Reviews

Films

Enchanted

Directed by Kevin Lima, starring Amy Adams, James Marsden, Patrick Dempsey

This is a variation on that cultural fish-out-of-water device first used 120 years ago by Mark Twain in A Connecticut Yankee in the Court of King Arthur.

In this one a romantic princess meets the prince of her dreams in a hilarious send-up of a Disney cartoon, is dispatched to her death by a wicked witch, then emerges through a Times Square manhole as a live action character in Manhattan.

The best joke comes after she's been abused, robbed and soaked to the skin. Hearing her tale, a cynical young divorce lawyer says, with heavy irony: "Welcome to New York!", and she replies with touching sincerity that this is the first nice thing anyone has said to her.

The other cartoon characters follow her but after about half-an-hour the comic steam is dispersed by whimsy, though Timothy Spall is pretty funny as the Evil Stepmother's varlet valet.

Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium

Directed by Zach Helm; starring Dustin Hoffman, Natalie Portman, Jason Bateman, Zach Mills

Children, especially little girls, will probably enjoy Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium.

In Little Big Man (1970) Dustin Hoffman in serious mode played a 121-year-old frontier veteran reviewing his life in the West.

Here Hoffman (strongly resembling the zany Martin Short) is the 243-year-old proprietor of a magical toy shop that he wants to hand over to his manager (lovely Natalie Portman) before his death.

There's a serious attempt to introduce children to the concept of mortality - even a reference to Shakespeare's handling of Lear's death - but it's a thin tale, in thrall to the notion of "have yourself a Special FXmas".

Bee Movie

Directed by Steve Hickner and Simon J Smith; featuring the voices of Jerry Seinfeld, Renee Zellweger, Matthew Broderick, John Goodman

Scripted by Jerry Seinfeld, who also voices the central character, DreamWorks' disappointing animated Bee Movie has every bee joke he and his chums can think of (including giving Sting a guest role) and turns upon the young, eager bee Barry B Benson suing the human race for stealing honey.

Winning the case leads to the imminent destruction of the world's ecology, so Barry must become a hero by putting the bees back to work spreading pollen around the globe.

My Kid Could Paint That

Directed by Amir Bar-Lev

Still in the nursery, but with big bucks flowing and adult reputations at stake, Amir Bar-Lev's My Kid Could Paint That explores the background to the 4-year-old Marla Olmstead, daughter of a lower-middle-class couple in Binghamton, New York, whose abstract paintings have been compared to Jackson Pollock's.

With considerable publicity, they started to sell for $25,000 a canvas. Then 60 Minutes questioned their status. Were they her unaided work or did pushy dad push a little too hard? Are they any good, and how can you tell? Are they better than those done by apes? Interesting questions, interesting film.

The Guardian

(China Daily 12/19/2007 page20)