Toon Talk: Mater Days

One could call Pixar’s seemingly unending winning streak an embarrassment of riches. With a string of number one box office hits and Academy Award wins, not to mention all the critical huzzahs and audience love, it’s not entirely unforgivable that the studio would take a chance to rest on their laurels for a bit with their latest animated release Cars 2 (in theaters now).

Ask any Pixar fan to name their favorite Pixar movie and chances are you won’t hear Cars mentioned much. It is also one of only two Pixars to not win the Oscar for Best Animated Feature since the category’s creation in 2001 (ironically, the other is Monsters, Inc., which will also get a sequel next year). So why a second Cars instead of a sequel to one of Pixar’s bigger, more beloved hits like Finding Nemo or The Incredibles...?

Click here to continue reading my Toon Talk review of Cars 2 at LaughingPlace.com.

Toon Talk: Yo Ho-Hum

By the time a successful film franchise hits the fourth installment, a certain formula has usually settled in. In the case of Disney’s hit Pirates of the Caribbean movies, such by-now familiar aspects include a complex plot steeped in legendary pirate lore, a rogues’ gallery of mythical and/or magical characters, enough double crosses and double-double crosses to make your eyes cross, and plenty of swashbuckling stunts and special effects spectacle.

All that, as well as Johnny Depp’s swarthy, swishy Captain Jack Sparrow, are on hand in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, in theaters now. Gone are original trilogy director Gore Virbinski and lovebirds Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley. In their place are Academy Award nominated director Rob Marshall (of the glitzy and gritty musicals Chicago and Nine fame) and a love interest for Captain Jack himself, played by Oscar winning actress Penélope Cruz.

But even with this mixture of old and new blood, On Stranger Tides is curiously lacking in excitement, as if we’ve all rode this E ticket too many times to care much any more...

Click here to continue reading my Toon Talk review of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides at LaughingPlace.com.

Toon Talk: Hammer Time

Back in my comic book reading youth, The Avengers was always a must-read. A Justice League of America for the Marvel Comics set, the super group included such faves as Captain America, Hawkeye and Iron Man in spectacular battles that only the world’s greatest superheroes could win. One of the Avengers’ many-many members was the mighty Thor, the Norse God of Thunder. Although he had a cool weapon (an oversized hammer he called Mjolnir), his stoic nature and stilted, archaic dialogue (filled with “thee’s” and “thou’s” and such) never endeared him to me much.

So now that it has come time in Marvel Studios’ prolonged build-up to next year’s Avengers movie to introduce Thor to the movie-going masses, I was a bit skeptical that this chapter would be a sword-and-sorcery snooze fest. Thankfully, I was wrong, as Marvel has wisely followed the format of the two hit Iron Man movies and injected Thor (in theaters now) with plenty of humor and over-the-top fantasy sequences, enough at least to distract you from the fact that this is basically a feature length prologue to 2012’s main event.

Following in the footsteps of his fellow Aussie Hugh Jackman, relative newcomer Chris Hemsworth (best known stateside as Kirk’s father in the most recent Star Trek movie) gives a robust, star-making performance as the title character...

Click here to continue my Toon Talk review of Thor at LaughingPlace.com.

Toon Talk: From HSM to NYC

Spin-offs are tricky; for every Frasier, there’s a dozen Joeys. The key to a successful spin-off is a character that is interesting and compelling enough to break out of the supporting ranks to become a full-fledged leading player. So when it came time for Disney to try to milk their hit High School Musical franchise even further, it’s no surprise that they chose HSM’s resident diva, Sharpay Evans.

As played by blonde wannabe-dynamo Ashley Tisdale in two Disney Channel movies and one theatrical feature, Sharpay was a teenaged drama queen to be reckoned with, a rising star… at least in her own mind. And now she is the star, of her own direct-to-video movie, Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure (now available on Disney DVD and Blu-ray Combo Pack).

Alas, this Adventure is not that Fabulous. Borrowing heavily from such previous “girl power” chick flicks as Legally Blonde and The Devil Wears Prada, Sharpay’s first solo outing is as predictable, clichéd and preposterous as the all-pink wardrobe of its leading lady...

Click here to continue reading my Toon Talk review of Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure at LaughingPlace.com.

Toon Talk: That’s Incredible

Seven years later, and Pixar’s superhero epic The Incredibles is still, well, pretty incredible. Now released, for the first time this week, on a high definition Disney Blu-ray, the Academy Award-winning adventure still ranks as one of the best of its genre, even with such newer entrants as The Dark Knight and Iron Man in the mix...

