Category Archives: Animated Movies

Christmas Comes to Pac-Land Review

Posted on by
Reply


Pac-Man is one of the original video game heroes. He was the kind of character who would go up against crazy odds and would still come out on top. Now there is a character that you really can’t underestimate. In this special he ends up going up against a threat that even he can’t handle and so he will have to try a more diplomatic approach. It’s a pretty fun special all around.

The special starts with Santa crash landing into Pac-Land. A place where humans don’t exist and the only people there are round Pac type creatures. It’s all a little strange but fortunately a nice man named Pac-Man and his family show up. They vow to help him complete his trip around the world but to do this they will need to reclaim all the presents that have been scattered. The ghosts are running around as well and so Pac-Man will have to be careful not to get chomped.

What will probably surprise folks with this one is how powerful the ghosts are. Usually you’re probably expecting them to be on the run from Pac-Man the whole time right? Well, that’s not the case in this one as they actually defeat Pac-Man. He takes them out in the first run after a long fight but then they dominate him afterwards. You even feel bad for the guy since he is thoroughly chomped and barely makes it back home. It was almost like he got mugged.

Then at the end they’re all taunting him and laughing it up as they have the edge. Pac basically has to beg in order to not get chomped again and they let him off easy. It really showed what a dangerous world this is. There are emergency pac pellet phone lines all around but the problem is that they are unlocked so the ghosts can grab them as well. The town has a police officer but it’s unknown just how powerful he is.

So basically living in Pac Land is incredibly dangerous. I assume the ghosts have an honor code so they wouldn’t go after the Pac Kid but the rest of the family would be in danger. They can even attack the place where Pac lives. This is low key one of the scarier places to be since the villains have so much power. I give Pac-Man a lot of credit for remaining really strong and courageous in spite of those odds. A lot of other characters would have faltered well before that. This is a man who doesn’t break easily.

Then we have the animation which is pretty strong. It’s got a solid traditional style here where you can really feel the passion behind the characters. I like how the character designs came out and it’s all very smooth. The soundtrack is more on the forgettable side though. There aren’t any tunes that are really going to stand out to you. In general this is the kind of special that feels like just another episode so I wouldn’t expect anything really fancy out of this one.

In a way that is what helps the special be so good though. Everything is treated as just being standard fare. This special isn’t concerned with breaking down the concepts to you or anything like that. No, instead it is just jumping to the story. If you have not seen the cartoon before then you might have some questions about how the world works but you can figure those out in your own time. The adventure will go on with or without you.

I wish we could get a Pac-Man game set within this continuity at some point. It’s basically like the World games setting so I would accept a new game in that series as well. The most important thing is to get a story based game with Pac-Man involved and just have a fun story there. There are so many things you can do with the series and yet it has remained dormant for a while.

That said, while it is funny to see Pac-Man being crushed by the ghosts, I do think he should generally look stronger. He’s a pretty experienced fighter by this point so he should be more than a match for the ghosts. We can assume in this world that they have a bit of a rival type relationship though as death isn’t permanent for the ghosts and they don’t murder the Pacs even when they could. If you look at it through that lens, then this isn’t quite as scary as it would have initially appeared. Maybe the world is actually a whole lot more wholesome than anyone could have initially guessed.

Overall, This is a pretty fun special. Ultimately it’s not like there is a whole lot to it though. It’s just about 30 minutes of fun as you watch Pac-Man try to save Christmas. It succeeds on the most critical aspect of a special like this, which is that it’s a lot of fun. You’ll have a blast rooting for Pac-Man to win the day. The writing is on point and the pacing is pretty good too. So while it may not have gotten an extended budget or anything like that, it definitely gets the job done here. I would recommend checking this one out whenever you can.

Overall 7/10

The Little Troll Prince Review

Posted on by
Reply


Now this is a special that I haven’t seen in a very long time. The Little Troll Prince is one of those wholesome stories that is fairly quick but covers a lot of ground. Bu may not be the most intense main character out there but he does serve his role well in learning about the true meaning of Christmas. This is a special I could really recommend to anybody.

The story starts by spoiling the ending though as we see how Bu is living a happy life. He lets the audience know that he used to be sad though as he grew up as a troll. The rest of the special is a flashback as we go back to the troll world and learn that they are taught from early on to be as mean as possible. The Trolls are a very cruel people and Prince Bu is the only one who wants to be nice. The school is desperate to knock that out of him though and Bu’s father is certainly upset about this. The other trolls decide to take Bu out of the picture permanently by sending him off to be eaten by the humans.

Fortunately for Bu the humans aren’t so bad. Otherwise he was completely tricked and dominated in this encounter though. Unfortunately while being nice is a good trait, Bu also ended up being naïve which did make it easy to put him in a bad position here. In a way I was surprised that the film didn’t end with him going back to the troll world in order to rehabilitate them. Instead he sort of rolls with the idea that goodness turned him into a Gnome and he’s just happy that it all worked out.

