Reviews by Kyle Ellis

1994's 'The Lion King' is not just one of my favourite Disney films, it is also one of my favourite animated films and one of my favourites overall. Beautiful animation, some of Disney's most iconic songs and amazing score, an entertaining and powerful story with unforgettable moments, terrific voices (especially James Earl Jones and Jeremy Irons) and joint best beginning to a Disney film alongside 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame'.

Disney's live action films are often frowned upon, they often have been described as pointless and many feel that Disney are running out of ideas. Can totally understand this, as the small handful that have been made so far have not really been necessary but the quality of them have varied. 'Cinderella' and 'The Jungle Book' were great and by far the best of the remakes, but the rest have left me mixed. Will admit to not really seeing the point of this version and was not massively impressed by the trailer, but saw it anyway being such a fan of Disney and because my sister desperately wanted to see it. Watching it way back when it first came out but with being behind with my reviewing it took me to now to review it, it was a little better than expected and not as bad as others have said. My sister did like it a lot better than me, with my feelings being quite lukewarm. Am really trying not to compare and try and judge it on its own terms, but sometimes it is hard when the quality of a remake, follow up or another adaptation is very far removed from something so good and that is the case with comparing both 'The Lion King' films.

'The Lion King' (2019) does have good things. The best thing about it by a mile is the visuals, which are absolutely fantastic. Something of a technical achievement, with the scenery being breathtaking in every sense ("Circle of Life" being a notable example) and the characters (excepting their eyes needing more expression) blend very realistically in a way where one gets the sense that this was a nature documentary. The score is still powerful, especially in the stampede and one of Disnney's most iconic tear-jerkers. Have always loved the songs, and with two exceptions they still make an impact. "Circle of Life" is truly awe-inspiring and the closest the film came to making me cry.

Most of the dialogue has some moments of humour (Timon and Pumbaa) and tension (the hyenas). The story has its moments. Can not praise "Circle of Life" enough, Timon and Pumbaa are amusing and the stampede is intense, not goosebump-inducing though, even though everybody who has seen the original will know the outcome. Making the hyenas scarier and fleshing out the lionesses (a little) more were good moves. Actually thought that a lot of the voice work was not bad at all, Billy Eichner and Seth Rogan being so much fun and by far the best faring of the voices, they were clearly having fun too with the improvising and their comic timing is full of exuberance not obvious elsewhere. Florence Kasumba's Shenzai is very different, the opposite in fact, to Whoopi Goldberg's, and the more sinister edge worked very well. James Earl Jones, the only voice actor to reprise his role, still has Mufasa's booming dignity and Donald Glover does quite well.

Didn't care for some however. Was mixed on John Oliver, who is fun but overdoes it at times. Beyonce comes over as very out of place, her voice not fitting how Nala looks, and she even sounded bored. Chiwetel Eijofor, a good actor who was brilliant in '12 Years a Slave', was the biggest disappointment, found him too subdued for Scar and he is nowhere near as menacing or enjoys himself as much as Irons (whose voice work is some of the best for any Disney, and animated, film). While "Circle of Life", "I Just Can't Wait to be King" and "Hakuna Matata" come off well (especially "Circle of Life"), "Be Prepared" was bizarre and quite over the top, what a way to waste one of the greatest Disney villain songs. "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" was reminiscent of decent at best karaoke. "Spirit" is even worse, that did not fit within the film and was more an excuse for Beyonce to show off her vocal chops and have actually heard much better singing from her.

Excepting the hyenas being scarier, some additional dialogue and the lionesses being more fleshed out, 'The Lion King' suffers from being too faithful and not having enough of its own identity. Too many of the scenes are near-carbon copies with only fleeting moments of heart and soul, mostly the film emotionally is very bland. The big death scene, heart-wrenching before, is treated in too throwaway a fashion. The additional dialogue and any interpolations are not for the better either and actually rather jar, while the cuts and changes were not necessary. The eyes and facial expressions for the characters, especially Scar, lack nuance and are at times borderline creepy.

