Scooby Doo Adventures The Mystery Map Review

Posted on January 10, 2015 by dreager1

It’s time to take a look at the latest Scooby Doo film! This one decided to try its luck with puppets. It’s certainly a bold move, but it’s one that definitely did not pay off. It’s one of those films that just doesn’t age well and it hasn’t been out all that long yet. It has its moments I suppose, but this isn’t the Mystery Inc gang that I remember.

The gang is just enjoying a day at home when the pizza delivery guy gives them a pizza. A treasure map is found inside of it and the heroes decide to look for the treasure. Before they can locate it, they are attacked by an evil parrot. Can this be a real monster or is it someone in a mask? The heroes don’t know the answer to this question yet, but they intend to find out. This case could be dangerous so they’re going to have to use everything that they’ve ever learned if they want to come out on top.

The film is very short and it only runs for about 30 minutes. There isn’t enough time for any development so we quickly just meet a few suspects before the case wraps up. There’s an old lady accompanied by a teenager who explore some mysterious caves for the thrills. A mean janitor lives on an abandoned light house and he certainly can’t be trusted. Finally, we have the pizza man. You won’t want to underestimate any of these guys and one of them must be the culprit. That being said, they all only get about 30 seconds of screentime so it’s tough to really know if they are criminals or not. You’re just going to have to go with your gut on this one.

The evil parrot made for a decent villain I suppose, but it didn’t have the greatest design. There’s a good reason for that of course and I’ll get into it in a second. Fred makes for a good main character although they decided to make him look really unintelligent for some reason. I guess the writers just figured that it would be a wise move…they were wrong. The other characters are pretty similar to how they usually are I suppose.

Now, what shot this film through the ground? From what I’ve said so far, it still sounds like a decent 6-7 star film right? It’s safe to say that it is considerably worse than that though and we have the animation to blame. The puppet techniques really look bad and it’s why I could never get into the Muppets. I’ll take CGI over puppets and that’s saying something! Everything just looks really stilted and the puppets seem to be pretty low quality as well. They look as if somebody just found their uniforms and added a few buttons. This really wrecks the film.

It’s sad when animation techniques wreck an entire movie, but that’s what happened here. The formula is still pretty similar to the average Scooby Doo film, but you can’t get into any of the scenes because of how they look. The chase scenes aren’t fun and watching the characters discuss what they are going to do next can’t be taken seriously. We know that they’re puppets and there is just no way to get around that. Everything just looks sooooo fake. I don’t see this being a hit with the younger generation either so it’s really just a big miss on the producer’s part.

The soundtrack isn’t much better. The insert songs aren’t really catchy and there are no tense themes to really get your heart racing. The dialogue was also a little off, or at least the delivery of the lines. It felt like they were aiming a little younger than usual as there would be a bit of a pause between words to make sure that they didn’t speak too quickly. Pokemon did this during the Zekrom/Reshiram film, but it’s certainly handled more delicately than this title.

I’m struggling to think of a positive for this film, but I can’t really think of one. It was only about 30 minutes and it still manages to drag on for a while. That’s definitely not a good sign if you really think about it. Even small things like the pizza that Shaggy ordered turned out to be negative. Remember the old films where Shaggy loved to eat, but it was always food that actually looked good? Not anymore! He picks out a pizza that looks terrible so nobody would even want to eat it. This isn’t the first time that he’s done that in a film, but it looks worse than usual.

Overall, Do not watch this film. This Scooby Doo Adventure is one that’s best left in theory and not in stores. I don’t see why you would want to spend the big bucks to watch such a short film anyway when you can check out a classic like Cyber Chase or Zombie Island. Those are two films that are significantly better than this one. I guess I would probably put this one over some of the musicals that came out, but even that is a stretch since those still managed to have good animation. I typically walk out of Scooby Doo films humming the songs (in my mind) and remembering the epic case, but that definitely did not happen here. Avoid this film at all costs and hopefully enough of us will do this so they won’t announce a sequel. If they do announce a sequel…let’s hope that it has proper animation this time!

Overall 4/10

The Maze Runner Review

Posted on January 2, 2015 by dreager1

The Maze Runner was hyped up as the next Hunger Games and that series hasn’t even finished in cinema world yet! Obviously the Maze Runner must have known something that I didn’t so I finally got around to checking it out on DVD. Great concept, but the execution left much to be desired. No worries, the Maze scenes are the best part so that did live up to the billing.

Well, the film takes place in the near future. A lot of kids have been trapped in a Maze and they don’t know how to get out. Every month, a box is sent to them from underground with one more teenager and food supplies. They’ve spent the last few years just trying to survive in their living space as they hope for the best. There are “Runners” who are teenagers that are selected to check out the maze. They have to be careful though since the Maze closes every night and staying inside will mean imminent destruction. So, they have clung to their lives for quite a while and that’s when good ole Thomas shows up. He doesn’t like this status quo…and he’s going to shake things up!

As you can expect, we’re all just waiting for Thomas to go into the Maze. It was in the trailer and we all would have expected it anyway. At first, I was pleasantly surprised with the film’s pacing since Thomas went inside it sooner than I had thought he would. I was practically cheering…until he left and we spent another long period of time outside the maze. (The living quarters are at the center of the maze so I say “out of the maze”) Don’t get the wrong idea….seeing teenagers discuss how they’re all doomed can be entertaining if handled right, but it just isn’t.

Most of the scenes at the living space are just boring or not fun to watch. We have the stereotypical bullies and the twist is that almost all of them are bullies. Everyone falls for peer pressure and the natural born leader wants the status quo to stay. The actual leader is a nice enough guy…or is he? I actually didn’t like him and his replacement was not much better. The whole thing just felt like a scam from Thomas’ point of view and nobody wanted to give him any intel. Just about everyone seemed to be mindless as they would just follow the order’s of the leader. It’s basically a dictatorship and this is certainly not the kind of place that you would want to hang out in.

The atmosphere of the film is very similar to Resident Evil during the climax. Once the maze is…no longer a factor, you expect zombies to start jumping out at you. It’s hard to describe of course, but the area is just very foggy and everything looks very hi tech. You quickly start to get your hopes up about aliens, zombies, or something else. Naturally, the film sends you crashing back down to reality with one of the worst plot twists that I have seen in a long time. The cliffhanger just makes you uninterested in what’s going to happen to the heroes or you at least lose most of your interest. There just doesn’t seem to be much of a point in their journey right now and they should have gone with the aliens/zombies idea. The atmospheric effect is pretty good and few films can actually pull it off, but you need something to happen to keep the atmosphere or it’s just going to fly away.

Thomas is a decent main character….I guess. He just strikes me as pretty annoying to be honest and he’s not very quick on the uptake. It doesn’t help that the other kids shun him of course, but he is always in the dark. He decision to help another one of the kids during a dicey time was pretty good of course and he managed to do well against one of the monsters, but that was mainly plot hax. He also could have put up a much better fight in the ~~getting beat up~~ wrestling game. I’ll never understand how someone can just stand there and watch himself get pushed around without much of an effort. Naturally, Thomas does land one hit so he quickly starts to gloat and then takes his eyes off his opponent. I can’t even…..

Teresa is the main heroine and she shows up as the final person to be sent to the ring. Naturally, she’s a girl so the other boys are mad/afraid that she’s here and she’s also shunned. She doesn’t help her case as she throws rocks at everyone, but I can’t blame her and I just hope that she can fight. Thing is…she feels like she is only here so that we can have a female character involved. Most films don’t pull a reverse harem situation like this in Hollywood so it’s pretty intriguing and I don’t mind so long as they don’t start to fall into the romance game. At most it is implied here and you can easily deny that. I have to give the Maze Runner props where it is due right?

As for the other characters, they’re all pretty unlikable and it’s hard to even talk about them. Newt is the second in command who gets very defensive at the drop of a hat and he just wants Thomas to stop asking questions. He’s the kind of guy who is immensely annoying to be around and he can’t completely stand up for himself even if he’s the leader. Alby actually seems like a nice kid at first, but we know that this can’t last and sure enough…he shows his dark side. He gives Thomas a very lightly veiled threat about what will happen to him if he breaks the rules and he did allow Thomas to be roughly handled when he first came out of the box. Sure, Thomas may have ran, but it was definitely uncalled for. Then, he cracks towards the end and while we’ll probably get a lot of sob stories and twists so make this seem reasonable, it’s still pretty sad.

