Monster House

As a parent, I understand how hard it can be to find an appropriate Halloween movie that can interest adults and give kids a mild scare. Monster House is a rare gem that delivers on just that. Back when the film was in theaters in 2006 I was still in the movie business (selling popcorn) and took my little brother to see it. We both thought it was great, him in his early teens and I in my early 20s. This Halloween season, it has become a favorite of my four year old son and I’m so happy to see him enjoy it.

In Monster House, DJ lives across the street from Mr. Nebbercracker (voiced by Steve Buscemi), the creepy old man on the block, and his equally creepy house. Whenever a ball lands on his lawn or a little girl veers her tricycle off the sidewalk, Nebbercracker runs out yelling, “Get off my lawn!” and takes the toy, scaring the kids away. Lately, DJ has been watching his every move.

While DJ’s parents are away, just days before Halloween, his friend, Chowder, comes over and his new basketball lands on the forbidden lawn. As DJ darts across the lawn to retrieve the ball, Nebbercracker is on him, physically shaking the kid and suddenly collapses on top of him. After the ambulance leaves, the kids think Nebbercracker is dead and DJ is riddled with guilt. All night, it seems like the house is watching him. He even gets a call from across the street, knowing no one is home. And soon, the house is outright attacking people and snatching them up, throwing them inside. Could it be Nebbercracker from beyond the grave? Or could the house hold a mystery even more macabre?

The unique design used in Monster House sets it apart from most other animated films. The characters are a slightly stylized out of reality but not created to be overly cute, like in so many other animated films. Nebbercracker and Bones are both wonderfully creepy characters in very different ways while DJ and his friends are lovably dorky kids. Even better, the imagination and style used to turn a creepy house into an all out monster works great here. Little details go a long way, from the way shingles ruffle and the porch contorts to teeth to the interior’s dark and cavernous appearance.

Monster House is a lovably creepy film perfect for Halloween that will engage the whole family. Some themes might be a bit much for very young kids, but the older ones will appriciate a cartoon that isn’t watered down too muh. And while you may think you know how this story is going to go (duh, the house is a monster) there is more here than you would have expected. Way back when I first saw this film, my brother and I really enjoyed the major revelation and how it became a very redeeming factor. That and the high caliber animation helped seal the film’s Oscar nomination for best animated feature. I suggest enjoying this film as a family before trick-or-treating.

“Chowder, your ball just landed on Nebbercracker’s lawn. It doesn’t exist anymore…”

Cars 3

Cars 3 takes the loved four-wheeled franchise back to its racing roots. This time, Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson) is the older racer looking for a new edge against the next generation. The rookies are all highly trained using the newest technology, statistical analysis and fancy simulators. After a devastating wreck in the first act, McQueen wants to make a comeback. And if he doesn’t, he’ll be forced into retirement.

When McQueen meets his new trainer, Cruz Ramirez (Cristela Alonzo), that phrase about old dogs and new tricks comes to mind. It’s fun to watch Cruz, a fan of McQueen’s since she was a child, work with him and try to ease him into new exercises, including hanging him upside down and making him name his tires. But McQueen needs to get his wheels dirty and soon he and Cruz set out across the American south to find the car who taught his mentor, Doc Hudson.

This is where McQueen and Cruz get back to the heart and roots of racing. They visit little southern towns where cars race on dirt tracks and make new friends that teach them the way Doc was taught. There’s even a bit calling back to the old moonshine runners that inspired NASCAR.

My favorite scene, and my son’s too, is when McQueen and Cruz accidentally enter a demolition derby. Not wanting to ruin his reputation, McQueen is in disguise. The track is a muddy figure eight, with banged up, souped up cars aiming straight for them. The car who steals the scene is Miss Fritter, an old school bus with flame-exhaust longhorns. She’s the town’s favorite and what she’s done with her stop sign made my kid yell, “Whoa!”

While all of the old fan favorites from the original film make an appearance most of those from the second film do not. In fact, the film does not acknowledge the events of 2 at all, and that’s just fine by me. Perhaps the creators agree that it was just a big mess.

