RCC Rating: Worth Watching On DVD

As I was driving home on the long rainy night from watching “Avata—”…oh, no, sorry…”The Last Airbender” (curse you, James Cameron!), only one emotion was running through my heart, both as an avid fan of the series and a regular movie-goer: disappointment. And that is a sad, sad thing. I had such high hopes for this movie, I was literally screaming in my seat before the movie had even started. And then… I actually watched it.

This movie is a live-action retelling of my all-time favorite American animated series, “Avatar: The Last Airbender”.  (Obviously, though, for copyright reasons, we can’t call it that.) It was produced, directed and written by M. Night Shyamalan (who previously worked on “The Happening” and “Lady in the Water”), and he brought a slew of totally new actors to the board.  Noah Ringer stars as Aang, and Dev Patel plays as the angsty Prince Zuko (well, I take it back, he’s been in a few things, “True Jackson VP”, “Mister Eleven”, “Slumdog Millionaire” and “Skins” being all of them). They are joined by Nicola Peltz, Jackson Rathbone, and Shaun Toub to make for a funny-looking cast who can’t even pronounce “Sokka” right.

But back to the part where the story is horribly disappointing.  This leads me to a very crucial spot in my review, the “Fan Corner”, which I have made up specifically for this review. IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED THE SERIES, DO NOT READ THIS PART. Or, just, you know, skip it.

Now, looking at this movie as a fan, you will be even more disappointed in their progress. As you all know, “Airbender” is a lovable, admittedly humorous, but still addicting story that is deep and serious enough to teach people things while still retaining the humor that makes it accessible to everybody. And the characters are so relatable and endearing because they mature in a realistic way while maintaining their happy, hopeful attitudes through any hardship, which truly makes it a very inspiring story. Even the villains mature in a fashion that makes us secretly root for them during battles. That is what makes “Airbender” my all-time favorite show, and that is what makes it so enjoyable to its many fans.

Well, you’ll be glad to know that all of that stuff was completely lost in the movie.

Yup. You heard me. Not a single point of that description rang true. All of those wonderful personalities that made us fall in love? So completely not there. And I don’t even mean the actors didn’t do it right. I mean, quite honestly and truly, it wasn’t there. All those graceful, fluid movements used when benders perform their enchanting art? Gone, transformed into long, elaborate dances that last a good minute or two before the water decides it’s time to get off its lazy butt and move. And even then, bender and element move so totally out of synch that you just don’t care anymore. And the Avatar State, that powerful, terrifying force of nature called up when the Avatar feels true rage? Yeah, he can do it just about any time now. All he has to do is meditate! The mysterious, shadow-cast figure that is the Shadow Lord Ozai throughout the first book that strikes terror in your heart and makes you wonder just how much of a monster he must be? Nope. He walks out in plain daylight, and you know what? He looks like a middle-aged Indian guy with buggy eyes and armor on. Scary. All those beautiful names and faces that make your heart leap when you hear them? Well, not only do the actors look nothing like the characters, but they pronounced almost every single name wrong. Those subtle hints that show us that Zuko has a heart and truly cares about Iroh? Not there. The reveal where we unveil the identity of the Blue Spirit? Disappointingly accurate, given the circumstances. That attractive scar that made up and represented Zuko’s personality and inner suffering? How do I describe his scar? Well… it looks like he got slapped in the face and the bruise just neglected to heal. Those little subtle things that tell us that Katara and Zuko are secretly attracted to each other? Those were nailed so perfectly, I almost cried.

Hey, that’s one good point! If they truly mess up bad enough, maybe Zuko and Katara will end up together! (Just between you and me, that is this fangirl’s number one dream ending)

Speaking of Katara, M. Night, I know you’re trying to stay (somewhat) faithful to the series by making sure that we know that our lovely waterbender is the main character, but just making her monologue about what’s happening every time you have a scene change just doesn’t cut it.

Now, to look at things from the point of view of a regular movie-goer who doesn’t know or care of the series that this movie, unfortunately, steals its thunder from.

Unfortunately, it’s also just as disappointing.

