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Ponderosa_Sky
Reviews
Incredibles 2 (2018)
Lacks depth
I don't think this sequel is bad, it's a fine watch. An entertaining superhero movie for the family, but it lacks that depth that keeps people coming back to the first movie.
I recently watched the first and second Incredibles. The first has such intensity and great pacing. Many layered thematically and presentably. Moments are allowed to be subtle, stakes are high. I mean, the plane scene get me every time. But this film lacks that depth. It takes the characters for what they are on the surface and runs with that.
It's a shame, because I know it's this way because of corporate pushing. First they struggle with production, and then Disney cuts off a year of their production time, so they have to throw something together.
In short: characters are reset, villain is a shallow bait and switch, characters are boiled down to their surface level traits, new hero designs are so off and underutilized, villain's motivation and plan is thoughtless, a bit too much Jack-Jack, lacking stakes, missing the thoughtful moments, and overall a shallow follow-up.
It's not bad, just lacking, and forgettable. The visuals are nice, I almost feel like they went a little to exaggeration. Akin to pumping up the color on a photo to make it 'look better', but still, credit to the animators. If you remove its tie to the first movie, it would make a decent superhero movie, but that's it. It sadly cannot live up to the first movie, and corporate is to blame.
Avatar: The Last Airbender (2024)
Faded xerox of a beautiful painting
This series is fine. If you've never seen the original, of course you'd find the world intriguing. But, that's because it's taken from an original story with so much thought and passion put into it.
If you enjoyed this version, please try the original. The only reason why anyone would defend this one so much is because they don't like animation. This version is objectively mid. Just taking a great series, and drying it out, cutting out good parts, and reducing it to a lesser state.
Animation is already stigmatized enough as is. I guarantee, if the original series was live action, people would say this new version is bad. But soo many people see animation as "baby stuff" or "boring simple flat little cartoons", so they won't even give it a shot.
Or they obsess over the actors and follow them on all their social media, because face actors get so much love than voice actors.
I could barley get through it. So much exposition! Just telling us everything we need to feel and everything happening on-screen. Poor Katara is reduced to a smiling and nodding girl trope, Sokka lacks an arc, Aang is disconnected and flat. They have more time to add to the plot, yet they instead cut a bunch of stuff and rush them along.
The live action format greatly limits it. "Can't have too many shots of Appa, or too many fight scenes, gotta cut them. Think of our budget!! Let's spend more in order to have less!"
It just feels sad and bland in comparison. Sure, it's better than the movie, what a low bar. It's not better than the OG on an objective level. You can enjoy this subjectively, but do not claim it's well made. If you do, I know you cannot understand the quality of the things you consume.
Like hey, I enjoy a mix of great, good, mid, and bad things, but I distinguish between my subjective and objective tastes.
All in all, I thought it was mediocre. Some may love it, and that's ok, but I hope they understand it isn't well made. And I implore them to try the original animated series, if they love this show, there isn't much reason they wouldn't at least like the original. (unless your one of those live action snobs)
This is another to add to the pile of "unnecessary live action remakes made to make money by making a worse version of something great"
Zuko: "That...wasn't a good play."
Aang: "I'll say."
Katara: "No Kidding."
Suki: "Horrible."
Toph: "You said it."
Sokka: "But the effects were decent."
Thelma the Unicorn (2024)
Not bad
I thought this movie was fun. It's predictable, but I thought some of the jokes were funny. The overall message is nice. Just be yourself and do what's true to you.
Nothing was too annoying, although I think the animation can get a little too exaggerated. What I can describe as "melty" or "bloated", it can border on painful or gross to watch at those moments, but that goes for the new trends in 3D animated kids movies. Yet the animation is nice, looks better than I was expecting.
There was a frequent joke character that was a "furry/therian" type character that I thought was poor taste. In a movie full of talking animals that are the same as people in their world, having a "ha ha, look at the weird gross therian guy" felt mean and unaware.
Some jokes were funny and referenced modern things in a decent way. The character designs for most characters were decent, and I like seeing a stubby pony and donkey protagonist.
I do feel like these stories almost need another angle at being yourself. Every character that presents a different way has another side that was their base self that is "true", suggesting anything beyond your normal self is fake. But people can be more dress up or change greatly, while still being true to themselves, if not more so.
Overall, I think kids will enjoy it and adults will find it a slightly entertaining background movie. Sure better than 95% of Illumination movies.
