i Favorite Movies

Nightmare Before Christmas - The Story Behind the Classic Animated Movie

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen) — Fri, 30 Aug 2013 01:44:00 -0700

Our Nightmare Before Christmas story starts innocently enough in Halloween Town which is an eerie, spooky dreamland. A dreamland occupied by such ghostly citizens as deformed monsters, ghosts, ghouls, goblins, vampires werewolves and witches. The core of the Nightmare Before Christmas story centers around our hero Jack Skellington, "The Pumpkin King", guides the citizens of Halloween Town into the horrifying festivity called Allhallows Eve.

The Nightmare Before Christmas mastermind Jack Skellington has grown weary of the same scary affair year after year. Wandering aimlessly through the woods adjacent to Halloween Town, he by chance opens up a portal site to a town called Christmas Town. Our Pumpkin King is moved by the flavour and manner of Christmas. Jack delivers his muddled findings about Christmas Town to the citizens of Halloween Town. Because of Jack Skellington's limited understanding of the concept of Christmas, the dwellers of Halloween Town fail to comprehend Jack's meaning and equate everything he renounces about Christmas, to their own preconceived ideas of Halloween. He reluctantly chooses to bear with his citizens and declares that therefore they will seize Christmas and make it a holiday in their own horrifying image.

Jack Skellington's fixation with Christmastime directs him to take on the persona of Santa Claus. Every resident of Halloween Town is assigned a task in their quest to seize Christmas. The heroine Sally, a rag doll woman who was created by the town's mad scientist, commences to experience a wild-eyed attraction towards Jack Skellington. All the same, even in state of romantic infatuation Sally solely fears that Jack's project will become disastrous.

Our Nightmare Before Christmas Pumpkin King delegates Lock, Shock, and Barrel a trio of naughty children, to snatch Santa and fetch him back to Halloween Town. Instead our trio of mischievous children and against Jack's wishings and for the most part for the children's own amusement, they deliver Santa to Oogie Boogie, a gambling-addict bogeyman who devises a devious, diabolical game for Santa, with his very own existence as the wager.

Our Nightmare Before Christmas Eve comes and Sally endeavors to stop Jack, he totally disregards her warnings and simply embarks into the moonlit sky in a coffin shaped sleigh pulled by skeletal reindeer. The sleigh is guided by the glowing nose of Jack's ghost dog Zero. Jack Skellington sets about to deliver gifts to kids around the Earth. The gifts (shrunken heads, Christmas tree-eating snakes, etc.) only terrify the small children, there is crying and screaming as the children open up these horrific presents in our Nightmare Before Christmas story. Jack is considered to be an imposter seeking to be a Santa impostor. We constantly see screaming and crying children as they open up their presents, and the horrified parents are phoning the authorities to explain the situation.

The military is finally put on high alert and they are ordered to blast this Santa impostor out of the sky. The sleigh is finally hit by a mortar and shot down. Our Nightmare Before Christmas Pumpkin King is assumed dead by Halloween Town's citizens. The Pumpkin King has indeed survived the crash. Even though Jack Skellington is visibly upset by the failure of his plan to hijack the Christmas dream and replace it with his own Halloween vision, he rapidly recovers his old spirit. He does not seem to be effected by the Nightmare Before Christmas morning debachel and he even musters up new ideas for the next years Halloween.

He then charges back to Halloween town to rescue the real Santa and to put the Christmas affairs right. Meanwhile, Sally's efforts to free Santa from Oogie Boogie fail and she is captured by Oogie. Jack slips into the lair and frees them, then faces Oogie and unravels his outer burlap so that all the bugs that live inside him spill out. With Oogie Boogie deceased, Santa berates Jack for a bit, before Santa readies his sleigh and sets off to deliver the correct presents to the all of world's youngsters. Santa Claus causes snow to fall upon Halloween Town to demonstrate that there are no hard feelings between the King of Christmas Town and the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town. The townsfolk are a little bewildered by the snow initially, but before long commence to play jubilantly in the snow. Jack displays that he is romantically attracted to Sally j and they kiss under the full moon in the cemetery.