Summing up, found a lot to like but was disappointed overall. 6/10

There is not much to add to what has already been said, and so well by everybody else here. As a lifelong animation fan, Foodfight! is one of the few that I deem completely unwatchable and it is certainly one of the worst animated films ever made. The animation is unspeakably awful, not just the worst computer-animation in an animated film(excluding Video Brinquedo's and Spark Plug Entertainment's output, seriously the animation here makes Animals United seem like Toy Story in comparison) but some of the worst-looking animation ever. Everything looks so flat and stiff, no vibrant colours, technical invention or easy movements, and you'd be hard pressed to find creepier and more nightmare-inducing character designs. The music is generic and completely unmemorable, often it is placed in an irrelevant and over-used way too. The story was not a very good idea to begin with, but everything is so contrived and predictable it actually hurts, there is little momentum in the pacing and the story meanders a lot while being simplistic at the same time. In short you are never engaged or emotionally invested. There is not a single decent character either, they are either annoying or insignificant and their creepy designs(especially the villains) further add to this. The voice cast on paper are talented, but the voice work is poor here with only Christopher Lloyd trying, Charlie Sheen sounds very detached and bored and there is a lot of overdone hyperactivity and wasted talent everywhere else. Harvey Fienstein is the only other voice actor along with Lloyd who sounds immediately distinctive, the bad news is that I didn't see the point of his very brief role. The script was the worst culprit though, not in a long time has there been a script in an animated film this abominably bad, the bad-taste bathroom humour, out-of-place and inappropriate innuendo, Nazi overtones and equally crude one-liners and catchphrases that are enough to make anyone cringe taken to offensive levels. To conclude, cheap and intelligence-insulting, Foodfight! is execrable, not just one of the worst animated films ever but one of the worst films in general that I've seen in some time. 0/10 Bethany Cox

Okay maybe I was being a bit too harsh when I wrote that, but the truth is that Titanic:The Animated Movie (or the Legend Goes On) is frankly awful. First things first, if you want to see a better version, the James Cameron version is great. While ambitious, it is well acted and sumptuously filmed. Even the 1996 mini-series was better than this, and that had a lot wrong with that. Personally I do think it was a bad idea making one of the most tragic moments in history into an animated film, that is condensed and rather empty. I don't know where to begin criticising this film, and it needs a lot of criticising, as there is very little good about it.

To cut to the chase, I was very unimpressed with the animation for a start. It was dull and tacky, and where was the colour and the vibrancy? Plus some of the character movements were so forced particularly the facial expressions of the ugly stepsisters; if I were to be honest, the film looks as though it has been made on the cheap. I am not the only person who spotted this, but some of the shots were repeated over and over again, and it was distracting. And it certainly doesn't help that the editing was all over the place. Even some of the Jetlag and Golden Film productions have better animation, and they are low budget for goodness sake.

The music wasn't that much better. The incidental music is kind of pleasant if unmemorable, but in general the songs were poor. Maybe not as bad as the mind numbingly awful songs from Secret of NIMH 2:Timmy To The Rescue, and not as badly sung either, but that is not saying much. I think I need to start with the worst one. That was "Party Time", in my opinion that is a perfect example of a song that is completely unnecessary to the story, and one that is so bad it is hilarious. From the abysmal lyrics to the awful rapping that was out of time in some places, it was horrible to listen to. As soon as the rapping dog arrived on the scene I knew we were going to be in trouble. "Mucho Gusto" fared better, but I remember for a salsa song it lacked energy, spice and pizazz. Without those three things, a salsa song sounds lifeless, and that was the problem I had with the song. The best one and for me, the only redeeming quality of the film was the song "Holding Me". This was sublimely sung, has meaningful lyrics and a nice melody. However, it deserved a much better movie.

Another major problem was the story. Too many back stories crammed into such a short running time, the film is barely even an hour, and as a result the characters seemed underdeveloped and the situations rushed. Also the film has a tendency to be too slow. Well there's the subplot of thieves robbing cabins-sounds like something stolen from the Titanic mini-series, and a love story between Anjelica and William that was rather out of the blue I must say, and I didn't really get the sense they cared for one another until the ending. What angered me was that this film ripped off movies from my childhood. Cinderella is the most obvious one, then there's American Tail, The Secret of NIMH, Beauty and the Beast with Gaston, 101 Dalmatians, Sherlock Holmes(Conan Doyle must be turning in his grave over this one)and even the Cameron movie itself. I'm surprised this wasn't sued for plagiarism.

