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BENNY CHAN (陈木胜) (1962 - 2020)Posted on 23 Aug 2020 |
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Director: Kerry Harris
Cast: Radha Mitchell, Henry Thomas, Finlay Wojtak-Hissong
Runtime: 1 hr 26 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Coarse Language and Violence)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website:
Opening Day: 12 November 2020
Synopsis: In order to stop his bad dreams, a young boy steals a dreamcatcher from a mysterious neighbour forcing his family to rescue him from a nightmarish entity.
Movie Review:
If there was ever a reason not to head to the cinemas during this COVID-19 pandemic, ‘Dreamkatcher’ will certainly be among one of them.
In spite of a perfectly respectable cast comprising Radha Mitchell (from ‘Silent Hill’), Lin Shaye (from the ‘Insidious’ film series) and Henry Thomas (from Netflix’s ‘The Haunting of Hill House’), ‘Dreamkatcher’ is dull, dumb and derivative.
To be fair, there is nothing wrong with its setup: a young boy who is haunted by a supernatural entity claiming to be the ghost of his mother, while trying to get along with his new stepmother, in an isolated house in the woods. But in the hands of first-time feature filmmaker Kerry Harris, what promise of a gripping yarn ends up fading away inexorably by the end of the first act.
Indeed, there are no shortages of clichés by that time. Said boy Josh (Finlay Wojtak-Hissong) resents his stepmother Gail (Mitchell); Josh’s father and Gail’s boyfriend Luke (Thomas) is suddenly called back into the city for work, leaving Gail and Josh alone in the house; and the house being where Josh’s mother had last been alive, before drowning in the nearby lake just two years ago.
While we’re at it, we should add that Shaye plays the local mystic Ruth, whose warnings turn out to be more than the random utterings of a ‘crazy old lady’. In particular, it should come as no surprise that Ruth’s admonition of the dreamcatcher that Josh had stolen from her backyard turns out to be true – that the device holds evil within its very hoop and strings.
Nor should it be surprising that the visions that Josh have while clutching the dreamcatcher in bed are not actually that of his mother, but rather the conjurings of the evil entity who exerts its power and influence through the trap. In what is undeniably a lazily convenient exposition device, Ruth narrates just what malevolence the entity within the dreamcatcher has wrought, setting up what will happen next to Josh as well as that of his family.
Despite clocking in at slightly less than one-and-a-half hours, the film feels much, much longer, as it struggles to stretch its paper-thin narrative and equally shallow characters. There is little texture to the relationship between Gail and Josh to earn our sympathy for either or both of them; likewise, there is little emotional depth to Josh’s relationship with his mother, such that we would believe he can be coaxed into doing her spirit’s bidding.
That Luke disappears for more than half the film and conveniently reappears just as the movie heads into its final act is also equally laughable. Equally non-existent is the relationship between father and son, such that we end up feeling nonchalant when the latter ends up dismembering the former during a walk in the woods. It’s telling that we are utterly disengaged from Josh’s predicament, but that simply goes to show how the storytelling has failed to capture our attention.
There is also hardly a decent scare to be found, notwithstanding how Harris distinctly avoids the type that jumps at you. Most of the frightening images consist of Josh’s mother looking rotted away after having spent too much time dead at the bottom of the lake, and there is little by way of atmosphere or suspense given how dreary the build-up is. It doesn’t help that Finlay Wojtak-Hissong’s acting leaves us wanting, unable to carry the range of emotions, even basic empathy, that we will need to identify with his character’s circumstances.
Not even Mitchell, as hard as she tries, ends up being good enough reason for us to step into the cinema for this movie. Like we said, COVID-19 or not, this is one movie you’d be advised to stay out of the theatres, and even out of streaming. Never mind that its ideas ain’t new; the least you’d expect out of a derivative horror movie is for it to be engaging, but with such a thin plot and even thinner characters, the only thing this ‘Dreamkatcher’ will catch is your ire.