We can’t forget about good ole Gali. He’s the main bully and he would rather thin the ranks of the heroes then go up against the maze. He’s always pretty unreasonable and he resents Thomas from the very start. You have to wonder how he got along with everyone else. He’s just your stereotypical bully and he pushes everyone around when he feels like it. There’s nothing likable about this guy and the film basically admits that he’s crazy by the end. We also have Chuck, who is the only guy who is really nice to Thomas and wants to be his friend. He also wants to see his parents someday…..Hollywood loves their drama so I’m sure you can imagine how this subplot ends. Minho is the main runner and he warms up to Thomas after the hero proves his worth, but I wouldn’t call him a very good character. He basically doesn’t mind Thomas because the main character is useful to him…that’s about it. Before that, he is pretty cold and he doesn’t mind leaving allies to get stomped on.

We can’t forget the monsters right? There is a pretty chilling moment where we think that there might not be any actual monsters here thanks to a twist, but that it luckily thrown out of the window right away. There are monsters here and they are ~~almost~~ tough. They are essentially mechanical scorpions that move like spiders and there are a lot of them. They’re definitely not very strong as you can destroy them with a simple, sharp stick, but they move quickly, which can make this difficult for the average kid. I’m always glad to have monsters here, but they are definitely not impressive power wise. Their design is decent though.

The actual violence isn’t as repulsive as the first Hunger Games, but it can get rather intense as we peer through one of the monster’s remains. The rest is pretty tame as we just hear/know things without seeing them. It uses the implied violence tactic that the Dark Knight used, which is actually pretty good if you need the violence angle. It’s a safe way to still get the message across. It naturally results in a rather dark tone like The Lord of The Flies and it continues on til the end, but it could be worse. The violence isn’t much of a negative here, but it’s still worth a mention that this definitely isn’t the kind of film that you want to show your kid.

There isn’t really a soundtrack although I’m sure that there are some generic/free domain themes in this film. That certainly doesn’t help the film. The main reason why I just didn’t like this film is because of the scenes at the home base. It’s hard to really describe why it’s so awful there and it may be a number of things. I’ve seen the “main character gets bullied” plot to death at this point and it is definitely not cool to see. Especially since the film is already devoid of any hope, we’d rather not see the main character get put in such a position. The actual setting is also very unimaginative and not very fun to look at the then the disappointing ending didn’t help matters. This is the kind of film that could be much better with adults as the main characters and better still if it had come out in the 80’s/60’s as a black and white film with a lot of debate. Sort of like 12 Angry Men. A reasonable discussion about whether they should leave the Maze or not as the whole film could have been much more interesting. The film just dropped the ball in all of these areas.

Overall, The Maze Runner is about as “good” as I expected. It does manage to crush the Hunger Games, but you are still left feeling empty. Is this the extent of our novel adaptions or are there other titles that we are missing? The Seeker and Alex Rider seemed like good bet back in the day, but they were cancelled and Harry Potter is already over. Ah well, maybe The Maze Runner gets even better with the sequel. The mystery is pretty engaging and I did like the concept. I could almost recommend it to you on that alone, but I could also just recommend the trailer instead. If you don’t mind monster violence and the classic bully scenarios going on for a very long time, then I recommend this film. If the thought of a rather depressing film where all of the main characters are teenagers who are pretty unlikable is too much to handle…you may want to run all the way back to the first Harry Potter film. It’s your choice!

Overall 4/10

The Year Without a Santa Claus Review

Posted on December 30, 2014 by dreager1

Time for a Christmas special about Santa and we already saw that the last one didn’t fare quite as well as the average special. Unfortunately, that continues as The Year Without a Santa Claus may have ended up being the least interesting Christmas Special to date. Perhaps Santa Claus just isn’t cut out to be the main character of a film. It could also just be a bad roll of the dice and then he can get em all next year.

Well, the plot is pretty self explanatory from the title. Santa is feeling tired and sick this year. His doctor lets him know that nobody cares about Santa or Christmas anymore and Santa quickly buys this story. He decides to take a day off and his two elves are sad about it. Ms. Claus thinks about being Santa herself, but ultimately decides not to do it. Her Elves must now find some Christmas spirit in South Town to show Santa that there is still hope. One thing leads to another and one of Santa’s reindeer is placed at the pound. Can the Elves make it snow in Southtown so that the Mayor can believe them and free the Reindeer? It’ll be a pretty dicey challenge for the heroes.

Well, the biggest problem with the film is that it’s simply uninteresting. Santa isn’t really the main character since he’s taking a break so the two elves…I guess I’ll just say their names, Jingle and Jangle must team up with Ms. Claus to be the main characters. They mean well, but they are definitely not main character material. Jingle and Jangle making mistakes and one of them beating up the other one gets old very quickly and Ms. Claus is a nice person, but her type of character isn’t great for the lead. She’s the nice old lady that everyone is actually afraid of and I’ll admit that I’ve never been a fan of this kind of character. It’s decent comic relief I suppose, but the film can certainly do better.

Things get a bit better once Snow Miser and his brother Heat Miser show up. First we have to listen to their songs of course and then we get to see a display of their abilities. I think it’s safe to say that Heat Miser would probably win in a fight, but Snow Miser is a lot more reasonable and he is definitely the better character. This guy doesn’t miss a beat and he’s always ready to throw a little snow your way. These two added a supernatural effect to the special and then we got to meet their boss.

Once again, the film tripped a little in how it handled the situation. Mother Nature was a being that scared even Ms. Claus and everyone talked about how tough and vicious she was. Then…she’s actually a really nice lady who scares the two Misers. It was not entirely unexpected, but it was still not a great twist and you’ll probably wince a few times. “This can’t be happening” is something that you might say as she forces the Misers to compromise.

Even the ending is rather odd as the moral is that the kids decide to give Santa his own holiday so he can rest. It’s all going well until one kid can’t hold her feelings back any longer and guilt trips Santa by letting him know that her Christmas is going to be terrible without him. The other kids start to cry too until they finally force Santa to don his old costume and take up the tradition once more. The holiday is cancelled and you wonder what the point of it all was. What just happened here?

The film certainly made me drowzy as it powered through all of the tropes imaginable. At least the Reindeer got a happy ending since everyone else wasn’t doing very well at the time. I will admit that the Mayor was a pretty great character since he mocked the heroes until the bitter end. He even danced with a little kid to show just how tough he was when he let the elves know that he wouldn’t release the Reindeer. He’s just that kind of guy, he’d rather let the animal stay at the pound than find him an owner. It’s the kind of thing that could definitely make him unlikable, but I like to think that this is a nice pound where the animals are cared for.

Overall, This film was a bit of a miss compared to the other Christmas specials. There is no sense of wonder or amazement here. You can’t even really call it a cheerful/happy film. Santa definitely doesn’t look good here and the film never really knew where it wanted to go with the plot. Ms. Claus’ decision to abandon her Santa adventure was so sudden that you know a last second script re write must have happened. If only the characters had been more interesting, the film could have had some hope. I can’t recommend this film and you should watch A Charlie Brown Christmas instead.

Overall 4/10

Jack Frost Review

Posted on December 30, 2014 by dreager1

You didn’t think that the Christmas specials were over yet did you? No, it’s time to see what Jack Frost can do as he plays the main character of this film. It’s probably his most heroic portrayal yet and unfortunately this means that it’s probably going to be a heartbreaker. Let’s just say that it’s the saddest Christmas film I’ve seen since Jingle All The Way although both films try to throw you a curve ball with a sudden happy twist. I can’t say that it works, but it’s a fairly unique approach.

Jack Frost was making the world cold for Winter as per usual when he decides that he wants to be a human. Father Winter warns him that this may not be a good idea, but Frost won’t take no for an answer. The proposition that is given to him is one that is unfair and dangerous…just the kind of challenge that Jack Frost was looking for! He is to find his partner, a house, a bag of gold, and a tough horse before Winter ends. To do this, he will have to liberate the city that has been overtaken by a dictator. The old man is outnumbered a few dozen to one, but he does have 1000 metal soldiers who do his bidding so this may be a little tougher than expected.

