Monsters University & Despicable Me 2

I'm an adult and I'm a fan of animation movie. Never mind that, coz there's a lot like me! Quite recently I watched Monsters University and Despicable Me 2. One is a prequel while the latter is a sequel. In 2001, we have enjoyed so much of the hilarious Sully and Mike and the over-the-top cuteness of Boo in Monster's Inc. Now I would never imagine that 12 years later the Disney/Pixar studio would make a prequel of it, hence the production Monsters University this year. And yeah...it's also great!

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 In Monster's Inc., we have established the relationship between James P. Sullivan and Mike Wazowski as best buddies personally and one of the top scare teams in Monster's Inc. And we also established the fact that both of this monsters have a mutual arch enemy, Randall, the scary and bitter monster with a chameleon-like ability. In the prequel, we would see how these three monsters started to know each other and what made them as they were in the first movie.

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In Despicable Me 2, the story picks up from where the first one left off in 2010; Gru is a now a willing and loving father of the 3 girls he adopted in the first movie and already retired from being 'the world's greatest villain'. But when the world is threatened by a formidable villain that 'came back from the dead', there's no one who can stop him other than Gru, the notorious thief who once had stolen a moon! Or at least that's what the Anti-Villain League (AVL) thought when they send an agent to recruit Gru for help. It's fun to watch the minions, they are adorable even when they become purple with evil. And Gru, while still having his villainy instincts intact when pursuing his mission, still has to dwell with his daughters teenage love and mother figure issues. (Agnes is sooo adorable!) And love is in the air for Gru as well.

 

Overall, both movies are entertaining and so fun to watch. I can't help but noticing how strong the message in Monsters University in teaching the audience, especially young people about how important it is to know who they are and be who they really are, and not be someone else that you are not just to be accepted by other people. Also, each person has their own unique strength and ability. And in Despicable Me 2, it's all about family.

 

Aaaah..I wish I have children of my own whom I can teach all this while watching such fun movies....haha!

 

 

it's epic!

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Today I watched a very fun and entertaining new animation film, epic, which was directed by the same man who directed the hilarious Ice Age. It's a fantasy film with comedy and drama elements in the package, adapted from William Joyce's children novel entitled The Leaf Men and The Brave Good Bugs (1996).

The teenager Mary Katherine aka MK went deep into the forest where his estranged and eccentric scientist father lives to stay with him after her mother passed away. Apparently MK's parents divorced many years ago because her mother couldn't stand her father's tenacious-to-the-point-of-madness study about a world of tiny people living in the forest. After giving up on discussing with her father about stopping to pursue his study, MK decided to leave the house when his father's dog, Ozzy, suddenly ran out of the house into the woods. MK then also ran into the woods to find Ozzy.

Meanwhile, deep in the forest, in the Moonhaven kingdom, there exists a group of little soldiers called the Leafmen, who are the only creature in human form that function as the protectors of the Queen, and that also means, the forest. The Leafmen is led by Ronin, their leader. Nod, is Ronin's dead friend's son whom he tried to mold into becoming one of the Leafmen soldiers but Nod just not interested and insists to live independently. Queen Tara, is the queen of the forest and the main power who controls and protects the various life and creatures living in the forest. On the other side is the Boggans, the hideous creatures led by Mandrake who oppose the kind of balance the Queen is protecting and do nothing but rot and kill the forest.

So all these characters will soon have their paths cross one another when it's summer solstice and the time comes for the Queen to choose the new heir for the forest. The first part of the ceremony is for the Queen to choose a suitable leaf pod from a lake. These pods are nursed and guarded by a pair of slug and snail, Mud and Grub. When the Queen finally made her selection, the Boggans ambushed the ceremony, intending to kill the Queen and the pod. In the process, Mandrake's son was killed and the Queen was fatally wounded. On her last moment, she fell near MK who's looking for Ozzie and managed to transfer her powers to the pod and gave it to MK, at the same time shrinking her into tiny size and told her to take the pod to Nim Galuu.

From this part onward, it's a spectacular journey for MK to get the pod to Nim Galuu, assisted by Ronin, Nod, Mud and Grub while she tries to come into terms of being tiny and then surprisingly thrusted into the world that she didn't believe before and that her father has been searching for so long. The group has to dodge and secure the pod and themselves from the relentless attacks by Mandrake and his Boggans who after the death of his son, now wants to steal the pod for himself to create his own Dark Prince.

