The Secret of Kells

Hello I am reviewing The Secret of Kells. The first time I rented it it didn't work, but the second time it did. So now that I finally saw it I am ready to do a review. So I might as well start, this is The Secret of Kells.









We open in the village of Kells where we meet a young boy named Brendan (Evan McGuire) who works for a group of scribes called The Illuminators and his uncle Abbot Cellach (Brendan Gleeson). Cellach is building a wall over the village and doesn't want Brendan to go over the wall. One day a Illuminator named Aidan visits Kells and he has a book with him. The book is supposed to contain all the knowledge in the world. There is one blank page in the book and Aidan say he wants Brendan to write it. So Aidan sends Brendan to go to the forest to gather berries for making ink.


While in the forest he comes across a fairy named Aisling (Christen Mooney). At first Aisling doesn't want Brendan to be there. But she finds out that he means her no harm and gives him the berries he wants. While searching for the berries they come across The Cave of the Dark One Aisling seems to get weaker near the cave so they block the entrance and run away. He makes it back to Aidan and they make the ink they need. Brendan practices writing and gets help from Aidan and Aisling. Aidan realizes that  he needs one more piece to make great writing. The eye of Collum-Cille. To get the eye he needs to go into The Cave of the Dark One.

***SPOILER ALERT STOP HERE IF YOU DON'T WANT THE END RUINED***

He goes into the cave with the help of Aisling. He battles The Dark One and defeats him by making him eat his own tail, and gets the eye. He brings the eye back to Aidan and Brendan starts to draw. But Cellach catches him and locks him in his room. But he sneaks out and finishes one picture. But vikings attack Kells and only Brendan and Aidan escape. After a really quick montage. Brendan becomes a master Illuminator and finds Cellach who is still alive and gives him the finished Book of Kells. The End

***SPOILERS OVER KEEP READING***

The Secret of Kell is amazing. It has really well developed characters that establish who they are very quickly. Unlike most modern kids moves it does take itself very seriously. The best part is the animation. It looks like illustrations from books in medieval times. I also like how the characters are made of geometric shapes it adds to the movies unique style. It is very beautiful and enchanting. It's too bad that most animated movies nowadays are being made with computer animation. Computer animation could not look like this. The only problem I had is that it feels like they didn't answer enough questions and the ending feels a bit rushed or like they skipped something. Other then that this is a good movie that  I am surprised that I didn't see sooner. See you next time.

"HEY WHY IS EVERYTHING RED"

Annoucement

Hello I have an announcement to make. Since the weather is finally getting nice and school will be over in June I have decided to post once a week throughout summer. I will be posting on Wednesdays. Some times if there is enough time I will post two. When school starts again I will post two again. Thank you.

Chicken Run

In my last review I mentioned I would review this movie and now it is time. From the makers of Wallace and Gromit behold one of the movies I regret leaving off my Top Ten Family Movies list, Chicken Run. Now that the overblown intro is out of the way let's start.

I thought hens didn't have teeth?

We open on a farm called Mrs. Tweedy's Bird Farm. A hen named Ginger (Julia Sawalha) is trying to escape but keeps getting stopped by Mrs. Tweedy (Miranda Richardson) and her husband Mr. Tweedy (Tony Haygarth). Ginger and her friends try everything. After Mrs. Tweedy finishes counting them Ginger and her friend Mac (Lynn Ferguson) come up with a plan to go over the fence. That idea doesn't go over so well with the other hens. Meanwhile Mrs. Tweedy realizes that egg farming is only turning on small profits so she  buys a odd machine she sees in an ad that claims it can turn chickens into pie. Ginger is sitting on the roof of the hen house when a rooster named Rocky (Mel Gibson) fly's in.

