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Review: The Good Dinosaur

Pixar’s newest film based on dinosaurs with good animation, direction and screenplay is a treat for both kids and parents.
by Ravi Shet

Rating: 3 out of 5

Sweet and gently philosophical, this film forces you to think of a parallel universe where dinosaurs might exist.

Set in an alternate timeline 65 million years after an asteroid that would have been reason for the extinction of dinosaurs passes safe and sound over the Earth, the film features Henry (voiced by Jeffrey Wright) and Ida (voiced by Frances McDormand) who are Apatosaurus farmers. They have three children – Buck (voiced by Marcus Scribner), Libby (voiced by Maleah Padilla) and Arlo (voiced by Raymond Ochoa). Buck and Libby are adept at handling responsibilities on their farm; however shy and nervous Arlo is not able to handle the tasks given to him. His father gives him the responsibility of guarding their silo and setting up traps.

One fine day, a caveboy called Spot (voiced by Jack Bright) gets captured in the trap, but Arlo does not kill him, instead he sets him free. Henry is upset by Arlo’s behaviour and forces him to track Spot along with him. But a huge flood kills Henry; this angers Arlo who chases Spot down only for both of them to fall into a river.

 

Arlo soon regains consciousness to realise that he has come far away from home. After a series of mishaps, he becomes friends with Spot, especially when the latter tells him that his parents are dead. A few days later, a storm ruins the land and Arlo remembers his father’s death before running to safety on his own.

Director Peter Sohn keeps the story sweet and simple with good animation and the right amount of humour. There is enough pathos and good nature in the film to keep both children and adults engrossed. The film features some really good music numbers as well. I recommend this film for kids who are curious about dinosaurs, and for parents if they want to tell a fresh bedtime story to their young children.

 (Picture courtesy www.christianitytoday.com)

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Film

Review: Snoopy and Charlie Brown: The Peanuts Movie

Celebrating the 65th anniversary of the famous comic strip, ‘Peanuts’, this sweet film delivers a dose of nostalgia for fans.
by Ravi Shet

Rating: 3 out of 5

This one is for you if you love Snoopy and Charlie Brown.

The story revolves around Charlie Brown (voiced by Noah Schnapp) who develops a crush on his  new neighbour, The Little Red-Haired Girl (voiced by Francesca Capaldi) and his efforts to grab her attention. In a side story, Charlie’s loyal beagle and best friend Snoopy (voiced by Bill Melendez) discovers a typewriter and decides to write a novel about his alter-ego, The World War I Flying Ace trying to save his lover Fifi (voiced by Kristin Chenoweth) from Red Baron.

On Lucy’s (voiced by Hadley Belle Miller) advice, Charlie who is frustrated with his streak of bad luck, decides to participate in a series of new activities in the school in a hope that The Little Red-Haired Girl will notice him. Charlie participates in the school’s talent show for a magic act with Snoopy; however when his sister Sally’s (voiced by Mariel Sheets) performance goes wrong, Charlie sacrifices his own performance time for her and rescues his sister’s act with Snoopy’s help. Charlie realises that his crush likes dancing and so signs up for the school dance. While he receives praise for his dancing (which he learns from Snoopy), he slips and sets off the sprinkler system, which cut shorts his dance and all the other students ridicule him.

 

Charlie’s bad luck continues even on a book report project that he must partner his crush on. After a series of events, he walks away from fame and glory when he realises that he is being praised for someone else’s work.

Director Steve Martino keeps the film sweet and simple with the right amount of emotions and focuses on the themes of friendship and resilience. The lead characters are adorable, and it has its LOL moments. Mostly, though, it is a nostalgic ride for fans of the famous comic strip featuring two beloved characters.

(Picture courtesy www.nme.com)

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Film

Review: Partu

This week’s release is defined by good performances and excellent camera work relating a moving true story about a lost young boy.
by Ravi Shet

Rating: 3 out of 5

This is a true story of a lost boy from Rajasthan who finds his moorings in a remote village in Ahmednagar.

