Transformers

'Transformers + explosions = good'

Steven Spielberg bought the rights to Transformers not too long ago for filming purposes through his Dreamworks company. Of course, he gets the first look and I remember desperately hoping that he would return to his old form and take on a more family/kid oriented film has he had before with E.T. and the like and make a Transformers film that brought back the magica awe of the films. Instead when I found out he had passed but had wanted Michael Bay to direct it as a live-action film, unlike everyone else, I was only dismayed that Spielberg had passed on it, not that Bay had accepted to do it. Many people cried out hack and whined about Bay whom they perceived as an action film guy who was big on spectacle and small on plot. While this may be somewhat true generally, I have always loved the performances given by his actors and whether you appreciate it or not, he does have one of the best cinematic eyes right now in Hollywood. So what, he likes to use crane shots and fun angled track shots, the point is that no matter how he incorporates his signature old shots into a new film, it always feel revitalizing and fresh unlike the shot in the last two Matrix films when time slows down. So yes, I knew that when the film was going to be made that it would probably have a bit too commercial of a touch and that some sort of human element crap would be a part of it. I also knew though that it WOULD have giant robots beating the crap out each other in the best cinematic way possible and that the story would really just be a vehicle for that. I felt even better for the film after hearing that they had decided on casting Peter Cullen as the voice of Optimus Prime even though he had already been the voice for years in the television series. It showed that thatnkfully, no matter how berating and annoying the vocal internet community was being, that Bay and Spielberg were willing to listen to them and swap ideas. Well, after several eh trailers I saw the film opening night with some friends, and it doesn't disappoint.

Bay delivers his usual verve and cinematic prowess with extremely smart setups. Granted a couple of shots could have had a little bit more planning put in, but almost all of them are incredibly impressive given that I don't think Bay has had a ton of work with CG and considering its a live action Transformers, its obvious there has to be lots of CG. Once again Bay brings "it" with his trademark shots and intense and sweeping action. As much as I found Bay to be smug in his appearance of On the Lot and laughed at every suggestion had to do with work on your camera skills, I have to say that he probably doesn't ever need to work on that again. He's great cinematically. The film is fast, furious, and damn fun. I have to say that the best thing I can say about the film is that I didn't mind the use of the human element as much. This might be partially due to the script but I also attribute a lot of it to Bay and the two main actors Shia Lebouf and Megan Fox, who definately just became the pinup dream model of the year. Okay, yes in real life she's a bit too scary skinny for my taste, but man she looks good in this film. Oh, and Castle, sorry buddy but Shia really helps to hold this film together. Bay might be a bit arrogant and as usual his sfilms are light on stories, but he knows how to do buddy films better than anybody since the Beverly Hills Cop days. Oh, and Bay I loved the addition of the sign in the teacher's room, that took a lot of thought and comedic thinking and it worked perfectly.

Storywise, it's a very easy basic premise. I am not sure how close to the Transformers mythology it is but it sounds like the kind of thing I would expect from a bunch of toys that spawned a cartoon series and an anime movie and then years later an actual movie. I'm also very impressed and happy with the choice of Bay and the writing team to let certain Transformers die. That's right, I hope you aren't too attached to certain characters from the cartoon because they might easily bite the bullet sucker. However, despite the good handling of the human element by the actors and director, there is just some stuff that is dialogue that blows and I doubt anyone could have made work. That whole thing about getting into the car, it was ridiculous and needed something more. Sure its sweet, but...wait, hold on, just gotta wipe some of this Easy Cheeze out from under my eyelids. Ahh thats better. The story is relatively simple and although I appreciated the fun stuff with the Marines and Sector 7 people, I found it kind of hokey that the same people from the Middle East are the ones that have to be around til the end. Honestly, they could have been destroyed and I would have been A-okay with that as it would have pointed out how powerful the Decepticons were. Oh yea, and writers, I realize it is in the tradition of the good bot Optimus Prime to be essentially Captain America as a giant transforming robot, but for the love of Cybertron! could you please give him less preachy dialogue and stilted manners. Fanboys pipe down, this is for your own good! Ah whatever, it wasn't too terrible I suppose. The best part of the human element is that it didn't get in the way of what everyone wanted which is giant robots beating the hell out of each other. It was also handled nicely by sticking to Shia's character and keeping everything mostly in the realm of light-hearted comedy. It definately came together for the best summer blockbuster so far.

