ANIMATION

I have placed "sizzler ratings" next to movies to give you an idea of how good they are

A BUG'S LIFE (1999)

Starring: The voices of Dave Foley, Kevin Spacey, Phyllis Diller, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss
The plot: The ants have a deal with the grasshoppers - give them food at a certain time and date, and no harm befalls them. An eccentric ant, Flik, ruins the food offering and jeopardises the entire colony. A quick deal to postpone the offering is struck between Princess Ana and the leader of the grasshoppers, Hopper. Flik is exiled and ventures forth to recover honour for himself and the ant colony.
Comment: A delightful, extremely colourful computer animated cartoon! This movie, like its computer predecessor, "Toy Story," is sure to delight everyone - the young and young at heart. The pace is fast, the characters entertaining and the story is excellent. And whatever you do, DO NOT LEAVE when the credits begin to roll because then the 'bloopers' are shown - and they are even funnier than the film!
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CHICKEN RUN (2000)

Starring: The voices of Mel Gibson, Julia Swalha, Miranda Richardson, Jane Horrocks
The plot: Ginger, a chicken on Tweedy's Farm, recognises that she has to get the chicken's out of the coup before the dreaded Mrs Tweedy delivers some other dire fat upon non-egg producing chickens. The situation becomes even more desperate when all of a sudden, Mrs Tweedy is more interested in fattening up the chickens than eating them for dinner that evening. Again and again, Ginger tries to get the chickens to flee the coup, but it all looks lost until Rocky Rhode, a Freerange Rooster flies into the coup.
Comment: I suspect the makers of this film have spent the better part of their lives jotting down every single pun, joke and play on words possible involving chickens - and then some! Yet, in no way can this claymation pardoy of "The Great Escape" be construed as cheesy! For their first big steps into feature length movies, the oscar-winning makers of the infamous "Wallace and Grommit" films have made a thoroughly entertaining and hilarious movie. In fact, the movie is so entertaining, you almost don't have time to pause and reflect on the staggering amount of time that went into animating the chickens - or the smooth way the chicken jokes are incorporated into the script...
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THE EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE (2000)

Starring: The voices of David Spade, John Goodman, Patrick Warburton
The plot: A vain and self-centred Emperor gets accidently turned into a llama when an evil aspiring Emperoress-to-be tries to kill him to take over the thone. Her dim-witted assistant tries to dispose of the Emperor, but it just can't do it. So, the Emperor ends up on the cart of a country worker who has a 2 day trek to get to his place in the distant reaches of the kingdom. When Kuzko, the Emperor comes to, he has to face up to returning to his palace and facing Yzma, the evil Emperor-imposter himself, or using the help of his new found friends and subjects.
Comment: I'm sure the kids will enjoy it - its full of beautiful graphics, lots of funny scenes and a fun story. That said, the children in the theatre surrounding me were awfully quiet throughout this film - not much noise of any sort, positive or negative! But, David Spade just sounds to smug as the vain and saracastic Emperor and his voice drove me nuts from about five minutes into the film. If you like David Spade or have children, this this film maybe for you, otherwise, I'd recommend viewing another Disney cartoon over this one...
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SHREK (2001)

Starring: The voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, John Lithgow
The plot: Shrek is a grumpy green ogre that enjoys his solitude in his swamp. Suddenly, his life is disrupted as loads of invasive fairy-folk invade his swamp and his life. In anger, he goes off to the root of the problem - Lord Farquaad - and obtains a promise that if he retrieves the Princess Fiona, Farquaad will remove all the fairy folk from Shrek's swamp.
Comment: A delightful blend of modern music, vibrant colours (although, once can't help but miss the days of the 'real' cartoon...), satirical takes on modern day films and life, Shrek delivers a fable a bit beyond the average kid's fairy tale. That said, the story unfolds in true fairy-tale manner with the gallant sword fights, dragons, perils and virtue - and most importantly, a message at the end of it all for which we should use to enrich our lives. The only vague flaw that irked me was the mixed bag of accents - scottish for Shrek, American for the other 3 main characters, and dominantly british for all the other fairy creatures -except for the oh so british character of Robin Hood was blessed with a french accent! However, that aside, Shrek is a marvelous bit of animated entertainment and well worth the price of admission!
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SOUTH PARK: BIGGER, LONGER AND UNCUT (1999)

Starring: Kenny, Kyle, Cartman, Stan, Satan, Big Al...
The plot: Terrance and Philip, two Canadian characters have released a movie which the children of South Park feel compelled to see. When they exit the theatre, their vocab is significantly enhanced with words that their parents are not fond of. Since their innocent (but now, foul-mouthed) children can't be to blamed, the adults of South Park decide to blame Canada...
Comment: I don't have to warn you that this is South Park and these kids have innocent adult minds right??? According to "those in the know', there are 331 'offensive' words used in this movie which apparently averages out at 5 swear words/minute. Since the movie is only 80 minutes long, this is apparently the highest amount of swear words per minute of any movie (its rival, Pulp Fiction, had 440+ swear words but slipped a notch since it ran for 2 hours so the swear words/time ratio was lower...). That said, GET OVER IT! This is a fun little movie and quite a lot of laughs. It helps if you have seen a few episodes of South Park to get the gist, but its still quite fun. IF, however, you are not found of foul-mouth language, this is not the movie for you!
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TARZAN (1999)

Starring: The voices of Glenn Close, Minnie Driver, Rosie O'Donnell, Lance Henrickson, Tony Goldwyn
The plot: The classic tale of a little baby who is raised by gorillas in the African Jungle after his parents are killed by a leopard. Young Tarzan grows up having to deal with the fact he looks different from everyone else, and Kerjack, the head gorilla, doesn't accept his as one of his own. Then one day, Tarzan meets an animal who is hairless like himself.
Comment: Unlike previous Disney cartoon efforts which seem to be cleverly scripted on two levels and appeal to both the adults and children watching, Tarzan is a tame version which really only appeals to children. Sitting in a cinema surrounded by kids under 3 feet high, they laughed when they were supposed to, screamed when they were supposed to, and were scared when they were supposed to be. But for the poor adult there, this film is wishy washy with its only redeeming feature being the beautiful painted backdrops of the jungle. Maybe with this being the nth incarnation of this movie, it's just to hard to take poetic license anymore and do something with an outdated plot. Definitely one for the kids only!
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TOY STORY 2 (1999)

Starring: The voices of Tim Allen, Tom Hanks, Joan Cussack, Kelsey Grammer, Wayne Kight
The plot: Woody is stolen at a garage sale when a devious toy collector recognises Woody as a toy the Japanese will pay big bucks for. So, it is up to Buzz Lightyear and the toys of Andy's collection to go and rescue Woody before he disappears for good. However, the toys have some obstacles to overcome getting there - not withstanding the fact Woody thinks maybe he should be preserved forever in a Japanese museum...
Comment: OK, more than anything, I enjoyed the first movie because Buzz Lightyear was ignorant of his status as a toy. I failed to see HOW a sequel could possibly top that, and this one didn't. However, it did parallel the first movie with a wonderful story line and the introduction (albeit, fleetingly) of a new Buzz Lightyear who is ignorant of his toy status.... Once again, this movie will appeal to both children and adult with his split level script, and if anything, the graphics are even better than the original...
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