Category Archives: Animated Movies

Hey There, It’s Yogi Bear! Review

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It’s time to look at a retro Yogi Bear film. While I’m fairly familiar with the franchise, I haven’t really watched many of the films at all. I know it by reputation more than anything else. The film makes for a fun watch although the runtime can end up feeling a bit long because there isn’t a whole lot they can do with the concept outside of the initial gags. So you may end up wishing for more of a gimmick by the end.

The story starts with Yogi Bear trying to outsmart the Ranger as always. Unfortunately for him, he hasn’t been very successful this time. The Ranger always catches him in the act and prevents Yogi from really having any food. Yogi is always a step behind and can’t really seem to close the gap. What can he possibly do to change this? It won’t be easy but Yogi will have to leave the state. He volunteers to be taken away and maybe he will have better luck this time. Will the Ranger even end up missing Yogi?

Now the real twist is that Yogi doesn’t actually leave. He tricks another bear and then dons a new persona to keep on messing with people while the Ranger is none the wiser. The Ranger got a little too comfortable with Yogi out of the picture and so he actually starts to lose the war. He can’t stop this mysterious bear from stealing everyone’s food. He may even get fired at this rate because then a lot of other crazy things begin to happen like two other bears going missing. It’s all Yogi’s fault but what can the Ranger do?

What I liked about him is that the Ranger has a certain amount of smugness to him. Maybe you can also just call it adaptability but he always shuts down Yogi’s plan by using it against him. For example Yogi trained some ants to march and take orders like soldiers. So the Ranger made himself a drill sergeant and ordered the ants to betray Yogi. It was a really smart move and you just have to respect plays like that. It’s not as easy as it looks to always be thinking fast. He also gets the last laugh in this film which I wasn’t totally expecting.

There is a really tense face off at the end where the Ranger and Yogi both have to use each other’s fears against the other one. Both sides were not willing to even lose an inch and so it got really close but in the end the Ranger pulled through. He’s easily my favorite character in the series now.

As for Yogi, he’s a fun antagonist. Basically he just wants to eat all of the food that he can and so he’s always trying to rob people just trying to have a nice picnic. Yogi continuously tricks them and the average human isn’t quite as smart as Yogi. If the Ranger wasn’t around, Yogi would be having his way with everybody here. Yogi is hard to overcome but even he eventually starts to feel overwhelmed which is why he considered leaving midway. Breaking his spirit was not an easy act.

Then you’ve got Boo Boo who is basically Yogi’s sidekick. He doesn’t appear as often as I expected him to in this film but he tries to hold it together without Yogi. Ultimately he just needs that guy’s leadership and it’s clear that he is not the same without it. Yogi is the brains of this operation and Boo Boo is a lot more passive in nature. Cindy Bear is the only other main character and she loves Yogi a lot but the guy is always resisting her.

What I like about Cindy is that she makes her intentions plain. She wants Yogi and will do whatever she can in order to make him hers. Cindy will sing songs about this and everything but I guess Yogi doesn’t like her in that way because he’s always trying to run away from her. Of course one of the morals in this film is that he does end up liking her and so he regrets running away. It took him a little too long to learn that lesson though. Yogi better not lose focus again.

We also do have some villains here. There are two bumbling owners of a circus and their crazy dog who go around kidnapping whoever they need in order to make a good show. This is what allows them to kidnap Cindy and then they even manage to get Yogi. They technically end up being rather effective considering that they appear to be comic relief characters for the most part. I guess you can say that there are levels to this.

It was nice to add a little danger to the film. So the movie works as a solid all around title. It’s not the kind of movie you would be taking too seriously or anything like that but it’s fun for what it is. There are a number of songs within the film but they don’t work quite as well. They’re doing their best to sound like retro Hollywood songs and in a way it could work as a parody but they go on a bit too long for that. I’d say we could have done without the songs. The animation is pretty decent though. Nothing amazing but it’s all smooth and very expressive. Probably better than I would have expected going into the movie.

