Zel-Shaded’s Movie Reviews @zel-shadedreviews - Tumblr Blog

Hello, welcome and happy sketching~

Why, howdy-doo everyone! After years of posting across Discord, I decided to make my mark here and establish my own film-reviewing blog. Beginning in 2018, I wrote endless reviews for movies, some television shows and even a few video games here and there. I’ve gone through countless animation studios such as Disney, Pixar, DreamWorks, Studio Ghibli, Sony, Paramount and various more!

When I started, my reviews consisted of one or two paragraphs while containing a ton of capital letters and exclamation points to express my immature anger. It wasn’t my best way of beginning but everybody has to start somewhere in my eye.

Besides reviewing nearly every single animated Disney movie in existence, I’ve also taken a peak at some shows, which I can watch within a month should they’re short or consist of four season or less.

I also contain my own special ranking grades;

A - Ascend into Heaven: a film that I absolutely adore and will watch over and over again. 10/10

B - Brilliant: a second-favourite of mine with a nitpick here and there, or one that I don’t consider a film that’s perfect, but just one I do love. 8 or 9/10

C - Cool: just a good film overall. I thought it was plainly good, had some enjoyable features and that I found pleasant. There’s some room for improvement by all means with one character, a scene or either a bad beginning or ending, but still good. 7/10

D - Decent: honestly, merely fine, with some fondness for it. Like, I didn’t like or hate it, as it’s clearly begging for a second rewrite. It’s a film I won’t be getting out of my way to watch again but I’m glad I saw it regardless. 5 or 6/10

E - Eh…: just… there? That’s all I can say. It has both good and bad elements, but usually the latter overcomes the entirety of it, leaving me whether it’s even a film worth remembering. 4 or 5/10

F - FAIL: well, the title doesn’t lie, I just thought it failed in pretty much everything it featured; perhaps there’s one or two positive aspects but I wouldn’t recommend watching it all. 2 or 3/10

G - Godawful: I mean, what can I say? It’s the worst film I’ve ever seen, period. 0 or 1/10.

There’s also a special mark I will give which would be a - mark on the grade that I call the ‘ironic rating’. It means a film that I didn’t like, but somehow felt a genuine connection in how clumsy or weird it was. For example, you have your film that’s greatly prepared for a watch party with friends and alcohol, which this is the grade for.

Well, I hope to make a good first impression and start reviewing when I can! I’ve already made these reviews, but plan to rewrite or alter my thoughts.

Happy days, everyone!

#zelshadedreviews #user thoughts #outofcells

Well, with every successful first flick, there's bound to be a sequel, times quite a few of them. Admittedly, I wasn't looking forward to seeing how they follow the adventures of retired villain dad and the found family, before I saw that Illumination's plan was to extend the plotline into more of a spy thriller. With them diving into the James Bond genre, what would their plans be?

To be frank, I could congratulate the movie for trying, but even for Illumination's standards, it felt way too flat and predictable. Did it bare heart? I can tell, but I would have wanted some variety.

Gru is happily raising his three daughters without any trouble, but then is given a proposal by a secret agency to investigate a villain in disguise. Who joins him is Lucy, where the two work undercover at a shopping mall to crack the case. Meanwhile, the Minions all get kidnapped and left in a tropical island, only for a returning villain to use them for his secret weapon.

I won't compare this to any great sequels such as Kung Fu Panda or Toy Story; its neither groundbreaking or even that remarkable, but was worthy enough to be nominated for an Academy Award, only to lose to Frozen. In fact, to this day, its the only movie from Illumination to be nominated.

As a sequel, it does its job, but something felt that it included elements that weren't exceucted that well. For starters, it wanted to give Gru a love interest as most sequels followed, attempting to give a romantic comedy. While its direction was predictable, it had a decent connection between the two. However, the focus mainly revolved around these two infiltrating the mall mystery, while pushing aside other characters that could have had more screen time. By the second half, when the real villain begins making his mark, the movie desperately rushes the climax and resolution.

It tried to be another comedy, where some of the jokes still land, but most felt that they were just written to keep the film going. Like from before, its animation quality maintained the rubberhose physics, expressing Lucy's design and movements. It manages to feature some decent designs, especially with the villain's, but as far as it went, its quality is not that appealing.

Gru is back and tries to adjust to his role as a father, such as hilariously dressing up as a fairy princess for a birthday party. As far as the film goes, he's still a delight to watch, particularly his stubbornness coming to play with the obvious mystery at hand, and his lack of gadgets and common sense clashing with his partner.

Speaking of, we're introduced to Lucy, a peppy agent who is assigned to bring Gru to the unfolding mystery. She's nothing special but does stand as a decent new addition to the sequel, often beginning the interrogation physically and often taking her job far too seriously. With SNL's Kristen Wig's voice direction, she assisted in the delivery.

The trailer presented her as the quirky yet innocent type, but I wished that the overall film committed towards the overall feature; in a bizarre twist, she ends up getting captured and resorted to the damsel in distress role, so all of her scenes were kind of a waste if you ask me. Would it have been a better twist if she and Gru both teamed up? You can't just show a girl boss and then cop out.

That's modern Disney's job.

Its new villain was predictable even towards fetuses, but is nonetheless another entertaining addition. Called El Macho, the manliest legend back in the day, he poses as a restaurant owner. There's not much to say about his overall role, as once he commits to his villainous plan, there wasn't enough time to present, where Gru easily beats him at the end. He bares a hilarious fake death sequence, but that's mainly it, where Benjamin Bratt's soft voice couldn't save the character. This overall villain just causes me to appreciate Vector even more.

There's some new characters such as the pompously-monotone agency head, Silas Ramsbottom, and Gru's excessive one-time date.

Dr. Nefario leaves to become someone else's sidekick, only to come into fruition later on. There's also a lack of investment with Gru's girls, where their roles are limited to only act as 'cute' wastes of animation. One of them, Margo, does get involved with the villain's son, but like the overall movie, it doesn't do anything interesting. I would have wanted at least some emphasis like what if one of them liked Gru's villainous schemes and wanted to continue his legacy.

But, that would have been far too much creative thinking from the writers. Why do you think they won't allow them to grow up?

Like I said before, I don't hate the Minions as a whole, but they're featured a lot to keep the running time longer. They end up getting roped in the villain's scheme, transformed into evil versions that withstand every form of damage; I would be a broken record if I said that there's lacking any sort of interest with them. I mean, one of them has a crush on Lucy.

Remember that? I surely didn't.

This review may sound harsh but I don't deliberately hate the feature, just that I find it a mediocre and harmless sequel to shut your kid up. For what it is, its okay without anything horrible, but there's better films to pass the time.

Final Rating: E

4/10

#zelshadedreviews #illumination marathon #illumination #despicable me #despicable me 2 #despicable me 2 review

I'm not so sure if the studio is really worth its title, as much as breaking box offices year after year. Its that time where I force myself to indulge in their films, some I outright avoided as I couldn't care less for its layout and impact. Alongside its acclaim from critics and families alike, I do wonder if the praise is earned as the more I think about it, you can throw all your generic ideas and AI-esque scripts into one chi-animated movie, then call it a day.

For the entire record, I don't particularly despise Illumination as a whole, as while their movies are strictly for children, they also make fluff that are way too harmless with some not even warranting real attempt. With their countless merchandising, there's also the impact of how their movies mainly land as memes for Facebook mothers.

However, I'm mainly on my own as at the end of day, "they're just for kids".

The ever so despicable Gru plans to become the number one villain of all time by stealing the moon, but needs the shrinking ray gun that was stolen by a rival called Vector. Gru then adopts three orphaned girls who sell cookies in order to get a chance at stealing the gun, but soon finds himself bonding with his new daughters.

For Illumination's first crack, its still a good movie with some aspects that hold up well, but I won't go as far as to consider it a masterpiece. It revolved around a scenario that you could predict a mile away where the antagonistic main softens up and redeems himself by the end with youthful forces of nature; however, that's not to say its a bad execution, far from it, as its heart was still in the right place. While I do have a soft spot for found family tropes, I liked seeing the bond building up in between the main characters, particularly Gru maintaining his gadgets and villainous tendencies that wow his daughters. It was doing fine up until a really forced misunderstanding trope involving his daughters being separated by Gru, only for help to immediately come to fruition.

For the majority, its story and character layout was remotely small but I preferred a more simplified and limited premise to keep the first movie short yet sweet.

Now, I managed to come across some concept art where Gru was meant to have a more Dracula look, only for the design to alter into the main man we all know and love. While I would have liked the more spindly and lanky design, I still liked the final product nonetheless. The main character had the slight distinct look in order to allow some individuality by baring a towering and hunched body style. The girls also had different designs to not look like triplets so that they could show off separate personalities as limited as they were. I was particularly fond of the villain's design for having a lanky form. Its movement went with more of a rubberhose style to give the tone some comedic pacing and entertainment value. The backgrounds and settings were as basic but offered variety with how the scope worked such as Gru's taxidermy, booby-trapped house and his underground lair, Vector's pristine mansion, amusement park and so on.

Thelonius Gru was a fun character to watch, starting off as an amateur yet dedicated villain with the wish to pull off the greatest heist. The plot furthers his motivations and eventual progression the more we watch the plot alternates towards adoption. At first, Gru acknowledges the girls as keys to success before viewing them as ways to a loving family. Not only that he desires to become the finest in position, but to overcome his unappreciative mother. Once again, his character development was that predictable from a mile away but not in a bad way. What helped this iconic character from falling into boredom was the voice of Steve Carell, delivering an Eastern European accent for comedic purposes.

We got to see his assistant, Dr. Nefario, an old coot with a passion to construct useless gadgets for Gru, while impacting the third act to get his priorities set. I won't lie by admitting that I never would have thought his voice was done by Russel Brand, but the least said, the better.

Now, the girls featured here were fine enough as they each had a different personality: Margo stood as the protective eldest with a small element of sass towards her; Edith likes to think more with action than words; Agnes is the standard cute girl with a love for unicorns. Honestly, they were durable enough to watch as their point was to impact Gru's life and change his ways around for the better. Its that mainly these girls really aren't that interesting to watch with their one-note personalities, which is saying a lot for the movie's sequels. However, they weren't entirely obnoxious, just generically-harmless.

The best character was easily Vector where by recent viewings, his egotistical nature slapped. Everything from his meager frame, sea animal-filled guns, trademark pelvic thrust and pretty much his entire dialogue were enough to crack me up; thank How I Met Your Mother's Jason Segel to give this character a mixture of youthful arrogance and meme-catching exclamations. For the first movie's villain, he stood as the rival towards Gru and a younger opponent with more charisma and gadgets to outsmart and match him at every turn. You can tell that he was the right villain to become a negative comparison towards Gru, standing as the childish egocentric who was pampered a plentiful by his father, before doing his schemes with little to no planning.

Other characters also stood out such as the stern bank manager and the predictably-cruel orphanage keeper who doesn't seem to suffer any consequences by any point of the movie.

This movie gathered quite the praise and managed to spawn a large franchise, even earning its own staple in Universal Studios. Though, that's mainly due to the film's certain sidekicks that immediately became the film's number one focus throughout the running time.

You've been waiting with baited breath about my thoughts for the Minions, Gru's little helpers that are globally-recognised for their yellow bodies and gibberish speech. Objectively, they do dominate each piece of merchandise even more so than Frozen, where its hard to go anywhere and not see a little yellow cyclops. Subjectively, I don't personally hate them but feel that they're way too overly-played, which isn't an exaggeration due to their own spin-offs. Here, I can tolerate them fine as their sole point was to act as the goofy little comical assistants, where even their scenes didn't extend that much. Over the course of the franchise, they try to force their hijinks into the majority of screen-time, occasionally clashing with the main plot; test footage showed that the younger audiences loved seeing them, so obviously that opened the doorway to more of their babbling, nonsensical and often irritable outcomes.

