Sometimes even the villain deserves to be a hero

Wreck-It Ralph (2012)

Ralph (John C. Reilly) is a video game character in a game called Fix-It Felix. He is bored of his every day life of wrecking things and being the villain to everyone in town. One day he decides that he wants to be the hero for a change so he leaves his game to seek out new adventures on other games. That of course creates a chaos in the game universe and he ends up in all kinds of trouble. First of all I have never been a hard core gamer, I mean sure I've played my fair share of them, but as this movie references to so many other games I didn't recognize half of them. So gamers will most likely get more out of this than I did. Anyway this wasn't a bad movie, actually it was quite a good one. The voice acting was brilliant and the animation looked great. So the movie looked and sounded very good, and all in all I can't find a thing to complain on the technical side. But it's the story which got me a bit bored at times. It's just so predictable. I mean sure there were nice surprises and funny jokes I didn't see coming and a few twists at the end, but really the paths that it follows are very familiar. So even though I was thoroughly entertained it left me with absolutely nothing to go with. Anyway, it was well worth the watch.

73%

A monster resort for the kids

Hotel Transylvania (2012)

It seems that horror was the big theme for animations last year with the disappointing Frankenweenie (2012), the surprisingly good ParaNorman (2012) and this one right here. Dracula wants to protect his daughter from the nasty humans, so he builds a huge castle in middle of a haunted forest far away from the humans. The castle acts as a sanctuary for all the monsters of the world and kind of a resort where they can come to relax from the human lynch mobs. However on his daughters 118^th birthday a human boy discovers the castle and the calm peaceful place gets all stirred up. This movie sure takes its time to start up, it's only around 90 minutes long but about half way in I was pretty much bored to death. Luckily then it gets going for a while only to come crashing down in the end. Had the comedy and entertainment been on the level of the first 20 or so minutes of the second half, this would have been a great movie. But unfortunately it isn't. The only thing that kept me from falling asleep were the references to old horror movies, but then again most of them were so simple even they got quite tedious after a while. Surprisingly Adam Sandler wasn't annoying as Dracula and Steve Buscemi was great as Wayne the wolf. Voice acting was actually quite good in this one, so a definite plus for that. Too bad the movie wasn't on the same level. If you're looking to watch one of these new animated horror comedies, watch ParaNorman, it's by far the best of them.

41%

Frankenstein for the kids

Frankenweenie (2012)

I really liked the short Frankenweenie (1984) so I was kind of looking forward to this feature length version of it. It's a story about a boy who brings his dead dog back to life in a true Frankenstein fashion. Well unfortunately I must say I wasn't really impressed with this movie. Most of the best jokes were already in the short version and to be honest there really isn't enough story to go for a feature length movie. Sure there's tons of references to old horror classics that kept me somewhat entertained, but really most of the new stuff is rather dull. I did like the stop-motion animation, it's always a nice touch in middle of all these computer animated movies also a huge plus for the black and white. Style wise there's nothing wrong in this movie, it looks great. The 3D however seemed rather useless here, even as the stupid gimmick it is, that's really saying something. Also I didn't like the voice acting, not a single character sounded real, not that they looked real either, but some personality would have been nice there. All in all this ends in the average department, with the style just barely pushing it above.

57%

A lizard with a six shooter

Rango (2011)

