31 Days of Halloween 2019: Daphne & Velma

[Once again I'm going to attempt to do a horror(ish) movie review a day for the entire month of October. I've done this the last few years on The Cleveland Movie Blog. Most of the time I succeeded. Other times I didn't. We'll see if I can pull it off this year.] 

Review by Bob Ignizio

I’m not sure if I should call it a reboot, an update, a prequel, or a spin-off. Whatever you call it, DAPHNE & VELMA is another installment of the Scooby Doo franchise, live action division. And since continuity has never really been a major component of the adventures of Scooby and his mystery solving pals whatever their format, it doesn’t make too much of a difference.

Anyway, as the title implies, DAPHNE & VELMA focuses on the ladies of the Scooby gang. The film begins with teenage Daphne (Sarah Jeffery) posting videos about aliens and the paranormal. Velma  (Sarah Gilman) has a more skeptical viewpoint, and comments on Daphne’s vids that everything has a logical explanation. Despite their different points of view, the two consider each other good friends, even if they’ve never actually met.

31 Days of Halloween 2019: Howard Lovecraft and the Frozen Kingdom

[Once again I'm going to attempt to do a horror(ish) movie review a day for the entire month of October. I've done this the last few years on The Cleveland Movie Blog. Most of the time I succeeded. Other times I didn't. We'll see if I can pull it off this year.] 

Review by Bob Ignizio

Using the writings and personal biography of horror/science fiction author H.P. Lovecraft as the inspiration for an animated kid flick is an odd, but intriguing premise. And having a young son who shares my interest in the horror genre, HOWARD LOVECRAFT AND THE FROZEN KINGDOM seemed like a potentially good way to introduce the boy to Lovecraft’s bizarre creations.

The film begins with Howard Lovecraft (Kiefer O'Reilly) wanting to help his father recover his sanity so he can come back home to his family. To this end, he reads from the Necronomicon (never a good idea, as anyone familiar with Lovecraft’s stories is aware) and finds himself transported to the frozen land of R’lyeh. R’lyeh is populated by strange beings including a winged, tentacle-faced monstrosity Howard befriends and names “Spot” (Sean Patrick O’Reiley).

Movie Review: 'Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole'

They may look cute, but the owls in The Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole engage in some decidedly un-cuddly behavior.  In fact, there's very little in the way of light-hearted anthropomorphic animal hi-jinks here.  Instead we get kidnappings, brainwashing, daring escapes, and epic battles between good and evil.  Nothing wrong with that in and of itself, but parents may want to consider whether their young ones are ready for such intense fare. 

For slightly older kids and the adults accompanying them, this is fairly standard-issue heroic adventure stuff.  The plot sets owl brother against owl brother.  Soren (voiced by Jim Sturgess) gathers together a group of unlikely allies and learns how to “use his gizzard” (the owl equivalent of the force) from the wise old Ezylryb (voiced by Geoffrey Rush).  His brother Kludd (voiced by Ryan Kwanten) joins forces with The Pure Ones, a group of racist owls led by Nyra (voiced by Helen Mirren) and Metalbeak (voiced by Joel Edgerton).  And so the stage is set for the inevitable confrontation between good and evil.

The plot may be a bit familiar, but it's refreshing that the film doesn't overly sanitize it's feathered protagonists, allowing them to be the mouse-munching predators they are in real life.   Also praiseworthy is the way it tackles some fairly strong themes about how war and violence shouldn't be viewed as heroic; but rather as regrettable, if sometimes necessary, evils.  Of course a lot of that gets undermined by Director Zack Snyder (300, The Watchmen), who shoots the battle scenes like violent eye candy.  Essentially, the script has one point of view, the visuals have another, and no one seemed to feel it was necessary to reconcile the two.

