Movie Review: The Tale of Despereaux

There is both something very right yet something very wrong with the Tale of Despereaux. It’s just that I cannot rightly pinpoint it.

Here is an epic tale about… about… about… well, that’s just it – I can’t pinpoint what its about either. And that’s the biggest flaw of the film.

The Tale of Despereaux is a beautiful film, full of well acted roles (by superior actors) written beautifully with a literary-worthy script, and music that can take your breath away… but it tried to achieve so many things at the same time, that it ended up convoluting the script and the pace. The film, rare from its kind, is written like a beautiful prose (narrated by the equally beautiful voice of Sigourney Weaver) – it doesn’t travel with a straight line, but moves almost like a stream of consciousness, following nothing but the words before them and where the tale takes them… no matter where it is.

Animation Review: Wolverine and the X-Men

Wolverine and the X-Men, if it follows through with its great first season, has the potential of being the premiere X-Men animated series around. Time will tell.

Let me put it simply.  If you like western animation, you should try this.  If you like X-Men, you should to watch this.  If you like Wolverine, you MUST watch this.

Any fan of the X-Men would instantly see the quality given to this series by Marvel.  And it is by far, one of the best (if not the best) written and the best animated Marvel flick out there.  This animated series gives everyone, fans or otherwise, a healthy dose of action, drama, and superheroics.  I was honestly surprised at this series, since I did not expect much from an animated series titled “Wolverine and the X-men.”  (They could honestly have done better than that… it sound so UGH!)  But the series was surprisingly mature, well-written, well-paced, and quite faithful (yet remaining original) to the source material.

Anime Review: Minami-ke

Its those stupid random scenes like this that makes Minami-ke bloody epic.

“This is just a plain depiction of the days of the lives of the three Minami sisters.  Please don’t expect too much.”

The Minami-ke series always starts with that same statement, spoken in different intonations per episode – and sometimes even in English.  And somehow, that statement tells more about this anime series than I possibly could.  And it is this plain, fresh attitude which makes this worthwhile to watch.

When I first began to watch this series, I did not expect much.  The character designs was quite bland and unoriginal – and the main cast comprises of three sisters that seem to be borrowed from the stock library. So, what makes it so great?

Let me explain.

Weekend Nonsense: Something to read, Something to watch

Its finally the weekend, so before we reach a saturday, I might as well suggest a little something for everyones reading and viewing pleasure.

SOMETHING TO READ: Fables by Bill Willingham (Vertigo)

Fairy Tales just learned how to kick ass.

Yes, you heard it right. Watch Snow White gun down a bengal tiger in this contemporary epic, and I have to say its an incredibly amazing read.

Previously, I had thought that Neil Gaiman’s “Morpheus” and “Death” of Sandman fame was the penultimate example of mainstream and maturity in the comics industry. Continuously, Gaiman has wowed me with his flair for words and his clever manipulation of plots, and introduction of mind numbing humanity in his work.Who better to talk about life, after all, than Death herself? Sheer genius!

So, I clearly had not expected something so mainstream and mature to surpass him. Oh, I was so wrong. I was in the middle of reading and collecting the entire Sandman graphic collection when a friend suggested these series to me. Fables.

The plot was incredibly unique that I immediately dipped into it. ‘Fables and Fairy tales are real, and now, they are living in New York.’ While I had been expecting another deep Gaimanish story about dreams and fairy tales – I had once again been pleasantly surprised. The conceptualization of Fables is one of a kind, and even though almost everyone could have thought of Fairy Tales in New York (after all, there had been movies previously showing such) – none had done it with such excellence than Fables did. Indeed, who in their sane mind would even think of pairing off Snow White with the Big Bad Wolf? Or the Prince Charming was the very same womanizing Prince Charming in Cinderella, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty? Who would imagine the Frog Prince as the Janitor? And while it would have guaranteed success with such ideas alone, It did not stop there… It introduced very human emotions among these fairy tales from jealousy to depression. From true love to selfish avarice into selflessness.

Willingham must have been visited by the Blue Fairy herself, to make so many stock fairy tale characters and free them from the puppet strings of the traditional Aesop – transforming them into true breathing human beings.

Highly Recommended!

SOMETHING TO WATCH: Sword of the Stranger

Just at the moment I am usually ready to condemn anime, and am just about to pack my bags and quit it altogether – there are always those anime juggernauts that come along that pull me back in.

This time, it was Sword of the Stranger.

While I was getting tired watching hotblooded hero anime cliches from titles like Naruto and Bleach – this title came along and woke me to the very real possibility of non-mainstream yet EPIC anime around. The story of Sword of the Stranger is simple and robust, there is no pretentions for being something else and it doesnt even try. It knows what it is – a Chambara samurai action film that delivers from beginning til end. From the burning temple at the beginning of the movie, into the awesome mass-number swordsfight just after it, and later on as it reaches the pinnacle of its tower gleaning ascent to the climax… Sword just is such an awesome thing to watch.

While Anime may not be anyone’s soup and few ever cross that border, Sword cuts that border shamelessly, showing itself off with its pure magnificence to anyone willing. It isnt only great as an anime, why it is great in itself as an action film – and it holds on its own.

Definitely worth the watch ten times over.

Review: Little Women

Oftentimes, I would catch myself smiling each time I see a little girl walking alongside her family. I would watch them eat ice cream perhaps from afar, watch them smile and laugh and joke and giggle. Perhaps I would be sitting in a bench in the park, reading a book – but always, a scene of such humanity and innocence like those can always pull me away from my fictitious world and into the present.

Innocence. It was one of those things that truly enraptures me. One day, perhaps I will have a son and daughter of my own – and only then could I truly view my life as complete.

Perhaps this is why the novel, ‘Little Women’ captured me so.

There is something so absolutely pure about Louisa Alcott’s writing, that it just reaches out to the soul. Not with force, but by a gentle tug – perhaps like a caring mother, urging you to take your first steps with her. I was tantalized ever since I read that first page, that first chapter… all the way til the end.