Movie Rating:
(The only thing this 'Dreamkatcher' will catch is your ire)
Review by Gabriel Chong
SYNOPSIS: Get ready for a sleepover like no other! During a fun weekend sleepover with their best friends, two siblings discover that their seemingly normal stay-at-home mom Margot (Malin Akerman) is actually a former high-end thief in the witness protection program. When both their mom and dad (Ken Marino) are kidnapped and forced to pull one last job with an ex-flame of Margot’s (Joe Manganiello), the siblings must team up to rescue their parents over the course of one action-packed night that they’ll never forget.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Netflix is slowly encroaching into Disney territory with the release of The Sleepover, a harmless action comedy tailored for the entire family.
With a pastry chef husband, Ron (Ken Marino), Margot (Malin Akerman from Rampage and Watchmen) is a seemingly ordinary suburban mother to her teenage daughter, Clancy (Sandie Stanley) and son, Kevin (Maxwell Simkins). But when Margot and Ron is captured by the former’s associates, Clancy, Kevin and their two friends, Mim (Cree Cicchino) and Lewis (Lucas Jaye) must find a way to rescue them not knowing that Margot was once a powerful thief who is now under the witness protection program.
Other than the word “inventive”, The Sleepover is a non-stop action comedy that relied heavily on comedic gags and old school action chops than say campy CGI visuals. This is of course a good thing considering it’s far more economical and satisfying to hire a group of gung-ho stuntmen to execute some flashy somersault and fall. The movie directed by Trish Sie (Pitch Perfect 3) is surprisingly watchable partly because of it. Finally a movie that is not filled with lacklustre CGI.
In addition, Sandie Stanley from Disney’s Kim Possible, her onscreen brother, Maxwell Simkins and Cicchino entertains greatly with their combined chemistry and amusing bantering. Ken Marino whom you might recall from series liked Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Veronica Mars is the main comic relief contributing some vomit and fart jokes. Akerman seems a little out of place in this broad comedy while Joe Manganiello (Magic Mike) not looking a day older stars as Margot’s ex-fiancé, a man with lots of muscles and motives.
The story if you are searching for one is generally devoid of any logic considering the seriousness of the crime. Imagine stealing the crown of the Queen. Not only everything is resolved quickly in the end but it’s also conveniently staged. But I guess that’s how a fun dynamic movie should be.
The Sleepover is strictly aimed at the younger audience combining a bit of James Bond gadgets, car chase, elementary Da Vinci kind of clues solving and most important of all, some nice neat life lessons. Sometimes, it doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel in terms of entertainment. This is this generation Spy Kids without the wacky visuals. There’s a thing called less is more.
MOVIE RATING:
Review by Linus Tee
Genre: Action/Thriller
Director: Herman Yau
Cast: Andy Lau, Sean Lau, Ni Ni, Philip Keung, Ron Ng, Kenny Wong, Timmy Hung
Runtime: 2 hrs
Rating: NC16 (Violence)
Released By: Clover Films, mm2 Entertainment and Golden Village Pictures
Official Website:
Opening Day: 24 December 2020
Synopsis: A series of bomb explosions have been occurring in Hong Kong, causing fear amongst the public. Former bomb disposal officer Poon Sing-fung (Andy Lau) fell into a coma at a crime scene injured in an explosion and becomes top wanted criminal after the police suspects of his ties with the criminal organisation, the Resurrection Group. After waking up from his coma, Poon was interrogated and imprisoned. Poon escapes from prison in order to investigate the truth and prove his innocence. On his lonely and helpless road, Poon enlists the help of his comrade in arms, bomb disposal officer Tung Cheuk-man (Sean Lau). However, the two fall into a conflict of black and white as Tung must choose between justice and friendship. Tung decides to choose the latter and assists his friend. At the same time, Poon's ex-girlfriend, Pong Ling (Ni Ni), who is now the chief inspector of the Counter Terrorism Response Unit, desperate to discover the culprit behind the series of explosions, persuades Poon to come in contact with the Resurrection Group to find out this mysterious organisation's next terrorist move and prove his innocence. Poon realises that exposing the truth is just as challenging as disposing explosives, risking his life as he races against time.
Movie Review:
It’s safe to say that Hong Kong’s film industry has been on a decline in the last decade, eclipsed by giants like China and South Korea as they aggressively come to the fore. The once-shiny Hollywood of the East is facing a bit of a crisis trying to score a hit.
