Hugh Laurie

Aardman Studios Offers a Merry ‘Arthur Christmas’

PatrickMcD — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 16:49:32 -0500

Rating: 4.0/5.0

CHICAGO – Aardman Studios, the creators of the irrepressible “Wallace & Gromit” and the witty “Flushed Away” is back with another animated holiday treat, “Arthur Christmas.” Santa Claus and the gang are taken into the modern era, but the cheeky lads/lasses at Aardman can’t help but throw in a bit of whimsy and heart.

This is a British film, with a British point-of-view. Santa Claus is also Father Christmas, and he is given a back story and a family that adds to the legend. There is a British tactile efficiency to the North Pole set-up, which begins with a child’s letter to Santa, asking the questions like, “how do you deliver all those toys in just one night?” Despite the stiff upper lip, the Aardman Studios know where the heart is, and delivers glorious holiday spirit in a winningly fun story.

“Arthur Christmas” (voice of James McAvoy) is actually Santa’s son. His hapless manner gets him bounced around Santa Claus, Inc., until he is reduced to answering the children’s letters to the big guy (Jim Broadbent). The brains behind the toy delivery operation is Arthur’s older brother Steve (Hugh Laurie), and what an operation it is. The elves are utilized almost as mercenary soldiers, shimmying down ropes from a giant starship, “S-1.” The real and aging Santa (there is a lineage) is merely a figurehead on the journey. It is assumed that Steve will take the reins for the next Yule.

In the Teeth of the Holiday: Arthur (voice of James McAvoy) and Grandsanta (Bill Nighy) in ‘Arthur Christmas’
Photo credit: Aardman Animations for Sony Pictures Animation

Complications arise in the wee hours of Christmas Day, when only one of the billions of toys delivered doesn’t make it to its little girl recipient. This seems okay to the statistically oriented Steve, but not to the sentimentally imbued Arthur. He enlists the Grandsanta (Bill Nighy, the Santa before the current one) and kicks it old school with a sleigh, flying reindeer and Bryony (Ashley Jensen), an elf expert in wrapping presents. This of course puts a wrench into the efficiencies, and the Santa operation must find a way to adapt.

Despite a weak start, with the story dragging a bit in its need to re-educate on the new twists in the Santa legend, “Arthur Christmas” has a great time with the adventures of the sleigh hijacking crew. Arthur is a bit too dorky, but all real heroes are, because they favor what is right in the moment rather than the big picture. Santa’s modern operations are the most coldly British, very computer oriented (right down to an India-style call center elf) and doesn’t send the message I think the animators were trying to convey.

It is in the second half of the film, when the adventure is underway, that the story wakes up. Bryony the Wrapping Elf (ha-ha) is dryly humorous, and Bill Nighy as Grandsanta is in his over-the-top mode. The scenery is precious, especially a stop in an animal preserve in Africa, and a mix-up between a town in England and one in Mexico. Here Arthur’s dorkiness plays better, and it is when all is bitterly lost that his spirit of Christmas comes through.

The filmmakers strive for some 3D magic, and mostly succeed. It does get a bit distracting, especially with a wonderful story like this, when cheap 3D gags become noticeable, but how else are they going to convince us that it’s worth an extra fee? The coolest settings were the icy hallways of the underground Santa lair, the interior ship of the S-1 (for Santa, of course), and a marvelous sequence in which Bryony wraps a bicycle in midair, reminiscent of a signature Aardman Studios moment in “Wallace & Gromit’s A Close Shave.”

Wrap Master: Bryony (Ashley Jensen) Gets it Done in ‘Arthur Christmas’
Photo credit: Aardman Animations for Sony Pictures Animation

As a Christmas story, it does have a sense of bearing. After all the histrionics of the futuristic toy delivery, it is the look on a child’s face that really is the magic. The heart of this simple feeling overwhelms all the computer screens, star ships and exotic locales. It is why Christmas is embraced in a culture that needs embracing itself. We live and love for those very moments.

So a Merry “Arthur Christmas” to you, only two days before the actual season begins. In the long lineage of Santa Clauses depicted in this film, it is Arthur who is obviously the heritage, simply because he remembers the true meaning of it all.

”Arthur Christmas” opens everywhere on November 23rd. Featuring the voices of James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie, Jim Broadbent, Imelda Staunton, Laura Linney, Michael Palin, Joan Cusack, Ashley Jensen and Bill Nighy. Screenplay by Peter Baynham and Sarah Smith, directed by Sarah Smith. Rated “PG”

By PATRICK McDONALD
Senior Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
pat@hollywoodchicago.com

‘Hop’ is a Limp Skip, Jump For Russell Brand

PatrickMcD — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 08:31:02 -0400

Rating: 2.5/5.0

CHICAGO – A definitive cinematic exploration of the Easter Bunny story is precisely what the world is missing. Right? Anyway, the folks behind “Hop,” featuring the voice of Russell Brand as the rascally rabbit, has produced this heretofore missing piece of the film canon.

