Sing

Sing

3D Movie Review Written By: James Tate

3D

The 3D of the film was visually appealing, and was not an eye sore . The animation is very colorful and there is plenty of things popping out of the screen throughout the film. I am a fan of this more classic “popping out at the audience 3D” even if it appears gimmicky or cheesy. The characters are colorful in how they dance and sing on screen and it looks better 3D than if it were in 2D. While this movies shouldn't be considered top tier 3D, it’s certainly was a good 3D presentation that I can recommend.

Final Verdict: Good 3D

Movie

As an "Illumination Entertainment" production I went into this movie with fairly low expectations. The company is fairly new,  and in my opinion not even on the same level of Dreamworks. Their movies usually deliver a few laughs here and there, but generally speaking they make mediocre movies . So when I took my younger brothers to see this movie I walked out pleasantly surprised . Sing is a humorous, colorful, creative movie, that is better than I expected it to be.

The movie takes place in a world populated entirely by anthropomorphic animals. The film’s primary focus Is a koala bear named Buster Moon who is the owner of a music theater. Buster's theater is now in financial trouble due to showing numerous failed productions. Buster is told by the bank that the theater will be repossessed in the near future. Buster Moon discusses this with his friend a sheep named Eddie Noodleman. They discuss a plan to try and save the theater from closure by hosting a singing competition, with the grand prize being $1,000. As he prints flyers for the competition a huge misprint occurs, suddenly  a gust of wind scatters the posters all around the town. Now  everyone in town thinks the prize money is actually $100,000 instead of $1,000, which causes every one in town to immediately want to try out for the show.

As the movie begins it is very similar to the TV show American Idol. They showcase the auditions in unique and hilarious way. You see several different animals singing many different kinds of songs. The songs the animals sing vary greatly and it includes, but isn't limited to: modern Pop, hard rock, and even Japanese bubblegum. I really enjoyed the various song covers they had, and felt that the musical selection was a very diverse list of songs from almost of every genre and era. If the film was 100% modern music it just wouldn't have been the same.

Without spoilers, I would have to say the best aspects of the film are its colorful animation and its crisp sounding voice acting. My only grips with the movie includes its plot, which can be cliche and sappy at times. Other then that I was never bored or annoyed by this movie . I can easily recommend this movie, specifically to anyone who enjoys movies like Zootopia,  great music and voice work of Seth Macfarlane.

Final Verdict: 7/10

© 2016 NBCUNIVERSAL MEDIA, LLC.

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Moana 3D Movie Review

Moana

3D Movie Review Written By Adolph Vega

3D

This movie was made for stereoscopic 3D and it looks fantastic in 3D from beginning to end. Clearly the cinematography and 3D were made hand in hand because it looks like 3D characters are interacting in 3D environments to showcase great stereoscopic 3D. The movie looks pretty , sharp and better because of the 3D . The movie occasionally uses two dimensional art style to present the narrative and during these scenes they use multiple layers of depth to make a richer tapestry of visuals that look outstanding in stereoscopic 3D. Sometimes objects will fly out or pop out and it's done within the context of  the storyline and what is needed for the scene and doesn't seem gimmicky or silly . The usage of 3D is clearly an intelligent design choice to make a more visually interesting and impressive movie . One example of this is how the movie handles sailing . Many different aspects of the ship will appear to pop out and retreat into the background depending on what is needed within the scene. The 3D element makes it look like your peering into a diorama and it looks impressive . Objects shown on screen seem tangible and help this animated movie come to life and seem authentic. Occasionally the movie goes in first person and gives the audience a true 3D visual treat that is trilling to see . The best word to describe the 3D element of this movie is smart . This movie has a wonderful 3D presentation that should be an example for other future 3D animated movies to learn from . This is easily one the best and smartest applications for 3D in a animated movie that I have seen in years. The 3D element is the complete package and is both fun and well executed and looks sharp and vivid . This movie deserves my highest accolades and earns my highest rating for its flawless amazing execution of stereoscopic 3D.  

Final Verdict: Great 3D, Editors Choice Award  

Movie

When I walked into the theater I had no idea what to expect from this movie. I know nothing about the culture and / or religion of the island people this movie is based upon . When I left the theater I was stunned because I felt like this movie perfectly introduced this setting into the mainstream and left me completely satisfied . Disney has achieved something truly spectacular with this movie and is unlike anything else that I have seen .

The movie perfectly executes an original and interesting story with fully developed and likeable characters. Moana is the story of a young woman (named Moana) who lives on an island with her family , friends and neighbors but yearns to travel.  A curse falls upon the island and Moana seeks the help of the demigod Maui to save the island.  Maui himself needs assistance from Moana because he has lost his special abilities. The story is focused on the dynamic of Moana and Maui working together to help save the island and her people . 

The movie is a musical and they perfectly incorporate musical storytelling elements into the narrative. I love all the musical songs presented within this film. My favorite song involved a giant glittery crab. I am tempted to buy that song off iTunes because it's the composition and flow are so much fun . The musical element feels natural and works well into the story. I found myself smiling and tapping my toes to the fantastic melodies and rhythm. Disney has done it again and made a wonderful musical animated movie. 

