Roadside Romeo

I guess the number of dogs in Disney's repertoire isn't enough, and this year they're looking to grow the kernel which houses the likes of the 101 Dalmations, Goofy, Pluto, Lady and the Tramp with Bolt, Beverly Hills Chihuahua and of course, Roadside Romeo and his pooch friends hailing from India.

Touted as the first Indian full length CG-animated film, the end credits reveal just how much Disney's participation here likely amounted to, being primarily consultants to what was mostly work done by Tata Exlsi Visual Computing Lab. And it's a pretty fine job those guys there are doing, because if you were to strip away the Hindi language and end credit roll so as not to cue in on production details, you're more than likely to think that this was made by Disney themselves. So it's absolutely not a bad effort at all, for a first film.

Animation aside, this is as Bollywood a movie as it can get, with distinct song and dance sequences rooted in Bollywood spirit. Storywise, it's kept really simple with one main plot running and no sub plots trying to complicate matters. The characters too seem to leap out of a typical Bollywood film with over the top villains and their slimy incompetent henchmen, err, dogs, coupled with the propensity to switch to English with constant plurality and grammatic errors in efforts to impress everyone.

Saif Ali Khan voices the titular character of Romeo, once a dog living the life of luxury, before given the boot onto the streets when his owners take off to settle overseas. Left to fend for himself, he relies on his street smarts, suave ways, quick wit and smooth talking to garner himself a posse of abandoned dogs and one cat, putting into use his fashionable skills with the scissors to open a salon for the neighbourhood hounds.

Adversary comes in the form of a Don Corleone Godfather type bulldog named Charlie Anna (Javed Jaffrey), who has three "angels" for protection (and to fuel plenty of tired Charlie Angels jokes and references) and to dish out torture, running a protection racket which Romeo and gang run afoul of given their new enterprise, and on a personal level, the rivalry for the affections of Laila (Kareena Kapoor), which becomes the centerpiece in the second half of the film. The first half did seem a bit of a drag though, especially with the expanded introduction of Charlie Anna and subsequent scenes just to demonstrate what he's capable of, together with some repetitive threats of torture that definitely tested patience.

Otherwise, once the seeds of romantic rivalry has been sown, with Laila being marked as Charlie Anna's romantic target, it led to a number of hilarious playful cross-exchanges between Charlie, Romeo and his gang Guru (Vrajesh Hirjee), Interval (Suresh Menon), Hero English (Kiku Sharda), and cat Mini (Tanaz Irani), which the victim given its focus on these characters was Laila, being reduced to an unfortunate supporting presence.

For some strange reason, Roadside Romeo needed some getting used to as the dogs prance around on two hind legs most of the time, which brought back some memories of The Barnyard. But once you come to terms with it (just like how the Barnyard's bulls all have udders), it's quite an enjoyable and light piece of animation that should do well with its intended demographic, though to an international audience, some nuances because of one pooch's frequent impersonation of Bollywood legends might be woefully lost in translation.

In a world where Pixar sets the gold standard in animated films, Yash Raj Film's Roadside Romeo (incidentally Dinsey's foray into Bollywood as well) will find it hard to even pass the QC test. Both the animation and the story leave a lot to be desired and the only positive outlook for the movie is that being the only major release this Diwali and potentially a hit with the kids, it should barely manage to trudge along. The story of a dog, Romeo (voiced by Saif Ali Khan) who was living the lavish life and suddenly finds himself on the mean streets of the city is clichéd to a fault. Romeo falls for Laila (Kareena Kapoor) who also happens to be the crush of bad dog Charlie Anna (Javed Jaffrey) and predictable mayhem follows. Jugal Hansraj's direction relies too much on borrowing from Bollywood lore (Yash Raj film scenes and dialogs are copied galore) and too little on character study. It is an earnest effort perhaps but if anyone thought animation didn't need a story, they should ask the studio that made the animation movie event of the year, Wall•E. The film hardly has any genuinely funny moments, and the background sets, though well detailed, lack punch. The redeemer is eventually Javed Jaffrey, who is the only one who seems to know how to voice an animation character. He brings out the quirks of Charlie Anna superbly to life and provides the few laughs there are in the film. The tepid songs and a basic background score do nothing to add to the appeal. Ultimately, the gag reel during the end credits turns out to be funnier than the movie itself. And that's saying a lot.

The plot of the movie is very simple, it kind of reminds me of The Lady and the Tramp parts one and two. It's not because Romeo came from a rich family, but it was the gangs and the dog catcher. The music was pretty good, just hearing it gives you the feeling that it's made for kids.

There were two things that was a huge turn off for me in the movie, one was the way they moved the characters and second was the script. There was something that bothered me with how they made the dogs move, sometimes the arms would look weird and sometimes the facial expressions doesn't really match with the emotion their suppose to do. Like when Romeo's going to howl, he looks like he's just opening his mouth and looking up. There are also moments when the characters are suppose to touch each other (a pat on the head, hug, etc.), they look like they have force fields surrounding them, making it look like the characters are in an invisible ball. Some of the characters look nude, for example, Charlie Anna, he reminds me of a naked Peter Griffin. And sometimes Romeo eye's would look infected.

And the script! I think this is the biggest thing that ruined the film, kids these days don't use the word "dude" anymore. In the movie Romeo uses a lot of slang's from the 80's, I think it would be better if bollywood animators would lay off the "cool factor" e.g. shades, motorcycles, high shirt collar and the Elvis hair do.

The thing that impressed me the most about the movie was the details, the fur, the lighting and everything in between. The way they made the characters unite with their background, like the shadows on their fur and the shine in their eyes. The details on the fur makes me want to buy a Romeo stuffed toy, he's so FLUFFY!!! They fur is the biggest thing that impresses me about the movie. Compared to Sully from Monsters Inc. I would rate Romeo somewhere above Sully in my Fluff-o-meter. I also watched the special features of the DVD where they showed how they modeled Romeo, from the inside out. I like the details of their teeth, when they smile of talk, they don't just show a tongue, and the nose look so dog like, the way they made the wetness of it shine from the light.

... http://miniganesha.blogspot.com

the performances of the sidekicks-javed jafri and Sanjay Mishra (apple singh) are laudable(their voices)and in particular light up the entire movie. this is a complete family entertainer. this movie has certain scenes taken from old bollywood(Hindi) movies, and it would put a smile to your face if you could relate to the scenes. saif does a decent job with his dialogue delivery.kareena hardly has any role(read dialogues). don't put it off as a kids movie,adults who are in tune with their funny side can definitely have a go at it. finally if you are looking to show a movie to your kids, this is it. jugal hansraj has done a pretty cool job as a debutant director and writer.

This is a mediocre attempt at an Indian CGI animated film. It's the same old hackneyed storyline of a typical Bollywood romance with the characters all dogs. There is little evidence of any further imagination on display. The constant references to Yashraj films annoy. The voice work is unremarkable and both Kareena and Saif seem to be essentially reprising their well known off-screen personae. Only Javed Jaffrey leaves an impression as the villain Charlie Anna. One plus point- the animation quality. While not even close to international standards, it's leagues ahead of anything previously made in India.

Overall 4/10