ANIMATION 4/10. Has Disney spoilt the standards of animation? This rendition seems more like Anime, more of a narrated comic book with a series of static frescoes. Blended, earth-colored, detail-poor imaging. At least, unlike Japanese anime, the faces were not of prepubescent children with impossibly un-Asian saucer-like eyes, spiky hair, and machine-gun sounding dialog.
VOICE NARRATIVE 9/10. Clear, neutral but modulated Brtish standard English. Just intonated enough to NOT be like a monotonous documentary, but a master narrator in front of a fireplace.
PLOT. I am too concerned with the excitement and complexity of adult life to invest grey cells into the intricately puzzling alien "societies" of fantasy franchises like "Lord of the Rings", "Harry Potter", "Mortal Kombat", and, now, "Game of Thrones". They all smack of primarily continued to be financially milked. Do we honestly need another James Bond, Resident Evil, XXX, Star Trek, Spiderman, Avengers...?
GENERAL EXHORTATION OF PRODUCERS
Perhaps, with COVID influence, that studios will realize that one can produce more cheaply and quickly with digital technology and CGI than previously, that brainlessly repetitive "blockbusters" should be dropped in favor of many more "independent" productions; that other countries have mythologies to consider other than Norse, other fables than Medieval European.
Amazon's unlimited budget has spawned excellent locally-produced series from India, Germany, Russia, Spain, and probably other countries in the making.
Korean cinema contains many excellent drama, crime, action plots. Has anyone considered "Man from Nowhere" in Western incarnation? Have you seen the epic dramas coming out of Russia? The nuanced thrillers from tiny populated Norway?
Why don't Western writers develop fantasies from Indic, Native American, South Asian, Central Asian, African fables and myths - not necessarily verbatim, but taking inspiration from the moral lessons and societal comment.
Black Panther is simple a transposition of Western material societal norms in Africa - It ISN'T a validation of inherently African cultures.
