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Pixar has been accused by various people of having killed off Hollywood’s (and by extention the audience’s) interest in 2D animation. A ridiculous accusation of course, but when John Lasseter took over running all of Disney Animation in 2006, he heard that talk, and decided to prove it wrong anyway. He immediately put into production a new 2D theatrical feature, the kind of classic, old school, animated musical that Disney used to be best known for.

That’s out today as The Princess and the Frog, and Will and I checked it out today. It’s very deliberately old fashioned, from its setting to its style and classic 2D animation style, but it really is very good. With an outstanding New Orleans influenced jazz score by Randy Newman, including plenty of musical-style songs, the movie is steeped in African American and Creole culture, again, something not often seen.

Though unfamiliar with most of them, the voice cast is excellent, with plenty of great singers among them. When I get the access I’ll check more into them — they do some great songs.

Excellent animation in the classic Disney style — this couldn’t be any further from the Pixar style if it tried — but it’s up there with the Pixar quality. Almost too old school in some ways, but it is definitely worthy in its own right anyway. For some reason Disney stopped doing this sort of movie in any quality way nearly 15 years ago, so naturally it took John Lasseter to bring it back. Four stars.

I had a cheap movie voucher that ran out at the end of the weekend, so decided to check this out with Will, who had expressed some interest. But I wasn’t so sure… it looked fun, but I wasn’t sure about it.

And while it wasn’t Pixar, it was pretty entertaining, really cute, with a great message at its centre. It ended up being a true “nerd movie”, as two awkward nerdy types with their own obsessions end up falling for each other while some decidedly odd things happen.

This was another 3D movie, but we opted against seeing it in 3D — don’t think Will would have gone for that. There’s some great voice actors including Bill Hader, the adorable Anna Faris (as adorable in this as Reece Witherspoon in Monsters v Aliens), Andy Samberg, Bruce Campbell, James Caan and Mr T. The visuals are entertainingly crazy and the story is a cute little adventure about following your own obsessions and achieving what you want in life… even if it’s creating a machine that makes it rain food from the sky!

Both Flint Lockwood the scientist and Sam Sparks the weather girl are self admitted nerds, and the movie celebrates that, something not always seen. Science wins over idiots, nerds win over mobs, and there’s even a little environmental message in there. Fun stuff. Three and a half stars.

Got some freebies from work to see previews of the re-released Toy Story and Toy Story 2 in 3D, so naturally I had to take Will We both know the two movies inside out, but he’s never seen either on the big screen, and I last saw Toy Story at the movies nearly 15 years ago, so we were going in for something new.

And it was 3D… which would be something new. It seems like all the animation being released these days is available in 3D, but we don’t usually go for it (either cause of cost or interest). Which was probably right again, since Will really hasn’t been into the 3D thing, and he wasn’t really into the 3D today. Even though the glasses are a whole new thing: clear, easy to wear, Will really didn’t like it, but he doesn’t keep anything on his face really!

But I thought it was pretty cool. It’s unobtrusive, fitting well into the story, and giving the scenes real depth and variety. It’s especially interesting to see how the 3D was added to an already existing movie.

Memorable characters, memorable music, groundbreaking animation, just the all round package. The 3D was an appealing touch, and it makes seeing a movie you already know so well a new experience in itself. And both movies together — even better! Definitely one not to be missed. Four and a half stars.

A special night tonight… it’s Sallie’s birthday and we arranged things so the kids could be looked after for a few hours. For the first time in months we have an evening to ourselves. Couldn’t exactly be too extravagent, so we went up to the Westpoint entertainment level for dinner and a movie.

We had some seriously appealing sushi from the “Sushi Train” place, picking up a whole variety of dishes, while Sallie played the “is it fish?” game. It was easier than most places and we had a great meal for a good price. It’s funny how little plates can fill you up very quickly…

Naturally, I even snapped a pic of my favourite sushi roll… not even sure what was in it… think it was fish, and it had a really nice sauce and some kind of caviar thing… nice…

We went to see Couples Retreat, the latest Vince Vaughan movie, which I’m happy to say was definitely one of his better ones… it’s an entertaining, extremely well cast fun little movie… that the two of us fell perfectly into the demographics for.

