The Couch Potato Report – Today’s New Releases
This week in The Couch Potato Report the little fish that could and a sequel that shouldn’t have.
FINDING NEMO is the latest film from the Pixar Animation Studio. Pixar also gave us the classic TOY STORY films, plus A BUG’S LIFE and MONSTERS INC. They make movies that are animated, or cartoons if you will, but these movies shouldn’t just be thought of as cartoons. They are films that everyone, no matter how old or young you are, can enjoy.
And you will enjoy FINDING NEMO. Everyone else who’s seen it has, and plenty of folks have seen it as it is the number one movie of 2003 with almost $340 million in box office receipts. That dolar figure also makes it the number one animated film of all time.
But I beg you, please don’t just think of FINDING NEMO as an animated film. Yes, it is a cartoon, but the story is universal. A father and son become separated and Dad tries to find his son in an ocean of almost 4 trillion.
Comedian Albert Brooks, from PRIVATE BENJAMIN and DEFENDING YOUR LIFE, provides the voice for the Dad character, who is named Marlin. Brooks gives the character just enough fear and nervous twitches. One iota mor would have been too much and he was a superb casting choice.
The true gem in FINDING NEMO is the work of Ellen DeGeneres as Dory. Dory is Marlin’s partner in the search to find Nemo and she is the heart of the picture. In the past Ellen DeGeneres has had a tendancy to get on my nerves as, in her work, she has a tendancy to yammer on. As Dory she is touching and hilarious. It is a unique combination for a unique movie character.
FINDING NEMO is a wonderful film for everyone. I implore you to not just think of it as a cartoon and skip it. Its moving, charming and worth investing your time in.
Go ahead, dive in and sea it!
The 2001 film LEGALLY BLONDE was also moving, charing and worth seeing. The sequel, LEGALLY BLONDE 2: RED, WHITE & BLONDE is dreadful. In the original the intoxicating Reese Witherspoon played a character who was a superficial, wealthy, blonde woman who dressed in pink. Rich, blonde, pink…she has to be dumb, right?!? Well she wasn’t. She had smarts, but more importantly she was someone who believed in herself and more importantly she liked herself. And we liked her for those reasons and more.
Sure, it wasn’t Dostoyetsky, but it was charming and fun. And man was Reese Witherspoon cute!
In this shabby sequel Witherspoon’s Elle Woods heads to Washington to initiate legislation against testing cosmetics on animals. A nobel concept to be sure, but they have taken away her self-awareness. She no longer seems to like herself, just because everyone else starts to doubt her.
I guess the bottom line here is that I don’t want to waste your time talking about this movie any longer. I’ll suffice to say that the original LEGALLY BLONDE movie was a fun, stupid little movie that was worth seeing and owning. LEGALLY BLONDE 2: RED, WHITE & BLONDE is just worth skipping and avoiding.
Almost everyone avoided ADAM SANDLER’S EIGHT CRAZY NIGHTS when it played in theatres last Chritmas. Including me. In the film, which is animated by the way, a coach and marketing guy join forces to coach a team of misfits. Maybe I’ll rent it and check it out.
FRIENDS: THE COMPLETE FIFTH SEASON features the complete fifth season of the TV series Friends. If you’ve been off earth for the past decade I’ll tell you that it stars Jennifer Aniston, Matt LeBlanc and Courteney Cox-Arquette.
COMING NEXT WEEK
TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES – John Connor is hunted by female Terminator from future. (Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nick Stahl, Kristanna Loken)
DUMB AND DUMBERER: WHEN HARRY MET LLOYD – Before Dumb and Dumber, there was high school. (Eric Christian Olsen, Derek Richardson, Luis Guzman)
KING OF THE HILL: THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON – The complete second season of the series King Of The Hill. (Mike Judge, Brittany Murphy, Kathy Najimy)
THREE’S COMPANY: SEASON ONE – Contains 6 full-length episodes from the first season. (John Ritter, Suzanne Somers, Joyce DeWitt)
Enjoy the movies and I’ll see you on the couch!
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