James' Movie Blog

  In the 1960s, the Walt Disney company was trying to experiment with a lot of things. One of these projects was cutting down on their animation, and thanks to the xerography process, it made their 1961 feature “One Hundred and One Dalmatians” easier to animate. And while the animation is good for that film, it's not what people remember. What people do remember about that film is the villain: Cruella de Vil. And Disney took notice. The company managed to take the central image of that character, and make it one of the key selling points of the movie. And, naturally, Disney experimented by turning the character into live action. In 1996, they tried with somewhat disastrous results, but now, we have a full-blown movie dedicated to the character. So, how does “Cruella” stand out? It's good. Not great, but good enough to watch on the big screen. True, there are some moments that don't add up, but as a whole, the movie is quite good. “Cruella” is an interesting character study,...

  Trying to make an animated film contain the subject of war, is very difficult. This is why war films are made in live action; they can be believable. Everything is recreated so that way, the people who survived can have some sort of memory of what happened. Plus, it gives out a good deal of entertainment value for everyone to enjoy. However, going back to animation, making a war film using the medium, can usually lead to some sort of misdirection. Just look at 2005's “Valiant”, an interesting movie, which is hindered greatly by a wide variety of factors. One of which is the presentation. It just doesn't bring out the entertainment value a lot of war films handle. While the film has good intentions, the end product is not pleasing to the eyes. And in the case of the acting, the ears as well. “Valiant” doesn't evoke or inspire, and instead, does not bring out the message of war to the fullest potential. The story is set in 1944 in England during the height of World War II....

  In the middle of the 1960s, the television company ABC acquired an import of a British television series entitled 'Dark Shadows', which ran until 1971. Now, nearly over 50 years later, director Tim Burton attempts to bring the TV series to the big screen in an adaptation of “Dark Shadows”. And what's the final result? It's a disappointing mess. It tries too hard to call itself a comedy, yet there is a hard seriousness to it. Though to be fair, there are some things that do make the movie work. “Dark Shadows”, while having a few good factors about it, doesn't try to imitate the original series that it is based off, and becomes something else entirely. The plot of the film revolves around Barnabas Collins (Johnny Depp) who has been cursed by a witch (Eva Green) by becoming a vampire due to rejecting her love. Barnabas returns to his home of Collinsport, Maine nearly 200 years later, and finds it in ruins. Barnabas must find a way to reverse the curse that was besto...

  We all want to see everything. Unfortunately, as humans, we cannot fully see everything. With the use of science, it tries its hardest to help out our eyesight, but only through the works of fiction can everything be achieved. Such is the case with the 1963 feature “X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes”, a Roger Corman production that imposes the facts on what could happen if we try and see everything from a certain point of view. However, the end result is not what people might be expecting. In fact, the final product, is actually a rather big mess. Yet, it's not the worst film that is out there. The film has definitely seen better days, that much is sure. While the special effects are quite amazing, and we get a pretty good performance from out main lead, the rest of the production feels incredibly dated. With “X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes”, its mind was in the right place, but its eyes couldn't see the big picture. The story involves a popular scientist named James Xavier (Ra...

 Childhood will ultimately lead towards adulthood. There, as an adult, we discover the world in a different light, and meaning. However, there are times in our adulthood that we yearn for going back to our childhood, but unfortunately, we cannot. Luckily, there is the medium of film to occupy us with that theme of wanting and trying to go back to the past. And, a more recent example of this theme is 2018's “Christopher Robin” from Disney; a surprise hit that connects adulthood with that of childhood. While the film does suffer from a rather weak story, the rest of the production is quite the visual treat. Everything about this film just screams eye candy to both the young and the old. “Christopher Robin” may feel formulaic when it comes to its story, but is a good effort at bringing forth nostalgia the adults in the audience. The plot has Christopher Robin, who imagined all of The Hundred Acre Wood and Winnie the Pooh, leaving his friends behind, and growing up into becoming a har...

  When it comes to video games and movies, they are generally perceived as being not that good. A factor for this can be mostly blamed on the studios who produce them; they do not not have a clear understanding of how the source material should be viewed to the general public. Which is something they have to take into consideration: appeasing both the fans of the source material, and the general audience. Companies like Fox and Universal, at least try and give fans of the game something to look forward to. But Disney? That's just not going to work out. Sure, the company might have tried putting their hands into video game adaptations with 1993's “Super Mario Bros.”, and have dabbled with original concepts revolving around video games, like with “Tron”, but for the most part, Disney has stayed away from video game adaptations. That is until Disney released their 2010 feature, “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time”, loosely based on the video game series, “Prince of Persia”. The r...

  A perfect example on how to do a stop-motion animated film, “Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit” succeeds in every way possible. It has an interesting story, it's tremendously funny, the cast does an excellent job at lending their voices to this animated film, and this movie brings together a lot of genres into one whole production. This film is wonderful and full of great entertainment. Whenever an animated movie comes along, it tries to break the barriers on how to define a cartoon; this movie proves that point beyond all expectations. We have two of the most recognized characters in animation history making their feature film debut, and they triumph boldly. “Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit” is an ambitious project that brings two popular clay figures to the big screen. The plot is that England is holding its annual Giant Vegetable Competition and unfortunately there's a rabbit infestation in the area that's causing a real problem. ...