Madagascar 3

I’ve watched a lot of animated films over the last few years. Some, such as Animals United or Open Season, get one or two viewings before being forgotten for good. A select few, however, get watched over and over again. Some of these include Cars, Rango, and the Madagascar films. And while I know the kid loves them, I personally find Madagascar and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa both very entertaining films that are just as much for adults as they are for kids. Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted continues this trend and is the best of the bunch when it comes to fun.
Picking up where Madagascar 2 ended, Alex, Marty, Gloria and Melman are still stranded in Africa and need to find the Penguins in order to get back to New York City. They track them down in Monte Carlo, make a big scene at a casino trying to get to them, and are now being hunted by the evil animal control officer, Captain DuBois. On the run they end up taking refuge on a circus train. One thing leads to another and they’re soon performing in the circus themselves with hopes they’ll be sent on tour to perform in America.
No question, Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted features beautiful animation that’s on par with the best Pixar film. It’s bright and colourful and very slick. The 3-D, especially during the circus scenes, was incorporated well and helped make the film truly pop. It might not be the Best Animated Film of the year, but it is a visually superb romp.
Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Jada Pinkett Smith, and David Schwimmer all return to voice the main characters and all do just as good a job as ever, especially Rock who has definitely made Marty the zebra the star of the show among the young demographic (the Afro Circus bit he does is still in my head). Joining the cast of regulars is Frances McDormand as Captain DuBois, Jessica Chastain as the cheetah Gia, Bryan Cranston as the Russian tiger Vitaly, and Martin Short as circus seal Stefano. The additional voices and characters are all quite funny and the young ones in the audience absolutely ate them up.
There are a lot of silly moments in Madagascar 3 that might annoy some adults and make them write the film off as childish junk. I found more adult-themed jokes this time out and laughed a lot more than I did during the previous films. In the end though, it was what my son thought that mattered and he loved every moment of it and can’t wait to see it again.

... and again Hotel Transylvania

While it won’t be much of a game changer in terms of animated children’s storytelling, Hotel Transylvania entertains effectively. It will easily keep youngsters engaged, it looks wonderful, and it’s easily the best thing Adam Sandler has put his name on in ages.
After building a remote castle to protect his daughter and provide refuge for monsters wanting to hide from humans, Count Dracula (Sandler) wrestles with his now teenaged (at 118 years old) charge’s desire to see the outside world. During her birthday party, however, an unwanted, dimwitted, Dave Matthews loving American human (Andy Samberg) turns up and nearly ruins everything for the vacationing monsters and Dracula while striking up a relationship with the birthday girl (Selena Gomez).
Plot wise, the film (co-written by Robert Smigel) plays to Sandler’s strengths and to the type of film he’s more widely known for making these days. Still, it’s nice to see him play the straight man to Samberg’s crazy guy, and the love story between Samberg and Gomez is really sweet. Powerpuff Girls creator Tartakovsky also creates some stunning visuals with a constantly moving camera to create a real sense of scope and place. The outcome of the film never once feels in doubt, but it’s still fun while it lasts.

Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie debuted weakly last weekend in fifth place with $11.4 million. The opening is significantly lower than Burton’s last stop motion feature, The Corpse Bride, which debuted with $19.1M in 2005.
The opening of Frankenweenie concludes this year’s great stop motion experiment. It was the third high-profile stop motion feature this year, following Aardman’s The Pirates!: Band of Misfits and Laika’s ParaNorman. None of the three films were able to crack a $15 million opening. In fact, no stop motion feature has ever had an opening north of $20 million. It begs the question, Are stop motion films simply incapable of grossing as much as CG or has no one ever made a stop motion film with mass audience appeal? In a year with more stop motion features than usual, it’s a question worth considering.
Meanwhile, Genndy Tartakovsky’s Hotel Transylvania is on its way to becoming one of Sony’s biggest animated hits. The film dipped a modest 36% in its second weekend, grossing $27.1M and pushing its U.S. total to $76.7M.

New Canon EF Lenses

Rumours and News about Canon Lenses

For several years I've been collecting information and links for Canon's new EF lenses and rumours about even newer ones. This page shows the latest information I've been sent or found on the web. I've also written numerous articles and reviews covering lenses and photography related issues. BTW If you're a lens maker who supplies lenses in EF mount and wants me to look at a potential lens review, then just give us a call?
It includes other makes of lenses that catch my attention too. Detailed information about some current lenses can be found on specific pages via the main rumours index.
Previous years rumours are archived 2006-2008 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011
Over the years I've received all kinds of lens rumour info - some more believable/risible than others. Please do use your own judgement when reading the stuff here, and remember that what I've collected here is for entertainment as much as anything else. Oh, and that 42mm f1.0 lens that you can see at the right is a fake...
Two tables of information that may be of interest are included here. The date codes article is in our blog.