Summer wedding season.  Your friends tap you to be in their wedding party.  You’ve gotta stay sober ‘til the reception.  The ushers aren’t nearly as good looking as your soon-to-be-wed buddy promised.  And you’ll never wear that ugly satin dress again, not even if you just shorten it.  But you don’t need an ugly dress or a history of wedding-induced trauma to enjoy Bridesmaids.  Though a hot usher wouldn’t hurt.

Think of this as The Hangover, with chicks.  And without the tiger and Mike Tyson.  That shortcut summary is just my way of saying that this movie is girly, yes, but dudes will like it too.  Annie (Kristen Wiig) gets tapped to be her best friend Lillian’s (Maya Rudolph) Maid Of Honor, but with Annie’s life on a downward spiral, Lillian’s nuptuals aren’t going to be anything featured in Brides Magazine.  And thank goodness.  I’m a huge fan of girly rom-coms (as a female, it’s the law), but after a while you can start cranking out the storylines in your sleep.  With Bridesmaids you know you’re in for a roller-coaster ride of chaos, but unlike standard romance flicks, you’re never sure what’s around the corner.  Another good thing is the men are kept to a minimum in this movie; the focus isn’t on the wedding, it’s on the interaction between Lillian and her best friend/worst bridesmaid Annie.  There is a bit of romance in Bridesmaids, but it’s used to illustrate Annie’s inability to move forward with her life.

Rounding out the wedding party are Rose Byrne as over-achiever Helen, Ellie Kemper as naive Becca, Wendi McLendon-Covey as wild-woman Rita and Melissa McCarthy as token bridesmaid/sister-of-the-groom Megan.  Melissa McCarthy all but steals every scene she’s in with her ability to throw herself into her character.  Megan ain’t the sweet Sookie St. James of Gilmore Girls, but a blue-collar gal that is hilarious and a breath of fresh air.  Come on; Fight Club as a wedding shower theme?  And her scenes with real-life husband Ben Falcone (as fellow air traveler Jon) are a scream.  Jill Clayburg gets into the act as Annie’s off-the-wall mom, and I couldn’t help thinking about her own riot grrl films of her era, Starting Over and An Unmarried Woman.  Bridesmaids is Ms. Clayburg’s last performance (she passed away November, 2010), and she gives her character charm and goofy humor.

Underneath the gross-out humor and sight gags of Bridesmaids is a good look at the competitiveness of female relationships.  Annie and Helen’s passive-aggressive competition is all too true to life, even though here it’s played for laughs.  So is the relationship between Annie and Lillian.  Annie is overjoyed for her friend, but fears being left behind as everyone else she knows moves forward with their lives.  Bridesmaids shows female friendships as the messy, bitchy, loving relationships they really are.  This movie also lets women be human, which made me hark back to My Best Friend’s Wedding, another movie where a woman is allowed to have thoughts that aren’t all puppies and rainbows.  Thanks for Bridesmaid’s success in telling it like it is goes to writers Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo, as well as director Paul Feig, who has shown his ability to craft believable humor with his work on Freaks and Geeks and Arrested Development.

Women who flock to this movie thinking they’re in for a Sex and the City or 27 Dresses romp will be in for a shock.  These ladies are much more true-to-life than the sweethearts in those films.  Which means there’s swearing, booze, food poisoning and crazy sex with John Hamm.  (Yes, you’re uncredited here, but don’t think I don’t recognize you, John.)  Head out to catch Bridesmaids before the next wedding you’ve got on your calendar.  Or better yet, go after and smuggle in a piece of wedding cake and a flask of champagne.  Just leave the dress at home.

Ah, St. Valentine’s Day. The possibilities for writers are endless. Which slant should I take concerning this week’s article? The bitter misanthrope who blasts the artificial sentiment and commercialism? The nuevo-romantic who tries pathetically to ape the poets he studied in college? The warmly contented individual who looks at the world with optimism and satisfaction? Ah, the possibilities.

