Happiness Comes in The Form of Trolls

Trolls Review

Credit: https://www.dreamworks.com/trolls/

The Trolls movie was released on November 4, 2016 and DreamWorksAnimation produced the film. The film conveys a strong message about how anyone can be happy. It only takes a little will power and positivity to achieve this. The premise of the movie is intriguing. In a bleak and foreboding village live the Bergens, creatures that feel happy only after eating a troll. These creatures hold an annual festival to celebrate eating the trolls. The trolls are happy little creatures that sing and hug every hour. They are the epitome of happiness. Trolls is a film that takes an abstract idea, happiness, and gives it a form and story. It is a film for people of all ages. The cute trolls will keep children enticed, but the story will also keep adults on the edge of their seats.

Storyline

The storyline of Trolls is interesting, taking cute and overly happy trolls and throwing them into a dark situation. The trolls are peace loving and positive creatures that love singing as much as hugging. Other than their happy go lucky attitude though, these trolls have no means of protecting themselves. They have parties frequently and do not care if they cause an uproar. The only troll who is concerned is Branch, a paranoid troll, who has a secret base filled with provisions for ten years and has traps galore. He remembers the time when the Bergens almost caught the trolls and because of this he is extra vigilant. Poppy, the princess of the trolls, loves throwing parties and is known for often causing loud over the top parties. Her utter lack of concern causes a Bergen to discover the trolls. The Bergen captures several trolls, but the majority of them get away. However, Poppy is an optimistic troll and decides to save her friends on her own. She seeks Branch for help, but he is against the idea and does not help her. Later, he realizes Poppy might need help after all and runs after her. The rest of the storyline in Trolls is comedic and clever. There were moments in the film when I found myself laughing because of what a character said or did. The movie Trolls is truly a film for all ages.

Meaning

The meaning in Trolls was a simple one, but it’s a truth we often forget. The meaning of Trolls is that happiness is not something we have to try to achieve, but rather it is a fleeting feeling that we can achieve with the right mindset. For example, in the movie, the troll, Bridget, a scullery maid is in love with the king of the Bergens. However, she like all the other trolls, thinks happiness is only achieved by eating a troll. The trolls help Bridget and get her a date with Gristle, the king and from that point on she feels an emotion unlike any she’s felt before. The emotion she feels is happiness. Bridget denies feeling the emotion, but she later realizes that happiness is the only plausible explanation for the inexplicable emotion she feels. King Gristle realizes this too and comes to the conclusion that happiness is not found by eating a troll, but rather it is found within us.

Conclusion

Trolls is a film for everyone. It has cute characters, humor, some singing and interesting characters. I loved the film and I recommend it people who like Dreams Works films. It has a similar feel to it as other Dreams Works films such as Shrek. The singing was not over done in the film, and while at first glance one would expect a musical, this film had only a few musical numbers. The designs of the characters were colorful and cute for the trolls and bleak and ominous for the Bergens. However, the designs of each character meshed well and contributed positively to the film. The meaning of the film resonated strongly with me and for that reason I am giving this film 5 out of 5 stars.

Who Let the Pets Out?

A Secret Life of Pets Review

Source: blog.universalorlando.com

The Secret Life of Pets was released on July 8, 2016. It produced a revenue of $104,352,905 in the United States on its opening weekend. The movie is charming, but falls a little flat on the story. The story is not very complex and I felt it could have had more depth to it. Overall though, the movie is entertaining and worth the hour and a half.



The Pros

• Humor
• Voice Actors

The Cons

• Story
• Dislikable Main Character


Humor

The humor in this movie was what made me ultimately enjoy the entire experience. Have you ever wondered what your pets do when you’re not around? In this movie, the pets go wild and take advantage of their owners’ absence. For example, the pets were seen in the beginning of the movie doing things that they could not do if their owners were there. Chloe, for example, is shown throwing her food bowl to the side and looking inside the fridge for a different food. She sees a plate of turkey in the fridge and tries to resist eating it. The scene shows her opening and closing the fridge, before she finally gives into temptation and eats the turkey. After she is through eating the turkey she sees a cake and immediately eats it. For example, my cat does yoga poses when she thinks I am not looking. She imitates the famous yoga pose, Downward-Dog.

