Creed

Year: 2015

Director: Ryan Coogler

Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Sylvester Stallone, Tessa Thompson, Tony Bellew, and Phylicia Rashad
Tagline: Your legacy is more than a name.
Synopsis: Adonis Johnson, son of famed boxer Apollo Creed, enlists Rocky Balboa to train him to follow in his father's footsteps.

Review

If you saw the title of this film and wondered what on earth it was, Creed is the seventh entry in the Rocky franchise.  This time, instead of Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) being inside the ring, he is on the outside, training a new hopeful.  That new hopeful just so happens to be the (illegitimate) son of Apollo Creed, Rocky's former opponent turned trainer/friend.  As the unknown son of a famed boxer, Adonis feels the need to prove himself, to prove that he is his own man.

Creed is every ounce a Rocky film.  It mostly takes place in Philadelphia, Rocky's hometown.  There's the usual underdog story.  There's the requisite training montages.  There's the fitting doses of humor, heart, and humanity.  Rocky even still has a pet turtle.

The film is certainly nostalgic, hearkening back to the original Rocky on numerous occasions.  (It may reference the other films as well, but I'm only familiar with the first Rocky).  The filmmakers understood what made the first film so endearing and enduring and decided if it ain't broke, don't fix it.  It's a tactic that works for the story.  Adonis is following in his father's footsteps while also trying to be his own man.  The film follows the same path.

At this point I should probably confess that Creed is not the type of film I would normally see.  I saw it with my division at work.  While I didn't vote for it, I was also not opposed to seeing it.  It did get very good reviews after all.  I think nearly all my coworkers (male and female) enjoyed the movie.  As for me ... I was completely bored and checking my watch.  The only character that was remotely intriguing to me was Mary Anne Creed, Apollo's widow and Adonis' adoptive mother.  Her part was minimal and underused.  As for Adonis, I simply don't know how to cheer for a character whose dream/ambition is to beat another human being into submission.

Creed is a good film.  I'll give it that.  It's nostalgic and well-crafted.  If you like sports films in general or Rocky films in particular, then you will likely enjoy Creed.

*** Spoiler Section ***

How to end the film was probably a quandary.  With this kind of film, you couldn't have the hero simply lose.  That's not how Rocky movies play out.  But it would have been a stretch to have Adonis win against such a formidable opponent.  That leaves the "split decision" loss where he loses the fight but "wins the night."  It worked for the original Rocky and it works for Creed, but it does feel a little bit like a copy/paste.

Quotable Quotes

• "Time takes everybody out.  Time's undefeated." -- Rocky
• "I fight.  You fight." -- Adonis to Rocky
• "How many fingers" [Rocky taps the number on Adonis' neck] "Four." -- Fight official and Adonis

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Merry Christmas: Dashing through the Season

There's no movie review here, just a Christmas message:

It’s Christmastime.  And with it comes a season filled with decking the halls, “dashing through the snow,” “rockin’ around the Christmas tree,” and “shoppers rush[ing] home with their treasures.”  There’s always so much to do, so much to buy, and so much to eat.  Sure, “it hasn’t snowed a single flurry.  But Santa, dear, we’re in a hurry.”  To cram everything into the season requires a lot of hustling and bustling, and – as the 25th draws ever closer – hurrying and scurrying.  “There’ll be parties for hosting” and “much mistletoeing” and a great deal of hoping “Santa Baby” would just “hurry down the chimney tonight.”

Even Frosty is in a hurry, “running here and there ... sayin’ ‘Catch me if you can.’” Who has time to catch their breath, let alone a snowman?  There are gifts to wrap, cookies to bake, messages to write, service projects to organize, dinners to prepare, musical numbers to practice, choir programs to rehearse, and a myriad of traditions to keep.  Hurry as the hours and days slip away.  But as we hurry about our many good things, let us first remember to make haste to that which is best.  In the words of the final verse of “Whence Is That Goodly Fragrance?”:

Bethlehem! There in manger lying, find your Redeemer, haste away.

Run ye with eager footsteps vieing! Worship the Savior, born this day.

Bethlehem! There in manger lying, find your Redeemer, haste away.

The shepherds of old knew the right order of things.  They first received the glad tidings, then they “came with haste” to the newborn Savior.  With Christ in their hearts and praises on their lips, then they returned to their lives, their friends, and their families, sharing the gift.

And somewhere, amid all our hurrying and hastening, may we also find a moment to do as Mary, who “kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart”  (Luke 2:19).

Merry Christmas!

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The Good Dinosaur

Year: 2015

Director: Peter Sohn

Starring: Raymond Ochoa, Jack Bright, Jeffrey Wright, Sam Elliott, and Steve Zahn
Synopsis: In a world where dinosaurs never went extinct, one dinosaur must discover what he's made of while making an unlikely friendship.

Review

First off: like all Pixar film's, there was a short to begin with.  This one was entitled Sanjay's Super Team and was based on the experiences of Sanjay Patel, who directed it.  As is to be expected, the animation was gorgeous and colorful.  But it was the message of the short that was so compelling.

The story is of a little boy, Sanjay, who wants to watch a superhero cartoon show.  His father comes in, turns off the television, and invites his son to join him in Hindu meditation.  Sanjay's reluctance gives way to an exciting daydream with Vishnu, Durga, and Hanuman becoming the heroes.  In the end, Sanjay finds meaning in his father's traditions and religion and the two are able to bond.  What also stood out to me is that children often understand more than parents give them credit.

On to the feature film.

The Good Dinosaur builds on the premise of what would happen if the dinosaurs had never gone extinct.  There are lots of directions you could take a story like that.  Perhaps that is why the film had all sorts of production issues and even had a change in director partway through.  Sadly, the film suffers some for that.  It's a good movie.  But I was disappointed it wasn't a great movie.  It could have done so much more.

The story is likable, about young, fearful Arlo who wants very much to prove himself.  There is much that is familiar about The Good Dinosaur: there's some Finding Nemo in it and quite a bit of The Lion King.  It's also a classic boy and his pet story.  It just so happens that the boy is a dinosaur and the "pet" is a feral human.  It's an interesting twist.  And the bond Arlo and Spot develop helps drive the story onward.

The humor of the film is different from most Pixar films.  The part that made me laugh the hardest was Forrest Woodbush, the "pet collector."  He has some great comedic timing and is simply a fun character I'd have liked to have seen more of.  Some of the other humor was more low brow than my taste, but it wasn't excessive.  It didn't bother me, I just don't find that type of thing as funny.  The film was also a bit darker in places.  It might be scary for young audiences.  There are predators and they do what predators do.

While the story may not be groundbreaking, the animation in The Good Dinosaur is.  The film is gorgeous. The setting for the story is the area around the Tetons, which is beautiful scenery to begin with.  The way the filmmakers have captured and rendered the landscape is simply incredible.  There were times when the scenery was so good, the water so perfect, that it pulled me out of the story for a moment.  This was also Pixar's first film to render clouds, rather than "paint" them on to the sets.  The dinosaurs themselves certainly look animated.  But the world they live in is big, detailed, and more realistic than I've seen in any other animated film.

I enjoyed The Good Dinosaur.  It is beautifully animated and has humor and heart.  In the Pixar pantheon, I'd put it just below Brave (which had similar story struggles).  While it has its flaws and weaknesses, it is a movie with heart and a good message about overcoming fear.  It may not be great, but The Good Dinosaur is still good.

Quotable Quotes

• "If you ain't scared, you ain't alive." -- Butch
• "This is Debbie ..." -- Forrest Woodbush
• "He'll make his mark, you'll see." -- Poppa

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