Tag Archives: Adventure

Karate Kid: Legends Review

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It’s time to look at the next Karate Kid film. It was always a bit sad when we learned that LaRusso wasn’t going to be the main character this time around because that would have really helped to make the stakes higher an ever. That being said, the film is still good. It can be a little all over the place at times but still captures the spirit of the series and makes for a film that is easy to watch.

The movie starts with Li having to move all the way from Beijing to New York. He isn’t happy about this but his mother has wanted to put some distance from the world of kung fu after something tragic happened to Li’s brother. Li doesn’t really want to fight anymore, but he does like to keep up with his training. Well, he won’t have much of a choice now that he is in New York since a bully named Conor shows up and just starts whaling on him. The guy has a chip on his soldier because the girl he likes is the pizza girl at the shop that Li frequents and the two became quick friends. Li is going to have to defeat this guy physically in order to end this but the problem is that Conor is more powerful. Li will have to train hard.

This probably would have been enough as the main plot but you’ve also got Mia’s father, Victor who is trying to win a boxing match to pay off some loan sharks. Victor really made sure to owe money to the worst people he could have picked and now that is coming back to bite him. So you have the flip of what usually happens in these films as Li is the one teaching someone how to fight. Although the second half goes back to normal on this.

I would say what the film lacked here was more fights. For a film with karate in the title, there aren’t a ton of fight scenes here. The climax has a bunch of quick fights and one real one but before that you will just get a pair of skirmishes and that’s it. The film was definitely trying to set up a lot of character dynamics and everything but it would have been best to have embraced the action roots a little more. Not that the first films were necessarily heavy on action but you would just expect more.

The film also made a mistake on making Li a little too weak initially. I understand him not being the most powerful out there as it wouldn’t make for much of a film but Conor thoroughly dismantled him the whole time. Even in the climax of the film it felt like Li was a little out of his league. So they could have stood to make this a bit more even so the climax could be more believable. At least that’s the way I see it.

As a main character Li isn’t bad. I do think it takes him a little too long to get with the program though. It was a real rough look to see him falter in the flashback of what happened to his brother and for that to happen again in the present with another character was terrible. He also overreacted pretty hard at the San Genaro festival. Now, I do think the scene made Mia look bad regardless of her explanations later because it’s true that she looked a little too happy, but jumping to conclusions was pretty childish.

Particularly since Li knew they were just friends at that point. He really just needed to talk things out or at the very least not be petty about it. I definitely gotta take Daniel La Russo over him. As for Mia, she wasn’t bad but also on the very emotional side here. Definitely a lot of drama here like when she decides to give Li the silent treatment. I guess for a Karate Kid film you want some drama, but I was always looking forward to getting back to the man plot. I’ll give her credit for not being a jerk when Li wanted to order a stuffed crust pizza. I never knew that scene was from this movie as it tends to make the rounds with memes about how stuffed crust isn’t a real pizza.

Conor make for a fairly weak villain. He’s just way too petty the whole time. So I’m saying weak in terms of personality, he’s technically rather powerful. The guy was dominating most of his opponents. He knows how to fight hard and how to fight dirty which is a really impressive combination. You’re just not going to be able to beat someone like that. Even by the end of the film you feel like he was the best fighter of the next generation.

I would have liked to have seen more of Daniel in this film but it was good to see him get a quick fight scene. Having him get to fight Conor’s teacher would have been more satisfying though. We’d see that he still has the fighting abilities that are needed to win at the top level. Han is also solid although he’s definitely no Mr. Miyagi. He does his best to make sure that Li is ready to fight and doesn’t back down. If anything you just feel bad for Li’s mother who has some valid points about why he shouldn’t fight anymore but gets overruled throughout the whole film. I don’t feel like the characters ever really tried to hear her out.

Although she was unreasonable with spouting platitudes about not resorting to violence when Li was actively being bullied. She took a very old fashioned black and white approach to fighting when that’s just not going to cut it here. You should never be blamed for defending yourself when you’re being attacked. It also feels like the referees are a bit underpowered in this one. The villains just ignore them and go for cheap shots with the ref literally being shoved out of the way more than once. If you defeat someone using exclusively illegal moves, shouldn’t the opponent win by technical penalty victory? Maybe that’s not how it is in real life but I’d be surprised when it is to this extent.

I’d probably have cut out Victor’s plot here with the loan sharks to focus a bit more on Li. I think that would have worked out better although the boxing fight was still pretty fun. As a whole the movie is fun due to the good writing and solid pacing so it has a good amount of replay value. At the same time, it does feel like this film could have been a lot more ambitious. The way it plays out, this may as well have been made a reboot since the previous films didn’t matter a whole lot. The credits scene is also a bit weak. Not bad but I would have liked something that was a whole lot more hype. Also, you know that the two characters got serious food poisoning afterwards.

Overall, Karate Kid: Legends has a good sense of humor and is a fun action film to check out. You’ll definitely be able to feel Li’s frustration as he is surrounded by cheaters and thugs with nobody wanting to do anything about it. The pressure is on him and it’s quite intense. Still, he manages to get the job done and the ending certainly leaves room for more sequels should they want to pursue that. If you like the Karate Kid series then you definitely owe it to yourself to check this one out. You’ll probably find it to be nostalgic.

Overall 6/10

Unico in the Island of Magic Review

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Unico has returned for some more hype. At this point you know the drill with the character and this one isn’t really trying to change up the formula. Unico is brought to a new land where he has to solve some problems and once again awaken his ultimate form. The movie does give us better animation and strong effects this time though so I definitely appreciate that. It’s what I would consider to be a pretty low key movie but one that does have some good action.

The movie starts with Unico being dumped into an island that is about to be under attack by a mad wizard. This guy is turning everyone into toys and Unico barely manages to escape him. It turns out that his sister is a girl named Sheri who has been waiting for him to come back home but something changed him. The wizard Tolby now works for a real demonic spellcastor named Kuruku. This guy has abilities that can barely even be comprehended and so he is always causing mayhem. Can Unico and Sheri put an end to this?

