Wreck-It Ralph

Wreck-It Ralph - Dir. Rich Moore (2012)

If Brave was Pixar's most Disney-like movie, then Wreck-It Ralph might be Disney's most Pixar-esque film to date. The comparison is easy to see since the concept could succinctly be described as Toy Story for video games.

Wreck-It Ralph (John C. Reilly) is the villain of an old school arcade game modeled after Donkey Kong. He's a burly brute who is forced to live in the city dump while his nemesis, Fix-It Felix Jr. (Jack McBrayer), lives in luxury in a high-rise apartment with his fellow Nicelanders. Ralph trashes the building, but Felix always manages to fix the damage before Ralph is tossed acrimoniously into the mud. Poor Ralph is tired of playing the antagonist, especially when he constantly sees the other Nicelanders lavish accolades for Felix. To paraphrase Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Ralph's not a bad guy, he's just programmed that way.

Ralph game jumps into a violent, high-tech first person shooter called Hero's Duty to win a medal and prove he can be a hero. From there, he winds up in Sugar Rush, a candy-themed racing game where he meets little Vanellope von Schweetz (Sarah Silverman), who is shunned by the other racers and their monarch King Candy (Alan Tudyk) for being a glitch. Meanwhile, Felix and Sgt. Calhoun (Jane Lynch), the lead in Hero's Duty, set off to find Ralph before the arcade permanently unplugs their game.

Wreck-It Ralph features a wealth of video game references, many of which will go over the heads of younger viewers and casual gamers. At one point, Ralph attends a support group named Bad Guys Anonymous with M. Bison, Zangief, Kano, Dr. Eggman, King Bowser, and one of the Pac-Man ghosts. Other cameos include other Street Fighter characters (Chun-Li, Ken, Ryu), Sonic the Hedgehog, Frogger, and the paddles from Pong. King Candy has a vault with a giant Nintendo controller as the door with the combination set as the Konami Code. Novelty duo Bruckner & Garcia, best known for their 1982 single "Pac-Man Fever," were plucked out of obscurity to write a Wreck-It Ralph theme song. There's even graffiti with internet memes like "Leroy Jenkins was here" and ”All your fortress are belong to us." The most heartbreaking moment in Wreck-It Ralph is the appearance of Q*bert and his supporting cast, who have been rendered homeless after their game was unplugged.

In lesser hands, Wreck-It Ralph could have rested on simply stringing together one pop culture reference after another. However, there is genuine heart and humor to the story thanks to director Rich Moore, who has helmed some of the best Simpsons episodes. He can count "Cape Feare," "Marge vs. the Monorail," and "Lisa's Substitute" on his resume. Moore worked on the script with another Simpsons alum Jim Reardon, Phil Johnston (Cedar Rapids), and newcomer Jennifer Lee. The results of their work impart tried and true themes of friendship and self-affirmation. The majority of the film is set within Sugar Rush, which may seem like the least interesting world that they could have explored. Yet, the animation is gorgeous and the writers find clever ways to work in renowned food products, such as a volcano of diet cola with Mentos stalactites.

It is here that the movie also explores the budding camaraderie between Ralph and Vanellope, both of whom are considered pariahs within their respective societies. Thanks to the voice actors there's a real tenderness to the characters. John C. Reilly is perfectly cast as the lovable lug while Sarah Silverman brings her trademark caustic (though sanitized) humor. Jack McBrayer is another spot-on casting choice as the "Aww, shucks" Fix-It Felix. Alan Tudyk steals the show as the loopy King Candy with a gusto impression of Ed Wynn.

It may be hyperbole on my part when I say Wreck-It Ralph comes exceedingly close to reaching the heights of Disney's renaissance era when they were pumping out The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, The Lion King, and Beauty and the Beast. Wreck-It Ralph is not just the best animated film of the year, but one of the best Disney productions in years.

Rating: **** (*****)

Brave

Brave - Dirs. Dirs. Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman & Steve Purcell (2012)

Brave marks several firsts for Pixar. It's their first period piece and their first fairy tale. It was to be the first Pixar project directed by a woman in Brenda Chapman (inspired by her relationship with her daughter) until she was replaced by Mark Andrews and Steve Purcell though she still receives credit. Brave is also the first Pixar film to feature a female protagonist in the lead role.