In the movie, Buddy is seen using a hand mixer to massage his back and stomach. Sweet Pea turns on a fan to propel herself into the air and fly towards a TV with airplanes playing on it. A Poodle living in the apartment complex would go from listening to classical music to listening to heavy metal. His owner was also never home and he would use his house as a place to throw parties. The movie does little things to tie loose ends. For example, at the end of the movie, the Poodle’s owner comes in and says, “I see you’ve been a good boy.” A pig falls from the chandelier hanging and the Poodle smiles, looking nervous. The movie’s humor is similar to this throughout the entire movie and I found myself laughing a lot. I recommend this movie if you’re a fan of cartoons and love animals being anthropomorphized.

Voice Actors

The voice actors in this movie were truly terrific. I recognized their voices from other TV shows and movies. Kevin Hart plays Snowball, the leader of The Flushed Pets, a group of former domesticated animals. His role as Snowball, a white rabbit, was both serious and funny. He usually plays the goofy comic relief character in many movies such as Ride Along and Central Intelligence. In The Secret Life of Pets his role is the same, even though he is the antagonist of the film. Jenny Slate plays Gidget, a white Pomeranian, who is in love with our protagonist, Max. She is also known for her role in Zootopia as Bellwether, a shy and reserved secretary for Mayor Lionheart. In The Secret Life of Pets she plays a character who is shy, but who opens up and becomes a strong character. Albert Brooks plays Tiberius, a red-tailed hawk, who wants to eat everything and anything, but in the end helps our heroes. He is known for his role in Finding Nemo as Marlin, the overprotective father of Nemo. In The Secret Life of Pets he does a good job of being tough and intimidating, a role opposite of Marlin. Eric Stonestreet plays Duke, a Newfoundland dog, that tries to take over our hero Max’s life. He plays Cameron Tucker in Modern Family, a gay man who makes everyone laugh. In The Secret Life of Pets he plays the role of an outsider. Max does not like him at all and tries to kick him out of his life. Duke is a dog that has been rescued from the pound and wants to fit in. Throughout the movie, Max and Duke become closer and eventually become friends. The Secret Life of Pets was a good movie, because the voice actors were phenomenal and believable.

Story

While The Secret Life of Pets had its strong points, it also had its weak points. The story for example seemed to be weak and fall flat. It went from the pets wanting to have freedom and be away from their owners to realizing they actually needed them. While this shows growth in the movie, it leaves something to be desired. The story seemed too simple and almost childish. The movie is intended for children, but most cartoons have deeper plots. For example, Inside Out, a movie produced by Pixar, had a deeper storyline than expected. The movie looked like it would just be about a child’s emotions and ultimately be a cute and simple. However, that is not what the movie portrayed. The movie portrayed a darker side. The movie goes through turmoil and strife and the meaning is deeply rooted. Everyone must grow up, and the film explores the idea that childhood eventually must fade and bring forth adulthood. Inside Out was cute, but it also explored themes that not many cartoons have explored. The Secret Life of Pets is good for a laugh, but in the end the meaning is a little weak.

Dislikable Main Character

The main character in The Secret Life of Pets was unlikable. For example, the story’s main protagonist, Max, a terrier seemed to be in his own world. He lived his life dependent on his owner, Katie. Max seemed a little stuck up in the beginning of the movie. He was hard to like, because he seemed to not care for anyone but himself and Katie. Even when his friends came over to visit him, he still seemed indifferent. By the end of the film, he was more likable, but I still preferred Snowball over him. His character did not seem to be fleshed out as much as some of the other characters. Snowball for instance had a backstory. He became the leader of The Flushed Pets, because his owner had gotten tired of him. His owner was a magician and used him in his tricks. When rabbit tricks became tired and overused though, his owner tossed him to the side. I could understand how Snowball acted the way he did in the movie. Even Duke, a bossy and pushy dog was more likable than Max. Duke had a backstory as well. He had an older owner, who loved him. They did everything together, but mostly they took naps. The backstory was cute and the movie went as far as tying the past to the present. Max ended up taking Duke to his former owner’s house, only to find that his owner was dead. I enjoyed the other characters, they seemed to be more developed than Max. Max could have had a backstory, and maybe he would have been more likable.

