Kung Fu Panda 2

Alice and I saw Kung Fu Panda 2 today.  We had enjoyed the first movie and this movie was somewhat different.  There was less emphasis on the things that the Po could not do and was instead a focus on his surprise that he was adopted as a child by his father who happens to be a goose.  Later in the movie when Po reveals his surprise the tiger character says, “You didn’t know this?”

The point, however, is not so much on the adoption as it is on the fact that he loves the father who raised him.  The evil Peacock (!!!) has a plan to conquer China and Po and his Kung Fu friends are left with the task of thwarting this plan.  It involves cornering all the metal possible to construct an evil and deadly gun.  Despite the excessive fighting and fight scenes, it is interesting that there is no blood and I’m not sure more than two “people” die.  That, I suppose would make the movie too heavy.

The ending with Po telling his father he discovered the answer to his question, “Who am I?”  He answered, “I am your son.”  That little revelation was worth the price of the movie.  One shameless anticlimactic scene after that poignant scene was Po’s biological Panda father realizing that his son was still alive.  It sets up the sequel.  It didn’t have to do this.

Hey, we loved the part about the relationship between Po and his father and that was a nice close to this sweet movie.  Forget the last 20 seconds of the movie.

Mr. Popper's Penguins

After seeing this movie, Mr. Popper’s Penguins, as I was getting ready for this review I checked a couple of review and found them scathing and mean spirited.  I was surprised that many people just can’t stand Jim Carrey.  I must confess that he’s not always my cup of tea but I couldn’t believe how nasty some of the reviews were.

Tom Popper (Jim Carrey) is a divorced realtor who while growing up regularly communicated with his father via short wave radio.  On his deathbed his father decides to send Tom a penguin and then through a series of miscommunications Tom ends up with six in his posh New York apartment.  Tom finds that his estranged wife and children like the penguins and he spends his time hiding them from snoopy tenants, a money grubbing doorman, and a zookeeper who wants to claim the penguins and advance his zoo “fortunes.”

The premise is scarcely profound but the bits with the penguins, their bathroom habits, and their growing loyalty to Tom keeps the viewer smiling.  One review said the movie was “predictable.”  That may well be but that doesn’t mean that it’s a bad movie.  Tom manages to “rescue” the penguins and reclaim a building and restaurant that his father used when Tom was a child.  It’s fun to see Angela Lansbury as the owner who likes and remembers Tom, despite Tom’s many faults.

When one of three eggs laid by the penguins does not hatch, it provides the belated “aha” moment for Tom.  It is sweet to see in the closing scene, the penguins back in their natural habitat rather than confined to the zoo.

Preachy?  Not really.  Sweet?  Yes, at times.  Funny?  It has its moments.  Worth seeing?  I think so.  You could do so much worse.

X-Men 4

I confess.  Alice and I do not follow the "X-Men Universe" and we weren't really too sure about the characters that we saw in this fourth X-Men movie which was, technically, a "prequel" to other X-Men movies.  We liked this movie very much and especially like the unique "handicaps" that the mutants had and how they dealt with them.  Though the movie was violent at times, it's message was one of care and concern in how these young characters learned to support and lean on each other.  Added to this was the scenario of the Cuban Missle Crisis.  Alice commented that both the Russians and Americans were acting the exact same way in how they were responding to this crisis.  There was no underlying evil intent on either side, it seemed.  That was quite refreshing.  We found it unusual that we could enjoy this movie even though we didn't know what these characters were capable of doing and how they became so-called super heroes.  Ultimately, it was not a movie about super powers but about dealing with being different.  It is definitely worth seeing.

Pirates of the Caribbean - On Stranger Tides

Alice said I need to be positive about this movie that we saw on Sunday, May 22.  To do that I needed a couple of days of reflection.  Alice liked the movie.  So did Daniel.  I think that the movie was probably OK but I had trouble understanding the dialogue.  Like a lot of movies, everything (and especially the dialogue) just went so fast that I had trouble keeping up.  The point of the movie is that Jack Sparrow joins with his "buddy" (Barbossa) and an old girlfriend who happens to be the daughter of Blackbeard in searching for the Fountain of Youth.  The King is in on the intrigue in getting people in on the search and everyone races to the fountain while stopping for a major plot line of getting a tear from a mermaid that must be mixed with the fountain water for the water to "work."  When the protagonists get there they are stifled in their quest by a methodical group of Spanish soldiers (I think they were Spanish) who proceed to destroy the fountain.  Before the final destruction Jack "saves" his girlfriend while tricking Blackbeard.  And at the end the "buddies" sail off into the sunset for a proposed sequel.  Oh, there was a subplot of a sincere Christian who opposes the capture of the mermaid and ends up being "saved" by her.  He was a very positive character and rescues the movie from meaningless oblivion.  Daniel says that this was his favorite character.