Click here to continue reading my Toon Talk review of The Incredibles Blu-ray at LaughingPlace.com.

Toon Talk: Let Down Your Hair

Sometimes a story needs to be heard more than once in order to be fully appreciated. Such is the case for me with Tangled, the recent box office hit making its Disney DVD and Blu-ray debuts this week.

As told in my original Toon Talk review of Tangled upon its theatrical release last November, I admitted to being disappointed with the film. And while Tangled’s faults — such as its formulaic plot, non-distinctive songs and overall sense of “safeness” — are still present, my second viewing was a more rewarding one. Perhaps it was because my expectations were lowered following my first viewing, or maybe Tangled’s charms just needed to grow on me, but I found it more clever and romantic, not to mention funnier, the second time around...

Click here to continue reading my Toon Talk review of the Tangled Blu-ray at LaughingPlace.com.

Toon Talk: In the Name of the Father

Fans of the works of the legendary Japanese animation master Hayao Miyazaki know what to expect when they watch one of his films. The central protagonist, usually a boy or a girl (or both), find themselves in a life-threatening adventure filled with magic and mystery. They must rely on their youthful wits and innate talents to survive against an enigmatic, otherworldly being who will, most likely, at one point turn into a pile of goo. An adult father figure is usually on hand to provide sage advice, and it is highly probable that our hero will eventually learn that they are in fact some higher, magical being. The whole fantastic story is brought to vivid life with highly detailed and incredibly beautiful animation, with strong attention paid to recreating the wonders of nature. Oh, and there will be flying… lots and lots of flying.

Of course, anyone who has seen any of Miyazaki’s films knows that the whole is much more then sum of its parts. His films, from Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (available this week for the first time on Blu-ray) to his Academy Award winning masterpiece Spirited Away to his most recent delight Ponyo, are quite simply sublime in their storytelling brilliance and ability to transport you to a myriad of different fantasy lands.

Following in the elder Miyazaki’s footsteps is his son, Goro Miyazaki, who makes his directorial debut with the latest Studio Ghibli feature to be released in the United States, Tales from Earthsea (now also available on DVD). As would be expected, the younger Miyazaki has big shoes to fill, and while it is not entirely fair to hold his work up to the standards of his obviously more accomplished father, Tales from Earthsea is so steeped in the studio style that it is unavoidable...

Click here to continue reading my Toon Talk review of Tales from Earthsea at LaughingPlace.com.

Toon Talk: The Forest for the Trees

This week’s “Diamond Edition” Blu-ray of Bambi marks the high definition debut of the beloved Disney classic. A true masterpiece in the art of animation, the film ranks high on many a cinephile’s list of the best of the medium, and has often been cited as an influence on other filmmakers to this day. Its simple story of a boy growing up in the harsh realities of the world is as timeless now as it ever has been, and it remains a “must see” for every generation.

So it is a bit disturbing that everything new about this release is designed to distract you from actually watching the movie...

Click here to continue reading my Toon Talk review of the Bambi Blu-ray at LaughingPlace.com.

Toon Talk: Brush Up Your Shakespeare

William Shakespeare’s classic tragedy “Romeo and Juliet” practically invented the concept of “star-crossed lovers”, so it’s no wonder that the Bard’s most familiar romance continues to inspire storytellers to this day. Speaking specifically cinematically, “Romeo and Juliet” has been the basis of many films, from the sublime (West Side Story) to the ridiculous (China Girl), not to mention direct adaptations by the directorial likes of George Cukor, Franco Zeffirelli and Baz Luhrmann.

The doomed lovers’ influence has even carried over into the animated world, most notably with Disney’s own Pocahontas. Their latest toon incarnation is Gnomeo & Juliet (in theaters now, in both 2-D and 3-D versions), where they are embodied by (you guessed it) garden gnomes.

The more culturally snobbish may look down their noses at such a “blasphemous” idea, but Gnomeo & Juliet is actually a charming little fairy tale perfect for children and, smartly, the script is laced with many sly nods to the Shakespearean canon (referencing everything from “Out, damned spot!” to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern) to keep their parents entertained as well during its quick running time...

UPDATE: Gnomeo & Juliet is now available on DVD and Blu-ray from Amazon.com.

Click here to continue reading my Toon Talk review of Gnomeo & Juliet at LaughingPlace.com.