While landing he breaks his wing. The hens take him to the hen house and hide him from Mrs. Tweedy. Ginger asks Rocky to teach the hens to fly. Rocky says yes. He starts training them but it seems to go nowhere. Meanwhile Mrs. Tweedy finally gets the machine she ordered. The next day Mrs. Tweedy counts the hens and finds out that a hen named Babs (Jane Horrocks) hasn't laid any eggs. But rather than turning her into a thanksgiving dinner she just measures her and tells Mr. Tweedy to feed the hens more.That night it appears that Rocky's broken wing has healed. Eventually Ginger decides to go check out the machine for herself. But she gets caught and tossed into the pie machine. So Rocky makes it into the barn and climbs into the pie machine. Rocky saves Ginger and Ginger sabotages the machine. The next day is the day Rocky is supposed to give a flying demonstration.

          ***SPOILER ALERT STOP HERE IF YOU DON'T WANT THE END RUINED***

 But when the next day comes Ginger goes to check on him, but he is gone and Ginger finds a piece of paper saying that when he flew in he was just fired out of a cannon at a circus. So with Rocky gone everyone starts turning agents each other. But Ginger convinces them to try and escape by building a plane. They hire two rats named Fetcher (Phil Daniels) and Nick (Timothy Spall) to get all the stuff they need. They build the airplane and Rocky comes back. They are about to escape but Mrs. Tweedy grabs onto the plane they made. Ginger and Mrs Tweedy have a final fight and Ginger wins. They sail away in the plane and go to live in a bird sanctuary. The End


                                       ***SPOILERS OVER KEEP READING***

Chicken run is a stop motion spectacular. The animation is very nice and the characters are memorable. The two rats and the character Babs are very funny. But it never becomes too cutsie and it takes it self seriously despite its silly premise. This is some of the best work of Aardman Animation and I am glad to have seen it. See you next time.

I CAN'T TELL IF THIS IS BLOOD OR KETCHUP. EITHER WAY WERE EATING GOOD.

Shorts Package: Daffy about Daffy Duck

Hello I am going to do another Shorts Package. This time it is about The Looney Tunes, specifically Daffy Duck. So without further delay I give you the first short. Oh, and since yesterday was mothers day I ran out of time while getting ready for it to draw a cartoon.

Drip-Along Daffy: Daffy Duck (Mel Blanc) and his sidekick Porky Pig (also Mel Blanc) are trying to bring order to a lawless western town. What makes this one so funny is that there is one scene in particular in which an outlaw makes a drink and forces Porky and Daffy to drink it. This causes them to sing Mary had a Little Lamb and do other crazy stuff. Another scene at the beginning involves the town being full of crime, but I won't give the punchline for that one away. It's Daffy and Porky in the old west, what more can you say?






The Ducksters: Daffy Duck is hosting a radio game show called Truth or AAAHHHHH! (brought to you by The Eagle Hand Laundry) and Porky is a contestant. But being Daffy, the show is rigged. So Porky is in constant pain. The best part of this is the end where Porky gets his revenge on Daffy. It is great fun to laugh at the ridiculous trivia questions that Daffy asks on the show. This is a great Looney Tunes short and I am glad I chose it to be one of the shorts I reviewed.






Yankee Doodle Duck: Porky Pig runs a talent agency and he decides to go on vacation but Daffy holds him up because he has a kid named Sleepy Lagoo that he wants to audition. Porky tries to escape from Daffy but he follows Porky everywhere. What makes this one so funny is all the corny musical numbers that Daffy performs and all the ways he tries to catch Porky. In my opinion this is my favorite short that I reviewed so far.






I hope you like this review. You can watch all these shorts on The Looney Tunes Golden Collection Disk 2. Next I am reviewing Chicken Run.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone

Hello I am reviewing the first of the Harry Potter movies. At the end of the review I will compare the movie to the book (since I have read the book). By the way this is a long movie so if I leave out any important details i'm sorry. So I might as well start; this is Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone.








