Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on May 14th, 2018
As a general practice, I usually try to avoid watching a sequel without first having seen the first film. However, with Maya the Bee 2: The Honey Games, that was hardly necessary, as it functioned as more of a standalone than a continuation. The story continues to follow the titular character, Maya, as she continues to try to aid her hive in any way she can, this time, participating in the Honey Games in order to prevent her hive from losing half of their honey. Sadly, this movie did not get Nalyce’s stamp of approval, as her attention started to wain pretty much as soon as we started watching it. That said, we soldiered on, and eventually she did manage to find a couple things that she did like about it. Despite this, Maya the Bee 2 won’t be becoming a permanent fixture in her entertainment rolodex.
In this sequel, the survival of the hive is threatened following a slow harvest season, when an emissary of the Empress Bee decrees that the hive is to donate half of their honey supply for the upcoming Honey Games. Realizing that such a donation will leave a lot of hungry mouths, Maya and her sidekick Willy, go to Buzztropolis to try to convince the Empress to let them keep their honey. Their plan goes sideways when the Empress decrees that they can keep their honey if they win the Honey Games. However, if they lose, the hive must give up their entire honey supply.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on March 8th, 2018
“Sometimes I think I'm cursed.”
Up until recently, Pixar Animation Studios had a pretty spotless reputation. (At least when it came to the quality of their films.) But while the studio's last three efforts (Cars 3, Finding Dory, The Good Dinosaur) have been financially successful, Disney's own in-house animation studio (Moana, Zootopia, Big Hero 6) has been out Pixar-ing Pixar in terms of delivering creative, crowd-pleasing blockbusters for all ages. (I didn't even mention a little movie called Frozen.) That's why I'm pleased to report that Coco — Pixar's moving, colorful and exhilarating take on Mexico's Day of the Dead holiday — is a thrilling and touching return to form.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on February 14th, 2018
New cartoon series these days are a hard watch for me. Gone are the days of classic shows like X-Men, Batman: The Animated Series and even newer favorites like Regular Show which ended about a year ago. Now we get shows where it seems like it is one cheap joke after another including Teen Titans Go and that show about some kid named Steven. So, I wasn't too thrilled to get the newest incarnation of Ben 10 on my review desk a couple of weeks ago. That's when I decided to employ the talents of my 2 year old son, Keaton and see if he can offer some insight.
"Thomas"...no son, we can't watch Thomas (The Train) right now. We have to review Ben 10, there are twenty episodes on this thing, see if you like it or not. "BeNNN." Yep, I hand my son the dvd case. He breaks open the stark white case and gives me the disc. "Thomas" Used to this exchange, I go ahead and put the dvd in the player and it brings up the menu. I select English subtitles, and then go to play the first episode. My son blinks at the opening and decides to sit down on the couch with his thumb in his mouth. He points, "Elmo?", he asks inquiringly. "No, BeNNN." He doesn't say anything else at this point and keeps sucking his thumb while looking at the screen.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on December 29th, 2017
“Have you ever heard the legend behind the legend of Ninjago?”
Even though I loved the first two Lego movies, I was completely unfamiliar with the toy company's Ninjago line before I sat down to watch this latest entry in the madcap cartoon franchise. (I wasn't even sure how to pronounce “Ninjago”...and the answer isn't as simple as it seems.) But my unfamiliarity with the source material isn't the reason why I feel The Lego Ninjago movie is the weakest entry in the series so far.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 13th, 2017
At first glance you would not expect 50 year old cartoon television specials to be this high on the UHD 4K list. Honestly, I was a bit surprised myself. But when you really think about the staying power of these cartoons you realize they've made an emotional connection to generations of children of all ages. I grew up on the Peanuts creations of Charles M. Schulz. Most of us have, in some way or another. His newspaper comic strip is one of the longest running and most successful strips of all time. The work has been translated into every language currently spoken on the planet. The images of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, and the rest of the Peanuts gang have appeared on just about any kind of product imaginable. Our pop culture contains too many references to the strip to mention briefly. For me, it was the television specials starting in the mid 1960’s that brought the gang into my life. The classics are running annually, still after nearly 50 years. A Charlie Brown Christmas, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown are the most mentioned and certainly beloved by generations of children and adults. I thought I never missed an airing.
A Charlie Brown Christmas
Posted in: Disc Reviews by John Delia on September 28th, 2017
Taking a few ideas from superhero films, the animated adventure Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie flies onto DVD, Blu-ray and Digital HD for home viewing. The comical kids’ movie has some great characters and a cool plot that will keep tots to tweens laughing and talking about the fun film. The movie comes with over 30 minutes of fascinating extras, mostly for the youngsters. The movie opens with fifth-grade-schoolers George Beard and Harold Hutchins showing off the comic book they created about a world called “Underpanty” where people only wear underwear. Much like the beginning of Superman, there hero gets catapulted to Earth from a distant planet about to blow up. Landing on Earth, the child starts to save cities from the likes of Egg Salad Sandwich Man.
Switch to reality and we find George and Harold in the school yard being surprised by their Principal, Mr. Krump. He thinks that George and Harold spend too much time thinking up and drawing comic book characters instead of schoolwork. The boys are remanded to Krump’s office where he goes over many of the pranks the two have played and warns them if he ever gets proof, they’ll be sorry.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on August 18th, 2017
Reboots are all the rage in Hollywood, in case you haven't heard. Even a relatively low-key property like the Diary of a Wimpy Kid Cinematic Universe series isn't immune. Based on the wildly popular books by author Jeff Kinney, the first three movies featured the same core group of likable actors and become rock solid hits made on modest budgets. So you can understand why Fox would want to keep the series going, even if original star Zachary Gordon became too old to play the perpetually put-upon (and middle school-aged) Greg Heffley. This latest offering features an all-new cast, but too much of the same cringeworthy and juvenile humor; it'll make you wish someone had hidden the reset button from this franchise.
“If there's one thing I've learned from my years of being a kid, it's that you have zero control over your own life.”
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on June 8th, 2017
“Who could ever learn to love a beast?”
Although it’s not quite a tale as old as time, people around the world have been enchanted by the story of “Beauty and the Beast” for centuries. The French fairytale was first published in 1740 and has subsequently spawned everything from a classic 1946 big-screen romance to Ron Perlman. Still, the most popular iteration of this story is Disney’s beloved 1991 animated musical, which helped solidify the Mouse House’s cartoon revival and serves as the most direct inspiration for this dazzling live-action adaptation. Then again, the fact that this new version is essentially a pretty close copy of a copy takes some of the bloom off this particular rose.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 7th, 2017
"Good morning, young prince."
The forest is alive with the news. It travels from tree to tree, from animal to animal. A new prince has been born, and the creatures of the woods gather to welcome the young fawn. His name is Bambi, and he soon wins the hearts of the entire population of the forest. From his first attempts to stand on his wobbly legs to his discovery of the things that surround him in this brand new world, Bambi takes us on an emotional journey through the circle of life.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 1st, 2016
"Sometimes a dragon gets lost...and winds up far from his home."
It appears to be the intention at Walt Disney Studios that each of its animated classics is to be remade as a live-action film. You can certainly understand the why that might be so. Computer-generated images have passed into the realm of photo-realistic presentations. Today there isn't anything you can't bring into the "real" world to interact with actual flesh and blood actors. The concept brought us the brilliant Jon Favreau version of The Jungle Book. Not all of these attempts have been or will be quite so successful. I count Pete's Dragon among one of those lesser-than films.
