Penguins of Madagascar

Posted on November 25, 2014 at 5:17 pm

B+

Lowest Recommended Age:	All Ages
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG for mild action and some rude humor
Profanity:	Some schoolyard language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	Comic peril and violence
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	November 26, 2014
Date Released to DVD:	March 16, 2015
Amazon.com ASIN:	B00SK573RU

The most adorable characters from the first three animated “Madagascar” movies were the penguins, the seldom right but never in doubt leader Skipper (Tom McGrath), the often right but never listened to Kowalski (Chris Miller), the literally explosive Rico (Conrad Vernon), and the ever-loyal Private (Christopher Knights). They spun off into their own television series and now they star in their first feature film, a sublimely silly spy farce that has them globe-hopping through exotic locations with a cosmopolitan spy (Benedict Cumberbatch) in pursuit of a dastardly villain known as Dr. Octavious Brine, aka Dave (John Malkovich). It is one of the best family films of the year.

First, we get the origin story, hilariously narrated in the inimitable voice of director/documentarian Werner Herzog. It is Antarctica, and a film crew led by a cartoon Herzog (who did make a movie in Antarctica, “Encounters at the End of the World”) is there to shoot the march of the penguins. But Skipper, Kowalski, and Rico step out of line to rescue an egg that is rolling away, and the decision to think for themselves and to opt for adventure and loyalty to the team over tradition and instinct — plus a more-than-healthy dose of boundless confidence and optimism soon has them floating away from the frozen South Pole and on their way to uncharted lands, or lands uncharted by any penguins anyway. The egg they have saved finally hatches, and while they are a bit distressed to find that the miracle of birth is messier than they thought, they are charmed by the tiny hatchling and especially by the way they imprint on him as the only family he has ever known.

We next see the penguins years later, following the events of Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted. They are on a mission to break into that most impenetrable of fortresses, Fort Knox, repository of the US Government’s store of gold. But their goal is not what we might think. And the outcome is not what they expect. They are kidnapped by an enormous purple octopus, brilliantly animated, with every tentacle and crooked tooth creating comic menace. His human identity is Dr. Octavius Brine, well-known geneticist, aficionado of fine cheeses, and regular contributor to NPR pledge drives. But inside that lab coat is his real persona, the evil purple octopus named…Dave.

Yeah, I know, not too scary, right? And that is just one of the immense frustrations Dave has to confront, which is why he has created the green, ominously glowing Medusa serum. No one knows what it does, but it looks pretty evil.

It turns out someone has been tracking Dr. Brine. An international organization of crack spies called the North Wind, led by a wolf so deep undercover his name is classified (so the Penguins call him Classified) is trying to find him. The North Wind and the penguins stop in Venice, Rio, Shanghai (which the penguins think is Ireland) and other world capitals, sometimes working together, sometimes trying to beat each other to Dave and the Medusa serum. It turns out that Dave’s motive is one that will ring very true to kids, especially those with adorable younger siblings.

But of course, all of this is just an excuse for a never-ending stream of jokes. My favorite is Dave’s disastrously non-threatening Skype call as he tries to figure out how to transmit sound and picture at the same time. “It’s like trying to call my parents,” Classified says impatiently. The break-in at Fort Knox is very funny as the penguins roll over to camouflage themselves on a black and white striped floor. And a running joke featuring puns on celebrity names is delivered with such understated dry humor that it never loses its charm. If, as they say in the theater, dying is easy but comedy is hard, silly comedy may be the hardest of all, but here it is done to perfection, one more item to add to the thanks list on this holiday weekend.

Parents should know that this film has brief potty humor, and some comic peril and action (no one hurt).

Family discussion: Why was Dave so jealous of the penguins? Why didn’t Classified want the penguins to help him?

