Tag: CGI

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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Netflix’s The Sea Beast Is More Than A Little Red. Is it Safe to Sail the 7 Seas?

Chris Williams’ The Sea Beast combines Pirates of the Caribbean sized action adventure with How to Train Your Dragon.

The Sea BeastJust why Chris Williams The Sea Beast didn’t play in theatres isn’t a vast mystery. It would have struggled against Minions: The Rise of Gru, and Thor: Love and Thunder. In August, the only real contender is Luck, and I suspect interest between the two would be neck in neck.

When considering its scope and grandiose action sequences, I’d be more excited to watch this film on a big screen than small. And when going up against Luck, it has the name recognition behind it to give it a fighting chance. This filmmaker is best known for Big Hero 6 and Moana. Although this latest is not a Disney film, perhaps Netflix isn’t ready to market to movie houses just yet.

Technically, this movie did have a small screening in select markets before hitting the streaming service. And if they are testing the waters of entering this market, the box office results aren’t being reported. Even after all that’s been revealed with August’s annual Shark Week tradition, this film seems forgotten. This distributor’s weak push for quality animated films have been swallowed by its competition.

Hopefully, the studio will consider playing in the big leagues more. Their past works like The Willoughbys may not be a huge draw, but other projects done in partnership with them can be. They’ve developed two movies with Sony Pictures Imageworks, and this company produced the effects for major blockbusters.

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The Secrets Are Revealed in Poupelle in Chimney Town’s Home Video Release

Poupelle in Chimney Town’s adventures are far from over, and this home video release reveals plans on where it can go! Worth picking up for those enamoured with this world.

Poupelle of Chimney Town Blu-Ray & DVD Cover
Available to preorder on Amazon USA

Shout Factory
Release Date: May 31, 2022

Poupelle in Chimney Town (映画 えんとつ町のプペル) will soon be available on home video, and if the bonus material is any indication, his adventures are far from over. This highly anticipated release is available to stream (Amazon Prime), but my money is on the physical release. It has everything for fans to fawn over and it comes with a nice mini booklet to introduce and explain what this story is all about–a young man daring to dream.

There might be plans for a 4K release down the road, but there’s no official news yet. I can see this film shine with a higher resolution release. There’s a lot of detail to appreciate, and when it’s been wholly animated in CGI, I like to know who those figures are in the background. In what’s offered in this blu-ray version is crisp. The original 5.1 sonic presentation is perfect.

I read more into this movie and expressed it in my article, “From Book to Film and Beyond Poupelle in Chimney Town!” and in what I understood, it’s also about not letting the past get the better of you. The tale is also comparable to the themes explored in the song “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” from Wizard of Oz after I finished watching the bonus material.

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The Usagi Chronicles isn’t Running at Full Throttle Yet

The first season of The Usagi Chronicles is rough and has some pacing issues.

Samurai Rabbit The Usagi Chronicles Fans of Usagi Yujimbo by Stan Sakai are most likely thrilled that he’s fully crossed over to the animation medium in The Usagi Chronicles. His appearances in the past were scant and even though Miyamato is mostly a background character in this new Netflix series, it’s his ancestor, Yuichi Yujimbo, who is the star of Samurai Rabbit.

The emphasis is on the latter since it’s his story. This youngling’s goal to become a samurai. One day, he’ll be the leader of the team he’s friends with. The first episode sees him having difficulty gaining Gen the Rhino, Kitsune the Fox, and Chizu the Cat’s respect. This rabbit has much to learn, especially when making the rough and tumble streets of Neo-Tokyo his “home.”

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