NOVEMBER 21 MOVIE RELEASES
BOLT
The renaissance of Disney animation continues with this hilarious and heart-rending adventure tale of what a dog will do to get back to his person. Bolt (the voice of John Travolta) doesn’t know the TV show he stars in is all pretend, so when he finds himself in the real world, without his “superpowers,” he’s baffled. Enter a streetwise cat and a demented, scene-stealing hamster who’ll help him get home. The animal characters are perfectly realized and utterly unique, and the film - which is gorgeous to look at, especially in 3D- swings beautifully from lovely to silly to lovely again. (PG)
TWILIGHT
Bella Swan has always been a little bit different, never caring about fitting in with the trendy girls at her Phoenix high school. When her mother re-marries and sends Bella to live with her father in the rainy little town of Forks, Wash., she doesn’t expect much of anything to change. Then she meets the mysterious and dazzlingly beautiful Edward Cullen, a boy unlike any she’s ever met. Edward is a vampire, but he doesn’t have fangs and his family is unique in that they choose not to drink human blood. Intelligent and witty, Edward sees straight into Bella’s soul. Soon, they are swept up in a passionate, thrilling and unorthodox romance. To Edward, Bella is what he has waited 90 years for - a soul mate. But the closer they get, the more Edward must struggle to resist the primal pull of her scent, which could send him into an uncontrollable frenzy. But what will Edward and Bella do when a clan of new vampires comes to town and threaten to disrupt their way of life? (not screened for critics prior to deadline) (PG-13)
AT OAHU MOVIE THEATERS THIS WEEK
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
This rapid-fire sequel to 2005’s computer-animated flick sends four pals from the Central Park Zoo - lion Alex (Ben Stiller), zebra Marty (Chris Rock), giraffe Melman (David Schwimmer) and hippo Gloria (Jada Pinkett Smith) - back to their “ancestral crib” in Africa. The romp boasts top-flight animation, music and voice work, plus those irascible aviator penguins and Sacha Baron Cohen’s regal lemur. (PG)
Role Models
A sour misanthrope (Paul Rudd) and a doltish womanizer (Seann William Scott) are ordered by the court to mentor two tough cases - a cheeky African-American kid and a geeky teen whose life revolves around a medieval fantasy game. For every bit of frat-house jocularity there’s a quiet, off-the-wall moment to keep things grounded in co-writer Rudd’s deadpan sensibility. (R)
High School Musical 3: Senior Year
Disney’s song-and-dance robots come to the big screen in the popular franchise’s third entry, which revolves around basketball-star-turned-theater-sensation Troy’s (Zac Efron) efforts to determine his own post-high school future while maintaining his relationship with brainy Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens). (G)
Changeling
This handsome yet muddled and often hysterical fact-based drama is about a single mother whose young son goes missing in Los Angeles in 1928. The tyke that police return to her five months later is an impostor and for pointing this out, she’s put away in an asylum. (R)
Zack And Miri Make A Porno
Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks play lifelong best friends and impoverished roomies who realize they’re in love while making an amateur blue movie to raise cash. Awkward moments outnumber the genuinely funny bits, as director Kevin Smith’s banter often sounds premeditated, and he tends to fall back on racial and sexual stereotypes. (R)
Soul Men
The rambling road-trip comedy casts Bernie Mac and Samuel L. Jackson as ex-singers in a Motown-style music group who reunite for one final show. While this may sound like a can’t-miss premise, director Malcolm D. Lee proves unable to think of anything really funny for his two stars to do. Mostly they just stand around and insult each other. (R)
Beverly Hills Chihuahua
This tale of a pampered pooch who gets kidnapped in Mexico isn’t as bad as the trailer suggests, but it still amounts to an unfunny live-action variation on animated Disney adventures like Lady and the Tramp and The Aristocats. Director Gosnell’s perfunctory set pieces lack imagination as well as humor, and the script’s fondness for excruciating one-liners will test the limits of even the most charitable adult’s nerves. (PG)
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