I know in my previous blog I said that there would be five films on this books, but there were six films that stood out, so I just thought I'd do six. Anyway, let's begin!
6. Cinderella
This was such a beautiful film! The costumes, the setting, the music. All so pretty! The acting was also pretty good, with Cate Blanchett chewing scenery with gusto and being deliciously evil to Lily James' hopeful innocence. It is really hard to adapt something like Cinderella, given that there had been so many other adaptations that people know and love. But I think the writers came up with something stands up well on its own, while also paying homage to the Disney version of the story as well.
5. Inside Out
I think I admire the idea of this film better than the execution. There are some problems with the pacing and plot, but I can overlook them for what this film is trying to do. This film is telling children that it's okay to be sad, and it's okay to feel overwhelmed by change. And I think that makes this the most admirable film to come out this year. I also really like the characters, especially Sadness, and I really like how imaginative the world in Riley's head was. There was a lot of thought put into this film, and it shows. The animation is also so beautiful, making it one of Pixar's best films to date.
4. Bill
Horrible Histories does Shakespeare. Does anything else need to be said? This film is just pure fun, from start to finish! The plot follows young Bill (Matthew Baynton) as he tries to make it big in first Stratford-upon-Avon and then London. It also follows the attempts of Philip II of Spain (Ben Willbond) to assassinate Queen Elizabeth (Helen McCrory) and take over the English throne. So much silly stuff is in this film, it's ridiculous. The cast of the Horrible Histories TV show do an excellent job of adapting their humour to a feature length story, and Helen McCrory as Queen Elizabeth is brilliantly batty! It's also the only film about Shakespeare I've seen that actually has Anne Hathaway as a character, which is awesome and needs to happen more.
3. Oddball
One of he best reviews I read for this film said that the only thing bad about it was that there was too much Shane Jacobson and not enough of the cute dog and penguins. I almost agree, but then again, everyone could use more penguins in their life. I adore this film, because you can tell while watching it that the subject matter was very close to the filmmakers heart. We haven't had a really good animal movie in a long time, and this more than makes up for it. Again, there is some excellent acting from some familiar Aussie faces, like Sarah Snook, Deborah Mailman, and Frank Woodley. Alan Tudyk is exceptional, like always, and the story is simple, but heartfelt. A lot of love went into this film, and you can feel it in every scene.
2. The Book of Life
An animated children's film about the Day of the Dead festival. Why has this not happened before? I love the animation of this film where everyone looks like puppets. I love the music, that includes new songs from Us the Duo and Radiohead covers. I love the plot and how it makes fun of stereotypical kids films tropes, I love the characters and how they feel like real people who make mistakes all the time. I just love this film to death. This film doesn't talk down to kids about deep subject matters, and it isn't afraid to show that sometimes you have to work hard and stick to your own instincts if you want to be a hero. I hope more people see this film, and more people love it as much as I do.
1. Shaun the Sheep Movie
So, when I first heard that this film was coming out, I was a little skeptical. I mean, it's a film based on a five minute TV series, that was a spin off of the original Wallace and Gromit short films. I thought that this was going to be mediocre at best. I was wrong. One of the things I was worried about was whether or not the animals were going to speak and spoil all the humour of the TV series. They didn't speak. In fact, no one really spoke in this film. It's pretty much a silent film, which is really brave in this day and age where exposition rules Hollywood films with an iron fist. I was also scared the jokes were going to get old really quickly, but they didn't. The jokes moved with the plot, and nothing really felt forced or awkward. This film is exceptional. The animation is awesome, the music is really good. The plot, while simple, makes sense in this world. If you haven't seen this film, give it a chance. You might just love it as much as I did.
So, that's the first of the lists done. I'll probably be getting up the worst films list by next week at the latest. I'm still working out the order for my best films list. This year is actually quite hard to rank, and I've already had to leave off a couple of the more popular films that people are expecting. But I'll talk more about that when I finally come to putting the list up.
As always, thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this little list, I definitely enjoyed putting it together. Until next time, readers.
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