This Christmas special probably had more action than all of the others put together. I was surprised at how intense the villain was. His name is Mr. Kraus and he is one of the better villains. He likes talking to himself via a metal sock puppet and this helps him get through his lonely days. He is all alone after all since his minions all ran away except for the empty, metal soldiers. That’s for good reason of course since he steals all of the money from the townsfolk and he never lets them live in peace. He was interesting even if he was no match for the Prince.

~~Elsa~~ Elisa is the main heroine and she gives Jack Frost hope during his ghost days. That being said, she had made it clear that she wouldn’t be free anymore once a knight in shining armor appeared. She just didn’t expect that such a figure would come back so quickly for Christmas. She gets kidnapped at one point, but she puts up a decent struggle (Off screen of course) and we all knew that she was safe with the knight. She may not have made the choice that Jack Frost was hoping for, but it was a pretty decent choice nonetheless.

The knight is a pretty good character and the film resisted the temptation to make him a mean guy for no reason. He just wanted what was best for Elisa and he never strayed from his path. He can also fight and that is a big plus. The film has one action scene and it naturally involves him. He brutally slices his way through the army of robots and saves Elisa at the expense of his health. It’s easy to root for the guy and he also ignored Jack Frost’s insults because he is above such things. It’s safe to say that Superman’s later incarnations may have been inspired from this guy…it’s conceivable anyway.

As for good ole Jack Frost, he is a pretty great character. Unfortunately, his bark is much worse than his bite. He talks a good game right from the start about how he’s going to crush Mr. Kraus and steal back the gold, but then he can’t even climb up the hill. It’s probably the most humiliating moment that I’ve seen for a protagonist since Goku got hurt by Uub’s kick!! (And that’s saying something) Jack is a nice guy, but he let his emotions get the best of him and he didn’t have enough practical training. His deal with the Groundhog was some pretty quick thinking on his part though so he got to end on a high note. Even you (meaning all of my blog viewers as well as my blog readers) will be shocked at how quickly he gets over the tragic ending of the film.

The animation is a little sharper than some of the other Christmas specials. It uses an intriguing stop motion technique with Barbie dolls for the characters so their cheek bones really stand out, but you get used to it as the film rolls on. The fight scene looked pretty clear and the snow looked good as well. This is what I like to see from my Christmas specials even if the soundtrack was basically nonexistent. We got a song for Mr. Kraus, but it was (intentionally) not very enjoyable and Jack Frost’s song was only all right. This definitely isn’t Frosty level in the audio department, but it will do.

The film has a bit of a slow beginning unless you’re a big fan of Pardon Me Pete. Every film has a cartoon narrator or at least they did back in the day so it makes sense that he would be here. He’s not bad, but his eyes make him look a little sinister and you’re always waiting for him to finish his sentences so that the actual film can begin. He’s probably the smartest character in the film though so you definitely don’t want to underestimate him. His plan was pretty foolproof after all. The part of the intro that I found a little more uneventful though was probably when the film decided to introduce all of the characters. It was basically a parody since most of their names were basically what you would expect. Still, it was certainly intriguing.

Finally, there was one part of the ending that will make you wonder. Jack Frost is a ghost so he can’t have fun with the people…but we find out that he can have contact with them. They feel it when he touches them and he can turn into a solid, shadow creature to scare people. He seems to be pretty solid like that so why did he really need to become a human in the first place. “What is Love” may be a song that tries to clear this up, but I’m not buying it. I think that the writers may have jumped the gun by giving him such incredible powers during the ending. Ah well, what’s a plot “hole” or two. (The film did have a lot of good puns inside of it though so I give it bonus points for the writing)

Overall, You’ve probably heard of films that will leave you in tears before. Chances are that the people you heard were talking about this film. Technically, the ending isn’t played up to be a tear jerker, but if you really think about what just happened…it’s quite sad. It’s the kind of thing that just wasn’t thought about a whole lot back then, but it would be now. This was easily one of the more enjoyable Christmas specials even if it had a pretty slow start. It was more action packed and exciting than I had expected and I definitely recommend checking this one out for ~~Christmas~~ New Year’s Eve. It’s under an hour so you definitely can’t go wrong there. Haven’t you ever wanted to see Jack Frost play the lead? No worries, Frosty and Rudolph get cameos….heh heh heh.

Overall 7/10

A Charlie Brown Christmas Review

Posted on December 30, 2014 by dreager1

Charlie Brown is a series that has always been pretty emotional and fun. They’ve adapted several holidays and now I got to see their Christmas special. It’s very well done and the true meaning of Christmas is not lost here. This is definitely a good film to see on Christmas or any other time as a refresher.

Charlie Brown is feeling pretty depressed even though it’s Christmas. It’s hard to blame him since all of his friends speak in monotone, but then we realize that it’s something deeper than that. His friends don’t really understand since they’re having fun getting ready for the play. Charlie Brown manages to become the director and now it’s up to him to get everyone to realize what the true meaning of Christmas is. The only problem is that he has also forgotten so one of the other kids shall have to enlighten him.

A Charlie Brown Christmas does a good job of breaking the 4th wall or at least being a social homage to how Christmas is celebrated nowadays. Snoopy is the classy next door neighbor who is always winning Christmas Celebrations, Being in the cool crowd, and basically getting to do just about everything that he wants to do. Charlie Brown is the well natured guy who likes to think about things a lot and he doesn’t care for how we have commercialized the holiday. It’s a fun contrast and I’m sure that we have all enjoyed getting presents and simply having as much of a blast as we could.

Just look at me…DReager1. I basically spent all Christmas playing video games and watching TV. It is a day to relax and just have a blast. That’s certainly okay as long as you still remember why we celebrate Christmas and giving God time as well. Christmas originated because it was the day when Jesus Christ was born and that is still one of the most monumental moments in history. It’s an event that shall never lose its importance and that is why we celebrate Christmas every year. The world may try to have you forget this by writing xmas and saying Happy Holidays, but we shall never forget what a special day it is. I was in a pretty uneventful part of 2 Chronicles at the time, but lucky Christmas gives me a reason to quickly jump into the New Testament to read how it all started. I definitely recommend doing that every Christmas and you can alternate between Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John since this is naturally portrayed with varying levels of detail depending how you read it. I believe that Luke’s account is probably the best, but I will be able to say that more confidently once I am actually up to those books and have read them completely.

This Christmas special is fairly short as it’s only about 35-40 minutes, but it’s certainly a nice experience. There isn’t really a soundtrack here so some of the scenes can be eerily quiet, but it draws more attention to the lines. I still think that everyone sounds rather emotionless and monotone, but that helps the effect that Hollywood/Society has brainwashed them into enjoying Christmas for the presents. Snoopy is naturally the most likable character in the film and you can almost start to believe that he was trying to let Charlie know about the true meaning of Christmas by being such an exaggerated character. It’s a bit of a stretch, but would Snoopy really laugh at Charlie like that? I mostly just know him from screenshots of the PSP game and pictures though so I can’t really comment on if this is his usual personality or not.

As for Charlie Brown himself…well, he would certainly be an interesting friend to have. It’s good that he’s so thoughtful, but I can’t say that I liked him as the director. He wasn’t very patient with the other kids and his demands were pretty unreasonable. It’s no surprise that they answered in kind and basically tried to humiliate him at every point. You feel bad for Charlie Brown, but he could have handled the situation a little better. An example of this is when he chose the small tree. The friend warned him that the others wouldn’t like it, but Charlie didn’t care. He thought that it was the right tree for the job. Sure enough, the tree was brought in and everyone laughed. Charlie should have just explained why it was the right tree, but instead he just agreed with them and fell back into the sadness.

The animation is pretty solid. It’s old of course, but the animation isn’t hard to look at. I don’t really care for the dust kid’s gimmick though since it’s certainly a bit much and I feel bad for the kids around him. Aside from that, everyone looks pretty true to form and you couldn’t ask for much more. It’s fitting for the Christmas special and the tree at the end looks good.

