The beloved television series Postman Pat is now a feature film!
The animated story about the friendly postman has voices from Stephen Mangan (“Episodes”) as Postman Pat; recording star Ronan Keating, who provides the singing voice for Postman Pat; Academy Award and BAFTA Award Winner Jim Broadbent (“Iris”); Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley in the “Harry Potter” film series), and David Tennant (“Doctor Who,” “Harry Potter”). In the film Postman Pat enters a national TV talent show competition. Will success and fame tear him away from his hometown of Greendale and the friends he loves? Can Pat return to town in time to foil a sinister plot to replace him with legions of Patbot 3000 robots destined to take over the world? Only Postman Pat can save the day.
Rated R for language throughout, sexual content, drug material, brief nudity and some violence
Profanity:
Constant very strong and crude language
Alcohol/ Drugs:
Drinking, drunkenness, drugs and drug dealing
Violence/ Scariness:
Comic action-style law enforcement violence, characters injured and killed
Diversity Issues:
Diverse characters
Date Released to Theaters:
June 13, 2014
Date Released to DVD:
November 18, 2014
Amazon.com ASIN:
B00KPYT9PS
It can be treacherous to go meta in a sequel, especially in the sequel to movie based on a television series that was already pretty meta, with a climax that included appearances by Johnny Depp and some of the other stars of the 1980’s show about young-looking undercover cops. Meta can be smart and funny (see the movie based on another cheesy television series, “Charlie’s Angels”) but it can also be easy and self-absorbed. This sequel is in some ways about sequels, and one of its best moments comes at the very end, with a piling-on of increasingly sillier ideas for future chapters. There are a couple of nice digs at the bigger budget/lower quality/repetitiveness tradition of movie sequels at the beginning, in a scene with the hilariously deadpan Nick Offerman. But if you’re going to make that joke, you’d better be able to clear that hurdle (as Channing Tatum does in a running joke about his parkour-esque athleticism) and not face-plant (as Jonah Hill does in a recurring joke about his lack of athleticism). There are also recurring jokes about how the stars look too old to be in college, the dynamics of the two guys as a couple, and, again, about the bigger budget and repeated storylines, most of which are not as funny as the filmmakers hope.
The 21 Jump Street group has moved from the former Korean church they used as headquarters to a former Vietnamese church across the street. Hence the new address. And they have spent their bigger budget on a high-tech set-up that their commanding officer, Captain Dickson (Ice Cube), describes as suitable for Iron Man. This time, as we heard at the end of the last film, our undercover cops Schmidt (Hill) and Jenko (Tatum) are going undercover in a college. And once again they are looking for the people behind the distribution of a powerful drug. This one is known as whyfhy (pronounced Wi-Fi), and it produces four hours of intense focus (for studying) followed by four hours of wild hallucinogenics (for partying). They stop by the prison to consult with a couple of characters from the last film, and then it’s time for school.
The first film had some real insights about high school, but this one feels based on movies about college rather than the dynamics of a real college environment. There is football, fraternity hazing, and spring break, but not a lot of energy or insight. The chemistry between Hill and Tatum is still terrific, and one scene where Jenko loses it following an awkward revelation in the captain’s office works very well. Peter Stormare has an underwritten role as a generic bad guy and Wyatt Russell (son of Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell) has an underwritten role as a frat guy. The one who comes close to stealing the show here is Jillian Bell as the former roommate of the student whose death led to the undercover operation. If (heaven forbid) there is another sequel, it should not be the budget that is bigger; it should be her role.
Parents should know that this film includes extremely strong and vulgar language, sexual references and non-explicit situations, brief nudity, drinking and drunkenness, fraternity hazing, drugs and drug dealing, law enforcement violence with guns and explosions, and characters who are injured and killed.
Family discussion: Which one of the sequel ideas glimpsed at the end looks funniest? Do you prefer relationships with some friction?
