The Peanuts movie review

The Peanuts Movie 

Review Written By Adolph Vega

3D

The 3D presentation within this movie is split between two sections.The first section is focused on the Peanuts crew, and the second section is focused on the flying moments with Snoopy. The Peanuts characters are presented with three dimensional character models and a world that is rendered in 3D. Sadly, the stereoscopic element is subtle and not interesting to look at. It only appears to be three layers of 3D with the main Peanuts crew in the mid-layer of 3D, and different environmental aspects appearing in the background or foreground. Honestly I forgot that the movie was in 3D, because it's so subtle and underwhelming for a good amount of the movie. In the Snoopy sections of the movie the 3D aspect looked better as objects flew from the background to the foreground, and generally looked nice, but far from being impressive. Honestly the movie looked okay in 3D but lacks memorable scenes and any direction to make it seem special in 3D. I would suggest you save your money and not watch this movie in 3D because you won’t be missing much.

Final Score:

Terrible 3D Watch in 2D

Movie

 

The Peanuts cartoon series is something that I didn't appreciate until recently. This movie is the first full-length movie featuring Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the rest of the Peanuts crew. As previously mentioned, this movie can be separated into two main parts – one with Charlie Brown and his friends, and the second part with Snoopy and his imaginative flying stories against the Red Baron. The main story with Charlie Brown is focused on him falling in love with a red headed girl (who is never given a proper name) who moved into town. The movie is completely retro and not ashamed to be set in the pre computer, cell phone era and seems identical to the previous TV specials in its setting. This decision to keep it retro is interesting because the graphics design is modern but all the children are using rotary landlines to talk to one another and using pen and paper to write essays. This movie stays 100% true to the original comic strip / TV specials time period.

The secondary story revolves around Snoopy and his many imaginative stories of him flying against the Red Baron. The movie has a fast pace as the main story and Snoopy fantasy scenes weave in and out of each other in a smooth fashion. I do feel that the movie overplays the Snoopy / Red Baron segments, and it begins to feel like filler. The main story with Charlie Brown has several subplots, which revolve around his love of the red headed girl. Some elements of the story are not fully developed, and some key story elements are dropped when it moves on to the next story element. This leads to the movie having a few plot holes that sadly become a small distraction to the viewer, as some storylines don't have a proper conclusion. The movie covers a large amount of time, and it's jarring to start the movie in one season of the year and for it to end in another. The issues I have with the story are not at all related to the characters they are wonderful. The entire Peanuts crew is part of this movie and they all seem just like their TV show specials. The writing and dialog between the characters perfectly matches previous versions of the TV show or comic strip and all the characters work well together. Linus is my favorite character, and is wise beyond his years and gives Charlie Brown wonderful advice. Charlie Brown is a great main character and is very loveable even though he never catches a break. On two separate occasions, I was stunned and overjoyed in the level of personal integrity that Charlie Brown showed within this movie. The writing and story lines within this movie is top notch and feels identical to the previous TV show specials and comic strip. In fact that is both a negative and positive. I was curious to see how the Peanuts crew would translate to the big screen and its conservative approach is stunning in how strait forward it is and never tries to be 'epic or grand '. The movie feels just like it did in the 1960's, which is fine, but I feel they missed a chance to update these characters for modern times. Outside of the gorgeous visuals why couldn't this movie be made 10, 20 or 30 years ago? The visual designs of the characters have a 3D depth to them that has never been present before, and occasionally they reference previous storylines and the art style of the original comic strip. All the voice actors fit the roles as perfectly as their 1960's counterparts, and the movie has a very nice musical theme. Overall it was a pleasure to watch this Peanut's movie. I wish that some of the story plot points were tightened up and that the Snoopy Red Baron segments were reduced. The film adaptation of the Peanuts comic strip works well. Even if it never strays from the original source material, its well worthy of your time and is a great family movie.

Final Score:

8/10

™ & © 2015 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
All rights reserved.

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Pan

Pan

Movie Review Written by: Adolph Vega

3D

 

Some movies are made for 3D and others are not. The story of Peter Pan and his adventures in Never Land fit 3D like a glove. You can clearly see 3D depth and pop out 3D and it looks very sharp and vivid. At one point the 3D pop outs of the screen above the aspect ratio of the movie as a sword is swinging near you. One scene is set in space looks very impressive as Pan is floating around. Another scene with fireflies flying around in various layers of 3D looks very impressive. The air ships look very nice flying in 3D space and many times cannon balls or debris will fly at the audience and is impressive and fun use of pop out 3D. The 3D is clearly not an afterthought but a main aspect of the cinematography. The 3D was consistently good to great and overall added to the experience of watching this movie and is well worthy your money.  

