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Beetlejuice (1988)
Betelgeuse should rhyme with "voice".
It's easy to see how this became a cult favorite.
I almost feel like a fool for being that kid who absolutely caught the cartoon when I was very little but was 30 before seeing the movie.
Of its time and yet timeless. The story of oddballs resisting normie tedium is nice but the appeal is the bachanalia of the macabre realized in actuality by puppets, make-up and animation. Stylishness is through the roof and reminds us that Tim Burton used to actually be a film-maker we were happy to support before, well, you know...
The cast is as full of stars as the night sky and there really is no movie quite like it.
Trolls (2016)
Poppy's almost as hot as Deet.
More or less paint by numbers permutation on the quote unquote "family film" which half the family will hate.
The visual design is highly appealing in its juxtaposition of saturated Trolls with the earthen colors found in...well their also trolls but they clearly can't call them that.
There's a lot of sex appeal in some character designs and the explorations of how positivity is fine, but knowing it's OK to not be OK is admirable and timely.
The licenced musical numbers...well, you have to just decide that you want to love them.
Over well plotted and written for what it is but it's no classic int he making.
Wicked: Part I (2024)
Benign.
More or less exactly what you expect it to be.
This does not begin promisingly but gets better and better as it progresses and it finds itself and develops some kind of relationship with its characters.
Even ignoring that it's a derivative work in the most literal sense it's still an unoriginal reworking of familiar fairytale tropes around the theme of prejudice which it handles in naïve and scholastic fashion.
Over time this becomes a more poignant and ambitious story of different kinds of people overcoming their *loathing* to find common ground.
The songs rather blend into one asides from those 2 that you've already heard. Sorry about that. The score has its moments though.
The reason to watch is all the other things along the way; the sets, the costumes, the architecture, boy I'd love to go to school there. The distinctly epicene attire feels like an alternative earth and the animal animation is amazing to look at. I especially love this library and the dance number in it...you'll see.
A Series of Unfortunate Events (2017)
I'm just glad all the books finally were adapted.
Before we begin, note that I was one of those kids discovered that reading could be fun from these books.
OK, Captain Underpants did that really but this series were the first books to get me into reading when it wasn't about a guy in his underwear. Or was that Animorphs...
Either way this series was just part of my childhood in a very sentimental way.
I mention this because I want to be upfront that I'm that guy who is like "but in the books they did THIS!" I have a very particular idea of what this adaptation should look like so take what I have to say with a pinch of salt. It annoys me when people are too blinded by nostalgia to give a fair review.
When the movie came out in 2003 I thought: this is alright. Not the movie the series really deserved but it's...OK.
But the unfortunate (no pun intended) truth is that after watching this series for a while, my mind drifted longingly for that movie. That movie had this mysterious, gothic tone to it.
Is this a bad show? No. If I had never heard of the books I might have found it quite watchable. I found it watchable when I did watch it in fact.
One issue is that...well...it's TOO much like the books. What works well in prose often does not in audiovisual media. Lemony Snickets very distinct and meandering narration style in which he is a character as much as anyone else in there without even showing up, is such an integral part of the experience the books provide I suppose the adaptors were too nervous to cut it out.
A part of me loves that Joe Swanson is retelling me one of my favorite stories but seeing him Rodserlingized into the story gets old very quickly. If it were more sparce then it might work but it's like that recent adaptation of House of Usher in which you HAVE a good story but frustratingly, its gets diluted by this heavy handed framing device.
Now as for the story itself...overall it's as good as ever but if you haven't read the books, they have lost a lot of the charm they had. The books just had...an *atmosphere* a tone they have not been able to recreate.
I am annoyed at how mistakes have not been learned from. I mentioned how I consider the movie to be the superior adaptation of those first 3 books, but the big problem is "Carrey's pantomime villain". I suppose in practice the Baudelaire's are not great characters. That's the point really. They're nice kids and sympathetic heroes but they function as straight-folk among the eccentric types they encounter wherever they go. This, the producers thought they had to really ham up Count Olaf to provide the personality the orphans themselves do not bring. They're just too reasonable.