Image from Marketplace

Article Source: Richard McDuff

Tim Burton's Corpse Bride

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen) — Fri, 30 Aug 2013 01:08:00 -0700

I love Tim Burton. He has the best imagination and is one of the most creative, and talented directors working today. Rarely does he disappoint and the Corpse Bride is no exception. Corpse Bride tells the story of Victor Van Dort (voice of Johnny Depp) a reluctant groom whose newly rich parents are searching for the one thing money can't buy - respectability. To reach their goal they're marrying their son off to Victoria Everglot, (voice of Emily Watson) a properly bred, well titled young lady whose old, highly respectable family is flat broke. Through a series of events and no fault of his own, Victor finds himself married to the Corpse Bride (voice of Helena Bonham-Carter), a pretty young woman who died under mysterious circumstances on the eve of her elopement.

Shot using stop motion animation, a painstakingly slow process that involves moving models in minuscule increments as you move from frame to frame, Corpse Bride is a refreshing break from the now all too common CGI. Not only are the images fun but the cast of characters from the bodiless bartender at the local hole in the wall in the land of the dead to the miniature pirate, are a source of great entertainment and good laughs throughout the movie. Actually in many ways they steal the show making the main characters seem a little dull and underwhelming.

Don't get me wrong, dull and underwhelming are relative in this movie. Johnny Depp's Victor Van Dort is an awkward, gangly, shy young man. His ineptness is humorous and endearing and you really hope things work out for him considering the set of parents he was given. Victoria Everglot is also shy and sweet and has parents that would make Cinderella's family look like saints. Their interactions are charming and engaging and to few for my liking. It would have been nice to see more of them together as the try to wade through the waters of an arranged marriage neither is quite ready for.

What doesn't work with Corpse Bride is that the story never quite gets off the ground. In many ways it felt like it was over before it began. Just when there is some real action brewing, we're already headed for the climax and the denouement is soon there after. An extra half hour of film time wouldn't have hurt. Also, you can point the villain out as soon as he is introduced. I know in animated films the good guys are supposed to look good and the bad guys bad but a little more subtle would have been nice. Not only was the villain predictable but the ending was as well. The movie left little in a way of a surprise ending, even in an animated movie it is nice to be a little surprised.

But those are minor complaints in a movie that was fun, imaginative and quite entertaining. Corpse Bride is good for the whole family, although it might be a little scary for kids younger than nine. So take the family and enjoy.

Image from Cinema dot com

Article Source: T.S. Johnson

Shrek—The Great Ogre

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen) — Thu, 15 Aug 2013 23:22:00 -0700

I realized that animated movies nowadays are getting sucks and boring that sometimes, the story is more predictable. You will know how the story goes and what will be the ending. It is like; you are wasting your time watching this kind of movie. I am sure you too are craving for something unique and different that you can tell your friends that hey, I have just watched an awesome movie and it is one of my all-time favorite movies. Thank God, something came up and changed things forever. Shrek and it's sequel.

Shrek (2001)

Casts:

Mike Myers as Shrek

Eddie Murphy as Donkey
Cameron Diaz as Princess Fiona
John Lithgow as Lord Farquaad

Directed by: Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson

Shrek 2 (2004)

Casts:

Mike Myers as Shrek

Eddie Murphy as Donkey
Cameron Diaz as Princess Fiona
Julie Andrews as Queen Lillian

Antonio Banderas as Puss in Boots
  John Cleese as King Harold
  Rupert Everett as Prince Charming
  Jennifer Saunders as Fairy Godmother
                                Directed by: Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury, and Conrad Vernon


Shrek the Third (2007)

Casts:
Mike Myers as Shrek

Eddie Murphy as Donkey
Cameron Diaz as Princess Fiona
Julie Andrews as Queen Lillian

  Antonio Banderas as Puss in Boots
John Cleese as King Harold
  Rupert Everett as Prince Charming
  Eric Idle as Merlin
  Justin Timberlake as Arthur “Artie” Pendragon
Directed by: Chris Miller and Raman Hui

Shrek Forever After (2010)

Casts:
  Mike Myers as Shrek
Eddie Murphy as Donkey
Cameron Diaz as Princess Fiona
  Antonio Banderas as Puss in Boots
Walt Dohrn as Rumplestilskin
Jon Hamm as Brogan the Ogre
Jane Lynch as Gretched the Ogre
  Craig Robinson as Cookie the Ogre
  Chris Miller as Magic Mirror
Directed by: Mike Mitchell

Shrek is based on book, Shrek! by William Steig and it's one of the my all time favorite movies. I can assure you everyone will enjoy this movie simply because it's hilarious and has a great story.

