Reaction & Review | Digimon Adventure tri.: Confession

 

Welcome, one and all, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, I'm gonna be covering the third entry in the "Digimon Adventure tri." saga. It came out in 2016. That movie is "Digimon Adventure tri.: Confession".

Now, similar to the other two "Digimon Adventure tri." films that I've covered this month, I don't know a thing about this movie. I know that it's the third entry, and that's about it. I also know that it's going to continue on where it left off from "Determination", and I'm hoping that this movie is going to be great. Part of the reason I say that is because "Determination" didn't really have a whole lot of story. While it did have writing that was a throwback to the first season of Digimon's writing, the quality of the storytelling really took a drop in quality. Hopefully, this third entry will improve on that immensely.

Honestly, I don't know what to expect from this thing. But considering that I go into most of these Reaction & Reviews as blind as possible, it's par for the course for this series. The only thing I am expecting from this movie, and probably the other 3 films in this series, is for the CG to be absolutely terrible. The first two movies had god awful CG, and I am expecting more of the same for this one. But who knows? Maybe the CG has improved here. It's kinda doubtful, but I'm still gonna hold out hope. So the only way I'm gonna know if this thing is gonna be any good, is if I shut up, and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Digimon Adventure tri.: Confession".

10 minutes later

All right, this is kinda bugging me slightly. So it's possible for the Digimon companions to Mega Digivolve, as was seen in the previous two "Digimon Adventure tri." films. My question is why couldn't they do that back in the first season of Digimon? Because it was possible for Matt and Tai's Digimon to Warp Digivolve. I understand it's a completely different form of digivolution, but my question still stands. Why couldn't the other DigiDestined's Digimon have the ability to digivolve even further back during the first season? Why did it have to be restricted to just Matt and Tai? I understand it's a completely trivial thing to be bitching about, and it has nothing to do with the movie, but it's just something that kinda came to me, you know?

15 minutes later

OK, I have a question. So Patamon, which is T.K.'s Digimon, has been infected. Now we don't know WHEN he got infected or how long. But if he's been infected, and the other Digimon have been inside Izzy's little computer world; including Patamon, then wouldn't the other Digimon have already been infected, too? I'm kinda hoping that the movie will attempt to explain some of this, because, right now, I'm kinda lost here.

4 minutes later

Wait, wait, hold on a fucking second here! So the DigiDestined know full well that there is a possibility that their Digimon could become infected, if they try to take them home. Yet, just a short while ago, Patamon bit T.K in the arm, while he was infected. Why is T.K. not telling them this? I understand he's worried about Patamon being homesick without his partner around, but it just screams stupidity on T.K.'s part. On top of that, they are going to take their Digimon back to their homes. And they're doing this without consulting Izzy about it first. I understand that Izzy's not the leader of the DigiDestined, but I would still, at least, ask Izzy to see if it's OK with him, so that they can let him know if something goes wrong with their Digimon. Guys, the writing in this thing is starting to bug me slightly, and I'm hoping that it's not gonna be a detriment to the rest of the film.

19 minutes later

So hold on a fucking second here. So this "reboot" is going to turn back time in the Digital World, only if the infected Digimon are gone from the real world. So basically, everything that happened in the first two seasons of Digimon will have been erased. So that means the battles against Devimon, Myotismon, and the Dark Masters, will have not happened. At least, that's what I'm getting from this officer's theory. Now, I could be totally wrong on that part, but if her theory about this "reboot" is true, then it's possible that all of those battles I've just mentioned are going to be completely erased. Guys, the writing in this thing is starting to hurt my brain, and I'm getting a little depressed by that.

19 minutes later

Guys, I know I've already touched upon this in the previous review, but I need to reiterate this point again. So, Gatomon just digivolved into Angewomon. And during that sequence, her digivolution was not in CG. The other two, both being Greymon and Ikakkumon, were in CG. Why are these movies still using these god awful CG digivolutions, when the non-CG digivolutions look great?! Again, I totally understand that I'm probably beating a dead horse by mentioning it here, but I really am still baffled by how awful the CG is for these sequences.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Digimon Adventure tri.: Confession". I'm gonna...shut that off...dear lord. I'm sorry, guys, but I'm trying to process the ending to that. Without going into spoilers, I will say that one part of that ending makes no fucking sense. And I would be here for hours discussing all of questions I had regarding that part of the ending. However, I am not going to do that. I'm gonna talk about the rest of the movie, and just leave the ending for what it is. It just makes no fucking sense to me.

Now, setting aside that, let's talk about the writing. Now, when compared to the previous "Digimon Adventure tri." film, which was "Determination", this movie definitely has more of a story. And I will say that there definitely is more going on here, when "Determination" didn't really have much of a story. I will also say that it does have some of the corny writing that I would hear in the first season of Digimon. So, on that end, at least this movie was able to retain some of that goofiness here. That being said, though, this movie has a ton of logic issues. For instance, why did T.K. withhold the fact that Patamon was infected from the others? Well, on two or three occasions, he says that he was afraid of fighting Patamon if his Digimon were to go berserk. But it still makes no sense for him to do this because if he had brought this up to everyone earlier on in the movie, then Izzy, who has been tirelessly working on his computer throughout the first half of the movie, could've worked up a plan on how to fix the infected Digimon sooner. But no. He withholds this information throughout most of the movie, up until towards the end when Meicoomon, who has been infected by this point, appears again. Now, Patamon actually tells the other Digimon about him being infected. But rather than than go tell Izzy about this, after they sneak off from where they're suppose to be safe, they decide that if they end up getting rebooted and lose their memories in the process, then they want to spend as much time with their partners as much as possible. I'm gonna get more into that "reboot" shit in a moment. But anyway, the fact that neither T.K. or the rest of the Digimon tell Izzy about this comes across as rather stupid. And I know that T.K. is smarter than this, because I've seen what he did in the first two seasons. Why is he withholding such viable information about Patamon being infected, when it could've possibly been fixed earlier? Honestly, it makes T.K. kind of an idiot. And again, I wish he would've said something about this sooner. Now, I will say that there is one moment in the movie where T.K. and Patamon are together in his room. And the scene they share together is a bit heart-wrenching, and it might bring you a couple of tears. It almost did for me, but it really is one of the better moments of this movie. So it's a rather give-and-take. It was a really stupid moment for T.K. to not say anything about Patamon being infected, but the scene they have after that is rather heart-wrenching.

So, let's talk about this "reboot". Now I'm not gonna dig too deep into this "Quantum C" bullshit that the movie brings up, because most of it almost makes no sense. So, at one point, Kari gets a call from her cell phone, despite the fact that she turned it off. And then she suddenly goes into a daze as soon as she answers it and just walks mindlessly in the school hall. Then she ends up reuniting with the Digimon, after Patamon reveals to them that he's been infected. Now, it's been revealed that Kari's body has been possessed by some deity. And this isn't the first time that this has happened. A little bit of a spoiler, but in the first season of the show, after Kari joins the DigiDestined to save the Digital World, there was maybe, like, one or two instances where Kari's body was possessed by this deity. Now I don't remember if it's this same deity that possesses Kari in this movie, but I'm not gonna worry about that here. Anyway, she tells them that the only way to save the Digimon that are being infected is to start up a "reboot", and it would involve a great sacrifice. A great sacrifice of what? I don't know. I'm going to assume it's the Digimon companions losing their memories once the "reboot" happens, but the movie was sorta vague on that, so I don't know if that's what it was meaning. And then shortly after that, Agent Himekawa, who's name I kept forgetting that I had to look it up on how to spell it, catches Kari from collapsing, after the deity leaves her body. So, here's where this part makes no sense to me. Agent Himekawa says that the "reboot" might have to go through and it's a possibility that the Digital World would go back in time in order for the "reboot" to happen. Now again, I could be completely wrong on this, and it might just be bullshit on my end. And if it is, then so be it. I'm sure someone who has seen these movies will correct me on this. But just for the hell of it, I'm gonna bring it up again, anyways. So, if the Digital World ends up going back in time, does that mean that all of the battles that went on from seasons 1 and 2 of Digimon will have been erased? If so, then what comes of Devimon, Myotismon, the Dark Masters, Arukenimon and Mummymon; which were recurring villains from the latter portion of season 2. What happens to all of them? Are they also going to become fragments of lost memories from the "reboot"? Or are they just data that never gets reproduced after the "reboot" happens? Guys, I'm gonna tell you, a lot of what I just said probably makes no sense to you. Especially if you're someone who has never seen Digimon. So I'm going to say this. If you can turn off your brain, and not think about anything of what I just mentioned, then you're probably going to enjoy this thing immensely. Because if you go into this movie, and you start to think about all of the logic issues that this thing has, then you're probably going to get turned off by this movie, because it has a ton of logic issues that don't make a whole lot of sense.

