Based on Suzanne Collins’ bestselling YA series, Gary Ross’ screen adaptation has already become a mega hit. The film was supposed to be the next TWILIGHT and it has surpassed it at the box office already. But is it any good? In the categories of story and especially acting, it is certainly better than any of the TWILIGHT films. With its dystopian society and futuristic technology, it tells a compelling sci-fi yarn. But I still have a sneaky feeling that I’ve seen it before and done better.

Oscar-nominee Jennifer Lawrence plays the heroine Katniss Everdeen, a scrappy teen who lives in a future America where the country is split up into 12 districts. Each year a boy and a girl from each district are selected to participate in the Hunger Games, a televised battle to the death. The solo winner is awarded food and wealth from the State for their home district. On selection day, Katniss’s younger sister Primrose (Willow Shields) is chosen to represent District 12. Katniss instead volunteers to take her place.

Katniss is whisked off to the Capitol, taken away from her true love Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth, LAST SONG). Her fellow District 12 competitor is Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson, JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH). As Peeta says, his mother is finally hopeful that their district will win and she isn’t referring to him. Katniss is a skilled hunter and archer. She has survival skills in her blood. What Peeta has going for him is charisma and in the Hunger Games that is just as important. If a contestant can get the crowds to like them, they can gain sponsors, which provide them with advantages during that game. To say the game is rigged would be an understatement.

Helping the District 12 tributes prepare are: Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks, ZACK AND MIRI MAKE A PORN), an overly-made-uped government butt-kisser; Cinna (Lenny Kravitz, PRECIOUS), the tributes’ stylist, and Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson, NATURAL BORN KILLERS), the only winner from District 12. Katniss quickly learns that the Hunger Games is not just a competition, but a big show. Part of the strategy is to impress important people like show host Caesar Flickerman (Stanley Tucci, THE LOVELY BONES) and Seneca Crane (Wes Bentley, AMERICAN BEAUTY), the game’s architect, who manipulates the rules in order to up the drama and gain the result he wants. However, President Snow (Donald Sutherland, M*A*S*H) is afraid at the popularity of Katniss. She comes from one of the rebellious districts and could bring too much hope to the people.

Once the game commences the tributes the wealthy districts team up to hunt down Katniss. The four teenage killing machines have been raised to win this game. But they’ve never faced anyone like Katniss. Unions start to form and Katniss takes the young resourceful tribute Rue (Amandla Stenberg, COLOMBIANA) under her wing. But it is these unions that start to make the world of HUNGER GAMES unravel a bit.

When I said earlier that the film seemed like I had seen it done better before, I am not saying that it is made up of well worn clichés. I’m specifically thinking of one film – BATTLE ROYALE. That 2000 Japanese film, one of the best of the 2000s, has a very similar premise where each year a group of teens are selected to compete in a battle to the death in order for the government to keep people in line. The differences between the two films, which are both based on books I have not yet read, make a world of difference.

The chief difference is that in BATTLE ROYALE the contestants are all from the same class. This makes the teams logical. Friends would team up and have reasons to not kill each other. In HUNGER GAMES, the unions between anyone are unlikely. Why would you trust anyone? Even when it seems to have a strategic reason, the characters don’t react with the dog eat dog nature that the game insists upon. For instance, if a weaker character is recruited to help hunt down a stronger tribute, why wouldn’t the weaker character be killed by his “teammates” the second the stronger character is found?

Another thing that having the contestants know each other ahead of time does is form interesting character dynamics. ROYALE had a large cast but we get to know dozens of the characters, while in HUNGER GAMES, any character other than Katniss and Peeta is one dimensional or no dimensional. This undermines big emotional moments, because we don’t know the supporting cast at all because they are given no screen time. Also, in BATTLE ROYALE, the way the contestants “play” the game highlights their character and teenage dynamics. In HUNGER GAMES, the lead up to the game and the game itself show off the personalities of Katniss and Peeta nicely, but the motivations of the rest of the tributes are in question and at times even suspect. Deaths in BATTLE ROYALE have more weight and meaning, in HUNGER GAMES, they’re too often just part of the show.

