more movie reviews w/my toddler. She only wanted to watch Kiki's Delivery Service and The Aristocats for the last month and suddenly asked, "New movie?" a few days ago.
Kiki's Delivery Service (1989): 10/10
No notes. Perfect movie. English dub sucks but my toddler WILL NOT listen to Japanese. (Based?) Not western so I won't analyze it.
The Aristocats (1970): 9/10
I've watched this movie far too much by now to have much to say. Edgar is a bumbling idiot, which makes him the perfect villain in such a simple story. He's too stupid to be scary and makes for the greatest animated slapstick comedy. Wasn't able to find a VHS rip so I had to settle with the Blu-Ray upscale that butchered the Xerox'd line art and muddied everything. I want to slap whoever made that decision. Anyway Abigail, Amelia, and Uncle Waldo are my favs.
Shrek (2001): 9/10
Toddler almost made it but tapped out in the last 15 minutes. I think it still holds up but I'm biased. I saw it in theaters. Some of the humans outside of the main cast look uncanny and the lip-syncing is off sometimes. Dreamworks cut corners for certain animation sequences and sometimes the scenes feel empty, but whatevs. Was a silly movie and a bit naughty for the adults without going too far. I think it aged well. Especially the scene where Shrek and Donkey go to save Fiona.
Ice Age (2002): 9/10
Toddler sat through the whole movie and shrieked at the exciting adventure parts. She loves babies, so extra points from her. Blue Sky put all their love and heart into this movie and you can see it. They love showing off their tech. Toddler seemed to dislike the lady sloths in the "hot tub" scene (they are pretty creepy looking lmao). I forgot what the sequels are like. Again, another movie that aged well. I miss Blue Sky. ;__;
Zootopia (2016): 6/10
I think it's okay if you don't think too hard about how the world works. It tries to be so much but its reach exceeds its grasp. I don't like the element of celebrity worship. I don't like the general attitude of shitting on rural communities. I don't like the overall allegory, but if you're a kid it's just a story about animals and not a statement about humans. Much of the dialog is already dated and I don't think the script aged well. At least the characters don't word vomit. Toddler seemed to like it but didn't scream in excitement. Funny, I enjoyed the Godfather references much more this time around than when I first watched it. Sure it looks nice, but idk... I don't care much for it.
The Super Mario Movie (2023): 9/10
Toddler wanted to watch this one again right after it finished. She only has seen me play Mario Kart 8 but she really likes the characters. The worst part of this movie is the voice acting. I think Chris Pratt and Charlie Day actually do great jobs as Mario and Luigi. Jack Black as Bowser gets less grating on the 5th watch. But it's colorful and the characters are round/squishy, cute, and recognizable. It is fun. I think Peach's VA could have done better bc her tone doesn't match what is being said and the animation does the heavy lifting for her emotions. I wanna watch in Japanese some day. I actually don't mind watching the movie over and over.
Both Shrek and Ice Age have disgruntled MCs and I like that. Many current era movies have nice and/or quirky MCs and it makes them too perfect without anything to work toward or reveal to the audience. The struggle with nice MCs seems to be becoming crestfallen and sad. But these "uglier," meaner MCs have a more human appeal cuz they are allowed a greater range of emotions and the narrative doesn't force them to behave. Really activates my almonds.
