Clank_Zoka

So... I recently watched an animated kids film called "Ozi: Voice of the Jungle", which is a animated film co-produced from United Kingdom, France, United States & India with an all star cast and written by the creator of "Paw Patrol" and "Bob the Builder" Keith Chapman of all people, strange..., now I didn't have much interest in it since it looked like a generic kids film and the trailer didn't help much with that, but... when i did more search into what this film is and who it was made by, i was far more curious than ya think, it's from the same animation team "Mikros Animation" that did some work on many Netflix animated films like "Orion and the Dark" and a few from Nickelodeon as well like "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem", that and Leonardo DiCaprio produced it (Yes..., THAT Leonardo DiCaprio, crazy huh?) and i believe the film has teamed up with some environmentally friendly company to save forests or something i think?...., not sure but yeah, so with all this talent behind it and what it's trying to say, surely there has to be something of value in it to worth it for kids and families.. right?, well anyways the reason i watched outside of my slight interest in it was i wasn't having a great week to start off with and i wanted to go to Cineworld for a change to watch something that'll lift my spirits and make me less moody and forget my life problems (I know this is a weird choice compared to everything else playing but there was nothing else that took my interest), so i saw this on today and after watching it what did i think???.... it was a'ight, yeah pretty inoffensive and by the numbers but it has enough to keep families especially kids glued in to the screen with enough going on and i milady had a decent time with it, it's a cute little film but not without flaws!... so let's talk about it!

Good things first off is the animation, i get it if people are turned off by it's generic basic style but for a animation company that only does digital effects and never done fully animated work (to my knowledge) this is pretty good animation, obviously it's not the best but it looks nice overall, the colours, the textures, the execution and style overall looks good, the characters are nicely designed, the lighting and vibrant colours are dazzling with nice scenery and beautiful backgrounds, so i can say the film the 75/80% looks pleasant and the team did a good job and i was pretty impressed with what they can do, but what i was more impressed with was animating sign language which i can imagine is not a easy task to do but they pulled it off well and i applaud them for including it as a language barrier for Ozi to interact with humans, it's a clever idea and i liked what they did, the voice acting is stellar with Amandla Stenberg doing a solid job voicing the titular character, Dean-Charles Chapman is surprisingly good at voice acting and has some good lines in this as Chance, Donald Sutherland is menacing as Smiley which is also sad as this was his final role before he sadly passed away, Laura Dern, Djimon Hounsou are good as Ozi's parents along with RuPaul as Gurd who didn't get on my nervous and delivered a good performance, the humour did get a few tittles of laughter and one or two laugh out loud moments, but most of it is cutesy and slapstick based so that's good, the heart of the movie is quite sweet and i did find myself smiling at a few moments in a cutesy sort of way, the message of the film is still unfortunately relevant and many films have done it before but this film at least acknowledges it and does more than "Ooooo it's bad, STOP IT", it actually advertises different companies in the credits to contact to try and save forest which is important i think, so i like what it has going for the theme and message, i'm glad we don't focus too much on the whole "Ozi being a social media influencer" which would of ruined the tone and pacing of the film very quickly and got too modern but it is used sparingly and to good use in the film, the characters are likeable enough with the titular character and Chance being the strongest characters in the film as i did enjoy their back and fourth banter and friendship i did like Ozi's parents too, it's directed well and has a few nice moments to calm the pacing down a bit, at least it does try to be more than a standard animated film so.. i'll give it that.

But.. there's quite a bit of flaws that hold it back from being a legit good film, one is... the other supporting characters are not really need like okay the human nurse for Ozi is fine but the Rhino comic relief is very annoying, like a New Zealand version of Mater, the villain Smiley comes in the film like in pretty much in the third act and isn't menacing enough since he's not in it for very long despite Sutherland's good voice work, every other character just do random slapstick to keep the kids away and are not effective, the message is good but it is soooo overly repeated that it hammers it on your head, i think i'd make more sense if there was no talking in the film and the sign language took over, that would be more powerful and feel more effective, heck maybe make it a short film or advert than it'll be more powerful, maybe if the animation was more stylised or more unique-er without disrespecting the animators who clearly worked hard on the film but it is rather just a generic look but even so it looks good, the film does feel rushed and wonky with it's writing and derivative story that it's easy to guess where it's going, the humour is fine but most of it is kiddie based so i wasn't laughing but to be fair the film isn't made for me so... can't be mad it didn't make me laugh more, but it's exactly what you think it is, the script is by the numbers bland exposition with not much unique lines or anything to remember, it really comes and goes and felt rushed a little, if it was maybe like 20 minutes longer maybe it would of been able explore more themes and characters too, but for what it is, it's honestly serviceable for what it does.

