Ankle-frack Round-Up 5 - MR POPPER'S PENGUINS

From the director of MEAN GIRLS and the writers behind HOT TUB TIME MACHINE and THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG comes an entirely harmless "tab A into slot B" kids movie in which all things are predictable and cute and banal and blah.

Jim Carrey is typecast as the divorced workaholic with no relationship with his kids who is magically transformed into a warm-hearted, touchy feely dad when he inherits some penguins.  Despite the all-star cast (Carla Gugino as the estranged wife, Angela Lansbury as the picky client) the movie just doesn't catch fire.  The penguins (real life) just aren't as cute and fun as they are in HAPPY FEET - maybe the screenwriters should've stuck with the Popper-forms-a-circus-troupe story from the original children's book?  The plot is entirely predictable.  There isn't enough oddball comedy of the kind found in THREE MEN AND A BABY - we need to see Carrey's Popper struggle more with his apartment being trashed instead of just immediately becoming a wonderful pet owner and father. Worst of all, Carrey just looks tired and old and bored. At his best he was an actor so full of energy he could transform mediocre movies into works of comic genius.  But now? He's lost that lovin' feeling.  

There's nothing out and out badly done about the movie, but nothing worth watching either, even as a DVD.

MR POPPER'S PENGUINS was released in summer 2011 and is now available to rent and own.

GHOSTS OF GIRLFRIENDS PAST - Automated Rom-Com

GHOSTS OF GIRLFRIENDS PAST is a high concept romantic “comedy” in which Matthew McConaughey plays, shocking I know, a scoundrelous photographer who refuses to commit to the love of his life (Jennifer Garner). He is not a complete schmuck, you see, but is acting out as a result of childhood trauma and the example of his Robert-Evans-style lothario uncle (Michael Douglas). Said Uncle sends a ghost (Emma Stone) to show McConaughey’s character scenes of his past romantic cowardice, present shallow lifestyle and future loneliness if he doesn’t mend his ways. All of this takes place the night before his kid-brother’s wedding allowing a suitably schmaltzy ending and some lovely scenery in a gorgeous country house. The only reason to watch this movie is for interior design tips cum country house fantasising and to watch Michael Douglas camp it up as Robert Evans. I’ve seen Matthew McConaughey’s sterotypical arrested adolescent character too often now to find it interesting, and he has absolutely no chemistry with Jennifer Garner. Overall, this is just another one of those clunking rom-coms, where you can see the machinery of the plot lurch into gear and predict from the start where it’s heading. Dull, dull, dull.

GHOSTS OF GIRLFRIENDS PAST is on release in the UK, USA and opens next weekend in Australia and New Zealand. It opens later in May in South Africa, Argentina, Germany, Denmark, Estonia and Lithuania. It opens in Malaysia on 4th June; in Greece, Russia, Singapore, Brazil and Romania on June 12th; in France, the Czech Republic and Finland on June 18th; in Belgium and Italy on July 3rd; in Bulgaria on July 10th; in the Netherlands and Norway in July 24th and in Portugal on August 20th.

THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES - beautifully made children's fantay film

THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES is a beautifully made, well-acted, children's fantasy adventure.

A young boy, angry at his parents' separation, discovers a curious field guide to a magical world of faeries, goblins and sylphs. Problem is, an evil ogre wants to steal the book and use its collected knowledge to rule the magical world. So much for the plot. The real meat of the movie is a story about children who have to live without their fathers, and the importance of family.

The great thing about SPIDERWICK is that the wonderfully-rendered CGI effects never swamp the story. Indeed, director Mark Waters takes an admirable amount of time to establish the human story before he unleashes the magical world. I also think that the casting is spot-on, and helps us feel real empathy for the characters. Freddie Highmore pulls off playing both twins - giving each a distinctive character and voice. Sarah Bolger and Mary-Louise Parker are believable as the big sister, mature before her time, and the mother at the end of her tether. But I especially like th casting of Nick Nolte as the ogre; David Strathairn as the author of the field-guide; and Joan Plowright as his grown up daughter Lucinda. Joan Plowright has the most amazingly sympathetic, twinkling eyes, and it's a pleasure to have her back on the big screen. The voice-work is also great, with Martin Short playing a sweet little brownie called Thimbletack who morphs into the angry Bograt; and Seth Rogen as the cowardly but kind-hearted Hogsqueal.

My only reservations about this movie aren't really concerned with the film-makers but with the source material. I was never particularly convinced by the internal logic of the fantasy world. (Then again, if you have Tolkien as your benchmark, everything seems thin by comparison). Moreover, I never felt the stakes were high enough. I don't think we see enough of the fantasy world to care about it's destruction and the script didn't make it very clear whether the human world was really at risk from the ogre, beyond the family itself.

Still, these are all comparatively small quibbles that might concern adults but not the kids. THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES is sure to keep children amused (at least those who aren't so young as to be scared by a pretty mean looking ogre who can morph into a snake).

THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES opened in February 2008 in the US, Canada, the Philippines and South Korea. It opened earlier in MArch in Thailand, Mexico, Poland and Finland. It opens this weekend in the Netherlands, Greece, Portugal, Singapore, Colombia, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and Venezuela. It opens next weekend in Belgium, Argentina, Chile, Croatia, Germany, Hong Kong, Lebanon, Peru, Russia, Ukraine, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Iceland, Italy, Panama, Romania, South Africa and the UK. It opens on March 26th in Egypt and in April in Australia, Taiwan, New Zealand, France, Serbia and Montenegro, India and Japan.

JUST LIKE HEAVEN - the mediocre movie that scuppered the Universal/Dreamworks deal

JUST LIKE HEAVEN is a formulaic romantic comedy with the emphasis on romance rather than comedy. Reese Witherspoon takes a giant step back from her Oscar-worthy role as June Cash in WALK THE LINE to play Elizabeth Masterson, a workaholic medic. When Elizabeth has a car accident and falls into a coma, her spirit starts haunting her old apartment, now the home of Indie-flick darling, Mark Ruffalo. So begins an otherworldly romance that is so formulaic it has an A-level in Further Math. A real let down givem how much I normally love these two actors and the generally positive reviews from the professionals. The only redeeming feature of JUST LIKE HEAVEN is the cameo performance by the supremely funny Jon Heder, who plays a spiritual-bookstore owner. Heder reprises his lovable eccentric doofus role from the truly funny and romantic flick NAPOLEON DYNAMITE. I strongly suggest you rent that instead.

JUST LIKE HEAVEN is on global release.