The Little Mermaid

I think The Little Mermaid (1989) is one of the monsters of Disney cinema. Before there was Pixar, Disney had a really good run of films from about 1989 to 1994. This was the beginning of that run.

The story follows Ariel who is the mermaid daughter of the king of the sea. She finds her life boring and wishes to experience what it would be like to human and walk on land for a while. To do this she asks for help from the sea witch Ursula who changes her into a human for a short time. The only catch is that if she cannot find true love during that time, she will forever become a twisted slave in Ursula's collection. The story is a simple fairytale that is well executed and brought to life in an extraordinary way on screen. My only real complaint about the movie is that it felt very rushed. Everything happens so fast as though if they made the movie longer than 80 minutes everything would fall apart.

This is a great classic Disney film that will live on even if the company decides to scrap their 2D animation studio again. (8.8/10)

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

I went into Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) I didn't know what to think. The overall atmosphere seemed to be more playful in this version of the story, but I wasn't sure that anything had improved. And, in my mind, why remake a movie unless you're improving on the original?

The story is essentially the same: Charlie finds the elusive golden ticket and is whisked into Willy Wonka's dream of a candy factory. Many of the rooms in the factory are essentially the same and the movie moves at essentially the same pace from place to place. Johnny Depp makes Wonka less outwardly creepy, aiming his creep factor toward adults that wouldn't want him around their kids as opposed to kids that would enjoy his friendly awkwardness. My biggest problem with the remake are the unnecessary and overly long musical numbers all performed by the same person playing hundreds of Oompa Loompas. They are terrible to say the least.

I just can't bring myself to like this movie as much as I wanted to. It's not Tim Burton's worst, but it's far from a good film. (6.5/10)

Now & Then

There was a free preview weekend for Starz this past week and I took the opportunity to record some movies I knew I'd want to watch later. This movie was one of them.

Now & Then (1995) was one of my favorite movies when I was younger. I can't imagine now what compelled me to sit through it then, but it still sticks with me as a good movie. The story follows four girls as they experience a life-changing summer back in the 1970's. They go through everything together and even when they grow up and grow apart, they still return to each other when one of them is in trouble. It's kind of a storyline for the ultimate chick flick, but I love it nonetheless.

A definite favorite for lazy Sunday afternoon viewing. (6.8/10)