From the ArcaMax Publishing, Family Film Reviews Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/familyfilms/s-642797-432301
"Disney's A Christmas Carol" (PG, 1 hr., 36
min.)
It's hard to know what age group this dour, ultra-spooky animated
adaptation of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" will appeal to.
Although the movie is a showcase for actor Jim Carrey and for advances
in a particular type of computer animation, it seems too frightening
and humorless for kids under 10. Director/screenwriter Robert Zemeckis
uses the same "performance capture" technology (shooting live actors
on a soundstage, then overlaying their performances with animation)
that he used in "Beowulf" (PG-13, 2007) and "The Polar Express" (PG,
2004). This time he's added 3-D and dizzying 360-degree perspectives
in some action sequences.
The result is a film that feels more like a bizarre experiment than a
good holiday yarn. Zemeckis takes the creepier aspects of Dickens'
tale, which was subtitled "A Ghost Story of Christmas," and emphasizes
them to such a degree that kids under 10 may be too unsettled watching
it on the big screen. Some may even require calming trips to the
lobby.
When we first meet him, Ebenezer Scrooge (voiced by Carrey, who also
plays the younger versions of Scrooge and the three Spirits who visit
him) is so stooped, gnarled and angry that he looks like an
out-of-sorts Abe Lincoln. Some children may literally be scared by the
3-D close-ups of his arthritic hands. The head of Marley's ghost (Gary
Oldman) appears on Scrooge's door knocker, and from then on, all the
"visitations" by spirits are quite chilling. The depiction of
19th-century London looks more like a setting for a Jack the Ripper
tale than a holiday fable.
The happier moments -- at Scrooge's clerk Bob Cratchit's house
(Cratchit and his son Tiny Tim also played by Oldman); at Scrooge's
nephew Fred's (Colin Firth); and at Scrooge's old employer Fezziwig's
(Bob Hoskins) Christmas party -- are overpowered by the high-tech
chills and general dourness of the film. Even Scrooge's eventual
conversion to a loving keeper of Christmas feels anti-climactic, which
it never should. Carrey's winning wit is barely in evidence in his
performances here.
Scrooge's visit to his own grave with the Ghost of Christmas Yet to
Come is played for nightmarish effect (Scrooge falling, falling,
falling into the grave). And the ghostly Marley's great message to
Scrooge -- "Mankind was my business! The common welfare was my
business!" -- loses its sting because Marley's jaw comes unhinged and
that bit is overplayed. Zemeckis doesn't exactly ruin Dickens' classic
story, but he's made a version so obsessed with techno-trickery that
it has become too creepy for its intended audience. There are many,
many scary scenes, some vertiginous flying with the spirits, and a
quick shot of a 19th- century Londoner taking snuff.
The Family Filmgoer still loves the 1951 version of Dickens' classic
(sometimes titled "Scrooge"), starring the great Alastair Sim --
simple, spooky, heartwarming.
Beyond the Ratings Game: Movie Reviews for various
ages
-- OK FOR MOST KIDS 8 AND OLDER:
"Astro Boy" PG -- "Astro Boy" is great fun once it gets going
-- full of humor, action, vivid characters, and rich in film and
literary references parents could expand on later. But the level of
mayhem and the theme of parental rejection in this computer-animated
sci-fi fable (based on a 1951 Japanese manga comic that begot several
TV 'toon shows), make it more appropriate for kids 8 and older. Young
Toby (voice of Freddie Highmore) lives among privileged humans who
have fled a trash-filled Earth (shades of "WALL-E," G, 2008) to
futuristic Metro City, floating above the planet. Toby's father, Dr.
Tenma (Nicolas Cage), a scientist, works for evil General Stone
(Donald Sutherland). When a warrior robot accidentally kills Toby
early on, a heartbroken Tenma creates a robotic Toby (echoes of
"Pinocchio" and "Frankenstein"), but then rejects his artificial
"son." General Stone, seeing the robotic Toby is outfitted with
weaponry, sends his military to destroy him. Toby escapes to Earth,
where he's befriended by orphans (shades of "Oliver Twist"). General
Stone sends forces after Toby -- now Astro Boy. The fighting includes
guns and much destruction.
-- OK FOR MANY KIDS 10 AND OLDER:
"Disney's A Christmas Carol" PG (NEW) -- It's hard to know what
age group this grim animated version of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas
Carol" will appeal to. Although the movie is a showcase for actor Jim
Carrey and for advances in a particular type of computer animation, it
seems too frightening and humorless for kids under 10.
