Synopsis:
Mumble Happy Feet (Elijah Wood) is a little different from the rest of the emporer penguins. He can’t seem to find his heart song. What he does have is a desire to dance and he quickly gets shunned by the rest of his kind. But now a mysterious food shortage is threatening the survival of the penguins, and Mumble sets out on an adventure to find out why, hoping he can win back the respect of all the other penguins.

Review:

Plot: This film follows the basic animals on a mission kind of scenario. Its mildly predictable, but there are a few surprises and all of the things that happen aren’t formulaic. I’ll be honest, I didn’t reallize from the trailers that the plot would be so conservation-themed. It carries a great message, I just didn’t know it was coming. A lot of people I spoke to about this before I saw it said the movie wasn’t funny. I disagree. There were plenty of laugh out load moments and when I wasn’t laughing, I was distracted by the incredibly cute penguins. It definitely appealed to the (very large) kid in me, but it isn’t as funny as classics like Toy Story.

Graphics: I thought the CGI in this film was great. All of the penguins looked real (not cartoonish) and the motion was fluid. This movie definitely has included great techniques from the previous generations of CGI films. Apparently (I heard this from a friend), the movie has been criticised for using actors as opposed to CG people in the film. I think the use of actors makes the message in the film a little more serious and relatable. CG people would just weaken the moral in my opinion.

Overall: This movie is definitely worth the watch. If you have kids, I would recommend a matinee showing. If you’re a big kid like me and just like animated movies, I would consider just waiting for the DVD. Enjoy!

Overall Rating: ***

Stanger Than Fiction @ IMDB

Synopsis:
A tax auditor named Harold Crick (Will Ferrell) lives a monotonous life full of calculated and precise actions. Things go horrible awry when he starts hearing his life narrated by a woman’s voice as he lives it. He soon discovers that the voice blongs to Kay Eiffel (Emma Thompson), a famous author who is suffering from writer’s block and is notorious for killing her protagonists.

Review:

Plot: This one is a comedy and a drama, the all to prevalent dramedy. Unfortunately for Ferrell fans, its heavy on the drama portion. There are some mildly funny moments throughout the movie, but no bust-a-gut/ROTFL moments like in Ricky Bobby. Doesn’t mean it was bad. Its somewhat interesting to see a slightly more serious side to Ferrell.

Acting: I actually enjoyed Emma Thompson a lot. Her character’s fascination with death and approach to writing is terribly awkward and Thompson translates it excelently. Queen Latifah is inconsequential as Eiffel’s assistant. I also liked Maggie Gyllenhaal as liberal activist baker. She’s odd but endearing as Ana Pascal.

Photography/Production: I was really dissappointed with the quality of filming for this movie. I guess my criticism here is not based on personal experience, but how hard can it be to keep a mic boom out of the scene? Maybe its just me, but it seemed a bit sloppy. It ruined it for me a little, because after the first time, my eyes kept getting distracted whenever the mic dipped in to the shot.

Overall: It wasn’t a bad movie, but its not worth a primetime ticket. If you’re a “I must see all Will Ferrell movies on the big screen” kind of fan, then go for a matinee. Personally, I think its amusing enough that its worth a rental when it comes to DVD, but probably not a purchase.