Steven Spielberg's "War House" Presented to Veterans

DreamWorks Pictures Invites Veterans to Advance Screenings of Steven Spielberg’s “War Horse”

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In honor of Veterans Day, DreamWorks Pictures has contacted select veterans organizations in 50 cities across the U.S. to extend a special invitation for veterans to attend one of the advance screenings of Steven Spielberg’s epic adventure "War Horse." The feature film, which opens in theatres in the U.S. on December 25th, is a tale of loyalty, hope and tenacity set against a sweeping canvas of rural England and Europe during the First World War. Based on the best-selling book by Michael Morpurgo and the Tony Award®–winning stage play by Nick Stafford, “War Horse” is one of the great stories of bravery and friendship, brought to the screen by one of the greatest directors in film history.

Veterans groups interested in attending are invited to e-mail warhorseveteransinvite@yahoo.com and include the name of their nearest city for further information on screening dates, times and locations in their vicinity.

DreamWorks Pictures’ “War Horse” begins with the remarkable friendship between a horse named Joey and a young man called Albert, who tames and trains him. When they are forcefully parted, the film follows the extraordinary journey of the horse as he moves through the war, changing and inspiring the lives of all those he meets—British cavalry, German soldiers, and a French farmer and his granddaughter—before the story reaches its emotional climax in the heart of No Man’s Land. The First World War is experienced through the journey of this horse—an odyssey of joy and sorrow, passionate friendship and high adventure.

“War Horse” stars Emily Watson, David Thewlis, Peter Mullan, Niels Arestrup, Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Irvine, Benedict Cumberbatch and Toby Kebbell. It is produced by Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, and executive producers are Frank Marshall and Revel Guest. The screenplay was written by Lee Hall and Richard Curtis and is based on the book by Michael Morpurgo and the international hit stage play by Nick Stafford, originally produced by the National Theatre of Great Britain and directed by Tom Morris and Marianne Elliot.

Review: Everyone Kills It in "Horrible Bosses"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 93 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux

Horrible Bosses (2011)
Running time: 98 minutes (1 hour, 38 minutes)
MPAA – R for crude and sexual content, pervasive language and some drug material
DIRECTOR: Seth Gordon
WRITERS: Michael Markowitz and John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein; from a story by Michael Markowitz
PRODUCERS: Brett Ratner and Jay Stern
CINEMATOGRAPHER: David Hennings (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Peter Teschner

COMEDY/CRIME

Starring: Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, Charlie Day, Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Aniston, Colin Farrell, Lindsay Sloane, Julie Bowen, P.J. Byrne, Donald Sutherland, and Jamie Foxx, Ioan Gruffud, Isaiah Mustafa, Wendell Pierce, and Ron White

Horrible Bosses is a 2011 crime comedy and is the story of three friends who plot to murder the three horrible bosses that make their lives hell. A black comedy because it deals with dark subject matter in an entirely humorous context, Horrible Bosses is one of the year’s funniest movies. As soon as I finished watching it, I wanted to watch it again.

For months, Nick Hendricks (Jason Bateman) practically worked day and night at his job in order to appease his boss, Dave Harken (Kevin Spacey), for a promotion Harken never intended on giving Nick. Harken is a “total fucking asshole.” Dale Arbus (Charlie Day) is a dental assistant who is constantly being grossly sexually harassed by his boss, dentist Dr. Julia Harris (Jennifer Anniston). Harris is an “evil crazy bitch.” An accountant at Pellitt Chemicals, Kurt Buckman (Jason Sudeikis) loves his boss, Jack Pellitt (Donald Sutherland). Then, Jack is replaced by his son, Bobby Pellitt (Colin Farrell), who wants to drain the company of cash that he can spend of hookers and drugs. Bobby is the “dipshit cokehead son.”

One night, over drinks, the three decide to kill their bosses. In search of a hit man, the trio meets Dean “Motherfucker” Jones (Jamie Foxx), who suggests that Nick, Dale, and Kurt kill each other’s bosses to hide their motives while making the deaths look like accidents. The friends discover, however, that killing is harder than they thought. Then, they get unexpected help.

