Year 4 Film Reviews

1. Year 4 Film Reviews Film 4 All Project A selection of film reviews written by Y4 after their visit to the Empire Cinema with their parents as part of our Film4All project.

2. Polar Express 3D The begining of the film was amazing because the film was in 3D and we had to wear special glasses. The effects made it look as if it was really snowing it made you want to put your hand out and touch the snow. The characters looked as though they were real so it actually looked like they were there. The storylline was amazing because it was about a boy who did not believe in Santa. On Christmas Eve a train came and he was given a golden ticket to get on. He met lots of other children and a little girl. When the train started another little boy decided he wanted to get on and the main character and the girl helped him to get on, he did not want to sit with the other children so he sat in an empty carriage at the end of the train. This part of the film made me feel sad and I felt that the little boy was lonely and left out. The other children were all given drinks except for the little boy on his own. The girl got him a drink and decided to go and give him the drink. She left her ticket on her chair and the main character picked it up and it slid through the window he tried to catch it but it went outside. The ticket man came to check tickets but the little girl had not got one so he took her away. The main character felt guilty because he lost the little girls ticket. He decided to go outside and chased the ticket. The ticket went back inside and into vent and then blew back out the boy caught it. He wanted give the ticket back to the girl and the ticket man and the girl had gone onto the roof so the main character followed them. He saw a man who was scruffy he offered the little boy a drink, the boy tasted it and then spat it out I think because it tasted horrible. The man and the boy went after the girl and the ticket man, it was really snowy and the boy fell over and then the man disappeared the boy looked scared. I think the man was not real as he disappeared into nowhere I think he was a ghost but not a scary one because he asked the boy if he believed in ghosts. Then the man appeared again on some ski’s and then told the boy to put the ticket in his sock to keep it safe. They got to the front of the train and found the girl in the engine room. The man disappeared again and the boy went into the engine room. With all the coal the special effects made the engine room look really warm and the coal looked like proper coal. He gave the girl her ticket back. Suddenly there were some randieers on the track and the two engine men who were outside at the front of the train who were changing a bulb they told the girl to put the brake on. The girl and the boy could not decide which lever to pull, this part of the film was exciting because we did not know what was going to happen. They pulled the lever the train stopped. On the track there was a raindeer and the special effects made the raindeer look real and alive. The engine man pulled his friends beard and he made a strange sound that made all the raindeers move and the train started again. The ticket man took the children back up the train and they went through a room with lots of broken toys this room was a scary as one of the puppets started to talk. The train then was going across the ice and the ice started to break and the train went very fast up and down hills like a roller coaster this was a scary and exciting part of the film.

3. Polar Express 3D cont... The train got to the North Pole and we saw lots of elves the special effects made it look like there were thousands of tiny little elves they looked real. Then the boy on his own did not get off the train and the carriage broke off from the rest of the train.The main character and the girl jumped on to save him and they all went to another place and then it stopped. They needed to get back to the others and so went down a big slide which looked like fun and they went into a giant sack with all presents in. The sack went onto the sleigh and then the elves got them out and put them back with the other children. Then a door opened and Santa came out but the main character could not see him and he could hear the sleigh bells and the ticket man told him it was because he did not believe. Then a bell came off the sleigh the boy caught it and said ‘I believe’ and then he shook it and the bell rang and then Santa was behind him. He gave the bell back to Santa and Santa gave him the first present of Christmas, which was the bell to keep. The ending was a happy ending becuase they all made new friends and the shy little boy made new friends and was happy and not sad anymore. The film was very exciting and my favorite part was when they went down the slide into Santas sack because it looked like fun and a bit scary and it looked like a ride. I liked the characters in the film because they were nice and the ticket man was a bit snappy but he was helping them as well. None of the charaters were given names or used names which I think a bit strange and I don’t know why. I would give this film five stars out of five. By Abigail Copeland 4H January 2009

4. Madagascar 2 The beginning of the film shows when Alex the Lion was a baby and playing with his Dad in Africa, it shows that Alex and his Dad both had a birthmark on their hand which was identical. Alex saw a butterfly and chased it, the butterfly went into the forest, and Alex followed it and he was caught by men and they put him in a box, his Dad then noticed that he had gone and he chased the men in the car as he knew they had Alex. During the car chase Alex, who had been put into a box, fell from the car into a river, he then went into the sea and ended up in New York Zoo. I thought this was an excellent start to the film. It then showed Alex and his friends in aeroplane crash, the aeroplane crashed into Africa. The music played was ‘I Like to move it’, in thought this was ok. I thought the middle was confusing, I did not understand the plot. It made me laugh out loud when the penguins stole the car from the tourists in Africa, it was funny how the penguins ran the old lady over, she went into the forest and caused a drought because she put logs in front of the waterfall and water stopped flowing for the animals. I thought this part was boring when the animals tried to solve why the water had stopped. At the end of the film I did not feel it was as good as I thought it was going to be, because when it was advertised they made it look REALLY funny. I thought the end of the film was unexciting. My start rating for this film is 3 stars out of a possible 5. Dan Bongiovi 4H January 2009