A seven-year-old boy, Prithvi, arrives in Mumbai from Rajasthan with his uncle Prem Singh to enjoy the city for a few days. But on a crowded train station in Mumbai when the child is returning home, Prithvi gets separated from his uncle and ends up taking the wrong train. Soon, he reaches Ahmednagar, where he knows no one and doesn’t know Marathi, the local language.

Laxman (Kishor Kadam), a poor farmer along with his wife Sugandha (Smita Tambe) help Prithvi and take him to their home. Laxman struggles to find Prithvi’s family; however he fails and finally decides to raise Prithvi with his family and names him ‘Partu’. The child soon adapts to his new family and surroundings, and also learns how to speak Marathi and adjust to local rituals and routines.

 

17 years later, Partu (Saurabh Gokhale) is now 24 years old. Completely tied to his home with the love and affection from his adoptive father Laxman and his family, Partu has almost forgotten about his past. But Laxman still hopes that Partu will find his own parents one day. Meanwhile, Partu is married to Gayatri and settled in the same village with Laxman and his family. On a pilgrimage, Laxman manages to find out where Partu’s hometown is in Rajasthan.

Director Nitin Adsul does a commendable job in bringing a true story to the screen, and also uses the real Partu in the end credits of the film. The overall pace of the film is fine, but some scenes go on interminably. Sanjay Khanzode’s camera work is excellent – Rajasthan has been beautifully captured in this film. As far as the performances are concerned, the ever-reliable Kishore Kadam leaves his mark, and so does Smita Tambe. However, Saurabh Gokhale is miscast as Partu and is not at all impressive in the titular role.

(Picture courtesy marathimovieworld.com)

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Review: Creed

‘Creed’ is a spin-off from the beloved ‘Rocky’ series and will knock you out with excellent performances and well-shot action scenes.
by Ravi Shet

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

You will like this film if you’re a fan of the Rocky franchise. Adonis Johnson (Michael B. Jordan) is the illegitimate son of former heavyweight boxing champion Apollo Creed. The boy loses his mother at a young age, and he grapples with issues – abandonment, loneliness – which make him an angry youth. He lives in a Los Angeles-based youth facility, until Mary Anne Creed (Phylicia Rashad), Apollo’s widow decides to raise him like her own son. Adonis’ life changes – he gets a job at a securities firm; however he wants to follow his dream of becoming a professional boxer. So he quits his job to become a boxer, but Mary is strongly opposed to the idea.

Adonis tries to get in Delphi Boxing Academy at Los Angeles; but is turned down. He moves to Philadelphia with the hope of meeting Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone), his father’s old opponent and friend. Adonis meets Rocky at the latter’s restaurant and requests him for lessons. Rocky is reluctant to get back into boxing; but he agrees to train Adonis with the help of his old friends.

 

Adonis soon defeats a local fighter and people find out who his father is. This leads to him getting a call from the World Light Heavyweight Championship; he is informed that Ricky Conlan (Tony Bellew) is due to be forced into retirement because of an impending prison term. Adonis is offered the role of Ricky’s final challenger on one condition – he must change his name from Adonis Johnson to Adonis Creed.

Director Ryan Coogler has ensured that Rocky’s persona never overshadows Adonis’. The story is structured well and the action scenes are quite thrilling. Especially impressive is the camerawork by Maryse Alberti. But the performances really lift this film from average to very good – Sylvester Stallone and Michael B Jordan are top notch. If you’re a boxing and Stallone fan, this movie is worth your while.

(Picture courtesy screenrant.com)

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Film

Review: Katyar Kaljat Ghusli

Bring alive the festive season with a musical treat comprising stellar performances and a gripping story of a bygone era.
by Ravi Shet

Rating: 4 out of 5

Katyar Kaljat Ghusli first shot to fame in the 1970s as a musical play helmed by singing stalwarts Pt Jitendra Abhisheki and Pt Vasantrao Deshpande. The same story has now been adapted for the big screen by director-actor Subodh Bhave, who also stars in the film.

