In keeping with my resolution to rest and relax more, yesterday, after my meeting with Janet ended around 5, I came home and watched not one, but two (!) movies. First
Batman Begins, which I have to say, was pretty boring. It's hard to have plot tension when you know Batman will be fine, his butler Alfred will be fine, and Gotham will be fine. Nothing can happen to those characters. You could, in theory, worry about whether the girl will be okay (or maybe you can't -- I don't know Batman well enough to know whether she's an ongoing character in the mythos), but regardless, they didn't manage to create any tension about her either. Not sure why, given that she was attractive, spunky, and on the verge of death at one point. But still, it just seemed clear that she'd be fine. I did enjoy their portrayals of Gordon and Alfred; nicely-handled. The Scarecrow character was seriously creepy. Bale was a good Batman, both in the strong and weaker moments of the character. And the backstory thematic work with the parents and their vision for redeeming the city was also fine. But overall, eh. No fault of the talented actors, but the plot was just boring.
That said, lots of people loved it at IMDB, so what do I know?
After that, I went straight into Robots. Great visuals throughout, with a fabulous Rube Goldberg transportation sequence that was utterly delightful. Also a nice dominoes sequence. Lots of funny little moments. And there was actually a bunch of fun play with gender dynamics -- little Rodney at one point has to wear his cousin's hand-me-down pink torso, and Fender (the sidekick) ends up with a complete sex change operation for his bottom half, which he (voiced by Robin Williams) has a lot of fun with. There's also a nice moment where the girl sidekick gets left behind for her own protection, and then charges in later to save the day. But that said, it's pure fluff, ending up unconvincing and not emotionally engaging. Very forgettable, but if you're looking for some fun, fluffy entertainment, you could watch this. Though I'd recommend renting Monsters, Inc. again instead.
