Inside Out: emotionally gratifying

Trailer:


Plot:
A girl named Riley (Kaitlyn Dias) is born in Minnesota. Within her mind's Headquarters, there live five personifications of her basic emotions: Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Fear (Bill Hader), Disgust (Mindy Kaling), and Anger (Lewis Black). The emotions influence Riley's actions via a control console. Riley's memories are stored in colored orbs, which are sent into long-term memory each night by a suction tube. Riley's most important memories, known as "core" memories, are housed in a hub in Headquarters and power five "islands", each of which reflects a different aspect of Riley's personality: Family, Friendship, Goofiness, Hockey and Honesty. Joy always tries to keep Riley happy, and she and the other emotions try to prevent Sadness from using the console, not understanding her purpose.

When Riley is 11, her family moves to San Francisco. Riley is disappointed by their lifeless new home, and the moving van with all their belongings gets lost. Sadness begins touching Riley's happy memories, causing them to become sad memories, so Joy tries to keep Sadness isolated. However, on Riley's first day at her new school, Sadness causes Riley to cry in front of her class, creating a sad core memory. Joy tries to dispose of the new core memory before it reaches the core memory hub, but she instead knocks the other core memories loose, destabilizing the personality islands. As Joy scrambles to collect the core memories, she is sucked out of Headquarters by the memory tube, along with the core memories and Sadness. They land in the maze-like storage area of long-term memory.

Fear, Disgust, and Anger try to keep Riley happy, but inadvertently distance her from her parents, friends, and hobbies, causing her personality islands to crumble into the Memory Dump, an abyss where fading memories are disposed of and forgotten. Anger believes that going back to Minnesota will make Riley happy again, so he inserts to the control console a light bulb, which gives Riley the idea to run away to Minnesota. Meanwhile, in long-term memory, Joy and Sadness find Bing Bong (Richard Kind), Riley's childhood imaginary friend. He tells them they can get to Headquarters by riding the train of thought. After exploring Imagination Land in Riley's mind, the three eventually catch the train, but it crashes when another personality island falls and destroys the rails.

As Riley prepares to board a bus bound for Minnesota, Joy attempts to abandon Sadness and use a "recall tube" to return to Headquarters. However, Riley's last personality island falls and breaks the tube, plunging Joy and Bing Bong into the Memory Dump. In the Dump, Joy discovers a sad memory of a hockey game that becomes happy when her parents and friends comfort her. Joy now realizes that Sadness's importance is to alert others when Riley needs help.

Joy and Bing Bong try to use Bing Bong's wagon rocket to escape the Memory Dump, but after several tries, Bing Bong realizes their combined weight is too much and jumps out, allowing Joy to escape. Bing Bong fades away, finally forgotten. Joy goes to Imagination Land and uses various tools to propel herself and Sadness through the air to Headquarters. They find that the idea to run away has disabled the control console, rendering Riley numb and apathetic. Joy encourages Sadness to control the console with Sadness successfully removing the idea, reactivating the console and prompting Riley to return home.

As Riley arrives home, Sadness reinstalls the core memories, which caused Riley to burst into tears, confessing to her parents that she misses her old life in Minnesota. Riley's parents comfort and reassure her, creating a new core memory, which is a combination of sad and happy. A year later, Riley has turned 12 and adapted to her new home, and her emotions now work together to help her lead a more emotionally complex life. She has become much happier with new friends and a new hockey team.

Review:
it is such a bittersweet story. about how we cope about our feelings. some people choose to be happy through and through no matter what. except that sometimes they must allow for sadness to set in.. by constantly denying a sad moment to coexist, sooner or later we'll be imbalanced, incomplete. a sane reasonably healthy person must recognise all the emotions and keep them in balance.

at first, i was so disgusted with Sadness, rasa nak cekik-cekik je. but as the story progressed, i realised, she was that way as the product of 11 years neglect and shun. Joy completely controls Riley and relegates Sadness into a forgotten corner, assigning her to reading mind manuals and such. that wasn't nice of Joy, you see. as she allows other emotions to have a role in Riley's day, the same courtesy should be extended to Sadness.

there was a few moment when i cried. this is really an emotional movie, you know. for example, when Riley cried at school, that was a touching moment.. then, Bing Bong, when he sacrificed himself to save Joy. it reminds me of forgotten old friends who used to make us happy when we were a child. then, when Riley confessed her sadness to her parents, that was also a tear jerker moment for me.

