Monday, 22 August 2011 Zookeeper (Kevin James, Leslie Bibb, Rosario Dawson) Posted by joeldfisher at 08:56

Most people these days have pets; dogs, cats, rabbits, hamsters. You name it and somebody has probably got any kind of pet you can think of, and most pet owners will say that when they talk to their pets (as many do) that their pets can understand them and even respond as if they know what their owner wants from them. Hollywood knows this all too well so with the magic of special effects and numerous cartoons there have been many movies about animals that can talk, Zookeeper is one of them.

Griffen Keyes (Kevin James; The Dilemma, Grown Ups) is a zookeeper with a beautiful girlfriend and the world at his feet, he works in his own exotic pet paradise and all his animals love him. On the day he proposes to his girlfriend Stephanie (Leslie Bibb; Iron Man 2, Confessions Of  A Shopaholic) she dumps him, because of all things he is just a lowly zookeeper. From this moment on the movie takes a few steps away from logical thought so bare with me (personally I don't see anything wrong with being a zookeeper, it sounds cool but that may just be me). Upon hearing that Griffin has been dumped by his girlfriend the animals (yes they talk!) hatch a plan to get him back with his girlfriend so that he doesn't leave the zoo. Clearly he hadn't been talking to the animals about WHY he was dumped, but I digress.

Using their natural abilities to find a mate, the animals decide to teach Griffin how to win back the love of his life, and hilarity ensues, in theory anyway. Cue Kevin Smith making an idiot of himself and doing things no man with any common sense would do, regardless of whether he was talking to animals who talked back.

There's a wide variety of animals too, and many different personalities which is fun for the children showing the interaction between them is comedic. However after reading the cast list I was amazed that there were A-list or even B-list stars in the movie, let alone doing the voices of the animals. Sylvester Stallone (The Expendables, Rambo IV) and Cher (Burlesque, Stuck On You) are Joe the lion and Janet the lioness respectively and Adam Sandler (Just Go With It, Grown Ups), who acts as executive producer on the movie is Donald the monkey but their voices are nearly unrecognisable. This may be in part to do with the lack of proper advertising for the movie or the idea that the voice work makes the actors so unrecognisable. I'm not sure which one explanation is better but if the actors were given better direction they may have given the adult audience a chance of recognising the actors so therefore given a little bit of joy while their children laughed at the talking animals. A perfect example of this is Adam Sandler, who surely should have known better as executive producer when he decided to put on an accent for the Donald the monkey, making him even more unrecognisable than the rest.

I can understand how some actor's voices may even be unrecognisable no matter how famous they are so I can give Nick Nolte (Arthur, Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore) a pardon on this criticism. I'm not that familiar with his work and especially recently I can't recall anything that he's been in other than The Hulk in 2002. However, after learning that he played Bernie the gorilla I can say that he did a good job of expressing the hurt and anguish of the isolated animal and was also able to have fun alongside Kevin James as well in a TGI Friday scene that will stick in your memory long after the movie's finished (and not just because of the blatant product placement).

Of course the real love interest is Griffin's co-worker, Kate (Rosario Dawson; Unstoppable, Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief) and Dawson really enjoys her role. It's obvious to the adult audience who Griffin should be with from the moment she enters the movie so the audience just have to ride out all the animal bodily function jokes until the inevitable conclusion.

Zookeeper isn't that great for adults, kids may enjoy it but in the end if you've seen one of these kinds of movies you've seen them all. Kevin James is good at physical comedy and if only they still made silent movies then he'd do well, he's surprisingly agile for a man of his size. Rosario Dawson and Leslie Bibb are good as the love rivals for Griffin's attention, Dawson is warm and charming and would be an ideal opposite for any leading man and Leslie Bibb shows a good turn as the high maintenance girl who wants everything, and is funny with it too. Despite the almost nonsensical plot and Ken Jeong's bizarre cameo as a creepy reptile expert, Zookeeper does have its moments however I would only see it if your kids beg you to and if that's the case then you can at least watch it on DVD, or put it on so the kids can watch and you don't actually have to be in the room.    

