Disney’s latest Blu-Ray offering is something that feels classically Disney, yet has the awareness and modernity of something like the studio’s frigid Princess pic. Zootopia trades ballgowns and musical numbers for a sweet-natured but surprisingly adult story. Sure it gets a candy coating, thanks to the conceit of a civilized mammalian populus, but while not intended as a straight-up comedy, this cuddly whodunnit is an all-out laugh fest. We loved it in the theaters, and this is just a blast at home; now we can go frame by frame to take in all the grandeur of the flora and fauna directors Byron Howard, Rich Moore, Jared Bush, and their team crafted. It’s a delicious…
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Off the Shelf…’Star Wars: The Force Awakens’
J.J. Abrams, after years in TV, proved his mettle revitalizing the Star Trek franchise on the big screen. He later left the galaxy where people boldly go, and ventured into another – this one far, far away. The first non-Lucas involved Star Wars episodic story expands on everything which came before. However, Episode VII, smartly, does not rely on nostalgia. The Bad Robot team knows this universe well, and they pick up on the previous saga’s material in ways both reverent and forward-thinking. Here, with a seemingly limitless canvas, Abrams and company offer, more or less, a new origin story and a true passing of the torch, err lightsaber to the likes of Daisy…
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Off the Shelf…’Ant-Man’
These days, the world of home video sees trends come and go with the arrival of each subsequent “big thing”. 3D is falling off fast, almost non-existent at this point, but once in a while it translates well from the big screen to the small(er) ones. Ant-Man, Marvel Studios’ little engine that could made a big splash earlier this year, and it is just as welcomed at home in this Blu-Ray release. Even if you don’t have a 3D set up, the film and its supplements won’t disappoint. Now those that do have the already outdated technology will revel in scenes that simply sing in the third dimension. As far…
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Off the Shelf…’Inside Out’
Pete Docter has long been a fixture of Pixar, and like he said in his commentary on 2009’s Up (he also reiterates it here as well), “when something is a success, it perpetuates the myth that it came fully formed out of someone’s head“. He wants everyone to know, that is so not the case. In a meta way, Inside Out is a filmic representation of how the studio tries to find the story through experiences, rather than create it. At the animation powerhouse, there’s no genius locked away in an ivory tower who comes up with all three acts of the story perfectly. Nor does the production team go on auto pilot…
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Off the Shelf…’Tomorrowland’
Brad Bird has an affinity for telling heartfelt stories and infusing them with incredible amounts of whimsy and delight, charm and inventiveness. The Iron Giant, The Incredibles, and now Tomorrowland, Bird is proficient in spinning yarns that are as nostalgia-fueled as they are forward-thinking. Tomorrowland presents itself as a duality, which is to say Bird shows us the best we as a society might hope for in a distant future, but also offers a cautionary tale about not taking action while we have the chance. Now it’s not doom and gloom. In fact, it’s fun and fanciful and more so because of the characters, not just the inventions. We are thrown…
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Off the Shelf…’Aladdin’
It is no surprise that 20 years later, Aladdin, quite possibly the most amazing and crowd-pleasing film in the Disney Renaissance, still holds up. While the film is ever more than the sum of its parts, two decades of having songs and characters ingrained in our brains and pop culture have shown just how transcendent the film was, and continues to be. A colorful mix of great voice talent, witty writing, dazzling visual splendor, and of course the songs that nearly everyone knows the words to contribute in making this animated effort an outstanding cinematic achievement. There are plenty of other places to find gushing and glowing reviews of this…
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Off the Shelf…’Cop Car’
In Jon Watts‘ simplistic thriller, Kevin Bacon portrays a shady police officer who oozes unsavory from the very first moment we see him. Forget that the film starts with him dragging a body to dump in makeshift, yet well-worn pit in some clandestine location. Most of the time, Bacon has a uniquely effortless way of telegraphing that he’s a bad dude with very little effort. Still, his insidious delivery can be as charming as it is nebulous. Playing a corrupt Sheriff, he’s prepared to go great lengths to conceal his nefarious deeds, but also keep the fact he’s a dirty cop under wraps. Yet, like a modern-day Scooby-Doo episode, he would have gotten away with it…
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Off the Shelf…Kenneth Branagh’s ‘Cinderella’
When a film is said to be “iconic”, it means that the story itself has become infused with a certain mythos, whereby the idea of said property is ever grander than the actual film. In instances like that, it really takes someone (or a studio) with a certain resolve to attempt to successfully retell a famous yarn. In the case of 2015’s Cinderella, a live-action adaptation offers the chance, an obligation really, to truly flesh out the story and make it memorable, in more ways than one. After all, Cinderella is a tale that has existed in cultures all over the world for, believe it or not, nearly 2000 years. It’s…
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Off the Shelf…’Walt Disney Animation Studios Short Films Collection’
Walt Disney Animation has always been at the forefront of the animation curve, and nothing says that more than a casual glance at their vast catalog of beloved and award-winning pictures. But while people will forever remember the accomplishments of the Mouse House, and the subsequent laurels and praise, there are many times where the feature is the end product of a lot of trial and error. To make things more clear, many films are the direct result of techniques and methods tested in a variety of the studio’s short films. Furthermore, some now famous directors and luminaries got their start with a trial run – once they showed competency and…
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Off the Shelf…Disney’s ‘Descendants’
Disney’s latest foray in to live-action entertainment finds the studio dipping back into their vault, but they pull out something entirely unexpected and quite inspired. The alluring conceit in this original feature finds the most evil (and popular) villains from Disney lore have long since been exiled far from present-day Auradon where King “Beast” (from Beauty and the Beast) and Belle are getting ready to allow their son to give his first royal decree. What he says surprises them as he plans to give the exiled kids, who have done nothing wrong, a chance to grow up in Auradon. It’s true, they may be innocent, as it is their parents…
