Quantum of Solace, Bolt

Quantum of Solace

This is the new James Bond movie starring series newcomer Daniel Craig. This is his second outing as James Bond and a direct continuation of the storyline from his first flick, Casino Royale. This time, the love interest from Casino Royale has betrayed Bond and has died. Bond continues his mission to find out who has done this to her and tries his best, not to make it personal.

This is a pretty straight forward Bond flick with gadgets, guns, and girls, but somehow manages to mimic the stylings of the Bourne series when it comes to film making. A tribute to how successful those Bourne movies really were. I found myself a bit more bored with this particular Bond film than many of the others that I have watched. It had lots of great action, but the story was a little weak in my opinion with lots of twists and turns that were hard to follow at times. I never really felt like I was seeing an intense struggle between good and evil, but rather just a bunch of people fighting. It was entertaining but not enough to go back and watch it over and over.

If you like Bond flicks, its a decent new entry.

BOLT

The newest Disney animated adventure finally catches up with the rest of the digital animation studios. Disney has lagged behind in its animated efforts except when it comes to its side studio Pixar. Disney finally learned to make a good animated film in digital much like its glory days of hand drawn animation. Bolt isn't as good as classic flicks like The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, or The Lion King, but it's a step in the right direction for Disney.

Bolt is the story of a dog who is the star of a spy TV show and completely believes that he is doing all the things that he does on the show including blowing things up with lasers from his eyes. In truth, he can do none of these things and when he is deceived into thinking his owner is kidnapped, Bolt jumps into action by escaping his home and trying to find her. It is in this journey, he meets a wide assortment of characters and situations that slowly show him that he does not have superpowers and that it is okay to be a normal dog. The animation is top notch, the story is good, and the action keeps it moving at a decent pace.

Bolt is a great flick and shows that Disney Animation Studios are finally turning the corner and making some quality animated films again. I can't wait for another with maybe some musical elements in it? I'm a sucker for a great song at the perfect moment in an animated flick.

That's it for this week. Next week - Slumdog Millionaire and Marley & Me.