Movie Review: Only Yesterday

Movie Review: Only Yesterday                                                                                                  10-24-16

Before Studio Ghibli became popular worldwide, they were first popular nationwide in Japan with four different and unique animated films: Castle in the Sky, Grave of the Fireflies, My Neighbor Totoro, and Kiki's Delivery Service. Another early addition to the Ghibli library was Only Yesterday, directed by Isao Takahata. Originally released in Japan in 1991, Disney refused to release this movie in the US because it had several references to menstruation. 25 years later, however, Only Yesterday would be released through G-Kids, who distributed foreign animated films like The Secret of Kells 🇮🇪, Boy and the World 🇧🇷, Ernest and Celestine 🇫🇷, and Ghibli's own The Tale of Princess Kaguya 🇯🇵. Daisy Ridley and Dev Patel voice the lead characters in the English dub.

Only Yesterday is about a 27-year-old woman named Taeko, who reminisces about her childhood in 1966. During that time, Takeo learned about many things, like trying pineapples, multiplication, child stardom, and most importantly, puberty. While not nearly as good as later Ghibli films, like Spirited Away or The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, Only Yesterday is an enjoyable film with fluid, albeit a bit dated, animation, solid storytelling, and some enjoyable music from Masaru Hoshi. However, there are moments in the film in which the story drags a bit, but diehard Ghibli fans will get a kick out of it.

Rating: 3.25 stars out of 5

Movie Review: Hocus Pocus

Movie Review: Hocus Pocus                                                                                                10-19-16
 

Hocus Pocus is a film a film about three witches in 17th Century Salem, Massachusetts: Winnie, Mary, and Sarah Sanderson. One night, they decide to steal a young girl named Emily so the witches could become younger. Emily's older brother Thackary tries to save her, but Winnie puts a curse on him and turns the boy into a cat. This act doesn't go unnoticed, however, as the townspeople kidnap and threaten to burn them. Before that, however, Winnie conjures a spell that they will return when someone summons them on a Halloween Night in the future.

300 years later, a teenage boy named Max hears about this story and calls it a hoax. Unlike other people in Salem, Max doesn't really like Halloween, and prefers his hometown in California over Salem. After upsetting his sister Dani while chaperoning her when she trick-or-treats, he cheers her up and goes to an abandoned museum with her and Allison, a girl who goes to Max's school. Max unwittingly unleashes the Sanderson Sisters, and they seek for revenge after Max takes Winnie's spell book.

Now what do I think of this film? Well, for a pre-CG 90s film, Hocus Pocus aged quite well. The all-star cast is rather enticing, the cinematography is excellent, and some of the special effects look neat. My favorite effects are when the witches use their magic.

There are quite a few people I know who like this movie, and I can see why: This movie was filmed in Massachusetts! Hocus Pocus is full of relatable characters and enjoyable moments.

Rating: 3 1/2 stars out of 5.

Double Feature Review: Brother Bear + Bonus Movie

Double Feature Review: Brother Bear + Mystery Meat (not literal meat)

Brother Bear was the third and final Disney movie to be animated at the Florida studio, and was about three Inuit brothers: Sitka, Denahi, and Kenai. Kenai has a prejudice for bears, as he sees them as thieves. After a fight with a bear, Sitka gets killed, and Kenai seeks for revenge. When he kills the same bear that killed Sitka, the spirits from 'the lights that touch the Earth' (what they call the Aurora borealis) turn Kenai into a bear, because his totem was a bear. Now Kenai has to make a journey to where 'the lights touch the Earth' to turn back into a human, but eventually, he learns that bears aren't as bad as he thought they were. He also befriends a bear cub named Koda, whose mother happened to be the bear that killed Sitka.

If you are reading this, Rachel, I hope I can point out a few positive things about this movie. I know you are not a fan of Brother Bear, but this movie has a special place in my heart. It was the first movie from Walt Disney Animation Studios I ever saw in theaters. I was born in 1996, so I was too young to see The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, Mulan, Tarzan, and Atlantis. I also chose not to see Lilo & Stitch in theaters because I used to have an insane phobia of seeing Earth from a satellite's point of view. However, when I saw Brother Bear for the first time in late 2003, I loved it and even got a few Brother Bear toys for Christmas that year.

Below is a list of things I appreciate about Brother Bear.

1. Rutt and Tuke can be funny.

 

Rutt and Tuke, the wisecracking moose duo voiced by Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas, were the traditional Disney sidekicks in this movie. I know some people find them annoying, but I think they can be funny sometimes. When I was younger, I thought the scene in which they were playing 'I Spy' was hilarious. In fact, I once played 'I Spy' with my bus driver and kept saying 'tree'. I think it drove him crazy, but I thought it was funny.

