All that comes with it » disney http://allthatcomeswithit.com Wed, 23 May 2012 21:32:37 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Blu-ray review: The Princess and the Frog http://allthatcomeswithit.com/archives/2648 http://allthatcomeswithit.com/archives/2648#comments Sat, 14 Aug 2010 17:42:20 +0000 Dan http://allthatcomeswithit.com/?p=2648 I’ve said it before, but there is too much CGI in modern kids entertainment.

In itself I don’t object to CGI animation. In fact some of the finest films of all time were computer generated – specifically every single film produced by Pixar: Up, Wall-E, Incredibles, Monster’s Inc, Finding Nemo, the Toy Story franchise, etc etc.

But there is an art and beauty to other forms of animation that is at risk of being neglected. Would Wallace and Grommet be as charming if they were made of pixels rather than plasticine? No, they wouldn’t.

Similarly cell animation has gradually been lost from our cinema screens, which is a crying shame. And what’s worse is that it’s becoming increasingly rare on our TV screens too. It’s not on the endangered list quite yet (Look at the magnificent Phineas and Ferb for an example of exceptionally high quality cell animated contemporary kids cartoons).

In 2009 Disney released The Princess and the Frog, their first cell animated movie since 2004′s Home on the Range (a film I still haven’t seen). I imagine that Disney intended it to be a sort of experiment to see if audiences still had a taste for traditional looking animation.

It wasn’t an overwhelming success, but did make a profit once worldwide revenues were taken into account and lead to reports of Disney deciding on a policy of releasing one hand drawn movie every two years. However I’ve seen no talk of any upcoming traditionally animated releases, so we should perhaps take those reports with a pinch of salt.

So is The Princess and the Frog any good? Well yes it is.

Here’s a plot synopsis shamelessly stolen from Wikipedia:

The film’s plot concerns a prince named Naveen from the land of Maldonia, who is transformed into a frog by the evil scheming voodoo magician Dr. Facilier . The frog prince mistakes a girl named Tiana for a princess and has her kiss him to break the spell. The kiss does not break the spell, but instead turns Tiana into a frog as well. Together, the two of them must reach the good voodoo queen of the deepest, darkest part of the Bayou, Mama Odie, while befriending a trumpet-playing alligator Louis and a hopelessly romantic Cajun firefly named Ray along the way.

The Princess and the Frog is set in New Orleans, and sports a suitably jazzy soundtrack by Randy Newman. I’m a big fan of Newman and have a real fondness for both Cajun music and New Orleans style jazz and so, despite my usual distaste for musicals, it managed to get my toe tapping and head nodding throughout many of the numbers. Additionally Prince Naveen played a pretty mean ukulele throughout the film, and as we all know there is nothing that can’t be improved with a good bit of uke.

Still from The Princess and the Frog

The characters are strong and humorous. Of particular note is Tiana who, as well as being Disney’s first black lead heroine, was an incredibly positive female role model. I also was a big fan of Ray the firefly, played by Jim Cummings. I can’t remember where it was, but I recently heard someone talking about how animation studios should rely more on specialized voice actors rather than celebrities to provide voices for their movies, and this movie certainly bears this theory out. Aside from John Goodman and Anika Noni Rose there were no well know names in the cast (oh and a Oprah Winfrey cameo too).

The animation is stunning, and there are a number of scenes that are almost breathtaking. And they are all the more enjoyable for the nostalgia that the animation provokes. It all looks pretty damn special on Blu-Ray too, as crisp and vibrant as I’ve come to expect from the format. In fact I’d argue that animation is just about the perfect genre for blu-ray as get the picture quality without having to stare at the actors pores and pimples.

So any bad bits? Well, not specifically, but The Princess and the Frog doesn’t feel like it has as much, I dunno, heart as some of the older traditionally animated movies from Disney. Nor does it have that multi age range appeal that the Pixar films do. I’d think nothing of sticking Toy Story or Wall-E on the blu-ray player when the kids weren’t home, but I’d feel a bit wet doing that with The Princess and the Frog. That’s hardly a fair criticism though, as it’s not many films on this earth that can compare to a Pixar one anyhow.

So in summery, The Princess and the Frog is a welcome return to traditional animation by Disney, and one that is very worthy of joining their very impressive stable. The music is great, the animation wonderful, and the characters and plot engaging and humorous. Plus it has ukuleles in it, you don’t get much better than that.

[rating:8/10]

If you would like to buy The Princess and the Frog then you can do so on blu-ray here
and on DVD here.

Disclaimer
I received a copy of The Princess and the Frog on blu-ray to review. I also got given a blu-ray player by Disney around a year ago in order to review their releases. However the opinions expressed in this review are honest and I have felt no pressure from Disney to provide a positive review.

Also if you buy it from one of the links I’ve given I get an extremely small kickback from Amazon

Related posts:

  1. Movie Review: Tangled
  2. Blu-ray review: Bolt
  3. Movie Review: The Tooth Fairy

Related posts:
  1. Movie Review: Tangled
  2. Blu-ray review: Bolt
  3. Movie Review: The Tooth Fairy
]]> I’ve said it before, but there is too much CGI in modern kids entertainment.

