Alice in Box Office Wonderland

Alice in Box Office Wonderland

I just have one question... What happened to the Tim Burton who directed Ed Wood ? That guy was awesome.

Okay, I have more questions, but let's just start with that. The next question is what have you folks NOT have planned that you made Alice such a huge hit? News broke fast on Friday (when I started writing this) that the matinee screenings for Alice were selling extremely well. How well? Well, it's expected to pass 100 million in a simple weekend. How did it do that huge number? 3D, that'll help it rake in the money.

Then again, one shouldn't be shocked that a majorly promoted film from the most well-known studio featuring one of the biggest stars in the world, directed by a director whose style is now so developed he's a brand name would hae a disgustingly huge opening weekend. The Tim Burton gravy train ain't gonna stop anytime soon, especially if he keeps latching his cars to the unstoppable engine of blockbuster that is Johnny Depp.




Let's just get it out of the way that there's either going to be a sequel or another "re-imaging" of a story because the weekend estimates are in, and Alice and Wonderland did $116 million in the U.S. and $94 million overseas for what's likely to be a $700 million in the global run. I can't wait for the future Burton films...

Tim Burton's The Old Testament, with Johnny Depp as that waaaaaaacky prophet Moses!

"Ahahaha, that crazy guy! Look at him smearing blood all over the doorframes! And now he's hitting rocks to make water come out of them?! What a crazy guy!"

Cue to him dancing the Fudderwhacken around a burning bush.

Then after that we'll see the next one.. A future Tim Burton classic as it should be.. a live-action version of Moby Dick. It can have tons of awkward CGI, Queequeg could have a much larger role and be played by Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter could play the whale, and Crispin Glover could play Ahab and have a freakishly lanky CGI body. Then Ishmael could fight a Jabberwocky.

It'll make $100 million 3 days.

I feel like we could do this with pretty much any piece of classic literature. The real scary thing that you should be worried about is that Tim Burton will finally get his Wizard of Oz reimagining that he has wanted to do for a long time now.



Which, when you think about it.. it's kind of scary how similar they are. A young girl having strange dreams, might be mad because of them eventually returns to the land that inspired these dreams. I mean, after that the comparison vanishes.

Return to Oz had Dorthy looking for her familiar friends only to find new ones at first. Sure, towards the end, she is re-united with Scarecrow ant the Lion, but she spends most of the journey meeting new friends and she even vanquishes a new foe, rather than a re-hashed re-encounter with a character she already met.

Alice in the new movie may not remember much, but she has met all the characters before, and in incredibly similar situations. In summation, Return to Oz was so much better than Burton's Alice.



It's hard to say this, but it's Depp that made me not fully enjoy this film. An actor who I thought pushed the acting in his roles for as many movies as I ave seen him in... just failed on this one. Depp gives the most insane and idiotic performance of his career and it's rather stupid to think that no one stopped him at any time and told him that the choices he was making did not work on any level.

He weaves in and out of a bad Scottish accent, supposedly part of his madness. He just turns on wacky mode and doesn't give a fuck for two hours. Some of you will tell me "well duh, he's the mad hatter" and I would roll up a news paper and smack you on the nose and say NO! NO! BAD PERSON! DO NOT ENCOURAGE THIS STUPID ACTING!



Throughout the film there are veiled references to a type of dance that Depp's character used to do before the Red Queen took over. Then at the end, after a dark, bloody battle, which includes decapitation!, a bizarrely contemporary hip-hop beat starts playing and Depp's Mad Hatter does the stupidest dance I've ever seen. His head and feet spin around in circles, he waves his arms all over the place. It's completely out of place.. strangely enough, out of place even for a land like Wonderland.

That stupid dance.. and what only added insult to injury was when they made a callback to it literally three minutes later. Like they thought we had forgotten the dance and wanted to remind us again that yes, Johnny Depp can dance like a complete retard. I felt like Depp was physically assaulting me throughout the movie. Then we go to Bonham Carter's Queen from Blackadder, only not as funny. The Cheshire cat was good, but it was Stephen Fry, how was he not going to be good? And it would actually help if he'd had an actual role in the story. And the story.. should I even get started on that?

The movie is framed with a glossy colonialist tale of exploiting Hong Kong to get a foothold in China, so far so bad, but then you get to the meat of the story, which is about the poor, people of Wonderland needing some shining symbol of hope before they can find the will to throw off the shackles of oppression and overthrow the Red Queen.



