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Post by Trey_Vore on Apr 12, 2021 7:39:01 GMT -5
Despicable Me 2 (2013)
Distributor: Universal Pictures/Illumination Entertainment Director: Pierre Coffin, Chris Renaud Cast: Steve Carell (Felonius Gru), Kirsten Wiig (Lucy Wilde), Benjamin Bratt (Eduardo Perez/El Macho), Miranda Cosgrove (Margo), Dana Gaier (Edith), Elsie Fisher (Agnes), Russell Brand (Dr. Nefario), Steve Coogan (Silas Ramsbottom), Nasim Pedrad (Jillian), Pierre Coffin (Kevin, Stuart, Bob, Minions), Chris Renaud (additional Minions) Runtime: 98 min. MPAA rating: PG (mild action, rude humor)
After Felonius Gru has quit being a supervillain and now makes an honest living producing a line of jams and jellies, a top-secret Arctic laboratory is stolen. Taking note of this, the Anti-Villain League sends Agent Lucy Wilde to recruit Gru as an AVL agent, being that he is a former supervillain he knows how they think and act. Gru suspects that it may be the work of the thought deceased supervillain El Macho, whose son is interested in his oldest adopted daughter Margo. Feeling protective of his three daughters and finding himself attracted to Lucy in spite of all the women in his neighborhood trying to win him over, unbeknownst to him his army of Minions are strangely disappearing. With all that at stake, can Gru keep his children safe, confess his love for Lucy, rescue his Minions and bring El Macho to justice?
First off, 2013… sucked as a year for animated films. After the great year we had in 2012 there was not a whole lot 2013 had to offer. Some were passable, others mediocre, others were just downright awful. Sure that was the year we got Frozen, which was a solid movie and became a cultural phenomenon but I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as I loved Wreck-It Ralph.
There was only one other animated film that really caught my attention that year: Despicable Me 2.
I’ll start by saying that while I originally missed the first movie in theaters, after seeing it once it came out on video I knew I had to make way for the sequel once it came. Once it came out on Fourth of July weekend of that year, it was my first order of business once I was off from my on-call job. I was hoping it would be a worthy continuation, being aware that sequels have a tendency to not live up to the first.
When I did see the movie, I loved it! So now that I’m giving this movie a review, it’s time to see how well it fares.
For starters, the movie does keep the original movie’s wacky tone and remains entertaining as ever. While the first movie had a genuine heart being that it was about Gru foregoing his villainous scheme to become a father figure to three orphan girls… well, that’s nearly impossible to top, so what they do instead is try to make the sequel funnier. I’m going to dive into that as we go.
It still does contain some heart, as in this movie Gru still feels he must provide for Margo, Edith and Agnes (personality-wise, they haven’t changed), while fending off the advances of single women who are on a rather aggressive hunt for a husband. He may consider himself a devoted bachelor, but it proves that even someone who thinks they are unlovable can be loved. The only one that succeeds in winning his heart the one that doesn’t try so hard in that ambition, the AVL agent Lucy Wilde. She’s a career woman, although perky and eccentric as well; her delivery of her lines are enhanced thanks to the solid performance by Kirsten Wiig. She provides a good foil for Gru and his straight character status.
Who knows romance better than the French, am I right?
For Margo, Edith and Agnes, they maintain their same precociousness as before, although they do seem to suggest there’s not much else they can really do as characters. Sure Margo still plays a role in the story that we are focusing on being that she is noticing boys, Agnes is still the cute one fixed on unicorns and Edith… well, gets the shaft here. She seems to have taken up an interest in ninjas because… well it has no bearing on the story. But it gave her something to do right?
I’ll also add that Margo is no longer quietly advertising The Lorax here. I did like that as it means she is not simply a billboard here.
Another factor that I felt works in this movie’s favor was the fact it benefits from having a stronger villain. While Vector was not really all that imposing, El Macho, on the other hand, proves to be much stronger. Maybe this is because there was some lead-up to villain status, but he’s supposed to be a supervillain who defied authorities and was thought to be dead following a stunt; no one had seen or heard from him since. Going incognito, he schemes to obtain ultimate power through a power serum that mutates its victims into a nigh-indestructible purple-furred beast. He plots to do so by kidnapping the Minions to experiment on; it’s no doubt they upped the ante in the villain department this time around. For a fan like me it goes for more of an over-the-top superhero film-like climax which I definitely enjoyed and found thrilling.
Speaking of which, the writers and animators were aware that the first movie’s breakout characters were not Gru or the three orphan girls, but rather the Minions. They more or less gave the movie its voice and wacky spirit; they were definitely the best part of what would otherwise have been a standard ‘grump finds a heart’ story. The Despicable Me franchise would have the Minions otherwise usurp most of the promotional material; whether it was the app game, theater PSAs, toys, board games, TV specials and even a ride at Universal Studios, they knew the public fell in love with the Minions. Plus, you know they’ll hold up as characters being that they speak in their “Minionese” babble talk rather than lines of dialogue, they get more screentime here and that is a definite good call.
Still what I consider to be Despicable Me at its peak, Despicable Me 2 I found to be slightly superior to the first movie. I’ll also testify to that as it’s still to this day the lone Illumination-animated film to be nominated for Best Animated Feature. It may not have won, being that Frozen pretty much had a lock on the award (there was controversy over the fact the previous year’s award went to Brave instead of Wreck-It Ralph), but seeing as it cost $75 million to make and made close to $1 billion, you can only complain so much. I even borrowed my DVD of this movie to a friend who hadn’t seen it and they loved it, being that it seemed to improve on the first. A rare breed of movie when the sequel is actually better!
Despicable Me 2 (2013) TreyVore rates it: A-
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Post by Trey_Vore on Apr 18, 2021 4:58:36 GMT -5
Ice Age: the Meltdown (2006)
Distributor: 20th Century Fox/Blue Sky Director: Carlos Saldanha Cast: Ray Romano (Manny), John Leguizamo (Sid), Denis Leary (Diego), Queen Latifah (Ellie), Sean William Scott (Crash), Josh Peck (Eddie), Jay Leno (Fast Tony), Will Arnett (Lone Gunslinger Vulture), Chris Wedge (Scrat) Runtime: 91 min. MPAA rating: PG (mild language, innuendo)
Manny, Sid and Diego are all surviving in the icy valley peacefully, but soon discover this is just a big frozen dam. They soon learn that there is potential doomsday coming as the sun is getting hotter and the animals could all drown in a flood. A vulture tells them there is a boat on the other side of the valley which could save them, but they have three days to find it or they could all die. At the same time, Manny is worried that he may be the last mastodon. So with survival at stake, and a threat imposed by a thawed Ichthyosaur and a Pliosaur, can Manny, Sid and Diego get to the boat and is there a chance Manny could still find love?
Believe it or not, there was a time when the world was eagerly anticipating a sequel to Ice Age. I remember actually studying computer animation at one time and it was a hot topic when we heard there was going to be a continuation of the movie that started Blue Sky. I remember hearing very much about it and was anticipating it, animation junkie that I am.
I wasn’t able to see it back in 2006 (personal matters), but I didn’t hear too much afterwards; I just assumed it was a worthy sequel that didn’t get a nomination for Best Animated Feature for… reasons. Now that I have seen it, it’s time to give this movie my honest opinions.
When the movie begins, we do get some funny Scrat antics, but after that… well for starters, it’s showing signs that its losing its maturity. For one, the movie starts at the ice age answer to a water park and the three main characters are acting as babysitters for a bunch of kids. A bunch of childish jokes emerge from there; the only real aspect that seems mature is Manny worrying that he may be the last mastodon and his chances of finding love are slim to none. I guess there is also the growing fear that everyone could die as a result of the impending meltdown but the target demograph seems a lot younger than before.
Sure, it does contain it’s still-valid themes of sticking together, and there is also family being more than just a bloodline or species though it’s not as fresh here as it’s not as strong as the first movie. Because of these aspects, the characters’ impending doom isn’t really as strong as the stakes presented in the original movie.
Another thing that is probably worth mentioning is the fact that it does feel like the animation doesn’t really hold up as well as the first movie either; this is very notable on some of the hairless animals. Oddly enough, the furred animals look just fine. The animation is mixed, but overall better than the original 2002 animation.
For the characters, Manny is less of a grump than before to be more depressed, probably because now that he has some friends there’s not really reason for him to be overly grumpy, but he’s still got reason to be unhappy as he feels like he may be the last of his kind. I… suppose that could add something to his character from the first movie as he originally lost his mate and child, and with their deaths he’s got nothing to keep his species alive. Diego, originally an antagonist in the first movie no longer has reason to be imposing now that he’s friends with Manny and Sid; he almost feels like he’s now little more than a snarker. He’s not left out in the cold though, as… we learn that despite his fearsome predator status, he’s still got his fears, ie. water. Sid has got it worst here, as by this point any of his original characterization is gone and now he’s a full-blown idiot. Problem with that is, he’s a lot less intelligent, but it’s not making him funnier. There is also Scrat, who still maintains his original charm even if he feels like not really a relevant character but more like a funny intermission when the movie is getting too serious.
For the newer characters, we have Ellie, a female Mastodon that thinks she’s a possum. She’s not an amazing character as she just goes through a lot of the typical lover tropes and it feels like we’ve seen this story before and told better. I don’t get why she needs to sound like a sassy urban lady, though. Her two brothers, Crash and Eddie, are two slapsticky jokers who are loyal to their sister and have to learn how to respect their new friends. Problem is, they are just too stupid to live and are always whacking things, and each other, around. Unfortunately, Beavis and Butthead they ain’t, and they aren’t likable as characters because not only do they serve no purpose beyond Ellie’s species confusion, all they really do is make Sid seem more noble by contrast. Not to mention because they are both essentially just one character in two bodies, and not even their voices are all that different, I can’t really tell which one is which. I guess the only reason they have to number two is so they have someone else to talk to, relate with and beat up. The only other character is Fast Tony, the scamming salesman armadillo who pops up to give sales pitches and that’s the extent of his character. The villains? Well, there’s the Ichthyosaur and the Pliosaur, who for some reason didn’t die and are really just predatory beasts along the lines of Sharptooth in The Land Before Time. They really aren’t necessary beyond some prehistoric animals meant to antagonize the heroes.
I guess a part of the problem was the story of Ice Age was more or less told by the end of the first movie, and there wasn’t enough material to really keep this franchise going. Not just that, but the characters didn’t seem to have the depth or charm that one would probably need to have it continue. I suppose maybe you could bring this movie back for one sequel, if Manny’s character is an indication, but that’s all you could really do. It’d just start getting worse after that.
Amongst these problems, I did not hate this movie. Ice Age: the Meltdown does have its share of tense moments and some appeal of the original characters does gleam through. Plus Scrat remains funny, and he’d be a testament to why he’s the face of the franchise. The movie is very much a mixed bag, but… it’s an okay mix of good and bad.
Ice Age: the Meltdown (2006) TreyVore rates it: C
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Post by Trey_Vore on Apr 18, 2021 10:32:47 GMT -5
Open Season 2 (2008)
Distributor: Columbia/Sony Pictures Animation Director: Matthew O’Callaghan, Todd Wilderman Cast: Mike Epps (Boog), Joel McHale (Elliot), Jane Krakowski (Giselle), Billy Connolly (McSquizzy), Crispin Glover (Fifi), Steve Schirripia (Roberto), Cody Cameron (Mr. Weenie), Danny Mann (Serge), Matthew W. Taylor (Deni, Buddy, Ian), Nika Futterman (Rosie), Michelle Mordocca (Maria) Runtime: 76 min. MPAA rating: PG (mild rude humor)
Since the end of the original movie from 2006, Boog has adjusted to life as a wild animal with his pal Elliot. On Elliot’s wedding day to his mate Giselle, he breaks his new gigantic antlers and with it, his pride. Elliot then sees that Mr. Weenie is being lured back into civil life thanks to his owners and draws the attention of some pets led by Fifi, a toy poodle with a raging hate for wild animals. His goal is to rehabilitate Mr. Weenie into being a loyal home pet whether he likes it or not. Wanting to rescue their friend, and with Giselle thinking Elliot might be getting cold feet, can the pack rescue Mr. Weenie from whatever terrible fate awaits him at Pet Paradiso?
Time for another look at Sony Pictures Animation to fully appreciate Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse!
I’ll admit that I didn’t get to see Open Season in theatres. When I did see it, I didn’t think I missed a whole lot. Sure, I thought it was okay, but if that was Sony’s first venture in CG-animation, I didn’t think they gave Disney and Pixar much to worry about. It wasn’t awful, and it did make money, and there were worse movies to come from Sony, but… it’s not the proudest beginning.
