Movie Review: Super Slick Spy Flick

Cars 2 movie poster, image property of Disney and Pixar.

by Jack Garcia

Cars 2 ADMIRABLE

It’s that time of year, my friends.  That time every summer where Pixar offers up their yearly masterpiece!  This year’s movie is director John Lasseter’s Cars 2, a sequel to the 2006 Cars, and although it’s not their best movie I still had a lot of fun racing around the world in this super slick spy flick.

Larry the Cable Guy returns as the voice of Mater, the dim-witted hillbilly of a tow truck.  Although only a supporting character in the first film, this time the show really is all about Mater.  While his best friend—racecar Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson)—is racing in the World Grand Prix, Mater is caught up in some international espionage.  British spies Finn McMissile (Michael Caine) and Holley Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer) mistake Mater for their American informant and the three embark on a secret mission that closely ties into the race McQueen is racing in.

The animated film takes us from Tokyo to France to Italy to London and back to Radiator Springs again and the locations are all fully-realized and create a fun backdrop to the action.  Although it’s hard to believe that McMissile and Shiftwell don’t realize Mater isn’t really a spy—and that Mater is clueless that they think he is—the action more than makes up for its implausibility.  The action sequences are well-executed, exhilarating, and often humorous.  Seriously, there is a lot of high-adrenaline awesomeness in this movie!

That being said, the majority of movie critics seem to hate this movie.  They’re calling it the fall of Pixar.  While I’ll admit that it’s probably their worst movie, I don’t think it’s by any means awful.  It’s still a really entertaining movie.  One problem many are citing is the choice to make Mater the star of the show instead of McQueen.  I didn’t mind at all because I happen to like Mater.  All I wish is that we could have seen more depth from Mater.  We’ve all become accustomed to Pixar movies being full of insight and heart, and Cars 2 just feels a bit superficial.

But as far as spy movies go, it’s more enjoyable then some live-action Bond flicks!

Movie Review: Bad Teachers Tell Bad Jokes

Bad Teacher movie poster, property of Columbia Pictures.

by Jack Garcia

Bad Teacher AVERAGE

Cameron Diaz stars as Elizabeth Halsey, a middle school teacher who has no motivation to teach.  She was hoping to marry a rich man and stop teaching for good, but that plan fell through.  Now she just slumps over her desk drinking booze and getting high while her students watch movie after movie.  But when Scott Delacorte (Justin Timberlake) joins the staff, her plans to woo and marry a rich man are kicked into high gear.  She’s confident that she’ll win him with a boob job, so she does everything in her power to raise the money—including theft, blackmail, seduction, etc.  A fellow teacher named Amy Squirrel (Lucy Punch) is on to her though, and the two battle it out.

Elizabeth’s only friends at the school are the gym teacher named Russell (Jason Segel) who has a thing for her and Lynn (Phyllis Smith) who is naively oblivious to Elizabeth’s cruelty.  Segel and Smith get some of the biggest laughs and are arguably the only endearing characters in the film.  Poor Justin Timberlake is stuck playing the boring and unfunny Scott.  There really isn’t much to his character at all.  And Lucy Punch’s over-the-top example of the “perfect” teacher is comedic at times but mostly just weird and annoying.

The biggest flaw of the movie is the central character of Elizabeth.  Cameron Diaz tries her best to turn the lemon of a script (written by Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg) into lemonade, but there just isn’t much to work with.  She has her funny moments, but if you’ve seen the trailer to this movie you’ve pretty much seen it all.  She throws balls at kids, curses like a sailor, and insults their baked goods.  It kind of gets old quick.  And is she a redeemable anti-hero?  Not really.  She’s pretty much awful from beginning to end…

That being said, there were some really funny scenes that got me to laugh.  The problem was waiting through the awkward bits for the next working punch line.  The pacing of the movie is just so uneven!  If I were to grade this film, I’d give it a C-.  That’s a shame because I feel like the concept was good and with a bit of tweaking it really could have been an A film.  Unfortunately, the way it was handled left Elizabeth as nothing more than a bad teacher telling bad jokes.

