Hotel Cloudylandia

Hotel Cloudylandia is an 2010 Russian Marcanese American computer animated fantasy comedy film directed by Gennedy Tartakovsky, produced by Todd Durham, and written by Tartakovsky and Michelle Murdocca; and features the voices of Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, James Woods, Nathan Lane, Kevin James, James Franco, Keegan-Michael Key, Bill Nighy, Richard Kind, Helen Mirren, David Spade, and Jean Reno. The film centers on spoiled teenager Denny (Andy Samberg), who gets taken captive to Cloudylandia, where he meets various fantastical creatures who help him on his journey. The film was theatrically released on October 1, 2010 and recieved mixed-to-positive reviews from critics & was a modest box office hit.

Why It's Great

 * 1) Fantastic surreal animation, especially for 2010 standards. Cloudylandia looks amazing in this film, as well as the Sky Castle and the Sea Of Clouds.
 * 2) The concept of fantastical creatures living in some hotel up in the clouds is very unique and interesting.
 * 3) Great humor
 * 4) The plot is decent and well-executed.
 * 5) Great voice acting, especially from James Woods (who gives a very solid performance as the Great Magician) and James Franco.
 * 6) The characters are fun and entertaining, especially the Great Magician, Matt the Mummy, Donna, Redhead, and Blob.
 * 7) The film cleverly captures the look of Tex Avery-style cartoons; the characters' movements are highly expressive as well.
 * 8) The Great Magician's backstory was emotionally sad. His motives are also understandable, since he doesn't want Denny to marry Ava because he wanted to make another family of his own.
 * 9) Really good and catchy soundtrack.
 * 10) Lots of hillarious quotes like "BAH!", "It's FINALLY alive! It's....dead.", "Why did you just put the garlic in the water?", and "Blob!"
 * 11) Lady Varnadelle (the film's main antagonist) is an very intimidating villain.
 * 12) Amazing climax with awesome sword-battling scenes included.
 * 13) Decent grasp on the source material, as it retains the same surreal and European feel of the book it's based on.
 * 14) The scenes with Krank and Dutch (a spoof of The Flying Dutchman from SpongeBob SquarePants) are really hillarious.
 * 15) The film has good life lessons for both kids and adults, among them never giving up, appreciating your parents (also, being good parents to their kids), and being happy.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Some toliet and fart humor, such as the "Big Fat Warlus" farting and Clam vomiting Denny out of his mouth.
 * 2) Some unlikable and annoying characters like Maxwell Bunny, Centurion, and Napoleon.
 * 3) The film relies too much on movie cliches.
 * 4) The subplot between Denny & Ava is a bit too cheesy.
 * 5) Denny is somewhat of a weak protagonist.
 * 6) A few product placements like IPhones and YouTube; and a few objects that feel out of place for a fantasy film such as UFOs and electronics, which damage the grasp of the source material just for sticking with the latest trends. Also, the film has some unnecessary pop culture references like Jumanji and Selena Gomez.
 * 7) The film can get quite dark & scary for younger viewers at times, especially the scenes with Lady Varnadelle.