In the future, it would be fun for Snoopy to get some more screen time since he basically stole the show. He’s basically the symbol of the series at this point and you look forward to all of his scenes. Most of the friends were pretty unlikable, but the main one who made Charlie the director was pretty good. At least she was giving him a chance and her professional help did wonders for good ole Charlie. It only cost him a quarter so that was definitely a bargain.

Overall, it’s hard to see a Christmas special like this coming out nowadays. This one doesn’t mince words or beat around the bush. One of the kids clearly tells Charlie about the true origin of Christmas and it’s pretty great to see. This is a film that we can definitely be proud of and I would definitely recommend this title to anyone for Christmas. It’ll be just as relevant in 50 years as it is today since the truth never changes. I recommend this to all of my blog readers, prepare for an enlightening experience!

Overall 8/10

Frosty’s Winter Wonderland Review

Posted on December 30, 2014 by dreager1

Well, now that I finally got to review the original Frosty The Snowman, it was time to check out the sequel. I’m sure that you are aware of how sequels can rarely challenge the original right? This is one of those cases and the plot is definitely not as engaging as the first. It’s still a good Christmas story, but it has less to do with Christmas and more to do with the cold.

Frosty has been at the North Pole for a very long time now so he finally decides to head back to town to play with the kids. Little does he know that this upsets Jack Frost! Jack Frost feels left out since nobody plays with him anymore and he decides to put a stop to this effective immediately! He plans to steal Frosty’s hat, which will turn him back into a lifeless creature. Will the kids be able to put a stop to this?

This actually sounds like a pretty good plot on the surface, but we quickly find out that the film misses more than a few opportunities. One of the plots that was rather unnecessary was the invention of a Ms Frosty. Frosty got lonely so the kids decided to create a wife for him, but it takes away the uniqueness of Frosty. They also go overboard as they create another guy to also be a Snowman. Also, Frosty no longer needs the hat to survive because he can simply get by on the power of friendship. It’s pretty touching of course, but the hat is why he’s alive and they shouldn’t have changed such a crucial element to his origin.

Jack Frost is probably a better villain than Mr. Hickle since he actually has powers, but he also seems to be a little less intimidating than the former. He just wants friends so you can probably tell where that plot will lead as soon as you see him. After all, Frosty’s a very nice guy so I’m sure that he can straighten this fellow out. It’s good to have someone with powers, but he’s probably not the villain that you were looking for.

Frosty The Snowman is still a pretty great lead, but his naivety goes into borderline parody mode as he welcomes insults. Jack Frost takes some shots at him, but he doesn’t notice and thanks him. Jack Frost also nearly takes down the whole town with his sudden blizzard, but Frosty and Ms. Frosty decide to invite him for the wedding. He may have been trying to destroy it, but that won’t stop Frosty. Frosty lives up to his name since nothing ever seems to ruffle his feathers. The only time where he drops this front is when he lets the kids know how lonely he is.

The animation is about as good as the first one although they decided to switch a lot of the character designs for some reason. It also helps to try and trick the audience at first as Frosty’s eyes are red, but then we quickly learn that he is a fake. The soundtrack is certainly a little more bland and we don’t get the cheery Christmas songs that you may have been looking forward too. Beyond that, there are many nods to the first film like the Police Man who was shocked the first time. I think he shouldn’t have been shocked here so that wasn’t a very believable scene, but it’s good to see him come back I suppose.

The narrator still seems to be the wisest character in the series and he’s always ready for the change in seasons. The action scenes are probably more intense than the first film’s although you can barely call them “action” scenes. The film is still pretty fun and enjoyable while you’re watching it, but the Ms. Frosty parts do tend to drag a little. Frosty didn’t need a match and that’s the part that I find a little hard to get over. She’s not a bad character at all. Maybe a little generic, but that’s to be expected. I just would have preferred if she was a childhood friend of Frosty’s or something.

Overall, Frosty’s Winter Wonderland is about what you would expect from a sequel. It’s decent and Frosty’s still a pretty good character, but it lacks most of the charm and wit that the first film had. This one is simply a pale shadow from that title and Santa Clause doesn’t even get to appear. The animation is still good enough, but the soundtrack might be a little worse. It’s a bit of a stretch to recommend this film, but it’s very short at around 30 minutes so it can’t hurt that much and you’ll get to see Frosty again. That may be a good enough deal right?

Overall 5/10

Batman Mask of the Phantasm Review

Posted on December 29, 2014 by dreager1

It’s time for one of the first great Batman films to finally be reviewed and Mask of the Phantasm was certainly a film that turned the tides for animated superhero films as we know them. This film was in the same continuity as the 90’s Batman TV show so that was definitely a draw for many since it was known as the definitive version of Batman. I can’t argue there and seeing him on the big screen was probably a lot of fun. This is a pretty solid film that also contains the Joker so expectations were certainly high coming into it. I’ve seen it several times at this point and it’s always been one of the better Batman films.

Batman is framed by a new vigilante in Gotham, but this new figure is willing to cross the line. He has already vanquished several members of a mob and he intends to finish off the last survivors. Batman won’t have this and he decides that he’s going to have to take this Phantasm down. Will Batman really have what it takes to pull off such a feat? The film also deals with Batman’s meeting with a lady named Andrea. She has something to do with his past and now she has returned after 10 years…what’s her angle!? The Joker also decides to show himself towards the second half of the film so he adds to the intrigue.

Mask of the Phantasm certainly delivers on the animation front as Batman’s cloak looks very crisp and modern. You would think that this was a high budget episode of Justice League and that’s what I expect from a theatrical film. I think that the beginning of the film certainly got the most attention as it looks considerably better than the rest of the film, but the whole thing still looks really good. For a film, it also makes sense to trow most of your budget into the opening to really hook people in as opposed to a show where you want to put some budget into the beginning, but then you’ll want to save a lot of it for the climax. A good indicator of how good the animation looks here is to look at Batman’s design. The way that they design his cape and cowl are pretty good indicators of if the animation is good or great. Mask of the Phantasm is definitely on the latter side of that.

This film’s soundtrack uses a few tunes from the TV show while also inventing a new theme that plays during the intro and ending. It’s an operatic piece that works pretty well with Batman since it lets you know that something serious is about to happen. It’s more fitting with the ending than the beginning since it highlights a key decision that has now been made. It’s rather dramatic and it works well. You definitely won’t doubt that this is a theater film while you’re listening to the soundtrack.

Batman looks pretty good for the most part although I certainly have some qualms with his portrayal here. It naturally revolves around his scenes with Andrea. Many of the events with them take place 10 years earlier during Batman’s first adventures as a crime fighter. She arrived and he started to consider hanging up the mantle before he had even begun so that he could lead a normal life. It’s not the “I am the night. I am vengeance. I am Batman!!!” character that I remember, but this was fairly early on in his career so I could cut him a tiny bit of slack. Now, what I can’t simply overlook is that 10 years later Batman is once again in shambles because Andrea has returned.

No matter how close they were, there’s no way that anything would cause Batman to hesitate at this point. He’s already decided that being Batman is something that he’s going to do until he’s physically unable to handle the job anymore. He definitely wouldn’t consider stopping now for any reason. So, that subplot was definitely a pretty big stretch and it was a little sad how his secret identity was found out so easily. I don’t think he would typically make the mistake of standing in front of the Wayne’s grave or at least being caught doing so. He just didn’t look too good there and I have warned films about the possible traps involved where romance is concerned. I think it did hurt his portrayal here.

That aside, Batman tended to look pretty good in the fight scenes. It’s safe to say that he had the edge against the Phantasm and he took out the Joker with sufficient strength and finesse. It was only close because Joker had the home field advantage and I can live with that. He is still a tough villain after all so a close fight is to be expected. Batman put together the clues for the mysteries pretty quickly here and he also put Alfred in his place when he started to go a little too far. This is definitely the Batman that I am used too and it will be tough for any continuity to ever surpass the DCAU version of Batman.