Now that we are going back into the forest to catch back up with Boog and Elliot, what can we expect to see this time?
I’ll start off by saying we have strike one right out of the gate. It’s a direct-to-video movie, and the leading VAs from the last movie, Martin Lawrence and Ashton Kutcher, are gone. They’ve been replaced by Mike Epps and Joel McHale, who do a fine job, but if this was cost-cutting on account of lower budget, that’s an immediate sign of trouble. Most of the secondary characters voices’ return, save for Patrick Warburton who does not re-voice Ian, the alpha male deer.
Another problem: in this movie, Boog does return, except he’s more of a secondary character here. This time, Elliot is more prominent, and Mr. Weenie, a minor character that did very little in the original movie, is now thrust into the limelight. That already is a bad choice, as Elliot is hardly a lovable character and Mr. Weenie, while he wasn’t bad… well if you put a minor character that didn’t do much as the focus that should be a bad sign.
For this movie, Mr. Weenie is feeling like an outcast amongst the other wild animals as he still acts like a domesticated pet. Thing is though, being a German Dachshund, he IS a domesticated pet. It’s not advised that you release your pet into the wild as they would be lonesome and have no survival skills. Do you remember how in the 2000s, when Disney was making sequels to their animated movies they’d usually take the original idea and then do the inverse? Well in the original movie Boog was a pet that had to learn how to be wild, here Mr. Weenie, a domesticated pet that lives out in the woods, ends up in his owners’ custody and the wild animals need to save him. Following the leader much?
Another thing that has to be said is the animation. And I have to say, Ho. Lee. CRAP. I’m literally watching this right after Ice Age: the Meltdown and I can tell the budget was a LOT lower than the first movie. Sure some of the animation, like on the returning characters like Boog and Elliot, still have the same look as before so there is not much to complain about, but there’s limited textures, phony looking hair/fur, liquid that looks like sludge and some characters like the ducks don’t even look finished. Not to mention the characters’ movements are a lot more rigid than before, so they don’t move all that convincingly. This looks like a PlayStation 1/Nintendo 64 game in quality! I understand this is a direct-to-video movie and the production values are a lot lower, plus the time granted was a lot more limited being that this was internationally released only two years after the original movie. Still, it’s almost impossible to NOT notice after just viewing another movie from the original film’s release year!
Now, I would go ahead and discuss the characters here, but there’s nothing I can really say that I didn’t say in my previous review. There’s not really a character I feel that I should be emotionally gravitating towards, because what’s the point? I will say though… my thoughts on Elliot haven’t changed. He’s getting anxious on his upcoming wedding to Giselle, and this happens after his ginormous antlers are broken thanks to his own stupidity. However, it’s asking for trouble when they want you to cheer for him despite the douchebag he acts like. He is overly self-centered and idiotic and doesn’t want to be a team player, and he doesn’t seem to have learned much of anything over the story. Is he the one I should be gravitating towards? You got another thing coming. With that in mind, that means I should side with Giselle, right? Actually no. They had been together for one full year and we see that Elliot’s overbearing confidence came from his new antlers. Yet she can’t see that something is wrong, when his rack has clearly been broken? And she refuses to buy into Boog’s analogy about Elliot when they are clearly made for each other? She’s one dumb doe.
Another issue I have is the movie’s villain. Rather than see a return of the redneck hunter Shaw, we instead get Fifi the toy poodle. He’s supposed to be a domesticated pet who essentially has a blind hate for wilds. Unlike the first movie where Shaw is a lunatic that seems to be declaring war against the wilderness, Fifi instead seems crazy for keeping order amongst the pets. Already he’s sort of a weak villain as he doesn’t feel like he’s gunning for war, but rather more quietly keeping pets from falling back into anarchy. This might be a metaphor for making your own choices rather than being a blind follower, but the stakes seem a lot lower here.
What are some good aspects? Well, despite all these failings it’s probably diverting enough to satisfy absent-minded viewing, and some of the goofy slapstick will still appeal to kids, making it an okay babysitter. Really, this could be like a long epilogue for the first movie and you wouldn’t notice a thing. Plus, it’s not going to cost much as you can easily get it on a DVD combo pack, like I did at Wal-Mart for less than $5.
Open Season 2 is no classic or even a good movie. Still, there’s worse choices and it’s going to keep kids quiet. Beggars can’t be choosers.
Open Season 2 (2008) TreyVore rates it: D
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Post by Trey_Vore on Apr 25, 2021 9:26:18 GMT -5
Beavis and Butthead Do America (1996)
Distributor: Paramount Pictures/MTV Films/Geffen Pictures Director: Mike Judge Cast: Mike Judge (Beavis, Butthead, Tom Anderson, David Van Driessen, Principal McVicker), Bruce Willis (Muddy Grimes), Demi Moore (Dallas Grimes), Robert Stack (Agent Flemming), Greg Kinnear (Agent Bork), Cloris Leachman (Old Woman) Runtime: 81 min. MPAA rating: PG-13 (profanity, sexual humor, drug use)
One morning, Beavis and Butthead wake up to find that someone broke into their house and stole their TV. On a hunt to find it, they find themselves at a motel where a criminal named Muddy Grimes is offering them $10,000 to head out to Las Vegas and kill his wife. His choice in terminology causes them both to think he wants them to have sex with her, and they are on board. Arriving in Las Vegas, Dallas leads them on a wild goose chase after sewing an X-5 virus unit, a potential doomsday weapon, into the butt of Beavis’s pants and tells them to hop a tour bus to meet her in Washington D.C. So with the ATF agents hunting them, can Beavis and Butthead figure out what’s going on, turn over the virus, bring Muddy and Dallas to justice and maybe even score?
This movie is based on the popular and controversial animated series on MTV. I’m sure that some point in time, we all have some memory, good or bad of Beavis and Butthead. Simultaneously popular and controversial, it is unquestionably a series with polarizing opinions. Some people loved it because it was so funny and envelope-pushing, other people hated it because they found it to be immature and annoying. Then again, there is also the controversial stories about someone having blown up a cat and that long-standing accusation story about that 5-year old boy that never once watched the show who set a bed on fire and wound up killing his 2-year old sister. That said, the world now is a little different thanks to Mike Judge. Nowadays, there is no denying they are cultural icons in perfect sync with the stereotypical MTV-loving slacker.
It’s easy to trash these two teenage metalheads who are lazy, immature and in need of discipline, direction and role models. But d**n if it wasn’t funny; there was enough cleverness to really make their stupidity hilarious and unlike what say, Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels did with Dumb and Dumber, didn’t take that lifestyle and glorify it. Plus, it is just so funny as they would go and be our outlets for some of us who would never do some of the dumb stuff they do.
Coming in during a time when Mike Judge (simulteanously creator and harshest critic) was about to end his metalheaded duo’s series to start the more conventional King of the Hill, it made about four times it’s budget and really gave the WB the not-warmest Christmas during 1996. Beavis and Butthead stole plenty of audiences from seeing Mars Attacks! and My Fellow Americans, and even Space Jam seemed to underperform. There were even stories that kids would rather have passed on seeing the lowest common denominator of seeing Michael Jordan and the Looney Tunes play basketball against aliens to see Beavis and Butthead on the big screen. Is it wrong?
Anyway, now we have a new movie coming, I felt it would be time to see Mike Judge’s brainchildren back in action. I do remember seeing this movie all the way back in 1996 and loved it, but how does it fare now?
The movie starts with an appropriate parody as it begins with a Godzilla-esque parody which is an appropriate analogy alongside their introductory parody of the cop shows from the 70s. Beavis and Butthead are on the attack and we’re all in trouble; they want their TV dammit!
The movie’s story is that it is essentially a road movie that escalates into a potential doomsday scenario for the entire country. The whole time, they don’t lose sight of making fun of the metalhead teenager trope who is completely oblivious to everything beyond what immediately appeals to them. You know, TV, metal music, nachos, parties, scoring. Or how they bypass seeing the Grand Canyon to watch a donkey taking a dump or not bother with Old Faithful to play with automatic urinals. Very satirical and never once lost its bite. Thankfully, the movie also avoids being overly topical and making meta jokes about random behind the scenes issues; they never once made a joke about the Monica Lewinski scandal or the fact that Bruce Willis and Demi Moore, Muddy and Dallas’s voice actors, were married at the time. They wisely chose not to make a joke about Bill Clinton about to leave the White House as he did in fact serve a second term in office.
The movie still maintains the same look of the show with a slight upgrade in quality. It looks like how you would probably expect, with a slightly superior quality. They also do an admirable job with capturing the look of various American cities and locals while doing the series’ traditional locales justice.
For the characters, Beavis and Butthead are completely intact. Mike Judge may have initially expressed some concern that Beavis and Butthead would not be able to sustain a feature film but thankfully that wasn’t the case, they don’t get old and maintain plenty of opportunities to do their classic schtick in a wide variety of locals. Of course opinions vary vastly on them, but regardless they are cultural icons; though I will say that a little Cornholio goes a long way. Muddy and Dallas are a pair of dueling criminals who are truly dangerous and want to kill each other. They are very well voiced as well as Bruce Willis and Demi Moore have some solid martial chemistry together that doesn’t depend on in-jokes to be funny. Another character is Agent Flemming and Agent Bork, the lead ATF agents hot on their trail. As a character Agent Flemming is almost like Robert Stack in animated form. He’s fully aware of the danger that American teenagers can cause while Bork is more like a bouncing board. The movie also has the series’ regulars Tom Anderson, David Van Driessen and Principal McVicker, who really just show up to do their schtick. In fact, Tom Anderson and David Van Driessen may go and remind of characters that Mike Judge would create later, namely Hank Hill and Gerald Goode. Things don’t work out quite so well for them though! The movie does not have any characters you really should see as role models but that goes beyond the movie’s scope; it’s not a movie meant for grade school kids. The movie thankfully does not require familiarity with the series or its characters to work; the only thing that may be a dividing factor is the fact that some people simply hate the show.
Beavis and Butthead Do America is a movie about series that adheres to one very specific era so ruthlessly you would probably be afraid that it would age like crap, but amazingly that isn’t the case; the movie still holds up very well. You have to hand it to Mike Judge, he knows how to make cartoons that are built to last. Still funny, still satirical and still relevant, Beavis and Butthead Do America is reliably entertaining as ever. I even remember seeing Siskel and Ebert’s review of the movie and they gave it two thumbs up; I will agree! Beavis and Butthead rule!
Side note of trivia is, it’s been proven that teenagers that grow up listening to 80s heavy metal become well-adjusted adults.
Beavis and Butthead Do America (1996) TreyVore rates it: B+
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Post by Trey_Vore on Apr 26, 2021 4:19:18 GMT -5
South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut (1999)
Distributor: Paramount (USA)/Warner Bros. (International)/Comedy Central Films Director: Trey Parker Cast: Trey Parker (Stan Marsh, Eric Cartman, Philip, Mr. Garrison, Mr. Hat, Randy Marsh, Clyde Donovan, Ned, Christophe, additional voices), Matt Stone (Kyle Broflovsky, Kenny McCormick, Saddam Hussein, Terrance, Big Gay Al, Stuart McCormick, Jimbo Kearn, Gerald Broflovsky, Butters Stotch, additional voices), Mary Kay Bergman (Wendy Testaburger, Liane Cartman, Sheila Broflovsky, Sharon Marsh, Carol McCormick, additional voices), Issac Hayes (Chef Jerome McElroy), George Clooney (Dr. Gouache), Brent Spiner (Conan O’Brian), Eric Idle (Dr. Vosknocker), Mike Judge (Kenny’s unmuffled voice) Runtime: 81 min. MPAA rating: R (violence, strong profanity, crude sexual humor, gore)
In the town of South Park, Colorado, four third-grade friends, Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovsky, Kenny McCormick and Eric Cartman, are on their way to see the new Terrance and Philip movie, “Asses of Fire”. However, they can’t pay money to see it because they are not old enough and the movie is rated R. Dragging a bum in to act as a chaperone, they love it and encourage other kids to see it, causing their language becomes a lot more explicit than before. While not much is made over the fact Kenny is accidently killed (as was a running joke on the series), he goes to Hell and is tormented by Satan, who’s having problems with his gay lover Saddam Hussein. Meanwhile their parents think something has to be done and Kyle’s mother thinks they should blame Canada, Terrance and Philip’s home country. However, if their blood hits American soil, it will trigger the Apocalypse. With the kids being the world’s only chance, and Cartman having a V-chip implanted in him that shocks him whenever he curses, can they stop the ongoing war and prevent the Apocalypse?