Overall, In general this film could have stood to be a little shorter. It’s got a fun vibe and the experience is good but you could have probably lost about 20 minutes without really losing any part of the movie. Longtime Yogi Bear fans will probably get the biggest kick out of the title though. The banter between the Ranger and Yogi Bear is definitely the best part of the film. How much you enjoy the movie as a whole will likely come down to that. It was nice to finally watch a full length Yogi Bear animated film though. I wonder if it got any good games for the Gamecube. Either way I think the world is ready for a new film in the franchise. Not a live action one, but a true hand drawn animated experience!

Overall 6/10

100 Meters Review

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It’s time for a big track and field movie. The 100 meter dash is not something that I’ve ever really followed but it does make sense that it would be a really intense event. You’re putting everything you’ve got into an incredibly short race. So if anything goes wrong, you can’t recover from it. You’re also putting your legs under a lot of strain with the constant wear and tear through training. It’s a pretty good movie that captures the intensity.

The movie’s main character is Togashi although it does well in establishing a lot of the supporting characters to get their own moments. Togashi has always been particularly gifted in running fast and so he would naturally enter track events. He was known around the school for being quite good and figured that would be his life’s career. Another kid shows up who likes running but doesn’t seem to have the talent for it, Komiya. Togashi works on helping this kid out but as quickly as he appeared, Komiya had to move out and vanished. Many years later, Togashi is still working on being the world’s best when he runs into Komiya again.

There are several big time jumps like this during the movie and each one has the character designs change a bit. It’s ambitious and I definitely think the film did a good job here. The only issue is does run into at times is that the animation can make it easy to mix up the characters at times. They can start to blend together. While the animation can look pretty solid with some of the special effects when running, I would say that on the whole it’s more on the decent side. Under the average weekly anime but above what you’re mainly going to see in US theaters.

This is a movie where the focus is going to be more on the story and themes. Both of those are areas where the movie does a great job so there is no real reason to worry here. Togashi is a great example of someone who really loves his hobby but then the competition starts to wear down on him. He goes through a slump but ultimately finds his passion for the sport again. I think that happens to most people when they finally manage to make it to the top level of competition. It’s just such a different animal at that stage.

Now, the film does run the risk of being a little repetitive at times with Togashi seeming to always need another speech to really get his act together. The film is spanning multiple years so in universe it makes a lot of sense but while watching you may be shaking your head at Togashi a bit by the end. Ultimately he’s a good guy though and is always trying to push the other characters forward. Togashi wants to be the best by challenging himself to improve as opposed to pushing anyone lower.

Komiya had a tough hand in life as he grew up in a tough environment and running didn’t come easily to him. When he really pushed himself he could do well but then he had to deal with injuries. It’s easy to see why anyone would start to put some distance from the sport after that. He ended up with a lot of anxiety but is able to push past it. A good example of this is when he is listening to Zaitsu’s advice at the beginning but in the second scene he just ends up cutting the guy off. Komiya was able to find his own ideals to race with, even if they falter by the end.

It’s solid character development because everyone is always going to have their own approaches and speeches to give you. There’s a time to hear them out but then there’s also a time to just go your own way and never look back. Komiya was able to become one of the greatest racers in the world through his own skills. That’s not easy.

Then you have Zaitsu and Kaido who are two characters who became immense racers on their own merits as well. It was pretty nice seeing each of them get some respect here with both winning at least one pivotal race. Each one also sacrificed a lot to the sport which is another theme in the movie. You are really giving your whole life for those 100 meters. At the end of the day you have to ask if the rewards are worth it. Does owning a bunch of trophies equate to a lot of happiness? Or will having records in your name be something that always keeps you happy? It’s just hard to say and by the time you think about it, your life has been used up a lot.

Togashi keeps it the simplest from all the racers. He just enjoys running and he’ll keep doing it for as long as he can. That’s really all that anyone can do and you have to make your peace with it. It’s a little late to be having regrets by the time it’s all over. Whatever you do with your life, it’s constantly moving forward. So you have to move along with it.

