Hans Christian Andersen (1952) - Fairytale giant given the full studio treatment

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Technicolor romance and upbeat fun is promised on this poster for Charles Vidor's Hans Christian Andersen

Hans Christian Andersen goes with the orphan Peter from Odense in Funen to the capital city Copenhagen in 19th century Denmark, where he becomes hired at the ballet and falls in love with an already wed ballerina, all the while he finds inspiration for countless of his famous fairytales.

 

Hans Christian Andersen is written by Moss Hart (Gentleman's Agreement (1947)), with Ben Hecht (Casino Royale (1967)) contributing uncredited work, based on a story by Myles Connolly (Between Us Girls (1942)), and directed by Charles Vidor (Sensation Hunters (1933)). It is very loosely based on the life and fairy tales of Danish author Hans Christian Andersen (1805-75).

The story is completely preposterous make-believe, and the style is saturated with sentimentality and unreality. - Yet Hans Christian Andersen is nevertheless very terribly charming and visually attractive: Enormous and very well-made sets, gorgeously full Technicolor, a longer mermaid ballet sequence in the middle of the film, which is pure old Hollywood spectacle and more esteem the film immensely: Not least the camera work (by cinematographer Harry Stradling Sr. (Penelope (1966))), which - in a very gay and possibly (it has always been speculated that Andersen was homosexual) apt observation, - nurses Danny Kaye's (On the Double (1961)) Andersen in scenes with the handsome Joseph Walsh (Anzio (1968)) as his teenage assistant Peter. Their relation is acted with an unmistakable - although of course entirely platonic - tenderness.

Farley Granger (Black Beauty (1978, miniseries)) is good as the ridiculously big-headed ballet director. The realism is nowhere to be found in Hans Christian Andersen, SPOILER and the film's proposition that Andersen's inspiration for his The Ugly Duckling story for instance came from his meeting a beautiful, bald boy is laughable. But Kaye is wonderful. And Hans Christian Andersen is a delightfully strange and lovely film.

 

Related posts:

Charles Vidor: A Farewell to Arms (1957) or, Love in Spite!

The Bridge/The Spy (1929) - Time-playing fine short debut of Charles Vidor

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 4 mil. $

Box office: 6 mil. $ (North-American rentals alone)

= Uncertain but likely at least a box office success (projected return of 3 times its cost)

[Hans Christian Andersen premiered 25 November (New York) and runs 112 minutes. Kaye was paid 200k $ for his performance. Shooting took place in California. The film was the 4th highest-grossing in North America with 6 mil. $ in rentals. With a projected world gross of 12 mil. $, the film would rank as a box office success. It was nominated for 6 Oscars, winning none: It lost Best Art Direction/Set Decoration - Color to Moulin Rouge, Cinematography - Color to Winton C. Hoch and Artie Stout for The Quiet Man, Costume Design - Color to Moulin Rouge, Original Song (Thumbelina by Frank Loesser) to High Noon (Do Noke Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin') from High Noon by Dimitri Tiomkin and Ned Washington, Score - Musical (Walter Scharf) to Alfred Newman for With a Song in My Heart  and Sound to The Sound Barrier. It was also nominated for 2 Golden Globes, among other honors. Vidor returned with Rhapsody (1954). Kaye returned in Knock on Wood (1954). 5k+ users have given Hans Christian Andersen a 3.9/5 rating at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Hans Christian Andersen?

Shrek 2 (2004) - Fun and adventure reign supreme in tremendous family animation romp

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+ Best Huge Hit Movie of the Year + Most Profitable Movie of the Year: 217.92 mil. $ range

Shrek, Donkey, Fiona and a bunch of new characters adjoin on this anticipation-building poster for Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury and Conrad Vernon's Shrek 2

Newly wedded ogres Shrek and Fiona go on their honeymoon to Far Far Away for salutation, - and meeting Fiona's parents. But their reception is less than warm, and problems ensue involving Shrek's father-in-law, Fiona's Fairy Godmother, - and her son, Prince Charming.

