(2026) Moana - The Live Action Adaptation of that Wonderful Disney Animated Movie from 10 Years Ago

This week only 1 major Hollywood movie was released and it was already available for Advance Ticket Sale since last week. My wife and I were not having anything to do so we bought the tickets for yesterday's show in the cinema very near from our home. OK then, I'll just get right on it.

Brief Story Line

Since her childhood, Moana (newcomer Catherine Laga'aia) the daughter of Motunui village chief Tui (John Tui - Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw, Power Rangers S. P. D. TV series etc) and Sina (Frankie Adams - The Wrecking Crew, Shortland Street soap opera etc) had been drawn by the ocean. However, Tui was very strict not to let anyone to go beyond the reef so Moana never got the chance to do it.

Zootopia 2 - A Long Awaited Sequel that Was Still As Entertaining as the Original

When this movie was made available for advance ticket sale last week, my wife and I decided to buy tickets for its earliest show yesterday cause we were free on that day. We saw it in one of the cinemas not far from our home and pretty easy to access. Without further ado, here's more on the film.

Brief Story Line

Story was set not too far after the events of the first movie where Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin - Once Upon a Time TV series, He's Just Not That Into You etc) and Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman - Carry On, Game Night etc) had been partner in Zootopia PD for a week, though they seemed to be a bit incompatible due to their different characteristics. After a sting operation on a smuggling ring that created lots of commotion, Police Chief Bogo (Idris Elba - Heads of State, Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw etc) ordered Judy and Nick to attend therapy session before working on other cases. 

(2025) Lilo & Stitch - One of the Nicest Remake of Disney's Animated Movie With Plenty of Heartwarming Moments

This movie was available since Wednesday together with the wide release of another action film that I was eager to see. Since we were only available to see both during the weekend, my wife and I had another one of our movie marathon day yesterday with this as the first. OK let's get started then.

Brief Story Line

Dr. Jumba Jookiba (Zach Galifianakis - Ron's Gone Wrong, The Hangover trilogy etc) did an illegal experiment in his home planet Turo where he created a destructive creature called Experiment 626 (voiced by Chris Sanders - The Croods: A New Age etc). After 626 somehow escaped and landed on the island of Hawaii, Jumba and Earth expert Agent Pleakley (Billy Magnussen - Road House 2024 remake, No Time to Die etc) were assigned to capture him. 626 who arrived on earth realized that in order to save himself, he need to be shielded by humans. He managed to be "adopted" by 6 year girl named Lilo (Maia Kealoha) who was living together with her older sister Nani (Sydney Elizebeth Agudong). 

(2023) The Little Mermaid - Despite Surrounding Controversy, Still a Beautiful Enough Live Version Remake of Another Disney Classic

As I am not a major fan of musical films, I have my doubts on seeing this one. But I know my wife loved the animated version a lot and even though she was a bit skeptical, she still wanted to give this a try. Obviously I would accompany her doing so and we did it yesterday at the cinema nearest to our home. Well all right, I will dive into it now.

Brief Story Line

As the daughter of King Triton (Javier Bardem - Dune etc) who ruled the seas, the mermaid Ariel (Halle Bailey - Grown-ish TV series etc) had been really fascinated with the human's world. Her infatuation was enhanced after she saw prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King - A Dog's Way Home etc). But the king was adamant that Ariel should avoid humans at all cost and he assigned his trusted advisor Sebastian the crab (Daveed Diggs - Snowpiercer TV series etc) to monitor her. However, Ariel disregarded her father's wish and still went on with her best friend Flounder the fish (Jacob Tremblay - Good Boys etc) and the seabird Scuttle (Awkwafina - Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings etc) to collect anything related to humans.

Strange World - An Exciting Enough Animated Adventure Movie from Disney with Amazing Musical Score

I almost missed out on watching this movie that was released on Disney+ more than a week ago. I knew about the movie from news that I read somewhere and since it did not play in Indonesian theaters, it was a joy that I could watch it now. Anyway let us head to the movie.

Brief Story Line

Searcher (Jake Gyllenhaal - Ambulance, Zodiac etc) was the son of famous explorer Jaeger Clade (Dennis Quaid - A Dog's Journey, The Alamo etc) but did not want follow in his footsteps. Instead he preferred to be a farmer living with his wife Meredith (Gabrielle Union - Cheaper by the Dozen, Cradle 2 the Grave etc) and he wanted his son Ethan (Jaboukie Young-White) to be a farmer as well.

Encanto - Another Disney's Movie with Interesting Characters, Lovely Animation and Lots of Touching Moments

Like in the past few weeks, my wife and I opted to see a new movie that was released during the weekend. This time, it was an animated one from Walt Disney Animation Studios whom we loved as they have produced some wonderful movies in the past. All right, let's get right to it then.