This week’s episode begins with Barney introducing a new entry into the How I Met Your Mother dictionary: Desperation Day. The annual holiday is celebrated every February 13^th by men looking for a quick and easy sexual fix, and unintentionally by desperate women who don’t want to be alone on Valentine’s Day. Is it any wonder Barney sings its praises?

But alas, Lily is miles away from singing. With husband Marshall still in Minnesota comforting his recently widowed mother, she bemoans not only the inevitability of spending Valentine’s Day by herself, but the indefinite perpetuality of being alone. So distraught over her displaced beau, Lily has resorted to dressing a body pillow in Marshall’s shirts.

Robin, meanwhile, wants nothing to do with Barney’s parade of shame. Determined not to make a hurried mistake this February 14^th, Robin bands together with several single co-workers, each making a solemn vow to remain single throughout the holiday. Draping themselves in purple as a sign of solidarity, Robin and crew carry out their plan… only to have societal pressures get the better of Robin’s cohorts. As each of Robin’s friends abandon her for the first single man to come along, Robin is left alone on Valentine’s Day with nothing better to do than partner with Barney in a Laser Tag tournament.

Elsewhere, Marshall has found the hidden pleasures of living with his mother. He spends 23 hours of every day in his bedroom. He lives on peanut butter sandwiches and Sunny Delight. He has broken his all-time Dr. Mario record. He has regressed completely to his teenage self. Luckily, he has a wife as caring as Lily, who will fly halfway across the country in February to rescue him from his funk.

Lily is warmly received, greeted with a warm welcome from an unshowered, unshaved Marshall, only partially distracted from his Game Boy. She receives a similarly warm welcome from Marshall’s mother, who asks only one small request: “Get him out of my house!” Lily is forced to weigh the two, conflicting opinions: Mrs. Eriksen claims she’s doing fine on her own and Marshall is becoming a burden, while Marshall claims his mother is a nurturer by nature, and being a burden is his way of helping her cope with his father’s death (spoiler alert: Mrs. Eriksen is fine and Marshall is both lazy and oblivious).

But what of Ted? The hopeless romantic (emphasis on hopeless) has been invited by his new girlfriend Zoey to bake cookies. Sounds fun and innocent, right? Ted would agree with you. Everybody else, however, knows the hidden double entendre: “Baking Cookies” is the female equivalent of the booty call. Everybody knows that. Everybody, that is, except for Zoey, who actually wanted to spend the evening baking cookies. Offended by Ted’s forwardness, Zoey sends Ted home.

I have to give the writing staff some credit for this joke. While the HIMYM dictionary is one of the show’s hallmarks, sometimes they forget every word and phrase they make up is indeed made up. Having an outsider completely disregard the ridiculous vocabulary of the main characters in favor of the real-world alternative is a fresh and new approach that I’m amazed hasn’t been explored before (to my knowledge, at least).

Lucky for Ted, Zoey is quick to forgive. Zoey visits Ted at his apartment, apologizing for her overreaction, and thanking him for taking such a big step in terms of commitment. But because this is a sitcom, “Commitment” is the ever-dreaded C-word which causes every male protagonist to freak out, regardless of initial character traits. For no logical reason, Ted panics and visits Marshall in Minnesota, hiding until Valentine’s Day is over.

Guy talk is nothing short of a miracle. I wish I could explain the finer subtleties of the male gender in terms of communication, but alas, it’s a bigger mystery than Stonehenge. Two men can communicate great ideas, deep emotion, and a multitude of feelings in less than twenty syllables, often without trying. While Lily tried and failed, Ted was able to help Marshall past both his depression and father issues without even looking up from their game of Super Mario Kart.

Long story short, Marshall is finally able to say goodbye to his father and is ready to move on with his life in New York. Ted makes it back to Zoey before Valentine’s Day ends. Robin weasels out of her Laser Tag obligations by pairing Barney with Nora, a British co-worker who seems to identify and appreciate all of Barney’s tricks, (I assure you, we have not seen the last of her). And finally, Lily is reunited with her husband. Lily’s pillow is not invited.

