I like Dr. Seuss’s stories. I was very late on catching up with the folks at Whoville. But when I eventually did, I was quite pleased with what I saw. I thought Jimmy Hayward & Steve Martino put in quite a good effort with it and would have thought they would continue. But I guess since the stories don’t have any connection, it was not an unfair call to go with Chris Renaud and Kyle Balda who have recently delivered a nomination at the Oscars with Despicable Me. So with that in mind, would you be correct in expecting another solid attempt from Renaud and Balda? Maybe yes.
First of all, The Lorax is an absolute kiddy movie. There is very little that an adult can look forward and definitely lesser for a movie critic – amateur or otherwise. But I must say that the movie has been made extremely well for the audience of the said age group. There were quite a few of these 3 footers who were running around the aisles of the cinema hall having a good time both during the movie and the interval.
What makes it watchable is the simplicity of its story. Much like Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who. This one tracks the life of The Once-Ler (Ed Helms) who stays in a place far far away from the closest settlement of Thneedville – a place so perfect that it seems obvious that it is artificial. Thneedville is run by this 2 foot man called Mr. O’Hare (Rob Riggle). O’Hare not only owns Thneedville but most importantly, runs a business that supplies clean water and air to the residents. Something that would not have been possible otherwise in that part of the world.
How did it all come to this? That’s what our hero – Ted (Zac Efron) decides to trace back. Thanks to a wish that Audrey (Taylor Swift) makes about wanting a real tree. The story goes that The Once-Ler in his desire to create the biggest invention of time – The Thneed – chops down the first tree. This calls in The Lorax (Danny De Vito) – the protector of trees – who warns the Once-Ler about the consequences. But when the Thneed becomes a rage, Once-Ler succumbs to family pressures and chops all of them down leaving the world tree-less.
Every Dr. Seuss story has a message and this one is could not have been more relevant to today’s day and age. And the quality of animation is definitely top class. If anything is a bit weak – it could be the simple nature of the story line. But as I said earlier, kids will love this for certain. Don’t watch The Lorax expecting too much from it. Watch it if you have about an hour and a half to kill and don’t want to stress yourself too much with some heavy movies. 6 on 10.
Trailer on http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1238212889/
Showing posts with label Danny DeVito. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Danny DeVito. Show all posts
Friday, 25 May 2012
Thursday, 4 November 2010
ROMANCING THE STONE
OK I am not trying to brag out here but when you have a reasonably large collection of DVDs, it is only obvious that you have a choice to re-live the moments that you grew up with. The year was 1984 and Robert Zemeckis gave us his 2nd movie. I would probably call it his first coz Used Cars (1980) wasn’t really big at the BO. Nevertheless, 30 years down the road and old Bob has given us nearly 15 movies that can be watched almost anytime of the day. This is the one that started the very misconceived notion of a trilogy – Romancing the Stone (1984), Jewel of the Nile (1985) & War of the Roses (1989). War of the Roses did star the magical trio of Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito but was in no way related to the Jack T Colton and Joan Wilder adventures that were released before.
Joan Wilder (Kathleen Turner – did they make women more beautiful then or is it just a figment of my imagination and my singledom talking) is a successful romance novelist. She writes Western Romance novels with a principle characters called Angelina and Jessie who she believes is the manifestation of the ideal man. She believes that her Jessie is somewhere out there and is waiting to be found. He publisher, Gloria (Holland Taylor) is also continuously on the look-out for a potential man for Joan. As she is about to leave home in a massive hurry to give Gloria her next book, she gets a nondescript envelope which she doesn’t bother opening. She returns to find her house ransacked and turned completely inside out. To make matters worse, she gets a call at the same time from Elaine (Mary Ellen Trainor), her sister who has been kidnapped.
Elaine asks Joan to come to Cartagena (pronounced Cartahena), Columbia with the package. Her kidnappers are Ira (Zack Norman) and his cousin Ralph (Danny DeVito). Joan lands into Columbia and boards the wrong bus thanks to being incorrectly led by Zolo (Manuel Ojeda) – the guy responsible for ransacking her home. Ralph is also present @ the airport but misses her and realizes it only when the bus has already left. A few hours later Joan finds herself up in the hills of Columbia. As she asks the bus driver as to how much longer it would take to Cartagena, the bus crashes into a stationary jeep and obviously breaks down. Using this opportunity, Zolo tries to extract the map out of Joan at gun point. However, our hero, Jack T Colton (Michael Douglas), the owner of the now trashed jeep and the birds worth nearly $20K appears. A gun fight ensues and Zolo runs away unsuccessfully.
