Happy Feet 2

(Wikipedia) Happy Feet Two is a 2011 American-Australian 3D computer-animated family film directed by George Miller, who co-directed the original film Happy Feet. The film is a sequel to Happy Feet and stars Elijah Wood, Robin Williams, Hank Azaria, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Pink, Sofía Vergara, Common, Hugo Weaving, Richard Carter, Magda Szubanski and Anthony LaPaglia. Dr. D Studios in Sydney, Australia produced the film, which premiered in North American theaters on November 18, 2011 in Digital 3D and IMAX 3D.

Plot (me)

Erik, son of the penguins Mumble and Gloria, is reluctant to try dancing as most of the penguins in Emperor-Land do. Erik's first attempt at dancing embarrasses and outcasts him from the rest of the penguins. The story unfolds as Eric and a few friends follow Ramon to his part of Antartica, his father trying to get them back, and a glacier impacting and trapping the populace of Emperor-Land.

I wasn't actually expecting to watch this movie (Sherlock 2 was after it in the drive-in theater, and we thought it was the starting film), and I wasn't impressed with the trailer for it what-so-ever - but it surprised me by being almost as good as number one.

Eric's character needed a little more work, though his singing voice is good. The first song he did was pretty funny since the lyrics were sooo not what should go with that singing style (notice I'm not going to tell you what the style is, lol, you'll just have to watch it).

The addition of the Krill characters I thought was nice, too. They added some color to it, as well as the human crew on the Antarctic sea vessel a bit (they were amazingly animated too, by the way. Almost looked real when they were searching for Lovelace in the water later in the story).

My sister and I (Samurai) both rated this a solid 3 out of 5, but for younger kids I'm sure it would make a good 4 out of 5.
Another thing that's funny though, since we were watching this movie at the drive-in on Christmas the temperature was around 38 to 40 degrees! The cold fit with the snowy theme, lol.

Tron: Legacy

(wikipedia)Tron: Legacy is a 2010 American science fiction film directed by Joseph Kosinski and produced by Steven Lisberger. It is a sequel to the 1982 film Tron with Jeff Bridges reprising his roles as Kevin Flynn and CLU, while Bruce Boxleitner reprises his roles as Alan Bradley and Tron. Garrett Hedlund portrays Flynn's adult son, Sam. The other cast members include Olivia Wilde, Beau Garrett, Michael Sheen, and James Frain.

Plot (wikipedia):
In 1989, Kevin Flynn, software engineer and the CEO of ENCOM International, disappears. Twenty years later, his son, Sam, now ENCOM's primary shareholder, takes little interest in the company beyond playing an annual practical joke on the board of directors. Sam is visited by his father's friend, ENCOM executive Alan Bradley, urging Sam to investigate a message originating from Flynn's abandoned arcade. Upon entering the arcade, Sam reactivates the long dormant power supply, as well as a vintage juke box. As Journey's hit song Separate Ways plays, Sam discovers a Tron arcade game, which draws his interest. Attempting to play the game with the quarter given to him by his father the evening he disappeared, the machine ejects the coin, causing Sam to discover gouges in the floor which reveal a secret passage. Following the passage and discovering his fathers secret office, Sam unintentionally teleports himself to the Grid, a virtual reality, in the "ENCOM 511" supercomputer, created by his father.

Before watching this movie I had doubts on how good it would be, but I was pleasantly surprised that it was quite good. I loved the part with the stand-off between the security guard and Sam, lol.
Also, the CGI was epic! I loved the bikes and flying vehicles! Makes me want one like it, especially the part where they pack so light.
The character development was really good for the main characters, but really bad on some other important ppl, like maybe TRON HIMSELF?? C'mon, we're in the dark on that 'program' for practically the whole time, he almost never speaks. The intense moments in this movie weren't intense enough in general, but I think they really needed to make Tron show some kind of internal struggle or something to give him more depth.
Goes to say Big Bucks don't fix plot holes, lol.

Family Friendliness: A son finds his dad again after 20 yrs, that's powerful, but there is also absolutely no kissing or what not! I mean, c'mon, even cartoon movies have that these days! That's ranks it along side iRobot in my opinion, because though both have quite a bit of smashing, neither have blood and gore. Only "questionable" scene in Tron was the part where 3 girls were changing his outfit into techy Tron-style, which I guess could compare to the fact the iRobot starts out the movie by showing Will Smith in his boxers. :-P

But seriously, for a live-action movie that DISNEY made, it's better than one would think.


Samurai's Overall Rating: A decently good but wobbly 4 out of 5