KalEl Reviews

Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore (2010)

Entertaining for the family, fun for the spy/cop movie fan

[6/10 · 20 August 2010]

"Cats & Dogs": the idea of the original movie (which I haven't still seen, but I will) didn't appeal me 10 years ago. But then, 10 years ago I had no kids, and when they seemed really interested in this 3D action flick about cats and dogs fighting and teaming up to save the world... well, I decided. That there was a 3D-animation/3D-projection Roadrunner short before it finally tipped the scales towards going.

And I'm not sorry. It's not a very smart movie and the dialog is quite simple (OK, the dove character and some of the supporting cast is plain boring), but it worked great as a family movie: the kids (specially the 4 years one, who loved "Toy Story 3") liked the plot and followed it quite all the time without need of much explaining, and the parents liked the sometimes blatant, sometimes more silently reference to movies and sagas, from Bond's (it's really Shirley Bassey at the opening credits!) to "Die Hard", "Lethal Weapon", "Men in Black" or even Burton's "Batman". The middle part was a bit slow (both in the CGI an plot advancement departments) and the main character development was scarce, by any means; much more interesting was his kitty companion and the misadventures of both the villain and his mouse.

All in all, recommended as a light family film or as a cop & spy spoof (if you want the spoof not to be as offensive to the original material as the Scary/Date/Disaster/Superhero Movie sagas.

Underworld: Evolution (2006)

Action packed but a bit too... normal

[6/10 · 3 February 2006]

Greetings: at my arrival to the press screening of "Underworld: Evolution" I was plenty of doubt. I had heard comments on how it was a dull, boring and, in short, bad movie, worse than the previous one, that didn't ask at all to be seen. Well, I have not seen "Underworld", so the comparison was of no help. On the other hand, her at IMDb I had read an overpraising review, making it shine like a great action movie, full of interesting and unexpected plot twists, marvelous character portrayals... Well, that one looked like overkill. And after watching the movie, I see both takes were, to my experience, wrong.

There's nothing boring in "Underworld: Evolution", at least if you expect an action packed movie. There are shootings, brawls, jumps, wounds, magic, traps, monsters, blood, kills... And they are basically quite well shot.

But there's also very little "unexpected" in the plot: barely everything in the great scheme of the movie was expected right from the first, setting scene. The way to reach to the big parts of that plot *was* obscure, but in my opinion it was not a feature but an error: the story was unexpected on those moments because it was plenty of details that, in any franchise based on published material (Marvel, DC, book sagas, etc) would be evident to anybody, but only because there is no pre-existing world for the watched it is plain "obscure". And on the other hand they are constantly remembering us that "this is just the World of Darkness... but changing the names" Because, sorry: I didn't find any of the "pathos" and "character depth" announced by some. Perhaps a bit over most action flicks in the secondary roles, but very few on the major characters (both heroes and antagonists). But our regular "Vampire: Dark Ages" characters have more depth than most of this story shows...

FINAL NOTE: Watch "Underworld" first if you pretend to see "Evolution", because the first 20 minutes of the film are full of references to names and events of the first movie, and even with the short flashbacks shown it's hard to get hold, for a while, of whose name's supposed to be in charge, an enemy or dead.

The Return of James Battle (2004)

An interesting piece of what Europe can add to the Sci-Fi genre

[8/10 · 16 December 2004]

I discovered this picture at a surprise showing on 2004's Sitges Film Festival, and it was a very appealing surprise. As I was completely blank about what was I going to see, it all started strange (an astronaut? But then, no, this is not an astronaut story...), then the story started to develop in very familiar tones (to me, a Spanish viewer, it echoed a mix of Alex de la Iglesia, Santiago Segura and Karra Elejalde) with the sci-fi and horror touch slowly advancing as a secondary storyline. That was one of the best ideas for the movie: not making the fantastic part the main one, but showing how a very used cinema topic (the alien invasion) affected the everyday life of a lost in the swamp "village" (although it could have been any of your back country small villages, any Western country you live in). The end was strange (there is were I got the idea of Atomik Circus being perhaps an European comic book, because both the name and the ending is very typical of European short sci-fi comic books), but the Lovecraftian reference was bot inspired and unexpected, and I loved it. All in all, an 8 (some of the acting was a bit so-so), and an enjoyable movie.

Tu-no (1999)

Funny short spoofing superhero and military movies

[9/10 · 24 November 2003]

This funny short equally laughs of "The Iron Sergeant", "Return of the Jedi" and "Batman & Robin". Gabino Diego is great as a musician wannabe that wishes to fulfill his father's expectations, but the real star is Miguel Angel Rodriguez, better known for his leading in the comedic rock groups Mojinos Escozios. Don't miss a scene with him on screen...

Faust (2000)

Strange

[4/10 · 19 June 2002]

Yes, it's a strange movie. Yes, I still don't know if I like it: Divoff was right as M, I liked him. The plot place for Van Campen's character was right, too, although her own dubbing (to spanish) was bad bad bad. Mark Frost was Jim Carrey in a Gore movie but I liked his Faust part of the role. The psychiatrist character and actress are the most defined and well worked ones. The FX were right (wonderful make-up, specially the Van Campen-turns-into-DesireWoman one: horny at the beginning and more disturbing as it went on). But the mix of bad acting, Spawn-theft plot and bad worked scenes and connections didn't leave me clear one thing: did I like this movie? I don't know...

Despertaferro (1990)

An incredible travel through fantasy and reality

[9/10 · 10 October 1998]

"Despertaferro" is a journey, and an iniciatic journey, that begins with a visit to the Güell Park and finishes at the Sagrada Familia. And in-between, during the journey, there'll appear impossible loves, ships of other ages, warriors of other times and monsters of these ones. And even the Three Wise Men! But that's not the only surprise of the film: come on, come near "Despertaferro": sure it won't let you cold. Here is... THE CATALAN REVENGE!!!!