I think the movie pushed the 100 meter dash as far as it could. The short length of the race does limit how much drama you can build into the actual race but the film made sure to build up the angles around it. If the race was longer I would have liked to have crammed in all the racers in one race to end the film off. Logically would that be a little convenient? Yeah definitely but you can suspend a little disbelief for a climactic showdown like that. Of course a classic 1 v 1 is also a good way to end things so you’ll get no real issues there from me.

This is a film that’s just very strong all around. We get a number of good supporting characters and even by the end we’re still meeting new runners who are incredibly fast. It shows that new racers will always come in to replace the old ones and that the sport is in a healthy place. It’s a very uplifting kind of movie that you can recommend to anyone who has even a bit of a competitive spirit within them.

Overall, The film cops out at the ending on who the world’s greatest is but I like to think it was Togashi. To me that makes sense with the ending but it’s ultimately up to your interpretation. Either way I would recommend checking this film out. It’s a good adventure filled with a lot of drama and intensity. It all goes by pretty quickly and that’s considering that it had different false climaxes. You may think the film is about to end and then it jumps into the future again. You could easily build off of this into more spinoffs and sequels as well.

Overall 7/10

The Sword in the Stone Review

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The Sword in the Stone is a whole lot different than I would have expected it to be. I was thinking it would be a classic King Arthur story but that’s not really the focus at all. In fact that’s barely relevant for the whole adventure. It’s a fun enough story but I can see why this one never got quite as popular as some of the other big animated adventures.

The story begins by explaining that England has entered the dark ages thanks to its ruler dying without anyone to take the throne. The strong bully the weak and there is nobody to stop this chaos. What about Merlin? We’ll get to that. The story centers around a kid named Arthur who is mainly tolerated by the people around him but he’s seen as weak and ineffectual. His older foster brother Kay tends to treat him more like a butler and that’s been the dynamic for a long time. Well, one day Arthur bumps into Merlin who had predicted their encounter. He believes Arthur to be the chosen future king and so he begins to train him. But can Merlin train Arthur enough to win the grand tournament to become King of the land?

Merlin is probably the biggest problem in the film. Now to be clear, he can be an amusing character. Merlin is one of those guys who always has the answers and he also has a good amount of magical strength. So that would be handy here right? Well, he’s not the most patient fellow and doesn’t really listen. Why wasn’t he helping people out during these literal dark ages? Well, he was probably too lazy. We see that this mage knows about the future and routinely time travels. He can basically do anything.

Stopping crime would have been easy but instead he just waits on his prophecies. He probably should already know that Arthur becomes King by time travelling but acts like he doesn’t do for sure and is just following destiny. Okay, at least he will stick with this right? No, he blows up at Arthur near the end and runs off to a beach somewhere in the future. That was the worst moment for Merlin because he ditched Arthur when it counted. The misunderstanding was also 100% on Merlin.

Arthur was just happy because he finally got his old job back as Kay’s attendant. Sure, it’s not glamourous but after consistently getting a lot of losses, it is easy to see why Arthur was happy. I’m sure he would have kept on training if Merlin just talked to him but the guy immediately goes nuclear about how he won’t train Arthur anymore. Merlin literally skips out on the whole climax and arrives after it. So much for being a mentor that Arthur could count on.

Now, Merlin does get a cool fight with his arch nemesis Madam Mim. We get to see more of his abilities and creativeness there. It’s a fun fight and so he is not weak by any means. That said, we already knew this right? Merlin has never been a weak fighter. He has abilities but just doesn’t use them in the day to day which is the problem.

As for Madam Mim, she was mainly fun for the fights. I would say in a way Ector and Kay were the real antagonists here since they kept getting in Arthur’s way. I give the film credit for not making Kay super over the top evil though. He’s not the smartest guy and is certainly rude but he doesn’t go out of his way to consistently bully Arthur the way you would see from other characters in a similar role. Ector’s screentime isn’t as much as you would expect but he is fun in the role of being a thorn in Arthur’s side.

