Theatrical Review: Freakier Friday

Preamble

There’s been a recent trend of sequels to movies that came out decades after their predecessors. Maverick, the long awaited sequel to Top Gun, was the start of it and we can all be certain there’ll be dozens of similar instances to come. That is until Hollywood gets back to putting out more original stories that hadn’t been already done a thousand times. Although many of the trailers preceding this movie have given me some much needed reassurance more original stories will be on the way.
https://moviegoerconfessions.blogspot.com/2025/08/freakier-friday-trailers.html (I did something different and gave the trailer their own post... not sure if I'll continue to do so but this time it felt like the right call)
Also I am aware horror movies have been navigating similar gaps between sequels as well. I’m not a fan of horror movies so forgive me for not counting those.

Personal Connection

So… I’m officially that age where I can say how excited I am for a sequel to a movie i saw in theaters in high school. The original Jamie Lee Curtis/Lindsay Lohan Freaky Friday came out in the summer of 2003 when I was coming off my first year of high school (in Neshaminy High School, we had grades 10-12 so I’d just finished 10th grade). I enjoyed the Parent Trap remake with Lindsay Lohan so of course I wanted to see this movie too.
It was a blast and I still come back to it on DVD at least once a year.

Also in case anyone is wondering, I did see the original versions of Parent Trap and Freaky Friday. I wasn’t a fan of either one. Especially not the original freaky Friday with Jodie Foster… it was nothing like the Lindsay Lohan version. In fact, we only follow the one character and don’t know the other was switched until the very end when she reveals “oh I was switched the whole time, I just didn’t tell anyone”

As for this sequel, of course I was thrilled when it was announced but that didn’t mean I didn’t have my reservations. I was concerned in some way this movie would take away from its predecessor… or it would ride so much on its coattails that it wouldn’t have its own identity. I had a little more faith this time around because I’m sure the nostalgia would carry me some of the way. Plus, Jamie Lee Curtis, who has enough control of her career and understanding of herself as a veteran actress… the fact she lobbied for this sequel and got it made speaks volumes. I mean, she wouldn’t stand by something like this unless it was good, right?

Two Different Rating Systems

In terms of rating or reviewing this movie, you could say it has two ways to score. How I’d rate it as a movie and how I’d rate it as a sequel. Especially a sequel to a movie that’s 22 years old.

As a movie… it’s good. I actually really liked the first act before the switch happens and it had a decent conclusion but the middle was a very chaotic jumbled mess. At times, it was difficult for me to keep these characters straight despite knowing who they were from the previous film and it was hard at times to catch my breath. But in the moments it did slow down and the actresses got to breathe and do their thing, it was really good.
I suppose if I was being objective, I’d give it maybe a B to a B- taking points away for the two or three jokes that overstayed their welcome. There wasn’t as much cringey stuff as I expected considering we have different generations and nowadays when generations are in a room together, they harp on that fact way too much. Actually, most of the comments from the gen Z characters were about how adults really don’t get it.

As for rating this movie as a Freaky Friday fan, I’d say my satisfaction rating is at 90%. So I’d give it an A- essentially.
I didn’t read a lot of reviews for Maverick, but I’m sure the criticism that it leaned too much on the nostalgia factor.
For Freakier Friday, I think it might have struck the perfect balance between throwbacks to its predecessor and telling its own story. Well, perfect might be overselling it but I was very happy with it.
The movie brought nearly all of the main characters from the original and their chemistry still holds up really well all these years later. We also added Anna’s new finance and her daughter Harper and his daughter Lilly and they more than held their own against the others. 

The only low points in that regard were Tess’s husband Ryan almost blending into the background (I barely noticed Mark Harmon was in this movie but that’s likely due to Jamie Lee Curtis stealing nearly every scene she was in) and the unpleasant return of Elton Bates (Anna's teacher who failed her purposely until Tess sets him straight during her day as Anna). Although it should at least be some consultation that he’d been demoted to detention babysitter and he was equally unpleasant to everyone.
What is it with Stephen Tobolowsky always playing unpleasant teachers with some unearned sense of entitlement? He’s literally the same character in everything I’d seen him in.
We also have a brief cameo from Anna’s brother Harry at a rehearsal dinner. The only character who doesn't make a reappearance is the grandfather (Harold Gould passed away in 2010) and Tess's "regular" patient Evan (Willie Garson passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2021). Evan was such a nervous wreck, it wouldn't have surprised me if his character arc ended tragically, but that might've made the movie too heavy.

Family and Casting dynamics

Going off the trailers, I knew there’d be four people switching bodies but I had no idea how it was going to break down, who would be who, etc. I also had no idea who the 4th girl in the freak-out scene was. But in my defense, I did go into this blind and wanting to be surprised and trusting everything would work out. And my faith was rewarded, which doesn’t happen often.

Who Harper’s dad is, that’s never revealed and part of me is kinda disappointed in that. One because it wasn’t Jake and he was only the typical high school boyfriend that just stays in high school. And two- I’m curious about the story. Was it a one night stand or was the guy even less responsible than Anna and she decided to put her music career out to pasture to be there for her?
But I like the updated dynamic between Tess and Anna where they coparent Harper. In fact the dynamic is so good the question lingered… ok, why is this switch happening again? As it turns out, not only is Anna now the one getting married but there’s the addition of another daughter into the family. And Lily happens to be a girl in school Harper doesn’t get along with. Their parents meet in the principal’s office after the duo causes a lab accident in science. And quickly fall in love.
Yeah, I didn’t see that coming but after seeing how cute they were together, I was all for it. The bulk of the conflict comes down to living arrangements. Lily wants to go back to England and Harper wants to stay in LA. Especially since her grandparents live nearby and surfing is her thing.
In addition to her therapy career, Tess does a podcast and plays pickleball with Ryan.
Anna’s old band Pink Slip has since made decent progress since their garage phase. Since becoming a mom, she now works at a music studio and manages upcoming pop star Ella, which proves a bit more of a challenge after Ella’s boyfriend breaks up with her in a very public way. She also still writes songs in her free time but it’s mostly taken a backseat between her job and parenting.

For a more politically correct twist, the switch doesn’t happen through “Asian voodoo” (we do get a quick cameo from that mom-daughter team who now have this big food empire). Instead it’s a psychic played by SNL alum Vanessa Bayer- someone else who plays the same character in every role- but this role definitely gave her plenty of freedom to be as weird as possible.
The switch navigates its way across the generation gap- the coparents switching places with the two girls.
The girls interpret the fortune they receive as a reverse-parent trap situation, where they work towards breaking up their parents’ engagement.
At one point, they track down Jake on Facebook, commenting how it’s how old people find each other. (Omg- I got on Facebook when I started college. Old?!)
He owns a record store and yeah, Chad Michael Murray is still as hot as he was back in the day. What’s funny is seeing him still having a soft spot for Tess despite the age gap and her being married. There’s a bunch of funny jokes here but the top of it is "Lily" looking for something “vintage… like Coldplay”.
Omg, still no respect… and for me, I always flip out when music I listened to when I was a teenager 20 years ago is now concerned “old”. My version of old is the Beatles and Elvis. But I also own 5 Beatles albums so I love me some vintage as well.
Sometime during their scenes, they give Ella a much needed pick-me-up via a cheesy fashion montage.

