Smallfoot

(G) ★★★★

Director: Karey Kirkpatrick & Jason Reisig.

Cast: (voices of) Channing Tatum, James Corden, Zendaya, Common, LeBron James, Gina Rodriguez, Danny DeVito, Yara Shahidi, Ely Henry, Jimmy Tatro.

The tinea was completely gone!

What is the nature of "truth"? Are lies occasionally necessary, or does the power of truth always win out? Is it better to leave lies lie if they cause no harm, or should the boat be rocked so truth can out?

Okay, that's pretty deep for a critique of a kid's film, but believe it or not these are the questions at the heart of Smallfoot.

This is only the second non-Lego-related film from the re-branded Warner Animation Group and is the same vein as its predecessor Storks. It creates a similarly good world for its story, while getting strong laughs out of a comparatively dialled-down sense of humour. And like all the best family films, it has a thematic depth that's fascinating and will bear fruit on repeat viewings as the kids get older.

Oh and it's a musical. That may not have been totally obvious from the trailer, and it may put some people off, but don't let it, 'cos some of the songs are actually good.

The star is Migo (Tatum), a yeti who lives with his fellow abominable snowpeople above the cloudline of a Himalayan peak. He's quite happy living his yeti life and following the unquestionable rules of their society, as enforced by their de facto king the Stonekeeper (Common).

But a run-in with a crashing plane and its terrified pilot leads Migo to question the "truths" of his village's existence. Banished for refusing to deny the existence of the "smallfoot" pilot, Migo meets up with some fellow "smallfoot truthers" and sets about proving he was right - an action that could throw his people's way of life into jeopardy.

The major theme of the film centres on the nature of truth, which is fascinating, even if it does come perilously close to playing out like a conspiracy theorist's wet dream in family film form. The redeeming feature that stops this from feeling like it's championing such dimwitted dipshittery as flat-earthers, 9/11 truthers and anti-vaxxers is that Migo must find incontrovertible proof to validate his argument. Still, there was a moment or two where it felt like the fringe loonies were about to "woke the sheeple" or some such nonsense. 

Ultimately it's about questioning dogma and not being afraid of new ideas, but also exploring how lies serve a purpose. In all, Smallfoot's theme of truth, and the way it's displayed, is pretty cool. It's a level of depth that elevates the film, giving it a degree of sophistication that's very welcome, especially when stacked up against some other family movies. It's the kind of thing the parents get now, and the kids will appreciate later on re-watching as they get older - one of the true indications of a good family film.

In a more immediate sense, Smallfoot will win over the young'uns with its bursts of Looney Tunes-style antics. There are pratfalls and slapstick galore, which is complimented by good comedic delivery. It's nowhere near as OTT as Storks, but just as funny.

Tatum does a great job as the lead voice, with DeVito also a stand-out in a solid cast. Corden is annoying, which is partly because of his character, but that fades as the film progresses. His worst transgression is an altered version of the Bowie/Queen classic Under Pressure, but again that's not entirely his fault.

This musical mis-step is the nadir of the film but the rest of the songs are either good or great. Common gets the musical highlight with a Gorillaz-esque centrepiece called Let It Lie, while Tatum's opener is also strong. The film would've worked just as well without the music, yet Let It Lie ends up feeling necessary, so in hindsight the musical interludes are welcome. 

It's doubtful Smallfoot will be regarded as a kid-friendly classic, but it's a quality piece of animation that looks great, sounds good, and is thoroughly and thoughtfully entertaining across its brisk running time.

A Simple Favour

(M)  ★★½

Director: Paul Feig.

Cast: Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively, Henry Golding, Andrew Rannells, Ian Ho, Joshua Satine, Bashir Salahuddin. 

It was easy to see who wore the pantsuit in this house.

"Let's do something like Gone Girl, but let's make it darkly funny, and we'll see if the delightfully wacky Anna Kendrick is available."

I assume this is how the pitch meeting for A Simple Favour went, and on paper it has appeal. Indeed for about half of its running time, this comedic thriller almost works.

But as the mystery begins to unravel, so does the film. A tone that was already wavering gets some serious wobbles, and by the end, all of its flaws are on display.

Kendrick plays Stephanie Smothers, a mommy vlogger goody-two shoes whose child goes to school with the son of martini-swilling glamazon Emily Nelson (Lively). Via their children, Stephanie and Emily strike up a friendship, despite being polar opposites.

