Fans of Mr. Bean are not going to be surprised by his comeback 10 years after the 1997 movie Bean. Those who are not familiar with the British rubber-limp character may be in for a pleasant surprise.
Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson) must the luckiest man in London -- he wins an all-expense-paid vacation to Cannes and a brand new camcorder. Armed with his camera and passport, Mr. Bean gleefully embarks on his exciting journey to the beach and records everything that amuses him. But is he really that lucky?
While changing trains in Paris, he inadvertently separates a father (Karel Roden) and his son (Max Baldry). Trying to get the boy and his father back together, Mr. Bean loses his luggage, passport, tickets, and everything he owns except the camcorder. On his way, he meets beautiful actress Sabine (Emma de Caunes), who is in town filming a commercial for director Carson Clay (Willem Defoe). Going to a premiere at Cannes, Sabine gives them a ride when the entire France is looking for Mr. Bean and the "kidnapped" boy.
Rowan Atkinson (Love Actually) reprises one of his most beloved characters with the same childlike quality. Coming from the same school of physical comedy as Jerry Lewis and Jim Carrey, Atkinson's rubber face and limps are hilarious, and yet he maintains his innocence even if he's doing something entirely inappropriate. And there are many inappropriate moments, ones that make you cringe and laugh at the same time.
As Sabine, Emma de Caunes (Short Order) is beautiful, sweet and effervescent, reminding me of the young Olivia Hussey. She doesn't have much to do except for the film's last act, but she leaves a good impression with her comic timing. Willem Defoe (Spider-Man 3) is exceptionally outrageous as the self-absorbed famous director -- the mock art film of his is hilarious all by itself. Karel Roden (The Bourne Supremacy) plays the concerned father/French director with heart, and Max Baldry (Rome) gives a heartfelt performance as the hapless lad who forms an unlikely friendship with Mr. Bean.
Written by Hamish McColl (Foley & McColl) and Simon McBurney (The Last King of Scotland) and based on Rowen Atkinson's character, the screenplay is typical British farce. Buoyed by Atkinson's affecting performance, the flaws of the screenplay can easily to be overlooked. One simply can't see a Mr. Bean movie and pick the plot apart -- to do so is to ask for trouble. And yet, kudos to the screenwriters for coming up with a coherent, simple story line with a soft heart at the core. The dialogue is kept to a minimum (it is, however, surprising to hear Mr. Bean speak!) with the focus on the cartoonish action.
Director Steve Bendelack (The League of Gentlemen) knows what Mr. Bean is all about, and he sticks with the tone: the human cartoon, the childlike ignorance, and an overall fairy tale quality. Mr. Bean is not real. His adventures are by and large a fantasy of the Jerry Lewis' kind. Bendelack succeeds in keeping the tone light and the situations surreal. There are moments of pure comedy and joy that seriously tickle the funny bone.
In the days of Borat! and Superbad, Mr. Bean might seem old-fashioned and passe, but to me, it's a breath of fresh air for those who enjoy physical comedies without potty humor and fart jokes. With its slapstick humor, a surreal plot (and a crowd-pleasing ending), and a warm heart at the center, the movie is a simple pleasure and a jolly good holiday.
Stars: Rowan Atkinson, Emma de Caunes, Willem Defoe, Karel Roden, Max Baldry, Jean Rochefort
Director: Steve Bendelack
Writers: Simon McBurney, Hamish McColl, Robin Driscoll
Distributor: Universal
MPAA Rating: G for general public
Running Time: 90 Minutes
Ratings:
Script – 7
Performance – 7
Direction – 8
Cinematography – 7
Music/Sound– 7
Editing – 6
Production – 7
Total – 7.1 out of 10
After the space shuttle crashed on Earth, CDC director Tucker Kaufman (Jeremy Northam) is notified of the alien life-form on the shuttle's remnants. His ex-wife, Carol Bennell (Nicole Kidman), is a psychiatrist living in Washington, D.C. with her son Oliver (Jackson Bond). As a strange flu sweeps across the globe, Carol begins to notice strange behaviors in people around her. They're disconnected and emotionless, sometimes hostile.
Tucker returns to D.C. and asks to see his son. Carol reluctantly obliges and leaves Oliver with Tucker. When Carol discovers a strange biological mutation, she sends a sample to her physician colleagues Ben Driscoll (Daniel Craig) and Stephen Galeano (Jeffrey Wright) for investigation. They identify it as an alien organism that attacks the human body, especially the neurons in the brain cells. The organism replicates and takes over during the infected person's REM sleep cycle. Once taken over, the human hosts would appear normal physically, retaining all their memories and knowledge, and yet they would have no control over their thoughts and action.
Tucker initiates a nationwide inoculation to control the spread of the "flu" but more and more people become infected. Carol realizes that Tucker has been infected and her son is in danger. She also realizes that her son may be key to finding a cure. Meanwhile, the infected are out there killing the uninfected. Carol must race against time to save herself and her son, in hope to help the research team in finding a cure.
