"Queen of Katwe" Review

Disney's Queen of Katwe tells the true-life story of Phiona Mutesi, a young Ugandan woman who, from 2010 to 2014, became one of the world's most exciting chess players.

With their family life crumbling, Phiona and her younger brother Brian take up chess at the hands of coach Robert Katende (David Oyelowo), head of the local sports ministry program. Coach Katende cultivates Phiona's talent, much to the chagrin of the girl's mother Harriet (Lupita Nyong'o). Phiona easily beats the other children in her program and quickly becomes the anchor of the team. Though not without a few setbacks, Phiona makes several successful tournament runs against school-educated opponents. She later becomes a national hero when she's invited to play at the Chess Olympiad, one of the biggest tournaments in the world.

The story and script hardly differentiate much from your standard, feel-good, Disney sports movie fare. What really makes this film worthwhile are the performances, especially from Nyong'o and Oyelowo who are at the top of their respective games right now. Nobody will win any Oscars for this one, but this cast should be proud of the dramatically satisfying work they hand in here. Oyelowo displays passion and heart in every smirk and in every fist pump as he watches Phiona compete. I wish I could've played anything under this guy. Nyong'o is simply a tour-de-force. They say "hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." This woman plays Harriet with a fiery disposition, one molded by her harsh surroundings. In turn, Harriet is a mother who raises her kids through "tough love," and the movie is all the better for it.

Queen of Katwe comes recommended as a largely-satisfying drama despite some familiar sports-movie tropes.

B+

"Pete's Dragon" (2016) Review

Continuing their series of big-budget reboots of back-catalog classics, Disney now brings us an update of the 1977 classic Pete's Dragon. Directed by David Lowery (Ain't Them Bodies Saints), the new film dares its audience to dream big. Although the classic music has been axed, the story is still as heartwarming as you remember, with dazzling visual effects to boot.

A young boy named Pete (Oakes Fegley) becomes stranded in the forest following a violent car accident. With no way of reaching home, Pete's only option is to try to make his way in the forest. Fortunately, he bumps into a legendary creature who becomes his best friend - a dragon named Elliot. When Elliot's way of life is threatened by a local logging company, Pete sets out to save his friend with the help of a nurturing park ranger (Bryce Dallas Howard), her imaginative father (Robert Redford), and a young girl named Natalie (Oona Laurence).

Pete's Dragon is the kind of film that celebrates and rewards imagination. They set up Redford's character as a man who claims to have seen the dragon when he was young, having told stories to his daughter and the rest of the kids in town for years. The payoff is so sweet when Elliot reveals himself to them for the first time as it feels like the climax of these characters' entire lives. It's a confirmation that they haven't been crazy for the past 40 years. It's easy to think that Redford is playing a now grown-up version of the original Pete from the earlier movie. That would've been an interesting subplot to explore in this new movie, but alas, hindsight is 20/20. It's still a wonderful film, and Redford is a welcome addition to the cast.

Bryce Dallas Howard hands in another fine performance as Grace, the ranger who takes Pete in. Wes Bentley fares fine in a supporting role as Jack, Grace's fiance and owner of the logging company. He just doesn't have much to do that allows him to show the chops he's honed in excellent recent stints on TV's American Horror Story. The child actors, Fegley and Laurence, are tremendous, hitting all of their needed emotional beats like seasoned pros. Karl Urban steals nearly every scene he's in as Jack's hotheaded brother Gavin, who manages the logging company. Gavin is a skeptic, so it's hilarious when he finally encounters Elliot in the forest. He winds up playing the villain role but isn't necessarily evil, which is kind of interesting. The biggest villain in this story is, I think, deforestation itself, and Gavin is just a representation of that.

The film leaves us with a sweet "save the trees, save your imagination" message that's so classic Disney that it's almost painful. Everything is tied up in a nice little bow, which is fine. It's nice to have a big, but self-contained, movie that doesn't feel like it's a stepping stone to a wider franchise. At the end of a summer filled with so-so blockbusters, Pete's Dragon is the savior you've been waiting for.

A

"The BFG" Review

From Disney and the creative team behind E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial comes a fun-yet-flawed live-action adaptation of author Roald Dahl's beloved children's novel The BFG. 

