A cinamatic splender in animation hasn’t found a US distributor yet, but Guy Lodge of In Contention says it’s the best film of 2010. 

Watch the trailer and gaze.  The detail and quality of animation with the soundtrack has me sold on the movie. I want to see it.

Hello again, moviegoers, did you ever have the chance to see the Popeye movie back in 1980?  If you did, then you might remember that Robin Williams portrayed the role of the famous spinach-powered sailor and the film was a live-action adaptation of the cartoon directed by Robert Altman.  Of course, the movie was mainly a failure and only had something of a cult following.  However, Sony has decided to give the sailor a film reboot through the power of CG.

Although, Sony is already set to hit theaters with another cartoon-based film, The Smurfs, Popeye will be a different movie release since it’s planned to be done completely in CG.  Sony Pictures Animation is currently leading the film project and the producer is no other than Avi Arad, who also worked on the Spider-Man triology.  In an interview with Variety, Arad said that it was Scot Sassa from Marvel who approached him to do the film project.  Marvel is the company that currently owns the rights to Popeye the sailor.

At this time, no information has been given about the film’s story.  However, classic characters from the cartoon such as Popeye’s girlfriend Olive Oyl, his archenemy Bluto and his adopted child Swee’ Pea was all expected to make appearances in the movie.  Mike Jones, who is in negotiations for an adaptation of the script confesses that he is an unashamed, long-time fan of the hero sailor.  He said he is eager to share the character with a new generation and people like him who knew Popeye from their childhood.  Time will tell whether or not this CG film reboot will bring Popeye some redemption when he returns to the big screen.

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With Alice in Wonderland, Tim Burton’s 3D sequel to the hugely popular children’s novels, storming the box office (it has already made over $400 million worldwide in 2 weeks in release), the odd-looking director could probably choose whatever he wants to make next. It seems likely that his project will be a return to his origins, a feature-length adaptation of his short Frankenweenie. But rumours are abound that Burton will take on another established story of oddness.

The Addams Family was originally a one-panel comic strip that became the often rerun live-action sitcom in the 1960s. The story followed the mishaps of a family that were a mix of vampires, Frankenstein monsters, and disturbed children. The 1990s saw a cartoon remake, not to mention 2 films (which kick-started the career of Christina Ricci). And so, with all these resurrections of famous shows from the past, comes news that Burton is to helm a 3D movie remake of the show, in top-motion style (akin to Corpse Bride and The Nightmare Before Christmas). Or at least that was the rumour earlier this week. But yesterday Burton’s publicists denied the rumour, claiming Burton hasn’t signed up for anything just yet. So is Burton’s take on the Addams family a joke made by someone matching like and like? Only time will tell.

The first teaser trailer for Dreamwork’s Holiday 2010 CG feature, MegaMind, has appeared online today. There really isn’t much shown except a blue man with an extremely large cranium who is boasting terribly. He is MegaMind, and he is voiced by none other than Will Ferrell.

Other players are Brad Pitt, who plays Metro Man, MegaMind’s arch enemy. Metro Man is apparently the superhero in this film, and MegaMind finally defeats him, and apparently has nothing to do afterward. That is the plot of this superhero satire movie, and it also stars Tina Fey and Jonah Hill.

Considering that superhero movies have been done to death, and many of them are satires, even subtly, I can’t imagine what Megamind will offer. It is to be released on December 3rd, and I’m sure that it will probably be in 3D.

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Sometimes it’s better to leave well enough alone, and in the case of Where the Wild Things Are, which Warner Brothers sent me a copy of, this is one of those times.

Max, a nine year old with some serious anger management problems, is about to be sent to bed with no dinner when he bolts from his recently divorced mother’s house into the night.  After wrecking up some innocent cordwood, he discovers a boat and sails off into nowhere in particular, where somehow, he manages to find his way to a land full of enormous furry monsters.  But rather than eating Max alive, they end up making him their king, mostly because he’s wearing a furry suit that makes him look kind of like a smaller version of monster, and because he also is a master of thoroughly improbable lies.

