The Lorax (2012) - M3/E5

I tried to go into this movie with no expectations, though I had read what the general response was from the critics.  I knew it was a movie about caring for the environment, but still remembered loving the story growing up.  After getting through 10 minutes of commercials and 25 minutes of trailers (with my daughter asking me each time a new trailer came up if it was the movie actually starting), the movie finally started, and I was hopeful.

It ended up being far from great, and will more than likely just disappear from my memory as a rather uneventful experience.  The movie was a fun kids show, lots of colors, and fun creatures; but the songs were less than memorable and the characters were not very interesting or deep, and the villain was completely annoying.  Why is it supposed to be funny to cast the villain as a mean, angry, short person? (My kids loved it, so I guess that's what they were going for.)

We are taught the same lesson that the book and the earlier animated feature teach us, that "unless" we take action and defend the trees, no one else can or will.  A much stronger moral (and the one my wife remembered from the book) was that "unless" we do something ourselves, we can't ever expect anything to get done - not only with respect to caring for the environment, but in every aspect of our lives.  Carpe diem!  Act now!

[Spoiler Alert]

The movie ends on a silly, corny, but positive note.  A movie suggesting action, is often better without offering a resolution (like what we're given in the original book/movie); giving the reader/viewer the opportunity to decide for him/herself what actions they need to take.  Instead we're given a crazy chase with the angry, tiny man trying to destroy the last truffula seed and the townsfolk changing their disdain for the boy with the seed to disdain for the tiny, angry man when they see what he's hidden from them (a dark and dreary wasteland).

Wait for this to come out on DVD to see it, and you will probably only enjoy it if you have small kids that you can watch it with.

Ponyo (2009)

Racing the Tsunami
Ponyo at MOVIECLIPS.com

Entertainment Rating: 3/5

I remembered hearing the name of this movie quite a bit around Oscar season and had a small desire to see what it was all about. However, I’ve never really watched any anime films and the premise to this one didn’t sound terribly intriguing: a fish wants to become human (pretty much based on H.C. Andersen’s Little Mermaid). Our kids enjoyed the movie and I almost did. The musical score for the film was excellent and the story did turn out to be interesting enough, but it didn’t really conclude anything. We were left with more questions than answers. (Voices by Tina Fey, Matt Damon, Liam Neeson, Betty White, Frankie Jonas, Cate Blanchett, Noah Cyrus)

Orson Scott Card gives examples of some of these unanswered questions:

What did the ocean's attack on the shore accomplish? How did a little boy's promise resolve the conflict between humans and the life of the sea? Who are the little fish-girl's parents and what are they trying to accomplish? What are the rules of the magic in this imagined universe?

Moral Rating: 3/5

Sosuke is able to love Ponyo whether she remains human or is turned back into a fish. Sosuke’s family relationship also provides us with some important insights. Their life is not very easy without a father at home; Lisa, Sosuke’s mother, needs her husband’s help and support with taking care of the house and Sosuke; and Sosuke needs a father around to give him a role model to look up to while he’s growing up. The scene with them communicating via light signals was a particularly touching one, very realistic.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) sums up the moral messages in the movie quite concisely:

...the underlying moral messages, such as the repeated admonition to judge by substance rather than appearance and a deftly delivered warning against environmental carelessness, are universal.

Avatar

Synopsis

A marine, Jake Sully, is recruited to assist in a scientific expedition on a distant planet. Once there he is virtually linked to an avatar that resembles the native inhabitants of the planet and is controlled by his brain. Jake becomes doubly involved in a business/military venture to gain access and information on a valuable mineral that lies in the heart of the home of the natives. As Jake learns the customs of the people he grows to love them and in the end must choose between his own race and the alien race.

Entertainment Value - A

Amazing effects, particularly with the 3D glasses, otherwise it wouldn't be anything too revolutionary. The only other 3D movie I've seen is Nightmare Before Christmas, and that was more of a reverse-engineered attempt and no where near as good as this was. If you think this looks interesting, the only way to see it is in 3D, and if possible try to see it in an IMAX theater. I'd probably see it in an IMAX theater.

Moral Value - Failure to Communicate? - 3

[Spoiler Alert]

A marine with a heart (stereotypically paradoxical) sees the damage that humans are inflicting on the alien planet because of their insatiable desire for a valuable mineral found at the heart of the native inhabitants' home. That lust is displayed as wrong, in that it destroys the home and lives of the natives. A very similar story to how the English treated the Native Americans when they arrived here and how other countries treated slaves - both of which are wrong.


There's a battle between scientists and businessmen displaying how insensitive businessmen are to anything natural; they are cold-hearted and greedy (very stereotypical).


Once Jake Sully really gets to know the natives he really becomes one of them and realizes the crimes the humans are committing and how he has facilitated their strategy for attacking the natives.


Jake was pretty naive to the culture, even though he wanted to save it. He knew that their species mated for life, and he couldn't have taken that into consideration when he mated with the "princess." Doing so was pretty heartless and cruel, not to mention wrong on all levels, even if the creatures had no marriage rites. Like all such scenes, this just shows that lust is purely selfish and not capable of any good.


Jake was courageous by choosing to take the side against his own race. Maybe he figured he had nothing to lose since he was only a crippled marine to them.


The story was very intriguing, particularly the extent to which James Cameron developed this alien planet, but nothing in it struck a motivational chord for me.