The Bad Guys 2

 

Following the release of the first The Bad Guys film, I was hyped enough by it and the prospect of a sequel that I caught up, and kept up with, the book series until it finished (I was not a fan of how it ended). On seeing trailers for The Bad Guys 2, I was hyped once again based on how much I liked the first, but practiced cautious optimism for how it would handle the introduction of new characters from the source material. These fears were put to rest on seeing the actual movie, which only reinforced my opinion that the films were superior to the books.

The Wild Robot

Amongst a number of major shifts within the animation industry at large, one was that DreamWorks Animation would no longer animate their films in-house beyond 2024, the last of which would be The Wild Robot, and afterwards pivot to outsourcing to other studios. The first trailer for The Wild Robot left a good enough impression on me that I read the original book by Peter Brown out of curiosity, with further trailers and learning of Chris Sanders’ (Lilo & Stitch, How to Train Your Dragon) involvement only making me feel more confident in its quality. This would lead to me seeing the film in 3D on opening day, after which I was grateful this was the studios’ last in-house feature production and not Kung Fu Panda 4.

Kung Fu Panda 4

While DreamWorks Animation hasn’t had a consistent track record of quality, I’ve always found an exception in the Kung Fu Panda films. The first film remains one of my favorites from the studio, as well as one of my favorite animated films in general, with an equally good second film and a solid third film that ends the Kung Fu Panda trilogy on a high note. Imagine my surprise, then, when the same studio responsible for recent boundary-pushing efforts in The Bad Guys and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish announced a Kung Fu Panda 4, an admittedly unnecessary sequel that still had a wealth of potential for expanding its fascinating world and characters and bringing the series to new heights. Now imagine my disappointment in how the first new main entry in eight years not only failed in living up to the quality of the original trilogy, especially Kung Fu Panda and Kung Fu Panda 2, but also didn’t understand what made the rest of the franchise so appealing and successful in the first place.

Puss in Boots (2011) - Somebody Once Told Me...

Only a year after the release of Shrek Forever After, DreamWorks began releasing a series of spin-offs starring the supporting character Puss in Boots, who more or less took over the franchise for over a decade. The first entry, simply titled Puss in Boots, came out in 2011 during the studio’s partnership with Paramount, who notably distributed Kung Fu Panda, a film that influenced them to focus more on strong storytelling over celebrity cameos and pop culture references (among other aspects brought on by the success of Shrek). While I was aware of Puss in Boots, I didn’t actually watch it until the strength of its sequel, The Last Wish, fueled my curiosity in how well it stacks up by comparison. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the original isn’t as good, though it’s still pretty good on its own merits and helps demonstrate that even early on, DreamWorks’ pivot was for the better.

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish - All That Glitters is Gold

As the Shrek franchise dwindled in popularity back in the 2000s, a process that began with the poor reception to Shrek the Third, DreamWorks officially spun of the franchise to center more around Puss in Boots, an anthropomorphic cat parody of Zorro introduced in Shrek 2. Puss, notably voiced by Antonio Banderas, first received a theatrically-released spin-off, Puss in Boots, back in 2011, then a perhaps lesser-known Netflix series, The Adventures of Puss in Boots, which ran from 2015 to 2018. During Puss’ time in the spotlight, effectively taking over the franchise, DreamWorks had announced a Shrek 5, which has yet to see a proper release, let alone any solid news on its development.

In the meantime, Puss in Boots recently received a sequel, The Last Wish, in late 2022. Considering the 11-year gap, the announcement came as quite a surprise and I initially didn’t have much interest, as I hadn’t seen the previous film out of a lack of interest. Its very positive reception, however, convinced me otherwise and I finally saw a theatrical screening after it received an Oscar nomination for “Best Animated Feature”. As it turns out, not only does The Last Wish live up to the hype, it may have actually surpassed the quality of most of Disney and Pixar’s own output from the last few years.

