Wandering Whimsies

Whether you consider it a rip off or homage to Miyazaki’s work the animated Children Who Chase Lost Voices is a highly successful, quite charming adventure that could easily slip into Studio Ghibli’s masterful canon. A young girl picks up some unusual music on her crystal radio set that leads her into the company of an enigmatic boy from a subterranean kingdom and onto melancholic escapade. The writer/director Shinkai ‘borrows’ much of the animation stylings of Miyazaki, explores similar themes of loss and the passage of time and even cobbles together a patchwork plot that’s half Castle In the Sky, half Spirited Away but unfortunately forgets to lift the delicate scripting and well, modesty. A thoroughly entertaining film from a filmmaker with much promise.

Jackson continues to mine the rich Tolkien seam with the first part of his trilogy adapting The Hobbit. Martin Freeman, as usual, mugs his way through proceedings as Bilbo Baggins who gets recruited by a certain wizard into a dwarf heavy quest to evict a troublesome dragon blah blah blah, I’m sure you’re familiar with the plot. There’s more humour here than Lord of The Rings and it’s a sunnier production overall but Jackson still packs in plenty of action and, given it’s certification, a surprising amount of dismemberment.  As we’ve come to expect Jackson assembled a talented ensemble and his polished production and attention to detail make for lush storytelling and this, and it’s subsequent sequels, will no doubt rake in the cash as well as a plentitude of well deserved plaudits.

Animated Assault

The ultra faithful animated adaptation of Frank Miller’s ground breaking Batman graphic novel concludes with the The Dark Knight Part 2. The story picks up with the release of the Joker, who, fuelled with the reawakening of his caped nemesis begins to wreak havoc across Gotham and the inevitable final, bitter showdown ultimately instigates a battle between Batman and the establishment lackey Superman. The animation is excellent and sports some quality voice acting from Peter Weller and co and continues DC’s success in adapting it’s more mature works for the screen with plot and dark cynicism intact.

 

Berserk: The Battle of Doldrey is the second part of the retelling of the grisly medieval fantasy anime and, like DKR above, it’s a high quality product. The Band of the Hawks ingenuity and brutality on the battlefield finally bring them to the King’s attention but when they boldly tackle an impregnable fortress their success has unforeseen consequences for everyone involved. The animation is some of the finest around and the filmmakers commitment to blood and gore is admirable but like the first film the plot is seriously truncated and without the time for nuance it feels more cartoony than it should.

Tversity Toonery

Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, first published in 1986, is a bit of a classic in the world of graphic novels with it's amusingly bitter cynicism and crumbling vision of the caped crusader and so following the success of the Batman Year One adaptation/test run it's no surprise that the animators turned to this seminal work next. Bruce Wayne in his mid fifties, ten years into retirement but get itchy fists when a gang of mutants take hold of the city and old enemies are released from jail seemingly rehabilitated. Though the animation isn't as flashy as Damnation it's a stunningly faithful transliteration, mirroring the style and even individual frames of the original. The film makers have wisely split the tale into two halves but it means, unfortunately, a six month wait for the conclusion to this excellent adaptation.

Resident Evil Damnation is a cgi animated feature about a vaguely Eastern European country using the virus riddled zombie mutants as weapons in a civil war with the inevitable flesh shredding consequences. This is the 2nd or 3rd animated spin off from the video game/movie franchise and although I've no idea how it fits with the larger story it's really not that important, it's less about plot, characters or script and more about pressing the requisite fanboy buttons with munching, favourite monsters and sexy lady fights peppering proceedings. Though this is simple minded action nonsense it does look stunning with some of the best CGI I've seen to date so if your looking for cartoonish gore which requires zero brain activity this should do the trick.

Sights with Sounds

Human Highway is a psychedelic slice of nonsense directed by Neil Young & Dean Stockwell. Set in a failing diner/garage a cast of weirdos bumble along with their lives unaware that their unfulfilled dreams are about to get steamrolled by a planet devouring dose of radiation. Dennis Hopper joins in the fun as they all goof about in between musical numbers which are handled by Young himself and some band called Devo who also play an amusing, glowing work crew from the nearby nuclear power plant. I certainly couldn't recommend this as it's mostly rubbish with some patchy acting & so-so script and the plot makes the Beatles Mystery Tour seem coherent. Still it's certainly got something - there's a few genuine laughs, some lovely lurid colouring and a great musical/dream sequence towards the end that caps this surreal romp off nicely.

