Tuesday 19 September 2023

Alfie's Review of The Lion King at Disneyland

 

Review of The Lion King, Rhythms of the Pride Lands at Disneyland Paris 


On Tuesday 16th May I watched the Lion King Show at Disneyland Paris with my Dad, Mum and little sister.  It’s a 30-minute show with acrobats and live performers.

It was in the Frontierland theatre which has a semi-circle of bench seats. We sat at the back, but the view was great as the seats were tiered. The cast members got everyone clapping and chanting Hakuna Matata before the show started which got everyone in a cheerful mood excited for the show.


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The Theatre went dark before the curtains opened. The show started with smoke and Rafik shadow on the curtain singing The Circle of Life, he was joined by other characters all dressed in tribal outfits and animal headdresses. The show told the story of the Lion king through songs which included; I can’t wait to be King, He lives in you and Hakuna Matata.

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Two characters that looked like zebras were playing the bongo drums in the background which created a great beat. The songs and music made you feel good, I couldn’t stop singing them afterwards. 

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The stage lighting/smoke was cleverly used in the songs to create different atmospheres. 

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The songs were amazing and the actors' costumes were magnificent. My favourite character was Puma, I liked how his costume looked and the actor was funny and suited the role.

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My favourite scene was the fighting scene with Muffat and Simba, the moving scenery, acrobatics and the transition from happy to evil was amazing.


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The acrobats were incredible how they swung around the stage, but for some reason I felt scared for them. 


My overall rating is a 10/10.

 It is an amazing show and you must go to see it if you go to Disneyland Paris. 

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Friday 25 August 2023

Frankie's Film Review

 

Film Review by Francesca Plant 

Spirited Away (2001) 

Spirited Away is a Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki

 and has themes from the Shinto religion. 

The Plot 

A girl called Chihiro moves away from her school friends and house and moves to

 a new house on a hill in a new town. They go through woods and find an 

entrance to a field. In the field is a tiny 

field with a food market. The parents start eating the food without paying and say they

 will pay later. They eat the spirit food and the spirits turn them into pigs.

 The little girl, Chihiro runs away and meets a boy called Haku who is a spirit

 and he says that she can’t stay there because the boss,

 Yababa, will punish her but he also says that because he doesn’t want humans on spirit ground). 

So she goes to the boiler man called Kamaji who has six arms who says “Go to Yababa 

and get a job and then she won’t hurt you”. So she gets a job in the bathhouse cleaning the

 dirtiest room and filling up the bath. Yababa steals her name and everyone else’s 

name who works for her. Chihiro is now called Sen. 

A water spirit that everyone thought was a stink spirit but just needed a bath gives her a tiny rice ball

 that’s green and thinks it will bring her parents back but it doesn’t because she gave it to the boy

 because he was hurt. Eventually Yubaba says “I’ll give you your parents back if you can guess which

 pigs they are” but this was a trick question and she guesses it right – none of the pigs were her parents. 

So then she gets her parents back but they had no knowledge of what happened. They thought she

 had just gone for an adventure on the rocks and they were just waiting for her in the field. 

Message of the Film 

I think there are two messages in the film. The first message is don’t be greedy and the second one is to

 always be yourself because Chihiro had her name stolen. 

Character Summary 

Chihiro - She is human and is brave, kind and generous 

Haku – He is a water spirit and slightly selfish because his is Yubaba’s servant. He is two faced because

 he seemed nice to Chihiro but didn’t actually care. He was actually evil because he worked for Yubaba

 and she is evil. 

No Face - He is an evil spirit who only like Chihiro. He brings the story together from the middle to

 end of story. He is a rich spirit who can generate gold out of his hands and wants to give Chihiro

 gold because she wasn’t greedy and was kind and she gives her a little bit but then she doesn’t

 want any more. 

Yababa – She is evil. 

Were the characters believable? 

Yes a little bit. Chihiro was believable because she was all sulky when she had to move house.

 Yubaba wasn’t very believable because she has magical powers and telekinesis and can drag people

 with her hand by beckoning people. 

