Avengers: Infinity War

Alright everyone, I got to see “Avengers: Infinity War,” which came out three days ago, at work last night, so now I will let everyone know what I thought about it. My goodness, has it been a decade already? Time does pass by quickly. Christopher Orr said in his review, “It seems like only a couple of Marvel movies ago that the original Avengers—Cap, Iron Man, Thor, Black Widow, Hulk, Hawkeye—were duking it out with Tony Stark’s high-end, ill-advised kitchenware Ultron and his shiny utensil-minions. But actually—trust me, and take a deep breath—that was eight Marvel movies ago. Feeling old yet?”

When Bruce Banner aka the Hulk, reprised by Mark Ruffalo, appears early in the movie, he has some catching up to do. (If you remember he spent many years as a gladiator fighter which he showed off in “Thor: Ragnarok.”) At one part, once he has been told of the events from “Captain America: Civil War,” Banner asks, “The Avengers broke up? Like a band? Like the Beatles?” Later, he’s still more doubtful at the recruitment of not one, but two new Marvel heroes: “There’s an Ant-Man and a Spider-Man?” You can’t blame the guy for not knowing all of this.

Never has the Marvel Cinematic Universe looked more like a universe, both good and bad. Orr said, “Infinity War—the title is almost too apt—is a narrative juggling act the likes of which I’m not sure I’ve ever seen before.” It is not really a perfect movie, but it might be close to the best movie it could have been. Orr mentioned, “There are a few unforced errors—a late defeat-snatched-from-the-jaws-of-victory moment, the ongoing Iron Man–ification of Spidey’s “suit”—but the film’s number of actual missteps is a tiny fraction of the potential missteps inherent in an undertaking this vast.”

Orr continues, “I could try to name all the MCU characters who make appearances in the film, but I’d just wind up leaving a few out, and then we’d all feel bad.” Let’s not start with that, but instead go for the easier one: Hawkeye, Ant-Man, Valkyrie, Nakia and Agent Everett Ross are not in the movie. Orr said, “My guess is that most of the random bystanders from the various Avengers dustups in New York, Sokovia, and Lagos don’t make appearances either. And … well, after that, I’m stumped. Now I’ll just feel doubly bad for leaving out someone whom the movie already left out.”

The story, which Marvel has been building up too for the past decade, is about six “infinity stones” created during the Big Bang and sent all around the universe. (This is told to us by Wong, reprised by Benedict Wong, the magical partner of Dr. Strange. Please try to comprehend everything.)

By far the reigning of the villains we have yet met, Thanos, played by Josh Brolin, believes that if he can get all six stones and put them in his “infinity gauntlet,” he will be able to destroy half of the human population with a snap of his fingers. Why does he want to do that? Orr said, “Well, consider Thanos the most enthusiastic—and unfortunately, also the most super-powered—disciple of Thomas Robert Malthus, who argued that appetites would always outstrip resources, leaving humankind perpetually poor and famished. Malthus, as a cleric, offered this thesis as an argument for less “vice,” later marriages, and greater celibacy.” Thanos, as an all-powerful giant purple extraterrestrial villain, arrives at an alternative argument for more intergalactic murder. (It is, in its way, a simple supply/demand negotiation.)

Orr said, “I should note here that if the central flaw of many Marvel movies to date has been the relative lameness of their villains—Ronan the Accuser? Malekith the Dark Elf?—Thanos is very much in the studio’s top tier. He’s no Erik “Killmonger” Stevens, with his problematic but hard-earned racial politics, or Loki, with his wicked yet adorable mischief, but he’s only a notch below them.”

Despite still being nascent, and often misused, motion-capture is coming to a point where it can be up to movie potential. Gollum from “Lord of the Rings,” Caesar of the “Planet of the Apes” reboot: For a time, it looked like Andy Serkis, the archetypal motion capture person, had any sense of how to bring that to the screen. However, Brolin as Thanos is a surprisingly significant villain, who has sadness and even a touch of honor. Orr said, “Deranged though it may be, his population-control rationale for mass murder is actually an upgrade from the comics, in which he mostly wanted to kill trillions in order to earn a date with the female embodiment of Death.”