Maybe I am alone in this, but the characters didn't seem very likable. Anjelica, instead of the headstrong, determined and vivacious protagonist I was hoping for, then again maybe my expectations were too high, was as dull as dish water. William is a rather clichéd love interest, and despite the fact he is optimistic just as dull as well, and the stepsisters were really annoying with high pitched voices that make you want to cover your ears. Not even the animals had any real charm.

The script is, how do I put it, bad. There is very little humour here, and the writing is clichéd and stale. You always feel as though you have heard it all before, I certainly have. So much so, the secondary characters including the stepmother, have very little to do, and the dialogue between Angelica and William is sappy and wishy washy. If there was any comedy, it was unintentional. I am principally talking about the ending, where the writers completely obliterated the poignancy and tragedy that the ending should've had with some ridiculous ideas like the animals being saved by dolphins and then the men throwing the water over the side with buckets. Yeah, you saw right buckets, as if THAT was going to solve anything. The ending left me dissatisfied, not only because it was a happy ending but also the whole film felt rather abrupt.

Not only were the characters lifeless and unengaging but the same applies with the voice acting. Very few of the actors have the energy to carry an already empty film. Lisa Russo tries her best with Anjelica but she is severely hampered by the material she is given. Same with Mark Thompson-Ashworth as William. Some of the actors such as Kenneth Balton as the Captain sounded as though they were reading out loud from a text book, and believe me that can be quite boring. This also happened to be Edmund Perdum's last film, and he is given so little to work with as Jeremy.

All in all, this was a real shipwreck. A bad idea really, and it was executed even worse. 1/10 for the song "Holding me". Bethany Cox

Watched 'Ready Player One' as someone who got a lot of pleasure out of the book and who loves a lot of Steven Spielberg's previous work. Despite it getting a fair share of criticism from fans of the book, that there were also enough good things said about it from critics and that many of my friends said it was worthwhile persuaded me enough to see it.

'Ready Player One' left me with a mixed view (or just slightly above). As a book adaptation 'Ready Player One' is severely wanting, having lost what made the book so special. As a film on its own, which is how it will be judged by me being a much fairer way to judge, 'Ready Player One' is quite decent though with faults. It is nowhere near being one of Spielberg's best, a distinction he has not hit for a while (though for me he has not sold out), at the same time it is not one of his misfires either. To me 'Ready Player One' is a middling effort.

Starting with its good merits, 'Ready Player One' looks incredible. One of those films where one is truly immersed in a world filled with a non-stop sense of wonder. The Oasis depiction is rich in wonder, adventure, vibrancy and imagination, the cool factor is also high. The special effects are pretty spectacular. Alan Silvestri provides the best score in a Spielberg film since 'War Horse' (and one of the best in the past fifteen years or so), providing a lot of energy and thrills.

Nostalgia is rife with inspired cameos of numerous significant cultural characters, like the 'Jurassic Park' dinosaur and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and even more numerous cultural references, highlights being the 'Back to the Future' Delorean and the Overlook Hotel from 'The Shining'. There is enough wit and intrigue in the writing and the story has many instances where it is fun and laden in thrills, the chase scenes especially. Particularly standing out is the one switching between real world and the Oasis. Spielberg delivers on the spectacle, the world building and the visual style.

Although not complex or subtle, the characters are engaging enough. Olivia Cooke is very appealing and shares charming chemistry with Tye Sheridan. Simon Pegg is great fun, while Ben Mendelssohn has a whale of a time as the villain and Mark Rylance beautifully and terrifically provides the emotion and soul that is not quite there elsewhere.

However, the story does tend to be lacking. There is just too little structurally in a very long, too long even, running time, no matter how many cultural references there are. With trying to take on a lot, character depth and development are sacrificed in favour of spectacle and nostalgia. Luckily those are done well, but one does wish that the characters were more interesting with the lead character in particular not having much growth.

This does affect somewhat Tye Sheridan's performance, shining in the chemistry with Cooke but elsewhere it's somewhat bland and cold. The script does have wit and intrigue but it can also be exposition heavy, and it is here where the writing feels rambling, unnatural and clumsy. There are aspects of Spielberg's directing that comes over well.

