 When it comes to DC's material, I tend to find that their animated stuff tends to far outweigh their live-action stuff. The thing is, when we think of DC animation, we probably think of material that's dark, edgy, and a little more adult. In this film's case, it's a DC animated film that leans much more towards a family-friendly and even cutesy story, looking a lot more like 'The Secret Life of Pets' than your typical DC superhero movie. For me, it's actually kind of refreshing, but I'll get to that in a bit.
We open with the well-known destruction of Krypton in a sort of "What If" scenario where, when Kal-El (eventually Clark Kent/Superman) is sent to Earth by his parents to live on, his puppy, Krypto, is sent with him. They grow up together over the years until they are found present day, living in Metropolis, and famous for their respective heroism. Currently, Clark/Superman (John Krasinski) is dating Lois Lane (Olivia Wilde), which in turn makes Krypto (Dwayne Johnson) a little jealous. As a result, Clark visits an animal shelter to find Krypto a friend so he won't be lonely, but to no avail. Superman and Krypto soon have bigger fish to fry when their nemesis, Lex Luthor (Marc Maron) is seen pulling an orange kryptonite meteor towards Earth that will apparently give him the superpowers he needs to fend off the Justice League; here consisting of Superman, Batman (Keanu Reeves), Wonder Woman (Jameela Jamil), Green Lantern (Dascha Polanco), Cyborg (Daveed Diggs), The Flash (John Early) and Aquaman (Jemaine Clement). He's easily thwarted, but back at the aforementioned animal shelter, a guinea pig named Lulu (Kate McKinnon) has her own diabolical plans. Having a tractor beam of her very own, Lulu hauls in a small chunk of the orange kryptonite that we soon find out only works on animals. Lulu breaks free with newly gained powers of telekinesis and flight, but the kryptonite also gives the other pets powers of their own. A dog named Ace (Kevin Hart) gains super strength and indestructibility; A potbellied pig named PB (Vanessa Bayer) can now shrink and grow like Ant-Man; a nearsighted turtle named Merton (Natasha Lyonne) gets super speed (of course), and a squirrel named Chip (Diego Luna) can now shoot electricity from his hands like some kind of Sith squirrel. When Lulu uses a bit of green kryptonite to capture Superman and the rest of the Justice League, however, it's up to the league of Super-Pets to save the day. I have to give the film credit for being able to be a solid DC movie with a mostly family-friendly comedic format. The type of comedy within the film is very reminiscent of something like the 'Lego' Movies, and with good reason, as this is written and directed (mainly) by Jared Stern who wrote for both 'Lego Batman' and 'Lego Ninjago'. So this isn't without a few great unexpected comedic sequences; my personal favourite is the turtle giving out a few solid swear words that have been bleeped out but nevertheless catch you off guard. I further give credit to the film breathing new life into the superhero genre. Even if it is another superhero movie, the formatting of it is what I find refreshing. This is by far a comedy first, so it's all of the favourite DC superheroes done to one extreme or the other. It also pokes fun at itself and DC quite a bit. But there's also a little bit of good drama spliced into the story here, and it actually manages to pull at the heartstrings a little bit here and there. Dog lovers, or indeed, anyone who has ever owned a pet (especially a dog) will understand why, and I find it evident in more than one scene. As far as animated films go this year, I have to say that this is by far one of the best. It's full of laughs, it's got just the right about of seriousness, and to top it all off, there's some relatability to it. This one comes recommended highly as a Super solid family feature this year. 4/5
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 When it comes to animated adaptations of adult cartoon shows, we have a good amount of winners. 'The Simpsons Movie' pulled it off somehow after 18 seasons, and even the crappy animation of 'South Park' outdid itself with their movie back in '99. I have to admit that while I love me some 'Bob's Burgers', the film actually left me kind of disappointed. That's not to say I didn't have fun with it, but it quite honestly felt like there needed to be more to it.
I think, first and foremost, one should probably be a bit of a fan before wandering into this. At the very least, take the time to get to know these characters a little, or I think some of the comedy that comes through with character charms can get lost on someone. Imagine seeing the 'Simpsons Movie' without knowing Homer first - it'd still be funny, but it's much funnier knowing the kind of clod that Homer is already. I feel like the same is true here of the Belcher Family; Bob (H. Jon Benjamin), Linda (John Roberts), Tina (Dan Mintz), Gene (Eugene Mirman) and Louise (Kristen Schaal) The film kicks off at the beginning of Summer when Bob and Linda find themselves in financial trouble. They are rejected on a business loan, given a week to make payment, and to make matters much worse, an underground water main breaks right in front of the Bob's Burgers restaurant (which Bob and Linda own and live above, for those of you who are new here). It turns out, however, that the hole in front of the restaurant is actually the scene of a crime, which gives Bob and Linda a sort of hopelessness in their whole situation. So the main Bob and Linda story is about them trying to save their restaurant and not be kicked out of their house, home and business. Now, for as much as we love Bob and Linda, the kids are almost an even bigger part of the show. The thing is, none of their stories are necessarily interesting or very different from what the show has to offer. Tina's nervous about asking Jimmy Jr. to be her "summertime boyfriend" and has to overcome that, Gene is experimenting with a new musical instrument he created, and Louise (whose story is probably most intriguing) tries to show up a school bully to prove she's not a "baby" because of her bunny ears that she has such an attachment to. Louise, Bob and Linda are very much the carriers of this movie. With that said, I will give the film credit that for once we see these kids in their respective situations begin to doubt themselves. What if Tina's crush on "J-Ju" is all it will ever be with no positive results? What if Gene's new instrument is just an annoyance? What if the bully is actually right about Louise's attachment to her bunny ears? It gets somewhat interesting, but I have to say that at the end of the day, it really just feels like a long episode of the show. This could have been a made-for-TV special presentation, and I feel it lacks the quantity that 'Simpsons' and 'South Park' did with their movies. One thing for sure is that if you're looking for your favourite side characters here, don't get your hopes up too high. There are plenty of very brief, minor appearances, and Linda's annoyingly hilarious sister Gale isn't in it at all (which, admittedly, some might be happy about). Keep in mind that this is very much a movie focused on the family as opposed to anything going on, on the side. Perhaps the biggest star here, however, is the bumped-up quality of animation. Things are cleaner and smoother, and we see the characters move in ways we haven't seen before (like in 'South Park' when we first saw them moving in three dimensions). I think if you plan on checking this out in theaters right now (as I write this, it's still about as fresh as Bob's Burger of the Day) do it soon because it's completely failing to follow 'Top Gun' and its massive box office success, AND 'Jurassic World' is coming. That said, please note that this is not at all a must-see in theaters, and is probably just as worth it to wait until you can rent it or it comes onto a streaming service. I enjoyed it but compared to movies like 'South Park' and 'Simpsons' adapting things into what feels like a movie as opposed to their regular show, it falls pretty short in comparison. BUT, it does have a Rotten Tomato average of 88.5%, so maybe I'm not the one to be listening to, and there was something I just didn't quite get. So, if curiosity hits you as a fan of the show, go nuts! I hope you like it more than I did (not that I hated it or anything). 3/5  This is a movie that very much delves into family, as we open with a story along with a musical number, giving us a nice dose of magical family history. Years ago, a young woman named Alma Madrigal and her husband, Pedro, are forced to flee their home with their three newborn children, Julieta, Pepa and Bruno. Sadly, Pedro falls in combat, but Alma manages to escape the fight with the three kids.