You’ll have a difficult time telling, from the first minute and a half or so, that this isn’t in fact one of those “children gone insane / evil” horror flicks, because Max has some serious hyperactivity problems.  In fact, in another movie, Max would be torturing small animals and possibly taking a butcher knife to some people by the time the whole thing was over.  But that’s not what we get here, of course–here, we get the egomaniacal child-emperor of Monster Land who apparently we’re all supposed to feel bad for because his parents got divorced and he’s well on his way to schizophrenia or possibly even pure-on sociopathic behavior, but thanks to an extended hallucination, he comes back somewhat better.

Yeah, I’m not buying it either.

And the worst part of it is, I grew up with Maurice Sendak’s book.  I loved where The Wild Things Are.  Max didn’t throw extended temper tantrums and destroy things and make me think that it was only a matter of time before he started slitting his family’s throats in the night in the book.

And yet, maybe, this is just supposed to be a look into a fantasy world, and on that score, this succeeds by a wide margin.  Because this world really is a wild fantasy-scape, so if this is just trying to be a look at a weird child’s fantasy, it works.

However, on any narrative sense, this thing is so lost as to be ludicrous.  Nothing here makes any kind of sense.  Things happen for no clear reason on a semiminutely basis. Seriously, I was an hour and ten minutes into the thing, and only a half hour left, and all I could say was, what the hell is the POINT?

So that’s what you’re left with at the end of the day, folks.  Either you want to watch a movie that looks cool and presents a really great look at a child’s fantasy life, or you’d really rather not, in which case this thing’s going to be a complete buzzkill because it makes about as much sense as a rogue acid flashback.

I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if, on the cutting room floor somewhere, not even accessible on the DVD, is a sequence featuring director Spike Jonze getting up and looking into the camera and saying “Okay, that’s it…everybody go home now.  And we’re TOTALLY not giving your money back.”

Thus, the Screenhead Ten Scale gives this preposterous series of unrelated events a two out of ten for showing up and not making a complete joke of itself–just about eighty percent of one.  Too dark and creepy for kids, too dull and pointless for grownups–Where The Wild Things Are needs to stay there.

After a somewhat shaky twelfth season, the South Park boys we know and love are back and in rare form for the thirteenth season.  And the crew out at Comedy Central sent me a copy of the thirteenth season to write up.

And indeed, this season is actually quite a bit better than the last.

We return to South Park for a whole lot of interesting stories–Kenny’s brush with purity and decency courtesy of the Jonas Brothers and Big Disney, Cartman’s foray into superherodom as The Coon, Stan’s brush with Big Money and bizarre government policymaking, Kyle’s ghost hunting, Somalian pirates, and water parks with dubious water content.

The South Park video line, for those who haven’t already seen a box set of season episodes or the videos on southparkstudios.com, has one advantage over the broadcast episodes–a complete lack of content editing.  Yes, every single obscenity normally found in a South Park episode is restored to its full and unfettered glory.  And moreover, Kenny’s lines, which are generally muffled and unintelligible in broadcast, get closed captioning on the DVD, which adds a whole new level of smutty joy to the proceedings.

South Park’s greatest strength has always lied in making the irrational completely insane.  Where we all look at Washington’s response to the bailout question and think, this is sheer lunacy, South Park takes it and makes it ACTUAL lunacy.  Sometimes the kids are just witnesses to the lunacy, merely swept along in the roiling tides of insanity, and sometimes–in the case of Cartman’s adventure with the Somalian pirates–they’re the direct cause.

But one thing is clear: this may not be South Park’s best season–that particular issue will be up for debate literally until the earth crashes into the sun–but it’s a good one, filled with plenty of laughs and lots of surprises.  Even if you’ve already seen the episodes on television, the DVD will still be a new experience.

The Screenhead Ten Scale knows a value when it sees one and hands the wild, raunchy, hilarious antics of South Park’s lucky thirteenth an eight out of ten for bringing comedy and value to the masses.