Unfortunately, what doesn't is the complete command of the material and giving the film enough soul and emotion (Rylance cannot bring those qualities out all on his own, no matter how well he did them). Some of the messaging is heavy-handed and the finale is far too overly-sentimental and where the sketchiness of the character development and overall depth is most betrayed.

Overall, diverting and entertaining enough but was expecting more. 6/10 Bethany Cox

When I first saw this movie,on DVD, I was like wow! This movie is gorgeous to look at, a famous trademark of Ridley Scott. The main flaw in this movie is Tom Cruise. He looked confused throughout the movie, but he was still likable. The other flaw, is that the storyline takes a while to get going. But all this actually managed to pick itself up, and do bear in mind it is theme driven film. I was impressed with Mia Sara. She started off a little uncomfortable, but when she turned evil, she came alive. In fact, the personifications of good and evil were one of the main reasons why I like this movie, other than Tim Curry, who is one of my favourite actors. The performance of Tim Curry is what makes this movie. He was unrecognisable, underneath all the Oscar-nominated makeup, but what a performance, it blew me away, in perhaps the most definitive portrayal of Satan ever on screen, both frightening and sexy at the same time! Even more amazing was that he is only 5'9 or so, and he had to wear stilts, also that he was in his late 30s when he took on this role, and I am glad he did. I felt as though I was in a different world when I saw this movie. The supporting actors David Bennent and Alice Playten offered solid support. I also liked the script, a little inappropriate with the goblins perhaps, but not that bad. The outstanding music score by Jerry Goldsmith is without doubt one of his finest and most underrated works. This was evident in the dress scene, Lilli's song, the final underwater scene and the very end. Magical! I liked the American version, but I much prefer the version I have on DVD, the European version, somehow I like less the score by Tangerine Dream . One definite thing that I liked about the American version was Darkness's "Mother Night" speech, in the European version he is a lot more mysterious. When this is on TV, it always shows the American version, but my personal opinion is that the European version is better (this is the one I have on DVD). If you are a fantasy fan, watch this movie, and either version. It is just beautiful, and definitely under-appreciated! 8/10. Bethany Cox

The Legend of Titanic is not as abysmal as its sequel In Search of Titanic or the 2001 monstrosity Titanic:The Animated Movie(or The Legend Goes on). However, that is very faint praise, it is still terrible. The animation is alright, I wasn't impressed at all with the character designs but at least the colours were okay and the editing wasn't as all over the place as it was in the sequel or Titanic:The Animated Movie.

However, the music is poor. It is forgettable, and doesn't fit with the period at all. The dialogue is not even worth noting, other than to say it is forced and awful, while the story is rushed(the film is too short as well) and predictable with some unbelievable elements that insulted my intelligence to be honest. Not just the swing dancing, but also the mouse not dying from the electricity which had me shouting at my computer screen in disgust. And please do not get me started on the whole giant octopus idea. The characters are bland and unlikeable, and the voice acting is wooden.

All in all, an awful film, insulting and doesn't make sense. 1/10 Bethany Cox

I love the writing of Nicholas Sparks, I find it very heartfelt and honest. When it comes to the book A Walk to Remember, it was good with a heartfelt ending and characters and the story did touch me, but some of dialogue was occasionally lazy and repetitive for my liking.

The movie is a decent one. It does try to stick to the spirit of the book even if one or two of the details aren't as coherent, and it mostly succeeds. The pace can be a little too mannered though, and although most of it is genuinely touching there are other times throughout the movie when the story and subject matter tries a little too hard to evoke emotion. There is the length too, I personally felt it could have been shorter.

However, A Walk to Remember is beautifully filmed, with beautiful locations and striking photography. The soundtrack is poignant and beguiling, the script tries hard to excise some of the more lazy and repetitive dialogue of the book and while some of it is still a little too repetitive for my taste it is also very honest and heartfelt. The story was enough to warm and break my heart, and the ending touched me hugely. The direction is eager as are the performances. Shane West is very charming and Mandy Moore is convincing, but Peter Coyote and Daryl Hannah are the ones who really impress.

