Reviews

My original review of this movie was ridiculously bad. I don't know if that's the case with all of my older reviews, but after rewatching the movie and reading that pathetic review, I felt it needed a re-review. First I will point out what everyone else has: the story of this movie is not original at all and quite a bit is taken from A New Hope. The most obvious is the reuse Death Star plot. I am absolutely sick and tired of the same plot of "some evil guys built a giant planet destroying space station." There is so much more you can do with this series than that story or character wise. However, I will defend this a little bit. Kylo Ren, who I'm assuming came up with the idea to build Death Star three, worships the very ground Darth Vader walked on. So, it wouldn't be the only time Kylo Ren copied Vader in some way in the movie. Outside of the Death Star three plot, there are enough different elements for me to keep it interesting and I really love the new characters. Rey was significantly different from Luke and NOT a mary sue in my opinion. Yes, she is really powerful with the force when she uses it and but she is still a well defined character. Her sharp tongue and no nonsense personality make her entertaining me. Plus, unlike mary sues, she is flawed. Her most glaring flaw is that she's living in the past and refuses to move on and accept the inevitable which I personally found very relatable and engaging. Honestly, I think she is a better character than Luke in A New Hope. First of all, Daisy Ridley nails that performance while Mark Hamill always seemed a little bland and kind of whiny to me although he did get better in the later movies. Second, Rey has a more interesting backstory. I mean, she lost her parents at a young age and grew up completely alone for most of her life as a scavenger on Jakku! Luke was just kind of brought to Tatooine and raised by his extended family before leaving with Obi Wan. Third, as I've already mentioned, Rey is very relatable while Luke never really interested or appealed to me. Of the other new characters, Finn and Kylo Ren are the most interesting. I'll quickly discuss Finn first. As I mentioned earlier, having a stormtrooper as a main character is one of the few different things story-wise from A New Hope and it makes Finn a very unique character. He's not however, a dashing hero and more of a coward. I know some people hated that but I think it makes sense given his backstory and adds to his uniqueness more. Now onto Kylo Ren. When I first saw this movie in theaters, I hated this character purely because he killed Han Solo, who's not only my favorite character from the original trilogy, but also his own father. However, after some rewatches, I slowly began to find this character intriguing. When he took of his mask (physically and metaphorically), all I saw was a lost soul who doesn't know his place in the world, not unlike Rey. During the scene where he interrogates Rey especially, a very different side of this character shines through. In nearly every other scene in the film, Kylo Ren is cold, ruthless, demanding and honestly terrifying when angered. Yet in that scene with Rey, he was very civil and gentle with her and never really physically or emotionally harmed her. Even when she clearly angered him by revealing his fear of never being as strong as Darth Vader, he didn't hurt her, at least not intentionally and I don't think he wanted to. This side of his character really fascinated me because we rarely see it. Just that scene and maybe his scene with Han Solo. You know, before he kills him that is. On the topic of that scene, it still makes me cry. That will never change but I realized hating Kylo Ren purely for that was kind of shallow. Especially since from I observed, Kylo Ren found no pleasure or strength in killing his father. He just looked like he was about to cry throughout that whole scene. He's a very conflicted character is my point and it's not cringe worthy at all unlike Anakin. It doesn't justify his actions at all but it does make him interesting and a lot of that comes from Adam Driver's great acting. In fact, the acting in this movie in general is seamless to me. Not once did the acting seem awkward or flat which was one of my problems with A New Hope. Actually, that's not even the only thing this movie does better than A New Hope. I also thought the action and cinematography was a lot more intense and engaging. The action scenes in this movie involve a lot of movement, varied settings, and varied forms of attack unlike A New Hope where two old men tap lightsticks and a group of people shoot down crappy soldiers in tight hallways. Not to say that A New Hope doesn't have good action but The Force Awakens is superior to it in that respect. In conclusion, the Force Awakens did reuse an overdone plotpoint in Star Wars but is overall entertaining and engaging enough for me to enjoy it.

Wanna know something funny about this movie? The Phantom-like character in this movie is called Song and the sort of Raoul character is called Sung and the Phantom teaches Raoul how to sing. So Song teaches Sung how to sing. Yeah, I know these are Chinese names but come on, that had to be more than a coincidence. Anyways, onto the movie. Since I do not speak Chinese, I watched a subtitled version that actually had better subtitles! No walksn foxes here! So I didn't have a problem in knowing what was going on although some of the subtitles seemed a little weird, that was most likely a language thing. With so many changes to the Phantom of the Opera story, this is very loosely a version but it does feature a disfigured musician that falls in love with a singer so I guess that's all you really need. Overall, this was an enjoyable flick but it does have a few issues. First off, the first half of this movie is very slow and honestly bored me a little. However, once Song is scarred by acid, the movie really picks up and becomes a fun watch. Song's makeup is also very well done and is certainly the best of the acid disfigurements. Plus, the scene where he sees his recently disfigured face is probably the most poignant scene in the whole movie and makes the whole "deformity is an injury" thing I'm not very fond of, much more tolerable. I also think that Song and Xia have a very genuine relationship and I liked how he was willing to sacrifice his happiness for hers. Though at the same time, that is done out of his own insecurities about his face which is a bit odd to me. They were so obviously in love, I don't think Xia would reject him because of something as shallow as his face. Oh well, maybe that's touched on in the sequel, which I haven't seen yet. Aside from that plot-hole, the story itself is pretty good and the characters are endearing enough. However, and this might just be a culture thing, I don't really get why it's considered the first Chinese horror film when it really doesn't seem to be scary or even remotely creepy. It seemed like more of a romance and drama film than horror.