Fortunately, Alma happens upon a magical candle which provides her with a sentient house, known as the "Casita" (which makes total sense when you look at translations) for them to live in. Eventually, a whole village grows around the Casita, and the now grown up Madrigal family helps the village to grow and thrive. The Casita further grants the family special abilities to help these villagers. However, Bruno, having gained the gift of precognition, causes a lot of controversy and is ostracized by the family. The main story here focuses on the youngest daughter of Julieta (Angie Cepeda), Mirabel (Stephanie Beatriz), who we discover is a bit of a black sheep in that she gains no special abilities. She does, however, have a big heart, and considers her family to be all the blessing she really needs. One night, when the film provides an awesome example of the ability-gaining process, Mirabel finds a crack in the Casita. Fearing the worst, she tries to warn the family, but goes unheard, so naturally, she takes the mystery into her own hands, and the adventure goes from there. Along the way, we meet a variety of interesting family members and their abilities; namely, her sisters. There's her sister, Luisa (Jessica Darrow), with superhuman strength; cousin, Isabela (Diane Guerrero), who can make flowers grow; other cousin, Dolores (Adassa), with superhuman hearing and several more. All of the voice acting is solid here, and the songs are no exception. This is quite honestly one of few Disney animated films where I actually liked every song on its soundtrack. They all have this specific Colombian rhythm to them you can't help but find catchy. On top of all that, I have to appreciate the originality of the film's overall concept, while still using that "uncanny abilities" concept. I also like the fact that they don't see these as superpowers as though they're superheroes. They just kind of help with things around their village without ever having to face some big evil villain who wants *insert greedy desire here*. This is actually a great example of how to expand on the, shall we say, "superhero" concept while keeping things rather quite original in other ways. It also feels as authentically Colombian as 'Coco' feels authentically Mexican. There's even more to appreciate here as the film does things like have the heroine be the one who isn't superhuman in any way. It provides a good sense of "girl power" we should be seeing more of, but without cramming it down our throats. It's all topped off with a positive message about the importance of family, but does so in a way that I think whole families can relate to rather than just the kids watching. I have to admit, Disney animation has been reaching Pixar quality levels over the past several years, and this one is definitely no exception. I honestly loved it. 5/5  The year was 1996, I was in grade 9, and some friends and I arranged to check out the original 'Space Jam'. For whatever reason, be it the Tune Squad or my appreciation for basketball at the time, I dug it. I was a bit of an odd one out on it, but being 14 at the time, there was still that sliver of childhood hanging on and I tend to classify 'Space Jam' nowadays as a sort of time capsule for myself. While it's not nearly as good as I remember it, it's still a guilty pleasure. Naturally, I had to check out 'A New Legacy' and compare notes.
I have since faded away from basketball to the point that I can't really name anyone on any teams. I was never really a sports guy, but for a short time in my youth, basketball was an exception and 'Space Jam' managed to be that last little bit of fandom I had for the sport. Now that we have LeBron James in the Michael Jordan role, it's a bit harder for me to really care. Nothing against the man, I'm just so out of touch I know him by name only. However, since he was animated for so much of the time he spends with the Tunes, it does make for a better performance than Jordan gave. Animating him was actually a clever idea for this time around. The film opens similarly to the original, portraying a young LeBron going after his dreams, and the credits open over a montage of his career, leading up to his life as a parent athlete. He wants his sons, Darius (Ceyair J Wright) and Dom (Cedric Joe) to follow in his footsteps, but Dom would rather do some programming, and dreams of developing video games. The family is invited to Warner Bros. studio to discuss a potential film deal, and the idea is presented by a secretly self-aware A.I. named Al G. Rhythm (Don Cheadle). The A.I. impresses Dom, and he expresses an interest in a future with Warner Bros. But LeBron puts his foot down on him keeping up with basketball, as he's got such talent. This argument eventually leads to the basement where Al G Rhythm zaps LeBron and Dom into the Warner Bros. super computer. As Rhythm kidnaps Dom in a very 'Hook'-like way (he tries to take Dom under his wing and turn him on his father), LeBron is sent into Looney Tunes world, where only Bugs (Jeff Bergman) exists. Before he's cast to Looney Tunes world, however, LeBron is ordered by Rhythm to assemble a Warner Bros.-based basketball team. I guess Rhythm's motive is more attention, so he wants to create an event to broadcast to the world. Anyway, long story short, Bugs and LeBron assemble the Looney Tunes team, including Lola (Zendaya) by visiting different Warner Bros. properties. This is where the marketing really takes off, and things become a giant ad for HBO Max. I will admit, however, that sometimes the properties Bugs and LeBron visit stand out. For me, particularly, I really liked the style of the DC Comic world they find Lola in, stylized like a moving comic. Finding Granny and Speedy in Matrix world, however, was a touch cringe worthy, as the bullet time gag is insanely dated at this point. There's also a few things here you just wouldn't expect to find in a movie aimed mainly at kids, like 'Game of Thrones' references and Rick and Morty showing up out of nowhere - and they have dialogue! I loved the cameo, but it didn't feel like it made a whole lot of sense. However, it's not like the first film was without such things, like a 'Pulp Fiction' reference. So for myself, that's all forgivable. We should also figure that a good chunk of this is aimed at us in our 30s who liked the original when it came out. As the movie goes on, it goes full 'Ready Player One' by bringing in an audience of Warner Bros. characters - everyone from Batman to Pennywise. It's fun to go around the background of this basketball game and see who you can find, but many stick out more than others. The Tune humour is pretty much what we expect, and I did enjoy the stylistic choices they used during the game, making it a replica of Dom's game he's been developing. I think ultimately this felt a bit deeper (and I use that term loosely) than the original, focusing on the family aspect and giving LeBron real motivation to win. For Jordan it was really just him helping the Tunes not get enslaved while the family aspect was really pushed to the side, and there to be cutesy. I can't really deny that I had a fun time with it, but it's having fun on a pretty mild level. Despite its style, there wasn't a whole lot that truly stood out here (other than maybe giving Lola more of a personality), and I'd probably rate the original and this at the same level, but for different reasons. I might consider 'New Legacy' just a touch better, if only because being inside a supercomputer full of Warner Bros. characters makes more sense than.... they just live somewhere under the Earth. I think as long as you realize what it is you're in for, this could be just like the first one - a guilty pleasure, complete with extremely cringe-worthy Porky Pig rap scene for no reason. So it's pretty dumb altogether, but you could still have fun with it in the right frame of mind - just like the original. 3/5  As far as Batman stories go, I tend to claim 'The Long Halloween' as my personal favourite (or 'The Killing Joke' - its honestly kind of a coin-flip). I enjoy how grounded it is, focusing on more of a detective story than an action adventure, and it's a good source for letting some of Batman's lesser known foes into the spotlight, if only for a moment. As an example, we have Calendar Man (David Dastmalchian), who is a bit of a 'Hannibal Lecter' type in this. But it provides us with some of our old favourites as well.