Six years passed between when Horrible Bosses began development and when it finally became a movie. A lot of actors were considered for the various roles, but the filmmakers should consider themselves lucky that things worked out the way they did. The actors who got the roles came together to form a cast that is magic. This gleefully wicked comedy is the result of heaven sent screen chemistry. Everyone is strong, but if I had to choose a standout, it would be Charlie Day as Dale Arbus. Day is a scene stealer and Dale Arbus is a lovable good guy who is funny when he is flustered. Day’s performance turns every scene in which Dale appears – even the most depraved ones – into a comedy gold. Day gives Dale a madness that sparks this film to the next level, so that Horrible Bosses is not just raunchy or just another slob comedy. It is glorious black comedy that stands with the best of them.

Director Seth Gordon gets credit for keeping the actors’ improvisation from going rogue and ruining the film’s pace. Gordon (Four Christmases) is quickly proving himself to be a master of raucous, cheerfully irreverent, non-politically correct comedies. And Horrible Bosses is a masterpiece of incorrectness.

8 of 10
A

Friday, November 11, 2011

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Review: "Blood Diamond" Has Strong Leads in DiCaprio and Hounsou (Happy B'day, Leonardo DiCaprio)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 67 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux


Blood Diamond (2006)
Running time: 143 minutes (2 hours, 23 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong violence and language
DIRECTOR: Edward Zwick
WRITERS: Charles Leavitt; from a story by C. Gaby Mitchell and Charles Leavitt
PRODUCERS: Edward Zwick, Marshall, Herskovitz, Paula Weinstein, Graham King, and Gillian Gorfil
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Eduardo Serra (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Steven Rosenblum
2007 Academy Award nominee

ACTION/DRAMA/WAR

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly, Djimon Hounsou, Michael Sheen, Arnold Vosloo, David Harewood, Basil Wallace, Ntare Mwine, Jimi Mistry, and Kagiso Kuypers

Set during Sierra Leone’s bloody civil war in 1999, director Edward Zwick’s Blood Diamond blends challenging themes, social awareness, and riveting entertainment into a rip-roaring story about two different African men on a common quest. Along the way, Zwick creates a lovely thriller out of the devastating chaos of civil war in a Third World country.

While imprisoned, Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio), an ex-mercenary from Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) turned diamond smuggler, discovers that fellow inmate Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou) may have found a large, rare pink diamond. Rebels had taken Solomon from his family and forced him to work in their diamond fields where he found the extraordinary gem. Solomon hid the diamond in hopes of retrieving it and using it to help his family escape their war torn country. Now, Solomon will also have to find the diamond to save his son, Dia (Kagiso Kuypers), who was taken by rebels and brainwashed into becoming a murderous child soldier.

Enter idealistic American journalist Maddy Bowen (Jennifer Connelly), in Sierra Leone to uncover the truth about conflict diamonds – diamonds used to finance war. Archer and Solomon have formed a reluctant partnership, with the former guiding the latter back to the buried diamond. Maddy uses her journalistic credentials to help the duo embark on a dangerous track through rebel held territory, although each member of this intrepid trio has his or her own agenda. Maddy wants the journalistic expose. Danny wants the diamond that will help him to finally leave Africa. Solomon is seeking something far more precious – his son.

Zwick turns in one of the top directorial efforts of 2006. He dresses his powerful polemic into a breathtakingly handsome travelogue through Africa, whose striking beauty is marred by horrific and mind-numbing violence. He creates a drama as engaging as any other about civil war, but Zwick makes it into an international social cause – to close the market for conflict diamonds. Zwick grabs the viewer by the heart with his gut-wrenching action and explosive violence. Then, he squeezes your heart to wring out the tears at the sight of such misery and despair and also at the sight of such devotion and kindness amidst the cruelty.

It helps that Zwick has a fine screenplay and story that is of the same epic proportions at just under two-and-a-half hours as a movie over three hours long. And the characters are so rich and well formed that even the script’s preachy dialogue that tends to show up sounds so much better coming out of the mouths of highly skilled actors. The cast brings a stunning sense of authenticity to the roles. For some of them, I could almost believe that they are the characters in the film.

Right now, I’m having a hard time believing that Leonardo DiCaprio has ever been better. He takes the whole cloth of the screenplay and creates in Danny Archer a real, living and breathing person. To hell with those who say that his white African dialect was weird. It sounds so real coming from him. He is Danny Archer; it’s in every word he says, every move he makes, and even in his eyes.