I would say the side characters end up standing out a little more than Bu here. Bu has a good singing voice here and he does his best to be a good prince while not succumbing to the way of the trolls. At the same time, he’s a bit too timid and there isn’t a whole lot to him. I enjoyed the King because he was actually concerned for his son but was stuck within the negative trolls framework.

So his only idea for helping Bu out was to be mean because that’s the only way that he knew. The King even went to the school personally to try and figure out what was going wrong. He was in Bu’s corner the whole time so I appreciate that. The Queen was a whole lot less sympathetic as she just considered Bu to be a failure and wasn’t going to defend him at all. It shows the completely different approaches that both of them had to this situation.

Then you have the two kids in the human world who got to explain things to Bu. They did a good job of rejecting all his arguments about how the trolls were beyond saving. They basically told him to stop being silly and listen to their points. They also explained the true meaning of Christmas being about the birth of Jesus Christ and instilled within Bu some true life lessons. Without them, Bu would still have been in a rather rough place.

The special does a good job of balancing the adventure with also being a more educational special where it talks quite a bit about the Bible and Jesus. It’s the kind of thing you don’t see a whole lot of nowadays so that was a really nice touch. It’s the small things like this which help to take the special to the next level. Surprisingly we don’t have a huge bombastic climax but I guess this special didn’t really need that. No need to promote violence here when the whole point is about Bu finally learning a better way.

The animation is pretty solid. It has a very traditional style that works well and reminds you how good the hand crafted style is. It holds up better than some modern titles which is absolutely a huge inditement on them. This style isn’t going for anything fancy but has strong fundamentals across the board.

As for the soundtrack, the songs could be a bit catchy at times. I actually liked the song Bu had about how cruel the trolls were. He sings it really fast to the point where it is almost hard to keep up but I liked the lyrics and he showed just why trolls could not be underestimated. It was all handled rather impressively if you ask me since I don’t always enjoy these old songs.

Overall, This is a pretty good special. It may be under an hour but they still cram in quite a few characters and the world building is solid. The special doesn’t try to show how the trolls are just misunderstood, but instead their society is just built completely different than the humans. It’s really interesting and also when you consider how close it is to the humans base. Perhaps one day the two sides will meet and things will get really intense but if not, you still have the lore here and can imagine how it all plays out. If you haven’t seen the special before, I would definitely recommend checking it out. I think you’ll be surprised at how fun it can be.

Overall 7/10

Street Fighter Alpha: The Animation Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s been a while since I’ve seen an animation downgrade as drastic as the one that occurred between the Street Fighter II movie and this one. It’s like the series lost all of its aura. This film is worse by every metric across the board. It’s not a bad movie but it almost felt like the movie was actively trying to mess up as the fights keep getting interrupted or being extra short. Ryu’s character arc quickly gets repetitive which is impressive considering this is a single movie.

Ryu has continued to train hard in the ways of Street Fighting when a kid named Shun appears and claims to be Ryu’s brother. This is lightly possible as Ryu didn’t get a chance to really know his family but either way it doesn’t atter much to Ryu. He will get long with the kid and doesn’t mind being called brother. Unfortunately Shun appears to have similar issues mastering the Dark Hadou and is then kidnapped by a group of fighters working for the evil Shadaloo organization. Ryu will have to save him but can he do this while also fighting off his own dark impulses?

A hero fighting against his dark powers is certainly nothing new but this is one of the most annoying ways to handle the trope. Ryu falls to his knees yelling about the powers of darkness at least 5 times. He can never seem to control it for long and it is easy for the villains to bait him into using it. I’m not saying that he should have mastered it immediately but I would have liked to have seen some progress. Instead it feels like he just walks back and forth with it throughout the movie and never gets better. Only at the very end of the film does it feel like he made true progress.

It just took too long and he spends a lot of the film getting wrecked. At least he is allowed to get some wins though. If you’re a side character then prepare to get majorly disrespected. Ken looks really bad in this one and just racks up nonstop losses. He should at least be close to Ryu in skill but it sure doesn’t feel like that when he loses over and over again. Then you have Chun Li who also loses really badly in her fights. The film seems to just be using her as occasional fanservice here rather than as a serious fighter which is unfortunate.

It is partially in how they write the big villains though. The main villain is so overpowered that the other characters just don’t stand a chance. They are absolutely thrown around by Rosanov who may be strong but makes for a bit of a boring villain. Still, I like having a strong villain so this ends up more or less evening out. I think the biggest problem here is still the fact that the power discrepancy is so drastic.

It’s not even a fun fight because it’s just the villain basically tormenting everyone. Then Ryu comes in with his super blast. When you watch a film like Street Fighter you are hoping for a bunch of fast paced hand to hand fights. Not a quick beam blast after some hand to hand. In a way the Zangief fight is the closest thing to an old school battle and even then they had to make his opponent Shun so it’s not like this felt like a very serious battle.