Rango is a domesticated pet chameleon who dreams of big stardom as a great actor. But his aquarium gets thrown out of a car and he ends up in the desert of the wild west. Fighting his way through the scorching heat of the desert sun, an eagle looking for a meal and other dangers on his way, he winds up in a little town called Dirt. Dirt is an outlawed town where only the strongest survive. It's filled with all sorts of critters and everyone seems to be after water. Soon Rango finds himself as the sheriff of Dirt and needs to figure out what has happened to the water supply. The story follows familiar paths from spaghetti westerns and that homage to the genre one of the best aspects of the movie. Spaghetti western fans will find tons of references to pretty much all of the classics and quite a many jokes related to them. Another thing I liked about this were the characters, they aren't the usual cute little animals, these are reptiles, amphibians and other critters that usually don't pop in mind when thinking of something cute. But they are not nasty looking disgusting things, there's still enough character in them that they actually turn out to be quite cute. And most of all they fit the spaghetti western story very well. The comedy was aimed mostly at the adult audience, so don't know if kids can get as much out of this, but at least I surely had fun. Though there is enough of slapstick so I bet the kids can enjoy it as well. Johnny Depp puts on a brilliant show and genuinely seems to enjoy his part, so that was of course a great plus. Unfortunately the rest of the cast didn't shine out as much, but then again there wasn't much of a script for them either. Though I must mention that I was actually surprised that Spirit of the West wasn't played by Clint Eastwood, so props for Timothy Olyphant for the Clint impersonation. The look was quite good also with many shot setups straight from the classic spaghetti westerns and at parts even the music sounded like it would have been made by Ennio Morricone. So there are lots of great things in this one and surely it was a refreshingly different kind of animation, but would have hoped a bit better casting on the smaller roles and a bit tighter script.
70%

Owls on a war path

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole (2010)

Decided to watch this one as it was the only movie by Zack Snyder which I hadn't seen yet. Well to be honest I knew I wasn't the target audience for this and that really showed. I thought the story was quite simple and even stupid at parts, but I guess the kids will get more out of it. Then again this was surprisingly violent, not in a nasty graphic way but those owls with knifes as claws clashing to eachother surely weren't teletubbies. So dunno if this is for the youngest audience either. Anyway the movie looked great and most of my enjoyment came from looking at the beautiful animation of it all. There were tons of slow motion as usual for Snyder and his "style", if you can call it that, surely was visible. Didn't get bored, mostly because of the looks of it all, but still didn't really get anything else out of it either.
50%

Despicably cute

Despicable Me (2010)

Heard some quite good reviews about this one so I was looking forward to seeing it. Well, cute is the proper word to describe it I guess. But I kind of felt it wasn't for me. I guess kids will love it and most of the parents too as it has that adorable good feeling all around it. The main character tries to be evil so hard it makes it cute, the little girls are cute, the minions are cute and even the killer "dog" turns out to be cute. So the movie plays it safe and is, well, cute. The plot is very predictable and offers just what you would expect. There's of course quite a bit of action to keep the entertainment values up and the comedy is surprisingly refined not taking the usual goofball route. The voice acting is not bad either and the animation is quite great. So there's some things right in this one, but don't really know why I felt a bit sick after this movie, too much sugar and cuteness I guess.
68%

The toys are back in town

Toy Story 3 (2010)

To be honest I was quite dubious about this being any good. I mean I loved the first two, but too much is never a good thing. And as the series was already turbo charged on the second part I was thinking this would be some senseless 3D assault to your eyes with nothing much more to offer. On some cases that would be great but on this series the characters are so superbly lifelike that there is genuine depth to them. And when we are talking about animated toys that's surely something special. But this was a lot more than just simple eye candy. One of the best closings of a series in any movie series ever made, live action or animation and that's really huge for a movie like this. I mean to get something computer generated to have proper soul to it and feel like a living character you can feel for and especially feel with is something this series has done brilliantly. The third part is focusing on the characters, not the action. Though of course there is action and tons of funny stuff to keep you entertained, but it's not the main point of it. It makes you laugh, it makes you cry, it makes you love it and it keeps you entertained throughout. Simply magical story and a marvelous closing to the brilliant series.
98%


Here's what I think about the other two of the series.



Toy Story (1995)

This was a total surprise when it came out. I absolutely loved it. Haven't seen it in a long time so can't comment on how it works today, but back then it worked brilliantly. I just loved the characters, how lifelike these computer animated toys were, they felt like real characters and then some. Also the fact that the kids and adults laughed together at the movie, but for different reasons, was something special. A classic already and great entertainment for the whole family.
97%



Toy Story 2 (1999)

The second part was a surprisingly good sequel. It had more of everything that was fun in the first part. But it lacked a bit of originality and had that recycled feel to it. Nevertheless a good sequel and definitely well worth watching.
82%

