 11 Years in the Making

23 April 2019 by Chris Ryan Leave a Comment

Before this review gets started, I’ll say that this review, like all of my others, contains NO SPOILERS, so read away with no worries of ruining the story. These are merely my lasting impressions.

About a month ago, I wrote a pretty negative review about Captain Marvel. One of the biggest takeaways from this review was that I began to feel as if I was suffering from “Marvel Fatigue”. That is to say, I felt as if there were more Marvel movies being produced than I cared to enjoy. The majority of them were only entertaining at best, but did nothing in terms of great filmmaking. They were largely ‘popcorn films’ – something you can sit down and watch, and know you’ll have a good time watching it, even though it’s not anything groundbreaking. They all followed the same basic format, and utterly, it grew quite old to me.

That is, with one exception: ‘Avengers: Infinity War’. Infinity War to me was the piéce de rèsistance of the MCU. I find myself still watching that movie over and over again, whereas I’ve still only seen most other Marvel movies one time. But I digress – point of the story is that to me, Infinity War was the climax of the series, and left me incredibly excited for Endgame. Captain Marvel just simply didn’t deliver on what I wanted from the MCU.

Endgame did.

THE NEW PIÈCE DE RÉSISTANCE.

Marvel Studios’ AVENGERS: ENDGAME..Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.)..Photo: Film Frame..©Marvel Studios 2019

Avengers: Endgame is truly the thrilling conclusion we all signed up for back in 2008. None of us knew it back then, but this is what we were waiting for. I’ll actually keep my descriptions of it more brief than usual, since I know spoiling anything in the MCU – let alone a proper Avengers title – is basically a death sentence.

I was ultimately left speechless by this movie. Where the MCU typically left me wanting more – wishing that the stories would be developed deeper, that there was more of a richness or diversity to the arcs we saw – Endgame fulfilled tenfold.It truly was the Super Bowl of the MCU, the great single climax we’ve all been waiting for.

In my initial draft of this review, I listed my only ‘con’ as the runtime. I mentioned that at times, even though I wasn’t bored, I was wondering if this runtime was truly necessary. Now that I’ve had more time to think about it – yes, it absolutely was. Every aspect of this film was necessary, and the runtime was definitely a key player. I might even be able to say I find no ‘con’ in this movie,which is not an honor I throw around very lightly, and certainly not for a movie in the MCU.

There are moments that feel the same as when we first saw The Avengers in 2012, with all the giddy joy of seeing them come together on screen for the first time. There are moments that feel the same as Thor: Ragnarok, which was notable for its lighthearted fare and comedy throughout. And there are some moments that feel the same as Infinity War, with all of the depressing realism of coming to terms with the fact that you can’t win every fight.

If you enter Endgame seeking an end to the arc we began in Infinity War, you will find it. If you enter seeking a newer, bolder story, you will find it. If you enter wishing to reminisce on the nostalgia of all of your favorite Marvel characters, you can do so.It really is a cinematic spectacle the likes of which has never happened before, and might never happen again.

The most I’ll give away is this: pay attention to the score. It can often be overlooked in action movies, but I thought the soundtrack of Endgame was masterful. When utilized fully, the soundtrack can be the biggest single tool in the directors’ arsenal to help tell a story and create their masterpiece – Endgame definitely does this. There are actually a few times in this movie where the score is a big focus, and I don’t recall that being as much of an emotional moment at any other time in the MCU.

Now, while I did absolutely love this movie, I don’t think it’s the most amazing movie I’ve seen. I think initially I would be quite hesitant to put it at the same level as some of my favorite movies – The Favourite (2018), Birdman (2014), La La Land (2016), etc. But I also don’t think that’s what it was trying to be. It wasn’t your typical Oscar-nominated spectacle-of-theatre that you know will be looked back on as a classic. Or was it?

The performances were great. Robert Downey Jr. brought new depth to his role in this film alone unlike anything we’ve seen. And he’s not alone. Hemsworth, Evans, Ruffalo, the whole team were at an elevated level of performance. The storytelling was great. The music was great. The visual depth and experience were great. It’s not your typical Oscar selection, but I think it certainly manages to prove its worthiness as one.

What it did do was subvert every expectation I had of what an action movie could be. 11 years ago, I never thought I would care about what Thanos did, or who War Machine was. But Kevin Feige and the entire Marvel team have crafted a cultural moment unlike any other. I’ll be the first to say I haven’t enjoyed every stop along the way – like I said earlier, I got bored. Retaining the audience’s attention for this long was surely a daunting task, and it wasn’t always a successful one for me. Regardless, time after time, I showed up. And I’m very glad I did.

Endgame manages to do something right in the MCU. That is to say, it takes every boring and action-heavy flick in its roster and kicks them to the curb. Every low moment of the MCU we slogged through for the past 11 years was worth it for seeing the Avengers come to life on screen one last time in Endgame. Whatever it takes.

As a funny bonus, this movie was so engaging that my heart rate went a little crazy.

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

Marvel Studios’ AVENGERS: ENDGAME..L to R: Hawkeye/Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner), War Machine/James Rhodes (Don Cheadle), Ant-Man/Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper), Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff (Scarlet Johansson), Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Captain America/Steve Rogers (Chris Evans)..Photo: Film Frame..©Marvel Studios 2019

To say that Endgame is a great movie is actually kind of difficult. First a different question must be answered; Is it truly great, or is it great only built off the success of the 22-film MCU?

