Movie Review on The Sorcerer's Apprentice!

Probably one of the more impressive movies that you'll see all summer, The Sorcerer's Apprentice has a lot to show off for a live action Disney flick. Directed by the same crew that constructed Pirates of the Caribbean, Apprentice follows the story of a young lad who fatefully encounters the crafty sorcerer Balthazar who has been seeking the teenage protagonist for centuries. Together they embark on a journey of magical training, getting the girl, and also putting on an impressive tesla light show blended with music! Some of the highlights center around the impressive character that Nicholas Cage portrays. The humor is definitely aimed toward the geeks of the crowd, which will either make you laugh really hard or throw your arms up in a befuddled WAT. Plus you have three scenes that include the use of teslas. TESLAS!!! Not to mention a very contemporary rendition of the "sorcerer's apprentice" scene taken from Disney's Fantasia. Some of the movie's weaknesses would be the predictable and random love story that emerges between the main characters both young and old. (At least Nicholas Cage has an excuse! She was trapped in a freaking jar for centuries!) Otherwise; some of the music transitions can seem a little inappropriate and awkwardly placed - which still does not hinder the film's fantastical story to tell. And surprise! Abigail Williams (the historical character) makes a brief cameo that is creepy cool and unexpected! So ... if anything else, go to see the movie to see Balthazar pull off some mind bending spells and maintain a solid grasp of humor not easily found in young adult targeted creations.

Movie Review on Despicable Me!

Now I will confess, when I saw the trailers for Despicable Me, I was not looking forward it whatsoever. In fact, I made sure to tell everyone that I knew that I would definitely not be attending such a film. It looked cheesy, cliche, and unfunny. On the contrary, Despicable Me wound up being an absolute delight to watch from beginning to end. The animation was good, the infamous minions were not as annoying as I feared, and the main characters were really enjoyable. My second confession is that I am not a fan of Steve Carell at all (I can't stand The Office). But his hilarious voice acting is what really brought this movie to life! The only weaknesses that could be found was the film's automatic tilt toward the 3-D audience members, which can be rather eye-rolling when you're watching the film in 2-D. Such scenes include the front of the space rocket moving toward the audience, the minions interacting with the audience during the credits, and various devices flying all over the place. But besides the favorable outlay, there is no other film with a protagonist villain trying to steal the moon from outer space! Highly recommend this if you're on a high for the good animated films this year.

Movie Review on The Last Airbender!

The Last Airbender (2010) live action movie was the most unsatisfying film I have seen all year. Negatives: As a huge fan of the cartoon series, there were several reasons why I did not enjoy the film. SPOILER ALERT! The script was hideously written, it was extremely fast paced which is unnecessary even if you're covering a whole season in one movie, the acting was poor, character names were pronounced very differently (I completely understand "culturally" why they did this) but as a cartoon series fan it made concentrating very difficult, main character Aang was surprisingly calm/serene/peaceful at the end of the film for someone who is supposed to be angry/out of control/violent in the first season of the television series. Uncle Iroh had a "forced accent", Zuko's burn scar is barely noticeable, there's no emotional development during the movie's transitions in order for you to really have empathy and care for the characters who perish, the 3-D rendering was very poor and caused headaches due to unfocused camera angles, there wasn't enough elemental bending... *sighs* I could go on ... but I'm also trying to dwell mostly on the positive qualities that I actually enjoyed from the film.
Positives:
For one; the intro sequence with the four elements was beautifully done. Secondly, some of the martial arts scenes between Aang and Zuko (with the exclusion of bending) were wonderfully poetic, plus the last scene with Azula WAS PERFECT! The only reason that I would probably go to see the Earth Book movie is to see the possibility of Azula being a total bad ass! :D

All in all however: I highly do not recommend this oddity of an adaptation and just stick to the cartoon series if you want to enjoy the fullness of the Airbender fun.