For Herman Yau, his effort comes in the form of Shock Wave 2, a sequel to the successful Shock Wave he directed, with Andy Lau once again as the lead. But this successor is only one in spirit. The theme built upon the bomb disposal unit stays, along with the Heavenly King as protagonist, but names have changed and the set-up suggests this is another story altogether.
The dutiful bomb disposal officer Poon Sing-fung (Andy Lau) gets injured at an assignment. Eager to return to the field, he puts all of his energy into his recovery, but his superiors have other ideas and relegates him to a desk job. Angered by the injustice and eaten by his bitterness, he deteriorates mentally and in a fit, loses his job after protesting in front of the media.
Years later, an anti-establishment terrorist group unleashes a series of bomb attacks in the city. Led by the notorious anarchist Ma who directs his members to perform strategic explosions to decry the corruption of authority, we see Sing-Fung making an appearance - shockingly as one of the members. But during an attempt, he gets caught at the scene of the blast and is interrogated at the hospital after coming conscious. Thing is - he claims to not know who he is.
Is the bout of amnesia real? And what does his ex-girlfriend Pong Ling (Ni Ni), who is now the chief inspector of the Counter Terrorism Response Unit, mean when she asks him if he is “still able to complete the mission”?
Once famous for their cop and triad epics, complete with double agent twists upon twists, Shock Wave 2 attempts at weaving an intricate plot to up the ante from the original, but might have tried a little too hard.
Layering multiple manipulations within the story means certain segments loses meat. There is an odd pacing here in the film where some events, like Sing-Fung’s recuperation, is drawn out unncessarily, when that time can be better spent on his struggle after his amnesia. His alternating loyalties can do with some better motivation than portrayed.
The script writing can do with a bit of an update as well. A more sophisticated audience who now have ready access to great writing from international channels means the bravado and dramatic pronouncements here don’t quite have the same impact anymore. If anything, it feels a little cheesy at times. And speaking of cheese, the art department might want to know that there are other ways to make a villain look like a mastermind without bleaching his hair and making him like he’s high on caffeine.
Shock Wave 2 would benefit from adhering more to its original, with a more straightforward story and tense bomb encounters, as opposed to dressing up the franchise with bad CGI sequences and action for the sake of it.
Movie Rating:
(A formulaic action sequel)
Review by Morgan Awyong
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CHADWICK BOSEMAN (1977 - 2020)Posted on 29 Aug 2020 |
Genre: Horror
Director: Svyatoslav Podgaevskiy
Cast: Maryana Spivak, Svetlana Ustinova, Denis Shvedov
Runtime: 1 hr 37 mins
Rating: PG13 (Horror)
Released By: Golden Village
Official Website:
Opening Day: 20 August 2020
Synopsis: A young family move into a new apartment on the edge of town and hire a nanny to look after their newborn daughter. After gaining the trust of the young parents, the nanny begins scaring their young daughter and older son, Egor, at night. Egor tells his parents about their nanny’s strange exploits but they don’t believe him. For peace of mind his father installs security cameras, but they don’t register anything out of the ordinary. One day Egor comes home to find that his little sister has disappeared along with the nanny. His parents are in a strange trance-like state and don’t remember ever having a daughter. All her toys and clothes have vanished along with her, as if she was never there. Egor sets out with his friends to look for her. They are convinced that the nanny is actually an ancient Slavic demon that once went by the name Yaga. And if the kids don’t succeed in their quest, their parents will forget them too.
Movie Review:
Not often do we get the chance to see a Russian horror on the big screen, and fortunately, we’re glad to report that ‘Baba Yaga’ is as good a maiden experience as any for those who are new to the country’s brand of scares.
Based upon the Russian folklore of a child-eating witch, director and co-writer Svyatoslav Podgaevsky’s adaptation reimagines the legend in modern times. Set in a quiet suburban community of somewhat identical three-storey homes, the story tells of three young children who are forced to confront the return of Baba Yaga looking for a way to return from her world to ours.
