TheMovieDiorama

Sitting. Thinking. Noting. Researching. Motivating. Reviewing! Lettuce take the thyme to digest the cheesy grate-ness that sub-lime-ly makes time fries at an up-beet pace. Tackling two relation-chip dynamics with clumsy scientist Flint Lockwood, an un-raisin-able son wanting to become an inventor and his less than grilled father who wants him to relish in assisting at the family tackle shop, with the other being two friendly loafers whom share the same loaf for celery-brating all things science. Leaving plenty of mushroom for Flint's latest invention, a diatonic super mutating dynamic food replicator, going bananas and dipping the townsfolk of Swallow Falls in a weathering pickle. "You have seen a meteor shower, but you have never seen a shower meatier than this", meteorologist Sam Sparks, and main love interest, reports as juicy hamburgers descend from the sky. Flint must savour the world before it's caked with viscous syrup. Bon appetite! Orange you glad corny food puns were used to desc-rye-be the feature's plot? It was hard wok!

Anyway, Lord and Miller's directorial debut, an adaptation of Barrett's children's book, is a colourfully inventive animation that balances its diet of fast-paced action, witty sight humour and heartfelt familial reconciliation. The screenplay on offer showcases the energetic buoyancy that cements Lord and Miller's talent as capable screenwriters. Not all the jokes land with grace. For example the constant inclusion of "Baby" Brent, the town's former mascot for sardines, was nothing more than dim-witted slapstick humour. Conversely, the characterisations and mannerisms of Lockwood, his sugar-addicted pet monkey Steve, Sparks, athletic officer Earl and the greedy mayor, all host a wide array of memorability to them. Whether it be participating in an ice cream snowball fight, literally obliterating all of the neighbours on a rampage, or Flint frustratingly trying to navigate his technophobic dad around a desktop to send a simple email with an attachment.

The vast majority of scenes, whilst moderately zestful as children slowly develop diabetes as they constantly digest jelly beans and chocolate cake, impact towards the central character development of Flint and the fractured relationship with his father. As unsuccessful as Flint's inventions are, he believes he owes it to his deceased mother to pursue his lifelong ambition, forever determined to become the best of the best. His fisherman father, concerned about change and the welfare of his son, never expresses his belief. Therefore, there's a communicative breakdown that is only emphasised by Earl's eternal love for his son Cal. Putting aside the gigantic steaks and mustard-covered hot dogs falling from the suspiciously ominous clouds above, this story is about familial appreciation. No matter the end result. Lord and Miller consistently revert to this central theme through several scenes of sincerity. The barrage of fishing puns to accentuate that malfunction in communication between them. Transforming a relatively inevitable conclusion into a transcendental explosion of love.

Spaghetti tornados launching meatballs and a colossal avalanche of leftovers could not replace that poignant sentiment. Naturally, the food meteorology acts as an exercise in creative animation, granting the feature a personality of its own. Its style incredibly digestible, yet pleasantly tasty to glance at. Whilst the character models were somewhat simplistic in comparison, the animation remained vividly colourful and fluid throughout, with plenty of attentive detail for the backdrops. Food is constantly raining down, subconsciously forcing viewers to examine the entire frame to see what tasty item has descended onto the town.

Voice acting was appetising, with Hader and Faris commanding the cast through precise dialogue execution. Faris especially, digesting a burger and exclaiming "I love it", challenging such method actors including Bale and Day-Lewis. In all seriousness, she was succulent. Mr. T shouting "Flint Lockwood" never fails to conjure smiles, as does Bratt's Guatemalan committed line "he is in...a food coma". Samberg was the rotten egg of the bunch, shouting the vast majority of his dialogue with no expression or range.

The anchoring father relationship powers the narrative, unfortunately Flint's love interest with Sam, more often than not, overwhelms the former bond with forced development that diminishes the fragility with his father. The jelly castle distraction being an acute example of this. Removing the adoration between them would've centralised Lord and Miller's direction with Flint's father, creating a banquet rather than a main course.

Still, Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs digests its source material and spits out an inventive animation boasting with aesthetic originality and developed characters that will have you screaming for more ice cream. The chest hairs weren't always tingling, but the sumptuous aftertaste was worth it, leaving you hungry for more.

Villains, more often than not, are typically the most intriguing characters within a story. From super-powered megalomaniacs yearning to control the universe to fanatic psychotics keeping their idolised authors strapped to a bed. A well-executed villain's motive harmonises with the protagonists. Gru, a proud yet ageing villain, desires nothing more than to become the greatest super villain that had ever lived. His current nemesis, cookie-loving Vector, has stolen the Great Pyramid of Giza, so to better him Gru decides to utilise a shrink ray to minimise the moon and steal it. The Bank of Evil, his rivals and his own neglectful mother would then appreciate him as the malignant villain he wishes to become.

Coffin and Renaud's family-friendly animation could easily have maintained this central plot thread to create nothing more than a goofy exercise in superfluous colour manipulation, particularly given Illumination's constant usage of vibrancy and fluidity. Instead, Paul and Daurio's screenplay introduces a plot device, well, three plot devices, that rapidly integrate with the central narrative to produce an entirely different direction. Margo, Edith and Agnes. Three orphaned girls that Gru agrees to adopt so that he can use their cookie-selling skills to infiltrate Vector's impregnable fortress and steal the shrink ray. This enables an abundance of character development for Gru, who gradually warms to the girls and confronts fathering duties. Children, once again, curing hearts enveloped my venomous poison, offering cuteness in all its fluffy unicorn wholesomeness. Despite Gru's abrupt character alterations when he takes the girls to an amusement park and suddenly realises he "will never let go of them", even though a second beforehand he was daydreaming about their abandonment, Despicable Me consistently remains solid throughout its heartfelt familial story that perpetuates the love adults have for their children.

