STACK NZ Apr #61

DVD & BD

REVIEWS

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There’s a bear in there PADDINGTON

Release Date: 08/04/15 Format:

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Meet the Characters When a Bear Comes to Stay From Page to Screen Gallery

DID YOU KNOW...

Despite being a keen animal lover, Nicole Kidman took a taxidermy class to prepare herself for her role. The character of Paddington Bear is based on a lone teddy bear, noticed by author Michael Bond on a shelf in a London store near Paddington Station on Christmas Eve 1956. Originally, author Michael Bond was nervous about the project of turning his character into a live action feature. However, he was convinced after seeing half a minute of test footage.

Harry Potter producer David Heyman has brought Michael Bond’s beloved children’s book character – a Peruvian bear who relocates to the London home of the Brown family – to the big screen with bucketloads of charm and quintessential Englishness intact. This fantastic-looking, sweet-natured family film is the cinematic equivalent of a hot cup of Horlicks on a cold winter’s night,

and the numerous slapstick set-pieces showcase some truly creative cinematography. Most importantly though, its ursine star, with his signature red hat, duffel coat and love of marmalade, is a cute and cuddly CGI creation (politely voiced by Ben Wishaw) and definitely not the creepy critter seen lurking in a series of Internet memes that photoshopped him into famous horror movie scenes.

and doesn’t clobber you with its central message: “the greatest adventure is finding where you belong”. The best of British cast includes Hugh Bonneville, Julie Walters and Jim Broadbent, alongside Nicole Kidman, who hams it up as the Cruella de Vil-like taxidermist villain. Heyman’s involvement ensures a Potter-like feel to the production,

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101 Dalmatians

They could be heroes BIG HERO 6

Release Date: 01/04/15 Format:

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Theatrical Short: Feast

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Hiro’s Journey: The Origin Story Of Big Hero 6 Big Animator 6: The Characters Behind The Characters Deleted Scenes Big Hero 6 Theatrical Teaser Mickey Mouse Short: Tokyo Go

The winner of this year’s Oscar for best animated feature, this colourful family blockbuster also marks the first time that a Marvel property has got the big bucks animation treatment from its sister Disney studio. Admittedly, this particular band of superheroes are not exactly household names. However, by picking a relatively obscure property the animation team have been given greater rein

DID YOU KNOW...

The Big Hero 6 animation team topped 100 members – 103, to be exact. Disney’s Denizen system created 670 unique characters for the crowd scenes compared to 270 in Frozen .

to deliver a more family-friendly comic book yarn. Set in a sort of Japan/US hybrid city called San Fransokyo, the film revolves around a child genius Hiro (voiced by Nickelodeon star Ryan Potter) who sets out to avenge the death of his brother by transforming his late sibling’s’ geeky classmates – together with his brother’s final invention, a gentle,

healthcare robot called Baymax – into an unlikely band of superheroes. As it is essentially an origin story, Big Hero 6 takes a while to take shape but the whiz-bang pacing and boisterous action means that there is still hardly any time to draw breath. And in the sweet-natured Baymax, Disney have created the cuddliest robot since Wall-E.

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Astro Boy

APRIL 2015 JB Hi-Fi www.jbhifi.co.nz

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