Reviews

After having the difficult decision to choose between 'The Incredible Burt Wonderstone' a preview screening of 'The Croods', 'Wreck it Ralph'again or 'Oz the great and powerful', me and my sister decided on 'Oz the great and powerful' simply because we've been waiting for it. Fortunately,I was actually pleasantly surprised. 'Oz the great and powerful' is to the Wizard of Oz, what 'Wicked' is to the witches,telling their back stories and how they came to be those characters.

So, Oscar Diggs is a magician/conman in Kansas and after an incident involving him flirting with a woman and giving her his grandma's music box, he is whisked away to the magical land of Oz in a hot air balloon. When he lands there, Oscar is quick to learn about a prophecy that states a wizard would come down from the heavens,restore order and peace to the land and become the next king.Problem is,in order to claim the title and the perks that go along with it,he has to kill the Wicked Witch of the West and from then on,it's a quest to find the witch and ultimately kill her,whilst coming across various characters along the way.

Let me just say, this movie has the best visuals I have seen this year,besides Life of Pi. The way the 3D is conveyed is excellent,having just the right amount of depth to popping out 3D. This films also has a lot of jumpy screamy moments. For example,it would be nice and calm and then suddenly, a flying baboon pops out of nowhere. I love films that can do that,especially if done well.

Now,onto the main focus,the characters. For me,the two characters that stand out is Oscar himself,and Finley the flying monkey,who also doubles up as Oscar's assistant. What my sister and I found clever is that they used Zach Braff for Finley and Diggs'assistant in Kansas. Just little touches like that make this film so nice. And Oscar is really likable as well. He's a bit of a womaniser but he has a good heart and James Franco looks pretty good in the role as well. As for the weak characters,I'd be lying if I said I didn't notice Mila Kunis' performance and that the little china girl stole the show. I think that Mila Kunis was a lot like Russel Crowe in 'Les Miserables', she can act but I don't think it works here,even I noticed it. I've heard people endlessly praise the china girl and how she is so cute and steals the show and I walked in expecting Chip from 'Beauty and the beast' cute,the type of cute that makes you want to adopt a character and add it to your fictional younger siblings list. What did I get out of her? At the most,she was sweet, I think if her voice sounded younger,then it would have worked a lot better but she didn't really convince me.

Overall, it's definitely worth a watch and although it does have the old 'If you believe,then you can accomplish anything'shtick,it's only really evident in the last 30 minutes and it's a whole bunch of munchkins against a wicked witch so you can't really blame them. One thing,I would have done though, is cut off about 20 minutes as it can get a bit tedious towards the end.

If you imagined this film to be like'Who Framed Roger Rabbit?' except with video game characters,chances are you're going to be a bit disappointed.If,however,you're looking for an entertaining, family friendly film for over the half term that appeals to everyone,then 'Wreck - It Ralph' might be up your street. It works when it wants to and it does have its funny moments. Although considering other Disney films,it doesn't have as many laughs but I think that works because then it makes the comedic scenes all the more funny,especially the sergeant's back story and the laffy taffy which are some of the highlights of the film.

As far as the characters go,I think they're decent enough. Sergeant Calhoun is a pretty good character with a hilariously tragic back story installed, Vanellope is just annoyingly cute, Fix it Felix Jr is a likable character as is Ralph. But the character that stood out has to be King Candy. My favourite aspect about him is the design,I just love how much the design and his personality is based off the mad hatter and it shows throughout.

Now for the things I didn't like. The pace of the film is a bit distracting as about forty five minutes in, Vanellope is already being introduced and from then on,you're pretty much stuck in Sugar Rush. There are a few cut away scenes but they don't last for more the five minutes. Another thing that I didn't particularly like was the training sequence. The scene itself was good but I felt the song they chose to go with it felt out of place and it didn't go with it. But my biggest gripe about this film is the 'I'm bad and that's good. I will never be good,and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me.' thing. It is a good message and all,but I find it a bit mushy for my tastes.

Overall,a pretty good film and is definitely worth checking out at least once.

I saw ParaNorman in 2D earlier on today and I have to say, for a kids' film, and an animated one at that, considering that type of genre nowadays, it was pretty good. Not the best but definitely one of the better ones I've seen. The basic story is about a kid called Norman Babcock who can talk to the dead. Several hundred years before, a witch put a curse on the town and because Norman is the only one who can talk to the dead, he is the only one who can save the town and undo the curse. The first hour is just okay. It isn't brilliant and some of the jokes do fall flat(I.E, Norman saying to Neil who's kissing his dog's ghost that it's not his chin) but hey, it's a kid's film, what do you expect? One joke I did enjoy was when Norman was talking to the ghosts, I noticed that the gangster ghost was surrounded by fish, jokes with that sort of subtlety are great. The last half an hour for me, were definitely the best. This is when everything gets going, the zombies come alive, Norman meets the witch, it is just a lot of fun. The zombie car chase scene isn't as exciting as I thought but the animation is great,so are the colours and the story is a lot of fun. Horror fans or anyone who likes Coraline or that sorta thing will definitely get a kick out of this. And anyone who doesn't, will still get a kick out of it. Overall, a fun and entertaining way to kill a few hours at the cinema.