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Date: 7/16/2015
This week’s film review column features a truly funny animated feature and two fascinating documentaries.
As regular readers may recall I love animation and have spent a fair part of my professional life writing about animation as well as doing research about its history.
I don’t see as much animation as I used to due to the pushes and pulls of other responsibilities but I made a point to catch “minions” on its opening weekend as I have been hungering for a truly funny animated feature film.
I’m happy to report I received what I was hoping to get.
The trend in animation has been to infuse a story with sentiment and meaning. This is fine when it works, but I think too many filmmakers have forgotten the fine art of simply making something funny.
The folks behind “Minions” did not set out to pull on our heartstrings or to teach us a lesson. They want us to laugh.
“Minions” is an origin film, a prequel to the “Despicable Me” movies. We learn they have been around for thousands of years with just one goal: to work for the most evil villain they can find. Their efforts though tend to hurt their bosses until a screw-up at Waterloo causes them to take flight and hide for decades in a frozen cave.
One minion though, Kevin, has a plan. It’s now the late 1960s and he will go out of the cave and seek a new boss. Accompanied by two others, Bob and Stuart, they set off and manage to attend a convention of villains where they attract the attention of Scarlett Overkill. She will give them a home if they complete one task: stealing Queen Elizabeth’s crown.
The script by Brian Lynch and the direction by Pierre Coffin and Kyle Balda is spot on. It’s both clever and crude at just the right moments.
I was overjoyed to see an animated feature in which there are no big musical numbers. Well, there is plenty of music, but the Minions are doing the singing in their almost understandable language.
Fast-moving and funny this is a movie for both kids and adults. I’ll be buying it when it comes on home video, a statement I do not make too often any more.
And stay through to the end of the credits, please.
“The Search for General Tso” recently played the Amherst Theater earlier this year and I had wanted to go but missed the screening. Now this engaging culinary search for the origin of the ubiquitous Chinese dish is on Netflix.
The film is more than just a food detective film. It is a history of the Chinese immigrant experience in the United States. If you’re not aware of it, the story of how the Chinese were the subject of discrimination in this country will be an eye-opener.
Filmmaker Ian Cheney travels across this country and to China to answer the questions if there was an actual “General Tso,” if he actually ate the chicken dish and how did it spread to every Chinese restaurant in America?
The result is sometimes funny, sometimes sad story of the growth of Chinese restaurants as a way to escape the persecution in the West Coast and find work that would be acceptable to whites.
This is a compelling film even if you’re not a fan of the chicken dish.
“An Honest Liar” tells the story of magician and paranormal debunker James Randi. Modeling his life after his idol Houdini, Randi became well known as an escape artist and then found a second chapter in his career as someone exposing fraud such as sham faith healer Peter Popoff and psychic Uri Geller.
The film tackles another story and that is of Randi’s partner of 25 years who has been living in this country as an illegal alien.
Randi is a very interesting guy. He defines a magician as an honest liar, someone who freely admits he will deceive his audience. The question the filmmakers pose is whether or not Randi has been the subject of a con by his partner or was he in on the deception.
Fellow skeptics and true believers should find this movie a great view.