Terrible Plan! Movie Reviews

What I liked: This movie filled a hole I didn't know I had. Sort of a Jonah, how to train your dragon, Mobey Dick crossover sized hole. I want to live in a giant seashell house. I don't think the characters really thought through how great that future could have been because otherwise the movie world have ended there. I liked the crew of the inevitable. Just the right mix of swash buckling with eccentric pirate injuries. We had monster hunters, and monster vs monster fights, a sea witch, ship wrecks, giant storms and an evil conspiracy. What more could you hope for. The water animation was absolutely amazing and I really liked the forest? flock? float? of fluorescent jellyfish.  What I didn't: We need to discuss the security and the accountability of the orphanage. We spent a great deal of time on the kingdom's approach to endangered species, but of equally great, or possibly greater, importance is the lack of any form of childcare standards. I am concerned about the de...

What I liked: The laser shield. It really shouldn't have taken them 60 years to come up with that plan. The moment Buzz realizes his elite team is not quite who he thought they were. The zap squad. The best I can tell is they are the special forces unit that does nothing besides run around yelling zap. That seems like exactly my level of military service. The tranquilizer dart. The seemingly correct use of time dilation, including "C." That Buzz was a stereotypical '50-'60s test pilot, complete with the deep distrust of computer calculated trajectories. The music accompanying Buzz's stirring speech. That Buzz and Cmd Hawthorne were just friends. The demolitions expert who was generally crotchety and disappointed to not get to blow everything up.  What I didn't: The fundamental take home message of the movie is that it is better to work with other people than to insist on doing everything yourself. The message is itself sound. However, almost every example ...

What I liked: This had all the tings that you know and love from cartoons: cute animated characters, absurd antics, physics defying movement. The human cast did a good job of interacting with the animated characters and I thought they were funny. I liked the animal tornado and Colin Jost's increasingly absurd wedding presents. The skateboard chase scene rivals  the only three other skateboard chase scenes I know, all of which are the exact same scene from the three Back to the Future movies.  What I didn't: Apparently that the original cartoons were limited to about 10 minutes was a good idea. I was pretty satisfied with the cartoon shenanigans by 10 minutes and over it by 30. The movie, however, was not over. It seems like in a movie with the overall message of there are consequences to actions and cooperation is important, there were very few long term consequences for anyone. Despite the plot, I was rooting for the wedding to be called off, I guess this is why Romcoms and I...

What I liked: I liked the vibrancy of the animation and the story. I liked the donkeys. They are everywhere, they keep popping out in the background especially in the music video. I loved that the solution was, at least initially, a cactus. To my eyes it looked a little like the Emperor's Groove cactus, which made it that much funner. The house was great, living in that house would be amazing! The rooms specialized to each person were cool, though I agree with Mirabel that Bruno's room is The. Worst. I would have run away from home if that was my room, no other motivation necessary. The rescue from the bottomless pit was fun. I liked the family there were all of the classic tropes: the  nosy cousin, the crazy uncle, the wacky aunt, the responsible family member. I liked that through all of it the family loved each other and tried hard to support each other.  The staring contest/secret keeping scene at dinner was funny and I think I have been at those dinners but probably at co...

We're back! Movies are back. Hooray! What I liked: I liked the fish sheep and the grandma. Uncle Ugo was unnerving but I liked when he showed up unexpectedly, imagining him living in the deep trench from Aquaman really spices him up. I liked the idea of sleeping under the fish and Luca learning to walk. The Vespa construction and turtle ramp were fun. I liked Machiavelli, something that I never really thought I would say. The idea that an Italian triathlon is swimming, biking and eating pasta is phenomenal and I hope to compete in at least one of the legs of this event.  I liked that the kids achieved their goals when they reframed their focus to helping others. The soccer game at the fountain was great. And I was glad for the voice of reason "Risking your life for a Vespa? It doesn't make any sense."   What I didn't: I wish I knew opera to place the songs better to see if there were hidden opera jokes. The only song I knew while watching was from Barber of Savill...

