HUNTSMAN WINTER'S WAR: REVIEW

A season of remaking old fairy tales and classics one thinks, after last year’s Cinderella and the recent Jungle Book, we have the Huntsman, based on Snow White and the evil queen and her sister trapped in the mirror on the wall. The premise is certainly interesting because it is based on an evergreen fairy tale. But, this one is a bit different because Snow White is only just a name in the movie which focuses largely on the travels and battles of a huntsman and huntswoman (if there is such a term).

Raised by the evil queen of the north who wants

to conquer everything in sight, the huntsmen are taught to live for nothing but battle. But, as Jeff Goldblum put it so elegantly in Jurassic Park, ‘life finds a way’, and so love blossoms in a regime where nothing soft or romantic is allowed to happen. But the queen does not like that and puts an end to it, or so she thinks, until it all comes back to her 7 years later. In the midst of this is the fabled mirror which speaks only the truth, which is now with Snow White, but moving some place. The quest for the mirror brings the queen and the huntsman against each other once again for scores to be settled and for a painful truth to be unveiled.

The Huntsman doesn’t feel like a fairy tale at any point of time. It starts off slow and dark, and remains that way till the very end. It’s the kind of movie which you feel was never destined for anything good. It’s not that it is bad, it just looks so jaded that you do not feel interested in what happens to anyone. You don’t bother about the huntsman and his love, you don’t care about what happens to Snow white because the mirror is calling out to her, you don’t care about all those ice statues in the great hall of the evil queen, the movie doesn’t make you care about anything. Even Chris Hemsworth can’t help things because he gets precious little to work with in terms of character, action, humour or emotions. The only positive you can say about him is that he manages to take Thor out of himself when he plays the Huntsman, which is a tough thing to do. The two dwarves, later four, one thinks were placed in the movie to provide a few light moments, but it does not work at all. One was actually excited to see Jessica Chastain in a character that was so unlike anything she has done before. The first impression one gets is that she is not totally comfortable doing this sort of thing, and she certainly does not look athletic enough to be a huntsman in certain scenes. And that makes the movie plunge further. The only time when you sit up is when the mirror releases an eviler queen from within itself, and you think things might get interesting. But, the movie hurtles to its end too soon after that without the evil potential being realized.

The action sequences, especially the one against the goblins, could have been much better, especially

when you have Chris Hemsworth. Huntsman just feels like a film stitched together without much of a vision, which is sad for a tale that has such depth. This is one movie that we could have done without. It’s not bad, it is just very ordinary and dull, which is a disappointment.

Could have done without this!

1.5/5

THE JUNGLE BOOK REVIEW: Kipling's timeless classic on screen!

Some tales are timeless, last year’s Cinderella was one of them. This year we get Kipling’s classic retold to us. Not essentially anything new, but the appeal of The Jungle Book makes us curious one more time. The important word here is ‘retold’! Some classics can only be retold, not reinterpreted or restaged, which means absolutely nothing about the story is touched or changed, the original is that perfect.

Writing a review for such a movie is a relief, because you know that there can be no spoilers to give away. Everyone comes to this movie because they already know the story and want to see it one more time. So here we have our dear Mowgli, running through the jungle with his pack, training to be a good wolf, training to be fast enough to join the council. But, there is something about him that is different, he isn’t a wolf after all, but the wolves love him enough to see him as one of them. The alpha of the pack, Akela, keeps watch as Mowgli tries to fit in but invariably stands out, with his tricks. The jungle is quite accepting of the idea that a man cub is growing up amongst them, one guesses that is mostly to do with the reverence they have for Akela, more than the benevolence they have for the kid. But, there is one who has no reverence for Akella, or for anyone for that matter – the most powerful beast of the jungle, Sher Khan the tiger.

It is Sher khan against the wolves who want to protect the child. But, nature is so built that the underdog rarely has any chance in a fight. A mongoose always gets the better of a snake, a cat always catches the mouse, and so the wolves know that if it comes to a tooth and nail fight, they stand little chance against the might of the tiger. So they decide the wise way, until Sher Khan decides that their wise move was really stupid!

The best thing about this Jungle Book retelling is

the screenplay. Taut and swift, it wastes absolutely no time in getting down to the point. There is the obvious advantage that most audiences already know the characters well enough, and so the writers go straight to the central conflict after a few establishing minutes. Voice overs are used at exactly the right places to speed up the narrative and before you even know Sher Khan is chasing Mowgli through a grassland as a herd of wild bores run helter skelter, in one of the most arresting scenes of the film. You begin to think that the movie has gone into a serious tone and it does look so for a while with the dark jungle and a huge snake, but then out of the blue comes the most lovable character of the entire Jungle Book, Baloo. His arrival takes the movie to a fun level that it has not been to before. In fact, the brief period where it is just Mowgli and Baloo going after honey and preparing for ‘hibernation’ is perhaps the best passage of the movie. The lines written for Baloo are absolutely top notch, especially when he terms the ‘Law of the Jungle’ as ‘propaganda’!