My Favorite Pixar Movies

by Jack Garcia

12 Cars 2
Cars 2 is vastly different from the first Cars movie.  So different that it's almost hard to think of it as a sequel at all.  And while I found it to be really fun and exciting with all of its espionage and action, it just didn't resonate emotionally like most Pixar movies do.
11 Cars
While Cars 2 is fast and flashy, the original Cars was slow and nostalgic.  While it's about friendship and finding what's important in life, it's also an ode to forgotten small towns.  Growing up in Ordway, Colorado I could definitely relate!
10 Toy Story 2
Toy Story 2 broke the rule that sequels have to suck.  This movie successfully continued the story of our favorite toys while introducing us to some great new characters.  The song "When She Loved Me" makes me cry every time.
9 A Bug's Life
A Bug's Life was Pixar's second movie and it proved that Toy Story wasn't just a fluke.  It's based on the Aesop fable about an ant and a grasshopper, but it's like ten times cooler!  I just love Heimlich's "I'm a beautiful butterfly!"
8 Monster's, Inc.
The concept of Monster's, Inc. is so original!  What if the monsters in our closets were scared of us?  Brilliant!  The little girl Boo is so adorable, the monsters are so funny, and that climax with all of the doors is simply awesome!  I'm excited for the prequel Monsters University in 2013.
7 Ratatouille
This movie came out while I was living in Chile and I remember seeing some posters for it and thinking, "Who wants to watch a movie about a rat in a kitchen?"  Well, the answer to that question is "ME!"  For a foodie, Ratatouille is such a decadent and savory film!  It has a really interesting story, a great message, and I love the French atmosphere with the beautiful score and the gorgeous color palette.
6 The Incredibles
On the surface, The Incredibles is about retired superheroes.  But it's so much more than that.  It's a family drama centered around the parents feeling unfulfilled in life.  Something I think many can relate to.  I also love how the superpowers match each person perfectly.  We have the dad who is strong and dependable, the mom who stretches herself thin running the household, the teenage girl who wishes she could disappear and the little boy who is full of rambunctious energy.
5 Toy Story 
The beginning of the Pixar legacy, Toy Story is a monumental film.  Not only is it the first full-length computer animated movie in the history of cinema, it's a really good movie!  I remember when I first saw this movie and the goosebumps it gave me.  The images were so real!  The characters were so funny and relatable!  It was like nothing I had ever seen.  I was impressed with the visual style, the heartwarming story, and the great adventure of it all.  What kid didn't imagine their toys having a life all their own?
4 Toy Story 3
Over a decade later Pixar decided to add yet another sequel to the Toy Story franchise.  I was a little skeptical, because let's face it, movies that end in "3" usually aren't very good.  But in my opinion, Toy Story 3 managed to surpass the original in excellence.  Our favorite toys are on another spectacular adventure, but this time they are ten years older and so is their owner Andy.  This movie was very bittersweet, providing lots of laughs while reminding us all that at some point we have to grow up and move on.  I was so scared that the toys were going to die in the end that I was bawling my eyes out.  Who else but Pixar can make me fall in love with plastic toys?
3 Finding Nemo
Finding Nemo is movie magic!  The underwater world is so artfully depicted that I wish I were an amphibian!  Oh, and this movie is where I first fell in love with Ellen DeGeneres!  Ha ha!  Her delightfully quirky Dory is so fun to watch and she balances out the serious fuddy duddy Marlin perfectly.  I loved Nemo's struggles to prove himself and his father's struggle to let him do so.  The various characters they meet and the obstacles they face are so memorable, like the stinging jellyfish or the surfin' sea turtles.  And Dory's motto of "Just keep swimming" are words to live by.
2 Up
Up, to me, was the perfect balance of comedy and tragedy.  I was laughing and crying in equal measure all throughout.  The opening sequence telling Carl and Ellie's story through music and beautiful animation is probably one of the greatest scenes in movie history.  It's so wonderful.  And from there we embark on a whimsical adventure with balloons pulling a floating house, exotic birds, talking dogs, and an unlikely friendship between an old man and a little boy.  Up is colorful and bright while dealing with the heavy themes of death and loss and regret.  I love it!
1 WALL-E
WALL-E is an exceptional film.  Not as an animated film, or as a Pixar film, or as a kid's film... no, WALL-E is hands down an exceptional film period. The cinematography is stunning, the musical score and all the sound effects are ingenious and the storytelling is pitch-perfect... and oh what a story it is!  One trash-compacting robot is the last "living" thing on earth.  Humans have long since abandoned the planet and are floating in space.  Wall-E's life is simple... that is until he meets Eve who is a robot sent to earth in search of plantlife.  She finds a small leaf in a boot and returns to the ship.  Wall-E, smitten with her, follows.  By the movie's end the robots have fallen in love and the humans have returned to earth.  Although this movie was scoffed at by some for being too environmental or too against big business, I think the real point of WALL-E is to remind us about our own humanity.  To remind us to love one another and appreciate all the good that the universe has to offer!