Set in the Scottish Highlands long ago, Brave follows the strong-willed Princess Merida (Kelly Macdonald) and her equally stubborn mother, Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson). Merida prefers to roam free and practice archery while the Queen prefers Merida be molded into a proper lady. That includes lessons in refinement and diplomacy. Now that she's come of age, tradition calls for Merida to be married off to one of the sons of the neighboring clan leaders. Merida discovers a witch (Julie Walters) deep within the forest and asks her for a spell to change her fate. Of course, it all goes wrong with Elinor being turned into a bear. It's Mother Bear, instead of Brother Bear.

You can't help but be awestruck by the beauty of the animation. Pixar has outdone themselves once more in creating a vibrant world of misty mountains, dark forests, and evergreen hilltops. Even Merida's flowing red locks seem to have a life of their own. Animators actually created new software just to render her wild mane of hair, which symbolizes Merida's thirst for freedom. The contrast between mother and daughter is never more apparent than when Merida is forced to wear a restrictive Maid Marian outfit. She slips a tuft of hair from underneath her cap in a defiant expression of identity. There's a palpable tenderness to their relationship even when Elinor is in bear form. The animators do an impressive job in making her emote strictly through paw and facial movements. The creative minds of Pixar have been behind some of the most memorable father-son relationships depicted in cinema, from Nemo and Marlin in Finding Nemo to Russell and his crotchety surrogate Mr. Fredricksen in Up. No surprise that their first exploration of maternal bonds should be as equally heartfelt.

There's plenty of humor (and naked buttocks) to be found in Brave. Much of the humor derives from the "wee devils" that are Merida's younger brothers, the triplets Hamish, Hubert, and Harris. Kelly Macdonald (who replaced Reese Witherspoon) heads up a cast of talented Scottish thespians who end an aura of authenticity. The actors include Robbie Coltrane, Kevin McKidd, Craig Ferguson, and the great Billy Connolly as Merida's father King Fergus, who lost a leg in battle against the demonic bear Mor'du.

The critical response to Brave was surprisingly mixed. Perhaps, reviewers were expecting Pixar to completely deconstruct the Disney princess genre. However, Pixar didn't need to reinvent the wheel with Brave because it is so lusciously animated and well-crafted.

Rating: *** (*****)

ParaNorman

ParaNorman - Dirs. Chris Butler & Sam Fell (2012)

2012 has been a strong year for animated films. While computer animation rules the roost, it’s good to know that older forms like stop-motion are still being kept alive. Disney released Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie and Universal produced Paranorman from Laika Studios, the same animators that brought us Coraline. Despite being stronger pictures, neither of those pictures did as well as Sony’s Hotel Transylvania, which boasted garish CG-animation and a big-name voice cast with Adam Sandler and Selena Gomez. Out of all three horror themed films, ParaNorman, is undoubtedly the cream of the crop.

Norman Babcock (Kodi Smit-McPhee) lives in the sleepy New England burg of Blithe Hollow and suffers from the same problem as the boy from The Sixth Sense. He sees dead people, all the time. In fact, they’re his only friends, from his late grandmother sitting on the living room couch to the female aviator whose parachute is tangled up in a tree. The people who are still living either openly mock Norman or avoid him like a leper. His mother (Leslie Mann) tries to understand, but his exasperated father (Jeff Garlin) seems like he wants to put Norman in an institution.

Norman’s gifts are called upon when he is visited by the spirit of his crazy Uncle Prenderghast (John Goodman). 300 years ago an evil witch placed a curse on the Puritans who burned her at the stake.  For centuries, a chosen few have kept the witch at bay by reading from a book. With Prenderghast gone, the burden is placed on Norman. When he fails, the dead rise from the grave to plague Blithe Hollow.

