Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs:
Summary: Based loosely on the children's book, Meatballs follows the adventures of Flint Lockwood hapless but adorkable inventor who's Water to Food machine is a bit more successful than he really wanted.
Review: For a non-Pixar CGI film this is better than it has any right to be. While it pretty much runs of the Rule of Funny (it's got Mr. T playing a cop fergodssake) it also works as an action-comedy and even slips in a few heartwarming moments, particularly between Flint and his dad, a fish shop owner who is utterly confused by his spacey son, but loves him anyway.
Agatha H. and the Airship City: Phil and Kaja Foglio's hit Girl Genius webcomic is translated to book form...
...a bit too closely.
What you get here is basically a straight up adaptation of the first three collections, with the visual charm replaced with prose that's, at best, workmanlike. Starting with a new prologue that's supposed to be mysterious and only ends up clunky, this is the sort of story that needs a Pratchett to get the combination of whimsy and menace across, and neither of the Foglios are a Pratchett. Recommended only for deep fans of the comic, just for some expansion of background details (like Dr. Dim and true secret of his teddy bears).
Bonus: Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland: What the hell did I just watch?
Summary: Based loosely on the children's book, Meatballs follows the adventures of Flint Lockwood hapless but adorkable inventor who's Water to Food machine is a bit more successful than he really wanted.
Review: For a non-Pixar CGI film this is better than it has any right to be. While it pretty much runs of the Rule of Funny (it's got Mr. T playing a cop fergodssake) it also works as an action-comedy and even slips in a few heartwarming moments, particularly between Flint and his dad, a fish shop owner who is utterly confused by his spacey son, but loves him anyway.
Agatha H. and the Airship City: Phil and Kaja Foglio's hit Girl Genius webcomic is translated to book form...
...a bit too closely.
What you get here is basically a straight up adaptation of the first three collections, with the visual charm replaced with prose that's, at best, workmanlike. Starting with a new prologue that's supposed to be mysterious and only ends up clunky, this is the sort of story that needs a Pratchett to get the combination of whimsy and menace across, and neither of the Foglios are a Pratchett. Recommended only for deep fans of the comic, just for some expansion of background details (like Dr. Dim and true secret of his teddy bears).
Bonus: Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland: What the hell did I just watch?
no subject
Date: 2011-02-20 02:26 pm (UTC)