Another big difference between the worlds of BATTLE ROYALE and HUNGER GAMES is that in the former the rules never change and in the latter the rules change too often. From both an audience perspective and from a world building perspective, changing the rules diminishes the drama. If Seneca can come in and manipulate the game, giving one contestant an advantage over the other, the viewers of the film and of the game in the film will begin to feel cheated. And both audiences need to care about the world being creating. If the purpose of the game is to put fear into the population with just a little bit of hope, the more the game seems rigged with sponsors and game manipulation the less hope people will feel and only fuel resentment toward the game and ultimately the government.

Francois Truffaut is credited as saying that the best form of film criticism is to go out and make the movie the way it should be done. With that thought in mind, it is hard not to compare BATTLE ROYALE having seen it with HUNGER GAMES, because it seems to stand as a shining criticism of the weaknesses in the latter film. But the criticism doesn’t make HUNGER GAMES look awful, only highlights how it could have been better. If one were to take HUNGER GAMES as a criticism of TWILIGHT, Gary Ross’s film looks strong in comparison.

As a teen action romance, HUNGER GAMES is anchored by a powerful performance from Jennifer Lawrence. Just watch her petrified look before entering the game arena. The love triangle is nuanced even if Gale is abandoned for the games. The action sequences create real tension as strategy plays a greater role than who can punch harder. Even with the manipulation, the final moment of the games holds great emotional weight. Katniss does turn into the hope that makes President Snow scared. The hope of a real hero.

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SUPERMAN, LORD OF THE RINGS, STAR TREK, STAR WARS, AVATAR and dozens of other sci-fi and fantasy tales owe their origins to Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Barsoom series. This new film is based on Burroughs’ A PRINCESS OF MARS, a classic of pulp fiction. Now Andrew Stanton, who won Oscars for FINDING NEMO and WALL*E, has brought the world to the screen.

John Carter (Taylor Kitsch, WOLVERINE) is your Han Solo-esque reluctant hero type. A Civil War vet who refuses to get pulled back into a cause (Indian Wars) because he is only seeking gold. But fate has other plans and like Frodo, he gets thrust into a world he couldn’t imagine when he gets teleported to Mars. In a reverse of Superman’s tale, he, the Earthling, travels to another planet and gains superpowers because of the alien world’s environment. Like the worlds of STAR TREK and STAR WARS, various alien races are warring and the good guys must stop the superior weaponry of the villains. Like in AVATAR, Carter is a human who establishes himself as a leader in an alien culture. In this world of Mars, aka Barsoom, the giant, four-armed alien race is led by Tars Tarkas (Willem Dafoe, SPIDER-MAN).

In the long tradition of fantasy, there is a princess named Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins, WOLVERINE), who is being forced to marry the enemy of her kingdom. This villainous warrior is named Sab Than (Dominic West, 300). He has been waging a campaign of destruction across the planet, using a superior weapon given to him by the mysterious Matai Shang (Mark Strong, SHERLOCK HOLMES), the leader of the Therns, a bald, pale, robed species bent on shaping the future of Barsoom. But the princess has developed a new technology that could save her people, but the Thern secretly sabotage it.

At the core of the story is the romance between John Carter and Dejah. John Carter is a heartbroken man, suffering over the murder of his wife and child. The princess is a smart warrior who is trying to escape a forced marriage. A hero trying to save a princess in distress is a tried and true element of sci-fi and fantasy. In 1912, saving the princess was motivation enough, but modern audiences need more. While Kitsch and Collins’ screen chemistry sells the romance to some degree, it never fully comes over the hurdles of Carter’s relationship with his wife, who serves as his key motivation for not wanting to fight. This comes strikingly to the forefront in the brilliant sequence where Carter cartoonish single-handed destruction of an army of aliens is given emotion poignancy as the clash of his blade is cut with the strike of the shovel as he buries his loved ones. At this point, we feel the switch in him. He will not let the innocent be murdered by the horde again. However, how does this transition to love for Dejah?

Admittedly, I am not a student of Burroughs’ world. I can only judge what was presented on the screen. But it seems that it brings into play too many of the problems of an early 20th century view of the universe. Tars Tarkas and his Thark use guns, so why are they not superior to the human-like Barsoomians who are still using swords? I mean when the Thern give Sab lasers, he takes over pretty quickly. Just look back at the list of worlds that have been influence by this one. They borrowed pieces that fit into their worlds. At times, all the ideas seem crammed into this one.

