Sanders

Movie Review: The Wild Robot

Jon The Blogcentric1 Comment

This year is one Oscar year where predicting the Best Animated Feature winner will be difficult. One of the favorites is The Wild Robot. Does it have what it takes to win?

The film begins in a remote forest land on an uninhabited island unblemished by human intervention. The coast soon becomes an unintentional wash-up ground for Universal Dynamic’s ROZZUM robots coming from a capsized ship. Only one robot, Unit 7134, survives and running wildlife activate it. It’s obvious the robot has no place on the island as it can’t interact properly with animals. The robot is intended to be a customer service robot with a female voice. Nothing the robot does helps any of the animals and the animals respond in a hostile manner, chasing 7134. Upon falling from running away, 7134 crushed a mother goose to death and all but one of the nest eggs on its landing. The lone egg that was unharmed hatches the baby gosling. 7134 takes a fascination in it. Plus 7134 is programmed to continue with whatever mission she’s given until completion. She puts the egg inside her chest.

7134 finds a memory card in herself to make her communicate with animals better and inserts it. Soon after, she encounters Fink: a sly hungry fox who knows of the egg and wants to eat it. 7134 is able to prevent the theft. Soon the egg hatches and a male gosling is born and imprints himself on 7134. 7134 now has a mission to raise the gosling to adulthood, but how? 7134 first finds guidance from a mother opossum who’s currently mothering six babies. Fink returns but instead of eating the gosling, he makes a deal with 7134 to help raise the feller for a shelter in return. 7134 agrees and creates a hut for them all to live. In the naming of the gosling, 7134 gives the gosling number-names which annoys Fink. Fink gives 7134 naming tutelage and the gosling is given the name ‘Brightbill.’ 7134 even gets a new name of her own: Roz.

Over the months, Brightbill grows, albeit awkwardly. While the other goslings are goose-like and grow as naturally as geese do, Brightbill acts more like Roz than a goose. The other teen goslings taunt him for his awkwardness. Then one day, another flop day of goose training for Brightbill, one of the peers tells Brightbill that Roz killed his mother. It’s there Brightbill turns against Roz.  Even though Roz still wants to mother Brightbill, a ROZZUM unit she reconstructs tells her to return to Universal Dynamics. Roz is determined to reconcile with Brightbill and raise him. That sends a signal back to Universal Dynamics. Meanwhile Roz finds the right bird to teach Brightbill how to fly: a falcon named Thunderbolt. With help from goose master Longneck, Thuynderbolt succeeds in making Brightbill able to fly in time for migration.

The migration is not what it seems. The birds encounter a thunderstorm as they fly in San Francisco. They hope the greenhouse from Universal Dynamics they spot in San Francisco is the temporary shelter they need, but the Universal Dynamics technology detects the birds as contaminant and a multitude of reconnaissance, or RECO, robots that look exactly like Roz go shooting at the birds. The island which has the hibernating animals goes through a severe snowstorm and they fear they will freeze to death. Roz and Fink build a shelter for all animals but demand a truce of all of them not to harm each other.

As spring returns, Brightbill and the geese return, Roz repowers herself and the animals are free to roam the island. Unfortunately, Universal Dynamics has sent a robot to retrieve Roz named VONTRA and she’s troublesome, reckless and remorseless. VONTRA is not even afraid to start a forest fire on the island to get Roz. It’s then the animals group together to rescue Roz and battle VONTRA as their land is burning in a bright red fire. I won’t spoil the ending but the film then ends not with the battle but the aftermath, reminding us of the bond between Roz, Brightbill and all the animals.