However, I believe they more than make up for the bumbling sequel in 3. Under the guise of stock car racing, the storytellers have once again woven a wonderful story about personal growth, much like the original. The film is driven by McQueen’s drive and given a new heart with the introduction of Cruz. The story of mentor/mentee and how those relationships evolve over time is wonderfully done in a perfectly Pixar way. Cruz’s backstory is poignant and rings true for anyone who has dreamed, but been too intimidated to go for it.

As many know, Pixar’s Cars films are a favorite of one adorable demographic: boys between the ages of 2 and 6. So taking my three year old son to see Cars 3 was an extra special experience. Watching the newest Cars film next to my wiggling, energetic kid, with him giggling at Mater’s antics whispering his race car sounds was a nearly perfect experience. I highly recommend sharing this one with the little ones.

“You’ll never be the racer you once were. You can’t turn back the clock, kid, but you can wind it up, again.”

Jurassic Park: 20 Years of Dinosaurs, Adventure and Waiting

Twenty years ago, Jurassic Park was first released to theaters and I was a kid crazy about dinosaurs.  However, heeding a warning from my aunt who said it was “too scary for kids,” my parents did not take me to see it.  I remember this being a very big deal to me; there was some begging, pleading, bargaining and crying over the fact that I wasn’t allowed to see Jurassic Park.  My parents don’t recall any of this injustice.  Anyway, this weekend, I plan to heal one of the biggest movie disappointments of my childhood and go bananas seeing Jurassic Park re-released in 3D.  I am so excited!

Over the past twenty years, Jurassic Park has become one of my favorite films.  It has two main elements I loved as a kid: adventure and dinosaurs.  As I got older, some of the more complicated themes came to light in new ways.  All the technology holding Jurassic Park together is no match for the unbridled fury of nature.  My mind melted when I first figured that out, since then I have held the utmost respect for nature.  The effects blew me away as a kid and they still hold up today.  And I will dare to say that this is one of John Williams’ greatest compositions, I could listen to the soundtrack all day (sometimes I do).

I don’t think I can pick one favorite scene from the film.  The t-rex attack is a wonderful bit of terror, the raptors hunting the kids in the kitchen is a brilliant moment of modern suspense and the dilophosaurus attack (the fanned, spitting one for non-dino-nerds) is a great surprise packed with sweet revenge.  But the scene where we first see dinosaurs packs a different kind of raw emotion, I can’t help but get caught up in it.

In the scene where Dr. Grant and Dr. Sattler see their first dinosaurs, I cry every time.  As a kid, it was a moment of wonder and excitement, and it still is, but it just hits me in a much more emotional spot now.  Seeing those creatures is an impossible dream, and yet for them, there they are, living breathing and doing all the things they only theorized they would.  I can’t even imagine how I would react to really seeing dinosaurs, or anything else I know is impossible.  And that music, it moves perfectly with our wondrous dinosaurs.  Did I mention how much I love dinosaurs?

Of course, the movie isn’t all happy times with the gentle giants.  Some of the scenes are pretty intense and could scare little ones.  Especially when the t-rex attacks the car with the children inside.  And the dilophosaurus scene is known for tricking kids into a false sense of security.

But when you really look at Jurassic Park, there is very little gore.  The most violent moment is when the t-rex eats Martin Ferrero’s character off the toilet, and it’s not bloody.  In fact, thinking about a man being eaten by a dinosaur off a toilet is kinda funny, in a very dark way.  Same thing in how we discover what happened to Samuel L. Jackson’s character.  All the big dino-attack moments are either with no blood, off camera or obscured behind something.

So parents, make your decision wisely.  If Jurassic Park only comes to theaters once every twenty years, you may end up raising a jaded dino/film fan if you don’t take your kids to see it now.  I love my parents for trying to protect me, but please, that horse head in The Godfather did more damage than Jurassic Park could.  And dad would call me into the room just in time for it, every time he found it on tv before I was six.  Jurassic Park feels like it was made with children in mind and I would highly recommend kids see it before the age of ten.

At the Oscars, Jurassic Park was only recognized for three technical awards.  The film won best sound, sound effects and visual effects.  Today, it is in the top 250 on IMDB, one of the 1001 Movies to See Before You Die and considered a classic that everyone is more than familiar with.