I know I’m this far into the review and I have only mentioned Hulk of the Marvel heroes that are a part of the largest superhero movies. That is the trouble with Marvel now. Let’s try to separate it by groups: We first have Thor (Chris Hemsworth), God of Thunder, and the other Asgardians, including his adopted brother, Loki (Tom Hiddleston), and Heimdall (Idris Elba). Then are the Guardians of the Galaxy: Peter Quill aka Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista), Rocket (Bradley Cooper), Groot (Vin Diesel), Nebula (Karen Gillan) and Mantis (Pom Klementieff).

On Earth – don’t worry, the movie jumps around from the groups – the original Avengers: Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Banner, along with the more-recent members Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), Vision (Paul Bettany), War Machine (Don Cheadle) and Falcon (Anthony Mackie), and the new members Spider-Man (Tom Holland), Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and the recuperated Bucky Barns aka Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan). Let’s not forget Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) and most of his Wakandan tribe (Danai Gurira and Letitia Wright).

The new people are Thanos’s henchmen, the Black Order, whose names will want you to go see the movie: Ebony Maw (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor), Proxima Midnight (Carrie Coon), Corvus Glaive (Michael James Shaw) and Cull Obsidian (Terry Notary). Finally, for those who are still reading, Peter Dinklage as Eitri, the last of the race of “dwarves” who made Thor’s mighty hammer Mjolnir – the joke, obviously, being that Eitri is 20 feet tall. What's surprising is that Hugo Weaving has a short part in here as Red Skull.

Orr said, “The writers, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, and the co-directors, Anthony and Joe Russo (all four of whom also worked on the last two Captain America movies), take this gargantuan cast and bang them off one another like super-powered billiard balls, arranging and disassembling duos, trios, and quartets at will.” Is it a coincidence that they enjoy inserting them against each other to funny effect? Of course not! Quill is jealous of Thor, especially when he sees Drax having a man-crush on him. (“It’s like a pirate had a baby with an angel,” Drax says.) Then we have Stark who is obviously going to be aggravated by his almost-doppelganger in Dr. Strange, even if Strange says probably the best comic book insult of all time when he asks, of Stark’s protégé, Peter Parker: “What is he, your ward?”

Orr said, “Hemsworth gets to prove the comic chops he suggested in Thor: Ragnarok by teaming up largely with the space-raccoon Rocket (whom he consistently mistakes for a rabbit), though thank goodness the latter is prevented from finishing the Pulp Fiction–inflected story of how he smuggled out a new eye for Thor. There are jokes about Aliens and Footloose, and even an Easter egg from the great Arrested Development, of which the Russos directed many episodes.”

Orr continued, “But lest anyone get the impression that Infinity War is just another example of the increasingly comic tenor evident in comic-book fare, I should warn that it is also Marvel’s most somber movie.” There has been a lot of talk that major characters might die, and that talk is not unused.

If Marvel learned anything from Joss Whedon, who directed the first two Avengers films, it was that you kill off characters at the right moment of their most likable – and often, romantic – weakness. Again, no coincidence that the movie is at its peak to remind us in the beginning on its many couples: Tony Stark and Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), Natasha Romanoff and Bruce Banner, Star-Lord and Gamora, Scarlet Witch and Vision, and, let’s face it, though theirs is a sibling love rather than a couple one and definitely labels as “love-hate,” Thor and Loki. (Sorry, Jane Foster: You were always second place.) Orr said, “To be very, very, very clear: I am not saying that any of these characters die in the movie; rather that the brothers Russo are quite consciously setting things up such that, if any of them do, we will feel it.”

There’s also been a lot of talk about which actors might be ready to hang their Marvel hats up, largely on the franchise athletics Downey (in his eighth Marvel movie) and Evans (in his sixth). Orr said, “I suspect only their accountants know the precise contours of their contracts with the studio.” However, both actors have talked a lot about moving on that they make for the “lovable veteran cop who’s two days away from retirement” exception to the fact of killing major characters.

Orr said, “Again, without giving away details, I can say that Avengers: Infinity War ends on by far the bleakest note of any Marvel movie to date. Or perhaps I should put “ends” in quotation marks, because it is clear that—in notable contrast to Marvel’s previous offerings—this storyline is very much incomplete, in a way that will surely frustrate some viewers.” Many heroes may or may not be “dead,” because it doesn’t look like it will stay that way. Early in the film, Thanos said, “No resurrections this time.” Then again, Thanos is a lair, and infinity might be forever.

