Tag Archives: Comedy

Happy New Year, Charlie Brown! Review

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It’s time for another Charlie Brown special! I got to see this one right after the ball dropped to ring in the New Year right! I actually missed the ball dropping because I had been playing video games right before this, but that’s okay…these things happen. I knew that it would be tough to beat the Charlie Brown Christmas special, but that’s all right. It’s still a solid film and the main plot about Charlie Brown having to get some reading done is good. Unfortunately, he still cannot manage his time very well.

Charlie was looking forward to New Year’s, but his teacher decided to spring a big homework project on him during the last day of class. He now has to read War and Peace during Winter Break. He decided not to start it until a few days before New Year’s Eve though and then he spends a lot of time spacing out. It doesn’t help that there is a big party going on to celebrate the New Year and this means that he has naturally been invited. Charlie is stuck on page 5 for days and things are not looking up for him. Then again, things rarely go over very well for Charlie Brown and that’s because he’s not a very strong individual. He lets the other kids push him around the whole time.

Charlie loves to pull out the friend zone card when the other kids try to make a move on him, but they always ignore him. The only person that Charlie actually likes also has the friend zone card at the ready, which means that it is a very vicious cycle, but one that I can get behind. Given that all of the other kids were able to finish War and Peace a while back, it just goes back to show that Charlie may not have the best work ethic and his attitude towards life in general is a little negative. He aims to be more positive moving forward, but I can’t say that it is a great improvement for him at the moment. An improvement is an improvement though and while Charlie is still not one of the more likable main characters out there, he’s not terrible. I just don’t particularly like the guy and getting stuck in the mail slip when trying to send a letter across was pretty sad. He could have tried opening the mail slot again, but I suppose that it was simply too much work.

Snoopy really stole the show this time, but that’s no surprise. He was ready for this party a day in advance and didn’t have to worry about doing any required reading. Snoopy took care of everything that needed to be taken care of so then he could have a good time at the party. The only thing that wasn’t very fun with Snoopy in the Christmas special was that he would pick on the little bird a lot, but here they were closer friends and now worked together as Snoopoy looked after the little guy. He even knows how to dance, further cementing the fact that Snoopy is the most complete character in the entire cast.

The animation style is certainly iconic. It may be very old, but at least the animation has a standard air about it and they didn’t try going for any gimmicks, which would have made the film not age as well. I can get behind this animation and I also like the voice acting more than expected. I like how the characters are practically yelling the whole time. Since there aren’t many background sounds to distract the audience from the words, each character really gets to project and it makes them all look like they’re about to just go back home and take a nap as they’re so hyper with a sugar rush. That being said, the characters did decide to drink some Root Bear with a plate of cookies to celebrate so maybe I’m on to something here. I do think that the food combo is quite brilliant though.

There was a game of musical chairs at one point, which was neat. I was definitely surprised that Charlie Brown performed so well in the match. He got second place, but spaced out at the end as he was listening to the music, which led to his untimely demise. Game Over Charlie….it’s why you must stay focused when playing any game. You can’t underestimate your opponent or how your hunger for dinner can alter how well you perform. The song wasn’t quite as catchy though and I can’t say that any of the songs were particularly interesting, but the kids don’t have the greatest voice out there so the song choices have to be a bit limited.

I enjoyed the ending a lot as the teacher realized that Charlie Brown was trying to pull a fast one and acted accordingly. Even Charlie couldn’t defend himself and quickly had to admit to it all. Maybe he will start reading the next book a little sooner to avoid a repeat of what happened this time, but seeing as how Charlie Brown doesn’t always learn his lesson..it may be a bit tricky. Still, I do think that he mostly handles the situation with his friends pretty well. There’s a lot of drama everywhere so Charlie tries to keep out of it and that’s usually a small move. Now, if only Peppermint would get the hint.

Overall, Happy New Year, Charlie Brown! is a pretty good TV special. As far as the main plot goes, it was pretty engaging and can hold its own against the Christmas special. That being said, the special doesn’t have the great morals that the Christmas one had, which sets it down 1 star. Still, I definitely recommend checking this out for New Year’s and if you already missed that date, then watching it whenever you have time is another good option. Think of your New Year’s Resolution and then compare it to Charlie Brown’s to see if you gave yours enough thought. These specials are also very short so they don’t drag out and the plot keeps moving at a rapid pace. It’s a winning strategy. The Charlie Brown specials have definitely been enjoyable thus far and hopefully Snoopy continues to get the leading role. He really outshines everyone else!

Overall 7/10

Naruto Powerful Shippuden Review

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It’s time to finally review one of the newest Naruto games. As you may recall from my Rock Lee review, I was not a fan of the manga series and I actually gave it a 0 for effort. The game’s story is pretty bad to be honest and shows me why the series didn’t know what it was doing, but the gameplay is good. This raises a pretty big issue that I’ve never really had to tackle in a video game before. What wins out, the horrendous plot or the gameplay? It’s a tough call so it’s time to explore this issue in the review.

There are two story modes in the game, but it may as well just be one since you have to keep on going back and forth between the two. The story modes belong to Naruto and Rock Lee. Each character will have 4+ missions at the ready when starting and you can keep on completing the missions until a gate appears. The gate can only be opened by a certain amount of keys. Let’s say you’re in Naruto mode and the door will only open if you have 2 Naruto keys and 2 Rock Lee keys. Can you guess what that means? It means you have to go to Rock Lee mode and beat some missions to get the necessary keys. It’s odd because this sort of defeats the purpose of having two different story modes right? It’s just not right!

Naruto mode plays it straight for the most part and actually adapts the manga. It covers the Shippuden series all the way through the Kage summit, which is pretty impressive. There are also a lot of filler missions that you have to play along the way to defeating the final boss since you need those keys. It’s slightly luck based as to when you will beat the game as well since there are a lot of paths that just lead to more filler missions and keys. It’s why I completed Naruto’s story at level 75 without beating Rock Lee’s, where I got to level 100 a long time ago. You just have to try and pick the right path or you may complete just about all of the filler missions along the way.

Rock Lee’s story is the one that decides to include as much low quality humor as possible. Those certainly get old fast and you’ll want to just focus on the gameplay so you can ignore the plot. Remember how I mentioned that I got to level 100 very quickly with Rock Lee? Well, wait until you make it to the Kisame boss battle and then use that one to grind with the expert criteria “Don’t get hit” Completing the mission while following that guideline will give you over 4000 exp points per battle and that’s enough for 3-5 level ups. You can easily just keep on beating that boss until you are at level 100 and it should take you about 30-40 seconds to beat the boss each time. It’s an incredible grinding level and I felt pretty proud of myself for figuring that out. I’m sure that there’s somewhere like that for Naruto, but it’s barely even needed. Just beating all of the filler will likely get him to level 90 or higher.

