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.

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.

Cars 2

After Pixar released the first Cars, it wasn't long after that they announced a second follow up film would be on the table. I have to admit I was wary about what the film was going to be like but i thoroughly enjoyed it! It's always hard to follow up a film that has been so popular but I was impressed by this!

It's begins with Miles Axlerod, who previously owned a big oil company, has invented a new renewable source for petrol and is claiming that his racecar Francesco Bernoulli is the fastest racecar around. This leads to a World Grand Prix involving Lightening McQueen. But during the races, the villains purposely knock out other racecars and this eventual leads to British spies thinking Mater is a spy aswell! Then there is the process of them trying to save the day to stop the villains.

When I watched it I loved the story-lines and the build up of the scenes. As soon as I saw the first film, Mater was my favourite character the comments he came out with were so entertaining. This carry’s on in to the new film, the scenes he are in are so entertaining, especially with the disguise scene! The only fault I felt was I wished there was a tiny bit more scenery with the rest of the characters from the first film, such as Sally.

The animation that Pixar produces just keeps getting better and better! The way the produce animated scenery, such as the towns, you can see the time and effort gone in to creating it to look 'realistic'. The building styles and the detailing of the colours are amazing, I loved the way that had created Big Ben! The crowd scene for the Grand Prix grid is so full of life!  One of the things that I truly love in the first one the 'flies' are baby cars with wings and in this one there are mini planes with wings. Where they get the creativity from to create these ideas are incredible! 

If you have kids definitely take them to see this, they will love it!