Children find them comedy geniuses while an enormous majority of adults hate the sight of them. Me, myself, don't personally find them that annoying, at least in the first movie, as I could see that their point was solid. With their gibberish, I could tolerate, though I do understand that adult audiences would find the choice pandering.

Well, you had the film's director, Pierre Coffin, to spend half the time gibbering incomprehensible languages, before developing the Spanish lingo later down the franchise.

For a first film of an inevitable franchise, it was pleasantly-okay with a plentiful of good laughs and decent heart. Its nothing special or that groundbreaking but an enjoyable flick for families. Would I label it as "just a kid's film" to shut them up? In some regards, perhaps, but that would be deprecating it so. While it didn't win the Oscar, losing it towards Toy Story 3, it managed to earn quite the media attention and its own spot in Universal Studios. While also spawning a great following with memes, it became one of the most beloved films alike.

What more can I say but show my appreciation for its first attmept?

Final Rating: 7/10

#zelshadedreviews #illumination #illumination marathon #despicable me #despicable me review

So I’m going to be frank, I’ll never do a whole review analysis of Steven Universe as it’ll take far too long.

So have this as a substitute.

Show: 7.5/10

Movie: 6/10

Future 9/10

That is all

#zelshadedreviews #steven universe #steven universe review

How to wrap up the original trilogy in not the greatest but most satisfying manner; this is the grand finale that I remember loving when I was younger and placing it as my favourite one. Returning to this flick, do I really share the same thoughts?

Set to retrieve Han’s frozen body, Luke sends over Threepio and Artoo to the crime lord, Jabba the Hutt, for a trade bargain, while Leia sneaks in to save him. Unfortunately, both Luke and Leia are caught and fight back against Jabba and his minions.

Then, we are thrown into what was the main story where Luke returns to Yoda in order to complete his training, before bringing himself to his established father. He’s then brought to the boss of bosses, Emperor Palpatine, who forces Luke to witness the return of the Death Star thats standing as an impossible fight against his friends. Leia, Han and the gang land in Endor to infiltrate a base that is protecting the second Death Star so that they can put a stop to it all over again.

I’ll get this right of the way that I found this instalment to be the weakest out of the trilogy. Before you come at me with lightsabers, hear me out as I admit that I did actually enjoy the feature, just that it missed one element that the first two had.

This would be the story layout as the film crams in a ton of focus over the course of the first act. We spend way too much time on the rescue in Jabba’s palace, where it went on for about forty minutes. After two monster fights with one after the other, you can insert Monty Python’s transition, ‘and now for something completely different’. The rescue mission was fun at least with some charming puppetry and a few humorous scenes ranging from intentional to ironic. I still find myself chuckling to Boba Fett’s embarrassing defeat and one of the minions mourning over the Rancor.

It’s not as drawn-out or at all painful like the casino segment from The Last Jedi.

With the rest of the story, it’s mainly good but baring some drawbacks here and there. What I felt was the strongest progression in these movies was Luke’s story and arc. Luke is brought towards the Empire once again but is faced with ironically a bigger threat than Vader, which would be the Emperor. After hearing from Obi-Wan’s back-story about his father, Luke attempts to converse with him and find the good side he once had. This is a great inclusion as normally I find it tiresome to attempting to redeem the villain, but here, the material was right there and functioned properly. Luke’s dynamic with Vader and the Dark Side were done differently than the predecessor, since there were words used before action; from the reveal, this continued where it left off and having both father and son forced to meet together, one good and the other evil.

Once again, the act of good vs. evil is perfectly represented in this sequel, going down a different approach.

This movie ends on a good note however, as after all the struggles and deaths, good has conquered evil, with Luke emerging victoriously. However, they show the other perspective of how someone from one side can be wrongly dwelled into the other, greatly-displayed with Vader saving his own son and seeing him for the very first and last time. I admired how the movie wrapped up with a nice little celebration from the Ewoks, Luke seeing the deceased couple of mentors and his father along with ending at that scene where they’re all standing together in both joy and peace.

The rest of the story arcs were fine as they were but some could have allowed room for improvement. I’ve said my part on the whole Jabba segment, so the rest to unfold were the infiltration on Endor and another battle across the Death Star, but are they that superior? The race across Endor with a drawn-out chase sequence allowed room for another alien race that Lucas really wanted to merchandise; these being the Ewoks.

Now, those little teddy bears can be seen in two different views with some calling them cute and the others proving the point that they were to sell toys. Honestly, both are right; while their scenes do drag, the Ewoks’ designs are adorable while being nicely-performed, but were they really the strongest idea for an additional race? They definitely thought so since that the final battle against the Empire included spear-wielding teddies against the soldiers. This had a decent nature vs. machine conflict but all-in-all, the Wookiee’s would have been a superior choice. In fact, if Jabba was situated in Endor and enslaved the Ewoks, then I would have given them more credit.

They were that famous enough to earn their own spin-off movies and cartoon series.

As for the climax across the Death Star, it was overall a fine space fight with Lando stealing the spotlight, but it honestly felt like a near-retread of the first film. It felt that this was Lando’s time to shine ever since his betrayal spiralled out of control from before, but it wasn’t exactly the first movie’s climax on the other hand.

But hey, how about that twist with Luke and Leia as siblings? That really made you widen your eyes in hindsight of their kissing scenes, did that not? Han's reaction prettcy much said it all. If you ask me, the whole twist was a last-minute inclusion that didn’t really change that much, but in reality, remembering that both of them kissed each-other on the lips actually unsettles me a tad.

The acting was once again fantastic with each giving their roles all they had, nothing different or at all badly-delivered. The one actor that stood out and made his first official appearance than the holograph was Ian McDiarmid as The Emperor, who's the true and forceful threat of the entire franchise. What I really love about The Emperor was how his looks didn’t contradict with his role; you are looking at a frail skeletal man, but he had such a demeaning authority over the Empire and even its leader, Darth Vader. Seeing Vader take a back-seat towards his own master added a new layer of how the biggest of threats were minuscule to another. McDiarmid really aced the growling and frail voice of his character, where he was hamming it up on a few occasions, but sounded that he owned that role. Seeing him as the observing scales that weighed both Luke and Vader made his scenes the more intriguing to watch every time.

I praised the heck out of the franchise’s puppetry in their movies, where I think that this movie had the best models. With their inclusions, they were what kept me engaged in the rescue mission since there was quite a lot to admire. After all that build-up, we finally get to see what Jabba the Hutt really looked like upfront. Alongside The Emperor, Jabba’s scenes were amazing to watch as this character had such a compelling presence across the first act; a giant conniving worm who takes pleasure in the suffering of his enemies and even slaves. The fact that they had three members inside the costume, plus a little one to operate the tail, still impresses me to this day.

I mean, it’s a godsend compared to how Lucas botched him up in computer animation.

The other aliens had their own scenes as basic guards, with one little annoying gremlin constantly gibbering in his scenes. The slow but hulking Rancor, even though I felt could have been trimmed from the movie, still looks intimidating and the Scarlac added some threat, despite its limited appearances. I’ve said my part about the Ewoks that they do look cute and passable to entertain little children, but that’s their main purpose all-in-all. Their fight against the Walkers was admittedly fun with them working around the impressive stop-motion, along with the classic failing antics.

Surely, they can’t maintain that ending and prolong their peace, for we have the sequels to unfold and their painful prequels as well. I’ll see if they’re worthy to continue the legacy of the emperor of science-fiction space dramas.

Final Rating: C

7/10

#zelshadedreviews #star wars #star wars review #star wars return of the jedi #star wars return of the jedi review

A humongous majority of the fans vote this to be the best movie out of the franchise, so at the sake of being unoriginal, I have to agree. Sequels normally have a reputation for not capturing the same essence of the first one, but not only did this do the correct way, it continued the story and upped the stakes.

After the Death Star’s destruction, the Empire still push on, where they attempt seek out Leia and the Rebel Alliance. However, it turns out that they’re merely bait to lure in Luke since Darth Vader plans to turn him over to the dark side of the Force. Han and the gang escape and try to circle the Empire while Luke is told by a vision of Obi-Wan to meet an old Jedi Master called Yoda at an abandoned planet. From there, Luke can eventually begin his training and not fall victim towards the dark side.

This what I would back up on and fight that this is a sequel done not only right but even better than the first movie. The previous one was a solid start towards the franchise, where this sequel improved on various aspects, such as the story, characters, chemistry, atmosphere and pretty much everything else.

What I love in this movie was how the story was improved in a darker and more serious way, involving Luke and his trial with the Force. The Force itself is kept in a mystery like how it was built up, yet still had an important presence amongst the movie’s duration, displaying an act of how could use it for good or evil.

The main conflict is once again a “good vs. evil” trope with the Rebels against the Empire, resulting in a conclusion that signifies the bond between Luke and Vader. We know the universally-iconic line, as well as various parodies that quote it, and it still feels like new every time.

I’ll also note down the movie’s ending was both engaging and yet interesting, as this didn’t end up with a happy ceremony like the first and then the third ones had; instead, the heroes actually lose in this movie after all their effort to stay safe and vigilant. This was all leading towards the conclusion in the third movie, as this, like the first one, doesn’t wrap up the events but prolonged the impact that these characters lost the battle, but eventually not the war.

Another element that I feel the movie handled stronger then before were the special-effects, mostly with plenty more space battles shown throughout. They’re still impressive to this day, where I felt they had more freedom. An example would be an incredible battle between the Rebels and the AT-AT, shown as four-legged weapons in stop-motion, which to this day, still had that timeless and fantastic charm. Seeing Luke scale around them and climbing up the final one still felt that Mark Hamill was there performing those stunts. There’s more scenes with the Falcon battling and fleeing the Imperial ships and surge through an asteroid field displayed an important aspect that the first movie had while extending them. Even the planets, like Tatooine, still looked interesting with their layouts, such as the dangerously-cold Hoth and murky snake-filled Dagobah.

What I disliked about Luke to begin with only in the first act of the previous movie was how he started off as the typical whiny individual; well, what this sequel executed was character progression, showing how Luke improves as a pilot and fighter for the Rebels. The main hero is given a new battle to not fight but control which would be the Force, struggling to conceal and combine, while resisting the temptation of the nasty effects. This movie and its story revolving around him I personally felt had Luke’s greatest appearance. However, Luke doesn’t excel through the movie as perfect as ever, since he makes faults along the way, but it’s the way this character grows and learn that makes him the more compelling.

While in the first movie, Vader mainly stood still in his scenes but his presence was grand; here, his scenes and motivations are greatly expanded with Vader evolving into one of the greatest villains of all time. Vader had a great combination of patience and sheer anger, allowing to take his time with his pursuit, but showing that he’s one to never mess with. Due to Tarkin’s absence in this, nothing could resist Vader from murdering his own staff if they fail to please him.

Vader’s actions are increased with all the freedom he could desire, as he’s constantly in hot pursuit, meeting the heroes when they least expect it. His dynamic and connection with Luke becomes as strong as the Force, his superior power menacing his mindset and creating impressive build-up towards their duel. When we finally get to the fight between the hero and the villain, it adds perfect suspense with the latter becoming the slower and yet stronger side, barely having to move so much.

We also get to see more of the side-characters from before and meet some new ones along the way. Han and Leia try to keep their ground and resist being captured, but then the two slowly start to share feelings for each-other. When I came back to this subplot, it had the premise which I’m not a fan of but a solid direction. I’ll get this out of the way that I’m not a fan of the romantic trope where the couple argue with one another and then fall in love; Han and Leia, like from before, continue to bicker about their mannerisms but later on, soon see that they actually have more in common. I saw a nice connection with these two, as the more they clashed, you see how alike they can be and that their brash personalities feature more towards them that they expected. Once again, they do bicker about their flaws and decisions, but never to the point where they show hatred. I was honestly impressed of their decent chemistry, where at first, I wasn’t a fan of this arc.