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. If you asked me to describe this film I would say that it's a crappy fan film of the Robert Englund version of Phantom of the Opera done by a middle school student with no idea how to use editing software, or their brain, and even that would be too generous. This film was originally intended to be a sequel to that version of Phantom of the Opera, and even has Robert Englund in it, until it was rewritten into whatever this mess is. First off, the story is a mess. I had no idea what was going on throughout the movie because most of it is just bizarre imagery and plot points strung together. Plus, what I could follow, was just point for point the Robert Englund film except crappier. That's another thing. This movie had to have been done on a lot budget. Everything is just so unprofessional. The sets, the acting, the editing, GOOD LORD THE EDITING! Some scenes are shot so confusingly or so terribly that you can't tell what's going on. Like in one scene where a character is getting MURDERED, it keeps cutting back to the main character doing some weird dance. This kills all the tension because the character's death is being shot poorly and it keeps cutting to something that kills the tension. The 2004 version of Phantom of the Opera did something similar but the cuts were quicker, cleaner, you could tell what was going on, and it had more emphasis on the guy getting murdered! There are a lot of scenes like that too and it's too the point where you can't possibly know what's going on. Moving on to the characters, I hate them. Almost every single one. The main character, Jessica, was honestly really obnoxious but oh my lord is her "boyfriend" so much worse! Honestly, I forgot the guy's name so sorry for that but I still have to rant about him. He is a creep! One of the first things he says to Jessica, who he has just met by the way, is "Wanna get wet with me?" What the hell?! Yet Jessica still kisses him and later has sex with him! I was honestly quite happy when he died. As for the other characters, I liked Alexander but that's because it's Robert Englund and he plays this character pretty much identically to how he played the Phantom. However, outside of some of the only good acting in this film, he doesn't appear enough to save this film. There was another character I liked and her name was Claudine. She was really nice and friendly and she had a cute french accent. She kind of reminded me of Christine because of that and her curly brown hair. However, she only lasts for maybe twenty minutes. I was pretty upset when she died though so at least that counts for something. As for the other characters, I don't know their names, don't remember anything about them except that most of them died and I didn't care. The same can be said for the romance actually. Okay, Jessica and Alexander interact a bit but most of it is him threatening her and I already mentioned Jessica and creeper. Honestly, the only thing about this movie I enjoyed aside from Claudina and Alexander were that sometimes, it was so bad it was funny but that was very rare. This movie is just overall awful.

Have you ever heard of a movie where the title character him/herself is the weakest part of the film? Well, I haven't until I came across this version of Phantom of the Opera. However, before I get to that, let's talk about some good things. I really liked how the story was handled. I really like the mystery aspect of this film. Even though it was easy to put two and two together, it was really good and interesting build up to a really cool flashback scene towards the end of the film. I was also quite fond of the character Harry, who is basically the Raoul character of the story. While I think he could've used some flaws to make him more relatable, this version of the character really does him justice. He actually listens to Christine, he's always there for her, he does proactive things to help her and is just a really sweet guy. Even though he and Christine didn't know each other very long, I thought their romance was really believable, cute and sweet. They aren't the most fascinating characters but they have a believable relationship and were enough to keep me invested in them and the story. Now onto the main flaw with the movie: the Phantom himself. Now I won't say that everything about this character is bad. I actually quite liked his backstory, even if it was a bit too similar to the forties film, and how they handled revealing it. However, the character himself is extremely lacking. First off, his obsession with Christine comes completely out of nowhere. He saw her perform once and then all of a sudden starts stalking her and kidnaps her at one point. It's extremely rushed. Also, the Phantom does something completely unforgivable in my eyes, which I will spoil so navigate away if you don't want that. While the Phantom is forcing Christine to sing for him in his lair, she stops singing for a moment, thinking she can't do it and the Phantom slaps her across the face! I'm not joking, he really does that at the time mark 56:29 of the movie! Yes, the Phantom does many terrible things in every adaptation but that just crosses the line way too far. You know what's odd though? The Phantom and Christine don't have any sort of romantic feelings for each other in this version, which at first glance wasn't a very big loss for me since I usually hate that couple anyways. However, after watching the ending, I realized it actually was a big loss because the Phantom not only sacrifices his life to save hers but she cries at his death. I'm sorry but the only thing between these two was that he stalked her, forced her to do something she clearly didn't want to do and hit her when she didn't until Harry came along and told him to knock it off. If you wanted The Phantom's death to impact Christine, we should've seen what happened between the Phantom and Christine after the Phantom agreed to train her less harshly. I'll admit, the way his death scene was executed did draw a little emotion from me but that scene and the whole end of the movie in general was too rushed for the emotion to build and have any meaning. Overall, this is a good movie but not really for the Phantom himself.

It's because of this version that I now know why the Phantom's disfigurement being an injury annoys me so much: because it's more painful and less ugly. In this version, Erik Destler made a pact with the devil so people would love him for his music. In return, the devil mutilated Erik's face. So the Phantom's "mask" in this version is the flesh of his many victims sewn onto his face. Yeah, if you couldn't tell from that description, this is a very violent and gory version of the story, more of a slasher film than a timeless tale of romance and horror. However, it's actually done really well. The Phantom of the Opera story surprisingly works very well as a slasher film, and I'm not even someone who likes violence. Because of the slasher film elements and Robert Englund's acting, this is actually a really great horror film. You can really feel the fear and tension in every scene, even those without violence. The visuals are also very convincing, and help the horror element. I already mentioned the Phantom's very graphic mask but the kill count in this film is also high and the deaths themselves are very gory. This film should definitely not be seen by children or younger teens, as it will likely give them nightmares. The music is also very well done. Not the songs, which are pretty forgettable but nice on the ears. I mean the background music, which fits every scene and adds tension to the scarier scenes. Speaking of scarier scenes, the ending can either be seen as ridiculous and nonsensical or insanely awesome and creepy. I am more of the latter option. Without spoiling anything, I feel the quote at the beginning of the movie is enough to excuse and even explain what that was all about. In reality though, the ending was probably put in because the movie was too short and was tacked on last minute along with the quote to try to explain it. Take it how you will I suppose. Since this is a horror film, the characters are fairly standard and do well at fulfilling their roles but aren't that interesting. So there isn't much to talk about character-wise that I haven't already mentioned. As great as this movie is though, I do feel that a few things in the movie are stolen from the Broadway, since this did come out only a few years after it and is obviously banking on it's popularity. For example, the whole "Christine's father sent the angel to Christine" plot-thread is used here and it's done really badly. Plus, the Phantom's outfit at the Masquerade is far too similar to the one in the Broadway for it not be a ripoff. When it's not stealing from Andrew Lloyd Webber, this movie is really great, if maybe a little too far from the source material. I recommend this to die- hard Phantom fans like myself or fans of the slasher sub-genre or at least of horror. For everyone else though, it can be a hard watch.

