The Weekend Movie Review

The Not-So-Serious Review - Nim's Island: Yes, it's been out for awhile. My niece and I picked it up at the dolly. Girls may just want to have fun. But this girl has no objection to cheap thrills. Overall, very sweet. Very cute. Kinda romantic. And beautiful shots of a tropical island in the middle of miles and miles of blue, blue sea. What more could you want? Well, there's more. I'd like to start an Oscar campaign right now for Nim's Island in costume design. Gerard Butler in a wet shirt. Nung-ga-ga! {Insert sound effect of birds tweeting here}. Humunah-humunah-humunah! Thank you, Mr. Butler. Thank you.

The Serious Review - WALL-E: Just go see it.

The movies had a lot of things in common. There was an overarching eco theme to both. Both had female characters that were more than the usual fluff & makeup portrayals of women characters. Both wrapped up with old-fashioned animation sequences that related to the story. And, of course, they were both kids movies.

But what I found most interesting was the way WALL-E and Nim's father were both non-traditional male leads, and in kind of similar ways. WALL-E isn't a gun-toting Terminator type robot out to blast anything that moves (actually that's the girl-bot he's got the loves for). He's just a regular guy robot, who goes to his job everyday. But he's kind, loyal, brave, a little goofy and a bit of a romantic. Nim's father, even though he's played by the very humunah Gerard Butler, is a science geek supreme and a little absent-minded, but he's also sweet, brave and will do anything he has to be there for his daughter. And the movies are no less exciting because of the fact that they aren't some over testosteroned he-men. In fact maybe more so, since you care a lot more when it is possible that characters who aren't invincible might fail.

It was refreshing to see these to fellas this weekend. Too often the summer movies are taken over by 2 types of male characters: the emotionally stunted action hero or the over-grown frat boy. And while ex-Navy Seals and BMOCs can be good fun, I think it's time to give the average guy who does good some attention too. Both Nim's Island and WALL-E show that the regular Joe is a lot of fun to root for.