It's Cool to be Blue

There's no plainer way to put it: 2012 was one of the best all-time years for animated films. It wasn't just the tremendous, unique contributions from the "Big Three" animated studios of Pixar (Brave), Disney (Wreck-It Ralph and Frankenweenie) and Dreamworks (Rise of the Guardians and Madagascar 3) that did it either, but also slew of third party and independent animators who put forth not just some of the best animated motion pictures in years, but also some of the best MOVIES of 2012, from Studio Gibli's The Secret World of Arrietty to LAIKA's ParaNorman. With this level of quality dominating last year's features, it's kind of disappointing to look at what 2013 has to offer. Monsters University? Epic? The Croods? Turbo? Frozen? The only animated flick I'm really looking forward to this year is Despicable Me 2, and to be fair that's just because I can't get enough of Gru's Minions (nor should anyone with a funny bone, as this trailer shows). Sure, any of these titles could turn out awesome and change my mind, but last year I was both eagerly anticipating and pleasantly surprised by most of the animated film released, and I just don't get the same feeling from this year's batch of entries, and they're going to have to earn my appreciation.

Scorch Supernova in repose...

That was certainly true for first entry Escape from Planet Earth, the freshman feature release from Canadian animation studio Rainmaker Entertainment. In it, we're introduced to Scorch Supernova (Brendan Fraser) and his brother Gary (Rob Corddry). Scorch is a widely-respected intergalactic hero, as well known for his magnetic charisma as his is for his reckless manner and ability to succeed where nobody else can. Gary, meanwhile, is his brother's brainy overseer at Mission Control, often trying to mitigate the trouble Scorch's methods always seem to attract. When Scorch accepts a mission to "The Dark Planet", from where no mission has never returned, he does so against the wishes of Gary, who quits in disgust at the lack of respect he has received from Scorch and others. But when Scorch is captured on the mission, it is up to Gary to become the hero and rescue his brother from the evil planet known as Earth.

Gary learns the evils of the Big Gulp.

Escape from Planet Earth succeeds in more places than you might expect from a fledgling animation studio. Despite perhaps not crafting their animation with the same level of quality as the big boys, the whole of the artwork - and especially the 3D - are very, VERY good. There were a few moments that didn't quite match up to the rest of the picture, but they happened so infrequently and at the very beginning, so that you'd barely remember them when all is said and done. And despite their relative cliches, the characters are fun enough and with motivations that are easy for kids to comprehend. Gary Supernova especially is nicely voiced by Corddry, who puts forth his second good performance this month (though not nearly as good as Warm Bodies) as a blue-collar (pun intended?) guy pushed to perform the extraordinary. Playing opposite him is the highly effective Fraser, who might have discovered a potential for career resurgence in voice acting with the macho, confident swagger he brings to the screen. Other strong (or at least amusing) performances belong to Craig Robinson, Sarah Jessica Parker, Ricky Gervais and Jane Lynch (although nothing she ever does will top Lynch's Wreck-It Ralph role), but it's William Shatner hamming it up as an evil military leader that steals the show. Director/screenwriter Cal Brunker shows a real connection with his actors, unexpected from the rookie (he's typically been an art department guy), and he also has a talent for the wry quip and a propensity for the in-joke. For instance, one of my favorite bits featured human guards attempting to wrangle one of the story's aliens. One character's exclamation? "James! Cameron! Get the Alien!"

Okay... it's just like driving an interspace car...

But while Escape From Planet Earth manages to outstrip its meager origins, it doesn't necessarily make it an animated flick worth your time. Those dialogue gags don't happen often enough to be anything more than clever moments in a script practically bereft of them. The story is also an amalgam of cliched story and characters, from rambunctious kids to sibling rivalry to the rake gag, suitable perhaps for kids but not really all that engaging for their parents. There's also not really any one scene-stealer like Madagascar's Penguins to whom you could really see yourself getting attached... I mean, there IS Scorch, but his antics aren't nearly so inspired as to be entertaining on their own. And while most of the cast is quite good, the lone low score goes to Jessica Alba, whose lack of personality is on full display in a role that really shouldn't have been all that difficult to handle.

I think they actually stuck Fraser's eyes in there...

