Trolls

Tonight, my brother and I went to see the new "Trolls" movie. This movie is based on a toy line that I never owned any action figure of growing up. However, how is this movie that is based on a successful toy line be? Let's take a look:

Even though "Trolls" won't be regarded as an animated masterpiece in the same vain as "Frozen," "Toy Story," "Wall-E" or "Inside Out," I have to say that this new entry from DreamWorkds Animation is fairly entertaining from beginning to end. It will attract and entertain children, but will also entertain the adults who bring their children to the theater - thanks to so many elements.

Bill Zwecker stated in his review, "First of all, “Trolls” is visually captivating — and that, I believe, could have been achieved even without 3D. The intensity of colors and the non-stop, almost happily manic action on the screen will keep children of all ages glued to their seats from the moment the movie opens all the way to its joyous end."

This was released close to the most devastating presidential election this country has ever seen, but "Trolls" is actually a nice, escapist enjoyment - with the main theme being: What, exactly, is the secret to true happiness? Zwecker advised, "The not-so-subtle message here is that one should not find happiness or success in life at the expense of others. It’s a lesson that is obviously universal, but one that can always be reinforced, especially at times when happiness is indeed under siege!"

The story is easy. The cute tiny Trolls, as large-eyed and pointy-haired as the action figures it was based on, are the world's happiest beings, who main tasks are to dance, sing and hug on a daily basis of joyfullness.

However, we find out, the Trolls arch-enemies that they have been hiding from are the hideous, giant Bergens. The always heartbroken Bergens are under the thought that they can only be happy - even if it's for a short period - if they eat Trolls.

The way they decide that is their annual holiday they call "Trollstice."

The most evil of the Bergens is Chef, voiced by Christine Baranski, who has her mind-set being to recapture the Trolls (who found a new solitude to hide from the Bergens for 20 years) and bring back Trollstice to the Bergens.

Co-directors Mike MItchell and Walt Dohrn have brought together a cast of voice actors who are also singers, including the hot Anna Kendrick as protagonist Princess Poppy, along with former NSYNC member Justin Timberlake as Branch, the one Troll who rejects singing, dancing and hugging, because of his pessimsim of being found and eaten by the Bergens. Zwecker stated, "Timberlake also doubles as the film’s musical executive producer — adding his great skill to creating a musical backdrop that is rich and perfectly executed."

Along with these big-name singers, the cast is filled with top singers including Zooey Deschanel, Russell Brand, "Monty Python" member John Cleese, the hot Gwen Stefani, Jeffrey Tambor, "The Late, Late Show" host James Corden and Christopher Mintz-Plasse.

In every way, "Trolls" gives. Zwecker said, "It is nicely paced, the jokes are spot-on (and will work for both the kids and their parents) and, again, this is visually a very special piece of animated artistry."

Both the happy little Trolls and the depressive, evil Bergens will entertain you. Zwecker said, "Most important, the lessons expressed in the storyline, while pretty obvious, are not delivered in a heavy-handed way."

You will walk out - or maybe dance out - of the theater feeling the music.

If you like animated movies and are a fan of any of the singers in this movie, you should definitely see this movie. The songs are really catchy and you will nod your head whenever these songs play in the movie, like I did. Definitely do not miss the chance to see this in the theater, you will love it. Take your children, they will love it as well.

Look out tomorrow because I will start a great month of reviews that I'm really excited for.

Bruce/Evan Almighty

Now we have come to the finale of “Jim Carrey Not in Sequels Month,” where we will talk about the 2003 gut-hurting comedy, “Bruce Almighty.” My siblings and I snuck into this movie after we had seen Ang Lee’s “Hulk” because my brother wanted to see it.

Roger Ebert appropriately started off his review by saying, “There is about Jim Carrey a desperate urgency that can be very funny, as he plunges with manic intensity after his needs and desires.” In “Bruce Almighty,” he plays a man whose deepest wish is to become the anchor of the Buffalo News. When he realizes that he wasn’t picked, he puts all the blame on God, demanding to see him and explain his reasons.

You could say that Bruce Nolan, played by Jim Carrey, does not meet the qualifications to be an anchor, just by looking at the two reports we see him do, one from a cookie company breaking the record of the largest chocolate chip cookie, the other on the ship of the anniversary cruise of the Maid of the Mist, the famous Niagara Falls tour boat. During the cruise, he hears on air, live, that Evan Baxter, played by comedian and former “The Daily Show” correspondent, Steve Carrell, was picked and not Bruce, and goes insane, even dropping the F-bomb in his shock.

You might say that he is uptight and aggressive and does not fit the anchor position (though he would replace a man who is just there to mainly smile). Though, in anger and grief, and on the verge of losing the love of his realistic girlfriend Grace, played by Jennifer Aniston, he calls God, and God answers.

God is, in the movie, a man in a white suit, played by Morgan Freeman which you can see as a godlike patience with Bruce. Since Bruce is not happy with what God is doing, God decides to give Bruce his job – or at least, the job over his own neighborhood in Buffalo, though at one part these tasks seem to spread directly above Buffalo to such a point that Bruce can change how far the moon is, creating tidal waves in Japan.

“Bruce Almighty,” directed by Tom Shadyac and written by Steve Oedederk, Steve Koren, and Mark O’Keefe, is a fascinator, the type of movie where Bruce learns that even though he may not ever be the perfect God, the experience probably will make him a better television newsman.

Ebert said, “The problem with playing God, the movie demonstrates, is that when such powers are entrusted to a human, short-term notions tend to be valued higher than long-term improvement plans.” Look at the part where Bruce deals with his dog that takes a leak in the house (Ebert admits,” The payoff shot, showing the dog learning a new way to use the newspaper, had me laughing so loudly that people were looking at me”). Also, look at how Bruce deals with traffic jams, which work fine for Bruce, but not so well for everyone else. When you’re God, you can’t think only of yourself.