2. The message is wonderful and heartwarming, though a bit preachy to some.

At first, Kenai hates bears with a passion, but after he's turned into a bear, he realizes that bears are not enemies of man, but animals doing what they need to do to survive. I even remember having a Kenai plush (one that could change from a human to a bear) that said 'Bears aren't monsters. They're just like us.'

3. There's a hilarious cameo of Nemo the clownfish.

 

In the opening number "Great Spirits", while Denahi and Sitka are catching fish with a net, Kenai rides on a woolly mammoth and breaks the net. As soon as the pachyderm hits the net, Nemo can be seen for three frames. You have to press the 'Pause' button on your remote control multiple times until you see him.

4. The audio commentary is hilarious to listen to.
 
Those are Rutt and Tuke on the left and right sides of the screen.
When Brother Bear first premiered on DVD in 2004, it had an audio commentary with Rutt and Tuke. In the commentary, the two moose talk about numerous flaws in the movie. For example, they stated that none of this would've happened if Kenai just fixed the basket containing the fish so the bear wouldn't get it. My personal favorite line is during the credits, when the moose see the credits for the Disney Animation Paris Unit and say "Correct me if I'm wrong, I don't remember seeing anything about Paris in this movie!"

5. This movie had the involvement of Byron Howard.

Byron Howard is the co-director of Bolt with Chris Williams, Tangled with Nathan Greno, and Zootopia with Rich Moore, all three of which I love so much for different reasons. Before all that, however, Byron started out as an in-between animator on Pocahontas (the character).

He would later be a character animator on Yao in Mulan and the supervising animator of Cobra Bubbles in Lilo & Stitch. In Brother Bear, he was the supervising animator for Kenai (when he's a bear), and I personally think he did a good job. Other people involved with Brother Bear who would later contribute to the Second Disney Revival Era include Nathan Greno, Don Hall, and Tim Mertens.
I am also aware that Kenai can be unlikable at times, but according to Joaquin Phoenix, who voices Kenai, it's something that we can identify with because nobody's perfect.

Even though Brother Bear may not be some people's favorite's, I know an animated feature that's, in my opinion, even worse than Brother Bear that was released the same year: Rugrats Go Wild.

Rugrats Go Wild was a crossover movie of The Rugrats and The Wild Thornberrys. For those who are unfamiliar, The Wild Thornberrys was a Nicktoon that ran from 1998 to 2004, and was about a family who traveled all over the world. Nigel Thornberry, the father of the family, hosts a nature documentary while his wife Marianne shoots it. Nigel has two daughters, Eliza and Debbie, as well as an adopted son named Donnie. Like her father, Eliza has a passion for animals, and even found a chimpanzee and named him Darwin. One day, after saving a trapped warthog, the warthog turned into a witch doctor and granted Eliza the ability to talk to animals. However, she has to keep it a secret and cannot tell any human being, except for her sister Debbie. While The Wild Thornberrys wasn't as popular as other Nicktoons at the time, like Hey Arnold or Spongebob, it was popular and successful enough to spawn a feature film, The Wild Thornberrys Movie, in late 2002. It managed to earn more money and better reviews than Disney's other animated feature that year, Treasure Planet.

Anyway, in Rugrats Go Wild, the Rugrats characters go on a cruise and get shipwrecked on a deserted island. The other people on the island happen to be the Thornberrys family, trying to film a rare species of leopard. When the babies get to meet Nigel Thornberry, whom they call Nigel Strawberry, he gets hit in the head with a coconut and thinks he's a baby. Also, Spike, the dog in The Rugrats, runs into Eliza and actually talks. To make it worse, he's voiced by Bruce Willis, which doesn't fit the character. That's like having Captain Hook in Walt Disney's Peter Pan being voiced by Cary Grant! Or having a Simpsons episode in which Santa's Little Helper talks and is voiced by David Schwimmer! Also, Eliza can talk to animals, but only wild animals. Also, there was already a Rugrats episode in which Spike talked: the episode "In the Dreamtime", in which Chuckie experiences his first dreams and can't distinguish reality from fantasy. In the first dream Chuckie has, the babies enter Spike's doghouse, which becomes a fancy mansion, and Spike could speak English with a British accent.
 

In my opinion, Rugrats Go Wild is a film that ruined the Rugrats franchise with a clumsy script and forgettable songs. I personally think they should've ended the franchise after Rugrats in Paris. In this situation, I would rather watch Brother Bear than Rugrats Go Wild. However, everyone has their own opinion.