The problem here is that they already have a capable leader in the White Queen, but she has taken some kind of vow, which prevents her from killing anyone, although using other people to kill for her seems not to be an issue. Her inability to do anything allows her subjects to suffer and her hypocrisy makes a mockery of her vows anyway as she was just waiting for a patsy to come along and get her hands bloody. The people of Wonderland get the worst of both worlds in her.

This symbol they need, is Alice killing the Jabberwocky from the Muppet TV show. Even though the Vorpal blade is said to work pretty much independently anyway, so the story is actually about Alice recovering a sword from a kennel, which she does about half way through the movie. Magical sword in hand, she kills the muppet, just as anyone could do because again, the sword deosn't need a fucking hero to operate, just a hand to hold it!! The Jabberwocky is now dead, and everyone decides that they no longer need the red queen so they tell her to go away.

You see, people only need hope in order to overthrow dictatorship, and once they have that the resulting coup will be clean and bloodless. The will of the people is the only thing that matters, if you wish for it hard enough then you can have what you want. It's a fantasy about the real fantasies that Americans seem to have about countries they dislike. This film highlights a lie.



The film reads like a child's interpretation of American foreign policy, or rather, someone explaining to a child how bad people and good people exist in the world. The two opposing forces meet on a chessboard at the end of the movie and the characters are, for the moment, framed as disposable pieces, to be used and thrown away by two equally despicable rulers who are fighting among themselves, rather than for their people. There's no message in this though, there's no thought or concept or subtext. It's utterly empty; very much like Planet of the Apes. It's there to take your money and noting more. A ride at the fairgrounds has more thought put into it.

Here's an impossible task, complete the sentence "The best part of Alice in Wonderland was..

I'm sure the following will be the only answers you choose:

...leaving the theater."
...the tron trailer."

This was nothing more than plastering Alice in Wonderland characters over generic fantasy adventure movie plots for the sake of profits. It was completely contray to the spirit of the books.



I'm also confused by the message of the movie. Early on in the film they setup Alice returning to Wonderland because she was refusing to conform to her role in society. They basically paint her as a Victorian era nonconformist goth kid without all the black makeup. She is generally refusing to do anything anyone tells her to do, but then she gets to Wonderland and ends up doing what everyone tells her to do completely by accident. Way to teach the viewers a lesson in sticking to their convictions.

Why would they make a movie in which the main character is an entirely passive being who does nothing but bend to the will of whomever is talking to them? How is this good storytelling? The only decision Alice even attempts to make for herself in the movie is to become The White Queen's "Champion", and it's practically goddamn spelled out for her by everyone she meets and is even told to in the fucking parchment paper. Why on earth were people like Annoying Mouse and the Tweedles offering to be the champion when they already saw the parchment unfurled with Alice facing the Jabberwocky at the beginning of all of this? And why did the Jabberwocky shoot lightning straight out of its mouth like if it was Emperor Palpatine?

All these questions and really.. it's only making me angry thinking about how this movie failed on so many levels. You can even say that I'm as mad as a hatter...

Insert stupid dance sequence with CGI here

Hot Topic: Tim Burton's Alice

Hot Topic: Tim Burton's Alice

So what's the word on the new Tim Burton Alice film? Let's go to a critic to see their reaction;

And then there's Johnny Depp. As disappointed as I am in Tim Burton on this film, multiply that by a thousand for Depp. I would like to formally request that Congress step in and pass a law that prevents him from working with Tim Burton anymore, because at this point, I think they're starting to actively hurt each other. There were years where I was a passionate Depp defender, when the mainstream had no use for him at all, and I still feel like his best performances are breathtaking to revisit. "Dead Man," "Donnie Brasco," "Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas," and of course the twin triumphs with Burton, "Ed Wood" and "Edward Scissorhands." This time out, though, his work as the Mad Hatter is nigh unwatchable. It's a jumble of crazy voices and creepy make-up and shifting accents, and instead of coming across as someone genuinely damaged or mad or eccentric or fascinating, he just plain feels like he's trying too hard. And did anyone... ANYONE... really need a backstory for the Mad Hatter to explain why he's mad? No? Well, too bad, 'cause you're gonna get one. And it's really really stupid.

fffffffffffffffffuck. If that didn't rip this movie a new one, I don't know what did. It's getting some massive critical bashing



Now don't get me wrong, I'm actually going to shell out the money to see this one in theaters.. IMAX3D no less. I didn't even bother shelling out that money for Avatar. So that in itself is some compliment that I'm willing to spend the money on Alice.. Though, to be honest, I'm looking forward to re-watching the Tron Legacy trailer again than anything else.

