Double Feature: Frozen 2 (2019) & Raya and the Last Dragon (2021)

Frozen 2 (2019)

Directors: Chris Buck & Jennifer Lee

Voice Cast: Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Josh Gad, Jonathan Groff, Sterling K. Brown, Evan Rachel Wood, Alfred Molina, Martha Primpton, Jason Ritter, Rachel Matthews, Jeremy Sisto, Aurora Aksnes

Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, Olaf and Sven leave Arendelle to travel to an ancient, autumn-bound forest of an enchanted land. They set out to find the origin of Elsa’s powers in order to save their kingdom. – IMDB

The sequel of Frozen follows the group as Arendelle has a magical catastrophe hit the town and Anna, Elsa, Kristof, Olaf and Sven follow a childhood tale that Anna and Elsa’s mother told them to find an enchanted land which is covered by a mysterious mist when the unknown cause of war between Arendelle and Northuldra which angered the spirits.

Frozen 2 still packs in the musical tunes and still has the fun dialogue and fantastic voice cast with some comedy and adventure. The tunes itself aren’t quite as catchy as the first film. The main elements are still there but this story already has the first film’s foundation so dives into the connecting pieces about their parents, Arendelle’s past, Elsa’s powers, etc. It adds more magical elements in this enchanted land mostly in the form of the different spirits. It gives a playful side to the air and fire spirit as swirling leaves and a cute fiery salamander. There are water horses in the ocean and lots of fun little enchanting moments. Plus, it adds in the silliness with Kristoff trying to propose to Anna and Olaf enjoying being permanently a snowman.

Overall, Frozen 2 is a sequel and one of the better ones for sure. The story trajectory is pretty good plus it gives both the sisters the strength to grow separately as their journey splits it halfway through. They have some throwbacks to the first film which is fun but also some extensions to it and adds even more magic to the whole situation. Its definitely something that has always been very enchanting plus these new princesses don’t always need a man pursuing them and more of a personal growth sort of story which definitely applies here for Elsa. Its an overall fun time.

Raya and the Last Dragon (2021)

Directors: Don Hall, Carlos Lopez Estrada, Paul Briggs

Voice Cast: Kelly Marie Tran, Awkwafina, Gemma Chan, Izaac Wong, Daniel Dae Kim, Benedict Wong, Jona Xiao, Sandra Oh, Thalia Tran, Lucille Soong, Alan Tudyk

In a realm known as Kumandra, a re-imagined Earth inhabited by an ancient civilization, a warrior named Raya is determined to find the last dragon. – IMDB

Talking about the new princesses without a man pursuing them, Raya and the Last Dragon is very much that. Raya is such a beautiful story and sadly one that feels not seen as much due to the pandemic and it hit Disney Plus fairly quickly and not everyone has the streaming service.

Raya and the Last Dragon is a story about trust wrapped up in a world where the dragons have all disappeared and the last magical stone that preserves the dragon’s power is in possession by Heart which is prosperous and has big dreams by the King to reunite everyone in peace despite everything. However, every other part of the realm named after different parts of the dragons are exactly as that: separated and some with jealousy as they believe the stone was unfairly brought there and manipulating the trust, they ended up breaking it and taking parts of it for themselves and awakening the evil Druun which turns everyone in their path to stone. Years later, after being the object of manipulation, she chases after the clues to find the last dragon Sisu and of course does and proceeds to repossess the pieces of the stones in the different places to hopefully bring her father back to life.

There’s a lot to love about Raya and the Last Dragon. The message it delivers is really nice. Its a little simplistic and a tad naive but this is a Disney animated film so it remains valid to give that sort of hope trying to trust others and reunite everyone to be stronger. The voice cast here is already really good especially with Sisu being voiced be Awkwafina who is definitely a huge highlight especially with all the delivery of some very clever and funny dialogue adding some quirk to the last dragon. Much like the different members that join Raya’s crew as she goes on this adventure. There’s humor and action and remains very fast-paced. Its a really fun time and very well-paced. The setting for each of the tribes are also very different so it also adds in some change in this big Kumandra land.

