Review: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Narnia is once again in need of rescuing, but this time only two of the Pevensie children answer the call. Does this mean that Voyage of the Dawn Treader is only half as magical?

Of course not. Though as off as things may seem at first, the loss of elder siblings Susan and Peter does not at all take away from the story. Watching the youngest of the Pevensies grow up is just as much fun as it was with the High King and Queen.

Actually, this third enstallment fits comfortably into the big shoes left behind by the previous two films. All the action, adventure, and magic is still there and it all comes together nicely in such a way that makes this movie both fun to watch and emotionally satisfying.

I bring up emotionally satisfying because this film has more emotional payout than any of its predecessors, making this movie feel even more worth it in the end. C.S. Lewis expresses many life lessons throughout his series, making the moral of the story just as important as the story itself and that comes through in this film through the interaction of the characters themselves and each character's individual development.

Though The Voage of the Dawn Treader may feel stranded during a few scenes, it always finds its way back on track. This film raises the bar for Narnia movies to come and is worth the voyage to the theater.
 
See it.

Review: Catfish

Earlier this year David Fincher's The Social Network brought us the history of the online social juggernaut Facebook while Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost's documentary, Catfish, examines both the positive and negative roles it can have on users' lives.

Much like Exit Through the Gift Shop there is much speculation as to whether or not this documentary is legit, but once again the moral outweighs the verifiable facts of the story. There is so much to take away from this film that it feels gratifying just to watch it, even if the story isn't all that interesting, and it is.

What starts off as awkward, online relationship quickly develops into something way more interesting. As we follow these young filmmakers on their journey to uncover the truth, things start becoming more clear and the film asks a lot of questions of what it truly means to "be" somebody in this day and age.

Another awesome aspect of this film is the total shift in feel. What starts out as a surefire thriller quickly takes the shape of a more serious yet benevolent story of both admonish and forgiveness. It does this transistion so well that even if you're looking forward to the thrilling sensation, you cannot be let down by the end result.

What is the end result? Catfish stands out as a jewel of modern documentary filmmaking and should be relished by this social networking generation.

Definitely see this film.

The Final Word: November

Here is the final word on the movies I saw in November.

Megamind: Rent it.

Due Date: Rent it.

Skyline: Skip it.

Winter's Bone: See it.

Secretariat: Rent it.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I: Rent it.

Tangled: Rent it.

Grown Ups: Skip it.

Coming this month, look for my reviews of Tron: Legacy, The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the Coen Brothers remake of True Grit, Black Swan, and possibly The Tourist and Faster.

Circle Tme Review: Grown Ups

Have you ever had to spend an uncomfortable weekend reuniting with people you never even wanted to see again in the first place? Yeah, Grown Ups is kinda like that.

Sure they are all grown up and have their own families now, but Adam Sandler and company are far from "grown up". Sandler has made a name for himself as Hollywood's manchild, appearing again and again as grown men who are very immature. Sure it was funny in the beginning, and every once in a while he manages to rekindle his old spark, but when he keeps headlining in crap like this, with all his money and talent, it's hard to take him seriously.

What's even more disappointing is the lack of humor. With the comedic talent of Kevin James, David Spade, Chris Rock, Rob Schneider, and Sandler, this movie should be funny, or at least that's what they try selling it as. There is almost nothing here worth a chuckle let alone your time and money and when this motley crew is laughing, it's always at some gross joke made at somebody's expense.

Let me just save you the time and sum this movie up in one word: lazy. There is so much comedic potential here and Sandler spoils it with his same old grotesque gags.

Save your money and skip it.

In Memory of Leslie Nielsen

Yeah, I know that I am a day behind everybody and by now I am sure you all have heard the terrible news. Leslie Nielsen passed away yesterday due to complications of Pneumonia. He was 84 years young.

Leslie Nielsen will probably be remembered best for his roles as Dr. Rumack in Airplane! and Detective Frank Drebin in and the Naked Gun films. Nielsen is famous for taking his seemingly serious roles and playing them in such a way that became iconic, comedic gold. He had a way of taking a completely terrible movie and making it funny and entertaining (such as Superhero Movie).

Leslie Nielsen also appeared in movies such as Creep Show, the original Prom Night with Jamie Lee Curtis, and brought his comedic genius to films such as Dracula: Dead and Loving It, and the last two 'Scary Movies'.

Leslie Nielsen, you will be missed.

Review: Tangled

Well, if this is it and Disney really is closing the book on musicals and fairy tales, then they definitely did not save their best for last.

Now I don't mean to be so harsh on the newest edition to the Disney-Princess family, but this all seems oddly familiar. Some guy just happens across a beautiful, young lady, they have to fend from an evil, non-blood related mother, they fall in love, and then live happily ever after. I'm sorry, but is the Disney-Princess formula ever anything different? Disney has done this over and over for the past 70 years and yes, in the beginning we like them, maybe even loved them, but by the time Disney got to Tangled, their 50th animated movie, things just became too predictable.

And following the Disney tradition, everybody sings in this movie. Disney trashed the original script for this movie, started over, and even brought back Alan Menken (fammed Disney song writer) to pen the music. Sadly, it sounds like Menken got lazy here because outside of the first tune, the songs lacks enthusiasm and entertainment. 

Also following Disney tradition, the 3D here was pretty bad. Everytime I bring up 3D, I talk about How to Train Your Dragon and the depth the 3D added to that movie, well no depth was added to this film. In fact, there were parts where the 3D actually hurt my eyes and everything became blurry during a couple of scenes.

Outside of its flaws, Tangled is still enjoyable, if only a little bit. So if you've got nothing to do this holiday wekend and you want to keep the kids entertained, this movie will do the job. I just can't promise that you will also be entertained.

Rent it.

Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I

Harry Potter is the boy who lived... through seven books and eight, count em, eight movies. If you ask me, he proabably should have lived through one less film.

Yeah, I know, you Potterheads are probably thinking, "But Jordan, they needed to split this book into two movies so that they could fit everything in." Maybe so, but even while I was walking out of the theater I heard even the most loyal of Potter fans say "They didn't need to add this or that in." Can you imagine that: six movies and the Potterheards are disappointed because they didn't add enough in and now they're upset because there's too much? Maybe I was wrong about Detroit Lions fans being the hardest to please. But I agree. This movie was a little too long and I definitely felt it (or maybe it was just the fact that it was 2:30 a.m. by the time I walked out).

Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy most aspects of this film. I liked the way the film was put together. All the cuts are precise and all the camerawork is beautiful. However, I think the preformances are the best thing about this film. We have grown up watching these young actors develop and settle into their roles and we have come to appreciate their skill more and more with each enstallment. Emma Watson, especially, gives a standout preformance in this movie.
 
Sadly, however, I felt as if though this part one suffered from what most intervening films suffer from in trilogies; it spent most of its time building us up for the next part that it drops its sense of story and leaves us with a lot of action and a lot of humor. Unfortunately, most of the humor gets dropped by the second half. At some points of this film I got a sense of "Okay, so where are we and what are we doing here?" that really lost me. Also,  There was no explanation of what the horcrux was or what significance it had to Voldemort and I could have done without the cheesy, romantic triangle subplot. Sure it had to come at some point, but it was not done well.
 
Sure all the Potterheads will enjoy this movie, that goes without saying, but I, however, think that DH1 is  a pothole in a road leading to a very successful climax for this franchise.
 
I say rent it, even though you will probably skip right over that and just pre-order the blu-ray, you Potterhead.