Quick Shots 22

Title: Kung Fu Panda 2.

Starring: Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Gary Oldman, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, James Hong.

Brief Synopsis: Po (Black) returns as a kung fu warrior along with his group of friends Tigress (Jolie), Monkey (Chan), Mantis (Rogen), Viper (Liu) and Crane (Cross). A new villain, Shen (Oldman), a peacock has developed a new weapon and plans to take over China. Shen, though, may also have be a link to Po's past - and now the true identity of his parents.

Opinion: I thought the first Kung Fu Panda film was decent, but not amazing. This one was right about the same. It furthers the story of Po, which apparently is supposed to be six films long. I am sure I will check them all out - but after three they better have some decent ideas, or it will get stale fast.

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Title: Hotel Transylvania.

Starring: Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Kevin James, Fran Drescher, Steve Buscemi, Molly Shannon, David Spade.

Brief Synopsis: Dracule (Sandler) lost the love his life due to the humans. Now, he has spent the last 100 years protecting his daughter, Mavis (Gomez), and other 'monsters' from the human world by creating a hotel that they can all stay in - hidden from the humans. A mistake, however, allows Jonathan (Samberg), to find the hotel and Dracula does his best to hide him in plain sight - and he flips the hotel on its head.

Opinion: As we all know Sandler is always going to bring his pals along for his movies - here it actually works well. I thought the film was done very well, had a lot of heart, and I laughed quite a bit. May be a new medium for Sandler to continue to explore in the future.

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Title: Hop.

Starring: James Marsden, Russell Brand, Kaley Cuoco, Hank Azaria, Gary Cole, Elizabeth Perkins, Hugh Laurie.

Brief Synopsis: E.B. (Brand) is the son of the Easter Bunny (Laurie) and is being trained to eventually take over as the Easter Bunny himself. Fred O'Hare (Marsden) once saw the Easter Bunny when he was a child, and has since become a bit of a disappointment to his parents, Bonnie (Perkins) and Henry (Cole) - so they finally kick him out of their house. E.B. has a dream of becoming a drummer, while O'Hare is looking for a purpose. When Carlos (Azaria) tries to take over Easter, the two of them team up to save it.

Opinion: Thought we'd throw this in for Easter and I was honestly surprised it wasn't a full on cartoon. It does the Alvin and the Chipmunks mixture of CGI effects and human element. And, I was actually pretty surprised I enjoyed it. A lot of great laughs and a lot of decent 'adult' worthy jokes throughout as well.

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Title: Greatest Movie Ever Sold.

Starring: Morgan Spurlock.

Brief Synopsis: A documentary from Spurlock, the maker of Super Size Me that took on McDonald's super size fries and drinks. Here Spurlock explores the ever-growing world of product placement in television and films. With the invention of TiVo and DVR programs, companies were in need of finding a way to get their products shown - and product placement was their answer.

Opinion: I really enjoyed Super Size Me, and through that began to enjoy Spurlock, which really helps when trusting him in his documentaries. As a consumer and huge fan of both television and movies - this is something that I have seen a ton. It is absolutely the worst in television, mostly in reality programs where they pretty much just show a commercial during their show (think Sprint for Survivor or Subway for Biggest Loser). Although it's annoying, it may be here to stay.

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