Racing Stripes

December 13th, 2008
Sign up for Blockbuster, Get 50% off first month.

Racing Stripes is a 2005 adventure/comedy movie, directed by Frederik Du Chau. It is similar in the style to the 1995 movie Babe, in that the protagonist is a talking animal who lives on a farm and succeeds at an activity not expected of his species. The movie was filmed in Pietermaritzburg and Nottingham Road, South Africa.

Plot

In a rush to pack up during a thunderstorm, the Circus Sorano (a traveling circus) accidentally leaves behind a baby zebra. The foal is rescued by Nolan Walsh, a retired thoroughbred-racehorse trainer. Nolan takes the zebra home to his farm, and leaves it in the care of his daughter Channing, who names him “Stripes”. The other farmyard animals try to educate him about life on the farm, but he is convinced that he is destined for the nearby racetrack, even though he isn’t a real racehorse (a fact he doesn’t realize for three years). He spends his time training, helped by Tucker, a Shetland Pony who had helped coach champion racehorses in the past.

Channing has a similar ambition: To become a jockey. Her father had refused to let her train, as he believed it to be too dangerous; he had retired from training after her mother, also a jockey, had died in a racing accident, when Channing was sixteen years old. However, her enthusiasm eventually wins Nolan over, and he agrees to train her and Stripes, with the aim of winning the illustrious Kentucky Open.

Taglines: His stripes made him an outcast. His heart made him a hero. This film is rated G (General Audience).

Characters

  • Nolan Walsh is Channing’s father. Ever since his wife was killed when her racehorse stumbled, Nolan hasn’t been able to bear training horses. Fearing that Channing will hurt herself if she rides, he refuses to let her anywhere near a saddle.
  • Channing Walsh is the movie’s human star. She wants to ride, and despite her lack of opportunity she has a natural talent for it. She’s determined to race just like her mom, whatever it takes.
  • Woodzie is an old racetrack gambler. He sympathizes with Channing, especially since he sees the same gift in her that was present in her mother.
  • Clara Dalrymple is Nolan’s former employer and a classic example of an egotistical aristocrat. She seems at first to be the movie’s main villain, but to her credit she’s honest enough not to sabotage the competition; the real villain of the movie is Sir Trenton.
  • John Cooper is Clara Dalrymple’s trainer after Nolan stopped. He is shown to truly care about the horses he trains, giving Sandy a break when she seems unsettled for the high jump hurdles. After witnessing this, Dalrymple berates him going as far as to say as long as she pays him, he will train to the pace she wants. He sarcastically asks her if she has a board meeting to go to. He is involved in Pride’s training.

Tags:
Posted in 2000's Animals | No Comments »

March of the Penguins

December 13th, 2008
Sign up for Blockbuster, Get 50% off first month.

March of the Penguins (French: La Marche de l’empereur; literally The Emperor’s March) is a French nature documentary film which won the 2006 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. It was directed and co-written by Luc Jacquet, and co-produced by Bonne Pioche and the National Geographic Society.

The film depicts the yearly journey of the emperor penguins of Antarctica. In autumn, all the penguins of breeding age (five years old and over) leave the ocean, their normal habitat, to walk inland to their ancestral breeding grounds. There, the penguins participate in a courtship that, if successful, results in the hatching of a chick. For the chick to survive, both parents must make multiple arduous journeys between the ocean and the breeding grounds over the ensuing months.

It took one year for the two isolated cinematographers Laurent Chalet and Jérôme Maison to shoot the movie, which was filmed around the French scientific base of Dumont d’Urville in Adélie Land.

International versions

The original French language release features dialog “dubbed” as if it were spoken by the penguins themselves; the voice actors are Charles Berling, Romane Bohringer and Jules Sitruk. The Hungarian version follows that, with actors Ákos K?szegi, Anna Kubik, and Gábor Morvai.

The German version as seen in German movie theaters (and in the televised broadcast in April 2007 on channel ProSieben) uses the voices of Andrea Loewig, Thorsten Michaelis and Adrian Kilian for the “dubbed dialog” of the penguins. The Austrian channel ORF 1, however, used for their near-simultaneous broadcast in April 2007 the alternate version available on the German “Special Edition” DVD. This uses a documentary narration voiceover spoken by the German actor Sky Du Mont.