As for the actors, there are the immediate two that come to mind of Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox. Shia does a good job of handling the comedy portions as the freaked out young horny teenager type. It's a very humanizing and fun lovable role. Megan Fox serves as nothing more than eye candy and to have a slight rapport with Shia's character which she is very good at and I see her future as being very similar to that of Lohan's if she ever decides to capitalize on her good looks at a young age. As for the supporting players, the film sports Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson as marines and although I could never figure out who was Tyrese, Josh does his best job yet and doesn't manage to become annoying. He makes himself a welcome addition to the large encore cast of the film and fits in well. I believed he could have been marine or a leader in a military unit. Bravo! Then there is Jon Voight as the Secretary of Defense which works. I mean the guy can play any distinguished dignitary you want, but honestly he is best at playing something out of a western or a tobacco-spitting coach in a high school. Although I'm dying to see the film where he plays Pope John Paul II. Then there is Bernie Mac whose one bit part is highly amusing. Also John Turturro as the Sector 7 weirdo which is not believable except at one point but is a welcome light-hearted comedic addition. I especially love the thought of how vicious my Nokia might be. Then there is some side story involving Anthony Anderson and Rachael Taylor, the only believable part of it being that there are people who live like Anderson's character and seem to be complete losers who could easily wipe out your bank accounts and leave you looking like an illegal immigrant if it crossed their minds. Also, Bay, the whole thing with the donuts was what you call in Hollywood, a groaner. The robots all look amazing and they are great to listen to. Megatron is a bit much but so is Optimus. Bumblebee is of course the best robot as more time and detail is invested in him although the whole thing at the end where Bumblebee speaks literally makes no sense and contradicts the plot of the film itself.

Conclusion:
The robots look great and Bay has done an excellent job of acquiring a cast and creating the best Transformers film you coudl ask for. I'm not saying that it doesn't have some lame moments or some contradicting storyline and plot points, but on the whole its a great blockbuster stuck somewhere in between those awesome years of puberty where it is not appropriate for young family oriented groups, but it is the perfect anecdote for families with teenagers. Its fun, fast, and contains all the elements one expects of a great action film, then throw in the huge robots, great destinations, big explosions, and some sort of mythology/story and you have Transformers. I will praise the film for its ability to mix and match the government, although I'm sure it will anger many right-wingers at the obvious and unnecessary potshots at the government. The marines and Voight seem intelligent and smart as does Rachael Taylor. But then you get John Turturro and the immortal line paraphrased to "Hey, why don't you wrangle me up some of those Ding-dongs?" said by what we assume to be the voice of the President. Ahh, well. As for future installments, some people have claimed they were so impressed that they wanted the same team to stay and do a second one. I disagree. I like Bay's take on Transformers but he has made it pretty obvious in interviews and other things that he took the film on as a challenge and is not a fan of the original Transformers since he considers them a bunch of cool toys essentially. He's actually pretty hostile about the whole thing from what I can understand and I think even if he did come back the second film would be much darker and mocking of the franchise. I think the writing team, despite my gripes, had a decent script that coudl have used some dialogue fine-tuning mostly so I hope they return. Spielberg's imprint of commercial appeal is all over this film and I am happy to consider this work as a more grown-up blockbuster film. I'm sure he'd produce again, just find a new and also greatly talented director to take the reigns. I hear that the guy who directed 28 Weeks Later is really good and he might be a great choice for such an action packed, CG movie. He just might have to work a bit on his comedy.

3.7 out of 5

Wannabe

A Canadian Obit

Professional wrestling over the years has had its ups and downs. It swings back and forth between great characters and fun new ideas and great storylines, to rehashes of the same stuff peddled several nights before or even several years before. There have only been a few wrestlers who have ever become anything or stood for anything. Hulk Hogan, The Warrior, Sting, The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Kurt Angle, etc. I used to be a big WWF watched back in the day and I returned during the WCW vs. WWF war that eventually resulted in WWE. I also enjoyed the occassional ECW before being acquired by WWE. However, for the most part, I have been outside of the wrestling community and world for many years. I was shocked later to find out about the extremely sad crippling of one of my favorite wrestlers Perry Saturn who was shot several times in the neck when trying to save a woman from being raped. The, not too long ago I was hit by the news of Eddie Guerrero's death at such an early age. Eddie was always ripped and it never made sense to me. However, I have never been so disappointed by an icon until now. Chris Benoit, also known as the Canadian Crippler and The Wolverine, was recently found dead in his home in an apparent suicide by hanging himself at his weight machine after having strangled his son and wife. One speculation is that it was a steroid induced rage.