As the main character Arthur is okay but much too weak willed and submissive for my liking. Often times in a story like this, the only way for a situation to get better is to improve it yourself. I wanted to see Arthur actually fighting back against his destiny to make things better. Sure he pulls the sword and everything but it’s still in a fairly mild mannered way. It’s not unrealistic but I just wanted my confident King Arthur from the legends. I dare say that would have made for a more impactful film.

Midway through the film we get a whole montage of training moments where Arthur is turned into different animals. This even leads to an animal getting a crush on him which was a bizarre plotline. Arthur wasn’t exactly given any backup here and was left to fend for himself. It didn’t feel like this was really necessary to the film and all the animal stuff was almost like the movie was buying time. There wasn’t a ton of story here if you drill down into it.

The animation has held up really well over time though. I thought it looked really smooth and colorful the whole time. Meanwhile the soundtrack wasn’t bad. It’s a classic Disney film so you can expect quite a few songs. I don’t think any of them ever became the next big thing but the opening is not bad. It’s one of those songs that is used as exposition the whole time which is an art form that has mostly been lost nowadays. I tend to like story songs like this but only when used for that purpose. I wouldn’t listen to a song like that at just any point.

Overall, The Sword in the Stone is a fun movie. I had a good time while watching it but you feel a lot of missed opportunities the whole time. I don’t agree with the decision to go with a young King Arthur. How well can a kid really rule the kingdom? Have him be a humble teenager/young adult like Link of Hyrule or something and he gradually gets ready to be the king. You could still follow similar story beats but Arthur would be able to have more agency. He wouldn’t have to be quite so timid and you could even cut the animal transformations. If not, at least avoid the romance and maybe give more justification for why we needed these training segments. Outside of showing off animation, the in-universe reason for doing this was shaky at best. I didn’t feel like Arthur learned a whole lot here that couldn’t have been taught traditionally.

Overall 6/10

Josee, the Tiger and the Fish Review

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I remember seeing a lot of gifs from this film of Josee dashing around in her wheelchair. Otherwise the film itself was rarely mentioned and I felt like it never got the same attention as the other big films. Well, now I’ve finally seen it and I can say that this is a pretty good one. It’s an emotional story with a lot of ups and downs for the various characters. The romance even ends up being pretty solid even if it’s not exactly the pair that I would have rooted for.

The film introduces us to Tsuneo who works as many jobs as possible in order to earn money. He wants to study abroad and has finally got a scholarship to study in Mexico. Things are looking up for him but he can’t let his guard down in the final stretch. He agrees to look after a girl named Josee as a sort of babysitting job. They’re close in age but she is restricted to her wheelchair and so it’s always good to have the help. Josee resents him for it though and treats him like dirt right away. As they spend more time together, they begin to get close but how will Josee react to the fact that Tsuneo will be gone soon?

Josee is an old school tsundere in that she complains and attacks Tsuneo quite a lot. During the first scene when he saves her from at the very least a serious head injury, she immediately calls him a perv. Then when he is doing his best to look after her, she intentionally gives him a lot of tough jobs and makes the tasks as unpleasant as possible. She’s not above hitting him and is also not very emotionally mature so she storms out a lot. All this is to say that the romance was a very rocky one for most of the film.

Still, it avoids any rebounds here and the film takes place over a fairly long period of time so that gets rid of most of my concerns. The timing of the scenes could have been a little better though. We get a montage fairly early on of the two characters hanging out and going to a lot of places so it feels like their friendship was strong. Yet it is easily broken later on due to a series of misunderstandings. It is usually on Tsuneo to be the bigger man here and just let things go but I would have liked a bit more effort on Josee’s part. She is a part of this relationship too after all. I felt like the montage should have been later on in the film, maybe after they had made up.

Josee is definitely not one of the more likable characters overall which was a bold choice by the film. You extend some extra sympathy to her because being stuck in a wheelchair since young is really tough but she does her best to push you to your limit. By the end of the film she has finally come to terms with everything and appears like she will be a good character going forward. Better late than never.