Egor (Oleg Chugunov) has just moved into the community with his father and stepmother Yulia (Maryana Spivak). Though Yulia makes every effort to try to reach out to him, Egor is still reeling from the death of his mother, and finds it difficult to accept both Yulia and her newborn daughter Varya. Rounding out the trio is Dasha (Glafira Golubeva), an only child whose movements are closely supervised by her stern mother, and Anton (Artyom Zhigulin), the neighbourhood bully who works at and is adopted by the icy supervisor of the neighbourhood supermarket.
Each has his or her own troubles at home, and when they first meet, it is with Egor saving Dasha from Anton’s harassment. But it soon becomes clear that there is something sinister lurking around their neighbourhood – Egor senses it first when weird things happen at home with the arrival of their nanny Tatyana (Svetlana Ustinova), followed by Varya’s disappearance; Dasha next experiences the evil entity when it assumes the identity of her piano teacher; and last but not least, Anton encounters it when two of his best friends disappear in the deep forested woods next to their community.
Confirming their suspicions is the local outcast Alexey (Aleksey Rozin), who lives by himself in the forest since losing both his wife and daughter to the witch. Alexey tries desperately to hang on to both their memories, in order that they not be lost forever to the darkness, and he advises Egor to do likewise before Varya is also forgotten in eternity. Undaunted, Egor ventures into the witch’s lair to save her, and though initially reluctant, both Dasha and Anton eventually join him on a mission to stop the witch once and for all.
At slightly over one and a half hours, Podgaevsky and his co-writers Natalya Dubovaya and Ivan Kapitonov keep the storytelling tight and concise. The build-up is well calibrated, slowly notching up the danger the children realise they are in for suspense. Eschewing any sort of gore or violence, the filmmakers opt instead for the occasional jump scare to add ‘oomph’ to the unsettling atmosphere they maintain throughout the film, especially in the scenes where the children find themselves in the witch’s side of the world. You’ll appreciate too the care taken to design this alternate world; especially memorable is a scene where Dasha is attacked by an android who emerges from the poster on her wall.
At the same time, the writers provide just enough backstory to each of the three teenage protagonists to lend texture to their respective characters. Not surprisingly, there is additional emphasis on Egor, whose very transformation from disgruntled stepbrother to selfless deliverer is the film’s very emotional ballast. Though it is clear right from the start that Egor is to be that special one whom the witch apparently needs to cross over from her world to ours, the film lets Egor earn that status than simply bestow it on him by showing us just how different and special a boy he indeed is on the inside.
Whether intentional or not, the filmmakers seem to have tailored their film to an audience familiar with the elements and structure of their American counterparts. This means besides the language difference that ‘Baba Yaga’ feels like a US horror movie, especially them ‘80s flicks where teenake kids had to confront a terror way beyond their ages. Don’t get us wrong, it isn’t a bad thing at all; in fact, we suspect that’s probably why you’ll won’t find a cultural barrier when it comes to appreciating the movie. Like we said, it’s as good a maiden experience as any for a Russian horror, so don’t let the fact that the language is foreign turn you away from an otherwise engaging and intriguing tale..
Movie Rating:
(Don't let the fact that it is Russian turn you away; this surprisingly engaging and intriguing horror, based upon the titular Russian folklore, holds no cultural barrier)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Drama
Director: Wong Hing Fan
Cast: Aaron Kwok, Miriam Yeung, Alex Man, Cheung Tat Ming, Nina Paw, Cya Liu, Zeno Koo, Kathy Wu, Gaga Wong
Runtime: 1 hr 54 mins
Rating: PG13 (Smoking Scenes)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures and Clover Films
Official Website:
Opening Day: 17 September 2020
Synopsis: Once a star in his finance firm, Bowen (starring Aaron KWOK) now spends his nights in a 24-hour fast food joint, where he encounters other "roommates" who are in a similar predicament: a mother (starring Cya LIU) with her daughter who has taken out high-interest loans to cover her mother-in-law's debt, an old man (starring Alex MAN) who is too afraid to go home, a young runaway (starring Zeno KOO), a young singer (starring Miriam YEUNG) living in a temporary shelter. Together these accidental roommates must strive to lift one another out of rock bottom.