We start in the dead of night. A man named Professor Dumbledore (Richard Harris) meets a woman named Professor McGonagall (Maggie Smith). They are waiting for someone to arrive. A man named Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane) comes in on a flying motorcycle carrying a baby. They leave the baby on the doorstep of his relatives. Years later the boy grows up into a 10 year old boy named Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe). He has to live with his annoying step family. One day they go to the zoo. While in the reptile house Harry talks to one of the snakes, sets it loose, and traps his brother Dudley (Harry Melling) in a cage. When he gets home his uncle Vernon (Richard Griffiths) locks him in his bedroom (which is basically a closet). The next day Harry gets a letter. Vernon instantly burns it. Harry keeps getting more letters. His family does everything to stop the letters. Eventually the letters literally start to flood in. So Vernon sends them all to a dismal island. On the island Harry has his eleventh birthday (yay) but no one cares (aw man). Then a hulking figure bursts through the door. The man at the door is Hagrid. He tells Harry he is a wizard and that he is taking him to Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. He get's angry at Harry's step family when he finds out that they never told him he was a wizard. He takes Harry to Diagon Alley to buy wizard supplies. Hagrid also explains that a wizard named Voldemort killed his parents and tried to kill him as well but Harry survived. After getting all his supplies Hagrid gives Harry a train ticket for platform nine and three quarters.

Harry doesn't know where that is so he finds another wizard family and follows them. He gets on the train and one of the boys from the wizard family named Ron (Rubert Grint) sits with him. On the train they meet a know it all girl named Hermoine Granger. When Ron and Harry get to school they are sorted into their houses Ron, Harry, and Hermoine get sorted into Grffindore and a boy that Harry hates named Draco (Tom Felton) gets put in Slytherin. After that they go to bed. One day they come across a secret room. Inside the room is a giant three headed dog. They run away and decide to forget about the dog. The next day after a few classes he practices Quidich (a wizard sport involving brooms too complicated to explain). However one of the kids gets injured. So the teacher takes him to the hospital wing of the school. While waiting for the teacher to come back Draco provokes Harry and the teacher sees them flying. So she signs Harry up for Quidich. After a charms class Ron insults Hermoine and She locks herself in the girls bathroom. Later that night Hermoine is still in the bathroom and Professor Quirrell (Ian Hart) say that there is a troll in the dungeon. Ron and Harry realize that Hermoine doesn't know about the troll. So they go to get her. They defeat the troll and gain Hermoine's trust. Harry also realizes that one of the professors named Snape (Alan Rickman) is limping. Harry figures that the reason he was limping is because he tried to get past the dog. Durring the first Quidich game Harry loses control of his broom. Hermoine thinks that Snape cursed Harrys broom. So she sets fire to his robe and Harry gets control of the broom and wins the game.


            ***SPOILER ALERT STOP HERE IF YOU DON'T WANT THE END RUINED***

When asking Hagrid about the Quidich game and Snape, he says that what the dog is guarding is strictly the business of Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel. Harry, Ron, and Hermoine start trying to find information about Nicolas Flamel. On Christmas Harry gets an invisibility cloak. He uses it to sneak into the restricted section of the library. He doesn't find anything but he does find a mirror that shows him visions of his parents. Dumbledore finds him and tells him that he will be taking the mirror away (there was a lot of stuff in between but the movie explains it better then I could). A few days later  Hermoine finds a book saying that Nicolas Flamel is a wizard who owns the Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone. Which can grant eternal life. On hearing this they go tell Hagrid. They tell Hagrid and it turns out that he is hatching a dragon that he bought from a man he met in a pub. They notice that Draco is watching them so they chase after him. But it's too late: Draco found a teacher and they all (icluding Draco) have to go to detention. The next night they are having detention with Hagrid in The Forbidden Forrest. They are looking for someone or something who has been killing unicorns and drinking their blood. While looking around Harry bumps into a hooded figure who is drinking unicorn blood. Harry escapes with the help of a centaur and regroups with the others. When he gets back to his dorm he says that he thinks that Snape is working for lord Voldemort and that it was him drinking unicorn blood in the forest and that he wants to steal the Sorcerers/Philosophers Stone. The next day they go ask Hagrid about the man he bought the dragon from. He say he kept his face hidden the whole time. He also mentions that he told him how to get past that three headed dog. They go to the room with the dog and get by it. They make it past several traps including a room full of plants that try to kill you, a room full of psychotic flying keys, and a life-sized game of wizard chess. They make it to the final room and it turns out that it's not Snape but instead it's Quirrell and lord Voldenmort (Richard Bremmer) attached to the back of his head. Harry get's the stone using that mirror from before, defeats Voldenmort and Quirrell. Then Dumbledore explains how he won to the whole school, Griffondore wins the house cup and Harry goes home. The End.