In itself I don’t object to CGI animation. In fact some of the finest films of all time were computer generated – specifically every single film produced by Pixar: Up, Wall-E, Incredibles, Monster’s Inc, Finding Nemo, the Toy Story franchise, etc etc.

But there is an art and beauty to other forms of animation that is at risk of being neglected. Would Wallace and Grommet be as charming if they were made of pixels rather than plasticine? No, they wouldn’t.

Similarly cell animation has gradually been lost from our cinema screens, which is a crying shame. And what’s worse is that it’s becoming increasingly rare on our TV screens too. It’s not on the endangered list quite yet (Look at the magnificent Phineas and Ferb for an example of exceptionally high quality cell animated contemporary kids cartoons).

In 2009 Disney released The Princess and the Frog, their first cell animated movie since 2004′s Home on the Range (a film I still haven’t seen). I imagine that Disney intended it to be a sort of experiment to see if audiences still had a taste for traditional looking animation.

It wasn’t an overwhelming success, but did make a profit once worldwide revenues were taken into account and lead to reports of Disney deciding on a policy of releasing one hand drawn movie every two years. However I’ve seen no talk of any upcoming traditionally animated releases, so we should perhaps take those reports with a pinch of salt.

So is The Princess and the Frog any good? Well yes it is.

Here’s a plot synopsis shamelessly stolen from Wikipedia:

The film’s plot concerns a prince named Naveen from the land of Maldonia, who is transformed into a frog by the evil scheming voodoo magician Dr. Facilier . The frog prince mistakes a girl named Tiana for a princess and has her kiss him to break the spell. The kiss does not break the spell, but instead turns Tiana into a frog as well. Together, the two of them must reach the good voodoo queen of the deepest, darkest part of the Bayou, Mama Odie, while befriending a trumpet-playing alligator Louis and a hopelessly romantic Cajun firefly named Ray along the way.

The Princess and the Frog is set in New Orleans, and sports a suitably jazzy soundtrack by Randy Newman. I’m a big fan of Newman and have a real fondness for both Cajun music and New Orleans style jazz and so, despite my usual distaste for musicals, it managed to get my toe tapping and head nodding throughout many of the numbers. Additionally Prince Naveen played a pretty mean ukulele throughout the film, and as we all know there is nothing that can’t be improved with a good bit of uke.

Still from The Princess and the Frog

The characters are strong and humorous. Of particular note is Tiana who, as well as being Disney’s first black lead heroine, was an incredibly positive female role model. I also was a big fan of Ray the firefly, played by Jim Cummings. I can’t remember where it was, but I recently heard someone talking about how animation studios should rely more on specialized voice actors rather than celebrities to provide voices for their movies, and this movie certainly bears this theory out. Aside from John Goodman and Anika Noni Rose there were no well know names in the cast (oh and a Oprah Winfrey cameo too).

The animation is stunning, and there are a number of scenes that are almost breathtaking. And they are all the more enjoyable for the nostalgia that the animation provokes. It all looks pretty damn special on Blu-Ray too, as crisp and vibrant as I’ve come to expect from the format. In fact I’d argue that animation is just about the perfect genre for blu-ray as get the picture quality without having to stare at the actors pores and pimples.

So any bad bits? Well, not specifically, but The Princess and the Frog doesn’t feel like it has as much, I dunno, heart as some of the older traditionally animated movies from Disney. Nor does it have that multi age range appeal that the Pixar films do. I’d think nothing of sticking Toy Story or Wall-E on the blu-ray player when the kids weren’t home, but I’d feel a bit wet doing that with The Princess and the Frog. That’s hardly a fair criticism though, as it’s not many films on this earth that can compare to a Pixar one anyhow.

So in summery, The Princess and the Frog is a welcome return to traditional animation by Disney, and one that is very worthy of joining their very impressive stable. The music is great, the animation wonderful, and the characters and plot engaging and humorous. Plus it has ukuleles in it, you don’t get much better than that.

[rating:8/10]

If you would like to buy The Princess and the Frog then you can do so on blu-ray here
and on DVD here.

Disclaimer
I received a copy of The Princess and the Frog on blu-ray to review. I also got given a blu-ray player by Disney around a year ago in order to review their releases. However the opinions expressed in this review are honest and I have felt no pressure from Disney to provide a positive review.

Also if you buy it from one of the links I’ve given I get an extremely small kickback from Amazon

Related posts:

  1. Movie Review: Tangled
  2. Blu-ray review: Bolt
  3. Movie Review: The Tooth Fairy

]]> http://allthatcomeswithit.com/archives/2648/feed 6 Aspirations http://allthatcomeswithit.com/archives/1730 http://allthatcomeswithit.com/archives/1730#comments Tue, 06 Oct 2009 09:10:20 +0000 Dan http://allthatcomeswithit.com/?p=1730 If you ask Amy what she wants to be when she grows up she’ll give you one of two answers – either “a famous pop star” or “a horse riding teacher”.

It’s very hard not to take these responses as a indication that I’ve failed as a father. I’ve already blogged at length about my dislike of the horsey set. And as for aspirations of pop stardom – well let me assure you, if Simon Cowell or his ilk came within an inch of my daughter then I’d give them jolly good punch up the bracket.

But really Amy’s aspirations aren’t really my fault – it’s society wots to blame. Well, society and the Disney Corporation.