This film is based upon the 2016 children’s novel The Wild Robot by Peter Brown. The story itself is a story about togetherness. In many ways, children who watch this film can learn about the importance of getting along and actually coming as one. If animals who attack eat other or treat each other as prey can get along, so can other kids. Same way as a robot, who has no qualities to bond with animals, learns to have those qualities and does bond. Even raise a baby gosling to goose. The film also has other themes too of the environment and how development threatens animal’s habitats. Even the threat of having technology run things and make decisions with no human feelings is another thematic element of the story. At the beginning, I didn’t think Roz would be of any help to the animals of the island. Just an interference that acts on her own programmed logic to do only the things she’s programmed to do. A change of things changes everything and Roz becomes an unlikely hero.

The film’s quality is in its story. It plays the story well. The animals act like animals and Roz acts with her programmed logic. Over time we see the story develop. Roz goes from being an interference on the island to becoming a big help. Fink goes from a sly conniver to being a big help to the animals too. Brightbill also goes from being a robot-like gosling to the goose he was meant to be. It succeeds in making moments you think won’t develop properly develop into the way it was meant to be. At the same time, the film also adds in the other threats like how robots are sent to the island as Roz is not doing her commanded duties and VONTRA threatens to get her even at the cost of the island’s destruction. Unexpected moments like these and the film ending in the manner you didn’t expect add to the story. Also since this film is an adaptation of the first book of a Wild Robot trilogy of books, it also sets up well for the sequel that will be adapted from The Wild Robot Escapes novel. The box office results of this film have opened the door for the development of a sequel, but filming details and release date have not yet been confirmed.

The biggest credit should go to director/writer Chris Sanders. Sanders has over 40 years of experience in animation having first worked as a scriptwriter for the Muppet Babies cartoons and then becoming story writer for five of Disney’s films in the 1990’s during the ‘Disney Renaissance.’ He then broke out into directing with 2002’s Lilo and Stitch which is the first film he directed, co-directing with Dean De Blois. Since then, he moved onto Dreamworks Animation and has co-directed How To Train Your Dragon with de Blois, The Croods with Kirk DeMicco and his first solo project The Call Of The Wild. In this film, he succeeds in delivering an excellent story mixed with dazzling effects. He does a great job in making a film that can easily make Disney and even Pixar jealous!

Also great voice acting from Lupita Nyong’o. She knows how to make Roz the unfeeling robot at times she needs to be and help her develop into having feelings. Kit Connor also does a great job in playing Brightbill from his awkwardness to his anger. Pedro Pascal is excellent as the sly Fink. Stephanie Hsu is also great as the villainous VONTRA. Actually the mix of vocal talent is great throughout the film. Adding to the film is the musical score by Kris Bowers and the work from the film’s sound team and the visual effects team.

In the Oscar category of Best Animated Feature, this film has been in a tight battle against Flow. To think, its biggest rival is an independent film from Latvia! In this category, Flow has won the National Board of Review award, the Golden Globe, and the Online Film Critics Society Award. The Wild Robot has won the Critics Choice Award and the Producers Guild Award in this category. At the Annie Awards for animated films, it achieved ten nominations in nine categories including Best Animated Feature and it won in all nine!

The Wild Robot delivers in what one would commonly expect in an animated film. Although it’s more oriented for children than it is for adults, the parents will have no problem being entertained by the story. Don’t be surprised if it wins the Oscar on Sunday!

Oscars 2019 Best Picture Review: Ford v. Ferrari

Jon The Blogcentric1 Comment

Ford Ferrari
Matt Damon (left) is Carroll Shelby and Christian Bale (right) is Ken Miles in the racing drama Ford v Ferrari.

At first you’ll think Ford v Ferrari is about cars. It is, and about car racing. However, you’ll be surprised how much more it’s about.

The Ford Motor Company is going through an image issue in the mid-1960’s. For decades starting at the very beginning of the 20th Century, Ford under the genius of Henry Ford manufactured cars that completely redid the way Americans travel. Ford is still on top and currently led by Henry Ford’s grandson Henry Ford II, but it’s trying to win over younger buyers of their cars. It’s a bit harder because young people have recently developed an interest in racing cars and see Fords as their ‘parents cars.’ In 1963, Vice-President Lee Iacocca recommends to Ford they strike a merger with the cash-strapped Italian company Ferrari. It seems like a good choice as Ferrari has been a big winner in racing. In fact Ferrari cars have won the most recent 24-hours of Le Mans races since 1960.