Overall, while it does try too hard sometimes A Walk to Remember is a decent movie. For other movies based on Sparks' work, I recommend The Notebook and Message in a Bottle over this both of which genuinely resonated with me, but as a film A Walk to Remember is much better than the forced and predictable The Last Song. 7/10 Bethany Cox

There are some very negative critical reviews on this movie, which I think personally is unjustified. This film is very funny indeed, especially when the bowling ball falls on Buck's head. John Candy gives possibly his best performance here as Buck Russell. John Candy was one talented actor, evident in Planes, Trains and Automobiles and Cool Runnings, and I think comedy lost a truly great actor when he died, and I don't think he ever got the respect he so rightly deserved. This film is very funny indeed, sometimes the jokes are a little over-familiar, and the sentimentality gets in the way at times. Out of the child stars, who were all excellent, Macaulay Culkin of Home Alone fame is a standout. Cute and self-assured suits Culkin like a glove. There was great chemistry between the stars, and in conclusion, see this gem, of which I will award an 8/10 Bethany Cox.

This was a movie I wanted to like, with its cast and great idea, and also that I loved The Sixth Sense and liked Unbreakable very much. Shyamalan has definitely done worse than this though with The Happening, Lady in the Water and The Last Airbender(I'm watching The Village as we speak and presently it is difficult to judge whether I dislike it or not), but this was a disappointment. Signs does have some good values, such as a genuinely tense first fifty minutes or so, very good cinematography and score and credible turns from Joaquin Pheonix, Abigail Breslin and Rory Culkin.

However, what promise Signs did have is almost completely squandered around the halfway mark. Shyamalan's direction is uneven here, first it's alert and tense and then it became lazy and lethargic. The script has an uneasy mix of cheesy and maudlin, the characters generally are underdeveloped and the story either suffers in the second half from also being underdeveloped or even worse not making much sense.

Although Mel Gibson has done worse performances than this I found his performance rather laboured here, doesn't help that his character doesn't engage or that some of the worst dialogue is with him.

What disappointed me most about Signs was that after such a good start, it is spoilt by scenes that come across as too mawkish and over-sentimental than genuinely poignant, creaky flashbacks that severely undermine the suspense and the truly ludicrously melodramatic ending. Not to mention some glaring and even in some cases unforgivable plot holes, particularly the aliens being killed by water.

All in all, disappointing. I liked the performances, visuals and especially the tense, spooky atmosphere created at the start, but it just got lazy. 4/10 Bethany Cox

I didn't absolutely hate Richie Rich, but for me it wasn't that great either. As usual, there were some good things, but some not so good things as well.

THE GOOD THINGS:

1) Macaulay Culkin, personally I think he is better an actor than people give him credit for. He is one of the main reasons why I love the first two Home Alone movies so much. Here, he gives a very spirited lead performance, admittedly not as cute as he was when he was starring in underrated gems like Uncle Buck, but he shows once again what a talented actor he was.

2) Jonathan Hyde as the butler comes very close to stealing the show, a very funny and sly performance. Also Edward Hermann and Christine Ebersole give humorous performances, while John Larroquette plays the villain of the piece more than adequately.

3) The scenery is quite impressive, captured well by the breezy cinematography. The Biltmore estate was gorgeous.

4) The soundtrack was decent, nice background music especially.

5) I liked the moral the film taught; All the money in the world can't make you happy, thinking about it that is true.

THE NOT SO GOOD THINGS:

1) While I liked the moral of the film, the story itself is predictable and somewhat contrived. it probably doesn't help you have seen it all before.

2) The script is quite weak in general. Don't get me wrong there were some good spots like "Oh my god I look like Michael Jackson!" but the jokes are admittedly very silly and juvenile, and the scripting does fall in the danger of becoming clichéd.

3) The pacing. Now I don't mind films that move fast. I do have more of a problem if the pacing is TOO fast, despite the feel good nature of the film, and its valiant attempt to rise above superficial material, the film feels a little too rushed, the ending particularly felt skimmed over.

4) The characters feel rather stereotypical. Maybe that is an unfair complaint as it probably couldn't be avoided, but I couldn't help thinking yeah I recognise that type of character.

Overall, definitely not a bad film, worth watching at least once, but I personally didn't find it that great. 5/10 Bethany Cox