Patrick-Harris plays count Olaf as if Barney Stintson were cosplaying him.
This comes back to what I said about tone because this series is really trying hard to be a *comedy". They original books definitely had a sense of humor about themselves but it was not only a dark humor but one a lot more sardonic, dryer. There is a dignity in being low-key but when you're clearly trying for laughs, it gets a little painful before long.
Olaf WAS a formidable villain. Yes, the real villain was bureaucracy and illiteracy, that's the crux of the series. Seeing him as a buffoon, just about keeping out of prison because the extreme incompetence of everyone around him is a lot less satisfying. This is partly why that thing with Jacques was fairly important.
I have mixed feelings about this final big point: they seem to have fanfictionized a lot of this. By this I mean...well, in the books (sorry to say that yet again) you get the impression more and more that the kids' story is just part of a larger story. You get to see the intrigues of this wider story with a lot more candour which can be great fan service but at the same time it's not very mysterious.
The henchperson of indeterminate gender becomes something of a break-out character.
I want to acknowledge the difficulty in working with actors young enough to play Sunny; they do everything they need to and they even emote naturalistically even if I suppose it is through insert shots. The decision to subtitle her was annoying because 1) the movie already did that and 2) often it's just a single word that they're not translating, they just worry that the infant speaking isn't enunciating but she was fine.
Back to the fanfiction angle, certain characters that are really just plot-devices in the books and just a brief cameo get greatly expanded roles here. They're not exactly fleshed out, Kit and Jacques Snicket become Mary Sues.
Overall, this was an over-complicated and campy take on what was overall a restrained and poignant series of books. It's not that bad but as usual, I urge you to try the books no matter what you thought of this.
I want to avoid spoilers but I do want to mention that even the books basically fizzled out before the end and I do feel something of a catharsis in getting the ending the books more or less should have had.
I remain somewhat confused (who the hell was Cobie Smolders playing?) But this is not bad television.
Agent Crush (2008)
What a curiosity...
I remember in about 2006 turning on the television and it happened to be Blue Peter that was on. I saw a female doll and the words "Agent Crush will be released September 2008".
I remember feeling low key interested in that this time round it was puppets but there was something about hearing the words "Agent Crush".
That is just such bad title. That was what stayed with me at that time. It is so unintriguing...
So years went by and something must have brought it back to mind and I'm there thinking "wait...did I dream that?"
So I caught this online. This viewing was very long awaited.
The trivia section insists that it was withheld from release for "unknown reasons".
It's easy to see the reason: it's just not that good.
Art is subjective and there are a lot of shoddy attempts at a "family movie" that become guilty pleasures or make money and maybe this might have turned a small profit but despite some positive things in there: this is kind of embarrassing.
OK, let's start with some positives.
It's all technically impressive. Puppetry is always hard and the engineering, artisanship and puppeteering skills needed for this were probably impressive. They realize a whole miniature world.
I am able to feel something for Crush: this robotic simulacrum of the idealized spy. Suave, debonaire, handsome in that large jaw line way... and then he discovers that he is just a machine...
This could have been a very poignant and at times dark rumination on the romanticization of espionage but it really stops short before it can really do anything with its own substance.
There's something...drab about this whole movie. It's a flurry of browns and grays and white. It's not the futuristic sheen of a laboratory or compound, this movie just conveys the vibe of an office building/warehouse.
The puppets themselves...like I said, I want to acknowledge the talent but they are not easy to look at. Some of them are supposed to look grotesque because they're villains. The puppets cannot facially emote and once in a while one becomes painfully aware that they are unable to just stand up and walk away.
All this could have been pretty quaint in a pedestrian kind of way but then there's the plot.