But Emily has a dark side, which becomes increasingly apparent when she goes missing. A distraught and confused Stephanie goes searching for her, but the more she hunts, the more she learns about her new BFF that she wishes she hadn't.

The first half of A Simple Favour is far better than the latter, partly because the chemistry of Kendrick and Lively is so entertaining. Kendrick's goofiness plays nicely off Lively's darkness, and the film settles into a solid groove of offbeat humour.

But once an overly long flashback of "how Stephanie met Emily" wraps up and we get back to "the present" where Emily is missing, the film becomes a murder-mystery that feels more midday movie than anything. The humour becomes more sporadic and odd, and without the chemistry of Kendrick and Lively, A Simple Favour's goodwill fades.

And when the film loses Kendrick's POV, which it does from time-to-time in the latter half, the movie loses its focus. The mystery becomes increasingly predictable and less mysterious, and it all grinds down to an unsatisfying end.

If A Simple Favour was able to maintain its dark comedic lilt throughout, it would be a winner, but as so much of that humour lay in the juxtaposition of Stephanie and Emily - two fascinating characters, by the way - it means things fall flat once they're separated. A Greek chorus of fellow parents at their children's school is a good indicator of the patchiness of the film's comedy. They get some laughs early on, but by the end, it's not working. Similarly, the story gets increasingly unbelievable, as do Stephanie's actions. This may have been more palatable the humour had lasted, but it falters, and so does the film as a result.

It's a shame because the story itself isn't bad, the characters are good, and performances are strong, especially from Kendrick and Lively. Golding - so hot right now thanks to this and Crazy Rich Asians - is good again, while Salahuddin is good in an under-used role as a detective looking for someone to blame for Emily's disappearance.

The shades of Gone Girl are unmissable in the plot and occasional tone, and you have to admire the efforts of Feig and writer Jessica Sharzer to do something different to the tone to get it away from Gone Girl and The Girl On The Train.

Ultimately though, their efforts are unsuccessful, and after a promising start, A Simple Favour ends up underwhelming and disappointing. Given that so many elements of this work on paper, I feel like I should try Darcey Bell book upon which the film is based instead.

The Predator (2018)

(MA15+) ★★★

Director: Shane Black.

Cast: Boyd Holbrook, Olivia Munn, Trevante Rhodes, Jacob Tremblay, Sterling K. Brown, Brian A. Prince, Keegan-Michael Key, Thomas Jane, Alfie Allen, Augusto Aguilera, Yvonne Strahovski, Jake Busey.

School bullies weren't what they used to be.

Does anyone remember 2010's Predators? It was pretty decent and a worthy sequel to the 1987 original - forget Predator 2 and those Alien Vs Predator crossovers.

If you don't remember it, that's fine, you're not alone. In fact, this film doesn't really remember it either. The Predator doesn't go out of its way to wipe Predators off the franchise's map, but it's more focused on being a direct follow-up to the films of 1987 and 1990.

The starting point this time around is the crash-landing of a Predator in Mexico - an incident witnessed by sniper Quinn McKenna. After inadvertently defeating the creature, McKenna manages to pilfer and send home some tech from the alien's ship, right before the government picks him up for a spot of interrogation.

For writer/director Black, this is a homecoming. He co-starred in the original - a gig he got because of his screenwriting prowess (the producers wanted him on set in the Mexican jungle in case any rewrites were needed, so it was a 2-for-1 deal), and you get the sense he has been harbouring a desire to dip into the world of Predators since 1987. There's an obvious love of the material here that seeps into proceedings, even in the weaker moments.

The testosterone-heavy antics, the machine gun frenzy, the blood-and-guts gore, and the dark humour perfectly capture the tone of the original. It's all somewhat softened by the presence of Munn's alien biology expert Dr Casey Bracket, but, to be fair, she does her fair share of shooting and stabbing - it's more that she stops it from being a total sausagefest.

But given Black has probably had 30 years to think about this film, the script should be smoother. It hits its stride when McKenna hooks up with "The Loonies" - a ragtag team of dysfunctional soldiers who serve as the film's heroes - but its unnecessary convolutions and diversions struggle to hold the story together.

Outside of its script hiccups, the film does a good job of rolling from firefight to firefight, with the ending a strong point and the pace rarely wavering. None of its set pieces are hugely memorable (although a finale atop a spaceship works pretty well), but it's all fine in the moment. 