Honestly, I don't like it when the Phantom's disfigurement is an injury. For some reason, it just bothers me but it's actually done really well in this movie. This movie's version of the Phantom's origin story i actually unique and interesting. I like how the Phantom, or as they call him in this version, Enrique Claudin, starts off as an every man. I will admit him becoming the Phantom might have been a bit rushed but it felt natural enough because of Claude Rain's fantastic acting. Speaking of Claude Rains, he is very gentle but not quite in the same way as Charles Dance. On the topic of actors, I also think Susanna Foster did a fantastic job portraying Christine. The other actors do a decent job too but it's really the main actors who stand out the most. Fun fact about this film, they reused to Opera House set in the Lon Chaney silent film for this film, which might be seen as lazy to some but I think it's kind of cool. It was nice seeing that cool set in color I guess. This movie is also really funny. I mentioned in my review of the David Staller movie that movie would have been better if the comedy was funny. This is that movie done right. Christine has three guys after her in this versions, Raoul, a new character named Anatole and of course the Phantom. The scenes with Raoul and Anatole fighting over Christine's attention/affection is actually very funny, charming and full of character. I also love how it is resolved, which I will spoil so navigate away now if you haven't seen this film. At the end of the movie, Christine is invited to dinner by both Raoul and Anatole but instead of choosing one of them, she rejects both of them and goes out to greet her fans. Raoul and Anatole are completely fine with it and the two of them go to dinner together. So not only is the love triangle resolved in a non-cliché way but this movie also has a legitimate gay moment that I can get behind. And this movie was release in the forties, might I add! Speaking of the ending, yes I did tear up a bit after the Phantom's supposed death and the sight of the mask and violin. However, as good as this movie is, there are some issues I'd like to address. First of all, the Phantom's disfigurement in this movie is what people who don't like the 2004 movie think his disfigurement looks like in that movie. I mean come on, the deformity is basically just a small burn on one of his cheeks! My other issue with the film is that the chandelier crash scene takes FOREVER! I didn't count, but it must have taken like five minutes for the Phantom to cut the thing and make it fall. Those are probably the two things that the silent film did better but in everything else, I believe that this film was better than that one.

This is definitely the most underrated and unique version of Phantom of the Opera I've seen yet! Charles Dance's portrayal as the Phantom is very gentle and kind but debatably more mentally unstable than any other versions of the character. A lot of new plot points and characters were also added. I'll state a few less spoilery ones here: there is only one manager and he and Carlotta are married, there is no Raoul in this version, instead his brother, Philippe is used as Christine's love interest, and the Phantom's unmasked face is never seen by the audience. So as you can tell, the story is very unique, however it's also a bit slow. The entire first part is almost entirely exposition and character development, not that there's anything wrong with any of that, but the story really doesn't get started until the end of part one. So yeah, in my personal opinion, the pacing could be a bit better but it's not awful and both parts are still very engaging. However, my main problem doesn't lie with the pacing, rather the editing. Since this was made for TV, I can assume it had a fairly small budget so take this next bit with a grain of salt. The way this is cut and edited, is honestly quite confusing and weird. One second, it will be focusing on one scene and then the next it cuts to another character in a completely different setting for about five second and then do the same thing again and again for a whole scene. It was very distracting. However, there are a lot of things to still enjoy aside from Charles Dance's fantastic portrayal and how unique the story is. I also must give credit to the romance in this movie. First of all, this version shows Christine and Phillipe's childhood friendship, which makes their romance all the more believable. Well okay, Philippe was a bit shallow at first but he soon became a much more likable character who I feel truly loved Christine. I will also admit that this is one of the only versions where I actually felt that Christine truly loved the Phantom and wanted to be with him because they actually take time out of the story to have the two interact with each other and thus learn more about each other and eventually fall in love. Despite all that though, they do still make the Phantom, well, the Phantom! So that gives true weight to the decision Christine makes, even though most of us who know Phantom of the Opera know who she's going to chose. Another thing I'd like to address is the fact that this is the only Phantom of the Opera movie to date to be filmed on location in Paris, France. That's kind of sad for the other versions but very admirable for this one. I also love the musical style. It was a nice call having classic opera music. I also have to admit that I got really emotional at the end of part two to the point where tears were shed. I won't spoil what happens but when I first watched it, this was the first version I'd seen where that happened so it not only surprised me, but greatly saddened me. Overall, everything about this version is unique and I appreciate it a lot for that. It has some problems but none that keep it from being great.

Before you read the rest of this review, it's important to note that at the time of writing this, this is the only silent film I have seen, so I'm not very experienced with them. Okay, now that's out of the way, time to review. For the earliest surviving adaptation of the book, this is pretty dang impressive. The thing that everyone remembers about this film is the unmasking scene and yeah, it's a great scene and Lon Chaney's makeup is on point. It looks exactly how he was described in the book. Speaking of the book, this film does follow the book pretty closely aside from the ending, which I won't spoil here. The music and acting are also on point. I also like that this movie focuses more on the mystery aspect rather than the romantic aspect like quite a few of the versions I've seen do. However, that does lead to a slight downfall: the characters, aside from maybe Erik, and romance are extremely bland. I'm sure this was just a product of the times but it is still an issue, at least for me. Overall, I like and appreciate this movie for the technical aspects and how it handles the story but in terms of the characters and romance, it is a bit dated.