This movie is based on the popular mature animated series from Comedy Central. Make no mistake, I am indeed a fan of mature cartoons. It’s always cool to see something meant for legal adults and they can be very witty, proving animation isn’t strictly for kids. Chances are, if it was a mature cartoon and it got popular, I liked it. I liked The Simpsons, I liked Beavis and Butthead, I liked The Critic, and Duckman, I liked King of the Hill, Family Guy, Futurama, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, American Dad!, The Boondocks, Robot Chicken, Bob’s Burgers, Bless the Harts… I do have a fondness for mature cartoons.
However, I have to draw a line somewhere, and where I draw a line is South Park. My answer is while I know that shows like Beavis and Butthead and Family Guy are shows that find humor in stuff like bare butts, farting and getting kicked in the nads, there is always some sort of mature context behind it, so I’m aware that despite what they may do for comedy, it’s meant to be seen as mature; it’s something that elementary school kids won’t understand, they probably won’t want to watch a show like this if they could watch SpongeBob. With South Park though, this series has plenty of controversial content; there’s copious amounts of violence, profanity, gore, sexual innuendos and fart jokes and it would push the boundaries of what we see on TV today, but it’s being juxtaposed with these cutesy looking characters that have infantile issues and screechy voices that causes me to think this didn’t need to be mature, it could have been a show for little kids. Does that mean if I was to take something like Caillou or Peppa Pig and stuff it full of profanity and toilet jokes, that’s all I’d have to do to get it rated TV-MA?
Not to mention because the episodes have such a short production cycle—it only takes about a week for them to go from planning to having an episode ready for air—that’s another problem. The episodes they make can, when first run, be very timely and relevant and score some big laughs, but after about a few months, they start to look like an old newspaper you forgot to throw out. That always results in episodes that have a great start, but don’t hold up in syndication. I actually rewatched some of the oldest episodes to get an idea and if they have episodes where they are still joking about things like America’s Funniest Home Videos, American Gladiators, Independence Day, the American 1998 Godzilla and Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, I have the feeling there’s really no point in buying this on a DVD boxset or something being that it was hilarious at first but has no life in reruns as they feel like products of their time, like the movie’s joke on how when Bill Gates originally introduced Windows 98 it crashed. They most certainly do NOT hold up.
However, at the time, there was a lot of anticipation for this movie. A big screen animated film about a popular mature cartoon that debuted in June 1999 on a Wednesday (which was when the show was originally airing) was as well a revenge lay for Parker and Stone against the MPAA. Their earlier movies, BASEketball and Orgazmo, were respectively rated R and NC-17 and disappointed at the box-office. So, they would do this to strike back at the MPAA as big bird flip.
That said, I’ll start with something a little more out there for this review. The movie’s title is “South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut”. That’s already a lie because technically, the movie IS cut. In its original form, this movie was rated NC-17. However after massive fighting with the MPAA, it was cut just short to being a movie that would be rated R. Probably so they could sell more tickets. Hypocrites.
For the movie itself… oh boy. Now I can see why I only paid $2 for a used DVD. It was cheaper than renting it from iTunes.
For starters, I am not loving the idea of South Park being a musical. If this is supposed to be a parody of Disney Renaissance, isn’t that kinda proving my earlier thoughts? The songs aren’t even that good! Sure jokes and comedy but one would think they would try for something that kids wouldn’t immediately get. The movie’s story is pretty ridiculous but also something extremely familiar. I will get into that as I go. For now I’ll just say I have a friend that once told me being a fan of the show he liked the movie but felt there was too much singing!
I’m also going to say this: when it was on TV, at the time they couldn’t originally just go right out and use the more explicit profanity so they had the censor beep instead. That originally was funny, because you knew what was being said, they just can’t actually use it. But to take that censoring out to go right out and use the stronger profanity doesn’t make it funny. It leaves nothing to your imagination and just leaves me saying “Whatever…”
For now, I’ll say the animation is as expected. One would think they would up the animation quality a bit but it’s the same as the series and that’s not exactly good. They still have the same crap animation like on the show, but when you’re watching it on TV for free, that’s one thing. This, on the other hand is crap animation that should have been free. It just looks like a series of fat blobs of flat color that just is repulsive to look at. There are even instances where the scene fades out like they are still going to commercials. You should not have to pay money for animation quality this poor!
For the characters? Well, if you’re a fan of the show it will hold a lot of appeal. You have Stan the straight character, Kyle the intelligent one, Eric Cartman the fat douche and Kenny… well he’s just there for the series’ then-running joke of having a character that dies in every episode. The other characters are there too to give support, but no one gets to be any more than a two-dimensional character. The movie, being a comedy, is going to have jokes that of course be funny, but it was praised for moments where they would try to elicit gasps rather than laughs. This type of thing would NEVER be acceptable in this day! Plus, the whole Saddam Hussein and Satan being gay lovers bit is not at all funny. I understand it was the show’s quota to be envelope-pushing, but this isn’t funny because… well, at the time, he was alive and we were enemies of his, so it made sense to demonize the Iraqi dictator. But now that he was tried and executed in 2006?
…that joke hasn’t gotten better with age.
Now, the story. Oh. Boy. Do you remember how in the first season of the show, the sixth episode was called “Death”? And how it drew some complaints? Well, in that episode, the kids were supposed to be fans of “Terrance and Philip”. Despite what it may look like, Terrance and Philip are not supposed to be parodies of Beavis and Butthead. Rather, while you as a viewer, are watching South Park? Terrance and Philip is THEIR South Park. In that episode, the parents were complaining about the show and killing themselves for a stupid reason. The show drew some ire for the fact that while the kids you’re supposed to like love their show, the critics are just idiots that crap all over each other. The show had some complaints over the fact that it was encouraging fans to mock and dismiss criticism of the series.
Now, shouldn’t I be trying to tell you about the movie’s plot rather than one episode of the show? Well, here’s the thing: I was under the impression that Terrance and Philip were just cartoon characters on their show, like how Itchy and Scratchy are on The Simpsons. But no, they are flesh and blood characters in the show’s world and actually appear together with the “human” characters! This does not make sense beyond pushing the fans vs. idiots argument! They did something royally lazy in that the movie is like that one episode, just with more explicit profanity. In that one episode, the critical parents are killing themselves over a Terrance and Philip show, while in the movie they are going to war over a Terrance and Philip movie! This story is a mess, not to mention the whole dramatic impact of the fact that the world is in danger and scores of people could die means absolutely nothing due to the fact Kenny getting killed is A FREAKING JOKE!!! Wouldn’t that mean they would all just come back next week and make the same stupid mistake all over again? Some people never learn…
Do you know how Trey Parker and Matt Stone once said they considered the first three seasons of South Park to be “Old Shame”? Well, being that this movie came after Season 2 but before Season 3 it wouldn’t surprise me if this movie was Old Shame as well. The only people I can honestly recommend this movie to are die-hard South Park fans. If you’re a fan of the show, go wild, knock yourself out. I paid just $2 for this movie’s DVD but in all honesty I felt like they were just trying to get rid of it and I did them a favor! Now that this review is over, I am done with this movie forever. You’re going down to South Park? I’m checking out.
South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut (1999) TreyVore rates it: D-
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Post by Trey_Vore on Apr 26, 2021 8:32:47 GMT -5
The Simpsons Movie (2007)
Distributor: 20th Century Fox/Gracie Films Director: David Silverman Cast: Dan Castellaneta (Homer Simpson, Grandpa Simpson, Krusty the Clown, Groundskeeper Willie, Mayor Diamond Joe Quimby, Sideshow Mel, Itchy, Barney Gumble, Mr. Teeny), Julie Kavner (Marge Simpson, Patty Bouvier, Selma Bouvier), Nancy Cartwright (Bart Simpson, Ralph Wiggum, Todd Flanders, Nelson Muntz), Yeardley Smith (Lisa Simpson), Hank Azaria (Moe Szylak, Chief Wiggum, Cletus, Professor John Frink, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Lou, Comic Book Guy, Capt. McAllister, Bumblebee Guy, Dr. Nick), Harry Shearer (Mr. Burns, Smithers, Ned Flanders, Reverend Lovejoy, Lenny, President Arnold Schwarzenegger, Principal Skinner, Kent Brockman, Dr. Hibbert, Otto), Pamela Hayden (Milhouse Van Houten, Rod Flanders, Jimbo Jones), Tress MacNeille (Agnes Skinner, Crazy Cat Lady, Colin, Cookie Kwan), Albert Brooks (Russ Cargill), Russi Taylor (Martin Prince) Runtime: 86 min. MPAA rating: PG-13 (irreverent humor throughout)
Following an accident involving a sinking barge at a Green Day concert, Lake Springfield is considered to be protected. Meanwhile, during a church service, Grandpa Simpson has a prophesy that doomsday is coming which only Marge takes seriously. While Lisa and her potential new boyfriend Colin are pushing to clean the lake, Homer is just finishing up a dare game with Bart when he saves a pig from being butchered at Krusty Burger. Having done this, he gets himself a new pet. Within just 2 days, Homer’s pig fills up a giant silo with manure. Disgusted with this Marge tells him to get rid of the silo of dung but being that he’s in a hurry to get to a donut giveaway he cuts corners by not taking it to the dump but instead drops it in Lake Springfield, turning it into a toxic cesspool. EPA agent Russ Cargill then dupes President Arnold Schwarzenegger to encase Springfield under a big glass dome. The whole town of Springfield, enraged over Homer’s stupid mistake, ostracizes them. Escaping through a sinkhole in the backyard, the Simpson family moves to Alaska to reset their lives. With Homer and Marge’s marriage in jeopardy, Bart getting fed up with his dad’s carelessness and Lisa… having a crush, can Homer fix all these problems, make amends with his friends and neighbors, get rid of the glass dome and stop Russ Cargill from destroying Springfield?
This movie is based on the popular, trendsetting and long-running mature Fox cartoon. If you know me, I am a proud fan of The Simpsons. A long-running show for a reason, it’s a series that in its prime was a show that people would run home and make way to watch due to its biting satire of human condition, American culture, society and television. The Simpsons was a highly successful show that would help define the 1990s, win several awards and revolutionize comedy and television. The Simpsons have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Homer’s “D’oh!” is now recognized as a proper term in Webster’s Dictionary. I make it a tradition to watch “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire”, the first Christmas episode, every time the holidays come. I own the series’ existing DVD boxsets, several video games, a gym bag full of comic books and quote the show to make people laugh. I even have an autographed picture of the Simpson family that I got from the Wizard World con in Chicago; at only $300 I honestly felt like I was stealing it!
That being said… I do love the show. But I admit it’s been running for far too long. The first 8 seasons, that being the series’ beginning in 1989 until the end of Season 8 in 1997, are the show’s best seasons and they still hold up, with Seasons 9 through 12 (1997-2001) being “Bad by the series’ standards” and starting with Season 13, the first post-9/11 season, as being the time when the show went from being “Bad Simpsons” to “Bad Television”.
Then the movie was announced and I remember it being hyped with much anticipation, with movie plans dating all the way back to Season 4 with “Kamp Krusty”. It got fast food promotions and 7-Eleven stations would momentarily be rebranded as a “Kwik-E-Mart”. I even remember hearing that the filmmakers would not even tell their kids about the movie as they knew they would leak spoilers out to their friends for street cred. So, much hype surrounded this movie. I knew I had to see the movie being the Simpsons junkie that I am. When July 2007 came it was met with great reviews, and would prove that cel-animated films can still be profitable, as it did outgross Lilo and Stitch at the box-office and be the highest-grossing film based on an animated TV series not rated G or PG. The only other cel-animated movie that it did not outgross was The Lion King.
When I saw the movie in that time period, I will admit I did not love the movie, but I did like it. Maybe it was just that my expectations were so high. It also could have been the fact that I remember back in 1999 Star Wars Episode 1: the Phantom Menace had impossibly high expectations to fill and all this hype was bound to disappoint. Then again, maybe it was the fact the Simpsons were getting a movie when the show was long since past it’s prime was a factor. I felt like if the Simpsons were going to get a movie it was probably coming in about 10 years late; it probably should have come during the time when Disney was giving us Hercules, not Meet the Robinsons. You know, 1997 not 2007.
On the other hand, we also got Transformers in 2007. That movie was about a popular toyline/cartoon from the 1980s that’s at least three years older than The Simpsons but that didn’t seem late at all.
Now that I’m revisiting this movie for the first time in a very long while, it’s time for me to give my honest thoughts on the much-anticipated Simpsons movie.
For one, they needed to use a bigger and stronger story than what they had done in the past. At least for the episodes you were supposed to take seriously, they did a more ambitious plot with the family being Springfield’s only hope from having the town being turned into a new Grand Canyon. They never lose sight of the fact it’s supposed to be funny and they do plenty of pop culture references and callbacks to some of the show’s best times. The show has appearances from virtually every major, minor and even one-shot characters make an appearance in the movie and that is all stuff I love to see and appreciate being a longtime fan of the show.