Djimon Hounsou isn’t very far behind. He is rapidly revealing that he is a great dramatic actor with the kind of power and stage presence for which we’ve usually only credit British actors of the Shakespearean stage of having. Hounsou is magnificent. I could make a movie just with him… on a stage empty of props and sets. Jennifer Connelly starts off rough, but her performance grows into the film just as Maddy Bowen starts to really feel Africa.

It’s great that Blood Diamond will make people aware of conflict diamonds, but the drama is so good that the film’s social conscious gets lost behind the beautiful fiction and sweeping storytelling. Blood Diamond is that thing for which movie lovers hope when they go to the theatre – a film with winning characters, a magnificent setting, and a great story. What more is there to say? It’s all on screen.

10 of 10

NOTES:
2007 Academy Awards: 5 nominations: “Best performance by an actor in a leading role” (Leonardo DiCaprio), “Best performance by an actor in a supporting role” (Djimon Hounsou), “Best achievement in editing” (Steven Rosenblum), “Best achievement in sound editing” (Lon Bender), and “Best achievement in sound mixing” (Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer, and Ivan Sharrock)

2007 Golden Globes: 1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Leonardo DiCaprio)

2007 Black Reel Awards: 1 win: “Best Supporting Actor” (Djimon Hounsou)

2007 Image Awards: 1 win: “Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture” (Djimon Hounsou); 1 nomination: “Outstanding Motion Picture”

Monday, April 23, 2007

"Happy Feet Two" Soundtrack Due in Stores November 22

HAPPY FEET TWO: ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK to Be Released November 22

Features New Performances by P!nk, Janelle Monáe, Lil P-Nut, Robin Williams and More

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--WaterTower Music will release the HAPPY FEET TWO: ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK on November 22nd. The 23-song album features “Bridge Of Light” – a brand new song from P!nk - along with several new versions of familiar hits performed by Janelle Monáe, Lil P-Nut, Robin Williams, Common, and Hank Azaria, among others. It also includes several tracks by Academy® and Grammy Award Nominee John Powell. The soundtrack, over 70 minutes in length, will be available both digitally and on CD.

An extraordinary, never-before-heard medley opens the soundtrack. Featuring vocals by P!nk, Common, Lil P-Nut and the Happy Feet Two Chorus, it is comprised of unique versions of such songs as “Rhythm Nation,” “(Dance And Shout) Shake Your Body Down To The Ground,” “Mama Said Knock You Out,” “Shake It Fast,” “Ain’t Nobody (Loves Me Better),” and “Do Your Thing.”

HAPPY FEET TWO: ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK will be available November 22nd. The track listing is as follows:

Happy Feet Two Opening Medley - P!nk, Common, Lil P-Nut and Happy Feet Two Chorus
The Mighty Sven - Robin Williams, Hank Azaria and Happy Feet Two Chorus
Bridge Of Light - P!nk and Happy Feet Two Chorus
Papa Oom Mow Mow - Happy Feet Two Chorus
Dragostea Din Tei - Hank Azaria and Happy Feet Two Chorus
Erik’s Opera - Omar Crook and EG Daily
Rawhide - Elephant Seal Chorus
Under Pressure / Rhythm Nation - P!nk and Happy Feet Two Chorus
Tightrope (Ice Cold Mix) - Janelle Monáe featuring Lil P-Nut and Happy Feet Two Chorus

In The Hole - John Powell
Ramon And The Krill - John Powell
Lovelace Preshow - (feat. Judith Hill) John Powell
Searching For The Kids - John Powell
The Doomberg Lands - John Powell
I Don’t Back Up - John Powell
Trapped In Emperor Land - John Powell
Skua Attack/Adelie Rescue - John Powell
Dinner A La Sven John Powell
We Are The Champions - John Powell
Snow Stops Play - (featuring Steven Pence) John Powell
No Fly Zone - John Powell
Krill Joy - John Powell
Tappin’ To Freedom - John Powell

Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Village Roadshow Pictures’ “Happy Feet Two,” the sequel to the Oscar®-winning hit, opens nationwide on November 18, 2011. The film is directed by George Miller and features the voices of Elijah Wood, Robin Williams, Hank Azaria, Alecia Moore (P!nk), Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Sofia Vergara, Common, Hugo Weaving, Richard Carter, Magda Szubanski, Anthony LaPaglia and Benjamin “Lil P-Nut” Flores, Jr.

