Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers

 Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers (2022)

Featuring the vocal talents of John Mulaney, Andy Samberg, Will Arnett, Eric Bana, Dennis Haysbert, Keegan Michael-Key, Tress MacNeille, Tim Robinson, Seth Rogen, and J.K. Simmons

Starring KiKi Layne

Directed by Akiva Shaffer

Written by Dan Gregor and Doug Mand

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Muppets Haunted Mansion

 Muppets Haunted Mansion (2021)

Starring the Muppets, Will Arnett, and Taraji P. Henson

Directed by Kirk R. Thatcher

Written by Kirk R. Thatcher and Kelly Younger

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  B+

The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part

The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019)

Featuring the vocal talents of Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Tiffany Haddish, Stephanie Beatriz, Charlie Day, Alison Brie, Nick Offerman, Maya Rudolph, and Will Ferrell

Directed by Mike Mitchell

Written by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  D+

Movie Review - The Lego Movie

The Lego Movie (2014)

Featuring the voice talents of Chris Pratt, Will Ferrell, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Charlie Day, Alison Brie, Nick Offerman, Liam Neeson, and Morgan Freeman

Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller

So much hype may have ruined The Lego Movie for me seeing as it was greeted with glowing reviews and much love from the public upon its release in February.  To me, directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller -- who brought us the fantastic Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (and the great 21 Jump Street as well) -- are repeating their same old shtick here with less success.  Perhaps their charm has worn thin as I found much of The Lego Movie's jokes to fall flat and the overall plot to be a bit boring and bland.

The Lego Movie follows Emmet Brickowski (voiced by Chris Pratt), a Lego construction worker who does everything by the book -- he follows directions and instructions to a T.  One evening on the construction site after everyone else has gone home, Emmet falls down a hole and finds, unbeknown to him, the much fabled (in the Lego world in which he lives) "Piece of Resistance" and, after touching it and seeing prophetic visions, Emmet is knocked out.  He awakens captured by Lord Business (Will Ferrell) -- the "mayor" of this aspect of the Lego universe who, Emmet discovers, is out to eliminate free-thinking and imagination.  Emmet is rescued from Business's clutches by Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks) and taken through a portal to a whole slew of Lego lands in an attempt to hide Emmet and the "Piece of Resistance" from Lord Business.  Emmet discovers on this journey that Lego lore states that whomever uncovers the "Piece of Resistance" is the Master Builder and will bring security to all of the Lego worlds which places unimaginative Emmet in a bit of a pickle since he has never been a free thinker...but now the Lego people must put their trust in him in order to defeat Lord Business.

The Lego Movie works best when the film takes on a variety of pop culture references and brings them to the forefront.  Seeing Lego Batman (voiced brilliantly by Will Arnett) and a variety of other well-known entities interact with Emmet is the most successful aspect of the flick.  Unfortunately, when The Lego Movie focuses on Emmet -- as it does most of the first half of the film -- the jokes don't land with as much resonance and get tired and worn quicker than they should.  Admittedly, my second viewing of director Lord and Miller's Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs didn't hold up, so maybe I've tired of their weird humor, but I'd like to think this impressive team has more to offer in the future.  Unfortunately, The Lego Movie bored me and that's sometimes the worst criticism one can offer.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - Despicable Me

Despicable Me (2010)

Featuring the voices of Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Julie Andrews, Will Arnett, and Kristen Wiig

Directed by Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud

Perhaps I'm just a curmudgeon, but the animated flick Despicable Me just didn't resonate with me in the slightest.  I came away with the equivalent of shrugged shoulders -- it wasn't bad, it wasn't good, it was just "meh."

Ultimately, the fault lies in the story because the animation and voice acting are more than adequate.  While the idea behind the flick is amusing enough -- a down-on-his-luck, aging evil villain plots the ultimate crime by stealing the moon -- Despicable Me becomes bogged down by the addition of three orphaned girls who attempt to provide an emotional counterpoint to the lunacy of the villain.  In its attempt at aiming for the "heart" that Pixar is so adept at providing in its films, Despicable Me doesn't succeed.  I'm honestly not quite sure why the filmmakers attempted to go for the emotion because sometimes simple fun is more than enough.

In the end, my lack of words in this review is because I'm just "meh" on Despicable Me.  I didn't like or dislike it...it was just 85 minutes of "meh."