All in all, it was a flawless movie.. something that children might enjoy together with their parents for its very strong family values. though i wonder why Riley has a mixed gender emotions whilst Mom's emotions are all female and Dad's are all guys.. hahaha.

good memories...

life is always ok when you have laughter with your family

Wreck-it Ralph: Bubble Gum Refreshing!

the Poster:

the Trailer:


the Plot:
When Litwak's Arcade closes at night, the various video game characters leave their normal in-game roles and are free to travel to other games. Within the game Fix-It Felix, Jr., the characters celebrate its titular hero (Jack McBrayer) but shun the game's villain character, Wreck-It Ralph (John C. Reilly). At a support group for video game antagonists, Ralph reveals his desire to stop being the bad guy. Back at home, Ralph finds the other characters celebrating their game's 30th anniversary without inviting him. Felix reluctantly invites Ralph to join them, but the others led by Mayor Gene ostracize him, saying he would have to earn a medal, just as Felix does in their game.

At Tapper's, Ralph learns that he can win a medal in the first-person shooter game Hero's Duty from a dissilusioned fighter named Markowski. As the drunk Markowski passed out, Ralph takes his uniform instead and enters the game, encountering Sergeant Calhoun (Jane Lynch), its no-nonsense leader.

Between game sessions, Ralph climbs the game's central beacon and collects the medal, accidentally hatching a Cy-Bug, one of the game's enemies. The Cy-Bug clings to Ralph as he stumbles into an escape pod that launches him out of the game into Game Central. Meanwhile, with Ralph missing, a girl reports to Litwak the arcade owner that Fix-It Felix, Jr. is malfunctioning. Since broken games get unplugged, leaving their characters homeless, Felix with Q-bert's info goes to find Ralph before it's too late.

Ralph crash-lands in Sugar Rush, a candy-themed kart-racing game. With Cy-Bug getting swallowed by a swamp, as Ralph searches for his medal, he meets Vanellope von Schweetz (Sarah Silverman), a glitchy character who takes the medal and uses it to buy entry into a race. King Candy (Alan Tudyk) and the other racers refuse to let Vanellope participate, claiming that she is not really part of the game. Hovewer, as the coin is already paid, Vanellope has the chance to participate in the race slated for tomorrow.

Feeling sorry for her, Ralph helps Vanellope build a kart. At her home in Diet Cola Mountain, an unfinished racing course, he discovers that she is a natural racer.

Back in Hero's Duty, Felix meets Calhoun and informs her that Ralph has gone Turbo. She in turn warns that the Cy-Bugs are capable of taking over any game they enter. As the pair searches for Ralph and the Cy-Bug in Sugar Rush, they separate when Felix, enamored with Calhoun, inadvertently reminds her of her fiancé, who had been killed by a Cy-Bug in her backstory. Calhoun finds hundreds of Cy-Bug eggs underground, and Felix becomes imprisoned in King Candy's castle during his search for Ralph.

King Candy hacks the game's code to retrieve Ralph's medal and offers it to him, explaining that letting Vanellope race would be disastrous for both her and the game. Due to her glitching features, players will be mistaken that the game is faulty and thus causing it to be unplugged. All other characters will be able to leave the game except for Vanellope as she is unable to leave the game because she is a glitch.

Fearing for Vanellope's safety, Ralph wrecks the kart and returns to his own game, but finds that everyone has evacuated Fix-it Felix Jr game, expecting the game to be unplugged in the morning. Ralph then notices Vanellope's image on the Sugar Rush cabinet and realizes she is an intended part of the game, not a glitch.