Review: "City of God" is a Stunner (Happy B'day, Fernando Meirelles)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 97 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Cidade de Deus (2002)
English title: City of God (2003)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Brazil; Language: Portuguese
Running time: 130 minutes (2 hours, 10 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong brutal violence, sexuality, drug content and language
DIRECTORS: Fernando Meirelles with Kátia Lund
WRITERS: Bráulio Mantovani (from a novel by Paulo Lins)
PRODUCERS: Andrea Barata Ribeiro and Mauricio Andrade Ramos
CINEMATOGRAPHER: César Charlone
EDITOR: Daniel Rezende
COMPOSERS: Ed Cortês and Antonio Pinto
Academy Award nominee

CRIME with elements of drama and thriller

Starring: Alexandre Rodrigues, Leandro Firmino da Hora, Phellipe Haagensen, Douglas Silva, Jonathan Haagensen, Matheus Nachtergaele, Seu Jorge, Alice Braga, and Luis Otávio

At the 2003 Cannes Film Festival, Miramax picked up the American distribution rights to Brazilian filmmaker Fernando Meirelles’ blistering 2002 film Cidade de Deus. The film went on to earn four Academy Award nominations, including one for Meirelles’ direction although the Academy decided that his co-director Kátia Lund had not contributed anything substantial to the filmmaking narrative and did not also recognize her with a nomination.

Released under the English title City of God, the film covers a period of roughly 15 years from the late 1960 to the early 1980’s in the Cidade de Deus housing projects in Rio de Janeiro. A boy named Rocket (Luis Otávio) watches as his older brother and other neighborhood youths get involved in crime, especially the drug trade. Before long many of them, including Rocket’s brother are dead. Years later, an older Rocket (Alexandre Rodrigues) is struggling to become a news photographer, while an old associate, Li’l Ze (Leandro Firmino da Hora), rules the drug trade in most of Cidade de Deus, but he’s running up against an old rival, which leads to a long and bloody street war.

Brutal and unflinching, City of God may draw comparisons to Pulp Fiction, but the former is shot in a raw documentary style that mixes music video style editing and long contemplative shots. When I say brutal and unflinching, I mean it, although this film isn’t as hard to watch as the D-Day landing in Saving Private Ryan. Still, the violence, despair, horror, cynicism, selfishness, betrayal, and poverty are hard to take. The miracle of this darkness is that Meirelles often makes it so alluring, not in that sort of glossy Hollywood way, but in a way that could make you feel that this is real and not some movie fantasy. The thing that most impressed me is how Meirelles is so able to create a sense of impending, sudden, and brutal violence in even the most benign scenes and settings. That goes a long way into creating verisimilitude – in making the film’s setting seem so real, and the drama so visceral and potent.

Based upon a true story, this film is so unlike anything else. Hell, it’s a film where even the “heroes” are sociopath, or at least seem so. For lovers of cinema, this is a film not to be missed. Beyond opinions about the subject matter, director Meirelles’ effort is one of the top directorial feats of the last few years, in particular when one accounts for the fact that he used so many amateur actors and was still able to stay true to the drama.

9 of 10
A+

NOTES:
2004 Academy Awards: 4 nominations: “Best Director” (Fernando Meirelles), “Best Cinematography” (César Charlone), “Best Film Editing” (Daniel Rezende), and “Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay” (Bráulio Mantovani)

2003 BAFTA Awards: 1 win: “Best Editing” (Daniel Rezende); 1 nomination: “Best Film not in the English Language” (Andrea Barata Ribeiro, Mauricio Andrade Ramos, and Fernando Meirelles)

2003 Golden Globes: 1 nomination: “Best Foreign Language Film” (Brazil)

2004 Black Reel Awards: 1 win: “Black Reel Special Achievement - Foreign Film” (Miramax Films)

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Review: "Meet the Robinsons" is a Heartfelt Gem

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 140 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux

Meet the Robinsons (2007) – computer animated
Running time: 95 minutes (1 hour, 35 minutes)
MPAA – G
DIRECTOR: Stephen J. Anderson
WRITERS: Stephen J. Anderson, Michelle Bochner, Jon Bernstein, Nathan Greno, Don Hall, Joe Mateo, and Aurian Redson; with story material from Robert L. Baird, Daniel Gerson, and Shirley Pierce; (based on A Day with Wilbur Robinson by William Joyce)
PRODUCER: Dorothy McKim