First thing I have to give the film credit for are the designs. Kuruku actually looks rather frightening for a kids film. He is constantly changing shapes and dashing through the air. His energy blasts have the potential to take out any opponent in an instant because of how his matter manipulation works. He is also not someone that can really be reasoned with because he doesn’t care at all about humans. There is no heart to be swayed and so Unico must adopt more violent methods with this guy. It made for a really good climax.

Unfortunately, Tolby looks pretty bad in comparison. He has a more convoluted plan about working for Kuruku and turning everyone into toys so he could learn how to turn them all back. The plan doesn’t really make any sense as it relies on a whole lot of things that just aren’t likely to happen. Tolby should have been teaming up with the heroes from the start in order to stop him. You’ll have a lot of questions on exactly how they met and how Tolby went down this path so quickly but even to the end he just doesn’t do a good job of seeing the big picture.

Tolby is also not particularly good at aiming and so he tends to lose in each of his fights. I did really like the character design though. It really stands out and he definitely looks fancy in that outfit. As a character he really needed more work. He gets a sidekick cat for most of the movie who can be fun though. This cat likes listening to his music and is also a scaredy cat so he will change sides at the drop of a hat. Not someone that you can depend on at all. I was expecting him to turn out to be super heroic by the end but his character doesn’t really change much. I guess Unico can’t win everyone over.

As for Unico, he doesn’t look very good for most of the film but that is to be expected when there is constant amnesia. No matter how much Unico may improve in one adventure, all of the character development is removed by the next. So as a result Unico always has the same character arc of learning how to use his powers and gaining more confidence. That happens here as well and it’s just a really tough road to get to that point. If anything, Unico showing off crazy levels of power at the end can be annoying because then you feel like he should have been doing that the whole time. So in a way it just flips the situation.

The film is definitely aimed a bit younger so at times it might feel a little bit boring. Also every character is constantly yelling, it’s a very loud film. I know some people accuse shows like Black Clover of having a bunch of that, but this movie tops that with ease. Trust me, it can get a little grating after a while and things really have to be spelled out for you. It’s why I was glad that we did have some action scenes later on since those really helped to make the whole film feel more like an event. The film was really not scared to have some scary imagery with the fights as well.

There’s one toy that goes around chomping anyone in its path and actually comes across as real intimidating. Kuruku naturally fits that bill as well and so that is something that does set it aside from the average kid’s adventure. Also as far as kids go, I guess Sheri wasn’t bad. She was rather proactive and kept on going on her quest to save the day. Even being willing to leave Unico behind so that he wouldn’t be in danger. It didn’t work but it’s the thought that counts. We also have a cat who’s related to the Sphinx to help out but she didn’t actually do much. You were waiting for her big moment the whole film and it never came. I liked her enthusiasm as she was always ready to fight but that’s about all that I can say for her.

Overall, If you’ve seen other Unico films then you know what to expect with this one. It’s got more danger than the others but at its core this is a film about friendship and how Unico helps to restore the bonds between people. Unico is someone who is always ready to help out but takes a whole lot of pushing in order to actually begin fighting. The film may not be long but it can feel long as the dialogue isn’t always super interesting so how much you enjoy the film may actually come down to the animation and fights. If that ends up being the case, I dare say that you’ll be in fine hands. The animation has aged really well and just the novelty from that can really help to boost this one up. I’d recommend it if you’re up for a nice story about a little unicorn.

Overall 6/10

Like Father Like Son Review

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It’s time for a classic body swap comedy. There aren’t a ton of films with this kind of premise but they usually turn out to be pretty fun. Who hasn’t thought about stepping into someone else’s shoes for a few minutes right? I don’t think the film ends up being quite as good as it could have been though and could have used more likable characters. As always the kid can definitely be annoying but the father can also be a little slow on the uptake at times.

The movie starts with some intense music as a guy runs through the dessert and is badly injured. He is treated by a nearby tribe and temporarily switches bodies with someone before going to normal. Pretty interesting “science” they got over there. We then cut to the actual main characters Chris and his father Jack. Jack is a very serious guy who works hard and is nearing a big promotion. He wishes his son could take things a little more seriously. Chris is still going through his teenager journey of crushing hard on a girl and flunking on his classes. Well, that’s when his friend Trigger’s uncle shows up with the body swap serum. Trigger messes around and through a series of comedic shenanigans, ends up switching Chris and Jack. Can the two characters get through a full day or two without completely wrecking each other’s lives?

You’re mainly going to be feeling bad for Jack here because he was actually doing well with his life. He was nearing that promotion and skillfully swerving the advances being made to him by the wife of his boss. Jack is not planning on messing around and he is well respected within the industry. His main flaw is presented by the fact that he follows the rules really closely so he doesn’t make exceptions when people don’t have money or insurance to pay for the treatment.

Perhaps he is a bit cold about all of this but at the same time, he is just following company policy. The other doctor brings this up a lot at the board meetings and keep shutting this down. So it’s not like it’s just Jack. Where Jack falters is in not closing out the deal on the big race. He really needed to stay focused and also should have been preparing a lot harder a few days in advance. No way that race should have even been getting close at the ending there. I know the guy is oblivious, but it’s also a bit much that he acts as if he’s never really been to school before. He rambles and acts like the teacher but I guess maybe he was just the class jerk back in the day.

As for Chris, well he acts a lot like the immature stereotype of every teen. He’s completely girl crazy and the first thing he thinks to do when becoming an adult is to go flirt and drink as much as possible. The amount of damage he’s done to his father’s reputation is crazy and so it’s hard to sympathize with him at all. He just looks so immature the whole time and has never heard the phrase of great power comes with great responsibility.

I know it’s part of the point of his character arc but I’d argue he never really learns that much of a lesson. Now at least the movie is consistent with how immature he is since the guy can’t even manage to talk to a girl without making himself look like a fool but it all boils down to you wishing the whole film could have been about the father instead. Even when Jack would make a mistake, he consistently looked better than Chris.

His friend Trigger tends to be more entertaining. Now, technically he’s probably about as immature as Chris but maybe since he’s in the side character role it doesn’t hit as hard. He also has the toughest job of playing advisor to Jack when he’s at school and keeping both parties from making huge mistakes. So maybe in a way he’s at least smarter than Chris.