However over at the meeting at the Ferrari office, the meeting does not go well. Enzo Ferrari tells Ford that he accepted a deal with Fiat that’s more lucrative and allows him to keep the Scuderia Ferrari racing division. In the meeting, Ferrari insults the Ford cars and Henry II as ‘not Henry Ford but the grandson of Henry Ford.’ That infuriates Henry Ford and he plans a revenge on Ferrari. The revenge is actually one to take the Ford Car company into the future. He plans to have a Ford car designed to win auto races. He hires Carroll Shelby who won the Le Mans in 1959 but had to retire because of heart problems: a problem he consistently takes pills straight out of the bottle. Since retiring racing, Shelby devoted his time to developing cars for auto racing through his company Shelby American. Carroll Shelby is close friends with 47 year-old Ken Miles: a British auto racer who is infamous for his bad temper and struggles as a mechanic with owning his garage in Los Angeles. This is a burden not only to him, but his wife Mollie and young son Peter. Especially since the IRS is on his case.

Miles is Shelby’s first pick in his Cobra team to test out his cars. Miles’ racing style and car know-how allows Shelby to make good decisions. He is always very honest with Shelby whenever he notices something that needs an improvement or when something’s a weakness. However, the choice of Ken Miles does not go well with Henry Ford, especially since he feels Miles’ personality and notorious temper doesn’t fit the Ford image. Ford elects to send Phil Hill and Bruce McLaren to the 1964 Le Mans instead. Miles predicts none of the Ford participants will win the race, and he ends up right. Once again, the race is won by a Ferrari driver.

Despite the big loss at Le Mans 1964, Shelby tries to reassure Ford that one of the Ford drivers hit 218 mph on the Ford GT40 and that made Ferrari nervous. Meanwhile it’s back to the drawing board. Shelby continues development on the Ford GT40 Mk II and he has Miles test the cars with Peter watching frequently and Ford unhappy about the arrangement. On one practice run, the brakes fail and cause the car to crash in fiery manner, which Miles is lucky to escape.

In 1966, Ford takes an extra step in the efforts of their racing cards by creating a racing division of their company and has Ford’s Senior Vice-President Leon Beebe run it. Beebe wants the program a case where Miles is not a part of any of it, not even the testing. Shelby meets up with Ford on an opportunity and offers to take him into his car. Ford accepts, and Shelby drives like a racer on the track which scares Ford almost to death. It’s right there he convinces Ford that Miles is the best man to win Le Mans. Ford agrees, but with a compromise; Miles needs to win the 24-hours At Daytona first before he can race at Le Mans. Shelby visits Miles at a street corner near his house after he’s finished grocery shopping to tell him the news. That infuriates Miles so much, he has a fist-fight with Shelby at the corner, which wife Mollie watches entertainingly.

Shelby and Miles continue with the racing and testing as Peter continues to watch and Phil Remington is the mechanic doing the fixing. Beebe is hoping Miles doesn’t win as he has puts in a second Ford entry in Daytona with NASCAR team Holdman-Moody supporting it. The Holdman-Moody team is faster at pit stops, but Shelby allows Miles to push his car to 7000 RPM. The result: Miles wins Daytona. It’s Miles’ first win in five years. Miles also has continued success later by winning the 12 Hours Of Sebring. Le Mans will be Miles’ chance to win the rare Triple Crown of endurance races.

At the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966, Miles is there as is Shelby, but so is Ford and Beebe. So is Enzo Ferrari in hopes of this being victory #7 for the Ferrari car. Ferrari has just released his latest racing prototype, 330 P3, and his best hopes in repeating rest with Italian driver Lorenzo Bandini. Mollie and Peter are listening to the race on the radio as Peter will be going through the race on the Le Mans racetrack he drew.