Normally, I never write these kinds of things, not even about the greats in the media world who pass on each year. But I felt that since Benoit will probably be villified and remembered for his violent ending of life that someone should come out and discuss the great things he did and represented. Benoit was one of a few, and probably the first to come out and not waste time jabbering. Sure, he founght like a mad man and brawled his way to the top where he won a ridiculous number of belts, but no matter what he did, he made sure he stood for his homeland, Canada. Back in middle school, he was the only wrestler I saw that constantly was referred to as Canadian and stood by it. Whether the storyline was heel or face, he was Canadian and he gave a damn good fight and a good show each time he entered the ring. The Crippler Crossface and his slaps became well known to any who watched. And considering growing up in a place and time when Canadians were prominently displayed in South Park as weak, badly-accented English people whose biggest fault in life was everything, I'm sure Benoit must have served as an icon for the better side of Canada. Sure they had hockey, but sadly many people thought their hockey team was fiercer than their military. The joking and derogatory remarks about Canada and its ways gave me a vague idea and concept about the wussies and the "aboots." Thankfully, everytime I watched wrestling I was forced to do battle with Benoit and his boy wonder attitude. He was short, muscled, scruffy, and always seemed overpowered by his opponent who could have been Razor Ramon or Kevin Nash or some other ridiculously tall supposedly American wrestler, and he gave it all. When Benoit lost, you knew it wasn't because he didn't give it his all. I always expected him to expire in battle. Benoit seemed a bit unpredictable, like Wolverine of the X-Men, but he mostly espoused good values and ideas in an age when he was the perpetual underdog. He was Canada's Superman in human form. I don't know what happened to him over the years or what might have put him so far over the edge to have caused this terrible tragedy and incident, but its a damn shame to have sullied such a great career and life. Hopefully, Canadians and others who looked up to him like my good friend from High School, will remember him in better days when his fight was just and forget his last treasonous act upon earth. I salute Benoit for his continuos uphill fight against the terrible conception of Canadians and for successfully helping to keep a young teenager open-minded throughout high school and college until he could make his own decisions. R.I.P.

Wannabe

The Matador

'The Matador slays me!'

I saw this film a while back in theaters and I liked it then but I never got around to reviewing it. But since I watched it again recently, with a pack of seminarians which is really amusing, I decided to do it justice and help spread the good word.

First off, this film is such a black comedy that you might look into it and find yourself pondering Nietzsche and suicide at the same time. Don't get me wrong, it will make you laugh through puberty but it is dark comedy as any comedy about a hitman going though a midlife crisis should be. But with that said, it's nowhere near as dark as say, The Royal Tenenbaums which I found so dark that it was more of a tragedy than a comedy to me. The Matador is about a hitman named Julian who hits a midlife crisis and finds his work much harder to accomplish. He reaches out to try and make a friend. Some things happen. He botches a few jobs and suddenly he's next in line to be killed. The movie is a great exploration of what friendship means and how those around you who care for you will help you no matter how unsavory you are or the deed to be done. It's also a great exploration of the ideas of luck and how it is affected by mindset. These two big themes are explored in the travails of the two main characters as portrayed by Pierce Brosnan and Greg Kinnear.

Kinnear plays a down on his luck businessman whose son was killed not long ago and to whom bad luck has followed ever since. He meets Julian, played by the most potty-mouthed Pierce Brosnan I've ever seen who is constantly wiggin out in ways you would never guess. (I love the line "I look like a Bangkok hooker on a Sunday morning, after the navy's left town." hehe.)The interaction between these two is priceless as Julian not only strives to make a connection to someone for once but seeks help to deal with his issues and problems. What is also nice is how the director, Richard Shepard fits in great shots revealing things about the characters. The shark in the swimming pool, the picture of Brosnan in the cross-hairs, even the Brosnan cheerleader are excellent surreal qualities of the film that help to accent the at times surreal and symbolic dialogue which reveal the more about the characters and true message of the film. I mean, yes, at times its a little too free and obvious in its allusions and symbolism, but the fact that it tries so hard can be nice as it helps others not as well versed in movie-dom to follow. Pierce does his best to forget Bond in this film and its obvious. He is fantastic and it is definately one of his better roles. Kinnear isn't annoying and actually is pretty amusing in this churn out of his aww shucks character. Plus his wife played by Hope Davis is hilarious! Especially when tipsy. This movie is a lot of fun and very funny. It has a similar vein to the DeVito dark comedies like Throw Mama from the Train except it is even darker but doesn't forget to use a light touch. Pierce's unsavory character is still somehow likable despite his constant lies and terrible treatment of others. Shepard hits a homerun dark comedy the likes of which has not been seen recently except in Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, which was also an indie film that pretty much no one saw. I look forward to whatever Shepard does next and I might even drag myself out to rent Seraphim Falls after this redeeming Brosnan piece.