Overall, Raya and the Last Dragon is really underrated. Sure, its not perfect and they don’t break out in song and dance but the story has a very strong princess figure who does have a decent character development throughout, not to mention that Raya and even the other tribe’s daughter Namaari, voiced by Gemma Chan, are very badass. The animation is really nice capturing the colorful and the more dull areas, having a whole group of well-crafted characters voiced by a lovely cast and the story execution is pretty decent packing in a decent balance in drama, humor and adventure.

Disney: Dumbo (1941)

And we are officially back! Next Disney project movie is Dumbo! I have finally, with some help, figured out the Fantasia baking creation. It is in the preparation stage but like I had said, I am moving along to keep this Baking Through Disney alive.

My first viewing of Dumbo was when I bought the Bluray a few years ago for the vault release. Before that I only knew the story because of a children’s picture book my mom used to read me when I was young.

Lets check it out!

Dumbo

Director: Sam Armstrong, Norman Ferguson, Wilfred Jackson, Jack Kinney, Bill Roberts

Voice cast: John McLeish, Edward Brophy Sterling Holloway, Herman Bing, Cliff Edwards

Ridiculed because of his enormous ears, a young circus elephant is assisted by a mouse to achieve his full potential. – IMDB

Dumbo is a rather calm Disney movie. That isn’t a bad thing. Where Snow White and Pinocchio had evil queens and a gigantic mean whales, Dumbo only had a cruel circus animal that breaks him away from his mom and the inner fear and confidence that stopped him from using his big elephant ears to fly and amaze. Dumbo is a lesson about being different and how it isn’t a bad thing. Being unique may be something others criticize but also something we can use for being more. You know, making lemonade out of lemons and half cup full sort of thing. For that, Dumbo is great! However, it does feel a little flat, starting with being a late delivery, losing his mom, meeting an unusual best friend then having to perform circus acts and eventually learning how to fly. There was never a big obstacle despite it being a sometimes heartwrenching and other times, fun times.

Dumbo isn’t a long animated film. One of the many aspects of classics that I love. This one is for the kids and it is incredibly that way with not a whole lot of dialogue and a myriad of literally colorful characters although they do have colorful personalities as well. Plus the circus is a child friendly atmosphere, most of the time. However, my favorite part of Dumbo are the characters even if the short run time really doesn’t give them a lot of space for growth. Keeping in mind that this is a children’s movie, it is fine to love the characters for being fun and/or cute such as the crows and particularly our main character Dumbo. How do you not love baby Dumbo and his big ears?  Adding onto a motor mouth mouse as Timothy Mouse, we have a fun and comedic duo.

Overall, Dumbo delivers cute and endearing characters along with a message about being okay with being different and embracing being unique. However, the story lacks an exciting climax or inspiring villain but makes up for it with a few fun moments. Perhaps more for the younger crowd as it remains gentle and cute however the message is a valuable one. And its hard to resist how incredibly cute Dumbo is.

Have you seen Dumbo?

Opinion Battles Round 8 Favourite Animated Disney Film (Non Pixar)

Check out Round 8 of Opinion Battles! This time, we’re looking at our favorite animated Disney film (non-Pixar). I love Disney a lot. Just look at my Baking Through Disney project which is slowly moving along. My one go-to movie though among the many many Classics is one I feel is underrated called The AristoCats. Fun adventure, lots of cats and you know you’ll be humming “Everybody Wants to Be A Cat”.
Lots of really great choices by the other participants!
Head on over and drop your vote! 🙂

Movie Reviews 101

Opinion Battles Round 8

Favourite Disney Animated Film (Non Pixar)

Disney has been making animated movies from almost the start of film, they always seem to reach the right levels the audience love. Today we are picking our favourite Animated Disney movie without considering any of the Pixar films.

For the next round we will be looking at our favourite Marvel Characters, if you want to take part in this round email your choice to moviereviews101@yahoo.co.uk by 1^st May 2016.

