Plot summary (with possible spoilers): Jack Bruno (played by Dwayne Johnson) is a Las Vegas cab driver trying to break free of his criminal record and live a straight life. So, he puts up with all the usual crazies you’d expect him to come across ferrying passengers around the Strip. One day, his passengers turn out to be Sara (AnnaSophia Robb) and Seth (Alexander Ludwig), a sibling duo who act every bit as strangely as Jack’s other fares. Sara and Seth want a ride to a distant location in the desert, and have a huge wad of cash to make sure that happens.

Jack is not in the habit of asking questions, so he just shrugs and starts driving. Soon, however, it becomes clear that there’s something different about Sara and Seth. They’re being chased by government vehicles, and just when it looks like the cab will be caught, the kids use supernatural powers to facilitate an escape. Jack demands to know what’s going on — and hears an answer he wasn’t ready for. Sara and Seth are aliens from a distant planet whose parents sent them to Earth to collect the results of an experiment that could potentially save their dying race. If the children don’t return with the solution, their government is prepared to invade Earth to ensure survival.

Jack sees all the proof he needs, and decides to help the kids evade both the government pursuers and the Siphon (Tom Woodruff, Jr.) creature intent on destroying them. Unfortunately, the military team led by Maj. Henry Burke (Ciarán Hinds) catches up to Sara and Seth, captures them, and prepares to conduct invasive medical testing on the alien duo.

In a race against time, Jack teams up with UFO expert Dr. Alex Friedman (Carla Gugino) to try to rescue the kids and get them back to their spacecraft (hidden at a secret facility inside Witch Mountain) so they can return safely to their home planet.

My Reaction: This being a Disney family film, I wasn’t expecting much out of it. I was just hoping for something that would keep my six-year-old interested and that wouldn’t drag on forever, and Race to Witch Mountain actually scored well on those two points. There were only a couple of places where my son got bored; otherwise, he seemed to enjoy the story and understand enough of it to keep watching.

From an adult perspective, the film was merely ok. The story was “meh”, and the acting was terrible, but at least the plot moved along rather quickly. In particular, some of Dwayne Johnson’s reaction shots were unintentionally funny because of how bad they are (check out his face whenever some debris from an explosion flies towards him).

Overall, Race to Witch Mountain is a decent movie to rent if your choices are limited. It’s suitable for both adults and kids, only requires about 90 minutes of your time, and is sufficiently interesting to hold viewers’ attention for that long. I give it 3 stars out of 5.

Plot summary (with possible spoilers): In the year 2110, rampant consumerism has resulted in the Earth being so completely covered in garbage and toxic waste that it could no longer support life. Human beings were then forced to float through space on a massive ship for the next 700 years, becoming so fat and weak from this sedentary life (and the effects of microgravity) that they are little more than squishy blobs.

The only being left on the planet is WALL-E (voiced by Ben Burtt), an unsophisticated robot whose task is to compact trash. We soon see that WALL-E is not a typical robot, however. He seems to have feelings and emotions, which are heightened when he watches old videotapes of the musical Hello, Dolly!. It’s clear that WALL-E is lonely, and longs for a companion that he can love and hold hands with.

He gets that opportunity when a new robot, called EVE (Elissa Knight), is dropped off by a spaceship. Her directive is to see if there’s any plant life on Earth, which would indicate that it has rejuvenated itself sufficiently to support humans again. WALL-E falls instantly in love with EVE, but she treats him as a nuisance. After finding a single seedling, EVE’s mission is finished and a spaceship comes back to pick her up. WALL-E can’t bear to see her go, so he latches on and follows her to the floating human carrier craft that EVE came from.

Captain McCrea (Jeff Garlin) sees the plant that EVE brings back, consults his manual, and realizes that this means humans can finally go back to Earth. But the Autopilot computer doesn’t want to comply because this would mean the end of its reign aboard the ship. Therefore, AUTO steals the plant and tries to get rid of WALL-E and EVE. Fortunately, WALL-E and EVE are able to save the day, eventually leading the humans back to Earth where they can begin a new civilization.