Much like with 'The Dark Knight Returns', this one is split into two parts. This is one place I find DC kind of triumphs over Marvel with their animation. If they have a good, beloved story to tell, they will see to it that its told right. A two-parter allows for much more wiggle room. It tends to work out pretty well, and they have a good track record of providing us with some solid adaptations. There's a few bumps in the road, sure, but DC has a good way of not messing around with their darker animated stuff, and this is no exception. To be fair, I'm overdue for a re-read of this story, so there are a few places in the movie I'm not sure match up 100%. But as far as I can see, so far so good. Things kick off on Halloween night, when Carmine "The Roman" Falcone's (Titus Welliver) nephew, Johnny Viti, is killed by a suspect who leaves behind a jack-o-lantern as a sort of calling card. GCPD Captain James Gordon (Billy Burke) calls for a meeting with DA, Harvey Dent (Josh Duhamel), and Batman (Jensen Ackles), and has them look into the murder, bending, but not breaking any rules in the process. The trio find themselves pursuing a holiday killer they simply nickname "Holiday", who kills one holiday per month. One connection the victims seem to have is that they are all criminals. But who is offing them, why are they offing them, and why are they choosing holidays to do it? As mentioned earlier, some of our old favourites are along for this ride. The big ones for this chapter are Catwoman (Naya Rivera), who's more of a helper this time around, and of course the good old Joker (Troy Baker). There is more to come though, as we'll get to see the likes of Mad Hatter, Scarecrow, and Poison Ivy coming into the picture, each in their own unique way. It's that part that I'm looking forward to a little bit more, but I definitely had a good time with this. It's a good look into the darker, more grounded side of Batman stories, and is one of the more classic tellings of how Two-Face becomes Two-Face (another thing to look forward to in 'Part 2'). So if you're a Two-Face fan, this is actually a good story. His role here is a very back-and-forth one where its hard to tell just what side he's on. As far as the voice acting, the fact of the matter is that Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill remain the best respective voices for Batman and Joker, respectively. Having said that, while Troy Baker still does a great job here as Joker (not for the first time), Ackles does a somewhat surprisingly good job as Batman. When I learned about that casting, I was picturing Batman sounding like Dean from 'Supernatural'. He did the voice of Jason Todd in 'Under the Red Hood', but that seemed to just fit. As Batman, it was a pleasant surprise, and he actually does have a bit of a Conroy edge to his voice here. That aside, between the mystery and intrigue, this is a bit more of a unique Batman story, matching a tone a little more with the 'Arkham' series of games as opposed to the Animated Series. It's definitely solid, but really, it just got me excited to see what they will do with the second half of the story. 4/5  With another Disney+ Premier Access title, the first question to come to mind would probably be "is it worth it"? After all, 'Mulan' was sub-par, and it's truly surprising that Disney didn't drop their prices after so much outcry over such a cost. Here, in Canada, I'd be paying less to see this on an IMAX screen, in 3D. So with that, as a single person watching this, the answer is a straight up "no" - but honestly, no movie is worth such a cost to watch alone.
Before you get the wrong idea, however, I will say that a big chunk of that cost can be forgiven if you're sitting down to watch this with the family - I'd say three people, plus. That still doesn't mean that Disney can't stand to lower that price though. Remember, you still need to be a Disney Plus subscriber on top of that cost. My deep down personal opinion is that anyone can just wait it out for a few of months for easier access at a lower cost. However, that's also just speaking for myself. It all depends on what gets you hyped, really, and this IS the next big Disney title in the tradition of 'Tangled', 'Frozen', and 'Moana'; all very successful films for impressionable young women. In this tale, we learn of a land called Kumandra which was once taken over by the Druun; a plague of evil spirits that turn people into stone, and multiply with every victim. A group of dragons who act as providers for Kumandra, use their remaining magic to create an orb that will ward off the Druun and revive the human population. In doing so, the dragons turn into stone, themselves. Kumandra then divides its borders in a power struggle for the orb, based on their placement along a dragon-shaped river. The orb stays in Heart, where our heroine, Raya (Kelly Marie Tran) and her Father, Benja (Daniel Dae Kim). The other tribes consist of Fang, Spine, Talon and Tail; all of whom believe they deserve the orb for their own reasons. Benja dreams of one day making Kumandra whole again, however, and invites the tribes to join theirs for a peace offering of a meal consisting of ingredients from each nation. With this, Raya meets the likes of a girl from the Fang tribe named Namaari (Gemma Chan), and discovers that they have a great deal in common, especially when it comes to their fascination with dragons. Raya's trust goes too far, however, when she shows Namaari the dragon orb. Namaari backstabs Rya to obtain the orb, and eventually all tribes get involved in a struggle. The orb drops, shatters, and each tribe obtains a piece of it in order to keep the now unleashed Druun at bay with its magic. One of the many victims turned to stone from the Drrun ends up being Benja, and for the six following, Raya sets out on an off-screen journey to try to find the last dragon, Sissu (Awkwafina). Sure enough she finds her, but Sissu isn't quite what Raya expected - and may not be what one would expect if one hasn't seen the trailer. The two then embark on a journey to find the other orb fragments and try to bring her father (and everyone else effected by the Druun) back to life. For yours truly, the best way to describe this movie is that it's a pleasant surprise. I mean, where to begin? Fist off, Sissu was one of those characters I thought might be problematic at first, as she's actually a comedy relief character who, at first, feels like a bit of a speedbump. There's a lot of really cool, beautifully animated, intense moments before her reveal, so in the beginning, she kind of takes you out of it. The crazy thing is, however, she slowly evolved into one of my favorite characters in the film. She's got jokes, and plays a bit like 'Aladdin's Genie, but she's got some depth too, and her backstory she gives Raya is actually pretty heart-felt. There's a lot here that speaks to a lot of social situations these days, especially when it comes to people being people, and seemingly wanting war for their own gain instead of living in peace. I know things aren't as black and white as that, but at the very least, this is something that might make you think. On top of a great story here, there's also a great bunch of likable characters. Not to spoil anything much, but Raya meets someone from each tribe along her journey who want to help her, as they have all experienced loss too. The execution is pretty reminiscent of 'Wizard of Oz', except that as we carry on Raya's journey, we see the potential for peace and unity with each new character. She's joined by a young, witty boy named Boun (Izaac Wang), a thieving baby named Little Noi (Thalia Tran), a muscle-bound but friendly warrior named Tong (Benedict Wong) and Raya's mount (a sort of giant armadillo-pug), Tuk Tuk (Alan Tudyk). Every character here is pretty great in their own way, but my personal favorite is Little Noi. That combination of extremely cute and totally badass gets me almost every time, and she's easily one of the best at it. I could go on and on about praising this movie, but I do have to wrap up the review at some point. Just to make it quick though, it's also full of gorgeous animation, settings that transport you into the film's magical world, a wonderful score, great action sequences, a total lack of singing (which I typically don't mind, but it is still a breath of fresh air to not have another potential 'Let It Go' on our hands), it gauges every emotion, and last but definitely not least - it's a near all-female cast and a total "girl power" movie but it does it ALL without getting into anything typical. No boy-slamming, no love interest at all, a boy and a man join Raya on her journey, there's nothing about what men thought women should be, and it all felt so natural and flowing. Raya is just a character who is joined by other characters to accomplish a mission that will save humanity, namely her father. I award it BIG points for pulling off such a thing. Of the new list of empowered Disney "princesses", I have been pretty steady on having 'Moana' as my front-runner... but this definitely took her off that throne. Color me thoroughly impressed! 5/5  Hey, remember last week how I talked about HBO Max and Warner Brothers being jerks about holding their multi-released material in America? Well, apparently I'm going to be able to access a few of these titles after all - not as conveniently, but it's still a step in the right direction. Let's just hope that I can get some of those more high profile titles, as 'Tom and Jerry' here wasn't exactly a movie I was excited to see. But hey, it's been a little while since I did a "Now Playing" review on a family title. So, is 'Tom and Jerry' worth checking out?