Brother Bear rating: 3 1/2 stars out of 5.

Rugrats Go Wild rating: 2 stars out of 5.

My Issues With Muppets Most Wanted

Note: What I'm going to say next does not count as a movie review.
At the end of my review of 2011's The Muppets, I stated that I wasn't too fond of the sequel, Muppets Most Wanted, stating it was disrespectful to the Muppets. I have seven personal reasons why.
1. Amy Adams and Jason Segall did not return.
One of the reasons 2011's The Muppets was enjoyable was because of the contribution of Jason Segall. He's a Muppet fan himself, and practically co-wrote the script. He also, according to the Blu-Ray feature 'Scratching the Surface', served as executive producer, chair setter-upper, chef, floor sweeper, and coffee maker for Walter. Without Amy or Jason, this movie feels like a rehash of The Great Muppet Caper.

2. The plot is too dark for the Muppets.
When Kermit tries to escape the Gulag, someone tries to shoot him. With a gun. That doesn't belong in a Muppets film. Sure, there was shooting in The Muppet Movie, but no one ever gets hurt. In fact, the only targets that get hit are tires on a car. Another scene that bothers me is the opening, in which Constantine escapes from prison and blows it up. That doesn't belong in a Muppets film either.

3. The movie trolls us by saying the Muppets aren't popular in-universe AND real-life.
At the beginning of Muppets Most Wanted, shooting for The Muppets 2011 finished, and the fans at the end of the movie were just extras. To make matters worse, the Muppets World Tour was just a scam. The audience was paid to see the tours and to give them good reviews. To me, that's a big slap in the face.

Also, there are points in the movie in which I feel like they're disrespecting Jim's work. When Constantine says 'the lovers, the dreamers, and cheese', it sounds like he's intentionally trying to mock 'Rainbow Connection', which is practically the Henson equivalent of 'When You Wish Upon a Star'. And when Robin the Frog and Rizzo the Rat hear from Constantine that Walter 'quit' the Muppets, they decided to quit, too. That sounds like something Jim Henson nor Jerry Juhl would never write.
At least Bill Prady's The Muppets TV series redeemed Kermit and the gang, though I personally wish it could've done better. I just hope they release the show on DVD soon.
4. The celebrity cameos are more for adults than for kids.
Almost all the celebrity cameos in Muppets Most Wanted are from R-rated movies. In the previous Muppet movie, however, there were celebrity cameos that both kids and adults will recognize. Kids will definitely recognize Jack Black, Selena Gomez, and Rico Rodriguez, while adults will recognize Mickey Rooney, Whoopi Goldberg, and Jim Parsons.

How many kids will know who Tom Hiddleston is?
5. The Muppets jinxed Toy Story 4.
During the song 'We're Doing a Sequel', Gonzo jokingly says "Until they wait for Tom Hanks to make Toy Story 4!" Shortly after that, an official Toy Story 4 was announced. Remember what happened when the fourth and final Shrek movie premiered? Or when Ice Age 4: Continental Drift premiered? They not only got bad reviews, but they also ignored their own logic from previous movies! In Shrek Forever After, the antagonist Rumpelstiltskin was depicted as a troll, yet in Shrek the Third, he was depicted as an early draft of Stoick the Vast, Hiccup's father in How To Train Your Dragon. In the first Ice Age, there were humans, yet in the sequels, there are none. Also, when Scrat reaches the Earth's core in Ice Age 4, he doesn't get burnt to a crisp.

6. Sam the Eagle saying 'I hate Europe.'
In Muppets Most Wanted, Sam the Eagle states that he hates Europe. However, in The Great Muppet Caper, which takes place in England, a part of Europe, he took a vacation at the Happiness Hotel.
In this film, Sam takes a vacation in Europe...

Yet in Muppets Most Wanted, he states he hates Europe. This is a plot hole that needs to be fixed.

7. The Muppets could escape from prison easily.
Even if the Muppets did get arrested, they have an arsenal of Muppets that would be useful for escaping. Lew Zealand could pull out a whale shark, which is the biggest fish in the world, Crazy Harry could blow up the prison-cell, Thog, Sweetums, or Doglion could bust through the door by ramming into it, because of their large sizes, and Gonzo would most likely do something crazy, like digging a tunnel with a spoon, as seen in the Cloris Leachman episode of The Muppet Show, or fire a dozen cannons at once to the tune of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, as seen in the Paula Abdul episode of Muppets Tonight.

If you like Muppets Most Wanted, that's fine. It's just not my cup of tea.