Lucy

French director Luc Besson’s new film, “Lucy” found its way into theaters last week. Produced by Besson and Europacorp, it stars Scarlett Johansson, Morgan Freeman, Amr Waked and Choi Min-sik and was shot on location in Taipei, Paris and New York City.

Lucy (Johansson) is a woman living in Taipei who unwittingly delivers a packet of new synthetic drugs for the Taiwanese Mafia and soon finds herself as one of their drug mules. However, the drug finds its way into her system and allows her to tap into more than 10 percent of her brain. She can absorb knowledge instantly, move objects with her mind and change her physical features on whim. But time is running out for her and she must reach Professor Samuel Norman (Freeman), a noted neuroscientist, to pass on her knowledge.

Based off the faulty notion that humans only use 10 percent of their brain (we use 10 percent similar to the way we only use 33 percent of a stoplight), “Lucy” can best be described as “Transcendence” meets “The Matrix” meets “2001: A Space Odyssey.” While the film has great acting and visuals, the story itself leaves a lot to be desired, especially in the final third.

Normally, actors are praised for being able to give life to their roles and giving their characters a wide range of expressive emotion. And Johansson does so very well in the early parts of the film, becoming a blubbering mess when she’s ordered by the mafia to open a package with unknown contents. However, after the drugs have entered her system, she becomes an unemotional stilted block of wood. And that’s actually a good thing. It’s established that by unlocking the extra brainpower, Lucy cannot feel pain, discomfort or fear. Johansson is able to pull off a bland, robot-like persona without emotion very well. But she can also slip back into emotive with ease. There’s a point where the drug starts to wear off and she’s literally falling apart and evaporating. Her ensuing freak out is acted greatly. And of course, there’s Freeman and his voice. The man could read the White Pages and there wouldn’t be any complaints.

The film has impressive visuals as well. After Lucy has ingested the drugs and garnered the ability to unlock the untapped portions, she is able to look into her roommate’s innards and see everything going on with her body. The visuals make it into a very fluid X-ray and don’t obviously telegraph what Lucy finds wrong with the other person until she mentions it. There’s also a point where she can see the satellite threads of every mobile phone call going on in the area and pick one out of all of them. On the other hand, the cutaways can get a little distracting. Early on in the film, Norman is giving a lecture, which is interspersed between what Lucy’s going through, and some of his points cut away to scenes of nature that describe what he’s saying. One of them is humorous, but they really feel out of place.

However, while the visuals and acting are great, the story is lacking and it really unravels near the end. The trailers marketed the film as a sci-fi action thriller where Lucy is able to use more than 10 percent of her brain and do a whole bunch of crazy things while being chased by the Taiwanese mafia. However, almost all the action scenes were shown in the trailer and while it certainly is that type of film, the action just feels like it lacks a sense of urgency since Lucy can do anything with her mind. Also, the whole action thriller plot unravels during the last third when Lucy meets Norman and his peers. While the mafia is still trying to get to her, the film shifts and centers on the meaning of life and the universe.

“Lucy” feels like Besson wanted to recreate the meaning behind “2001: A Space Odyssey” while being able to attract as many people as possible. The only problem with this is Stanley Kubrick made nothing uncertain that his film was a dramatic journey of discovery through time and space. Besson attempted a sort of bait and switch, promising an action thriller about a woman who can use her mind more than possible, but delivering a lesson on the necessity of sharing knowledge and learning more about the universe. It’s an anvil that needs to be dropped, but not like this. 

I put Lucy at #6 for 2014 New Releases, just under the Edge of Dissatisfaction. It's at least better than Tammy. 

Belle's Tales of Friendship

The last direct-to-video sequel to Beauty and the Beast was released in 1999. Belle’s Tales of Friendship was a package film intended to promote the television series, Sing Me a Story with Belle. It starred the original cast.

Belle owns and work sat her music and bookstore in France when a group of children walk into the store to hear her stories. She agrees, but also plays games with them and teaches lessons about life. She narrates two classic cartoons while the children help clean the bookstore and reads two more afterward.

