Category: Reviews

Review: ‘Avatar’

There’s something to be said for immersing yourself in a new world, letting yourself discover new life forms and new civilizations. Going where no man has gone before is one reason we pay out bucks and attend big screen presentation. James Cameron delivers on that expectation with [[[Avatar]]], the lushly-produced science fiction film that recently was released on Blu-ray by 20th Century Home Entertainment.

Pandora is a colorful world, looking nothing like Earth and yet has a vibrant ecosystem with intelligent life that has found harmony with the flora and fauna. The worst thing that ever happened to them was being discovered by mankind.

By the 2040s, we’re told Earth has ruined its ecology and was a dying world so people needed to spread out, find new resources to let the billions live until solutions could be found. A new mineral discovered in abundance on Pandora brings ship after ship as man invades a new frontier, threatening a way of life.

While this has been an engaging theme in fiction for decades, Avatar offers us nothing new on the subject. The story has been reviled and ridiculed because it evokes memories of better versions of this same story, most notably Dances With Wolves, but even that Kevin Costner epic was retelling an old tale.

Cameron put all the money on the screen. Even on home video, Pandora is a rich world that moves and breathes with grace. The logical extrapolation of technology looks great down to the tiniest of details.

And again, this is why the story fails us so completely. On the one hand we enter an alien world and see compelling imagery and then on the other, we watch every stock cliché and story point telegraphed because of its utter familiarity. While sitting at home seeing the film for the first time, my wife and I were calling out what was coming next because it was so obvious. James Horner seemed equally uninspired, repeating elements of his Glory soundtrack.

There’s a reason Jake, our hero, was only a corporal: he sucks as a strategist.  The final assault to protect Pandora from the humans wasted so much life because he didn’t use the geography and geology to his benefit.

When Colonel Kilgore, I mean Colonel Quaritch, suits up to take on Jake, I uttered, “We have gone from a Cameron film to a Bruckheimer film” and the utterly unnecessary final battle was saved from being too much on-the-nose by Neytiri delivering the killing blow on behalf of her world.

By being given nothing real to play, the performers went through the motions and did the best they could but no one performance stands out as being particularly good or memorable.

Similarly, the Blu-ray had one of the sharpest transfers I’ve ever seen and it made me miss seeing Pandora projected large and in 3-D. The Blu-ray/DVD combo pack lacks a single extra (not even the trailers) so no doubt some collector’s set is in the offing.

On the other hand, the thin and flat story made me equally happy I didn’t shell out extra bucks for what is ultimately a disappointing experience because the finished product came nowhere close to its potential.

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Review: ‘Elektra: Director’s Cut’

elektra1-6100608The idea of Jennifer Garner playing Elektra to Ben Affleck’s Daredevil may have seemed a great idea at the time, given her athletic prowess in [[[Alias]]]. And unlike so many supporting characters who get eyed for spinoff movies (Jinx from the [[[Bond]]] series, [[[Silver Surfer]]], etc.), she actually got featured in a 2005 feature from director Rob Bowman.

The movie was a critical and financial disaster, performing worse than Mark Steven Johnson’s [[[Daredevil]]] feature. Now, Elektra: Director’s Cut
is out on Blu-ray from 20th-Century Home Entertainment and the three minutes added do not make it a substantially better experience.

The problem with the Zak Penn, Stuart Zicherman and Raven Metzner screenplay is that it never tells us anything about Elektra Natchios as a person. We’re shown flashbacks to her upbringing without detailing why her father was so hard on her. We’re shown she has OCD but where it comes from and why it’s even mentioned is never explored since it never plays a part in the film.

The story is a muddled mess with too many things going on at once, little of making any sense. The Hand, an evil organization of black-clad ninja controlled by business-suited masterminds, and the Kimagure, which is more of a martial art and philosophy as embodied by Stick (Terence Stamp). You know they’re the good guys since they dress in white.