This is a very fun and entertaining story and you couldn't help but laughing at Mud and Grub with their funny dialogues. And watching this movie in 3D is really awesome. This film encompasses some good morals to discuss with your children. The first being the relationship between family members as shown in MK and her father's relationship. The second being the importance of protecting the environment and maintaining the balance in the nature's cycle of life (at one part Mandrake told his son that the forest is not built in one day, and his son replied that they can destroy it in a day...which is so true..). The third is about teamwork and even though everybody lives as individuals, no one should be alone. There's quite a lot of wisdom quotes in this movie. You can never go wrong with this type of movie, although this one is not the rolling-on-the-floor kind of funny but it has a nice amount of humour in it and the story is good, sensible and entertaining. The animation is also so beautiful. Recommended.

 

Alamak...Toyol!

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Desas-desus mengatakan filem ni best! Asalnya aku langsung tak berminat nak tengok cerita ni, boleh terpengaruh pula nak tengok. Lagipun dapat tengok secara percuma, apa salahnya...kalau betul-betul best, aku tak akan teragak-agak untuk tengok sekali lagi walaupun berbayar. (Tapi teragak-agak jugak le kot kalau takde bajet..heheh).

Namun...secara keseluruhannya, filem ni biasa-biasa je. Alamak...Toyol! adalah bergenre komedi tetapi bagi aku, bolehlah gelak sikit-sikit tapi tak sampai pecah panggung perut. Pengalaman menontonnya..hmm, agak menghiburkan tetapi adakalanya aku rasa tak sabar nak tunggu ceritanya habis. Macam bosan sikit. OK, itu secara keseluruhan. Seterusnya .... 

Ringkasan jalan cerita

Pak Umar nak bela toyol supaya dia boleh cepat kaya. Dia beli toyol yang paling murah je dan rupanya tak berbaloi. Disebabkan perjanjian yang telah dipersetujui, Pak Umar tak dapat 'refund' balik toyol tersebut, maka terpaksalah Pak Umar cari pengganti. Fakhrul dan Kudin pula adalah 2 orang pencuri dan peragut yang tidak kompeten dan sentiasa bernasib malang. Suatu hari mereka terjumpa dengan Pak Umar dan dipendekkan cerita mereka mengambil Toyol untuk kepentingan mereka. Dan selepas itu bermulalah episod-episod malang seterusnya bagi Fakhrul dan Kudin bersama toyol mereka yang tidak pandai mencuri itu. Dalam kes yang lain. Farah adalah pembantu kepada Daniel di sebuah syarikat. Suatu hari Farah dapat tahu rahsia hitam Daniel dan cuba untuk membongkarnya tetapi tidak berjaya. Sebaliknya, tindakannya itu meletakkan nyawanya di dalam bahaya kerana konco-konco Daniel memburu Farah untuk membunuhnya. Dalam satu insiden, Fakhrul, Kudin, Toyol dan Farah bertemu. Fakhrul dan Kudin ingin memulangkan Toyol kepada Pak Umar lalu mereka semua mencarinya. Setelah berjumpa, dan berjaya memaksa Pak Umar untuk menerima Toyol kembali, Farah telah diculik oleh si konco-konco. Terus tak jadi pindah. Akhirnya mereka bersatu untuk menyelamatkan Farah. Berjaya atau tidak usaha mereka itu, dan akhirnya milik siapakah toyol itu, boleh tengoklah filemnya.

Jalan cerita, boleh tahan. Pelaksanaan jalan cerita, hmmmmm.

Lakonan

Lakonan adik Toyol boleh dipujilah sebab walaupun dia tak ada dialog pun, gaya dan mimik mukanya berjaya menyampaikan karakter. Lakonan aktor-aktor lain secara individu sebenarnya ok juga. Tetapi entah kenapa tidak ada yang berkesan di hati. Aku berkata sedemikian sebab mungkin aku mengharapkan cerita itu sangat kelakar tetapi hasilnya taklah kelakar sangat. Mungkin juga kerana tiada 'punchline' yang betul-betul berkesan. Mungkin juga kerana elemen-elemen lawak yang ditunjukkan dah ketinggalan zaman.

Apapun, filem ini adalah filem komedi ringan yang 'nonsense', dan kesannya bergantung kepada tahap ke'sensitif'an anda terhadap lawak jenaka. Tiada mesej yang jelas di dalam cerita melainkan sekadar untuk dijadikan sebab, jangan bela toyol kerana ia menyusahkan anda je.

Sekurang-kurangnya, solekan adik Toyol tu boleh dipuji...

Last but not least. the ewww parts...(takde pun takpe lahh) :
a. Adik Toyol menghisap puting Fakhrul
b. Aksi 18SX di rumah Farah, apabila Farah terkejut tengok toyol di depan mata...