If you like this, try: “Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted” and the television series “The Penguins of Madagascar”

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay

Posted on November 20, 2014 at 5:59 pm

B+

Lowest Recommended Age:	Middle School
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some disturbing images and thematic material
Profanity:	Mild language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	Intense peril and violence with hundreds of deaths, grisly scenes, torture
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	November 21, 2014
Date Released to DVD:	March 6, 2015
Amazon.com ASIN:	B00PYLT0OW

It seems no different at first. While the second in the “Hunger Games” series ended with the surprise last-minute rescue of heroine Katniss Everden (Jennifer Lawrence), and the even bigger surprise that insider Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman) was secretly helping to organize a rebellion against the fascist dictator President Snow (Donald Sutherland), we begin this first half of the final installment with Katniss gripped by anxiety and terror, listening to the voice of someone we cannot see, calling her “Miss Everdeen,” which sounds respectful, even deferential, but still delivering orders. Is this more of the same? Just another version of the world of Panem where the thinnest gloss of rhetoric about ideals and values is used to disguise the vilest abuse, corruption and even genocide.

No, this is District 13, thought to have been exterminated, but in reality literally driven underground, as much as 40 stories down, as they work to find a way to overthrow President Snow’s totalitarian regime. They are led by Alma Coin (a somber Julianne Moore), President of the rebel forces. Coin can be abrupt, but it is a manifestation of urgency and decisiveness, not dictatorship. Snow dresses in spotless white, surrounded by lush white roses, and the capital city of Panem is a riot of garish, decadent colors. District 13 is all in gray, looking a bit like Janet Jackson’s “Revolution” video, evoking its uniformity in dedication to its goal and seriousness of purpose. Coin is not cynical, but she is realistic, constantly establishing priorities, understanding the consequences but willing to pay the price.

Coin and Heavensbee believe Katniss is what they have been waiting for, a symbol who will communicate to the other districts that the time has come for rebellion. She is the Mockingjay, named for the distinctive birds creation through genetic manipulation mating with natural species. Katniss is a figure whose sacrifice and resilience lend her enormous national credibility. She was made into a celebrity by Snow through the original Hunger Games.

Now Coin wants to use that as a weapon against Snow’s regime. They try to make a “propo” (propaganda) video with CGI effects, but realize that Katniss is too honest to be effective unless she is telling the truth. So, they take her to see what has happened to her home community in District 12. It has been reduced to rubble, with an enormous pile of skeletons of those who died there. And so Katniss is able to produce the outrage and resolve Coin’s forces are looking for in the video.

Katniss agrees to serve as symbol, on condition that the rebel forces rescue the Hunger Games competitors who were left behind, and pardon them for whatever they have done. She believes Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) is dead, but then he appears on a televised broadcast hosted by Caesar Flickerman (Stanley Tucci), the game show emcee with the sepulchral smile. Her joy turns to horror as she hears him plead for her to stop any opposition to Snow. Has he been tortured? Does he know something she does not?

That seems more likely as the initial attempts at rebellion result in enormous losses, including the firebombing of a hospital. With support from Haymitch (Woody Harrelson), now reluctantly sober, and Effie (Elizabeth Banks), whose adjustment to live without wigs, make-up, and fashions that would make Lady Gaga say “too much” provides much of the film’s comic relief, Katniss struggles with PTSD and with the painful moral dilemmas of asking others to risk their lives for a cause that may be doomed.

The series is a respectful adaptation of the books, but its real strength is not the writing of Suzanne Collins but the performance of Jennifer Lawrence, who is to the film all that Katniss is to the rebellion and more. Once again, Katniss is the heart of the story and Jennifer Lawrence is the heart of the film. In a plot that has her devastated and horrified much of the time, she manages to give a performance that is moving but never an atom out of control. Her conviction and presence is what anchors the film and makes the wildest absurdities of the storyline work. While I am not in favor of splitting the book in two just to double the box office, this version skillfully finds a story arc that comes to a satisfying conclusion while making us eager to see what happens next.

Translation: Brutal dictatorship relying on military force, bombing (including bombing unarmed civilians), shooting, executions, hundreds injured and killed, disturbing images including wounded civilians and piles of skeletons, torture (off screen), some teen kisses

Family discussion: What made Katniss the best choice to symbolize the rebellion? Why was it necessary to have a symbol? Why did President Snow refuse to use the word “rebel?”

