Alice Through the Looking Glass

June 01, 2016 by adolph vega

Alice Through the Looking Glass

3D Movie Review

Written By: Adolph Vega

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3D

For such a visually impressive movie you would think that 3D would fit this movie like a glove, however this is not the case. The movie starts with a rainy seafaring action scene that looks initially impressive in 3D. As the movie unfolds, most of the 3D is inconsistent, forgettable and only randomly peppered into a few scenes. I cannot recommend watching this movie in 3D, because it’s clearly an after thought.

Final Verdict: Terrible 3D

Movie

I love story-lines with the element of time travel. Something about that trope I just find fascinating and compelling. On the other hand, my biggest pet peeve is when stories are contrived and make story elements too convenient. Sadly this movie combines both story elements into one and is disappointing .

“Alice Through The Looking Glass” is a direct follow up to the previous live action Disney movie "Alice In Wonderland" which released in 2010. Alice is always looking for adventure and is never really content in the real world. The movie is presented mostly in wonderland, with only a few scenes within the ‘real world’ within the movie. The ‘real world’ within this movie is set in late 19th century England and is focused on Alice’s mother. Unfortunately, this real world storyline is paper-thin and under explained. This movie is mostly about the mad hatter and his family in Wonderland. Eventually, the story leads to the element of time travel and the dynamic between the white and red queens. Most of the characters within this movie are from its predecessor. One new interesting character is that of TIME. Sasha Baron Cohen portrays this character of TIME and is probably the best element of the movie. I found this idea of the abstract element of time to be an actual living being intriguing. The movie has many corny jokes focused on the character of time. These jokes are hit or miss and become annoying , just like the movie as a whole.

What I find to be the most annoying element of this movie is how contrived it is. For example, the time machine is incredibly easy for Alice to use, and makes it easy for her to travel to the correct time period. She literally jumps into the time machine and figures out how to use it within seconds. Secondly the rules of time travel are not clearly established. Most of the rules of Wonderland are not established either, so it’s frustrating that anything can happen at any time for any reason. The element of time travel is used for character development and you see some backstory between characters at different points of the past. This dynamic is interesting and gives some depth to these characters. Sadly, the acting within this movie is way over the top, annoying and diminishes the character development that is presented. The movie gives the audience more questions than answers. It seems like everyone within this movie is a one-dimensional caricature that is never truly fleshed out. I found the ending of this movie to be strange and unsatisfying because it’s a little too cute. The visuals of this movie are captivating and well done, but it can’t mask over the issues with the over acting, paper-thin plot and a story that doesn’t make much sense.

What is the moral of this movie? Just dream the impossible and everything will fall into place? The movie is clearly trying to preach a moral of some kind, but it's totally not clear what that actually is . Is this a movie about the importance of family , 19th Century feminism , dealing with grief , mental illness or understanding the past ? The movie muddles all of those topics . Everything that happens to Alice is so convenient that it robs the story of any challenge or real conflict. Why can't Alice just stay in Wonderland ? This element is never explained and honestly it makes more sense for the character to never leave Wonderland. I was never bored watching this movie – it’s a fun escapist adventure – but the more you think about it, the more it doesn’t make any sense and just falls apart.

Final Verdict: 3/10

Alice Through The Looking Glass Official Website

Click here to listen to my audio podcast review of Alice Through the Looking Glass

The Angry Birds Movie

May 18, 2016 by adolph vega

The Angry Birds Movie

Review Written By:

Adolph Vega

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3D

The 3D presentation of "The Angry Birds Movie " is an enjoyable but not necessary 3D experience. The 3D visuals are mostly used for pop out 3D and are gimmicky in nature. Many times the 3D element is used to purposely fly objects outward toward the audience. The depth-based 3D is used to give the audience a sense of perspective and has decent implementation. I don't remember any specific scene that grabbed my attention because of the use of 3D. The 3D overall looked sharp and vivid and only enhanced the already pretty visuals. I don't think anyone will be wowed by this 3D presentation but I don't think it was dramatically disappointing either.

Final Score: Good 3D

Movie

I was shocked and stunned after watching “The Angry Birds Movie”. I was stunned by the quality filmmaking, excellent animation & gorgeous visuals. The most shocking element of this movie was how much enjoyment I received from it. Movies based on popular video games are not supposed be this well made.

The movie is centered on the bird named Red. Red struggles with issues of anger, and is isolated from the other villagers of Bird Island. It's surprising how well developed the character of Red is. The movie intelligently uses flashbacks to make RED an interesting, funny and relatable character. Jason Sudeikis's snarky portrayal of Red is hilarious, and he easily carries the movie. The main story of the "The Angry Birds Movie" is focused the first contact between the birds and the pigs. The pigs arrive from a nearby island and are more technically advanced than the birds. The pigs seem nice and enjoy partying, dancing, but can they really be trusted? The main characters of this movie are essentially the most well known birds from the various Angry Birds video games. The voice cast within this movie work well together and make for many funny and enjoyable scenes. Some of the scenes within the movie can drag on and become tiresome. If you have never played the mobile game (where have you been in the last 10 years?) you won't have any problems watching this movie as the story and characters are self contained and rationalized in a straightforward fashion. Not everything in the movie is fully explained. For example many birds have special abilities such as one bird that can explode, another bird can run at super speed and so forth. Why do some birds have abilities and others don’t? This plot point is not explained at all. The movie has many small plot holes that can become a distraction. I won’t spoil the movie but many things conveniently happen to push the story forward. The movie has many tasteful mature jokes, scenarios and pop culture references that will fly over the heads of the kids watching but make the parents happy. One problem I had with the movie is how hectic it can be at times. Most of the time the movie is very fun and lighthearted. The movie is something that both adults and children will enjoy and is well written, funny and has a great heart.

Honestly before watching this movie I was very cynical and assumed this movie was only made to sell merchandise, video games and toys. I believe most adults probably have this assumption too, but I am here to tell you that "The Angry Birds movie" is a well-made, funny movie and is worthy of your time. "The Angry Birds Movie" is possibly the best video game based movie ever created. Other movies have used video games for inspiration such as "Wreck it Ralph" and "Tron" but this movie is easily the most successful video game movie that is directly related to a specific game franchise. Don't get me wrong the movie isn't perfect, it has many plot holes, too much dancing for my tastes and can become too frantic at times, but overall I still really enjoyed it. Honestly this movie is significantly more fun than it appears to be on first glance. "The Angry Birds Movie " succeeds because of it's compelling story and quality characters and successfully translates a popular mobile video game franchise to the big screen.

Final Score: 7/10

The Angry Birds Movie Official website

Click here to listen to my audio podcast review of The Angry Birds Movie

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