Review: Film: Everest, by Julie Renee Phelan

Thumps from 1 to 5: Thumps of 3.5      

The movie released, Everest is in 3D, and provides some unique cinematography that ordinarily we would never be able to see in our lifetime. For that purpose, the movie is an important viewing experience. It is partially filmed in Nepal, making some of the shots memorable, but unfortunately they only had permission for two weeks of filming at that location.

            The film is about the human disaster that occurred on Mount Everest in 1996 due to an all too familiar storyline of humans thinking that they are more omnipotent than nature, nature took them for a ride of their lives, and most of them failed to survive. The movie unfortunately delivers the story without the emotional impact that it should have had, an error in the editing and writing rooms. The performances by Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, John Hawkes, Robin Wright, Michael Kelly, Sam Worthington, Keira Knightley, Emily Watson, and Jake Gyllenhaal were solid, but there was too much film time spent on certain events, and not enough time spent on other events. There were gaps in the writing, coupled with a lack of writing imagination for what was really going on in the minds of those characters on left on the mountains overnight. There are some moments that are moving, but the overall experience was not as memorable as it should have been.

Review: Film: The Good Dinosaur, by Julie Renee Phelan

Thumps from 1 to 5: Thumps of 4.

The film, The Good Dinosaur, a tearjerker, is a partial animation coupled with real images by Pixar. The film appeared to be rushed to release for this holiday season. The animation with real images is nothing to write about. The story takes place about 65 million years ago—the dinosaurs are personified; they speak and behave similar to humans, while the human like character behaves like a dog. It is an interesting exercise in humility, and understanding that there are different points of view. The viewpoint was similar to the Planet of the Apes, but I was a bit confused as to the purpose of the transposition. From what I was able to gather, it is a story about overcoming fears and coping with natural loses, while still making your mark.

I thought the message was positive, but for the younger audience, the message was lost in the movies length. The movie is one hour, and forty minutes. The children as children often do during a lengthy sitting became restless. I believe Pixar should have tested the film on an audience composed of children rather than releasing a film that takes an adult mind that can pay attention long enough to follow. There were a great many scenes that could have easily been deleted, which would have kept the continuity, and left the children in the audience with some understanding of the story.