Tag Archives: Adventure

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Review

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It’s time for the weakest Indiana Jones adventure. This one definitely dwells a bit too much on the grosser elements of exploration as the heroes keep finding themselves in spots where the locals eat rather gross food options. Additionally the film definitely does decide to get a little extra edgy like having Jones be forced to take some corrupted blood. The end result is a film that doesn’t quite let Indiana Jones get as much adventuring in as you’d like.

The film starts off with Indiana trying to close out a deal he made with some shady individuals. They betray him but Indiana was ready and betrays them right back. His big mistake was in drinking some poison by mistake so he loses his leverage and barely escapes along with his life. His sidekick Short Round was definitely really helpful here but Jones is less pleased to have a lady named Willie follow along. The 3 of them are now stuck together and before they can go home, Indiana runs into a village where the kids have gone missing. Is it the work of a supernatural entity…or something a little more down to Earth?

Right away I can tell you that the romance in this film is quite abysmal although it’s not like the romance in the Jones films tend to be all that good anywhere. The third film actually gets even worse in that regard. Willie has no reason to like Jones after being tossed in this crazy predicament and she comes off as looking desperate. No worries, the same is true of Jones as well who really can’t ever seem to keep his mind on the adventure at hand. Perhaps that is why he tends to lose several times in every movie? He is constantly being outmaneuvered and manipulated by all of the other characters at every turn. He has to get lucky constantly in order to survive.

I’ll give him credit for doing his best to save the kids and help things end all right but as a character he can definitely be really annoying. In this film he is really outshined by his sidekick most of the time. Shorty saves Jones on multiple occasions and really does a lot better than I would have expected out of any kid. Usually the kids tend to be panicking or getting in the way but not this guy. He stepped up as needed and took a lot of risks. While I still tend to avoid having kids in film, this one wasn’t bad at least. He was probably even the MVP here.

Willie never really gets better even outside of the romance plot to be honest. She is constantly panicking and yelling the whole time. She has some valid points like I wouldn’t want to be forced to eat bugs either. Some kind of escape plan would be a good idea but at the end of the day you can’t always escape everything. Sometimes you’ve just got to take a stand but even to the end Willie was allowing herself to just be pushed around and go with the flow. Not the best way to really pave a path for herself.

Like I said at the start, the film definitely leans too hard on all the creepy crawlies. When characters aren’t eating them, they are in rooms covered in them or having to let them crawl all around. Crude humor probably isn’t quite the word for it so I don’t really know which term is right but it’s just overplayed. Meanwhile this is definitely known as a fairly violent Jones film for good reason. The deaths can get intense, then you have the gruesome drinking blood scene and of course Jones being used as a pin cushion.

While the climax gives us a really long action sequence, it actually takes a while to get there. In the leadup to that we have a whole lot of lore as things are being explained to Jones but the film basically takes a timeout. This could have worked better with a fun backdrop but of course it’s all about the bugs and the weak romance so you’re really just itching for the plot to begin again. Anything to get you out of the duller moments.

The villains are also on the very forgettable side. I’d say the villains from the first film were a lot more impressive. These guys are all insane cultists who fit all the primitive tropes well but do little to really impress you. They’re the kind of villains where you probably won’t remember any of their names or even much of their goals within a few weeks. They are obstacles for Jones to defeat and nothing more. I’m waiting for another big rival character like the guy from the first film. That would make for a much better dynamic.

Also by this point there is so much supernatural going on within the world that Jones needs to weaponize it. Clearly voodoo dolls work so using that to tie up his enemies would be intense. Of course first he would need to figure out how it works but this is all a lot easier once you know that supernatural things do exist. Likewise we had spirits in the first film. I know at the time Jones didn’t believe in the supernatural but surely by this point he does. He would be absolutely crazy to not have put the two dots together by now.

Overall, The Temple of Doom wasn’t particularly good. It’s also just a little too long for it to only be okay so there isn’t a lot of replay value here. To watch it again you would need a strong reason to do so. Additionally there is pretty much no screentime of Jones in his professor role which is a shame since I liked the whole dual identity. It feels like the film just sort of lost its way a bit here although it would rebound in time. I needed more fun tomb exploration and solving puzzles like a Tomb Raider game. That’s what I expect from an Indiana Jones adventure at least.

Overall 5/10

Raiders of the Lost Ark Review

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It’s time for the original Indiana Jones adventure. It’s definitely been quite a while since I’ve seen this movie. Did it age well or has the film absolutely been devastated by the cruel march of time? Well, I can safely say that the film is pretty solid. It’s actually a fun adventure that may drag on just a tad but there is a lot going on. We get a good amount of fight scenes and chases throughout. I’d actually like to see more of Professor Jones in his day job since I like the idea of an alter ego like a superhero. I mean he doesn’t keep it a secret…but you know what I mean.

The film starts off with Indiana Jones on a big mission but he ends up getting double crossed by his travel guide and then being wrecked by his rival Rene. Rene has historically always gotten the better of Jones and this adventure is no exception. Rene just has too many tools up his arsenal. He’s smart, rich, and always one step ahead of the adventurer. Jones crawls back home where he is then sent on another mission to retrieve the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazi’s. The problem is that the Nazi’s have hired Rene and Jones has never beaten him before. He will need the help of his old friend Rene but she has not forgiven him for the dubious relationship of the past. Can Jones turn on the charm and win her over?

I would say the main adventure gets even worse for Jones because he has a clear step up over Rene since he knows where the key is which will help in getting to it. Unfortunately Jones forgets that Rene always likes to skip the adventure and just steal things at the end. Get ready to see Jones lose a whole lot of fights over and over again but he refuses to give up. Jones is no quitter, he will keep on fighting to the last. It’s why he is a professional. In a way it’s almost impressive how much plot armor the guy has because he should have died many times.

The worst instance is probably when he grabs a rocket and tries to hold everyone hostage. Rene calls his bluff and Jones surrendered. Look, you can’t surrender at this point. There’s no reason why Rene wouldn’t just shoot him there or be overruled by the Nazi’s where Jones would still be shot. You have to just go down with everybody at this point. Every time a hero decides to just throw in the towel I have to shake my head because that’s just a really bad idea. Jones makes a lot of questionable decisions though like leaving Marion in enemy camp where she might be tortured and beaten by the enemies because he doesn’t want them to know that he’s around.

