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Soul (2020, Directed by Pete Docter) English Okay Film

Voices of Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, Rachel House, Alice Braga, Richard Ayoade, Daveed Diggs, Donnell Rawlings, Graham Norton, Questlove, Patricia Rashad, Angela Bassett

“There’s nothing like music to relieve the soul and uplift it.”

Joe Gardner (Foxx) was destined to be a jazz pianist. That’s his purpose. It’s everything he ever wanted. In the meantime, he works as a part-time music teacher at a public school and feels pressured by his imposing mother to move on from his dreams. After finally getting the opportunity of a lifetime, a spur-of-the-moment gig playing with Dorothea Williams (Bassett), Joe falls through a manhole to his death and lands in “the Great Beyond.” Desperate to return to Earth in time for the show, he accepts the role of mentor in which he’s charged with inspiring the obstinate, unborn soul known simply as 22 (Fey) who helps him plot his way back to the land of the living. Joe’s earthly life is rendered beautifully, significant as Pixar’s first foray into depicting a black protagonist. The everyday details from Joe’s local barbershop to his posture on the piano also mark a move for Pixar into an impressive layer of realism and a willingness by them to play around with different art styles. In this film alone, they use a completely different style for Joe’s life and his afterlife, but it’s the afterlife sequences that left me bored and disappointed. The afterlife being an abstract notion, Pixar had the chance to go in any number of directions with its ideas. The final result is a pretty limited, bland conception for a whale of an idea. It’s all black-and-white stick figures with funny accents, a story closely resembling Heaven Can Wait (or Here Comes Mr. Jordan), and afterlife scenes that are a drag.

(4)

Walter Tyrone Howard

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Strange World (2022, Directed by Don Hall) English Okay Film

Voices of Jake Gyllenhaal, Dennis Quaid, Gabrielle Union, Lucy Liu, Jaboukie Young-White, Alan Tudyk, Karan Soni, Abraham Benrubi

“Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.” 

When Dorothy Gale enters Oz through the farmhouse door, leaving behind black-and-white Kansas, it’s a magical moment. Oz is a technicolor marvel full of strange creatures, whispering trees, beautiful witches, and talking lions. The contrast between drab Kansas and wonderful Oz is important. It’s the same contrast we get in Alice in Wonderland or Windsor McCay’s Little Nemo series. Strange World, Walt Disney Animation’s 61st feature film, is another in a long line of fantasies taking its hero into what is supposed to be an exciting new world. Its big mistake is making Avalonia, the world we begin with, more interesting than the strange world we will spend most of this movie in. Here, the hero’s name is Searcher Clade (Gyllenhaal), son of the legendary Jaeger Clade (Quaid), husband to Meridian Clade (Union), and father to Ethan Clade-Disney’s first openly gay teenage character. Searcher is revered by his neighbors for discovering a plant that turns Avalonia into a prosperous community, but when that plant shows signs of dying out, he and his family are thrust into action, leading them to the subterranean strange world of title. The three generations of Clade men, Jaeger, Searcher, and Ethan must figure out how to listen to and accept one another as they search for answers to save their world. Labeled a woke failure by some and a massive bomb at the box office, Strange World will likely find its place among films like The Black Cauldron or Home on the Range in Disney’s deep catalog. I like those films and I basically liked this one, though it is certainly mediocre. The strange world isn’t strange enough. It isn’t until the film’s final reveal that it becomes a little more interesting in hindsight. The characters are likable but with little romance, mystery, and no compelling villain, Strange World is never as exciting as it should be. (1)

Walter Tyrone Howard

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Turning Red (2022, Directed by Domee Shi) English Okay Film

Voices of Rosalie Chiang, Sandra Oh, Ava Morse, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Hye-In Park, James Hong, Wai Ching Ho

(Okay Film)