However, while all that is well and good, this is a double-edged sword. If you’re not a major fan, these callbacks won’t mean nearly as much. You could argue that the Simpsons can get away with it, being such a popular and long-running show, but it needs to be said. The downside to this is, there is plenty plot points that you probably remember the series having done before and better. I can make a checklist of it:
Homer and Marge’s marriage in jeopardy? Check. Bart fed up with his father’s clumsiness? Check. Lisa meets a boy she likes? Check. The family gets ostracized by the town? Check. They go on vacation? Check. Homer gets a new job? Check. The family gets a new pet? Check.
Again, if you are not an avid follower of the show, you probably won’t notice this. But I did, since I’m such a hardcore fan.
For the jokes they give, they are pop culture related jokes that you would expect. There’s some good jokes, like how they satirize things like Night of the Living Dead, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Spider-Man, Labyrinth, Harry Potter and Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, but there are others that really do suggest its time. Like how they joke about Titanic, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, Erin Brockovich, Brother Bear, Happy Feet, Grand Theft Auto… in the end there will be jokes that just… don’t hold up the way they should.
The animation looks like how you probably would expect them to look, crude, yet charming. They do some slight upgrades, like how when they would use a greater degree of shadows, and the animation does its job just fine.
For the characters, you probably know who they are. Unfortunately, along with that it comes with the fact that… I’ll just say there is something wrong here. For one, the series had a set of leading characters you fondly remember. However, by this time they had undergone some changes, and not exactly changes you would consider good. I’ll start with Homer. In this movie, Homer’s… well he’s kind of a jerk. He starts the movie making no secret of his feelings about church, gives Bart a hyper embarrassing dare and then doesn’t seem to mind that he turned a part of the environment toxic as long as he got a donut, not really taking responsibility for his actions. Sure he saves a pig from being killed and eventually comes around to do the right thing, but do you remember how the South Park movie had a ridiculous idea for a greater conflict? Well, here he just does something stupid, and is almost responsible for a city-wide Holocaust. He seems like he’s skating a line between being a character and being a plot device. For Marge, she is supposed to help represent the movie’s intended message of “A man should listen to his wife”. They use plenty of Biblical allegories to help illustrate this fact and Julie Kavner was actually nominated for an Annie Award for her performance as Marge, her break-up video that Homer watches is pretty effective and she got plenty of praise for it. However, some of her choices seem a bit contrived. For one, she was in church and just happened to be the one person who believed the ramblings of a senile old man. These ramblings she reads very seriously and thinks everyone really is in grave danger. I... find this logic questionable, to say the least. The only character I truly did find sympathetic is Bart. He’s put through hell on his own level and you don’t blame him if he’s looking for a different father figure. Sure, he does reconcile with his dad, but he’s really the one family member that doesn’t feel permanently screwed up. The main antagonist is Russ Cargill, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency. He’s supposed to be the villain of the movie who’s sanity is a bit questionable, being that he’s okay with destroying a town and killing everyone inside. All for the sake of the environment, which Homer recklessly damaged. It’s harsher when you take into account something similar happened in Flint, Michigan. The other characters from the show are all there and get a character beat or two, which is nice if you’re a fan like me, but will be lost on you if you are not.
I didn’t say anything about Lisa because she doesn’t really add much to the movie. She wants to help clean Lake Springfield and falls for an Irish kid, and that’s about it. The series’ episodes always had an “A plot/B plot” structure, but Lisa’s role just feels so minimal it feels like you could just cut her out of the movie and all you’d really be losing is a joke that depends on a double standard to be funny. I hate those.
Plus, what the hell happened to Homer's pig after they escaped?
…this might be my way of saying, there’s a bit of Broken Base here, but it doesn’t feel like this movie has aged well.
There is still fun to be had with The Simpsons Movie, it’s still got some laughs in the tank but at best I can say it’s probably on par with the show in it’s declining years. Once the sequel comes, I’ll be in line for it. I don’t feel it lived up to the hype, but as it is it’s flawed but enjoyable.
The Simpsons Movie (2007) TreyVore rates it: B-
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Post by Trey_Vore on May 3, 2021 5:42:23 GMT -5
The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021)
Distributor: Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures Animation/Lord Miller Productions Director: Mike Rianda Cast: Abbi Jacobson (Katie), Danny McBride (Rick), Maya Rudolph (Linda), Mike Rianda (Aaron, Furbies, Talking Dog, Wifi Enthusiast), Olivia Colman (PAL), Eric Andre (Dr. Mark Bowman), Beck Bennett (Eric), Fred Armisen (Deborah), Doug the Pug (Monchi) Runtime: 109 mins. MPAA rating: PG (action and mild language)
This movie is about an aspiring film student named Katie who lives with her parents and her little brother in Michigan. She is on the path to go to film school but rather than fly there her parents insist on driving her there on a road trip. But when the world’s electronic devices go haywire and stage an uprising, the human race is in danger of being exiled into outer space and the only ones left is the Mitchell family, our only hope. With the aid of two malfunctioning robots, can the Mitchells last long enough to stop the robotic uprising and save the human race?
I didn’t know exactly what to make of this movie back when I saw some trailers for when it was originally called “Connected”. It appeared to be a big hodgepodge of ideas and I just had no idea if it was going to be released this year or if it was going to be held back like what happened to so many movies back in 2020. It was going to get a theatrical release, and it did in select theatres, but I was only able to see it through Netflix.
Now that I have just seen it, it’s time for me to give my thoughts on The Mitchells vs. the Machines.
Here’s a question: what would you get if you took a movie like National Lampoon’s Vacation and merged with Terminator 2: Judgement Day? You would have an idea of what it’s like with this movie. The story is that Katie is an aspiring film student that hopes to go to a college dorm and get away from her wacko family, but then ends up having to learn to appreciate them in order to survive. It does have some positive messages about teamwork and learning that family is what’s important; technology comes and goes but family is forever.
It also has some good messages about how filmmaking can be quite a transformative experience, and the family is always well-meaning if quirky. They have to bond and come to a better understanding of each other as this robot uprising could very well spell the end of humanity. Sure it’s not completely innocuous as they have jokes like how Katie makes a meme about her dad being licked in the mouth by the dog and the dad tells his son to use an empty bottle as a toilet but they always never lose sight of its intended messages.
I will say the animation is a little bizarre and does take some getting used to. They look like they are going for CGI-animation together with more of a cel-animation influence but they do make it work. They also use a bunch of wacky filters to make it look like it’s being told through memes which is a little weird, almost like you’re still watching Lizzie McGuire.
For the characters, you have Katie, an aspiring film student who is on her way to film school and is known for making mini-movies involving her dog, Monchi. She at first wants to get away from her family to be a famous filmmaker but doesn’t think something bad can happen from so much dependance on technology. She originally wanted to fly to her new college to meet with her new roommates but as a result of this uprising, they get captured; one probably should remember that old story of how I would be angry with my folks for not letting me do something with my friends, but then something awful happened to them and it could have been me if I just did what I thought I should have been allowed to do. Her dad, Rick, was more of an outdoorsman in the past that had to give up his woodsy lifestyle to be a parent. He’s overly behind the times and doesn’t fully understand technology, and of the movie’s characters he might be the strongest character. Her little brother Aaron is a dinosaur aficionado who has a possible crush on the girl next door, and is a rock for Katie being the one that understands her. Her mom, Linda, is a typical binding-glue type of parent that I feel does help prove that old adage of how even a mild-mannered person, when faced with a real threat can be an unstoppable force of nature. The two robots that malfunction, later calling themselves Eric and Deborah, are like the T-800 in that they were originally supposed to help round up the humans but then decide that due to a programming error they are now going to help the humans. I feel this is a good touch as they help with the theme of making your own path rather than be a worker drone. Dr. Mark Bowman is supposed to be the robots’ scientist who is on a mission to make the world better but his ideas soon go self-aware and rebel against the humans. The main villain of the movie is PAL, a smartphone that belonged to Dr. Bowman who is not pleased with how it is now considered to be “obsolete” and takes this to an extreme degree as it now thinks the humans are not worth saving and thinks they are better off dead, a plot point that I remember from the 1995 Sega Genesis game Vectorman. I take this development as a metaphor for not forsaking the people that care about you because terrible things can happen as a result. The only characters that I feel could have better might have been the Mitchell’s neighbors, who are just shown to be a perfect family and nothing else comes from that.
The only real issues I may actually have is that I’m not sure how well this movie is going to age. With it’s plugs for things like YouTube and meme jokes, not to mention plugs for Sony products (it is a Sony film, after all) and there’s even a sequence with Furbies that needs to be brought up. Sure it won’t age to the same degree as a movie like Ralph Breaks the Internet but this is an issue that I feel needs to be addressed.
Overall, I was happy with my time that I spent with The Mitchells vs. the Machines. It has plenty of good messages that will be relevant regardless of time and it does have a healthy dose of humor to make it fun. So yes, despite my initial doubts, I would recommend this movie.
The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021) TreyVore rates it: B+
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Post by Trey_Vore on Jul 2, 2021 0:36:20 GMT -5
Lilo and Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch (2005)
Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures Director: Michael LaBash and Tony Leondis Cast: Chris Sanders (Stitch), Dakota Fanning (Lilo), Tia Carrere (Nani), David Ogden Stiers (Jumba), Kevin MacDonald (Pleakley), Jason Scott Lee (David) Runtime: 68 min. MPAA Rating: PG (mild sci-fi action)
Set shortly after the events of the first movie, Stitch has settled into domestic life with Lilo and her older sister Nani. Now living under their roof with Jumba and Pleakley, Lilo and Stitch learn that their Hula School will have a Hula competition for their town’s May Day festival. This is important to Lilo because her late mother won that same competition when she was her age. While trying to come up with an idea for a hula, Stitch begins ‘glitching’—his eyes momentarily go green and he reverts back to his destructive habits—at this point, we learn from Jumba that before he was arrested by the Galactic Federation he did not fully charge Stitch; worse, it will ultimately kill him unless Jumba can build a fusion chamber to fully charge Stitch. So, with the Hula competition coming up fast, and Stitch’s time running out, can Lilo win the Hula competition, Stitch behave long enough to help her and Jumba and Pleakley build a fusion chamber to give Stitch the charge that he needs before Stitch shuts down for good?
Before I begin, I will start by saying this is the second movie in the Lilo and Stitch film series in regards to timeline, but the third released chronologically. This is because it’s supposed to come after the original movie from 2002, but before Stitch!: the Movie and the 2003 cartoon series. Likely because as far as tone and artistry it’s more congruous to the original film, and they would have needed more time to make a proper sequel as opposed to the time needed for a cartoon series. It is also worth noting this would be the final Stitch movie to get a VHS release; Leroy and Stitch was released on DVD and that was it.
That said, I will admit I wasn’t eagerly anticipating this movie as much as I thought I would, namely because at the time, I was an avid watcher of Lilo and Stitch: the Series and wanted to see more of that in production; I was in Florida at the time and Stitch was everywhere. It just seemed a bit archaic to go back to making a midquel when Stitch was essentially invading everything Disney. More on that is coming.
For now, let’s discuss the movie. For the story, they go and drop the alien story; there is no Grand Councilwoman or Captain Gantu so they just focus on the antics of the original movie’s characters. It’s also worth noting that Cobra Bubbles does not return; there is no real villain in the movie. While I will acknowledge that does remain true to Chris Sanders’s claim that everyone has some good in them, that leads to a problem: the story is a bit weak. You have Lilo and Stitch trying to create a hula, Jumba needing to build a fusion chamber to charge Stitch, and Pleakley wanting to help David celebrate his 3-week anniversary together with Nani. One could say that Stitch could be the antagonist being that he is at risk of reverting back to his old destructive tendencies, but compared to the original movie at the time it suffers from the same problem the series did in that it’s notably less mature. This story is not bad, it’s actually rather innocent. Just coming off the heels of the original movie it’s a bit lightweight; the only real way you can take the story seriously is if you only acknowledge the original movie and maybe this film and ignore Stitch!: the Movie and the Series. For one, being that I was such a follower of the cartoon series and this movie is supposed to come before that, wouldn’t that have necessarily meant Stitch is in no danger? Because he clearly was alive in the Series; if that was any indication shouldn’t he be A-OK no matter what happens here? I’m aware that’s not really an issue now that time has passed, but I feel that should be addressed.
For the animation, it’s art-wise close to the original film and I do admire that. It’s faithful to the original look and I see that as proof that cel animation can still serve it’d purpose, with or without computers.