Luke meets the old and retired Jedi, Yoda, shown as a little green gremlin who starts off as a hermit with a kooky personality, before we see an established role. Yoda reveals his story and begins to train Luke on how to use the Force and resist any negative traits one would suffer. I’ll say it right now that Yoda has been my favourite character in this movie, where I can watch a whole collection of just the scenes of him interacting with Luke. He explains the importance of the Force, echoing the true powers, and other personal topics of how Luke should continue without failure and how war never truly makes a hero. With the distinct voice of Frank Oz, he was able to convey an eccentric yet impactful character.

Essentially, you are looking at a puppet but it’s the way they conveyed such an important character that revolves around him more than a sock, but a character. This was how I viewed the Muppet movies a while back and felt generally convinced that they felt like actual characters, not products. This was all thanks towards the incredible work of Jim Henson.

Other characters show up in their own respective screen time and do a decent job; Chewbacca continues to help Han but what I like was how he doesn’t view him as a partner but an important friend, showing general concern when he’s captured. Threepio and Artoo serve as the comic relief with the former actually getting dumped on such as the characters resorting to turn him off and having to carry his broken body. I like how annoying characters who think they have as much importance to the story end up constantly getting ignored. It adds a somewhat satisfying change since he’s the one to always spurt out verbal insults.

Lando Calrissian, played by Billy Dee Williams, serves as Han’s old friend, where he formally owned the Millennium Falcon; his main role was to offer sanctuary, only to turn the heroes in to Vader at the sake of rescuing his people, only to see the horrible turn of events. Admittedly, I felt his arc was easily-bypassed but that’s merely leading towards the events to the third one, where he goes to redeem himself. We also get to see a new villain, the Emperor, whose secluded in a hologram in order to build up towards the official reveal.

Another antagonist is introduced, this one being the bounty hunter, Boba Fett, who assists Vader in capturing Han. He mainly gets one to two lines of dialogue, but somehow he received a ton of popularity from longtime fans. Ironically, but his first appearance was an incredibly-infamous holiday special.

I never get tired of people placing it on any top ten lists involving sequels, where I see the impact and importance. If you’re still a fan of the first movie, then I’d check this one out, but who am I kidding; you’ve probably seen this before and share the same opinion.

Final Rating: A

10/10

#zelshadedreviews #star wars #star wars review #star wars the empire strikes back #star wars the empire strikes back review

Happy Star Wars Day everyone and May the Fourth be will you. So it’s normal that I should make a themed marathon when a certain franchise comes to mind; well, I’m going to review primarily the original Star Wars movies. However, as much as I prefer the original trilogy, I am going to have this as a three-part marathon. That means no prequels despite how they're guilty pleasures or sequel trilogies as to me, they're never canon.

It’s going to be a chill May marathon to talk about the Star Wars franchise and how one man named George Lucas spawned it before one mouse and his studio got their grubby paws on the ownership. This trilogy is known as the pinnacle of the science fiction genre, hailed as some of the greatest movies of all time. Even before Disney claimed the franchise, Star Wars received quite the handful of media and merchandise ranging from countless toys, printed media and television shows.

I’ll be reviewing the original cut from my DVD's and not the Special Editions that you can find on Disney+.

Here we go with the movie that started it all. Star Wars has been through decades with its countless stories of a long time ago in a galaxy far far away. This is what people call the epitome of science-fiction movies, with the first one forwarding the legacy; this wasn’t the first sci-fi movie but definitely showed what one movie could do to add towards the genre. Back in 1977, this was incredibly groundbreaking and gathered all of the praise from critics and audiences both young and old.

Set in the galaxy, the dastardly Empire develops plans for a powerful space station called the Death Star that can wipe out an entire planet. The princess spy, Leia, whose part of a Rebellion finds the Death Star’s only weakness and inserts the plans into the droid, R2-D2. Accompanied by another called C-3PO, both droids are sent to a planet in order to find an old ally called Obi-Wan Kenobi, but are picked up by a young farm boy, Luke Skywalker. Suddenly, he finds himself roped into the events where he and the droids find Obi-Wan and recruit the help of a wanted pilot so that they can save Leia and put an end to the Death Star.

This I would call a good way to kick things off, where I see why this is widely-considered to be one of the greatest films ever made. However, I don’t personally think it’s phenomenal or devoid of flaws, let alone nitpicks. Don’t get me wrong as this is a classic by any means. For one of the earliest sci-fi’s, this had a basic and yet memorable story with a ton of appeal. Following the normal three-act structure, this was on the same level as fantasy films like Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter by introducing the concept, premise and motivations all in the first movie.

As customary, this movie begins in a solid manner where it’s meant to set up the premise and feature more of its world-building and character development in the sequels. This furthered the science-fiction genre with everything you probably loved as a kid with laser shootings, aliens, spaceships and more.

This includes a mysterious power known as the Force that’s conjured by anyone who believes. This can be seen either way as a power or a religion, treated as a source of hidden senses and mind-control and playing a huge involvement in some small parts. With how the story established the world-building and it’s lore, the Force is vaguely explained and displayed only when it was needed, such as Luke in his training or the final battle.

The plot isn’t without its holes from the Empire’s perspective as they very clearly shoot themselves in the feet from the beginning. We’ve heard it all like how they unintentionally allowed the droids to leave, their soldiers make very poor choices and the fact that their station had one design flaw. There’s many assumptions to having a device similar to Bowser’s button to a pool of lava in his own lair, where several movies later, it would be addressed later on. As controversial these plot devices can be, they don’t get in the way of making this movie bad through the entire time. I’d say that it gives the movie more depth to its premise, as one can say that the Empire was far too overly-confident with their plans that resulted in complete loss.

The effects do look dated but I will fight anyone who denounces them as cheap-looking in comparison towards computer effects; for the time they were released, these little spaceships soured through the audiences and amazed them, and nowadays, they have that charming look to them. The scenes with the lightsabers and space battles may be slow with the former often repetitive in the climax, but they had the essence of fun-filled swashbuckling and laser-filled dogfights.

The laser effects on their weapons were done through rotoscoping, where you could have the argument that they improved decades later, but still looked nonetheless. There may have been a few errors during the scene where Obi-Wan and Vader battle but who's to say that they’re terrible?

Honestly, I feel anyone who calls them terrible is just undermining the production value.

The costumes and puppetry gain my interests, where today I am still impressed by the looks of each rogue alien and monster in the bar segment with their bulbous heads and inhumane teeth, but I favour the effects of Chewbacca’s face. Each of the designs have that charming aesthetic towards them; Artoo and Threepio have those classic and charming look, with the golden android and a three-legged garbage can, the latter inspired by the designs of Huey, Dewey and Louie from Silent Runnings, not DuckTales.

Darth Vader had a pitch-black suit of armour that stood out in each room of light and bared as much intimidation as the look of the helmet. You don’t see any of the wielder’s face, but instead staring at a metallic combination of a gas mask and samurai helmet. I honestly still adore the villain’s look, completed with cape.

The look of Tatooine in the the first act looked appealing for the most part; they made a boring dried-up desert that interesting with the hostile raiders and adorable scrap-salesman, along by showing my favourite scene with the double sunset. The scenes in space, like with A Space Odyssey, I felt still hold up with a cruise through the soft atmosphere before kicking up the tension with a dogfight. The angle of how the Death Star revealed to the main characters was stuck in my mind, but what I really do appreciate was the overall design of the station, made out of cardboard and titanium.

In a nutshell, I appreciate the practical effects for having that timeless wonder rather than the digitalised versions in the other movies.

Call me old-fashioned but they had more life to them.

Did I also mention on the amazing score by legendary composer, John Williams, who captured each moment of soothing whimsy, stern tension, excitable action and a grand opening towards every single feature? For the sake of not being repetitive, I’m going to seclude my praise for his works mainly in this review, as his skills really paid off during the delivery of its musical appeal.

Alongside introducing a good attempt of a story, the movie features the characters that do begin slowly but soon progress near the end.

Luke Skywalker stands as the dreaming adventurer, who bares the old-fashioned trope of wanting to leave his home and pursue something more. You have seen this character done to death in millions of media but to the film’s credit, Luke progresses as the standard and likeable Jedi hero, even if he starts as the whiny type. Leia is the heroine who attempts to flee from the Empire by finding out the plans on how to stop them, refusing to tell anyone and their leader about her rebel base. Like Luke, she had the basic personality of a headstrong leader who would argue with anyone who had a strategy different, yet show a tad of sass during a confrontation.

With the two main leads across their mission, they meet new faces along the way that help them with their mission. Obi-Wan appears as the wise old sage to instruct Luke, baring a mystery and connection towards his past, and then there’s these two droids who take a huge chunk of the screen-time; Threepio is the impatient advisor throughout the feature who frequently takes his frustration out on the silent youngest, Artoo, where the two seemed to have to have a love-hate connection.

Han Solo is the delightfully-despicable pilot with a history of crimes, whose hired by Luke and Obi-Wan to help them in their mission. During their flight and jailbreak out of the Death Star, Han and Luke would frequently butt heads with each-other since the former only agreed to help for the money. It’s not long until the climax where Han returns to help Luke in his excursion of the Death Star. Then, there’s Chewbacca the Wookie, an alien full of fur, who joins Han as his co-pilot and trusted partner.

All of these characters I summed up are incredibly-decent with each having a role in this story, and would eventually show more of their pasts in the rest of their films. I can compare this to some first films of their franchises since those became their debut and then develop them along the way.

The one character to have an engaging establishment was Darth Vader, the villainous leader of the Empire who's at war with the Rebellion. I loved the focus on his dedicated screen-time, giving off a haunting and compelling presence as he tries to pick off one-by-one about the whereabouts of his sworn enemies. I also give liked his scenes with Grand Moff Tarkin, his commanding officer, who assists Vader with his plans while expressing his dominance, obliterating an innocent planet at one point.

The acting definitely had that late-seventies Flash Gordon corniness, especially from some of Mark Hamill’s delivery and Carrie Fisher’s attempt of a British accent; however, for throughout the feature, they do capture their roles and play them well. I felt Hamill did a great job as the new recruit, even if he starts as the typical Disney Princess.

Harrison Ford nailed the argumentative and slimy type, despite despising his character where at one point, snapped an expensive figurine in half. Alec Guinness, becoming a greater help towards the filming, aced as the old and friendly hermit with an aura of mysteriousness. James Earl Jones with a deepened and dominating tone of voice completely aced as Darth Vader, where his scenes of talking with the mains and his staff I actually enjoyed the most.

Well, what else can I say that hasn’t been said? While I don’t personally call it my favourite or see it as a flawless masterpiece, I still see it’s appeal from before and nowadays. It’s a great way to kick off the film’s events and I look forward to rewatching the follow-ups.

Final Rating: B

8/10

#zelshadedreviews #star wars #star wars episode iv: a new hope #star wars review

The very first feature-length movie based on a video game, while establishing itself as the beginning to a train of many bad and boring takes. After various rewrites of the original script and mishaps involving the cast, the film was released and became a big box office Bob-Omb; it earned so much hatred from mot only critics and fans, but even the cast themselves. However, to this day, this also gathered quite the cult following from its impact alone, where some call this a decent attempt at making a video game movie, let alone a Mario one.

We see in an 1990’s prologue with a Brooklyn narrator pondering what if dinosaurs actually found a world for themselves and are secretly living amongst us. A runaway mother leaves her baby child and a mysterious rock at a church while she tries to escape the presence of the main villain, President Koopa, who's after the very item. Years later, the Super Mario Bros. plumbers themselves, Mario and Luigi, run into a digging site ran by Daisy who desires to find the dinosaur bones. Daisy is then kidnapped by two of Koopa’s henchmen and pursued by Mario and Luigi who find themselves in a new dimension inhabited by people that have evolved from dinosaurs. It turns out that Koopa desires the rock that their lost princess, Daisy, wears around her neck so that he can complete the meteorite and make a gateway back to Brooklyn.