Utterly pointless. Sure it’s an actual sequel to the original film, but Belle telling stories comprised of classics is not a good idea for a complete film. Why not have had THIS as the series?

Everything I said about the previous sequel applies here.

#62

Dougs 1st Movie

In 1996, Disney bought Nickelodeon’s Doug and as the series was winding down in 1999, the company decided it would be a great idea to give him a movie. Dougs 1^st Movie was release March 26, 1999 and starred Tom McHugh, Fred Newman, Chris Philips, Constance Shulman, Frank Welker, Alice Playten, and Guy Hadley. It was originally going to be direct to video, but Disney released it in theaters in hopes to copy the success of The Rugrats Movie. It tanked and made less than $20 million.

After searching numerous times in the series for the monster of Lucky Duck Lake, and failing, Doug (McHugh) and Skeeter (Newman) find one. It turns out to be quite nice and they name him Herman Melville (Welker). They show him to Mrs. Dink (Doris Belack), the mayor. She decides to keep him a secret due as well as knowledge that Bill Bluff (Doug Preis) has been polluting the lake. But after Doug’s rival, Guy, finds a photo of Herman, he tells Bluff. Now Bluff’s army is searching for the monster and Doug is trying to keep him a secret.

This is just an awful movie. First off, the producers decided to not give it any editing, which made it just drag on and on. And the last 20 minutes just felt like it would never end.

The characters also have absolutely no redeeming qualities. You’d think that with a televisions series to base their qualities off of, that this would be an extension of those qualities. But no, every single character is made into a complete idiot and entirely unlikable. At least in the series, Doug was naïve, but well meaning. Here, he’s just stupid. For instance,Mayor Dink decides to sit on Herman and wait for a press conference because Bluff will kill the story if they don’t. Later, Doug actually tells Guy, who has been well established as friends with Bluff that he’s got proof of Herman and the pollution. Another point has him see what he knows is next week’s school newspaper that reports Herman had been neutralized at a dance. He and Skeeter then spend the next five minutes of the film talking about it, not realizing the dance hasn’t even happened yet.

There are also a few imagine spot cutaway gags, which were the norm in the series. But where those were at least somewhat reasonable, these just go into the realms of ridiculous. Take the time where Doug imagines him and Patti organizing the dance. They’re doing so as World War II generals. The Quail Man sequence is also unnecessarily long.

Disney was actually considering producing sequels to this film, hence its title. But since it did so poorly at the box office, they canned all of them. Which is saying something considering how they continue almost everything.

#56 

Hercules: Zero to Hero

As with most Disney Renaissance films, Hercules received a sequel. Basically a pilot for the television series,Hercules: Zero to Hero was released August 31, 1998. It kept most of the original voice cast, plus a few new characters and replaced Danny DeVito with Robert Costanzo.

The film consists of Megara going through Hercules’ high school yearbook, where he regales her with stories about what his high school life was like.

Of all the films to get a sequel and television series, Hercules was the one that needed it the least. This movie and the resulting series tears a hole in both Hercules’ character and the plot itself.

As for our resident protagonist, the film is before he becomes famous and his ego becomes so inflated. But in the original film, Hercules wanted to prove himself. Here, he gets the gods to do everything for him. Sure, it makes for a good “divine intervention” joke at one point, but having Aphrodite bring to life a girlfriend for him?

Also there’s an issue with Hades. As in the first film, he’s the primary antagonist. But this drives a semi through the original plot. Hades didn’t know Hercules was even alive until he showed back up. Yet here, he’s fighting him all the time.

There’s not much else to say about it other the supporting cast is underwhelming and the art is ok. I will say though, reminiscing through a yearbook is interesting. But it could have been so much better. 

