Toy Story 3

"No one gets left behind." Oh wait, it's a tag line from Black Hawk Down. "No toy gets left behind." is the actual tag line for the sequel of the legendary franchise, Toy Story. Yes, Buzz Lightyear, Woody, and their friends are back on Toy Story 3. With Lee Unkrich, the director of Toy Story 2, and John Lasseter, the director of Toy Story, both of them give a guarantee that Toy Story 3 will be as fun as the prequels.

After 11 years, the old cast making their reunion. Tom Hanks reprises his roles as Woody, Tim Allen also comes back as Buzz Lightyear, Joan Cusack with Jessie, well you can say all of the stars from previous Toy Story return.

A scene opens with Woody chasing Mr. Potato Head (Don Rickles) and his wife Mrs. Potato Head (Estelle Harris) who intended to blow a train. It turns out it some sort of dramatization of Andy's playing with them. Now, Andy is 17 years old and he's preparing to move to college. Andy's toy already feels abandoned as they always tried to grab Andy's attention. But they stick to their believe, that toys should remain loyal and always be there for their owner. Surprisingly, Andy decided to take Woody to college with him. As with some unfortunate events, the other toys found out that they're being dumped by Andy. And later on, together with Woody, they all donated to a daycare named Sunnyside Daycare. There, they're greeted with fellow donated toys with the leader, Lots-O'-Hugging-Bear (Ned Beatty), who smelled like a strawberry according to Rex (Wallace Shawn). They're given the room, "Caterpillar Room" while Lotso stays in the "Butterfly Room". Excited about the kids, Andy's toys patiently wait for the break time over. Woody, feels that he is Andy's toy and he should always stays with Andy leaves to gets back to Andy's house. Soon later, they all found out that Caterpillar Room is not a heaven for toys. And so, their journey to gets back to Andy begins.

I watch Toy Story 3 in 3D, and I was entertained. Even though I didn't watch Toy Story and Toy Story 2 at the cinema (I'm 1 year old at the time Toy Story released, and 4 years old at the time Toy Story 2 released; do you expect me to watch it on the cinema?) I did watched it on TV. And yes, for Toy Story 3 really reminds me about the old day. And it even made me feels bad about my old toy, who I didn't even remember where did I kept them. If they can speak like Andy's toy maybe they'll be upset. 

For children (and also adults) Toy Story 3 is a blast. It teaches us a lot of things, such as friendship. And it remind you, your old toys can be made useful once again by donating it to children who really needs it. To entertain kids, that is the purpose of toys. So please respect your toys. See you later, amigo. To infinity, and beyond!

Karate Kid

"No pun intended, was raised by the power of Will." A piece of the lyrics of Justin Bieber ft. Jaden Smith, "Never Say Never". Curious about the power of Will? Yes, you're right. Jaden Smith is the son of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith. The song itself serves as one of the soundtrack for the 1984 remake, Karate Kid. The Smith family works together, but with Jaden Smith's parents being the producer. The director is Harald Zwart who directed Pink Panther 2.

So the film sets in China. No, I'm not making a mistake. And yes, I know karate is originated from Japan. But, how do they convinced you that this is the remake if they named it, Kung Fu Kid? I remind you, this is a remake. A pretty good one. Why? If I'm telling you one by one the page won't fit. I recommend you, no, I insist you to go to a nearby cinema and watch this.

The story follows closely to the original Karate Kid, Dre Parker (Jaden Smith), who lost his dad, and his mom, Sherry Parker (Taraji P. Henson) move to China because of his mom's career. He's so upset about moving, as he is leaving his friends in Detroit. Arriving in his new apartment, he befriend fellow American, Mark (Christopher Hillman) who assists him around the neighborhood. At the local park, he has a crush on Chinese girl who plays violin, Mei Ying (Wenwen Han). Suddenly, Cheng (Zhenwei Wang) approach him and tells him to keeps away. Agitated, Dre attacks him only to be beaten up, as Cheng learns kung fu. At school, Dre gets bullied by Cheng and his gang. Until, he is attack fiercely by Cheng and Cheng's dojomate and saved by his apartment maintenance man, Mr. Han (Jackie Chan) who apparently proficient in kung fu and beats them all. He requested Mr. Han to accompany him to visit to Cheng's dojo and tells that Cheng's teacher ways of teaching kung fu is not kung fu. Then, they're challenged to fight but Mr. Han says that Dre will fight at the upcoming tournament. Mr. Han then agreed to teach Dre, and this involve kind of training that Dre doesn't understand, just putting his jacket on, putting it off, hang it, drops it, and repeat the same move every day. He even thinks that Mr. Han knows nothing about kung fu. Soon later, he learns that the move itself is the basic technique. To cut the story short, he finally comes to attend the tournament.

