Disney Pixar's Cars 3: Movie Review by Jonathan K

I would like to say a few words about Disney Pixar’s Cars 3.

Pixar knows how to make the feels. They draw you in with a simple story about relatable characters who you grow to care about in a short amount of time.

There I was in the theatre today, caring about an annoying yellow car, caring about her hopes and failures, hoping for her dreams and disappointments.

There I was in the theatre feeling all sorts of things about aging, relevance, belonging, priorities and friendship, while listening to a captivating score by Randy Newman. (At several times, his score reminded me of all the good parts of the Toy Story soundtracks.)

Yes, the animation is gorgeous because they pile tens of millions of dollars into it. Yes, in the back of my minds, I know Disney just wants to make me feel good so they can make more money from me (and like they need any more!).  But this is such high quality storytelling, it almost makes me forgive them for their blatant lack of respect for their fans in many a dodgy direct-to-DVD sequel and slap-dash licensed merchandise (and for ditching the Chronicles of Narnia franchise, but that’s another blog…).

This film is the best of the Cars trilogy. After the Best Picture Oscar-nominated Toy Story 3 and now this wonderful Cars 3, I am in high hopes for any future movie Pixar makes as a third instalment in a series. As a cute child said to me when I worked in a school, “I’ve seen Finding Dory, and Finding Nemo, but I haven’t seen Finding Marlin!”

If you’re reading this, John Lasseter, I will definitely pay to see Finding Marlin, should you ever discover the future classic story that you will tell about Marlin and his family.

I am aware this is a glowing review. But I could not find fault with Cars 3.

And don’t even get me started on the accompanying short, “Lou”, which I enjoyed the most out of any Pixar short since Partysaurus Rex and Day & Night. I hope you enjoy it like I do. Seriously good. Just see it.

Disney and Faith: The Hunchback of Notre Dame

There is a scene in Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) set inside the titular French cathedral, in which the gypsy woman Esmerelda (voiced by Heidi Mollenhauer) sings:

“I don't know if You would listen

To a gypsie's prayer....

God help the outcasts

Hungry from birth

Show them the mercy

They don't find on earth

God help my people

We look to You still

God help the outcasts

Or nobody will.”

These are very Christian words, from the Hollywood studio which at the time was being boycotted by some large Christian groups in America, including the Southern Baptist Association, for the supposedly negative values the company espoused. Was this song part of a plan to bring back large sub-demographics of the American nation back to Disney movies?

Whatever the motive behind these lyrics in Hunchback, on the surface they seem quite authentically Christian.

Photo Credit: Pinterest.com

The pious parishioners pray in the same scene:

“I ask for wealth

I ask for fame

I ask for glory to shine on my name

I ask for love I can possess

I ask for God and His angels to bless me”

The writers of this song paint an accurate picture of wrong motives in prayer and worship. These characters are self-interested, and greedy for wealth and fame. What a truth that we still need to experience now, 20 years after the movie was released. There is a reason that Christians have had the label of “hypocrite” - some of us have been hypocrites! But every time a follower of Christ is genuinely kind, helpful and loving, this can change someone's perception of Christians – and Christ.

Pixar Theory - Is Riley's Mom in Monsters University?

This would be my first addition to the growing Pixar Theory. You can check out Jon Negroni's original Pixar Theory here.

I was watching Monsters University for the first time yesterday and I noticed this character in one of the final scenes (spoiler alert!):

And I recognised this woman – it's Riley's mom from Inside Out!

Picture Source: DailyMail.co.uk

Really? You might say.

Let's see how this appearance in Monsters University fits into what we know about Riley's mom in Inside Out.

We know that Riley's family lived in Minnesota before they moved to San Fransisco during the plot of Inside Out.

We know there are some woods in Minnesota.

"We need assistance on the north side,” Riley's mom is heard as saying during this action scene during the climax of Monsters University. It turns out that there is a place in the States which includes part of Minnesota, called the Laurentian Mixed Forest Province, also known as the North Woods.

Da Da Dum!!!!

This is a little clue.

It would seem that the door Sulley and Mike have gone through leads to an orphanage in the Minnesotan woods some time before Riley's family moved to San Fransisco. This makes sense because Riley's mom looks a little younger in this scene than in Inside Out.

What do you think? Is Riley's mom really this cop in Monsters University? She could have worked there sometime before the events of Inside Out. I would love to read your comments below.

Picture Source: TheDisneyBlog.com

Movie Review - Fantastic Four (2015) - Jonathan On Paper

Photo Source: hdwallpaper.in

 This week I saw the new Fantastic Four movie. I was intrigued as I went it to find out what had made this movie less successful in it’s opening weekend than the first two Fantastic Four movies (2005, 2007). It made $25.7 million on the first weekend, as opposed to the first movie’s equivalent takings which were $56 million (more than double). 