This evening, I plan to do what I wanted to do 20 years ago: sit my butt in a theater and hold on for a wild dino-filled adventure.  Sure, I’ve seen Jurassic Park over a hundred times by now, there will be no surprises.  That’s not the point.  There is still a seven year old kid inside me who needs to be in that theater and can’t wait to see Jurassic Park on the big screen.

“They’re moving in herds.  They do move in herds.”

The Pixar Princess

I believe Merida has modified her dress so that she can move freely. Function trumps fashion.

After the successful opening weekend of their latest film, Brave, Pixar Animation Studios can give themselves a big pat on the back.  They have made the best movie about a princess, better than Disney ever did on their own.

You see, I grew up through an evolution of Disney princesses.  Very young, I knew Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella and thought they were all worthless panty waists.  Then came Ariel, who gave up her greatest talent for a guy she barely knew.  I threw her out like old tuna.  Belle grew on me a bit, we were both seen as odd and loved to read, but she was still too girly and falling in love with the hairiest thing around was a little unsettling.  Jasmine was completely incompetent outside the palace, don’t get me started on her.

Some of their poses make no sense…and shouldn’t Ariel be gasping for air?

In the mid 1990s, when I was about ten years old, Disney started an odd shift in their princesses.  Pocahontas was an odd twist playing fast and loose with a small piece of history and turning it into a love story celebrating nature and promoting cross-cultural peace.  However, I knew too much history to be tricked.  Mulan (not technically a princess) was a step in the right direction, with her warrior status and ability to keep up with the men, but there was still an element of romance that I felt was forced on her.  Same basic issue with The Princess and the Frog, but I liked how Tiana works hard for all she has.  Then Tangled, seemed to revert back into fairy tale mode.

Now, it seems that Pixar has taken up the torch and finally given this tomboy a princess she can identify with.  Merida is a wild child, with amazing hair to match, who would rather run free in the forest, shooting arrows into the sunset, than get married.  Thank God!  It gets better: she doesn’t like fancy dresses, walks with a rugged swagger, is very resourceful in the wild, can best the boys at their own games and voices her (often smart-ellic) opinions.  I’m sure I’m not the only girl who’s waited her whole life for Merida.

Finally, a princess that doesn’t want her hair brushed all day.

Not only does Merida show a personality I can love, but she has issues I can understand.  At some point, I think most tomboys and their mothers find a rift between them.  As dear mom tries to teach us how to be a lady, we resent every notion of it when we’re young.  I remember dresses and bows in my hair feeling like torture forced upon directly by my mom.  My smelly sneakers, backward baseball caps and love of monster movies were small acts of rebellion.  But as we grow older, we understand that it was all out of love and take some lessons to heart, and in turn, she loves how we are never fully outgrow our tomboyishness.

I love what Pixar has done with a very Disney story, but I hope (and worry) that they don’t get complacent.  What I, and many others, have always loved about Pixar is that they do not crank out Disney style films.  Their stories have always been fresh, fun, creative and unexpected.  Though I am thankful for their contribution, there are more than enough princesses in the world and not nearly enough Carl Fredricksens.

WALL-E

How can I accurately describe how excited I was in the summer of 2008 to see WALL-E?   The fact that I ducked out of a friend’s wedding early to catch a matinee of WALL-E with my siblings is an understatement.  All I knew was that it was the latest Pixar film, directed by Andrew Stanton (so I knew it was in good hands), starring an adorable little robot made me squeal with happiness at every commercial and image leading to the film’s release.  What I experienced in the theater, and every time I watch it now, is much more thoughtful, emotional and fun than I ever could have imagined.

WALL-E is a lonely little robot on Earth, about eight hundred years in the future.  His main purpose, or directive, is to scoop up trash humans left behind, compact it into cubes and stack it neatly.  From the towers of trash cubes blending in with skyscrapers, he and other WALL-Es have been very productive, but the job is not done.  And Earth is a barren wasteland, full of piles of junk.  The humans have all left, on a sort of space cruise, and plan to come back when Earth is habitable again.  When WALL-E sees a new robot, EVE, brought to Earth, his day-dreamy, romantic hard drive is immediately in love and he is set on an adventure that blasts him into space and could bring the humans back to Earth.

