Monsters inc it’s the “relaxed” phase of Pixar. There’s a lot of physical comedy opposed to punch lines, the reactions are very exaggerated, the monsters seem like something a 6 year old would use to scare off a classmate, and the plot is not as emotionally heavy as Toy Story; overall it’s a kids film at its core, thankfully Pixar managed to make it a kid’s comedy that adults can see and enjoy, instead to push themselves through it while watching it with their kids (insert Barney here).
And since I have to evaluate under the standards of kids’ films, I would say this is one of the very best.
EPISODE 25: After 2 years of reviewing crap
Whyboy finally takes a look at something good from the bottom of the sea. ENJOY
PS. To everyone the box art and title for
this movie in the UK, which is “Help I’m A Fish,” is ten times more awesome
then the box art and title of this North American copy.
Here in the UK we managed to prove that there really is a more effective way of sinking an animation studio than how Titan AE did with 1992's James Bond parody 'Freddie As F.R.0.7' (later to be known overseas as 'Freddie The Frog'). Surely it can't be THAT bad, though, can it? After all, it stars Sir Ben Kingsley! .....Ohhhhh yes, it really can :(
There are only two words that can describe Toy Story 2 in the mind of Pixar, “Development hell”. This sequel really pushed the creative team to it’s limit, since, thanks to a troubled production, that included Pixar convincing Disney to abandon the idea to make a direct to video sequel (God help us!), the team only had 9 months to finish the movie. That fact alone is very impressive, but even when you forgot about it, Toy Story 2 still manages to be an awesome movie.
The story begins shortly after the events of the first film. When Andy accidentally damages one of Woody’s arms, our cowboy panics and believes that this will mean his end since he won’t be able to play with his owner anymore.
To make things worse, in an attempt to save a fellow damaged toy from a garage sale organized by Andy’s mother, Woody is taken by a collector-freak that is also the owner of a well known toy store, so Buzz and a group of other toys form the bedroom decide to team up and find his partner before Andy comes home form camp.
Meanwhile at the chicken guy’s house, Woody meets up with three other toys, Jessie the cowgirl, Bullseye the horse and Stinky Pete the prospector, who inform Woody that he’s part of a valuable collection and try to convince him that this is his only chance to never be forgotten, since his owner will eventually grow up and stop using him, which forces our hero to make a very hard decision.
One of the strengths of this sequel over the original is that it manages to bring a new development on the same main character that doesn’t feel like a repeat from the previous film and yet it doesn’t disconnect itself from the learned last time either.
In the first “Toy Story”, Woody had to learn to accept that changes as a part of life, in “2” he has to learn to enjoy the time before those changes. Sure, future may look bad, but are you going to let that to ruin your present?
Buzz doesn’t has a lot of development in this movie, rather he’s showing how much he has changed since the first film. He’s now a lot more centred and calmed, but he still conserves a lot from his “astronuts” phase, like the way he organises the other toys. While Woody’s leadership reminds me of a camp counsellor, (the “makes-his work type” of counsellor, so don’t make any “Friday the 13th” references), Buzz is more military tactic like and still acts like a super-hero, though he’s aware of his weaknesses this time. This is reflected in Tim Allen’s great voice over, so when the “other Buzz” comes along, the following confusion doesn’t come of as stupid or forced.
Joan Mary Cusack is awesome as Jessie. It’s hard to voice a character whose mood is changing so constantly and so suddenly. She’s bubbly at one moment and downright hysterical at another, and it happens so fast that it may have ended as annoying like.. (insert “Jersey Shore” here), well that’s actually alcohol-influenced kind of annoying but it still counts. But the perfect voiceover not only manages to make the character feel believe but also engaging and touching.
I should also point out that Jessie has the most powerful moment in this film, at least in the emotional aspect. “When she loved me” is probably one of cinema’s biggest tear jerkers and I still asking around why it didn’t get the Oscar for best song. It’s not only the song and the sadness it brings to us, the whole sequence with Jessie’s owner leaving her also makes us question ourselves if Woody should come back to his home, and only great films have you doubting like that. In the first movie you knew who was right about the whole “You’re a Toy!” discussion, but now you have to watch all the way through to find out the answer to the current dilema, hell, you’re not even sure who to side with either!.
