Cars 2

Welcome to the world of cars yet again and this one starts as a fast paced adventurous flick with a detective kinda plot and almost complete focus on our old sidekick(deutragonist would be a more appropriate word) Mater. But then does it serve the purpose to entertain you. I guess yes but not to an extent that it could be outrightly described as an awesome sort of animation flick or even one of the best in its genre. Its far away from being called either of them and yet it's enough to keep you watching it throughout those 110 mins, and without too many complaints.

So what if our little rusted Tow truck has all the spotlight on him, this character surely had it to keep you involved, if not interested. The movie begins on an undercover secret mission with tons of action and cars attacking and even killing each other. There is some unidentified info which need to be transferred and in an emergency passed on to Mater (unknowingly to him). He is misunderstood to be an American spy and taken along in the mission. There is also a World Grand Prix going on showcasing a battle between Lighting McQueen and Fransesco. The races are set in different continents and it was lovely to see how beautifully the different places and their culture was displayed in funny manner.

On the contrary, there were quite a many flaws too. A complete shift of focus from Lighting McQueen to Mater was actually not required. It would have been much better to involve all the old characters a bit more. The movie lacked that fun quotient, was bit lengthy for this plot and thus you couldn't connect with all these new characters the way you could in its prequel. It lacked that element of uncertainity too which would amaze you, even if to a small extent.

Overall a watchable movie which can be skipped if you are slightly out of budget (as its the month end ;)

My Verdict: 5.5/10

Bheja Fry 2

Bheja did get fried this time too but the humourous touch which the prequel had was lacking. The primary character was the same and so were his ways to irritate everyone around him with his unbearable singing and forced entrance into the personal discussions and lives but Vinay Pathak couldn't carry the charisma of the character which he so wonderfully played earlier. Right from his weird laugh to dialogue delivery were kind of not natural and the flow which was so visible in the prequel was missing.

He did have the support of another mischievious and great comic Suresh Menon but his role was kind of repressed as the whole focus was on Bharat Bhushan, the man who still wishes to launch an album of his own and considers all the singing greats as his idol. This time he does wins a TV show, drools over Ranjini (Minisha Lamba), and is living in his own world until someone knocks on his brains to tel him the true scenario. He is a man who would charm people sooner or later even with all his weirdness and is seen bugging one and all with his not so developed singing skills.

Kay Kay Menon justified his role well but like everybody else he too didn't have much to do apart from displaying his increasing displeasure over Bharat Bhushan whom he consideres a freak but plots his murder when he comes to know that Bhushan is an income tax officer. The plan turns against him and both are stranded on an uninhabited island. Until this point movie was still quite watchable but once they start their search for an escape route from this island, then begins a series of unwanted scenes lengthening the movie a bit too much.

The inclusion of Bhushan's chacha fooling around with a foreigner on the deserted island out of nowhere made no sense at all. Neither the monkey scene was necessary by any means. Amol Gupte was another forced character who actually was present just to increase the movie length. Finally all of them are rescued and Kay kay all of a sudden realises how good a man Bhushan is and apologizes to him for his doings. Oh and did I mention Minisha Lamba somewhere, ohh yes I did and I feel that's more than enough to be mentioned about her.

The direction was wayward and was clearly riding on its prequel. It was like, so we have a low budget success with this character named Bhushan. Lets go for it again, let him loose with whatever script we can manage and let the audience decide. I hope they must've recieved the audiences reply by now. There was one good thing about it too that apart from "Vinay Pathak's" intolerable singing there was no other song which would've made it another forceful inclusion.

I wouldn't advise making your purse lighter for this one. Wait for a month and you may watch it on the small screen itself.

My Verdict: 3.5/10

X-Men First Class

So we now know how we had Professor X, Magneto, Beast and Mystique as one of the many awesome mutants. But do we have something as thrilling as the X-Men trilogy itself. I guess not. Specifically the X-Men finale was just as awesome as you could have expected it to be. Even "Wolverine" was much more fun to watch. But "First Class" falls short on several accounts. The story build up was fine, narration was good, but the weakest link was the direction and dialogues. The director was just not clear as to sort out things neatly and present them in a manner so as to entertain the viewer. What he does succeed in is to throw small flashes of brilliance followed by regular and recurring dull sections which majorly constitue the 1st half of the movie.

The movie moves sluggishly in 1st half and you only wish it to move more faster post interval. And it actually does but still gives you a sense of being dragged now and then. The special effects were quite good but they didn't have that 'special' impact. The thrill which you could have felt when Magneto twists and turns the bridge away in the trilogy was nowhere close to when he lifts up the submarine in 'First Class'.

The starcast is another drawback. The magic of Patrick Stewart and Mckellen could not be matched by any means. Few actors even did well while others were forcefully trying to prove that they do belong to this profession. An extremely powerful evil is an essential component of any superhero movie. The character Sebastian could have done wonders with the kind of power he had but he remained locked most of the time within the submarine (his secret hideout) making it impossible to showcase his full strength.

There were several parts that could have been edited so as to make it shorter and compact and thus improving the 1st half of this slothful movie. All throughout you have this feeling that now something's gonna happen but eventually nothing creates an awe to mystify you and wrap you up completely in its blinding awesomeness. But even after all these faults X-Men First Class isn't a bad or even just an average movie by any means. Its just a subjective correlation in which your brain involves yourself to forcefully compare it with the trilogy and Wolverine. It's a definite must watch for all X-Men followers with an attitude of not comparing it with anything else which you have seen so far and you may end up liking it.

My Verdict: 6.5/10

P.S. : Dont take this as a negative review. Go Ahead and watch it.