Image from Wiki.

The Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen) — Wed, 31 Jul 2013 00:49:00 -0700

The Circle of Life Continues…

After the success of the animated movie The Lion King, people had been asking if there is another sequel. What happened to Simba in his time as a king? Are there any changes in the film? Well, after years of waiting, in 1998 Disney announced and released another sequel—The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride. It is an animated romance film produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Walt Disney Animation Australia.

The story revolves on Kiara (Neve Campbell), the daughter of Simba (Matthew Broderick) the Lion King and Queen Nala (Moira Kelly), who falls in love with Kovu, a male lion who was raised in a pride of Scar’s followers, known as the Outsiders—Simba’s enemies. Their love was against all odds and in order them to be together they need to overcome the obstacles; Simba his hatred against the Outsiders, and Zira (Suzanne Pleshette) the mother Kovu (Jason Marsden) who is planning to have revenge on Simba. Kiara was not the only one who is facing problems but also Simba who handles everything, as king and a father, who wants to protect her daughter in all danger however, Kiara misunderstood them all.

The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride is one of the best movie sequels I have seen and the good thing is, it is still connected on the first movie. I have noticed some changes however, it does not affect the whole movie, and still, it was great. Everyone will fall in love on the story.

Here are some fun facts about this movie that you should not miss this sequel:

Won in 1999 Annie Wards for Outstanding Achievement in Animated Home Video Production (Walt Disney Television Animation)

Nominated in 1999 Annie Awards for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Music in an Animated Feature Production. Tom Snow (composer), Marty Panzer (lyricist), and Jack Feldman (lyricist) for the song “We Are One”.

Nominated in 1999 Annie Awards for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Music in an Animated Feature Production. Warrender, Scott (composer) and Joss Whedoon (lyricist) for the song “My Lullaby”.

Nominated in 1999 Annie Awards for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production Suzanne Pleshette for playing “Zira”.

And a lot more awards.

All Time Favorite Movies: The Lion King

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen) — Fri, 26 Jul 2013 00:59:00 -0700

Who will ever forget the blockbuster animated musical movie in 1994—The Lion King?

I remember in my 4th grade level our school conducts an activity by taking students to watch movies in a movie house. Honestly it was my first time to visit a movie house and I feel excited about it, I did not ask my teacher anymore what movies we were going to watch. All I care is that we are going to a movie house together with my friends and classmates. When we arrived there I was surprised that we gonna watch The Lion King, and I was thinking—not bad after all! I am sure we will enjoy this movie.

The Lion King is a story of a cub who will be the future king named Simba (Matthew Broderick) the son of King Mufasa (James Earl Jones) and Queen Sarabi (Madge Sinclair). Simba grew into a curious cub and he cannot wait to be a king. However, his evil Uncle Scar (Jeremy Irons), which supposed to be the next king, got angry to Mufasa and jealous to Simba. So, he planned to get the throne back by setting up Mufasa to be killed in a stampede and makes Simba guilty for killing his father. After the incident, Simba runs away from their land and found new friends Timon (meerkat) and Pumbaa (warthog), they helped Simba to recover and live in the jungle in “hakuna matata” motto, which means no worries by Timon (Nathan Lane) and Pumbaa (Ernie Sabella). As time goes by Simba grow up and think he has escaped his past; however, his past keeps hunting him until his childhood friend Nala find him. Nala (Moira Kelly) tell him everything what is happening to their land and she tries convincing him to go back and fight what is right for them.

The story tells us about family, friendship, pride, honor, power, greed, betrayal, and guilt. Somehow, we can relate ourselves to the characters and do reflection. You will be carried away the emotions and the music soundtrack of it.

