Tag: CGI

Tian Xiaopeng’s Deep Sea is More Than A Study on Depression

This latest import from China arrives just in time for the summer season, and Tian Xiaopeng’s Deep Sea does not dissapoint!

Deep Sea Poster Main Theatrical Release
© 2023 October Media. All Rights Reserved.

Screening at Fantasia Film Festival 2023 on Aug 6
Please click here to purchase tickets

Potential Spoiler Alert

Shenxiu (Tingwen Wang) is not a happy young girl in Tian Xiaopeng’s movie, Deep Sea. That’s because she’s not being loved; not only is she neglected by her dad and step-mom, making her feel very depressed, but also the relationship with her biological one is deteriorating. Because the film didn’t translate all those text conversations that blitzed by in the opening act, I’m thankful I understood enough to notice.

But to comprehend everything this motion picture presents requires a few more viewings and an updated subtitle file to play along with this movie. Although I had an electronic press kit to help reveal some other details, I’d rather want to discover these facts on my own.

Thankfully, more screenings after Tribecca and Fantasia Film Fest are planned, and I would love to see this on the big screen as the filmmaker intended. Xiaopeng is best known for Monkey King: The Hero is Back (movie review), and while that tale delivers more in the humour department, I believe his sophomore work is darker.

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Detailing What’s Missing in Mummies, An Animated Rom-Com

Director Juan Jesús García Galocha could have done more to bring out the romance of what Ancient Egypt represents in Mummies.

Mummies Movie PosterSome Mummies are hard to read, and not all of them experience an easy transition to their afterlife. According to Ancient Egyptian beliefs, their souls first need to get judged and those whose heart is pure get to live on in the Field of Reeds (or the Duat). But for archaeologists looking for evidence of what kind of life they once led, the body they leave behind doesn’t always show if they’re resting in peace.

Here, Thut (Joe Thomas) lost his confidence after a racing mishap and Princess Nefer (Eleanor Tomlinson) isn’t content with her life. She’s almost like Cleopatra (in Space) because she’s fiercely independent and this version didn’t take her life. We meet her as royalty in the undead kingdom, and what’s amusing about how the two are birds of the feather.

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Where is the Journey in Katak: The Brave Beluga?

10th Ave Productions is a relatively small animation studio aspiring to create big things with Katak: The Brave Beluga.

Katak The Brave BelugaPlaying at select cinemas.

Movies like Katak: The Brave Beluga can have a difficult time standing out. This French-Canadian produced film made a few waves in the last week of February playing nationwide. As for crossing the sea to be known in other territories like the main character (voiced by Alexandre Bacon) did, means there’s going to be an uphill struggle. Not only are there bullies in this journey to find his place in an aquatic society but also, not everyone is willing to aide him along the way.

Here, this young whale is out to fulfil his ailing grandmother’s last wish, and that’s to reunite the family. He never met grandpa, and he migrated away to somewhere in the Arctic. To find him will be tough when considering the vastness but in what this film lacks in spirit, there’s lots of heart put into this coming of age and road trip journey. 

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DreamWorks Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is Beautiful Purrfection!

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is well worth the wait because production for this sequel wasn’t rushed and we have a tale that truly expands past what we know from past films

uss in Boots: The Last WishMild Spoiler Alert

What can a cat do when he runs out of his nine lives? In Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) latest adventure, The Last Wish, he has to seek a force beyond nature to grant him a new set of regenerations, like Doctor Who, to continue adventuring. Instead, his goal is to find a wishing star in true fairy tale fashion to regain those he lost in years prior. This simple premise keeps the story going forward because, throughout Puss’ adventure, he has to be careful in everything he does. Thus, any wrong step he makes might be his last. And along the way, there’s enough danger so he’ll have to consider taking that road more travelled. He never realised how reckless he’s become and all he ever wanted was to be remembered.

What makes this second outing better is that it delivers a fantasy not completely driven by concepts from Lewis Carrol and Aesop’s fables. As a result, this movie feels more like a good ol’ fashioned Pirates of the Caribbean style adventure, complete with some crazy encounters along the way. And what I enjoyed more is that I love the bad guys featured in this film! Here, we get a narrative that understands why Goldilocks stayed with the three bears. To see them become her henchmen makes sense even though we don’t know their whole story about turning into a crime family.

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On Why The Soccer Football Movie Doesn’t Always Score

After watching The Soccer Football Movie, I had to dig through my video collection to find Underdogs.

Available on NetflixThe Soccer Football Movie

The Soccer Football Movie is more of a Weird Al movie than another CGI animated sports film. When this talent is nearly everywhere in the media these days, his popularity meter going on the rise should be no surprise. Following the wild and crazy fictional biopic of the singer (my review can be read here), this tale featuring him than voicing another character is just as zany. But he alone can’t carry a film.

The story is essentially Space Jam. The premise is the same–someone wants to steal the special ability of a sports star to use elsewhere. Instead of an alien threat, we have a fellow human who is perhaps jealous of other’s stardom. Had there more of an emphasis on this theme, there’d be a story.

Instead, what’s presented is a story about four kids–O’Dang (Kieran Walton), Zana (Madison Zamor), Nautai (Tania Gunadi) and Palio (Arnie Pantoja)–getting to meet their rugby hero Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Megan Rapinoe (both doing great jobs at voicing themselves). As their encounter goes from bad to good, and they win his heart, he offers them season tickets. But when he doesn’t return to give them their reward, that’s because he’s been “kidnapped.” That’s because Al wants to be more than a king of the world, and all those songs he wrote is actually about how he wants to be a surgeon and mad scientist after all.

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