I admit it, Couples Retreat is a movie specifically made for early to mid 30s couples with young children and it worked great on us. Take four couples in various situations, put them together in a pretty place they really didn’t want to be, then watch them work through their marriages with great amusement. Add some hot ladies, a gratuitous Guitar Hero duel, and some very funnny supporting actors, and you have some good fun and a movie worth getting out to… especially if you’re that perfectly aimed demographic that doesn’t get out much

Great cast… Vince Vaughn can be good when he tries, and especially when he’s with John Favreau, who is great too. Jason Bateman is getting lots of good roles now… but it’s the ladies that rule for me

Malin Ackerman is gorgeous, and shows some great comic timing in a role very different from her recent turn in Watchman. Kristin Davis was by far my favourite Sex and the City star and even before that, and she’s fun in this. Of course, my true favourite is Kristin “Veronica Mars” Bell, who stands out in this as a somewhat troubled younger wife who isn’t sure her marriage will last not having kids.

So, it’s definitely a good bit of fun, and best enjoyed with your nearest loved one. Three and a half stars.

Found online by various people:

That would be Carrie Fisher and her stunt double, both in the “’80s male fantasy” steel bikinis, on the set of Return of the Jedi, sunning themselves on Jabba’s barge. Take that, geek fantasyland!

Took in Michael Mann’s latest movie tonight… Public Enemies, or as I’ve thought of it for ages, “Heat in the 1930s”. And while I can’t really say it’s as good as Mann’s 1995 epic, Public Enemies is still pretty decent in its own right, with some excellent performances, some great production design, and some Heat-worthy epic action set pieces.

Public Enemies is a retelling of the Depression era crime spree of John Dillinger and various other cohorts and partners in crime at the time, including Baby Face Nelson and others. It was a vivid and nasty time, where the poverty of most led to the lionisation of many of these criminals, and the media was obsessed with them. At least that was familiar…

Johnny Depp is tough but aloof as the lead, Marion Cotillard is appealing (and not at all French) as love interest Billie Frechette, and Christian Bale is his now classic tough, resolute and single minded law enforcer, this time and early FBI agent. Highlight smaller roles include Aussie David Wenham as one of Dillinger’s gang, Stephen Lang as one of the FBI’s early badass enforcers, and Billy Crudup as the young but always odd, J Edgar Hoover (in a rare depiction of Hoover as a younger man).

Mann’s always had a knack for action scenes, and Public Enemies is no exception. There’s several big bank robberies, a great night siege and shootout, and the finale where… well, it’s not like anyone doesn’t know Dillinger’s fate, especially when he steps out of the Biograph Theatre…

I read quite a few cinema pros who whinged about Mann’s use of digital video in the production, and how it somehow limited the look of the film, but I don’t know, it didn’t worry me at all really. Not something for the average cinema goer to really see. So no real issues there.

Public Enemies is a decent film — a good historical thriller and action movie. Not as brilliant as Heat, but what is? Three and a half stars.

Pixar are magicians. That’s all I can say. Their latest effort, Up, is a wonderfully made, simple but deep fantasy adventure, that gives adults and kids equal amounts of enjoyment. It’s not a matter of it being a movie of “general” appeal, Up is truly for all ages, with multiple levels of enjoyment to be had depending on your age.

It’s a deceptively simple story really: a widower named Carl decides to take one last trip inspired by his and his wife’s dreams of adventure. A 10-year-old Wilderness Scout tags along by accident, and they have a whole lot of adventures. But there’s so much more to it than that.

First things first: The balloon house is just amazing. Really, it’s something that is actually inherently unbelievable, but it draws you in immediately. You believe that Carl can get the balloons required to lift his little house away, because there’s no reason not to believe. It’s a magnificent visual image, and a visual metaphor for lifting up out of the ordinary world into adventure.

Emotionally, the first 10 minutes are really tough, as we see Carl as a child meet his future love, and then their whole life together is compacted into the movie’s opening. It’s beautiful, but sad as well, as we see the triumphs and tragedies of their life together — sad especially since we know where things are going. And when we see Carl alone and his wife gone, it’s probably the most emotional moment Pixar has ever put on film.

But then the fun begins. Carl’s a grump (though not nearly as much as the promos would have you believe), but Russell the Wilderness Scout is an eager little adventurer, a perfect counterpoint to Carl, and an insightful character in his own right (when he talks about memories of time with his now absent father, that’s as emotional as Carl’s life story). It reaches the audience at every level, with a sympathetic old character and a sympathetic young one — most movies can’t even get one side right and Pixar gets both right.