The Phantasm is a pretty intense villain. I naturally won’t disclose his secret identity even though the film is so old because spoilers must be protected through thin and thin. So, naturally these lines just pertain to when he is in costume. He’s a pretty intense villain and he seems to show no fear as he hunts down gang boss after gang boss. He is equipped with a pretty sharp gauntlet that can cut through guns without effort and he is quite adept at moving through smoke. I think that some of his feats are certainly a little exaggerated since there is no possible way (Barring supernatural powers) that he can accomplish them. One example is where he throws a smoke bomb and Batman immediately grabs at him, but the Phantasm is gone. It’s pretty spooky, but a little hard to buy.

Andrea is one of the new characters for this film and she’s pretty decent although it can be tough for Batman fans since we don’t like to see him give up like this. Unfortunately, Andrea is in a pretty tricky situation since her father got involved with gangsters so now their lives are in jeopardy. That’s why she ended up leaving Batman 10 years ago and then she returns for this film. She seems nice enough, but also a little too easy and the whole affair with Batman happened way too quickly. Naturally, both of them are to blame for this, but also allowing the flirting by Reeves was a bit much on her part. I probably prefer some of the original characters from the final film in the Batman DCAU trilogy, but Andrea certainly could have been worse. At it stands, Andrea didn’t make the film lose any stars. (A star probably could have been gained without her subplot though)

Joker appears to give the film some star power on the villain front. Admittedly, the film probably wouldn’t have been quite as exciting without him. A super villain is always appreciated and you feel pretty confident that he will be able to stand up to the Phantasm. He is the Joker after all and he’s always prepared for every eventuality. His home base is pretty cool and he’s just a very charismatic character. I always did like him in the DCAU even if he’s not my favorite villain in most of the other forms of media. His fans will certainly be pleased with his portrayal here and he is seen as a pretty big threat from the get go.

Arthur Reeves is one of those guys who likes to be at the top of the Anti Batman game. He appears on TV constantly to remind people that Batman is a menace and you would almost think that he was Harvey Dent at first. It makes you wonder how this guy always manages to get on TV, but he is a politician. Let’s just say that all original characters tend to have something to do with the plot so he’s entangled in the past full of mysteries in this film. He’s definitely not a good character and I wouldn’t have minded if he hadn’t been in it. I guess we do need more villains though and he beats some of the sub villains. He just brings shame to the Arthur name! If it helps….he does have the courage to laugh at the Batman!

You may wonder about a certain figure on a boat as the film ends and what it all means. Well, I like to think that the figure threw another figure away as a certain explosion hit and quickly escaped, which is how the figure is here. That also explains why the other figure continues to appear in future media in this continuity. I think it makes sense, but it also undermines one character’s big moment at the ending. Ah well, at least it means that the character resisted from crossing the line one last time…even if it was accidental. This may sound vague, but you’ll know what I’m talking about as you watch the film.

One scene that may make you wince is when Batman takes on the cops. Typically, that is an easy feat for Batman, but they were probably trying to make it a little more realistic for the casual moviegoers so Batman actually doesn’t look good. We’ve seen him take on a planet full of enemies in the past so no true Batman fan will really be able to buy the scene. It’s also sad since Batman ultimately has to be saved. I think it would have been more appropriate for Alfred to have saved Batman since it would have left the crimefighter with more dignity. As the scene stood, it was a pretty sad moment for the Dark Knight. It also makes Bullock look worse than usual since he just shot someone who has been helping him out since day one. That’s definitely what I call being not grateful to someone.

The main plot is a lot more interesting than the flashbacks, but I did enjoy this rendition of Batman’s origin. It was fun to see his first fights against the hoodlums of Gotham. I just think that it would have been even more fun without the romance in Andrea’s subplot. This film definitely has a lot of romance in it and it’s interesting that the other two Batman films have romance plots involved in some way. It may help the general audience I suppose since they expect that, but you can certainly do a good Batman film without such a subplot. After all…what would the fans have to say about all of this? Batman is the ~~solitary~~ Dark Knight…end of story.

Overall, Batman Mask of the Phantasm is a pretty good way to start off the classic Batman trilogy of animated films in the DCAU continuity. The soundtrack is pretty good and the animation is superb. It tops several of the DC films that have come out in the last few years and that’s no small feat. Batman’s portrayal is hardly perfect, but he still looks smart and tough, which is good. The Phantasm makes for a nice villain and the Joker’s certainly a classic villain to use. The opening action scene is pretty great and you really feel the blows. The film may only be a little over an hour, but there are a lot of danger/combat scenes to help make up for that and the action never get boring. I definitely recommend checking this film out whether you’ve watched the TV show or not. It’s good as a stand alone Batman film no matter how much experience with Batman you have. Even if you’ve never heard of Batman before, (Is that even possible?) this is a pretty good place to start.

Overall 7/10

Slayers Perfect Review

Posted on December 24, 2014 by dreager1

I’ve already seen the first two series (or seasons if you prefer) of Slayers and I’m currently in the middle of the third one so it’s good timing to check out the first film. It’s time to leave Gourry and friends as Lina teams up with a new ally this time…Naga! It certainly feels a lot different from the show in some regards while still keeping in many similar aspects. You could say the same about the title character, but I’ll discuss that more as we get deeper into the review. It’s a decent film, but it never manages to reach up to the level of the shows.

Lina is just enjoying a regular day of beating up thugs and gangs when she bumps into Naga, an old friend/rival. Naga informs her of some intense hot springs that are on a nearby country so they decide to go there since the Earth isn’t at stake at the moment. That changes when a wise sage visits Lina in her dreams and informs her that a demon is terrorizing many people. His name is Joyrock. Joyrock’s name may not be that scary, but his skills are respectable as it will take everything that Lina and Naga have if they want to defeat him. They also have to make time to defeat petty con artists and let people know the true nature of the hot springs. After all, the island has a ranking system so they will have to defeat all of the strong opponents if they want to become the very best!

Lina Inverse is our protagonist and she still has the reputation of being a pretty vicious fighter. That being said, she really doesn’t act like the Lina that we are used too from the TV show. She’s still pretty tough, but she has less interest in treasure and riches. Right now she is totally preoccupied with food so at least that is a trait that she has kept up with. Her abilities are also not quite as formidable as her Dragon Slave takes a lot more time to draw up and her array of attacks is considerably reduced. That being said, it’s not as if she’s going to have to face off against someone like Rezo anytime soon so she doesn’t need all of that extra power. She starts off pretty well by beating up a gang and she’s mostly taking charge during the whole film as she mows down fighter after fighter.

On the other hand, her inexperience shows at some points as well. She takes an old man’s word at face value about a special hot springs and she falls for a simple hypnosis trick. Finally, Lina doesn’t look very impressive against Joyrock. Now, Joyrock is a good fighter so I’m not going to take credit away from him on that front, but I would expect Lina to put up a longer fight. Throw some good spells at him or something! I always thought that magicians shouldn’t be afraid to just beam spam as long as their energy levels can hold out and that has never really been a problem in this series. I also have to admit that her voice really takes some getting used too. The accent is just very different from all of the other characters and it helps to make her sound younger, but it also makes her sound less self assured and confident than her TV show counterpart. I’m not sure how many years this takes place before the show, but I would guess no more than 10. I think I would probably like the voice more without the accent, but I’ll probably be used to it by the second or third film. It’ll be like Sonic’s new voice in Boom. I still end up liking it a lot as a good voice for Sonic, but nothing will beat the Adventure 2 Battle days. Overall, Lina’s still a solid protagonist who just needs to work on a few things.

I’m mostly pulling a blank on the soundtrack. I’m inclined to say that it was decent, but I can’t remember a single tune. It may be one of the most forgettable soundtracks that I’ve ever heard in an anime film. Slayers has never been at the top of its game in this area though. At least this gives the sequel an easy way to improve on this one since one good song is all that it would need to claim victory on this front.

Animation wise, it’s about on par with the first show. I’d say that it’s definitely worse than the high budget episodes of that series, but it can beat some of the earlier episodes. It’s probably not J.C. Staff’s best work, but sometimes it all depends on who works on the character designs or backgrounds. Usually, the energy blasts are what stand out, but Lina’s Dragon Slave just looked very unimpressive this time. It was just faded out and didn’t even look like it would be a threat to Joyrock. That being said, I think it would hold out pretty well if we compared it to other films of that year.

