The Jungle Book (3-D)

First Hit:  An amazing, truly delightful and  well crafted film – Kudos.

This film is a real treat. The personalities of the animals worked from every angle and aspect.

Loosely based and inspired by Richard Kipling’s book of the same name, this movie truly comes to life on the big screen. Mowgli (Neel Sethi) is the boy, who is raised in the jungle by a wolf mother Raksha (voice by Lupita Nyong’o), the wolf pack and black panther Bagheera (voice by Ben Kingsley).

The wolf pack leader Akela (voice by Giancarlo Esposito) has accepted Mowgli and has the pack protect Mowgli from harm. Because he's being raised by wolves, the boy is trying to be a wolf and is discovering it is difficult. However, he does have magic (human) ways to creating things which Bagheera frowns upon.

The danger is that Shere Khan (voice by Idris Elba), a tiger, is out to kill Mowgli because the boy’s father burnt Shere Khan with the red flower (fire) when Mowgli was a baby and wants revenge. When Shere Khan kills Akela, the boy has to escape. Bagheera thinks the boy needs to return to mankind but on the way the boy gets lost and runs into Kaa (voice by Scarlett Johansson) a Python who wants to eat him. Just as this happens, he gets saved by Baloo (voice by Bill Murray) a honey eating brown bear.

Although the ending is predictable, the magic is in how this film gets there and in the way it is presented to the audience. This story is exquisitely shot and the attention to detail is extraordinary. The movement of the animals was so clearly researched that is seemed as though their animated bodies and Mowgli's real body were all in one world. It was perfect.

Sethi was wonderful as the young boy. My guess is that he did a lot of work to prepare for this role, especially because of the physical nature of it. His warmth and intelligence showed through in his character. Nyong’o's voice added a deep soulful feel to the mother wolf. Kingsley’s voice gave us a rich commanding panther that was filled with compassion. Elba’s voice for the tiger was perfectly intense, intimidating, and filled with fire. Johansson’s voice for the seductive Python was mesmerizing. Murray was both captivating and funny as the day saving bear. Christopher Walken’s voice (and singing) was scene stealing as King Louie (homage to Louie Armstrong whose voice was used on the 1967 version of this film) the Gigantopithecus Bornean orangutan and king of the monkey world. Walken was amazing. Justin Marks wrote a fantastic screen play from Kipling’s book. Jon Favreau did all his homework and made sure this film sets a new standard in animation. Additionally, his use of 3-D was spot on. It was an addition not a distraction. Bravo!

Overall:  Disney shows it still has the chops to deliver the highest quality animation film having an engaging story while setting a new benchmark for all those who follow.

Cowboys and Aliens

First Hit: An odd idea turned into an action packed fantasy.

Jake Lonergan (played by Daniel Craig) wakes up in the middle of nowhere. He doesn’t remember anything from his past, his name or why he has a large metal bracelet on his left wrist.

He does remember that he speaks English (one of my favorite lines). Three guys come up and start to harass him and he takes them out quickly. This sets up his character.

He is generally quiet, fast and strong on his feet, fearless and has an unknown purpose. He takes one of his accoster’s horse and rides into town where the sheriff arrests him because he is Jake Lonergan (thief and killer).

Confused by what is going on, he goes along with the sheriff until spaceships swoop down on the town to steal bodies of the towns’ people. During this attack he discovers he can control this bracelet on his wrist with his mind because it becomes active and a powerful weapon. With this weapon he shoots down one of the spacecraft which gets the attention of the townspeople.

Woodrow Dolarhyde (played by Harrison Ford) the town bully, witnesses Jake’s powerful wrist weapon and because Woodrow’s son Percy (played by Paul Dano) was one of the people kidnapped by one of the spaceships, he wants Jake to go with him to find his son.

Jake also meets up with Ella (played by Olivia Wilde) who thinks he can help her on her mission (which we find out later is strangely different than the rest of the town’s folk). Together with other town-folk and a tribe of Indians, they go off to find their missing relatives. When the Indians give Jake some visioning drink, he remembers who he is, why he has the weapon bracelet, and where the alien mothership is located.

The group finds the alien mothership and together, Cowboys, Indians and an Alien, they save the stolen people the invading aliens.

Craig is curiously stoic and adept in this heroic part. Ford is great as a crusty overbearing rancher. Dano is good as the whiny gutless son. Wilde is ethereal and beautiful as Ella, an alien in disguise. The whole host of 9 writers created an interesting story out of a bizarre and plausible story line circumstance. What I mean by that is, why wouldn’t aliens have invaded our planet during the 1800’s? Jon Favreau kept it interesting when this film could have fallen off course at any point in time.

Overall: This was an entertaining film made well by a fine cast and director.

Iron Man 2

First Hit:  As a follow-up this is a good one, but there is a lack of surprise and a good simple story that makes it hard to enjoy fully.

With most blockbuster action films (Superman, Star Wars, Lethal Weapon), there is a letdown between the original and its follow-ups. For me, this let down specifically relates to the lack of wonder which is present when I see an idea and concept for the first time.

Good follow-up films either get into the characters at a deeper level to tell more involved stories, or they bring in new foes which enliven the film. Some will do a little of both. No follow-up film can ever recreate the wonder of the first except if it is really just a better overall film like the 2009 Star Trek film; which had a sense of wonder and depth to it.

When the first Star Wars film opened, I’ll never forget that initial scene when a very large space ship passed overhead creating a sense of wonder and foreboding excitement. The Star Wars series held its own because we wanted to know about the characters and what would happen to them as they moved from world to world.

