Category: Reviews

I went into the cinema not knowing what to expect. Besides the posters I’ve seen around the cinema, I knew nothing about the movie. But from the cute looking turtle on the posters, I expected it to be a movie for kids.

Sammy’s Adventures: The Secret Passage is about a young turtle, Sammy, on a journey to travel around the world, in search of love, and an adventure of a lifetime. Along the way he makes friends, learns about humans, and discovers new places.

There isn’t much to be said about the movie, at least I don’t have much to say about it. The visuals are pretty good- nothing fantastic, and the use of 3D really brought some parts to life (i.e. swimming through the coral reefs, fish and snakes moving towards the screen etc). Sometimes it was a bit too distracting though. But it was a decent attempt at bringing a story to life in 3D.

The story is nothing special. You can tell it was written for kids and will be enjoyed by kids. It would have been great if they used double entendre to make the story appealing to both kids and adults (ala Sponge Bob Square Pants), but there is none to be found here. Good, clean, safe fun. Except for the hippies. I don’t know why or if they were even essential to tell the story, but the whole chapter about the hippies by the beach seemed so out of place. I was just waiting for a hallucination scene to happen! Though sadly, it never did.

The thing that surprised me the most was the voice talent behind the movie. With the most notable performance from Kathy Griffin, even though her character didn’t play a big role in the movie. The rest of the cast sounded alright, suitable for the roles they were playing. But listen carefully for familiar voices used in the movie.

One problem I had with the movie were a couple of irregular cuts, and the use of too many contemporary songs. It made certain parts of the movie feel like some sort of montage music video. Another issue I had was that the problems the characters faced in the movie pretty much solved themselves. The characters didn’t have to do anything on their own. Despite having cute, likeable characters, the movie was very plot driven. It could have been easily replaced with other animals in a different environment, and the same story could have been told. Preaching about the environment in a kid’s movie isn’t a bad thing, but when characters do nothing to solve it, it seems like a waste of screen time.

Overall, the movie was alright. It’s not a must-watch, but I guess if you have kids or you’re a fan of turtles, SA:TSP is right up your alley. At least I didn’t come out of the cinema hating it, unlike Alpha and Omega. I’d rate this turtle movie 4/10.

When I heard that this movie was based on an older French movie, Le Diner de Cons, I did what anybody else would do- watch the original movie first. So when I was watching the Dinner for Schmucks, I had Le Diner de Cons fresh in my mind and knew what to expect. Firstly, I would like to say that it is not a complete remake of the French movie. Dinner for Schmucks uses the same premise of the original movie and takes it even further.

The movie is about Tim (played by Paul Rudd), an executive who is climbing his way up the corporate ladder. He receives an invitation to a dinner party from his boss that he can’t refuse. At this dinner party, the attendees are required to bring an “idiot” with them to dinner. The person with the biggest “idiot” wins an award and bragging rights in the company. Enter Barry (played by Steve Carell)- a talented but socially inept mouse taxidermist, who takes artistic photographs using dead mice. Tim meets Barry by chance and invites him to be his idiot guest at the dinner party. The hilarity ensues when Barry turns up a day earlier than expected.

Dinner for Schmucks improves upon the original by the inclusion of wittier dialogue- maybe jokes were lost in translation when I watched the French movie, but Dinner for Schmucks had a lot more laugh out loud moments for me. Some parts seemed a little bit forced though- like how Tim injures his back, and Barry pretending to be a movie director on the phone. They could have easily gotten away by using gags from the original movie, but I guess the writers wanted to be a little more clever. The original French movie was set in just one location, the protagonist’s house. Dinner for Schmucks has the cast going all over the place, and even has the dinner party scene which wasn’t in Le Diner de Cons. I thought this was a plus because I curious to what an “idiot dinner” would be like after watching the movie. The blind fencer towards the end might be a little too over-the-top for some people, but drew out the loudest laugh from me in the cinema.

Paul Rudd plays a pretty standard character here, I hope he hasn’t been typecasted as the guy who’s trying to do his job and please his fiancee at the same time. Steve Carell really shines in this movie. Normally I’m not too tickled by his comedies, but here he does the job of playing the idiot well. Barry seems to be a bit cleverer than the idiot in the French movie, but he’ll still have you in stitches.

I didn’t find many problems in the movie besides the couple of forced gags that didn’t really hit the mark. Watch it if you’re- up for a comedy in similar vein of Meet the Parents, a fan of Rudd or Carell, just up for an hour of laughter. Dinner for Schmucks- 6/10.

Sometimes I feel glad that I watched The Last Airbender. Today is one of those days. I just came back home from another movie screening today. Alpha and Omega. And no, I cannot recommend it to you. It is not a very good film. I don’t even know how the studio managed to secure the voice actors for this terrible movie. If it weren’t for the French turkey, English duck and vegetarian wolves who provided the most laugh out loud moments in the movie, there is nothing else to look forward to. But no matter how bad it was, it is still miles ahead of The Last Airbender- probably the worse movie I’ve seen in my life (so far). It is my benchmark for how bad movies can be, and no Alpha and Omega doesn’t go anywhere near that sorry excuse for a movie. I could go on about TLA, but this review isn’t about it. It might make you want to go out and watch it. Trust me, stick with the animated series instead.

Alpha and Omega isn’t epic. It isn’t “pawesome” like the poster claims. Hell, it isn’t even good. A flat storyline that’s been over done (Madagascar 2, Bolt anyone?) about two wolves trying to find their way home after being captured and released in a park to procreate. It feels like whoever was involved in making the movie weren’t even trying. “Alright guys, we just got this story and an all-star cast. Let’s sub it to some animation studio, and release it when it’s done.” Honestly, that’s what it felt like.

Right from the start, I had one thing to say about the movie- it is UGLY. The main characters don’t look appealing, the animation is horrible, the fur/hair rendering- looks like something done in 3D games rendered 15 years ago. Animation studios have been doing it right for a long time, you would expect something 2010 to at least look good even if it has a sub-par storyline. Nope. Nothing jaw dropping here, there’s nothing even remotely good about the visuals. Not even the backgrounds were done well.

Okay, fine. Maybe the movie was done by a low-budget studio. They didn’t have the resources to make the movie beautiful. Understood. But the animation? You don’t need a high-budget to make the characters act believably. The acting was stiff, unconvincing, and basically everything you don’t want to see in an animated movie. Characters touching each other didn’t even look like they were touching, expressions were pretty bland, nothing over the top. Objects felt like they weren’t interacting with the background properly, there was sliding and weightlessness- ugh. Where’s the quality control? Besides the random gags popping up once in a while, there was nothing to look forward to in the show.

I felt glad when the movie was over, it felt way too long. Not a good sign when you’re in a movie wondering what time it’s going to end. What surprised me though was the credits. They showed the concept art for the characters in the movie and man, the hand drawn sketches were beautiful. They looked lively and were capable of pulling off believable expressions. What happened there? Something must have went wrong during the transition from paper to the model rigging stage. Hell, they didn’t even need to do the movie in 3D. If it was a 2D animated movie, I’m sure it would’ve been much better (assuming they spent time on animation instead of figuring out how rigs work- because that’s what their 3D animation felt like).

Overall, this movie isn’t worth the money you spend on the ticket. Hell, I don’t think it’s even worth downloading. Another one to forget, and maybe catch on TV one day when you’re channel surfing because you have absolutely nothing else to watch. Even then I would just read a book. Or jerk off. I really can’t recommend this movie to anybody. There’s just so many other movies that have done this way better and deserve repeated viewings. 2/10.