Shrek 2 is written by Andrew Adamson (The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)), Joe Stillman (Gulliver's Travels (2010)), J. David Stern (Daddy Day Camp (2007)) and David N. Weiss (Clockstoppers (2002)), with Conrad Vernon (Shrek (2001)), Cody Cameron (Open Season 3 (2010, actor)), Walt Dohrn (Trolls (2016, actor)), Chris Miller (Shrek the Third (2007)) and David P. Smith (Shark Tale (2004)) contributing dialog, and directed by returning great New-Zealander filmmaker Andrewson, Kelly Asbury (Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002)) and Vernon. - A hefty group of creatives!
The film is arguably even more fun and dynamic than the original crowd-pleaser from 2001. It packs an enormous amount of popular cultural and musical references, while its underlying story also just works flawlessly in itself.
Shrek 2 delights also with wonderful voice performances and handsome animation. It is a brilliant family adventure.

Related posts:

Andrew Adamson: 2005 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
Top 10: The best adaptations reviewed by Film Excess to date
Top 10: The best adventure movies reviewed by Film Excess to date   
Top 10: Best Disney movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) or, Just Plain Narnia 

2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Conrad Vernon: Sausage Party (2016) - One outrageous, funny, horny adult animation 

2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 150 mil. $
Box office: 919.8 mil. $
= Huge hit (returned 6.13 times its cost)
[Shrek 2 premiered 8 May (Westwood, California) and runs 92 minutes. Development began before the release of the first film. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) was an inspiration for the writing team. Voice acting stars Mike Myers (Wayne's World 2 (1993)), Cameron Diaz (Man Woman Film (1999)) and Eddie Murphy (48 Hrs. (1982)) were each paid a staggering 10 mil. $, - up from 350k $ apiece for the first film, - for their approximately 15-18 hours of total voice work done on the film. The many involved writers are a testament to a lengthy and winding road towards the film's finished script. The film opened #1 to a 108 mil. $ first weekend in a record-breaking 4,163 theaters in North America, where it spent another week at #1 and another 3 weeks in the top 5 (#2-#3-#4) and grossed 441.2 mil. $ (48 % of the total gross). Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 88.2 mil. $ (9.6 %) and France with 50.9 mil. $ (5.5 %). It was the highest-grossing film worldwide of 2004 and made an additional estimated 800 mil. $ in merchandise sales. It also beat Finding Nemo (2003) as the highest-grossing animated film of all time, a record it held until Toy Story 3 (2010). It is DreamWorks' most profitable title to date and the highest-grossing in the Shrek franchise. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch harder than this one. Rare for a mainstream animated film, Shrek 2 competed for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, losing to Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11. It was also nominated for 2 Oscars: It lost Best Animation to The Incredibles and Best Song (Accidentally in Love) to Al Otro Lado del Río from The Motorcycle Diaries. It was also nominated for a Golden Globe, won 1/2 BAFTA nominations, was nominated for 2 Grammys and a wealth of other honors. The Shrek franchise continued with Shrek the Third (2007), Shrek Forever After (2010) and spin-off Puss in Boots (2011). A possible reboot was reported in 2018. Adamson returned with The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005); Asbury with Gnomeo & Juliet (2011); Vernon with Monsters vs. Aliens (2009). Myers returned in 3 video projects before Shrek the Third (2007); Diaz in Far Far Away Idol (2004, video short) and theatrically in In Her Shoes (2005); and Murphy in Father of the Pride (2004, TV-series), Far Far Away Idol and theatrically in Dreamgirls (2006). Shrek 2 is certified fresh at 89 % with a 7.68/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Shrek 2?

Finding Neverland (2004) - Forster and an inspired cast strike gold with story of Peter Pan's creation

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+ Best London Movie of the Year + Best Shooting Star Actor of the Year: Freddie Highmore

A splash of fantastic imagination and two fresh-faced major stars tempt on this poster for Marc Forster's Finding Neverland

Scottish writer James Barrie locates his inner boy again, as he connects with a London family consisting of a widow and her four sons, which enables him to invent and write the adventure of Peter Pan.

Finding Neverland is written by David Magee (Life of Pi (2012)), based on the play The Man Who Was Peter Pan (1998)) by Allan Knee (Little Women (2005)), which centers on the true story of writer J.M Barrie's creation of the Peter Pan character in the early 20th century. The film is directed by great German filmmaker Marc Forster (Machine Gun Preacher (2011)).
Finding Neverland is a heartbreaker and an extremely soothing watch. It has wonderfully adventurous parts and outstanding performances from Johnny Depp (Dark Shadows (2012)), Kate Winslet (Revolutionary Road (2008)), Julie Christie (Don't Look Now (1973)) and the boy actors, particularly Freddie Highmore (I Saw You (2002, TV-series)).
Not all of the visual ideas are resolved completely satisfactorily, but the film is splendid.