I’m hesitant to even approach this week’s episode of How I Met Your Mother. Normally, I praise a well-executed episode, point out flaws and inconsistencies, or deride a lackluster attempt. But in the end, I’m still supportive of the series as a whole. This week’s episode, however, has so many flagrant offenses, so many pointless excursions, so many terrible moments stacked on top of each other, it’s like a layer-cake made with dehydrated, packaged coconut. But I’m a journalist (kinda, sorta, not really), and it’s my job to offer criticism, even when it pains me to do so.

For starters, let’s start with the start. Marshall is still in Minnesota. After his father’s funeral, Marshall decided to stay behind and help his mother cope.  Why he’s still there several weeks later, we don’t know. Perhaps if Jason Segel needed a few weeks away from shooting, we could accept this as a temporary character departure. Instead, he’s still on the show, just quarantined from the rest of the cast for no reason.

And this is where the narrative gets tricky. Because Marshall is in a different time zone from both the cast and the entire plotline, he needs to be filled in on his friends’ adventures secondhand. The show’s entire dynamic is thrown right out the window. Lily can’t jump in with a snarky judgment call. Ted can’t interrupt with his ever-moving opinions. Barney can’t force himself into the discussion with a brazen one-liner. Instead, Marshall is just stuck having a one-on-one conversation with whoever is on the other end of the line.

Maybe I could overlook this forced perspective if it told an interesting story. But no, tonight’s story seems like a parody of a typical How I Met Your Mother episode. Zoey, the character I’ve spent way too much effort expressing my distaste for, tries to affectionately distance herself from Ted by introducing him to her cousin. Ted thinks he has found his soulmate. Robin reminds everyone she’s Canadian. As Ted grows closer to Zoey’s cousin, Barney tries to muscle himself into the relationship. Ted has conflictions with his newfound love. Meanwhile, a misunderstanding occurs and everybody gets mad at each other. Then Ted wises up and sets everything right. Ted dumps Zoey’s cousin, and after half a season of pussyfooting around the obvious conclusion, gets together with Zoey, who has divorced her husband sometime before tonight’s episode (Bon Voyage, Captain. We hardly knew ye.) The writing staff has apparently been replaced with a machine that has perfected a How I Met Your Mother plotline algorithm.

Who is Zoey’s cousin? Her name is Honey. Well actually, Future Narrator Ted doesn’t remember her name. With many, many naïve moves and mistakes, nearly ever sentence Honey speaks is followed by someone within earshot offering a caring but derogatory, “Oh Honey…” Such mistakes include allowing her landlord to install a camera in her bathroom “for security,” Auditioning for Lost behind a KFC where the casting agent works his day job, and donating a large sum of money to a deposed Nigerian Prince.

That’s right, five years after it was topical, How I Met Your Mother made a joke about Nigerian Royalty. Other hilarious highlights from tonight’s episode include a bored Marshall developing hyperbolized manners, Zoey buying Ted 100 bottles of ketchup, Robin mistaking a Fahrenheit oven for Celsius, and a whole 30-seconds devoted entirely to the schoolyard favorite, “Hertz Donut.”

Even the casting was way off. How I Met Your Mother frequently casts pop stars in one-off roles, regardless of their ability to act. In the past, we’ve had Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez, and Carrie Underwood to varying success. And now, we can add Katy Perry to the mix with her portrayal of Honey. The Glee demographic better be tuning in in droves for this painfully obvious pandering.

In conclusion, I’m a bitter crank on the internet who takes his favorite television shows too seriously. But in all seriousness, this episode was a mess from start to finish. If there is any highlight from tonight’s episode, it’s lost in a mire of ill-conceived plot points, boring jokes, clumsy storytelling and bad acting. At the very least, I can take solace in the upcoming Sweeps Week. I’ll make you a deal, HIMYM: You deliver next week, and I’ll buy you some cake. Not coconut.

From the very first scene of tonight’s episode, we learn there two of the most important rules regarding Sheldon Cooper. One, he should not be let out in public unsupervised, and two, he should not be allowed to dress himself. Decked out in a blue shirt, a yellow striped tie and a green-checked suit, Sheldon is a guest lecturer this week for a class of graduate physics students. Seeing himself as a science messiah rather than an insufferable pain in the neck, Sheldon cracks jokes nobody understands, mentions principles nobody’s ever heard of, and belittles everybody who meets his gaze.