I have now seen this movie twice in my life and even though the story is heavily based on the book (and actually follows it pretty close,) I cannot remember a single thing about this film. I have a basic idea of what happens and the names of the characters but I remember hardly anything story or character-wise. I suppose I can give this film credit for being one of the most faithful adaptations of the book I've seen so far (there were even direct quotes from the book book, which was nice) but faithful doesn't always mean good. Remember, this is supposed to be a movie first and if you want to adapt something into a movie, there have to be change. Also, since this is adapting a pretty old story, there have to changes relating to the time period, like more interesting characters for example. Honestly, this movie could've worked better if the characters were interesting and not bland as a pile of sawdust. I will excuse the silent film for it's bland characters since it was released in the 1920's and characters weren't exactly top priority at that time. However, this movie was released in 1987! There is no excuse for the characters being so bland and forgettable. Even the Phantom/Erik is forgettable! That character should be very interesting but outside of some good/slightly amusing lines, there's not really much to him. My other major problem with this film is the animation itself. Honestly, the animation was really hard to watch. It was so bland, stilted and just overall janky and uncomfortable to watch. I won't harp on the animation too much since I'm sure they probably had a low budget, but it was extremely distracting. On a side note, I found this movie a little too goofy to actually consider a Phantom of the Opera movie. Aside from that, there's not much else to talk about with this film. I don't hate this film or even really dislike it. I just find it forgettable and at times, honestly really dumb.

Of the now seven Phantom of The Opera adaptations I've seen, this is certainly the strangest so far. Yes, even more than the animated film. I'll start with the negatives first because frankly, there are quite a few. First of all, this movie goes more for comedy and that would be fine if it were funny but it's not. It's honestly pretty dumb and often boring. However, it's not just boring for that reason. It's also because everything is just so bland. The characters barely have any personality and honestly, a lot of that comes from the acting, which is also really bland. Actually, the music is really bland too. I can't remember a single song aside from one which I will talk about later. My final issue with this movie is Madame Giry. No, not the character herself but her makeup and hairstyle. I don't know why this bothered me so much, but it really annoyed me. Okay, now onto some good things, because there are a few. Like I said earlier, I like one song and it's the song The Phantom sings to Christine when they're in his lair. It kind of reminded me of Music of The Night and the singing was just so passionate compared to everything else. David Staller was probably the best actor in this whole movie come to think of it. There was also one other scene I really adored and it's the scene where the Phantom is unmasked. First of all, his makeup is amazing and I actually thought it was real for a second, it was that on point. Second, the scene is handled very well and in a unique way. Most versions just have Christine cower as the Phantom gets angry at her and then Christine simply gives him the mask back and I thought they would do that with this version too for a second. However, what they did instead was have Christine put the mask aside and take Erik's hand. I know it's a small thing but it really blew me away and it was just so cute. Speaking of cute, this is one of the only versions I've seen so far that actually showed Christine and Raoul's childhood. Again, a small touch but I think it was a good one. Overall, the story itself was decent but it was handled so poorly. There are some good scenes that do raise this movie's final score but it doesn't make it overall good.

Unlike the 2004 movie, I actually have something to talk about with this movie, aside from pure gushing, so I will review this one. Let's get the negatives out of the way first. If you consider this a sequel to the 2004 movie, there are so many plot holes. Heck, even if you consider it a sequel to the Broadway there is still one glaring plothole: Madame Giry should not hate Christine for choosing Raoul when in the movie and the Broadway she helped Raoul find the Phantom's lair to save her. In fact, the Giry's characters in general felt so off. I already mentioned Madame Giry however, I did like her characterization in the finale. It shows her love for her daughter. As for Meg, her characterization could be seen as her simply losing her way and forgetting what's really important. This is further proved in the finale when she is horrified at what she had done. However, she still didn't seem quite right to me. It didn't seem like Meg to let her jealousy and bitterness take advantage of her like that. However, I will admit that her character arc does tie in with the others quite nicely, even though her and Madame Giry's subplot wasn't very interesting. Thankfully, it got little screen time. Also, it kind of bothered me that the fact that the Phantom was a murderer never even came up ONCE. Yeah, I know that's a minor thing but it was bugging me throughout the whole movie. Lastly: Beneath a Moonless Sky. Now before you kill me, I will admit that it is a good song and is needed exposition. However, the context disturbs me. That's all for the negative let's move onto the good stuff, because there is quite a bit to cover. Let's get the obvious thing out of the way: the music is fantastic. They're not as fantastic as the Phantom of the Opera songs but to be honest, some do come pretty close. The title song is the most obvious and yeah, I do love it but I my favorite song is Beauty Underneath. The visuals and passionate singing in that song just blew me away. That's another thing, the visuals in this are very impressive and I even forgot it was a stage performance at times. Also, outside of the Girys, the characters were actually handled very well. The most controversial is Raoul but unlike Meg, I can easily believe he just lost sight of what was important. Alcohol tends to do that to people. As for Christine, she was kind of bland in this but I do like her relationships with the other characters. The Phantom might've been a bit too nice but it has been ten years so it's still believable. Also, I love his relationship with his son Gustave, who was adorable by the way. That's another thing, the characters play off each other beautifully. I mean, the Phantom and Raoul actually interact here! While that wasn't needed in the original, it was nice to see here. Heck, I even kinda liked the Phantom and Christine pairing here. I see why people ship it and I even ship it here, just not in the original. Yeah, about that. This movie doesn't feel like what actually happened after the first movie or the Broadway. It feels more like a retelling than a sequel. So that's how I accept this movie, a retelling taking place in a completely different universe than the movie. Then again, it would kind of have to be that way in order to work. Overall, I do like this movie. It's not as clever or thought-provoking as the original but I do enjoy it as it's own thing.