The very first thing I should mention here is that they really need to work on their writing. It is played out like someone is sitting there telling you what happened with little to no emotion or really any concept of what actually happened in between the big encounters and scary fights. This may have been just the result of attempting to cram thirty-some-odd episodes of good story into ninety minutes of cool special effects and breathtaking fight scenes. You know what you get when you do that? You get… well… ninety minutes of cool special effects and breathtaking fight scenes.  It was so dull that I looked away for a good ten minutes or so to take notes and didn’t really give a hoot that I missed anything. There was absolutely no character development at all, and barely any story development at that! They just kind of drop the scene on you and say “Hey, this is what’s happening”… literally! And then, as soon as you just barely begin to grasp what the heck is going on, you are dropped into the next scene, which, in the continuum, is happening a good two or  three months later. And, due to this, very crucial things were lost.

Also, for some reason, people’s knowledge is completely out of whack with their experiences. I mean no one knows anything (like, oh, I don’t know, each other’s names?!), until it is convenient, in which case, they know everything. Except, of course, what they don’t.

The only good thing it really had going for it was the well-planned fight scenes and realistic special effects (and by the way, guys, those fights scenes were so amazing well planned out and executed, I think that may have been all you got those darn actors for in the first place! And all that stuff you did with the water while people were bending it was absolutely beautiful).

So, all in all, this movie was just a total bomb for me. However, if you like action movies, you should find this movie pretty OK. And if you don’t care, then what the heck. You don’t care anyway. And if you are a fan, you’re better off just letting it go. Because you, like me, won’t believe it’s not better.

RCC Rating: Worth Seeing At A Matinee

Closing out the “Shrek” series (really, honest), “Shrek Forever After” has our loveable ogre making the wrong deal with the wrong person at the wrong time, and making a big mess of the whole universe.

After being pushed and bugged and pestered at his children’s first birthday party, Shrek has decided that he prefers the life of a “real” ogre, being chased with pitchforks and torches, hated by everyone, screamed at, and of course, being the subject of wanted posters everywhere. So, in a moment where I’m assuming he is drunk (judging by the pile of “eyeball-tinis” on the table in front of him), he signs a deal with Rumpelstiltskin (casting off a vibe that’s half TV pitchman, half used-car salesman) to trade any day of his life for a single day as a hated ogre. Carelessly, he tells Rumpelstiltskin to take “any day you want” from his childhood. So (surprise, surprise), Rumpelstiltskin takes the day he was born, resulting in a completely different world caused by the best friend of any “Star Trek” script writer, a time-travel paradox.

Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz return as the voices of Shrek, his best friend Donkey, and his wife Fiona respectively. However, this time, they are joined by Walt Dohrn, who plays the bad guy, Rumpelstiltskin, a shifty dealer in magical contracts. It was directed by Mike Mitchell (who not only voiced a few people in the movie, but also directed “Sky High”), and written by Josh Klausner (“Date Night,” “Shrek the Third”) and Darren Lemke (who wrote, directed and acted in “Lost”).

I came into this movie fully expecting a repeat of the third movie. And you know what? I didn’t get it. Maybe it’s just because I love time-travel, or alternate universe plotlines, but I really liked this movie. The plot wasn’t crap, the characters weren’t rushed in their development (which was actually there), and the ending was satisfactory. And the whole “changed timeline” thing wasn’t pushed too heavily, which was great. Because the last thing I wanted to see was watching them point out shocking differences again and again, and instead just getting on with the story (which I also expected to see…and didn’t! How ’bout that!).

This movie is not without its bad points, however. There were a couple of really ham-handed moments where Klausner and Lemke were shoe-horning in jokes that made me want to shoot myself in the face, but I think the rest of the movie almost made up for it (I couldn’t forget them, but I can ignore them easily enough). Also, there were a couple of parts that tried so hard to be funny and just fell flat.

One strange thing about this movie is that it doesn’t really seem to be geared towards one audience. It has a deep message that might be lost on kids, but it also has that goofy, animated atmosphere that might ruin that message for some adults. Sitting in the middle ground, I found it very enjoyable, as did the screening audience, comprised of families and critics.

“Shrek Forever After” is good for the whole family to watch together. You should really see in the theaters, as it would lose its charm on the small screen. And what spectacular charm it has.

Well, I should certainly hope so!