Movie Review: It's Not Easy Being Green

Green Lantern movie poster, image property of Warner Bros. and DC Comics.

by Jack Garcia

Green Lantern AVERAGE

Ryan Reynolds stars as Hal Jordan, a fighter pilot who seems unable to cope with his life.  He’s never gotten over the death of his father, he seems to have messed up a perfectly good relationship with Carol Ferris (Blake Lively), and his reckless behavior has lost him his job.  He appears to be the last person you’d think to bestow with tons of responsibility, but that’s just what a dying purple alien does.

I bet you are thinking that purple aliens sound silly.  Well, that’s because it’s silly.  In fact, much of this movie is really silly.  Silly and cheesy.  The dying alien leaves him with a ring and a lantern and tells him to recite the oath.  Hal does so and finds that he is now equipped with superpowers and a nifty CGI suit.  Yes, ladies, Ryan Reynolds’ gorgeous body is gone most of the movie and instead replaced with a green animated version.

He is now a Green Lantern, one of many who are responsible for protecting the universe… and boy, does the universe need some protecting!  Parallax (voiced by Clancy Brown)—an evil entity that uses the power of fear—is on a rampage.  The Green Lanterns use the power of will, not fear, and the moment their will falters and they give in to fear, Parallax kills them.  Their fear only makes him stronger so he continues to grow and grow as more and more give in to fear.

None of the Green Lanterns have much faith in Hal because he is a weak and pathetic human.  By weak and pathetic I mean a nice guy and not a total jerk which is what all the aliens are.  Seriously, they are all major assholes.  But anyways, Hal overcomes his fear and with his amazing strength of will he overcomes Parallax and saves the day!!  YAY!

What made this movie just slightly subpar for me were the villains.  Parallax wasn’t that threatening to me and the final battle with him and Hal was sort of underwhelming.  It seemed too easy, somehow.  Then there was the character of Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard) whose side plot began really interestingly.  He was this nerdy, quiet doormat who accidentally got infected with some of the blood of Parallax, thus turning his fear into power.  He began to hear people’s thoughts, his head began to grow unattractively because of his increased brain power, and he started to control things with his mind.  He was a very damaged and angry character and I thought to myself, “Hey, he’s shaping up to be kind of an intriguing villain.”  But unfortunately, there wasn’t any payoff to that.  His character was killed off way too soon.

Besides the lame villains, ridiculous storyline, and cheesy special effects Green Lantern was actually kinda fun.  Ryan Reynolds is a really likable actor and I feel he was a good choice for this movie.  Blake Lively also did an admirable job as his love interest, providing just enough humanity to an otherwise cartoonish movie.  There were also a few laughs to lighten the load, which always seems necessary when adapting a comic book. 

My favorite comedic moment was probably when Hal flew to Carol’s balcony dressed as the Green Lantern and was surprised when she recognized him.  She says something to the effect of “I’ve known you my whole life.  I’ve seen you naked.  Because I can’t see your cheekbones you think I can’t recognize you?”  Ha ha ha!  I’ve always laughed whenever superheroes would put on their tiny little eye masks and nobody would recognize them!  Do they think we are stupid?

Anyway, if you go in wanting a popcorn flick where you can sit back and enjoy the spectacle of it all, you’ll probably leave happy.

Movie Review: Popper's Penguins are Predictable yet Pleasantly So

Mr. Popper's Penguins movie poster, image property of Twentieth Century Fox.

by Jack Garcia

Mr. Popper’s Penguins AVERAGE

Permit me to paraphrase the plot.  Jim Carrey portrays Tom Popper, Jr., a professional person perfectly preoccupied with his profession.  He has parted from his wife Amanda (Carla Gugino) who is presently pursuing a new partner, his progeny Janie (Madeline Carroll) and Billy (Maxwell Perry Cotton) often protest paying their pop a visit on weekends, and he is being propositioned by his pompous employers to persuade Mrs. Van Gundy (Angela Lansbury)—the proprietor of Tavern on the Green—to part ways with her property.  His personal assistant Pippi (Ophelia Lovibond) with her perplexing problem with P’s, is particularly productive in propping Mr. Popper up and planning his professional appointments.  But a peculiar present from his passed-on papa—a pullulating party of penguins—puts everything into perspective.