The heroine Lori doesn’t look that good as the whole thing with her is that she’s not a very serious person. Likewise the bully Rick is super determined to prove that he’s better than Chris when he should probably just be leaving Lori to find someone who wants to be with him. He absolutely crushed Chris in their fight though so he definitely takes his fighting skills seriously.

So while I have a lot of issues with the characters here, the film does have its share of funny gags. I did like the walk-throughs at the hospital. Both the one that was taken seriously and then the parody one after the body swap where Chris didn’t know what was going on. It worked as a solid contrast and of course it’s generally fun to see each character messing up each other’s lives. I dare say it would just be a bit funnier if it took itself more seriously.

That may sound paradoxical but think of it this way. If both characters were a little better at living each other’s lives, then the mistakes they make would be funnier. It would be more of a rare error in judgment as opposed to getting major things wrong. You could also see if there were any ways where they made each other’s lives better thanks to their different approaches. These films always have a lot of potential but this one mainly stuck to going for the obvious gags.

Overall, The film was fun enough but is definitely lacking in some replay value. It’s fairly short so at a little over 90 minutes it’ll go by quickly. The romance scenes for both characters tend to be the most cringe worthy moments although there is a lot of cringe to go around. If you like body swap films then you should check this one out but there’s a reason why it’s not super well known and you will definitely learn that the hard way before you’re done. A remake could really improve on this one.

Overall 5/10

Shadow Labyrinth Review

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Pac Man is a legendary icon within the gaming space and the idea of a horror game involving him was certainly interesting. An animated episode was released which tied into the game and it weakened the hype but I was still ready for the game. Well, in the end it is a pretty good game but I would say it’s best to ignore any knowledge that it relates to Pac-Man. Think of this more like a general Namco tribute as you have characters with names relating to Galaga, Dig Dug, Galaxian, Pac-Man, and others. They have no real relation beyond the name but it’s still a nice homage.

The game starts with someone being warped into a strange world where a ball named Puck asks for his help. The world is on the brink of destruction with powerful forces making different moves across the universe. The main character has total amnesia now and has basically lost any sense of self so he goes along with everything. Now begins our journey into the darkness where everyone keeps their knowledge to themselves in order to keep this as cryptic as possible. Very niceeeeee.

We do learn more about the story as the game goes on and it’s a reasonably interesting story about war. I think it would have been more interesting as a straight forward narrative though. The cryptic, mystery type of story only really works when it is super carefully crafted and I don’t think this one prepared something with enough of a payoff to really warrant this. The ending is still satisfying and leaves solid room for a few sequels but the game would have done well to have had more story early on. Additionally I would have liked some voice acting. This is a modern 2025 game after all.

The gameplay is that of a 2D slasher as you strike away at your opponents in order to get orbs. These orbs can be used to buy items or improve your sword/energy meter. You can also get upgrades based on monster materials and can win Pac Mazes for other perks. The game made sure to stuff the title with a ton of collectibles and power-ups. I appreciated that because the map is absolutely massive in the game and so you will get lost quite a lot. This at least ensures that you are always accomplishing to an extent.

Some mechanics are not really clear and you have to stumble into them though. Several enemies can only be defeated by bombs and then you have to grab them quickly in order to get a rare item. Some of the puzzles can also be really crazy. The game’s difficulty is quite high but typically it is in a fair way. I had no problem with how difficult the final boss was for example as you just need to get good and defeat him. Likewise for any of the human trials. Where it gets tricky is absolutely the Pac-Man gameplay.

At times it just didn’t make sense to me. I still don’t know how you’re supposed to win some of the side content within that game and the rewards for the bonus mazes were bad enough where I couldn’t be bothered to go back. The controls are a bit too slippery and not polished the way that it should be. In some ways this still feels like a beta version of the game. The lack of a convenient quick travel feature is also crazy for a game like this. It’s expected that there will be a lot of back tracking but the game is really lacking in quality of life features. Even if you buy the quick teleporters, your old teleport spots start to deactivate later on so you have to go back and re-energize them. It’s just bad game design.

There are also smaller things like not being able to hit enemies from below even though you can clearly reach them. Ah well, at least I do like the core gameplay. You’ve got the parry system, air dodging, and a lot of ways to attack. It’s really a very versatile moveset which I like for this genre because it keeps things interesting. You also do feel noticeably more powerful as you go through the game so running through all of the old levels isn’t nearly as tedious as it could be.

That is what separates the good Metroidvanias from the bad ones after all. It’s like how in Castlevania you eventually learn how to fly so you get to easily blast through whole worlds because you fly above all of the enemies. Same with Xenoblade Chronicles X even if you really should not call that one a Metroidvania. I actually think this game should have added flight since it is the ultimate end game ability and a testament to your resolve.

Overall, Shadow Labyrinth is a pretty good game. It’s got a whole lot of action to it and the difficulty is refreshing. You don’t get a lot of crazy hard games like this nowadays. Being able to keep your progress when you die is also great. There are a number of bugs and questionable game design features which keep this one from being great though. They really If you are having trouble with a boss, go explore and get stronger. The company ultimately squandered the game when it counted here because this had all of the tools needed in order to be great. I’ll still be in interested in a sequel but I hope the developers take all of the criticism seriously. The next game needs to clean things up and then it will really be ready to take over.

Overall 7/10

Big Fish Review

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It’s time for a film about how tall tales can eventually cause people to fall apart. Too many of those do wreck your chances of really getting to connect with people after all. When it’s overdone it can even seem like you’re just lying all of the time. That said, the stories tend to be the most interesting part of the film and you don’t want to go back to the real world for the drama parts. They just don’t work out quite as well as the fantastical stories.

The movie starts with showing us how William’s big celebratory wedding gets taken over by his father Edward who begins talking about the day William was born. The lead doesn’t like this story, not just because it isn’t true but because he wanted the day to really be his. He feels like his father has always been an overwhelming presence in his life and so he breaks off ties with him for several years. Well, now his father is dying and so it is time for William to try and reconnect the relationship. Edward is still committed to his stories to the very end though so William will have to learn to accept this or not.