...mengenangkan Toyol tu dilakonkan oleh seorang kanak-kanak, aku jadi tak sanggup kadang-kadang nak tengok scenes tersebut..(walaupun point (b) tu takdelah budak tu betul2 tengok ye tak...)

Please...please...i wish for something that could make me go "Wow, this is so funny, yet so brilliant!!".

of gangsters and ghosts...

Quite recently, I managed to watch 3 local movies for free. And this post is just dedicated for my thoughts on those movies. The movies are KL Gangster, Bini-Biniku Gangster, Hantu Bonceng. Hua haa....these movies are totally not belonging to my favourite genres but I believe that sometimes we have to get out of our genres, out of our usual environment to have a wider view. Or we can say to open our eyes too. Huaa..so serious tones even talking about movies, eh? So here are some of my opinions about the films. I can say that none of them made me went ga ga over them, but anyway, quite entertaining.

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KL Gangster (KLG) and Bini-Biniku Gangster (My Wives Are Gangsters; BBG), both have gangster elements in them, but in different moods. When KLG is all seriously brutal and violent, BBG turned the gangsters community into a loving family affair with polygamy issues, a comedy. But nonetheless, both are okay to be missed. I'm not saying that they are not at all good, my...making movies is not easy business, eh? Lots of creative work involved, but...ok, both directors are far from being veterans, so I should say, let these movies be their experimental lab work and hope for better stories in the future.

In KLG, Malek is a retired gangster formerly from King's clan, after serving time in prison due to being stabbed in the back (figuratively) by King's stepson, Shark who is very ambitious (and a whole lot brutal too). Malek wished to clean his name, do honest job and ask forgiveness from his mother whilst trying to reunite his family. But it turns out that the gangster community is not very easy to run away from, especially when his younger brother, Jai becoming more and more ruthless and plays the gangster game too far by joining Shark's crew. After Shark gone too far as to terrorize his mother and killed his best friend, Fadil...Malek lost his cool and went on for revenge on Shark and beat up Jai. From his narrations at the end of the film, Malek finally went in prison again but satisfied that his score's settled. I think all the actors played their characters quite well except for the lifeless puppets of King's lady companions. I think the director didn't give them much attention but anyway just put them there because gangster bosses should have lovely girls on their side at all times. The film is dominated by male characters, featuring the hardship of life, gangsterism,.....and probably, trying to show that gangsters have compassion as well? That's where I think is lacking. All there is in the movie is fighting, fighting, and heartless fighting. (And King is like a lame gangster leader). Lack of character development, as well as the story line goes.

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In BBG, I think this one is purely just for entertainment. Just good for some laughs (well, not enough a hearty laugh though for me...). Manja and Herry are happily married and quite well-to-do couple. Herry works at a private company, and Manja maintains a flower shop. However, Manja is more than that, she's actually a leader in a gangster group. Unable to be pregnant, Manja allows Herry to take Reanna, his assistant, as his second wife but little does she know that Reanna is actually the younger sister of Min Siam, another gangster leader, the arch enemy of Manja's group. There's a sinister plot going on as Reanna wants to avenge her brother, being incapacitated in a fight, thanks to Manja. After that both ladies keep on hating and fighting each other behind Herry's back, and being nice and friendly in front of him, while living in the same house. One day, Herry went missing and both wives are starting to have what seems like the ultimate fight when suddenly a mysterious fighter came and broke their fights. In the end, the mysterious fighter is actually Herry and he is actually the son of another group leader and all the things that happened to them, including all marriages are actually part of his plans together with the other senior leaders of the other groups because the old guys have all gone mellow and tired of having rivalries. Duh!

You don't have to take this movie seriously because it is not, it's a comedy. But I just managed a few polite laughs, thanks to the relationship portrayal among all of the characters...all except Mat Saja. Mat Saja is an assistant in Herry's office, I'm not quite sure what's the purpose of his character, if he exists to add more funny flavour to the story, nope, he didn't make me feel fun. To say that he is the bad guy, also nope, although he did do some not-so-nice things because of envy. His character quite annoys me, but maybe that is his purpose in the movie. Whatever. Acting? No challenging roles. Biasa-biasa je.

