Category: Adventure

The Flash

GoMovieReview Rating: ★★★1/2The Flash

Rated: M

Directed by: Andy Muschietti

Screenplay by: Christina Hodson

Story by: John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein, Joby Harold

Based on Characters from: DC

Produced by: Barbara Muschietti, Michael Disco

Starring: Ezra Miller, Ben Affleck, Sasha Calle, Michael Shannon, Ron Livingston, Maribel Verdú, Kiersey Clemons, Antje Traue and Michael Keaton.

The Flash (Ezra Miller) naming himself, ‘The janitor of the Justice League’ feels like he’s always cleaning up after Batman.

But Batman’s his besty.

So when the latest disaster hits Gotham City and the Justice League are busy elsewhere, it’s up to The Flash AKA Barry Allen, who’s in the middle of trying to buy a sandwich from a server who isn’t his usual server and he’s going to be late AND he’s hungry and trying to feed himself because if he doesn’t his body will literally run out of fuel…  Well, Barry steps up, or rather, steps forward with arms bent at the ready.

It’s a silly beginning – think falling babies from a collapsing skyscraper while The Flash breaks into a falling vending machine to eat.

The film takes a moment to get traction (ha, ha).

Then the film shifts gear, cue the strings of the soundtrack, pan to dad in jail for the murder of his wife and mother of Barry:

‘I loved you first’.

It’s an unsubtle shift but leads to a poignant moment with Batman (Ben Affleck) – he’s a character who can relate.

Then flash again (ha, ha, sorry, can’t seem to help myself with this one), the film flashes back to a time when Barry’s mother was alive.  Back to a time when he can save her, because if he can run faster than the speed of light, the theory runs, he can turn back time.

Enter, The Chrono Ball.

This is where most of the effects come into play: the surrounding faces of the past nightmarish as The Flash runs in the Ball’s centre, making time warp backwards.

But of course, changing the course of the past will always lead to changes to the future and added to the risk of changing the world forever, General Zod (Michael Shannon) returns to the past.  To a past that no longer has metahumans.

Until Supergirl (Sasha Calle) is rescued.

They need all the hero’s they can muster to beat the Kryptonian general from destroying the Earth completely this time.  In the past.

The film gets entertaining once Barry meets his past self so that verging on the silly overacting tones down to an overly enthusiastic Barry who meets older and wiser future Barry.

The effects also help off-set some of the silliness – The Flash quoting himself as a Barbie Girl in a Barbie world, well, that was one of the OK funny bits, but you get where I’m going.  The humour just did not hit until The Flash meets his younger self – the chemistry better and more balanced.

And then there’s the return of Michael Keaton as the hermit Batman of the past (who is somehow older and yet explained so well with a bowl of spaghetti by said hermit Batman).

Really, I can’t believe how good it was to see Michael Keaton as Batman again.

Once the balance got going with the characters, there were some genuinely funny moments – seeing The Flash run around without being able to flash around did tickle.

And there’s some themes running (ha, ha) through the storyline so it’s not all superficial flashy trash – ‘not every problem has a solution,’ etc.

The future self, teaching the past self, worked better than expected.

And the film felt full, with every second of every frame brimming with as much dialogue and effects as possible.

Didn’t always hit the mark, but there’s enough of a foundation here to enjoy the entertainment.

 

Fall

Rated: MFall

Directed by: Scott Mann

Written by: Scott Mann, Jonathan Frank

Produced by: Christian Mercuri, James Harris, Mark Lane, Scott Mann, David Haring

Cinematography: Miguel ‘MacGregor’ Olaso

Starring: Grace Caroline Currey, Virginia Gardner, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Mason Gooding.

‘No trespassing.  Danger of death.’

Let me start by saying, I’m scared of heights.

So from the opening scene of vertical views down onto rock-climbers hanging onto cliffs and leaping for another hold.  My heart was pumping from the get-go.

And it didn’t stop.

Fall is relentless in ratcheting up the tension, truly, edge-of-seat viewing.