Jones is a guy who really puts the mission first and the film makes that clear. He’s not here to make friends or anything like that. No, he’s here to do what he has to and live the adventurous life. For that reason the romance definitely doesn’t work at all here because there is no way Marion would forgive Jones, let alone get together with him. He showed how little he cared about her throughout the film. Honestly she should have just back stabbed him and ran away. It’s not like she is a great character either. She makes a lot of mistakes and can be annoying but she seems to have had a rather rough upbringing and was in a terrible situation so you can empathize there.

You certainly sympathize more with her than with Indiana Jones. Make no mistake, Jones is a fun character to watch. The film wouldn’t be the same without him but that’s definitely different than being a quality character. Meanwhile the rival Rene was good until the film inevitably made him girl crazy. It’s always a cheap way to suddenly make the villain look weak and give the hero a chance. Why make him so gullible? He was basically willing to throw everything away for a quick fling and that doesn’t make sense from a man who was so determined and strategic.

If he wants romance then he can find that on his downtime. The guy is rich so that should be easy. No, instead he messes around during a mission. Ah well, I’d like to see more of him and his rivalry with Jones in some prequels. There’s probably a whole lot you can do there, maybe even the reluctant team up. Now that would definitely be a fun way to go about things.

Naturally the film does well on the technical aspects. It looks good and the soundtrack is fun. The Jones theme itself has always been well known and it’s fun. Definitely has that heroic feel to it. Meanwhile the backgrounds look good and the fights are on point. They incorporate some nice humor into them as well like when Jones just shoots someone instead of trying to outfight them. The blend of action and humor works really well and that comes down to the writing which is really sharp. The script is good with all of the characters and helps to support the rest of the film.

At times the film can be surprisingly violent with how the characters die. The spinning airplane death and the trap near the beginning of the film definitely come to mind. This is definitely a movie where they aren’t afraid to really have characters bite the big one. It also underscores how Jones nearly dies on several occasions only to get bailed out. Can you believe he was ready to eat some fruit while in a dangerous territory? Yeah you definitely have to wonder how he survived this long. The film does keep things from being too extreme though which is good. It has a better balance than the next film does.

Overall, Raiders of the Lost Ark is a pretty good film. It has a whole lot going on and the fun script makes it go pretty fast. As I said it can feel a bit long at times, I would say particularly the part in the desert but not enough to really hurt the film or anything like that. It is also a long film in general so to an extent this may have been unavoidable. If you haven’t seen the film yet then it is a good time to check it out. The movie is known as a classic after all and you can see why that is the case.

Overall 7/10

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim Review

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This film had me shellshocked from start to finish. A Lord of the Rings film with good characters? A film that actually had an interesting story and good graphics? Even cool setup for the actual films to mess up later? What??? If you told me this was not a Lord of the Rings film initially but converted in post I would believe you because it is legions better than the previous films. Now it still does make its share of mistakes like some unfortunate animal violence but the difference is still night and day.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Hera who is the princess to the mighty Rohan kingdom. This kingdom is ruled by the mighty king Helm and his two sons Haleth and Hama are each formidable as well. These 4 members of royalty all have the blood of the gods within them which allows them to fight with superhuman strength and stamina. Helm has laid waste to entire armies in the past. Well, not everyone is happy about this and a rival province wants to have Hera married to Wulf to unite these kingdoms. They were childhood friends once but Hera points out that they are only friends. Wulf’s father dies in one blow to Helm when they fight and now Wulf has sworn revenge. He will destroy the entire kingdom. Can they stop him?

Right away I have to give major credit to the animation which is quite excellent. In particular Hera’s red hair really stands out by being several shades brighter than any other object in the entire film. She radiates main character energy the whole time and definitely does well as the lead. The battles look good as well and so this is a film that looks way better than I ever would have assumed. This animation would stay consistent throughout the movie. While the soundtrack may have been more forgettable, the animation more than makes up for this.

As I mentioned before, the film also isn’t a total bore fest like the live action films. I think in large part this also comes down to the animation because the film actually looks good unlike the others which all take place in dreary areas with no color. Everyone sounds boring in those films and the characters have no passion. There is nothing like that here as we have a fairly large cast that all have interesting personalities. The only real negative here is the animal violence which is unfortunately significant enough to notch the film down 2 stars.

Whenever you see a film that takes place in an old school fantasy land you can unfortunately assume that there will be casualties. In this case that means a few of the giant elephants running around. These beasts have a whole lot of power but are mainly still terrorized by everyone else. One is eaten whole by another monster which was quite brutal and two of them take blows to the face as one is stabbed to death. I definitely would have preferred for these beasts to not have been in the film at all. That would have been my preference at the very least. You could show the abilities of the various characters in other ways.

I will say that this is the first film in the series where the superhuman fighters actually feel strong. Yes, we know that several of the creature races are stronger than the others but in the live action films they all look like humans. Here we see Helm going toe to toe with a giant orc and you can feel his power. Likewise when he was taking down numerous foes in his warrior’s madness form. Those were impressive moments and likewise his two sons showed that they had far more power than the average fighter. It’s little elements like this which also made the movie more fun.

Hera is far more likable than Bilbo and Frodo. She knows what it takes to lead a country and never gives up. She comes out with plan after plan and also knows how to fight. Just because Hera was not picked to lead the country doesn’t mean that she slacked off on training. If anything she was glad not to have to rule the kingdom because this way she had her freedom. She didn’t agree to an arranged marriage or act docile at all throughout the movie. She kept on fighting and was only willing to make concessions to save her people. You couldn’t ask for a much better character than that. She may have been a little too curious at times and got the characters into trouble at times but that’s what happens when you’re an adventurer.