So the writing here is kind of a mixed bag. And if I had more time to talk about that ending, then I would be here for hours discussing things that makes no sense to me. But anyways, let's get to the acting. In real honestly, most of the acting is fine. It's the same kind of acting from the previous two films. So if you got use to the acting there, then you're probably going to get into this English dub with no problems. However, there is one voice that I noticed that kind of bugged me. Well two, technically. One of them has to do with whoever voiced Angemon, which is the Champion level of Patamon. For whatever reason, his voice is definitely off here. And it doesn't sound anything like his original voice actor from the first season. Now I'm not saying it has to be exactly like the first season, but whoever they got to voice Angemon sounds really wooden. And it kinda took me out of the movie a bit. Speaking of wooden, there's one actor from this movie who seems to have gotten lazy. And it's whoever voiced Nishijima, which I believe was Matt and Tai's High School teacher. Somehow, between the first two "Digimon Adventure tri,." movies and this one, the guy who voices him really sounded like he just phoned it in and did not fucking care. Now granted, it's not something most people would notice, but it was something that caught my attention. So, you just have to take it for what it's worth. Beyond the couple of bits of wooden acting, the rest of the acting is rather decent, so I can't really complain too much.

Animation here, once again, is great. And by that, I mean the art style is really good. But then again, most of it is what was in the previous two films, so it's to be expected here. And, as I sadly predicted, the terrible CG is also here, too. And unlike the previous film, where it didn't have much CG to begin with, this movie definitely has more of it. And looking at it here, I also noticed that most of the Digimon's standard forms also looks terrible in CG, whenever they have to digivolve into their Champion levels. It looks so bad here, that it still makes me question why they have to use the terrible CG in this movie, when they could've just stuck with the digivolutions that's used for the Ultimate leveled Digimon. And again, I'm probably just beating a dead horse by mentioning how awful the CG is for these movies. However, I'm going to continue to beat this horse, until the CG gets improved. I understand that I'm probably asking for too much here, but there's still 3 movies to go, so maybe they'll have fixed the CG in those movies. It's rather doubtful, but, damn it, I want to have some hope.

Sound-mix is mixed rather well. Music, well, once more, the score is just there. There's nothing here that's ultimately memorable, but it's not painful to listen to. I will say that, at least, they got rid of that terrible opening song that plagued the first two movies, so, you know what? At least this movie's taking baby steps. So hopefully, the rest of the problems I mentioned will be sorted out in the later films.

Ultimately, guys, can I recommend "Digimon Adventure tri.: Confession"? I can, as long as you're willing to shut your brain off. Again, if you think about all of the issues I had for this movie, then you're probably going to end up hating this thing. But if you can turn your brain off, and enjoy it for what it is, then you're probably going to love this thing. Especially if you have been following this series of movies, so far. As for me, I'm gonna be honest, this is the weakest film of the "Digimon Adventure tri." series. Yeah sure, I did say that "Determination" didn't have much of a plot. But, at least there, I was able to enjoy that movie because it had that throwback to the first season of Digimon's writing. Here though, the logic issues held this thing back from being great. And that's a real shame, because I wanted to love this thing. I wanted it to be better than "Determination". Sadly though, that wasn't the case. And this movie just ended up being kind of a mess with it's logic issues and clunky writing. Now...I'm gonna go do something else. And I think I'm gonna go back and continue playing my copy of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D on my New Nintendo 3DS. Because I need to relax my brain with something different after watching this thing.

Anyway, guys, with that, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all in the near future. Peace.

Reaction & Review | Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies

 

Welcome, one and all, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, we continue this run of the "Wishmaster" films by taking a look at the second entry that came out in 1999. That movie is "Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies".

Now, a bit of a recap for those of you who didn't catch my review of the first "Wishmaster" movie. I thought it was a really solid horror movie. The Djinn was fucking amazing, it had likable characters, and a very fascinating story. And the writing didn't insult your intelligence, especially considering that it did something involving a twist that most movies would fail to do, because most of them would pull out a cop-out ending that makes no fucking sense. If you want to know what I'm talking about, go read my review of the first movie.

But as for tonight's movie, I know almost nothing about it. I know that Andrew Divoff, the guy who played the Djinn from the first movie, reprises his role here. Which is great, because he was the reason to watch the first "Wishmaster" film. Beyond that, I know nothing else about this movie. In fact, the only thing I was curious about after the ending of the first movie was how exactly was this going to lead to a sequel? I have no idea, but I'm hoping that the movie will give some sort of explanation. I haven't bothered to read the plot on the back of the DVD case, because I want to go into this movie as blind as possible.

I'm really hoping that this movie will be just as good as the first movie. On the other hand, because this is a sequel, this thing could be a massive step back in quality. But I'm hoping that's not the case, because I kinda have high hopes for this one. The question is, will this movie live up to those expectations? I have no idea. But the only way I'm gonna that find out, is if I shut up, and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies".

2 minutes later

So the reason why the Djinn's stone got released from the statue from the first movie was because a bunch of thieves wearing druid-like clothing were just in a shootout with a security guard, who attempted to shoot one of the thieves that was hiding behind the Egyptian statue. And his shot was the reason why the stone gets released? All right...at least, it's one of the least dumbest ways you could release the Djinn's gem from it's statue. So yeah, at least that answer's my question really easily.

4 minutes later

OK...the Djinn's back. No idea what the hell he is...and...OK, that is kinda loud.........and that guy literally just disappeared. Well, he did wish that he was never born. So...I guess he got what was coming to him.

11 minutes later

Wow....that was, quite literally, the most painful way to get out of a jail cell. That was fucking awesome, dude!

19 minutes later

OK, I have a bit of a stupid question. Does Nathaniel always have to make that creepy fucking smile of his, every time he talks? I know that he did that in the first movie, but it was just something that I noticed here. It's so fucking creepy every time that he does this, that it's actually making me feel a little bit uncomfortable. I totally understand that it has nothing do to with the movie, but I just felt like I needed to get that off my chest, you know?

16 minutes later

Oh my God, she really cut off her own pinky finger. Why? Why the hell would she cut off her own pinky finger in order to change her ways?! That's not going to stop what she did before back when she was a thief. So why the hell is this necessary for her to cut off her own pinky finger? Guys, I'm gonna be honest, this really doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.

11 minutes later

Well...that's certainly a creative way to ask for someone's head. He didn't necessarily say in what condition the head would be in, but still, at least he got his head. I just wish he thought about that ahead of time...God, that joke really sucked.

14 minutes later

So the Djinn's idea of getting 1001 souls was to grant everyone at the casino their wish in winning. That is probably one of the most creative plans I have ever heard of, and it actually is working. I, personally, would've never thought about that if I were tasked in writing this thing. I have to give the writing a ton of props there for coming up with such a creative plan.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies". Let me shut the movie off...OK. Well, that was pretty good. Mind you, this movie does have it's problems, but I'll get into talking about those, eventually. So I guess I should start by talking about the writing.

