I’m now able to get out and do things, and used part of that freedom to catch a couple flicks, so I thought I’d review them for you!
Ratatouille The best Pixar movie yet! I can’t think of a single bad thing to say about it- the story is an excellent mixture of comedy and pathos, never allowing either slapstick or tear-jerking to dominate. The visuals are stunning- although most of the human characters resemble Sims characters, all of the sets and backgrounds feel three dimensional, are perfectly lighted and shadowed, and so realistic that they actually had to include in the credits a disclaimer that the movie was 100% animated; there were no retouched photographs or Rotoscoping. Like all Pixar projects, there was plenty to please children and adults alike, and the story could be appreciated at several levels
Harry Potter: The Order of the Phoenix I have mixed feelings about this one. It had the usual Harry Potter quality effects and acting, but moved so quickly and with so little explanation that I’m afraid that if you didn’t already know what was going on, you’d likely get lost. But this effect was unavoidable. I have a number of TV and movie scripts, along with the studio format instructions- page layout, type fonts and sizes, etc.- and they are designed so that it averages one page per minute of finished show. (this makes early directorial decisions easier) This means that the average movie is 100-150 pages long... and “The Order of the Phoenix” is an 870 page novel! Remember that little detail before complaining about how many story lines were deleted or compressed to a single line of dialogue. I think they did the best they could without converting it into a miniseries.
4 comments:
TheCSO and I saw Harry Potter with the Chalicerelative, who had only seen the first one and barely remembered it. (But then, is there anyone in America who doesn't know the basic outlines of the first movie?)
She was OK. But throughout the movie, I wondered if she was lost.
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I adored Helena Bonham Carter. I don't think they could have better cast that role.
I'm glad I didn't reread the book before seeing the movie for the reasons you mention - I would have sat there wishing the movie could have been 8 hrs long so that nothing would have needed to be cut out. As it is, I enjoyed it very much for what it was. :)
I'd recommend seeing Ratatouille without a squirmy seven year old great-niece sitting next to you, if you want to enjoy the movie. She wanted to be on my lap a lot but could not sit quietly for long. So I sacrificed the movie for the contact with this little girl, which I loved. I will have to see the movie again in order to experience it, rather than the essence of a darling little girl. I love the little girl too much to choose the movie! There will be other chances to see Remy and Co.
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