4.3 out of 5

Wannabe

Fanatix Indie League Update

Alright gents, just to let you know, my good friend Junders just called me up to notify that I had to drop Death at a Funeral otherwise I wouldn't make enough money to cover my losses on my latest drugs, cough, investments. As such, I will be replacing the film with the suggested Werner Herzog flick Rescue Dawn starring Christian Bale. As for Junders, well, don't worry. He'll be fine if his suggestion works.

Now for the statistics!

INDIE LEAGUE BO PTA TOP 5 IMDB
CASTLE
1 $RATATOUILLE 47.2 5 5 9
2 $PAPRIKA 0.57 4 0 8
3 NO RESERVATIONS 38 0 1 6
4 SIMPSONS 100 4 9 6.9
5 $*DAY WATCH 0.35 1 0 7.1
6 $*BUG 7 0 2 6.9
7 $ONCE 3.8 8 0 8.6
8 $EAGLE VS. SHARK 0.1 3 0 7.2

GoS
1 TRANSFORMERS 240 10 16 7.1
2 $EVENING 3.5 0 0 7.8
3 $OCEAN'S 13 102.1 4 11 7.3
4 $NANCY DREW 21.2 0 0 5.9
5 $GOLDEN DOOR 0.48 6 0 7.2
6 $*YOU'RE GONNA MISS ME 0.002 0 0 8.4
7 INTRODUCING THE DWIGHTS 11.5 6 0 7.3
8 $*EVEN MONEY 0.06 0 0 5.9

WANNABE
1 $KNOCKED UP 122.4 7 11 8.2
2 $SURF'S UP 53.8 0 3 7.3
3 $FF4 114.8 5 9 6.5
4 $*BLACK SHEEP 0.01 0 0 6.6
5 RESCUE DAWN 17.7 4 0 8
6 I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU CHUCK AND LARRY 125 6 9 6.9
7 $SICKO 4.6 9 0 8.4
8 $FIDO 0.28 0 0 7.5

WILLO
1 $EVAN ALMIGHTY 60.6 3 8 6.2
2 HP5 230 9 13 7.6
3 HAIRSPRAY 60 2 4 5.9
4 $LIVE FREE OF DIE HARD 48.1 3 4 8.3
5 $HOSTEL II 17.5 0 0 5.6
6 $*SEVERANCE 0.14 0 0 6.8
7 CAPTIVITY 12.9 0 0 4.9
8 $*MR. BROOKS 27.3 0 2 7.7

BO RANKINGS
WILLO 456.54 4
WANNABE 438.59 3
GOS 378.842 2
CASTLE 197.02 1

PTA RANKINGS
WANNABE 31 4
GOS 26 3
CASTLE 25 2
WILLO 17 1

TOP 5
WANNABE 32 4
WILLO 31 3
GOS 27 2
CASTLE 17 1

IMDB
CASTLE 7.4625 4
WANNABE 7.425 3
GOS 7.1125 2
WILLO 6.625 1

BO PTA TOP IMDB TOTAL RANK
CASTLE 1 2 1 4 8 4
GOS 2 3 2 2 9 2
WANNABE 3 4 4 3 14 1
WILLO 4 1 3 1 9 2

As you can see, I am so far pleased with Junders and his purchasing prowess. However, previous frontrunners such as the venerable Castle might want to start figuring out how to improve their chances. Toodles!
Wannabe

La Vie en Rose

'Cotillard deserves a Rose'

If you haven't heard of this film, no surprise. It's not playing in most of the country and it is holing itself up in limited release as an art house film which is where it belongs since it wouldn't do too well as a wide release with public perception about the French and all. However, if you don't know who Edith Piaf is, then chances are you will never see this film as you are fairly ignorant about world famous international singers. Although I had heard of her and knew of her connection as a French singer, I admit to knowing little else about her to having heard only one song by her in my entire life. Man, was I in for a surprise.