The Bad Guys

Some film adaptations of books (ex. The Great Mouse Detective, Ernest & Celestine) have gotten me interested in checking out their source material right after, but rarely has it occurred where I was interested enough in a movie to look at its source material before seeing the movie. The Bad Guys is one such film, being based on a popular series of children’s books by Aaron Blabey about a group of bad guys who want to turn their reputation around, often with humorous results. In anticipation of the film, after finding out what it was based on, I was curious enough to read the first three books in the series through a collection so that I would have some idea of what they were working with, and found said books enjoyable to read even as an adult. After deciding to take the risk to see the movie in a theater, while I did not expect to see a 1:1 translation of the books, I thought it was a good adaptation and a well-made film in its own right.

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

Note: This review contains spoilers for Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

Following Nick Park’s completion of A Grand Day Out in 1989 as a student short film while working at Aardman Animations, its popularity upon release spawned the Wallace & Gromit franchise, with two additional short films, The Wrong Trousers (1993) and A Close Shave (1995), to follow. As part of a multi-picture deal between Aardman and DreamWorks Animation that included 2000’s Chicken Run, a feature-length Wallace & Gromit movie, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, was released in 2005. However, a number of misguided attempts by DreamWorks Animation to make the movie sell better in America led to Aardman cutting the deal short after the release of Flushed Away in 2006. As a fan of the original Wallace & Gromit shorts since childhood, I was excited to see The Curse of the Were-Rabbit when it first came out, though in both the theater and on home video I, along with my family, had a bit of a mixed reaction to it. A little over 15 years later, we decided to revisit the movie in the spirit of the Halloween season and, while it turned out to be far better than we remembered, it still felt like a part of the series’ British charm was missing.

The Road to El Dorado

The Road to El Dorado has an interesting place in DreamWorks Animation’s history. While not their final traditionally animated film, it was their final pre-Shrek production. Critics gave it mixed reviews at the time and the film bombed, grossing about $76 million on a budget of $95 million, which in turn may have convinced DreamWorks to double down on CG animation. As for my own experience, I remember watching it as a kid, but not too much of it stuck with me, likely because I didn’t pay attention to the plot as much back then. At the start of 2021, however, I watched it through Hulu out of a renewed curiosity from the film’s sudden rise in popularity through internet memes. While the story isn’t perfect, I didn’t think it was as bad as critics initially thought and could even consider it an overlooked film in DreamWorks’ library. It even got me thinking about where DreamWorks Animation would be today if they didn’t completely abandon traditional animation.

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

Note: This review contains spoilers for How to Train Your Dragon 2 and How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World.

With the success of How to Train Your Dragon 2, it would be another five years before DreamWorks Animation would release the third, and currently final, installment, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World. Due to real world circumstances, this film would also have a separate distributor from the previous two, this time Universal Pictures as opposed to Paramount Pictures or 20th Century Fox. Since the sequels to the original How to Train Your Dragon were written with a trilogy in mind, it made sense to finish watching the films and see how they concluded the story. Though the ending does deliver emotionally, the flight path has a bit of turbulence.

How to Train Your Dragon 2

Note: This review contains spoilers for How to Train Your Dragon.

Four years after the release of How to Train Your Dragon, DreamWorks Animation released the first sequel, How to Train Your Dragon 2, but distributed this time through 20th Century Fox instead of Paramount Pictures. Interestingly, Dean DeBlois, who co-directed the original film, agreed to direct this film on the condition that he could turn it into a trilogy. Additionally, DreamWorks Animation had overhauled their animation and lighting software during the production, which gave this film the honor as their first to use it. The end result is a sequel that feels different from the original, both in tone and storytelling, but is still great to watch on its own merits.

How to Train Your Dragon

Note: This review contains spoilers for How to Train Your Dragon.

I will admit that when the original How to Train Your Dragon film, based on the 2003 Cressida Cowell book of the same name, first came out, it didn’t really appeal to me at the time for whatever reason, so I didn’t end up watching it, its two sequels or its spinoff Cartoon Network/Netflix series, DreamWorks Dragons. After the third film, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, came out, I had been hearing a lot of positive word-of-mouth about the trilogy, and so decided to check it out due to pandemic boredom, via a 3-in-1 Blu-ray collection of the films. Watching the first film on what happened to be shortly after its 11^th anniversary, I found it to be a lot better than I expected, even going so far as to compare it to Kung Fu Panda in terms of quality.

