Movie Review - Wish Dragon

Director: Chris Appelhans
Genre: Animation/ Fantasy/ Adventure/ Family
Runtime: 98 minutes
Year: 2021
Starring: John Cho, Constance Wu, Bobby Lee, Jimmy Wong, Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Aaron Yoo, Ronny Chieng

Description: Determined teen Din (Jimmy Wong) is longing to reconnect with his childhood best friend (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) when he meets a wish-granting dragon (John Cho) who shows him the magic of possibilities.

Review: It’s almost a deadly sin to compare this film to a Disney classic. It’s unfair too, because most other studios lose out to Disney. But I’m doing it anyway: “Wish Dragon” feels an awful lot like “Aladdin”.
Like “Aladdin”, the main character in “Wish Dragon” is a simple guy, who grew up in a small home with not much money. He wants to impress a girl who lives a better life in terms of wealth. Din, our hero, gets the help of the Long, a wacky pink and purple dragon who can grant wishes. Three to be exact.
Din is hopelessly naïve. He doesn’t want to show off Rolexes, sports cars or an expensive tailored suit, he just wants to give a present to his childhood friend Li Na. Friend, not sweetheart. This is where “Wish Dragon” differs from the other story. There is no romance involved. I loved that about this film. And it works well.
Given the many similarities with “Aladdin”, “Wish Dragon” is not likely to win the originality award. But it doesn’t matter, because it is still a catch adventure with beautiful animations. I’m not a fan of “Aladdin” anyway (one of the many unpopular opinions I have :D )

Rating: 3,5/ 5

10s Movie Review - The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

Director: Isao Takahata

Genre: Animation/ Drama/ Fantasy/ Adventure

Runtime: 137 minutes

Year: 2013

Starring: Chlöe Grace Moretz, James Caan, Mary Steenburgen, James Marsden, John Cho, Beau Bridges, Dean Cain, Darren Criss, Lucy Liu, Oliver Platt

Description: Found inside a shining stalk of bamboo by an old bamboo cutter (James Caan) and his wife (Mary Steenburgen), a tiny girl (Chlöe Grace Moretz) grows rapid fast into an exquisite young lady. The mysterious young princess enthralls all who encounter her, but ultimately must confront her fate, the punishment for her crime.  

 Review: A farmer finds a tiny princess in a bamboo plant, takes her home and soon she’s turned into a human baby. It all happened without any commotion in the first few minutes. Where Disney would accompany it with sparkling star rains and magical music, in “The Tale of the Princess Kaguya” is brought as something familiar and logical. It’s a true fairytale from Studio Ghibli.

The young Kaguya grows up as a normal child on the farmland, but her adoptive parents understand that they are dealing with royalty and only want the very best for her. Father and mother address their child with greatness and take her to the big city to make her a full-fledged princess. In the meantime, the child herself has nothing to contribute. She does not want to get married at all, but in order not to disappoint her proud father, she agrees to choose from a number of selected noblemen.

That this search for love is actually a little too long and predictable can be taken for granted, because the rest of this fairy tale is beautiful. When more is known about Kaguya’s background, the film gains strength to end in a deeply movie scene.

Director Isao Takahata, best known for “Grave of the Fireflies”, gives the message to be merciful and supportive towards each other in the last act, but puts a lot more in his film through symbolism. References to the story of Jesus Christ and other religions for example.

Apart from symbolism and fantasy elements, “The Tale of the Princess Kaguya” is above all a drama in which human emotions such as mercy and melancholy are central. This is recognizable for everyone. in addition, the animations department provides a number of beautiful scenes. Not everyone might like the style, since it’s more outlined art or sketch-like, with a more limited color palette. But I think it looks beautiful.

If you’re a fan of Studio Ghibli movies, you should not miss this one.

Rating: 4/ 5

Movie Reviews - Searching

Director: Aneesh Chaganty
Genre: Drama/ Thriller
Runtime: 100 minutes
Year: 2018
Starring: John Cho, Debra Messing, Sara Sohn, Alex Jayne Go, Megan Liu, Kya Dawn Lau, Michelle La, Joseph Lee, Dominic Hoffman, Connor McRaith, Briana McLean

Description: After his 16-year-old daughter goes missing, a desperate father (John Cho) breaks into her laptop to look for clues to find her.

Review: Like many of us can’t sit through an entire movie without checking their phone, that’s how attached David Kim is to the digital world. When his 16-year old daughter Margot doesn’t respond to his message, he sends another one. And another one and another one. Just as many times before he gets angry. But this anger soon turns into concern. Where is Margot?
However the police, with detective Rosemary Vick leading the investigation, does everything they can to find Margot, for David it doesn’t go fast enough. He uses Margot’s laptop to find out more about her disappearance. He goes through her social media, e-mail, messages. David finds out that his daughter was a total stranger to him.
In this ambitious thriller, by director Aneesh Chaganty, everything is seen though media screens. It feels weird at first, but you get used to it very easily. We see what David Kim sees and does. Sending messages, clicking and opening tabs, facetiming.
The film has a simple title and a theme that has been used many times before, but this film is very complex and unique because of the used format. And “Searching” is a highly unpredictable film, that will even fool the more experienced moviegoer. There are some unexpected twists, which is very rare in Hollywood these days.
The average film fan will not appreciate this film for what it is and what it does, but if you look deeper and further, you see the excellence that is called “Searching”. It’s great to see originality hasn’t died yet!

