The new Transformers film lacks nuance. It is a blockbuster where attention to detail goes to die. Such is neither surprising from a film produced by Michael Bay, nor an entirely damning indictment in addressing its ability to entertain. As a sequel to 2019’s winning Bumblebee, Rise of the Beasts continues the series’ marked improvement on Bay’s unfettered years at the helm, albeit offers, by equal measure, something of a regression. Travis Knight’s return to stop motion animation is Laika’s gain and Bayhem’s loss. As each of Laika’s features enjoy a decade long gestation period, any imminent return for Knight seems unlikely. A pity. The launch of a Hasbro Cinematic Universe amid the settling dust in Rise of the Beasts is far from promising.
According to common parlance, even in the face of continually enviable box office takings, Hollywood’s superhero boom is super over. The fatigue is real. DC lack coherency, Marvel have lost their creative spirit. While the reality of such a judgement remains up for debate in the sphere of live action super cinema, the argument holds no sway at Sony. Herein lies the revolution. A sequel to 2018’s wildly successful, entirely groundbreaking, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, 2023’s Across the Spider-Verse serves up the apex of blockbusting coherency and creative vigour.
Disney hasn’t half come a long way since Angela Lansbury and David Tomlinson shimmied a sub-marina two step back in 1971’s Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Gone are the two-dimensional toons and hand-drawn backdrops. This is the post-Avatar world of CGI wizardry. Rob Marshall’s new take on Hans Christian Anderson’s The Little Mermaid, by way of Disney’s beloved 1989 animation, follows hot on the heels of James Cameron’s Way of the Water in this respect and achieves a feat that must once have seemed impossible. Which is to say: to film a technically brilliant underwater musical. Though only marginally less perfunctory than its fellow Disney remakes of recent years – only David Lowery’s Pete’s Dragon has thus far bested the original – Marshall’s Little Mermaid is terrific fun and a well timed launch pad for Summer at the cinema.
The Film Blog 