We could go on all days about how adorable Baloo is in the movie, in the voice of Bill Murray. It is actually redemption of sorts for bears because they were being hated a lot after the mauling Di Caprio received in The Revenant. But, there are other characters too, like the ever reliable Bagheera, the loving mother in Raksha, the wolf pups and the elephants. You will really enjoy the way Raksha’s expression and voice have gelled together to give her that warmth on screen. Then, there is Neel Sethi who does a top job as Mowgli. But the director must have been careful with the body language. Some gestures and expressions obviously do not belong to the jungle, and are straight out of the city. And, some of the dialogues too could have been better. You get a feeling at times that too much is being said, when the proceedings on screen are obvious. Also, the King Louie episode is not as engaging as we think it might be, partly because the King breaks into a disjointed song in the middle of it. One also wonders how Mowgli is able to talk with most animals without any trouble, while monkeys (technically closest to him in evolutionary terms) can’t talk!

Well, these are just small things. This retelling of Jungle Book does absolute justice to the original

work and our memories of watching it on TV. The screenplay is fantastic, the animation is superlative, the story is timeless. Enjoy the Jungle Book one more time. 'The strength of the wolf is the pack, and the strength of the pack is the wolf'!!

Genuine retelling of a timeless tale!

3.5/5

JUNGLE BOOK: The Return of Mowgli and friends!!

RELEASING TODAY

                                                             WATCH TRAILER

KUNG FU PANDA 3 REVIEW - The Martial Arts Panda is Back!!!

How far can you stretch a yarn? It has got to break at some point, it has to get thin, it has to look weak, right? Kung Fu Panda was a movie founded on such a yarn, an interesting concept of a Panda who was destined to learn Kung Fu and fight for an entire valley. Of course he’s no good at it, he’s fat, he’s clumsy and he just doesn’t want to do it, but the prophecy says so and prophecies aren’t wrong. Yes, we had one great movie with that yarn, like Ratatouille was a great movie spun from an interesting yarn. But, did we imagine that the same premise can be reinvented for Kung Fu Panda 2, which was again good, and did we imagine that they will come back with the same premise for Kung Fu Panda 3? They have and have they reinvented the premise well this time?

We are back in the same valley and nothing’s changed except the

fact that Po, our Panda, believes in his Kung Fu now. He is proud of being Dragon Warrior and going around the valley giving high fives and kicking butt! But that’s all that he wants to be and Master Shifu is not happy. Shifu wants to go into retirement to seek answers of deeper questions and gain greater mastery over Chi, and he wants the Dragon Warrior to take his place. Our Dragon Warrior is however too busy with his dumpling eating contests and his toys, and he doesn’t want to take up anything new. ‘If you do only what you can do’, will you ever be a better you? Shifu wants the Dragon Warrior to take it to the next level. 

As is the template in all Kung Fu Panda movies we know that a strong foe will emerge from somewhere; someone who has the skills and the power to wipe out the Dragon Master and his entire valley. The foe does emerge, and he is shown as nearly invincible. He has otherworldly powers and he is coming for revenge.

How does our Po, the Dragon Warrior, prepare to face this foe who comes with powers he has never faced before? For that he has to go back to his roots. And that’s where for the first time we have another Panda in the Kung Fu Panda series. Now, there are two Pandas, and there’s belly bumping, more dumpling eating, and lot of insane buffoonery, and you think that the fun is stopping. But then we are introduced to a whole village of Pandas, there’s more bumping, rolling, eating, hugging, bouncing, flying, there’s everything but Kung Fu. How on earth is this preparation for the foe who comes with his great powers? Can the prophecy be wrong?

Kung Fu Panda 3 is perhaps the best movie the franchise has yet

given us, and that is saying something. This is a whole lot of fun. There’s a good joke almost every couple of minutes. The thing we all oved about Kung Fu Panda was the adorable Panda himself. He looked so cute even when he fell flat on his back. Imagine the overload of cuteness on screen when there’s a village of Pandas trying to do Kung Fu! You got to enjoy this in theatres. It is amazing that almost the same premise has been retold, reinvented and refreshed the third time and yet continues to delight us. It was a masterstroke to bring in more Pandas, write a script that makes them all essential, not redundant. And, the set up of the nemesis too has been done extremely well. There is not a moment you are bored. 

However, the best thing about Kung Fu Panda 3 are the dialogues, Witty, hilarious, funny, all at the same time; you will find yourself laughing hard many many times during the 90 odd minutes. And after a spate of movies that were over 2 hours long, this crisp, lovable, light gem of a movie is a real delight. Go with your friends, go with your family, go with anyone, laugh out loud and hard, have a great time. See the Panda do Kung Fu again, because you never know when a good thing ends. We just hope other franchises like the Ice Age follow the lead of the Kung Fu Panda. Is there anything negative that can be said about the movie? To quote a line from the movie; ‘Be the best you you can be’, and Kung Fu Panda has been the best Kung Fu Panda 3 we could have asked for. So let’s not waste our energy looking all negatives, let's enjoy the 'Chi'.

Absolute delight – Watch the Panda in theaters!

3.5/5