Right away, you are struck by the incredible set designs and puppet work of ParaNorman. The hardworking folks of Laika painstakingly crafted the film over a two-year period. The animation alone would win it style points, but there’s substance thanks to a script by storyboard artist Chris Butler, who also made his directorial debut here alongside Sam Fell (Flushed Away, The Tales of Despereaux). They’ve boldly made a kid-friendly zombie movie imbued with a palpable sense of pathos. A second act twist turns ParaNorman right on its ear when we learn that intolerance and mob mentality are far more frightening and tangible than a horde of the ravenous undead. The plot thickens in the third act when Norman learns the heart-wrenching truth about the legend of the witch. The filmmakers never forget to bring the humor with the funniest gag involving a slow moving race between the zombies and a vending machine.

The voice acting is superb with youngsters Kodi Smit-McPhee and Tucker Albrizzi portraying Norman and his overweight pal, Neil. They’ve bonded over their shared status as social outcasts. Anna Kendrick is terrific as Norman’s cheerleader sister, Courtney, and Casey Affleck is hilarious as Neil’s older lunkhead brother, Mitch. There’s also Christopher Mintz-Plasse as school bully Alvin, Tempestt Bledsoe as the sassy town sheriff, and Elaine Stritch as Norman’s granny.

ParaNorman draws inspiration from a variety of classic horror tales ranging from the works of George Romero to Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.  There’s an amusing gag with a hockey mask ala Jason Vorhees and an opening prologue parodying the type of scary movies shown on late-night TV. The score by Jon Brion is a mix melancholy and suspense with the retro-synth sounds of John Carpenter.

ParaNorman is a remarkable achievement in storytelling and stop-motion animation. It conveys a powerful message about acceptance and forgiveness without being preachy or pandering. Recommended without hesitation for movie fans young and old.

Rating: *** (*****)

Hotel Transylvania

Hotel Transylvania - Dir. Genndy Tartakovsky (2012)

This year saw the release of a trio of horror-themed animation films: ParaNorman, Frankenweenie, and Hotel Transylvania. Produced by Sony, Hotel Transylvania is the weakest of the bunch, but it was the most financially successful. Its strong box office run could certainly be attributed to the glossy computer animation whereas the other films were done stop-motion. While all three pictures dealt with themes of tolerance and death, Hotel Transylvania does so with a much gentler hand and doesn’t go to the darker places that Frankenweenie and ParaNorman did.

At the end of the 19^th century, Count Dracula (Adam Sandler) opens a luxurious hotel deep within the woods of Transylvania to serve as a sanctuary for his fellow monsters. More importantly, he sees it as a safe haven to raise his daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez) following the burning of his castle and the death of his wife at the hands of an angry mob. Over a hundred years later, Mavis is about to turn 118 and the Count is planning a gala birthday bash with all his best friends: Frankenstein (Kevin James), the Invisible Man (David Spade), The Mummy (Cee-Lo Green), and the Wayne the Wolf-Man (Steve Buscemi).

An American backpacker named Jonathan (Andy Samberg) inadvertently uncovers the secret location of Hotel Transylvania forcing Dracula to disguise him as a long-lost cousin of Frankenstein. However, Jonathan sparks a romance with Mavis as well as fueling her desires to finally leave the confines of her home.

Expectations were low for Hotel Transylvania considering Sandler has fallen further into self-parody as he slowly becomes the fictionalized version of himself in Funny People. Thoughts of That's My Boy floated in the air with the reuniting of Sandler and Andy Samberg. A script written by Peter Baynham (Borat) and TV Funhouse's Robert Smigel brings the distasteful fart jokes you'd come to expect from the Happy Madison camp. Somehow Hotel Transylvania manages to come together thanks to the direction of Genndy Tartakovsky of Dexter's Lab and Samurai Jack fame. Tartakovsky adopts the manic pacing of a Tex Avery cartoon and brings such energy to the picture you forget how flat a lot of the humor is. Steve Buscemi is a highlight as a sad sack werewolf worn down by his rambunctious litter of pups.

Hotel Transylvania may be too schmaltzy and saccharine for adults. The groan inducing song and dance number (complete with auto-tune) at the conclusion of the film will test your tolerance for cheese. However, the brightly colored animation and high energy are sure to entertain younger audiences.

