Horton (Jim Carey) is an elephant with a enormous imagination who normally spends his days teaching the young animals of the jungle. However, one day he overhears a voice coming from a speck of dust floating through the air. He realizes that there must be people living on the speck and discovers the voice is the Mayor of Whoville (Steve Carell). Unfortunately nobody else in the jungle can hear the voice as they don’t have Horton’s huge ears and he soon finds he has to do everything he can to stop Whoville from being destroyed.

Horton Hears a Who! is a children’s story by Dr Suess which I have to admit to having never read. These books completely past me by as a child and I suspect I was subjected to less imaginative fodder instead. Which is a shame as I’m as much of a fan of rhyming verse as the next person. Still, I did recently get dragged along to do some shopping for a baby shower and had a chance to flick through the pages of Horton hears a Who!. It certainly seemed to me that the film stays pretty faithful to the story.

I think what I found most refreshing about this movie is that it took me a while to figure out which characters Jim Carey and Steve Carell were playing. It seriously could have been the other way around and I really like that. It felt like they were actually making an effort to play the characters as opposed to just being a famous voice in an animated cartoon. I find with some of the other animated stories, with a whole host of famous voices, it tends to distract a little bit from the actual story. Here I think the story was first and foremost in the minds of everyone involved.

I suppose it’s easy to be extremely casual about the animation because we’ve seen this kind of quality before but I’m always blown away by the amount of effort it must take. As you’d expect it’s all flawlessly done and is a visually stunning piece of animation. Certainly the feel of the characters seemed to fit perfectly with how they were portrayed in the book. That could have been a big pitfall for any die hard Dr Suess fans out there but I’d be surprised if they didn’t like this movie.

I liked the story. I think it was genuinely funny as well imaginative. Perfect for kids and there’s probably enough there to keep adults entertained as well. It also didn’t try to be a super cool movie with popular references thrown in. The original Dr Suess story was the focus and it served the film superbly well.

There’s definitely a lot to enjoy. A simple story that’s perfect for a family movie session. I can’t think of a more imaginative way to introduce the idea of parallel universes into the mind’s of kids!

Thomas Barnes (Dennis Quaid) is just back on active duty with the Secret Service on the U.S. President’s close protection detail. Understandably jumpy from being shot six months earlier, the last place Barnes wants to be is in the middle of a terrorist plot on the President’s life. Through the eyes of several people involved in the incident Vantage Point tries to uncover the truth of the terrorist plot.

Although the whole idea of this movie is to focus on each main character and show the terrorists’ attack from different viewpoints, it doesn’t hide the fact that the story just isn’t that exciting. If this had been shot in a conventional sequential manner it would have been a standard run-of-the-mill thriller. Having the story stop and spin back to the beginning to be told again through someone else’s eyes is a nice idea, but it doesn’t help to build any suspense or thrills. And, to be honest by the third or fourth time of spinning back to the beginning I was getting fed up of watching the same incident again. There were perhaps a couple of genuine moments of revelation from the switch in viewpoint, but not enough to warrant the premise.

Still, there’s nothing really offensive about this movie. The acting is okay without being outstanding. Quaid and Whitaker are really just going through the motions. Half the problem is that nobody really gets the focus long enough to become indelible on the film. You get the usual explosions, car chases and people being shot without having to invest anything into the movie. It’s a shame because there is a lot of clever thinking behind the terrorist plot and it doesn’t warrant the kind of anti-climatic ending that’s served up.

I wonder how much thought that went into the shooting of the different viewpoints took away from making the story one that’s worth watching. It really needed to back up the plot with a lot more substance  and it’s not as it wasn’t there to be had. The shock aspects of the terrorism could have been played out more and there’s a whole betrayal sub-plot that’s hardly given a second thought.  It’s a shame because there’s a great cast wasted on this film.

Vantage Point is certainly watchable but if you’re like me most of it will just wash over you. There was a point where I thought it might become an entertaining stand off as the terrorists and Secret Service try to out think each other but the promise was never realized. By the time the film stops spinning around from every viewpoint it has become an instantly forgettable movie. A solid film but don’t expect too much.