Her main defender was Olwyn, a powerful shield bearer from the past. Olwyn looks really solid here as she holds her own against the villains and comes in clutch to help Hera. This is the kind of fighter that you want on your side. She was still powerful even after decades of fighting which is not something that you can say for most characters. She was just in a league of her own and had a whole lot of confidence about her.

Meanwhile Haleth and Hama were also really solid. Haleth was always careful to look out for his sister and seemed to be a very reasonable fighter. He was the first to notice that they didn’t have as many soldiers as expected before the big battle and was the only one to take down one of the elephants in one on one combat. It’s a shame the way that he went out but it makes sense that the villains would use cheap tricks. In one on one combat none of the villains would have been close to his level. Likewise Hama was a great fighter although he seemed to be more of a long range specialist compared to his brother. Ultimately not investing in a stronger horse came back to hurt him but he never showed any fear in front of the enemy.

Helm was the most powerful character in the film and I appreciated that the film didn’t try to make him some faultless king. He had his issues like not listening to others and being quick to anger. The events of the film could have been way different if he had less pride and would listen to wise counsel. Of course this is likely also how he became King since you need a very strong will to pull that off. All in all I liked him. Yes he could be quite mean all the time but in his own way he was looking after the kingdom. The fact that he took out so many enemies amidst the freezing cold was really quite the feat. I dare say he would have finished the whole army if not for Hera’s rare misstep.

Frealaf was one character who suffered from Helm’s mistimed outburst. The guy was real loyal and having him around could have really changed the tide of battle. Perhaps they would have still lost as it wasn’t a huge squad but he was shown to be quite skilled and versatile with different weapons. I appreciated that his loyalty to the king and country were completely unaverred even after basically being told that he was useless. He had the mental fortitude of a strong warrior.

As for the villains, I can’t say as much for them. Wulf only does well in the film because of sheer numbers. It is made clear time and time again that they need dozens more men on their side to equal the fighting prowess of the heroes. Wulf basically loses every fight that he is in. He can’t defeat Hera in a straight fight, let alone someone like Helm or his two sons. He was struggling heavily against Olwyn as well. Wulf comes off as super whiny throughout the movie. You have to remember that his whole swearing revenge thing came out of a fair fight in which his father lost. There were no underhanded moves or anything of the sort. How are you going to be upset when you lose a fair fight like that?

Meanwhile he was expecting Hera to marry him because they were friends when they were kids? Nah that’s going far as well and even when they were kids he lost control of himself rather quickly. I ended up not liking Wulf pretty much at all when initially I thought he was going to be a really interesting villain. He services the plot well but that’s really all I can say for him. The guy also gets lucky on more than one occasion.

His general Targg was definitely wasted on such a man. Targg actually had good plans and words of wisdom. If Wulf had listened to him then he would have won the film several times over. Targg did look rather dumb in his last scene but in every moment before then he had looked good. It’s clear why he was well respected as a top general. The guy earned his station and ultimately just let his guard down a bit too soon.

That’s quite a lot of characters to develop in this film and so for a change I can say that the film properly utilized its long runtime. This was a movie that really needed the two hours and used it wisely. The film had a solid start, great setup, epic battles, and a satisfying climax. Like I said before, this doesn’t sound like a Lord of the Rings film. I was very impressed and I can say now that it’s time for more animated movies like this. Forget Bilbo, Frodo, Gandalf, and the rest of the realms. Lets do more prequels back when you had the age of the gods and more big fights like this.

Overall, This was a rather epic film. I can finally see why people like these classic war type movies. Now granted, for now I see this as an exception to the rule but what an exception it was. Honestly it would have been awesome if retroactively they made Hera the one to take down Sauron at the start of the first film. We did already have a cool twist with the name of the stronghold though so I can be satisfied with that. Yes, I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a solid fantasy film. It’ll really surprise you just how good this movie can get.

Overall 6/10

Bicycle Thieves Review

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It’s time for a film that was fairly short but also a good deal of fun. It’s what I would call a very subdued film but one that still gets the plot across. At the end of the day, a bike is stolen and while for most of the characters this isn’t a big deal, it’s definitely huge to the main character. You can feel the drama and ultimately the film shows how he gets more and more desperate to the point of his undoing.

The movie starts by introducing us to Antonio who is having a hard time providing for his wife and kid because there are no jobs available. You have the ultra rich and then most of the people in town who are super poor. There isn’t really much of a balance to be found here at all. Well, he finally gets a job but it is contingent on getting a bike. Antonio sells the last of his earthly possessions in order to get a bike but then it is promptly stolen one day while he is on the job. Can he get the bike back or is it curtains for him?

Right away Antonio sees how he won’t have backup on this mission. The cops basically give up immediately as they say it just won’t be possible to track down the bike. By this point it has likely been disassembled or is just out of their reach. Still, if Antonio can find the bike, they will keep the serial number on file so that he can make a claim to it. It’s a huge city though and everyone has a bike. There are hundreds on the streets and in the markets so this is really like finding a needle in a haystack. It will not be easy to complete this mission.

Finding the individual thief might be easier but even then how do you get the proof that he is guilty? A lot of the crooks all stick up for themselves too so he will really be in enemy territory here. Due to the nature of the job (Putting up posters) it will also be tough to constantly be guarding the bike even if Antonio gets it back. It may just get stolen again. Faced with all of this, Antonio also starts considering going down the dark path and just getting a bike of his own.

It’s a film about being pushed into a tough spot and seeing how you will react. Some will go off the deep end and just sink to the same level while others will push through. It’s easy to determine what to do from the couch but of course in that situation it could be a whole lot different. Either way the film is written well and has quick pacing. The movie is really over in the blink of an eye.

I can use this one as a good example of how quality writing can get you far. Objectively speaking it’s not like this film has a huge story or anything like that. It’s a very small and direct one. What really sets it apart is that the film establishes the situation well so you can sympathize with Antonio right away. It’s not like he’s an amazing character or anything but he’s just a guy trying to get through the day. He’s persistent and uses every connection available. There are just limits to what one person can do, especially on such a timer. Additionally it seems like the crime rates were rather high here which makes it all the more unlikely that he would find the bike because it’s just not a great neighborhood to be in.