Hanna Montana is a bloody awful program. The acting is dire, the plotlines and humor humdrum, and the overall production values are just plain bland. What’s worse is that it implants the all pervasive obsession with fame and stardom into minds that are just too young. It contributes to that overwhelming modern pressure that drives girls towards adulthood far too early. And that is not good. It’s not good at all.

And furthermore, because it has the full force of the Disney marketing machine behind it, it can often seem like it permeates every single aspect of a child’s life. I challenge you to walk through a UK supermarket and not be able to find a Hannah Montana piece of merchandising on every single shelf. Shampoo, spaghetti shapes, tissue paper, magazines, sweets, donuts, it’s all there for the eager consumer.

I don’t approve of Hannah Montana.

So why do I let Amy watch it then? Because I’m weak, that’s why. And because I’m too liberal to start banning things in our house without a lengthy period of angst and indecision. As much as I’d love to indoctrinate my kids into liking only Peppa Pig, Laurel and Hardy, and Fraggle Rock I just can’t bring myself to enforce any form of cultural dictatorship. We’ve banned Bratz, but that was an easy one – anyone with half a clue can see though the camouflage and recognise the poisonous toxins beneath that particular product.

But Hannah Montanna, High School Musical, and all the rest are a little more complex than that. They walk their path in a very grey area, and if you start banning those you’re on a rocky road that can eventually see you smugly proclaiming that you only allow your children half an hour of television a week, and only then to watch a nature documentary hosted by that nice Mr Attenborough

So the theory is that the values that Kerry and I instil in our children should counteract any negative stereotyping she gets exposed to through popular culture. But I don’t know sometimes if that’s enough. Popular culture seems pretty big and powerful and we as parents seem pretty small. Plus we’re human, and therefore horribly inconsistent ad flawed (especially me).

As a society there has never been a time when our children have been more exposed to such powerful, pervasive, and homogenised cultural influences. I have no answers, but really hope our kids can stay kids as long as they can, and that they come out ok on the other side.

IMG_6721

No related posts.

No related posts.]]> If you ask Amy what she wants to be when she grows up she’ll give you one of two answers – either “a famous pop star” or “a horse riding teacher”.

It’s very hard not to take these responses as a indication that I’ve failed as a father. I’ve already blogged at length about my dislike of the horsey set. And as for aspirations of pop stardom – well let me assure you, if Simon Cowell or his ilk came within an inch of my daughter then I’d give them jolly good punch up the bracket.

But really Amy’s aspirations aren’t really my fault – it’s society wots to blame. Well, society and the Disney Corporation.

Hanna Montana is a bloody awful program. The acting is dire, the plotlines and humor humdrum, and the overall production values are just plain bland. What’s worse is that it implants the all pervasive obsession with fame and stardom into minds that are just too young. It contributes to that overwhelming modern pressure that drives girls towards adulthood far too early. And that is not good. It’s not good at all.

And furthermore, because it has the full force of the Disney marketing machine behind it, it can often seem like it permeates every single aspect of a child’s life. I challenge you to walk through a UK supermarket and not be able to find a Hannah Montana piece of merchandising on every single shelf. Shampoo, spaghetti shapes, tissue paper, magazines, sweets, donuts, it’s all there for the eager consumer.

I don’t approve of Hannah Montana.

So why do I let Amy watch it then? Because I’m weak, that’s why. And because I’m too liberal to start banning things in our house without a lengthy period of angst and indecision. As much as I’d love to indoctrinate my kids into liking only Peppa Pig, Laurel and Hardy, and Fraggle Rock I just can’t bring myself to enforce any form of cultural dictatorship. We’ve banned Bratz, but that was an easy one – anyone with half a clue can see though the camouflage and recognise the poisonous toxins beneath that particular product.

But Hannah Montanna, High School Musical, and all the rest are a little more complex than that. They walk their path in a very grey area, and if you start banning those you’re on a rocky road that can eventually see you smugly proclaiming that you only allow your children half an hour of television a week, and only then to watch a nature documentary hosted by that nice Mr Attenborough

So the theory is that the values that Kerry and I instil in our children should counteract any negative stereotyping she gets exposed to through popular culture. But I don’t know sometimes if that’s enough. Popular culture seems pretty big and powerful and we as parents seem pretty small. Plus we’re human, and therefore horribly inconsistent ad flawed (especially me).

As a society there has never been a time when our children have been more exposed to such powerful, pervasive, and homogenised cultural influences. I have no answers, but really hope our kids can stay kids as long as they can, and that they come out ok on the other side.

IMG_6721

No related posts.

]]> http://allthatcomeswithit.com/archives/1730/feed 58 Blu-ray review: Bolt http://allthatcomeswithit.com/archives/1564 http://allthatcomeswithit.com/archives/1564#comments Mon, 13 Jul 2009 00:00:14 +0000 Dan http://allthatcomeswithit.com/?p=1564 When boiled down to it’s elements Bolt is made of the same ingredients as Beverly Hills Chihuahua. The protagonist is a dog which has been ripped out of it’s comfort zone, the sidekick a reluctant and world weary ally, the plot surrounds the heros efforts to get back to it’s owners (in LA no less), and there is a strong motif of “finding your bark” running through both films.

