UPDATE: I’ve added a brief review of Secrets of the Furious Five to my Kung Fu Panda review.
SDG here with a public service announcement: Not only is Madagascar 2: Escape 2 Africa (opening this weekend) fairly (I wouldn’t say hugely) lame, there’s also a strange, overt sexual-diversity theme running through the film (see my review for more). So, avoid it with your kids if you possibly can!
Instead, wait till tomorrow and buy Kung Fu Panda on DVD (also from DreamWorks Animation). Not only is it a hoot and a half, it has some decent themes and a subtle but sweet depiction of an adoptive family. Also available on DVD is the direct-to-video sequel Secrets of the Furious Five, which I’ll be watching tonight with my kids. (No, you can’t watch it tonight, unless you come to my house or know someone else who got an advance screener. But I’ll do my best to post something on it ASAP.)
In other Decent Films news, I have an article in the November Catholic World Report on movie heroes from Indiana Jones to James Bond and Batman. A somewhat abridged version of the article is available at Decent Films.
I also recommend Stranded, if you can find it playing in a theater near you. And if you haven’t yet caught my latest Decent Films Mail column, I hope you enjoy that too.
It’s one thing for Hollywood to market an overtly homosexuality-themed film such as Brokeback Mountain to adults. It’s quite another when agenda-driven ‘artists’ covertly add these themes into an allegedly family-oriented film, and attempt to trick already besieged parents into unwittingly showing this crud to their children
In fact, I wish they were just honest. This way, they are sneaking past the “watchful dragons” of children, and sending a message to kids who will no doubt not ‘get it’, but who will become used to the message before they understand what the message means.
That’s too bad about Madagascar 2. The first Madagascar wasn’t exactly a masterpiece but it was fun.
According to IMDB, Stranded is currently only showing in three cities in California: Los Angeles, San Francisco and Berkeley.
But keep checking this page for updates.
We have an independent theater here in Morgantown; I’ll be keeping an eye out to see if they pick up Stranded (no pun intended).
Oh and by the way, the independent theater I link to above is screening Casablanca next month! About time, they’ve been promising it since the spring. Though I have the DVD, it will be a treat to see it on the big screen. 🙂
I watched Madagascar 2 today and thought it very amusing. I think SDG is off his rocker when he is referring to overt themes of sexual diversity! It is a fun, lighthearted, romantic, and silly movie pocking fun at a variety of stereotypes. Apparently SDG needs to take a pill after the election. BTW, Obama is not going to send the world into Armageddon.
Anyone is welcome to disagree with me about any movie and any review.
That said, I can attest that my review would have been exactly the same had it been written two years ago, or had McCain won instead of Obama. Any rocker or pill issues are strictly non-election related.
As for Obama not sending the world into Armageddon, my concurring opinion is on record.
(Just out of curiosity, what “stereotypes” do you think are being poked fun of with, say, the penguin/bobble doll blackmail photos and wedding scene? Would that be the playboy-penguin stereotype, the sexpot-bobble-doll stereotype, the ruthless-negotiator chimp stereotype, or all three?)
jtr is soooo intellectual. That second-to-last sentence was positively Shakesperean in its wit.
I think Steven is right. Just yesterday my 5 year old daughter asked me “Daddy, if a Hippo and a Giraffe can love each other, why can’t two men or two women get married?”
That darn homosexual agenda!