The levels follow a specific formula depending on the objective. There are survival missions, where you must survive for 30-90 seconds without fighting back. Those are certainly the toughest missions since a few hits can typically down you if you’re not prepared. It’s always good to have an ace up the sleeve for these missions. (Meaning a level up that you haven’t bought with your EXP yet) The best missions are the boss battles since they’re just a classic 1 on 1 fight where you can overwhelm your opponent with pure power. The only boss battle that wasn’t too enjoyable was the Deidara one and that’s because he just hides in the sky the whole time. Not very sporting of him is it?

Another fun mission type is the one where you just have to defeat 30 enemies. Simple and to the point. Another tricky type is one where you can’t let enemies pass you to the goal line. For the most part this was easy, but towards the end it got a little dicey. The minions are just so fast and it’s hard to stop them all. The most annoying missions are the ones that play out like a platformer. You have to find scrolls, minions, or just the goal line. You can actually get lost with how many rooms are available and the levels are just a little too long for my liking.

The gameplay is smooth though and it should remind you of the original Naruto Ninja Council games. It’s essentially the same concept so it’s cool to see them making a comeback into the modern day. Just keep on attacking and the bosses will certainly fall before you. As for the graphics, I’ve heard that they were great from one reviewer, although I’m not sure if he was serious or not. Regardless, they’re all right, but all of the characters are drawn really small with disproportionate bodies so it’s a little hard to say for sure. Everything is fairly bright and clear so I suppose that I’ll give the game kudos for that. Aside from the PSP, there still aren’t any extremely powerful portable consoles yet so you have to weigh in your expectations accordingly. I will say that the graphics are pretty good when you really think about it. They hold their own and then some.

As for the soundtrack, it’s typically just the same themes over and over again. There is not a whole lot of variety , but there is one or two really good themes that managed to sneak in there. When those scenes arrive, just be sure to savor them and to remember the good ole times of Naruto as you defeat whichever boss is before you.

As far as replay value goes, the game has a little. By the time you will have beaten the game, there shouldn’t be a whole lot of missions left, but enough to last you 2-3 hours. After that, you’ll probably be at level 100 with both characters so then the game will be over. Considering the size of the game though, I’d say that it’s not lacking in content. There’s enough here to certainly warrant your purchase.

Overall, Naruto Powerful Shippuden is very good from a video game perspective. The gameplay is solid, the graphics are good, and the soundtrack can also be pretty epic at times. Unfortunately, story mode really drags it down. The game has a constant stream of bad jokes that would only make the cast of Pixels smile and it really drags on. You’ll enjoy the game more if you just skip all of the cutscenes and jump right into the gameplay. I definitely have to deduct a pair of stars for the story. That means that this is probably the most positive Rock Lee product that I’ve reviewed since the show will probably get a 1-2 at best and the manga was a big 0. So, the gameplay is good enough to recommend this title, but I’ll recommend picking up Naruto Clash of Ninja 2 instead.

Overall 5/10

Teen Titans Go! Volume 1 Truth Justice and Pizza Review

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Teen Titans was a great TV show and I definitely enjoyed the animation and action scenes back in the day. It was so good that I still consider it to be better than Young Justice and is the best DC show that wasn’t in the DCAU. Teen Titans Go, the current comedy show is pretty bad, but this comic is about their normal return so it’s still shown seriously and the characters are in their original designs. The stories are fun for the most part and it’s great to see the old characters back, but the art is verry wonky. It feels like the artists are either very bad or some of the illustrations were done on purpose because some of the pictures feel like they must have been on purpose…right!?

There are quite a few stories here and each one is a stand alone, which naturally means that some will be good and some will be bad. One of the decent stories involved Cyborg feeling bad because some kids thought that he was boring. His reaction to this was very overblown though and the plot could have been a side issue instead of the whole issue. It seemed to be a little out of character if you ask me. It was a decent story aside from Cyborg randomly getting a crush on the teacher. That basically wrecked the story and destroyed the moral at the end. Cyborg shouldn’t have needed to be reminded that he’s a cool fighter.

The worst story of the bunch involved Raven getting a zit and having the rest of the Titans tease her about it. That’s something that I would expect from their parody selves in the flash cartoon, not the characters form the real deal. Even Robin and Starfire get in on it at one point and the whole thing is pretty grating. The Trigon appearance comes out of nowhere and even though we did get a little action, there was nothing that could save the story at the end. You could tell that the writers were simply desperate for attention at that point.

The best story was the first one, which is pretty good from the writer’s point of view since it means that you can hook the readers in very quickly even if the stories go downhill from there. The Teen Titans had a blast playing video games, but little did they know that the HIVE was using the intel to see how the heroes were able to fight. It’s pretty ingeniious and computer software can help villains to try and anticipate what the heroes will do next. That being said, the villains have to still be strong enough to do something about this and I feel like Gizmo and his little crew will never be a match for the Teen Titans. Even Slade gets a small appearance here, which was neat. Action and video games make for a deadly combo and that’s really why this story could not be beat.

Another story featured the Gordanians. As I had just seen Justice League Starcrossed, it was neat to see them again. They arrive on Earth looking for the Dodo birds, but as the creature is basically extinct, that will be tough. Beast Boy must get his teammates to trust him so that they can all stop this alien menace. Unfortunately, BB has a tendency to lie for fun and his teammates can’t be sure if he’s telling the truth or not. It wasn’t a bad comic, but Beast Boy was way too mean and there’s no way that Starfire should have brought him a pizza at all since he tricked her in such a mean way. There was some action though and that’s always good.

There was also a Valentines comic where Robin had to take Starfire to an amusement park to show her why the day isn’t celebrated quite as nationally as days like Christmas and Thanksgiving. Unlike Teen Titans Go, this version of Robin isn’t interested in romance and it was a nice contrast to his parody self. He was too busy breaking high scores in DDR to worry about anything else and that’s the Robin that I remember. A fight is squeezed in there somewhere I think, but it was only a decent comic. Not a bad one though since Robin looked quite good and that’s always a big positive.

Finally, Thunder and Lightning returned as they had an argument with each other. It’s pretty nonsensical and they start fighting for no real reason, but the Teen Titans decide to join in and the big brawl starts very quickly. It’s mainly through misunderstandings, but it was good to see Robin charge in to stop the nuisances. Thunder and Lightning made for good villains in the TV show, but as heroes they aren’t very interesting and don’t add anything to the table. They certainly won’t be the next Dynamic Duo.