But does Sheldon get depressed? Does he get mad at his students’ insolence? Does he burst out of the room bemoaning the class’ ignorance? Of course not; he’s Sheldon Cooper. He lives in his own private bubble of self-grandeur. He beams about his ability to spread the good word of topological insulators. However, the collected tweets and blog posts from his students tell the real story. Tweets such as “Dr. Cooper has taken a relatively boring subject and managed to make it completely insufferable. Plus he looks like a giant insect.” And “Does Einstein’s theory explain why time flies when you’re having fun, but when you’re listening to Dr. Cooper, it falls out of the sky dead.”

Solemnly, Sheldon accepts defeat. He ruefully accepts his failure at teaching his first failure since high school gym class. Apparently, he considers his previous failures with driving, bowling, drinking liquor, living in Montana, eating an exclusive cruciferous vegetable diet, etc. inconsequential.

Prodded by his don’t-call-her-a-girlfriend Amy, Sheldon decides he should make an effort to become a better orator. After all, an educator must not only be a fount of knowledge, but an engaging speaker. And with that clumsy segue, Sheldon turns to Penny for acting lessons. Frankly, I believe Sheldon is overreacting. Those derogatory Twitter posts are clearly falsified, as their highly complicated syntax and verbiage are way beyond the typical Twitter user. A real Twitter post would look like, “OMG, this guy sux, lol. [X [X [X [X [X. #professerFAIL”

The main storyline proceeds as well as expected. Penny is a talentless actress and tries to impart her sparse acting skills on an unreceptive, disrespectful Sheldon. We’ve seen this Mad Lib storyline before.  Sheldon is critical and unapologetic, but Penny begrudgingly tries to help Sheldon out, partly because she’s a good person, partly because she pities Sheldon, partly because she has nothing better to do.

Rejecting the classic Tennessee Williams play ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,’ Sheldon provides his own literary source for a scene exercise: a fanfic Star Trek episode he wrote in high school (We can now add teleplay production to the list of Sheldon’s failures). It’s your typical fan fiction; it’s written through the eyes of a fanboy, it treats the characters like infallible Gods, the plot revolves around the author who has inserted himself into the series, and the plot is a poorly-written catharsis for the author who cannot cope with his real world problems.

And what problems did Sheldon have in high school? Lots, considering his analytical scientific mind and nerdy interests were repressed by an overbearing, Christian mother, an alcoholic father, and his East-Texas environment. But Penny, ever the professional (for lack of a better word), soldiers on… and then stops. Quite literally, the episode ends here unresolved. Sheldon doesn’t learn how to act, he doesn’t learn how to interact with people, and he doesn’t learn how to teach students. The episode just stops. In essence, this entire plotline was a big, wet sack of pointless nothing.

Well, not entirely. Where tonight’s episode really shines is the B-story. Ever unlucky in love, Raj bemoans his eternally single status, seemingly unprovoked. Fortunately, ever the upper, Bernadette is nearby to give him kind words of support. She thinks Raj has massive sex appeal, and is a real hottie. Of course, Bernadette is in love with Howard, so her opinion should be taken with several, large grains of salt.

Despite having a doctorate, being gainfully employed, having close friends, numerous hobbies, and a childlike optimistic outlook on life, Raj still can’t get it together long enough to make forward strides in the world of romance. All his relationships seem to flounder in less than an episode. Perhaps that’s why he misinterprets Bernadette general friendly support as full-on flirting.

Throughout the episode, Raj has moments of fantasy where he and Bernadette wind up together. But, being the eggshell-walking awkward mess he is, Raj only imagines situations where Howard becomes permanently indisposed, then willingly allows Raj to begin canoodling Bernadette. Such instances include Howard being transferred to Israel and Raj being asked to treat Bernadette’s sudden onset nymphomania, Howard being in a car accident and surviving long enough to ask Raj to pursue Bernadette’s latent affections, and most spectacularly, a choreographed Bollywood dance number wherein Bernadette and Raj sing each others praises. I’m no psychiatrist, but anybody with such elaborate fantasies needs to get on medication, and fast.

