(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.

(2025) Snow White - Despite Its Surrounding Controversies, Still a Pretty Enjoyable Live Version Adaptation of Disney's Classic

After having vacation out of the country for 2 weeks with my wife, I was eager to play catch up with the movies released during those time. Yesterday evening, we opted to see this film in the cinema just walking distance from our home. All right, let's just get on with it.

Brief Story Line

Snow White (Rachel Zegler - Shazam! Fury of the Gods, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes etc) was a princess who lost her parents since she was young. Meanwhile her step mother, the Evil Queen (Gal Gadot - Heart of Stone, Wonder Woman etc) was obsessed of being the fairest of all by constantly checking on the Magic Mirror (voiced by Patrick Page - Spirited, The Gilded Age TV series etc). Fearing that Snow White would trouble her in the future, the Queen confined her in the palace and turned her into the maid. One day, Snow White met and sympathized with a thief/rebel named Jonathan (Andrew Burnap - The Front Room, Under the Banner of Heaven mini series etc) who was eager to defy the Queen. After the Evil Queen was told by the Mirror that she was no longer the fairest, she decided to kill Snow White and instructed the Huntsman (Ansu Kabia - Miss Scarlet and The Duke TV series etc) to do so. 

Mufasa: The Lion King - An Entertaining Prequel that Complement the Awesome Original Story

I was a bit surprised when I found out about this movie cause I did not know its existence until few months ago. Nevertheless when I realized it was going to be released this week, we decided to look for the time to see it during the weekend. Without further ado, here's more on the film.

Brief Story Line

After the events of The Lion King, Simba (Donald Glover - Mr. and Mrs. Smith TV series, The Lazarus Effect etc) and Nala (Beyoncé Knowles-Carter) had a female cub named Kiara (Blue Ivy-Carter). One day, Kiara was left with Pumbaa (Seth Rogen - The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Kungfu Panda etc) and Timon (Billy Eichner - Bros, Noelle etc) as Simba had to accompany Nala outside. During this time, Rafiki (John Kani - Murder Mystery 2 etc) joined them and later told the story of Kiara's grandfather, Mufasa.

Moana 2 - An Enjoyable Sequel to the Lovely 2016 Animated Adventure Movie

After playing in the cinemas for few days, my wife and I finally went and see this movie in the theater very near to our home today. It's a good thing we were still able to get seats that we preferred as the studio was quite full till the next two shows. OK without further ado, here's more on the film.

Brief Story Line

After the events in the first movie, Moana (Auliʻi Cravalho - Mean Girls 2024 version, The Power TV series etc) had been searching for people from other islands, but without success.  So when she got a vision about the lost island of Motufetu which would help connect the ocean, Moana decided to search for it. As advised by her family, Moana went to the ocean together with a crew that consisted of the "inventor" Loto (Rose Matafeo - Starstruck comedy series etc), the old farmer Kele (David Fane - Next Goal Wins etc) and Moni (Hualālai Chung) who was a major fan of Demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson - Red One, Rampage etc).

(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.

Sing 2 - A Bigger, Better and Grander Sequel

After playing in theaters for few days and missing out on its early screening day last week, my wife and I finally got the chance to see this movie yesterday. We would have probably seen it earlier had it played in the theater near our home on its premier day. Anyway, I should get to it now.

Brief Story Line

Buster Moon (Matthew McConaughey - The Gentlemen, Dallas Buyers Club etc) who was now having modest success with his theater at local level wanted to make it in the big league at Redshore city. Together with the talents he recruited in the first movie, i.e. Rosita (Reese Witherspoon - Walk the Line, Big Little Lies TV series etc), Johnny (Taron Egerton - Kingsman: The Golden Circle, Billionaire Boys Club etc), Meena (singer Tori Kelly), Gunter (Nick Kroll - The Addams Family etc) and Ash (Scarlett Johansson - Ghost in the Shell, The Jungle Book) they went to the city to do an audition.

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).

Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga - Simply for Fun!

This movie only got to my attention when I read about it in the internet with the lead cast a man quite famous for his comedic movies, Will Ferrell. Without further ado, let us find out if the movie was indeed entertaining.