What makes WALL-E different from most other animated films, is that it runs almost like a silent film.  Hardly any dialogue is spoken for the first half of the film, but I don’t think many people, including children, will be bothered by it.  We watch WALL-E go about his day to tunes from his favorite movie, Hello Dolly.  It’s so fun to watch him happily discover fun objects (a fire extinguisher and bra are especially cute moments), and have a pet relationship with a roach.  With EVE have an added element, but still the communication is kept to a minimum: “Directive? Classified.”  Whether it’s Tarzan, aliens or robots, some communication comes natural.

Thing is, these images of WALL-E have so much heart to them.  He is such a loveable clutz, his grocery cart incident always gets me laughing.  While he can be cute and dopey, he’s also so sincere and sweet.  And the way he is always striking out with EVE keeps us rooting for him.  Not since R2D2 has a robot with such a limited vocabulary stolen our hearts.

Compared to most animated films, WALL-E was nominated for quite a few Oscars.  While it was nominated for best original song, original score, sound editing, sound mixing and original screenplay, it only won for Best Animated Feature.  That is still quite an honor, and letting a few awards go to Slumdog Millionaire is nothing for a little robot to be ashamed of.  If 2008 had gone with ten Best Picture nominees,  rather than five, WALL-E would probably have secured that nomination as well.

At the root of WALL-E is an environmental message about changing the way many of us live now.  It’s sad to see the humans evolved to fat creatures that only interact through screens and laze around in hover-chairs.  The Earth reduced to a dry, dust storm planet surrounded by useless satellites can be startling.  And there is too much trust in robots, some of them with their own sinister agendas.  Without preaching or scaring the youngest viewers, the idea that we need to take care of the Earth, and ourselves, is strong and serious.  Make sure to watch the ending credits, I really love the way Earth and humanity’s rejuvenation is depicted through the evolution of art.

“Too much garbage in your face?  There’s plenty of space out in space!”

Animation

From The Skeleton Dance (1929), a Silly Symphony short

Everyone remembers that moment in life where you learned that you could make your own cartoon flip-book.  We doodled in the corners of notebooks or wasted entire pads of Post-Its in attempts to make stick people walk around.  After the amazement wore off, we realized there really was more to animation than flipping the corners of notebooks.  We had to draw the same image over and over, well enough for it to be recognized with each flip AND bring it to life.  My stick people never looked very interesting and their walk was so stiff.

Being a kid of the 90’s and raised off of what my mom had recorded off the Disney channel, I’ve seen a wide array of classic animation.  To this day, I have wonderful moments of déjà vu whenever I see an old Silly Symphonies cartoon.  Just yesterday I found The Old Mill on my Bambi Blu-ray.  I didn’t remember it, but I recognized so many images from that short.  The cattails hitting the fence like a xylophone.  The two birds huddled together in the window.  The bird who built her nest in an unfortunate spot.  I’m guessing I hadn’t seen that cartoon in over fifteen years, yet my mind knew these images.

From Fantasia (1940)

The images from cartoons were always more than they seemed to me.  Only in animation could a tree branch be hands as well, or animals have charmingly human qualities.  Babe comes close, but its realism always keeps me at a distance.  No image has scared me as much as Ursula at the climax of The Little Mermaid.  And every time I watch Fantasia, I keep tissues standing by in case the mix of imagery and music catch me off guard.  With just the audio track, I feel fine.

To make a series of inanimate images come to life and evoke a variety of emotions is an amazing power.  Even something as easy and accessible as a Flash cartoon is hard to breathe life into.  I can make it move, but it all feels so cold and calculated.

Without the achievements of Disney and his studios, I doubt we’d be making flip books or have computer animation software.  I’m still in awe when I think of Disney’s multiplane-camera and other innovations he made in film making technology.  Things only became more complex from there and today animation is looking very realistic in every studio.  Yet, the Oscar statistics for animation have only started to rise.

The Blue Meanies in Yellow Submarine (1968)

To date, there has only been three animated features nominated for Best Picture: Beauty and the Beast (1991), Up (2009) and Toy Story 3 (2010).  It was not until 2002 that a category was created to name the best animated feature at the Academy Awards.  This is probably because Disney didn’t always have an annual animated feature in theaters, and didn’t have much competition until DreamWorks started to consistently create new animated films in the late 90’s.  I do lament this category not coming in the 80’s or early 90’s, where it could have given higher status to such films as The Last Unicorn, The Land Before Time, An American Tale or The Lion King.  And just imagine what it would be like if Yellow Submarine were an Oscar nominee.