I suppose my biggest problem with William is the fact that this just doesn’t feel like a big deal. Stories are how his father talks and so William just needs to accept that. He comes across as extremely ungrateful considering all that his father has done for him over the years. He seems like he was a really good person and so William should have embraced the stories. Even to the very end of the film he spends most of his time complaining and so he will quickly become your least favorite character in the movie. There just isn’t any saving him.

Fortunately his wife Josephine is a lot more understanding and has the compassion to hear Edward’s stories with a good amount of enthusiasm. This gives him a chance to tell all of the stories one last time. She knows that they all carry a lot of exaggertions but the guy is dying so why not let him have a little fun on the way out right? She’s realistic the whole time while William just can’t get himself to understand this. It’s not a tough concept either.

Edward’s wife Sandra doesn’t get a whole lot to do in this film but she was important through the stories as we see how hard Edward worked to get to her. He really had to go through a whole lot of adventures and put his best foot forward. While Edward was never one to face reality, I don’t see why he should need to. Real life can be rather boring at times so spicing up your memories is the way to go. The way the film handles this is to show us the actual stories which makes for a fun subplot.

I suppose if you are really looking forward to the real-life confrontations then this might hurt a bit but the stories are the best part like I said before. It’s fun to see Edward bravely stand up to every challenge and show why he is the most powerful fighter around. He gets a lot of great lines throughout and you can really feel his determination. He is definitely not the kind of guy to go down without a fight, that’s for sure. Now with the romance angle, it is a bit iffy to go after someone who is already engaged. It’s not at the same level as someone who is married of course but while this one has a happy ending, that would usually not be a good idea. He got off rather easy on this one.

As the film starts to come to a close, we learn a bit about how true some of the stories were. Most of the lies are fairly easy to see based on how supernatural they are but Edward did a good job of keeping the message straight in each situation. Additionally, he was a good family man to the end and never let himself get tempted into going down a dark path. Now that was a really good look for him since other characters would have definitely faltered at one point or another.

The film can run a bit long at times and probably could have done well with cutting out some moments. You could probably shorten the circus if you needed to as one example. It was a good way of showing Edward’s determination, but it was the most expendable. We also didn’t need the Werewolf plot in general which came out of nowhere. I mean a lot of the dreams/stories came out of nowhere but yeah that didn’t do anything to enhance the plot at all and if anything would only hurt since the film did reference the werewolf eating several animals. At the end of the day, it’s a solid title though and so I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good time. The main character is annoying but aside from him the rest of the characters are pretty good. It’s a solid title about remembering to treasure your connections while you can because everyone dies eventually. You may think you have a lot of time left to talk with someone and then they’re gone in the blink of an eye.

Overall, Big Fish is a film that does well in balancing the fictional and the real. If I would make a change here it would be to never really show any of the real world parts. Don’t actually let the lead find any evidence and just have him learn to trust that at least part of his father’s stories were true. Or have him decide that it just doesn’t matter in the end and he becomes a good sport either way. I would say that either option would end up working out just fine so you don’t have to do anything crazy. That would probably bump it up a star. Either way this isn’t really the kind of story that’s meant to have a lot of replay value but it works as an initial watch.

Overall 6/10

Land of the Lustrous Review

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It’s time for a very unique manga. This series is about a bunch of sentient gemstones living out their lives as normal until eventually one of them starts to get a little inquisitive. I would say initially this is a classic slice of life title but gradually becomes one that’s a bit more philosophical in nature. The gemstones angle does sometimes make it hard to recognize the characters since a lot of them look really similar but you could almost say that ties in with the themes either way. It’s an interesting ride and worth checking out.

The series takes place in the far future long after humanity has been wiped out. The world is now inhabited by a bunch of Gemstones known as the Lustrous as well as their leader, a father/monk sort of fellow. All of the characters are immortal so you can expect a lot of time jumps spanning thousands and thousands of years as the series goes by. They will talk about 100 years ago as if it was the previous day. Our main character here is Phos who is unfortunately a very weak gemstone. Each gemstone is made up of different materials and the weaker a gem is, the less helpful they are.

This is unfortunate for Phos who likes to be involves with everything and is a real go getter. Phos just keeps on breaking on every mission though and is basically the laughing stock of the group although fortunately you could say the gems aren’t too mean about the whole thing. Part of the gems duties is to protect against invading monsters that show up on occasion to kidnap the gemstones. Phos wants to learn more about this and feels like the leader might be keeping things from everyone. Phos doesn’t really have any leads though but one day breaks to pieces for the millionth time and gets reassembled with some weird alien hybrid creature. Now Phos has regeneration and way more strength than before. Will this allow Phos to perhaps understand the monsters and start to put the puzzle pieces together?

You could say that one of the opening debates here is if it’s worth it to rock the boat. Phos is someone who wants to keep on learning and figuring out more about the world. Not just living the same day every day but trying to change tomorrow. Meanwhile most of the other gemstones are perfectly content. Their lives are fairly monotonous in nature but there is nothing unhappy about them. So whether you agree with Phos or not will likely depend on how you feel about life in general. If your life is really happy but you always do the same things and don’t actually know much, would you be satisfied?

It comes down to what the point of life is. When you are immortal and will never die, it can be weird to think about the future. The gems have lived for thousands and thousands of years and will continue to live for untold billions of years. What do you even decide to do when you have that much time? It’s why I would probably be on Phos side. You might as well use all that time to try and uncover new secrets and truths that will give you something to think about. Unfortunately that begins to turn into an obsession with Phos who really ends up losing a whole lot in the process.

The series also does a good job of showing how life would be way different without the concept of death or even pain. When Phos gets shattered, sometimes the characters will just laugh or be amused. They can just put her back together the next day. Whether they break an arm by mistake or fall down and shatter, it’s just not a big deal. Having an argument? Just shatter the gemstone so you can make your point and restore them later. “Death” doesn’t actually mean anything, it’s like taking a nap and so the characters act differently as a result. It’s a series that actually thought through the ramifications of the changes.