As for the animation, part of the problem is a lack of big fight scenes. So perhaps it would have looked better if there was more action. The character designs are a big step down either way though and the colors are a lot more faded. Again, it’s not what you would have expected from a more modern adventure like this. Definitely not for one of the biggest fighting game series of all time. The soundtrack is also not particularly solid.

Okay so that’s a lot of negatives, what about the positives? Well, I do still like the Street Fighter brand so there is a certain amount of satisfaction in just seeing Ryu and the others mixing it up. The fights while short, are still around so I get my share of action as well. The film avoids making any big mistakes as well so this is more a case of missed opportunities than actually being a disaster.

They probably could have toned down the beatings a little bit and instead added more of a back and forth to the fights. Some characters like the fortune teller Rose should have had a bigger role rather than just showing up with veiled prophecies. Give the film more of a direct story as well with the tournament being on screen. Too much time is spent on Shun and the mystery of his origin.

For a film like this, you don’t really care about the OC character. You want to see the characters you grew up with, that’s always going to be far more entertaining. So cutting him out would be a good idea. Finally, you should also speed up the pacing because this one was absolutely glacial. It felt like nothing was happening for a good chunk of the film. Speeding that up would have had a positive effect across the board.

Overall, Street Fighter Alpha really did not make the most out of its opportunities. This should have been a really fun film but instead it doesn’t embrace the kind of fast paced energy we saw in Street Fighter II. It doesn’t have a ton of replay value but if you’re looking for an action film, I could still recommend it. For all its faults, I still did have a good time over here. You just have to keep in mind that it is nowhere near as intense as the Street Fighter II film. Ideally you should watch this one first so then you can end with the hype of the original.

Overall 6/10

The Berenstain Bears Meet Bigpaw Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s time for the next Berenstain Bears adventure. This time the gang is going up against a very powerful threat but violence may not be the answer. The family will have to reflect on what it means to be a family before the town makes a decisive move. It’s a fun enough special that goes by quickly. Bigpaw also ends up being a solid new character.

The special starts with Papa Bear taking the kids to go get supplies for the Thanksgiving feast. Mama Bear gives him some warnings about how Bigpaw will be showing up thanks to a fortune that she did with some honey. Papa reminds Mama that it’s all a bunch of hogwash and he is proudly determined to prove this. He continues to plunge forward but when Bigpaw shows up, Papa figures he has to lead the charge against him.

I’ll give the town credit here for banding everyone together to take him down. I figured they would be too scared to do anything but when the chips were down, they were prepared. Naturally this is not that kind of special so we don’t get to the fight but it did help Papa’s rep as well since he was leading the charge. He was going to do what was necessary to protect his family.

Papa is always portrayed as having minimal intelligence and not being the kind of guy who thinks before he acts. That always puts him in really tough situations but at least he doesn’t give up which is the important thing. The kids also do their best and help to keep everyone from fighting but they got really lucky here. They definitely did not have their guard up at all.

As for Bigpaw, I liked his overall confidence. It’s clear that nobody was going to be taking him down easily. He may not have been totally looking for a fight this time but based on the fact that there are whole legends about him, I’m guessing that he has been in his share of battles. So everyone being afraid of him does make a lot of sense.

Mama Bear ends up being correct in hindsight but I do think that she didn’t really take the threat seriously enough here. If Bigpaw had turned out to be a bad apple, she would not have been prepared to stop him. She certainly hadn’t trained for this moment and that’s a big problem. There is a fine line between avoiding conflict and being a total pacifist. You want to be careful not to cross that line or you end up creating a bunch of trouble for everyone.

I like how the characters continue to talk in rhymes. That has been a fun dynamic to the series. The songs could use a lot of work though. As a whole the writing is good and this is something you could easily let your kids watch without any real doubts. Then you have the animation which has aged rather well. I like this traditional style which isn’t going for anything fancy but does end up looking real smooth.

The special is fairly short so it will be over before you know it. As a result there isn’t a whole lot that can happen but I’d still say it’s worth the watch. As long as you enjoy the bears and their adventures then this will be another fun one to add to the pile. There also aren’t a ton of Thanksgiving titles out there so you want to savor the ones that you do get. It’s a shame that they don’t make too many Berenstain products in the present at this point. It really could have been an Arthur level hit if they really tried.

Overall, This was a fun special. I wouldn’t say it super stands out or anything like that but it is a wholesome story with a good moral at the end. Don’t judge on appearances and always be ready with a peaceful alternative. So you can’t really go wrong with that but I admit that an action packed climax would still have been a lot of fun. I don’t think the bears would have beaten Bigpaw even with their numbers though. Not when he had the high ground and everything. His opening attack looked like it would have wiped out around half of their army at once.

Overall 6/10

Alice in Wonderland Review

Posted on by
Reply


Alice in Wonderland is a film that I know very well and yet I can’t say that I remembered about half of it. When I think of this story, I remember the Cheshire Cat and the Queen of Hearts. Otherwise most of the in between was foreign to me. So it was nice to see the whole adventure and I can definitely say that it has aged well. It’s a fun story and Alice works well as the main character who has to deal with all of the craziness.