#50

Tom and Jerry: The Movie

In 1993, The Walt Disney Company bought Miramax Films, which means that the 1993 film, Tom and Jerry: The Movie is, by proxy, an animated Disney film. You’d never find it in any lists of canon though, as it isn’t officially Disney. Starring Richard Kind, Dana Hill, Tony Jay, Anndi McAfee, and Rip Taylor, the film opened at #14 on its opening weekend, behind films like Sleepless in Seattle, Jurassic Park, Rising Sun, and Robin Hood: Men in Tights. And with a budget of $3.5 million, it barely broke even with a profit of $60,000.

Tom (Kind) and Jerry (Hill) head off on their own after their home is demolished, discovering they can talk and sing. Becoming friends, they encounter an orphan named Robyn Starling (McAfee). The duo help her find her father while evading her Aunt Figg (Charlotte Rae) and her lawyer Lickboot (Jay). There’s also a dog on a skateboard, two dog catchers in luchador masks, a performing ship captain and his puppet parrot and a doctor who kidnaps rich pets for ransom.

This film is reviled among Tom and Jerry fans, who like to pretend it doesn’t even exist. But does it actually deserve all the hatred? YES.

Tom and Jerry became famous from starring in theatrical shorts where they constantly battled each other in a very slapstick manner. Tom would create impractical devices to catch Jerry, but would often be the one harmed by them. They were basically the MGM version of Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner. And, yeah, they do talk. But they also had some speaking roles in their early 40s and 50s shorts. But it wasn’t that much. This film, however, goes way beyond too much for them. And while Hill is all right as Jerry, Kind is a terrible voice for Tom. Whose idea was it to give Paul from Spin City and Frugal Lucre from Kim Possible the role of cat?

This film is also a musical. A musical where the songs are just bad and ruin the pacing of the movie.

Anyway, with there being a film starring the duo, you’d think there would be bigger traps with more thought put into them. Not exactly. The slapstick that Tom and Jerry were known for is pretty much gone from the movie.  There’s a few scenes here and there, but they’re mostly perpetrated by the dog on a skateboard. Other than that, they’re only at the beginning and end.

And that’s another thing. There’s no character development to speak of. From anyone. Tom and Jerry become friends, but go right back to chasing each other at the end. Robyn has no character to speak of, except for being the forever optimist and that wouldn’t be such a bad thing, had she been a side character. Yes, in a film called Tom and Jerry: The Movie, the main characters are not Tom and Jerry, it’s Robyn. And again, she really doesn’t have much characterization going for her. Even PENNY, who was also optimistic that she would get away from Medusa had deterred spirits during the course of her movie. And I still don’t think she’s that great a character. But she’s better than Robyn, which is hilarious seeing as how Robyn was modeled after her.

As for the villains, Figg is annoying. Pure and simple. Lickboot though, is probably the only good thing in the movie. And that’s because he’s played by Tony Jay, who was also the asylum keeper in Beauty and the Beast.

Oh yeah, Droopy’s in the film. For about 10 seconds. But even he can’t give the film a funny moment.  

You know, despite it being so terrible, at least The Black Cauldron tried to stick to the source material. #40

Pete's Dragon

1977 would see yet another hybrid put out by the Disney Corporation. Pete’s Dragon was an entirely live action musical, save for the animated dragon, Elliot, who would often disappear. The first Disney film to be recorded with Dolby Stereo, it was directed by Don Chaffey and Don Bluth and starred Helen Reddy, Jim Dale, and Mickey Rooney. “Candle on the Water” was nominated for an Academy Award, but lost to “You Light Up My Life.”

In the early 20^th century, the orphan Pete (Sean Marshall) is on the run from the Gogans (Shelley Winters, Charles Tyner, Gary Morgan, and Jeff Conaway), a backwoods family that bought him as a slave. His only friend is Elliot, a friendly dragon that doesn’t speak, but can fly, breathe fire, and turn invisible. He’s always looking out for Pete and the two make their way to Passamaquoddy, Maine.

No one believes in dragons, usually because Elliot is invisible, which causes problems for Pete. Pete is taken in by Nora (Reddy), the daughter of lighthouse keeper, Lampie (Rooney). Elliot hides out in a nearby cave.