Diary of a Wimpy Kid RCC Rating: You’ve Got Better Things To Do

“Diary of a Wimpy Kid” is written by Jackie and Jeff Filgo, Gabe Sachs, and Jeff Judah. It is based off of the book series written by Jeff Kinney, and stars Zachary Gordon (“Madagascar 2″) and Robert Capron (“Hachi: A Dog’s Tale”). It follows Greg Heffley, an “unpopular” boy who is trying to climb up the social ladder and earn a spot in the yearbook as a class favorite, and it follows his “adventures” with his best friend, Rowley Jefferson.

As I did my research, I realized something: all of the writers are previously known for adult comedy shows. Shows that, as not an adult, I find to be extremely stupid. Jackie and Jeff are known for writing a few episodes of “That 70s Show”, and the entirety of “Peep Show”. Gabe Sachs and Jeff Judah are both known for writing quite a few episodes of “90210″. Oh, joy.

I will be frank: I hate middle school movies. With a fiery passion. They all force the same unrealistic, exaggerated, old-fashioned, cruel stereotypes on middle school life that I find stupid and just plain insulting. And, unfortunately, this movie has not escaped my flames. In fact, I think I might even be a little worse that some of the other movies I’ve watched. It had the same, vengeful bullies and teenagers that are rare in real life. And, unfortunately, just about every part of this movie is stamped by a predictable stereotype.

My first problem with this movie: the main character. He is a self-absorbed, unrepentant, stupid, unlearning, whiny little jerk who doesn’t appreciate or deserve the things he is given. He goes through the whole movie without learning a single thing, even at the end of the movie. Something can be said for consistence, I suppose. He also has an inflated, almost narcissistic way of looking at himself and other people. Even when he ends up doing things that he knows full well are wrong, he doesn’t apologize, and simply tries to rationalize it all away.

Greg’s brother, Rodrick (played by Devon Bostick, formerly in “Saw VI” and “Saw IV”) is a mean-natured, over-bearing, unlikeable, stereotypical teenage boy who enjoys torturing his little brother. I should know: teenage siblings are mischievous, and messing around with our younger siblings is quite enjoyable, but this boy takes it to a new, fake level.

I almost feel bad; everyone around me did, but I didn’t laugh once throughout the whole movie. This is because all of the humor was typical middle school “that kid” humor. I can’t even begin to list the ways that makes me mad, but most of them revolve around the fact that I was “that kid” on multiple occasions. It was repulsive. It’s the kind of humor I think can only really be thought up by people who have no clue what middle school is like in this day and age.

And yet, despite all of this, I was bored. I wanted to get up and leave, and as soon as it was over, I wanted to bleach it from my mind forever. Unfortunately, I have to write a review, so that isn’t an option.

So, I think this is a movie that you shouldn’t even bother with. It might appeal to people under the age of eight, but anyone older than that and it’s just insulting. As was made apparent by the people around me, it will be even more offensive to people who enjoyed the book, so this movie doesn’t really appeal to anyone.

And let’s just leave it at that.

• The characters go nowhere.
• The CG was crap.
• The concept was good but the execution was bad.

So, as I was driving home from watching “Alice in Wonderland”, I had to really think hard about this movie. I had a really hard time describing it, even to myself. While I was watching it, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Then, we got in the car, the thrill (?) wore off a bit, and I realized… I didn’t care.

“Alice” was directed by Tim Burton (dun, dun duuuun!), written by Linda Woolverton, and based on the work of the same name by Lewis Carroll. It stars Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, and Helena Bonham Carter. Alice (Wasikowska) has returned to Wonderland after a long absence, but she doesn’t remember anyone or anything. She has to fight as the White Queen’s (Ann Hathaway) champion, and defeat the Red Queen’s (Carter) champion, the Jabberwocky. Along the way, she is helped by the Mad Hatter (Depp), and… well, that’s really it.

One thing I am going to ask you, my dear reader, before we go on: in what universe is this a kid’s movie? I love eye-gouging, tongue-cutting, head-smashing action as much as the next girl, but seriously? However, I can see how they could get away with it. It really isn’t that realistic, and there isn’t any blood in the movie at all. That doesn’t change the fact that with scenes like that, I wouldn’t take my younger brothers to this movie!

