The holiday movie season is upon us and today I am going to shed some light on two of the major releases. I will be reviewing the highly anticipated finale to the Twilight saga, "Breaking Dawn pt. 2" and the newest animated flick from Dreamworks Animation, "Rise of the Guardians." 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/.
Let's start with the brooding vampires! For those of you living under a rock, here is the trailer for "Breaking Dawn pt. 2:"
- The makeup and costume people who worked on this movie deserve to get a massive raise as they did a phenomenal job with that.
- I don't know whether this was an intentional joke or not but there was a scene where Bella (played by Kristen Stewart) was being given acting lessons. I feel as though this was an actual conversation with Kristen Stewart that the filmmakers decided to throw in the movie. Again, I don't know how intentional this scene was but I loved it.
- This film is beautifully shot. The camerawork and the shots of scenery were stunning to look at.
The Bad:
- The special effects look incredibly cheap and it takes away from any kind of immersion in the movie that could have been
- As usual, the acting was painful. It switched between some laughable and bizarre line delivery and very wooden acting. It really felt as though the actors were phoning it in knowing that they would get a large paycheck no matter the quality of the film.
- The actors can't be blamed entirely for the awfulness of this movie. The writing played a huge part in this. Some examples of this are the twist at the end (more on that later-without spoilers of course), the bizarre striptease that Jacob does for Bella's dad, the weird and awkward way that they tried to justify Jacob's falling in love with an infant (You read that correctly, I wish I could say I were making that up), and endless others.
- The awkward sex scene between Edward and Bella was terrible. Laughable music was playing in the background as we get close up shots of the couple making weird faces at the camera.
- Aside from the laughable beginning and laughable end, the movie was very boring. It was obvious at times that they were stuffing the movie with filler so that they could release this one in two parts.
- Speaking of the ending, I heard that it differed from the book and I hope that somehow the book had a better ending than this. This ending felt as though the filmmakers were pointing at the audience with their middle fingers.
- The music in this movie was so distracting and melodramatic.
- The use of Kristen Stewart's voice over was distracting and it didn't move the plot forward. Again, I feel like the filmmakers were trying to stuff it full of filler so that they could make two parts.
The Verdict:
-While this movie may not be nearly as painful as some of the previous entries in this series (which is kind of sad when you think about it), it manages to be boring, melodramatic, and laughable all at the same time. I would only recommend this film if you've consumed copious amounts of alcohol.
- As with most Dreamworks Animation flicks, the animation was stunning. I felt like my eyes were being pampered at a fancy eye-spa of sorts. The visuals alone make this movie worth your dollar in the theater.
- Every single character was captivating. I found myself emotionally attached to these characters almost immediately. You even manage to feel for the villain while still being able to root against him. I would absolutely attribute this to the writing.
- The pacing in this movie was perfect. The movie was about an hour and a half but it felt like an hour. The plot moved forward briskly without leaving anything important out.
- The comedy for the most part worked. There were several moments in that theater that I found myself laughing uncontrollably. Unlike "Twilight," these moments of comedy were 100% intentional.
- The music in this movie fit the tone perfectly. I couldn't have been happier with that.
- The voice acting was spot on. There is nothing more annoying that an animated movie where the voice actor doesn't fit the character or can't emote properly with his or her voice. I am happy to say that none of these problems appeared in this one.
The Bad:
- There are a few moments in this movie that felt overly silly but I found myself forgiving them as I was super into the story and the characters.
The Verdict:
I absolutely recommend going to see this in theaters. It's the perfect holiday treat that will pump you full of holiday cheer!
Thanks for reading everyone!! Feel free to leave any comments that you might have!!