I loved watching this as a kid before hating on it later on due to its overall lack of faithulness towards the games. Even if it’s really loosely based around four to five classics, it brought the source material to life in its own fashion involving one element of Super Mario World, which would be dinosaurs. Its extraordinary to see the movie revolving around dinosaurs, but there was a cartoon where it’s all set in a caveman land so Dinosaur Land really became a huge influence towards the directors.

When I really analyse the story, I can tell that its basic yet a little confuddled half the time. It brought us an isekai premise where a majority of it was to bring us a maguffin stone in order to combine both dimensions both together. I would be questioning whether this was really the source material that the directors wanted to give us, but for its own story, its not a bad one, just plain and often boring in some areas. There's some aspects such as an de-evutlotion chamber to transform people into dinosaur henchmen, along with an extended climax that even squeezed itself into the real world; I wouldn't be surprised if the 2023 animated movie borrowed some inspiration from that.

Even as loosely based, there’s some nice references to the games such as their classic outfits, the idea of the former king transformed beforehand and a pipe chase. I also liked the inclusion of some enemies like the Bob-Omb as an explosive toy and the Banzai Bills as power-ups for the mechanical shoes.

Even if it’s a different concept, I liked the look of Dinohatten with its attention to detail to the classic enemies as neon signs while including dinosaurs as scavengers or even food. The special-effects are also good for the time but that would have to be its puppetry for the most part. I liked the look of the Goombas as horribly based they were from their mushroom counterparts, but they had some nice expression and towering physiques. Yoshi himself looked adorable with a nice shape and form while also featuring the extendable tongue at one point. As for its computer effects such as the dinosaur transformations and magical effects, they haven’t aged that well at all.

To see the old adventures of a side-scrolling jumping man in red fully engage in a mix between Blade Runner and Land of the Lost was a weird trip. This is something you’ll least expect to see in a movie all based around the Mario games, but to be fair, it’s not that bad of a concept if they were trying to go down the grittier approach. However, what really got in the way was its intention to be a film for children or not, as there’s some inappropriate imagery and sexual moments such as focusing on a woman’s cleavage all in some sleazy dinosaur strip club. If those weren’t dodgy, we see Koopa act so sensual when around Daisy and reveal a snake-like tongue that definitely didn’t need to be animated. This could be a result from their contrast between whether this movie was going to be an adventure for kids or a darker science-fiction for adults. Either way, there’s a large tonal shift.

This movie also tries to balance comedy and misses the mark completely as there’s very little to actually find entertaining. With the exception of the line delivery by Bob Hoskins and Dennis Hopper, much of the dialogue consist of quick dialogue and most of its comedy ends up butchered by the henchmen, who act as typical nineties minions. There’s also a small recurring joke near the end all to do with a pizza and I find myself confused by its inclusion. Though, if I’d be honest, I found the whole elevator sequence ironically enjoyable from how they just handled the scenes alone.

As much as some of the actors despised their roles, most did a great job as their characters. Bob Hoskins certainly pulled off the loud-spoken but kind-hearted Mario, where he honestly fitted the role for someone with no personality back then. John Leguizamo was a passable younger addition, but I couldn't help but wonder if they really hammered in on the wayward dreamer and wisecracker. When these two are both together, they felt like actual brothers with one helping the other while sharing some nice banter. That’s something I missed out on the many viewings beforehand.

The rest of the cast were fine but who overshadowed them was Dennis Hopper hamming it up as the soft-spoken diabolical leader who got a nice line here and there. Both Hopper and Hoskins later admitted to hating their roles with the latter calling it the worse film he’s ever starred in. This could be coming from the reckless nature of the directors who both didn’t know how to pull off the Mario games into movie form due to their lack of experience from playing them.

Looking back at its original ideas, I wondered if they managed to pull them off successfully. Some ranged from a classic adventure with the two raising a baby dinosaur to a grittier science-fiction version where Koopa is an Arnold Schwarzenegger lizard man with mutant turtle henchmen and a treacherous Toad. I doubted that the original idea would habe worked character-wise as upon rdading the script, they wrote Mario to be far too unlikable. Sadly, the original writers were fired and replaced with the same couple who gave us this. Admittedly, it would have be a tougher job to adapt the Super Mario franchise into a movie because where would they start off and squeeze that many worlds of story arcs? Calling this a good adaptation is unfair but I can give it credit for at least trying. At the end of the day, their intention was to give us the "real story" that the video game franchise would adapt afterwards, but to make a bold statement is probably knocking down on it a bit too much.

This movie ends on a cliffhanger but if you’re as infested in how it ends, then you can check out a webcomic that serves as a sequel. One of the writers for the movie teamed up with a comic book artist and together made a technically-canon sequel to this movie based around Super Mario Bros. 2. I would call this slightly better as it managed to feature more references such as Toad wearing armour similar to his mushroom cap and the Shy Guys as scrappers. If you’re a fan of the movie, then this would be worth checking out; http://www.smbthecomic.com/comic/page-1/

This I wouldn’t call a good execution of the franchise but I give it some brownie points for being different. I don’t dislike it as much as I did before.

Final Rating: D

5/10

#zelshadedreviews #super mario bros movie #super mario bros

Surprisingly, but 1993's Super Mario movie wasn’t the very first video game adaptation, where that place was taken by an hour-long Japanese anime film. This was worked on by Grouper Productions that collaborated with Nintendo, both coming up with an original video animation. It had a few releases in Japan back in 1986, before coming out on tape. As of today, there's no official English dub, besides a few fan-made collaborations on YouTube.

The story is as basic as the original game, since this was made before the second instalment; Mario meets Princess Peach in his living room, witnessing King Bowser kidnapping her in order for the two to marry. He and his brother, Luigi, enter the Mushroom Kingdom with the help of a weird dog and are sent to find three power-ups to defeat Bowser.

While it’s a faithful adaptation and stuck that close to the game, it’s also an hour of craziness. There’s one part where Luigi eats mushrooms and gets mood swings and Bowser can shape shift into anything but with little impact. The world also raises a lot of questions such as there’s a random Las Vegas lookalike that Luigi rapidly plunders for gold coins. The residents also have that confusing state where the Toads were previously transformed into coins where Luigi tries to bag all of them throughout the entire flick, while baby Paratroopers are featured as shell-less birds. None of these makes sense at all; I can tolerate blowing air into a broken sail of a ship in order to fly, but some really do take the cake. Perhaps this was to give us a taste on how extraordinary the Super Mario Bros. Super Show could be.

I mean, the Koopa’s even have religious ritual so I guess that’s some attempt of world-building in this extraordinary land.

The world also has blocks that spit out product placement as Mario and Luigi take a break to eat some ramen noodles with their images on the cup. I would have been okay with that but then Mario seals the deal by winking.

What didn’t settle for me was the ending as it felt like a giant middle finger towards Mario. It turns out that the dog was the Mushroom Kingdom's prince who was already betrothed to Peach, which was weird considering he shared the last name, Toadstool. Mario doesn’t even get anything in return from this, aside from Peach hoping that he wouldn’t be upset and yet he wishes them a happy wedding. It’s a cop-out, indeed, which also contradicts Peach’s wishes for Mario to rescue him, so all this time, he was pretty much a pawn in this.

All-in-all, despite the shere nonsensical elements within the Mushroom Kingdom, I feel they do add to the zany charm of the world, where they tried to make this as Wonderland as possible. For the most part, they almost got them right. It’s animation had the charm of the old eighties budget and bring the weird ideas to live with how bouncy and bubbly they become. The colours they had were fine, but I’m still confused on why they made Luigi’s outfit blue instead of green.

Like the overall plot or if it even had one, the characters were as basic as ever since the first game didn’t allow any time for character development; Mario is the determined heroic everyman who vows to rescue the damsel, while Luigi has a strange obsession of digging for gold, making me wonder if this inspired Wario. Throughout the adventure, he constantly digs for coins in order to get a reward out of this, where he takes it way too seriously since he prefers to do so rather than help Mario rescue Peach.

King Bowser is the big baddy who wants to marry Peach but has his soft side where he at least tries to reason with her. Then there’s the old wise sage who grants the Mario brothers their quest and sends a cartooney Wiggler dog to aid them and become the animal sidekick.

This has a few independent dubs, where one I honestly recommend watching it due its incredibly corny execution. It was so bad that it’s actually hilarious to listen to. Most of the voices ranged from ironically enjoyable, basic to horrible. Luigi’s voice was okay and at least closer to his deeper accent in the games and Bowser somewhat had effort like a big bully character such as Pete from Goof Troop. Mario sounded a little too off on the other hand, but if I would have to pick my favourites, it’s the incredibly laid-back tones from the Goombas.

No joke, but there's these two Goomba's that stalk the Mario Bros. throughout the movie and talk in such chilled voices that you wouldn’t even think that they're voicing these chosen enemies. Whenever I see Goomba's, I imagined they'd have gremlin voices, only to get two stoner roommates. Its not a bad aspect but something so odd yet iconic at the same time.

If you do plan to watch this, I give you my fullest caution to turn your headphones down since Peach’s voice was ever so piercing. They really went that far with the high-pitched tone of Peach, where I swore the person they hired was way too close to the recording microphone. I had to lower down my volume in every scene she was in. There’s even a really annoying Lakitu with an incredibly obnoxious voice where he also caused me the same aggravation.

The dubbing’s placement however is incredibly flawed since they would show it when the characters weren’t talking. Take the scenes with the Paratrooper mother on one hand where her beak clearly showed never to move and yet they gave her a voice. The songs and music in the backgrounds were a nice attempt such as the Japanese theme to Mario and the inclusion of the soundtrack, but briefly, they had to cut them off for unknown reasons.

The worst one was for the Prince as his voice sounded that they just roped in someone who had no idea what he was doing and then read the script from first glance.

I'll give the OVA this that it managed to foreshadow quite a few elements and features that would appear in future games: Bowser wishes to marry Peach; the Wiggler appearance of the dog form; the royal already turned into an animal; Mario wearing a sombrero; in fact, that famous tail swing towards Bowser spawned from this movie. So, it is impressive that the OVA supposedly inspired the franchise, where if you really think about, some of its plot elements were carried into Illumination's 2023 adaptation.

So overall, I admit that this film is actually a weird but solid attempt what it is and has the spirit of the classic. It could have used a lot of polishing with the voices, but they kept me mostly entertained.

Final Rating: C-

6/10

#zelshadedreviews #super mario bros #super mario bros ova #Super Mario Bros.: The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach!

When you really think about it, Day of the Dead doesn't have as many specials compared to Christmas, Halloween or Easter; we have this and another, namely The Book of Life. Well, Pixar gave us a smashing masterpiece of the holiday, giving us their own portrayal on the mix; when this came out, it received critical acclaim, even winning an Oscar. It also got lots of recognition, namely its whole spot in Epcot's Mexico pavilion, a bonus segment in Fantasmic and even a sequel in development.

I wished its marketing was as kind since Disney really screwed the pooch by trademarking the phrase as well as forcing out an extended Olaf short in cinemas.

Another topic that sparked disputes were its familiarity to The Book of Life, which were incredibly far-fetched to even begin with. What was wrong with having another film of the same holiday? No-one commented on the Christmas flicks so what gives?

The film begins with a prologue of how a musician left his wife and child in order to pursue his dream, so she proposed a strict ban of music and became a cobbler. This ban carried on for generations in the Rivera family, where the focus shifts on the young Miguel, who loves music but hides his fondness from his superiors. Miguel discovers that his ancestor was the famous singer, Ernesto de la Cruz, and he’s found out by his family before leavinv after a disagreement. On the very holiday, Miguel steals Ernesto's prized guitar but is turned into a ghost as punishment. Miguel then meets his deceased family who take him to the Land of the Dead, but he chooses to unite with Ernesto. On the way, he’s joined by a conniving skeleton called Héctor who also wants to return to the living land.