Phos is so different from the beginning of the series to the ending that you can barely recognize the characters. Both in terms of looks and personality, Phos is incredibly different. The same is true for most of the characters who change a lot but Phos is definitely the most changed. This is due to some pretty big plot reasons. Ultimately I would say Phos got the short end of the stick here. It’s one of those cases where making life better for everyone else, came at the expense of Phos. Sometimes you live long enough to create change without actually getting to experience it yourself.

Kongo (The monk figure) doesn’t make any of these easy. Now as the series goes on we get some plot reasons on why this is but it doesn’t make you like the character all that much. My biggest problem with him is just how cryptic he is. You get the feeling that he could have tried harder to help the characters out even within his limitations. I know that he can’t just do the impossible but surely throwing a bone here and there would not have been such a big deal. It should have absolutely been doable.

Kongo also tends to sleep a lot which causes the invasions to be more difficult to stop. Kongo is the person who can stop the monsters but even fails at this duty. The toughest part about being immortal would have to be the fact that this guy won’t just talk to you. During the winter most of the gems go into hibernation so only 1-2 stay awake with Kongo and I can’t imagine that he is the most interesting guy to talk to.

Now there are a ton of gems and this is my biggest issue with the series. It is just hard to tell a lot of them apart. You have a few that have really distinct designs like Cinnabar and Bort, but most of them feel rather interchangeable. Their personalities are distinct but then you still have to wait for them to talk to remember who that is. They may all be gemstones but in the thousands of years of living surely they could have come up with headbands or something to differentiate themselves.

To a degree it’s probably also due to the art which is not all that polished. The artwork is okay but can get rather rough during the fight scenes so the action is hard to follow along. It’s a manga that gets very detailed which is good but at the same time it also means that each page is rather hard to follow so you really have to concentrate. It’s not a series that you can read quickly so that does help make sure the length is really solid.

I still did enjoy the series entering the action phase though. Phos had all of the best scenes there while I didn’t care quite as much about the space plot. There is something surreal about the gemstones doing a 180 and trying to live more like humans. Even that seems like it might not end well long term because with immortality, the life of a human may not be super fulfilling. I do think the series does a really good job of showing what life might be like if you were immortal though. There is basically no wars, no violence, or any problems out there.

It’s a nice change of pace from the usual dystopias where people are still fighting anyway. If you really can’t die and you’ll all be living forever, then why would you bother fighting with your neighbors? You might for the first thousand years or so but eventually you see how futile it is. So in this series, everyone basically just gets along and looks on the bright side of things. There are occasional arguments an disagreements but nothing serious or remotely violent. At least until Phos really started digging into things.

I should mention that while the gemstones can’t die conventionally, they can be taken apart to the degree that it doesn’t matter. For example we see that Aechmea, one of the Lunarians would pound gemstones into dust and scatter them across the planet. They were grounded up so thoroughly that putting them together again would be virtually impossible. The characters overlook this a bit quickly or at least that was my initial thought but since in a sense death means something very different to them, I guess it made sense.

In fact, the goal for a bunch of the characters is to finally die. It’s the only way they can know peace after millions and millions of years. It’s actually a rather depressing thought that you could live for so long to the point where you don’t want to be around anymore but being so powerful that you can’t actually die. This gets into more of the final story elements but there is one method for death. You could even say the series is about trying to convince someone to let them have their eternal peace.

It’s a very interesting goal. The series is at its best with these big questions as you ponder what the right way to respond to that situation would be. The series is more on the weaker side when it’s about the romance between one of the gems and the lunarians. It just doesn’t add much to the story and also seems a bit insane considering the history between the two. They also don’t feel emotions in the same way as a human would and so they’re going through the motions but it all feels rather empty. I think the idea was to make some parallels here but I would have focused more on the story itself.

As for the other gems, they all have to basically decide if they will follow Phos or not. It’s not so easy since Phos path will be going directly against Kongo. So they have to decide if they continue to follow the master they have worked with for thousands of years or with one of their colleagues. Neither path has a guaranteed outcome either so it’s all rather high stakes. It does make for some pretty intense battles near the end of the series though and also shows how far Phos has come from the start.

Bort was a really fun character in the series although in this case I liked Bort the most from the intro volumes compared to the ending. Of course this is because Bort gets a lot of character development as well but the vicious, always ready to fight Bort is my favorite version. Bort served as a solid power fighter for the team and someone for Phos to aspire to be like. Bort wasn’t asking the tough questions or trying to figure out life. Instead Bort would just fight off the invaders and keep the peace.

Meanwhile Cinnabar is a gemstone with a unique poison disposition that meant no hanging out with the other gems or even being on most missions. Just being around Cinnabar was dangerous and Phos early goal is to find some way around that. A way for Cinnabar to be freed but that ends up being a very difficult thing to do. It does show how much Phos always cared about everyone even from the beginning. It’s not like the other gems didn’t care but they just wouldn’t think to try and change things up like that.

Most of the important gems end up looking and acting way different in part 2 than in part 1 after the twists and time skips so get prepared for double memorization. Ultimately it’s actually not too important if you memorize all of them as most are not super crucial to the plot but it is definitely impressive if you are able to keep track of them. The cast is surprisingly big for the series by the end of its run.

As for the ending, I can’t say I was a big fan of it. We get some new characters at the very end and I think it’s again for more parallels but it’s just too late for more characters. I’d argue it also just feels a bit depressing. Now you were never going to get a downright happy ending to this series but I could have made do with something in the middle. I was glad that they didn’t cop out on one big decision in the series but they should have ended it there. I would argue that ending the series one volume sooner would have been closer to the ideal ending and would have just been a perfect way to end off. A bit abrupt to be sure but also very clean on the messaging.

Overall, How much you enjoy Land of the Lustrous really will come down to how interesting you find the series to be. Yes there are some action scenes but most of the series is definitely focusing on concepts and such. You have to actually like the sci-fi ideas that are brought up and find the discussions among the gems to be interesting. If you don’t like them then odds are that you won’t like the series. I thought it was a good title that was perhaps held back a little by the art and the uninteresting side characters. I would have heavily reduced the amount of gems around and I think that would have made for a stronger series. It would have given more time to really focus on each one and let us see more into each of their thought processes rather than throwing so many of them into the fold. It would also show just how desolate the world was.