Brief Story Line

Lars Erickssong (Will Ferrell - Daddy's Home 2, Mega Mind etc) was a middle aged man who still live with his father Erick (Pierce Brosnan - Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, Die Another Day etc) while dreaming of winning the Eurovision Song Contest. With his childhood best friend Sigrit Ericksdóttir (Rachel McAdams - Game Night, Mean Girls etc) who had always had a crush on him, Lars formed a duo band called Fire Saga and sometimes play music gig in their home town of Húsavík, Iceland.

(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.

UglyDolls - A Great Idea Sadly Rather Poorly Executed

I found out about this movie when it was promoted in certain Indonesian cinemas websites and it premiered on Wednesday. I also read somewhere that the movie was not really well received, but my wife and I were willing to give it a try as we wanted to check and see it on our own before deciding if a movie is good or bad. However, as we were already having other things planned these past few days, we only got the chance to see it today. So will go on with the movie now.

Brief Story Line

In the world where defect dolls called Uglydolls were "thrown" into a place called Uglyville, the residents were happily living in peace with its mayor Ox (Blake Shelton). Moxy (Kelly Clarkson - From Justin to Kelly) was one of them who always dreamt of going to the outside world and be adopted by a child, but her wish never came true. Until one day, she decided to find out the way to fulfill her dreams. Together with her friends the wise Lucky Bat (Wang Leehom - Lust, Caution etc), the big & having many things in his pocket Babo (Gabriel Iglesias), the cool Ugly Dog (Singer Pittbull) and the sarcastic Wage (Wanda Sykes - Ice Age:Collision Course etc), they embarked on a journey to find ways to the outside world.

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.

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again - The Lovely Sequel to a Lovely Musical Drama Comedy

Finally after playing in theaters for almost 2 weeks, my wife and I got the chance to see this musical drama movie. It premiered during our overseas trip and we were keeping ourselves up to date with the latest movies first, until yesterday we decided to see it before it stopped playing in the cinemas. With so many newer films playing, it was quite a challenge to see this since only few theaters still showing it. But lucky for us there was a 7 PM show in a cinema not far from our home. So let us get on with the movie.

Brief Story Line

Movie started with Sophie (Amanda Seyfried - Anon, Ted 2 etc) getting ready for the grand opening of the hotel owned by her mother Donna (Meryl Streep - Kramer vs Kramer, The Iron Lady etc) while her husband Sky (Dominic Cooper - Stratton, Preacher TV series etc) was working in New York. Her 3 fathers Sam (Pierce Brosnan - The Foreigner, Remington Steele TV series etc), Harry (Colin Firth - Kingsman: The Golden Circle, Love Actually etc) and Bill (Stellan Skarsgård - Our Kind of Traitor, Good Will Hunting etc) were all very supportive of her works. Sophie was also very appreciative when her mother's 2 best friends Tanya (Christine Baranski - A Bad Moms Christmas, Trolls etc) and Rosie (Julie Walters - Billy Elliot, Brave etc) came for the grand opening.

La La Land - The Lovely Romantic Musical Movie

During a month where the HBO cable TV was promoting Oscar, they showed various award winners until the day of Academy Awards on 4 March 2018. Two days ago, this movie was shown on the Saturday Night Premiere and since I had not seen it (unlike my wife), I already set my mind to see this on TV. So both of us went back home before 8 PM when the movie started. Well here goes my views of the movie.

Brief Story Line

A struggling young actress Mia Dolan (Emma Stone - Zombieland, Easy A etc) was working as a barista to cover her living cost while trying to get her big break in movie industry. However, she was not having the best of luck during casting process due to various reasons. One night while walking home, she heard a beautiful song played in the piano (titled "Mia & Sebastian's theme") by Sebastian Wilder (Ryan Gosling - Blade Runner 2049, The Nice Guys etc). But she did not get the chance to say too much to him.

The Greatest Showman - A "Could Have Been" Better Musical Movie of The Man Who Created Circus

Today, after weeks of watching the trailer to this movie, finally it premiered for the first time in Indonesia. My wife and I were expecting to see this one as it seemed to promise a wonderful story of P.T. Barnum, the man who created the Circus. Since there was not a lot of theaters playing the movie, we had limited options to see this. Luckily it played in the cinema not too far from our home at Lotte Avenue. Anyway, let us get on with the movie now.