Toon Talk: Horseography

When it comes to sports biopics, the subgenre breaks down into two camps. First is the warts-and-all, blood-and-guts variety best exemplified by Raging Bull. Then just about everything else, from The Pride of the Yankees to Hoosiers to The Blind Side, easily fall into the second type: the “inspirational” kind. Filled with “rags to riches” stories, training montages and slow motion moments of triumph, these films are no doubt crowd-pleasers. Yet, after you’ve seen a few, they also become rather predictable, even interchangeable.

With its Disney brand and tame PG rating, it’s not hard to figure out what category Secretariat fits into; and while the film (now available on Disney DVD and Blu-ray) is definitely a family friendly one, you’re likely to feel that you’ve seen this race before… even if you haven’t seen Seabiscuit.

As the “super horse” that, in 1973, became the first racehorse to win the US Triple Crown in twenty-five years, Secretariat certainly could run fast, but he doesn’t say much. Therefore, the movie leans heavily on his owner, Peggy Chenery (played by the always welcome Diane Lane) to carry the story. Unfortunately, as a main character, Peggy is a bit of a cipher. Her motivation to race Secretariat, tied to fulfilling some unspoken dying wish of her father (Scott Glenn), is barely tangible, while attempts to show her as a “woman in a man’s world” fall flat. Subplots about the strain on her marriage and family (including, quite awkwardly, a wannabe hippie daughter) and her reluctance to speak in public go nowhere.

To compensate, director Randall Wallace (the Academy Award nominated screenwriter of Braveheart) and writer Mike Rich (who based his script on William Nack's book Secretariat: The Making of a Champion) try to throw some more obstacles in her way, mainly conflicts with her quirky horse trainer, Lucian Laurin. A French-Canadian former jockey who fancied loud outfits and unconventional training methods, Laurin is played by John Malkovich, the go-to guy in Hollywood for quirky characters (that is, when Christopher Walken is unavailable). Alas, Malkovich pretty much sleep walks through the role, relying on a string of goofy hats and sporadic outbursts in French for character development...

Click here to continue reading my Toon Talk review of Secretariat at LaughingPlace.com.

Toon Talk: Top 10 of 2010

From classic animation to enlightening documentaries, Disney entertainment was full of unexpected surprises in 2010. Whether it was the eagerly anticipated returns of beloved characters or the shocking revelations of legendary icons, this year had a fair share of excitement and drama mixed in with the magic and fantasy...

Celebrating its 10th edition, click here for the Toon Talk Top 10 of 2010 at LaughingPlace.com.

Toon Talk: Rebooted

From the worldwide web to Wi-Fi, Bluetooth to Blackberrys, iPods to iPads to iPhones (oh my)… no doubt about it, we have seen a huge amount of technological developments in the past 28 years. So much so that, looking back at it now, 1982’s Tron seems downright quaint. But a lot of difference nearly three decades makes, for Tron’s better-late-than-never sequel Tron: Legacy (in theaters now) is a significant upgrade over the previous model.

With a digitally de-aged face, Jeff Bridges returns as video game whiz Kevin Flynn, who, we learn via flashback to 1989, was the head of ENCOM and the father of a young son named Sam when, mysteriously, he disappeared. Jump ahead to the present, and Sam (played by Garrett Hedlund) is a tech savvy rebel without a cause who is lured to Flynn’s Arcade and, just like daddy in the first film, zapped into a computer wonderland where “users” aren’t welcome and the programs they created are in charge...

Click here to continue reading my Toon Talk review of Tron: Legacy at LaughingPlace.com.

UPDATE: Tron: Legacy is now available on DVD and Blu-ray from Amazon.com.

Toon Talk: Make Mine Music

70 years ago, Walt Disney unveiled what would become known as his masterpiece, Fantasia. Combining classical music with cutting edge animation, the “concert feature” was intended to feature new segments periodically to create an ever-evolving musical program. However, with the European markets closed due to World War II and a disappointing public reaction in the United States, that idea wasn’t realized…

… That is, until 60 years later, when Walt’s nephew Roy E. Disney revived his uncle’s dream with Fantasia 2000. And now, 10 years after that, both films have recently been released on high definition Disney Blu-rays for the first time. And, as a bonus, we finally get the “lost” Dalí/Disney short Destino as well. And while, as would be expected, the two Fantasias look amazing / stunning / breath taking (pick your superlative) in high def, the new “4-Disc Special Edition” is, overall, a disappointment ...