It's hard not to dig Mr. Fox

Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

Heard so much good about this movie that I was afraid my expectations would be too high when I finally got the chance to watch it. High they were but this movie surely managed to meet them. It's quite a fantastic little movie, though I bet kids won't get much out of it as it's not a hyper flashy action packed thrill ride as most animations seem to be nowadays. But adults will get a lot from it, at least I did. The animation is quite magnificent, props for the puppet work and not going for the usual 3D way. So the movie looks great with a fun and witty story. Also the voice actors did a solid job, nothing spectacular but a good job by all of them. All in all one of the best animations I've seen in a while and most likely the best from last year. Though of course I still have many of them waiting to be watched so can't say that for sure yet. Great movie none the less.
88%

Dragons are fun little creatures

How to Train Your Dragon (2010)

I keep bashing formulaic movies all the time and most of the time there's a very good reason to do that. But what about a predictable, formulaic, entertaining, heart warming, fun and great looking movie like this? Well it's not bad, that's for sure. The story is this movie's weakest part, being the same old story but with new characters and surroundings. It's about this young Viking boy whose village is being terrorized by dragons. He's not a brutal killer like the others and ends up becoming friends with one of the dragons. The Vikings, who speak with Scottish accent and somewhat reminded me of another Dreamworks' character (the green one), are surprisingly fun bunch of people. The dragons are quite personal also, not exactly scary but then again this is a children's movie so that's ok. The voice acting is very good and a pleasant surprise that there weren't that many big stars in the cast making it feel a lot more personal. The movie is brilliantly done, it looks stunning and is entertaining throughout with a nice heart warming feeling to it. So no matter that it's formulaic, this movie works so well that it's for sure great entertainment for the whole family, there's something for everyone in there.
78%

It's good to be bad

Megamind (2010)

I managed to miss pretty much all of the big animations last year, so I guess I'll be checking them out this year as most of them have already landed on DVD and BR. This one however I still managed to catch on the theaters. Didn't have too high expectations for this, was waiting for some kids movie with a few laughs. Luckily I got quite a bit more. You can divide this movie into 3 parts, the beginning, the middle and the end. The beginning was absolutely brilliant. Was laughing very hard and it was truly quite great with tons of surprisingly good ideas. Had it continued with the same attitude and cleverness this would have been the best animation ever made. The middle turns more into a kids movie with lots of cliches and the usual moral lessons. There were still some scenes that made me laugh and it didn't get boring. Towards the end it picked up some momentum again and even though the moral lessons continued it managed to surprise me quite a few times. The voice acting fits the characters very well and the cast is quite great. The animation is very nicely done and the usage of 3D fit it quite well most of the time. Sure there are tons of stuff thrown into your face but it's luckily not focusing on just them to give some cheap thrills. Also the soundtrack was quite great. Despite the few cliches this was entertaining and funny enough to keep the interest up throughout.
73%

Helsinki International Film Festival 2010

The festival ended almost a week ago, but was a bit too busy to write it up, so here it is. Luckily this year there wasn't any mix up with the tickets so I got to see the ones I wanted.



Anvil! The Story of Anvil (2008)

Didn't see this at the festival as I had already seen it on DVD before, but as it's in the festival program I'll put the review here. I really like this documentary as it's a brilliant mix of things that make you laugh and cry, mostly at the same time. The similarities to This Is Spinal Tap are very clear, though where Spinal Tap was a mockumentary this is the same thing in real life. And that's the strongest thing about this documentary as the characters are so easy to relate to you can feel their enthusiasm and pain much better than for an actor trying to portray them. I can only hope to have the same burn inside me to follow my dreams when I get 50 as these guys have. Great feel good movie and it kinda made me a fan of Anvil, not because of their music, but because of the people.
85%



Dogtooth (2009)

This one sounded so insane I had to go see it. Quite insane it sure was, certainly not your average Greek family movie. It's a story about a family whose parents are over protective to their almost adult children. The children live in a fenced area and never have any contact to the outside world, except for the son who gets sexual favours from a woman who is paid to do so by the dad. Outside influences start to sneak in and things get ugly. The acting is top notch and the characters are quite interesting to say the least. It's shot in a weird way with the camera just slapped somewhere for the most of the scene, sometimes even cropping off heads and other key parts. First it was kinda annoying, but towards the end it actually started to work great for the mood of the movie. All in all a brilliant movie, very disturbing at parts, but yet quite entertaining too. Best of the festival.
92%



