Home Media Magazine - March 2-8, 2008 - (Page 22) REVIEWS I DRAGONS: DESTINY OF FIRE Prebook 3/7; Street 4/8 Laguna, Animated, $14.95 DVD, NR. www.homemediamagazine.com F lying in on the zeitgeist of all things magical comes the Peruvian animated film Dragons, a tale of a lost dragon prince. Raised by condors that stumble upon his egg, Jon-Jon is confused by his appearance and mocked by his malicious siblings until the day he finds a necklace that leads to Marina, another dragon, who leads him home to save the dragon kingdom. In this masterful Pixar age, any computer animation that’s less than stellar comes off as more stiff and amateurish than it deserves. The character designs in Dragons are unique, and the close-up animation isn’t so bad, but the action scenes — especially those of the characters in flight — look like old-school stop-motion figures suspended by wires in front of a static backdrop. Originally in Spanish, the dubbing isn’t too bad, but one wonders if there are some cultural quirks that Americans just might not get, particularly as it concerns the characters. These animals are mean. Jon-Jon’s siblings are horrid, shrill beings. The first chance he gets, he fries them to a crisp (they do survive, cartoonstyle). Once Jon-Jon becomes a full-fledged drag- on, he goes on a power trip and finds it acceptable to burn down a jungle because he’s training for battle, and then mocks the local nature god when he dares complain. Marina is a shrew who dismisses Jon-Jon’s adopted parents’ love for him because she’s come to take him to his “real” home. Even his friend Lily, a glowworm, turns sour when she becomes jealous of Marina. A poor monkey, clearly modeled on Ice Age’s squirrel Scrat, is the object of much physical abuse. For dragon-loving kids who are tired of all these fairy-themed flicks in the theaters, Dragons might satisfy their appetite as long as they’re not too discerning about the level of animation offered. – Laura Tiffany I BEN 10: RACE AGAINST TIME Prebook 3/4; Street 4/8 Warner, Family, $14.97 DVD, NR. Stars Graham Phillips, Lee Majors, Robert Picardo. I “ T h e h o r r o r g e n r e h a s a n e w t a l e n t e d d i r e c t o r ’FEAR HOUSE’ is part ‘PHANTASM’, part ‘EVIL DEAD’ and part ‘BLACK CHRISTMAS.’” -Horror Theater Video UPC UPC 880215105390 880215105697 ITEM NUMBER ITEM NUMBER LIF-DV-1053 SRP $19.98 LIF-DV-1056 SRP $34.98 myspace.com/fearhouse 16/9 Letterbox // 86 minutes // 5.1 Surround // Not Rated PRE-ORDER: STREET DATE: MARCH 4th APRIL 1st DISTRIBUTED BY n this live-action, full-length picture based on Cartoon Network’s popular animated series “Ben 10,” geeky high-school misfit Ben Tennyson, who moonlights as a whole slew of superheroes, must save his hometown from an evil alien who threatens to obliterate it. Eon, an evil alien captured and incarcerated two centuries earlier by a secret group known as the Plumbers, manages to break free and unleashes destruction on Ben’s sleepy little hamlet. But rather than leaving town, the villain hangs around, repeatedly confronting Ben and forcing the boy into a series of superhero forms in order to fight off the bad guy. Over the course of several encounters, Ben learns from his grandfather that the Plumbers, who include a number of Ben’s teachers and school administrators, have always known that Eon might escape and they have been planning for just such a disaster. But, apparently, they failed to anticipate every contingency. Although Race Against Time suffers from many of the predictable obstacles when translating a sci-fi cartoon into a live-action movie, there are a number of things that the film does right. The Plumbers, led by the formerly bionic Majors, ham it up as the geeks who have been saving the world for years. Picardo, best known as the holographic doctor on “Star Trek: Voyager,” is especially fun to watch. Phillips manages to capture both Ben’s innocence and his smartaleckness, along with the frustration that he feels at being unable to reveal his secret powers to the bullies at school who pick on him. Much of the effects-laden action seems to reference the Power Rangers, featuring an almost purposeful, low-tech cheesiness. Fans of the animated series certainly will enjoy this foray into Ben’s (sort of) real world. But kids unfamiliar with the television show might find the action confusing. – Anne Sherber 22 Home Media Magazine March 2–8, 2008 http://www.homemediamagazine.com http://myspace.com/fearhouse
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