Megamind

What if Lex Luthor actually defeated Superman? That is the question Dreamworks Animation sought to answer with Megamind, the studios’ satirical take on the superhero genre, back in late 2010. Unfortunately, the trailers didn’t do much to incentivize me to see it in theaters at the time, so I didn’t actually gain an interest in watching it until about recently about nine years after the initial release, when Megamind was suddenly in vogue for internet culture. While it’s not a perfect film, I now wonder why it took so long for me to see it.

Rise of the Guardians - Doesn't Rise High Enough

November and December are usually the months in which movie studios feel comfortable releasing Christmas movies while people are still in the holiday spirit, because people who buy a bunch of gifts need to be reminded of why they're doing it every once in a while. Another popular movie type for studios to put out is the kids movie, which is when parents want their kids to stay quiet for a couple of hours while they absorb mostly poor attempts at creating something that won't appeal to more than one age group. Around Christmas, there are usually quite a few movies that attempt to blend these two groups together, often with disastrous results. Since we're here, I'd like you to meet Rise of the Guardians, a movie that tries to deliver a heartfelt message about dreams made reality, but can't seem to figure out how to get it across or decide its core audience, which honestly should not have been that difficult.

The movie concerns a group of childhood fantasy heroes, the ones they start being cynical about when they're around nine years old, who have been chosen by the Man in the Moon (sure...) to protect childhood around the globe. However, an evil man named Pitch Black (Jude Law), aka The Boogeyman, has decided that he's tired of being ignored and begins spreading the power of evil nightmares, forcing the Guardians to unite and fight against him. These Guardians in question are a Russian Santa Claus (Alec Baldwin) with prison tats, an Australian Easter Bunny (Hugh Jackman) with a liking for region-specific slang, a mute Sandman, a hummingbird-like Tooth Fairy (Isla Fisher) who is a rather obsessive and compulsive tooth collector and Jack Frost (Chris Pine), the main character and newest guardian, who resembles a Final Fantasy reject with a Cooper cane. They represent the first problem with this movie, which is using characters that a certain subset of children would actually believe in, yet they seem to have this odd filter applied by the designers that seems to suggest that they want the audience to think of these people as badass, but may unintentionally frighten this demographic as well. Maybe the studio didn't know which side of the mythological coin to appeal to, believers vs non-believers, and just opted for an odd approach that just shows they knew not what their intentions were.

But they really hit their stride in the "give them nightmares" department.

And then there's the story. I'll admit that it turned out better than I thought it would, but I'll be honest, it's not really a movie I'd be willing to watch again right away. While a movie doesn't need to be groundbreaking or overly original to be good, it does need to show some effort to its narrative, which this one doesn't seem to have a good grasp of. It has a decent structure and plays out kind of alright, and though it isn't boring, it just isn't engaging, like some of the presents you got when you were a kid. There are times when it seems to lose a sense of direction by introducing subplots that end up being completely meaningless to the whole, such as a girl ending up in the Easter Bunny's territory and then getting sent back safely. Then there's another problem, which I would like to call the Darksiders problem. To elaborate, there is a life-threatening (childhood threatening?) crisis that engulfs the entire planet, so what do they do? Just show a single town in the middle of Who Cares, U.S.A. so we never get a sense of how big the crisis really is. This is a problem for me, because I'd actually like to have a sense of what's really at stake, rather than find out how the collateral damage will affect a specific individual. There are many other things I could mention, but then this review would turn more into a spoiler-ridden nitpicking fest and I don't want that.

Though I will leave this here.

If I could sum it all up, I'd say that Rise of the Guardians is sort of a mixed bag. Yes, the animation and voice acting are actually quite good, but the characterizations seem very odd and the story stretches itself a bit thin. There are some moments that can actually elicit a laugh or two, but those are few and far between and the core story has concepts that feel a little far-fetched. It's really no surprise to me that this movie would be the one to cause Dreamworks to lay off employees for the first time in their history (I mean no disrespect by that since any sizable layoff count is actually quite tragic and I hope those employees manage to find another job when they can). This is definitely a movie that kids of a certain age will enjoy, but parents will find at least tolerable considering its length. Only consider viewing if you're a parent in need of a movie for your children to watch, but otherwise, maybe hunt down a copy of Arthur Christmas or something.

