Movie Review: Kung Fu Panda 2

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This is the weekend of the sequels. Early weekend releases The Hangover Part II and Kung Fu Panda 2 join last weekends Pirates of the Caribbean 4. The three movies will be battling it out to determine who will be the king of the long Memorial Day weekend box office. Two of the movies are available in 3D and one of them, Hangover, will rely solely on the ticket revenue from a 2D version.

With a special contest code from M&Ms that awarded me a $3 discount on a ticket I had my ticket money plunked down for the 2D version of Kung Fu Panda 2 instead of using the discount to pay the surcharge for the 3D version.

A little shy of three years ago we met Po (Jack Black) as he went from an overweight, lazy, slacker panda to become the Dragon Warrior and join the elite kung fu fighters of the Furious Five: Tigress, Mantis, Viper, Monkey and Crane (Angelia Jolie, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, Jackie Chan and David Cross) under the tutelage of Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman).

Now, the very existence of kung fu is threatened by Lord Shen (Gary Oldman) a pea fowl who has an axe to grind. Well, actually he has a cannon to shoot since he has learned how to use gun powder not for a beautiful display of fireworks but as a weapon for mass destruction and the conquering of China. What stands in way of Lord Shen's desires? According to the Soothsayer (Michelle Yeoh) something that is black and white. Might that be a panda? AND...could that panda be Po?

The battle lines have been drawn and we know that Po and Lord Shen will face off against each other. Po's skills have improved, but if it wasn't for the assistance of the Furious Five, he would have been toast a long time ago. His aligning with the Five is just what he needs to be an effective team player until he discovers a secret which shakes him to his core and rocks his chi. His father, Mr Ping, the goose that makes a delicious noodle soup and one mean, hot, steamed bun is horror of all horrors, not his real father. Insert dramatic duh dah dum....music here. Apparently Mr Ping never had the birds and bees talk with Po for Po to figure out that he didn't come from an egg.

The revelation of adoption and its aftermath is the weakest part of the movie. In movies and TV too many times the characters are shown to loose all self worth and wonder who they are when they discover that their biological parents, usually the mother, felt that someone else could do a better job raising them. Po looses confidence and starts playing mind games with himself questioning the love and care that his father, the goose, Mr Ping has given him since he took Po in as his own. That self doubt interferes with his ability to fight Lord Shen.

Fortunately, the rest of the movie makes up for this short coming. The relationship between Po and Tigress has deepened; Master Shifu giving his masterly advice to Po; Po's working though the necessary barriers to once again triumph good over evil all work in the character development department.

The story really moves along due to the overall story development and the methods used to tell it. When the story opens we are given the back story of Lord Shen. It is told using flat animated, 2D paper cutouts almost shadow puppet in form. As Po has flashbacks those images are again a flat 2D stylized animation form. At the end of the 90 minutes the credits are multi-layer 2D renderings that are well worth sitting through to enjoy. I'm sure in the 3D version they did more with this section. Sandwiched in between are the traditional computer renderings using shadow and highlights to give the 2D figures the look of 3D. The colors were bright and vibrant and the textures were highly detailed. From the fine lines in Lord Shen's feathers to the applique embroidery and stitches in vests and robes to the growth rings in a ram's or water buffalo's horns the nuances add to the graphical details giving further life to the characters.

One last special detail mention is for the fireworks. These fireworks sparkled and shimmered at a particle level like I haven't seen before. Tie that in with the smoke clouds and trails and you sit in your seat and ooooooh and aaaaaah during those scenes.

There is no easter egg at the end but as already mentioned, the credits are worth sitting through for the visuals of this movie rated PG for sequences of martial arts action and mild violence.

The Movie Monkey

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Movie Review: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

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Our favorite pirate captain is back for his fourth go around. Johnny Depp headlines Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides as Captain Jack Sparrow. He's back with Geoffrey Rush and Kevin McNally who reprise their roles as Captain Hector Barbossa and First Mate Gibbs. Those are the only returning characters from all three previous adventures. This movie should rule the weekend as no other movies are going up against it. And with releases in 2D, 3D and 3D Imax at my local theater it is taking up four theaters and 20 time slots therefore it should gobble up the movie money this weekend.