Ebert said, “Freeman plays God with a quality of warm detachment that is just about right, I think. You get the feeling that even while he's giving Bruce the free ride, he has a hand on the wheel, like a driver's training instructor. Aniston, as a sweet kindergarten teacher and fiancée, shows again (after "The Good Girl") that she really will have a movie career, despite the small-minded cavils of those who think she should have stayed on television.” She can play comedy, which is not easy, and she can keep up with Carrey by just not copying his craziness. That’s one of those talents like having the ability to sing one song while writing the lyrics to another.

Ebert ended his review by saying, “Whether "Bruce Almighty" is theologically sound, I will leave to the better qualified. My own suspicion is that if you have God's power even in a small area like Buffalo, it's likely to set things spinning weirdly everywhere. If a butterfly can flap its wings in Samoa and begin a chain of events leading to a tropical storm in the Caribbean, think what could happen when Bruce goes to work.”

In the end, you have to see this movie. It’s another one of my favorite Jim Carrey comedies and I just had a fun time laughing at this in the theater. If you are a fan of Jim Carrey and his comedies, you will love this movie as well.

Sadly, much like the rest of the great Jim Carrey movies, it was the victim of a sequel that Jim Carrey did not even star in, “Evan Almighty,” released in 2007.

Richard Roeper started his review by saying, “Oh, my God, this movie sucks. I'll say this much: Kudos to Jim Carrey for pulling off perhaps the most amazing disappearing-act hat trick in motion-picture history.” With Jim Carrey not appearing in “Evan Almighty” the sequel to the great “Bruce Almighty,” Carrey has now NOT reprised his role in three of the worst sequels of all time:

·         Dumb and Dumberer

·         Son of the Mask

·         Evan Almighty

Talk about avoiding monstrosity.

Roeper said, “To be fair, this is the least awful of that horrific trio -- but that's kind of like surviving a car wreck and saying your fractured toe isn't as painful as your shattered spine or your missing nose. "Evan Almighty" is a paper-thin alleged comedy with a laugh drought of biblical proportions, and a condescendingly simplistic spiritual message. It is so bad, I came close to throwing my caffeinated beverage at the screen.”

Before breaking this movie down, let’s take a look at one small visual joke.

As you probably know, Steve Carrell from “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” who has a small but hilarious supporting role as insincere anchorman Evan Baxter in “Bruce Almighty,” is the main focus here. After Evan has his first meeting with God, reprised by Morgan Freeman in milking this role for money, he passes a movie tent.

Roeper said, “Now, it's a time-honored tradition for directors to have a little in-joke fun with film buffs via movie marquees. It's a sly way of winking at the audience.”

In “Evan Almighty,” the tent advertises a movie called “The 40-Year-Old Virgin Mary.” We don’t just go on past that tent. We zoom in and drag it on. There might as well be the tagline, “Get it? We’re referencing Steve Carrell’s hit movie and we’re making a biblical pun!”

That irritation is revealing of a larger problem, like there’s no movie here – just a thought that doesn’t have much potential and can’t promise those low expectations.

Roeper noted, “In "Bruce Almighty," Evan seemed like the kind of jerk who would have been played by Chevy Chase 20 years ago. The opening sequence of "Evan Almighty" holds true to that characterization.” Somehow surviving what Bruce did to him, Evan is still the anchor over in Buffalo. After his co-anchor, played by the beautiful Catherine Bell, gives a montage of scenes that are there to tell us Evan has won the election to Congress, Evan then turns to the camera, looking like a tear is on his face, and says, “I feel just like that old Indian standing in front of all that garbage.”

Roeper said, “It's a dated but admittedly funny line, referencing the famous anti-littering commercial from our childhood.” You might think: OK, Evan’s a pompous, cynical jerk, and now he’s a congressman. Wait until he meets God!

However, now that Evan Baxter is gone, and is replaced by a seemingly decent and committed family man with a loving wife (the beautiful Lauren Graham from “Gilmore Girls”) and three sons (Jimmy Bennett, Graham Phillips, and Johnny Simmons) who love him. Granted, Evan is completely obedient in co-sponsoring an environmentally unfriendly bill created by a congressman, played by John Goodman – but he’s not a villain, nor does he look like he’s in any serious danger. Roeper said, “He's just the 1,234th variation on the ambitious husband/father who disappoints his wife and children because he has to work late so they'll have to cancel that much-anticipated hiking trip. (Memo to Hollywood executives: when a kid is about 14, he's not all that keen to spend every waking moment with his dad, anyway.)”

All of a sudden, God appears and tells Evan to build an ark. He gives Evan the materials, the tools, and even the land where he needs to build the ark. Roeper said, “The movie could have been called "God Is My Co-Signer."”

At first, Evan doesn’t think he’s talking to God, nor does he want to build the ark. That unwillingness is gone after a few days when Evan is growing a long beard he cannot shave, also the robes he can’t get rid of, and every kind of animal that keeps showing up in pairs and follows him around.

This part creates a serious problem for the movie. Evan’s wife thinks he’s crazy – so why doesn’t he just take her into the bathroom and show her that every time he shaves his beard, it shows up again? His co-workers think he’s losing his mind – so why doesn’t he just inform them that a man does not grow all that hair in a week, and all those animals are not native to the Washington, D.C. area?

The media and the neighbors laugh at Evan – even though he’s building an ark the size of a football stadium with only the help of his three sons and exotic animals who are capable of carrying supplies and doing other construction work. Roeper noted, “You can't have everyone thinking your main character is crazy if everyone sees that he is experiencing a series of miracles!! It kinda kills the comedy.”

Roeper goes on to say, “When an image of the Virgin Mary appears on tree bark, people weep and pray and burn candles. You get a Noah look-alike building a working ark while animals pair up all around him -- he won't get mocked, he'll be nominated for instant sainthood. It makes no sense that virtually everyone in the movie is laughing at Evan.”