Ralph returns to Sugar Rush, rescues Felix and Vanellope from King Candy's dungeon, and asks Felix to fix the wrecked kart. As the race proceeds, the hatched Cy-Bugs attack and Felix, Calhoun, and Ralph battle them. When Vanellope catches up to King Candy, he reveals that he is actually Turbo, a character from an old game who sabotaged a newer game out of jealousy, causing both to be unplugged. Vanellope escapes from Turbo, who is consumed by a Cy-Bug. The group flees the doomed game, but Vanellope finds she cannot pass through the exit. Calhoun says the game cannot be saved without a beacon to attract and kill the Cy-Bugs.

Ralph heads to Diet Cola Mountain, where he plans on collapsing its Mentos stalactites into the cola at the bottom, causing a blinding eruption that would attract the bugs. Before he can finish, Turbo, merged with the Cy-Bug that had consumed him, carries him away. Ralph breaks free and dives toward the mountain, intending to sacrifice himself to start the eruption on impact. Vanellope in turn uses her glitching abilities to save Ralph. The eruption starts and draws the Cy-Bugs to their destruction, including Turbo the Cy-Bug. Vanellope crosses the finish line, restoring her memory and status as Princess Vanellope, the game's ruler and lead character, while keeping her advantageous glitching ability. Felix and Ralph return to their game in time for Litwak to see that it still works, sparing it from being unplugged.

Calhoun and Felix marry in Hero's Duty (and Vanellope is now apparently able to leave her game, as she is present as the maid of honor at the wedding), and the characters of Fix-It Felix, Jr. gain a new respect for Ralph.

the Riviu:
it is indeed a very nice movie, simple but refreshing. there are a lot of good positive messages put across here. for example, even though convention states that you are a bad guy, you yourself made who you really are. and should you have a weakness, let the weakness be your strength instead.

Ralph is really a good guy with a kind heart. to have him treated shabbily by niceland folks, kesian sangat.
all in all, it sure does bring back memories of playing pc games :)  what's your favourite?

Shrek Forever After: the Final Chapter with a BANG!

the Poster:

the Trailer:



the Plot:
Before Shrek (voiced by Mike Myers) and Donkey (voiced by Eddie Murphy) rescue Princess Fiona (voiced by Cameron Diaz) in the first film, desperate to lift their daughter's curse, King Harold (John Cleese) and Queen Lillian (Julie Andrews) meet with con artist Rumpelstiltskin (Walt Dohm), who wishes to become King of Far Far Away in exchange for helping them. But before the deal is contracted, the King and Queen learn that Fiona has been rescued. Rumpelstiltskin is then shown to have become washed up as a result and subsequently bitter towards Shrek for inadvertently ruining his plans.

In the present, Shrek has steadily grown tired of being a family man and celebrity among the local villagers, leading him to yearn for the days when he felt like a "real ogre". He takes his family to Far Far Away to celebrate his children's first birthday. Shrek gets annoyed when the three little pigs eat the kids' cake along with most of the other party food. A boy named Butterpants demands that Shrek roar. After he lets out a frustrated roar the entire crowd cheers, reinforcing his belief that no one considers him to be a true ogre. This coupled with the fact that the birthday cakes were decorated with a "cute" Ogre named "Sprinkles" finally makes Shrek snap and he smashes the new birthday cake in anger. He and Fiona argue outside about his reaction which ends with Shrek saying that he wished he had never rescued her.

After storming off, Shrek encounters Rumpelstiltskin. Rumpel, who had observed Shrek's angry outburst with Fiona, seizes his chance. He follows Shrek and arranges what appears to be an accident where he is trapped under his carriage. Shrek helps him and Rumpel being "grateful", gives Shrek a ride and a meal.

When Shrek voices his frustrations, Rumpel offers to give Shrek a day to live like a real ogre in exchange for a day from his childhood that he would not remember being erased. Shrek signs the contract and appears in a reality where he is still feared by villagers. He takes the opportunity to cause some light hearted mischief until he finds wanted posters for the ogress Fiona and his home deserted and desolate. He is kidnapped by witches and taken to Rumpelstiltskin, now the King of Far Far Away and possibly Emperor of a good deal more, which has become derelict and run down. Rumpelstiltskin uses ogres and some of Shrek's friends as slave labor.

