The Wild Robot (2024)

The Wild Robot (2024)

 

9/10

Starring the voices of     

Lupita Nyong'o

Pedro Pascal

Kit Connor

 

Directed by Chris Sanders

 

It’s not hard to say that this is going down as one of the best animated movies of the decade, because the story is that good. Based on a book by Peter Brown, Chris Sanders wrote the screenplay and directed this masterpiece. Having worked on animations like How to Train Your Dragon and The Croods at Dreamworks, Sanders’s involvement raised my expectations, and I wasn’t disappointed.

The animation doesn’t try to compete with Disney’s CGI, instead, it uses hand-painting techniques on characters, which is why the budget is below $100 million.

The voice acting is masterful, and the flow of the movie immerses you in a new world. Sanders did well by not allowing Roz to become a lost puppy, aimlessly running around the screen. Instead, Roz is confident and determined to find her purpose, and once she does, there’s no stopping her.

Roz is a robot, full name Rozzum unit 7134. She washes up on an uninhabited island when an animal accidentally activates her. From that moment on, she follows her basic programming, searching for someone to claim her as their own and give her tasks.

The running around wasn’t without its costs, though. She wasn’t designed to be on this island, and didn’t understand how to interact with animals or navigate the surroundings. By the time Roz slows down to understand the environment, she’s sustained significant damage.

Despite this, her wandering leads her to crash into a tree, killing a goose mother and smashing all but one of her eggs. Roz takes the egg but loses it again and must chase down a fox to get it back. Her curiosity leads her to keep the egg until it hatches, but the gosling turns out to be a runt, smaller than a typical goose and unlikely to survive in the wild. Roz meets a possum mother, who tells her she must care for the gosling. Roz adopts it, modifying her programming, but since she doesn’t understand how to care for it, the fox, who originally tried to eat the egg, offers to help. The fox, driven by self-interest, feels sympathy for the gosling, believing that Roz’s attempts to raise it were more like torture than care.

The movie follows their efforts to raise the gosling and prepare it for migration during winter.

The journey for Roz and the fox to foster this gosling wasn’t easy, but the animation delivers enough comedic moments to make the experience enjoyable, with touching scenes of failure and robot fights in the climax.

This is a must see.

Brothers (2024)

Brothers (2024)

 

6/10

Starring          

Josh Brolin

Peter Dinklage

Brendan Fraser

Glenn Close

 

Directed by Max Barbakow

 

One thing this movie excels at is its ability to engage the audience. It’s written in such a way that it keeps you guessing and wondering how everything will unfold. Instead of simply focusing on how things end or how the brothers will reconcile, you are intrigued by the various unresolved questions. What happened to their mum? How did the situation with the emerald and her boyfriend play out? What was the deal with Marisa Tomei’s brief yet mysterious cameo? And how would the brothers manage the cop that is relentlessly pursuing them?

Some of these questions, particularly the last one was not well tied up, we get to understand so much of how the brothers and the cop are linked, but how their issue was resolved finally could have been done better. But that doesn't detract from the overall experience. The film keeps you hooked, maintaining your interest right up until the end. It’s a fun ride, and even with its occasional loose threads, the enjoyment is in the journey.

The cast in this film was outstanding. Glenn Close, in particular, was almost unrecognizable, blending into her role so well that you forget who you’re watching. The story follows twin brothers Moke (Josh Brolin) and Jady (Peter Dinklage), whose differences in height give a comedic touch reminiscent of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito’s iconic pairing in Twins (1988). However, unlike that comparison, this film isn’t a simple comedy – it’s more layered and complex. These brothers have been raised in a life of crime. Their mother, played by Glenn Close, was an armed robber, and the brothers, though initially petty criminals, went down separate paths after a heist gone wrong.

Jady gets caught during a heist, but unlike the typical movie trope, he doesn’t betray Moke. Moke, in turn, tries to turn his life around, seeking redemption. However, Jady’s life doesn’t end there. He gets an early release, thanks to the help of a corrupt cop named Farful (Brendan Fraser). Farful, aided by his father, a judge, helps Jady get out of prison on the condition that he completes one last task. Jady convinces Moke to help him, and this is where the film takes a turn. Moke discovers that Jady has been in contact with their mother all along, and they are entangled in a scheme of their own making.

As the movie unfolds, we see how the brothers navigate their fractured relationship, trying to sort out their differences in a bid to overcome the chaos they’ve found themselves in. While the film doesn't offer a mind-blowing conclusion, it’s an enjoyable ride with some lighthearted moments. It’s not a groundbreaking comedy, but it’s certainly an enjoyable watch, perfect when you’re looking for a fun movie to kill time without needing something heavy.