For a movie that was built up for in the past decade, this movie did deliver what it promised. I’m not going to say what happens, but this is a fun, enjoyable, great film. Obviously, this makes another one of my favorite comic book movies. However, I can’t say if this is the best Marvel or MCU movie. That is up for debate because I walked out of the theater in shock and awe about what’s going to happen next. I don't even know where to rank this film in the comic book movie list. All will be revealed in the second part next year. In the meantime, go to the theater and watch this because it will not be a disappointment.

Spoiler alert: There is a post-credit scene where Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) sends a distress signal, which has a star insignia on a red and blue background, which might be hinting at next year’s “Captain Marvel.” Well anyway, stay tuned next month to see what I have in store.

Shrek Forever After

Now we have come to the finale of “Shrek Month” with its latest installment, “Shrek Forever After,” released in 2010.

Most people wouldn’t see the same thing twice if the first time left them with a sour taste in their mouth. After the dull installment of “Shrek the Third,” it’s no surprise that many audiences didn’t go see “Shrek Forever After,” which is bad since it’s much better than the third movie.

Realizing that the life of an average dad is too ordinary for him, Shrek loses his temper stomping out of his kids’ (Jasper Johannes Andrews, Ollie Mitchell, Miles Bakshi and Nina Zoe Bakshi) birthday party and rails against a following Fiona. Overheard by Rumpelstiltskin, voiced by Walt Dohrn, who wants revenge against Shrek and had his one chance at taking over the kingdom ruined by Shrek’s rescue of Fiona, he is given the deal of a lifetime. Rumpelstiltskin gives Shrek with a profitable exchange that would give him to see how life would be as an ogre again for one day. The deal is, all he has to do is give up one unimportant day from his childhood.

As with every deal, everything is written out. Without knowing it, Shrek signs over his birth day, which gives the main force of the story. Without being born, King Harold signs over his kingdom to break the curse of Fiona. Now, Far Far Away has the selfish, greedy Rumpelstiltskin as king who dominates his people and doesn’t have soldiers and protectors but the entire kingdom’s witch population, all outcasts before.

To get everything back, Shrek must convince everyone who doesn’t know him to not only trust him, but accept that “True Love’s Kiss” will break the spell and end Rumpelstiltskin’s hold over all of them.

Wesley Lovell said in his review, “You shouldn’t be surprised how the story pans out as there are few surprises left in the franchise at this point. The story is well drawn and plotted, though dotted with unnecessary one-liners and painfully rote dialogue. It’s like watching a grade school production of Hamlet produced by multi-millionaires: plenty of technical pizzazz, but immensely lacking in depth.”

Lovell continued, “Where the third film went wrong is that it shifted away from a fairy-tale basis having nearly exhausted the trove of tales out there from which to draw inspiration. King Arthur, as a legend, is a compelling story, but it’s not the kind of fantasy this franchise requires. It may be based on a real person embellished as a folk tale, but it’s not a fable meant to teach the audience a moral lesson.” The fourth film, based on the first-born-stealing Rumpelstiltskin, is more in line with the original film and sequel’s ideas.

Lovell noted, “There are many funny moments in the film: the gladiatorial Gingerbread Man (Conrad Vernon); the Trojan horse conceit; all of the scenes with Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas); the waffle hole; and the opening scene establishing Shrek’s growing dissatisfaction. Yet for all of the fun moments, there are far too many uninteresting ones that tend to flee the mind shortly after viewing.”

The Shrek series has shown a quick downfall in quality as the main idea becomes older and less lively. Unlike the “Toy Story” franchise, the creators must be more into wanting the franchise make more money than trying to look at new areas and find a deep character that interest’s audience. Instead, they just purposely redo the same idea with new stories that look original, but also look stale.

“Shrek Forever After” is better than the third film, but that’s not say much. It’s still not anywhere as good as the first two in the series, which is a letdown in quality from the original boosted by “Puss in Boots.” There have been talk about a final film in the series, but we’ll see how long that will take in the next few years, especially since after the phenomenal release of the third, they said there would be two more films, not just this one.

As you might have guessed from reading this, “Shrek Forever After” is one of those films that copied the idea of “It’s a Wonderful Life.” I don’t understand why people copy that idea when it belongs in that movie and nowhere else. Just because it worked once doesn’t mean it will work again. However, this movie is a cute flick, despite the rip-off idea of a classic Christmas movie. If you want to see this one, especially if you didn’t like the third film, go right ahead.

