Two year ago Quentin Tarantino piqued the interest of film fans everywhere when he promised two new anime companion films to “Kill Bill,” one supposedly about the origin of The Bride and the other about Bill himself.
We don’t know what’s happened to the story of The Bride, but the other animated film is going to blow you away, insisted star Uma Thurman.
“His anime stuff is strong,” she smiled.
We say we don’t know what happened to the story of the Bride, by the way, because Thurman claims to have never recorded a voice-over for the anticipated project.
“It has nothing to do with me,” she said. “It has to do with another character. You’ll have to see.”
That screams Bill to us. But the best part? It looks as if we’ll get to “see” real soon, perhaps as part of an expanded DVD release, Thurman teased, indicating that the short will be part of a larger re-release for “Kill Bill.”
“Right now he’s putting the two films together with an intermission with an added anime sequence he had already written,” she said of the ongoing saga of Beatrix Kiddo. “So additional stories are in there, in animation.”
Sounds pretty groovy to us? What about you? Would you plunk down some coin to buy an expanded “Kill Bill” set? Looking forward to more animation from Tarantino? Sound off below.
Shrek The Third(2007) MPAA Rating: PG Starting: Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, Antonio Banderas, Julie Andrews, John Cleese, Rupert Everett, Eric Idle, Justin Timberlake Running Time: 92 minutes
The third installment of the Shrek movies opened up last week making over $122 million in three days. That is the most any animated film has made. Unfortunately, it will doesn’t tell you how good the movie is. While there were some entertaining moments, the movie, on the whole, was predictable and not that funny. Some of the old jokes were replayed and the newer material was just ok.
The animation, on the other hand, was fantastic. I enjoyed just watching the detail on each of the characters.
The plot was simple and involved Prince Charming trying to gain control of the kingdom. The King dies and bestows the kingdom on Shrek and Fiona. If they don’t want it, he tells them, there is always Arthur. Shrek sets out on a journey to bring back Arthur to rule as King. Fiona is left behind and has to deal with snooty princesses, pregnancy and a hostile take-over by Charming.
The film does have its number of poop, fart and vomit jokes (which the young kids seemed to enjoy).
Cars (2006) MPAA Rating: G Starting: Owen Wilson, Paul Newman, Bonnie Hunt, Cheech Marin, John Ratzenberger, George Carlin, Katherine Helmond, Micheal Keaton Running Time: 116 min
Another Disney movie that was a joy to watch. Cars, which was just released on DVD, has a car-load of famous voices. Owen Wilson stars as the race car Lightning McQueen. McQueen, a self-centered new member of the race car circuit, is competing against two older cars with more experience. The first race ends up in a three way tie. In order the break the tie, the cars must race again in California.
McQueen gets lost on the trip to California and ends up in a sleepy town on the old Route 66 named Radiator Springs. There, with the help of Doc Hudson (Paul Newman), Sally Carrera (Bonnie Hunt), Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) and a variety of other cars, McQueen learns some valuable lessons.
I did not see this movie in the theaters because I believed a movie with cars as the main characters would not be worth watching. I was wrong. The movie was very enjoyable and had a good underlying message. The movie is appealing to all age ranges and is a good movie to add to your video collection!
At the last movie we attended, a preview was shown for the new Disney movie Ratatouille. Ratatouille is all about a rat named Remy who lives in Paris, France. It is Remy’s ambition to become a great chef. Their are obvious problems - Remy is of course a rat and rats are not welcomed in high class French restaurants. But, Remy makes friends with the garbage boy, Linguini and together they find a way to work together and create fantastic dishes!
Meet The Robsinson (2007) MPAA Rating: G Starting: Angela Basset, Daniel Hansen, Jordan Fry, Matthew Josten, Laurie Metcalf Running Time: 102 min
Over Spring Break I took my three children to see Meet The Robinsons, a recently released film from Disney. The film is about an orphaned named Lewis (Hansen). Lewis is an inventor, but his inventions always seem to be running amuck. He has no luck getting adopted and wishes to see his mom who abandoned him years ago. He invents a machine that will allow him to see past memories. His invention is stolen by a weird man from the future and a boy (also from the future), tries to help set thing straight again. It isn’t until the end of the movie that we learn how each of the characters are interconnected.
My three kids really enjoyed the movie. My four year old’s favorite part was the big chase scene in the middle of the movie with the T-Rex. I found the movie a little slow, but the ending was very touching. The theme of the movie is actually based on a quote by Walt Disney which is featured at the end.
I would have given the movie 3 1/2 stars, but my older daughter thought it was worth 4 1/2 stars. My compromise 4 stars for the young kids who I think will really enjoy it.
out of 5
Violence: Not too much. Big chase scene. Bad Language or Off-Color Jokes: None Other: One weird scene where a man is married to a puppet. I didn’t quite get that.
Two year ago Quentin Tarantino piqued the interest of film fans everywhere when he promised two new anime companion films to “Kill Bill,” one supposedly about the origin of The Bride and the other about Bill himself.
out of 5. And hope that there is not another one!
out of 5