{"id":22202,"date":"2021-02-18T14:01:42","date_gmt":"2021-02-18T22:01:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=22202"},"modified":"2021-02-18T14:01:42","modified_gmt":"2021-02-18T22:01:42","slug":"flora-ulysses-delivers-some-cute-superhero-squirrel-antics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=22202","title":{"rendered":"FLORA &#038; ULYSSES Features Cute Superhero Squirrel Antics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/24_0008_B-merged.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-10493\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>This feature will be available to stream on Disney+\nFebruary 19<sup>th<\/sup>. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Over the past year, Disney has been premiering a great deal\nof its content on their new streaming service. While there have been some\nawards contenders like <em>Soul<\/em>, the live-action output from Disney+ hasn\u2019t\nalways been as stellar. In fact, some of their 2020 titles (including <em>Artemis\nFowl<\/em>, <em>Black Beauty<\/em> and <em>Magic Camp<\/em> to name but a few) felt\nlike they had been relegated to the platform only to get lost among the studio\u2019s\ncatalog. Thankfully, the new live action film <em>Flora &amp; Ulysses<\/em> is an\nimprovement over many of last year\u2019s releases. It may not be a family classic, but\nit is a sweet and polished effort that should win over kids and parents.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Flora-Ulysses-reading-comic-fixed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-22205\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Young Flora Buckman (Matilda Lawler) is a self-described\ncynic with no friends and plenty of family problems. Her mom Phyllis (Alyson\nHannigan) is a romance author suffering from writer\u2019s block after a separation\nfrom her husband, George (Ben Schwartz). Aspiring superhero comic book creator George\nis also in a visible funk, seeing his dreams of finding success fading into\noblivion. Simply put, everyone appears to be losing all the wonder and\nexcitement from their lives. When Flora witnesses a squirrel suffer a strange\ninjury, she names him Ulysses and treats him in her comic book-filled room. As\nit turns out, the knock causes the abnormal critter to start acting out like a\nreal superhero. But Ulysses is still just a squirrel, so he ends up merely causing\ntrouble around town and attracting the attention of animal control specialist, Miller\n(Danny Pudi).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Flora-Ulysses-carrying-box-fixed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-22206\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s a very silly and simple concept. The movie and lead\nanimal strive to encourage viewers to continue aspiring to great heights in\nlife, no matter what the odds. Of course, this point is made explicitly and the\nfeature often relies upon slapstick humor to get its idea across. This often\nresults in Ulysses causing chaos, with many adults panicking in the presence of\nthe wild squirrel leaping into the air. The movie\u2019s depiction of a silent,\nheroic rodent ends up being funnier than anticipated because of the combination\nof its small size and grandiose gestures, which make for an amusing contrast.\nThe CGI work doesn\u2019t always look entirely convincing (especially on a nasty\nneighborhood cat), but many shots in the film are credible enough to suspend\ndisbelief. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Flora-Ulysses-bed-fixed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-22207\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In truth, the film\u2019s biggest benefit is its human cast. Lawler\nis a likable little kid who doesn\u2019t come off as too precocious. The young\nactress does a commendable job of selling her interactions with Ulysses, which\nis quite a feat when one considers that she\u2019s performing with a non-existent\nco-star. Hannigan and her silly novel titles also raise a smile. And Schwartz\nekes out a notable number of laughs with his character\u2019s dispirited state. Some\nof his off-handed asides are rib-tickling and will land with adults. He and\nPudi also do an exceptional job of selling several of the physical gags. As the\ntwo face off against each other over the fate of the rambunctious squirrel, a\nlot of tranquilizer darts are misfired, resulting in some entertaining bits\ninvolving various body parts going numb at inopportune moments.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Flora-Ulysses-dad-expression-fixed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-22208\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Like most Disney movies, the story does get overly\nsentimental towards its close when it feels obligated to deliver some inspirational\nspeeches. Yet all the actors are quite likable and the story\u2019s humorous events\nare sold with plenty of vigor and pep. Ulysses is an entertaining little\ncritter to watch, the movie looks slick and it all moves at a zippy pace. So, despite\nits more familiar story elements, this reviewer will admit that the film did end\nup charming him. In the end, <em>Flora &amp; Ulysses<\/em> is a family-friendly twist\non superhero archetypes that will entertain kids and may even earn some chuckles\nfrom parents watching along.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This feature will be available to stream on Disney+ February 19th. Over the past year, Disney has been premiering a great deal of its content on their new streaming service. While there have been some awards contenders like Soul, the live-action output from Disney+ hasn\u2019t always been as stellar. In fact, some of their 2020 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":22204,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1164,2536,4233,4660,4668,5183,5922,7283,7670,7671,7672,7673,11663,13417,18914,19362],"class_list":["post-22202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-alyson-hannigan","tag-ben-schwartz","tag-childrens-book","tag-comedy","tag-comic-book","tag-danny-pudi","tag-disney","tag-family","tag-flora-ulysses","tag-flora-ulysses-film-review","tag-flora-ulysses-movie-review","tag-flora-ulysses-review","tag-kids-film","tag-matilda-lawler","tag-squirrel","tag-superhero"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22202\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}