Reviews

So I only watched this cause I watched the original, and I wanted to basically see Rider Strong all grown up (why bother lying).

Firstly, Rider Strong is still fabulous. Love him, his beard, his character, all of him. Also love Cory, still being as goofy and odd as ever. Seeing those two share a screen again is fantastic. Topanga is also still fabulous and full of passion.

Secondly - I think it's utterly ridiculous that this show compares Maya to Shawn. Shawn grew up with a flaky, drunk, lying, wayward father. He doesn't know who his mother is, and the mother he knows is constantly on the run from his father. There is hardly anyone who really cares for him other than Cory (and the Matthews sporadically, plus Jonathan until he mysteriously disappeared from the show)

Now for Maya, literally 1 person left her - her father. Yes that sucks, but she still has a devout loving parent, working her ass off to provide for her.

She also has the Matthews who love her and feed her, plus they love her mother. She is nowhere close to being Shawn, she will never be Shawn. I think comparing the two constantly throughout the show is straight disrespectful in regards to what Shawn had gone through throughout his run on Boy Meets World.

Thirdly - the show has no substance, what so frigging ever. I'm sorry but besides a little disagreement here and there, and some bullying and whatnot, this show has no real emotional value. The original dealt with things. We got episodes on adoption, death, drinking, cults, racism, rumours, abuse and so much more.

We get nada in this. I know, I know, it's Disney. But to be honest, maybe it really shouldn't have been Disney, and then we would've gotten a much better show.

Lastly, I will end on a positive. Even though I think Maya as a character is borderline a disgrace (not blaming the actor, she's gorgeous and I have nothing but respect for her ability) I loved the fact that Shawn got the opportunity to be a father to her. Is his relationship with Katy rushed? Yes. But I do love how much he wants to love and be there for someone, it's very appropriate and makes me love him even more.

So in conclusion, maybe watch the episodes with some of the OG cast, just to see where they at, but skip the rest. It's just not good, sorry not sorry.

I personally really enjoyed Raya. Was it a bit disheveled story wise? Yes. And was the humor bland at times? Yes. However it was better than a lot of the garbage Disney is throwing out left and right.

For the positives - it's visually stunning, like really beautiful, I felt I could touch Sisu's fur. Gorgeous. I loved the design style for Raya, she was a piece of art to look at. I loved moral also, in this day and age, trust is important and very undervalued. The fact that you can sit and watch a movie about trust is powerful. Lastly I overall loved the way they solved everything in the end with Raya NOT actually putting the pieces together, thought that was since added bonus, and I'm always a sucker for the "faceless" bad guy idea, makes it all the more chilling in my opinion.

The negatives - the constant trope that if a girl is a warrior, they must hate female clothing and inherently female things, no stop that. Also the pacing was problematic. Maybe if they had decided the world had split into Mind, Body and Soul not Fang, Heart, Talon and Spine, they wouldn't have had such a pacing problem. Often it seemed too easy and quick that they went through the different parts of the world, and I think had they cut it down, so there were 3 tribes, they would've had more time to explore the tribes individually. I don't know, maybe have Raya need to convince each tribe in a different way how to unite once more.

Lastly, I kinda hate/love the whole "everyone came back" in the end, and this may be a personal preference, but I think it would've been more powerful if at least Sisu's siblings didn't return, and you kinda had more of a sacrificial scene, maybe resulting in Sisu realizing she has her sisters with her in each of the powers she carries with her from them. Again this might be a personal preference. Lastly how did the fathers leg magically get better the second he was no longer stone? He could at least limp over to Raya 😂

All in all, a worth watch and all the people who are mad in the comment section, are mad cause they paid for the movie instead of waiting. Don't listen to them, way they and enjoy.

Firstly let me say, YAY HOT GINGER ALLERT! As a ginger myself I loved seeing a ginger being fabulous(even if she ain't one irl) Secondly, Anya Taylor-Joy did a great job in this mini-series. Her acting was mostly flawless and generally great to watch. The only thing I'd point my fingers at, and I don't know if that's a directors problem or an actors, is that because of her constant "cold" demeanor I found it quite difficult to connect with her character at times. I think it would've been nice to see a broader verity of emotion. Even when her adoptive mother dies, she still has the same "face". The only time she has a "big" emotion is when she revisits her orphanage, which is like the last episode of the series.

The series in itself did, in my opinion, at times move a bit fast, yet slow at others. I felt the buildup at the orphanage was at times slow. And her getting over her addiction in the final episode very rushed. I mean come on, it was a life-long addiction. That's not something you just decide to stop.

From a writers perspective, I felt that there could've been a more distinct correlation between all the flashbacks to her mother and to the current events in the show. Often I found myself wondering why I was shown this or that, which isn't great when trying to make me connect with my main character.

Historically the whole thing is a fantasy, but not one I hated. I personally enjoyed the fact that she didn't 'have' to overcome sexism, no matter how unrealistic it is and would've been had it actually been real life. I also appreciated the fact that no sexual harassment nor sexual abuse played a part in Beth Harmons backstory. I loved the fact that the men in her life celebrated her, instead of berating her. Even if she had tossed them aside as romantic partners.

I didn't really understand the point of Cleo, and what she as a character brought to the story, but maybe that's just me. I generally believe you could've written her out completely and it wouldn't have changed a thing, which in my opinion, makes for a expendable character. Beth could've still liked Paris and the idea of Paris without Cleo, and literally could've just fallen back into old habits and gotten herself the drink at the bar that results in her game being thrown the day after. Plus Cleo disappears right after never to return? I mean what's the point?

All in all, I'd say it's a 7/10. It's a good show, and I enjoyed it. I don't know if I'll watch it again, but I definitely enjoyed watching it the first time. Makes me wanna buy a Chess set.

I won't lie, it's not great. It's the kind of movie that should've either stayed a book, be 3 movies long, or pull a "A Series of Unfortunate Events: A Netflix Original" and gotten a series. I mean come on, the plot is 3 stories long, and that's just THIS part of the story, in total there's 6 books plus extra stuff.

I read the books first, and yes read the books, they're awesome, top notch, everything I want in a book. This movie, however, as someone who read the books, is rushed, a tad annoying, and THEYVE CHANGED PEOPLE AROUND!

Olive is supposed to be a little girl, who is lighter than air. Emma is supposed to be fire gal or whatever. Bronwyn is supposed to be the same age as Emma and Jacob, NOT JAKE BTW HIS NAME IS JACOB. Fiona is supposed to be a messy haired mute, and has a smootchy smootchy thing going with Horace(or Hugh I honestly can't remember). And, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Miss Peregrine a tad extra "peculiar" than in the books? I feel like she's unnecessarily odd.

Now I may have been able to look past all these character changes, had the plot been spot on. However it was not. This film, on multiple occasions, felt like it required me to have read the books to fill in the gaps. This point of no return in the movie comes at like the very end of the movie? It doesn't set enough time aside to deal with anything in regards to, for example, the villains motives, or develop the villains in such a way, whereas I somewhat sympathize with them, to a point of understanding their point of view, but disapprove of their way of getting their desired results.

All in all, it's not very good, read the books yall, they're awesome. This movie kinda gives me a Percy Jackson/Eragon fail, that I just kinda can't look past...