The film opens with an unnecessary hip hop number involving a few unknown pigeons, we are introduced to Tom and Jerry who are here to do what they do throughout the whole movie. In a weird way, I actually credit the film for keeping Tom and Jerry as they should be - totally silent, and playing off each other, performing that classic cartoon violence they're known for. The actual plot of the film mostly revolves around one, Kayla Forester (Chloë Grace Moretz); a young woman looking for her place in Manhattan. After doing several odd jobs and constantly looking for work, she tries the Royal Gate Hotel, and in desperation, robs another applicant of her impressive resume in order to get the job. Yeah, security is super tight in this hotel. In order to prove herself worthy of the fancy hotel job, Kayla is tasked with helping an event planner named Terence Mendoza (Michael Peña) plan a high profile wedding for well-known celebrity couple, Preeta (Pallavi Sharda) and Ben (Colin Jost). The whole time, Terence is somewhat suspicious of Kayla's qualifications. But Kayla decides to further prove herself by helping get rid of a pesky mouse we know as Jerry, who has recently taken up residence in the hotel. Long story short, she eventually gets Tom to try to help her. What follows is pretty much a bunch of Tom and Jerry shenanigans risking the upcoming wedding being ruined. In the meantime, Kayla hopes her true, inexperienced identity won't be unveiled. All in all, things get significantly predictable, and the film is mediocre at best. This is a weird one for me. As a film, it's bad. It's hard to wrap my head around how this world works, exactly. It seems that real-life human beings live in a world where all of the animals are animated, and there's absolutely no explanation as to why things look like this. Furthermore, we have no idea who the hell this movie is for. There's a bit of nostalgia here, if only in the way Tom and Jerry act, but when I say that, it's only a slight pinch. Most of the humor here is definitely directed at kids, but the soundtrack is all R&B and hip-hop, a lot of it from the old school, and it feels very obvious that this is a studio cash-grab on parallel with something like... well, and of the 'Chipmunk' movies. What makes the film even worse is that it's scripted by Kevin Costello who also worked on 'Brigsby Bear', which is actually a movie that I highly recommend. The director here is Tim Story, who is pretty hit-or-miss, but I can tell you in all honesty that this is a miss. When I mention the nostalgic factor here, again, it's only very slight, and there isn't enough of it to really fuel the film. It further sucks that at no point is the movie REALLY about them. It's all about Kayla, and then suddenly it's about the potential bride and groom. For a movie with the title 'Tom and Jerry', it has very little to do without them, other than just showing us what they do. This is just another example of a movie that slaps a familiar title on it for a quick cash grab, and tries too hard to be "cool" for the kids these days. 'Scoob' was much better, and I only thought that was okay. 1/5  There are few things in the media that can get away with stupidity due to the stupidity being part of its charm. One of the leaders in this has to be, without a doubt, 'SpongeBob Squarepants', which has delivered the goods through silly fun and using its stupidity in a sort of clever way. Speaking for myself, I only watch 'SpongeBob' if I need a good laugh, but don't need to think about what I'm laughing at. It sort of follows the Nickelodeon tradition of things like 'Ren & Stimpy' or 'Rocko's Modern Life', but makes it all innocent enough for kids.
However, for as much fun as SpongeBob provides, it's not an example of a cartoon I'd try to convince people to like. There is a somewhat annoying aspect to SpongeBob and Patrick, which is part of the humor, but if someone ever said "I can't stand that sponge", I'd get it. One could say SpongeBob is an acquired taste, and you'll never like it if you have an inability to throw your brain out the window. That said, I tend to lean towards the appreciative side of things. I enjoy 'SpongeBob' for a good laugh, but it's not something I appreciate quite as much as some other animated series out there. My list of viewed material is pretty much a few odd episodes of the series, and the first film from 2004. Alas, I did not catch 2015's 'Sponge Out of Water'. So with that, let's keep in mind I'm not reviewing this as a biased fan boy, but one who can see both sides of the coin. So much of the show revolves around a little villain named Plankton (Mr. Lawrence) who is constantly after the secret recipe of Krusty Krab burgers. The Krusty Krab is run by the greedy, but good-natured Mr. Krabs (Clancy Brown) while SpongeBob (Tom Kenney) whips up food in the kitchen, and the miserable Squidward (Rodger Bumpass) handles the register. To no one's surprise, the film opens with Plankton formulating a new plan to steal the recipe, but his robotic assistant, Karen (Jill Talley) informs him that he's been so focused on getting Mr. Krabs out of the way, he hasn't realized that SpongeBob has been the one constantly thwarting his plans (much of the time by accident). Plankton then devises a plan to get rid of SpongeBob by kidnapping his pet snail, Gary, and giving him to Poseidon (Matt Berry), who uses snail slime as a moisturizer, and is constantly running out because he squeezes them dry. This will send SpongeBob on a mission to find his missing snail, along with his best friend, Patrick (Bill Fagerbakke). That way, he can't possibly interfere with the stealing of the formula. However, without SpongeBob around, everyone involved eventually discovers how much they miss, and somewhat need SpongeBob in the picture. Meanwhile, the laughs are definitely delivered through a series of events involving celebrity cameos, not the least of which is Keanu Reeves as a tumbleweed, calling himself the Sage and guiding SpongeBob and Patrick on their journey. The other cameos popping up, however, I feel like one needs to see for themselves. It's a lot like telling someone Bill Murray was in 'Zombieland' at the time. Although 'SpongeBob' was never something I truly followed, I always did appreciate it for what it was. This movie is no exception. I can't really look at this in any other light that the simple fact that it's 'SpongeBob', and you can't expect to get Oscar-worthy material from something so silly. That's not to put it down or anything, that just isn't what 'SpongeBob' is, and there are many beloved movies that fall under such a category, like 'Dumb and Dumber' or 'Galaxy Quest' - great for what they are, and they don't need awards to prove they're any good. If you like 'SpongeBob' then you'll probably like this movie, if you don't, then you probably won't. It's as simple as that. Personally speaking, I'm not going to pretend I had a blast with it, but it made me laugh, tugged on the heartstrings ever-so slightly, and I got exactly what I expected to get. So although it's pretty average, you'll hear no real complaints from yours truly. On a side note, one might be wondering why this is "late" as a "Now Playing" review. Well, Covid has made things very uncertain with various theatrical releases, and dates are all over the place. Hell, IMDb still has its official release date for this as March 4, 2021, and here we are on February 10. Seeing as I just don't get what's happening with a lot of these titles and how they're dealing with the whole Covid situation anymore, all I'll say is don't be surprised f you see a title like this in "Now Playing" for the next while. Anyway, just to top off the review, despite its supposed March 4th release date, one can currently find it on Prime as a simple $5 rental. If you're a fan, I say go for it. If nothing else, it's a lot of fun. 3/5  Funnily enough, I couldn't find much that stuck out to me this week as far as new Christmas movies go. However, since my last review in November was a Christmas movie, and new major releases are becoming easier to access, I really wanted to tackle the sequel to 'The Croods' - a fun, animated family adventure about cavepeople, their reluctancy to venture out into the world, and their eventual discoveries when they are forced to do so. I don't have a full review on the first one, but as luck would have it, this starts out with a brief recap, and it's easy enough to understand what's going on.