Movie Review:
This reviewer is probably not wrong to say that most guys would yearn to be like 54 year old Aaron Kwok. Not only does he sing and dance like he is in his twenties, he is also an award winning actor.
Not too long ago, this writer rewatched The Storm Riders (1998) starring Kwok as the ultra dashing Striding Cloud. It is nice to see how he has improved by leaps and bounds in acting, while maintaining his suaveness. In the last two decades, the artiste has won numerous acting awards. His performances in movies like Divergence (2005), After This Our Exile (2006) and Port of Call (2015) have been recognised at the Golden Horse Awards and Hong Kong Film Awards.
This debut feature film by Wong Hing Fan is clearly an acting showcase for Kwok. He plays Bowen, a high rolling finance executive who was imprisoned for embezzlement. After getting out of jail, he is too ashamed to go home to his ill mother and long suffering sister. Instead, he joins a group of homeless people who spend their nights in 24 hour fast food restaurants. The 114 minute film explores their sad stories, and sees how Bowen tries to keep everyone’s fighting spirits up.
Beneath Bowen’s moustache, goatee and untidy hair, we know there is a very good looking man in the form of Kwok. The actor gives it his all in this movie, and you can feel that the character is all out to ensure the survival of his friends. He seeks employment for the jobless, buys toys to cheer a little kid up, and is always there to listen to others’ troubles. As life’s harsh realities go, you know his kindness may not result in a happy ending.
Elsewhere, the ensemble cast also delivers impressive performances. There is an underpaid nightclub singer (Miriam Yeung) who has a heart of gold, a pitiful widow (Cya Liu) who works non stop to pay her nasty mother in law’s debts, her young daughter who has the least worries compared to the adults, an old man (Alex Man) who sits in the fast food restaurant pinning for his dead wife’s return, a teenager (Zeno Koo) who ran away from home, and a chatty caricature artist (Cheung Tat Ming who won a Best Supporting Actor at the recent Hong Kong Film Awards) whose greed gets in the way of an honest living.
While some actors get more screen time in this drama, everyone scores in Wong’s impressive direction. You’ll feel for all of them, and be thankful for what you have in life. The story is based on Hong Kong’s “McRefugees”, homeless people sleeping in 24 hour McDonald’s joints. Besides free bento boxes for the less fortunate, they also get food stocked by others in refrigerators which are situated on the streets. They shower in public toilets, and take on odd jobs in the wee hours of the morning to get more income. This is the perfect setup for a melodrama, and there are several bleak moments in the movie which may get your tear ducts leaking.
The title of the movie is a play on the fast food restaurant’s jingle “I’m Lovin’ It” – another point worth pondering is why McDonald’s did not endorse this movie. In any case, Wong has delivered a heartfelt piece of work showcasing some of the best performances in Hong Kong cinema.
Movie Rating:
(This emotionally charged Hong Kong movie showcases impressive performances by the ensemble cast, and may leave you reflecting on the struggles faced by those less fortunate than us)
Review by John Li
SYNOPSIS: As a grisly virus rampages a city, a lone man stays locked inside his apartment, digitally cut off from seeking help and desperate to find a way out.
MOVIE REVIEW:
If we look back at 2020 a decade later, Google probably tells us “pandemic” could be one of the most common searched word for that year. Just liked Train to Busan, #Alive is a Korean zombie horror movie set in the middle of a pandemic. It doesn’t tell audiences a lot about the “pandemic” but good enough to convey the thrill and chill of the genre.
Joon-woo (Yoo Ah-in), a seemingly hardcore gamer who lives with his family in an apartment in Seoul city awakes one morning to see masses of people running amok and devouring each other. The TV advises people to try stay indoors and prepare a food supply of at least 60 days. It seems a deadly virus is spreading but Joon-woo has no clue of what’s going on except to shut himself in an apartment that is fast running out of food and water.
Weeks passed and just as he is about to hang himself, a surviving neighbour named Yoo-bin (Park Shin-hye) living directly across Joon-woo reaches out to him. Together they communicate via walkie-talkie and makes a plan to escape their predicament before they are kill by hordes of restless zombies.