But there’s cheese.

Adrenaline junkies, Becky (Grace Caroline Currey), hubby, Dan (Mason Gooding) and best buddy, Hunter (Virginia Gardner) push their limits together.

Seemingly unstoppable, until the worst happens, leaving Bec devastated.  And her dad (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) concerned she’ll never snap out of her deepening grief.

It’s when Bec looks like she can’t go on, best buddy, she’s-my-cherry-pie, Hunter has the cure: climbing an abandoned radio tower via a rusty ladder, 2000ft into the air.

Time to tame fear, ‘And kick it’s arse.’

Cue the strings in the soundtrack.  Cringe.

Up to this point, I wasn’t convinced I was going to get into this movie, I’d just be on edge because of that insane height, standing on a pancake platform, Bec and Hunter about to fall any second.

Then those rusty bolts started rattling.

The camera work here pushes that feeling of vertigo and the thought of falling is always there as the girls hang off the edge of the tower to take selfies.

There’s a lot from Hunter’s online persona, Danger D and #LifeOverDeath moments.

But this, ‘kick fear in the dick,’ mentality gradually won me over – you get the vibe though, a bit twee.

Then the shots widen, pushing the sky into the background of these crazy climbers as the bolts start to fall and I’m gripping the arms of the chair.

It just keeps pushing that tension to the point I was thankful for some of the cheesy drama of the story.

It’s not ALL tension; there’s some room to breathe.

But wow not much.

Be prepared for a bracing thrill and some unexpected moments in this intense survival film: worth seeing on the big screen.

 

Everything Everywhere All At Once

Rated: MA15+Everything Everywhere All At Once

Directed by: Daniels (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert)

Produced by: Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, Joe Russo, Anthony Russo, Jonathan Wang, Mike Larocca

Starring: Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu, Ke Huy Quan, Jenny Slate, Harry Shum Jr., with James Hong and Jamie Lee Curtis.

‘No time to wait’.

Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh) and Waymond Wang (Ke Huy Quan) own and run a laundry they live above, in a small apartment with their daughter, Eleanor (Stephanie Hsu) and elderly father (James Hong).

Evelyn sits at the kitchen table, sifting through paperwork.  It’s time to submit their taxes.

A mundane existence.  But seen like life viewed through a mirror.  So even at the beginning, the film feels otherworldly.

That feeling builds as the film circles around again and again, so the sign of a bagel becomes significant, a fanny pack with a fluffy pig hanging as an ornament becomes a weapon, only to reappear later as a tattoo.  Or the mispronunciation of the title of a movie, Racoontouille (instead of, Ratatouille) becomes a reality.

The thought put into the making of this film is seen in the detail of creating this infinite multi-universe where the characters jump from one dimension to the other.  ‘Verse jumping’ gives them the ability of their other self in the another dimension.  So, need martial arts?  Verse jump to a universe where your self has that skill.  All it takes is a particular act, a touch of an earpiece and you’re set.

The particular required act to verse jump gets bizarre and hilarious, as do some of the other selves in other universes.

And the dynamics of the characters fold back again and again with a constant, sometimes gentle humour – a customer’s bag of laundry kept upstairs in the apartment, ‘I think the clothes are happier there’ – and sometimes delightfully twisted humour (sausages for fingers anyone?), weaved all the way through the storyline.

Even the interchange of language from English to Chinese adds to the blurring as Waymond arrives in this universe to take the body of Evelyn’s husband in the current universe to tell her that she’s the only one who can save the multiverse from the evil Toboki (Stephanie Hsu).  All the while tax auditor (Jamie Lee Curtis) is telling Evelyn that there can’t be anything more important than what’s she’s telling her about her current taxes, right now.  And this coming from an award-winning auditor – the phallic trophies on proud display.

I have to say, Jamie Lee Curtis is just pure gold as this tax auditor character.  Absolutely brilliant casting and performance.  Hilarious.