If you like this, try: “21 Jump Street” and “Lethal Weapon”
The Muppets live up to the title in this adorable follow-up that is even truer to the essence of Muppetry than the Jason Segal predecessor because it puts the Muppets themselves at the heart of the story, not the humans. And that’s very good news. No one is better than the Muppets at creating a giddy mixture of sharp wit, delirious silliness, pop culture references (here they range from Ingmar Bergman’s scythe-bearing Death chess match to a “Producers”-inspired prison gang kick-line) and random guest stars (Lady Gaga! Tony Bennett! Together!), and a self-deprecating but irrepressibly sunny sensibility. There is always grand spectacle, romance, and heart, even a brief but telling lesson in manners. Plus, there’s another tuneful and hilarious collection of songs from Oscar-winner Bret McKenzie. The result is pure joy.
It starts about one minute after the last movie ends. The human couple is clearly on the road to happily ever after, but what about the Muppets? Time for a sequel! “While they wait for Tom Hanks to Make ‘Toy Story 4,'” they sing, even though “everybody knows that the sequel’s never quite as good.” They also blithely explain that we can expect “a family-style adventure during which we should bond and learn heartwarming lessons like sharing and taking your turn and the Number 3.”
The Muppets hire Dominic Badguy (“pronounced Bad-GEE”) (Ricky Gervais) as their new tour manager and go to Europe to perform. He actually is a bad GUY, however, and the tour is just a cover for an elaborate series of heists, conveniently located next door to the venues selected by Dominic. Meanwhile, Constantine, the most dangerous frog in the world, escapes from the Siberian gulag where he has been in prison. And he looks almost exactly like Kermit, except for a distinctive beauty mark on his cheek. Constantine slaps a fake birthmark onto Kermit’s cheek, covers his own with green make-up, and soon Kermit is captured (vainly trying to explain that he’s an “Amphibian-American”) and sent to the gulag.
And Constantine is running the Muppet Show. Even though he speaks with a thick accent and has a completely different personality, none of the Muppets notices the switch, especially when he tells them they can do whatever they want. Miss Piggy does not realize that her beloved frog has been replaced.
Meanwhile, the hard core prisoners in the gulag (including Ray Liotta and a mystery guest star in solitary) figure out immediately that Kermit is not Constantine because he says “thank you.” Even Nadya (Tina Fey), who runs the prison, knows it is not Constantine. But her fondest dream is a first-class gulag musical show. She won’t let Kermit leave because she needs him to direct it. And she knows every possible trick the prisoners might try to sneak out. She explains, “I have a Netflix account with the search words ‘prison escape.'” Also, she likes him. So, soon Kermit is overseeing a prison kick-line to a song from “A Chorus Line” (the guy in solitary has a great set of pipes). And Constantine is getting ready for the biggest heist of all: the British royal family’s crown jewels, though — wait for it — “It’s not easy being mean.”
On the path of the master thieves are a pair of non-master detectives, Jean Pierre Napoleon from Interpol (Ty Burell, through no fault of his own the movie’s only weak point) and Sam the Eagle from the FBI. Their competition over the size of their badges is rather fun, but then their appearances descend into repeated and increasingly flat jokes about Napoleon’s tiny car and constant breaks for meals and vacations. But then we have the classic shots of newspapers to bring us up to date: “Slow News Week; Muppets Dominate Headlines” and we’re back in Muppet heaven.
Note: Be sure to get to the theater in time. There’s an adorable “Monsters University” short before the feature starts.
Parents should know that there is some bad behavior, a very brief scary skeleton and mild peril. Scenes in the gulag play dire prison conditions and treatment for comedy.
Family discussion: How could Nadya, Fozzie, and Walter tell the difference between Kermit and Constantine? Why didn’t anyone else figure out what was going on? Why did Constantine let the Muppets do whatever they wanted?
