Winnie the Pooh

Well today I also went and saw my favorite yellow bear, Winnie the Pooh. this movie was a delight.

Before I talk about the film I want to talk about the Ballad of Nessie the short that comes in front of the film. The short was also very heart warming and well done. The animation was nice and unique, sort of like Scottish tapestry. Dr. Seuss comes to mind when I saw this short, it was done like one of his stories. It rhymed  and there was a catchy score/ I wish it was a tad longer because it felt sort of rushed. But as a whole it was a great short, something new from Disney, and I give the short a 4/5.

Now back to Winnie the Pooh. All the characters are back in a brand new film that follows a simple plot. The plot is about Pooh trying to get some honey and all the adventures he has along the way with the rest of the cast. The movie starts like the old film with Christopher Robins room, all done in live action.

The animation is a delight, it feels very much like an old Pooh cartoon. They some interesting things with it as well such as a scene where Pooh is in a Honey wonderland. Or my favorite during the Backson song which is done in chalk. And also how they interact with the words in the book.

Voice, probably the biggest concern for fans. Well to eliminate that concern, the voices were spot on. They sounded like the characters we grew up with, occasionally though when Rabbit talked you could get hints of Rabbit.

Another important part of the Pooh films are the songs. Zoey Deschanel does a good job singing the title song. It still gives me the feel of the older film when it played at the start of the film. Another great song is the Backson song, probably my favorite, it felt like the mob song from Beauty and the Beast, but with more subtle and innocent lyrics. It was a fun number and scene. The other songs are good too, like the Winning song.

The best part of a Pooh film is the characters. The characters matter more than the plot. All the characters are back and as lovable as ever. There charm and innocence are still intact. Pooh's as goofy as ever and Tiggers still hyper active. They are all the same and a joy to watch.

The comedy is top notch. This has to be the funniest movie I have seen all year. The jokes are character and situational based. The humor shines because the cast is so great. It does not utilize potty or humor that goes over the kids heads. The jokes are all funny and both adult and children can enjoy them.

The first film was a tad episodic, but this one packed in a tight package that feels like a whole film.

Overall Winnie the Pooh is a delight and joy to see back on the big screen. The run time is a tad short, but they pack so much enjoyment and fun that it is well worth you money. Pooh is enjoyable by all ages and the characters are timeless.

I give this "Silly old Bear" a very strong 3.5/5 for a great film that is enjoyable and entertaining. Stay all the way through the credits, there is a surprise.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

I just went and saw Harry Potter today and boy was it an event. This movie is amazing and a great way to end of a fantastic tn year journey. The movie is the continuation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, it starts off exactly where the last left off. Which is great, but it feels like you are only watching half a movie. You don't feel the full satisfaction of the movie and it leaves an empty void while watching. However it does not take away from the experience and that feeling is lost the more you go through the film.

The visuals and battle scenes are done well, like you would expect from a Harry Potter film or a grand epic. The movie itself felt like an epic, where battles were going on left and right, body counts were more than expected. However I wish they had spent more time with some of the more major characters that lost their lives for Harry cause. They kind of just moved on after morning for about 2 seconds. But don't get me wrong I was tearing up on some of these scenes non the less.

The movie unravels some of the burning questions we had for the series such as Harry's past or what's the deal with Snape.  It ties up everything well and throughout the film they pay homage to some of the older films.

The character are all the same Harry and the gang are just as likable as ever. The stand out actors in this film were Nevel and Voldemort. Nevel has changed a lot since the first movie and it shows in this movie. He gets some good screen time and he was a joy to watch. Voldemort was played very well and he was sinister. You could feel the danger this man posses. He is cold and evil. I wish the other villains were giving some more screen time.

The movie is a lot darker than the other Potter films, but still manages to put that good old Harry Potter humor in. However this movie is very heavy on emotions mainly because we know the film and journey is coming to an end.

Overall this film is great, the best films I've seen this year. This acting is spot on, jokes are handles well, and the visuals and battles are handle extremely well. I have no doubt that this film will get an Oscar nod for Best Picture.

I give Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part a 4.5/5 a amazing end to an amazing franchise.

"The Boy Who Could Fly"

 Another story I wrote. Thanks for read and please tell me what you folks think.

Our story begins in an old American school, around the late 1800’s.  The teacher just asked her students, “What do yah kids wannna do when ya’ll grow up.”

     “I want to be a fireman.”

     “A nurse.”

     “A taco farmer.”

     “A horse cart racer.”

     One by one each kid answered their teacher except one chubby kid in the back.

