Review: ‘Piece by Piece’ (2024), starring the voice of Pharrell Williams

October 12, 2024

by Carla Hay

Pharrell Williams in “Piece by Piece” (Image courtesy of Focus Features)

“Piece by Piece” (2024)

Directed by Pharrell Williams

Culture Representation: The documentary film “Piece by Piece” features Grammy-winning artist Pharrell Williams and other people who know him telling his life story, in Lego anination form.

Culture Clash: Williams, a self-described music nerd, spent years struggling to break into the music industry, eventually found hitmaking success as one-half of the production duo the Neptunes and as a solo artst, and overcame a professional slump in the late 2000s for a major comeback in the early 2010s.

Culture Audience: “Piece by Piece” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of Pharrell Williams and documentaries about people who create mainstream pop music hits.

Pharrell Williams and Gwen Stefani in “Piece by Piece” (Image courtesy of Focus Features)

Pharrell Williams’ life story presented as a Lego animation documentary could have been a cynical and superficial cash grab. “Piece by Piece” is actually insightful, soulful and a delight to watch. It’s an entertaining kaleidoscope of sights and sounds where each interview subject’s personality shines through, despite being shown as a Lego toy.

Directed by Morgan Neville (who is also the documentary’s interviewer), “Piece by Piece” had its world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. The documentary’s visuals are great, and the music is very engaging, but they wouldn’t be as effective if the interviews weren’t candid. For example, he admits he’s always been afraid of having success as a solo artist. Williams says he reluctantly recorded his 2003 solo song “Frontin'” after he sent it to Prince, who didn’t respond.

Williams (who was born in 1973) was raised in his birth city of Virginia Beach, Virginia. He says he was a shy and insecure child, who never felt like he fit in anywhere except when he was listening to music or watching TV. He was also a big fan of Carl Sagan’s “Cosmos” science series. “I don’t know where it’s from,” Williams says, “but I always knew I was different.” He comments on being a loner as a child: “I was detached. I was in dreamland.”

Williams says that television became a magical place where he could escape to and let his imagination run wild. Although he didn’t mind being a loner, he was sensitive about what people thought of him. Williams comments that if people thought of him, “He’s an oddball,” then “that crushed my spirit.”

Williams declares that he knew from an early age that he wanted to make music and be in the music industry, but he often felt frustrated by the lack of opportunities in Virginia Beach, compared to bigger cities such as New York City, Los Angeles or Atlanta. He describes himself as a teenager as someone who spent many hours alone in his room, feeling transported to different worlds by the music he was listening to at the time. Growing up in a beach city, Williams says he’s had a lifelong fascination with the ocean and is particularly fixated on the fictional ocean kingdom of Atlantis.

When he was a teenager, his passion for music led him to meet and befriend another self-described “music nerd” named Chad Hugo, who is also interviewed in “Piece by Piece.” Williams and Hugo had a special chemistry working together as a music producer duo called the Neptunes. They also performed as a rock duo called N.E.R.D.

Hugo’s interview for the documentary was apparently done before his legal battle with Williams. In March 2024, Hugo sued Williams over their agreement that they would co-own the Neptunes’ name. In the lawsuit, Hugo accuses Williams of trying get to sole ownership of the name without Hugo’s consent. The lawsuit is not mentioned in the documentary. In a “Piece by Piece” interview, Williams descrbes Hugo as a “saint.”

Even though Virginia Beach is not a major hub in the music industry, some of Williams’ musical peers from Virginia Beach went on to have international success as hitmakers, including hip-hop star Missy Elliott and music producer/artis Timbaland, whose real name is Timothy Mosley. They are both interviewed for “Piece by Piece.”

The hits written and produced by Williams as part of the Neptunes or as a solo artist make up the soundtracks of many people’s lives. His first breakout hit was Wreckx-N-Effect’s 1992 single “Rump Shaker,” co-written by Teddy Riley, who got to know Williams after Riley set up a recording studio in Virginia Beach. Williams remembers this recording studio being a big deal because it was rare for a major star such as Riley to choose Virginia Beach as the headquarters for the star’s music production facilities.

Williams is also a writer and/or producer for Nelly’s “Hot in Herre,” Mystikal’s “Shake Ya Ass,” Justin Timberlake’s “Rock Your Body,” Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines,” Kelis’ “Milkshake,” Gwen Stefani’s “Hollaback Girl,” No Doubt’s “Hella Good,” and Jay-Z’s “Give It to Me.” As a solo artist, Williams is best known for his Oscar-nominated song “Happy” (from 2013’s “Despicable Me 2”) and Daft Punk’s Grammy-winning 2013 smash hit “Get Lucky.”

Among the people interviewed in the documentary are artists who made hits with Williams, such as Jay-Z, Riley, Stefani, Timberlake, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, Elliott, N.O.R.E. and Busta Rhymes. Behind-the-scenes music indsutry people who are interviewed include former Vibe magazine editor Mimi Valdés, who know works as a film producer with Williams; songwriter Tammy Lucas; and music manager Rob Walker, who introduced N.O.R.E. to the Neptunes. Williams and Valdés (who are two of the producers of “Piece by Piece”) were Oscar-nominated for Best Picture for being among the producers for 2016’s “Hidden Figures.”

Williams is particularly open about his love life and will only discuss his courtship and marriage to model/fashion designe Helen Lasichanh, whom he married in 2013. They have four kids: a son named Rocket (born in 2008) and triplets (born in 2017), whose names have been kept private. Lasichanh does a rare interview for the documentary. She describes Williams as the pursuer in their courtship, but she says it took him years before he said he was ready to commit to marriage. Williams is briefly seen in the documentary interacting with his kids as a doting father, who calls his son “sir.”

Also interviewed are Pharrell’s parents Pharoah Williams and Carolyn Williams, who says that they taught Pharrell the values of hard work. Carolyn also said on the partnership between Pharrell and Hugo: “To see them together, it was like they read each other’s minds.” Another family member interviewed is Bishop Ezekiel Williams (Pharrell’s uncle), who says that Pharrell’s paternal grandmother had a dream that Pharrell was lifted up and was given a special gift by God.

When someone has family members telling these stories, it should come as no surprise that someone might get a huge ego for it. Pharrell admits that his ego became enormous with all of his success, but he was humbled in the late 2000s, when he had a string of flops with audiences and critics. His comeback include career highs with “Happy” and “Get Lucky.”

Although Pharrell is also known for his business forays in the fashion industry, that part of his life isn’t really in the documentary. Don’t expect to hear stories about his fashion brands Bllionaire Boys Club and ICECREAM, or becoming creative director for Louis Vuitton’s men’s fashion, a position he was appointed to in 2023. His movie projects are also not gviven a spotlight in this documentary. “Piece by Piece” is a music-focused docmentary that gives some interesting stories about how Pharrell makes music, his life’s highs and lows and what other people have to say about him. Music is Pharrell’s first love. And “Piece by Piece” is a unique and charismatic way to share that love with an audience.

Focus Features released “Piece by Piece” in U.S. cinemas on October 11, 2024.

Review: ‘Transformers One,’ starring the voices of Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, Laurence Fishburne and Jon Hamm

September 12, 2024

by Carla Hay

D-16/Megatron (voiced by Brian Tyree Henry), Alita-1 (voiced by Scarlett Johansson, Orion Pax/Optimus (voiced by Chris Hemsworth and B-127 (voiced by Keegan-Michael Key) in “Transformers One” (Image courtesy of Paramount Pictures)

“Transformers One”

Directed by Josh Cooley

Culture Representation: Taking place in outer space, the animated film “Transformers One” has a group of characters that are talking robots.

Culture Clash: A group of miner robots that will later become Transformers find out why they have been oppressed and fight back against the enemy.

Culture Audience: “Transformers One” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the “Transformers” franchise and eye-catching action animated films.

Sentinel Prime (voiced by Jon Hamm) in “Transformers One” (Image courtesy of Paramount Pictures)

For better or worse, “Transformers One” is for die-hard “Transformers” fans. This origin story has appealing visuals and action, but the plot might be too confusing for viewers who are new to the franchise. It’s one of the those movies that rushes through a world-building summary in the introduction and assumes that most people watching will already know the intricacies of the major characters in the “Transformers” franchise.

Directed by Josh Cooley, “Transformers One” was written by Eric Pearson, Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari. “Transformers One” is one of several “Transformers” movies (animated and live-action) and animated TV series that have been spawned from the original “Transformers” animated TV series that was on the air from 1984 to 1987. The TV series and movies are all based on Hasbro’s Transformers toys of outer-space robots that can transform into moving vehicles.

“Transformers One” begins by explaining that on the planet Cybertron, a being called Primus birthed a race of supreme robots called Primes that can transform into moving vehicles. Primes need a special feul for a healthy existence called Energon. For generations, Cybertron had peace and prosperity, until it was invaded by enemies. Many of the Primes were killed, Energon became scarce, and most of the surviving robots of Cybertron were forced into identured servitude as underground miners, who are forbidden to go to the surface of the planet.