All these issues weaken the experience, but never break it. Most importantly, I cared about John Carter and Dejah. While I might not have fully bought their quick romance, their motivations to save Barsoom did resonate. Carter wants to fight for Barsoom where he failed to do so on Earth. Dejah wants to lead her people, but she is forced into the position of political pawn. While their stories might be set against a muddled world, it is still endlessly inventive. Stanton honors Burroughs ingenuity with a grand scale, assured pacing and the right dose of levity.

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Over the years Steven Spielberg has certainly adapted his style to fit the project. The black & white cinematography in SCHINDLER’S LIST added a grim solemnity. The desaturated colors and herky-jerky photography of SAVING PRIVATE RYAN only matched the gritty war sequences. In WAR HORSE, he tackles the first World War with a touch that matches the melodramatic nature of the source book and play. He channels the melodramas of the 1940s and 1950s like John Ford’s HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY, creating an almost surreal fable.

Ted Narracott (Peter Mullan, BRAVEHEART) is a war vet who drinks away his bad memories. He’s a poor farmer who decides one day at auction to not let his rich, pompous landlord Lyons (David Thewlis, HARRY POTTER) to outbid him for a thoroughbred horse. When he brings it home to his wife Rose (Emily Watson, BREAKING THE WAVES), she gets that look that only long-suffering wives get in movies like this one. Their son Albert (Jeremy Irvine, TV’s LIFE BITES) promises to train the horse. When the rent comes due and they are short, Albert, as hard headed as his father, sets out to turn a race horse into a plow steed.

But as one might expect, Albert and his horse Joey get separated when the war breaks out and the young man is determined to reunite with his four-legged friend. Like Robert Bresson’s AU HASARD BALTHAZAR, the story of an animal allows the viewer to peek into the lives of the people the creature comes in contact with. Capt. Nicholls (Tim Hiddleston, THOR) embodies the British term of keeping a stiff upper lip. He uses Joey to challenge the snobby Major Stewart (Benedict Cumberbatch, TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY). The young fragile Emilie (Celine Buckens) and her beloved grandfather (Niels Arestrup, A PROPHET) get a new lease on life thanks to the horse. The beast’s encounters will also include helping two young German defectors, motivating an animal loving private and inspiring a momentary truce.

This lush production shines with Janusz Kaminski’s vfx assisted cinematography. Spielberg doesn’t hold back with unnatural red and orange sunsets and vast green landscapes. The Narracott’s farm is like a fairy tale cottage. These idyllic images of the home are is stark contrast to the bleak, dark trench warfare scenes. The image of Joey trapped in barbed wire in the middle of No Man’s Land between the English and German sides is classic.

Spielberg finds grand moral themes about life and death much like he did in RYAN. Albert’s friend from Devon is assigned the terrible task of shooting any of his fellow soldiers who turn back from their run across the battlefield. So often, luck determines whether one lives or dies. Grander motivations mean nothing and the soldiers are fighting for their fellow solider… and in this case that means man and horse. Spielberg brings to light the great service that horses provided in WWI and the idea of them being drafted into fighting without a choice is not a light metaphor.

WAR HORSE earns the waterworks it creates with archetypal characters that we care about. Spielberg explores one of his favor themes of family on a grand scale. Chiefly, fathers and sons reconnect over shared experiences. Albert, played with the perfect dose of innocent gumption by newcomer Irvine, doesn’t understand his father, brought to life by Mullen as a proud working class man that only Ireland and the movies can produce. But in the final shot words aren’t needed to communicate that Albert’s opinion has changed. Spielberg’s skills as a master filmmaker make this happen so well.

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Steven Spielberg has made a rousing globetrotting adventure that harkens back to his early INDIANA JONES films. Using performance capture, he brought to life Herge’s world-renowned comic strip character in a strangely realistic and surreal way. The lightning paced action scenes will be well accepted from the videogamer set, while older audiences might want it to have slowed down a bit to let us meet these characters.

The audience is thrown right into the action as Tintin (Jamie Bell, KING KONG) buys a model ship that turns out to be a hotly desired item. Along with his dedicated dog Snowy, Tintin tries to get to the bottom of why Sakharine (Daniel Craig, CASINO ROYALE) will go to great extremes to get Tintin’s model and two identical ones. Along the way, Tintin teams up with the drunken Capt. Haddock (Andy Serkis, RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES), whose family is connected to the great mystery.