The story starts with Alice being really bored. Her sister is trying to teach her something but Alice has no time for that. She sees a curious rabbit running somewhere and gives chase. This causes her to fall into a whole new world where the normal theories of physics need not apply. The world is dangerous and has a whole lot going on within it. Alice will have to keep her guard up at all times in order to survive. The toughest part will be keeping her sanity though.

Now in a modern remake of this I would expect a lot of sarcastic banter and a lead who would really fight back. In this classic version, Alice does her best to be polite at all times even when the characters are not being the most pleasant towards her. The whole tea party scene is a good example of this as they keep on taking her tea away before she can drink it. The conversations start spiraling early on and it’s clear that they are all insane.

Alice doesn’t really let it get to her although she was ready to leave in several instances. The whole scene is just really bonkers with how nonsensical everyone is acting and that is part of the charm. The whole film has a bit of a weird vibe to it and I would say that is what ultimately got it to be so well known and popular. You won’t forget any of these characters and it is fun enough where people even tend to ignore the ending. You will have been sucked into the adventure.

It’s also worth noting that the film is quite short as it is barely over an hour. As a result the pacing is really good and the film certainly never drags on. The animation is also really incredible considering how old it is. It’s insane to me that a film from the 50s can look better than some animation in the 2020s. That’s the gem of hand drawn animation though. It ages incredibly well and always tends to beat its competitors in the long run.

The music isn’t some of Disney’s strongest though. I don’t think any of the songs here would hit the big time for me. They’re okay I suppose. I wouldn’t call them bad but at the same time I don’t see myself looking any of them up anytime soon. They’re just not going to be quite at that level.

While the tea party is definitely my favorite sequence, the Queen of Hearts part is certainly a classic. How do you defeat someone when they can legally murder you at any point? It adds a lot of stress to Alice’s game when going head to head in croquet here. The Queen may not be the most reasonable character but she works well as a villain. She is always in control and it’s actually okay for her to panic since she is royalty and can do whatever she wants. It’s not like she will ever be on the back foot as a result.

The Cheshire Cat ended up being one of the most remembered characters from the movie. Despite that I wouldn’t say that he has a whole lot of scenes to himself. Still, when the film is this short I suppose that is enough. He is a fun character as well since his near invincibility means that he really has nothing to fear from anybody. He does whatever he wants whenever he wants and that’s just the way that he rolls.

The Rabbit is probably the weakest character in the end. After all he spends almost all of his screentime running and being all scared. He has good reason for this of course but at the same time it doesn’t make him the most compelling character. While a lot of the other characters had less sanity than the rabbit, they also seemed to have a lot of confidence in their own way. It’s not like they were all spending their lives in fear of the Queen.

Alice in Wonderland is a good template of how to have some good world building with minimal time. It doesn’t take long for all of this to be set up. A good fantasy world doesn’t really need a lot of rules and baggage to appear right away. Instead it should be able to do anything and I’d say the film lies up to that. Things don’t make sense to Alice and the viewer but to the characters it clearly does. It’s just a whole other system of logic and that’s all you really need to know.

Overall, Alice in Wonderland is a pretty fun film. I had a good time with it and at the end of the day it is basically simple fun. All of the obstacles she runs into are thought out pretty well. Alice herself could be a little slow on the uptake as she has a very hard time keeping up with all of the craziness that is happening. I would have thought by the halfway point she would already know that she has to assume everyone is crazy. Ah well she’ll get them next time and maybe her sister can join in on the adventure this time. Either way I definitely recommend checking this movie out and seeing for yourself just how advanced the animation was back in the 1950s!

Overall 7/10

Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie Review

Posted on by
Reply


This movie is really chaotic and I mean that in all the best ways possible. Something is always going on here as the cast is quite large and the film does its best to squeeze everyone in. Meanwhile you’ve got a really excellent soundtrack and lots of great fights. All in all you couldn’t ask for much more than this. It will easily go down as the definitive Street Fighter flick, I have massive doubts that any title will ever surpass this one.

The film starts with Ryu taking down Sagat which causes everyone around the world to take notice. Sagat was a top fighter after all and lost to someone who is effectively unknown. The powerful Bison recruits Sagat to his terrorist army and is now on the search for Ryu. Bison intends to force Ryu’s participation in his army and will stop at nothing to pull this off. Guile and Chun-Li are agents who realize this as well and must make contact with Ryu first. Will they be able to find him? Ryu is the ultimate wild card.

This film does a good job of not holding back on account of the general audience. Instead it just plunges ahead and counts on you as the viewer to be able to keep up. I would definitely say that is the right way to approach things because then you can use the advantage of being an established franchise which is to have all of the characters interacting and mixing it up with each other.

