Transformers: Dark of the Moon

My Rating: 2.5/4

I believe Micheal Bay has dished out his best attempt at making the Transformers trilogy, and in my opinion, he has not done a bad job. He made a surprisingly good first installment, the second installment got a negative fan reaction, and now Bay must take his only shot at redemption, Transformers: Dark of the Moon. In the film, Bay does many of the same things he has done right in past movies, but has lost many things that are part of the "essence" of the franchise. The plot centers around the first Apollo mission to the moon, where Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong discover a crashed Autobot spaceship, and the United States has been covering it up for the last forty years. Now, Decepticon forces are coming after a device invented by an Autobot that allows them to teleport, and Deceptions want to use it to take over the galaxy. Now, sounds like a good Transformers plot, it puts good v.s. evil, and opens many doors the clanking of robots punching each other. The writers captured that epic feel needed for large action movies, and before the film was released they stated they wanted a much darker movie this time around, and they succeeded at this. But they may have gone so dark that they have lost the playful light-hearted feel from the first film, which was a main factor in making it the most liked movie of the three for the majority of its viewers. The plot was the weakest link in "Revenge of the Fallen", and I'm afraid it has transferred over to "Dark of the Moon". Each film has centered the plot around some type of conspiracy, each putting more of an emphasis on it than the last, the first being the Hoover Dam hiding a powerful alien artifact, the second being the Pyramids hiding a powerful alien artifact, and now the government hiding the existence of an alien artifact on the moon. Transformers is supposed to be fun. The story telling of "Dark of the Moon" has become so saturated in government cover-ups that it looses a lot of the exciting and fun elements. A good script usually will make up for a bad plot, but unfortunately, "Dark of the Moon" has its share of fails in this area as well. I was especially bothered by this in the opening minutes, when we are introduced to Sam Witwicky's(Shia Lebouf) new girlfriend, Carly(Rosie-Huntington Whitley) explaining how they met, and the entire sequence is very cheesy and rushed. It moves way too fast, and just seems awkward in how the script was handled. The problem is not the actors, who are very good actors, but the problem is what they have the actors do. Some characters feel uninteresting and the audience is not really inclined to care about these characters because the writers have not deeply shown their signifigance. I do not know if there will be a Tranformers 4, but if there is, my input to them is to not put all of their focus into special effects. The effects are amazing, and one of the few things in "Dark of the Moon" I have nothing to complain about. Spend more time coming up with ideas and making the script engaging and design it to give the audience the reaction you want. There is but ONE scene in the entire film where they really capture this. There is a scene in the final face-off when Bumblebee, one of the main Autobots, is about to be executed by Decepticons, and I could honestly feel the suspense and tension of the audience rising, and when(spoiler alert!) he is saved, people started clapping. This is what those scenes should feel like all the time. Most movies are meant to give the audience a very engaging and entertaining experience, which is captured here, and the entire movie should give the mood you want it too, not just one scene. I understand a lot of time needs to be invested into the animations and special effects of the film. But if it takes a lot of time to do both the special effects and write a great script, then take your time. You will be more successful in taking a long time to make a great film than if you take an average or short amount of time to cram in a mediocre film. If you are looking for something that's not super special, and will provide you with two hours to just be entertained, then I recommend you watch "Transformers: Dark of the Moon".

Kung Fu Panda 2

My Rating: 3.5/4

After three years, Dreamworks, has released the sequel to the very popular 2008 film. It's got the same cast, consisting mainly of Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Lucy Liu, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, David Cross, and Dustin Hoffman.
Fortunately, however, Kung Fu Panda 2 does NOT have the same story. Today, we see many sequels fall prey to the mistake of making the sequel follow the same plot line as it's predecessor. But for this movie, instead of just being another shallow repeat, it's rather a continuation of a grand plot line spanning the series. Or as described in the film by Master Shifu(Dustin Hoffman), "the next phase of Po's Journey". So what is this "next phase"?
Well, the movie picks up right where the original left off. (If you haven't seen the first one, stop reading) Po is now the Dragon Warrior, leading the Furious Five against evil. Now, a fierce enemy comes once again. A "Peacock Lord" named "Shen", who is coming to invade the kingdom his parents banished him from. With bladed feathers and an army of wolves at his command, he is very dangerous.
What I like is that instead of leaving the story off right there, I won't say too much, but in this film you will learn many revelations about Po, mainly centered around his parentage and origins. Things like who his parents are(which is good because I'd hate for all the small children watching this movie to be under the illusion that Ducks give birth to Pandas), where Po was born, and how he ended up at his adoptive father's house.
With this great plot line and script, the foundations are already laid, and the last frontier is pulling off the CGI animation. Which, is very impressive. The first battle sequence in the movie was very well animated and choreographed. When this is done, it is actually very fun to watch these scenes.
With a star-studded cast, I don't need to say much about the acting.
Overall, the movie is done very well, and evades many of the common mistakes in sequel plot lines, and if you liked the first one, I strongly recommend the sequel. I think Dreamworks has achieved a great success, and should put a lot more energy in this series because it may be their next "Shrek".