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3/10
Cool style but rambling story
29 September 2003
Warning: Spoilers
The movie is centered around the kitty-cat Tamala, who appears to be about 1 years old but has a potty-mouth and a tendency to drop-kick anyone she passes.

In her universe, cats and dogs are as humans are in ours and Earth, known as Cat Earth, is to a very large extent owned by the large corporation Catty&Co.

(spoiler warning) In the movie, Tamala's attempt to reach her berth place in the Orion system, means she ends up on planet Q, where there is a legend of a god named Tatla who will bring the world to some sort of apocalypse, which will signal the inevitable rebuilding of society in an endless cycle. (end of spoiler)

The unraveling of this storyline is the basis for the entire movie and the single reason for its failure. In its style, it is naive and clear, with all cats and dogs being bug-eyed and drawn in a fifties pattern. Intermittently, the film goes into CG-mode and beautifully rendered sequences of a robot-cat (Tatla) and Cat Earth is shown for what it most likely really looks like.

If the story had been complete, the incoherent story telling style might have succeeded, but as it is, it only succeeds in rambling on and on about Tatla, Tamala and all the other things we don't care about. People were walking out of the theatre all the time while the movie was showing and I don't blame them (at first I did, but towards the end I was also becoming fed up with the incoherency).

I don't mind a story open for interpretation: I loved Lost Highway and still think its a great movie if for no other reason than for the fact that it is SO open for interpretation. But there must be *something* to hang on to, some kind of vested interest from the viewer. In this movie there is none. We are presented with oodles of characters, none of which are particularly interesting or sympathetic and end up not caring what happens to them.

There were a few surprise laughs as Tamala drop-kicked some innocent bystander or said the f-word in some unexpected sentence, but other than that I think most people were mollified by the whole experience.

Go see "Spirited Away" instead, much better and much more engaging.
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Phone (2002)
A good horror movie
23 September 2003
Most of what can be said about this movie has been said by other commenters, but I still would like to put my views forward.

The is a horror movie, in the wake of The Ring (Ringu). The main character is a journalist (as in Ringu) who has written a series of articles about sex offenders which has brought down on her some dangerous people who have been exposed in the scandal.

When she changes her cellphone number to escape her tormentors she ends up with a number with special significance - 6644. From this point on she ends up getting very weird phone calls and after each one, she experiences increasingly violent visions.

The movie is very derivative, this is true. But which horror movie isn't? Dismissing a horror-flick and saying "This movie from 1954 has the same thing" is stupid. You can always find some older work which is similar or even the same. It's no mean feat. What's important in a horror movie is one thing: is it scary? My answer is: it is.

I was very skeptical at first and found the opening scene to be almost dull. But the enterprise takes off, most of all with the incredible performance of the little girl who can turn from sweet little angel to devlish banshee on a dime. If for no other reason, go see it and you'll have to agree that she is completely believable as possessed.

I also believe that the story is richer if less original than the Ring. It is also a very well made without much special effects or gore. It relies heavily on acting and suspense and does this well.

More story than the Ring, less originality. About as suspenseful. I think that if I'd seen the Phone before the Ring I would've liked it more.

That's my two cents worth. :) Go see it if you like horror. Don't see it if you're just going to go look for similarities with older movies.
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