Obvious Child

Obvious Child - Dir. Gillian Robespierre (2014)

Obvious Child has reductively been referred to as the abortion rom-com. Yes, the subject plays an important part in the film, but the movie shouldn't be defined by it just as the protagonist shouldn't be defined by one act.

Obvious Child began as a 2009 short film written and directed by Gillian Robespierre and starring Jenny Slate. Robespierre is a first time director while Slate spent a season on Saturday Night Live and had recurring role on Parks and Recreation.

Slate stars as New Yorker Donna Stern, who works at a bookstore during the day and performs as a stand-up comic at night. It should go without saying that she's barely scraping by in the Big Apple. The comedy club she frequents could hardly be considered a metropolis of mirth. Donna's material usually involves intimate details from her love life, which angers her boyfriend Ryan (Paul Briganti), who breaks up with her in a dingy co-ed bathroom. To add insult to injury, he also admits to cheating on Donna for several months.

Donna deals with the situation about as well as expected. She clumsily attempts to stalk her ex, and then awkwardly rambles about the ordeal on stage. She tops off the evening by getting blazing drunk and engaging in a one-night stand with the clean cut Max (Jake Lacy). Upon discovering she's pregnant, Donna ultimately decides to have an abortion, but finds it exceedingly difficult to break the news to Max.

Mainstream movies have generally avoided the hot button issue of abortion like the plague. It's flippantly brought up for the briefest seconds in Knocked Up while the title character in Juno is sent fleeing from a clinic. The only film in recent memory to deal with the subject with any dramatic weight is Cristian Mungiu's 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days. It goes without saying that Obvious Child is on a completely different spectrum.

Robespierre's screenplay has all the earmarks of an indie comedy with plenty of cutesy, twee moments such as Donna and Max sharing a romantic piss in an alley or a fresh take on the clichéd pregnancy test scene. Robespierre doesn't treat the subject with kid gloves. Yet, she avoids sermonizing or demonizing her characters. Donna's decision isn't painted as a right or wrong one, just a decision that she makes without agonizing over it. It's a bold choice on Robespierre's part and one that will undoubtedly irk some.

Jenny Slate deserves credit for imbuing a potentially unlikeable character with such winning charm. Donna could have easily been an annoying hipster, an aimless millennial in a post-Lena Dunham world. But, no, there's a gentle quality to her in spite of a filthy stand-up act cut from the same cloth as Sarah Silverman and Amy Schumer. There's also a sweet romance blossoming between Donna and Max, the latter of whom might have been relegated to the role of bland nice guy in a more conventional rom-com.

Obvious Child is an uneven comedy and Robespierre may have been better served trimming a few bits and pieces. A scene involving David Cross as a loathsome lothario feels quite superfluous. Still, Obvious Child is a welcome change of pace to all the lowbrow comedies and effects extravaganzas cluttering the shopping mall multiplexes. The picture hinges on a solid performance by Jenny Slate and a supporting cast that includes Gaby Hoffman and Richard Kind.

Rating: ** ½ (*****)

Kung Fu Panda 2

Kung Fu Panda 2 - Dir. Jennifer Yuh (2011)

Dreamworks Animation has done a lot recently to shake off the stigma of being second banana to Pixar. Last year's How to Train Your Dragon was their best film to date and the house that Jeffrey Katzenberg built hasn't lost any momentum with Kung Fu Panda 2. Like many sequels, Kung Fu Panda 2 is a bigger and bolder production with Guillermo del Toro serving as executive producer and Charlie Kaufman (believe it or not) as script consultant. Jennifer Yuh, a storyboard artist on the original movie, directs off a script by returning writers Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger. Unlike the diminishing returns of the Shrek series, Kung Fu Panda 2 is actually better than its progenitor.

