Reviews

Even the great Pixar seems to be underwhelming audiences after Cars 2 Brave and Monsters University failed to please. (Though I like 2/3 of those okay) This is were "Inside Out" comes in. This is an idea that has been done before,so the concept of people inside a body controlling things we don't even think about isn't new at all. However,director Pete Doctor (Up, Monsters Inc) has taken this idea and added a fun, new brilliant creative spin on it that is just too wonderful for words.

Inside a baby's head, we see a glowing figure emerge, yellow dress and blue hair. bundle of Joy. The person presses a button to which the baby smiles,thus creating her first emotion Joy.Years later, we see Riley Anderson growing up and doing what most girls do, play, laugh, hang out with friends, have some family time and Joy (voiced by Amy Poehler,)watches it all and loves it. There have also been more emotions that joined "headquarters" in that time, a timid blue girl in a turtleneck named Sadness (Phyllis Smith, The Office who deals with Riley's problems the easy way, a red brick man named Anger (Lewis Black,) who helps her to achieve things even if it be through forced, Disgust,(Mindy Kaling,)a cute girl clad in green who helps Riley to refuse foods such as broccoli or picking the wrong outfit for school and a thin purple man with large worried eyes named Fear (Bill Hader) who stops Riley from hurting herself or getting into danger. Together the emotions work together, even if they don't all get along to keep their girl happy and healthy. Until of course she reaches eleven and the trouble starts after the family move from Minnesota to San Francisco,and new problems arise.

The film's animation is just-Spectacular. There's really nothing else to call it. They show memories in the form of multi coloured orbs each a colour for a different emotion, e.g. Joy yellow, Anger red. There is a scene in which Joy and Sadness wander through Long Term Memory which is just an endless twisting row of shelves full of different coloured memories. Someone got to animate that, draw, paint and render every single frame.

The characters are all brilliant, colourful and memorable. Maybe not Toy Story memorable, but people would still recognize them. Joy is well...joyful. Amy Poehler as Kaling puts it "is light incarnate" and she's right! She adds such a warmth and upbeatness to the character while not ending up being annoying. Phyllis Smith as Sadness is one of the best casting choices I have seen in a long time. She is morbidly funny, she is adorable, cuddlesome and very smart, (she was the only one who bothered to read the manuals) Lewis Black as Anger. Spot On! You could feel the energy in his voice, yet you still loved this gruff,grumpy character who could still be funny in his own way. Mindy Kaling as Disgust was great to! Very sarcastic and shallow but not in a mean way, almost in a "It's my job, deal with it," kind of way. Bill Hader as Fear was golden! His nervous voice fit so perfectly with his character's comical movements and delivery that you just felt so sorry for him while laughing as he screamed.

Bing Bong, a half cat, elephant, cotton candy, dolphin, candy crying hybrid who was Riley's friendly and loving imaginary friend when she was little. Although she doesn't have use for him now that's she's eleven, he still stays in her Imaginationland. When we first see him he is stealing memories and appears to be far more cute and willing to help than anyone else. At first glance, you would go "Oh, well much like Lotso, King Candy and Hans he's a villain because of his deceiving appearance." You would be very wrong. Bing Bong wants to help Joy and Sadness back to headquarters so they can help Riley as her islands of personality start to collapse. He is a pure, Winnie the Pooh meets John Candy type of hug-gable, funny character voiced by the amazing and warm. Richard Kind. Richard Kind certainly is a very kind man in interviews and even more so as Bing Bong.

The most powerful scene in the movie is in Memory Dump. Joy and Bing Bong have fallen in. Joy sits in a pile of fading stones, picks up the memories she can still see and begins to weep. "Do you remember when she used to stick her tongue out when she was coloring? I could listen to her stories all day." She realized what it is like to be sad and breaks down from the years of her being patronizing to Sadness who she sees no use for. Joy remembers Bing Bong's rocket was thrown into the dump and they use it to escape. Unfortunately, Bing Bong is fading. Joy is an emotion- she cannot be forgotten. He however fades away after jumping off the rocket. "Take her to the moon for me...okay?" I was sobbing in my seat. Pixar I thought Dory's Monologue was sad and the beginning of Up and Jessie's abandonment but you made me cry over an elephant cat hybrid who's imaginary!

I'm shocked by the user reviews on here with such negativity like it was too sad or too dark or little kids couldn't understand it. Well,it's not for little kids, it's aimed at older children, perhaps even those around Riley's age in the film. It's far too complex for a three year old. An eight year old would probably be able to understand it, but I would put this film at a 10+ to be honest. It's just so smart. I enjoyed this, and let me just say, your own emotions will be running around headquarters going haywire after watching it. Welcome back Pixar, we've missed you!

