Leezy's Movie Reviews

Welcome everyone. This blog mainly exists as a way of tracking all the movies I've been watching and some of the initial thoughts and general feelings I've had about them.

Rating System

5/5 - Fantastic movies; movies which need to be seen and enjoyed by everyone.

4/5 - Movies which are very good but don’t have that spark which compels you to make others watch them as well.

3/5 - Average movies; watchable and enjoyable, but nothing which elevates them higher. The baseline all movies are given before watching.

2/5 - Can be watched but really bland and forgettable.

1/5 - Minimal to no reason to watch these films. It may have some redeeming factors e.g. it’s so bad it’s good or there’s one character that’s awesome enough to make it not a total waste of time.

0/5- Total waste of time. Nothing redeemable about these films.

As with every review blog/site, this is all my own personal opinion so feel free to take everything with a grain of salt.

Also I'm Scottish so all reviews will be in UK English. Get used to theatre, colour and words ending in -ised.

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Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor

 

Disney roundup

With watching Winnie the Pooh (2011) that means I’ve now seen all 52 of Disney’s theatrical animated releases to date. Other than the adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad, I didn’t find anything I felt I’d missing out on seeing growing up but I’m glad I’ve completed the list all the same. 

This also means I have now ranked all 52 Disney film (because I do love a list). So my top 10 Disney animated films are as follows:

10, Tangled

9, Tarzan

8, Robin Hood

7, The Emperor’s New Groove

6, The Hunchback of Notre Dame

5, Mulan

4, Fantasia

3, The Jungle Book

2, Aladdin

1, The Lion King

1 and 2 easily switch depending on my mood however. If your favourite didn’t make the list and you really care where it ranked, send me a message and I’ll reply with the answer and why it ranks where it does.

Also purely through having run this blog for 3 years I’ve now already reviewed 22 of the 52 so just check my Disney tag if interested or wait a couple years as I’m bound to get around to them all eventually.

#323/#40 Disney’s Tarzan (Rewatch) Tarzan (Tony Goldwyn) is a man raised by gorillas in 19th century Africa after his parents are shipwrecked and killed. Growing up he is rejected by his adopted gorilla father Kerchak (Lance Henriksen) but eventually gains his grudging respect when he kills the leopard Sabor. Around this time however other people, including the hunter Clayton (Brian Blessed), Professor Porter (Nigel Hawthorne) and his daughter Jane (Minnie Driver), all arrive in the jungle and Tarzan is increasingly drawn between his ape family and the woman he loves.  A lot of people bitch about this one because of the music. They don’t like that Phil Collins is doing the entire soundtrack or that it’s him doing the soundtrack at all. I like the music though so it’s never been an issue for me. I think 3 of the best sequences in this film showing the opening shipwreck/family deaths, Tarzan becoming an adult and Tarzan learning about mankind are all enhanced by the addition of the songs that accompany them. Could it have included a couple more traditional African songs/instruments like the Lion King? Sure. Does it make it unlistenable by there absence? No. I really like the animation of this film as well. The models and foreground are all hand animation but the background jungle is all a blend of CGI and hand drawn. It makes all the frames deeper and the jungle feel richer. The way in which Tarzan moves through the trees as well is by far the best interpretation I’ve seen, and can only really be truly captured by this style of animation. Briefly on the characters: Goldwyn’s Tarzan is well developed, Driver’s Jane is funny and appealing, Blessed’s Clayton is just the right mix of villain and pompous and Hawthorne’s Prof Porter is great comic relief. I’m not the biggest fan of Terk (Rosie O’Donnell) and Tantor (Wayne Knight) now that I’m older but I get their appeal for kids so they don’t bother me that much. All in all, an enjoyable end to the Disney Renaissance and still one of my firm favourites. 4/5

#323/#40 Disney’s Tarzan

(Rewatch)

Tarzan (Tony Goldwyn) is a man raised by gorillas in 19th century Africa after his parents are shipwrecked and killed. Growing up he is rejected by his adopted gorilla father Kerchak (Lance Henriksen) but eventually gains his grudging respect when he kills the leopard Sabor. Around this time however other people, including the hunter Clayton (Brian Blessed), Professor Porter (Nigel Hawthorne) and his daughter Jane (Minnie Driver), all arrive in the jungle and Tarzan is increasingly drawn between his ape family and the woman he loves. 

A lot of people bitch about this one because of the music. They don’t like that Phil Collins is doing the entire soundtrack or that it’s him doing the soundtrack at all. I like the music though so it’s never been an issue for me. I think 3 of the best sequences in this film showing the opening shipwreck/family deaths, Tarzan becoming an adult and Tarzan learning about mankind are all enhanced by the addition of the songs that accompany them. Could it have included a couple more traditional African songs/instruments like the Lion King? Sure. Does it make it unlistenable by there absence? No.

I really like the animation of this film as well. The models and foreground are all hand animation but the background jungle is all a blend of CGI and hand drawn. It makes all the frames deeper and the jungle feel richer. The way in which Tarzan moves through the trees as well is by far the best interpretation I’ve seen, and can only really be truly captured by this style of animation.

Briefly on the characters: Goldwyn’s Tarzan is well developed, Driver’s Jane is funny and appealing, Blessed’s Clayton is just the right mix of villain and pompous and Hawthorne’s Prof Porter is great comic relief. I’m not the biggest fan of Terk (Rosie O’Donnell) and Tantor (Wayne Knight) now that I’m older but I get their appeal for kids so they don’t bother me that much.

All in all, an enjoyable end to the Disney Renaissance and still one of my firm favourites. 4/5