Alien Romulus (2024)

Alien Romulus (2024)

7/10

Starring          

Cailee Spaeny

David Jonsson

Archie Renaux

Isabela Merced

Directed by Fede Álvarez

 

Alien Romulus is a good film, I tell you. It has been a while since I have seen a good film like this, and it carries its own weight of twists and turns, while doing homage to the franchise. There are ribcage bursting out things. Stabbing with the Alien tail. People running from a monster so huge that you wonder why not just give up. The movie plot is so dark, it is amazing, and director and writer Fede Álvarez did a great job.

It is good to see what modern day graphics can do with these Alien creatures, and it is also amazing to see a familiar face. The moment I saw the late Ian Holm, I was like, “see what CGI can do.” It was nice work, since we cannot get Sigourney Weaver’s character Ripley back into the franchise, thanks to how the franchise has gone with her character.

This movie takes place in space in 2142, and follows the events of the first movie, Alien (1979). The movie plot takes place between Alien (1979) and Aliens (1986).

After the events of the first movie, humans took the remains of the Alien to a secret base to work and see how they could merge the Alien DNA with that of humans and create a better evolved human race. How that played out is something you will have to see, but this was a subplot that did not take hold until halfway in. So, what led to the Alien mounting another assault on the human race?

While they were doing their experiment in space, the Alien got out and damaged the whole space station. The whole thing was abandoned there in space.

Then comes Rain, an orphan miner trying to do enough time mining to finally leave the mining planet and go to planet Yvaga, where only humans live with the hope of a better life. Rain lives with her adoptive brother, Andy, who is a cyborg with some broken motor functions, reprogrammed to protect Rain by her late father. When Rain was unable to leave the planet, her ex-boyfriend called her for a one-time job in space. The reason she was called is that they needed Andy to help them get into the abandoned space station and steal the cryostasis chambers that would allow them to escape to planet Yvaga. This was supposed to be a simple get in, get the chambers, and get out job. But as you know, things never go as planned.

They got in, got the oxygen working, and accidentally turned on the heating. The frozen cloned facehuggers got loose, and as you can expect, things did not go as planned from then on.

I enjoyed the movie more than I expected to.

Transformers One (2024)

Transformers One (2024)

4/10

Starring          

Chris Hemsworth

Brian Tyree Henry

Scarlett Johansson

Keegan-Michael Key

 

Directed by Josh Cooley

 

I have to say this movie was underwhelming. I had some hope, considering it was an animation, and animation usually allows for boundless creativity. However, by the end, I was disappointed. The biggest issue was how the story developed. I’m not particularly deep into the Transformer franchise, so this was my first time experiencing this origin story of the rivalry between Optimus Prime and Megatron. The hate between them always seemed rooted in their roles as Autobots and Decepticons, but the film made it much more personal with a betrayal that had nothing to do with them directly. I felt that this plot twist was a missed opportunity and could have been handled better.

The animation itself wasn’t as impressive as I had hoped. While animation offers the chance for stunning visuals, the movie didn’t utilize that potential in a way that felt groundbreaking or particularly engaging. The plot was another weak point, and I believe this movie won’t attract many new fans or help the franchise grow. That being said, the voice acting was solid, and I think that was the movie’s strongest aspect.

The story centers on two friends, Orion Pax and D-16, who work in the mines of Cybertron, the home planet of the Transformers. Cybertron is a planet of transforming robots, and the two friends are born without the necessary cogs to transform. It turns out that many Transformers are born this way and are forced into labor jobs like mining Energon, the planet’s key energy source.

Orion Pax dreams of more than just being a miner, and he is fixated on finding the Matrix of Leadership. The leader of Cybertron, Sentinel Prime, is the only remaining Prime after the others were killed by alien invaders. Sentinel has been searching for the Matrix for a long time, hoping it would give him the power to lead Cybertron and defend against the invaders, but he hasn’t had any success.

Pax’s actions, especially a stunt that draws attention to him and D-16, give the workers in the mines a renewed sense of hope, that they can be more than just miners, transformers without a cog. This is where the story gets interesting, as it brings conflict with their mine leader, Darkwing. Darkwing, displeased with their behavior, reassigns them to garbage disposal duty. It’s while working here that they encounter B-127, a new character who will play an important role in their journey.

Soon after, Pax uncovers a message from one of the dead Primes, and, determined to uncover its meaning, he convinces D-16 and B-127 to venture to the surface of Cybertron. There, they discover another Prime who reveals shocking information: to them. All Transformers should have cogs, and the fact that they don’t mean something is amiss in Cybertron’s society. This leads the group to the realization that there is a larger conspiracy at play. While this might seem like an exciting revelation, I didn’t feel the film built on this intrigue as effectively as it could have.

From this point, it’s clear that Orion Pax will eventually become Optimus Prime, and D-16 will become Megatron. The hate felt for one another felt forced and didn’t pack the emotional punch that such a transformation deserves. As I mentioned before, I didn’t feel as invested in this animation as I thought I would be, and it’s no surprise that it didn’t perform well at the box office and received average ratings.