The English language release was given a more straightforward narration by American actor Morgan Freeman, as were the Dutch version (narrated by Belgian comedian Urbanus), the Indian version (narrated in Hindi and English by Indian actor Amitabh Bachchan and known by the title “Penguins: A Love Story”), the Polish version (narrated by Polish actor Marek Kondrat), and the Swedish version (narrated by Swedish actor Gösta Ekman).

The Tagalog version (also straightforward) is narrated by actress Sharon Cuneta; it was entitled Penguin, Penguin, Paano Ka Ginawa? (English: “Penguin, Penguin, How Were You Made?”) with the English title as the subtitle. The Tagalog title is similar to that of a Philippine novel and movie, Bata, Bata, Paano Ka Ginawa? (English: “Child, Child, How Were You Made?”)

The original version uses an original soundtrack by Émilie Simon, whereas the English language version replaces it with a score by Alex Wurman.

Tags:
Posted in 2000's Animals | No Comments »

Madagascar

December 13th, 2008
Sign up for Blockbuster, Get 50% off first month.

Madagascar is a 2005 computer-animated film produced by DreamWorks Animation, and released in movie theaters on May 27, 2005. The film tells the story of four Central Park Zoo animals who have spent their lives in blissful captivity and are unexpectedly shipped back to Africa, getting shipwrecked on the island of Madagascar. The voices of Ben Stiller, Jada Pinkett Smith, Chris Rock and David Schwimmer are featured. Other voices include Andy Richter, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Cedric the Entertainer. Madagascar was released on DVD on November 15, 2005, along with the short film, The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper. A Blu-ray Disc version was released on September 23, 2008. A sequel, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, was released on November 7, 2008.

Plot

At the Central Park Zoo, Marty the zebra is celebrating his tenth birthday, but longs to see the rest of the world from outside his pampered life at the zoo. Believing that he can find wide-open spaces to run in Connecticut, he joins with the zoo’s penguins who are trying to escape the zoo. Marty’s friends, Alex the lion, Gloria the hippo and Melman the giraffe, realize Marty’s folly and try to follow him. The four, along with the penguins and two monkeys, Mason and Phil, eventually find themselves at Grand Central Station, but are quickly sedated by tranquilizer darts. The zoo, under protest of animal-rights activists, are forced to ship the animals by sea to Kenya. During their travels, the penguins manage to escape and take over the ship, intent on taking it to Antarctica. Their antics on the bridge cause the crates containing Marty, Alex, Gloria, and Melman to fall off the boat and wash ashore on Madagascar.

The animals are soon able to regroup, initially believing themselves to be in San Diego, California. Upon exploring, however, they come across a pack of lemurs lead by King Julien XIII, and quickly learn of their location. Alex blames Marty for their predicament and attempts to signal for help to get back to civilization, while Marty finds the wild to be exactly what he was looking for, with Gloria and Melman soon joining him in enjoying the island. Alex eventually comes around, though his hunting instincts begin to return after being away from the pampered zoo life for so long. The group is accepted by the lemurs, though King Julien’s adviser, Maurice, cautions them about Alex being a predator. King Julien ignores Maurice’s concerns and persuades the group to help the lemurs fend off the fossa who hunt the lemurs as prey. When Alex begins to turn on his friends and the lemurs, unable to overcome his instincts, King Julien bans him to the far side of the island with the fossa. Marty begins to regret seeing what Alex has turned into.

The penguins, having been to Antarctica and finding it not to their liking, land the boat on Madagascar. Seeing this as a chance to return Alex to New York, Marty, with Gloria and Melman, goes to find Alex but become trapped by the fossa. Alex suddenly appears and approaches Marty as if he were prey, but then turns on the fossa to scare them away from the lemur territory forever, showing Marty he has overcome his predatory nature, and satisfy his meat craving through sushi instead of steak. As lemurs throw a bon voyage celebration for the foursome, the penguins decide not to break the news that the ship has run out of fuel and that they are still stuck on the island.