This had the predictable story which I’m sure you’ve seen before where the main character is refused to do one activity, but to the film’s credit, it’s only a small subplot. What’s the main theme of this was the importance of family and remembering them after the death. It doesn’t sugarcoat the fates for those who have been forgotten, but rather dealt in a slow and mature manner. The ending itself breaks me into tears every viewing with the way they conveyed the song of reminiscing loved ones and wrapping up with a sentimental and satisfying bang. Seeing Miguel sing to Mama Coco and Héctor wearing shoes upon his approach always give me chills on how much these characters achieved.

While the story had a few goals to achieve such as meeting your ancestor, remembering your fallen members and overcoming a generation-long ban, they intertwine with each-other, adding more layers to the story. This was where I felt some movies like Ratatouille had several stories where some were inferior the main plot, but Coco surprisingly balanced them. You've got to follow and understand more about these characters and their motivations, where in my first viewing, this story kept me guessing.

This isn’t what I would call a musical but the songs alone were amazing to listen to; Remember Me had an interesting change of personality from an upbeat signature song to an emotional serenading farewell: Un Poco Loco served as a great way for Miguel to overcome his stage fright: then, La Llorana executed as the return to singing along with it belonging in a comedic premise of stage-crashing. I also liked the short song as a resident's final request was Everyone Knows Juanita, baring a chuckle-worthy moment and a great sentimental ending.

Everything about the humans' designs, skeletons and the premise were all magnificent to watch, all having a sense of charm and charisma. All of the human characters had these expressive features, such as Miguel and his passionate grandmother, but whose design I loved the most was Mamá Coco’s; the detail of her wrinkles and feeble smile across her face always fascinated me with how limited yet wholesome she looked. According to the character supervisor, her facial details weren't modelled, but made of several layers that were added with a shader.

While the people were nicely-animated, the skeleton designs stole the show. Skeletons in animated form have always been a favourite aspect of mine, such as The Skeleton Dance, Corpse Bride and Jason and the Argonauts; they’re not for everyone which is understandable as by default, skeletons are scary. However, the bone people you see in this all had a certain charismatic look to them and didn’t at all look terrifying at all. It’s mainly due to their loose clothing and those cartoonish eyes in their sockets in order to have an innocent look and personality. Each had potential in their movements, both fast-paced and general walking, where they both entertained and amazed me. They also had that nice calming glowing aura whenever outside of the Land of the Dead.

Special mention goes towards the dog's design and amount of rubberhose animation due to his spindly form and variety of expressions. I couldn't express on how hilarious his movements were, especially before we see a twist that skyrocketed the clumsy moments.

I also adored the look of the Land of the Dead, where it’s featured to be an atmospheric city full of life and detail. It gave an amazing first impression with that one angle of Miguel across the bridge along with that wide angle of the city. It still remained as one of the parts I remembered saying “wow” from my cinema experience. The marigold bridge had such a phenomenal design that looked that it came from a fairy tale, which was a challenge for the animation team.

The city itself had that unique aesthetic with a tranquil yet colourful aura, which such fantastic detail. What I also loved was the traditional feel and their modern spin by including a custom border for when the people want to leave, which is such a subtle touch. Each angle from the pursuit through the crowds and escapes down alley ways, as well as hovering across by cable cars brought an appealing look. Another great addition was the inclusion of the spirit animals known as the Alebrije. They further expanded the colourful feeling to this premise.

We also get to see the place where forgotten residents go, presented as the gloomy slums that pose a huge opposite towards the city above. Even the village looked adequately-charming as it was made to look small in Miguel's scale, yet had a bustling atmosphere during its festival.

As gorgeous the animation and boundless the residents were, did the characters hold their own ground?

Let’s talk about the main character, Miguel, who I’d say is an accurate kid character with good but flawed intentions. From the beginning, you see how lovable Miguel was, such as having a deep love for his family despite their differences. What I mainly adore about this child were his conversations with Mamá Coco, who despite how frail she was, still enjoyed his company, while Miguel plays with her at times. Miguel’s also imperfect, where his rebellious nature lowered him to steal, but you understand where he’s coming from because he wants to achieve his dream. Anthony Gonzalez was just perfect to amp up the youthful voice, enphasing the accurate behaviour and cracking his voice during the immensely-emotional scenes.

When he’s on the run from his family, he’s joined by the con artist, Héctor, who desires to see his living daughter one last time. At first, I thought they were going to make him unlikable who would fall into the liar revealed cliche, which I really hate in movies. It’s no surprise that there’s a break-up part between the two. But, to my surprise, he ended up becoming a very relatable character who plays an important role in the story and I fully rooted for him. We do find out more than Héctor, where his antics were for a justified reason, while also how his past ended up haunting him in the future. I loved character arcs like these, where they start as the comic relief but ended up becoming as important as the main protagonist. Gael García Bernal's vocals were perfect on a man whose had suspicious history while underneath a likable tone.

Miguel’s family, dead or alive, each have that individual personality, such as the stern and bubbly types. The most complex members are both the matriarchs of each family, Abuelita and Mamá Imelda, who firmly refuses to allow music into the family.

Mamá Imelda is my favourite character from the movie, coming off as a stern and quick-tempered leader but showing how she’s she’s loving and caring about Miguel. When I first saw her destroying the computer with her boot, I knew I was going to love her. However, the moment she became an obstacle in pursuit of Miguel, it slightly surprised me but kept me engaged in the change of plot. When she revealed on how much she loved music back then, it brought a sensitive side to her, showing that she’s not completely hellbent with her opinion of music. Another part I liked was how she wouldn’t forgive Héctor so quickly, so more power to her. You can sense an enormous personality and history from the performance of Alanna Ubach, sounding like a woman who keeps stern appearances but having a hurt history.

She had her own spirit animal who takes the form of a flying jaguar called Pepita. Upon looking the transaction, the name is Spanish for nugget or seed; the fact that the tough-as-nails matriarch named her own Alebrije ‘Nugget’ is hilarious.

Then there’s the living grandmother, Abuelita, acting as the minor antagonist who acts overprotective towards Miguel’s exposure to music. You do see where she’s coming from, as she’s shown to have a mixture of both assertiveness and tough love. To me, she maybe acted a tad too unreasonable by breaking Miguel’s property, which was a scene I recall actually hating. However, she does learn a lesson at the end and that I can say redeems her.

I knew from the teaser trailer and the short that Dante would be a hilarious animal sidekick, and I was right; Dante is a Xoloitzcuintli, or Mexican Hairless Dog, where he acts as the comical companion and earns pretty much all of the laughs. It’s his expressions, lizard tongue and the way he moves that all hit home for me.

The family members, as brief as they were, still had some individual personalities. There's the loving parents, where the father clearly showed some disdain for Abuelita's controversial scene, but who I liked were the skeletons for their distinctive looks and love for Miguel.

When you down to him, Ernesto was a good attempt at a twist villain, mostly because they worked him into the story and connected with the characters. I wouldn’t go as far as saying he’s that memorable, but he worked, which was saying a lot for a few bad choices is a last-minute twist villain. From the start, he’s shown to be the inspirational idol of Miguel, where they eventually meet and become fast friends. From the third act, it’s revealed that Ernesto is a lying murderer who would go far as to get rid of Héctor and Miguel to increase and protect his legacy. From my first viewing, I didn’t see that coming, but with the few others times, there were some subtle hints such as his name never brought up to the late family.

Also, notice how he goes along with accepting Miguel as his descendant in order to save face, as back then, the news of illegitimacy would have ruined him.

If you haven’t seen this movie, go and watch it, then. I called it the perfect Pixar movie and one of my personal favourites. For now, Coco is certainly one of my favourite Pixar and animated movies in general.

Final Rating: A

9/10

#zelshadedreviews #pixar #pixar animation studios #pixar marathon #coco #coco review

Hope you've all had a wonderful time during the holidays. For something new, I decided to review all of the Christmas-themed movies and shorts that were made by director duo, Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass, both making Rankin/Bass Productions.

So, Rankin/Bass is rather interesting as they’re known for making several stop-motion movies mainly revolving around Christmas, many becoming some of America’s favourites. Starting from the sixties, the specials have been viewed through countless generations. Not only that but they've made an impact across the holidays with merchandise and parodies across media such as Elf, SpongeBob, South Park and many more.

While I can tell that a lot from America has grown up with these specials, I can't say the same; in case you don't know, I'm from over the pond in the United Kingdom, where I was lucky to have found them on reruns on Cartoon Network or Boomerang back in the day. Out of those I managed to see, they were Rudolph's Shiny New Year, The Wind in the Willows, Frosty's Winter Wonderland, The Last Unicorn and the Lord of the Rings specials.

However, those were rare occurances.

With some history of the studio, they would base their specials on classic songs with the screenplays by Romeo Muller. They focused on the same formula of the misfit protagonist bringing joy to a miserable situation, where the villain attempts to deter them, only to stop and normally reform by the end. In today's standards, many can agree that they're dated as heck, mostly due to their animation budget being so incredibly low along with the voices not matching the lip movement; this is due to the studio shipping their models to Japan, where various studios animated them.

So, in a way, you could label Rudolph and Frosty as anime.

I'm sure that these are also remembered for having an incredibly random point that normally doesn’t play any huge role in the story. However, from what I’ve seen, people watch them every year as there’s some charm to find in these classics.

Why not start here with the one that began the whole legacy of these stop-motion Christmas specials overall? When this came out in 1964, it was everywhere and then ranked amongst the greatest Christmas specials of all time. Making its 50th anniversary in 2014, it maintained its impact across the globe and ended up beloved by children and adults who got a chance to watch this back then and with newer generations during reruns. It received countless merchandise, made its mark on stamps, as well as spawn a few sequels and spin-offs.

A disclaimer which I’ll add that this was never part of my childhood at all, so I was probably not the right audience for this.

Based on the song we all know the lyrics to, Rudolph is a young fawn whose born with a red nose, which disturbs his father, Donner. He then becomes the laughing stock to all of the other reindeer. In another subplot, an elf called Hermey doesn’t want to make toys but become a dentist, so he chooses to run away after his boss criticises him. The two eventually meet up and become fast friends, before going on their own adventure while meeting some colourful characters along the way.

So, let me get this out of the way that I don’t dislike this special at all. In fact, I see how it’s a classic and why people have this as a special place in their hearts. This may not be a good first impression, but I’m not really a fan of this special, which is a shame because I really do want to love this to bits considering the impact and history this had. This is the first film where the subject Rankin-Bass comes up and I’ve heard that a lot of people had huge nostalgia over this.

I sadly do not.

The story mainly revolves around the typical misfit premise where two of them are shunned by society and find immediate friendship in between each-other. This is also followed up by involving more misfits that add towards their story, which isn't exactly a well-told one. Sometimes, it relies solely on inconveniences happening before other side-characters are either pushed away before they're suddenly brought back in. For example, there is a whole shift where Rudolph ditches his friends and then time passes where he is all grown up, but it never seems to effect any of the other characters.

I think what bothers me the most was the execution of the message overall. I don’t think it really holds up to this day, where its about I never judging a book by its cover, but it’s executed in such a weird manner. Basically, when Rudolph’s nose is exposed, all ridicule him and make a big deal out of it, which I find honestly far-fetched. Even more so, the other fawns still bully Rudolph when he returns as an adult, but once he finds a purpose, they then accept him. I know that the intention was harmless but this wasn’t the best way to tell it. I mean, they do apologise for misjudging him but then you have the dad saying that he knew that Rudolph’s nose would have been successful in the future and I didn’t buy that one bit.