The whole cast is amazing with Michelle Yeoh as Evelyn in what looks like herself as an actress blended into the multiverse story.

There’s some far-reaching ideas here with the title of the movie just so apt.

And added to the Kung Fu fighting and humour there’s also a good foundation to the family drama so I had a good giggle, got a little teary, and was pleasantly surprised by edgy concepts held together with the use of chapters to give the movie structure.

I don’t want to give too much away because there will be plenty of buzz about this film and if you’re reading this review, you’re more than likely going to go watch it and I highly recommend it: go watch it.

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore

Rated: MFantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore

Directed by: David Yates

Screenplay Written by: J. K. Rowling & Steve Kloves

Based on the Screenplay by: J. K. Rowling

Produced by: David Heyman, J. K. Rowling, Steve Kloves, Lionel Wigram and Tim Lewis

Executive Producers: Neil Blair, Danny Cohen, Josh Berger, Courtenay Valenti and Michael Sharp

Starring: Eddie Redmaye, Jude Law, Ezra Miller, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Callum Turner, Jessica Williams, Katherine Waterston and Mads Mikkelsen.

‘No one can know everything.’

A quietly rocking train.  Professor Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) sighs.

Gellert Grindelwald (Mads Mikkelsen) comments, ‘They like to chatter, the muggle friends.’

Grindelwald thinks of muggles as animals.

‘But they do make a good cup of tea.’

Dumbledore and Grindelwald were going to take over the world when they were young.  They made a blood pact, a powerful spell meaning they could not harm the other.

Now that Grindelwald wants to destroy the muggle world and take control of the wizarding world, it’s a pact Dumbledore regrets.

The Secrets of Dumbledore continues on from the previous instalment of Magic Beasts.  And for me, this is the best one yet.

I was absolutely delighted, there’s no other way to describe the feeling of seeing Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) along with the Pickett, the Bowtruckle and Teddy the Niffler.

Newt describes Teddy as frankly a nightmare but what would he do without him?  Remembering Teddy’s also the critter who managed to steal back the pendant holding the blood of Dumbledore and Grindelwald – he’s a very clever Niffler still obsessed with gold and still hilarious.

Queenie (Alison Sudol) still resides with Grindelwald as does the darkly disturbed Obscurial, Credence (Ezra Miller) – the only wizard powerful enough to attempt to kill Dumbledore and used by Grindelwald because the pact dictates he cannot kill Dumbledore himself.

A wanted criminal, Grindelwald wants to be free. He wants to take over the world.

To fight back, Dumbledore calls upon: Newt along with Newt’s brother, Theseus (Callum Turner), Head of the British Auror Service; Newt’s assistant, Bunty (Victoria Yeates), ‘No one can know everything.  Not even you,’ she tells Newt.

Muggle baker Jacob (Dan Fogler) is called back, even though he’s heartbroken and doesn’t want to, he can’t resist saving a dame in distress; introducing, Eulalie Hicks (Jessica Williams): ‘Well, you do know I’m a witch, right?’

And finally, there’s Yusuf Kama (William Nadylam) of an old wizardly bloodline quietly adding his graceful loyalty while he morns for his half-sister, Leta.

They all look at one another, so this is who’s going to save the world?

There’s a different tone to his instalment, less of that 1920s feel and more dungeons and deep dark forests, temples on clifftops and snow falling from the sky as Credence uses the Obscurian to tear the streets apart.

Newt with his fantastic beasts adds lighthearted moments, his crablike dance to pacify, well, killer crabs had the entire audience in the cinema giggling.

Again, the beasts were a strong feature in the film, and what I also really enjoy in, Fantastic Beasts is the use of objects – the pendant holding the blood pact, the snake wand, Newt’s case holding the magic beasts.  The attention to detail is thoroughly absorbing.  Every detail balanced, the storyline, well-paced.

There’s a perfect play of darkness and light in, The Secrets of Dumbledore as the story starts digging deeper: it’s funny, sometimes confronting, it’s explosive, dramatic and heart-warming.