To read reviews of other Christmas films, please see our Christmas Review Hub.

Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted - Afros, Afros Everywhere

After following the journey of four zoo animals as they try to make it back home from a shipping accident, two movies have gone by with a good deal of humor as well as a few anomalies in the continuity. With their last stop, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, we finally get to see if the 7-year journey from Point A to Point B was worth it. As it turns out, I still have no idea if it was.

Following up from the end of the Madagascar 2, Alex the lion (Ben Stiller) is still waiting for the penguins to come back in their makeshift plane to bring him and his friends back to New York. After a nightmare relating to the passage of time, Marty the zebra (Chris Rock), Melman the giraffe (David Schwimmer), and Gloria the hippopotamus (Jada Pinkett Smith) surprise Alex on his birthday with a mud replica of New York city, complete with a miniature zoo. This ends up making the lion even more homesick, and he comes up with an idea to go after the penguins. Cut to the four of them rising out of the waters of Monte Carlo (yes, it seems they managed to swim the great distance from Africa to Europe), Alex's plan is put into action. All goes according to plan until they crash through the ceiling of the casino where the penguins were, at which point they make their getaway, but not without attracting a very persistent woman from animal control. After another crash landing in the plane from earlier, the animals manage to evade authorities by hiding in a train full of circus animals, who are coincidentally on their way to New York. With animal control still on their tail, the animals decide to use the circus as a way to get home, forming friendships and learning secrets along the way.

With the amount of time between this installment and the second, the animation has greatly improved, appearing and flowing more realistically. Seeing this in 3D certainly helps the presentation as it brings a certain amount of depth to the action, though I will admit that several parts of the movie seem to be made specifically for 3D viewing, like seeing characters' faces even closer to your own. Aside from that, I also enjoyed the voice acting for the most part, including the voices of new and returning animal characters and Frank Welker's performance as a bear.

The humor, on the other hand, is debatable as to whether it has gotten better. While there aren't any lowbrow jokes in this one, the best lines to me again came from the penguins, who are laugh riots as usual whenever they have screen presence. Otherwise some scenes have their moments, but more often than not fall flat in the funny department, although I'm sure someone much younger than me would be able to find the movie even funnier than I did.

The movie also seems to have mixed feelings on humans. The aforementioned persistent woman, Captain Chantel DuBois (Frances McDormand), shows feats of strength comparable to the Hulk and seems to be a bit too thorough in her animal tracking skills. On the other hand, she and her comrades are at the end placed in a situation that bookends with the first movie, which seems to imply a swift demise when one stops to think about it.

One thing that I personally had mixed feelings about was the music. Hans Zimmer once again proves that he knows how to set up the tone of a scene and does so flawlessly. On the subject of the other music though, while the soundtrack was mostly good, there was a particular moment where a French song is used to rile the spirirts of hospitalized animal control people, in fact instantly healing them, which seems like it would make more sense to someone who actually spoke the language. Then of course there's the bit with Marty singing about Circus Afros, used endlessly in the advertisements, which only gets more and more grating every time it's heard. However if the audience I was with is any indication, younger kids may find it enjoyable, as the Madagascar series largely appeals to that crowd.

If I may, there was one small thing that bugged me a little, and that was a piece of product placement. In a scene where DuBoi escapes from a cell, an Italian guard asks about a couple of sounds, the second of which blatantly describes a printer as one from HP. While this was the only instance of this sort of advertising, it seems rather odd that that of all things would be written into the actual script.

Overall, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted is actually better than I expected, but I still feel kind of iffy about it. It has a good plot and most of the music and performances are strong, but there are a few moments that drag the experience down a little. In the end though, I would still recommend this movie, if only for someone to be able to complete their Madagascar experience. If this is the end of the road for these characters, then while I'm satisfied that it ended well for them, this isn't exactly a journey I would take again any time soon.