As for the art….it’s pretty bad. I still feel like it must have been at least partially intentional because of how bad it was. Seriously, I’ve seen fan art and fan comics that were drawn more accurately than some of these issues. The issues have many artists so the style keeps changing, but most of them turn out to be subpar. The anatomies will be seriously out of proportion in some moments and then the characters will have odd facial expressions in another. There is no sense of consistency and this also makes it difficult for any fight scenes to gain a whole lot of traction. The first issue was the best and had the best art, I don’t think that this is a coincidence. The art is clear and easy to read so it automatically beats some other styles like, dare I say, The Dark Knight Returns? Still, it’s way too spacy for me to call it anything other than bad art. It may not take a full star away, but coupled with the fact that the stories don’t knock it out of the park, I can’t give this comic the usual 7. It’s just not fun or good enough to get that kind of praise.

This is much better than the new Teen Titans Go and I’ll look forward to reading future collections of this series, but Teen Titans can do so much better. The series had a rich cast of super villains to choose from and the characters are also interesting enough to hold their own stories so the comics shouldn’t be afraid to give us some epic battles. The art needs to improve though and in this modern age there is no excuse for the art to not be dynamite. Daredevil and Black Widow’s new series may have bad art, but in their case it is completely intentional. For this collection, it’s just hard to say for sure if that is the case.

Overall, I recommend this comic to Teen Titans fans and to people who enjoyed the TV show. It’s nice to see the old characters back and that they are in character. Unfortunately, the stories aren’t the greatest and while some are good, others are downright bad. It’s the problem with stand alone stories since the quality always varies. The next comic that I’m reviewing has a similar format, but it works a lot better since the stories are all decently action packed.

Overall 6/10

Scooby Doo Moon Monster Madness Review

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I finally got to check out one of the newest Scooby Doo films the other day. I tend to like most of the films a lot and the worst ones are usually still a little enjoyable. I did not appreciate the terribly animated one or the musical, but the films tend to have a decent amount of quality behind them. That being said, Moon Monster Madness still surpassed my expectations as it ended up being one of the best Scooby Doo films out there! I could not believe just how good it was. We got some great tense scenes and the whole parody of alien plots gimmick that this film had worked out quite well. It doesn’t mean that all of the comedy plots worked out and the film had a plot hole or two as well, but for the most part, Scooby Doo was a complete success!

The gang has been invited to go to space! Some of the world’s most popular figures are going aboard and the Mystery Inc has been invited to represent the average person so everyone could feel like this new space adventure was welcoming. The suspects include a football player, a host for a news program, an astronaut, two older astronauts, and a millionaire who basically funded this whole thing. Naturally, all of them should be suspected immediately and a fun exercise that I do when watching a film like this is that I’ll make everyone choose a suspect right from the get go. I voted for the Football player since he’s kind of the obvious pick, which meant that maybe people wouldn’t want to vote for him so then the film would actually make him the villain. You always have to be 3 steps ahead of the writers, but the problem is that you may stay ahead of them sometimes, which ends up backfiring.

Right off the bat I can mention that Velma was really unlikable in this film. She spent the whole film just being jealous of Daphne and it got old as soon as the plot started. Velma’s a petty character, but she takes it to a whole new level here. Whether it be insulting Ridley or ridiculing Daphne, Velma has no sense of bashfulness or the self-dignity to keep it together without resorting to…insults. She’s easily my least favorite member of the crew and that was true before this film. The adventure did her no favors.

Daphne wasn’t even rude to Velma if you ask me. She was having fun hanging out with her new friend, but she wasn’t actively snubbing Velma or trying to be upset. She’s just oblivious to the fact that Velma is being shunned and while she should stand up for Velma or make a noticeable effort to keep throwing Velma into the conversations, it’s no reason for Velma to get so heated. Instead of being happy for Daphne, Velma is immediately jealous and shows how she obsesses over test scores. Daphne is critical to helping out the heroes at the end of this film as she shows off her true talents. I wouldn’t have minded if a plot twist about the test scores hadn’t happened though, it would have been a nice moment for her.

Fred’s gimmick leads to a bit of a plot hole, but he still proves to be the best member of the gang. He doesn’t know how to turn the speaker on in his suit so he can’t hear others talking. This leads to him repeating what the others are saying or just making random statements when he feels like it. Fred often takes the lead in these adventures and still does think up the game changing plan, but I could have done without the suit plot. It was interesting to see him annoy the old guys over and over again. In a sense, that’s what Velma should have been doing. If she really wanted to hang out with the popular crowd, then she should just pretend not to notice all of the snubs and insults that the other characters are throwing at her. Velma can move past all of that and pretend to be oblivious. It’s a successful strategy as I can verify.

Shaggy and Scooby are pretty true to form as they eat a lot and try to defend themselves from the alien. The chase scene on the Moon is more intense than usual as they even fire a rocket at the creature. That’s not the kind of action that you would usually expect from Scooby Doo, but it works nicely here and shows how powerful the alien is. Scooby and Shaggy keep it together through thick and thin. They’re still not as fun as Fred, but they gave a good role here.

There’s another intense scene in the film where the Football player breaks out into song and gets very emotional. I actually enjoyed the scene and thought that it was handled pretty well. It gave the football player another level of depth and made him one of the more impressive supporting characters. He even tried to fight a little in the big battle against the robot. Uboat was a little rude for no reason at times though so he wasn’t exactly flawless.

The two retired Astronauts weren’t bad. They never took direct shots at Fred even though he constantly irritated them. Their decision to leave Fred and Daphne in cold storage was pretty dangerous, but it all worked out in the end I suppose. The fashion astronaut was essentially the overly nice character. It may be a little tough to buy her act, but for the most part she seems like a good character. One may wonder if she is really oblivious to how Velma keeps getting shut out of the action and I don’t buy that either, but I suppose that you never know. The character is actually pretty interesting though and she’s not one dimensional, which is good.

I can’t say that I really enjoyed the plot between the rich guy and his brother though. So…the brother stayed on the space station by himself for years…just because it was his job? Maybe it was months, but that doesn’t matter, I would have just been clocking in 9-5 and then heading home for the weekends. At the very least, I’d want some Domino’s pizza delivered. It just felt pretty iffy even if the rich guy said that he now understands the true meaning of friendship. That being said, the rich guy wasn’t bad. I like how he came to the launch site with a suit made of money. Now that’s an awesome publicity stunt right there and I hope that someone pulls it off in real life as well.

The news guy flirted with Velma a little too much so I can’t say that he was a great character. It’s a shame since he could have almost fooled you into thinking that he was main character material with his personality. He’s a go getter and isn’t afraid to jump into the fray. It would be neat if he believed in his job a little more though. Ridley was a great character and it was good to see someone who knew how to fight aliens. Her subplot of being able to talk sci-fi with the rich guy’s brother was also poorly timed and written, but that doesn’t happen until the end. Until then, Ridley shows why she is the world’s foremost expert on Xenomorphs. She’s always ready for a fight and the name is iconic.

We even have a robot on board who is pretty interesting. He always tries to keep up with the human customs, but it just doesn’t work. The characters aren’t very sympathetic, but why should they be. The robot actually threatens Scooby and Shaggy in a surprisingly grim scene and there’s a plot twist at the end that makes the whole thing even more intense. I could have done without the twist, but it was certainly interesting.