Tsuneo has another friend named Mai who has secretly had a crush on him for a very long time. The problem is that she never worked up the courage to ask him out before Josee showed up. While I liked Mai a whole lot more than Josee, it is entirely her fault here. Mai had years to make a move and as I always say, you can’t just wait for the other party here. If you like someone then you better make your feelings known as soon as possible. If you don’t then naturally you are going to lose out.

When Mai finally does take action, it’s mainly to push Josee down in her own way of looking out for Tsuneo. Mai feels like Tsuneo will be held back due to these circumstances and in a way she’s right but it’s obviously coming from a selfish place. Hopefully things work out for Mai in the future but sometimes being a nice person just isn’t enough to win out. You also gotta be bold and upfront.

Tsuneo’s other friend Hayato is definitely solid as well. He doesn’t get quite as much screentime but we can see why he was a good friend. He helps out the lead when he’s in a rough place and always seems to be in high spirits. He is exactly the kind of guy that you want to have in your corner when the chips are down. He could stand to be a little less girl crazy though as that’s not exactly a trait that anyone is really looking for in a quality character.

As for Tsuneo, he’s a pretty patient guy. He overlooks a whole lot of disrespect that would have had other characters backing away early. It may not necessarily be a good quality when you think about it but hey it beats throwing a pity party for himself. The only time he really gets down is after a pretty big accident later on and that’s understandable because it completely changes the trajectory of his whole life. It’s hard to just roll past something like that.

The movie is fairly light hearted for the most part but definitely has quite a few somber moments between the accident and of course Josee’s whole plot. You really can’t emphasize enough how hard it is to not be able to walk. I don’t know how I would be able to pull it off and having a film like this that sympathizes with the dilemma and also giving Josee an opportunity for a happy ending is nice. Even allowing her to talk to kids and letting her make a social impact from her position was really good. It’s the kind of subplot that is nice to have in a wholesome film like this.

Overall, This was a pretty good film. It really goes by quickly and there is always a lot going on. The song may not be one of the more memorable ones for the movie but it wasn’t bad. The romance was handled well here due to the movie allowing the relationship time to progress. I do think that at times Josee could be a little too much with how aggressively mean she was, but ultimately she stepped up when it counted. I’d recommend checking this film out if you’re looking for a solid romance.

Overall 7/10

The Stingiest Man in Town Review

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It’s time for another Christmas Carol and this one has to move really fast as a bite sized version. The length of the film is very short for example so that means the ghosts have to really run in there and Scrooge has to be convinced awful fast. Fortunately I can say that it works well and this is one of the better Christmas Carol adaptions. Scrooge even manages to defeat one of the ghosts which was real impressive. I was definitely not expecting that.

The story starts with Scrooge yelling bah humbug at the world and showing why he doesn’t believe in Christmas. Scrooge only has one master and that is the power of the all powerful profits. Scrooge is even mad that he will have to pay his partner for the day off on Christmas but the assistant isn’t very smart and offers to go without pay. Scrooge naturally accepts and that was a light spot to his day. Well, at night he is visited by his old partner who died a while back and he says that Scrooge will be visited by 3 ghosts. Scrooge is skeptical but they show up and start causing a lot of problems by working to guilt trip Scrooge on his past, present, and future. Can Scrooge stop them?

It’s fair to say that Scrooge is on the back foot right from the jump though. He is scared right away when the ghosts show up and quickly realizes the error of his ways. The only time he shows real resistance is when he murders the first ghost by extinguishing his flame. It was actually a really impressive moment and showed how Scrooge could think on his feet. He clearly didn’t become rich by being the kind of guy who didn’t know how to take action. It made absolute sense that Scrooge would be jumping into action. That’s just the kind of guy that he is.