While there are brief mentions to Tintin being a famous reporter, we never get to see him report. There is something to be said about a story that throws the viewer right into the action, using the discovery of what is happening to pull them along. Here we don’t get to know Tintin enough to care about him more so than we care about the mystery. Capt. Haddock turns out to have a more engaging connection to the plot. He drinks due to the pressure of living up to the adventures of his ancestor Sir Francis Haddock. Even Tintin questions his usefulness when a bottle of booze is around. But when the going gets tough, Capt. Haddock gets burping. It’s far funnier than it sounds.

The film is actually based directly on several Tintin adventures Herge wrote, however they have been changed. In the comic strip, Tintin and Capt. Haddock were already friends. The film tries to make this an origin story. Because the script has some first act issues, one wonders why this was done. What if we saw Tintin as a star reporter and his friend Capt. Haddock was always getting him in trouble due to his drinking? What if discovering the mystery of the Unicorn was a way for Tintin to help an old friend redeem his pubic image? As a fan, I wonder why the filmmaker would make the relationship weaker for their big introduction to a worldwide audience? But one can only wonder and take the movie for what it is.

Despite wanting more character development, the personalities of Tintin and especially Capt. Haddock come out through the action. Haddock rattling off curse after curse at the bad guys sounded just like I imagined it to be. Tintin is smart and ingenious like a teenage MacGyver. Sakharine is pompous and ruthless. The dimwitted detectives Thomson (Nick Frost, SHAUN OF THE DEAD) and Thompson (Simon Pegg, SHAUN OF THE DEAD) make one glad Tintin is on the scene. And you can’t forget Snowy; he takes man’s best friend to a whole new level.

The use of motion-capture is a touchy issue. I found it another step forward in the stylized arena. This is far superior to an early effort like POLAR EXPRESS, but it isn’t AVATAR. What Spielberg’s tightrope walk between photo real and cartoonish does for the film is allow him to push the action. Cartoons have always allowed more latitude for the outlandish. The car chase through the streets of Morocco would not work in straight live-action. With impeccable timing, it highlights Spielberg’s skills as a choreographer of thrilling action. How he weaves together Tintin and Capt. Haddock on a motorcycle with a sidecar, a hawk, a tank and a moving hotel will amaze.

The film left me wanting more in both a good and bad way. As originally planned, this is the first film in a trilogy with Peter Jackson taking on the second installment. It might be interesting to see what he would do differently. This is like reading the “quick read” tab on a long article — you get the primary points, but not the depth. Even though I only got a taste this time, I still have a thirst for more adventures.

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For a continuing franchise it’s so often the quality of the villain that makes the series longevity. The hero never changes, or we think that is the case. It’s a good villain that pushes the protagonist to the edge. This is the case with the introduction of Professor James Moriarty into Guy Ritchie’s steam punk version of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s great detective.

Moriarty was only hinted at in the original, but here he is played with intelligent ruthlessness by Jared Harris (TV’s MAD MEN). Holmes (Robert Downey Jr., IRON MAN) has linked the university professor to a series of bombings that have been attributed to an anarchist group. His longtime beau Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams, THE NOTEBOOK) is still working for the man who has no qualms murdering to meet his goals. But what are his goals? Holmes boldly confronts him, which makes the dastardly schemer attack Holmes where it matters.

Dr. John Watson (Jude Law, A.I.) has just gotten married to Mary (Kelly Reilly, PRIDE & PREJUDICE). On the train to their holiday, they are attacked, but Holmes is there to save the day and ruin their honeymoon. In an effort to thwart Moriarty’s plans, the duo team up once again to get to the bottom of the bombings. They receive help from Holmes’ politically connected brother Mycroft (Stephen Fry, V FOR VENDETTA), who is half elitist and half nudist. A recovered letter will lead them to gypsy fortuneteller Madam Simza Heron (Noomi Rapace, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO), who is good in a fight.

The scenes between Holmes and Moriarty are golden. Their battle of wits is fun like watching two expert duelers. Michele and Kieran Mulroney’s script creates a memorable conclusion where Holmes and Moriarty are playing chess while “Holmes” is still in another room trying to stop a political assassination. While the idea of them playing chess seems obvious, the sequence has multiple layers and brings together all the conventions of the characters and this particular franchise.