I’m looking forward to seeing what comes next.

The Bad Guys

Rated: PGThe Bad Guys

Directed by: Pierre Perifel

Based on: The Scholastic book series by Aaron Blabey

Produced by: Damon Ross and Rebecca Huntley

Executive Producers: Aaron Blabey, Etan Cohen and Patrick Hughes

Starring: Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Craig Robinson, Anthony Ramos, Awkwafina, Richard Ayoade, Zazie Beetz, Lilly Singh and Alex Borstein.

‘We may be bad but we’re so good at it.’  Meet, The Big Bad Wolf (Sam Rockwell).

Mr. Wolf is part of The Bad Guys – a gang of villains who just love being bad and stealing stuff.

There’s Mr. Snake (Marc Maron): a master like Houdini at opening a safe… without hands…

Ms. Tarantula (Awkwafina), AKA Wizz: an eight-legged hacker;

Mr. Shark (Craig Robinson): a master of disguise, ‘I’m a destruction worker.’

And Mr. Piranha (Anthony Ramos) – he’s crazy and farts when nervous.

Natural selection has handed The Bad Guys the card of being feared – everyone’s terrified of them, so why not be bad?!

When Governor Foxington (Zazie Beetz) calls the gang out on TV as being sad and needing to fill a hole in their being with money which is never going to work because they just want to be loved… Mr. Wolf sees red and decides it’s time to steal the ultimate bad guy prize: The Golden Dolphin.  A trophy given to the one citizen who’s done the most good.

Meet: Professor Marmalade (Richard Ayoade).  A guinea pig and therefore nicknamed, ‘Pig’.  He’s Mr. Snakes favourite food.

The storyline is setup as a heist movie for kids.  And not just because of the animation (DreamWorks excelling again with their detail in fur). But because of all the lame dad jokes.

‘You’re good at this.’

‘I’m kind of a natural.  Learned mostly from YouTube.’

There are some predictable twists in the plot with underlying main message of there’s ‘a flower of goodness in everyone, just waiting to blossom’.

But the tone of the film as a caper, with split screens and jaunty soundtrack, reminiscent of an Ocean’s movie, felt twee.

I know, a kid’s movie.  But the, ‘One of these days their luck is gonna run out,’ and the meteor falling to earth that Pig/Prof sees as a heart, naw, yet The Bad Guys see as a butt… Well, that actually was pretty funny.

And the, naw does get turned on its head.

It just wasn’t surprising.

The attempt of being edgy and diabolical made the film less edgy.

I liked the characters and the fact, Mr. Wolf can taste the air and hear colour.  But the lines of the characters didn’t always land making, The Bad Guys an OK watch but nothing over exciting.

The Matrix Resurrections

Rated: MThe Matrix Resurrections

Directed by: Lana Wachowski

Produced by: Grant Hill, James McTeigue, Lana Wachowski

Executive Producers: Bruce Berman, Garrett Grant, Terry Needham, Michael Salven, Karin Wachowski

Based on the Characters Created by: The Wachowskis

Screenplay Written by: Lana Wachowski, David Mitchell, Aleksandar Hemon

Starring: Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Priyanka Chopra, Jessica Henwick, Yahya Adbul-Mateen II, Jonathan Groff, Daniel Bernhardt, Neil Patrick Harris, Jada Pinkett Smith, Christina Ricci, Lambert Wilson, Daniela Harpaz, Eréndira Ibarra, Max Riemelt, Ellen Hollman, Brian J. Smith.

The Matrix Resurrection introduces this sequel (forth in the series) with a 90s monitor: a square cursor flashing.  The code begins scrawling across the screen.  In green, of course.

Welcome to The Matrix 2.0.

There’re new characters resurrecting old ones: Mr. Smith (Jonathan Groff) is now Neo’s partner in a gaming company; Morpheus (Yahya Adbul-Mateen II) is back in a new form.

