Rapidfire Reviews: Scott Does The Oscars pt 2

       In this installment I will be reviewing all the movies up for best animated film this year.  Unfortunately I never saw Frankenweenie, so I won't review it, but I saw the rest so I can probably make a decision as to which was the actual best movie based on that.

Brave

       Brave is the actual winner of the award, and though it was good I don't think it was the best.  The movie follows princess Merida who is being forced to choose a suitor, but she doesn't want this finds a witch who turns her mother into a bear.  When she goes back to the witch she is out of town and Merida and her mom must find a way to reverse the spell.  The movie isn't as humorous as I was expecting for a Pixar movie, and it was clearly aimed at an older audience, however the biggest problem with this movie is that it was originally an entirely different movie that was obviously edited together with the new script.  It was a great movie to be sure, but I felt it was a little lacking for Pixar, especially after Toy Story 3.  I give the movie an A-.

Paranorman

       If I did this entry yesterday like I planned to, this movie wouldn't be here, but I found it on Netflix last night and watched it.  The plot is a boy named Norman can see ghosts, and his "crazy" uncle who has the same gift dies.  His ghost tells Norman that he was the one keeping the Witch's curse at bay and now that responsibility falls on Norman.  However Norman is unable to prevent the curse and the bodies of those who persecuted the Witch rise from the dead.  The movie has some interesting plot twists I don't want to spoil so you'll just have to watch it.  It also has a first in a children's movie, again a twist.  I really enjoyed this movie, the characters were likable, the plot was original, and all the twists kept the movie a surprise.  However the animation was a bit jerky, even for a claymation film and the character designs were a bit uninspired.  I give Paranorman a B+.

The Pirates! Band of Misfits

       Possibly the funniest movie on this list.  Pirates is about a pirate captain named Pirate Captain who wants to win pirate of the year.  While plundering he runs into Charles Darwin who informs him his parrot is actually a Dodo bird and they go to England to enter a science contest.  I was laughing the entire movie and even forgave how predictable the film was.  With character names like Pirate Captain, Suspiciously Curvacious Pirate, and Pirate Who Loves Rainbows and Unicorns, this movie has to be funny.  Sadly however as I mentioned before the film was extremely predictable, to the point where I knew what would happen before it did.  And it is this predictability that forces me to give the film a B+.

Wreck-It Ralph

       Wreck-It Ralph is about a video game villain living in an arcade who gets tired of being the bad guy and decides to game jump.  This leads to Fix-It Felix, the games hero having to find Ralph before their game is unplugged because Ralph is missing.  All the games shown are parodies, so don't expect Mushroom Kingdom or Green Hill Zone to appear, and the video game characters that are in the movie are only in to for only a few minutes as cameos.  Disney is great at taking ideas nobody thinks of, and making them into amazing movies, this is no exception.  The movie did an amazing job of developing all of the plot points and characters, as well as tell a fantastic story with some great jokes.  This is my personal favorite movie on this list, and I give it an A.

       Well there are the reviews of the best animated movies of the year.  If you have anything to say about my opinions, feel free to leave a comment below.