Brief Story Line

P. T. Barnum (Hugh Jackman - Wolverine in various X-Men movies, Real Steel etc) was a man of poor background and had very huge imagination. He was not satisfied with just having a life as a regular working people and since he promised his wife Charity (Michelle Williams - Brokeback Mountain, Dawson's Creek TV series etc) that he would give the best kind of life to her and to their daughters Caroline and Helen, he always tried to do something grand and earn wealth plus people's respect.

SING - Great Story, Tons of Songs, Awesome 3D Animated Movie

Finally I was able to catch up a new movie that just premiered on a Wednesday. It seemed like it has been ages since I did so with my wife. She happened to be having a function at Pacific Place mall at noon, so she managed to buy the ticket at CGV Blitz for the 7PM show. As it was the 7th of December and since my car's license plate ended with odd number, I could go through the Gatot Subroto area freely (this was due to the regulation in Jakarta to limit the number of vehicles passing through certain areas and avoid heavy traffic jam). So I headed to the mall from my office which took less than 1/2 hour and had a bite for dinner before we go to the cinema. To my surprise, it was not fully packed. Anyway, let's get on to the movie.

Brief Story Line

Buster Moon (voiced by Matthew McConaughey - The Wolf of Wallstreet, Interstellar and many more) was a koala who was the owner of an almost bankrupt music theater due to all his previous play productions failed commercially. He requested the financing from his best friend, the sheep Eddie (voiced by John C. Reilly - Wreck It Ralph, Guardians of the Galaxy etc) who was from a rich family, but he was not able to assist as Buster's track record was not too good. With the help from his assistant, the rather aged iguana Ms. Crawley, Buster sent many flyers to announce a singing competition he wanted to hold in his theater. Buster really needed this to be a success since the theater was going to be foreclosed by the bank due to unpaid loan. 

MOANA - The Different Kind of Lovable Disney Princess and A Sure Classic Animated Movie

I have watched this movie's trailer again and again in the past few months till the point of me being irritated by the length of such trailer and rather disappointed that so many scenes were shown. I like to watch trailers, but when trailers revealing too much information, it kind of ruined the surprise for me and reduced the fun of watching some new movie. I am one of those guys that hate spoiler. Anyway, it just played yesterday and since my wife did not proceed with her function, she was quite free and I immediately offered her to see this movie. It was this or the latest Brad Pitt's movie Allied and no surprise there, she chose this one. So let's get on to this exciting movie.

Brief Story Line

A very young Moana was listening to the stories from her Grandmother Tala (voiced by Rachel House) about the history of Te Fiti, the island goddess who had her heart stolen by the demigod named Maui (voiced by Dwayne Johnson - Central Intelligence, San Andreas and so many more) but he lost it when he encountered the lava monster Te Ka. Maui wanted to steal the heart as he believed it would give the power of creation. Maui himself lost his weapon, a fishhook that he got from the gods and was gone for 1000 years.

TROLLS - Bringing Life to the Famous Troll Dolls

After having a week full of work, including business travel and also tiring emotional situation, I needed a break and a fun movie. So this one that just premiered on Friday was definitely a good option. My wife whose 1 of her event was cancelled at the last minute asked whether we should go watch a movie. Naturally I jumped to this opportunity and agreed to her suggestion and decided to watch this one instead of the latest Marvel movie Doctor Strange which happened to be full house in most theaters. Anyway, we went to the 6.45 PM show at Lotte avenue just like our usual thing on a weekday and I was almost a bit late reaching there due to traffic jam after the heavy rain earlier. Well let's get on to the movie itself.

Brief Story Line

Many years ago, the large creatures who were always feeling unhappy called Bergens discovered that they could be happy when they eat Trolls who were always in happy condition, singing, dancing, hugging and stuff. Every year a Trollstive (I hope I got the spelling right) was held by the Bergens where every one of them could eat a Troll and become happy for a while. This festival was led by the Chef (Christine Baranski - Mamma Mia!, The Good Wife TV series etc) who put all the Trolls that she managed to catch in a cage in a tree which would be opened and revealed to the Bergens on that festive day.