Critics Consensus: Drive is Certified Fresh

To some narrow minded people "The Lion King' is the best thing to come to the face of the earth, even when it was already been done before! I can understand why people would be making such a statement since your parents must've showed "The Lion King" to you instead, unbeknowist their was already one made like it before as a syndicated tv series, which I think was during the late 1960's!

Sep 16 - 01:13 PM

King Simba

Oh please, would you just drop it? If you want to attack a film for lack of originality, you might as well attack 99% of all hollywood films.

Seriously, one could just as easily slam Star Wars for being a ripoff of the The Lord of the Ring novels (A young man who spent all his life in a quiet, peaceful place is suddenly thrust into war when he comes in possesion of something the enemy wants, who are lead by someone we rarely see, though we see a lot of his puppet, while on his quest he is aided by a wise and mystical old man who gets killed only to return in a new form) or Minority Report for being a ripoff of The Fugitive (A guy is framed for a crime he didn't commit, and sets off to find out who set him up, while a US Marshal is on his tail, who in his search begins to slowly discover the innocence of the suspect, while the big reveal at the end - spoilers - is that the closest friend of the guy was the one who set him up) or how about Avatar and Dances With Wolves (I don't even need to go into the similarities, since they're so well known) The truth is filmakers base their ideas on stuff they've seen or read when they were younger, meaning you're almost bound to find similarities between their films and others.

Sep 16 - 03:10 PM

Alot you know about about films, Lucas verbally stated that his idea to make his so-called Star Wars films originally came from "The Hidden Fortress", while he was in film school and the similarities are remarkable, who may or may not have read the Tolstory's books- who knows! "US Marshalls" was supposed to be a sequel to the monster hit "The Fugitive", therefore it is not a remake! An although, "Avatar" which may not seem like an original, Cameron still uses scenes from many different films( including a Star Trek episode), and his own, such as "Aliens" because of the mobile suit, turning his version to be an original! And because they're simiarties with other films, such as "Ferngully" labelled as a cartoon made for kids and "Dances With Wolves" is a Western, "Avatar" is pure Science-Fiction! And finally, "Minority Report" is not a remake of the film "The Fugitive", since the idea originally derived from a Science-Fiction novelist Philip K Dick (Total Recall, Blade Runner, Payback) and that, although the two films are similar- one is classified as a Science Fiction film while the other can be a called a thriller/ action! Yes, people do watch and read from other peoples work, but if you're talking about cartoons, that're remarkably identical, I have to give "The Lion King" top honors than any of the examples you provided! That if you read my comment, previous articles back, ones a long syndicated television series with old animation, while The Lion King is a hour and a half feature film with alot of sing and dance, something Disney was always knowned for! I also think, Kimba is too scary for little children because of many subject matters, such as poachers and excessive superiority as well as death, meaning that it's more closer to "Watership Down" than say "Pinnochio" and "Snow White"!

Sep 16 - 03:58 PM

What I meant is that the animation is very outdated, in comparison to the Lion King!

Sep 16 - 03:59 PM

I think my initial 'point' is that if people are fans of "The Lion King" than theirs already a syndicated series that's identical. That if you don't like the cartoon series, than that is your preogitive, but don't dismiss the fact that they're not about the same thing!

Sep 16 - 04:20 PM

dude meister

And! Lay! Off! The! Exclamation! Points!

Sep 16 - 07:02 PM

King Simba

So...it's all right to have a similair plot to another film as long as you change the genre, but if it's the same genre than that's ripping off?

Yes The Fugitive is a thriller and Minority Report is a science fiction film, but they both share a number of similair plot points, same with Dances with Wolves and Avatar, more so in fact than Kimba and The Lion King (for one thing the premises is quite different, as Kimba is about a cub trying to bring peace between humans and animals, whereas The Lion King is about a cub learning to accept his responsibilities instead of living a carefree life and overthrowing his evil uncle) Also it's almost ironic how you defend Minority Report saying that it was adapted from a short story when The Lion King itself is adapted from Hamlet which was made way before Kimba. Finally, it's also kind of ironic that you slam a film for being a ripoff of a Japanese cartoon, when Japanese cartoons themselves tend to take a lot of ideas from each other (Just look at how similair Digimon/Pokemon and Yugioh/Duel Masters are)

Personally, I don't really care much about similarities, as long as the films themselves are good. The Fugitive and Minority Report are both two of my favourite thrillers, while I enjoyed both Dances with Wolves and Avatar.