Caught in between is the Treasure. We’re led to believe it was likely to be Elektra herself but no, the treasure turns out to be Abby Miller (Kirsten Prout), a 13-year old who has already lost her mother to the battle between forces and is on the run with her father Mark (Goran Visnjic). Elektra is lured into their world through needlessly complex ways and then has to defend Abby from a quartet of barely named super-powered assassins.

There’s plenty of fighting and plenty left unexplained. And frankly, as the film ends, we know nothing more about Elektra or the real struggle between Roshi (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa) and Stick.

In one sequence, Elektra turns on the gas stove, tosses a candle into the kitchen and causes a devastating explosive blast to stop the Hand from entering her ancestral home. With the gas still on and flames everywhere, one would think the house would catch fire but no, miraculously, we never see the flames or see anyone concerned about the fire. Its this sort of story illogic that mars what could have been an interesting story about a fascinating character.

The acting is stiff and we’ve seen better from the more familiar names, especially Garner who has range if allowed to use it. Stamp is appropriately gruff as the blind teacher but with the cap of white hair and black outfit, I mistook him for Marlon Brando.

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Review: ‘Iron Man: The Ultimate Guide’

ironmanguide1-9795500Anticipating today’s release of [[[Iron Man 2]]], DK Publishing released [[[Iron Man: The Ultimate Guide to the Armored Super Hero]]] back in February. The book, like last year’s [[[Wolverine]]] offering, is in their new thicker but shorter trim size and at 200 pages is chock full of information regarding only the comic book career of the Golden Avenger.

Matthew Manning, who also wrote the Wolverine volume (and is my co-author on [[[The Batman Vault]]]), returns to tell us everything about Tony Stark, his metallic alter ego and his friends and foes.

The book takes us through the origins of the character up through the beginning of the acclaimed Matt Fraction “Stark: Disassembled” storyline. Sections are devoted to his Stark Industries staff, his friends, his foes, and of course the many, many women in his life.

Maybe it’s because of Marvel’s own Iron Manuals, but the section devoted to his many armored incarnations is perhaps the weakest portion of the book. We get a few pages detailing how the more current armor works and then artwork depicting many but not all the variations. By using pick-up art in this manner, we’re treated to the work of many different artists but many of the shots are details and not full figures so for a visual guide, it feels oddly lacking.

Matt does a better job detailing the other sections starting with the various versions of Stark’s family business. Oddly, his spread on Pepper Potts seems written for people only familiar with her from the movie, ignoring her elopement and troubled marriage to Happy Hogan. Instead, that aspect of her life can be found in Happy’s own section.

A six page timeline concisely gives you what you need to know about the character’s career before getting into decade by decade sections with additional details. The 1960s was the decade it all got stated and the foundation was built. A little too much space is given to team-ups and battles and not enough given to the feature’s early Cold War-inspired stories or Stark versus Congress, rooting the series to the real world setting it apart from the other Marvel titles at the time.

The 1970s sadly gets the shortest shrift, with emphasis entirely on the classic “[[[Demon with a Bottle]]]” story. Yes, the series floundered after Archie Goodwin stopped writing it in favor of many hands until settling in with David Michelinie and Bob Layton in the latter 1970s. Still, the feature endured and should have been explored a little more.

Stark and Iron Man’s growing prominence in the Marvel Universe over the last decade does get a much stronger review and is among the best portions of the book.

Rather than devote two-pages to a montage of covers and splash pages at the end, the book could have benefitted from expanding the Ultimate incarnation of Iron Man from two to four pages to better explore how this Stark differs from the core Marvel Universe version.

Matt does a solid job keeping many of the convoluted storylines clear for readers – not an easy feat – and his affection for the character is clear. Similarly, the publication design is a little more straight-forward than some of DK’s hyperkinetic earlier offerings.