But the difference is, Bolt works.

The story is well paced, the protagonists sympathetic, the comedy funny, and the tragedy poignant. Sure, it doesn’t break any molds as far as plot goes; but it’s a kids film, it doesn’t need to. It’s story of love lost and then regained, an archetypical tale that never goes stale.

To steal a synopsis from the mighty Wikipedia:

The film’s plot centers on a small white dog named Bolt who, having spent his entire life on the set of a television series, thinks that he has super powers. When he believes that his human, Penny, has been kidnapped, he sets out on a cross-country journey to “rescue” her.

The vocal acting was very good. I was particularly taken by Mark Walton as Rhino the hamster, but even have to give a grudging nod of respect to the normally excruciating Miley Cyrus who portrayed Penny, Bolt’s owner, excellently.

And the animation? Well I must admit that I approached the movie expecting something a little under par. Despite being a Disney film, Bolt did not have any input from Pixar studios and so I wasn’t anticipating anything overly spectacular. Other non Pixar CGI films include Chicken Little and Meet the Robinsons which, while they were perfectly acceptable, didn’t really raise the bar as far as moving the genre of CGI forward.

But the animation in Bolt was spectacular. It could have something to do with the Blu-ray but blimey, the first ten minutes of the movie really took my breath away. it wasn’t so much the rendering of the character’s themselves (although they were great), but the backgrounds. Wonderfully realistic textures that meshed exquisitely with the main action. The cinematography was pretty damn good too. Visually the movie was very satisfying.

I’ve read a few negative reviews from my fellow Disney reviewers criticizing the movie for being overly melancholic and even a bit hypocritical (the villains of the piece being a large money driven movie studio, a bit like Disney in fact). To them I say a respectful pish and piffle. Bolt’s a great film, a bit sad in places true and there is a certain irony to it if you’re in a cynical enough mood. But it’s overwhelming message is that of doing the best you can with what you’ve got, and that seems a good enough thing to be teaching my kids to me.

Related posts:

  1. Blu-ray review: Wall-E
  2. Blu-ray review: High School Musical 3
  3. Blu-ray review: Beverly Hills Chihuahua

Related posts:
  1. Blu-ray review: Wall-E
  2. Blu-ray review: High School Musical 3
  3. Blu-ray review: Beverly Hills Chihuahua
]]> When boiled down to it’s elements Bolt is made of the same ingredients as Beverly Hills Chihuahua. The protagonist is a dog which has been ripped out of it’s comfort zone, the sidekick a reluctant and world weary ally, the plot surrounds the heros efforts to get back to it’s owners (in LA no less), and there is a strong motif of “finding your bark” running through both films.

But the difference is, Bolt works.

The story is well paced, the protagonists sympathetic, the comedy funny, and the tragedy poignant. Sure, it doesn’t break any molds as far as plot goes; but it’s a kids film, it doesn’t need to. It’s story of love lost and then regained, an archetypical tale that never goes stale.

To steal a synopsis from the mighty Wikipedia:

The film’s plot centers on a small white dog named Bolt who, having spent his entire life on the set of a television series, thinks that he has super powers. When he believes that his human, Penny, has been kidnapped, he sets out on a cross-country journey to “rescue” her.

The vocal acting was very good. I was particularly taken by Mark Walton as Rhino the hamster, but even have to give a grudging nod of respect to the normally excruciating Miley Cyrus who portrayed Penny, Bolt’s owner, excellently.

And the animation? Well I must admit that I approached the movie expecting something a little under par. Despite being a Disney film, Bolt did not have any input from Pixar studios and so I wasn’t anticipating anything overly spectacular. Other non Pixar CGI films include Chicken Little and Meet the Robinsons which, while they were perfectly acceptable, didn’t really raise the bar as far as moving the genre of CGI forward.

But the animation in Bolt was spectacular. It could have something to do with the Blu-ray but blimey, the first ten minutes of the movie really took my breath away. it wasn’t so much the rendering of the character’s themselves (although they were great), but the backgrounds. Wonderfully realistic textures that meshed exquisitely with the main action. The cinematography was pretty damn good too. Visually the movie was very satisfying.

I’ve read a few negative reviews from my fellow Disney reviewers criticizing the movie for being overly melancholic and even a bit hypocritical (the villains of the piece being a large money driven movie studio, a bit like Disney in fact). To them I say a respectful pish and piffle. Bolt’s a great film, a bit sad in places true and there is a certain irony to it if you’re in a cynical enough mood. But it’s overwhelming message is that of doing the best you can with what you’ve got, and that seems a good enough thing to be teaching my kids to me.

Related posts:

  1. Blu-ray review: Wall-E
  2. Blu-ray review: High School Musical 3
  3. Blu-ray review: Beverly Hills Chihuahua

]]> http://allthatcomeswithit.com/archives/1564/feed 17 Blu-ray review: Beverly Hills Chihuahua http://allthatcomeswithit.com/archives/1425 http://allthatcomeswithit.com/archives/1425#comments Thu, 25 Jun 2009 10:36:06 +0000 Dan http://allthatcomeswithit.com/?p=1425

Just why the commissioning producers thought that that a film entitled Beverly Hills Chihuahua would draw in an audience is a mystery to me. The very prospect of watching it instilled me with dread as I put the disk into the Blu-ray machine and I’m sure I wouldn’t be alone in that.

