Film Review: PONYO (2008)

Writer/Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Running time: 101 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): U

Genre: Animation/Adventure/Family
UK Release date: 12^th February 2010

Watched on Terrestrial PVR Friday 27^th September 2013.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE UNINTENTIONAL SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

Time being of the essence, I’m going to keep this short today. I heard many good things about Ponyo when it came out and have tried to see it a couple of times before, but always seemed to miss the boat (pardon the pun). Finally managed to pin it down about a month ago though and have been waiting for it to bubble to the top of the pile on my Freeview PVR ever since. Well the day finally arrived and it was definitely worth the wait. I’m a fan of the work of Studio Ghibli and of Miyazaki in particular and so that’s no huge surprise. No summary this time, I’m going straight into my thoughts.

Beautifully animated with all the style and grace of Miyazaki’s work. It is distinctively his own and I hope nobody ever tries to copy it. I saw it in the ‘Americanised’ Disney version with some well known names in the cast. For me though, I feel it always loses something; I would have rather seen it with its original Japanese soundtrack. For some reason, that gives it a little more authenticity and also makes it a little more mystical. But the English language version was ok too with the likes of Cate Blanchett as Granmamere, Liam Neeson as Fujimoto, Tina Fey as Lisa, Matt Damon as Kôichi, Frankie Jonas as Sôsuke and (of course) Noah Lindsey Cyrus as Ponyo. They all did a pretty good job. I very much liked to music by Joe Hisaishi as well, it has a great feel to it and fits the visuals really well. Over all, although I’m far from the target audience, I have to say I really enjoyed this engaging mystical tale. Maybe one for a very young audience, which proves I must be young at heart, but certainly a worthy watch.

SteelMonster’s verdict: RECOMMENDED

My score: 8.2/10.

IMDb Score: 7.7/10 (based on 50,831 votes when this review was written).
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0876563/

MetaScore: 86/100: (Based on 29 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 92/100: (based on 158 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 80/100: (based on 93,134 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ponyo/

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LINKS:
(Note: All were working at the time of going to press)
Official Site (Disney): http://movies.disney.com/ponyo
Official Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PONYO
Trailer:

Film Review: MEGAMIND (2010)

Director: Tom McGrath
Writers: Alan J. Schoolcraft & Brent Simons
Running time: 92 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): PG

Genre: Animation/Action/Comedy
UK Release date: 3^rd December 2010

Watched at the cinema Tuesday 27^th December 2011.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

This is another of those blockbuster animated films that uses the voices of famous stars to sell it. Well that’s what I was led to believe from the hype anyway. At the end of the day I decided it wasn’t all that bad. As far as I’m concerned, anyone could be supplying the voices in this one; it’s the writing that makes it (for me). I’m sure contributions were made by those involved, but the basic storyline would have remained the same and it’s the story that holds the thing together. Of course I was also immune to the 3D because I watched it in exactly the same number of dimensions the screen has. But I digress, here’s a very brief summary before I give you my thoughts.

With their planets doomed, two babies are sent towards Earth. One lands at a mansion and is brought up in a privileged home. He has superpowers and grows up to be the good guy: Metro Man. The other, well he lands in a prison, has no superpowers, but a genius mind and he becomes the bad guy: Megamind. The pair have many battles over the years with Metro Man always finishing with the upper hand. But this time it would be different; this time Megamind has a particularly evil plan. He kidnaps Metro Man’s girlfriend, reporter Roxanne Ritchie, and lures Metro Man to his doom. But will the destruction of Metro Man give Megamind everything he wants? Well, I’m afraid the Spoiler Police would really not like me telling you that… and anyway, they’ve threatened me with the ‘forget-me stick’ if I tell.

The animation is up to DreamWorks’ usual standard, nothing particularly extraordinary about it really. I love the soundtrack, but then again, put AC/DC, Ozzy Osbourne and Guns ‘n’ Roses in there and I’m yours! (I saw at least two of them in the same bill once). Performance wise, well everyone did a decent job, so I’ll give honourable mentions to the voice talents of; Will Ferrell as Megamind, Tina Fey as Roxanne Ritchie, Brad Pitt as Metro Man, Jonah Hill as Hal Stewart/ Titan, David Cross as Minion and Ben Stiller as Bernard.

The whole story is told from the point of view of Megamind which makes for an interesting dynamic. You end up sympathising with the bad guy and that, I guess, is what makes the whole thing work. I liked the storyline, but I suspect it may have been a little too complicated for younger members of the audience. They also fall into the trap of putting little nods to older films so the parents don’t get bored, I suppose, and this is all getting a little cliché Hollywood. Still, it’s pretty entertaining over all and one that’s worth a look… ‘Recommended’.

