Tag Archives: Trevor Jimenez

2020 Films, Angela Bassett, Angus MacLane, Animated, Best Animated Feature Oscar Winners, Children, Comedy, Dan Scanlon, Dave Mullins, Disney, Drama, Fantasy, Jamie Foxx, June Squibb, Lee Unkrich, Pete Docter, Phylicia Rashad, Rosana Sullivan, Tina Fey, Trent Reznor, Trevor Jimenez

Soul-2020

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Soul-2020

Director Pete Docter

Voices: Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey

Scott’s Review #1,172

Reviewed August 18, 2021

Grade: B+

It’s pretty reassuring when a magical animated feature comes down the pike. Too often, the mainstream multiplex summer offerings are trite or too ‘kiddish’ for my tastes.

Soul (2020) is creative, colorful, and sentimental, with a terrific musical score composed by Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails).

The writing is fresh and inventive, with gorgeous animation that feels magical. I did not see the film on the big screen and bet it would have made the experience even more delightful.

Soul is not too dark, nor is it too trivial. It strikes a perfect balance between humanism, darkness, and hope. The title can be construed with a double meaning.

Based on the musical angle, the lead character is a piano player, the soul could mean rhythm, but I’m only half right. An out-of-body or celestial experience and the essence of a living being are also part of his soul.

While watching the film, I kept ruminating over how lovely and inspirational a film like Soul is during a crushing pandemic. It has heart and magic.

Unfulfilled music teacher Joe Gardner (Jamie Foxx) finally lands the gig of a lifetime at the best jazz club in town, supporting legendary Dorothea Williams (Angela Bassett). But his excitement gets the best of him, and he stumbles into a maintenance hole on a New York City street.

Lying in a coma, Joe enters a fantastical place: The Great Before. There, he teams up with Soul 22 (Tina Fey), and together they find the answers to some of life’s biggest questions while embarking on a journey in the switched bodies of Joe and a therapy cat.

Set in the massive Big Apple itself, the film offers a wealth of hustle, bustle, and life. I adored the setting. The smoky jazz club, with its sultry set design and creative music, made me feel immersed in the wonderful surroundings.

The story itself slightly confused me when Joe arrived in the “Great Beyond” as a soul. Assuming this meant death, I was relieved when he backtracked to the “Great Before” and met with counselors all named Jerry. The counselors, I realized, prepare unborn souls for life with the help of mentor souls.

This didn’t resonate with me as much as other aspects of the film.

Foxx and Fey are fine doing the voices for Joe and 22, respectively, but they are not the highlight either. I never really thought of either of them throughout the duration. There were better aspects to focus on.

Disney/Pixar’s feature film, which features a black central character, is worthy of mention, and it is about time. Joe’s family is black, adding an incredible mother figure and supporting characters of ethnicity to the fold.

The music, the music, the music! This makes Soul as good a film as it is.

Trent Reznor’s collaboration alone made me eager to see it. His creative use of keyboards and partnership with fellow Nine Inch Nails bandmate Atticus Ross provide proper ambiance to the metaphysical sequences.

A hallucinogenic, trance-like musical beat is unique and trippy.

Younger children may be perplexed or bewildered by much of the activity, so I’m not sure I’d recommend it for that demographic. However, music fans and admirers of rich stories with a subtext of life will likely enjoy the experience and the subsequent message that Soul (2020) provides.

Oscar Nominations: 2 wins-Best Animated Feature Film (won), Best Original Score (won), Best Sound

2018 Films, Alison Snowden, Andrew Chesworth, Animated, Becky Neiman-Cobb, Bobby Pontillas, David Fine, Domee Shi, Louise Bagnall, Nuria González Blanco, Shorts, Trevor Jimenez

Oscar Nominated Animated Short Films-2018

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Oscar-Nominated Animated Short Films- 2018

Directors Alison Snowden, David Fine, Domee Shi, Becky Neiman, Louise Bagnall, Nuria Gonzalez Blanco, Andrew Chesworth, Bobby Pontillas, Trevor Jimenez

Scott’s Review #869

Animal BehaviourBaoLate AfternoonOne Small StepWeekends

Reviewed February 18, 2019

Grade: A

It was amazing to have the honor of viewing the five short films nominated for the 2018 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film at my local art theater.

Far too often dismissed as irrelevant or completely flying under the radar of animated offerings, it is time to champion these fine little pieces of artistic achievement.

Each of the five offers a vastly different experience, on par with or even superseding the full-length animated features. Still, each offers inspired or hopeful messages or dark, devious, and edgy stories.

The commonality this year is that four of them feature parent-child relationships.

Below is a review of each of the shorts.

Animal Behaviour-2018 (Canada)

The weirdest in the group, Animal Behaviour, is also the most humorous and the best, but only by a narrow margin.

We witness a therapy session led by a prim and proper dog with his issues. In attendance are a blood-sucking leech, a praying mantis, a cat, a pig, and the newest attendee, a gorilla. All are happy to participate except the gorilla, who sees the session as a waste of time.

As eating jokes, butt jokes, and other adult humor encases the camaraderie each character develops a clear identity and the gorilla learns, in comedic fashion, that he does require therapy.

This short plays out like an intelligent television sitcom. Grade: A

Bao-2018 (USA) (Won)

The most mainstream of the contenders, Pixar’s creation Bao, is cute and heartwarming and an ode to motherhood.

A perfect Mother’s Day offering, the story tells the tale of a Chinese mother who imagines one of her delicious dumplings as her son. She takes him to soccer practice and rides the bus together, but they are inseparable.

As the dumpling matures, he wants to be alone, see friends, and eventually meets a young woman and proposes marriage. The mother is aghast and, in a state of panic, swallows the dumpling!