This particular picture is predictable in plot.  The penguins portray plenty of propensity, and Mr. Popper soon picks up on what is the paramount prize:  his family.  He puts aside his pursuits of personal prosperity to provide for the penguins, play with his children, and rekindle the passion with his past partner Amanda.  Perhaps sappy at points, Mr. Popper’s Penguins was a pleasant picture to participate in.  The penguins were full of pizzazz and personality, providing for plenty of pranks and puns… and lots of poop!

Movie Reviews: '8' Plus 3

Super 8 movie poster, image property of Paramount and Amblin.

by Jack Garcia

Super 8 AWESOME!

Before seeing J.J. Abrams’ Super 8 this afternoon I had heard it called “the E.T. of our generation” or “a cross between Goonies and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”  After seeing it, I couldn’t agree more.  And that’s a good thing.

The trailers do a really good job of keeping a lot of the events a mystery, so I won’t give too much of the plot away.  It’s a small town in 1979.  Our hero is a young middle schooler named Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney) whose mother has recently died in an unexplained accident at the factory where she worked.  Joe and his father Deputy Jack Lamb (Kyle Chandler) seem unable to communicate with one another and neither one has fully gotten over the loss of their wife and mother.  Jack focuses mostly on his job.  Joe makes monster movies with his friends.

One night Joe and his friends sneak out with Alice Dainard (Elle Fanning) to go shoot a scene for the zombie movie they are working on.  They witness a horrible train accident when a white pickup drives directly into the path of a military train.  From then on, things just get weirder and weirder and the kids realize that they are part of something much more real than their amateur horror flick.  The government gets involved, people and pets are disappearing, and nobody seems to have any answers.  Amidst all of the crisis friendships are tested, families are strengthened and pasts are forgiven.

What I loved most about this movie was its keen focus on its characters.  Oftentimes in these big-budget sci-fi thrillers we are only treated to big explosions and action—visual eye candy and nothing more.  Here the special effects are handled with restraint.  The creature is only shown when necessary, maintaining a lot of the mystery and reminding us that the film is less about the monster and more about its victims.  It’s about Joe and Alice’s blooming relationship—full of raw emotion and vulnerability.  It’s about Jack’s inability to let go.  It’s about old enemies coming together.  It’s about kids having an adventure.  It’s about an alien wanting to go home.

It really is the E.T. of this generation.

17 Miracles AVERAGE

Jasen Wade stars as Levi Savage, a Mormon man who joins the Willie Handcart Company and journeys through the harsh, cold winter to the Salt Lake Valley.  The film by LDS director T.C. Christensen chronicles the trials of the early Mormon pioneers and some of the miraculous events that the real Levi Savage recorded in his journals.  The movie isn’t necessarily very plot-driven—most of the events and characters are unrelated to each other—but it paints a fairly vivid portrait of the pioneers’ struggles and faith.  Although some of the miracles were cheesy, overall I was impressed with the quality of this obscure, low-budget movie.

The Hangover Part II AWFUL

Ed Helms plays Stu, a man getting married in Thailand who brings his friends Phil (Bradley Cooper), Doug (Justin Bartha) and Allan (Zach Galifianakis) along with him as his groomsmen.  A sequel to 2009’s hilarious drunken misadventure The Hangover, this movie also has the boys waking up without a clue as to what they did the night before, desperately trying to piece things together before the wedding ceremony.  What makes this movie different than the first is that it’s not funny.  It follows the exact same story of the first film—almost scene for scene—making all of its gags unoriginal and uninspired.  You can’t laugh at a joke when the punch line has already been given away…

Soul Surfer AVERAGE

AnnaSophia Robb plays Bethany Hamilton, a teenage surfer who eats, sleeps and breathes the sport.  When she loses an arm in a horrific shark attack, she fears that she might never be able to surf again.  But with her supportive parents (Dennis Quaid and Helen Hunt) and church leader (Carrie Underwood) coupled with sheer determination she’s able to get back into the water and surf again.  This movie was a little heavy-handed with the inspiring messages and Christian themes, but all in all it was much better than I expected.  Although Underwood should stick to singing and leave the acting to the actors, the performances from Robb, Quaid and Hunt were very well done.