Darren – Movie Reviews 101

Treasure Planet

Treasure Planet is one of my all-time favourite animated movies, I love the fresh approach to the Treasure Island story by taking into space. The adventure Jim goes on is beautifully shot and the characters which include plenty of space creatures all fit into the universe they find themselves in. th film also includes one of my favourite songs by Disney with…

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Podcast: The Random Chat Show Reviews Zootopia!

This week on The Random Chat Show, we’re reviewing the newest Disney animated feature, Zootopia.  We play a little Disney character trivia and have some pretty awesome random news. Hope you enjoy! 🙂

Have you seen Zootopia?
Happy Saturday! 🙂

 

Disney: Pinocchio (1940)

We’re finally here with the next Disney Classic for the Baking Through Disney project. We’re here with the second Disney movie.  Please note that I am trying to do this by year of release so we’re at Pinocchio. I never watched a lot of Pinocchio and actually acquired this one in the last few years to give it a rewatch so now its my third viewing of this one.

If you happen to want to check out more on this project, feel free to drop by the page HERE.

Let’s check it out! 🙂

Pinocchio (1940)

Director: Norman Ferguson, T. Hee, Wilfred Jackson, Jack Kinney, Hamilton Luske, Bill Roberts, Ben Sharpsteen

Voice cast: Cliff Edwards, Christian Rub, Evelyn Venable, Charles Judels, Frankie Darro, Mel Blanc, Walter Catlett, Dickie Jones

A living puppet, with the help of a cricket as his conscience, must prove himself worthy to become a real boy.-IMDB

Pinocchio is a story that carries a story that sends a good message about repelling temptations, always telling truth and generally being a good boy.  To be honest, I’ve never been a fan of Pinocchio.  As a child, I only really remembered the don’t lie message from it and then when I watched it again a few years ago, I really love the pets in this one, Figaro and Cleo.  I’m a cat person, so that’s not exactly a surprise to many.  Still, watching it again, I can’t help but see that the art and colors in Pinocchio are quite refined and was definitely a step up from Snow White in the quality of the animation art-wise.  Its about the adventures of Pinocchio and how a wooden boy learns the ways of being a real boy through knowing the values of being good and earning a conscience of his own.

We can never quite talk about Disney Classics without looking at its musical value.  I believe that its hard to not know Pinocchio by its signature song at the very least, “When You Wish Upon A Star.” Its a hopeful song and one that has a nice melody.  However, it does keep the fun going with its other tunes like “I’ve Got No Strings”.  It really gets a lifting spirit to the movie with those pieces and the orchestral soundtrack behind it carries the emotions it needs to mesmerize its audience.

Pinocchio also carries a wonderful range of voice casts.  One of the most important aspects of animation, other than the art, is having a voice cast that can carry the audience into the movie and this one does a fantastic job.  Its hard to find quality animation in the modern days that quite does the same thing to help connect us with our characters.  Pinocchio is a little wooden boy who needs to learn and somehow we can get his innocence and naivety through his words.  The bad guys also have a sly tone from the fox duos to Stromboli and the temptation of the clueless boys who fall for the trap at the carnival.  Pinocchio falls into danger, seemingly learns a lesson and falls for another temptation.  And we grow with him as he conquers each one until he realizes what is important to him and channels how to be brave and goes to save Geppetto.

I might not be a huge fan of Pinocchio as a child or even now, and its definitely not one I revisit a lot, but there is no doubt that it is a masterpiece in animated films.  Its wonderful to see the step up in the art just in a few years between Snow White and Pinocchio.  The story might not be quite as immersive or heartfelt as Snow White, or as renown but it carries a message about growing up, making good choices and learning to see what are temptations and how to overcome these obstacles.  Life is dangerous and this is what Pinocchio’s adventures are about.

Have you seen Pinocchio? What do you think of it?

The baking project should be up before the end of January as I wrap up the final concept of what I want to do.
Any suggestions for what you think would make for a good baking project for Pinocchio?

TMI Podcast: The Random Chat Show: The All-Time Greatest Animated Films Ever. Period.