Tags:
Posted in 2000's Animals, Featured Articles | No Comments »

King Kong

December 13th, 2008
Sign up for Blockbuster, Get 50% off first month.

King Kong is a 2005 remake of the 1933 film of the same name about a fictional giant ape called Kong. The film was directed by Peter Jackson and stars Naomi Watts as Ann Darrow, Jack Black as Carl Denham, Adrien Brody as Jack Driscoll and, through performance capture, Andy Serkis as Kong. Serkis also played Lumpy, the galley chef on the SS Venture.

In 1933, Great Depression-era New York City, actress Ann Darrow has just lost her job at the local theatre and is recruited by film director Carl Denham because of the presence of her favourite writer Jack Driscoll. They set sail to a remote Indian Ocean island known as Skull Island, inhabited by prehistoric creatures and the mighty giant gorilla Kong.

The film’s budget climbed from an initial US$150 million to a record-breaking $207 million. The film was released on December 14, 2005 and made an opening of $50.1 million. While the film performed lower than expectations, Kong made domestic and worldwide grosses that eventually added up to $550 million, becoming the fourth-highest grossing movie in Universal Studios history. Strong DVD sales also added over $100 million to the grosses.[2] It also received positive reviews, with some considering it one of the all-round best movies of 2005, though it has been criticized for its length at three hours and eight minutes (while a three-disc extended DVD edition actually increases this to over three hours and twenty minutes). It won Academy Awards for visual effects, sound mixing, and sound editing.

Plot

The film opens in New York City, 1933, at the height of the Great Depression. Having lost her job as a vaudeville actress, Ann Darrow is hired by troubled filmmaker Carl Denham to be an actress in his new motion picture. With time running out, Ann signs on when she learns her favourite playwright Jack Driscoll is the screenwriter. On the SS Venture, they slowly fall in love. As for Carl, a warrant is out for his arrest and Captain Englehorn begins to have second thoughts, following the fears of his crew over the legend of Skull Island. Despite his attempt to turn around, their ship is sucked up into a fog and crashes into one of the encircling rocks.

Carl and his crew explore the island, with a deserted village against a wall, but they are attacked by the vicious natives. Mike, the sound technician, is speared, one of the sailors has his head crushed, and Jack is knocked out. Ann screams, and a roar beyond the wall responds. The matriarch vows to sacrifice her to “Kong”, a 25 ft (8 m) gorilla. Englehorn and his crew break up the attack and return to the damaged ship. They finally lighten the load to steer away, until Jack discovers Ann has been kidnapped. On the island, Ann is hung from a balcony to the other side of a valley. The crew comes armed, but are too late. Carl sees the gorilla that has taken her. Englehorn gives them 24 hours to find her. In the meantime, Ann discovers the remains of the previous sacrifices, and stabs Kong’s hand with her ceremonial necklace to no avail. Kong takes Ann into the jungles of the island.

Captain Englehorn organizes a rescue party to find Ann and hunt down the beast. The rescue party is caught up in a Venatosaurus pack’s hunt of Brontosaurus, and four of them are killed while Jack and the rest of the crew survive. Ann manages to entertain Kong with juggling and dancing, but he does not kill her when she refuses to continue, leaving her instead. The rest of the rescue party come across a swamp. It is here that Bruce Baxter and two others leave the group. The survivors stumble across a log where Kong attacks, shaking them off the log into a ravine. He returns to rescue Ann from three Vastatosaurus rex (modern Tyrannosaurus), and takes her up to his mountain lair. Englehorn and the rest of the crew rescue whomever is left of the rescue party from the pit of giant insects, and as Jack decides to continue to search for Ann, Carl decides to capture Kong. Jack comes to Kong’s lair, and disturbs him from his slumber. As Kong fights a swarm of giant bats, Ann and Jack escape by grabbing the wing of a Terapusmordax and then jumping to a river. They arrive at the village wall with the angry Kong following them, where Ann becomes distraught by what Carl plans to do. Kong bursts through the gate and struggles to get her back, but he is knocked out by chloroform.