But Neo remains the same (Keanu Reeves).  Trinity, now Tiffany (Carrie-Anne Moss), remains.  They’re just a little older.

But non-the-wiser.

Ha, ha.

It’s that kind of movie.

There are many puns thrown through-out the film – sometimes heavy-handed like the cat with a tinkling collar named: déjà vu.

Mostly, there’s references to the original Matrix (1999) as the film layers the past into the present, so Resurrections becomes self-referential not only to the original film but also to itself.  To the extent that if a moment felt twee, the twee would then be made into a joke like a self-parody.

I noticed the silence at one point only for the silence to be commented on as an indicator of real living outside the Matrix.

It’s a cerebral film asking questions about the concept of choice: the blue or red pill?

Or is it free will versus destiny?

Or is life about fear and desire?

It becomes binary, one or the other – ones and zeros, like the program, The Matrix. Like reality is made up of ones and zeros.  Like… The Matrix. Ah!

All mind bending moments aside, it took me a while to invest in Resurrections.  Neo was somewhat lacklustre, with the repeated response, ‘yeah.’

But with the rest of the film being so clever, I guess that’s the nature of Neo.  Not Neo.  Mr. Andrews, still stuck in The Matrix.  Even so, the re-layered moments I wasn’t convinced about, like the annoying self-professed ‘geek’ colleague of Mr Anderson remained, annoying.

The film does ramp up and yes there’s a ‘fresh’ take here that will get you thinking.  I just wasn’t as convinced as the original because the characters spent so much time making fun of themselves to cover the forced sentiment that would have otherwise been too cheesy.

Twist

Rated: MTwist

Directed by: Martin Owen

Produced by: Ben Grass, Jason Maza, Noel Clarke and Matthew Williams

Starring: Raff Law, Sir Michael Caine, Lena Heady, Rita Ora, Franz Drameh, Sophie Simnett, David Walliams, Jason Maza and Noel Clarke.

Loosely based on the classic Dickens’ novel, Oliver Twist, we have an older version of Oliver introducing the film as a story with, ‘No singing, no danc’n, and definitively no happy end’n.’

Twist is a fast-paced, modern day heist movie featuring orphans more the twenty-year old variety, in other words, old enough to drink.

The main character, Twist (Raff Law – yes, that’s Jude Law’s son and looks the spit of him) is described as an extreme graffiti artist – getting up high on buildings so more people can see his work.

He’s also a freerunner, the camera angles following front, above, a helmet cam looking forwards as he runs and jumps and… twists (tee, hee, couldn’t help myself).

Twist says, ‘I was better on my own’.

But then he meets Red (Sophie Simnett).

She’s a freerunner too.

And belongs to people.  To Fagin (Sir Michael Caine) who says thieving is surviving.

And to Fagin’s main crew, Batsey (Franz Drameh) and Dodge (Rita Ora); it’s like the family Twist thinks he doesn’t need but discovers he wants, ‘A family that eats together stays together,’ says Fagin.

Maybe Twist doesn’t want to be alone anymore.

And soon gets entangles in the next Big Job, only to discover there’s another player, Sikes (Lena Heady (Game Of Thrones)).  She doesn’t play nice.

There’s some fun moments here – who doesn’t like watching the trickery of freerunning?!  And some surprising violence.

The splice of music into the soundtrack from the radio or the jukebox was clever.

But sometimes it felt a bit trying, those light-hearted throwaway lines and inconceivable moments like landing in a carriage awaiting a bride and groom from a jump a good few stories above.

None of the jokes hit the mark.

And if you’re going to have the arrogance of strong-willed, baby-gangsters, some of that humour has to land otherwise it  just feels like they’re being brats.

That required optimism and I’m-immortal overtones dragged on some of the cooler ideas of art imitating life (there’s a nice piece that warms the heart), but the film twists the concept into a space that becomes unbelievably optimistic.

And that’s OK.  Because the film is directed at a younger audience.

Entertaining and although we all need some hope at the moment, Twist was a bit twee for my taste.

