MovieMeditation’s Diary Reviews // “Come and meditate with me!”

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Thank you, Gideon. I missed your comment in here, sorry about that. I rarely check in here anymore since I don't really have time for reviews anymore.

But I'm glad I made you want to watch it. It's a fun film.
You didn't miss it, I just did it yesterday, just getting around to your review thread.



Your passion for Whiplash is infectious, though I didn't like the film as much as you did. Feel free to check out my review of the film in my review thread.



You didn't miss it, I just did it yesterday, just getting around to your review thread.
Yeah, I know. I'm just that guy who always rep and reply to posts within minutes or hours at the max. This was a huge gap for me.

Your passion for Whiplash is infectious, though I didn't like the film as much as you did. Feel free to check out my review of the film in my review thread.
You read my long Cinema Review or the small review on page one of this thread?

I did read your review already and I seem to have gotten a little bitchy back then (I looked up the review and saw the replies), mainly because your critique basically went directly against how I praised it. But no hard feelings, I just guess you hit all the wrong notes in me hah



Yeah, I know. I'm just that guy who always rep and reply to posts within minutes or hours at the max. This was a huge gap for me.


You read my long Cinema Review or the small review on page one of this thread?

I did read your review already and I seem to have gotten a little bitchy back then (I looked up the review and saw the replies), mainly because your critique basically went directly against how I praised it. But no hard feelings, I just guess you hit all the wrong notes in me hah
Ah, yes, you were the one who I had the impassioned debate with regarding Whiplash...this is one of those things that we just need to respectfully agree to disagree on.



MovieMeditation presents...
HIS FILM DIARY 2015
total movie count ........... current day count
284 .......................... 325

__________________________


August 21th

—— 2012 ——
WOLF CHILDREN
—— anime ——
EXTENDED REVIEW

REWATCH
What makes this movie work as wonderfully well as it does lies within the core of the creative storytelling aspect of the film. This feature film fantasy is all about the human happenings and daily doings rather than animal activities and dull day dreams...

When shaving away all the outer layers, ‘Wolf Children’ is essentially a story about a single mother who struggles to raise two small children on her own. The animal aspect is only there to support the ordinary, while the added element of fantasy creates a magical and moving ambiance to the story, which ultimately makes it surpass the ordinary and transform into something extraordinary. The fantasy approach is extremely grounded in its execution, while its place in the story never feels forced or even far fetched. It is all about simple human emotions and subtle life lessons, which is something we can all connect to and learn from. When we see the mother in complete frustration all the while fighting to find out how she is to raise her children with these odd abnormal abilities, I personally don’t see someone raising a “fantasy freakshow”. I see is a single mother with two children, who may or may not suffer from mental or physical disorders, since you can actually draw two possible parallels to this film. It could be about a single mother who struggles to raise two children on her own, who suffers from some sort of disorder, which could be paralleled to a genuine sickness; or it could simply be a single mother struggling to raise two children, who are pretty much normal in every way, but merely unique and different from other children. In the end, all I really care about is how I connect to the story and its characters – and ‘Wolf Children’ had me hooked from the very start.

The story is definitely what howls directly to the heart, but when it comes to technical achievements ‘Wolf Children’ can almost raise the hairs on the entire body. When creating compact and complicating emotions, it does demand a lot heart to understand how to do that, but to visualize it in return demands a lot of brain power. Director, Mamoru Hosoda, takes a gothic tale of werewolves and haunting curses and transforms the basics of such story into something that is closer to a substantiated fairytale. When visualizing the fantasy elements, the approach he takes is minimalistic and surprisingly convincing. We are only a few minutes into the movie when the wolf aspect is revealed to us, but Hosoda leaves the full moons and fatal challenges behind, replacing it with a simple and elegant touch of class. The movie never dwells in the dark and drastic signature elements to the myths and legends, but leaves those things behind in favor of a more realistic and subtle approach. This makes it a lot easier for the audience to adapt and be affected by said story, because it feels believable and extremely real. The same goes for the scenes where the mother realizes her children are sick and needs to be taken to a doctor. We sympathize with her and understand her inner struggle between concealing or revealing the secret about her children’s true identity; what decision is ultimately the right one to benefit the future of her children.