It’s during this bleak period that a rebellious miner robot named Orion Pax (voiced by Chris Hemsworth) tries to find out more about the history of this invasion. He discovers a hologram-like archive that talks about this history. However, the archive cuts off just before it will tell details about a mysterious force called the Matrix and information about the Matrix leadership. Orion Pax believes that finding out the secret of the Matrix can free the miners from their oppression.

Orion Pax’s best friend is another miner robot named D-16 (voiced by Brian Tyree Henry), who has a personality that almost the opposite of Orion Pax. D-16 is very cautious and feels strongly that the best way for miners to live is to not ask questions and always follow the rules. D-16 tells Orion Pax, “We’re miners. We mine. That’s all.”

The tryannical supervisor of the miners is Darkwing (voiced by Isaac C. Singleton Jr.), who doesn’t hesttate to punish anyone who breaks the rules. Darkwing reports to the leader of the land: Sentinel Prime (voiced by Jon Hamm), who is worshipped as a hero for being one of the last surviving Primes. Sentinel Prime is very charismatic and has been telling his followers that he and his team have been searching for the Matrix leadership so that they can find more Energon.

Orion Pax is too curious to listen to D-16’s advice to always follow the rules. Several antics ensure that get Orion Pax and D-16 in various degrees of trouble. Without giving away too much information, it’s enough to say that Orion Pax and D-16 join forces with two other miner robots: outspoken Alita-1 (voiced by Scarlett Johansson) and goofy B-127 (voiced by Keegan-Michael Key), who was banished to a secret lower level of the planet.

“Transformers One” has a lot of terrific action sequences accompanied by dazzling visuals. However, some of the plot developments are a bit repetitive. How many times does Orion Pax have to “punished” in ways that make it somewhat easy for him to escape? Predictably, there’s also a “secret villain” who is easy to figure out if you’ve seen enough of these types of movies.

The “Transformers One” voice performances are perfectly fine, considering that the characters in the movie are robots, not human beings with complex personalities. The “Transformers One” characters who aren’t the core four heroes (Orion Pax, D-16, Alita-1 and B-127) tend to be a bit one-dimensional. Hemsworth and Henry capably handle the dynamics of the friendship-turned-feud between Orion Pax and D-16.

This very male-centric movie could have had more females in prominent speaking roles. The only other notable female character has a small supporting role: Airachnid (voiced by Vanessa Liguori), a spider-like Transformer that can turn into a helicopter. Other characters in “Transformers One” are elderly Alpha Trion (voiced by Laurence Fishburne), villainous Starscream (voiced by Steve Buscemi) and music-loving Jazz (voiced by Evan Michael Lee).

It’s not a secret that certain characters in “Transformers One” will take on new identities that they have in other “Transformers” movies and TV shows with storylines that take place after the events of “Transformers One.” Orion Pax becomes Optimus Prime, heroic leader of the Autobots. D-16 becomes Megatron, evil leader of the Decepticons, the sworn enemies of the Autobots. B-127 (who also give himself the nicknames B and Badassatron in “Transformers One”) becomes Bumblebee, an ally of Optimus Prime.

“Transformers One” offers an interesting but formulaic look into what these characters were like before they were Transformers and how they got their Transformers superpowers. The movie’s brief end-credits scene is energetic but ultimately not necessary. People who are inclined watch sci-fi animated films should find many entertaining aspects to “Transformers One,” which can inspire new fans to watch more “Transformers” movies and TV shows to get a better understanding of the “Transformers” universe.

Paramount Pictures will release “Transformers One” in U.S. cinemas on September 20, 2024.

Review: ‘The Wild Robot,’ starring the voices of Lupita Nyong’o, Pedro Pascal, Kit Connor, Bill Nighy, Ving Rhames, Mark Hamill and Catherine O’Hara

September 8, 2024

by Carla Hay

Brightbill (voiced by Kit Connor) and Roz (voiced by Lupita Nyong’o) “The Wild Robot” (Image courtesy of DreamWorks Animation)

“The Wild Robot”

Directed by Chris Sanders

Culture Representation: Taking place mostly on a remote island, the animated film “The Wild Robot” has a group of characters that are talking animals and talking robots.

Culture Clash: After crash-landing on Earth, an alien robot becomes a mother figure to a young goose, who learns lessons about loyalty and life along the way.

Culture Audience: “The Wild Robot” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the book on which the movie is based, the movie’s headliners and family-friendly animated films that skillfully blend comedy and drama.

Fink (voiced by Pedro Pascal), Roz (voiced by Lupita Nyong’o) and Pinktail (voiced by Catherine O’Hara) in “The Wild Robot” (Image courtesy of DreamWorks Animation)

“The Wild Robot” is a heartwarming and visually dazzling animated adaptation of Peter Brown’s 2016 novel of the same. Lupita Nyong’o does an excellent job of making a robot character have believable humanity. The rest of the movie’s voice cast is also stellar.

Written and directed by Chris Sanders, “The Wild Robot” had its world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. The movie keeps the plot uncomplicated and treads on a well-worn animated path of being a coming-of-age story where two very different characters are thrown together under unexpected circumstances and learn about life from each other. Most movies about robots usually have humans as main characters, but “The Wild Robot” stands out because there are no humans in the movie—only talking animals and talking robots.

“The Wild Robot” begins by showing a robot named Rozzum Unit 7134, later nicknamed Roz (voiced by Nyong’o), who crash-lands from outer space and becomes stranded on an island that has no humans. In the beginning of the movie, Roz is very rigid and focused only on following the orders that she was programmed to fulfill. She has been taught that once her duties have been completed for her owner, she has to shut down and be programmed for the next owner. It’s later revealed that Roz comes from a company called Universal Dynamics.

Roz’s appearance on the island causes the animals to fear Roz and think she’s a monster. When she is chased by a bear, she falls down and accidentally causes the death of family of geese, except for the only survivor: an unhatched egg. Roz believes she was programmed to protect this egg. A sly fox named Fink (voiced by Pedro Pascal) steals the egg, so Roz chases Fink through a heavily wooded area. Roz captures the fox, plucks a whisker from his face, retrieves the egg, and lets Fink go. The egg soon hatches and reveals itself to be a runt male gosling.

Roz asks this newborn goose, “Was this task completed to your satisfaction?” She asks the goose to rate her skills on a scale of 1 to 10. The frightened gosling can only chirp out an answer. Roz says, “I’ll register that as a 10.”

Roz and the orphaned gosling soon meet a family of young opossums led by a snarky matriarch named Pinktail (voiced by Catherine O’Hara), a mother of seven who doesn’t want to adopt this orphaned bird. Pinktail insists that Roz can take care of the gosling. Roz soon learns that she should have three tasks to complete to raise this newborn to become an independent goose who will be ready to migrate in autumn with the other geese in the community: “Eat. Swim. Fly by fall.”

At first, Roz wants to give numbers as a name for this gosling. (One bland and boring suggestion is 001.) However, Fink comes slinking back out of curiosity and says that this young goose should be given words as names. Roz takes this advice and names the gosling Brightbill when she sees his bill light up in the glow of the atmosphere.

Brightbill (voiced by Kit Connor) grows up to be a young adult who is bullied and taunted by other geese, who think of Brightbill as a tiny wimp and Roz as a monster. The chances look slim that outcast Brightbill will be invited to migrate with the other geese. Fink still hangs around as a family acquaintance who eventually earns more trust.

An elderly goose named Longneck (voiced by Bill Nighy) becomes the first goose to treat Brightbill and Roz with kindness. Other talking animals that appear in the movie are a fearsome grizzly bear named Thorn (voiced by Mark Hamill), a confident falcon named Thunderbolt (voiced by Ving Rhames) and an eccentric beaver named Paddler (voiced by Matt Berry), who is also trying to find acceptance with this clique-ish animal community on the island.

“The Wild Robot” has a lot to say about parental responsibilities and how families can exist with beings who are not biologically related. The movie treats themes of co-dependence and independence in thoughtful and clever ways, as observations and commentaries on interpersonal relationships and authoritarian control. A robot villain character named Vontra (voiced by Stephanie Hsu) represents the dark side of authoritarianism.

It’s fitting that the main character getting the child raising in “The Wild Robot” is a bird because the movie has several moments when Roz has to grapple with the experience of being an “empty nester.” One of the more impactful lines of dialogue in the movie is when Roz says she thinks of kindness as a survival skill. People might get misty-eyed in some scenes that are clearly intended to be tearjerking moments about family and friendship.

“The Wild Robot” brims with dynamic energy, gorgeous visuals and memorable characters, even if the movie offers no surprises. The movie’s writing and directing (complemented by Kris Bowers’ adventurous musical score) do not pander mainly to kids under the age of 10 because there’s much that can be enjoyed by people of many different age groups. The ending of the film obviously hints at a sequel, which should please viewers who want to see this appealing story continue.

