Movie reviews: ‘Napoleon,’ ‘Dream Scenario,’ ‘Leo,’ ‘Wish’
NAPOLEON: 3 STARS
Director Ridley Scott and star Joaquin Phoenix team up to present a portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte you’re unlikely to find in any history book.
Both epic and intimate, “Napoleon,” now playing in theatres before moving to Apple TV+, chips away at the character’s historical veneer to reveal an insecure, lovesick, petulant, pompous man with an emperor complex.
Covering roughly 20 years of Napoleon’s life, the film begins in 1789 with the beheading of Marie Antoinette, the queen who lost her head during the French Revolution as the people rose up to abolish the monarchy. In the crowd is Napoleon Bonaparte (Phoenix), a young Corsican soldier with a plan to reclaim the port of Toulon by forcing the Anglo-Spanish fleet to withdraw.
It is his first great triumph, revealing his strategic genius and setting him on a path to become the Emperor of France.
“I’m not built like other men,” he says.
The small man in his ever-present big bicorne hat has none of the social graces of French aristocracy, but his power gets him noticed by Josephine de Beauharnais (Vanessa Kirby), a widow whose upper-crust husband fell victim to France’s Reign of Terror. For Napoleon, it’s love at first sight, for her, it’s an opportunity that may one day be accompanied by real feelings.
“Has the course of my life just changed, Napoleon?” she asks seductively when they first meet.
Despite not being able to produce an heir and very publicly cuckolding her husband, Josephine has a tight grip on Napoleon’s emotions.
“You’re just a tiny little brute that is nothing without me. Say it,” she commands as he nods in agreement.
Emotionally she is every bit the tactician as her spouse is on the battlefield and Kirby nails both her ruthlessness and her vulnerabilities. But when his dreams of controlling Europe incur massive loss of life on the battlefield, Napoleon finds himself exiled from the country and the woman he loves.
It is hard to decipher exactly what Scott and Phoenix had in mind for “Napoleon.”
The battle scenes are undeniably epic, shot on a grand scale while retaining the up-close-and-personal horrors of war. The Battle of Austerlitz sequence, in particular, is horrifying in its execution, brilliant in its design. Scott’s camera captures not only the ambush on a frozen lake, but the cunning mind it took to plan and implement a mission of that size. It’s the kind of thing that could reasonably be expected from the director, given the subject.
Less expected is the portrayal of Napoleon, which often borders on satire. The obvious cliches are avoided—he is never seen slipping his hand into his coat, for example—but other choices make for choppy viewing.
The general who is a strongman in battle is also played for laughs in several scenes and I can’t figure out whether the humor is intentional or not.
When he flees the French Directory, the staid committee that governed France until November 1799, his physicality and shrieks of, “They’re trying to kill me,” are more Benny Hill than battleground hero.
During another kind of battle, a food fight with Josephine, he throws a hunk of meat her way, bellowing, “Destiny has brought me this lamb chop.” Later, he “seduces” his wife with an odd humming sound that is the opposite of sexy.
Those playful, lighter scenes are intermittently entertaining, but feel at odds with the impassive warrior portrayed in the rest of the film. Perhaps the rumored four hour cut, slated to stream on Apple TV+ after the theatrical run, will add more context, but as it is, these scenes give the two-hour-forty-five-minute theatrical cut a choppy, inconsistent feel as its main character flip flops between stoicism, emotional openness and frivolity.
“Napoleon” will not be accused of being a reverent depiction of its subject, but neither will it be regarded as the definitive portrayal.
DREAM SCENARIO: 4 STARS
The only thing worse than someone who says, “I had the craziest dream last night,” and then tells you all about it is … well, hardly anything. There are few things worse than suffering through a disjointed story that barely makes sense to the teller and absolutely no sense to you.
But, just imagine if everyone – family, friends, even strangers – told you about their dreams, because you were in them. Every single one of them.
That’s the nightmarish idea behind “Dream Scenario,” a new “Twilight Zone-esque” Nicolas Cage social satire, now playing in theatres.
