“Flora and Ulysses” has hints of movies like “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” and Rob Schneider’s “The Animal” but, while it never veers into the frantic excesses of those two, it never captures the inherent charm of “Paddington,” either. Klaus (pronounced ‘Claws’, for good reason) in manic fashion, while Ulysses saves the day for everyone, especially the hapless George. ![]() ![]() Ultimately, the kids in the audience won’t care and will be more than happy to see Pudi - as villainous animal control officer Miller, a character introduced especially for the big screen - battling his feline nemesis Mr. Buckman’s latest and unfinished romance novel, but we never get any convincing insight into why she and George are separated when they appear to be still truly in love, and what it is that keeps them from reuniting. Hannigan battles gamely with a character that is as hard to read as Mrs. Buckman practically sleep-walks through the first half of the movie before finally discovering some mojo, while Benjamin Evan Ainsworth as the temporarily-blind-boy-next-door is all but inert - and the grown-ups will be grateful for every well-groomed hair on Ulysses’ computer-generated head. In taking DiCamillo’s 200-page book aimed at the Elementary-to-Middle School crowd and expanding it into a 95-minute movie, director Lena Khan and screenwriter Brad Copeland have concocted a perplexing story arc that veers wildly from cartoon clowning to sub-Hallmark Channel platitudes.Īdd in a fortune-cookie level of dialogue and characters that only occasionally rise above two dimensional - Schwartz as Mr. Because, while it will surely appeal to and enchant children in equal measure, it is likely to fall as flat as a car crushed by a giant concrete donut (yes, that happens, too) for the adults in the audience. It is a rare, not to mention perplexing, combination that serves to knit the Buckman family back together, but only after they careen through a series of misadventures that also include a malign cat and a baffling newspaper interview that will leave viewers scratching their heads for days.Īnd therein lies the movie’s biggest failing. Ulysses, thus named by Flora after being sucked into a runaway vacuum - hence the need for squirrely CPR at the beginning of the movie - is undoubtedly the star of the show, with super-hero traits that range from writing winning poetry to flying to Mr. ![]() In particular, watch for the hilarious Donut Shop scene a pantomime villain (Pudi) in a role cast straight from the Dick Dastardly mold (minus the mustache) and the cutest CGI animal since Paddington Bear. It includes plenty of well-delivered slapstick. Instead, this is more a gentle tale for children of the right age (probably the six to 10-year-old age group), and it centers on the dysfunctional Buckman family and their inability to get along or, in the case of her father (played by Schwartz), hold down even a basic job at a Staples-lookalike store. Now, this isn’t the latest offering from the Marvel Universe, hence Flora’s squirrel, which she names Ulysses, won’t be facing up to any Earth-defending moments or super-villain shenanigans.
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