Cartoon Summer O' Paradise

Okay, this summer, unlike the past several years, I actually plan to see more than one movie. All of these movies will be (of course) animated. I really want to see what's in store for animation this summer, so I'm planning to see these three movies: Kung Fu Panda, WALL•E, and Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Why? Because I can...I think. Anyway, here are what these films are about, with a few of my own added thoughts. And I will write reviews on these films after I'm able to see them.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name: Kung Fu Panda

Director(s): Mark Osborne and John Stevenson

Running Time: 91 minutes

Distributors: DreamWorks Animation, Paramount Pictures

Release Date(s): June 6th, 2008

Summary: The movies takes place in ancient China and stars Po (voiced by Jack Black), a panda who is possibly the laziest animal in all of China. Po is an apprentice noodle-maker and also a huge kung fu fanatic. But when an evil warrior by the name of Tai Lung (Ian McShane) escapes from prison, and all hope gets been put on a prophecy naming Po as the "Chosen One" the must defeat Tai Lung and save the day. Therefore, he must go an seek training from a kung fu master, Sifu (Dustin Hoffman), who "has trained five of the greatest warriors that the world has ever known", to fulfill his destiny. Rated PG.

Thoughts: Once again, DreamWorks gives us a funny animal movie. And of course, it has kung fu. And we all know how many martial arts movies we've seen, even if many of them didn't feature animals. Anyway, I'll just be seeing this one in hope for a good laugh, and to hope it doesn't fall into the old clichés.

Name: WALL•E

Director(s): Andrew Stanton

Running Time: Unknown

Distributors: Walt Disney Pictures (produced by Pixar)

Release Date(s): June 27th, 2008 (United States); July 18th, 2008 (United Kingdom); September 18th, 2008 (Australia)

Summary: It's the year 2700, and planet Earth has long been uninhabitable due to rampant, unchecked consumerism. For hundreds of years, WALL•E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) has been on his lonely clean-up duty, and collecting a bunch of junk in order not to be bored. However, unknown to the little robot, WALL•E has recently stumbled onto a amazing secret that could save the planet Earth, and once again make the ravaged planet safe for all humankind. When the highly advanced search robot EVE comes to Earth to check on the clean-up, she quickly makes friends with WALL•E. When she realizes the value of his remarkable discovery, she excitedly races back to let the humans know that there's hope for their home planet after all. But after centuries alone in space, WALL•E can't stand the thought of losing the only friend he's ever known (and loved), and eagerly follows her into the deepest reaches of space for the adventure of a lifetime. Along the way, this friendly trash-collecting robot who has always known what he was built for slowly begins to understand what he was meant for. Features the voices of Fred Willard, Jeff Garlin, and Ben Burtt. Rated G.

Thoughts: This film won't fail to entertain the audidence and tickle the old funny bone with it's brilliant robotic comedy. After all, this is Pixar, and they never made a movie that a majority can honestly say sunk.

Name: Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Director(s): Dave Filoni

Running Time: Unknown

Distributors: Warner Bros. (produced by Lucasfilm Animation)

Release Date(s): August 14th, 2008 (Australia); August 15th, 2008 (United States)

Summary: The Clone Wars are raging between the Separatists and the Galactic Republic. When Jabba the Hutt's son is taken by a group of renegades, two Jedi are summoned to investigate. Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi depart in search of answers: where is the Hutt's son, and who is controlling this mysterious renegade group? Yoda sends Ahsoka Tano along as Anakin's apprentice, Obi-Wan duels Asajj Ventress, and Anakin finds himself dueling Count Dooku once more. Meanwhile, the Sith plan to instigate a three-way war, including the Hutts. Rated PG.

Thoughts: At first, I was scared of adding this to my summer movie list (which is very small, these are the only three movies I'm seeing). I didn't know anything about Star Wars. In fact, I feel asleep during a movie on a bus ride to a one week sleep-away camp last summer. But after being told that it would be an enjoyable adventure and that (while it may help) I don't have to watch any other movie to understand it, I decided "What the heck!" and put it down.

And those are all the movies I'm seeing this summer! And I think it will be some pretty great fun also, to actually go to the movies more than once a year.