Ryu’s presence is felt throughout the film even if he could go for long portions of time without appearing. Everyone is after him of course and the guy is just enjoying himself as he travels across the world. It takes Bison literally showing up in front of him to get the guy to act. Ryu could stand to be a little more aggressive in stopping the forces of evil but the film makes clear that he doesn’t have any real interest in heroics. No, he’s focused on training and getting stronger.

Ultimately it has worked to the extent that he is one of the strongest Street Fighters in the world. On the other hand, he still isn’t a match for someone like Bison who uses psychic powers. Bison absolutely shreds everyone in this film and even by the end the heroes only stand a chance because he decides to turn off his powers and fight them hand to hand. Some nice chivalry by the villain there even if he was really doing it just as a result of his overconfidence. That’s just the way that Bison operates.

Each side character gets a solid moment in the spotlight as well. Chun Li for example gets the highlight fight of the movie against Vega. The film really went intense on this one. It’s not only the most violent fight but also the longest one on one without any interruptions. She definitely proved herself as being more than capable on this mission since most of the other characters in the film would have lost this fight.

I’d say the only exception is Guile who really doesn’t get any pivotal moments here. The film pits him against Bison briefly but he is taken out almost immediately and so he got robbed of the chance to have a proper fight. I would have put him up against Balrog to have given him something to do earlier. At the end of the day even this film was subject to some runtime limitations though so that’s fair. I would say it did more with the runtime than I would have otherwise expected.

The soundtrack is absolutely incredible. There are a ton of great rock songs here and I’ll definitely be looking them u online at some point. I saw the English version and they absolutely nailed it here. Then you’ve got the animation which is also excellent. The characters look like they were pulled straight out of the games and the fight scenes are quick and animated very well. The technical elements definitely do not have any real weaknesses here.

Street Fighter also just has a really fun aesthetic that you don’t see as much anymore. The scanners that show you the fighters’ stats are really cool and likewise as the film jumps around the world, all of the characters are ready for action. There aren’t long downtime moments for drama or characters wondering what to do. When you’re watching the movie, you know that something big is about to go down and I’m all here for it.

The film surprisingly ends with some things still about to happen like Sagat heading out to finish Cammy. I assume maybe that’s meant for a potential sequel or there was going to be a scene and it got cut out. I would have liked to have seen those extra fights but you still get left on a hype note. I should note that I saw the TV version of this film. You’ll want to watch out as otherwise there is a long fanservice scene that gets surprisingly explicit. It’s the one hiccup that the film made on its journey and it was quite the bizarre one since it comes out of nowhere. The film was otherwise completely focused on quality action scenes.

Ultimately Ken lives up to his reputation and overshadows Ryu in this film. I would say it’s clear that Ryu is a little more skilled than Ken and is always treated as such but they are basically neck and neck in that area. At the same time, Ken has a full life here as he is the martial arts world champion and is getting close to marriage. He has managed to achieve his dreams without wandering the world in search of true fights. Ken just ends up being more relatable this way. He also takes quite the beating on several occasions but always gets up to keep on fighting.

Overall, Street Fighter II is a film that I would definitely recommend. It was a really fun journey and even if you aren’t familiar with the series, you’ll be able to enjoy the vibe and the action. It’s the kind of film that has a ton of replay value and I would have a good time even rewatching it right now. Maybe one day we’ll get a Street Fighter III movie that works as a nostalgia sequel to this one. I’d say it would be a good idea and would do great in sales.

Overall 8/10

Hellboy: Blood and Iron Review

Posted on by
Reply


Time for another Hellboy adventure. This time we’re throwing in vampires so Hellboy will have to be careful on this one. It’s definitely more intense than the last film but still has a fun charm to it. It does double down a bit with the flashbacks though and the film spends way too much time going backwards there. I think they should have done it all at the start, maybe cut a scene or two in order to keep the viewers in the dark and that would have definitely helped the pacing right from the start.

The film starts off with Trevor, a priest, and a group of soldiers heading into the deep reaches of the forest to destroy the vampire Erzsebet who has been kidnapping and murdering many people in order to stay young and beautiful. Nearly the whole squad is murdered but they successfully defeat her. Unfortunately in the present, Trevor can feel that she has returned. When a guy named Oliver asks Hellboy’s group to see if his mansion is haunted, Trevor quickly says that he will bring the whole A team. This is a little concerning to the rest of the group as Trevor hasn’t been onto the field in years but he refuses to give them any details. So now they will have to figure out what is going on by themselves. Will this really work out?

First off I do have to blame Trevor for a lot of this. He really had no reason to be keeping secrets from Hellboy. He should have told him everything right from the start. Hellboy can take care of himself, but that’s not really the point. As a field leader you need to be putting your guys in the best possible position to be safe and accounted for. Keeping valuable info away is not doing that. Trevor seems to think he can hold his own here with the holy water that he has but the guy ultimately has to hope that he is really lucky.

