Every Sunday, Gill delves into his archive of over 800 movie reviews and randomly selects three for your enjoyment! Here are this week’s…
Puss in Boots
Even though it’s a spinoff that no one was asking for, Puss in Boots gets the job done in the entertainment department. The humour and style of storytelling is very familiar, and if you’ve seen any of the Shrek movies, you know what to expect from Puss in Boots. There are a few chuckle-worthy jokes here and there (many of them crotch-related), the animation is polished and slick, and there are some fun and surprising celebrity voice cameos. Puss in Boots fails to stand out in any particular way, unless you really like dancing cats, but you’ll still have a decent time watching it. If you have a pet cat, though, this movie is a whole other experience, because your cat will watch with rapt attention from start ’till finish.
3 out of 5
Intruders
A misleading title and a poor marketing campaign basically ensured that Intruders will sink into obscurity and be quickly forgotten, but on the whole I thought this was a solid movie. The whole thing has a great Guillermo-Del-Toro-esque horror fairytale feeling to it, and the mythology behind the monstrous antagonist is actually pretty cool. What’s more, there’s an interesting twist in the final act involving the story that runs parallel to the central plot, about a young Spanish boy, that was clever enough to surprise me. Unfortunately, there isn’t nearly enough time spent on the monster, who is the real star of the show, and as a result, the movie didn’t even come close to knocking it out of the park for me. But I will say this: it’s way better than the Troy Nixy directed remake of Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark.
3 out of 5
We Bought A Zoo
There are some Cameron Crowe movies that I love, but when he gets too schmaltzy, he loses my interest. Sadly, We Bought A Zoo falls into the “too schmaltzy” category for me, which is a shame, because I definitely saw the potential in it to be a good, heartwarming flick. Matt Damon, Thomas Haden Church, Scarlett Johansson and Elle Fanning all give good performances imbued with quirk, and the exotic animals of the titular zoo are all cute and funny, and in some cases give better performances than the supporting cast. The movie contains the standard Cameron Crowe requirements, like very deliberate soundtrack choices and a precocious little kid, and there were a number of spots where I felt like Cameron Crowe had come up with a particular line or moment outside of the script for this film and wanted to work it in…in other words, parts of the movie felt forced to me. This is another case of a competently made movie that doesn’t have any major flaws, but failed to resonate with me simply because it was just trying too hard to make me feel warm and fuzzy.
3 out of 5
See you next Sunday for three more thrilling short reviews!