I would have liked to have seen more of that but this is meant to be an uplifting story filled with hope. Adding too much violence and Scrooge messing everyone over may not have gone over very well with the audience. The writing is pretty good either way. Everyone seems rather happy and of course by the end Scrooge can be counted among those folks as well. He is the kind of guy who may grumble and tumble a lot but now with his money he can make the world a better place.

I would have liked the third ghost to have done more since he is always the coolest one but in this special he doesn’t have much time. One of those time constraints and all. Even little Timmy gets a little less to do this time but you can still feel his impact. It’s a film where you can infer everything from what you already know about the story and it would be interesting to see what one would think if this was their first version.

Like I said, I enjoyed it quite a lot but I do think subconsciously I likely plug in a lot of my former knowledge from the other versions of the story. The animation helps give this one a bump as well though because I really enjoyed the expressions here. The film looks really good and the characters are a lot of fun. You can’t help but grin as you watch the film and it’s something that a cleaner style would be lacking.

I should also mention that there are a number of songs in this one and for once it actually worked. I tend to be rather harsh on musicals as the songs usually aren’t all that good but in this case that was not true. The songs were actually really sharp and catchy. I had a good amount of fun with them and they fit the vibe really well. They felt less like forced musical songs and instead were actual Christmas songs that had a solid level of quality. So that really helped the overall experience as well.

So if I had one complaint it’s that I would have liked to have seen Scrooge fighting back more. If anything he set the bar too high by taking down the first ghost. Sure, he got scared by the doorknob at the very beginning of the film but this had been a good rebound. I absolutely think it should be possible to make Scrooge very combative without taking away from the film’s overall message. I just need a writer to really take the risk and make this happen at some point.

Overall, Stingiest Man in Town is a pretty good film. It works as an abridged version of the Christmas Carol for people who want to get to the meat of the story but don’t have 90 minutes to spare. So in that case this is really the film for you. The pacing is fast but it still hits all of the big details. The writing is good and on the whole the film has no big weaknesses. I can recommend this to anyone looking for a fun Christmas film. Additionally, the hand drawn style has just aged really well.

Overall 7/10

A Christmas Story Review

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It’s time for another wholesome Christmas story and this is another one that I was really not familiar with. It has a very nice animation style that is retro but still looks really good. The story also shows just how fast Santa is and why it would be hard to catch such a guy. When you think about it, he would need to be fast to visit every child on Christmas. The movie does not disappoint with his depiction of speed.

The story starts with Christmas rapidly approaching but unfortunately Timmy forgot to mail his letter to Santa. The parents hadn’t noticed either and so it wound up under the table. Gumdrop realizes this and lets his pal Goober know that they have to save Timmy’s Christmas. The problem is that it’s already Christmas Eve and so there are only a few hours left until Santa is supposed to arrive. If the two animals don’t hurry, Timmy will be doomed.

Now you do have to allot a certain level of blame over to Timmy and his parents here. They should have been more prepared considering that it’s Christmas. I suppose the parents especially since in this world we know that Santa Claus is real which changes things up quite a bit. You would assume that the parents definitely know what is going on here since mysterious presents appear each year. At the end of the day though, Timmy needed to be ready and make sure that everything was on point. It’s his gifts after all.

Now you do have to wonder if Santa would have managed to turn up with the gifts anyway. It all depends on just how powerful he is in this version. Based on how he succeeded at the end, I’m betting that he probably would have known about the letter anyway. You can interpret the scene to mean that he saw the letter while the animals were resting too so in that case then you’d give the heroes some more credit.

Gumdrop gets most of the credit here for being the instigator. He was the one running around and making sure that everyone searched for the letter. If he didn’t notice and force the issue then Goober was going to be sleeping through the whole thing. Goober is still the most enjoyable character though. I like how relaxed he is the whole time. Goober is the kind of character who doesn’t really get stressed on his own and just looks at the positive side of things.

Also once Goober was in on the mission, he definitely made a difference. He has the size and speed to cover a whole lot of ground. The special also had a good amount of teamwork as we saw all of the various animals from the neighborhood chipping in to try and get Santa’s attention. Ultimately numbers alone just aren’t going to be enough to catch up to someone like Santa. His sheer speed and skill are just too good.

