Beautiful

Rating: 9/10 (6 June 2009)

Surprise! The curmudgeon is in the mainstream for a change: I loved this film. Much more than I expected to. I'm not going to go into a lot of detail about it, everybody else has already done that. A fun adventure, some good comedy, and a surprising amount of heart. Never in a million years did I expect to be as moved by an animated fun movie like this as I was. Yes, there were a few nits I could pick on, mostly involving the villain, but they are easily overlooked given all that I liked about the movie.
The problem with writing review for films I love (which I don't do very often) is that I never want to say too much, lest I give anything away. Better to just go see it yourself. But be warned: it's not all sunshine and light, there's some definite sadness in there as well.
Out of curiosity, I read some of the "Hated It" reviews to see what people there would have to say. Very interesting. The main complaint seemed to be from parents who found it too heavy for their kids. Perhaps that's a valid complaint, I don't know, I'm not a parent. But it raises the interesting thesis that perhaps I, as an adult, responded to the movie so strongly precisely because it is a more adult film than your typical children's-fare animated movie. But I don't think that's a bad thing at all.