Following the events of the first film, the Crood family is still looking for a place to settle, following the sun into "tomorrow" (a whole symbolism thing about the future having a light at the end of the tunnel). The Croods are headed by Grug (Nicolas Cage), his partner, Ugga (Catherine Keener), and Gran (Cloris Leachman); Ugga's mother. The partners have three children; the animalistic baby Sandy (Kailey Crawford), the dimwitted son, Thunk (Clark Duke) and the adventurous Eep (Emma Stone) who has developed a relationship with a random caveman she meets from the first film, Guy (Ryan Reynolds). We get a bit more of Guy's backstory in the very beginning of this film as well - it's short, sweet, to the point, and tells us all we need to know about the character. On their travels, the Croods run into a family, familiar to Guy, the Bettermans. Headed by Phil (Peter Dinklage) and Hope (Leslie Mann) One could easily compare the Bettermans to the Flintstones - basically, they've become creative and live in an advanced treehouse. The Bettermans also have a daughter named Dawn (Kelly Marie Tran) who they see as Guy's fit mate. Now, with a scenario like this, it seems very predictable that it would unfold into the general jealousy scenario involving Guy between a battling Eep and Dawn. I am so pleased to announce that the typical does not unfold here in any way. In fact, there's a whole lesson to be learned at the end that isn't the same old with this situation. Eep and Dawn become friends based on the idea neither of them quite knew other teenage girls existed. The real fight lies in the parental units thinking they know what's best for their kids, along with Guy finding new ways to enjoy himself, away from Crood traditions. This obviously effects Eep, as she loves her family and doesn't see anything wrong with the way things are. So I guess one could say there's some subtext in here about how advancing technologies take away from what one might consider "the good old days", but I wouldn't say it gets preachy about it either. Things are a lot of fun the whole way through, and reach an adventurous conclusion once we find out why Phil is so adamant about his bananas. There's a whole thing where his one rule is that no one is allowed to eat the bananas. You find out why, but it's such a farce on people's "forbidden furniture" and the like - you know, when you go to a house with a comfy-looking couch but are told no one's allowed to sit on it. I actually had to watch these back-to-back, because I had pretty much forgotten how the first film went, and didn't want to go in half-blind. Again, it does give us a brief recap, so one can get through this without needing to see the first one. But with that said, I might still recommend giving these a back-to-back watch for a couple of great, fun animated films. The entire cast is great with their voice work, the animation is beautiful, and there's quite a few laugh out loud moments. Perhaps best of all, they keep setting you up for the typical yet delivering the very untypical - especially with the girlfriend situation here. Either of these films are breaths of fresh air, and great for the whole family. I'd highly recommend both for a good family night in! Just bear one important thing in mind - the animals in this don't really make a lot of sense, so you might try watching it as a fantasy movie all the same. 4/5  The film opens with our favorite Mystery Gang; Fred (Frank Welker), Daphne (Grey Griffin) Velma (Kate Micucci), Shaggy (Matthew Lillard) and Scooby-Doo (Also Frank Welker) in pursuit of their latest specter, "The Haunted Scarecrow". Upon capturing him, his identity is revealed to be none other than Dr. Jonathan Crane (Dwight Shultz) - aka the "regular" Scarecrow from 'Batman' - hooray for crossovers! And speaking of crossovers, this all takes place during Elvira's Halloween of Horrors Parade in a place called Crystal Cove, and the one and only Elvira, Mistress of the Dark also has a guest appearance here.
As Dr. Crane is taken away, he says to Velma that they're both caught in the same trap, and it would seem that despite him being caught, bad stuff is still yet to happen. The team sort of brushes it off, and the town thanks them for their efforts in getting rid of Scarecrow. To celebrate, Shaggy and Scooby got trick-or-treating dressed as spilled candy (it's actually pretty gross how they come up with this). However, on their mission for candy, they stumble upon a crashed toxic waste truck that mixes with Crane's fear gas (left over in a nearby crashed drone) and seems to bring pumpkins to life. Soon the Mystery team faces off against a horde of demonic-looking zombie pumpkins that can transform other people into pumpkins. A lot of this one oddly enough centers on Velma, who is very stubborn about the supernatural always having a scientific explanation. She even claims at one point that you "can't be afraid of something that isn't real", which is total BS, because horror movies in general have proven very effective in the past for many people. That brings me to m first real criticism about the film, the dialogue. While a lot of the story is cleverly written, a lot of the lines and jokes are just cringe-worthy here. Daphne is by far the worst of it though, trying really hard to be a comic relief character, and for whatever reason, wanting to be just like Elvira. When I think of Daphne Blake from 'Scooby-Doo', I sure as hell never picture a goth type so much as almost a cheerleader type, so I'm not sure I quite got that whole side story. Anyway, for a bit more fuel to the fire of my desire to actually check this out, they even bring on Bill Nye for a guest appearance. He's essentially the "guy in the chair" to the Mystery Team here, and provides them with the new Mystery Machine X after the original crashes in the opening scenes. This is where Fred's little side story comes into play, being the guy who isn't too fond of the newer, more advanced machine and missing his classic Hippie van. But going back to Bill Nye, he's largely thrown in for a dash of comedy as well. At times it works, but other times, the attempts are so incredibly random it almost hurts - one example being him randomly using a cat filter on his communication hologram and acting like he's cleaning himself. This was a bit of a weird one for me. Some of the gags are very childish, and often the dialogue is a bit juvenile, making it seem like it's very much directed at kids. The fact that it's animated really lends itself to that idea as well, but remember that there's a lot of animation out there meant for more grown up audiences too. Interestingly enough, there are dashes of humor here that fit that, including a line from Elvira about being too much for some men to handle (or something along those lines) and a great, straight up visual gag where Fred does the whole 'Predator' trap montage when Arnold is about to face off against the monster - that, I admit, gave me a good chuckle. This one can be accessed through Amazon for a decently priced rental, and despite quite a bit of stupidity, it's still a fun film for the family. At the end of the day, it's 'Scooby-Doo', so it can't be taken too seriously. Perhaps the most interesting thing about this movie, however, is this is apparently the first actual 'Scooby-Doo' Halloween movie! How that makes any sense in all these decades, I'll never know. There are of films in the collection that fit Halloween very well, but to think that they haven't had a Halloween-themed movie until now is mind-boggling. At the very least, this is a fun little bit of mind junk food for the Halloween season. It's not an annual re-watch, but it could be worth checking out. 3/5  Much like with 'Onward' and 'Trolls: World Tour', 'Scoob!' was to be released in theaters for the family to enjoy on the big screen. It's another case of coming straight to streaming, and questioning whether the original theatrical price (or more) is worth paying to watch it on our small screens. That decision seems up in the air right now, as people are extremely split on this movie, and that actually includes me.