Universal Pictures will release “The Wild Robot” in U.S. cinemas on September 27, 2024. The movie will be released on digital and VOD on October 15, 2024. “The Wild Robot” will be releaed on 4K UHD and Blu-ray on December 3, 2024.

Review: ‘Ryan’s World the Movie: Titan Universe Adventure,’ starring Ryan Kaji, Emma Kaji, Kate Kaji, Evangeline Lomelino, Shion Kaji, Loann Kaji and Dan Rhodes

August 16, 2024

by Carla Hay

Ryan Kaji in “Ryan’s World the Movie: Titan Universe Adventure” (Photo courtesy of Falling Forward Films)

“Ryan’s World the Movie: Titan Universe Adventure”

Directed by Albie Hecht

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed U.S. city and in fantasy realm, the live-action/animated film “Ryan’s World the Movie: Titan Universe Adventure” (featuring the stars of the Ryan’s World channel on YouTube) features an Asian and white group of people representing the middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: YouTube star Ryan Kaji becomes an animated superhero named Red Titan when he goes into a fantasy realm to rescue his twin sisters from an evil villain.

Culture Audience: “Ryan’s World the Movie: Titan Universe Adventure” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of Ryan Kaji and his family and can tolerate children’s entertainment that is silly, boring, and reeks of “cash grab.”

Evangeline Lomelino, Ryan Kaji and Dan Rhodes in “Ryan’s World the Movie: Titan Universe Adventure” (Photo courtesy of Falling Forward Films)

“Ryan’s World the Movie: Titan Universe Adventure” is an endurance test for anyone looking for quality family entertainment. This cinematic junk is what happens when underage YouTube stars with no acting talent have parents who pay for the family to star in a vanity movie motivated by greed. It’s not the kids’ fault. This film flop looks like it happened because of stage parents who want to cash in by extending their kids’ YouTube child star fame that will inevitably expire when the kids grow up and can’t do cute toy videos anymore.

Directed by Albie Hecht and written by Rose Frankel, “Ryan’s World the Movie: Titan Universe Adventure” is based on Ryan’s World, a YouTube channel that is known for doing reviews of toys and showing the antics of a fame-hungry family. The stars of Ryan’s World are members of the Texas-based family who uses the stage surname Kaji. Channel namesake Ryan Kaji is the main star, but the YouTube channel also features Ryan’s father Shion Kaji, Ryan’s mother Loann Kaji, and Ryan’s twin sisters Emma Kaji and Kate Kaji. They all star in this movie as versions of themselves. Ryan Kaji and his family started doing YouTube videos in 2015. Shion Kaji, Loann Kaji and Hecht are the producers of this movie.

Since 2017, Forbes magazine has ranked Ryan Kaji in its Top 10 list of the world’s highest-paid YouTube stars. Ryan’s World (formerly known as Ryan ToysReview) has been at the center of legal and ethical controversy because of how it presents sponsor-paid product recommendations to pre-schoolers. In 2019, Truth in Advertising and the Federal Trade Commission filed a complaint, citing that Ryan’s World channel (then known as Ryan ToysReview) did not properly disclose which recommendations in the videos were sponsored.

The quality of “Ryan’s World the Movie: Titan Universe Adventure” (which is a hybrid of live action and animation) is on the level of amateurish YouTube videos made by millionaires who want to become movie stars without having to put in any real work to become good actors. In other words: Don’t be fooled into paying any money to see this glorified YouTube video. There’s better-quality family entertainment that people can see for free on YouTube.

“Ryan’s World the Movie: Titan Universe Adventure” is produced in part by PocketWatch, a children’s-oriented media company co-founded by Hecht, a former Nickelodeon president who worked closely with disgraced former Nickelodeon executive producer Dan Schneider for several years. Ryan Kaji’s parents signed a deal with PocketWatch in 2017, when it was a start-up company. Since then, the Kaji family’s brand (using Ryan’s name) has expanded to include merchandising, video games, TV series, and now this terrible movie that got a wide release in U.S. cinemas. Hecht cast himself in the movie in a cameo role, as an unnamed delivery guy.

In “Ryan’s World the Movie: Titan Universe Adventure,” the cast members in the live-action scenes struggle with saying their lines of dull dialogue with emotions that almost never look believable. Twin sisters Emma Kaji and Kate Kaji steal all of their scenes, but their acting skills are understandably limited, considering they weren’t past kindergarten age when they made this embarrassing film. Everyone else’s performances are pure cringe and the epitome of tackiness that isn’t fun to watch at all.

The movie begins by showing Ryan Kaji in what’s supposed to be his home backyard. He’s helping real-life YouTube teenage magician Dan Rhodes (playing a version of himself) participating in the old magic trick illusion of dissecting a human body by separating boxes. Rhodes has a brief, useless and pointless role in the movie that looks like it was done as a friend favor to give Rhodes some screen time, which is less than 10 minutes in the film.

The magic trick is being livestreamed, with Ryan’s tomboyish best friend Aiden (played by Evangeline Lomelino) operating the phone camera. Aiden is an annoying character who’s hyper and flaky but she’s the first to tell Ryan to calm down and be sensible. Lomelino does all the expected facial contortions and wide-eyed mugging where she tries to look like a comedic sidekick, but the acting performance is just too awkward and forced.

Ryan becomes angry with Emma and Kate because the twins have messed up his room and decorated his bike helmet with bedazzle-type beads and fake gems. Aiden and Ryan decide to go to Dabgib Comics, their favorite comic book store. A teenage store employee named Clark (played by Jack Reid) tells Ryan that Clark’s younger sister Mia is a superfan of Ryan.

Aiden and Ryan see a locked door in Dabgib Comics and are curious to know what’s behind the locked door. Clark tells them the room is off-limits except to store employees. Against Ryan’s objections, Aiden tells Clark that if he opens the door for them, Ryan will make a personal video for Mia. The enticement works. Clark gives Ryan and Aiden the code to unlock the door.

Inside this secretive room are pinball machines, comic books, games and some other entertainment. Ryan and Aiden find a “Red Titan” comic book. Ryan immediately notices that the story in this comic book is a ripoff of an idea that he already had. This movie is so sloppily written, it doesn’t explain where Ryan first presented this idea and how this idea could’ve been stolen.

As revenge, Ryan and Aiden steal the comic book and bring it back to Ryan’s house. As the two friends leave, Clark smirks and puts up a Closed sign on the store’s front window. The only way the movie could’ve made it more obvious that Clark will be a villain is if he was twirling a fake moustache.

Ryan and Aiden open the comic book, which has a magical portal. (All of this movie’s visual effects are tacky.) Somehow, Emma and Kate end up going in the portal and are being held captive in the lair of a villain named Dark Titan (voiced by Scott Whyte), so Ryan comes to his sisters’ rescue and turns into the superhero Red Titan. The “portal” scenes in the movie are animation. Meanwhile, Aiden stays behind in Ryan’s room during this adventure and isn’t seen for most of story, because let’s not forget that this is a crassly obvious nepotism movie.

The animated Emma and Kate are voiced by actress Brianna Jaynes, who is an adult in real life. Having an adult for these child voice roles is probably a way to avoid child labor laws and probably a way to reduce the overabundance of stiff acting from the Kaji family. The voice actors who are not part of the Kaji family are the cast members who fare the best in this movie because the animation has better acting than the abysmal acting performances from the live actors. Even so, the animated characters are a mishmash of generic and uninteresting, with dialogue that is bland and forgettable.

Inside the lair of Dark Titan are jail cells where his captives are held. Emma and Kate are in a jail cell next a talkative cat named Alpha Lexa (voiced by Julia Stockton) and a mischievous panda named Combo (voiced by Bradley Smith), which look like Pixar rejects. There’s also a bat-like creature that has a gold and circular body named Packrat (also voiced by Whyte), who flits around and has very little purpose but to fill up space. You already know how this movie is going to end.

Ryan’s parents Shion Kaji and Loann Kaji have perhaps the most cringeworthy appearances in this train-wreck movie. Luckily for anyone viewing this mess, these stage parents’ appearances are very short-lived—less than five minutes of screen time. For reasons that are never explained, the characters of Shion and Loann are in their house dressed as if they’re about to go to a kids’ Halloween party while everyone else in the house is dressed normally.

Shion is dressed as a pink bunny rabbit. At one point, he wiggles his rear end for the camera because it’s supposed to be hilarious to see a bunny tail on a man. Loann is dressed as a wizard, looking like someone who bought a cheap costume and thinking she’s going to win some sort of Harry Potter cosplay contest. Shion gets a little more screen time than Loann. Both of their acting performances are horrendous.