If you like this, try: the first two “Hunger Games” films and “The Maze Runner”

The Theory of Everything

Posted on November 13, 2014 at 5:31 pm

A-

Lowest Recommended Age:	High School
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG-13 for some thematic elements and suggestive material
Profanity:	Some mild language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Drinking, smoking
Violence/ Scariness:	Serious, debilitating illness, tense confrontations
Diversity Issues:	Disabled character
Date Released to Theaters:	November 14, 2014
Date Released to DVD:	February 16, 2015
Amazon.com ASIN:	B00QFSIIFK

We have seen many film biographies of great individuals (mostly men). But we have seen almost no films, fact-based or fictional, about great marriages. And we have certainly never seen any films about great marriages that end up with the couple married to other people. But that is what this is. It is the story of a “marriage of true minds,” an equal partnership in every way, with two very intelligent and committed people working as hard as they can to be the best they can for one another.

And they are portrayed by two people of enormous talent, with both Felicity Jones and Eddie Redmayne giving performances of enormous depth and understanding. Of course Redmayne has the showier, awards-bait role, and he is meticulous in Hawking’s physical decline. In his previous films like “Les Miserables” and “My Week With Marilyn,” Redmayne has shown a gift for the sensitive, doe-eyed young hero. But as Hawking, he shows a shrewdness and wit we have not seen from him before, even at the end, when Hawking has just one cheek muscle he can control. There is never a hint of stunt-ishness. It is always about the character whose mind is perhaps even freer to roam the farthest reaches of the universe and of human comprehension as his body is failing and he is completely physically dependant.

The luminous Jones matches him every bit of the way as Jane Hawking ages and as she grapples with finding a way to continue to relate to her husband as an adult and an equal while caring for him. She is also a scholar in her own right who wants to do her own work, while somehow caring for her children and her husband, an intellectual supernova who is becoming an icon.

The screenplay is based on the book by Jane Hawking, the first wife of the scientist many people think of as the greatest mind of our generation, the physicist Stephen Hawking, best known for his appearances on “The Big Bang Theory” and his mega-best-selling book for the lay audience, A Brief History of Time. (The book’s purported status as the most-bought but least-read best-seller has inspired the “Hawking Index.”) And so we get a rare glimpse into what it was like from the point of view of the “wife of.”

Jane met Stephen when they were both students. They had very little in common. He was studying physics. She was studying Spanish poetry. He was an atheist. She was a churchgoer and believer. He was disorganized, not socially adept or at least not interested in fitting in. She was a natural rule-follower and very comfortable in social situations. There was never anything conventional about their encounters or conversations.

And yet, they felt the kind of pull that is better described by poetry than physics, the kind that seems to mean that only the similarities matter. She smiles, “I like to time travel. Like you.”

And then Hawking is given the devastating diagnosis of motor neuron disease (ALS), with a life expectancy of perhaps two years of calamitous decline of all muscles. “Your thoughts won’t change,” he is told, “but eventually no one will know what they are.”

Hawking’s father warns Jane away. “This will not be a fight. This will be a heavy defeat for all of us.” But Jane is resolute. She is determined that they will get married and they will fight. They get married, with him leaning heavily on a cane. They have two children. And he loses muscular control, more every day. Each downward ratchet is wrenching, but ultimately he has to give up walking and move to a wheelchair as eventually he will have to give up speech and learn to operate a computer with one muscle in his cheek to have it speak for him. Adding insult to injury, it will be with an American accent.

In the meantime, he is transforming our understanding of the universe and our place in it, and then turning those theories upside down and starting over as he attempts to synthesize the two areas of physics into one simple, elegant, beautiful formula that will explain how it all fits together.

Screenwriter Anthony McCarten and director James Marsh (“Project Nim”) show deep understanding and extraordinary sensitivity in conveying with small, intimate details what is going on in this marriage. Hands reach casually across a dinner table while two of the people at the table watch, just a slight tightening of the muscles around the eyes or mouth revealing what it is like to see it be so easy for other people. They can love each other despite his awful knowledge of being a burden while resenting the healthy. And despite her equally awful knowledge of his humiliation in being a burden. We see the combined beauty and soul-destroying relentlessness of being a caretaker.

They try to keep relating to each other as a couple, not as patient and nurse. They have another baby. That is joyous but it is more work and more of a reminder of how little he can do as a parent. He is in many respects more dependent than the children. And Jane is exhausted.

