by Josh Sewell
Moana
(Rated PG for action/peril, some scary images, rude humor and brief thematic elements. Opens in theaters on July 10.)
The premise: Disney’s “live action” (fairly sure that phrase has lost all meaning) version of the studio’s terrific 2016 animated film once again centers on Moana (Catherine Lagaʻaia) leaving her island home with demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson) on a journey to restore prosperity to her people.
The verdict: You’re not gonna believe this, but the director (Thomas Kail) and writer (Lin-Manuel Miranda) behind the legendary Broadway smash Hamilton know how to craft entertaining musical sequences. Their contributions to the new(-ish) interpretation of Moana are unquestionably the best parts. Unfortunately, there’s another 90 minutes around those sequences, which play out as an almost beat-for-beat retread of a better movie that’s barely 10 years old.
In other words, there’s no artistic reasons for this movie to exist – only financial ones. To be fair, there are some good performances, especially Johnson and Rena Owen as Moana’s grandmother, but even those bright spots just made me want to go home and find the original on Disney Plus.
As with Disney’s “live action” retelling of The Lion King (i.e., CGI instead of traditional animation), making beautiful cartoons more realistic just ends up draining the wonder from the characters’ designs along with the environments surrounding them. Sure, it might look more believable, but what’s fun about that in a story with a giant singing crab and cute animal sidekicks?
With Moana as well as The Mandalorian and Grogu earlier this summer, the studio is in a weird spot. They’re chasing the former glory of old favorites without remembering what made them worth seeing in the first place. Toy Story 5 was a very pleasant surprise, so hopefully that will give them some financial incentive to prioritize interesting stories before release dates and merchandizing.
Grade: C
Minions & Monsters
(Rated PG for violence/action, language and rude/macabre humor. Now playing in theaters.)
The premise: The latest entry in the Despicable Me spinoff franchise tells the story of how the Minions conquered Hollywood, became movie stars, lost everything, unleashed monsters onto the world and banded together with new friends to save the planet.
The verdict: Minions & Monsters is the best film in the franchise to date, so of course it’s underperforming with general audiences. The premise is heaven for movie nerds – especially the first 30 minutes or so – thanks to a barrage of gags and not-so-subtle references to the golden age of Hollywood. It’s basically Babylon (Damien Chazelle’s criminally underrated 2022 drama) with minions – what’s not to love?
The screenplay, co-written by Brian Lynch and director Pierre Coffin, is cute and silly. It’s also standalone, meaning you don’t have to worry about catching up with six other movies to understand it. (I’ve only seen one Despicable Me flick, but all the Minions spinoffs.)
The voice cast is terrific as well. In addition to the goofy minions (all voiced by Coffin), there are engaging characters played by Allison Janney, Christoph Waltz, Jeff Bridges, Jesse Eisenberg, Zoey Deutch, Trey Parker, Bobby Moynihan and Phil LaMarr.
Illumination is pretty hit-or-miss with its animated fare, but the studio has a winner with this one. Hopefully, word of mouth picks up so the creative team continues to move in this direction rather than backsliding into bland, safe stories.
Grade: B
Jackass: Best and Last
(Rated R for extremely dangerous stunts and crude material throughout, graphic nudity, pervasive language and sexual material. Now playing in theaters.)
The premise: Johnny Knoxville and the rest of his gang of idiots return for one final extravaganza of pain and revulsion. Featuring new stunts and some greatest hits (pun slightly intended) from the past, the film is a mischievous sendoff to old friends.
The verdict: Remember how old sitcoms would have clip shows every season to save money? There would be a couple of new bookend scenes, but mostly it was the characters flashing back to funny moments from previous episodes. That’s pretty much the structure of Jackass: Best and Last.
I can’t really blame them, though. Knoxville and reliable favorites Steve-O, Chris Pontius, Jason “Wee Man” Acuña, Dave England, Ehren McGhehey and Preston Lacy are all too old and brittle to risk their lives for dangerously dumb stunts.
However, it’s still fun (and surprisingly emotional) to watch them reminisce about their decades-long friendships, pay tribute to former co-stars who have died (Ryan Dunn) or can’t come back for personal reasons (Bam Margera), and engage in mischief with far lower stakes. Before physical media became an endangered species, the flick would’ve probably been a DVD bonus feature. Still, I didn’t mind showing up to watch this sendoff on the big screen.
Jeff Tremaine – who has directed every installment going back to the original television show – knows which old bits fans love best, so he tries to cram in as many as he can. I just wish there were more opportunities for newer cast members like Rachel Wolfson and Zach Holmes. I don’t know if a “next generation”-style reboot is in the cards, but I’d definitely be interested to see what it looks like.