Who in their right mind thinks this type of self-absorbed nepotism project is funny and entertaining? Maybe people who are intoxicated or people who think anything they watch is good. It’s one thing to make lightweight videos on YouTube. It’s another thing to expect viewers (especially families with underage kids, who are the movie’s main target audience) to spend time and/or money to see bad acting and horrible filmmaking. With all the money that the Kaji family is making from YouTube fame, maybe they should invest some of that money in hiring competent filmmakers and taking acting lessons that produce results that movie audiences will pay to watch and not feel cheated.

Falling Forward Films released “Ryan’s World the Movie: Titan Universe Adventure” in U.S. cinemas on August 16, 2024.

Review: ‘Despicable Me 4,’ starring the voices of Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Will Ferrell, Miranda Cosgrove, Sofía Vergara, Steve Coogan, Joey King, Stephen Colbert and Pierre Coffin

June 26, 2024

by Carla Hay

Minions (voiced by Pierre Coffin), Silas (voiced by Steve Coogan), Edith (voiced by Dana Gaier), Agnes (voiced by Madison Polan), Margo (voiced by Miranda Cosgrove), Gru Jr., Lucy (voiced by Kristen Wiig) and Gru (voiced by Steve Carell) in “Despicable Me 4” (Image courtesy of Illumination and Universal Pictures)

“Despicable Me 4”

Directed by Chris Renaud; co-directed by Patrick Delage

Culture Representation: Taking place mostly in the fictional U.S. city of Mayflower, the animated film “Despicable Me 4” features a group of characters portraying a spy’s family that goes into hiding, their enemies and their neighbors.

Culture Clash: After a high school reunion turns sour, Gru (a former supervillain who now works as an agent for the Anti Villain League) and his family go into hiding in Mayflower when they find out that Gru’s enemy Maxime Le Mal wants to kidnap the family’s infant son.

Culture Audience: “Despicable Me 4” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, the “Despicable Me” franchise, and animated films that have short attenion spans with their plots.

Maxime Le Mal (voiced by Will Ferrell) and Valentina (voiced by Sofía Vergara) in “Despicable Me 4” (Image courtesy of Illumination and Universal Pictures)

“Despicable Me 4” falls into a sequel trap of trying to cram too many things in a story. The results are an unfocused and occasionally amusing animated film that has several subplots that go nowhere. Children under the age of 8 and die-hard fans of the “Despicable Me” franchise might enjoy this movie more than viewers who can’t overlook the movie’s obvious flaws.

Directed by Chris Renaud and co-directed by Patrick Delage, “Despicable Me 4” was written by Ken Daurio and Mike White. The central character in the “Despicable Me” movies is a former supervillain named Gru (voiced by Steve Carell), who now works as an agent for the Anti Villain League. The “Despicable Me” movie series began with the 2010 film “Despicable Me” and continued with 2013’s “Despicable Me 2” and 2017’s “Despicable Me 3.” Like many movie franchises, the first movie in the series is still the best. Gru works with miniature yellow creatures (who don’t speak but make noises) called Minions (voiced by Pierre Coffin), which are Gru’s assistants that have their own spinoff movie series.

In “Despicable Me 4,” there’s not one but two storylines about separate abductions. There’s a story about a family that goes into hiding by relocating to another city, but the family’s patriarch and matriarch try to “fit in” with snobs in their new neighborhood. There’s a storyline about former school rivals who’ve turned into bitter enemies. There’s a subplot about five of the Minions turning into superheroes called Mega Minions. It’s just all too much going on in this overly busy plot, and not much of it comes together in a cohesive way. The movie’s plot often looks like sketches strung together.

“Despicable Me” begins with Gru attending a Class of 1985 reunion at his alma mater high school Lycee Pas Bon, a learning institution for future villains. At the reunion, Gru is miffed that his former school rival Maxime Le Mal (voiced by Will Ferrell) has received the Golden Alumni award. It leads to Maxime and Gru reigniting their feud after Gru is responsible for getting Maxime arrested. Maxime and his sultry girlfriend Valentina (voiced by Sofía Vergara) then hatch a plot to kidnap Gru’s infant son Gru Jr.

Maxime (who is obsessed with cockroaches) sends a video threat to Gru while Maxime is in jail. The Anti Villain League’s efficient leader Silas Ramsbottom (voiced by Steve Coogan) arranges for Gru and Gru’s family to go into a “witness protection” type of relocation to the city of Mayflower, where they will pose as a typical middle-class family. Gru’s family consists of his cheerful wife Lucy (voiced by Kristen Wiig) and their daughters Edith (voiced by Dana Gaier), Agnes (voiced by Madison Polan) and Margo (voiced by Miranda Cosgrove), along with baby Gru Jr. The family also has a white goat named Lucky that they can’t take with them to their new home.

The family members are given new names and new identities. Gru’s new name/identity is Chet Carmichael, a solar panel salesman. Lucy’s new name/identity is Blanche Carmichael, a hair stylist at an upscale salon called Mane on Maine. Various antics ensue regarding Gru/Chet and Lucy/Blanche trying to become friends with the snooty family next door: Perry Prescott (voiced by Stephen Colbert), who owns Prescott Motors, the largest auto dealership in the state; his socialite wife Patsy Prescott (voiced by Chloe Fineman); and their stuck-up teenage daughter Poppy Prescott (voiced by Joey King), who later engages in blackmail about a secret that she discovers. The movie also has time-wasting scenes showing mishaps involving Gru’s daughters in a karate class, as well as an inexperienced Lucy having a hair disaster with an obnoxious customer named Melora (voiced by Laraine Newman) at Mane on Main.

The movie’s soundtrack music is steeped in 1970s and 1980s nostalgia. The Bee Gees’ “You Should Be Dancing,” Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama,” The Sylvers’ “Boogie Fever,” Barry Manilow’s “Copacabana (At the Copa),” “Guns N’Roses “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” Culture Club’s “Karma Chameleon” and Tears for Fears’ “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” are some of the songs that are prominently featured in the movie. Pharrell Williams’ “Double Life,” an original song written for the “Despicable Me 4” soundtrack, is obviously trying to repeat the Oscar nomination success of Williams’ “Happy” from the “Despicable Me 2” soundtrack. “Happy” is by far a better song, while the bland “Double Life” is unlikely to get an Oscar nomination or win any major awards.

“Despicable Me 4” has adequate-to-good performances from the voice cast, but what sinks the movie is the fact that the screenplay and direction have too many distractions. There’s a flurry of action scenes that seem more manic than well-conceived. The ending will get mixed results from viewers, since it just seems like a lazy way to conclude the story. Part of the fun of the “Despicable Me” franchise is in how Gru and his allies handle the villains that are pitted against them. The ending of “Despicable Me 4” is a mushy conclusion that further muddles and diminishes the anti-hero personality of Gru.

Universal Pictures will release “Despicable Me 4” in U.S. cinemas on July 3, 2024.

Review: ‘Inside Out 2,’ starring the voices of Amy Poehler, Maya Hawke, Kensington Tallman, Tony Hale, Lewis Black, Phyllis Smith, Ayo Edebiri and Paul Walter Hauser

June 14, 2024

by Carla Hay

Sadness (voiced by Phyllis Smith), Joy (voiced by Amy Poehler), Disgust (voiced by Liza Lapira), Fear (voiced by Tony Hale) and Anger (voice of Lewis Black) in “Inside Out 2” (Image courtesy of Disney/Pixar)

“Inside Out 2”

Directed by Kelsey Mann

Culture Representation: Taking place in the San Francisco Bay Area, the animated film “Inside Out 2” (a sequel to 2015’s “Inside Out” features a group of characters portraying emotions (inside a specific girl) and human beings.

Culture Clash: New emotions arrive inside a 13-year-old girl, and they clash with her previously existing emotions.

Culture Audience: “Inside Out” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, the first “Inside Out” movie, and animated films about adolescence.

Embarrassment (voiced by Paul Walter Hauser), Anxiety (voiced by Maya Hawke), Envy (voiced by Ayo Edebiri) and Ennui (voiced by Adèle Exarchopoulos) in “Inside Out 2” (Image courtesy of Disney/Pixar)

Continuing the story that began in the 2015 Oscar-winning animated film “Inside Out” (about emotions that are characters inside a specific girl,) “Inside Out 2” is a worthy sequel in its amusing and touching story of emotions that often conflict with each other inside a 13-year-old girl. The voice cast performances and visuals are stellar, even if the overall plot has no real surprises. People of many generations can enjoy the film, but many of the jokes are best appreciated by people who know or who have experienced how puberty hormones and adolescence can change people’s moods.

Directed by Kelsey Mann and written by Meg LeFauve and Dave Holstein, “Inside Out 2” is a combination of a familiar movie story of a teenage girl who is insecure about accepted by her peers and a race-against-time depiction of the girl’s inner emotions that are battling against each other. “Inside Out” was directed by Pete Docter, who co-wrote the “Inside Out” screenplay with Josh Cooley and LeFauve. The human protagonist in both movies is Riley Andersen. In “Inside Out,” Riley (voiced by Kaitlyn Dias) is 11 years old. In “Inside Out 2,” Riley (voiced by Kensington Tallman) is 13 years old.