While the first film opened with a vibrant pop art prologue, Kung Fu Panda begins with a somber sequence in a paper cut out style. The opening introduces us to the movie’s villain, Lord Shen (Gary Oldman), a peacock, who was banished by his royal family for an unspeakable act of genocide. A prophecy foretold that Lord Shen would be defeated by a warrior of black and white, so he wiped out the panda population.

Meanwhile, Po (Jack Black) has grown into his role as the Dragon Warrior, fighting alongside the Furious Five in protecting the Chinese countryside from marauding bandits. However, he is plagued by repressed memories coming to light and begins questioning where he came from. Shock of all shocks, Mr. Ping (James Hong), the noodle shop goose is not the real father of his giant panda son.

These dueling storylines collide when Lord Shen returns with an army of wolves and gorillas. Utilizing gunpowder, Shen plans to destroy kung fu in order to conquer all of China.

In addition to Black, all the main heroes from the previous picture are back including Dustin Hoffman as Master Shifu, Angelina Jolie as Tigress, David Cross as Crane, Jackie Chan as Monkey, Seth Rogen as Mantis, and Lucy Liu as Viper. Joining them are Michelle Yeoh as a wise soothsayer, Danny McBride as the Wolf Boss, as well as Victor Garber, Dennis Haysbert, and Jean-Claude Van Damme as heroic martial arts masters. The voice-over work is solid all around. Black imbues the character with an exuberant energy that’s been lacking in his recent live-action ventures. Gary Oldman is gleefully villainous returning to the type of scene-chewing performance that made his turn in The Professional so deliciously evil. You half expect him to scream, ”EVERYONE”, at his henchmen. Jolie’s hardcore Tigress shows she has a soft and squishy side as the story hints at a blossoming romance between her and Po. The best performance though belongs to the prolific James Hong. His scenes with Black are funny, touching, and form the emotional core of the film. Unfortunately, with so many characters involved not everyone receives their fair share of the spotlight. Liu and Chan, in particular, only get a handful of lines.

The animation of Kung Fu Panda 2 is extraordinary. Dreamworks mixed CG with anime influenced hand-drawn animation and the result is a gorgeous feast for the eyes. The backgrounds are beautifully rendered from the misty mountains to the classic Chinese architecture of Gongmen City. This is one of the rare instances when I’ll say that the 3D actually enhanced the experience with the visuals possessing a very noticeable depth of field. The action is spectacular with elaborate fight sequences featuring the Furious Five battling wave after wave of enemies. The biggest set piece has to be a scene in which our heroes attempt to escape a toppling tower while fireworks explode all around them.

Kung Fu Panda followed the traditional hero’s journey and its sequel further explores the mythology of the universe. Kung Fu Panda 2 hits on a variety of emotions and is a darker than the original (Del Toro’s influence?) and a bit more surreal. A dream sequence involving Po battling a radish feels like it sprung from the imaginative mind of Kaufman. Even with all the amazing action sequences, Kung Fu Panda 2 never loses its sense of heart. Aside from a nod to Pac-Man, the writers avoid the snarky, anachronistic references that become the crutch for the uncreative. Highly recommended for adults and kids alike.

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

Megamind

Megamind - Dir. Todd McGrath (2010)

Dreamworks Animation always seems to play second banana to the juggernaut known as Pixar. It's not surprising that Katzenberg and company would be drawn to the story of an ingenious protagonist forced to constantly live in the shadow of a more popular rival.

Will Ferrell heads the all-star cast as the titular Megamind, a blue-skinned, cranially-enhanced supervillain who has plagued Metro City for years. The one person who stands in the way of Megamind's quest for world domination is the heroic and square-jawed Metro Man (Brad Pitt). Their feud has been raging since they were babies. On a far away planet, a couple launches their infant son towards the Earth in a rocketship shortly before their solar system is destroyed by a collapsing star. Meanwhile, another couple on a nearby planet has the same idea. Baby Metro Man lands safe and sound in an opulent mansion where he is raised by loving parents. Baby Megamind's ship is knocked off course and lands in a prison yard. There, the inmates teach the young lad their own twisted sense of right and wrong. Their rivalry extended to grade school as young Metro Man is praised by his classmates and teacher while young Megamind gets quiet time in the corner due to his malfunctioning inventions.