In New York around Christmas, Carl presents Kong — the Eighth Wonder of the World on Broadway. Ann has become an anonymous chorus girl and a double of her is no replacement for Kong. Camera flashes from photographers enrage the gorilla. Kong breaks free from his chrome-steel chains and chases Jack across town, where he encounters Ann again. They share a quiet moment on a frozen lake in Central Park, before the army attacks. Kong climbs onto the Empire State Building, where he makes his last stand against the Curtiss Helldivers, downing three of them. Ultimately Kong is hit by several bursts of gunfire from the surviving planes, and gazes at a distraught Ann for the last time before falling off the building to his death. Ann is greeted by Jack, and the reporters flood to Kong’s corpse. Carl takes one last look and says, “It wasn’t the airplanes. It was Beauty killed the Beast.”

Tags:
Posted in 2000's Animals | No Comments »

Because of Winn-Dixie

December 13th, 2008
Sign up for Blockbuster, Get 50% off first month.

Because of Winn-Dixie is a best selling children’s novel by Kate DiCamillo published in 2000 and winner of a Newbery Honor distinction the following year. It also won the 2000 Josette Frank Award, and 2003 Mark Twain Award. It has been adapted as a 2005 family film, directed by Wayne Wang, produced by Walden Media and Twentieth Century Fox.

Plot

India Opal Buloni is a lonely 10-year-old girl who has just moved to a trailer park in the small town of Naomi, Florida, with her itinerant preacher father. While in the Winn-Dixie supermarket, she encounters a scruffy dog wreaking havoc. She claims the dog is hers to save it from going to the pound and names it Winn-Dixie. Winn-Dixie’s first act of inspiration on Opal is for her to challenge her father to name ten things about her mother, who abandoned them years before. Winn-Dixie also becomes friends with everyone he encounters, and this encourages Opal to make new friends and gradually learn they all have burdened pasts. Miss Franny Block is the town librarian with a large family reputation to uphold; Gloria Dump is a blind black woman and recovering alcoholic feared of being a witch by neighbourhood children; Otis is a shy ex-con pet store clerk with a musical streak. Opal gains wisdom and different outlooks on life through relationships with adults and peers, and grows emotionally in the process. She and Gloria host a party for all her friends to meet, but a thunderstorm breaks it up and scares Winn-Dixie away. While searching for him, Opal and her father rekindle their strained relationship.

Tags:
Posted in 2000's Animals | No Comments »

Two Brothers

December 13th, 2008
Sign up for Blockbuster, Get 50% off first month.

Two Brothers is a 2004 France/United Kingdom adventure/family film directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud about two tigers who are separated at birth and then reunited. Many tigers were used for the film, mostly from French zoos with others from Thailand.

Plot summary

Set in 1930s Cambodia, two tigers were separated as cubs after the ancient temple in which they were living was disturbed by Aidan McRory.

Prior, the cubs are playing when Sungha gets too close to a badger kit. The cub chases the kit into his burrow and his mother comes out and scares Sungha up a tree. The Kumal comes and scares away the badger and calls his brother out of the tree where the leaves stick to the sap on his paws ( from climbing the tree ). Their mother comes to get them when she hears gunshots and picks Sungha up. Kumal follows, but cannot jump as high as the mother can so is trapped. The father tiger finds him but is shot.

McRory, an unscrupulous explorer, big-game hunter. and temple looter, killed the cubs’ father. One of the cubs, Kumal, is immediately recovered by McRory who befriends it, but he is arrested for stealing from an ancient temple and Kumal is fist kept by the chief in the Cambodian villiage that McRory stays in while hunting for statues. Later on, Kumal is sold to a circus where he is going to be the star attraction.

The other, Sungha, remains in the jungle with his mother, but both are eventually stalked by McRory as game for a vain Khmer prince to hunt. The mother is shot in the ear and thought to be dead for a moment before running away. Her cub Sungha is caught and ends up as a pet to young Raoul, son of the French administrator, Normandin.

Kumal, meanwhile, is being trained by the cruel circus ringmaster Zerbino to do tricks, such as jumping through a flaming hoop. Sungha becomes too wild ( after, in a fright, he seriously hurts Raoul’s dog ) to remain in the French household, and he is made a part of the prince’s palace menagerie.