There are two big villains here aside from the suspect who is guilty of course. One of them is a giant robot, which made someone exclaim “Pac Man!” The similarities to the two characters are uncanny and it’s one of the highlights of the film. The fight scene was fun. Of course, the villain who really stole the show was the alien, which was a homage to a Xenomorph. The creature tanked a missille that was shot and it can move very quickly. This wasn’t your average Scooby Doo villain and it’s a main reason as to why the film was so good. Even without the robot or the monster, the action scenes really have a lot of tension to them and the stakes are pretty life threatening for once. The heroes have to think fast amidst the falling debris and one by one they are picked off.

The animation is as solid as can be expected. Scooby Doo’s never been known for its animation and it’s certainly not something that will knock your hat off, but it’s good enough. Everything can clearly be seen and while the animation doesn’t take any risks, it can handle a talking scene as well as anyone. There’s even a epic soundtrack here as well! Get ready for some surprisingly fast paced themes and epic pieces of music that are fitting for battles of such magnitude.

Overall, This was a great Scooby Doo films and it easily ranks up there as one of the best. I have been debating for a while on whether this really is the best Scooby Doo film or not. Zombie Island, Cyber Chase, The Wrestling one, The Blue Falcon, and even the classic Witch films are all fairly strong contenders. It’s a very deep discussion with a lot of areas to think about, but I’m fairly confident that this one can hold its own. Check it out and you won’t be disappointed.

Overall 7/10

The Uchiha Sasuke Sharingan Chronicles

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I’m afraid that this looks like it’s going to be about as bad as the Rock Lee series. Hopefully it won’t be quite that bad, but this feels like it could get very ugly, very quickly! I shall review the series when it finishes someday.

Overall 2/10

Hold That Ghost Review

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It’s always good to see a comedy tackle the classic horror tropes since the characters can really go about destroying them in a systematic fashion. As this is the month of October, expect a lot of scary or “scary” films coming up. Hold That Ghost is a classic film that has certainly aged well even if it reuses some gags quite a few times to really get the message across. You would never guess that this came out all the way back in the 1940’s!

Chuck and Ferdie find out that they have inheireted a hotel/mansion from a gang member who they nearly followed to the grave. The criminal didn’t trust anyone so he gave them his inheiratence since they were nearby. That’s simply how his will worked. A shady character takes the heroes to the place, but then the car drives off, leaving the heroes stranded. For reasons unknown, the driver brought along a few suspicious characters including two ladies and a scientist. It turns out that the place may not be as normal as it may appear though. A mysterious ghost starts to go after Ferdie. Of course, as Ferdie is the comic relief character, nobody takes him seriously.

Now, in order for you to like this film, you’ll need to be fine with slapstick comedy as there is quite a lot of that going around here. This is a Costello film after all so it can be incredibly exaggerated at times with his actions and lack of intelligence. In a sense, you can say that the Costello films are sort of like the Adam Sandler films and how they could have been back in the 40’s since most of the terrible dialogue and writing from the modern era wouldn’t have arrived yet. I’m actually okay with this kind of comedy as I’ve actually grown used to it through Knuckles in Sonic Boom and have come to appreciate the subtle burns that these characters get. They may get pushed around a lot, but they fire back when necessary as well.

Ferdie tends to take every line directed at him literally, which means that any figure of speech results in an intriguing conversation. Ferdie just never learned most of the things which we would consider to be common sense so he pants like a dog instead when the ghost starts to scare him. It’s not entirely his fault as the main heroine doesn’t see the ghost even though objects are moving right in front of her. You start to feel a little bad for Ferdie since nothing ends up working out well for him. He loses some of your sympathy when he tries to steal the money at the end of the film though. He also lets his “friend” bully him around the place which is certainly not a great move.

As for his friend Chuck, the guy’s not quite as charasmatic although he’s a decently good character. He can go a little far with how he treats Ferdie, but the two seem to still be friends somehow. Chuck does try to help Ferdie find a new room after he is haunted several times, but he just doesn’t believe Ferdie most of the time. The evidence of any haunting is typically gone by the time Chuck arrives. Chuck is the reasonable character after all so he doesn’t believe in ghosts and is always kept out of the loop.

Most of the film is really just about these shenanigans as the ghost messes with everyone and Ferdie is the only one who seems to know about it. Finally, we get a big fight scene at the end as the true identity of the ghost shows up along with some gang members. The Ghost’s reveal was actually a little iffy and I’m still not entirely sure who exactly was the ghost. Whichever member it was certainly wasn’t that brave as Ferdie and the gang were enough to scare him. Still, the battle royale between the heroes and the gang was certainly a whole lot of fun. Each side had to brace themselves and jump into the action! Ferdie got a lot of good hits as you would expect, but the other members didn’t do so bad either.

I hadn’t been expecting the fight so that was a nice touch. The ending was also nice as the main two characters finally got to own their own tavern. The journey was tough, but arriving at the destination was likely very satisfying for the heroes. It was a peaceful ending and I wouldn’t have minded a bit of a twist, but it fit the tone of the movie. The film never dragged and it was an enjoyable title. Nothing out of the ordinary happened and essentially played without any surprises, but this is the kind of film that you can watch and leave feeling chipper.

This is a great example of a film that likely wouldn’t be as good if it was made in the modern days. For one thing, this is a comedy where the dialogue stays classy. A modern version would likely add a lot of swear words and suggestive lines. Some aspects of the film also just age better here like the shoot and run gangsters from the beginning. It’s just retro to see them here whereas in a modern film, it’s a little hard to picture it working smoothly. The camp factor is also just hard to picture in a really modern film although it’s certainly possible.

Hold That Ghost is really like a live action Scooby Doo film. It’s simple and to the point as the heroes try to retake their tavern and maybe earn some money along the way. It the film had kept running for too long, like an extra 30-40 minutes or so, then it likely would have dragged. As it stands, this was my first Abbott and Costello film in quite a while so I’m not tired of their routine yet. I actually hadn’t expected this film to really be a true comedy so it was a pleasant surprise. That’s the loophole for horror movies, just add a comedy angle to the mix and it should help the score dramatically!

Overall, Hold That Ghost was a fun film. Admittedly, the supporting characters could have been better. The radio actress’ scream when not in danger and lack of one during the real spooks was a decent gimmick I suppose. Her rivalry with Ferdie at times was intense I suppose as they fought in a classic splashing contest..unless I’m thinking of the Waitress. They were pretty similar in apearance although different in personality. The Doctor also wasn’t that good. I didn’t mind him at the beginning as he started to brag and did look like Clark Kent, but then his romance plot started and that was game over for him. He lost his charm and his ruthless wit. If you like comedies with a lot of slapstick and quick banter, then this is the film to check out. The Ghost can’t be taken seriously, but he’s not supposed to be. You can sit back and enjoy the show!