I’m a big fan of Harry Potter. And I think that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 is a good movie, and ended the series off in a way that I was fine with. But you certainly could not watch ONLY Deathly Hallows Part 2. I think you might be able to watch ONLY Endgame (if you somehow hadn’t seen anything else in the MCU).

Really, I don’t think I can answer that original question. In fact I would be hard-pressed to find anyone who actually could. It seems as though the entire world has seen at least most of these movies, so it would be very difficult to find someone who will watch Endgame with absolutely zero prior knowledge. So I think that invalidates the question. To ask if Endgame is good is to, by association, assume whomever you’re asking has prior knowledge already. And that actually makes this easier to talk about.

Endgame is a great movie. It certainly doesn’t make any groundbreaking leaps or bounds in terms of cinematic filmmaking. But it does completely change film history. Never before have 22 films culminated to one thrilling, rollercoaster of a conclusion. And I think something like this may never happen again, or at least, I hope it doesn’t.

While I definitely enjoyed this wild 11 year ride, I’m ready for it to end. In a perfect world, this would be the end of the MCU, and we would be able to look back fondly on this crazy journey and reminisce the time of year a new Marvel movie would come out. Unfortunately, I know it doesn’t end here. They’ve already announced films like Spiderman: Far From Home, and Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3, and who knows what else is in the works.

But if I’m being honest, after Endgame, I’m actually looking forward to whatever happens next. I’m ready for it to end, but something about the masterminds at Marvel Studios has left me curious about where we go from here. So the MCU shall continue, seemingly endlessly into the horizon, as new stories are told and new heroes are born. But for now, Endgame signifies a brief moment of rest. I no longer know what the future of the MCU holds, but I’m ready for a whole new adventure to begin.

REVIEW: Disneynature Penguins – An Icy Tale

17 April 2019 by Suzannah Otis Leave a Comment

Another guest reviewer on Zannaland, this time, good ol’ Otisney (aka my husband, Scott). He took Gio to see the screening of Penguins last weekend. As much as I loooove animals of all kinds, Born in China really did me in for nature movies. Sorry Disney! I don’t think I could even get myself together to post a review on that, I was so traumatized. I immediately left the theatre and sponsored a snow leopard, that’s all I remember. Anyway, from what I hear, like Bears, Penguins has no animal deaths to worry about, so I guess I could’ve gone, but I’m glad I played it safe. In any event, here’s a review on the latest Disneynature film, Penguins, released today:

Just in time for Earth Day, Disneynature is releasing its latest in a long line of gorgeous nature films. While previous films examined in beautiful detail the wondrous worlds of big African kitty cats, big Alaskan grizzly bears and exotic Chinese critters (pandas and snow leopards and golden monkeys … OH MY!), this new film checks out the unique world of the Adélie penguins.

As the film begins, we are immediately introduced to our hero penguin, Steve, who is returning to his Antarctic roots to find a mate, build a nest and start a family. In stunning visual splendor, we are given a close-up look of Steve’s daily routines, his struggles (sometimes due to the harsh climate, other times because of sharing very limited space and resources with millions of other penguins), all while trying to elude his natural predators, killer whales and leopard seals.

Despite what you might think would be a monochromatic film (or black and white, as it were), set in the difficult climbs of mega-cold Antarctica, Penguins is such an exquisite and beautifully shot film, where everything looks super sharp and detailed. From the wavy glare of the ice floes that the penguins traverse across, to the extra fluffy powdery down feathers of all the baby penguin chicks, each frame is so incredibly detailed and crisp and bold to look at.

The filmmakers had to go through some extreme weather to shoot one breeding season of these amazing Adélie penguins that return to the exact place of their birth, find a life partner, build a suitable nest, lay, incubate and hatch eggs, and begin to raise baby penguin chicks, fattening them up for their harried march back to the ocean for the winter. The end credits, as always, showcases the amazing photographers and camera men and women and crew that had to endure these tough conditions.

Penguins is suitably narrated by the affable Ed Helms, who also occasionally provides the voices for Steve and others, oftentimes in a very silly way. His is a very familiar and comforting voice and it all feels natural and right.

Of course, as with all Disneynature films, Disney is donating hundreds of thousands of dollars of proceeds from the admissions during the opening week in theaters to a great cause. For every ticket sold opening week (April 17-23, 2019), Disneynature will make a donation to the Wildlife Conservation Network (WCN) to help protect penguins across the southern hemisphere with opening weekend profits going to support Earth Day charities.

At 76 minutes, Penguins is long enough to be extremely compelling and make you invested in the lovable characters on screen, but short enough to not become boring or just drone on endlessly.

It’s definitely a film that is okay to take the littlest of your family members to enjoy. There is a small amount of ensuing peril, but nothing too bad and mostly off screen. I can assure you, there is a happy ending for our hero Steve and his entire family.

Disneynature Penguins gets four cold, crisp, icy stars from this reviewer.

REVIEW: Burton’s Dumbo Soars Higher than Ever

26 March 2019 by Chris Ryan Leave a Comment

There’s no question that the original 1941 release of Dumbo is a landmark animation release. It’s truly a triumph of the techniques of the time that come together to cement a piece of Disney history unlike any other.