While the B-story also ends without any semblance of resolution, it at least has the excuse of being a comedic distraction. We the viewer are expected to focus on the exploits of Sheldon and Penny, and simply follow Raj’s disturbing fantasies in brief intermissions. As such, Raj’s storyline gets a free pass for having no formal conclusion. All in all though, tonight’s episode was just pointless. Clearly there were ideas to be had, but none of them were executed to their full potential. Instead, we get jokes about India, Spock and the SyFy channel’s name. If the writers weren’t going to focus on preparing a quality episode, couldn’t they at least check to see how Twitter worked?

The storyline is one we have seen before but the way in which it was written came together in a very easy way. A newspaper head dies, his/her son takes over the empire, finds out some missing information, corrupt cops and the like. But we have no dull moments, nothing too in your face, just the right amount of action and comedy thrown in.

Christoph Waltz gives us another performance worthy of an award. No not really, but he plays a villain that makes me cringe with dumb chills. An aging villain who we see having a mid life crisis and having ti reinvent himself. Kato is a great sidekick and possibly rank’s up there with John from Chips! Britt himself is a mystery that we don’t dive into too much besides his part boy exterior breaking down into a bad ass journalist of sorts.

This movie is a must see in my opinion for the shear joy factor alone.

Blu-ray will be sitting on my shelf for sure and I can only hope that the re-watch value is one of great fun!

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Over the past few months, I’ve heralded The Big Bang Theory for boldly exploring new territories without actually jumping the shark. And yet, despite my happiness for this development, tonight the show pulled a complete 180-degree turn, making all the changes for naught.

Tonight’s episode seemed eerily reminiscent of the first season: Penny was dating the latest in a series of interchangeable, boneheaded musclemen, the four lead geeks were involved in a very geeky hobby, and Leonard was sheepishly trying to find an opening to sweep Penny off her feet. Even new cast members Bernadette and Amy are nowhere to be seen. I honestly don’t know whether this episode was cryogenically frozen and thawed for tonight’s purposes, or if the writing staff simply chose to ignore the prior three seasons of development.

Penny’s blank-slate boyfriend is Zack, last seen in the Season 3 episode “The Lunar Excitation.” Zack was quickly made the butt-monkey of Howard, Raj, Sheldon and Leonard for his slow wit and vocal ignorance.  Memorably, he was unable to tell the difference between laser beams, death rays, and telescopes. The chiding continues in tonight’s episode as Zack’s intelligence is frequently likened to a dolphin’s… with the dolphin always coming out on top.

Penny puts the kibosh on the barbs and zingers, commenting on the hypocrisy of the four nerdy individuals shamelessly bullying someone inferior. Apologetic, Leonard makes amends with Zack, discovering they actually share a common interest: comic books. Sure, Leonard prefers standard superhero-based action stories and Zack leans towards the lighthearted adventures of Archie and the Riverdale gang, but it’s a start.

Pretty soon, the pair begins sharing other interests, such as the desire to cream the competition at a New Year’s costume party. Leonard practically drools at the opportunity to perfect his long-coveted Justice League team costume with Zack, an authentically muscular individual, playing Superman. Even better, if Penny would dress as Wonder Woman, they could win by default for bringing the only woman under 200 pounds.

But Penny isn’t interested. Leonard has forgotten all his interpersonal skills and is incapable of recognizing how deep a divide is forming between them. Penny wasn’t dating Zack for emotional reasons. She doesn’t love him, and can barely stand being around him. She just wanted someone to be with on New Year’s. Very humble plans, and yet, Leonard has single-handedly uprooted them entirely. Feeling obligated to stay behind, Zack bows out just hours before the party, reducing Leonard’s Dream Team of superheroes to “Skinny Flash, Indian Aquaman, near-sighted Green Lantern and a teeny-tiny Batman.”