There is also a character who is supposed to be all knowing and at first he writes her off as a scam but begins to think better of it later on. It’s one of those things where he just got really desperate but his first hunch was correct. If anything he just ends up wasting money along the way like with that scam or buying a bunch of food in a burst of frustration. The problem only gets worse the more that he tries to pursue it. It’s why theft is such a stressful crime. Odds are that when someone takes something from you, you’re never going to find it again.

It’s also a reminder of how tight money can be at times. When you’re going through a slump and have to cut back on meals and food, you remember how much worse it could really be. These people were really just trying to survive and doing so without the knowledge of a steady job to back you up is really something. I’ll also give Antonio’s kid some props for doing his best to help out. He was a good sport as they kept running around everywhere. He did make some mistakes and at times could be a bit slow on the ball but for his age he did better than most would.

Antonio’s wife seemed more the panicky type and wasting money on a seer seemed like a really bad idea considering how they were doing financially. It’s like if you’re down to your final $5 but you still want to go to the bar and get a quick drink. It’s just not a good idea at all and will only make the situation that much worse. I suppose she really thought that the lady had all the answers and could help but yeah it was not a good idea.

Overall, You definitely couldn’t call this a happy film but it also isn’t downright depressing or anything. I would say it’s a sad film and one that ends right before things are about to get even sadder for the characters. It was a good look for the city but definitely in an annoying kind of way. It’s a satisfying watch and while I don’t think there will be much in the way of replay value here, I would definitely recommend checking it out. I can see why people enjoy watching this film.

Overall 7/10

The Man From Utah Review

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It’s time for a film where John Wayne plays a character named…John? Yeah you already know this is going to be a good one. It’s a very old film since it’s from the 30s but it still does have a full soundtrack and everything so that was nice. The film does feel its age but it still holds up as a solid experience. It is incredibly short though so things have to move quickly but in a way that may be a good thing. I think the novelty could have worn off if this was too long.

The film starts off with John singing and having a good ole time as he dashes through the wild west. This is clearly a man on a mission but then he bumps into a bunch of bank robbers. He holds his own against them but they run off and John nearly gets framed for being one of them. Fortunately, John gets away but the Marshall catches up to him and enlists the guy’s help. See there is going to be a big contest in a few days and these crooks have been cheating to win a bunch of them. If John enters, they will try taking him down as well and then the Marshall will have caught them in the act. John agrees to help.

Now I do have to admit that the whole thing does make the previous heroes look sloppy since they didn’t notice the villains fiddling with the equipment all the time. These guys don’t exactly seem like top professionals or anything like that after all. They’re also not the smartest crooks in the bunch as they desert the girl member of the group right before the heist. Seems like an easy way to get yourself double crossed right? They should have brought her along or made up some lie on why she would be joining them later on. Just straight up ditching her is absolutely the worst decision you could make there. It makes them look real bad there.

Granted they still put up a fight at the end and overwhelm the bank worker. It would have been nice if they could have been stopped a bit sooner but at the end of the day the heroes still took care of business. John could have been one of the ultimate sheriffs but instead he decided to go for the romantic life. This won’t surprise you but the romance here is very rushed. When a film is only around an hour or so that is very likely though.

The actual competition is okay but all of them involve animals which is not a pastime I can really support. Having to tie up bulls or stay on horses that don’t want you there just feels mean spirited. If the animal is not having fun then I’m not either. I can appreciate that it is difficult to pull off these challenges and yet I feel like it just should not be a thing. I would have had more fun with it being able lassoing different objects or something like that.

This is the main chunk of the film though as it builds up to the villains getting ready to cheat. The Marshall was a fun character for his limited screentime though. You actually feel bad for him and the town when John says that he just wants to settle down now. He was the best shooter that they had and so it was crazy to lose a mega asset like that. No sirrrrrrr, but I imagine off screen he would probably get back into the action at some point. The Wild West has a way of dealing you back into the fold.

Interestingly the film seemed to have a hard time having music on during any dialogue scenes. So when the characters are running with the horses it can get eerily quiet and that’s how you know they’re about to start talking. Then you have some chase scenes where some fun music plays so you know there won’t be dialogue for a while. I’m guessing there is probably some kind of really old technical reason for why this is the case. Maybe you could not mix the different audio tracks together at once or something like that. It makes for a pretty interesting gimmick though.

Again it comes down to that novelty factor. It was fun while watching this movie but I probably would not want it to be a regular thing. The shooting and everything was fun enough though. The film had good action and a fun story. It almost goes without saying that the writing and the script were good as well. These old films rarely ever missed on that angle. I would say the movie did as much as it could within the runtime.

Overall, The Man From Utah is sort of like an abridged wild west film. It goes by really quickly and its got all of the usual elements you would expect to see from a Wild West but doesn’t take too long with them. It basically has to jump from story beat to story beat with impressive speed. As a result it is easy to keep your attention though and I did enjoy John as the main character. Most of the others don’t get a whole lot of screentime though. If you’re looking for a retro film then this one is as good as any to check out. Sometimes you just want to watch a peaceful film like this where there is a little danger but you know you’re on your way to a happy ending.

Overall 7/10

The Secret of NIMH Review

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It’s time for a pretty well known animated film. It actually took me a little while to check this one out but I’ve finally done it. Ultimately it’s a good movie, but I didn’t find it to be as much of an all star as I usually hear. I dunno it felt a bit uneventful might be the best way to put it. It didn’t make any wrong decisions or have any big issues. It just wasn’t quite as engaging as some of the other animated movies that I’ve seen recently. I suppose that’s just how it goes sometimes though and the film is fairly short as it’s under an hour and a half so it never drags on. I do think they could have made this into a franchise if they wanted to and maybe that would have improved this one’s stocks retroactively. Not like it’s a competition though, as long as it’s a good movie that’s what counts.

The film starts off with a mouse named Brisby finding out that her son has pneumonia. It’s a pretty serious case of it too. This is bad timing because the mice need to vacate their homes since it’s plowing season. The pesky humans are going to be destroying everything as always but it’s not really safe to transport the kid right now. Fortunately she runs into a nice bird named Jeremy who may be a bit of a klutz but he means well. He’ll take her to see the wise Great Owl and then to meet the Rats who may be able to help with their high tech. Will they help her though?

