Shrek the Halls (2007)

As Shrek learns the hard way, Kermit the Frog's prophetic tune "It's Not Easy Being Green," even applies to the holidays when the ogre begins to feel the overwhelming pressure of the Christmas season in DreamWorks Animation Studio's successful 2007 twenty-two minute special, Shrek the Halls.

Originally airing on ABC to record-breaking numbers of viewers, the high-quality and family friendly holiday short is making its way to DVD just in time for Christmas. Impressively boasting the original all-star voice talents that augmented the Shrek trilogy of the ogre who became an unlikely knight in shining armor, Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy and the second film's adorable scene-stealer Antonio Banderas all reunite for an instantly identifiable tale of familial dysfunction, holiday pressure, and Christmas anxiety.

Although he repeatedly explains to Eddie Murphy's fast-talking, over-eager Poster Donkey for ADD his belief that ogres just don't do Christmas, when Shrek (Myers) realizes that Princess Fiona (Diaz) is anticipating that it will be the best Christmas ever since they'll be able to share it with their children, Shrek waits until the last minute to prepare. Bursting into a local bookshop along with other frazzled shoppers, he picked up the recommended text "Christmas for Village Idiots" but finds all of his plans sabotaged when the well-meaning but clueless Donkey mistakes Fiona's advice that they just want a nice family Christmas to mean instead-- "bring the whole gang."

Before he turns Shrek's home into an impromptu Moulin Rouge styled disco, Gingy quickly reveals his mischievous side by hitting on a female cookie and later getting so sick that he vomits a chocolate chip. When Fiona begs Shrek, who has holed up in the outhouse to avoid the mayhem to come back inside, things start looking up as the characters each take turns trying to relay their version of the Christmas story with Banderas' guitar driven, Zorro effort being a highlight before he becomes too distracted by the bell on his hat to continue. Yet after more chaos ensues and things get out of hand, Shrek grows increasingly closer to losing his temper in the process of learning the real meaning of Christmas and the importance of family and friends.

However, with Shrek's trademark of inserting crude humor to prevent the special from becoming far too sickly sweet, it stays true to the trilogy as he wishes audience members "a smelly Christmas to all and to all a gross night." Yet, while the over reliance on toilet humor hindered the first film, in my opinion and the second one was far superior and intelligent, Shrek the Halls manages to continue in the spirit of the sequel by crafting a special that will not only entertain the little ones but also ring as true as Puss in Boots's bell for adults who find themselves stretched way too thin during the holiday season, especially in these economically trying times.

Offering viewers the opportunity to choose whether or not to watch it in full-screen or its original widescreen aspect ratio format, the digital transfer quality of Shrek the Halls's animation is first rate, additionally offering both audio options and subtitles in English, Spanish and French. Tying right in with DreamWorks Animation's release of Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, the Shrek DVD (available in numerous formats as shown below) is loaded with extras celebrating the Madagascar films along with other DreamWorks favorites.

Featuring the notorious, scheming Penguins from Madagascar as well as the adorable Christmas Caper short featured on the first film's DVD, Shrek the Halls works in two bonus sing-alongs-- "12 Days of Christmas" and "Deck the Halls." Along with Gingy's Dunking Game and a Shrek video game demo and cheat code, one of the coolest bonus features is a DreamWorks Animation Video Jukebox serving up musical clips from not only the Shrek and Madagascar films but other favorites like Flushed Away, Over the Hedge, Bee Movie, and Shark Tale.

With an easy to use child-friendly DVD menu and plenty of fun extras to keep them entertained in addition to the main attraction itself, Shrek the Halls is a winning addition to the collection of animated holiday specials in the tradition of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, sure to delight Generation Y as well as their parents.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

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New On DVD for the Week of 8/24

Although Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher's latest Rom-Com, What Happens in Vegas is sure to top the DVD rental and sales charts this week, my DVD pick of the week is the lesser-known British import, Son of Rambow, which incidentally is one of my top ten favorite films of the year so far. Note-- I should be receiving a few other new releases for review shortly so stay tuned for updates.