What I liked: The explosions are fun. The gadgets are cooky. All of the spies are surprisingly ept, breaking the rule of N=n+1 for spy movies. I thought Venice was very well represented, though I remember there being about twice as many pigeons there.  What I didn't: However, for being surprisingly good at their jobs they also are surprisingly bad, like not knowing that the target has a sports car, airplane, and submarine and not knowing the parking location for said vehicles. Also, I believe that by the end of the film IRB would mandate far far harsher penalties for our little inventor's approach to testing his gadgets. Let's just say robust testing and informed consent were a bit subpar. I did not find the bird sidekicks particularly funny. I wasn't in a theater so couldn't tell if this was me being the wrong audience or if the birds were just not funny. Finally, as far as strategies go, putting all of your high value assets in a single location is bad. Especially...

What I liked: The animation was incredible. It still didn't look quite like the real thing but it was close. Like a really cool video game. I liked the baby animals, the baby rhino, the baby ostriches, the baby hippo, the little warthogs were surprisingly cute. I liked that the instrumental sections of some of the Broadway songs ended up in the sound track. I liked the paint by insect technique that Rafiki used, but I don't think I'd hang that kind of art on my wall. Being in the theater for the stampede scene was pretty cool because the thunderous hoof falls made the seats shake What I didn't: So, this is essentially a shot by shot recreation of the original. I'm not really sure why they did this it is exactly the same for 95% and the 5% changes actually make it worse. They could have included the incredible songs from the Broadway production, that music is great. Instead they kept the old songs dropped some and changed some lyrics. They tried to highlight some...

What I liked: Alright, for a movie about a talking Pokemon who becomes a detective to solve a murder/missing person case/massive evil conspiracy, this was a surprisingly enjoyable movie. Not surprising as in "wow that is such an interesting elaborate conspiracy, I never saw it coming." More of a "wow, this absurd plot oddly works and I laughed at some of their jokes." For those of you who have forgotten since the days of elementary school, some Pokemon are pretty cute. Most are just kind of weird looking, but some of them are cute. Psyduck, for being a neurotic duck with explosive headaches, was surprisingly acceptable. Pikachu was pretty funny. The reporter girl was incredibly dramatic. I think both the main kid and the reporter girl should probably have been in high school instead of whatever productive member of society ruse they were pulling. I liked how they worked in the old Pokemon theme song. What I didn't: Given that the number of acceptable Pokemon...

What I liked: The pop culture references were, as always, very funny. I particularly liked how Bruce Willis kept popping up all over the place and the compilation of all known time machines. The hot teen vampires and annoying Pop music were also good additions. The angsty post-apocalyptic world was spot on parody, if a bit much for an hour and a half. The Duplo invasion was cute and I could relate with small enthusiastic well meaning destroyers of beautiful creations. Glitter based brain washing makes a lot of sense. Glitter gets everywhere and never never never can you get rid of it. I liked the credits animation. What I didn't: I agree with Lucy, "You guys are terrible communicators." There is a whole song about why Batman is not the best. Not cool Lego, not cool. I didn't like how much we got pulled back to the real world. I promise that anyone who has ever encountered Legos knows that they are actually not sentient animated toys. And I promise that with names ...

What I liked: I guess I should not be surprised that a movie called the Spider-verse includes every reference to Spiderman ever. The surprising part was that all the references were all presented with the right level of humor so that I liked the Spiderman dance, to the constant origin story re-telling, the ridiculous merchandise, the spider songs, and of course the whole spider family. I really liked all the costumes, both spidey costumes and villain costumes. Prowler was nicely ominous and Doc Ock had a nice twist, the arms appeared to be a pneumatic system which makes them nicely compressible and lightweight so they would fit in an airline overhead bin, The pneumatic system also gives me some concerns about storing the arms in the same suit compartment as their buzzsaw attachments, but I am not a brilliant physicist. I liked the ridiculous onsie and the graffiti. It was fun to have all the iterations of a hero: the new comer trying to figure out the powers, the standard amazing her...

