Yowazzup: A Directory of Happening Things

Funny animation of a man trying to woo girls and sad to say, reality hurts.

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Watch this funny Halloween animation.

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Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is computer-animated film produced by Sony Pictures Animation. The movie is loosely based on the children’s book of the same name. The film is also released in 3D in selected cinemas.

SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.

A scene in "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs"

The film revolves around Flint Lockwood (Bill Hader) who loves to invent things. His first invention, Spray-on Shoes confined his feet for life. While his mother encourages him despite his failure, his dad just wants him to work in his fishing shop. His mom passed away later on, leaving his dad to take care of him in a small town called Swallow Falls.

Flint eventually creates a device called ‘FLDSMDFR’ (Flint Lockwood Diatonic Super Mutating Dynamic Food Replicator), which turns water into food but the machine doesn’t have enough electricity. He and his pet monkey Steve (Neil Patrick Harris) who communicates through a translator device try to power up the machine using the power station but he causes havoc around the town including destroying a new theme park called Sardin Land. When Flint bumps into Sam Sparks (Anna Faris), a weather intern who is there to cover the event, the sky starts to rain cheeseburger. Before long, the town is filled with cheeseburger.

Flint later on, can create rain for any food the townsfolk want, including ice cream for the town’s cop, Earl’s, (Mr. T) son’s birthday and giant Jell-O mold for Sam. Greediness turns the town’s mayor into rain giant-sized food and causes the world in total chaos.

Although the movie is entertaining albeit the crazy jokes, the 3D version does little wonder with limited scenes especially in the second half of the film.

Overall, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 3D is funny but it’s rather disappointing if you are an adult. It’s mostly cloudy and not sunny side up.

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Planet 51 is an animated film about astronaut Chuck Baker (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) who landed on Planet 51 only to be labelled “alien” by the inhabitants of Planet 51. Befriended by a young resident, he has to avoid capture in order to recover his spaceship and try to return home. Starring the voice of Dwayne Johnson, Seann William Scott, Jessica Biel, Planet 51 opens on November 20, 2009.

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Up is an animated comedy adventure film by Pixar Animation about a cranky old man and his adventure to South America with a boy scout. The film was released on May 29, 2009 in USA and is scheduled for release on October 9, 2009 in the UK.

SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Russell, Carl Fredricksen, Dug, Alpha in "Up"

Like most Pixar movies, the movie starts with a short film — in this instance, Partly Cloudy is the name of the short film. The movie Up begins with Carl Fredricksen as an 8-year-old boy who is timid despite his love for famed explorer named Charles Muntz. When he meets an eccentric girl named Ellie who shares the same interests as him, Ellie welcomes Carl to her club and gives him a badge which happens to be a soda cap. Ellie expresses her desire to move her clubhouse to Paradise Falls in South America and she makes Carl to promise her that.

As they grow older, Ellie and Carl get married and work as a zookeeper and a toy balloon vendor respectively. Not able to have children, Ellie and Carl save up for a trip to Paradise Falls but due to other financial obligations, their savings keep fading. When Ellie passes away due to old age, Carl becomes bitter. Carl is forced to move as the city has grown around his house but he refuses and when he accidentally hits a construction worker, the court orders Carl to move into a retirement home. Carl comes up with a scheme of his own as he attaches 10,000 helium balloons to his house to lift it up. Up above in the sky, when Carl tries to sit down on his armchair, he finds Russell, a Wilderness Explorer knocking at his door. Russell is trying to earn his final merit badge for “Assisting the Elderly” and has been hiding in his porch after Carl sends him for a snipe hunt on the previous day.

And so it begins, the adventure of a lifetime. Carl and Russell meets many colorful characters including a giant bird which Russell names Kevin and Dug, a dog whom can speak with a translating collar. They finally meet a 92-year-old Charles Muntz who stays in South America to find a giant bird to clear his reputation after being called fraud. The giant bird Charles is looking for happens to be Kevin, Russell’s newfound pet. When Carl realizes Charles will hunt down anyone relentless just to capture the bird, they escape from Charles airship.

Like most of Pixar Animation movies, Up is funny and touching. The film builds around a strong and never-give-up will of Ellie which later on transfers to Carl and from there, Carl turns out to be heroic when he saves Russell and the giant bird while granting Ellie her wish. It turns out Ellie has furnished her Adventure Book with photographs of her and Carl together since their wedding days with a message on the last page telling Carl to have a new adventure of his own.

Overall, Up is a yet another brilliant and adventurous animated film from Pixar. I’m sure it touches many hearts and will touch many more.

My ratings: 9 out of 10.

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Fantastic Mr. Fox is an animated film by director Wes Anderson based on the book by Roald Dahl. Featuring the voices of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Fantastic Mr. Fox opens on November 13, 2009.

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Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel is the sequel to 2007’s Alvin and the Chipmunks. Starring Jason Lee, David Cross and the voice of Justin Long, Anna Faris, Christina Applegate, Matthew Gray Gubler, Jesse McCartney, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel opens on Christimas day, 2009.

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Despicable Me is an animated film about a trio of orphan girls causing the normally deplorable Groo to rethink his plan to steal the moon. Starring the voice of Steve Carell, Will Arnett, Julie Andrews, Jason Segel. Despicable Me opens on July 9, 2010.

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Watch the cool stop motion animation of fireworks by PES. Happy ID4!

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Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs which is also known as Ice Age 3 is the third installment of the Ice Age animated films. Ice Age 3 is available in 3D and continues from Ice Age: The Meltdown.

SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Manny and gang in "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs"

Manny (Ray Romano) and his new wife Ellie (Queen Latifah) are expecting a baby and parenthood has made Manny anxious. Diego (Denis Leary) meanwhile feels that it’s time to move on as his laid-back life has taken a toll on his stamina. Sid (John Leguizamo) starts to wish for a family of his own and trouble ensues when he steals some dinosaur eggs from an underground cave and begins treating them like his own.

When the mother T-Rex finds her eggs are missing, she goes on a rampage and when she sees Sid and her baby dinosaurs, she carries them back to an underground world where dinosaurs roam free. Manny and his gang embark on a dangerous mission to rescue Sid while dodging dinosaurs and danger that lies ahead. Along the way, they meet a weasel known as Buck (Simon Pegg) who hunts dinosaurs as pastimes. Buck leads Manny and the herd to rescue Sid and surely, an unforgettable adventure ensues.

Like the earlier installments, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs also features Scrat, the saber-toothed squirrel who is obsessed with acorn. This time around, a flying squirrel known as Scratte joins Scrat in his madness for acorn but although they are in love after a period of chasing after acorn, eventually Scrat leaves Scratte for acorn.

While the adventures are shifting away as the herd ages, there are still plenty of action as the herd goes into a dinosaurs world and brave the danger in order to save Sid. Scrat also gets more screen time as he’s well-known for being nuts over nuts. Overall, it is a good family adventure film.

My ratings: 7 out of 10.

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