Conclusion

I am giving this movie a 3 out of 5 rating for the humor and the voice actors. The humor in this movie was silly, but meshed well with the story and characters. The story and dislikable main character knocked the rating down from a 5 to a 3, because these were things that should have been more developed. The movie was good overall, and I would want to see it again

Arlo and Spot Leave an Imprint in Our Hearts

The Good Dinosaur Review

Credit: Pixar

What if the asteroid never hit Earth, what if dinosaurs reined supreme, and life as we knew it was completely different? In this charming but at some times strange film that is exactly what happens. The Good Dinosaur, produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures explores the themes of family, loss, and love.

The film is slow to start, depicting two Apatosaurus protagonists as farmers. They are waiting for their eggs to hatch and the scenes of the babies hatching are humorous. The baby Apatosaurus named Buck grabs a stick and hits the egg of Arlo, trying to break it open. The father, Henry, scolds Buck and then they watch as the egg hatches. Out comes a diminutive Apatosaurus, smaller than even Libby, the female baby.

After the initial scene, the movie shows the baby Apatosauruses now grown tending a field. They are helping their parents water the crops, gather them and put them in the silo for storage. While Buck and Libby do not appear to have any trouble with their chores, Arlo, has trouble with his task. He is instructed every day to feed their chickens. However, Arlo is deathly afraid of the livestock and runs away screaming any time they get near him. He is often made fun of for his cowardice and his father notices this. He takes him away, telling him he can make his mark by doing a certain task. In the movie, making his mark means that Arlo can put his footprint on the silo, thus proving that he is worthy of taking care of the farm and himself. By this point in the movie, both Buck and Libby have already made their marks along with the parents. Arlo feels inadequate and jumps at the chance to be able to make his mark.

The task that is given to Arlo is to catch the critter that has been stealing their food. His father shows him how to make a trap, how to use it, and how to kill the critter with a large stick. His father then leaves him. Arlo paces back and forth often talking to himself cockily as he waits. Suddenly the trap begins to wiggle back and forth, having caught the critter. Arlo cautiously walks up to the trap, frightened by what could have been possibly caught. Inside is a small caveboy. He growls and attempts to get out of the trap, hitting it with his body full force. Arlo attempts to kill it but becomes frightened when it hisses at him. He frees the critter and it runs off into the distance. Arlo’s father sees the critter running off and scowls, telling Arlo that he had one job to do. He is disappointed but makes him go after the creature.

The two of them travel through torrential rain that only becomes worse the longer they traverse through it. Arlo has a hard time keeping up and tells his father to slow down. His father tells him to move faster and keeps plowing forward. Arlo stumbles then, falling down and hurting his knee. His father goes over to him and tells him that it’s OK they can go back. They are about to head back when a large wave of water comes flowing toward them. His father saves him but with a price. His life.

There are two problems with the beginning of this movie. The first one is that it is extremely slow to start. I myself felt a little bored and wondered where the movie was going. The second one being that I thought it was a little strange how the dinosaurs acted like humans and had their own culture. It seemed a bit far-fetched to believe that dinosaurs would be superior to humans. I thought the movie really kicked off when the pterodactyls appeared after the storm. Before that point I thought the movie had no direction or storyline to speak of. It felt like the interactions with the caveboy, Spot, and Arlo could have been shortened. Prior to the pterodactyls appearance, there were no villains to speak of and the movie did not seem to have a purpose. Once the pterodactyls appeared though, the story appeared to kick off. They added a danger that gave direction to the movie. They were both funny and charming despite being villains. The humor in the movie really shined through and I found myself laughing along with the audience.

I am giving this film a 3 out of 5 because of the slow start and because of the incontinences within the movie. Dinosaurs did not live with humans and the caveman was not as dumb as they portrayed him. The incontinences could give children the wrong idea about how the world works and how dinosaurs existed. While it was a cute and engaging movie, it had its problems like everything else. I do recommend seeing it though. I warn you though, be prepared to have to muddle through the beginning.