My Filmviews

My opinion about the movies I watch, your reaction

Tag Archives: Animation

Delgo (2008)
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Review of the animated movie Delgo

If it wasn’t for the its reputation, I would have never known about Delgo. Chances are you have never heard of it either, but it’s a movie known as one of the biggest wide-screen release flops of all time. This 40 million dollar animated movie opened in over 2000 screens and only made around 500,000 dollars in its first weekend. Now I’m not someone who cares much for numbers, because they don’t say a thing about quality, but for this movie I was intrigued. Why were they so bad, was it badly marketed, a movie released at the wrong time or just a really bad movie? Continue reading →

Steamboy (2004)
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Steamboy (2004) review

Steam. You might think the good old days when it was used to propel trains and boats are over and that it’s a technology of the past, but you’d be mistaken as it’s still used in nuclear powerplants to get the generators going. To me it’s amazing to think that such an old idea is still in use today. Steamboy is an anime in which steam is seen as the future and can be used for progress. Continue reading →

Mary and Max (2009)
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Looking at the screenshot above you might not know what to think of this movie. I probably would not have giving this movie a chance if I hadn’t seen it in the IMDB top 250. It made me curious about it, but didn’t get around to ordering it (usually buy my movies online). As I strolled through town I saw it in the window of a small record store and immediately went in to buy it. So is it any good? Continue reading →

Arrietty (2010)
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Studio Ghibli can turn normal situations into something special. In My Neighbour Totoro it made you believe that friendly monsters lived in trees, and in other movies that you can end up in unseen, hidden worlds (The Cat Returns or Spirited Away) and with Arrietty they try to convince us that small people live underneath our houses. They live on the things they borrow from us, which would be a perfect explanation why I have so many single socks, I guess they must be using them as sleeping bags or something. Continue reading →

Megamind (2010)
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Through the years the focus of most movies has been on the good guys. Of course there have been some exceptions like the Emperor’s New Groove or the more recent Despicable Me, where the villain was the focus of the movie. Megamind (voiced by Will Ferrell) is next villain to star in an animated movie, fighting he arch-enemy Metro Man (Brad Pitt). Metro Man is the superman of Metro City, which really annoys Megamind.
The two have been fighting for years, with Metro Man constantly winning. Megamind just keeps going until one of his plans suddenly seems to work and finally he can claim victory and is able to make his dreams come true. He takes over the city and is able to execute all his evil plans. This initially feels good, but the feeling doesn’t last long. Continue reading →

Tangled (2010)
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Tangled is based on the brothers Grimm story of Rapunzel. Disney has taken this original story and modified it heavily. Rapunzel’s hair is magical and can give back youth and heal wounds when a magical song is sung. Rapunzel also doesn’t stay in her tower as long as was the case in the original story and there is no prince involved.
Did Disney change too much of the story or has it managed to give it a nice new twist to give it a breath of fresh air? Continue reading →

Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
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The second world war has had a big impact on Japan. It lost a lot of power, cities were left in ruins and the military was no longer important. I’ve been to Hiroshima and was at the spot above which the atom bomb was detonated and if you see that place and the accompanying museum you are really at a loss for words. I had the same thing when I visited the Tokyo war museum, in which there were a couple of rooms with the walls lined with only pictures of people who lost their lives during the war. It has made a big impression on me.

Grave of the Fireflies tells the personal story of Setsuko and Seita, brother and sister who try to survive the war. The loss of their mother has already changed their lives, but because of it Setsuko is forced to leave the town and take care of his little sister. As the Americans keep bombarding the country it is very hard to survive as there is hardly anything to eat. Every day they have to search for a way to survive. Continue reading →

Castle in the Sky (1986)
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After reviewing The Cat Returns this week, I decided to focus on another Studio Ghibli movie. This one is about the legend of a castle, Laputa, which is said to exist somewhere in the sky.
Pazu is a boy who works at a mine doing maintenance until he sees a girl, Sheeta, falling out of the sky and hovering above the ground. She can do this because of a magical crystal. It doesn’t take long for Pazu to find out that a lot of people are looking for Sheeta and more specifically for the crystal she is wearing as it is the possibly key to finding the castle. Air pirates want to reach the castle as it is said to have a lot of treasure. The government also has a secret agenda which drives them to find the castle. Continue reading →

The Cat Returns (2002)
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Those who regularly read my blog know that I’m a big Studio Ghibli fan. With much more detail and deeper stories than your average Disney movie, they are in my opinion the best in the business. The Cat Returns has also been made by studio Ghibli. Haru is a schoolgirl who saves a cat from being run over by a car on her way home. She doesn’t think much of it, but during the night she gets a strange visitor, the king of the cats. The cat she saved turns out to be the prince’s son and the king wants to reward her for her deed. Continue reading →

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008)
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After the success of the first Madagascar, in which four wild animals from the New York zoo end up in the wild of Madagascar, it is no surprise that a sequel would be made. The lion Alex (Ben Stiller), hippo Gloria (Jada Pinkett Smith), giraffe Melman (David Schwimmer) and zebra Marty (Chris Rock) decide to leave the island (together with the penguins) to return to New York. Because penguins are not the best mechanics, the plane they have fixed literally falls short of their goal to reach home and they crash in Africa Continue reading →