Tuesday, 2 August 2011 Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson) Posted by joeldfisher at 10:25

In 1997 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was first published, a first time author by the name of J.K. Rowling, had big plans for her little book and was hoping that it would capture the public's imagination. But, of course I don't need to tell you that, if you haven't even heard of Harry Potter before you must have either been in a coma or on the moon for at least the past 10 years. This is the movie every Potter fan has been waiting for, those who read the book (including myself) already know how it was going to end but to see it on the big screen is another matter entirely.

The movie of the first part of the last book was released last year, as if I really needed to tell you that, and I for one thought it was one of the best yet. Splitting the book in two for the finale was a risky move and yet a very clever way of bookending the series (no pun intended) and Warner Bros will surely miss the biggest franchise in cinema history. Although those DVD and Bluray sales have really only just begun.

The last time we saw Harry (Daniel Radcliffe; every Potter film ever made) and his friends, he'd escaped capture and was looking for the remaining things he needs to defeat Voldemort (I think that's relatively spoiler free for those who haven't seen the last movie) but if you are reading this and haven't seen the last one then what are you doing? Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 2 picks up in a very sombre mood, Harry, Ron and Hermione have regrouped and are planning their next course of action. They need those missing horcruxes and there's one last place they need to go, Hogwart's.

The first part of The Deathly Hallows was a high-octane, fight for survival, like a road movie but with broomsticks. Many characters had the conclusions to their stories told and it never felt more like Harry versus the world. In part two, the mood changes considerably and may be the darkest of them all.

This is the final fight for Harry and Voldemort and a lot of loose ends are tied up, some of which end in ways you wouldn't expect.

There's very little mucking about in this final instalment, if you don't know what's going on by now then you need to; go home, read the books, watch the movies, then read the books and watch the movies again for the pure joy of it. The action starts straight away with a bank vault break-in (and out) and a little Polyjuice potion, the Potter filmmaker's favourite plot device. Then after some quiet contemplation it's off to Hogwart's and the battle commences.

The cast are all accounted for and I mean ALL accounted for, even if they're only seen in the background or a passing camera shot, nearly every major actor ever involved with Harry Potter returns, and so they should for this is not only the end, but a celebration of the books, the movies and everything about it. David Yates (the last 3 Harry Potter instalments, including this one) leaves no stone unturned, no plot unresolved and no character left behind in what is an impressive and cliché-free story.

It could have very easily gone into schmaltz and an overly-emotional finale but thanks to the source material The Deathly Hallows Part 2 feels almost like the way life goes. Life just continues, your school days may be the best days of your life, they may be the worst or they may just be that period of life where you grew up a bit and David Yates reflects that well. Those who are expecting big, glorified battles may be a little bemused but this is a good reflection of war. War is not glorified and dramatic and although there will be dramatic licence in a movie such as this, the tone of the movie never goes over-the-top and silly (well not as over-the-top and silly as a movie with wizards and dragons could get anyway).

After your school years are over, for better or worse, life goes on and although they make an impact on your life it's what you do after that makes life what it is and I think the last chapter of the Harry Potter series does a good job to remind us of that. J K Rowling has finished with Harry Potter (in the books anyway) and I believe she meant to keep it that way, after all these have been books for children. to reflect their own lives as they grow up and to have somebody to identify with. Hopefully this will be the last Potter movie any movies or cheap ways to cash in on the series after its end will be met with large disapproval from the fans, I can imagine. On the other hand the Harry Potter books are loved by many, and many of those weren't even born when the first book was published so I doubt we'll be hearing the last of it.

The movie does feel like, not and end but a continuation of life, and many will think of it in such the same way. This does not mean that the movie fizzles when it should have exploded in the finale but it's surely the way the books are meant to be read. Although most will have read them when they were children or young adults, there's always the chance that they themselves will have children and read the books to them, and so the cycle will be repeated. No doubt the films will too be viewed more than once and no more so than during a child's life and I believe that's where they will be kept. Although the series has spoken to people of all ages I think the rite of passage that's been created will go many years into the future and as Harry grows up in a child's mind over and over so will the film series be seen as a major accomplishment in cinematic history. It's sad to see a series such as this come to an end but all good things must and for now, the time is to put away childish things and with that so ends the wonderful tales of Harry Potter.