WeirdGirl92 Reviews

The Last: Naruto the Movie (2014)

As a Naruto fan, I liked this movie

[8/10 · 7 April 2015]

Originally, I wasn't going to post a review for this movie until after I'd have seen an HD subbed version (since the last subbed version I watched was only a cam-rip in very poor quality), but I just didn't have enough patience to wait another couple months. So now, I'm going to explain why I think this movie is underrated and should be looked at from a non- biased perspective.

First, there's the half that says this movie was "falsely advertised" and "tricked" its audience into seeing a NaruHina love story. This is obviously not true, because not only was there footage and images of Japanese NaruHina-focused advertisements leaked online before the movie came out, but the movie's tag line literally is: "The last story of Uzumaki Naruto, is love..."

In fact, that's another thing most (western) audiences didn't get: how Naruto fell in love with Hinata. Now, I am fully aware that there were one or two NaruHina flashbacks in the movie that didn't exactly happen in the manga. However, those that DID happen in the manga were still heavily emphasized. One of the most common complaints I've seen regarding this movie, is: "Naruto had to love with Hinata through a genjutsu!" Obviously, those people have missed the point of that scene entirely, because the genjutsu scene with all of those NaruHina flashbacks were meant to remind Naruto (and the audience) that his feelings for Hinata were there the whole time.

Then of course, you have the fans who insist that Naruto was "out of character" in this movie, because he somehow "threw away his feelings for Sakura." As someone who was an avid reader of the manga, I can tell you right now that this was NOT the case!

Naruto never really "loved" Sakura. His feelings for her were nothing more than a crush. Now, you could argue that Sakura's feelings for Sasuke were just a crush as well, and they were...AT FIRST, but when she slowly began to learn the reasons behind Sasuke's goals, her crush developed into genuine love and concern for his well being. With that said, we never actually see Naruto's crush on Sakura develop into genuine love, because not only was he more concerned about winning the Chuunin Exams (and beating Neji), but once Sasuke had left Konoha to go with Orochimaru, he finally learned that Sakura really does love Sasuke. That was the moment when Naruto's crush had faded, and if that wasn't enough, they confirmed this AGAIN in chapter 469.

Anyway, back to the movie. While I did enjoy most of it, there were some things in there that I definitely would've changed. Sasuke, for example, should have gotten more screen time, as well as Kiba and Shino (since they were the closest friends Hinata had in the manga). I also would have given the movie more action, and less emphasis on the red scarf (though I did appreciate it's symbolic role as a red string of fate for Naruto and Hinata).

Overall, if you ship NaruSaku or SasuNaru, or just don't care for "romantic" action movies at all, then you might as well skip this one. However, if you're like me, and weren't really bothered by the pairings at the end of the manga, then try giving this movie at least one viewing.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)

This personally insults me as a Transformers fan!

[3/10 · 25 August 2013]

Go see it, they said. It's the best of the trilogy, they said...Why did I even watch this movie? I really wanted to like it, honest! Okay, so 'Transformers' wasn't a great film, but it was watchable, then came 'Revenge of the Fallen', which was awful, and now there's this movie and it's almost as bad (if not worse) than "Revenge of the Fallen". Why? Because truth be told, it takes all the worst aspects of the first 2 movies, and molds them all together into one 2 1/2 hour pile of crap. That's how bad this film is.

Now with this movie, there's both good news, and bad news.

• Good News: Skids and Mudflap are out of the picture.

• Bad News: We now have to settle for Wheelie, and his new "sidekick" Brainy.

• Good News: No more racist Hispanic stereotypes.

• Bad News: There's a Ferari Transformer with a really bad Italian accent, a Russian butler who beats up women for no reason, and this really annoying Asain nerd who *thankfully* doesn't last very long in the movie.

• Good News: SHOCKWAVE'S IN THIS MOVIE! :D

• Bad News: He only has 2 lines of dialog in the whole thing.

• Good News: Megatron is no longer playing 2nd Banana to The Fallen.

• Bad News: He's now playing 2nd Banana to Sentinal Prime.

And of course, you'll get the obnoxious lens flares, pointless shaky cam, pointless slow- motion, and Rosie Huntington-Whitely who, quite frankly, can't act her way out of a paper bag.

Here was Michael Bay's chance to redeem himself from 'Revenge of the Fallen', and he failed. He failed MISERABLY! So, here's a piece of advice: If you were disappointed with 'Revenge of the Fallen', AVOID THIS MOVIE LIKE THE PLAGUE.

My Overall Rating-- 3 out of 10, and that's being generous.

How to Train Your Dragon (2010)

The Best Dreamworks film since 'The Prince of Egypt'

[10/10 · 24 August 2013]

Ever since 'Shrek', Dreamworks have been giving us the standard "hip, pop-culture savvy" type of animated film. It was fun for a while, but the trope got really old after a couple of years. It wasn't until 'Kung-Fu Panda' did we get an almost-serious animated Dreamworks film again, then came a little film called 'How to Train Your Dragon'. When I first saw the teaser for this film, I just rolled my eyes and said, "Pfft, no one will take this film seriously, the dragons look too silly and the Vikings seem boring". Guess what? I was dragged to the theater with my mother and grandmother to see this thing, and I didn't like it........I LOVED IT!!!