In regards to the characters, we get to go back to Kauai and catch back up with six primary characters: Lilo, Stitch, Nani, Jumba, Pleakley and David. They are more or less the same and haven’t changed much: Lilo is the quirky little girl who wants to create a Hula to honor her late mother, Stitch is the now-domesticated alien experiment grappling with his glitch, Nani is the unhinged, stressing legal guardian, Jumba’s the kooky mad scientist, Pleakley the eccentric Earth expert and David…well, he was always just a minor character so there’s not much to go on with him. There are some pros and cons here. For one, it’s good to see these characters are still faithful to their original characterizations; it’s more in line with the original movie in contrast to the off-the-rails approach taken by the Japanese anime, the Chinese adaptation, and (arguably) the American cartoon series. However, in retrospect, this is a bit of a problem in that because all these characters have their odd ‘quirks’ and there isn’t really a straight character to be found, it’s a bit hard to get emotionally attached to them. Because everyone wants to have their moments of being funny and there’s no rock to the insanity, you get the feeling you’re in a house full of mixed nuts. So one could argue that the more off-the-rails approach was fitting with the Series?
One more element I'll add is this is the only movie where Daviegh Chase does not voice Lilo. Because she was pre-occupied with Lilo and Stitch: the Series Dakota Fanning took over her voice.
Lilo and Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch is hardly a masterpiece and I personally had the least use for this movie prior to this review. However, it’s harmless and won’t do something to anger fans, confuse people not already familiar with the characters or appeal to people older than 10. It also won’t get you to want more, but it’s not like there is much else this franchise can do. This movie is certainly watchable and that’s it.
Lilo and Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch (2005) TreyVore rates it: C
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Post by Trey_Vore on Jul 8, 2021 10:39:42 GMT -5
The Drawn Together Movie: the Movie! (2010)
Distributor: Paramount/Comedy Central Films/Double Hemm/6 Point Harness Director: Dave Jeser and Matt Silverstein Cast: Jess Harnell (Captain Hero, additional voices), Cree Summer (Foxxy Love, Suck My Taint Girl, additional voices), James Arnold Taylor (Wooldoor, Jew Producer, additional voices), Adam Carolla (Spanky Hamm), Tara Strong (Princess Clara, Toot Braunstein, additional voices), Abbey DiGregorio (Ling-Ling), Jack Plotnick (Xandir), Vernon Wells (Network Head), Seth MacFarlane (I.S.R.A.E.L.) Runtime: 71 minutes MPAA rating: N/A
Returning back to the house where our eight heroes were living for the series, the show’s Jew Producer has them engage in a competition which would horrify the ASPCA. Though it is completed with Superman parody Captain Hero being the winner, 70s mystery-solving musician Foxxy Love notices something is wrong when she can use more explicit profanity with no censor beeping. She learns that Comedy Central has canceled their show and sent the sinister robot called I.S.R.A.E.L. (the acronym for Intelligent Smart Robot Animation Eraser Lady) to eradicate them all from existence. So they, together with their other housemates, including racist Disney-esque Princess Clara, effeminate video game warrior Xandir, obnoxious Internet meme Spanky Hamm, trashy 20s sex symbol Toot Braunstein, wacky kids’ cartoon character Wooldoor Sockbat and sociopathic battle monster Ling-Ling all must band together to get their show back on the air. Seeking the help of the Suck My Taint Girl, can this band of wacky and un-PC parody characters make it to Make-A-Point Land to get a point for all their shenanigans, stop the Network Head and I.S.R.A.E.L. and get their show back on the air?
This movie is based on the raunchy and controversial mature cartoon series on Comedy Central. I have a confession to make. Back when I was on the Disney College Program in 2004, the mature animated series Drawn Together would be first broadcast on Comedy Central. Back then it became a favorite for me and my roommates as it was a deliberate parody of both animated characters and reality TV. Back then The Simpsons was starting to become stale, Family Guy was canceled and I never truly liked South Park, so this would be a new favorite for me.
Oddly enough, despite all it’s political incorrectness and college frat-style humor, it was worth watching for good reason. The characters all seemed to have lives, personalities, attitudes, and the show generally seemed to care about them. Sure it wasn’t a show where you would truly care if someone died because death was no sacred cow on the series, but d**n was it funny in its total revelry in drunken debauchery. Sure opinions on it are polarizing, but I fell into the “Love it” camp.
And then… it all fell apart. The hated Season 3, which also turned out to be the show’s final season, had a bunch of reasons for cancellation; at the time it seemed like the staff just quit caring. They stopped with meaningful character interactions and just relied solely on dark humor, shock humor and random pop culture references. The characters also got one real character trait, not to mention they would frequently break character for the sake of jokes. It was that, together with the fact episodes seemed to have such a long production cycle that it was impossible to have episodes finished by deadlines and ratings declined on account of fans hating what they did to the show and the characters. The final episode is a clip show that ultimately just hung on bitterness; the show seemed to hate the fact it was ending after all these issues. It’s like they just can’t get a grip on why they were being canceled when something like South Park could just keep going.
Not being terribly impressed with the South Park movie, no matter what my thoughts were on that movie it will hold some appeal to hardcore fans which was part of the reason I didn’t flunk it. This movie was a last hurrah for the series and holds a special, but not good, place for animation fans. It’s supposed to be so bad even fans of the Drawn Together series hate it! So, with some Bile Fascination having gotten the better of me, I decided to watch this movie and give my honest thoughts on it.
Where do I start? How about at the beginning, that makes sense.
The movie begins in modern day Bedrock where Toot has run up a major bar tab. She’s then called over to a table where Foxxy is sitting when she takes one more shot and a drag on a cigarette before walking over there. Oh yeah and I forgot to say so but she’s pregnant. Now, why just… why would you do that… anyone can tell you this is not advised as drinking and smoking cause birth defects. As it turns out Toot is pregnant due to Barney Rubble’s adultery. The whole time she insists that Barney is the love of her life, flipping back and forth about his sexuality while treating the baby like junk. This sequence, pointless as it is, is appropriate as it helps set up a theme the movie seems to be going for.
For now, I’ll say even for what the series is probably best known for doing, this movie is extremely graphic and tasteless. It revels in so much objectionable content as part of its attitude on why censorship is bad and we should not have it, being they had to deal with censors on TV. There are some issues with this as for all its revelry in controversial content, none of it is funny, and as I once said on the South Park movie, the fact the characters are now actually using stronger profanity without censor beeping does not make it funny. Not to mention if you ever watched the series when it was released on DVD, the episodes were not, nor were they ever, censored. The characters would just wantonly curse without censor beeping and expose gender parts with no pixilation, so it seems weird about why only now would they find the non-censoring cool, it makes no sense in context.
Then there’s another issue I’m going to bring up: the tone. Do you remember how I said the last official episode of the show had a very bitter tone about it? The show got canceled because of a lot of issues that were going on. The show could not keep going if they could not make deadlines and it would go overbudget, that would be like having a friend that always wants money but never pays you back. The fact that this movie was released about three years after the final episode of Season 3 should be an idea of how long they probably needed. But no, they seemed to have a massive ego going, the fact the show was popular and people loved it in its earlier seasons is testament to that. But the nerve of the network for canceling the show! And the fans for declining viewership, we can take these characters and do whatever we want with them! We refuse to take blame for this horrible injustice!
And in this movie? I’ll just say they learned nothing. They took all their rage, bitterness and resentment and amplified it. The movie’s got this relentless… angry tone.
Normally, I would probably tell you about the movie’s story or characters, but for now I’ll just say: what story? They go for a story where the characters learn their animated reality show was canceled and are now trying to get it back on the air, but what it ultimately does is take a lot of character bits with copious amounts of objectionable content with lots of padding in-between. Plus the theme they seem to be going for is why would they need a point for their actions? They clearly make it they should be allowed to just do what they want for reasons because they want to, they enjoy doing this, or it makes them feel good? I liken that as asking why we would need to have things like manners and laws. When you were just a little kid, you needed to be thought and practice manners because it allows society to function; and we have laws because without them the country falls into anarchy. Crimes would just run rampant and no one would ever be punished. Having themes and messages are important because it has people think and we naturally want to be smart. Not wanting to bother with a point seems very counterproductive in my book. The movie wants so hard to make a case against censorship and why we should not have it, but it is hardly effective. If anything, it’s case becomes why we do need censorship, because all that they are doing being so blatant with its objectional content is not even somewhat funny.
The animation is like that on the series, which is limited. The movie uses the series’ animation models, which were varied as they were all supposed to be characters from different shows/movies/games from various eras/genres. Here it seems even more limited than normal. There is a reason for this as the movie was make for only $350,000. There are episodes of a show that have bigger budgets. You can tell too, because the characters many have sequences with just two animation frames and there’s even a several minute sequence where the characters are in danger of being submerged underwater and they figure they can solve the problem by listening to the DVD commentary. You get the feeling they may have blown the budget on the introductory credits?
I would tell you about the characters too, but like the story, I don’t have much to go on. The characters, or rather what’s left of these characters, by this point on the show’s run, were Flanderized to the point they are now just parodies of themselves. As well, the characters don’t all get equal weight here; only a few of which are meaningful. I guess I should start with Foxxy Love, who’s probably the one thing the movie has closest to a character with relevance to a plot. She’s under the suspicion that something is wrong on account of the fact she can now go right out and use more objectional material. After that… she goes for more sexual stuff and that’s it. For who else? Captain Hero, the series’ own Wesley Crusher, has a character beat where he is nothing more than an idiotic necrophile. I’m serious, he kidnaps a corpse from her funeral and then drags her around having made her his new girlfriend. He even goes so far as to tongue-kiss it. Xandir, the show’s straight character who is ironically gay, is just that; he is jealous that Captain Hero now has a girlfriend and wants his pal back. It has to say something if Princess Clara seems more developed and she dies halfway through the movie! I suppose Spanky Hamm has relevance too, being that he acts like the writers’ mouthpiece, something I never once saw as being good. For the others? Toot doesn’t get to be anything more than a pregnant barfly, Wooldoor seems important for just making wiener jokes, and Ling-Ling is largely ignored. The Jew Producer… I guess his faith is really supposed to be relevant? Moving on. These characters are no longer interesting or funny, they are just sickos we no longer care about. Now, for the villains? Oh. Boy. So much bile is directed at them. They are making no secret as to who we are supposed to hate. The villain is the Network Head, who bears a hate for the show blaming them for his family’s deaths. Not joking, his family was killed on account of the show. Was it because of an incident that it caused? No, they were distracted by a poster and then got in a car accident. It’s a really lame motif, there are Captain Planet villains more subtle than this. I.S.R.A.E.L., the robot sent to erase them all from existence, probably did not need a voice, I don’t think Seth MacFarlane really needed the money with the gravy train he was on. And then, there is the Suck My Taint Girl, the movie’s clear parody of South Park. Clearly a lot of bird-flipping is being directed at South Park, however, the parody they are doing is so shallow and so surface-level it is not even slightly effective or funny. What they are doing is making their bosses at Comedy Central the villains because they canceled the show, and South Park the co-villain because that show gets to run while Drawn Together is not still running. Guys, you’re passing the blame here. All this acrid revulsion you have is on the same level as a little kid who’s angry because they were having problems with their best friend following a play date. You could have saved money if instead of making this movie you could have just sent your bosses, plus Trey Parker and Matt Stone, a poison pen letter.
The last thing I’m going to say is, do you think this movie really goes anywhere? Nope, it turns out to be a Shaggy Dog Story. The characters’ efforts to get their show back on the air not only proves futile, it effectively sends these characters on their very final adventure. It really does leave absolutely no room for a sequel. Without saying exactly how, what was that iconic Red Dwarf phrase?
“Everybody’s Dead, Dave.”
This movie is not a good way to get introduced to the Drawn Together series; it will instead likely scare people away, or if they are already fans, alienate them from admitting they like the series at all. Adding insult to injury? I had to actually buy this movie. That’s right, since video rental stores are a thing of the past, and no streaming service was carrying it, I had to go on my iTunes account to buy this dead movie; I did not have the option to rent it. I suppose calling it a movie is stretching it, it might be more accurate to call this the Drawn Together Viking funeral. It’s so bitter, angry, pointless, hated by its own fans, refuses to do its job and it's highway robbery on top of that; this is one of the worst animated films I’ve ever seen. Do yourself a favor, skip this fiasco.