In the world of “Inside Out,” the Emotions are characters inside of Riley. The Emotions work inside the core of her being, which they call Headquarters, and they use a console board to control Riley’s feelings. In the first “Inside Out” movie, Riley’s emotions were in turmoil because Riley (who is an only child) and her unnamed parents (voiced by Diane Lane and Kyle MacLachlan, who both return for “Inside Out 2”) have moved from Minnesota to San Francisco, and Riley has problems adjusting to her new environment.

The Emotions in “Inside Out 2” are Joy (voiced by Amy Poehler), Sadness (voiced by Phyllis Smith), Disgust (voiced by Liza Lapira), Fear (voiced by Tony Hale, replacing Bill Hader, who had the role in “Inside Out”) and Anger (voice of Lewis Black). Joy is the unofficial leader of the group and the voiceover narrator for “Inside Out 2.” The main conflict in the story happens when new Emotions arrive and take over Headquarters, while the original Emotions strive to take back the control they originally had. The new Emotions are Anxiety (voiced by Maya Hawke), Embarrassment (voiced by Paul Walter Hauser), Envy (voiced by Ayo Edebiri) and Ennui (voiced by Adèle Exarchopoulos). Anxiety is the unofficial leader of these new emotions

In the beginning of “Inside Out 2” (which takes place in the San Francisco Bay Area), Riley is described as being a well-adjusted and happy teenager who is “still exceptional,” says Joy. Riley is intelligent, friendly, and obedient. She excels in academics and in her favorite sport: hockey. The opening scene shows Riley playing in a hockey game, where she is considered to be a star player. Soon afterward, Riley meets two other students who will become her best friends and hockey teammates: Grace (voiced by Grace Lu) and Bree (voiced by Sumayyah Nuriddin-Green), who have fairly generic personalities.

Riley, Grace and Bree are all looking forward to spending their summer vacation attending a hockey camp hosted by Bay Area High School, where the three girls plan to attend. Grace and Bree tell Riley some upsetting news before they go to the camp. Grace and Bree are transferring to another school in the fall. However, Grace and Bree are still enrolled in the hockey camp for the summer.

Riley is desperate to stand out and impress the camp’s no-nonsense and strict leader—Coach Roberts (voiced by Yvette Nicole Brown)—as well as the experienced hockey players at the camp. The varsity captain is Valentina “Val” Ortiz (voiced by Lilimar), an outgoing person who treats everyone with respect. Riley greatly admires Valentina and aspires to achieve the rare accomplishment that Valentina did: make the varsity team as a freshman classmate.

“Inside Out 2” has the expected scenarios that would churn up a teenager’s emotions under these circumstances. The movie depicts Riley being under pressure to win games, dealing with catty gossipers, and trying to fit in with the “cool kids.” Meanwhile, Joy deviates a little from her perpetually perky persona by having a little bit of a meltdown in a memorable scene.

“Inside Out 2” avoids a lot of pitfalls that many sequels make when several new characters are introduced. Because the Emotions characters have the same names as whatever feelings they represent, it’s very easy to not gets these characters confused. Hawke and Poehler are the standouts in the voice cast.

There’s an amusing cameo from an Emotion called Nostalgia (voiced by June Squibb), who is told that she needs to come back when Riley is older. Another new character is Deep Dark Secret (voiced Steve Purcell), who reveals his secret during the movie’s end credits. “Inside Out 2” goes exactly where you think it will go in the battle of the Emotions. It’s still a entertaining ride that has a lot of meaningful things to say (both serious and comedic) about humanity.

Walt Disney Pictures released “Inside Out 2” in U.S. cinemas on June 14, 2024.

Review: ‘The Garfield Movie,’ starring the voices of Chris Pratt and Samuel L. Jackson

May 19, 2024

by Carla Hay

Garfield (voiced by by Chris Pratt) in “The Garfield Movie” (Image courtesy of DNEG Animation/Columbia Pictures)

“The Garfield Movie”

Directed by Mark Dindal

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed U.S. city, the animated film “The Garfield Movie” (based on the “Garfield” comic strip) features a cast of talking animals and some humans.

Culture Clash: Mischievous cat Garfield and his dog sidekick Odie team up with Garfield’s long-lost father Vic for to steal a large quantity of milk from a tourist farm. 

Culture Audience: “The Garfield Movie” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the “Garfield” franchise, fairly entertaining animated films where the main characters are talking animals.

Vic (voiced by Samuel L. Jackson), Garfield (voiced by by Chris Pratt), Odie and Otto (voiced by Ving Rhames) in “The Garfield Movie” (Image courtesy of DNEG Animation/Columbia Pictures)

“The Garfield Movie” isn’t outstanding, but it’s amusing enough for viewers who want a lightweight film about mischievous talking animals in an uncomplicated adventure story. The movie avoids being overstuffed and has some endearing sentimentality. Some viewers might be disappointed that the movie doesn’t have more interactions between humans and animals, but in the context of this particular plot for this animals, it’s better that most of the animal interactions don’t involve human interference.

Directed by Mark Dindal, “The Garfield Movie” was written by Paul A. Kaplan, Mark Torgove and David Reynolds. The “Garfield” franchise is based on the “Garfield” comic strip created by Jim Davis and launched in 1978. Garfield is a fun-loving and talkative orange tabby cat who can be mischievous. In this movie, he finds he reluctantly goes on a heist to help his long-lost father and finds out certain things that affect his life in a profound way. People do not need to be familiar with anything in the “Garfield” franchise before seeing this movie.

“The Garfield Movie” (which takes place in an unnamed U.S. city) begins by showing Garfield (voiced by Chris Pratt) at home and using a phone app to ordering food for delivery (including pizza and lasagna) from Mama Leoni’s, his favorite Italian restaurant. Garfield’s best friend/sidekick is a goofy beagle named Odie (voiced by Harvey Guillén), who does not talk but makes various noises. Garfield and Odie live with their human owner Jon Arbuckle (voiced by Nicholas Hoult), an amiable bachelor who adopted Garfield when Garfield was a kitten.

Garfield explains his backstory that is shown in a flashback. When Garfield was a kitten, his single father Vic (voiced by Samuel L. Jackson) took care of Garfield. Garfield’s mother is not seen or mentioned in the movie. One rainy night, Vic told Garfield to wait for him in an alley, where Garfield was put in an open wooden enclosure to shield him from the rainy weather.

Vic promised that he would come back, but Garfield waited for an unnamed period of time, and didn’t see Vic come back. Feeling lost and hungry, Garfield wandered over to Mama Leoni’s, where he looked through a window and saw Jon at a table by himself. The next thing Jon knew, he saw a cute and hungry kitten at his table, with the kitten wanting to eat the pizza that Jon had ordered. Jon hid the kitten at the table and eventually smuggled the kitten outside.

At first, Jon wasn’t going to take Garfield home because, at the time, Jon lived in an apartment that didn’t allow pets. But he was so charmed by Garfield, he took Garfield with him. Garfield says in a voiceover that he was the one who convinced Jon to move from the apartment to the house where they currently live. Eventually, Odie became part of the family.

In the present day, Garfield and Odie get kidnapped and find out that their captor is a fluffy white cat named Jinx (voiced by Hannah Waddingham), a diva-like feline who has two dogs as her main cronies: a Whippet named Nolan (voiced by Bowen Yang) and a Shar-Pei named Roland (voiced by Brett Goldstein), who do whatever Jinx tells them to do.

Jinx tells her story to Garfield and Odie about why she kidnapped them. Several years ago, Jinx immigrated from “a small town outside of London” to America to become a famous entertainer. She failed in that dream. A brief flashback shows that she bombed as a tuba player in a contest called Amerca’s Top Feline.

Feeling discouraged, Jinx befriended a bunch of other outcast and misfit cats, including Vic. One day, Jinx got trapped by animal control officers and spent four years, two months and seven days at an animal shelter, which she calls a “prison.” Jinx is bitter that her other stray cat friends, including Vic, were not captured and didn’t help her when she was captured and sent to the shelter.

For revenge, Jinx kidnapped Garfield and Odie, knowing that Vic would track them down. (It’s explained later in the movie how Vic would know where Garfield is.) When Vic comes to the rescue, Jinx tells them that something terrible will happen unless Vic can steal quart of milk from a place called Lactose Farms, for every day that she was in “prison.” She gives a deadline of 72 hours to commit this heist.

Vic convinces a reluctant Garfield to help him with this heist. Odie is along for the ride too. When they get to Lactose Farms, it isn’t the small “mom and pop” business that Vic remembers. It’s now a corporate-owned popular tourist attraction with a petting zoo and a complex layout to get to the milk supply.