Bullseye is also a lot of fun, I like that he made him more like a dog than an actual horse, and like a real dog, he tends to reflect the mood of those around him, and thankfully he’s not used as just a comedy relief in the background.
The prospector is a serviceable villain, even though he’s not a memorable one; he has a strong motivation, which is to have a stable future and he provides quite the challenge to the protagonist. He knows which are his physical weakness but also manages to overcome them. I recently watched it again and I was surprised to find out that I totally forgot about the prospector’s back story. Sure, he works as an antagonist, but you won’t be talking about him after turning the DVD off.
Though, this movie isn’t a hero/villain based plot, is a character driven plot, is their decisions and personalities that make this movie memorable.
However, this isn’t only a drama, there’s also a good share of funny moments. In a good part this is thanks to the expanded cast of characters, sure we saw them before, but now they have a more active role in the story, which is another improvement. Their corky personalities really get to shine in the funny segments of this movie, especially when they’re inside the store.
The animation also got an upgrade. The pacing is faster, and there’s a more detailed use of light, this is very noticeable in the beginning of the film and the chase scene at the airport, which reminded me of a Bond finale, and they also managed to improve the designs of the non toy characters like Al and Andy’s dog.
Once again the relationship between the characters comes up as natural, Buzz and Woody have come to respect each other, but that doesn’t stop them to have friendly disagreements from time to time, and the way Woody starts to see through Jessie’s initial hyper energized appearance is very well paced.
I think that the best part of this movie is the fact that, despite being a better experience if you’re familiar with the first one, it still holds up as hell even if you have no idea of the original. There are just enough references to the events of the past to let you know what Woody and Buzz have come though as friends, but it doesn’t fall into a lame recap, and goes straight into the lessons that have to be learned in this moment.
I almost find weird that people remember this film the least compared to the other two, but I think that is because the memory of the third entry is still very fresh and as time goes by audience will come to remember this one as well, but still we can’t let people believe that this is just a bypass to the third film, It’s an excellent film and has all the merits to be seen over and over.
“A Bug’s
life” was released three years after “Toy Story”, and unlike the later, it had
some actual competition, which took the form of Antz, from Dreamworks. In the
end Pixar won, and the victory helped the studio to secure its throne as king
of cgi films.
That being
said, I think we can all agree that this entry wasn’t as strong as “Toy Story”,
and to be honest is one of my less preferred Pixar movies, but that doesn’t
make it bad.
Now I know that I normally don't review direct-to-video films because typically, they're not very good and I like to pretend that the cheapquels never happened but I've made an exception as I actually like this film. Now I'll admit that are some problems with this film but that is to be expected. Now I'm not overlooking these problems because they're there but I still find myself enjoying this film despite what problems it may have.
The trailer shows you what your going to get. A simple, silly and fun take on The Three Musketeers. If you want a more serious take on this tale from Disney, there is the Tim Curry version. There's two things that I thought I'd never say in the same sentence. Now I'll admit it isn't as strong as the previous adaptions starring Mickey, Donald, & Goofy such as The Prince and The Pauper or Mickey and The Beanstalk but for what it is, it's an enjoyable ride.
The Plot
Again as stated, this is a loose adaption of The Three Musketeers with Mickey, Donald and Goofy in the lead roles and Pete as our main villain, the captain of the musketeers. Pete looks down on Mickey, Donald, & Goofy who start out the film as janitors for the royal palace but Captain Pete has plans to kidnap the princess and appoint himself king. Yeah, that isn't explained very well but let's just go with it. In order to do this though, he decides to make our three leads musketeers as Minnie who is the princess asks for bodyguards and Pete thinks that getting them to protect her will make his plan work. It's simple and a little silly but it showcases these classic characters rather well.