To be honest, this is one of those dream jobs I wish I had a shot at writing, but Matt does a fine job here and makes the character, his world, and his importance to the Marvel Universe clear. At $24.95, you couldn’t find a better resource on the Armored Avenger.

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Review: ‘X-Men Volume Five’

With [[[Iron Man 2]]] opening on Friday, everyone has decided to jump on the comics bandwagon and is flooding the shelves this week with Marvel-related fare. Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment joins in the fun with the two-disc[[[ X-Men]]] Volume 5, completing the classic 1990s animated collection.

The 14 episodes presented here are in airdate order and span 1996-1997 and seasons four and five of the Fox series, which has remained the longest running Marvel animated title. The show was incredibly faithful to the source material, with former X-editor and then-Editor-in-Chief Bob Harras working as a story consultant. The show also had the unqiue aspect of having lengthy sub-plots allowing breadth and depth of subject matter most animated fare previously could not enjoy.

Comparing this to the adaptations of the same stories by the more current [[[Wolverine and the X-Men]]] shows the greater freedoms taken by the new creative staff—and not always for the better.

Given a variety of technical production delays, episodes were prepared out of order and writer Steven Melching always directs fans to the script numbers to show the proper story evolution. Instead, the five volumes have presented the shows in airdate order, which could prove confusing.

The series had horrible vocal casting but at least had strong animation direction. However, when Fox belatedly ordered a handful of additional episodes, Saban farmed out the animation to the Philippine Animation Studio, and the inferior quality is marked as you will see upon rewatching.

Disc one opens with the two-part “Phalanx Covenant” featuring the goofy but loveable Warlock. We switch focus to Omega Red, a then popular foe, in the long-delayed “A Deal with the Devil” which nicely spotlights Wolverine, Storm, and Rogue. Also delayed and finally aired at this point are “No Mutant Is an Island” and “Longshot”. The former treats Jean Grey as still dead although the animated continuity at this point had resurrected her but nothing was done to accommodate this. And while Longshot himself was nicely handled, I never cottoned to Mojo, who is played far too broadly here.

Any real sense of episode to episode continuity is gone by the second disc and the inferior animation is truly sad to see. As highlighted on the box cover, “Old Soldiers” is a flashback to World War II and a Wolverine tale. He partners with Captain America to take down a traitorous American scientist and the Red Skull (of course). The dialogue is nicely handled by Len Wein although the story felt tired.

The additional order did allow for a finale, “Graduation Day”, which saw the anti-mutant prejudice take a decidedly deadly turn as Xavier is fatally shot. Mutants around the world seek a leader and flock to Genosha, looking to Magneto for guidance. The X-Men arrive to solicit his help and Xavier gets a happy ending. He also gets a chance to say farewell to the core X-Men and the viewers, with the series ending on a cautiously optimistic note.

There are no extras on the collection, but if you have the first four volumes, you can’t possibly miss out on this one. 

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Review: ‘Wolverine and the X-Men – Revelation’

We’re nearing the end of the line with [[[Wolverine and the X-Men]]] as Lionsgate releases the penultimate volume of the six volume DVD set comprising the first, and now only, season of the animated series.

Volume five, [[[Revelation]]], is on sale Tuesday and contains five more episodes adapting themes and storylines from across the comic franchise’s storied history. As with the previous volumes, the latest of which we reviewed back in January, the animation is lean and adequate with stronger vocal casting than the 1990s incarnation.

One of the series’ strengths was in the consistent vision and voice of the writing team anchored by Nick Filippi, Greg Johnson, Craig Kyle, and Christopher Yost. As a result, sub-plots run from episode to episode smoothly and characters are consistent throughout.

We open with “Guardian Angel”, focusing on Warren Worthington’s simmering battle with his father over his destiny, leading to the loss of his wings and seduction by Mr. Sinister. You genuinely feel for Warren’s loss and see his fall from the skies as a tragedy, understanding why he agreed to become Archangel. (I admit to always having had a fondness for the red-and-white uniform he sported until this moment.)