What I liked: This was a fun movie and I laughed more than I thought I would. I liked the Grinch's pants and tie. I liked the ski birds, they really kicked off the movie to a great start. The carolers channeling West Side Story were funny and escalated well. Bobsled commuting should definitely catch on. The Wallace and Gromit inventions were spot on. They made me wonder if maybe Wallace was missing a sibling And I think that Max would get along with Gromit really well. The goat and Fred were also surprisingly funny. It's hard to beat the original music but the updated Mister Grinch song was acceptable. I liked the overly festive neighbor and his odd dog, they made me laugh. I didn't know that the Grinch played the organ but should not have been surprised, most villains do. Doubtless in one of the many Star Wars movies in the works we will be treated to Vader practicing the organ in the heart of a star destroyer. It's too bad more villains don't branch out to inclu...

What I liked: Jack Jack. Edna Mode. Jack Jack and Edna Mode. Pretty much anytime one or both of those characters are on screen it is awesome. I liked the interdimensional baby monitor and the motorcycle, I can't say it looked comfortable but it was pretty cool. Stretchy superheroes have never been my favorite. I don't know of anyone when we play the "what super power would you have?" game who says they want to be super stretchy. But given that, Elastagirl does an admirable job at bad guy beating. It was fun to have the theme songs in the credits. The Incredobile was fun. 2018 has been a good year for raccoons on the silver screen. There were raccoons in quiet place. A raccoon features in the most recent Avengers film. Now we have a show stealing raccoon in Incredibles. I'm not sure if I should tell the talented raccoons I know to send in audition tapes or encourage them to go to community college because the industry is saturated. What I didn't: Ok, we need ...

What I liked: I really liked the opening play and the drummers. I liked that the greatest ambition of the evil conspiracy was to eliminate all dogs from Japan and that the main force uncovering the conspiracy was a middle school newspaper. I liked the approaches to science and medicine especially the analysis equipment. And that when dogs take medicine they turn transparent so we can directly observe systemic delivery. I found the sushi making entertaining. The whole film is full of clever and entertaining word play. I liked the military issue teeth, the giant trash compactor, and the evil robot dogs. I also liked that the dog pack was a majority rules democracy. What I didn't: Why was the henchman a hulking zombie? I'm not sure how I feel about the the kid's headset and pretty sure how I feel about his head injury. I don't love the foreign exchange student. In contrast to the dog pack, I have concerns about the city's political system. Who should watch this? ...

What I liked: I bet all of the developers loved making this film, I saw so many video game and movie references in the background of scenes. I bet all the developers just inserted their favorites like the ninja turtles, a whole platoon of halo soldiers, and orcs. That it was a video game made it possible and exciting to have all kinds of absolutely random physics and logic defying things happen. Obviously, I loved the T. Rex and who would not enjoy seeing Mechagodzilla or a cyborg orc driving a monster truck? Early in the movie they made good use of the video game architecture in a way that reminded me a bit of secret rooms in super mario. The characters visit the world of the Shining, which was amazing and hilarious. I loved the variety of characters, vehicles and weapons that we get to see and it is more fun (at least for me) that they draw from more than strictly the 1980's. I also really liked the music, for the most part the selections were great for the scenes. The book was...

What I  liked: The skeletons. They were fun They were fashionable. Even when they had some assembly required they didn't seem to mind very much. They were also remarkably dexterous for not having any muscles or connective tissue, but they do have hair. And eyebrows, which is some cases is illegal. Also for not having lungs or diaphrams, they are pretty remarkable singers. The songs were all lots of fun and stick in your head. And the bonus flexibility that detachable limbs provides them, the skeletons also have pretty great dance numbers to go with their songs. The spirit animals. I have seen Alebrija in fairs and museums seeing them on the big screen in all their neon fully animated glory was great. Some skeletons have better spirit animals than others, The great great grandmother has an awesome winged jaguar. Others are ... less impressive. Frida kahlo made some very...um... artistic appearances. Like my reaction to most art installations I agree with the sentiment that it was ...