Meilin Lee is a 13-year-old girl in Toronto (2002) with a lot of personality. This sometimes puts her at odds with her strict mother who, for example, sees Meilin’s favorite boy-band, 4 Town, as “gyrating music.” Going through changes is par for the course with puberty, but Meilin soon discovers the extra burden of transforming into a giant red panda whenever she gets emotional. Turning Red has a lovely, hybrid (maybe a cross between 3-D animation and Japanese hand-drawn) art style and a charming, frenetic energy in its storytelling. The red panda is the obvious draw here and its as cute and cuddly as advertised. The music by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell is catchy and serves its purpose perfectly. What’s missing, whether the cast and crew or angry fans on Twitter want to acknowledge it, is any originality in its themes or depth. This film is apparently almost expressly made by a female creative team and yet they’ve told the exact same story as Brave (2012). A maturing daughter rebels against her domineering mother resulting in the mother transforming into a colossal beast before they both realize how much they love each other and compromise. Turning Red is not unique beyond its style, it’s humorous but never funny, and it’s very obvious in its storytelling. It coasts on its cuteness. Telling a story about a different culture or about women or girls isn’t what makes a movie limiting. Being mediocre makes this movie limiting.

-Walter Tyrone Howard-

-10-

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Kubo and the Two Strings (2016, Directed by Travis Knight) English Great Film

Voices of Charlize Theron, Matthew McConaughey, Art Parkinson, Ralph Fiennes, Rooney Mara, George Takei, Brenda Vaccaro, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa

(Great Film)

In ancient Japan, with his father dead and his mother sick, young Kubo (Parkinson) is left to fend for himself, relying on his storytelling and musical abilities to fetch a day’s bread. Disregarding his mother’s warning about staying out past dusk, Kubo is soon chased out of his quaint existence by his wrathful, god-like grandfather and aunts. With only a hard-willed snow monkey (Theron) and later a cursed beetle-like warrior (McConaughey) to protect him, Kubo sets out to find his late father’s armor and confront his grandfather. Quibbles about its largely white-washed cast aside, Kubo and the Two Strings is a wonderful film. Its production company, Laika, have made a handful of features, very good films, but to date, this is their most exceptional achievement. A marriage of awesome visuals with a story that’s bold and mysterious. The cherishing of memories and time spent with parents is obviously at the heart of Kubo, but there seems to be a depth beyond that that’s slightly obscure. It gives the film a mystique that I find dazzling.

-Walter Tyrone Howard-

-1-

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Small Soldiers (1998, Directed by Joe Dante) English 6

Starring Gregory Smith, Kirsten Dunst, David Cross, Jay Mohr, Phil Hartman, Kevin Dunn, Ann Magnuson, Denis Leary

Voices of Tommy Lee Jones, Frank Langella, Jim Brown, Bruce Dern, Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, Ernest Borgnine, Clint Walker, George Kennedy, Harry Shearer

Small Soldiers Soundtrack Music - Complete Song List | Tunefind

(6-Good Film)

Entertaining. Limited. Retread.

Major Chip Hazard: You’ve got a lot of guts. Let’s see what they look like.

Desperate to impress their boss and keep their jobs after a corporate takeover, two toy designers unwittingly create weaponized toys with artificial intelligence known as the Commando Elite led by Major Chip Hazard (Lee Jones). They also give the same artificial intelligence to a meek set of toys known as the Gorgonites led by Archer (Langella). Unleashed in a small, All-American town, teenager Alan Abernathy (Smith) befriends Archer and gets caught in the middle of the Commando Elite’s relentless pursuit of the Gorgonites. If it all sounds very serious, know that this film is a little strange and difficult to explain, because it’s actually very silly and played almost entirely for laughs despite being somewhat frightening. One critic for Empire Magazine described it as, ” Gremlins with toy soldiers, except not quite as dark or funny,” and I find that to be an apt description. Apparently, director Joe Dante (Gremlins being his most famous film) was held back by the studio from being as dark as he would have liked. The film, as it is, entertains (I particularly liked Chip Hazard’s one-liners) and makes an impression but hardly warrants serious consideration or repeat viewings. Its spoofing of small-town life, military movies, and corporate greed are nice touches though.