The 2011 Tony Awards

by Jack Garcia

So a gay friend of mine said to me "Gosh, you are soooo gay!" when I mentioned that I was going to watch the Tony Awards tonight.  My response to him was, "Um... duh."

But as tonight's opening number proudly proclaimed, the Tonys aren't just for gays anymore!  Neil Patrick Harris hosted the ceremony and he did a phenomenal job!  The entire night was full of show-stopping musical numbers, hilarious comedic bits, and plenty of memorable acceptance speeches.  After the abysmally dull Oscars earlier this year, I was very grateful for some entertainment!

Here are some of my favorite moments:

• Neil Patrick Harris' opening number was phenomenal.  But even better was his number with Hugh Jackman about midway through, where the two spoofed "Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better)" along with several other Broadway tunes arguing over who was the better awards show host.
• Nikki M. James' acceptance speech brought me to tears.  Her sheer happiness and gratitude were so overwhelming!  And the part about the bumblebees??  Priceless.
• I was so proud of my boy Daniel Radcliffe!!  He performed so well in the number "Brotherhood of Man" from How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying!
• The numbers that The Scottsboro Boys and Sister Act performed were both very good and featured some fantastic vocalists like Joshua Henry and Patina Miller.  Unfortunately neither show was a big winner.
• John Leguizamo's standup bit from his show Ghetto Klown was highly amusing!
• "I Believe" performed by Andrew Rannells from The Book of Mormon was very very good.  I was quite happy that the show walked away with nine awards (out of 14 nominations) including Best Musical.  Congrats to Trey Parker, Matt Stone and Robert Lopez!
• Neil Patrick Harris riding in on the giant puppet horse from the play War Horse.  That thing was so cool!
• Whoopi Goldberg's hat.  What was that thing?
• The acceptance speech by Frances McDormand was so crazy and random!  Ha ha!  She didn't even dress up!  And Mark Rylance's speech was even stranger than hers... he just went on and on about how to walk through walls.  It was so odd but so funny!
• Neil Patrick Harris closed the night with a rap that mentioned so many specific details from the night that it had to have been written moments before he hit the stage.  Impressive!

Movie Reviews: Two Movies with Michael Fassbender in Them

X-Men: First Class movie poster, property of Twentieth Century Fox.
Jane Eyre movie poster, property of Focus Features.

by Jack Garcia

So I stayed after work today to watch the new X-Men movie and I was surprised to see Michael Fassbender was in it.  Somehow I hadn’t noticed it was him in the previews.  And since I never got around to reviewing Jane Eyre—which he’s also in—I thought I would review them both together!

X-Men: First Class ADMIRABLE

It’s about time somebody breathed some new life into the X-Men franchise!  Anybody remember that horrible X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie?  Thankfully X-Men: First Class was ten times better and very enjoyable to watch.

The film is the back story of enemies Magneto and Xavier, who were once good friends.  They are played respectively by Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy, who both infuse the movie with a lot of humanity and depth.  Their relationship is at the center of the film, and watching Magneto slowly turn over to “the dark side” so to speak is fascinating to watch.  I honestly don’t think I would have liked this movie as much as I did if these two hadn’t been cast.  Seriously, Fassbender and McAvoy are terrific actors.

As far as the plot goes, Xavier brings together a group of young mutants and starts his academy where he teaches them to embrace their unique gifts and channel them into something useful.  These students include Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), Beast (Nicholas Hoult), Havok (Lucas Till), and Banshee (Caleb Landry Jones) amongst others.  Together they must defeat Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon) and his minions Azazel (Jason Flemyng) and Emma Frost (January Jones).  Set in the early 60’s, Shaw’s plan is to pit the Soviets against the Americans resulting in a nuclear war.  From the rubble, the mutants will rise up and form their own nation.  I bet you didn’t know The Cuban Missle Crisis was linked to mutants did you?

Jane Eyre AWESOME!

I wasn’t a huge fan of last year’s Alice in Wonderland, but I have to thank Tim Burton for bringing to light Mia Wasikowska.  She was very good in The Kids Are All Right and boy was she spectacular in Jane Eyre.  She is quite the breakthrough talent.