Other films in the talking animals genre feature cute animals like pigs (Babe) or parrots (Paulie), and of course Dalmatians (Full Metal Jacket). Chihuahuas however are not cute, they are pretty much repellent as is the vacuous celebrity culture that appears to have adopted them.

So, perhaps unfairly, this film had quite a bit of ground to make up with me even before it started.

So did it pluckily beat the odds and win over the sullen heart of this cold blooded cynic?

Well no, not really.

It was OK I suppose. The acting was reasonable and some of the characters were entertaining, if not a little by-the-numbers( I’m always a sucker for the gruff veteran with a heart of gold and took a particular shine to Delgado, an ex German Shepard police-dog voiced by Andy Garcia).

The plot is your basic fish out of water story, with spoiled Chihuahua Cloe (voiced by Drew Barrymore) getting lost in Mexico and finding her way home whilst being pursued by an evil dog-fighter and his demonic doberman El Diablo (voiced by Admiral Adama from Battlestar Galactica interestingly enough). There are no surprises and no upsets in the story line, which to be honest is fine. Well worn plots are like well worn footpaths; they are worn because they are pleasant to follow. The thing I object to is the lack of humor in the piece.

On the odd occasion Kerry cracked a smile, but I was pretty stoney faced through the whole affair. The obligatory comedy duo was present (in the guise of a rat and an iguana voiced by Cheech Marin and Paul Rodriguez ), but were underused and ineffectual.

But my main issue with the film was that I just couldn’t get over my distaste for the core conceit of having a Chihuahua as the central character. So to be fair the film never really stood a chance with me. If you’re into yappy little dogs that look like rats but without the charm, then you never know, this film may hit all your buttons.

Scanning through other reviews on the internet I noticed that many people were critical of the movies stereotypical treatment of Mexico. This surprised me as I really didn’t pick up on that at all, in fact I thought the movie was relatively enlightened. A fair proportion of the dialogue was in Spanish, and the main human character’s prejudices against Mexicans were held up and challenged quite early on in the film. The mexican police in particular were treated as being competent and modern rather than unsophisticated idiots from a third world country as I’ve seen in other movies. Of course I’m no expert in these things, Mexican stereotyping is probably a lot more basic here in the UK than I imagine it is in the States. I find the further you get away from a country the more unsubtle and broad your archetypes surrounding that place become. Our racial stereotypes of the Scottish are a lot more intricate and refined than those we hold about Eskimos for example.

As always with movies I’ve seen on blu-ray, the picture quality was excellent. The only criticism I have is the length of time it takes to actually start playing, but that’s the same with all of the discs I’ve used and I imagine is something to do with the sheer amount of information that’s stored on it. I’m sure that will improve as time and the technology moves forward

You can buy the Beverly Hills Chihuahua Blu-ray for about £15 on amazon.co.uk. Amazon also do a pretty good range of Blu-ray players as well should you fancy one.

Related posts:

  1. Blu-ray review: Bolt
  2. Blu-ray review: Wall-E
  3. Blu-ray review: High School Musical 3

Related posts:
  1. Blu-ray review: Bolt
  2. Blu-ray review: Wall-E
  3. Blu-ray review: High School Musical 3
]]>

Just why the commissioning producers thought that that a film entitled Beverly Hills Chihuahua would draw in an audience is a mystery to me. The very prospect of watching it instilled me with dread as I put the disk into the Blu-ray machine and I’m sure I wouldn’t be alone in that.

Other films in the talking animals genre feature cute animals like pigs (Babe) or parrots (Paulie), and of course Dalmatians (Full Metal Jacket). Chihuahuas however are not cute, they are pretty much repellent as is the vacuous celebrity culture that appears to have adopted them.

So, perhaps unfairly, this film had quite a bit of ground to make up with me even before it started.

So did it pluckily beat the odds and win over the sullen heart of this cold blooded cynic?

Well no, not really.

It was OK I suppose. The acting was reasonable and some of the characters were entertaining, if not a little by-the-numbers( I’m always a sucker for the gruff veteran with a heart of gold and took a particular shine to Delgado, an ex German Shepard police-dog voiced by Andy Garcia).

The plot is your basic fish out of water story, with spoiled Chihuahua Cloe (voiced by Drew Barrymore) getting lost in Mexico and finding her way home whilst being pursued by an evil dog-fighter and his demonic doberman El Diablo (voiced by Admiral Adama from Battlestar Galactica interestingly enough). There are no surprises and no upsets in the story line, which to be honest is fine. Well worn plots are like well worn footpaths; they are worn because they are pleasant to follow. The thing I object to is the lack of humor in the piece.

On the odd occasion Kerry cracked a smile, but I was pretty stoney faced through the whole affair. The obligatory comedy duo was present (in the guise of a rat and an iguana voiced by Cheech Marin and Paul Rodriguez ), but were underused and ineffectual.

But my main issue with the film was that I just couldn’t get over my distaste for the core conceit of having a Chihuahua as the central character. So to be fair the film never really stood a chance with me. If you’re into yappy little dogs that look like rats but without the charm, then you never know, this film may hit all your buttons.

