Star Trek Beyond

Star Trek Beyond, 2016

Directed by Justin Lin, 122 minutes

Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Idris Elba, Sofia Boutella

Review by Katherine Scheetz

The familiar ‘dings’ of the Star Trek Beyond theme begin and the nerd neurons anticipate “Space: the final frontier.”

We pick up with the crew of The Enterprise part-way through their five-year mission: exploring new lands, seeking out new civilizations and generally getting into trouble in the way only Captain James T. Kirk (Pine) can.

After a breezy, slapdash escape from hostile natives, we are captain-log narrated through an update on how the vast and diverse crew of The Enterprise have been dealing with the grueling five-year assignment. Spock (Quinto) and Uhura (Saldana) have broken up due to Vulcan procreation logic. Sulu (Cho) is married with a husband and daughter off-ship. And love or hate the newly written sexuality to the character, you can’t deny how cute the Sulu family is. Chekov (Yelchin) remains the fumbling young bachelor, still getting thrown out of rooms by girls and Bones (Urban) deflects with sarcasm, as per usual.

During a brief touch down at Starbase Yorktown where we learn Kirk has applied for a transfer off-ship and Spock Prime (Leonard Nimoy) has passed away, a call for aid leads the group on one last mission together through an uncharted nebula and into – wait for it – the beyond. Evil baddie Krall (Elba) is squatting and plotting on a planet nearby as is one of Krall’s escaped would-be victims Jaylah, played by Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015) Sofia Boutella, who once again turns her fight scenes into a dance. Star Trek Beyond is the third time this year that Idris Elba’s voice has seduced us (Zootopia, The Jungle Book) and frankly, it’s one hell of a voice.

With Fast and Furious director/producer Justin Lin at the helm the franchise has acquired new fans and momentum that was lost in the last installment, Star Trek Into Darkness(2013).

Beyond works, even with its breakneck pace and antigravity fight scenes that have you going cross-eyed. It works because it plays like a giant episode of the 1960s Star Trek show. There’s crew banter, a little introspection and then BAM they are in a pickle on a new planet with new people and they have to figure out how to get Scotty (Pegg) to beam them up.

The quippy, upbeat script is the product of Simon Pegg, who plays the ship’s engineer Scotty, and Doug Jung, who plays Sulu’s husband. Pegg has a resume of comedy writing including Shaun of the Dead (2004) and Hot Fuzz (2007), apparent in the excessive amount of one-liners that honestly just make the cast even more lovable.

It’s a fitting final performance for Yelchin, who will always be remembered for his endearing portrayal of Chekov. We just wish it wasn’t his final performance.

Out-of-this-world end credits followed by memorials to both Yelchin and Nimoy seal the deal. Embrace your inner Trekkie and go.

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The Jungle Book

The Jungle Book, 2016

Directed by Jon Favreau, 105 minutes

Neel Sethi, Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong’o, Christopher Walken, Giancarlo Esposito, Scarlett Johansson

Review by Katherine Scheetz

Director Jon Favreau takes us into the Seoni jungle of central India, with music and camera movements evocative of the classic 1967 animation. Favreau enchants us with the verdant visuals of “man-cub” Mowgli among the vines and moss, raised to be part of the wolf pack by alpha Akela (Esposito), mother Raksha (Nyong’o) and the tough-loving black panther Bagheera (Kingsley).

With smartly integrated monsoon season weather patterns, we observe how drought affects The Law of the Jungle and that when Peace Rock emerges from beneath the river, a truce between the jungle inhabitants must be obeyed. Elba makes his terrifying debut as the Bengal tiger Shere Khan here at Peace Rock, face scarred from man’s “red flower” and thirsting for revenge. With the return of the tiger and the monsoon (thus Peace Rock disappearing) Mowgli’s life becomes forfeit, forcing him and Bagheera to leave for the man-village in search of protection.

Along the way Mowgli learns his backstory from hypnotic rock python Kaa (Johansson), Bagheera teaches him about the reverence of the elephants and a tweaked King Louie (Walken) – with an accent from Queens, NY – brings about an Indiana-Jones-worthy temple chase scene filled with thick, filtered lighting. Sloth bear Baloo, voiced by the lazily charming Murray, embraces Mowgli’s inherent talent for invention or “tricks,” using them to his own ends ie: harvesting honey and singing “about the good life” alongside a goofy cast of supporting animals.

Composed by John Debney (who has a list of credits as long as my leg packed with rom-coms and Disney channel), the score intertwines the deep, time-honored melodies with the lift a modern audience needs. “The Bare Necessities,” “I Wanna Be Like You” and “Trust In Me” get a jazzy, New Orleans revamp, that call for bowling hats, smoky dance clubs and vintage microphones.

Mowgli’s coming of age story takes a different shape in all this – it’s about embracing yourself and your own “tricks.” Newcomer Neel Sethi’s compassionate performance evolves the character of Mowgli, and when you realize the kid did all of that acting with a green screen and his imagination – well, my hat is off.

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Zootopia

Zootopia, 2016

Directed by Byron Howard, Rich Moore, Jared Bush, 108 minutes

Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Idris Elba, J.K. Simmons, Jenny Slate, Shakira

Review by Katherine Scheetz

              Judy Hopps (Goodwin) is the purple-eyed daughter of two carrot farmers in Bunnyburrow, where animals still speak in tongues and your prey/predator status defines your role in life. After graduating from the police academy as the only bunny officer under Mayor Lionheart's (Simmons) Mammal Inclusion Act, her parting gift from her parents (and her 275 brothers and sisters) is “Fox-Away” pepper spray.

Judy heads to assignment in Zootopia City Center, pink iPaw blasting the latest toe-tapping hit from pop-star Gazelle (Shakira), where she is the only prey animal in a precinct of predators under Cape buffalo Chief Bogo (Elba).  

              So begins the parade of characters who reveal the harsh realities of animal relations in Judy’s Mecca, from elephant-only ice cream shops to Mafia shrews. Key among them is Nick Wilde (Bateman), a hustling fox with sleepy eyelids and hands perpetually in his pockets; nuances taken straight from Bateman’s own body language in the recording studio.

              Flawless animation accompanies the captured characteristics, down to the edging of fur on Judy’s expressive ears. But it’s everyday life details, like the texting hamster who gets squashed exiting the “tube” and the DMV run by sloths, that ground Disney’s world-building.

Writers Jared Bush and Phil Johnston deliver a tight script (if carrot-heavy) with no lag in clever lines or honest moments of friendship meant for both children and adults alike.

In Zootopia, there are doors sized for all creatures; public transportation accommodates swimmers, fliers, and tunnelers; homes exist for Tundra-dwellers, rainforest-livers, and Sahara-sunbathers. Think New York City, but built so that autism, cerebral palsy, down syndrome, ADHD, dyslexia and the like could never be thought of as disabilities, but rather part of what makes you unique. Novel.  

Disney doles out a timely message of tolerance when we need it most. Let no sheep cooking nighthowler in his meth-resembling-lab stop you from absorbing Zootopia.             

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