The script supplies plenty of witty lines of dialogue that allows Carell's exaggerated voice to provide boundless amounts of laughter with younger audiences. And if his talent doesn't work, Gru's minions sure will. Yellow, babbling, Tic Tacs equipped with dungarees and goggles. Some might describe them as cancerous, given their nonsensical behaviour and fatigued saturation over the years, however they function best in this feature. More often than not, they remain integrated to the story and less of a side distraction to ensure laughs through derivative slapstick humour. Are they still annoying to the point of wanting to commit genocide? Oh, absolutely. But tolerable nonetheless. Segel supplies buoyant energy voicing Vector, with viral lines such as "curse you teeny tiny toilet", whilst equipped with clinically designed technology juxtaposing Gru's handmade approach. Brand as sidekick Dr. Nefario was forgettable to say the least, eclipsed by his co-stars.

Then comes the soundtrack, infamously associated with Pharrell Williams. Less annoying than his theme song in the sequel (I despise "Happy" with an almighty passion), the tracks he provides have a calmer tempo and suit the scenes they accompany, "Fun, Fun, Fun" in particular. Concluding on a dance-a-thon to a classic song, this time The Bee Gees' "You Should Be Dancing", is all too reminiscent to a far more superior animated feature 'Shrek 2'.

Alas, Despicable Me remains the best of the franchise and the best feature Illumination Entertainment have produced. So sweet and fluffy that one could "die". Regardless of the franchise motif minions (that spin-off was inevitable...) and the rushed character development, this family animation boasts colourful visuals and a heartfelt narrative that almost competes with Pixar's and DreamWorks' weaker features. Almost. Anyway, "IT'S SO FLUFFY!".

Much like in a video game, a sequel retains the same core components that provides the intellectual property with unique qualities whilst implementing an aesthetic makeover to provide a new world to explore. Whether that be a graphical enhancement or a re-designed open playable world for the player to explore. The very definition of a role-playing game. 'Welcome to the Jungle', the first instalment of the rebooted franchise, asserted the base gameplay functions of uncovering the mystery of the world by linearly heading from point A to point B to point C etc. whilst employing character-based comedy to keep the adventure feeling fresh. Surprisingly self-aware and joyously buoyant throughout.

Kasdan's adventurous sequel follows the same rules as a video game continuation. It's bigger, it's better, and it's more of the same. Set three years after the now four best friends survived the first adventure, Spencer, consumed by his comparatively dull adolescence, returns to Jumanji where he felt he had substantial purpose as an individual. His friends, worried after not showing up to a friendly reunion, suddenly hear the beat of jungle drums, realising that Spencer has activated Jumanji once more. Only this time, "Fridge" and Martha are taken leaving Bethany in reality. Resulting in Spencer's grandfather and long-time business partner Milo being transported to the fictitious world instead as Dr. Bravestone and Finbar respectively. Naturally, the older generation attempting to understand the mechanics of a video game (NPCs, three lives, strengths and weaknesses etc.) creates an unadorned amount of comedy that equally diminishes the character of Roundhouse to nothing more than expositional tutorials.

Much of the laughter is expelled at the sights of Johnson and Hart mildly impersonating DeVito and Glover. Whilst the latter has the slow tempo down perfectly, the former is the least "The Rock" we've seen him as since, well, ever. Watching him attempt the New Jersey/New York accent was mildly hilarious to say the least. This sequel really revolves around these two characters, whom share a jaded past that seeks reconciliation. Unlike the "Jaguar's Eye", they are the true heart of Jumanji. Adequate development to make their differences affecting, without relinquishing much of the humour. Their new strengths and weaknesses, including communicating with animals and Bravestone acquiring just one weakness that was admittedly vastly underdeveloped, appropriately utilised to produce a change of pace when comparing to its predecessor. And, above all else, funnier than their initial appearance. Spencer controls a new avatar, played by the dominating Awkwafina, who really asserts her presence amongst the pre-existing avatars. Oberon, with Black on cruise control, mostly assists with the exposition while indicating his weakness to desert characteristics.

Speaking of arid horizons, the jungle has been substituted for the desolation of heat, a dense woodland environment and snow-capped mountain, as the team attempt to reclaim the "Falcon Jewel" from warlord Jurgen the Brutal in order to save Jumanji and return to reality. The same criticisms from the first film apply here. The narrative is ridiculously linear and mundanely straightforward that, half the time, the screenplay itself forgets what the main objective is. The feature works best when divulging in exciting character-based set pieces, to which Kasdan acknowledges this by throwing the core contents of the plot to the side for the vast majority of the adventure. It's the exact same premise, just a different location. Kasdan also moderately relies on humour setup in the previous entry, such as Roundhouse fighting villainous NPCs through the medium of rhythmic combat to the tune of "Baby I Love Your Way" (ooof such a tune!), which also heightens the sense of over-familiarity. Although, Hart shouting "No!" to cake ensured many howls! The villain, Jurgen, much like Professor Van Pelt (remember him? Me neither!) was instantly forgettable and provided minimal menace. The visual effects were noticeably digital, particularly the backdrops, however closeups of ostriches and mandrills certainly harnessed attentive detail.

One could argue that the digitised gimmicks and hokey plot conveniences are all part of the game world, and they would be correct. Kasdan once again provides fantastic family entertainment that relishes in bold characterised set pieces, albeit with another less than substantial plot. Employing the exact same formula that made its predecessor a financial success, with a few avatar changes here and there. Granting profitable amounts of replay value in the process.