Mr. Peabody and Sherman (2014)

In to the WABAC!!!

Movie Poster

An animation based on a cartoon which tells of a genius dog, Mr. Peabody who decides to adopt an orphan boy, Sherman. And from then on, Mr. Peabody thrusts himself into an adventure as a father (figure) to Sherman, while telling Sherman to never call him "Daddy".

The original Mr.Peabody Cartoon

Let me just get this out of the way and say I've never watched the original cartoon, so my expectations and familiarity was largely based on the trailer, which didn't appear too bad. After scouring the internet for reviews on whether to watch it in 3D or just merely the peasantry 2D, I decided on 3D, because well, people said it was worth it.

Mr. Peabody's appeal is in its ability to cater to the youngest of viewers to most adults. The jokes varied from action-based laughs to play on words, which may or may not be picked up by kids (or even adults). Mr. Peabody made history 'fun', in a way, by using the WABAC (way-back). I can't say, of course, whether or not the history 'lessons' are accurate or whether or not kids actually paid any attention to any detail.

In olden-day Italy

Nevertheless, it achieved a lot of laughs, and those hearty moments are not all too bad, pulling on them ol' heartstrings. Well, it was no Up, but 'sad' nonetheless. The down side of the story was that it felt like it tried to include a little too much with so little time, but understandably so - History takes, well, a lot of time. But obviously, being an animation, it should not be taken too seriously on the 'logical' part.


On to the 3D quality, I felt it was one of the best 3D movies yet. Travelling in the WABAC felt like you were being thrusts together with the characters. Those sword-wielding scenes felt like you were gonna be poked in the eye - okay, maybe a little less dramatic. At the end of the day, the extra we paid for the 3D, was worth it. And I'd recommend watching this in 3D.

All in all, a fun movie for the whole family - so bring along the kids, or the kid in the adults and watch this fun, family-oriented animation.

Mr. Peabody in the WABAC

Bottom Line

Positive(s)

+ Fun, colourful and enjoyable
+ Great 3D effects
+Animation was good

Negative(s)

- Messy plot
- Not as emotionally gripping as other animations

Rating: 7/10

Movie Review: 300: Rise of an Empire

This.... is..... Athens? 

The only thing that rose was my eye-brow 

Finally I have the time to write a short review on 300:Rise of an Empire, after watching it last Saturday.

Themistocles

So finally the much awaited and expected (at least by fans of the first one) sequel (well, prequel, well, it happened simultaneously with Leonidas' hot-gates march). This one heads over to Athens, Greece's democracy pioneers. And Athens' very own Leo, Themistocles, a master tactician on the battlefield. A kind leader who, as we are told, caused the whole shenanigans by killing Xerxes' (that generous God) father, King Darius.

With the general plot out of the way, lets get down to the review of the movie itself. Well, the first 15 minutes is cramped with 3D 'gimmickry', which I found sickening (not visually, but just the whole concept of 'I must exploit 3D tech' approach of this installment). All the unnecessary sword to your face, blood on to the screen was overwhelmingly dull. And just how much blood do these people have running through their veins?

HUUUUAAAARRRRGGGHHHHH

What I also didn't like about this movie was the amount of back-story it had. Themistocles, Xerxes, Artemisia, Gorgo.... I mean come on, focus on one and make it great, not focus on many and hope one hits the mark. Acting was decent, watchable at best. Stapleton (Themistocles), wasn't quite as gripping with his speeches as G. Butler (as Leonidas), it didn't feel motivating and the 'soldier' of Athens' we'rent really responding to it accordingly. Extras looked like they were picked up from Walmart - unlike in the first 300, where the extras looked the part.

My body is ready

Xerxes and Gorgo had little, if any, impact on the whole. This was clearly a duel between Themistocles and Artemisia, which again shows the irrelevance of Xerxes' back-story. A lot of people seemed impressed by Eva Green's acting as Artemisia. While she did well portraying a woman full of vengeance and being a dark general, I felt she didn't quite convince the audience (me, at least) that she really wanted Athens' to fall.

Now, I loved the first 300, and hoped that the sequel to it would be about Dilios (the one-eyed man) leading the rest of Sparta into glory. But instead we got this... Athens. And Themistocles. To be fair, the fight scenes were still pretty gory, so that was nice. But other than that nothing else. But then again, what else would you want in this kind of movie? That is for you to decide. 

Bottom Line

Positive(s)

+ Fight Scenes

+ Visual effects (minus the 3D gimmickry)

+ Eva Green is kinda hot

Negative(s)

- Shallow, dull plot

- Less than gripping acting

- Uninspiring and unmotivated

Rating: 5.5/10 
- Worth a watch to kill time

I'll just lay here