Upon inquiry, Rumpelstiltskin reveals that the day he erased was the day that Shrek was born.

Therefore, Shrek never saved Fiona, never met Donkey, and consequently Rumpelstiltskin was able to get Harold and Lillian to sign their kingdom away, then cause them to disappear. When the day ends, Shrek will fade from existence. Shrek escapes Rumpelstiltskin's castle with Donkey.

Initially terrified of Shrek, Donkey decides to trust him after seeing Shrek cry over his lost past, something he had never seen an ogre do before. After Shrek explains the situation, Donkey helps him find a loophole: the contract will be nullified if Shrek and Fiona share true love's kiss. Shrek and Donkey first travel to the dragon's keep where Fiona was kept and find the place deserted. They soon encounter a band of ogres who are resisting Rumpelstiltskin.

The ogres are led by Fiona, who is still cursed after escaping from the tower where she was held captive, and keeps the retired and overweight Puss in Boots as a pet.

Shrek does everything he can to gain Fiona's love, but she is too busy preparing an ambush on Rumpelstiltskin. She is also bitterly cynical and disillusioned about the power of true love and throws herself into planning Rumpelstiltskin's capture. While sparring with her, Fiona begins to like Shrek, but stops short of kissing him. Shrek is discouraged, but Puss encourages him to continue pursuing Fiona.

During the ambush, the ogres are captured by the Pied Piper, though Shrek and Fiona managed to escape with the intervention of Puss and Donkey. Shrek insists Fiona kiss him, saying it will fix everything, but because Fiona does not truly love him it is ineffective. Upon hearing that Rumpelstiltskin is offering anything desired by the one who captures Shrek, Shrek surrenders himself in exchange for all the ogres being released. Fiona remains in custody because she is only an ogre by night (as Stiltskin himself points out).

Shrek and Fiona are to be fed to Dragon, but Donkey, Puss and the ogres raid Rumpelstiltskin's castle, allowing Shrek and Fiona to both subdue Dragon and capture Rumpelstiltskin.

As the sun rises, Shrek begins to fade from existence. But Fiona, having fallen in love with him, kisses him just before he disappears, thereby voiding the contract and restoring the world to just before Shrek originally lashed out at everyone. Shrek embraces his friends and family with a newfound appreciation for everything he has, truly living happily ever after.

the Riviu:
after over using all the fairy tales, left right front, and back for the 3rd Shrek movie installments, the fourth that is the Final Chapter of Shrek's happily ever after finally did it right, in a classic style as the first Shrek movie was.

the storyline is solid and believable. it was kinda sad really, that Shrek had to lose all that he hold dear: love, kids, friends, before he could really appreciate what he has.

but then things start to fall into their right places as Shrek struggled to nullify the contract, getting a true love kiss from Fiona with the help from his friends, the ever talkative Donkey and obese Puss.

heck. i'd rate it 4.5 just because of Puss' obese figure, hahahah..

Monsters, Inc: an All-Time Favourite

the Poster:

the Trailer:



the Plot:
In an alternate world, monsters live in the city Monstropolis which suffers from continuous power failures. To counter this, the company Monsters, Inc. has its employees, known as "Scarers", to venture through the doors of children's closets to scare them and collect their screams as an energy source.

The top Scarer is James P. "Sulley" Sullivan (voiced by John Goodman), aided by his assistant and flatmate Mike Wazowski (voiced by Billy Crystal). Sulley's rival is the ever determined chameleon-like monster Randall Boggs (voiced by Steve Buscemi), who is forever in Sulley's shadow.

However, the company's success is falling as children are becoming harder to scare and those who are not frightened have their closet doors destroyed. A "scare floor" is put out of commission when one monster, George Sanderson, leaves a room with a sock on his back, forcing the Children Detection Agency (CDA for short) to cleanse him, much to the frustration of Mr. Waternoose (voiced by James Coburn), the company chairman, as children appear to be toxic on touch to monsters.