What I liked: This was a beautiful movie. Every frame is an oil painting in the style of Vincent Van Gogh. It took the team 9 years to complete. As a visual the film is a masterpiece. It even managed to include a few jokes. I really liked that most of the characters were people who Van Gogh painted portraits of. It was fun to see the portrait along side the stills from the movie. What I didn't: Some of the frames were very busy with brush strokes making the whole image looked like it was crawling. The plot is centered around the mystery of Van Gogh's death: was he murdered or did he commit suicide? The whole thing follows one character as he goes around interviewing people who knew Van Gogh or spent time with him in the last few weeks of his life. While informative, this is never the most exciting plot arc. Who should watch this? People wanting to see a unique movie and enjoy some beautiful animation. Would I watch it again? I'm very glad I saw it and it was worth i...

What I liked: There's a leek in the boat! Fishing pickles. The dad's mustache. The little strawberry is really cute. Really most of the food was quite cute. I liked when they collect all their old friends to launch the mission to stop the evil food. They all had absurd jobs and ridiculous ways of quitting. What I didn't: Why does the bad guy have no joints? He is like one giant noodle, all floppy floppy, and he isn't even anthropomorphic food. Clearly the bad guy's evil plan was terribly conceived but with a plot centered around a machine that converts water into giant food, you can't really hope for too much. The evil plan that was much better developed and received much less attention in the movie struck a little close to home. The evil inventing company preys on young optimistic inventors luring them to work terrible hours for no credit on the hopes of one day joining the elite group of "real" inventors. It gives you the shivers. Who should watc...

What I liked: The minions. The pigs. It was a good combination.  I think they could have done more with the pig minion team up, there was a waiting wealth of comic opportunity there. I particularly liked the minions' performance for the tv show. I am however left wondering where they got their props. The gadgets as always. Why carry a normal gun when you could use a fully loaded keytar? Why drive a normal villain car when you can drive a gilded villain car. Why take over the world like a normal person whey you can cover it with bubble gum you shoot from a bazooka? What I didn't: They really should have done more with the fluffy unicorn direction. It seemed like it should have been the culmination of the whole unicorn obsession of all 3 films, sadly it was just an aside. As always the plan was terrible. A secret lair in a giant Rubik's cube is not very secret. Exactly following the plot of a children's TV show is not the best approach to world domination, especially ...

What I liked: This movie was beautiful. Not in a planet earth or march of the penguins kind of way but in the mastery of modeling and color kind of way. It was a pleasure to watch and to think about the care and effort that went into creating each shot. I don’t see much stop motion and it was fun to see something that wasn’t CG. There were a number of images that I really liked like the magically folding origami and the leaf boat. The story was also refreshingly different. Not that it didn’t follow standard story telling techniques or predictable dialogue. It was essentially a new fairy tale and I had all the childlike pleasure and excitement of hearing a fairy tale for the first time. There was all the absurdity of fairy tales, “why is there a wicked witch?” “since when can a dead princess be revived with a kiss?” “why would you even make a glass coffin?”, but since it was a fairy tale there was just the acceptance that that is how it is in this magical land. The villains were deligh...

What I liked: I loved the sloths. This scene from the trailer is the best stand alone part of the movie, watching the smile slowly creep over the sloth's face is phenomenal and I enjoy it every time. I liked the Godfather. I liked the different environments particularly the tiny rodent land. Especially the hamster tubes. I liked the crazy neighbors. I loved the use of the boot. I liked the radio that only played unhelpful music. I liked that the main character used earbuds in her giant bunny ears. I liked the jokes and plot twists. I saw them all coming (and annoyed the people I was watching with by announcing the what would be happening in the next scene) but as a mark of great execution they were still funny and/or satisfying, which is impressive. I liked that the main characters uses a carrot phone instead of an apple phone. I liked the dancing app and I thought the backup dancers at the end were funny. I was highly entertained by the hippie commune. We have thought along thes...