The TV Addict 

ENCHANTED was undoubtedly one of my favorite films of last year (you can read my review here), so you would maybe think that I’d be excited at the prospect of a potential sequel. I’m not. I can’t say I’m surprised though given that Disney has a pretty long track-record of milking its films for untold numbers of cash-cow sequels. According to Moviehole, “Kevin Lima, the chap behind the original, has apparently already spoken to Disney about the sequel. It’s not yet known whether the sequel will reunite Amy Adams and Patrick Dempsey – though, if the price is right, it probably will – or fix on a new bunch of characters (who’ll leave toon-town for the bright lights, big city of modern-day America). ‘That’s what the guts of the discussions are about at the moment.’” Honestly, I feel neither idea is great, but if I had to choose, I’d say bring new characters into the mix. The Amy Adams/Patrick Dempsey storyline was wrapped up nicely and perfectly, so I say let them enjoy their happily ever after in peace and quiet.

Source: Moviehole

On April 8th, Disney/Pixar officially announced the schedule for the animated films to be released in the next four years. Though the only solely Disney project that sounds of interest to me here is THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG (because it representing a return to traditional animation), there’s an abundance of Pixar news to comment on.

First, Pixar’s 2009 film, UP, certainly sounds like a lot of fun, even if it sounds only slightly removed from Mr. Incredibles “the glory days have passed me by” storyline. But you can’t go wrong with some good old-fashioned globe-trotting and jungle adventures, or a seventy-eight year old teaming up with an eight year old.

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I AM LEGEND: Will Smith proves his natural screen presence isn’t a fluke by doing here what few actors can do: carry a large part of a film all by himself (and a canine companion). It doesn’t hurt that he’s aided by a stunning representation of Manhattan as a post-apocalyptic wasteland, overrun by fauna, wild life, and abandoned vehicles. The film starts out a haunting, carefully paced study of how the last man on earth – survivor of a deadly virus – finds the means to go on with day to day life, but unfortunately something goes wrong. Around the halfway mark a significant event occurs that catalyzes an exponential plummet in quality and squanders the potential of the film. In short, it becomes a bad Will Smith action movie, crippled by poor special effects (think Gollum on a lesser budget), overblown spectacle, weak story and characters, and an ending that’s just the cherry on top of a series of culminating disappointments.

BREAKFAST WITH SCOT: A sort of Canadian gay version of the recently DVD released MARTIAN CHILD (with John Cusack), though the film is charming, it sometimes ventures into moderately offensive territory in its representation of Scot, and at other times sub-plots get a little muddled and unfocused in the middle segment of the film. It mostly pulls through in the end though, largely because of the always great Tom Cavanagh and because it never loses the thread of its theme: what matters most is being true to who you really are, and never being ashamed of it.

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If someone had told me five years ago that 3-D would catch on the way it seems to be doing now, I’d probably have politely guffawed in their face. I mean, while I was growing up any film that was 3-D was usually extremely cheesy and low-budget science fiction or horror films, requiring you to park in a drive-in and wear cheap, goofy looking glasses. No studio would have dreamed to make a big-budget film in 3-D, and yet that’s exactly what’s happening now. I’m not sure which film you can blame for the resurrection of 3-D. On the one hand SPY KIDS 3D: GAME OVER, was a relatively high profile use of it, but I would argue it was really the surprise success of the 3-D IMAX version of THE POLAR EXPRESS that really cemented the trend, particularly for kids films. I mean, just have a look here to see how many films in the last few years had some 3-D elements to them.

It seems now that a studio will take any chance to make a film 3-D if they can. For better or worse the trend seems to be staying. The recent HANNAH MONTANA concert film proved very popular, and there are several 3-D projects currently in development as well. The announcement that prompted me to write about all this, actually, is that Disney is planning on making STEP UP 3-D.

Now, I’m not sure what is a bigger shock at this point for me. The fact that I didn’t realize until now that the STEP UP series even was Disney? (Well, technically, Touchstone, but that’s owned by Disney. I guess I never could be bothered enough with the film to even check who made it.) The fact that there was even a sequel in the first place? The fact that the sequel did well enough that it merited another one? Or the fact that the third installment for some reason needs to be in 3-D?

I don’t mean this to sound too catty, but who is actually going to watch STEP UP 2 in the theatres? What’s the demographic like? It must be tweens and teenagers, because that’s the only reason I can determine why Disney would feel the third installment of the series would be a good choice for 3-D, because they are the demographic that seems predominantly tempted by 3-D. Of course to some degree the property lends itself to the format, allowing viewers to see dance moves jump right out at them. The thing is, I just don’t see 3-D as anything appealing. You could tempt me with the new INDIANA JONES film being in 3-D, and I still wouldn’t see it because I see the format as nothing more than a novelty that – to me – detracts, not enhances, my experience of a film.

But to a much younger demographic, the novelty of 3-D is presumably what makes it so appealing to them. I’ll admit, a twelve-year old me would have been excited about a 3-D version of INDIANA JONES, because I would totally confuse the novel and gimmicky nature of 3-D as something that was “cool.” And I think that’s exactly why the studios are making so many films now with that technology. I doubt that they see the format as anything more than a novelty, but I also know that what they see more predominantly is the dollars that this particular gimmick can produce for them.

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