In the Heights

Hello and welcome
One thing you should know about me is if there is anything I love just as much as movies, it is musical theatre. So, knowing that, it is not too surprising that In the Heights was one of my most anticipated movies of last year. Unfortunately, like many other productions last year, It was delayed until this year. For the record, I'm not all that familiar with this musical, but of course, I have heard of it and I had seen excerpts of it on shows like the Macy's Day Parade and the Tonys, but I had never seen a full production of it. And let's just say I never got around to listening to the Broadway cast recording. My biggest introduction to Lin-Manuel Miranda was, like a lot of people, with Hamilton. With that out of the way, let’s begin.

Background 

This movie was originally set to be adapted by Universal with Kenny Ortega hired to direct with a planned release for 2011 but was canceled in March of that year because Universal was looking for a "bankable Latino star" like Jennifer Lopez (who, in my opinion, is not that great of an actress). In 2016 Harvey Weinstein (just saying his name makes me feel dirty) picked up the project. Jon M. Chu became the director and after Weinstein got busted, for you know what, and he’s studio went bankrupt, the movie ended up at Warner Bros for $50 million (only judging by its current box office It seems unlikely that it will meet those “Heights”) 

Plot 

It is telling the story of a corner in the Washington Heights in Upper Manhattan where every member of the community pursues their dreams of a better life. Usnavi (Anthony Ramos) found out that his late father's business in the Dominican Republic, which Usnavi dreams of reviving, is for sale. Meanwhile, Nina (Leslie Grace) returns from Stanford and she finds her father and tells him she was unable to pay tuition, but he brushes it off, telling her not to worry.
Vanessa submits a rental application downtown, where she dreams of becoming a fashion designer, but her application is rejected. Usnavi talks to Sonny's father about letting him go with him to the Dominican Republic, but Sonny's father implies he and Sonny are undocumented immigrants and cannot leave. 

Opinion 

First off, this story seems very episodic but none of the storylines are bad and most of them are really quite good but could have used more “glue”. Given that I have not seen the musical that it is based upon, I do not know if this is a problem unique to cinema. This being a musical, the most important part, or at least the part you want the audience to leave remembering, are the musical numbers. And with that, the movie pulls them off in spades. All the numbers look and sound amazing giving you scenes that would be nothing but impossible to do on stage like in a pool and on the side of a building. The Cinematographer is Alice Brooks who has not done much In the line of movies, but I can say that this might be her magnum opus, and if the Oscars were held today I believe she would be a lock. Of course, the songs are well written, but it is Lin-Manuel Miranda. This is the same guy that did Hamilton so would you expect anything less? The actors are also good as well.
In the Heights unfortunately did not get to “the Heights” that I anticipated but it is still a good movie. To check out If you're in the mood for a Musical I am giving 4 out of 5 stars. Oh, and if you are planning on seeing this movie, I would recommend the big screen as I did not do this movie any favor by watching it on my computer screen.

Goodnight, and Bee Happy!™

Mr. Bee 

 

copyright 2020 Bradley Entertainment All rights belong to Mr. Bee and if anybody breaks this copyright they will have to spend ten years as my personal slave, and thanks for your understanding.   

a special announcement

Raya and the Last Dragon-Mr.Bee’s Review

Hello and welcome,

Raya and the Last Dragon was Disney’s 2nd Premier Access Experiment. It was also simultaneously released In Theatres and that is the reason why it took me until now to do this review. Because at the time of release NY theatres had yet to be open and it did not make financial sense for me to pay Mickey $30 to Watch it (on a side note I still have not gone back to theatres, but I will probably go soon). On the surface, this movie seems to have done alright for Disney, but doing the math my rough estimate is that the base case scenario that Disney can bank on is that it broke even. But given the fact that Disney will probably never release the Premier Access numbers, the success or failure may forever remain a  Mystery. What really matters is the quality of the movie which is what we are here to talk about, so let's begin.  

Background

In 2018 That Hashtag Show (which I had never heard of until I researched this) reported that Walt Disney Animation Studios was developing a film titled Dragon Empire (On a side note that is an awesome title, maybe not for this movie, but it is totally awesome). Since then, directors have come and gone which ironically is not entirely uncommon for animated films such as this. In August 2020 it was announced that Don Hall, director of Winnie the Pooh and Big Hero 6 (both great movies), and Carlos López Estrada, who only joined Disney a year earlier, took the helm. 

Plot 

The prosperous land of Kumandra is ravaged by the Druun, evil spirits that attack and petrify the land's people and dragons. Sisu (Awkwafina), the last dragon, concentrates her magic into a gem and banishes the Druun, reviving Kumandra's people but not the dragons. A power struggle divides Kumandra's people into tribes, based on their placement along a giant, dragon-shaped river: Fang, Heart, Spine, Talon, and Tail. About  500 years pass and Chief Benja holds a feast for the leadership of all five tribes. Chief Benja’s daughter Raya (Kelly Marie Tran) befriends Namaari (Gemma Chan), daughter of Chief Virana of the Fang tribe, and trusting her, Raya shows Namaari the location of the gem. Immediately Namaari stabs Raya in the back and the gem breaks and Raya’s dad learns a very valuable lesson why not to be a parent in a Disney movie.  For the next six years, Raya treks across Kumandra to find Sisu in order to help her recover the missing orb pieces.