The story is of a plain, poor girl named Jane Eyre (Mia Wasikowska) who was raised by a cruel aunt who sent her to an awful boarding school.  Once grown, she is hired by Mr. Rochester (Michael Fassbender) to be the governess of his young French ward.  In a big dark house full of secrets, ghosts, and unspoken sexual tension she finds herself falling in love with Rochester, which seems only to lead to more heartache and grief.  Wasikowska and Fassbender have some very powerful scenes together, and both characters grow and mature by the film’s end.  I was completely engrossed in this story from the beginning, and it’s largely to do with Wasikowska’s controlled intensity in her role.

The film by director Cary Fukunaga is far from the first movie adaptation of the Charlotte Brontë gothic novel, but he paints it with such a clear visual style that’s so mysterious and brooding when it’s not utterly beautiful.  The cinematography and sheer artistry of the film is what I found to be most striking, even with the astonishingly talented cast including Judi Dench and Jamie Bell.

Movie Review: Panda Finds Inner Peace

Kung Fu Panda 2 movie poster, image property of Dreamworks.

by Jack Garcia

Kung Fu Panda 2 AWESOME!

It’s not often that a sequel outshines the original, but in my opinion Kung Fu Panda 2 was a shining improvement on an already likable film.  It had kung fu action, plenty of laughs and a lot of heart.  And boy did it have some beautiful animation!

Jack Black stars as Po, the fat and fluffy panda bear who unexpectedly became The Dragon Warrior in the first film.  He works alongside The Furious Five—Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Crane (David Cross), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Viper (Lucy Liu) and Monkey (Jackie Chan)—to  protect China from any possible threat.  When informed by their mentor Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) that China—and even Kung Fu as they know it—is threatened by an evil peacock named Shen (Gary Oldman), Po and the others embark on a dangerous mission to stop him.

The story gets interesting when we discover that Shen has a personal vendetta against Po.  An old soothsayer (Michelle Yeoh) had prophesied years ago that Shen would die at the hands of a panda.  In order to stop the prophecy from coming to pass, Shen killed all of the pandas in China… or so he thought.  Po is the only one left that can stop him.  The evil doesn’t stop there of course.  Peacocks were the inventors of fireworks, but Shen has found a way to use the principles of fireworks to his own wicked advantage.  He has created what is essentially the first gun ever, and with it he plans on destroying Kung Fu and taking over all of China.

The emotional core of the movie involves Po searching for the truth of his origins.  He realizes that his father, the goose Mr. Ping (James Hong), cannot really be his biological father.  I mean, Po’s a panda after all.  And when Po sees Shen’s henchmen for the first time he has a brief flashback of his past… a past involving his mother.  He soon becomes consumed with curiosity of the circumstances surrounding his birth, and when he discovers that Shen knows something about it he seeks answers from him.  This makes their battles all the more intense.

My favorite thing about Kung Fu Panda 2—aside from the surprisingly deep and intriguing story—was the use of various animation styles!  No less than three!  The beginning opens with a kind of 2D animation that evokes the feeling of shadow puppets.  Very beautiful.  It explains the back story of Shen.  Po’s flashbacks and memories are also shown through the use of 2D animation in a different style than the opening.  This style is similar to the opening of the first Kung Fu Panda movie.  Stylized and simplified, yet graphic and gorgeous.  I really loved these scenes.   Then, of course, the majority of the movie is computer animation full of dimension and vibrancy.  The fight scenes were choreographed beautifully and the locations were full of breathtaking detail.

The best scene is where Po finds inner peace, doing a rhythmic sort of martial arts while controlling a drop of rain, letting it roll over his body like a small ball.  This scene is intercut with the 2D animation showing his mother running through the woods with baby Po in her arms.  It’s hard to explain in words, because it’s something so visual!  The result is dramatic and emotional and just so stunning.  I was very impressed.

The strength of the movie came through its humor and its animation.  Dreamworks is definitely working its butt off to compete at Pixar’s high level of quality.  Technically, Dreamworks is doing amazing things, but their storylines still don’t connect as personally as Pixar’s do.  Kung Fu Panda 2 got really close… perhaps the closest they’ve come since How to Train Your Dragon… but they still lag behind.  They are closing the gap, however, especially with Pixar’s Cars 2 looking less than promising.