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa - I Still Can't Move It, Move It

In preparing for Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, it's become a necessity to go over the first sequel to Madagascar, subtitled Escape 2 Africa in order to create a number joke. At this point I wasn't so hip to viewing this one due to the original's overall quality. Regardless, I came out of my latest viewing of this movie with a better sense of satisfaction, yet still with a feeling that some things just didn't seem quite right.

As a cub, Alex the lion lived in Africa with the name Alakay and was the son of Zuba (Bernie Mac), the alpha lion. Zuba is trying to teach his son how to fight instead of dance, which ends up with him accepting, and winning, a challenge from Makunga (Alec Baldwin) for his position. During this time, Alakay is captured by poachers, who get chased down by Zuba. In the struggle, Zuba is shot and Alakay's crate ends up making its way to New York City. In the present day, Alex (Ben Stiller), Marty the Zebra (Chris Rock), Melman the Giraffe (David Schwimmer), and Gloria the hippopotamus (Jada Pinkett Smith) are about ready to leave the island of Madagascar for their New York home in a repaired plane piloted by the penguins Skipper (Tom McGrath), Kowalski (Chris Miller), Private (Christopher Knights) and Rico (John DiMaggio) with the lemurs King Julien (Sacha Baron Cohen), Maurice (Cedric the Entertainer) and Mort (Andy Richter) and the chimpanzees Mason (Conrad Vernon) and Phil on board as well. During the trip however, the plane ends up crash landing on the continent of Africa, forcing the penguins and chimpanzees to begin major repairs while Alex, Marty, Melman and Gloria mingle with the indigenous population around the watering hole and in the process discover what life is like with more of their kind.

The major plot line involves Alex, who is basically the main character of the franchise by this point, reuniting with his parents and finding out just who he really is and what the lions' culture entails. By taking some cues from The Lion King, this plot unfolds pretty nicely and ends up creating a bit more of an engaging story compared to its predecessor. It also happens to intertwine with themes involving the test of friendship and figuring out where the grass is greener, an idea carried over from the first film. Through a case of mistaken identity between Alex and Marty, as well as new bonds formed between Melman and Gloria, everyone grows closer together as friends and even though they opt at the end of the film to stay in Africa for a while longer, they come to find that their differences are what truly set them apart from the other animals.

Once again, while the plot moves along pretty nicely, perhaps even a little better this time around, there are some errors I found in it that on occasion were a little difficult to ignore. This is mainly in the continuity errors present, such as Alex suddenly having a significant mark on his paw that wasn't present before and an equally sudden bout of Melman having feelings for Gloria that were never hinted at to begin with. A smaller idea that I still had a hard time believing would be that every single tourist in Africa, whom the penguins steal plenty of jeeps from for airship parts, just happens to be a New Yorker.

This leads once more into a discussion on the humor. While the humor is a bit smarter, relying much less on pop culture references and containing the ideal absence of common scatological jokes, there are still a couple of times where it falls flat. Mainly, it's the fact that the old woman from the previous film returns, this time with an unnecessarily prominent role in the survival of the tourists; her inclusion seems to just be for the sole purpose of either reminding the audience that she exists or pandering to them by bringing back a popular character (because it's not Madagascar without every single character from before, right?). Otherwise, the movie is still firing on all cylinders in the funny department whenever the lemurs or penguins are in the spotlight, along with some surprisingly funny bits with the chimpanzees.

The effects of this movie are a bit improved, three years will do that I suppose, with water that flows more realistically and big stunts like the plane crash to show off what they can do. I also still liked the voice acting, including Alec Baldwin's role as the main antagonist and Bernie Mac as Alex's dad (in fact the movie is dedicated to his unfortunate passing). Hans Zimmer still does a good job with the score, but I didn't quite like will.i.am's cover of Reel 2 Reel's I Like to Move It, which sounded altered to suit the events of the film and didn't have the same infectiousness or memorability as Sacha Baron Cohen's take on it before.

In the end, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa is improved a little from its beginnings, but some of these bouts of inspiration are negated at some points to create a sort of compromise that gave me a very mixed outlook. The humor is smarter this time around and I did appreciate the near lack of pop culture references, minus an out of place iPod joke, along with better production and voice work. I would recommend at least one viewing just to see how the sequel turns out in your eyes, or more justifiably if you want to see more of the antics from King Julien or the penguins.

