Tag: Animation

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Movie Review

The Tunnel to Summer, The Exit of Goodbyes (2022) Movie Review

The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes – Movie Review

The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes

Director: Tomohisa Taguchi

Writer: Mei Hachimoku, Tomohisa Taguchi (Screenplay)

Cast (Voice Talents)

Plot: Kaoru Tono heard a rumour: The laws of space and time mean nothing to the Urashima Tunnel. If you find it, walk through and you’ll find your heart’s desire on the other side…in exchange for years of your own life.

Runtime: 1 Hour 23 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes starts when we meet high school student Kaoru. He keeps to himself but a chance encounter with Anzu Hanashiro, sees him offering kindness. However, Kaoru is surprised when Anzu joins the school too.

Meanwhile, at home, Kaoru’s father is struggling, and he goes to explore for peace. He finds the Urashima Tunnel, a place with a history of legend. It is said to let you have your heart’s desire in exchange for the time from your own life. Kaoru gets drawn to the tunnel and finds himself losing a week of his life, sending him on his own journey to understand what is going on. Anzu joins him as they join forces to understand everything about the tunnel.

Verdict on The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes

The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes is a sci-fi animation movie. It follows two new friends that discover a tunnel that grants their wishes, in exchange for time outside of the tunnel. They look to understand what the tunnel can offer them, as they decide whether to use it to grant their biggest desire.

This movie gets to ask a massive question about life, would you sacrifice time for your deepest desires? With that question in play, we get to see a friendship between two strangers grow, while they try to understand a mysterious tunnel. It highlights how people have dreams and could risk things they can’t control to get them.

The movie does an excellent job of teasing whether the two would go through with their journey into the tunnel. It is filled with raw emotion as well as trying to teach about the idea of loss in life. This gets to continue the trend of outstanding anime coming out this year, following the excellent Suzume.

Where to Watch: Inspired by the award-winning novel of the same name, the bittersweet sci-fi romance opens exclusively in cinemas on the 14th of July.

Final Thoughts –The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes is beautiful, poignant and thoughtful.

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Movie Review

Heroes of the Golden Mask (2023) Movie Review

Heroes of the Golden Mask – Movie Review

Heroes of the Golden Mask

Director: Sean Patrick O’Reilly

Writer: Jim Kammerud, Brian Smith, Xiaoming Yao (Screenplay)

Writer: John Wilson (Novel)

Cast (Voice Talents)

Plot: Charlie, a wise-cracking, homeless, American orphan is magically transported to the ancient Chinese kingdom of Sanxingdui, where a colorful team of superheroes need his help to defend the city from a brutal conqueror. Charlie joins the heroes, and secretly schemes to steal the priceless golden masks that grant them their powers.

Runtime: 1 Hour 22 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Heroes of the Golden Mask starts when an ancient Chinese kingdom of Sanxingdui loses their fieriest warrior in battle. His daughter Li must find somebody worthy of wearing his mask and fighting alongside them. Meanwhile, in the modern-day world homeless street hustler Charlie finds his escape being offered by Li.

Once Charlie is transported back to Sanxingdui, he must learn what he has been chosen for. However, he isn’t that eager to learn instead wanting to find a quick way how. Until he learns what the warriors fight for in an attempt to stop Kunyi.

Verdict on Heroes of the Golden Mask

Heroes of the Golden Mask is an animated adventure movie following an outsider joining a group of warriors in battle. It sees a young man from the modern world transported back to an ancient kingdom to fight an evil enemy.

This is an animated movie with a strong message about finding your place in the world. We have seen this style of story plenty of times over the years and it is one of the best stories to follow. The fight sequences get to play into superhero style movies with each mask offering a different skill. We get to see the animation in play that gets to play into the unique style that we don’t always see. With a big heart and plenty of action, this is an entertaining movie.

Final Thoughts – Heroes of the Golden Mask is filled with heart and action that entertains.