Moriarty makes this film better than the first. But that’s why I wanted more of him. While Holmes is always on his trail, he doesn’t seem omnipresent. This is mostly due to long stretches were he is absent and Holmes and Watson are in search of Heron’s brother, who of course will have a role to play in the larger plot. Moreover, the slightly bloated film seems bogged down a bit with slow-motion fight scenes where Holmes thinks things out ahead of time and other slow-motion action scenes where we watch bullets explode trees so that we can watch every splinter fall. And let’s not even get into the stuff that would be better suited in a sci-fi film than a detective actioner set in 1895.

Nonetheless, Downey Jr. is a joy to watch as the flippant detective. The repartee between he and Law’s Watson is downright lovable. These partners in fighting crime are set out against a grand manipulator who can match wits with Holmes. But what makes him more dangerous is that he knows how to get at Holmes. He’s like the Green Goblin dangling Mary Jane over the edge of the bridge. Holmes is presented with lose-lose choices. But he’s always prepared.

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What I love about so many Chinese historical epics is how they blend history and myth. Now famed director Hark Tsui, who created the ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA series, brings the real life story of Chinese historical icons Detective Dee and Empress Wu to the screen in a big budget, vfx-driven spectacle that includes spontaneous human combustion, high flying kung fu and a talking deer.

Detective Dee (Andy Lau, HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS) was exiled after engaging in a revolt against regent Wu (Carina Lau, 2046), who he believed was murdering her way into becoming the first empress of China. On the eve of her coronation, a series of mysterious murders have occurred where people have been bursting into flames. Wu decides to bring back Dee in order to prove that she is not involved and partners him with her top officer Shangguan Jing’er (Bingbing Li, THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM).

But he doesn’t know who to trust, so he seeks the advice of the arrogant albino detective Pei Donglai (Chao Deng, ASSEMBLY), who is also a suspect. At the site of one of the murders, the construction site of the giant Buddha created in the likeness of Wu, he meets one of his former conspirators, the foreman Shatuo Zhong (Tony Leung Ka Fai, ELECTION), who leads the investigation into a supernatural direction and adds the powerful and mysterious chaplain into the growing possible murderer list.

Detective Dee uses keen observation like Sherlock Holmes in a movie that has the vibe of a 7th century James Bond flick. If a top sleuth has to have a cool weapon what would be cooler than one that can determine weaknesses? Dee’s mace can find the flaw in an opponent’s weapon and then destroy it. That’s a gadget that 007 never had. Like HERO, this tale has very Chinese themes. Dee is more interested in the greater good than revenge. He is determined to find the murderer, but not if it costs innocent people their lives. As a result he comes off as a noble, selfless figure.

Visually alone this film is worth seeing. The action set pieces, costumes and fight choreography are rich and exciting. The sky-scraper-high Buddha is a magnificent construction. I’d vote for it to be the eighth wonder of the world. The Phantom city is an underground black market where six-armed men play instruments, mechanical puppets attack and boat rides are inspired by the River Styx. Looking at Empress Wu’s elaborate gowns, one wonders how long it takes her to get dressed in the morning. The chaplain’s retreat is guarded by evocative stone statues that suggest movement and a herd of deer that aren’t afraid to use their antlers.

The real Detective Dee was Di Renjie, an official who served in the Chinese Tang Dynasty and Wu Zetian’s Zhou Dynasty and was a key figure in transforming Wu’s reign from terror to honesty. You won’t see the real version of his story here. But when you’re making a fantastical epic detective tale use the legend instead of the truth every time.

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The film claims to be based on a true story. Indeed it is based on Slavomir Rawicz’s novel THE LONG WALK, but since its publication the BBC has discredited its account. Some critics have used this to attack the film’s faithfulness to the book, which has a great deal of surviving and little interpersonal conflict that makes survival stories really compelling. While I agree that ramped up drama helps, but I found the lack of it here refreshing.

Janusz (Jim Sturgess, ONE DAY) has been sent to a gulag for crimes against the state in which his wife was forced to rat him out. The first person he meets in prison is Khabarov (Mark Strong, STARDUST), who tells him of his plan to escape, which fills Janusz with hope. However, the American Mr. Smith (Ed Harris, APOLLO 13) tells him that Khabarov is a fraud and tells the same story to all newbies as way to parasitically live off their optimism. But Janusz isn’t interested in living off dreams and decides to go through with the seemingly impossible escape.