This is also why she chooses to move away from the city and out into the open lands of the Japanese countryside. But even this life demands a lot from her – actually even more than before – since she is away from all of which made her life a little easier beforehand. Now she must grow her own produce and learn to live a greener life with the help books, brain and the Japanese Clint Eastwood (known for the movie ‘Gran Tokyo’… Okay, just kidding, I’m sorry). I also love the aspect of how the two children grows up with different mindsets and understandings of life, which makes for an obvious but extremely effective contrast. Both children have a hard time adapting to the real world filled with regular human behavior, but one seems to surrender to the human world all the while the other is an obvious outsider who sees more of himself in wolves and the wonders of nature. This leads to one of the movies best visualized scenes, where the audience time travel seamlessly through scenes with a gap of one year, in which we see how the two children are doing as they go through their school classes. It is a simple yet remarkably impressive visual concept, which can tell the audience years of problems from different point of view in only a matter of minutes.

‘Wolf Children’ is a stunning blend of modern and traditional Japanese animation, with beautifully hand-painted backgrounds combined with a classic character design that really makes this movie move its claws all the way out of the screen. The story is down to earth in its approach, while the animation and sheer magic of said story makes you fly above the ground among moon and stars. It is truly a technically impressive film, especially with the moments of missing dialogue, where scenes in a time lapse are set to suitable compositions and silent majestic moments, which ultimately enforces the compassion for these characters even more. As I said earlier, the movie can be interpreted in many different ways but whether one or the other, you can’t put down the fact that ‘Wolf Children’ is a tacit tale full of human heart and who we are, while also working as a tactically told tale of tails and tender periods in life – whether man or mammal – this is a magical, mystical and marvelous achievement in animation as well as the entirety of cinema itself.






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MovieMeditation presents...
HIS FILM DIARY 2015
total movie count ........... current day count
284 .......................... 325

__________________________


August 21th

—— 2008 ——
QUARANTINE
—— horror ——
EXTENDED REVIEW

REWATCH
So... Whatever... Meh...
Uh... F*ck it...


The Introduction
Before I start babbling away I want you all to know and understand something. I’m not trying to convince anyone that ‘Quarantine’ is a better film than ‘[REC]’ nor am I going to defend the former by calling out anyone who doesn’t agree with me. I’m not going to make this review into a battle of the remake and the original, though I obviously will compare them in terms of similarity throughout. This review is mostly going to be me and my own thoughts and feelings towards a random movie and I want you to know why my mind is messed up and rearranged to like one more than the other. I hope you will be able to see my points and at least understand why I still like this film and why I don’t love the other one that much.

First off I have to say, that this review may be my most annoying one I have ever tried to write. I say that since I have never been as confused about what to write and how to write it, simply because of the controversy circulating this random movie all of a sudden. At first I wanted to deliver a review without much fuss, then “the great debate” of the forums came along and suddenly I wanted to deliver something more substantial, which would defend and debate-proof ‘Quarantine’ so I could have something to use when discussing it. Then I realized that I really don’t need to defend or uphold anything in the end. I like this movie, but I won’t try to desperately explain myself or make a 5000-word review just because I’m not part of the norm. I like the movie and I’m going to review the movie – but apart from a little introduction, I won’t do anything too different than what I usually do – though it will be a little long…

Quarantined from foreign film
When this little horror film came out, called ‘Quarantine’, I knew absolutely nothing about anything. I didn’t know that a remake existed, I didn’t know who made it, I didn’t know the people who starred in it and I didn’t even know about the found footage format at that time. All I knew is that the cover looked cool, especially when you were 12 or 13 years old and searched for random fright films in the horror section. I watched quite a lot of horror films back then, but at that age and at that point in time, I didn’t understand or appreciate much about foreign cinema and rarely sought them out within any genre – I just wanted to watch bloody horror films and action blockbusters like ‘Transformers’ – come on people, we have all been there.



I liked horror at a young age, like many probably did, but as it is likely also the case with people born in a different decade, they saw whatever was populating at that time or what looked interesting based on DVD or VHS covers. It was the same thing for me; I picked ‘Quarantine’ because someone looked to be dying on the cover and the Danish release even had a little sticker saying “warning: very graphic and violent images” (no kidding, this is true) – obviously I was crazy about watching it for that reason alone. So to sum it all up… I knew nothing about the original; I knew nothing about the found footage genre; and I knew very little about the entirety of the horror genre. I was young and out for blood… within film of course, I’m not a sicko people, relax!