As a repeated joke, Mike is constantly harassed by the aging administrative clerk on the Scare Floor, a large slug-like monster named Roz, for not doing his paperwork which repeatedly irritates her.

Whilst working late in a deal with Mike, Sulley finds an active closet door in the scare floor. He discovers the door's owner, a young girl, has entered the monster world and he is forced to hide her away.

He goes to Mike for help, ruining his date with his girlfriend Celia Rae (voiced by Jennifer Tilly), the girl escaping into a restaurant and alerting the CDA to her presence.

Sulley and Mike take the girl home, discovering her screams and laughter affect the electricity in the area. Sulley quickly grows attached to the girl (finding out children are not toxic after all), nicknaming her "Boo", and dressing her in a makeshift monster costume to smuggle her into the company factory.

Sulley goes to find Boo's door, whilst Mike learns Randall was the one who let Boo out. Randall tells Mike to bring Boo to the scare floor where her door will be, but when Mike does this, Randall unintentionally kidnaps Mike instead of Boo, his intended target.

Sulley and Boo follow Randall into the depths of the building, discovering he has built a machine designed to remove a child's screams by force, making the company's current tactics to get energy redundant. Sulley manages to rescue Mike and they flee, going to Mr. Waternoose for help. However, Mr. Waternoose is revealed to be in allegiance with Randall and he exiles Sulley and Mike to the Himalayas. The two are taken in by the Abominable Snowman who tells Sulley he can return to the factory through the village at the mountain's base. Sulley heads out and Mike refuses to follow out of frustration with his friend.

Returning to the factory, Sulley rescues Boo with Mike helping out, after he comes back to apologize for getting upset. The three are chased by Randall into the factory's huge door storage facility, searching for Boo's door. Boo's laughter activates all the doors and allows the chase to pass in and out of the human world. When Randall corners Sulley as he dangles on the edge of a door frame, Boo overcomes her fear of Randall by attacking him with a baseball bat. Sulley and Mike banish Randall to the human world by tossing him through a door to a trailer park, de-activating the door afterwards.

Mr. Waternoose and the CDA force Sulley, Mike, Boo and her door back to the scare floor. Mike distracts the CDA, whilst Sulley runs away with Boo and her door. Mr. Waternoose gives chase, confronting Sulley in the bedroom where he explains that Randall's machine will save the company and he will kidnap a thousand children just to keep the company up and running. Mike and the CDA appear, revealing that rather than being in Boo's bedroom, they are instead in the simulation bedroom used for training at the start of the movie. Mr. Waternoose is caught confessing his plan and he is dragged away by the CDA. The CDA's commander, revealed to be Roz, has been undercover for years trying to prove there was a scandal at Monsters Inc. Roz allows Boo to be sent home but commands that her door must be destroyed to avoid a repeat of her arrival. Sulley and Mike say goodbye, and Boo's door is destroyed.

With the company facing closure, Sulley becomes the chairman and realises a child's laughter is stronger than their screams, changing the company's whole workload. Mike takes Sulley aside, revealing he has rebuilt Boo's door from scratch. Sulley ventures inside, calling for Boo, who responds off-screen, much to Sulley's delight. The film ends with Sulley smiling.


the Riviu:

Sulley and Mike are likeable characters that surely won your affections despite the fact that they are monsters. Sulley is a dependable kind-hearted beast living in an alternate world whilst Mike Wazowski is the wisecracking partner who has high self-esteem despite of his physical self. a way of Disney saying that don't judge the book by its cover :)

anyway, this movie got a few interesting things to ponder. for example:

• the monsters are making a living out of scaring kids that in turn scares them down with its simplest being. ironic.
• the best monster turns out to be the one violating the number one rule. ha, this is a sample of a psychological condition.
• how far you would go to ensure the synergy of your company. as Waternoose said, "i'd kidnap a thousand kids before i let the company go bust!"
• in relationship with children, laughters go way way better than tears and screams of fright.
• what scares most people doesn't mean it will scare all. and what scares you might be someone else's adored "Kitty!"

