What makes the Despicable Me films so engaging and attractive is the fact that they have a lot of heart. They feature an evil villain who changes his life because he has found love--not in a soulmate, but in 3 girls that he adopts.
This prequel movie tells the origin of the minions and how their journey up until they meet Gru. They can't seem to keep a villainous master, but then then they meet Scarlet Overkill (Sandra Bullock), who is the baddest of them all. She hires the minions as her henchmen and orders them to steal Queen Elizabeth II's crown.
The minions are adorable and hilarious, but there's more to a movie than that. We need that extra dynamic that Gru (Steve Carell) provides us with in Despicable Me. He plays the straight-man to the minions' ridiculousness. Bullock didn't work well as the voice of Scarlett Overkill. There was no playing off of each other between her and the minions. She was actually quite annoying. The first act was really entertaining and funny, but once they start working for Overkill, the film drops the ball a little bit.
Among that, the script has a few obvious plot holes and head scratchers, and the plot is really scatterbrained in general. And without the smooth score of Pharrell Williams, Minions just doesn't have that charismatic oomph of the Despicable Me films.
Minions is funny, but does so without the emotional attachment of its source material. I felt very disconnected to the characters. Obviously, we're rooting for the minions, but there isn't really anything at stake. It simply just acts as an origin story and nothing else.
I do applaud the direction for the impressive coherence despite not being able to understand the minions due to the fact that they don't speak English. But overall, we see that as adorable as the minions are, we need the whole package.
Twizard Rating: 74
The visuals are just serene in this 2003 Pixar installment. We get a great story of love, sacrifice, and acceptance. The film already captures our attention in the first act with some tragic events. But the great thing is, we're sucked in despite the absence of the movie's great characters. This is back when Pixar, much to our good fortune, used to rely on its plethora of fun characters. While nowadays they're just seeming to become less musical Disney films. But Finding Nemo is when Pixar first started making its influence of Shrek known. The jokes become more abundant--both subtle and forthright. The comedy took greater risks and involved more self-parody and a little more potty humor. Before Shrek, animated movies were all trying to mimic what Toy Story did--provide us with a very classy story and warm comedy. And nowadays those films strive to find a happy balance between Toy Story and Shrek.
But Finding Nemo doesn't shy away from warmth either. The oceanic cinematography makes you feel like you're in the ocean as well. You even develop a good sense of direction of where everything is.
The characters are about as deep as you can go in an animated movie--with the exception, maybe, being Toy Story.
There's not really anything that doesn't work. This is an amazing family film that both parents and kids will enjoy. Another Pixar classic.
Twizard Rating: 100
When
writing a script you're not supposed to be too vague, but you're also
not supposed to be too obvious by not letting the audience figure things
out for themselves--especially the obvious things. But this film loves
to reiterate the apparent. The dialogue is painfully bad, and even corny
a lot of the time, and unfortunately these mistakes aren't obvious
enough for most critics who have been blinded by a Disney film to see
that this script is below par. Usually Disney does a really good job of
not dumbing down its dialogue for kids--or to kids--but it definitely
fails at that here. That's not to say that many of the scenarios and
much of the humor haven't been written to appeal to both young and old.
In fact, this movie did a good job of making the adults laugh too.
Also
speaking of the negative, this film has a hard time with character
consistency. These consistencies are vital for invoking emotion when
needed and for giving our heart a tug when something sad or moving
happens. The archetypes feel forced and the script veers away from
certain characters' tendencies for the convenience of a given situation.
This, along with a couple of nitpicked plot holes, should be a writer's
nightmare. For instance, it takes Hero (a genius) 30 minutes of screen
time to suspect that Alistair Krei was the one that stole his
technology--the most obvious initial candidate to be the masked
villain--when it takes the audience 30 seconds to start suspecting it. I
understand that they stall Hero's suspicion in order to prevent the
audience from ruling it out right away as a decoy, but it doesn't help
my issues with the script. Although Disney has outdone themselves in the
art and effects departments, it seems like they cut corners in revising
the screenplay.
I will say that Baymax is the absolute highlight
of this film. Without him this film would have suffered a lot, and it's
easy to say that because the premise wasn't revolving around him
necessarily. (Meaning, they could have hypothetically made a film called
Big Hero 5 that would have made it into the can). This movie's
entertainment value increases rapidly once we establish Baymax as a
permanent figure in this film.
The story is nicely paced and moves
in the right direction for pretty much the whole film, I just think
that it could have underwent some more rigorous rewordings in the
writing department.
Twizard Rating: 79
Visually, this The BoxTrolls is next-to-perfect aesthetically. As far as the content of this film is concerned, it's entertaining and intriguing. However, it's not always laugh-out-loud funny. Charming would be a good word to describe it. It makes you smile a ton and has its fill of memorable characters, but there just aren't a whole lot of memorable scenes. You also can't help feeling like the plot is being stretched too thin, as there isn't a whole lot that happens in this movie, and the runtime is still pretty short. Sure, much of it is used to establish setting, but it could have definitely ended sooner. The final "battle" scene dragged on for too long.
The visuals create a perfect world for itself and I commend it for its beauty, I just wish it was a little more memorable. However, it is rewatchable, which counts for a lot and will, in turn, etch it into my head easier.
Twizard Rating: 88
I really don't like when films are like this. You know the type--when it's all against one and everyone is opposing the main character. Kinda like Meet the Parents--except the humor in that film was way too good for it to matter, and the ending was so conclusive that it was worth the trouble. In THIS movie, the ending is all but heartwarming and it's definitely not worth all the trouble. I mean, when it gets to the point where even his wife takes everyone else's side it just makes you genuinely mad and frustrated, and it makes the film painful to watch.
The script is below average and there are way too many subplots. The wife's attitude towards everything that's happening is too wishy washy and inconsistent. Nigel's scenes are too few and far between, as he is hands down the highlight of this movie. All of the scenes that are funny are the ones with him in it--which in itself would make me not completely against watching this movie again. Also, the songs are really fun.
Overall, there may be a nice message, but it just doesn't have the same originality that the first one had. Kids will love it because of the attractive visuals and colorful characters, but parents will mostly be bored with the exception of the toe-tapping music.
Twizard Rating: 65