The Drawn Together Movie: the Movie! (2010) TreyVore rates it: F
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Post by Trey_Vore on Jul 31, 2021 0:44:49 GMT -5
Minions (2015) Distributor: Universal Pictures/Illumination Entertainment Director: Pierre Coffin and Kyle Balda Cast: Pierre Coffin (Kevin, Stuart, Bob, the Minions), Sandra Bullock (Scarlet Overkill), Jon Hamm (Herb Overkill), Michael Keaton (Walter Nelson), Allison Janney (Madge Nelson), Steve Coogan (Professor Flux, Tower Guard), Jennifer Saunders (Queen Elizabeth II), Geoffrey Rush (Narrator) Runtime: 91 min. MPAA rating: PG (action, rude humor) In this Despicable Me prequel, Minions have existed since the dawn of time, looking for a villainous master they can serve. Keeping one, well that’s another story. Having inadvertently eliminating some of the world’s most notorious villains, Minion kind is on the verge of collapse being sad and depressed. To give their brethren new hope, Kevin recruits Stuart and Bob to head to New York City in search of a new evil master. Once there, it is found to be in the year 1968, where they hear of a “Villain Con” set down in Orlando. They go there and win the attention of Scarlet Overkill, the world’s first female career supervillain. Taking them to her home in England, they wind up being drafted as pawns in a scheme to steal the Crown Jewels and overthrow the Queen. So do you think Kevin, Stuart and Bob can succeed in their quest to find a master they can keep and therefore save all of Minionkind? With the mega success of Despicable Me 2, the public was very much in love with the Despicable Me franchise. Even today, you will find Minions merchandise of any kind. There is even an app game called Minion Rush and a ride at Universal Studios called Minion Mayhem! Being that the Minions are still very popular, it brought to light a weird thought: what would it be like if the Minions had their own movie? That was probably on peoples’ minds, not to mention if it was possible, when it was announced in 2012. Can the Minions truly carry a movie? The initial reviews were mixed, but the box-office gross more than made up for it; with over $1 billion in ticket sales, it became the 5th highest-grossing movie of 2015 and the highest grossing non-Disney animated film. At the same time, we were supposed to get Minions: Rise of Gru for a bit now, but due to the fact it was delayed yet again no thanks to the Corona Virus (this time to 2022), I decided to revisit this Despicable Me prequel for a review. This movie is pretty simple and not overly demanding. If you are a fan of the Minions from the Despicable Me movies, and chances are you are, then this movie is going to be worth your time. The movie’s story is, as you might expect from an Illumination Entertainment film, not the deepest and doesn’t make any real sense. The movie doesn’t feel completely sure where it wants to go or do, they go from New York to Orlando to London it feels very much like the movie has kids as it’s main audience. It may be a kids’ movie and kids first, but it’s a fun kids’ movie and one that has enough adult minded jokes to satisfy adults. I’m not talking in terms of profane language or sex jokes; the movie is supposed to have most of its runtime set in 1968 and there’s plenty of old-fashioned pop culture jokes that more mature viewers will get. There’s references to the Beatles, Bewitched, The Dating Game, etc. Thankfully, while on the hunt for an evil master to serve, the Minions do not seem to consider being henchmen to Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany (that would just be wrong). Now about the characters, I’ll start with the three main Minions. Kevin is the group leader and thus the responsible one, Stuart is more of a rebellious teenager and Bob is the cute, innocent one. Basically imagine Alvin and the Chipmunks where Simon is the leader and Alvin is working under him and Theodore is unchanged. These characters, by nature, do not lend to a movie with a great deal of depth or great aesthetic maturity, but given its 1960s setting, I’d say it’s appropriate? For their new boss that they want to serve, Scarlet Overkill, I do have some mixed feelings on her and her husband Herb. I will say Sandra Bullock and Jon Hamm clearly enjoyed their roles and they do a solid performance, but I will say that in regards to being a springboard for the Minions she isn’t the best; I can explain. In the Despicable Me movies, the Minions were the funny characters and their boss, that being Felonius Gru, was more like a straight character. He was like a rock to their insanity and that actually helped make the Minions funny. Scarlet and her husband are more like funny characters on top of funny characters and that makes it a bit much. I’m sure kids will love it being that it’s almost like being on a sugar rush but adults may like to take this in small doses. The only other characters of note are the Nelsons, a criminal family that helps Kevin, Stuart and Bob get to Orlando. Minions isn’t a great movie but it is fun. It’s not supposed to be world-changing, all it wants to do is make you laugh and in that regard it succeeds. Being a fan of the Minions and the Despicable Me movies, I enjoyed it enough to give it a recommendation. There’s a chance it may depend on your personal feelings about the Minions but it does it’s job right. Minions (2015) TreyVore rates it: B- What's the next Illumination film Belchic ?
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Post by Trey_Vore on Sept 3, 2021 12:26:52 GMT -5
To commemorate my very first furry con, I decided to go and review this movie, in addition to it being a request.
Robin Hood (1973)
Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures Director: Wolfgang Reitherman Cast: Brian Bedford (Robin Hood), Monica Evans (Maid Marian), Phil Harris (Little John), Roger Miller (Allen-a-Dale the Rooster), Peter Ustinov (Prince John, King Richard), Terry-Thomas (Sir Hiss), Andy Devine (Friar Tuck), Carole Shelley (Lady Kluck), Pat Buttram (Sheriff of Nottingham), George Lindsay (Trigger), Ken Curtis (Nutsy), Billy Whitaker (Skippy), Dana Laurita (Sis), Dora Whitaker (Tagalong), Richie Sanders (Toby) Runtime: 83 min. MPAA rating: G (all ages admitted)
This movie is an all-animal retelling of the famous outlaw of Sherwood Forest; where England is under the heel of Prince John, who usurped the throne while King Richard was off fighting in the Crusades, and now is overtaxing the people to the point of poverty. Robin Hood and his band of Merry Men would rob from the rich and give to the poor, while at the same time try to win the hand of the spirited Maid Marian. So, can Robin Hood stay out of trouble long enough to win over the people of England until King Richard can hopefully return and take back the throne?
I’ll start by saying this: this movie is never to be judged as one of Disney’s absolute finest. It was made in the 1970s, which you probably know was a dark time for animation. In the 1960s, Walt Disney was putting his animated films on the back burner to be more of a manager; he had recently constructed Disneyland in California and the potential of another Disney park, which would become Disneyworld, in Florida. However, Uncle Walt would not live to see his Florida park’s opening; he died in 1966. This movie would be the first of a new era; it would the very first Disney animated film without Disney. He did have his say on the direction of The Jungle Book and what he had to do with The Aristocats may have been minimal, but… it was there. This movie was the very first Disney animated film that Walt himself had nothing to do with.
On its original release, it wasn’t all that successful. During the 80s though, it turned into a cult film, and nowadays people start to look at it as the origin of the furry movement; later movies would go and incorporate anthropomorphized animals without any humans at all. We did have movies that had animal sidekicks for sure, but a movie like this had seemingly started the idea of what if we weren’t humans but furry animals that walk on two legs and wear clothes? For reasons I will get into, we did need a movie like this.
I did remember watching this movie back when I was just a small child and I did enjoy it, but now thanks to a request, I will go and give my honest thoughts on it.
You probably already know the story of Robin Hood. It’s a story where the law is corrupt and the hero is a criminal. Not a story that leads to many great role models, but it does retain an appeal as it gives people an outlet for “I may not agree with the law but if I was to do something illegal I would be in some serious trouble”.
The movie does have a rather lax tone, as you know this is all meant to be taken with good humor. It has the gentle appeal of how you might be feeling if suppose you knew you were on a day when you had to work, but you did overtime last week voluntarily because you would be short one day this week; as a result you just got to stay home and rest.
This is not to say the story is perfect; it goes through a bunch of tangents involving the movie’s rather gigantic cast of characters. There’s the main story about Robin Hood and Little John robbing from the rich to give to the poor, the small town drama of life in England, the antics of some child bunnies and a glasses-wearing turtle, the romance subplot between Robin Hood and Maid Marian, the in-jest cruelty of Prince John, Sir Hiss and the Sheriff of Nottingham, etc. It seems to juggle a lot without a lot of depth or realization, and the songs are forgettable and a lot of the movie’s jokes are rather lowbrow, but the story does its job acceptably well.
I suppose I need to say something about the animation as it’s unavoidable. This movie was a budget film; they needed to cut costs and recycle some of their previous animations from older movies. It uses a rough pencil-sketch outline look that may have worked in the past with their earlier movies but there’s not a legitimate reason why they needed to use it here other than… it was just a trend they were following? There’s even times when it feels like you’ve seen animation on characters that for reasons I will explain, it is hard to not notice? An example of which is the sequence where Maid Marian is dancing with the Merry Men in Sherwood Forest, it looks very much like they rotoscoped over a similar sequence used in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
With the movie’s characters, there is an awful lot. Oddly enough, though he’s supposed to be the star of the film, Robin Hood feels like a secondary character. The movie doesn’t really go very far with his characterization probably because you likely already know his story and they don’t dig any deeper than he’s now supposed to be a fox. Maid Marian is his classic love interest, suitably spirited and does hold her own level of appeal. However, she does end up being lost in the climax, though thankfully does get her man in the end. I don’t get though, that in the classic story, King Richard and Prince John are supposed to be brothers, and Marian is their cousin. In this movie, Richard and John are supposed to be a pair of lions, and Marian is a vixen. Just how exactly can she be related to them? I guess if there was ever a “don’t try to overanalyze it”, this would be it; it’s not like kids actually know how babies are made. Plus how many Disney Princesses are have the distinction of using a Wanted poster as a pin-up? Little John is supposed to Robin’s better half in a way, but while still lovable, there’s a glaring issue that is impossible to avoid: he’s a budget character if we ever saw one. The guy is literally just Baloo all over again, voice actor and all. It’s almost like the characters in Disney’s catalog can be “actors” just guised up in some way. The same can be said for Lady Kluck, Maid Marian’s lady-in-waiting. She is supposed to be a mother-like figure with some hard edges to her, though for some reason I couldn’t help but think of Merryweather with feathers and a beak. Friar Tuck is supposed be the man of good faith who isn't always consistent, some of his dialogue falls into Narm territory. Other crucial characters include Skippy the bunny and his sisters, imaginatively named Sis and Tagalong, because one is his sister and the other is a tagalong kid, get it? Along with Toby, their pal who’s a turtle; they seem like their purpose is to be cute. For the villains, Sir Hiss is a reasonably entertaining villainous sidekick though many times reminiscent of Kaa, though the Sheriff of Nottingham is pretty forgettable. Though he may take a lot of crap, the movie’s best realized character is Prince John. He is supposed to be an antagonist with a lot of “mommy issues” as he can be viewed as a wannabe king who does want everything his way, much like a spoiled brat. He would, under normal circumstances, be seen as a weak villain, but he’s funny enough to be entertaining for mature viewers; still malicious enough for you to not want him to win. The characters are a very mixed bag, but that’s probably to be expected with such a large cast.
Despite these flaws, I will say… a movie like this was one that was needed. Some people blame it for starting the furry movement, something I have no problem with, but to that matter we need movies with an anthropomorphized animal cast. The reason I bring this up is for one, furries are less likely to be judged, plus while we have movies with animals and movies about humans, we need anthropomorphized animal characters because they lend some variety to animated films. We could just make animated movies where the characters are all humans and nothing but humans, but the problem with that idea is eventually, they would all become indistinguishable from each other. Anthropomorphized animals are easier to single out and hold the appeal as being unique. You can only make so many space operas or sports movies with humans, but everyone will remember a movie where you have a fox that flies a plane or a hedgehog that runs at supersonic speeds. This is why we need movies where we have civilized animal characters.
Robin Hood is hardly a masterpiece and it’s never to be seen as Disney’s finest. However, it has an easy going charm to it that you will likely hold a place for, just take it for what it is. Indeed, Disney director Byron Howard even said he loved this movie growing up and said it was a major influence on Zootopia; it wouldn’t have surprised me if Robin Hood’s character rubbed off on Nick Wilde.
Side note is, when I was waiting for an interview for an internship on the Disney College Program, one of the Disney cast members asked which Disney animated features have an all-animal cast, my answers were Bambi, The Lion King, and this movie, which was the stumper. It was correct, and she said she also would have accepted A Bug’s Life.
