JacobsonCinema

Skadoosh!

It’s really weird and disappointing that unlike the previous films this film doesn’t have a unique animated version of the DreamWorks logo. The Kung Fu Panda series is my favorite DreamWorks series that I have a very personal history with. The first one took me by surprise and Kung Fu Panda 2 is not only my favorite DreamWorks film but also one of my favorite movies of all time. The previous film Kung Fu Panda 3 was the very first movie review on this site. Kung Fu Panda 4 is about Po finding out that he has to choose a new dragon warrior. He gets news that Tai Lung from the first film has returned so he teams up with a thief named Zhen to travel to Juniper City to stop the Chameleon.

The Kung Fu Panda series is known are some of the best animation in all of Dreamworks. While KFP4’s budget was lower I still think this film’s animation is still top notch. There’s this little detail I like that feels very anime-ish and if you see the film you’ll understand. The voice acting in this film is very impressive. Jack Black is still great as always as the main protagonist Po. It really feels like this is a character Jack really enjoys playing. Awkwafina is fine as Zhen, she’s not bad it’s just felt like another Awkwafina role. Viola Davis as the main villain the Chameleon is the biggest new standout for me. It also neat to hear Ke Huy Quan doing voicework now. The two biggest highlights in terms of voice acting were Po’s dads, Mr. Ping and Li Shan. Both these two have such a fun and hilarious dynamic thanks to the James Hong and Bryan Cranston’s performances.

While it was cool that they got Ian McShane as Tai Lung back it was a huge disappointment that they didn’t get Gary Oldman as Lord Shen (BEST DREAMWORKS VILLAIN BTW) or JK Simmons as Kai. I just think it would’ve been cooler to see all these villains come together and even work off each other kind of like the villains in Spider-Man No Way Home. This film also suffers from having a lot of similar plot beats from the previous films especially from 2. To be fair the third film borrowed a lot from the first one.

Kung Fu Panda 4 is kind of like the Toy Story 4 of the Kung Fu Panda series. It didn’t really need to exist but it’s still a fun addition to the series. I am glad this film is doing surprisingly well at the box office. Not the strongest but still an awesome time.

Verdict:

+Po’s dads

+The animation

+The voice acting

+/-The returning villains

-Reused story beats

Score: B+

I apologize for not writing a full review of Part One back in 2021, so I guess I should give my thoughts on the first one. I never knew much about the book series or the 1984 film. All I knew was that it had giant sandworms. When I saw Part One I thought it was good though a bit long and had too much political talk. Dune Part Two does have the same runtime issue as the first but honestly that’s my only complaint. Part Two pretty much continues where Part One ended.

There are two things in Denis Villeneuve’s films that stand out to me, his directing and the amazing cinematography. Almost every shot is wonderfully shot thanks to Denis’s terrific directing. You could pause it at any time and you could hang in in a museum. Desert settings aren’t usually my favorite setting though movies like Prince of Egypt and Mad Max Fury Road are a few exceptions, this film managed the make the desert planet of Arrakis amazing the look at. What also helped was that unlike the first part which I only saw on Max in my bedroom I went to a movie theater to see Part 2 on a huge screen. So, the film felt a lot grander to me.

The acting in this film is also really good but the real standout for me was Feyd-Rautha played by Austin Butler. He is a legit creepy and entertaining character and every time he’s on screen it’s clear that Austin Butler is having a blast playing him. I was already amazed by his performance as Elvis back in 2022 but this might be his best performance yet. My favorite scene of the whole movie and pretty much the whole duology in general that combines all these positive attributes is the Harkonnen arena scene. Everything about this scene is perfect from Denis’s directing, the cinematography and the fight choreography. The use of monochrome is an absolute brilliant touch that perfectly contrasts with the consistent orange desert aesthetic. This whole scene is just a visual treat.

The best film/films I could compared this/these is the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows duology. Both part ones are slower and there’s a lot more talking. Both parts twos however have a lot more meat and more action. Much like Deathly Hallows Part 2 (my favorite Harry Potter film), I think Dune Part Two was even better than the Part One. If you liked the first part you will love the second part. Still there was one downside when seeing this film. I didn’t get my Dune popcorn bucket.

Verdict:

+Denis Villeneuve’s directing

+Feyd-Rautha

+The cinematography

+The Harkonnen arena scene

-Long runtime

-No popcorn bucket

Score: A

When I was a kid, I used to play Humoungous Entertainment games and one of my favorites was Pajama Sam No Need to Hide When it’s Dark Outside. It’s about a boy named Sam who’s scared of the dark so he decides to dawn a red cape as Pajama Sam, go into his closet and capture “Darkness”. Orion and the Dark sort of reminds me of that game. In this movie Orion is scared of everything especially the dark until one day the literal entity Dark shows up to help him conquer his fears.

I thought Dark was very likable thanks to Paul Walter Hauser’s performance. I think the idea of paring a kid who’s afraid of everything with an entity that everyone is afraid of is clever. I also really liked the other night entities. Each one had their own unique designs, personalities, and roles to play during the night. Some of the funniest moments involve the ways Sleep gets people to fall asleep. Dark’s rival Light however was very underused. His rivalry with Dark isn’t explored much and he just serves more like a plot device then an actual character.