This movie isn’t a kid’s movie, but it isn’t really compelling enough to be a teen’s movie, either. It might kinda pass for a tween’s movie, but it’s not really interesting enough for that either.

First thing that I shall address about this movie is the CG. I can point at everyone in Wonderland, except for three people, and say “Hey, look, CG!” I’m not saying it was bad CG, but it looked like a cartoon movie mixed with a good video game with a couple of real people plopped in the middle.

There’s another bad point about this movie: character development and consistency. There is no character development, at least not any that we the audience see. And Alice, I’m afraid, is a little too consistent. Throughout the entire movie, Alice is insisting that the whole thing is a dream, despite being horribly pained and severely injured several times. After about, oh, I don’t know, the first time, I would have gotten a clue already.

Also, spread throughout the movie are the occasional slow scenes that seemed like they were supposed to be emotionally important or moving scenes for the characters, but really failed to be anything at all but a way to fill up space. A few were good for a cheap laugh or two, but even those were a bit of a long shot.

May I just say that this movie had the most pointless, rushed, and boring ending I’ve ever seen? It seemed like someone just said, “Oh, hey…guys? Look how long the movie is! Don’t you think we should stop now?” It was forced and the whole movie led up to it like a freaking yellow brick road >insert catchy song and dance number This leads me to my next topic of flamage, The Mad Hatter and Alice. There’s obviously romance there, they act like there’s romance, they look like there’s romance, and romance just might save the story from the twisted wreckage it turned out to be. Finally, I end up thinking to myself, “Yeah! Romance will save the day!” But, no. Nothing. Zip, zilch, nada. Not even a kiss.

When all is said and done, I would have liked more gore, action, plot, character development, romance and creepiness. You know, little stuff like that. I came into this movie with really high expectations, and had those expectations smashed into thousands of tiny, shattering pieces with a giant CG hammer.

I think this is a movie that you should watch at the theatre once, and then forget about it. Which is all too easy to do, unfortunately.

That lady must have had some really low expectations – crazy low expectations.

Now, the story is that Bob Ho (Jackie Chan) has just caught his old nemesis (played by Magnus Scheving, who has a very bad Russian accent through only half of the movie) and is now going to retire so he can have a normal life with Gillian (Amber Valetta).  Gillian is a single mother of three kids, Farren (Madoline Carrol), Ian (Will Shadley) and Nora (Alina Foley), and the kids hate Bob’s guts. Then, we find out that Gillian’s father broke his hip (while playing softball), and she has to go to Colorado to take care of him.  Bob agrees to take care of the kids while she’s gone. Now, somehow, Ian (a ten-year-old) gets onto Bob’s computer, where Bob has some top-secret-super-spy-encrpto-files, and downloads them to his iPod. So the bad guys, of course, come after the children.

This movie has so many plot holes and contradicting scenes that it is insane, and it looked like someone badly spliced a very bad children’s movie and an action movie that they filmed with their seven-year-old in the backyard.  The kids can’t seem to make up their minds about Bob. In one scene, they are all angry and hating his guts, and then in the next scene they are all cozy and happy and trusting, and then in the next scene they hate him even more than they did in the first! Bob also seems to alternate between a cheesy-poof who doesn’t know the first thing about anything and a pretty smart guy who any kid would fall in love with immediately.

Yeah... this really is the best part: the poster.

The acting was so poor that it’s difficult to describe without using inappropriate language.  Everyone seems pretty accepting about thefact that their neighbor is a spy. The mother’s reactions are completely and utterly out of proportion. She doesn’t seem to care that her children ran away to go with Bob on his super secret spy stuff, but she is very angry when Farren tries to leave the house wearing a miniskirt.

Now here is something you should never have to say about any action movie: the action scenes put me to sleep. I’m not joking. Ask my dad, he’ll tell you, I fell asleep several times throughout that movie. Shouldn’t action sequences be exciting, vivid, attention-grabbing, enough to shake you out of your morning stupor and perk you up, not lull you to sleep?

There are some memorable lines, I suppose. I can’t think of any right off the top of my head, but I’m sure they’re there somewhere. Even if they are there, though, they couldn’t possibly be enough to save this movie. There were also some really cute and funny moments hidden throughout, but my favorite part was the outtakes at the end (which all Jackie Chan movies have). That is the earmark of a truly bad movie when the outtakes are the best part.