Respecting a classic…

For one reason or another, I was not very excited for the 2019 remake of Dumbo. It could’ve been because I personally was not a fan of the original for a handful of reasons. Or maybe it was because (despite him being one of my favorite directors) the recent work of Tim Burton has been rather sub-par. Either way, I didn’t know what to expect. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised. From the first scene of the film, where a familiar score introduces itself while we see a newer, updated Casey Jr., I knew everything was going to be okay.

WHEN I SEE AN ELEPHANT FLY — In Tim Burton’s all-new, live-action reimagining of “Dumbo,” former circus star Holt Farrier (Colin Farrell) and his children (Nico Parker and Finley Hobbins) find themselves caring—and advocating—for a newborn elephant whose oversized ears make him a laughingstock in an already struggling circus. Directed by Burton and produced by Katterli Frauenfelder, Derek Frey, Ehren Kruger and Justin Springer, “Dumbo” flies into theaters on March 29, 2019. © 2018 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

And yes, you heard that right, I was not a fan of the original. This isn’t a review of that film, so I won’t get into it, but to sum it up, I think the original release of Dumbo is very outdated today. Comparing the runtime of the two films alone – 112 minutes to the original’s 64 – it’s clear that Burton has a much larger story to tell.

Where I find faults in the original, I find nothing but success in this retelling. But that isn’t to say that Burton completely erases any memory of the original. I think this remake pays homage to the original by respecting its legacy, and building upon it to tell a new story. You don’t need to have seen the original at all to understand this new film, but there are certainly a few nods to it that those classic fans will pick up.

…and bringing it to life.

For the past 5 years, we’ve been subject to a new kind of Disney film – the remake. It’s become something of a joke that Disney just keeps remaking their classic movies, creating an endless cycle of profitability. I personally have not been very kind to these remakes. At the base level, I don’t understand the point of remaking a classic movie as they have been doing.

2015’s Cinderella, 2017’s Beauty and the Beast, and (from the look of it) 2019’s The Lion King – just to name a few – all tell the exact same story as the original film they’re based on. The remake simply updates the graphics, or makes it “live action”, or adds a few new songs to the soundtrack, and doesn’t make any attempt at doing something radically different with the story. I don’t like these films because they seem like a waste of time. Yes, I would love to see Childish Gambino as Simba the lion, but I’d like even more to see him doing something I’ve never seen before, not exactly what I saw Matthew Broderick do 25 years ago.

I appreciated Maleficent for this reason. It wasn’t a remake of Sleeping Beauty, it was a retelling from a different perspective. Ultimately, I didn’t like that movie as a whole, but it’s the only “remake” that I felt actually justified its existence. That is, until Tim Burton’s Dumbo.

Dumbo (2019) takes the simple concept of the original movie, ‘a flying elephant in a circus’, and runs away with it. Burton’s movie does feature some of the same events as the original, but builds upon them in a way that is wholly unique and more powerful than the original was.

DREAMING BIG — In Tim Burton’s all-new, live-action reimagining of “Dumbo,” persuasive entrepreneur V.A. Vandevere (Michael Keaton) decides that a young elephant from a struggling circus belongs in his newest, larger-than-life entertainment venture, Dreamland. Directed by Burton and produced by Katterli Frauenfelder, Derek Frey, Ehren Kruger and Justin Springer, “Dumbo” flies into theaters on March 29, 2019. © 2018 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Burton was clearly the best choice to tell this story. Don’t go into this movie expecting his typical gothic atmosphere, but do expect his ability to turn a dark story or dark events into a bright and vibrant world. This movie feels very similar to his remake of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. From the soundtrack to the over-the-top visuals, they both respect the classic and truly bring it to life.

I’ll leave it at this – this is the movie we thought we were watching when we saw the original Dumbo. You can go back and watch the original and still respect it for its legacy, still honor the achievement it made, and still love the story it told. But watching Burton’s new take on the film brings back all of the wonder and amazement of truly seeing it for the first time. It’s the movie that made me a Dumbo fan.

GOTTA FLY – Visionary filmmaker Tim Burton helms the live-action reimagining of Disney’s 1941 animated classic “Dumbo.” “’Dumbo’ was always one of my favorite Disney films,” said Burton. “We’re trying to give it the same heart, feeling and emotion that we all loved about the original.” Starring Colin Farrell, Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito, Eva Green, Nico Parker and Finley Hobbins, “Dumbo” is currently in production in England. © 2017 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved..

Dumbo opens Friday, March 29, 2019 in theatres everywhere. You can read Zannaland’s original Dumbo animated feature review here.

NEW: Toy Story 4 Full Trailer -But…Do We Need THIS Toy Story?

19 March 2019 by Suzannah Otis 1 Comment

DisneyPixar just released the newest trailer for Toy Story 4, and unlike our previous short glimpses at new characters, this full trailer reveals the storyline and plot of the fourth Toy Story movie. If you haven’t seen it yet, here it is:

So, what did you think? My initial viewing left me scratching my head. I mean, I love most all of the Pixar films, even Cars 2 (for its visuals) which most people did not rave about. I appreciate a good cry, despite knowing Pixar is manipulating my heartstrings and leaving me a blubbering mess.

