On The Plus Side

Superhero films are like Apple products, they keep coming out and are practically the same as the ones before and yet the new one is always popular. Why? They’re incredibly entertaining! Marvel films are like stretched TV shows - they’re always dramatic, exciting and often very funny but you never really care about what actually happens,  unless someone dies (as long as it’s not a  civilian). Iron Man 2 is the same, nothing particularly special but thoroughly enjoyable - with enough jokes to make us laugh and enough violence to make mum cover her eyes - even though  there really isn’t much violence! Tony Stark has just revealed to the world that he is Iron Man and the government wants him to hand over his suit. Meanwhile, Ivan Vanko (played by Mickey Rourke), a Russian whose father used to work with Tony’s father,Howard, builds his own super suit and nearly kills Tony. Stark Industries’ main competitor, Justin Hammer played by Sam Rockwell, breaks Ivan out of prison ...

We tried to postpone it for as long as we could, but we had to watch Dad’s pick eventually! It's been over a week since my last review and tomorrow in the UK, the 8 th of May, there is a national holiday and  I’m pretty sure it’s being held to celebrate my Dad picking a good film. Yes, you read that correctly - a good film! Pollyana is a movie from 1960 about a young orphan who is taken in by her Aunt and proceeds to improve the lives of everybody in the town - spreading happiness and joy wherever she goes. Personally, I’ve never met a girl anything like that - I’ll have to ask my sister if she has! Pollyana is played by Hayley Mills and the film is really  nice  to watch - a bit like Lady and the Tramp which you can read about here . (I’m getting good at this blogging thing, aren’t I?) Pollyanna’s parents have died, and she has gone to live with her Aunt who is the most influential person in town. In fact, the town of Harrington is actually named after her Aunt Pol...

It was my turn to pick a movie and I was scrolling through Disney + when something caught my eye. No, we’re not so bored that we’re playing catch with my eye-ball, though we’re almost at that stage, - it was National Treasure. I watched this film a few years ago and I remember absolutely loving it and wanting to become a treasure hunter afterwards. Therefore when I saw there was a sequel I knew it had to be my choice and what a choice it was! On a completely unrelated note.. I now want to become a treasure hunter again! National Treasure 2 follows Ben Gates as he attempts to clear his great-grandfather’s name. A previously undiscovered diary entry appeared to link his ancestor to the death of Abraham Lincoln and the only way Ben can prove his innocence is by finding the mythical city of gold (you’ll understand it more if you watch the movie). This ancient treasure hunt leads Ben and his companions all around the world where they find clues in famed landmarks, sneak into Buc...

You may think I’m running short of things to write about but believe me there are  plenty of shorts to write about. If you have little interest in films, then shorts are perfect as  they are just little films - there are even some about the Simpsons and we sure ate those up! (get it…).  Small Fry This first short is guaranteed to give you a buzz - two actually. Buzz Lightyear has been replaced by a  miniature version and finds himself stuck in a support group for discarded toys in Poultry Palace.  The smaller space ranger is taken home and begins annoying the other toys whilst the real Buzz has to sit through the therapy session. This short film is pretty entertaining, especially seeing and hearing all the other discarded toys as they do look like the sort of things I threw away when I was younger! Marks out of 10: 7 Party Central I have to say that Mike Wazowski and his friends are losers, not to Sully their good names. So when they hold  a...

At its heart, Zootroplis (or Zootopia) is a film about race and discrimination, but on the outside it’s a movie about a city run by animals – and it is absolutely brilliant! Last week I watched this film for the third time and though I knew everything that was going to happen, I still thoroughly enjoyed it and would watch it again. The animation is incredible, the plot is great, it’s funny, dramatic and   heart-warming - and should definitely be trop of your list. (Sorry…) The movie follows Judy Hopps, the first rabbit-police officer of Zootroplis – a city where all the different animals of the world live together. Animals have started going missing and Judy, with the help of crafty fox Nick Wilde, have 48 hours to track one of them down, finding themselves wrapped up in something much bigger than just a missing animal case. I really can’t articulate how good Zootropolis is   – there wasn’t a dull moment or even a dull shot. The storyline is genuinely impressive,...

I wasn’t quite sure what to think when Mum picked the original Lady and the Tramp. I trust her choices and all, but she did choose to marry my father – the man who picks classics and then falls asleep while watching them, so I can’t trust every decision she makes! However, Lady and the Tramp was actually truly great – a proper Disney classic - and was definitely out of Dad’s movies’ league,  around 20,000 to be precise. Lady and the Tramp follows the life of Lady, a dog who was raised by an upper-class family in a secluded residential area. One day, her owners leave, and Aunt Sarah comes to look after the family baby, bringing with her two cats; I could tell you their nationality – if you please. The cats get Lady into trouble and Aunt Sarah goes to put a muzzle on her – Muzzle Tov? Lady runs away and is about to get mauled when she is saved by Tramp (not a nickname) and he and Lady strike up a friendship and share a candlelit dinner, organised by an Italian chef clearly ou...

Before I start this review, I would like you to read the following options and decide which category you fall into, with regard to the 1954 movie 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: You have never heard of it You have heard of it but do not have an interest in watching it You have watched it before and have no interest in watching it again You have heard it was a "classic" and desperately want to see it In the last week I moved from option 1, not knowing anything about the film, to 2, hearing about the film and not really wanting to watch it, to 3 where I now wouldn’t mind if the only copy of this film was buried 20,000 leagues under the sea. That just leaves us with option 4 and who could fit that persona, I wonder? If you haven’t worked it out yet, I’ve moved up a segment normally found at the bottom of my reviews to give you a clue: The Snooze News Did Dad fall asleep during 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, his own pick? He sure did but this time everyone else near...