Overall 7/10

Guardians of the Galaxy

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Well, Marvel Animation has gotten its next show! It perfectly follows the formula of the others so if you like Avengers Assemble or Ultimate Spiderman, copy and past the episodes from those into Guardians while switching the characters and you’ll know if you’ll like it or not. This will probably be a 7 by the end and it’s a fairly nice show. We just need the characters to become more likable. I shall review the show once it’s over.

Overall 6/10

Scooby Doo Team Up Volume 1 Review

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The concept of a Scooby Doo team up series is really good. I already like the Scooby Doo adventures a lot so adding in the Superfriends will just make it that much more exciting! The Mystery Gang is no stranger to crossovers as they’ve met up with Batman in the past. I actually saw those team up episodes several times back in the day and they were certainly a blast as you might expect. This comic is great for nostalgia and I always love to see that retro feel in a comic.

There are 6 stand alone issues to be found in this graphic novel so I’ll devote a paragraph to each one and state why that story was or wasn’t epic. The first story involved the return of the Man Bat. The mystery gang happened to be in the neighborhood so they decided to help Batman and Robin out. The Dynamic Duo was happy to have the extra help and Shaggy even got to prove that he was brave for a page or two before getting exposed by Scooby Doo. It was a fun story to start off with, mainly because of the fact that Batman and Robin can really hold their own issue.

Next up was a sort of continuation as Batman and Robin brought the Mystery Gang over to a detective conference as guest speakers. These guys are the best of the best after all so it was quite the honor to be among them. That being said, things get a little dicey when the Scarecrow decides to jump in and mess the heroes up a little. Batman actually falls for this at first since the illusions look pretty real so Ace decides to step up as he teams with Scooby Doo to stop the menaces. The Mystery Inc got to show their stuff and prove to the skeptics that they could hold their own in a fierce situation.

We can’t have a team up without adding in Batmite right? One issue brings him together with a Scooby Doo inspired guy and even Larry jumps in. Reality warping guys messing with the heroes gets old fast so this would typically be a bad thing, but it’s mostly handled well. At the very least, Batman looks very good as he constantly escapes from impossible traps in an instant. That’s the Batman that we’ve come to know and respect after all! Aside from the Batman props, this issue was fairly dull and you could skip it without missing anything.

Another issue had the team head over to Titans Tower when Robin called them over for some help. One could make a case for this being the normal Teen Titans, but it had a very Titans Go vibe for me. That was neat and the characters even mentioned how Robin acts very different with his friends than when he is with Batman. They explained that and it was fun to have the Titans on board. The twist with who the ghosts were was great, but Raven’s uncle was pretty annoying and not in a funny way. It was a fairly charming issue.

Velma and Daphne got to take center stage in this issue as they went to Themyscira to solve a mystery. Wonder Woman invited them because a lot of mythical monsters had been showing up, but then they would vanish as suddenly as they appeared. Scooby and Shaggy are around as well, but they can’t allow themselves to step on the ground or the amazons will lose their powers. That’s a huge weakness and I prefer the incarnations where they are simply not pleased when the event happens. There’s certainly not a lot of action here and the secret villain was a bit underwhelming so this would probably be the weakest issue of the bunch.

Finally, the collection ended with the return of the Legion of Doom! Dressed as ghosts, they quickly took down the whole league and so it was up to the Mystery Gang to rescue them. It was a pretty tense issue amist the jokes and levity from the heroes. After all, how could a bunch of kids hope to stop a group who has given the Superfriends a run for their money? Answer….they can’t! This is simply out of their league at the moment, but the heroes realize that not every battle is about winning. They just need to make a plan!

While this issue had the most action and was the best overall, there was a minor plot hole as one villain claimed to be stronger than Supergirl while in the ghost costume. The only member who could conceivably be stronger than her is Bizarro and it couldn’t have been him since the voice spoke in perfect English. Well, I suppose that plot holes should be expected in comedy/action hybrids, but I still thought that I should make a note of that.

The art is solid for this collection and everyone looks in character while keeping with that retro feel. This collection is made to look like the old Superfriend days so that’s always a plus. It’s certainly easy to read and while the series is certainly more comedy than action, it’s always satisfying to see the heroes land a solid punch. You can feel the power behind the blows!

I also enjoyed the writing as the characters have quite a few puns and subtlety put the others in their place. The Mystery Gang can be a bit much at some points though, like Scooby and Shaggy who constantly run away from their danger, but that’s their gimmick so I’m sure that people would be shocked if they didn’t act like that. I do like the overall confidence of the leaders like Fred and Daphne though as they strike a pose whenever they’re on screen. You can feel the confidence emanating from them and they don’t fear any of the so called super villains. Fred’s still my favorite member of the gang so it’s good to see him get his due props.

Stories like this one have a lot of replay value. The writers should be able to easily think up 50-100 stories right off the bat since each issue is very quick, any small plot can be developed into an issue. I hope that the series is still going or that it at least got a lot of issues This will tide me over until we get a true Superfriends nostalgia series. This also reminds me that we need more Scooby Doo comics since that series is a lot of fun. As a franchise, I’ve enjoyed the shows, movies, and games. Now I can add comics to that list as well!

There’s not much to say about the characters since they’re all using their public domain forms. They’re meant to be a little two dimensional in that way. Batman is essentially invincible and he can solve any case. The rest of the League is ready to back him up. Scooby and Shaggy are still scared of everything so it’s up to Fred to save the day. Daphne and Velma also hold their own and in the background they throw punches sometimes. It’s ironic that the writers of these comedy issues understand the DC characters better than a lot of the mainstream titles. That’s just how it goes sometimes!

Overall, This team up volume was a lot of fun. I definitely look forward to reading the next installments and I believe that Superman may get a bigger role on that one based on the cover. He surprisingly only got to appear in one story and since he was out of the picture for most of it, we couldn’t really see what he was made of. Batman got the biggest role and that’s fitting. With solid art and easily read stories, this is definitely a good collection to check out. It’s quite short so you will be able to blast through it!

Overall 7/10

xxxHolic Review

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xxxHolic is now over and it only took me a little over 2 months to get through the series. That’s pretty impressive if you ask me and it was certainly one of my quicker speed reads. This series was fun and to an extent, it’s a peaceful, episodic series similar to Yotsubato or Natsume. The main difference is that it’s more interesting and the characters are better. If you were expecting action then you will be disappointed, but if you come in expecting the right vibe, then you will be pleasantly surprised at how it’s handled.