Related posts:

Marc Forster: 2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]  

2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
World War Z (2013) - Forster, Pitt and Co.'s preposterous zombie junk   

Machine Gun Preacher (2011) - Butler finds faith and a Sudanese purpose in Forster's incredible true story 

2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 25 mil. $
Box office: 116.7 mil. $
=  Big hit (returned 4.66 times its cost)
[Finding Neverland premiered 4 September (Venice Film Festival, Italy and Telluride Film Festival, Colorado) and runs 101 minutes. Shooting took place in the UK, including London, in and around June 2002. The release was halted for a year due to a rights dispute with Miramax, who were releasing a major Peter Pan (2003) film, (which became a huge flop). The film opened #26 to a 220k $ first weekend in 8 theaters in North America and peaked at #8 and in 1,411 theaters (different weeks), grossing 51.6 mil. $ (44.2 % of the total gross). Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 9 mil. $ (7.7 %) and Italy with 8 mil. $ (6.9 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 3.5/4 star review, equal to its rating here. The film was nominated for 7 Oscars, winning one, for Best Score (Jan A.P. Kaczmarek (Horsemen (2009))). It lost Best Picture to Million Dollar Baby, Actor (Depp) to Jamie Foxx in Ray, Adapted Screenplay to Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor for Sideways, Art Direction, Editing and Costume Design to The Aviator. It was also nominated for 5 Golden Globes, 11 BAFTAs, won 3 National Board of Review awards and many other honors. The film has since been turned into a successful stage musical. Forster returned with Stay (2005). Depp returned in The Libertine (2004), Winslet in Extras (2005, TV-series) and theatrically in Romance & Cigarettes (2005), Christie in The Secret Life of Words (2005)) and Dustin Hoffman (Marathon Man (1976)) in I Heart Huckabees (2004)). Finding Neverland is certified fresh at 82 % with a 7.5/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Finding Neverland?

Alice in Wonderland (2010) - Wasikowska is the perfect lead for Burton's visual wonderland

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1 Film Exc
ess win:

Best Digital Effects  

5 Film Excess nominations:


Best Lead Actress: Mia Wasikowska (lost to Jennifer Connelly for Virginia/What's Wrong with Virginia)
Best Supporting Actress: Helena Bonham Carter, also for The King's Speech (lost to Dianne Wiest for Rabbit Hole)
Best Costumes: Colleen Atwood (lost to Pat Field for Sex and the City 2) 
Best Digital Effects (won) 
Best Makeup and Hair (lost to The Wolfman)

+ Best Blockbuster Movie of the Year
+ Best Shooting Star Actress of the Year: Mia Wasikowska

A poster full of exciting details and depth for Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland

Alice is a young, beautiful English girl, who is in the process of finding out who she is, when she is proposed to at an overwhelming ceremony and flees down a rabbit hole, which she happens to fall into and ...

Californian master filmmaker Tim Burton (Batman Returns (1992)) hasn't paired himself with the easiest story from the Disney back catalog here with Lewis Carroll's (A Tangled Tale (1885)) two Alice novels (1865 and 1871). But he lays a good, strong foundation with the first scenes and then opens up an incredibly animated universe with inspired, Oscar-nominated costume, makeup and hair work. 
Johnny Depp (The Tourist (2010)) is tremendous as the Mad Hatter; Helena Bonham Carter (Sixty Six (2006)) gives one of her career's best performances as the mercurial Red Queen; Matt Lucas (The Labyrinth (2016)) is fun as Tweedledee/Tweedledum, but the cat may be the favorite among the crazy characters, an amazing-looking creation. Mia Wasikowska (Only Lovers Left Alive (2013)) is, however, the film's natural center and absolutely perfect and enchanting as Alice.
The film loses some of its 3D magic as home viewing, SPOILER and the dragon scene in the end is a somewhat strange change of tone in an otherwise tip-top witty-wacky movie. Alice in Wonderland is a little long but also funny and visually resplendent.
It is written by Linda Woolverton (The Lion King (1994)).