Mother and son moving from their old city to a new place, gang of bully with brutal move, crush with local girl, kind and wise maintenance man who mastered self-defense, strange training, tournament. Reminds you of the old time? Daniel LaRusso and Mr.Miyagi? Yes, as it is a remake, it follows the story line of the original movie pretty close. But they did it in a very magnificent way. Brilliant. And this movie is one whole package, emotional time, funny but not cheesy, fun to watch. You know what? When I watch Karate Kid, the whole audience clapped not only at the ending, also at the tournament scene. It feels like I'm watching a live tournament.

Jaden Smith is indeed showing his big talent in acting, also in singing for the soundtrack. He is the son of Will Smith. I'm pretty sure that he has pretty bright future in the industry. Also we see the other side of Jackie Chan, who usually plays funny role, but he is also plays pretty well portraying a wise man with a dark past. He managed to catched our emotion, at least mine. To be honest, I nearly cried watching the scene when .... (No no I won't give you a spoiler here.) But a clue, similiar scene when Mr. Miyagi made you cry (If you cry back then.)

I don't know what to say. I give Karate Kid a perfect score. Especially for a remake. Jaden Smith, Jackie Chan, Harald Zwart, Will Smith, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Taraji P. Henson, all work pretty hard to make this movie. And they did it. I'm pretty sure Pat Morita who portrays Mr. Miyagi in the original series would be proud seeing the remake if he still alive. I really appreciate his works on Karate Kid, as he's one of my favorite. Too bad he died on 2005, thank you for your great contribution Mr. Miyagi!

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

"Have I told you that I fell in love with Gemma Arteton?", well, there's not making relevance to the movie. But, I tell you, Gemma Arteton is indeed beautiful. I first saw her in Clash of the Titans, and immediately fall in love for her. As soon as I heard Prince of Persia movie adaptation is out, I think that I should check it out. Beside that I'm a gamer and I know Prince of Persia franchise, there's Gemma Arteton starring! Ok, enough with my praise for Gemma Arteton. Seating in the director seat is Mike Newell, and Jerry Bruckheimer as one of the producer. And the studio, beside Jerry Bruckheimer Films, is Disney! Don't worry, Mickey doesn't makes his appearance in the movie, nor the movie become a cartoon.

Like many movies, the movie opens with a narration about destiny. Then the story shifted to the royal city of Persia (sorry, I forgot the name.) where the King (or Sultan?) of Persia adopts an orphan named Dastan (Jake Gyllenhaal) who astonished the King Sharaman (Ronald Pickup) with his courage. 15 years later, he and his two brothers, Tus and Garsiv, together with their uncle who serves as the vizier, Nizam (Ben Kingsley) planning to attack the holy city of Alamut. Dastan become a hero, by opening the gate to the city throughout some acrobatical stunts. In the battle for the city, he took a dagger from a fleeing general. He's then presents a robe to his father, who is later poisoned by the robe. Being framed as a murderer, he ran from Alamut together with the princess of Alamut, Tamina (Gemma Arteton). Funny interaction occurs between these two, and soon it revealed the dagger he took before is the Dagger of Time which is capable of turning back time. Tamina always tries to retook the dagger, as she feared that it would fall for the wrong hands. And later on, Dastan learns who kills his father, and the main reason for the attack on Alamut.

The movie is action-packed, and if you already played the games, you can expect the acrobatic moves the Prince did in the games. And also, many of the historical or myth along Persia found here. Such as Hashshashin, I think the movie spelled it Hassansins, or the Persian Empire itself. Hey, I forget to tell you, Alfred Molina has a funny appearance (at least for me) as Sheik Amar, a merchant who wants to escape taxes.

To everyone who thinks this is a movie for your children, I think not really. Just because it has Disney emblem at the beginning, it doesn't mean that it could works for your children. Remember Pirates of the Carribean? They also had Disney emblem on it. But maybe it could awe your children with the acrobatic stunts, maybe even inspire them to learn Parkour.