Narrator
The Troubadour voiced by Rob Paulsen
If there was any one character I didn't particularly care for, it would be The Troubadour. He served as our narrator for the film and I don't mind the idea of a narrator for a film. I think what they were trying to do here was Robin Hood did with Alan-a-Dale. In having an onscreen narrator that broke the fourth wall and talked directly to the audience. It just didn't work here because this character felt forced in. The only time you'd see him is when a song would come up and while those were nice and the idea of using classical music is writing lyrics to them was fun, he felt unneeded. Now he did have interaction at least once with the cast as Donald and The Troubadour do share a scene together.
Now to be fair, he did play an important role in getting the story going as when the film opens, we see this take place on TV set with a show similar in vein to the likes of Masterpiece Theater but maybe it is just my personal preference, I think I would've preferred if the film had cut that part out and just gone straight to the story.
Characters
Now that we got the narrator out of the way, I'll be breaking these next set of characters down into Main, Supporting, & Villains.
Main Characters
Mickey voiced by Wayne Allwine
Now as I've stated in the past, Mickey is my favorite character but that doesn't mean I know everything about him and I bring this up because in this film, they present a flaw that while seemingly obvious, I'd never seen it touched upon before this film. Being Mickey's height. Now while I don't mind the idea of giving these characters flaw, I don't if this was the right flaw to give Mickey. As for Mickey's personality, he wasn't changed too drastically. He was the same old likable mouse that was willing to do good and save the day and protect Minnie who of course, he falls in love with. Would you expect anything less? Oh I'd be remiss if I didn't bring the scene during the first sword fight with The Beagle Boys where they cut off his musketeers clothes and you see Mickey in his regular clothes. That was pretty funny.
Donald voiced by Tony Anselmo
Donald's flaw in the film probably bugged me the most out of the main three's. In this Donald is shown to be a coward and to me that just doesn't gel and also Donald already has a flaw with his short temper. Now maybe it wouldn't have worked in the context of the story that this film was trying to tell but I'm sorry, I just don't cowardice when I think of Donald Duck. I think of someone that has a good heart but can't control his temper. I'm sure they could've found a way to work that into this tale. Still, Donald was a lot of fun here and I guess you could make the argument that this is a story within a story as we see a studio set and Donald along with the rest of the cast are just actors in this realm. Is that a cheap excuse? Perhaps but I think it works. Now just like Mickey, we do get to see Donald in his sailor outfit that one point and I actually think that it's funnier than with Mickey with a great bit of dialogue between Mickey and Donald.
Mickey Mouse: Lie? Well, lie or no lie. Musketeers don't run from danger, and as long as we wear these uniforms, neither do we? Donald Duck: You said it! [Rips uniform off] Donald Duck: It's every duck for himself!
Goofy voiced by Bill Farmer
Now out of all of the flaws given to our main three, Goofy's felt the most natural and more ore less an extension of what he is already known for. Being well Goofy. As with A Goofy Movie, it comes through here rather well that Goofy is well meaning but a tad clumsy. It's simple and it works rather well and I mean Goofy uses his goofiness to his advantage at one point to take down The Beagle Boys at the beginning when they had kidnapped Minnie and Daisy. Now I'll say that I'm a bit disappointed that unlike Mickey or Donald, we didn't get a cameo scene of Goofy in his regular outfit but it's not a big deal, really. Goofy was probably the best character because he felt the most natural out of all them. Oh, I should also mention that Goofy ends up with Clarabelle at the end. Going a bit off topic, I always found that a bit confusing because Disney seems to like switch up Clarabelle's boyfriend between Goofy and Horace Horsecollar. According to the Disney Wiki, her first official boyfriend was Horace and it really wasn't until around the start of House of Mouse that Goofy became her boyfriend. I think that makes her the only classic Disney character to have more than one boyfriend. My personal take on this issue, it's weird but Disney can do what they want with their characters.
Supporting Characters
Pluto also voiced by Bill Farmer
What is there to say about Pluto? He was in this movie. That's about it, really. This isn't a hit on Pluto as I love this character. Heck I listed him as my favorite Disney dog when I counted down the Top 6 Dogs of Disney but I've noticed sometimes when Pluto is included in ensemble pieces such as this, he seems to be overshadowed. Not saying that's bad and I do appreciate his presence as it just feels right to include him along with Mickey, Donald and Goofy and he does serve his purpose of aiding our heroes but for the most part, he's just a background character.