Watanuki is your average kid who goes to school and tries to be a nice guy. He doesn’t really get along with his classmate, Domeki, but they still end up hanging out a lot thanks to interventions by Watanuki’s employer, Yuko. Yuko is a space/time witch who owns a shop which can grant wishes for people. Her abilities seem to only be limited by her imagination and most of the cases that she deals with are fairly meta. Watanuki is typically stuck with the manual labor when there is something to do. Things tend to freak him out but he adjusts as the series goes on.

xxxHolic was definitely a slice of life at first, but then it slowly started to take on a more somber note as Yuko hinted that things would have to end. The status quo can never remain for long as change is inevitable, but Watanuki didn’t want to have to past ways so soon. Yuko continues to lose power as the series goes on until she finally starts to fade and disappear, which leaves Watanuki with a new mission to uphold the shop until she returns. This is essentially the last part of the series. You can split xxxHolic into two chapters, the Yuko adventures where she messed with Watanuki a lot and then the second half is all about Watanuki being the owner and losing all of his personality.

Before I go into that, it should be noted that this series is in the same continuity as just about every other Clamp series. That’s nothing new, but it is heavily intertwined with the Tsubasa series to an extent that you would typically not expect. If you haven’t read the Tsubasa series, it won’t really affect your experience here, but if you have read it, then the interactions between the series is always interesting.

As expected, the art is fairly clear and easy to read. The Clamp series have varying levels of quality for me and I think they’re at their best in these slice of life series as the clear art works well for creating the characters. It doesn’t work quite as well for fights although Clamp gave it their all. I’d definitely give the art a thumbs up here.

All right, let’s talk about Watanuki. He’s the main character of the title and a decently likable character for the most part. He really overreacts whenever Domeki is on screen, which can get a little repetitive, but sometimes he’s right. Typically he’s not, but it’s good to see him take the win sometimes. Watanuki still means well for the most part and he’s a nice guy. My problem is his new personality in the second part of the series. Once Yuko is gone, Watanuki decides to run the shop, but he also decides to become Yuko to an extent. Now, he only wears the clothes that she would use to run the shop, smokes the same cigar that she had, and even goes as far as to copy her poses and dialogue within the chapters.

It’s simply overdone and I believe that this does have a term in real life as a person can try to essentially become a person that they were close to who ended up passing away. It wasn’t good character development for Watanuki though and I ended up not really liking the character by the end. I definitely miss the original.
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Domeki is the main supporting character and he’s always around. He really likes to drink and he’s a fairly loyal friend who came to Watanuki’s aid several times during the series. Unlike the main hero, Domeki can actually fight and he gets all of the action scenes in the series. He’s definitely a nice guy and while he is rude to Watanuki on purpose, it seems to all be a game for him. With everyone else he tends to be slightly more polite or at least more aware of the situation.

Yuko naturally has a very large role in the series. As Watanuki is always very serious, Yuko loves to tease him the entire series by making absurd demands or putting him in dicey positions. (Inviting everyone over for a sleepover) Watanuki always has a huge reaction which certainly encourages her. She’s a lot of fun and one of the reasons why the series is so enjoyable. Yuko always knows how to have a good time and she hides a lot of the tougher truths from Watanuki, like the fact that she is in a fairly tough fight at the moment.

Throughout the series, she gives a lot of wise advice to Watanuki. Yuko believes that nothing is by chance and everything that is to be was meant to be. She mentions this quite often, but also tells Watanuki about how strong desires can eventually just turn into darkness. For example, there was a lady who wanted to be with someone so badly that she turned into an evil spirit. Yuko will grant any wish for a price so it is a stretch to think of her as a hero. She tends to help the heroes and has a soft spot for them, but she is also content to just let a person fade away so that she could let Watanuki witness the irony of that person’s demise.

While Yuko’s the most enjoyable character in the series, Mokona is also a very good one. He loves to drink as well and messes with Watanuki when he has the chance. Mokona’s role is very small next to the other characters, but he makes his presence felt. Himawari is the main heroine of the series and she is mainly just around to act oblivious. It turns out that she has a rather dark secret which explains a whole lot, but I still can’t say that she was a very good character. She’s a nice character so I won’t say that she’s a downright bad one, but she just lacked character development and never became all that memorable.

Kohane is a fairly important character as she gets a whole arc to herself. She can see spirits like Watanuki so she is quickly thrust into the world of television. The heroes help her to repair the rift between her and her mother although it takes time and a few years since after the time skip, things aren’t quite perfect yet. She was a nice pal for Watanuki, but once her powers started to wane, so did her role in the series.

While I did mention that the series can be a little somber at some points as Watanuki wonders if he’ll ever see Yuko again, for the most part I’d say that it’s fairly light hearted. It’s a calming experience as you read through the volumes and that’s part of why it’s so enjoyable to read. The character interactions are handled well and even if some of the characters can act a little repetitively, it reinforces the whole slice of life angle.

If I had any complaints with the series, it would be that I didn’t like 2 of the cases. One involved a spirit who used to be human and there was hintings of domestic violence there. It’s never explicitly stated, but it’s fairly obvious and Watanuki wasn’t really able to help the spirit very much. It was a very somber story and there are a few that don’t get to have happy endings, but for the most part it’s either an ironic fate or one that is sad for the individual, but not in a really dark way.

The other arc that I wasn’t crazy about was Kohane’s as the media and the other stars decided to throw water on her and basically act rude because they were jealous of her abilities. The arc dragged a little and was mostly filler so I was essentially just waiting for it to be all over. The stand alone stories were typically the best one like the mysterious sounds so Yuko gave someone a bell case. There were a lot of other ones and they were typically all good. Even Kohane’s had a lot of good parts like the learning how to cook section. I always love cooking parts, which is why it’s too bad that we don’t have more good food titles. Toriko counts, but only to a very slight extent.

As for the interesting ending to xxxHolic, it’s definitely pretty unique. Let’s just say that there’s a pretty big time skip and while it’s customary to end a series with one, you typically don’t see one that’s quite so large. It just goes to show that the heroes will have to do a lot of waiting and it’s easy to imagine that Watanuki would be bored at this point. With technology, it’s safe to say that I’d never be bored even if I had 100 years, but Watanuki is a bit old fashioned in that sense so he should really give it a shot. I imagine that meeting descendants every once in a while is always interesting.

It’ll definitely be interesting to see how a sequel series handles this. To an extent, if it’s more of a nostalgia based sequel like Tsubasa, the series doesn’t have to introduce a whole lot of plot as the stand alone adventures can just continue. This series had a very small cast as you can tell from the review and I don’t expect the sequel to add many others. I also don’t see Yuko returning in the sequel either, but I could definitely see her being able to talk with Watanuki for brief periods of time. Spoilers time, although I essentially hinted at it already. Bringing her back just seems like it would defy a lot of what the first series talked about as death is one of the few things that is irreversible. Yes, Yuko’s disappearance cannot be called a normal death, but it’s essentially what it all boiled down too. She just slowed it down for a while.