Mother (2009)

Lots of mixup with this one. First they got a print with only German subtitles so they cancelled the screenings. I of course then used my ticket to another movie, but then they got an English subtitled print and had new screenings. Luckily I got it squeezed into my schedule as I was looking forward for this. Joon-ho Bong made the absolutely brilliant crime drama Memories of Murder and the surprisingly good monster movie The Host so needless to say my hopes were up for this one. It's another moody crime mystery, but this time the focus is on a mother trying to save his retarded son from prison for a murder she believes the son is innocent to. Again the pace is slow, but unfortunately where it worked brilliantly on Memories of Murder this time it tends to drag the story a bit too much and I really got a bit bored at times. This movie has it's moments and they are quite strong ones, but they are a bit too far apart so your interest kind of almost fades in between. Towards the end the movie picks up a lot of momentum and is actually very good, but unfortunately getting there takes a bit too much time. All in all better than average crime drama, but could have been in a bit more compact format.
67%



A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop (2009)

Remake of the Coen brothers' Blood Simple, but this time with a Chinese setting. I really like remakes that take the story to a new setting and put some new cultural influneces in it, they are most of the time the nice breath of fresh air to the old story. This one does just that, but unfortunately it's not really a great movie. The characters are just too goofy and go over the top too much. Sure that's common in Asian movies, but for a subtle dark comedy that doesn't fit too well. Also the pace of the movie was off, at points it dragged on a bit too much and then it rushed to go slowly again. The movie looked great and some scenes worked great so it's not a total miss, but unfortunately it's not a hit either.
54%



The Illusionist (2010)

I really liked The Triplets of Belleville so I was really looking forward for this new movie from the same guys. It looked stunning as expected and the mood was perfect. It left me with a nice warm hearted feel. But unfortunately it wasn't brilliant. The story was way too short for the length of the movie and would have worked a lot better as a short movie. Was worth the watch but really didn't leave me wishing for more, so I don't think I'll give it a second try.
60%



The Temptation of St. Tony (2009)

This movie has the best first half of all the movies I saw in this years festival. Brilliantly shot moody dark comedy and lots of those "what the fuck?" moments. Unfortunately it also has the worst end half I've seen in ages. All the comedy is lost and it turns into a surreal boring nonsense that just drags on while you keep wishing it would end. Would love to give it 0 percent, but the beginning half was so brilliant so can't slam it to the ground. Still have to say that the Estonian language sounds quite funny at times.
39%



Life During Wartime (2009)

A sequel to Happiness and Welcome to the Dollhouse. The cast is different but the characters are the same so it makes it a bit hard to follow unless you have the other two in clear memory. So better watch them before seeing this. I didn't and it got a bit confusing at points. Liked the other two a lot and was looking forward for seeing this one too, but unfortunately this was kind of a miss. Didn't really bring anything new to the table and felt like kind of a pointless sequel. As a stand alone movie it's quite bad, as a sequel it's kind of pointless. Maybe if you watch all three in a row it would work better, but now it just didn't.
45%



(Untitled) (2009)

Wasn't planning on going to see this one, but decided to go as I had some spare time. Well not really sure was it worth it. It left me with nothing at all but still it kept me entertained through it. Some quite funny and witty remarks towards the art scene, but nothing out of the ordinary. All in all just barely worth the watch if you're into arts in any way, the rest can skip this.
42%



The Snow Queen (2010)

Another Estonian movie. The less you know about this movie the better it works. Unfortunately I read the description from the festival brochure and it pretty much told everything that happened in this movie. The mood in this one was brilliant and that mystical feel would have worked so much better had I not known what it was about. Was worth the watch and kept my interest up even though I knew the "twist".
63%



The Eclipse (2009)