He is still doing better than the priest though. Lupescu looks terrible in this film as he cracked before the fights had even begun. I don’t get why he was so nervous, it’s like his faith was paper thin without even being tested. I suppose that was the point but it certainly came at his expense. Even by the end I never got around to liking him. As far as I’m concerned, he really got himself into all of these messes and could have saved a lot of lives if he had just manned up when it counted.

Hellboy looks good as always though. Even when he finds out that Trevor is keeping secrets from him, Hellboy doesn’t take it super personally or start panicking. No, he just keeps going about his business and doing his part to help out. That’s why he is a real hero. This time he is in for a fairly painful adventure as well since he is stabbed on multiple occasions and is basically used as a punching bag the whole time. He is almost never in the lead during this film.

That doesn’t stop him from still having a lot of confidence and getting in good burns though. That’s exactly the way that he rolls. Liz gets a lot more to do here than last time as she takes down a group of enemies with her flame abilities. Honestly she probably should have helped more in the climax. At one point she uses her fire and the villain uses it to start burning the others but then they should just get out of the way.

It’s possible that her powers would have had no effect but I would have liked to have seen her using them in action for a longer period of time to really prove that. As for Abe, the poor guy mostly just gets beaten up the whole time. He even gets kidnapped by a pair of old witches so he had a really bad time here. At this point I wonder if perhaps he just shouldn’t be out in the field with the others. Staying at home providing tactical support would probably be best.

As for the villains, Erzsebet gets most of the screentime here. She is fairly powerful and only tends to lose because of her incredible overconfidence. Tackling someone out the window when you’re allergic to sunlight is always going to backfire. She also falls for the holy water trick more than once. A decent villain all things considered but yeah if she was even decently smart then the heroes would have probably been taken down.

The final boss Hecate is a bit more impressive. She doesn’t get to have as much screentime but is quite powerful and gives Hellboy a tough time. Hecate was mentioned since near the beginning but otherwise would almost feel out of nowhere with how she shows up in her true form for a fight. I always like ending a film with a big battle though so that worked for me. I don’t see her ending up as one of the more memorable characters but she handled her role well enough.

The film does have the usual vampire blood drinking but at least not a ton of it. The film is noticeably more violent than the other Hellboy titles but I wouldn’t say it is to a crazy degree. The biggest negative here is still how much you won’t care about what was going on with the soldiers and the vampires in the flashback scenes. Instead of drip feeding this and playing the scenes backwards, they should have gotten it all over with right away. If you ask me, that would have been a much better way to go. Otherwise you need a crazy payoff to explain why the flashbacks had to be spread out like this and I wouldn’t say there is any twist on such a massive level.

The movie is at its best when the characters are all having a good time and messing with each other. All of them were super skeptical about the haunted house which made for good dialogue around the board. At the same time they were professional enough to bring in the equipment and actually check so that was good. The group really needs one more power hitter to fight alongside Hellboy though. Liz has the power but she’s a long range type. We need a brawler who can fight. Otherwise Hellboy is basically by himself like when Abe got shoved aside with ease against one of the minions during the hallway battle. It’s probably hard for the lead to concentrate when he constantly has to save everybody else.

Overall, Hellboy delivers with another good adventure here. It does feel like a bit of a step down from the first two but not by too much. We still got a lot of action and the villains weren’t bad. The pacing gets hurt at times though and it’s not quite as crazy as the first two. That’s another byproduct of the lore part with the vampires. Just let us get right ahead to the story already! That would have definitely pushed the title to the next level. Still, I would have been hyped for more of these adventures to be animated. Maybe at some point they would fight a villain group that mirrors Hellboy’s team. If you’ve seen the first two films then you should check this one out as well.

Overall 6/10

Hellboy: Sword of Storms Review

Posted on by
Reply


Hellboy is back with an animated adventure! Now this is a film that I had not seen before so that made it extra fresh. The movie is not particularly long so everything has to happen at double speed here. I liked the really frantic pacing and there was a lot of action to be had. If you’re a big fan of the supporting cast then this may not rank quite as highly for you though as it is very much a Hellboy only adventure. The other characters just don’t get to do nearly as much.

The film starts off with a pretty fun action scene as Hellboy gets to be thrown around for a while before launching his comeback. Liz and Abe also run in to help a bit but I hope you enjoyed their scene a lot because after this they are thrown into a meaningless subplot never to do much more from there. It’s too bad because in this version Liz seems to be a lot more fun than in the main film. She is very sarcastic and more confident in herself. Her flame abilities may not be 100% mastered but she has pretty decent control over them. Also they seem stronger, or maybe Hellboy’s just a bit weaker since he doesn’t seem to have complete immunity against the flames anymore.

The real plot starts here though. Sakai sloppily allows himself to be controlled by an ancient spirit so Hellboy and the gang are called in. He is assisted by Kate and Russell on this one but Hellboy is quickly taken into another dimension thanks to he mythical sword. He has to find a way out and these spirits sure like talking. Hellboy will have to get past all of them but can he pull this off?