Naga is one of the big characters and she’s really similar to Martina. It’s never explained how she knows Lina, but they’ve clearly been friends for quite a while. She’s a skilled sorcerer as well although she rarely takes things very seriously. She does have a thing for hot springs though and she makes sure to put store owners on the spot if they try to use cheap ingredients to trick consumers. It’s hard to call her a hero, but at least she is usually on the side of justice if there is a reward to be had or just if she feels like it. She is unfortunately used for fanservice, but at least she typically acts like a decently good character. She’s not very likable, but as far as supporting characters go, she could certainly be worse. I’ll need to see her in more action scenes to see if she really has what it takes to stay on the crew.

Roudy is one of the main characters at the end of the film, but he doesn’t appear for most of the beginning. He’s a nice swordsman who grew up to be an old man who wasn’t quite as interesting. As a kid, he will definitely remind you of Gourry. I liked him in that form and he put up a brave fight against Joyrock, but he’s still just a kid. I guess he beat Gourry to the punch with mixing the Dragon Slave with the Sword of Light to create a form of the Giga Slave, but it’s not quite as all powerful. He was probably the best supporting character here if we ignore his elderly self. If we do not, then he ends up just being a decent character or maybe even a little unlikable.

Joyrock is the big antagonist of the film. He has a great design, but as a character he could certainly be better. He’s pretty generic and his overall goals are simply not that interesting. He’s a pretty good fighter, but you just know that he wouldn’t stand a chance if Lina had been more experienced. I guess he’s basically what you would expect from the average film villain. He doesn’t really get likable as the film goes on, but at least he treats us to some intense fight scenes. I suppose that this will have to do for now.

Naturally, Slayers Perfect’s biggest weakness is the fanservice. It’s a little more in your face than it is in the shows while still giving us more rude comments about Lina’s chest. It’s a running gag that unfortunately seems like it’s going to stick around and that’s not cool. Naga’s first appearance is quickly bogged down by fanservice as well and I could tell almost right away that this wasn’t going to be quite as good as the show. The show had some of this as well, but luckily it mostly died down after a while or we could go several episodes without it popping up. The film is only about an hour, but similar scenes occur throughout so it’s harder to cut the film any slack. I mean, just look at the poster! I had to apply some subtle edits since I thought that it would be a little too risque for the blog since this is still a family friendly blog with impressionable youngsters. So, this definitely took away a few points and was the main reason why a 7 was unattainable for Slayers.

The action scenes are pretty good when they happen. We get a few of them during Lina’s gauntlet against the island’s strongest fighters. The hypnosis couldn’t really fight, but we had someone who could multiply fish and naturally Joyrock’s fight. His stab against Lina was a pretty good cut although it was handled a little undramatic ally afterwards. The hit looked like it did a lot of damage, but in the end it appeared to be no more than a flesh wound. This is actually the main reason why I think the film should have been longer. A lot of the fights are fairly brief and a little more screen time would have been great.

Naturally, Slayers always tries to blend comedy and action together so most of the fights aren’t totally meant to be taken seriously, but a longer fight is always a better fight right? Exceptions are valid of course, but another 30 minutes would have been really good. The time travel plot also could have been longer since Lina basically had to save the day in a few minutes. That plot could have held its own hour by itself since time travel is always fun to see.

Overall, Slayers Perfect is a decent film. I would almost call it your perfectly average anime film as it has the pros and cons that you could expect from a normal film. The negatives include the excessive fan service and short duration (It’s not always a negative, but the film could have used some extra time) while the positives include some good action scenes and a solid main character. The soundtrack was surprisingly bland, but I’m sure that the sequel could get past this. I recommend checking this out if you are a big Slayers fan or if you want a fantasy adventure and don’t mind the negatives listed. That being said, you’re better off just watching the original Slayers series since it has the definitive version of Lina Inverse and Gourry is a better sidekick than Naga. Now that is the series that revolutionized the fantasy genre at the time.

Overall 5/10

The Hobbit The Battle of The Five Armies Review

Posted on December 23, 2014 by dreager1

The Hobbit trilogy ends with this title and it has certainly been a long road. The Lord of the Ring films have always been known as long journeys and the Hobbit films have kept up that tradition. However, they are already at their destination in this film so all that’s left is the war. This means that we get a whole lot of action and less travelling, which can be a good or bad thing. I can certainly say that I liked it more than the other two Hobbit films and most of the LOTR titles..maybe all of them. So, I’d consider that a success.

The plot continues where it left off in the last film. Smaug is attacking the village and the casualties are certainly high. They seem unable to stop this powerful dragon so it’s a pretty bleak beginning. Let’s just say that the situation is still resolved fairly early on in the film so that we can head back to the plot of Bilbo and Thorin. They have retaken the castle, but now Thorin is beginning to lose his mind. He wants a certain jewel at any cost and he’s willing to go to war for it. The Elves are glad to oblige while Sauron’s forces also decide to jump in on the fun. So, who are the 5 Armies? We have The Elves, The Orcs, The Dwarfs, Thorin’s group, and a second batch of Orcs. (The Townspeople as well) Will the heroes decide to team up or will they just join in the free for all? Looks like it’s time to find out!

As you can probably guess, I definitely did not like Thorin. He was a pretty disappointing character since he basically just made all of the same mistakes as Frodo and (future) Bilbo Baggins. He lets the gold control him completely and he can basically be thought of as a villain here. He threatens Bilbo and his allies while deciding that many casualties are acceptable as long as he is rich. He definitely has no regard for the lives of others, but the other Dwarves continue to follow him because they are very loyal. At least, that’s Bilbo’s rationale and it certainly doesn’t help the followers. They need to know when it’s time to just throw in the towel and call it a day. Deciding to betray Thorin to go help the others would have definitely been a good idea. Thorin does get some big moments at the end to try and make him likable again, but it just doesn’t work for me. He went way too far during the early scenes so he would need at least one extra film of being a great character to overturn that. It’s just too little and too late right now.

Bilbo is still not a great lead since he’s just not a charismatic character. He is trying to help Thorin get through these trying times, but he doesn’t do it in the same way that you would see a Tom Cruise or Matt Damon type of character achieve it. He is still not a fighter so there’s only so much that he can do, but I think he just could have been more likable. His only action scene involves him throwing rocks, which certainly wasn’t that impressive. He should have just put on the ring and attacked with a sword. That would have certainly worked out a little more for him.

The best fight scene in the film is easily the battle against the Wraith creatures. They were certainly awesome to fight against in the video games so it was cool to see them appear here as well. The scene in question may feel like it doesn’t have anything to do with the trilogy, but it helps to tie things in with the Lord of the Rings films. This battle was as close to a CBM fight as you can hope to get as the Wraiths showed off their super speed while the heroes blocked their blows. I think the Wraiths probably should have won that round, but at least a few of the characters got to show off their might here. This also leads to a pretty intense scene between one of the heroes with the big villain. The villain looked very intimidating there and the effects were glorious and while you can probably guess what will happen next, it doesn’t take away from the fact that this is an opponent to be feared. The hero’s voice got pretty strange and maybe a bit too warped to take seriously for me, but I guess it is meant to show you that this character is using all of her power now.

The soundtrack is decent, but it has a bad habit of popping up at inopportune times. The film loves to use the main hobbit theme whenever possible. So, it can pop up even during a danger scene or a sad scene where we shouldn’t have such happy music. There is a decently good score for Smaug’s battle though. I can’t say that I noticed music for most of the film, but what I did hear wasn’t bad. The director just needs to work on not using the theme so often.