Photo Source: Xmovies8.tv

This week I saw the new Fantastic Four movie. I was intrigued as I went it to find out what had made this movie less successful in it’s opening weekend than the first two Fantastic Four movies (2005, 2007). It made $25.7 million on the first weekend, as opposed to the first movie’s equivalent takings which were $56 million (more than double). 

The problem with Fantastic Four (2015) is that it never feels like a superhero movie. It has a negatively mysterious mood, which is aided by the gloomy colour tuning and depressing feel at times. The heroes’ super powers are painted as curses, not benefits. It takes a long time to get into any action and takes too much time setting up the story and the characters.

Fantastic Four has the Marvel logo at the start, but it is co-produced by 20^th Century Fox, not Disney like the other Marvel cinematic universe movies. It seems like Fox was trying to buy into the current success of Disney’s Marvel series (while already owning the rights to this property). 

But this never feels like a Marvel movie. It has some humour, but it is not the wise-cracking happy sense of humour as in the Avengers and Ant Man. The action was never really fun. Fantastic Four’s main issue is that it doesn’t know when to be silly and when to be serious. It was is too serious.

Photo Source: hdwallpaper.in

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Somebody was trying to make some dough out of Fantastic Four, but they missed. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! If you want to make money out of a Marvel movie, make it like Disney does – hilarious and heart-warming with epic cartoony action.

@Steve_sipple

Is It True That Disney Never Makes Original Films?

I recently heard a comment that made sense, at first. The comment was along the lines of, “Walt Disney never made an original story.” I thought, “Yes, that’s right, he made movies from existing stories such as the fairy tales of Snow White, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, and from books like Pinocchio and The Jungle Book.” Fast forward to our lifetime, and the films were very similar to this – think the tales of Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and ancient legends of Hercules and Mulan.




On the surface, this comment sounded true. But I now realize, it wasn’t!

The same person said once that Walt Disney’s films were controversial at the time of release, because he had made his own unique version of the traditional stories. Prior to his films, there were multiple versions that circulated around. Snow White might have had a different ending, or Cinderella might have had an extra subplot or an additional detail. People were quite comfortable with these varying versions of the tales.

And here came along Walt Disney saying, “Here’s my version, and that’s what the story is now!”

So now I see, this person who said both these things contradicted himself somewhat.

My argument is that, in creating unique, standout stories - loosely based on existing stories, Walt Disney was indeed being original and creative. Aren’t all artists inspired by something in the first place?


I will leave you with this quote:

Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.

~C. S. Lewis

The Top Ten Christian Genre Films: My Response

In this article I will be giving my thoughts on this list of the top-grossing Christian genre films of all time:

"Christian Movies at the Box Office"

Let me introduce you to the most popular Christian themed movies of all time: The top four on this list are 

1. The Passion of the Christ

2. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

3. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

4. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

These movies' place on this list are no surprise. Aside from The Passion, which was funded by Mel Gibson as I understand, the other three are multi-million-dollar-budget movies funded by Disney, Walden Media, Fox and Dune Entertainment. So with marketing budgets 10 times as large as most independent film budgets in their entirety, it is no surprise they can take in over $1.6 billion as a series, worldwide. The Narnia movies are also based on a successful book series known worldwide - and not only known in church circles, but to most people.

Next :

5. Heaven is For Real

6. God's Not Dead

7. Son of God

These three films were all released in 2014. Together they brought in $210 million for their studios - including Fox and Sony. These movies represent the maturity in the current Christian independent film industry. PureFlix, producers of God's Not Dead, has already released dozens of small budget movies for the Christian market. And this year they were somehow able to draw the crowds (and $60 million).

The marketers of Heaven is For Real initially thought the ceiling for a film like this could be $50 million, after the release of Courageous in 2011 only brought in $34 million. I am sure they are pleased that their expectation was exceeded by almost double.

Number 8 - Soul Surfer - is in the same category as these 3 mentioned above, and released by the same company as Heaven is for Real (number 5) and Courageous (number 10). This made a healthy $43 million.

The odd one out here is the Christmas-themed The Nativity Story, produced by New Line Cinema in the wake of The Passion of the Christ to cash in on this new-found Christian audience. Perhaps missing the mark in a few places (the films mood and pace are two issues), this film was most likely a loss for the studio, despite it's place in the Top 10.

A few notes - it's not usually all about the money for me, however in the entertainment industry, if a product doesn't sell, there will not be further opportunities for similar products to be produced. And a well told story deserves to be seen by many (hence why many Christian produced films should not be popular).

I am encouraged to see where this movement will go. Here's hoping we see lives and hearts changed by the stories that are told.