While at Lactose Farms, these three would-be thieves meet a bull named Otto (voiced by Ving Rhames), who was put out to pasture when Lactose Farms was sold to the corporation. This new ownership also resulted in Otto being separated from his longtime love: a cow named Edith (voiced by Alicia Grace Turrell), who is currently part of the petting zoo. Otto agrees to help Vic, Garfield and Odie with this heist (since he’s very knowledgeable of the layout of Lactose Farms) on the condition that they free Edith so that Otto can run away with her.

Otto leads much of the planning for this heist, which will be an undercover operation. He gives code names for the three would-be thieves. Vic is Majestic Bullfrog. Odie is Clever and Curious Chipmunk. Garfield is Roadkill. Naturally, Garfield dislikes his code name.

There’s more to the movie’s story that just the hijinks that ensue for this heist. Garfield has a lot of complicated emotions about the sudden appearance of his absent father Vic. It leads to parts of the movie that cover topics such as childhood trauma over abandonment in a mostly sensitive and touching way.

Meanwhile, Jon frantically searches for Garfield and Odie in amusing segments that poke fun at how call centers frequently put people on hold and give impersonal service that isn’t helpful. A few supporting characters have slightly amusing roles, such as Lactose Farms security chief Marge Malone (voiced by Cecily Strong), who is shrill and aggressive. Making cameo appearances are two stray cats named Maurice (voiced by Snoop Dogg) and Olivia (voiced by Janelle James), who encounter Garfield and Odie.

“The Garfield Movie” has some moments where the pacing drags, but the film mostly has a brisk pace and competently engaging animation. The charismatic voice cast performances go a long way in maintaining viewer interest, since the personalities of the main characters are the driving force of this simple story. This is a very male-centric movie, where the female characters with the most screen time are either antagonists (Jinx and Marge) or need to be rescued (Edith).

The movie’s end credits have social media clips of cat videos, which are cute but look out-of-place in this animated film, even though there’s a running gag that Garfield likes to watch cat videos on the fictional streaming service Catflix. “The Garfield Movie” is not the type of movie that people should expect to win any major awards, but it’s not a complete waste of time either. It’s a middle-of-the-road film that will get mixed reactions but should satisfy viewers who aren’t expecting a masterpiece or a terrible movie.

Columbia Pictures will release “The Garfield Movie” in U.S. cinemas on May 24, 2024. A sneak preview of the movie was shown in U.S. cinemas on May 19, 2024.

Review: ‘IF’ (2024), starring Cailey Fleming, Ryan Reynolds, John Krasinski and the voices of Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Louis Gossett Jr. and Steve Carell

May 15, 2024

by Carla Hay

Cailey Fleming and Blue (voiced by Steve Carell) in “IF” (Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures)

“IF” (2024)

Directed by John Krasinski

Culture Representation: Taking place in New York City, the live-action/animated film “IF” features a cast of characters that are humans and imaginary creatures.

Culture Clash: A lonely 12-year-old girl interacts with imaginary beings and agrees to help them find matches with the right people who need imaginary friends. 

Culture Audience: “IF” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and filmmaker John Krasinski, but this poorly paced and unfocused movie might bore many of the people in the intended audience.

Ryan Reynolds and Cailey Fleming in “IF” (Photo by Jonny Cournoyer/Paramount Pictures)

Although it’s sweet-natured and trying to have the same impact as the “Toy Story” movies, the live-action/animated film “IF” has an unfocused and messy plot about childhood nostalgia, with underdeveloped characters. This uneven mushfest takes too long to get to the story’s purpose. And the last 30 minutes of “IF” are nothing but blatant emotional manipulation intended to make viewers cry in a way that doesn’t feel earned, considering the shallow depictions of most of the movie’s characters.

Written and directed by John Krasinski (who is also one of the movie’s producers), “IF” begins with voiceover narration from a 12-year-old girl named Bea (played by Cailey Fleming), who says, “I remember my mom always wanted to tell me a story. It wasn’t until much later, I realized the stories she wanted me to tell had nothing to do with me at all … The most important stories are the ones we tell ourselves.” (It’s mentioned later in the movie that Bea’s real name is Elizabeth, and her mother gave her the nickname Bea.)

Throughout the movie, several flashbacks are shown as clips from videos of happier times in Bea’s family. Her father has kept many of these videos on an old video camera that Bea finds in a closet at her paternal grandmother’s home. Bea is the only child of an unnamed father (played by Krasinski) and unnamed mother (played by Catherine Daddario), who both have unnamed health issues. The video flashbacks show Bea at ages 3 and 5 (played by Audrey Hoffman) and her parents having a close and loving relationship. Videos of a family trip to New York City’s Coney Island are significant to the story.

In the beginning of the movie, Bea has arrived with some of her luggage at the New York City home of her unnamed British grandmother (played by Fiona Shaw), who is the mother of Bea’s father. Bea’s mother died of an unnamed illness, presumably cancer, because the flashbacks hint that Bea’s mother lost her hair in chemotherapy. The movie never says when Bea’s mother died, but it seems like it was about seven years ago, because Bea is 5 years old or younger in all the family photos and videos with Bea’s mother.

Bea will be staying with her grandmother because Bea’s father has to check into a nearby hospital to have surgery for an unnamed reason. When Bea arrives, the grandmother mentions that she hasn’t seen Bea in years, when Bea was a lot younger and smaller. The grandmother is very surprised to see how much Bea has grown. Bea also looks uncomfortable when she arrives, as if she’s staying in a stranger’s home. In this day and age when family members can easily share photos and videos, the movie gives no explanation for why Bea’s grandmother has gone years without seeing what Bea currently looks like until Bea shows up at the grandmother’s home.

Bea’s father tries to assure Bea that the reason for his surgery is not for a terminal illness. Bea inexplicably doesn’t ask for details on why her father needs this surgery. Viewers can assume it’s because Bea is afraid to know what her father’s medical issues are because of how her mother died. Those are details that the movie refuses to address because “IF” wants to focus on having a slew of animated characters that can be turned into toys and other merchandise to sell in the real world.

Bea spends a lot of time by herself or without adult supervision. There’s no mention of her being in school, so viewers will have to assume she’s on a break from school when this story takes place. Bea is friendly, talkative and intelligent, but she has no friends, for reasons that are never explained in the movie. The adults in her life seem too self-absorbed to care that Bea doesn’t have a social life.

“IF” shows that when Bea was younger, she used to draw an unnamed imaginary character with a big smiley face. Bea’s father tries to recreate that character by putting some craft designs on an IV drip irrigation tower in his hospital room. Bea tells her father that she’s outgrown this imaginary character by saying, “Dad, you really don’t have to do this.” He says, “What?” She replies, “Treat me like a kid.” (Someone needs to tell Bea that she really is still a kid.)

The imaginary characters in Bea’s world don’t appear to her right away. Glimpses of them are shown as they furtively seem to be watching her in the background and then quickly run away if they think she will see them. It’s stalking, but the movie wants people to think this stalking is adorable. It’s not. It’s just an example of how the movie drags out how long it takes for Bea to finally talk to these characters for the first time.

One of the first places that the imaginary characters are seen stalking Bea is at the hospital where Bea’s father is staying. One day, Bea is walking in a hospital hallway with a bouquet of flowers that she’s bringing to her father. A boy named Benjamin (played by Alan Kim), who’s about 8 or 9 years old, is bedridden (with a cast on his right leg) in a nearby room and calls out to Bea to ask her if the flowers are for him.

Benjamin is joking, of course, and he introduces himself to Bea, who tells him the flowers are for her father. Bea and Benjamin have a short conversation. There are a few more scenes in the movie that repeat this scenario. Bea and Benjamin develop a casual acquaintance, not a real friendship. Bea having a real and meaningful friendship with another human being is something that the movie could have explored but does not. Instead, “IF” has an irresponsible message that Bea is better off interacting with imaginary characters.

Each imaginary character in the movie is an imaginary friend (IF) of a human, but an IF can get discarded when a human does not need the IF anymore. In the movie, no longer needing an IF is portrayed as a human reaching emotional maturity but losing a sense of childlike imagination and hope. Many IFs are wandering around in search of another human who will take them as an imaginary friend.

The three main IFs in the movie are these such wandering IFs in search of human companionship and want to match IFs with human children. They are a wisecracking man named Calvin, nicknamed Cal (played by Ryan Reynolds); a giant purple furry creature named Blue (voiced by Steve Carell), who is goofy, clumsy and amiable; and a walking bee named Blossom (voiced by Phoebe Waller-Bridge), who wears a ballerina tutu and has the voice and personality of a polite British nanny. Blue got his name because he was created by a color-blind human boy.

Cal is the leader, while Blue and Blossom are his sidekicks. Cal, Blue and Blossom are first seen trying to do a “friendship match” with an unnamed, sleeping 7-year-old girl (played by Sa’Raya Paris Johnson) in her bedroom. Needless to say, this endeavor is a disaster and leaves the girl’s room in a terrible mess, with the girl frightened and confused about what just happened. Don’t expect to learn anything about this girl. She’s never seen again in the movie.

