Change Your Image
cshighland
Reviews
How to Hook Up Your Home Theater (2007)
Brilliant short! Absolutely brilliant!
We saw this short before National Treasure Book of Secrets. To be honest, we enjoyed the short as much or more than that film (and it was a good film!) The short is a throw-back to Disney's old "How to" films of the 50s and 60s starring Goofy and despite modern advances (paperless animation, subject matter), it fits perfectly into the genre. Same style animation, same absurd situations, same old Goofy... and I mean that in the best way.
For us, though, the short is wonderful because of it's take on Home Theater and Installation. Both my husband and I work for a professional A/V integrator and we work with this stuff every day. Watching Goofy tackle our world in his own inimitable way, we literally cried from laughing so hard.
From knowing which components to buy at "Shiny Stuff," to waiting for delivery between 8 and 5, to dealing with way too many cables and way too many speakers, to the Almighty Holy Universal Remote, Goofy's experiences reflect Everyman's experiences with this new technology (and highlight some of the best and worst of our industry, particularly in the residential market).
In short (no pun intended), this new Disney short is priceless. Bravo, Disney!
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)
Brilliant! Absolutely Brilliant!
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe has been my favorite book since early childhood. This adaptation is true to the book and brings Narnia to life stunningly! There are very few deviations from Lewis's text - and those that are present simply move the story along more smoothly. Only uber-fans of the book will even notice the slight deviations. (I said, "Hey, that line isn't quite right..." It's that level of minor detail changed!)
Using technology invented for the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the crew of this film created all the amazing characters and events of the book in a most realistic fashion. My husband, Mr. Picky, thought a few of the backgrounds were too CG'ed, but I wasn't even aware of the effects - a sign of a very well-done CG film! The battle scenes were spectacular, and reminiscent of those in Braveheart, though with far less gore. (Note to parents: Be familiar with the book/story before bringing very young children. There be monsters herein, as well as battles and deaths...but nothing too gory. Just know what your kid can take!)
I highly recommend this film to any fan of fantasy... Lord of the Rings fans and Harry Potter fans will NOT be disappointed. To Narnia fans, you absolutely MUST SEE THIS FILM! I know we plan to see it a few more times ourselves and we already plan to add this to our DVD collection the minute it comes out! 4 stars!