Romancing the Stone, as mentioned earlier, released in 1984. The challenge in rating the movie right now would be to get to a comparable level that existed in the early 80s. In its time, RTS was a very well made movie. But if you look at it today, you can easily make out the use of blank cartridges in the guns and you would probably laugh at the ease with which our protagonists dodge bullets. It does have a charm of its own – heroes dodging bullets that is – but very honestly thoda far fetched. Unlike a James Bond where anything is considered possible, Jack Colton is not really associated with doing the impossible.
Lesser known fact I am sure would be that Michael Douglas also produced RTS. I guess it helped being born to a family where acting was in the genes and loads of money in the bank. What makes it admirable is that he actually produced his first movie 10 years before RTS @ the age of 30. Surprise Surprise – One flew over the cuckoo’s nest. He doesn’t look a day over 30 even in RTS. Strong performances by the 3 lead characters make RTS an evergreen classic. Zemeckis’ direction seems to be just about moving in the right direction at this stage. One which would peak with Forrest Gump a few years later. Fast Paced & never short of action but a little stretched at the beginning. Takes a while for the action to start. Lets hope the remake which is due to release next year addresses some of these issues. Not too tough an act to emulate. 6 on 10. Next up is Jewel of the Nile followed by a weekend of releases. So it would be back to current movies. Watch out this space for more. HAPPY DIWALI FOLKS!!!!!
Joan Wilder (Kathleen Turner – did they make women more beautiful then or is it just a figment of my imagination and my singledom talking) is a successful romance novelist. She writes Western Romance novels with a principle characters called Angelina and Jessie who she believes is the manifestation of the ideal man. She believes that her Jessie is somewhere out there and is waiting to be found. He publisher, Gloria (Holland Taylor) is also continuously on the look-out for a potential man for Joan. As she is about to leave home in a massive hurry to give Gloria her next book, she gets a nondescript envelope which she doesn’t bother opening. She returns to find her house ransacked and turned completely inside out. To make matters worse, she gets a call at the same time from Elaine (Mary Ellen Trainor), her sister who has been kidnapped.
Elaine asks Joan to come to Cartagena (pronounced Cartahena), Columbia with the package. Her kidnappers are Ira (Zack Norman) and his cousin Ralph (Danny DeVito). Joan lands into Columbia and boards the wrong bus thanks to being incorrectly led by Zolo (Manuel Ojeda) – the guy responsible for ransacking her home. Ralph is also present @ the airport but misses her and realizes it only when the bus has already left. A few hours later Joan finds herself up in the hills of Columbia. As she asks the bus driver as to how much longer it would take to Cartagena, the bus crashes into a stationary jeep and obviously breaks down. Using this opportunity, Zolo tries to extract the map out of Joan at gun point. However, our hero, Jack T Colton (Michael Douglas), the owner of the now trashed jeep and the birds worth nearly $20K appears. A gun fight ensues and Zolo runs away unsuccessfully.
Romancing the Stone, as mentioned earlier, released in 1984. The challenge in rating the movie right now would be to get to a comparable level that existed in the early 80s. In its time, RTS was a very well made movie. But if you look at it today, you can easily make out the use of blank cartridges in the guns and you would probably laugh at the ease with which our protagonists dodge bullets. It does have a charm of its own – heroes dodging bullets that is – but very honestly thoda far fetched. Unlike a James Bond where anything is considered possible, Jack Colton is not really associated with doing the impossible.
Lesser known fact I am sure would be that Michael Douglas also produced RTS. I guess it helped being born to a family where acting was in the genes and loads of money in the bank. What makes it admirable is that he actually produced his first movie 10 years before RTS @ the age of 30. Surprise Surprise – One flew over the cuckoo’s nest. He doesn’t look a day over 30 even in RTS. Strong performances by the 3 lead characters make RTS an evergreen classic. Zemeckis’ direction seems to be just about moving in the right direction at this stage. One which would peak with Forrest Gump a few years later. Fast Paced & never short of action but a little stretched at the beginning. Takes a while for the action to start. Lets hope the remake which is due to release next year addresses some of these issues. Not too tough an act to emulate. 6 on 10. Next up is Jewel of the Nile followed by a weekend of releases. So it would be back to current movies. Watch out this space for more. HAPPY DIWALI FOLKS!!!!!
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