A series that lasts, like Batman, generally has downs and ups with each new installment. The downs might be because either the actor playing the main part changes and the character lacks consistency. The ups might be that they have the right main character and they delve deeper into them or they add a powerful new counterpart (foil) character to test the will and fortitude.

In the initial Iron Man, Tony Stark (played by Robert Downey Jr.) was irreverent, funny exciting, action oriented and whimsical. Iron Man 2 didn’t deepen Stark’s character although they tried by giving him the problem that he is dying because of the Iron Man energy source. This didn’t deepen the character. They did, however, bring in Mickey Rourke playing Ivan Vanko as Stark’s main foil.

Rourke chews up the scenes he is in and I couldn’t take my eyes off of him whenever he was on the screen. Building on Ivan’s character and his father’s link to Stark’s father might have been a better story; however it wasn’t for the producer.

Therefore they brought in Scarlett Johansson playing both Natalie Rushman and Natasha Romanoff and Samuel Jackson as Nick Fury from some special government ops unit to create more complication which wasn’t required. Although the presence of both did add to the whimsical dialogue, it didn’t really add to the depth of the film. I just made it overly complicated.

Downey was OK here but the writing to make Stark narcissistic failed to get traction and sort of turned me off to the character. Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts held her ground and was solid enough in a role she carried over from the first film. Rourke was great and scene stealing. Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer, Stark’s main business rival, just doesn’t have the inner darkness to make his character believable. Don Cheadle is steady and solid as Lt. Col. James Rhodes. The director, Jon Favreau, could have uncluttered the film and made it more fun by simplifying it and maybe adding some depth to Stark but he didn’t.

Overall: Although Iron Man 2 is not like the original in its sense of wonder and fun, but this film is definitely watchable even though it does lack the punch of the original.

Couples Retreat

First Hit: There are some out loud laughs but overall this film's gags soon run out of energy and the film loses its way.

Vince Vaughn is always Vince Vaughn regardless of the film he is in. He doesn’t really play another character; he plays Vince Vaughn in a particular situation. 

In this film he suppose to be Dave a successful video game maker who doesn’t like picking tiles or door handles for his wife’s remodeling scheme. He’s a loyal friend and supports his friends in whatever they need to move their life forward. He is selfless in this way.

Dave and his wife Ronnie (played by Malin Akerman) get convinced to support another couple Jason (Jason Bateman) and Cynthia (Kristen Bell) on a trip to a paradise island for fun, leisure and couples therapy.

Jason and Cynthia think this trip will help them resolve their problems. With Dave and Ronnie's influence two other couples join them on this trip thereby getting a discount on their trip. The other couples are Joey (Jon Favreau) and his wife Lucy (Kristin Davis) and Shane (Faizon Love) with his girlfriend Trudy (Kali Hawk).

Each morning they meet up with the island's relationship guru for some bonding and exploratory couples exercise which include yoga, snorkeling and fish feeding. Each couple also meets with a therapist. 

Each scene creates situations which are played for a laugh. However, the scenes don’t make a cohesive film and we know how it’s going to end.

Vaughn is great as Vaughn but as Dave a family man who creates video games? I don’t think so. Davis was probably the best of the actors in creating a character of interest. Love and Hawk were amusing and fun to watch as a couple. It doesn’t surprise me that Vaughn and Favreau wrote this film as they were the center of male focus of this film. They were also the most egotistical and least interesting of the characters.

Overall: At best this is a video on a Sunday evening where nodding off wouldn't matter.

I Love You, Man

First Hit: There are some funny bits in this film along with some good serious truthful moments; however it felt long, repetitious, and overdone in parts.

Paul Rudd plays Peter Klaven a moderately successful real estate agent who has a dream of building a group of homes and stores on a bluff near downtown LA.

To finance this venture he must sell Lou Ferrigno’s home for which he has the exclusive listing. He is engaged to Zooey (played by Rashida Jones) who feels like she has hit the jackpot with Paul as her boyfriend.

As a boyfriend, Peter is thoughtful, kind, considerate, and pays attention to her. All her girlfriends think she’s so lucky but there is an underlying concern; Peter doesn't have any guy friends. The fact is that Peter doesn’t is the gist of the film. He and his fiancé decide that he needs to find some guy friends before the wedding or else the wedding party will be uneven.

In his quest to find a guy friend, he has a number of man dates. There are funny bits in some of these encounters. Then during an open house he is having for Lou’s home, he runs into Sydney (played by Jason Segel) who is blunt, insightful, and outspoken. They hit it off because in many ways they are opposite and they both love the band Rush.

Through a series of man dates, their relationship expands and eventually he asks Sydney to be his best man. However, Zooey doesn’t like that Peter is less available and pays less attention to her now that he has a guy friend to hang out with.

I found the repetition of scenes, like Peter attempting to come up with a nick name for Sydney, to be tiring and overplayed. The direction of the unevenness and the upsides of this film the responsibility of Director John Hamburg and co-writer Larry Levin. Rudd was OK as Peter; while Segel was the strongest consistent character as Sydney. I found the couple Jon Favreau and Jaime Pressly as Zooey’s best friend and husband, to be overplayed, unrealistic, and boorish.

Overall: This film’s unevenness took away from the truly funny parts and in the end, this film felt very long. It might have been better to cut 20 minutes from it by reducing extraneous and repetitive scenes.