Rating the summer movies — so far
July 14, 2008I know, summer 2008 is just half over at this point. But I thought I’d better put down my thoughts on what I’ve seen so far, before they all start blurring together. Of the movies I’ve seen, here’s my ranking from favorite to least favorite:
- Iron Man
- Kung Fu Panda
- Wall-E
- Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
- Hellboy II: The Golden Army
- Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Of these, only the top two (Iron Man and Kung Fu Panda) pass what I call the DVD test. That is, they are the only ones I would consider buying on DVD when they come out. Wall-E is on the cusp, and if there’s enough special features on the DVD I might pick that one up as well. The rest were enjoyable once, but that was probably enough for them.
Of the other movies already opened, I’ll try to see Hancock and Journey to the Center of the Earth. The rest I’m probably going to pass on. There’s just too many more movies opening up in the next six weeks.
And even though it is just past the half-way mark, it’s clear there have been a couple bombs and a few under-performers from the summer flicks released to date. The two biggest bombs have to be Speed Racer and Love Guru, though based on this opening weekend it looks like Meet Dave will join the illustrious list of summer duds.
There have alse been some under-performers. I can’t speak to why The Incredible Hulk didn’t do better, since I haven’t seen it. But maybe that’s part of the problem — there wasn’t enough about that movie to make me want to see it, not after the Ang Lee movie from just a few years ago.
The other notable under-performer was Prince Caspian, which I did see. And I can tell you exactly why it under-performed: it was way too similar to the first Chronicles of Narnia flick. The exact same plot — four siblings from war-torn London get magically transported to Narnia, where they must lead a rag-tag group of poorly armed allies in a battle against an evil foe who possesses vastly superior weapons and troops. And the rag-tag group is magically assisted by a giant lion who can talk.