lynzee

Needing to kill a couple of hours this afternoon, I decided to see this movie instead of Van Helsing. I had already seen Shrek 2 which I enjoyed and will be seeing Harry Potter. That makes my yearly quota. LOL. Anyway, since the trailers looked interesting I decided to give it a whirl. Although the movie was a bit technical at times early on, I enjoyed the visuals tremendously. The character development was very limited other than for the three main characters all belonging to the same family. I found that a tad disappointing. It's hard to get really enmeshed in people's lives when you don't know a thing about them. They missed some opportunities here.

I found the opening sequence almost nauseating due to the method it was filmed in. The speeding over ice, left me dizzy. Those would be my major gripes but I could recommend the film as a kind of fast food treat.

One of the few sequels I have been looking forward to and fortunately not a disappointment.

This is a clever movie that can stand alone without the original. Soundtrack is decent but not as good as the original but the story is well done and the additions to the cast is wonderful. I especially enjoyed Jennifer Saunders voicing of the godmother and John Cleese as the King. I probably would enjoy them reading the newspaper though. For those unfamiliar with Saunders, try finding Absolutely Fabulous on cable TV. If you are unfamiliar with Cleese, you must have been living in a cave. The movie is clearly stolen by Donkey and Puss in Boots. Love the sly humor. A sequel with the two of them would be fine with me.

Watching this back to back with another overly praised film was probably a bad idea. I was disappointed in both. The other film was the Jack Nicholson Oscar nominated role and although I watched it yesterday, I have already forgotten it's name. Unlike many reviewers, I have seen many films dealing with the Holocaust. I have not become immune to the subject and frankly, Polanski does start to touch on the horror and the random acts of inhumanity. However, the pianist character left me cold. A man who is almost completely devoid of any character. Neither a hero or a villain, but just a dull, cold fish. He barely shows fear and certainly aside from two moments when he looks upset (family taken off and little boy beaten to death) is robotic. I saw no Oscar performance here, found the constant leaping from subject to subject disorienting and had no time to really get to know anyone in the story but the robot. I am not sure what Polanski's goal was in making this movie but it came off as neither drama nor documentary. Too little of everything except perhaps, historical accuracy.