What can I say, as much as I am a Tim Burton fan, I'm just not really feeling this one.

Maybe it's because all the advertising I have seen for this film called Alice in Wonderland, there's very little Alice in it. She has very little lines in ALL of the teasers and trailers and it's clear that this is Tim Burton Presents: Johnny Depp as the Madhatter fru-fru'ing around.



Tim Burton was awesome when he was a kitschy director. His movies included a lot of retro Americana and love of B-movies. A big part of what got him noticed early on was a knack for "creepy" abstract design. This was all derived from Halloween imagery and 50's Sci-fi/Horror. Even the Batman movies were rooted in retro noirish serials and had strong comedic villains to keep things lighthearted

I'm not sure how long it's been like this but I'm not sure I like it. There's something cynical abut how Tim's films are marketed. It's like Disney puts their name on everything and you can expect a certain amount of fluff and happy endings. Whether that's his fault or not, I don't know, but his trademark visual quirkiness is something I personally am getting tired of and there's something about it nowadays that makes it seem like it came off a factory conveyor belt. Suffice to say, Tim Burton these days is not so much the name of a director as it is a brand name that can be sold to people at Hot Topic.



The man made Mars Attacks! for goodness sakes. While it's not the most well loved film, it's certainly of a completely different aesthetic from this whole gothic fairytale kick he's been on lately. Need I remind you that it ends with Tom Jones surviving an alien invasion, and a bird landing on his arm as he starts singing in the middle of the desert?

It basically comes down to this. Tim Burton needs to go back to being John Waters in a vampire costume.

Think about it. Didn't you find it odd that Cry Baby felt EXACTLY like a Tim Burton Film (complete with Johnny Depp!) even though it's a John Waters film? Yeah. That's what I thought. Burton is the cinematic equal of a commercially successful author that really needs an editor. So maybe a producer strong enough to bully him around. Though the same can apply to Johnny Depp. Most people are just letting him "Johnny Depp" up the piece rather than pushing him to the high level of performance he is capable of.

Tim Burton at his best was Ed Wood, and the reason it is his best film is because you wouldn't be aware he was involved if you went in uninitiated. Alice in Wonderland feels like it's marketed as "Homogenized Tim Burton film product", but a lot of his work, especially the earlier stuff, has a hell of a lot of heart and more going on than just the visuals.



I think the real pisser is the placement of his name on other directors' work. Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline, 9... People actually think these are Tim Burton movies and that isn't right. His name wasn't on most of these, but they used the phrase "From the Director of Nightmare Before Christmas" but that's where the problem falls. Tim Burton DIDN'T direct Nightmare Before Christmas! This is what people think. This is wrong.

While Tim Burton wrote the NBC book, but it was NOT directed by him. The whole "From the Director of NBC" Piggybacking on a previous deception is also deceptive. Last year when Coaline came out, I had this very conversation with a friend of mine where they believed a new Tim Burton movie was coming out. I thought they meant Alice, which was still a year away. They were talking about Coraline and that the ads made said from the director of NBC..



I'm willing to bet that they intentionally said Coraline was "from the director of The Nightmare Before Christmas" without specification to dupe the Burton fools. Let me get this straight. Coraline was NOT Tim Burton. The real magic as to why The Nightmare Before Christmas was so amazing on the screen was NOT because Tim Burton. It was due to the real director. And yes, I shouldn't lump all the Hot Topic shoppers as Burton fans. I mean, the Nazis liked Wagner, but that doesn't reflect on Wagner at all.. Not unless Wagner had a Nazi party for his latest recordings like Burton did with Hot Topic... Oh look, a Hot Topic Alice in Wonderland event..

I've always thought Gilliam is what Burton would be like if Hot Topic didn't exist. Visually appealing, lacking decent story or direction, and utterly ignored by the public. But oh how I love him so.



Besides, adding a sinister twist to Alice In Wonderland is a gigantic cliche these days. Especially after that freaky film in the 80's and especially after American McGee's Alice. I just re-read Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass a couple of weeks ago and somehow I managed to enjoy them even though they weren't dark, cynical, gritty, violent, disturbed, or twisted.