Young Sophie (Ruby Barnhill) is a mischievous orphan living in London. One night, she's awakened by strange noises outside her window. Little does she realize that a giant (Mark Rylance) is lurking out in the street. Because he fears that she'll alert the world to his existence, the giant whisks her away to "the land of the giants." There, Sophie discovers that her kidnapper is a warm, cheerful soul who refuses to eat children. For this reason Sophie bestows on him the name "Big Friendly Giant," or "BFG" for short. Meanwhile, the BFG's kindness is mocked by the other, bigger giants living nearby. They oppress and bully him because he is different. To put an end to it, Sophie decides that they must enlist the help of the British Armed Forces; a decision which prompts some the film's most entertaining sequences. All I'll say is that a certain monarch may want to check her shorts...

Few filmmakers have the ability to use the medium to tap into our innate sense of enchantment the way Steven Spielberg does. His version of London feels tangible despite the production design looking like a cross between both the real thing and Harry Potter. The visuals effects are dynamite, from the rendering of the giant's realm itself to Rylance's incredible performance capture. There's also a dazzling sequence at the "tree of dreams" where the BFG and Sophie go to harvest thoughts both good and bad.

While everything looks great and does well to suck us into the fantasy world of the story, The BFG lacks the emotional staying power of, say, E.T. It feels like it all builds to something of a half-climax, one that doesn't necessarily constitute a satisfying conclusion to an entire film. It just ends so matter-of-factly and with such a neat little bow tied around it that you'll probably see it and then forget it even existed by the time it hits Blu-ray this fall. Nothing about it sticks with you. That said, The BFG is excellent summer entertainment for children. It's a beautifully made kid's movie, but as Disney and Pixar have shown us before, the best of the best kid's movies have adult appeal too. Unlike some of Spielberg's previous work, you probably won't see grown men crying over this one at the 30th Anniversary screening one day. All The BFG is is a sweet, harmless little diversion. Maybe that's all it really needed to be. Just take the family, and enjoy the ride while it lasts.

B-

"Finding Dory" Review

Disney and Pixar Animation Studios invite millennials to revisit their childhoods with a sequel that will most assuredly pack theaters with the awkward dichotomy of viewers aged 5 and 25.

Finding Dory lends backstory to everyone's favorite memory-challenged blue tang (voiced by Ellen DeGeneres) from Finding Nemo. As a young fish, Dory was separated from her parents and has spent her entire life looking for them. Her search is interrupted when she (literally) bumps into Marlin, (voiced by Albert Brooks) a clownfish searching frantically for his missing son. One year later, Dory starts recalling fragments of her childhood; clues that she's convinced will lead her to her family. Her search leads her to "the Jewel of Morro Bay, California," which turns out to be a marine life institute/eco-park. Meanwhile, Marlin and Nemo follow Dory to ensure that she doesn't get too lost. At the institute, Dory meets several new characters including Hank the octopus (voiced by Ed O'Neill), Destiny the whale shark (voiced by Kaitlin Olson), and Bailey the beluga whale (voiced by Ty Burrell). Each has their own set of endearing dysfunctions; Destiny is nearsighted, Bailey's echolocation doesn't work properly, and Hank may be the only sea animal who WANTS to go to the Cleveland aquarium. Despite their flaws, Dory needs all the help she can get if she's going to find her parents and live happily ever after.

Let's be clear. Finding Nemo is still a superior film in every way. Dory suffers from "sequelitis," which means it forfeits some of its charm by repeating too many story beats from Nemo. Many of the newly-imagined plot points hinge on mindless cartoon mayhem rather than a nuanced approach to grown-up themes and a subtle sense of humor - hallmarks of Pixar's best and brightest.

Perhaps controversially, the film still glosses over the thing with the lesbian couple and also seems to poke fun at characters who are different, like Gerald the sea lion, who comes off as a caricature of mental retardation and the brunt of several jokes from new characters Fluke (voiced by Idris Elba) and Rudder (voiced by Dominic West). Depending on how they typically respond to portrayals in movies and television, parents of children with developmental disabilities will walk away either appalled or overjoyed by the way Dory involves a character who overcomes all obstacles either by using her disability to her advantage or with the assistance of a friend.

Potential flaws aside, Dory maintains a fascinating sense of pathos with the main character's backstory, and it's impossible not to fall for some of the new side characters like Destiny and Bailey. It's far from a masterpiece, but this is Pixar's best sequel since Toy Story 3, and it is absolutely a journey worth taking in 3-D.

B+