Category Archives: Fantasy

Mirai

Mirai                      2 ½ stars

Mirai is a Japanese animated movie that came out last year by anime director Mamoru Hosoda.  The story is about a young boy of 5 or 6 who has to deal with the addition of a baby sister to the family, one that he has a hard time accepting.  There is a lot of misbehaving on the part of young Kun until he is visited by the young teenage version of his little sister who guides him through some odd crisis with his family.  He is also visited by the human version of the family dog who joins in the adventures.  Kum also goes through some other strange adventures when he leaves the house and encounters people that have key roles in his life.  I haven’t seen any of Hosoda’s previous work but I wasn’t thrilled by the story of a little boy who is something of a brat and is slow to respect others in his family.  It’s not up to the level of work by Hayao Miyazaki who brought us Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke and The Wind Rises.  Those were truly exceptional animated movies that I still remember.  Animation is a way to tell a story with some very fantastic elements that can’t be done with live action.  I hope that Hosoda can succeed in coming up with some truly fantastic stories with a moral message.

In Your Dreams

In Your Dreams                 4 stars

From Netflix comes the new animated film, In Your Dreams, that follows the adventures of twelve-year-old Stevie and her little brother Elliot as they venture into the world of dreams. This film arrives after Netflix’s wildly successful KPop Demon Hunters and may not have nearly its marketing or its originality of music, but it does have an impactful message that will appeal to a wide audience. Viewers of course will recognize some favorite tunes in the film including Mr. Sandman, Sweet Dreams and Enter Sandman that are woven into the story. Stevie seems to have a near perfect life with her two parents (Simu Liu and Cristin Milioti) but must put up with annoying little Elliot who came along a few years after her. She becomes concerned when there are signs of trouble in her parents’ marriage and she fears they could split up. One day the siblings discover an old book in a thrift store titled Legend of the Sandman, that tells about the Sandman who can make dreams come true if they believe in him. The two of them try out the instructions in the book and upon falling asleep, they enter the bizarre world of dreams where objects come to life, such as a bed they ride like a horse, breakfast cereal and Elliot’s favorite toy Baloney Tony, a stuffed giraffe who spouts wisecracks (played by Craig Robinson). The promise is that if they can find the Sandman he could make dreams come true and for Stevie this is getting her parents to stay together. The problem is they have to face dangerous situations in the dream land without waking up, something that proves very difficult. In one scene they must do battle with a giant teddy bear. It is all rather amusing but could have the potential of scaring young children. When they finally do find the Sandman (Omid Djalili) he shows them that if they can stay asleep long enough their dream can become reality, so Stevie is determined to make this work. And it does for a while; that is, until it all seems too good to be true. They also meet Nightmara, the creator of nightmares who tells the children that nightmares are there to help us face the bad things in life, but the Sandman wanted to avoid them and make dreams pleasant instead. The movie becomes a life lesson in facing the things that make life difficult and loving each other in spite of the problems that go with being part of a family. There is plenty of color and high intensity action as well as occasional fart jokes that should entertain the youngsters. At an hour and a half, it is about the right length. The writer/director is Alex Woo who previously worked for Pixar. This is his first effort in the director’s chair and I hope we see more to come from his vivid imagination. The movie is available on Netflix.