My Reaction: Despite all the positive reviews from professional critics and its Oscar win for Best Animated Film, I never had any real desire to see WALL-E. It just didn’t look like something I would enjoy. But last weekend my son wanted to rent it, so I figured I might was well watch it with him. I should have heeded my intuition on this one.

While there were definitely some enjoyable parts in the film, I felt that it was more boring than not. There was zero dialogue in the first 30 minutes, just a bunch of sound effects and robot beeps. When EVE came on the scene, she and WALL-E said each other’s names. That was it. Most people hailed this as some sort of ingenious way to show how desolate Earth had become, but I found it nothing short of tedious. I was falling asleep.

In addition, I thought the plot was kind of dumb. I guess it’s hard to hold an animated film to any kind of “real life” standards, but still. There were just so many things that didn’t make sense or that simply wouldn’t happen. For instance, why was Captain McCrea so intent on getting “back” to Earth? He kept calling it “home” even though no one on board had ever been there. That spaceship was their home, not Earth. Also, why would the planet be overrun by garbage in the first place? Consumerism has been around for a couple thousand years already and we seem to be doing ok. Why would things change so drastically by 2110?

I had other problems with the film as well, including the whole love story between WALL-E and EVE. Call me cynical, but I thought it was just dumb to have these robots supposedly feeling emotions and falling in love. I find that creepy rather than cute — though I guess I’m in the minority here. Also, I thought the blobby, squishy humans were disgusting. I could barely keep my eyes on the screen whenever those characters were front and center.

Overall, I can’t understand why WALL-E received such raves from nearly everyone who saw it. I’ve loved many other Pixar films, but this one doesn’t even come close to being on the same level. I give it 2 stars out of 5.

Plot summary (with possible spoilers): The film opens with young Carl Fredericksen (voiced by Jeremy Leary) watching newsreel footage about the latest conquests of explorer Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer). Carl wants to be like Charles when he grows up and have lots of great adventures in far-flung places. On the way home, Carl hears a voice coming from an abandoned house. He goes in and is surprised to find Ellie (Elie Docter), a girl of about the same age who is just as excited about Charles Muntz as he is. The two form a club, vow to see Paradise Falls when they get older (just like Charles) and become fast friends. Later, they marry.

Viewers then get a montage showing an older Carl (now voiced by Ed Asner) and Ellie going through various stages in their marriage. They start saving up for their dream trip to Paradise Falls, but “real life” gets in the way. They have to pay for house and car repairs, medical bills, and all kinds of other expenses. Eventually, they realize that they’ve gotten old and never had a chance to live out their dream. Ellie dies, leaving Carl little more than a grumpy old man. He finally decides to go to Paradies Falls — by tying thousands of helium balloons to his house and floating there. This one’s for Ellie.

What Carl didn’t count on was the stowaway who tagged along. This is Russell (Jordan Nagai), a Wilderness Explorer trying to earn a merit badge for “assisting the elderly”. Carl tried to get rid of him by sending him on a fool’s errand, but Russell (unbeknownst to Carl) stuck around on the porch. So now the two of them head off to South America together.

A storm forces the two to land some distance away from the falls, meaning they have to walk the rest of the way while dragging Carl’s house along with them. On their journey, they come across a huge tropical bird who seems to want to tag along in order to get more of Russell’s chocolate. Russell names the bird Kevin — and keeps calling it that even when he later learns that the bird is female. The two also hook up with a dog named Dug (Bob Peterson), who can talk with the help of a translation collar.

The trek to the falls takes considerably longer than expected, particularly when they encounter a dangerous enemy intent on trapping and killing Kevin. But things eventually work out, and Carl gets to keep his childhood promise to Ellie in the end. And he also gets a new friend in Russell as well.