Related posts:

Tim Burton: Dark Shadows (2012) - Fun, flamboyant vampire romp is a celebration of culture
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
Corpse Bride (2005) - Impressive, loud, hollow, dark doll fairytale 
Ed Wood (1994) - Burton's sticky biopic with strenuous Depp
Batman Returns (1992) - Burton gives us the ultimate, Gothic spin on Gotham City and its sinister characters
Top 10: The best action movies and TV-series reviewed by Film Excess to date
Batman (1989) - A huge, glitzy, empty joker
Beetle Juice (1988) - Burton and team serve one of the best horror comedies ever   

Watch the trailer for the film here

Cost: Estimated 200 mil. $
Box office: 1.025 bil. $
= Big hit
[Alice in Wonderland premiered February 25 (London) and runs 108 minutes. Burton signed with Disney to make two 3D films with them: Alice and a Frankenweenie (1984) remake that premiered in 2012. Shooting lasted from September - December 2008 in England and LA, with 90 % of the shoot taking part in front of green screens. The film was shot with conventional cameras and then converted into 3D, as 3D cameras were thought to be too clumsy. In England, the film's release was controversial, as some theater chains chose to boycott it, because the theater-to-DVD window was announced to be shortened from 17 to 12 weeks. The film opened #1 (and stayed atop for 3 consecutive weeks) to a 116.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it grossed 334.1 mil. $ (32.6 % of the total gross). The film's 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 133.6 mil. $ (13 %) and the UK with 64.4 mil. $ (6.3 %). It is the 2nd highest-grossing film of the year, behind Toy Story 3. It is Burton's highest-grossing film ever and only the 6th film to cross the 1 bil. $ mark ever. It broke several records and by spring 2011 had also accrued 76.4 mil. $ from 4.3 mil. DVD sales. Roger Ebert awarded the film 3 stars out of 4, equal to the rating it gets here. The film was Oscar-nominated for Best Visual Effects, (which it lost to Inception), Costumes and Art Direction, winning the latter two. It was nominated for 3 Golden Globes and 5 BAFTAs, winning two. Alice in Wonderland is rotten at 52 % with a 5.7 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Alice in Wonderland?

Dunderklumpen/Thundering Fatty/Dunder Klumpen/Dunderklumpen! (1974) - Åhlin's part-animated jabberwocky psych-out

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Some of the key animated characters of Per Åhlin's Dunderklumpen against the picturesque, Swedish mountain landscape

QUICK REVIEW:

A boy in the Swedish wild country gets his toy magically turned to life by the fat, animated Dunderklumpen character, who then sails away with the boy and his father in tow.

Dunderklumpen is written by Beppe Wolgers (Ur En Kos Dagbok (1985)), adapting his own 1969 children's book, and directed by by Per Åhlin (Hundhotellet (2000)). It is a very 1970s-infused psychedelic piece of nonsense. SPOILER - Its climax is a didactic speech on how money is not something to strive for.
Most of the film is narratively highly eccentric, - Dunderklumpen or Thundering Fatty, which he has been named in some English versions, and his (seemingly) acid-affected friends talk to, among other things, a waterfall and a house, - or just plain bunk.
The mix of live action and animation in Dunderklumpen provides some fun and is fairly successful, and more than one of the film's music pieces are good. But overall I find the film very hard to stand.

Here's an English-language trailer for the movie

Cost: Unknown
Box office: Reportedly 5.8 mil. SEK (Sweden only)
= Unknown
[Dunderklumpen was released September 26 and runs 97 minutes. 552k people reportedly paid admission to the film in its native Sweden, which must have made it a local success, although it might still count as a flop theatrically. It is thought of as Sweden's first animated feature, although it is actually only partly animated. Åhlin won a Special Achievement award at the Guldbagge Awards (Swedish Oscar) for the film. It was released in 1977 in the US, Hungary, East Germany and the Netherlands. It was rereleased in 1999 in Germany, in 2013 in the Netherlands and in 2014 in Sweden. 1,216 users have given Dunderklumpen a 7.0 average rating on IMDb.]

What do you think of Dunderklumpen?
Any curious 1970s film/s that you find it hard to take?

The Boy Who Wanted to Be a Bear/Drengen Der Ville Gøre det Umulige/The Boy Who Wanted to Do the Impossible (2002) - Hastrup hits the bull's eye with breathtaking Greenlandic adventure

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+ Best Animation of the Year + Best Box Office Disaster of the Year +  Best Danish Movie of the Year + Best Family Movie of the Year 

The inviting, neat poster for Jannik Hastrup's The Boy Who Wanted to Be a Bear

QUICK REVIEW:

The Boy Who Wanted to Be a Bear is a modern highlight in Danish animation.

A Greenlandic baby is taken by a polar bear, who is looking for a replacement for her own lost cub. The boy is raised as a bear and later experiences an identity crisis, for what is he really?