The characters are the aspect of the movie that I adore the most. The characters are well developed, complex and are rich in personality. The movie does a fantastic job establishing the characters and developing them . The characters have a  perfect chemistry with one another.  I understand the character motivations and I find them to be very relatable. The writing is sharp and dialogue seems natural and is perfectly deliverered. The voice acting in this movie is excellent and the characters come alive on screen and feel authentic. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson portrays Maui as a cocky self absorbed demigod that is extremely charming, especially when he sings . Moana is a strong independent woman that is very interesting and likeable . I even enjoyed the comic relief chicken named Heihei who doesn't speak but steals many scenes with his foolishness. The comedic aspect of this movie feels natural and is never too silly. The giant glittery crab that I mentioned earlier is named Tamatoa and is totally fabulous and is a perfectly animated character. The grandmother character Tala has so much personality and is pure joy to watch on screen. The excellent characters give this movie a soul and make it something truly special. 

When it comes to negatives I found nothing major to report .  One character element felt a little sudden but I won't discuss the details of this because it's a huge spoiler. Overall I love this this movie because it has a wonderful story with rich interesting characters. I found the action scenes to be fun and well executed and the pacing to be smooth. The animation within this movie is gorgeous and distinct. I was enchanted by this movie and found it extremely entertaining , funny and heartwarming.  Disney has made something truly memorable and remarkable with this movie and I welcome more new original stories from different parts of the world. Moana feels new and different and yet familiar . Moana is favorite movie of the year and is the definition of cinematic excellence,  and I consider it to be an instant modern Disney classic. 

Final Verdict: 10/10, Editors Choice Award 

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Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

3D Movie Review Written By: Adolph Vega

 

3D

Gimmicky is the best way to describe the 3D element of this movie. The visuals look sharp and vivid in 3D and are mostly used with the computer-generated beasts. The 3D gives depth and a sense of scope to the beasts and makes them appear more realistic. The movie really plays up the pop-out 3D, and several objects are thrown outward toward the audience. Sometimes the movie uses 3D with the screen aspect ratio and the characters or objects appear to exist out of the framing of the scene. The movie also uses 3D depth to showcase several different layers of the background. The 3D element actually helped me from falling asleep toward the last third of the movie. Overall I found the 3D element to increase my enjoyment of this movie and I can easily recommend it.

Final Verdict: Great 3D

Movie

“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” is the prequel to the popular “Harry Potter” franchise and is set nearly 70 years before the events of the first book / movie. This movie is actually based on the magical encyclopedia of beasts of the “Harry Potter” universe. The creator of the Harry Potter franchise J.K. Rowling actually wrote the screenplay for this movie. This film is a stand-alone prequel movie and the connections to the “Harry Potter” franchise are relatively minor, so you could watch it without viewing the other “Harry Potter” movies.

The film is set in New York City in the 1920’s and begins with a collection of newspapers flying toward the audience. This trope of flying newspapers with headlines explaining story elements is something rarely seen in modern movies. The flying newspaper trope is a plot device that was popular in the early 20th century that this movie is set in. This newspaper headline trope is a lazy way to start this movie.  The biggest problem is that the newspapers that are shown are very busy with multiple bylines and subsections, and moving sections. The panning and zooming of the newspapers toward the screen also make it difficult to concentrate on a single story element. The newspapers also fly by at a quick pace and make it easy to miss key parts of the prologue. Usually when filmmakers use this flying newspaper trope only has one or two newspapers are shown with a single headline. This flying newspaper trope is a fine example of how not properly introduce to the characters and story to the audience. I really feel like this movie screws up and doesn’t have a true introduction to the characters and scenario. The movie totally throws the audience into the deep end and is totally forgets to even give the main character a first name until halfway into the movie. Considering this is supposed to be the first movie in a huge franchise it’s totally outrageous that they neglect to properly establish this movie. The writer is obviously more interested in world building for future films, than establishing this film with a suitable introduction. This movie feels like it’s missing 30 minutes from the beginning, and this aspect made it easy to become lost and apathetic to the characters and plot.

The plot revolves around Newt Scamander who travels to New York and has a mishap with his briefcase full of magical creatures. Some of the magical creatures escape and he must recover them within New York. During this time New York is being devastated by magical entities that are deliberately attacking humans and the city. Humans are not supposed to be aware of magic and these entities threaten the community of witches & wizards who live in New York. Jacob Kowalski is a human that accidently gets caught up with Newt because he has the identical style brief case. Tina Goldestein acts as a magical police officer and befriends Newt and Jacob. Queenie is the younger sister of Tina who has the ability to read minds and is part of this team who helps Newt. This group of characters is really amusing together and I enjoyed all of their performances. The cast of this movie continues to expand to an excessive level. The main characters are fine, but the huge supporting cast is way too big to care about.

On a technical level the special effects of this movie are well done. Sadly it seems like all the magical fantastic creatures are computer generated and seem too artificial. Many times I questioned the authenticity of performances the actors who were interacting with the computer-generated creatures. I wish that more of the special effects were done in a practical fashion. Some of the acting toward the digital creatures is not believable and doesn’t seem perfectly synced.

Where this movie succeeds is the charm and humor factor. The main characters (Newt, Jacob, Tina, Queenie) have great chemistry and are delightful to watch on screen. During many moments of this movie I was laughing out loud. The humor is silly and family friendly and it works well. One creature in particular called the Niffler I found extremely charming and funny. This mischievous creature loves shiny things and is a huge thief, and literally and figuratively steals each scene he is in.

Ultimately “ Fantastic Beasts and Where to find them” is an enjoyable movie with many flaws. I actually started to fall asleep toward the last third of the movie because I stopped caring about the overstuffed plot. This lack of caring is totally the fault of the movie for having such a huge cast and not having a proper introduction. This movie is a simple with likeable characters that is over done and falls short of being a truly magical experience.

Final Verdict: 6/10

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