Additionally, Mumblecore has another disc in stores:

Below you'll find a link to an article I wrote for Blogcritics regarding Independent Cinema's Mumblecore Movement and its latest film to hit DVD shelves, Team Picture. As it contains numerous photos and video clips, it's far too lengthy to post here but I wanted to give you guys a heads up in case you were interested. Thanks!

Under The Radar: A Cinematic Decision for Indecision: Mumblecore’s Latest Team Picture-- When you combine French Speaking Outsiders with Dancing Brat Packers, Mumbling Slackers are born.

What Happens in Vegas

Director:
Tom Vaughan

Growing up in the era of Sam and Diane on Cheers and Ross and Rachel on Friends, I learned the hard way that in the world of comedy, once sexual tension disappears and the lead characters finally get together, the humor goes right out the window and the stories become increasingly dull. And if they survive the obligatory breakup or two to help nail ratings during sweeps and finally make it to the altar, it’s a surefire recipe for disaster as happily ever after translates to creatively boring ever after.

This being said, after penning the horrid Wedding Date (although we won’t hold that against her), screenwriter Dana Fox took a tremendous risk in her follow-up effort by jumping over the “boredom” hurdle early on by having the characters marry shortly into her new film What Happens in Vegas. After the spontaneous vows, Fox ramps up the loathing until it melts into fiery sexual chemistry, pushing and pulling the characters like magnets until they finally, as the genre and audience mandates, get together in the end. Although not entirely successful and woefully uneven, the resulting film gets off to a highly energetic and fast paced start.

In his Hollywood feature film debut, Starter for Ten director Tom Vaughn introduces us to the painfully perfect Joy McNally (Cameron Diaz) as she realizes that it’s this penchant for planned perfection that has driven an immeasurable wedge between herself and her dull, Ivy league poster fiancé Mason (Jason Sudikis) when he dumps her just outside his surprise birthday party. Instead of cake, Mason dishes up excruciatingly private details about their love life before Joy and her best friend Tipper (a delightful Lake Bell) decide to cut loose in Vegas, taking advantage of Mason’s now moot birthday present. Also hightailing it to sin city, we find recently fired Jack Fuller (Ashton Kutcher) who loses both his carpentry gig and his insistence for a one hundredth second chance in a basketball game with his father and boss (Treat Williams). With his wingman-- and no, I am not making this name up—Hater (Rob Corddry), Jack hopes to settle in for an evening of wild abandon before due to a double booked room, they literally run into Tipper and Joy. Several drinks, dares and hyper cuts later, the unlikely foursome discover that sometime during the night, Jack and Joy said “I Do” but before they can proceed with a divorce, Joy’s quarter is played in a slot machine by jackpot winning Jack.

Back in New York and faced with Dennis Miller’s Judge Whopper (again, the name isn’t a joke), the two are sentenced with “six months hard marriage” instead of a divorce to try and secure their share of the three million dollars and must cohabitate in Jack’s unsightly, bacteria infested, cramped bachelor pad in between sessions with court ordered marriage counselor Queen Latifah. It’s around this time that the tone shifts from screwball to hostile and the jokes become over reliant on crass toilet humor which it turns out is exactly what the screenwriter would have hoped for as a good bulk of the comedic fodder exists in, about or around the bathroom. After Fox, Vaughan and his tireless leads flush those away, What Happens in Vegas takes a violent turn towards The War of the Roses, except without that film’s success, until soon the two predictably realize that maybe between food fights and pratfalls, they actually-- you know-- kind of dig each other.

Messy and ultimately sitcom worthy, What Happens in Vegas isn’t quite the overwhelming bomb most critics had predicted when the posters and trailers began creeping into theatres at the start of 2008. However, in the careers of Kutcher and Diaz, both of whom are in desperate need of a (box office) hit and not Vegas’s “loaf of bread” hit, after minor summer movie interest, it’s destined to disappear like bathwater down the drain.