Elio — Movie Review

When a boy named Elio Solis (Yonas Kibreab) discovers the Voyager Golden Record at a space exhibit, a wild idea occurs to him: maybe aliens exist.

Elio is a sad and lonely boy. His parents have died, and he now lives with his Aunt Olga (Zoe Saldaña). But she doesn’t seem to want him around. She is always busy, always scolding him, and worst of all, she is sending him to a youth camp.

Elio just wants to belong somewhere. Somewhere he is needed or wanted. He believes that place might be far from Earth. That is why he dreams of being abducted by aliens.

Then, one day, it actually happens.

Because of the Golden Record and a signal sent from Earth, a group of aliens arrives and abducts Elio. The problem is, they mistake him for the leader of the planet.

The aliens want Elio to represent Earth in the Communiverse, a council of alien civilizations. But first, he has to prove himself. Afraid of going back to his old life, Elio plays along. He must now convince Lord Grigon (Brad Garrett), one of the most powerful creatures in the universe, not to destroy the Communiverse just because they rejected him.

Along the way, Elio meets Glordon (Remy Edgerly), Lord Grigon’s son. Glordon is cheerful and carefree. He is nothing like his father, who is obsessed with blasters, power, and destruction. Glordon does not want to hurt anyone, but he is scared to stand up to his father.

Elio and Glordon form an unlikely friendship, a friendship that could change the future of the universe and both of their lives forever.

Migration: Movie Review

It feels like 2023 is a year of breakthroughs in animation. There were so many good animated movies released last year, like TMNT: Mutant Mayhem and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Both of which defied the boundaries of the genre. But while everyone is pushing the envelope of what animation can do, we get movies like Illumination’s Migration, which is content just to be part of the flock.

Migration is about the Mallard family and their first migration from New England to Jamaica. The head of the family is the always-anxious Mack Mallard (Kumail Nanjiani), who loathes the idea of ever leaving their home. But he decided to migrate anyway after his always optimistic wife, Pam (Elizabeth Banks), and his always dopey uncle, Grand Dan (Danny DeVito), convinced him.

Upon their arrival in New York City, the film immediately shows us the impact of modernity on animals. They almost hit a crane, a car, a building, and a billboard. Their journey was impeded by this so-called progress, and now they're lost.

The Mallard family then meets a pigeon named Chump (Awkwafina). Chump shows them around the city and introduces them to Delroy (Keegan-Michael Key), a Jamaican-accented parrot. Delroy knows the way to Jamaica, but they must free him first from the clutches of an evil chef so he can help them out.

From there, it feels like we're at an impasse with the story. With no grand message about the human-animal relationship, the story heads nowhere. The overall message about family lacks the genuineness to make an everlasting impact. The only good thing that remains in the end is the voice work of Caspar Jennings, who played Dax Mallard, and Tresi Gazal, who played Gwen Mallard, and their funny banter with each other.

Migration never turns into the movie that director Benjamin Renner wants it to be. It awfully still feels like an Illumination comedy that relies on zaniness over emotions, story, and relevance.

It also didn't bring anything new to the table. The movie is a typical animated family movie meant to entertain kids and amuse adults. It's not even smart or fab. It has no splash. It's happy to just float along the ocean as the waves of bigger and better animated movies keep coming along.

2/5

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar: Movie Review

Wes Anderson's second feature in 2023 is about a gambler finding a greater purpose in life after developing the ability to not see with his eyes.

While the extremely wealthy and compulsive gambler Henry Sugar (Benedict Cumberbatch) waits for his friend Sir William W., he ambles aimlessly around his room looking for a book he can read. He then discovered a small exercise book by Dr. Chatterjee (Dev Patel) on the life of Imhrat Khan (Ben Kingsley), a performer who can see without his eyes.

Henry Sugar thinks that Khan’s ability will help him win games in casinos. So he goes through the same training described in the book to also gain the same power. After three years and three months of concentrated work, Henry Sugar can now read the back of a card in five seconds.

He quickly amassed a huge amount of wealth from gambling because of it. But despite his great success, Henry Sugar was puzzled by the little satisfaction he felt. There was no thrill, no suspense, and no danger of losing anymore. Could it be that his newfound ability somewhat altered him inside?

Enola Holmes 2: Movie Review

After helping the young Viscount Tewkesbury (Louis Partridge) inherit his father's land and titles and become a progressive reformer, Enola Holmes (Millie Bobby Brown) opens her own agency to be a detective in her own right. However, she still does not have the kind of respect that her brother Sherlock (Henry Cavill) has. People still belittle her skills and capabilities, until a penniless little matchstick girl finally enlists her help. Her name is Bessie (Serrana Su-Ling Bliss), and she’s looking for Sarah (Hannah Dodd), her sister, who seems to have disappeared without a trace.

The game is afoot.

Enola starts her investigation in a match factory run by business moguls Henry Lyon (David Westhead) and Charles McIntyre (Tim McMullan). She found out that Sarah had discovered something in the workshop, forcing her to hide from the authorities headed by Superintendent Grail (David Thewlis). Whatever it is, it’s huge.

Soon enough, Enola begins to uncover more vexing mysteries behind Sarah’s disappearance. Her snooping around and finding clues got the attention of Sarah’s friend and co-worker, Mae (Abbie Hern). Much to her displeasure for her determination and taking the job, Mae threatened Enola to let go of the case. But the young detective can smell that something is already burning and that it’s getting bigger. She must figure it all out before they capture Sarah and before it’s too late. To do that though, she will need some help from the great Sherlock Holmes.