Roeper continued, “Nearly every time "Evan Almighty" paints itself into a corner, the solution is to have a dog chomp Evan's crotch, or a bird drop doo-doo on a bad guy. (There are a LOT of scenes of animals crapping or spitting in this film.) Or they go extra cutesy with animal-reaction shots or fortune-cookie wisdom.”

Eventually, we find out why God commanded Evan to build the ark. It’s a completely ridiculous explanation. We also get an extended special-effects part, with the ark speeding through Washington. It’s a completely senseless, although expensive-looking, combination of stuntwork and CGI. Roeper said, “There's also an ongoing bit about Evan doing "the dance," an unfunny little move that would be hokey in a subpar sitcom.”

Finally, thankfully, the end credits start, with behind-the-scenes shots of the cast and crew dancing to C+C Music Factory’s classic song Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now). They all look like they’re enjoying themselves.

That’s because they haven’t seen the finished product yet.

Overall, like the rest of the sequels Jim Carrey didn’t star in, this one is just a pain to sit through. It’s a horrible modern-day look at the Bible story of Noah, and there have been better versions of it. Just see those and don’t even bother with this shameless sequel.

Although, I am hearing of a possibility of making an actual “Bruce Almighty 2.” I hope that happens because we could wash “Evan Almighty” out of our mouths.

Well everyone that concludes “Jim Carrey not in Sequels Month.” I hope you enjoyed my reviews and I hope I made good recommendations for everyone. See you all next month for an exciting month of reviews to close out the year.

Home for the Holidays

I really want to apologize for posting this late for I had a really busy day, especially since I just came back from Thanksgiving dinner. For this year's Thanksgiving post, I will review the 1995 Jodie Foster movie, "Home for the Holidays."

There's a part in the movie when a brother and his brother-in-law are in a physical fight on the front lawn and the father breaks it up by spraying them with the hose. When he notices the neighbors are looking at them, he shouts, "Go back to your own holidays!"

The movie, which centers around a Thanksgiving family reunion going horribly wrong, is not a comedy or a drama. Like a handful of family reunions, it does not have a lot of those genres, and is high on the insanity level that is relatable. Roger Ebert asked, "Have we not all, on our ways to family gatherings, parked the car a block away, taken several deep breaths, rubbed our eyes and massaged our temples, and driven on, gritting our teeth? That is not because we do not love our families, but because we know them so very, very well."

We get that feeling at the beginning as Claudia Larson (Holly Hunter) finds out that she has been fired from her job at a Chicago art museum, and responds by kissing her boss (Austin Pendleton). She's already preparing for the disaster ahead. Claudia is taken to the airport by her daughter Kitt (Claire Danes), who tells her that she "might" be sleeping with her boyfriend for the first time ever on the weekend. On Claudia's end, she's met by her parents, Adele and Henry, played by Anne Bancroft and Charles Durning. Henry's recording a video, Adele has brought an extra winter coat in case Claudia misplaced hers (she has).

The Larson family home is like a historic home. Ebert noted, "It has been furnished with dozens if not thousands of the sorts of objects found in mail-order gift catalogs. Not expensive catalogs, but the kinds of catalogs with 16 gifts on each page, each one a "miniature" of something you would not possibly want the full-size version of, such as a reindeer or a barbershop quartet."

Henry is a retired airport maintenance man. Adele chain-smokes all the time and is able to tell what is going on in Claudia's life. ("Mom, I'm thinking of a change...I may not be at the museum all that much longer." "They fired you!") Along comes Claudia's gay brother Tommy (Robert Downey Jr) who has brought a new friend named Leo Fish (Dylan McDermott). The parents appear to accept the fact that their son is gay without acknowledging it, which appears to be right in many households. Claudia is wondering what has happened to Tommy's former boyfriend, played by Sam Slovick, who has popular with the entire family.

Next arrives Claudia's sister Joanne (Cynthia Stevenson) and brother-in-law Walter (Steve Guttenberg). Walter hates Tommy, Tommy hates Walter or Joanne, and shows this by throwing a turkey on her lap without looking like he meant to.

Everything is usual family issues compared with the arrival of Aunt Glady, played by Geraldine Chaplin, who is really insane in her own way of passionate eccentriciy, and has had a crush on Henry ever since she first saw him (he appeared, as she remembers, like a horse in a uniform).

What is accurate about "Home for the Holidays" is that every character does not act like they are going through any of this for the first time. Even when Aunt Glady drinks heavily  and admits that Henry kissed her the first time they met, the response is just dead silence. We get the feeling she admits this so many times over the course of the year.

Foster directs the film with the accuracy of revealing every single moments. She knows that even though Holly Hunter's character gives the movie's central view, it is up to Durning and Bancroft to give the center - just as parends to at real family gatherings. Ebert noted, "Bancroft and Durning have each been guilty, from time to time, of overacting, but here they both beautifully find just the right notes of acceptance, resignation, wounded but stubborn pride - and romance. There are moments when they dance together that help to explain why families do get together for the holidays, and Durning describes a memory of one perfect moment in the family's history, and we understand that although life may not give us too much, it often gives enough."

With Tommy, the gay brother, he gives a counterpart to the shear insanity. Foster and her writer, W.D. Richter, do not make a single mishap of making his character be about homosexuality. Ebert mentioned, "He is gay, but what defines him for the family is more his quasi-obnoxious personality, his way of picking on his boring brother-in-law, his practical jokes, his wounding insights, and finally his own concealed romanticism. Downey brings out all the complexities of a character who has used a quick wit to keep the world's hurts at arm's length." When he brings his friend, the mysterious Leo Fish, he has made a surprise that no one, even Claudia, was expecting.

Ebert credited, "Holly Hunter is a wonderful actress. Here she has a more human and three-dimensional role than in her other current movie, "Copycat," but her performance in "Copycat" is even better, maybe because it stands alone, and in "Home for the Holidays," she reacts and witnesses as much as she initiates. It's not hard to guess that with her stature and presence she represents, to some degree, Jodie Foster." It appears as if there is some real-life stories spread out in the film throughout the cast, but that's not the point: What Foster and Ricter have made here is a film that understands the reality told by Robert Frost when he wrote, "Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in."