The Review
I will go out on a limp and say that whichever version you watch first, whether being ‘Quarantine’ or ‘[REC]’, that one is going to be the definitive version for you. This may not be entirely correct, since a decent dosage of nostalgia probably plays its part in this case as well, but when they are so extremely similar aren’t it fair to say that your fondness of one movie will make the other look like a “copycat” whether or not that really is the case? If you like a certain movie, then you probably won’t like when another movie comes out looking exactly like the one you already love. I know that is the reason many don’t like ‘Quarantine’, but if that is the case then people should also understand why I don’t like ‘[REC]’ as much, since my point of view is the same only flip-flopped.

The premise of the film starts out as some kind of suspicious element to the story, then it all become very much real to the characters, but they still aren’t sure what it is. When they finally figure it all out, several people are already infected, and the movie pretty much turns absolutely insane after that. Fear-provoking disease-ridden beings hurdles towards the screen when you are least expecting it, and it is hard not to be “infected” by the high level of terrifying entertainment that it brings forward, especially if you like a fair share of dumb fun. And when the last few minutes kicks in, the film also shows how to create the same level of intensity with little to nothing of those elements previously used, even though I actually do prefer how ‘[REC]’ did the last 10 minutes. The original had a much more frightening creature and an even calmer approach, which made it all the more frightening for it. Actually it is one of my favorite scenes in a horror movie. I really like Jennifer Carpenter in this film, but she did definitely overact in the last third of this film, which also brings it down a little. But in general I think she did a better job than the lead in ‘[REC]’, which I guess is just a matter of preference.



But in all honesty, it shouldn’t be about the acting or characters in either of these films, because non of them are all that great in those areas. But a lot of that is due to the format and set-up, since we are just thrown directly into a random news segment, which does show the audience what usually ends up on the cutting floor, but it doesn’t lend a lot to true character development. I like Jennifer Carpenter, I like how the cameraman is more involved in the movie than in ‘[REC]’ and I like Jay Hernandez as the hero type of guy – even if he is clunky and cliché, he feels more human and relatable than the firefighter(s) in the original film. But while I can live with the main characters and their minimalism, I find it slightly harder to accept the stereotypical and paper-thin portrayals of the other people at the apartment building. Whether the original or the remake, I dislike each and every one of these basic characters, who lack a proper purpose beyond a plot point or victim to the zombie outbreak.

But then again, this film is clearly made to be a tense tour de force “fright fest”, which is something ‘Quarantine’ does pretty damn well in my opinion, especially in the last third of the movie. It feels like an amusement ride through hell, where you are following this reporter slowly figuring out what is happening around her, only to be trapped inside an apartment building with an infective disease spreading faster than herpes at a college graduation party. What really drives this film through the (fourth) wall and right into your living room is the sheer intensity of it all. It almost has that video game feeling of a first person shooter, which isn’t far from the truth either. When all hell breaks loose though, I feel like ‘Quarantine’ really shows its potential; not necessarily as an all-out scary piece of filmmaking, but as a frightening yet fun sprint through your worst nightmares. I even feel like there is control within the chaos when they run up and down the stairs with zombies popping into frame all over and blood flying everywhere.

But even though the highlight is definitely the last third of the film, I think the build up in the building is still a lot better than in ‘[REC]’. I kind of got bored with the original, while ‘Quarantine’ somehow kept me more interested throughout. It may be almost a shot-for-shot remake, but to me I like almost all of the added elements in the film. If I had to pick a favorite one it would be how the directors added the sounds of a creaky and noisy old building, which keeps the realism intact since there is no musical soundtrack, but still adds intensity to the film with creepy background noise that can create a great atmosphere without making it feel forced or fake. I also like the added window shoot-out scene slash double-zombie-trouble scene, the dog elevator scene, as well as the smaller changes to the cameraman’s involvement in the film; like when he drops the camera and it continues to roll or when he uses the actual camera to kill off one of the zombies. All that worked great in my opinion.