Scanning through other reviews on the internet I noticed that many people were critical of the movies stereotypical treatment of Mexico. This surprised me as I really didn’t pick up on that at all, in fact I thought the movie was relatively enlightened. A fair proportion of the dialogue was in Spanish, and the main human character’s prejudices against Mexicans were held up and challenged quite early on in the film. The mexican police in particular were treated as being competent and modern rather than unsophisticated idiots from a third world country as I’ve seen in other movies. Of course I’m no expert in these things, Mexican stereotyping is probably a lot more basic here in the UK than I imagine it is in the States. I find the further you get away from a country the more unsubtle and broad your archetypes surrounding that place become. Our racial stereotypes of the Scottish are a lot more intricate and refined than those we hold about Eskimos for example.

As always with movies I’ve seen on blu-ray, the picture quality was excellent. The only criticism I have is the length of time it takes to actually start playing, but that’s the same with all of the discs I’ve used and I imagine is something to do with the sheer amount of information that’s stored on it. I’m sure that will improve as time and the technology moves forward

You can buy the Beverly Hills Chihuahua Blu-ray for about £15 on amazon.co.uk. Amazon also do a pretty good range of Blu-ray players as well should you fancy one.

Related posts:

  1. Blu-ray review: Bolt
  2. Blu-ray review: Wall-E
  3. Blu-ray review: High School Musical 3

]]> http://allthatcomeswithit.com/archives/1425/feed 6 Blu-ray review: High School Musical 3 http://allthatcomeswithit.com/archives/1353 http://allthatcomeswithit.com/archives/1353#comments Tue, 09 Jun 2009 13:47:41 +0000 Dan http://allthatcomeswithit.com/?p=1353 downloadTo say Amy is a fan of the High School Musical franchise would be like saying Scooby-Doo has a faint penchant for Scoobysnacks. In Amy’s wardrobe alone she has High School Musical socks, shoes, t-shirts, pajamas, and jewelry. That’s not even to mention the High School Musical dolls, stickers, albums, posters, school bags, mugs and activity books that burst from every toy draw and bookshelf.

Oh yes, we know all about High School Musical in our house.

There’s a lot of snobbism abut this sort of film. Cynical mutterings about them being manufactured product rather than artistic expression. But to be fair you could say that about 90% of all forms of popular culture. Excellent as it was, the Iron Man movie would have been no less focused grouped. Just because a film is not targeted at you doesn’t mean to say that it’s automatically rubbish.

There is quality in the High School Musical trilogy. The dancing and choreography is good, the catchy pop songs well crafted, and the acting is above par for a product from the Disney Channel (you want to see bad acting then just take a look at the Hannah Montana TV show). It may be artificial and manufactured, but so is Diet Coke and it still tastes damn good.

Which is not to say that I don’t have problems with the franchise. The all pervasive merchandising leaves a very bad taste in my mouth. I saw some High School Musical kitchen roll in Sainsbury’s the other day. If there is a more blatant attempt by manufacturers to harness the force of pester power then I don’t want to see it. Although to be fair it’s probably no worse than that attached to my own childhood’s holy trinity of movies, Star Wars. In fact even the thought of a roll of R2D2 kitchen roll has me reaching for my wallet.

But I digress.

High School Musical 3 had a significantly bigger budget than the previous two movies, and it shows. The musical numbers are more spectacular, the sets more expansive, and the whole thing feels more polished. Despite this however I think it’s probably the weakest in the trilogy.

The problem isn’t the increasingly obvious age disparity between the actors and the characters they are portraying (Amy: “Why are those grown-ups still at school Daddy?”), but the storyline.

I accept that in a musical the plot is really only something to link the songs together, and certainly have no problem with a basic story; especially in a film aimed at children. But I do like my movies to at least go somewhere. High School Musical 3 just wanders around aimlessly without a purpose. There is an underlying theme surrounding others trying to choose the main protagonists future for them. But that vein was pretty effectively tapped for High School Musical 2, and to use it again just feels like a bit of a rehash. And also, while that motif is very relevant to people actually of the age of the characters, it pretty much goes above the head of the core audience of the film.

There are also far too many characters. The bigwigs at Disney no doubt wanted to leave the franchise open for more sequels and so needed to shoehorn some younger characters in there so there’d be someone to take up the baton for High School Musical 4. This left the film feeling cluttered and a little confusing. In my view they should have just focused more on Troy, Gabriella, and Sharpay with all the other characters and their subplots much further in the background.

We’ve already got High School Musical 3 on DVD, so watching it on Blu-ray was a good opportunity to compare and contrast. And I must say I’m still very impressed with the format. There were quite a few interesting questions asked in my previous review which I intend to tackle in a dedicated post of it’s own; but in short the best way to describe it is it’s like watching a moving photograph rather than a TV screen. Everything is just crisper and sharper.

One thing I did notice however was the length of time it takes to actually start playing the movie and the special features. I’m assuming it’s because the discs have a lot more data on them than DVD, but it certainly does take a noticeably long time to fire up. Still, that’s only a minor annoyance.

So would I recommend High School Musical 3? Absolutely, despite its flaws it’s still a highly enjoyable movie. It’s not one I’d recommend for those without kids though. Unlike Wall-E or some of the other Disney movies it doesn’t really hold up to adult sensibilities all that well. Certainly not my own sensibilities anyhow. But that’s OK, because it’s not supposed to.