When former Disney Animation Chief Creative Officer John Lasseter spoke about Toy Story 4 at the D23 Expo in 2015, he mentioned that it was going to be Woody and Bo Peep’s love story. I was cautiously optimistic about that, even tho, Toy Story 3 had wrapped the toys’ lives up so neatly, I figured there would be a backstory/prequel aspect to Woody and Bo Peep, and perhaps they’d be reunited. Well, a LOT has happened since that D23 Expo, and obviously, whatever tale John Lasseter may have planned to tell, probably got changed a bit if not completely. Just as we no longer have “Gigantic” to look forward to (which I must admit I am thankful for, after learning a bit about it at the same 2015 D23 Expo), ideas change, directors change, and sometimes things get shelved altogether. I’m not sure why Pixar felt like this was a story they needed to tell, especially after Toy Story 3 left everyone with such warm fuzzy feelings (at least that’s what I was left with after sobbing uncontrollably for about 20 mins).

Let’s go through my initial reactions as I watched, and see if you agree…Ok, Bonnie makes “Forky” and Woody gloms onto him (having learned not to be threatened by new toys way back in the original Toy Story) and proclaims Forky to be the most important toy to Bonnie right now, and as such must be protected at all costs. Now this is where they lost me right off the bat. Maybe if this movie came out in 1999, I might relate better to this concept. That’s when I had my first child, and sure, if there was something that he created and loved more than anything, I could see myself going to extreme lengths to make sure this toy was always there. However, this is a spork with googly eyes and pipe cleaners attached. A craft project, that – and this is the joy of arts and crafts – you could create again and again. If my son made a spork guy and that spork got stepped on and cracked, or his eyes fell off, or he simply got lost, we’d make a new one. I understand that Woody may not know or understand this concept, but the majority of the audience watching should.

So while I can see what they were trying to do here with Woody “doing the right thing” and saving the spork, it just doesn’t hold as much weight as losing Buzz, or Slinky Dog, or even Bo Peep, who he seemed resigned to forget about in Toy Story 3. Additionally, if the message they are trying to send is “every friend a child ‘creates’ is special and must be preserved at all costs…” that’s not a very realistic parenting message.

Life is about growth; growing up, making changes, some harder than others, and yes, some things get left behind. A spork made in school simply does not equate to a childhood dog, or friend, or toy that never left your side. But as a parent of 3 children, if any of them did lose a special toy, and nothing could be done to find it or bring it back, we would move on and that toy would become a cherished memory. Because as much as we, as parents, may grow attached to certain things our children once loved or played with or even wore, chances are more than likely they will cast them aside as they grow up and move on to bigger and better things. (Which I am knee-deep in as my youngest, now 10, is finally cleaning out his room and donating some toys that he’s either had from birth, inherited from his older brother and sister, or were once beloved and now collecting dust.)

And THAT is the lesson that Pixar made so clear in Toy Story 3. After ripping our hearts out with “When Somebody Loved Me,” the song woven throughout Jessie’s backstory, we all felt incredible guilt for donating toys we once loved. Toy Story 3 wiped that guilt clean with the acknowledgement that toys can be passed on to new generations of children who will love and care for them, creating new everlasting memories.

So whether Woody represents a parenting mentality in this tale, not wanting to upset Bonnie, or one of a friend not wanting to leave another friend behind, it seems like a very weak storyline to build an entire movie on, even if it’s only a stepping off point to get to finding Bo Peep. And the spork doesn’t even want to be alive! So let him go. There are so many other sporks available to stick googly eyes on. But it’s happening. This is the path Pixar has chosen. Woody flies out after Forky, and their journey to get back to ~~Andy~~ Bonnie, now begins.

Next up, Woody spies Bo’s old lamp in an antique shop, and has to go in to see if she’s there. As is the case with Toy Story 2 (Stinky Pete) and Toy Story 3 (Lotso) there are “bad toys” (in this case ventriloquist dummy dolls under the command of a creepy talking doll) in the antique shop, which try to attack and capture Woody and Forky. I mean…is this the best they could do? I appreciate the nod to the original ventriloquist concept that Woody was once going to be before the first Toy Story was completed, but apart from that, it’s getting a bit repetitive here, no? And this time instead of Jessie coming to the rescue as she did in the Toy Story of Terror short, it’s Bo Peep who rescues Woody. From what we can see, Bo has become a strong, independent woman while she’s been away from Andy’s room.

At this point in the trailer, we also see Buzz has jumped out of the moving RV where all the toys began with Bonnie, and stumbles into a pretty permanent-looking carnival set up. Bo Peep also gestures to this same carnival, asking Woody if he wouldn’t rather live there than a kid’s room. Forky seems to have been converted to the cult of being a kid’s toy, and asks if they are going back to Bonnie. So the same hijinx will now ensue, with Woody and Buzz separated, both of them separated from their kid, Bonnie in this case, and new toys who either hinder or help them along their journey back to where they belong.

The whole thing just left me with a very “meh” reaction. It doesn’t seem like anything new will be learned here, it’s the same old story with a new location, and the same ending looks likely. I’m sure I could be mistaken, and I welcome being proven wrong and loving this movie. For now, though, it seems like Pixar is just trying to rewrite the same story (and I’m not sure who they are trying to appeal to). Maybe they are hoping a whole new generation of fans will just jump on the Woody bandwagon. But as mentioned before, they ended things so perfectly with Toy Story 3, it would’ve taken an exceptional story or backstory to top that.

So long, partner.

So what do you think? Did we need this new story? Do you like how the plot looks in the trailer? Do you think there’s a lot still missing that may make this a new Toy Story favorite? Share your thoughts below or with me on social media!