The Lion King is a two thumbs movie, it got an A+ in cinema rating which means everybody can watch and enjoy this movie. Here are some fun facts, that you should not miss this movie. The Lion King were nominated and win awards.

The highest-grossing hand-drawn film in history

The highest-grossing 2D animated film in US

The 21^st highest grossing feature film

Won in 1995 2 Academy awards for best Music, Original Score (Hanz Zimmer) and best Music, Original Song (Can You Feel the Love Tonight)

Won in 1995 3 Golden Globes, USA awards for best motion picture – comedy/musical, best original score – motion picture (Hanz Zimmer), best original song – motion picture; Elton John (music) and Tim Rice (lyrics) for the song “Can You Feel the Love Tonight”.

And a lot more awards.

Mulan - The Brave Female Warrior

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen) — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 19:48:00 -0700

Mulan is the name of a fictional character from the Chinese poem "Hua Mulan" and was adapted into a film by Disney in 1998. The story takes place during the Huns' invasion of China.

The character of Mulan is different from any other Disney characters. She is brave and takes control of her destiny. She believes in honor and pleasing her family. When the army comes along to enlist, her father is told to go, since they have no son, despite the fact that he is old. This forces her to take her father's place in the army and dresses up as a boy, bringing along her pet dragon, Mushu, and her lucky cricket, Cri-kee.

She goes to the army camp under the name "Ping". The captain, Li Shang wants to send him home, but "Ping" proves that he is strong by climbing a pole and getting an arrow, while having weights on and is allowed to stay.

They go out into war, and are found by the Huns, thanks to Mushu's clumsiness. Mulan cleverly shoots into the icy mountain top, and the Huns are buried. During the battle, she saves Shang but gets injured herself and is found out to be a girl. Shang lets her go with the condition that she cannot fight with the troops.

Later in the story, she finds out that the Huns are back and goes off to warn the army. She goes to the Forbidden City and saves the emperor from the Huns by using her wit and the help of her friends. She goes home and is honored as a hero, for saving all of China.

Article Source: David L. Felts

Up - Movie Review

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen) — Thu, 2 Aug 2012 17:38:00 -0700

Rated PG (for action and peril). Comedy Starring Ed Asner, Jordan Nagai, Christopher Plummer, John Ratzenberger. Directed by Pete Docter.

Ed Asner lends voice talent to the wistful and occasionally melancholy tale of an old man's efforts to float his home to a remote South American cliff on a bouquet of helium-filled party balloons. Along the way, he meets a young scout looking to earn the final good-deed badge on his uniform, a giant presumed-to-be-extinct bird, and a band of dogs with electronic speech-enabled collars that grant them the ability to speak to humans as well as to each other.

One of the most astonishing and accomplished characteristics of the film is its ability to swing from one emotional tone to the next. The film begins rather playfully, then becomes bittersweet, tragic, angry, then optimistic and adventurous, before cycling through various arrangements of these emotional chords again. Pixar, the creators of the film, and now affiliated with Disney, once again lend their keen story sense to a film that could have been a simple action/adventure film with little depth.

The film has been a smash hit, about to cross the $300 million mark in box office grosses, and was nominated for an Academy Award for best picture for 2009. It's truly a film for the whole family that feels like it's genuinely about something, not just giddy cartoon characters cracking jokes and going from one chase scene to another. The story focuses on such tough subjects as how to deal with the pain of mourning a loved one, and goes on to show how attitude is everything, and that the world often supports and favors those with crazy, ambitious ideas.

Grade: B+

Article Source: B. Nathan

Bee Movie (2007) Review

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen) — Wed, 1 Aug 2012 18:06:00 -0700

I love animated films, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that I liked Bee Movie. What did come as a surprise were the plot twists, great voice acting and unrelenting humor that permeated this film.

Bee Your Best

This movie follows the young Barry B. Benson (Jerry Seinfeld) as he tries to find his place in the world after graduating from Bee University. His travels take him out of the hive and into the world of humans, where he meets Vanessa Bloome (Renee Zellweger), a human florist, Ken (Patrick Warburton), a constantly angry tennis player, and Mooseblood (Chris Rock), a traveling mosquito. Each of his new acquaintances give him a new perspective on life as he discovers the greatest threat to bees: humans are stealing their honey!

