Chico & Rita (2010)

AN ELDERLY MAN shines shoes in modern-day Havana. Later, at his cramped, run-down apartment, he turns on the radio and listens to an oldies station play a Latin jazz hit from the late 1940s. He sets his fingers on the window sill, and softly plays along with the opening notes of the piano as a sultry female voice begins to sing…

The old man is Chico (Eman Xor Oña), the song is one of his recordings with Rita (Limara Meneses), and Chico & Rita is their story. Told over a span of 60 years, it follows Chico and Rita as they meet at a Havana nightclub, and after a torrid one night stand and a few misunderstandings (oops, he has a girlfriend), they chase their dreams and each other from Havana to New York, Paris, Hollywood, and Las Vegas – all while encountering missed or blown opportunities in their careers and their relationship.

The animation in Chico & Rita is a fresh detour from most major releases these days. It’s a unique, captivating style, like rotoscoping by way of CGI – with dimension, depth, and an amazing attention to detail, especially in the cityscapes of Havana, New York City, and Paris.

The Latin jazz soundtrack of Chico & Rita permeates nearly every frame, either in the background or front and center. It features original music by legendary Cuban pianist/composer Bebo Valdés (on whom Chico is loosely based) as well as legends such as Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Cole Porter, Dizzy Gillespie, Woody Herman, Tito Puente, and Chano Pozo (who all have animated cameos in the film).

Ironically, for all the excitement, passion, and life that the soundtrack brings to Chico & Rita, the story itself is a predominately quiet one, with most action and conversations very reserved and mellow. And despite all the globetrotting and love-hate yearnings Chico and Rita share and experience, there’s not enough of an investment in the time they spend together to make us feel for the times they’re apart.

Chico & Rita was nominated for a 2012 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature (along with Kung Fu Panda 2 and the deserving winner, Rango), and directors Javier Mariscal and Fernando Trueba should be credited for bringing something unique to the animation genre. But even the engaging animation and lively Latin soundtrack can’t save or elevate the muted love story that could have been.

Spanish, with subtitles.

Rating:

Is it suitable for your kids?

Chico & Rita is an animated feature released by the largely kid-friendly GKIDS, but it is definitely not for children. Rita is fully nude for an extended scene, she and Chico are both nude while making love, and several women’s bare behinds are shown. In terms of violence: Chico’s girlfriend and Rita fight across Chico’s apartment floor, Chico is shot in a dream sequence, and another character is shot several times and killed. There is also drinking, smoking, profanities, and one racial slur.

Will your FilmMother want to watch it?

If she’s a fan of the Latin jazz movement, she may enjoy the sounds and scenery of Chico & Rita. But if she’s a fan of love stories, she may feel underwhelmed by Chico and Rita’s romance.

Her name was Rita / She was a showgirl...

His name was Chico / He wore a diamond...

I heard they played at the hottest spot north of Havana.

Chico & Rita
* Directors: Javier Mariscal, Fernando Trueba
* Screenwriters: Ignacio Martínez de Pisón, Fernando Trueba
* Stars: Limara Meneses, Eman Xor Oña, Mario Guerra
* MPAA Rating: N/A


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Gumby: The Movie (1995)

LAST MONTH would have been Gumby creator Art Clokey’s 90th birthday (he passed away in 2010). Google even honored Clokey’s birthday with an interactive Gumby-themed homepage logo:


Dash and Jack-Jack loved what Google did and, since they had never heard of Gumby, started asking questions about him and his friends. It was the perfect opportunity to show them Gumby: The Movie, which I had just put in my Netflix Instant queue a few weeks earlier.

Plot:
Gumby’s band, the Clayboys, decide to throw a benefit concert to raise money for local farm owners who are losing their farms, thanks for the evil Blockheads who run the local mortgage loan company. But when the Clayboys perform, Gumby’s dog Lowbelly cries tears that turn into valuable pearls – prompting the greedy Blockheads to kidnap Lowbelly and keep the pearls for themselves. In addition, they start kidnapping Gumby, Pokey, Pickle, Goo, and all the Clayboys and replacing them with robot look-alikes.

Critique:

Everything about Gumby: The Movie – the simple plot, the animation, the innocence of the characters – is a refreshing trip back in time for kids’ filmmaking. Granted, 1995 wasn’t that long ago, but Clokey (who directed the film) embodies everything that made his earlier Gumby series so endearing to generations of children. The ability of Gumby and his friends to enter storybooks and live the adventures within (farms, science laboratories, medieval times, etc.) adds to the magic.

That’s not to say Gumby, Pokey, and the gang only do it old school. Gumby’s band, the Clayboys, bring the rawk – jamming to the most hard rock/metal tunes ever shredded by animated lumps of clay.

