Still from the animated movie 9. When 9 first comes to life, he finds himself in a post-apocalyptic world where all humans are gone, and it is only by chance that he discovers a small community of others like him taking refuge from fearsome machines that roam the earth intent on their extinction. Despite being the neophyte of the group, 9 convinces the others that hiding will do them no good. They must take the offensive if they are to survive, and they must discover why the machines want to destroy them in the first place. As they’ll soon come to learn, the very future of civilization may depend on them.

When a meteorite from outer space hits a young California girl named Susan Murphy and turns her into a giant monster, she is taken to a secret government compound where she meets a ragtag group of monsters also rounded up over the years. As a last resort, under the guidance of General W.R. Monger, on a desperate order from The President, the motley crew of Monsters is called into action to combat the aliens and save the world from imminent destruction! The star voice in the movie are Seth Rogen, Hugh Laurie, Rainn Wilson, Paul Rudd, Reese Witherspoon, Kiefer Sutherland, Will Arnett, Jimmy Kimmel.

A young girl (Fanning) walks through a secret door in her new home and discovers an alternate version of her life. On the surface, this parallel reality is eerily similar to her real life – only much better. But when her adventure turns dangerous, and her counterfeit parents (including Other Mother [Hatcher]) try to keep her forever, Coraline must count on her resourcefulness, determination, and bravery to get back home – and save her family. The Voice of the characters in the movie are Keith David, Dakota Fanning, Dawn French, Teri Hatcher, John Hodgman, Ian McShane, Jennifer Saunders.

Just when you thought that Madagascar was a roller coaster ride with Alex (the lion) and his bunch of friends entertaining everyone by dancing and doing a rock n roll, DreamWorks got you Madagascar 2- Escape to Africa. We give a brief idea for people who (unfortunately) haven’t seen Madagascar

1. The movie saw these four animals (lion, giraffe, hippo and a zebra) spoiled by their upbringing with no idea what real life looks like. The four of them escape from Central Zoo, New York, smartly assisted by four absconding penguins, and find themselves in Madagascar among a bunch of merry lemurs which leaves the story in Madagascar itself paving its way for Madagascar 2- Escape to Africa.

Director: Eric Darnell, Tom Mc Grath
Cast: Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schuwimmer, Jade Smith playing the voice of lion, zebra, giraffe, hippo
Rating: 4/5

The movie kick starts with Alex and his friends taken for a ride on the plane by (again the absconding penguins) and end up crash landing in the continent of Africa. Africa, the den of the wild where Alex and his friends actually discover what life is beyond the Central Park Zoo, New York.

Coincidently, Alex meets his parents in Africa and becomes popular as the ‘The King of New York’ there. Unfortunately, Alex’s increasing popularity and fame is not well digested by a fellow lion (Makunga), who has his eyes on capturing the alpha throne. He outsmarts Alex and henceforth becomes the new king of the jungle.

Everything then goes gala-gala where Alex and his troop have a ball of time. Everyone has his share of peace and fun; Melmen enjoying his new job as a doctor, Gloria getting all possible attention from the male hippos, Marty with all his fellow zebras racing away here and there and Alex getting all the pampering he required from his parents.

The penguins too aren’t left much behind. They manage too fool (again, what’s new) few people who came to enjoy the wild nature. The penguin with the help of monkey try to fix in their plane so that they could go home.

The movie then takes a turn and a series of events and mishaps happens like Alex being banished after being fooled by Makunga, Melman (giraffe) left heart broken by Gloria (hippo) who fell for Moto Moto (a big size male hippo), who boasts about his name (Moto Moto) saying, “the name is so nice, that you feel like saying it twice”. Next in turn is Marty (zebra) who feels that Alex and his friendship are fading away, because Alex never gives Marty a chance to say about his side of problems.

Now comes a situation where Alex could prove himself. The jungle has started drying up, the animals are almost on the verge of dying and at that moment they remember their kind former king, Zuba (Alex’s father). When Alex comes to know about the drought he decides to go off the reserve in search of water, which was the only way to prove himself. The lemur (King Julien XIII) as he is called (with a strange ascent) suggests that a sacrifice should be made for the Gods in the volcano, so that they will be happy and bestow water for everyone.

Alex, later joined by his father find them selves trapped amidst few people, lead by an old (but strong) lady who felt like having a lion for supper. Alex then delivers a mind blowing dance performance, shaking his booty, saying that this is the only thing he is good in. The father and son manage to woo their audience and ultimately succeed in escaping as well as bringing water from there for their jungle and henceforth Alex once again proclaims his title as ‘The King of New York’.

The movie ends in a ‘happy ending’ way, with Marty and Alex becoming best buddies again, while this time (for a change), Gloria realizes her love for Melmen and also saves him from becoming a sacrifice to the Gods in volcano. Zuba once again is proclaimed the pride’s alpha lion throne. The Adelie penguin finally gets married to his doll (irritating) and leaves Africa, in a half constructed plane.

