Reaction & Review | Killjoy 3

 

Welcome, one and all, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, I'm gonna be covering a slasher comedy from 2010. That movie is "Killjoy 3". Which is the final movie that comes from "The Midnight Horror Collection" DVD 3-pack that contains the first 3 "Killjoy" movies.

Now, if you've been my reading my reviews for these particular movies, you may have noticed my wording on them. Because even though this 3-pack does hold the first 3 "Killjoy" films...that doesn't mean that these are the only "Killjoy" films ever made. You see, there are, at least, 6 "Killjoy" movies that Full Moon has made. Aside from the first 3 films, the others that came after them are called "Killjoy Goes To Hell", "Killjoy's Psycho Circus", and "Bunker of Blood 07: Killjoys Carnage Caravan". The latter being a VERY mouthful title, but that's beside the point. And I'll be honest with you when I say this, I have no interest in covering any of the other sequels after this. Because the first two movies were so bad that I have no faith in this third movie being any good, or even watchable for that matter.

But I am gonna try to be a little bit optimistic here. Because since this is the third installment of the "Killjoy" franchise, it might pull off a "Puppet Master 3", in which that movie turned out to be the best film in that entire franchise for me. And also, from I gathered, this movie is gonna introduce more clowns that's going to assist Killjoy in his killing crusade. I don't know if that's gonna help this movie or not, but I'll find out when I eventually watch this thing.

Honestly, guys, I'm just stalling here. I really don't want to watch this movie. However, as I just stated, I am gonna try to, at least, see if this movie will pull off a miracle and actually be interesting. You'll note that I said 'interesting' and not 'good', because I'm ruling out on this movie being any good, what with the first two movies being complete shit and all. But still, I, at least, want it to be interesting. That's all I'm asking for. So, I may as well just quit stalling and finally get around to watching this thing. So the only thing left for me to do at this point, is if I shut up, and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. I really don't want to, but I'm gonna have to in this case. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Killjoy 3".

16 minutes later

So, our main characters are actually watching "Puppet Master 3" in their living room right now. And I know it's "Puppet Master 3", because that's the movie where Toulon and his puppets get revenge against the Nazis for killing Toulon's wife. All of a sudden, I kinda have an urge to just shut this movie off and go marathon some of the "Puppet Master" movies right now, because this movie has been boring as shit, so far. That's usually a bad sign when a boring movie is making you want to watch a better movie that our characters are currently watching. That's just top notch class right there, Full Moon.

12 minutes later

So, let me see if I understand this. In order for Killjoy to collect souls, the person must look at the mirror that transports them to Killjoy's home world, and they must kill them in their world. But if they die in the real world, then they can't collect our character's souls. So, then why exactly, when one of our characters decided to leave the house to go get help, is there a magic barrier surrounding the exit of the door? Does that mean, then, that our characters are trapped in their home until they either escape or break the mirror that's connected to Killjoy's world? I'm hoping that some of this is gonna get answered. Otherwise, this movie is gonna leave me with a ton of questions that I'm not sure are gonna get answered.

4 minutes later

All right, I have a really stupid question, well two technically, that I'm probably not gonna get any answers to, but I want to ask them anyway. So, we just got confirmation from Zilla that Killjoy might be getting revenge from what happened 10 years ago. So basically, this movie takes place a decade after the events from "Killjoy 2". So, my questions are how exactly does Zilla know all this? Because if he knows that Killjoy was summoned a decade ago, then that means he must've heard it from one of our surviving characters from the second movie. Speaking of which, if he does know all this, then is he related to one of our characters from the second movie or not? Or did the surviving officer from the second movie told him about had happened? I'm REALLY curious about this, guys, and I have a funny feeling that I'm not gonna get any answers for it anytime soon.

19 minutes later

You know, guys, I think now might be a good time to mention this as any. The makeup effects on Killjoy, at first, look decent. But thanks to these close-up shots I'm seeing of him right now make them look...kinda shitty. I think it's because the white makeup around his face looks as if it's faded off overtime during filming. It just doesn't look right to me. I'll get more into that when the film's done, but I just wanted to let you guys know that Killjoy's makeup effects look kinda bad here.

