Moana 3D Movie Review

Moana

3D Movie Review Written By Adolph Vega

3D

This movie was made for stereoscopic 3D and it looks fantastic in 3D from beginning to end. Clearly the cinematography and 3D were made hand in hand because it looks like 3D characters are interacting in 3D environments to showcase great stereoscopic 3D. The movie looks pretty , sharp and better because of the 3D . The movie occasionally uses two dimensional art style to present the narrative and during these scenes they use multiple layers of depth to make a richer tapestry of visuals that look outstanding in stereoscopic 3D. Sometimes objects will fly out or pop out and it's done within the context of  the storyline and what is needed for the scene and doesn't seem gimmicky or silly . The usage of 3D is clearly an intelligent design choice to make a more visually interesting and impressive movie . One example of this is how the movie handles sailing . Many different aspects of the ship will appear to pop out and retreat into the background depending on what is needed within the scene. The 3D element makes it look like your peering into a diorama and it looks impressive . Objects shown on screen seem tangible and help this animated movie come to life and seem authentic. Occasionally the movie goes in first person and gives the audience a true 3D visual treat that is trilling to see . The best word to describe the 3D element of this movie is smart . This movie has a wonderful 3D presentation that should be an example for other future 3D animated movies to learn from . This is easily one the best and smartest applications for 3D in a animated movie that I have seen in years. The 3D element is the complete package and is both fun and well executed and looks sharp and vivid . This movie deserves my highest accolades and earns my highest rating for its flawless amazing execution of stereoscopic 3D.  

Final Verdict: Great 3D, Editors Choice Award  

Movie

When I walked into the theater I had no idea what to expect from this movie. I know nothing about the culture and / or religion of the island people this movie is based upon . When I left the theater I was stunned because I felt like this movie perfectly introduced this setting into the mainstream and left me completely satisfied . Disney has achieved something truly spectacular with this movie and is unlike anything else that I have seen .

The movie perfectly executes an original and interesting story with fully developed and likeable characters. Moana is the story of a young woman (named Moana) who lives on an island with her family , friends and neighbors but yearns to travel.  A curse falls upon the island and Moana seeks the help of the demigod Maui to save the island.  Maui himself needs assistance from Moana because he has lost his special abilities. The story is focused on the dynamic of Moana and Maui working together to help save the island and her people . 

The movie is a musical and they perfectly incorporate musical storytelling elements into the narrative. I love all the musical songs presented within this film. My favorite song involved a giant glittery crab. I am tempted to buy that song off iTunes because it's the composition and flow are so much fun . The musical element feels natural and works well into the story. I found myself smiling and tapping my toes to the fantastic melodies and rhythm. Disney has done it again and made a wonderful musical animated movie. 

The characters are the aspect of the movie that I adore the most. The characters are well developed, complex and are rich in personality. The movie does a fantastic job establishing the characters and developing them . The characters have a  perfect chemistry with one another.  I understand the character motivations and I find them to be very relatable. The writing is sharp and dialogue seems natural and is perfectly deliverered. The voice acting in this movie is excellent and the characters come alive on screen and feel authentic. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson portrays Maui as a cocky self absorbed demigod that is extremely charming, especially when he sings . Moana is a strong independent woman that is very interesting and likeable . I even enjoyed the comic relief chicken named Heihei who doesn't speak but steals many scenes with his foolishness. The comedic aspect of this movie feels natural and is never too silly. The giant glittery crab that I mentioned earlier is named Tamatoa and is totally fabulous and is a perfectly animated character. The grandmother character Tala has so much personality and is pure joy to watch on screen. The excellent characters give this movie a soul and make it something truly special. 

When it comes to negatives I found nothing major to report .  One character element felt a little sudden but I won't discuss the details of this because it's a huge spoiler. Overall I love this this movie because it has a wonderful story with rich interesting characters. I found the action scenes to be fun and well executed and the pacing to be smooth. The animation within this movie is gorgeous and distinct. I was enchanted by this movie and found it extremely entertaining , funny and heartwarming.  Disney has made something truly memorable and remarkable with this movie and I welcome more new original stories from different parts of the world. Moana feels new and different and yet familiar . Moana is favorite movie of the year and is the definition of cinematic excellence,  and I consider it to be an instant modern Disney classic. 