Airplane, the Movie!

How about a mini-review of the 1980 movie, Airplane (The Movie)?  We rented two movies and when one didn't work properly the video store gave us a free one so we ended up watching three movies for $1.90.  Wow!  Big spenders!  I decided to get "Airplane" because I wanted some laughs.

I love this movie and love Striker's ridiculous stories (people are bored to tears and to suicide when they listen to details about his life) and Elaine's commentary on their relationship is laced with wry humor.  Highlights include the poor girl on intravenous medicine almost dying from a misplaced folk song, sweet Barbara Billingsley interpreting jive, the "Staying Alive" fight with the girl scouts and the swarthy sailor dancing, Leslie Nielsen's doctor character saying, "And don't call me Shirley," Robert Stack's double sunglasses bit, Lloyd Bridges' character McCroskey giving up more and more things, the endless cameos and bit parts and the unmentionable antics of Otto.  And, just maybe, it is ultimately a "buddy" movie between Striker (Robert Hays) and Elaine (Julie Hagerty) and that's what makes it good!

I'm not sure that you can get tired of this or of watching snippets of this tour de force.  Rent it once in a while or don't miss it on endless reruns.

The Bucket List

We had been wanting to see this 2008 movie for a long time since we missed it when it came out.  One of Alice's pen friends suggested we watch it so we rented it from a video store.  When we went to watch it we the DVD didn't work so we had to get another copy.  Finally, we got it working and watched an incredibly good movie.  I knew it was funny but I didn't realize its depth and spirituality.  It had its moments of humor but it wasn't a comedy at all.

The relationship between two terminally ill men (another buddy movie!!!!!) played by Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman is precious and memorable.  Billionaire Edward Cole (who owns hospitals) is befriended by Carter Chambers (an auto mechanic) and Cole decides to insist that Chambers follow his heart and pursue a list of lifelong goals before they die.  Cole can afford to do almost anything except cheat death and the poignant things they do and pursue are at the same time humorous and compelling.

Chambers pursues his "Bucket List" against his wife's wishes but he comes home a changed man after 3 months and, sadly, ends up losing his battle with cancer while Cole seems to be reinvigorated by it and lives many more years.  However, he has changed too and reconnects with an estranged daughter (at Carter Chambers' insistence) and an unknown granddaughter and his eulogy for his new friend bespeaks of his discovery of real life.

Pursue your dreams if you can!  That's one of the lessons I learned from this great movie.

Oh, to finish the story of the DVD that didn't work.  After watching the replacement DVD, when we turned off the DVD player at the end we found that the movie had just begun on TBS.  The store gave us a free movie and, so, for $1.90 we saw 3 movies.  They are/were worth every penny!

The Lady Vanishes

For my birthday last year Alice gave me an Alfred Hitchcock collection of movies.  I'm not sure if I was thrilled or not.  Most of the movies were early Hitchcock black and white movies so I haven't been keen on watching them.  On Mother's Day I decided to watch one and picked "The Lady Vanishes" at random, a 1938 movie that I thought would probably put me to sleep.  Hardly!  It has all of the Hitchcock things that you see in his later movies.  Humor.  Strange scenes.  Thrilling camera shots.  And more.  I couldn't believe how good this movie was.

I read that this was the last movie that Hitchcock made in England before he moved to Hollywood.  The movie involves a fictional country that compares with Nazi Germany.  It starts with guests who are snowed in.  Then a young woman, Iris, takes a train out of the country but because of a head injury she passes out only to discover that the lady helping her, Miss Froy, has vanished.  She reluctantly enlists the help of a man (Gilbert) who has insulted her back at the lodge but who now manages to help her "find" the missing woman who turns out to be a British spy.

Included in the movie are a risky outside transfer by Gilbert to a different state room, a diverted train, a gun battle with "Nazis", a daring rescue and escape for Mrs. Froy, and the triumph of love between Iris and Gilbert when Iris decides to abandon her diminutive fiance and commit her life to Gilbert.

I'm told that a 1979 remake was silly but this wonderful classic is far from silly.  It's worth seeing.