In a way that is hard to explain, this doesn't feel like a movie; it feels like a long episode of some forgotten children's show. The plot beats that might have made have made this feel like someone's transformative journey just aren't there; it's mostly this one rescue mission.
Too much running time is taken up by odious military types and villains. This movie thinks it's vaguely satirical by making our leaders seem like buffoons but it's just annoying.
I can empathize that one of the most villainous things a villain can do is be unapologetically flatulent but this movie is ultimately the lowest possible denominator.
I can't remember her name but that female puppet played by Neve...something... She really adds something. In terms of plot she's just one extra person for the older guy to talk to back at base but I like her. I like her moxy, she's there also to be the cheerleader character to have faith in the protagonist when he doesn't have any in himself.
I wish she could have been fleshed out more. I can believe she's been let down by real people and identifies more with machines and especially Crush since he is somebody's fantasy realized. I can infer this already from what little we saw so it's a pity.
I can feel in fits and starts a movie with heart but overall, this isn't a dopey movie that has an ineffable charm, it feels cobbled together in a desperate rush to meat a deadline by people who really didn't know what they were doing.
Cobweb (2023)
Brush this away.
It is comforting to know that this movie was seen by few people and admired by much fewer.
Highly derivative and poorly thought through meditation on fear itself (don't you hate it when horror does that) as we see the world through the eyes of a child who has a lot more than just kid stuff to worry about.
Strangely admirable along a philosophic level as we see demonstrated the reality that mother simply does not always know best and that what we call children "running away" should be dubbed "escaping".
This was similar to "The Lodge" in that there is sort of an ambiguity of the real villain but they lean so hard into one possibility they repel toward predicting any twist or plot point that might have been satisfying.
Visually stunning with its atmospheric evocation of a sinister autumn, sadly the director thinks they're artsy and does some dumb stuff with giant shadows and unearned camera movements.
The approach to sound is predictably typical.
There's also a Matilda vibe with some substitute teacher who might as well have been the regular teacher thrown in there, presumably as some kind of audience surrogate even though it doesn't really apply here.
Also...Halloween is a big part of it. It opens with informing us "one week before halloween". Never mention the halloween exists in horror that is so basic...
The very title is based on stuff just shoved in there.
The ideal horror movie if you really want to see karma.
Orphan: First Kill (2022)
I really want to recommend this to any fan of the first one if they are able to have realistic expectations.
Maybe I gained a lot from watching with low expectations.
I knew going in, either this is going to be spectacularly stupid or they have pulled off something very impressive.
Mostly the latter!
OK, let's get the realization question out of the way: it pretty much works. They are so slick with their editing and body doubles and stuff that the story just flows seemlessly around this actor who is as wonderful as ever.
OK, yes: she is no longer a girl: She is a beautiful young woman and her face reflects that maturity. But I found it possible to look past this the way you look past the strings of a marionette or that opera singers are singing and not speaking.
I don't want to say too much about the story except that while it makes nowhere near as much sense as you would like it to, it is far better than it has any right to be.
It's similar but a definite variation that admirably plays into how this time we want more and more Ester but this time sort of from the other perspective.
The title straight up lies, it's more like the 5th or 6th but who really cares?
One thing that did annoy me is that there is too much English dialogue and not enough Estonian/Russian. In 1997, any Estonian adult would have lived most of their lives in the USSR and so any expert coming to an Estonian institution would likely have either been Estonian or come from somewhere else in the Soviet Union so the opening scenes could be in Russian as well.
Esther is just so cool...yes, she's a sort of a monster but aren't we all? I wouldn't call this a horror; you will find yourself trying to resist the urge to root for this most charismatic of anti-heroines.
Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie (2024)
Just rewatch one of the first two...
I always noticed the conspicuous absence of Sandy from the first movie. She had a cameo but she could have had something a bit more substantial considering she is Spongebob's only truly reasonable confidante.