Godzilla Vs Kong

Rated: MGodzilla Vs Kong

Directed by: Adam Wingard

Produced by: Thomas Tull, Jon Jasni, Brian Rogers, Mary Parent, Alex Garcia, Eric McLeod

Screenplay by: Eric Pearson, Max Borenstein

Story by: Terry Rossio, Michael Dougherty, Zach Shields

Based on: Godzilla by Toho King Kong by Edgar Wallace and Merian C. Cooper

Starring: Alexander Skarsgård, Millie Bobby Brown, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Shun Oguri, Eiza González, Julian Dennison, Kyle Chandler, Demián Bichir and Kaylee Hottie.

Kong bows to no-one.

But it’s a fight until one submits when it comes to the Alpha Titans.

A sequel to, Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Kong: Skull Island, here the ancient enemies, Godzilla and Kong are kept apart – Kong detained back at Skull Island and Godzilla keeping his peace with humanity. Until he attacks Apex Cybernetics seemingly unprovoked.

But there’s more to Apex lurking beneath the surface, Godzilla instinctively sniffing out any challenge…

There’s always an expectation with the mega monster movies of some cheesy moments, Godzilla Vs Kong the fourth film in Legendary’s MonsterVerse – and there’s some borderline dialogue with cliché comments like Dr. Nathan Lind’s (Alexander Skarsgård), ‘I might have an idea, but it’s crazy.’

And, ‘No one keeps the reigns on Kong,’ from Dr. Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall).

But combined with Kong waking up, scratching his hairy butt before taking a morning wash under a waterfall, it all kinda blends into a light-hearted banter that keeps the film rolling in between explosive monster fighting action.

Godzilla Vs Kong is loud, colourful and at times I felt like I was on a roller coaster.

Going back into the history of the two ancient titans, with redacted documents flashing at the beginning of the film, I thought there’d be more to the story. But the backbone of the film is the fight to be the alpha titan: the fight not so much the why.

What was surprising was the effects as ships sped up to 600km through blue lights and exploding through a crack in the centre of the earth to break into the upside-down Hollow World that tilts back onto itself, filled with sparkling blue rocks and lush forests and bat-like vultures reaching out with strong legs to rip you apart.

I highly recommend viewing this film on the big screen.

Made for a younger audience with asides from returning character, Madison Russell (Millie Bobby Brown), along with, I’m-afraid-of-guns, Josh Valentine (Julian Dennison); there’s also the conspiracy theorist, Bernie Hayes (Brian Tyree Henry), and, ‘That podcast is filling your head with rubbish,’ from Madison’s dad – I was still able to have a giggle at the antics of the characters, while silently cheering for both Kong and Godzilla. Hard not to be a fan of both.

And while there’s nothing new here with the story (or didn’t feel like it,anyway), I enjoyed the spectacle.

For me, better than, Godzilla: King of Monsters but not as good as, Kong: Skull Island (John C. Reilly as Marlow: pure gold).

Wonder Woman 1984

Rated: MWonder Woman 1984

Directed by: Patty Jenkins

Written by: Patty Jenkins, Geoff Johns, David Callaham

Produced by: Charles Roven, Deborah Snyder, Zack Snyder, Patty Jenkins, Gal Gadot, Stephen Jones

​Starring: Gal Gadot, Kristen Wiig, Pedro Pascal, Chris Pine.

For the first time in, it seems like in forever, I settle into my seat as the lights go down and the big, booming bass comes up. All at once, I’m gathered up and soaring over wild and rocky island where a tournament that barely conforms to the laws of physics is taking place between a cohort of Amazons. Their aerial feats heap peril upon danger and I’m immediately swept into a world of strength and precision where it is possible to move over land, air and sea in unimagined and gravity-defying ways.

Unlike other super heroes, Diana of Themyscira (Gal Gadot) is not a fully-formed super being; she makes mistakes and must earn her powers. Amid the pyrotechnics of the genre it’s a subtle distinction, but it underwrites and in some ways allows this movie to nudge the genre’s boundaries.