It is no secret we are in a new Disney revival era, just as we were in the middle of the Disney Renaissance in the 1990s. The release of The Princess and the Frog seemed to see to that, almost acting as the Little Mermaid 20 years later. Then along came Tangled with it's memorable songs, lovely animation, strong female lead and darker plot(characters being stabbed, hung etc) paralleling Beauty and the Beast. Which was followed by Wreck it Ralph, the film everyone was excited to see just as they were Aladdin, (many video game characters in one place/Robin Williams as the Genie-RIP) And then Frozen came along and everything exploded! Love, constant singing of the songs, quoting, cosplay, fan tributes, merchandise, as well as many similar plot points- is definitely the Lion King of the 21st Century. As most of those who grew up in 1995 will be aware that after the highest grossing 2D Animated film of all time was released, Disney decided to do something new. They released their ambitious project of Pocahontas, the first historical Disney film, telling of the Native American princess and her life as well as her meeting with John Smith. It received mild reviews from critics and even less complimentary reviews from the general public who said it wasn't as interesting as The Lion King and messed with history. Big Hero 6 is the Pocahontas of this decade. As Frozen was such a huge hit, skyrocketing it's way to highest grossing animated film of all time, it only makes sense that it would be hard to top that.

Big Hero 6 is based on a Marvel comic of the same name. It takes place in the fictional city of San Fransokyo, in an alternate universe where America helped Japan to rebuild after the earthquake in the 1920s, supposedly changing history so that the Second World War never happened. The city is new and modern and filled with burgeoning inventors creating robots to benefit mankind. One of these is a 14-year-old tech prodigy named Hiro Hamada, who attempts to get into a special "nerd school," however after the death of his older brother Tadashi, Hiro's plans are cut short. He eventually finds comfort in a nurse bot Tadashi made for him named Baymax who has little emotion but is programmed to love and care. When Hiro discovers a masked villain has stolen his microbot inventions, he teams up with his friends from the tech college to create a superhero task force to hunt him down. The good things about this film are VERY GOOD. The animation is lovely and the city is a unique style of both the US and Japan, for example my favourite piece of architecture was the golden gate bridge redesigned to look like a scarlet Shinto temple-how cool is that?! Second the characters all seem very genuine. Hiro is a real 14 year old boy who is smarter than most his age and who becomes very passionate and nerdy when he talks about what he loves. Tadashi is a kind and caring older brother, but he still teases Hiro and occasionally gets caught with him by the police after an illegal robot fight. The Aunt who takes care of The story is nice and surprisingly mature, especially since it deals a lot with death and loss. Tadashi's death is one of this saddest deaths I've seen in a Disney movie in a while. There is a fire in the tech college and Tadashi runs in to save one of the professors and in turn loses his life after a fiery explosion. The aftermath is heart wrenching-pictures and flowers being laid on the steps of the building, everyone in black, dressed up for a funeral for Tadashi in a rice paddy graveyard. The wake at the house. After that it does go back into cutesy again but still doesn't shy away from the harshness of sudden death and the impact it has on families. Once Hiro discovers the professor Tadashi tried to save is alive as masquerading as the Kabooki mask villain, his anger takes over causing him to change Baymax settings to killer mode and nearly dooming everyone. The bad things are actually quite minor. As an adaptation it does need changes. Some are small, like Wasabi being African American instead of Japanese however I do like the students who later team up with Hiro and they don't get enough screen time! II like Gogo Tamago and her rebellious streak, I like Honey Lemon and her chemistry obsession. Much like the Incredibles I wish there was more focus on the other team members instead of just two. The only thing that bugs me about this movie-I mean REALLY bugs me-is actually the fact that Baymax lives. I know that sounds horrible, but Hiro had already learned that death could happen to anyone so first of all Baymax being dead for months before being reanimated was really unnecessary. If anyone needed to learn about death it should have been Baymax himself, robots do learn even if they don't show emotion. I think it's the same as Frankenweenie, I wasn't pleased they reanimated Sparky because Victor didn't learn his lesson that bringing dead things back to life was wrong-and the townspeople of New Holland encouraged it! So is it a bad film, or a really terrible one? Of course not. It's a fantastic film. It's very very sweet, sad funny and there's a lot of Disney care put into it. I don't think it deserves such a bad rep from reviewers on here. This film is perfect for 6 and up. I say the best way to watch it is with your family and kids in your living room.