Lastly, you all have to remember one thing… and that is the fact that I don’t think this movie is great. I don’t think it is the finest filmmaking I have ever seen, but it is a lot of fun to watch and I still think it gets too much hate in terms of how well-made it actually is on its own. Within its (sub)genre, I think it does a good job and definitely also when compared to a film like ‘[REC]’, which isn’t even that revolutionizing in my opinion – ‘Quarantine’ may be easy to hate on, but ‘[REC]’ is no masterpiece. Of course, this is only my personal opinion, but just because the remake is universally considered lackluster doesn’t automatically make the original a great film all of a sudden. I have lots of respect for the people behind ‘[REC]’ and for those who love it, but I struggle to see why this particular film is considered a revolutionary and truly great horror film. To me, it is just another found footage film – just like ‘Quarantine’ – and I’m not trying to call that one great or revolutionary.

Anyways, both ‘[REC]’ and ‘Quarantine’ does a better job than the other a few places throughout, but ultimately it just happens to be ‘Quarantine’ I like the most. Maybe because I saw it first; maybe because I like the fun of it; maybe because I’m extremely weird. Whatever the reason might be, I will continue to love this film and I don’t care if you agree or not, though I do hope you got something out of all this if you read the entire thing. Thank you.




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Survivor 5s #2 Bitch
MovieMeditation presents...
HIS FILM DIARY 2015
total movie count ........... current day count
284 .......................... 325

__________________________


August 21th

—— 2008 ——
QUARANTINE
—— horror ——
EXTENDED REVIEW

REWATCH
So... Whatever... Meh...
Uh... F*ck it...




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I don't like the film, but as always you put tons of time and effort into making a review, and as always, you produce something so analytical and amazing! I actually agreed with a lot more things you had to say about this than I was expecting to



Thank you, CiCi, always with the predictable gifs. Boooring

I'm kidding, I love your gifs! Anyways, as I wrote during the beginning I really didn't want to accomplish anything with this review and I have never been as split on what to write... But my hopes about it was of course that someone would read it and say "hey, I see what you mean there".

I'm glad you found points you could either agree with or at least understand to some extent hopefully. I thank you for checking in, CiCi, awesome you got something out of it and didn't just bash all that I said.



Survivor 5s #2 Bitch
Thank you, CiCi, always with the predictable gifs. Boooring

I'm kidding, I love your gifs! Anyways, as I wrote during the beginning I really didn't want to accomplish anything with this review and I have never been as split on what to write... But my hopes about it was of course that someone would read it and say "hey, I see what you mean there".

I'm glad you found points you could either agree with or at least understand to some extent hopefully. I thank you for checking in, CiCi, awesome you got something out of it and didn't just bash all that I said.
I was going to say! Lucille Bluth is just a gif goddess

But you do make what you're trying to say so apparent and clear, so I bet loads of people will easily understand what you're trying to say, so I wouldn't worry about that at all! But I think I mainly agreed with the awful simplicity of the minor characters also trapped in the block in both versions, and I don't particularly like to admit it but... yeah, Quarantine did do more with the firemen and American Pablo than the original did
It was good to see you put up another review though MM, keep em coming



Yeah, I have been busy with new work and such, but that doesn't stop me from doing something from time to time. Plus, I've been fairly active in the Rate Last Movie thread, actually posting full length reviews there. So yep, I try my best but I can't promise anything. I post when I can.

Glad you like what you read though, I'll try to post something again soon.



Survivor 5s #2 Bitch
Yeah, I have been busy with new work and such, but that doesn't stop me from doing something from time to time. Plus, I've been fairly active in the Rate Last Movie thread, actually posting full length reviews there. So yep, I try my best but I can't promise anything. I post when I can.

Glad you like what you read though, I'll try to post something again soon.
I rarely check that thread, but it looks like I'll have to pop in more frequently now



MovieMeditation presents...
HIS FILM DIARY 2015
total movie count ........... current day count
284 .......................... 326

__________________________


August 24th

—— 2015 ——
MAD MAX
FURY ROAD

—— action ——
REWATCH


"My name is Max...
my world is fire... and blood."