This combination of live action and animatronic creatures is aimed at the younger set, with PG essential rudeness spliced in for the persons forced to take the younger set to the film. While visually interesting at times, the story bores as just another meandering hero-who-doesn’t-want-the-leadership-role-thrust-upon-him-but-eventually-comes-around kid friendly tale.

We meet E.B.(voice of Russell Brand) on Easter Island (grin), as he lives his idyllic life nurtured by his father (Hugh Laurie). E.B. is unconventional, preferring his rock drumming to the eventual role he will have to take as the Easter Bunny. When his father takes him on a tour of the amazing factories that produce the Easter candy, E.B. also meets a nemesis, a tough talking yellow chick named Carlos (Hank Azaria).

Meanwhile, on Planet Earth, a slacker dude named Fred O’Hare (James Marsden) is having trouble getting his life together and is living with his Mom and Dad (Elizabeth Perkins, Gary Cole), even though he looks to be in his early thirties. He is haunted by a vision he had as a child, that of a giant egg being pulled by hundreds of yellow chicks, and it seems to have effected his job seeking skills. His sister lands him a gig house-sitting an Los Angeles mansion, and fate is about to seek its destiny.

Rabbit Heirs: E.B.(Voice of Russell Brand) and Dad (Hugh Laurie) in ‘Hop’
Photo credit: Universal Pictures

E.B, decides the only solution is to run away rather than take on the candy delivery responsibilities, and after falling through the rabbit hole (grin), he comes out on the other side in L.A., just in time to be nearly run over by Fred. The spastic bunny is now under the care of the house sitter, and he desires only to play in a talent show judged by David Hasselhoff. Fred puts two and two together, and figures that this talking hare has to do with his youthful vision.

Easter Island sends its crack bunny commando unit, the Pink Berets, to find the runaway. Carlos the yellow chick attempts a coup. Fred O’Hare begins to have an interest in the Bunny life. E.B. gets a big audition in front of the Hoff. Would Jesus have risen if he knew such complications would arise?

There is nothing unpredictable in the scenario, as subplots pile onto subplots. This is the type of movie shenanigans that assumes that the mere mention or appearance of David Hasselhoff is hip hopping. And although great care was taken in creating a magical candy factory, there was more awe generated by the cheap set of the original “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” just because the story set-up had more intrigue and mystery.

Russell Brand gets to expand to kid’s warm fuzzy mode as the voice of E.B., and it feels as if he’s going through the motions. Everyone in the cast, in fact, has a tentative aspect to their performances, either because they’re working with the “ball on the stick” animatronics (which wouldn’t explain the awkward chemistry of the O’Hare “family”) or because the script really gives them nothing to do. James Marsden, better in other movies, appears lost in this one.

The post modern irony of today’s animation demands that jokes are written for adult sensibility because a true kid’s movie is not good enough. Hop engages in tired references to the Playboy Mansion (yep, Hugh Hefner, the father of pornography, has now lent his voice to a kid’s movie), Easter chicks (they pull the giant egg, reindeer style, which resulted in one funny joke trying to proclaim their names) and TV talent shows. Despite furious winking at the camera, the gags mostly crashed like a lead balloon.

Even though the computer generated parts of the animated side had some cool scenes, it didn’t blend well with the real world. The bunny commando Pink Berets, which felt like an afterthought to the plot and chase element, didn’t go down well as cute bunnies doing martial arts moves. Are they relatives to Monty Python’s “Killer Rabbit” or Hong Kong ninja warriors? Either way that part could have been excised.

Bunny Boy: James Marsden in ‘Hop’
Photo credit: Universal Pictures

It difficult to put this film under a microscope, because in the end it’s a harmless distraction as a family movie excursion for the holiday. But also there is a cynical quality to it, as if the studio (Universal Pictures) recognized the “legs” Hop would have beyond this year, to create the kind of movie tradition during Easter as there is at Christmas. “The Greatest Story Ever Told” isn’t enough for modern marketing.

Stories like this are judged inevitably through their entertainment value. Although the kids and (temporarily) their guardians might enjoy the visuals, Hop has no narrative spring in its step.

“Hop” opens everywhere on April 1st. Featuring Russell Brand, James Marsden, Hank Azaria, Gary Cole, Elizabeth Perkins, Kaley Cuoco, Chelsea Handler, Hugh Laurie and David Hasselhoff. Screenplay by Cinco Paul, Ken Daurio and Brian Lynch, directed by Tim Hill. Rated “PG”

By PATRICK McDONALD
Senior Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
pat@hollywoodchicago.com

DreamWorks’ ‘Monsters vs. Aliens’ Has Great 3D Concept, But Falls Flat

BrianTT — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:09:18 -0400

Rating: 2.5/5.0

CHICAGO – Hasn’t Pixar proven that animation can be more than just concept and celebrity voice work? The problem with “Monsters vs. Aliens” is that the team behind it clearly prioritized nearly every element of the film over actual storytelling. It looks good, has some talented people behind the mic, and is visually engaging, but there’s nothing memorable about the script at all. The 3D may pop, but the story is flat.