Sep 17 - 11:59 AM

I first have to say that you've made some good points worth arguing! I mean to some, Minority Report & The Fugitive are virtually the same film because both leading characters were framed, even though this kind of concept happens all the time in real life all the time, except that the differences between the two in terms of direction are totally different, whereas in "Minority Report" viewers already know who the bad guys (more than one bad guy)are, way before the Tom Cruise character does; but in "The Fugitive", everybody knows this one "single" person who murdered Harrison's Ford's wife the same time as he does - that's the difference! And I think you're obviously missing the point about "Minority Report", since the frame up scenes was nothing more than a backdrop, because top CEO's saw Cruise's character nosing around and they felt threatened by him which is the reason for the frame up, leads to it's original message was whether or not it's completely "ethical" to arrest someone when that person is "thinking" about commiting a criminal act seconds or minutes before the crime was even acted- that was the whole point of the entire film! One would have to be older to understand this kind of message or understand it's original point!

Sep 19 - 11:56 AM

You interpret The Lion King and Kimba about two different things, but that is when I totally disagree with you on that, because 1) they're both lions except that ones white and the other isn't- but they're still lions! In both versions the main objective for their existence is that both of them have to prove their worthiness to prove to the other animals that they're capable to handle that title, since animals fight other animals and some of the other species(animals) think they can beat the lion kings, 4) both settings takes place in Africa 5) they both have a wise baboon to guide them 6) you say that Kimba was about bringing peace between animals and humans, but the thing is that because their were so many episodes, it dealt with alot of subjects, peace between animal and animal, and the aforemnetioned and death- it dealt with so many issues- one would need a checklist! And because I believe Kimba is more credible than the Lion King, since that to earn that title, I believe that theirs along process to be considered since it doesn't just happened over night! Also, how do you know Kimba The White Lion didn't get their original idea from Hamlet as well, or even MacBeth for that matter- and that series came out way before the Lion King did! One last thing, yes, Pokemon started this whole crazed and encouraged other copy cats to follow but Disney should've known better!

Sep 19 - 12:21 PM

To rephrase my comment, Kimba was about alot of things so when you say that it's only about one particular thing is very ignorant, since their were so many episodes- they're about alot of things including "learning to accept his responsibilities instead of living a carefree life" , just like soap operas!

Sep 19 - 12:26 PM

@dudemeister- My! Comment! Wasn't! For! You! Anyway!- So! F-ck! Off! No! Ones! Asking! You! To! Read! Them! Retard!

Sep 19 - 12:31 PM

To put into better words- If! My! Exclammation! Points! Bother! You! That! Much!, Don't! Read! It!- you! F-ckin'! Moron!

Sep 19 - 02:28 PM

Bradly Martin

The Simpsons actually acknowledged this in an early episode. Season 6 Episode 22 "Round about Springfield"

At the end of the episode Bleeding Gums comes to Lisa in the form of a cloud along with Darth Vader and Mufasa. Mufasa says "You must avenge my death Kimba...Dya Uh I mean Simba" in reference to Kimba the White Lion which The Lion King was based on.

Sep 16 - 03:21 PM

Ryan Hoffman

One of my favorite moments in The Simpsons, and King S. you made my day by mentioning Digimon...it's not hard to see why though ;D BTW, even though I really like Pokemon, Digimon shits all over it.

Sep 17 - 11:36 PM

Drive looks good. I'll be seeing it soon, but this weekend I'll be supporting Warrior, which I was unable to see last weekend. I'm a bit disappointed by Straw Dog's score. I thought it had a chance at being a surprisingly good movie, but based on this score it appears to be just another bad remake. This weekend's Box office looks like one of the closest of the year. My predictions:
1 Drive 15 Million
2 Straw Dogs 10 Million
3 Lion king 3-D 10 Million
4 Contagion 10 million
5 Help 5.5 Million

Sep 15 - 04:35 PM

Alexander Sciury

You won't be disappointed by Warrior, just saw it and it was fantastic. Really wish more people would get out and see it, that movie deserves every bit of money it makes.

