Epic

I love animated fantasy adventures. For instance I'm a huge fan of How to Train Your Dragon, Rise of the Guardians, and many other such films so when I saw a preview for the new movie Epic I knew that I had to see it. While I'm not sure that I would put Epic on quite the same level as those, it was still a pretty good movie.

Epic tells the story of a young woman, M.K, who has to go and live with her 'crazy scientist' father after her mother's death. M.K.'s father believes that there is an advanced civilization of tiny people who live in the forest and had spent many years trying to prove this. Initially M.K, who is voiced by Amanda Seyfried, thinks her father is a crazy as everyone else says. However, while out looking for her lost dog in the forest, she encounters the tiny Queen Tara, (Beyoncé Knowles), who shrinks her down to the size of the Leafmen. Tara and the Leafmen guards, are responsible for protecting the forest and bringing life to it, but they are at war with evil bugs who want to turn the forest to decay. In her adventures M.K. also meets Ronin (Colin Farrell) who is the Captain of the Leafmen, and the young, reluctant Leafman, Nod (Josh Hutcherson). In the end, it is up to M.K. and a few of her new friends, to save the entire forest from Mandrake (Christopher Waltz) the leader of the evil bugs.

The movie Epic was certainly a fun adventure story that would be great for kids in particular, but still enjoyable to most adults. It is at times reminiscent of movies like Alice in Wonderland, or A Bug's Life, but never so much so as to seem like an unoriginal copy. There are beautifully animated scenes, as well as some funny moments, and intense sequences. All in all it is a pretty good children's movie and something for the child in all of us. If you want a movie for kids, or just enjoy animated movies, it is certainly one to consider watching.

-Lynx

Upside Down

It's a beautiful idea really. Twin planets, caught in each others gravity, orbiting a sun together as one unit. So close that skyscrapers can be built between them which connect them, and yet for the people living on the two planets, so very far away. This is the problem which faces the young lovers in the unique movie Upside Down. The twin nature of the planets causes them to have opposite gravity of each other, meaning anything from one planet, when brought to the other, will go flying away back to the other unless it is held down somehow. Besides this is also the social and economic differences between the two.

Up Above, as the one is referred to, is where all of the wealth and power is, while Down Below, is impoverished and desolate. People between the two worlds are not supposed to associate other than in certain working conditions, and certainly aren't supposed to have any type of relationship with anyone from the opposite planet. This combined with the gravitational issues, create what seem to be an impossible problem for the young lovers, Adam (Jim Sturgess), and Eden (Kirsten Dunst). However, Adam is a dreamer and believes that love is even stronger than gravity and he will go to any lengths to make it so.

This was a movie that I couldn't pass up once I read a plot description to it. Add to that some good actors and it's no wonder that it moved to the top of my watch list. That being said, I am very glad I made that decision. The plot was fantastically unique, with some great conflict for the characters to overcome and enough intensity at times to drive it forward. There was also opportunity for some wonderful artistic shots of the two planets and the connections between them.

While it certainly isn't your typical romance, that is what makes Upside Down so special. It is a great movie, full of amazing ideas that are original and fun. I watched this movie expecting to enjoy it, but came away loving it more than I predicted. Certainly worth a watch whether you are a fan of sci-fi and fantasy or not. I know I'll have to add this to my film collection soon.

-Lynx

Beautiful Creatures

It is much to my regret that I have not yet found the time to read the novel Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia. As such I cannot provide insight in this review as to how the movie compares to the book, but sometimes it is good to have the perspective of someone who doesn't know the story already anyways.

Beautiful Creatures (movie) focuses on a small town in South Carolina and a teenage boy named Ethan Wate. When a new girl, Lena Duchannes, moves into the town to live with her mysterious uncle, there are a lot of rumors and suspicion flying around. Some believe Lena and her family are evil, but Ethan is not one to follow the crowd and befriends Lena. Tensions rise as the two face challenges from all of those around them, and they must decide whether to accept their fates or find their own way in life.

Alden Ehrenreich did an excellent job in the role of Ethan, portraying him as a likable character who seems unfazed by all of the strange goings on around him. Alice Englert also did well as Lena, a character who seems troubled at her core by the relatable question of who she really is. There were also some fantastic performances in the more minor roles, with notable appearances by Jeremy Irons, Emma Thompson, Emmy Rossum, and Viola Davis.

All in all it was a very enjoyable movie that was easy enough to follow even having not read the novel. Hopefully it stuck fairly truly to the novel and now I will have to read it in order to find out. It would be a great film for any lover of the fantasy genre to see and I would highly recommend it.

-Lynx