i love the movie for its simplicity and feel-good factor. Boo is a munchkin that surely tugs one's heart, even beastly looking Sulley fall for her, and us wee human do too. perhaps its a way to say that to counter a bad day, a monstrosity of the world by going back to the nature of a sweet, innocent guile of a kid.

gee, i'm turning into a philisophical slow-pokey eh?

the Adventures of Tintin: layannn~

the Poster:

the Trailer:


the Plot:
Tintin (voice of Jamie Bell) a young journalist, and his dog Snowy are browsing in an outdoor market in a European town when he stumbled upon a model of a three-masted sailing ship, the Unicorn. He bought it on the cheap, but was then immediately accosted by the mysterious figure of Barnaby (voice of Joe Starr) and then by the sinister Ivan Ivanovitch Sakharine (voice of Daniel Craig), who both try to buy the model from Tintin, without success.

Tintin takes the ship home, but it is broken during a fight between Snowy and a neighbour's cat. As it breaks, a parchment scroll slips out of the ship's mast. Snowy spots it but is unable to alert Tintin. Meanwhile, incompetent detectives Thomson and Thompson (voices of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost) are on the trail of a pickpocket, Aristides Silk. Tintin visits Marlinspike Hall, the origin of the ship model. There he meets Sakharine and learns that there are at least two model ships. Tintin puts the scroll in his wallet, only to have the wallet stolen by Aristides Silk, the notorious pickpocket.

Later, Barnaby tried to warn Tintin of the secret behind the Unicorns but before he could say anything substantial, Barnaby was shot to death. Tintin then is abducted by accomplices of Sakharine, and imprisoned on the SS Karaboudjan.

On board, Tintin escapes and meets the ship's nominal captain, Haddock (voice of Andy Serkis). Haddock has been supplied with whisky by first mate Allan, who is working for Sakharine, and the captain is permanently drunk, and doesn't know what's happening on board his ship. Tintin and Haddock (and Snowy) eventually escape from the Karaboudjan in a lifeboat. Sakharine sends a seaplane to find them, but Tintin is able to capture the plane, and fly towards the (fictitious) Moroccan port of Bagghar, but they crash in the desert.

Dehydrated in the heat, and suffering from a sudden lack of alcohol, Haddock hallucinates, and starts to remember stories about his ancestor, Sir Francis Haddock, who was captain of the Unicorn during the 17th century. Sir Francis' treasure-laden ship was attacked by a pirate ship, led by the masked Red Rackham, and, after a fierce battle and eventual surrender, Sir Francis chose to sink the Unicorn, and most of the treasure, rather than allow it to fall into Rackham's hands. It transpires that there were three models of the Unicorn, each containing a scroll. Together, the scrolls will reveal the location of the sunken Unicorn, and its treasure.

In Bagghar, Tintin and the Captain find out that the third model ship is in the possession of the wealthy Omar Ben Salaad, but it is encased in a bullet-proof glass display case. Sakharine's plan is to stage a concert involving famous diva Bianca Castafiore, the "Milanese nightingale", whose penetrating singing voice will be able to shatter the glass case, allowing Sakharine's trained hawk to fly down and steal the third scroll. After a chase down to the harbour, pursued by Tintin and Haddock, Sakharine finally escapes with all three scrolls. Tintin chases him back to Europe and arranges a police reception for him on the dockside. Haddock and Sakharine, who is revealed to be the descendant of Red Rackham, replay their ancestors' swashbuckling sword fight, using dockside cranes, swords, and even bottles of whiskey. Haddock is eventually victorious and Sakharine is promptly arrested by Thomson and Thompson.

With the three scrolls in their possession, Tintin and Haddock find that the indicated location is Marlinspike Hall, and that the hall had been built originally by Sir Francis Haddock. There, in the cellar, they find some of the treasure, and a clue to the location of the sunken Unicorn. Both men agree to continue the adventure.

the many Pictures of the Movie:

Tintin and his able Sidekick, Snowy the Dog.