Sep 15 - 07:59 PM

Vincent Coia

I'm for sure seeing Drive either tomorrow or Saturday. Super excited about it. Was supposed to see it a the LA film festival but that didn't work out.

Sep 15 - 04:39 PM

Bradley J

Might see The Lion King, but it looks like a cash grab movie for Disney.

Sep 15 - 04:46 PM

Brad Hadfield

Waiting a few more years for the 20th anniversary would've been a little less obvious, but I suppose they wanted to hit while the 3D was hot. (Of course, it's not so hot anymore anyhow).

Sep 15 - 05:23 PM

Bradley J

Agreed but yeah 3D is going down the drain.

Sep 15 - 05:42 PM

King Crunk

My theater is showing it in 2D and 3D. Needless to say, I'll be seeing it without the glasses.

Sep 15 - 06:38 PM

I hope you're right. 3D is getting on my nerves. Only a handful of films in 3D have been good since the craze happened, and most of those didn't even need to be in 3D.

Sep 15 - 07:56 PM

George Clooney

IMO the problem is only with the current form of 3D that requires ridiculous glasses and the way it is used i.e. to have small aspects of the film "jump out" at you. These are essentially gimmicks and it was the same way when both color and sound were incorporated into film. At first people just did stupid things with them, until a pioneer figured out a way to use them to improve upon film. We are just waiting for our 3D pioneer.

Sep 15 - 10:56 PM

Agreed

Sep 16 - 11:57 AM

Gene Arnold

Drive! Drive looked awesome and then when I found out Bryan Cranston was in it, I said, I have to see this immediately! To me it looks like it could be this generation's Pulp Fiction

Also happy I guessed Bucky Larson's rating right man!

Sep 15 - 04:52 PM

Jason Huang

drive looks amazing... but i think contagion will still top the box offices.

Sep 15 - 04:58 PM

I doubt Contagion has much of a chance. Word of mouth for it has been mixed. I know alot of people hated it, and at best people thought it was okay. I'm yet to hear anybody say they loved it or anything.

Sep 15 - 05:15 PM

Kathryne C

really? i liked it a lot, and a lot of my friends thought it was great.

Sep 15 - 06:33 PM

Well, I haven't seen it yet so I can't really what I think about it. All I know is your the first I heard say that. Most people I know said it was dull and it had too many charachters, and didn't focus on any on them so it was hard to get into the film. I would like to hear what you have to say about it in it's defense.

Sep 15 - 06:44 PM

Kathryne C

well, the main things that attracted me to see it:
1) the cast
2) i enjoyed outbreak (and the book it was based on), and i'm pretty interested in epidemiology.

the direction (and soundtrack, especially) did a good job of keeping the film tense throughout, and considering there were like six story lines, it did a pretty decent job of keeping it coherent. i didn't think it was dull at all, actually; apparently the premise is REALLY cliche, though, but i've only watched one other pandemic movie... and this one was a lot better, at least stylistically.

i also enjoyed the more realistic take it took of the premise- it wasn't sensationalist or over-the-top, which, i think, is because of the multiple story lines, showing all the sides to a situation like this. yeah, the characters weren't particularly engaging, but they weren't just interchangeable blank slates either.

Sep 15 - 07:31 PM

Brad Barfoot

It makes more sense to re-release Lion King without the stupid 3-D, which is meant for movies that suck.

Sep 15 - 05:10 PM

Jacob Holmes

so you're saying Up, Toy Story 3, How To Train Your Dragon, Coraline, and Avatar all sucked?

Sep 15 - 06:54 PM

No because those movies were so good that they never needed 3D in the first place.

Sep 15 - 08:00 PM

John Noto

avatar needed 3d.

Sep 16 - 08:05 AM

Ok except that one. :)

Sep 16 - 11:58 AM

Brad Barfoot

Exactly, movies that are classics do not NEED 3-D. If its not broke dont fix it. Some movies like "Final Destination 5" do need it.

Sep 16 - 02:56 PM

Sean Pak

BLBnow was talking movies that are converted to 3-D and re-released, I believe. All those movies you named were originally made in 3-D.