Eventually, after a heart-to-heart with Penny, Leonard convinces her to come out and be sociable. Even more impressive, Leonard convinces her to do so in full Wonder Woman regalia. As I said, the entire episode is an unintentional callback to a simpler time. A time when the writers and producers of The Big Bang Theory didn’t know where to take their characters, or how to get them there. As such, the characters were free to stumble around and do whatever until something finally struck a chord with the audience. This explains why we are having such a formalist departure here and now. Once again, Leonard and Penny are back to their season one states with no apparent direction.

Where would they go from here? Either Leonard and Penny get back together, or they stay separated. Either way, we’re sailing charted waters. The Big Bang Theory may not have jumped the shark yet, but I hear the Jaws theme, and I see The Fonz trying on water skis.

Punchy is back. Punchy is Ted’s old friend whom he hasn’t seen in years. Ted called Punchy on a dare to prove they were still friends. Ted is now slated to be the best man at Punchy’s wedding. I tell you all of this because I am an idiot for not telling you before. I previously shrugged Punchy off as a meaningless character, until discovering he apparently will be an important element throughout the remainder of the season.

This week’s episode focused on the pregnancy/non-pregnancy of Lily and Marshall. As the title suggests (it’s the big, bold text near the top of the page), there was no actual baby conceived during tonight’s episode. The impact, however, was very real. When a friend goes through a monumental life change (such as having a child), those closest are forced to take stock of their life, to re-examine one’s priorities, and put things right.

As is the apparent new tradition on How I Met Your Mother, the episode diverges into three separate mini-arcs. The first involves Robin and her crisis of faith in employment. For years, Ms. Scherbatsky has struggled to make a name for herself in the world of television news. She’s had high points, such as anchoring the early early early morning news program, Metro News 1. She’s also had low points, such as honking her own breasts on live television for attention. But one thing remained absolute: come hell or high water, Robin would be a journalist.

Tonight, Robin gives up trying to become a journalist. After years of trying and failing, contending with everything from ornery monkeys to backstabbing co-hosts to adult diapers, Robin decides to pack it in and turn her attention to the world of game shows. Specifically, the hit TV game show Heads or Tails (still going strong with a special Million Dollar incarnation and new host Alex Trebek). Robin applies for the position of “Currency Rotation Specialist.” Or as Ted loving describes it, “Coin Flip Bimbo.”

Making Vanna White and the Price Is Right girls look like Rhodes Scholars, the job of a Coin Flip Bimbo is simple: 1) Flip the coin when instructed, 2) Do not flip the coin into anybody’s eye. Sadly, Robin’s predecessor was fired for violating both rules. Robin’s only other option was an off-camera research position at WorldWide News. But in Robin’s own words, that job “sounded really hard” and “(she) wouldn’t get to wear shiny dresses.”

Speaking of shiny clothing, Barney is ecstatic over his Christmas bonus. Drooling over a copy of Platinum Skymall, Barney boasts over what is destined to be the most frivolous purchase in recorded history. A suit, whose pinstripes are composed of 100% authentic diamonds, sewn into the fabric. It’s a suit of class, elegance, and luxury that will surely result in the funniest mugging since Marshall threw his wallet at a monkey. (Note: Lily and Marshall’s apprehension as parents comprise the third storyline, but does not need to be described at length.)

But both Robin and Barney’s plans are deterred upon hearing Lily and Marshall’s erroneously interpreted pregnancy. Realizing life is short and they aren’t the same foolish youngsters they once were, both spring into action. Robin quickly rejects her golden opportunity at Million Dollar Heads or Tails. Again, in her own words, “I don’t want to be sad Aunt Robin, the aging coin flip bimbo that gives her the creeps.  I want to be cool Aunt Robin, the respected journalist who gives her beer.” Barney, meanwhile, realizes his shallow ways are not as entertaining as they once were. Perhaps it’s time for him to change his ways, and contribute to charity, specifically the church run by his half-brother’s previously long-lost biological father (Ben Vereen reprises his role).

But swiftly, this character derailment is derailed itself. After consulting a gynecologist, Marshall and Lily inform their friends with a simultaneous text that the pregnancy was a false positive. Both Robin and Barney revert to their previous, short-sighted, selfish ways. Robin dives back headfirst into her stagnant world of lamé and sequined dresses, while Barney redacts his charitable offers.