Siberia serves as the virtual walls of their prison. To escape across the frozen tundra is tantamount to suicide. But Janusz decides to do it in a blizzard using the storm as cover. If they make it through the storm, they could freeze or starve to death. If they survive that they have to endure the 4,000-mile walk to India through deserts, disease filled swarms and Communist controlled lands where anyone would jump at the chance to turn in escaped escapees. To live to the next they must steal, hunt, scout, take risks, improvise and ride on a dose of luck.

Some in the group are simply types, but others stick out. Janusz is motivated by love. He wants to find his wife to tell her that he still loves her and understands she had no choice. Mr. Smith is a pragmatist who is good at thinking on his feet. He likes his odds with Janusz in the group, because the young man in kind and an idealist so he wouldn’t leave Smith behind if he ever go injured or sick. Valka (Colin Farrell, IN BRUGES) is a convict who was only out for himself at the prison, but see the value in their numbers in surviving… for a time. Despite being sent away due to Stalin and Lenin, he remains a true believer in these “great men.” The men run into Irena (Saoirse Ronan, ATONEMENT) is a young Polish girl who has a heroic story to tell, but one wonders if it is true.

Surprisingly, the group works well together. As some complains, it takes one level of tension away, but it adds focus. Peter Weir (MASTER AND COMMANDER) is more interested in the sheer scope of what these men would have had to endure. It’s unlikely that they could have done it on their own. Survival tales tend to support the human spirit and this one adds another layer because it shows people of different walks of life coming together and forming a family of sorts.

The worst thing I could say about the story is that after awhile the threat lessens because we know right from the start that most of the group survives. Obstacles keep coming, but the group doesn’t suffer huge setbacks.

That said, Weir, who adapted the book with Keith R. Clarke (IN SEARCH OF DR. SEUSS), presents the facts and makes us wonder if it is really possible. If these characters were really the ones attempting it, I believed, yes, it could be possible. They have what they need — Mr. Smith’s planning, Valka’s ruthlessness and Janusz’s determination. Without one of those, the rest might not be enough. Whether the story is real or not doesn’t matter here because it’s a story told well and we can believe in that.

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What could a 3-D family film from Martin Scorsese be like? With HUGO now as an example, the answer is magical. And it’s a magic that Scorsese is best suited to bring to life — the magic of the movies. At one point, a young boy visits a movie studio and the director leans down to him and tells him if he’s ever wondered where his dreams come from this is where they are made.

Based on Brian Selznick’s celebrated illustrated novel THE INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET, the story follows its title character (Asa Butterfield, THE BOY WITH THE STRIPED PAJAMAS) as he survives as an orphan in the clockworks of a Paris train station. After his father (Jude Law, A.I.), a clock maker, died, he has been trying to finish a project they were working on together — fixing an automaton. This mechanical human is a complex one that seems to be designed to write something and Hugo believes it will give him a message from his dad. But the boy loses his notebook filled with calculations to Papa Georges (Ben Kingsley, GANDHI) after the toyshop owner catches him trying to steal. What Hugo doesn’t know is that Georges is Georges Melies, the once famed filmmaker who is best known for A TRIP TO THE MOON, where a rocket sticks into the eye of the man on the moon.

In order to get his book back, Hugo befriends Georges’ goddaughter Isabelle (Chloe Grace Moretz, KICK-ASS), who loves secrets and adventures. Their friendship soon grows around fixing the automaton, which they discover has connections to Isabelle’s heart shaped key, Papa Georges and his wife Mama Jeanne (Helen McCrory, INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE). Hugo shares his philosophy that the world is one big machine and because no machine has extra parts, everyone must have a purpose. He is struggling to find his though. Isabelle suggests that he is meant to fix things.

Every moment is filled with the joy of filmmaking. Leave it to a master filmmaker like Scorsese to transform the novelty of 3-D into something more. We’ve seen dozens of versions of epic clockworks, but never with this kind of tension. The heights and whirling gears seem far more threatening. Take the Lumiere brothers’ pioneering 1897 film ARRIVAL OF A TRAIN AT LA CIOTAT. It was just a train arriving in the station approaching the camera, but when it was screened for the first time people were frightened as the locomotive came toward them. Using 21st century 3-D filmmaking techniques, Scorsese recreates this sensation for an audience with film in their DNA.