Jane’s mother (Emily Watson) has some advice. She tells Jane to sing in the church choir. “That is the most English thing anyone has ever said,” Jane replies, but she goes, and as soon as we see the handsome young choir leader, just widowed, (Charlie Cox of “Stardust” as Jonathan), we know there is going to be trouble. Jonathan, at a loss in his grief, offers to be of help to the family. He is kind and understanding but he is also healthy and in a beautifully poignant scene at the beach, he runs with the children while Hawking’s wheelchair sinks into the wet sand.

Jonathan and Jane develop feelings for each other. Hawking and his new nurse Elaine (Maxine Peake) develop feelings for each other. Perhaps it is because she never sees him as less than a version of himself that is long gone. Perhaps it is just that he wants Jane to have a chance to be with a healthy man. Perhaps he knows that there is some parallel universe where they are living happily ever after. I’d like to think so.

Parents should know that this is a sad movie about a family dealing with a very serious disease. There are some sexual references.

Family discussion: Why did Stephen chose that moment to talk about God to Jane? Why was it important to her?

If you like this, try: “A Beautiful Mind”

Big Hero 6

Posted on November 6, 2014 at 5:59 pm

B+

Lowest Recommended Age:	Kindergarten - 3rd Grade
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG for action and peril, some rude humor, and thematic elements
Profanity:	None
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	Cartoon-style peril and violence, sad death, grieving parent becomes destructive
Diversity Issues:	Diverse characters
Date Released to Theaters:	November 7, 2014
Date Released to DVD:	February 23, 2015
Amazon.com ASIN:	B00O4ZC57

Hiro (Ryan Potter) is a super-smart kid who likes to hustle underground robot fighters with his deceptively cute-looking little bot. He has no interest in going to school until the older brother he adores (Daniel Henney as Tadashi) brings him to the robot lab at the university he attends. When Hiro sees all of the lovable nerds (and one non-nerdy slacker named Fred who dresses as the school mascot) making awesomely cool creations, he gets very excited about joining them. He has to invent something spectacular to get admitted, and so he gets to work and comes up with something extraordinary, a system of tiny bots who can form themselves into almost anything.

But then Tadeshi is killed trying to rescue his professor from a fire. Hiro is devastated. The brothers were orphans. While their aunt (Maya Rudolph) does her best, Hiro and Tadeshi were all that was left of their family, and now Hiro is devastated at being alone. He refuses to go anywhere or talk to anyone.

But Tadeshi left someone behind. It turns out he was working on developing a robot called Baymax, designed to be a kind, reassuring, gentle healer. Baymax is equipped with extensive diagnostic and treatment capacity but his look is intended to be non-threatening. He looks like a big, white balloon, or, as one character says, like a marshmallow man. He is as far from a weapon or fighter as it is possible to be. But when Hiro and the robotics nerds find out that Hiro’s invention has been stolen and will be used for destructive purposes, they get together to use their skills, their courage, and, most of all, their sense of what is right to save the day.

The film, loosely inspired by Marvel’s comic book, is filled with engaging characters and imaginative touches. The setting is “San Fransokyo,” a California/Japan mash-up that seems familiar and real but also intriguingly foreign. It is a pleasure to see Disney’s most diverse set of protagonists ever, race, gender, and even economic. The bending of stereotypes is done with an effortless flair. And it is great to see a movie for the family that acknowledges the fun and excitement of being smart and working hard. We get a lot of movies for kids about the importance of friends and family, following your dreams, and being yourself, and all of that is here, too. But we don’t get many about solving problems through study and experimentation. It’s very nice to see a film that recognizes that it is cool to be smart.

NOTE: Please stay all the way through the credits for an extra scene that is a lot of fun, especially if you are a Marvel fan. And be sure to get there on time as the Oscar-nominated pre-feature short film “Feast,” about a hungry puppy, is completely charming, hilarious, and sweet.

Parents should know that this film includes cartoon-style action, peril, and violence, very sad sibling death (off-camera), other characters apparently killed, grieving parent who becomes destructive, and brief potty humor.

Family discussion: What kind of robot would you like to build? Which of the characters is most like you?

