James' Movie Blog

  Over 100 years, the Walt Disney company has entertained audiences for generations. More specifically, through their animated features. Founded by Walt himself, along with his brother Roy, the company has secured its place with everyone by bringing timeless stories that audiences can and will enjoy. One of their most recent attempts, is an animated feature called “Wish”, celebrating a centennial of hard work, and some magic along the way. And the result is that this new feature is quite good. Not perfect, but it is still keeping the fairy tale formula well and alive. There are some flaws that are present, but that doesn't hinder the overall experience. “Wish” is a celebration of all things Disney with a modern twist on a classic formula. The story is set on the Mediterranean Sea with the kingdom of Rosas residing over the land. This particular kingdom is important as its king, King Magnifico (Chris Pine) is also a sorcerer who grants wishes to the public. On one particular day, K...

Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II are quite possibly the greatest music-writing team in the history of musical theater. Together, the duo wrote some of the most renowned stage plays of all time. These include such well-known stage productions as The Sound of Music, South Pacific, and Carousel, among others. All of these productions had wonderful film adaptations throughout the years, most of which were done by studio 20 th Century Fox. But it is 1956's “The King and I” which just may be the most memorable, mainly because of Yul Brynner, who was cast in both the film version and the original stage production, giving and delivering a magnificent performance. This is one of those movies that give the viewer a rare treat to see film making at its finest. The plot of the movie revolves around Ms. Anna Leonowens (Deborah Kerr), an overqualified schoolteacher sent by the King of Siam (Brynner) to teach his many children the ways of the modern world. Once Anna starts teachi...

Disney always delivers on making a fairy nearly perfect. But what if that fairy tale turned over to the macabre, and dark side? Plus, add the the twisted side of director Tim Burton, and you got a recipe for something truly bizarre and unusual. The result? The 1993 stop-motion animated feature “The Nightmare Before Christmas”. A miss-mash of two holidays colliding, and resulting in one of the most impressive and ambitious animated features of all time. Since its inception, “The Nightmare Before Christmas” has easily gained a large following, and many have praised the feature for its creativity and imagination. However, there are some issues, albeit minor, that not a lot of people are bringing up when discussing the film. But nevertheless, “The Nightmare Before Christmas” is a fantastic film that no matter what the season is, Halloween or Christmas, this film still amazes me nearly 30 years later. “The Nightmare Before Christmas” is a revealing dark fairy tale that twists the holiday...

What happens when you take a toy meant for kids, and just splash a huge rainbow all over it? That, my friends, is “Trolls”, the latest animated film from DreamWorks. And the result is a visual masterpiece, but with a story that seems to get caught in confusion. This movie isn't terrible, by all means; there are a wide variety of issues that are present trust me. “Trolls” is a decent movie for kids, and that's pretty much all I can say about that. The story involves trolls, little creatures that are hunted by beings known as Bergen, evil creatures who want to eat trolls in order to become happy. Some trolls get captured, and it's up to two trolls to go and rescue them. Now, the trolls, named Poppy (Anna Kendrick) and Branch (Justin Timberlake), must learn to get along with each other, if they want to save their friends. “Tolls” is a relatively harmless movie that is targeted for kids to enjoy. The animation plays a huge role in this. Mostly because everyth...