From my original review
"... Surprisingly enough, George Miller pretty much brings this movie home in almost perfect condition, after it has been soaked in gasoline and subsequently motor-mutilated for two total hours of complete cinematic lunacy. The characters, costumes and set designs are soaring with distinctive personality, and the adrenaline-fueled action scenes are done with old school mentality but adapted to new school standards. It works extraordinarily well for most of the time, but cutting it just by half an hour or so, this would have been a much tighter and more intensely constructed film ...."

This was my second rewatch of the film and despite going up half as popcorn with my last rewatch, I'm now back at the same rating I gave it originally. Finally I feel like this is the rating it deserves and I feel confident about it now. My thought on the film are mostly the same as the original review...

Click here
to read my full original review!




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[/center][/quote]
January 28th

Bad Boys (1995)*



Here is yet another rewatch, but it wasn’t as pleasant as the one above. Not that it is straight up garbage, though I’m sure many think exactly that, but since I remember wathcing this when I was a younger movie fanatic, it kind of brings back some memories. Well, maybe not this particular entry in the series, but the indeed sequel does, which I will speak upon in my next update tomorrow.

I liked ‘Bad Boys’ less this time around, unfortunately. It feels too uncomfortable with what it wants to be and is just all over the place. It feels the most as a buddy cop comedy flick, but sometimes goes for the straight up horrifying drama anyways, and that is quite off-putting to me. It simply doesn’t fit, at least not to that extent and with that execution. Many of the jokes are also driven too far out and the scenes sometimes go on for too long. Most of the time it feels like your typical 90’s action flick all the way from the visuals, to the music, to the characters and so on... I had a pretty fun time, but it is fairly forgettable and ultimately didn’t hold my attention enough of its runtime.
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I think your assessment of this film is pretty much on the money...just another cop/buddy movie...nothing more, nothing less, and nothing special.



Thanks for checking in, Gideon! I appreciate the comments you post and it's fun that you talk about some of my older reviews. Are you pulling a Beatle and going through my entire diary or what? Y'all crazy



Thanks for checking in, Gideon! I appreciate the comments you post and it's fun that you talk about some of my older reviews. Are you pulling a Beatle and going through my entire diary or what? Y'all crazy
Sometimes I need a break to think about my lists and every now and then I find a review thread that intrigues me and yours did.



MovieMeditation presents...
HIS FILM DIARY 2015
total movie count ........... current day count
292 .......................... 336

__________________________


August 28th

—— 1962 ——
To
kill a
Mockingbird

—— drama ——
REWATCH


"Neighbors bring food with death, and flowers with sickness, and little things in between. Boo was our neighbor. He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a knife, and our lives..."

When thinking about it, I don’t think I can come up with another film that blends such broad and diverse subjects into a seamless cinematic experience, as well as ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ does it. All the various focus points in the film can appear far from each other at first, but then you realize just how important each of them are and how they work flawlessly together – supporting and complimenting each other – in the end creating a very complete image beyond the basics of imagination. It is especially the very diverse but surprisingly distinctive thematic grouping of the innocence of colored people and the innocence of children and childhood in general. When combined, these two creates a strong and powerful picture of the morals of a human being and present them in a way that makes us think and feel a lot throughout the film.

When centering on the aspect of the children, the audience get to see innocence in its purest and freest form, all the while having the movie portray the gradual progression of these children and how they grow into a newer and largely darker understanding of the world. We discover the dominance of “good”, while slowly watching it being challenged by the opposition of “evil”, thereby showing the audience the most natural and honest view on such evils all the while showing another side of the case entirely – that being the view points full of prejudice and false judgments. The grown ups in this film are not all bad, but there is a large group unwilling to accept changes to their personal perception of things, which they have had for ages by now; unlike the children. It is equally interesting to see the different points of view collide with each other, creating something even stronger and much more thought provoking.

Gregory Peck is absolutely phenomenal in the role of Atticus Finch; the lawyer who are to defend the black man at a trial and thereby go against the general population and their radical reserved beliefs. The character of Atticus Finch is most certainly an all-time favorite of mine, mainly because he is such an admirable, respectable and righteous human being, who comes across as fair and firm about his decisions – as a father and lawyer, respectively. He seems to be a father who practices mutual respect and relevant morals from the time period of which the film takes place, but with that said, he seems to balance between firm and free upbringing and education of his children as well. All this really make him stand out as this powerful and convincing man, who in return is clearly just a humble human being when it all comes down to it. Scenes like the one with the dog comes to mind, but all in all many examples can be used throughout where he is portrayed from different sides of the same case – or in this case, different sides of the same human being. The movie is really just about humans and how our minds work – how it is born; how it is developed; and ultimately how it is either destroyed or saved. ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ might be the most complicated and tightly developed product of simplicity I have ever seen and I truly love it for being just that…






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Survivor 5s #2 Bitch
I've sadly never read or watched this I wonder if the sequel will be made into a film?