When Jess, my sister, suggested watching a group of adults returning to their old school for a one night-performance of their high-school show, it was music to our ears. The show takes the loose form of a documentary and is entertaining, emotional and somewhat dramatic so of course my family asked for an encore after we’d watched the first one – and then another encore after that! Annie Get Your Gun The first episode we watched of the series, which is co-produced by Kristen Bell, was a reprise of an Annie Get Your Gun performance, 21 years after the original show in 1998. The series introduces you to the performers and their lives as well as showing you clips from the original musicals. In this episode: two of the adults, Al and Ameigh, had dated in high school and Ameigh had actually changed the spelling of her name because of Al. Insanely, she didn’t revert back to her old name after they broke up, never moving on from her high-school love and therefore provides great entertai...

It was my Dad’s turn to choose a movie so as you can probably guess we watched another “classic”. Swiss Family Robinson is based on a book which is based on a true story, where a family is shipwrecked on a tropical island and attempt to survive. Whilst the movie is extremely far-fetched, and the characters are pretty annoying there are some bad things about it too. The movie is racist, sexist and abusive towards animals, so I'm not quite sure how it's still entertaining. A Swiss Family, the Robinsons, have been shipwrecked on an island which is home to almost every animal on the planet. The first wrong assumption you’ve already made is that the Robinsons would have a Swiss accent, or look Swiss. Well, they’re actually all clearly American, apart from one who’s British, and none of them attempt to hide this. The second assumption you made was that being shipwrecked on a deserted island, it would be hard to build shelter and survive. Wrong again, I’m afraid. They have a mu...

Unfortunately, I only had time to write a short review today but, on The Plus Side, a short review means a review of Disney Shorts, and no, I’m not talking about any of Walt’s clothing. Picture this: you’ve just finished watching a great movie on Disney + but it’s not that late and you don’t want to turn off the TV. Watch a short! These five-minute films come with the service and if one happens to rubbish it doesn’t really matter. Auntie Edna and Jack-Jack attack were the two we were immediately drawn to – everyone loves Jack -Jack. The first short shows us what happened during The Incredibles 2 when Jack-Jack was left with Edna, the super suit maker, overnight. She, like anyone left with a superpowered baby, was curious about what powers Jack- Jack possessed and went about trying to list them all down. Unfortunately, she was trying to control an infant who could teleport, clone himself and turn into an evil goblin among other things (I mean who can’t?) and hilariously had ...

There’s not much I can describe about Big Hero 6 without just giving away the movie, but I'll try my best: Hiro Hamada is a fourteen-year-old genius who invents a revolutionary new type of robot, micro-bots, in order to be accepted into his brother’s university. Unfortunately, a fire destroys his new invention and all he has left is a robot called Baymax – a cute, cuddly health assistant. He realises that someone had stolen his micro-bots and he teams up with his friends from the university and Baymax to take down the unknown thief. The first half of this movie will have you asking questions like: How does a fourteen-year-old orphan have enough money to design and build robots in his garage? Why does Hiro look about seven years old?  And, are they meant to be in Tokyo or San Francisco? The second half of this movie will have you asking questions like: How does a fourteen-year-old orphan have enough money to design and build superhero suits in his garage? Did...

Alice in Wonderland is a great book, clever, exciting and unique, and the 2010 remake was actually really good as well. Because of this, I had high expectations for the original Alice in Wonderland movie, but I didn’t expect the writers to be  high too! The 1951 version of Alice in Wonderland was absolutely terrible – it was written by thirteen different people and it really did seem like a bunch of separate movies stitched into one. I didn’t like the character of Alice as she was obnoxiously self-centred with an annoyingly posh British accent, nor did we like any of the other characters. I either couldn’t understand what they were saying due to their strange accents and terrible annunciation, or I couldn’t understand what they were saying due to the awful script. Alice in Wonderland just got worse and more boring as time progressed, a bit like 2020 to be honest. Alice would meet some new characters, let those new characters sing a song or tell a story, and then leave to f...

I love films like Inside Out, Coco and Toy Story and therefore if I was to tell you my favourite movies it would be pretty obvious what my top Pix-ar. Finding Dory, however, is one that I never really had an interest in watching but now I regret avoiding it - on The Plus Side you get a review of it though. Let's dive in! Finding Dory follows on from Finding Nemo but acts as both a prequel and sequel - it shows how Dory came to meet Marlin in the first place as well as events that happen after the original. Dory, voiced by Ellen DeGeneres, is a blue tang fish with short term memory loss – I would make a joke about that but oh, forget it.   I must admit that the title kind of spoils the movie, I would’ve suggested “Attempting to find Dory” to give it some ambiguity. Marlin, Nemo and Dory go out searching for Dory’s parents, before they get separated, and you may be able to predict the ending. Dory as a child may be the cutest animated character I have ever seen, an...

The world is in a confusing, worrying state at the moment but on The Plus Side we’re reviewing Disney movies - and that’s a plus at least. I’m Rob, my sister’s Jess and you can be our plus one as we delve into a world of magical musicals, offensive classics and modern masterpieces whilst maintaining a six feet distance from the National Geographic section. To choose the movies we’re going to be watching, Mum, Dad, Jess and I all wrote down our choices and we’ve been picking them randomly, a bit like Disney when it’s time for a remake. However, our first decision was unanimous, we were all shore, and so we set sail for Motunui. Moana Moana is a great film, and for me is up there with Zootopia as as one of the best Walt Disney Animations of the century (non-Pixar of course). It follows the story of a young girl, Moana, played by Auli'i Cravalho, who is chosen by the ocean and sets off on a journey to find the demi-god Maui, played by Dwayne “the rock” Johnson. The ...