Jul 5, 2007 12:58 pm US/Pacific
Review: The Good, Bad And Ugly This Summer
CBS 5 Film Critic James Rocchi
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) ―
Summer's here -- and so are movies large and small, all competing for your dollars at the box office. Here's a few reviews covering the good, the bad and the very ugly at local theaters.
Ratatouille (4 out of 4 Reels)If Ratatouille were from another studio, it'd be hailed as a masterpiece; coming from Emeryville's Pixar, though, it has to compete with the long shadow of Toy Story, Finding Nemo and The Incredibles. Still, this Parisian odyssey – the tale of a rat named Remy (voiced superbly by stand-up Patton Oswalt) who wants to cook – is funny, fast, family-friendly and guaranteed to make you hungry. The script (credited to director Brad Bird, brought on board to save a faltering production) isn't quite as perfect as it could be, but the comedy and action – yes, action – are excellent, and vocal stand-outs include Oswalt, Peter O'Toole as a cold food critic and Janeane Garofalo as a spunky chef – are all excellent. Don't think this is just for kids, either; Ratatouille's a lot smarter than it has to be, and works for audiences of all ages –and even mid-level Pixar magic is still enough to make Ratatouille the best animated film of the year.
Transformers (0 out of 4 Reels)I know you have to lower your expectations for a big-budget summer movie based on a series of toy robots that change into vehicles and back again -- but Michael Bay's big-screen take on the popular '80s toy line is so scattershot and sloppy you have to wonder what, exactly, everyone involved was thinking. Shia LaBeouf plays our hero, who has the cosmic whatsit the good and bad robots are fighting over ... and, as far as plot goes, that's it. The effects are expensive, but cold and hollow -- and the action sequences are loud, badly-shot blurs draped over lazy, weak screenwriting. I can watch great summer popcorn entertainment -- think The Empire Strikes Back, Aliens, or X-Men II -- all day; the only pleasure Transformers offers is, essentially, watching someone else spend money.
Joshua (3 out of 4 Reels)Watching Joshua, it feels like a weird throwback to '70s thriller territory -- and that's meant as a compliment. Well-to-do New York parents Sam Rockwell and Vera Farmiga have a high-gloss, high-class Manhattan life, perfect in every way -- but the news they have a second child on the way isn't so exciting for their first-born, nine-year-old Joshua (Jacob Kogan). Problems start cropping up at home -- and there's the question of if Joshua's spectator or string-puller for the trials and tribulations tearing Rockwell and Farmiga's lives apart. Part social satire and part thriller, Joshua's an inventive spin on the tried-and-true "bad seed" plot line -- and while Rockwell and Farmiga are terrific as ever, it's Kogan gives the best performance in the movie, creepily effective as a bright, charming kid who just might be a sociopath.
License to Wed (0 out of 4 Reels)Young couple John Krasinski (The Office) and Mandy Moore (Because I Said So) are wildly in love and newly engaged -- but if they want to get married at Moore's family church, first they have to pass the marriage-prep course offered by Robin Williams's Reverend Frank. Reverend Frank's supposed to be a wise and witty figure, but he's mostly just creepy -- forcing Moore and Krasinksi into life-threatening stunts as tests of their relationship skills and even planting a listening device in their apartment to make sure they aren't having pre-marital sex. License to Wed is supposed to be about the challenges of true love; instead, Williams's tired motor-mouthed shtick just gets more and more tedious, and Krasinski and Moore look like chumps as they buckle under Reverend Frank's demands. Unfunny, unoriginal and bizarrely inhuman, License to Wed is a train wreck for all parties involved.
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