Robin Hood (1973) TreyVore rates it: C+
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Post by Trey_Vore on Sept 18, 2021 11:41:43 GMT -5
Vivo (2021)
Distributor: Sony Pictures Animation Director: Kirk DeMicco Cast: Lin-Manuel Miranda (Vivo), Ynairaly Simo (Gabi), Zoe Saldana (Rosa), Juan de Marcos Gonzalez (Andres), Gloria Estefan (Marta), Brian Tyree Henry (Dancarino), Nicole Byer (Valentina), Michael Rooker (Lutador) Runtime: 99 min. MPAA rating: PG (thematic elements, mild action)
This movie is about a little kinkajou named Vivo who spends his days as a performer with his beloved street musician owner Andres. After Andres gets a letter from his famous friend Marta Sandoval, saying she is retiring and wants him there for it, Andres wants to take his song there to finally express his true feelings but Vivo is not thrilled about this idea and leaves in a huff. He changes his mind the next day, but sadly Andres died in his sleep last night. Wanting to respect his now deceased owner’s wishes, he heads from Cuba to Key West, Florida in a bag of old musical instruments donated to Andres’s eccentric niece Gabi, who loves music more than being a girl scout. Gabi buys some tickets to get to Miami, but they miss the bus and wind up lost in the Florida Everglades. With the goal of going to Marta’s concert in mind, can Vivo and Gabi make it to Marta’s concert in time and deliver Andres’s swan song, without Vivo getting killed and Gabi’s mom grounding her forever?
Originally, I had reason to not trust this movie. Dating all the way back to 2010 when it was originally under development from DreamWorks, with Lin-Manuel Miranda at the forefront, it was supposed to be a musical that would be very Latin-driven. However, it was seemingly scrapped in 2015, when DreamWorks’s more recent animated films were seemingly failing hard; movies like Rise of the Guardians, Turbo and Penguins of Madagascar lost so much money that they had to cancel a bunch of projects, this being one of them.
Eventually, the rights to the film went to Sony Pictures Animation, so life goes on… unfortunately, Vivo would not be getting his big break on the big screen due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so Sony sold the rights to Netflix. So now that we finally get to see the little kinkajou with a flair for music after spending the 2010s in limbo, it’s time for me to give my honest thoughts on the movie.
I originally had reason to not trust this movie. I originally thought that based on the way it sounded, it would probably be either a dud, or at best as good as Rio. For what the movie’s story is, it is about Vivo and Andres’s niece Gabi wanting to honor his last request to take his swan song to his lover Marta before she retires from the music business. The story does not have any real surprises, but I will say the execution compensates. It is very Latin-inspired with a hyper colorful palette and it contains some valid themes involving remembering those you care for, the importance of honoring one’s wishes and that rhythm can speak louder than words. I will say though, the story is hardly perfect. I understand the themes and ideas that they convey, but for reasons I will explain, the movie can feel like it has more characters than it actually needs and there is no real villain. I guess the movie didn’t need an actual antagonist as the movie was supposed to be about Vivo wanting to get Andres’s song to Marta, but it probably needed to be addressed. The story does its job and does it reasonably well.
I will say this: it must be really difficult making an animated musical. You probably need to take into account whether or not the lyrics are memorable and the choreography as well. After all Hamilton got it’s critical acclaim due to its well-arranged story with the dance sequences and music. Or I remember how well a movie like Aladdin was received due the fact it feels like the images perfectly match the songs; when I saw the 2019 Aladdin it could not measure up mainly because the acting sequences and imagery doesn’t begin to compare with the 1992 film; it can’t compare to the original. This movie does have some very nicely recorded songs and I will not fault it for that, but the imagery, while colorful, never seems to truly come alive. It’s not without it’s charms, but I do enjoy some nice Latin-derived music. The choreography just… leaves something to be desired.
Now I will say the characters are an interesting bunch. For Vivo, he’s supposed to be the little kinkajou that is the pet-turned-messenger for Marta due to Andres’s wishes. He’s probably meant to be the character we gravitate towards but next to the human characters he isn’t all that interesting; I guess that may be what happens when you try to make a movie about the pet. He didn’t have a direction before Andres and is just like a messenger boy. He is not a bad character and can generate some good chemistry so again, the execution compensates. His owner Andres feels like a better realized character and he dies very early in the movie; being such an old timer he feels like he’s been through a lot and is the reason why he and Vivo are such a shining pair of street musicians. Gabi, Andres’s purple-haired, loudly dressed tween niece, is also on the hunt to honor her uncle’s wishes and she does come off in a reasonably entertaining matter. She would rather be a musician like her uncle than to be a girl scout and we could probably take that as meaning her family must have been close. Her mom doesn’t get to do much beyond get exasperated at her daughter for having this ‘me first’ attitude. Then we have the other characters, and they can be a bit excessive. The three Girl Scouts are nothing more than momentary enemies-turned-allies, the movie doesn’t feel like it truly needs them other than some hints of conflict. It also has no deep need for the lovelorn spoonbills or Lutador, the python meant to be a villain that is not related to the main story. He’s just an ‘in-the-moment’ for that is meant to provide the movie with at least some conflict. The movie has a lot of characters, and some are necessary more than others, but they are a worthy set.
Is Vivo a perfect movie? No, it does have its flaws but I found it to be a good movie that was overall handled well. I do think it’s nice to see Sony Pictures Animation getting their act together and making movies that are enjoyable for the family and not just kids. It’s not as good the The Mitchells vs. the Machines but I’m very confident it will be better than the fourth Hotel Transylvania.
Vivo (2021) TreyVore rates it: B-
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Post by Trey_Vore on Oct 12, 2021 22:09:18 GMT -5
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009)
Distributor: 20th Century Fox/Blue Sky Director: Carlos Saldanha Cast: Ray Romano (Manny), John Leguizamo (Sid), Denis Leary (Diego), Queen Latifah (Ellie), Sean William Scott (Crash), Josh Peck (Eddie), Simon Pegg (Buck), Frank Welker (Tyrannosaurus), Chris Wedge (Scrat), Karen Disher (Scratte) Runtime: 94 min. MPAA rating: PG (mild rude humor, some peril)
Having been together since the conclusion of the last movie, Manny and his new mate Ellie are expecting their new baby mastodon. While Manny is putting all his energy into being a father for the baby, Diego and Sid are starting to feel left out. Sid stumbles upon three eggs that turn out to be Tyrannosaurus Rex eggs, and he takes it upon himself to raise them. When their mother comes looking for them, she takes her babies back and inadvertently, Sid with them. The herd follows in hot pursuit and discover a tropical paradise where dinosaurs all live. Enlisting the aid of a one-eyed weasel named Buck, and with Ellie expecting to give birth at any moment, can the herd rescue Sid and prove they all move as a family?
I have a confession to make: I remember the very first time hearing about this movie was when I was at my local Tinseltown and I first saw a 3-D poster that featured Manny, Sid and Diego all under threat from a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Not knowing much about Ice Age being that I was late to the party (I didn’t see the first because I was in college and it fell under my radar and I didn’t see the second for… reasons), but this would be my first: the first actual time I would see an Ice Age movie in theatres. For reasons you’ll understand, I was hoping to see it.
I did enjoy it being my first real exposure to the franchise, but then it seemed to fall under everyone’s radar and no one would talk about it. Guess it’s my turn to discuss my introduction to the Ice Age series, in addition to the fact that now I’m seeing it after having reviewed the prior two.
For starters, this movie, like the last two, is hardly going to be seen as perfect. The idea of having dinosaurs actually living alongside these ice age-era characters is ridiculous enough (the dinosaurs all went extinct prior to the ice age) but I was willing to excuse it because 1, I was aware these movies are not meant to be true-to-life, and 2, I was always interested in dinosaurs. Like the last movie, it has Manny and Ellie expecting a baby and Sid is going about acting like a foster parent, but strangely this movie does keep some level of mature interest about it.
The movie’s story doesn’t have a very complex angle about it; it’s a simple rescue mission, proving the old adage that these characters are a close knit group and they stay together. Despite the story being rather thin, it’s amazingly free from padding, and above all it manages to entertain and be enjoyable. You probably wouldn’t go and base your essay on the actual ice age around these movies, but it’s job is to entertain and it works.
For the animation, you are probably aware of what you’d expect from these movies in that we see a snowy/icy landscape. After all, it’s the ice age for a reason. The dinosaur angle helps to freshen things up as we get to see something different in this movie; there is a tropical paradise inhabited by dinosaurs which is honestly quite interesting to see. This helps to make It feel like the movie is not simply rehashing an earlier movie.
Now, for what'd be a deal breaker: the characters. The original characters that we were introduced to in the first movie are back but they are just the same being they still feel very one-note. Manny is still the straight character, Diego is still Mr. Macho and Sid is the dummy. I do give credit though to the fact that with this movie, Manny’s character comes full circle. In the original movie he was a grumpy mastodon who was that way because he had lost his mate and child to hunters. Prior to this movie he got himself a new mate and here he gets himself a child. With this movie Manny is whole again. There may not be much else you can do with him but some closure on his character was nice. Diego is supposed to be feeling like he’s losing his edge and ponders whether or not he should leave to become hardcore again, but his role doesn’t feel all that well-developed. Sid technically gets the biggest role here, but that is sort of a problem. He does something stupid that gets him in trouble and they have to save him, however, by the time the movie is over one gets the impression he didn’t learn anything from that experience. For all we know he’ll probably just go and make the same stupid mistake next week and then they’ll have to bail him out all over again. Ellie still isn’t all that interesting but as I said gives Manny some level of closure. Crash and Eddie are still useless, adding nothing but comedy relief when they are not even all that funny. Scrat on the other hand, is still funny, and while again, he’s not a meaningful character, still works due to his Looney Tunes-esque slapstick comedy.
The new characters introduced in this movie though do add something, giving the characters a needed boost. There is Buck, the weasel who gives the movie a savage man character and gives it some life; he actually gets some of the funnier lines and may remind some people of Captain Ahab from Herman Melville’s Moby d**k. The other new character of note is Scratte, the femme sabertoothed flying squirrel who butts heads with Scrat for the acorn. She does add a funny new layer to Scrat’s endless pursuit who wants the acorn and then falls for Scrat. If Buck reminds me of Captain Ahab, then she reminds me of Fifi La Fume of Tiny Toon Adventures. We don’t see any new development from the old characters, but at least the new ones freshen it up somewhat.
No one will come away from Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs thinking it is high art, or think the Academy screwed up by not nominating this movie for Best Animated Feature. It does however prove amusing and the way I see it, offers a rebound from Ice Age: the Meltdown. I even have a DVD from the Disney Movie Club that packages the first movie with this one and the Mammoth Christmas special. Maybe this movie doesn’t leave me thinking that I want Ice Age to continue, but I feel it’s a nice movie and maybe just a notch below the first movie. The fact this movie made almost $900 million is testament to that fact.
…it’s not over, is it?
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009) TreyVore rates it: B-
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Post by Trey_Vore on Oct 12, 2021 22:37:13 GMT -5
Open Season 3 (2010)
Distributor: Sony Pictures Animation Director: Cody Cameron Cast: Matthew J. Munn (Boog, Doug), Maddie Taylor (Elliot, Buddy, Deni, Ian, Reilly), Melissa Sturm (Giselle, Ursa), Karley Scott Collins (Gisela), Ciara Bravo (Giselita), Harrison Fahn (Elvis), Andre Sogliuzzo (McSquizzy), Dana Snyder (Alistair), Cody Cameron (Mr. Weenie, Nate), Danny Mann (Serge), Crispin Glover (Fifi), Nika Futterman (Rosie), Michelle Murdocca (Maria) Runtime: 75 min. MPAA rating: PG (mild rude humor)
Waking up after hibernation, Boog is ready for his all-guy trip for some male bonding. However, because all his friends, including Elliot, have mates and children they need to be home for, they all have to decline. Boog is disappointed over this as he is now the one single guy left in his clique. He sets out alone with Dinkleman but then stumbles upon a Soviet-traveling circus. There, he meets a similar-looking bear named Doug who wants to escape the pressure of circus life and they trade places. There Boog starts to fall for a female bear named Ursa while Doug begins to act as a dictator towards all of Boog’s forest friends. So, can someone figure out the two bears traded places, and if Boog can convince Ursa that he is not Doug, can he convince her that home is where her heart is before the circus returns to the U.S.S.R.?
When I did get to see Open Season when it came out on video, I accepted it but my reviewing skills weren’t strong enough to see that in truth, it was a mediocre animated movie. I still say that it was okay, and for Sony’s first venture into the all-CGI animated filmmaking, it could have been a lot worse. Now the movie’s first sequel, Open Season 2, had it been shown in theatres, I would have known I did not like. Cost-cutting was evident and the movie’s animation took a major hit. Still, it must have sold because parents are always looking for a babysitter.
That leads me to the third movie. This movie is supposed to have gotten mixed reviews but the people that hate it say it’s easily the worst one. I know that happens as usually by the time we see a third movie, it’s hard for filmmakers to find new material so it doesn’t feel like nothing more than a cash grab. Time for me to throw my hat into the ring…
First off, it seems like we have more cost cutting going on. Like Open Season 2, this is a movie made on a limited time crunch being they had to write a script and do all the animation for a direct-to-video movie in a little less than two years. The quality makes it obvious! Not only that, but again, most of the voice actors are replaced with new ones. We still have Cody Cameron (who is also the director), Danny Mann, Crispin Glover, Nika Futterman and Michelle Murdocca, but these tend to be just minor characters. The major characters again go through a voice change.