If you are familiar with the REAL account of the Enfield haunting, you would have heard stories of a divorce which tore a family apart, sending a mother and her two adolescent girls to a council flat in Enfield London. In 1977 Poltergeist activity began in the flat mostly in the Girl's bedroom, and in the walls. There were sounds of knocking, a scratching fireplace and objects levitating as well as the girls themselves being lifted out of bed by an unknown force. Morris Gross a paranormal investigator, decided to look into the case by paying them a visit. Janet, the young girl spoke in an old man's voice and Margaret, the older child explained the hauntings, and the youngest son had been thrown out of bed, a few times.

HOWEVER-That is NOT what this Drama portrays.

I wasn't even sure I was watching the same story. Everything was blown far out of proportion! The events in the first two episodes were accurate, such as Timothy Spall ( who is always gold for me) and the child actress playing Janet was brilliant but they did not match the truth. The third and fourth episodes were highly disappointing.For one, I don't remember a glowing ball of light follow Janet around burning her (the line "like Tinker Bell!" was just cringe-worthy.) -nor do I recall her as saying she saw visions of people in the bathroom mirror. In the real account, I don't remember reading about Janet's hospital visit where she tipped over her bed to try and escape the ball of light. I certainly don't remember the part of Janet's story where she is locked out of her house and then sees herself sitting with her sister and grandmother! Who the hell wrote that?!

The ants were very stupid too, there were no violent attacks on the girls to the point where they had bruises. We don't even know if half of what they said happened was true. They have said things that seem to give away their positions of lies. In an interview one even tried to silence the other if she said anything about it being a hoax.

The real Morris Grosse came out about this saying it was "Television Drama tripe." He said they were going to stick to the real story but they just butchered it. They tried to do what The Conjuring did, I felt like I was watching a sequel to that (ironically the upcoming sequel is all about the Enfield Haunting,) I love all these actors I really do, but their talent was wasted here.

Love the Actors and Actresses-they did a terrific job. Just not a big fan of the overly dramatized accounts. This was very poor.

I loved this film from beginning to end! I haven't seen such a fantastic comedy film that's been done in documentary style since Surfs Up!

We follow the lives of four Romanian vampires, Viago, Vladislav, Deacon and Petyr sharing a flat together in the Te Amo suburb of Wellington, New Zealand. They take great joy in showing us around their flat, revealing how they became vampires and occasionally sharing their arguments with their flatmates in front of the camera crew about who's turn it is to do the dishes. The three who can function much like humans, (Petyr is more of a monster of the night) go out every night to nightclubs and parties usually bringing home victims to feast upon. We see that there are more than a few pockets of vampires living within the community, such as two young girls who look 10 and 12 but are really over 100, who come out every evening to "prey on perverts," by luring them to their doom. Nick an 18 year old is amongst those chosen to become the trio's victims one night, however just as he figures out what's going on, he tries to escape and ends up being bitten by Petyr, making him a vampire who then follows Viago, Vladislav and Deacon on their nightly activities. Nick finds being a vampire far TOO comfortable, going off flying, or partying or levitating or changing into a bat. The other three soon take interest in his human friend, Stu holding back their desire to bite him.

The film plays out exactly like a vlog or documentary but it's FAR from the cheesiness of the found footage genre. There are Interviews, back stories, unexpected events, little cards saying 2 months later as "filming had to be postponed after Nick was bitten." There is also a sense of realism, if there were vampires out there they make it as real or convincing as possible.There is another community full of werewolves who are all geeky, clean, polite and travel in a pack, that usually get into gang fights with the vampires who cat cal' them-"Why don't you go home and lick your balls!" To which the werewolves respond, pointing at the full moon, "Not tonight please, do you know what time it is?!" The special effects are ASTOUNDING. They are not too over budget or under budget, and most of the time the scene they are required in is hidden by darkness. The blood looks as real as it should, but it's funny-gory not horror gory. The greatest were one of the vampires turning into a bat and the transformation of the werewolves from men to beasts. Speaking of Beasts, it is hilarious for such a brooding, dark gentleman like Vladislav who constantly lies in his bed in a state of fear and loathing, talking about a creature he has encountered in his after life, "I have seen the Beast," who later is revealed to be his ex-girlfriend Pauline. There is also some humour between Deacon and his servant, a human named Jackie who is in charge of bringing in new victims because it could reward her with immortality. Deacon constantly promises that he will bite her, but she is still left a human cleaning blood off the floor. This is a film that shows the true nature of vampires (keeping in mind in this Universe they are real) NOT the sparkling idiots of Twilight. These vampires seem like the old counts. Genuinely dark and badass. I loved this film and it's characters and i swear you will laugh so hard your fangs will fall out!