Cats

Cats                                       1 ½ stars

I am sure that everyone has heard about the screen adaptation of the Broadway musical Cats that recently hit theaters.  There has been plenty of controversy about it mainly about the CGI effects making the cast look like some sort of human-cat hybrids.  So I had to see it for myself and it was something of a shock.  There are plenty of stars on the screen in a story that is confusing at best.  I will try to give some description of what is going on.  The story concerns a tribe of cats called the Jellicles that hang out around an abandoned theater in London.  One night a new cat called Victoria portrayed by ballerina Francesca Hayward, is tossed on the street where she is introduced to an array of felines that all have their own stories.  It happens to be the annual night of the Jellicle Ball when the old cat Deuteronomy (Dame Judy Dench) makes the choice of which of the eligible cats is worthy to be chosen to ascend into the Heaviside Layer and be rewarded with a new life.  Each of the possible choices gets a featured performance involving music and dance which includes Rebel Wilson’s fat and comical Jennyanydots, James Cordon’s Bustopher Jones, Jason Derulo’s Rum Tum Tugger, Ian McKellen’s Gus the Theater Cat (in one of the best performances), Jennifer Hudson’s Grizabella, who sings the powerful “Memory” and Laurie Davidson as the classic Mr. Mistoffelees, the mysterious magical cat.  Unfortunately, there is a scheming villain, the evil Macavity (Idres Elba) who uses his magic powers to exile each of the felines onto a boat in the Thames where his henchman Growitiger (Ray Winstone) holds them all prisoner.  This way Macavity plans to be the one to achieve the coveted Heaviside Layer for himself.  Macavity is enabled by his associate, Bombalurina, a wily cat played by Taylor Swift who puts her own spell on the Jellicles using her own brand of catnip.  Can the Jellicles overcome these magic spells and defeat Macavity?  By this time does anybody care?  The CGI costumes are very distracting with the cat ears, cat tails and other features applied to the cast.  And then there are the miniature creatures featuring dancers representing the mice and cockroaches that the cats are hungry for.  I felt the film may have had more success if it was just treated as a stage production on film without all the special effects.  They could have saved themselves a lot of money besides.  So now you know what Cats is all about.  Now you will be able to save yourselves the torture of enduring this mad spectacle.

Wendy

Wendy  5 Suns 

Wendy is a reimagining of the J. M. Barrie Peter Pan story this time in a modern setting and told through the eyes of Wendy.  Wendy and her brothers are raised by their working class mother who works in a diner.  One day the three children sneak onto a passing train where they meet a strange headstrong boy named Peter.  He brings them to his island hideaway where he and the other children have their own world free of grownups.  Peter seems to have his own magic that originates from the island’s volcano and a mysterious sea creature.  But soon trouble finds them in the form of several older adults who gain control of an old ship and then try to capture the children,  leaving it up to Peter and Wendy to come to the rescue.  The imagery of the island environment is breathtaking and the performances of the children are impressive.  The director,  Benh Zeitlin previously made Beasts of the Southern Wild.  He was present for Q & A and spoke of the challenges of working on the island with an active volcano as well as what it was like working with children of ages 6 to 9. He said the key to succeeding with children was to make sure it was a fun experience for them.  Children are not in it for the money or the fame. Wendy is currently in the theaters so be sure to see it and you can bring some kids with you. 

Jumbo

Jumbo     3 stars (or suns in Sundance World)

Jumbo,  from Belgium by director Zoe Wittock tells us the story of a young withdrawn woman who lives with her very outspoken mother.  Jeanne is very shy and has trouble relating to men.  Her mother seems determined to do something about that.  Jeanne works in an amusement park as part of the cleanup crew. We find she has a certain fascination with the rides as she builds models of them out of pieces of metal and wire.  However, there is one particular ride she is fascinated by where the riders rotate in multiple directions that goes by the name of Move It. Jeanne’s name for it is Jumbo. She is so enamored by the ride that she imagines it has a soul and that it is something she can have a sexual relationship with.  So you can see it is your classic romance of girl meets machine,  girl gets machine,  girl loses machine,  then finally girl gets machine back.  It is certainly an odd movie and one hard to relate to. The filmmaker said she has been working on the movie for eight years and got the idea when she saw a story about a woman who “married” the Eiffel Tower.  The movie was done well enough with some excellent acting which helps make up for the very unconventional story.