What was interesting about the characters and the relationship between them? 

The most interesting character was Yubaba’s twin sister called Zeniba because she is nice version

 of Yubaba and lived in the countryside and the ocean. She has the same powers as Yubaba but

 doesn’t use them for evil only for small things to help herself with things like knitting. 

What was your favourite scene? 

My favourite scene was where Chihiro was eating the rice in the field and crying with the flowers

 because she has to eat spirit food or she will fade away and not exist. I liked the pretty flowers and

 rice in this scene and visually they looked good. 

Was the film maker good at telling a story in this movie? What makes you say that? 

The story kept me gripped. Most scenes had a cliff hanger.

What did you like about the animation/aesthetic?

I liked all the colours they used. The animation was anime but still a developing animation because

 it was when anime films were first being created in the early 2000s. Even though it was one of the

 earlier anime films to be made it has stood up to the test of time and I agree with others that is one

 of the greatest animation films of all time. It won an award for the best animated feature film. 

How do the animation enhance or distract from the story? 

The way they drew tear drops was good. I liked the detail and the way they drew food was also very detailed. 

What did you like about the plot?

I liked the way No Face held the plot together and the cliff hangers so that the story kept my interest 

because there were lots of different characters doing different things. The spirits were the most 

interesting thing about the film. 

Would you change anything about the plot? Could it have been better?

I would change a few things. There were things that didn’t make sense but I’m not sure how to describe them. 

What else would you have liked to see happen in this film?

A bit more context because a few things aren’t explained specifically. Maybe things about Shinto

 religion or Japanese culture could have been given more context. 

What was the worst thing about the film? 

The quality of the animation and how they drew human’s faces because they had long faces and

 wide mouths and small eyes. The spirits had nothing wrong with how they were drawn because 

no one really knows what a spirit looks like. 

The music was too calming and classical and I would preferred more modern and upbeat music. 

What was the best thing about the film? 

The characters and the colours. 

What rating would you give this film out of 10? 

9/10

Thursday 24 August 2023

Grace's Review Of The Film "Puss In Boots"

 

Trip to the Cinema - Puss in Boots: The Last Wish


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Puss in Boots

I went to the cinema to see ‘Puss In Boots: The Last Wish’ 

on Monday the 27th of March. 

We went that day because the tickets are cheaper on Mondays. 

The movie was surprisingly good!

 I really like the animation style during the action scenes.

 It was deliberately more cartoonish

 (sort of like anime) similar to the movie ‘The Bad Guys’ and 

‘Spiderman: Into the Spider-verse’. 


The Bad Guys Spiderman: Into the Spider-verse


I found an article about the animation and Nate Wragg, the Production

 Designer said

 “We wanted to make sure it was grounded in something that actually mattered for the character. 

And so, we took it back to his roots as a character born out of fairy tale stories and illustrations”.

 I think it worked really well, it looked a lot better than the original. 

And some of it was genuinely scary! The main villain was

Death as a wolf (the Big Bad Wolf). 

Which makes sense because one of the writers (Tommy Swerdlow) wrote

 ‘Childs Play’! 

There was a bit where Puss in Boots was having a panic attack after seeing the wolf

 and my brother Joe (very loudly) said “he’s having a heart attack!” which was funny.

 The scene was very cute though because Puss’s friend helps him. 


puss in boots last wish 2

The wolf

My favorite character was Big Jack Horner, played by John Mulaney 

who also voiced 

Peter Porker/Spider-Ham in ‘Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse’.

I liked his character design and the way his face was smaller than the rest of hm.

 I also liked all the funny fairytale jokes and references in the background like

 the "ethical bug” which tries (and fails) to make Jack a better person. 


Big Jack Horner


Puss in Boots is voiced by Antonio Bandaras and he first appeared in Shrek 2 in 2004.

 I was surprised by how many years ago that was – it was before I was born!


Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022) - IMDb 

‘Puss in Boots: The Last Wish’ Returns to its Fairy-Tale Illustration Roots

 | Animation World Network (awn.com)