Film: Finding Dory – great for kids from 5 to 95!

8 July 2016.

3 to see, and 1 to miss.

FINDING DORY ***

Pixar Studios just never fail to enchant. They truly are the ultimate art form of animation, including such gems as “Toy Story”, “WALL-E”, “Cars”, or “Monsters, Inc.” It’s not only their brilliant technology, but the fun and goodness they convey in their delightful tales.

This one about a Dory, a little blue fish who suffers from short-term memory loss, is a continuation of the unforgettable “Finding Nemo”, with the same characters and ocean adventures. And the short clip entitled “Piper”, before the film, is the cherry on the cake! Great for kids from 5 to 95.

STONEWALL **1/2

It’s 1969 and homosexuals are considered deviants, and maybe still curable…at least in small towns, U.S.A. The New York scene, especially Greenwich Village, and specifically Christopher Street, are a bit more used to their lifestyle. Tolerated, but harassed by the police, by club owners, by on-lookers and paying, often-scared customers of their services. For these are often runway kids, rejected by their parents and communities.

Danny is such a one, newly arrived from Indiana, after being found out at his school and especially by his strict, disapproving father. He has the fresh, clean look that attracts both the street kids and the vultures. And he’s hoping to get into Columbia University.

This is the tale that Roland Emmerich, the German/American director of such blockbusters as “Independence Day”, “The Patriot” and “The Day After Tomorrow” has concocted to illustrate a crucial, historical moment which sparked the Gay Power movement in June,1969.

Being himself gay, Emmerich felt that using a personal story of the innocent Danny and his new- found friends would highlight the incident. In wanting to appeal to a wider audience through this motley group he has invented, it seems he has alienated the core gay community, who mostly feel he should have concentrated more on the actual riots. Pity, for his yarn, however naive, does open up an incident that few of us ever knew about.

MIDNIGHT SPECIAL **

Here’s a dark, eerie story of a boy with supernatural powers, possibly from another universe, who has been raised in a cult of ultra religious fanatics. He has been abducted by his own father, for reasons which may be cleared up as the yarn develops, with lots TV coverage, strange phenomena, and police and troopers chasing the runaways. Feels like an M. Night Shyamalan film (“The Sixth Sense”, “The Visit”), if that’s your thing.

And the 1 to miss:

LEGEND OF TARZAN
You really want to save your time and money on this latest version of the Tarzan story. Everything in it is terrible: silly script, awful acting and characterisation, sloppy computer graphics, editing, etc. etc… I won’t even elaborate.

Superb **** Very Good *** Good ** Mediocre * Miserable – no stars

By Neptune

Neptune Ravar Ingwersen reviews film extensively for publications in Switzerland. She views 4 to 8 films a week and her aim is to sort the wheat from the chaff for readers.

Click here for past reviews.

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