Mini Review: Everyone's Hero, Chicken Little, Doogal

[wbassett]

One of the benefits of having kids or grandkids is being able to enjoy the guilty pleasure of watching cartoons, or the more popular computer generated animation. I have to admit that I am a big fan of Aladdin and have even watched it without kids being around, same goes for The Incredibles.

So to me a truly successful 'kids' movie is one that us adults can also enjoy, but all that really matters is what the kids think.

Without further ado...

Actors: William H. Macy, Rob Reiner, Brian Dennehy, Raven (VII), Robert Wagner
Directors: Dan St. Pierre, Christopher Reeve, Colin Brady
Format: AC-3, Animated, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Language: English
Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number of discs: 1
Rating
Studio: 20th Century Fox
DVD Release Date: March 20, 2007
Run Time: 87 minutes


At first I wasn't sure if I liked this or not but as the movie went on it grew on me and is a charming little story. One of the things that interested me about it was that it was Christopher Reeve's last project and sadly he passed away before it was finished and he never had the chance to see it.

The animation and flare is nowhere near Pixar's look and feel, but they did a commendable job.

Robin Williams has a minor voice role but he's no Genie here, more like he's just hyper-active. Rob Reiner, William H. Macy, and Whoopi Goldberg all turn in good performances. Yankee Irving is voice by Jake T. Austin.

The story is the classic if a bit tired one of a kid that doesn't seem to fit in and the amazing adventure he goes on to return Babe Ruth's baseball bat Darling (Voiced by Whoopi Goldberg). In an effort to sabotage the the World Series, Chicago Cub's pitcher Lefty Maginnis steals Darlin, resulting in Yankee Irving's dad losing his job. Yankee retrieves Darlin and sets out to return it to The Babe and get his father's job back.

Along for the ride is a foul ball baseball named Screwie (voiced by Rob Reiner).

The movie is cute but predictable. The big thing though is my five year old grandson acted out the scenes for the next few days, even finding an old baseball that he had some pretty interesting conversations with. In the course of one day he wanted to watch the movie over and over, so there is definitely kid appeal and for us adults, it is enjoyable and nowhere near as bad as other efforts I have had to sit through.

Actors: Zach Braff, Garry Marshall, Don Knotts, Patrick Stewart, Amy Sedaris
Directors: Mark Dindal
Format: AC-3, Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
Language: English
Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)

Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Number of discs: 1
Rating
Studio: Walt Disney Home Entertainment
DVD Release Date: March 21, 2006
Run Time: 81 minutes


This is another one that I found tolerable but just a little too much bloat and effort. My grandson described it as 'The movie were everyone goes crazy and acts crazy' and he's not too far off the mark.

All in all, for making a full length movie out of the story of Chicken Little, they could have done worse. I did find the ending a little ironic since the 'Movie' was just as wild and imaginative as what Disney did to the original story.

The story opens with Chicken Little getting hit in the head with a 'piece of the sky' and of course pushes the panic button. From there on out it has little to do with the original story and ends up involving aliens and lots of noise. This is another story of an outcast and his journey to acceptance, but it's not as charming as Everyone's Hero.

This was Disney's first solo attempt at a computer animated movie without Pixar. Note: I haven't had a request for repeated (as in dozens of times) viewing by my grandson. Disney should have stuck with Pixar.
Three stars only for its slick look and the parody at the end which I thought was rather funny.

Actors: Daniel Tay, Jimmy Fallon, Jon Stewart, Whoopi Goldberg, William H. Macy
Directors: Dave Borthwick, Jean Duval
Format: Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Widescreen, NTSC
Language: English
Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number of discs: 1
Rating
Studio: Weinstein Company
DVD Release Date: May 16, 2006
Run Time: 77 minutes

The cover says "Laugh out loud funny", but when the only thing funny is Kevin Smith as a Moose with a flatulence problem, there isn't much else to say about a movie.

Doogal is a pass, not only from an adult's perspective by my grandson couldn't even keep an interest in it. The story was more like a television kiddie show and none of the voice acting was on par with other animated films. William H. Macy did a far better job in Everyone's Hero and Doogal... well let's just say I wanted to take him to the dog pound myself.



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Bonus Review The Iron Giant

Actors: Jennifer Aniston, Harry Connick Jr., Vin Diesel, James Gammon, Cloris Leachman, Eli Marienthal
Directors: Brad Bird
Format: AC-3, Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Language: English
Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Number of discs: 1
Rating
Studio: Warner Home Video
DVD Release Date: November 16, 2004
Run Time: 86 minutes


Before the mega hit The Incredibles, and the Pixar style of computer animation, Brad Bird directed a traditional animated film that is incredibly well done and pleasing for all ages to watch.

This is just an all around good story with excellent animation. It relies on story, character, and drawing talent and never resorts to flatulence jokes, although there is a laxative prank played on an obnoxious government agent.

The Iron Giant is a refreshing departure from the gloss and glitz of all the computer generated knockoffs out there now. Hogarth Hughes (voiced by Eli Marienthal) discovers and befriends a gigantic alien robot that has crash landed on Earth. The Giant (Vin Diesel) has no memory of what he was originally built for and has the innocence of a child. Vin Diesel has few speaking lines, but the ones he does have manage to convey a very human side to a very nonhuman character.

It doesn't take long before a 1950's paranoid government sends an equally paranoid and obnoxious agent by the name of Kent Mansley (Christopher McDonald) to find out what's going on.

Harry Connick Jr. provides the voice talent for beatnick artist and super cool dude Dean McCoppin. Together Dean and Hogarth help hide the Giant from Mansely but eventually the snooping agent finds the proof he needs to call in the army.

I can't say enough how much I enjoy this movie and I have put it in when my grandson wasn't even up to visit. This is definitely worth adding to anyone's collection, and the upconversion looks incredible for a cartoon.

[Wayde]

Thanks for this w. I had forgotten about Iron Giant. I am always looking for something to watch with my four year old son.

I watch IG before he was born, I really liked that movie. Everyone's hero sounds like a good kid flic too.

[wbassett]

Thanks Wayde. Our grandson has been up for the summer and we've spent a lot of time watching kids movies and IG was thrown in the other night. He still loves it just as much as the first time he saw it, and actually... so do I!

The Ant Bully wasn't too bad either, and I was surprised how much I liked Ice Age 2: The Melt Down. I think we've seen just about every kids movie there is to see.

He loves Small Soldiers too, but actually that's a pretty violent movie when you really look at it.