Brief Story Line

The Madrigal family had been known to have magical gift where they live together in a magical house in Colombia, referred to as "Casita". Mirabel (Stephanie Beatriz - Brooklyn Nine Nine TV series etc) was the only one who did not posses power, which made her grandmother/Abuela (María Cecilia Botero) and herself depressed. Especially when it was compared with Mirabel's older sisters, the perfect Isabela (Diane Guerrero - Doom Patrol TV series etc) and the strong Luisa (Jessica Darrow).

Cruella - The Wonderful Origin Story of One of the Most Infamous Villain of Disney Movies

After waiting for > 3 months, finally this movie was released on Disney+ yesterday noon. I found out only because my wife noticed from some influencer's post. Anyway, I immediately watched this movie myself since she was still in the middle of watching Korean drama series. Well, I'll just get right on it then.

Brief Story Line

Estella Walters (Emma Stone - La La Land, The Amazing Spider-man etc) was an aspiring fashion designer who has had a tough life since childhood. She had to live with a couple of thieves named Jasper (Joel Fry - Love Wedding Repeat etc) and Horace (Paul Walter Hauser - Richard Jewell etc) from their young age, until Estella got a job that she thought could propel her career in the fashion industry.  

(TV SERIES) The Mysterious Benedict Society Season 1 - An Exciting Family Friendly Adventure Series based on Popular Children's Book

I saw this series having an episode released every week in the past few weeks on Disney+ and I was intrigued by the premise after reading the brief synopsis. As usual, I would wait till the final episode going to be released before started watching it. It took a while but finally I got the whole 8 episodes done and watched the season finale last night. OK, I'll head straight to the it now.

Brief Story Line

An eccentric genius named Mr. Benedict (Tony Hale - Toy Story 4, Arrested Development TV series etc) had noticed and suspected about occurrences in the world called The Emergency which made people always in a state of worry and depression. He believed it was done by someone intelligent who became the principal of the Institute, a school for special gifted children. In order to investigate this, he recruited four children to assist him.

(TV SERIES) Secrets of Sulphur Springs Season 1 - Surprisingly Enjoyable Family Friendly Mystery Drama Series from Disney

When I read the synopsis of this series on Disney+ sometime ago, I was intrigued to give it a try. But then I noticed it was only having 5 episodes, and after finding more information on the internet, apparently in total it was having 11 episodes for the first season. So I waited until 2 days ago when the remaining episodes were available and started & finish it yesterday. Now let's get on with it.

Brief Story Line

The Campbell family that consisted of Bennet (Josh Braaten), his wife Sarah (Kelly Frye) and their children Griffin (Preston Oliver) plus the twins Wyatt (Landon Gordon) & Zoey (Madeleine McGraw) moved from Chicago to the small town of Sulphur Springs. The move was not well received by Sarah and especially Griffin who felt disappointed leaving his friends and start new in middle school.

(2020) Mulan - The Live Version of 1998 Disney Animated Classic with Some Distinctive Changes

This movie has been very hype in the internet since it was officially released on Disney+ few days ago. I was thinking of watching it later but the temptation was too hard for me to resist, so I decided to watch it by myself last night, especially after many comments have been circulating around in various social medias. Anyway let's get on with the movie now.

Brief Story Line

Hua Mulan (Liu Yifei - The Four trilogy, The Return of Condor Heroes 2006 series etc) was the first daughter of an army veteran Hua Zhou (Tzi Ma - Rush Hour, Wu Assassins TV series etc) who had the seeds of becoming a great warrior herself. However, being a woman, she had to suppress her talent and become a common woman at that time. When the country was being attacked by powers from North led by Bori Khan (Jason Scott Lee - The Jungle Book 1994 version, Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story etc) who was assisted by powerful witch Xian Lang (Gong Li - Miami Vice, Farewell My Concubine etc), the emperor (Jet Li - Fist of Legend, Romeo Must Die etc) decreed that every family must provide 1 man to become part of the army to defend the kingdom.

Artemis Fowl - A Messy Story Telling Sadly Ruined the Chance of New Supposedly Entertaining Franchise based on Successful Novel Series

I registered for the new streaming service Disney+ which was only activated yesterday in the hope of watching a much anticipated live version movie of Mulan. However that movie was not available yet. Although I felt a bit disappointed, but at least there were other movies and series that I could watch which were not available at other streaming service providers. This was one such movie that I watched last night. OK, here's more details.

