Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)

Hooray, horray for Wallace and Gromit! I was a major fan of the original cartoons, and so was eagerly awaiting the release of this. Then I started hearing negative things about it and I began to be a little bit wary. What if mainstreamness had murdered my beloved 'toons? When it came out on video, my mom rented it for us, and I sat down to watch it . . . and absolutely loved it. What a fantastic movie! Totally in the spirit of the originals. Full of silly sight gags, horrible puns, nifty inventions, and some talented voice actors. I cannot recommend this movie highly enough. It's stupendous. I can't wait to see the next movie created by these guys! 4.5 stars.

Corpse Bride (2005)

Okay, I know there are a lot of people who really hate Tim Burton . . . but I utterly adore all his movies. When this first came out, I knew I totally had to see it. When I watched it, I was struck, first of all, by how NOT beautiful it all was. Most of his others have a sort of surreal beauty to them, but this was profoundly ugly in its animation. Definitely interesting. I actually found myself less interested in this one than many of the other Tim Burton flicks I've seen, although it was still wonderfully executed. Some awesome morbid humor thrown in here, and a very lovely story . . . but it didn't entirely grip me, and I can't figure out why, because there's nothing wrong with it. Hmm. Odd. 2.5 stars.

Ladies in Lavender (2004)

Um. I think this movie was supposed to be deep and profound, but it just felt goofy. This had some great actors in it, and a plot that was fairly dramatic and interesting, but then it all kind of went kaput. Nothing came together. We spent most of our time watching the movie saying, "Wait . . . why did she do that? What is she doing? So . . . do they believe him?" And then finally we gave up trying to decipher it and just made up our own plot. That's when you know a movie's in trouble. Hmm. 1 star.

Blade Runner (1982)

Aha, one of the classic sci-fi movies that somehow I missed. This movie felt really weird to me. Like . . . I don't even know quite how to describe it. Stuff would happen and I'd just sort of sit there blinking as I thought to myself, "I don't get it." That being said, though, it was beautifully atmospheric. I loved watching the movie just for the sake of watching it. Beautifully dark and dreary and very well-done, even if I think I totally missed some stuff. 2.5 stars.

The Pink Panther (1963)

This was one of those movies my parents kept renting and saying, "Nah, don't watch it yet." Finally I got to watch it . . . but I'm definitely not sure it lived up to the hype. I mean, you can only see someone fall on their face so many times before it loses most of its humor. But this definitely had some entertaining moments, and it certainly wasn't a BAD movie. Maybe it was just the fact that my mom thought it was so great. A decent film for a decent viewing. 2.5 stars.

Bewitched (2005)

This was a true fluff movie. Most romantic comedies are pretty fluffy anyway, but usually they have some sort of underlying theme of forgiveness or trust or faith in people. This really didn't. At all. Maybe that was why it felt slightly sloppy. It seemed like some plotlines were left dangling, or moments were left unresolved and unexplained. That being said, though, I really enjoyed it, despite the fluff and confusion. I'd hardly call it a GOOD movie, but it was fun to watch.

Movie Theater Person Sighting: That's Kristin Chenoweth as the next-door neighbor! Apparently the part was written specifically for her after Nicole Kidman saw her as Glinda in Wicked. 2.5 stars

Spellbound (2002)

Generally documentaries don't interest me. Like, at all. But some of the reviews I'd read of this one made it sound interesting so I went ahead and picked it up. I was not disappointed. It was amazingly fascinating. It followed eight different children and their families as the kids competed in what was apparently the 1999 National Spelling Bee. Everyone in my family ended up picking a kid to root for (although none of our favorites won, sadly). The kids weren't dumbed down at all or made to seem either way cutesy or way mature or way brainy. They just were who they were. I'd definitely recommend this movie! 4.5 stars.