Frozen by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, 2013 (PG)

After her kingdom is doomed to suffer from eternal winter, intrepid Anna goes on a quest to find her reclusive sister, the Snow Queen, and break the curse. Along the way, Anna teams with eccentric mountaineer Kristoff and his comic reindeer, Sven.

Not having known Frozen before Maleficent, I thought Disney was taking a first stand with the remake of the Sleeping Beauty. But, Frozen came out before, so it seems that the intention of Disney is clear in destroying the myth of the Prince Charming, and true love. No spoiler, I will just stop here, and let you enjoy it. Another point which initially made me have reservations regarding this movie is that the story is inspired loosely from The Snow Queen from Andersen, which is nothing of a Disney type of story, aside from its happy ending, I was afraid of how much they would alter the original story (once more, Disney rearrange the story for its own purpose).

with Kristen Bell (Heroes), Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff (The Conspirator, The Normal Heart), Santino Fontana, Josh Gad (Love and Other Drugs), Alan Tudyk (Ice Age, Death at a Funeral, Beautiful Boy), Fred Tatasciore, Chris Williams, Ciarán Hinds (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Margot at the Wedding, The Debt, In Bruges), Stephen J. Anderson, Maia Wilson, Edie McClurg, Robert Pine, Maurice LaMarche, Livvy Stubenrauch, Eva Bella, Spencer Lacy Ganus, Jesse Corti, Jeff Marcus, Tucker Gilmore

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Maleficent by Robert Stromberg, 2014 (PG)

with Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning (Somewhere, We Brought a Zoo), Sharlto Copley, Lesley Manville (Another Year), Imelda Staunton (Sense and Sensibility, The Girl, Another Year, Harry Potter), Juno Temple (Mr. Nobody, Jack & Diane, The Dark Knight Rises, Kaboom), Sam Riley (On The Road, Jack & Diane), Brenton Thwaites

The untold story of Disney's most iconic villain from the 1959 classic "Sleeping Beauty." A beautiful, pure-hearted young woman with stunning black wings, Maleficent has an idyllic life growing up in a peaceable forest kingdom, until one day when an invading army of humans threatens the harmony of the land. Maleficent rises to be the land's fiercest protector, but she ultimately suffers a ruthless betrayal - an act that begins to turn her pure heart to stone. Bent on revenge, Maleficent faces an epic battle with the king of the humans and, as a result, places a curse upon his newborn infant Aurora. As the child grows, Maleficent realizes that Aurora holds the key to peace in the kingdom - and to Maleficent's true happiness as well.

This movie is made by the guy who is behind a lot of the visual effects you've seen in late blockbusters, I can start making an endless list of all his credits, from The Hunger Games, Shutter Island, all the way back to the 90s with Star Trek... So his first movie as a director is POLISHED. It is visually beautiful from the carnation of the skin of Angelina Jolie and Sam Riley, to the amazing landscapes we are traveling through. Aside from that, the story is quite a surprising one, since it is not about evil being evil, and good good, as well as — in the latest tendency of Disney movies — understanding women, away from the need for men. The story is beautiful, the values are original, from getting to know the other, to forgiving and learning to change, and somehow giving yourself for something you believe is more important than yourself. In a world that is so selfishly driven, there is something to learn.



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Life of Pi by Ang Lee, 2012 (PG)

with Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan (Slumdog Millionaire), Ayush Tandon, Gautam Belur, Adil Hussain, Tabu, Ayan Khan, Mohd Abbas Khaleeli, Vibish Sivakumar, Rafe Spall (Prometheus, One Day), Gérard Depardieu (Asterix and Obelix: Mission Cleopatre)

Oscar nominated for Best Picture, Best Cinematography (WON), Best Directing (WON), Best Film Editing, Best Original Score (WON), Best Original Song, Best Production Design, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Visual Effects (WON), Best Adapted Screenplay

Based on Yann Martel's best-selling novel, this coming-of-age tale recounts the adventures of Pi, an Indian boy who is the sole survivor of a shipwreck. Pi finds himself on a lifeboat with only some zoo animals for company.

So beautiful, intriguing, nature is an amazing thing we don't take enough time to admire. And Ang Lee take the time to show it it in its most unusual way. It doesn't mean the story is great, although the journey of the main character is worthy of Jules Verne. I have also been amazed by the use of special effects to enhance the beauty of nature, we are so use to have them try to bring fiction to film, here it is to make it even more real, more accurate than our eyes can see. The colors, the sounds, the motion, everything is spectacular. So as you may have already understood, I have been amazed. Then how important is a story like this one? Perhaps not at all, perhaps because it has no particular point, perhaps because it has no moral but the one of beauty in a world of a lot of shame. Perhaps then yes, this movie was important.

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Beastly by Daniel Barnz, 2011 (PG-13)

with Alex Pettyfer, Vanessa Hudgens, Neil Patrick Harris, Dakota Johnson (The Five-Year Engagement, The Social Network), Erik Knudsen, Mary-Kate Olsen, Peter Krause, Lisa Gay Hamilton (Take Shelter, Jackie Brown), David Francis

After arrogant teenager Kyle (Alex Pettyfer) humiliates a Goth classmate (Mary-Kate Olsen), she puts a curse on him that transforms him from a hunk into a hideous creature. To break the hex, Kyle must find someone who loves him for what he's become. Living with a housekeeper after his heartless father (Peter Krause) throws him out, he connects with an addict's daughter (Vanessa Hudgens) in this contemporary take on Beauty and the Beast.