Meanwhile Anna and Tess, once they spring themselves out of detention… most of their shenanigans are rolling around town on motor scooters and consuming vast amounts of junk food while their metabolisms are still super high. All while “Spice Up Your Life” plays in the background. I think that was probably my favorite part of those sequences, the music.

I own the soundtrack from 2003 movie because it had some great songs but mostly because I had to own all of Lindsay Lohan’s stuff.
And I just have to say how much I loved her being back for this movie and lighting up the big screen. I’ve wanted this comeback for a long time and hopefully there’ll be more… especially if they’re decent quality and not exclusive to Netflix. Cuz I don’t have Netflix…

Having this switch happen four ways has its dodgy and chaotic moments for sure. But it also allows for extra opportunities for characters to bond and get to know each other more. This is done especially well when Anna’s fiancé Eric is part of these heart-to-hearts. I cannot overstate how great these sentimental character interactions are. When everything just slows down and they’re able to be candid with each other.
Part of me also wondered a bit whether everyone would switch back at the same time or there’d be two sequences for when all of the characters resolve their differences. 

It could've gone either way, but this is a 2 hour movie. However, unlike some movies that run too long these days, I felt like the story merited it being longer than the original 90+ minute movie.

Conclusion

The final major scene of the movie takes place at Ella’s concert. I don’t want to give everything away - although some YouTube thumbnail is sure to do that for me- but it wasn’t just the biggest ode this movie made to its predecessor, it gave me the big thing that was missing from that movie.
I swear if there weren’t other people in the theater (maybe 5-6 other people), I would’ve stood up cheering because the movie did this.

Just as a final comment overall, the movie wasn’t perfect nor will it win any awards. At the end of the day, that doesn’t matter. I got a little more out of this than I expected, sometimes a lot more. I just had a lot of fun with this movie and I’m really happy I went out to see it.
You can bet I’ll get it on DVD at my first opportunity. I’ll still go to the 2003 movie more but I’ll probably watch this a bunch as well.

Theatrical Review: Lightyear

Date: Saturday, June 25 2022
Time: 11am
Party: 3 (my mom, sister and I)

Director: Angus MacLane

Writers: Angus MacLane, Matthew Aldrich, Jason Headley

Composer: Michael Giacchino

Cast:

Buzz Lightyear- Chris Evans

Alisha Hawthorne- Uzo Aduba

Diaz- Efren Ramirez

Burnside- Isiah Whitlock Jr.

Izzy Hawthorne- Keke Palmer

Mo Morrison- Taika Waititi

Darby Steel- Dale Soules

Sox- Peter Sohn

Emperor Zurg- James Brolin

Review: 

My sister had wanted to go to the movies for something she wanted me to see for ages. And she enjoyed this movie.

My mom and I, not quite as much.


According to the opening slate, this was Andy’s favorite movie back in 1995 and why he and so many kids wanted Buzz Lightyear toys.

For the target audience, I think the movie did all right. There was one other family in the theater with us and the kids were into it. And my sister is very much a kid at heart even in her 30s.


Without going into too much detail, I thought this movie was ok.

The premise is about a group of space voyagers (including a team of space rangers) getting marooned on a foreign planet and Buzz is determined to complete their mission to get off it.


Going into a bit more detail, his determination to uphold the space ranger code (“always complete the mission”) that it becomes an obsession… it reaches a point where everyone else has built lives for themselves on this planet except for him.

In true to form filmmaking, this can only mean one thing- a montage.

Typically, montages happen midway through a movie or somewhere during the third act after a falling out from a misunderstanding… they’re also used to extend the movie’s runtime. If I’d experienced a montage in the first third of a movie on a previous occasion, I can’t remember it. All I do know for this particular case, I get why they chose this route. I just didn’t find it exciting. You also gotta wonder- when does it stop being about the mission and becomes more wanting to atone for past mistakes?

Our one view into the passage of time is through Buzz’s colleague Hawthorne (played brilliantly by Uzo Aduba of OITNB fame). She goes from engaged to married, seeing her son graduate college until she’s no longer there to greet him when he returns…

Because the trials involve trying to reach hyperspace, Buzz ages 4 minutes per mission while everyone else ages 4 YEARS. Aside from Hawthorne and his emotional support robot cat, Sox, it’s a lonely existence.

….

Quick aside- some critics have attacked this movie because Hawthorne is a lesbian and they show her married to another woman… it’s just a minute of screen time and somehow that kills the whole movie for some people?

First off- THAT is the dealbreaker that resulted in this being the least successful Pixar movie ever?

Personally I think the movie has some other problems that are a lot bigger than that.

Like some of the writing…

And second- there’s been this constant struggle over the past several years between giving all walks of people adequate representation in the media and pushing agendas. Some people aren’t going to be happy no matter what, but surely there’s a way to offer representation where it doesn’t come off as forced… some day, someone needs to figure it out how to strike that balance.

The one question I have left to ask on this topic (that I’m willing to publish on a public forum)…

how did Hawthorne and her partner conceive in the first place? Did they figure out how to do IVF on a foreign planet sometime during Buzz’s absence? I mean, I guess if Matt Damon can grow plants on Mars in “the Martian,” anything’s possible.
…


Fast forward even further into the future, a new enemy emerges… veterans of the Toy Story franchise (and the short lived animated series “Buzz Lightyear of Star Command”) will recognize the villain immediately.

Thanks to Sox, Buzz now has the perfect formula of fuel to reach hyperspace. Bad news- enemy forces have made it impossible to reach “the turnip” (his nickname for their spaceship… haha, makes me think of how the protagonists in the Pikmin series called the Pikmin ship “the onion”).

Against his reservations (cuz he’s so used to working on his own), he teams up with Hawthorne’s granddaughter Izzy (Keke Palmer has come a long way since playing spelling bee hopeful Akeelah - she’s really funny in this role) and her ragtag team of recruits. Darby was a former convict who’d since been forbidden to handle weapons and Mo is so neurotic he keeps wanting to give up or surrender.

Much of the film focuses on a comedy of errors, some super hilarious and others not so much. There’s a ridiculous amount of “one step forward and two steps back”… I know the space program had a lot of trial and error to get us to the moon, but still. Even with the jokes and various quirks from the characters, I felt a little deprived of enjoyment.

Then the big reveal of the bad guy’s true identity… if you look at the whole picture, yeah, it kinda makes sense. But I found it such a turnoff, something like what they did with Quill’s father in the second “guardians of the galaxy” movie would’ve been better and I’m still not over that either.

For some positives, Sox is another great addition to Disney’s league of cute animal sidekicks. The moment you meet him, you know he’ll steal every scene he’s in the moment he opens his mouth. I mean, he’s a talking cat with robot quirks and a wry humor with perfect timing- what’s not to love? (I also love his name cuz I use it [or Mittens] whenever I see stray cats with white paws)

As someone who grew up with Tim Allen playing Buzz Lightyear (he’s still awesome by the way), Chris Evans did such a great job taking over for the role I barely noticed the difference.

Whether this recast happened because of politics, don’t know/don’t care. In a way, it does kinda make sense… action figures based on movie characters rarely include sound bites from the original actor. (So much money would go to paying them royalties that manufacturers would actually lose money…)

There’s a lot of funny references to earlier forms of technology… if you grew up with things like I.V.A.N. the GPS, it’ll give you a good laugh.