If you haven't seen this film, make it a tradition to see this every year. This movie will bring about the realism for those who have gone through family reunions. I still live at home, so I don't go through this at all, but when that time comes, I will be able to relate to this movie.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Look out tomorrow for the finale of "Jim Carrey not in Sequels" month.

Dumb and Dumber

Next up in the series of films that Jim Carrey starred in and wasn’t in the sequels is “Dumb and Dumber,” released in 1994.

Felix Vasquez started his review out by saying, “I wonder if the Farrelly Brothers knew they were creating a potentially epic storyline when they invented Harry and Lloyd.” There are comedy characters that work great for one movie, but then comes along duos like Harry and Lloyd, both who will have sequels until they are in nursing homes. Harry and Lloyd are basically vacuous best friends who don’t realize just how low their IQs are.

Even though the title “Dumb and Dumber” could look like a forced claim on comedy, the Farrelly Brothers comedy ends up being one of the funniest films ever made. Jim Carrey at his best plays Lloyd while Jeff Daniels is Harry, two vacuous best friends that try to make a living every day, not know of the damage they make. Harry is a dog groomer who spends his time in a truck with his savings to make it look like a dog’s head, while Harry is a limousine driver. One day Lloyd is driving Mary, played by the hot Lauren Holly, to the airport and she leaves her briefcase behind, so he wants to return it to her. He says that he is tired with what he is doing and drives to Aspen to return the briefcase with Harry in their dog truck. What they don’t know is that they’ve trapped themselves in a kidnapping plan involving Mary, her husband (Brad Lockerman), and rich criminals (Mike Starr and Charles Rocket).

The group of criminals try to get rid of Harry and Lloyd, but strangely enough their idiocy keeps getting them out of trouble. “Dumb and Dumber” depends more on sensitivity to get its gut-hurting comedy going. Vasquez admitted, “And while it does hit the humor on the nose on occasion, even then it manages to be absolutely hysterical.” Lloyd’s shock at a thirty year old newspaper article about the landing on the moon is just downright hilarious, along with the playful date between Harry and Mary that ends with a fistfight. Vasquez admitted, “While Daniels and Carrey are prone to physical comedy and gross out gags for most of the film, they’re also given some hysterical one-liners and word play that they deliver with ace timing.”

Vasquez went on to say, “Carrey is at his best here as Lloyd, a man prone to bouts of outrageous physical feats and delusions of grandeur, as Daniels offsets Carrey’s comedy with a more downplayed idiocy. The two characters are so entrenched in their own world and faculties they’re always unaware that they’re driving the people around them nuts.” You have to laugh at the grooming montage when Lloyd pretends the barber cut his throat when shaving which causes the barber to passed out. Also when they actually make themselves to aggravating they make a skilled criminal crazy is just completely intelligent. You would never think Jeff Daniels and Jim Carrey would make a great comedy duo and “Dumb and Dumber” is easily one of the funniest (and most quotable) movies ever made you can watch it more than once. It’s another one of my favorite Jim Carrey comedies.

About a month and a half beforehand, Jim sat down with the Farrelly Brothers, went through the entire script, played around with it, and rewrote lines, which Jim said he usually does in comedies. He said that comedies are a working progress, up to the last minute. Jim credited Jeff as being an essential part of the movie and made it work because he gave it credibility. Jim said that working with the comedians, he noticed that they were trying to score rather than connect or try and listen and see to the other person. Jim said that when Jeff came in, he was amazing, alive and a real person. Dustin Hoffman called Jim Carrey after the film was released and told Jim that it was one of the most realistic friendships he had ever seen in a movie.

Jeff Daniels auditioned, then he got called back and auditioned with Jim Carrey. They did the hot tub scene, which he had, and in the first week they shot the tongue in the pole scene, the snowball in the head scene and bunch of other scenes with Jeff. By a Thursday, Jeff was caught up and was still auditioning. Later, Jeff found out that the studio already had one actor on hold, ready to come in. When he got to Friday, they told Jeff to go back to his hotel room and call time would be Sunday night. An A.D. called and said to Jeff to come in 8AM on Monday. They had looked at the “Daily’s” from the first week. Now Jeff is on set 6AM on a Monday morning. Jim walked in, first time anyone acknowledged this was going on, patted Jeff on the shoulder, and said, “They love what you’re doing, keep it going,” and kept going. Jim fought for Jeff because they wanted a comedian. Jim said he didn’t want a comedian, he wanted an actor who would make him think and react.

In 2003, an atrocious prequel called “Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry met Lloyd,” came out (the title is obviously parodying the movie title, "When Harry Met Sally"). If you think you should pop this movie in with high expectations, seeing how the original has already become a comedy classic, it’s also hard not to. “Dumb and Dumber” was Jim Carrey’s third comedy (after “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” and “The Mask”), and despite that it wasn’t as funny as those two, his charming work with Jeff Daniels definitely made it worth watching. David Nusair is right when he said, “But with Dumb and Dumberer, a prequel set during Harry and Lloyd's high school years, the filmmakers have eschewed the goofy innocence of the first film in favor of a more raunchy (and contemporary) gross-out comedy.”

Taking place in 1986, the movie is fast at introducing Lloyd (Eric Christain Olsen) – a ridiculous kid who lives in the high school with his father, a janitor named Ray (Luis Guzman). On the first day of school, Lloyd literally bumps into Harry, played by Derek Richardson, a home-schooled moron who’s happy to finally be enrolled in a public school. The two are quickly placed in a Special Education class, where they’re told to get more handicapped students. What happened is that the only reason the class has been made is so Principal Collings, played by Eugene Levy, can misuse the $100,000 grand money. With the help of a fearless school paper reporter, played by Rachel Nichols, Harry and Lloyd go to ruin Collins’ plans.