If you like this, try: “The Iron Giant,” “Wreck-It Ralph,” and “Bolt”

The Book of Life

Posted on October 16, 2014 at 5:56 pm

A-

Lowest Recommended Age:	Kindergarten - 3rd Grade
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG for mild action, rude humor, some thematic elements and brief scary images
Profanity:	Some mild language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	Themes of death and afterlife with some scary images of skeletons and desolation, peril including bull fights and snake bite, violence including sword fights and outlaws
Diversity Issues:	Diverse characters
Date Released to Theaters:	October 17, 2014
Date Released to DVD:	January 26, 2015
Amazon.com ASIN:	B00Q599952

Copyright 2014 Twentieth Century Fox Animation

Jorge Gutierrez (Nickelodeon’s “El Tigre”) is co-writer and director of a dazzling new animated film that all but explodes off the screen in a kaleidoscope of color and energy and a love of life and storytelling and colorful characters and fantastic adventures. It is filled with the richness of love and passion and life and death and music and bullfighting and courage and family. It is a refreshing new aesthetic, inspired by Mexican folklore, with many of the characters looking as though they were carved from wood — not by trained experts and not recently. It has great songs and stunning images, covers of songs by artists from Elvis to Mumford and Sons, with a sweet new duet from Us the Duo. Plus, there is a sensational and wonderfully varied voice cast that includes Ice Cube (superbly funny and warm-hearted), Cheech Marin, Placido Domingo, and Anjelah Johnson-Reyes (“Bon Qui Qui”).

And it is very funny and a lot of fun.

Even the opening logo for 20th Century Fox has been transformed, letting us know right from the start that we are in another world, or maybe three of them.

A museum guide tells a school group the story, which begins with a wager. The afterlife has two parts: The Land of the Remembered, ruled by La Muerte (Kate del Castillo), where the newly dead are joyfully reunited with their families, and all is celebration, and The Land of the Forgotten, ruled by Xibalba (Ron Perlman of “Sons of Anarchy”), a bleak landscape where souls who are no longer cherished by the living are isolated and afraid. The two rulers make a bet over which of two boys will win the heart of the girl they both love. The winner will get to rule the Land of the Remembered.

The children grow up. Xibalba’s candidate is Joaquin (Channing Tatum), who has become a brave soldier with a chest full of medals. One he never lets anyone see was given to him by Xibalba, who is not above cheating to win the bet. It gives whoever carries it courage and invulnerability.

La Muerte is rooting for Manolo (Diego Luna), who is studying to be a bullfighter like his father and all the other men in their family, but whose real passion is for music. Both are still in love with Maria (Zoe Saldana), just returned from her studies in Spain. Maria’s father favors Joaquin, who can protect the town from the evil, predatory bandit Chacal (Dan Navarro). But Maria’s heart is touched by the romantic Manolo, even after his first attempt to serenade her turns into a disaster (hint: never let your companeros persuade you that the songs of either Biz Markie or Rod Stewart are romantic). When it looks like he will lose the bet, Xibalba cheats again, sending a poisonous snake to bite Maria and Manolo.

Manolo is killed, and finds himself in the Land of the Remembered, where he is happy to see his mother and many other relatives. But to get back to Maria, he will need to cross through the Land of the Forgotten. He meets the candle-maker (a warm and very funny Ice Cube) and a monstrous bull composed of all the bulls Manolo’s family has ever killed, makes a daring wager of his own before he gets back just in time for the arrival of Chacal.

It may seem thickly plotted at times, but that is all part of the Carnivale sensibility. And the cavalcade of incidents and characters, both living and dead, is reassuring in its matter-of-fact approach, reminding us that it is all a part of the book of life, and that we can never lose what or who we truly love.

Parents should know that this film includes Day of the Dead-inspired images with skeletons and afterlife settings, characters in peril and some violence, sad deaths of parents and grandparent (reunited in afterlife), some scary monsters and villains, brief potty humor and some mild language

Family discussion: How can you tell when you follow your parents’ advice and when to do what feels right to you? What is the best way to make sure we remember the people who are no longer with us?

If you like this, try: “The Princess and the Cobbler” and “Rio” and the documentary “Walt and El Groupo,” about the real-life trip Walt Disney and his animators took to South America and how it transformed the look of Disney animation.