Pantheon (2022)
Great philisophical sci-fi, be ready to feel existential
Pantheon is a very fascinating series. It's a story highly involved with humanity and technology. Using a modern world with allegory to religious themes, which lets a non-religious type like me bridge the gap of understanding to that world. It makes it seem like it's not so different. Second season especially ramps up the narrative.
The series proposes the question what is a soul? What makes us human? Is human the only way to be? How does time affect our understanding and our state of being? You wouldn't think this is where the series goes after the first few episodes, but it goes much further.
It's a fascinating watch and I recommend it, only if you feel ready to dig deep into existential themes. It wasn't quite the right series for me, but if you're into technology, philosophy, and are in the correct headspace, I'd definitely give this a watch. I myself need to watch some pallet cleansers after watching Pantheon, even as a person that enjoys those philosophical quandaries.
Bai She 2: Qing She jie qi (2021)
Visually & Conceptually Interesting
A while back I had watched White Snake 1, and found it lackluster. Just another forbidden romance where the main characters are basic nice and sweet.
White Snake 2: Green Snake is much more interesting, but sometimes held back by continuing the last movie. They expect you to take seriously, what the first movie presented lightheartedly. The first 30-40 minutes are slow, introduce unnecessary characters and repetitive scenes. But after that, it picks up track.
I find the Verta as a more engaging protagonist than Blanca. Although the English dub leaves some to be desired. It's not bad, but it's limited by how many words you can fit in the set animation. There was a lot of repeating what we already saw or heard, especially at the end of the film.
The real draw is the visuals and ideas. Coming from an Americans point of view, a lot of the ideas, creatures and imagery was unique. I like the different demon designs. The limbo world with its rules and mythos made it a fun mystery.
Still though, characters are weak. I feel like 40 minutes of action could've been replaced with more character moments to establish them all strongly. This movie was more focused on spectacle than plot, yet the ending heavily relies on your investment in the characters, and I wasn't feeling it.
Watch this movie in the background for cool visuals and a few cute monster girls. They tend to handle the kitsune quite well. But don't expect a good plot/characters.
Peter Pan & Wendy (2023)
Watch Universal's (2003) Peter Pan instead
Overall problem with this movie: it's very bland.
The movie begins dark and slow, yet speeds quickly past character set-up. I expected when they enter neverland, for it to become lively and have a bit more color. Yet, it stayed desaturated all the way through.
This didn't feel adventurous or magical. Too much meandering in unimportant moments, and not using the time towards the characters. They should've kept the action quick, and the character moments slow.
Peter's character in this movie is disappointing. He's supposed to represent a forever child, wild and wily. Immature and often uncaring my ignorance. But this Peter feels like a slightly rowdy British child, maybe from a more fraught side of town then the Darlings. Compare him to Universal's Peter Pan, and it's night and day. That Peter pan was energetic and always ready for the next adventure. This one is mildly perturbed, as if at any moment, may ask if he is following correct manners or not. What, did he just get to neverland as of a week ago?
Peter Pan (2003) is still my go to live action Peter Pan story to watch. It isn't perfect, but it's so much more fun. They take enough time to introduce the Darlings, and focus closely on narrative details. Like how Wendy has "a kiss" on her cheek, representing her maturing and her parents want for her future.
Wendy is shown to love engaging in wild games with her brothers. She twists princess stories into sword fighting tales.
And the set design, oh, it makes me miss practical set work. I'll always remember the image of Hook poisoning Peter's medicine. Then the lost boys house is lively and full of energy. They boys flip in from all sorts of shoots and hatches and go running about the tree.
Disney's version just has a dreary boring castle that they sit stagnant in. Devoid of any furniture or decorations. Once again, did they all just arrive in neverland? The whole cast lacks any energy, and so do the visuals.
Who knew a 20 year old film offers much more quality than a modern day massive corporation's iteration.
I don't understand what audience Disney is playing for. The movie is too dull too engage children, and too shallow to intrigue adults.
There were some ideas that they could go with that could make an interesting Peter Pan story, but they just dip their toes into it and move on.
I'm neutral to the casting. I thought it was nice it was more diverse in different ways. Although, they did nothing much with it. They fixed the obviously awful Native American representation from the original, but they played it too safe. Tiger Lily didn't end up doing much, and they barley touched on her sibling-like relationship with Peter.
In conclusion, if you want to watch a live action Peter Pan, just watch Universal's (2003) Peter Pan instead. Kid's will like it, and adults will have a good time. At least that one was having fun.