We have now come to the end of “Shrek Month.” I hope everyone enjoyed this month and I hope everyone will see the franchise, or if you have, hopefully you agreed.

Check in next month to see what I have in store everyone.

Shrek the Third

Diana Saenger started her review out by saying, “DreamWorks’ animated series about Shrek, an ogre who rules his territory by making fun of himself and looking at the glass as half-full, became a funny and successful franchise as the result of the first two releases. Shrek (2001) and Shrek 2 (2004) are nearing the $1.4 billion revenue mark, and the amount is still climbing.” With this type of success, it was obvious to come out with “Shrek the Third,” but this 2007 sequel lacks everything that made the first two films so entertaining.

At the end of “Shrek 2,” Shrek’s life was turning out good. The swamp loving and grouchy (who also has a heart of gold) ogre, found the love of his life in the kind of eccentric Princess Fiona. Her parents, King Harold and Queen Lillian, who rule Far, Far Away, weren’t too happy about their only daughter marrying an ogre and going off to live in his swamp. Eventually they saw how happy they were and finally approved their marriage with blessings.

“Shrek the Third” starts with King Harold, who was turned into a frog in the last film, on his death bed. He decides Shrek must take his throne and rule the kingdom. Farting a lot in the swamp is one thing – but in the castle? Shrek knows right away that he doesn’t want the job. When he sees there is one other relative, Fiona’s cousin Arthur, voiced by Justin Timberlake, who could rule the kingdom, Shrek and his friends, Puss in Boots and Donkey leave to find him.

Saenger said, “Up to this point there have a been a few laughs, so as the ship sails away, I—as a  big Shrek fan—settled in for more laughs and for that smart pop-culture banter that filled the first two films. Without delay the conniving Price Charming shows up to become the next king. There's a long unfunny segment where he puts on his own stage play, not exactly making his quest to rule too urgent.” He finally breaks into the castle and takes Fiona, her girl friends and the Queen captive, then throws them in the dungeon.

How about those girl friends? Saenger said, “Well, they have the depth of a pancake and spout inane dialogue.” The animation of Snow White (Amy Poehler), Cinderella (Amy Sedaris), Sleeping Beauty (Cheri Oteri) and Rapunzel (Maya Rudolph) seems weak compared to the animation in the rest of the movie, which also lacks in comparison to the previous films.

Making their directing debuts on “Shrek the Third” are Chris Miller and Raman Hui. Saenger said, “The movie also has a slew of writers, some new, but they've layered the new offering with non-comical heavy-handed scenarios and uninteresting characters.”

Charming’s evil colleagues such as Captain Hook (Ian McShane) and Rumpelstiltskin (Conrad Vernon) are as weak as anything. Where are the funny characters that really stood out in the other “Shrek” movies, like the hilarious Fairy Godmother? Also, where are those wonderful parodies that made “Shrek” and “Shrek 2” as enjoyable for parents as it was for kids?

Shrek himself is so unfunny it actually hurts. Saenger said, “The big oaf we loved has been replaced by a doofus moving through his lackluster life with little interest. What a disappointment to lose what Mike Myers previously brought to this character. Even the news that Shrek is about to be a father is treated with daft set-ups devoid of warmth and humor. Shrek’s dream sequence about multiple babies is like many of the scenes here that rely on pratfalls and fast action but fail to be amusing. Fiona turns out to be a nurturing wife, but there's little humor in her role as well.”

Honestly, Donkey and Puss in Boots are the only funny characters in the movie and they are irregular. Saenger said, “I remember checking my watch during long moments where nothing funny or engaging happened at all.”

Rupert Everett as Charming is truthfully the best part of this film. He successfully brought his character to life in the last two movies, and even though he has a kind of unlikely plotline in “Shrek the Third,” he still deserves his earning the high scores as a comical and interesting character.

Saenger ended her review by saying, “With more focus on Shrek toys at the fast food joints than a clever story, the bottom line in this unfortunate sequel is that Shrek no longer has fun, and neither do we.”

After such a great success with the first two movies, this one just fell flat, like a lot of third installments do. This was just a boring story with the whole, “I don’t want to be king,” like a spoiled, rotten child. I was really let down and disappointed by this film when I saw it. Just do yourself a favor and never see this one because it clearly is making Shrek into an ogre who doesn’t want any responsibility and just wants to lounge around and do nothing. If that was the case, then it just makes the first film unnecessary when he married Fiona. Why make the third film like that when Shrek should have known what was coming for him after he asked Fiona to marry him? Like I said, avoid this film.