For the film buffs, Scorsese works in references to a great deal of Melies’ work, as well as another famous clock scene from Harold Lloyd’s SAFETY LAST to stick with the theme of time. When the automaton isn’t working, Hugo says that it is just waiting to do what it was meant to do and we can’t help but believe this also refers to Melies. Before cinema, he was a magician and he brought his talent for illusion to film as a profound innovator in special effects. After WWI, tastes changed and his films weren’t popular anymore. Desperate for money, he sold most of his films to a company that melted them down to make shoe heals. Preservationist Scorsese comes through loud and clear.

But this isn’t just a history lesson about film — it captures the joy of film from the creator to the spectator. The surreal version of Paris glows electric and has a touch of steam punk to it too. Films bring people together to share experiences. In this film, Hugo brings people together. He watches stories unfold in his station. Monsieur Frick (Richard Griffiths, WITHNAIL & I) can’t seem to get a moment with Madame Emilie (France de la Tour, HARRY POTTER) because of her snippy dog. The station inspector, played by Sacha Baron Cohen (BORAT) in full on Peter Sellers mode, is obsessed with catching thieves, but can the sweet flower girl Lisette (Emily Mortimer, MATCH POINT) make him smile? Can Hugo make Georges accept his past and do what he is meant to do?

Now that I’ve seen this film I couldn’t think of a better filmmaker to have made it. Scorsese has recreated past worlds in films like THE AGE OF INNOCENCE and GANGS OF NEW YORK, but not like he’s done with 1930s Paris. He’s done comedy before in AFTER HOURS, but not like the classic slapstick and word play as he does here. He’s dealt with real life figures in films like RAGING BULL and THE AVIATOR, but not like the loving tribute he pays to Melies, whose work is the reason we have a film like HUGO. This film leaves no doubt what Martin Scorsese was meant to do.

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The holidays have different meanings to everyone. For better or worse it’s usually a time for family. Now from Aardman Animations, the creator of WALLACE & GROMIT, comes a modern look at Santa and his family. What we find out is that even good ole Saint Nick has a dysfunctional family.

Being the big guy in the red suit is a Claus family tradition that has been passed down for generations. The current Santa (Jim Broadbent, IRIS), however, is more of a figurehead these days. The one-night present delivery enterprise has been streamlined by his heir apparent, his oldest son Steve (Hugh Lurie, TV’s HOUSE), a military type hunk with a Christmas-tree-shaped goatee. Steve has the elves working like special ops soldiers who can get a package in and under the tree in a matter of seconds.

Santa’s other son Arthur (James McAvoy, X-MEN: FIRST CLASS) is the opposite of his older sibling. He loves Christmas like a child, but his clumsiness has relegated him to the letter response division. After the gifts have been delivered, he tries to get his family to play Christmas the board game and the fight over who will get the Santa player piece underlines the resentments between fathers and sons… and grandfathers. Grandsanta (Bill Nighy, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN’S CHEST) is over 130 years old and turns up his nose to the giant rocketship that passes for a sleigh these days. Mrs. Santa (Imelda Staunton, VERA DRAKE) calmly watches it all from a distance with the ability to take charge when called on.

When the elf Bryony (Ashley Jensen, GNOMEO & JULIET) finds a missed present during clean-up, she alerts Steve, who seems unfazed because one missed gift out of the millions of gifts properly delivered is a great success rate. But when Arthur finds out he is aghast. One little girl will wake up on Christmas day believing that Santa doesn’t love her. Grandsanta decides to break out the old sleigh named Eve and the reindeer and get that present under the tree with Arthur and Bryony along for the ride.

At its core the film addresses the loss of the Christmas spirit in the holidays, but it is never made too obvious or maudlin. Arthur is the one who keeps it alive and his simple joy is all we need. The others have other motivations. Santa likes being Santa because  of the status, even though he has long handed over the day-to-day operations to a younger guy. Steve is that younger guy who has lost the point of the family business at some point while patting himself on the back for being so much better than the older, out of touch guys. Grandsanta just wants to prove that the old ways are better. Arthur has to battle against these family conflicts and his own self doubts, but he gets some help from the plucky Bryony, who is the best gift wrap elf around. Her belief that there is always time for a bow is unflappable.