Next time this blog will look at Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, which, if the ads are true, appears to contain a high concentration of bright rainbow-colored wigs in the shapes of afros.

Madagascar - I Can't Quite Move It, Move It

As mentioned before in this blog's review of Men in Black, the summer lineup of 2012 is riddled with Hollywood sequels, one of which is Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted. Having seen the previous two movies at a younger age, I've decided that I might as well see the third one anyway. To get to that point however, I've started watching the prequels so that I may have my memory refreshed. After watching Madagascar again however, I'm worried that maybe it wasn't such a good idea.

Life is great in the Central Park Zoo as Marty the zebra (Chris Rock) celebrates his tenth birthday with his friends Alex the lion (Ben Stiller), Melman the giraffe (David Schwimmer) and Gloria the hippopotamus (Jada Pinkett Smith). Throughout the day Marty ponders what life would be like away from his pampered lifestyle in the zoo and instead out in the wild. After escaping for Grand Central Station at night to get to the land of Connecticut, believing he'll find the wide-open spaces he desires there, his friends go off in search of him and arrive at the station just in time to intercept his attempt to get a ticket. Unfortunately for them they all end up getting hit with tranquilizer darts so that they may be shipped off to a wildlife preserve in Kenya. On the bridge of the ship however, the penguins Skipper (Tom McGrath), Rico (John DiMaggio), Kowalski (Chris Miller) and Private (Christopher Knights), who also got caught in the escape attempt, manage to take control of the ship to try and get to Antarctica, inadvertently sending Marty and friends overboard. The four animals wind up on the shores of Madagascar, where they must learn to cope with the wild in their quest to go back home.

The story seems to mainly be about two things. First, it has a theme of trying to figure out your place in the world, in this case whether they belong in the zoo or the wild. Marty is the one who instigates this portion of the plot when he wonders if maybe the grass is greener somewhere else, which of course doesn't settle with his friends at first before and after they land on the island. Gradually though, they come to like some things about the wild and end up enjoying their stay. The other thing the movie is about comes into play here, which is a theme of friendship. Alex the lion is the most stubborn of the four, having been accustomed to his previous lifestyle and an endless supply of steak. While he does warm up to Madagascar eventually, his friendship with Marty is truly tested when his animal instincts come forth while under a withdrawal from steak. His actions during this time, including biting Marty and imagining everyone as a steak, cause him to exile himself to a part of the island filled with fossa. During an attempt to retrieve him when the penguin-piloted boat reaches shore, he finally overcomes his feelings about himself and saves his friends from attacking fossa. His arc is concluded when they figure out that fish is a reasonable substitute for Alex to eat in place of steaks.

Based simply on these two themes, the movie does get its job done and is sound in concluding just about every plot thread. Structurally however, Madagascar begins to fall apart in a couple of places. Some logistical errors are present, like the fact that lemurs in the untamed wild seem to know what a steak is or how exactly Marty is able to develop a full lever and pulley system on the beach with only his hooves. In addition, the common elements of a Dreamworks movie are present in a way as to hurt the overall product. There's the numerous pop culture references, including an iconic scene from Planet of the Apes, that some random child viewers aren't very likely to understand, which begs the question of why they even bothered with them besides just doing it because they could. These references extend to using many familiar musical cues, at least to adults, even when they don't seem to fit, like when Marty rides with dolphins to get to the sandy beach of Madagascar while the Hawaii Five-O theme plays in the background.

Then there's the humor in the movie. I will say that overall, the movie can be really funny in places, especially if it involves the actions of the penguins or King Julien (Sacha Baron Cohen) of the indigenous population of lemurs. Scenes with them are often the most humorous, which is probably what led to them being popular enough to not only show up in the sequel, but also the spin-off Nickelodeon television series The Penguins of Madagascar. Contrast this however with the sprinkled in scatological jokes, which seem to be standard fare for a movie like this (because kids love it!).