-Walter Tyrone Howard-

(1,114)

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Encanto (2021, Directed by Byron Howard, Jared Bush) English 7

Voices of Stephanie Beatriz, John Leguizamo, Jessica Darrow, Wilmer Valderrama, Maluma, Adassa, Diane Guerrero, Alan Tudyk

Disney debuts trailer for its Latino-themed animated movie 'Encanto,' set in Colombia

(7-Very Good Film)

Bright. Appealing. Frustrating.

Tagline: Magical house. Magical family.

Encanto, as far as I can tell, is Disney Animation’s first dysfunctional family film. Historically, Disney is notorious for its characters’ parents and families being nonexistent. It’s a storytelling trope. If there are no parental figures for the main character to fall back on, then that character is left to figure things out for his or her self. Encanto is different. It’s charming protagonist, Maribel (Beatriz), is surrounded by family. Starting with her domineering abuela, her parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and sisters all live under the same magical roof (their house is alive and helps them in their everyday routines) and they all have some special magical gift except for the ones who married into the family…and Maribel. Something went wrong for her and she’s left to be treated like the black sheep of the family. Heavily advertised spotlighting Maribel’s unique family and their gifts, I wasn’t prepared for what Encanto actually is, a film about its protagonist being mistreated for a large portion of the movie by a family that mostly stinks. The result is frustrating at times but it’s intentional, and though there is no real romance or legitimate villain, by the end, Encanto does tell a satisfying story. The music is interesting (some of it great, some of it strange) and the second half is less enjoyable than the first, but overall, it’s a solid entry into Disney Animation’s 60 film canon.

-Walter Tyrone Howard-

(1,108)

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The Croods: A New Age (2020, Directed by Joel Crawford) English 7

Voices of Nicolas Cage, Ryan Reynolds, Emma Stone, Catherine Keener, Cloris Leachman, Leslie Mann, Peter Dinklage, Kelly Marie Tran, Clark Duke

The Croods: A New Age, a sequel that's unambitious but entertaining | The Canberra Times | Canberra, ACT

(7-Very Good Film)

Fun. Busy. Light.

Guy: The sleep pile reeks, Eep!

Grug: Reeks of love!

I don’t remember much about The Croods (2013), apparently released seven years before this sequel. I remember having no expectations going in and being pleasantly surprised to find that it was, at least, an entertaining distraction. The Croods: A New Age struck me almost exactly the same way. Here is a sequel that nobody asked for, and yet, it turns out to be a worthwhile, if forgettable, flick. The Crood family embark on a journey to find a place to settle, eventually stumbling upon an oasis already occupied by the Bettermans. The Bettermans are pretty stuck-up and the two families clash before, inevitably, coming to accept one another. The Croods feels like old-fashioned animation with a frenetic pace, constant, zany humor and sight gags. It also owes a bit to The Flintstones, of course. I enjoyed its sense of humor and its light touch.

-Walter Tyrone Howard-

(1,087)

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Luca (2021, Directed by Enrico Casarosa) English 6

Voices of Jacob Tremblay, Jack Dylan Grazer, Maya Rudolph, Jim Gaffigan, Sandy Martin, Sacha Baron Cohen

Luca Images Give First Look At Pixar's 2021 Theatrical Movie

(6-Good Film)

Low-key. Bright. Amusing.