     “Skyler Walker, you’re the only one.  Tell us what yah gonna do when ya’ll grow up.” The teacher and the class waited in anticipation for the chubby kid’s response.

     A big grin went across Skylar’s face, “I wanna fly.  Fly like a bird.” He said as he flapped his arm fat like wings.

     “Are yah crazy, Skyler?” The teacher’s smile turned into a grin as she busted out laughing.  Skyler nothing in the world can lift you off the ground.  You’re 277 pounds; it would take two hurricanes to lift you up an inch.  You are also the fattest person in town.  You have more chins than a Chinese phonebook.  You have more layers than a wedding cake and you have your own area code.  There is no way you can fly.”

     Skyler was devastated by his teacher’s remarks about his dream, but he said nothing.  He believed when the time comes they will all eat their own words.  He did not want their bad thoughts to poison his dream.

     That afternoon Skyler was at his locker getting his bag ready for the horse ride home, when all of a sudden he was surrounded by a few kids from his school.

     “So yah think yah can fly?” One of the boys interrogated, “Huh, do yah? Do yah fat boy?”

     Skyler looked down at the floor and began to walk away.  He didn’t want to answer to those jerks because it would cause problems.  Another boy grabbed Skyler by the shirt and banged him on a locker.

     “You don’t want to answer?” The angry boy asked, who was shoving Skyler against the locker, “You know we don’t like weirdoes at this school, especially ones that are as fat and stupid as you.”

     Skyler did not want to answer them.  He didn’t want to say or do anything until the moment.  Every second Skyler was quiet the kids surrounding were getting angrier and angrier.

     “BOOM!” “THUMP!” “SLAP!” “BANG!”

     They boys punched, kicked, and banged Skyler’s head until it bled.  After the horrible beating the boys left Skyler in a puddle of his own blood.  Skyler suffered many weeks of harassment.  No one wanted to help the weird kid out and even Skyler suffered the beatings quietly.  He knew one day a greater being or force will show the mean boys the error of their ways.

     One day the class had a trip to the Grand Canyon.  Being at the Canyon helped Skyler realize that if his dream could not come true, he would die trying to make it come true.  Thinking of the constant harassments and beating, he approached a ledge.  Skyler opened up his flabby arms, closed his eyes, and leaped.  As he fell he began to believe more and more in his dream.  As he believed more he flapped harder.  He flapped as hard as he could, but could not rise.  His heart pounded fast, he started to think what he was doing was stupid.  Before falling into the spikes below, he flapped a little harder and soon enough he began to rise.

     “I’m flying?  I’m flying!” Skyler cheered as he exited the Canyon.

     Once out, he took one last look at the people who did not believe him.  He nodded at them, turned around, and flew to the heavens. 

     As they looked at Skyler fly away, a meteorite from the other direction was hurdling towards the class.  The meteorite fell on top of the class.  It was as if it were sent from the gods themselves, only taking out the teacher and the other non believers. 

        

         

Mean Girls "That is so Fetch"

 

I think it's finally time to review some live action movies and what better way to start than one of my favorite films of all time, Mean Girls. In this post I am going talk about two things, one will be a review of the film and the second will be of starting a new trend. So without any further a due let's begin.

Mean Girls isn't the best film ever mad or even revolutionary cinema, but it is very original, smart, and well done. The over all plot is very simple, it is about a girl, Cady, who is out for revenge because the guy, Aaron, she likes is taken by another girl, Regina George, that she trusted. The plot is not what make this movie great. The colorful characters and execution are what makes this movie shine.

The main character is Cady, Lindsey Lohan, a new student from Africa, where she was raised, who tries to fit in the real world after being home schooled for 16/17 years. She is a well rounded character and very believable as how she adapts to the real world. She is easily manipulated into doing anything because she is very trustworthy and never had dealt with being lied to or back stabbed.

Regina George, Rachel McAdams, is the best character in the movie and possibly the worst person you would want to meet. She controls the whole school and with the snap of her finger she has anything she wants. It is a character you will hate to love because she has a certain charm when she manipulates people and can keep a cool composure even through the annoying thing. She is very passive aggressive, making people feel bad  through creative insults that can sound like a compliment at times.

Gretchen, Lacey Chabert, the right hand man/girl of Regina George. She follows and serves Regina as a faithful friend even though Regina constantly bashes her. Gretchen is a likable character because she always feels like the victim and we feel bad by how Regina treats her.

By far my favorite character is Karen, Amanda Seyfried. She is the essential to the comedy in this movie and Amanda Seyfried plays the airhead bimbo very well. She doesn't play a major role to the events, but she is entertaining and the movie would have not been as great without her.