When it comes to the animation, it’s really solid like I mentioned before. It’s very traditional and the kind of hand drawn style that really ages well. The colors are striking and the expressions can look rather funny which adds to the humor. It makes for a special that thrives beyond its years on the visual side. There isn’t as much to say on the soundtrack side so it loses on that front.

A good story doesn’t need a whole bunch of extra details and this one really focused on that as a strength. Santa is well known enough where it’s not like he needed a bunch of screen time after all and you still felt his presence the whole time. It would be interesting to learn more about the world and how Santa affects it but in a way the mystery is the fun part. With a special like this, you’re seeing the proof of concept and can fill in the blanks on your own.

Overall, A Christmas Story is a pretty fun film. It has a good amount of humor and the whole thing is very frantic. The pacing is always fast and it’s just a nice story. You’re given a solid premise about getting a letter to Santa and then it’s really on the animation to sell this. It definitely works out and I would recommend watching this one if you’re looking for something fun for Christmas.

Overall 7/10

Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey Review

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It’s time for a film that actually gets pretty wholesome. I don’t think many people will be familiar with Nestor, the film even addresses this at the start. Well, he has a solid story that even draws a lot of comparisons to Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. The movie is fairly short as with most Rankin/Bass productions but still covers a good amount of ground here.

The movie starts off by showing us how Nestor has it rough because of his long ears. He is always tripping as a result and has to be reminded on how to use his ears by his Mom every days. Unfortunately she passes away after saving him from the elements and now Nestor is all on his own. He will have to learn how to grow up as he deals with some shady folks and then some wholesome ones. An angel tells him to hang in there because he still has a purpose that will be coming along soon.

The story actually gets to tie Nestor into the real meaning of Christmas as he turns out to be the legendary donkey that gets Mary over to the stable for the birth of Jesus Christ. Definitely a powerful way to conclude this and it really shows how far Nestor has come. He was in the right place at the right time although I suppose I was hoping he would have more of an individual moment of toughness. Sort of show that he has mastered his ears and use them to fight off a tornado or something in the desert.

He definitely had to endure past a lot of corrupt folks in the meantime although one of the owners actually got a last second redemption arc. Then eventually this led to Nestor being a legend within the Santa community as well. So the special goes over well and has solid pacing but I would have liked to have added a few more scenes Maybe one day we’ll get a Rudolph vs Nestor movie or something.

The animation is the classic stop motion style so it’s not really my style but it’s okay enough. You know I tend to gravitate more to a flashy hand drawn style but that’s just me. The stop motion still gets the job done when it counts. This time the soundtrack isn’t quite as grand as some of their other productions though. So it needs to really get by on the strong writing which is still good enough to keep it in the green.

There are a lot of cameos from other big Rankin/Bass characters at the end though like Santa and Rudolph. It was good to see the whole gang although it would have been even nicer if they could have gotten some lines. I suppose it might have been hard to get voice actors for such a quick scene but it would have been fun and really helped to cement the shared universe. In the end I suppose one of the MVPs here would have to be the guy telling the story from the beginning. It seems like even more people wouldn’t know about Nestor in universe without this guy spreading the word. It would have been sad for him to have been forgotten after all of this.

Overall, Nestor is one of those Christmas specials that never got all that much attention next to the others but you owe it to yourself to check this one out. It is a quality adventure and it’s not like it takes a big time commitment either. I would have liked his Mom to have survived though as that was a little sad. Maybe have her show up at the stable and explain that it was a Christmas miracle. Could have worked pretty well I think. On the whole this is definitely a happy special though and it was great to see it have that Christian influence in there. That’s always going to get the film some extra credit for remembering the true meaning of Christmas. The stop motion animation may give you pause for a little while there, but push through it and you’ll be rewarded with a good story.

Overall 6/10

Christmas Comes to Pac-Land Review

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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

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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

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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