Rating: ** (*****)

Savages

Savages - Dir. Oliver Stone (2012)

There are two kinds of Oliver Stone movies. There are the politically charged dramas like JFK and Platoon and the adrenaline fueled Tony Scott-style pictures like Natural Born Killers and U-Turn. Savages falls squarely into the latter category though it touches on the hot button topics of the war on drugs.

The lead character is O (Blake Lively), short for Ophelia, a blonde bombshell living in the idyllic Southern California community of Laguna Beach. With echoes of Sunset Boulevard, O ominously proclaims in the opening narration that just because she's telling the story doesn't mean she's alive at the end. O is in the middle of an unconventional love triangle between Chon (Taylor Kitsch) and Ben (Aaron Johnson). Chon is a war veteran who returned home from Afghanistan with a particularly potent strain of marijuana. Ben is the hippy-dippy type. He took those seeds and grew them into a lucrative network and uses the profits to build solar-powered schools in Third World nations.

Ben is the brains and Chon is the brawn, which will be called upon when their operation piques the interest of a Mexican drug cartel headed by Elena Sanchez (Salma Hayek). The cartel is looking to absorb Ben and Chon's entire network on their own terms, no negotiations. To show how serious they are, they make sure to send the boys a grisly video of decapitated heads. Ben and Chon still turn down their offer leading Elena to order the abduction of O at the hands of her brutal enforcer Lado (Benicio del Toro). Serving as the monkey wrench in everyone's plans is John Travolta as Dennis, a crooked DEA agent willing to deal with any side as long as he profits.

Savages is a sun-drenched clash between the privileged paradise of Orange County with the crime and violence that has plagued Mexico for years. There's the execution of a cocaine lawyer in his ultra-modern, suburban home and the torture of another man whose eyeball sickeningly dangles from the socket.

The segments following the ménage a trois work because the parts were cast well though Blake Lively doesn't have the emotional weight to handle some of the film's deeper moments. In her defense, it's doubtful any actress could credibly spout lines like, "I have orgasms. He has 'wargasms.'" 2012 should have been Taylor Kitsch's breakout year, but it didn't turn out that way following the bombing of John Carter and Battleship. While Savages did lukewarm business, it did give Kitsch his best role of all his recent pictures. He and Aaron Johnson breathe life into their on-screen friendship, making it feel lived in and believable. Johnson's role as Ben is a marked difference from the nerdy fanboy in Kick-Ass.

Yet, the more interesting moments are when the film follows the lives of the drug cartel. Benicio del Toro's Lado is a frightening figure that belies his bushy mustache and odd pompadour mullet. He and his men slip in and out of wealthy neighborhoods disguised as gardeners. Just as O and her boys view the cartel as savages, Lado sees them the same way due to their three-way relationship and their American sense of entitlement. Despite being a merciless executioner, he's more offended that his sons are lazy and his daughter has become a glorified valley girl. As for Elena, she assumed control following the murders of her husband and sons. She has a daughter who wants little to do with her ("She is ashamed of me and I am proud of her for it."). It's no wonder that Elena forges an unlikely maternal bond with O whose own mother (Uma Thurman in a role excised from the final cut) is off globe-trotting with her latest husband. Hayek is gorgeous and plays the role as if she stepped right out of a Telemundo soap opera.

Savages is a handsomely shot, but wildly uneven action-thriller. Old hands like Travolta, Hayek, and Benicio del Toro do most of the heavy lifting through a script bustling with tangled subplots until the movie fizzles out after a trick ending.

Rating: ** (*****)

The Man with the Iron Fists

The Man with the Iron Fists - Dir. RZA (2012)

Anyone who has listened to the music of the Wu-Tang Clan knows they've been heavily influenced by the classic martial arts films of the 1970's. It was inevitable that they're de facto leader, the RZA, would eventually craft a martial arts movie of his own. RZA serves as star and director of The Man with the Iron Fists, based on a script he co-wrote with Eli Roth.

