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Tangled!

Nearly 2 months since its US release, I’ve finally seen Walt Disney Animation Studios’ 50^th animated feature Tangled. The film doesn’t officially open in Hong Kong until February 3, but I managed to get tickets to a “special preview” screening after joining several online lucky draws. Tangled was one of my most anticipated flicks of 2010 and it bugs me to have to see it so late… but I digress. The movie is a complete delight and the strongest non-Pixar film from Disney in a long time. If you think fairytales are outdated, you are gravely mistaken.

True, Tangled may sound like a mishmash of previous Disney animated classics: our heroine Rapunzel, tired of her monotonous life, longs to venture outside (Beauty and the Beast), despite being locked up in a tower by an evil guardian (The Hunchback of Notre Dame). Later she meets a handsome thief who “shows her the world” (Aladdin), and adventure ensues, leading to a touching climax very reminiscent of Beauty and the Beast. Oh, and there’s a couple of cute animal sidekicks too. But these similarities are harmless, for Tangled manages to have a distinct personality of its own while maintaining a high level of excellence in terms of story, characterization, music and animation.

Truthfully, I don’t think Tangled is as good as the undisputed classics of 1989 to 1994: The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King. I don’t know if my nostalgia has to do with it, but I believe these four gems simply have a level of charm yet to be equaled. However, Tangled comes pretty close to achieving that, something that The Princess and the Frog tried but failed to do. In fact, I consider Tangled to be the best Disney animated classic aside from the aforementioned four and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

The character of Rapunzel is just as feisty and brave as earlier Disney princesses, but her naivety and cute silliness make her unique (the scene where she hits herself with a frying pan is priceless), and Mandy Moore’s voice acting perfectly captures these characteristics. Flynn Rider, the swashbuckling bandit, is a very appealing male lead that never reduces to an Aladdin rip-off. His chemistry with Rapunzel may not be as strong as, say, Belle and Beast, but it works very well nonetheless. And the film would not be complete with Mother Gothel, the deliciously deceptive villain who locks Rapunzel up in the tower and pretends to be her mom. She’s an evil but elegant woman similar to Lady Tremaine (Cinderella), and one of the strongest Disney villains in a while.

In the music department, Tangled has a powerful asset: legendary composer Alan Menken, responsible for timeless Disney songs like “A Whole New World”, “Beauty and the Beast” and “Colors of the Wind”. Granted, he’s unable to achieve the brilliance of his past work, but the catchy songs in Tangled still give me a tinge of excitement, with two highlights: “When Will My Life Begin” and “I See the Light”.

The animation is drop-dead gorgeous. Although some people wish Disney had used hand-drawn animation instead of computer animation, I don’t see a problem with it: it still feels like an authentic Disney fairytale, with natural-looking characters and lush, colorful surroundings (the grass, the sunlight, the stunning lanterns…) Plus, Rapunzel’s flowing hair really benefits from the use of CGI; it would have been a nightmare for an animator to draw the strands of hair by hand!

Also, Tangled is probably the most action-packed fairytale made by Disney. That’s clearly an attempt to attract more male audience members, but the action sequences make clever use of Rapunzel’s swinging long hair without ever feeling forced or goofy: it's just a fun, exhilarating ride.

I couldn’t avoid comparing Tangled to the early Disney classics in this review, but I hope that doesn’t make Tangled look bad in comparison; it’s merely “not as good”. It’s a truly wonderful movie on its own right, a worthy addition to the Disney canon, and it will prove to be an enduring classic decades from now.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

My Top 10 Favorite Films of 2010

It’s already a few days into 2011, but anyway, here are my top ten favorite films of 2010. I’d like to emphasize on the word “favorite”, as opposed to “best”. Sometimes, there are movies that you truly like, but deep down you know they aren’t as good as others, and ironically, you don’t like the others as much. Hard to understand? Well, here’s an example: Jurassic Park is, frankly, not as artistically sophisticated nor as emotional as Schindler’s List, but if you ask me, I like the former more than the latter. Of course, that doesn’t mean I automatically value fun action flicks more than passive dramas (The Godfather is still a gazillion times better than Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen), but such personal preference happens occasionally. Fortunately, I’m glad to say that at least the top five films in the following list are both the best and my favorites – which makes those films extra special.