Going into this movie, there was one thing I was kinda worried about. As I stated earlier, being that this thing is a sequel to a movie that was really good, you have a lot to live up to. You want to live up to your predecessor. You want to show that your writing is as strong as it was in the first movie. Because the first "Wishmaster" movie had really strong writing, likable characters, and an overall solid story. And while this movie certainly has it's moments in really sharp writing, it also has a bit of a problem when it comes to the pacing. Because the first "Wishmaster" movie flew on by and just kept chugging forward with it's story. "Wishmaster 2", however, has more of a slower paced story. Now, I don't really mind that for a lot of movies. Most of the time, they are trying to build up their characters while telling their story. Other occasions, it will almost have no fucking plot and will just sit there while doing nothing. "Wishmaster 2" certainly takes it's time in building up it's story. But I feel as though it takes up a little too much time. Because most of the time, the Djinn, who is once again disguised as Nathaniel from the first movie, spends about the first half of the movie in prison. And while he's there, he's trying to grant the wishes of the prisoners that are there. Including one security guard, which honestly was one of the funniest moments in the entire movie. I'm not gonna spoil what that is, you're just gonna have to watch the movie for yourself. But that's where the Djinn is at for a good portion of the movie. And another reason why this movie takes up a bit of time has to do with how the Djinn needs to grant wishes. You see, in this movie, he needs to grant the wishes of 1001 souls, plus 3 wishes from the person who set him free, which would be our main character Morgana. I'll get to her in a bit. Now, while the Djinn is in prison, it's not really specified as to how many wishes he has granted by that point. I will say that a little later on after he escapes with a Russian prisoner, it's revealed that he needs to grant around 800 more wishes in order to unleash his djinns on Earth. And the way that he does this is when the Russian prisoner, who had a name that I totally forgot about, suggests that he goes to Vegas to help speed up the process. Now we don't get to hear him say "Go to Las Vegas, it has a ton of souls for you to collect". He just says there's a place he knows where the Djinn can grant a ton more wishes. And while I will say that the plan is very creative once the Djinn gets to Vegas, it felt like getting to that point was kind of long. So, the pacing definitely feels rather off here. Now, I will say that, unlike the previous film I covered in the "Digimon Adventure tri." series, which was "Determination", I felt like there was more of a story here, than what was in that movie. So, at least, we have that.

As for the story itself, outside of it having some pacing issues, is still rather solid. The Djinn, once more, is fucking amazing in this movie. And while his time in prison was where the pacing issues came in, I will say that the Djinn more than makes up for it, because he was the best character in the first movie. And he still retains that in this movie. Part of that has to do with the acting, which I'll get to later on. There are a couple of things that did sorta bother me. One minor thing came to me was when the priest, Gregory, who is Morgana's love interest in this movie, comes to visit Nathaniel in prison at the request of Morgana. Nathaniel, at one point, mentions Gregory's profession as a priest. How the hell does he know that? I ask this, because Gregory was not wearing anything that pertained to his profession of being a priest. There is no sign of a cross on him and he doesn't carry a bible when he comes to see him. So how the hell does the Djinn know about his profession? I understand that the Djinn is a mystical being and the question could be answered with "fuck you it's magic", but I still feel like I needed to ask that. The other thing, and this is where my issues with the writing are going to come into play, has to do with Morgana, the main character for this movie. First off, I will say that if I had to compare her with the main character in the first "Wishmaster" movie, which I think her name was Alex, I would totally say Alex is the more likable character. She was straight-forward and not stupid. Morgana, on the other hand, does not meet those standards. We first see her right at the beginning of the movie where she was disguised as a druid, while stealing from a museum with two other people that were also dressed as druids. And it ends up with them getting found out when one of the thieves breaks open a glass case with a jewel inside. Now I want to make mention that this is NOT the jewel that contains the gem where the Djinn is sealed at. That would belong in the Egyptian statue that one of the thieves, which I believe was Morgana, was hiding behind. And the security guard ends up shooting part of the statue off, revealing the gem to Morgana in the process. So she, and another thief, who ends being her boyfriend at the time, ends up being shot at by the security guard while trying to get away. In which she, in turn, ends up shooting the security guard and killing him. Now the reason why I bring this all up is that later on, she ends up going to church to pay her respects and, I guess, have God forgive her of her sins. First of all, it's never explained why she needs to steal anything in the first place. Does she need money that badly? Is she in debt or something? The latter doesn't seem to be the case, because she lives in an apartment and seems to be living a decent life. So why did she need to steal anything in the first place? Also, it's implied that she's a Christian, what with her going to church and all. I'm sorry, but if you're a Christian, then shouldn't you be following what the Ten Commandments say? Two of them, in particular, being "Thou Shalt Not Steal" and "Thou Shalt Not Kill"? I don't know, maybe I'm just following common sense here.

One other thing about her that really bothers me is that there is a plot point in the movie where in order for the Djinn to be put back into it's gem, it needs someone with a pure heart to be one of those conditions. Which OK, I guess that makes some level of sense. But here's something that I don't understand. So, as has been established already, Morgana is not really pure-hearted material. So with the advice of Gregory, she begins to try and change her ways. And by that, I mean she tries to pretty herself up by cleaning up herself, with regards to her appearance. She cleans off her lipstick, cuts off bits of her hair to make herself look less like a goth chick, and returns a portrait of one of the items she stole from the beginning of the movie. She does all of that, but there's one thing that REALLY makes no sense. So, for whatever mind boggling reason, she ends up CUTTING her left pinky finger, because that somehow is a part of her atonement to try and change her ways to be of a pure heart. Now I'll admit, I am not a Christian, so I may be ignorant in this subject. But I don't think that cutting off your pinky finger is going to do anything. Especially when you consider that what she's done in the past is not going to change. Now yes, you can become a better person, even if you have done some bad things in the past, but I don't think that cutting off your pinky finger is a tradition that most people would follow. But you know what? I might be completely wrong on that. So if there's anybody out there who is a Christian, I want you to answer this for me. Is it common knowledge for someone to cut off their pinky finger in order for them to become a better person? Or, according to this movie, become a person of a pure heart? Please. I want to know. I want to know if it's a common practice for someone to cut off their pinky finger, just so that they can become a better person, despite what that person has done in the past. I would love an answer. And I understand that I'm probably thinking WAY too deep into this, but it's just something that really bothered me when I watched that happen. Now, beyond Morgana's stupidity in doing something like that, our characters here are not all that interesting, besides the Djinn. As I've stated, Morgana is suppose to be a Christian, despite breaking two of the Ten Commandments that she's not suppose to. And then we have Gregory, who's just a priest and is Morgana's love interest for this movie. Outside of them, our characters are kinda shallow. But I will say that even though Morgana's character in this movie is incredibly flawed, it's still something that kinda works. And I would rather take a character who has a ton of flaws, rather than have a character who is incredibly shallow and lifeless.

So, writing here is not as good as it was in the previous film. But it's still not enough to bring this entire movie down. At least, to me it isn't. What helps this movie is the acting. Once more, Andrew Divoff is amazing in this movie. And as I stated earlier, he is the reason to watch this movie. In fact, he is the reason to watch the first two movies. Because he makes this character his own, and makes it work so well. And the sad part about this is that I know he's not in the other two "Wishmaster" movies that I'll be covering next month. But anyway, Andrew Divoff is still amazing at what he does here. Now, unlike the previous film where I recognized quite a few actors such as Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, and George Buck Flower, this movie has nobody in the cast list that I recognize. Now, even though I don't recognize anybody in this movie, outside of Andrew Divoff, the acting is still really solid from the rest of the cast. And even though Morgana's character was incredibly flawed, the actress who played her did a really good job. The only actor who I felt was a bit weak in this movie was whoever played Gregory, the priest. There was like one or two moments where he sounded like he phoned it in, but it's not going to be noticed by anybody, unless you went into this movie like I did. Other than that, the acting is, mostly, really good. So I have to give the acting a ton of praise here.

