Double the Romance: A Walk in the Clouds & Cinderella

A Walk in the Clouds

What's a romance movie doing here?

Keanu Reaves is soldier returned from war to what looks like a not so good marriage. While trying to reintegrate into society he meets a random girl (over and over again) and due to his sense of duty ends up pretending to be her husband when she returns home, just to save her from getting yelled at by her dad. Yes. He tries to help her with lies. Good plan! Obviously things get complicated when the rest of the household quite likes him and he starts falling in love with the girl he tells lies for.

Fly Neo... Fly!

I have to admit, the acting, setting and story here are all decent enough. I especially liked the dad and grand dad of the "fated" girl. While I'm not sure -I- would have done the same thing Keanu's character did I'm pretty sure the only thing I don't like about it is that it's a romance flick. No guesses on who chose this movie (thanks wifey). :P Ultimately I give it two and a half clouds out of five, but isn't something I'd watch again.

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Cinderella

Disney proves it has a lot of money.

A live action remake of the cartoon classic, Disney really outdid themselves in recreating Cinderella. From the sets, to the CGI, to the costumes, everything is of fantastic production value. Obviously there's great music too but if you are looking for the sung songs they are scarcely used during the actual film and were plonked at the end credits instead, much like in the footsteps of Maleficent.

Count the number of different dresses.

While all the actors play their parts well, for me Cate Blanchett really stands out as the cruel step mom. Unlike Maleficent there are no real "dark" bits here that parents might shield their kids from though and if you remember the original film then you basically have the whole story repeated here for you. This is both a plus and a minus in that there's nothing new, but you know what to expect. All up I give this movie four glass slippers out of five, and can recommend it to pretty much anyone (unless you absolutely hate all things Disney - you monster! :P). Would I watch it again? Hrm... I'd have to say no. Maleficent is more my thing.

Maleficent

This is to Sleeping Beauty as Wicked is to the Wizard of Oz.

A re imagining of the Sleeping Beauty story, this film follows a fairy named Maleficent - from when she is a young girl to when she grows up to be an ultra powerful and hot woman in the form of Angelina Jolie. She forgets she has magic often though and likes taking a more physical approach to violence.

Despite that, the plot is not bad and the special FX are fantastic (it is Disney), though you do get that feeling of wire work every now and then, and for some reason some flight scenes reminded me of How to Train your Dragon. Jolie is great to watch which is good since she's on screen for most of the time. When she isn't though things seem to turn down a notch.

One horny fairy. Erm... I mean, horned fairy. Horned.

I was also being thrown by the accents a bit. Funny that the folk of the "magical land" speak with the English accent and the inhabitants of the "human land" speak with a Scottish or Irish accent. Still, it's a very entertaining film and the lack of any musical numbers might be a plus for some people. Not sure if it is still as age friendly for the little ones as the original but I recommend it, giving it four out of five black wings and wouldn't mind seeing it again.