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Free Birds (2013)
7/10
A lot of laughs
31 August 2014
My kids and I loved this movie, so I was surprised to see the low rating on IMDb. The negative comments seem to center on three things:

(1) "Cultural insensitivity," chiefly for portraying 17th century turkeys like Indians. I don't get this one. They are put in opposition to pilgrims, who are trying to eat them, and the Indian association seems natural. (2) A "vegetarian" message. I am relatively sensitive to such message (e.g., I thought it was rather heavy-handed in "Jurassic Park"), so I can say that there simply isn't one here. It's about turkeys trying not to get eaten, not that people should never eat meat. (3) "disregard for time-travel paradoxes" (quoting from Wikipedia here). It's a movie about talking turkeys, and this guy is bothered by inconsistencies in time travel? If this bothers you, it's time to take off the bow tie and unfasten the suspenders, you need to loosen up.

Okay, the plot is not great, and there really isn't a message (at least not much of one). The joy of this movie and others of its ilk is in the presentation. There are a lot of funny lines, and the animation is amazing. I love seeing how cartoonists can elicit the most focused emotions simply by depicting a turkey's face.

If you are looking for a deep movie, this one is probably not for you. If you are looking for a great way to spend 90 minutes, you will enjoy this one.
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Happy Feet (2006)
4/10
An incredibly preachy movie
19 June 2007
This movie spends a lot of time complaining about humans ("big, ugly penguins with no feathers on their flabby faces") and their effect on the environment, and about social conformism enforced by Scottish-sounding, presbyterian-like penguins in charge of the group. It is condescending and preachy. Moreover, several scenes are kind of weird and otherworldly, which didn't go over well with my kids. I also didn't care for all the singing, although, to be fair, if you watch this movie you expect to get that.

I suppose if you think that social norms are a major problem with the world, and environmentalism is an obvious need, the prechiness may actually appeal to you insofar as it reinforces your values. I usually prefer films to present both sides of an argument, however; even if one argument is favoured (which is difficult to avoid), at least you get an idea of why there is a disagreement. Portraying your opponents as mindless or thoughtless is not very enlightening.
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Guess Who (2005)
9/10
Better than the original
14 October 2005
Warning: Spoilers
I am stunned to see the low rating that this movie is getting here. I saw "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner?", and I found it rather stereotyped and one-dimensional. (And "Adam's Rib" is my favourite movie of all time, so it's not like I don't appreciate Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy.) "Guess Who," on the other hand, is fresh, touching, funny, and honest. The idea of switching the races from the earlier movie -- a white guy being introduced to a black family -- is a good one, and the movie tackles racial issues much more head-on and with an immediacy that affected me. The scene in which the white boyfriend tells jokes that has the family roaring with laughter but then suddenly frigid when one joke goes too far is highly symptomatic of the confusing problems behind the race issue: namely, that there are identifiable differences culturally between (most) blacks and (most) whites, but that some differences are more sensitive (on both sides), and that, in the end, we all wish they would go away.

"Guess Who" always deals with serious relationship issues in a way that had my wife in tears. Yet, in spite of its seriousness, it was still basically a comedy that made me laugh out loud repeatedly. Unless racial issues are too serious for you to laugh at or too sensitive for you to want to think about, or if you don't like Bernie Mac's style of humor, this is a terrific movie that hits on all cylinders.
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