Dr. Seuss' The Lorax will delight your kids. The colors are bright, the hero is a brave young boy and there are cute animals galore. Doesn't hurt that tween faves Zac Efron voices the young hero, Ted, and Taylor Swift voices his dream girl, Audrey. The characters are named after the real life Dr. Seuss and his wife.
Also great are the voices of the Lorax (Danny DeVito), the Once-ler (Ed Helms) and granny (the awesome Betty White). The music is bright, although a bit familiar, and there's a decent adaptation to film. It's hard taking a short book and stretching it out to an 86-minute film. At times it felt a bit drawn out, but overall kept a good pace.
In essence The Lorax is a story of a boy, Ted, living in the very plastic city known as Thneedville. He falls for an older girl, who tells him a story about real trees and pledges to marry the guy who can bring her one. Well, you know he's gonna do his best to win her over. His granny tells him of the Once-ler, who knows the secret of the trees, and he's inspired to find him. This is where the Lorax comes in. In the meantime, the city is essentially run by a guy who sells clean air to people because nature is pretty much all but destroyed. And he's not so happy to hear of Ted seeking out the Once-ler.
There's a bit of action (with a tad cartoon violence) and lots of comedy and song. The 3D effects aren't over done. They aren't necessary, either, especially if you're on a budget. My grade: B.
The Lorax recently made the news when Fox News commentator Lou Dobbs discussed it being one of two new kids films indoctrinating kids to certain liberal beliefs. In the case of The Lorax, we might worry about radical environmental beliefs. Well, I doubt that. The story is an environmental one, that is that we need to avoid depleting natural resources. In the film, the trees are all but lost unless someone stands up to protect them. But the message is not one that says kids should be militant about protecting the environment. Ted's intention to bring back the trees come off as more for love than to become an environmental hero. Besides, what's wrong with taking care of our Earth?
On the flip side, for a movie that has an anti-greed message (the film's bad guy is greedy in protecting the empire he created), I'm already reading a lot of complaints about all the movie tie-ins and product licensing. That's capitalism, and our economy thrives off that.
The film is rated PG for brief mild language.
Showing posts with label Kid movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kid movies. Show all posts
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Thursday, December 15, 2011
The appeal of Alvin and the Chipmunks
I must be honest, learning that a third Chipmunk movie was being released had me thinking, why? I reminded myself, "Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked" is not for me.
NOT FOR ME. I repeated this often.
It's for the children, those angelic innocents who find chirpy voices funny or cute or both. It's for kiddies who laugh when things get knocked down and adults are dorks and dumb. Juvenile equals hilarious.
If you've seen the previous movies, you know they are silly kid fantasy. The humor is generally aimed at the under 10 crowd, with a sprinkling of clean pop culture references. Is it good? Well, if you are six, I'd say sure. Plenty of smart and funny kid films came out this year. Kung Fu Panda 2, Rio, Puss in Boots and The Muppets rocked. The Chipmunks aren't in the same class.
The third Chipmunks movie kicks off as the boys, Alvin, Simon and Theodore; girl group Chipettes and adoptive dad Dave (Jason Lee) head to a vacation singing the Go-Go's, a little break before performing on a big music awards show. As soon as they board the cruise ship, the boys find themselves in TROUBLE (cue Pink's hit "Trouble"). Dave yells a lot, as expected. Then brainy chipmunk Simon pleads, "Kids will rise to the occasion if you give them a little trust." But, duh, Alvin (voiced by Justin Long) has to push buttons and get in BIG trouble before he can learn a lesson. Thus, the furry tweens take flight and end up on a deserted island where they bump into a stranded cargo pilot (think Castaway), who is a bit crazy. Alvin behaves responsibly and Simon become Simone, a lover and daredevil, after a bug bite. Dave and Ian, the malicious music agent from previous movies played by David Cross, must team up to rescue the chipmunks.
The chipmunk adventure is never too perilous, gotta keep it light and sing-songy. There are moments of laughter, but the deeper meanings will be lost on little ones who may not know of Charlie Sheen, Jersey Shore, Castaway or Sarah Palin. But there is plenty of predictable silliness: Laughter flowed during a scene where Ian, in a pelican suit, makes a bed in a nest, as well as the line, "You mess with me ese, I go loco on you."
My rating: D
My son and his friend (ages 13 and 14): B
What you need to know: The movie is rated G. The humor is aimed at kids, so there isn't anything truly racy, but Simon does get flirty and one of the boys after hitting a tree cries for his "acorns."
NOT FOR ME. I repeated this often.
It's for the children, those angelic innocents who find chirpy voices funny or cute or both. It's for kiddies who laugh when things get knocked down and adults are dorks and dumb. Juvenile equals hilarious.
If you've seen the previous movies, you know they are silly kid fantasy. The humor is generally aimed at the under 10 crowd, with a sprinkling of clean pop culture references. Is it good? Well, if you are six, I'd say sure. Plenty of smart and funny kid films came out this year. Kung Fu Panda 2, Rio, Puss in Boots and The Muppets rocked. The Chipmunks aren't in the same class.
The third Chipmunks movie kicks off as the boys, Alvin, Simon and Theodore; girl group Chipettes and adoptive dad Dave (Jason Lee) head to a vacation singing the Go-Go's, a little break before performing on a big music awards show. As soon as they board the cruise ship, the boys find themselves in TROUBLE (cue Pink's hit "Trouble"). Dave yells a lot, as expected. Then brainy chipmunk Simon pleads, "Kids will rise to the occasion if you give them a little trust." But, duh, Alvin (voiced by Justin Long) has to push buttons and get in BIG trouble before he can learn a lesson. Thus, the furry tweens take flight and end up on a deserted island where they bump into a stranded cargo pilot (think Castaway), who is a bit crazy. Alvin behaves responsibly and Simon become Simone, a lover and daredevil, after a bug bite. Dave and Ian, the malicious music agent from previous movies played by David Cross, must team up to rescue the chipmunks.
The chipmunk adventure is never too perilous, gotta keep it light and sing-songy. There are moments of laughter, but the deeper meanings will be lost on little ones who may not know of Charlie Sheen, Jersey Shore, Castaway or Sarah Palin. But there is plenty of predictable silliness: Laughter flowed during a scene where Ian, in a pelican suit, makes a bed in a nest, as well as the line, "You mess with me ese, I go loco on you."
My rating: D
My son and his friend (ages 13 and 14): B
What you need to know: The movie is rated G. The humor is aimed at kids, so there isn't anything truly racy, but Simon does get flirty and one of the boys after hitting a tree cries for his "acorns."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)