The adventure hits many high points, with a compact but very visual story, and a lot of excellent moments for the adult and child audience. The “squirrel!” gag is a good one, and there’s at least one big Star Wars gag. The dogs are an odd set of characters, but it’s a good way to give the bad guy a set of henchmen without actually including any people! The way the dogs talk is particularly amusing.

From the kids point of view: Unsurprisingly, Will loved it. He’s the world’s biggest Pixar fan, so I don’t think they could have done anything he would dislike, but I couldn’t fault it either for his enjoyment. You can’t go wrong taking your kids to this movie, and you’ll find enough to enjoy yourself.

So almost immediately after Up, we’re ready for the next Pixar adventure. It might be Toy Story 3, but I strongly imagine we’ll be up for the Toy Story 1 and 2 re-releases before that. And Will and I have already decided that his younger brother Alex will see Toy Story 3 with us (Alex has not been to the movies yet), so this yearly family pilgrimage is about to get bigger.

At least until Pixar starts bringing out two movies a year, of course…

The Breakfast Club gang

Sad news today with reports that John Hughes, legendary 1980s writer/director of such movies as Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (among others), has died age 59 of a heart attack.

ABC Online

While I was almost too young to get most of those movies in their original release, as they filtered to me on video through the late 80s, I was a real fan, at least of his topline stuff. Movies like The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller (likely his two best) really did speak to kids in the 80s, as good as any filmmaker ever has.

Sure they’re kind of dated now, but they’re still universal at their core at the same time, and that’s what matters. They really worked with character, humour and honesty in dealing with young characters and their lives, and that’s all anyone could ask for.

Not to mention the music — again, kind of dated, but some outstanding work for its time went into his movies, from the likes of Simple Minds and Psychadelic Furs, not to mention the Beatles reworking in Ferris Bueller.

His most successful project, Home Alone, gave me a chuckle at the time, but in retrospect seems pretty pathetic, and his few projects after that were even worse. No matter… by then Hughes seemed to have turned his back on Hollywood. He’d been a recluse for 15+ years, so his loss seems almost anti-climactic in a “cinematic impact” way. He’d left the industry a long time ago.

But his best works will always be remembered, and are worth a re-watching if you get a chance.

Because Will would insist I posted it here…

The first preview online for Toy Story 3, due June next year.

I wouldn’t call myself a Trekkie exactly, but at one stage I was quite a fan of all things Star Trek. Not constume wearing obsessive, but quite a fan. Read a lot of the books, watched most of the series, all the movies. So I’d been quite keen to see the new Star Trek movie, with a little insiders knowledge, but quite a few years now since my real Trek fan days.

Today was an actual day off, arranged a couple of weeks ago to make up for my extra work over the end of April for the new website at work. We had a baby medicine appointment for Sallie in the morning, an ultrasound just to check on everything. And it seemed all normal: he’s smaller than either Will or Alex were at the time, but everything looks good. Sallie still secretly hopes for a girl, looking at the lower weight and hoping… is unlikely though

After that we had a free day though. Good thing, since I still don’t feel brilliant, but not having to get out of the house at 8am helped a lot. After the doctors, we headed to Westpoint for a light lunch, then I finally picked up my NAS network storage unit that I’d wanted for a while (the last of the stimulus money!), then we got in just in time for the movie.

And a damn enjoyable movie it was too. After a hell of an action packed and emotionable opening scene, where everything is ramped up to 11 in intensity, we then got the leisurely introduction of all the new versions of the classic old Star Trek characters. And that was done remarkably well, with enough traits to find them familiar, but also new points that really gave them a smart updating. Things like Kirk’s wilder than usual streak, or Uhura’s genius smarts (not to mention her romance with Spock!) were unexpected, but made perfect sense. McCoy (Karl Urban) had all the best lines early, and while being new at the same time, he conveyed the classic essence of the character remarkably well.

Sallie had never been interested much in Star Trek before, but she was enjoying every moment of the movie. Her highlight came of course when Scotty (Simon Pegg) was introduced quite a distance into the story, and he got the best lines and scenes later on. There’s a lot of humour in Star Trek, and that didn’t get in the way, or overpower the serious story — it was a great help.

But of course, it’s primarily a story about Kirk and Spock. And they do that really well — Zach Quinto is remarkably like Nimoy, and Chris Pine, while not as much spitting image of Shatner, still conveys that cocky charm very successfully.

Very fun movie, good even for non-fans. I give it high marks.