Of course, that’s why a sequel series likely wouldn’t be as good as the original. Without Yuko’s interesting views on everything, the series may not be quite as deep as the first one. Watanuki intentionally copies her personality, but it’s not the same as hearing it all from the original. Also, I still don’t like Watanuki’s new personality and the timeskip likely will not have done him any favors either. Maybe he’ll slowly regain his old personality, but the odds of that are slim.

Finally, I may as well talk about the power levels for a second. Everything is pureposefully vague, but Watanuki and Yuko state that their abilities are greatest while in dreams. In the real world, they do seem to have some slight magical abilities as Watanuki can levitate and both of them seem to have telekenesis and general magic. They wouldn’t do too well against other magicians like Dr. Strange or Fai for me, but in universe, Yuko is much stronger than Fai as she contends with foes like Clow Reed. I would have liked to have seen some more action to see their true abilities. Domeki has his spirit arrows which can deal a good amount of damage, but his human state remain so it’s similar to the Sailor Scouts. He has good offensive powers, but he’s still a total glass cannon.
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Overall, xxxHolic was a pretty fun title. It’s certainly the kind of series that you could easily read again as a calming experience. I wasn’t a huge fan of the final saga in the series though and Watanuki still feels fake there, but it is what it is. At 19 volumes, the series is decently long so there’s time for quite a lot of adventures. With so much meta content, a lot of things are vague, but in a good way and Yuko’s wise words are always interesting to listen too. As already said, the series is just a lot of fun and I’m sure that you will enjoy it. Don’t go into it expecting a thriller, but remember that it is a slice of life with some fun supernatural elements. Then you’ll be fine!

Overall 8/10

Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. Review

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After reviewing the legendary Batman and Superman shows, it’s time to look at something that’s on a lower level. The Hulk show is essentially in the current Marvel show continuity, which means that you can expect a whole lot of comedy with a touch of action at some points. It doesn’t work as well as Ultimate Spiderman or Avengers Assemble, likely because the characters aren’t as interesting. It’s not a bad show and still looks good when placed next to Pac Man, but I can’t really say much for it. Ah well, it made for some good times.

The show ran for 2 seasons and actually had a bit of a long running plot. Rick Jones was turned into A-Bomb due to gamma exposure and one thing led to another so he became the Hulk’s teammate alongside Red Hulk and She Hulk. He decided to start a webshow which would prove that the Hulks are actually heroes. A mysterious being known as Skaar appears and is defeated by the heroes so he joins the team. The 4 of them stop many local threats, but there is typically a mastermind in the shadows. His name is the Leader and I hope you like him since the guy will be a major recurring villain throughout the entire series. The heroes humiliate him in every way possible, but he never stands down so you’ve gotta like his determination. Another plot that comes back a lot is the Kree as Ronan is always trying to get revenge against the Hulk and even the Avengers have to step in at one point.

Depending on how much you buy the whole quantity vs quality, you’ll like the fact that the Hulk show has a lot of guest stars. Some of them actually look good too so that’s definitely a nice plus. They certainly help to spice the show up and provide us with a little variety. Without the guest stars, the Hulk show would likely not be nearly as interesting. As with the Superman and Batman show reviews, let’s take a look at some of the good and bad episodes here.

I’d say that the opening two parter was good as we got to see Hulk fight Skaar and there was certainly a lot of action. Another good episode was when the Hulk’s personality switched so that he became an intellectual who didn’t fight except as a last resort. We got to see the Hulk think his way out of his problems, which was a nice twist and blew the Leader’s plan away. A few of the other nice episodes which didn’t involve guest stars included a challenge by the Titan Xemnu, as he fought all of the Hulks. His physical power was incredible and the fight was actually quite good. Likewise, I liked a roller skating episode that came shortly afterwards as the heroes got to test their skills.

Most of the episodes with guest stars were naturally a lot of fun. One of the highlights was when Ghost Rider appeared to drag Red Hulk to Hell. It was an intense episode and Ghost Rider was definitely given his due respect. He looked very powerful as he should and was no nonsense. The Avengers get to help out in the final two part episode against the Kree. The episodes were a little light on actual action scenes, but it’s always nice to see the Avengers show up and remind us that continuity can be real. It’s like jumping into the Avengers Assemble show.
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The Guardians of the Galaxy also showed up a few times and it’s always nice to see them. They even got to be in a Christmas episode and there aren’t too many shows which let Christmas appear anymore so that was neat. I think all shows should have a Christmas episode at some point. Dr. Strange helped out against Dormammu and his Mindless ones. Those Mindless ones would eventually appear in Avengers Assemble and Ultimate Spiderman so they definitely get around. Even the Silver Surfer showed up in one episode to fight off some nightmares. His voice was admittedly very anticlimactic and not one that I would have chosen for the character. Still, I always liked the Surfer so seeing him back in animation again was certainly cool. Spider Man was also around a few times and he even got to take on Venom in one of the episodes. It was definitely neat to see the Wall Crawler show up and he always makes for one of the best guest stars with his epic quips and constant readyness to show up the Hulks.

Deathlok and the Inhumans also appear in the series. Things get a little dicey for Black Bolt and his friends as they get trapped within a dome, but the Hulks are always ready to help out. The fight with Deathlok was also fun and his guns sure pack a punch. That fight should realistically be a cakewalk for the Hulk, but we’ll just say that he was holding back. The Thing helps out in one episode although his rivalry with the Hulk doesn’t quite work as well when the Hulk is in full control like he is here. It’s just there, but it doesn’t feel as natural. Aside from being on the Avengers, Thor, Captain America, and Iron Man all get episodes in the series. Iron Man probably has the best role as he mostly sticks in character although his defenses shouldn’t be able to be hacked so easily. Captain America gives up on hope with his episode very quickly, which was more than a little iffy.

The worst would tragically have to be Thor. In one episode, the Leader becomes the All Father so Thor and Loki decide to serve him regardless of how evil he is. Apparently, they must follow whoever is on the throne as if they were from the Shiar. That’s completely out of character for Thor and it was just odd. The writers clearly didn’t know what to do there.

One of the episodes that definitely wasn’t very good was when the Hulk decided to live underground because the mole people were his true friends. It was pretty hilarious to see how easily Hulk was willing to ditch the surface dwellers, but it still didn’t make any sense and any episode with the Mole Man will typically get a thumbs down from me. Mission Impossible Man was another miss episode. I definitely don’t care for the Impossible Man as a character and this certainly did not increase his chances of being a likable character. We also can’t forget the Planet Hulk two part saga as Ego The Living Planet is involved in a huge twist, which was not a good one. There was also more crude humor than usual to be found there.