Nicole Kidman (
Jeremy Northam (
The screenplay by newcomer Dave Kajganich is taut and suspenseful. He sets up a quick prologue to foreshadow what has to come (although I may argue that such a "thrilling" set up is not necessary -- the film could have started with the space shuttle crash), and then skillfully unfolds the plot. The buildup is rather effective and creates good tension, even though we know what to expect. Unfortunately, there are moments that stretch credibility, and the plot is rather linear. It would be more interesting had there been a subplot or two. By the second half of the film, the plot becomes predictable. Also, Kajganich hasn't spent enough time developing the characters -- what we know about them are very shallow -- so, apart from Carol and Oliver, we can't really relate to them and so we don't necessarily care what happens to these people.
German director Oliver Hirshbiegel (Experiment, Das) makes his American directorial debut with precise execution. There is enough suspense and thrills to do justice to the genre. The action is tight and the production value good. Yet, as a sci-fi horror, the science fiction part is rather flimsy, and the horror part is somewhat tame. The film could have done more to scare us with its socio-political themes, but it falls short in that regard. It touches on the context superficially by way of a soviet diplomat (played by Roger Rees) and ends with a haunting voiceover about humanity. Perhaps the filmmakers realize they're not making a socially significant movie -- it is, after all, a commercial thriller.
With that in mind, Invasion is solid entertainment, and should have no problem making an invasion into your video library some day.
As the narrator (Ian McKellen) tells us, the story begins about 150 years ago in an English town named Wall, which was built beside a guarded wall that separates the real world and the magical kingdom Stromhold. A local boy, Dunstan (Nathaniel Parker) crosses the wall one night and meets a slave girl named Una (Kate Magowan). Nine months later, Una sends their infant son to Dunstan to raise.
Years later, before the King of Stromhold (Peter O'Toole) dies, he hurls a ruby necklace into the sky and tells his sons that whoever finds the ruby will be the rightful king to Stromhold. The stone knocks a star off the sky and falls to Stromhold. Tristan (Charlie Cox), now a young man, promises the object of his affection, Victoria (Sienna Miller), to bring back the star for her. Meanwhile, the wicked witch Lamia (Michelle Pfeiffer) also looks for the star so she and her two sisters can consume its heart to restore their youth and beauty.
Tristan is the first to find the star, which is actually a woman named Yvaine (Claire Danes). Tristan promises to send Yvaine home after he's presented her to Victoria. On the way, they are chased and attacked by Lamia as well as the princes headed by Septimus (Mark Strong). Helped by pirate king Captain Shakespeare (Robert De Niro), they barely escape. While trying to return to Wall, Tristan and Yvaine falls in love.
As Tristan, Charlie Cox (
While the young protagonists are adorable, it is the veterans who shine. Michelle Pfeiffer (
Adapted from Neil Gaiman's successful novel, the screenplay by Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn (
It's not to say it's not devoid of cliches and conventions. You can't really get away from such with a story about witches, princes, pirates and star-crossed lovers. Yet, when combined, the plot elements and characters breathe some fresh air into the genre, and the imagination is rather magical.
It's all about execution, and director Matthew Vaughn (
Kate (Catherine Zeta-Jones) is a celebrated chef, specializing in gourmet French cuisine, at the restaurant 22 Bleecker, owned by Paula (Patricia Clarkson). Kate's uptight, aloof, and tough. Despite insisting on running the kitchen by herself, she lacks people skills, and she's always at odds with her boss and the customers. Work is her whole life, and she's not letting anyone else into that life. She's also a total control freak. In other words, she's brilliant with her cooking, but failing with her personal life.
After her sister dies in an auto accident, Kate becomes the legal guardian of her niece, Zoe (Abigail Breslin). She has no idea how to live with anyone else, let along taking care of a child. During Kate's leave of absence to figure things out, Paula hires a new sous chef, Nick (Aaron Eckhart), without Kate's approval. Nick is the complete opposite of Kate: carefree, charismatic, touchy-feely...and he loves opera and specializes in Italian cuisine! Immediately Kate dislikes Nick and avoids him at all cost. Slowly, Kate warms up to Nick as she juggles between her career and taking care of Zoe, who is having a hard time dealing with her mother's death and adjusting to living with her emotionally detached aunt.
After a short hiatus, Catherine Zeta-Jones (
Abigail Breslin (
Carol Fuchs and Sandra Nettelback's (
Director Scott Hicks (
There are some rough spots that drag, and subplots that can be cut without losing anything; and as good as Bob Balaban is, his scenes with Zeta-Jones feel extraneous and expository, what with there psycho-babble. On the other hand, Philip Glass gives us one of his warmest, most romantic and least intrusive scores -- even with his signature repetitiveness, I have to double check to make sure this is, in fact, a Glass score. The soundtrack is light and effective. And like in Ratatouille, one of the stars in the film is the food. Chances are you will want to go to a fine restaurant right out of the theater.
Even with its predictable plot and slow pacing,