5. Bedtime Stories Two children called Bobby and Patrick have just had a rough time going through their dads divorcement and their uncle Sceeter has came to stay over night for a week with them although he didn’t get on that well with there father anyway. Also Bobby’s and Patrick’s school was going to close down so it wasn’t all fun and games at there house. Will they have a happy ending or not? All the characters were great the main character is Sceeter the uncle of Bobby and Patrick but the funniest was definitely Bugsy the guinea pig with massive eyes he’s really funny with his big eyes. In the film Bobby and Patrick had no T.V and were not allowed sugary sweets so Sceeter decided to tell them bedtime stories to cheer them up. So the start was stupendously funny! And the stories were cool too! In the middle of the film it was wicked because Sceeter is curious that the kids controlled the story because all the bits they add come to life and all the bad things in the film like getting kicked by an angry dwarf on the leg happen to Sceeter. And at one point he thought there was raining gumballs but actually there weren’t raining gumballs. Or were there? At the end of the film it was Stupendous because Sceeter made the school stop from closing down and got the person who was trying to shut down the school called Kendall was to become his room service and another women trying to close down the school called Aspen was the maid. Also at the end the maid Aspen had to clean out Bugsy’s bed and Bugsy was eating marshmallows so Bugsy let off unpleasant wind it was stupendous and funny And there were no bad parts of the film it really kept me entertained. Over all my star rating would definitely be 5 stars and I would recommend it to children and adults of all ages. Abigail Scott 4P January 2009

6. Bedtime Stories Thoroughly enjoyable film that was fun, sad and exciting with a romantic interest. It kept you guessing all the way to the end ....What would come true next? It was full of interesting characters my favourite being Bugsy the big eyed guinea pig who had action parts on tread mills and a lot of eating! Skeater the hero was funny and charming and Kendal the baddy was well cast and very very bad. My favourite part was when the dreams came to life . The special effects during these adventures were excellent and the music made it feel so real. The end was a happy end – but did he get the fairest maiden of them all? Watch it now at your local cinema to find out.......... Emily Higgins 4H January 2009

7. Bedtime Stories Bedtime stories is a wicked film, it is so funny you could laugh your head off! The beginning of the film was Okish because nothing much happened except that Skeeter Bronson was asked to look after his sister’s children. Then still in the beginning they introduced us to the children’s pet guinea pig that’s name is Bugsy. Next in the middle came a series of comedy episodes as Skeeter told the children bedtime stories. The story linked real life & fiction around the subplot of the sale of the children’s school to build a hotel. Finally at the end of the film, Skeeter saved the day. However just as all looked well, our hero had a race against time to save the school & get his girl! Gregory Walsh 4P January 2009

8. Beverly Hills Chihuahua Beverly Hills Chihuahua from Disney tells the story of Chloe, the aforementioned Chihuahua and her adventures.  When Chloe’s owner, Viv, the very successful business women played by Jamie Lee Curtis goes abroad on an essential business trip, Chloe is entrusted to Rachel, Viv’s niece. Unable to pass up an opportunity to go to Mexico, Rachel packs up all her belongings, including Chloe and heads south. Rachel and her friends head out for a party and leave Chloe on her own in the hotel room. Chloe disgusted with this behaviour breaks out of the hotel in search of Rachel. A local dog napper sees Chloe and puts her in his van. Chloe then finds herself about to fight a Doberman Pincer called El Diablo! Fortunately, her rescue is aided by a friendly German Sheppard called Delgado, an ex-police dog. In the meantime Rachel has enlisted the help of her Gardener and his dog, Papi, to join in the search for Chloe. The Dog Napper, thinking that he might be able to raise a ransom for Chloe set El Diablo out to find her. Delgado does a great job of protecting Chloe and following a show down with some mountain lions and ultimately with El Diablo, Chloe is returned to her rightful owner and the Dog Napper is taken to prison. For his part Delgado is returned to the Police force for active duty. This film made me laugh from time to time but was also quite sad in places. This isn’t what I usually go to see but I thought it was just about OK. Star Rating is ** out of *****. Harrison Newport 4P January 2009.  

9. Inkheart This is a film about bringing stories to life. Meggie’s father (Mo) is a silver tongue. When he reads, characters from the book jump out of the page but someone is taken back in to the book. This is what happened to Meggie’s mother. The film starts with Mo reading Little Red Riding Hood to Meggie as a baby and he has a strange feeling. We then see Little Red’s cloak floating from the sky on to the washing line. The music at this point gives atmosphere to the scene making this an excellent beginning. The story then moves forward 10 years and we see Mo taking Meggie to old bookshops in search of a special book “Inkheart”. There they meet Dustfinger and his ferret. We are told that he has met Mo and Meggie before but is he a goodie or a baddie? This was a great start to the film because it made you want to know what was going to happen next. The middle of the film was very exciting with lots of action, some great special effects and some good characters. I particularly liked the thief when he jumped over the rooftops because he brought some fun into the film. The big battle near the end was amazing and I loved the special effects, including the Shadow, which was a big black cloud creature that came out of “Inkheart”. After the excitement of the battle I found the film slowed down and was OK then because there was only talking and not much action. This film made you ask lots of questions and kept you on the edge of your seat wondering what was going to happen. What had happened to Meggie’s mother? Will the evil Capricorn succeed with his plan to bring the shadow into our world? Will Meggie and Mo be reunited with her mother? There are lots of interesting characters in the film. My particular favourites were Meggie and one of Ali Babas 40 thieves. I liked Meggie because when she read she did so with great expression particularly in the final battle with the shadow. The thief was funny and filled with excitement as he nimbly jumped over the rooftops. In summary this is a very good film but a bit scary for under 7’s. It has great special effects and characters for the family to enjoy. I would give it a rating of 4 stars because most of the time it was excellent! Megan Hardy 4H January 2009