Technically speaking, Madagascar doesn't seem to hold up as well as it probably did back then. The ocean, especially the most voluminous parts, look more like sculpted plastic than actual water and the CG seems more primitive nowadays, though these were probably more impressive when they first came out; I'm not quite sure since I didn't really care in the far off year of 2005. It also seemed a little bothersome as well how the art style for the movie makes the nostrils of the characters more prominent, as well as the fact that Alex's paws are as big as his head.

If there's one thing I can say about this movie, it would be that the voice acting is actually pretty good. Chris Rock and Ben Stiller bounce off each other nicely and Sacha Baron Cohen shows that he can actually do a decent job at voicing a literal party animal. I also enjoyed hearing whatever the penguins had to say, since their contrasting personalities and voices form part of the glue that makes the film watchable. Hans Zimmer's score, when actually present, does a good job at setting the tone of each scene and, while not exactly memorable, shows that he has great talent in his field. The famous cover of Reel 2 Reel's I Like to Move It, performed by Cohen, is also incredibly catchy.

Overall, Madagascar is just alright. While the movie can be really funny and display some interesting character development at times, the common Dreamworks elements serve to get in the way of making the whole picture enjoyable, making the presentation more confused in what it's trying to be. If you want to watch something with kids around and they laugh easily, then Madagascar is for you, unless you just want to watch the scenes with Julien or the penguins.

Next week, we'll look at Madgascar: Escape 2 Africa.

Kung Fu Panda 2 - A Sequel With Kick

After the success and popularity of Kung Fu Panda, Dreamworks announced a sequel. For a time, it was called Kung Fu Panda 2: The Kaboom of Doom, but only for the sake of rhyme. After they dropped that portion of the title, I was curious to see the sequel based on the ads and the fact that I enjoyed the original. After finally seeing the movie, I think Dreamworks has managed to continue keeping this franchise entertaining and keeping the feel of a true martial arts movie.

At the beginning, we learn about our new antagonist, an albino peacock named Lord Shen (Gary Oldman). After the invention of fireworks, he seeks to harness its power to fuel his own ambitions to rule over China. However, he is banished from Gongmen City after committing mass genocide to avert a soothsayer's prophecy that one day, he would be defeated by a warrior of black and white. Outraged, he vows to one day return and reign supreme. We then see Po (Jack Black), who is now living as the Dragon Warrior and working with the Furious Five to maintain safety within the Valley of Peace. While talking with Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman), he is interrupted by news of a raid by wolves who seek refined metal. During the ensuing battle, he loses focus and has a memory of his childhood. When the wolves run off, Po learns of Lord Shen and his new weapon, one with the potential to threaten the existence of kung fu. Po and the Furious Five take off for Gongmen City to defeat Lord Shen, while Po tries to seek inner peace and confront the dark mysteries of his past.

The story was executed pretty well, with a good set of voice actors who really sell their roles nicely. It should be noted that out of the Furious Five, Tigress (Angelina Jolie) is more prominent, but it is justified in that she relates most to Po's situation regarding his attempt to figure out exactly who he is. Jack Black still does a good Po, and it helps when during the movie's sad moments he can get that emotion out of his character. I was actually surprised by the fact that Jean-Claude Van Damme voiced Master Croc, but he still did a good job, even if his character didn't have a big speaking part. I also found Lord Shen to be an interesting villain, if more visually because he's a bit more stereotypical than Tai Lung was in the previous installment. While the stereotype does come from a simple act of revenge, it was still fascinating to find out how far he was willing to go in order to make it reality.

Unlike other animated movies, there isn't really that much of a universal color palette. Instead, there is a blend of warm and cool colors that actually make the setting more realistic to the viewer. Different art styles are also used, such as one where everything is made of Chinese paper, but built like a puppet. Similarly, there are times, during Po's memories, where a traditionally animated art style is used to go seamlessly between the past and the present.