Next up is “Breakdown” which gives us one of the more significant departures from the comics as Jean has been missing and Emma Frost has been helping locate her. Her efforts lead to a largely flashback episode showing us Scott Summers’ origins and his introduction first to Professor Xavier, then the initial [[[X-Men]]], and finally Jean. We also see the manifestation of the Phoenix Force which set up Jean’s current dilemma.

We then skip to one of the mutants’ many possible futures in the amusing “Rover” which involves Bishop and other mutants trying to deal with the rogue Sentinels that have overrun the world. Bishop wants to us their pet robot, Rover, to perform a suicide mission against the Master Mold but Marrow has grown fond of Rover and refuses to give it up. Kind of fun, but also annoying since it remains largely disconnected from the present day tale. The notion that Prof. X is in a 20 year coma and can still communicate with Wolverine and Cyclops is odd. This aspect of the series rings false and contrived, once again showing people just don’t know what to do with the powerful telepath.

Gambit is sent to Genosha to steal Magneto’s helmet in “Aces and Eights”, where the Cajun woos the innocent Lorna in order to obtain his goal. The personalities of Lorna Dane and Scarlet Witch are quite different than their comic book counterparts but they play off one another nicely and offer some of the best dialogue in the show. While largely predictable, it has some fun moments. Counterpointing the lighter main story, we end with Magneto and Senator Kelly being shown the disastrous future their actions are steering humanity towards.

This brings us to “Shades of Grey” the final episode, when Jean is finally located and Emma turns on the team. The action-packed episode also offers up the debuts of : Apocalypse, Sebastian Shaw, Selene, Donald Pierce, and Harry Leland, setting up the final episodes of the season.

Unlike the previous volume, this one shows the writers working a little more subtly with the enormous cast. [[[Wolverine]]] himself is actually merely a participant in these five stories. Overall, these are a mixed bag, more entertaining than not and certainly for diehard mutant fans.

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Review: ‘District 13: Ultimatum’

rsz-district-13u-3d-2-2297357In 2004, action fans were introduced to a brand new style of stunt work, an acrobatic, athletic style called parkour. One of its creators, David Belle, showed off his stuff in [[[District 13]]], which benefited from being written and produced by Luc Besson and directed by Pierre Morel.

Set in the near future of 2010, the French film showed Paris in economic and societal decay with District 13 being overrun by gangs. Rather than deal with the problem the ineffective police wind up building a wall around the ghetto, isolating its two million residents.

The combination of action, adventure, and contemporary issues turned it into a success both in Europe and America. Morel went on to make a domestic thriller, Taken, and skipped returning to the inevitable sequel, [[[District 13: Ultimatum]]]. The film was released last year and is out this week on Blu-ray from Magnet Home Entertainment.

The story, also co-written and produced by Besson, picks up in 2016, with things no better, and possibly worse. Five ethnic gangs vie for control of the lawless land while the police watch from checkpoints. Walter Gassman (Daniel Duval), the leader of the police’s secret service division, has been orchestrating plans to decimate the district and help award the rebuilding contract to Harriburton (not so thinly disguised is it?), with kickbacks making him rich.

To make certain his plans work, Gassman frames Damien Tomaso (Cyril Raffaelli), the best cop in Paris, and has him imprisoned. Meantime, he has his goons kill several policemen, placing them within District 13 so the gangs fire on the vehicle, making it seem the gangs crossed the line. What Gassman didn’t realize was that others witnessed – and recorded – the event. When Tomaso’s former partner Leïto (Belle) is given the footage, he too becomes a target. At much the same time, Tomaso calls for help and the action ignites.

The film cleverly introduces Tomaso on a case, showing some of the underworld life but the movie’s story fails to properly develop the five separate gags and their leaders even though they are pivotal to the final act. Similarly, Gassman is a two-dimensional villain and the only developed character is the unnamed President (Philippe Torreton).