I can say right now that it’s really lucky for Brisby that her late husband was such an important man. In pretty much every encounter, the other person is dismissive until they find out the connection. The Great Owl? “You’re all doomed”…”Oh you were Jonathan’s wife? Sure we can find a solution, go ask the rats”. She goes to the rats. “Get lost mouse!” “Oh you’re Jonathan’s wife? Sure we’ll go in and save the day”. It really shows how much clout Jonathan got as a proud warrior and a fine man. He managed to help protect his family even past death.

I also give a lot of credit to Brisby of course for going on this dangerous quest. Most of these animals are all several times bigger and stronger than her. They could eat her in an instant but she will go through any trial in order to save her kid. Brisby takes a pretty positive outlook on life and definitely sees the glass as half full. She’s also a quick thinker and will usually have an idea when in a pinch. Her quick reflexes definitely came in clutch when a rat monster randomly tried to murder her when she first entered the forest looking for Nicodemus. Did I mention how mean every character is? There is really a culture of just looking out for yourself here.

Meanwhile Jeremy is just plain likable. He comes in clutch once in a while but also gets himself into trouble constantly. Nearly chokes on different pieces of fabric twice. Without his flying ability Brisby wouldn’t have even been in position to save the day so we have to give good credit there. His romance scene at the end is super cheesy but I guess the film really wanted to give him a super happy ending. He adds a lot of the humor to the film so his presence was definitely appreciated.

The Great Owl didn’t live up to his hype to be honest so not much to say about that guy. Yeah he gave some direction but considering how much hype he got at first, I was just expecting more. At least we finally got a nice character in Justin. The guy has a good attitude about him and likes making jokes. He is stuck with some poor company though. Jenner is one of those guys. A classic power hungry villain but I was glad to see him because this ensured some action would be coming out way. The guy didn’t disappoint. Sometimes it’s nice to have what I’d call a basic villain here.

He wants power and when he sees an opening he takes it. It’s an effective piece of motivation. Interestingly, this also isn’t one of those “Animals can talk and do science just because” kind of films. We actually get a rather detailed backstory similar to TMNT about how they were mutated and this started the whole rat society. It’s pretty interesting and it’s also rare for humans to actually be getting a big role like this. Their presence is felt the whole time even in the meanwhile scenes are they are preparing to destroy the area.

The animation is unsurprisingly really good. The characters are very expressive the whole time and the movements go by really quickly. It’s this kind of hand drawn animation that I always miss as the years go by. It was really able to do so much here and the film holds up incredibly well. If you showed me a film with an alternate style I doubt it would be able to say the same, at least not to this degree. We even get some action scenes and energy effects thanks to the electricity. The music is more of a non factor but they can’t all be standouts there I suppose. Nothing immersion breaking or anything like that, it’s just that none of the tracks will stay in your head.

Overall, The Secret of NIMH is a fun movie. It has some danger throughout and the adventure is a good one. I think going into it without any knowledge of its big reputation will probably help you out a bit. Regardless it is well crafted. It may not have the same level of energy as some of the other big titles but being enjoyable is the most important part here. Thanks in part to the short length and of course the quality writing, there is a lot of replay value to be had here. There’s no reason to be skipping out on this one so just give it a whirl and see what you think.

Overall 6/10

Princess Arete Review

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Princess Arete is definitely a unique title. It’s sort of like what would happen if you had an adventure film where the main heroine herself was actually captured for almost all of it. It’s definitely a way to stand out but at the same time I found the film to be a little uneventful at times as a result of this. Dare I say it approached being boring at times? I would say it’s a film that just focuses too much on set up for an adventure that never happens and you don’t have any loud characters to run in and shake things up. This could have used a Shonen lead type of character.

The movie first introduces us to Princess Arete whose life has been completely restrained by her father the king. He keeps her inside a tower and doesn’t let her leave the castle grounds. Instead she just has to wait as many suitors keep on visiting her over and over again. She has no interest in any of them and these guys all do seem pretty desperate for power. It might just be the animation style but she also just looks like a total kid next to all of these guys. It’s only natural that she won’t be interested. Well, unfortunately a wizard named Boax shows up and uses his magic to hypnotize Arete and the King so that he can marry her. He then takes her and locks her up in another tower so that she live up to the prophecy. Can she snap the mind control and get out of there?

It’s a bit of a long summary but I wasn’t really sure exactly where I should stop. In a way you could say this is where the main story begins but at the same time this is after a decent amount of time in the film has elapsed. You can also see why the whole thing is a bit annoying because Arete isn’t really getting to do much here. We do see that she is really interested in the outside world and so that’s nice but she wasn’t able to fight for her freedom there anyway. In a world of magic you’d think the King would have some defensive measures but the world seems to mostly be normal so maybe I can give him a slight pass.

I didn’t think the main villain’s plan made a whole lot of sense though. So the prophecy states that Arete will somehow undo Boax’s complete immortality so he locks her up to prevent that. At the same time we see that he is really lonely and is hoping to find another wizard. Maybe he wouldn’t be so lonely if he wasn’t immortal? In a way that’s what really makes it worse and of course he is also evil by hoarding the water supply. If he had friends then they could help him find more magicians.

Basically it doesn’t seem like Boax really thought anything through. He’s not a particularly interesting villain and the whole time you will be shaking your head at the guy. Meanwhile for Arete, I can’t say I was very impressed with her either. Yeah she made one attempt to escape the tower but I would have liked to have seen her be way more proactive. Honestly when the first guy broke in through the window, she should have knocked him out or tricked him and then used his escape method. Getting mind controlled isn’t totally her fault I suppose but it was annoying to see her basically be a zombie for a while there. It’s only in the climax where she gets to really help out.

