Stanislaus

The Disney classic Lady and the Tramp made spaghetti famous like no other. The film impresses in particular with its beautiful animation and the simple story of the dogs' lives (at times it could be seen as a "prehistoric" version of The Secret Life of Pets). In this case, the humour and the typical music take second place to the romance with a touch of drama. I found this dog story a bit more interesting than 101 Dalmatians, and despite the lack of a prominent villain – which is typical of Disney movies (neither the cats nor the rat had much space) – it was thrilling.

Already at the outset, Unhinged grabs the viewer's attention with a stark but incisive overview of the state of crime and society in the US, a land of unlimited possibilities but limited people. After a brief prologue and introduction to the characters, what follows is pure thriller action, where at times you just stare at the screen in disbelief and outrage, with pissed off thoughts running through your head, wondering if something like this is the order of the day (in America). Russell Crowe inhabits the role of a psychopathic asshole who needs really little to piss him off in a chillingly convincing way, and I was definitely not rooting for him and I wished him nothing but the worst possible ending. Whether Unhinged is a realistic reflection of American society I cannot judge, as I don't live there, but even if it is a universal image, I was indeed impressed. All I missed was perhaps a little more background on Russell's character.

Regardless of how the character portrayal of the Czechs and Germans may bother many people, I liked Shadow Country, mainly thanks to its black and white visuals, the raw (and by Czech standards solid) performances of the actors and the story itself, which in one village during the 1930s to 1950s illustrated the conditions that prevailed at that time. Regardless of whether the plot was more or less true or scripted, there were definitely some scenes that didn't leave me cold, even though it is quite a lightweight concoction in terms of rawness compared to last year's The Painted Bird. It's hard to judge people you don’t know and times you have not experienced, and although Bohdan Sláma's film casts shadows of blame more on the Czech population, on the other hand we can't lump all Germans into one (Nazi) bag. Similarly, it is difficult to judge the pro-German population, did they do it for money, property, status, or just to survive and not get sent to a camp? In this respect, I'm a fairly ahistorical and tolerant viewer, and perhaps that's why I don't feel so irritated by Shadow Country.

The War with Grandpa, which could easily be seen as a kind of spin-off of the Fokers trilogy, will never make a dent in the comedy world, but it is acted and filmed in a likeable way, without it slipping into the nastiness or annoyingly whiny characters that abound in American comedies. The viewer is served a fairly simple story about a grandfather and his grandson, spiced up with solid jokes and non-violent wisdom about the importance of family. Thumbs up for the old guard cast of Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, Jane Seymour and Cheech Marin, they really rocked.

I had seen Spielberg's Hook and 2003's Peter Pan, which I rated with an average three stars, and I can't go any higher in the case of the original Disney classic. The Neverland tale of the Flying Boy, his wacky gang, the vengeful Hook, the incompetent Smee, and one gluttonous crocodile didn't wow me either, which is a shame considering the possibilities this fantasy world had to offer. I found the songs very bland and couldn't form any kind of relationship with any of the characters. If I want to go to Neverland, I'd rather reach for the feature film starring Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet.

As much as I like movies with canine heroes, 101 Dalmatians didn't really appeal to me, despite the large number of barking characters. The film doesn't have any downright humorous scenes, and despite the suspenseful nature of the plot, I wasn't really riveted, except perhaps at the very end. The only scene that made any kind of impression on me was the dog march in the blizzard, otherwise it was more of a sequence of scenes that lacked the real verve. Even the main villain, Cruella De Vil, didn't have the right bad-ass-charisma.

Sleeping Beauty is a story about the struggle between pure love and pure evil, between kindness and hatred. Even if you are familiar with this classic tale, the film still managed to pleasantly surprise me with the hilariously clumsy trio of fairies trying to dress the cake, or the demonic figure of Maleficent, Mistress of All Evil, who brimmed with chillingly terrifying charisma. The icing on the cake (not the one from the fairies) was the attractive animation and the beautiful song “Once Upon a Dream”, which nicely permeated the entire film.

With Pocahontas, it's obvious at first glance where James Cameron later drew from when writing the script for Avatar. The love story of two people from different worlds, who were not at first at all happy with each other, impresses with its cultural-ecological touch, which gives the film an extra-fairytale overlay. The more serious scenes are balanced by humorous moments with Meek the raccoon and Percy the dog, and spiced up with the pithy wisdom of Grandma Willow. A sweetly made fairy tale about tolerance of the new and the unknown, which surprises with a not-so-typical Disney ending.

Aladdin captivates the viewer above all with its boundless imagination in the field of animation, a pleasant musical score and a brisk story. A large part of the film's appeal is without doubt the character of the Genie, whose various transformations and many allusions from different areas were endless, and who, along with the monkey Abu, was the main source of humour. Of the songs, I liked “A Whole New World” the best, and I'm glad the 2019 live-action remake wasn't a carbon copy, so the original gave me a few nice surprises.

The Little Mermaid does not have much to surprise in terms of story, but it does offer a few lessons that the viewer will take away in older age; the blending of boundaries between two different worlds (here human and marine) or a reasonable and healthy relationship between parents and children. In this case, the film doesn’t rely so much on humour, although it does have a few genuinely funny moments (Sebastian and the cook or the goofy seagull) and musical numbers to lighten the atmosphere, but it’s built on a dramatic-romantic story of two seemingly very different beings who were not entirely happy at first. Of the characters, I was most intrigued by the diabolical Ursula, who made for a very suspenseful and frightening conclusion. A weaker four stars!