12 minutes later

Well, it took the movie well over an hour, but we finally got a kill in this movie! Two, actually. But still, at LEAST the movie knows that it's a horror movie, so I'm thankful that we, at least, got a couple of kills right now. Hopefully, everyone of our characters die off. Because then, it would actually save this movie a little bit.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Killjoy 3". Let's just shut the movie off...OK. Well, I was very close on my prediction. I was hoping that everyone of our characters would die off, and I was off by one character. Which, I guess it was too good to be true on my part for wishing everyone to fucking die, but hey, it's a horror movie, and you gotta, at least, have ONE character to survive. So, make that of what you will.

Now, let's actually get into the movie itself. Let's talk about "Killjoy 3". I have good news, I have bad news, and I have great news. I'll save the great news for the end and start with the other two pieces of news first. The good news is that this movie is, honestly, not as bad as I thought it was going to be. It's, without question, the best "Killjoy" film from this entire 3-pack. Especially when you consider how unwatchably bad the first two movies were, this movie feels like it was actually somewhat trying. I could see that the person who wrote and directed this movie, John Lechago, was trying to write a decent horror movie. However, and this is where I'm gonna transition into the bad news, the movie is still fucking terrible. Because, first of all, for a horror movie, we don't actually get to see any killing up until the one hour mark of the film. And by that point, there's only around 15 minutes left of film to go. Which is a horrible thing for a horror movie, because you would usually get a kill here and there before that point. Hell, even the first two "Killjoy" movies were able to, at least, get their kills in long before that point. Here though, it's one hour into the movie until it finally decides to kill off most of our characters. And before that point, the movie is honestly really boring. Because not a whole lot happens here. And the few interesting bits that does happen ultimately leads up to nothing. So, this movie really does nothing interesting up until our characters all enter Killjoy's home world. And it, basically, just results in padding. Now, this movie could've done something before that point, such as developing our characters and giving the viewer a reason as to why we should care about them. Which, surprise surprise, this movie wasn't able to do that. And the reason why I phrase it that way is because the first two "Killjoy" films didn't even bother to develop their characters either. So, I guess it's just par for the course with this series.

Since I'm on the subject of characters, let's actually get into them for a moment. I'm gonna save one particular character for last, that being the Professor, because I have quite a bit to say about him. But first, let's talk about our other characters. Nobody, outside of the Professor, has any real depth or personality to them. And I was waiting for ANY reason as to why we should care about our four main characters. But this movie couldn't do that. The best that I could come up with is that Zilla has an interest in Erica...and that's literally it. Nobody else beyond that is given a reason to care about. I probably would've said Erica, because she's the one who gets trapped inside Killjoy's home world, and she's sorta used as a framing device for our other characters to go in and rescue her. But that gets kneecapped by the fact that her character is fucking shallow and lifeless. We have Rojer, who, at the time, I thought was spelled Roger is actually spelled Rojer with a 'j' for whatever retarded reasoning. He just exists in this movie with no depth or personality to him. And then we had Sandy, who I had to look up her name, because I completely forgot her name since she was that unmemorable in this movie. I don't remember a single thing that she did that warrants caring about her, so she's pretty much on par with our other lifeless characters. So yeah, our main characters suck. What about our clowns? Well, Killjoy is, admittedly, not as annoying as he was in the first 2 movies, but that's not saying a whole lot. Punchy is basically just this obese clown that is also a boxer, hence his name being related to punching and all. Freakshow is our mime, who has this weird baby demon attached to him, and it's actually kinda creepy. Unfortunately, he really doesn't have a whole lot of scenes, so he ends up being kinda wasted in this movie. And then we have Batty Boop. The best way I can summarize Batty Boop is that she is a discount Harley Quinn from DC Comics, but she also has rather...interesting makeup effects, which I'll talk about later on when I get to covering special effects. Aside from that, I can also see this movie was trying to aim for humor, but it's honestly a misfire, because none of it is really funny. At least, to me, it isn't. Because I didn't smile or grin at anything that this movie tried to shovel out for humor. Which is pretty sad, considering that this movie was advertised as a horror comedy, but the comedy just ends up being completely forgettable.

