I wasn’t vibing with this much for the first half because I’ve never really gotten the charm of the ‘concepts as characters’ trend, but the final moments really won me over. The Kaufman of it all is always felt, but really shines in the framing device of stories within stories, how we connect through them, and the joy we might discover when we face our fears! Cute!
Reviews tagged ‘animated’ by Sydney🚀 Patron
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Wish 2023
I actually really liked the pastelly celestial aesthetic of Wish, and the life-affirming sentiment that we aren’t complete without both the beauty and pain of aspiration. But this movie doesn’t have a soul, it’s a lazy run-through of stale tropes and side characters dressed up in sparkles and emotional manipulation. The script is nothing, I try not to use the AI jab but I’m seriously getting suspicious. Ariana DeBose is obviously great, and Chris Pine is fun for 10 seconds…
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem 2023
Not personally entrenched in the world of TMNT but thought this was a genuine delight. Aptly titled. It’s just a well written and heartfelt adventure through a New York-sized laser tag arena, Spider-Verse-inspired animation but more sketchlike, and everyone gets their own little arc. They also had the voice cast record in the same physical space and it paid off, the chemistry between the boys was so cute. Definitely targeted towards kids but fun for everyone. April rocks.
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The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2023
A movie for tiktok-era attention spans, on principle i really don’t like that it’s just gameplay with no effort to have a narrative and it doesn’t even reach its full potential as entertainment, but as a player of every Mario game my siblings and i could get our hands on (justice for paper mario) i would admittedly watch more of these just for the visuals and references. Get the Wachowskis on the next one
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Puss in Boots: The Last Wish 2022
This was so enjoyable it’s making me want to say some cringe mom shit like “where do i sign up to be on team friendship!!”
Proved me wrong every time i thought its tropes would annoy me, the action is so anime oh my god, and White Noise was found dead in a ditch after how this depicted existential dread I fear. I was so obsessed with Puss in Boots as a kid so I’m very happy the character gets to continue being awesome.
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Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio 2022
Equally morbid and whimsical, Guillermo's Pinocchio not only breathes new life into the story but completely recontextualizes it. I went in blind and was surprised by the fascist backdrop to say the least, but gradually realized how genius it was, not only as a device for narrative tension but as a way to flip the original story's morals on their head. No longer pushing for children's blind obedience, but advocating for their agency in rebellion when they don't believe something…
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Wendell & Wild 2022
Not Selick’s next masterpiece, but special and cute. It’s a shame the story is so needlessly overcomplicated because all of the characters are very charming, and of course the craftsmanship is out of this world. Selick and his team are just showing off at this point. More movies that teach kids about the prison industrial complex, I guess!
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Luck 2022
I am so obsessed with the notion of luck so this was doubly disappointing because it does nothing interesting with the concept. And this movie never even follows its own rules! And it has like five different endings! The characters are constantly idiotic beyond what’s passable for a kid’s movie and most of it doesn’t make sense. Some cute parts, I enjoyed the performances, it’s not offensively bad it just feels like the derivative animation machine on autopilot. It would definitely entertain a 6 year old but that’s not a high bar.
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Minions: The Rise of Gru 2022
Baloo, po ka bi do para tu Banana, muak muak do bee do bee do, kanpai! Tara, tropa! Tulaliloo te amo, gelato para tu po ka. Banana.
Translation:
I had fun! But mostly because of the meme of it all. My theater was pretty tame compared to the stories I’m hearing but people were cheering and it got a round of applause at the end lol. The movie itself is totally fine, fans of the minion-verse will love it, it’s… -
Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers 2022
How do you get the rights to literally every IP ever and still make your movie boring!!
I didn’t like this nearly as much as I thought I would based on the reception. Disney is clearly not willing to be legitimately self deprecating so it never goes beyond “hello fellow kids” meta-awareness and just feels kinda basic. I’m not gonna give it points just for the inclusion of characters, though there is some clever stuff in here. Just not enough to save it from being another forgettable attempt to cash in.