The corporate made it up to her with "Sponge out of Water" though but I chose to keep an open mind about this blatant feminist baiting. Of course, I am one of those feminists (an easy thing to be) and it's a new Spongebob Movie. The movies are pretty much better than the latter episodes, right?
Anyway...the CGI animation puts it in continuity with "Sponge on the Run" or "Camp Coral" for me so perhaps that helped me put my expectations way down. There's a lot of blatant hero-worship of Sandy but soon the first act is filling with fast paced material problem solving and some more than adequate gags as she gets paired up with our favorite invertebrate.
Moving the show onto dry land worked for me: it mixed up the design and the interaction with mostly other anthropomorphs keeps everything on-brand.
The element with Sandy's family was intriguing but ultimately derivative.
It's the third act that makes me feel unwilling to recommend this, even to the fans.
It brings us more decisively into the human world with way too much emphasis on characters that are not what we go to a Spongebob movie to see. Mindy the Mermaid was an excellent edition because she felt like part of that world and that sense of humor.
Wanda Skykes is a legend in the world of comic acting and while she does bring something, she is really shortchanged in the quality of writing.
Some of the creative decisions like that thing with her adult head on the child's body in the flashback...it worked in "The love guru" because it was both Mike Myers and the protagonist of the movie. Without spoiling anything, they take this movie to a dark place and sometimes it is grotesquely impressive and other times it just looks like garbage in that way that CGI wrapped around human actors often looks like garbage. You'll see what I mean...
I didn't feel cheating by this movie; I suppose we are long past the point where having Robert Squarepants' likeness on something is some kind of assurance of quality.
But it's as good as you had any reason to expect.
Jurassic World: Chaos Theory (2024)
Improvement.
I'm somewhat surprised to say that while I found the preceding series as a spectrum from OK to pretty good, this became the best thing on TV for a couple of months. If there's one fault with Camp Cretaceous it is NOT the characterization and group dynamic and following these people I almost feel I know going out into the bigger world was compelling.
Now we're dealing with the world of humans and dinosaurs are just in it. It's a fresh change from what we've seen them in so far and the staggered return of the old cast was an excellent creative decision as the narrative deals with interpersonal drama from what has gone down in the interim, the mystery of what's going on and plenty of material threat.
They aren't sugar-coating this and I think that even those underwhelmed by Camp Cretaceous should give this a look.
I gotta say though, the final moments of the first season really ticked me off.
Kaguya-hime no monogatari (2013)
Worthy of its maker but don't watch it last of his films.
I would just love to tell you that Takahata's final picture was a flawless swansong to the work of the greatest film-maker ever (5 for 5 with me...).
Is this good? Yes. Do I have certain reservations about it? Sadly also yes.
Richly animated more like an illustration rather than the kitsch one associates with its studio, this is best approached as just a long fairytale like its title suggests. There is a folkloric simplicity that is charming and unassuming for the most part.
A story of priorities and what we value though I suppose all stories are sort of about that. We go on a journey to discover the meaning of being "princess" or perhaps that's the wrong word...as the bamboocutter and his wife delve into the superficiality of high society, balls, arranged marriage and aristocracy that is indistinguishable from the bourgeois wannabes, Kaguya trails behind as a passive protagonist, being treated as a toy to marry off on the pretence of nobility.
She's cute and all but if this movie has a flaw, it's that they didn't give it's title character much of a personality. She does a lot as she navigates the circumstances she is forced into and uses cunning to side-step the unsavory reality of family obligation and one-sided courtship. This story-line takes up a noticably large chunk of runtime and is a case of a good bedtime story being stretched to breaking point.
Kaguya is a bit too perfect and indeed that sort of is the point as someone from beyond this world being raised into a shallow concept of nobility at the expense of knowing hard work and who your real friends are.
The elite are the villains of course and they get too annoying to be entertaining at certain times. Kaguya eventually adopts a parental and sanctimonious stance of how natural is better which we should all know is a lie.