REVIEW: Captain Marvel; or Living with Marvel Fatigue

5 March 2019 by Chris Ryan Leave a Comment

Over the course of 10 years, we have all slowly been indoctrinated into the cult of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We have simply come to accept that seeing a Marvel movie is part of the yearly routine – or as of late, part of the seasonal routine. I accept it willingly, myself. Even at their worst, the MCU has been able to produce 21 movies that are quite entertaining. Some are great, some are Thor: The Dark World. Regardless, Groot, Thanos, and Doctor Strange have all become household names thanks to the MCU.

The beauty of these films is that they can be very rewarding for the fans of the original comics, who gasp at the sight of a character they never thought they’d see on a movie screen, who they recognize immediately from their childhood. And they’re able to do this without it being a turn-off for the general audience who don’t make those immediate connections, and who may have never heard of the characters.

Having watched all of these movies upon release, and then multiple times after, I have become inundated with the knowledge of things I didn’t think I would care about. But ever since Avengers: Age of Ultron, something has been lurking in my mind that I like to call ‘Marvel Fatigue’ (noun): Extreme tiredness caused by an excessive amount of Marvel movies, over, and over, and over.

So let’s discuss Captain Marvel.

Marvel Studios’ CAPTAIN MARVEL..Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) ..Photo: Film Frame..©Marvel Studios 2019

For those who manage to not stay into the know of every happening within the making of all of these movies, Captain Marvel takes place in the 90s. And if you didn’t know this before going into the movie, you’ll definitely know it by the end.

Don’t get me wrong, stylistically/culturally, the 90s is one of my favorite eras, so I’m ready for all the Nirvana and frosted tips you can give me. But I legitimately lost count of how many times the audience laughed at this movie for simply saying “Hey remember the 90’s? That was weird, huh!” It’s a minor gripe, sure, because it doesn’t really have much to do with the story, but it happened so many times it started to drive me crazy. I’m talking Blockbuster, Nine Inch Nails, Radio Shack, Payphones, Pagers, etc. all within the first act. To be fair, one could point out that the Guardians of the Galaxy films center on very late 70s and 80s culture. The difference is that Guardians is funny.

This feeling of being overcome with the same joke over and over again is how I feel with the MCU as whole. As of Marvel, I have seen 21 movies that all tie together with all of these very different characters. But the feeling of seeing new characters tie into a universe we already know things about can only last so long. The routine grows old eventually. Captain Marvel, to me, never seemed to find its place amongst these self-love reveals and the groan-worthy amount of 90s references.

Sure, I already mentioned people laughed, so obviously people managed to find it entertaining. That’s the point of all of the references. But it makes for lazy writing. Yeah, you can have a movie that just feeds off of audience members reacting positively to things they recognize, but if it needs all those references to survive, what will the lasting impact of the movie itself be? This was truly the Emoji Movie (or the Ralph Breaks the Internet) of the MCU: story aside, it thrived solely off of people recognizing the pieces of pop culture which it seemed to toss together into a collage of empty nostalgia.

Marvel Studios’ CAPTAIN MARVEL..L to R: Maria Rambeau (Lashana Lynch) and Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) ..Photo: Film Frame..©Marvel Studios 2019

Another glaring issue I had with Captain Marvel, was that it looks like it tried to be a ‘female empowerment’ movie. Whether or not this is what it actually was going for is something I may never know, but it’s certainly the impression I got from the trailers. Some parts of the movie still tried to be like this too, with random throwaway lines about how women can do anything. Which they can. But it definitely felt very very forced in this movie.

The Captain Marvel comics were not about female empowerment at all, at least from what the little research I have done after seeing the movie seems to indicate. Originally Mar-Vell is a man, and when, in 2012, the character of Carol Danvers (who we follow in the Marvel movie) takes over the role of Captain Marvel, it still is not about female empowerment. She simply takes over the mantle when Mar-Vell dies, because Captain America believes it’s what he would want.

My problem with this is that when 2016’s Wonder Woman came out, there was a sort of rallying cry around the empowerment aspects of it, because it was truly well done. While I still had other problems with Wonder Woman, I thought that arc they tried to convey really payed off. I think it’s pretty common knowledge that in the original comics, Wonder Woman is rubber-banded between being almost laughably stereotypical and being far superior to the men who hold her down. When the movie completely shatters all of those previous tropes, it comes across a lot stronger because it has a meaning behind it, and the story is almost directly linked to this point specifically.

When Captain Marvel attempts this, it feels as if executives saw the success of Wonder Woman, remembered they had a movie with a female lead in the works, and decided to try to replicate it when there wasn’t really anything there.

The last thing I’ll say about this issue was that in the end, shoe-horned in or not, the empowerment they tried to achieve wasn’t good at all. While I could easily say “Hey get yer darn feminist views out of my cool superhero movies!!”, the arc that was in the movie wasn’t even ‘feminist’ in any sense of the word. If Captain Marvel was played by a guy in this movie, the story could actually be exactly the same, because Danvers never battles any overpowering male force holding her back. In a way, it’s a human empowering story. She realizes that as a human, she can still be great, even if she thought she was something more.

I think it’s very okay to just have an ‘empowering’ movie. Not specifically female empowering, not specifically minority empowering. Both of those are obviously great, and super important. But I also think that a movie can just be empowering, and give anyone hope or a purpose or a voice or a way to see themselves on screen when they feel like they’re alone. Captain Marvel does a great job at this. But it does so after selling itself as something it is definitely not.