Well, now that we have gotten that one out of the way, prepare yourselves for next week for the finale of “Shrek Month.”

Shrek 2

“Shrek 2,” released in 2002, is bright, lively and entertaining, but it’s not “Shrek.” Maybe it’s a lot to think that it can happen twice. “Shrek” was original in the animation and so much outpouring of creative imagination that it blindsided us. “Shrek 2” is wonderful in its own way, but more grounded. It’s more fun to see Shrek fight a dragon than to watch him meeting his parent-in-laws.

Shrek actually looks shaking on the edge of middle-class decency in the sequel. There’s nothing like a good woman to control an ogre. His previous way of being lonely in the swamp has changed so much thanks to falling in love with Princess Fiona, however his table manners could use improvement when he has dinner with her parents, King Harold (John Cleese) and Queen Lillian (the great and powerful Julie Andrews).

In the first film, as you should recall, Fiona’s curse was that she had been kidnapped by a dragon, but could be rescued if the dragon was killed and she was kissed by the hero who accomplished that. Superlatively, that would have been Prince Charming, voiced by Rupert Everett, but in “Shrek 2,” when he finally arrives at the castle, he sees to his strong disappointment that Shrek has already killed the dragon and married Fiona – and that Shrek’s kiss really changed Fiona. No longer small, she is tall and broad and green, and an ogre.

A letter comes from the Kingdom of Far Far Away: Fiona’s parents want to meet her new husband. This has a very long journey for Shrek, Fiona and Donkey, who insists that he wants to come along. Roger Ebert said in his review, “Donkey is the comic high point of the movie, with Eddie Murphy's non-stop riffs and inability to guess when he is not welcome.” “The Trick isn’t that he talks,” Shrek says in the first movie. “The trick is to get him to shut up.” The kingdom is really far, far away, which makes Donkey to keep asking, “Are we there yet?”

Their arrival at the castle of Fiona’s parents gives huge laughs. Harold and Lillian are shocked to see that Fiona has not only married an ogre, but became one. A flock of doves is released to welcome their arrival, and one of them is so shocked, it crashes into the castle wall and falls right at Harold’s feet.

Eventually the story takes us into the realm of the Fairy Godmother, voiced by Jennifer Saunders, an evil villain who works a huge factory mixing potions and curses. It is possible that her Happily Ever After potion could change ogres into humans. Not if she can make it. She wants to throw out Shrek and marry Fiona to Prince Charming, which was her original plan.

Ebert noted, “The screenplay, by J. David Stem, Joe Stillman and David N. Weiss, has the same fun that "Shrek" did in playing against our expectations.” Who would think a fight between Shrek and Fiona, with Shrek storming out of the house? Ebert asked, “What about the arrivals ceremony at the matrimonial ball, with all of the kingdom's celebrities walking down a red carpet while an unmistakable clone of Joan Rivers does the commentary?” There’s actually sincerity when Shrek and Fiona start kissing.

Ebert admitted, “The movie has several songs, none of which I found very memorable, although of course I am the same person who said the Simon and Garfunkel songs in "The Graduate" were "instantly forgettable." The first song, "Accidentally in Love," explains how Shrek and Fiona fell for each other. It's cut like a music video, which is OK, but I think it comes too early in the film, before we really feel at home with the narrative.”

A few minor characters from the first film, like the Gingerbread Man and the Three Blind Mice, return for the sequel, and there’s a new essential character: Puss-in-Boots, a cat who, as Ebert says, “seems to have been raised on Charles Boyer movies,” and is voiced by Antonio Banderas. Donkey and Puss have a huge shared hatred, because each one thinks he’s the star.

Sequels have their work cut out for them. Ebert admitted, “Some people think "Godfather, Part II" is better than "The Godfather," but the first film loomed so tall in my mind that I gave "Part II" only three stars. In the same way, perhaps I would have liked "Shrek 2" more if the first film had never existed. But I'll never know.”

Still, “Shrek 2” is a happy story, and Shrek himself looks strong enough to inspire “Shrek 3” with no problem at all. Well, we’ll have to see about that.