Sep 16 - 02:25 PM

Rick V

Bah, screw Drive. I'm going to see Bucky Larson: Born to Be A Star this weekend!

Sep 15 - 05:36 PM

Brad Barfoot

Me too. Gotta see my favorite director Tom Brady in action again. Im optimistic it will be as good as his other classics "The Animal" or "The Hot Chick". Tom Brady may be a better director than football player.

Sep 15 - 05:47 PM

Adam Jones

I'm definitely going to see Drive this weekend. The only real high profile movie coming out before the end of the year is Breaking Dawn Part one and I have no interest in the Twilight Series. So it comes down to movies getting good RT meters if I see a movie at all, and Drive's is too high for me to pass it up. Surprising considering it looks like a generic car action movie but I'll see why critics are raving about it myself.

Straw Dogs seems like another unnecessary remake of a controversial yet classic film. Never seen the 1970s one but I'm not interested in seeing this new one.

I wonder how I Don't Know How She Does It does with the audience who has been seeing the help. The demographics of older adult women are the same but its decidedly inferior in nearly every shape possible.

Lion King should not be re-released in theaters in 3D. People should just get the DVD or Blu-ray and watch it at home. Seems like Disney wants to take money from some hapless saps.

Sep 15 - 06:18 PM

You wouldn't say Sherlock Holmes 2 and Mission Impoossible 4 are high profile movies?

Sep 15 - 06:29 PM

Lenny Monroe

Actually Mission Impossible 4, Sherlock Holmes 2, Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1, Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin are all high-profile movies set for release by the end of the year, and for better of worse, Roland Emmerich's Anonymous and Martin Scorsese's movie (cant remember the actual name) can be added to that list as well.

Sep 15 - 06:40 PM

Chris Skoufis

Hugo is Scorsese's movie. And they defiantly are high profile movies.

Sep 15 - 06:45 PM

Alica Leo

Irukandji, I wouldn't say they are defiantly big movies. In fact, I think they are happy to big movie.

Sep 15 - 07:05 PM

Lenny's got the right idea. Those are the high profile movies, and I want to say that Hugo would be but it doesn't seem like it very much.

Sep 15 - 07:54 PM

Lenny Monroe

Also, another movie I'd like to add to the list is David Fincher's vision of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. So yeah, those are pretty much all the high-profile movies we got left in 2011.

Sep 15 - 08:01 PM

That's a good add.

Sep 15 - 08:03 PM

Adam Jones

Forgot about Sherlock and Mission Impossible 4, but still Breaking Dawn Part 1 is of a much higher profile.

Sep 16 - 07:06 AM

King Crunk

Been waiting on Drive since the raves came out of Cannes, going to finally take the plunge this weekend. Might catch The Lion King in 2D simply because it is one of my favorite movies, and I never saw it on the big screen when I was a child.

Sep 15 - 06:43 PM

Flash T

Good call, my wee girls still too young for the cinema (only 8 months bless!) so we'll have to sit round the tele and await the bluray releases of the Lion king, Muppet movie and Brave! :( She'll be old enough in time Jedi 3d but fuck that, I'm not going to teach her in the ways of the dark side.

That said, I think Ryan Gosling is about the best young actor to come out of Hollywood for a long time so i'll be making plans to get a baby sitter so that myself and Mrs Flash can go to the cinema.

Sep 16 - 03:22 AM

Lenny Monroe

I been absent from the movie scene for the last few weeks since there hasn't been anything that interests me, but Drive has my attention. I never liked Ryan Gosling but with each movie he's in seems to get me more and more into finally seeing one of his movies so Drive is gonna do it for me.

Also, has anybody seen Contagion? I wanted to see it because I like the premise but somehow for me Steven Soderbergh is a director that makes a movie I really love one minute then follows up with a film I can't stand.

Sep 15 - 06:46 PM

Rachel Woloshin

DRIVEDRIVEDRIVEDRIVE! Can you tell I'm excited?

Sep 15 - 07:06 PM

Ryan Hoffman

Uhhh...Drive? :D

Sep 17 - 11:42 PM

Cool for Drive, but why the hell has The Lion King's T-meter rating gone down? Who gave it a rotten review? That's just wrong.