Yesterday

Yesterday            3 stars

Recently we have been getting a string of movies that honor musicians of the past.  See Bohemian Rhapsody, Rocketman and Blinded by the Light.  Last year’s Yesterday was Danny Boyle’s tribute to the music of The Beatles which imagines what it would be like if the legendary British rock group never existed.  In this movie an alternate timeline suddenly appears where nobody remembers The Beatles except for one struggling British musician, Jack.  After a mysterious bus accident when the lights go out all over the world, Jack discovers that he is the only one who can remember the band’s songs.  Thus, he has moved into an alternate timeline where not only the Beatles, but also Coke and cigarettes do not exist.  Jack is so obsessed with remembering and recreating the songs that after singing them he goes a step further and claims that he actually the songs himself, a move that brings him wide acclaim and fame.  He even gets the aid of singer/songwriter Ed Sheeran who appears as himself.  In the end though the thing that is most important to Jack is his manager, Ellie, who he has known since childhood.  Thus, the movie becomes more of a romantic comedy than an exploration of what made the Beatles so great.  There is really no exploration of the group or the times that their music was born in.  I understand that the original script was more about the occurrence of the alternate timeline and less of a romantic comedy.  I can’t help but wonder what an interesting movie that would have been.  Nevertheless, it was very entertaining to hear many of the Fab Four’s great hits again.

Frankenstein

Frankenstein     5 stars

For his entire adult life Guillermo Del Toro has been obsessed with Frankenstein. The famed writer/director and winner of three Oscars previously brought us Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth and The Shape of Water. He reportedly has thoroughly researched all previous works on the subject of Mary Shelley’s gothic novel, even building a room in his house dedicated to the story of Frankenstein. His own version of the story is now on-screen starring Oscar Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis, Ex Machina) as Victor Frankenstein, the brilliant doctor obsessed with the creation of a living being made from dead body parts and Jacob Elordi (Saltburn, Priscilla) as the misunderstood monster. The viewer is amazed at the elaborate sets that include Frankenstein’s laboratory complete with glowing nineteenth century electrical equipment and a complete sailing ship trapped in Arctic ice. The story is largely true to the original novel (which I read around thirty years ago). Isaac plays the doctor with high intensity and makes us believe he sees himself as a sort of god but who is lacking in empathy toward his creation. Elordi, with his large frame and soft eyes makes us sympathetic toward the naïve creature, but fearful when he goes into a rage against those who would harm him. His appearance is startling with elaborate makeup, making it appear he is put together with many parts. The carving up of dead bodies and assembly into a new body looks horrifyingly realistic. The movie will certainly earn an Academy Award nomination for Makeup and Hairstyling as well as Visual Effects. Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained) puts in an appearance as Harlander, a collaborator of Frankenstein who has his own agenda. Mia Goth (X, Pearl, Suspiria), the new scream queen, is Elizabeth, the beautiful fiancé of Victor’s younger brother, who is the only one that can see the beauty and the suffering of the monster at the hands of Frankenstein. As in the book and unlike some of the film adaptations, this monster becomes fully articulate and can express the torment that the world heaps on him. He comes to hate Frankenstein for creating him but giving no thought as to what would come after, forcing him to be alone in a world that despises him. Much of what the creature says comes straight out of the Shelley novel. It’s clear that del Toro is sympathetic toward the monster as he characterizes him as someone desperate for human affection but then changes him into an instrument of vengeance against his creator. This may not be del Toro’s best movie. But it’s certainly a close second to The Shape of Water from 2017, a movie that shares some of the elements of Frankenstein.