At separate times, Bea meets Cal, Blue and Blossom, who all live in an abandoned apartment that’s being used as someone’s storage room. Bea faints from fear the first time that Bea sees Blossom. Eventually, Cal explains to Bea that Cal, Blue and Blossom are abandoned IFs who are on a mission to be matchmakers for kids who need imaginary friends. Cal asks Bea to help them with this mission about 45 minutes into this 104-minute movie. That part of the plot should’ve happened a lot sooner and would’ve helped this frequently sluggish movie pick up its pace.

Cal, Blue and Blossom have a close friend named Lewis (voiced by Louis Gossett Jr.), a teddy bear who looks very cuddly but has a personality that is very bland. (During the movie’s end credits, there’s a brief “in memory” tribute to Gossett, who died on March 29, 2024.) Ask anyone who’s seen “IF” if Lewis was a necessary character, and most people will say, “No.”

As for the human characters, “IF” has a very questionable and outdated racial depiction of New York City. In real life, the 2020 U.S. Census reports that in New York City, white people are the minority (31%), and people of color are the majority (69%). The few human adults of color in the movie are characters with small, subservient roles. Two examples are Liza Colón-Zayas (who plays a hospital nurse named Janet) and LaQuet Sharnell Pringle, who has the role of an unnamed receptionist.

“IF” introduces numerous other imaginary friend characters voiced by an all-star cast, but most of these animated characters have cameo roles and are not essential parts of the main story. It just seems like the “IF” filmmakers’ way of showing that they could get several big celebrity names in these cameo roles. In other words, it’s all shallow stunt casting. It’s like “IF” is trying to be like a “Toy Story” movie, but without the memorable characters.

These fleeting characters are Unicorn (voiced by Emily Blunt); Bubble (voiced by Awkwafina); Ice (voiced by Bradley Cooper); Guardian Dog (voiced by Sam Rockwell); Flower (voiced by Matt Damon); Banana (voiced by Bill Hader); Robot (voiced by Jon Stewart); Alligator voiced by Maya Rudolph); Magician Mouse (voiced by Sebastian Maniscalco); Cosmo (voiced by Christopher Meloni); Slime (voiced by Keegan-Michael Key); Ghost (voiced by Matthew Rhys); and Gummy Bear (voiced by Amy Schumer). Brad Pitt has a voice role as a character named Keith. All of these characters are gimmicky and are just there to crack a few jokes instead of making meaningful contributions to the story.

“IF” has a flashback of Bea as a younger child doing karaoke and dressed as a mid-1980s Tina Turner while singing Turner’s hit “Better Be Good to Me.” This leads to an awkward sequence where 12-year-old Bea, Cal (in a 1980s mullet and leather jacket) and various characters imagine themselves on stage with Turner while Turner performs the song. Through visual effects, parts of the real “Better Be Good to Me” music video are used in this sequence, with Cal filling in for Cy Curnin (lead singer of The Fixx), who appears in the real music video for “Better Be Good to Me.”

It leads to a question that many “IF” viewers will ask themselves: What kind of audience does “IF” really want? On the surface, it seems like a movie aimed at kids under the age of 13, but as the movie goes on, it becomes obvious that it’s really for people who are old enough to know that “Better Be Good to Me” was a hit video on MTV, back in the days when MTV played a lot of music videos. Why else would this misguided film turn into such a sappy mess about adults reminiscing about their childhood imaginary friends?

“IF” really loses its way when the mission of matchmaking IFs with new kids gets sidelined, and the movie becomes about people being reunited with the IFs they thought they outgrew. There’s a nervous businessman named Jeremy (played by Bobby Moniyahan), who suddenly shows up in the movie with absolutely no backstory or purpose, except to provide a contrived cornball moment that involves Bea following him to a corporate office where Jeremy is about to give an important presentation.

As the character of Bea, Fleming does an admirable job of conveying several emotions. It’s too bad that Bea and the rest of the characters in the film aren’t very interesting. Reynolds is just doing the same type of character he does in most of his movies: sarcastic and jaded, but capable of being a nice guy under certain circumstances. Shaw has a few moments to shine, but her grandmother character is just too absent and too vague to be taken seriously as someone who could have a positive impact on Bea’s life. All of the other performances in “IF” are serviceable and quite generic.

One of the most noticeable problems with “IF” is that it sends a dubious message that it’s okay for people to spend more time with imaginary friends than real friends. Death and medical issues are presented as the main reasons for Bea’s family problems and her sad loneliness. But “IF” refuses to realistically address those problems. Instead, the movie seems more concerned about showing a parade of cute and quirky imaginary characters that can distract Bea from those problems. It’s a very unhealthy way of coping with grief.

The adults in Bea’s life ultimately fail Bea by never talking to Bea about her grief and obvious loneliness. Her grandmother rarely interacts with Bea and only seems to show a personality when the grandmother reminisces about being a child ballet dancer and bemoans that people don’t want to see old women dance. It leads to a very corny scene where the grandmother hears a song from her ballet dancer days, and the grandmother doesn’t really dance, but she just waves her arms like she’s in a nostalgia trance.

“IF” revolves around the flimsy and immature concept that having an imaginary, wisecracking friend should be the gateway to healing over the loss of a loved one. “IF” did not have to be an emotionally heavy drama in order to address issues of human suffering, but one of the movie’s biggest flaws is the movie’s refusal to properly address a child’s grief. “IF” is a family-oriented movie, but the sentimental themes in this film seem geared more to adults who want to reminisce about their childhoods, rather than being geared to kids who want to see a magical movie about imaginary friends. “IF” just has too many unanswered questions about Bea and her family, who should be the emotional center of the story, but instead are just emotionally stunted due to a very flawed screenplay and mishandled direction.

Paramount Pictures will release “IF” in U.S. cinemas on May 17, 2024. The movie will be released on digital and VOD June 18, 2024. “IF” will be released on Blu-ray, DVD and 4K Ultra HD on August 13, 2024.

Review: ‘Dragonkeeper’ (2024), starring the voices of Bill Nighy, Mayalinee Griffiths, Anthony Howell, Bill Bailey, Andrew Leung, Tony Jayawadena and Sarah Lam

May 11, 2024

by Carla Hay

Ping (voiced by Mayalinee Griffiths) and Long Danzi (voiced by Bill Nighy) in “Dragonkeeper” (Image courtesy of Viva Pictures)

“Dragonkeeper” (2024)

Directed by Li Jianping and Salvador Simó

Culture Representation: Taking place during the Han Empire in ancient China, the animated film “Dragonkeeper” (based on Carole Wilkinson’s fantasy novel of the same name) features a cast of characters that are humans and dragons.

Culture Clash: An orphaned girl goes on a journey to save rare dragons from being killed into extinction. 

Culture Audience: “Dragonkeeper” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the novel or don’t mind watching a substandard animated film with mostly terrible voice performances that sound almost robotic.

Ping (voiced by Mayalinee Griffiths) in “Dragonkeeper” (Image courtesy of Viva Pictures)

“Dragonkeeper” is a shoddy adaptation of Carole Wilkinson’s 2003 fantasy novel of the same name. This animated film makes the story unfocused and bland. Most of the voice cast performances are stiff, with no real personality. They’re just reading their lines.

Directed by Directed by Li Jianping and Salvador Simó, “Dragonkeeper” seems to suffer from the effects of “too many cooks in the kitchen” for its watered-down and sloppily constructed screenplay. Wilkinson co-wrote the screenplay with Pablo I. Castrillo, Ignacio Ferreras, Rosanna Cecchini and Wang Xianping. When there are five or more credited writers for a movie screenplay, the movie is usually terrible.

“Dragonkeeper” takes place during the Han Empire in ancient China, but you wouldn’t know it because the English-language version of this movie makes no attempt to give the characters Chinese accents. All of the voice actors in the film have British accents. “Dragonkeeper” also do much to show Chinese culture, except for a sequence where a dragon teaches a girl what qi, also known as ch’i (psychic energy), is all about and how to use it.

The movie begins by showing two people whose lives will collide in a “good versus evil” battle years later. The story’s heroine is Ping, who is shown being taken as an orphaned baby by a cruel land owner named Master Lan (voiced by Tony Jayawadena) to become an enslaved servant. The story’s chief villain is Diao (voiced by Anthony Howell), a dragon hunter who is determined to kill every last dragon on Earth, or at least every dragon he can find in China.

Master Lan and his entourage are traveling home with baby Ping, but the infant’s loud crying annoys him. The baby is also of no use to Master Lan until the child is old enough to work for him. When Master Lan arrives in his village, an elderly woman named Lao Ma (voiced by Sarah Lam), who lives alone, immediately takes an interest in Ping and decides to raise her as if Ping were her own child.

