Video
Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue
I was invited to a media screening of Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue, I took with me a good friend and her young son. They’re in the right demographic and didn’t want to go alone. I’m not excited at attending movies by myself, I’ve done it on occasion and it just hasn’t felt right.
Anyway, it was a lovely little movie and it will be released in cinemas on the 5th of August and then to DVD and Blue-Ray on the 15th September. The story is about Tinker Bell and how she meets a human, or maybe it’s about how humans meet Tinker Bell the fairy. Anyway, it’s a feel good story with some gorgeous graphics, Disney has taken great pains to ensure it looks just fabulous, they have paid great attention to detail. I didn’t know any of the voices, but I should have as Lucy Liu was in it, she’s the only name I recognised but if you’ve seen some recent children’s movies you’ll recognise more than me. The problem when your kids grow up is you don’t get to see many kids movies unless you take someone else’s children.
There are a couple of issues they deal with in this movie. The issues of friends and helping them when they’re in trouble is pushed quite a number of times throughout the movies, in big ways as well as small ways. Comforting friends and also fixing things and making them work are also in this movie.
You will find the usual spinoffs that come with movies these days. Last night I saw the ad for the figurines so your child can play fairies and the Disney website shows the books and colouring books you can buy if you haven’t had enough of fairies after a couple of days.
I’m just going to go down memory lane for a few moments. The first thing I noticed was the Disney logo, not the little logo but the big one which has expanded many times over the years. I remember watching many Disney movies when I was young and seeing the latest logo and how it’s changed but still has enough of the same characteristics that I remember from watching Disney on a Saturday afternoon really took me back. I loved Disney in those days and would watch as many of their movies as I possibly could. Kurt Russell was gorgeous and young when he played Dexter Riley in a series of movies: The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes; Now You See Him Now You Don’t and; The Strongest Man in the World. I loved those movies.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )Starstruck – the movie
This is the typical story of two teens meeting and falling in love. One of them is famous, Christopher Wilde played by Sterling Knight, and the other isn’t, Jessica Olson played by Danielle Campbell. Jessica’s older sister, Sara played by Maggie Castle, is mad keen on Christopher and is desperate to meet him on their trip to see their grandma while Jessica is totally unexcited and just wants to see their grandma. Thanks to Sara’s desperation, Jessica runs into Christopher and ends up spending a day with him. They fall madly in love but won’t admit it, Christopher because he wants to protect her from the paparazzi and Jessica because she doesn’t understand his motives. Everything comes out all right in the end as you’d expect.
It’s a cute little movie and there are some scenes which highlight the current storyline. One scene I noticed was when Christopher is turning things down in order to be with Jessica and he does this on a movie set between takes. The scene being shot is full of rain while the weather outside is lovely and sunny, it just highlights how he’s moving from being very sad to very happy and shows he’s doing the right thing. This is just one example as there are many of these little asides happening throughout the show.
The music is nice and light, quite appropriate to young people, there are no scenes of dubiousness as it’s aimed at the preteen and early teen market. I quite enjoyed it despite it being a love story. There is a little bit of violence, but it’s mostly accidental and they apologise for it.
All three actors were good, but there is one person I’m going to watch out for as he grows up. Brandon Smith played Christopher’s best friend, Stubby. I was quite taken with his performance, especially his singing.
I checked out all four actors and discovered that Maggie Castle has a lot more experience in the film industry than the other three, maybe that’s what made her performance a little more believable than the others.
Thank you again to the lovely people at Disney for providing me a copy of this movie. It was released on DVD a few days ago with an extended version of the movie and a couple of extra music videos attached to the movie. I quite like these but when I saw the word ‘Extras’ I expected a little more.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( Comments Off on Starstruck – the movie )Two and three dimensional characters
It’s been an interesting week and I don’t want to repeat them. What with the funeral of a close family member, followed very closely by a migraine and then the brain fog set in for 24 hours, everything’s back to what passes for normal in the Suz’s Space world and I’m determined to do something useful tonight.
Two and three dimensional characters were described by E. M. Forster in his book Aspects of the novel, as being either flat or round. With two dimensional being flat and three dimensional being round.
You can see me actively demonstrating two dimensional (2D) and three dimensional (3D) in this video.
Three dimensional characters experience character arc whereby they begin the story with a particular viewpoint and as they move through the events of the story they develop a different viewpoint.
Let’s take Smallville for example. Each of the main characters progress into their comic book identities that we have known and loved/hated from totally different beginnings. Lex Luthor starts off being incredibly nice and I was quite surprised when I saw that as the Lex Luthor I know from my childhood was ruthless. Smallville tracks this change and this character arc shows us how well written and three dimensional he is.
Two dimensional characters do not experience character arc. Harry Potter has the same viewpoint throughout the series. He is still the same person at the end of the story as he was the end beginning. He says that he’s just a normal person but he never acts like one. He always acts as if he is the saviour and the only one who can deal with the situation.
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