My Reaction: I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this film. I had read so many rave reviews about it that I thought it couldn’t possibly be as good as the critics said. But surprisingly enough, it was! I found that I really enjoyed the story and wasn’t bothered by the little nitpick-y details that usually end up bugging me.

My favorite part of the entire film happened right at the beginning. I absolutely loved that superb montage showing Carl and Ellie’s life together! The filmmakers so perfectly captured the essence of their relationship, without a single word of dialogue. It was amazing — and I even had tears in my eyes when Ellie died. All from a montage featuring characters that I had known for all of 10 minutes! That’s fantastic storytelling!

Another thing I liked about Up was the fact that Russell was allowed to be a regular kid. I think Roger Ebert pointed this out in his review, but it’s worth repeating. I’m so sick of movies that show kids being 100x smarter than adults, when that’s hardly ever the case in the real world. In Up, Russell wasn’t a brainiac, nor was he an idiot. He was a regular kid with normal intelligence and normal childlike impulses. This was totally refreshing to see!

The film wasn’t perfect, of course. For instance, I thought the Muntz stuff with all the talking dogs was just plain weird. I mean, I know there had to be a bad guy, but that situation was odd. Fortunately, it didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the movie as a whole.

Overall, I thought Up was one of the best Pixar films to date. It will appeal to both children and adults, and is simply a wonderful story. I give it 4 stars out of 5.

Now that my son is home for winter vacation, I thought it would be fun to take him to see the latest Disney CGI film Bolt. I’d read some earlier reviews that indicated this particular movie wasn’t quite up to the usual Disney standards, but figured my son might still enjoy it, especially with a cute dog as the lead character. Turns out I should have heeded the lukewarm reviews and waited to catch this one on DVD.

Plot summary (with possible spoilers): Bolt (voiced by John Travolta) is the canine lead of a popular TV show. On the show, Bolt has superpowers and can do things that no ordinary dog can, as he fights nefarious criminals with the help of his human Penny (Miley Cyrus). The key to Bolt’s success as an “actor” is that he absolutely believes that everything he’s doing is real. He believes that Penny is in danger, that his superpowers actually work, and that he’s helping to save the world. To perpetuate the illusion, the producers don’t let Bolt off the set on weekends, so the dog knows nothing of the outside world.

Then one day things change drastically as Bolt inadvertently falls into a crate headed from Hollywood to New York. Once he escapes, his first concern is to find Penny. But of course he has no idea that he’s actually all the way across the country — and doesn’t find out what’s going on until he hooks up with a cat named Mittens (Susie Essman). Bolt, still under the impression that he’s a superhero, demands that Mittens help him locate Penny, which the cat must do after Bolt ties them together with a leash.

After figuring out that Bolt is from Hollywood, Mittens tells him that they have to get a ride back there. They jump into the back of a U-Haul, and thus begin their cross-country adventure. The rest of the film deals with the various obstacles they encounter along the way, a new companion they pick up in the hamster Rhino (Mark Walton), as well as Bolt’s reaction when he learns that he’s just a regular dog after all. And of course, this being a Disney movie, everything works out for the best in the end.

My Reaction: Both my 5-year-old son and I thought Bolt was pretty boring. To be honest, the opening sequence that showed all that action from the TV show was the most exciting part of the entire film, and had us thinking that it would have been a better idea for the screenwriters to have made a movie in that vein instead of the one that we ended up with.

I don’t know if it was the voice actor or what, but Bolt wasn’t the least bit interesting as the main character. There was nothing about him that made him sympathetic, so it was kind of hard to care about his plight. Perhaps if there had been a few more scenes at the beginning to show him bonding with Penny things would have been different. But as it was, I wasn’t in his corner at all — which of course made it hard to sit through all of his adventures.

The supporting characters weren’t much help at all. While both Rhino and Mittens were ok, they didn’t do anything memorable, nor were there any great moments featuring these guys. And it seemed that a couple of storylines were inexplicably dropped — like not pursuing the thread about what happened to Mittens’ family or why Rhino was so quick to leave his human. Usually Disney movies bring these things full circle, but not in this case.