I know that this may be a biased criticism but this special didn’t have the best way of handling it. Another line that could spark some controversy was Donner refusing the mother to join him, citing his duty as “man’s work”, which was a big product of the time, so let’s leave it at that.

It’s not just the animation where, of course, it’s dated in today’s standards but still bares that old-fashioned charm to it. Those background sets looked innocently-decent and it’s an overall pleasant experience to witness. We all know Rankin-Bass is known for its choppy animation, where they had to outsource the models to Japan, but still bared that devoted charm. Characters like Rudolph and Hermey are innocent enough while larger monsters like the Bumble was just horrifying with bulbous eyes and rows of teeth.

I mainly preferred the soundtrack over the aspects as the songs brought a nice aroma to its premise. The main song was a delight to listen to, Silver and Gold was calming and sweet, We Are Santa’s Elves was annoyingly-catchy, but my favourite would be We’re a Couple of Misfits for utilising it’s concept. Other songs mainly jumped out of nowhere but they’re overall harmless.

The characters are basic, one-dimensional figures and are what the fans remember and love; the main leads are Rudolph as the misjudged kid who wants a purpose as one of Santa’s reindeer, where the special really wants you to care for him. What makes this character work was the impressive voice work of Billie Mae Richards, adding an aroma of a sheltered, nervous child.

Along with Rudolph, there is Hermey the elf who wants to be a dentist so of course these two become fast friends. With him baring a chipper personality with slightly sassy moments, he works as a nice companion and focus of the story's main formula. He was voiced by Paul Soles, who would use this snarky voice work for the 1960's Spider-Man series.

Other characters include Clarice the standard love-interest, adding a gentler tone to console the rejected Rudolph. My personal favourite would be Yukon Cornelius the eccentric prospector with a high energy and a motive for silver and gold. Everytime he attempts to lick his pickaxe from screaming "YAHOOO" added a large element of joy, where you can tell that Larry Mann was having the time of his life voicing this rambunctious character.

I really loved Burl Ives as the snowman narrator, Sam, for having that welcoming presence and overall feeling like a grandfather telling children a story. He was a great choice at both telling the story of Rudolph's dilemma while softly singing the titular songs.

There’s also the misfit toys who look up to Rudolph as they all bare a minor fault in their form that are seen as anchors weighing them down. However, when looking back, I honestly don’t see half of them as proper “misfits”, such as the doll, spotted elephant, train with square wheels on the caboose and even a Charlie in the box. Many of them are seen as “improper” but their flaws can be easily overlooked, especially with those that can be changed within a second.

The main antagonist is revealed to be a disturbing-looking yeti called the Bumble who still creeps me out to this day from his overall design, but nothing could top that strained bellow. Eventually, the Bumble reforms, but there is a disturbing part that involves his lack of teeth by the end; without them, does that means he has to eat his food through a straw?

Then, there’s Santa Claus who’s actually an aloof douchebag in this short as he pretty much rebuffs everything. It’s interesting to see such a mean-spirited Santa where he criticises the elf chorus and even Rudolph’s nose, while not even standing up against the bullying, until it comes to fruition by the end.

Another character that I liked was the elf boss, who would become a meme at one point by screaming; “WHY WEREN’T YOU AT ELF PRACTISE?!”

Depends which version you’re watching, there were quite a few rebroadcasts of the special where the original ending was altered from the elf dropping presents to the misfit toys, due to viewers complaining that Santa Claus never kept his promise. I wasn’t sure if I was on board with this all the way through as while it’s nice to see that Santa had a heart, I recalled the bird toy lamenting that he couldn’t fly. However, in a comic book story, its revealed that the toy can glide. Also, it’s nice to see Yukon receive a satisfying conclusion rather than left as a lunatic.

I’ve also noticed that you never see the designs for Rudolph and Santa Claus in the rest of the Rankin-Bass movies, so I’m going to take a rough guess that they got themselves lost in the blizzard and were never found. In reality, they changed their animation style and overall character designs, some even getting lost in fires and few recovered and sold. I personally think it's for the best as I preferred Santa Claus in the successors rather than this one.

So, all in all, it’s not my thing and never will be, where I wasn’t sure if I would really label this as “overrated”. It didn't help that I never grew up with this special at all and only discovered it as an adult. However, I will totally understand why people do love this, as other perspectives intrigue me.

Personally, I think it's fine, even if I don't really like it as a whole; its soundtrack I preferred, plus some neat ideas and charm, but most of it fails for me.

What about you? Did you grow up with this movie? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

Final Rating: D

5/10

#zelshadedreviews #christmas marathon #rankin bass #rankin bass marathon #rudolph the red nosed reindeer #rudolph #rudolph rankin bass

Just how many generations is this franchise really going to go through in order to satisfy longtime fans or dodge bad test screenings audiences? With the second generation being a complete flop and their two movies not getting anywhere, Mattel decided to revamp their franchise yet again, going for a more up-to-date style with their dolls. From what I've seen, the doll line was met with lukewarm responses but is succeeding with sales.

To go along with the dolls, along came an ankmated series that was cancelled after two seasons, before Paramount eventually released an overdue live-action adapation. Well, third time's the charm, I suppose, but I wouldn't go that far in these regards. This was intended for a 2010 release, before it eventually found its time in 2022. This was directed by Tom Holland, who directed quite a few episodes of The Larry Sanders Show and Malcolm in the Middle, while giving us that feature-length Nintendo commercial, The Wizard.

So, like the 2016 reboots, this was intended to be a fresh newer perspective on the franchise, but a tad closer to the first generation. I will be comparing this to the better generation but attempt to see this under a different light.

Clawdeen Wolf is shunned by society because she's half werewolf and human, struggling to fit in, before she finds out Monster High that her mother attended. However, she soon faces problems that the school has a strict no-no towards half-human monsters and even witchcraft, which puts Clawdeen at a larger risk since she reverts back into a human state from anxiety. With Frankie and Draculaura at her side, Clawdeen attempts to seek out the remains of Dr. Jekyll's work in order to permanently turn her into a full werewolf, while hiding the study of magic underneath the faculty's noses.

I'd be real that this isn't a good take on the franchise as a whole and it seemed that I'm not alone as longtime fans voiced their disappointment over the entire feature. It's not the worst out of them as the second reboots have that distinction, but there were a lot of parts missing that made the original franchise likeable, harmless and progressive.

So, with a story like this, it was attempting to be a whole new remagined take on the classic formula with Clawdeen as the central character for once. This attempted to focus on identity, acceptance and belonging with peers, which the film may have had some intentions, but the executions were really lousy.

First, the whole idea that Clawdeen is half-human is baffling to begin with as aren't werewolves technically so due to the meaning of were is for man? My guess was that they wanted to make this change on her form in order to give the movie a shot at stakes, but then I kept on looking back at Ghouls Rule. For those who haven't seen Ghouls Rule, I do recommend it so as it focused way more on an actual half-boy half-Hyde monster who struggled to find his peers due to his background. While a Hyde is prominent, it makes the whole message of acceptance too confuddled with itself. First, the sentient school itself was crumbling as humans have entered the premises, before we see the eventual reason. Second, there's a whole villain twist where it involved the Hyde's son, shown as the real reason why the school was falling apart. By the end, Clawdeen is accepted as the principal clearly had to spell it out for baby viewers that she demonstrated a good monster heart and that made her belong at Monster High.

With the entire villain twist actually being a half-human this whole time and how the school was previously set to destroy, then wouldn't this make the rest of the class actually wary of Clawdeen's status? The story tried to have a balance on hearts, both good and bad, but by the end, it gave the school a really had spotlight. They hated humans but wouldn't Headmistress Bloodgood count as one, or even Frankie due to her being made of body parts of real people? It doesn't connect at all.

There was also the change of witchcraft being forbidden in the school, which I wasn't sure why it was thrown in there to begin as they barely focused on the matter. Apparently, vampires turning into bats didn't count, but I recalled magic as okay from before. In fact, wouldn't being the offspring of witches actually count as "a monster" or is the film just dumping on Harry Potter? Either way, it doesn't make sense, but a cliffhanger seemed to address it for a sequel.

The movie went for a live-action route and that is what you're going to see, as the cast members looked that they just decided to dress up for Halloween. I recalled the animated versions having some cool designs so why were we cheated and had to see basic makeup and very cheaply-made computer effects of Venom mouths and snake hair? Even Clawdeen's ears looked like Halloween accessories from the dollar store and didn't move with the character's emotions. When the guests arrived, save for Dracula and a Count Orlok-lookalike, the guests were just boring humans that are called "monsters" so obviously the movie couldn't put in any effort? What else makes a monster? Give a grown man a pair of horns and then call it a day.

The school itself was filmed in live-action settings and actual sets made for each scene, such as the graveyard. I supposed I can find some entertainment that they actually buried one of their actresses until her face was sticking out of the ground so that she can perform only two scenes. However, the school exterior looked fake, mainly having that backdrop you'd see in a Halloween ASMR YouTube video.

We do see some practical effects show up on the Hyde, but those only come in by the third act, where it tried to wrap its final battle up very quickly.

The movie is a musical and it doesn't let you off as these songs aren't even as memorable as Boo York's. With obvious auto tuning, the songs ranged from being the new student and not belonging, along with some dance moves to make this another version of Disney's Zombies. I managed to salvage more from the Descendants movies than this hokey soundtrack. One song in particular started with the clichéd and corny guitar before immediately deciding to become a rap.

Each song goes through one ear and out of the other just like a forced moment where Clawdeen leaves Monster High only to return almost immediately afterwards.

The humour also felt flat, having that prolonged silent pause in between dialogue, while the film suffers from forced attempt at jokes or corny monster puns. Sometimes, the delivery of said bad line delivery can offer some ironic entertainment such as a little girl whose allowed to hang out at a skate park with her mother, while not wearing any gear, say "doggy" when Clawdeen reveals her ears. One moment also had Ghoulia try to come off as spooky about the school's status before cackling in a painful high-pitched manner for failed impact. Moments like that are cringe but they made me smile.

So, with those out of the way, how are your favourite characters and do they hold up with their classic personalities? Well, I'll get this out of the way that Clawdeen's siblings are absent, Cleo and Deuce no longer date and Ghoulia actually talks English which takes her overall individuality away.

Clawdeen I've gotten out of the way where she's half-and-half, faltering her progression as either species, making her the driving point of this film. The goal for her was to become fully werewolf, but then she has a complete crisis that she'll be getting rid of her father's human identity, which made me think what does she really want?

Frankie is ironically the best aspect of the film for quite a few reasons. For starters, they made Frankie non-binary which made sense since the monster is constructed from different body parts alone such as Einstein's and Alan Turing's. The way they moved robotic-like and address people just showed that the actress, Ceci Balagot, had fun with this role as the fish out of water who doesn't know much about contact.

Draculaura on the other hand was given the worst treatment where she's no longer the bubbly and excited best friend, but the stoic loner that distances herself from the two mains. Eventually, she starts helping them while revealing her plans of witchcraft.

Other characters come and go, such as Deuce as the straight man to approach Clawdeen, Cleo as her old alpha bitch persona who softens up when the main saves her life and Lagoona having a weird change as the former's best friend and follower.

With The Book of Morman's Kyle Selig, he played Mr. Komos the standard cool teacher who teaches the students of the bad history with the Hyde. From the beginning, you can get a clue that he had something up his sleeve from his overly-nice persona and how he pretty much fuels Clawdeen in discovering the Hyde's secret base. By the end, he's the twist villain that takes the potion to turn himself fully Hyde, but then he doesn't exactly do anything that interesting in his pursuit to destroy Monster High. He reveals a power in absorbing monstrous abilities, but sucks up two and barely uses them so. Its just in a matter of minutes before he's defeated by the power of mobile phones and selfies. As boring and predictable his presence was, I can give Selig credit for trying, but I liked it more where he was transforming, his nice guy persona then shattered with growing aggression and increased vocal tones.