'Scoob!' starts out with a cute, fun origin story where we see how Shaggy (Iain Armitage/Will Forte) met Scooby (Frank Welker) and the rest of the mystery gang - Fred, the "tank" (Pierce Gagnon/Zac Efron); Velma, the "brains" (Ariana Greenblatt/Gina Rodriguez); and Daphne, the "people person" (Mckenna Grace/Amanda Seyfried). Together, they solve their first mystery, old school Scooby-Doo style, decide to become good friends and keep doing this sort of thing. Fast-forward over the opening credits, and we see the gang 10 years later. They make a business deal with a certain celebrity cameo I don't really wanna spoil, but Shaggy and Scooby are excluded from the plan, as they don't have much to bring to the table. Distraught, Scooby and Shaggy go bowling, only to run into an army of small robots called Rottens who chase them right into an... "abduction beam", if you will. This beam belongs to the Falcon Fury, where we meet the original Blue Falcon's son, Brian Crown (Mark Wahlberg), along with his trusty sidekick, Dynomutt (Ken Jeong) and pilot, Dee Dee Skyes (Kiersey Clemons). They reveal that the sinister Dick Dastardly (Jason Isaacs) is after Scooby for his own selfish purposes. This all leads to an... interesting plan which adds to Scooby's overall lore, but you have to wonder if it's a bit too much. Eventually the rest of the Mystery Team also gets involved, and the film does become a collaboration of lesser-known Barbara characters. So, I'll start with the bad. The biggest problem I had was with some of the voice acting. If you've ever been a deep fan of these Hanna Barbara toons, a couple of major mistakes really stand out. First up, Dynomutt was originally the bumbling fool while Falcon was the straight-edge hero. That said, I can reluctantly let it pass, since in this case it seemed to be going for a sort of role reversal thing, and the Falcon here is the original Falcon's son. I guess I got what they were going for, but it will be irksome to some old school fans. The worst of it is when they come across Captain Caveman, voiced by Tracy Morgan, and everything you loved about Cap Cave is completely thrown out the window. It was just grating to me that Captain Caveman may as well have been renamed Captain Morgan, and not in a good, booze-related way. It was just Tracy Morgan wearing a Captain Caveman costume, and I kinda hated it. This is bothersome to any parents watching this with their kids, trying to find the nostalgia in all of it while it totally misses the mark. Getting to the good, though, perhaps my favorite parts revolved around the Mystery Team. Whenever Fred, Daphne and Velma are on screen, it definitely plays a bit more with the parental humor which makes up for some of the nostalgic disappointment mentioned earlier. There were actually a few jokes and gags here that got a genuine laugh from me, but they are unfortunately met with an equal amount that fall flat. The humour is a combination of clever jokes and annoying slapstick, and it makes you wonder who they were really making this for at times. I will say that I was actually quite impressed here and there at certain moments of prediction. There's a whole lot of "here comes a cliche" only to be surprised that they didn't follow through at the last minute. It's a relief that so much of it wasn't necessarily predictable, but with that said, these surprises are more a matter of "Oh, they didn't do it after all" as opposed to "Woah! I can't believe they did that instead!" But then they make decisions like they did at the very end, where there's a fake-out that genuinely bothered me. It's one of those endings that almost kills a film, because the lead-up is all actually pretty solid and even kinda mature. As far as I think, unless you have some kids who are chomping at the bit, and you're paying for a generously filled house to watch it, it's just not worth it. For adults like myself, there's some good moments here and there, but the screw-ups on familiar characters are kinda glaring, and it doesn't play into your nostalgia quite like you want it to. Again, these characters weren't broken, and they didn't need fixing. At the end of the day, it just made me appreciate the old cartoons much more. If you wanna see it, but you're not in a rush, I'd just as soon wait for it to cost less. 3/5  This is gonna be a bit off, as I have no reviews up for either of the previous two films. So I'll have to give away a bit of the whole story between the first two, but I'll try to keep it relatively spoiler-free (for those who care).
To make a very long story very short, Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) befriends a "Night Fury" dragon, despite frequent dragon attacks on his Viking home town of Burk. He names him Toothless, and discovers that dragons aren't to be as feared as they are. Soon, Hiccup dedicates himself, along with a team of teenage misfits consisting of Astrid (America Ferrera), Snotlout (Jonah Hill), Fishlegs (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), Ruffnut (Kristen Wiig) and Tuffnut (Justin Ripple) to rescuing and housing captured and misunderstood dragons, giving them a home and protecting them from the various dangers of the human world. On this particular outing, we discover that Toothless isn't the only Night Fury out there, after the previous films have pretty much suggested it. Upon discovering this new dragon, legends come up of a "Hidden World" where dragons of all sorts live in harmony. This could potentially provide a better home for Berkians and their now overpopulated town of dragons. In the meantime, a dragon hunter named Grimmel (F. Murray Abraham) is discovered to be trying to capture this new Night Fury, and he and Hiccup find themselves at odds - Hiccup now being pretty much a leader-type since his first appearance when he was deemed a bit of a wuss. So much of the film is trying to get the dragons to the Hidden World with Grimmel hot on their heels the whole time. Granted, it's a bit of a rushed explanation for everything, but what you really need to take away from it is that it rounds the trilogy off really nicely. If you liked the first two, this one is really no exception as far as quality goes. The flying scenes look incredible, especially in in 3D, and it's our usual combination of comedy, drama and all out adventure. On top of that, I greatly appreciate the overall development of Hiccup's character through this trilogy. The film ends on a nice note where it genuinely seems to wrap things up. However, I said the same thing about 'Toy Story 3' which makes me almost dread a 4th movie just because of the fans and easy money. I'm not opposed to 'Toy Story 4' per se, but that really was a solid trilogy that ought to have just ended, saving whatever's left over for TV specials and the like. I'm kinda hoping this just sticks to what it is and doesn't feel the need to keep on going. Hopefully the same filmmakers can get another project off the ground instead. Anyway, this is a trilogy that I could recommend to just about anyone. It's great storytelling combined with likable characters and solid development that takes place over several years. We really do get to watch Hiccup grow up through this. Add to that the comedic aspect as well as a lot of it tugging at heartstrings, and we've got one of the more solid overall trilogies of the past decade. At least, that's my humble opinion. I know it's only the end of February, but this will get its Oscar nom for next year, I'm sure. 4/5  Much as the title suggests, 'The Second Part' actually picks up where the original 'LEGO Movie' left off. So, for those of you who haven't seen 'The LEGO Movie', spoiler alert ahead.