Animated Latin Jazz romantic dramas don't come along very often so I was eager to see what Chico & Rita had to offer. Told mostly in flashback in pre-revolutionary Cuba it follows the stormy relationship of a pianist and a sultry vocalist trying to crack the big time and find fame and riches in America. The music is brilliant with some exuberant, joyous set pieces and the animation is stylish though a little uneven - the landscaping is excellent but occasionally the characters awkward and under drawn. It's main failing however is the trite plot, a fairly basic hackneyed romantic arc with simplistically drawn lovers who meet, part, reunite and part again & finally it their last reunion I found particularly unlikely and simplistic. Still if you let the music sweep you away it's an enjoyable 100mins.

Comedic Questing

Kung Fu Panda 2 sees Jack Black & co return to China in a blast of animal chop socky and laughs. This time around Po is determined to thwart the ambitions of an evil peacock, Shen, who has been tinkering with fireworks and plans to rule the country. As you'd expect the cgi animation is top notch, the script and voice acting excellent and there's plenty of gags to nicely balance the furious fisticuffs. If I was to find a flaw it'd be that the sub plot about childhood trauma is a little heavy handed but it's still a highly enjoyable 90 mins or so and a film I'd recommend to kids and big kids alike.

Spoofing fairy tales of knights, wizards and monsters, Your Highness, is a juvenile comedy starring Franco, Dance, Portman and Danny McBride. The latter plays the second, bumbling son of the King who must accompany his brave but dim brother on a quest to rescue his virgin bride from the clutches of an evil sorcerer. With a surprising amount of gore and some expensive looking sfx this ticks along nicely, sure the British accents are inconsistent and the laughs firmly low brow but I found myself chuckling through out.

Role Playing Heroes

Super stars Rainn Wilson as an odd, short order cook who flips when his wife runs of with a local drug dealer, played by Kevin Bacon, and decides to become a vigilante. Don't expect the gloss of Kick Ass this is a much bleaker, more realistic film much closer in style to Special or Defendor. Wilson's Frank is inspired by religious visions to take to the streets wielding initially nothing but a large wrench but he soon makes a name for himself and picks himself up a strange, horny, comic book obsessed sidekick played by Ellen Page. It's a well acted film with some startling violence sprinkled amidst the offbeat humour and despite the hackneyed plot Frank's rampaging crusade to clean up the city and rescue his wife makes for a rather entertaining watch. Apparently directed by the guy behind Slither which was good too, must give it another look.


Rango is an animated feature about a lizard thespian who winds up playing the role of Sheriff for real in drought stricken town ruled by an ancient tortoise. Depp leads an excellent cast of voice actors and it all romps along with a bevy of laughs as well as the requisite action but it's the clever referencing that pushes the film beyond your normal kids movie - there's obviously Chinatown, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Apocalypse Now, Star Wars and heaps of Clint and probably tonnes more - all done so seamlessly within the narrative they don't interrupt the flow. Director Verbinski regains some respect after his cash machine Pirates of the C. trilogy.

Two Tales of My City

Sylvan Chomet's The Illusionist is based on a undeveloped Tati project about an out of fashion magician who bumbles around on a search for gigs that takes him from London to the Western Isles and finally settling into Auld Reekie of the 1950's. The stunning watercoloured animations are peppered with little dialogue, mostly burblings, slapsticky humour and a big bucket of whimsy. Chomet's insistence on old school animation is admirable (though by account a quite frustrating experience for those involved) but regardless the overall look is lovely with a familliar wispy/misty light infusing our country and he expends plenty of effort making Edinburgh look rather splendid, with tonnes of archictercural detail and even the Crags get an appearance. Sadly it's gossamer thin and somehow I found some of it's charm gets worn away by the insistence on old fashioned laughs. A beautiful ode to the city but there's barely enough plot to fill it's 72 mins.

John Landis' take on the Burke and Hare story stars a bevy of familiars as well as a couple of half decent leads from Andy Serkis and Simon Pegg and with all the comedy chops involved it's surprising it just isn't that funny. Sure there's some nice comedic murderings and a few good lines along the way but it's laboured with a romantic subplot that sucks up way too much screen time and you need something with such a hackneyed tale as this. Landis focuses on the dark closes and dangerous steps that litter Edinburgh and I guess those are suitable spots for the homicidal bumblings but he lumped for all the most obvious locations. Anyways it's not a terrible film just a really average one.