Perspectives from a Technogeek

“Hey Boo Boo…let’s steal another pic-i-nic basket.”  Yes, I did it.  I saw Yogi Bear.  Not only that, but I saw it in 3D.  Before you crap your pants, I saw it at the cheap seats in Rexburg, so the tickets were only like 5 bucks each.  I have to say, I am afraid of seeing movies that are based on the cartoons I loved as a child – Alvin & the Chipmunks, Yogi Bear, and next up, The Smurfs.  With that said, my expectations were quite low.

Everyone know about Yogi.  He’s “smarter than the average bear”.  He is accompanied by Boo Boo who serves as his voice of reason.  His antics at Jellystone Park drive Ranger Smith crazy.  The movie has the same premise.  Only, in the film, Jellystone Park is about to be closed by the mayor and Yogi’s antics aren’t helping.  Can Ranger Smith save the park from both Yogi and the mayor?  That’s Yogi Bear in a nutshell.

So, what do you need to know about Yogi Bear.  First of all, Dan Aykroid is PERFECT as Yogi.  Justin Timberlake SUCKS as Boo Boo.  Tom Cavanagh is adequate as Ranger Smith.  However, none of these three actors are the best (and worst) parts of the Yogi Bear ensemble.  Andrew Daly is PERFECT as Mayor Brown.  I loved Andrew Daly on Lewis Black’s The Root of All Evil.  The worst part of the ensemble is Anna Faris who plays Rachel, a supposed smart environmentalist.  The only problem is Rachel comes across as stupider than Cindy in the Scary Movie franchise.  Point being, Anna Faris can and should only be cast in dumb as a brick roles.

The other thing that you need to know is that Yogi Bear, like Alvin and the Chipmunks, is set in a live action world with the animal characters made in CGI.  If you see it in 3D you can see a really cool effect.  Several times in the film, water splashes and it is easily the best 3D effect I’ve ever experienced.  Other than that, 3D adds some depth to the world of Jellystone Park and it is quite beautiful.  However, the best use of 3D CGI comes in the opening with a Coyote and Roadrunner segment.  Can I say, Coyote and Roadrunner were destined for 3D – it was AWESOME!

As is generally the case, when I go to a movie with low expectations, I am happy about the product.  Yogi Bear 3D was no different.  It was a cute movie with some funny sequences.  A couple of weeks later, my daughter still comments on scenes from it.  If you have kids, it’s worth taking them to see.  If not, maybe you should rent it.  Or maybe you’ll find it in a pic-i-nic basket.

3/5

What can I do with my kids on a Monday off work?  Well, on Human Rights Day, we went to the movie theater and saw Gulliver’s Travels.  I’m not sure what it is about Jack Black movies.   They are certainly funny, but there is something somewhat irritating about him as well.  Gulliver’s Travels wasn’t at all different.

The movie is based on the book by Jonathan Swift.  It has been made into at least half a dozen movies, some animated, some TV movies.  I think there may have even been a TV series adapted from the book.

In this most recent adaptation, Jack Black plays Lemuel Gulliver, a mail room worker for a magazine.  He is in love with the travel editor, Darcy (Amanda Peet), but has no confidence in himself.  After the new guy in the mail room is promoted to be his boss on his first day, Gulliver goes to ask her out.  Instead, he volunteers to write a travel article.  After plagiarizing a series of writing “samples” he is given an assignment to the Bermuda Triangle.  On his journey, he is transported to Liliput where he is a giant among men.  He becomes friends with Horatio (Jason Segel) who is imprisoned for wooing the princess Mary (Emily Blunt).  Before you know it, the mail room guy with no confidence is the hero of Liliput.

The movie was cute.  I’ll give it that.  Surprisingly, Jack Black’s antics didn’t drive me crazy.  Once Gulliver got to Liliput, there wasn’t much the writers could do to make the story original, other than give it a bit of a modern twist.  I thought it was funny that they had a group a Liliputians dress as KISS characters and act out a game of Guitar Hero between Gulliver and Horatio.  At times the effects are impressive, and then at other times the green screen is obvious.  In the end, my kids liked the movie a lot.  The scene in the Bermuda Triangle scared my three year old son and a scene at the forbidden island scared my daughter.  The thing I liked the most was seeing Chris O’Dowd land a fairly major role.  I love him as Roy on Britain’s the IT Crowd and I hope to see more of him in American film.

The movie wasn’t good, but it wasn’t bad.  The biggest testament to it was that I didn’t feel robbed by taking my family to the theater to see it.  At our local theater’s prices, I generally feel like I wasted my hard earned cash.  That wasn’t the case this time.  I probably won’t see it again, but if you have kids and want to go to the cheap seats, it’s a worthwhile couple of hours.

3/5