Today I am going to review two major releases at the movies. I am of course referring to the animated kids movie "Fast and Furious 6" and the high adrenaline action flick "Epic." *Note: I may have mixed up those descriptions.* As usual I'd like to give a shoutout to the Free Gamer's Alliance YouTube channel. Their videos cover everything from walkthroughs, glitches, easter eggs, and various amusing video game related content, all of which is delivered with some colorful commentary while they have buckets of fun doing it. Here is the link:
https://www.youtube.com/user/FreeGamersAlliance/.
Time to start this review in an epic fashion by looking at the movie "Epic!" (I'm sorry, I couldn't resist). For those of you unfamiliar with the movie, here is the trailer:
- As is evident in the trailer, the visuals are great. This movie is wonderfully animated and is one of the few cases where I would say the 3D is worth it.
- The voice acting was fantastic. Every actor's voice felt as though it really belonged to the character. As he did in "Inglorious Basterds" and "Django Unchained," I think it's safe to say that Christoph Waltz stole the show once again.
- There is quite a lot of heart in this movie. There is no shortage of sweet moments that will warm your heart.
- The comedy worked both for and against this movie. It tended to really land when the animal characters were used (the dog, the slug, the snail, etc.)
The Bad:
- Unfortunately, this movie got off to a rough start. The entire first act is very slow which makes it hard to keep one's attention. Fortunately, the movie does pick up after this but first your gonna have to suffer for a bit.
- There was a weird song and dance number in the movie that came out of nowhere and felt rather out of place. It was a very odd choice that could have been done without.
- As mentioned before, the comedy did work a lot of the time but there were also many jokes that didn't really work and got a minor forced chuckle at best.
- The female characters in this movie were written very poorly. Beyonce's character was voiced well but she was written in such a way that she becomes hammy, forced, and annoying. The bigger problem is the protagonist. Amanda Seyfried does a fine job as a voice actress but her character has the personality of a bag of rocks. It's hard to stay invested in the story when you don't have a compelling protagonist.
The Verdict
Ultimately, "Epic" is a movie that you can take your kids to that they will enjoy and you will enjoy a good deal of it. However, I will say that it is one of those movies that is pretty forgettable.
Let's move on now to "Fast and Furious 6." For those of you unfamiliar with it, here is the trailer:
- Despite the fact that they were stupid and made absolutely no sense, the actions scenes were an absolute blast to watch. So much work was put into the effects and explosions that they become an experience.
- The comedy (both intentional and unintentional) worked every time. I found myself laughing quite a lot in this movie.
- Despite the fact that the writing and acting was awful, there is something very endearing about these characters that get the audience invested in them. I think it is because the actors (with one major exception) are clearly having fun with this and it helps the audience have fun with it.
- This movie is really stupid but the filmmakers embraced that stupidity and ran with it. This makes for an extremely entertaining experience.
The Bad:
- As I mentioned above, the writing and acting was awful. The fun aspect made me not care about that but I could see it bothering some people.
- Gina Carano seriously needs to stop acting. I admit that she is a talented fighter but she is just so bland. As a whole the acting wasn't good but the others at least had fun with it. Gina spent the entire time looking bored/constipated and actually managed to suck some of the fun out of it.
The Verdict:
This movie is loud, over the top, ridiculous, stupid, and overall very bad. It's so bad that it becomes so fun to watch. I can't in good conscience recommend that people pay a full price ticket for this. Having said that, I had a hell of a lot of fun watching this and if you are looking for a dumb action movie that allows you to turn off your brain, shove your face full of popcorn, and have a great time then I would say go for it! This movie embodies the idea of something being so wrong but it feels so right!
Thanks for reading everyone! Feel free to leave a comment as I enjoy reading them!