As is the case with a lot of movies, watch out for running gags because there’s a good chance a big payoff will be coming later. And of course a bunch of little references to the original Toy Story movie, including the story behind his signature catchphrase.

Also- space food is kinda gross. Between the TV dinners and the sandwiches with the meat on the outside… bleck!


Despite the movie not being the best rollercoaster with all the ups and downs, it does have some good messages about perseverance… and some others I won’t go into because it could give away some crucial plot points

Grade- B

***

And if anyone cares, these were the trailers that showed. A bunch we'd seen a bunch of times already so there's no point fleshing them out again.

Minions, Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank, DC League of Super-Pets, and the latest Thor movie... if we continue going to the movies, we'll probably see these trailers a billion more times. 

Two new ones oddly go hand in hand.

The long-awaited Avatar sequel (subtitled "Way of Water") is coming this December. The trailer was a lot of scenery and maybe one line of dialogue... but seriously, it's Avatar. The visual effects and escapism sell itself. This one's gonna be exciting to see on the big screen.

Right after it, the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend Disney movie- Strange World... which felt like a mix of the worlds of "Avatar" and "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs." In other words, one of those movies where my dad says the people who made it were on drugs. 

This time, he might actually have a point...

It was only maybe 18 minutes of trailers, but one of the kids in the audience asked when they showed the Disney screen "is the movie finally starting? Finally!"

Pretty much summed it up right there. 

why Lady & The Tramp (1955) is my kryptonite

MsMojo has done countless Disney related countdowns including the sad and scary moments that wrecked us as kids. A lot of the comments mention "Fox and the Hound" and rightfully so. Two particular goodbye scenes tear me up just to even think about.

But "Lady and the Tramp" is my personal kryptonite, always has been as far back as I can remember.
Hopefully somewhere along writing this, I can figure out why. Certain things in music and movies have left me emotionally compromised over the years. That’s not a new concept for me. But with this— I think I know the issues I have and understand why, but that doesn’t change my feelings.

So I’m gonna just proceed ahead as if you’d already seen the movie. If you don’t want to be spoiled, feel free to stop reading.

...

For starters, the music. Except for “we are Siamese” and “he’s a tramp”, most of the songs hit a sad chord with me. Maybe it’s the old quality of the singers that they had in a lot of old Disney movies. But the fact there’s a jailhouse blues song before Lady gets brought in— what were they thinking? Plus the scene where they hint very strongly about a dog being taken to be euthanized. That last part went over my head as a kid but yikes...

A couple of scenes where Lady is whining or crying- it’s difficult for me to hear. The beginning when she’s just a puppy and they’re banging from the second floor to tell her to stop. They do eventually get the message and let her sleep with them. It’s a common thing with new puppies. Heck, Dodger (the yellow lab we got when I was 10) was like that when we first got him. He has such bad separation anxiety when we left him alone. It continued until he was an adult. Once we had to live in a hotel room because we were moving and the new house wasn't ready yet. We couldn't leave him alone to go out to eat because he just started whining endlessly.
But worse is later in the movie after she’s rescued from the pound, Tramp comes to see her and she tells him to go away. She found out from Peg in the pound that he has a reputation for having multiple girlfriends and she was still traumatized from being in there. Them fighting and her sobbing after- omg so sad.
Similar arguments happen in romcoms all the time, but they’re just par for the course. They don’t feel like the end of the world— most of the time.

The baby being introduced- as a kid, you don’t fully grasp the whole concept of it. From a dog’s POV, it’s probably a scary thing cuz they don’t know what to expect. Except for some things to change. Everything turns out ok and the lullaby scene is really sweet. But it still hits some emotional chord. Maybe cuz it reminds me of my mom doing that when I was little. I have no memory of anything particular, but I do know I wasn’t ok with having a new sister because I’d have to share attention. It took several years until we got as close as we are now, but it is a difficult adjustment period.

I wouldn’t call Aunt Sarah a villain but the moment the people leave to go away somewhere— also why are they leaving, especially leaving a new baby behind? That’s never explained. Lady heads them off at the door and is just as confused as I am—- anyway, things start to spiral out after that. Mainly because Aunt Sarah is not a dog person.
I’m amazed I don’t hate cats because of her cats in this movie. And I think I like Siamese cats because of this movie. But those cats were jerks!
The cats cause all kinds of trouble and damage and they get her blamed for it. And they fake injury too. What the hell!
I hadn’t seen the recent live action version (and I’d be up for it) but they redid the cat scene to get away from Disney’s history of insensitive stereotyping. But yeah, those cats were jerks.
They and aunt Sarah did result in lady spending more time with tramp and falling in love with him but did it have to come with so much trouble?

The beaver at the zoo that helps get the muzzle off Lady was a great character I kinda forgot about amid all the unpleasant stuff.

Then there’s the last 20 minutes. From the point Lady is thrown into the pound to the final credits, it’s an emotional roller coaster of sad and scary moments.
That scene with the rat getting into the house. And of course it’s storming outside- why it is always storming when something unsettling happens?
The strange thing is I don’t really like babies and I don’t want kids but anything that involves one of them getting hurt or worse- it’s very unsettling. I was all excited for the new Perry Mason series on HBO and I didn’t like how it all revolved around a baby getting killed and his parents being put on trial for it.
So yeah- that scene genuinely freaked me out as a kid the way a lot of other scenes in old Disney movies unsettled other people if it didn’t immediately go over their heads.

Even worse is that Tramp was the hero that saved him. But of course aunt Sara didn’t know so she calls the pound. As far as we’d seen, he just has a lot of fun living the life of a stray and doesn’t hurt anyone. But because he’s eluded the authorities for so long he’s public enemy #1 one so it sounds like they’re gonna kill him as soon as they get him to the pound.
Luckily, this is when the people get back and they let Lady back in the house so she can show them what really happened. It’s like they just brought Aunt Sarah to babysit for a few days and didn’t think to mention that Lady is harmless. They say it after the fact when she's adamant about not letting her into the nursery- again so much trouble could’ve been saved if things were better explained.

Finally- Jock and Trusty going after the van to save Tramp from the pound, it’s still raining and Trusty appears to get run over... oh my god! Everyone talks about Bambi’s mom getting shot ruining their childhoods. And apparently that reaction is why they decided to change the ending so he just has a broken leg.

And there’re new puppies and it’s all a happy ending?!

No! That doesn’t make everything okay!

Yeah, just thinking about that makes me bawl my eyes out. It’s a nice love story and I like a lot of the characters but I cannot reconcile that no matter how I old I get. The last time I watched the movie was 20 years ago or whenever Scamps adventure came out. And it was still a difficult watch for me.

Here’s something crazy—
I loved Scamp’s adventure. It was a great story and it was cool seeing more about Tramp’s urban legend status. Not for one moment did it make me bawl my eyes out. And as one of those direct to dvd Disney sequels it deserves recognition. And its own post.

Just a few bits of trivia I picked up...

I had no idea Peggy Lee actually did Peg's voice and a couple others. She's also the first "big star" to get cast in any Disney movie. So that's cool. 

 

There's an FAQ on Imdb where someone asks if "more" happened with Lady and Tramp in the park. And apparently yes... the puppies at the end kinda allude to that fact. But it also goes on to say that Lady was in heat and that's why some stray dogs were chasing her when she runs away after getting muzzled. Wow, I wouldn't have picked up on that at all. 