The race starts and Miles has problems on the first lap as the passenger door won’t close; he has to steer with his right hand and hold the door with his left. At the first lap, Miles alerts of the problem, which Remington fixes with a sledgehammer. Miles gets back to driving and has a lot of ground to make up. With each lap, he breaks the track record and passes numerous Ferraris as he gains ground on the leaders. However, as he’s pursuing Bandini, brake problems occur. At the pit stop, the team replaces the brake system, which infuriates Enzo Ferrari. He feels it’s against the rules, but Shelby is able to successfully convince race officials that the brake replacement is within the rules. As the race continues, Bandini is in hot pursuit by Miles, but Bandini is the last Ferrari driver in the race. As they duel again on the Mulsanne Straight, Bandini blows is engine and is out, making this the first Le Mans since 1959 Ferrari won’t win!

There’s still one more act of the drama. Three Ford cars lead the race nearing the finish with Miles leading them all. What should be a normal racing situation actually becomes a publicity opportunity for Henry Ford. He envisions all three Ford crossing the finish line simultaneously and even Beebe gets Shelby to tell Miles to slow down and set up for the opportunity. Miles is furious about this as this could put his Triple Crown in jeopardy and responds by setting more lap records, but eventually agrees with it. Miles does slow down and the three cross the finish simultaneously. However, it’s not a shared win as Ford driver McLaren is declared the winner. Shelby is mad that it ends all chances of Miles’ Triple Crown, but Miles is not down. Miles is just grateful for driving at Le Mans and giving the crowd a show.

That race would be Ken Miles’ last ever race. One day while testing a J-car, and with Shelby and Peter around, Ken crashed near a turn. It was a ball of fire and he didn’t get out. The fatal crash happened in Peter’s view. Some time later, Shelby goes to visit Mollie and Peter. He sees Peter still hurt but gives him words of comfort about his father and gives him a wrench Ken threw at Carroll years ago. As for Mollie, he just waves back from a distance after she waved to him. Then he drives off like a racer.

The film is unique as it is more than just a story about racing. It’s also how one race depended on taking a solid American business and a business legendary in making automobile travel the new norm for the USA into the future. Because of it, or maybe not exactly because of it, people still drive Fords today. Ferraris are still the most expensive sports cars today but Ford is still one of the biggest auto manufacturers in the World. The film also gave us some reminders about sports business. Businesses don’t simply look for sportspeople who win all the time. They also look for those with a marketable image. Michael Jordan may be a case where one of the best sportsmen ever becomes the most marketable ever, but it’s not always a guarantee. Seeing how a great racer like Ken Miles was shunned by everybody except by his family and those involved with Shelby American is one example. Also how Henry Ford looked at him was also unpleasant to see. I remember one person said that Henry Ford simply not liking you was enough for him to fire you. Goes to show he was cruel to whoever as he was to Ken Miles.

The story isn’t only about racing or even about a remarkable race. It’s about an auto racer whom at an age most would retire from the sport at was having the most successful year of his life. It was his love for his family. He wanted to win for them. And he especially wanted to be seen by his son as someone to be proud of. It was also of a friendship between Ken Miles and Carroll Shelby. Miles was the one person Shelby can best trust for an honest opinion about his cars, or should I say Ford’s cars. Shelby saw a lot of qualities in Miles most others overlooked. The friendship was strong, but it wasn’t without its friction as both men were temperamental and fighters. But the friendship was still very strong.

One thing about this film is that it doesn’t compromise in being an auto racing film. Being such, it knows that it has to make the audience feel like they are part of the race or they are in the driver’s seat. The camera angles as well as many of the scene shots helped greatly in creating the experience and intensity and leaving the audience at the edge of their seat. The film also does a great job of putting the audience in the races too. Despite the intimate story, the story does not forget what it’s about and makes the audience feel the moments too.

