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sctt03
Reviews
Hoodwinked! (2005)
Painfully witless script
No further need to comment on the look of the film, which is barely a notch above the likes of Shrek and Sharktale, but it's the lack of strong characterization and story that make this not much more than a one joke plot. Rashamon it's not. The basic premise is a TV sitcom reject, done countless times on the Cartoon Network, only better. The dialog sounds as if it were ad-libbed with little knowledge or thought given to why any given character would say such things, or many times why it was even in the movie. With so many beyond dated so-called"in jokes," any chance the audience might want to care about the characters or what happens to them is dashed. That is, if they're not out of their seat asking for their money back after the first 3 minutes. It's no wonder this film is being released on Christmas day--but I would advise waiting until January 1, 2006 to rent the video. At least that way, you could fast forward through it.
Madagascar (2005)
Not much better than Shark Tale
Since virtually everyone agrees that SharkTale was an embarrassing mess, I'd like to report that Dreamworks has moved forward and created a film BETTER than that. But only by a little. The tired pop-culture references that mire the paper thin "screenplay" really do continue to get in the way of any real character development or audience connection. It's another example of Dreamworks not really knowing who their audience is. It's too smarmy for adults, and it's too vulgar for kids. And after all that, there's only half a movie here. It suffers from the same problem as that other dreamworks flop, Road to ElDorado, in that once the characters get to where they are going, there's not a whole lot for them to do.
Some of the designs are OK, but never do the characters feel as if they belong to the same universe as the settings, either in New York or in Madagascar. Design for design's sake makes this a bit of a mess--confusing to watch and often jarring. The animation is smooth, but with not much to say, who cares?
With Pixar continuing to raise the bar on both artistry and content (in particular, the very mature content of both "Finding Nemo" and "The Incredibles"), it's a real shame to see that Dreamworks settles for looking backwards and repeating itself with such juvenile fare.
Thru the Moebius Strip (2005)
Miserable dreck
This is a CG film that makes Final Fantasy seem like a brilliant epic by comparison. The direction is sub-par, the story run-of-the-mill, the designs unappealing, and the "animation" (if you could call it "animation") just revolting. Just because things move doesn't mean they're animated. It doesn't appear that anyone involved with this production has any concept of communicating an idea to an audience. But to do that, of course, you'd have to have an idea, which this film has not one.
This film has no audience, nor will it find one. A previous comment comparing it to Ed Wood films is being kind. At least Mr. Wood gave us some laughs, albeit unintentional. This film is just dead on arrival.