And this was something I forgot about because I hadn't seen the movie in a long time. The guys at the Italian restaurant allude to the fact that Tramp should settle down with Lady, seeming to be aware of the fact he'd brought other dogs there before. I knew he was a regular customer, but yikes... that kinda kills the mood a little bit, but we do realize soon enough that his feelings for her are genuine. 

Also, apparently the movie was panned by critics who kinda called it "sentimental hogwash." I dont get why sentimentality is a bad thing. Although that could be why I don't like some of the scenes in the movie because it plays into that. 

Ah, back to the beaver. The same voice actor went on to play Gopher in Winnie the Pooh. I thought that voice sounded kinda familiar... that's cool. 

The voice actress who played Aunt Sarah was the mother of Jim Dear's voice actor... 

The large dog in the pound was originally going to be a main character. Even to the point he and Tramp were going to be in a love triangle with Lady.

Reading the comment going back to Trusty almost getting killed... Walt Disney saw the scene and it shocked him. And he had them rewrite the ending so it wouldn't be a repeat of Bambi. But just reading the way it was written... they could have done more reanimation where they take out the part where he appears to be dead and Jock howls in mourning. Because I really didn't appreciate being faked out and suddenly everything is fine at the end. 

...so that's about it.

I probably am making this out to be a much better thing than it is. But reading up on some of the trivia and reviewing what I wrote made it a bit easier. Writing it down the first time a couple times was difficult. 

But it'll be nice to just launch this into cyberspace so I won't have to revisit it. 

I'd be open for seeing the remake, though. The music will be different and some of the things I didn't like might have been redone to where I don't mind it as much.

But yeah... Oliver & Company, I'm fine. 101 dalamatians. I'm fine. For some reason, this movie always gets to me. 

I thought maybe it was because it combined a lot of things that rub me the wrong way. Animals being in pain, physically or emotionally. Babies possibly coming into harm. Separation anxiety- that's something I had a difficult time with until I was maybe 7 or 8.

Or maybe I have a problem with these things because of this movie... 

Either way, I'm done with it. Whenever I do get back to it, Scamp's Adventure will be fun to revisit. 

Theatrical Review: Frozen 2

Date: Saturday November 23 2019
Time: 11:50am
Party: 3 (my mom, sister and I)

Writers/Directors: Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee
Songwriters: Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez

Cast:
Returning
Anna- Kristen Bell
Elsa- Idina Menzel
Olaf- Josh Gad
Kristoff- Jonathan Groff
Pabbie- Ciaran Hinds
King Angnarr- Alfred Molina
Queen Iduna- Evan Rachel Wood
Newcomers
Mattis- Sterling K. Brown (Randall from "This is Us")
Ryder- Jason Ritter
Yelena- Martha Plimpton

Duration: 103 minutes (+8 trailers)

Write-up:

Some Mild Spoilers Going Forward on both movies...

Opening Comments

I really haven't been that excited for many movies this year. This was one of the few that I had to see and was very glad to the weekend it came out. My dad actually suggested us getting our tickets on Fandango and it worked out really well. The theater wasn't completely full, but full enough where it might have been difficult to get a reasonable seat (reasonable meaning not in the front section with your neck craned backward).

The three of us saw the previous movie together so it was only fitting that we continue that tradition.I didn't fully go into my thoughts on the original Frozen just because I didn't want to give anything away. But like so many people, I got swept up in the magic of it. 
Consequentially, I was maybe one of the few that were thrilled when "Once Upon a Time" announced in a season finale that that was their next direction. I loved the actors they had for the characters. Especially the actress who played Elsa. It annoys me that whenever they have the Disney park characters, Elsa is always wearing this huge white wig with the braid. It just doesn't look natural. "Once" definitely got it right. 
I also liked that they added to the mythology of the story, explaining how they found the gloves that limited Elsa'a powers and how she had an aunt who had the same powers as her that was estranged from the family. Plus they factored in Emma Swan's magic and how she was nervous about not being able to control it. Great for character growth, but it only lasted until the next season began. 
There was a critcism about this movie about Elsa losing the confidence she gained in the previous movie... Emma Swan has probably had more regressions in confidence than anyone I know. She has it one second and then something new comes up and she's immediately back to square one. Honestly. I'm the same way myself because nothing ever stays permanent. I wish I could just "let it go" and never have any doubt in my head again. 

Ok, moving on... trailers...

Coming Attractions 

...real quick... the movie time was 11:50... the trailers didn't start until 11:58 and the trailers went on until 12:18... OMG... I'll say it again, if I wanted to see commericals, I'd just stay home. Theaters are so annoying with all delay before the actual movie starts.

There weren't many trailers that got my interest, honestly.

Call Of The Wild
I saw an ad on the right side of a YouTube video I was watching. I just saw that Harrison Ford was in it. Then this trailer started... right away... can we address the fact that the dog is fake? Completely animated! I looked up the trivia of the movie and they didn't explain why they did that. I mean, is PETA cracking down so you can't have live animals in movies anymore? It's just not normal, especially this dog's expressions. Too human. Plus, the model is based on an actual dog who is the same mix of breeds as Buck is in the book. That part is true to form, but still... somehow I get the feeling this movie is gonna bomb. 

Little Women
This actually looks real good. I mean, this has Saorise Ronan and Emma Watson. What's not to like? (Except maybe Meryl Streep playing their wet blanket of an aunt). I'd never read the book, but we have it in the house, so I really should get around to reading it... for whenever this movie comes out on HBO. But I really hope it's a good movie because I like the look of it. 

Trolls World Tour
I already wrote about this in another post...

Cats
Along with Star Wars, we're probably going to be see this one as well. I have an aversion about the original Broadway production after seeing (and being kept up at night by) it on PBS's Great Performances. The animation looks kinda weird, but I'm all for a fresh look aesthetically and also a reworking on the original Andrew Lloyd Webber score. 

Scoob!
Other than some bits and pieces of the characterizations being too modernized for my liking, this looks like it'll be a fun watch. It's so crazy to think that Scooby-Doo has been around for 50 years. But I guess they can't do any worse than the previous live action versions where there was an overemphasis on gross-out humor. I guess they couldn't have called it "When Shaggy Met Scooby" cuz it's also about the Mystery Gang getting together :P 

Soul
Another interesting looking movie... not sure if the execution is going to fall in line with the intention behind it... it's getting a lot of hype because it's the first Pixar movie with a black lead. Can't we just celebrate diversity without being so on the nose about it? It feels like fulfilling a campaign more than feeling natural. 
Anyway, Jamie Foxx is a jazz musician about to get his first break, but then he falls down a manhole and he turns into a soul... hence the name... and souls are the embodiment of what each person is deep down. Cool concept for sure. It's too bad he probably won't spend that much time human in this movie. 

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Not much to add with this... just gotta wait for the movie to come out...

Onward
They had to squeeze in another Pixar trailer apparently... two brothers get 24 hours with their father, but when they bring him back via magic, they only manage to bring him back from the waist down. Also, the characters are all elves and monsters. I can't get over the "from the waist down" thing... to me, this screams "they've run out of ideas"... yes, even more than doing a Frozen sequel... 

Haha, nice seque... I didn't even plan that. It just happened. 

The Main Event

First off... this was a great audience. The kids were quiet except laughing at the right times and clapping at the end. Mostly they just laughed at Olaf, but that's totally fine.