I guess I'm just not a cool modern dude.

Watching 9's on 9-9-09

9

This is a repeat post. Not that it takes anything away, it's just that it's actually 9-9-09 and it's 9:09am. So it's only fitting that this gets reposted as it's topical. I present to you my review of 9. A couple of months back I was able to catch a screening of 9 and I here's a little review of it. The Primer to all this is that this film is based off the Shane Acker animated short from 2005. You can see if here if you just press play:


Now, wasn't that amazing? Guess what, you just got the general gist of the film. Since I'm being evil, what with this date looking so much like 6-6-6 in some fashion, I thought I would tease the fuck out of the fact that I've seen a Tim Burton produced film a whole lot sooner than you suckers! Baw-ha ha ha ha.

Still reading? Ok, I guess I didn't scare you off or you didn't click the window close out of spite. In any event, did you happen to notice something familiar with the main character? Something about the design in itself? If you've got a Playstation 3, you may have noticed that he looks remarkably like Sack boy from Little Big Plant.



Which isn't a bad thing. It's as if Sack Boy grew up and then went into a world that would scare the living crap out of anyone playing LBP. If your little kid wants to go see this film because they think it's going to be a fun romping adventure in a make believe land.. don't take them. While this is very much like a video game, the therapy bills alone will overheat your wallet like a PS3 does to a room.

Let's move on to the actual film. Tim Burton's 9 is not actually a Tim Burton film. I'm still telling people to this day that Nightmare Before Christmas was not a Tim Burton directed film. It was created by him in a lovely book, but it was directed by someone else who got very little credit. So little I'm not even going to bother changing that now by not acknowledging his name. Harsh, isn't it? See, that's what all you people have been doing.

Wait, I haven't even said if I liked the movie. Look at me just going on. I'm never going to be a critic, am I? Yes, I liked it very much. But if you're looking for a surprise or if you feel like you've seen an entire movie summed up in a teaser trailer before the movie even popped on the screen, that's the case here.



That animated short you clicked on above, that's pretty much the outline of the film plotted for all to see. But in the case of this movie, you don't see it for the resolution. I mean, it's a post-apcalypitic film. What sort of happy or tied together resolution can their be? The destination is not the reward, the journey is.

The film moves just like a video game. I'd be surprised if they didn't come up with a video game for it to be released along side it because it's really a 90 minute video game Video Game Movie. You see sackboy awaken to a world that has been destroyed by the machines that man created. You would think that we would stop trying to build fuckin' robots with all these warnings we're getting from films and tv shows. From that point on you see him sackboy 9 discover others like himself and they get to the bottom of what happened and what their purpose in life is.

Through the adventure you will feel like you're in a video game. Conduct a small task and then face a mini-boss. There's about three of them in this film with the obvious final big boss/big bad being the main bad ass thing that faces sackboy 9 and the other survivors. Much like any video game, the level of difficulty from mini-boss goes up after beating the previous one. There's a scene with a robotic looking crow that is just amazing. That's not even getting into the "final boss" who is huge, bad ass and otherwise scary beyond all belief.



The movie is very stylized and has a feel and dark and gritty look as if someone really demented was designing a little big planet level after reading way too many end of the world books. It has a sort of Fallout meets Little Big Planet feel to it.

It is light years above and beyond modern animation. And while I love stuff like UP, I still have to give this film so much credit for being something different. Something dark. Something that reminds me of my youth with movies like the Black Couldren (which was a Burton film) and labyrinth.

While I'm sure this film wont do gangbusters in terms of Box office income, I'm going to own it. I'm sure the video game will appeal to those gamers who are just getting home from E3.

My final say on this. It may remind you of Little Big Planet mixed with Fallout 3, but it's so worth it just to see how intense and how amazing the action is from "level to level" of mini bosses.

Go Ask Alice, When She's Ten Feet Tall!

Go Ask Alice, When She's Ten Feet Tall!

It's a Hot Topic store's wet dream. No worries about any sort of resession, we have a Tim Burton movie coming down the line. Hundreds of Hot Topic jobs will be saved now! Even before pictures were released today, I'm sure the company had a slew of t-shirts already ready to get printed up. Now their job will be a little easier as today they released some official character pictures and some concept art through USA article.