The cast is okay, with The Loonies a standout. Holbrook is adequate without being exceptional, but Rhodes, Key, and Jane are the highlights. Youngster Tremblay, again acting better than his age suggests, is also good in a role that's as welcome as it is frustrating. Munn's character suffers from bad writing early on, but she finds a groove later into the piece.

The best elements are the humour and the film's ability to capture the vibe of the original. Saved by its Loonies and its laughs, The Predator is hoping to be the start of a whole new Predator saga. That's definitely wishful thinking, but in and of itself, it's not a bad throwback to some late-'80s-style action.

Crazy Rich Asians

(M) ★★★½

Director: Jon M. Chu.

Cast: Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Michelle Yeoh, Gemma Chan, Awkwafina, Ken Jeong, Chris Pang, Sonoya Mizuno, Ronny Chieng, Jimmy O. Yang, Lisa Lu, Nico Santos.

Distracted by all the beautiful people, no one had noticed that the plants
had begun their clandestine infiltration of the building.

Despite this being a very different beast, Crazy Rich Asians is being uttered in the same breath as Black Panther. The reason for this is that both are genre films featuring non-Anglo casts that have opened wide and killed at the box office, shattering some old Hollywood modes of thinking that are as antiquated and narrow-minded as the old White Australia policy.

These two films mark something of watershed moment in Western cinema (throw The Big Sick into the mix too, please) in terms of how people of colour are portrayed - ie. like normal fucking people with their own stories to tell that can be enjoyed by everyone. Amazing.

But what really matters is whether these films are any good or not. They can't be merely given a pass mark for featuring exclusively non-Anglo casts - they have to be genuinely strong films on their own.

Thankfully Crazy Rich Asians is good. It's a rom-com that doesn't overdo the com, but tells a solid story that dissects the pros and cons of family, expectations, tradition, and intergenerational change.

At its heart is the romance between Rachel (Wu) and Nick (Golding), who are Singapore-bound for Nick's best friend's wedding. Though happily hooked up for a year now, Rachel hasn't met Nick's family back in Singapore - in fact, he hasn't even told them about Rachel. But that's not the only secret set to emerge over the week ahead.

While Rachel and Nick are a painfully perfect couple, the film's story throws up enough disruptions to keep things interesting. The biggest of these is Nick's mother Eleanor (Yeoh), who proves to be a subtle yet fascinating villain of sorts. The "mother-in-law from hell" trope has been done to death, so it's refreshing to see Eleanor portrayed as a real if formidable human being, with actual emotions and reasoning behind her actions.

This is aided by Yeoh's excellent performance. One of the most under-rated acting talents around (as  well as being the greatest female action star of all time and best Bond girl ever), this is another well-crafted turn that adds a layer of gravitas to the film. Yeoh elevates Wu and Golding's performances, which seem to go up a notch in her presence. They're solid throughout, especially Wu, who is the film's heart and soul, but get even better when Yeoh's around.

In the rest of the cast, Awkwafina almost steals the show, as does Santos. There are other comedic roles in the film - Chieng, Jeong, and Yang all have funny parts, but they are hit and miss. It's Awkwafina and Santos who get the best and biggest laughs, without ever going over the top.

And while the film doesn't go over the top in search of humour, it certainly takes us to an OTT world of the "crazy rich" of Asia. The clothes, the cars, the parties, and the locations are remarkable, while the wedding at the centre of the plot is unforgettably stunning and ludicrously extravagant.

Speaking of locations, Crazy Rich Asians has some great scenery going on, but the film wanders into travelogue territory a little too often. It makes Singapore and surrounds look amazing, but the whole "segment on Getaway" vibe could have been dialled down a bit.

The script is not devoid of its predictable moments, clunky jokes and obvious tropes (the ending in particular is textbook rom-com), but it's stylishly directed and breezily told. An overly explored subplot involving Nick's sister Astrid (Chan) does slow things down and pad out the running time, which is probably the film's biggest criticism.

But Crazy Rich Asians deserves all the kudos it can get for its representation of Asian people and putting them front and centre in a widely released rom-com. More than that though, it deserves to be seen purely because it's a fun and well-made romance story that has interesting things to say about the pressures of family and expectation.

TV review: Disenchantment

(M) ★★★½

Creator: Matt Groening.

Cast: (voices of) Abbi Jacobson, Eric Andre, Nat Faxon, John DiMaggio, Tress MacNeille, Matt Berry, David Herman, Sharon Horgan, Maurice LaMarche, Lucy Montgomery, Billy West.

Service: Netflix.

If you drink and ride, you're a bloody idiot.

