Ink of Blood

(This review may contain spoilers).

I saw this film advertised at the cinema originally, but although I was intrigued by the trailer, it wasn’t until today (well, yesterday) that I managed to sit down and watch this with my sister (sorta) and my niece.

I found the concept of the three realms a really interesting one. The idea of the rulers of two of the realms having a wager regarding three people from the realm of the living was a really interesting one… although I was a bit hard-pressed to figure out exactly why it was those three people that Xibalba and La Muerte were drawn to.

Although I’m far from a fan of love triangles, I did like the fact that, although it was obvious who the viewers should be rooting for Maria to end up with, both Manolo and Joaquin were interesting characters with good and bad things about them. It was also interesting to see how each was affected by their father.

I wasn’t sure I liked Maria all that much. She came across as quite shallow at times… though, as a child, I did think she was quite sweet. And the three children together were adorable.

The narration throughout the movie worked really well and added something of an air of mystery as to whether the story was just that… or real. That question was answered in a really cool way by the end, though. And I liked the feel of mythology about this movie.

I wouldn’t say there was much in the way of humour in this movie, although there were a lot of engaging scenes. Manolo’s grandmother and grandfather were particularly amusing… and it was good to see how they celebrated the day of the dead.

I found the animation to work really well, although it did give all of the realms, including that of the living, an ‘otherworldly’ feel. There were a lot of really nice instances of great imagery and I felt the voice actors did a good job of allowing emotion to come through. The characters were interesting and had more depth to them than first appeared and I did enjoy watching this. I would probably watch this again in the future.

(This review may contain spoilers).

This movie was one I wasn’t too fussed about seeing. Although it looked amusing from the trailers, I was content to wait to see it. But having had the chance to go and see the movie today, with my brother, sister and niece, I decided to go.

I did find the movie amusing in places. Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell are both actors I’ve seen in different roles and it was cool to see them in a movie together.

I had quite a lot of sympathy for Brad, but it was really good to see the film portraying the way Megan and Dylan viewed their stepfather. It was sweet to see something of acceptance from the children… at least until their biological father showed up.

I thought Dusty was an amusing character, but it was kind of sad how Dylan and Megan became ammunition for the feud between Dusty and Brad. I wasn’t especially keen on Sara for some of the film. I felt that she’d put Brad into quite a bad position.

I felt that Griff was a bit of a random character. I wasn’t sure if Dusty had known him before and there was very little detail about his past. He really only seemed to be there to create tension between the two of them.

There were some really quite disturbing scenes in this movie and I did feel like a lot of the humour was shown in the preview. There were other actors I recognised as well… but I did find it a bit weird that so many of the other characters seemed to know Dusty. I actually found it really hard to know anything about him. There were hints of what he really did, but it would have been good to see those hints expanded upon.

I thought that the ending was good and left the movie open for a sequel. I doubt I’ll watch this again any time soon, but it was an entertaining way to spend a couple of hours.

(This review may contain spoilers).

My niece has been really wanting to see this movie, so I watched it today with her and found myself enjoying it quite a bit.

Although the idea of the kids from fairytale characters interacting with each other isn’t a unique idea, I thought that the way it was handled was. It was easy to feel sympathy for Mal, Evie, Jay and Carlos, growing up on a small island closed off from everywhere else. Of course, it was a bit disappointing that the villains were all stereotypical, but the teenagers were interesting in the way they gravitated away from taking after what their parents did.

It was good to see all of them dealing with normal classes. I did have a strong dislike for Aubrey’s character. I felt that many of the hereos’ kids actually came across as more villainous. I would have liked more development of some of the minor characters… but I thought Carlos was sweet and especially with Dude.

There were some nice songs in this movie, although the Ridiculous one was a little bit cringeworthy. While I did like Mal’s character, I actually found Evie to be more interesting. It was good that she was shown to be intelligent… but I would have liked to see more instances of that.

I thought it was interesting to see how Auroden had more or less done away with magic, though I was confused about the time period. Presumably, it was set in a parallel universe… but it’s not made very clear. I also felt that some of the jobs didn’t make a lot of sense; such as Snow White being a news reporter.

I did recognise a few actors in this movie and it was nice to see them working in this. I would have liked to see the other parent with the four villain kids, since they presumably didn’t just come from their mother/father.

I did find this movie to be entertaining, even though it was fairly stereotypical and didn’t really challenge me as a viewer. Still, I probably wouldn’t mind watching it again.

(This review may contain spoilers).

I watched this movie originally when it was out in cinemas, but only rewatched it today.

It was nice to see that this movie had a more modern feel to it… though it wasn’t very clear about what time period the film was set in or whereabouts the film was set.

I felt a lot of sympathy for Penelope… especially with the way her mother saw her as ugly. The relationship between her and her father was a bit nicer… and I felt some sympathy for him, since he was clearly a hen-pecked husband.

It was interesting that this movie was narrated by Penelope. There was a bit of humour at the beginning and although I did feel that Penelope’s mother was a bit over the top, I felt it fit with the world and her character.

It was a bit surprising that every single potential suitor reacted the same way. While an argument could be made for them reacting out of shock, it would have been good to see some slightly different reactions.

I would have liked to see Penelope interacting with Jake and Wanda. It was difficult to see what kind of relationship she had with them, though I did like the fact that Penelope was really naive and unsure about the world when she managed to go outside.

I really liked that Penelope and Max had a chance to get to know each other. There was a lot of humorous banter between them… but also some really sweet moments. I also really liked the friendships that formed between Penelope and the people outside her home. There were a couple of nice montages and also some really nice music… though I think I viewed ‘You Are My Sunshine’ completely differently after this movie.

I liked the ending of this movie and although it isn’t perfect, it is a really good, entertaining movie with a really sweet romance and a nice ending. It’s a film I like seeing again.