The film is set during the late-1800's in the small Chinese town of Jungle Village. RZA is the Blacksmith, a skilled craftsman who makes formidable weapons for the village's warring factions. He tirelessly works night and day to earn enough money to free his love, Lady Silk (Jamie Chung), from a brothel owned by Madam Blossom (Lucy Liu). Meanwhile, Gold Lion (Chen Kuan-tai), the honorable leader of the Lion Clan, is assassinated by his lieutenants Silver Lion (Byron Mann) and Bronze Lion (Cung Le). Silver is after a shipment of the governor's gold that is set to pass through Jungle Village and is collaborating with the traitorous Poison Dagger (Daniel Wu), a hooded figure employing mercury-tipped blow darts. To assist in eliminating their enemies, the bad guys have hired Brass Body (WWE's David Bautista), a hulking brute with the ability to turn his skin into solid brass. Caught in the middle of this conflict, the Blacksmith finds unlikely allies in Zen-Yi (Rick Yune), the Gold Lion's son who uses an armored suit with retractable blades, and Jack Knife (Russell Crowe), an enigmatic Englishman with a fondness for booze, opium, and women.

Beginning with its grindhouse-style opening titles, Man with the Iron Fists is a loving throwback to the grand era of Golden Harvest and Shaw Brothers. Nods to those pictures include the casting of Gordon Liu as a wise Shaolin monk and the use of Sally Yeh's ballad from John Woo's The Killer. Enter the Dragon is evoked through a climax involving a hall of mirrors. There are herky-jerky zoom-ins and stilted line readings meant to evoke badly dubbed chop socky theater. While the fight sequences (choreographed by Cory Yuen) won't rival the fights from classics like Once Upon a Time in China or Drunken Master II, they are an exciting mix of hard hitting kung fu and elaborate wire work with buckets of CGI blood. As expected from Eli Roth, there's plenty of cartoonish violence, such as Jack Knife eviscerating an overweight man. A scorecard might be needed to keep track of all the players and rivalries. Thus, the story feels very overstuffed for a fast-paced runtime of 95 minutes. RZA and Roth have created an entire world with its own mythology and rich backstories that are only hinted at in the final picture. At one point, RZA toyed with the idea of releasing a four hour cut as two episodes ala Kill Bill.

RZA might have done well to concentrate on his behind-the-camera duties. As the protagonist, he doesn't quite have the acting chops or the presence to headline a movie. He's too laconic and his fight with Brass Body isn't as entertaining as the others. The two best performances belong to Byron Mann and Russell Crowe, both of whom are clearly having fun. Mann is appropriately over-the-top while Crowe channels the boisterous spirit of his late Gladiator co-star Oliver Reed.

The Man with the Iron Fists isn't an exceptional directorial debut for RZA, but it does show he has plenty of potential.

Rating: *** (*****)

Alex Cross

Alex Cross - Dir. Rob Cohen (2012)

Is the world truly prepared for Tyler Perry: Action Hero?

Perry has carved his own little niche in the film industry by writing, directing, producing, and starring in a string of comedies and dramas. Each picture has found box office success, despite frequent critical derision. His casting as James Patterson's famed character seems little more than a calculated marketing decision. Perry has yet to distinguish himself on a project not his own, outside of a brief cameo in Star Trek.

The character of Alex Cross is a detective and psychologist, who first appeared in Along Came a Spider, published in 1993. Morgan Freeman previously played Cross in an adaptation of that novel and the sequel Kiss the Girls. Development began in 2010 to reboot the franchise with Idris Elba originally attached as the lead.

Here, Cross (Perry) is a lieutenant in the Detroit police department and the father of two kids. Cross is mulling over a transfer to the FBI in D.C. for a profiling gig when his wife, Maria (Carmen Ejogo), elatedly announces a third child is on the way. A cushy desk job and a quiet domesticated life aren't in the cards with the arrival of a twisted serial killer calling himself the Butcher of Sligo (Matthew Fox). The Butcher has also earned the nickname of Picasso for the surreal charcoal drawings he leaves at the scene of his crimes.