Now I saved this character for last, so let's actually talk about the Professor. So, first of all, you might be wondering why I'm only referring to him as the Professor? Well, that's because he has no actual name in this movie, other than being credited as the "Professor". So, not only do we have our other characters lacking depth, the one lone character, who actually has some level of depth, gets no actual name other than being called by his profession. Because, I guess, giving him a name was just too much of a challenge for Mr. Lechago to come up with. But whatever, I'm not gonna harp on that too much. What I AM going to harp on, though, is his background. So, I'm gonna spoil this, because I sincerely doubt that you'll ever watch the first "Killjoy" movie with how unwatchable it actually is. So, the professor is the father of Michael, the guy who was responsible for resurrecting Killjoy from the first movie. And he's been trying to find a way to get revenge against Killjoy by going into his home world by saying his real name. The latter bit is somewhat of a complicated story that really doesn't make a ton of sense, but that's not really my issue. What IS my issue is his revenge plot. You see, as I mentioned earlier, he wanted to get revenge for his son, Michael, because he fell victim to Killjoy. So...a few things I have to bring up here. First of all, why did Michael's father never show up in the first "Killjoy" movie? Because it took place an entire year after Michael's death, so why didn't he bother to show up to try and help out our characters back then? Furthermore, it wasn't necessarily Killjoy that took Michael's life. It was our three gangsters who were fucking around with him in the woods until one of them accidentally shot Michael to death by accident. Now, you could say that, since Killjoy was the one who ended up killing the gangsters, maybe he couldn't get revenge against them, but against Killjoy, so that way he would be able to settle the score against Michael's killers. But no, the Professor NEVER mentions the gangsters at all during this movie, and I have no idea as to why that is. He never mentions Michael's name up until the final act, so, up until that point, you have no idea who he's getting revenge for, because it kinda just comes out of nowhere when it's eventually revealed.

Speaking of which, there's one more thing I wanted to bring up involving the Professor's revenge plot. And this is gonna, once more, tie into the first movie. Because the Professor stated that he has been doing research on Killjoy, who is apparently an ancient demon that gets called back to the world for different reasons such as power, revenge, and a bunch of stupid bullshit. But did he not realize that Killjoy was, essentially, a doll that Michael created in hopes of helping him getting revenge against the people that were bullying him at the time, and wanting to get a girl that was dating a gangster as well? And furthermore, how the fuck did he not know about Michael's weird obsession with black magic and how it might've been a clue as to how Killjoy was first brought to life? He NEVER brings this up, since he didn't think it was worth telling our main characters about for...reasons I don't know why. He's actually the reason why two of our main characters get killed in this movie, but I'm not gonna say who here. And also, going back to another big issue from the first movie, why did he never mention the Killjoy doll that Michael created? Or how it was sitting in his apartment for an ENTIRE year, meaning that it was untouched and NOBODY bothered to move into that single apartment room to see that the Killjoy doll was sitting around a bunch of candles? Why did he never bother to go Michael's apartment after his death to collect the Killjoy doll? That way, it could've tied in better with his theory about Killjoy and how his son really died. But again, he NEVER did that. All of these issues actually makes the first "Killjoy" that much worse because NONE of this was hinted at, or even brought up throughout this entire movie. And also, I may have to correct myself. Because I stated earlier that Zilla was referring to an event that happened 10 years ago when Killjoy was resurrected in "Killjoy 2: Deliverance From Evil". But after thinking about it, he was probably hinting at what happened in the first movie and not the second. Mind you, this is never clarified, so I could easily be wrong here. But still, my complaints about Zilla possibly being related to someone from the second movie is, most likely, non-existent. And he probably just heard about it from some police report. Still not really explained, mind you, but that's my running theory that I'm going with. But anyway, the issues involving the Professor's revenge plot is so fucking flawed that it's almost on par with the plot holes from the first movie. Which I didn't think was actually even possible, but here we are. And it makes this movie, along with the first one, that much worse, now that I'm thinking about it.