The action and parkour fighting is a marvel to watch but sadly, every bad guy and every cop seems to possess martial arts skills. Five gangs should have had a more diverse assortment of fighting styles, giving some visual variety to the climax. Overall, the themes and basic plot are derivative and contrived but the breathless pacing and buddy chemistry between Belle and Raffaelli helps a lot.

The film, as presented on Blu-ray, is dubbed and the vocal casting is weak throughout. Visually the transfer is adequate and the sound is nicely mixed.

Extras include a nearly thirty minute Making of District 13: Ultimatum which is segmented and fairly ordinary in presentation. Subtitled, it is really only for major fans of the creators. An additional thirty-four minutes of Production Diaries, reusing some of the same footage, provide additional information in the filmmaking process. As you might expect, there are Deleted and Extended Scenes, all of which were additional action moments so the story remains wafer-thin.

Finally, we get French rapper Alonzo performing a Music Video and a useless HDNet: A Look at District 13: Ultimatum, which tells us nothing.

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Review: ‘Merlin Season One’ on DVD

When the BBC series [[[Merlin]]] debuted two years ago, it was quickly described as a British version of [[[Smallville]]], that is a reimagining of the classic tale skewed towards teen characters for a more mass audience.

The difference, though, is that when Smallville debuted nine seasons ago, it was one of the sharpest written series on the air. The messages conveyed through dialogue, the foreshadowing, and rich experience of watching Clark Kent master his powers was slowly revealed.

Merlin, which aired in America on NBC last summer and returns this summer on SyFy, has had poor writing and lazy character development. The first season is released as a five disc DVD set on Tuesday and you can decide for yourself how palatable this look at the Arthurian legend is.

Rather than a Merlin who ages backward, this teen is a bit of a doofus, prone to gaffes but is a loyal and steadfast friend to the court. At a time when Uther Pendragon has forbidden the use of magic, Merlin comes to the court to train under Gaius, the King’s physician. As a result, every episode involves him using magic at great risk, and every episode has him learning some valuable lesson.

To be kind, the series has been very liberal in its interpretation of the characters with most being recognizable in name only. In addition to goofus Merlin, there’s gallant Arthur (Bradley James), the apple of Uther’s eye and being trained to succeed the king. He’s a callow youth only now beginning to understand the gravity of his destiny thanks to Merlin. Then there’s Guinevere (Angel Coulby), a peasant’s daughter and handmaiden to Morgana (Katie McGrath), a ward of the king and herself trying to comprehend the magic growing within her. Of course, Merlin likes Gwen, Gwen likes Arthur and Arthur likes himself. It’s complicated.

In addition to Gaius (Richard Wilson) being new to the story, there’s the chained dragon Kilgharrah, who seems to know Merlin’s destiny and provides counsel. Often, Merlin ignores it and makes the dragon, voiced by John Hurt, cry mournfully.

These thirteen episodes are largely repetitive as one or another gets into trouble, the others rally to his/her defense, Merlin does good but often pays for it in comical ways. There’s very little in the way of true danger or variety making the season a tedious one. Word is, the second season is far stronger, but they’re already lost me.

The cast, headed by Colin Morgan, is an attractive one and several guest stars could have enriched the show, starting with Michelle Ryan’s witch Nimueh. No doubt they’d all be more interesting to watch if they had good storylines or dialogue. Anthony Stewart Head is wasted as Uther, given a largely one-dimension bastard of a character to play. When his reasons for banning magic are revealed, it makes sense, but makes us sympathize with him no more.

All the tropes from [[[Excalibur]]] to [[[Mordred]]] are present, foreshadowing the legendary times ahead, all adapted in vaguely recognizable ways.

The episodes are accompanied by two making-of featurettes adding up to over an hour of information on the cast and the production. A 16 minute featurette also explores the episode focusing on the Black Knight in addition to a photo gallery, wallpapers, and a set of video diaries which are mildly amusing.