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Movie Review

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) Movie Review

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse – Movie Review

Across the Spider-Verse

Director: Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K Thompson

Writer: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Dave Callaham (Screenplay)

Writer: Stan Lee (Characters)

Cast (Voice Talents)

Plot: Miles Morales catapults across the Multiverse, where he encounters a team of Spider-People charged with protecting its very existence. When the heroes clash on how to handle a new threat, Miles must redefine what it means to be a hero.

Runtime: 2 Hours 20 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse starts as Miles looks to continue with his life after the previous encounters with Spider-People. However, his life isn’t as easy as he imagined and a new villain known as The Spot is causing him problems. Elsewhere, Gwen is struggling with her own life and her connection with her father.

After Gwen gets to meet Miguel O’Hara another Spider-Man, she learns of a wider group of Spider-People. She uses her new connection to see Miles. Unfortunately, it leads to a bigger problem, as Miles isn’t prepared for where the journey will take him, making him public enemy number one in the Spider-People universe.

Verdict on Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is the animated sequel to the incredibly popular Into the Spider-Verse. This time Miles learns of a wider connection between Spider-People, but must face what they are expecting from him. However, he isn’t willing to go along with their beliefs, causing him to become an enemy among his friends.

This is an excellent sequel that continues to build the Spider-Verse. We get to meet a host of new variations of Spider-People, as well as catching up with the ones we met previously. This takes us through different cultured visions of the Spider-People too. However, away from this, we get a serious dive into the struggles they are facing along with a new threat. Miles and Gwen could well be the best two Spider characters we have, with the connection between them holding the movie together.

The mixtures of animation styles help make this feel even more unique and enjoyable. We have a much bigger story that is going over two movies. However, the way the stories are presented is the most interesting one. Each story is presented like its own completed comic book, with the series blending together to make us want to pick up the next chapter.

Final Thoughts – Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is an excellent sequel that keeps us wanting more.

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Movie Review

Where is Anne Frank (2021) Movie Review

Where is Anne Frank – ABC Film Challenge – World Cinema – W – Where Is Anne Frank – Movie Review

Where is Anne Frank

Director: Ari Folman

Writer: Ari Folman (Screenplay)

Cast (Voice Talent)

Plot: Kitty, the imaginary girl who Anne Frank wrote to in her 1940s diary during WWII, seeks out the deceased diarist while also inspiring a wave of modern social justice for refugees.

Runtime: 1 Hour 39 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Where Is Anne Frank starts as the diary of Anne Frank gets damaged in bad weather. This lets Kitty, Anne Frank’s imaginary friend from her time hidden during World War II. Kitty doesn’t understand the world she is in and watches the modern world visit Anne’s home.

However, during the opening hours of the home, she can’t be seen by anyone. Once the museum closes she can explore the city. Kitty starts helping people in little ways, but she is unaware of what happened to Anne. This is despite seeing everything named after her, she just isn’t ready for the world she never got to be part of.

Verdict on Where Is Anne Frank

Where Is Anne Frank is an animated drama that follows her fictional friend that comes to life in a modern era in Holland. She looks to tell her own story from her time with Anne Frank, one that could rewrite history for everyone around her.

This is a fascinating story from the fantasy world of a life people can only ever read of. We all know the tragic story of Anne Frank and how famous her diary became. This brings to life the person to write to as we are brought a magical story from a world we could never know. It also uses the tragic real events of people getting displaced by war still being a major impact on the world.

Final Thoughts – Where Is Anne Frank is an outstanding movie.

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Movie Review

The Bad Guys (2022) Movie Review

The Bad Guys – Movie Review

Bad Guys

Director: Pierre Perifel

Writer: Etan Cohen (Screenplay)

Writer: Aaron Blabey (Book)

Cast (Voice Talents)

Plot: To avoid prison, a gang of notorious animal criminals pretend to seek being rehabilitated, only for their leader to secretly find that he genuinely wants to change his ways.