While Perry will bring in many of his loyal fans, he won't win any awards for his wooden performance. He delivers the same flat line readings whether he's cracking wise with his partner and childhood friend Tommy Kane (Edward Burns once again cast as an Irish cop) or ominously throwing psychobabble terms to describe the villain ("He's a narcissistic sociopath…"). He's even less convincing as a gun-toting badass and Rob Cohen's choppy direction doesn't help. Cohen may have kicked off the Fast and Furious franchise, but his initial installment was the cheapest looking and least thrilling of the series, which got slicker and more exciting in the hands of Justin Lin. The climactic fight scene between Perry and Fox is nothing more than a series of brief and abstract close-ups.

The supporting cast with actors such as Rachel Nichols, Jean Reno, and John C. McGinley as the clichéd police captain is largely wasted. At least, Matthew Fox gets the opportunity to chew some massive scenery as a lean, mean torture machine. In spite of sharing his scenes with Perry, Giancarlo Esposito gives a good performance as a local crime lord. There's also Cicely Tyson as Cross's "Nana Mama," a role that might have been more interesting had Perry pulled double duty as Nana Mama Madea.

Alex Cross is supposed to be the start of a fresh, new franchise, yet it comes off as a stale pilot for any of run-of-the-mill police procedural clogging up network TV. There are more thrills and chills to be found in your average episode of Criminal Minds.

Rating: * (*****)

Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted

Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted – Dirs. Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath & Conrad Vernon (2012)

The Madagascar series could hardly be considered the crown jewel of Dreamworks Animation’s filmography. Shrek is its most renowned and financially successful franchise while How to Train Your Dragon is their finest achievement with Kung Fu Panda a close second.  There’s just nothing memorable about the first two Madagascar movies and the animation and art style could hardly be considered groundbreaking. It’s with great surprise that Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted is light years ahead of the previous installments and one of the better animated features of 2012.

For those unfamiliar with the series, Madagascar follows the misadventures of Alex the Lion (Ben Stiller), Marty the Zebra (Chris Rock), Gloria the Hippo (Jada Pinkett-Smith), and the nebbish Melman the Giraffe (David Schwimmer) as they escape from the Central Park Zoo. Along with a quartet of ingenuous penguins, the runaway animals find themselves on the titular island as well as the plains of Africa where Alex originated. As Europe’s Most Wanted begins, our protagonists grow home sick for their caged confines in the Big Apple and seek to return to NYC. However, their ticket home, the penguins, are enjoying the high life in Monte Carlo.

Owing to the absurdist humor of the film, Alex and the gang apparently swim all the way as they emerge in the harbor with snorkels and goggles. Upon arrival, the furry friends run afoul of a relentless animal control officer named Capt. Chantel DuBois (Frances McDormand), who appears to be a cross between Cruella de Vil and the Terminator. This leads into a manic chase through the streets and rooftops of Monte Carlo with the animals riding in a nuclear powered battle van. It all culminates with DuBois bursting through walls while a makeshift cargo plane manned by a crew of chimpanzees fires banana peels at her from a high-powered machine gun. Did I mention the absurdist humor?

From there, the plane crashes and everyone is forced to hop aboard a train of circus animals. Among the performers are the gruff tiger Vitaly (Bryan Cranston), lithe jaguar Gia (Jessica Chastain), and the dim-witted Italian seal Stefano (Martin Short). The penguins use their casino winnings to purchase the ailing circus through their proxy, two chimps disguised as the King of Versailles. Alex assumes the role of de factor ringleader as he remakes the show into the only circus owned and operated entirely by animals. But, Capt. DuBois is determined to mount a lion’s head in her ghoulish trophy room.

The off-the-wall gags and breakneck pacing are reminiscent of the classic Looney Tunes shorts. Youngsters probably won’t be cognizant of this fact; they will be too busy admiring all the shiny wackiness, especially the climax involving a flying neon circus. The soundtrack will also appeal to both young and old with hip tracks like Katy Perry’s “Firework” amidst Andrea Bocelli’s “Con Te Partiro” for a romantic montage between the lemur King Julien and a unicycle-riding, tutu-wearing bear. There’s also a scene in which DuBois fires up her troops from their debilitating injuries with a rousing rendition of “Non Je Ne Regrette Rien.”

Madagascar 3 isn't as emotionally riveting as the finer works of Pixar, but it is a colorful and highly entertaining experience.

Rating: *** (*****)