Cindy Prascik's Reviews of The Good Dinosaur and Krampus

 

Dearest Blog: After a weekend on the town, yesterday it was off to Marquee Cinemas to make up for lost time with The Good Dinosaur and Krampus.

Spoiler level here will be mild, nothing you wouldn't know from the trailers.

First up: The Good Dinosaur.

A young dinosaur learns to face his fears.

There's no getting around it: The Good Dinosaur is kind of a stinker. Animation doesn't always have to be game-changing--I mean, I quickly forgave a sub-par outing from our little yellow friends the Minions because they're adorable--but I feel like it should at least be cute and fun. 

The problem with The Good Dinosaur is there's almost nothing to like, and certainly nothing to like enough to make amends for what's not to like. The characters aren't cute at all, and the voices--though they include mighty talents like Sam Elliott and Frances McDormand--nearly annoyed me right out of the room. 

Outside of some nifty water effects, the artwork and animation are ho-hum, and the movie's message is heavy-handed. Sadly, The Good Dinosaur was about the least-enjoyable time I've had at the movies this year.

The Good Dinosaur runs 93 minutes and is rated PG for, "peril, action, and thematic elements." The film is accompanied by a trippy little short called Sanjay's Super-Team, which adds about seven minutes to the total runtime.

Gotta be honest: while watching The Good Dinosaur, I was rooting for the asteroid. 

Of a possible nine Weasleys, The good Dinosaur gets two.

Next on the day's schedule, the holiday horror-comedy Krampus.

A family pays the price for having lost the true spirit of Christmas.

Unless I have an ulterior motive (read: one of my favorite actors has a role), I seldom bother with horror movies, as I almost always find them stupid and not at all scary.  

Benefitting from a fun trailer and a weak schedule of new releases, Krampus became the exception to my rule, and I'm pleased to report I didn't have reason to regret it.

There are no A-Listers, but Krampus boasts a great cast and the performances are quite good. Kid actors can be hit or miss, but the adorable Emjay Anthony is a nice surprise in what essentially amounts to the lead. 

If I was never really scared, the movie still does a great job of maintaining tension, and the monsters are genuinely creepy. In fact, the entire look of the film is exquisite, from the festive holiday decor to cold, snowy exteriors, to some pretty badass baddies. 

The laughs are equally solid and well timed, making Krampus a truly entertaining outing.

Krampus clocks in at 98 minutes, and is rated PG13 for, "sequences of horror violence/terror, language, and some drug material."

It may never become *that* classic you watch with grandma every Christmas Eve, but Krampus is good holiday fun. 

Of a possible nine Weasleys, Krampus gets six.

Until next time...

MOVIE REVIEW: ANCHORMAN 2: THE LEGEND CONTINUES

Will Ferrell returns to the role of Ron Burgundy in Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, which finds the popular San Diego television newsman pulling up stakes with co-host Veronica (Christina Applegate), his intrepid reporter Brian (Paul Rudd), overenthusiastic sports reporter Champ (David Koechner), and imbecilic weatherman Brick (Steve Carell) in order to move to New York City and launch the first ever 24-hour news network. Adam McKay, who directed the original, returns as well to helm this comedy. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Director: Adam McKay

Cast: Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd, Steve Carell, David Koechner, Christina Applegate

Release Date: Dec 18, 2013

Rated PG-13 for crude and sexual content, drug use, language
and comic violence

Runtime: 1 hr. 59 min.

Genres: Comedy

Review:

Let’s get this out of the way right from the start. Anchorman 2 isn’t as funny or consistent as the original. Sky high expectations from fans, like myself, left the sequel with the nearly impossible task of topping the first film. That being said, the sequel does have plenty of bright spots with certain sequences veering into outlandish hilarity especially a certain cameo filled sequence near the end. Will Ferrell loves this character, in case you didn’t notice his 5 month in character publicity tour, and I still think it’s his most complete creation. The returning cast is all fun even if some get less screen time while others get more with varying results. Kristen Wiig’s role isn’t as large as the trailers lead you to believe but she has good chemistry with Steve Carell. I do think their portions of the film will split people, some loving it and others finding it utterly stupid. Meagan Good is a solid addition to the cast and she shows off some real comedic chops throughout. The plot is fairly clever even though there are a handful of recycled sequences from the first film. The biggest issue is that the film overall is overlong. The original film was a lean hour and half comedy. The sequel clocks in at nearly 2 hours and it has too many dead spot to warrant that runtime. All in all, the sequel is like Ron Burgundy’s life, filled with hilarious peaks and so-so valleys.

B-

[Trailers] Captain America: The Winter Soldier & Anchorman 2 US and International

A couple of new trailers have hit the interwebs over the last few days so let’s dig right in.

First up is the trailer, which looks surprisingly impressive, for the Captain America sequel. There’s a noticeable tonal shift from the first film which I never loved or hated. This one seems more like an international flavored action thriller with superheroes in the mix. Lots of familiar faces pop up along with plenty of new ones, check it out….



Earlier this week a couple of new Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues trailers hit. The 2nd US trailer showcases plenty of new footage. If that didn’t wet your appetite check out the international trailer which has even more new footage. I’m a huge Will Ferrell so I can’t wait for this, check them out below…

2nd US Trailer….



International Trailer….

[Trailer] Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues

First trailer for Anchorman 2, which shows some actual footage, has hit and it doesn’t show its hand too much. A few bit here and there made me grin but nothing made me laugh out loud.

I’m working on the assumption that they are keeping the best bits for the actual movie or at least hoping so since Anchorman is a personal favorite of mine, expectations are a tad high…

[Trailer] Piranha 3DD

I have no shame in saying that I enjoyed the first Piranha 3D, gleefully gory and over the top, it was a fine redux of the Roger Corman original.

Still, I always felt it should have gone further, this much anticipated sequel seems like it’s really upping the gore and tongue in cheek camp, small concern over the director, should be a lot of fun for genre fans…..