Sep 15 - 07:51 PM

Harrison Brenner

Well it looks like the critics who gave the movie a rotten blamed the 3D, which is kinda stupid.

Sep 15 - 07:57 PM

That is stupid, even though the 3D is really not necessary. In fact, 3D should never be used on a film that is already good. 3D is supposed to enhance the entertainment value of a film, but if a film is already really good and entertaining then it doesn't need 3D in the first place. Still, they should not rate it for the 3D they should rate it for the film.

Sep 15 - 08:07 PM

Harrison Brenner

But sometimes a good movie can be enhanced by 3D. I guess its mostly personal if you like 3D.

Sep 15 - 08:45 PM

Harrison Brenner

here's another thing to think about, should the 2D and 3D version of the lion king be considered two separate movies? I think it should because 3D can affect how good the movie is.

Sep 15 - 09:02 PM

I don't know about that. They aren't different films, there just different. I would hate to have to think of them as two separate films. :/

Sep 16 - 12:03 PM

King Simba

While the new negative reviews do spend most of the review talking about the quality of the 3-d, they do mention in the last couple paragraphs or so their opinion on the movie itself, which is kinda negative (both cases it's 2.5/4, so it barely misses the positive mark, but that's one of the flaws with rotten tomatoes rating system - a negative review is a negative review, whether it's 2.5/4 or 0/4)

Sep 16 - 12:55 AM

Alexander Sciury

Drive seems like a pretty good movie, glad it got a high score.
A little sad to see Straw Dogs get such a low rating, I really thought it looked good. I still want to see it though.

Sep 15 - 08:00 PM

Brad Hadfield

Save your money on "Straw Dogs" and rent the original if you haven't seen it. That version has a 93% score. Plus, Dustin Hoffman > James Marsden.

Sep 16 - 02:03 PM

This comment has been removed.

Corey Gallagher

How does The Lion King have an 89%...? RT allowing too many hack critics to contribute to their site, credibility being lost.

Sep 15 - 09:15 PM

Corey Gallagher

How does The Lion King have an 89%...? RT allowing too many hack critics to contribute to their site, credibility being lost.

Sep 15 - 09:15 PM

Corey Gallagher

How does The Lion King have an 89%...? RT allowing too many hack critics to contribute to their site, credibility being lost.

Sep 15 - 09:17 PM

George Clooney

I've been waiting for Drive literally for months and I was already excited for it before I saw any reviews so I'm even MORE psyched that it's getting so well reviewed (which I like to think I could have called). Super pissed they remade Straw Dogs, so completely unnecessary. OK, yes, if it was getting good reviews, I'd probably check it out, but the original is so close to perfect that it seems it never needed a remake. Never really liked The Lion King, even as a little kid it struck me as OK. I'm excited to see more reviews for some of the lesser-known movies coming out this week too, My Afternoons with Marguerite has enough reviews under its belt that I think we can safely assume it's a good movie, so I'd like to see that at some point. Most likely when it comes out on DVD, I doubt any theater around me will be showing it without me going out of my way. I gotta go see Drive ASAP!

Sep 15 - 11:12 PM

George Clooney

2 more comments I forgot to add:
1. Ryan Gosling is a fantastic actor (as is Bryan Cranston) so those are some of the other reasons I was always excited to see this film, along with Refn being the director
2. My predictions for scores (because it seems like RT is mentioning people who guess the scores correctly now):
Drive 95%
Straw Dogs 31%
I Don't Know How She Does It 17%
The Lion King 93% (critics will realize it's stupid to downgrade the movie just because of 3D)

Sep 15 - 11:27 PM

Matt Ritchey

LION KING is Hamlet with big cats. Don't get me wrong, it was good, but Disney's best it is not.

Sep 15 - 11:47 PM

Myron Kinsey

Actually it was a ripof-I mean "homage" of Kimba the White Lion

Sep 16 - 12:37 AM

Flash T

No, it was a rip off of Hamlet.

Sep 16 - 04:29 AM

jay groon

Lion King is modernized Hamlet for kids. I hardly call that "ripping off".

Sep 16 - 11:13 AM