It’s completely obvious from the start that “Dumb and Dumberer” was made fast and on a low budget, as one of the first things we see is Lloyd dancing to Vanilla Ice’s Ice Ice Baby – a song that wasn’t made in 1986. However, all little nitpicks aside, the main problem in the movie is that it doesn’t have the good-natured humor. Nusair was right when he said, “The original, being a Farrelly brothers production, was rife with infantile jokes and stock stereotypes - but there was also a certain amount of sweetness mixed in with everything else.” In the end, it was the friendship between Harry and Lloyd, which was closer than any other friendship. It was always obvious that these guys really cared for one another.

We do not see that here. The two actors playing Harry and Lloyd do not have any chemistry at all, which (to be fair) probably would have been noticeable regardless who they casted. Nusair credited, “Following in the footsteps of Carrey and Daniels is no easy task, but Olsen and Richardson never take their performances beyond the level of mimicry. Olsen does a decent job at imitating Carrey's mannerisms, and though Richardson barely looks or acts like Daniels, he makes for an acceptable idiot.” The supporting cast, which even includes raunchy comedian Bog Saget (who you might remember as the father from “Full House” and in the Netflix sequel “Fuller House”) in a cameo role, doesn’t make that big of a deal – but Levy does succeed in his regular scene-stealing.

Nusair is right when he said, “The silly plot involving Levy's evil principal and lack of funny jokes turns Dumb and Dumberer into an ordeal along the lines of other lame comedies like Boat Trip and Tomcats.” Just avoid this movie and re-watch the original.

However, we did manage to get a pretty funny sequel in 2014 called, “Dumb and Dumber To.” Twenty years had passed since “Dumb and Dumber” gave Bobby and Peter Farrelly with a box-office hit. Eddie Harrison stated in his review, Since then, their brand of comedy has become something of an endangered species, with both the writer-directors and star Jim Carrey no longer guaranteed hits. This reteaming only recaptures the magic intermittently.”

Harry has spent 20 years taking care of Lloyd, who has been in a shock coma since he didn’t succeed in getting a girlfriend. When Lloyd wakes up and says that he was faking it the entire time, and two morons go on another road trip to find Harry’s daughter Penny, played by the hot Rachel Melvin, hoping to give Harry a kidney transplant. This mission takes them to a KEN conference (a spoof on TED talks), where they are mistaken for intelligent scientists and Harry is allowed to judge an invention contest.

Harrison credited, “The Farrellys' best work marries their sight-gag inventiveness with genuine humanity. Dumb and Dumber To feels like a backwards step, retaining the signature bad taste but losing the heart. There are, however, plenty of simple, effective gags – including a meth-addicted cat, a hit-man with an improbable ability to disguise himself, played by Rob Riggle, and a neat bit of business where temporary deafness leaves Harry and Lloyd oblivious to an oncoming freight-train.”

Even though “Dumb and Dumber To” has as much of hilarity as the original, the plot about the confusing daughter and difficult plots of Penny’s adoptive family, played by Steve Tom and Laurie Holden, give too much setup for not enough punch-lines. Early on, Lloyd says that “comedy is all about timing,” but we cannot ignore that this sequel was released way too late.

Like I mentioned, you should see the original and the sequel, but avoid the prequel. That will make you cringe and regret ever seeing it. The original and the sequel have plenty of laughs in them for you and you will love them. I know I laughed a lot at the sequel when I saw it in the theater. Just like with “The Expendables 3,” there was one other person in the theater watching this, and he was sitting in the front while I was in the back.

Well, stay tuned next week for not only the finale of “Jim Carrey not in Sequels Month,” but for the yearly “Thanksgiving Day Movie” review.

The Mask

The next entry in this month is the 1994 classic comedy, “The Mask.” Roger Ebert started his review out by saying, “The opening shots of "The Mask" look like they were salvaged from a desperately low-budget 1950s science fiction movie. Marine salvage operations lead to the rupture of ancient chest that has rested for ages on the bottom of the bay, and a curious wooden mask floats to the surface.”

Cut to sometime later where gloomy bank teller Stanley Ipkiss, a friendly nerd played by Jim Carrey, is staring into the sea and thinking of jumping off the bridge. He has just been kicked out from a nightclub – the latest in a string of humiliations. However, he has a nice demeanor, and when he eyes the mask floating with some liter, he thinks someone is floating ashore and dives in to save it.

The only thing he brings to land is the mask. However, later that night…

Transformation scenes are of course the basis of comic book fictions. Billy Batson shouts “Shazam!”, Clark Kent runs into a phone booth, Bruce Wayne becomes Batman, and in every case an unimportant weakling becomes a superhero. Ebert said, “No wonder adolescent boys respond to these stories so powerfully.”

Look at what happens to Stanley when he puts on the mask. Ebert described, “He is instantly transformed into a maniacal whirlwind of energy, dressed in a 1940s-style zoot suit - a cross between the Joker and Aladdin's genie, with elements of the Shadow.”

Ebert admitted, “"The Mask" is a perfect vehicle for the talents of Jim Carrey, who underwhelmed me with "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" but here seems to have found a story and character that work together with manic energy.” One of the main driving points on the movie had to have been the Mask character’s makeup (which Carrey described as being horrendous). It turns Carrey’s face into a much larger, comic-book spoof, but at the same time the looks are still able to move in a lifelike manner. Ebert noted, “The notes with the film explain that makeup expert Greg Cannom realized Carrey's exaggerated facial expressions are part of his essence, and didn't want them lost behind makeup.”

The end factor is a movie character who looks half real, half animated.

Ebert said, “And the director, Charles Russell, is able to use special effects to move effortlessly between what might be possible and what is certainly not, as the Mask whirls like a beebop dervish and triumphantly prevails in situations that would have baffled poor Stanley Ipkiss.”

