Gattaca (1997)
In this version of the future, genetic testing determines everything. Vincent Anton Freeman (Ethan Hawke), wants to be an astronaut, but is denied this opportunity because his genetic code indicates weakness and a limited lifespan. In order to pursue his dream, he assumes the identity of Jerome Morrow (Jude Law) who has a perfect genetic makeup, but an accident has rendered him lame.
Roger Ebert gushed this was a “thriller with ideas,” and while it has ideas, they’re not original. The man vs. science motif reached its apex in the 1970s, and this film does nothing to add to the genre.
There’s an attempt at a twist involving Freeman’s genetically superior younger brother and a simmering romance, but with a cast including Uma Thurman, Dean Norris, Tony Shalhoub, Xander Berkeley, Maya Rudolph, Ken Marino, Alan Arkin, Ernest Borgnine, and Gore Vidal, I expected more.
If you want a movie about the power of the human spirit try. Forrest Gump (1994). If you want a science fiction film about the beauty of humanity, try Blade Runner (1982). If you want to be mildly entertained for two hours, watch this.
Men and Dust (1940)
Sheldon Dick’s short documentary about the effects of silicosis on miners near Joplin, Missouri was added to the National Film Registry in 2013.
It’s not particularly memorable, although it does have a fun, kinetic energy.
Meet the Robinsons (2007)
Lewis invents a memory scanner to find his mother who abandoned him as a child, but is inadvertently prevented from demonstrating it at the science fair by Wilbur, a time traveler from the future. In exchange for Lewis’s help in recovering a stolen time machine, Wilbur agrees to take him back in time to meet his mother.
As is usually the case in time travel films, the plot gets messy with a lot of narrative threads fighting for attention. Sadly, the movie is overwhelmed by the competing stories and leaves way too many questions unanswered: Why does Bowler Hat Guy slink away after he’d been forgiven? Why does Lewis choose not to meet his mother when he goes back in time? If Bowler Hat Guy never existed then the experience which molded Lewis never happened, right?
In addition to these narrative struggles, the film suffers from the behind the scene chaos at Disney following its 2006 merger with Pixar.
Disney animated movies have tended to be about the individual. Either the individual discovering themselves in Pinocchio (1940) and Dumbo (1941), or overcoming adversity in Alice in Wonderland (1951), Sleeping Beauty (1959), and The Sword in the Stone (1963).
On the other hand, Pixar movies are about families, showing us how families form in Toy Story(1995) and A Bug’s Life (1998), or how individual needs dovetail with the demands of a family in The Incredibles (2004) and Brave (2012).
Both sensibilities are present here, but the film never decides which is more important and suffers for it.
This film had promise: Bowler Hat Guy is one of the best and most fully realized Disney villains, and the seeds of the fruitful Disney / Pixar merger are evident, but this is a difficult movie to really love.