And similar to the first movie, the special effects are amazing in this movie. In fact, when compared to the first movie, the special effects are upgraded to a tee. Especially towards the final act, because there is a lot more going on here, when compared to the first movie's final act. We have quite a lot of blood in this movie, and the practical blood looks amazing here. We also have a bit of CG in this movie. And what few bits of CG that are here looks really good. At least, really good by 1999 standards. Makeup effects are amazing, and that's mostly on the Djinn. The Djinn looks just as awesome as he did in the first movie. Costuming here is pretty good. The sets, specifically when it comes to the Djinn's home world, looks great. Overall, guys, special effects are just as good, if not better than what was in the first movie.

Camerawork here is really solid. Lighting here is great. Our score is pretty good. Sound-mix, when compared to the first movie, is definitely improved here. You'll recall in my review of the first movie that one of my issues I had with it was the sound-mix when it came to the volume. Sometimes even when I had the volume up really high, the audio sounded really quiet. Now again, I don't know if it was because of the DVD that Artisan Home Entertainment put out, or if it was just a technical issue on my end. But regardless, it was something that I did notice. I will say that, while there were a couple of moments where I had to mess around with the volume on my TV to get the sound just right, it's definitely not as noticeable here. I could hear, just about, the entire movie really well. So again, while it may be an incredibly minor issue on my end, I'm happy to say that it has improved here. So that's always a positive.

Overall, guys, can I recommend "Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies"? Mostly yes. If you can overlook some of the odd writing when it comes to the main character, and some of the pacing issues that this movie has, then you're, probably, really going to enjoy this thing. Now again, this movie is nowhere near as good as the first movie was. But since it is a sequel, it is something that you have to take for what it's worth. Because, most of the time, sequels almost never end up being as good as the previous film, anyways. But still, if you were a fan of the first "Wishmaster" movie, then go ahead and check out this one. It certainly is a rather good sequel. In fact, I mentioned it back in my previous review of the first "Wishmaster" movie that I had gotten the first two movies from a DVD 2-pack that has the first two "Wishmaster" movies. And I'm gonna tell you, this 2-pack is worth every penny. If you can find this 2-pack anywhere, be it on DVD or Blu-ray, pick it up. At this point, it's definitely cheap, especially considering that the 2-pack I bought was only $5. So if you are looking to get into the "Wishmaster" films, this 2-pack is definitely a start. Now, I don't know if the other two movies are going to be worth adding to those first two movies, but I am going to find out come next month. Now...I think I'm gonna go find something else to watch. I think I'm gonna go watch my copy of "Sin City". Why not? And if I'm in the mood, I'm gonna go watch "Sin City: A Dame to Kill For". So I'm gonna go do that, and this 2-pack is going to have a happy spot on my DVD shelf.

Anyway, guys, with that, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all in the near future. Peace.

Reaction & Review | Digimon Adventure tri.: Determination

 

Welcome, one and all, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, I'm gonna be covering an animated film from 2016. That movie is "Digimon Adventure tri.: Determination".

Now, for those of you who didn't read my review of the first "Digimon Adventure tri." movie, I stated that I was gonna be covering all 6 of the movies in this series. And I plan on doing that for the next several months. As for "Digimon Adventure tri.: Reunion" itself, I'm gonna give you a condensed version of that review. The movie was pretty good and it got me interested to see where the rest of the "Digimon Adventure tri." series was going to go. It also left some questions kinda vague, but I am hoping that "Determination" is going to answer more of those questions.

I honestly don't know what to expect from this one. I'm kinda hoping it continues the trend of this series being good with it's writing. I'm also wondering if the CG is going to be an improvement, because one of my biggest complaints I had for "Reunion" was the questionable CG models on the Digimon. Hoping to see it get's improved as this series continues. But I'm also hoping for this series, above all else, to be entertaining. And the only I'm gonna find that out, is if I shut up, and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Digimon Adventure tri.: Determination".

2 minutes later

Well, guys, I can tell you one thing that this series has kept from the first movie. This theme song still fucking sucks. I'm probably gonna have to get use to hearing this god awful song, if it's gonna be like that for the next 5 movies. But it's still not gonna change the fact that this opening song is fucking terrible.

16 minutes later

All right, I feel like I need to ask this. Is this story going to go anywhere? Because, right now, this movie's pacing is incredibly slow and nothing has happened during that time. I'm certainly hoping that the movie's gonna pick up, so we can get the story rolling. Because there's only a little more than an hour left in the movie, and I'm not really sure if it's going to improve from here.

14 minutes later

OK, this is kinda bugging me slightly. So Joe has gotten text messages from his friends that there's an infected Digimon on the loose. Rather than going to check out where the infected Digimon is located at, he just ignores it because he's too busy focusing on his exams. Dude, if you got the time to study for your exams, you got the time to help out your friends. For someone who has the Crest of Reliability, he sure is being a very reliable friend right now, isn't he?

19 minutes later

Sorry, guys, if I haven't been saying a whole lot. I'm kinda getting sucked into the story again. It's really interesting when it wants to tell a story. I'll get a little more into that when I talk about this in the review, but right now, I'm just kinda interested to see where this story's gonna go.

1 minute later

Wait, Leomon is still there? I thought he would've went back to the Digital World to keep an eye on Ogremon. You know, considering the fact that Orgemon is still infected and all. Why is he still here? Does Leomon just have nothing better to do right now? I'm kinda curious about that now, and it's starting to bug me a little bit.

8 minutes later

Wow, I never thought I'd see Leomon in human attire. That's totally not gonna make you look suspicious at all there, dude. No. No, you totally blend in with the other Digimon. Again, why the fuck is Leomon still here?

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Digimon Adventure tri.: Determination". That was...quite an interesting ending. Let me go ahead and shut the movie off...OK. Where to even start?

I think I should start with the issues I had with the first movie. I'm gonna start with animation. Once more, the animation is pretty much on par with what was in the first movie. The art design is really spot on, and I'm really happy to see that here once more. What about the CG, though? Has that made any improvements since the first movie? Uh, no. The CG has, somehow, gotten worse. First of all, I should mention that there isn't a whole lot of CG in this movie, when compared to the first one. Most of the CG in the first film involved the digivolutions. And the same can be applied here. There's only about 3 digivolutions in this movie that involves the same CG that was in the first movie. And it still looks terrible here. I brought up how Kabuterimon's model looked terrible in the first movie. Well, behold the one Digimon in this movie that actually looks worse in CG. That honor now goes to Ikkakumon, which is the Champion form of Gomamon. Somehow, between the first movie and this one, the CG has gotten worse. In fact, to prove how pointless the CG is in both movies, right towards the end of the film, we actually get to see both Ikkakumon and Togemon digivolve into their Ultimate level. And what's strange about all this is that their digivolutions are not in CG. They are in 2D. And the animation during those particular digivolutions look amazing. Which begs the question as to why the CG needs to exist in this movie? Because it looks so terrible, that both movies could've scrapped the god awful CG and used the digivolutions for both of their digivolution phases. And by that, I mean they could've used the 2D animation sequences for both the Digimon's Ultimate and Champion forms. There is no reason to use CG in these movies if that's how bad they were gonna be rendered for these movies. And unfortunately, I have a feeling that we're going to be seeing more of this same god awful CG in later installments of this series. Now, I hope it's somehow improved in later installments, but I have this funny feeling that it's not going to be that way. So unfortunately, the CG is what it is. It's the same terrible CG that was in the first movie. And it's probably gonna use the same terrible models in the later films. I certainly hope that's not the case, but I'm not holding my breath there.