The movie starts with Stanley as a miserable bank clerk, who is hopelessly love-struck by a beautiful customer, Tina Carlyle, played by Cameron Diaz. She flirts with him at his desk while recording a videotape of the vault of her boss, the evil Dorian Tyrel, played by Peter Greene, who runs the Coco Bongo Club, where, you guessed it, Tina is the elegant singer/dancer.

Cameron Diaz is a sight for sore eyes in the film, a true beauty with a gorgeous face, a beautiful smile, and a talent for comedic timing. This is her feature film debut, after a brief modeling career.

This was definitely not her last. Her chemistry with Stanley Ipkiss makes up a story that is in every way as unoriginal as it can be, and when she dances with the Mask, what happens is one of those parts when movie magic actually works.

The story also includes Richard Jeni as Charlie, Stanley’s best friend at the bank, who introduces him to the cryptic of the Coco Bongo Club, Peter Riegert as a cop who discovers the Mask’s tie appears to be made of the same fabric as Stanley’s appalling pajamas (Jim Doughan plays his partner), and Milo, Stanley’s dog, who is thankfully as smart as his owner.

Ebert said, “The art design on the movie goes for the lurid 1940s film noir look of a lot of superhero comic books, and the Coco Bongo Club looks recycled out of "Gilda" and a dozen other movies with elegant nightclubs.” Stanley’s apartment looks like a teenager’s room. The only thing that is missing is the door sign, “Keep Out!” The way the film looks is as fun as everything in here.

Ebert admitted, “I was not one of the admirers of "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective." Millions were, however. I thought the story surpassed stupidity, and not in interesting ways. But I could sense some of Carrey's unrestrained energy and gift for comic invention, and here - where the story and the decor and the idea of the mask provide an anchor for his energy - Carrey demonstrates that he does have a genuine gift.” They say that one of the crucial parts of an actor is being able to communicate the happiness he takes in his performance. You could say “The Mask” found that for Carrey.

Carrey said on “Inside the Actors Studio” that he spent a good part of his childhood in front of the mirror. When he was grounded and was told to go to his room, he would start having a field day with the mirror. Carrey’s mother tried to discourage him by saying that he would see Satan, which Carrey found awesome. Carrey thought that he would be known as "The Man of 1000 faces." Here's an interesting tidbit: Carrey actually said he went up to about 150. How shocking is that? He actually kept track of how many faces he can make.

See the film if you haven’t, it’s a classic. I would probably say it’s another favorite Jim Carrey movie of mine. After watching it, you will be saying, “Somebody stop me!!” and “Smoking!”

When I was watching Angry Video Game Nerd’s look back on the Nintendo Power magazines, he showed an ad in it where people could win a cameo appearance and free tickets to see “The Mask 2.” However, it looks like that was scrapped because it was never made. That is until 2005, where the painfully bad “Son of the Mask” was made.

One of the essentials of comedy is a character who must do what he doesn’t want to do, because of the reasoning behind the condition. Ebert said, “As Auden pointed out about limericks, they're funny not because they end with a dirty word, but because they have no choice but to end with the dirty word -- by that point, it's the only word that rhymes and makes sense.” Lucille Ball’s entire career was finding herself in embarrassing ordeals and doing the next reasonable choice, however silly.

That’s why we have arrived at “Son of the Mask,” and its breaking of this rule. The movie’s story is if you wear a whimsical mask, you will become someone who behaves in anarchical ways. This sort of rule worked in the first movie. Carrey’s ability to contort his face made him into a caricature, he was gifted incredible abilities, he gave himself such insane energy. However, there were rules. There was a line between sanity where the craziness proceeded. “Son of the Mask” doesn’t have that line. It is completely insane, every time. The behavior in the movie is not inappropriate, outrageous, out of character, rude, or anything else except behavior.

Both “Mask” movies are inspired by the array of classic cartoons.  The protagonist of “Son of the Mask,” Tim Avery, played by Jamie Kennedy, is said by Ebert, “no doubt named after Tex Avery, the legendary Warner Bros. animator, although it is "One Froggy Evening" (1955), by the equally legendary Chuck Jones, that plays a role in the film. Their films all obeyed the Laws of Cartoon Thermodynamics, as established by the distinguished theoreticians Trevor Paquette and Lt. Justin D. Baldwin. (Examples: Law III, "Any body passing through solid matter will leave a perforation conforming to its perimeter"; Law IX, "Everything falls faster than an anvil.")”

These laws, though apparently random, are constant in every cartoon. We know that Yosemite Sam can run off a cliff and keep going until he looks down, when he falls. Also, the Road Runner can run through a tunnel entrance in rock wall, but Wile E. Coyote will crash into the rock. Ebert noted, “We instinctively understand Law VIII ("Any violent rearrangement of feline matter is impermanent"). Even cartoons know that if you don't have rules, you're playing tennis without a net.”

The story of “Son of the Mask” is that the same mask from the first movie, is missing again. It shows up on the shores of a small river, and is found by Otis the Dog, who brings it home to the Averys, where we see Tim and his wife Tonya, played by Traylor Howard. Otis smells all over the Mask until it sticks to his face, and he is turned into a cartoon dog and travels insanely around the yard and the sky, to his shock. Eventually Tim puts on the Mask, and he is turned into a sensation at his advertising agency, with the ability to make amazing campaigns in one go.

Tim gets a quick promotion to the higher office, but without the Mask he is a failure. Also, the Mask cannot be found, because Otis has captured it and hidden it somewhere – although not before Tim puts it on before going to bed, and conceives his son Alvey, who is born with cartoonish abilities and finds them when he watches Michigan J. Frog.

Ebert admitted, “A word about Baby Alvey (played by the twins Liam and Ryan Falconer). I have never much liked movie babies who do not act like babies. I think they're scary. The first "Look Who's Talking" movie was cute, but the sequels were nasty, especially when the dog started talking. About "Baby's Day Out" (1994), in which Baby Bink set Joe Mantegna's crotch on fire, the less said the better.”