Brief Story Line

A 12 year old boy named Artemis Fowl Jr (Ferdia Shaw) was shocked when his father Artemis Fowl Sr (Colin Farrell - Dumbo live version, In Bruges etc) was kidnapped and held for ransom. Together with his trusted butler Domovoi (Nonso Anozie - RocknRolla etc) and Dom's young niece Juliet (Tamara Smart), Artemis had to find a mysterious "weapon" called the Aculos. What amazed him was the fact that Aculos was related to the Irish fairy tales his father told him and they were very real. There were indeed fairies, dwarves, goblin and even centaurs. 

Frozen II - A Beautifully Animated Sequel to that Magical Lovely 2013 Movie

Finally that long awaited sequel was released. My wife and I wanted to see this movie on its first day premier, but it was shown on the same day when she was already engaged to see music concert with her family. So we got the chance to see this one last night and it was in my favorite Dolby Atmos theater where we could enjoy the songs better. OK now, I will go straight to the movie.

Brief Story Line

Few years after the events of the first movie, Elsa (Idina Menzel - Enchanted, Glee TV series) was now becoming the beloved queen of Arandelle. Meanwhile her sister Anna (Kristen Bell - Teen Titans Go! to the Movies, Veronica Mars TV series etc) was happy with the love of her life Kristoff (Jonathan Groff - Mindhunter TV series etc) and the kindhearted snowman Olaf (Josh Gad - A Dog's Journey, The Angry Birds Movie etc).

(2019) The Lion King - A Beautifully Done Live Version Remake of a 1994 Disney Animated Classic

At last I got the chance to see this highly anticipated movie. When it premiered in Indonesia last week, my wife and I went for a holiday trip till Sunday. And just when I thought I could see it on Monday, I was assigned for business trip which lasted till Wednesday. So we could only see this last night. We decided to see it in a Dobly Atmos theater to enjoy the sounds better. 

As I believe that most people have either seen this movie or the original animated version, I would not go into details of the story and just straight to my personal views.

This movie was just as I expected from the glimpses of scenes I saw in the trailer. The visual effects were stunning and the cinematography was absolutely gorgeous. The jungle's scenery and the real life-like various animals truly made us feel like we were in the actual forest in Africa. During the whole movie, my wife and I could not help but feel in awe of how great jobs the special effects team had done in order to bring this movie to life. 

(2019) Aladdin - An Enjoyable Ride and A Decent Live Action Remake of 1992 Classic

I was pretty surprised that this movie got so much promotion in Indonesia and it even got the Advance Ticket sales event which was quite rare and normally given to major blockbuster movies such as those superheroes films. Anyway my wife and I bought the tickets since last weekend for its premier date show. Even if there was some chaotic moments due to the heated political condition in Indonesia particularly on that day, our studio was still packed with audience, though some studios in the area of demonstrations were not so lucky as they had to cancel few or entire show for the day. OK enough of that stuff and let's just get on with this movie.

Brief Story Line

In the kingdom of Agrabah, a petty thief named Aladdin (Mena Massoud) and his pet monkey called Abu was quite infamous for his acts. One day he somehow met and became attracted to princess Jasmine (Naomi Scott - Power Rangers the movie etc). As he was trying his best to be close to her, Aladdin found himself trapped in the political struggle masterminded by the evil Prime Minister Jafar (Marwan Kenzari) to become the most powerful person in Agrabah.

Dumbo - Another Disney's Live Version of Classic Animated Movie of the Legendary Flying Elephant

Yesterday was the premiere of another Disney movie which was quite famous many years ago. It was a live version of the animated movie and it was intriguing how we would be able to see the flying elephant. Good thing the film was showing in the theater near our home so it was convenient for me and my wife to see it. Well now we should go on with the movie.

Brief Story Line

Set in the year 1919, Holt Farrier (Colin Farrell - Total Recall, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them etc) came back from war to Medici circus where he previously worked with ringmaster Max Medici (Danny DeVito - Taxi TV series, Twins etc). Holt's very young children Milly (Nico Parker) and Joe (Finley Hobbins) were trying their best to cope with the life at circus. As Holt was no longer able to perform his usual act, he was given new task of taking care the elephants, including Jumbo who was pregnant.

Mary Poppins Returns - An Overdue Sequel to the 1964 Classic Disney Musical Movie

When this movie's teaser trailer was shown few times earlier, I did not have any excitement yet, but I did know it was a sequel to a very famous movie from Disney many years back. As it was a family movie and my wife seemed to be very interested in watching it, we decided to see it on the first day it premiered which happened to be on Christmas holiday as well. We saw this at a cinema not far from our home. Well let us get on with the film now.

