Sunday, August 31, 2014

[MOVIE REVIEW] James and the Giant Peach (1996)








OR











Title: James and the Giant Peach


Starring:  Paul Terry, Susan Sarandon, Jane Leeves, and Richard Dreyfuss

Genre: Fantasy / Family / Friendship / Insects

Company:   Walt Disney Pictures

Directed by: Henry Selick

Year: 1996

MPAA Rating / TV Rating: Rated PG - For Some Frightening Images.

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Best Buy  //  Blu-Ray.com




When a young boy named James loses his parents to a rampaging rhinoceros (who takes the form of a thunder cloud) and he is forced to live with his cruel aunts, Aunt Spiker and Aunt Sponge, James dreams of going to America to live a better life.  However, later on James meets a strange old man who gives him a bag of "crocodile tongues" and he tells James that there is magic in those tongues.  James takes the tongues, but accidentally drops the tongue near a peach tree, which causes one of the peaches on the tree to grow into gigantic proportions.  Later that day, while Aunt Spiker and Aunt Sponge used the giant peach to make a fortune, James goes inside the peach and discovers a group of bugs who have also grown in gigantic sizes. James and the bugs then decided to head over to New York City to get a better life for themselves, while avoiding various dangers along the way.


Now, I was practically introduced to "James and the Giant Peach" through Roald Dahl's original book and I instantly fell in love with this story!  So, I was definitely excited to see Roald Dahl's classic novel come to life in animation and I must say that I practically enjoyed this bizarre yet creative version of the classic children's story.  I absolutely loved all of the characters, with my favorite characters being Miss Spider and the Centipede.  I loved Miss Spider because she was quite an unusual character as she is considered frightening by the other bugs due to her literally eating other bugs, but I loved the fact that she cares so much for James and was willing to help him out no matter how horrifying the situation is.  The Centipede was a truly fun character as he might be a little rude and annoying to the other bugs, but I loved his courageous nature and the fact that he is also willing to help James out of his situation.  The voice acting was fantastic, especially Susan Sarandon as the quiet and serious Miss Spider and Richard Dreyfuss as the fun loving Centipede, as they fit the characters extremely well and they bring so much life to the characters.  The story was truly creative, especially about the idea of a group of friends (giant insects in this case) coming together inside a giant peach and traveling around the world with it!  I found that idea to be a bit strange yet creative at the same time and even though I have an intense fear of bugs, I definitely would have loved to be friends with giant bugs!





The major problem I had with this movie was that there seemed to be so many plot holes within this film that there were times that I did not understand what was going on in this film. Like for example, how did Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker drive their car through the ocean and how can a mechanical shark appear out of nowhere in the ocean?

Overall, "James and the Giant Peach" is definitely one treat that fans of Roald Dahl's works and fans of surreal animation should definitely check out!



Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Top Ten Tuesday #2: Top Ten Movies I Want To See Next!



Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish.
Each week there’s a different Top Ten list. It’s a great way to find and connect with other awesome bloggers.

So today’s Top Ten Tuesday theme is my top 10 movies that I would like to see next!


So, here are my top 10 movies I would like to see next!



10. Mulholland Dr.:  Another David Lynch film that I’m pretty interested in and it does seem like that type of film that would be pretty weird for many people to watch!

9.  Donnie Darko:  This is one film that has gotten me really excited as it not only deals with a surreal plot about a plane crash, but it also has a weird and disturbing person wearing a bunny mask throughout the whole film!


8. Eraserhead: I love weird films (as you can see as I have a whole blog dedicated to them) and after hearing so many good things about David Lynch’s films, I just have to give this film a chance (especially after I heard about the whole “mutant baby” scene)!  


7. The Amazing Spider Man:  I will admit I was a little skeptical about this film since I thought it was too soon for the Spider Man movies to reboot. But, I am definitely interested in seeing where this reboot takes our favorite web slinger and whether or not it can be just as good as the original trilogy.  


6. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: I am a huge Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan and even though I will admit that I was a little skeptical about this movie at first because of the creative team involved, after I heard some good reviews about this movie, I’m willing to give this film a shot!  


5. The Wolverine: Wolverine is probably one of my most favorite X-Men characters, so the fact that we are getting a movie that is a much more improved solo film for everyone’s favorite Canadian mutant is something I definitely would love to see!  


4. Inception: I love movies that deal with surreal moments and taking place in a person’s mind, so this movie has gotten me intrigued with its interesting and bizarre premise and it is definitely something I wanted to see for years!  


3. Guardians of the Galaxy:  Now I will be honest, I have never read any comics that starred the Guardians of the Galaxy, but since Marvel has been on the role with making good movies and this is something completely new and different, I just have to check this movie out!  


2. Captain America: Winter Soldier:  After watching the first “Captain America” movie and “The Avengers,” I was looking forward to seeing more of Captain America’s storyline and how his life in the future world would affect him as a person.  After hearing so many good things about this movie, I am definitely looking forward to seeing this movie!  



1. X-Men: Days of Future Past: I am a huge X-Men fan and when I heard that one of my most favorite storylines from the comic books is coming to life to the big screen, I just got so excited at this movie being made!  This is definitely one superhero film that I have to check out at all costs!

So, what are your top 10 movie that you want to see? Please feel free to comment below!



Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2014