Pete tells Elliot about Nora’s fiancé who is lost at sea, hoping he can find him But Doctor Terminus (Dale) arrives and his lackey, Hoagy (Red Buttons), learns about Elliot. Terminus realizes the medicines that can be used by dragon compounds and seeks to capture him. Then the Gogans arrive in town and the two combine their forces. Everything comes together one stormy night and the townspeople learn that Elliot is real.

This movie is a complete mess.

Remember when I said in my review of Mary Poppins that the animated sequence was unnecessary? It’s even more so with this film. Constantly, you’re seeing the effects of what Elliot has done. Fence posts are destroyed, footprints in cement, two holes in the schoolhouse, and the townsfolk even drop a net over him at one point. The first shot you see in the film is Pete riding on an invisible Elliot in the woods. The only time Elliot should have shown up in the movie is during the action at the end, when everyone finally believes Pete.

The songs, while catchy, overstay their welcome to the point that the original focus of the songs are lost and people are singing just because this is a musical. The only exception is “Candle on the Water.” Also, most of the acting just isn’t very good. The only two characters who are acted well are Nora and Terminus, mostly because Reddy is able to pull off a strong willed woman quite well and Dale seems to realize how corny this movie is and just goes to town on going so over the top that the character seems like a realistic snake oil salesman.  I expected better from Mickey Rooney, but then look at what he was given.

Something also must be said about this film’s pacing, which is so slow that it’s just hard to get through. I feel like this film could have been about a half hour to 45 minutes shorter.

It was thanks to Pete’s Dragon (and Popeye’s failure three years later) that Disney didn’t put out another live action musical until Newsies in 1992 and was the main reason Don Bluth left the company. This film just isn’t that good and shows how out of touch the company was in the 70s, because what would you rather see? A musical about a boy and his semi-invisible animated dragon? Or Star Wars?

Final Call: Not completely terrible, but not at all good. It’s been a while since a film crossed the Edge of Dissatisfaction. #27. 

The Reluctant Dragon

In 1941, in the middle of the Disney animators’ strike, Disney decided to make a film that combined animation and live action, known as a Hybrid film. This wasn’t the first time Disney made this combination. In the 20s, he made a series of shorts known as the Alice Comedies. The resulting feature was The Reluctant Dragon, starring Robert Benchley, Frances Gifford, Buddy Pepper, and Nana Bryant.

I was able to find a colorized version.

The plot features humorist Robert Benchley trying to find Walt Disney so he can pitch an animated version of Kenneth Grahame’s The Reluctant Dragon at his wife’s insistence. Dodging a studio guide named Humphrey (Pepper), Benchley stumbles onto a number of Disney studio operations and learns about the traditional animation process:

In the life drawing classroom, animators learn to caricature people and animals by observing the real thing.

A score and voice recording session featuring Clarence Nash (Donald Duck) and Florence Gill (Clara Cluck).

A foley session for a cartoon featuring Casey Junior, where Doris (Frances Gifford) demonstrates the sonovox.

The camera room, featuring a demonstration of the multiplane camera. Donald Duck explains the mechanics of animation and animation photography.

The Ink and Paint Dept, which includes a montage of the paint-making process. Doris presents a completed cel of Bambi.

The maquette-making department, which makes small statues to help animators envision a character from all sides. Benchley steals a black centaurette from Fantasia. There are also statues of Captain Hook and Tinkerbell. The employee on duty makes Benchley a maquette of himself, which became the property of Chuck Jones in later years.

The storyboard department, where a group of storymen test their idea for a new short on Benchley. The short, Baby Weems is shown in the form of a story reel.

The room of animators Ward Kimball, Fred Moore, and Norm Ferguson, where Benchley watches Kimball animating Goofy and Ferguson animating Pluto. There is also a preview of the first Goofy How To parodies: How to Ride a Horse

Humphrey finally catches up to Benchley and delivers him to Walt Disney, who is about to screen The Reluctant Dragon.

The cartoon starts with an introduction by the narrator. A boy is reading a book about knights and bloodthirsty dragons when is father comes rushing by, claiming to have seen a monster. The boy reassures his father that it was only a dragon, causing the father to panic and run to the village in fear.