The plot is based in the pre-independence period in princely Vishrampur, and centres on the clash between two musical gharanas led by Pandit Bhanu Shankar Shastri (Shankar Mahadevan) and Khan Saheb (Sachin Pilgaonkar). Panditji, owing to his talent, is elevated to the Rajgayak (royal singer) status in the State. He is impressed by Khansaheb’s talent, though the latter belongs to a different musical gharana, and asks him to move to migrate to Vishrampur.

Khansaheb moves to Vishrampur and performs a jugalbandi with Panditji, where the king declares Panditji as the winner of the competition. A frustrated Khansaheb continues to challenge Panditji year after year; however after a decade Panditji leaves the stage without singing which eventually makes Khansaheb the winner and he gets the Rajgayak status.

 

Khansaheb moves to the palace where Banke Bihari (Pushkar Shrotri), the State’s royal poet, and other royal attendants present him with a dagger (katyar) and inform him that the king would pardon one murder by the dagger.

Meanwhile, Sadashiv (Subodh Bhave) arrives at the palace hoping to take singing lessons from Panditji, but on learning that Khansaheb is the new court singer, he asks for lessons from him instead. Khansaheb is furious when he realises that Sadashiv sings in Panditji’s style and refuses to teach him. Though upset, Sadashiv leaves and takes shelter in a place where he meets Uma, Panditji’s daughter, and starts learning the notes her father has left behind. Here, he meets  Zareena, Khansaheb’s daughter, who urges him to come work in the palace disguised as a servant so that he may learn singing when her father is practicing.

The story moves at a fast pace and several scenes have been stitched together beautifully to create an impact. The music by Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy is impressively scored to recreate a bygone era, and the camerawork is top notch. Debutant director Subodh Bhave has tackled a difficult subject deftly and extracted good performances from the cast, notably from Shankar Mahadevan, Amruta Khanvilkar, Mrunmayee Deshpande and Pushkar Shrotri. But Sachin Pilgaonkar steals the show with his excellent portrayal of Khansaheb.

(Picture courtesy marathimovieworld.com)

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Film

Review: Hotel Transylvania 2

This week’s release is a sequel to ‘Hotel Transylvania’, an animated monster comedy that children will surely love to watch.
by Ravi Shet

Rating: 3 out of 5

This one is an ideal Diwali entertainer for the little ones: it combines animation, a story about ‘fitting in’ and vampires in the age of the Internet.

With the approval of her father Count Dracula (voiced by Adam Sandler), vampire Mavis (Selena Gomez) gets married to the human Johnny (Andy Samberg). Mavis gives birth to a son named Dennis, but Dracula worries that his grandson might not gain vampire powers, since he is approaching his fifth birthday and still has not sprouted fangs. Mavis wants to raise her son in the land where Johnny grew up, but her father wishes to transform his grandson into a blood thirsty vampire.

Dracula devises a plan to ‘babysit’ Dennis – he wants to train him into vampirehood with the help of his friends – Wayne the Werewolf (Steve Buscemi), Frankenstein (Kevin James), Murray the Mummy (Keegan Michael Key), Griffin the Invisible Man (David Spade) and Blobby the Blob (Jonny Solomon).

 

Dracula takes little Dennis to the summer camp where he perfected his own vampire abilities, only to get disappointed on learning that the camp is no longer as dangerous as it was in the past. In desperation, Dracula flings Dennis from a tall tower to force his transformation into a bat, but rescues him at the last moment. This incident is captured by campers and is uploaded on the Internet. The clip reaches Mavis and Johnny who immediately rush to Transylvania – Mavis makes the journey as a bat carrying Johnny because there are no flights to Transylvania available.

A stellar cast is ably supported by fast paced action, excellent animation and witty dialogue. Adam Sandler is the most impressive as Dracula. The film has many LOL moments and will do well with children.

(Picture courtesy www.forbes.com)

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