Overall 6/10

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Review

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It’s time to return to the world of the Guardians of the Galaxy where they have to deal with a whole new threat. The films have had their ups and downs to be sure but how would this one wrap things up? Well, unfortunately I would say that it is the weakest one of the 3. The Rocket subplot is a double blow since it introduces animal violence while also writing him out of most of the movie. A very risky call no matter how you slice it since he is such a popular character. Ah well, we still do have a lot of fun banter with the rest of the characters.

The film starts off with the Guardians still being in a rocky spot as Star Lord grieves over not having Gamora around anymore. She died and was replaced with an alternate version of herself that never actually dated him. Now he just gets drunk all day but when the team is suddenly attacked and Rocket gets into critical condition, Star Lord realizes that he has to get his game on. Rocket’s unable to be healed by the usual sci-fi tech because of a bomb inside his chest and so they need to find a way to deactivate it. This may mean going up against the high Evolutionary but the team has never allowed themselves to be deterred before and they aren’t about to start now.

So lets get the dicey parts out of the way first. The High Evolutionary’s whole gimmick is that he experiments on animals in order to evolve them further. He aims to make a new human race that is superior to the old one. So naturally in a film adaption that means that we are seeing a lot of animals in rough states. Several of them were essentially dismantled and are part cyborgs now. Rocket grew up with a bunch of them so we see this quite a bit. Fortunately the surgeries already happened as that would have really pushed the envelope into absolutely terrible stories but it is a really dark plot that to this day you never need in any kind of film. It’s never going to elevate things.

Rocket also had a lot of experiments done on him which were quite painful. It’s a subplot that really drags the film since we cut away to it numerous times. Meanwhile the High Evolutionary looks really bad the whole time. I’m used to him being a fairly poised villain who is in control but here he constantly whines and it out of his depth. He doesn’t seem to be a great super genius and was unable to find Rocket for many years despite the guy being a world famous Guardian. This guy’s utopia didn’t even work as he has actual drug dealers running around.

He says he’ll just start again but why would a new attempt be any different? He feels like he is just completely insane. That’s not a bad thing for a villain necessarily but at the same time I would say that it just doesn’t make sense amidst the wider context. I would argue it makes his whole goal seem weird since he wasn’t even close to succeeding and having Rocket won’t really help with that. he discards all of his test subjects too quickly.

While the film also did a number on Warlock in terms of totally changing his character, at least he was funny. I can see why longtime fans wouldn’t appreciate this version since he’s nothing like the comics/games but at least he looks reasonably strong. I would argue he should have crushed the Guardians with ease though since that team is hardly the strongest one out there. I suppose he just lets his guard down a little too quickly when the going gets tough. With the Sentry coming up, Warlock’s probably not going to be able to stand out quite as much in his next appearance.

Where the film is stronger is in the usual banter. If you liked their discussions in the first two films then you should like them here as well. This team loves to constantly be bashing each other and they’re always doing pranks. For better or worse, you can’t trust your teammates on the small stuff but you can count on them when the stakes are serious. Mantis is always pranking Drax despite his many protests, Star Lord seems like he can’t help but constantly flirt with Gamora, etc. The team is completely dysfunctional but you could say that’s part of the fun.

The only member who is mainly left out is Groot thanks to Rocket being gone the whole time. Still a rough decision I gotta say and they should have kept him awake the whole time and helping out, just have there be a time limit on the bomb or something. From the Guardians I would say Mantis was my favorite character. Yeah she is definitely very immature and gets the team into a lot of trouble but at the same time I would say she cares about the team the most. She is always doing everything she can in order to help the rest out. Her attempts sometimes backfire but it’s the thought that counts.

Gamora is also solid considering how much she has to put up with. She is completely a different person than the old one so it’s really not fair how much pressure they put on her. I was glad that she stuck to her guns and did not let peer pressure win. That would have been a pretty bad look if you ask me. It was also good to have at least one team member who could fight well and keep the team on track. I would say that’s Drax’s role but he still ends up being the team’s jobber for most of the film. He does well against Warlock in the opening fight though so I’ll give him that. He also gets some big moments near the end of the film.

I didn’t care much for Yondu’s replacement but at least he doesn’t appear much. He was being kinda rude to Cosmo for no good reason. Cosmo did good though and reminded viewers why he is one of the most powerful creatures here. His mental abilities are really impressive. Finally we have Star Lord and he does not look good at all here. Getting so drunk and wasted during the intro was really rough. I needed him to step up as the team leader a whole lot sooner than he did. This is supposed to be his team after all, it was time for him to man up and act like it. I already talked about the Gamora stuff but yeah he’s just too desperate. I think he works well as the whiny comic relief in most cases, the serious moments just don’t hit as hard.

The film does a good job of making him funny at least though. I would make the case that the humor in the film tends to land more than it doesn’t. For that reason I would label the film more as a comedy adventure than adding any action to it. We do get some good fight scenes but I would say no great ones. The first fight with Warlock is way too slow and the best fight is the room battle near the end where everyone fights at once. Unfortunately there isn’t a great climax fight this time. I think the reason is because the High Evolutionary can’t really fight so there was no big villain that would force the heroes to team up against him.

While the second film had a lot of faults, it did deliver on a rather big climax which also had Star Lord’s best scene in the MCU. If you take away the Rocket subplot entirely then this film has a clean win over the second film but with it then it does end up sinking more than expected. Ultimately I guess you just can’t beat the original film which had all the fun first meetings. It was probably the funniest as well. In general it’s not possible for every joke in a comedy film to land but I would say most of them did there. A good amount landed in this film as well though.

As for the music, I would say it’s a step down from the first two films. Maybe that means low key the new music eras can’t beat the 80s. That is definitely possible although I tend to like 2000s so maybe it’s just the selection. There were no themes here that felt like they would become iconic or anything like that. They were good enough but not crazy good. Meanwhile we don’t get the usual big stingers at the end of this film so the ending is rather subdued.