Depressed, she is awakened by her real son, and the two form a sweet bond made from respect and love. The story is blooming with colors and nuanced with kindness, so it is easily the crowd favorite. Grade: A-

Late Afternoon-2018 (Ireland)

Some will undoubtedly find Late Afternoon a bit of a downer, but I found its honesty uplifting and fraught with creativity. Each afternoon, a caring nurse visits an older woman suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. The nurse is kind, and her actions—serving a hot cup of tea or giving the woman a book to read—trigger memories of her youth with so much promise lying ahead of her.

Eventually, she can recognize that the nurse is her daughter.

The short is filled with compassion, and while melancholy, it is also inspiring, not to mention the creativity immersed in the colors and design. Grade: A

One Small Step-2018 (USA/China)

The most conventional in the lot, One Small Step, will be perceived as empowering to women and a story of both loss and courage.

A Chinese-American girl is raised by her patient and caring single father in California. She is taught to reach for the stars, and he kindly repairs a shoe of hers and secretly stores it away.

Over the years, she has been determined to become an astronaut. While she loves her father, she often takes him for granted. She is denied admission into a prestigious school and, depressed, gives up her dream.

When her father dies suddenly, the girl redoubles her efforts and finally becomes a successful astronaut in dedication to her father.

The short champions energy and a never-give-up attitude. Grade: A-

Weekends-2018 (USA)

Weekends is my second favorite of all the shorts, a bare runner-up to Animal Behaviour.

The most complex and confusing, the short also features the most interesting hand drawings and artwork with a surreal and beautiful touch.

A child of divorce spends his weekdays with his mother and weekends with his father. His mother is depressed and lets the house languish while his father lives a metropolitan bachelor-style life.

When the mother begins dating an abusive man, the boy is terrified, imagining birthday candles that turn into the frightful man. The mother wears a neck brace, which implies physical abuse.

The short is moving and hits home on a personal level. Grade: A

2017 Films, Angus MacLane, Animated, Anthony Gonzalez, Benjamin Bratt, Best Animated Feature Oscar Winners, Cheech Marin, Children, Comedy, Dan Scanlon, Dave Mullins, Disney, Drama, Edward James Olmos, Fantasy, Gael García Bernal, John Ratzenberger, Lee Unkrich, Madeline Sharafian, Pete Docter, Trevor Jimenez

Coco-2017

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Coco-2017

Director Lee Unkrich

Voices Anthony Gonzalez, Benjamin Bratt

Scott’s Review #737

Reviewed April 4, 2018

Grade: B+

Winner of the 2017 Best Animated Feature Academy Award, Coco is an exuberant and colorful affair filled with marvelous lights and a Mexican cultural infusion that serves the film well, making it feel robust with diversity and inclusion.

The overall theme of family, traditions, and musical celebration is apparent, making for good razzle-dazzle with lots of upbeat songs and dance.

Mixed in is a lovely inter-generational theme, where older folks are respected, something lacking in today’s real world.

Miguel Rivera is a twelve-year-old boy living in Mexico with his extended family, including his elderly great-grandmother, Coco, who is sadly suffering from intermittent dementia.

Through flashbacks, we learn that Coco’s father (Miguel’s great-great-grandfather) was an aspiring musician who abandoned the family for greener pastures.

Subsequently, the Rivera clan banned all music in favor of a modest shoe-making business.

As Miguel realizes his passion for music, he conflicts with his family, who have other aspirations for the young man. Miguel embarks on a fantastic journey to the magical and somewhat frightening land of his deceased ancestors, coinciding with the festive Day of the Dead celebration, a tradition of Mexican culture.

There he realizes the true nature of his great-great-grandfather’s sudden departure.

Coco is a film that can be enjoyed by all family members and is structured in just that way. The blatant use of multiple generations greatly appeals to the idea of blending the family unit.

Pixar successfully sets all the correct elements in place for a successful film, and the well-written story only adds layers. The film is quite mainstream, yet appealing to the masses.

Perhaps very young viewers may become frightened by some of the skeleton-laced faces of Miguel’s ancestors in the other world where he visits. Still, these images are somewhat tame and mixed with vibrant colors and extraordinary production numbers.

These images are undoubtedly meant to entertain rather than be scary and the creatures possess a friendly vibe.

Having viewed the film on an airplane traveling cross-country (admittedly not the best way to watch a film), the lovely and touching musical number “Remember Me (Lullaby)” entranced me, so much so that I was moved to tears right on the plane.

How’s that for effectiveness?

The emotional level reached via this song impressed me immensely about Coco, even when the story occasionally is secondary to the visual or musical elements.

In fact, the story began to lag slightly until the aforementioned big musical number came into play. The song really kicked the action into high gear emotionally, and I became more enamored with the characters and their connections to one another.

Miguel and his relatives’ love became more apparent, and the conclusion is pleasing and satisfactory.

A slight miss in the film, corrected midway through, is Miguel’s bratty and entitled nature. He heaves sighs when he does not get his way, which seems more apparent early on and was quite the turn-off—at first, I did not care for the character, yet I knew I was supposed to.

Thankfully, the character becomes the hero of the film and ultimately a sweet, likable character. I pondered, “Is that what kids like these days?”

Pixar does it again, creating a family-friendly experience with a positive yet non-cliched message of belonging, forgiveness, and the importance of family connections that feels fresh.

In current times of divisiveness, especially with immigration and other cultures being attacked, how appropriate is it to experience Coco (2017), a feel-good yet not contrived project?

Oscar Nominations: 2 wins-Best Original Song-“Remember Me” (won), Best Animated Feature Film (won)