My score: 7.3/10.

IMDb Score: 7.3/10 (based on 50,452 votes at the time of going to press).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1001526/

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 72/100 (based on 170 reviews counted at the time of going to press).
Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 73/100 (based on 93,545 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/megamind/

If you’re crazy enough… You can find me on Facebook at:
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FAVOURITE QUOTES:
[first lines]
Megamind: Here's my day so far: went to jail, lost the girl of my dreams and got my butt kicked pretty good. Still, things could be a lot worse. Oh, that's right... I'm falling to my death. Guess they can't. How did it all come to this? Well, my end starts at the beginning... The very beginning!

Megamind: This will be the last you ever hear of... Roxanne Ritchie! Huh?
Metro Man: [gasps] Roxanne! Don't panic, Roxy... I'm on my way!
Roxanne Ritchie: I'm not panicking.
Megamind: [smirking] In order to stop me, you'll have to find us first!
Roxanne Ritchie: We're at the abandoned observatory!
Megamind: [lunges for the control and turns off the camera on Roxanne] Nooo! We're NOT! Don't listen to her, she's crazy!

[a solar-powered laser starts to activate]
Minion: [at a monitor] Death ray readying!
Megamind: Let's see if Metro Man can withstand the full concentrated power of the sun! FIRE!
[nothing happens]
Megamind: [to Minion] Fire!
Minion: [at monitor] Still warming up, sir.
Megamind: Come again?
Minion: Warming up.
Megamind: Warming up? The sun is WARMING UP?
Minion: Just a little more and...

LINKS:
Official Site: http://www.megamind.com/
Trailer:

Film Review: DATE NIGHT (2010)

Director: Shawn Levy
Running Time: 85 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 15

Genre: Comedy/Crime/Romance
UK Release Date: 21st April 2010

Watched on Sky+ Sunday 17th April 2010.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

To be honest, I wasn’t going to watch this one as I’m not really a fan of comedies. They are generally stupid and labour the point they are trying to make so much that I can find them quite tedious. Fortunately this one wasn’t too bad, yes, there are parts you can see coming from about 50 miles away, but it’s saved by the performances of the two main characters. I’ll tell you more about that after this brief summary (summary haters, and those that don’t wish to know about the plot, please hide the evidence while I write the next paragraph).

Phil and Claire Foster are an average New Jersey couple and they are stuck in a bit of a rut. They have two kids, boring jobs and everything seems to be routine. Even date night has become a routine; they go to the same restaurant, eat the same food, talk about the same people, it’s all getting a bit predictable. One day they hear that their friends, another couple in a similar situation are about to separate. Desperate to not end up in the same situation, they decide to go into Manhattan to a posh restaurant for a nice meal. They arrive late and the place is fully booked, but they wait at the bar hoping for a cancellation. A waitress is looking for the Tripplehorn’s and can’t find them and so Phil and Claire claim to be them, just so they can get their dream date night. This proves to be a big mistake, the next thing they know two guys take them to the alley  and ask them for a stolen flash drive. When they pull out guns the couple believe it’s serious. This is where the fun begins and this is where I’ll leave my summary. I don’t want the Spoiler Police after my flash drive.

Pretty decent performances all round, particularly from Steve Carell as Phil Foster and Tina Fey as Claire Foster. In the moments where they are just being a regular couple they are really good. The comedy stuff… well, I’ll leave that up to you. Mark Wahlberg does a nice job of acting without a shirt as Holbrooke Grant and Taraji P. Henson was also pretty good (with shirt) as Detective Arroyo. Honourable mentions go to; William Fichtner as DA Frank Crenshaw, Kristen Wiig as Haley Sullivan, Mark Ruffalo as Brad Sullivan, James Franco as Taste, Mila Kunis as Whippit and, last but not least, a great little cameo from Ray Liotta (uncredited) as mob boss Joe Miletto.

It’s a pretty well made film with some nice stunt work and a pretty good soundtrack. Again, The Ramones get an airing of their song ‘Blitzkrieg Bop’. A pretty enjoyable film that, although very predictable in places, I wasn’t too offended by. It won’t feature very high on my re-watch list, but it was OK… Recommended, if only for the rapport between Carell and Fey when they’re just being a couple.

My Score: 5.6/10

LINKS:
(RT = Rotten Tomatoes)
IMDb Page: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1279935/
RT Page: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/date_night/
Trailer: