In the first novel to feature Sherlock Holmes, A Study in Scarlet, the famous detective said, “There is nothing new under the sun. It has all been done before.”  This quote from 1887 (and even centuries before, since it originated from the book of Ecclesiastes) pretty much sums up every movie and TV show, and ironically enough, every retelling of the adventures of Sherlock Holmes.  Netflix, though, has at least tried to shake things up a bit in the latest movie about the detective, and this time the story is about his sister, Enola.
    The story is about Enola trying to find her missing mother but unraveling a conspiracy in the process.  All the while, she’s being told to stop because she’s just a little girl, but being the sister of Sherlock means she probably has undying determination to solve whatever problem is in front of her.  Sure enough, she does, and against the wishes of everyone around her including her brother, she sets off.  Along the way, she meets a runaway boy, and the pair have to work together to solve the mystery and outrun anyone trying to get in their way, including some bad guys.  To be honest, I found this story rather forgettable, but it was enjoyable.  It has an old-school child adventure feel, akin to The Goonies, The Hardy Boys, and Nancy Drew.  I remember reading The Hardy Boys, but I don’t remember the adventures.  To me, that’s ok.  It is perfectly fine for a film like Enola Holmes to be a cutesy mystery adventure with no lasting impact, because this could be some kid’s introduction to Sherlock Holmes, the mystery thriller genre, or the adventure genre, and they start to explore more stories like this one.  Don’t get me wrong.  It’s a well-made movie, with great costume designs, exciting sequences, and fantastic acting, especially from the lead actress Millie Bobby Brown, but the story, much like most adventures targeted to children, won’t be remembered for very long.
     Millie Bobby Brown isn’t the only highlight in this movie.  With the likes of Henry Cavill, Helena Bonham Carter, and many others in supporting roles, expect some great performances throughout the film (and also the buffest Sherlock ever).  Everyone does a good job of being serious as if they were in a classic Holmes tale, but when necessary, they can put on the charm and remind us that we’re watching a children’s film.  I will say though that Cavill is a lot more serious than the other performers, and it seems hard for him to have a little more fun in the role and be a tad bit goofy like some of the other actors.  I try not to compare actors who have played similar roles, but after seeing Robert Downey, Jr. and Benedict Cumberbatch balance the seriousness and dry humor of the character, Cavill doesn’t stand out to me.  Thankfully, most of the screen time is on the ever-delightful Millie Brown.  She clearly had a blast as the optimistic and mischievous Enola, playing out the character with a lot of wit and confidence.  She helps sell every twist and turn, and she even made me laugh a time or two in very difficult situations that most actors would have a hard time making funny (even Will Ferrell struggled in making Sherlock Holmes funny).  She is an incredibly talented actress, and I hope she continues to find roles that allow her to have as much fun as she does in this movie.
     The look of this movie also reminds me of The Hardy Boys and The Goonies.  Not so much the time setting, but the nostalgic, old-timey feel is very much present in Enola Holmes.  Unlike the Sherlock or Elementary shows, this story goes back to the roots of Sherlock and puts Enola in the late 1800s, a time when men wore dashing suits and women wore big, poofy dresses.  The filmmakers did a great job recreating a late 19th century London, though it does help that a lot of monuments and buildings haven’t changed for over a century.  For me, it’s always fun to try out different time periods for different genres.  In this case, they took a child adventurer, which we’ve seen well over a dozen times by now, and puts her in a setting with no cell phones, no internet, and no jeans or t-shirts.  It was refreshing to see this trope use the resources of that era.  With beautiful landscape shots and great set designs, this movie is like looking into an old painting and seeing art represent a bygone time period.
     Enola Holmes is a fun filled yet forgettable adventure, much like its predecessors.  It’s hard to recreate the iconic stories and writings of one of literature’s most beloved crime stoppers, but for what it’s worth, it’s a great introduction for younger viewers looking to get into mysteries, thrillers, and adventures.  If she’s lucky, Enola may return again and perhaps step out from her big brother’s shadow, but for now, this is a nice little story for kids to experience what many generations have enjoyed for over a century--seeing another case get solved.

     When you went to the theater this past December, did you wish you had gone to see something else other than The Rise Of Skywalker?  Yeah, me too.  Which is why I watched Spies In Disguise, the latest movie from Ice Age-studio Blue Sky, and oh how I wished I would have seen this instead.
   The story pairs up superspy Lance Sterling--played with all of the charisma and confidence that Will Smith could muster--and timid tech geek Walter--played by Hollywood’s favorite new adult-who-looks-and-sounds-like-a-teen-so-lets-cast-him-in-every-teen-role Tom Holland--as they work together to uncover a diabolical scheme that has Agent Lance on the run and framed as a traitor.  Right off the bat, this sounds like another Mission:Impossible plot, but this movie adds a twist: Agent Lance gets turned into a pigeon.  And yes, there are bird poop jokes.  However, this movie pleasantly surprised me.  As childish and immature it can be sometimes, Spies In Disguise has quite a bit of violence and talks about the themes of war and hatred.  It can be pretty grim, and I’m glad it does.  A lot of the violence is played for laughs and is so outlandish that it isn’t taken seriously; it feels mostly like a Bugs Bunny cartoon but with the style of James Bond.  But then we see the ramifications of violence and what it does to people, which results in more violence and creates a never-ending cycle of destruction...until someone says “Enough.”  It’s a great message, even for adults.  2020 is not off to a great start, and it’s progressively getting worse.  I see death on the news.  I see friendships ruined on social media.  I see so much hatred, bigotry, racism, slander, and cruelty.  And I wonder what kind of a world we would live in if we took to heart this movie’s message about kindness and mercy.  I’m not sure if this movie would have hit me the same way it did if I had seen it just a few months ago, but today, it made me think about what I could do to help people.  If a movie made for kids can make an adult stop and think about what I should be doing with my life, I say this story is worth sharing with your friends and family.
   I remember the first time I saw the teaser for this movie.  I was honestly impressed with the look of it, and I’m glad that it did not disappoint!  The animation is enriched with a distinct art style, over-the-top yet well choreographed action scenes, and great use of dramatic lighting and explosive color.  I have a problem with modern CG movies: they all look too similar.  Disney, Pixar, and DreamWorks can sometimes be
indistinguishable, and I would even say Blue Sky is guilty of this.  However, Blue Sky allowed themselves to be creative with its character designs and visual flair, resulting in a movie standing out from the competition.  The inventiveness of the gadgets also allow the animators to go nuts with their artistry as they try to outdo the outlandishness of each new invention.  I was really glued to the screen when the action scenes kicked in.  They had a nice balance of intensifying the danger while also incorporating physical humor.  I can only imagine that the animators had free reign to do whatever they wanted in each shot while doing their best to stick to the script, and it seems like they had a ton of fun making those scenes.  I think though the movie shines (literally) with its use of lighting and color, which is something that is overlooked in movies, but I have to mention it here because their use of flares, reflections, tone, saturation, and palette is really eye-catching and helps compliment the old-school style of spy films with the vibrancy of modern animated movies.  It’s a treat for the eyes!
   With an all-star cast that it has, it’s little wonder why the voice acting is so good throughout the movie.  As I already pointed out, Will Smith plays Lance Sterling with all of the charm and bravado that you would expect from him, and he does a great job, especially when Lance’s world changes when he transforms into a pigeon.  That’s when we get a more sarcastic and humorous Smith, and he provides some great laughs.  Tom Holland also does a great job playing, once again in his career, a nerdy, unconfident teen, but I did appreciate that he changed his voice in this movie, so he didn’t sound too much like his other animated role in Onward.  Ben Mendelsohn’s voice is always a pleasure to listen to, even if he plays a villain.  Like Scar in The Lion King, he gives us a smooth, evil voice that makes listening to exposition and monologues more tolerable.  The supporting cast that consists of Rashida Jones, Karen Gillan, Reba McEntire, and many others also do a great job in their minor yet important roles.  It’s a great, fun cast, and they do a fantastic job making these animated characters feel unique.
   Spies In Disguise is a delightful little film that has a great message and is surprisingly funny for both kids and adults.  To be honest, I wasn’t sold on the whole pigeon premise, but after all was said and done, I had a fun time watching this crazy hybrid of spy movies with Saturday morning cartoon shenanigans.  If you’re looking for something to make you smile during these bleak times, I suggest this movie, and who knows, maybe you’ll want to save the world after watching it.

     Here we are, folks.  The end of Star Wars…again...for the third time.  But this is THE big finale!  I know you're here for one thing: to know if it's good or not.  Well, is it?  No.  No, it's not.
  You’re still here and not angrily commenting about how much of a Trekkie I am?  Cool.  Let me explain why this is not a good film.  Don't worry!  There are no spoilers in this review.
     I remember a very important lesson in college.  I wrote a script with tons of world-building dialogue and epic battle scenes, and I thought it was the coolest story ever.  My professor then handed me back my script after he reviewed it, and to my dismay, it was covered in red ink from his pen.  "You have five stories going on at the same time," he said.  "In doing so, you took away the quality of each story.  Tell me one story, and tell it well."  He was right.  I had baked a delicious pie, but I had added too many, very different ingredients, that created a very odd and distorted concoction.  What every writer needs to do is focus on one flavor of pie and hand it to the audience so they can experience all of the wonderful things inside of it.  I wish my professor told the writers of this movie the same thing.  This is one of the fastest movies I have ever seen.  In almost two and half hours, the story retcons a lot of what The Last Jedi did by introducing a new talent for Finn, a backstory for Poe, new characters who share similar backstories that we don't see again, new powers for both Rey and Kylo, a new crisis for Rey, a rescue mission, a scavenger hunt, build up to emotional moments that never actually happen, oh yeah…and stopping the bad guy!  Even with all of this, I felt like I missed some vital parts that would have made the story better.  The plot got lost in the abundance of extra elements.  This Star Wars pie had so many different flavors in it that I don't know what I tasted nor if I like it enough to want another slice.
     This was extremely disappointing to me because J.J. Abrams is a good filmmaker.  He made some of the best spy movies when he took over the Mission:Impossible franchise; he made Star Trek fun again, and made my favorite Godzilla-like movie, Cloverfield, as well as some extremely good TV shows. It makes me wonder what happened behind-the-scenes. I love his style of cinematography and camerawork, but for some reason, the direction of the movie felt sloppy.  There are many instances where he makes you feel emotion, and then he reverses it and says, "Just kidding!  Ok, back to explosions." After this happened twice, I didn't let myself feel emotion, turned my brain off, and just watched the splashes of color light up the screen for the rest of the way. While there are some visually stunning moments, when you do things like this in a movie, it naturally produces frustration and then emotional resistance from the audience, and they no longer care what's happening anymore. I expect lazy filmmaking like this from Michael Bay, but I expect much better from Abrams.
     Is there anything redeemable from this movie?  Yes, actually! The acting is quite good, and the actors make this as fun of a ride as possible. Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver, who do their very best to make the story as emotional as possible, offer great performances despite the lackluster story. I will have to give a shout out to the actor who played Chewbacca. There was one part where Chewie's mannerisms actually got me choked up a little, and Anthony Daniels gives the best C-3PO performance of his career and fully realizes the character's comical potential. John Boyega and Oscar Isaac try to have as much fun as they possibly can with what they have to work with. All in all, the actors do their very best and seem to have a blast.
     The original Star Wars trilogy inspired me to become a filmmaker.  It's intricate levels of religion, mythology, morality, and heroism were rolled up into simple stories, easily understandable to everyone of all ages, and it's brilliant directing and writing helped make these films timeless and beloved for the past four decades.  It's stories like these that are used as teaching tools for parents.  It's stories like these that inspire people to be better and fight to make this world a better place.  It's stories like these that ignite our imaginations and fuel our creativity.  The Rise of Skywalker, sadly,  is not one of those stories.

      By Hollywood law, if a movie makes $1 billion, the studio responsible for such a movie MUST make a franchise out of it.  Disney, being one of those who signed this law into existence, has fulfilled this requirement by drowning us with Frozen merchandise and short films until we were too poor to pay for our child's 100th Olaf doll.  And Frozen II is now a thing...and we shall suffer once again.  Except when we watch the movie.  It's actually pretty good.
     Am I being a bit too dramatic and over-the-top?  Yeah I probably am.  After all, Disney has ingrained Let It Go into my psyche to the point, I suppose, I've started acting like Elsa (isolating herself because she can't get over how cool she is).  Or maybe I'm like Anna, making a big deal about how awful the life of a privileged princess is.  ...I've over analyzed the first movie, as you can see, by how much I've watched it.  And you know who else over analyzed the first movie?  Disney.
     If there's one thing that differentiates this movie from the first one, it's how much more complicated it is.  It seems like the writers looked at the first movie and said, "You know, I wonder what the king and queen were like when they were kids?  What were their favorite childhood songs?  What were their parents were up to?  What did the natives of the land look like?  What did they fear?  Are there more magical creatures than trolls?  What can we do to set up 50 more movies?"  That's not, necessarily, a bad move on their part.  I love a good fantasy story, and Frozen II certainly delivers!  It's bigger, and at times, more epic than its predecessor.  This isn't about stopping a force of evil; it's a quest to right the wrongs of others and to create harmony in the world.  More is at stake and the danger is greater.
     The heart of the story, of course, is the bond between Anna and Elsa.  They both are challenged in their own unique ways.  Elsa is finding her identity in the world, whereas Anna is discovering what kind of a legacy we carry on from our forefathers.  It's really deep and will most likely resonate more so with the adults.  In fact, there's a song in the third act that really resonated with me, because of what was occurring in my own life.  The movie's multiple messages are great teaching tools for kids, though they may not fully understand exactly what those lessons are at where they are in their lives.  However, it will certainly make some adults look back on their lives and contemplate their own journeys.
     The music in this film is not as memorable as its predecessor's.  The original had a nostalgic charm to it as it tried to replicate the Broadway-style of the Disney movies from the 90s, but this one tries different styles and, in turn, doesn't pack near as much of a punch in the nostalgia gut.  Olaf's song in particular isn't as clever as the one he had before, and sadly, the lyrics to Anna's solo are not memorable.  This is disappointing because of how powerful its message is.  They obviously saved the best numbers for Idina Menzel, who absolutely sings her lungs out in two big performances.  It's certainly not a bad soundtrack, but I think, if given the choice, audiences will let it go in favor of the original.  (Sorry, I'll stop now.)
     The animation, on the other hand, deserves praise!  From character's hair to the dazzling, magical lights, every inch of this movie was painstakingly crafted to make this movie as stunning as it could be.  At this point, the Walt Disney Animation department is competing with Pixar to see who can make the most visually stunning movie of all time.  I think Disney just took the lead with this movie.  It's quite impressive!  Even if you could care less about this movie and are only seeing it because your kids wanted to watch it, you can certainly admire how gorgeous each shot is.
     Frozen II dares to try new things with its story, animation, and music, and most of it pays off, creating a movie that succeeds in its execution in more areas than it fails.  Like the sisters' journey, this movie has some bumps, but in the end, it's a good experience.  A third movie is inevitable, but you know what?  I'll happily go into the unknown with these characters again.  (Ok, now I'll stop.)

     As far as remakes go, Maleficent was one of my personal favorites.  It didn't tell the story of Sleeping Beauty all over again.  Instead, it chose to ask "What if Maleficent had found Aurora as a baby?"  In doing so, it freed itself from the constraints of the original tale and told its own unique story.  It wasn't a perfect film by any stretch of the means, but it stood out for its daring take on a classic story, even more so now with so many remakes being made.  It was surprising to see a sequel to the film, but it wasn't surprising that it couldn't live up to the originality of the first film.
     The story centers around the engagement of Prince Philip and Princess Aurora and ensuing bickering between Maleficent and Prince Philip's parents.  Honestly, I would be so down for a comedy about these people fighting over who runs the show at the wedding, but alas, we didn't get a comedy.  That's not a bad thing, but things tend to escalate when some magical mischief begins to take place and a war begins.  Yeah, a war.  This movie gets wild, but at the same time, it seems simple once you get to the root of the story.  It's essentially another colonizing-is-bad-and-you-shouldn't-attack-people-you-don't-know type of story.  There's nothing wrong with it, but it just seems cliche at this point.  It doesn't try to do anything interesting with its premise, and its message is one we've heard before.  It's a shame that it struggles to stand out from the crowd, whereas its predecessor easily remains one of the more unique adaptations of classic literature.
     What this movie lacks in originality it tries to make up for in its cinematography.  There are some shots in this movie that should be made as a wallpaper.  One particular shot of the titular character is absolutely stunning with its contrasting colors.  The CGI on the other hand is hit or miss.  It's pretty obvious what is or isn't made by a computer animation software, but some of the creatures featured are not visually stunning.  I didn't like how the Good Fairies looked in the first movie, and I still don't like them now.  Some creatures that are a mix between practical effects and visual effects look great.  For the most part, this will delight fantasy fans with its monster designs and some beautiful, fantastical imagery.
     The actors do a decent job with what they have to work with.  Angelina Jolie and Michelle Pfeiffer are great actresses, but I was more impressed with Elle Fanning.  She is not afraid to really put her emotions out there, and she offers a chilling performance during the third act.  Everyone else isn't as noteworthy, but they can't be blamed for that.  They just don't have enough to do to make them stand out or memorable.  I just watched the movie, and I can't remember Maleficent's new friends' names.  They look cool and sound cool, but we just don't get to know them all that well.  We do get to know Maleficent better, and Jolie naturally shines in the role.  However, she seems to struggle to balance the dark and light of Maleficent.  The character is suppose to still be menacing but a good person too.  It's a hard role to be sure, and I have the upmost respect for Jolie for taking on such a challenge.
     I've been pretty hard on the movie, but the truth is I did enjoy my time with it.  As a fantasy fan, it's always a joy to see new creatures and worlds on the silver screen, but I just wish the writers had come up with something more unique for this story.  Admittedly, it still stands out from most Disney remakes as being, you know, different.  At least it has that little element of surprise, so maybe there's still some magic left at Disney.