Ebert goes on to say, “I especially do not like Baby Alvey, who behaves not according to the rules for babies, but more like a shape-shifting creature in a Japanese anime. There may be a way this could be made funny, but "Son of the Mask" doesn't find it.”

Meanwhile, the Norse gods try to find the Mask. The ruler god Odin (the late British actor, Bob Hoskins) is livid at his son Loki (Alan Cumming) for losing the Mask, and sends him down to Earth to find it. Ebert describes, “Loki, who is the God of Mischief, has a spiky punk hairstyle that seems inspired by the jester's cap and bells, without the bells.” He finds out the location and makes so much trouble for the Averys, although obviously the dog cannot speak.

Ebert said, “But my description makes the movie sound more sensible than it is.” What we have here is the filmmakers doing whatever they want with their special effects, while the story, like Wile E. Coyote, keeps running into the wall.

Do not make the same mistake I did and watch this movie. You will feel the pain every single minute it is on. Just watch Nostalgia Critic’s review of it and you will know what I am talking about.

Oh boy what a relief. Now with that horrible sequel out of the way (which is also one of the worst sequels), check in next week for another classic Jim Carrey film in “Jim Carrey not in Sequels Month.”

Ace Ventura

I’m really excited for this month because I will be looking at some classic Jim Carrey comedies. However, I would just like to point out that it won’t be just any of his comedies, I will be looking at the comedies that has sequels where Carrey didn’t even star in. So let’s get started with Jim Carrey’s feature-length debut, “Ace Venture: Pet Detective,” released in 1994, which happens to be one of my favorite Jim Carrey movies.

When Jim was on "Inside the Actors Studio," he told James Lipton that he went to dinner with Anthony Hopkins and found out that their approaches to Ace Ventura and Hannibal Lecter were the same. Jim based Ace off of a smart bird, like a parakeet or a cocktail. The walk, head movement, clothing and hair were all based on a colorful bird. Hopkins told Carrey that was his exact approach for Hannibal Lecter, where he based it off of a reptile, which were a tarantula and crocodile.

Jim Carrey goes to great lengths in this comedy. Actually, he bends over and lets his rear end do that talking in this debut. An improvisation phenomenon from beginning to end, Carrey’s first comedy is as joyfully vulgar as it is absurdly creative.

Carrey’s physical comedy and insane kind of humor will be a treat to fans of “In Living Color,” where he made such hilariously crazy characters as Fire Marshall Bill and bodybuilder Vera de Milo. Rita Kempley stated in her review, “While Ace Ventura has some attributes in common with Bill and Vera, he is much more endearing than either of those two pucksters.” To start off, he really loves animals.

Ace’s apartment looks like he has a zoo in it, with a skunk in the basket, an otter in the toilet and two penguins in the refrigerator along with squirrels, lizards, raccoons and a variety of more everyday local animals. “I don’t do people,” says Ace, who is put on a case of the kidnapping of the Miami Dolphins’ mascot, Snowflake, along with the strange disappearance of quarterback Dan Marino (looking embarrassed and uncomfortable). Ace says that he will find Snowflake, but he lets another agent find Marino, who happens to be his enemy, the cruel and mysterious officer Lt. Einhorn, played by the hot Sean Young (the same actress who originally supposed to be Vicki Vale in “Batman,” but broke her arm after falling off a horse and dressed up as Catwoman in order to get casted in “Batman Returns” during production, and that’s no joke).

During his unusual investigations, he falls in love with Dolphins’ modest marketing director, played by Courtney Cox, who sees inside of Ace’s polychromatic clothing, his peacock style hair, jaw-nibbling bite and bird style walk and head movement. Watching him communicate with her dog, she falls for his compassion. “You really love animals, don’t you?” she asks. “If it gets cold enough,” he replies.

Kempley said, “The ripostes and concept originated with writer Jack Bernstein, then were honed and supplemented by first-time director Tom Shadyac and kooked up by Carrey -- all three of whom are credited for the skeletal screenplay.” A parody of cop movies, the story gets every usual trait. Ace has a good friend – the one who talks to his rear, played by Tone Loc. He is the district officer who hesitantly gives him information. Also is the already mentioned female cop, Einhorn, who has a secret prize on where to find Snowflake.

Kempley noted, “They act as foils for Carrey, who probably could have worked solo and still made the movie work, considering he's got more energy to expend than the Tennessee Valley Authority. As with the most memorable clowns, he's got enormous athleticism and flexibility.” At one part he puts himself into a cardboard box to escape the doctors of a mental asylum. For this part he is in a pink tutu and boxers. You actually see at one part that Jim is in his birthday suit.

Carrey will do anything to get laughs, to an extent and including putting a bathroom plunger in his mouth. You just have to see the movie to believe it. Kempley said, “And if you love bawdy, gut-busting hilarity and stupid pet tricks then this is your "Ace”.”

I saw this movie at my second cousin’s house and we were laughing so much watching this. It wasn’t until I was talking to some friends when I was in Middle School that they said that there was a sequel to this movie, which I didn’t know and I was surprised at. To my surprise, my second cousin owned it as well and I saw it at his house. That one made us laugh so much as well. If you want to know what I mean, let’s take a look. This is the 1995 sequel, “Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls.”

Entertainment Weekly stated their review out by saying, “From Jerry Lewis to Eddie Murphy, the bottom-line rule of thumb in contemporary American film comedy has been that the more control a performer has over his movies, the less funny — less daring, more self-indulgent — they become.” That’s not really with Jim Carrey, this being his fourth starring role that was his best at the time. EW mentioned, “Unlike so many superstar comics before him, Carrey has retained a raw hunger for The Joke — the killer punchline, the ultimate sight gag — that seems insatiable, and this gives his work a furious, omnivorous energy.” Even when the jokes look unoriginal as the movie’s subtitle, Carrey regularly makes you fall out of your seat through the usual free will.

