Today I have three very different movies to review! I will be reviewing "The Book of Life" which is the latest animated flick, "Dracula Untold" which is an attempt to reboot the story of the most famous vampire, and "The Judge" which is a law/family drama starring Robert Downy Jr. Before I get started, 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/.
Lets kick things off with "Dracula Untold." Here is the trailer:
- I don't really have anything for this section...
- There is some very poor acting happening throughout this movie and it makes it nearly impossible to believe anything that anyone is saying or feeling.
- The pacing is horrible, the movie feels far longer than it actually is. This is largely due to many scenes that are simply boring.
- There are some major plot holes throughout the entire movie. These plot holes could have easily been taken care of had the writers taken the time to add a few extra lines.
The Verdict:
"Dracula Untold" is an incredibly uninteresting attempt to bring Dracula back to the big screen. This is largely due to lazy writing, bad acting, and poor pacing. I would recommend skipping this one.
Lets move on to "The Judge." Here is the trailer:
- The cast is beyond excellent. Everybody gives strong performances and I really do believe everything that each character says or does as well as their interactions with other characters. While everybody is strong, Robert Downey Jr. really does steal the show.
- There are many attempts at humor in this movie and just about all of them succeed.
- The music choices are excellent and they fit in nicely with the movie.
- There are some really touching moments in this movie.
The Bad:
- There are way too many plot lines in this movie. It ends up trying to do way too much and the result is some plot lines that are either completely unnecessary or end up never properly being resolved.
- Due to the bloated plot, this movie feels quite a bit longer than it actually is.
"The Judge" has it's fair share of problems but thanks to some incredible acting and some good writing(extraneous plot lines aside} it ends up being a good drama that will entertain. I would say that this is probably a movie that would make a really good rental but if you want to see it in theaters, there are much worse choices out there.
Finally, it is time to move on to "The Book of Life." Here is the trailer:
- Visually, this movie is absolutely spectacular! The animation is easily some of the best I have ever seen. Everything is very stylish and I loved the use of color.
- The voice actors were absolutely perfect for their roles.
The Bad:
- There are several songs sung in the movie. Unfortunately most of them are very bad covers of pop songs and with one exception they just don't work.
- The story is very stale. It feels like the kind of thing that we have seen a million times and it becomes very predictable. On top of that, it is filled with so many clichés that will result in a lot of eye-rolling.
- The comic relief character is about as annoying as Jar Jar Binks in the "Star Wars" prequels.
- The story is being narrated by modern day characters in a museum. Unfortunately, throughout the story, we keep getting little segments with these people. This is not only unnecessary but it brings the story to a grinding halt so they can tell the audience how they should be feeling and it comes off as a bit condescending.
- There are many attempts at humor throughout the movie and while the occasional joke works, the majority of them fall flat.
- Finally, the ending is about as cheesy as it gets and it did not leave a good taste in my mouth as I left the theater.
The Verdict:
"The Book of Life" had so much potential to be something great but ends up being quite disappointing. It is visually splendid but the story feels really stale and somewhat sloppy. There are some bright moments but not nearly enough to make up for the problems. I would recommend skipping this one.
Thanks for reading everyone! As usual, please feel free to leave a comment but please be advised that if you are going to read any potential comments there may be spoilers present.