Tintin was besieged with offer for the Unicorn model by Barnaby and later on, Mr Sakharine.

the slain Barnaby left a clue "Karaboudjan". Thompson and Thomson failed to help Tintin in unravelling the clue.

Tintin met oft-tipsy Capt. Haddock for the first time.

Tintin, Snowy and Capt. Haddock braved the Morroccan desert. there Haddock was sober and able to recount the tales of the real Unicorn.

in his delirious state, Capt. Haddock remembered the story of Sir Francis Haddock and his nemesis, the pirate Red Rackham. Haddock deciphered that Mr Sakharine is in fact the descendent of Red Rackham as he is of Sir Francis Haddock's.

Tintin, Snowy and Capt. Haddock in pursuit of Sakharine and his henchmen at the streets of Bagghar. the evil guys had snatched off the 3 scrolls of clue.

Sakharine threatened to burn the scrolls with clues. Tintin managed to snatch it off his hands. Sackharine was apprehended by Mr Thomson and Mr Thompson.

the coordinates on the scrolls brought Tintin, Snowy and Capt. Haddock back to the decrepit Marlinspike Hall.

Tintin and Capt. Haddock found the part of treasure which was kept at the secret cellar. also found was the real clue for the Red Rackham's treasure location.


the Riviu:
this movie offera a tantalising 3D animation feature of the famous Tintin and his pursuit of the story behind the Unicorn. as i'm no fan of Tintin, i just went along with ride. and found it tolerable.

there are a lot of bigwigs involved. as for the voices, the actors involved are notable but unable to lend some notion of warmth to the movie. what i'm trying to say is that, should they decided to use any suitable Tom, Dick and Harry, it would have generated the same output. the exhilarating live motion effect however is the bane of the movie, you can't help but being included in the journey.

i have taken a liking to Snowy and Tintin. Capt. Haddock on the other hand, is guilty of being a drunk sod who often caused troubles to Tintin. Mr Sackharine as the villain was truly evil and believable.

coming from someone that is not a follower of Herge's cartoon, i watch it disinterestedly (thus the rating of 2.5 star). Watch it only and only if you're a fan. then you'll get your money's worth.

next installment of Tintin's movie is due by 2014.

Puss in Boots: sometimes the Side Dishes are much better

the Poster:

the Trailer:


the Plot:
it's the story of the humble beginning of Puss the Boots (voice of Antonio Banderas), of how he earned the Boots, a friend in Humpty Alexander Dumpty (voice of Zach Galifianakis) who was an imaginative inventor with a dream of Magic Beans and a Mother whom he respected so much.

Puss was raised in an orphanage with Dumpty and earned the Boots when he saved the Commodore's mother. being a hero is natural to him and with Puss in the limelight, Dumpty was left to seethe and plot on how to get rich, to get the Magic Beans to grow the Beanstalk and ultimately the Golden Eggs.

somehow, due to a bank heist that Dumpty tricked Puss into abetting, Puss became an outlaw to their hometown and Dumpty was left incarcerated. few years on, their path crossed again with the help of Kitty Softpaws (voice of Salma Hayek)with the common goal to get the Magic Beans from the mean Mr Jack and Mrs Jill. little did Puss knew what was in store for him...


the Riviu:
after the Shrek franchise ran its course, came the spinoff, Puss in Boots. with the Grimms' and Aesops' fables tweaked here and there for numerous times, the story came with no surprise. in fact, i yawned and just follow through. nothing special here. for kids only as the storyline is predictable and require no intellect at all. for that, i easily will award 2 star only.

thus, why the 3.5 star? well, because the Side Dish is fresh and likeable. to the spinoff, came a short story of Puss in Boots and the three Diablos. and it is a saving grace..



i enjoyed the short story very much. memang the three Diablos tu cute sangat. truly adorable with their round black eyes :)

oh well, i do enjoy animated story sometimes.