Directed by: Richard Linklater
Starring: Billy Bob Thornton, Greg Kinnear, Sammi Kraft, Brandon Craggs, Timmy Deters, K.C. Harris, Tyler Patrick Jones
Rated: PG-13 for rude behavior, language throughout, some sexuality and thematic elements
Parental Notes: This film deserves its PG-13 rating; although it features kids in the 10-13 set as characters, the foul language and rude behavior may be a bit much for some parents to consider this appropriate for their own kids. That said, the underlying messages of the film are good and most kids have heard all this language before.
Some might see "Bad News Bears" as a sign that Billy Bob Thornton is becoming typecast. Morris Buttermaker is a worn-down, morose, alcoholic loser of a character who, on the surface, seems in the vein of Willie, Thornton's role "Bad Santa." Moreover, Thorton played a coach in "Friday Night Lights." Although Buttermaker may seem like a weird blenderization of the two, he isn't. He's a lot cheerier than Willie, for starters, and while deep down he does have a love of the game of baseball, he's no rootin-tootin' tough-love coach. Thornton gives the role just the right amount of self-aware, semi-despairing kindness to make us like Buttermaker a lot more than the old curmudgeon likes himself.
As the film opens, Buttermaker leaves his day job as an exterminator to arrive late for Little League practice. He pours out half his can of non-alcoholic beer so he can top it up with whiskey, and guts it out through first practice with a team so packed with losers that the rest of the league is trying to put them out of their misery by disbanding the team. There's little pitcher Toby (Ridge Canipe), the non-English-speaking brothers Jose and Miguel Aguilar (Carlos and Emmanuel Estrada), wheelchair-bound Matthew (Troy Gentile), brainy Prem (Aman Johal), mouthy Tanner (Timmy Deters), pudgy-and-pissed-about-it Mike (Brandon Craggs), quiet Ahmad (K.C. Harris), utterly loony Tim (Tyler Patrick Jones), and hapless Garo (Jeffrey Tedmori). They can barely catch balls, let alone hit them, and it's no wonder that Toby's legal-eagle mom had to get an injunction to keep them in the league.
Buttermaker is about ready to give up on them too, until the nasty coach of the league champions, Roy Bullock (Greg Kinnear), says some all-too-true things about the team and gets him riled up. You see, Buttermaker was in the minor leagues as a pitcher once, and actually pitched for part of a major league game. He knows how the game is played, and all the little tricks to help make up for unevenly distributed natural talent. He also knows how to bring in exceptionally talented players -- Amanda (Sammi Kraft), the daughter of one of his exes, and Kelly (Jeff Davies), a rebel with a lot of talent. Buttermaker doesn't coddle the kids, but he does believe they can be good at baseball if they try, and that's more than they've had from anybody in a long time.
In many ways, this is a typical underdog kids movie. It's not over-the-top smarmy, thankfully; there's too much vulgarity and good-natured "life is the pits" camaraderie for that. This is not all sequins and first-place ribbons, and the film is better for it. The grownups are flawed, the kids are almost too different to work together, and it's refreshing.
Overall, "Bad News Bears" is a good kids movie, though some parents may want to protect their children from the swearing. It's not for little kids, mind you -- this is no fantasy feel-good movie for kindergarteners. This is for kids at the age to learn that life isn't always what you'd hope but that sometimes it can come pretty darn close.
Directed by: Tim Burton
Starring: Johnny Depp, Freddie Highmore, David Kelly, Missi Pyle, Deep Roy, Annasophia Robb, Julia Winter, Jordan Fry, Philip Wiegratz
Rated: PG for quirky situations, action and mild language.
Parental Notes: Although some of the events may unsettle very young children, this is overall a great kids' movie. It's a morality tale, where the good are rewarded and the bad are punished, and it's quirky enough to keep that predictability from making it dull. Even better, there's plenty here to make it worth seeing for parents too.
"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" is based on a wildly popular book which has already been the subject of a wildly popular film. This new version skips past the twinkly Gene Wilder film straight back to the darkly entertaining book (the screenwriter had never seen Wilder's film) and has the filmmaking team of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp behind it. You can imagine, then, what a peculiar film it is. The Wilder version was odd, sure, but in the way that a marshmallow Peep is sweet: it was fluffy and light and covered in that brightly-colored twinkly sugar dust. Burton's vision is odd in the way that Nerds candy is sweet: there's plenty of tang in there with the sweet flavor, and a bit of pop to boot.