The other characters are great too and add a lot to the over all movie. Damian is entertaining, Janice is dramatic and layered, Ms. Norbury is smart and delightful to watch. Most of the side characters are shown to have more depth than most movies tend to make side characters.

The comedy and jokes are well done and spot on. Most of the gags will make you laugh. They are also very intelligently written and doesn't really heavily on dirty humor. It comes naturally from the characters and the situations they are placed into. Another thing done well is the connection between the high school/girl world to the animal world, but showing at the same time the real world can be more dangerous. The movie does a good job of parodying/satirizing the real world.

Overall this movie is well written and executed. The comedy is very intelligent and well placed and the characters are interesting and engaging. It isn't a masterpiece, but it is quit entertaining and funny. It doesn't drag on and is probably one of the best high school movie ever made.

I give Mean Girls a strong 4/5. Entertaining and Smart...So "Fetch."

Okay onto our next topic. I wanted to talk to you all about the word "Fetch," a word used a lot by Gretchen meaning awesome or cool. Well I am trying to make Gretchen's dream a reality throughout the movie she tries to make "Fetch" happen, but sadly because of Regina her dream is cut short. I want to try and make "Fetch" happen and make it part of our vocabulary like "Dang" or "Epic." I know you guys think it's retarded now, but I bet when people made "Dang" and "Epic" happen they looked as losers. "Epic used to be a word mostly used by nerds or to describe something of grand scale, but today we use it for everything regardless off scale or awesomeness. So I ask you all today let's make "Fetch" happen. I am already trying, but it is hard without supporters, I need you all, please this is Gretchen's dream we're talking about, So instead of using awesome or cool we replace it with "Fetch," slowly it will catch on and people we begin to use it. We can make it happen people. I will really appreciate if this were to really happen and become part of our normal vocabulary. You all are "Fetch' for doing this and for reading my blog. Please let me know you are all out there helping the cause comment below.

Kung Fu Panda 2

Okay I know, I haven't been up to date with my blog. Well I had a lot of things going on last week, but it's all over now and I can concentrate on mt blog. I'm reviewing Kung Fu Panda 2. I would have normally reviewed the first one, but I haven't seen it in over 2 years, so I'm reviewing the second one. I will eventually have a review for the first Kung Fu Panda up, but not right now.

I saw this movie about a week after it came out and was pretty excited to see it. However knowing Dreamworks track record with sequels, I was a bit worried that this would turn out to be like Shrek the Third, but to my delight it was more like Shrek 2, a sequel that rivals the first.

Kung Fu Panda 2 is a great movie and probably the strongest animated film to be released this year (haven't seen Rango yet). The characters are very fun and I think they get more dialogue than they did in the first film, especially Monkey, who gives some pretty good one liners. Tigress stands out in this film. Her strong role as a supporting character is expanded upon and we get to know more about her. She develops from a hardcore Kung Fu master to a sympathetic and beloved character. It's a good thing because now she has more depth and we have a reason to care about her. The other characters are good and add a lot to this movie.

Lord Shen is probably one of the best villains Dreamworks has put out in a while. He is intimidating, has real motives for what he does, and he very intelligent. He some of the best scenes in the movie and it is a treat to watch him do Kung Fu. It's as if we are watching a moving piece of art and very beautiful to watch his feathers move.

Po, the main character, is as likable as ever and we have more to love in this film. We get to see a side of him that we've never seen and we can sympathies with him much more in this film than in the first. The relationship between Po and his father, Mr. Ping, is very touching and a joy to watch on screen.

The action sequences in this movie are over the top, in a good way. They don't just make the movie exciting, but they also movie the story along. The animation is top notch and are done very well, especially the hand drawn scenes. They add a lot of depth and are done well to connect Po to his past, as his memory becomes clearer, the hand drawn sequences become computer generated. The darker elements are handled well too and make Panda work on a different level than other Dreamwork efforts.

There are only a few problems with this film. First it's the comedy, no the jokes and gags are good (free of pop culture references and toilet humor is minimal), but it's the timing. Some of the comedic moments are done in very random places throughout the film. Sometimes during more serious moments, the jokes ruin the heart felt and edge of the seat moments. Another problem with this film is the pacing, sometimes. In certain scenes it feels as if the director wants the characters to go to the next point. It doesn't ruin the film, but hurts some moments in it.