I believe that this movie is the ultimate proof of why kid’s movies and actions movies should never ever mix together unless you are really confident that you are good at it. And if you are good at it, don’t do it anyway. Please. For the health and sanity of our children, just don’t.

It was a very cute movie. I haven’t seen the first movie, but I’m guessing there’s a guy named Dave in it. So, in this movie, Dave (Jason Lee) is injured during a concert, and Alvin, Theodore, and Simon are left with his Aunt Jackie (Katherine Joosten). Then, she gets injured, and they are left with a hard-core video-gamer, Toby (Zachary Levi). Somehow they end up going to (shudder) high school, where they meet the usual “first-day horrors” that you see in this kind of movie. Meanwhile, someone who I’m guessing is the bad guy from the first movie, Ian (David Cross) has found yet another group of singing chipmunks, but this time… they’re chicks. Now, because I am a bit of a feminist, I think this is wonderful.

I am a big musical fan, so I really liked all of the musical numbers throughout the movie. They were really dancey songs, and I really had to resist the urge to get up and dance and sing. Plus, the songs were songs that I enjoy anyway! Also, I think the entries in the scene with the sing-off are great as well. The chipmunks are adorable, and they all sound like one of my best friends (who happens to adore Alvin and the Chipmunks)… and I’m not kidding… they sound JUST LIKE HER. I think the theme of family and brotherhood was actually played quite well, though it seemed to be a bit forced and inflated at parts.

Now to the part where I crucify the movie: Their representation of high school is just as messed up as every other movie that’s aimed at high school these days is. While I appreciate that there are bullies, jocks, and pranks… they’re talking CHIPMUNKS, for Pete’s sake! To me, that high school seems awfully accepting of that fact, just like the whole world seems to accept that their newest rock stars are animals that they would usually shout “YOUFILTHYRODENTGETAWAYFROMME!!” Now, for me, if three… no, six talking singing dancing chipmunks (three of them in miniskirts) showed up at my school as students, I’d stop eating whatever it was they put in the cafeteria pudding. Also, the bullies’ antics seem childish, stupid and immature, even more than real bullies.

What I really want to know is… why doesn’t the bad guy get stopped?! All they really do is drive a remote control motorcycle into him. Why doesn’t he get arrested?! The guy breaks, like, every animal cruelty law ever invented in just fifteen minutes! If what they say is true, he did the same things to the Chipmunks in the first movie, so… instead of being arrested, he just gets fired and is living in a garbage bin?! Now, I know this is supposedly a kid movie (at least, I hope so), but still!!

Now, this movie might be enjoyable if you have a kid with you. (Don’t ask why, I’m not really sure either. Without the kids in the theatre, though, I probably would have stabbed myself with my soda straw). I think the first time will be the most traumatic, because now that I’ve seen it all the way through the first time, I could probably watch it again, and be much more gentle and understanding. This time, though… not gonna happen. Gentleness is out the window, and understanding will come in tiny, tiny amounts, if at all.

So, the wrongness that is talking chipmunks aside, this movie was very enjoyable and cute (as I have now said… at least three times… there really aren’t any other words I can come up with that describe it), and it’s something I wouldn’t really pay full price for, but I’d watch it several times at a dollar theatre, then buy it on DVD.

This movie is about Tiana, a hard-working girl who dreams of owning her own restaurant. When a prince comes to town (“town” meaning New Orleans), she really doesn’t care until her best friend Charlotte (Cody) invites her to cook at a masquerade ball that the prince is attending. However, thanks to a visit to the “Shadow Man”, a voodoo magician, the prince is now a frog. Mistaking Tiana for a princess, he asks that she kiss him and turn him back into a human. However, the spell goes wrong, and Tiana ends up as a frog as well! They have to find a way to get back to their human bodies before it’s too late.

This movie is wonderful. The musical numbers are catchy and bubbly (with the exception of the one done by the Shadow Man, of course – not so bubbly!), and they make you want to sing and dance. My favorite would be the first one, “Almost There”, which has very vivid and colorful imagery for Tiana’s “dream restaurant”, reminiscent of the cut-paper style used in “Kung Fu Panda”. All the jazz played throughout the movie is great as well, making it a movie you can watch and dance to at the same time (and if you can do THAT, my friends, you are talented).