La Vie en Rose is a biopic of sorts about the great French singer Edith Piaf and her rise to fame. Consider it like a French feminine Ray if you will. It covers her entire story from being born to an absent contortionist father who left her first with her abusive negligent street singing mother and then with Piaf's hostile brothel-running grandmother. She later grew up as a street singer until one day she was discovered by a kindly cabaret owner and given her first real start toward the international success she would one day become. Her life plays out like a depraved Horatio Algers novel. I have to admit that the story to her life surprised me and it is becoming more apparent to me that maybe only great artists can come from terrible backgrounds. Or maybe they just don't make movies about the good ones. I don't know.

The directing, actor-wise at least had to have been well done. Olivier Dahan might be an extremely able actor-director but I won't know until I see another of his films. The truth though is that Marion Cotillard could easily potentially win the best actress award at the next Oscar ceremony. If nothing else the film should be nominated for best foreign film if they won't let her be a part of the Best Actress award since it is a French film. MY GOD! She gives the best performance from an actress that I have seen in years! Not only does she look like Edith Piaf, but she captures all of the mannerisms and portrays Piaf as a younger drunk singer, an older more sophisticated singer, and as an elderly woman on her last legs who is slowly loosing her mind and is no longer able to focus, crumpling up into a leathery ball of used up morphine. I have never used this term before and I doubt I will ever use it again. Marion Cotillard's performance in this film is a tour de force. If you ever get the chance to see this movie, especially if you are an actress, then rent it or see it in theaters and pay close attention. I have a feeling that we will all be seeing more Cotillard soon since a job like this requires the world to take notice. Edith Piaf was known as the Little Sparrow and the similarities are made obvious by Cotillard's performance. I can't stop raving about it and as such I will move on before this article becomes far too long.

The directing of the film is fantastic. The light and shadows do well and play off each other. At times I admit to being slightly bored by the pacing and a couple of shots were a bit too obvious for my taste of such a quality film. Such as the obvious seamless transition of Piaf screaming down a hallway in her house to suddenly being on-stage. For the most part though the lighting, cinematography, and choice of shots are excellent and well-planned. Although I understand that the slightly muddled storytelling is a reflection of the elderly Piaf's inability to recall certain details (my favorite being that you will never see Marcel's watch) it does grow irksome with the continuous jumping and time changing. I did appreciate the obvious differences in appearance and settings as clues to the different time periods and that for the first 3/4 of the movie when a transition is made the subtitles tell you where and what date. It's just at the end when the transitions pick up a bit and it doesn't have time and has to rely on your remembrance of previous events and looks that it becomes slightly tiring. On the whole though, I feel Dahan does everything he can to arm the audience with the tools needed to carry through and figure out the timeline of Piaf's life without the direct storytelling influence of Piaf's memory.

Conclusion:
This film will help culture those who know little to nothing of Piaf. It contains one of the best performances by an actress that I have ever seen. Also, it has Gerard Depardieu in a small role and several other males in the film do a good job. The directing is pretty good and the storytelling is slightly muddled but makes sense in terms of unity of effect and can help to understand Piaf more toward the elder days of her short life. Although the child at the end was a cheap shot and did make me go, "Where the hell did that come from? Who is that guy?" Maybe you can do better. Oh yea, and I love the fact that she influenced Jean Cocteau to write a play just for her. Where is that kind of muse today in our world where amazing artists were rewarded plays? Oh well, non je ne regrette rien...

4.8 out of 5

Wannabe

Fanatix Indie League Update

Alright gents, I would have got this to you yesterday but stuff was acting funky. Let it aslo be known that June is almost gone leaving only 1 month left in this competition and that I just found out that I had to change Death at a Funeral because it was pushed back to August. Grrr. So, anyway here are the current rankings and everything.