Another compelling review though, Med! Here's hoping you make the cut for the MoFies!



I've sadly never read or watched this I wonder if the sequel will be made into a film?

Another compelling review though, Med! Here's hoping you make the cut for the MoFies!
I have been extremely consistent all throughout 2015, but I have fallen off lately right up to the MoFies.

Hopefully my fellow mofos will remember all I have done in the past and not just now. But in the end, all I care about is if people like what they read - I don't have to be everyone's favorite haha



MovieMeditation presents...
HIS FILM DIARY 2015
total movie count ........... current day count
292 .......................... 337

__________________________


August 29th

—— 1956 ——
BOB
LE FLAMBEUR

—— crime ——



'Bob le Flambeur' is far from
flamboyant filmmaking in my opinion...


After I had watched the amazing Melville masterpiece, Le Samouraď, I was obviously interested in more from his probably fantastic filmography. So when this movie was nominated in a Hall of Fame I couldn't be happier to experience more of this director. But I actually find myself not even able to remember much about this film. Usually I remember the basics of each and every film I watch, but this really proves how forgettable an experience it was to watch Bob le Flambeur. I remember not caring for the characters nor the story, especially because the latter didn't seem to have something solid to say or do throughout its entire runtime. Well, the last 20 minutes or so was pretty solid, but apart from that there really wasn't much for me in this film.

I know Melville has many other movies, which are more praised than this one, so of course my journey with this director doesn't stop here. I was just really disappointed with this one and I wish I liked it more, but for me there wasn't much to enjoy with it...


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MovieMeditation presents...
HIS FILM DIARY 2015
total movie count ........... current day count
292 .......................... 337

__________________________


August 29th

—— 1970 ——
THE
Aristocats

—— animation ——
REWATCH


"Everybody wants to be a cat!"

Once again, Wolfgang Reitherman is the rightful pack leader of this jazzy and energetic Disney feature, in which he determinedly delivers his signature style with that rough animated look and with characters full of life – only this time the main characters have 9 of them. Unfortunately, it doesn’t automatically mean that the movie is nine times better, but at this point in time of the Disney classics, you kind of know what you get. Actually, it wasn’t until five films later, with a movie called ‘The Black Cauldron’, that Disney finally didn’t pussy out on their premise or overstuffed it with fluffy family friendly entertainment.

You could easily say, that The AristoCats is nothing more than a reprocessed hairball, which the broad-spectrum audience gladly take in time and time again, without ever examining it further. I won’t exactly call it revolutionary myself either, but Disney is known for putting the same collar on a different animal (quite literally as well) and I usually don’t care if I have seen it before, as long as it is presented in a flashy and fearless manner that makes me forget about the past product. Because in its basic idea, this is very much an updated and repackaged version of Disney’s own 101 Dalmatians, presented in a new skin but with more spots on the surface than previously. The AristoCats is also about someone kidnapping some animals to earn money; only this time it is man’s best friend’s enemy, which works as the plot-p(l)usher. There is also two dumb side characters present, only this time they are dogs and not humans. But in all honesty, this is about as far as the comparing of company creations go, because this is different enough to stand on its own but still a bit too safe to be called a new Disney classic – even though it is part of the classic line.

The AristoCats is probably one of the better Disney films when it all comes down to it, but I really wish the story had as much of an edge as the actual animation has in its literal sense. As a whole I think this is a fun watch, the humor is good and the characters are well-rounded with some fine voice acting all around. The plot feels far from hairy, but the cute and consistent Disney is also a joy to watch. I do like how they blended the story of the movie with a more modernized musical direction, which makes it feel less flat and more furbished. You could say that like a cat, Disney does something quite elegant here, but is kind of also licking its own a**hole one too many times…


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