That title! We’re asking for some talk about this one 😉

We’re back with this week’s That Moment In Podcast presenting our segment: The Random Chat Show.  This week we’re talking about animated films. What inspired this? Finding Dory trailer, the upcoming theatrical release of The Good Dinosaur and the already released The Peanuts Movie. We’re going to talk about our impressions of the trailers.  Then, we step back into nostalgia and talk about our Top 3 greatest animated films growing up.  We have a new random segment thrown in the mix and Melissa has a DIY for you.

Enjoy! I promise its tons of fun! 🙂

What are your favorite animated films when you were growing up? Did we talk about a few that you enjoyed? 

Netflix A-Z: The Book of Life (2014)

I love animation.  Simply love it! Its probably one of my favorite genres.  Funnily enough, I’ve taken a long break from watching it. Who knew after the podcast for Jack and the Cuckoo Clock Heart over at David’s That Moment In, I started craving a little more.  If you missed that podcast, you can check it out HERE. When compiling the Netflix A-Z in this first round, the first letter on my list with B was The Book of Life.  I have no idea what it was about but it looks pretty so I added it right on. After my streak of a few bad movies, I was ready for something good.

Before we move on, THANK YOU SO MUCH for all the comments in the first post for ATM introducing this segment! I was great! How many of you considered this one after (or before) the few hints I dropped in the comments? Did this one just go over your heads or did you suspect it could be this one?  I promise you I was very careful in making sure that each Netflix round will include lots of different genres! 😉

Let’s check it out!

The Book of Life (2014)

Director: Jorge R. Gutierrez

Voice cast: Diego Luna, Zoe Saldana, Channing Tatum, Kate Del Castillo, Ron Perlman, Ice Cube, Christina Applegate, Hector Elizondo

Some kids go on a school field trip to the museum.  Their tour guide takes them into a secret part and tells them a story from the Book of Life about the ruler of The Land of the Remembered, El Muerte and the ruler of The Land of the Forgotten, Xibalba who sets a wager that whoever wins will get to own the other’s land.  This wager was on three kids, Maria, Manolo and Joaquin and who Maria will choose to marry when she gets older.  After years of being apart, Maria returns home to find Manolo and Joaquin grown up and different however, the city is plagued by Chakal’s bandits.  Who will she choose to marry and who will win the wager?

 The Book of Life kind of came and went out of theatres without me giving it much thought.  However, it do love folklores and sharp colors in animation so after remembering a few of the reviews, which are relatively positive if I remember correctly, I decided to give this a go. Its definitely not a disappointing animation.  I love the colorful visuals and every single set  in the story is absolutely lovely and wonderful.  The characters also have a lot of detail and I just can’t say enough for how awesome it looks. Whether its the Land of the living, remember or forgotten, they all have their own features that make them very appealing. Also, the music is very suitable and equally charming as the surroundings from rehashing some popular hits to having some nice guitar solos and whatnot.  It added a fun element to it.

The characters and voice cast is done pretty well also.  Channing Tatum was an interesting choice for Joaquin because he doesn’t exactly have a Mexican accent or anything however he keeps the character dynamic and fun in an extremely macho way. While, Diego Luna who I’ve only ever seen in one movie before in Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights so I can really picture him as Manolo.  While, I was a little worried about Zoe Saldana being Maria Posada but she turned out to be very good at encapturing the female character who wants to break out of the traditional woman mold and being a strong lady who can take care of herself and choose her future. Xibalba and La Muerte also was done very well especially playing off her other’s parts to make it flow.  However, my personal favorites are shots back to the kiddies going on the field trip that are placed skillfully throughout the telling of the story Manolo, Maria and Joaquin.  Those were some of the most hilarious parts. And the role that Ice Cube did for Candle Maker was awesome!! 😉

However, while The Book of Life may have charming characters, great music and particularly enchantingly beautiful visuals, it lacked a little substance to the story.  Honestly, I found myself bored a few times.  It seemed like it was predictable and not particularly entertaining to watch the story unfold.  The only reason that had me continuing to watch this was because they built good characters and it was just too nice to not look at. I felt like there should be a few more laughs but those only did come in random parts with the kids on the field trip (as mentioned before) or Joaquin’s reaction (in a very Gaston manner, if you know what I mean). And the whole Land of the Remembered part was the best part because of the new characters introduced that were pretty funny as well.