Still, if nothing else Snyder knows how to make a visually stunning movie.  If you've seen a few CG kiddie flicks, you know they all look pretty much the same.  Not this one.  Legend of the Guardians creates a rich and unique world for its characters to inhabit.  It's a world that leaves one with a lot of questions, like how do owls craft extremely detailed helmets, or manage to strap such pieces of headgear on, but perhaps it's best not to think too deeply on these matters.  Oddly enough, despite the striking visuals, the 3D aspects of the movie aren't all that impressive.  If you're going to see this one, save yourself the extra couple of bucks and watch it flat.  2 ½ out of 4 stars.

'Despicable Me' is surprisingly likable

Depsicable Me is clearly product made by craftsmen rather than artists, but for what it is, it’s surprisingly enjoyable.  Gru (Steve Carrel) is a super villain feared by the general populace and respected by his evil peers.  He’s committed numerous high profile crimes in the past, and he’s working on securing financing for his coup de grace, a heist of the moon.  But there’s a flashy young villain named Vector (Jason Segal) trying to steal Gru’s thunder, not to mention his plan.  Further complicating Gru’s schemes are three little orphan girls (Miranda Cosgrove, Dana Gaier and Elsie Fisher) who just want to sell cookies to the two villains.

This is a film that manages to work for both kids and adults without pandering to either. The insipid pop culture references and lame double entendres some kid vids use to appeal to adults are thankfully kept to a minimum.  At the same time, the film is anything but saccharine sweet.  The humor is dark, at times even acidic, with the opening scene in particular reminding one of Roald Dahl’s views on spoiled children and their even worse parents.  Even the obligatory message at the end doesn’t feel shoved down the audience’s throat.  Gru may learn a lesson or two, but he does so without completely losing his dark side.  Despicable Me isn’t quite on the level of the best Pixar films like The Incredibles or Wall-E, but it’s certainly better than most of the 3D animated toy commercials that pass for kids’ movies these days.  3 out of 4 stars.

Absolutely Fantastic

The Fantastic Mr. Fox

Rather than try for a slavishly faithful adaptation of Roald Dahl’s book The Fantastic Mr. Fox, director Wes Anderson has opted to reshape it to suit his own distinctive style and themes. The basic premise, that Mr. Fox (voiced by George Clooney) steals food and beverages from three mean and nasty farmers, is the same.  However, Anderson has added new characters and plot elements to the tale that give the movie a flavor unmistakably his own.  The humor is dry and quirky, and where the book focused mainly on Mr. Fox, the movie puts more emphasis on the titular character’s extended family and friends. The result is far closer to The Royal Tenenbaums than Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.


To realize his vision, Anderson has used the stop-motion animation process, in which models are painstaking moved and photographed one frame and one fraction of an inch at a time.  The same process was used in A Nightmare Before Christmas and Coraline, but it’s (intentionally) a little more rough around the edges here, recalling such early examples of the technique as the 1933 King Kong and the old George Pal Puppetoons.  In this age of digital perfection, it’s kind of refreshing to see such an obviously human-made piece of cinematic magic.  Further breathing life into these creations are the voice actors, which in addition to Clooney include Meryl Streep, Eric Chase Anderson, Jason Schwartzman, and Bill Murray. 

Although fidelity to the source material was clearly not Anderson’s main concern, there’s still more than a little of Dahl’s black humor and borderline misanthropic worldview coursing through the film’s veins.  It’s not dour or depressing, but there’s definitely more of an edge to Mr. Fox than you’re likely to find in the average kid flick.  Characters get wounded, even die.  Humanity is not portrayed in the most favorable light, and the hero of the film is an unrepentant thief. 

Of course the question is, is this really a kid’s movie?  Like this year’s Where the Wild Things Are, this feels more geared towards adults nostalgic for their childhoods than actual kids.  At least it’s more fun than Wild Things, but it still seems a bit subtle for the kiddie crowd.   The only complaint I have is that Mr. Fox trots out the same tired “be true to yourself” message that seems to be in every kid’s movie these days in lieu of anything of actual substance.  Given the nature of the characters and situations here, that message takes on a slightly more subversive slant than it might in something like Kung Fu Panda, but not by much.  Still, this is a visually stunning, smartly written, and highly entertaining film, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

3 ½ out of 4 stars