The battle scenes are still not that great for the most part. Naturally, I did like the Wraith scene, but the battles against the average Orcs were not that great. I always wince when I see the heroes just go on their knees and stick out their spears as they wait for the enemies to come at them. What if the enemy just yanks your spear away or kicks you? There are so many enemies that you feel like they will just run over the heroes and leave them on their backs. As for the actual fights, we mainly just get to see the heroes annihilate the villains by the dozens and a stab attacks from both sides. I found the scenes potentially less violent than the other LOTR films, but there will always be a few stabs on either side that can be dicey. There is also some animal violence to be found here as horses and mythical creatures just can’t endure the arrow strikes. There’s a lot of action, but it’s not quite Captain America level in terms of how good the scenes are. The fact is…it will almost be impossible for this kind of fight scene to ever match up to something like Captain America since one on one styled fights are more interesting than war scenarios. Now, a 2 on 2 fight or a 4 on 1 team effort is another story altogether.

Gandalf looks pretty bad though and this will certainly give his naysayers a little more ammunition to fire at him. He spends a good portion of the film being locked up and then he quickly rides off to warn the heroes of an incoming threat. That’s good, but then he doesn’t even try to fight the villains when they arrive. He has his scary voice to intimidate those who hear him, but his spells really don’t seem to be that great. I expect more out of a wizard who has gotten the amount of hype that he has obtained throughout the years.

Smaug still looks as menacing as ever, but talk about a disappointing finish to a big character! I already knew what would happen to him through the rumors and the book being out, but it may be even worse than you would expect. Let’s just say that all he has to do is not fly at the sharp thing pointed at him. He has a few minutes of prep time since the heroes can’t move and are just pointing the object in a straight line. Smaug sees this, but evidently doesn’t care since his body is indestructible and all…..I guess he overrated himself. It was cool to see him lay waste to the town and his flame abilities are impressive, but he is certainly not a smart villain. He should have done far better considering the circumstances.

Legolas is probably still the best fighter on the hero side and he manages to get in his fights. You’ll probably be sad when he and Tauriel disappear for about an hour, but they quickly start to do their part once they arrive at the big battle. Legolas had a pretty good fight against one of the main villains and it’s hard to see any of the other heroes coming out victorious in that battle. Unfortunately, he does fall into the tricky embrace of romance, but he is forced out of it in the end. That will let him really focus on the battles at hand. On the bright side, the romance angle did help him make some good decisions like not abandoning the battle and deciding to help the heroes. I do have to question what the point of going to the villain lair was when they weren’t going to fight, but at least they almost arrived in time for their intel to have been put to use. He’s the best hero in the film to be sure.

Azog is one of the big bosses, but he was never a cool character. You may chuckle as he runs away from Thorin during the battle and tells his minions to distract the king. He’s not a bad fighter, but he knows when he’s outmatched. He’s essentially human level in speed while he has a little extra power. His body is pretty resilient since he survives a whole lot. I do think that the arm blade is a nice touch and he gives us a pretty good fight, but he’s certainly not an interesting villain.

Tauriel is one character who was pretty disappointing. She was portrayed as a great fighter alongside Legolas in the other Hobbit titles, but here she mainly plays the role of damsel in distress. She meets eyes with Kili, which distracts her from the fight so much that she forgets that she was even in a battle. That is definitely a rookie mistake and she just doesn’t bounce back from that. She is too emotional to go on in the climax and she spends most of the early part of the film telling the others to desert a kid who ran off to help save the land. She was just a very poor character by the end and I don’t think that she was handled well.

Bard is one of the main characters and he helped the townspeople regroup, which was good. He was certainly more likable than Thorin and I actually thought that he was a pretty decent character. He’s certainly not the strongest warrior out there, but he’s easy to root for and he could have been an interesting main character. Kili is another one of the fighters who gets a role and looks pretty similar to Bard and Thorin. All three of them are easy to mistake for the other, which is why I’m glad that Thorin was wearing a cape for most of the film. Kili is definitely not quite as interesting as the other warriors and he was one of the reasons why Tauriel wasn’t good in this film so that doesn’t help his case. His hero moment also backfires at one point in the film so things definitely do not go his way.

Elrond barely appears in the film, but he’s pretty cool. His battle against the Wraiths was pretty good in and of itself and was enough for him to be one of the best characters in the film. It’s too bad that he didn’t get more of a role since it would have been cool to have seen him fight some more. Saruman is also in the fight and he definitely looks good to the casual observer. If you haven’t seen the LOTR films, you would definitely like his role a lot. He is another skilled fighter whose magical abilities easily exceed Gandalf’s. At least…in this film. You know where his plot is going so that can be a little sad as he walks off, but otherwise he has a pretty good role.

Thranduil is the leader of the Elves and he’s another great fighter. It just goes to confirm my suspicions that the elves are the strongest hero race in the series. It seems like they produce all of the best fighters and they seem to be ready for battle. I have no doubt that they would have crushed the Dwarves in a battle. I’m glad that he just didn’t let Thorin keep the jewels and he was one of the better characters in the film. You get a Gilgamesh feel from him as he seems to consider himself above mere mortals. Elves are immortal I believe so he can certainly outlast one. He takes down a lot of Orcs in one scene, but unfortunately that is basically his only action scene. Maybe two if you count him verbally humiliating Gandalf.

Alfrid serves as the comic relief for the film and he definitely gives Bard a hard time. The film is so serious that you’re not sure if you should take his scenes seriously or not, but I’d definitely consider him as one of the villains. He almost drowned someone and threw someone overboard so you certainly can’t call him a hero. The only thing that you can give him credit for is his determination. He’ll do just about anything to get out of being in the battles. He has a lot of self confidence in this and he even talks back to the king. When someone gives him work to do, he casually gives it to someone else. His design also works perfectly for this. As far as comic relief characters go, he’s definitely better than many others, but he’s not going to be the next Hercule. It’s too bad that they didn’t arrest him here and even Bard seems to give up as he offers some parting advice.

One big pro that should be mentioned is that I didn’t get knocked out during the film! These films typically make me lose consciousness at least once, but I was up and ready for action the whole time. There is a chance that it was the theater effect since you typically won’t fall asleep there, but I think that the film was just more interesting this time. You actually cared about the subplots like Legolas and the village. The main plot also wasn’t that bad. I still didn’t care for many of the characters, but simply being interesting is always a great positive for any film. After all, you can’t enjoy a film if you are bored by it right?

How much plot hax is in this film? Well, there are extensive amounts of it I’m afraid, but that’s to be expected. Most films have some degree of plot hax and LOTR styled films typically have more than the average film since it involves mere mortals fighting beings beyond their comprehension. I’m actually okay with the supernatural elements here since Mages beating Demons is perfectly believable. What isn’t believable is the actual battle of the 5 armies. They show us a contrast at one point and the villains badly outnumber the heroes. They already had the edge before the final army group of villains arrived. The villains have Kaiju Worms and Giants to back up their Orcs while the heroes have nothing. You know that the heroes will ultimately win, but you don’t see how it is plausible as the fights are going on. Legolas, Tauriel, and Kili have to team up to take out one fighter and he nearly destroys them all. Now, this villain was far stronger than the average Orc, but there are still thousands of other Orcs and the other heroes aren’t quite as skilled. You won’t believe that the heroes can win for a second and the film is unable to change that. I think they should have just showed more foot soldiers on the heroes side and maybe a few wild cards like a heroic glacier beast or something. We had no super soldiers and Gandalf certainly wasn’t going to jump in!

It’s still not my kind of film, but Battle of the Kings did a better job than I could have expected. It doubled my expected rating of a two for this film and fixed many of the errors that I had with the others. One of the reasons why it can’t get much higher than this is still the kind of a film that it is. I’m not a big fan of war films and I also don’t like films that take place in the olden days or in a universe where it is always the olden days. I’ll take the present anytime and the future next. I just need a more civilized setting where characters don’t have to go barefoot through the wilderness. For that matter..I don’t like the wilderness. Just give me a few cities and I’m set. In the end, Bilbo ended up being a much better character than Frodo and I would say that the Hobbit trilogy is vastly superior to the LOTR films. This trilogy had a 4, a 3, and a 2. The LOTR trilogy had a 3, a 3, and a 2 I think. Or two 2’s and a three, I forget, but it’s not as close as the numbers would suggest.