ANIMATION/SCI-FI/COMEDY/ACTION/FAMILY

Starring: (voices) Daniel Hansen, Angela Bassett, Jordan Fry, Tom Selleck, Harland Williams, Laurie Metcalf, Adam West, Ethan Sandler, Tom Kenney, and Matthew Josten

Meet the Robinsons, a Walt Disney Feature Animation digital 3-D animation film, focuses on a boy genius named Lewis. His love of gadgets and gizmos takes him on a trip to the future and reveals to him great secrets about his past and about his own limitless potential.

Lewis (Daniel Hansen and Jordan Fry) is a brilliant preteen inventor, but he’s also an orphan. He’s been living at the 6th Street Orphanage under the guardianship of its sweet and patient caretaker, Mildred (Angela Bassett), ever since she found him on her doorstep as an infant. Rejected by most prospective adoptive parents, Lewis decides to invent the “memory scanner” to retrieve his earliest recollections and hopefully see his birth mother. Lewis presents his invention as his school’s science fair where it is a disaster – mostly because of sabotage on the part of the villainous Bowler Hat Guy (Ethan Sandler), who steals the machine.

Lewis is ready to give up on the quest for his birth mother when he meets a mysterious teenager, Wilbur Robinson (Wesley Singerman), who like the Bowler Hat Guy, is from the future. Wilbur whisks Lewis to the future in his father’s time machine/jet car. Wilbur is desperate to get Lewis to help him retrieve his father’s second time machine, which was stolen by the Bowler Hat Guy. However, when Lewis meets the Robinsons, Wilbur’s large and extended eccentric family, he discovers that, much to his delight, they are ready to adopt him. But if Lewis doesn’t stop Bowler Hat Guy, everyone’s future may turn out to be very dark indeed.

Meet the Robinson’s theme is “keep moving forward,” which is taken from a quote by the late Walt Disney himself, and the filmmakers stay true to “keep moving forward” in terms of the characters. Don’t let the past drag you down, and don’t be bitter about failure because failure is a better teacher than success, the film practically yells out. The writers deal with some pretty serious subject matter in terms of what it means to be a family and also what it means to accept personal blame for failure rather than blaming someone else.

In terms of the film’s visuals and production design, Meet the Robinsons looks way back into the past for inspiration. The futurism of the industrial design movement of the 1930’s and 40’s is present, as well as art deco (which was inspired by futurism). “Streamline Moderne, which was a 1930’s architectural style and Walt Disney’s “Tomorrowland,” join to create a heady, invigorating mix of the retro sci-fi cool and cartoon futuristic. This goes well with what Lewis uses to create his inventions: scrap, spare parts, household items, and odds-and-ends. Think “The Jetsons” meets “Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius.”

The computer (or 3D) animation, however, is highly suspect. There are times when some of it seems to disappear in a glare of white light, or the camera shifts and the entire 3D environment becomes two-dimensional. It’s simply bad lighting and poor environmental building (perhaps because of software and/or hardware issues). It is sometimes embarrassingly shoddy animation work from Disney, a company that has a legacy of delivering exceptional animation, even when the story is mediocre.

However, the truth is that while viewers may come to the film looking for 3D animation, they’ll end up staying for the story. Luckily, Meet the Robinson’s messages of family bonds and of never letting failure be a crippling setback make this visually imaginative film a poignant gem that might bring at least one tear to your eye.

7 of 10
B+

Saturday, December 08, 2007

Review: "Chicken Little" Has Big Action

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 169 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux


Chicken Little (2005) – computer animated
Running time: 81 minutes (1 hour, 21 minutes)
MPAA – G
DIRECTOR: Mark Dindal
WRITERS: Steve Bencich and Ron J. Friedman and Ron Anderson; from a story by Mark Kennedy and Mark Dindal (with additional story material by Robert L. Baird and Dan Gerson)
PRODUCER: Randy Fullmer
EDITOR: Dan Molina