Now I'm not sure how to proceed.
For starters, I guess I can say that the first movie is still better in a lot of respects. But this movie had a lot of merit too. One review that was in the paper complained that this got a theatrical release and other people have said that this movie proves that Disney is very close to running out of ideas.

The only negative I can vouch for is the songs... 
Even the first time I heard "Into the Unknown" on Dancing With the Stars, I was underwhelmed by it. In the movie, it makes a little more sense because we have context. And Elsa gets two diva moments. I liked "Show Yourself" a little bit more, but neither is "Let It Go." I still remember when they occasionally played that on the radio and it was such a treat :P Unlike most of the general public, I never got sick of that song. I just wish I could sing it without some emotion taking me over... I'm very strange with certain songs. My tear ducts just activate for no good reason. 

I'll give them this: the credits version of "Into the Unknown" was actually really good. I griped so much about Demi Levato doing "Let It Go"... honestly, nobody can do that song, but Idina Menzel... but this credits version was by Panic at the Disco! I knew that voice sounded kinda familiar and I thought at the time it was Patrick Stump from Fall Out Boy. Maybe I'm a bit more familiar cuz he guest starred on a Taylor Swift song.
They also encored "All is Found"... that's one of the highlights of the movie, this song. It's a lullaby by their mom in a flashback. Kinda reminds me of something from Lord of the Rings, but more indictative of the setting of this movie. 

My favorite song was by Kristoff- "Lost in the Woods." If I didn't know any better, I'd think either Peter Cetera or Richard Marx wrote it. It just screams 80's pop power ballad :P I'm a sucker for this sort of thing, but I also really liked the lyrics and how they flowed. 

The lowlight for songs... it's kind of a sad part in the movie and Anna sings about how she needs to do "The Next Right Thing." Why did this need to be a song? Couldn't she have just had a monologue or something? As if things weren't low enough at that point, it was kinda painful to get through because the lyric writing is just so weak. Almost like they gave up trying.

Ok, all the negatives are done... 

Story time...
The gates of Arendelle are still open and Elsa is free to use her powers whenever she chooses. Kristoff is thinking of proposing to Anna-- you can kinda guess where this is going... I knew I did. Olaf has matured a little bit, which is an interesting concept. The idea of a snowman aging and learning and such. 
Then there's this mysterious voice only Elsa is hearing and she has to follow it. This quest leads the sisters to the Enchanted Forest from their own bedtime stories. Their grandfather wanted to broker a treaty with its locals, the Northuldran, a native tribe who lives with magic, but a fight breaks out without warning and their father was able to escape with help.

When the characters get into the forest (after some interesting commentary from Olaf as they trek there in Kristoff's new sled... some of it is relevant so pay attention), they find that the Northuldran and some of their comrades from Arendelle had been trapped there for 30+ years. One of them was Mattias, their father's guard.
In an attempt to catch them up on the last several years, Olaf kinda gives them a one-man show summarizing the events of the first movie. (This was maybe the best part of the movie :P especially his comment about Hans "surprise, I'm the bad guy!"... seriously, I'm still annoyed how that came out of nowhere. Any normal Disney movie drops subtle hints, if it isn't already inherently obvious. All Hans ever said was that he was 11th in line for the throne of his kingdom...)

But it's almost like an abridged version of Avatar: The Last Airbender. There are 4 elements that need to be tamed or quelled. One of them takes the form of a cute little lizard. He looks like he could be a distant cousin of Pascal, Rapunzel's chameleon from "Tangled." But they never name him in the movie... Olaf calls a gust of wind "Gale," but they never mention that the lizard's name is Bruni (according to IMDb). 
Despite various objections from Anna, Elsa has to make the rest of their journey alone. The two of them find out where her powers came from and also some things about their parents. 

I guess you could say they were creative in deciding who the bad guy was... but at the same time, I'm still annoyed that Elsa makes this huge journey and finds out the truth via flashbacks and visions. You expect to meet someone after going through all this trouble... granted, the great reveal is compelling and shocking (unless you're really on top of things). But maybe the way it was conveyed could have been done better. 

One thing I will say for the movie overall... I was invested from the first second up until the end. Heck, there was a point where the final conflict was just put to rest and everything was resolved... I just went "crap, that means the movie's almost over."
Sometimes I wish that movies lasted 10 minutes longer so we can revel in the happy ending instead of just getting it and it's "Later, by!" 
Especially movies like this where I just get caught up in the world and I love the characters. Elsa is totally my spirit animal. Makes me wish I could dye my hair that shade of platinum blonde. I just need snow powers and a better singing voice. I'm decent, but I don't have that good of a range. 

What'd I give the previous movie... I gave the original movie an A+
It was pretty near perfection, even with the whole Hans thing.

This movie... not so much... but I still enjoyed it a lot. 

Grade: A-

It was definitely worth waiting all this time for it, but they still could have done some things a lot better.

Theatrical Review: The Lion King

Date: Sunday July 28 2019
Location: Cinemark Theater in Stroud Mall
Time: 11am
Party: 3 (my mom, sister and I)

Director: Jon Favreau 
Writers: Jeff Nathanson (screenplay) and Brenda Chapman (story)
Composers: Hans Zimmer (score), Elton John (music) and Tim Rice (lyrics)

Cast:
Simba- Donald Glover
Nala- Beyonce 
Scar- Chiwetel Ejiofor
Zazu- John Oliver
Rafiki- John Kani
Sarabi- Alfre Woodard
Shenzi- Florence Kasumba
Keegan-Michael Key- Kamari
Eric Andre- Azizi
Timon- Billy Eichner
Pumbaa- Seth Rogen
Mufasa- James Earl Jones (seriously- who else?!)
JD McCrary- Young Simba
Shahadi Wright Joseph- Young Nala

(hopefully that's everyone... )


Duration: 118 minutes (+7 previews)


Introduction

OMG- I have been looking forward to this for a long time. I forgot where I ranked it in my top 100, but The Lion King is one of my all-time favorite movies. Not just animated or Disney, but all time. I think the only thing that beat it with animation was Spirited Away. But this one is very close to my heart and a big part of my childhood. Heck, I still have all of my lion plushies- a lion from the Ringling Bros. (a cirus that had no lion tamer, by the way- I'm still disappointed about that), a lioness and three Disney plushies of young Simba, Kiara and Kovu because I LOVED the direct-to-video sequel.  

But after seeing Aladdin, I still had some nerves about what kind of adaptation this would be. Even with Beauty and the Beast, as good as it is, there were still some bits I didn't like how they changed it.

Just to get it out of the way, I am very pleased with this version of Lion King. In some respects, it's actually better than the original... or I just liked how they did some things in this version more. And there are parts I prefer from the original and that'll never change. This is one DVD I'll definitely be getting. 

One thing I will add about the theater. It filled up a bit, but it wasn't full. But this felt like the stiffest audience. There was no cheering after the Circle of Life and no cheering after the credits. Maybe a chuckle or two, but still... was everyone still asleep or were they really not that impressed? 
And I'm not easily impressed either- especially something I feel this strongly about. 

Trailers

Clearly these trailers were geared towards kids more than adults... but there were a couple exceptions. 

The Art of Racing in the Rain- I'm not seeing a dog movie in the theater again after "Marley & Me", but the fact Milo from "This Is Us" is in it, I might google spoilers to see if anyone dies in the end so I can spare myself the grief. 