Comparing Matt Groening's latest creations to his two previous babies - The Simpsons and Futurama - is grossly unfair; one is the greatest TV show of all time, the other is a supremely under-rated gem that was so great it survived being cancelled twice (and here's hoping Futurama survives its third cancellation).

But compare we shall, because that's often the best shorthand for understanding quality and giving something a creative context. So the short version of this review is that Disenchantment isn't a patch on either of its older Groening siblings. It starts to hit its stride partway through the second episode but its humour only occasionally reaches the lofty heights of its predecessors. And despite its progressive outlook, it lacks the social commentary bite of The Simpsons and Futurama at their best.

But, like I said, such comparisons are grossly unfair. On its own, Disenchantment is fine fun, with some good characters and some solid storytelling that escalates dramatically as the first series progresses. There are also some nice points to be made about the weight of expectation, and the struggle of finding one's identity.

The star of the show is Bean (Jacobson), AKA Princess Tiabeanie AKA Princess Tiabeanie Mariabeanie De La Rochambeaux Drunkowitz. As the oldest child of King Zøg of Dreamland (DiMaggio), she is expected to be a respectable royal. However the first episode finds her ditching her diplomatically advantageous wedding, after which she regularly spends her time drinking and fighting.

Typically she's accompanied in her pursuits by exiled naive elf Elfo (Faxon) and Bean's personal demon Luci (Andre), with said pursuits often running her afoul of her kingly father.

As is the custom of modern TV, Disenchantment rewards binge-watching. Around episode eight, the pay-offs mount up and the story arc kicks in. Seeds you didn't even realise were seeds, planted way back in episode one, suddenly start to bear fruit, and the ability of the show to make the most of callbacks - something The Simpsons and Futurama have never done - works a treat.

Prior to that, the series' good-natured humour and engaging characters will keep you watching. By season's end, it moves into full cliffhanger mode, which is amplified by the fact Netflix has ordered 20 episodes yet this season is only the first 10. So some story strands bear fruit, others frustratingly don't. It's a ploy to get you coming back for series two, which helps make up for the lower strike rate of laughs when compared to The Simpsons and Futurama.

The best elements of Disenchantment overcome the worst. Side characters such as The Herald get the best lines, which makes up for the side characters among the king's court that aren't funny. A bachelor party visit to Mermaid Island is a funny plot, while Bean's search for a job is less so. Luci comes off like a boring version of Futurama's Bender, but Bean is a refreshing character, who's more like a cross between Bender and Leela.

Largely, it works. It's boldly different to Groening's other work, while still looking and feeling familiar. It's still short of greatness, but it's engaging enough to warrant returning for season two or even a re-watch to pick out the foreshadowing you missed first time around.

And to read all the great signs hidden in the background of the village.

The Happytime Murders

(MA15+) ★★★

Director: Brian Henson.

Cast: Bill Barretta, Melissa McCarthy, Maya Rudolph, Leslie David Baker, Dorien Davies, Elizabeth Banks, Joel McHale, Kevin Clash.

Spot the puppet. The answer may surprise you (it's the guy with the beard).

Firstly, this is not the first time "Muppets" have gone hardcore. That honour goes to Peter Jackon's sickly twisted cult comedy Meet The Feebles. Of course, they weren't actual "Muppets" but it was the next best thing.

While The Happytime Murders is also destined for cult status, it has something Meet The Feebles didn't have - actual Muppet cred, courtesy of director Brian Henson.

Henson, son of the late great Jim, is a longtime Muppeteer, and has directed Kermit and co in such films as A Muppet Christmas Carol and Muppet Treasure Island. Just what his old man would make of this sweary mess of sex-and-violence noir is a question for the ages.

The Happytime Murders focuses on Phil Phillips (Barretta, another Muppet stalwart), who was the first puppet cop in an alternate Los Angeles that imagines humans and puppets living side-by-side. Kicked off the force for an incident that still haunts him, Phil now works as a private investigator.

His latest case is trying to solve the murder of a puppet cast member from an old TV show called The Happytime Gang, which brings him into the firing line of his ex-cop partner Connie Edwards (McCarthy).

The Happytime Murders is fitfully funny, but nowhere near as funny as it should be. Too often it goes for the racy sex joke or a wacky puppet gag, when something actually hilarious would have been a better option. The humour is often yearning to point out that hey, this is a movie for adults starring puppets, as if we hadn't noticed already.

