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vanderbeauty
Reviews
Les Misérables (2018)
Most moving adaptation of the novel
I've read the english translation of the original novel, seen the musical on stage more than once, and recently watched the 2012 movie musical. Although I haven't seen all adaptations I can confidently recommend this moving adaptation as honoring the story and characters best.
Happy Feet (2006)
Happy Perfection
Compelling story and characters, superb animation, toe-tapping soundtrack. Good clean fun. The only flaw I can call out would be Nicole Kidman doing an imitation of Jennifer Tilly as Mumble's mom Norma Jean. I also wanted Mumble to lose more feathers as his character matured. I understand that his character was unique and needed to look different from the other penguins. And I appreciate that he lost most of his newborn feathers by the end of the movie. But I think he matured beyond his peers and the remaining feathers didn't seem in keeping with that. Otherwise, an animated delight that should stand as a classic. At least it will in my book. Impressive work from Animal Logic on all counts -- especially the elephant seals and interaction with non-animated human characters. It's not hard to imagine that the March of the Penguins documentary inspired the screenplay, or certainly assisted in supporting the script with regard to the winter migration of the empire penguins. Both tied to Warner Bros. so not that unlikely.
The Aristocrats (2005)
Admirable documentary but disappointing lack of comedic creativity
This documentary was very well done, and the interviews with the comedians talking about the history and lore of the Aristocrats joke was amusing, but the premise would have been better served if the comedians used more imagination and wit in retelling the joke and less cheap, toilet humor (that was far more offensive than it was funny). I liked the idea of getting an inside view of comedian-to-comedian joke telling, but was disappointed there wasn't more imaginative, comedic genius to retelling the joke (with a few exceptions, like Whoopi Goldburg). I'm making a point of voting and commenting on this one because I believe I was mislead by the critics, and don't want others to be.