Playing With Fire- either John Cena has the same agent as Dwayne Johnson or his agent saw The Rock's successful crossover from wrestling to movies to Sexiest Man Alive and wants him to follow the same route. He was kinda funny in "Trainwreck," his acting debut, but a little over the top. Now he's doing a lot of Nickelodeon stuff like hosting "Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?" This movie-- it's almost as goofy looking as The Tooth Fairy was (somehow The Rock got past that and made something bigger out of his career... the Furious franchie might have helped with that). But John Cena and these firefighters adopt these kids after a fire destroys their house and it's full of stupid humor. Although the kid getting his mastiff to obey in an instant was hilarious...

Dora and the Lost City- this is a weird one for me... Dora the Explorer came around way after I was too old to like kiddie shows, but it's still kinda weird that they're making a live action version of her all grown up. I'm not sure if that same nostaglia factor will be in there. Plus it seems to have that self-aware humor a lot of Nickelodeon stuff has nowadays. 

Cats- ooh, mixed feelings about this one... PBS aired the original musical on Greatest Performances years ago. I think I was in 8th grade at the time. I don't know if it was the music or the visuals or the fact the TV was on too loud, but I went to bed halfway through and couldn't sleep. Then I got out of bed, saw the end... and I barely slept and I had school the next day. I love cats in general, but something about this show, I find a little unsettling. Thinking about "Memory" and the ending-- it was a happy ending too... it makes me burst into tears. 
I haven't read any comments on the trailer that was just released, but I'm already under the impression that a lot of people aren't going to like this version. The overall look of it is a little strange- although motion capture is a better move than what they did with Mike Meyers and the Cat in the Hat. Some of the same characters from the original I can pick out- like the lithe female white cat, Rum-Tum-Tugger and Deuteronomy (what, that's Judi Dench's character?! That's supposed to be a male character... not sure if I like that). But Jennifer Hudson seems to be playing Grizabella, the cat singing "Memory"... and she's just a diva cat that had her heyday and has become a hasbeen. I'm sure some die-hard fans of the play are not going to like that particular part of the adaptation. Not the diva angle or the race angle, but because she doesn't look old enough for that part. Elaine Paige's talent can't be denied, but the makeup and costume for Grizabella, for me, was scary beyond all reason. I mean, they had a song prior to "Memory" where the other cats were dismissive of her, almost like they were pegging her as a scary old woman that nobody should go near. So they're making her a little more approachable in this version... which I guess is good. It'd make me want to see what they do with it. But there are probably people hating also because Taylor Swift is in it somewhere... I cannot undersand why people constantly dump on her, or any of the clean cut nice girls in the entertainment business. 

Yeah... for a musical I have unpleasant memories (haha, not an intended pun) about, I remember a lot... but I have this weird issue where I remember the unpleasant things far more than things that make me laugh and smile.

Angry Birds 2- Um... the fist movie wasn't a success, why are they making a sequel?! (although the dance battle was pretty hilarious) 

Abominable- ok, are Bigfoots and Yetis IN now? What is what all of these movies lately about these guys? They're going from an Asian angle with this one and the girl who discovers it plays violin and the music brings the forest to life. That's kinda cool...but still, that's a little strange to me that this is trending and all of the studios are doing it. It's almost like the old days where Pixar and Dreamworks were ripping off each other's ideas-- Antz and A Bug's Life, anyone?

Maleficent- Mistress of Evil... I didn't like how they redid the story in the previous movie. Where Maleficent wakes Sleeping Beauty and King Stephen is actually the bad guy. I did like Angelia Jolie playing this role because I can't imagine anyone doing it better (and I don't like her that much). I don't know if this warranted a sequel. And she finds out that there are more dark fairies like her out there... I have a bit of a problem with that... she's like an evil unicorn, there should only be one of her or it just dilutes the whole evil formula. 

Mulan- yet another live Disney remake that's in the works... but this looks completely different from the original... Mulan's suddenly a badass? And where the hell is Mushu? Is this not even a comedy? I'm sure it'll be more culturally accurate than the original, but the original was great because it had a lot of heart, Mulan was an underdog who had to find her own strength and poise being in the army, and it had lighthearted funny moments because of Mushu and the dynamic between him and the lucky cricket. Of course I'll have to see it myself so I can properly judge it, but it's almost like they've erased all of the things I liked about the original. The guy playing Shang better be handsome, that's all I'm gonna say.

The Main Event

In Case anyone by now hasn't seen the original... SPOILERS will be later on... although I can't imagine anyone not familiar with this movie at all... 


Clearly I've already written a lot of things about things other than the movie so this isn't going to be a line for line thing where I go through every bit of dialogue or every scene across both movies and say which they did better... that can be its own entry in the future... 

One thing about Aladdin that I didn't like so much was the fact that they had a lot of the same dialogue, but it didn't flow as naturally from the actors. It's almost as if they've looked down on the stage where they see the T-marker and realize they have to say this line at this particular moment. 
The Lion King had this as well... there were some moments where they had lines identical to the original and they arrived at them without a proper build up. Like they copied and pasted parts of the original script into the new one. 
That said, after the Circle of Life scene where everything had to be on point (but there were some things that they could have left out because it was an obvious callback to the original)... after that scene, everyone started to relax and do the movie like they're debuting it for the first time. 

One notable difference... how the animals move and interact with one another... even how they look (Rafiki has no tail in this version because, I guess, some baboons don't have tails)... it was truer to life. And I kinda liked that. It made it feel more realistic and believable. 

Overall, the story is identical to the original and they didn't add or change too much. That was good. A story this well written, you can't mess with it too much or that just gets lost. 
One scene that was added was the circumstance where Nala leaves Pride Rock to find help. In the original, she just randomly shows up in the jungle and nearly eats Pumbaa. We get to see a bit of what the regime is like under Scar and how dire the situation is for the lionesses. It was BAD... 

The characters had all of the same qualities as the originals, but some were improved upon quite a bit. Chiwetel Ejiofor has been getting a lot of good roles since he was in "12 Years a Slave" and he's done them well. As Scar, he's downright terrifying and that's what you need in a villain like this. 
Scar in the original was oily like a snake and worked both sides with his keen intellect. But once he becomes king, he's a bit of a prima donna-- like where Sarabi tells him that there's no food and they need to leave, he says lines like "you're just not looking hard enough" and "I'm the king, I can do whatever I want"... really?! 
So definitely a check in the remake column for Scar.
We also get a little more background about him, Mufasa and Sarabi and that was a nice touch. If you really thought about it, you could have made that same argument in the original. Although why Sarabi chooses Mufasa over him isn't that hard to imagine in the original. 

One casting choice that hasn't been popular is John Oliver as Zazu... he's one of those political pundits that reads the news and skews it fully on the liberal angle. Maybe it's because I don't watch a lot of "Last Night with John Oliver"... but I didn't have a problem with him.
In fact, I really liked how they improved upon Zazu in this version. Granted, he's still a bit of a know-it-all who insists on following the rules, but he gets to play the unsung hero in a couple scenes. Not giving all that away, but that was a great way to move the story along. Plus, he has a running gag that throws back to some older Disney characters. 

One key element I was following almost the entire movie that they had to get absolutely right or they'd lose me... the score... Hans Zimmer wrote an amazing score for the original and they brought it back with extra oomph in all of the key scenes. 