The surprising thing is that the film will be somewhat of a sequel to Disney's original animated film, while still being a direct adaptation of Lewis Carrol's work. Which is a bit confusing, but sure, why not. So what's this all about? The break down

The traditional tale has been freshened with a blast of girl power, courtesy of writer Linda Woolverton (Beauty and the Beast). Alice, 17, attends a party at a Victorian estate only to find she is about to be proposed to in front of hundreds of snooty society types. Off she runs, following a white rabbit into a hole and ending up in Wonderland, a place she visited 10 years before yet doesn't remember.

While I'm sort of an Alice purist, going so far as having a lot of copies of the original for no real reason, I did love the American McGee's game for all it was worth. I played the shit out of that game. So maybe that's why I have hope for the films as well. I mean, as long as it's full of drug references and logic puzzles, I'll be happy.

Now of course it's Tim Burton, so it could be total shit. His recent films have ranged from Okay to Awful. So maybe he's going to need a little help from his friends to make sure this isn't the on again/off again Burton film. Because really, this film should change the name to Tim Burton Presents: "Cast All Your Friends"

Returning Burton actor and fan favorite of all tweens for the last 30 years we have Johnny Depp as The Mad Hatter


Is it me or does he look a bit like Elijah Wood in drag? I dunno. Just saying. I'm a bit worried about Depp. I'm concerned that Tim Burton is going to try to beef up the role of the Hatter so he can please all the Depp/Hatter fan dipshits out there who walk around Disney in that large Mad Hatter Hats. While I'm a fan of Johnny Depp from way back in the day when he was a narc at the local High school, I don't want the Hatter running Mad on the story.

Helena Bonham-Carter as The Red Queen

Wow. They actually enlarged her head to make her look like the original drawings. That's an interesting twist to it. I mean, I guess she's used to having a little bit of a big head.. she is sleeping with the director. Rim shot! Oooh yeah.

Then we get to an actress that I have a crush on for I don't know how long. Anne Hathaway is just really pretty. What can I say, but she shows up in this as The White Queen.


I like the design of the Queen of Hearts better than the White Queen, who just looks like Galadriel meets Jadis or something. She's too bright. I mean, this is a Tim Burton movie, right? Oh who am I kidding, I'm madly in love with Anne Hathaway that I watched The Devil Wears Prada (be it free on the lot) because she was in it. But I'm not certain she makes a good White Queen. Besides that, Carol Channing is the only real White Queen


Moving on to the rest of the cast for this film. We have Stephen Fry playing a wide grinning cat as well as Christopher Lee in the mix making things nice. Then you have the real gem of all this, Alan Rickman. Yes, that's right. Alan Rickman is in it. Though I would have liked to see him as the Mad Hatter instead but him as the Cattapiller works out alright. If there's someone I'd watch a movie for, it's Alan Rickman. The man can act. Though none of this goes against my statement that this is just Burton's usual cast of actors, perhaps we should move on to the score.

And if you're asking who's going to compose the music... Well then, you're not a Tim Burton fan. With the cast being so many friends of his, I'm sure we can already guess who will be doing the score for this. Which isn't a bad thing. I'm a long time fan of Oingo Boingo. Was even there for the farewell Halloween tour. But maybe it's time to get someone different?



It's CREEPY... but WHIMSICAL! Oh, Tim Burton, how I'd love to kick you in the nads and then give you a hug and ask for your autograph on my Nightmare Before Christmas Jack Skellington doll. Because we all know that Nightmare Before Christmas is a great movie but it was directed by Henry Selick.

Now, I actually got the chance to get on the set of the film on Sony's lot a bit ago. It was a strange experience. A little behind the scenes piece of information though, when you're on the set of something, it looks a lot different than when you see it on screen. Consider it a piece of movie magic. Sets, while huge in size, are only 1/10th the actual crispness and beauty they are on the big screen. Colors come to life with the use of computer manipulated software and of course, you're only seeing a fraction of the actual action taking place.



Much the same as when I worked on Arrested Development. While I would hear plot points and see where the story was going, watching it on tv all pieced together was a whole lot funnier. As if I was looking at a lot of puzzle pieces scattered on the floor and then see what they make up when they're finally put altogether. So my time on the Alice set, while weird and filled with wonderment, was also not as clear as seeing this new information on the film online.

Tim Burton is going to have to take it up a notch in making this his usual weirdness. Considering we already have Svankmajer's version of Alice in Wonderland, it's going to take a lot to really make this story weird.