Final Verdict: Great 3D

Movie

Peter Pan has become part of popular culture so making a new movie can be a difficult task. I felt this movie did a wonderful job of balancing out the new and familiar aspects of Peter Pan. The movie begins as a baby is left behind at an orphanage. We later learn this baby is Peter Pan and this movie is set in England during the Second World War. Peter is suddenly taken from the orphanage to Never Land where he searches for his mother. The movie is presented in a very whimsical and fun way. The movie is fast paced and has a nice flow from scene to scene and explains the story simply and in an efficient manner without a need for excessive dialog or exposition. At times some story elements fall into place rather conveniently, but it didn't bother me because of the whimsical style of the movie.  Many of the Peter Pan characters you know and love have returned for this movie but are both familiar and different. Captain Hook for example is not a villain in this movie but a supporting role within the movie. I really liked how this Captain Hook acted and how he presented himself. I also like the rest of the cast including the new villain Captain Black Beard. I found this movie to be tons of fun and a real joy to watch. One aspect I found strange was the use of more modern rock / alternative music. I won't mention the specific songs they used but it's very distracting and an odd choice that simply doesn't work. Another small nitpick is that some of the English accents are heavy and hard to understand at times. Overall the issues I had with this movie are minor and as I watched this movie I felt like a child again totally engrossed within this adventure. If Warner Brothers wants to continue the adventures of Peter Pan after this movie I have no problem with that. Pan is whimsical fun family movie that both children and adults will enjoy and I highly recommend it.

Final Verdict: 9/10

TM & © 2014 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
All rights reserved.

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The Martian

The Martian 

Movie Review Written by Adolph Vega 

3D

This is one of the most difficult movies to review the 3d element for. At times throughout the movie the 3d element was dramatically in how it’s presented. At times the movie looks fantastic in 3d and other times the 3d element is a minor factor. One scene with the dust storm was fantastic in 3d and gave you a real sense of being in a dust storm. Some of the scenes in Mars look very nice and give you a nice sense of actually being on the planet with vast landscapes and such. The several scenes in space work really well too as you see objects floating around in three-dimensional space. Most of the movie is dialogue between characters and takes place on earth or Mars and the 3d in these scenes are not remarkable. Maybe 45% of the 3d is forgettable, 40% is great and 15% is good. At the end of the day I enjoyed the 3D element of this movie but a significant portion of this movie the 3D isn’t memorable, so overall the 3D presentation is nice but not necessary.   

Final Verdict: Good 3D 

Movie 

" The Martian " is one of my favorite science fiction released in recent years. Recently I believe the genre of science fiction had a reassurance with quality film making with fantastic storylines and this movie is an example of quality science fiction. In this movie humanity has already visited Mars and a select few humans are researching the planet. The movie begins with a human crew on the planet Mars gathering soil samples; suddenly a massive sandstorm causes the crew to evaluate the area. 

Unfortunately the sandstorm causes an accident and one person is left on Mars. The person left behind is Mark Watney played by Matt Damon and he must find a way to survive on Mars on his own. The movie splits its time almost equally on Mars and Earth. The scenes on earth revolve around planning a rescue mission to help Mark Watney. The segments of the movie on Mars with Mark are stronger scenes and more fascinating as he struggles to survive on this harsh planet with the limited supplies he has available. The segments of the movie on Earth are mostly political drama with NASA officials and are a tad boring. The cast of this movie is huge which is a double-edged sword. The acting of Matt Damon is fantastic and he is very funny and entertaining and makes for a captivating character. The rest of the cast includes the executive staff of NASA (on Earth), the other Martian crew members who are in space traveling back to earth and a group of scientists who are trying to help the Martian left behind and the executive staff at NASA.

Overall I enjoyed this cast and thought the acting was well done but with a cast of a dozen or so people it's hard to follow the story at times and many of the characters are not given proper introduction or development. Honestly I lost track of several of the names of the characters. The movie also has some pacing problems as some scenes seem to drag on and others seem to be way too short. Most of the time Mark Watney is making video diaries of his life on Mars and these scenes are funny and charismatic, but I wanted to see more of him coping with the isolation and loneliness of being on Mars. I know this sounds cruel but Mark’s mental state is underplayed aspect of the movie. I know he is attempting to survive but how does he cope with the vast boredom? The movie is much more of a comedy than I initially expected. The cinematography and special effects are fantastic and make the red planet scenes come alive. The various space scenes are well choreographed and very entertaining and intriguing. The movie sadly ends with a very out of place epilogue that feels out of place. The movie feels too long and many aspects could have been consolidated to make a tighter narrative. I had some problems with the movie but overall I still found many aspects of this movie enjoyable and intriguing.

Many times the science techno babble parts of this movie are given more of a focus then other similar movies which gives it an authentic and realistic tone. I am not a rocket scientist; engineer, botanist or an expert on astrophysics so many of the science elements presented within this movie went over my head. None of the science seemed too far-fetched and made enough sense for a novice like myself to understand and seem believable. I have not read the book this movie is based on so my opinion is not based on any comparison of that original novel. I have issues with the movie but overall it's still a wonderful science fiction movie and shouldn’t be missed.

Final Verdict: 8/10 

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