This is the kind of movie I've been waiting for! A refreshing callback to the classic fantasy films, namely 'E.T.', 'The NeverEnding Story', and 'The Iron Giant'. It's got everything I love about those films: drama, tasteful humor, intense action scenes, a sympathetic main character, and above all...HEART! It's not the most original fantasy film, but once you get sucked into the environment, and attached to the characters, you'll hardly notice.

Toothless is adorable, Stoic and Gobber are pretty cool, and the Rookie Vikings are very funny. Now, Hiccup and Astrid are very basic when it comes to characters. Astrid is the typical tomboy love interest, and Hiccup is your standard rookie/underdog hero, but once you learn their backgrounds and their motives, you'll start to enjoy them. So, while it might be a generic story, it's still a very beautiful, touching, thrilling adventure that I DID NOT regret seeing in theaters (and the 3-D was totally worth it)!

My Overall Score-- A solid 10!

Naruto (2002–2007)

One of the most influential anime of my youth

[10/10 · 23 August 2013]

There was only a small amount of anime shows I watched as a kid, but by the time I got to my teen years, I grew more fascinated with young adult anime. Though when I first heard about 'Naruto' on Cartoon Network, I thought it looked like one of the dumbest things on television, but then, something very interesting happened. It was Fall 2006, I was 14, and my 9-year old cousin made me watch one of the "newer" episodes with him (it was the one were Sasuke had to fight The Sand Siblings in the forest). When I started watching it, something in my mind just clicked. So I gave the show another chance, and started watching reruns leading up to that episode. Once I did, BOOM! It ultimately became one of my favorite shows of all time.

Another thing that makes 'Naruto' so great for me, are its characters. Naruto himself is a good example, because he's the ultimate underdog. He's stupid, he's clumsy, he always gets into trouble, and gets shunned by his classmates; but he tries so hard to change himself, and that's what I really love about this character! His back story is very interesting too, but I won't spoil it, because it's a huge plot point in the show. The supporting characters are great too (my favorites are: Itachi, Gaara, Shikamaru, and Hinata), though some of them may start out to be incredibly annoying (like Sakura, Neji, and Sasuke), but once you get further into the series, they'll eventually grow on you.

My Score-- A solid 10!

Transformers: Animated (2007–2009)

NEVER judge a show by it's art style!

[9/10 · 15 June 2013]

As a fellow Transformers fan, there's a little confession I would like to make: I was almost a Bayformers fan!!! But don't worry, even though I thought the first movie was good, it still wasn't enough to make me a genuine "Trans-Fan". My best friend knew much more about Transformers than I did, as she grew up with the franchise, so I've mostly learned about the main premise of the story from her.

Anyway, by 2007 I knew almost nothing about G1, Beast Wars, or the Unicorn Trilogy (though, from what I've heard, I didn't miss anything from the Unicron Trilogy). Then it just so happened, on Cartoon Network, I came across a TV promo for this new show simply titled, "Transformers: Animated". The moment I first saw their new designs I thought, "It would never catch on, the proportions of the robots look all wrong!" However, when the show finally aired, I took a look at one episode. My first thought was, "Well, the story seems pretty basic, but this Starscream guy looks like a cool character (by the way, this was the show that made me a Starscream fan-girl).

A couple years later, I soon forgot about it, until my friend show me the Allspark Allminac (which is a book that has information about everything from the show). Eventually, my interest for the show lit up again, and I've watched reruns of it on The Hub, then I realized everything I first thought about this show was wrong. The main Autobots, for example, are not the Superman archetypes you see in the original show, in fact Optimus here isn't even leader of the Autobots, but the leader of a small group of rookies. I really like this change, because not only does it make it a lot easier to root for them, but it also makes them more realistic and sympathetic.

Now the main human character, Sari, is another interesting aspect of this show. At first, she appears to be an annoying tag-a-long that never does what she's told. This of course, was a very common trope in Transformers since G1, but instead of just being a tag-a-long, Sari actually has a story arc in this series! She's also not as useless as most Trans-Fans like to believe, she actually helps the Autobots multiple times. Her father, Prof. Isaac Sumdac, is one of the "weaker" characters in the show. He's way too trusting towards Megatron in Season 1, and is clearly irresponsible letting his 8-year old daughter handle the AllSpark Key, but he's not too annoying and you'll eventually grow to love him.

I was also impressed by how the Decepticons were portrayed. Megatron doesn't get a very big role in the first season, but he is BY FAR superior to the clumsy G1 version, and the bland TF: Prime version of the character. The other Cons are also very well written. Blackarachnia and Waspinator both have tragic and interesting back stories, Blitzwing the triple-changer is given a split-personality, and Shockwave is given a more prominent role in Season 3.

It just makes me said that they were never able to release a Season 4 before it got canceled! This is a vastly underrated show, that has more emotional depth than "Transformers Prime", and much more character development than G1.

My Overall rating-- 8.5 out of 10!