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Review: ‘Cocoon’

Ron Howard was a beloved child actor who showed some directing chops with [[[Splash]]], a fantasy-themed comedy but he truly showed that he was a director to be taken seriously with his follow-up, 1985’s Cocoon
. The movie was light-hearted, but a drama, which immediately showed his range. Additionally, Howard worked with a collection of veteran actors and he coaxed terrific performances from them all, resulting in Don Ameche’s Supporting Actor Oscar.

The movie is referenced now and then but has largely slipped from the collective consciousness, which is a shame, because it’s a nice story, well told, and worth seeing again. 20th Century Home Entertainment has released a 25th anniversary edition on Blu-ray and interestingly, rather then now-common combo pack, this a single Blu-ray disc retailing for the reasonable $24.95.

Watching the movie is a delight because we see long-gone veterans like Ameche, Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy, Jack Gilford, and Maureen Stapleton in poignant roles as seniors.

David Saperstein’s novel provided the springboard for Tom Benedek’s adaptation which posits that 10 millennia ago, beings from distant Antarea came to Earth and formed an outpost on what is now considered the lost continent of Atlantis. As the cataclysm claimed the land, all but 20 members of the exploration team left the planet. Those who remained behind were shrouded in cocoons, waiting for the day they could be brought home.

When four of their brethren return, led by Brian Dennehy, they rent a home, collect the cocoons and charge a swimming pool with lifeforce to sustain the 20 survivors until the Antareans could bring them home.

Nearby, though, is a retirement home filled with people looking at the twilight of their lives, but some refuse to give up without a fight. Ameche, Cronyn, and Wilford Brimley sneak off and take a dip in the neighboring pool, rejuvenated by the lifeforce. They’re spry, energetic, even amorous and loving every minute of it. When Dennehy discovers them, he decides no harm, no foul and lets them continue to enjoy themselves.

The one who can never take joy from life, Gilford, also learns Dennehy’s secret but stays out of the water. He sees the bleakness of life and inevitability of death so refuses to take a dip or even bring his terminal wife, Herta Ware to heal. Instead, he lets his feelings fester until he blurts out the secret and suddenly everyone else in the home wants a chance at a second life, setting up the moving denouement.

Actions, we’re shown, have consequences and Howard lets things play out nicely. It’s a relatively simple story, using a science fiction setting to tell a story about people dealing with aging and the end of their years. Even this second chance has them reflecting in touching ways, with one another, their alien hosts, and their families. There are many wonderful performances here, capped by Ameche’s winning role, but everyone rises to the occasion, even younger folk like Steve Guttenberg, in one of his less obnoxious roles.

You can’t help but like a film such as this. The video transfer is fine if unexceptional as is the audio aided by the Dolby digital. Sadly, for a 25th anniversary edition, they merely replicated Howard’s commentary and five featurettes from the 1994 DVD release, totaling maybe 20 minutes all told. While many of the performers are gone, some sort of look back was in order and this is a missed opportunity.

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Review: ‘The Thomas Crown Affair’

rsz-thomas-crown-8420147Forget about whether or not this is a good remake of the beloved Steve McQueen. This is a smart, stylish drama that treats its characters like adults as it also respects its audience. The Thomas Crown Affair was released in 1999 and remains one of Pierce Brosnan’s most popular films because of his nuanced interpretation of Crown, a wealthy businessman who steals because the challenge keeps him alive.

When he steals from an art museum, insurance investigator Catherine Banning (Rene Russo) assists Detective Michael McCann (Denis Leary) in the investigation. Banning, an American based in Europe, pretty quickly targets Crown as her man. As she lays her sexy trap, we see them toy with one another, leading to a sexually charged sequence that continues to smolder on the Blu-ray release, out this week from MGM Home Entertainment.