Luca Paguro: This is gonna be the best summer ever! We’ll ride down every road, see the whole world together! It’ll be amazing! But there’s just one thing no one can find out…

Young Luca Paguro is a restless sea monster with over-protective parents. Sea monsters have the ability to transform into humans once they reach land, but their fish-like qualities are revealed with the slightest touch of water, putting them at risk with the prejudiced locals. Still, Luca longs to explore the surface, falling in line with animation’s long tradition of pent-up protagonists with parents that just don’t understand (Ariel, Rapunzel, Remy, etc.). It’s kind of hackneyed at this point, and so, the film’s first 20 or so minutes suffer. I was actually quite bored for the first act of Luca. Thankfully, the film picks up once Luca and his new reckless but loyal friend, Alberto, run away together and do their best to fit in with a quaint seaside town on the Riviera. It’s here that they meet Giulia and team up for an Italian-style triathlon. I consider “cute” a condescending description for an animated flick. I revere animation and the best animated films are as great and as substantial as any Oscar-winning drama. However, in Luca’s case, cute is probably the best way to describe it. Luca holds no surprises. It’s hardly spectacular and never seems to even want to be. I appreciated Luca more as soon as I stopped expecting it to blow me away. Pixar has made some of the best animated films of all-time. Here, they’re content to have fashioned a sweet, simple coming-of-age tale with bright, cheerful animation.

-Walter Tyrone Howard-

(1,086)

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Sleeping Beauty (1959, Directed by Clyde Geronimi) English 5

Voices of Mary Costa, Bill Shirley, Eleanor Audley, Bill Thompson, Verna Felton, Barbara Luddy, Barbara Jo Allen

How Disney's Sleeping Beauty (1959) Solidified Animation as an Art Form

(5-Okay Film)

Bland. Superficial. Humorless.

Princess Aurora: Well, I’m really not supposed to speak to strangers, but we’ve met before.

Sleeping Beauty, the movie and the character, is beautiful and not much else. I’ve maintained for many years now that this is the worst official Disney animated feature. It follows the dark, fantastic tale of Princess Aurora, cursed at birth by a bitter fairy, Maleficent, her parents send her away with a trio of kind fairies to protect and hide her until the day she’s old enough to marry. One day, in the woods, she meets and falls for a handsome stranger, only to learn later that she’s already promised to a prince. Not knowing that the prince and the stranger are one and the same, Princess Aurora is heartbroken and lured to Maleficent. The problem in my eyes with Aurora applies really to all the Disney princesses before their Renaissance. She’s boring. She has very little personality and her driving characteristic is her sweetness and innocence. That was okay with Cinderella and Snow White, because they had an outstanding supporting cast of humorous characters. Snow White had the dwarves and Cinderella had the mice. Sleeping Beauty has an incredible villain in Maleficent (though she has little screen time) and several nice characters in the good fairies and the blustering father figures. There are no charismatic characters, little-to-no humor, and only one song.

-Walter Tyrone Howard-

(1,075)

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National Velvet (1944, Directed by Clarence Brown) English 8

Starring Elizabeth Taylor, Mickey Rooney, Anne Revere, Angela Lansbury, Donald Crisp, Reginald Owen

National Velvet - Posts | Facebook

(8-Exceptional Film)

Charming. Joyous. Old-fashioned.

Mrs. Brown:  You’re twelve; you think a horse of yours can win the Grand National. Your dream has come early; but remember, Velvet, it will have to last you all the rest of your life.

Velvet Brown, played by a preteen Elizabeth Taylor, is the wonderful heroine of this impossible-not-to-like sports classic. Velvet lives in a small English town with her loving family that includes her patient father (Crisp), wise mother (Revere), two sisters, and a younger brother. When a vagrant young man, Mi Taylor (Rooney), a stranger to the family, but the son of an old friend, shows up one day, he sets in motion a series of events that lead to Velvet and Mi training a wild, local horse for the Grand National’s. National Velvet is likely the most beloved horse movie, which is a niche, sure, but a popular one. It’s also an endearing family film with the Browns ranking with the Marches (Little Women) and the Smiths (Meet Me in St. Louis) as my favorite family from classic Hollywood. It’s a simple story that trusts its distinct characters and setting to hold your attention.

-Walter Tyrone Howard-

(1,074)