You can buy the High School Musical Blu-ray at Amazon.co.uk for about £15. You also get a normal DVD version of the film included with it so you can watch it on the normal players in the house too. Amazon also do a pretty good range of Blu-ray playersas well should you fancy one.

Related posts:

  1. “…and between you and me our school dinners taste like sewerage”
  2. Snowy School Run
  3. Top ten things I learnt walking Amy to school this morning

Related posts:
  1. “…and between you and me our school dinners taste like sewerage”
  2. Snowy School Run
  3. Top ten things I learnt walking Amy to school this morning
]]> downloadTo say Amy is a fan of the High School Musical franchise would be like saying Scooby-Doo has a faint penchant for Scoobysnacks. In Amy’s wardrobe alone she has High School Musical socks, shoes, t-shirts, pajamas, and jewelry. That’s not even to mention the High School Musical dolls, stickers, albums, posters, school bags, mugs and activity books that burst from every toy draw and bookshelf.

Oh yes, we know all about High School Musical in our house.

There’s a lot of snobbism abut this sort of film. Cynical mutterings about them being manufactured product rather than artistic expression. But to be fair you could say that about 90% of all forms of popular culture. Excellent as it was, the Iron Man movie would have been no less focused grouped. Just because a film is not targeted at you doesn’t mean to say that it’s automatically rubbish.

There is quality in the High School Musical trilogy. The dancing and choreography is good, the catchy pop songs well crafted, and the acting is above par for a product from the Disney Channel (you want to see bad acting then just take a look at the Hannah Montana TV show). It may be artificial and manufactured, but so is Diet Coke and it still tastes damn good.

Which is not to say that I don’t have problems with the franchise. The all pervasive merchandising leaves a very bad taste in my mouth. I saw some High School Musical kitchen roll in Sainsbury’s the other day. If there is a more blatant attempt by manufacturers to harness the force of pester power then I don’t want to see it. Although to be fair it’s probably no worse than that attached to my own childhood’s holy trinity of movies, Star Wars. In fact even the thought of a roll of R2D2 kitchen roll has me reaching for my wallet.

But I digress.

High School Musical 3 had a significantly bigger budget than the previous two movies, and it shows. The musical numbers are more spectacular, the sets more expansive, and the whole thing feels more polished. Despite this however I think it’s probably the weakest in the trilogy.

The problem isn’t the increasingly obvious age disparity between the actors and the characters they are portraying (Amy: “Why are those grown-ups still at school Daddy?”), but the storyline.

I accept that in a musical the plot is really only something to link the songs together, and certainly have no problem with a basic story; especially in a film aimed at children. But I do like my movies to at least go somewhere. High School Musical 3 just wanders around aimlessly without a purpose. There is an underlying theme surrounding others trying to choose the main protagonists future for them. But that vein was pretty effectively tapped for High School Musical 2, and to use it again just feels like a bit of a rehash. And also, while that motif is very relevant to people actually of the age of the characters, it pretty much goes above the head of the core audience of the film.

There are also far too many characters. The bigwigs at Disney no doubt wanted to leave the franchise open for more sequels and so needed to shoehorn some younger characters in there so there’d be someone to take up the baton for High School Musical 4. This left the film feeling cluttered and a little confusing. In my view they should have just focused more on Troy, Gabriella, and Sharpay with all the other characters and their subplots much further in the background.

We’ve already got High School Musical 3 on DVD, so watching it on Blu-ray was a good opportunity to compare and contrast. And I must say I’m still very impressed with the format. There were quite a few interesting questions asked in my previous review which I intend to tackle in a dedicated post of it’s own; but in short the best way to describe it is it’s like watching a moving photograph rather than a TV screen. Everything is just crisper and sharper.

One thing I did notice however was the length of time it takes to actually start playing the movie and the special features. I’m assuming it’s because the discs have a lot more data on them than DVD, but it certainly does take a noticeably long time to fire up. Still, that’s only a minor annoyance.

So would I recommend High School Musical 3? Absolutely, despite its flaws it’s still a highly enjoyable movie. It’s not one I’d recommend for those without kids though. Unlike Wall-E or some of the other Disney movies it doesn’t really hold up to adult sensibilities all that well. Certainly not my own sensibilities anyhow. But that’s OK, because it’s not supposed to.

You can buy the High School Musical Blu-ray at Amazon.co.uk for about £15. You also get a normal DVD version of the film included with it so you can watch it on the normal players in the house too. Amazon also do a pretty good range of Blu-ray playersas well should you fancy one.

Related posts:

  1. “…and between you and me our school dinners taste like sewerage”
  2. Snowy School Run
  3. Top ten things I learnt walking Amy to school this morning

]]> http://allthatcomeswithit.com/archives/1353/feed 15 Blu-ray review: Wall-E http://allthatcomeswithit.com/archives/1290 http://allthatcomeswithit.com/archives/1290#comments Mon, 25 May 2009 11:00:46 +0000 Dan http://allthatcomeswithit.com/?p=1290 Wall-E Bl- RayI must admit that I’ve seen Wall-E before. In fact the movie was the first film both my kids saw at the cinema. It made quite an impression on Evan in particular. When we were watching Hannah Montana at the pictures the other week Evan kept asking indignantly when Wall-E was going to show up. To be honest I had a fair bit of sympathy for his protestations myself.