Back to the characters... the hyenas still have that comic relief element, but Banzai and Ed are gone and got completely replaced by Kamari and Azizi. And they have some moments that reminded me of Pain and Panic from Hercules. Shenzi is not just scary, but she's even stronger of a character. In real life, hyenas aren't just scavangers, but they're top tier predators equal with lions. And females are the leaders. So they were definitely more accurate and respectful to hyenas. Taking everything into account, it makes the story even stronger. 

One thing I didn't like as much... the dynamic between Timon and Pumbaa. They're still a dynamic duo and it's not like Timon was an angel in the original... but his snark and sarcasm is a little more produced. And their dynamic is a little closer to Laurel and Hardy where one is dismissive of the other, insisting they're the smarter one. 
Seth Rogen as Pumbaa, though... dang, he WAS that character. Not that his voice isn't easy to pick out, but I forgot it was him that whole time. And he gets some moments to really shine. 

There'd been so much in entertainment lately about female empowerment and while I'm all for it speaking as a female, a lot of it has been over the top. That was one thing about Aladdin I didn't like so much because they were trying too hard for that angle. I was a little afraid that they'd do that with Nala as well because she's such a great character. But they did it in a way that made sense. We see why and how she's the bravest of the lioness to go for help. And she has her own role to play in the final battle with Scar and the Hyenas. I'm not the biggest Beyonce fan, but she did this part well and brought her own spin to it. Sarabi also gets a little more screentime and backstory and she shows her strength in not succumbing to Scar's demands. 

I haven't talked about Simba at all and this movie is about him, really... the young actor who played him did a really good job and Donald Glover wasn't bad playing the older version. I'd say on both accounts, the actors did a good job playing the roles in both versions. I'd read one or two comments saying he's not that great of a character or he's nothing special. But we get to see a little more of the struggle he goes through about what happened to his father and living with that guilt for something he didn't do. And there was more dialogue to bolster his character in the moments he needed it the most. 

James Earl Jones as Mufasa... it's like he never left... and that's what makes him so good as an actor. He plays this role proudly and brings the strength absolutely needed for it. That's why it's such a shock when he gets killed off. Simba grows up believing his father was invincible and we see a little more of why he's such a strong king and just a good king. Rewatching the original again a week beforehand, I almost feel like Mufasa doesn't get enough screentime and we don't get enough to grasp why he's so beloved. We lose him as we're getting to know him. Here, we get to see this for ourselves more rather than relying on what everyone else says about him and taking their word for it. 

The stampede scene is very iconic and it broke a lot of hearts the way Bambi's mom did decades before that... there were parts of it that were more impressive looking... but the moment where Scar throws Mufasa into the gore below... that's a hard scene to duplicate and improve upon. And the original still did it better... 
I know this movie practically by heart, nearly every scene and bit of dialogue... I can recall that scene instantly in my mind and that still sends shockwaves through me. Mufasa falling to his death and Jonathan Tyler Thomas screaming "NOOO!!" as he sees it happening. 
I can't recall what it was like seeing it happening in the theater for the first time, the exact things I was feeling... I was maybe 8 at the time... but yeah... phew... 

And I will concede to another criticsm... people talking about how having well known actors playing these roles takes away from it... my opinion on that is that this doesn't make me want to buy the soundtrack all over again. We do have it in the house somewhere, but I don't feel like I need to have these actors singing these songs. 
And I don't mind well-known actors doing voiceovers, but it really depends on who they are. It's not as if in this case I felt like I was hanging around with them instead of the characters themselves and I've felt that way about other actors in the past. I'm someone who worships voice actors almost more than people that are in live action movies. Mostly because they have ties to my childhood. But for iconic characters, the voice actors ARE those characters for me. I wouldn't love these characters the same way if the right actors didn't play them. 
That could be another post in itself so I won't yammer about that as well. 

While not 100% perfect, this movie is definitely a solid A for me. 

Theatrical Review: Aladdin

Date: Saturday, June 1 2019
Location: Cinemark Theater in Stroud Mall
Time: 1pm
Party: 3 (my mom, sister and I)

Director: Guy Ritchie (from the RDJudsie Sherlock franchise)
Writers: John August and Guy Ritchie
Composer: Alan Menken

Cast:
The Genie- Will Smith
Aladdin- Mena Massoud
Jasmine- Naomi Scott
Jafar- Marwan Kenzari
Iago- Alan Turdyk
The Sultan- Navid Negahban
Dalia- Nasim Pedrad
Hakim- Numan Acar
Prince Anders- Billy Magnussen

Duration: 128 minutes (+7 trailers) 

Write-up:

Opening Comments

So this is kind of a trip... my first very trip to the movies was "Aladdin" way back in 1992. I even double checked to see if they came out around the same time... nope, Aladdin came out originally on Veteran's Day. I was 6 at the time. I don't remember much about it beside maybe the scene where Jafar throws him into the ocean. That was kinda traumatic and hard to watch. But little else comes to mind.

It was weird going to the theater for this one because they had assigned seating. That's never happened before. Why didn't they have this during the Avengers movie? We got in the back and that made for good seats for sure. I gotta say, though, the theater had a lot of people... it was a tough crowd. Nobody was laughing. Nobody was cheering after certain musical numbers. I wanted to, but I would have felt weird doing it if nobody else was going to join in. 

What I will say for it in general... the original will still stand as a classic. Nothing will touch it. I will commend this movie for sticking to the script and not varying too far away from it and adding too much. It never felt overlong for me at any point. 
But my main issue with it-- as much as they stuck to the script in a lot of places, it almost felt forced. Like they had to follow the original dialogue verbatim and it's like they were robotic about it. 
The acting choices for Aladdin and Jasmine were very on point. In fact, I really liked Mena Massoud as Aladdin. I could see why Jasmine fell in love with him with his street smarts and cool attitude. As Prince Ali, he was a bit of a push-over and very inept in attempting to woo her and then around the time where he and Genie have that fight, he became unlikable. That scene in the original was kinda tough because they had a big following out. Here, the fight didn't feel genuine to me. Again, doing it for the sake of the storyline, but I didn't find it believable. 

Anyway, just a preview before getting entrenched in....

Coming Attractions

None of these were for the Lion King, which I found odd because that's another upcoming live remake getting a lot of anticipation. 

The Secret Life of Pets 2- I finally saw the original. It was a cute concept, but after seeing Zootopia (I know they're not exactly the same idea, but close enough), it fell a little short. Plus I saw it with commercials, which slowed things down considerably. It's an interesting concept here where Max gets mentored by this imposing dog he meets on a farm in the middle of nowhere. I found out later he's voiced by Harrison Ford... bad-ass. 