After a rigorous preparation in physical combat and a painful introduction to ethics, Wonder Woman’s training continues, even while she is out in the world and on the job. When an out of control car careens out of nowhere, Diana instinctively kicks it to the kerb and is at once assailed by doubt. Has her action been seen by the bystanders around her? A momentary impulse may well have blown her cover as a mild mannered specialist in antiquities at the Smithsonian museum.

Not only does Diana buck the genre as a hero who is still learning her craft, the villain (Pedro Pascal) is a man who more than anything wants to live up to an heroic ideal of himself. Instead of a frustratingly invincible villain, this one, grinning snake oil salesman though he may be, is merely a man with a seriously misguided sense of what it is to be a good parent. Together with a highly unusual premise that to embrace the truth you must be prepared to let go of even your dearest wishes and dreams, this combination allows the story to delve into some of the existential dilemmas we must all reconcile. And, despite being set in 1984, in that decade of power dressing, big shoulders and extremely unfortunate leisure wear, the storyline and the question it asks are very much at one with the times in this era of fake news.

But this is a comic come to life and Wonder Woman 1984 is very much a high flying adventure. The towering atrium of a multi-story shopping centre almost doubles as a private gymnasium for Diana when a feckless trio of crooks attempt to rob a jewellery store and grab a child hostage on their way out. But, this time, Diana does remember to take out the security cameras before sheleaps over the handrail.

While some viewers might wish for a deeper emotional frisson between Diana and her long lost love (Chris Pine), for those of us who’ve let their inner child loose this is an unmissable opportunity to upend armoured vehicles travelling in convoy on a lonely stretch of desert highway, lasso bullets and hitch a ride on a commercial flight at the end of a golden rope.

Playmobil The Movie

Rated: GPlaymobil The Movie

Directed by: Lino DiSalvo

Screenplay by: Blaise Hemingway, Greg Erb and Jason Oremland

Story by: Lino DiSalvo

Produced by: Aton Soumache, Dimitri Rassam, Moritz Borman, Alexis Vonarb, Axel Von Maydell, Timothy Burrill and Bing Wu

Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Jim Gaffigan, Gabriel Bateman, Adam Lambert, Kenan Thompson, Meghan Trainor and Daniel Radcliffe.

‘I’ll be the girl I used to be.’

Marla (Anya Taylor-Joy) has her whole life in front of her and expresses this enthusiasm to explore the world by singing with her little brother, Charlie (Gabriel Bateman).

Oh yeah, Playmobil The Movie, is a musical (see the score by musician Heitor Pereira (Despicable Me trilogy, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, The Smurfs movies, Minions, Smallfoot, Angry Birds Movie 2 and original songs, co-written by Anne Preven).

Then the film takes a dark turn when tragedy strikes the brother and sister.

Fast forward four years later and Marla no longer has her fresh, wide-eyed view of the world, her little brother accusing her of not knowing how to have fun.

It’s all a bit cringe-worthy until the duo fall into the Playmobil world where the characters turn into live-action Playmobil figurines.

Finding themselves in an action-adventure with car chases and villains and dinosaurs, all the Playmobil® toys that have been around since 1974 come to life as brother and sister fight alongside Vikings and a suave James Bond.  So the film’s about finding the excitement and zest for life they both lost when Marla had to become sister and parent.

The animation from ON Animation Montreal (Julien Bocabeille (How to Train Your Dragon 1 and 2, Puss in Boots, Rise of the Guardians, The Croods, Mr. Peabody and Sherman, Kung Fu Panda 2 and 3, Penguins of Madagascar and The Boss Baby)) is well put together using the stiff toys then adding movement and life with materials like cloth, and there were moments of fun with villain, Emperor Maximus (Adam Lambert) sitting behind a buff body painted on one side of his chariot.

But this is a film directed at a young audience so there wasn’t much for me to enjoy except some fun changes in genre along the way.

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