Then the prince decides to hold a big festival in which a battle between two great beasts – the brother tigers – is to be the centerpiece.

When placed in the cage together before the audience, the two brothers do not immediately recognise each other, and Kumal is afraid to fight. However, when the brothers do finally recognise each other, instead of fighting they begin to play together, much to the annoyance of the audience and the owners. The trainer attempts to antagonise the tigers into fighting, but as he opens the cage, the tigers escape, managing to frighten the trainers and the audience into the cage themselves.

The two brothers escape, but are hunted by McRory. After escaping through a fire ( Kumal teaches Sungha how since he learned in the circus ), McRory and Raoul find them. However, as McRory takes aim at one tiger, the other stands over McRory, who remembers the kindness McRory showed him. McRory puts down his gun and vows never to hunt again.

The two brothers make their way back to their temple home for a happy reunion with their mother who is still alive to find them.

Tags:
Posted in 2000's Animals | No Comments »

Shark Tale

December 13th, 2008
Sign up for Blockbuster, Get 50% off first month.

Shark Tale is a 2004 CGI comedy produced by DreamWorks Animation. In the story, a young fish (played by the voice of Will Smith) falsely claims to have killed the son of a shark mob boss to win favor with the mob boss’ enemies and advance his own community standing. The movie additionally features the voices of Jack Black, Renée Zellweger, Angelina Jolie, Martin Scorsese, and Robert De Niro. Its original title was Sharkslayer, but the producers thought that this might provoke a degree of misunderstanding among the target audience of the film, children and families. Shark Tale is also one of the first three feature-length films to be made into a Game Boy Advance Video. It was released into theaters on October 1, 2004.

Reception

Nominations

  • 2004 Oscar nominated for Best Animated Feature

Critical

Critical reception to Shark Tale since its release has been mixed to negative. On Rotten Tomatoes, it was reported that 33% of the critics gave the film positive reviews based on 166 reviews due to similarities to another fish-themed film, Finding Nemo, calling it “derivative and full of pop culture in-jokes”. Critical reception from Metacritic to Shark Tale were also mixed. It received a 48% rating based on 36 reviews. Users of Metacritic gave the film a 5.2 rating based on 39 votes.

Box office

Despite the negative reviews, Shark Tale grossed $47,604,606 on its opening weekend placing itself #1. For the next two weeks, it stayed as #1 movie grossing $31,330,299 on its second week and on its third week, the film grossed $22,005,952. Overall, Shark Tale made $160 million nationwide and $206 million overseas with $367 million worldwide.

Criticisms and analysis

Many Italian-American organizations protested Shark Tale for perpetuating negative stereotypes of Italian-Americans. Many groups feel that such a movie would promote negative ideas about Italian-Americans among the younger viewers that the movie appealed to. Though much protesting was done, only a few aspects of the film had stereotypical features removed upon release.

Gay groups noted Lenny’s “vegetarian” shark as a possible metaphor for coming out of the closet, and even speculate that the character Lenny could be a representative of a gay man. Noteworthy in this discussion is the fact that refusing to “eat meat” could be construed as a rejection of masculinity. A brief passing of Walter, a sperm whale voiced by Anthony Anderson, triggers a few suggestive comments regarding “sperm whales”, although it isn’t said outright. Lenny also expresses his fear of telling his father of being “vegetarian” and how his orientation would not be accepted. This is metaphorical of the stereotypical factor of a relationship between a conservative father and a homosexual son. The American Family Association has raised concerns about the movie, suggesting that it was designed to promote the acceptance of gay rights by children.

Roger Ebert has said that the film doesn’t make sense as a children’s movie, “Since the target audience for Shark Tale is presumably kids and younger teenagers, how many of them have seen the R-rated “Godfather” and will get all the inside jokes? Not a few, I suppose, and some of its characters and dialogue have passed into common knowledge. But it’s strange that a kid-oriented film would be based on parody of a 1972 gangster movie for adults.”[3] He also observes that younger viewers would have trouble enjoying a movie about adult characters with adult problems (elaborate love triangles and a main character wanting to clear his debt with loan sharks) and compares it to more successful fish-focused animated features The Little Mermaid, Finding Nemo, and The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, which features a simpler plot that anybody can identify with, and draws humor from the lifestyle of the fish instead of transferring ethnic stereotypes into fish as does Shark Tale.