Ah The Lion King. The highest grossing hand drawn animated movie of all time and the former highest grossing animated movie ever. As a kid, I absolutely adored this movie to the point where it was my favorite movie ever. However, nowadays, my reaction has kind of waned. Now don't get me wrong, I still love this movie but I will admit that there are better Disney movies. My main problem with this movie is Timon and Pumbaa. The fart jokes are obnoxious and I just didn't like their personalities. They feel like they're the same annoying character in 2 bodies. Even if your do like them, they kind of break the mood. Think about it. They're introduced maybe 10 minutes after Mufasa's death with their stupid fart jokes and dumb song. That's another problem with this movie. Hakuna Matata, while I do like it as a catchphrase, is an annoying song. Timon and Pumbaa cannot sing, the song is all over place, it goes on for way too long and it just comes in too soon after Mufasa's death, which was a really big thing for kids back then. Speaking of that, yeah, his death was a big surprise when the movie came out and it messed up a lot of kids for life. Plus the fact that they show the dead body! The story itself is very dark and almost adult. For example, they really emphasize how harsh life in the Pridelands is under Scar's reign. Another great thing about this movie is obviously the animation. It's hand drawn Disney animation and it looks incredible. However, what sets the animation apart from other Disney animation is just how big the movie is in scale. The 3D release for this movie was absolutely phenomenal. Everything was so much bigger and things were literally flying off-screen by the audience. I still remember the moment where Zazu flew by the audience at the beginning of the film. I actually flinched to the side because of how close it was. The characters in this movie are all very likable, outside of Timon and Pumbaa. In fact, the other comedy reliefs, the hyenas and Zazu, are much funnier, much more likable and much more timeless. Overall, I do love this movie despite it's quirks.

What can I say about the Rio movies? Well they're very fun, silly, upbeat and cute with a cute romance and dazzling animation. However, Rio 2 is definitely the weaker of the 2 movies. It feels much sillier and over the top than the first movie. At least the first movie had a sweet center and could be taken seriously despite being a bit silly. With Rio 2, every other scene is a joke and most scenes are way over the top and goofy. It doesn't quite get to the point where it's cringe worthy but it does come close. The other major problem with this movie is how many subplots there are, I mean it's just ridiculous. At least the first movie had one main plot with one side-plot but Rio 2 has 10 subplots at least. Let's see, we have, the city boy in the country, the hard to please the father cliché, the jealousy story despite the couple being married and have kids, Linda and Tulio searching for blue macaws, the red macaws and blue macaws playing football, Blu and Jewel's kids, one of the kids putting on a talent show, the environmental message, one of the birds looking for a new hat, Nigel plotting against Blu and Jewel and the poison dart frog with a huge crush on Nigel. Did I miss a few? So as you can probably tell, none of these subplots get enough focus. The movie often sporadically switches between stories until the climax where every single subplot crashes together and resolve the plot. Because of this, the movie is extremely sloppy, scattered and unfocused that it becomes hard to follow. Most of the subplots could've been cut out since they're so meaningless. The only ones that felt necessary were the loggers' subplot, Nigel's subplot and maybe Linda and Tulio's subplot. However, I don't really like the former subplot either because like many others, I am sick and tired of movies shoving this message down our throats. It worked in Wall-E only because it's Pixar and Andrew Stanton. However, to this movie's credit, it doesn't get that much focus and it isn't shoved down your throats as much as some other animated movies. *cough cough* Epic *cough* Ferngully *cough* Avatar *cough cough* Cloudy with a *cough* Chance of *cough* Meatballs. However, this movie isn't all bad. Despite being extremely over the top, Nigel is a fun villain and the poison dart frog that has a crush on him is a fun character and yeah I ship it. I really did love the first 25 minutes of this film where we see Blu and Jewel interact with their kids and it shows their differing ideas on raising the kids and we do get a fun song and a cool montage. However once they started introducing all those subplots like I said, the movie started getting really sloppy. Anyways, I also have to give props to the animation of this movie. It's some of the most fluid, colorful, fast-paced, and smooth animation Blue Sky has ever done along with the first Rio, and The Peanuts Movie. Every little detail of the animation is accounted for including every little feather and leaves on the trees however, it still is it's own style and doesn't look overly realistic. It's still catoony and over the top but also stylistic and colorful. The songs, as few as there are, are the highlights of the movie and why it deserves to exist. The animation really shines in these scenes, the instrumentals and the music itself is really nice and easy on the ears. I'll admit, the humor was also pretty good at parts. Overall, this movie is a fun watch but not as good as the first. I'd say at best it's a mindless time-killer.

So in my last review, Oliver and Company, I defended a movie I felt was underrated. So today, I'm gonna do the opposite: bash something that I feel is overrated. Yep, you heard right, I don't like this movie. One of my big problems with this movie is the story. After their cave is destroyed, the rest of the movie is NOTHING but a roadtrip with occasional stops and the story doing random things with itself. Now, there are movies where I can excuse this kind of story including The Land Before Time and Finding Nemo which are both in my top 30 animated movies. However, the reasons those movies succeeded were because the stories were executed in a heartfelt way and had great characters. Not to mention, incredible animation. However, this movie is the complete opposite of those 2 movies. There is nothing heartfelt about this movie because I don't like any of the characters or care about any of their problems. Eeb isn't given enough time to be a character and all we know is that she wants more like every other 90's Disney princess ever! However, it worked in those movies because they let us know who these characters are, making us feel for them. Eeb has no personality other than being a rebellious, annoying teenager. Also, Eeb is introduced as the main character in the first act but then it suddenly switches to the father, Grug's, story. You know what? I actually hate him. He is annoying and ridiculously stupid. He's also the most overprotective and close-minded piece of crap I've ever had the misfortune of knowing. As for the other characters, I don't remember their names and I don't care. This is definitely Dreamworks second worst movie beaten out only by Shark Tale.