This sequel takes Ace to Africa, where he is put on a case to find the rare white bat. EW noted, “Unlike his character in Dumb and Dumber, Carrey’s Ace is all coolness and confidence — he swaggers around the jungle with that hip-swiveling, John Wayne-on-joy juice walk, sassing everybody in sight. (Trust me: Kids all over America will be hitting you with Ace’s new wise-guy catchphrase “Spank you — spank you very much.”)” As always, the verbal comedy is silly and vulgar, and the physical humor is carefully considered and really vulgar.

Ian McNeice plays the British ambassador who joins Ace on his bat mission, and Carrey’s “In Living Color” friend Tommy Davidson is terrific (and unrecognizable) as a warrior of the Wachootoo tribe. EW said, “But mucus might just as well receive costar billing too, for all the gleefully gross screen time Carrey gives it. There’s also a scene in which a mechanical rhinoceros “gives birth” to a naked Ace (sorry, the context is impossible to explain here) that would do Laurel and Hardy — and Luis Buñuel — proud.”

Carrey and the writer Steve Oedekerk, debuting as the director, are not afraid to parody African-jungle-movie stereotypes. They get away with possibly unpleasant material: None of the African characters are stupid, or simple figures of enjoyment. (Carrey inserts a kindly funny romantic scene with the film’s only noticeable woman, a tribal princess played by Sophie Okonedo.)

Just to clarify, “Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls” is very irregular and basically fails in the last half hour, but it’s so much fun at first. EW ended their review by saying, “Plus, Carrey is one of the few comedians I know of who, at the end of the 20th century, are resourceful enough to coin a fresh slang term for doing a nasty act (for the record, it’s ”practicing my mantra”). No, spank you, Ace.”

Another surprise of mine is that there is a direct-to-video sequel to this movie that Jim Carrey didn’t even star in. I’m of course referring to the 2009 garbage, “Ace Ventura Jr.: Pet Detective,” which I think I found out about online.

It has been great to watch “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” change from a critical thrash when it opened to something looking like a slapstick classic. Along with its wildly crazy sequel, “When Nature Calls,” this series has become a beloved comedic enjoyment, a lot of it because of Jim Carrey’s effortless, crazy work as the protagonist animal detective. Imagine the excitement of a third “Ace Ventura” movie, with the promise of Carrey returning to his first character after a 14-year absence spent trying to convince everyone that he can be a serious actor, ready to put on the teased and raging mannerisms to make his fans laugh hard again. I like the sound of that.

Would you be surprised that Josh Flitter is taking over instead?

Trying to understand his passion with animal life, Ace Ventura Jr. (Josh Flitter) is constantly being a pain to his mother Melissa (Ann Cusack, might be playing the same role Courtney Cox played) at a local zoo. When a series of animal kidnappings are going all over the Orlando, Florida area, Ace tries to investigate, going into crime scenes and his school witnesses to catch the thief. With the help of his grandfather (Ralph Waite), smart friend (Austin Rogers), and crush Laura (Emma Lockhart), Ace starts his success as a pet detective, using his brains and caustic improvisation skills to look for clues and save his mother, who is going through a long prison sentence after being blamed for the kidnappings.

Brian Orndorf stated in his review, “An “Ace Ventura” sequel without Jim Carrey is peanut butter without the jelly. It doesn’t take a pipe-and-sportcoated film historian to recognize the quality of such a needless endeavor is going to remain frighteningly low, yet “Ace 3” manages to trump even those horrid expectations with its determined lack of ingenuity or even elementary comedic competence. This is a terrible motion picture, scraping the bottom of the barrel out of sheer laziness while the previous two pictures challenged the audience with a broad parade of farcical eccentricity and brazen displays of comic mischief. The earlier installments were certainly obnoxious, but they swung for the fences; the movies pushed the boundaries of inspired wackiness, led by Carrey’s insatiable appetite for elastic PG-13 madness. Handing the role over to a pudgy, thick-tongued 14-year-old kid doesn’t make any sense.”

Even though Flitter has so much New Jersey energy, his Carrey impersonation leaves a lot to be worked on. Orndorf said, “Ace 3” is far too dependent on Flitter’s fixation with his punchlines, as director David Mickey Evans rests a majority of the humor on the youngster’s shoulders, assuming Carrey callbacks and flatulence jokes are enough to fill a 90 minute family film. With a raspy delivery and stubby physical appearance, Flitter is a total failure as the second coming of Ace, with every last one of his lines dropping out of his mouth with all the grace of an anvil. Granted, “Ace 3” is aimed toward the forgiving elementary school set, with the film showcasing lunchroom antics, state-of-the-art gummy worm tracking systems, a conceited teen villain (Reed Alexander, in a pleasing performance of effeminate terror), a Heelys-influenced action sequence, and advanced iPod technology to keep the target demo involved. But even that isn’t enough to suffer through this sorry excuse for low-budget, cash-in absurdity that trades agreeable clowning for lethargic anal-blast pandering.”

Orndorf admitted, “While I certainly enjoyed the film’s use of the Universal Orlando theme parks as a backdrop to much of the story (it lends the film a sliver of personality it doesn’t otherwise own), the rest of “Ace Ventura Jr.: Pet Detective” is a loathsome, exceedingly unfunny continuation of a once rewarding film series. Case in point: the movie trots out the moldy “don’t tase me, bro!” line twice for jesting punctuation. Twice.” I would just like to say that the film had four writers, and there’s a look at the torture this film has.

In the end, this movie is just a pain to sit through. As I already mentioned, I enjoyed the first two movies a lot and I still think they are funny to this day, as they are two of my favorite comedies and two of my favorite Jim Carrey movies. However, to make a third movie, which is direct-to-video and doesn’t have Jim Carrey in it, you know that is going to spell disaster. Just watch the first two movies and never bother with the direct-to-video movie. You will regret it as I did.

Check in next week to see the next classic Jim Carrey movie that had a sequel he didn’t star in, in “Jim Carrey not in Sequels Month.”