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Reviews
Toy Story 2 (1999)
Special comment
I am talking about the "dancing Barbies scene" which I believe was inspired by <i>Valley of the Dolls</i>. I just want to comment that this probably was the strongest "sex reference" in a Disney cartoon, not counting Jessica Rabbit's behavior. I mean, traditionally Disney characters never get sexually attracted at feminine bodies. On the other hand, it is debatable how those seven dwarves exactly felt about Snow White.
Of course I enjoyed it. After all, I remember finding Barbie dolls in friend's houses and taking the clothes off.
The rest of the movie was pretty good, including Buzz Lightyear's space hero dialogue which I've always enjoyed.
The Simpsons (1989)
Animated Satire at its finest!
It's hard to say something about The Simpsons that hasn't already been said but I'll try it. This show is truly enjoyable for various reasons. It has excellent humor, a large supporting cast, and a small milleu called Springfield of unknown location.
The show of course centers around an All-American blue-collar family who have a penchant for fun adventures. Homer is the usual patriarch who wants to be a good father but obviously isn't the smartest person in town. Marge is his loving wife who desperately needs a job (in my opinion), but she's okay. Bart is the adventurer and a budding comdian while his sister is the super-smart middle child who gives a cow a little too much (see "Lisa the Vegetarian" and "E-I-E-I-D'oh!"). Maggie is the third child but she doesn't count because she rarely does anything interesting.
Other interesting characters include the strongly Christian Ned Flanders, Comic Book Guy, Chief Wiggum, and Principal Seymour Skinner. I've noticed that most of the characters are male however but at least there's some ethnic diversity. Some of the jokes go may go over the younger viewers' heads but I think the writers do a very good job.
My personal favorite was "The Springfield Files", where in Mulder and Scully investigate Homer's claim of seeing an alien who appears only on Fridays. The alien actually turns out to be Mr. Burns but it was pretty funny.
Super Mario Bros. 2 (1988)
Not Mario in the strictest sense
The reason why this gameplay is so different from all the other Mario games is that it never was meant to be a Mario game. They didn't ship the Japanese version of SMB2 into the United States because people complained that it was too hard. Eventually they decided release a sequel in the United States but did it in a very cheap fashion. They took a totally different game that never was released in the US and altered the appearances of the characters and some of the objects so they could release it as a Super Mario game.
The game that was turned into SMB2 in the US was actually about a family who stepped into the world of a strange book to find the two missing younger children.
Toy Story (1995)
Great Animation, Great Characters
This movie probably was the best kids' movie I've ever seen in my life. Its animation was superb and Tim Allen was very funny as the voice of Buzz Lightyear, an action figure who really thinks he is the space hero he's supposed to be. The rest of the characters also had great things to say. "That's not flying, that's falling with style!" was an unforgettable line.
Gilligan's Island (1964)
Microcosm of American Society
The show was intended to be a microcosm of American society. Of course since it was still the early 1960's, all of them were white although it is forgivable. The main flaw however is that a group of seven people living together with the same goals is different then more then two hundred million people spread across a vast land area with much different dreams and objectives. In order for the castaways to function perfectly, they would have to treat the Skipper as a surrogate father, which is not something they seem to be good at. If the show developed realistically, major conflicts or relationships would develop but unfortunately since this was just a "silly sitcom" we never get to see this happen. Personally I still thank it is a funny show to a degree.
Futurama (1999)
A comic look at classic Sci-Fi
This show is great comedy based on classic science fiction from H.G. Wells to Larry Niven. Many of the elements are based on that of Flash Gordon-esque space operas from rocketships going on perilous missions to robots that are too humanlike.
What enhances the show is its animation, using futuristic computer graphics. It gives the show the feel of the science fiction movies you see in the theaters. It certainly looks different from the Tracey Ullman shorts which spawned the Simpsons.
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
It All Begins Here
This movie is a great beginning to the Star Wars saga. Here we view Anakin Skywalker (Darth Vader) as a young boy, Obi-Wan as a Jedi apprentice, and the state of the Galactic Republic prior to the Emperor's becoming unquestioned ruler. The events in this film ultimately will of course lead up to the Galactic Civil War, but probably only Yoda and some of the other Jedi have a clue about Anakin's future role.
Basically this story is about how they find young Anakin Skywalker and discover that the Sith have returned. The status of Anakin's childhood certainly must have affected his later life. People who grow up in slavery and are separated from their parents by strangers they barely know can become aggresive people in their adulthood. I thought the portrayal of his life on Tatooine was great!
My main complaint probably is that midi-chloridians, which are interesting in their own right, doesn't sound appropriate for a Lucas movie. Since when has he based an element of the Force on school biology?
The Late Great Planet Earth (1978)
So stupid its funny
They may call this a documentary but what I call it is something Hal Lindsey dreamed up and decided to write down as a book about the future. What makes it funny is how he is using the Bible as prophecy about nowadays. To me it sounds crazy to be using a book that was written 1,900 years ago to describe today's events. It's like someone in the year 2860 using Karl Marx's theories to explain current events that are going on.
Seriously I do not doubt the world is coming to an end but it certainly won't be in the near future. Besides, Jesus implied to his disciples that world would end when some of them were still alive. That didn't happen, did it?