Mysterious and reclusive candymaker Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp) hides five golden tickets in his world-famous candy bars. The lucky folks who find the tickets will be granted a massive supply of chocolate and the once-in-a-lifetime chance to tour the Wonka factory and possibly win a secret, one-of-a-kind prize at the end. The film's hero, young Charlie (Freddie Highmore), is the only child of a monstrously poor family, and obsessed with Wonka's factory. He finds a ticket, of course, but the other four tickets are found by horrifically awful children: spoiled Veruca Salt (Julia Winter), overly competitive Violet Beauregarde (Annasophia Robb), gluttonous Augustus Gloop (Philip Wiegratz), and brutish Mike Teevee (Jordan Fry).
The film follows the children and their attendant parents (or, in Charlie's case, grandparent; his Grandpa Joe used to work for Wonka before he fired all his workers, sick of spies hiding in the workforce) through the tour of Wonka's utterly bizarre factory. One by one, the selfish, badly-behaved children fall prey to their weaknesses and are eliminated, usually with accompaniment from the miniature, identical Oompa Loompas (Deep Roy) who man the factory. Anybody who has ever read a children's book ever will know that Charlie, who is so good he is practically a saint, will be the ultimate winner.
What sets "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" above most kids' films is that it appeals to adults as well as children. While the youngsters in the audience are enthralled by the wonders inside the factory and delighted by the terrible fates of the nasty children in the film, adults can enjoy Burton's brilliant madness and the hysterical references to everything from Busby Berkeley showpieces to KISS concerts. What may throw some potential filmgoers off is that this is a very Burton film: it's weird, the humor is rather dark at times, and although it has a sweet center, it's frequently more than a little nutty. Also disconcerting is the frequent use of CGI -- while it works for duplicating the Oompa Loompas, it's overused in smooth out the pores and facial irregularities of Depp and some of the other actors.
Johnny Depp is a frequent Burton collaborator and he has created one of his strangest characters to date in Willy Wonka. Wonka is easily distressed, clearly unused to being around other people, and moreover actively dislikes children and the entire idea of family. The latter is explained with flashbacks to his troubled relationship with his father, a dentist (the marvelous Christopher Lee) while the former provides an explanation for why he does so little to prevent his young guests from getting themselves into trouble. He warns them, to be sure, but when they choose to ignore his warnings he lets them suffer the consequences and enjoys the songs the Oompa Loompas make up to mock the brats. Depp has rolled a lot of strange mannerisms into his performance, and while it's easy to see why folks are comparing Depp's Wonka to Michael Jackson, that is likely a product of pop star's over-exposure during his trial. Depp's performance here is hard to pin down: it's creepy and slippery, and keeps you off guard enough that the surrealistic nature of the rest of the film can slide right past you.
"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" is a film to delight both children and adults; the plot may be a bit predictable but the events of the film are not. The oddities and danger beneath the magic keep this from being just another kiddie flick, and that is definitely its strength.
Directed by: Tim Story
Starring: Jessica Alba, Ioan Gruffud, Michael Chiklis, Chris Evans, Julian McMahon
Rated: PG-13 for sequences of intense action, and some suggestive content.
Parental Notes: This is a fairly standard comic-book movie. It's not too gory, and there's little in the way of sexually suggestive content. While the action scenes may be too intense for youngsters, it's mostly harmless.
Movies made from comic books are a staple of the summer cinematic experience. This year we have "Batman Begins" and "The Fantastic Four," and they offer remarkably different sorts of entertainment. Where "Batman Begins" makes an effort to be at least semi-realistic and examines the motivations and psychological states of its hero, "Fantastic Four" is clearly just out to entertain. For the most part, it succeeds, but like many first films about superheroes, it's a bit bogged down with exposition. Hopefully, this potential franchise will follow in the footsteps of movies like "Spider-Man" and "The X-Men" and produce a superior sequel.
The Fantastic Four of the title are Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd), Sue Storm (Jessica Alba), Johnny Storm (Chris Evans), and Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis). Reed is a world-famous scientist whose scientific successes have been dogged by financial failure. Reed used to be involved with Sue, but she's now working for Victor Von Doom (Julian McMahon). When Reed and Ben approach Doom with an idea for a series of experiments on one of Doom's stations, Doom agrees -- but insists on coming along and upon Sue and her hotshot pilot brother Johnny with them.
As a result, all five of them are in the station during an accident involving a solar storm. This being a superhero movie, the storm gives them all unusual powers. After some time spent exploring these powers, they all master them to a great extent and our heroes wind up as the Fantastic Four: Reed is super-stretchy Mr. Fantastic, Johnny is the literally hotheaded Human Torch, Sue can vanish and throw force fields as The Invisible Girl, and Ben is now the super-strong rock-creature The Thing. I'm sure you can guess who turns out to be the villain of the piece; with a name like Victor Von Doom, he never had a chance at being a hero. At least he has an interesting mutation; his body slowly changes into metal and he develops the ability to control electricity.