This movie is a modern re-telling of a fairy tale, as I said earlier. Now, normally, I’m against fairy tales, with their “happy endings and eternal happiness” thing, but to me, this really didn’t feel like a stereotypical fairy tale. For one, with the death (that’s right, I said “DEATH”) of one of the characters, the ending felt really bitter-sweet. Also, there were quite a few times when you truly felt that Tiana had won (or lost), and then found out, nope… bad guys are still here, and she’s still a frog. But, as a touching story, it did make me cry a bit, and still left me with a warm, fuzzy, happy feeling that lingered even through the horrible traffic we experienced on the way home (you know, the kind where all the other lanes are going practically light speed, while you’re going so slow you’re almost going backwards). All the kids in the theater were just as happy, you could see, and a few of them actually cheered at the end. This movie feels like one that Disney used to make (the ones that didn’t feature teenage rebels; redundant, empty morals; or angry, dysfunctional preteen girls), and just make you feel all around happy.

This leads me to mention the greatest part of the movie yet: gumbo. A lot of the story revolves around or heavily involves a pot of gumbo. Not only is gumbo my personal favorite food in the whole wide world, it also brings Tiana’s family together in the beginning, sparks her dream, brings her and Neevan together near the middle, and plays a major part in their visit to Momma Odie. (By the way, I only found out that her name was Odie just now, on the internet, because everyone in the movie has an accent of some kind).

This movie is awesome, (especially the gumbo), and I really want to see it again, and this time take the whole family, ‘cause it’s amazing. It’s definitely something you would want to watch at the theaters as many times as possible, then get on DVD and treasure until the day you die. It’s just that awesome.

Anyway, the tablet that brings all of the exhibits to life ends up being brought to… the Smithsonian!!! Bum-bum-buuuummm!!! Of course, the Smithsonian is the largest museum in the world that actually occupies seventeen different buildings museums all connected by a vast underground catacomb network… So, you can see where there’s going to be a problem here.

Ben Stiller is joined by his familiar friends, Teddy Roosevelt (Robin Williams), Jedediah (Owen Wilson), Octavius (Steve Googan), Dr. McPhee (Ricky Gervais) and, of course, everybody’s favorite monkey… DEXTER (Crystal)!! He is joined by Hank Azaria as the eeevil Kahmunrah, Bill Hader as the goofy General Custer, Amy Adams (awesome) as Amelia Earhart, and, everybody’s favorite flying monkey… ABLE (also Crystal, most of the time)!! The movie is directed by Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum).

So, now to actually review the movie (ah-ha, I’ll bet you thought I forgot!). Well, it was funny, at parts… OK, I’m just gonna come out with it…

The movie sucked.

The animation, which ROCKED in the first movie, was unrealistic, and fake-looking. It didn’t look as well-thought-out, and it looked like the animators got a bit big in the britches and decided to try and make it more realistic than it was ever going to be, or look good being.

In my opinion, the trailer made it seem funnier and have more of an impact than it did. All those scenes they show in the teasers? Those are the only funny parts in the whole movie. And it’s not that it wasn’t a comedy, it was trying very hard to be a comedy, but it just wasn’t funny to me. It was just… a bunch of people goofing off. And, the comedy was completely ruined by the many, many, many, many, many breaks for “emotional speeches that in no way develop the story or the characters, but looked nice in the script so what the heck”.

Now…before I tell you what was GOOD in the movie, let me tell you something else that you probably didn’t know.

The Jonas Brothers are in this movie. Now, that is either a good thing or a bad thing, because this world is full of either Jonas Brother lovers… or Jonas Brother haters. I am happy because the end song is my favorite Jonas Brother song, but it is also the only one I can stomach as I am part of the latter group). So, if you like them, good for you. You’ll enjoy their scenes. If you don’t, their scenes are really short, so DEAL WITH IT.

Now, the good parts of this horrible movie: I think Kahmunrah was funny, for one. His lisp and his speech patterns are absolutely hilarious! I laughed every time he came on the screen. His motive was shaky at best, though.