Director/screenwriter Robert Zemeckis uses the same "performance
capture" technology (shooting live actors, then overlaying their
performances with animation) he used in "Beowulf" (PG-13, 2007) and
"The Polar Express" (PG, 2004). This time he's added 3-D and dizzying
360-degree perspectives in some action sequences. Zemeckis takes all
the spooky aspects of the Dickens' tale and emphasizes them to such a
degree that kids under 10 may need lobby breaks. When we meet him,
Scrooge (voiced by Carrey, who also plays the younger versions of
Scrooge and the three Spirits who visit him) is so stooped, gnarled
and angry he looks like an out-of-sorts Abe Lincoln. Kids may
literally be scared by 3-D close-ups of his arthritic hands. Marley's
ghost (Gary Oldman) appears on Scrooge's door knocker, and from then
on, all the spirit "visitations" are quite chilling. Carrey's winning
wit is barely in evidence in his performances here. Happier moments
-- at clerk Bob Cratchit's home (Cratchit and his son Tiny Tim are
also played by Oldman) and with Scrooge's cheery nephew Fred (Colin
Firth) -- are overshadowed by the dourness of the film as a whole.
When Scrooge visits his future grave with the Ghost of Christmas Yet
to Come, it is played for nightmarish effect. There are many scary,
spooky scenes, some vertiginous flying with the spirits, and a shot of
a 19th-century Londoner taking snuff.
"Michael Jackson's This Is It" PG (NEW) -- Michael Jackson fans
and anyone 10 and older interested in how great performers work will
be more than satisfied with this posthumous tribute -- put together by
director Kenny Ortega after Jackson's sudden death on June 25 at age
50. Ortega had been rehearsing with Jackson for what was to be a
series of 50 sold-out "This Is It" comeback concerts in London. Ortega
had 100 hours of footage shot during rehearsals as he, Jackson and a
team of musicians, choreographers, backup singers, dancers and special
effects wizards put the show together. Jackson is preserving his voice
a bit, but even so, the film is rich with him singing and dancing his
many hits -- more than enough to remind people of why he was such a
pop icon. The odder aspects of his personality are not on display
much. He comes across as a perfectionist and a hardworking pro. While
Ortega and others treat their star with kid gloves, they also seem to
have a good creative dialogue with him. The dancers, includng Jackson,
do a lot of his trademark 1980s crotch-grabbing and there's some
joking about that. A few other dance moves are mildly suggestive, too.
Children may be startled by fireworks and flame effects.
"Amelia" PG -- Unlike its subject, legendary aviatrix Amelia
Earhart, this film never quite gets off the ground. Even so, teens and
preteens with a taste for history and heroes may be transported by the
rich 1920s and '30s look, the flying and the gossipy bits about
Earhart's love life. Hilary Swank's portrayal seems spot-on in voice
and manner, based on newsreels we've seen, yet it lacks soul. Director
Mira Nair's entire film is the same -- detailed but dry. The film does
explore whether Earhart was as skilled a pilot as she was a celebrity
and examines her marriage to publicist George Putnam (Richard Gere).
There are mildly harrowing aviation sequences, including a nonlethal
crash and moments woven throughout the film that imagine Earhart's
final round-the-world flight, in which she and navigator Fred Noonan
(Christopher Eccleston) disappeared over the Pacific. The film does
not try to imagine how they died. Characters smoke and drink. There is
rare mild profanity, gently implied premarital and extramarital trysts
in silk nightwear, and a club singer who dances suggestively.
"Where the Wild Things Are" PG -- Some parents may decide that
this unusual adaptation of Maurice Sendak's beloved 1963 picture book
is too intense to be a family film, but they'll be surprised at how
easily kids 10 and older (and many who are younger) will get director
Spike Jonze's unique take. He mixes live action with puppetry and
animation to achieve a startling level of realism as he expands upon
the story. Young Max (terrific Max Records), whose tantrums and
unhappiness seem urgently authentic, has a fight with his mom
(Catherine Keener) and runs away. Realism becomes fantasy as he sails
through a storm and lands on an island where he becomes pals with the
huge, furry, Wild Things. All his traits and troubles are echoed among
them. The friendship starts as bumptious fun, but degenerates into
arguments and sadness. Yet there is reconciliation as Max heads back
to reality. This film is not for kids who have short attention spans,
who find strongly portrayed emotions hard to deal with, or who could
be scared into nightmares by the idea of stuffed animals becoming huge
and alive in an alternate world. The Wild Things fight and hurt one
another at times (not lethally, but a feathered arm gets pulled off),
and say mean things.