Marvel Studios’ CAPTAIN MARVEL..Goose ..Photo: Film Frame..©Marvel Studios 2019

So where do we stand? From what I’ve already written, it’s clear I didn’t like some major aspects of the story the way it was told – but did I like the movie or not? The answer is I really don’t know.

I think I appreciate what the movie tried to do; it tried to rewrite the book on how origin stories are told, by telling it How I Met Your Mother style. (She already has her powers, but where did they come from?) It tried to fill in what tiny gaps are left in the Avengers story we already know. It tried to serve as a lasting memorial to it’s infamous creator Stan Lee. But while I think it certainly did do some of those things, I also think that they alone did not justify it being a successful movie.

In a word, Captain Marvel was unmemorable – perhaps the worst fate for a movie that carries such importance. The 21st in a saga; the final film before a climactic ending 11 years in the making. And it was just forgettable. Captain Marvel was certainly an entertaining way to spend 2 hours. What $150+ million movie wouldn’t be? Visually it rivaled Guardians at some points. The performances were good, and Samuel L Jackson in particular was great as always. There were definitely some moments where I thought it was funny, or cool, or interesting, but not the whole thing. I could name any scene in Infinity War, or Ragnarok, or Doctor Strange, but walking out of Marvel – and still while writing this – I didn’t remember every character’s name.

So why? Why are those movies good and this one bad? Other than the issues with the story that I already pointed out – which already left a bad taste in my mouth, this one just felt bland. In a world where we already have an Infinity War, and even a Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse, it’s hard for a Captain Marvel to truly leave a mark. If this was released before either of those, I think I would’ve let it slide as much as I let Ant-Man slide. But the release date of this turned it into the film-equivalent to eating dessert before dinner.

It should be noted that Marvel is not the first film in the MCU to leave this poor of a taste in my mouth. I think both Ant Man’s are boring, and I already joked about Thor earlier. It’s easy for a movie to just not be interesting at all when its sole purpose is to fit as a tiny piece into a much larger puzzle. Marvel Studios or Disney doesn’t need this movie to even be good because they know everyone is going to see it anyway. We have to do our homework and sit through the Marvels of the world so we get to enjoy the Avengers’. A film like Captain Marvel can often worsen the effects of Marvel Fatigue. The doctor recommendation is instead a healthy dose of Infinity War or Spiderverse.

REVIEW: Mary Poppins Returns to Warm Our Hearts

19 December 2018 by Suzannah Otis Leave a Comment

If you’d like my review in very shortened form, it is this – Mary Poppins Returns was a visual delight, I cried several times, and left the theater full of hope, joy, and love. Now, let’s dive in to the long version…

I have a problem. I love (most) all things Disney, but at the same time, I can be pretty critical (not necessarily publicly) about choices they may make either with the parks or movies etc. but it’s still Disney, it’s still a theme park, it’s still a movie. And I love those things. So I was a little worried about Mary Poppins Returns, because I LOVE Mary Poppins (and yes, I realize I am not unique in that love, it’s pretty universally well-loved and adored) and was worried about tampering with that practical-perfection. But as already stated, I loved it.

I am not going to post huge spoilers in my review below, but I am going to cover the already-revealed-in-trailers portions of the film, and a few other topics, and the movie’s out now, so go see it and then come back and discuss with me! Now, let’s begin!

A Love Letter to the Original Story

What I love about Mary Poppins, the original film, is that in 2018, it is not just a classic family movie. It is a time capsule of Walt Disney Company history. We hardcore Disney fans know all about the history of making that movie. The involvement and disapproval of P.L. Travers, Walt’s personal connection to the books with his daughters, and the fact that it was made during the golden age of the Walt Disney Studios, with some of the best players and names of the time. So when I watch Mary Poppins, I don’t just watch that story and hear those songs, I think about the Sherman Brothers composing the theme songs to our lives. I think about how people didn’t think Dick Van Dyke could do a Cockney accent, but he became one of the most beloved names in Disney history because of this film. I think about Walt strolling through the studio and watching it all unfold and adding his own touches to the story. I think about how I sang these songs to my children when they were babies, and how I have friends that do the same.

Adding to this story would be like saying, I know It’s a Wonderful Life ended perfectly, but what if we went back 20 years later when George and Mary Bailey were both dead and their kids are not doing so well…It definitely would be a story, but should it be told? That’s what I was worried about with Mary Poppins Returns. And honestly, I’m still not sure it needed to been done, but we could say that about most things these days. The way I came to terms with it is: you just have to know that the original existed, and leave it at the door. Mary Poppins Returns, while technically a sequel, is really more of an homage to the original, a love letter, a beautifully hand-written thank you card.

From the very first scene to the last, we are treated to an updated tribute to the original Mary Poppins. Both movies open with Bert/Jack setting the scene, followed in the original by Peter Ellenshaw matte paintings, and in Mary Poppins Returns, Ellenshaw-esque paintings to accompany the overture, giving us a hint as to what we are about to enjoy. The similarities don’t end there, with each song or story point almost mirroring the original, sometimes expanding and updating our Mary and how she would act.

Not My Mary!