So what’s the story? Well, for the third movie they took a page from The Prince and the Pauper in that Boog is looking for a boost from the rut he’s in and gets a chance when he meets Doug, a similar-looking bear in a circus. Now, when I say they took a page from that story I mean that very literally. Just that one page in that there is the idea of the story’s main character trading places with a doppelganger and then they start trying each other’s lives out. Nothing else, like themes of needing to look deeper and not take things literally, are involved.
The other thing is, in the past, we originally looked forward to going to a circus. We all probably remember hearing about the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus, which dated as far back as 1871. That dates all the way back to the time Ulysses S. Grant was president! There was the thrills of acrobats doing death-defying stunts, strongmen that display incredible strength, lion tamers that have authority over wild animals and clowns that do silly things for a laugh. Circuses had their heyday; I remember seeing a movie like Dumbo being it was a movie that came out back in 1941. There were even cartoon series episodes from the 1980s that were about some kids that learn a circus is in danger of being shut down and they try to save it. You probably remember having a box of animal crackers that was designed like a circus wagon, there were circus playsets and even a breakfast cereal called Circus Fun that was released in 1987.
It was a much different world back then.
However, times change. During the 2010s there were a much wider assortment of entertainment options available so attendances began to weaken. Then there were also the high operating and maintenance costs and the fact that circuses began to be seen as controversial entertainment mainly because of animal rights protesters. All these factors led to the shutting down of the Greatest Show on Earth, and nowadays circuses are like a relic of the past. I remember when I saw the 2019 live-action Dumbo the story was clearly changed to better suit the times; it ended with the animals being freed rather than have the circus continue to operate.
That leads me to this movie. For a movie being released in 2010, it already looks like a product of years past. They still seem to have this mindset that circuses are socially acceptable and none of the more modern issues are ever addressed. Nowadays you could look at that sequence where the trainers are whipping Boog in the feet to make him Cossack dance and you’ll probably be finding yourself saying “C’mon guys, c’mon you don’t think that seems just a bit cruel?” Now, this movie was released during 2010 and that was before circuses started to come under fire, but... yeah they didn't make this with great longevity in mind did they...
The story’s not the only thing looking antiquated; the animation also looks very shoddy as well. The movie doesn’t seem to have a very rigid sense of physics and that makes the characters’ movements seem awkward rather than funny. The effects like water don’t feel natural either you can see that more often than not very few things seem to have any kind of texture. This movie probably had the same issue that Open Season 2 did in that it was made as a direct-to-video sequel with a limited budget and a short time frame in order to boot it out the door. You can tell just by looking at it!
Now you probably want me to describe the characters. And I will say, this movie has a lot of characters. Too many, especially being in a movie that is only 75 minutes long. Boog is now looking for a means to boost out of his slump being the one single guy left, and finds it in the circus. He also finds himself getting a girlfriend through Ursa, but in the end still gets to go on his all-guy trip at the end making the girlfriend aspect completely pointless. Elliot has not changed as a character beyond the fact that he’s now a father, the only thing I can say is it seems weird about why he’s a toon and Giselle is feral and they now have children who are toons as well. His two daughters Gisela and Giselita, who are really only distinguishable through the color of their noses, are smart which I don’t get being that they have such idiotic parents. His son Elvis only seems to be important for helping his dad make jokes. Alistar, the Argentinian llama who is Boog’s friend in the circus, I have a feeling was probably meant to be a gay Latino but they changed gears and now is established to have a girlfriend. That’s the extent of his character. The movie’s “villain” you could say is Doug, the circus bear who cons Boog into trading places and starts taking advantage of everyone, but by the end does a complete 180 turn and goes back to the circus to be a star for the sake of a happy ending. Not the best villain by a long shot. Everyone else, ranging from the other forest animals to the pets, are just there to help in the rescue mission and to supply jokes. At least they sounded like they were enjoying themselves?
The movie was about Boog wanting to get out of his funk, but this movie does nothing to improve on this franchise. The only thing I imagine this movie has use for is to, again, be a babysitter for kids who don’t care about its more dated aspects and just want a dumb cartoon that makes them laugh. At least it also won’t cost much as again, it was part of a Wal-Mart combo pack for less than $5? So it will keep your kids entertained for an hour and a quarter? I’m hoping the next one will aim a bit higher because this is one movie that has no place now in this world.
Open Season 3 (2010) TreyVore rates it: D-
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Post by Trey_Vore on Oct 12, 2021 22:56:03 GMT -5
All Dogs Go To Heaven 2 (1996)
Distributor: MGM/UA Distributor Co. Director: Paul Sabella, Larry Leker Cast: Charlie Sheen (Charlie B. Barkin), Dom DeLuise (Itchy), Sheena Easton (Sasha LaFleur), Adam Wylie (David), George Hearn (Red), Bebe Neuwirth (Annabelle), Ernest Borgnine (Carface Caruthers) Runtime: 84 min. MPAA rating: G (all ages admitted)
When we return to Heaven, we find Charlie is not particularly happy with his place in Heaven even after Itchy just makes it in. However, after Carface steals Gabriel’s Horn from it’s resting place and loses it on accident, it’s now up to Charlie and Itchy to find the Horn and recover it so it can be back in it’s rightful place, thereby allowing Heaven’s gates to reopen. Once arriving, Charlie gets sidetracked and falls for a beautiful Irish Setter named Sasha, and later learns she’s acting as a parent for a human boy who ran away from home named David. After Carface helps him become visible thanks to a fortune teller dog, it turns out that Carface is now working for Red, a Satanic figure who wants Gabriel’s Horn to seize control of Heaven. So with time running out on his new deal, can Charlie and Itchy prove they deserve their status as angelic dogs by retrieving Gabriel’s Horn, winning Sasha over, help David learn his place and stop Red and Carface from destroying Heaven?
If you are not familiar, I am a former non-fan, now fan, of Don Bluth’s 1989 movie All Dogs Go To Heaven. I may have needed some time, but I now see it as worthy of it’s current status and will support it. Sure I don’t think it’s Don Bluth’s finest movie, but I like it a lot better than I previously did.
The public felt the same way too, as it was originally a dud, but it would go on to become a franchise in the 1990s. It would receive this sequel as testament to its new franchise status, and it would lead us into All Dogs Go To Heaven: the Series, which ran from 1996-1998. Don’t underestimate the power of home media.
This movie would also be the second sequel to a Don Bluth movie, after An American Tail: Fievel Goes West. Well, theatrically released sequel, as there are all those Land Before Time sequels and one for The Secret of NIMH too among others, but none of them were released in theatres. What they all had in common though, was the fact that Don Bluth himself had nothing to do with them. Funny thing was, I’m just seeing this movie for the first time. At the time, I was in high school and didn’t see it as a top priority being I still didn’t care for the original movie at the time. But now that I have finally seen this movie, it’s time for me to go ahead and give my thoughts on this sequel that I only remember truly reading about in one issue of Entertainment Weekly that like the original movie was a dud, having been badly-reviewed and only made $8 million.
I think it’s probably best to just see the movie as a loose sequel. I say this because it feels like this movie has very little to do with the 1989 original. In this movie, Charlie is back and now feeling like he wants to get out of Heaven for a while to return to Earth feeling like he’s missing something and jumps at the opportunity to retrieve Gabriel’s Horn. However, it feels very much like beyond the return of Charlie and Itchy, there’s almost nothing to make this film feel like a proper sequel. For starters, the original movie was set in 1939 New Orleans and this sequel sends Charlie and Itchy to San Francisco in the 1990s. I can accept they’d be capable of fitting in with the times being angels and all, but one thing that does not make sense is the fact Itchy just now arrived in Heaven and suddenly has to accompany Charlie to retrieve Gabriel’s Horn. So what does that mean, did Itchy live to be 60? Plus, what became of Anne-Marie? I know she was not included just to pay respects to Judith Barsi (she was tragically murdered by her father along with her mom before the original movie’s release) but you’d think she would deserve a passing reference or something. Not only that, but other characters like Killer and Flo, Carface’s subordinate and the Collie mom from the original movie, do not return either and are not mentioned. The only explanation is that Charles Nelson Reilly and Loni Anderson simply chose not to reprise their roles. It also doesn’t feel quite as mature as the original, being that Charlie seems to have Aesop Amnesia and forgotten that it’s important to put others’ feelings first but it adds nothing to Charlie’s story. Then there is also the fact that the dogs don’t truly seem like dogs but rather like humans in dogs’ bodies many times. Now sure it does still contain some nice messages, like how it tells kids that parents can love more than just one child and running away does not solve problems. It does maintain some ideas that the original movie had, but continuity is not its forte.
With the original movie, it had the master animator Don Bluth and his amazing artistic draftsmanship that was truly a sight to be seen. But because he had nothing to do with this movie, his absence is sore. Characters like Charlie and Itchy are still on-model for the most part despite the lower budget but they are about the only things consistent with the first movie. The humans and dogs alike now look a lot more cartoony and exaggerated rather than the more realistically-proportioned ones in the last movie. There’s also animation sequences where it doesn’t feel like the characters are truly flowing with the background, creating something of a chaotic feel. The movie also has musical numbers that feel like they were only done for the fact that first movie was a musical and this one had to be as well, plus the Disney Renaissance was just killing it because their movies did them so well. Probably the worst offender as I saw it was “On Easy Street”, where the images don’t always fit the tone. The other songs, like “It’s Too Heavenly Here” and “It Feels So Good to be Bad” are nothing noteworthy, but for reasons I will address, I didn’t mind “Count Me Out” or “I Will Always Be With You”.
Now… I think it’s time to address the characters. You know how in the last movie, the characters were something of a deal-breaker? Well, that’s even stronger here. I’ll start with Charlie. He has returned to do something good for another kid but without Don Bluth’s direction he’s a lot less charming than before. In fact, he’s probably more despicable this time in that he uses Annabelle’s errand to go back to Earth and at one point throws Gabriel’s Horn in a lobster trap before kicking it into the ocean to keep it safe! Plus I know that Burt Reynolds was preoccupied with movies like Citizen Ruth, Striptease and Mad Dog Time but it needs to be said: Charlie Sheen was not a good replacement as not only do they sound nothing alike but Charlie Sheen just playing himself makes him inconsistent with the first movie. Itchy, being the only character to still have his original voice actor, does little more than act as Charlie’s better half, which was only partly true of his character in the original movie. He does get a new running joke about him having short legs. That work? Okay, moving on. Annabelle, the whippet angel dog, I remember having at least some feminine flair to her but now just sounds like a whiny parrot. For the newer characters, I will say that David is the runaway kid that needs to understand that family is important and running away does not fix problems, I didn’t have problems with him, but it’s safe to say he is no Anne-Marie. Sasha, I will honestly admit that I liked as a character. She does have these ultra-feminine characteristics that would make Charlie fall for her and in all honesty she helps make Charlie more tolerable despite his inconsistences with his previous movie characterization. They honestly work nicely as a couple and the love ballad they share together I will admit I liked; maybe this is because I happen to really get into a good love duet. If I took nothing else from this movie I will take Sasha as a character. The movie’s villain, Red, is a feline-like Satanic-figure who’s pretty forgettable, but at least his voice actor was having a good time.
Now the way I see it, the worst character by a long shot was Carface. Do you remember how he was originally characterized to be a violent, dangerous crime lord who was very imposing whenever he was onscreen? Well that was completely jettisoned out the window as a result of Villain Decay and now he’s just a dumb, cowardly bumbler that kisses up to Red. This is just a total insult to his character as he now plays Ma-Mutt to Red being Mumm-Ra. Also, I understand that Vic Tayback was dead by the time of this movie’s release, but Ernest Borgnine, again, sounds nothing like his original voice and now is just supposed to be comedy relief. At least he had fun? Also, he seems to get himself a human butt, for the purpose of comedy. Again, the movie's worst character.
The original movie may not have been an immediate hit, but it did find a voice and achieved success. However this sequel was a dud and doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. In the end, I could say that All Dogs Go To Heaven 2 feels like it’s really supposed to be a made-for-TV movie which is supposed to help be the pilot for All Dogs Go To Heaven: the Series that for some reason found its way into theatres. I didn’t hate this movie as I did find redeemable qualities in it, but I would advise just to stick with the first movie or maybe take the series as a sidestory, because this sequel just is not worthy to bear the All Dogs Go To Heaven name.
All Dogs Go To Heaven 2 (1996) TreyVore rates it: D+
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