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - G-Force 3D (2009)

Starring Bill Nighy, Will Arnett, and Zach Galifianakis

Featuring the voices of Nicolas Cage, Sam Rockwell, Penélope Cruz, Jon Favreau, Tracy Morgan, and Steve Buscemi

Written by The Wibberleys

Directed by Hoyt Yeatman

What happens when your movie, which for the first 60 minutes is ridiculously dumb and can completely be summed up in a single sentence [FBI-trained guinea pigs try to stop an "evil villain" from taking over the world], throws you an ending out of left field that actually makes sense and somehow makes the movie end on a good note? How do you rate this movie which, while still insanely childish, actually created an intelligent ending?

And then, how do you rate the movie when its 3D aspects are the best 3D you've seen at your local cineplex? How much emphasis gets placed on the surprisingly good 3D effects?

That's the conundrum I'm in right now. G-Force isn't a good movie -- I think there were five "bathroom humor" jokes within the span of five minutes and nothing will turn me off of a movie quicker than ill-placed fart jokes. However, despite the fact that the ending was guessed by someone about 45 minutes in, the "twist" is actually pretty damn ingenious...especially for a kid's movie. While the nifty ending doesn't negate the rest of the awfulness, it certainly raises the bar a little bit.

Also, like I mentioned above, the 3D effects were actually quite good. Admittedly, we changed up our seating position for this 3D movie, choosing to sit in the front rather than in the back which may have made a significant impact in how the effects worked. That being said, the producers/directors decided to do something I hadn't seen in a 3D flick before...when you watch the movie, it's as if you're watching something in a widescreen format on your television. There are black bars at the top and bottom of the film. Periodically, throughout the movie, things will pop out above and below into the black bars, creating a 3D-ish effect. It actually worked really well and, in my opinion, was rather an ingenious way of creating the 3D effect. This is the first 3D movie I wouldn't have been disappointed in had I paid for it.

Still, despite the neat ending and good 3D, the flick was below average. Guinea pigs making pop culture references are not my idea of humor (Ha! That guinea pig made a Macguyver and Jamba Juice joke! Hilarity!). So, I still find myself in the conundrum of how to rate this. I'm going to go with the grade below because I truly did enjoy the ending and, like I said above, there's something to be said for this being the best 3D I've seen in a theatrical release yet.

The RyMickey Rating: C

Movie Review - Monsters Vs. Aliens 3D (2009)

featuring the voice talents of Reese Witherspoon, Seth Rogen, Will Arnett, Hugh Laurie, Kiefer Sutherland, Rainn Wilson, and Stephen Colbert
directed by Rob Letterman and Conrad Vernon
written by a bunch of people

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a huge Disney fan. Anyone who knows me knows that I typically despise Dreamworks films. They lack heart, they lack soul, and they get all their humor from pop culture references. Last year's Kung Fu Panda was moderately successful (review), but it still fell apart at the end. With Monsters vs. Aliens, Dreamworks is continuing to improve...although they definitely haven't reached Pixar's quality level yet.

When a meteorite with special unearthly powers lands on Susan (voiced by Witherspoon) on her wedding day causing her to grow to gigantic proportions, she is seized by the government and placed in a holding tank with four other monsters -- a blob named Bob (Rogen), a man/cockroach (Laurie), a Creature from the Deep (Arnett), and a giant furry insect. A friendship develops between them all, and, this being a kid's film and all, they come together despite their differences and fight the evil alien invader Gallaxhar (Wilson) who desires to destroy Earth.

There is very little story here. In fact, the whole story is in that paragraph above. And while the film tried to develop the characters (especially Susan), it fell flat...although Witherspoon's vocals were engaging.

There is definitely humor in this one that does not stem from the pop culture variety (although there are a few of those jokes here and there). I am utterly sick of Seth Rogen as a one-note actor, but he was hilarious here (well, his voice was hilarious). Kiefer Sutherland's General W.R. Monger also provided quite a few laughs. I guess the problem is that even though I laughed quite a bit (a lot, really, when comparing it to other Dreamworks films), there's not enough story to connect those laughs. It's like watching a stand-up comedian and only laughing at every third joke. You feel like it's good when you're watching it, but when you really think about it, you realize that you feel like you didn't quite get your money's worth.

Still, the film is Dreamworks' best effort ever and is certainly worth a look.

But...it's certainly NOT WORTH A LOOK in 3D. There is no reason to shell out the extra bucks and see this in the 3D format. There is an incredibly corny 3D effect at the beginning that I literally rolled my eyes at, but after that, there is very minimal 3D-ness to this film. Unlike other films I've seen in 3D, there's very little depth to this one either. If you decide to see this in a theater, there's no reason to see it in 3D. I can't imagine this 3D "fad" lasts if companies keep putting out films with lackluster effects.

The RyMickey Rating: C+