At first I took some issue with this, as I thought “Mary Poppins would never sing about someone being “on the sauce” or dance that way!” But then I had time to reflect on it and came to this conclusion (whether it lines up with the intent is up to Rob Marshall I guess!): Mary Poppins is timeless, ageless. She’s always been elegant, yet could hang with the chimney sweeps as if they were kings. So when she returns, 20-some years later in the middle of “The Great Slump” or Great Depression, she isn’t the same Mary that appeared in Michael and Jane Banks’ nursery. She is a modern nanny equipped with modern clothes, mannerisms, and a catalog of songs and dances in keeping with the timeline in which she appears. So of course she is going to a music hall and able to sing in a variety act-like comedic-song-and-dance. It all made sense to me when I thought of it that way.

In addition, something that struck me the second time I saw the film before finishing up this review was how Mary Poppins herself was acutely aware of the passage of time, nostalgia, and how things may disappear, but are never really gone.

During the song “The Place Where Lost Things Go,” there were several times when Mary looked around the nursery or touched an original toy from when Jane and Michael slept there, and looked wistfully as if she realized that this song she was singing to comfort the children at the loss of their mother, was also a comfort to her, at the loss of the original Banks’ children being children. She has this look many other times throughout the film, when Michael says something particularly adult-like, or sounds like his father, seemingly missing or wishing he would remember the lessons she taught so long ago.

Emily Blunt is a marvelous Mary, and she could tell a story of a thousand words with just one look – I loved her. She sang beautifully as well, making repeat listens of the soundtrack something that will definitely happen.

Speaking of Music…

I really loved almost all of the songs from the movie. I found Michael’s melancholy song in the beginning to be one of the sweetest and most emotional, and of course when the children sang the Lost Things song back to him, it was a definite tear-jerker. One of the best decisions however, is how the orchestral parts in between scenes or songs are nods back to the original score and the Sherman Brothers classics we all know and love. Make sure you take note of that while watching, it really is lovely.

Again, when I first saw it, my initial reaction to some songs were, “oh, they’re just trying to make this be the ‘Step in Time’ of the movie!” and later, when I had my moments of realization and it all made sense, I thought, “Oh! They’re making this be the ‘Step in Time’ of the movie!” and I appreciated it all the more.

The only song I wasn’t super into is the only scene I wasn’t super into, which was the Meryl Streep/Cousin Topsy “Turning Turtle” song. I get that that was the “Ed Wynn” moment of the film, but it just seemed out of place and forced a bit. But they all learned a lesson, so that was good at least.

The over-the-top numbers were all perfectly over the top as they should be and grand and fun to watch and listen to. The slower songs served their purpose too and overall everything flowed together nicely (except “Turning Turtle“ :P)

It’s Today or Never, I Always Say

Much like the original Mary Poppins, this movie is chock-full of Mary-isms that will have you smiling and remembering what’s truly important in life; having fun, using your imagination, remembering that everything is possible, and to sit up straight because we are not sacks of flour!

I love the dynamic of Mary and the children in this film, because much like the original Banks children felt they didn’t need a nanny, these three have proven that they don’t, as you see right from the start they’ve been taking care of themselves and the family. But as Mary reminds them, they are children, they can have fun and still help the family.

One of the things even my 10 year old noticed when we saw the preview screening back in November, was that there are villains in this movie. And while we could say that in the original, the bank and even to an extent Father was a villain, in Mary Poppins Returns, there is a scene where the children are literally in danger from the villains of the film. Of course we are then left to wonder if it was real or just a dream, but the villains are there nonetheless. I think, much like Mary growing with the times, the storyline itself grew with it as well. Times were tough during The Great Slump, and it affected the Banks family in more ways than one. Their biggest problem wasn’t cleaning their rooms, but the fact that they lost their mother and were about to lose their house. Not exactly kids stuff. But Mary guides them through (the older Banks children too), and of course they are all the better for it.

I’m sure there are a million things I’m forgetting to say that I wanted to discuss, but that’s what edit buttons are for, right? Overall, I loved this film, even more the second time I saw it, as I thought I might. It is truly a feast for the eyes, ears and heart. I cried many times, but not because it was all sad (it was in places), but mostly because of the great nostalgia it stirred within me. I wasn’t born when Mary Poppins came out, and I don’t even remember when I first saw it, but over the years, it became a well-loved favorite and as mentioned at the start, a huge part of Walt Disney company history. Just seeing Dick Van Dyke on screen filled me with joy, as did Angela Lansbury. Ms. Lansbury was not in the original Mary Poppins of course, but was in Bedknobs and Broomsticks with David Tomlinson, and she is a Disney Legend. Seeing these two icons on screen was truly a gift to us all, as is Mary Poppins Returns.

Mary Poppins Returns is now open in theaters everywhere – go see it! I was invited to a pre-screening by the Walt Disney Company, but as always, my opinions and thoughts are my own.

Have you seen Mary Poppins Returns? What did you think? What was your favorite part and your favorite song?

REVIEW: Ralph Breaks The Internet…And A Lot of Other Stuff

19 November 2018 by Suzannah Otis 3 Comments

Let me preface this by saying I don’t think of this as a review that I’m writing. I usually say in my movie review posts that I’m no movie critic, so take all of this with a giant grain of salt. That said, I do like to think of myself as a critical thinker, sometimes…and thinking critically about Disney movies is about as scholarly as I get at this point in my life. Think of this more as a discussion of the movie, if we saw it together and talked about it on the way home from the theatre (because this is pretty much the conversation my husband and I had on the way home). I will also say, because I’m just going to discuss things, there probably will be spoilers. But really, there’s no “King Candy was Vanellope’s dad!” (he wasn’t – he was Turbo, remember?!) level of spoilers here, it’s pretty much the movie it portends to be in commercials, except for one part of the end, so be forewarned. If you want the kind of review that will say “It was great, go see it!” then you should probably head on over to some other blog now, I will not be offended.

