Arthur Christmas Review

Arthur Christmas: is it a festive sequel to Russell Brand’s comedy remake? Or has Arthur the Aardvark finally made it to the big screen? Or is it in fact a seasonal Aardman animation about a dysfunctional family on Christmas Eve who just so happen to be the Christmases – as in Father Christmas (though their surname is apparently interchangeable with Claus). It is the latter. The Christmas family, as you might expect, deliver presents to all the children in the world on Christmas Eve. This is done using highly advanced technology, not least of all a city-sized, sleigh-shaped spaceship. Unfortunately, despite all of the Christmas’s technical ingenuity, one child’s present fails to be delivered, so hapless youngest son Arthur takes it upon himself to get the gift to her himself.

The whole ‘how Santa does it’ theme has been visited regularly enough to almost be a genre in itself. Fred Claus, The Santa Clause films andThe Polar Express have all visited this idea and more recently Hop took a similar approach with the Easter bunny story (such as it is). As such, much of what should be inventive and amusing about the film falls a little flat. Arthur Christmas’s commando elves are akin to Hop’s commando rabbits and images of vast present production lines have been done before in The Polar Express to name two such instances. That said, the volume of fun ideas is such that for every miss, there is a hit – I laughed at the suggestion that the space-sleigh converts milk and cookies to biofuel, for example. Keep your eyes peeled for the hundreds of visual gags scattered throughout the film.

Whilst the film boasts an impressive array of British vocal talents – James McAvoy, Bill Nighy and Jim Broadbent head up a list of names often associated with British ensemble casts and are complemented by the likes of Hugh Laurie, Ashley Jensen and others – McAvoy as the titular character is often incredibly annoying. He whines, whinges and squawks, frequently repeating his inane blabbering ad nauseam. Fortunately the other characters are far less tedious. Nighy’s grouchy granddad, Jensen’s resourceful elf and Imelda Staunton’s composed Mrs Santa are all fun to watch.

On the whole, Arthur Christmas is a pretty enjoyable and often fairly funny adventure that should tide over younger viewers until at least New Year. The film is also witty enough and put together with a level of care and skill that should also satisfy – if not enthral – older viewers too. I’m concerned girls might not enjoy it as much as boys though; the film is a bit of a sausage fest. Whilst the idea of succession is one of the slightly more complex and interesting ideas the film plays with, what might have been more interesting still – and more importantly, fun – would have been to pursue the idea of a female Santa taking over the family business. If it’s now good enough for the Royals…

Rango Review

Given that Rango is produced and directed by Gore Verbinski and stars Johnny Depp in the titular role, one could be forgiven for any wariness about the film, given the sharp decrease in quality of the pair’s previous creative foray, thePirates of the Caribbean franchise. Thankfully, Rango is a vast improvement on the last two films and, while the first was no masterpiece, it did have a certain joie de vivre and swagger about it that Rango manages to recapture.

Rango is the tale of a wacky chameleon who, through a series of accidents, subterfuge and coincidence, takes on the role of the sheriff in the small frontier town of Dirt. Dirt is populated by an assortment of creatures whose main concern is the mysterious reduction of their water supply. Eager to impress his new friends, Rango takes it upon himself to rehydrate Dirt and prove himself a hero.

A little bit of Johnny Depp’s quirkiness can go a long way, but he manages to strike an excellent balance here in his voicing of the quixotic lizard, his verbal tics and quips creating a funny and likable character. Isla Fisher also voices the excellently named Beans (“my daddy loved his beans!”), an amusing, no-nonsense foil to Depp’s would-be suitor. The large cast is further complemented by the talents of Bill Nighy, Timothy Olyphant, Abigail Breslin, Alfred Molina and Ray Winstone.

The animation style is particularly impressive too – the anthropomorphised animals looking both photorealistic and highly stylised. The western scenery also looks grand and there’s an almost tangible level of care evident in creating the world of the film and its characters. There are several nods and homages to the western genre which is appreciable. The film is not only very funny, but also manages to include at least one brilliant action sequence, in which our hero and his posse flee a horde of bat-riding critters in a thrilling set piece. There’s also a certain amount of sentiment – thankfully kept mostly in check and, most importantly, a consistent level of charm.

Needless to say, I liked Rango a lot. What sets it apart from most family-orientated CGI animations, however, was its sizable weird streak. I’m sure an awful lot of the humour in Rango will go straight over the heads of the sprogs watching (an excellent Fear and Loathing in Las Vegasreference early on perhaps being the most amusing example) and at times it feels as if the film borders on being somewhat inappropriate for younger kids – the film is rather scary and creepy at times, Rango’s imminent death is foretold frequently by the film’s narrators, several characters are killed off or maimed; not to mention the part where a cross-dressing Rango lands on a friend’s head, only for the creature to emerge from under his frock to claim the experience was “not altogether unpleasant!” There’s also a sequence that seems like a direct spoof of the dream sequence in the Johnny Cash starring Simpsons episode, El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer. I loved all this stuff, but doubtless some parents may want to play it a bit safer and go for Yogi Bearor Gnomeo and Juliet instead. That would be their loss. Rango is probably the most original, funniest and best designed family films since Toy Story 3 and deserves as much attention as it can get.

Astro Boy Review

A top-notch cast lend their voices to this computer animated adaptation of the popular Japanese Manga. In the enormous floating metropolis of Metro City, people coexist with robots and the Earth’s surface is a forgotten, polluted scrap yard. Government scientist Dr Tenma’s young boy-genius son Toby is accidently vaporised in a weapons demonstration. The distraught scientist creates a robot substitute; utilising Toby’s DNA and uploading his late son’s memories into the machine.

At first, Tenma is delighted with the results and attempts to bond with his substitute son. Soon though, Tenma realises that the robot cannot replace Toby and the android flees when he learns of his father’s rejection. Robot Toby, soon to be renamed Astro, travels to the surface, hotly pursued by a government that wants to use his power source for nefarious ends and looks for his place in the world.

The obvious touching point for the story is the tale of Pinocchio, but there are several interesting themes in the film, such as the role of science in society and government, a parent’s loss of a child, the ethics of robotics and the importance of questioning authority. For a children’s film, it touches on some admirably complex issues.

There are lots of things to like about Astro Boy, not least the calibre of its cast, which includes Nic Cage, Bill Nighy, Charlize Theron, Kristen Bell, Samuel L Jackson, Alan Tudyk (of Firefly, Serenity and Dodgeball), Matt Lucas and Donald Sutherland. Freddie Highmore, star of an impressive selection of recent children’s films, such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Spiderwick Chronicles and The Golden Compass, voices the eponymous lead.

The animation is overtly polished and slick looking and the characters inhabit a stylised futuristic environment. The production design is impressive; Metro City looks an exciting and lively place, which has clearly been lovingly rendered.

The film does however lack some of the warmth and humour of Pixar’s most recent cinematic outings. A few more jokes could have lightened up the script somewhat. Also, Cora, the girl Astro meets on the surface, has a rather redundant subplot in the search for her own parents, which feels as though it has been either tacked on at the last minute or severely cut for time.

All in all, though, Astro Boy is a reasonably entertaining joy-ride of a film and a rare instance in which a sequel may actually be a welcome and called for occurrence. Along with the admittedly superior Wall E, it would make a good introduction to sci-fi for young kids.

http://www.blogomatic3000.com/2010/05/28/dvd-review-astro-boy/