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Alright, third movie is Hantu Bonceng (Pillion Rider Ghost; HB). Scary comedy, yup there's a ghost but it's more comedy than scary. However, there's an element of mystery that need to be answered, and yes, I got the answer at the end of the movie. Quite a simple story but I'd say in smooth line. Almost every part of the story are told in light-and-easy way but the story's real and there's a message. Amran is a delivery boy who always take part in illegal races. One night, Amran won the race and claimed his prize, an unassuming innocent village girl (definitely she's not a smart one, why on earth is she there?). While she is riding pillion on his bike, Amran rides home but shortly after that encountered with an accident with a truck. He survived but the girl died. Since then, Amran is constantly disturbed by the girl's ghost and it affected his life. In another situation, due to his playboy-racer lifestyle, Amran is always in a difficult relationship with his girlfriend, Halimatun, a nurse at a hospital where Amran always end up to after racing accidents. Amran also has a great buddy, Kunyit. Due to the case, Amran, Kunyit and Halimatun bond together to solve it. Things turned a different way when they discovered that the dead girl actually has a living twin sister who looks exactly the same. Amran gets the sister's forgiveness and tries to help her when everything seems to be out of hand. With the help of his buddies and girfriend, Amran is saved and the mystery involving the sister is solved. It turns out that instead of really forgiving Amran, the sister actually plans a scheme to revenge him.

There are positive elements in HB where Amran and Kunyit repent for their sins, and in all its naturalness, they are challenged in their effort to change. So, even though I won't care to watch this movie repeatedly, for me it's better than the other two movies here, for comparison purpose. Better in the aspect of story line and messages in the story. And for the funny part, yep...it's funny. However, for the title's sake of Hantu Bonceng, the ghost is never seen riding pillion anywhere in the movie! Heh... Just my humble thoughts.

Movies : Mr. Popper's Penguins

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Jolly good. Nice family story. And good laughs.

Mr. Popper's Penguins the movie is based on a children's book of the same name written by Richard and Florence Atwater, published in 1938. Not exactly an identical story with the book, but there's the Poppers, and the penguins, and finally...the South Pole.

Tom Popper Jr. is a divorced real-estate businessman, aiming for partnership in the real-eastate company he works in. He's driven and committed to his work, with a certain style of persuasion skills to get the properties for re-establishment. But he is also a father who loves his children very much and still feels for his ex-wife. Probably it's the work and his inefficient ability to express his feelings that made them separated. As his estranged traveller father dies, he inherits something unbelievable...a penguin. From that moment on, there begins a very interesting emotional journey for Tom Popper, especially, after a while he received 5 more penguins and they caught his children's heart. To further complicate matters, Tom is assigned to take over Tavern on The Green, an old restaurant which holds an endearing memory to dear ol' Tom, and the owner, Selma Van Gundy (Angela Lansbury in all elderly elegance), is never going to sell it to just anybody without knowing the person's worth.  And more, Tom's ex-wife is seeing another man and planning to go abroad with him. 

How do the penguins transform Tom's life? Will Tom be able to win his family back? What's the story behind Tavern on The Green? And why in the world does Tom Sr. left his son a group of penguins in the first place? It's in this movie. Funny, exciting and a heartwarming movie for the family. 

And let me warn you, there's no kissing involve, but there are sure quite a number 'poo'ing in direct view. ;)

Movie : Date Night

A trip to the cinema for some sort of mind therapy was initially with the intention to watch Shutter Island. However, the unplanned trip landed myself on showtime issues. So, I opted for the best available one, Date Night, in terms of showtime.
     Honestly, I didn't know what to expect, since I haven't read any synopsis, previews or reviews on this one, but, jolly good! It has done me good! It is zany and hilarious. An ordinary couple who's having a monotonous married life, has been living in a phase where everything is in a routine. And the routine includes a weekly date nights at the same restaurant, having the same menu and making stories about couples who dined next to them (..so funny!). To cut the not-so-long story short (only 88 minutes), due to an effort to spice things up for their life, they decided to take up on a no-show reservation at an exclusive restaurant. Somehow, with a mistaken identity, what started as a peaceful dinner changed as an all night long of cat-and-mouse chase between the couples and a pair of goons who had them mistaken with a con couple whom the goons believed is having a flash drive with an incriminating information of their boss in their possession. So, this couple spent all night trying to save themselves, and while doing it, discovered the true facts about their marriage. Aaawww, at some points, it touched this lovey-dovey heart of mine..(sigh..).
     Somehow, we can expect how the story ends. The story line is rather smooth, the plot is not that heavy, anyway it is a comedy film. It is not complicated at all. And it really is 18PL. However, this movie is so funny and very entertaining with no stupid jokes or slapsticks. And I haven't been laughing that hard for quite a long time. A good movie to light up the gloomy heart. The moral of the story is..do not take up on somebody else's reservations..ha ha..