RISE OF THE GUARDIANS (Dir: Peter Ramsey, 2012).

RISE OF THE GUARDIANS (Dir: Peter Ramsey, 2012).

What would get if you crossed Marvel’s Avengers with a 1970s Rankin/Bass holiday special? Probably something not too dissimilar to DreamWorks Animation’s Rise of the Guardians as Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Toothfairy, the Sandman and new recruit Jack Frost assemble Avengers-style to defeat evil Pitch Black, aka The Boogeyman, as he attempts to take over the world by filling children’s heads with nightmares and suppressing their belief in the ‘Guardians’, threatening the imminent Easter celebrations to boot.

Director Peter Ramsey’s movie is action adventure on an epic scale rarely seen in animation. The glib humour and pop culture references that often mired DreamWorks’ early features is thankfully absent here. Certainly there is humour, yet there is also pathos, as when Jack learns of his forgotten past and why he was chosen as a Guardian.

With genuinely exciting action set pieces and excellent voice work from a star studded line up including Chris Pine, Alec Baldwin, Hugh Jackman, Isla Fisher and Jude Law, it is difficult to see how Rise of the Guardians could fail at the box office. But fail it did. Much to the detriment of cinema audiences who possibly found the Christmas/Easter mash-up aspect unappealing. Perhaps its winter release date was also misjudged, although it is certainly the most Christmassy of Easter movies.

While perhaps not quite in the same league as their ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ and ‘Kung Fu Panda’ franchises, Rise of the Guardians is still one of DreamWorks’s best movies to date. Its visuals are often breathtaking and its nod to vintage Rankin/Bass shows, where Santa is as likely to crop up in an Easter or a Groundhog Day special as he is a Christmas one, gives it a nice nostalgic feel befitting of a movie which deals with childhood and tradition. While this movie was designed as a franchise opener, Rise of the Guardians was destined to remain a one off. As a stand-alone feature film it is an often exciting, warm-hearted treat and is highly recommend viewing at Easter, Christmas or any other time of year.

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THE SHIRALEE (Dir: Leslie Norman, 1957).

One of the final productions from Ealing Films, released through MGM, The Shiralee was one of a handful of movies the company shot in Australia.

Aussie swagman Jim Macauley (Peter Finch) returns home to find his wife Marge (Elizabeth Sellars) in the arms of another man. After giving her lover a beating he takes their young daughter Buster (Dana Wilson) and hits the road. Travelling from job to job with the youngster in tow she thus becomes his ‘shiralee’, an Aboriginal term for burden. Fighting his way from one town to the next and abandoning Buster for a tryst with a shop assistant, Macauley makes for a somewhat unlikable central character and is a little difficult to sympathise with. In spite of which, Peter Finch does well in the lead.

Some comedy relief arrives in the form of Tessie O’Shea and Sidney James which, while a welcome break from the otherwise bleak narrative, represents such a shift in tone it feels like it belongs in a different movie. Presumably the Leslie Norman and Neil Paterson screenplay or, perhaps, the D’Arcy Niland novel from which it is sourced are to blame. As such, The Shiralee, while an easy film to admire, is a difficult film to wholeheartedly enjoy.

As director the underrated Norman is as efficient as ever and cinematographer Paul Beeson’s location footage from the streets of Sydney to the Outback is beautiful. A couple of Tommy Steele numbers on the soundtrack was a pleasant surprise.

While not among the very best work of Leslie Norman or Peter Finch, The Shiralee still has much to recommend it, from its beautifully shot locales to its stellar cast. A commendable effort to expand the range of the already dying Ealing Studios but not an entirely successful one.

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MISSING LINK (Dir: Chris Butler, 2019).

2019 is the year of the animated sequel, with follow-ups to How to Train Your Dragon and The Lego Movie recently leaving cinemas and further instalments of Toy Story, Secret Life of Pets, Shaun the Sheep, The Angry Birds Movie and the mighty Frozen to come. In a market oversaturated with sequels this, the fifth feature from Oregon based animation studio Laika, is a rare treat.

The second Laika production written and directed by Chris Butler, following 2012’s Paranorman, Missing Link is a departure from the dark fantasy of Paranorman and Coraline (Henry Selik, 2009) and finds the studio in decidedly lighthearted mode.

The adventure comedy concerns discredited explorer Sir Nigel Frost (Hugh Jackman) who teams up with a Sasquatch-like creature Mr Link (Zach Galifianakis) on a quest to the Himalayas to unite Link with his Yeti cousins.

As is to be expected from Laika, Missing Link is a beautiful realised stop-motion spectacle. It is easily the funniest Laika movie and the exquisitely detailed, hand-crafted animation is a joy. Galifianakis is a sweet natured, lovable Mr Link and is is supported by a first rate vocal cast which also includes Zoe Saldana, Emma Thompson and Stephen Fry.

