Ice Age: Continental Drift coasts along using the same old formula
Ice Age: Continental Drift is the fourth outing in the series from Blue Sky Studios, the CGI animation company that also brought Rio to cinemas last year. Produced by a team involved at various levels with the previous three Ice Age films, Continental Drift sticks to its safe, child pleasing formula. Aimed at a pre-teen audience, the film offers little for those actually paying the demographics’ price of admission, but it’s filled with the kind of goofy material that kids eat up.
Ice Age: Continental Drift officially opens 13 July in the UK
Directors Steve Martino and Mike Thurmeier open the film in somewhat odd fashion, using their entire animated short “Scrat’s Continental Crack-Up” for the film’s opening minutes, despite the fact it has been widely available online for over 18 months. The exact same footage was also used as a teaser trailer for Ice Age: Continental Drift, so while it may entertain it’s not a great note to start a brand new feature on. Once the film does get rolling, the cavalcade of characters is introduced in quick fashion. Many of these, including Sid (voiced once again by John Leguizamo) the Sloth’s family are just as quickly forgotten. Sticking around for the first time in the series are Sid’s grandmother (Wanda Sykes, being unmistakably Wanda Sykes-ish) and Manny and Ellie’s daughter, Peaches (Keke Palmer). As Scrat pursues his acorn hunt per usual, the central plot sees the mammoth family torn apart by the continental break-up, meaning most of the time is spent with Manny (Ray Romano), Sid and Diego (Denis Leary) as they ride the seas on various icebergs in attempt to get back to family and friends. Meanwhile, boy-crazy Peaches learns a valuable lesson about friendship in a shoe-horned subplot that annoys rather than amuses. Ice Age: Continental Drift is a busy film and while none of it is particularly gripping, its silly slapstick and dopey characters do manage to appeal to its target audience.
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Pixar’s Brave stands proudly amongst the studio’s finest work
If ever a studio was primed for complacency, it would be Pixar. For over 25 years now, John Lasseter’s team has been pushing the boundaries of computer graphics animation, going on to win six Oscars for Best Animated Feature and leaving a pack of contemporaries in a distant second place. Yet, for their 13th feature film, Pixar has branched off into new territory, as Brave not only features the studio’s first female protagonist, but also sets the tale in their most realistic environment to date. In a distinct move away from the more cartoonish aspects of animation, the design and detail of Brave makes it easy to forget that everything onscreen is CGI. Thanks to a beautifully touching plot, not only is Brave certain to bring home Pixar’s seventh Best Animated Feature statuette, it is likely take a place at the top of the year’s best films, full stop.
Set in 10th century Scotland, Brave is the story of young Princess Merida’s struggle to cope with the expectations attached to the position she has been born into. Dealing with rebellion, resentment and regret, Brenda Chapman has crafted a Celtic folk tale that is easily relatable, regardless of age or gender. Despite creating a princess as its lead, Pixar isn’t actually breaking into Disney Animation Studios terrain, as Merida (voiced by Kelly Macdonald) is neither in need of rescue by a prince, nor faced with any fairy-tale foes. Instead Brave, sees her lash out against plans for a parentally arranged marriage. The consequences of her actions not only help her to mature and gain perspective, but also allow Merida to come into her own within her family. This is complicated character development that Chapman and her writing/directing team of Mark Andrews and Steve Purcell deftly weave into the action. The fractious relationship between Merida and her mother, Elinor (Emma Thompson), is tenderly balanced, as both mother and daughter are portrayed as fallible but well-intentioned. While it may have taken Pixar too long to create a heroic female lead, they have certainly ensured that it has now been done properly. Merida may be the second arrow-slinging heroine to hit the silver screen this year, but in a genre where female characters are either frilly or forgettable, Brave’s fierce, fiery-haired lass is in a league of her own.
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The Lorax is truffula-rific
In 1971 Theodor Seuss Geisel published The Lorax, one of his many rhyming children’s books. In it he highlighted the destructive impact on the environment brought on by the greed of mankind. Now, over 40 years later, Dr Suess’ warning has been adapted into a full-length animated feature and the message rings louder than ever before. Produced by Illumination Entertainment, The Lorax feels familiar as it bears stylistic resemblances to its sister films, such as Despicable Me and Hop, but also largely due to being visually faithful to Dr Seuss’ creations.
