Rhys Reviews

Category: Uncategorized

  • Lilo and Stitch- Review

    Voice of Chris Sanders in Lilo and Stitch

    When being released in 2002, Lilo and Stitch used the compelling marketing gimmick of placing the film’s lead into classic Disney movie posters, conveying the outlandish nature of the picture and how it stands out amongst the crowded world of Disney princesses. Now, 23 years later, Disney have attempted the same marketing gimmick, making this live action film attempt to standout from the endless live action remakes that the studio has been putting out. Unlike the original however, which felt like a challenging new family-friendly film from the studio, this new live-action attempt feels just like more of the same.

    Following on from the success of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland remake, one of Disney’s most profitable new endeavours has been live-action adaptations of their beloved animated classics. Between the years of 2018 and 2025, there have been fourteen animated remakes released, highlights including Jon Favreau’s The Lion King, Guy Ritchie’s Aladdin and the recent release of Marc Webb’s Snow White. A clear decline has been conveyed in the popularity of these remakes, going from billion-dollar grosses to Snow White barely being able to break-even.

    Voice actor Chris Sanders and Maia Kealoha in Lilo and Stitch

    These remakes are marked commonly by being almost shot-for-shot remakes of the original, with very little changed made at all. Some, like Disney+ streaming original Mulan, make sweeping changes that fundamentally change the narrative from the beloved original.

    Lilo and Stitch sits somewhere in the middle, following the same narrative as the original, following escaped experiment Stitch, as he finds himself on earth hiding from his creator. He attempts to hideout with a struggling sister-turned surrogate mother, and a troubled child, who may soon become his new family.

    The film really nails the dynamic in the family bond between Nani and Lilo, played by Sydney Elizebeth Agudong and newcomer Maia Kealoha respectively. Kealoha works well in bringing alive the chaotic energy that Lilo had in the original feature, some of her violent tendencies seem to be lessened for a live-action world, but the heart of the character is there. Agudong brings alive the struggle of being forced into the role of a surrogate parent, forced to work to provide while wanting to pursue her own dreams.

    Director Dean Fleischer Camp’s breakout feature Marcel the Shell With Shoes On conveyed a charming family adventure with cutesy characters and a promising exploration into adult themes of loneliness and grief. The cutesy characters are still present in his follow-up feature, the marketable nature of Stitch is still present, sure to sell hundreds more collectables in his new live-action form.

    Voice of Zach Galifianakis and Billy Magnussen in Lilo and Stitch

    However, the mature storytelling seems surprisingly absent from this slightly watered-down version of the narrative. The animated original was very mature in its exploration into family trauma and the grief of a young child, but the alterations made here seem to lessen that message or altogether remove it. Events happen the same as the original, but with crucial alterations to dialogue, removing a crucial line about Lilo mentioning her family’s accident, or making Nani unaware of the adoption of Stitch, where it was her idea in the original to give Lilo a friend.

    Standing out was the key to the success of the animated original, but removing crucial character beats only serves to water down this iteration, and removes any of the adult edge the marketing wants to make the audience believe. Originally conceived as an original to their streaming service, Disney+, the movie portrays itself as a family-friendly film through and through.

    The Disney+ release can be seen even more frequently through the use of human stand-ins for original film characters Jumbo and Pleakley, played by Zach Galifianakis and Billy Magnussen here respectively. In their effects-created forms, the characters are accurate but come-close to the uncanny valley. Presumably because of a lower-streaming budget, the characters are instead commonly shown in human forms, giving the film a comedic slapstick energy, even if some questionable character decisions will leave fans of these characters confused in their new narrative directions.

    It is hard to state that Disney’s new Lilo and Stitch is anywhere near a bad film, when its DNA is so instinctively tied to such a satisfying 2000’s Disney classic, but what it suffers from is a lack of creativity in its own vision or changes that only serve to undermine the original. Both lead performances are strong, and a stronger focus on the sisterly bond leads to more charming family moments, but the emotional and complex adult themes are lost in the edit. Stitch is always marketable however, brought to life in such glee.

    Maia Kealoha and Sydney Elizebeth Agudong in Lilo and Stitch

  • Mission Impossible- The Final Reckoning Review

    Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible-The Final Reckoning

    The mission seems to be over for Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise), as Mission Impossible- The Final Reckoning arrives in theatres, advertised as the final outing for this long-running franchise. Following on from 2023’s Dead Reckoning, The Final Reckoning sees the rogue AI known as the Entity rising to a higher form of power as it takes over each Earth superpower one by one, and the only one who can be trusted to save the day is Ethan Hunt and his IMF allies. Released in 1996 and based on a television series of the same name from 1966, the original Mission Impossible created a unique brand for itself in the spy genre, and became a juggernaut of the genre, crossing over 4.5 billion at the global box office across its 8 films. Bringing this franchise to an ambitious end comes with a couple of clear pitfalls, but The Final Reckoning comes out as a strong end to the long-running spy franchise.