Despite its disappointing box office Missing Link continues the run of excellent animations from Laika, proving them to be the most consistent of all animation studios. The movie is a sweet and humorous adventure, as entertaining for grownups as for children and is almost certainly the most original animation you will catch in cinemas this year.

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Movie number 51: The Hatton Garden Job aka One Last Heist (Ronnie Thompson, 2016). Proving that coming first doesn’t always make you a winner, The Hatton Garden Job, like last year’s King of Thieves (James Marsh, 2018), is based upon the true story of the Hatton Garden safe burglary of 2015. Arriving in cinemas a full 17 months before King of Thieves this bungled bank job of a movie is weaker than its competitor in every department.

While purportedly based on the actual crime, this version of events is largely fictionalised. The basic plot of a bunch of ageing criminals conniving to pull off one last job is the same, yet the involvement of the Hungarian Mafia and a corrupt ex-copper are entirely fabricated. This would perhaps be forgivable if the retelling had any entertainment value. How such an audacious real life story can be transformed into such a dull and insipid movie is anybody’s guess.

Matthew Goode, Larry Lamb, Phil Daniels and Joley Richardson prop up the otherwise less than stellar cast but are severely let down by stilted dialogue and lazy character development. The screenplay by Ray Bogdanovich and Dean Lines fails to draw upon the inherent humour of the situations while Ronnie Thompson’s bland direction is lacking style and imagination.

If you like geezer ladden crime movies that take themselves too seriously then maybe The Hatton Garden Job is for you. Otherwise you would be better off checking out the superior King of Thieves. #thehattongardenjob #onelastheist #ronniethompson #raybogdanovich #deanlines #matthewgoode #larrylamb #phildaniels #joleyrichardson #kingofthieves #hattongarden #london #britishfilm #britishcinema #everymovieiwatch2019

THE LOVE BUG (Robert Stevenson, 1969).

Released three years after the death of the its founder, Walt Disney Productions’ The Love Bug continued the tradition of fantasy comedies established by the studio a decade earlier with The Shaggy Dog (Charles Barton, 1959). It introduced Herbie, the anthropomorphic VW Beetle, to cinema audiences and would prove a massive hit for Disney, spawning a franchise which would include four theatrical sequels, a TV series and a made for TV movie.

The movie stars Dean Jones as washed up racing driver Jim Douglas whose fortunes are reversed thanks to the lovable VW Bug. He is pitted against arch rival David Thorndyke, who uses every dirty trick in the book to defeat Douglas in a cross-country race, the stakes of which are ownership of Herbie.

Disney regular Jones and love interest Michelle Lee make for attractive leads and prove themselves adept at light comedy. Less subtle, but just as effective are Buddy Hackett as a kooky new age mechanic and Joe Flynn as Thorndyke’s long suffering assistant. Best of all is the magnificent David Tomlinson as the comically villainous Thorndyke.

Ultimately the star is, of course, the car; brought to life through a combination of impressive stunt work and pre-CGI effects that hold up fine 50 years after release. Herbie has an endearing puppy dog charm and more personality than most humans!

Bill Walsh and Don Da Gradi’s screenplay mixes slapstick humour with some genuinely witty dialogue while Robert Stevenson, arguably the greatest director on the Disney roster, brings his flair for whimsical fantasy to what might be his best work after Mary Poppins (1964).

The Love Bug was to become the highest grossing movie of 1969 and one of the highest earners of all time. It’s easy to see why. With its winning mix of racetrack thrills and good natured laughs, it is a deftly performed, expertly crafted gem.

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The Love Bug (1969)

The Love Bug    (Dir: Robert Stevenson, 1969).  Released three years after the death of the its founder, Walt Disney Productions’ T

THE WARE CASE (Robert Stevenson, 1938).

The Ware Case is a creaky crime drama from the early days of the Ealing Studios; the second release from producer and studio head Michael Balcon’s tenure.

It features none of the hallmarks and belongs to none of the genres of filmmaking generally associated with later Ealing. Not a comedy in their classic mould, nor a wartime drama or social-realist piece, and is presumably a holdover from the Basil Dean era.

Based on the play by G P Bancroft, The Ware Case opens with a courtroom sequence set in the Old Bailey where we find society scoundrel Sir Hubert Ware (Clive Brook) on trail for the murder of his brother-in-law, the events leading up to which are subsequently told in flashback.

It’s lighthearted enough and some of the dialogue is humorous but a romp this ain’t. The central character of Ware is an unlikable fellow and the rest of the characters are all a little too one dimensional to really relate to. As an example of embryonic Ealing it certainly has curiosity value but, to be honest, I found the whole thing rather dull.

Robert Stevenson directs with efficiency but shows little of the flair for the fantastic he would display in his later career association with Walt Disney Productions. Responsible for Mary Poppins (1964), The Love Bug (1969) and Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971) among others, he would become the most commercially successful film director in Hollywood.

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