And that's the best way to describe "Ozi: Voice of the Forest", it's serviceable at best, it's pointless to be angry at a kids film that legit tries and has some good stuff that makes it very watchable, cute and nice to look at, but... can't say it's legit good either, the animation is legit good and i can see the effort that went into it, i like it's slightly different approach with sign language, the characters are likeable with strong acting and hell even the end credits song "One Heart" is a nice catchy beautiful song, the message is here and does try to be a bit different, but with all the amount of dedication and effort, it's still a basic, formulaic and predicable movie that feels rushed and not much of substance is added to it other than what we got, so... it's tricky, i do think it's a decent kids film that parents can take their young ones to see if they got nothing better to do or if they seen everything else, it'll probably get them talking into saving the forest and hopefully they'll learn something from it, but.. there's better things out there like "Inside Out 2" and "Kensuke's Kingdom", but it's better than "The Garfield Movie" & "Despicable Me 4" that's for sure but... it's just a kids film that does the job fine, i'll probably come back to it at some point to see if my views on it have changed but for now, i am kind of glad i saw, it did lift my spirits a little and nice to see a smaller budget animated film that did try and i applaud the team and animators for that and actually giving a damn about the forest and encouraging people to try and help save it, i'm curious if they'll make another full animated film in the future, that'll be interesting.... maybe more interesting than this?, well who knows?

I'm going to give "Ozi: Voice of the Jungle" a 6.5/10.

So... I had the absolute pleasure to see Don Hertzfeldt's 2012 animated masterpiece "It's Such a Beautiful Day" on Wednesday for one night only at my local cinema and.... his new short film "ME", you can tell that I couldn't say no to it!, now before I get into this one, I should say what I think of Don Hertzfeldt's work, I absolutely love his work, they are so wonderfully surreal, weird, deep and very original, I love his feature film "It's Such a Beautiful Day", his short films "Rejected", "World of Tomorrow" and "Lily and Jim" are huge inspiration for my animation work and are incredibly awesome and unique, he's a really unique animator and filmmaker that you guys need to check out if you haven't already, anywho I went it to the screening with a friend which was kind of busy.. that was something.

Anywho I already did a review on the film so that's not why I am here to talk about, although I can say the way it was screened was very Don Hertzfeldt like, it starts with the short film (which I'll get to in a bit), then like a brass band playing a song with a guy clearly into banging on the guitar and then afterwards the man himself talks about the progress of his film and the camera he used to make it as well which was very cool, Don was clearly very thankful for people like me supporting his work and then the film started as normal...

Anywho I'm here to talk about the short film in question which is "ME", a musical surreal odyssey about technology and humanity and... I kind of loved it, not sure if I can say it's as amazing as "World of Tomorrow" & "Rejected" but it's really something to behold, something that's very unique and kind of profound too, I can't say too much since I only watched it once and I can only say what I remember from it and I don't wanna give away too much, plus it's kind of hard to describe so you'll have to watch it for ya self so then maybe you'll probably get it, anyways the animation is the best I seen from the guy, it's very purposeful and visually interesting, I like the music that accompanies the short like with African inspired music to then a full on like opera sequence that's really phenomenal and shows Don's true skill in animation, there's laughs to be found in it too and I enjoyed the presentation and what it was going for, I can still remember some of the memories shots in the short, it's bizarre but yet has relevance to it if ya pay attention to it.

So yeah I can't say much else then it's another really solid short from Don, it's original, surreally entertaining, beautifully animated with a interesting style and purpose, I like the themes and message of it, it's a wild ride that you'll never forget and Don really goes for it in terms of what it delivers, it's a very interesting piece of animation that's worth checking out and I kind of loved it!, one of his best in my opinion, if ya haven't seen it, go check it out I mean you might as well with "It's Such a Beautiful Day" which is where it is showing with, if it's playing near you, go see it as soon as you can as I think these are just one night events in different countries and cities, please do it you won't regret it, it's an absolute treat to see his work on the big screen.

I'm going to give "ME" a 10/10.