Runtime: 1 Hour 40 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: The Bad Guys starts as we meet the gang of notorious animal criminals, Wolf, Snake, Tarantula, Shark and Piranha. They have havoc for years through their actions, leading to them getting caught. A celebrity guinea pig Professor Marmalade offers the city a chance to turn them good.

As Wolf starts to enjoy the good side of life, he gets conflicted with his action. Wolf must convince the rest of the game a chance to be welcomed to the world until they learn their part in the plan.

Verdict on The Bad Guys

The Bad Guys follows a group of animals seen as criminals in the city, who get a chance at redemption. They get to see what life would be like if they were on the right side of the law and must decide if they want to stay on it.

This is an animated movie that does give the young audience plenty of enjoyment. It has colourful characters while trying to send the message about accepting people for who they are, despite them being animals. We get wild action scenes that get to play into slapstick only animation can achieve. It has laughs and ends up being an enjoyable movie for the audience.

Final Thoughts – The Bad Guys is an entertaining animated movie.

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Movie Review

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) Movie Review

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs – ABC Film Challenge – Favourite – C – Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs – Movie Review

Cloudy with a chance of meatballs

Director: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller

Writer: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller (Screenplay)

Writer: Judi Barrett, Ron Barrett (Book)

Cast (Voice Talents)

  • Bill Hader (IT Chapter Two)
  • Anna Faris (Scary Movie)
  • James Caan (The Godfather)
  • Andy Samberg (Popstar)
  • Bruce Campbell (The Evil Dead)

Plot: A local scientist is often regarded as a failure until he invents a machine that can make food fall from the sky. But little does he know, that things are about to take a turn for the worst.

Runtime: 1 Hour 30 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Cloudy with a Chance of Meat Balls starts when ambitious young inventor Flint Lockwood is always coming up with ideas. Most of them are considered big failures, despite his father Tim believing in everything he does.

Flint’s latest invention ends up creating a food shower, making it rain whatever people want to eat. However, this soon starts to spiral out of control, as the orders become too much for the machine to handle. This leads to Flint needing to fix yet another one of his mistakes to save the day.

Verdict on Cloudy with a Chance of Meat Balls

Cloudy with a Chance of Meat Balls is an animated comedy that sees a small town become the centre of a giant food storm. It sees an inventor create a weather phenomenon that creates a chance to bring food from the skies to whoever needs it. This sees things getting out of control and Flint needing to save the day.

The movie gets to show the determination an inventor has to be remembered. Shows the big plans he comes up with that he hopes could change the world. The idea that food could fall from the sky is hugely imaginative and could solve problems the world is facing. It does show the greed that goes around the world and gets to poke fun at the amount people want.

Final Thoughts – Cloudy with a Chance of Meat Balls is a fun wacky animation.

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Movie Review

The Amazing Maurice (2022) Movie Review

The Amazing Maurice – Movie Review

Amazing Maurice Poster

Director: Toby Genkel, Florian Westermann

Writer: Terry Rossio (Screenplay)

Writer: Terry Pratchett (Book)

Cast (Voice Talents)

Plot: This story follows Maurice, a goofy streetwise cat, who has the perfect money-making scam. He finds a dumb-looking kid who plays a pipe and has his very own horde of rats, who are strangely literate.

Runtime: 1 Hour 33 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: The Amazing Maurice starts as a streetwise cat Maurice has teamed up with rats to swindle towns out of their money. He works with human Keith as they clear out rats that they placed in the town to start with.

One day the team stumble into a new town for their latest scam. However, another human Malicia knows of the plan and the town doesn’t have any rats in it. This leads to Maurice needing to face up against his biggest fear.

Verdict on The Amazing Maurice

The Amazing Maurice is an animated adventure blending together a host of tales into one bigger fantasy adventure. We see the pied piper mixed with two people trying to find their identities. Add in the few other fairy tales we have come to know growing up.