It's clever on occasion, the acting is pretty good and the artwork is VERY fun to look at. Those are the essential bullet points for what to expect from Escape From Planet Earth. It's a good first feature effort from Rainmaker, whose biggest success to this point was arguably the TV show Beast Wars: Transformers, and this successful release certainly sets the stage for them to form a lucrative movie business for the future. But what might make this movie the MOST appealing is that there is NOTHING else to take your kids to in the theaters right now. If you have the hankering to go to the movies, this isn't a bad family pick, even if the coming months will offer a few more (and hopefully better) options. Still, Escape From Planet Earth manages to top out as the #6 movie of 2013, not a bad start for the animated genre this year. I don't expect anything in the same vein of Wreck-It Ralph or ParaNorman when it comes to this year's titles, but hopefully this won't be the best thing the animated genre has to offer us for the near future.

Not Quite as Fabulous

You might remember me once or twice mentioning how my friend The Opinioness is the one who introduced me to a little show on HBO called Sex and the City. Granted, her main reason for doing so was because she wanted me to go see the midnight premiere of the first Sex and the City film with her, but because I had heard good things about the show (from The Opinioness, of course, but from other sources as well) and since I'm a relatively open-minded guy anyway, I took that challenge and watched six seasons of the ground-breaking show in about five weeks, barely finishing in time. My consensus? Despite some frivolous bits about ludicrously-expensive fashion, and some genuinely over the top scenarios, I enjoyed the vast majority of the show's episodes due to its emphases on friendship and human individuality. Despite Carrie Bradshaw and her friends' exquisite tastes, the characters still managed to be realistic people, with hopes and fears and people they could rely on. Even possessing a Y chromosome, I could appreciate the basic ideas the show conveyed, even if I'll never obtain a full understanding of womens' obsession with shoes. But the show wasn't designed for the straight male audience, as it was no surprise when the first film was released to huge audiences of mostly-female fans, many of whom identified themselves with one or more of the characters they had been introduced to back in 1998.

"Oh, no please don't let her talk to me..."

For me, there had been no rush to see the newest film in the SatC franchise, which was released this past May. Poor reviews deterred me, and frankly I thought the original run of the show and the first movie had done a good enough job of ending the series where it needed to be. Trailers for Sex and the City 2 featuring the ladies in the Middle East seemed like too out-there a scenario, though it promised to be a back-to-roots movement from the first film, which had more gut churning moments than many SEASONS of the show. Instead, the film's opener is entirely light-hearted, as the ladies and their respective families attend the Connecticut wedding of two SatC regulars, Stanford Blatch (Willie Garson) and Anthony Maratino (Mario Cantone). That's right folks, it's a gay wedding, complete with swans and officiated by Liza Minnelli. In the meantime, we get an idea of the issues the four women will be going through this episode film. Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) has a new boss at her law firm who hates her, and and she never gets to be at the big moments for her son. Samantha (Kim Cattrall) is worried about aging and menopause and takes tons of pills, creams and hormones to trick her body into thinking it's younger. Charlotte's (Kristin Davis) children are getting too much for her to handle. On top of that (and thanks to a comment by Samantha), she's now worried about the effect her no-bra wearing nanny will have on her marriage. And Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) is struggling with concept of her and Big (Chris Noth) becoming a complacent married couple, two years after their marriage.

Fashion is subjective as always, but still

For the first half of the film, it plays out much like an episode of the series, which is more than welcome. Splitting time equally between the four main characters, the film captures what was so great about the original series, bantering between sweet friendship and crass sexual display. These are more mature women than premiered twelve years ago, so the sex has been tampered down (with the exception of Samantha, who is as dirty as ever), but the other storytelling aspects from the show are on display and in top form. Witty dialogue, realistic relationships and plain honest heart abound, and if the rest of the film had felt even a shadow of what was put in the first half, I would have had very little to complain about. However, it is exactly for the film's second half that the story isn't nearly as good as it could be. Transported to Abu Dhabi thanks to a Samantha business trip, the four women must deal with their problems waiting for them back in New York City from far, far away. It is in this beautiful land that the main issues in the film arise, most notably the region's cultural suppression of women. Despite being labeled the "New Middle East", there are still extremely conservative viewpoints towards womens' rights that the film occasionally touches on, especially how it affects Samantha's open sexuality. The others are more respectful of the local customs, though each has their own situations to overcome that will test them and their relationships back home.