The Boy then goes to the Dragon’s Liar, where he is confronted by a shy, poetry spouting dragon. The Boy befriends him. When he arrives back at the village, the Boy discovers Sir Giles the dragon slayer has arrived. He runs to tell the Dragon that he should fight him, only to be told that the Dragon never fights. The Boy visits Sir Giles, an old man, and tells him that the Dragon will never fight. They go to visit him.

Sir Giles and the Boy visit the Dragon while he is having a picnic. It turns out Sir Giles also loves to write poetry, so he and the Dragon serenade each other. The Boy then asks if he could recite a poem of his own. He uses this chance to get a word in edgewise to arrange a fight. The Dragon leaves, but is persuaded to come back by being flattered by Sir Giles. They decide to fight, but as the two leave, the Dragon realize what he has done. He tries to change his mind, but the two ignore him. The next day, the villagers gather to watch the fight. Sir Giles arrives to wait for The Dragon.

Inside his cave, the Dragon is too scared to fight and cannot breathe fire. The Boy calls the Dragon a “Punk Poet” leads to the Dragon getting angry and spitting flames. The fight ensues with Sir Giles chasing the dragon around with his sword and into the cave where they drink tea and make noises to fake fighting. Out in the open, they charge at each other and create an enormous cloud, where they dance. Sir Giles reveals that it is time for the Dragon to be slain, but only for pretend. He places his lance under the Dragon’s arm, then the Dragon jumps out of the cloud and performs a dramatic death scene. The story ends with the Dragon being accepted into society, to which the dragon poetically states that he will not rant, roar or scourge the countryside anymore.

There’s few films where I want to confusedly ask what I just watched. It seems I wasn’t alone. 1941 critics and audiences didn’t like that the film was not fully animated like Snow White or Pinocchio. It’s really just a collection of four short cartoons framed by a loose and rushed live action story. It also lost $200,000 at the Box Office.

The animated segment that is the film’s namesake is pretty good, but getting through the 40 minutes of Humphrey bumbling around between various departments is quite tedious. Yes, Baby Weems and How to Ride a Horse are good, but it feels like Disney just wanted to show off his company and threw on a 20 minute short framed by some schmuck trying to get to Disney so he can pitch a story. These could have been separated for the better.

As stated, the titular story is pretty good, but I would have enjoyed seeing how it could have been made as a full length feature. The animation is good and the plot is fun, but the only character that’s interesting is the Dragon and that’s because he’s the campiest thing I’ve ever seen.

Final Call: One film that should have been two with pretty good titular story. Unfortunately, it finds itself crossing the Edge of Dissatisfaction at #3.

Best Picture Rundown

Best Picture Rundown

Here's the rundown of Best Picture Winners I have reviewed. It is currently unfinished and will resume at a later date. 

1.    Casablanca

2.     Gone with the Wind

3.     It Happened One Night

4.     Rebecca

5.     Grand Hotel

6.     Mutiny on the Bounty

7.     You Can't Take it With You

8.     The Life of Emile Zola

9.     The Great Ziegfeld

10.   Wings

11.   Cimarron

*EXCEPTIONS*

All Quiet on the Western Front

Mrs. Miniver

Just a Slight Change

I’m realizing I need a way to separate the films I really enjoyed (It Happened One Night and Grand Hotel) from those I simply thought were good (Mutiny on the Bounty and All Quiet On the Western Front) from those I hated (Wings and Cimarron).

Mr. Howard Taylor (creator of Schlock Mercenary) ranks the films he sees each year. He does so with a “Threshold of Awesome,” a “Threshold of Disappointment,” and the films in between, he enjoyed them and had a good time. It’s proved useful for him for the past four years and I think I’ll adopt it as a system. I’ll call it the Edge of Enjoyment and Edge of Dissatisfaction.

1. It Happened One Night

2. Grand Hotel

3. Mutiny on the Bounty

4. All Quiet on the Western Front

5. Wings

6. Cimarron

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