One thing you will notice right away is how done with the whole situation Hellboy is. He’s quite sarcastic and has a fun sense of humor with how jaded he is. That’s the biggest strength of the film in general. The characters all have a lot of great lines and the banter is particularly fun here. Hellboy’s incredibly deadpan and why not right? He’s been around for a very long time and so nothing particularly surprises him anymore. Spirits of lightning and thunder? Ghost possessions? Giant monsters? Yeah he’s seen all of that before so that is why he is able to stay extremely calm the whole time. I can respect that.

The first thing I do have to admit is that I didn’t really care about the ghost substory here. yeah it was all tragic and everything but (and this is an issue the sequel has as well) I just want to stick to the present here. Anytime we have to learn more about what happened with the sword, it’s just a bit dull. Not super dull since like I mentioned the pacing is pretty fast, but it’s still not as good as the present. I want to see Hellboy and the others running around. Maybe use the extra time to extend the fight Liz and Abe had with the water creature and actually give us a decisive victory. It did make for a fun gag near the end of the film but they could have probably deserved a bit more here.

The fight scenes were pretty good all around. The animation was very colorful and bright although I thought it was a bit rough at times. I was really surprised to learn that it was an actual anime company behind this. Maybe they were told to rough up the edges a bit to look more like an American production That sounds a little crazy but hey you never know right? It was still good on the whole though and in animation you can have a little more fun with the fights than in live action. It’s why everyone looks stronger here.

Yes, technically Hellboy spends more time being thrown around in this version but he does get up after every hit so you have to give him that one. While Kate and Russell never end up being the most interesting characters, I do appreciate the fil trying to give the organization more to do. After all this is apparently an organization with a lot of members who have connections across the planet. It would make sense that Hellboy would be paired up with different members from time to time as opposed to the same 3 in every adventure.

So my only complaint would be to make the lore a bit more interesting. Specifically I’m talking about the flashback that sets up the ghost with unfinished business since I really enjoy the modern day lore. Maybe just use a different setting? The feudal times are almost always going to be inherently less interesting than the present. Maybe have the villains come from the underworld or something. That would catch your attention right away. Or you could just hint at some kind of past and be as dismissive about it as Hellboy is dismissive of the characters. Could be a good parallel but ultimately it’s not like there is much concrete advice to give here. Either a backstory will be interesting or it won’t be. Since this film succeeded and was a lot of fun anyway, perhaps it wasn’t too much of a big deal.

Overall, This was a pretty fun film. I would have liked it to have been a bit longer since it could have given us more fight scenes and such but it still accomplishes all of the main goals. It works perfectly well as a stand alone adventure and honestly as a kid I could totally picture it being a sequel to the live action film. There are some obvious continuity issues but as a kid I would probably overlook them while enjoying the adventure. It does serve as further evidence that the Hellboy verse is one that can absolutely fit a lot of stories into it. You could do so many adventures of Hellboy fighting different supernatural threats. So far none of the reboots seem to work but hopefully one day it becomes a big hit.

Overall 7/10

Bunnicula: The Vampire Rabbit Review

Posted on by
Reply


I was never really familiar with Bunnicula up til now. I know all about Dracula but since when wee bunnies also vampires? It was news to me but hey I was still eager to see what was going to happen here. It’s a pretty fun intro film and definitely sets the stage for what this part of the franchise would be like. The mini film is pretty fun and so I could see myself enjoying the whole show.

The film starts off with the nearby plant having a lot of strange issues recently. The latest one nearly murdered two employees so they shut it down. Two kids find a mysterious bunny nearby and so they bring it home. Chester the cat believes that the bunny is the cause of all the danger. That he’s some kind of vampire draining the life out of everything. It would explain why lately there are various fruits that have been losing their color. Almost like something is draining the juice from them. Harold is not so convinced and thinks that Chester is stretching things a bit too far.

Of course the evidence becomes hard to dispute later on as Bunnicula gets tougher and tougher. He is even able to use his supernatural abilities to take on several wolves. This bunny knows how to fight well but the powers take a lot out of him so he naps a lot. I was still glad to get a good action scene in here though. That was definitely a lot of fun and is a preview of how the shenanigans would go in an ongoing show.

The animation was also pretty good. It’s a really retro style that feels super authentic. The characters are always panicking and at the same time the voice acting helps to complement that as well. It’s a really upbeat kind of film and while it is aimed at younger viewers, the writing is solid so it works for anyone. It’s exactly the kind of fun animated film you like to see. The pacing is good as well with how short it is.

Harold is definitely my favorite character here. I always tend to have a soft spot for the skeptical characters. Why should he believe that there is something supernatural going on here right? It just doesn’t track for him and it takes a long time to change that. What I also appreciate is just how confident he is about this. There is no doubt in his mind that he is correct and that’s how a good character ought to be.

Meanwhile Chester is fun as well. The cat does his best to point out what is really going on here, no matter how insistent Harold is. That makes for a good contrast/foil between the two characters. Bunnicula in comparison doesn’t really have any character. That’s what you get when you’re sleeping for so long I suppose. That would probably be the one thing that could hold the series back. The titular character being the least interesting one is a little tricky.