Overall, Battle of the Five Kings is the most enjoyable film in the LOTR continuity to date. The fights still aren’t great, but they are certainly done in a better way than the other films. The fight with the Wraiths was particularly impressive and it would be great if all of the fights were like that one. If they were, I think it’s safe to say that I would have added an extra star. Alas, it still suffers from some of the typical errors like the war violence being a bit much and nearly all of the characters being unlikable. No eye shots this time, which is pretty great though and the film is an improvement over all of the other titles in just about every area. The ending may be happy for some or sad for others who know what is about to happen. Either way, it perfectly transitions into the first LOTR film so you can always check that one out next to continue the saga! I recommend this film more than most of the other big war films, but you could probably also check out another fantasy title like Final Fantasy for even better results.

Overall 4/10

Dragon Ball Z Bojack Unbound Review

Posted on December 21, 2014 by dreager1

Looks like it’s time for another classic DBZ review! It really doesn’t get better than that right? This film definitely had me a little concerned seeing as how Goku wouldn’t be a main character. That’s just asking to be thrown under the average anime film, but this title actually manages to get past that due to some pretty good writing and epic action scenes. A certain scene also helped this film really hold its own and end up being one of my top films.

The Earth is hosting yet another big tournament as the film kicks off and Gohan has decided to enter to keep his fighting skills sharp. Tien, Piccolo, Trunks, Krillin, and Yamcha also enter to see who the strongest Z Fighter of all is. The tournament is interrupted as it reaches the final stages though as intergalactic pirates appear. Bojack and his men aren’t here to play and they intend to wipe out everyone on Earth. Gohan is going to have to step up as Earth’s champion even sooner than he thought. Can he really defeat this nemesis?

The film starts out with some solid fights and there is never a breather as the action continues to accelerate. It can be a little sad for Yamcha and Tien fans though because they look absolutely terrible against the new villains. They don’t even last a minute as they are dispatched without effort. Tien got a lot of hype during the opening scenes so that probably shocked his fans to the core. I’m sure that everyone was already rooting for Yamcha to lose though so that’s all right.

An interesting thing that this film points out is that the Z fighters have absolutely no experience with teamwork. They all go at the villains one at a time so they are systematically destroyed by the sheer numbers of the opponents. In the actual series, they never really had to team up against a villain group before, but I like to think that they would do a better job than they did here. The only battle that comes close to this one would probably be the group against Androids 17 and 18. There wasn’t a whole lot of teamwork to be seen there either. Maybe we have just discovered the weakness of our heroes.

Vegeta’s role is very small and unfortunately it is not great. It’s nowhere near as bad as in the Broly or Bills titles, but he basically just appears to get beaten up. He has a decent excuse since he had given up fighting and was clearly rusty, but I think he should have put up a better fight. He only got one or two hits in the entire fight and that’s definitely not what you would expect from the Saiyan prince. His streak of losses in the films continues here. At least he went out swinging.

Trunks is an interesting figure since he is the only guy to actually win his battle in the early part of the film, but then things go downhill for him from there. He is ineffective against the minions and Bojack. He is constantly being double or triple teamed so he never stood a chance. He really highlights the lack of teamwork issue as he is beaten to the ground constantly. He is a tough fighter so it’s sad to see him get so overwhelmed. At least defeating another one of the minions would have made him look better.

To an extent, the reason why all of the heroes look bad is because Gohan gets to look great here. He ends up taking the whole group on by himself. It’s great props for the young Saiyan even if he gets a little help from an old legend. Once he activates Super Saiyan 2, it’s basically over for the villains. It’s too bad that it still takes so much for him to transform, but Goku loves holding back as well so it may just run in the Saiyan family. Gohan is a good example of a solid character. He’s not as charismatic as your average lead, but he’s a good guy and he doesn’t fall into any character holes. I definitely wouldn’t say that he had any faults and he fought bravely until the very end.

Goku doesn’t appear very much in the film, but he still reminds me why he is such a great character. If we were just talking about the films, he would easily be my favorite character. He just looks so great in these titles! He decides to break some intergalactic rules to go and help Gohan, which gives him tremendous brownie points as far as I am concerned. A lesser main character would have just kept shouting encouraging words from the sideline without actually going to help. Going to help someone else escape imminent destruction is always the right move.

Piccolo’s role is even more brief, but he still looks pretty great as well. As always he comes at just the right time and his voice is still as impressive as ever. He is quickly outmatched by Bojack, but at least he gave it his all. His entrance was certainly dramatic and he’s another character who’s hard to dislike. He has an aura of confidence aruond him even if he knows that he will lose.

Bojack’s minions really get no character, but he certainly gets enough to discuss him. I can’t say that I’m a huge fan of his although I certainly like him as a villain. His design is perfect for him and wanting to exact revenge on Goku and the Kai’s is a pretty original goal at least. He doesn’t seem to comprehend the meaning of power levels though since he doesn’t notice that Gohan has surpassed him and he’s just not that interesting when it all boils down to it. I’d say that he’s probably around Super Android 13 level in power and certainly under Broly. He’s tough to be sure, but he’s lucky that he was freed when he was. Going to Earth during the next arc would have been pretty difficult for him.

There is a subplot with Hercule that doesn’t really go anywhere, but I suppose that he did contribute in one scene. It’s always good to see him in the spotlight, but it’s hard to beat his canon appearances where he actually gets to help save the universe. Krillin is also around, but he looks so awful that it’s easy to just overlook him. He didn’t put up a real fight at all, which is pretty disappointing. He basically gave up before the fight was even started.

The most annoying attack that the villains have is easily their wires. They can drain away your energy with them and they are extremely hard to break. It can be a little tough to comprehend that a few strings are so strong that a Super Saiyan can’t break through them, but I guess that is just how the ball rolls. I think that the writers could have gave them a more impressive looking attack since that in turn would also make the heroes look more impressive.

The animation looks great and you can tell that Toei put a lot of effort into it like with the Broly film. Once again, the battles take place in a city and it is during night time in this film so the fight scenes are pretty unique. I would still say that Broly looks slightly better, but this one definitely gives it a run for its money. The Kamehameha at the end is very detailed and looks great and I can’t complain about the designs either. This helps the film to be complete as it is solid in every aspect.

The soundtrack is very underwhelming since it’s just the same songs from the TV show, but that seems to be a staple at this point. Even Battle of Gods used a lot of old music if I am not mistaken. I’m assuming that new ones will eventually pop up, but as long as people continue to enjoy the old ones they may keep on appearing. It’s not a bad soundtrack, but I do think that a lot of the songs do feel more than a little dated.

The only negative would be….Roshi’s plot. He only gets a few minutes to himself, which is great news for us. It manages to be a really awful scene, but luckily he is written out after that so that things can go back to normal. There really isn’t anything else that I would consider as a negative. A missed opportunity is that Goku should have taken Bojack and his gang down, but I know that this would have definitely stolen a lot of thunder from Gohan so I can see why the writers decided not to do that. As long as the Z fighters show some more teamwork next time, I’ll be satisfied.

Where do the DBZ films rank for me? This is subject to change since they are all very close, but I would rank them: Broly The Legendary Super Saiyan>>Super Android 13>>Return of Cooler>>Cooler’s Revenge>>Bojack Unbound>>>Battle of Gods>>>>>Fusion Reborn>>Broly Second Coming>>>>Lord Slug>Wrath of the Dragon>>Tree of Might>>>Dr Wheelo>>>Bio Broly>>Dead Zone. It’s lightly possible that I missed one so bear with me here. The new DBZ film is looking like it could end up breaching the top 5, but that would make Bojack drop a spot so it’s definitely a double edged sword in that regard. It’s good to see that DBZ has so many strong films at his disposal.

Overall, Bojack Unbound is an excellent film. Gohan is a likable main character and Goku’s cameo was extremely awesome. They could have done even more with it, but just the fact that the scene happened was pretty cool. Goku should put villains in their place a little more often since that would be pretty fun to watch. The soundtrack doesn’t really get out there as it’s your standard DBZ material, but I can deal with that since the fights are so great. The animation is topnotch and there really aren’t any negatives to be found here. Master Roshi has a quick scene as expected, but luckily it is all over very quickly. I highly recommend checking this film out when you have a chance and then you can see that Dragon Ball Z is a winner with or without Goku.

Overall 9/10

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