Overall, the film is entertaining. There's a fair bit of action and excitement, and plenty of humor. Johnny always has a quip at the ready, and although at times it is painfully obvious what he is about to say, more often than not he is good for a laugh. There's a small measure of emotional weight as well; Ben's mutation leaves him with a frightening outer form and he feels alienated not only from those he cares about (like his fiancée, who can't accept his new look, and the rest of the team) but from humanity as a whole. There's also a bit of a love triangle with Sue, Reed, and Victor; this is a change from the comics but it makes sense for a movie already a bit overloaded with characters. Introducing yet another guy to be Sue's other interest would be pushing it a little.
The special effects are generally very good; Ben's new look as The Thing is impressive, as are the invisibility and flammability of (respectively) Sue and Johnny. Reed gets the short end of the special effects stick, however, with his elasticity often looking more than a little cheesy.
Comic book purists will doubtless be aggravated by the changes from the source material, but all of the alterations this reviewer has heard about have been made in the service of adapting a complex, decades-in-the-making back story into an hour-and-three-quarters film.
Is this a perfect movie? No. The pacing is a trifle uneven, it's more than a little cheesy in spots, and it's definitely heavy on the exposition and light on the action. However, plenty of other superhero movies have had the same problem and gone on to spawn wonderful sequels. "Fantastic Four" has the same potential. The characters are generally engaging, especially Johnny and Ben, and there is a lot of potential for a truly fantastic follow-up to this competent beginning.
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Justin Chatwin
Rated: PG-13 for frightening sequences of sci-fi violence and disturbing images.
Parental Notes: This is a reasonably strong PG-13 film. Although it isn't terribly graphic, there are several disturbing scenes including one of mob violence and numerous shots of dead bodies at a distance. Youngsters may find it too intense.
Steven Spielberg's "War of the Worlds" is a film which highlights the difference between movie viewers. Those in search of an entertaining disaster film will be thrilled: the special effects are brilliant and the suspense and fear generated by the individual scenes are impressive. However, viewers expecting any kind of character development or solid storytelling will walk away disappointed. "War of the Worlds" is a strange mismash which fails unless a viewer has very limited expectations.
The film shows an alien invasion of Earth through the eyes of the Ferrier family: father Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise) and his two children, Rachel (Dakota Fanning) and Robbie (Justin Chatwin). Ray and his ex-wife Mary Ann (Miranda Otto) have a strained relationship, and as the children live with her, his relationship with them is understandably strained as well. By focusing on the family, Spielberg could have made this film an interesting character study, showing how adversity turns Ray into a better father when he is focused on keeping his children safe, or how the children react to and are changed by danger.
Unfortunately, that isn't the case. Ray starts out as a careless and immature Dad, and he doesn't change much: his decisions later in the film include letting one child rush off to certain death. The children have Movie Kid Syndrome: Rachel is a miniature adult with plenty of neuroses (claustrophobia, among others) and wise advice for her father, except for the scenes when she is a hysterical little girl. She flips back and forth between types depending on which suits the scene better, not in a way which creates an actual character. Her brother is at least consistently angsty and defiant, but that never changes, even when it conflicts with what he apparently holds dear. He loves his little sister and is clearly a father figure to her -- he even promises not to leave her alone during the crisis -- yet he constantly tries to run off and join the armed forces mobilizing against the aliens so we can see how rebellious he is.
At least the aliens are cool. They arrive in electrical storms and rise up from the ground in massive three-legged vehicles which stomp around and vaporize people with laser beams. The sequences involving the aliens attacking humanity are brilliantly shot and choreographed, and the scenes in which the Ferrier family are hiding and fleeing are truly suspenseful. The special effects are absolutely mind-blowing, and use both miniatures and CGI to create superb, jaw-dropping disaster sequences. If only the rest of the film had this kind of care put into it.
There are immense plot holes at nearly every turn, and they are made worse by the pompous narration which begins and ends the film. We are told by the narration that the aliens have been watching and waiting and planning this invasion for a million years. One million years! Yet their plan is phenomenally short-sighted, and it even appears that they could have taken the planet over at least once some time in the past before humans ever existed. We are given just enough detail to make it clear that the aliens' plan is incredibly stupid. Had Spielberg taken the route of early adaptations of the film and made the aliens' plans unknown, the film would have been far more effective.
Taken as a whole, "War of the Worlds" is mediocre. As pure entertainment, with no intellectual engagement, it succeeds: the effects are astonishing and individual scenes are thrilling. However, the utter lack of a coherent plot, any meaningful character development, and cogent characterization make it a failure for viewers who want something besides than visual delight. It's disappointing to see this kind of film from Spielberg, a filmmaker who does have his flaws but who usually produces films far superior to this one.