abeckerben Reviews

Camelot (I) (1998 Video)

An interesting take on the stories of Camelot.

[6/10 · 29 December 2021]

First, I want to make it clear that I rank this a seven from the perspective of all animated films not just the really good famous ones from Disney and other large companies.

Now that that is over with, I gave it a 6 borderline seven, because its story was unique, and the relationships were interesting. The animation and songs were mostly tolerable though nothing super special.

Compared to other Camelot animated movies like Quest for Camelot and the Sword in the Stone it had more elements from the original stories, one of the best explanations for Guinivere and Lancelot's affair, and more "adult" themes.

That said King Arthur's story arc was very predictable, the animation is the worst of the movies I have mentioned, and the songs are also mostly worse than the competition from the other movies. Therefore, I think that for fellow fans of King Arthur and medieval themed stories this competes well enough to be something to watch, but it is not outstanding enough to be for just anyone. A solid niche pick for when I am bored of big-name fairy-tale movies.

The Spectacular Spider-Man (2008–2009)

The characterization and story building really missed it for me.

[6/10 · 8 May 2021]

It is a fun and unique take on Spider-Man. It is almost a bit like a villain of the week type of style, which is ok, but with the big picture they try to paint I could use just a couple less villains with a bit more of an explanation of their villainy. A moment of rage or pain should not turn an essentially descent character into a hardened criminal. My biggest criticism it that Peter Parker and Harry Osborn are supposed to be nice people, but they end up being the biggest jerks in the show. The worst part about it is that Peter is stagnant or even becoming worse during the show. It does make a little bit of sense later in the show for Harry, but I still don't like him. I just want to see a non-idiotic jerk Peter Parker. He has potential. People like flawed and busy characters, but he doesn't fix or learn from his mistakes. The difficulty of his situation and his ability to be a jerk also grow over time, which doesn't make sense when Spider-Man seems to slowly become a better person and hero. I like Spider-Man, but this version isn't the one for me.