ANIMATION/SCI-FI/FANTASY and COMEDY/ACTION/FAMILY

Starring: (voices) Zach Braff, Garry Marshall, Steve Zahn, Joan Cusack, Don Knotts, Patrick Stewart, Amy Sedaris, Harry Shearer, Wallace Shawn, Fred Willard, Catherine O’Hara, Adam West, Patrick Warburton, Mark Dindal, and Dan Molina

One day a piece of the sky falls to earth and hits Chicken Little (Zach Braff) on the head. The sky is falling her warns, but the townsfolk of Oakey Oaks, including his father, Buck Cluck (Garry Marshall), conclude that an acorn hit the boy chick on the head. The incident swiftly turns Chicken Little into the town joke and embarrasses his father. However, the plucky chicken joins the local baseball team with the hopes of reviving his reputation and earning his father’s respect. Chicken Little does indeed lead the team to an upset victory, and he and his pops are on good terms again.

All is well, but another “piece of the sky” hits Chicken Little on the head. Still, he’s reluctant to cause another scene and once again be labeled crazy. Instead, he enlists the help of his friends: Abby Mallard (Joan Cusack), who is also known as the Ugly Duckling because she is so… unpretty; Runt of the Litter (Steve Zahn), a tall, obese pig; and Fish Out of Water (“voice” created by film editor Dan Molina), a fish who wears a water-filled helmet, and the gang embark on an adventure to stop an alien invasion without sending the town into another panic.

Walt Disney’s Chicken Little, of course, spoofs of 17th century, rural English fable, “Chicken Little.” Disney’s new film is also their first fully computer animated film (2000’s Dinosaur combined computer generated characters with live-action background imagery), and also signals the famed movie company’s move away from hand-drawn (2D) animation to computer animated (3D) animation. Clearly aimed at children 12 and under, Chicken Little is filled with clever gags. The script is a hodge podge of sketch comedy, after school special storylines, and the kind of family psychology that would find its way on the “Dr. Phil” and “Oprah.”

The script is Chicken Little’s big problem. The animation is fine, sometimes even outstanding. There are a few moments when it has the quality of the first Shrek, but there are also times when it has the texture and quality of Disney/Pixar’s The Incredibles. However, the film is basically pretty pictures over an ugly story. The script bludgeons the audience with the notion that at this movie’s heart (which it doesn’t have) is the story of a father and son coming together. The father, in this case, Buck Cluck, must learn to accept his son’s physical shortcomings and love him for the plucky fella he is. But unlike Finding Nemo, where the parent/child dynamic seemed so natural, Chicken Little takes that relationship and drapes a cheesy action movie cartoon for children over it.

Chicken Little looks, feels, and sounds like the kind of action movies that have been so popular over the last decade, but tamed for children. Anyone who has seen Independence Day will recognize it in this flick. Chicken Little’s setting, Oakey Oaks, is the same old idealized Midwestern small town that Hollywood has been shoving at audiences for decades. That place is a fairy tale really, but it’s a good setting for War of the Worlds, which is another source reference for this flick. Chicken Little is as noisy and/or as busy as The Rock, Armageddon, Bad Boys II, etc. This is director Mark Dindal’s (The Emperor’s New Groove) Steven Spielberg/Michael Bay movie.

Chicken Little, as voiced by Zach Braff, is actually an endearing character – this movie’s saving grace, in fact. The character itself is a cutey, sort of a riff on “Egghead, Jr.” from those “Foghorn Leghorn” Looney Tunes cartoons. He’s a plucky little fella and the animators lovingly rendered and animated him.

The rest of the cast is mostly trash. The characters aren’t really characters so much as they are stereotypes that get to do stand up routines at different times in the film narrative. I immensely disliked Abby Mallard – nothing more to say about it here – and Runt of the Litter is pathetic. Steve Zahn can play quirky characters whose humor comes through even in crime dramas (Out of Sight), but his comedic gifts are lost because we don’t him here; all we get is his voice in the annoying Runt. Fish Out of Water provides nice slapstick, but the jokes come across as desperation on the writers’ parts. Garry Marshall’s Brooklyn accent is out of place in this film, and as a father, Buck Cluck is like an overbearing mother in his demands on his son, Chicken Little.

I guess the shortest and perhaps best way to describe Disney’s Chicken Little is as Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius with much better computer animation.

4 of 10
C

Saturday, November 5, 2005