i am a HUGE fan of sam jackson, which is the reason i got the movie to begin with, because my kids and i never even heard of it. not to mention jeff goldblum (i love this man) and leonard nimoy (c'mon, how awesome is this gonna be?!). and although not one trailer for the movie was ever seen by any of us, i know as a fact that some of the best movies made are foreign or underground, so i never judge a movie by its lack of promotion.
my boys and i were anxious to see SOMEthing we hadn't already seen, (we watch a lot of movies), and since we happened to be near a Redbox while on an errand, we opted for a movie that looked like the best of both worlds; awesome actors voicing over what appeared to be a cute, computer animated story with a ecologically-based message. cool, right? wrong. it appears that the majority of the $20 million (WHAT?!!??) budget was spent bribing sam jackson to partake in it, and possibly threatening one poor overworked and underpaid animator.
why? because while the animation was barely tolerable, the writing was horrendous,the characters were insanely boring with ZERO personalities, making you so indifferent and frustrated that you lost all interest in whats happening to whoever for whatever reasons. i vaguely recall blood tearing from one of the twins' eyes as he begged me to turn it off, while i fought with them to 'give it five more minutes' with high hopes that it might somehow get better. and because it never did, i was literally screamed at to turn it off after a half an hour, before both kids tackled me for the remote, then one had the bright idea of simply walking over to the TV and turned off the power. :( i don't know what else to say other than to warn intelligent parents of discerning children and not subject yourself or your undeserving offspring to this torture, even if it was free and/or on television.
however, on a positive note, it COULD be used as a negotiating tactic for chores or even used as a punishment, if you can force your kids to watch it in a locked room with no way to turn it off or lower the volume. p.s. child protective services might get involved if you dare go that route, so you didn't hear it from me.
oh, sam jackson, i know it's a kids movie, and your infant grandkids will most likely love that their grandpa was once a bird, but you're just not you unless you curse like a pirate and kill someone. 'bad casting' doesn't even apply in this case.
lesson here... don't let celebrity names fool you. watch the trailer, watch another trailer, then watch the trailer again. also, prepare backup gift offerings of apologies when your trusting children opt to disown you and vow to never let you pick another movie EVER again.
my boys and i were anxious to see SOMEthing we hadn't already seen, (we watch a lot of movies), and since we happened to be near a Redbox while on an errand, we opted for a movie that looked like the best of both worlds; awesome actors voicing over what appeared to be a cute, computer animated story with a ecologically-based message. cool, right? wrong. it appears that the majority of the $20 million (WHAT?!!??) budget was spent bribing sam jackson to partake in it, and possibly threatening one poor overworked and underpaid animator.
why? because while the animation was barely tolerable, the writing was horrendous,the characters were insanely boring with ZERO personalities, making you so indifferent and frustrated that you lost all interest in whats happening to whoever for whatever reasons. i vaguely recall blood tearing from one of the twins' eyes as he begged me to turn it off, while i fought with them to 'give it five more minutes' with high hopes that it might somehow get better. and because it never did, i was literally screamed at to turn it off after a half an hour, before both kids tackled me for the remote, then one had the bright idea of simply walking over to the TV and turned off the power. :( i don't know what else to say other than to warn intelligent parents of discerning children and not subject yourself or your undeserving offspring to this torture, even if it was free and/or on television.
however, on a positive note, it COULD be used as a negotiating tactic for chores or even used as a punishment, if you can force your kids to watch it in a locked room with no way to turn it off or lower the volume. p.s. child protective services might get involved if you dare go that route, so you didn't hear it from me.
oh, sam jackson, i know it's a kids movie, and your infant grandkids will most likely love that their grandpa was once a bird, but you're just not you unless you curse like a pirate and kill someone. 'bad casting' doesn't even apply in this case.
lesson here... don't let celebrity names fool you. watch the trailer, watch another trailer, then watch the trailer again. also, prepare backup gift offerings of apologies when your trusting children opt to disown you and vow to never let you pick another movie EVER again.