Even without the recognition of an animated Oscar category, Disney pushed for excellence in his films that lasts to this day.  The animators studied animals, their behaviors and how they moved to create them in films like Bambi and The Jungle Book.  That same practice was a model for The Lion King.  And the artists at Pixar working on Up traveled to South America to more accurately bring to life the landscape of a tepui.

Often times, I feel that animated films were counted out by the Academy.  They can too easily be written off as “kids stuff” and rarely casted big named actors, especially in Hollywood’s golden age.  But as I study film deeper, I appreciate animation more and more.  There is simply a level of artistry you will not find in any live-action film.  In addition to the Oscar-snubbed films, I invite you to come along as I review some animated classics that I believe deserve more recognition.  As always, suggestions are welcome.

E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial

Steven Spielberg’s iconic masterpiece, E.T., is the heartfelt story of a little lost alien.  The scientific specifics about him and his people are kept a mystery, enticed with a quick view of misty mushrooms on his ship.  We are just shown that he and other aliens were exploring the forests and had to take off without E.T. when a group of men came upon them.  Alone and scared in a new world, he happens upon a family and forms a bond with a young boy.

The story is just as much about the boy, Elliot (Henry Thomas), who seems lost as the middle child of his changing family.  He is often counted out and the butt of the joke to his older brother Michael (Robert MacNaughton) and his friends.  With his parents recent separation, he knows just how to push his mother’s buttons.  When no one believes him about the alien he just found in the back yard, Elliot retaliates, making sure everyone remembers that their father is gone with another woman.  Childish, but Elliot is just a kid.

He sneaks out that night to stay up and look for the alien, lures it into his room with Reese’s Pieces and then fakes a fever to stay home from school with his new friend, he names E.T.  When Michael and their little sister, Gertie (Drew Barrymore), get home, they make a pact to keep E.T. a secret, especially from grown-ups.  They soon figure out that E.T. is a very intelligent creature and wants to contact his family.  If it were not for Halloween coming up, these kids might not have had a good opportunity to be out so late helping their new extra terrestrial friend.  But they are not the only ones who know E.T. is here.

E.T. is one of those rare science-fiction films that puts the emotional response before the visual aspects, both of which are perfect and spellbinding.  During the iconic flying bike scene, we are swept up in the wonder and freedom Elliot feels and the beautiful score by John Williams only amplifies this.  Then the shot in front of the moon sends our hearts soaring, but it would not have done so on its own.  Later, when E.T. is in peril at the hands of adults, we see the tearful reactions of the kids.  The defibrillator scene seems especially traumatizing for little Gertie, and we can’t help but feel heartbroken for these kids.  And no matter how many times I see this movie, I always get so excited and happy when E.T.’s heart starts glowing while Elliot is saying goodbye.

One of the things I find most fascinating about this movie as I get older, is the culture the kids share, but the adults have no part of.  As we first see the family, Michael and his friends are playing Dungeons and Dragons, the mom does not understand the game and the kids don’t try to explain very well.  The division is understood.  Later, E.T. uses the stuffed animals in the closet as camouflage and starts to talk while watching Sesame Street with Gertie, the mom is present in each of these scenes, but either too busy to notice the alien she just opened the fridge door on or just doesn’t notice the odd face among the plush.

When Elliot tries to explain things like wars and the food chain to E.T. in his room, he uses his Star Wars action figures and other toys, “Fish eat the fish food, and the shark eats the fish.  Nobody eats the shark.”  Elliot starts using the toys as tools first, and E.T. builds his device from them later.  It’s like toys are a different medium that kids use to communicate.  And their main modes of freedom are on bikes, the best time to find escape is on Halloween.

The way I see it, every kid should see E.T. before age ten.  The movie was created to lift kids up through that culture they have that parents aren’t a part of anymore.  Getting lost and left behind by your family is really scary only up to a certain age.  Only as a kid do old toys have infinite possibilities.  And once you can drive a car well, that sense of freedom and escape you once found on a bike just isn’t the same.

“I’ve never driven forward before!”