cricketnut2006 Reviews

Racing Stripes (2005)

Good-natured inoffensive romp

[8/10 · 13 August 2006]

Please, why do so many adults persist in reviewing children's films and reading stuff into it that just isn't meant to be there? Ignore the mean comments on this film, it is a rib-tickling and engaging effort. Sure, it is completely non-challenging but why should a kid's film have to have a message? (That's where Pixar has gone wrong lately with reprehensible, Disney slop like Cars.) As for the morons who claim to be offended on their kids' behalf by the flies farting or pelicans crapping - double please! Kids love fart and poo jokes and they just add to the general fun. Hayden Panetierre is spot-on as the cute teenage rider and doesn't even try to be sexy. The villain and villainess are just bad enough to boo but not nasty enough to be threatening, especially when you know all along that the zebra is gonna whoop their butts. Family fun that won't leave a nasty taste, or indeed any taste, but so what!

Cars (2006)

More Disney than Pixar

[1/10 · 3 August 2006]

I saw Cars with my seven-year-old daughter - we are both huge fans of all the Pixar classics and perhaps for that reason our expectations for Cars were too high. As it was, we found this effort a total let-down. The plot is tired and loaded with hackneyed sentimentality. You could see where it was going almost before it got under way. The characters were little more than one-dimensional clichés and the dialogue was so lazy, it seemed to have been written by robots. There was just one redeeming gag that made me laugh out loud, a Shakespearean allusion that would have been over the heads of all the kids in the audience, and probably would have been wasted on most of the adults! What on earth has happened to the all-round brilliant Pixar of Bug's Life, Toy Story and Finding Nemo? If they think we'll go and watch any old dross just because it's Pixar, they're right - but this will only work once. I shan't bother with any of their future efforts. Dreamworks for us from now on!

Snow Dogs (2002)

Lots of "mush" - and great family fun

[7/10 · 25 January 2006]

The very best kids' films are just as enjoyable for parents as for their offspring, but they're rare (and mostly made by Pixar these days). Snow Dogs is not in this league but it is still pure knockabout fun for the little 'uns, with a good deal of mush thrown in - as in sentimentality AND dog racing. Parents will enjoy it because they're enjoying watching their kids enjoying it, if you see what I mean. My six-year-old daughter loved it for the novelty of seeing dogs pulling sleds over snow, and for the way Cuba Gooding happily clowns around on the ice. He is wonderful, as is James Coburn in one of his last roles, while the comely heroine is played by a former Miss Philippines. A satisfying kiddies' film and, as my 17-year-old son grudgingly pronounced, "a lot better than Angelina bloody Ballerina".

Lassie (2005)

Sentimental nonsense but still made me sniffle!

[8/10 · 22 December 2005]

I haven't seen the Liz Taylor version but I'm guessing that this one is a bit grittier. There are some nasty scenes of cruelty to dogs, although you never actually see one getting hit (they wouldn't be allowed to, would they!) so don't take a child if they're exceptionally sensitive. There are some great supporting roles from legendary actors such as Peter O'Toole and Gregor Fisher (Rab C Nesbitt), with cameos from the likes of Robert Hardy, Edward Fox and Angela Thorne (To The Manner Born, Maggie Thatcher impersonator) and the kids are cute but not too saccharine. But the scene is definitely stolen by the dog. Just as it should be, and a Christmassy ending to boot. Great family entertainment for kids over eight.