JOE WEST

Review: Megamind – Meh-gamind

2nd December 2010 | 0 comments | 1 person likes this

On my way to see Megamind I did briefly wonder whether I’d bother reviewing it afterwards.* I saw Despicable Me when it was out, found it to be a little dull but perfectly palatable, like Quorn or Boxing day, and couldn’t muster the enthusiasm to write a review afterwards. Like Megamind it’s a kids film and therefore not really aimed at me. They chucked in a couple of adult-oriented jokes...

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Kids Movie Triple-Bill: Karate Kid, Last Airbender, Sorcerer’s Apprentice

19th August 2010 | 4 comments | 1 person likes this

After nursing an emotional erection for Toy Story 3* over the last few weeks it seemed sensible to check out the other kid-oriented cinematic offerings of the summer.

The Karate Kid

When Jaden Smith ascends to superstardom, as he inevitably will, I only hope he retains the infectious likeability of his father. It’s going to be hard to achieve given his incredibly public, privileged upbringing, but The Karate Kid shows the first...

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Review: Disney’s A Christmas Carol – harmless fun

4th November 2009 | 0 comments | 3 people like this

Did anyone watch 2007’s Beowulf? It was the first 3D film that I saw, though the most remarkable feature it displayed was the complete mapping and virtual replication of the leading actors’ faces. Seeing Ray Winstone’s chubby head plastered onto the muscle-bound body of a mythical warrior was odd to say the least. Beowulf’s director Robert Zemeckis has carried over this style to his latest picture, A Christmas Carol. This...

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Review: UP is heart warming and heartbreaking

9th October 2009 | 0 comments | 2 people like this

When Up opened the Cannes film festival earlier this year, a few jumpy commentators were quick to declare that 3D film making had been accepted by the mainstream. Perhaps they were right. In fact, they almost certainly were, considering the barrage of new 3D films that are hitting the cinema, aimed at kids and adults alike. However, to me it feels a little more like 3D technology is being shoved...

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Review: Sony Pictures take on Disney with Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

21st September 2009 | 2 comments | 2 people like this

It’s a dark room, filled with parents enjoying the diminished responsibility that the cinema affords them, their offspring clutching oversized 3D goggles to their faces and staring intently at the screen. Suddenly the two main characters in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs are inside a massive mansion, made out of a large moulded jelly (or Jell-O as they call it in the States). One child shouts out ‘JELLY!!!’, and...

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