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Tuesday, November 30, 2004

Next up, three kids movies for my kids. "Shark Tale," "The Incredibles" and "The Spongebob Squarepants Movie."
"Shark Tale" starring Will Smith as the voice of Oscar, a lonely fish working at the whale wash and only wants fame and fortune. He also has a good friend (who would like more than friendship) in Angie (Renée Zellweger.) Lenny (Jack Black) would like nothing better than to please his mobster shark father Don Lino (Robert De Niro) and his toady Sykes (Martin Scorsese) a puffer fish. But Lenny isn't a meat-eater, and for a shark, this poses a problem. When Lenny's brother takes him for some practice at honing his hunting skills, an anchor accidentally kills Frankie (Michael Imperioli) and Oscar gets the credit and becomes "The Sharkslayer." His new-found fame goes to his head, and he succumbs to the age-old pitfalls of fame. His hot new girlfriend Lola (Angelina Jolie ), his manager Sykes and all the high class friends come at a price. This was a good movie with enough laughs to keep the kids entertained and a few inside jokes for the parents or older viewers, but it's strickly a matinee or rental movie.
The same can be said for "The Spongebob Squarepants Movie." While funnier than the other Undersea adventure "Shark Tale," it still isn't as funny as it SHOULD be. I was hoping for more. I guess soemthing was lost in the transition from 1/2 hour episodes to a 1 1/2 hour movie. Here's the gist: Mr. Krabs is opening a second Krusty Krab restaraunt in Bikini Bottom. Spongebob is expecting to be promoted to manager thanks to his 365 consecutive employee-of-the-month plaques. He is passed over by Squidward and slips into a depression at the "Goofy Goober" ice cream parlor (in one of the movies funniest scenes.)Directed by Stephen Hillenburg, the entire original TV voice cast returns:
Tom Kenny - SpongeBob SquarePants/Narrator/Gary/Clay Clancy Brown - Mr. Eugene H. Krabs Rodger Bumpass - Squidward Tentacles
Bill Fagerbakke - Patrick Star/Fish #2/Chum Customer/Local Fish
Carolyn Lawrence - Sandy Cheeks Mr. Lawrence - Sheldon J. Plankton/Larry the Lobster Mary Jo Catlett - Mrs. Puff, Jill Talley - Karen the Computer/Old Lady and rounding out the film voice cast is Alec Baldwin as Dennis the Contract Killer, Scarlett Johansson as Mindy and Jeffrey Tambor as King Neptune. Strictly for hard-core SB fans in the theater, all others should wait for the matinee or rental.
Next up, three kids movies for my kids. "Shark Tale," "The Incredibles" and "The Spongebob Squarepants Movie."
I've saved the best of the kiddie movies for last. Disney's final Pixar movie is "The Incredibles." This movie was hilarious, exciting, visually stimulating & unique! In short, it lives up to the title! Craig T. Nelson is the voice of Bob Parr/ Mr. Incredible who fights crime in the city everyday until he saves a civillian who didn't want to be saved (a young fan, Buddy Pine, causes the incident) and sues the government. Due to the rising cost of keeping heroes active, the gov. decides to end the program and all heroes are forced to "blend in" with the society at-large. Helen Parr /Elastigirl (Holly Hunter) and Bob Parr/Mr. Incredible are now married with children. They live in the suburbs with their 3 "super" kids: Violet Parr (Sarah Vowell,) Dashiell 'Dash' Parr (Spencer Fox,) and Jack Jack Parr (voiced by two actors, Eli Fucile & Maeve Andrews.) Bob and his friend Lucius Best/Frozone (Samuel L. Jackson) spend their boys night out listening to the poclice scanner, hoping to secretly fight crime. Bob is contacted by Mirage (Elizabeth Peña) and offered the chance to do some real superhero work. Will he jeopardize his family for adventure, or will the evil Syndrome (Jason Lee) stop his plans? "The Incredibles" is a must-see movie!


Monday, November 29, 2004

"The Grudge." While not as good as the other Japanese-thriller-turned-US-remake "The Ring," it's better than most scary movies out there these days. Starring Sarah Michelle Gellar as Karen Davis (sans her husband, my worst acting nightmare, FPJ.)She is a young woman living, working & going to school overseas with her boyfriend Doug (Jason Behr.) Karen works at a Japanese temp agency that provides assisted living aides. Her boss, Alex (the always amusing Ted Raimi) has discovered Yoko (Yoko Maki) never showed for her last appointment, and asks Karen to fill in. The home she reports to belongs to the Williams family (William Mapother as Matthew Williams, Clea DuVall as Jennifer Williams, KaDee Strickland as Susan Williams and Grace Zabriskie as Emma Williams) and many strange things begin to happen. The Creepy factor of this movie is pretty high, especially if you have a good imagination. Meeeow!












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