By the end, I wasn't finding anything to really express any sort of fondness for, besides a few good actors. Its overall a snore fest song-ridden waste that shouldn't be buried in the graveyard. The credits showed dedication from the actors but I wasn't feeling it. I acknowledged the sequel but guess I'll say that I never checked my phone more than lifting my eyes.

Final Rating: F

2/10

#zelshadedreviews #halloween marathon #monster high #monster high review #monster high marathon #monster high the movie #monster high the movie review

Thankfully, the last Monster High film from the second generation where it disappointedly ended on such a bad note. I praised the original franchise for having a shine of effort across each movie, while this felt hokey, rushed and incredibly convoluted. Gone was the effort that kept these movies alive, where this pretty much helped in destroying the line-up.

After the girls rescue a werewolf from the people, Clawdeen shares her dream to make a beauty saloon for both monsters and humans, so they offer to help. Frankie works on a powerful battery for a science project, before she gets severely electrified by lightning which grants her an ecstatic array of her abilities. This benefits Clawdeen by zapping her clothes to gain more colours, bringing her close to achieving her dream. The antagonist from the first film, Moanica, hears of their plans and chooses to steal the science project and work it into a machine so that it can bring endless fear towards humans.

This was a lacklustre and mundane plot that I didn’t know where to begin. I think I’ll start with the first problem that never received an answer which is admitting Moanica as a student in this sequel. Did the girls and Draculaura’s father just forgive and forget of Moanica’s plan to sabotage them from achieving their dreams and kidnapping someone as part of the goal? There’s no logical explanation for Moanica somehow established as a student at Monster High? It’s like they wanted us to assume that everyone just forgotten her evil plans and leave it at that. That’s just lazy story-writing and an excuse to reuse her as part as the sequel.

Clawdeen’s dream of running a saloon came out of nowhere as wasn’t it emphasised that she wanted to become a fashion designer? Was there supposed to be a connection between designing hair to clothes? One of the main characters wanted to achieve both by expressing her love her stylish clothing and then revealing that she wanted to open a place to design hair. I saw the fondness to make both, but Clawdeen has always shared a passion for designing clothes.

It’s even more baffling where Frankie can use her powers of lightning for a larger cause, but even so, she’s a daughter of Frankenstein’s Monster who gained life from the very substance. A burst of lightning made her God at this point and that’s not a silly exaggeration as she later on creates sentient life-forms from her static lack of control; her powers gave birth to an alien Minion-prototype that says nothing but “Znap” as you have to remember it’s his actual name.

All the while, I was thinking to myself if they understood the concepts of fashion-designing and physics from a stitched-up daughter of a classic monster whose fuelled by lightening. Obviously, they couldn’t even portray their characters that well, as while they portrayed Frankie as a genius, they made her too headstrong to the point of approaching the antagonist after hearing her plans without bringing any back-up. Other characters that were brought up ended up feeling by pointless additions, like Twyla, who I thought was going to be important from her nervous persona around crowds. The girls just used her as a mole to spy on Moanica’s plans.

The sequel couldn’t think up of a better villain or antagonist, but by rehashing the same one from the first one; the only difference was by giving her a bigger plan with very little thought put into it. Instead, Moanica wants to use Frankie’s battery and then the character herself in order to turn off all of the lights and bring fear towards the humans.

That’s it.

I remembered previous villains from the original and more superior franchise containing better plans and feeling relevant towards the movies. They couldn’t bring up a bigger threat like a Japanese kaiju or a mythological monster, but reuse the same Moanica and continue her goal to doing whatever towards humans. Basically, humans are nothing towards her and that’s all you have to understand. Above all, her plan doesn’t work all the way through as despite the rising of the undead and clear signs of vandalism, the people are brainless enough to see this as an ‘act’.

I didn’t know if I found any of this enjoyable or worth the watch, but if the makers were going to remind me over and over again that a group of monsters wanted to make a band, I would have lost hope from the start. I would call this the worst Monster High film I watched, where there’s very little thought or heart in this at all. Any positive thoughts were carried on from the first film, as I still liked those backgrounds and the animation during the parts of electrifying power. However, the least I had to laugh at those quick limb movements, the better off I was with seeing some ironic entertainment from these moronic displays.

Don’t bother with this movie, especially if you’re a Monster High fan. This was just an awful continuation to a reboot that didn’t have a point in existing. At least that had an essence, so where was this amounting towards?

Final Rating: F-

1/10

#zelshadedreviews #halloween marathon #monster high #monster high review #monster high marathon #monster high electrified #monster high electrified review #electrified #electrified review

Thought that my marathon of the Monster High movies were over and done with? Not long after the latest Monster High movie came out, Mattel decided to reboot the franchise as a whole with a new origin story and portrayal for each character. The first movie of the reboot was released around five months after Great Scarrier Reef, which was way too soon of a reboot. Apparently, this was made after complaints from parents who described the original designs as ‘too scary for little children’. Rather than sticking to their own beliefs instead of listening to parents and test screenings that are the worst critics during development, Mattel resorted to rebooting everything. This was their own way of telling the story of how Monster High came to be.

The movie starts us off with Draculaura and her father living at their castle and hiding from humans, but the young vampire wishes to make friends. She gets a visit from Frankie Stein who overheard her complaints in public and starts to live with her, much to her father’s worry. The two decide to turn their castle into a boarding school and sanctuary for all of the monsters, recruiting Clawdeen, Cleo and Lagoona with a magical portal map. Draculaura wishes to start a campaign for school presidents and announces to invite a human pop star to perform at their establishment. However, their last member to recruit is a zombie girl called Moanica who wishes to take over the human domain with her army of the undead.

Fans who have loved the original franchise for years will face disappointment with how the movie retcons everything from the original. Cleo and Deuce are no longer a couple in this, this starts from Draculaura’s point-of-view and Mistress Bloodgood isn’t the headmistress. Even your favourite side-characters are missing. I can visualise fans sharpening their pitch-forks and igniting their torches, but before you bombard me with those specific tools, I’ll say that I didn’t fully hate the movie as a whole. This was intended to be a revisioning of the original movies, but it doesn’t mean that I was on board with some of their decisions. I’ll try to review this as a movie on its own rather than a reboot.

The animation was brought to a newer and modernised style as clearly the originals looked like monsters from Hell; the designs they went with for this movie honestly caused me to feel uneasy from the first glances, mostly by how enlarged their eyes were. Draculaura and two other girls do those huge puppy eyes thrice, but nothing can be compared to the first time we meet Frankie; those eyes are so huge that it made me wonder whether the animators tried to copy these designs from the typical anime style. Her face is the very thumbnail of the YouTube video that featured this movie, so this wasn’t a healthy first impression.

Those backgrounds on the other hand were good by containing the spooky and Halloween vibes, where the graveyard looked at least serviceable. This was only when I didn’t have to bare witness to these stock doll designs running around and fighting like a Warner Bros. cartoon.

For starters, I liked how we get to see some of the beginning stages for the characters and the connection shared between each-other. My only thoughts of improvement were from how the animators explored the powers of the characters, such as turning Clawdeen into a wolf for extra speed and Frankie utilising her lightening more to her benefit. The characters have been given fresher personalities that are almost similar to how they acted from the original, but was it me or did they make Frankie have the same intelligence as Ghoulia? With a character already scrapped from the reboot, it looked that they inserted the computer smarts of this one zombie into the head of Frankie.

My biggest disappointment was not only the absence of Ghoulia, but then there’s no trace Clawd or his interactions with Draculaura, and then replacing Abbey with an actual yeti. My two favourite characters were gone from this reboot and replaced, which I wasn’t sure why did they have to butcher their own products like that. All other students that were creatively-designed are replaced by boring models like a gluttonous blue blob, a gremlin made of ice and two skeletons.

The new ghoul to perform as the antagonist was Moanica whose sole dedication was to take leadership of the humans. By default, she’s a very boring and pathetic villain, where she doesn’t do much but gloat and convince the students on how much of the failures the heroes turn out to be. Her biggest weapon was by voting herself as the school president, which doesn’t further her path into power at the end. Well, that’s what the sequel is there for.

Eventually, the plot attempted to squeeze out a message of ‘being yourself’, by showcasing a new character whose holding onto a secret from her fans. The twist regarding her was generic and predictable to me as I had a strong feeling that they were going to go somewhere with her immediate concern for the monsters. It’s how they played the execution by not feeling afraid of your true colours that contradicts the goal what they were achieving, which was to unite humans and monsters as one.

I don’t hate this movie, but it’s a very generic introduction to a franchise that didn’t have to exist in the first place.

Final Rating: E

3/10

#zelshadedreviews #halloween marathon #monster high #monster high review #monster high marathon #monster high welcome to monster high #monster high welcome to monster high review #welcome to monster high #welcome to monster high review

This was the last Monster High special of the first generation, focusing on the gill girl, Lagoona Blue, who refuses to partake in a dance recital due to stage fright, but decides to host a party instead. Upon the performance, Toralai notices her dancing behind the curtain and reveals her talents in front of the audience, which ends Lagoona becoming entangled and freezing, resulting in her becoming an internet meme. Lagoona attends her party but refuses Toralai an invitation, causing a row between the two of them. Toralai attempts to humiliate Lagoona once again but falls into the swimming pool that conveniently happens to start a whirlpool, dragging the two and other students in. This brings them to an underwater domain inhabited by merpeople, where Lagoona used to live, where they try to help her overcome stage fright.

This is similar to previous movies like Haunted and Freaky Fusion with the characters transforming into other beings and remaining as such for the duration of the movie. Could this be another marketing attempt by Mattel Your guess is as good as mine.

The story itself had more of a laidback tone and stakes include the insecurities of Lagoona and a secret villain that’s foreshadowed by the middle. I wasn’t sure why they had to give Lagoona a fear of stage fright, as she’s mainly portrayed as the chilled and easygoing type, so it could be any reason for them to turn into mermaids. I felt that this relied less on a constructive plot and more about the lore of mermaids and the ongoing threat, but they seemed pale in comparison to the characters adjusting to their new home.

A boring story to say at least, but the animation was astounding to watch. It could be a biased opinion as I love underwater physics, but I can’t help but stare in awe at the amount of colourful creativity these animators featured. The underwater mermaid town looked appealing and inviting, while containing a multitude of shimmering colours. The trenches were kept within shadows and subtle build-up to the film’s main antagonist by having small clues in the backgrounds. I liked the different designs of the mermaids, even though they were clearly made to sell toys, but I couldn’t ignore that they did have fun with each one. They’re all cleverly-made like Frankie as an electric eel, Draculaura as a vampire squid, Torelai as a lion fish, so I can’t fully fault the intention. They at least tried to be creative with each design instead of adding the default fish tail so there was thought.

Even though I felt that this didn’t need to focus on Lagoona, I at least appreciated on seeing a huge insecurity that she holds as a secret, nonetheless, and Gill’s interactions with her were sweet. The characters do their part as the supportive ‘ghoulfriends’, but to my surprise, they made Toralai relevant in the film; I acknowledged this character as just the one-dimensional mean girl stereotype whose just there to serve as a pathetic obstacle, but here, she actually stands up for Lagoona. She was the one to throw the first punch in the beginning, but when seeing her victim mocked by the antagonist, Toralai sees her actions as wrong and chooses to swim up towards her defence.

The sea goddess acted as the type to try and take things seriously and isn’t entirely reliable on her job, but I found her to be a basic run of the mill quirky girl. There’s also these sea horse mermaids who do nothing but squeak and giggle, so they’re there.