So, to summarize, the writing is just fucking horrible. It may not be as bad as the first two "Killjoy" movies, but with how poorly handled it ties into the first movie, it actually makes this movie that much worse. Now shockingly, as horribly written as this movie was, the acting was actually pretty decent. Almost everybody here turns in a halfway decent showing, save for one minor actor. And it's whoever played our only cop in this movie. He shows up after the opening credits, where he's trying to get a party to tone itself down. And the acting from him was pretty fucking wooden. However, that was the only case of bad acting that I could pick out from this movie. I will also say that Killjoy's actor, Trent Haaga, actually improved on his performance in this movie. Because if you'll recall my review of the second movie, my biggest problem from him was that he was trying to impersonate Mark Hamill's Joker, and it really sucked. Thankfully, he was able to ditch that shitty impersonation and was able to give out a pretty decent showing in this movie that made Killjoy stand out a bit. So, at least, we have that. And overall, this is probably some of the best acting that I was able to find out of a "Killjoy" movie. Which isn't really saying anything, because the first two movies had some of the worst acting I had seen in a long time from them. But still, the acting is definitely an improvement here. So, I gotta give the actors some praise for trying to work with a god-awful script.

Special effects here are pretty good, for the most part. As I stated earlier, most of the killing doesn't happen until a little after the one hour mark in the movie, and the stuff involving blood and gore effects are pretty decent. Digital effects are kinda cheap, but since this is a low budget movie, I'm gonna give some of that a pass. Now, I want to touch upon the makeup effects. I'm gonna get the only bad makeup effect out of the way, and it has to involve Killjoy himself. You see, for the past two movies, I was able to praise the makeup effects on Killjoy, because they kinda made him stand out as a pretty creepy clown killer. And while they're still trying to make him stand out in this movie, the makeup effects, at least when viewed at a certain angle, are kinda shit. What do I mean by this? Well, when you see Killjoy from a wide angle shot, it's not really that noticeable, and the makeup effects are fine. But it's when you view it up close is when you start to see the problems on Killjoy's makeup. Now, when it comes the red makeup around his lips and eyes, it's perfectly fine. But when it comes to the white makeup that's on his face, you can kinda notice that the makeup on it looks like it might've been dried up for too long. Basically, what I'm getting at is that Killjoy's white makeup looks like he might've had it on for too long and looks really faded when you see it up close. Now, I don't know if that was a stylistic choice, or it might not have been applied properly, but it's definitely an issue when you view Killjoy's makeup up-close. But aside from that, the makeup effects on the rest of the clowns look really good. Two honorable mentions go to Freakshow and Batty Boop. Freakshow is very simplistic in design, but it looks REALLY fucking creepy when you first get to see him, and it totally works for his character. And as for Batty Boop, her makeup is incredibly creative. Because her entire body, save for her legs and feet, is completely nude. And I didn't notice that at first, until I actually saw her small nipples popping out, and that's when I finally noticed the makeup covering her nude body. And, like I said, it is really creative on how they were able to apply all of that makeup, and it stands out really well. I just wish she, and the rest of the clowns, save for Killjoy, were used in a better movie, but oh well. The makeup effects are mostly great, save for some questionable effects on Killjoy himself.

Camerawork is here really good. Lighting here is great. Sound-mix is mixed very well. It's certainly an improvement over the second movie, because that second movie had some of the worst sound-mix I had heard in a long time. And thankfully, this third movie was able to fix all that in spades. The soundtrack is, honestly, incredibly forgetful. But, at the very least, it's not the same bullshit hip-hop music that plagued the first two movies, so, at least, we have that. But it's not really that much of an improvement, considering that this movie's score and soundtrack are incredibly forgetful.

So...with all that being said, can I recommend "Killjoy 3"? Hell no! In fact, I can't recommend this entire 3-pack that contains ANY of these awful "Killjoy" movies. If you ever see this 3-pack anywhere, because I know that these movies were not exclusively released as part of "The Midnight Horror Collection", they released them on a multitude of DVD collection packs, avoid it at every cost. This franchise is pure shit. And since I saved it for the end, what is the great news? I NEVER have to watch anymore of the "Killjoy" movies! I know that may not sound like much of great news, but, for me, it is a fucking blessing. Because these 3 movies were garbage, and I have a sneaking suspicion that the other "Killjoy" movies are just as bad as the ones that I watched this entire month. So, fuck this entire franchise, I am done wasting the time on these horrendous movies! But there is one thing that this third movie motivated me to do. Seeing as how it was showing our main characters watching "Puppet Master 3", I'm gonna go marathon a few of the "Puppet Master" movies myself. Probably, like, the first 3 movies, at least. Because I need to watch a better Full Moon series than the one I had to waste on this entire month.