There isn’t really much of a supporting cast to back her up either. Yeah you have the King from the beginning but considering that he is pushing for arranged marriages, he’s not the best guy. You have Ample who helps out with a lot of the exposition and letting Arete know the main facts. Not a bad character but not a very interesting one either. Nothing wrong with the writing either, there just weren’t any standout characters and even the designs were rather bland.

The animation’s okay. The colors are fairly washed out so the whole product ends up looking rather dated but the movement is good. The backgrounds aren’t bad and of course it’s just always nice to see things that are hand drawn. Meanwhile the soundtrack is more forgettable but on the whole the technicals aren’t bad. The whole thing just doesn’t pop out. It feels like the kind of film you my see a character watching in another movie. I was so ready for things to happen that for a minute there I was actually hoping Arete would go on the long quest to find the ruby that Boax asked for.

For a second there, the film was actually teasing you with the idea of a true adventure and I was all for it. This is what I’ve been ready for! Instead she turned back to accomplish her true mission and yeah that was the right call but it wasn’t the most entertaining one. I could criticize Boax further on why he would even suggest she go on such a mission when the hypnosis could break at any moment but perhaps nobody had ever broken it before so he didn’t see any potential risks in that.

Overall, Princess Arete feels like a film that is really missing a middle act. It could have used another 30 minutes where we see Arete escaping at some point and having a full adventure before being recaptured. I think that would have gone a long way to really making her a fun heroine and also livening up the film a bit. There just isn’t a whole lot of fun times for the film here and it feels too much like an ancient fantasy tale without the adventure. If you want to check out a more interesting anime title, you should watch Bleach instead. All of those films go hard!

Overall 5/10

Titan A.E. Review

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It’s time for an old sci-fi adventure! After all the year is pretty old by this point. It’s been almost 30 years and so now this could even be called retro. Fortunately I can say that it is retro in a good way. The animation holds up quite nicely and the battle scenes are on point. It’s a strong film all around with solid execution across each field. If you haven’t seen it yet, this is one film that you don’t want to miss.

The film starts off with an alien race called the Drej showing up and exterminating the humans. They blow up Earth and so now there are very few Earthlings left alive. One of these is a guy named Cale, whose father died tragically during the big attack. Cale is now going through a rebellious phase where he’s just rude to everybody and doesn’t care much about his species. Well, this all changes when he is targeted for elimination by the Drej and is saved by another human named Joseph. Joseph has some kind of plan to flip everything around but is Cale really ready to risk his life against tremendous odds? It’s not exactly a safe option here.

Well, to be fair Cale also isn’t given much of a choice. If he didn’t go with Joseph then he would die on the spot and once he’s on the ship it’s not like he can ask them to turn around. Fortunately for Cale, he is a tough guy so he takes this in stride. The film has a whole lot of banter going on the whole time as Cale is constantly taking shots. The thing is, he isn’t really able to back up all the tough talk as humans appear to be far weaker than virtually all of the other species. Defeating Cale appears to be an easy feat for pretty much everybody. I still like his spunk though. Cale plays a good role in why the film is solid.

His character type is one that you’ve seen before. He starts off as a total punk but gradually starts to believe in the mission and even gets heroic. It’s a journey that works pretty well here and that is always crucial for a film like this since a lot of it is built around the main hero. Additionally this means we get quite a bit of nice banter between several characters. One of whom is the main heroine Akima. She’s also rather tough and so she doesn’t back down. This means we get quite a bit of intense dialogue between the two of them. Yeah you can assume this will turn into a cliche romance later on but initially the banter is still fun.

The animation also really pops out at you. I really enjoyed the designs for the Drej. They look like really cool cybernetic fighters which adds to the horror factor. Since they are made out of energy, you also can’t hope to defeat them through normal means. In fact, there are very few ways to stop them at all so it’s clear why humanity lost. While the average Drej fighter feels fairly character-less, they still make for good obstacles.

Meanwhile the music is also really good. The soundtrack definitely has a solid 80s feel to it and a lot of times animated films tend to sound rather standard. This one decided to be different and absolutely succeeded. Each song works really well and they also helped you feel the grand scale of the movie. The universe is at stake after all so it should sound like that. It’s things like this that can really help a film succeed.

Of course the same is true for characters so lets get back to those. Akima is definitely a fun heroine and I appreciated that she was a tough fighter as well. Definitely someone who doesn’t give up easily and was quick on the uptake. I also appreciated Joseph. At times it feels like his character was rushed a little bit when things could have moved slower but he definitely had a massive role in the story. His scenes were all really solid and definitely served as a good contrast to Cale. This guy is a lot more driven for his ambitions, but to a rather dangerous degree.

There were also a few more passengers in the crew but these guys were way slower on the draw. You had the science creature who was a little too annoying at times. He never picked up on any hints and also could take too long to get to the point of where they had to go. He was busy messing around and being mean to Cale the whole time. Then you had the weapons expert and she talked tough but let her guar down when it counted and never looked as impressive as you would have expected. The right hand man was solid though. Now there is a character who was always alert and ready.

Throughout the film you also have a sense of danger that can be rare in these animated films. We’ve really got huge stakes with the universe in the balance and Earth itself was blown up early. It’s not like the villains are threatening to destroy Earth throughout the movie, in this case they already did it. It adds a little more credibility to the villains right away. They also have good aim and actually land hits on the characters early on so you can’t hit them with the Storm Trooper allegations. Yes, this film really did a lot of things that was ight and helped to make the film more fun. It even does have time for humor on occasion which worked well thanks to the film’s solid writing.

Overall, Titan A.E. is a pretty good film. I would definitely recommend it. I always enjoy a good sci-fi so this was always going to be trending in the right direction but then throw in the solid execution across the board and this was a winner. I’d definitely be up for a sequel some day. There is more you can tell with this story and the characters. It’s a charming title all the way through with good pacing and a fun atmosphere. So if you haven’t seen the film yet, you need to fix that as soon as possible.

Overall 7/10

Robot Dreams Review

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It’s time for a largely wholesome film although the ending isn’t the most satisfying. We get to see a whole lot of New York City which can really be the highlight of the film even more than the story. There was a lot of good attention to detail here which allows you to feel nostalgic the whole time as the adventure plays through.