The CGI in the movie was absolutely perfect, looking even better than before. It was clear that a painstaking amount of detail was put into the environments, including the weather dynamics on the characters and surroundings. The unique cannon balls in this movie, a combination of a cannon ball and a firework, also display effects in motion, which just looked cool. What really sells the effects however, is the 3D used for the movie. Unlike a lot of other movies where 3D is invoked by throwing objects at the screen to varying degrees, it was used here to create a sense of depth. This was the better route to take, as the movie felt more immersive with this type of 3D and I wish more movies would use it.

As this is a martial arts movie, it was fun to see how creative some of the moves were, such as the different tag team maneuvers used by Po and the Furious Five to take down an entire army of wolves. It was also great to watch them get over the top, such as the effect of gaining inner peace as demonstrated by Shifu and later, Po. Hans Zimmer's score goes well with the onscreen action, although you may be paying more attention to the visuals than the music at that point.

Kung Fu Panda 2 was definitely more ambitious than the first, with upgraded effects and a bigger scale plot, complete with well-handled character development on Po's part and no shortage of humor when infused with the drama. I'm not sure exactly how I would compare it to the first, but I would say that it's at least just as good, if not maybe a little better. Those who saw Kung Fu Panda will enjoy this, as well as those who are curious about a Dreamworks animated film like this. As a final note, the ending is big, if maybe a little confusing, but it also sets up a possible Kung Fu Panda 3, which I would love to see from this studio in the future.

Kung Fu Panda - A Dreamworks Movie That Feels Like an Actual Movie

All too often, Dreamworks Animation has released movies with humor based mostly on celebrity jokes and references, as well as other things that would make a movie seem dated as time goes on. This time, however, Dreamworks managed to make a movie that not only manages to stay fresh after a couple of years, but also has a more immersive plot.

The story revolves around a Panda named Po (Jack Black), who dreams of becoming a master of Kung Fu. To this end, he idolizes five masters of this art known as the Furious Five: Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Viper (Lucy Liu), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Monkey (Jackie Chan), and Crane (David Cross), all of whom are trained by Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) to protect the Valley of Peace. However, he is a villager who works with his Goose father Ping's (James Hong) noodle restaurant and believes that he may never achieve his dream. But when he hears that the temple is going to pick someone to be the Dragon Warrior, he attends, only to be locked outside. By strapping fireworks to a chair, he manages to get into the outer part of the temple, but ends up getting picked as the Dragon Warrior by the elderly tortoise Master Oogway (Randall Duk Kim). Everyone, including Po himself, believes this to be a mistake, especially Shifu. At the same time, a snow leopard named Tai Lung (Ian McShane) escapes from a prison built specifically to hold him and makes his way to the Valley of Peace. Now Po must try his hardest to become the Dragon Warrior in order to protect the valley from the wrath of Tai Lung.

I was able to really get into this story, which has just the right blend of drama and comedy to keep anyone watching to see what would happen next. The action, being a kung-fu movie, is very exaggerated but entertaining. I loved the diverse camera angles used to display the over-the-top martial arts, as well as the moves themselves. At the same time, the characters in the movie look very well animated, with colors that help them stand out from each other. Their clothes look as though they came from China centuries ago, which actually suits the genre very well. The scenery also contains a bright color palette, which evokes images of early China that are seen in one's head when they think of the country.

The voice cast was also very well chosen, with Jack Black giving one of his better performances in a movie. The personalities of these characters were also very believable and diverse. It was great to watch them interact with one another, especially when the Furious Five are getting used to Po's presence around the temple. Oogway's dialogue sounds like it comes from a particularly insightful fortune cookie, but can be good lessons to take to heart.

The sound effects matched the events well, if also sounding a bit cartoony in a couple of spots, such as the sound of bowling pins when Tai Lung knocks some guards over during his prison break. The music accompanying the events is scored excellently by Hans Zimmer and John Powell and matches the mood nicely.

As a Dreamworks film, Kung Fu Panda throws you a curveball and defies all expectations, being more serious than the trailers may indicate. As a martial arts flick, it rivals many other animated movies with battle scenes in both style and humor. I would proudly recommend this movie to anyone who wants to see one of the best films Dreamworks Animation has put out in a long time, or to anyone who wants some great quality action and story. Going outside of the studio's comfort zone worked with this movie, and I hope they do it again with the upcoming Kung Fu Panda 2.