Luca: Adventures and dangers and amazing moments for the whole family

Movie Review: Luca (2021) on Disney +

Disney and Pixar have a fun new animated winner, Luca, bridging the undersea and above-the-sea worlds with great new energy. 

Luca is a young sea monster shepherding a herd of fish, unhappy with his lot in life. His mother and father guard him constantly, afraid he will take after his grandmother and her lust for the life ashore. He finds "treasures" dropped overboard from human fishing trawlers, simple everyday items like watches and pictures and -- a phonograph, and feels the pull of wanderlust. Eventually, Luca escapes the binding ties of his mother's apron strings--yes, his mother wears an apron--and emerges on an isolated island beach. And there he meets Alberto, who feeds his lust for human life and discovery. 

Whenever Luca or Alberto are in the water, they appear as sea monsters. However, whenever they are in the fresh air, they lose their scales and fins and become human, with arms and legs and skin with hair. To remain human, all they have to do is avoid the water. Oh, and learn what it means to live like a human, such as eat, and walk upright, and talk. Escaping the island for a mainland fishing village and the allure of humankind, they begin to succor the good life and the pursuit of their dream, owning a Vespo motor scooter. To do that, they must win the local triathlon, with the help of a newfound friend, Giulia, and defeat the local bully Ercole, who never loses. This is complicated, but it's tons of fun to watch.

A ton of great voice talent brings the story to life. Jacob Tremblay is the voice of Luca. Jack Dylan Grazer is the voice of Alberto. You'll love Emma Berman as effervescent Giulia. And Saverio Raimondo gives life to the irascible Ercole. There are lots of others, too.

There are lots of adventures and dangers and amazing moments for the whole family on Luca. I rate it A^ for Always a winner with Disney and Pixar.

The Mitchells vs The Machines: Total fun for the whole family

Movie Review: The Mitchells vs The Machines (2021) on Netflix

Netflix has a real hit on its hands with The Mitchells vs The Machines. It's total fun for the whole family.

It's animated sci-fi at its best. Well, humorous sci-fi. Satire. Cartoonish, poke-fun-at-society sci-fi. Parody sci-fi.

Dad and teen daughter aren't seeing things eye to eye just as daughter is set to leave home for college, likely for good. Son is about to lose his best friend in his big sister, who has always been there for him. And Mom, well, she just wants everyone to get along. And then then along comes the invasion of the rogue robots from the company that's made teen daughter's whole millennial life possible. And the family's totally oblivious to it, until Mom and Dad decide they can save the family dynamic by cancelling daughter's airline tickets and take a cross-country family drive together to her college, putting them smack dab right in the middle of the attack. Can they save themselves and the world?

There are loads of fun things to see in this near homage to MAD magazine art style animation, so stay alert for Easter eggs and just craziness to splash across your screen. Many in Michigan have noticed references to life at home, including shout outs to the state and the city of Kentwood, not to mention a phonebook (ask your grand parents what that is) with a West Michigan area code (keep your eyes peeled, it's quick). 

This isn't a film about cast or cinematography or effects, this is all about plot, character, and having fun. Watch this to have an entertaining evening together. I'd rate it A^ ^ for way Above Average.

Isle of Dogs: See It, Because It's a Good Film

Movie Review: Isle of Dogs (2018)
Version: Library borrow

Isle of Dogs is an imaginative work of stop-action animation, the story of which takes place in a dystopian future Japan. In it, an outbreak of dog flu forces the mayor of Megasaki to exile all dogs to an island of trash. The main character Atari dares to defy the mayor, his uncle, to seek out his best friend, his lost dog Spots. Crashing his small plane in the refuse, he is rescued by some canine heroes who agree to help him find Spots while overcoming a series of obstacles, including a robot dog sent by the mayor to find him.

The film is a bit dark and dank, but the story line hangs tough and has a lot of heart. It is supported by a superb voice cast, including Koyu Rankin as Atari and Bryan Cranston as Chief, a dog that tries to help from afar because he can't associate with humans. Other top voice talents include Edward Norton as Rex, Jeff Goldblum as Duke, and Bill Murray as Boss. Liev Schreiber is Spots. There are way more! Isle of Dogs has the look and feel of a quality indie film and it has attracted a lot of top talent.