According to the Internet Movie Database there were plans for a Shark Tale 2, however the listing has disappeared.

Tags:
Posted in 2000's Animals | No Comments »

Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed

December 13th, 2008
Sign up for Blockbuster, Get 50% off first month.

Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed is a 2004 film, the 2nd and to date, last picture in the series and sequel to 2002’s Scooby-Doo. It was directed by Raja Gosnell, who also directed the first film, and was written by James Gunn, who also wrote Scooby Doo. It was released on March 26, 2004. The movie returns with the cast of Freddie Prinze, Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar, Linda Cardellini, Matthew Lillard and Neil Fanning as the main characters of Fred Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, Shaggy Rogers and Scooby-Doo, respectively. The new characters were announced with Seth Green (Family Guy/Robot Chicken) as Patrick, Peter Boyle (Everybody Loves Raymond) as Old Man Wickles and Alicia Silverstone (Braceface) as Heather Jasper-Howe.

Reception

It was rated PG for some scary action, rude humor and language. The film made its free-TV premiere on Nickelodeon before it aired on ABC Family.

The film earned $181,466,833 worldwide, lower than the $275,650,700 worldwide Scooby-Doo grossed two years earlier.

The critical response was mostly negative, gaining a 21% score on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 34 on Metacritic, indicating “Generally negative reviews”. It also earned a Razzie for “Worst Rip-Off or Sequel”.

Tags:
Posted in 2000's Animals | No Comments »

Hidalgo

December 13th, 2008
Sign up for Blockbuster, Get 50% off first month.

Hidalgo is a 2004 film based on the life and tales of former horse rider Frank Hopkins and his endurance horse Hidalgo, a mustang. The movie was written by John Fusco and directed by Joe Johnston. It stars Viggo Mortensen, Zuleikha Robinson and Omar Sharif.

Plot summary

Held annually for centuries, the Ocean of Fire – a three thousand mile survival race across the Arabian desert – was a challenge restricted to the finest Arabian horses ever bred of the purest and noblest lines and owned by the greatest royal families. In 1897, a wealthy sheikh invited an American, Frank T. Hopkins, and his mustang horse to enter the race for the first time. During the course of his career, Hopkins had been a cowboy and dispatch rider for the United States of America (U.S.) government. In this capacity he had carried a message to the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment, authorizing what became known as the Wounded Knee Massacre. While working as a stunt rider in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West shows, Hopkins is advertised as the greatest rider the West had ever known. The Sheikh puts this claim to the test, pitting the American cowboy and his mustang against the world’s greatest Arabian horses and Bedouin riders, some of whom are determined to prevent a foreigner – and especially an “impure” horse – from finishing the race. For Hopkins, the Ocean of Fire becomes not only a matter of pride and honor, but a race for his very survival as he and his horse attempt the supposedly near-impossible desert crossing.

Throughout the story, there are many who attempt to kill Hopkins and Hidalgo; some of these are working for the Sheikh’s treacherous nephew, who wishes, contrary to his uncle’s decree, to marry his cousin, the sheikh’s daughter Jazirah. A spirited girl and a horse-rider in her own right, who had been somewhat indulged by her father because his sons are deceased, she is rescued from raids by Hopkins and Hidalgo, whom she grows to trust. Eventually, Hopkins wins the race and travels home to America, later to buy many mustangs who had been sentenced to death by the Government. These he releases into the wild, allowing Hidalgo to go with them.

A recurring theme in the film is the fact that Hopkins’ father was White American and his mother a member of the Native American Lakota tribe. The tribespeople refer to him as “Blue Child” or “Far Rider”. As a half-breed, he feels sympathy and pity for his mother’s people, who are being driven to extinction by the settlers. However, he does not generally reveal his heritage, especially after the Wounded Knee massacre for which he feels partly responsible. Jazirah, who has become his friend, compares her desire not to wear a veil with Hopkins’ heritage; that he mustn’t “go through life hiding what God made you…. like me.” In the end, he casts in his lot with the tribal ways, singing a Lakota prayer to revive the injured and fatigued Hidalgo, and rides bareback for the final length of the race.