Princess Minnie voiced by Russi Taylor
Again just as with Mickey, Minnie was her usual self and for this film that worked well. She ruled the kingdom and she was important to Pete's plan to kidnap her and take over the kingdom as stated above. Of course, she falls in love with Mickey and the feeling is mutual and honestly out of the three romances, this is the one that feels the most natural and most well developed. Of course that's not to say, the others felt forced as the audience is more than likely aware of the relationships of these characters save for Goofy and Clarabelle. In this film, she's sweet and simple.
Daisy voiced by Tress MacNeille
Daisy in this film reminded me a lot of how she was in House of Mouse and that makes sense seeing as this film came out not too long after that show. She cracked jokes and wise-cracker. She was really funny and had a sense of dry wit. Now as stated up top, all three of our main characters end up with a love interest. The reason I bring this up is because while we see Donald have a crush on Daisy in this film, she doesn't exactly return the feelings and to see her and Donald end up at the end seems a bit out of left field. Again, you could say that this is a film within a film and Donald and Daisy are already a couple but on it's own, it just seems to come out of nowhere. There is a funny line when Minnie comments on how her and Mickey have the same last name. Dumb but it's cute.
Minnie: Ah... Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Oh! Look Daisy! Mickey and I have the same last name! Ah...
Daisy: Well, It must be destiny. Good thing destiny doesn't control my love life.
Daisy: Well look at me. If it did, I'd get stuck with mister... [imitating Donald, both laughing]
Music
All For One and One For All
As stated up top, they take classical pieces and set lyrics to them. This piece is the Gallop from Orpheus in The Underworld, which until looking this up, I'd never heard of and as for this song, it's fun. It's probably one of the best in the film. It gets the story going nicely and I'm happy I found this clip because if you look closely at the hat given to Mickey, you see that musketeers that inspire our three leads are the character from the original series of books.
Love So Lovely
Here again, this piece of music is Dance of The Reed Flutes from The Nutcracker and the Romeo and Juliet overture. This in my opinion feels the most Disney esque of how the songs in this film. It's really cute and rather simple. Funny at first I hated this song while watching the film but listening to it again, I find it rather enjoyable. Isn't it funny how one's opinion can change so quickly.
Petey's King of France
As far as villain songs go, this one is okay. It's not bad but not anything memorable and for someone like Pete, I feel he deserves something better. My feelings on this song are that it's there but why? I mean yes, it is exposition but it's not a good song. As for the music used here, it is In The Hall of The Mountain King. Which listening to on it's own without Pete's lyrics makes for a much better piece of music as it is far more entertaining but I don't think they chose the right piece of music to set a villain song. I get the idea for a villain song listening to it but I don't think this was the right choice. Yeah, part of it does sound villainous but I still say that this piece of music was the wrong choice for Pete.
Sweet Wings of Love
This song is cute and sweet if not sickly so. This one time where I'm not bugged by The Troubadour. I think I should be more clear I like his music but I'm just not fond of the character. This is a sweet love song for Mickey and Minnie. Simple and cute. The piece of music used here was Blue Danube. Which again listening to it on it's own is really pretty.
Chains of Love
While this may be another love song, it's just so funny and the piece of music used her just works so well and I think it fits these characters rather well. This is a cute little sequence that I rather enjoy. As for the music used here, it is Habnera from the opera, Carmen. It's funny that while I've heard most of these pieces of music elsewhere, they seem entertaining in a different way here. As a matter of fact, the first time I heard this one was during an episode of Hey Arnold, where the class went to go see Carmen.
This Is The End
I have two different feeling about this song, on the one hand, I like it as it feels epic but at the same time, it comes out of nowhere and I'll concede that is true for most of the songs in this film but this one just seems to be the most random as for this number, I believe it to be the most popular piece of music in this film. It is Beethoven's Symphony No. 5. Which while I thought it was this one that appeared in Fantasia as well, it was actually Symphony No. 6 by Beethoven that appeared in that film.
