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Certificate: 
Director: James Cameron
Release Date: 17 October 2009
Tagline: Enter the world.
Main Cast:
Sam Worthington … Jake Sully
Zoe Saldana … Neytiri
Sigourney Weaver … Dr. Grace Augustine
Stephen Lang … Colonel Miles Quaritch
3D cinema – fancy gimmick or pleasurable enhancement? Both, actually. In the fantasy sections of the film it works very well, but in the run-of-the-mill scenes it’s pointless and somewhat distracting. So, all in all, 3D is something that, with the right film, could be fantastic.
So, on to the film itself. Cheesy, clichéd and over long, Avatar would not have been the massive success that it was if it was merely a 2D film. The plot and the dialogue are dreadful, and it’s obvious that Cameron was not in the least bit concerned about making a good film, which is a shame as it is certainly visually stunning. I believe that special effects should help tell the story and not be the only attraction and, sadly, Avatar is a film without a soul. Take Titanic – love it or hate it, Cameron had the sets built to perfection. To see that wonderful ship come to life was an absolute joy, and you were completely immersed (no pun intended) in the experience. With Avatar, I found myself constantly aware of the 3D visuals and just couldn’t engage fully with the film.
Having said all that, I appreciate that Avatar is the first genuine 3D film (as opposed to the ones that have 3D versions with a few things that poke out of the screen at you) and, as such, I applaud it. Was it worth paying good money to see? Yes, it was. Do I think 3D is the future? No, I don’t.
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(film only)
Rating: (overall experience)
Certificate: 
Director: Henry Selick
Release Date: 8 May 2009
Tagline: Be careful what you wish for.
Main Cast: (voice)
Dakota Fanning … Coraline Jones
Teri Hatcher … Mel Jones / Other Mother / Beldam
Jennifer Saunders … Miss April Spink / Other Spink
Dawn French … Miss Miriam Forcible / Other Forcible
I really liked this. A beautifully crafted stop-motion animated tale about a bored girl whose explorations give her more than she bargained for. This is the first 3D stop-motion film to be made, although I can’t comment on if was a success or not as I watched the 2D version.
Coraline is rather an unlikeable character. Her family have just moved in to a rather peculiar house that has been divided in to apartments, and the other residents are all oddballs. Neither of her parents have much time for her so she’s left to find her own entertainment. She’s sullen and rude, and I kind of liked it when she realised how much trouble she’d got herself in.
She comes across a small door which leads her to a parallel universe where her parents are attentive and her every whim is catered for. She is offered a chance to stay with these ‘other parents’, but she must first replace her eyes with black buttons (all of the characters in the other world beyond the door have buttons for eyes). This doesn’t appeal to Coraline, and the true nature of her predicament becomes evident.
Coraline is a dark fairytale like story with some really creepy moments and a sinister undertone and is definitely not for small children. In fact, I can see this giving more than one or two a few nightmares.
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Director: Tim Burton
Release Date: 29 July 2005
Tagline: Oompa-Loompas are crazy for cocoa beans.
Main Cast:
Johnny Depp … Willy Wonka
Freddie Highmore … Charlie Bucket
David Kelly … Grandpa Joe
Another visually wonderful treat from Tim Burton. He’s the perfect director for this quirky and slightly twisted work of art by Roald Dahl. All the usual Burton elements are there; great visuals, Johhny Depp and Danny Elfman (score) and as usual, they all work perfectly together.
The casting is fantastic. Charlie is humble and dignified and the other four kids are crass and ghastly and all play their roles perfectly. Not one of them is over the top and annoying. And, of course, Depp is simply perfect.
Totally engaging from the start, CatCF is a superb journey that remains loyal to Dahl’s book. Mind you, it’s no surprise as you can’t improve on perfection!
A joy from start to finish.
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Director: Chris Weitz
Release Date: 5 December 2007
Tagline: “It is the Alethiometer. It tells the truth. As for how to read it, you’ll have to learn by yourself.”
Main Cast:
Nicole Kidman … Mrs Coulter
Daniel Craig … Lord Asriel
Dakota Blue Richards … Lyla
I generally like fantasy films and I was hoping for a slick film with adventure and a sturdy plot. Unfortunately, The Golden Compass is tedious, clichéd, confusing and poorly acted. I nearly switched it off on more than one occasion, but decided to stick with it.
There seems to be a worrying trend growing where some of our finest actors are becoming no more than bit parts in this genre (particularly Christopher Lee and Ian McKellen). As for the children, the obligatory ’street urchins’ were too much for me to bear, and the children’s accents seemed to switch from slightly plummy to (embarrassingly bad) cockney with alarming regularity. Nicole Kidman’s talent is wasted in such rubbish and I wondered what she was doing in it. Her role was so undemanding that it could have been played by anyone with a modicum of talent.
Because it is flawed in almost every area it is very hard for me to come up with any redeeming features. However, I do like talking animals and it had a few of them in it 
Having said that though, they were neither engaging nor amusing and Iorek was too much like Aslan (of the Narnia Chronicles) for me.
Perhaps children in the age range of seven to twelve might enjoy this (mostly girls), but there are other films of this genre that are far superior (Stardust being one of them). I was glad when it ended and will not be watching any future sequels. Very disappointing.
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Directors: Chris Miller & Raman Hui (co-director)
Release Date: 29 June 2007
Tagline: Who’s ready for Thirds?