The film marks another great success for director James Mangold. This is his sixth film to earn Oscar nominations and his first ever to be nominated for Best Picture. Although he missed a Best Director nomination, he creates a great film that delivers just as good a story as it delivers in racing excitement. The story by brothers Jez and John-Henry Butterworth along with Jason Keller becomes more than a racing story with a simple plot. It’s a deep plot with three-dimensional characters and reminds the audience that the story is as much about the man, the friend, the husband and the father as it is about the racer.

The film marks another great performance for Christian Bale. Again he succeeds in getting into character and delivering a deep role. Not a false note about the character nor the father-son relationship. Matt Damon was also great as Carroll Shelby. His role may not have been as deep as Ken Miles’ but he added dimension and character to the role. The other standout of the film was Noah Jupe as Peter Miles. Noah made the father-son relationship work as well as Christian did. Other standout efforts include the cinematography from Phedon Papamichael. He knew the shots he needed for this racing film and he delivered, especially in some of the most intense scenes. The visual effects were also excellent and perfect for the film. Also the score by Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders added to the excitement of the film.

Ford v Ferrari is the remarkable story how a driver and a race depended on the future of the Ford auto company. It’s also a story about a friendship between two racers few of us knew of. And a reminder of an overlooked great in the sport.

A Tale of Two Snow Whites: Seven Dwarfs vs. Huntsman

Jon The Blogcentric1 Comment

Most of the time I do reviews of movies. This article is different as I do a side-by-side comparison of two versions of the same story. There’s Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs that generations of moviegoers are familiar with. There’s now Snow White And The Huntsmen that aims to be a modern version of the famous fairy tale character. The question is how do they compare side to side?

First off, let’s run down the first nitty gritty factors of the movies. Snow White And The Seven Dwarfsis more than just a delightful animated

Some present moviegoers would view Disney’s Snow White as too naive.

movie. It’s a part of filmmaking history. It’s the first ever feature-length animated movie. And it was made against incredible odds. Walt Disney took five years to make this movie as it involved a lot of drawings and a lot of effort. It was expensive for its time at $1.5 million and Walt had to take out a lot of loans for this movie. And during the Great Depression to boot. In the end, it became a huge hit in 1937 grossing $8 million worldwide and world propel further animated movies in the future. To this day the American Film Institute still ranks it as the Best Animated Movie ever.

Now Snow White And The Huntsmen isn’t really much of a filmmaking breakthrough. It’s a life-action version of the Snow White story, which has been done before. It features familiar actors Kristen Stewart, Charlize Theron, Chris Hemsworth and Sam Claflin. While this film is not much of a cinematic breakthrough, it is a personal breakthrough for director Rupert Sanders. He has directed commercials and TV episodes in the past. This is his first direction of a feature-length film and it cost $170 million to make. It has so far grossed $152 million at the North American box office: $370 million worldwide.

To compare the actual Snow White character, let’s give a bit of a rundown in terms of the times. First off Snow White And The Huntsmen is done in the present by modern-day director. Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs was released in 1937 and done by Walt Disney. You can be sure both films would be reflective of the ideal female roles for the two main female characters and both would reflect the directors’ visions at the time. The Disney Snow White has a very happy and cheerful attitude but is very naive to the threats that surround her. She lost her parents and is exiled in the woods but still holds her spirits high even after the queen’s assassin tells her to flee. The modern Snow White, played by Kristen Stewart, is a girl scorned. She has had enough of the imprisonment and wants out. However she feels there’s no way out. It isn’t until after she sees an opportunity escape and seizes it that it’s revealed she has a determination in her to fight to be free, even if it means walking through castle sewage to get it.

The reflections of the different types of Snow White characters is also reflective in their biggest desires. Disney’s Snow White wants to be free but she feels she found it in living with the seven dwarfs. Her biggest desire is to find her ‘prince’ as evident in the song ‘Someday My Prince Will Come’. Modern Snow White wants love too but she wants her freedom more. She knows she has to continue fighting even after she is free from the prison. She knows the queen and her men and she knows the threats will continue as long as the queen is alive.

