FILM: Toy Story 4 (dir: Josh Cooley, 2019)

"OK, I get it - it's been a while."

Elephant in the room: given the perfect trilogy-closer that preceded it, there is no reason for this film to exist other than commercial needs.  Mercifully, Pixar have delivered and not disappointed; Toy Story 4 is funny, sweet and very entertaining, if not quite at the level of the first three films.  As expected, the film looks fantastic, storytelling and the little details are very good, and apart from one extended sequence towards the end that goes on just a bit too long, the characters we all love are used to great effect, including the retooled 2019-savvy update of Bo Peep and the delightful new character Forky, who seemed to be an instant hit with the young children in the cinema audience.  Interestingly, Toy Story 3 provided very emotional closure for the audience, whilst here Toy Story 4 provides closure for the characters.  If occasionally more in tune with the half-hour made-for-TV specials, it is good to see the characters back on the big screen in this generally befitting movie.

VOD: Rim Of The World (dir: McG, 2019)

"If I see a clown on a tricycle, I'm out!"

This Netflix teen movie is one of those oddities whereby the film's rating (15) is higher than the age of its protagonists (13), and thus seems slightly gory and aggressive for its presumably intended young teenage audience.  The opening scenes are groan-inducing, awash with embarrassing stereotyping and poor dialogue, as we meet four mis-matched summer campers who are forced together when alien invasion ruins their vacation.  However, once the action starts the film has many lively moments, well presented as expected by director McG.  The tick-the-box PC casting is obvious, but the young actors handle themselves well and come across with a vibe of the Stranger Things cast, and whilst the very genre-aware references are fun, large chunks of storyline are Independence Day genre staples.   No doubt this film will play well with teenagers with little experience of the sci-fi/action genre, who will enjoy the banter and the battle scenes.

VOD: The Wandering Earth (dir: Frant Gwo, 2019)

"Best of luck to Earth!"

If nothing else, it is an interesting exercise to watch this Chinese mega-blockbuster that is showing on Netflix.  This is Chinese film meeting Hollywood sci-fi-disaster movie head on and then some, with the daftest high concept premise imaginable that bears no scrutiny whatsoever: faced with a dying Sun, move the entire Earth to a new solar system!  The main influence here seems to be the Roland Emmerich movies such as 2012, Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow, but written and presented on an incredibly huge scale, and - most surprisingly - the effects work mostly holds up and delivers.  As expected of the Far East style, the acting is suitably unrestrained to Western viewers, but the (preposterous) storytelling hangs together, spectacle is the order of the day and The Wandering Earth is unexpectedly and absurdly entertaining.