                                              ***SPOILERS OVER KEEP READING***

This movie is awesome. All the actors do a good job in their roles and the story always keeps you wondering what will happen next. The only thing I didn't like is that some times it was really melodramatic, especially close to the end. This is a good fantasy movie that I do not regret seeing.

Book vs Movie: Oh right, I forgot about this part. Well I personally think the book is better. I feel like the book takes more time to set up the story and develop the characters. The movie does that too but I think the book does it better. So that's my opinion. By the way, I am planning to review the sequels. See you all next time.

THE BIG RED BUTTON (I WONDER WHAT IT DOES?)

Top Ten Family Films of All Time

Hi I am making another countdown. I am counting down the best family movies ever. Even though I am a movie buff,  I haven't seen every movie ever. So, sorry if I leave any of your favorites out.


10 Willy Wonka/Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
It is a tie for the number ten spot between both the "Chocolate Factory Movies". I know a lot of people dislike the remake. But I think it is relatively good. Of course the original is a classic. Both Gene Wilder and Johnny Depp do a good job, but I do like Wilder's performance better. Either way, seeing either of these movies is worth it.






9 Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
This is a story of a flying car. It is very funny and adventurous. My favorite scene is when a bunch of dogs ransack a candy factory (hopefully they didn't eat any chocolate). The only problem is that the actual adventure is just a fantasy, but it doesn't matter too much. This is a great movie.









8 The Muppet Movie
The Muppets are part of almost everyone's childhood and their first cinematic appearance is their best. The reason this is the best Muppet movie is because it has a lot of heart and a lot of great comedy. Also it has plenty of cameos from people like Steve Martin and Mel Brooks.









7 The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
This is the first movie I remember seeing. All the characters are funny and memorable. It also has a nice style of animation and plenty of fourth wall jokes involving the narrator. The backgrounds look like book illustrations (which is intentional). Winnie the Pooh is a classic character and I am glad he has good books and good  movies.





6 The Princess Bride
This is one of the great fantasy movies. It can be lite and funny or dark and scary. This movie has created some of the most memorable characters ever. This is one of those classics that almost everyone has seen. Nothing else to say except that it is a great movie.







 5 Fantastic Mr. Fox
Apparently there are a lot of good movies based on Roald Dahl books. This one is really exiting and funny. It has some amazing stop motion work. Plus excellent voice work from George Clooney, Bill Murray, Willem Dafoe and much more. It's no wonder it was nominated for an Oscar.







4 Swiss Family Robinson
This is a classic family style adventure (Why does that sound like a fast food commercial?). This is silly, scary, fun, and exiting and of course there are the really cool traps. The actors feel like a real family and not just people pretending to be a family. It is a great adventure. This movie is fabulous.








3 The Wizard of Oz
This is the classic we all know and love. With excellent songs, excellent acting, and excellent effects: all in all, this is an amazing movie. It's full of bright colours/colors (because this was one of the first colour/color films) which makes the experience even better. The Wizard of Oz is one of the greatest adventures into another wold ever.



                                 

2 Mary Poppins

This is a movie of almost everyone's childhood. Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke give great performances. It has some very good songs and the animated segment is impressive. Everything from the costume design to the acting is good, but there is one better movie...






 

    1 Up

    This is the best of Pixar Animation Studios. It has wonderful animation and a good balance of drama and comedy. The best part is the opening, a montage of the life two people. You could just end the movie after the opening and the audience would be satisfied. That is why in my opinion this is the best family movie.











Well That was my countdown.  I hope you liked it. I was going to include The Goonies and Who Framed Roger Rabbit but everyone says that they aren't for kids so I didn't include them. This has been another countdown see you next time.

THE UNUSUAL SUSPECTS