Also, I think the end was a clever, if a smidge predictable (I mean, we ALL know what’s happening at the end, don’t we?). I just think how they executed it was wonderful!

And, well…that’s about all I liked about it.  In the end, it was really just an excuse for a bunch of actors to goof off on stage with a monkey and a camera. Actually… that sounds like fun! Anyone know where I can sign up for Night at the Museum Three? (Let’s admit it, we all want to play with that monkey.)

Now, to review the DVD, which was better than the movie in my opinion.

The first thing you’re going to watch in any movie is, of course, the gag reel. To me, the first few bits aren’t that different, but after that, they’re FUNNY! I thoroughly enjoy watching actors making complete fools of themselves on camera, or just being plain goofballs… even more so than they were in the movie! I especially like the one where Kumanruah knocks the “invisible” green ninja over.

The education features were freakin’ wonderful (you know, the behind-the-scenes stuff). They contain really fun bits of information that really aren’t useful for anything outside of the movie itself, but are still good to know should it ever come up in conversation. I won’t reveal anything because if you’ve read this far, you probably plan on or already have gone through the special features. Just know that the special features have more humor than the movie does and are much more entertaining to the average joe who happened to enjoy the first movie AT ALL.

The second disk is entirely dedicated the Crystal (who plays Dexter and Able, just in case you forgot), and Squirt (Crystal’s trusted sidekick). I doubt the “Life of a Monkey Star”, or something of the sort, was real, but it was still entertaining, and, by golly, it had monkeys in it! In case you’re wondering, I REALLY like monkeys. I would do ANYTHING to have a pet monkey. But, see, there, I’m ranting!

If you were thinking you’d find a good follow-up for the first movie, this isn’t it. Maybe the third one (and I cringe as I say that) might be better (maybe…). And, if you enjoy the actors (AMY ADAMS!), you’ll love the special features. So, as a movie, on a scale of 1 to 20 (1 being the best), I’d give it about a…23. As far as special features go, numbero uno, one hundred percent. I’d recommend either renting it for a couple of nights, or borrowing it from a friend who just wanted to complete the collection (then you don’t have to pay ANY money!), but I wouldn’t buy it.

This movie was just as funny and cool as I expected it to be. Even my little brothers think it’s awesome (for once, the baby didn’t fall asleep during the movie, which has got to be a great sign!…he fell asleep almost as soon as it was over though)! I think this movie was amazing in that the humor didn’t ruin the serious or emotionally important moments, even though they were mixed together in a lot of the scenes.

My favorite scenes in the movie probably all had something to do with Steve the monkey (Neil Partrick Harris), or Earl and Cal (Mr. T. and Bobb’e J. Thompson!), because those were the scenes that were funniest, and yet they still had a lot of emotional weight, especially with Earl and Cal. Another thing I liked about “Cloudy” was that the animation was absolutely perfect for watching in 3-D, but it also looks wonderful in 2-D, too! It’s one of those movies that isn’t just funny the first time, that’ll probably always surprise you with laughs, even if you’re watching it for the 247th time in a row. I know quite a few movies (you know who you are!) who can’t make that boast without looking like a bunch of flaming liars.

As I said, “Cloudy” was directed and written by Phil Lord, who also directed, produced, and wrote “Clone High”. He was joined in the directing and writing process by Chris Miller, who also produced, wrote and directed “Clone High”. Apparently, these two are quite a team! I think the movie was wonderfully written, and the music was awesome! It was a bit overly dramatic at parts, but, where that might have ruined some movies, that just made this one funnier. The way that the food storms developed into natural disasters like tornadoes and hurricanes was really clever!

My least favorite thing about this movie would probably be the mayor. I don’t feel like he was a character that was thought out very well, although he had a believable motive. I know he’s as close to a human villain as this movie gets, and I know he broke the machine thingie-majigger, but I can’t believe anyone could be that stupid. Well, I can believe it, if I was confronted with proof, but that’s beside the point. The point is…oh, I’m ranting, I should probably stop now…

All in all, this movie was amazing! This is definitely a movie that everyone would enjoy seeing, that appeals to the younger kids AND the older kids (which, again, is not a boast most movies can make), and is good enough to watch over and over and over again without getting as stale as week-old bread!