The story is delivered in a comic fashion, characterizing bees in a human manner, and the adaptation lends itself to a number of humorous situations, offhand comments, and general behavioural traits that both surprise and amuse. The atmosphere remains light-hearted throughout because of this comedy, and that s part of the big appeal that the movie had for me: it will lift your spirits.

Beehind the Scenes

The voice acting in this movie is incredible. Like anyone who has watched television in the past 10 years, I've seen an episode or two of Seinfeld, but Jerry Seinfeld does an amazing job as the tiny, funny protagonist of this movie. Maybe his role as the producer allowed him to play a character that he envisioned from the start, and if that was the case, more producers should be acting in their own movies. Renee Zellweger's role was a great complement to Seinfeld's, and Chris Rock's off-the-wall mosquito antics fit in perfectly with the other characters.

The credits of this movie were actually very interesting to read, as I didn't realize who was playing the part of several characters while watching the film. Matthew Broderick, John Goodman, Oprah Winfrey, Kathy Bates -- this movie has an all-star cast that goes on and on... You'll recognize Ken as Patrick Warburton (Joe from Family Guy, and Putty from Seinfeld) the first time he flips out, and Sting and Larry King both star as themselves. As an aside, I have to say that Ray Liotta has always struck me as a great actor, and not just because he was good in Muppets From Space.

The Rating

This movie was funny, original, and kept my attention throughout. The story is heartwarming and suitable for the whole family. The film should definitely bee on your watch list.

Rating: 8/10

Article Source: David G. Allard

Ice Age—A Movie Should Watch

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen) — Wed, 1 Aug 2012 01:43:00 -0700

If we're to believe that Ice Age, twenty thousand years ago, life on earth hasn't been way too good, my friend. We in the 21st century want to live dangerously as well, otherwise what is with cigarettes, cholesterol and alcohol, huh? However, whatever the case maybe, at least we don't need to deal with manage sabre toothed tigers on the prowl and the environment is not really the only thing that low. So folks, lend these 3 heroes on the latest movie animated generation your sympathy.

Diego the Sabre toothed tiger, Sid the sloth, and Manny the wooly mammoth (voiced by Ray Romano, John Leguizamo and Denis Leary respectively) mode an unlikely pack to travel against their own flight instincts and work towards seeking the human beings with lost their baby. Join them in their trip as they get hold of jammed in a cave and go sliding around, fight the wrap of the sabre tigers and get away from the volcano until such time as they find themselves together and mode the bizarre herd you would probably have heard of.

This animation is certainly of the tune of Looney Toons and Sid the sloth is the funniest fellow around. Scrat, 50 % of squirrel, half rat (hence the name) is shown as a aspect issue who hilariously tries to hide the final acorn.

The relationship between Manny and Sid is a lot like the one amongst the Ogre and the Donkey in Shrek. Also, the human animation looks obvious as compared to the animals. The movie will always keep you entertained with its amazing sense of humor and the other liners if you happen to try ignoring a few of these concerns and the fact that all these animals co-exist in the ice age.

Monsters Inc.—A Movie For All Ages

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen) — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 03:29:00 -0700

Kids are scared on monsters at night and they used it as a reason why they cannot sleep. Have you ever thought about monsters scared to humans? In this 2001 blockbuster animated film, Monster Incorporated explain well about monsters and humans relationship.From the creator of Toy Story, produced by Pixar Animation Studios, and released by Walt Disney Pictures will surely give you a great movie you never expected.

Monsters go through an extensive training to exercise, learn, and understand the simplest ways to scare kids on they were assigned. The concept is, to scare the children that they will never wish to come closer to monsters since most of them believe that humans are toxic. It was rumor that one touch will eliminate a monster. As a preventative measure, most creatures are instantly shaved, showered and quarantined if they touch whatever comes with have you ever been caressed by a child. However, things have change... Discover how...

Monster Inc. Soundtrack

Enjoy watching!