Cage plays humdrum evolutionary biology professor Paul Matthews. He’s an unexceptional, almost invisible man, mocked by his students and colleagues at work and a sad sack at home with possessive wife Janet (Julianne Nicholson) and two teen daughters.
His unremarkable life is made noteworthy when, inexplicably, he begins to appear in the dreams of millions of people.
He’s viral all over the world, except, tellingly, in the nighttime visions of his wife. Why not?
“Because you get the real deal,” he says to her. “It wouldn’t be fair to get both.”
“Why me?” he asks. “I don’t know. I’m special I guess.”
Trouble is, he doesn’t do anything special in the dreams. He mostly just appears in the background, watching unresponsively as strange things happen to the dreamer.
“He occupies the space like an awkward guest at a party,” says one dreamer.
As his fame grows, it brings with it some unexpected repercussions for the unassuming Paul.
“You know,” says Sidney (Marc Coppola), “fame can come with some less desirable side effects. You should be prepared for that.”
At first, he almost enjoys the intense glare of the spotlight, but when his presence in the dreams goes from passive to active, he becomes as repugnant to the public as he was once popular.
“Dream Scenario” does feature some surreal dream sequences, but it’s not really about dreams. It’s about life as a modern, viral celebrity, on display in the unblinking eye of the public, social media and cancel culture.
Cage plays Paul as a man who claims to love his anonymity, but fights a former colleague for credit when she alludes to one of his 30-year-old theories in an academic paper, and, when fame comes, he’ll pose with anyone who wants a selfie. He’s tired of being invisible, but wants fame on his own terms. But, as the movie ably points out, fame is a three-headed hydra, untamable and uncontrollable.
It’s a perfect role for Cage’s sensibility. As Paul’s life switches from dreamlike to nightmarish, Cage embraces the tragicomic elements of the role—a man who can’t live up to expectations in real life or dream life—and pulls off a great trick by making a forgettable man memorable.
“Dream Scenario” is a clever, timely film that details everything from mid-life crisis and cancel culture to viral fame and social media marketing in a bizarre, funny and thought-provoking way.
LEO: 4 STARS
You don’t expect a healthy dose of existentialism from a family-friendly musical, but the new Netflix animated film “Leo” is not your normal family-friendly musical.
Adam Sandler voices Leo, a 74-year-old lizard facing his own mortality. He has lived most of his life in a Central Florida Grade 5 classroom terrarium with his best pal, curmudgeonly turtle Squirtle (Bill Burr). It’s a pretty cushy existence. They are fed and looked after as they spend school year after school year observing the behaviors of the students.
The action begins at the start of a school term.
“Another year,” says Squirtle, “another batch of fifth grade head cases.”
The new year brings with it a new substitute teacher, the hard-nosed Miss Malkin (Cecily Strong). She calls the laptops the kids use “toys,” bans them from the classroom and is not averse to whipping a Ninja star at a misbehaving student.
“In a classroom,” she says, “sometimes the old ways are the best ways.”
She also implements a new school project. “I hope everyone has met our class pets, Leonardo and Squirtle,” she says. “This year, every student has to take home a class pet.”
In an exercise to learn responsibility, the kids must feed and care for Leo and Squirtle, and return them the next day healthy and happy.
When Leo learns the life expectancy for lizards is 75 years, he feels like the clock is ticking. He decides to make the most of the time he has left, break his lifelong rule, and let the children hear him speak. When the kids take him home, he becomes a service reptile and teaches them life lessons.
“It’s about sharing my 74 years of wisdom to help these kids with their issues,” he says, “like breaking up with a drone or having hand-me-down pants.”
He helps the kids and in return, they give him purpose.
“Leo” is a simple, sweet-natured film that plays like a mash-up of “Billy Madison” and “Charlotte’s Web.”
It is asinine and sublime in equal measure, an entertaining mix of Sandler’s trademark lowbrow humour and poignant life lessons for kids and parents.
The songs are spirited, and often quite funny—Sandler does Sondheim lite with “Don’t cry/it’s really annoying”—and while they may not stick in your head after the closing credits roll, the tunes support the film’s themes of listening and learning. The best of the bunch being “Extra Time,” a funny song that convinces a rich, entitled girl that she is not all that.
