December Films

Changeling. I was rather apprehensive about this film. I have not been a particular fan of Clint Eastwood as a director, not that his films are bad necessarily, but I have not thought that they are as good as they have been made out. Changeling, however, is different. The story is that a single mother (Angelina Jolie) comes home from work to discover that her son is missing. She informs the police who undertake a high profile search for her son and return to her a boy who is not her son. She complains at this and is not believed by the police to the extent that she is committed at one point to an asylum. The only person that believes her is the pastor of a Presbyterian church, played by John Malkovich, who has made it his mission in life to seek out injustice and defend those who cannot defend themselves. It is refreshing, especially as it is based on a true story, to see a film where the church is a good guy. The film paints a good representation of how the church should be acting in society. It is at times harrowing, heart warming and inspiring, with great performances from both Jolie and Malkovich who doesn't get nearly enough work. One of the best films of the year, 9/10.
Inkheart. I like fantasy films but most recent attempts have been very hit and miss. Aside from the Narnia and Harry Potter franchises (and obviously Lord of the Rings) the rest of the fantasy films have been uninspiring. Inkheart has the advantage, however, of an interesting cast with Brendan Fraser who is always entertaining, Paul Bettany a great actor with an impressive range and Jim Broadbent to name a few. The story is that there are people who read books and the characters in the book come out of the book into the real world and people in the real world have to go back into the book to replace them. Brendan Fraser is one of these people who reads the villain out of a fantasy book called Inkheart and his wife is taken into the book to replace him. The film tells the story of him trying to defeat the villain and get his wife back. There are 3 rules for this type of film, make it entertaining, make it entertaining and make it entertaining. This film does it well. There is humour, brilliant visuals and interesting characters. As entertaining family friendly films go you could do a lot worse, 7/10.
The Transporter 3. The first 2 Transporter films were stylish adrenaline fuelled thrillers with action sequences that defy the laws of physics and Jason Statham. The weaknesses of those 2 films were that they lacked plot and didn't always provide enough humour to grease the wheels. Having lost the director of the first 2, he went to direct the Incredible Hulk, the new director is not a step down. The story is that Jason Statham is kidnapped and forced to take a package across Europe with a girl to guide him. It turns out the girl has been kidnapped and she is the package. The plot then is once again weak but it allows for enough changing scenery and different characters to keep the film interesting. The film takes a more light hearted tone that the previous 2 allowing for maximum enjoyment and the result is a forgettable film that makes for a very enjoyable 90 minutes, 6/10.
The Day the Earth Stood Still. A remake/update of the 1950s film that I don't expect anyone has seen. The idea is that a representative of a group of alien planets comes to Earth to tell humans that their actions are destroying the planet and unless they change they will be annihilated. One of the most visually stunning films of the year with a strong cast and a simple message. The script struggles from not adequately investing in the main characters to make you care about them. Also to give the film more family appeal the main character has a child to take care of. The child succeeds only in being annoying and detracts from the story rather than adding to it. The film is also more concerned with the message than the story consequently nothing much actually happens. Nonetheless an enjoyable film, 6/10.
Tales of Despereaux. I was attracted to this film by a line in the trailer "there are lots of things in the world to be afraid of if you learn how scary they are." The story is a fairy tale about a land that lives and breathes for soup until one day the queen dies as a result of discovering a rat in her soup. Soup is henceforth banned and the land lives under a perpetual cloud and everyone is very depressed and a small mouse called Despereaux has to save the day. The film starts off with some humour and some absurd ideas that I could accept in the name of comedy, however, the film soon forgets about the comedy wanting to tell its complex but heart warming story. The result being that the film quite quickly gets boring. The story requires an element of comedy in the film to make it acceptable yet the script clearly wants to be serious and consequently the film fails to work as a whole, 4/10.
Madagascar 2. I disliked the first film on the basis that it forgot to make you laugh after the first half hour (excluding the penguins) and instead focused on its story which really wasn't very good. The second film once again starts well. The story is that the animals want to go back to their zoo in New York and the penguins fix a crashed plane to get them home. The plane runs out of petrol and crash lands in mainland Africa by some incredible quirk of fate right by where the lion was taken from as a cub. The film keeps up the laughs by introducing a number of new characters. Anyone who is above the age of 8 will have realised that Sacha Baron Cohen's lemur isn't funny but as the rest are it is ok. The film goes all out for laughs which is exactly spot on as the story which turns out to be the Lion King in a different wrapper is once again weak but is only used as an interlude between the laughs. The other weakness of the film is the voice talent. Ben Stiller and Chris Rock are innocuous at best in their roles. DreamWorks need to take a leaf from the Pixar book that well known actors don't always make a good voice cast. The Incredibles had an almost entirely unknown cast and it worked because the voices worked. These problems are only small but they are the difference between a good film and a great film. They are why Madagascar 2 is an enjoyable watch but is not competing with Pixar, 7/10.