Most people put this as their least favorite of the original trilogy. Not that it's bad it's just not as good as the other 2. However, there is one group of people who say that this is the best Star Wars movie and I can definitely see why. The best parts of this movie are when Luke is with Darth Vader and the emperor trying to make Vader "return from the dark side of the force." It's very deep and emotionally compelling. The climax is also very satisfying. Without giving away too much, it is pleasantly surprising if you consider what happened in Revenge of the Sith. I also like the space battles. They were great and a lot of fun. It's also good to see some continuity with The Empire Strikes Back by making Lando return. While he is kind of minor, it was still nice to see him. I also like the way the Han and Leia thing was resolved. It's still a cute relationship and their interactions are cute and fun. In fact, that's one thing this movie does have over the 2 movies. The interactions between Vader and Luke are the highlights of the film and many of the other characters play off the other characters very well. So taking all of that into account, what makes this movie not as good as the other 2 in the original trilogy? Well there are 2 things that very hard to overlook. This movie is extremely lighthearted compared to the last movie. Well most of the movie is pretty dark but, the ewoks are really cheesy for the Star Wars films. They take out all of the tension in the scenes they appear in. However, it's not that bad since we need something kind of lighthearted to balance out with the overall darkness of the rest of the film. The other problem I have with this movie is that the opening scene in Jabba's palace is way too long and kind of boring when they aren't battling off monsters. Listen, I get that you need to make this movie 2 hours long for your marketing to adults or whatever but this is really pushing. You could've either trimmed the opening A LOT or cut it out entirely and make a change to how they get Han Solo back. Overall, I guess my problems don't hurt this movie that much since I still love it just not much as some of the other films and hey at least we do get that awesome ending in the ewok camp.

This is said by many fans to be the best movie of the original trilogy and yeah I definitely agree with that. The Empire Strikes Back is a much darker, more interesting and more action-packed version of A New Hope. The lightsaber duels are much more intense and interesting. It's much more of a sword fight than tapping lightsabers like the last movie. I also love how threatening the empire was in this movie. In the last movie, they weren't all that intimidating. Here however, they were a little scary! All the new characters are just as amazing as the characters introduced in the last movie. Boba Fett is memorable, the emperor is awesome, Lando Calrissian is interesting and Yoda is a classic character. The old characters are also very well developed. Luke is learning more about the ways of the Jedi, a romance is blooming between Han Solo and Leia and Darth Vader is much more intimidating. The scenes with Yoda and even Obi Wan teaching Luke the ways of the Jedi are extremely interesting to the audience. It's some really clever world- building. I won't spoil the huge twist in this movie for the 3 people who haven't seen this movie but I will say that your mind will be blown! This is a somewhat short review because at this point, I'm just gushing. Just go see the movie you fools!

Time to get back to my Star Wars reviews! There might be a bit of a Star Wars bias in this review since I love this franchise. If you want to avoid that, click out. Anyways, this movie was a landmark when it first came out. It was one of the only sci-fi movies released that doesn't have an alien invasion as the focus. This movie is engagingly original and feels very inspired. It also feels very 80's but in a good way. The effects still hold up very well. Maybe that's because the effects keep being updated but my point still stands. The space scenes are still impressive and are still a lot of fun to watch. The lightsaber duels on the other hand, are pretty weak. Even one of the most intense scenes in the movie: the lightsaber duel between Obi Wan and Darth Vader, let's face it, is just two guys tapping lit-up swords. It's still an intense scene so it doesn't bother me that much but compared to the action scenes in the other Star Wars films, it's really underwhelming. Me and my brother used to joke about that. The story might be a bit cliché by today's standards as a classic underdog story but do I care? No because all the new ideas here are just so interesting and awesome! The characters in this movie are all iconic. Darth Vader was cool in this movie until the stupid prequels came out, but other than that, all the characters are awesome! You couldn't forget them if you tried! Overall, this movie is iconic and holds a very special place in my heart.

I've only seen 2 Studio Ghibli films so far but I think this is definitely one of the weirdest. I mean, the plot itself isn't that weird. It's kind of your typical Little Mermaid story except with 2 eight year old kids. However, the specifics are really odd. I won't say too much because I don't want to spoil anything but let's just say it can get a little awkward. I think Ponyo herself is the main reason this movie is so weird. She does and says a lot of things that seem really out of place for a fish/eight year old girl. Not to mention that her dad is even more ridiculous. The other characters for the most part are fine except for the boy's mom. She drives like a freaking maniac when she has kids in the car during a deadly storm! I won't say anything else but she does some other stupid stuff throughout the movie. I think out of all the characters the boy is my favorite because he plays off all the weirdness just like the audience. The animation itself is pretty good though not as good as Arrietty. The colors in Arrietty are more vibrant and blend better while Ponyo's animation is a bit more sketchy. However, it's still nice to see hand-drawn movies is the 2000's and the water looks downright breathtaking. Overall, despite this being really weird, it's a fun little movie to check out at least once.

Oh Andrew Stanton, why did I ever doubt you? First off, let me get one thing out of the way. I was not expecting this to fail. I was SCARED it would fail. However, like I said, there was no point to that fear. One thing I was absolutely marveling over in this movie was the animation. I said this in my Finding Nemo review but the water looks like real water and not just that. The lighting on the ocean has gotten much better since the last movie and it looks more realistic. However, the cartoon characters still blend well with the realistic sea. Well some characters do look a little off especially compared to the last movie but thankfully they're minor characters and don't get a lot of screen time. The main characters look just like they did in the last movie and the new characters look just as great. Oh yeah, Pixar animated an octopus and he moved naturally. I was in shock with how gorgeous the animation on Hank looked. I mean wow. Pixar have come a long way animation-wise. I won't spoil the story here but I will say that it is a bit more complex and dramatic than you may think. It's not just some rehash of Finding Nemo. For example, Dory's short term memory loss, which was primarily used for laughs in the last movie, is played very seriously here. Dory actually worries that she will forget things and tries to get a hold of her short term memory loss. It's actually treated a lot like a mental disorder. I'm pretty sure that was the metaphor they were going for but I have to point it out. Thankfully, the movie isn't all depressing. There is a lot of comedy and it's actually really funny! Yeah, I laughed at all the jokes presented. There's a very good balance between drama, comedy and action which is why I love movies like Kung Fu Panda and Zootopia so much.

I like all the new characters in the film but my favorite is Hank the Octopus, or septapus whatever you want to call him. I thought he was pretty funny even though he was pretty rude in the beginning. I didn't mind that too much since he did go through a lot of great character development throughout the rest of the film. Hank's friendship with Dory is one of the things that carries this film along with the main characters, dramatic elements, serious tone and of course some great action. If I did have to issue a flaw with this movie, it's that the ending action scene was a little rushed and maybe a bit ridiculous. Maybe the ridiculous nature of it is to show you can do anything if you set your mind to it (which is a bit of theme with this movie) but it didn't have to be that rushed. Oh well, at least we got that funny thing that I will NOT spoil!