    Clocking in at nearly 3 hours in length, the film’s first hour comes as its weakest. The film’s opening act comes with many of the same problems that plagued the opening of its predecessor, an overreliance on exposition. Opening with a staple of the franchise, a video being relied to our franchise lead, as the President (Angela Bassett), conveys the mission for the film, but this one is even more expositional. The opening serves as the film’s chance to convey the entire plot of the previous film in case the audience member missed its events, and also the entire narrative events for the franchise. As stated previously, this is a common aspect of this franchise, but it over-compensates heavily through its visual exposition.

    Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg and Hayley Atwell in Mission Impossible- The Final Reckoning

    Each time the film relays information from a prior film, the film also conveys this information visually by flashing the character, moment or item on screen through archival footage. This is clearly done to keep people up to date with the information outside of this sole film, but the editing choice comes to worrying heights when it done so frequently, flashing the same footage more than once, and once editing in a flashback to footage from this very film to remind the audience what happened mere moments ago. This editing choice leaves the film once it enters its second act, only returning once again for a sentimental call-back to the franchise.

    Once the film hits into its second act, the fast-paced action and engaging character-work the franchise is known for comes to ahead, and that’s where the stunts the franchise is known for becomes involved. The submarine escape sequence and the plane battle with antagonist Gabriel (Esai Morales) are two thrilling sequences that can stand toe-to-toe with some of the most thrilling moments from the franchise’s past. They convey the commitment Tom Cruise has to this franchise, delivering some of the most jaw-dropping cinematic moments and all on a practical level.

    Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg, Pom Klementieff and Greg Tarzan Davis in Mission Impossible- The Final Reckoning

    Tension is key to a film contained in the spy genre, and the ticking time-clock element of the film, with the entity slowly taking over each countries’ nuclear arsenal is a compelling tension-builder. The stakes have always been high in this franchise, but this is end of the world stakes, and director Christopher McQuarrie knows how to mine the most drama out of these stakes. The movie is unlike the typical summer blockbuster, its sombre and dramatic, with the tone being more reminiscent to Cold War era war films than anything else released this year.

    Larger stakes comes with a massive improvement in scope and cast. Returning franchise mainstays like Benji (Simon Pegg), Grace (Hayley Atwell) and Luther (Ving Rhames) are given enough to do in this entry, spending most of their screentime together as a team in a secondary plot, given most of the heavy-lifting comedy-wise.

    The new characters introduced here are where the bigger cast becomes more of a mixed bag, Hunt spends most of the middle act travelling between locations, meeting new characters for a short sequence. Hannah Waddingham is an example of this, appearing in one scene where she doesn’t leave much of a splash, but then Severance star Tramell Tillman steals every sequence he is in. Various new characters also make up the new team surrounding Hunt, namely Paris (Pom Klementieff) and Theo (Greg Tarzan Davis), who have very little to do in the hustle and bustle surrounding the narrative.

    Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible- The Final Reckoning

    The film wins its sentimental conclusion, coming out with an overpowering final action sequence, paired with tension-filled character beats, marking a strong end to a winning franchise. Through various twists and turns, the movie connects itself to the very beginning of the franchise, creating a complete package out of this once-episodic franchise.

  • David Lynch: The Director Who Dreamed

    Speaking in the novel Lynch on Lynch, director David Lynch explains his approach to explaining his films, ‘I think people know what Mulholland Drive is to them, but they don’t trust it. They want to have someone else tell him. I love people analysing it, but they don’t need me to help them out.’ The famous director, who died this year at 78, is renounced for crafting complex and unexplained media, films and television that are meant to be conveyed more as a waking dream than a straightforward narrative. Where the director finds meaning is through characterisation and a genuine sense of humanity is his pictures, coming from a background in painting and the arts, Lynch’s film showcases a lot of visuals that are not beholden by a meaning he handholds the viewer through. Starting his career with short films known as Six Men Getting Sick (1967) and The Alphabet (1968), the Alphabet is synonymous with his future work.

    The short film follows a girl who chants the alphabet to a collection of images of horses before eventually dying in her bed, dream-like logic perpetuates over the film, as the alphabet appears on the screen in text as the girl overlays audio with her distorted cries. Describing the idea that formulated the short film in Lynch on Lynch, Lynch states, ‘Peggy’s niece was having a bad dream one night and was saying the alphabet in her sleep in a tormented way.’ Lynch had always been interested in the concept of dreams, tackling the concept across his 10 feature films, ranging from his first feature Eraserhead (1977) to his final feature Inland Empire (2006), and continuing its use in his famous television series Twin Peaks (1990-1991), and its’ follow-up Twin Peaks: The Return (2017).