The antagonist, Kala, I wanted to fully feel sorry for as she’s shown under a bad spotlight with personal issues. It turns out that she’s the daughter of the Kraken, which makes her feel neglected from other inhabitants as they all have families that they love. Kala refuses to reveal who her father is because he is seen as a monster. Now, I do love this backstory as it can be realistic with other people in real-life standards, such as your parent being a member of the media, or a serial killer, which may instantly label you as the same, relating to the saying, “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”. It’s a horrible and unfair reality that some people can face and I am glad that this is brought up from the villain’s perspective.

I just hoped that it didn’t have to rely on Kala receiving a last-minute reformation, especially after she’s the cause of Lagoona’s insecurities, where she commits vandalism and attempted murder. Normally, I hate villain redemption stories similar to her’s, but the idea behind was intact. It wasn't a pretty sight to see Lagoona, the one that she scarred years ago, was forced to apologise towards her bully for scaring her.

I also hoped that there would have been a redemption from her friend, a two-headed mermaid that serves as an eavesdropper; one side was concerned and the other acted conniving, so surely the movie could have utilised both of them working together during the confrontation.

Think again.

For the last Monster High film, it was harmless enough until the end and had some fantastic animation, but I’d probably forget about the rest and its reliance on mermaid aspects.

Final Rating: E

4/10

#zelshadedreviews #halloween marathon #monster high #monster high review #monster high marathon #monster high great scarrier reef #monster high great scarrier reef review #great scarrier reef #great scarrier reef review

Ramses, the father of Cleo de Nile, invites his two daughters to a gala in Boo York so that they can be witnesses for an approaching Comet Crystal, where if one makes a wish underneath it, it'll come true. Cleo invites her friends and partner, Deuce, but is thrown into the middle of a plan by her father and sister to get her to end up with Seth, the son of another rich mummy family. That way, they can take over Boo York.

Folks, this was a waste of time for me as after hearing praise for this movie and it’s ambition, I was waiting for it to be over by the halftime point. Like with other instalments, I won’t lie that there was a heart and soul to write the story but the whole idea was baffling from start to end. Previous films had a main storyline and even two subplots, where one is important by the end. This had more subplots over the others, where Cleo tries to continue her relationship with Deuce, the father had a plan to take over the city, a struggling song writer looks for inspiration, Seth wants independence from his mother and other characters are brought in to remind yourself that they’re present. Above all of the various stories, there’s a comet that had an extended with its appearance, before the huge twist turned out to be an alien and that it was heading for disaster.

I’m fine with a movie that can handle it’s overabundance of storylines but this wasn’t a healthy sample; all of them never had that much of a stake and are concluded almost far too easily for their liking. After Seth shows who he really was behind his mask, it looked that the whole conflict reached an ending, but there were still twenty minutes left. What were they still going to throw in for the last remaining minutes? By adding in yet another blockage with Torelai to their road to victory and revealing that the whole time, this comet led to nothing but with an entirely-new perspective.

But, it doesn’t matter that much as the comet was just a way to undermine any sort of threat and the mother of Seth instantly just accepts him for who he is, end of.

The city of Boo York is pretty much the monster-invested counterpart to the Big Apple itself and while I wished for more creativity, it was nice to see the skyscrapers from long angles and bird’s-eye-views. I felt that they really worked well with the lights shown across the gleaming night, such as the characters dancing across the starry sky. The arrival and reveal of the comet, despite it being an anticlimactic ending, had a beautiful descent with lovely mixtures of blue and purple. This I can try to compare to Scaris where both were beautiful cities in the monster world, but I'd give way more credit towards the capital of France as that had detail and thought put into it. I wanted to really like Boo York as a city to visit, but there was very little work with, which I found incredibly disappointing.

One upgrade I will note down was the face design for Ramses; previously in Ghouls Rule, their budget wasn't enough to fully animate his face, only cover it behind shadowy bandages. Here, their quality improved, giving him full freedom with the way he moved his lips.

Cleo took the spotlight for the most part but is treated more as a tool for the father in order to get him to the big leagues. Her relationship with Deuce the gorgon I never really cared for from the very first time but I at least found their chemistry to be decent if not a little too formulaic with one leaving the other after humiliation.

The father’s plans were baffling to analyse as this wasn’t only an attempt to be allied with the other rich family, but from reaching a higher league, he can take over Boo York with his other daughter. I had to rewind a few times to take in his sudden dive into attempted city domination, all after an explained lore about the wishing comet. Couldn’t he just wish for the city, instead?

Characters included are the rich mummy boy, Seth, whose shown to be pushed by his mother to assume the title of her heritage and arrange a relationship with Cleo, but that he has a secret persona that only he knows. There’s Catty Noir the struggling werecat writer whose just as important to the movie, where she helps Seth come out of the shell that he wears as a helmet. Even Operetta is thrown into the mixture to remind you she's present.

Others are a moth girl looking to become a movie star while doing oddjobs after the other, as well as a mouse girl who acts as a guide across Boo York. Whenever they’re featured, I was reminding myself that they’re established side-characters, but then I had to remember that Toralei was another antagonist who only makes her move after Seth stands up to his mother and gains the love of his life.

Ghoulia and Abbey, my two favourite characters, appear in the background to uncover the mystery surrounding the comet and while they do their jobs well, they further are pushed away by the idiotic boys who think their satellite is a video game console. All this time, I was waiting for Abbey to freeze them.

Fun fact but Lagoona was intended to be part of the side cast, where she would find a mystery underneath the sewers that turned out to be a scared gigantic girl.

After the comet is revealed to contain an alien, known as Astranova, we make another discovery that she is contact with two characters from Ever After High, a sister franchise that follows the same footsteps as Monster High but with fairy tale characters. This led to a theory that whether Astranova was meant to be a symbol of a wishing star, but also towards an upcoming crossover between two franchises that sadly never saw the light of day.

The title clearly states that this movie is a musical and you’re going to get one; as someone who's neutral towards musicals, I preferred if songs were relevant towards the story and this honestly didn’t do a bad job of doing so. However, I wasn’t a fan of the characters clearly emphasising their feelings even after they share them, where an example would be melodramatically-hammy Deuce was when he had to dump Cleo. I normally hate these types of songs within musicals, but the rest of the songs were harmless enough. It ends on a song and dance number which is very predictable for its standards, so if you want to see your favourite characters sing, go on ahead and check it out.

I'd also note down that they had four singers for these: namely Jordyn Kane for Catty and the alien; Kelli Wakili for the introduced side-characters; Firoozeh Scott for both mummy daughters; then, there's Mansa Wakili for the male characters. All did a clmmendable job, but I questioned why did they change up Deuce's voice for his chnace to sing as hid sounded nothing alike.

I really didn’t like this movie but can see some small amounts of appeal that’s likely to resonate with fans of the franchise. It’s not my cup of tea.

Final Rating: F

2/10

#zelshadedreviews #halloween marathon #monster high #monster high review #monster high marathon #monster high boo york boo york #monster high boo york boo york review #boo york boo york #boo york boo york review

This primarily focuses on the ghost blogger, Spectra, who posts gossip across the school. Once going too far with her post of a fake rumour, she’s called out on it and is given a chance to get another story but reliable. Meanwhile, Draculaura experiences some helpful haunting around her and when Spectra is asked, she flees towards the ghost dimension, where some off the girls follow her. They then discover another school called Haunted High but for ghosts, residing in another dimension, where it’s ruled by a cruel and mysterious headmistress.

With every Monster High movie I watch, I somehow feel myself getting more intrigued into more of its world-building and other dimensions. Instead of travelling to neighbourhoods, islands or around the globe, the characters are transported towards another dimension, this becoming the school for spirit students. Within the confides of the school, there are themes of horrible authority and miscarriage of justice, where the headmistress poses a polar opposite to Bloodgood by unfairly punishing the students by giving them chains to work off. Not only that but there is an overlapping rumour believed by the ghosts that monsters from their dimensions are dangerous, all from the manipulation of the headmistress.

May I say that this was some of their finest animation yet, where both the apparitions and splendid backgrounds. Even if we journey across locations, we still get a great number of what they are and soak in the brilliant backgrounds; examples include a topsy-turvy haunted house that's Twyla's home, adding in some corridors and playing well into the storyline by giving these girls a way to change their forms. Instead of outright transporting to the school just like that, the girls first have to sail the gateway, replicating a magical gateway between life and death, mainly the River Styx in this context; the colourful and yet creepy atmosphere both made this transition a joy to watch, where every background was keeping me that engaged.

Then, there's Haunted High, presented as a more ghostly-white version of its monstrous counterpart, but not to the point where they reskinned the interior. From the outside, its exterior was covered in a violet hue, where we see the multitude of twisted, transporting bridges and coffin-shaped windows inside. Unlike standard benches across the floor in the creepateria, they float in the air in order to adjust to the ghosts' natural way of levitating. This was such a glorious school to look at where I spent more time looking at the backgrounds.

What really grabbed me were the designs done on the ghost students, adding a nice aura, before the ghouls eventually transformed into them, gaining chain-like accessories. During their first steps into the air, the execution gave some laughs where it emphasises on the way they try to float and move.

The spotlight is on the side-character, Spectra, who spends her time fleeing towards Haunted High, only to make matters worse when confronted by the head honcho. By the time she learns of the head's awful manipulation, she turns over a new leaf and begins to find anyway necessary to make things right. Alongside her are Rochelle who wanted to try put swimming at one point, Twyla with a gateway into ghosthood and Sirena to mess around though in a harmless manner.

I also liked the new character, Porter, for being the rebellious spray-painting type where he tries to help the girls and fall in love with Spectra. By the third act, there was this twist that involved betrayal but completely reverses it as a plan, giving the ghouls the opportunity to strike back. Alongside is Kiyomi Haunterly, a shy friend of Spectra, who haunts Draculaura in the beginning, which kickstarted the main storyline, before she tries to make amends.

Along the way, we meet new faces of the ghost world too, such as the bubbly daughter of the Reaper, River Styx, higher tone by Ashley Peterson. There's also the pirate ghost in-training, Vandala Doublooms, invading their ship as part of her lesson, before helping them out later on. Her exaggerated pirate slang was captured by Haviland Stillwell.

The villain was one of the franchise's darkest, both a force from before and even throughout the film. Here, she's Principal Revenant, the no-nonsense founder of Haunted High, who poses a legitimate threat by watching the students with a giant crystal ball in order to establish her dominance. To make matters worse, she punishes the students by making chains as part of their detention. The more she discovers Monster High, she sends chains over to kidnap the ghostly students, before planning to ensnare more victims. With such a demeaning and condescending tone by Karen Strassman, she had a presence whose purpose was to be booed and hissed at, similar to Scaris' villain. Acting as her eyes and weapons are three Hall Moaniters named Past, Present and Future that keep their views on each minor rule, even outright making up ways to chain up students for doing absolutely nothing.

However, while I really enjoyed the intention to make her as evil, there was one hiccup in her fate and something that stopped me from really loving this film overall. With a twist that even children could predict as the film obviously intended to leave it up to the youngest of child to solve it, Revenant bared a fate where she's also a prisoner of chains that are formed from her past and present doings. Therfore, she coped by sharing her chains across the students by having them work off her own consequences, which she deliberately forced upon innocent students and harmless pranksters. When she's found out to be the missing Red Lady who was found crossing between dimensions, Revenant is exposed as one to share her pain with countless students, even not her own, before given the chance to turn over a new leaf and work the chains off herself. I wasn't exactly that keen on someone who misused their power and authority while pretty much dumping abuse on innocent children get a second chance at redemption, where I was wondering why couldn't she share the same fate as the fashion designer?

With that said, I still felt this was a staple in the line-up and gave us a great special with both excellent animation and world-building alike. With each idea, the specials nonetheless surprised me.

Final Rating: B

8/10

#zelshadedreviews #halloween marathon #monster high #monster high review #monster high marathon #monster high haunted #monster high haunted review #haunted #haunted review

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

Zel-Shaded’s Movie Reviews