Clokey’s “claymation” style of animation is pleasantly nostalgic, and the performances – aside from the Clayboys’ rockin’ numbers – are downright tame compared to today’s animated films.

The action in Gumby: The Movie does pick up in the second half, as Gumby and his evil robot twin chase and fight each other through different stories, even jumping into a few “videocassettes” (well, the film was made in the ‘90s). A couple of sequences even have subtle winks to Return of the Jedi and Terminator 2.

Nothing is heart-poundingly exciting or outrageously hilarious in Gumby: The Movie, but it gives kids and their parents a simple, enjoyable, fun family film that does Gumby – and Clokey’s legacy – proud.

aka Gumby 1.

Rating:

What did Dash and Jack-Jack think?

Since Dash and Jack-Jack have been raised on CGI and 2D animation, I had concerns they’d be jaded about the simplistic, occasionally crude claymation style of Gumby: The Movie. So I was happily surprised that they were glued to the screen for the entire film, even during the quieter moments – though at times, Jack-Jack was a bit confused (frankly, so was I) as to who were the “good” Gumby & Friends and who were the robots.

Is it suitable for your kids?

Gumby: The Movie is rated G and contains nothing overtly offensive. The robot dog falls in manure, and at one point Gumby and his evil robot twin fight each other with light sabers (leading to one of them losing a hand and the other getting sliced into pieces), but it’s not done violently or traumatically. Children of any age should be fine watching the film.

Will your FilmMother want to watch it?

If she watched Gumby as a child, Gumby: The Movie could definitely be a fun, nostalgic trip for her.

*Sigh* Where do you run the swipe key on these doors?

Gumby: The Movie
* Director: Art Clokey
* Screenwriters: Art Clokey, Gloria Clokey
* Stars: Charles Farrington, Art Clokey, Gloria Clokey, Manny La Carruba, Alice Young, Janet McDuff, Patti Morse, Bonnie Rudolph, David Ozzie Ahlers
* MPAA Rating: G


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The Other F Word (2011)

BEFORE BECOMING A FATHER, you have your own set of priorities, ideologies, and views of the world. But when children enter your life, you have to make a seismic shift in how you live. And let’s be honest: It’s hard for the average man to stop being so selfish and start giving all his focus, love, and attention to the new child in his life.

But what if you weren’t the average man before fatherhood? What if you were a hardcore punk rocker with no responsibilities, complete disrespect of authority, and lived life day to day on your terms? How hard is it to go from barely caring about your own well-being to being unconditionally protective of a life you created?

Plot:
Featuring interviews with dozens of punk rock’s leading men, including Jim Lindberg (Pennywise), Mark Hoppus (Blink 182), Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Tim McIlrath (Rise Against), Tony Adolescent (The Adolescents), and Lars Frederiksen (Rancid), The Other F Word documents what happens when society’s ultimate anti-authoritarians become its ultimate authorities: dads.


Critique:

The dads in director Andrea Blaugrund Nevins’ The Other F Word largely fall into one group – the dad who successfully balances parenthood and punk – yet there are a couple of examples at far ends of the spectrum: Ron “Chavo” Reyes, former lead singer of Black Flag (one the most violent and influential U.S. punk bands), is now the most domesticated, while Fat Mike of NOFX is the most resistant in terms of giving up the punk lifestyle (now in his forties, he still gets completely sloshed before every show).

It’s intriguing to see how becoming a dad makes these punkers think deeply about their own fathers, the majority of whom were pretty poor role models. The examples of bad childhoods described by Nevins’ subjects in strung-together segments are depressing – at times heartbreaking – but they also serve as testaments to how hard, and how successfully, these guys have worked to be better fathers than their own.

Not only do the traumas of their childhoods still affect these punk dads (Everclear’s Art Alexakis is amazingly frank about his many abuses), but tragedies involving their own children haunt them as well (the toughest to watch: Tony Adolescent describing holding his stillborn daughter and U.S. Bombs’ Duane Peters discussing his son’s death in a violent car crash).

While the dads in The Other F Word may have varying methods of parenthood, discipline, and responsibility, not one of their children is neglected – in fact, they appear to be loved very much. We also see never see any of the dads openly struggling to be a responsible grown-up or the father they never had. In other words, there’s no sustainable tension or conflict surrounding the subjects or the subject matter – and that’s the film’s one notable flaw. Obviously, no one wants to see a child mistreated, abused, or abandoned; but in a warped way, it’s almost a detriment to the film that none of Nevins’ subjects is a failure as a father.

Can the sins of the father be avoided by the sons? Judging from the subjects of The Other F Word, the answer is yes. And to a certain extent, it hurts the film – ultimately making it interesting to watch, but not compelling.

