Waking Life review

 Number 530 on the top 1000 films of all time is Richard Linklater's animated surrealist drama 'Waking Life.'

Wiley Wiggins plays an unnamed protagonist who undergoes an existential crisis. He has a series of philosophical conversations before he realises that he is in a lucid dream that he must wake up from.

I don't think I've seen such pretentious Oscar-bait since Megalopolis. Don't get me wrong, Waking Life was beautiful to look at. It had a unique rotoscoping animation technique, but beyond that, the film was about as interesting as any of the films mentioned on my list of films that will put you to sleep. It was an arthouse film that was all style and no substance.

It's a shame as this was the same Richard Linklater who directed the brilliant Before Trilogy and the hilarious School of Rock. Yet Waking Life lacked the same humour and heart as Linklater's other efforts. This is despite how the Before Trilogy similarly had a lot of talking and little action.

The difference was that this talking occured between interesting characters who I actually gave a damn about. I couldn't say the same about Waking Life. Whereas the Before Trilogy had sparkling dialogue, Waking Life had the most boring philosophical discussions ever. Interestingly, the two leads from the Before Trilogy: Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delphy) also cameo here in one of the many scenes that are tangential to the main plot.

Rather than one continuous film or dream in this case, Waking Life was a collection of unrelated dreams that you forget as soon as you wake up. Although I can't ever remember dreaming about pseudo intellectual discussions a la Woody Allen. Also what was with the Alex Jones cameo? Apparently Richard Linklater just dismissed him as funny quack. Little did he realise how consequential Alex Jones would be in later life.

Maybe I just wasn't clever enough to understand the true genius of this film, but I also didn't care. Never mind Waking Life, this was a bad dream that I couldn't wait to wake up from.

The Triplets of Belleville review

 Number 455 on the top 1000 films of all time is the French animated adventure comedy-drama 'The Triplets of Belleville.'

Champion (Michel Robin) is a little boy who dreams of being a cyclist. Growing up he realises his dream by riding in the Tour De France. However, he and two other cyclists are kidnapped by the French mob. His grandmother Madame Souza (Monica Viegas) and her dog Bruno resolve to rescue them. They are helped by the eponymous Triplets of Belleville - former music hall singers.

I've been working through this list for longer than I care to remember. Every so often, I've come across an animated film that has really surprised me with its uniqueness. You had the incredible stop-motion Mary and Max, as well as the beautiful 2-D animated Persepolis. Now you have the wholly special Triplets of Belleville. I haven't seen anything like it. Considering I've watched over 700 of the film on this list, that is really saying something.

Similarly to Persepolis, the Triplets of Belleville utilises a simple 2-D style to tell an unchanging story. It's all complete nonsense obviously, yet I was more than willing to suspend my disbelief. I could totally see the plot happening in the weird steampunk-esque universe they created.

The animation style paid homage to the Jazz era initially, as well as the Post WW2 era. It evoked a grimy, industrial but also timeless feel. This film could be set in the thirties, the fifties or in its own little universe.

The animation also allowed for plenty of absurdity and therefore offbeat humour like Madame Souza and the Triplets of Belleville taking on a whole room of French gangsters with nothing but a frying pan. Yet it also had plenty of scares too like when we find out what happens to the kidnapped cyclists if they displease the mob.

The most unique aspects of the Triplets of Belleville was how the story was told through minimal dialogue. Pantomime and music were used instead. This betrays the confidence of director Sylvain Chomet and his animation team. This confidence was not misplaced, as it allowed for some brilliant visual story-telling. There was no script full of cheesy one-liners and corny speeches, but striking imagery and memorable music. The Triplets of Belleville sung the film's most famous song Belleville Rendeyvous, which was Oscar-nominated. The film itself was nominated for the Best Animated Feature ultimately losing to Finding Nemo. 

I would definitely recommend watching The Triplets of Belleville. I can guarantee it won't be like anything you've seen before.

Tangled review

Number 434 on the top 1000 films of all time is Disney’s animated fairy-tale film Tangled.

Based on the story of Rapunzel, we see the princess voiced by Mandy Moore kidnapped by the evil Mother Gothel (Donna Murphy) who raises her as her own daughter. Rapunzel knows nothing about her true identity. However, her hair has magical qualities that can heal all wounds and stop the aging process. She is locked away in a remote tower knowing nothing about the outside world. That is until the lovable rogue Flynn (Zachary Levi) stumbles upon her tower and soon changes her life.

Tangled is based on a fairytale, so like many of Disney’s films, it is formulaic. What I saw here was little different to the Disney princess films of old. You have your princess locked away by a parental figure with sinister intentions. She then meets a prince charming initially disguised as a selfish rogue, but who becomes a better person as a result of the princess. Throw in some magic, colourful animation and funny animals for good measure.

Yes, it is all stuff we’ve seen before but when you do it as well as Disney does then who’s complaining. Granted, I don’t think this is one of their best films, but it was certainly an entertaining watch. Rapunzel had a nice mixture of wonderlust, star-eyed naivety, agency and inner strength. This helped to give us a Disney princess for the modern age.