Opinion

To start off, the animation is Disney so of course, it looks amazing. I only have one gripe about the animation and that is when the characters turn into stone, there is something off about their appearance,  I can’t put my finger on it, but I just do not like the look of it.  However, the rest of the animation looks fantastic like the character animation and the water which is one of the hardest things in CGI to get to look good.

The voice acting is fantastic, but one thing I will say is  Awkwafina as Sisu, while not bad even by the loosest sense of the word, I do think it is a little too similar to the Genie from Aladdin. However, I don't really blame  Awkwafina because I think it was more the fault of the writers. I do not think Sisu is a bad character but the Genie similarities hold her back on being great.  The movie is extremely unique and has more in common with Avatar: The Last Airbender than it does with any of the other Disney classics.  I like the fact that Disney is finally getting away from the Twist Villains. Granted, spoiler alert, this movie doesn't really have a traditional villain, per se. Raya and the Last Dragon is a great movie, but while not among Disney’s greatest achievements, is still a movie worth watching at least once and I suspect that a second viewing for me is not too far off. As of right now, it is the best-animated movie of the year. I am giving Raya 4 and a half out of 5 stars. All I can say is that Jennifer Lee’s tenure as Chief Creative Officer of Disney Animation is off to a great start.  

Goodnight, and Bee Happy!™ 

Mr.Bee 

 

copyright 2021 Bradley Entertainment All rights belong to Mr. Bee and if anybody breaks this copyright they will have to spend ten years as my personal slave, and thanks for your understanding.   

images courtesy of the Walt Disney Company and  Harmony Healthcare International respectively.

My Walt Disney Treasures collection June 2021 edition

Arlo the Alligator Boy- Mr. Bee’s Review

Hello and welcome, 

Arlo the Alligator Boy seems to be Netflix’s attempt to make a franchise as profitable as Spongebob because, along with this movie, they are also planning a series coming out later this year. As to how it is going for Netflix it is hard to say because they do not release numbers, but given the fact, this movie has never trended on Twitter and I have never seen it on Netflix's top 10 I would say not so well. However, we must see what happens with the series. With that out of the way, let’s begin.  

Background 

This movie was directed by Ryan Crego who also wrote the Screenplay. He formerly worked at Dreamworks doing multiple jobs with the exception of the director. He was the director for only one project and was a few episodes of the Nickelodeon series Sanjay and Craig (which I have not seen a single episode). This is all I have for the background because I gave you the rest in the intro (whoops).   

Plot 

Arlo (Michael J. Woodard) is placed in a sewage drain shortly after his birth, where he is taken by a stream of water into the ocean. Arriving in a swamp, Arlo is adopted and raised by a woman named Edmée (Annie Potts). When Arlo is a teenager he wishes to interact with other people but he fears his alligator appearance will not be accepted by society. In an attempt to help him, Edmée explains to Arlo that he is from New York, and unaware that he was actually abandoned. Arlo decides to travel to the city to find his birth parents. Meeting a colorful cast of characters along the way Including Bertie (Mary Lambert) a teenage human giant, Alia (Haley Tju) a tiger girl, Furlecia (Jonathan Van Ness) a pink flamboyant furball, Marcellus (Brett Gelman) a fish with legs and Teeny Tiny Tony (Tony Hale) a rodent-like creature. 

Opinion 

Reading the plot you may think that it sounds like a rip-off of the Muppet Movie, although I probably won't go that far, they do have a lot of similarities making the movie feel very predictable. Granted the plot is not horrible and if this was an intentional rip-off there are worse plots out there. The animation, although it looks very isTV-like, is not bad at all.  I loved the character designs because they are unique and creative and watching them makes me think of one of the reasons why I love animation so much. However, the characters themselves are very one-dimensional, for example, Arlo is just a generic Spongebob clone and the villains are cookie-cutter bad guys in it to simply make money. The songs are not bad but they feel like they were written to make money for Netflix off of the soundtrack and to move the story along came was 2and.

  

Arlo the Alligator Boy is not that good as a movie, but as a pilot, it is off to an okay start (I’ve seen great shows with awful pilots, granted they are often the ones canceled too soon).  As a movie blogger, I need to rate this as a movie so that is why I am giving it 2 out of 5 stars. 

Goodnight, and Bee Happy!™ 

Mr.Bee 

 

copyright 2021 Bradley Entertainment All rights belong to Mr. Bee and if anybody breaks this copyright they will have to spend ten years as my personal slave, and thanks for your understanding.  

  images courtesy of Netflix, Inc. and  Nina Soden - WordPress.com respectively.