If you like this, try: The Muppet Show and their feature films
Rated PG-13 for sexuality including references, drug content, violence and some strong language
Profanity:
Some strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:
Drinking, references to teen drinking and drug use and drug dealing
Violence/ Scariness:
Murders and attempted murders, guns, car crash, peril and scary surprises
Diversity Issues:
Diverse characters
Date Released to Theaters:
March 14, 2014
Date Released to DVD:
May 5, 2014
Amazon.com ASIN:
B00HEQOAQ8
NOTE: I can’t pretend any objectivity here — I am a fan of the television series, a Kickstarter supporter of the film, and a friend of one of the producers. I think I would have been capable of writing a bad review if the film was a disappointment, but thankfully it was even better than I hoped. With that caveat, on to the review:
“Veronica Mars” manages the near-impossible in exceeding the hopes of three different audiences: passionate fans of the three-year television series about a teen-aged detective who wanted more of the same, passionate fans of the television series who wanted to see what happened when the characters grew up, and the much bigger group — people who had never seen the series and did not even remember that there was one.
Writer/director Rob Thomas created the Veronica Mars television series, starring Kristen Bell (“Frozen”) as a teenager whose father was the sheriff of Neptune, California, until he was pushed out of office by a corrupt alliance between government and the local business. He became a private investigator, and Veronica began investigating, too, from the murder of her best friend and a school bus crash to hectoring and blackmail via social media. Like its better-known contemporary “Buffy,” the lead character was a smart, tough, capable teenaged girl coping with the intensity of adolescent traumas externalized as major, life-threatening events, all approached with equal resolve, equanimity, steadfast friends, a love triangle, and quippy dialogue. And it has a surprisingly sharp and astute portrayal of social and economic divisions. A large part of the appeal of the series was in watching Bell deliver a continuous stream of mots juste, with a “Gilmore Girls” depth of immersion in pop culture and understated wit. Fans included Stephen King, who described the series as, “Nancy Drew meets Philip Marlowe, and the result is pure nitro. Why is Veronica Mars so good? It bears little resemblance to life as I know it, but I can’t take my eyes off the damn thing.” A Kickstarter campaign for this film intended to raise $2 million raised $5 million and the results are likely to resonate throughout Hollywood, creating a powerful alternative to the current system for greenlighting film projects.
A two-minute recap brings us up to date. Veronica now lives in New York, a recent law school graduate, living happily with Piz (Chris Lowell), one of her love interests back on the show, who has moved on from a high school radio job to working at NPR (“This American Life’s” Ira Glass shows up for one of several star cameos). She is interviewing at prestigious New York law firms and happy to be creating a new life for herself. And then she is called back to Neptune. Her other former love interest, Logan (Jason Dohring) is suspected of murdering his girlfriend, their high school classmate, who had become a pop star. She promises Piz she will just go back long enough to get Logan a lawyer, but keeps extending her stay as she gets caught up, first in finding that “plausible alternative” to present to the jury, and then in finding out who really did it.
The mystery is absorbing, but it is the depth of characters and richness of the relationships that makes this movie so effective. Bell knows this character so well and inhabits her so fully that it lends depth to the bigger mystery — who will Veronica decide to be? Series co-stars like Enrico Colantoni as Veronica’s father, Tina Majorino and Francis Capra as old friends, and Ryan Hansen and Ken Marino as old frenemies are stand-outs, there are quick cameos from Bell’s real-life husband Dax Shepard and Justin Long, and James Franco contributes a very funny meta-moment as himself (stay past the credits for more). But the star here is Thomas, who has a sure hand in blending the drama, mystery, romance, and wit. Fifteen minutes in, I was a marshmallow.
Parents should know that this film includes brutal murders and attempted murders, guns, drowning, car crashes, some scary surprises and disturbing images, references to teen partying including drugs, sexual references and situation, and some strong and crude language.
Family discussion: Which character changed the most in ten years? What television series would you like to see brought back via Kickstarter?
If you like this, try: the “Veronica Mars” television series and the classic “Thin Man” movies
Jay Ward’s irresistibly daffy cartoons of the early 1960’s were charming and witty, with a post-modern meta wink at the fourth wall, wacky puns, and jokes that kids would suddenly remember and understand years later. This reboot is smarmy, overblown, dumbed down, and off-kilter. Who thinks it is a good idea to have a movie for children about time travel begin with a trip to the French revolution and the guillotine?