Overall this film is wonderful and rivals the first. I personally like it more than the first. The characters are great, the animation is beautiful, and the jokes are funny. It is a very well developed film and a shoe in for a  Best Animated Picture nomination. This movie shows what Dreamworks can do and I am excited to see where they go next. The film was also directed solely by a female director a first for the industry.

I give Kung Fu Panda 2 a 4/5. I a excellent score for one of the best films of this year. I wanna know what you guys think so comment below.

"The Adventures of The Filogoofers"

 This is one of the first stories I've ever written. I hope you guys like it, comment below.


     Tikopofy was a wonderful land with magnificent buildings, beautiful forests, and wonderful people known as the Filogoofers. Filogoofers were oddly shaped, their whohas didn’t match there tatahs, their noses didn’t have roses and worst of all they didn’t wash their footsy wootsys. Even though their feet stunk and their noses didn’t have roses they all lived in harmony, except they were terrorized by their king. King Shamafala was not a Filogoofer, but he was just as hideous. He was a big plump man with a twirling mustache across his face; he also had a big white beard that twirled all the way down to his plump jelly belly. His teeth were yellow and his breath smelled like rotten Shushamuri Jell-O. That was not the worst part of him he was meaner than a Rataktabondoogle, but the people were too scared to do anything about it.
      One day the king heard of a far distant land that was inhabited by no one, him being a greedy fellow, he quickly sent out a cry to all the people of the town that he wanted this land. Shamafala quickly boarded 1000 Filogoofers onto a speedy deeverhover and sent them a rowing to that piece of land. As soon as they landed, they met a group of masked bandits. The Filogoofers got very scared, but did not run knowing that the deeverhover had no fuel, so instead they coward and befriended those ghouls. Soon the bandits revealed their true face and told them that they were very friendly and told them to call them Boulysofos. The Boulysofos gave the Filogoofers many goods and invited them to a harvest dinner, where they were served googoos, toolutoolus in floogerberry jam, and the main course a plump tuktak bird smothered in apago sauce.
      The Filogoofers and the Boulysofos lived in harmony sharing the land, until the Filogoofers started to populate. You know how fast Filogoofers breed; well they stole land from their friends for their own selfish need. This angered the Boulysofos’ chief so they planned to attack, but they failed because they were clearly outnumbered and did not have the weapons to back. So they sadly went to the east and never showed their faces.
      King Shamafala heard of the news that his people had gotten more land, he rejoiced and sent an army to see how the people were. When he discovered that his people were happy and prospering, he decides to tax them for 50 percent of any food they grew. This angered the Filogoofers a lot so they decide to rebel because they knew the king could not do anything because he was over there and they were over here. This conflict carried out for years and eventually the king became mad and he sent a dozen of his most elite army. The Filogoofers were not terrorized easily by the armies because they had their own elite armies that were armed with wingdangles and wizwackers. They fought for many years they even got the help of their former friends the Boulysofos who helped fight of Shamafala’s power. They eventually won the war and the king respected them and named the country The United Filos of Jafaygo. As time went on the Boulysofos became really poor and sold of the land they were living in to the Filogoofers, were they lived in happiness again.
      With more land, came more property and more property meant more work and more work meant cheap labor. The Filogoofers had barely any money and could not afford cheap labor, so again the Filogoofers collapsed their friendship with the Boulysofos in attempt to get some labor. The Boulysofos were treated well at first until power took over the Filogoofers’ minds and they started mistreating Boulysofos by not giving them cloths, or enough floogerberry jam during supper and worst of all if they didn’t do something they would make them sniff their nasty footsy wootsys. The Boulysofos went on for years serving their Filo masters, until some Filogoofers were disgusted by the way their friends the Boulysofos were being treated. This form of thinking caused the Filogoofers to split into two separate groups; the Filos who wanted to weld their friendship with the Boulysofos and the Goofers the lazy good for nothings that wanted the Boulysofos to do everything for them. The Filos moved to the north were they lived in harmony with Boulysofos sharing their floogerberry jam and the Goofers moved to the south and carried on their lifestyle.
      For years many Boulysofos tried to escape to the north were they could get some delectable floogerberry jam, but they were always caught and forced to smell their yucky mucky feet of their
Goofer masters. The Filos became angered by this mistreating and decided to become one group again and follow the ways of the north. They fought over the Boulysofos and endangered their land, but eventually the Filos won and they all rejoiced and celebrated with a big jar of floogerberry jam. Even though they were happy the country was a mess, everyone pitched in but it wasn’t a success. So think about this the next time you have a conflict you should talk it out because war always end in poverty and grief. No matter who wins in a war the results never give anyone relief.