The movie starts by introducing us to a lonely dog who doesn’t really have any friends. This dog does his best to live on as he eats his macaroni and cheese but then one day decides to order himself a friend. He buys and assembles a robot who does end up being a great friend but unfortunately the Dog leaves him on a beach where he is deactivated. The Dog must now make it many months on his own before he can get back onto the beach and fix his friend. Will his friend still be there when the dog comes back though?

The dog is a good example of a main character who needs to find his own internal happiness before he can be truly happy. The guy just doesn’t know how to have a good time on his own and so that’s why he is really relying on the robot the whole time. This is tricky because when you are that reliant on another person then you stop improving yourself. Before finding a friend or even a romantic partner, you need to have a full life that you can keep satisfied on your own. This means having some hobbies and such so when your friend is hanging out with another friend group or just doing something on their own, you’re not just sitting around bored.

Dog does try a few times to find things to do but they never quite work out. He tries going fishing with someone but they don’t seem to connect all that much. At the same time, he did get a post card so maybe they would have been friends for longer. Going on the snow adventure didn’t work out either and so in the end he basically has to be by himself again. I would argue that the dog didn’t really get any character development throughout the movie. In fact, in a sense he didn’t move forward at all so his happiness is still short lived. Hopefully he is more careful this time. The film makes a point of showing how he could have worked harder to get to the robot since everyone else did.

Dog is a nice guy, but perhaps not very reliable. Meanwhile the robot gets the short end of the stick for most of the film but I would argue the happier ending. The robot always did a good job of looking at things positively so he will thrive in any environment. Additionally even his dreams were pretty fun. I disagreed with his final decision though since constantly having to be hiding could get old fast. You always need to face your fears, or in this case just face whatever is in front of you. It’s really the best way to go and just get it over with.

His new owner definitely seems like a good guy so I was glad things worked out for him too. He seems to be trying hard and doing what he can as well. So while the ending wasn’t satisfying for me due to the final choices, at least it didn’t go the crazy option like making it one last dream. The dreams were fun enough but that would have definitely been overdoing it a bit.

As I mentioned before though, the best part of the film is really the NYC backdrop. There are just so many fun elements to the city and the film really captures down all the right details. It’s nice seeing the various parks, the foods, and everything else. You can tell that the creators either got to visit New York City at some point or did an impressive amount of research because it all felt very authentic. It’s why even aside from the story you could watch it just for the backgrounds and little details that appear throughout.

The animation style is pretty nice here. It’s simple but effective. It’s always easy to follow what’s happening in the movie. There is even a pretty decent soundtrack with a number of songs and instrumental themes. They worked well in showing how much fun the city was during the montages. I also liked the way the robot would hum one of the tunes. There isn’t any real dialogue in this film which I do tend to miss but at least the film still managed to be very entertaining the whole time. The characters were able to clearly show what they were doing and thinking even without the dialogue.

Would dialogue have helped the film? Absolutely but at the end of the day when you can make a film that’s still good without any dialogue, then that’s a pretty impressive feat. It’s definitely not something that just anyone can do. I imagine a whole lot of people have probably tried and absolutely failed to pull it off. The stakes are also high because if you fail, the most likely outcome is that the film will be incredibly boring which can really hurt. So make sure you have an air tight premise and fun characters before even thinking of attempting this.

Overall, Robot Dreams is definitely an accurate title for this film with all of the dreams going on. At first it might even trick you if you forgot what the title was. The movie goes by fast and it tells a nice story. I would recommend checking it out. It’s a reminder of how even the most fun activities can seem boring if you haven’t learned how to do them on your own yet. In this case the focus was really on making friends which for Dog seems like a temporary solution while for Robot it seems like he will be good long term. NYC is definitely filled with never ending adventures if you know where to look.

Overall 7/10

Natsume’s Book of Friends Season 7 Review

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Natsume’s Book of Friends is definitely a pretty impressive adaption but you only had to look at the seasons to know that. It’s pretty much unheard of to get 7 whole seasons and I’m sure we will be getting an 8th some day. It’s a very peaceful franchise where you can watch the episodes at any point. I definitely had a good time with it and while the show isn’t going to knock your socks off, you can always depend on quality writing and good story telling.

If you’re new to the franchise, the general plot is fairly simple. Natsume is a man who can see Yokai and has inherited the “Book of Friends” from his grandmother Reiko. This book contains the names of many Yokai who are effectively forced to do Natsume’s bidding while they are there. He intends to return all of their names back to the Yokai but can only do this when the Yokai is right in front of him. Along the way Natsume helps them all out with their daily problems.

In the first episode we have a Yokai inhabiting the body of a clay form that looks like Nyanko. So a pretty solid way to jump in and a lot of Hijinx play out from there. The yokai itself is one of the calmer ones as it just needs some time and is generally pleasant. Natsume is all too happy to help out while Nyanko is a little grumpy as always. We get a little danger but for the most part this is just a fun little adventure. It’s a pretty solid premiere with a self contained story that worked well.

Following that episode, we have an adventure where somebody is messing up the flower garden every night. Natsume decides to put a stop to this and naturally it turns out to be a bunch of Yokai. They’re trying to take care of a small castle and need the flowers for beauty purposes. Natsume helps them out and ultimately gets to prove that he can be delicate as needed. He really gets to show off his expertise in cleaning. Another low key episode here but I was glad that Natsume got on this right away. He wasn’t about to let anyone mess with his folks.

After that we have our first case with Natori. He and Natsume are helping a guy who is being haunted by scarecrow Yokai. At this point the main factor of interest with these team ups is seeing what will happen with the Book of Friends. By the end Natori is definitely confident that the book is a bad thing and must be taken from Natsumi. Technically I get it because Natsumi is hardly the strongest guy around and is often in lethal danger. He has to be saved on the regular by Nyanko but one day he might be too late. Additionally Natsume’s family will also be in danger but regardless it isn’t likely that Natsume would ever forgive Natori. Natori definitely ends up being one of the most interesting characters as he has to balance this all together.