The Lorax arrives in the UK on 27 July
True to the book, The Lorax frequently plays out via flashbacks, but Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul’s screenplay does an excellent job of, not only fleshing out the short story, but adding elements in keeping with the spirit of Seuss’ tree-hugging ways. In their take, the story is set in Thneedville, a city made entirely of plastic, where fresh air is sold by the bottle and actual trees are no more than a distant memory. An added love-story provides the motivation for Ted (voiced by Zac Efron) to seek out the Once-ler (Ed Helms) in hope of finding a tree to win over his crush, Audrey (Taylor Swift). His visits occur over several days, in between which Ted is faced by opposition from the head of O’Hare Air (Rob Wriggle) for whom real trees pose a threat to his fresh air business. It’s a fantastic addition that echoes the original tale of the Once-ler’s thneeds whilst lampooning the pointlessness of commodities like bottled water and the detrimental effect such products have on the environment.
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This Top Cat needs to be put down
Fifty years after the original Hanna Barbera cartoon series first aired Top Cat returns, this time via Mexico, as a feature-length film in 3D. TC and the whole alley cat gang have been brought into the modern world where mobiles, computers and digital environments rule the day. While none of this sounds like the best of ideas, the film has already opened to widespread success in Mexico. However, it should be noted that Mexico has a pretty serious drug abuse problem, so how does Top Cat: The Movie actually stack up?
Ya know what? Just take the kids to Prometheus instead. They’ll thank you one day.
Top Cat has been penned by Kevin Seccia and Timothy McKeon, two writers whose experience otherwise has been solely limited to the realm of television and does it ever show. The uneven plot heads off in one direction, hits a dead-end and veers off drastically in another. On the plus side, efforts are made to pay tribute to the original series with attempts at replicating the vocal stylings of the main characters as Jason Harris covers the bulk of Top Cat’s gang, including the leader himself. References to early episodes and classic characters are sprinkled through the story, including a great gag involving Dibble’s police phone. Unfortunately, simply calling back to the source material matters little when there’s nothing fresh being presented that is worthwhile or entertaining.
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The ugly truth about Disney’s Beauty and the Beast
With the immense box office success of The Lion King‘s 3D conversion last year, it was only a matter of time before similar films followed suit. Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is highly regarded as an animated classic, so who is to argue with a 3D theatrical re-release then? Well, this reviewer volunteers (may as well add “as tribute” since this unpopular opinion just might spell my end). Over twenty years after its initial release, there seems little reason for the film to be occupying cinema space again.
Beauty & the Beast return to cinemas in 3D on 4 May
While the hand-drawn animation has an uneven charm, there isn’t much that holds up visually when compared with modern animation. In terms of outright stunning imagery, Beauty and the Beast hits its peak right out of the gate with a gorgeously rendered series of stained-glass windows that illustrate the story’s prologue. It’s here that the added 3D works subtle charms. It goes on to add nice touches of depth to establishing shots, but once characters are moving about, the smoothness of the animation is ruined by the conversion-induced motion blur. Where CG animated features such as Disney’s own Tangled or Dreamworks’ Puss in Boots look great in 3D, the format is simply not suited for traditional animation.
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Review: Arthur Christmas
Aardman Animations return to the silver screen with Arthur Christmas, their first feature release in five years. The cheerful CGI holiday tale sees Santa Claus’ son, Arthur, scrambling to deliver a new bicycle to an overlooked young girl before the sun rises on Christmas morning in England. Employing a talented and diverse cast of voices from James McAvoy to Joan Cusack, Arthur Christmas is full of kooky misadventures, while boasting many clever jokes and gags that will manage to put smiles on the viewer’s face, regardless of age.
Arthur Chistmas arrives in the UK on 11 November
A young girl’s letter questioning exactly how Santa manages to deliver so many presents all over the world on Christmas Eve opens the film and Arthur (McAvoy) is introduced as Santa’s letter answering son. After panning across portraits displaying the lineage of Santa Claus the 20th, the action gets under way as the delivery operation takes off. Elf battalions, headed by Santa’s older son and heir-apparent, Steve (a marvelous Hugh Laurie) rain down from the massive S1 (a modern-day take on Santa’s sleigh) to stuff stockings and place gifts beneath trees. The impossible mission is ingeniously executed and a true pleasure to watch. Relegated to figure-head status, Santa (Jim Broadbent) puts in appearances while the elves keep the night on track. When a brief panic means one gift goes undelivered, Christmas camouflaged Steve is unmoved and convinces all but Arthur, that one missed child doesn’t matter. Craving one final shot at his glory days, Grand Santa (Bill Nighy, stealing the show) teams up with Arthur to attempt the impossible; making the last-minute delivery undetected.
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