At my theater, the first show of the day, I had a little issue happen. We started the previews. After the theater chain trailer finished a screen came up saying to put on the 3D glasses. I paid for 2D so it was a little shocking. Funny though, I did look around to see if anyone in the theater had 3D glasses they were putting on their head in case I might have gone in the wrong door. No yellow frames were to be found in the room. Luckily it was a digital projection theater and after notifying the theater management, it only took about 30 seconds to swap the 3D version back to 2D although we had to sit through the theater chain trailer again.

Film four harkens back to the original Pirates of the Caribbean film, Curse of the Black Pearl. Within moments we re-meet Captain Jack and very quickly we're off into the action. This time around the legendary Fountain of Youth is the desired treasure. Stopping Jack from getting there is a women from his past, the meanest of all pirates and Jack's arch frenemy. One of the fun aspects of the series is how the writers bring in parts of pirate and mythological lore that the average person probably knows or has heard of and twists them or brings in extra embellishments. Examples include how the fountain of youth operates and the backgrounds of mermaids. Ted Elliot and Terry Rosario were the writers taking elements from Tim Powers' novel On Stranger Tides and translating them for the big screen.

We're introduced to the love interest, Angelica (Penelope Cruz). After many years Jack and Angelica have a run in and end up aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge which is Blackbeard's ship. Blackbeard (Ian McShane) is heading to the Fountain of Youth. They're trying to beat Barbossa to the prize. But to capture the reward they also need a mermaid who turns out to be a different species from Madison in the 1984 Touchstone mermaid film Splash. So the take away is this: if you ever run into a mermaid, you need to ask them where they put themselves on the nice/nasty scale! That can make all the difference in the world!

The adventure was filmed in London, Puerto Rico, and multiple locations in Hawaii including Oahu and Kauai. The Queen Anne's Revenge remained in Hawaii after the filming and is now "permanently" moored at the Ko Olina Marina. Not too long ago I had the chance to go out to the marina and see the ship in person and take some photos. If you would like to see them click here. It's amazing how seeing a prop like that changes your perspective when you see the movie and how it comes to life. And speaking of coming to life, just as they have done before there is a scene in the movie that pays tribute to the attraction at parks around the globe.

The two parts of the movie that disappointed me were two action set pieces. Theses were very similar to the staging in Curse of the Black Pearl, one towards the beginning of the movie and the other towards the end. The lighting, choreography and reasonings of the scenes were similar enough that when you see them you'll think that you've seen them before just as I did. There were other elements from Dead Man's Chest and At World's End that were included but they were more along the lines of traits and habits adding a consistency to what we expect from the franchise.

Hans Zimmer once again provided the soundtrack that adds the jauntiness, tension, heart pounding and fun that the film requires.

It was a good popcorn and soda movie. Just watch the size of the soda as the film ran for 137 minutes and you might need to dash out for a few minutes. It had a rating of PG-13 for intense sequences of action/adventure violence, some frightening images, sensuality and innuendo. Finally, as with all of the other Pirates of the Caribbean movies, stay put after the credits for an extra scene.

The Movie Monkey

To subscribe to the audio podcast of the reviews via iTunes click here. Audio versions are released the following Wednesday.

Movie Review: Bridesmaids

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Bridesmaids has been getting a lot of build up and positive buzz. I was excited to see it based on all that positive buzz. After watching the movie, I felt like I was stuck at the children's table at the reception. The movie fell flat on its face breaking its nose and I couldn't wait for it to be over.

The title of the movie is Bridesmaids. I'm expecting the focus to be on the antics of the group of bridesmaids for a wedding. Based on the trailers, both of them, I'm expecting a female version of The Hangover. The title was plural. I was sold a bill of goods. The main focus of the movie was on Annie (Kristen Wiig), the Maid of Honor for Lilian's (Maya Rudolph) upcoming nuptials. If they called it Maid of Honor or as one character said Maid of Dishonor it would have better represented what the movie was about. The group was window dressing for Annie's story.