Natsume is okay but he’s not the most interesting character so you need others to bounce off of him. I still disagree with Natsumi not telling his folks about the book. Additionally Natsume can be too naive and training throughout the show. At least Nyanko always keeps his guard up but then at the same time his big mistake is that he gets drunk on the job and isn’t a very reliable bodyguard. He gets lucky quite often but doesn’t take his job nearly as seriously as he should.

In the 4th episode we have our first really emotional episode. Natsume and Kitamoto pass by an old bookstore where Kitamoto wants to find a book from the old days. He decides to keep visiting this place but is always pressured by the store owner to leave right away. Not a very good feeling for a customer but Kitamoto is not dissuaded. What he doesn’t know is that the girl is a Yokai and Natsume decides not to say anything. I think Natsume was definitely wrong in this one even though the girl said not to say anything. This was the absolute perfect time to finally break the truth to him about the world of supernatural things. So I can’t see this as anything but a massive L tbh. I enjoyed the banter the whole time though and the Yokai was nice. She did a good job of watching after the store.

After that we have a story about a dragon scale falling down onto Earth and Natsume decides to grab it for Chobihigue. It’s okay but this would be the weakest episode up to this point. I still don’t care much for the main Yokai that hang around Natsume. They are just really weak supporting characters all around. Their antics aren’t particularly funny and I don’t find them to be very interesting either. In general Natsume isn’t a funny show anyway, it’s meant to survive on the good stories and these Yokai yet don’t cut it. Even Chobihigue’s big twist doesn’t hit as hard as it should because we just don’t care about that guy.

Next up Matoba appears and I really liked the opening to the episode as we get a mini mystery on if he was punking Natsume about having a Yokai in the bird cage or if he was messing around. The actual story has a focus on Matoba and his team having to face off with a Yokai that is trying to get past the glass traps. I always like Matoba episodes since they focus on the big problems that Natsume is lucky enough to avoid. For the most part, Yokai are very dangerous and while this guy may look like an extremist next to Natsume, he feels like a realist at other points. He is a really good antagonist and one who has a lot of valid points. In a debate he will always beat Natsume but that’s more due to the latter’s inexperience than anything else. I definitely look forward to their inevitable clash over the Book of Friends someday.

Following that up is an episode about a Yokai skeptic. This episode would hit so much harder if Natsume ever actually told people about Yokai though. Since he doesn’t, you don’t have the usual tension here. Fortunately it was a nice Yokai anyway so the whole thing didn’t matter too much but I did like this guy. He seemed reasonable about it without being written to be over the top. I’d probably be skeptical about Yokai myself if I was in the show. I’d need a lot of good old fashioned proof and with the main Yokai guy being intentionally cagey…yeah I wouldn’t suspect a thing.

After that is a pretty interesting episode but it does rely on Nishimura being really slow on the uptake. A Yokai decides to transform into Natsume and visit the guy every night. He gives Nishimura a weird doll finger to hang onto and keeps on coming to check on it. This “Natsume” can barely talk and acts nothing like the real one. Nishimura has a lot of different excuses to himself on why Natsume is so different and so he never actually suspects anything but you feel like he totally should. The whole thing has a happy ending and all plus I enjoyed seeing Nishimura get a bigger role. He may not be the smartest guy around but he’s a good friend.

Then we get our big two part adventure of the season. Natori and Matoba are around as they have to ensure a ceremony goes as planned. If it’s interrupted for any reason then there will be big trouble. So they all have their ways of helping. Natsume wants the pacifist approach, Matoba wants to destroy them all and Natori wants to destroy the bad ones but does try talking a good game about not being too extreme. The episode further shows the gap between the two exorcists as Matoba is clearly a lot stronger and more capable. We already knew this but it’s always fun to have a reminder. Natsume as usual holds them back a bit as he is easily taken out. We do have a good amount of danger here and the ensemble cast really helps to make the episode feel grand. Every season should have a solid two part adventure like this one.

In the second last episode, we get the big emotional episode that should have been the last one. We see how Reiko got her first ever Yokai name and then how she even made a good friend. Unfortunately a big misunderstanding causes them to drift apart which was unfortunate. It’s probably one of the saddest episodes of the series and definitely the saddest one of the season. Reiko may have great powers but she sure went through a whole lot while she was growing up. Not having any friends is already rough in itself and then things never go well when she has the opportunity to make some. The other girl was also sick all the time but really tried hard in order to get better at the various games in order to play against Reiko. It’s easy to get sad about it just remembering the episode.

The final episode goes for a fairly emotional vibe. Natsume helps a origami out so that creature shows him a lot of nice memories. Natsume and the creature bond quickly and it’s a reminder that some Yokai just want a friend and are totally harmless. We get a lot of little cameos and then the season is over. It’s not really a grand finale or anything like that but it does a good job of showing the average tone of the season. So I understand it in terms of being fitting to end the season like that but I would have chosen one of the other episodes to end off on.

The animation is fairly decent as you would expect. Nothing particularly noteworthy but standard is enough for a slice of life title like this. Great animation could possibly help this one jump to the next level but at the same time I understand why you wouldn’t throw a crazy amount of budget at this one. The series doesn’t require a ton of animation and it’s fairly dialogue heavy. So as long as the animation isn’t bad, then the series doesn’t get held back or anything like that.

Likewise the soundtrack isn’t bad. It’s very low key and definitely not the most exciting but it works well enough for what it’s trying to do. I would like the technical aspects to show up one day and really support the writing though. Natsume may be very laidback but you can absolutely still find a way to make the show a little more exciting. This way you’ll attract even more fans and get that higher replay value.

Overall, Natsume’s Book of Friends has a very familiar vibe to it. It’s the kind of show that has remained consistent for its whole run. You always know that you can count on good stories here and that is important. I can easily recommend this to anyone because it’s really inoffensive. You learn a lot of general life lessons about being a good person as well. The characters are all very polite generally and there aren’t too many evil antagonists. So again, feel free to check this one out as a calming experience and you can basically jump in without any context. The series doesn’t seem to be in any rush to actually wrap up the plot so they can keep these stories going for a very long time.

Overall 6/10