Now, setting aside the god awful CG in this movie, the rest of the animation, as I've already stated, looks great. So at least I can give the movie that much when it comes to it's animation. Now, let's go straight into writing. First of all, I need to get this out of the way. This movie is definitely nowhere near as interesting as it was in the previous film. Now, I want you to take note that I said it's not as 'interesting' as the first movie. I am not saying that this movie is bad. In fact, when this move wants to tell a story, it does it really well. I'll get more into that in a second, but I want touch upon something first. I will say that this movie, in particular, has a lot of elements that reminded me of when I was watching Digimon as a kid. A lot of the dialogue in this movie is something that I would hear in the first Digimon series. And I gotta say, on that end, it did kinda made me feel like a kid again watching this movie. Not just the fact that this series is from a franchise that I grew up on as a child, but this entire movie kinda took me back to a time when the series was filled with a ton of corny dialogue and kinda cheesy acting. And I really have to give this movie's writing some praise on that end. It really felt like I was a kid again, because I grew up on children's anime that had this kinda goofy, cheesy dialogue. I'm talking about stuff such as Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Sailor Moon, you know, that kinda stuff. And I really liked that aspect of this movie's writing. So it's kinda hard for me to review this movie, knowing that this movie has that kind of aspect within it's writing. That being said, since I am reviewing this entire series, I should look at it from a different perspective. Now, even though this movie has that throwback to the older days of Digimon, this movie also falters from one big problem. And that would be the pacing. I'm gonna tell you guys, this movie has some really terrible pacing. The first 20 minutes of the movie has almost nothing happening. Basically, what happens is most of the DigiDestined are at a spa, along with their Digimon. And really, the only thing that remotely happens is when Biyomon and Meicoomon get lost at the spa, and I assume most of this is meant to be played up for laughs. And while some people are going to enjoy that kind of thing, it honestly didn't do much for me. And I was kinda waiting for the story to pick up. Unfortunately though, the really interesting bits of story doesn't kick in until the movie has about 10-15 minutes left. And even then, those interesting bits of the story feel rather rushed. And it's really noticeable, because this movie takes up a lot of time doing other things. Such as the when the DigiDestined are at the spa, or when they are at the school festival. Which the latter has those interesting bits of story. But again, the story doesn't really kick in until those last 10-15 minutes of the movie. And I'm really disappointed that this movie felt a little too laid back with it's writing, even though it is something that I, admittedly, do kinda enjoy. So, story-wise, this thing is a massive step back in quality. But as a throwback to the original series writing, it's kinda charming and, as I said, I enjoyed it enough to not completely despise this movie's writing.

As for our characters, most of them don't get a lot of depth in this movie. Which, I think, was intentional. Because it's only focusing on certain characters, which I'm OK with. The ones who do get the most depth in this movie are Mimi and Joe. And to a lesser extent Meiko. Joe mostly doesn't do anything in this movie, other than studying. Which I thought was kinda annoying, because, as I mentioned before during the reaction portion, Joe's Crest is known for Reliability. And rather than being a reliable friend and not go to the area in which Ogremon appeared, he just stays behind and continues on his studies. But there is kind of a reason for that. And I'm not gonna go too deep into that for the sake of spoilers, but his character is probably one of the more interesting aspects of this movie. As for Mimi, well, she really isn't that much different than how she was in the first movie. There is something there, but it's nowhere near as interesting as Joe's development. Speaking of Ogremon, I need to touch upon Leomon for a moment. Because Leomon was in a few episodes of the first season of Digimon. He didn't really get a lot of time to develop in that first season, but he was still a decent character. In this movie, I'm not really sure what purpose he was suppose to serve here. Because on two separate points, Ogremon, who's turned into an infected Digimon, goes on a rampage against the military and Togemon. And during those two points, Leomon was just there to appear behind Ogremon and bring him back to the Digital World. And then, later on, he suddenly appears with Tai and says that he had information for the DigiDestined in regards to what was happening with both the Digital World, the real world, and what was happening with Ogremon. And I didn't mind that at the time, because I thought he was just going to be there to give information and that would be it. However, for whatever reason, Leomon is still with the Digimon companions. And at that point, I had to wonder why exactly was he still there? Because, as I made mentioned earlier, Ogremon had appeared in the real world on two separate occasions, and Leomon pulled him back into the Digital World before Ogremon could cause any real damage. So...why was he still there? Why is Leomon still hanging out with the DigiDestined? Didn't he have more important things to be worrying about in the Digital World, such as Ogremon, who is probably still infected by this point. Why was Leomon just sitting there doing nothing? It really made me question as to why Leomon's appearance in this movie was even important. And the only reason I can think of why he was even here was towards the end of the movie. Which again, I'm not going to spoil what happens. But it really makes me feel that Leomon's appearance in this movie almost served no purpose here. And as for Ogremon, he also comes off as incredibly wasted here. And I'm not talking about character depth, because he's infected. So I'm not expecting miracles when it comes to character depth. But I really feel like Ogremon's impact in this movie just seems like a complete afterthought. And that's kind of a shame, because I liked Ogremon from the first season of Digimon. But to see him being used in this movie just for the sake of being here is really disappointing to me. And the same can be said for Leomon.

So overall, I can say that the writing in this movie is definitely not as strong as it was in "Reunion". But again, most of it I'm able to overlook because of what I mentioned earlier. At least, to me, I was able to overlook most of it. But if you're looking for more of a continuation with the story, you're not gonna find a lot of that here. It's nowhere near as good as the first movie. Setting aside the questionable writing, I can say that the acting, for the most part, is still decent. Nothing here is ultimately bad. It's still, mostly, the same kind of acting from the first movie. That being said, I do feel like a couple of the voice actors seem to have mellowed out. What I mean by that is a couple of the voice actors I mentioned that had reprised their roles for these movies have kinda aged a bit. Those two being Mimi's voice actress, and the actor who voices Tentomon, which is Izzy's Digimon partner. Tentomon's voice, in particular, has definitely aged a bit. But it's still decent enough, so I'm able to say that the acting is just as it was from the first movie. So honestly, I can say the acting works well enough.

I've already touched upon animation, so I'm not gonna repeat myself here. Sound-mix here is decent. I will say that the sound-mix has improved the most over the first movie. Partially because, the first movie had to mix in the guitar riff from the digivolutions with background noise in some cases, and it didn't really mesh well at all. Here though, I can at least say they fixed it well enough here. So that much I'm able to give this movie's sound-mix. There really isn't a lot of music here that is memorable in any way. I can say that that opening song is still as terrible as it was in the previous film. However, I didn't have to hear it a lot in this movie. It seems as though they cut it back to about half of what was played in the first movie, so at least I didn't have to listen to that god awful opening song for too long. But otherwise, guys, the score in this movie is completely forgetful.

So, when all is said and done, am I able to recommend "Digimon Adventure tri.: Determination"? Kind of, yes. I will say, again, that the movie isn't bad. It's just not a lot of story progression is here, especially when compared to the first movie. I really felt like "Reunion", overall, was the better movie. Now granted, there are 4 other movies in this series I have to watch, so I'm hoping that they'll improve on the storytelling. But as for this movie, while it's incredibly weak in it's writing, it still has enough here to satisfy fans of the "Digimon Adventure" series. As I mentioned before, it has that throwback to when the series had that corny dialogue and the cheesy acting. So it's enough to where I can recommend it as a blast from the past. But like I said, if you're watching this movie to find out where the story is going, it doesn't have a lot of that here, unfortunately. So I do have to warn you there. I'm kinda hoping that the rest of the "Digimon Adventure tri." series is going to get better from here. But I'll just have to see for myself, now won't we? Now...I think I'm gonna go find something else to watch. I have no idea what at this point in time, but I kinda need to find something a little better to watch. I think I'm gonna go watch my copy of "Kiki's Delivery Service". It's been a while since I've seen it, so I'm gonna go watch that.

Anyway, guys, with that, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all in the near future. Peace.

Reaction & Review | Wishmaster

 

Welcome, one and all, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, I'm gonna be covering a horror movie from 1997. That movie is "Wishmaster".

Now, I've been wanting to check out this franchise for quite some time. And similar to what I'm doing with the "Digimon Adventure tri." films, I'm gonna be covering all four of the "Wishmaster" movies for the next couple of months. So, you're gonna notice a bit of a rotation between those two film series for quite a while.