The film is based on the 1968 McQueen box office hit which had Crown portrayed as a bank robber, committing two crimes before the story reached its climax.  The film’s original downbeat ending was tweaked for something more satisfying as you find yourselves rooting for Brosnan and Russo. Faye Dunaway, McQueen’s love interest, returns as Brosnan’s psychiatrist for a handful of scenes that don’t really move things along. In fact, we never really get into Crown’s head; never really get to understand why he needs to break the law to feel alive. Nor do we understand why he never married or had family, great challenges themselves.

Still, the film has interesting twists and while the stakes are high. No one is dead serious, they allow themselves to live and even be humorous.

The climax, as Brosnan honors his commitment to restore the painting without being caught, remains a delight to watch again.

Brosnan’s suave demeanor made him perfect for the remake but he held out for director John McTiernan to come aboard and make sure this was done right. The director insisted on numerous story changes, distancing itself further from the original and keeping it more in line with modern day sensibilities.

No one was happy with the video transfer when the DVD was initially released and people were leery of the Blu-ray’s release given MGM’s spotty reputation. The good news is that this is a superior image compared to the DVD. Not the sharpest Blu-ray release, but certainly an improvement. Additionally, Bill Conti’s excellent score and soundtrack sounds fabulous. Even his choice of songs, such as Nina Simone’s “Sinnerman” shows a decision to appeal to the older viewers, rather than filling it with soft rock or pop numbers. The soundtrack stands out on its own.

Oddly, the only extra is McTiernan’s 1999 commentary, which can be found on the Standard DVD disc. Yes, this is released in the combo pack so Blu-ray, standard and digital discs for a reasonable price of $24.95.

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Review: ‘A Home for Mr. Easter’

A Home for Mr. Easter

By Brooke A. Allen
NBM, 197 pages, $13.99

What’s nice about the graphic novel format is that is can take great children’s book ideas and let them breathe rather than truncate them to fit the slimmer requirements of the genre. Brooke A. Allen is a SCAD student making a splash with her fist book and it’s a fast-paced, somewhat madcap but tender-hearted tale.

Tesana is an oversize adolescent, never fitting in with her peers, which has resulted in her moving from school to school. Whatever is the cause of her physical and emotional issues, she’s clearly a Special Ed student with anger management problems. Her loving mother seems somewhat clueless about getting her proper school supervision and is at her wit’s end regarding her only child. We don’t know where Dad is and what their circumstances, and frankly, little of it matters.

Our heroine is special and despite her best intentions, things always seem to be spiraling out control. When her guidance counselor suggests she try an extra curricular activity in order to make friends, she tries to assist the pep rally club. They don’t want her and her good intentions backfire, resulting in live rabbits being accidentally released. The story really takes off when Tesana discovers one bunny has stayed by her side and she becomes determined to return the animal to its home.

Just one thing. The rabbit is magical and may well be the proverbial Easter Rabbit, especially since it appears to be laying brightly colored Easter eggs that contain special gifts. Oh yeah, and it talks to Tesana. As she attempts to find the rabbit’s habitat, she encounters a crooked stage magician, animal rights’ activists and a lab using animals as test subjects. With Tesana missing, her mother and the police are also part of the chase, sort of bookending the comical procession.

The evolving relationship between the girl and the rabbit, dubbed Mr. Easter, forms the emotional core of the story. Allen’s storytelling propels the pair from place to place in a somewhat breathless manner but never forgetting to fill each encounter with detail. Her black and white artwork is unqiue and comical, with enough realistic touches to ground the story in our world, without telling us when or where this story takes place. That in itself makes it both magical and timeless.

Her characters are not terribly deep and we don’t stop to learn much about any of them, even Tesana, but they have specific speech patterns and appearances giving the book a nice variety. We’re given pretty much exactly what we need to see and read before moving towards the inevitable and most satisfying conclusion.

This is a terrific first effort and I look forward to more from Ms. Allen. This book is good for early graphic novel readers right on up. 

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