Before we get to that one, I personally think, like a lot of people, that “Shrek 2” is actually better than the first one. It’s livelier, cheerful, and funny and the songs I really thought were great. The problem was that I first started watching this in Spanish class when I was a junior in High School but I never got around to finishing it. Then, when I re-watched the first one on TV a few years ago, I went to the library and finally saw the second movie the whole way through. After seeing it, I thought the second one was better, but I don’t think, like Doug Walker does, that the first one was not good. I personally enjoy the first two “Shrek” movies a lot, but I think “Shrek 2” is the better movie.

Now with that said, stay tuned next week when we get into the disappointing third movie in “Shrek Month.”

Shrek

Remember in my first year of blogging when I reviewed “Shrek the Halls?” Well, I think that for the month of April, I will review the “Shrek” franchise. Unlike “Ice Age,” the “Shrek” franchise did not go in the same direction. There are some great installments, but we’ll get to that later on. Instead, let’s kick things off with the very first “Shrek” movie, released in 2001, a movie I saw when I was on my way back from my 8^th Grade Philadelphia field trip.

There is a moment in “Shrek” when the dreadful Lord Farquaad has the Gingerbread Man (Conrad Vernon) tortured by dunking him into milk. This sets us up for another scene when Princess Fiona’s singing voice is so painful it causes little bluebirds to combust. Making the best of a bad thing that happened, she fries their eggs. This is not your typical family animated film. “Shrek” is cheerful and evil, filled with clever in-jokes and somehow has a core.

Roger Ebert stated in his review, “The movie has been so long in the making at DreamWorks that the late Chris Farley was originally intended to voice the jolly green ogre in the title role. All that work has paid off: The movie is an astonishing visual delight, with animation techniques that seem lifelike and fantastical, both at once. No animated being has ever moved, breathed or had its skin crawl quite as convincingly as Shrek, and yet the movie doesn't look like a reprocessed version of the real world; it's all made up, right down to, or up to, Shrek's trumpet-shaped ears.”

Shrek’s voice is now played by former SNL comedian Mike Myers, with a voice that sounds similar to his morbidly obese Scotsman with a molasses enunciation in “Austin Powers” (a trilogy that I refuse to watch). Shrek is an ogre who lives in a swamp surrounded by “Keep Out” and “Beware the Ogre!” signs. Ebert noted, “He wants only to be left alone, perhaps because he is not such an ogre after all but merely a lonely creature with an inferiority complex because of his ugliness.” He is shocked when the solitude of his swamp is filled by a sudden clutter of cartoon creatures, who have been banished from Lord Farquaad’s kingdom.

Many of these creatures have an interested association to Disney characters who are in the public domain: The Three Little Pigs (Cody Cameron) show up, followed by the Three Bears (Bobby Block), the Three Blind Mice (Simon J. Smith and Christopher Knights), Tinkerbell, the Big Bad Wolf (Aron Warner) and Pinocchio (Cody Cameron). Later, when Farquaad looks for a bride, the Magic Mirror (Chris Miller) gives him three choices: Cinderella, Snow White (“She lives with seven men, but she’s not easy”) and Princess Fiona. He chooses the beauty who has not had the main role in a Disney animated movie. Ebert said, “No doubt all of this, and a little dig at DisneyWorld, were inspired by feelings DreamWorks partner Jeffrey Katzenberg has nourished since his painful departure from Disney--but the elbow in the ribs is more playful than serious. (Farquaad is said to be inspired by Disney chief Michael Eisner, but I don't see a resemblance, and his short stature corresponds not to the tall Eisner but, well, to the diminutive Katzenberg.)” The story is about Lord Farquaad wanting to marry Princess Fiona, and his lack of enthusiasm to kill the dragon that guards her from her men who try to rescue her. He hires Shrek to try to rescue her, which Shrek is happy to do, giving the hateful fairy-tale characters are banished and his swamp returned to its dull solitude. On his mission, Shrek gets a donkey named the Donkey, whose successively comments, voiced by Eddie Murphy, gives some of the movie’s best laughs. (The trick isn’t that he talks, Shrek sees. “the trick is to get him to shut up.”) Ebert said, “The expedition to the castle of the Princess involves a suspension bridge above a flaming abyss, and the castle's interior is piled high with the bones of the dragon's previous challengers. When Shrek and the Donkey get inside, there are exuberant action scenes that whirl madly through interior spaces, and revelations about the dragon no one could have guessed. And all along the way, asides and puns, in-jokes and contemporary references, and countless references to other movies.”