Brief Story Line

Set in the 1930s in London, Michael Banks (Ben Whishaw - Paddington, The Danish Girl etc) had to take care of his young 3 children: the twins Annabel & John and the youngest Georgie by himself. He only got help from his sister Jane (Emily Mortimer - Shutter Island, Hugo etc) and their housekeeper Ellen (Julie Walters - Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, Harry Potter series etc). It was difficult for Michael to take care of them while having to work at the bank under his boss Mr. Wilkins (Colin Firth - Kingsman: The Golden Circle and its predecessor Bridget Jones trilogy etc). So when a nanny named Mary Poppins (Emily Blunt - A Quiet Place, The Girl on the Train etc) came and offered herself to work with the Banks, Michael & Jane accepted her immediately.

Ralph Breaks the Internet - Another Heartwarming Funny & Beautifully Animated Disney Movie About Friendship

This was one of the movie that I really wanted to see on its premiere day, so when it finally showed in Indonesian theaters on Friday, my wife and I wanted to buy the tickets for around 7 PM. But unfortunately there were no studios near our place showing the movie around that time. So we decided to wait until weekend and finally we saw it today in the Pluit area where my wife had various events. OK let's move on with the movie then.

Brief Story Line

Wreck-It Ralph (John C. Reilly - Sing, Chicago etc) and Vanellope (Sarah Silverman - Battle of the Sexes, I Smile Back etc) had been best friends for 6 years and living a routine life every day. That was until the internet started to be installed in Litwak's arcade where their video games were plugged in. Pretty soon Ralph and Vanellope decided to go inside the internet in search of something specific they thought could be found there.

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms - Not One of the Best Disney Movie but Still Quite Entertaining

When my wife and I saw the trailer to this movie, we actually were not really interested in it. Somehow the trailer did not create a lot of interest for us, but still since it was a Disney movie which usually translate to a good family movie, we decided to give this a try. And it so happened that the movie did play in the theater near our home and was very convenient. Well let's see what the movie was all about. 

Brief Story Line

A young girl named Clara (Mackenzie Foy - The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Interstellar etc) who just lost her mother was looking for ways to fit in. During the Christmas eve, in the house of his godfather Drosselmeyer (Morgan Freeman - Driving Miss Daisy, Million Dollar Baby etc), Clara somehow was transported to another "world" where he met with a Nutcracker soldier named Phillip (Jayden Fowora-Knight) guarding the realms and also a bunch of mice where 1 of them stole the key Clara got from her mother.

Christopher Robin - An Adorable Adaptation of Pooh & Friends and A Beautiful Friendship Movie

After playing in the US cinemas for quite some time, finally this movie played in Indonesia. My wife who adored Winnie the Pooh had been eyeing to see this movie, so when it finally premiered yesterday together with another action movie, we opted to see this one first. Let's see if this movie really lived up to our expectation.

Brief Story Line

Young Christopher Robin had to leave his best friends from Hundred Acre Woods that include Winnie the Pooh & Tigger (both voiced by Jim Cummings), Piglet (Nick Mohammed), Eeyore (Brad Garret - Everybody Loves Raymond TV series etc) and the rest of the gang, for boarding school. Growing up in the "real world" made the adult Christopher (Ewan McGregor - Beauty and the Beast, Star Wars prequel trilogy etc) changed and forgot about his childhood friends. Working at Winslow Luggage under his boss Giles (Mark Gatiss - Our Kind of Traitor, Sherlock TV series etc) certainly did not help as it made him a bit depressed and even distanced himself with his wife Evelyn (Hayley Atwell - Captain America: The First Avenger, Agent Carter TV series etc) and his young daughter Madeline (Bronte Carmichael).

Beauty and the Beast - The Beautiful Live Version of 1991 Disney's Classic Animated Movie

I have known about this movie going to play in Indonesia since early this year and my wife had been reminding me many times that we should watch this one when it premiered. Last week, we found out that the movie would be playing on 17 March onwards. It's a good thing that we already have the card that would allow us to buy the tickets online, so we were able to buy it since last week and chose our favorite seats in the nearest cinema from our home. After passing through some surprisingly heavy traffic, I reached the location almost at the start of the movie. Without further ado, let's continue with the movie.

Brief Story Line

In a small village in France, lived a young girl named Belle (Emma Watson - as Hermione in Harry Potter film series) who loved to read books and was being ridiculed by the village people for it. She lived with her father Maurice (Kevin Kline - A Fish Called Wanda, Definitely, Maybe etc) who was working as a music box inventor. The village's most famous bachelor Gaston (Luke Evans - Fast & Furious 6, The Hobbit trilogy etc) was very much interested in marrying Belle as he believed she was the only one compatible with his handsome looks. He was always accompanied by his best friend/sidekick LeFou (Josh Gad - The Angry Birds and as Olaf in Frozen) who was very supportive of Gaston.