Rob Minkoff
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Connections, in both directions
I'm referring to a familiar set of qualities developed during the Disney renaissance of the late '80s and early '90s, and perfected, if that is the word, by the " Shrek " series, and movies in a "Shrek"-like vein.
It’s a problem that increasingly seems to be systemic to DreamWorks’ animated films as the studio struggles to take the formula that made “Shrek” such a success in 2001 and play it forward.
Another “Shrek”-like offering from DreamWorks Animation, “Mr.
Kung Fu Panda (2008)
Directed by Mark Osborne
influenced Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank (2022)
Plot Visuals
I’m obviously not the target audience of this film, but even still, I can’t see too many children falling in love with this story that seems to be trying way too hard to copy the success of Kung Fu Panda .
The animation is crisp and refined in a way that keeps most of the action light and breezy in a “Kung Fu Panda” type of way, and the voice work is top notch.
With the direction being taken care of by the hands of Minkoff and Koetsier, the film and its plot points take heavy influences from Mel Brooks’s “Blazing Saddles,” several wuxia films (like DreamWorks’ “Kung Fu Panda” series), and some western movies to portray the film accurately.
A primera vista, Un héroe samurái parece aprovechar el mismo punto de partida que Kung Fu Panda (2008), de Mark Osborne y John Stevenson.
Once it becomes apparent that the mansion is, in fact, haunted -- it contains ghosts reminiscent of those in Peter Jackson'sThe Frighteners in both their shimmering appearance and a penchant for groan-inducing one-liners -- the film becomes little more than an excuse for decidedly subpar special effects sequences.
For instance, among many other things the secret passages are from "Clue"; the spooky inside of the house is from "The House on Haunted Hill," "The Haunting," and "The Legend of Hell House"; the rotting corpses are from "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "Poltergeist"; the "I see dead people" line is from "The Sixth Sense"; the girl in the painting, the mausoleum, the surrounding graveyard, the swamps, and the mysterious key are from Bob Hope's "Ghost Breakers" (remade as Martin and Lewis's "Scared Stiff"); the disembodied head (Jennifer Tilly) in the crystal ball is from "The Wizard of Oz"; the bugs on the door handle are from "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom"; the skeletal ghosts of the dead are from "Pirates of the Caribbean"; the vaults are from "Interview With the Vampire"; the look and appearance of the film are courtesy of "The Frighteners"; and so on, you get the idea.
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)
Directed by Rob Marshall
influenced by The Haunted Mansion (2003)
Themes
But when it was originally announced, the thought of making a movie based on the popular Disney theme park attraction seemed a dubious idea at best, with previous similar attempts (including 1997's TV movie "Tower of Terror," 2000's "Mission to Mars" and 2002's "The Country Bears") not really inspiring tremendous confidence in future success -- which was proved again in late 2003 with the Eddie Murphy flick "The Haunted Mansion."
In the tradition of Stuart Little and Hugo before it, Paddington is one of those amazing films that perfectly blends heart and humor, with a gigantic quantity of whimsy.
So, yes, there are familiar elements here -- from children's-lit and children's-film classics as varied as 101 Dalmatians, Stuart Little, and Winnie the Pooh, but there's also a broad-and-bizarre stroke of Monty Python-style absurdity and more than a few welcome, modernized-yet-classical touches like a calypso band, D Lime, acting as a chorus to the film's urban adventuring.
El segundo largo de Paddington dirigido por Paul King tiene la cualidad de una producción de lujo, frecuente en el cine americano y limitada a lo correcto en las de otras industrias, y otra principal y mucho menos usual: la brillantez y variedad de la dirección artística, el reparto donde sólo el pequeño oso es producto de la animación y todos los que le rodean son actores y muy buenos, el guión que da papel a muchos personajes, la genuina comicidad mientras que lo habitual en el género es confundirla con la mera ingenuidad (en esto coincide con Stuart Little, de parecido planteamiento, y que también contaba con un estupendo guión).
While “Pirates of the Caribbean” was a hit, other attempts like “The Country Bears” and “The Haunted Mansion” were quickly forgotten.
Mulan, played by willowy screen veteran Liu Yifei (“The Forbidden Kingdom,” “In Harm’s Way”) is the daughter of a former soldier (Tzi Ma of “The Farewell”) and a mother (Rosalind Chao, “The Joy Luck Club”) who have to remind her — constantly — that “a daughter brings honor (to the family) through marriage.”
Liu Yifei (“ The Forbidden Kingdom “) plays the titular Hua Mulan, a warrior in a woman’s body (in a setting where being a woman forbade them from being able to serve in the army).
Under the guidance of New Zealand director Niki Caro ( Whale Rider ), working from a script where three of the four writers are women, the tale of Mulan (Liu Yifei, The Forbidden Kingdom ) disguising herself as a boy to join the Chinese army in lieu of her hobbled older father Zhou (Tzi Ma, The Farewell ) receives a decidedly feminist sheen.
We still have young Mulan (Yifei Liu: The Forbidden Kingdom), chafing at the limitations placed upon her as a girl in imperial China, where the only way she can bring honor to her family is by becoming a silent, obedient wife to a man she won’t even get to choose for her husband.
House of Flying Daggers (2004)
Directed by Zhang Yimou
influenced The Forbidden Kingdom (2008)
Visuals
Lavishly mounted in keeping with today, this movie is visual kin to House of Flying Daggers but turns back to the simpler martial arts humor of Bruce Lee while resonating Back to the Future, Stargate and, in dual rôles in real and dream realms (plus, albeit the exact opposite of malevolent, a Flying Monkey), The Wizard of Oz .
He also wrote Jacob's Ladder, The Last Mimsy, Deep Impact and Stuart Little 2.
Screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin ("Ghost," "Stuart Little 2"), adapting a novel by Audrey Niffenegger pulls off two feats, aided fully by Robert Schwentke's smart direction.