Alex Pettyfer is a very handsome man, which makes the movie very pleasant to watch, even transformed as he is. Then the story is simple, with some comical moments of Neil Patrick Harris, who is pretty much himself, essentially following the fairy tale in the "90210" style. It is cute... Maybe I got a little too soft here, must be Pettyfer...

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Mirror Mirror (Snow White) by Tarsem Singh, 2012 (PG)

with Lily Collins, Julia Roberts (Duplicity, Fireflies in the Garden), Armie Hammer (J. Edgar, The Social Network), Nathan Lane, Mare Winningham, Michael Lerner, Sean Bean, Danny Woodburn, Martin Klebba, Sebastian Saraceno, Jordan Prentice, Mark Povinelli, Joe Gnoffo, Ronald Lee Clark, Robert Emms

This remake of the classic Grimm tale, starring Julia Roberts as the evil Queen, is much darker than the well-known animated Disney version. Snow White's team of dwarves are a shady bunch, but dedicated to helping her regain her royal throne.

From the same director as "Immortals", "The Fall" and "The Cell", The Cell being one of my favorite movies. I believe this director went backward, going from really interesting to really bad. Mirror Mirror is only good in the trailer. I mean, I really loved the trailer, if was funny, witty, visually excellent. But then, what happened. I was very long, slow, predictable, Snow White irritating, but so was the queen, so it wasn't really a statement. Julia Roberts was hilarious in the trailer, but for some reason, even the phrases we laughed at in the trailer fell flat in the movie, as if by enchantment, the humor was gone.

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Snow White and the Huntsman by Rupert Sanders, 2012 (PG-13)

with Kristen Stewart, Charlize Theron, Chris Hemsworth (The Avengers, Thor), Sam Claflin, Ian McShane, Bob Hoskins, Ray Winstone (Breaking and Entering), Nick Frost, Toby Jones

An updated take on the Snow White tale finds the fair-skinned maiden battling the Evil Queen with skills learned from the huntsman sent to kill her. Meanwhile, a love-struck prince bides his time from afar.

Two movies come out nearly at the same time, "Mirror, Mirror" and "Snow White and the Huntsman". I only saw the second one so far.Interesting revisiting of the tale, beautiful landscapes, amazing sound design, the silents and tensions well handled. But the dialogues... Something about the movie creates a distance between the sound design and the voices, the pauses and the dialogues, everything all of a sudden becomes pressure and therefor dialogues become awkward, over-staged. Coming back to the special effects, it was a strange thing to see still in this version the fairy tale-ish full-colored landscape of the dwarfs, while the rest is very black, white, brown and red, very beautiful and perhaps fashionable aesthetic. The queen's scenes are the best to my opinion, with amazing special effects, morphings and the symbolism of the crows (which is already used in "Game of Throne" but anyway...). Also to be noted is the nteresting vision of Snow White surrounded by men, leading men, definitely not influenced by men. She is her own leader, and the two main characters are the Queen and herself. A great contrast with the traditional Walt Disney tales. Now, lets see what "Mirror, Mirror" has to tell...

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Alice in Wonderland by Tim Burton, 2010 (PG)

with Johnny Depp (The Rum Diary, Dark Shadows, Chocolat, Rango), Mia Wasikowska (The Double, Lawless, Albert Nobbs, The Kids are All Right), Helena Bonham Carter (Dark Shadows, The King's Speech), Anne Hathaway (The Dark Knight Rises, Rachel Getting Married, Valentine's Day, Love and Other Drugs), Crispin Glover, Matt Lucas, Stephen Fry (Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows), Michael Sheen (Masters of Sex, Tron: Legacy, Beautiful Boy, Frost/Nixon, Midnight in Paris, Music Within), Alan Rickman (Sense and Sensibility, Galaxy Quest, Lee Daniels' the Butler, Love Actually, Snow Cake, Harry Potter), Barbara Windsor

A 19-year-old Alice (Mia Wasikowska) journeys through Underland, where she experiences strange ordeals and encounters peculiar characters, including the vaporous Cheshire Cat (voiced by Stephen Fry), the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) and the sadistic Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter).

Not sure I liked it. It has a great set, funny costumes, same old Tim Burton look. I used to love "Nightmare Before Christmas", "Mars Attacks"... but lately, I just see the same movie over and over, different name, same crazy Johnny Depp role. Not that interesting.

Hugo by Martin Scorsese, 2011 (PG)

with Asa Butterfield, Chloe Moretz, Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Ray Winstone, Emily Mortimer, Jude Law, Christopher Lee, Helen McCrory, Michael Stuhlbarg

When his father dies, 12-year-old orphan Hugo takes up residence behind the walls of a Parisian train station. There, he meets Isabelle, the daughter of filmmaker Georges Méliès, who holds the key to Hugo's destiny.

It is funny how things come together at the same time. Only a few months after discovering Georges Méliès, through "Le Voyage Dans La Lune" and the documentary "Le Voyage Extraordinaire", I am watching a movie/tale on the same director. It is pretty accurate although if you already know about him, it is a bit simplifying and too didactic. It looks like a movie made by a grandfather to his grandchildren. Anyway, the film is cute, the visuals a beautiful and at last, the mainstream get to discover Méliès, this french magician who created the art form of cinema.

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