Coco (2017) Movie Review

December 9, 2017 Steve Baqqi

Since Disney purchased Pixar in 2006, Pixar films have played it safe by focusing on sequels rather than creating original stories. Remember, the films Ratatouille, Wall-E, and Up were in development before Pixar’s acquisition. This is not to say that there haven’t been excellent, original Pixar stories like Inside Out, but otherwise, Pixar’s filmography has been filled with sequels and average original stories like The Good Dinosaur. Famed animator and one of Pixar’s decorated leaders, John Lasseter, took a recent six-month leave of absence due to sexual assault accusations. Some Mexican people were upset that Disney had tried to trademark their revered cultural holiday Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead), in order to sell merchandise and others still were upset that the film seemed to rip off The Book of Life. The stage was set for Coco to fail spectacularly, but the film succeeds with its vibrant visuals, strong emotional core, and fantastical adventure to the Land of the Dead.

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Kubo and the Two Strings (2016) Movie Review

September 3, 2016 Steve Baqqi

Kubo and the Two Strings is the fourth picture that stop-motion powerhouse Laika has produced (Coraline, ParaNorman, and The Boxtrolls). While I haven’t seen Coraline, Laika’s past two films were dark tales that pushed the boundaries of what a traditional animated (i.e. a film for children) feature should do. In addition, each was a unique look at vastly different societies and cultural history. ParaNorman masterfully skewed New England culture, history, and folklore, while The Boxtrolls took aim at the extremely different classes in old English society. Kubo and the Two Strings is another fantastic animated feature from the studio. Unlike the last two pictures the film isn’t as dark, but it is a sorrowful adventure tale with an uplifting ending about the power of love, family, and memory.

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The Secret Life of Pets (2016) Movie Review

July 17, 2016 Steve Baqqi

The Secret Life of Pets has a simple but rather interesting premise, “What do your pets do when you’re not around?”. The film, made by Illumination Entertainment (Despicable Me, Minions), features an all-star cast led by Louis C.K., Eric Stonestreet, and Kevin Hart. Despite the potential to be great, The Secret Life of Pets is exactly as it’s billed, a wild adventure through New York City featuring talking animals that’s entertaining but has little else to offer.

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The BFG (2016) Movie Review

July 9, 2016 Steve Baqqi

Finding Dory continues to rake in cash for the House of Mouse and it’s possible that Disney could have the top four highest grossing films in 2016 before the dust settles. Unfortunately for Disney, The BFG is going to end its extraordinary run of financial success. The BFG only made $18.77 million in its opening weekend, against a budget of $140 million, and will be lucky to earn half of that back. It’s actually quite puzzling as to why the film did so poorly. It has all the pedigree of a blockbuster: The film is co-produced by two of the biggest names in the business, Spielberg and Disney, it’s based on the Roald Dahl classic of the same name which has sold over 37 million copies, and it's a fun, family friendly, and visually stunning film.

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Zootopia (2016) Movie Review

March 26, 2016 Steve Baqqi

I’m an ardent fan of both Disney and Pixar’s animated films. The original “Disney Renaissance” coincided with my childhood; as did Pixar’s meteoric rise to rival Disney before the former’s acquisition by the latter. So it’s no surprise to me that Zootopia is easily the best film I’ve seen so far this year. Perhaps that’s because it's one of two new films I’ve seen thus far...but still! Disney has made another fantastic film that will only continue to bolster the “Second Disney Renaissance”. Zootopia is a fast paced, exciting, and funny animated film with a surprising amount of depth.

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