Overall, there’s very little about Bolt that will appeal to either children or adults. After seeing it, I’m not at all surprised that it’s under-performing at the box office. It was disappointing for a Disney film, and I give it just 2 stars out of 5.

Having enjoyed the first two Shrek movies, the third one was definitely on my “To Watch” list. Unfortunately, it came out during the 2007 summer blockbuster season, which also marked the releases of SpiderMan 3, Pirates of the Caribbean 3, and a host of other films that I ended up seeing instead. So Shrek the Third kind of fell of my radar until recently when I finally had an opportunity to rent it and watch it with my five-year-old boy. The good news is, I didn’t miss out on much by waiting this long!

Plot summary (with possible spoilers): King Harold (voiced by John Cleese) is on his deathbed, and requests to see daughter Fiona (Cameron Diaz) and son-in-law Shrek (Mike Meyers). Harold tells Shrek that he is next in line to the throne, an idea that fills Shrek with horror. He doesn’t want to rule Far Far Away. He just wants to live a quiet, retiring life in the swamp with Fiona.

Upon hearing this, the King tells Shrek that there’s one other heir, a nephew named Arthur Pendragon (Justin Timberlake), who is currently attending the Worcestershire Academy. The only way for Shrek to avoid accepting the crown is to go bring Artie back, so he, Donkey (Eddie Murphy), and Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) set off on a voyage to Worcestershire, leaving Fiona and the Queen (Julie Andrews) behind.

With Shrek out of the picture, Prince Charming (Rupert Everett) seizes his opportunity to slide into the power vacuum left in the wake of King Harold’s death. Charming rounds up a bunch of fairy tale outcasts, including Captain Hook (Ian McShane) and Doris (Larry King), one of Cinderella’s evil stepsisters. Charming and his gang capture Fiona, the Queen, Sleeping Beauty (Cheri Oteri), Snow White (Amy Poehler), Cinderella (Amy Sedaris), and Rapunzel (Maya Rudolph), lock them all up in a tower, and take over the town.

Shrek and his crew eventually get wind of what’s happening in Far Far Away, and hasten back for the inevitable showdown against Charming. This being a fairy tale, of course the good guys come out on top.

My Reaction: I didn’t find Shrek the Third to be as enjoyable as the first two installments of the franchise. There were fewer fun moments, and all the overt nods to fairy tales have just gotten old at this point. Moreover, as at least one professional critic has pointed out, many of the jokes in Shrek the Third seemed to be aimed at adults rather than kids, which made the film kind of boring for my son to sit through. In fact, my son only really laughed in two places: first, when Puss and Donkey changed bodies after Merlin’s spell, and second, during the end credits when Puss and Donkey were dancing. That’s it!

In addition, the plot itself was boring — for both of us. My son didn’t understand why neither Shrek nor Artie wanted to be king, and thought both of them were crazy for not jumping at the chance to rule Far Far Away. That wasn’t the part of the plot that bothered me the most. The part I didn’t get was why Far Far Away was vulnerable to Charming and his rag-tag group of fairy tale baddies in the first place. I mean, weren’t there any Royal Guards to protect the city? It seemed that as soon as Charming captured the queen, Fiona, and the group of fairy tale women, they were able to take over. Too easy.

The voice actors were ok, and unlike a lot of other viewers, I didn’t mind the addition of Justin Timberlake as Artie. Sure, he was whiny and annoying throughout — but that’s what the character was supposed to be like! I’m sure in the next Shrek, once Artie is established as king, his tone will be completely different.

Overall, there wasn’t a whole lot going on in Shrek the Third, and many of the scenes felt completely disconnected from the main plot. Add in a lack of laugh-out-loud jokes and a very limited sense of fun, and you get a disappointing movie that neither children nor adults will love. I give this film 2 stars out of 5.