The Snow White of Kristen Stewart could be seen by some as too much of a ‘warrior princess.’

Both Snow Whites are subject to negative opinions from some about the way they’re depicted. First off modern audience goers would find the Disney Snow White, voiced by Adriana Caselotti, as too naive for the present and very lacking in ‘street smarts’. Kristen Stewart’s Snow White could also be subject to negative opinions as Disney fans may feel she lacks the cheerfulness and many other moviegoers could think she makes Snow White into Xena: Warrior Princess.

The character of the queen has a common similarity: beauty. Walt Disney wanted a beautiful queen in his film as part of the reflection of the queen’s desire to be the ‘fairest of all’ and her evil envy of Snow White. We shouldn’t forget that sometimes evil can be disguised as something beautiful. The modern evil queen is given a name, Ravenna, and is played by Charlize Theron who is renowned for her beauty. The dissimilarity between the two evil queens is that the Disney queen is seen as very stockish in her desire to see Snow White dead because of her envy, and only because of that. Ravenna is shown as the killer of Snow White’s father, whom she killed on her wedding day and had Snow White imprisoned. It’s the familiar evil stepmother role in fairy tales. Ravenna is shown not only as a queen of envy over Snow White but as a victim herself. She learns from the mirror that has to destroy Snow White for the sake of her immortality or she will be the mortal one. Even giving Snow White the poisonous apple would show two differing means of disguises. The Disney queen would take a potion to tune her into an old lady. Ravenna would metamorphose into William, son of Duke Hammond, to give Snow White the fatal apple.

The other notable difference of the two Snow Whites is the differing their main supporting character, or characters. In Disney’s Snow White, it was the seven dwarfs. All seven were cute with cute names and charming personalities. They worked hard but they sang, danced and lived cheerfully. They were first surprised to see Snow White and thought of her as an intruder but would come to welcome her, love her, and even avenge her against the queen after she gave Snow White the poisonous apple. In the modern Snow White, the dwarves are seen as a minor supporting character in the movie who assist with the Huntsman in her well-being and warriors with Snow White and the Huntsman against the queen. It’s the Huntsman in the modern Snow White who’s the main supporting character now.

The Huntsman in the modern Snow White is under command from the queen to kill and receive the hand of her brother’s deceased wife in marriage. He learns from Finn, the brother, that it was a false promise and then becomes Snow White’s ally helping her escape with the help of women disfigured by Ravenna and the help of the seven dwarves. The Huntsman is the man who kisses Snow White back to life but it’s not happily ever after yet as they must battle Ravenna before Snow White can be married to the Hunstman. In Disney’s Snow White it is the prince whose kiss revives Snow White and marries her. The Huntsman is only seen at the beginning as the one who tries to kill Snow White but can’t and gives the queen a pig’s heart to trick her into thinking Snow White is dead.

It’s not just the characters themselves that make the two Snow White movies different but also the stories themselves. The beginning especially. In the Disney movie we’re given a storybook narration of what has happened in the past and leads to the beginning with the queen at the mirror saying “Mirror, mirror on the wall…” Snow White and the Huntsman goes back to when Snow White is a young girl and her favorite playmate is the Duke’s son William. Ravenna is prisoner of the Dark Army rescued by the recently widowed King Magnus, father of Snow White. King Magnus is actually killed by Ravenna after he marries her, imprisons Snow White and seized control of the kingdom leaving it lifeless and full of sadness. Even the setting of the forest is different as Disney shows a charming forest full of happy creatures while the modern Snow White shows a nice forest that’s not immune by threats like insects and other dangers.

Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs and Snow White And The Huntsman are two differing movies of the same story. As for which is the best depiction, I can’t say because I have not read the original Snow White story by the Brothers Grimm. Nevertheless both have their entertainment values and one would appeal over another depending on their movie preferences.