#Alive ironically is a much enjoyable romp than the sequel to Train to Busan. The pacing is dynamic, doesn’t really take itself that seriously and offers lots of physical gory makeup effects in place of fake CGI visuals. For the first half an hour, we are stuck with Joon-woon, watching him struggle with an infected neighbour and hilariously succumbing to his last bowl of instant noodles after watching a ramen ad on tv.
Director Cho Il-hyung and co-scriptwriter Matt Naylor are content in piling the flick with some dark comedy elements instead of exploring Joon-woo’s psychological well-being and emotion. There’s some brief touches on the typical lifestyles of young millennials with their constant obsession with smartphones, drones and social media. But again, the filmmakers just want audiences to have lots of unpretentious fun which #Alive actually offered buckets of.
Large scale zombie infestation might be thrilling for some, Il-hyung for one choses to scale down the spectacle. That doesn’t mean the excitement is compromised. On the contrary, it’s pretty hair-raising to watch a zombie slowly climbing up to Yoo-bin’s apartment while Joon-woo watched helplessly right across. Or the sequence where Joon-woo rummaged his neighbour’s unit for food with uproarious result. How about Yoo-bin’s somewhat incredible escape through hordes of zombies?
#Alive might not offer the highest points in terms of plotting especially the final act which some might find uninspiring. Still, being all unoriginal and predictable, the latest zombie flick from Korea is rollicking fun and definitely worth catching for all of us stuck in the middle of a pandemic.
MOVIE RATING:
Review by Linus Tee
Genre: Action/Comedy
Director: Lee Cheol-ha
Cast: Uhm Jeong-hwa, Park Sung-woong, Lee Sang-yun, Bae Jung-nam, Lee Sun-bin
Runtime: 1 hr 40 mins
Rating: PG13
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website:
Opening Day: 24 September 2020
Synopsis: Mi-Young runs a shop at a traditional market, where she makes and sells twisted bread sticks. Her husband Seok-Hwan works as a computer repairman. One day, Seok-Hwan wins a free trip to Hawaii. Mi-Young and Seok-Hwan will go on their first international trip together. When Mi-Young and Seok-Hwan get on the airplane to Hawaii, things don't go as expected. Terrorists, including Cheol-Seung who chase after a secret agent, get on the same airplane. The passengers soon become hostages. Suddenly, Mi-Young and Seok-Hwan begin to rescue the passengers.
Movie Review:
With leisure travel not returning anytime this year, a movie about flying will either seem like unnecessary torture, or a wonderful temporary escape. Thankfully, with its wacky ensemble and riotous plot, Okay! Madam is likely the latter for its audiences.
Mi-Young (Uhm Jung-hwa) is your gregarious stallowner, hawking donut twists and effusive compliments. She’s well-liked but has a frugal nature, with a tendency to be particularly stingy with her husband Seok-Hwan (Park Sung-woong). So when he wins a lottery for a trip to Hawaii, Mi-Young considers cashing it out instead. But her young daughter, aggrieved at her family’s poverty, tugs at her heartstrings and so the matriarch decides to take the holiday for the sake of her family.
But alas unbeknownst to the trio, a North Korean fugitive agent ‘Magnolia’ is also making the flight to escape the country, and she’s tailed by her former partner Cheol-Seung (Lee Sang-yoon) who’s leading an operative against her. When the team hijacks the plane and hunts down Magnolia, it becomes clear that the lives of the hostages are the least of their priority as they steer the plane towards North Korea.
So how is this a comedy you might ask? Well, with a large cast comprising of an agent wannabe flight steward (Bae Jeong-nam as Hyun-Min), an actual National Intelligence Service (NIS) agent who has aviophobia (Kim Nam-gil) and a director with a weak constitution (Lim Hyun-sung), the flight path here is more bumbling than threatening.
As a first effort in comedy, Lee Chul-ha does an admirable job with Okay! Madam. His setting is classic but the premise boasts enough twists to spearhead the laughs. The star-studded appearances including Lee Sun-Bin, Park-Ji-ll and Yoon Ji-on are a treat to watch even as they ham it up.
