Tuesday, November 15, 2011

The Lion King

So they've just re-released it onto Blu-ray so of course the day it came out I bought it because I've been waiting to own it on dvd for a while now. 

The story is just as amazing and saddening as I remember it when I first watched it. From the beginning of the film with Simba's birth to the end where he takes his place as king at Pride Rock. It's such a beautiful and magically told story of family, love and tragedy.

The soundtrack to the film is brilliant, Elton John songs perfectly written and chosen for the story. The Circle of Life is perfectly suited when discussing animals and especially their living in such close quarters. It's one of those films where it's impossible not sing along and where you end up knowing all the words of the speeches. (Admittedly I still remember a lot of the words and I have no idea how!) The music for the film is incredible and it's odd how you never forget the voices of the actors. James Earl Jones and Jeremy Irons have such distinctive voices that are suited perfectly to each of the characters they play. I think it's film that you appreciate with age, I think I love it more as an adult than I did as a child. But that might have something to do with my degree...

One thing I did think when I was watching is they seemed to have added more colour in to the film. I know remastered the film to make it look better but personally I would of loved as much just the way it was originally. But when you think that the film is from 1994, 17 years old, the standard of animation has dramatically changed to looking shiny, flawless and full of life. So I can understand them trying to show that they can make it modern and current in todays industry, not that people of all ages would love it any less.

I have an appreciation for the way Disney deal with death, they manage to address the subject so cleverly. In the Lion King they deal with it by showing Simba running away and trying to hide from his guilt and pain. But then later on they show when they show him return to Pride Rock they reveal that the underlining message is just to face your fears and to 'remember who you are'.

If you haven't had chance to re-watch this film since you were young, I recommend you do. It's such a timeless and classic film, like all of the Disney's.

New Photo's





I finally got to go out and take some photo's on my day off! 

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole

I absolutely love animated films because of the detail that they capture and I have to admit this film doesn't disappoint! The creation of all the owls is amazing, each one is different to make each one individual. There is a scene where Gylfie is being trained to follow his instincts to help him glide through a storm. This for me was possibly the best thing about the film because each individual speck of water has been beautifully created and the smoothness of his wings is just incredible. I think how they make the baby fluffy owls, like Eglantine to look so soft is amazing!

Admittedly, the story wasn't the best but I think it is made up for that with the 'history' and stories of the battle of the guardians and the 'pure ones'. It plays on the idea of whether legendary stories are real or not, which I personally found cleverly written. The themes of the film are typical fairy tale where the good conquers evil. But at the end of the film the say that Kludd, Gylfie's evil owl brother, body was never found...This gives them scope to make a follow up.

I did find that when I was watching I couldn't help but try and place the voices because they all sounded like very familiar actors. Both me and mum were very wrong with our guesses!

One thing that I did love about the film is the soundtrack. I thought they music that chose to use suited the film perfectly! From the beautiful melodies for flying to the dominant music for whenever there are signs of danger. I always think that a soundtrack can either make or break a film if the sounds are chosen correctly, but they did a very good job.

It's a sunday afternoon film. It had some good sparks with some clever animation and effects. It's also definitely a film that children will love because of all the owls and how cute they look.

Friday, November 04, 2011

*Batteries Not Included

So this a old film that was a classic of its time and personally I still think is today! I rewatched it recently and fell back in love with it!

Its a story about an elderly couple who live in an old apartment block and a building company are trying to convict them and their fellow neighbours; one whose pregnant, another whose is an artist and one who used to be a boxer but not longer speaks. (he's my favourite because he reminds me a lot of lenny from of mice and men) They refuse to move out and one night the eldery married man wishes on a star for help. Well it turns out something was listening as little robots who love to fix things appear in their apartment.

These are possibly some of the cutest little robots! When they reproduce baby robots they are even cuter! For the time of its release this such a brilliantly produced film. Its so hard not to fall in love with the little robots, especially when work in the dinner and looks like a little walking burger!

With this film, eventhough its written so you will sympathise with the 'goodies' of the film, its hard not to want 'good' to conquer the 'evil'. Mainly because the elderly couple are so loveable and audience can imagine their own granparents in their shoes. Another reason is when one of the newly born little robots is born it dies...it does make an audience feel sad...But the boxer who never talks doesn't give up on him and brings the tiny robot back to life and encourages him to speak his first words of the film!

It is all round brilliantly family film! Definitely to be loved by all generations! If you haven't seen this film you definitely should!

Thursday, November 03, 2011

Long time no blog

So I haven't blogged in nearly a month...It's been a crazy month. Between work and personal life things seem to have been a bit manic but their getting better which is a very good sign! In the last month I've managed to buy a huge pile of christmas and birthday presents (I'm already feeling the holiday spirit...minus knowing I have to work christmas day). I've been hand making lots of presents too, so once I give them to them soon, I'll be able to upload some pictures of what I've done feeling creative. I'm even handing making all my christmas cards this year too! Also I bought a game by EA that I can't play and am fuming! But finally all the good shows are coming back on; Glee, Desperate Housewives and my favourite, The Big Bang Theory! So I'm very happy!

I went up to manchester around two weeks ago and they'd started putting christmas lights up...We hadn't even had Halloween then! It's crazy! Seems like they are trying to start christmas very early this year! After having a glorious week of late summers, the rain and cold is finally setting it. With it getting dark earlier and we're winter clothing, I'm feeling very snuggled up all the time. I think winter has to be my favourite time of the year!

Bonfire night is two nights away and I'm feeling very excited! With it being my dad's birthday I made sure I had it booked off to spend the day with him. I'm taking him out for the day to a Whisky Distillery and then buying him a bottle to bring home! I've got two biodegradable lanterns for him to float of in to the night and sparklers. And in the tradition we'll stand outside all wrapped up watching the fireworks go off in our local area. (This might have something to do with why I love winter!)

I'm going to blog about Batteries not included within the next 36 hours. It might be a old film but it's definitely classic and I love it!