Grade: B-
(Rated PG for action/peril, some scary images, rude humor and brief thematic elements. Opens in theaters on July 10.)
The premise: Disney’s “live action” (fairly sure that phrase has lost all meaning) version of the studio’s terrific 2016 animated film once again centers on Moana (Catherine Lagaʻaia) leaving her island home with demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson) on a journey to restore prosperity to her people.
The verdict: You’re not gonna believe this, but the director (Thomas Kail) and writer (Lin-Manuel Miranda) behind the legendary Broadway smash Hamilton know how to craft entertaining musical sequences. Their contributions to the new(-ish) interpretation of Moana are unquestionably the best parts. Unfortunately, there’s another 90 minutes around those sequences, which play out as an almost beat-for-beat retread of a better movie that’s barely 10 years old.
In other words, there’s no artistic reasons for this movie to exist – only financial ones. To be fair, there are some good performances, especially Johnson and Rena Owen as Moana’s grandmother, but even those bright spots just made me want to go home and find the original on Disney Plus.
As with Disney’s “live action” retelling of The Lion King (i.e., CGI instead of traditional animation), making beautiful cartoons more realistic just ends up draining the wonder from the characters’ designs along with the environments surrounding them. Sure, it might look more believable, but what’s fun about that in a story with a giant singing crab and cute animal sidekicks?
With Moana as well as The Mandalorian and Grogu earlier this summer, the studio is in a weird spot. They’re chasing the former glory of old favorites without remembering what made them worth seeing in the first place. Toy Story 5 was a very pleasant surprise, so hopefully that will give them some financial incentive to prioritize interesting stories before release dates and merchandizing.
Grade: C
(Rated PG for violence/action, language and rude/macabre humor. Now playing in theaters.)
The premise: The latest entry in the Despicable Me spinoff franchise tells the story of how the Minions conquered Hollywood, became movie stars, lost everything, unleashed monsters onto the world and banded together with new friends to save the planet.
The verdict: Minions & Monsters is the best film in the franchise to date, so of course it’s underperforming with general audiences. The premise is heaven for movie nerds – especially the first 30 minutes or so – thanks to a barrage of gags and not-so-subtle references to the golden age of Hollywood. It’s basically Babylon (Damien Chazelle’s criminally underrated 2022 drama) with minions – what’s not to love?
The screenplay, co-written by Brian Lynch and director Pierre Coffin, is cute and silly. It’s also standalone, meaning you don’t have to worry about catching up with six other movies to understand it. (I’ve only seen one Despicable Me flick, but all the Minions spinoffs.)
The voice cast is terrific as well. In addition to the goofy minions (all voiced by Coffin), there are engaging characters played by Allison Janney, Christoph Waltz, Jeff Bridges, Jesse Eisenberg, Zoey Deutch, Trey Parker, Bobby Moynihan and Phil LaMarr.
Illumination is pretty hit-or-miss with its animated fare, but the studio has a winner with this one. Hopefully, word of mouth picks up so the creative team continues to move in this direction rather than backsliding into bland, safe stories.
Grade: B
(Rated R for extremely dangerous stunts and crude material throughout, graphic nudity, pervasive language and sexual material. Now playing in theaters.)
The premise: Johnny Knoxville and the rest of his gang of idiots return for one final extravaganza of pain and revulsion. Featuring new stunts and some greatest hits (pun slightly intended) from the past, the film is a mischievous sendoff to old friends.
The verdict: Remember how old sitcoms would have clip shows every season to save money? There would be a couple of new bookend scenes, but mostly it was the characters flashing back to funny moments from previous episodes. That’s pretty much the structure of Jackass: Best and Last.
I can’t really blame them, though. Knoxville and reliable favorites Steve-O, Chris Pontius, Jason “Wee Man” Acuña, Dave England, Ehren McGhehey and Preston Lacy are all too old and brittle to risk their lives for dangerously dumb stunts.
However, it’s still fun (and surprisingly emotional) to watch them reminisce about their decades-long friendships, pay tribute to former co-stars who have died (Ryan Dunn) or can’t come back for personal reasons (Bam Margera), and engage in mischief with far lower stakes. Before physical media became an endangered species, the flick would’ve probably been a DVD bonus feature. Still, I didn’t mind showing up to watch this sendoff on the big screen.
Jeff Tremaine – who has directed every installment going back to the original television show – knows which old bits fans love best, so he tries to cram in as many as he can. I just wish there were more opportunities for newer cast members like Rachel Wolfson and Zach Holmes. I don’t know if a “next generation”-style reboot is in the cards, but I’d definitely be interested to see what it looks like.
Grade: B-
Reach out to Josh Sewell at joshsewell81@gmail.com or on BlueSky @joshsewell.bsky.social
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