Overall, this is a great Pixar movie with outstanding animation, a serious story, great old and new characters and great action and drama. I don't even know what else to say without giving away too much. (Also you have to stay after the credits for big surprise)

Okay, this is going to be a hard movie to talk about. This movie is the closest thing to universally loved that you can get and many other better reviewers have already reviewed this. With that out of the way, it's about time I review a Pixar movie. It also happens to be favorite Pixar movie and it just so happens to be getting a sequel that at the time of writing, is coming tomorrow for me. I love pretty much everything about this movie from beginning to end. Well, my one big problem with the movie, which is borderline nitpicking, is the first like 3 minutes. So for the 5 people who haven't seen this movie, it opens with a happy couple who are expecting kids. They act all sweet for a bit and then a barracuda comes out of nowhere and eats the mother and the 400 unborn children. You now for kids! Jokes aside, this scene is way too intense for even me today. Every time I watch the scene, I burst out crying and last time that happened was in a class full of preteens. Yeah, this is a personal problem but it's thankfully a small problem and the scene that follows is absolutely beautiful. Thankfully, the rest of the scene is a little tamer but still very emotionally involving. The story itself is fairly simple but emotionally charged. It's a very relatable situation even if the viewer isn't an adult. The thing that helps, is every character is memorable and relatable, especially my favorite of the bunch, Dory. There's a reason Finding Dory is a thing outside of profit. It's because Dory was the most loved character in the whole movie. She is funny, sweet, fun-loving and of course she forgets things very easily. I always loved that aspect of her character and I relate to her a lot. I also have to give a shout out to the underrated "tank gang." Each of them have very unique and fun personalities and each are distinguishable and love-able. I also have to marvel over the animation in this movie. The water looks like real water! Yet, the cartoony characters don't look or feel out of place in the very realistic ocean. Overall, this is one of my favorite movies of all time and I can only hope that the sequel will be good.

I know most people hate this movie and when I watched this movie, I went in thinking I would hate it but my subconscious told me it wouldn't be that bad. Usually, I try to avoid movies I know I won't like but this movie took over my thoughts ever since I saw the trailer so I felt the need to see it when it came to Amazon. So I sat down, watched the movie and...I came out loving it. No this is not a troll review, I truly do like this movie. At the beginning of the movie. They actually take the time to establish the world and I was really interested. I wanted to see where they were going to go with all this love potion stuff. Then there was a song. To be honest, I actually do like pop music so I really enjoyed all the songs except for one that had me laughing on the floor. Are there too many songs? Probably but I didn't mind much. I enjoyed all of the cover songs and a few of them were actually introduced to me through this movie. Yes it's a personal opinion but I still don't know why everyone is making such a big deal out of it. Most of the songs do further the plot or at least have good singers. Weak argument I know. Anyways, the story here is more 2 stories simultaneous to each other with 1 or 2 subplots. While it is a bit sloppy and some plots get overshadowed when they shouldn't be, I think it works well here. Each story is what it needs to be, fun, funny or just sweet. One of my favorite things about this movie is our main character, Marianne. I know what it's like to get your heart broken. Her portrayal of heartbreak after Roland cheats on her, is realistic, sad and relatable. Her courage and loyalty to her sister, Dawn, is very admirable and is one of the things that carries this film. Speaking of Dawn, I liked her from the start do to her bubbly and zany personality. She was even funnier when she got infected by the love potion. However, my favorite character is Bog. Do I even need to explain why? He's the fan favorite and even some people who don't like this movie will admit that he is the best thing about the movie. Well him and a romance that I won't dare spoil here. Just go see the movie! While it's not for everyone, Strange Magic is a good film to check out.

If you're expecting me to bash this movie into oblivion then you will be very disappointed because I don't hate this movie. In fact, I don't even dislike it which is ironic since it has almost everything I'm against. Here's a full list: Underdeveloped romance, flat characters, nonsensical plot points, a rap number (yes really,) bringing characters back from the dead, and rewriting an overdone story. With that in mind, I should hate this movie but I don't! Why you may ask? One reason is nostalgia. As a kid, I absolutely adored this movie. I saw it almost every day until I was like 8! So when I watch this movie I get a bit of nostalgia for some of those scenes in the movie that sucked me in as a kid. Another reason is the absolutely gorgeous hand drawn animation. Yeah the designs are a little off but I like it. Plus, the backgrounds are very atmospheric. I guess I like young love and even though it's underdeveloped, seeing 2 cute little seals in love is just adorable to me. I can see how it could be creepy for other older viewers but I think it's cute. The ending is also pretty satisfying. While it doesn't follow the book, it's downright adorable. Speaking of the book, this movie followed the book as close as it could without killing off our adorable main leads. They even kept the balcony scene! Overall, this movie does get a little childish at times (and I do skip those scenes) but it's overall cute and sweet.

Oh my gosh I hate this movie so much. For all of the 3 people out there who are lucky enough not to have seen this god awful movie, let me fill you in. We have a Star Wars movie that heavily focuses on weak characters and political crap that even an adult can barely follow or comprehend. You got that right. A Star Wars movie is heavily focused on political stuff. WHY?! Believe it or not, that's not even the movie's biggest problem. What is the biggest problem you may ask? JAR JAR BINKS. Oh my gosh I hate Jar Jar so much! The CGI on him is awful, his voice is ear-grading, he does nothing but constantly get himself and others into trouble or get makes really painful juvenile jokes! Speaking of which, none of the characters are likable except for Obi-Wan Kenobi, Darth Maul and maybe Qui-Gon Jinn which I'll get to later. Yeah, even Anakin is a terrible character. He's whiny, disrespectful, obnoxious and bratty. Okay, it is cool that he can fly a podracer and make droids but we can't focus on the good aspects of his character when all he does in be a brat. The only time it's justified is when he leaves his mother to be a slave. Also, the whole midichlorian thing really angered me for reasons that are honestly kind of hard to explain so I won't get into it. However, I don't think this movie is all terrible. There are some good and even great aspects of this movie. One is the action scenes. The lightsaber duels are much better here than they are in the original trilogy. The second one is the funeral scene. Surprisingly, it's a very serious scene and the emotional stakes are very high. Third, the score is amazing and Duel of the Fates is one of the best pieces of music ever written. Speaking of Duel of the Fates, the battle between Obi-Wan, Qui- Gon and Darth Maul was amazing. Overall, this is the worst Star Wars movie.

