The Lost City

The Lost City follows a romance novel writer who is forced by an eccentric billionaire to help him find an ancient treasure, while a foolish model does his best to save her.

The movie has a very tropic thunder vibe, with Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum having great comedic energy.
Tatum’s charmingly idiotic Alan brings a very likeable version of the classic dumb model arc-type, that actually has some depth which goes beyond being a walking punchline, while Bullock’s straight man to both him and the villain helps sell the comedy.
The pair work well together and the witty writing help elevates what could have been a tired premise.

Daniel Radcliff is a brilliant villain too; this is another trope we’ve seen in other movies, but Radcliff brings a certain energy that it’s hard to say I’ve seen performed the same way. His increasing frustration leading to the climax makes him both threatening and funny.

CONCLUSION

It’s not a very deep movie or too original, but the performances and writing make for a funny and entertaining movie.

Hardly the next comedy classic, but a very enjoyable trip to the cinema.
It’s a solid recommendation, and if that doesn’t sell you on the movie,
it has Channing Tatum’s butt in.
And while I’m not into guys, I gotta conceded,
it’s a nice butt.

The Bad Guys

The Bad guys follows a gang of criminal animals who try to improve their image while planning their next big heist.

Animation has really come a long way lately; between Mitchells vs the Machines and Turning Red, more and more animated movies are bringing the energy of 2D animation to movies that have traditionally felt very stiff.
The animation here is top notch; every movement feels exaggerated perfectly and is full of energy, but not to the point where it becomes distracting; it knows when to slow down and take its time to let the emotion of the scene sink in.

This carries over to the action scenes, that are expertly choreographed and full of life.
Every movement and camera view helps deliver a rush of adrenaline, even more so than most live action movies.

Its characters too are well defined and likeable, helped by some great casting.
Usually the celebrity stunt casting of animated movies can work against the movie, since you just hear the celebrity and not the character, but here it feels like everyone disappears into their role, including Richard Ayoade, who has a very particular voice and delivery had me convinced of his character by the end.

It’s not exactly a deep story, and most of the twists I saw coming a mile away, but that’s part of the curse of having seen so many movies; I can see kids getting a real kick out of the twists and turns of this plot.
But while it’s not another movie like Pixar, that combines deep themes with child friendly animation, this makes up for it with overwhelming style.
The editing and pacing are really slick and easily comparable to the heist movies it’s emulating.

CONCLUSION

Its a pretty standard kids movie plot, but a great looking one.
The animation, editing and action are high grade, with a great cast to bring it together.

I’ve heard the phrase, “if Disney is classical music, then Dreamworks is jazz”, and this is the embodiment of that.
It’s not gonna deconstruct anything or examine to complexities of puberty, but it is going to keep you entertained for the entire run time,
and if the previews for the new Puss in Boots are any indication, this is a brilliant direction for this studio to be heading in artistically, with well styled and energetic animation that can give it identity to distinguish from Disney and Pixar.
I loved this and hope to see more in the future.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 follows the titular character, as he races to stop the evil Dr Robotnik and his partner Knuckles from acquiring a powerful emerald.
So yeah, pretty much adapting the plot of Sonic 3.

Remember when we were all grossed out by the original design for this character?
Hard to believe we were expecting the movie to bomb so hard originally after seeing this new movie.

The plot is pretty much ripped from the game and there’s no end to the references in this one to its source material; from the character Tails being voiced by an actor from the games to the GUN organisation being introduced. I mean when there’s a reference to the obscure spin-off game, Dr Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine, you know the people involved did their research.
And yet it manages to have its own lore and history that it merges with the established canon of the games, so it didn’t disregard the changes made for the sake of accommodating the old stuff.

But films can not live off references alone; how does it stack up as its own movie?

PROTAGONISTS
The Characters are very likeable and developed; I was pretty lukewarm on this version of Sonic from the first movie, but by the end of this movie he feels both developed as his own character and true to the original. They really upped their game in the sequel, which is really refreshing in a kid’s movie based on a video game.
Tails is a game character introduced here as Sonic’s best friend and sidekick; he retains the little brother energy from the games while leaning heavily on his technological skills that the later games put emphasis on. I was worried at first that they were heading to a “liar revealed” or at least becoming disillusioned with his hero worship of Sonic, but instead, they use their connection to help Sonic grow by feeling responsible for his safety and Tails find his courage through their interactions; they compliment each other really well.
I was kind of put off by the cuts back to the James Marston character and his side plot, but they ultimately tie it together in the end and again build on the connections made in the first movie rather than throwing them out in favour of more game stuff.

VILLAINS
The villains are a lot of fun; Jim Carrey does pretty much what you’d expect fo him, mugging constantly, shouting like a lunatic, which again is very game accurate to the cartoonish Robotnik while also feeling like a legitimate threat. He never felt too silly that I didn’t believe why the other characters were scared of him.
Knuckles is a mixture of different from the game version while also feeling very true; he’s traditionally meatheaded and lets his fists do the talking for him, while also being tricked by Robotnik on multiple occasions. That’s true here but they gave him a warrior culture schtik that builds on the new movie cannon, while making his stupidity similar to the MCU version of Drax the destroyer; he’s introduced to the concept of a handshake as “gripping someone else’s hand very tightly”, making it a running joke that he breaks peoples hands when they try to shake his. You kind of know the direction their taking with him, especially if you’ve played the games, but he makes for an intimidating counter to Sonic while acting as the straight man to Robotnik; gotta love how the literal cartoon is the serious one in this pairing, like a reverse Roger Rabbit.

ACTION
The action gets pretty intense at times, ranging from chase scenes to fights. It’s well shot and fast-paced in a very enjoyable way.
Again it’s the kid’s movie that’s doing this well, while the superhero movie for “Adults” that I just reviewed, Morbius, felt lacking in the action department.

COMEDY
Comedy wise, this will either make or break this movie; for every groaner, there’s one that works. Your enjoyment of this movie is going to weigh very heavily on your tolerance for kid movie humour, personally, I loved it; it’s one of those rare movies that had me smiling pretty much the whole way through.

OVERALL

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is a huge improvement on the first movie; its characters are likeable and entertaining, its jokes are more hits than misses and its action is well shot and choreographed.

If you’re not a fan of Jim Carrey’s overacting or kids’ movie humour then you can bump this down to a 3 star, but for me, I found this very enjoyable.
Who’d have thought that the movie to feel like it got a video game adaptation right would be from the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise? Other studios should be taking notes <Glares intently at the Halo series and Mario movie>.