-- PG-13s OF VARYING INTENSITY:
"The Fourth Kind" (NEW) -- Bunk and hooey are words that come
to mind while viewing this barely scary sci-fi thriller about a
psychologist in Nome, Alaska, who comes to believe her insomniac
patients are actually victims of nighttime alien abduction.
Director/screenwriter Olatunde Osunsanmi intercuts grainy videos of
"actual" treatment sessions on which the movie is supposedly based,
but the people in the videos are clearly actors, too, so it smells
like a big hoax. Milla Jovovich as the psychologist lacks the acting
chops to carry off her complex role as therapist, a bereft widow, a
mother, and a reluctant believer in aliens. With a weak lead and a
poorly conjured premise, the film never grabs its audience. It shows
people seeming to relive horrific events while under hypnosis. There
are themes about suicide and children missing their dead father. In a
tragedy more implied than shown, a distraught man kills his family,
then himself. In a climactic scene, children are snatched by alien
forces. There are flashbacks to a violent murder, and occasional mild
profanity. Too intense for middle-schoolers.
"Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant" -- This droll,
offbeat fable takes the idea of feeling like a "freak" during the
tricky teenage years and runs with it in a really inventive way. Honor
student Darren Shan and his rebellious friend Steve (Josh Hutcherson),
bored with their conformist town, go to see the "Cirque du Freak"
show. Larten Crepsley (John C. Reilly) and his trained spider
fascinate both boys. Crepsley is a vampire and through a series of
tortured plot twists, the boys become involved in his world. Crepsley
demands that Darren "die," become his assistant, and live among the
Cirque freaks. The film has vampire-versus-vampire mayhem that is more
supernatural than graphic, but there is moderate bloodletting, a
snapped neck, a couple of stabbings, not to mention the Cirque du
Freak woman (Jane Krakowski) who can tear off her limbs and grow them
back. At one point Darren's human family is in danger. OK for most
teens with strong stomachs.
-- R's:
"The Men Who Stare at Goats" (NEW) -- Highly amusing, deeply
ironic and terrifically acted, this tale about the American military,
while a mild R, is likely to leave high-schoolers cold. "The Men Who
Stare at Goats" is a fact-based satire, and geared to folks who know
more about the Vietnam War and the 1960s. Based on a nonfiction book
by Jon Ronson, the movie spoofs actual military research into
"alternative," mostly nonviolent psychological and paranormal, warfare
-- attempts at mind-reading, walking through walls, killing animals by
staring at them. Ewan McGregor plays Bob, our narrator, a
wet-behind-the-ears journalist who goes to the Middle East in hopes of
covering the Iraq War. In Kuwait he meets Lyn (George Clooney), a
quirky vet who educates him about the (fictionalized) Vietnam-era New
Earth Army and psychological "psi ops" warfare. At an American base in
Iraq, they find that the nastiest New Earth alumna (Kevin Spacey) and
the hippie-ish officer (Jeff Bridges) who founded it are still
experimenting. The film includes a battle flashback showing a pile of
bodies, implied torture of Iraqi prisoners, implied harm to animals, a
suicide theme, gunplay, soldiers tripping on LSD, other drug use,
drinking, profanity, and backview nudity. OK for high-schoolers, but
more likely to amuse adults.
"Paranormal Activity" -- A young couple, Katie (Katie
Featherston) and Micah (Micah Sloat), try to get rid of a ghost -- or
demon -- that has begun to disturb their slumbers in this
entertaining, if derivative hit, made for barely $15,000 with
improvised dialogue. There is no on-screen violence (though there is
briefly implied off-screen violence), only disturbing noises and an
invisible force that moves doors and leaves other evidence of its
presence. Micah decides to record their sleep on video to capture the
disturbances, and what they see when they play it back becomes more
and more eerie. Micah insists on trying to contact the spirit with a
Ouija board -- bad move. The R rating reflects profanity and muted
innuendo about the unwed couple's sex life. Characters drink wine. OK
for high-schoolers and some middle-schoolers.
"Law Abiding Citizen" -- Strong performances still don't give
this bloody revenge drama, with its exploitative violence, any
gravitas. Gerard Butler plays a man who loses his wife and daughter in
a vicious home invasion, then orchestrates -- even from prison --
painful deaths, not only for the killers he believes got off too
easily, but for law enforcement officials he thinks failed him. Jamie
Foxx plays the prosecutor on the original case. In one upsetting scene
a child accidentally watches a video showing torture and
dismemberment. While not hyper-graphic, the scene feels gory.
There is an execution by lethal injection that becomes "cruel and
unusual," and a mini-explosion that blows someone's brains out. The
film contains some strong profanity and briefly crude sexual innuendo.
Not for under-17s.