2013 Summer of Sequels
Despicable Me 2 not so despicable
By Khushi Patel
Universal Studios recently released the sequel to the hit 2010 children’s movie, Despicable Me, which joined the few sequels that have met the standards of their predecessors.
Despicable Me 2 was delightfully charming, albeit slightly predictable. The plot was generic; an anti-villain joining forces with the good and falling in love with his lady partner left much to be desired in comparison to the original’s crazy schemes. On the contrary, the movie was filled with crafty innuendos and brash humor. While Despicable Me maintained its level of kids humor, the sequel included innuendos and energetic humor that seems to be lacking in modern day cartoons, and appealed to older movie goers. Simultaneously, it maintained its younger audience with the unwinding tale of Gru and his partner, Lucy’s storybook love.
One of the most arguably charming parts of the story however, was the return of the yellow, Twinkie-like creatures called the “minions.” Although their mindless misdemeanors and high pitched cackling the minions attracted children with their mischief, they could, at times, be grating to older audiences. Despite all this the minions proved to be the revered not-so-silent comics of the original movie and did not disappoint in the sequel. Subjected to mutations and kidnapping, the minions are something to be admired with their gibberish minion talk and their high-spirited cackles, the minions were the unsuspected stars, the most memorable participants and will even be receiving their own movie in 2014.
Overall this film was at par with the original Despicable Me and brought nostalgic memories of cartoons such as Hey Arnold! with its cheeky humor and sly innuendoes.
Survive the Undead Attack
World War Z sends audience running the other way
By Khushi Patel
World War Z, a zombie apocalypse type movie loosely based on the book by Max Brooks, leaves much to be desired by means of originality and overall storyline.
Released on June 21, 2013, World War Z, starring Brad Pitt, disappointed audiences with its unsatisfactory similarity to I Am Legend. The movie starts with Brad Pitt and family looking on as their city is wrecked by infected zombies breaking into cars and eating their inhabitants. Pitt, playing Gerry Lane, is called in by former employer, United Nations sharpshooter leader, and asked to travel the world to find a cure for the zombies in exchange for the safety of his family. Lane’s mission in general seems to be an exact replica of I Am Legend in which Will Smith, a former military officer and scientist, is asked to find a cure to stop the pandemic that has mutated people into superhuman zombie-like creatures. World War Z however, contained no dramatic twist and remained at a surface level, typical suspense film in which he finds out the only way to stop the zombies is to spread cancer because the zombies don’t like the taste. I Am Legend plays on the audience’s emotion and is a story about a man who has absolutely no one in the midst of a dangerous pandemic. It showed the heroic tale of a man who finds a cure to a deadly pandemic and who sacrifices himself for the sake of humanity. On the other hand, World War Z comes off as a vain depiction of a zombie apocalypse in which one man “saves” humanity from dying by infecting them with a deadly disease that has no cure. The irony of this supposed “solution” is irritatingly round about in the sense that either way everyone dies. In fact by the end of the movie, a radio report, that is hard to be heard with all the action going on, reveals that three fourths of the world’s population is either dead or undead.
This movie is sufficient in suspense and action and a perfect fit for someone who is just looking for a zombie thriller or a series of explosions and violence, however it contains an uncanny similarity to the movie I Am Legend save for the emotional depth found in Legend. In addition the movie ends in the middle of a scene with no fade and no explanation. The screen simply freezes on a shot of Brad Pitt. World War Z can only be described as the zombie apocalypse with all brawn and no brain; it contained no curveballs with little substance, was a replicated plot line of a popular movie that most everyone has seen, and had no resolution.