Rob Letterman (writer/director of “Shark Tale”) and Conrad Vernon (director of “Shrek 2”) direct a script that took five writers to bring to the big screen and feels like it was haphazardly constructed like kids playing the story game on a playground. One kid starts the story and then another picks it up and so on and so on.

B.O.B.(Seth Rogen), The Missing Link (Will Arnett) and Dr. Cockroach, Ph.D. (Hugh Laurie) introduce themselves to their new monster roommate.
Photo credit: Monsters vs. Aliens & © 2009 DreamWorks Animation LLC. All Rights Reserved.

“Monsters vs. Aliens” pushes its 3D gimmick from the very beginning, opening with an asteroid belt designed to provoke oohs and aahs and moving into a sky watcher bouncing a rubber ball into the audience. Kids will be impressed. Adults will remember that 3D is just a trick, not an actualy storytelling device.

Through that asteroid belt, a giant space rock hurtles toward the Earth. The debris is headed right for the wedding of Susan (Reese Witherspoon) and Derek (Paul Rudd) and the poor bride gets slammed to the ground, slowly turning into Ginormica, the film’s variatoin on the 50-Foot Woman.

Susan/Ginormica is captured and thrown in an underground vault with four other monsters - the giant Insectosaurus, the mad scientist in a bug’s body known as Dr. Cockroach (Hugh Laurie), the ego-driven Missing Link (Will Arnett), and the body and brain-less B.O.B.(Seth Rogen). The monsters seem doomed to a dull life in a mysterious underground bunker until…

It turns out that the giant space rock had an element being sought by a power-mad alien (Rainn Wilson). He sends a robot down to claim it, bringing the President (Stephen Colbert) out to great the new “very big wonder”. When things go very wrong in the meeting of the interstellar powers, General W.R. Monger (Kiefer Sutherland) suggests to the leader of the free world that the only way to stop the alien invasion is to unleash the monsters, promising them their freedom if they save our skins.

These Monsters—The Missing Link (Will Arnett), Ginormica (Reese Witherspoon), B.O.B.(Seth Rogen), Insectosaurus and Dr. Cockroach, Ph.D. (Hugh Laurie)—are defenders of the planet.
Photo credit: Monsters vs. Aliens & © 2009 DreamWorks Animation LLC. All Rights Reserved.

A few of the set pieces, especially those clearly authored with 3D in mind, look undeniably impressive. When Susan literally glows during her wedding, when the monsters use the Golden Gate Bridge as a weapon, and the final battle sequence - all of these set pieces have a visceral, action-driven fun, but even within them there’s no reason to care about anything that’s happening. Most video games have more character development than “Monsters vs. Aliens”.

The problem is that the writers WANT there to be a heartwarming story about being who you want to be. The idea being that even a monster can save the world. But it doesn’t work. If they had pumped up the references to old movie monsters and aliens and gone just for the thrill ride, that could have been effective but the attempts at character, like the fact that Derek doesn’t stand by Susan when she grows big enough to crush him, fall totally flat.

Worst of all, “Monsters vs. Aliens” just isn’t funny. There are two or three solid chuckles, but that’s it. The celebrities do a reasonably good job, especially Witherspoon and Rogen, but a shocking number of jokes hit the ground with a thud. It’s just not clever enough.

Without characters to care about or clever dialogue, all that’s left in “MvA” is the pretty pictures and, for some, that will be enough. The 3D looks good but the backgrounds aren’t nearly as richly developed as they should be. Visually, it’s not nearly as memorable as “Coraline”.

With the concept over storytelling and emphasis on the visuals, I often felt like “Monsters vs. Aliens” played like a preview for a longer, more rewarding experience. Then I realized it IS a preview. It’s a preview for the video games, toys, inevitable sequel, thrill rides, and so on and so on. When you can see previews online for free, why pay to see one in the theaters just because it’s in 3D?

‘Monsters vs. Aliens’ stars the voices of Reese Witherspoon, Hugh Laurie, Seth Rogen, Will Arnett, Rainn Wilson, Stephen Colbert, Kiefer Sutherland, and Paul Rudd. It was written by Maya Forbes, Wally Wolodarsky, Rob Letterman, Jonathan Aibel, and Glenn Berger and directed by Conrad Vernon & Rob Letterman. It opens on March 27th, 2009. It is rated PG.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com