Although Flynn’s arc from selfish coward to unlikely hero was predictable, it was still enjoyable to watch. The villainous Mother Gothel wasn’t quite on the same levels as the likes of Scar, Jafar or the various evil stepmothers, but she had some great lines, especially when she was expressing her thinly-veiled contempt of her supposedly beloved daughter.

There were plenty of funny moments like when Rapunzel goes into the tavern supposedly full of thugs but they are actually full of gentle giants with a share of unrealised dreams.

Compared to some other Disney films, I don’t think the soundtrack was particularly memorable. This was a little disappointing as the music is often the best part of Disney’s films: I’m thinking of the Lion King, Mulan or Aladdin. Even the god-awful Frozen had an inescapable soundtrack. Yet I can’t remember any of the songs from Tangled.

True, I don’t think Tangled brought anything new to the genre. Disney were certainly treading familiar ground when they brought this fairy-tale to life, but when they do it as well as they do, who’s complaining really?

Up review

 Number 134 on the top 1000 films of all time is Disney Pixar's family drama Up

Carl Frederickson (ken aster) has just lost his wife after decades of being together. Facing the prospect of losing his home too, he resolves to fulfill a lifelong dream of visiting the famous Paradise Falls. He is joined by wilderness explorer Russell (Jordan Nagari) who stows away unknown to Carl.

Up was released in 2009. It was the latest in the long line of successes from the prosperous animation studio. Like many Pixar films before it, Up had that rare ability to have you crying tears of laughter and sadness. 

The elderly Carl Frederickson is an unlikely hero, but that made him no less of an endearing character. His goals of wanting to fulfill an unrealised dream are relatable to all. He forms a touching father-son relationship with the wilderness explorer Russell - made all the more pertinent by Russell's rocky relationship with his own father and Carl's inability to have children with his wife.

Russell's good yet blundering personality provided a lot of the film's humour but also served as a great counterbalance to Carl's grumpy-old-man-ness. There is a lot of heart to back up the humour. We've already spoken about Carl and Russell's touching relationship, but there is also Carl's romance with his childhood sweetheart Ellie. The ten minute montage showing their relationship develop over the decades was more poignant than some whole two-hour films.

Up also has its share of interesting supporting characters from the bird Kevin to the "talking" dog Doug to the villainous Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer.) All of these added something to this film.

And as you would expect from Disney Pixar, the animation was always on-point too. If you haven't seen Up yet, what are you waiting for? It was a brilliant feel-good film that will have you crying tears of laughter and sadness. 

Big Hero 6 review

 I don't understand why this Disney animated film didn't chart on the top 1000 films of all time. It is an excellent adaptation of a Marvel comic.

Hiro Hamada (Ryan Potter) is a fourteen-year-old robotics genius. His older brother Tadasho (Daniel Henney) is his hero who has built the inflatable robot Baymax (Scott Adsit.) However, when Tadashi dies in a fire, Hiro begins to suspect he was murdered. Hiro teams up with Baymax and Tadashi's friends: Wasabi (Damon Wayans Jr), Go Go (Jamie Chung), Fred (TJ Miller) and Honey Lemon (Genesis Rodriguez) to find out the truth. Alan Tudyk and James Cromwell co-star.

Why is this film so good? One simple answer. Baymax. In designing him, director Don Hall wanted to do something different to the robots we've seen in the Terminator and Wall-E. Taking inspiration from real-life research into huggable robots, he created one of the most adorable characters ever. Paired with some brilliant animation, Baymax was one of Disney's most endearing protagonists.

I loved seeing him bumbling around in his misguided attempts to try and help people. He provided a lot of the film's humour especially in the earlier sections. All credit goes to Scott Halzit who, despite playing an emotionless robot, still imbued Baymax with so much humanity. 

But beyond the comedy and the adorable Baymax, there was so much heart and emotional weight - a lot more than you might expect from an animated film. This is Disney after all.

After Tadashi's death, Hiro is absolutely crushed and is ready to give up, but Baymax is ready to coach him through it - providing him with all the emotional support he needs. So are Tadashi's friends. They become a superhero team working together to beat the masked antagonist they suspect of killing Tadashi. The supporting characters were all great with their own personalities and quirks. Okay, I'm not a fan of TJ Miller who played Fred. He isn't funny. He's just annoying, but even he wasn't that bad here.

And the emotional weight continues to the end when we uncover the true motivations of our mysterious villain. It takes a lot for a film to balance both comedy and emotion, but Big Hero 6 did it well. It's rare that a film makes you cry from both laughter and sadness, but I was close to tears for many different reasons.

Big Hero Six was a triumph of the film. It was well-written, beautifully animated, comedy-drama that had one of the cutest protagonists ever. And, of course, it had a great soundtrack with Fallout Boy penning Immortals just for this film. Who doesn't like Fallout Boy? What a combination.

Despicable Me 2 Review

 Number 733 on the top 1000 films of all time is the computer-animated comedy Despicable Me 2.