The Book of Life could’ve had a better story but the visuals alone is worth a viewing.  It stays light and entertaining with a decent amount of laughs and more frequent as the movie progresses.  There is a certain charm to it that might just pull you in.

Have you seen The Book of Life? What did you think of it? 

C is coming up next.  Any guesses? Hint: Think an older movie in the early 2000s 😉

Podcast Special Episode: Jack and the Cuckoo Heart Clock with Kim from Tranquil Dreams

Remmeber I told you earlier today there was something special going up tonight? Here it is! David over at That Moment In asked me to be a guest for his podcast. We chose to discuss Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart! It was really fun and an awesome experience.
A HUGE THANKS to David for inviting me on! 🙂
Hope you enjoy! And check out his other podcasts discussing movies and moments and his new segment focusing on actor spotlight! 🙂

That Moment In.com

In this very special episode of TMI, David is joined by blogger Kim of Tranquil Dreams. They discuss the French animation film Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart, a strange tale about a boy with a wind-up clock heart who mustn’t fall in love but can’t resist when he meets a lovely blind singer.

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Opinions Battles Round 5 – Non Disney/Pixar Animated Movie

Welcome to Round 5 of Opinion Battles! This time we’re sharing our favorite films of non-Disney/Pixar animated movie. Anime was also excluded. My choice was none other than my childhood favorite that I watch at least once a year, Balto. I wonder if a lot people do know about this animation but still, its one of my favorites thats held up over time.
Head on over to check out the rest of the choices. There are some fantastic ones and remember to give your favorite a vote and share this with your friends so we can get more people involved in the poll 🙂

Movie Reviews 101

Non Disney/Pixar Animated films

This weekend we have just had ‘Minions’ come out so what better subject to look at than Non Disney/Pixar animated film. We have also chosen to avoid animé as we will look at them later in the year too. We all have a place in us that like to watch animated films but just which is our best choice.

Our next subject with be parodies/spoof (comedies that make light of a serious idea) films, if you would like to join in email moviereviews101@yahoo.co.uk by the end 12^th July 2015.

Darren – Movie Reviews 101

The Lego Movie (2014)

When I look for the best animated films I always look for one that I can pick up and watch from any point of the film. I enjoy watching this one because it has so many clever references, characters you will know in supporting roles but most…

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Genre Grandeur – Robots (2005) – Tranquil Dreams

Here we are at another month’s Genre Grandeur! For May, the genre is for Animated Sci-Fi/Fantasy. The choices for these are absolutely endless. A few of my choices actually have reviews as well, which you should check out, like the movie 9. However, after much thought and the help of my partner in crime (aka the boyfriend), Robots was my final choice! 🙂
Head on over to check out my write-up!

Also, next month, Rob has been absolutely awesome (as he always is) and let me choose next month’s genre. What did I choose? Well, the genre that got me into loving movies: Teenage/High school romance movies! Perfect for the romantic that I am 😉 If you are interested in joining in, remember to drop an email to Rob. The more the merrier!!

MovieRob

For this month’s next review for Genre Grandeur – Animated Sci-Fi/Fantasy (Non-Disney/PIXAR) Movies, here’s a review of Robots (2005) by Kim of Tranquil Dreams

Thanks again to S.G. Liput of Rhyme and Reason for choosing this month’s genre.

Next month’s Genre has been chosen by Kim of Tranquil Dreams.  We will be reviewing our favorite teenage/high school romance movies. Please get me your submissions by 25th June by sending them to teens@movierob.net  Try to think out of the box! Great choice Kim!

Let’s see what Kim thought of this movie:

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Robots (2005)

 

Director: Chris Wedge & Carlos Saldanha

Voice Cast: Ewan McGregor, Halle Berry, Robin Williams, Jim Broadbent, Mel Brooks, Stanley Tucci, Amanda Bynes, Greg Kinnear

Rodney Copperbottom (Ewan McGregor) has always been put together since birth from second hand parts but that didn’t matter to him because BigWeld Corporation’s owner Bigweld’s motto was the centre for…

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