Well, this is a throwback. I remember seeing this as a teenager and thinking it was pretty fun. When the character of Robin Hood crossed my mind again, I thought I'd take the time to give this one another go, and I have to say, not only were there some things I had forgotten, it has not aged well!
First of all, I remembered that Robin Hood has a Muslim friend that he brings with him from the crusades, but I forgot he was played by Morgan Freeman! And then Brian Blessed and the cameo from Sean Connery, as well, to say nothing of the whole business with the witch and the battle with the Celts, it nearly felt like I hadn't seen it all before.
However, it is also very campy, and Alan Rickman plays his Sheriff of Nottingham with intense cheese, chewing the scenery with gusto. The rest of the acting is all over the place as well (though Morgan Freeman is fine). Costner is a decent Robin Hood (despite not sounding British at all!), but I could see why people weren't happy with him.
Most of all, it's very 90s, with contemporary dialogue, an explosive third act, and pacing that doesn't quite hold together (though that may have been because I watched the Extended Cut). Still, it's a pretty fun, if quirky, retelling of the classic tales. It's just a shame that we haven't had a decent film for them since 1991, as the Ridley Scoot/Russell Crowe film tried too hard to be Gladiator 2, and while I didn't see the one with Taron Egerton, I understand it was a preachy mess that was somehow worse. Well, I suppose there's always Errol Flynn.
Yup, I watched it. And it was painful. Very painful.
The thing is, it does a lot of things right. The casting is pretty good (though Artemis is kinda stiff), the special effects are fairly solid, and the soundtrack is decent, with neat little Irish touches. They have the costuming and set design down pretty well.
The main problem is that the script is atrocious! The plot is hap-hazard, the dialogue is either filled with cliches or bad exposition, and the pacing is clunky and rough. So many informed skills and stakes, enough to make a TV Tropes page cry! It's like they completely forgot the rule "Show, don't tell," and just explain the story to the audience. As such, none of the fun world is explored, characters are stiff and don't have any natural arcs, as many of their decisions exist to serve the plot, and powers and references are named, but never explained. And then to just have the ending be a handful of deus ex machinas really drains any sense of drama towards the end.
Though perhaps, that's just the whining of a booksnob. For those not interested in such things, you'll like find that it's middling kids' entertainment, featuring some decent performances from the character the movie has decided you should care about. Colin Farrell is okay as Mysterious Irish Dad, Josh Gad is a pretty decent Mulch Diggums, and while I had my reservations about changing Commander Root from male to female, Judi Dench does a decent job as a hoarse, non-nonsense commander. The jokes will be pretty hit-and-miss, the action is chaotic but not awful, and it all looks pretty good. The main reason I didn't was to see just how much got lost in the adaptation, and it looks like its quite a bit. If you're a fan of the books, just pass on this.
Can you believe that this movie is 20 years old now? I remember this movie being the big new shiny animated feature with all the commercials on television, and always was something of a nostalgic favorite for me. When I discovered it had hit it's 20th anniversary, I had to watch it again, and to be honest, it's still pretty fun, despite its flaws.
The trick is that the movie kind of knows what its strengths are, which is a fast-paced, pulp sci-fi adventure. You get to watch the main characters go to all kinds of varied planets and settings to make the most of the animated medium. The hydrogen tree planet, the space colonies, the ice rings, it really is a movie full of wondrous images and thrilling action scenes. Along with Don Bluth's unique animation style, it's a relic of an older time when you could just tell a fun story without worrying about merchandizing it to death or having it be a part of some bigger toy campaign. It also helps by having a pretty solid voice cast, featuring Matt Damon, Drew Barrymore, Bill Pullman, Nathan Lane, and Ron Pearlman.
Of course, with something like this, the story remains pretty thin, full of one-dimensional characters and twists and betrayals playing out like falling dominoes. Some of the animation gets a bit rough, mostly where the CG backgrounds and spaceships meet the 2D characters. The continuity also has some hiccups where a character's location or status doesn't stay consistent sometimes. The soundtrack is also an eclectic mix, shifting from symphonic scores to ambient synths to alternative rock without any kind of flow or logic (though I admit I quite like a few of the songs). Perhaps many of these flaws can be found in Fox shutting down their animation studios mid-production, resulting in a lot of outsourcing.
Still, I think the movie gets by on its momentum and visual world-building. While being very much a product of its time, what with the hybrid animation and MTV-savvy soundtrack, I think it still holds up as a great adventure film, where the stakes are clear, the bad guys are menacing (if somewhat bland and lifeless), and the good guys are full of snarky lines.
This one has been on my watch list ever since I heard it was coming out. I've always enjoyed Kenneth Branaugh as a director (though Artemis Fowl wasn't exactly a great showing for him), and the cast looked amazing! So when I finally sat down to watch this one, it was with a lot of excited anticipation.
Just to be clear, I have never read the book, and this was my first time seeing a version of this story, so going in blind was quite fun! As the coincidences and evidences started to stack-up, it was quite the ride to figure out what was going on, and I was left pretty clueless until the end, which was very fascinating.
The movie isn't quite perfect. Some of the performances are a bit stiff as it seemed like some of the book's dialogue was awkwardly shoehorned in, but once the game was afoot, everyone played their roles fairly well. Some of cinematography was also a little odd, often using shots below or above the actors in ways that were somewhat unsettling, and the pace did have some awkward stops and starts. However, it's hard to say if these were intentional or not. When you have a derailed train sitting in the middle of everything, I'm sure it's hard to feel comfortable.
Still, this is a well-told story, especially once the pieces fit together, and it has a nice, classic feel to it, making the film almost feel like a period piece itself. Highly recommended for anyone who hasn't seen this tale before, like I hadn't.
While I've been fairly regular with these articles, my July is looking to be pretty busy, so I don't know if I'll have another one of these for next month or not. Then again, it's not like I don't have a considerable amount of material to draw from! (So many movies, so little time!)
In the meantime, I hope everyone is doing well, and staying safe!
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