neomagic Reviews

Meet the Robinsons (2007)

As an long-time animation fan I advise you to stay away from this

[4/10 · 4 November 2007]

While I love the big majority of Hollywood's CGI movies I was extremely let down by Disney's first effort: Chicken Little. But alas, it got worse. Meet the Robinsons is so childish and ridiculous, it made me cringe on way too many occasions. While being imaginative with regards to the family and their surroundings the film fails in so many other aspects that made it quite painful for me to watch: The bulk of the jokes are leveled at so young an audience, it is hard to not be bored or even annoyed if you're over an age of 15. As a film that relies so much on a breathless succession of funny ideas, it inevitably suffers if those jokes are completely inane most of the time. A big factor in any animated movie, the bad guy lacks any kind of menace as he is a complete moron. The fact that the quality of textures and animations is among the least sophisticated in recent years didn't help matters much either. I liked the ending and how all came together but it couldn't bring back the 90 minutes of wasted lifetime that came before.

I admit it: I'm certainly spoiled by Pixar and Dreamworks Animation. Yet I warn you to watch this movie being an adult with even half a brain.

Der freie Wille (2006)

Gripping movie experience but way too long

[7/10 · 2 August 2006]

Saw it here in Germany yesterday. This is a pretty intense film. It's a psychological study about two people, one of them a rapist and one a shy young women (strange personality as well) who seem to develop feelings for each other. Because of the very gritty atmosphere and some disturbing scenes quite a few people left the cinema. Even though I appreciated some of the film's aspects like not holding back on anything and developing deep characters I still felt like the director forgot to deliver a final cut of the movie: it was so long (160 minutes) and stuffed with endless shots that didn't help the story, that I felt bored many times, in spite of the extreme story and the brilliant acting. Another thing that bugged me was the low resolution, low color, video camera style which was probably supposed to make the film look even more bleak - unnecessary in my opinion.

Had it been cut to regular film length, it would have greatly benefited the impact of the movie. Like this, for me it's a 7.

P.S. One guy here mentioned in his review, that understanding of different cultures is necessary like the Germans' "cool and thoughtful communication style". I have never seen people in Germany talk as little as the characters in this movie and can't imagine any two people to build a relationship based on one sentence per five minutes.