L'Opera
The setting for this one makes this one a lot of fun and unlike the other pieces of music in this one, this one takes multiple excerpts from The Pirates of Penzance. Which I believe is the opera that is being conducted onstage while our heroes fight. It's simple and a lot of fun with some silly moments. Probably another piece I really enjoy from this film.
All For One (Reprise)
What better way to end the film then with the song that started it all? This reprise while short is a bunch of fun and emulates the feelings of the original quite well. Though I prefer the original version over the reprise myself.
Three Is a Magic Number
Now while this song didn't appear in the film itself, it's one of those songs that was made for the film and can I just say thank goodness it didn't appear in the film because while I don't hate it, it doesn't fit in with the idea of using classical pieces of music. In my opinion from going from those songs which I really enjoy and then all of the sudden have a generic pop song pop up, would ruin the flow of the music in this film.
Villains
The Beagle Boys all voiced by Jeff Bennett
Now let me just get one thing out of the way, while these characters are labeled as The Beagle Boys, they aren't the same as the ones from DuckTales. I have to say I love stuff like this and The Prince and The Pauper where Pete gets classic Disney henchmen as his henchmen. Here in this film, they were comedic foils which was a lot of fun and they were somewhat of a threat but not a big threat but they were still pretty funny.
Lt. Clarabelle voiced by April Winchell
Clarabelle serves as Pete's second in command in hopes to take over the kingdom. It was strange seeing Clarabelle in a villainous role but she turned good by the end of the film when she and Goofy fell in love. I loved her personality in this one but of course, they used her personality of the one from House of Mouse where she's a bit sarcastic. That's a nice touch. Also I just have to bring this up, it's a bit funny that Clarabelle worked alongside Pete in this as she was once a victim of his guards in The Prince and The Pauper. Again, I use my actor theory here.
Captain Pete voiced by Jim Cummings
Pete was just so much fun in this film, even if I didn't care for his song and at points he felt underused but when I want to see my favorite Disney villain done in a nice fashion, this is a good film to turn to. Now I'll admit, his scheme was cliche but it makes sense in the context of the film. There is always something fun about seeing people of power being evil such as Pete. Now going back to the flaws I pointed for our three heroes, Pete is the first one to point them out. Again Pete only hires Mickey, Donald, & Goofy as bodyguards for Minnie because of how clumsy they are and thought with them protecting her, it'd be easier to go through with scheme. Jim Cummings' performance was stellar in this film by the way too and also have to love that he has some Disney references in his dialogue.
Pete: [quoting the _"Mickey Mouse Club"_ theme as he throws Mickey into a cage] Hey, there! Hi, there! Ho, there! You're as welcome as can be!
So long, runt. I've got me tickets to the opera. A little something called I just Can't Wait To Be King!
My Final Thoughts
Is this film perfect? No but it is entertaining and for a direct-to-video film, it's better then most. It was a lot of fun and while there are some problems with this film, it does not detract from my enjoyment of this movie. It's short but for what it's worth, if you like these characters, it's worth a watch. I really enjoy the music in this film and the characters well, I love these characters and I like most everything they're in. Now I wouldn't go as far to say that it's worthy of a theatrical release but for a direct-to-video film, it's enjoyable and better then most everything else that came out direct-to-video.
Before starting, I'm afraid that I won't be able to do the reviews in video as I hoped, since everytime I push the "rec" button, I'm possesd by George VI, and it's weird, because I'm able to say my lines in the mirror.
However, let's get this show started.
Since the editor just Crashed on me, I'm posting the link of the review here
The sixth in the Movie Explorer's Fairy Tale Matinée series, a review of
the 1977 animated film Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure.
Raggedy Ann & Andy must adventure outdoors to rescue a French
porcelain doll from a randy pirate captain, encountering repulsive
characters and terrifying situations along the way.
on Monday, 14 May 2012
in animated movie review