Coming from Aardman there is certainly a dose cheeky British humor, but this isn’t just for those who say happy Christmas. This is a film about the awe of gift giving and family.  For those who don’t even celebrate Christmas, they can relate to the family dynamics and how they come to a head during holidays. Humor is mined from this conflict much like A CHRISTMAS STORY or HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS.

As a new take on the Santa myth, Sarah Smith’s film does take ideas we have seen before, but does so in a fresh way. The elves slick operation and skills are unmatched in their ingenuousness. They really have a plan for noisy toys and their battery removal when a child is stirring and could blow the entire mission. The contrast of the modern military like operation and the magic-infused way of the past doesn’t seem more obvious then when you find out what Grandsanta used as primitive stealth mode in his time.

With a perfect voice cast, this animated adventure comes to life with characters we love and relate to. To its great credit, there is no bad guy here. There are only three men who have lost sight of the meaning of the season and need to start seeing it through the haze-free eyes of Arthur. As an unsentimental, and yet joyous, celebration of Christmas, this smile-inducing comedy has the ability to become a perennial must-see for the holiday season.

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If George Miller’s original dancing and singing penguins film has a happy surprise than its sequel is the opposite — nothing about it is surprising. The story borrows a little from the original and attaches it to a familiar family/action plot. The first incorporated popular songs into the fabric of its world and the characters, while the songs here are uninspired, obvious or just not that good. Not even two krill that sound a lot like Brad Pitt and Matt Damon can save the day.

Now Mumble (Elijah Wood, LORD OF THE RINGS) is a famed hero in the community and dance it embraced by all the penguins. However his son Erik (Ava Acres) doesn’t have the same dance prowess as his dad so he feels like an outcast (much like his dad did in the original because he couldn’t sing). Erik ends up following Ramon (Robin Williams, GOOD WILL HUNTING) back to his penguin colony where a strange big-billed “penguin” named Sven (Hank Azaria, THE SMURFS) has become an idol because he can fly. He tells Erik that whatever he wishes will come true, so to the chagrin of Mumbles, Erik believes that he can just wish his way into flying.

As Mumble is out in search of the runaway Erik, a huge piece of a glacier breaks off and traps his colony in their cove. Upon their return, Mumbles must find a way to help his people. Along the way there will be ice collapses, near misses with Erik hanging over ledges, a skua attack and a run in with an elephant seal named Bryan (Richard Carter, RABBIT-PROOF FENCE) who refuses to back up. Parallelling this story is the one of krill Will (Pitt) and Bill (Damon). The comic pairing is delightful as Will decides he wants to leave the swarm and become a predator. You have to evolve to survive he says. Bill doesn’t like to rock the boat, but he is too good of a friend to leave Will out their in the big ocean all alone.

The opening dance sequence is a medley of songs that cloys with adjusted lyrics to fit cute baby-voiced penguins. I felt I was drowning in syrup when the baby chicks started singing “I’m bringing fluffy back” as a fowl riff on Justin Timberlake’s “SexyBack.” The late Brittany Murphy, who was fabulous in the first film, has been replaced by Pink as Mumble’s love Gloria. She isn’t given much in the form of a part or songs. Her one big ballad is nothing close to a showstopper or even an icebreaker. Even the dance theme is stretched to fit into the plot. How dance saved the day in the original was inspired, the second time around it feels desperate.

The plot isn’t just in search of Erik, but a purpose. All the themes don’t mesh. The outsider theme fizzles out before the end, while it never really connects with the themes o f fathers and sons and community. The latter two themes are choreographed using those Arthur Murray footprints on the floor, resulting in the audience knowing the steps before they come. I so often complain that poop jokes are a sign that a film is struggling for laughs. And trust me it doesn’t make it any funnier when bird poop drips in 3-D.

HAPPY FEET TWO reminds me of what happened to the SHREK franchise. The spark that made the original special is replaced with comfortable family-friendly sitcom material. Mumble’s confrontation with his society that hinted on conflicts of religion has been replaced with soft worries that his son will idolize a flying penguin more than him. The larger ecology message is a mere backdrop comparatively. The sequel is a simple family drama set against a large obstacle that doesn’t really pose much of an immediate threat. The timeline really doesn’t put the trapped penguins in any ALIVE situations, if you know what I mean. The original had a hip vibrant vibe, while this one is about as cool as a kid singing opera.

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