The gaffes here are many, with the ones by Mi-Young and Hyun-Min being some of the best. Their stretchy antics here don’t feel exaggerated, no doubt thanks to the commitment they put in every shot. A special mention goes to the spirited young girl playing Mi-Young’s daughter. Her bushy-eyed and quick turns help propel in the story in the directions it needs to without too much of the saccharine.
Shot on an actual Boeing 777 aircraft, the production here is as polished as one would expect from South Korea. Insta-worthy palettes and the striking colour contrasts remind us to never take the situations too seriously, but don’t be fooled that there’s no thrill here.
When the operative goes against the Magnolia-in-hiding, the clash is snappy and satisfying. The cat-and-mouse is aided by side contributions from unexpected passengers, and you’ll be surprised how it all comes together. Barring the occasional lapses in logic, I would have loved to have more scenes of Magnolia taking down the offense with her inventive use of the environment, even as she hides her identity from others.
If you are feeling the effects of the extended landbound situation and need to hop on a flight somewhere, this aerial romp with a zany (if sometimes cliche) cast is the happy travel pill to negate just that.
Movie Rating:
(Take flight and ease that travel sickness with a light-hearted comedy full of fish-out-of-water situations)
Review by Morgan Awyong
SYNOPSIS: An adaptation of the award-winning book about one very special gorilla, Disney’s “The One and Only Ivan” is an unforgettable tale about the beauty of friendship, the power of visualization and the significance of the place one calls home. Ivan is a 400-pound silverback gorilla who shares a communal habitat in a suburban shopping mall with Stella the elephant, Bob the dog, and various other animals. He has few memories of the jungle where he was captured, but when a baby elephant named Ruby arrives, it touches something deep within him. Ruby is recently separated from her family in the wild, which causes him to question his life, where he comes from and where he ultimately wants to be.
MOVIE REVIEW:
No one does movies with photorealistic CGI animals as good as Disney. Just check out The Jungle Book and The Lion King. It seems Disney is not resting on its laurel. The One and Only Ivan is yet another family adventure drama that features both a star-studded voice cast and yes, more photorealistic CGI animals!
Based on the children’s novel by Katherine Applegate and written by Mike White (School of Rock), the family drama tells the story of Ivan, a silverback gorilla (voiced by Sam Rockwell) who performs with his fellow animal friends in a tiny circus located in a mall. Business has been rough and Mack the owner cum ringmaster (Bryan Cranston) decides to purchase a baby elephant named Ruby (Brooklyn Prince) to stir things up.
At the behest of Stella the elephant (Angelina Jolie who also produced the movie), Ivan decides to find a way to bring Ruby back to nature where they originally belonged. With his wild instincts calling, will Ivan managed to fulfil Stella’s wish and get all of them out of the circus in the end?
In case you are wondering, there is apparently no real antagonist in The One and Only Ivan. Not even Mack the owner. He is not ruthless and not cruel to the animals at all. The man even lost his partner because of his love for Ivan. You can blame him for being a little too harsh on Ruby but he is just trying hard to keep the circus alive.
The One and Only Ivan entertains with the occasional (sometimes toilet) humour from some of Ivan’s companions mostly his friend Bob, a stray wisecracking mutt voiced by Danny DeVito, Henrietta the chicken, Murphy the rabbit and Dame Helen Mirren as Snickers, the posh poodle. Do note that children under the age of ten might be likely tickled by the realism of the CGI instead of the talky storyline.
I can see that Disney is trying to produce a story that relied more on heartfelt, inspiring messages via slick technology. There is obvious lessons to be learn through Ivan’s past and present. You know the repetitive message about nature and animals and stuff.
Sometimes, we missed the good old days of Disney movies. Homeward Bound, Mighty Joe Young, Operation Dumbo Drop just to name a few. Harmless creative family-friendly entertainment that pleases both children and adults. The One and Only Ivan hardly feels appealing to both. You can’t deny it does have a good intention but there’s only so much a kind old man and a charming gorilla who draws can bring to the screen.
MOVIE RATING:
Review by Linus Tee
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