At start I was kind of lost in this one as it had German subtitles and they spoke with an Irish accent, so didn't really understand at the beginning. Luckily the accent went a bit more understandable so it didn't matter. The "horror" it had was just cheap scares and really no tension building at all. So it wasn't scary enough to be a good ghost story. But it didn't have enough depth to be a good drama either. So it was just a mix of both without really being anything. But it wasn't a crappy movie by any means, it was quite entertaining and worth the watch.
60%



How I Ended This Summer (2010)

You don't see a movie with only two characters that often, so this was a nice change. It had a nice mood and it was beautifully shot with the scenery almost being another character. The tensions between the old traditional man and the young guy were quite good, though at parts the younger man seemed a bit too stupid and naive. Then again I think it was the plan from the beginning to really have those two world views colliding. At parts the movie could have been a bit faster, but the slow pace mostly worked for the good of the film. Well worth the watch and most likely will give it another watch later.
79%



Cell 211 (2009)

Oh this was a positive surprise. Wasn't planning on going to see this one but went as I had some spare time. I'm sure glad I did. One of the best prison movies I've seen in a very long time. Intense and smart movie that dodges the usual plot holes quite well and even manages to be quite thought provoking. Sure there are some smaller details that didn't really work but all in all a great movie and I'm sure to get it in my collection.
87%



The Killer Inside Me (2010)

As you probably know I love film noir so this went to my most wanted list when I saw the trailer. First of all the thing that bugged me the most, Casey Affleck. I really don't like his "acting", if you can even call it that. But being bad, he still somehow seemed to fit the role quite well and at points even seemed to give out a good performance. The mood and the story are spot on brilliant. It's also quite beautifully shot and quite entertaining, at parts even a bit shocking. Maybe the cast could have been a bit better, but the rest worked like a well oiled machine.
82%



City of Life and Death (2009)

One of the most striking war movies I've seen in a long while. And one of the best anti war movies I've ever seen. A story that needs to be told made into a great movie. Can't really say anything else. A must see for everyone. Even though I gave this 95 percent, it's not the best of the festival. Flawed ranking system I know. This is one of those movies that you need to see and you will most likely watch again in the future, so it deserves a brilliant score, but it doesn't deserve the best of the festival. The best movie of the festival is of course something that takes you completely off guard and wipes the floor with your expectations leaving you wondering what just hit you? This was predictable, you knew what to expect. It's striking and thought provoking for sure, but it's also somehow safe but not in a bad way. Any way you look at it, it's a brilliant movie about a story that needs to be told and thus a definite must see.
95%



Mr. Nobody (2009)

Closing film of the festival. Heard a lot of good from this movie so I had my hopes up a bit too much I guess as it didn't really deliver. It was a nice movie with a good mood to it, but as it tries to be a bit deeper look into the human life it really is a bit too shallow and that's where it fails. It was well made and the cast was quite ok. Some scenes were quite nicely done with a bit of camera tricks and CGI, so there was plenty to keep you entertained. But in the end it really didn't bring anything new to the table. Worth watching once.
70%


All in all a great festival once again and managed to see a wide variety of movies. Will be there again next year, that's for sure.

Not exactly a baby step for the early feature animation

The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926)

Next movie I watched from the BFI films was the very first feature length animation in the history of cinema. It's a silhouette animation based on the One Thousand and One Nights story, made by Lotte Reiniger. It took her 3 years and over 250.000 frames to make, painstakingly moving the silhouettes by hand for every frame. The movie was a huge flop when it came out and was pretty much forgotten for decades. I just can't understand why as the movie is simply mind blowing. It wipes the floor with pretty much any of the early animations and even most of the new ones too. The first word that came to my mind during the movie was wow. And when I thought about it afterwards the first thing that came to my mind was wow. Wow is actually the best word to describe it as it's just pure eye candy, stunningly beautiful artistic masterpiece. And even the story is quite well portrayed with the comedy, action and suspence coming through clearly despite the unconventional method of displaying it. As the title says it's not exactly a baby step for the early feature animation, not by far, more like a giant leap to a whole new direction. Wether it's the curiosity to see the first steps of animated films or just the need to be entertained with a great movie, this is a must see for everyone.
100%