Movie Roundup – May 06

Star Wars - Clone Wars - Series 2

Not the movie but the cartoon series. Saw the first series a while ago and, whilst I thought it was ok, wasn't overly impressed. The main problem was a lack of narrative - each 5 minute cartoon was self contained. This is a problem the second series doesn't have and it's much better because of it. The stories all combine together to make a single uninterrupted episode (shown as a movie on the dvd). They show the development of Anakin and help explain his desent to the dark side, with the series ending as Anakin and Obi-Wan Kenobi enter into the battle that starts the third film. Well worth a look.

Corpse Bride

An animated movie created by Tim Burton. The film uses stop motion animation to bring a rather dreary world to life. I had seen the trailer previously and thought it all looked rather interesting. Unfortunately the actual movie left me feeling much like the inhabitants of the world it portrayed - disappointed. The animation itself is wonderful, as are the design and effects, but the story left something to be desired. I think part of the problem is recent stories from companies like Pixar setting the bar too high for their competitors - give me Toy Story any day.

Amélie

Wow - this film is wonderful. I would recommend it to absolutely anyone. I had been meaning to see it for ages, kept hearing good things about it, but never actually gotten around to watching. I'm glad I finally got to see it. The story follows Amélie, played by the wonderful Audrey Tautou, as she goes about her simple life - helping improve the lives of others. There is a warm center to the movie that can't help but make you feel good - I love it.

Final Fantasy - Advent Children

I have played other final fantasy games, and I have seen Final Fantasy - The Spirits Within but I've never played Final Fantasy 7 (although I do own it :S). Despite this I have watched Final Fantasy - Advent Children, which is a follow up to the very popular PlayStation game. Like Spirits Within, Advent Children is a rather confused film - I suspect it would have made much more sense if I had actually played the game (I will one day). Unlike Spirits Within, Advent Children played up to it's video game heritage a lot more. Spirits Within stuck to a real life style making things realistic and believable (as believable as space based fantasy can be anyway), whilst Advent children went for a more anime style movie - I felt that was a much better choice. Overall it was interesting but something felt missing which would most likely have been filled in if I had played the game.