INDIE LEAGUE BO PTA TOP 5 IMDB
CASTLE
1 RATATOUILLE 225 8 16 7.9
2 $PAPRIKA 0.5 4 0 8
3 NO RESERVATIONS 38 0 1 6
4 SIMPSONS 100 4 9 6.9
5 $DAY WATCH 0.34 1 0 7.1
6 $BUG 7 0 2 6.9
7 $ONCE 3.2 8 0 8.6
8 $EAGLE VS. SHARK 0.06 3 0 7.3

GoS
1 TRANSFORMERS 240 10 16 7.1
2 EVENING 23 7 0 7.7
3 $OCEAN'S 13 91 4 11 7.4
4 $NANCY DREW 16.2 0 0 6
5 $GOLDEN DOOR 0.37 6 0 7.3
6 $*YOU'RE GONNA MISS ME 0.002 0 0 8.4
7 INTRODUCING THE DWIGHTS 11.5 6 0 7.3
8 $*EVEN MONEY 0.06 0 0 5.9

WANNABE
1 $KNOCKED UP 109 7 11 8.2
2 $SURF'S UP 47.3 0 3 7.3
3 $FF4 97.6 5 8 6.6
4 $BLACK SHEEP 0.01 0 0 6.6
5 DEATH AT A FUNERAL 11.5 0 0 5.3
6 I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU CHUCK AND LARRY 125 6 9 6.9
7 $SICKO 0.07 5 0 8.4
8 $FIDO 0.02 0 0 7.5

WILLO
1 $EVAN ALMIGHTY 32.1 3 5 6.6
2 HP5 230 9 13 7.6
3 HAIRSPRAY 60 2 4 5.9
4 LIVE FREE OF DIE HARD 73 3 6 5.9
5 $HOSTEL II 17 0 0 5.6
6 $SEVERANCE 0.1 0 0 6.9
7 CAPTIVITY 12.9 0 0 4.9
8 $MR. BROOKS 26.8 0 2 7.7

BO RANKINGS
WILLO 451.9 4
WANNABE 390.5 3
GOS 382.132 2
CASTLE 374.1 1

PTA RANKINGS
GOS 33 4
CASTLE 28 3
WANNABE 23 2
WILLO 17 1

TOP 5
WANNABE 31 4
WILLO 30 3
CASTLE 28 2
GOS 27 1

IMDB
CASTLE 7.3375 4
GOS 7.1375 3
WANNABE 7.1 2
WILLO 6.3875 1

BO PTA TOP IMDB TOTAL RANK
CASTLE 1 3 2 4 10 2
GOS 2 4 1 3 10 2
WANNABE 3 2 4 2 11 1
WILLO 4 1 3 1 9 4

Also, let me just say, that if your movie has a $* beside it, that means it has already come and gone from theaters. This is a strong possibility for Bug although I haven't marked it as such yet. So, enjoy and expect another update on my end at least soonish. Also expect me to eventually getting around to typing up that La Vie en Rose review. Damn I'm getting lazy.

Evan Almighty

'Evan decently mighty'

Well, according to numbers and critics, I am once again on the wrong side of the law. It seems most people disliked Evan Almighty, the 200+million comedy. And honestly, I don't know why.

Okay yes, the film is not a great work of art. It's a bit preachy and the jokes are not as good. Plus it does not feature Jim Carrey and the song at the end for the credits is no where as funny or cool as the one in 40-Year Old Virgin. But the film is definately intended as a family comedy film for Christians or at least good people chock full of good moral messages. Plus, the gags are kind of funny. (Although nothing will ever beat the internet site yahweh.com) I just wish people were a little more understanding about the film. So here's my breakdown about it.

The film is essentially a comedy piece for Steve Carell except without a lot of motovation for his character. The first film had a little raunch to it but this film there is not a single curse word. Noe of the performances are stellar but its nice to just relax and watch Carrell and laugh without having to feel guilty for laughing at something naughty like a sexist or rascist joke. If you have little patience or if you don't like Carrell then I could easily see how this film would become borng pretty quick as a alot fo the jokes get used a lot but I never felt they were overused. Plus everyone else is fairly amusing and Wanda Sykes is the funniest she's been in years. It's a nice family friendly kids moveie whose message is easy to understand and get and it is fun to watch and just let go. An escapist comedy for sure. So if taken as that, it isn't bad so I don't understand the waves and waves of negative feeling except that maybe Carrell has built up a bit too much of a edgy following with the 40-Year Old Virgin and Little Miss Sunshine. Story wise, the only problem I had was the ridiculous amount of animals that had to board the ark for such a small flood. It really made little sense. Everything else though is explained well and it doesn't cross any of the Bible or contradict it. God keeps his pact with mankind. Etc etc.

The performances are nice even if the main bad guy whose name escapes me, is a little obvious. The film is a fun romp. No strings attached. and a lot of fun. Risky to make a 200+million budget but due to the Christian craze in America it seemed like a safe bet. I don't know. It's a fun movie and not a bad sequel. Check it out for a few laughs.

3.9 out of 5

Wannabe