I’d say that most of the Hulk episodes were decent. The only bad ones were really the episodes that overdid it with the humor. That just happened to a lot of season 1 episodes as they would sound good on paper and then get a little gross while watching. Season 2 improved on this, they never became perfect, but you could actually go through some episodes without major crude humor attacks. That was a start, but the series never got to see if it could really go on a role.

Time to talk about the characters. Hulk is the lead and he’s definitely very heroic. You wouldn’t know it at first glance, but he really cares about everyone’s safety. Hulk’s a very selfless hero and also quite intelligent as this incarnation seems to have Bruce’s smarts along with his typical strength. He rarely ever enters into a rage and is always portrayed as the most capable hero while also being the strongest. Hulk’s essentially the perfect lead. He may make a mistake once in a while, but Hulk always gets the job done, even when the other heroes don’t believe in him.
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She Hulk doesn’t like the cold, but aside from that she is always one of the more reasonable characters in the show. She has a very inconsistent rivalry with Red Hulk that shows up once in a while. She Hulk may not be as strong as the Hulk, but she helps to remind him not to lose control at certain points and she always has a witty remark at the ready. Red Hulk is essentially a one dimensional version of Vegeta who tries to act as tough as the Hulk even when he knows that the Hulk is actually the stronger, smarter fighter. He is always upstaged, but he continues to talk tough in every episode so I suppose that he deserves some props for that…I guess.

A Bomb is the comedy member of the group so he’s always thinking of some quick lines to remind everyone why he’s so tech savvy. He can turn invisible, which is a great trick, but this is Rick so he doesn’t use it as well as he should. He’s a fairly likable member of the group, although I prefer Red Hulk and She Hulk. The worst member of the team is easily Skaar. Skaar is basically here for the crude humor jokes and they can get quite disgusting at times. It’s best to just forget about him as he never contributes to the show and just brings it lower and lower.

As for the villains, the Leader is certainly the main one in the show. The Hulks won’t rest until they’ve thoroughly humiliated him in every sense of the word over and over again. They force him to plunge their toilets and work at a fast food joint among other things. The Leader puts up with it because he wants to be ruler of the world someday, but it is pretty embarrassing for his fans. His plan with Skaar was also poorly thought out to the point where you will wonder what the point of it is. His whole “Query..etc etc, Answer, etc etc” gimmick was pretty neat though. This is mainly just because the Leader’s voice was spot on. He sounds bored with every line that he utters and while the other villains also push him around, the Leader never loses his confidence.

As for the Abomination, he’s essentially a stronger version of the Leader. He doesn’t get quite as many good lines, but he almost takes down the team a few different times and he even took over the base at one point. Abomination can be a little generic, but he was certainly given more credit here than in Avengers EMH so that’s a good thing. He’s finally almost on Hulk’s level in strength like he’s supposed to be. He even took over a town, which was very…interesting to say the least.

Normally, I like to talk about how good the animation is, but I can’t really say that this time. Whoever draws the character does not know how to draw teeth, as they are simply too big and stand out way too much. Think of the classic shows like Justice League, Spectacular Spider Man, or the old Transformers show. Do you remember the teeth? Naturally, the characters had teeth and smiled sometimes, but you didn’t notice a giant pair of teeth every time they talked. That’s what happened in the Hulk show and it can be quite distracting. The fight scenes can be decent when they happen though and the character designs are good. It’s similar to how Accel World’s animation was terrific, except for the human characters. As with this show, it’s a big enough negative that you have to take a double take. I’m going to give the Hulk show a bit of a thumbs down here, but it has its moments.

As for the soundtrack, you’ll probably forget it right away. This isn’t the kind of show where you will typically remember the music. That being said, I do remember Red Hulk’s theme because it plays whenever he fights or has a meaningful scene. It’s essentially a generic “tough guy” theme, but that doesn’t stop it from being decently good. At least it was memorable and maybe that’s all I could have asked from it. The show did need a theme song though. I don’t see why everyone is ditching the theme songs nowadays. They were classic and theme songs help to take a show to the next level!

One unintentionally humorous thing from the show was that the very first episode had a plot hole. It ended with Rick being taken to the base to heal, but in the second episode, Hulk never actually made it to the base. Whoops…heh heh. It’s something that you would expect from the Hulk show, but at the same time, you didn’t expect it to happen so soon. It had a retro vibe to it I suppose, but it’s something that you’d think the writers would have noticed. Especially since it aired as a two part event.

While the Ultimate Spiderman show has the gimmick of Spiderman constantly breaking the third wall and stopping time, Hulk goes for a more practical option. At the end of every episode, he’ll sit down in front of the camera and explain that episode’s moral in case you missed it. The messages are more inspirational and heartwarming than My Little Pony Friendship is Magic. Now, that’s a little bold to say as My Little Pony has some of the best messages out there, but Hulk teaches you about caring for your family and teammates, ignoring any bad qualities they may have and focusing on the good, how problems shouldn’t always be solved by violence, trusting in your teammates, and dozens of other great morals. It’s never handled very subtlety, but sometimes that’s a good thing. Being able to talk about these things with a straight face is a good thing and the Hulk show is great for impressionable kids you are watching the show.

One of the things that really bogged the Hulk show down was the unfortunate crude humor and the uninspired dialogue. While the crude jokes are not as frequent as Pac Man (That would almost literally be impossible) they can definitely get pretty dicey at times with a lot of sneezing and potty jokes. They force the Leader to live in the bathroom for a while and the toilet is clogged so he has to try and unclog it. It gets preeeetty dicey for him to say the least. If there is a crude humor joke to be thought of, it’ll be in the show and it certainly gets old. The obvious puns and gags from A Bomb and the others can be good as long as they stick away from that area. Ah well, I guess the show didn’t want its solid seven.

Without that, the show would have been decent. It would have been similar to shows like Avengers Assemble and Ultimate Spiderman. I would never go as far as to call them great shows, but they were still fun and add to the mythos of the characters. I’m still really glad that those titles are around and I can’t say the same for the Hulk title quite as easily. Even this upcoming rating that it got is very close as you can make a decent argument for one star lower. I think it was just good enough, but it was definitely on the edge.
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Overall, Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. is a show that had potential. It’s essentially a Marvel version of Batman Brave and the Bold, but with less guest stars, sloppier animation, and inferior writing. Also less of a soundtrack, but that’s to be expected. It couldn’t quite keep up with the Avengers or Ultimate Spiderman. It should be really thankful that it got a season 2 as that saga certainly helped the show improve. Otherwise, I’m tempted to say that it could have gotten a 5. Still, there were enough positives for me to call it a decently good show and I’d recommend it to Hulk fans who wants to watch some fun action. That being said, you’d be better off watching the 90’s Hulk show or just going for Avengers EMH. I’m confident that Guardians of the Galaxy will beat the Hulk show so maybe everything will start to look up from here…maybe. Also, make sure that you stick around for the moral at the end of each episode!

Overall 6/10