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Thursday, April 27, 2006

The Wild - Madagascar


Thanks Ken for the sulks on my "long-time no update"...hehehe...my apologies.

Anyway, as promised, I would do a short review on this Walt Disney animation flick; however, for those who have yet to watch, please do not proceed to read this review as it may contain spoilers and I do not want to be cursed for revealing the story and spoiling all the surprises.

So, yet another Walt Disney film; which was subject to the infamous comparison or suspiciously similarity to the Dreamworks production last year; Madagascar. I admit that the same thought crossed my mind the instant I heard or read of the gist of this animation. Somehow, I thought the filmmakers were running out of ideas and that this is just yet another copy production of the same genre until I realized it was a Walt Disney's production. Okay, so much for unfair judgement, but anyway, I kinda had the thought that Madagascar could be the one which is copying the idea from Disney; after all, Disney is not one for duplicating and yet producing the same film. How about the production release timeline, you may ask? Well, that's pretty simple to answer; since Disney is a major animation production company; there would be lots of procedures going around and also the red tapes; it's always of that nature in the industry; kinda like the semiconductor industry as well....wait, that's going too far.
So, seems like the papers confirmed my theories as well; it was reported last week or 2 weeks ago that Walt Disney already had the animation in production even way before Madagascar was produced and allegedly, Madagascar was supposed to be the clone of The Wild. Anyway, as the former was released thus pioneering the story of the same genre, The Wild was left to the unfair and biased judgement of being the pirated copy now. Well, there is no say in this since the first to be out is Dreamworks...too bad for Disney then.
Not to be biased; but I didn't quite like Madagascar then; I found it a little boring. As for The Wild, ahaaa....what should I say...it may not be the best but I'd say that it slightly surpassed Madagascar, say biased if you want but Disney always has this cliche on captivating its audience and also the witty and catchy lines. Also, you could see that the animation was very well done and details were took into consideration. Look at the fur on Nigel the Koala and also on Samson the Lion.
Into the story; it's a pretty generic and simple storyline about these animals which were bred in the New York City Zoo and were trained to perform and to entertain the visitors. The zoo was pretty much alive at night with the partying by the animals...that's so Disney-like :)
So, the herd was led by the mighty Samson the Lion and his clique includes Bridget the giraffe, Benny the squirrel(Samson's best friend), Nigel the Koala, Larry the snake and not forgetting Samson's sulky son, Ryan the lion cub.
Samson was admired by most of the animals in the zoo due to the adventures in the wild he has had in the past which he told to them. However, he was not all that mighty as unknown to the others, all those stories were made up and the single soul who knows his true self and was sworn to secrecy was his best friend; Benny the squirrel. Now, you may think, what's with this Lion being best friends with a squirrel....hahaha...that's not all, be prepared to even watch Ryan the cub being friends with kangaroos and running away from other animals...and the most absurd and outworldly, a squirrel in love with a giraffe; who's like 3 to 4 times his height? Hahaha....well, what else can you expect; this is after all a Disney flick...if this is based on reality, would you see a lion, giraffe, koala, snake and a squirrel grouped together...c'mon, these are preys and predators in nature, my guess is in less than a second, the koala and squirrel are probably gone:p
Alright, so Samson was well-known for his roar which he was trying to teach his little cub of a son, Ryan who was good for nothing but climbing up to a tree and sulk whenever he hears something he doesn't like. In truth, Ryan was inferior to the status his mighty dad had and was envious of all the adventures his dad had gone through while he can never roar and the loudest he has ever done is mew like a cat. Samson was pretty cool about it but motivated his son to do better but Ryan was often in tears and runs off whenever Samson tried to tell him about it. I think Samson was not the unreasonable dad here; Ryan was the one who could never bring himself to hear the truth and often resort to sulking. He's always thinking of running away from the zoo in those green boxes he had so often heard the zoo keeper mentioned.
So, on one of those nights, after the zoo closed, Samson went for his tortoise game; some kinda animal hockey; only brutally and cruelly using the tortoises as the catch. There were those arrogant penguins who as Benny called them "birds that cannot fly" who were fighting against Samson's team. Hahaha....and Bridget was the striker with Larry as the flexible hockey stick.
Anyway, to cut the long story short, Ryan caused a stampede (not directly his fault) but Samson finally reprimanded his son and that made the sulky Ryan to run away and climbed into one of those green boxes. Actually he only intended to stay there for the night but ironically, they shipped those boxes off; intended for the African zoo the next morning.
Our poor Ryan whined and his howls were heard by good old daddy Samson who then launched into a frenzy search for his beloved son....as the media reported, launched into the Finding Nemo storyline mode.His faithful friends of course, would not let him go alone and trailed along. Samson was reluctant to bring them along but they assured that they will be safe in his company. The truth is, Samson himself is inexperienced and is not assured he will be able to protect them. So, along the way, they ran into the aligators under the drain, some animals which claimed they want revenge for often being preyed by the lions and now they want to elevate their wild status to be above the lions; and in doing so, they need to devour lions...
Watch out for the Bollywood pigeons, the arrogant penguins, the hippo mother and the baby hippo and also the camouflaging cameleons.
It was quite an entertaining watch with the accent these animals portrayed as those spoilt and overly well-bred animals in the city. Furthermore, there's also the toy koala of Nigel whom he hates and also the scene of where Nigel was worshipped as a God and he had to decide between eating his friends and staying as the God of the pack.
However, in an overview, as a normal animation, it can be entertaining for the kids and family. Being Disney, they always insert the moral values now and then.
For a Disney flick, hmmmm, I'd say it was a little disappointing.
Anyway, I've tried my best not to reveal too much about the plot and only dwell on the surface of the story and also the characters in general.
The ball is in your court....the Disney fan has spoken, have fun if you watch it...do not be subject to any reviews, watch it with an open mind :)