Saying that this movie is an improvement over the Phantom Menace really isn't saying anything since this movie is still awful! I still hate it but it is a little bit better. This movie actually had a lot more potential than most people give it credit for. A clone army battle, a Jedi protecting Padme from being assassinated, tracking down a bounty hunter who ends up being the father of Boba Fett (and it made a great story arc in Clone Wars!) This is some cool stuff! However, it's all destroyed by the one major thing this movie focuses on: The romance between Anakin and Padme. I was against this from the start because in the Phantom Menace, Padme was a queen. Yes, she was a young queen but she had to have been at least 14 or 15 to be elected. We also know that Anakin was around 8 or 9 in the last movie. That's at least 5 years apart! There's also the fact that I really don't like either of the characters. I really don't care for Padme. While she is strong in the final battle, Padme spends the rest of the movie either being creepily flirtatious or resisting Anakin. It kind of gets annoying after a while is all I'm saying. I would later feel bad for her in Revenge of the Sith after Anakin broke her heart but she's annoying here. Speaking of Anakin, when he's not Darth Vader, he is the most bratty, obnoxious, whiny baby in Star Wars history. Maybe even cinema history! With the exception of The Clone Wars (2008-2014) I hate Anakin in everything prequel related. Example: In this movie, Anakin's mother dies. Go figure! So what is his response? Schlaughter all the the Tusken Raiders of course! Okay, I get murdering the one/ones responsible for killing your mother but the women and children had nothing to do with her death! Also, get over yourself. You knew it wasn't going to be all sunshine and rainbows for her after you left Tatooine FOUR YEARS AGO! God! The romance here is also way too dumb and stupid to actually believe. Not to mention that the dialogue between them in just cringe-inducing and not even in a good way! I know this is a persistent problem throughout the movie but it mostly comes from the scenes with Anakin and Padme. Here's one of my favorite bad lines from this movie:

"I killed them all. They're dead, every single one of them. And not just the men, but the women and the children, too. They're like animals, and I slaughtered them like animals. I HATE THEM!"

However, I will concede that this movie had it's high points as well. The origin story of Boba Fett is pretty cool, the Yoda vs Dooku fight was cool and the Battle of Geonosis was awesome aside from a few cheesy lines. Other than that it's a dud with stupid political crap, one of the worst romances to brace the silver screen, bad, unlikable characters, cringe-worthy dialogue and a few good action scenes here and there that are almost always drowned out by bad dialogue.

This movie shares a few of the problems that it's predecessors had. This includes an unlikable Anakin, cringe worthy dialogue, and confusing plot points. I'll get to Anakin later so for now I'll talk about my other 2 problems with the movie. Surprisingly, the cringe worthy dialogue had been severely limited. The only point where I cringed was that one balcony scene with Padme and Anakin. Everything else between the two in this movie was pretty tolerable and at times believable. Okay, that liberty line was dumb to and General Grievous' dialogue is a bit too silly but those are scattered throughout the movie. Most of the time I don't even notice nor care. I also kind of like some of the dialogue others seem to hate. I felt the emotion when Anakin betrays Padme. You can see at this point that Anakin is far gone and even if they didn't truly love each other, seeing a once noble (for the most part) Jedi being seduced by the dark side is pretty tragic. I'll admit that Anakin is a bit better in this movie and like I said, I did feel the emotion as he turned to the dark side and killed all those Jedi. His motivations are strong enough but the one thing I will not let slip by is Anakin murdering those younglings. Why would you do that when your wife is pregnant?! FATHER OF THE YEAR AM I RIGHT?! That's what I was thinking at least. I don't think anyone would murder younglings to save their wife. I'm sorry. I get why it was put in the movie but it really didn't have to be younglings. Anyways, my last problem with this movie is one really confusing plot point. For the most part, this movie is pretty easy to follow which is a good thing. However, I don't get why General Grievous had to die. I may sound like an over-obsessive fangirl for saying this but was there any point to him dying? The Jedi were planning to bring General Grievous to justice to end the war, but did it end the war? NO! The war continued even after his death. Yes, I know General Grievous is just a pawn for Count Dooku and Darth Sidious so they can kill more Jedi. However, he didn't have to die so early on in the movie. I would've liked to see a duel between General Grievous and Anakin. At least it would've been a cooler and more memorable way to die. Anyways. Onto more positive things. As you can tell, I really like General Grievous. He is one of the best characters in these prequels next to Obi Wan. He's also an interesting concept. Another thing like about this movie is how visual it is. They use visuals to tell this story in a unique and dazzling way. They don't flat out say Anakin is being seduced by the dark side. They show him killing all those jedi, nearly killing his wife and engaging his former master in a duel. It's also a much slower process than people give it credit for. As Anakin starts to spend more and more time with the Chancellor, Anakin becomes more and more interested in the dark side. This eventually leads him to making the wrong decision during the showdown with Mace Windu and at first, he is regretful for his actions. I kinda like that actually. The lightsaber duels are also much more intense. Remember in a New Hope when Vader and Obi Wan were just tapping light sticks? Well in this movie the same people are doing flips in mid air, clashing swords, riding small rocks over a river of lava, the list goes on! The opening space battle actually looked like a Star Wars movie. Yeah that always kind of bugged me in the prequels. They spend so much time on the planets in a movie called "Star Wars." Here I don't mind it as much since the planets are much cooler looking or pretty. Overall, I really love this movie and I kind of hate to admit that.