Cartoonist Ted Key, best known for the Hazel character played by Shirley Booth in the television sitcom, came up with the super-genius dog, Mr. Peabody, inventor of the WABAC machine, and his boy Sherman, for Ward’s “Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.” In each episode, the duo would go back in time and somehow help a historical character solve a problem. In this computer-animated, 3D, full-length feature version, the wit of the original devolves into bathroom humor and slapstick. If the poster slogan is a doggie potty joke (“He makes his mark on history”), it is not a good sign.
As in the original, Mr. Peabody (“Modern Family’s” Ty Burrell) knows everything. He’s a Nobel Prize-winning scientist who advises world leaders and makes a mean cocktail. In one of the movie’s highlights, he is challenged to play musical instruments ranging from a flamenco guitar to a didgeridoo, and performs flawlessly. He has invented a WABAC machine to take Sherman back in time, where they have encountered a cake-loving Marie Antoinette, with Mr. P led to the guillotine, and an unhappy Mona Lisa (Lake Bell), refusing to smile for Leonardo da Vinci (Stanley Tucci).
He has an adopted son, Sherman (Max Charles), who attends a fancy private school, where a girl named Penny (“Modern Family’s” Ariel Winter) gets angry when Sherman corrects her answer about George Washington chopping down the cherry tree, explaining that it never really happened. After a sloppy misuse of the term “sarcastic,” she insults Sherman in the lunchroom, calling him a dog because he has a dog for a father. They get into a fight, and Sherman bites her arm. Mr. Peabody is called to the principal’s office, where Ms. Grunion (Allison Janney), a representative from Child Protective Services, tells him Sherman will be removed from the home if he is not an appropriate parent.
Mr. Peabody invites Penny and her parents and Ms. Grunion over for dinner to straighten things out. Sherman shows Penny the WABAC machine that Mr. Peabody invented to take them back in time, and soon the two kids find themselves in ancient Egypt, where Penny becomes engaged to the young King Tut, until she finds out what that entrails, I mean entails (the bad pun thing is contagious–parents be warned). Soon they are zipping around through history, meeting up with Agamemnon (Patrick Warburton, hilarious as always, despite an Oedipus joke) and soaring over Renaissance Florence in one of da Vinci’s flying machines.
The time travel plot gets bogged down in time-space continuum anomaly mumbo jumbo. Then there are the father-son issues. Mr. Peabody, who wants his son to call him Mr. Peabody, has a problem with the l-word. Ms. Grunion’s blustery bullying and threats to remove Sherman from his home will make some families uncomfortable. It should also make them uncomfortable that the movie appears to portray kidnapping a woman as a romantic gesture that should make her instantly fall in love. Jokes about Oedipus and Bill Clinton are particularly disappointing. Warburton’s dry delivery and some good scenery and action sequences can’t make up for the fact that this movie is a disappointing come-down that completely misses the charm and humor of the original.
Parents should know that this movie has a lot of potty humor, some crude jokes, cartoon-style peril and action including a guillotine and a taser, a character is presumed dead but later shown to have survived, a woman is captured as a romantic gesture, and child protection services challenges an adoption and attempts to remove a child from his home.
Family discussion: If you could go back to any time in history, what would it be? Who would you want to meet? Why was Penny so mean?
If you like this, try: The original series and the other Jay Ward classics like “Rocky and Bullwinkle,” “Fractured Fairy Tales,” and “Dudley Do-right.”
and their feature films
, starring Kristen Bell (“Frozen”) as a teenager whose father was the sheriff of Neptune, California, until he was pushed out of office by a corrupt alliance between government and the local business. He became a private investigator, and Veronica began investigating, too, from the murder of her best friend and a school bus crash to hectoring and blackmail via social media. Like its better-known contemporary “Buffy,” the lead character was a smart, tough, capable teenaged girl coping with the intensity of adolescent traumas externalized as major, life-threatening events, all approached with equal resolve, equanimity, steadfast friends, a love triangle, and quippy dialogue. And it has a 