Also, this is just my 10 favorite films of 2010 at the moment: there’s a ton of 2010 movies that I haven’t seen, including many good ones that haven’t hit HK theaters yet such as Tangled, Black Swan, 127 Hours and The King’s Speech… that’s something I’m not very happy with and will discuss in more detail in my next post.

#10 – Tron: Legacy

Yes, this is a prime example of a film I like but which is far from the best. I’d almost call Tron: Legacy a disappointment: the story got convoluted midway and the ending was too abrupt. But there’s one important thing that makes me like the Tron world so much: it’s COOL. It’s the embodiment of “cool”. The neon lights, the dark glassy look, the disc wars, the lightcycle races, the Daft Punk score… the elements from the 1982 original have been vastly enhanced, and atmospheric-wise Disney has done an outstanding job. I hope they can make another sequel but with better storytelling.

#9 – Megamind

Megamind may not be as heartwarming as its rival animated film Despicable Me, which is also about a supervillain-turned-hero, but in my opinion Megamind is the more satisfying experience. It parodies other superheroes (Superman in particular) without feeling cheap; has a cast of wonderful, charming characters; and features the interesting premise of what would happen if the villain really defeated the hero. Megamind really gains our sympathy and never becomes annoying despite his outrageous actions. The romantic subplot is surprisingly touching as well. It’s sad that the film was overlooked in Hong Kong.

#8 – The Town

Probably the most low-profile movie in this list, The Town is an excellent thriller about a bank robber who falls in love with a hostage. There’s a lot of dialogue and relatively few (but tense and breathtaking) action sequences, but it never gets boring thanks to an intriguing story and brilliant acting.

#7 – Kick-Ass

The biggest surprise of the year. I won’t blame you if you thought Kick-Ass was just a lame, cheap comedy parodying other superheroes, but just so you know, you are dead wrong. Kick-Ass is first-rate entertainment, delivering tons of laughs as well as gritty, bloody action. The story is light and fun at first but gets really dark and sad near the end. And anyone who thinks that an 11-year-old girl who swears and kills gangsters is morally unacceptable should just chill out and enjoy the fun.

#6 – Echoes of the Rainbow

Oh, how I regret using the hauntingly beautiful theme song of Echoes of the Rainbow in my graduation video to sappy effect! Now I get embarrassed every time I hear it. That aside, the movie is a real gem, especially for a Hong Kong film. Based on real-life experiences, Echoes is a genuinely moving reminiscence of old times, even if it comes across as slightly sappy (ahem) at times. The recreation of 1960s Hong Kong is also quite impressive, complementing the actors’ spot-on performances. All in all, arguably the best Hong Kong movie since Infernal Affairs.

#5 – How to Train Your Dragon

I admit that I had loathed DreamWorks for quite some time, ever since their mediocre Shrek 2 became the highest grossing animated film in 2004. But 2008’s Kung Fu Panda turned out to be pretty good, and in 2010 I was utterly charmed by both Megamind and this, How to Train Your Dragon (Shrek Forever After was still meh, though). Dragon is possibly my favorite non-Disney/non-Pixar animated film ever, blending an exciting and touching story with thrilling action and special effects, not to mention cute, funny dragons. Though Pixar still managed to make a better film this year, Dragon is proof they should be more alert of DreamWorks’ surge of quality and keep up with the competition.

#4 – Shutter Island

Shutter Island is eerily similar to Inception: both of their plots can be interpreted in different ways, and both feature Leonardo DiCaprio as a man traumatized by the death of his wife. However, while Inception is a sci-fi actioner, Shutter is more of a psychological horror film with a chilling atmosphere and a high level of suspense that keeps you at the edge of your seat. This is master-level filmmaking from Martin Scorsese.

