Great awaits

I was chatting with a college friend on MSN this afternoon when she gave me a link to an upcoming movie by Tim Burton. Being a big fan of his 'Nightmare Before Christmas', of course I took a look.

YouTube - Coraline (2009) - Trailer #2 [HD QUALITY]

Coraline, a movie by Focus Features and Laika seems like a pretty picture to begins with... that is until you get to the middle of the trailer. Some kid who thinks the world isn't enough and finds a new dimension, only to have her dreams turn evil. Although as I found out it wasn't by Tim Burton, it was however directed by the same Henry Selick that did NBC. Animation wise, it was so smooth that at first I thought it was made in 3D. Definitely a good show to catch, no matter how much it reminds me of a lighter 'Pan's Labyrinth'

It's almost Christmas, time to dish out the comedies. So I went over to check the other large animation production houses; namely Walt Disney, Pixar and Dreamworks.

I can't say I remember the last movie by Disney, but I think the last one I watched was 'Enchanted', which was nice. But now there's Bolt

Apple - Trailers - Bolt - Trailer

Cute, alternate reality inside the mind of a dog, an innocent cat and a fantasizing hamster. Being in a movie, Bolt the main character thinks what happens behind the camera is real. Soon enough he escapes the confines of the set and is off to save his little miss. What he doesn't realize is that his super powers don't work outside the screen. Definitely a funny to watch since it involves inconvenient innocence and cute realization of one's position.

In the recent movie with 'Wall.E', Pixar reached beyond their normally grounded routine and flew off into space, and in their next movie it seems they haven't quite come back down to Earth.

Apple - UP

In their coming feature length animation, 'UP', Carl Fredriksen a 78 year old man who feels life has passed him by is given a boost to rekindle his want to explore the world by a young boy named Russell. He takes off his own around-the-world trip in a very unexpected manner (or manor). With little enough imagination, one can see how this would be an entertaining movie, however it would be no loss to see Pixars view on it as it is rolled out on the big screen on the 29th of March 2009.

On the other hand, Dreamworks seems to be keeping with their quaky styles and story telling. In their new movie slated to come out ALSO on March 2009, is a funny but different version of the cliche city-in-need-of-saving therefore superheroes-are-born. Dreamworks love for throwing norms in the opposite direction is shown once again in this feature.

YouTube - Monsters vs Aliens trailer

Imagine 'Monsters Inc.' and 'Kungfu Panda' in a larger group (I would say 'The Incredibles' but it might be suicide to mix the production houses up). Which now that I have a chance, would like to mention that Dreamworks seems to have a liking for tubby characters, seeing as they have had so much practice with the 3 installations of 'Shrek' and Po from 'Kungfu Panda'. They haven't pulled out of it by introducing Insectorsaurous(sp?) and Bob(who doesn't have a brain) in this movie. I'm already looking forward to this.

2009 also announces the screening of 6th book 'Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince' in July. Something to look forward to, only to be picked apart being compared to the novel.

Apple - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - Trailer 3a

Watching the trailer made me feel the need to read Rowlings 6th book again. Not because I want to compare, but because I cant for the life of me remember half of the scenes that happen in the trailer(Ok, so maybe that means compare too). This is something odd for Potter books as I usually remember whats in or not in the book. Which either means my memory bank is crap, or that the movie's being distinctly different again. Someone watch it and confirm with me?

So, perusing the Apple movies I also caught sight of this movie:

Apple - Inkheart - Trailer 2a

Which sad to say I regret not buying the book before the eventual price-hike-because-it's-a-dang-blockbuster. Inkheart is the first edition of a trilogy by Cornelia Funke, where the characters find they can make stories come to life just by reading it out loud. Good grief, that's something I've dreamed of doing since a whole lot of years before. The trailer looks very promising though in that case I'm prepared to find the movie a bit less thrilling than the trailer.... The only itch about the movie is that Brendan Fraser plays the dad. He's a good actor no doubt about that, it's just that I feel he doesn't have the face for it, not after 'Bedazzled'. Maybe Ewan McGregor? But that's just my opinion.

Next up is another book-to-movie feature. This one's a little closer in date coming out 6 days before Christmas.

Apple - The Tale of Despereaux - Trailer - Medium

Pronounced 'des-pa-roe', it's a tale about a mouse, a princess, soup and the turn of the tide written by Kate DiCamillo. Although not made by any of the animation company favourites, it looks nice enough. A little different from the more recent cooking rat animation but just about as fun. This is another book which I had refrained and regret from buying. I was drawn to the book before by its charming cover design which I think anyone would fall for. Voice over for this movie is as charming as its character Despereaux who is, despite all, a gentleman.

So saying, those are the movie I'm looking forward to the most in the wonderful medley of movie chaos. Of course there will be movies to see such as 'Australia', 'Madagascar 2: Escape to Africa', 'Seven Pounds' (Will Smith), 'Angels and Demons', 'Yes Man' (Jim Carrey), 'Marley and Me', 'Transporter3' and 'Pink Panther 2' (not that I'll watch the last two). I'm so looking forward to getting the pir- I mean, seeing these movies on screen.

As you can tell, I'm not really into blow-it-up movies or scary ones. Else I'd be reviewing movies like 'Quantum of Solace' and 'The Alphabet Killer'... whatever they seem to be. Hah.

Thanks for reading.

Oh and I enjoyed 'The Bucket List' and 'What Happens in Vegas', and have taken a liking to songs by Mika.

-D-