But hey, if you want a dark and edgy version of Alice in Wonderland right now and complete with pedophilia undertones, just watch Svankmajer's version. That was an acid trip without having to wake up in a cardboard box the next morning.



But hey, Tim Burton should be able to make a new version of the film that takes place 10 years after the cartoon while also making it good and not at all like Return to Oz, right? Right? I mean, I like the concept sketches mainly because those feel very in line with both the original Disney film and the works of Lewis Carrol. Besides, this can't be as bad as Planet of the Apes, right? Right?

If you'll excuse me, I'm running late for an important date!

9

9

A couple of weeks back I was able to catch a screening of 9 and I hadn't figured out when I would write a review about it. Then I realized that today is 6-9-09, which is sort of similar to when the movie release date of 9-9-09. It was only fitting that I took this opening and jumped on to spill the beans on what will be one movie every alternative lifestyle person will see. If not only because it has Tim Burton's name on it.

The Primer to all this is that this film is based off the Shane Acker animated short from 2005. You can see if here if you just press play:


Now, wasn't that amazing? Guess what, you just got the general gist of the film. Since I'm being evil, what with this date looking so much like 6-6-6 in some fashion, I thought I would tease the fuck out of the fact that I've seen a Tim Burton produced film a whole lot sooner than you suckers! Baw-ha ha ha ha.

Still reading? Ok, I guess I didn't scare you off or you didn't click the window close out of spite. In any event, did you happen to notice something familiar with the main character? Something about the design in itself? If you've got a Playstation 3, you may have noticed that he looks remarkably like Sack boy from Little Big Plant.



Which isn't a bad thing. It's as if Sack Boy grew up and then went into a world that would scare the living crap out of anyone playing LBP. If your little kid wants to go see this film because they think it's going to be a fun romping adventure in a make believe land.. don't take them. While this is very much like a video game, the therapy bills alone will overheat your wallet like a PS3 does to a room.

Let's move on to the actual film. Tim Burton's 9 is not actually a Tim Burton film. I'm still telling people to this day that Nightmare Before Christmas was not a Tim Burton directed film. It was created by him in a lovely book, but it was directed by someone else who got very little credit. So little I'm not even going to bother changing that now by not acknowledging his name. Harsh, isn't it? See, that's what all you people have been doing.

Wait, I haven't even said if I liked the movie. Look at me just going on. I'm never going to be a critic, am I? Yes, I liked it very much. But if you're looking for a surprise or if you feel like you've seen an entire movie summed up in a teaser trailer before the movie even popped on the screen, that's the case here.



That animated short you clicked on above, that's pretty much the outline of the film plotted for all to see. But in the case of this movie, you don't see it for the resolution. I mean, it's a post-apcalypitic film. What sort of happy or tied together resolution can their be? The destination is not the reward, the journey is.

The film moves just like a video game. I'd be surprised if they didn't come up with a video game for it to be released along side it because it's really a 90 minute video game Video Game Movie. You see sackboy awaken to a world that has been destroyed by the machines that man created. You would think that we would stop trying to build fuckin' robots with all these warnings we're getting from films and tv shows. From that point on you see him sackboy 9 discover others like himself and they get to the bottom of what happened and what their purpose in life is.

Through the adventure you will feel like you're in a video game. Conduct a small task and then face a mini-boss. There's about three of them in this film with the obvious final big boss/big bad being the main bad ass thing that faces sackboy 9 and the other survivors. Much like any video game, the level of difficulty from mini-boss goes up after beating the previous one. There's a scene with a robotic looking crow that is just amazing. That's not even getting into the "final boss" who is huge, bad ass and otherwise scary beyond all belief.



The movie is very stylized and has a feel and dark and gritty look as if someone really demented was designing a little big planet level after reading way too many end of the world books. It has a sort of Fallout meets Little Big Planet feel to it.

It is light years above and beyond modern animation. And while I love stuff like UP, I still have to give this film so much credit for being something different. Something dark. Something that reminds me of my youth with movies like the Black Couldren (which was a Burton film) and labyrinth.

While I'm sure this film wont do gangbusters in terms of Box office income, I'm going to own it. I'm sure the video game will appeal to those gamers who are just getting home from E3.

My final say on this. It may remind you of Little Big Planet mixed with Fallout 3, but it's so worth it just to see how intense and how amazing the action is from "level to level" of mini bosses.