#3 – The Social Network

Using a website as the subject of a movie sounded ludicrous and exploitative at first, but with an unbelievably witty script, top-notch acting and David Fincher, The Social Network has become an instant classic. Facebook may be one of the most influential things to appear in recent years, but that’s not what the movie’s about. It’s the ironic story of a lonely man trying to gain love and acceptance by building a vast social network beyond anyone’s dreams, but jeopardizing his own friendships on the way. As the tagline proclaims: You don’t get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies. That’s a pretty interesting premise, regardless if it’s factually true or not.

#2 – Inception

A truly mind-blowing experience. The manipulation of dreams is an awfully fascinating concept with infinite possibilities, and Inception brings that to stunning realization. Multiple layers of dreams can be too complicated to comprehend, but Christopher Nolan executes the story with flair, making everything easy to follow and genuinely intriguing. And like Nolan’s early masterpiece Memento, you can interpret the film in countless different ways, which means excellent re-watchability; there’s something new to discover with every repeat viewing. Nolan is one of the best (if not the best) contemporary directors, and I can’t wait to see how he completes his Batman trilogy with The Dark Knight Rises in summer 2012.

#1 – Toy Story 3

Need I say more? A modern masterpiece in every imaginable way. The first movie that really made me cry, even when I saw it the second time. Underneath all the bright colors and slapstick comedy is genuine, raw emotion. This is so much more than a ‘kiddie movie’, and I pity the ignorant people who think so. Toy Story 3 is about moving on to another stage in your life and bidding farewell to your childhood, something everyone can relate to. Perhaps I have particularly strong feelings because I played a lot with my toys like Andy, but even if we ignore the emotional bits the movie is still exceptionally strong: impeccably scripted with rich characterization, beautiful animation and great voice talent. And Lotso is possibly the best Pixar villain ever; who knew a cute, cuddly pink bear could be so evil? But such people do exist in real life…


Good movies not in my top ten: Despicable Me, The Ghost Writer, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, Confessions, Green Zone, Iron Man 2, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole

2010 in Retrospect: The Notable Disappointments

Clockwise from top left: Robin Hood, Alice in Wonderland, The Expendables, Salt, Dear John

Like any other year, 2010 cinema had its notable disappointments. Being a disappointment doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad film; but people truly expected these films to be better.

The biggest disappointment in my opinion was Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. It was one of my most anticipated films of the year, and the trailers and advertisements looked fantastic. Unfortunately, while the CGI and character designs were top-notch, the story turned out to be too ordinary, and the ending was merely a twisted crossover of The Lord of the Rings and Narnia. Johnny Depp stands out as the Mad Hatter but lacks his charisma as Captain Jack Sparrow, and his weird dance at the end of the film is embarrassing to look at. And while the movie looked amazing in IMAX, the 3D effect was underwhelming since it was merely converted to 3D in post-production, unlike Avatar or Tron: Legacy. Ironically, Alice was one of the biggest successes for Disney this year, grossing more than a billion dollars worldwide and snagging multiple (undeserved) Golden Globe nominations. Life is unfair: I found Disney’s other big-budget live-action film Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time to be relatively more enjoyable than Alice, but that underperformed at the box office.

I wonder why people never get tired of remaking/reimagining the classic tale Robin Hood, but that’s what director Ridley Scott churned out this year. With Russell Crowe as a slightly old Robin Hood, this could have been another solid epic like Gladiator. The end result? Not bad by any means, but there’s not much worth praising either, even for a film its genre. It’s not as emotional as Braveheart and not as exciting as the last major Robin Hood feature film: 1991’s Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, starring Kevin Costner. While that film wasn’t exceptionally good, it’s at least more fun and satisfying than this 2010 incarnation that takes itself too seriously. It’s a passable but unmemorable piece of work.

Another big disappointment is the Angelina Jolie vehicle Salt. It starts out as a potentially good thriller – the secret agents’ pursuit of Angelina is pretty exciting – but from that point onwards the film just drags on, with boring clichés and an uninteresting, predictable twist, at least in my opinion. It’s not even worth appreciating as a normal popcorn flick.