Only Ted is left to pick up the shambles. Being informed his primary goal as a groom’s best man is repeatedly convincing the groom that marriage is a good decision, Ted takes his duties a tad too far, intervening and keeping everybody on the straight and narrow. In one glorious minute, Ted reminds Robin she has more to offer than being a coin-flipping floozy, and she is a good journalist. He tells Barney to stop being such a jackass for one day in his narcissistic life, and actually help others in need. He reminds Marshall and Lily how happy they were during their brief window of pregnancy, and encourages the couple to keep trying. Even Punchy calls Ted up with cold feet, and Ted knocks some sense back into him.

Sometimes gratification is best when deferred. Robin is not immediately happy working off-camera as a researcher, but holding her long-coveted press pass brings a smile to her face. Lily and Marshall ran themselves ragged preparing for a non-existent child, but with the initial panic gone, the pair can take a level-headed approach in the near future. Even Barney makes an investment in himself by donating the entirety of his five-figured Christmas bonus to the church… minus the cost of several dozen gifts and lapdances for the patrons of MacLaren’s Pub.

And in keeping with the Christmas spirit, Barney adds a personal bonus. As part of a charity drive to help clothe the homeless, Barney selflessly donates over forty suits from his own personal wardrobe. It’s a touching tribute for the holiday season, one keeping in theme with both the episode and the series as a whole. It proves quite definitively: TV characters don’t need to rip off It’s a Wonderful Life, they just have to realize life is wonderful.

With Tangled, Disney returns to its roots with a story of a traditional princess, a reluctant hero, and a wicked witch and although many are tired of this old formula, if anyone can do it right it’s Disney.

Tangled is the classic story of Rapunzel with, of course, a twist. You know, there’s a princess kept in a tower by an evil enchantress who uses her long hair to gain access. One day, a young man runs into her and they set off to find her true parents. There’s magic, adventure, and a nice love story. We’ve all seen this plot before, but here it feels natural and has enough new elements to keep even the most experiences movie-watcher entertained.

First of all, the film looks great. Here, Disney Animation Studios doesn’t try to emulate Pixar, but attempts to imbue this computer-animated film with the magic of their classically animated fairy tales. The entire movie, from the design of the characters to the way the world looks, just feels right. At no point are you left wishing that the film was traditionally-animated. Each medium has its own advantages and disadvantages, and Disney is really starting to see that distinction. This story works with computer animation. The animation in Tangled is vibrant, cartoonish (as in, not too realistic), and fun.

The film is also presented in 3D, which I am not a fan of. Still, the financial benefits at this point all but guarantee that we will have to deal with many more films in three dimensions during the foreseeable future. As with any computer-animated film, the 3D effects work better here than they would in live-action. And while most of the time, the 3D did not add anything to the film, there were occasions where the effect was actually visually interesting. So while I think overall 3D is not worth it, there are sequences, most notably the latern-releasing scene, in which the 3D visuals enhance the film.

The comedy is also spot-on. Kids will find it extremely entertaining, but adults will also find themselves laughing. This is due to the fact that the movie is genuinely funny. It doesn’t rely on cheap jokes, potty humor, or innuendo but instead uses physical comedy and legitimately hilarious moments to be a surprisingly funny movie.

But what really marks this as a high point in Disney’s recent history is its heart. The movie feels like it should. The characters are warm and familiar, the story is magical, the visuals are, as I’ve mentioned, great, and you are emotionally invested in the film. At the beginnning of the movie, I was not impressed, but as the movie went on I found myself more and more invested in the characters and what happens to them. In fact, the finale of the film packs a significant emotional punch, despite the fact that you know that everything is going to be okay in the end.

So while Tangled is definitely no Beauty and the Beast or Lion King, it is definitely a return to form for Disney. The story is fun, you fall in love with the characters, the visuals are breathtaking, real emotions are involved, and the film is pure fun for all ages.

Rating: ★★★½☆