vcihylik Reviews

Hidalgo (2004)

Without the horse, it's nothing.

[2/10 · 4 April 2004]

The best part of the movie is Hidalgo, a little mustang that won't give up.

I really wanted to like this movie. I mean Viggo Mortensen . . . Alas, the movie's opening 15 minutes or so are nearly identical to the opening of The Last Samurai, including Frank Hopkins' predictable alcoholic response. Do cowboys ever do anything but feel guilty, get drunk and become hucksters?

But it's when we get to Arabia that the film really loses it for me because all of the Arabs are portrayed at best as cliches (yes, even Omar Sharif's character), and at worst as racist caricatures, including the puerile attitude toward Islam.

Sadly, with very little effort the film could have just as easily developed real characters and then the horse would have had something to work with.

The Triplets of Belleville (2003)

Tres bien!

[4 April 2004]

Here's proof that there's more to cartooning than Disney. Hey, I liked Finding Nemo, but there is simply no comparison. The Triplettes of Belleville is one of the most creative, visually challenging, entertaining and funny movies I've seen in a long, long time. The idiosyncratic detail of every character (especially the dog) is amazing and laugh out loud funny. Belleville the city is a miracle of the imagination. I'll never look at another bicyclist in Central Park without hearing the tweet, tweet of grandma's whistle and the squeak, squeak of her tricycle wheels! You can't go wrong -- there's even a chase scene! Let's face it, the Oscar givers got it all wrong . . . again.