Reception

The movie received mixed reviews from the critics, garnering a 46% approval rating from Rotten Tomatoes (46% also from the Cream of the Crop of that site) and a 54 from Metacritic.

The events on which the movie were based are disputed by some as nothing more than tall tales.[1] Others view them to be slightly exaggerated true stories.[2] In either case, Roger Ebert offers a positive review of the film, saying it’s the kind of fun, rip-snorting adventure film Hollywood rarely makes anymore, adding, “please ignore any tiresome scolds who complain that the movie is not really based on fact. Duh.”[3]

John Fusco won the Spur Award for Best Western Drama Script, notwithstanding the fact that the bulk of the film was not set in the West, nor even in North America.

Native American reviewers disparaged the film because they saw it as furthering white stereotypes of Indian culture and behavior. Pointing out that Hopkins himself lied continually about his experiences and background (possibly modeling some of his stories after real-life accounts of Kit Carson), they claim that Hopkins was among many white men to claim Indian ancestry for personal gain. Saudi reviewers state that there never was a race like the Ocean of Fire, and there exists no documentation that Hopkins was even there.

Tags:
Posted in 2000's Animals | No Comments »

Garfield: The Movie

December 13th, 2008
Sign up for Blockbuster, Get 50% off first month.

Garfield: The Movie is a 2004 live-action movie based on the Jim Davis comic strip Garfield. In this movie, Garfield the cat was created with computer-generated imagery, though all other animals were real.

The movie was directed by Peter Hewitt, produced by Davis Entertainment for 20th Century Fox, and stars Breckin Meyer as Jon Arbuckle, Jennifer Love Hewitt as Dr. Liz Wilson, and features Bill Murray as the voice of Garfield.

The movie was released in the United States on June 11, 2004. Reviews of the movie were generally very negative, although Murray’s voice work received some positive notices.

A sequel, Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties, was released in movie theatres on June 16, 2006 in North America.

Plot

The Story takes place in Los Angeles. It begins when Garfield, a fat lazy cat (voiced by Bill Murray) who wakes up from a good night’s sleep and awaits a tasty breakfast. Jon is woken by the fat cat with a dogpile. After switching his liver flavored cat food with Jon’s corned beef hash, Garfield spots a pie outside on the neighbor’s window. He tricks the dog Luca (voiced by Brad Garrett) in order to get the pie and tangling his leash around many bushes and ceramic ducks. He also tricks Nermal to tip over a milk bottle for Garfield’s breakfast.

After walking the cul-de-sac, Jon spots a mouse and counts on Garfield to get it. Garfield refuses and Jon runs after the rodent. He then trips on one of Garfield’s toys and says “What good is it to have a cat, if it can’t catch a mouse”. Garfield then runs outside and catches up to the mouse. Its name is Louis (voiced by Nick Cannon) and he was warned by Garfield that he should not run around the house when Jon is home. Jon walks out after Garfield and sees Louis in his mouth. Jon is proud of the tabby cat and when he leaves Garfield spits him out and spares his life, for now.

At the telegraph tower, Happy Chapman (the main villain played by Stephen Tobolowsky) the star of a Saturday morning show is sick of cats (because of his allergies) and wishes for a dog star along with him, and to outdo his more successful twin brother Walter, a news anchor. After his show, Jon comes home with some food he bought at the store. Garfield pigs out of the lasagna trays and Jon is terribly disappointed. Garfield is brought to the vet, with Jon and is checked out by Liz (a vet played by Jennifer Love Hewitt), a nice and attractive veterinarian and is also Jon’s high school crush. Jon tries to ask her out when a dog is brought in. His name is Odie and Liz asks Jon to take care of Odie or he will not survive on his own. Garfield comes out of the vet and sees Odie in the car, and Liz ends up asking Jon out.