Kick-Ass

"Shut up. Kick-Ass." Interesting tagline from the independently budgeted superhero film taken from the comic with the same title (what a long introduction). The comic itself has just ended around 2 months before the US premiere of the movie. Guess what, it's a Marvel comics! Maybe it's not in the A-team rooster, but yeah Kick-ass definitely kick some ass with "unique" form of presentation. With Matthew Vaughn as the director, also with Brad Pitt as the producer.

A narration open and we can see a so-called superhero preparing to jump over a skyscraper. Then it turns to the life of Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) who is not a popular guy, average academic score, not a hardcore gamer, and has no girl. His love of comic books makes him thinks why there isn't anyone who try becoming a superhero. So he tries to put on a mask and scuba suit, naming his superhero, Kick-Ass. He's fell in love with Katie Deauxma (Lindsay Fonseca) who thinks he's gay, and when she complain about a drug dealer, he tries to serve the justice himself. Nearly getting killed, he's safe by Hit-Girl (Chloe Grace Moretz) with her father, Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage). Big Daddy himself was once a hero cop who gets framed by Frank D'Amico (Mark Strong) who become the main antagonist. His wife died, and he intended to do vengeance his style together with his daughter.

Hmm, it's sounds pretty superhero? Wait until you hear this part, there is no-one who have a superhero power. Yup, no superhuman strength, no invisibility, time warp, and so-called power who is given to a refugee from a doomed alien planet (quoting from Dave, you know who is it right?). So the superheroes are so human, just like Bruce Wayne minus his fancy tools.

Did I mention that is the most interesting part? No, it's not. You know what makes Kick-Ass kick ass? Gore. Yes, total violence, decapitation, blood, bones-breaking, immolation, you named it. That's why Matthew Vaughn funded the movie himself, every studio want to reduce the level of the violence. Good thing, he didn't. This thing makes both the comic and the movie rocks! Even it's not a prime Marvel heroes.

Last, "This film is not suitable for children, or any person who is against violence. And tells your anti-violence group also not to watch this. Blood and human parts are everywhere." 

You have been warned. Any personal mental injuries occurred after watching the movie is not the responsibility of Republic of Movie.

Robin Hood

"Rise, and rise again. Until lambs become lions." The inscription Robin Longstride (Russell Crowe) found on a sword. Robin Longstride is also known as Robin Hood who once again adapted into the big screen. Directed by the man behind Gladiator, Ridley Scott, who also directed many of epic movie, there is no doubt about this movie. Also, rejoining with him is Russell Crowe who perform magnificently in Gladiator as Maximus Decimus Meridius. Also, Cate Blanchett is casted on this movie to plays as Marion Loxley, the love interest of Robin Hood.

The film opens with a somekind of error, which the narration said "... the turn of the 12th century" which we'll see that the story take place at the 1200s so it should be 13th century. It followed back to France where Richard the Lionheart (Danny Huston) is returning from the Crusade, and on the way raiding the French castle. On his ranks there is a longbowman, Robin Longstride, who is wishing to return to England with some of his comrades. On the middle of a siege, King Richard got struck by a bolt and died soon after. Seeing opportunity, Robin and his friends escape through the forest. As later on they met a band of English knights carrying King Richard's crown ambushed by French legionnaire. A dying knight, Sir Robert Loxley (Douglas Hodge) asking Robin to bring back his father's sword to Nottingham, England. To cut the story short, they returned to England and went to Nottingham where Robin meets Robert Loxley's wife, Marion Loxley. After informing the news, soon spread the words that the barons from the North raises an army to oppose King John (Oscar Isaac) while from the South, the French troops arriving fast. Robin then realized his father's works and managed to unite the British man and also save Nottingham. Then they come face to face with the French and finally drive them back to the sea.

What? Confuse with the synopsis? Where's robbing from the rich, giving to the poor part? Well, as the movie poster said, Untold story behind the legend. So, it some kind of prequel before Robin Hood journeys as an outlaw with his fellow Merry Men.

Ridley Scott showed us his superiority in terms of directing a movie, the story was solid, although to some of us who read or learn about the fact get disappointed. Their missing some, or maybe many of the historical accuracies. One example, how could the French already invented the landing boat that was used on World War II in the 13th century (or maybe 12th century as the narrator said)? Or if Robin Hood is already at that age before being an outlaw, how long he can lead his Merry Men in the woods?

Besides all of the inaccuracies, or the lack of character development, Ridley Scott still did a good job. If you're okay with the strange history, or maybe just want to enjoy the epic works of Ridley Scott, this movie still serves you well.