Rating:

Is it suitable for your kids?

Despite being about fatherhood and parenting, The Other F Word features many trademarks of the punk lifestyle: loads of profanities (sometimes in front of the young children), inappropriate sayings on clothing and gear, and alcohol consumption (with a few of the punk dads appearing drunk onstage).

Will your FilmMother want to watch it?

Possibly/probably. If she has an interest in (or history with) the punk lifestyle, she may want to see how these guys are making the adjustment from punk to papa.

Hey! You shouldn’t start a sentence with a preposition…
uh, but in your case, I’ll make an exception.

The Other F Word
* Director: Andrea Blaugrund Nevins
* Screenwriter: Andrea Blaugrund Nevins
* Stars: Jim Lindberg, Mark Hoppus, Flea, Tim McIlrath, Tony Adolescent, Lars Frederiksen, Tony Hawk
* MPAA Rating: N/A

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Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)

YET ANOTHER FIRST for Dash: We finally took a step out of animated movies and watched his first live-action film.

And we did it with one of my all-time favorites – not just from my childhood, but to this day.

Plot:

Poor paperboy Charlie Bucket (Peter Ostrum) and his Grandpa Joe (Jack Albertson) dream about what lies behind the factory walls of reclusive candymaker Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder). Then one day, Wonka throws a worldwide contest by hiding six golden tickets among his chocolate Wonka bars, granting the winning ticketholders a tour of his factory.

Critique:

So many elements come together to make Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory a deliciously timeless classic that it’s best to address them one by one…

The cast.
Wilder seems to be genuinely enjoying if not relishing his role as the eccentric Wonka. He comes off as alternately endearing and maniacal – spouting off quotes from Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, and Keats as he implicitly tests the honesty and goodness of the kids touring his factory.

13-year-old Ostrum does a great job of getting the viewer to root for good-hearted Charlie, who ultimately finds a golden ticket (in one of the film’s most exciting, uplifting moments) and is joined on Wonka’s factory tour by the other winners: German glutton Augustus Gloop (Michael Bollner), obnoxious Violet Beauregarde (Denise Nickerson), spoiled brat Veruca Salt (Julie Dawn Cole), and television addict Mike Teevee (Paris Themmen).

The music.
The songs by composers Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse have stood the test of time, with many still memorable after 40 years: Wonka’s signature tune, “Pure Imagination;” “Cheer Up Charlie,” which could have come straight from the classic Disney songbook; the cautionary songs by the Oompa Loompas, Wonka’s pint-sized, orange-skinned employees; and “The Candy Man,” written for the film and later made famous (or infamous) by Sammy Davis, Jr.

The settings.
From Charlie’s could-be-anywhere village town (in reality, Munich) to the fantastic rooms of Wonka’s dream-like factory, the settings are truly the stuff of fairy tales. The set pieces in the factory are amazing – a world of chocolate rivers, candy trees, fizzy-lifting drinks, and fruit-flavored wallpaper (director Mel Stuart credits the imagination of Oscar-winning art director Harper Goff).

Author Roald Dahl adapted his own book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for the Willy Wonka script (with a polish by first-time screenwriter David Seltzer), yet apparently he hated the film. With all due respect to Dahl, it doesn’t matter. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is a wonderfully yummy treat with a morality-tale center – a fun adventure that speaks not only to children, but the kid inside each of us.

Tidbits:
* Both Anthony Newley and Sammy Davis, Jr. wanted to play the role of the candy store owner who sings “The Candy Man” in the film, but director Stuart felt it would be too showbiz and would shatter the illusion of the story. (The role went to Aubrey Woods.)
* When the children first enter the sprawling Chocolate Room, their reactions are real – it was actually their first view of that set.
* Skip the 2005 DVD release and watch the 2001 edition, which features a bunch of extras including an insightful, often funny commentary by the now-adult Wonka kids.

Rating:

What did Dash think?

Dash did enjoy Willy Wonka, giggling and chuckling along the way – though I don’t think he was as enthralled with it as I’ve been over the years. Maybe it was because it was his first non-animated film, or because it ended an hour past his bedtime. Bottom line: While I think he liked it, I don’t anticipate repeat viewings.

Will your kids like it?

Kids of a certain age (I’ll say 7 and older) will really enjoy Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. It’s a visual and musical feast, Wilder’s Wonka is an iconic character, kids can really get behind the character of Charlie…and really, isn’t it the dream of any child to have their own chocolate factory? (Though maybe these days, it’s more about owning a fruit-snack factory.)