Main Cast: (voice)
Mike Myers … Shrek
Eddie Murphy … Donkey
Cameron Diaz … Princess Fiona
Antonio Banders … Puss in Boots
After reading reviews of this I wasn’t expecting too much. However, I thought it was much better than reported. I would have liked to have seen more of Donkey though, as I think he’s by far the best character. I do like the fact that Puss has now joined as a second sidekick to Shrek. As usual, there are plenty of little jokes in the background to amuse us adults.
Shrek the Third is not in the same league as the original, but I’d put it on a par with the second one.
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Director: Andrew Adamson
Release Date: 26 June 2008
Tagline: A new age has begun.
Main Cast:
Ben Barnes … Prince Caspian
Georgie Henley … Lucy Pevensie
Skandar Keynes … Edmund Pevensie
William Moseley … Peter Pevensie
Anna Popplewell … Susan Pevensie
Whilst I enjoyed TCoN: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe I was not a huge fan of it. It looked very pretty, but seemed a bit bland to me. I must confess though, that I dislike ‘precious’ English children in films. They always simper a lot, and invariably can’t act. The actors that play the Pevensie children are no exception and I had an equally tough time watching them in this too. I did like Ben Barnes though as he’s not at all like the others. My dislike of English children aside though, I can’t say that I liked this any more than the first. I thought that at 150 minutes it was rather too long and I found myself losing interest. I seemed to ponder on how the Telmarine men (and possibly the women too) liked having beards. Even their masks had beards. Needless to say, Prince Caspian was handsomely clean shaven. I also never cease to be amazed at how quivers in the movies are magical – archers never, ever run out of arrows.
I should imagine that children from the age of about seven would really enjoy this, but the run time would almost certainly be too much for younger children to sit through. However, as I am reviewing this from an adult’s point of view, I shall rate it accordingly. I watch many children’s films, and I generally enjoy them (as you can see by my other reviews), so I don’t think I’m being unfair.
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Director: Peter Jackson
Release Date: 15 December 2005
Tagline: The eighth wonder of the world.
Main Cast:
Naomi Watts … Ann Darrow
Jack Black … Carl Denham
Adrien Brody … Jack Driscoll
A pointless remake of a faultless classic and utterly tedious as well. Jackson claims to love the original so much that he had to make this film. To think that you could improve on the original is pretty arrogant, I think. Hell, I love Star Wars, but I’d never remake it.
It’s at least an hour too long, and the scenes of peril on the island are so totally contrived that they quickly become boring. And considering that there are a lot of them, it takes some getting through.
King Kong is nothing more than a huge ego trip for Jackson and he should have left well enough alone.
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Director: John Favreau
Release Date: 2 May 2008
Tagline: Fully charged.
Main Cast:
Robert Downey Jr … Tony Stark
Terrence Howard … Rhodey
Jeff Bridges … Obadiah Stane
Gwyneth Paltrow … Pepper Potts
Comic book conversions… Some are good, some are bad and some are just average. Iron Man falls into the latter.
It’s shallow and very, very predictable. Now, I know that suspending belief is important when watching comic book films, but Iron Man is at times so ludicrous that this becomes impossible. Possibly the most implausible is the scene where the US Military locate Stark in the middle of the desert and don’t gun him down with friendly fire before he is identified (sorry… Can’t help myself from taking a shot at the trigger happy Americans).
I also think that it does nothing to calm the relations between the USA and Afghanistan. The ‘Jericho’ missile and the ability to wipe out the enemy through such means in the hands of the Americans is, apparently, a great thing. However, when the tables are turned, the man responsible for these weapons has a sudden stab of conscience when he realises that his own weaponry has been used against his country.
The criteria for a comic book that makes a good film are a) a strong protagonist b) great supporting characters, and c) a variety of great villains to pit the heroes against. Sadly, Iron Man has none of these.
The two best adaptations of comic books are Batman and Spider-Man. Both of these have all of the above criteron. Both Bruce Wayne and Peter Parker are characters we can identify with and warm to. Stark is just not likeable. He is a shallow character that you just can’t warm to. And Pepper is just a poor imitation of Spider-Man’s Mary Jane Watson.
The CGI is, however, very good and I really enjoyed the clever use of it.
I really can’t see how they can make a sequel out of this, but I’m sure they will.
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Director: Guillermo del Toro
Release Date: 20 August 2008
Tagline: Saving the world is a hell of a job.
Main Cast:
Rom Perlman … Hellboy
Selma Blair … Liz Sherman
Doug Jones … Abe Sapien / The Chamberlain / The Angel of Death
Luke Goss … Prince Nuada
Not much more to add here that hasn’t already been said in my Hellboy review. The sequel is bigger and glossier than the first, but not better. I found the humour to be a bit more obvious, and I wasn’t a fan of all the aliens that have now been added. As mentioned before though, I am not familiar with the comic, so this element may be true to the book.
Having said all that though, it’s still very enjoyable and del Toro makes another solid and entertaining comic book adaptation.
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Director: Guillermo de Toro
Release Date: 2 September 2004
Tagline: From the dark side to our side.
Main Cast:
Ron Perlman … Hellboy
John Hurt … Trevor ‘Broom’ Bruttenholm
Selma Blair … Liz Sherman
Doug Jones … Abe Sapien
I was pleasantly surprised by Hellboy. I am not familiar with the comic, but the film is a very good, solid comic book movie. The story is engaging and I really liked the character of Hellboy. Ron Perlman manages to do a great job of portraying this scary looking man as anything but scary! He makes Hellboy seem more human than demon and his vulnerablility and loneliness is very touching. There’s a good element of humour as well.
Lastly, if you are a fan of the tv series Frasier then the voice of Abe Sapien will be familiar to you; it’s David Hyde Pierce (uncredited).
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