The owner of the animals was surprisingly fun. When the town mob came over demanding that he hand over Bunnicula, he just called them out for being crazy. He was clearly done with the whole situation before it even happened and it makes sense since he lost his job recently thanks to the plant issues. He’s not exactly in a jolly mood and I don’t think anybody else would be either. The mob completely underestimated this guy and only got close because Harold and Chester took that time to run off with Bunnicula right in front of them.

If anything, what this film probably needed was either an antagonist or some really over eager animal catcher. It would help sell the long term appeal of the series as there would now be an obstacle that Bunnicula has to try and get around. Without that, the film will end up feeling too stand alone. It’s a bit hard to picture exactly how the show would play out here other than to have Bunnicula doing dracula type stuff the whole time.

Maybe the banter between Harold and Chester would be enough to see the adventure through. Perhaps Bunnicula continually frames them for random mischievous stuff around the house and then they have to solve it before anyone else finds out. The owner is definitely someone who is rather sharp so I could see him being tough to overcome. One wrong move and he will be right on top of them.

Overall, This was a fun special. It goes pretty fast with the solid writing and pacing. I liked the characters well enough and the only thing it seems to be missing is a long term hook. That’s ultimately not the film’s concern though. I can recommend this to anyone looking for a good time. The plot is easily accessible to anyone and has a fairly light tone throughout. Next time you see a vegetable losing its color, you’ll know what has been going on.

Overall 7/10

Slam Dunk: The Movie Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s time to look at the original Slam Dunk movie. Right away you may have been thinking about the recent one that came out but we’re going all the way to the 90s with this one. It’s a very short film as was the case for most movies that had an ongoing show at the time. It’s basically the length of an episode but that means things can go pretty quickly. Can Sakuragi defeat Oda and his team of powerful fighters?

The film starts off by explaining that the next team Sakuragi will be playing is led by Oda, the guy who is dating the girl that Sakuragi once liked. So that makes this an extra personal battle, particularly since Oda knows Sakuragi’s past as a delinquent and does not respect him on the court. Sakuragi will show that he has changed a lot since then and has no intentions of being defeated here. He will win and then go onto Nationals!

Right away what I liked here is that Sakuragi wasn’t petty or jealous. He was actually happy for the girl who got with Oda and it’s not like he had a crisis of who he is actually in love with now. He left the past in the past and that is absolutely the right way to go. I was definitely proud of him there. Oda was really the one instigating a whole lot and trying to pick a fight but Sakuragi would always control himself when it counted.

The movie shows us a lot of parallels between the two as Sakuragi is serious about Basketball and does what he needs to in order to improve. Meanwhile Oda is someone who gets rattled a lot easier and is not in control of his emotions. At one point he even hits his girlfriend and it’s meant to show how he’s just really stressed but it was a step too far. The relationship remains intact after that and she forgives him pretty quickly but it was definitely too late for me to like Oda as a character. You just can’t act like that and expect me to stay on your side at all.

He’s a decently good player but it’s also not like he is an all star or anything. Gori and Rukawa are definitely already better at this point in time. It’s why Shohoku didn’t have much of a problem taking them out. The game wasn’t as close as the scoreboard made it look if you ask me. I would have liked to have seen more of the game but I suspect it would have been difficult to actually show the game being this close without heavily nerfing the other characters.

Keep in mind that at this point in time it’s not as if Sakuragi is some kind of a super player. He’s still a newbie learning the ropes and yet he is still holding his own with Oda for a bit. The actual parts of the game we do see are definitely a lot of fun as always. Slam Dunk has an incredible ost and it’s a shame that it is so hard to find the tracks online. The ones that you do find tend to have a whole lot of sound effects layered within the video so it isn’t the smoothest watch either. I’ll take what I can get though.

The animation looks pretty solid. It’s not really a step up from the show but if you like the main episodes then you will like this one as well. It’s very smooth and they do a good job of keeping the action very high paced at all times. You can feel the tension as the game continues to go underway and they keep it up for the full episode length.

Due to the short length, it does mean that there isn’t really room for any of the other players. You get the general sense that they’re on the court of course but yeah don’t expect any big moments for those guys. This is Sakuragi and Oda’s show all the way through and for the first movie I suppose that works well enough. You’ll be sucked in enough to where you won’t really mind. The movie definitely holds your attention.

Overall, The first Slam Dunk movie was definitely quite a lot of fun. It’s a very simple film but gets to the point of why you’re watching a Basketball film to begin with. I definitely had no issues with it and would recommend it to anyone looking for a good time. The pacing is on point and it’s so short that it’s not exactly a huge investment of your time either. I can see other films beating it down the line but they’re definitely off to a good start with this one. It also fully succeeds in making Oda a really unlikable character so odds are that it might hurt him for when you watch the main show.

Overall 7/10