Hit - Starring Jim Carrey, Colin Firth, Gary Oldman

An animated version of Charles Dickens’ novel about an grouchy old man who is taken on a journey of self-reflection by three spirits that represent the past, present, and future.

The opening of this film reminded me of so many Disney films of the past. They start with the book - A Christmas Carol on a table with a candle next to it. We zoom in and when we get close enough the book opens to the first chapter. This is the subsequent end of the story as they conclude by closing the books. I have missed this particular introductory style in Disney films that it is refreshing to see that it has made its way back.

This particular installment of A Christmas Carol was interesting because of the 3D animation that is included. It takes awhile for your eyes to adjust to this style but it adds a little pizazz to the film. Without this, the movie would have simply been like any other film out there. Luckily, they decided to show the film in this format which enhanced the overall viewing of the film.

As always, the story is solid, the voice acting is superior, and the pace of the film is on track. But, there are areas of this film that fail to meet expectations. 1. The movie was quite thrilling and would not be suitable for general audiences - 3rd grade and up would be appropriate. 2. The animation style (as seen in The Polar Express) is still very creepy because it looks too close to the real thing. 3. The 3D animation was good but it wasn’t as great as I thought it would be - I was expecting Captain EO-esque type 3D but I didn’t find any reason to try and grab at things in front of me like a 3D movie should inspire you to do.

Bottom Line: Enjoyable but I still prefer Mickey’s Christmas Carol.

Animation

Rated PG for scary sequences and images.

Running Time: 1 hour 36 minutes

Miss - Starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner

After people begin to question the Cullens about their history in Forks, they decide to leave to find a new homestead. When Edward decides to not take Bella with him, Bella is heartbroken. She finds comfort in her friendship with Jacob Black but knows that Jacob is different from other boys in Forks.

Before I begin this review, I would like to say that I also disliked Twilight. Going into this film, I wanted to really like it because I know what an impact it has had on popular culture. Unfortunately, I found this film to be better than the first but still a poor film overall.

The good aspects include: I appreciate the stray from what Hollywood considers to be the “norm” of teenage relationships. This relationship view is much more true to actual high school. So much so, that it is scary how reflective it is upon my own experiences in high school. That may be the reason that I disliked this movie so much.

The bad: It is hard to say this but the acting is just awful. There comes a point in the film where I just want to slap the character of Bella (and the actress) because I feel betrayed by her portrayal of a character that doesn’t have enough depth. I thought that Kristen might be able to do something about that and create that depth but her portrayal is simply one-dimensional. The other actors of the film follow suit with poor performances. The best performances of this installment go out to Bella’s father and the head vampire.

While I am not interested in continuing a relationship with this film, I know that it will continue because Mr. Movies enjoys vampire films and therefore, we must continue to see them. Luckily there are only 2 films remaining.

Bottom Line: If you are a Twilight freak, you will enjoy this. If you are not, you will not enjoy this.

Drama

Rated PG-13 for some violence and action.

Running Time: 2 hours 10 minutes

Hit - Starring Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin, Jesse Eisenberg

In a world overrun by Zombies, two men who have found a way to survive. But can they handle taking two extra passengers on their journey?

Zombieland gets off to a great start and doesn’t slow down from there. The pace of the film is fast and gets to the point quickly. I appreciate this factor as I feel that most films nowadays are slow paced and can drag on too long. This was the perfect amount of - wham, bam, thank you ma’m.

This film is a “hard R” in the area of gore. There were many times where I turned my head because of the amount of violence/gore proved to be too much for me. While I can stomach a lot of things, this was too much for me.

The actors in this film were well cast and I found that they played well off of each other. The relationships were believable and the celebrity cameo was by far one of the best I have ever seen in a film.

Bottom Line: If you like Zombie films, you will love Zombieland.

Comedy, Action, Horror

Rated R for horror violence/gore and language.

Running Time: 1 hour 28 minutes