In cinemas on Friday
SHEFFIELD animation company Red Star
3D makes its feature film debut with this kiddie flick about Spandex-clad pets.
Nick Frost gives his American accent its first airing to voice Buddy, a big-hearted pooch sent into space on an experimental rocket in 1969.
After a mysterious accident, he wakes up in
2019 in a small American town where an animal-hating cop has banned pets.
There he meets Felix, aka Turbocat (voiced by Luke Evans) a human-hating feline vigilante who has modelled himself on Batman right down to the secret hideout and English butler (a “1980s robot” voiced by Bill Nighy).
The loyal pooch is desperate to track down his rocket scientist owner, but the moody, masked moggie is reluctant to help until Gemma Arterton’s sultry bunny steps in.
It looks great and has a solid team of British voice actors.
Hopefully, next time they’ll spend a bit more time on the script…
THIS detective flick from actor-turned-director Edward Norton boasts a top cast, a thumping score, gorgeous cinematography and a very clever premise.
It is just a shame he couldn’t tie all those pieces together with a compelling story. Jonathan Lethem’s 1999 novel, which Norton has been trying to bring to the screen from almost as soon as it was published, applied a smart twist to the hard-bitten gumshoe. Lionel Essrog, played by Norton, has Tourette’s Syndrome and a photographic memory. This doesn’t just add to his status as an outsider, it should also up the stakes.
Essrog’s weird facial tics and sudden verbal outbursts could, like Colombo’s dirty mac, lead cocky criminals to fatally under-estimate him. His condition could also give us access to what he is thinking, powering the story, creating suspense and causing occasional moments of black comedy.
Shouting rude words while stalking a femme fatale could be terrifying, touching and darkly amusing at the same time. Sadly, none of these powers and flaws are properly exploited in Norton’s underpowered and overly complicated script.
The set-up is, however, rather promising. Daniel Pemberton’s jazzy score and Dick Pope’s smoky cinematography take us to 1950s New York.
In a pacy first act, Lionel’s boss and mentor Frank Minna (Bruce Willis) is killed shadowing some sinister chaps in sharp suits. His fellow detectives Tony (Bobby Cannavale), Gilbert (Ethan Suplee) and Danny (Dallas Roberts) quickly knuckle down to business. But Lionel won’t let it lie.