Sylvester Stallone’s The Expendables was a missed opportunity since its cast is full of legendary action stars. Not that I expected it would be a deep and meaningful movie, but by macho action film standards it isn’t particularly thrilling or entertaining either. Honestly, I enjoyed the Arnold Schwarzenegger cameo more than anything.

The final movie I want to mention is not a disappointment, per se, since I never expected it to be really good. Still, it holds a special place in my heart as the worst movie of 2010… Dear John, based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks. I’m not one of those chick flick haters, mind you – I do enjoy films like Love Actually, Music and Lyrics and The Notebook (which happens to be from Nicholas Sparks too) – but Dear John is just plain bad. It tries terribly hard to be tender and touching, but achieves neither and only comes along as pretentious. I like Amanda Seyfried, but she is wasted here with expressionless hunk Channing Tatum. Our lead characters have no chemistry whatsoever, and the development of the story is forced and pointless. Even an average rom-com is better than this.

OK, enough with the sub-par movies; next up will be my top ten films of 2010.

2010 in Retrospect: Return to Cinemas

This is the first in a series of retrospective looks at my movie-going experiences in 2010.

Clockwise from top left: Avatar, City Lights, Castle in the Sky,
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Toy Story 2, Toy Story

Theatrical re-releases of old films were once very common, but they have become rare since the advent of home video, which is unfortunate since some great films are worth experiencing again on the big screen. Thankfully, I was able to see re-releases of some exceptional movies in 2010, starting with two of my all-time favorites, Toy Story (1995) and Toy Story 2 (1999), in April (some countries got it in late 2009 already). The selling point of this re-release was 3D, and while some may complain, I don’t see a problem with it. I don’t especially love 3D, but I don’t hate it either. It’s actually quite beneficial in this case: most people normally wouldn’t bother to see a theatrical re-release, but 3D acts as a good gimmick to attract those people (and charge a bit more at the same time). If 3D is a good excuse for studios to re-release films I love, I’m all for it. The future looks bright: Beauty and the Beast (which has already been re-released in some countries in 3D) is coming to Hong Kong next year, and 3D re-releases for the Star Wars saga, The Lion King, Titanic and Ratatouille are also in the works. Bring ‘em on!

Then in July, thanks to a good friend, I had the unexpected chance of attending a special screening of Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights (1931) at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre. I had never seen the black-and-white silent film before, and the special thing about this screening was that a live orchestra was there to play the score as the film unfolded. More importantly though, the movie was excellent: unbelievably funny and touching.

The movie itself may be rather new, but the Special Edition of Avatar (2009) in August was technically a re-release too, with 8 minutes of additional footage. Last year, I was temporarily stunned by Avatar, so much to the extent that I proclaimed it the best movie of the 2000s, but I take it back now. The visuals were undeniably strong, but during my initial viewing they blinded me from the film’s flaws in storytelling, which became apparent the second time round. Overall it’s still a solid film, but hardly the best of the 2000s and not even the best James Cameron flick.

Finally, the Studio Ghibli Film Festival in December was a treat. Five of the studio’s animated films were selected for re-release: Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984), Castle in the Sky (1986), My Neighbor Totoro (1988), My Neighbors the Yamadas (1999) and Spirited Away (2001). I didn’t have time for all of them, so I chose the first two. It was a pity they didn’t use the new remastered HD transfers for the films (and the Chinese subtitles for Castle were distractingly superimposed on the screen by a second projector), but seeing the beautiful animation of these classic Miyazaki films on the big screen was a breathtaking experience nonetheless. I had never seen Nausicaä before, and I was surprised by how intense and thought-provoking it was. It’s actually quite similar to Castle (airships, strong violence, environmental protection themes), though I prefer the plotline of Castle more. Anyway, both are great films and I’m definitely getting them on Blu-ray later.

Even a Blu-ray/DVD junkie like me thinks that certain films should be re-released in theaters more often. Unless there’s some major technological breakthrough in the future, there’s nothing that can replicate the euphoric theatrical experience... 3D or no 3D.