Overall, Guardians 3 could have been better. It definitely suffers from having one of the worst MCU villains to date and not having a proper super bad to end the film with. Removing Rocket from most of the film was not a good decision and of course his backstory really ended up hurting the film as well. This was just one negative too many for the film to get around and so that sealed its fate. I think if you go into the film as a fan of the Guardians and just want a fun time you may get the best out of this. If you’re going in as an action fan or a big comic book guy, then you are probably not going to have as good a time here between Warlock and the High Evolutionary.

Overall 4/10

The Black Stallion Returns Review

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It’s time for the Black Stallion to return. I wasn’t a big fan of the first film and while this one is better I still wouldn’t say it’s great or anything like that. The biggest problem here is the boring second half which is interesting since it was the first half that was boring in the original film. Hey that’s how it goes sometimes but at least the film tries to fix the original error so I give it some props there.

The film starts with two different groups deciding to kidnap Alec’s horse. Alec and Black had been winning so many races and taking the world by storm that this allowed these groups to see what was going on. One of the groups wants to use Black to make loads of money while the other one wants to set him free back in his home country. Both groups believe their reason to be the right one and so Alec isn’t brought in to discuss this. Instead they break in and one group burns down the stables and kidnaps Black. Alec gives pursuit and tells his mom that he’ll be back someday after he saves the day. Can a kid really be okay all alone in the desert like this though?

First off, Alec took a terrific risk here in going all the way to the desert by himself. He’s still a kid here even if he’s older than he was in the first film. I give him some respect there but at the same time he probably could have told his mother where he was going or gotten some backup. Either option did run the risk of his being physically prevented from continuing though so I won’t blame him too hard there. The problem is that he is completely out of his depth and gets annoying on more than one occasion.

Alec would have died near the beginning if not for meeting up with a nice kid named Raj. Alec gets punked by some obviously shady figures and then he even has to try some really awful looking food. Alec never really thinks ahead and gets stopped on more than one occasion before he can get himself into even bigger trouble. Enthusiasm is good but ultimately it’s not like that is going to win you any awards and that’s what he learns the hard way. It definitely gets old.

Also the desert has nothing really going for it. The backgrounds are always going to be boring and plain without any really nice things to look at. The pacing of the movie also completely dies here as you never learn quite enough to really care about Raj’s plot. You just want to see Alec and Black get together which takes a really long time. We still get a race by the very end of the film but it sure took some doing to get there. I’m also not sure about the ending. On one hand it looks like it’ll be better for the horse which is definitely huge but on the other hand it is basically rewarding these groups for acting like vigilantes. Surely they could have tried to do this a little more diplomatically but they left no room for discussion right from the start. I’d say Alec should still be upset and his mother had to be worried to death the whole time.

It’s still hard to wrap my head around why you would make a sequel to the Black Stallion where the horse barely gets to appear. How does that make any kind of sense? To me that just seems crazy and I’m sure the viewers were shocked. Especially since the opening actually did have the horse showing up and we had a pretty intense beginning. The spy stuff was fun and there was a lot of tension as you waited to see if Alec would find out that there were people up to no good around his house. The film basically squandered all of that to give us a really long desert sequence and that is the exact moment where the film lost its steam.

I know in a film like this you have the kid be by himself to ramp up the feeling of danger but my hot take is that his Mom should have followed him. Having an adult there would give Alec a little legitimacy when talking to the various cutthroats around. Additionally, an adult would just be a whole lot more interesting. Lets face it, there’s just not much Alec can actually do on his own. He can’t fight, he’s not smart enough to be a spy, he has really no available options to him. At least his mom could theoretically fight or use a gun at least. Just anything to make the desert plot less boring.

Overall, The Black Stallion Returns is a decent film at best. The main problem I have with it is that it can be boring at times. It’s not the biggest issue a film can have but of course it is still powerful since you are watching a film to be entertained the whole time. Being bored for any period doesn’t really help. The film also mainly manages to dodge the animal violence but not totally as there is an incident with a camel and also the horses are treated a bit roughly the whole time. I never like watching horse races for that reason since I don’t think they’re very fun for the horse. If you absolutely need to watch a horse film then this one could be decent but keep in mind that no horses appear for the majority of the film. Just something to consider.

Overall 5/10

Godzilla: Skate or Die Review

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They say that the artwork in a comic is the most important aspect…and they were right. Good writing is something you want to have too of course but when reading a comic you need the art to look solid. Unfortunately this is one of the worst displays of artwork that I have seen to the point where it is incredibly distracting. Nothing looks right and since the story didn’t have the greatest plot in the first place, the whole comic ended up being cooked. It’s not bad but it’s definitely not all that great either.

The comic starts with some skaters talking and having a good time getting ready to head to their favorite spot. They are not exactly grade A students but they are a close knit bunch who are all ready for some fun. Unfortunately it turns out that Kaiju are real as Varan and Godzilla both appear. They are heading towards at each other for a climactic battle. That’s not the worst part though, they will be colliding at the big skating area that the main characters set up. They will have to dash over there now to get one last skate session in and find a way to stop the Kaiju from tearing it apart. Will they be able to get past the government barricades and put a stop to this?

Now you may be thinking that the cops will make short work of the skaters but they’re actually kept on the back foot the whole time. They do their best like having the cop cars running around but the skaters keep on outmaneuvering them. We get some extra drama as the police guy in charge is the father of one of the kids. The comic doesn’t care a ton about this connection though which is fine with me since I am hear for the Kaiju. The problem is that none of the humans get a ton of development. They start out the adventure as your average skater dudes and don’t change much from there. They’re not over the top annoying or anything but they’re also not particularly good either.

Of course it’s always easier to point out the negatives there than to fix them. I’m not exactly sure what I would do to fix them for example. Maybe playing up their different characteristics a bit more. Like one of them was really into Kaiju so they could have had him show off his knowledge more or worked on the father-son tensions with the other one. At the same time it’s still all about the execution. So that leads me to my main solution, the comic should have leaned into the cheesy nature of the concept a bit more. Have Godzilla actually fight with the skaters. He tries to blast them while they keep jumping away and dodging every move. That would have made for a much better dynamic and then you would have a reason for them to get so much focus.