Final Verdict: 10/10, Editors Choice Award 

© Disney, All Rights Reserved, Disney Lifestyle

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Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

3D Movie Review Written By: Adolph Vega

 

3D

Gimmicky is the best way to describe the 3D element of this movie. The visuals look sharp and vivid in 3D and are mostly used with the computer-generated beasts. The 3D gives depth and a sense of scope to the beasts and makes them appear more realistic. The movie really plays up the pop-out 3D, and several objects are thrown outward toward the audience. Sometimes the movie uses 3D with the screen aspect ratio and the characters or objects appear to exist out of the framing of the scene. The movie also uses 3D depth to showcase several different layers of the background. The 3D element actually helped me from falling asleep toward the last third of the movie. Overall I found the 3D element to increase my enjoyment of this movie and I can easily recommend it.

Final Verdict: Great 3D

Movie

“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” is the prequel to the popular “Harry Potter” franchise and is set nearly 70 years before the events of the first book / movie. This movie is actually based on the magical encyclopedia of beasts of the “Harry Potter” universe. The creator of the Harry Potter franchise J.K. Rowling actually wrote the screenplay for this movie. This film is a stand-alone prequel movie and the connections to the “Harry Potter” franchise are relatively minor, so you could watch it without viewing the other “Harry Potter” movies.

The film is set in New York City in the 1920’s and begins with a collection of newspapers flying toward the audience. This trope of flying newspapers with headlines explaining story elements is something rarely seen in modern movies. The flying newspaper trope is a plot device that was popular in the early 20th century that this movie is set in. This newspaper headline trope is a lazy way to start this movie.  The biggest problem is that the newspapers that are shown are very busy with multiple bylines and subsections, and moving sections. The panning and zooming of the newspapers toward the screen also make it difficult to concentrate on a single story element. The newspapers also fly by at a quick pace and make it easy to miss key parts of the prologue. Usually when filmmakers use this flying newspaper trope only has one or two newspapers are shown with a single headline. This flying newspaper trope is a fine example of how not properly introduce to the characters and story to the audience. I really feel like this movie screws up and doesn’t have a true introduction to the characters and scenario. The movie totally throws the audience into the deep end and is totally forgets to even give the main character a first name until halfway into the movie. Considering this is supposed to be the first movie in a huge franchise it’s totally outrageous that they neglect to properly establish this movie. The writer is obviously more interested in world building for future films, than establishing this film with a suitable introduction. This movie feels like it’s missing 30 minutes from the beginning, and this aspect made it easy to become lost and apathetic to the characters and plot.

The plot revolves around Newt Scamander who travels to New York and has a mishap with his briefcase full of magical creatures. Some of the magical creatures escape and he must recover them within New York. During this time New York is being devastated by magical entities that are deliberately attacking humans and the city. Humans are not supposed to be aware of magic and these entities threaten the community of witches & wizards who live in New York. Jacob Kowalski is a human that accidently gets caught up with Newt because he has the identical style brief case. Tina Goldestein acts as a magical police officer and befriends Newt and Jacob. Queenie is the younger sister of Tina who has the ability to read minds and is part of this team who helps Newt. This group of characters is really amusing together and I enjoyed all of their performances. The cast of this movie continues to expand to an excessive level. The main characters are fine, but the huge supporting cast is way too big to care about.

On a technical level the special effects of this movie are well done. Sadly it seems like all the magical fantastic creatures are computer generated and seem too artificial. Many times I questioned the authenticity of performances the actors who were interacting with the computer-generated creatures. I wish that more of the special effects were done in a practical fashion. Some of the acting toward the digital creatures is not believable and doesn’t seem perfectly synced.

Where this movie succeeds is the charm and humor factor. The main characters (Newt, Jacob, Tina, Queenie) have great chemistry and are delightful to watch on screen. During many moments of this movie I was laughing out loud. The humor is silly and family friendly and it works well. One creature in particular called the Niffler I found extremely charming and funny. This mischievous creature loves shiny things and is a huge thief, and literally and figuratively steals each scene he is in.

Ultimately “ Fantastic Beasts and Where to find them” is an enjoyable movie with many flaws. I actually started to fall asleep toward the last third of the movie because I stopped caring about the overstuffed plot. This lack of caring is totally the fault of the movie for having such a huge cast and not having a proper introduction. This movie is a simple with likeable characters that is over done and falls short of being a truly magical experience.