When we last left the fictional town of Bricksburg, it was revealed that things were pretty much all taking place in the imagination of a young boy. Bricksburg was essentially a massive Lego model, owned by his father (Will Farrell). The kid made a bunch of stuff out of the model town, using his own imagination, and the underlying message (at least what I got) was basically, don't be an uptight father, and let your kids use their imaginations when it comes to play. When it was all said and done, the boy's sister was allowed to play with all of it as well. This introduces aliens from the planet Duplo who come to destroy Bricksburg, and the credits role. This opens up as though it's perfectly connected with he first film (Lego pun). The aliens create a post-apocalyptic Bricksburg, and our story picks up five years later (appropriately enough, as the first film was February, 2014). We reconnect (Lego pun) with Emmet Brickowski (Chris Pratt) and Wylstyle, now known as Lucy (Elizabeth Banks), who have since made a connection (okay, I promise that's the last one), and are pretty much a couple now. All of our favourite side characters make a return as well, including Batman (Will Arnett), Unikitty (Alison Brie), Metalbeard (Nick Offerman) and Benny the Spaceman (Charlie Day). However, fair warning, they all kinda take a back seat here - and I mean further back than they had it in the first film. Although, I will say, Unikitty makes a pretty bad ass transformation in this one. Anyway, long plot short, Duplo aliens take over, and our heroes are approached by General Mayhem (Stephanie Beatriz) who kidnaps everyone but Emmet, bringing them to the Sistar System where Queen Watevra Wa'Nabi (Tiffany Haddish) promises the group happiness, and plans to marry Batman in order to bring their worlds together in peace. Meanwhile Emmet heads out on his own to rescue Lucy and the others. He stumbles across Rex Dangerfest (Chris Pratt) who is a combination of some of Pratt's most famous characters, and the two of them work together on turning Emmet into a "manly man". If I'm honest, of the four Lego movies that exist, I'd probably put this in third place. It still has the comedic charm that the first one had, along with a few good pop culture jokes and gags. Some of the environments were kinda cool, like the idea of the "Stair Gate" that was kinda the portal to the sister's room. But on the other hand, things like the Sistar System altogether felt like a sort of rehashing of the first movie's Cloud Cuckoo Land - very upbeat, shiny, sparkly, happy, etc. I guess a lot of it just kinda felt altogether similar to the first one, as far as the real-world aspects of the story went. The only real difference is that this time the boy is trying to fix things with his sister instead of his father. We also have that in the first one, no one really expected that real-world twist. Now, it's not a twist anymore, so the impact just isn't what it was. Then when it comes to what's going on within the Lego universe, parts of it are great, but parts of it are just kinda lame. One thing that threw me off a little here were a few musical numbers. It's not to say musical numbers didn't exist in other Lego movies. Hell, 'Batman' had the best one, in my opinion. But something about these felt a wee bit forced. That said, much of this was taking place in the sister's imagination, and being a little girl of about probably 6 or 7, one might imagine her to be into the Disney singalong thing. So perhaps it was done for that reason. Anyway, most of my problems with the film are just nitpicks on some of the decisions made. It didn't give me the laughs that the first one did, or 'Batman' for that matter, but it's still fun. I mean, it's a Lego movie based around the imaginations of children. It can't be taken too seriously. 3/5  Taking place six years after the events of the 2012 film (makes sense), we revisit the world of Litwak's Family Fun Center and Arcade. A game villain named Ralph (John C. Reilly) and a game racer named Vanellope (Sarah Silverman) have become best friends, and they live among a variety of other famous video game characters like Pac-Man and Sonic the Hedgehog, just to name a couple.
Vanellope mentions one day that she's kinda bored with the same old game routines, and wants a bit of change. Now able to freely jump between games, Ralph ends up making a secret track for Vanellope's racing game, 'Sugar Rush'. While Vanellope is fulfilled with something new and different, her actions cause the machine's steering wheel to break. With the company that made 'Sugar Rush' now out of business, the kids of the arcade turn to eBay in an attempt to help Mr. Litwack. The wheel is found, but it's too costly, and Litwack sees no alternative but to shut down the game. This leaves the racers and other characters pretty much homeless. However, Ralph and Vanellope jump into the new Wi-Fi that the arcade was recently hooked up with, in order to visit eBay, and get the steering wheel, themselves. Along the way, they find themselves having to turn to a deadly racing game called 'Slaughter Race' where we're introduced to newcomer, Shank (Gal Gadot), a kinda badass racer who gives Vanellope the thrill of her life, and causes her to start questioning whether she's happy enough with 'Sugar Rush'. Meanwhile, Ralph struggles with his feelings of jealousy, as he's afraid of losing her to this online game. So we have some generous development of these characters. However, the true charm of this movie lies within the internet world itself. I'd compare it to something like 'Inside Out' in that it's completely imaginative in its execution. It's essentially one gigantic city, with skyscrapers representing various internet companies; the most massive being Google. Pop-up ads are represented as those annoying people who throw signs in your face, eBay is seen as one big auction, the list goes on. For me, the highlight of the movie will probably surprise most, but it's honesty the scene we see in the trailers where Vanellope is mingling with the Disney princesses. This is mostly due to how incredibly self-aware Disney seems to be with these princess stereotypes, and it's even punctuated with a sort of jab at Pixar when it comes down to Merida from 'Brave'. The film is a generous combination of heart-felt experiences between Ralph and Vanellope, plenty of Easter eggs, a great sense of humor, and in the end, even a lesson or two here or there that are quite grown-up, and commendable for their execution. I absolutely loved this movie with how clever it was with everything, and I'd even put it one step above the original. One of the best animated films of the year! 5/5  I had the weekend off, and up here in Ontario, Canada, we have a little thing called "Family Day". Most everyone gets the day off, and the idea is to spend some time with the family and do a family activity or whatever have you. Of course, most of us just use it as a relaxing day off, family or no. Anyway, my mother and I are both Aardman fans, so we decided to take to the theater and check out 'Early Man'. Most unfortunately, however, a bit too much noise and distraction kinda ruined the whole experience for us, or at least for myself. By the time the climactic sequence was up, I was already well-taken out of the movie. But, I got the gist of it, and that didn't mean there weren't a few funny bits throughout the movie. But truthfully, this might be one of the weaker of the Aardman titles either way.