SPOILERS: When Dark and Orion leave to see the night, the story is interrupted by Orion’s daughter Hypatia who older Orion is telling the story too and the film sometimes cuts back to them. In the third act after Dark “disintegrates himself” ridding the world of night forever, older Orion admits he doesn’t know how the story ends. So Hypatia decides to make one up by putting herself in the story and helping her younger father save Dark. I thought the relationship between Orion and Hypatia was sweet and very unexpected. The third half however does have a bit of a pacing issue especially after Orion and Dark say goodbye and there’s still like 5 minutes left of the film. Hypatia still has no idea how to get back to her time until a kid with a time machine helps her get back and then it turns out that that ending was made up by her future son.

Orion and the Dark is a very charming animated film with cute animation, and mature themes. Anyone who is afraid of the dark will be less afraid or better yet not afraid of the dark at all after watching this movie.

Verdict:

+Hypatia

+The Night Entities

-Light

-Third act pacing

Score: B+

Godzilla is a series that while I am familiar with but. The first movie I ever saw from the king of monsters was the 1998 adaption staring Matthew Broadrick, aka “That’s a lot of fish”…….yes, that film. Not the best first impression and even the MonsterVerse movies didn’t help change my opinion either. This year however saw the release of Godzilla minus One. A bunch of my favorite reviewers were praising this film and it was showing at my local theater, so I decided to give it a watch. The film takes place during the end of World War II and focuses on pilot Kōichi Shikishima who is struggling with survivor’s guilt after failing his kamikaze mission during an attack from Godzilla. When he returns home, he meets and takes care of Noriko Ōishi and her orphaned baby.

Kōichi is a very sympathetic and well written protagonist. Anyone who’s suffered PTSD and/or survivor’s guilt will identify with him. I also really his minesweeper crew and each of them have likable and enjoyable personalities. Unlike most films where Godzilla was a metaphor for nuclear, here he is a metaphor for trauma which cleverly ties into Koichi’s arc throughout the film. Also, it’s kind of rare to see Godzilla actually being a kind of a dick instead of a usual misunderstood and tragic creature. I also thought the effects on him were very impressive and realistic. Something about the way he’s filmed or the way he moves gives him such an intimidating presence.

Naoki Sato’s score in this film is amazing. They play the signature theme but the way they use it is brilliant. The first time is plays its slower but every time it plays throughout the film it gets faster. Some of my favorite tracks are Devine, Honor, and Resolution (the violin bit in the beginning gives me chills). This film has probably my favorite climax of any film this year. Everything from the directing, editing, cinematography and of course the music gives this final battle such an epic scale. I’m also really glad that none of the major characters die in the end because they were very likable and even Koichi surviving wonderfully ties into his arc of overcoming trauma.

Seeing this film was actually a very new experience for my because not only was this the first proper Godzilla film I ever saw but it was also the very first subbed film I ever saw in theaters. Most foreign films like anime films I’ve seen dubbed so this was something new to me. I’m really glad movies from Japan such as this and The Boy and the Heron are doing very well here in America. If there was any film in the Godzilla series that would be a great introduction to this famous giant lizard, Godzilla minus One is honestly a great first choice.

Verdict:

+ Godzilla

+ Naoki’s score

+ The characters

+ The climax

Score: A

Over the years I have grown a huge respect for Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. All his films have great animation, music, and of course mouthwatering food. Seriously how is there not a Studio Ghibli themed restaurant yet?! His most recent film The Boy and the Heron (How Do You Live?) was supposed to be Miyazaki’s last film before he retired “again” but he changed his mind and is starting on another film. The Boy and the Heron takes place near the end of World War 2 and focuses on a boy named Mahito Maki. After his mother dies, he moves in with her sister/new step mother. While there he comes across an abandoned tower which leads him into a fantasy world populated by birds. This film has a lot of the tropes Miyazaki likes to use such as a child protagonist, a fantasy world, war setting, and either a flying creature, flying scene, or even both.

Like most Ghibli films the voice talent here is impressive. Famous actors like Mark Hamill and William Dafoe all do a fantastic job. The biggest stand out of the entire cast to me has got to be Robert Patterson as the heron who you probably know as Cedric Diggory from the Harry Potter series, Batman from The Batman and especially Edward from the Twilight series. What’s so impressive about his performance is that while most actors use the same/similar voice for all their roles, Robert Patterson as the heron sounds nothing like his other roles. You can’t even tell it is Patterson. It’s really impressive when an actor is able to hide his voice so well.

The animation of course being a Ghibli film and also an anime film is incredible. The animation gives this fantasy world such an amazing and epic scale to it. One of my favorite little details in the movie is the wind animation. Something about the sound and the way things move in the wind, you really feel the wind as if you actually in the movie. The music again like all of Miyazaki’s films is fantastic. The composer Joe Hisaishi is to Hayao Miyazaki what John Williams is to Steven Spielberg. It’s hard to imagine a Miyazaki film without Hisaishi. His score gives the world so much whimsy and magic to it. My favorite bits of music in the film have to be the Warawara theme and the music when they fly away. Bascially any music involving these cute creatures are great.

Spoilers: If there was one problem, I had with this movie is that the whole blocks being stacked thing near the end isn’t really set up or explained very well. It’s not really a huge problem I just wish it was explained better. Even if this isn’t Miyazaki’s last film, I still think this would’ve been a great sendoff for this beloved director. The Boy and the Heron is one of Miyazaki’s finest films he’s directed. It’s got everything that makes a Ghibli film amazing.

Verdict:

+ Joe Hisaishi’s score

+ The animation

+ The voice acting

-The blocks plot device

Score: A