Missing Link

Missing Link                                        4 stars

Missing Link is yet another animated stop motion effort by Laika Studios, the company that made Coraline, Boxtrolls, Paranorman and Kubo and the Two Strings.  This time they take us on an adventure to find the legendary Bigfoot in the American Northwest.  Sir Lionel Frost, voiced by Hugh Jackman, wants to be accepted by an elitist club in London and thinks the way to do this is to discover an unknown giant creature.  When he receives an anonymous letter telling him where to find the legendary Sasquatch, he is off on an adventure, only to discover that the creature is not at all what he imagined.  The Sasquatch is a mild, friendly, educated giant furry creature that is lonely and only wants to be among his own kind.  In an interesting twist the voice is that of Zach Galifianakis, not exactly the loud tough guy type.  The rest of the movie has our characters traveling across the globe while being pursued by enemies and accompanied by Lionel’s old flame, Adelina, voiced by Zoe Saldana, trying to reach their destination of the Himalayas where the yeti are reputed to live.  The animation is first rate like the previous Laika movies, as the characters seem alive and there is plenty of intense action.  Missing Link may not be as off beat as the previous efforts, but it is definitely worth seeing.

Ralph Breaks the Internet

Ralph Breaks the Internet            4 ½ stars

For my first movie while being stuck at home because of Coronavirus I picked Ralph Breaks the Internet, the sequel to Wreck It Ralph, the well received movie about a video arcade character from the eighties.  It’s appropriate to see this one as it includes the release of a virus that wreaks havoc on the population.  Ralph (John C. Reilly) spends his days either in his videogame at the arcade or hanging out with his best friend Vanellope (Sarah Silverman), that is, until an accident leaves Vanellope’s racing game, Sugar Rush, disabled making her a character without a game.  Ralph gets an idea when he learns about the internet and a thing called e-Bay, where almost anything can be found at a price, so the set off into the world of the internet where they meet all kinds of interesting characters.  The charm of the movie is the presentation of the things we run into when online, such as annoying pop-up ads, web searches, (Mr. KnowsMore), Chat pages and characters from popular movies.  Of course the best of these is the collection of all the Disney princesses in one place when they try to help out poor Vanellope.  The quest is aided by Yesss (Taraji P. Henson), the head algorithm of the website BuzzzTube who comes up with some hilarious ways for ralph to make money with ridiculous videos.  The breaking of the internet comes about with a misguided attempt by Ralph to try to change the path that Vanellope has chosen for herself.  It’s a funny family safe movie that has a lot going for it in spite of the virus.

Border

Border                                  4 ½ stars

The Swedish made movie, Border has to be one of the most unusual movies of 2018 or for that matter any year.  It concerns a young woman, Tina, who works as a customs inspector and possesses a most unusual and valuable talent.  She has the ability to smell emotions in people such as guilt, shame and fear which is instrumental in catching individuals trying to smuggle illegal goods into the country.  She even gets involved in a police investigation of a child trafficking ring.  Her unique qualities don’t end there though.  Tina’s appearance is especially striking as she has to be one of the most unattractive women ever to appear in film.  She has a protruding forehead and a very heavy jawline so one would always notice her in a crowd.  If I would have checked ahead I would have known that the film was nominated for the Academy Award category of Best Makeup and perhaps wouldn’t have been so surprised by her appearance.  Tina lives in her isolated shack of a house with her lazy boyfriend who likes to watch lots of TV and enter his dogs in dog shows.  Besides that she makes regular visits to her elderly father in a nursing home.  Then one day her world is changed forever when she meets a man on the job who resembles her in many ways including the facial features.  And she finds that her special skills don’t work on Vore which is very confusing to her.  As she spends more time with him she finds that they have much more in common such as an interest in walking through the woods, insects and worms and the occasional snack on maggots.  And that is far from the most bizarre thing about the movie.  As she makes a connection with Vore certain hidden aspects of her life become clearer to her especially when things get weird.  And then the movie gets even weirder.  And then when you think it’s as weird as it can get, it gets so weird that I can’t even describe it.  Something happens that I have never seen in a movie before and it might make you uncomfortable in mixed company.  It is certain that Vore has a very different take on people and the world than what Tina has ever felt.  Ultimately, I think the movie is about realizing who you are and finding your place in the world.  I know that despite all the weirdness I liked it.  I can’t spoil the surprises for you.  It will be more fun to find it out yourselves.