Review No.161: Ice Age - Continental Drift

More kiddy cartoon action now with the fourth instalment in the Ice Age franchise a series which I've caught smatterings of but never had been a huge fan. As you can imagine from the title the whole premise of these cartoons are that they focus around a group of prehistoric mammals who, though they are outcasts, have come together to form a mini family. In this fourth film the dynamic of the three is changing with Manny the Woolly Mammoth, voiced by Ray Romano, now having a teenager daughter of whom he is very protective while his wife Ellie tells him to lighten up. Sid the sloth also has family problems when his  whole brood descends only to lumber him with their wise-talking grandmother, voiced as Wanda Sykes playing the character she always plays in these kinds of films, before scarpering off once again. Finally there's Dennis Leary's sabre tooth tiger Diego the gruffest of the bunch who is feeling lonely so wouldn't you know it throughout the film he ends up finding love. As the subtitle atests to this sees our band of heroes drift off as the ice cap begins to melt and different parts of ice are splintered separating Manny from his family with the majority of the woolly mammoths having to find a new home while our central trio plus Sykes' character try to find home again. Continental Drift also parodies/rips off the pirate genre by having our heroes having to defend themselves from a gang of pirates led by Captain Gutt, voiced by Peter Dinklage in full Game of Thrones mode, which include a range of animals from Nick Frost's dumb elephant Flynn to Jennifer Lopez's sexy sabre tooth tiger Shira who as I alluded to earlier becomes Diego's love interest. Along the way there are life lessons learnt as Shira learns it's better to part of a family, Manny's daughter learns that she'd been better sticking with her friend than going after the bad boy and Sid learns that he isn't as much of a screw up as his family think he is. As well as all this there's the usual malarkey with Scat the squirrel desperately trying to bury his acorn.

As you can imagine this is a lot to cover in under 90 minutes and to me Continental Drift reeks of the flogging of a dead horse despite some clever touches. I don't think anyone, who is at least under eight, really needed yet another Ice Age film and Continental Drift seems to be drinking the well dry with plenty of pointless subplots and stunt casting. Said stunt casting includes R&B stars Nicki Minaj and Drake popping up as two of Manny's daughters friends I'm not sure if these names bought any customers to see the film especially for them however I'm wondering the point of paying two such high profile stars for voicing very minor characters. Thankfully the main voice cast are still good at their jobs while Dinklage adds that little bit of eccentricity and Nick Frost is also good in his minor role as Captain Gutt's comic side kick however as much as I love Wanda Sykes her wise-cracking nature doesn't fit with the character she has been asked to play. As far as the plot goes there's far too much of it and I feel the pirate stuff was also a little bit rushed as were the stories involving the other mammoths which I feel that I didn't really need. I'm also sure I've heard and seen all these messages in previous animated films where they were said and done better plus probably spending a lot less money than the team behind Continental Drift did. I do appreciate that I'm not the target market here and I do think there's a lot more enjoyment to be have if you're under eight but I've still seen smarter films for that age group that I enjoyed just as much as they would've done. Ultimately I can't help but see this as a pure money making venture, rather like the fourth Shrek film, as this is a franchise that long outstayed its welcome but one that it seems looks set to continue as this film as already made a shed load of cash.

Verdict: Some nice comic touches plus a reliable voice cast mean that Continental Drift is passable plus it will appeal to its target market but I feel that it exists purely to make money rather than to bring any particular kind of entertainment so for that reason it gets 5.5/10

Review No.127: Joyful Noise

I shall soon be hearing singing everywhere I go as for the third time in a week I'm watching a musical however the performances in Joyful Noise are, on the whole, a lot more organic than the 80s hair metal mess of Rock of Ages or the David Bowie-heavy music of Hunky Dory. The opening scene of the film sees Kris Kristoffesen's choir master suffer a heart attack on stage later dying just as his choir get through to the regional semi-finals of the annual choir contest. His widow G.G., played by Dolly Parton, assumes that she'll take his place however Pastor Dale has other ideas planting Queen Latifah's Vi Rose as the new choir mistress. The obvious clashes between these two divas escalate as G.G.'s wayward grandson Randy arrives in town catching the eye of Vi Rose's daughter Olivia of whom her mother is over-protective and won't let her date boys. Randy tries to ingratiate himself into Vi Rose's good graces by teaching her son Walter, who has Asperger's Syndrome, to play piano however after the two of them get into a fight with Randy's romantic rival Manny he is banned from her house. Randy also tries to inject some new life into the choir, in order to win the contest, however Pastor Dale refuses to sponsor the choir if they deviate from their initial more reverent material. As well as the clash between the women and the romance between the teens there is an on-going storyline about the choir's Georgian hometown going through tough economic times as plenty of local stores are shut down while Vi Rose has to take on two jobs. At the end of the day though the story is all about whether the choir will succeed in the final part of the competition and whether they will stick with what they know or go in a different direction. What do you think?

I suppose Joyful Noise is meant to be predictable and for me it was mostly reminiscent of the two Sister Act movies, which I love, however it's nowhere near as good as either of those. In my opinion Queen Latifah is an under-rated screen presence while Dolly Parton, other than cameos and voice performances, hasn't appeared on screen since 2002's Frank McKlusky CI so you would think writer/director Todd Graff would want to utilise their talents. It's surprising then that they are mostly used as supporting players in the story of the teen romance between Randy and Olivia who aren't nearly as interesting as the two lead matriarchs mainly because, while they can both belt out a tune, neither Broadway star Jeremy Jordan or Children's TV favourite Keke Palmer radiate that much charisma. The best non-singing scene for me was the confrontation in a diner between Vi Rose and G.G., most of which is in the trailer, as Latifah and Parton really let rip here insulting each other mercilessly for great entertainment. Graff also tries to cram too many plot strands in personally I would've taken a chunk from the teen romance story and instead devoted more time to telling the story of this town under financial strain who find solace through the music the choir provide while another story involving a choir member who struggles to find a man seems only to be there to set up the final scene. Thankfully the music performances are all great with the majority of them used in the context of the competition and even those that aren't, such as when G.G. remembers singing with her husband, are done in a way that isn't too far-fetched. Joyful Noise is definitely the best pure musical I've seen all week, due to the way the musical numbers are produced, however for me the teen romance is dull and has too much time devoted to it in the process almost squandering the talents of two captivating screen personas.

Verdict: The brilliant chemistry between Latifah and Parton is squandered in a film which concentrates too much on the teen romance element however when its leading ladies are allowed the chance to shine the film lights up and at the same time the musical numbers are great so for that reason Joyful Noise gets 6/10