Annie is having a hard time in life. She's being used as a toy by a guy (an uncredited Jon Hamm) as boy friend would not be an appropriate term to use to describe him. Her cake business has gone under due to the economy. She's in a job that she doesn't like. Her roommates are just all out weird. Her car couldn't pass a safety test. She's not having an easy time when Lilian asked her to be her Maid of Honor. Lilian knows this and that it's going to take extra finances to fulfill the role but she saddles the burden on Annie anyway. Where they talked about the economy in the opening scenes, it annoyed me that the bride wasn't thinking of the well being of her life long best friend but was caught up in herself.

As Annie meets the other bridesmaids there are personalities that get set up for the comedy and for clashing. It's obvious that there are two people who are going to have major issues with each other. Lilian has her new friend Helen (Rose Byrne) as part of the bridal party. Helen is her fiance's boss' wife and has money to boot! During the first meeting when Annie and Helen try to outdo each other with toasts to the bride, Lilian didn't step up and women up to straighten out things and set the expectations between the two women.

There were some moments of laughter. I don't mind toilet humor when dealing with bodily functions. After having lunch at a Brazilian churrascaria (a place where roasted meat is sliced off of a skewer right onto your plate) the bridal party heads to a super posh dress fitting where they start to develop symptoms of food poisoning. Stomach rumbling, belching and passing gas culminating with multiple people all dashing for the single toilet is the result while the hostess is yelling at them about the dresses and trying to get them to go use a restroom across the street. While you laughed at bodily functions the attitude of hostess and Helen had my stomach rumbling.

At one point Annie meets Officer Rhodes (Chris O'Dowd in a heavy Irish brogue) and a small relationship starts to develop. Annie is at such a low point in her life that she doesn't want to accept the friendship and encouragement that he offers to her. If this was an art house movie, great, wonderful. But this was supposed to be a comedy.

Lastly was the bachelorette party. Helen manipulates the ladies to have her way and hold the event in Las Vegas. It's the plane trip from hell for Annie. She doesn't like to fly and can't afford the trip in the first place, but Lilian seems ok with putting her best friend in such a bad position. Watching what Helen does overtly and as passive aggressive to Annie would earn her a spot in the Bad Girl's Club. Mixing drugs and alcohol on a plane is not a funny matter with current affairs.

I sat there for the two hours and five minutes of this R rated comedy for some strong sexuality, and language throughout cringing, upset and hoping it would be over soon. Many of the scenes shown in the trailers did not show up in the movie. While this happens quite frequently, especially with Will Ferrell movies, I don't think I've even seen as many scenes not make it into the final film as happened in this movie. If the shots had not been left on the cutting room floor, it maybe would have fared better as a comedy.

The script written by Wigg and Annie Mumolo who appears as Annie's seat mate on the plane could have given us much better work. The idea of Annie's downward plunge and hitting bottom then working herself back up or a more raucous comedy could have been developed from this script. It could evolved into two very different and workable scripts. What we got was a combination that instead of being funny or thoughtful was sad and at times self absorbed and mean spirited.

On a side note, this weekend I was able to try the jalapeno poppers at my local Regal theater. I ordered and they came out relatively quickly. Although the signage showed six poppers and no quantity with the description and price I received five pieces for the $4.50 price plus Ken's Steak House ranch dressing for dipping sauce. They also offered a discount coupon through Facebook that got a small soda for a buck. I upgraded to a large and for $6.50 I got what you see in the picture.

Back to the movie, make sure you stay through the beginning of the credits. There is some additional footage that is pretty funny. Finally, for me the star of the movie was Melissa McCarthy who played Megan. She's played Dena in Samatha Who? and plays the title roll of Molly in CBS' Mike and Molly. She's heavy set and tom boyish in the role. She's loud and somewhat uncouth but she showed more heart in her character than the rest of the bridesmaids combined. If anything, it would be interesting to see if Wiig could come up with a script for Annie and Megan to reprise their roles on the silver screen or maybe even a direct to DVD release.

