Yogi Bear (3D)

Yogi Bear-able

[Tom Cavanagh, Dan Aykroyd, Justin Timberlake, Anna Faris, T.J. Miller]

image from hollywoodgo.com

RANT: The first day of my Christmas vacation from work brings the third flick on my pre-Christmas list. First and second were Tron: Legacy and The Fighter, leaving a fuzzy talking bear and his pint-sized sidekick.

SYNOPSIS: Jellystone Park celebrates its 100th year celebration on the verge of closing due to poor admissions and a city mayor who wants to sell the land to loggers. Enter talking bears Yogi and Boo Boo to make both a mess of things and to try and save the day.

After years of dominating the 2D space of the small screen as a cartoon, Hanna Barbara has let Warner Brothers plump up the pic-a-nic basket stealing bear with a live-action CGI adventure. Both Yogi and his sidekick Boo Boo come to life in 3D furriness. Director Eric Brevig, better known for his visual effects work than his directing work on Journey to the Center of the Earth, takes a crack at another mixed media film.

Although the spitting image of their animated counterparts, Yogi and Boo Boo suffer from issues greater than poison ivy or what bears do in the woods. The story, although cute and lightly entertaining, is about as thick as a picnic tablecloth. Of course, the kids will barely care about the closing of the park due to financial worries and a dastardly city mayor looking to cover his losses on his way to make a run at the governor's mansion. Youngsters probably will not even blink an eye at the way Tom Cavanagh's Ranger Smith and Ana Faris' documentary film maker Rachel fail to interact all that well with the troublesome computer animated brown bears.

But the bears do entertain. The voice talent for Dan Aykroyd's Yogi is almost spot-on, while Justin Timberlake's Boo Boo is a pleasant surprise. I knew Timberlake could sing, but I did not know he used the pipes for anything other than belting out hits. Yogi and Boo Boo are fun to watch, their antics offering up a few laughs. Brevig uses the 3D is the classic fashion, throwing popcorn, spit-takes, fireworks, even toad-faced turtles at the audience.

Andrew Daly plays Franklin City Mayor Brown with enough stupidity and power lust to be entertaining, especially with his yes-man Chief of Staff (Nathan Corddry) in tow. T.J. Miller's Ranger Jones is pointless, although necessary to a key element of the plot. Ana Faris is her typical bubbly self as Rachel, the documentary filmmaker looking to film a couple talking bears in Jellystone. Finally, Tom Cavanagh's Ranger Smith is neither all that annoyed by Yogi's picnic basket napping or all that devastated by the closing of the park. He underplays it all, which is strange since there is a pair of talking bear hanging around!

Not up the caliber compared to Alvin and the Chipmunks, Yogi Bear is entertaining enough for the children. But if adults are hoping to relive their Hanna Barbara childhood roots, they may be both engrossed and disappointed.

Worth: Netflix

Butter Popcorn Meter

Unstoppable

Steady Rumble

[Denzel Washington, Chris Pine, Rosario Dawson, Ethan Suplee, T.J. Miller]

image from onlinemovieshut.com

RANT: Just a shout out to everyone who helped out this weekend. 'Nuff Said!

SYNOPSIS: When a train carrying hazardous cargo turns into an unmanned “coaster” out of the depot and into populated areas, a veteran engineer and a rookie conductor attempt to bring the runaway train to a stop with their own locomotive engine before the runaway train derails and kills a population.

Are you familiar with the slow rising rumblings of a freight train you feel as it approach unseen, then the explosion of sound and blur as the train as speeds by in front of you at the crossing? This film feels that way. Knowing that the plotline deals with a multi-ton freight train “missile the size of the Chrysler building”, the film slowly idles along just until the aforementioned train leaves the train depot on its own power due to human miscalculation and stupidity. Once the train is gone, the slow rumblings of suspense and tension resonate and build until the “unstoppable” conclusion.

Director Tony Scott re-teams with his favorite go-to actor Denzel Washington, 28-year veteran train engineer Frank, to bring to life a story based on true events of a runaway train in Pennsylvania. Chris Pine, the new Captain James T. Kirk, comes aboard as well as rookie conductor Will, assigned to Frank for a training haul. Both Frank and Will come to the locomotive with their own baggage and issues. The older engineer tries to pass down some knowledge to the rookie, even though the rookie’s “yellow vest” is a symbol of the corporation trying to force him and his kind into early retirement. The young conductor deals with an deteriorating marriage, a restraining order and a job that was handed to him by his industry connected family.

Adding to the cast is Rosario Dawson as Connie, Ethan Suplee as the depot engineer Dewey who starts the triple 7 running as a crazy train, and his sidekick Gilleece who wanted to connect the air brakes, but didn't. Kevin Dunn stars as corporate operations manager Galvin whose days in the front office had made him soft.

The most important character in the story is the Triple 7 itself, a menacing "unstoppable" force of steel and diesel. Although inanimate, it moves beyond just a machine. All attempts to slow its march of destruction through Pennsylvania are merely annoyances as it barrels down the rails at 70 to 80 miles per hour with 8 cars of toxic materials on its back. Choppers trying to drop an engineer onto the Triple 777 meets with injury, the so-called "Derailer" set out by the corporation fails to live up to its name, and eventually all hope ends up resting on the shoulders of Frank and Will. How will their "little engine that could" even make a mark against the out of control goliath locomotive? As the tension builds, so does the excitement. "Unstoppable" is a wild ride on the rails!

Worth: Matinee and DVD

I am also trying out a new rating system shown below based on reader reaction to my somewhat complex monetary rating scale. I will give both ratings and see what kind of reaction I muster. A movie can receive up to 5 popcorn buckets. Why popcorn buckets? Because I am a slave to the thousand + calorie delight! Enjoy!