This won't strike you as "up there" with a Disney or Dreamworks picture, and children won't likely be drawn to it with cute, cuddly, colorful characters, but younguns who like films with firm characters and well developed stories will enjoy it. And adults who still love animation will like it for its depth of plot and devotion to technique, story, and art. See Isle of Dogs, because it's a good film.

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World: A Hidden Gem

Movie Review: How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019)
Version: Theater purchase

Seems like the How to Train Your Dragon series can do no wrong. All three movies were brilliant -- kudos to Dreamworks! The second sequel, The Hidden World, stayed the course and may have been the best of the three. If you haven't seen it yet, get to a theater now before it's gone, because it's a great story and the animation is superb. It will pay to see it on the big screen. Two more days left at my local theater!

In this chapter of the story, Hiccup (voiced by Jay Baruchel) is leading their Viking clan with his dragon Toothless the favored leader of the clan's weyr. Yet despite their defense of everything dragon, enemy clans still want to capture and kill off Toothless and his charges. Hiccup remembers a myth of a land beyond the edge of the world where dragons live free and safe, and he searches for it as a last refuge against the attack of the merciless and seemingly unstoppable mercenary Grimmel (voiced by F. Murray Abraham), whose specialty is the black night fury dragon of Toothless's species.

The characters from the past films return, including Hiccup's love interest, Astrid (voiced by America Ferrera), who provide support in the great cause. And there are, of course, the band of insanely cute and lovable dragons these feisty Vikings would be lost without. Dreamworks Animation provides each with amazing colors and designs and expressions that give them personalities all their own. And this sets this animated film apart from others for the attention to detail it gives to entertain its audience.

There is tremendous depth to this story, recapturing the magic of the two previous How to Train Your Dragon films, and capping the narrative arc of the trilogy with a feast of characters and settings and, to cap it all off, the hidden world of dragons that is an amazing fantasy world of color and imagination. The film is worth seeing just to visit this hidden world. But of course, it wouldn't be How to Train Your Dragon without its heart, which is taken with the love of human and beast, in this case, his or her faithful and fearless dragon and the sacrifices each makes for the other. Be ready to put your own heart on the line as Hiccup, Astrid, and the amazing list of other unforgettable characters face the most difficult decision of their lives in this third wonderful film of the series.

Get to the theater quick before How to Train Your Dragon -- The Hidden World leaves the big screen. You really need to see it there before you see it on DVD.

The Red Turtle: A Magical Journey for the Soul

Movie Review: The Red Turtle (2016)
Version: Starz on Demand

One of the more curious animated films recently is The Red Turtle, directed and co-scripted with Pascale Ferran by Michael Dudok de Wit. There is virtually no dialogue, only the occasional "Hey! Hey!" It is all action, but the story line is simple enough, every nuance plain enough, no need for dialogue.

Simply, a man struggles for his life on a rolling sea in the middle of a storm, eventually ending up on a deserted beach on a small lonely island. Besides the abundant beach and a prominent rocky outcrop that overlooks everything, there is a deep bamboo forest and a few coconut trees, along with a fresh water pool -- all the things he needs to sustain himself. Despite living on a paradise, the man is lonely and bored all on his own, and unable to do anything about it in his seclusion, he tries building a raft of fallen bamboo to escape, but something unseen from below batters his raft and he must return to his solo habitat. He tries it again, and the same thing happens. And again. And again. Finally, the man catches the culprit, a large red turtle, which he follows back to the beach and bodily turns over, leaving it to die on the dry beach in revenge. Eventually the man feels remorse and tries to revive the red turtle, but it has already died. Falling asleep, he later awakens to find the turtle's shell has split and a woman arises from the red turtle's shell. This changes the man's life, giving him a companion and spouse, with which he father's a son and with whom he can grow old on this prison island. The story goes on to chronicle the wonderful life they live together, the ups and the downs, even the moment the son reaches lonely adulthood and says goodbye, swimming away.

In many ways, this film is magical, saying so much with the expressions on the characters' faces and their gestures, eliciting so much emotion and communicating so much of the story through color and music. You never doubt for a moment what is going on in the story. And living through the lives of the characters so intimately by watching everything unfold, never needing to intrude with dialogue, it is a far more powerful telling of the story. It's almost real-life like.

No one leaves watching The Red Turtle untouched by the story. It's a magical journey for the soul.