Meanwhile, Diao has an ailing mother, (voiced by Jaqueline Chan) who is on her deathbed. Diao had been frantically trying to find a cure for his mother’s terminal illness. He believe it’s possible that dragons could hold the secret to healthy immortality. Although Diao is a dragon hunter, he also wants to use and exploit dragons if they can actually have some way to make humans immortal. Diao’s mother dies before Diao can find this miracle cure to death and diseases.

The movie then fast-forwards to when Ping (voiced by Mayalinee Griffiths) is about 9 or 10 years old. Master Lan goes to the home where Lao Ma and Ping live and forces Ping to go with him as his enslaved servant. During her miserable time working for Master Lan, Ping discovers that Master Lan has two adult dragons imprisoned in a secret dungeon.

The two dragons are Long Danzi (voiced by Bill Nighy) and Lu Yu (voiced by Beth Chalmers), who are among the last remaining dragons of their kind. Ping secretly befriends Long Danzi and Lu Yu. Ping also has a companion rat named Hua, who does not speak in the movie.

Something happens to Lu Yu, and Long Danzi is soon supposed to be sold to the emperor (voiced by Paul McEwan), who wants to keep the dragon as a pet for his spoiled prince son (voiced by Felix Rosen). Before Long Danzi is taken to the emperor, the dragon shows Ping an egg made of pearl and says an unborn baby dragon named Kai is in the egg. Long Danzi asks Ping to take care of Kai and keep this unborn dragon safe until Kai can be born.

There’s a certain body of water that is the only place that can dissolve the egg. Guess where Ping’s intended destination will be when she goes on an inevitable journey? Long Danzi notices certain signs that Ping might be part of a lineage of special Dragon Keepers, so Long Danz breathes a laser-like beam onto her chest.

“Dragonkeeper” then zig zags in a jumbled way through the rest of the movie, which has action scenes that often look like cheap-looking and unfinished animation. Except for Nighy (who gives a serviceable but unremarkable performance), all of the voice actors have little to no charisma for their characters. The emotions that are supposed to express in certain scenes are very flat, while the dialogue is very forgettable and trite.

“Dragonkeeper” also has themes and scenes that might be too intense or scary for children under the age of 7. Does any kid that young really want to see a movie about child enslavement? The last scene of “Dragonkeeper” ends like an underwhelming thud, with no real closure about a certain main character in the story. If people want to see an entertaining animated movie about young girl who befriends and rescued an endangered dragon, skip “Dragonkeeper” and watch Disney’s Oscar-nominated “Raya and the Last Dragon” instead.

Viva Pictures released “Dragonkeeper” in select U.S. cinemas on May 3, 2024.

Review: ‘Spy x Family Code: White,’ an anime adventure movie about missing microfilm and just desserts

April 16, 2024

by Carla Hay

Anya, Bond and Yor in “Spy x Family Code: White” (Image by Tatsuya Endo/Shueisha/Crunchyroll)

“Spy x Family Code: White”

Directed by Takashi Katagiri

Available in the original Japanese version (with English subtitles) or in a dubbed English-language version.

Culture Representation: Taking place in the fictional countries of Westalis and Ostania, the animated film “Spy x Family Code: White” (based on the “Spy x Family” manga and anime series) features a cast of Japanese characters representing the working-class, middle-class and criminal underground.

Culture Clash: A male spy and a female assassin, who have an arranged marriage as part of their undercover identities, take their adopted daughter on a school trip, where she is targeted by villains who think the daughter has some valuable microfilm. 

Culture Audience: “Spy x Family Code: White” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the manga and anime series on which the film is based and will appeal to people who like family adventure animation with a simple but entertaining story.

Snidel in “Spy x Family Code: White” (Image by Tatsuya Endo/Shueisha/Crunchyroll)

Neither awful nor spectacular, “Spy x Family Code: White” is has enough unique whimsy to not be completely maudlin. Fans of the manga and anime series should enjoy this spinoff film, which has a predictable but entertaining story. The erratic comedy in “Spy x Family Code: White” will be received better by some viewers compared to others. The movie is a spinoff of the “Spy x Family” anime series (which began in 2022), which is based on the “Spy x Family” manga series.

Directed by Takashi Katagiri and written by Ichiro Ohkouchi, “Spy x Family Code: White” has a story that doesn’t require viewers to know anything about the characters before seeing the movie. The main characters and their relationship to each other are described fairly early on in the story. Most of the action is quite formulaic, but the characters’ snappy dialogue can be amusing and can hold most viewers’ interest. “Spy x Family Code: White” also has some eye-catching and stunning animation that unfortunately is not consistent throughout the movie.

In the “Spy x Family” series (which takes place in the fictional rival countries of Westalis and Ostania) a young male spy named Loid from Westalis has gone undercover in Ostania, to spy on Donovan Desmond, leader of the National Unity Party. Loid is an arranged marriage with a young female assassin named Yor. Loid, who is master of disguises, uses the alias/nickname Twilight. Yor, who has extraordinary combat abilities, uses the alias/nickname Thorn Princess. Loid is intelligent and thoughtful. Yor is impulsive and more likely to act on her emotions.

Loid and Yor (who have the last name Forger in their fake marriage) are posing as spouses as their undercover identities. Yor and Loid keep secrets from each other, including their real identities. As part of his phony identity, Loid is a psychiatrist at Berlint General Hospital. Loid and Yor have an adopted orphan daughter named Anya, who is about 4 or 5 years old (but is pretending to be 6 years old), has psychic abilities, and is an energetic child. The male family dog Bond (who is a Pyrenean Mountain Dog) has precognitive abilities.

Loid is part of a mission called Operation Strix, where he has enrolled Anya in Eden Academy same school where the children of Donovan Desmond are also students. The intention for Anya’s enrollment is for it to be a way for Loid to have some connection or gain access to Desmond through these children. Eden Academy has medals called Stella medals that are given to students for various achievements.

In the beginning of “Spy x Family Code: White,” Loid gets bad news from Sylvia Sherwood, also the Handler, who is his supervisor: Someone else is going to replace Loid in Operation Strix. Loid thinks this would-be replacement is too cautious and incompetent. In order to prove his worth, Loid decides that he can infiltrate a Stella medal ceremony, which an Eden Academy ceremony that Desmond is expected to attend.

One of the ways that Anya hopes to get a Stella is by winning a dessert-making contest. Anya finds out that Eden Academy principal (who is also the head judge of the contest) loves meremere, which is a merengue-styled cake. Anya tells Loid and Yor about this contest. The best place to get the ingredients for meremere is a place called Frigis.

And so, the Forger family (with Bond along for the ride) travels by ship to Frigis. While on the ship, Anya finds a storage room, where she opens a stranger’s trunk and sees a ball of chocolate that’s about the size of a golf ball. Anya eats the chocolate, but she will soon find out that valuable microfilm was hidden in that chocolate. Two armed henchmen of a villain named Snidel find out that Anya has eaten this chocolate.

Anya escapes from these military thugs but the hunt is on to find her. Snidel is a military colonel who is a typical scheming and sinister antagonist. The contents of this microfilm could possibly start a major war. The usual “we have the save the world” platitudes ensue.

Meanwhile, Yor is secretly in love with Loid and wishes that they had a real romantic relationship. Before the trip to Frigis, a friend told Yor that there are three big clues that a cheating partner is having an infidelity affair: The cheater (1) wants to take trips away from the betrayed partner; (2) changes style of dressing; and (3) gives gifts to the betrayed partner out of guilt. The most frivolous part of the movie is Yor fretting over whether or not Loid could be dating someone without her knowledge. All of these scenes of Yor worrying and whining about Loid make Yor look immature and ditsy, especially since Loid invited her on this trip. Therefore, the first “infidelity clue” never applied in this situation.

The voices of “Spy x Family Code: White” characters are portrayed by different cast members, depending on the version of the movie. The original Japanese version (with English subtitles) has Takuya Eguchi as Loid, Saori Hayami as Yor, Atsumi Tanezaki as Anya, Banjō Ginga as Snidel, Kenichirō Matsuda as Bond and as the movie’s narrator. There’s also a U.S. version, with the dialogue dubbed in English, that has Alex Organ as Loid, Natalie Van Sistine as Yor, Megan Shipman as Anya, John Swasey as Snidel and Tyler Walker as Bond.

“Spy x Family Code: White” has some comedy involving bodily functions that people will either tolerate or dislike. The movie has a very simple “good versus evil” plot that gets occasionally messy and jumbled, with the expected scenes of chases and fights. The voice performances are competent.

There’s a lurching and manic quality to how many of the scenes go from one scene to the next. “Spy x Family Code: White” is not an incoherent film, but it zips around from scenario to scenario so quickly, people who are unfamiliar with these characters might lose interest. The “Spy x Family” series is probably a better format than this movie to get to know these characters. However, “Spy x Family Code: White” can be considered a fairly good sample of this engaging franchise.

Crunchyroll will release “Spy x Family Code: White” in U.S. cinemas on April 19, 2024. The movie was released in Japan on December 22, 2023.

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