Former supervillain Gru (Steve Carell) is now a loving father to his three adoptive daughters. However, he is tempted into becoming a hero by secret agent Lucy Wilde (Kristen Wiig) when the mutagen PX41 is stolen from the Arctic Circle. This all forms part of a greater plan when it is revealed that supervillain El Macho (Benjamin Bratt) stole the mutagen in his scheme for world domination.

I liked this film as much as I liked its predecessor which is very little at all. It had all of the same weaknesses as the first Despicable Me. The humour wasn't even juvenile. It was infantile. There was an over-reliance on poop and fart jokes. I get that this is family-friendly. I get that it's meant for kids. But there is more to entertaining kids than poop and fart jokes. Usually in family-friendly films like in Disney Pixar while there are silly jokes for kids, there are lots of jokes that only adults are meant to get. But there was none of that in Despicable Me 2. Just juvenile humour and Steve Carell being Steve Carell.

I don't know why he's doing a silly voice with a silly accent. And I don't know why he has to do it throughout the whole film. It became very old very quickly. I get why this is a children's film. It has bright, eye-popping animation, lots of idiotic humour and cute little minions, but there is little substance for anybody older than the age of ten. The storyline was predictable, the voice performances were forgettable and, even the minions, who have gone onto become the mascots of this franchise became very tedious after a while.

Yes, I'm being a grumpy old man. But this grumpy old man did not like this film at all. It was despicable.

MegaMind review

 Number 990 on the top 1000 films of all time is the animated superhero comedy 'Megamind.'

Megamind (Will Ferrell) is a supervillain in Metro City. He has a fierce rivalry with super hero Metro Man (Brad Pitt.) However, after Megamind seemingly kills Metro Man, he feels lost and powerless. That is until he creates a new super hero. But this super hero quickly becomes a villain which Megamind must beat to save Metro City.

I totally see what this film was going for. It's trying to be a clever re-invention of the superhero genre. But a parody of a cliche is still a cliche. Megamind pointed out plenty of the cliches present within the superhero genre, but instead of subverting them like arguably better film, it tries to put a funny spin on them and fails miserably. Like many superhero films, Metro Man and Megamind have a big dialogue in the build-up to their final confrontation. Yet this dialogue gets progressively sillier and it adds nothing to the overall plot.

That's also a prime example of the film's poor attempts at humour. Many of the jokes fell completely flat and Will Ferrell's lacklustre performance did nothing to help things. He tried doing an imitation of Vito Corleone in the Godfather, and it was one of the worse imitations I've ever heard. Brad Pitt was was surprisingly uncharismatic as Metro Man.

Megamind and Metro Man are in themselves parodies of Superman - both are alien refugees sent to earth as their own planet is sucked into a black hole. Metro Man is handsome and popular at school, while Megamind is ugly and bullied. He goes onto begin resenting Metro Man before fully embracing his role as a supervillain. 

And that's largely all I can remember from this film, as I kept falling asleep. I wouldn't even say it was a kid's film, because I don't think it would be that entertaining for children to watch. Or for anybody to watch for that matter.

Akira review

 Number 265 on the top 1000 films of all time is Katsuhiro Otomo's cyberpunk anime 'Akira.'

Set in a dystopic 2019, the landscape of Japan has changed immensely. Tokyo has been destroyed in a nuclear blast. The new capital Neo-Tokyo is ran by a corrupt government and biker gangs control the streets. Violence and crime are rife. At the centre of everything are the ESPers - people with psychokinetic powers. One such ESPer is Tetsuo - member of a biker gang.

Other than Studio Ghibli or Pokemon, I've never been big on anime. So I was completely ignorant of Akira's reputation. This film helped introduce anime to a Western audience. In terms of the animation, it was easy to see why. It was gorgeous and really reminded me of early Studio Ghibli especially Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. And, of course, the Akira slide has become a staple of popular culture.

Perhaps it's my lack of exposure to anime, but I did not enjoy this film at all. I found the actual story convoluted and overcomplicated. The "good guys" are a biker gang - too annoying and mischievous to be likable characters. Tetsuo crashes his bike into the young ESPer Takashi which is where Tetsuo's powers manifest. What happens to Takashi? Who knows? He's taken to a government facility to never be heard from again. Meanwhile Tetsuo is taken away to be experimented on by Colonel Shikishima - leader of Japan's self-defense forces. It's revealed that Tetsuo has powers similar to the legendary 'Akira,' who supposedly destroyed the original Tokyo.

Meanwhile Tetsuo's best friend Keneda busts him from the jail and they join an ESP resistance cells. But then the friends turn on each other and Colonel Shikishima is hunting them down. Tetsuo transforms into a Godzilla type monster, goes into space and destroys an orbital weapon, and then Tetsuo and Keneda are transported to another dimension. Keneda is saved by the other ESPers, but Tetsuo is stuck in this other plane of existence. Got all that?

It was a bit like the end of 2001: Space Odyssey where Dave goes through the space tunnel and he sees the future versions of himself. Too surreal and abstract for me. It was like I had fallen asleep and woken up halfway through, but I was awake the whole time.

While this might be a favourite of anime afficionadoes, I am not one of those, so I did not care for this film at all.