Now for those of you who have never heard of the "Wishmaster" series, from what I could gather, the movies involve an evil djinn that can grant any kind of wish that anyone so desires. But at the same time, it also unleashes their darkest nightmares. At least, according to the back of the case for the first movie. Which sounds really cool. So I'm curious to see if this franchise is even worth checking out. I heard about this franchise from one of Emer Prevost's live streams, where he and a friend of his were talking about the "Wishmaster" movies, and that's what ultimately got me interested in checking these movies out for myself.

I'm certainly hoping that this franchise is gonna be worth checking out. I've heard mostly good things about the "Wishmaster" movies, but I have no idea if they're gonna end up being any good. The only way I'm gonna know if this series is even worth watching at all, is if I shut up, and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Wishmaster".

9 minutes later

Well, guys...the movie's just started, and we already have our first death. It was quite gruesome. But then again, the dumbass had coffee around the crane controls. So obviously, it was bound to lead to something disastrous. Still though, this movie does not fuck around. I'm hoping this is a good sign of things to come.

9 minutes later

Well, folks, I think I learned something new today. Never run a laser scan on a jewel that may or may not contain the essence of an evil djinn. Otherwise, it will blow up your lab equipment. That is a good lesson to fucking learn, guys.

8 minutes later

Wow....never thought I would see someone die that violently to cancer. That was pretty fucked up. Really cool. But totally fucked up, dude.

19 minutes later

Guys, I will say that was a pretty creative way to distract someone, while granting their wish. Granted, this guy only killed about 2 or 3 people, and ripped one guy's jaw off with his bare hands. But still, it was sort of a creative way to distract someone, while trying to gain someone's address. So, good on the Djinn for thinking that far ahead.

3 minutes later

I have no fucking clue what just happened to that security officer. It was certainly really cool, but I have no idea what the fuck just happened to that guy. It was certainly creative, I'll say that much.

15 minutes later

Well, guys, I know now that when you wish for an evil djinn to blow it's brains out, it can totally do that. But it won't kill them, anyways. I'm kinda curious as to how Alex is gonna be able to kill this thing, but hopefully, I'l be able to find out eventually.

7 minutes later

OK, guys, that was probably one of the funniest things this djinn has said all movie. Granted, I understand this djinn isn't known for this one liners, but that one was fucking funny as shit. I really kinda dug that.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Wishmaster". That was...rather interesting. Let me shut the movie off...OK. Well, if this movie's anything to go by, I think I may be in for a fun couple of months. I guess this shows my hand kinda early, but I think I should get into the movie itself.

I'm gonna start with writing. And I want to start with something that I need to discuss, without going into too much spoilers. You see, this movie pulls off something that I didn't think would be possible. Again, without going into too much details as to how, this movie basically pulls a twist where it undoes the entire movie. And, in most cases, I would have a massive problem with that. Because when movies do this sort of bullshit where they would undo the entire movie, it usually involves something stupid. Such as if the entire movie was a dream, and that everything that happened in it did not fucking happen at all. Or something similar to this, where it tries to fuck with your mind on whether or not the entire movie was a dream. A real good example of this would be in my review of "Tamara". In it, there was one scene where it happened to have one of our female main characters wake up from a dream after they supposedly buried Tamara. Only for her to come back from the dead, kill a couple of high school bullies, and act like it was a dream from this one girl's mind. And that scene ruined an entire movie for me, because it was never established on whether the entire movie or not was just a dream. And the movie was, as I just stated, trying to fuck with your mind, because the writer for that movie thinks that adding in tons of bullshit twists was gonna make his film work. But considering it was from the creator of the "Final Destination" films, all it did for him was just make that entire movie a waste of time. So, you can kinda see where I'm going with this. When it comes to this movie, the whole twist of undoing the movie...actually makes sense. Because it doesn't try to fuck with your mind at anytime. Most of everything in this movie makes some level of sense. Nothing here is gonna make you question scenes where it might not make a ton of sense. And even during the final climax of the movie, where a bunch of shit is going on, it still makes enough sense as to help you understand what's going on. And I have to give the writing a ton of praise here, because it managed to take a twist, where most of the time it would result in a cop-out ending, and make it totally work. So, I can say that the writing here is actually pretty good.

There were two things I was curious about though. One of them did get answered, and it does make some level of sense. That question was how exactly was the Djinn gaining his powers, even though when certain people were asking for wishes from this Djinn, they weren't exactly 3 wishes. Well, that actually does get explained. You see, the Djinn was released from this red gem. And the Djinn needs to power this gem from human souls, so he grants random people their darkest wishes, and that's how he's able to get his power back. And in order for him to release his fellow djinn on Earth, he needs to grant our main character, Alex, 3 wishes, so that he can open that gateway and, basically, unleash Hell on Earth. Which again, sounds like a really awesome premise. And this movie was able to handle this story really well. What helps it more is our characters. Now admittedly, most of them don't have a ton of depth. Most of that goes to two of our main characters, which are Alex and the Djinn. I've already talked about the Djinn's motivations and powers, but the Djinn is the best character in this entire movie. Part of that has to go to the acting, but I'll get to that in a moment. But as for Alex, she doesn't fall into the idiot trope of stupid horror characters. She's actually a smart woman who tries to figure out a way to stop the Djinn from regaining his full power, because she's the one who was responsible for waking the Djinn. And that's something I kinda liked out of her here. And that's really all I could ask for when it comes to characters in horror movies. As I've talked about before time and again, you don't need mountains of depth from characters in horror movies, but at the very least, give me a reason to care about them. And this movie does enough to where it made me care about what's going to happen to her. So, good on this movie for making me care about a main protagonist in a horror movie. Now, the other question I had about this movie doesn't get answered, and it's one I'm kinda curious about. Because of the twist ending where it undoes the entire movie, how exactly does this set itself up for a sequel? That, I'm rather curious about. Now admittedly, this one's more of a trivial matter that'll probably get answered in the sequel, so I'm not gonna dwell on that too much. But I will say that the writing here is pretty good, and that's really awesome to say.

What about the acting? Well, the acting is actually pretty good. There were maybe, like, one or two background actors that kinda sucked, but it's not enough to bring the entire movie down, so I'm not going to fault them entirely here. There are several names that I did recognize in this movie. Those names are Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, and George Buck Flower. If you don't know who Robert Englund and Kane Hodder are, then you need to brush up on your horror movie history. As for George Buck Flower, he basically plays almost the exact same hobo character from a couple of John Carpenter's movies, such as "They Live" and "Escape from New York". So for me, it's nothing new to see him play the same character in those two movies. I will say that he does a great job here. But again, it's kinda hard to fuck up playing as a hobo. As for Robert Englund and Kane Hodder, they do a pretty good job here too. But what's strange about all this is that, even though they are big names in the horror movie genre, they are not the reasons to watch this movie. That honor goes solely to Andrew Divoff as the Djinn. Holy shit, does he make this movie worth watching. I'm gonna tell you, guys, Andrew Divoff absolutely kills as the Djinn in this movie. And I know that he's in the sequel, so that's gonna be awesome to see. But as for this movie, Divoff is amazing here. He has enough charm and personality to make the Djinn his own character. So, kudos to Andrew Divoff for making the Djinn the most memorable character in this entire movie. As for the rest of the cast, besides the one or two background characters, all of them turn in a pretty good showing. So ultimately, the acting is pretty damn good, and everyone was given enough material to make their characters work. So without beating the same horse, the acting is really solid from most of the cast.

This movie is very heavy on special effects, and just about all of it looks really spectacular. Especially for the standards of 1997's special effects. We have a ton of practical effects involving makeup, blood, and costuming. And all of it looks really solid. I especially have to give the makeup effects a ton of praise here, too. Most of it comes from our Djinn. He looks really good in this movie. Especially the little world he lives in, when Alex wishes to know what the Djinn is like. Thus, he transports her inside the gem in where he presides in. And that looks really good, too. Blood effects are amazing in this movie. It's one of the better looking movies I've seen where the blood effects are really awesome. Makeup effects and costuming involving the stone statues look really good, too. Guys, I'm gonna tell you again: For 1997, the special effects in this thing are amazing. And I would dare say that most of it looks really good by today's standards. So, I have to say that the special effects are so fucking good in this movie, that they rank up as one of the biggest highlights for this movie.