The Movie Monkey

To subscribe to the audio podcast of the reviews via iTunes click here. Audio versions are released the following Wednesday.

Movie Review: Thor

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The big summer blockbusters have started this week with the release of Thor. I trekked out to my local Regal theater and based on the information I was given last week, I decided to try to new food offerings. I ordered the jalapeno poppers, paid my money and was moving over to the side when my cashier called over to order, an assistant manager barked out that he told them that they didn't have the new stuff. I took my refund and headed into the theater. It was one of the smaller theaters holding about 180 seats. When the movie started the theater has about half full of people including two babies and four cell phones without their ringers turned off. You probably know where I'll go with them later. I was happy to find out at least at this time prices didn't go up and the cost for my 2D version of the movie remained the same. The movie was not a great, but at least a very good start for the string of blockbusters due to roll out over the next couple of months.

The action starts off pretty quickly with scientists Jane Foster and Erik Salvig (Natalie Portman and Stellan Skarsgård) out in the New Mexico desert when an anomaly in the sky occurs. They take their vehicle and rush to the disturbance which is now touching the ground and they hit something. When the dust clears they see a man laying on the ground. When Jane asks how did he get there we travel through space to a gleaming golden city into a huge throne room. On the throne is Odin (Anthony Hopkins) and his sons Thor and Loki (Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston) are before him. So right off the bat we are treated to some action, superb special effects and backstory to kick off the origin story for our hero Thor.

Director Kenneth Branagh leads us through what caused arrogant and insolent Thor to be banished from Asgard and sent to earth. You would think if your Dad is an all powerful king and fighter and if he tells you not to do something, you'd think that you'd listen to him! In the process of banishment Thor is stripped of his powers and his special hammer Mjöllnir It's at that point where we go back to earth and pick up Thor laying on the ground after being clipped by Jane's truck.

We see that things back in Asgard aren't as rosey as they had originally seemed and Thor's pals Sif, Volstagg, Hogun and Fandral (Jaimie Alexander, Ray Stevenson, Tadanobu Asano and Josh Dallas) realize they need to travel to Earth to retrieve their pal and bring him back to try to set the situation straight. In the mean time a nasty metal robot man called the Destroyer which shoots really strong beams of fire out of its widened eye sockets is sent to Earth too in order to stop Thor who has none on his special powers. He can use his battle training, but that's about it as his piercing blue eyes, big muscles and roguish smile only work on the ladies.

The movie works on most levels. There are great special effects. Asgard and Bifrost, the bridge aka worm hole that took Odin and his forces to other realms looked wonderful on the screen. The origin story is laid out neatly for us, pretty straight forward there. The love interest between a god and a human. Good vs evil. The foundation for SHIELD and the upcoming Avengers movie was referenced including a nod to Ironman and Tony Stark. There were some good moments of comedy some of it coming from Hemsworth and several times Portman.

Where the movie fell short was really setting up the dramatic moments that kept us on the edge of our seats. Three of the big fight scenes were good but were a little short of the extra umph that would make us go "YEAH!" out loud. Even the Easter egg with Nick Fury was worthy of sitting through the credits. What didn't work was the people who didn't turn off their ringers including the one person who had his set on the old fashioned phone ringer that went off four times and the two babies who didn't like the volume multiple times throughout the 114 minute running time. For that reason it was one of the toughest movies I've seen lately due to the crowd but not the presentation.

It was near Ironman good, but lacked slightly. Thor was rated PG-13 for intense sci-fi action/violence and while the ladies got to enjoy a buff Hemsworth with his shirt off, the guys didn't get quite as much with either Portman or Alexander. Let's see if Green Lantern releasing in June and Captain America with its July release date offer the same level of story and excitement.

The Movie Monkey

To subscribe to the audio podcast of the reviews via iTunes click here. Audio versions are released the following Wednesday.