Voice-overs for animated movies were once, except for the yearly Disney classic, fast jobs that actors took if they were out of work. Now they are starring roles with huge paychecks, and the ads for “Shrek” use huge names to top the names of Myers, Murphy, Cameron Diaz (Fiona) and John Lithgow (Farquaad). Their voice performances are perfect to the characters, although Myers’ obsession with his Scottish inflection apparently have been toned down. Particularly, Murphy has come out as a star of the voice-over movies.

Ebert noted, “Much will be written about the movie's technical expertise, and indeed every summer seems to bring another breakthrough on the animation front. After the three-dimensional modeling and shading of "Toy Story," the even more evolved "Toy Story 2," "A Bug's Life" and "Antz," and the amazing effects in "Dinosaur," "Shrek" unveils creatures who have been designed from the inside out, so that their skin, muscles and fat move upon their bones instead of seeming like a single unit.” They aren’t “realistic,” but they’re strangely real. The drawing of the locations and setting is equally perfect – not lifelike, but beyond that, in a cheery, stylized way.

Still, all the skill in the world would not have made “Shrek” work if the story hadn’t been fun and Shrek so lovable. He is not beautiful but he isn’t as horrendous as he thinks. He’s a guy we want as our friend, and he doesn’t scare us but beat our pity. Ebert said, “He's so immensely likable that I suspect he may emerge as an enduring character, populating sequels and spinoffs.” DreamWorks must have figured out that they should turn “Shrek” into a franchise because one more was not enough.

In the end, this is a great animated movie that everyone should check out. Everyone will have an uproarious time watching this. Eddie Murphy became very popular in voice-acting after he did this movie. Although he already had done voice-work with “Mulan,” this one really heightened his voice-acting career. Everything in this movie is just great, and I know for a fact that everyone will fall in love with this.

Look out next week when we look at the first sequel in “Shrek Month.”

Pandas

I work at one of my Museum’s IMAX Theater and they play different types of “mission” or science films throughout the day, until the museum closes, that’s when they start playing Hollywood movies. Today, I got a chance to look at the new “Pandas” IMAX movie, released today, so I thought I will let everyone know what I thought about it.

Moira Macdonald started her review by saying, “The delightful “Pandas” is about as perfect as IMAX nature documentaries can get: informative, family-friendly, beautifully and immersively photographed, and so adorable that my scribbled screening notes are full of trenchant observations like “SO FUZZY!”” It is, obviously, about pandas; specifically, one panda named Qian Qian, born in custody at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding and eventually released into the wild mountains outside China’s Liziping Nature Reserve.

Macdonald said, “And yes, there are baby pandas, lots of them; toddling around like monochrome Teletubbies and drinking from bottles and sleeping together in furry heaps.” However, out of all the cuteness is a touching story, with some importance: narrator Kristen Bell informs everyone that wild pandas are the oldest and most rare species of bear, currently at fewer than 2,000. The Chengdu program, under the watch of its supervisor of research Hou Rong, is trying to bring up that statistic, studying their caged population so they can help save the Pandas from going extinct.

We see Hou Rong visits New Hampshire to see biologist Ben Kilham, whose Kilham Bear Center has improved and returned to the wild more than 160 orphaned black bear cubs. (That’s right; there are more bear cubs in here) We see a 22-year-old black bear, named Squirty, successfully returned to nature so long ago, who still lovingly meets Kilham on his visits to the forest. Back in China, we see Qian Qian eventually learn to be more independent, and masters the skills she needs to live on her own.

Macdonald noted, “All of this isn’t entirely rose-colored — there’s a poignant dedication, at the end, to another panda who didn’t survive relocation — but “Pandas” leaves its viewer newly educated, filled with hope, and dazzled. In one shot, we see autumn leaves blowing through trees as the camera breezes along, catching a glimpse of a group of bears on adjacent branches, seemingly enjoying the day.” This makes us feel we’re in the trees with them, smacking flies away, amerced in a place we never have lived in. Movies never have been magic, but sometimes you think.

If you have an IMAX Theater near you, see this if it’s still playing there, you will fall in love with it. Especially if you like pandas (seriously, who doesn’t, my brother loves them), you will want to see this. Definitely check it out when you get the chance.

Stay tuned for what I have in store for everyone this month.