The Art of Racing in the Rain- do we really need another talking dog movie? We already got A Dog's Journey Home with the shelter dog Bella. Then we had another one with Dennis Quaid where Bailey goes through several reincarnations. Now this... and the "human" protagonist is Milo Ventimiglia from "This is Us" who marries Amanda Seyfried and they have various difficulties and their dog is played by Kevin Costner... never mind if the dog dies, if something happens to Milo, it'd be a tough watch for me. There was one cute scene where Amanda's lying on the couch with this big round belly and the dog says "I would have hoped it looks just like me"

The Addams Family- I saw the movie poster for this going into the theater. It's an animated version, but it looks funny as hell. Oscar Isaac is somewhere in the cast, another attention grabber for me :P and one funny scene where Wednesday bemoans nothing exciting is happening and her brother falls out of a 2 story window and she says "thanks for trying"

Blinded by the Light- we're just in love with music fantasy movies lately, aren't we? Unlike Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocketman, this isn't a bio pic. Instead, it's closer to the Yesterday movie where music from a certain artist is changing someone's life. This case- Bruce Springsteen. This Indian 20-something lives in a traditional Indian household and finds his voice in Bruce's musice. To the point he gets a plane ticket to the US to see him in concert.
Now I'm not a huge fan of his... my folks grew up in New Jersey and he was played in the car a lot when I was a kid. But I don't get him that same way. In fact, I'd say I like his lesser known singles better-- Tunnel of Love and Hungry Heart are more of my speed.  As an artist, I do respect him so I think I'd really enjoy this movie. (His autobiography I've always wanted to read too)

Spider-Man: Far From Home-- after the last Avengers movie, I'm not sure how much of a mood I'll be in for these movies anymore... if this gets rave reviews, I might reconsider. But for now, I'm just not ready. 

Maleficent- Mistress of Evil-- I'm not sure what to make of this one. They already did the movie, rewrote her backstory where she's a fairy that gets her wings cut off by her lover, she's the one who kisses Sleeping Beauty awake and King Stephen is the bad guy. Are they completely rewriting that movie and trying something closer to the original Disney movie? According to IMDB, Aurora is becoming Queen... I like the idea of the back story they rewrote for this infamous Disney baddie, but it was just way too much of a re-imagining for my tastes. 

Toy Story 4- it's nice to finally get a proper trailer for this one. I'd seen a lot of teasers. Supposedly Bonnie's new toy Forky wants to run away because it wants to be in soup and be thrown away. So it's up to everyone to get it back. Then Woody meets up with Bo Peep again. Not only is she a strong feminist character, but she seems like an antagonist, trying to convince Woody there's more to a toy than just being a plaything for a child. I'm not sure how I feel about that. 

The Main Attraction 

I more or less am writing this as a fan of the original movie and talking how they adapted this from the original... therefore there will be a bunch of story spoilers, but I'm not giving everything away... at least I don't think so... 

One thing I will say to preface everything-- I don't know this movie line for line like I do "The Lion King," but I was following the script in my head for the first half of the movie... then by the second half, I just threw the book out the window and just went with the flow because it clearly wasn't going to be identical. 

First off-- Agrabah looks totally different. It's a port city instead of being in the middle of the desert. Jasmine is in the marketplace at the start, suggesting she sneaks out occasionally because she's caged in the palace all the time. She and Aladdin meet in the same manner, but it leads into his song "One Step Ahead" where he's dodging the guards.
The choreography for that scene is AMAZING. I loved how they had him going through the streets, knowing every corner like the back of his hand. But I was thinking-- why the hell is Jasmine part of all that? I felt very strange about it. 
Follow that up-- he asks who she is, but she gives a false name. The name is of her handmaiden, a completely new character invented for this movie. 
On the one hand, Dalia adds to the Genie's character arc, so that change I liked a lot. But the "false name" charade lasted way too long and it felt so forced. Plus, Dalia is played by an actress from the recent SNL cast. I found that distracting immediately because a lot of these SNL people try way too hard to be funny and it feels off. It was like having a correspondant from the Daily Show playing the Fire Lord from the live Avatar: The Last Airbender movie... one of MANY things that failed about that movie. 

Then there's the whole #GirlPower thing. It's great that they made Jasmine a strong character and she even gets her own song, "Speechless." That's kinda cool. But the need of adding another female character to this movie (which only had Jasmine in the original) and pushing the feminist agenda, it just comes off incredibly forced. As a female, I'm all for it, but don't overplay that hand. 
It's great that Jasmine cares for her people and wants to do right by them, but the whole idea of her wanting to be Sultan. I mean, her character was very critical about the princes sent her way for an arranged marriage, but she wanted to fall in love with her suitor instead of it being a forced marriage for the sake of the kingdom. (I think the original just had her bound by law to be married by her next birthday, which was impending...) 

The guy playing Jafar... yeah, he's a bit of a creep. So he nailed that, but I'm not sure if I got the whole "evil" vibe from him. What I liked that they added-- he had this weird pet peeve about being labeled "second best"-- keep an eye out for that. It's a hint for when he really goes ballistic. 
Iago, he sounds more like a parrot than Gilbert Gottefried ever did. But it was weird hearing someone else play him. I dont know if he wasn't asked because of the whole scandal that got him fired by AFLAC or they wanted to be more authentic. But I kinda missed having him in the movie. 

One change that was kinda nice. They gave a character with minimal screen time in the original movie a bigger and more impactful role. In the original, Hakim was Jafar's first sacrifice to the Cave of Wonders because he thought he'd be worthy to find the lamp. Here, he's one of the palace guards and what he winds up contributing to the movie, that was a great rewrite. I'll say that much. 

Back to the storyline-- Jasmine isn't told that Aladdin was beheaded for being accused of kidnapping her. He just agrees to meet her and he's caught by Jafar before he can. Fair enough. 
The Cave of Wonder is AMAZING... one of many great set pieces in this movie. 

Will Smith as The Genie is definitely a big talking point about this movie. He said he wanted to pay homage to Robin Williams with his performance, but also wanted to do his own twist on it. Some of the jokes were kinda lame, admittedly... need we talk about the jams (and I'm not talking about music here... bringing this up once was one thing, but multiple times in a span of 10 minutes... yikes)...
Anyway, he was a smooth customer and was a major highlight of the movie. It feels like forever since I'd seen Will Smith in anything. Since the 90's, he'd been doing a lot of serious roles in the types of movies I don't really get into. It's nice to see him in a comedic role again. 
The IMDb trivia mentioned his work in "Hitch" where he helps hapless men land hot women.... this was a very similiar dynamic.
It worked, but it also didn't. 

Aladdin was super confident in the animated version and even if he didn't really know what was what as far as being a prince, he certainly wasn't a bumbling idiot. In this version, I can understand why he'd had a difficult time adjusting to the Prince Ali character, but it's like he lost everything that made him appealing in the first place. 
They had a cool dance scene, but it was a little odd to watch with the Genie kinda pulling puppet strings to make him a sick dancer. 

The musical numbers from the movie were all hits and massive productions. Definitely well done and it helped sell the movie. The little moments in between, hit and miss. 

Quick note about the Sultan- he wasn't as dim-witted and lovable in this version, but he still had a bit of a weak mind that Jafar could control 

The scene where Jafar tries to kill Aladdin and the Genie has to save his life- I liked how they rewrote that so the high after "A Whole New World" isn't completely ruined... 
then how Jafar got the lamp back from Aladdin went back to his roots-- pay attention to the dialogue, that was a clever move.

Then when Jafar gets the lamp and starts making wishes... the storyboard by this point gets really choppy. 
It gives some big moments to other characters that didn't really get to show their strength. But how Jafar goes from Sultan to Sorcerer... it just felt weak... like he just realized nobody was going to take him seriously- some 15 minutes later- and then he makes that second wish. 

Then how the movie ends... it's a good overall ending and everyone has that happily ever after. That was great. 

Grade: B+