Over-long, but admirable as its maker always is, it is a fairlytale with a dark edge.
Boyz n the Hood (1991)
Convincing.
The zeitgeist of what inspired the most familiar form of rap is here in buckets as we see a boy who is already almost a man grow into a man who still basically just a boy. Or something...
The father figure dominates a lot of screen time and it's effective I guess even if he isn't terribly charismatic.
The jump to adulthood is expected but still offers a big disconnect. I thought Ice Cube was the boy from earlier but I was wrong.
They manage to convey the range of opinions without being as blunt or transparent as a South Park episode and there is a certain pretence lyricism.
Nevertheless the whole thing is convincingly realized.
Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths (2010)
Everything you want it to be.
Finally I have found this movie with that clip with Owl Man.
Maybe it shouldn't have been a theatrical release but classic comic conflict goes down in this mature but not big headed romp with all the iconic guys.
Batman is funnier than usual which is great and it's plot of a parallel world's own superpeople oppressing may not be the most original but it's the execution that makes it.
I think it's unfair to condemn the people of that world who totally knew how bad the syndicates were but just saw them as too powerful to challenge. I hate to say this but it makes more sense than that classic Justice League episode where they go to a parallel world because here it's a whole superpowered army.
Miraculous - Le film (2023)
Explicably good. What luck.
I put a lot of faith into this because I really liked the series and it was a chance to witness these characters with a blank slate; anything they may have said previously that annoyed could be disregarded in this new continuity.
It's hard to really know what to say. This movie is pretty much what you expect. We're retrotting familiar territory and they are more than a little self aware about that with a joking use of George Michael to represent that moment of first attraction.
Vibrantly animated with enchanting character design, authentic to their original looks but just...better somehow. The music is cool, both original and established and the set pieces are immense.
I suppose you just need to be realistic going in, which I wasn't.
It irked me when Alya abuses technology with Chloe. I know you're allowed to film anyone outdoors but t still got to me.
I think this will provide the closure to many fans that they hope but don't expect the show to ever give them.
Watch in French...
No Time to Spy: A Loud House Movie (2024)
A few coincidences but whatever.
These Paramount Plus cash in specials never seem auspicious but they have been so far so good.
I like the vibe and characters of the Loud House though I think I've reached a point where I can either take them or leave them, but I liked the first movie an this was an excellent follow up: excellent as a made for home-media follow up, not the theatres but still plenty of fun.
The homage to the spy genre and how they work that into the character ark really works and the over-all theme of the franchise (that family is something worth holding out for) yet again works without going all traditional values on us.
I did not care for some flatulence gags but a lot of it is pretty funny, sometimes maybe a little predictable but over all a worthy addition to the series which manages to be more than a little touching.
Titanic - La leggenda continua (2000)
Thanks for letting me know...
There's not much left to say about this movie that hasn't already been said.
They say it needs to be seen to be believed and indeed it is fascinating to see something that requires the laborous work of animation and yet still radiate a special kind of unprofessionalism, as if the script was all just knocked out in a day.
It is difficult in my mind to disentangle what was in this and what was in the OTHER one but talking about the plot is redundant. Everything about it is paint by numbers; you can feel the kind of story they think they're telling and the over riding emotion is just a sense of pity that they have fallen so far from the mark.
Is it entertaining as trash? Well, for 5 minutes maybe but then it keeps going and going...
Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous (2020)
I can't believe this premise filled 5 seasons so well.
A show that fills a niche in your life.
I'm done with the Tales of Arcadia franchise for the moment and this was definitely an upgrade.
Is this series a masterpiece? No, but it ticks all the boxes: a bunch of characters who would never associate in real life are forced together and learn those lessons of working together, opening up and not judging a book by its cover.
In time I came to really love these guys, 50% of them being super cute. I had mixed feelings about Brooklyn but over all she is a good presence.
