madagascar — third time's the charm

I was not expecting much from Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, except a chance to take the kid to a movie she might enjoy - and to soften the blow that I couldn't take her to see Rock of Ages — she LOVES Tom Cruise, but while I could justify letting her see him scale a building and evade death in the latest cartoony Mission Impossible fantasy adventure, simulating pool table sex is something she'll just have to wait to see when she gets older.

But back to Madagascar. It was really good. In fact the first two adjectives that spring to mind are funny and delightful. I thought the first one was O.K., and I have no memory at all of the second one, but for this one the filmmakers have created some new and funny characters and the whole production is energetic, bright, and colorful. The four main characters are back: Alex the Lion (Ben Stiller), Marty the zebra (Chris Rock), Melman the giraffe (David Schwimmer), and Gloria the hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith). Directors Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath, and Conrad Vernon have wisely increased the roles of the quirky penguins, who have had success with their own animated television series, and reduced the role of King Julien (Sacha Baron Cohen), who is funny, but only in small doses.

The gang runs away and joins a circus

DuBois means business

The penguins are horrified by Monte Carlo's feather pillows

But the really welcome additions to the third film are Frances McDormand as the evil and bloodthirsty Captain Chantel DuBois and Martin Short as (not-very-well) trained seal Stefano, one of the members of a European circus troupe that the quartet is forced to join in order to hide from DuBois and to hopefully use to get back to their beloved New York City Central Park Zoo.

There is lots of subtle humor, mostly for adults, such as an ocean liner named the "Mal de Mer." It's full of slapstick and some exciting chases that bring to mind Wile. E. Coyote and the Roadrunner. The character animation is still a bit "computery"-looking, especially for the four main characters (maybe for consistency's sake with the other entries in the series). The other characters, especially DuBois, seem more detailed, and the backgrounds evoke Monaco, Africa, Italy, and all the other places the animals pass through. It's not ground-breaking animation, but it's entertaining and fun and a great afternoon at the movies. I may have even liked it a bit more than the kid.

ever have a movie preview make you angry? one day ...

I can't help it, but the preview for One Day pisses me the hell off. I watch rom-coms, even ones that makes the audience sit through one hour and 47 minutes of the two leads being kept apart. It's directed by Lone Scherfig, who made the wonderful An Education, which gave me pause, until I heard about the plot, which sets up bad behavior to hold off the inevitable realization by the two that they should be together — something anyone could have figured out in the first five minutes. And then the movie throws in a heavy dose of some dire circumstances for the tearjerker factor. As if all of that wasn't bad enough, I remembered what ticked me off in the first place. The movie is set in Scotland and England and the two leads are supposed to be young Brits, who, as the publicity blurb burbles:

Emma Morley and Dexter Mayhew begin a friendship that will last a lifetime. She is a working-class girl of principle and ambition who dreams of making the world a better place. He is a wealthy charmer who dreams that the world will be his playground. For the next two decades, key moments of their relationship are experienced over several July 15ths in their lives.

Dexter is played by Jim Sturgess and Emma, the "working-class girl of principle and ambition" is played by ... Anne Hathaway. Why? Were there no young British actresses available? I did not buy her as a "Yorkshire lass" in just a few preview clips. I can't imagine having to sit through one hour and 47 minutes of her playing Brit, and then waiting for the inevitable heartbreaking scene. No. Just no.

Dick van Dyke, in his legendary attempt at the Cockney accent

How did an American actress get the part? In a typical Hollywood b.s. fairytale version, Hathaway said in an interview that appeared in the Toronto Sun:

"I got slipped the script ... I flew to London and then I proceeded to have, like, the worst meeting of my life. I ... I got so terrified that I wasn't going to get the part, I grabbed a piece of paper and just wrote a bunch of songs. ... 'I clearly didn't communicate to you what I needed to today. But I think these songs can do it for me.' So she [director Lone Scherfig] went home and gave a listen and she said, 'Can I hear more songs?' I don't know why that worked, but I got the part."

Uh huh. I'm guessing that Hathaway's box office appeal had more to do with her getting the part than a mix tape, but whatever she wants to believe, fine. This just brings up the age-old question — Why do American Hollywood actresses insist on trying to do (badly) British (and sometimes even Southern) accents? Apart from Meryl Streep, they should just not do attempt it. Also good at an accent: Frances McDormand in Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day and Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow and the Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

Instead of trying to fit the square peg of an American accent into the round hole of a British one, it would be smarter for a director or writer to just rewrite the part as an American. If they can't change the character's nationality, as in this film or Shakespeare in Love (Gwyneth does the Brit accent better than most), than give a young British girl a chance. That goes for Renee Zellwegger in Bridget Jones's Diary, too.

We'll see how One Day fares at the box office this weekend; if others are as put off by the casting and the premise as I am.

miss pettigrew

I just caught Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day again on cable and am once again amazed at what a real gem his film is. It's not exactly news that Frances McDormand, Amy Adams and Ciarán Hinds are all great actors, but they all blend beautifully together and successfully bring London pre-WWII to life.

As we all tighten our belts in the current economy - some harder hit than others - it really resonated to watch Miss Pettigrew, who was literally starving, navigate her way through a series of parties, all the while trying to protect the interests of her flibbertigibbet and new charge, Delysia Lafosse. It's easy to forget how people struggled, and what owning just one pair of shoes, one coat, one dress, meant. It was also very satisfying to see that Hinds's character didn't react differently to Miss Pettigrew after her "transformation." Cinderella was just as interesting and attractive to the prince when she was covered in ashes.

If you get a chance, watch (or rewatch) this film. It's a true delight.