Excess of Opinions

I cringed when I saw the first trailers for this one. I thought it stank of desperate money-grubbing, and that far too much time had passed since the first two films for the franchise to be relevant. I could not have been more wrong!!

Not only is this movie great, just as awesome as Toy Story and Toy Story 2, but what impressed me the most was the way all three movies fit together. Tone, characters, pacing, and design are all completely consistent. I don’t think the same can be said for any set of sequential movies. Think about that for a minute…it’s remarkable. Even sets where I like all 2 or 3 or 4 films, which is rare in the first place, those movies will vary wildly individually.  Aliens is very different from Alien; Back To The Future 3 is fully distinct from the original. Pixar seems to have lightning in a bottle, and good for them.

So, basically, if you loved the first Toy Story, you have got it made! If you disliked Toy Story, well, may your God have mercy on your shriveled, blackened soul.

Also, I can’t believe they got the real Andy. There are a lot of weepy moments in this, as Pixar’s favorite thing is to make me cry (yet I somehow don’t resent them for it).

I was curious how Wes Anderson would make an animated children’s movie, and the answer is very clear: exactly the way he makes all his movies. If you don’t like his movies, if you find them painfully awkward and self-consciously weird, you probably will not like this because, first and foremost, it’s a Wes Anderson flick. If you are fond of his films in all their geeky hipster glory, you will clap your hands like giddy schoolgirl at this one.

The stop-motion animation is a bit choppy and strange, and I say that as a devotee of the art form. It’s something about the knees that just isn’t right, but the urge to reach out and touch the animals surely means something is being done well. The dialog is snappy and adorably quirky, and the whole thing is just a super fun time. Where does George Clooney get off being charming and attractive when he isn’t even on the screen?!

HOTBOX!!

this stop-motion animated Belgian…experience…is so deliciously loony and fun i can hardly stand it. i literally never knew what was happening next, but it all made an insane kind of sense and was logical within its framework of children’s fantasy logic. SO MUCH FUN!!!

it has a subtle adult sensibility about it, such that like classic Muppet Show episodes, there are hilarious implications that would fly unnoticed over the heads of the kids but warm the dark hearts of their parents.

well-done sweeping Dutch castle epic for older kids – all the actors are natural and earnest; the plot is simple but not dumb and filled with easy-to-grasp symbolism and morals; the sword-fighting is nicely executed and the locations and cinematography are beautiful.

i watched this movie just because i heard that Macaulay Culkin dies in it, and i was dismayed to find that by the time that happened, i was so sucked into this movie that i was really upset by it.

cute as hell. this could have been horrifically hokey, but Anne Hathaway makes it work in a non-fakey way.

okay, this movie is basically what you’d expect, but it’s worth it for Lester’s Possum Posse Jamboree and Dancing Bigfoot. only 2 minutes, but i can’t recommend it highly enough just for those excerpts. so, really, i guess what i’m recommending is Youtube…

If I gave a care about automobiles, I mighta liked it even more, but it was good. Loved the landscapes.

This is retartid.

Are they made from real Girl Scouts?