The set pieces are stunning, the tone is mature with that sense of humor you need and of course the real evil is humanity's greed.
Good Burger 2 (2023)
Complements to the chef.
A movie that is hard to believe was made but is also, strangely, so much better than it has any right to be.
They didn't dump this out; they thought about it and gave us something with just that right amount of nostalgia baiting in a story that's not too original but has all the right ingredients (tee hee).
These movies are ultimately a story of friendship and how we often find we get better friends than we deserve even if we don't realise it at first.
It's a lot of fun catching up with Ed and seeing he has built a life for himself he truly loves and without really going anywhere for it.
There is a little bit of plotting weakness since it all relies on a bit of cliche to really pin down the conflict but there is an admirable lucidity and self-deprecation that the writers do not coast on.
Thompson and Mitchel are just a pair of jewels from my childhood and I cannot not love seeing them together on top form.
Over all it's a satisfying silly escapade that wisely puts its budget into its set pieces and not it's fire effects.
Several little things come up in the 3rd act, it's basic but cute.
A sequel worthy of its predecessor though I go not approve of the flatulence joke.
The After Party (2018)
Just listen to 2 hours of rap instead.
Ever wondered what a generic movie looks like? Not one so bad it's fascinatingly bad or one you can rip on for comedic effect on your struggling online channel but one that is just so in-between you don't even realise it until later?
A story of youthful aspiration and that crossroads in which dreams and practicality clash, one friend has a passion for performing and the other friend has a passion in him.
Too much of this plot revolves around this obnoxious after-party though it paints a vivid picture of the snootiness of vapid VIPs. That Blasia hooker was such a pill, screw her (without paying).
Overall this progresses and develops though it definitely over-stays its welcome. The romantic interest is annoying and it's crazy how all these rappers I assume are famous actually appear as themselves.
Oh, at one point they're told they need to find girls to get into the party so they get some from a Bat Mitzvah and the doorwoman says "where did you get them from, Sesame Street?"
I mean...I know Sesame street is a kids' show but you don't really associate kids as being ON the show so much as monsters or adults so it's a very poorly thought through line of dialogue. They're not even obviously that young.
Bundy and the Green River Killer (2019)
Whoever wrote this really trusts law enforcement.
A movie that feels like it was made for television and doesn't feel like a professional job in terms of writing.
When you avoid conventional story structure you gamble seeming avant-garde or just poorly thought through and one is just left with the feeling that this just always just have been a documentary.
Bundy is barely part of it. He has a few scenes and I like this actor though I would hardly have thought he was Bundy if I hadn't been told. At first I thought "he MUST be the Green River killer". But he wasn't.
So Bundy is a supporting role behind the cops and the killer and we get the emotional journey and the toll this took on one detectives life to find this answer that was always there.
Tainted by the vibe of masculine rage in which the evil of killing the innocent doesn't really go without saying, there is a lot of obnoxiousness here, sort of making the murderer characters the most agreeable to follow.
There is no subtext, they straight up talk things out with this daughter who is at least 30 and somehow still in high-school hero-worshipping her hero-cop dad. The dialogue just never flows compellingly.
It's about neither of its title characters but this cop and while I don't want to give spoilers...the end just comes when it wants to.
I liked the depiction of the Green river guy. This vision of low-key family man with a dark secret was familiar but probably the most well handled thing in the picture since they don't lay it on too thick.
The Casagrandes Movie (2024)
Con mucho amor.
I never watched the show avidly (there's just so much stuff) I am aware of it and I have nothing negative to say about it.
This feature length version of that is on-brand and does everything it should. Dripping with local color, both Hispanic and indigenous Mexico are brought to mind with each one of its huge cast getting some time to shine.
Dealing with the conflict of needing your independence but how family is still a special part of you, this was a well thought through, well told story of mortals and gods with super set pieces and visuals.
