KL Movie Marathon

First movie for the flight is Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. I couldn't have chosen a better film to watch. It's the lovable duo's first feature-length outing and it doesn't disappoint. The guys at Aardman Animations did a crackin' job with this one. Wallace and Gromit has a vegetable-protection agency called Anti-Pesto, and they go around catching these cute rabbits that threaten the townspeople's crop. Their basement is started to get crowded, so Wallace had this bright idea to "brainwash" the rabbits so they wouldn't like vegetables anymore. Something goes wrong with his mind-machine and a monster is created, who eats everything in sight during a full moon. It's up to Wallace and Gromit to capture the were-rabbit and win back their reputation and the town's respect (and Lady Tottington's affections) before the Giant Vegetable Competition.

I just loved the part when Gromit sacrificed his precious giant melon to use as bait to lure the were-rabbit. And when he actually cried when Wallace was unconscious and he thought he was dead. That dog with no mouth can be quite expressive. The bunnies were very cute - I can't imagine why Victor Quartermaine would want to shoot them. The animation work is quite detailed - in some shots, you can actually see some fingerprints. The humour is definitely British and a bit dark. There were a couple of allusions to King Kong and An American Werewolf in London. Non-stop fun and action till the very end.

Next up is Tim Burton's Corpse Bride. I pretty much liked everything by Tim Burton, but this one disappointed me a bit. I expected more from the story department, but this one fell short. The sets and the animation is still classic Burton though. Another Tim Burton touch - Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter play the lead voices.

Story is about a young man from a nouveau riche fish family, who is forced to marry the daughter of an old-rich bankrupt royalty. The families came to this agreement because the Van Dorts needed the class, while the Everglots needed the cash. Things didn't go well for Victor Van Dort at the wedding rehearsal because he was too nervous. He walks into he forest and there he practices his wedding vows. Finally he gets the vows right, and puts the ring on a finger-shaped twig in the ground. Little did he know that the twig is actually the rotten finger of a murdered girl, who rises up from the ground and claims to be his lawfully-wedded wife. Victor is whisked to the Land of the Dead by the Corpse Bride, and everybody gave him up for lost. Victoria Everglot's parents managed to find a lord to take Victor's place at the wedding. Turns out that Lord Barkis Bittern was the bad guy who is supposed to elope with the Corpse Bride (before she was a corpse), but later murdered her and left her for dead. Meanwhile, Victor was so moved by his new bride's story that he decided to marry her for real. It was HER turn to be touched by his sincerity, so much so that she declined Victor's marriage proposal at the altar, and insisted Victoria take her place. Well, not before the ghosts and the ghouls dispatch off the vengeful Lord Bittern first.

Took a break from stop-action animation, and watched an art film by Singaporean director Eric Khoo. Be with Me premiered as the Director's Fortnight selection in the 2005 Cannes Film Festival, and was allegedly given a 5-minute standing ovation. Personally, I don't find it that good. It's actually composed of three intermingling stories: a shopkeeper who's slowly going into depression after the loss of his wife, a security guard who's in-fat-uated with a sophisticated lady executive, and a pair of cute lesbian schoolgirls who got to know each other via the Internet. Then, you have a bonus story of the courageous deaf-and-blind Theresa Chan, whose life story inspired Be with Me. One thing you'll immediately notice about the movie is the lack of dialogue - only 3 minutes worth of speech in the 93-minute movie. I can't recall any soundtrack either, just people going about their daily lives without talking much. The girls flirt with each other using SMS and instant messages. The shopkeeper thinks about his deceased wife all day long. His social-worker son assists Mr. Theresa Chan with her groceries, but they communicate via finger-writing on the palm. Fatty Koh monitors Ann on his security cameras all day, and at night, he stands outside her flat watching her.

My only complaint with the movie is that transition from one story to another is not seamless. There were times when the movie concentrates too long on the Theresa Chan angle, and you wonder, "When are those two cute girls coming up onscreen?" Seriously, I think the movie should've simply concentrated on the Theresa Chan and lonely widower threads, since they are strongly linked by the social-worker son anyway. The other two stories are just fodder. One time, the son can't make it to his 8pm appointment with Ms. Chan, so he calls up his Dad to fill in for him. For some time now, his Dad has been the one cooking meals for Ms. Chan. He's also reading his son's translation of her life story, and it's somehow slowly bringing him out of depression. So Dad commutes to Ms. Chan's place. While Ms. Chan was preparing the dishes in the kitchen, the Dad suddenly remembered the moment his wife died in the hospital, and started weeping silently on the dinner table. Ms. Chan approached the man, and cradled his head in her arms to console him. Such a powerful image.

Too bad things didn't work out for the girls Jackie and Sam, and Fatty Koh and Ann. Sam decided she wants the "real thing", so she dumps Jackie for Brian. Jackie can't take the blow and decides to end it all by jumping off the building. Fortunately (for her), Fatty Koh, who was on his merry way to deliver his love note to Ann, broke her fall. He died of massive head injury. Ann read about it on the local papers while drinking coffee in a cafe. I'm not sure if Ann even knows the guy. Sheesh!