Hairy tales and fairy tales

Two great summer flicks, and I decided to highlight them both in this week’s article. After seeing The Day After Tomorrow, I was hoping the second Shrek would be terrible, just so that I could use Tomorrow in the article title as the movie of the week and just sideline Shrek 2. However, after being blown away by both, I finally concluded, after much deliberation, that both these films’ excellence couldn’t be ignored – no matter how hard it would be to begin this dual review since they’ve nothing whatsoever in common. But now that I’ve warmed up my fingers and the keyboard, I might as well just type away.

Let’s begin with The Day After Tomorrow. Dennis Quaid plays Jack Hall, a brilliant climatologist who makes a shocking discovery: The world is on the brink of a new Ice Age. Because of the melting of polar ice caps in the arctic due to global warming, the balance of fresh and saltwater in the oceans is disrupted, and could trigger an abrupt and catastrophic shift in the world’s climate within years. However, when a chunk of ice the size of Rhode Island breaks off the Antarctic Ice Shelf, it begins snowing in India, Tokyo is battered by baseball-sized hail, and record-breaking typhoons strike Hawaii, Jack realizes that his fears have arrived years in advance; with Professor Terry Rapson (Ian Holm), a colleague in Scotland, he concludes that a global super storm will ravage the face of the Earth in a matter of weeks.

As the initial effects ensue (in a truly scary sequence, we see a bunch of hurricanes ravage LA before our eyes, Hollywood sign and all), Jack attempts to warn stubborn officials at the White House (i.e. an ass of a vice president) of the impending storm; meanwhile, his 17-year-old son Sam (Jake Gyllenhaal) is in Manhattan with some friends competing in a school academic contest. But when a tsunami hits NYC, Sam and his friends take refuge in the New York Public Library and must stay inside at all costs to stay alive, as Jack sets on a Finding Nemo-ish journey from DC to save his son.

We’ve all seen The Day After Tomorrow’s trailers asking us "Where will you be?" And the correct answer to that ubiquitous question: lining up to buy tickets. Tomorrow is a throwback to the disaster flicks of the ‘70s, and finally gives director Roland Emmerich a good movie to put on his filmography. An expert on the destruction of famous American landmarks (he blew up the White House in Independence Day and crushed Manhattan in Godzilla), Emmerich directs Tomorrow with a taut, suffocating sense of urgency, and helps the film achieve this tense, edge-of-your-seat thrill. Quaid and Gyllenhaal are competent actors able to provide authenticity to the evolution of their dysfunctional father-son relationship, and the will-they-or-won’t-they romance of Sam and high school crush and friend Laura (Emily Rossum) supply reasonable breathing room from the incredibly intense disaster sequences. Which leads us to the real star of the film: nature. The breathtaking, terrifying visuals of blizzards, storms, tornadoes and tsunamis are so realistic, so shockingly grandiose that you feel as if you’re watching everything on CNN; it’s simply chilling to see snow and ice covering the entire New York skyline, with only Lady Liberty’s torch visible.

Without being preachy, I’d like to say that The Day After Tomorrow is a cautionary tale to the whole world, of a future that could be not so distant, or something that doesn’t even need to happen – we decide our fate. With terrifying realism, it is a thrilling, shocking image of a world that doesn’t seem too far away.

Shrek 2, on the other hand, defers from such narrative weight and continues with the buoyant effervescence of its predecessor. Mike Myers reprises his role as the film’s titular not-so-jolly green ogre, who’s now married to the permanently ogre-d Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz). Just upon returning from their honeymoon, the couple is greeted by a dinner invitation from Fiona’s parents, King Harold and Queen Lillian (John Cleese and Julie Andrews, respectively), at the Kingdom of Far, Far Away, a Beverly Hills-type town of celebrity homes (Rapunzel, Cinderella), trendy shops (The Gap, Versace, Old Navy) and a "Far, Far Away" sign on the backdrop. However, the royal couple is expecting their daughter with the handsome Prince Charming (Rupert Everett), son of Fairy Godmother (Jennifer Saunders), and to have broken the curse that transformed her every night into an ogre. But when the King and Queen finally meet the big green couple, King Harold takes things into his own hands: he hires hitman Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas, poking fun at his Zorro character) to "whack" Fiona’s hubby (sorry for the Sopranos colloquialism.)

In a world of cheap, disposable straight-to-video sequels for animated films, it’s amazing that Shrek 2 was able to keep the original’s charm and wit intact and even make better use of them. From the opening sequence, in which they already spoof The Lord Of The Rings and Spider-Man’s upside-down kiss, you know you’re watching a gem; the sequence, which has Shrek and Fiona frolicking in a field of flowers, is staged so romantically and so earnestly that there is not a glint of irony to be found. Numerous other parodies follow (in another great scene, Joan Rivers herself provides commentary for the fairytale celebrities’ red carpet fashion, and is being broadcast on ME! Medieval Entertainment), so when they finally reach the end where Puss spoofs Jennifer Beals’ Flashdance water scene, you just can’t stop laughing at all the pop culture references and topical humor that have been thrown at you.

Shrek 2 is one of the best animated films ever made; while it’s no Finding Nemo, it does get very close. Incredibly funny, astonishingly fun and surprisingly emotional, I can’t wait for more Shrek, since a third and fourth is already in the works.

Bottom Line: Frighteningly real and heart-poundingly exhilarating, The Day After Tomorrow is a devastating, tense, terrifying thriller with a message.

Grade: A-

Bottom Line: Shrek 2 is a rare kind of animated sequel that is fun, exuberant, knee-slappingly hilarious and un-ironically romantic and emotional in equal doses, and is even better than the first.

Grade: A-

To Do List

Movies

•Watch The Day After Tomorrow.

•Watch Shrek 2.

TV

•Watch Six Feet Under on HBO. One of the best, most daring and most consistently gripping dramas on television is back for a third season. Watch it every Tuesday at 10 p.m.

Books

•Read I Don’t Mean To Be Rude, But…by Simon Cowell. This hilarious part memoir, part American Idol tell-all by the most hated judge in the world (personally, I admire him for his honesty) is a great companion to those who’ve, like me, been following the show since the first season, and for those who’ve just begun watching this third season, it’s a way to learn more about the previous seasons. By the way, by the time this article is published, a new Idol would’ve been crowned. But whether it will be Fantasia or Diana (I’m suspecting the latter), I’d just like to say that Ms. Barrino winning the title is the show’s last chance for it not to be the worst season so far. We need talent, not a bubbly 16-year-old girl who sings as if she’s at her high school pep rally.

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For comments, e-mail me at lanz_gryffindor@yahoo.com.