Click here to continue reading my Toon Talk review of the Fantasias at LaughingPlace.com.

Toon Talk: What's Up Docs

For longtime Disneyphiles, their holiday gifts came early this year with the recent releases of not one, not two, but three new Disney documentaries on DVD. All three of these feature length docs — Walt & El Grupo, The Boys: The Sherman Brothers’ Story and Waking Sleeping Beauty — were produced by Disney, but don’t expect any studio whitewashing of the facts. Offering refreshingly candid accounts of the events they cover, each focuses on a different era of Disney history, revealing some surprising truths and shocking secrets from behind the scenes at the house the mouse built...

Click here to continue reading my Toon Talk review of these new Disney DVD releases at LaughingPlace.com.

Toon Talk: Hair Apparent

It only took 50 films, but Disney finally got around to their version of the classic Grimms’ fairy tale Rapunzel with their latest animated feature Tangled (now in theaters).

You remember Rapunzel; she’s the princess with the really, really long hair who is trapped in a castle and is rescued by “letting down her hair” for a passing prince charming. As you may recall, there’s not a lot of story between the “once upon a time” and the “happily ever after” in this one, so Disney has taken several necessary liberties, such as beefing up the role of the male lead (which I’m sure has absolutely nothing to do with the studio wanting the film to appeal to boys as well as girls… ).

Flynn Ryder, Master of the Smolder
In this telling, Rapunzel (voiced, rather blandly, by Mandy Moore) was kidnapped as a baby from her royal parents by the passive aggressively vain Mother Gothel (Tony Award winner Donna Murphy, chewing all the digital scenery in sight), the only person who knows that the blonde babe holds the secret to eternal youth in her golden locks. In order to keep Rapunzel’s powers to herself, she has locked up the poor waif in a remote tower, refusing to allow her to leave… or to cut her hair.

Like many a Disney princess (and Stockholm syndrome victim) before her, Rapunzel yearns to visit the outside world, and the opportunity to do so arises with the unexpected arrival of one Flynn Ryder (Zachary Levi, a.k.a. Chuck from Chuck), a hunky thief who fancies himself the greatest in the land. A deal is struck between them and before you can say “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair”, the unlikely duo is off on their clandestine adventure, with Mother Gothel in hot pursuit...

Click here to continue reading my Toon Talk review of Tangled at LaughingPlace.com.

UPDATE: Tangled is now available on DVD and Blu-ray from Amazon.com.

Toon Talk: Bah Humbug

Like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes and William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Charles Dickens’ Ebenezer Scrooge is one character from classic English literature who has had more than his fair share of cinematic incarnations. From feature films to television productions to animated cartoons, Scrooge has been portrayed by everyone from Albert Finney to Vanessa Williams to Mr. Magoo.

Following earlier versions starring Mickey Mouse and the Muppets, Disney took another crack at the yuletide chestnut last holiday movie season, and was even so bold as to title it Disney’s A Christmas Carol (now available on Disney DVD and Blu-ray). Yet, despite that family friendly stamp of approval, this Carol is not for the little ones with visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads ...

Click here to continue reading my Toon Talk review of Disney's A Christmas Carol at LaughingPlace.com.

Toon Talk: Toy Stories & Tall Tales

Soon after premiering this past summer to rave reviews and blockbuster box office, it was clear that Toy Story 3 was something special. Rare indeed is a motion picture trilogy that proved to be so emotionally rich and with such consistent quality throughout each of its chapters. It was also quickly apparent that Toy Story 3 was a grade-A tear-jerker, much more so for adults than its supposed “target audience” of children. In fact, one could easily say that the 3 in the title is the minimum amount of times one will cry while watching it.

And now you can let the tears flow unashamedly in the comfort of your own home with the release this week of Toy Story 3 on Disney DVD and Blu-ray. And, as with most Pixar releases, they were sure to fill this toy box to the brim all sorts of entertaining and informative extras ...

Also available this week on Disney DVD and Blu-ray is Cars Toon: Mater’s Tall Tales, a collection of hilarious animated shorts starring everyone’s favorite rusty ol’ tow truck. The set includes nine cartoons (including two new ones) that find Mater spinning a yarn about his past (not entirely factual) exploits to his befuddled BFF Lightning McQueen ...

Click here to continue reading my Toon Talk reviews of the new Toy Story 3 and Cars Toon: Mater's Tall Tales DVDs at LaughingPlace.com.