FrankenScript :: Lee Gabel's Screenwriting Journal/Blog

This is such an uplifting film, in more ways than one. Inspired by true events, it tells the tale of a girl raising a flock of geese and helping them migrate south for the winter. Not only is the story touching, the photography is amazing, both in the air and on the ground. Jeff Daniels [...]

I had no idea what to expect when the Tivo recorded this as a kid’s film suggestion. However, I saw that it involved Chuck Jones and Mel Blanc, two of the mainstays of Looney Toons. It begins in live action. I watched the first few minutes and groaned, not impressed. I gave it a few [...]

The thing that my son loved about this film was that it was a big mystery getting solved piece by piece. The story draws you in, and you want to see it through to the end to see the mystery solved. We don’t really understand why this story begins, but that’s not really important, as [...]

This is a great film that will appeal to young and old alike. Tom Hanks captures how a kid acts and talks perfectly. It makes no judgements against kids or adults, and it confident in its ability to make the audience smile and laugh. There’s real stakes here, and that helps make the story even [...]

This beautifully animated film from Dreamworks was a refreshing change from the typical Disney fare. The most surprising and interesting difference: the only speaking in the film are by the humans, with one exception. We do hear the thoughts of Spirit. However, all non-human communication is done entirely by actions. This is the essence of [...]

This is a clever tale of moral dilemmas, consequences, and sticking to a code. The story is perfectly constructed, with not a single element out of place. The paths of characters lives, like strings, all come together and tie one impressively large knot. Everything is there for a reason and it all becomes clear during [...]