Cut to present day where Metro Man is honored by Metro City with the grand opening of a Metro Man museum. The festivities are interrupted when Megamind once again abducts news reporter Roxanne Ritchi (Tina Fey). As the Lois Lane of the story, she's grown a blasé attitude to playing the damsel in distress, especially knowing Megamind always loses. That is, until now. Megamind traps Metro Man inside a dome made out of copper, which turns out to be the superhero's one weakness. A death ray fires from above and blasts Metro Man into smithereens.

Along with his right-hand fish, Minion (David Cross), a talking piranha who moves about in a robotic gorilla suit, Megamind struts through the streets of Metro City to the tune of AC/DC's "Highway to Hell." However, his elation turns into a melancholy funk when he realizes evil isn't as much fun without someone to challenge him. Megamind devises a scheme to create a new costumed do-gooder to replace Metro Man. The plan goes predictably awry after Roxanne's goofball cameraman, Hal Stewart (Jonah Hill), is given superpowers. Now known as Titan (though he misspells it as 'Tighten'), Hal decides that destroying the city would be way more cool. Thus, Megamind is forced into the unfamiliar territory of playing the good guy.

Just as Shrek had a fractured take on fairy tales, Megamind plays fast and loose with the conventions of the superhero genre. Director Tom McGrath ("Madagascar") and screenwriters Alan J. Schoolcraft and Brent Simons crib the Superman mythos frequently, from the opening origin sequence to the archetypes of the main characters. Ferrell even gets to riff on Marlon Brando as Jor-El when he dons a holographic disguise to play Tighten's "Space Dad." The disguise looks more like Ted Kennedy with a pompadour than it does the late-Brando though. Comic book heroes aren't the only ones to get jabbed as the writers sprinkle plenty of pop culture references into the film. Some are obscure (Minion's body is meant to evoke the 1953 B-movie Robot Monster, the name Hal Stewart refers to two popular Green Lanterns) and others will get a chuckle (there's a twisted take on the iconic Obama posters and a quick Donkey Kong inspired action scene), but most fall flat, such as a final dance montage set to Michael Jackson's "Bad." Do all of Dreamworks' animated movies have to end with a dance party?

The story may not be particularly captivating, but the animation in Megamind is exceptional and the character designs are reminiscent of Monsters vs. Aliens. I found myself noticing minor details that I normally don't such as skin tones and the sheen of Megamind's bald, blue skull. Another scene featuring Metro Man flying between the skyscrapers of Metro City is almost breathtaking as are the action sequences. The titanic tussles cause mass destruction and it is all exceptionally detailed. The color palette of Megamind still managed to be bright and sharp, despite the fact that the 3D process tends to dull the images. While I'm not a huge proponent of 3D, the work here is very well done. The animators have created a clear depth of field without the 3D becoming obtrusive.

Megamind features some lush visuals and if eye candy is what you crave, I'd say see it at a theater armed with an excellent 3D projector. The kiddies will likely have a good time as evidenced by the happy rugrats that attended the same screening as I did. However, if you're looking for substance over style and you don't have children, then Megamind should be considered rental material. The animation is great and the voice work solid (with Ferrell bringing his trademark inflections and humor), but the script substitutes real jokes with the same type of tired pop culture references that sunk another Dreamworks' production, Shark Tale.

Pixar already said all there needed to be said about animated superhero movies with The Incredibles. In terms of 'supervillain turned good' movies, Megamind pales in comparison to Universal's Despicable Me. Ranking Dreamworks' 2010 slate, Megamind rates well above Shrek Forever After, but fails to reach the quality of How to Train Your Dragon, one of the year's best films. A mish-mash of unrealized ideas, Megamind lacks the heart and the wit to truly succeed on those levels.

Rating: **