With their speed and all, readers could maybe buy into it a little bit and it’s not like Godzilla would be going all out using his nuclear wave to stop them or something. So me personally? That’s how I would have solved the issue and I dare say that it would have really worked. It’s just my two cents though and again with the art the way it is, it’s not like the score would be much higher.

I think Varan fans will be satisfied with his portrayal though. He actually has the edge against Godzilla for a good portion of their fight. You can even make the case that he would have ultimately defeated the King of the Monsters if not for the humans giving some help near the end. I like to think Godzilla would have gotten his second wind though. We don’t actually get to see most of the fight since it keeps cutting back to the skaters so for all we know, Godzilla had the edge for most of the battle.

The art still wasn’t good for the battles but at least it was something to catch your attention. I would say the main issue here is that the art was just too abstract. For the most part it was just severely lacking in detail and that’s never a good thing. A comic should be easy to read with everything being organized neatly. That was not the case here. It actually takes longer than it should in order to read through the comic because of how cluttered each page is. The artist really tried sticking everything possible onto the page and it just did not work.

If we ever got a sequel to this comic, they just need to switch the art style asap. There was enough foreshadowing where you definitely could do a sequel after all. Even a prequel I dare say since it was said that Godzilla has appeared several times in the past. It’s hard to say what kind of timeline we’re working with here but it’s definitely something where you could throw in a whole lot of fights. It’ll just all be futile if you can’t really enjoy the fights because you are deciphering the art. Also, the comic neglected to put Orga in the giant Kaiju splash page which was definitely a big mistake. That guy is iconic.

Overall, Skate or Die is definitely more about the skaters than Godzilla. Not necessarily a bad thing but you just don’t care about those guys. They’re all nice enough and all but don’t end up being all that memorable. I would say most of the issues are all amplified by the art though because if the art was really good then the characters would stand out more. Ultimately this whole comic is just a reminder of how important the artwork can be. If you really love Godzilla comics then you should probably check this one out as a completionist kind of thing but otherwise there isn’t much reason to check this one out. It’ll probably go down as one of the weakest Godzilla titles.

Overall 5/10

The Black Stallion Review

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How much you actually enjoy this film will definitely come down to how much you enjoy the main kid. Will you find him annoying or endearing? For me he tended to be a bit more on the annoying side and so ultimately that didn’t help the film. The first half just takes way too long for anything to happen. The film gets significantly better once we are back to civilization but you really don’t feel yourself pulled into the movie. Instead you are on the outside wondering if the climax can save it all.

The film starts off by introducing us to Alec who is a bit of a quiet kid. He’s on a voyage with his father but unfortunately a big storm hits and he gets stranded on an island along with the Black Stallion. Alec must quickly learn how to fend for himself and stay alive. It’s definitely not an easy task for a little kid to handle so I give him props there. He also uses the time to get closer to the horse and it makes for a solid friendship the whole time. Once they make it back to civilization, Alec finds out that his horse is a great runner. Perhaps he can even be the best?

Technically I wouldn’t even say there is a ton of plot in this movie. Certainly not to the level you would expect to see in a movie that is around 2 hours. That is because a lot of the character development is really told through silent actions. Not a whole lot happens when it’s just Alec trying to survive on the island for example. Seeing him slowly get close to the horse can be emotional for some but for me I was really ready to get past this part. It’s why this is the crucial make or break point for the film. Me personally? I would have liked to have skipped to the civilization angle because to me that’s when the film really begins.

So that whole first half is basically dead time and while the film didn’t do anything wrong, not capturing my attention did hurt its chances of going up. Additionally in order to get to that point we had the horse get stuck and nearly drown early on. It felt like the horse was in a lot of distress throughout the movie which is always unnerving to see. The stallion was a very strong horse but I still didn’t want to see it get put through any hardships. This horse deserved a very happy life throughout. That’s absolutely what you want to see here.

As for once we get to civilization, I enjoyed the character of Henry. He helps a lot in training for the race events and just seemed like a nice guy. He was very supportive of Alec the whole time and really had his back. Without him, the racing would not have been possible. Alec and Henry certainly did put a lot of stress on Alec’s new guardian though who was understandably very hesitant to let him ride a horse. That is a dangerous profession and no amount of gaslighting can really get you around that fact.

Sure enough, the horse actually gets injured near the end. We still have an uplifting ending and things go well but yeah horse racing would not be the sport for me. In general I can do human racing but when you bring the animals into it, there are too many maybes for me. Are the horses all being treated right? What happens to the horse in last place? Working with animals is a very delicate field and not one that you want to get too mainstream because a lot of people are not really up for the task.

We’ll assume all the best in this film of course but even so there just isn’t a whole lot for me. At its core this is a film really about the kids and he’s just not good enough to hold the whole film. Kids rarely are, I always end up needing an adult to really liven things up. Since the bulk of the screentime is for the kid, it means that most of the film ends up being boring. That alone is enough for me to keep this film from making it into the green because it’s not a film that I would watch on my own.

I probably wouldn’t have made it past the opening 20 minutes on my own because I would be completely checked out. So I appreciate what the film is going for and I do appreciate there being good films aimed at the kids. This just isn’t one that suits my particular interests. At the end of the day, I certainly prefer to dislike a film based on the plot rather than on the content. So there isn’t anything particularly objectionable about this one. If you really like the idea of a kid surviving on his own in a proper coming of age story, then you’ll like this one.

Overall, I’d say parents will get the greatest amount of joy in this film. Seeing this kid take everything on with good cheer is definitely uplifting. You have to be really invested in that part of the story to make it to the race later on. That said, if you’re not a big fan of kids then it’s not like this film is really going to change your mind. The kid isn’t getting involved in a ton of banter or anything like that. If anything, he’s still fairly quiet even by the end of the film. Oh, he definitely has a lot more confidence but he certainly isn’t a big braggart. A sequel taking place 10 years later would probably be a whole lot more interesting to me. Not sure exactly where you would go with that one but it would solve my biggest issues with the film. So that was the Black Stallion, I can still safely say it beats the average animal film which tends to fall into bigger holes than simply being uneventful.

Overall 4/10