Camerawork here is really good. Lighting here is lit really well. Our score here is decent. Sound-mix is a little bit sketchy at times. You see, early on, I had this movie's volume up at max. And there were times where I could barely hear the dialogue from some of these characters. It sounds really quiet for some reason. Now I don't know if this was an issue involving the version of it I have on DVD, or if Artisan Home Entertainment kinda made the sound-mix that way for whatever stupid reasoning. But either way, it was kind of an issue for me. Again, I don't know if it was a technical issue on my end, or if it's the version of it on DVD, but it was something I noticed, so you have take it for what it's worth. Now admittedly, it doesn't ruin the entire movie for you, but it is something that you might notice, if you're a technical weirdo like me. But anyway, sound-mix could've been fixed better. But again, it might just be an issue on my end.

Ultimately, guys, am I able to recommend "Wishmaster"? Absolutely, yes. This thing is a really solid horror movie. And I'm rather happy to have come across this franchise after hearing about how most of the "Wishmaster" movies are really good. I'm hoping that the rest of them are good. But again, I'll worry about that within the next couple of months. But as of right now, I'm totally able to recommend the first movie. If you're a horror movie fanatic, and you've never had a chance to see this movie yet, then go ahead and check it out. In fact, I have the first two "Wishmaster" movies on this 2-pack that I bought. So even if the second one does suck, at least I have the first movie right there. I'm certainly hoping that both movies are going to be good, but again, I'll see for myself if the second movie, along with the third and fourth one, is any good. But as of right now, I'm genuinely excited to watch the rest of the "Wishmaster" movies. And this first entry is off to a great start. Now...I think I'm gonna go and watch another horror movie. I think I'm gonna go watch my copy of "Perfect Blue" on DVD. It's been a long time since I've seen that thing, and I feel like giving it another watch.

Anyway, guys, with that, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all in the near future. Peace.

Reaction & Review | Digimon Adventure tri.: Reunion

 

Welcome, one and all, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, I'm gonna be covering an animated film from 2015. That movie is "Digimon Adventure tri.: Reunion".

Now, before I get into this movie, I need to make mention that not only am I going to be covering this movie, but for the next 3 months, I'm gonna be covering all 6 of the "Digimon Adventure tri" movies. This is something that I've been wanting to do for quite a long time. And tonight, I have an opening in my schedule for these movies. So this is going to be fun. At least, I hope so.

Now, I should mention that I have been a huge fan of Digimon since I was a kid. I watched the first two seasons, which were really good. I didn't a watch whole lot of "Digimon: Tamers", outside of one or two episodes. I did watch the entirety of "Digimon Frontier", which I thought was amazing. And I watched most of "Digimon Fusion", which certainly was decent, but I haven't gotten a chance to watch the rest of that series. So, ultimately, I really love this franchise.

As for the "Digimon Adventure tri." series, I did hear about it, but I wasn't really sure what it was suppose to be about. So in preparation for me covering this series of movies, I decided to look up a little bit of information to see what I am getting myself into. I do know that this series of films serves as a sequel to the first two "Digimon Adventure" series. Which sounds awesome. I also know that this series of films is meant to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Digimon franchise. And I also know that, because this is a sequel to the first two "Digimon Adventure" series, we do have the original cast of characters from those series back for this movie. So already, this is sounding really awesome.

I'm certainly hoping that this series of movies will be just as good as the "Digimon Adventure" TV series from back in the day. However, I could also see these movies going way off the fucking rails here. However, I still want to see if this series of movies will hold up on their own. And the only way I'm gonna know the answer to that, is if I shut up, and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Digimon Adventure tri: Reunion".

5 minutes later

You guys can't hear this for obvious reasons, but this opening song here...kinda sucks. Mind you, I'm already interested to see where this movie's going to go, but God damn, this opening song is fucking terrible.

15 minutes later

You know, guys, there's something kinda funny about Izzy speaking French. I'm not totally sure why, but I think it's just because I would've never imagined him speaking another language in his high school years. There's just something interesting about that.

15 minutes later

OK, I have a question. So the DigiDestined have reunited, well almost all of them have reunited, and so have their Digimon companions. Yet somehow, Palmon and Gomamon are there with them as well. Even though Joe and Mimi have yet to show up. Are they going to explain how their Digimon were able to join with the others? Did those two leave their Digivices to their friends, thinking that they didn't need them anymore? I'm gonna be honest, guys, this is leaving me a little bit puzzled.

3 minutes later

You know, guys, I was sorta hoping I wouldn't have to comment on this, but the CG, every time I see the Digimon digivolve into their second form, looks hideous. There's something about these models that looks really off-putting. And if I have to look at these CG digivolution's for the next 5 movies, then I fear I may be in for a kinda painful experience here.

20 minutes later

Sorry, guys, if I haven't been saying a whole lot right now, but I'm getting really sucked into the story. It's really keeping me interested in seeing where this thing goes.

6 minutes later

So Izzy created a virtual cyber world for the Digimon to hide in case of emergencies. And they can come in and out of that world as they go. I have a question. Is there any way I can get one of those? I'm not even asking if it's for Digimon only, I just want one because it just looks really fucking cool, you know?

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Digimon Adventure tri.: Reunion". Let me shut the movie off...OK. Well, that was certainly an interesting movie. After watching this thing, I'm really curious as to where the rest of this series is going to go.

I want to make something known first. Because I feel as though it needs to be addressed. Now, similar to a couple of other movies I've covered for this series involving cartoon shows such as Transformers and Yu-Gi-Oh!, I feel as though that this shouldn't be someone's first exposure to Digimon. And the reason why I say that is because of it's timeline. Because, as I stated at the start of this thing, this series of movies is suppose to take place after Digimon Adventure's 1 and 2. And in those series, the characters had a mountain of depth in those two series. Well, more so the first season than season 2. The only characters who made a return in "Digimon Adventure 2" were T.K. and Kari. Speaking of which, there really isn't much of a reference to season 2 in this movie, but I'm not gonna hold it against this movie, because it's just the first movie. So, I'm willing to cut this thing a bit of slack. But as I was saying, the characters in the first "Digimon Adventure" had a ton of character depth. And if you were to go into this movie, not having any prior knowledge of Digimon, then you would be completely lost as to who these characters are, and why we are even following them. And it might honestly take you out of the movie entirely, if you didn't know anything about the Digimon, or the human characters that have followed them since their days in season 1. Now I'm not gonna fault the movie for this, because I feel as though this movie was made for fans of Digimon. Which makes sense, considering that this thing was suppose to celebrate Digimon's 15th anniversary. But if you were expecting something new and refreshing for someone who's trying to get into the Digimon franchise, then this movie is not going to do that for you.