So... on Saturday I went to see the latest instalment in the Kung Fu Panda franchise "Kung Fu Panda 4", which features the returning voices of Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Bryan Cranston and James Hong, along with Viola Davis and Awkwafina as new characters in this film, so before I start my review of this film, I should probably go over what I thought of the other Kung Fu Panda films, I grew up watching them and I really like them a lot!, they are super funny, beautiful to look at, emotional, action packed and with solid music and wonderful characters and voice acting, with the exception of 3 just being mostly quite good, the first two movies are quite flawless in their own right and I like them a lot!, so now we got number 4, which is a make or break at this point and so the movie was released earlier in the month and I heard it was good but fans weren't too pleased, but that didn't stop me from being excited and seeing it, so I went to see it and..... sorry KFP fans, I really enjoyed it, I found it to be pretty good, easily EASILY the weakest film of the franchise but I still had a fairly good time despite a few flaws that hold back this film from being great so let's talk about it!

Good things first off is the animation, it still looks just as spectacular as the previous films, still looking vibrant and stylised, it's not quite Puss in Boots 2 but it still remains the same looking animation but still fantastic and with new editions as huge standouts, the action and martial arts is creative and fun to watch as to be expected and the colours are certainly there!, the voice acting is once again top-notch, the characters we know and love are... no different but still their charming selves, the score by Hans Zimmer and Steve Mazzaro while not as good as the previous films' music is still nice and gets the energy going for the most part, the new characters weren't bad, I liked Zhan and the Chameleon they were decent characters that I enjoyed particularly from their vocal performances by Awkwafina and Viola Davis respectively, I did mainly chuckle and got a few laughs for the most part, it kept constant with the tone and energy for the most part, it was really nice to see these characters and this world again on the big screen after 8 years, it's lots of fun and I wasn't bored, I didn't checked my watch that much and I didn't wriggle about unlike a certain OTHER SEQUEL, it was a nice experience, maybe not as memorable as maybe the last movie but it was still good, it had a nice-ish conclusion that I did kind of like, plus the cover of "Baby One More Time" by Tenacious D is AWESOME!, absolutely love it!, they could do more covers because it's fantastic,

However!, there are flaws and a lot of people seem to point out, well not sure if everyone else has 'em but for me it's very VERY predictable like even before watching, I knew exactly what was going to happen, it follows the same format beat for beat and it's not hard to see why it doesn't standout like the previous films, it reminded me more of Cars 3 than anything else (Seriously think about it), while Zhen is a decent character, it's just another Awkwafina character that's kinda no different from other characters she voiced, she was good don't get me wrong but I'd prefer if we had the Furious Five once more because that would make more sense and then Zhen could join them or something?, but nope they are completely gone which is a shame but hey I wasn't completely bothered by it, Po and the rest of the previous characters are still good but don't add anything new of substance just... themselves, the inclusion of Tai Lung is interesting, hell even Lord Shen and Kai could've been better established here but... they feel like.. fan service and nothing else... I mean it's kinda cool to see them again?, but they contribute to almost nothing and really feels like a cop-out, plus while most of the humour work for me about 20% perfect didn't land or wasn't funny enough, the previous films at least balanced, humour, drama and action out nicely, this one does leave out drama which is what makes these films so memorable and super strong, the villain the Chameleon is decent and has a cool design and the animation on her is spectacular, she's just another villain but unlike the previous three, she does not have much of a connection to Po other than taking forms of previous masters, she was decent but nothing more than that, the Dads are fine but they contribute to almost nothing and could've easily been back at the Valley of Peace than follow Po, but those are the flaws I had with the film.

So despite how much of the film had quite a bit wrong going for it and how it could've been better established as a Kung Fu Panda movie with story, characters and conclusion could've been handled better, "Kung Fu Panda 4" is a pretty good, while yes it's the weakest of the films and less impactful, BUT.. I didn't mind it so much and I did have a fairly good time watching it, it has heart, humour (mostly), the great animation and characters we all know and love return and amazing music and action, everything else really doesn't come together as Kung Fu Panda movie and feels like they're doing it.. just because and cop-out at the very end with very not-so-special new characters I'll be honest, but just go in to have fun, even if you are a fan of Kung Fu Panda, just accept for what it is and I seen so much hatred for this film and even the director as well, I think it's a bit too far so chill out and just enjoy what you enjoy, maybe ignore the fourth film all together and stick with the first three?, I understand the disappointment and sharing so many opinions on it, but at the end of the day, it's gonna have it's fans so.. like what you like and let other people like what they like even if you don't like it, so yeah.... not a great movie but... pretty good, not sure the need for another film but maybe a series or short would make sense???, ehh skadoosh and all the rest of it, oh and by the way Mr. Beast cameo ruined the joke from Kung Fu Panda 3, if you know.., you know..

I'm going to be generous and give "Kung Fu Panda 4" a 8.2/10.