The comedic approach is at odds with what makes the film work, which is when it gets on with being a good movie telling a good story. Phil is a great character, whose flaws and traits make him seem more human than his blue felt would indicate. His relationship with Edwards, despite its histrionics, is interesting too. Unlike the humour, these elements aren't straining self-consciously.

The plot is a semi-decent noir story, and as well as dialling up the laughs, cranking up the noirish elements wouldn't have gone astray. The closest relative to this film is not Meet The Feebles or the marionette mayhem of Team America - it's Robert Zemeckis' toon-noir classic Who Framed Roger Rabbit?.

That film also used its non-human/human interactions to examine prejudice (it's far less subtle in The Happytime Murders) to tell a properly noirish story, while also employing plenty of that film genre's cinematic style. The Happytime Murders would surely have benefited from a touch more Touch Of Evil, or a flutter of The Maltese Falcon, instead of looking like a Sesame Street on the wrong side of the tracks.

The puppetry itself is top notch and innovative, making the most of green screen and CG erasure to make its people-and-puppets world a reality. The cast are trying hard, when the laughs land they are great, the story has its moments, and Phil is a cool character you would happily watch in another hardboiled mystery. It's a shame there isn't more hilarity or noirish style to this ambitious cult-classic-in-waiting.

The Meg

(M) ★★

Director: Jon Turteltaub.

Cast: Jason Statham, Li Bingbing, Rainn Wilson, Ruby Rose, Winston Chao, Cliff Curtis, Shuya Sophia Cai, Page Kennedy, Robert Taylor, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Jessica McNamee, Masi Oka.

Aquaman had a lot to answer for.

What's scarier than the shark in Jaws? A bigger shark! And that's why we got Deep Blue Sea in the '90s. And the terribly made Mega-Shark series between 2009 and 2015 (expect that to make a comeback shortly).

And here we are at The Meg AKA Jason Statham versus a giant shark. Believe it or not, but this film started life as a book (much like Jaws did) back in the '90s. It languished in development hell for two decades until it finally surfaced as this Chinese-American co-production (hence the setting off the coast of China and the large number of Chinese actors in the film) which bears little resemblance to its source material.

While I'm as much a fan of big-dumb-fun movies as the next man-child, The Meg is mostly just big-dumb. It takes itself laugh-out-loud serious at times rather than being laugh-out-loud funny, and its attempts to shoehorn emotion and character development into proceedings is average at best and painfully awkward at worst.

Statham stars as Jonas Taylor, a deep-dive rescue expert turned functioning alcoholic after a rescue attempt went somewhat wrong. Jonas claimed a giant underwater creature was responsible for the misfortune, and you can probably guess where this going.

When a billion-dollar research project inadvertently comes in contact with a similarly huge marine beastie, stranding a sub crew on the bottom of the Marianas Trench, the scientists turn to Jonas to come to the rescue. But what have they found lurking near the ocean floor (I'll give you one guess)?

The predictability of The Meg is not a major problem - in fact, it subverts expectations from time to time. It's the combination of a largely po-faced approach and inability to land a joke that sucks the air out of this underwater adventure. The likes of a Samuel L Jackson getting eaten mid-speech a la Deep Blue Sea wouldn't have gone astray. Or maybe casting someone a little more self-deprecating than Statham. Or casting two leads with more spark than Statham and Bingbing. Or editing and shooting the jokes that are in there better so they actually land.

The likes of Rose, Kennedy and Ólafsson attempt moments of comedy, each of which sink like broken sub. Only Curtis manages to land laughs, almost in spite of the film. Wilson also has a good crack at it, but again is undone by the tone, pacing and style of The Meg.

The film never celebrates its B-movie status or over-the-top qualities and as such, never gets the "fun" to go with its "big dumb". The only things separating it from the Mega-Sharks and Sharknadoes of the world is the general quality of the cast and effects, but those shlocky series at least realised it was all a big joke.

This is aiming to be more like Jaws or Jurassic Park, but it lacks that next level of style, finesse, talent, direction, character and a tone to suit its subject material. That's not to say big beast B-movies have to be hilarious - the recent Godzilla remake is a good example of an oh-so-serious one. But that got the tone right on that delivery. It didn't splash about in a pool of bad jokes while being weighed down by its own sense of gravity, like this does. It decided it was going to be a story about family, set against the backdrop of a disaster movie.

The Meg strives to be the next great shark movie - the Jaws for the CG generation. But it's sadly not, and the film sinks as a result.