Juno MacGuff (Ellen Page) is sixteen, smart, sassy  and not above deflowering her best friend Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera). Unfortunately their tryst leads to Juno getting pregnant and facing the prospect of motherhood. Ever the pragmatist, she decides on finding a couple who are looking to adopt a child. Things may not always go to plan but they do tend to work out in the end.

I’m really pleased this won the best original screenplay as I’m a big fan of the sassy one liners that pep the script throughout. I know it tends to stretch the credibility of the  characters if they’re all capable of punching out a funny line, but I think that’s acceptable in a smart comedy. I’m also glad that the drama is kept to a minimum. I’m not sure I would have wanted to watch a lot of teenage angst. It was kind of refreshing that Juno just gets on with things.

Page is excellent as Juno and a lot of fun to watch throughout. Garner is perfect as the uptight woman desperate to become a mother and Bateman is okay as her seemingly trapped husband. It’s also good to see J.K. Simmons pop up as Juno’s dad, although it’s hard not to instantly think of him as Spiderman’s J. Jonah Jameson even without the trademark hair. Michael Cera is probably the one actor that could have benefited from a bit more to do than look slightly bemused from time to time.

The only minor gripe I have with this film is that no character really gets to grow apart from Juno.  It would have been great to see how Bleeker would have coped with the prospect of fatherhood, rather than having him on the outside looking in.  I was also left wondering what the adoptive couple saw in each other in the first place. They seemed  such a mismatch from the start that it was hard to see how they had ever gotten together. For a young married couple it’s kind of scary to see them drift apart so quickly.

I thought this movie was funny from start to finish. Perhaps not as well rounded as I was expecting but I think it builds on the jokes to make an entertaining glimpse into Juno’s world. I don’t think this film set out to be the coolest movie on the block, it just went it’s own way and couldn’t have turned out much better. A lot of fun and very entertaining.  It’s a must watch movie for me.

Barrow, a small town perched on the edge of Alaska within the Arctic circle, is preparing for it’s annual month-long plunge into darkness. Sheriff Eben Oleson (Josh Hartnett) begins to link together a series of strange crimes whose purpose becomes startlingly apparent as the darkness descends.  Deaths come thick and fast as a group of ferocious vampires terrorize the town. The only question is whether the survivors will ever see the sun again.

30 days of night is based upon a comic book written by Steve Niles and there are times when it feels those pages of terror are rendered strikingly onto film. It really is visually stunning in places. Most notable is the capture of the majestic snow covered land of northern Alsaka, and an overhead shot of the vampire’s attack on the town, making the whole scene graphically compelling.

Unfortunately the stylish shots aren’t there throughout the film. It’s a shame because they are the only real highlight. The premise of a small town cut-off from the rest of the world having to endue 30 days of terror couldn’t be better for a horror movie. The trouble is the film fails to be truly scary. There are too many close-up shots of vampires idly screaming into the night to garner any real suspense or frights.

The cast are fine and on the human side the plight of Barrow’s inhabitant’s makes sense and is handled well. Disappointedly the vampires don’t get off so easy and are almost an afterthought with no real focus or ambition. The leader is reduced to the odd ramble, as if to explain their presence or why they haven’t been detected for centuries. None of it comes off with any satisfying results. It’s annoying as this is one of those movies that feels it’s missed out on being a cult classic.

If you don’t take any of it seriously there is enough here for a couple of hours of gory fun. The only cringe worthy scene  is the final showdown between the Sheriff and the vampires. It couldn’t be more anti-climatic, only serving to completely undermine the preceding violence and gruesome blood sucking. The final violent act is a sadly comical ending for all concerned.

I can’t say I didn’t enjoy this movie or that is wasn’t worth watching. There’s just not enough to make you want to hide behind the sofa. It’s always disappointing when the instigators of horror fail to live up to their billing.