Geek of Oz

Maleficent can only be described as a clumsy attempt by Disney to pull the old switcheroo with one of their iconic villains. I’m trying to pinpoint when it started, but villains nowadays seem to require sappy back stories about when they were actually good guys, who through some kind of personal tragedy turned to evil. Needless to say, Wicked has been arrested and is currently being interrogated. Maleficent is a frustrating kind of affair, in that Angelina Jolie is so deliciously wicked; I wish she had a better sandbox of a film to play in. Sadly this falls closer to Snow White and the Huntsman when it needed to be Pan’s Labyrinth. Billed as “The story you never knew” behind Sleeping Beauty, Maleficent is set in a far off land which is divided rather crudely into the worlds of men and magical critters. We meet Maleficent, a fairy child who pretty much frolics about, appreciating the wonders of life and generally being a super-positive pain in the ass. Her world is forever ch...

We all know that sequels suck, right? Thankfully, DreamWorks have changed this with Kung Fu Panda 2. There is so much to like about this movie. Following on from where the 2008 film left off we join Dragon Master Po and the Furious Five, Tigress, Viper, Mantis, Monkey and Crane as they guard the Valley of Peace from external threats. Unbeknownst to Po, an evil peacock named Lord Shen has planned world domination but the only thing in his way is our friend, Po the but kicking panda.