Garfield is (needless to say) not very happy now that a dog is running amuck in the house, sitting in his chair, getting the paper, and sleeping beside Jon when Garfield is not allowed to. To make things worse, Liz shows up and Jon, with Odie, leave to go to the town dog show, and Garfield chases after them. At the dog show (where Liz is a judge) and where Jon is in the audience with Odie, Garfield unwittingly walks right into the show, is spotted by the dogs competing in the show and runs away with the dogs in hot pursuit. The music goes on and Odie leaps out of Jon’s hands and attempts to dance (just as when Garfield was dancing back at the house). The judges are impressed as well as the audience. Garfield succeeds in escaping and Odie is rewarded by Happy Chapman (also a judge) He says Odie may have a future in television, but Jon turns it down. When a picture for the news paper is taken, you can see Happy looking greedily at Odie.

Garfield hangs on under Liz’s truck on the way back, and Jon and Liz plan a dinner on Sunday. Garfield is very angry because Odie got all the attention. He smacks a ball which started an unusual Rube Goldburg contraptions and results to the square shelfs above the computer to fall down (along with leaving the house in shambles). Garfield gets kicked out and he watches in the windows how much Jon loves Odie. He sleeps on the porch that night and Odie comes out to comfort him. Garfield is touched, but then hops inside and locks the doggy door, and locks Odie out. Odie runs away and ends up found by a sweet old lady.

Jon finds out Odie has gone and he feels terrible. After putting up posters around town, Liz arrives for the dinner, Jon cancels the dinner and tells Liz about Odie. Jon and Liz than work to together to find Odie. Meanwhile Happy Chapman finds a found poster by the old lady and knows it is Odie. He takes back Odie (which is a crime, because it is not his dog) and the dog performs on the Happy Chapman show. Garfield sees him and Happy announces that he and Odie are going to New York by train for a big performance. Garfield attempts to show Jon, but the show goes to a Wendy’s commercial. Garfield then sets out on a mission to rescue the pup.

In the city, Garfield meets Louis again and the mouse guides the fat cat to the Telegraph Tower. Garfield can’t go in by the doors, so he climbs the vents and finds Odie in Happy’s room. Happy comes in and puts on a inhumane shock collar that with a press of a button, Odie gets a small shock and performs backflip. Happy than heads to the Train Stationa and Garfield follows behind, The tabby is than caught by Animal Control and is thrown in the pound. Jon sees Liz at a clothing store and tells Liz that Garfield has run away too. The couple goes and investigates. Finding a found poster of Odie, the old lady says Odie is Happy Chapman’s dog and the two drive to telegraph tower.

Garfield, at the pound meets Persnikitty (voiced by Alan Cumming), Happy’s last show cat that he thrown inside the pound. A family arrives to take a cat home for a pet. Persnikitty, Garfield, and 3 other cats are taken and lined up behind a wall. The little girl picks Persnikkity. The old show cat tells Garfield that he will press the red button (opens all the cages) in order to escape. All the caged up animals ran like mad cows out in the city.

At the Train Station, Happy places Odie in the luggage cart and sits down for lunch. Garfield just misses the train. Jon and Liz arrive at the Train Station after being told that Happy was going to leave. Garfield sneaks into the control room, and messes with the commands. The tracks get rearranged that all the trains are on the same tracks. Just when the trains are about to collide, Garfield stops all the trains with the press of a certain button. Garfield climbs in the luggage cart after the train returns to the station. He reunites with Odie.

Happy sees Garfield and Odie run out and is shocked. He runs out and chases them into the Stations Luggage Halls, traps the two animals and threatens Odie with the shock collar. Garfield jumps to the rescue and Happy throws the tabby on some luggage. Garfield gets up and is greeted by the pound animals. They’ve come to help. The animals corner Happy, and Garfield gives orders to attack and place the shock collar on Happy’s neck. The pound animal leaves than Garfield and Odie finish off Happy with 2 shocks of the collar. Jon and Liz arrive, Jon furiously punches Chapman. Jon promises the cat and dog to never leave them out of his sight. Chapman gets arrested and Garfield is now known as a hero.

Back home, Liz and Jon began a relationship, along with a passionate kiss. Garfield learns friendship and love, and they live as a big happy family.

Tags:
Posted in 2000's Animals | No Comments »