Rating: 4,5/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2017 - # 41: Star Trek Beyond

Director: Justin Lin
Genre: Science Fiction/ Action/ Adventure
Runtime: 122 minutes
Year: 2016
Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin, Idris Elba, Sofia Boutella, Deep Roy, John Cho

Description: The USS Enterprise crew explores the furthest reaches of uncharted space, where they encounter a new ruthless enemy who puts them and everything the Federation stands for to the test.

Review: It took director Justin Lin a while to turn the “Fast & Furious” series into the success it is now. For the “Star Trek” series it was a little easier, because Lin taking over for “Star Trek Beyond” is an instant success. It’s a great follow up and doesn’t constantly reference the old films and the TV show.
“Star Trek” from 2009 and “Star Trek Into Darkness” from 2013 were trying to build the new Star Trek universe and to reintroduce the characters. Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Sulu, Uhura, Scotty and Chekov finally get to go on their first long space mission in “Star Trek Beyond”, to discover new worlds, civilizations and people.
During a stop, they get a call from the nebula, an unknown part of space where there is no communication possible with the Starfleet. It is a bit suspicious, but the heroes from the Enterprise can’t ignore the call and decide to help them. But they are ambushed and end up on an unknown planet.
The villain is played by Idris Elba, who is unrecognizable but still manages to show his charisma through layers of make-up. Another newcomer is Sofia Boutella as Jaylah.
The film has a high tempo, which makes it feel rushed at times. But the action scenes are great, never over the top. I was sceptic about this film, “Star Trek Beyond” is a really good movie. I didn’t expect that. This “Star Trek” series is very solid.

Rating: 4,5/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2014 - # 146: Total Recall

Director: Len Wiseman

Genre: Actie/ Science Fiction/ Thriller

Runtime: 118 minutes

Year: 2012

Starring: Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, Bryan Cranston, Bill Nighy, John Cho

Description: A factory worker, Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell), begins to suspect that he is a spy after visiting Rekall - a company that provides its clients with implanted fake memories of a life they would like to have led - goes wrong and he finds himself on the run.

Review: Remakes of big movies are really popular these days. You take a big film from the last twenty to twenty five years, modernize it a bit, throw in some famous actors and a success is guaranteed. Right? There are movies that where ready for a remake, like “Cape Fear” by Martin Scorsese or “Ocean’s 11” by Steven Soderbergh. And the Hitchcock classic “Psycho” was a film that didn’t really need that at all. Len Wiseman’s “Total Recall” falls right in the middle.

It’s 2084 and due to a chemical war the biggest part of the world is uninhabitable. Two big areas fight for the power on earth. Factory worker Douglas Quaid lives in The Colony with his wife Lori. He has a recurring dream where he and a woman are being chased. Quaid wants more from his life and he decides to visit the company Rekall. They implant memories. Quaid chooses a memory as a secret agent, but before they can implant it something goes wrong and he turns out to be a wanted man. When Quaid is chased by the police he finds out that nothing is what it seems.

With a remake it’s hard not to compare. “Total Recall” from 1990 was Paul Verhoeven’s break. The biggest difference between the two movies is that in the original the planet Mars is a big part of the film. In the new one, the movie is set on planet earth. Verhoeven’s version had some self-mockery, but Wiseman is going for a more serious approach and gives it a political touch. And the look of the film reminds you a bit of “Blade Runner” as well. Originality is hard to find here. It does look very good, the visuals and action sequences are amazing. But it’s hard to take in the environment because it all goes in warp speed.

Colin Farrell is off course a better actor then Arnold Schwarzengger and he’s a believable action hero. My biggest problem with the film is that you never really know if the events really happened or were all in Quaid’s head.

“Total Recall” is an entertaining action/ sci-fi film that takes itself a bit too seriously. Visually it’s stunning and Colin Farrell is doing a solid job as Quaid. But the movie never convinces you the way the original did.

Rating: 3/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2014 - # 3: Star Trek Into Darkness

Director: J.J. Abrams
Genre: Actie/ Science Fiction/ Avontuur
Runtime: 132 minutes
Year: 2013
Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, Karl Urban, Bendict Cumberbatch, Alice Eve, Anton Yelchin, John Cho, Bruce Greenwood, Peter Weller

Description: When the crew of the Enterprise is called back home, they find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization has detonated the fleet and everything it stands for, leaving our world in a state of crisis. With a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one-man weapon of mass destruction. As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew.

Review: You can easily trust J.J. Abrams with a good action movie, because he did a great job on the reboot of “Star Trek”. Now, four years later, you wouldn’t expect it to reach that same level of surprise. Well, think again!
“Star Trek Into Darkness” contains some of the same ingredients we saw in the first, some action sequences are very similar. But with the humor, action and excitement it keeps your attention at all times.
Most humor comes from the interaction between Kirk and Spock. This is a strong and solid base for this franchise. Especially Zachary Quinto’s timing and dry humor is fabulous, he’s a great Spock. But the movie shouldn’t be called “Star Trek Into Darkness” if there wasn’t a dark side to this film. That comes from the character John Harrison, who is out for revenge. My problem with the first film was the villain, but that’s exactly the strongest point of the second installment. And we have Benedict Cumberbatch to thank. He is a fantastic actor and is probably one of the most convincing villains of 2013. His voice alone makes you shiver, Cumberbatch can make anything sound sinister. He gives his character extra depth, which makes him unpredictable. I’m also glad to see Simon Pegg in a bigger role, but the two female characters played by Alice Eve and Zoe Saldana are underused.
“Star Trek Into Darkness” is a true action fest, even if you’re not a Trekkie.

Rating: 4/ 5