Final Verdict: 6/10

TM & © 2016 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All rights reserved.

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Doctor Strange 3D Movie Review

Doctor Strange 3D Movie Review

Written By: Adolph Vega

 

3D

Doctor Strange has some amazing visual effects and the stereoscopic 3D element perfectly complements this movie. I feel this is the first movie made by Marvel Studios where the 3D element is a critical element of the cinematography and not just an after thought. Doctor Strange primarily uses depth-based 3D and creates an impressive diorama effect.  The 3D element really feels like your peering into the movie. The movie looks sharp, colorful and vivid in 3D. If you have the opportunity to watch this movie in IMAX 3D I can easily recommend viewing it in that larger screen. The depth of field presented within this movie really makes things look more impressive and gives some fantastical elements a better sense of being realistic. The 3D is used in some close up shots and gives you a better sense of the emotional state of the actors. This usage of 3D makes the viewer more invested into what is happening on screen. The stereoscopic 3D element of this movie is so well done; I wouldn’t want to watch this movie in 2D and is easily one of the best uses of 3D in a movie released in 2016. 

Final Verdict:

Great 3D, Editors Choice Award for 3D

Movie

Doctor Strange is a radical departure for Marvel Studios suite of films. Doctor Strange has a fantastic setting, incredible psychedelic visuals, and mystical eastern themes, and simply feels totally different from anything else released from Marvel studios.

Doctor Strange is a self-contained origin story for the character. Doctor Stephen Strange is a brilliant world renewed surgeon, and due to an unforeseen accident he needs the assistance of eastern medicine. Doctor Strange learns of the mystical arts and trains to protect this realm of existence from threats from another dimension. Benedict Cumberbatch portrays Doctor Strange as an arrogant self absorbed cocky character. I really enjoyed this performance from Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange. I found him very likable, well acted and is a perfect fit the role. In many ways this performance reminds me of the performance of Robert Downey Junior as Ironman. Since this movie is an origin movie, many times Doctor Strange acts as the avatar for the audience and asks questions about what is going on. The main story revolves around a group of people who want and extra dimensional entity to consume the earth and Doctor Strange and his comrades must find a way to stop it. Magic has never been an aspect of the marvel comic's movies and this movie does a good job introducing it into the marvel cinematic universe. Sadly the story itself feels rushed and many of the details are quickly glossed over and under explored. Several aspects of the story fall a little too perfectly into place and seems convenient for the plot to advance. The movie ends in a clever way that is both satisfying and unique. Even if I have problems with the story being under explained I still found myself extremely entertained and interested in what was happening on screen. 

The movie has a large cast of characters that all work well together. Christine Palmer is the love interest to Doctor Strange and they have a complex history and good chemistry on screen. Tilda Swinton is “The Ancient One” and essentially is the master of the mystical arts who teaches Doctor Strange. This character is odd because her comic book version is vastly different from this film version. I really enjoyed this film version, which has a great motherly vibe and is well acted. The only problem I had with this character is that she seems out of place in this eastern setting. Another notable character is that of Wong, who watches over the library of mystical arts and acts as comic relief and a sidekick to Doctor Strange. The movie itself has a very corny sense of humor that mostly works to lighten this movie. Overall I really enjoyed the entire cast of Doctor Strange. 

This fantastical setting is brought to life with truly spectacular visual effects. The visuals of Doctor Strange look amazing and perfectly compliment the surreal storyline. I cannot understate how well executed and well shot these special effects are and how integral they are for this movie. The visuals of Doctor Strange are easily the best special effects that I have seen this year and possibly in the last decade. The movie has very fast pacing and flows well from one scene to another. The movie doesn’t try to teach philosophy or religion, which is interesting because you would expect that from this type of movie.

Doctor Strange is a fascinating movie from beginning to end. The movie has amazing visuals that are a real treat for the eye. Sadly the story of Doctor Strange feels rushed and glossed over. It’s not a perfect movie, but I definitely enjoyed entering this mystical magical world of Marvel comics. 

Final Verdict: 8/10, Editors Choice Award

 © 2016 MARVEL / Disney

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