Maleficent (2014)

3/5

Disney's Maleficent stars Angelina Jolie as the titular character, and her casting is the best decision the filmmakers' could have made. She gives a spectacularly complex performance as the kind-hearted Maleficent, a fairy who places a curse on Sleeping Beauty as revenge for being stripped of her wings and the power of flight. She brings depth and gravitas that has felt absent in most Disney characters and she alone is the reason to see this movie.

Although the story is full of surprising twists, it is laid out and presented with such unoriginal style as to make it feel old and overused. We start with a voice-over explaining that there are two worlds: the world of fairies and the world of humans. We are introduced to Maleficent's childhood and the magical world she inhabits. She swirls and swoops in extravagant 3D as if to show off the prowess of Disney's CGI programmers. Then she meets a human, falls in love, and gets her heart broken. And on and on it goes in such an unsurprising and familiar progression as to make the whole movie feel like something we've seen a hundred times before, except this time they've recycled familiar names and placed them on opposite sides of the moral compass from the first time they were in a Disney movie.

Now, to be fair, I am far from an expert on Disney and far from an expert on Maleficent. I haven't seen Sleeping Beauty and I've barely seen Maleficent (I was extremely tired and found myself nodding off several times during the movie)! So I suppose it is a little unfair that I am reviewing this movie. But looking at this movie from a purely cinematic perspective, I see a lot of missed potential. Although the art direction and costuming are fantastic, Maleficent feels like even more of a money-making operation than most of Disney's products. They are cashing in on the Wicked train by turning a bad guy into a misunderstood good guy and passing the bad guy buck onto some other poor schmuck. Whereas Wicked felt fresh, original, and textured, Maleficent just feels like a copycat. I wanted this movie to be as phenomenal as Wicked was, but I didn't get that. A good movie that disappoints you is worse than a mediocre movie that meets all your expectations.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1587310/

We Bought A Zoo (2011)

3/5

Cameron Crowe's We Bought A Zoo is an upbeat, sugar-coated movie about a family that is falling apart after a recent death. Similar to The Descendants in plot, Crowe's film takes the more saccharine, family-friendly approach. Benjamin Mee (Damon) buys a new house that doubles as a zoo for his 7-year-old daughter Rosie (Jones), after being forced to move because of his son's poor behavior in school. As part of the contract for buying the property, he reopens the zoo and invests heavily, both financially and emotionally, in the animals and zookeepers (Johansson).

The problem with this film is that it's more of a performance than a realistic portrayal. Even though it was based on a true story, it feels less believable than The Descendants. This is not a fault of the acting, which is absolutely superb. The problem is the script, which bludgeons "take-home point" after "take-home point" instead of focusing on the people. It has a number of subplots that feel both unnecessary and strained. When it tries to wrap up all its various storylines into neat little packages by the end of the film, it just feels like it has more endings than The Lord of the Rings. The movie is enjoyable and entertaining--it's not a bad movie by any means--but I just wish it spent more time exploring the motivations and reactions of the characters instead of the intricacies of running a zoo.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1389137/

Super 8 (2011)

4/5

Super 8 is a movie that involves aliens and military cover-ups, but I believe the heart of the movie is about the magic of film. The plot follows a young group of filmmakers, including make-up artist Joe Lamb (Courtney), director Charles Kaznyk (Griffiths), and actress Alice Dainard (Fanning), after a train crash rocks the small town of Lillian. When the US Air Force comes to clean up the wreck, they keep local police in the dark as to the true nature of their cargo. When mysterious events start taking place in the town, sheriff Jackson Lamb (Chandler) steps up to the USAF to find out what exactly is going on.

A lot of reviews have compared this movie quite favorably to ET and "early Spielberg." It's true that there is a lot in common in both mood and plot--young heroes and innocent humor--but Super 8 brings a lot more to the table than just a well-done homage to its own producer. As the title suggests, the focus of Super 8 is the wonder of film. The kids are filmmakers, and they love the freedom and escape the fiction of cinema brings with it. But the most poignant, touching moment in the film is when Joe is watching an old film of his mom. Alice comes in and they just watch together, under its spell. You can tell as the silent film stock is bringing back memories and welling up emotion that no love letter or picture or locket could ever do. And in that instant you realize why this filmmaker--the kids in the movie and the real-life ones responsible for making this one--believe that the movies are magical.

But Super 8 is far from perfect. A number of the characters were flat, often feeling as if they were twisted around and manipulated to create the plot instead of true, fleshed-out individuals lost in the plot. Some of the dialogue just fell flat and sounded hollow. And the tension would occasionally drop off instead of constantly building up, but none of these negatives detract too heavily from the overall experience. This film was an absolute joy to watch. It reminded me why I go to the movies.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1650062/