Yes, a picnic in the dessert, which is nothing like Central Park

The main reason people watch this film is for the characters, and the fab four are as great as they ever were. After so many years, the characters have matured but stayed true to themselves through relationships, families and more. Parker is as playful as ever as the film's lead, Carrie Bradshaw. Always seeking the next diversion, Carrie works to the bone on her relationship with her husband, so that they will always have the "sparkle". Cattrell is thankfully foul-mouthed as ever as the openly-sexual public relations agent Samantha Jones. Still as arrogant and uncompromising as ever, Samantha will nevertheless do anything for her friends. Her arrogance does however get her in more trouble than she is used to, and she also isn't as sympathetic since she's condemning local traditions while engaging in that attitude. Kristin Davis' Charlotte is more or less the same as she is every time we see her, with her neurotic personality often times overpowering her ability to think logically. For that she is paired effectively with Cynthia Nixon's Miranda, who shows a new, fun side in this film and does a great job taking charge and leading the characters to a good time on their trip. The four, even after so much time, work amazingly together, and their interaction with one another make the film as good as it is.

There's a hump joke in here somewhere

But one thing I was disappointed by was the lack of the original series' supporting characters. Though the men of Sex and the City make their relegated appearances, they are quickly cast to the wind come the film's second half. Evan Handler, who plays Charlotte's husband Harry, is one of my favorite characters from the show but has precious little to do here. The same can be said for Jason Lewis as Smith Jerrod, Samantha's Hollywood actor ex, who appears in all of two scenes. Miranda's husband Steve, played by David Eigenberg, has a few nice lines early in the film and then disappears. Garson and Cantone's gay couple disappear after the opening sequence, despite being among the show's more popular characters. At least a proper explanation is given as to why they ended up marrying one another after not liking the other one iota during the series' run. The charming Chris Noth is given the most to do as Carrie's husband Big (yes, his name is John, but he'll always be Big to me), though most of it is still in the film's first half. At least he's given some second half time, though not enough to get anything real before the film's end. The film is helped by a couple of new characters, however. Alice Eve plays Charlotte's Irish nanny quite well in the few scenes she's plugged into, and the bridge between her obvious brains and charm and her also obvious physical attributes make it much easier to imagine Charlotte's internal conflict. And English actor Raza Jaffrey is simply lovely as a butler working at the ladies' Abu Dhabi hotel. Carrie's Ex Aiden (John Corbett) also makes an appearance, but I didn't like this new Aiden storyline, as it was one that should have been put to bed years ago.

Samantha thankfully refuses to be anyone but herself

I don't want to give the impression that I hated the film's second half. It's just that the first half was so good, and the rest felt like a major letdown. There is one scene between Charlotte and Miranda equating motherhood to a full time job which is an amazing scene, probably my favorite from the film, while also saluting mothers around the world. And any scene with Jaffrey was great to watch. Sadly, these were small parts of a much larger story that was disappointing at times and racially charged in others. One scene featuring Samantha going ballistic in a bazaar is not a little culturally insensitive, and while it's supposed to be propping women up as strong, it really only inflames the American/Muslim divide. For the most part, the film's second half really is about allowing the ladies to embrace extravagances the same way they would have in New York, all while in a new glamorous place. While that's not as deep as it gets, it's obvious writer/director Michael Patrick King didn't think the same old crises would work in a traditional setting, but this might have been too big a leap for him. King might have been the best creative mind the original series had, but here he seems to lose his focus and the film just doesn't feel the same without its recognizable supporting cast.

The sets are gorgeous, and like Skittles, all the colors of the rainbow

If I had been judging this film based on the second half alone, it would be an easy pick for one of the year's worst films. Despite a few good scenes, the film wouldn't be watchable without the strong first half to balance it out. And the bloated run time of 146 minutes just stretched those bad parts out far too long to be palatable. I had no problem with the characters, only how some were used. It's racial themes were obviously over King's head, as he only focused on how the local Abu Dhabi culture affected the ladies' stay. Even a nice show of female solidarity between the four heroines and a local women's book club can't save the film from itself. Trying something different should be commended, but when you do the same thing in a new place you're just screaming that you have nothing left. There's no doubt that future SatC films would be extremely lucrative, but it's obvious the creative minds aren't crossing the Atlantic; they're merely treading water. Twelve years later, we've seen probably everything we could see when it comes to the Sex and the City franchise, and it's time to put the story out to pasture. Like getting blood from a stone, we'd only be looking forward to disappointment otherwise.

Thankfully, Sex and the City: The Musical hasn't panned out