The movie is picturized in a very beautiful way showing the wild side of Africa. All the characters, needless to say where mind blowing. The penguins got a better role this time (their leader is worth watching). The lemur or in a better way, King Julien X III was someone whom you will feel like watching a thousand time (do note his ascent).

Director Eric Darnell and Tom Mc Grath have done a terrific job. The voice lenders, Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schuwimmer, Jade Smith and others have simply been outstanding.

The movie is better than the original as the fun mania has been doubled this time. So enjoy this amazing stuff delivered by Alex and his team who have entertained us right from the Central Park, to Madagascar, to Africa. A must, must watch.

-Pratik Maheshwari

The tale of three unlikely heroes – a misfit mouse who prefers reading books to eating them, an unhappy rat who schemes to leave the darkness of the dungeon, and a bumbling servant girl with cauliflower ears – whose fates are intertwined with that of the castle’s princess. The Voices behind the animated characters are Emma Watson, Dustin Hoffman, William H. Macy

WALL-E is one of the best animated movies to be released in a very long time. At times it manages to be almost poetic and lyrically beautiful in its exploration of the all too familiar subject of love. As expected from Pixar Animation Studios, the movie is dazzlingly beautiful in its animation, but it’s also sublimely anchored in the central love story. The emotional arc of the story unfolds as gently as flower petals.

Film: WALL-E
Director: Andrew Stanton
Voices: Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin, Fred Willard, MacInTalk, John Ratzenberger, Kathy Najimy and Sigourney Weaver
Rating: 4/5

Despite being a children’s film, it has the audacity to have virtually no dialogue at all for almost the first third of the movie. The robot Wall-E and his cockroach friend communicate through sounds and tics that are not quite words.

Wall-E is a robot left behind by humans to clean up earth in the far future where there is no life at all. Wall-E goes about the task of meticulously arranging the heaps of scraps in the shape of skyscrapers. He also collects remnants of the life lived by humans and tries to make some emotional connection with all that has been long lost. But his life changes entirely when a sleek, more advanced female robot named Eve is assigned to search for life on earth.

Pixar manages to dazzle with some cutting edge graphics and at times gets carried away. The plot doesn’t necessarily require loud chases but seem to be thrown in there to amuse the kids. The movie seems to be afraid to be too adult.

The first half of the movie is audacious in its melancholy. The genius of the movie is its emotional core. It manages to make a connection with the youngest of children to the eldest of adults. The love has a soft glow that warms even in the midst of cold metal and high-tech wizardry.

Director Andrew Stanton, who also worked on “Finding Nemo”, and his team succeed because they understand the importance of putting the story and emotions ahead of computer gimmickry. The movie also makes some poignant comments on humanity in general. Humans and their dependence on technology is mocked. The power of love to transcend even the limitations of humanity is respected.

Pixar racks up another achievement and their repertoire is one of the most impressive in movie history. “Wall-E” fits majestically in that canon. Children are going to be attuned and adults are going to see deeper themes explored. The eyes and the heart of all are satiated.

The only flaw of the movie is the way it swerves awkwardly into a neat, fuzzy idea of a happy ending. It started off bravely with its slightly cynical view of humanity. For half the movie it looked like it would push towards an unsettling end. But the film makers strive to please audiences and not disturb too much.

All age groups will find something to like in “Wall-E.”

Rating: 2.5/5

The twist in the tale shows Princess Giselle emerging out of a manhole in a New York street. Here Patrick Dempsey makes an appearance as Robert Philip a single father and lawyer, about to propose to his long time girlfriend, Nancy played by Idina Menzel. He takes in Giselle upon the pleadings of his daughter who is quite taken in by the Princess and her charms. As she spends more time with Robert, Giselle starts wondering about her feelings for Prince Edward.

Amy Adams in Enchanted

The film is quite sweet and has beautiful songs, befitting a musical sung by the actors themselves. Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz are the musical talents behind the film and do full justice to its musical score. The How Do I know? song picturised in Central Park is nice and quite spectacular. We also see Princess Giselle communicating with animals through her songs in the first half of the movie. But it’s funny when pigeons and rats respond to her song in New York city as she sets about cleaning Robert’s apartment, in the second half. Another highlight of the film is the animated chipmunk who follows Giselle from her past in to the present day.

Susan Sarandon in Enchanted

There are some glaring omissions in the film and it has a predictable ending expected of fairy tales. It is touching to see the Princess awaken to the cruel reality of the world, as she tries to judge everything through eyes of innocence. But you can ignore them and sit back and enjoy the film with your kids. Amy Adams plays the beautiful princess with a sweet voice perfectly while James Marsden is funny as Prince Edward. Susan Sarandon as Queen Narissa is mean and wicked but has a limited role.

Patrick Dempsey and James Marsden in Enchanted

The film uses animation to blend with live characters and this generates a fantasy effect in the film pretty well. So we have characters passing from the distinct animated world to the real world and back in clear distinctions between the two worlds. The idea is not novel but is well picturised and the movie retains your interest throughout. All character names are a tribute to former actors who portrayed them earlier.

The beauty of Enchanted lies in its simple plot and makes it worth a watch for kids as well as adults.

Rating: 2.5/5

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