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

End of April

Been ages since I've updated my blog........anyway, just returned from training (again) , I know....and looking forward to short vacation.
Month of April has its ups and downs...rained quite a bit but sadly, the rain went away last week...bummer and I so do love the cool and refreshing weather, well, yeah, it is kinda gloomy and not so fun to drive on the road/highways during those weather...but still....I Love the rainy season :)
I've watched The Wild and Ice Age 2; seems like there were major disappointments in store for the flicks; I'd be reviewing them soon...but for those who would like something to watch and can't decide between these 2 animations, hmmm....I'd say The Wild is a better one for laughs and just mild entertainment despite the countless reports that it was suspiciously similar to Dreamworks's last year animation flick, Madagascar. Being a Walt Disney fan myself, I'd not blame you if you think I am biased in my recommendations though...hehehe:P
Will update soon...just wanted to blabber a little at the moment to take my mind off....

Sunday, April 02, 2006

April Fools' Day

1st of April...significant? Yup, I've 2 friends born on this day...I still remember they used to be a little shy in revealing their birth dates to friends for fear of being subject to ridicule and fooled around. But I guess they have pretty much gotten over it *winks*

Anyway, nothing much I suppose on April's Fool...I think we've gotten past that age to play tricks on each other anyway...haha...does that make me sound old? Hmmm....if you come to think of it, maybe we mature with age; the mindset of a high school kid can never be the same as a working person:D

In another way, it's also pretty sweet to have those sweet memories from childhood and school days...doesn't hurt to be nostalgic once in a while *smiles dreamily*

Those days, pranks and lies are inevitable; where your friend will probably tell you this and that and got you all trusting and them; and while you, wide-eyed and innocent runs to the place they told you to, found out it was all a game...hahaha...and successful pranks(they are usually successful...depends on how convincing and kids are trusting anyhow:p )

Then as time goes, the tricks turned more intelligent and ingenious...with the convincing element to get you to believe it.
I read in the newspaper about this April Fools' joke which turned out to be so-not-funny anymore between the businessman and mechanic....sighhh, a little "high school"...don't you think so? Still fooling around on April Fools? And as if that's not enough, you even land yourselves on the cover page of the newspapers....fun and cool? Somehow I don't think so...in fact, this will probably be the most unforgettable April Fools' for them:p

April Fools...tricks for laughs? Nah....doesn't seem so fun anymore, huh? Hehehe...:D

P.S.: Happy April Fools to you guys anyway....and should I say, this is just an article for fools?Haha....no, just kidding..you are the respected readers of my blog*winks* :D

Services sector's == Office Hours?

On Saturday, I went to the post office and bank and found they were both closed....it's the first Saturday after all, and furthermore, I believe that the 5-days week policy is in effect. Another thing is; it's ironically April Fools' Day (1st of April)...but I'm not fooled (lar)..hehehe:)

Sigh, how can we actually go to banks and post offices during weekdays when we are typing away and attending meetings on weekdays. I still think it's kinda absurd and illogical that these services should operate according to the same working hours. Reason being, they are supposed to serve those who are at large and if we both share the same working hours, there's no services needed during the time. Furthermore, on further thought, weekends are the only time when the working people are actually free to do their personal matters.

On the other hand, these people in the services sectors are also normal humans with families attached and we can't exactly demand them to work when others are enjoying themselves. Well, there should be a better way of handling this...make it a win-win situation...does not necessarily have to be the whole weekends; the half-day Saturdays work and they can have Mondays off; it's still adhering to the 5-days week. If they still think that it is unfair that people are enjoying Saturdays while they are working, they can also snigger that they have Mondays off when people are practically dragging themselves to work.
Also, imagine the shopping centres without the crowd and no hassle in getting a strategic parking and also, no queues for movie tickets!! :D

Well, I leave this to the government's discretion....just my humble opinion and some occasional rants when I can't get these chores settled:P



Angel