I’ll just jump right in and say, I’m not really sure what I was expecting. I saw the preview at the D23 Expo in 2017, with the Disney Princesses scene, and the fact that Disney as a company allowed itself to be poked fun of in that way was refreshing. Honestly, that was my favorite part of the movie too. The problem I had with it, is that it just kind of went all over the place, with no real coherent story, or “moral” as the first movie had. I feel like the take away with Wreck it Ralph was that life is what you make of it, you can change your circumstances, it’s good to be bad, and winning is everything. Hmm, wait, I may be getting some of those wrong, but anyway…This new storyline, 6 years later (which they mention a LOT for some reason), has a very vague take away. Don’t be insecure? Don’t smother your friends? It’s okay to leave friends and responsibilities behind if you get bored in life. I dunno. I feel like my review is now also all over the place, but the point I’m trying to make is that the avenues they decided to go down in a movie that is supposed to be discovering and sharing all or parts of the internet today, could’ve been done a lot better. Or at least made more sense.

They touch briefly on the phenomenon that is “trending” and “getting likes” and how that is currency in today’s world. Then we momentarily learn about comments and how comments online are bad and you shouldn’t read them. I just felt that in today’s day and age when online bullying is still a thing and places like instagram are virtual breeding grounds for creating, fostering, and magnifying insecurities, fomo, and feeling “less than,” they fell short of actually making a statement about how bad that is and how it’s not reality. I have luckily not had my children affected by online bullying (that I know of), but I have seen a good mood turn into one of feeling like crap when my daughter just scrolls through instagram. I’ve certainly felt that myself. That’s a hard message to learn, as a child or an adult, that what you see online isn’t all there is to life – that joy doesn’t come from the likes you receive, the views you get, or the followers you have. On a personal level, I’ve definitely seen that what it takes to be “successful” in this online world is creating a brand and being that non-stop forever until you don’t really know where that ends and you begin. Sure, some have been able to balance it, but it is a harsh reality that some people may never find a way out of. Certainly I didn’t expect or need an animated documentary on the pitfalls of the internet in 2018 and how to combat them. I just thought more care could’ve been taken with a platform as large as this, about the downside of instant internet fame of today. That said, I guess the Disney synergy of countless online presences might prevent that message, since they want you to buy the things and wear the styles and eat the cute foods (or take photos of them anyway).

One of the other subplots was the concept of a virus; how a virus exposes an insecurity in a system and can destroy it from there. A very interesting way to explain that and make it have “real world” consequences. (And really, viruses are one of the easiest and most preventable dark sides of the internet – I mean, get virus software and don’t click on links you don’t know, ya know?) Translating it into a literal “insecurity” and showing the effects of insecurity on friendship and self-worth was a strange way to go, in my opinion. I guess the overarching message was, it’s okay to have friends with different interests, and just because they have other interests/friends, doesn’t mean they don’t like you. And that makes sense, that’s great. But it took a lonnnng time to get there, with a lot of random winding roads along the way (which I guess could be a metaphor for the never-ending distracting nature of the internet itself, but that would be a stretch…). At the end of the day, it had a lot of overlap from “Haha this is just characters from a game discovering new things” to “Wait, is this reality? Did a video game character just buy something on ebay? And did another video game character just leave her game never to return, cause she was bored?” I should know, however, from dealing with the Cars universe and Pixar, not to over-analyze things or read too much into things, or try to make logical sense out of an animated film primarily made for children.

Which brings me to my next point, I really don’t know if young kids will find this entertaining. There is quite a bit of waxing philosophical from the main characters and while I guess young kids could miss that and just think “haha that guy has big eyeballs and a funny name” or something, it just didn’t have the same entertainment value in my mind, and most kids aren’t going to make the connection from computer insecurity to human insecurity. I will definitely be interested to hear what my 10 year old thinks when he sees it.

Again, the Princesses part was funny, as a commentary on Disney characters as well as I guess a dig at millennials, when all the princesses get new “costumes.” Maybe just I saw it as a dig at all the “Disney instragram uniforms” you see in stylized photos with carefully placed branding. I am reaching the “get off my lawn” age of internet usage, so it could be that. I’d love to see Disney turn that scene into a series of shorts like they’ve done with the new Mickey Mouse cartoons. Any time a giant corporate entity can see the smart humor to be found within its own walls, that’s a good thing.

I also really enjoyed the post-credit scene as well, so stay tuned for that. It was cute (but I also expected it to end sooner than it did and really leave us hanging).

Overall, it was a fun but very very generic glossed-over look at the internet. Many internet horrors were of course not mentioned, as I wouldn’t expect in a family film, but I don’t know, maybe more of a warning about how you shouldn’t actually try to make a ton of money doing stupid things on video, and how that hard truth isn’t necessarily a good thing would’ve been wise to add. The fun innocence of the first film definitely lost its luster, which again, could be a metaphor for the real internet. I’m not sure it would be a multiple-viewing title in our house, which is our usual mark of success.

I’d love to know what you think! If you have seen Ralph Breaks the Internet, did you love it or agree with anything above? Let’s discuss!

Disclaimer: I attended a complimentary screening, but my opinions are (obviously) my own.