The voice work is fun. Sandler does Sandler, both silly and sensitive, and finds a good comedic foil in Burr, while the rest of the cast, including Strong, Jason Alexander, Jo Koy, Kevin James and two Sandler family members, daughters Sunny and Sadie, hand in lively performances.
“Leo” presents a kinder, gentler Sandler than the one who got into an on-screen fight with beloved game show host Bob Barker in “Happy Gilmore.”
It could sit on the shelf next to the comedian’s last film, “You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah,” in that it’s a movie that understands young people and how they think. Tackling everything from helicopter parents (or, in this updated version, Drone Parents), insecurity, bullying and coping with divorce, it’s an after-school-special-style story that encourages kids to talk about their feelings, and teachers and parents to hear them. It could’ve been preachy, but the messages are delivered with a smile on the face, and a song on the lips.
WISH: 2 ½ STARS
In “Wish,” a new musical-comedy featuring the voices of Chris Pine and Ariana DeBose, Disney celebrates 100 years of animated entertainment with a fairytale featuring Easter eggs referencing their classic films. There’s a deer named Bambi, snippets of the Pinocchio theme “When You Wish Upon a Star,” a magic mirror, and many other tributes.
Question is, does “Wish” live up to the tradition of the memorable films that came before it?
“Wish” takes place on the island kingdom of Rosas, a magical place where King Magnifico (Chris Pine) stores the wishes from people all over the world.
“Imagine a place where wishes come true,” says Magnifico. “Where your heart’s desire can become a reality. What if I told you that place is within reach? All you have to do is give your wish… to me.”
At the age of 18 everyone in Rosas gives the King their deepest desire, which he then seals up in his castle’s observatory.
“I grant the wishes I am sure are good for Rosas,” he says. Once a month he announces a winner and grants their dreams come true.
When 17-year-old Asha (Oscar winner Ariana DeBose) meets the king to apply for a job as his assistant, she hopes to convince him to grant her 100-year-old grandfather Sabino’s (Victor Garber) wish. When the king refuses, Asha uncovers a terrible secret. Magnifico not only deletes the memories of those who tell him their wants, he hoards the wishes to keep the citizens of Rosas compliant.
“King Magnifico has wishes in his castle,” Asha says. “He’ll never give them back. We have to free the wishes and return them to the people.”
To aid in her mission, Asha prays to the heavens and is visited by a cosmic force, a glowing, playful yellow star, named, appropriately enough, Star. “Joy, hope and possibilities, the most loving light,” says Asha. But the king sees the glowing star as a threat
As they join forces to stop Magnifico, the king manifest all his dark magic to stop them. “There is a traitor amongst us,” he bellows. “Find Asha.”
“Wish” has all the elements of classic Disney, but falls just short of memorable. The built-in nostalgia should appeal to fans as a centurial celebration, and aficionados will get a kick out of spotting the hidden tributes to the older movies, but the film is stuck in looking in the rearview mirror. It feels old fashioned, a celebration of what came before, from its look, to its storytelling. As pleasant as it is, there’s not much new happening here in its themes of the magic of dreams and power of good to defeat evil.
The mix of 2D and 3D animation evokes the look of Disney’s watercolor animation, but there is a dullness to the colour palette that doesn’t jump off the screen. But, surreal talking mushrooms, a carriage that sprouts legs and a sequence with Ziegfeld Follies-style dancing chickens are fun, and inject some much-needed oomph to the artwork.
Character wise, its standard stuff, although Valentino (Alan Tudyk), a talking goat with a surprisingly deep voice, earns laughs as he announces, “I cannot swim,” like Greek herald Stentor as he dives into the water. Best of all is the Star, a simple character with a very expressive face, which is virtually guaranteed to move a bunch of plush toys as Christmas approaches.
Like the animation, the generic songs don’t perk up the ears, save for DeBose’s powerhouse vocals and Pine’s showstopping, villainous anthem.
As a celebration of 100 years of animation, “Wish” isn’t awful, just underwhelming. It feels like a blast from the past, with both eyes on the past, and none on the future.