Depending on your sensitivities, there may be a few things to consider if you’re thinking of letting wee little ones watch Wonka:
* The implied off-screen fates of the children who didn’t listen to Wonka during the factory tour, including being made into fudge, de-juiced before exploding, burned in a furnace, and stretched with a taffy-pulling machine
* A scene where a wife must choose between her kidnapped husband’s life or giving his captors her case of Wonka bars (it ends with a soft punchline aimed at adults)
* Passing references to Grandpa Joe’s pipe tobacco
* The boat ride on the chocolate river is a nightmarish, bad acid trip with Day-Glo colors, creepy images (including the beheading of a chicken), and Wonka’s scary a capella song (with a reference to “the fires of Hell”) which ends with him screaming the lyrics before stopping the boat

Will your FilmMother want to watch it?

I hope that she had already seen Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory as a child, but if not, here’s your chance. It’s great viewing for you and her to share, either with or without kids.

I want my right arm back and I want it NOW!!!

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
* Director: Mel Stuart
* Screenwriter: Roald Dahl
* Stars: Gene Wilder, Peter Ostrum, Jack Albertson, Michael Bollner, Denise Nickerson, Julie Dawn Cole, Paris Themmen, Roy Kinnear
* MPAA Rating: G



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Yellow Submarine (1968)

TO GET IDEAS FOR future movies to review with Dash, I recently rented The New York Times Essential Library: Children's Movies: A Critic's Guide to the Best Films Available on Video and DVD by Peter M. Nichols from our local library.

While most of Nichols’ recommendations were for older children, and some were downright questionable (Jurassic Park?!), his last entry was one that not only seemed appropriate for Dash’s age, but one I had overlooked in my [age withheld] years on this planet: The Beatles’ animated classic Yellow Submarine.

Plot:

The gentle, colorful, musical people of Pepperland are attacked by the music-hating Blue Meanie (Paul Angelis) and his minions, who silence Pepperland’s citizens by turning them into gray, colorless statues. The captain of Pepperland’s Yellow Submarine (Lance Percival) realizes there’s only one group of people who can save them, and that’s the Beatles: John (John Clive), Paul (Geoffrey Hughes), George (Peter Batten), and Ringo (Angelis again).*

* According to Nichols, the Beatles hated cartoons, and they blew off voiceover recording sessions until the filmmakers had no choice but to hire sound-alikes.

Critique:

Even someone who hasn’t seen Yellow Submarine can guess its two dominating elements: the animation and the music. And they’d be right.

The animation is reflective not only of the era (the late ‘60s), but also the Beatles’ then-psychedelic phase. It’s filled with trippy non-sequiturs that use a generous mix of pop-art photography and traditional yet far-out 2-D animation.

The music includes three new Beatles songs along with many of their classics, including “Yellow Submarine,” “Eleanor Rigby,” “All Together Now,” “When I’m Sixty-Four,” “Nowhere Man,” “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” and “All You Need Is Love.”

And the script? Well, despite the work of five screenwriters (including a rewrite by Love Story scribe Erich Segal) it’s really incidental compared to the animation and music, and is treated as such. The “Beatles” speak mostly under their breath, with put-on Liverpudlian accents, swallowing many of their punchlines in the process.


If you’re not a Beatles fan, you still owe it to yourself to see Yellow Submarine at least once. It’s more of an experience or a rite of passage, but see it to say you saw it.

Rating:

What did Dash think?

At several points, I really thought Dash was going to say Yellow Submarine was weird, boring, or scary. However, he really enjoyed it, chuckling and giggling quite a few times. His favorite character was The Boob (Dick Emery), a rhyming, philosophizing creature who tags along with the Beatles…and who’s not as smart as he thinks.

Bonus: The night after watching Yellow Submarine, there was a glimmer of hope in Dash’s musical edification: I caught him singing “Eleanor Rigby” on his way to the dinner table.

Will your kids like it?

Watching Yellow Submarine with Dash (and his little brother Jack-Jack), I learned that what adults see as trippy, kids see as funny. They were both laughing often at the silliness of many of the sequences. I think kids of all ages would enjoy and appreciate the film, whether it’s for the animation, the antics, the music, or all three.

Will your FilmMother want to watch it?

If she’s a Beatles fan, then yes…but of course, if she’s a true fan, she’s probably seen Yellow Submarine already. Either way, if she’s never seen it, it can be a fun experience for her, you, and the kids to enjoy together.

Next time, let's take the newspaper taxi.

Yellow Submarine
* Director: George Dunning
* Screenwriters: Lee Minoff, Al Brodax, Jack Mendelsohn, Erich Segal, Roger McGough
* Stars: Paul Angelis, John Clive, Dick Emery, Geoffrey Hughes, Lance Percival, Peter Batten
* MPAA Rating: G



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