Terrible Plan! Movie Reviews

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: 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: I liked Charles Wallace, that kid was funny. I liked that the ladies in crazy dresses were warriors and that the kids were warriors too. You know me I'm all about a good action movie with awesome fighting, but I liked that at least in this universe the defining characteristics of warriors were compassion, kindness, and love. Similarly, I liked that the bad guys weren't launching a massive military conquest of the universe, I mean everyone is doing that these days. Surprisingly, I liked the Mrs's dresses. They were crazy and over the top but it was fun that they changed with every teleportation and that they were completely absurd. The outfits were rather like the Mrs's wearing them, over the top and fantastical. Knowing all of them from other shows I may have had some unfulfilled expectations. At no point did anyone say "You get a wrinkle, and you get a wrinkle, Everyone gets a wrinkle!" which I must admit was a little disappointing. I also think...

What I liked: For a movie based on what is in essence a fictional encyclopedia, this movie has a surprising amount of plot. Not great plot, but more than I usually get from reading an alphabetical reference book. I liked the dopey sidekick, his facial expressions were great and he was the only one who acknowledged that what happening on screen was not actually normal. I liked that the president led the tiny army of US wizards to their tiny battle in a subway. So as military victories go, this was not one for the history books, for many reasons. But it did lend more meaning to the phrase Commander in Chief. I felt like Dr Who was once again a bow tie wearing socially awkward guy who lives in a box that is bigger on the inside. Some of the creatures were cool but the CGI didn't quite make them alive. I liked the sloth monkey, I don't really know who it was or what it was doing but I would support a slothmonkey planet of the apes crossover. I like that the guy from SWAT has fina...

What I liked: By far the best part of this movie is the zombie sharks. Undead vengeful pirates? I've seen those before. At the rate this franchise burns through them I think they must have gotten them at a wholesale closeout bargain. But zombie sharks, those are new. If they didn't smell so bad I bet more people would use them. I also liked the ghost pirate ship that ate other ships. It kind of looked exactly like this bug. I was impressed by the structural integrity of the bank at the beginning. Clearly the foundation was poorly constructed but whoever was responsible for the walls did a phenomenal job. I liked the visuals of the island of stars. There was a scene involving a revolving guillotine which had some funny imagery. Admittedly nothing about that sentence sounds amusing, but just trust me. What I didn't: I went to see this movie with friends and had pretty low expectations for the 5th installment of a film franchise based on a 15 minute ride. My low expectatio...

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: It’s Pixar, the pixar moments are clever as always and leave you laughing whether you like the plot or not. Most of these are best because of the surprise so I won’t list any of them but will be happy to quote them with you frequently once you have seen the movie. Some of my favorite sequences are the times that we see into the mind command center of other people, like the parents at dinner or more notably many other characters during the credits. I laughed a lot.  In addition to the delightful Pixar moments and comical sequences from other minds, I did like the inventive way the mind was presented. Also, unlike many movies, I think that deeper analysis of this movie would not be completely ridiculous. For example the different captains in the individual’s minds and how the teamwork developed. Or the recoloring of memories based on current events. While the presentation in the movie is clearly not complete or particularly profound, it does present a good starting po...

    What I liked: The best part by far was the fairy god mother. She was the funnest and most interesting character presented. It looked like she had fun with the part and she was entertaining to watch. I also liked the transfiguration of the pumpkin, lizards, mice etc. The portrayal of the evil step mother was also excellent though naturally less fun so not as interesting. But I liked her costuming and she was convincingly evil. I also liked that all the colors were so bright through the whole movie, it certainly made it feel more like a fairy land. What I didn’t: Um, who permitted the step sisters’ outfits. Clearly their mother has much more refined taste so I’m not sure that she was really trying to get them married off to the prince, despite her many exclamations that she was. Possibly she actually wanted them to join the circus, or a tinsle factory, or she had read the story and knew that in the older versions the birds are evil and to be feared-thanks Hitchcock...

What I liked: The scenes they recreated from the animated Sleeping Beauty. It was also good to see that the three fairies had some help raising Aurora, because we all know from the cartoon that would not have worked out well. If you wanted to spend 30 seconds thinking about the film, there are some very simple visual and thematic parallels to examine: Maleficent becoming monarch when her enemy does and them jointly destroying both lands. Her being trapped like the crow was. etc.  Potato Ents. They pop out of the ground like daisies. What I didn’t: Keeping wings you cut off a fairy is 1 weird 2 a biohazard 3 highly unlikely to result in successful reattachment after 17 years of separation. If you are wearing a giant iron suit without insulation 1 you probably are not very agile 2 you will likely be very susceptible to dragon fire and fire from your own blow torch. The fairy kingdom seems very floppy; all these magical powerful creatures get pushed around for no other reason than ...

What I liked: quidditch with sheep. Sheep in catapults. Sheep pinball. What I didn’t: Most everything else. The plot dragged. The characters were nowhere near as funny as in the first one. And honestly what was the point of bringing back as long lost dead mother? Did it help the plot? no. Did it help the characters? no. Could the place in plot and character development be assumed by any other random mysterious dragon rider to the same effect? yes. Also what was the evil villain’s motivation and plan again? neither seemed to make much sense.   Who should watch it: people who like bad sequels. Would I watch it again? Nope.  But I would youtube the sheep scenes.