So, just in case you aren’t familiar with the plot, it concerns a lonely little garbage compactor robot left all alone on a polluted and desolate earth that has been abandoned by a consumerist and wasteful humanity. A probe droid, EVE, turns up looking for signs of life. Wall-E falls in love with her and follows her back into space.

It’s a good film. In fact it’s a great film, certainly amongst the best animated features that I’ve ever seen. It’s funny, engaging, innocent, and satirical all at the same time. But most of all it’s incredibly brave. Brave to spend the first 40 minutes or so with no dialogue at all, relying on body language, emotive beeping, and the pure skill of the animators in order to communicate what’s going on. And also brave to completely discard the convention of getting big name actors to do the voices. And as a result the movie comes across not just as a 98 minute advert for merchandising like so many animated films these days, but as a piece of lovingly executed art.

In short, I like it. I like it a lot.

And what’s more I like the Blu-ray format too. When we first got the player Kerry and I rented the Incredible Hulk just so we could put it through its paces. While we were impressed with the picture quality it didn’t really move any mountains for us.

But Wall-E on Blu-ray? Wow.

To say the picture was crisp would be an understatement. It’s so sharp that you could cut yourself on it. The scene where Wall-E and EVE are dancing in space made me come out in goosebumps just like it did in the cinema. It was beautiful; there’s just no other word to describe it. It’s obvious to me that Pixar and Blu-ray are pretty much made for each other, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how the relationship between the two develops. The trailer alone for the forthcoming film Up was awe inspiring (those balloons look fantastic).

The features were pretty impressive too. Much more extensive than your average DVD. Of particular merit was a bonus exclusive blu-ray short cartoon called Burn-E, which is a story of a maintenance druid that takes place in and around the various scenes of the mean feature. Both Kerry and I found ourselves laughing out loud at it, and we’re generally a family that keeps our chuckles to ourselves. There were also games, commentaries, a documentary on the history of Pixar, 3-D set fly throughs, deleted scenes and all manner of other goodies. Not bad for about fifteen quid.

You can buy Wall-E at Amazon.co.uk here. Amazon also do a pretty good range of Blu-ray players too.

Related posts:

  1. Subway wall adverts
  2. Blu-ray review: High School Musical 3
  3. Blu-ray review: Beverly Hills Chihuahua

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  1. Subway wall adverts
  2. Blu-ray review: High School Musical 3
  3. Blu-ray review: Beverly Hills Chihuahua
]]> Wall-E Bl- RayI must admit that I’ve seen Wall-E before. In fact the movie was the first film both my kids saw at the cinema. It made quite an impression on Evan in particular. When we were watching Hannah Montana at the pictures the other week Evan kept asking indignantly when Wall-E was going to show up. To be honest I had a fair bit of sympathy for his protestations myself.

So, just in case you aren’t familiar with the plot, it concerns a lonely little garbage compactor robot left all alone on a polluted and desolate earth that has been abandoned by a consumerist and wasteful humanity. A probe droid, EVE, turns up looking for signs of life. Wall-E falls in love with her and follows her back into space.

It’s a good film. In fact it’s a great film, certainly amongst the best animated features that I’ve ever seen. It’s funny, engaging, innocent, and satirical all at the same time. But most of all it’s incredibly brave. Brave to spend the first 40 minutes or so with no dialogue at all, relying on body language, emotive beeping, and the pure skill of the animators in order to communicate what’s going on. And also brave to completely discard the convention of getting big name actors to do the voices. And as a result the movie comes across not just as a 98 minute advert for merchandising like so many animated films these days, but as a piece of lovingly executed art.

In short, I like it. I like it a lot.

And what’s more I like the Blu-ray format too. When we first got the player Kerry and I rented the Incredible Hulk just so we could put it through its paces. While we were impressed with the picture quality it didn’t really move any mountains for us.

But Wall-E on Blu-ray? Wow.

To say the picture was crisp would be an understatement. It’s so sharp that you could cut yourself on it. The scene where Wall-E and EVE are dancing in space made me come out in goosebumps just like it did in the cinema. It was beautiful; there’s just no other word to describe it. It’s obvious to me that Pixar and Blu-ray are pretty much made for each other, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how the relationship between the two develops. The trailer alone for the forthcoming film Up was awe inspiring (those balloons look fantastic).

The features were pretty impressive too. Much more extensive than your average DVD. Of particular merit was a bonus exclusive blu-ray short cartoon called Burn-E, which is a story of a maintenance druid that takes place in and around the various scenes of the mean feature. Both Kerry and I found ourselves laughing out loud at it, and we’re generally a family that keeps our chuckles to ourselves. There were also games, commentaries, a documentary on the history of Pixar, 3-D set fly throughs, deleted scenes and all manner of other goodies. Not bad for about fifteen quid.

You can buy Wall-E at Amazon.co.uk here. Amazon also do a pretty good range of Blu-ray players too.

Related posts:

  1. Subway wall adverts
  2. Blu-ray review: High School Musical 3
  3. Blu-ray review: Beverly Hills Chihuahua

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