It's hard to know what else to say; for a general audience it may seem trite but I think the fans will be satisfied.
Ibiza (2018)
I bet it's not even the best movie called "Ibiza".
One of those utterly disposable movies whose script just waits on some shelf as insurance for a lack of other ones.
I enjoy the vision of almost thirty year olds going wild on vacation much to the chagrin of their companion.
We've seen movies like this movie: festive context is used as a way for someone about 30 so re-assess where they are going in their life; a less well made variation of Dirty Thirty, not a movie I really remember well but it was still better.
Plotted using duct tape and glue, so much of this depends on chance encounters and you to just go along with the idea that a beautiful woman would go out of her way for this one guy.
I watched with the hopes of nudity and got maybe a tiny bit but while this is overall watchable with that boss character happily getting what she deserves, I do not remember this fondly.
There's something cowardly and derivative about this: maybe whoever wrote this had true passion for Harper really finding herself but there is just an obnoxiousness and a smugness and a complacency trailed throughout the whole of this.
They have these British tourists who just there for some reason. They're pretty mean to one of them.
Fascinating for how paint by numbers the whole thing is, you're missing nothing much by missing this.
Over the Moon (2020)
Better than it had a right to be.
Instantly very charming work that you really want to root for though it proves that something can be written engagingly without being written well (quote unquote).
The lush local flavor of the modern Chinese town with all its foods, lore and ways couples with stunning and adorable character animation might even appeal to my mother.
(NB she find Frozen unwatchable because their eyes are too big).
There's an eye for visual storytelling and the move to the moon has an original aesthetic not quite science fiction not quite fantasy in the familiar way.
The weakness is that you quickly find yourself having to meet this half way on so many plot points. You have to constantly negotiate what makes sense including the points of conflict or even double check with yourself if you really understand the motivations.
They also introduce a major character too late.
The songs are good though and they drastically change style with the changing plot.
Finding Dory (2016)
Pity about the casting but the rest is fine.
I never like admitting to liking a pixar movie but this was better than even it had a right to be.
Memory is an aspect of the first movie because it's one character who cannot remember much at all paired with one who is haunted by a specific memory.
So there's this thematic link but it's really about exploring more of this character; about how we lose so much by the loss of memory, gain much and ultimately it is what you make it. Dory feels a lot more like someone who is disabled and yet oddly handicapable instead of really a gag character but they're not douchey about it.
Without giving too much away, they do a lot take us visually away from the first movie as we discover new types of landscapes with impressive set pieces, humor, the new characters fitting in naturally and just the right amount of fan service.
It actually makes the first movie make more sense.
Billy Elliot (2000)
Why would she show her butt?
One of those movies that's weirdly as good as you hope it will be.
It's easy to be sentimental about it waving the flag for self-expression, beating the stereotype and just the permission to be sensitive and cute against the backdrop of proletarian masculinity and though this can be soapy in parts, it all makes sense, treats its audience with respect and is handled with a cinematic panache fitting of its subject matter.
Serious but not austere, hopeful but not sentimental. What makes Billy a great protagonist is that it is believable that he would like dancing but he isn't campy. It all adds balance.
Very touching, it adds something that even the musical didn't.
The Loud House (2021)
So much rule34...so much...
Impeccable translation to the large screen that is heartfelt, well thought through and always on-brand.
The scope is bigger for its formidable foreign setting (less foreign to me but never mind), the presence of fantasy elements that so belong and exploring a theme that is very relevant to the show's premise.
Yes, Lincoln feels less than special in his large family which is quite understandable. They establish so early how the life of this family is constant competition for space balanced against incredible love in all directions.
There is superb intrigue, set pieces, new characters with all the old ones getting their due screen-time...
As much as I like the original show, I guess it is quite hit and miss and it will be a while before I catch up on the episodes.
But if you know where this thing is coming from creatively, this could really work for someone not familiar, or even a huge fan of the show.
It really is the best food put forward.