Now, setting aside that issue, let's talk about the writing. Writing in this movie is pretty good. There were some things I was wondering about when I was watching the movie, because I was trying to figure out some things myself. For example, when Kuwagamon is fighting Greymon for the first time in this movie, I was wondering how the hell was he stronger than he was in the first episode? For those who don't know what I'm talking about, in the first episode of season 1 of Digimon, Kuwagamon was attacking the Digimon that became friends with our main characters, who were kids at the time and had gotten transported to the Digital World from summer camp. Yet, at that time, Kuwagamon was easily beaten after the Digimon had first digivolved into their standard levels. Yet, in this movie, Kuwagamon is a lot stronger here. And it's not just this lone Kuwagamon. There are at least 3 of them in the entire movie, including the one that fought Greymon, and they are also much stronger. Well, there is kind of a reason for that. The Digimon are not traveling through the Digital gate, like they did in the series. Instead, they are getting to the real world through some outside force that isn't really properly explained, honestly. And some of the Digimon that have passed through it this way are known as the "Infected Digimon". And somehow, Tai's high school teacher is an undercover agent that he and a bunch of other people have been containing for a while. But because some of them have gotten stronger, these undercover agents need the DigiDestined's help in this battle to help the infected Digimon return to normal. And Tai's high school teacher says that Gennai was the one who suggested calling the DigiDestined for help. By the way, and this is just a minor thing, but for whatever reason, Gennai's name in this movie is pronounced "Gen". Think of the word "Get", but replace the 'T' with an 'N". I bring this up because I just got done watching the first season of Digimon on DVD, and his name was pronounced as Gennai. You know, like the word "Gem", but replace the letter "M" with "N". I guess maybe between now and the TV show, the writers forgot how to pronounce his name from the show. Now it might be because his name in this movie was pronounced that way in the Japanese version. But since I'm not watching the Japanese version, it bothered me slightly. So it's just something I felt like mentioning, because I'm kind of a stickler for those sorts of details. But anyway, I'm getting way off track here. So a lot of things in this movie are left kinda vague. One other thing I'm curious about is how exactly that all of the Digimon appeared with the DigiDestined, even though Mimi and Joe were not present at all. Did they just, like, give their digivices to their friends after the end of season 1? Because earlier, when Tai was about to be attacked by Kuwagamon, his digivice lit up, and Agumon appeared in front of him, defending Tai from Kuwagamon. So that's the reason why I'm curious as to the whereabouts of Joe and Mimi's digivices. It kinda left me in the dark slightly.

Now, I will say that, in terms of our characters, most of them have developed rather well. Tai, for the most part, is still playing soccer. In fact, in this movie, he's trying to get some of his friends to attend his soccer game. At least, before the whole Digimon fiasco started rising again. Matt is still playing with his band, and is trying to get his friends to attend his gig. And, for like, the first hour and a half, the movie plays itself off as a slice of life flick, and that's perfectly fine. Especially considering that this is following the DigiDestined, now they're in high school. T.K. and Kari don't really have a ton of depth in this movie. And I can say the same thing about Sora. She's just sort of there. Mimi isn't really that much different. Although admittedly, she is a lot more open in this movie, than she was in early season 1 of Digimon. Joe has been trying to pass his exams, but he keeps getting low scores, and thus he needs to practice harder until he eventually passes them. The one character who I really liked the most from the original cast in this movie is Izzy. Izzy is the computer nerd who was always trying to find knowledge about the Digimon and how the Digital World worked. And he has come so far in this movie, when compared to his TV show counterpart. Because he has developed a couple of things that helps the gang figure out what's going on. For instance, and I brought this up earlier, Izzy created a virtual world for the Digimon companions to hide in, in case of emergencies. And he also develops some new type of goggles for Tai, who can see the wavelengths that is causing havoc around the area they live in. And these are both such interesting concepts, because, yes, Izzy was just a computer nerd who knew a lot about the Digimon, but to see him develop his skills to a point where he's able to create such interesting, I guess, "gadgets" shows, once more, how far he has really come. Also, it seems as though he's attracted to Mimi. Which I thought was a little strange, because I could've sworn that she and Joe were a pairing in season 2. But again, it's been a long time since I've seen season 2, so maybe I'm just misremembering things. Speaking of Joe, he admits in this movie that he has a girlfriend. So I guess that may be further proof on how long it's been since I've seen season 2.

Now beyond the characters, our writing here is still rather strong. It's just some of it, as I stated, is left kinda vague. However, I have a feeling most of the issues I had with the movie are going to be answered in later installments of this franchise. Now with all that said, let's get to the acting. The acting here is fairly decent. Now I will say that, unlike "Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side of Dimensions", where they got damn near the entire cast back for that movie, this one didn't get all of the original cast back. Now, I will say that most of the Digimon companions sound exactly like their original roles from season's 1 and 2. The only real exception to this is Biyomon, who sounds a lot squeakier than she did in the TV show. It's kinda weird to listen to, but it didn't take me out of the movie entirely. As for the human cast, some of the voice actors do make a comeback such as Tai, Izzy, Mimi, and I believe Sora, but I could be totally wrong on that last one. But the other characters have new voice actors. Some of them do a decent job. The best one of the bunch I'd have to give to is whoever voices Kari. She does a great job in this thing, and it doesn't bother me if her original voice didn't come back for this movie. The other actor I need to make mention of is the guy who voices Joe. His voice in particular is quite different, but the reason for that is because Joe's original English voice actor had passed way before this movie came along. It's probably gonna take me some time to get use to his new voice, but it's not something I'm going to harp Joe's new voice actor on. Because he still did a decent job overall. Which can be said about the voice acting in general in this movie. It's fairly decent.

Animation in this thing is pretty good for the most part. The characters designs on the human characters are rather simplistic. Which isn't really a bad thing, because season 1 had a very simplistic design for all of the characters from way back when. And I'm kinda happy to see that they kept up with tradition in this movie. Then we get to the CG...oh boy. Now, the CG really only happens during the digivolution's. And the CG kicks in when we get to see the Digimon companions second form. And the CG on damn near all of them looks hideous. There's just something about these character models that looks awful. And the worst off comes from Kabuterimon. He somehow looks awful in CG, and it just kinda took me out of the film slightly. And the reason why, I think, the CG looks really noticeable in this movie is because I happen to remember watching the old Digimon show, and I remember the few instances of CG they used for certain digivolution's, such as when Agumon and Gabumon have to Warp Digivolve. And the CG on those models looked amazing. And mind you, both the TV shows and this movie, were both produced by Toei. So how the hell did Toei get worse CG 15 years after the original show ended? And again, I may have to get use to these fucking models, because I have no idea if the CG had improved since this first movie. Beyond some usage of terrible CG, the rest of the animation looks fine, so I can still give most of the animation a positive.

I don't normally ever get to mention lighting in animation, but there's one small scene I have to mention. So, there's one scene where Tai and Agumon are talking. And the entire time that they are talking, their character models are shaded almost pitch black. Now part of the reason for that is because the scene was taking place as the sun was setting. However, I don't really see why they needed to shade their entire bodies black, because it just looks really weird when I have to see this. Now, mind you, it doesn't ruin the movie, but it's still something I feel like mentioning. Sound-mix is also kind of an issue only during the start of the digivolution's. Now I'm going to take a guess here and say that they used stock music from the Japanese version of season 1, because there's this guitar rift that plays in every single digivolution in this movie. And it's rather grating to listen to, because there's a ton of sound going on in certain scenes, that it really doesn't help enhance these digivolution's at all. If anything, they should've just recycled some stock footage of the English theme song from season 1 for these scenes. I understand that there are those who got tired of listening to that theme song every time that song played. But honestly, I would rather have that back, if that's how bad the sound-mix was for these scenes. Now it's probably because Saban Entertainment wasn't dubbing this movie, so that might be a reason why they couldn't use those songs for copyright reasons. But regardless, the sound-mix could've definitely been fixed better. The music is OK, aside from that opening song, which was rather shit. I kinda hope I don't have to hear it again in later installments of this film series, but I'll get to those when I get to them.

Overall, guys, am I able to recommend "Digimon Adventure tri.: Reunion"? So far, yes. If you were a fan of the first two "Digimon Adventure" series, then this is gonna be perfect for you. Because it continues the story of where those two series left off. Now obviously, I can't say for sure that I'm going to recommend the ENTIRE "Digimon Adventure tri." series, being that I've only seen the first movie, but I am hoping that the entire series is going to be worth watching. Now for those who want to get into Digimon, I would personally start with season 1 of "Digimon Adventure", then season 2, then go ahead and get into this film franchise. Because, as I stated, all of the character depth were in those first two series. And you'll be completely lost if you try to get into this thing without having any prior knowledge of Digimon. But for fans of Digimon, go right ahead and check out the first movie. Because, so far, I'm really digging what's here. And if this series can continue with it's strong writing, then I think this series is going to be a blast to get through. Now...I'm gonna go and get some sleep. I am feeling a bit under the weather at the moment, so I'm gonna go do that and re-energize myself.

Anyway, with that, guys, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all in the near future. Peace.