Rock Dog

Review by Bob Ignizio

Stop me if you've heard this one before. In ROCK DOG, a misfit protagonist leaves home to go on a quest to find self-confidence, defeat a bunch of generically evil bad guys, and win the understanding and approval of his stodgy father. Along the way, he learns valuable lessons about following one's dreams, staying true to oneself, and the power of music.

Director/co-writer Ash Brannon may have gotten his start at Pixar, for whom he co-wrote and co-directed TOY STORY 2, but there's none of the heart, humor, or overall quality one would expect from that studio on display in ROCK DOG. This is an utterly disposable, by-the-numbers kid flick.

Inside Out

Review by Bob Ignizio

As my friend and fellow area film critic George Thomas pointed out to me, the premise of Pixar’s INSIDE OUT bears more than a passing similarity to that of a Fox TV show from the early nineties that I had forgotten about, “Herman’s Head”. In both, the set-up is that inside the mind of the main character live various anthropomorphic representations of certain character traits. Of course, it’s not the basic idea of a given story that matters so much as what is done with it, and true to form the folks at Pixar manage to whip up a clever and entertaining story that, even if it were inspired by the long cancelled TV show, puts a unique and entertaining spin on the idea.