Disc of the Week (12/13/11)

With the holidays around the corner, many of this summer’s big releases are finally hitting the shelves of your local Hollywood Video. (The previous sentence was written in 1998.) Of this week’s output, the best film is probably Kung Fu Panda 2, the sequel to the utterly awesome 2008 movie from DreamWorks Animation. This one hits many of the same sweet spots as the first—particularly in the visuals department; every last frame is stunning—without ever seeming like an empty re-hash. Kung-Fu Panda 2 is a lesser film than the original, however, mostly because the plotting is obvious and there’s never any real suspense. As a purely fun animated adventure with a bunch of likable characters, Kung Fu Panda 2 is pretty darn close to a sure thing.

The week’s other releases are more of a mixed bag, though I’m starting to think that I initially underrated Rise of the Planet of the Apes with my ‘B-’ review. As it goes along, it becomes an ongoing struggle between two different films: one centered on the titular primates and one centered on James Franco and the human characters. While the former is a thrilling and wonderfully-animated tale about a compelling character, the latter is just a lost cause. When I first left the film, I was much more focused on the negatives, such as the poor acting and uninteresting characters on the human side. But when I look back, I seem to remember the good much more than the bad. Rise of the Planet of the Apes likely has the best special effects work of the year, most notably on Caesar, the ape that the entire films centers around. Despite being a CGI creation, he emotes much more in five minutes than James Franco does in the entire movie.

I will conclude by visiting the “I can’t believe people actually like this” file: the Craig Gillespie-directed remake of Fright Night. I’ll admit it has its charms; particularly the performances of Colin Farrell and David Tennant, but otherwise I just found the film to be pretty darn terrible. There was nothing scary about it, not that much funny about it, and it overall it just felt like a cobbled-together mess that exists solely to capitalize on the alleged vampire craze. The 3-D was awful as well, though I know that doesn’t really apply to most at-home viewing experiences. While it spends much of its time poking fun at other vampire movies, it utterly fails at being anything other than a subpar addition to the genre.