One quickly overcomes viewing the animation style of Bear as somewhat staccato and float happily into the beautiful, inspired universe full of fresh colors and white created for the film, which feels like getting to really visit Greenland.
The film has an exciting story with a mythical richness, high stakes and a strong, touching ending. There are also really good voice work, (this review is based on the original Danish version.) Particularly Tommy Kenter (Chop Chop/Fukssvansen (2001)) is funny and liberating as the raven, and Paprika Steen (The Substitute/Vikaren (2007)) is good as the human mother.
Bear is a super fairy-tale-like adventure with a simple animation design that hits the spot. It also does a good job of incorporating digital three-dimensional effects to especially dramatic moments.
A couple of minor reservations: In one scene involving danger, the landscape changes too noticeably back and forth. And some of the playful/romantic scenes are a bit tame.
The original Danish title (Drengen Der Ville Gøre det Umulige) translates to 'the boy who wanted to do the impossible' , (which was the UK title as well.) The film is written by Bent Haller (The Secret Weapon/Aberne og det Hemmelige Våben (1995)) and Michel Fessler (Man to Man (2005)) and directed by the great Danish animation filmmaker Jannik Hastrup (Benny's Bathtub/Bennys Badekar (1971), short).

Related review:

Jannik Hastrup: 2002 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Benny's Bathtub/Bennys Badekar (1971, short) - A boy's fantasy adventure in Danish animation classic

Watch the Danish trailer for the film here, (unfortunately without English subtitles)

Cost: 33 mil. DKK, equal to approximately 5 mil. $
Box office: Unknown
= Unknown
[The Boy Who Wanted to Be a Bear was released December 18 and runs 75 minutes. It was Haller's biggest movie to date, a Danish-French-Norwegian co-production, which is also the reportedly first film ever to receive a Greenlandic voice version, which was finished about a year after the film's initial release. The film reportedly got 65,700 admissions in its native Denmark, (Greenland is a part of the Danish kingdom), which is far from hit status there. However without numbers from other countries, - the film has also been shown at, and received praise and prizes at several festivals, - it is impossible to say whether it became profitable theatrically, although it is unlikely. 754 users have rated the The Boy Who Wanted to Be a Bear 3.1/5 at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Boy Who Wanted to Be a Bear?

Coraline (2009) - Selick's otherworldly masterpiece

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+ 3rd Best Movie of the Year

The fantasy-inspiring, great poster for Henry Selick's Coraline

Coraline's parents have moved her to a new, large house. There's only one nerdy playmate in the neighborhood, until Coraline finds that there is a different, wildly adventurous world hiding inside the house...

Coraline is not a conventional kids animation with a clear moral, but instead a visually magnificent, fairytale-like horror so crazily created that I almost couldn't believe that it existed, as I saw it first. - The colors (which go from B/W to color), the designs and the seamless mix of techniques (like puppet stop-motion, digital compositing and CGI) will knock you out of your couch in amazement.
Coraline is unusually rich on originality and real, nightmarish horror, (meaning also that it isn't appropriate for kids under age 6-8, depending on the child.)
The voices, by Dakota Fanning (The Motel Life (2012)), Teri Hatcher (Desperate Housewives (2004-12)), Ian McShane (Deadwood (2004-06)), John Hodgman (Mozart in the Jungle (2014-)), Jennifer Saunders (Shrek 2 (2004)), Keith David (Requiem for a Dream (2000)) etc., are also lively and inspired. Inspired is the word that most defines Coraline, which is also very odd and surreal.
Henry Selick (James and the Giant Peach (1996)) adapted Neil Gaiman's (Stardust (1999)) 2002 novel and directed the film. He also directed the successful, (yet grating) The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), which many (wrongfully, also due to wrongful advertisement) think that Tim Burton directed, - he didn't.

Related posts:

2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Top 10: The best adaptations reviewed by Film Excess to date
Top 10: The best adventure movies reviewed by Film Excess to date  

Watch the trailer here

Cost: 60 mil. $
Box office: 124.5 mil. $
= Minor flop
[Coraline came in 3rd in the US with a 16.8 mil. $ opening weekend. Its US run ended at 75.2 mil. $ (60 % of the total gross), - meaning that it was mostly outside America that Coraline should have been better welcomed. It was Oscar- and Globe-nominated as Best Animation, (unfortunately losing to Pete Docter's Up). Coraline eventually became commercially successful with DVD sales (45 mil. $ profit), a video game and soundtrack.]

What do you think of Coraline?