This does work for a fun family adventure, the animation looks great throughout the film too. The laughs come through well and the fantasy elements give the story a fresh lick of paint. However, things don’t get enough mystery about the bigger picture and end up unable to capture the bigger dread in the tale.

Final Thoughts – The Amazing Maurice is a fun family adventure.

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Movie Review

ABC Film Challenge – Oscar Nominations – E – Encanto (2021) Movie Review

Director: Jared Bush, Byron Howard, Charisa Castro Smith

Writer: Jared Bush, Charise Castro Smith (Screenplay) Jared Bush, Byron Howard, Charise Castro Smith, Jason Hand, Nancy Kruse, Lin-Manuel Miranda (Story)

Starring: (Voice Talents) Stephanie Beatriz, Maria Cecilia Botero, John Leguizamo, Mauro Castillo, Jessice Darrow, Angie Cepeda

Plot: A Colombian teenage girl has to face the frustration of being the only member of her family without magical powers.


Tagline – Magical House. Magical Family.

Runtime: 1 Hour 42 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Encanto starts as we meet the family that have lived of magic powers for generations, Mirabel is the teenage daughter of the family who has yet to learn her power, Julieta her mother can heal injuries, with Luisa having strength and Isabela can make flowers grow, and to make matters worse for her, the youngest member of the family Antonio learns he can talk to animals.

As Mirabel starts to search for her own power, she learns of the cracks coming to the family’s world, this will see her learn about the mysterious Bruno, as the powers of the family start to become weaker, Mirabel, believes she is the only one who can stop the troubles coming towards the family.

Thoughts on Encanto

Thoughts – Encanto is an animated fantasy that will bring a teenager into the magic on her family, as they learn their powers, she is left wondering when she will learn about hers, only for the magic to start to fade away, leading her to need to rescue her family and bring them closer together once again. This is a film that does a clever idea of not having a villain involved, it is all about family, the importance of it and not adding pressure on members who aren’t going the perfect direction the older ones would prefer. The fantasy elements come from seeing what is means to believe in a miracle that someone created for them. The characters we meet are entertaining, with the Mirabel figure feeling lost, while the Luisa who has strength, not being as strong as people see her, Isabela not being as perfect as everyone believes. The music involved is delightful, which the songs fitting the characters they are about perfectly.

Final Thoughts – Encanto is a beautiful animation showing the importance of family.

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Movie Review

Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank (2022) Movie Review

ABC Film Challenge – Catch-Up 2022 – P – Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank – Movie Review

Paws of Fury

Director: Chris Bailey, Mark Koetsier, Rob Minkoff

Writer: Ed Stone, Nate Hopper, Mel Brooks, Norman Steinberg, Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor, Alan Uger (Screenplay)

Cast

Plot: Hank, a loveable dog with a head full of dreams about becoming a samurai, sets off in search of his destiny.

Runtime: 1 Hour 38 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank starts in a kingdom of cats. Ika Chu runs the local kingdom wanting to impress the Shogun, he looks to chase out the residents of a small village. When the village requests a samurai to protect them, the Shogun orders Ika Chu to send one.

This sees him send a dog Hank to become a samurai for the village. After not being welcomed, small cat Emiko welcomes Hank, who starts getting training from former samurai Jimbo. In his training, Hank learns the most important part of being a samurai, as he looks to solve the problems the village faces.

Verdict on Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank

Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank is an animated adventure movie that sees an unlikely hero help a village take on an army. It will give us a story about power and greed over doing the right thing for the kingdom.

The message about teamwork is clear, proving that if animals work together, they can achieve more. The problems with this animation come from the jokes, most of them are set up to wink at the camera, which doesn’t work well enough for the story being told. The world created is also confusing because we have a modern world outside of the kingdoms that would never work hand in hand in a single universe.

Final Thoughts – Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank is an easy-watch family animation.