As you may have known, I enjoyed The Secret of Kells very much but Tom Moore's follow up film is just AMAZING. I just sat after watching it, moved to tears by the music, emotion, style and art work of it all. Ben, an 11 year old boy discovers that his 6 year old sister is actually a Selkie (seal woman), just like his mother Bronach who told him stories of selkies and their responsibility to sing in order to free the faeries across the sea. It is implied however in the opening that Bronach died or ran away after giving birth to his sister who Ben grows up resenting because of it, frequently bullying her or saying mean things. Saoirse the little girl is mysteriously drawn to the ocean and the seals are drawn to her. She finds her selkie skin which was hidden by their father Connor, in fear he would lose his daughter to the sea as well. She enters the ocean where we see her transform into a white seal pup and play. However, Ben and Saoirse's Granny is convinced that living on an island away from the rest of the mainland is unhealthy for them and so decides to bring them to the city to stay with her, but Saoirse's will to return to the island grows stronger as she plays her mother's song on an ancient seashell. Before long, Ben is swept up in a journey with Saoirse involving faeries, an owl witch, spirits and selkie magic.

Wow. Words cannot even describe how beautiful this movie is. Every moment hit all the right emotional parts, making the characters seem real and genuine. We feel what they feel and the simplicity of the style and design allow for perfect facial expressions. The strange and mysterious lights that lead Saoirse to the water are reminiscent of the Willo the Wisps in Pixar's Brave, the myth of Selkies IS Celtic, (Irish and Scottish.) I am Scottish so this film really hit home for me. The spirituality in this film is subtle yet it stands out, if that makes sense. There are symbols of Catholicism such as the Virgin Mary, however this is unsurprising as it is one of Ireland's main religions. Then there are the Denashee, the faeries who wish to be free and enter the other realm by Saoirse and her selkie song. The story is very original. I don't really think we've seen many animated movies depicting the myth of the selkie, instead of traditional mermaids and sirens. The way it constantly takes these twists and turns of danger and of joy has you on the edge of your seat.

The characters are also wonderful. Tom Moore writes child characters exceptionally well. Ben is a young boy who is imaginative, likes drawing, and playing with Cú his sheepdog, however he is far from a goody-two shoes. He can be mean, bossy, temperamental and likes to tease his younger sister.However he does realize his mistakes after a vision shows him the truth about his mother and realizes he hasn't fulfilled his promise to her of being "the best big brother in the world." Saoirse is small, and very cute. She doesn't say a word until the end as it is established she has been undergoing speech therapy and this makes the selkie background even more of worth because she can't even talk, let alone sing. All of her thoughts are told to us through her expressions. The Granny character is very good too. Unlike in Kells, there is no real villain. She is just doing what she thinks is best for her grandchildren. Connor her son, goes to the pub on the mainland every October 30th on Saoirse's birthday to drown his sorrows. Brendan Gleeson again reprises a role in one of Moore's films as well as Lisa Hannigan singing the theme song Amhran na Farraige. Hannigan's voice is soothing and melodic, in Gaelic and English; the Gaelic one is my favourite version!

The whole film is full of beautiful images and heavy emotional themes,such as the importance of family love and even the theme of moving on from loss of a loved one. Macha who is built up to be the bad one, but she's just trying yo help by bottling up the feelings of people, literally. Just like Macha turned her son Mac Lir to stone, Granny has metaphorically turned Connor to stone. The film's climax is the most prettiest and elegant animation;from the golden lights resembling the aurora Borealis to the spirits of the liberated faeries! Lucy O'Connell's singing is lovely! All the voice actors do an outstanding job of conveying the emotions of the scenes across. Ben's voice actor is brilliant so funny!"Jesus Mary and Joseph!" "Oh that's good. Let's follow the magical lights. That's much safer than being on a BUS!" Brendan Gleeson brings a caring yet weary voice to the father and the scene where he yells at his son as he tries to buckle him into Granny's car is heart-wrenching.

The scene where Bronach and Connor kiss isn't at all a typical romantic one. It is one of true love, and a caring bittersweet notion that says, "although we will never see each other again, I love you." I would rate this a PG and recommend it to anyone from 7 to 89 years old, but if you are sensitive when it comes to emotional scenes that can tear you apart as easily as Toy Story 3, or Finding Nemo,did you may want to be warned on quite a few scenes. I myself laughed, cried and just smiled. It's another one of Moore's films that really does get it's inspiration from Hayao Miyazaki's works of Studio Ghibli such as Spirited Away,and Princess Mononoke.

I loved this film. Go and experience it for yourself.