lewiskendell

I enjoyed this! I'm saying that with genuine surprise because I don't think Killbird is for everyone. It's very slow burn, the story is too convoluted for its own good and yet still for most of the movie not a lot happens beyond two people talking, and the dialogue is barely passable. But somehow, this micro-budget spy thriller set in the backwoods kept my full attention from the very start.

Killbird begins with a seemingly chance encounter between a photographer having car trouble and a suspicious and possibly paranoid hermit living off the grid far from civilization. We're left guessing if these people are really who they say they are, and as more characters are introduced things only get less clear. It's hard to puzzle out who, if anyone, the viewer should be rooting for and who is actually telling the truth.

I'll be honest, the story somewhat gets drowned in endless conspiracy babble and repeated "who are you" conversations. But, for some reason this movie connected with me and I was hooked. I hesitate to recommend Killbird because it definitely, DEFINITELY has flaws and the smaller budget (and underwhelming script) really requires some imagination from the audience to make things believable, but I think I'm that one person out of five that this movie works for. And no, it's not because I love Battlestar Galactica so much that I did geek out over seeing a few cast members for the first time in years. At the very least, the setting is novel for this genre, Elysia Rotaru is a very capable lead, and I admire that this movie does a lot with limited resources.

I've been wanting to watch a charming, beautifully animated, heart-warming fantasy anime feature for quite a while, and now I have. And I should do it more often. In the midst of all the dour dramas, seedy crime films and brutal horror flicks that occupy most of my movie watching time, it's nice to finish a movie with a genuine smile on my face.

Mary and the Witch's Flower would make an excellent double-feature with Kiki's Delivery Service. The stakes are higher here and there's more of an element of adventure, but both movies share themes of never giving up, sticking with your friends, and the real-life magic of overcoming your own self-doubt.

My only quibble is the somewhat slow start, but Mary and the Witch's flower truly gets better and better as it progresses. I highly recommend it.

When you remake a classic, it has to be better or it will seem very unnecessary to the original audience. "Different" just is not quite good enough.

The 2016 remake of The Jungle Book is a great example. It took the original movie and breathed new life into the story with charm. I liked it more than I ever did the traditionally animated version.

In comparison, this version of The Lion King is the same, but updated. And those updates felt worse, almost each and every time.

The computer animation is certainly impressive in its photorealisim, but the characters were uniformly less charming and interesting as a result. The elephant graveyard is no longer terrifying. Pride Rock is much less majestic. The savannah seems sparse and empty.

The songs were anemic and underwhelming compared to the original soundtrack, which is one of the best Disney ever produced. The new version of "Be Prepared" would have fared better being left out of the movie entirely.

The new voice actors ranged from passable to forgettable. It was jarring seeing the incredibly realistic animals' mouths moving in speech.

Positives? Seth Rogen and Billy Eichner were amusing as Timon and Pumbaa. Realistic hyenas are certainly scarier and more menancing than cartoons.

If I had never seen the original Lion King. I would have though this was an okay, if unremarkable movie that looks more like a showcase for how far computer animation has come in rendering realistic-looking animals. If you see it, see it for that reason. I don't think I'll fell compelled to ever watch this version of the movie ever again.