Okay, there is now a second trailer for Shrek Forever After online, and it gives a little more insight into the plot of the movie.

In case you haven’t heard, Shrek makes a deal with Rumpelstiltskin that essentially propels Shrek into an alternate reality where he has never met Donkey, Fiona, or Puss. Yeah, it’s an overdone It’s a Wonderful Life cliche, but considering the backwards steps Shrek has been taking since its first sequel, I suppose it was only inevitable that it stumbles off of a cliff.

Yes, I’m not very positive about where this one will go, and it’s probably wise of Dreamworks/PDI to end the franchise, even though Shrek films are proven moneymakers. Perhaps they see a day coming where the Shrek sequels will be of so poor quality that no one will see them.

Twitter, Facebook, and movie geek forums were alight today at some rather bizarre news. After the success of resurrected kid’s cartoon Alvin and the Chipmunks, it was only a matter of time before every other cartoon got a movie adaptation. Yogi Bear is out at Christmas, and next summer will see the original Na’vi hit movie theatres. That’s right, the Smurfs are hitting the big screen. But that’s not the bizarre news. Oh no, yesterday saw the rumour that director of ulta-hip and ultra-violent films like Pulp Fiction and Inglourious Basterds Quentin Tarantino would voice the leader’s assistant of the little blue guys, Brainy Smurf!

In an interview with MTV, Scottish actor Alan Cumming, who is voicing Gutsy Smurf (seriously, Disney should sue the creators of this), revealed a few of his cast members, such as Katy Perry (singer of the attention-seking hit song “I Kissed a Girl”) and George Lopez. He also mentioned that Quentin Tarantino would be Brainy Smurf. Understandably, fans of the King of Cool director were pretty shocked that he’s lend his talent to what will probably be a throwaway kids flick. However, MTV has since updated their article to state that QT’s publicist is denying any involvement in the film. Fanboys can breathe a sigh of relief, and continue awaiting that promised Kill Bill sequel.

And in other news, Darren Aronofsky is set to direct a gritty remake of Wacky Races,  with Daniel Day Lewis as Dick Dastardly and Sean Penn as Mutley.

With the expressions of these toys, life at Sunnyside Daycare Center looks demeaning with screaming infants and scheming toys. 

Will Woody save his friends?  Will Andy long for his toys back?

We will find out this summer — I CAN’T WAIT!

Big Idea, Inc. presents an all-new family adventure featuring a helpful lesson in listening to your parents with VeggieTales: Pistachio – The Little Boy That Woodn’t.

In this creative parody of the beloved story of Pinocchio, VeggieTales follows its unique tradition of retelling classic adventures like Lord of the Beans, Wizard of Ha’s and Minnesota Cuke! The DVD includes the brand new Silly Song, “Where Have All The Staplers Gone.” 

The storyline of Pistachio created the perfect opportunity to teach children the importance of family and listening to their parents. The DVD has lots of family friendly bonus features.            

Everyone knows the story of Pinocchio and how he became a ‘real boy’, but Pistachio has a clever VeggieTales twist that incorporates elements of truth from the classic tale, while emphasizing the father-son relationship and the strength of family. Parents will resonate with the desire of ‘Gelato,’ who only wants to do what’s best for his child, while kids will see that there’s ultimately great reward in listening to them. 

Once upon a time in the small town of Bologna-Salami, there lived a lonely toymaker named Gelato and his assistant Cricket. Gelato had no children of his own, so one day he decided to carve a little boy out of wood. Imagine Gelato’s surprise when he learned this little boy could walk…and talk…and definitely had a mind of his own! When Pistachio tries to do things his way, he lands in a “whale” of a situation! Will he decide to listen to the wisdom of a loving father in time to save his whole family from becoming fish food? Find out in this all-new adventure with a lesson about the importance of family and learning to listen.

Screenhead has a copy of VeggieTales: Pistachio to give away. To enter the giveaway, post your name and we will pick the winner Tuesday, March 30, 2010.