The film follows a caveman named Dug (Eddie Redmayne) and his faithful companion, a warthog (of sorts) named Hognob (Nick Park). After a bunch of Bronze-age bums, led by Lord Nooth (Tom Hiddleston) completely drive the cavemen out of their homes, Dug decides to challenge their football team to a game, and it really ends up being a football (or soccer, if you like) movie more than what I imagined it to be. And if you haven't figured it out by now, the world's history is kind of all over the place here. However, it does let you know from the get-go that this is to be treated as something like 'The Flintstones' in the sense that it's just fun for kids, you're not really there to learn history and what existed when. There have already been a few good name drops as far as the voice talent goes, but it goes on with the likes of Maisie Williams of 'Game of Thrones', Timothy Spall of 'Harry Potter', David Ayoade of 'IT Crowd', and Mark Williams of also 'Harry Potter'. So it has a solid cast of British talent lending their voices to these characters. Some sound a bit obvious, but others are well disguised, which is always a bonus for voice talent. It's a fun and harmless movie you can take your kids to and just have fun with. If you take it too seriously with how inaccurate it is, you won't have any fun with it. That being said, Aardman has done several other films that have been quite a bit better in comparison. It's cute, but it's not as clever or laugh-out-loud funny as some of their other titles. 3/5  For the third film of the LEGO movie series, the attention is now focused much more on the children watching. That's not to say that 'The LEGO Movie' and 'The LEGO Batman Movie' weren't for kids as well, but they were two movies that managed to speak to the adults too. I suppose it's a different angle, but it feels like it's losing it's touch by speaking to the kids who are watching OVER the adults. Between the first two, there was the advantage of making things for the whole family. This is still for the family, but primitive in comparison.
To begin with, this one takes it back to the idea that what you're seeing played out is actually toys being played with. It begins when a young boy enters a relic store owned by Jackie Chan. Jackie proceeds to tell the boy the legend of Ninjago, which centers on Lloyd; the Green Ninja. Every now and then, his father, Garmadon, attacks the city of Ninjago, and the five colored ninjas have to stop him with their mechs - not at all unlinke 'Power Rangers', complete with the cheesy dialogue. The whole city knows that Garmadon is Lloyd's father, so they shun Lloyd at school. However, they, and Garmadon himself, don't know that he's the identity of the Green Ninja. It's eventually revealed, and the rest of the movie is mostly about Lloyd trying to find some sort of bond with his father. As for the other ninjas, they just don't do a hell of a lot other than offer comic relief. It's interesting to think about, but there's an ongoing theme about "daddy issues" throughout all of these movies. 'The LEGO Movie' portrayed that cool twist of reality about a father letting his son play instead of being so strict. 'The LEGO Batman Movie' was largely about the idea of Batman "adopting" Robin and mentoring him. And now we have the neglectful father trying to make ammends (in a way). If these movies wanna continue, they're gonna have to start steering away from that theme. 'The LEGO Ninjago Movie' is not without it's funny moments. There were a few good laugh out loud spots here and there, but it had nothing on the other two. And I hate to say it, but now that we've dived into an actual LEGO property, this feels like commercialism. They are pandering to your kids at this point, and it takes away a lot of the magic the first two had going for them with their excellent stories and jokes. This was by no means a bad movie for the age group it's targeted at, but I don't think the grown-ups are gonna get as much fun out of this. In the end, the movie feels rushed out, and it falls flat as a result. That said, there doesn't seem to be anything for next year, but a 'LEGO Movie' sequel is due for 2019, along with something called 'The Billion Brick Race'. I dunno what exactly that will be about, but hopefully these next two can bring that spirit back that the first two had. 3/5  As you may have read in my first Screening Suggestion for 'The LEGO Movie', LEGO has always pretty much been my favourite toy. Therefore, this is one of those reviews where I just give it points based on that. But the thing is, all the awesome LEGO animation isn't even the best part of the whole thing. In fact, it strangely almost becomes an afterthought.
We are given this whole new perspective on the bat. It's interesting because the Batman in the LEGO movie kinda opened the door of possibilities as he was a little more of an intense version of Batman. Unhinged, and talking like a modern dad trying to be cool, the character turned out to be so funny and so good that he quickly became several people's actual favourite incarnation of the character. This includes Morgan Freeman, by the way. Y'know, Lucious Fox from the Nolan movies? Anyway, just listen to how clever this actually sounds for relatively original Batman idea. The story begins with the Joker and a whole team of Bat Bad guys ranging from The Riddler all the way to the Condiment King! They're all set to destroy Gotham, and as usual, Batman comes and saves the day. THIS time, however, he provides us with an admittedly pretty awesome music video while he beats everyone up. The entire opening sequence SHOULD be more than enough to pull you in. After stopping everyone, Bats informs the Joker that he means nothing to him, ultimately hurting Joker's feelings so that he plans the ultimate revenge, which isn't short of the whole 'Arkham Asylum' idea, buut... I'll just say replace "Arkham Asylum" with "Phantom Zone". Meanwhile, we see Batman seemingly relishing in his alone time, as, other than Alfred, Batman doesn't really have anyone to talk to. That is until he meets Dick Grayson (Michael Cera) who Alfred convinces to take under his wing. The results end up being pretty funny. Batman tells him what to do, and unlike Chris O'Donell's Robin, this one just kinda listens and executes. He wants nothing more than to impress Batman and prove himself. Thank GOD we didn't get stuck with a whiner character again! By the way, with that information, it makes Michael Cera voicing him a bit more humorous. The overall end result of everything ends up being pretty predictable, admittedly, and nothing exactly NEW to what makes Batman Batman. But that's seriously okay. The thing about these LEGO movies is that they're entirely farcical. 'The LEGO Movie' has a whole whack of familiar characters from different series', childish sound effects, and the ending was pretty intriguing when you found out what you were essentially watching the whole time. This one is no exception. Without giving too much away, there are several characters from other series here as well. It lends itself to the fact that you shouldn't take a movie about toys TOO seriously, but seriously enough that there's some kind of message in the end to absorb. But here's the thing about 'The LEGO Batman Movie'. As I read in a previous article, this movie has the freedom to drop all of the Batman story lines, and just have fun with what we know about the characters. That's pretty awesome when you think about it. There's no ties to this where fans are gonna say "oh, well they screwed this up, because in the comic book, this happens instead". It plays on character traits a bit more than Bat lore, but there's still enough Bat lore there. The more I think about it, the more it intrigues me. Imagine, after all this time of seeing Batman movies go from good to bad to great to an animated variety of all, this is the FIRST TIME a Batman movie just threw it all out the window and said "let's just have Batman and the characters as we know and love them, simplify the story, and perhaps show a different angle". The fact that Batman is so meant-to-be dark REALLY lends itself to the overall humour in this, which is otherwise an animated comedy. I get the impression that by the end of the year, this title will easily fall into my Top 10 of 2017. If you're a Batman fan, you should check it out. If you're a LEGO fan, you should check it out. This movie makes Batman much more fun than we're used to, and yet doesn't do a single thing to insult us fans. I absolutely loved it! 5/5 |
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