After spending 83 minutes with Mark Bittner and the flock of WILD PARROTS OF TELEGRAPH HILL that have allowed him into their lives, it?s easy to come away with the sense that there was an element of fate in their meeting up. An 魩gr頦rom Washington state with plans to be a musician, he got sidetracked… Read More »
CHICKEN LITTLE
CHICKEN LITTLE begins with a narrator struggling to come up with a way to get things started. This, we are told, is not your usual sort of animated kid’s film, and so none of the usual openings, say leafing through a storybook, will do. And the wonderful part of that is that it doesn’t begin… Read More »
DOOGAL
When a film is released without a press screening, as was the case with DOOGAL, one expects to find in it a certain level of ineptitude. Here, though, is something that transcends merely being bad, merely inspiring a torrent of vitriol before consigning it to the more insulated portions of one’s memory. This has done… Read More »
CHICKEN LITTLE — DVD
The treat of having CHICKEN LITTLE on DVD is that it can be on call anytime the need arises for an egg-centric story featuring such endlessly fascinating characters as Fish Out of Water. It manages to be whimsical and sweet without sacrificing wit, not to mention a few on-target swipes at over-budgeted films that are… Read More »
CARS
CARS isn’t just a great animated flick, it’s a great movie that’s not just a, you’ll pardon the expression, character-driven story, but also an irresistible paean to life in the slow lane. The jaw-droppingly detailed and inventive animation takes second place to the dialogue, which, along with the 116-minute running time, might make this less… Read More »
CHARLOTTE’S WEB
A spider that sucks the blood out of her victims is a tough sell as the sympathetic heroine of any story, much less one directed at kids. Yet, using the perfect blend of warmth and bite, and not a little humor, CHARLOTTE’S WEB has been doing that for over 40 years. A film version, such… Read More »
MEET THE ROBINSONS
One day geeks may indeed rule the world, if they don’t already, that is, and when they do, we could do worse that the scenario presented in MEET THE ROBINSONS. Much worse. Based on the book, “A Day with the Robinsons” by William Joyce, this gentle tale of family lost and found is a wild… Read More »
RATATOUILLE
The story of Pixar’s latest animated triumph, RATATOUILLE, is as audacious as its hero. Not only is it as light and airy as a soufflé, it’s also as complex as the precise physics and flavorings that makes it a miracle. The hero is an unlikely choice in animal hero, a rat, albeit one drawn with… Read More »
MEET THE ROBINSONS — DVD
MEET THE ROBINSONS is a whiz-bang terrific flight of fancy that is a paean to both the creative impulse that drives inventors, and the boundless optimism that keeps them going in the face of long odds and the skepticism of their less imaginative fellow creatures. Thinking so far outside the box that its very existence… Read More »
RATATOUILLE — DVD
The only thing better than watching RATATOUILLE in a theater is watching the DVD of RATATOUILLE at home with a lovely big bowl of the eponymous fare on which to dine while watching it. And perhaps a side of toasted cheese and mushrooms. If you’ve seen the film, you’ll get why. The adventures of Remy,… Read More »