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 later. Peace.

Reaction & Review | Escaflowne: The Movie

 

Welcome, one and all, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, I'm gonna be covering an animated film from 2000. That movie is "Escaflowne: The Movie".

Now, I didn't watch "Escaflowne" when I was a kid. In fact, I didn't know even about this series existence up until a few years ago. I discovered it when I had watched a video on YouTube, where someone was talking about English dub openings. And they mentioned "Escaflowne" when talking about it's English opening. And the opening to that song was...not all that memorable. In fact, upon further research, I found out why I never watched it back when I was kid.

You see, when this anime was first brought over to the US, it was originally dubbed by Saban Entertainment. For the few of you who may not know, Saban was responsible for bringing over "Power Rangers" and "Digimon" to the US. Two very prominent franchises from my childhood that I still enjoy to this day. Well, the early stuff they produced anyway, but I'm not gonna get into that. So, they produced those goldmines. But Saban also produced duds such as "Masked Rider" and "Escaflowne". "Masked Rider" was, basically, Saban's attempt at bringing "Kamen Rider" over to the US, and, from what I heard, die-hard fans of "Kamen Rider" fucking despised that series.  And then there's the subject of tonight's movie. The original airing of the "Escaflowne" anime only lasted 10 episodes on the "Fox Kids" programming block, before it got pulled off due to low ratings. So, you kinda have an idea as to why I never heard of "Escaflowne" up until a few years back. That, and again, from what I heard, "Escaflowne" was definitely not meant to be a kids show. So, I'm not totally sure WHY Saban thought it would be a good idea to turn a series like "Escaflowne" into a children's show, but they tried to do just that. And it totally backfired on them because of their foolish attempt.

But instead of me rambling on about what happened to the anime series, I should probably get into what I know about tonight's movie. And the one thing I can tell you right off the bat is that this movie is a retelling of the entire 26 episode series, after it was moved away from Saban's hands. And...I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, it leaves me concerned about what exactly they're covering in terms of the content. Like I just mentioned, this movie is attempting to adapt that series of 26 episodes...in about 96 minutes. I have no idea how the hell they're gonna do this, because I know that the "Berserk: Golden Age" trilogy tried to adapt the original "Berserk" series within 3 movies. Mind you, the original "Berserk" anime only lasted 25 episodes and they STILL had to cut shit out. And it wound up being a little bit of a mess. The difference here, though, is that, unlike the "Berserk: Golden Age" trilogy, where it had 3 movies to flesh out it's story, "Escaflowne" only has one shot to tell it's entire story within the short amount of time that it's given. And I don't know if this movie is gonna be able to accomplish that.

On the other hand, since I never watched "Escaflowne" in it's hay day, I really don't have to worry about making any comparisons with what happened in the series to this movie. I'm just gonna go into this thing as blind as possible and see if it's able to stand on it's own or not. And who knows? If it is any good, I might just have to watch a few episodes of "Escaflowne" and see if I missed out on anything as a kid. But the only way I'm gonna find out if this movie is any good 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 "Escaflowne: The Movie".

12 minutes later

Well, guys, while I can't really say much about the story so far, I can say that the dub here is a little bit lifeless, and the editing, at least in this scene, is shit. I'm kinda hoping this movie will get better soon, and hopefully the story will start to make more sense. But, so far, we're off to a little bit of a rocky start.

8 minutes later

So wait a second here. This guy is claiming Hitomi as this "Wing Goddess" without even asking who she is or what she's doing in the Escaflowne armor. I'm sorry, guys, but if I saw someone just pop out of the armor like that, I wouldn't be claiming them as a goddess of any kind without asking the simplest of questions first. It just seems really odd to me, you know?

3 minutes later

Wait, so instead of hearing Hitomi's side of the story, Van decides that he's gonna kill her because he thinks that she's a spy or something. And now he's fighting a different sword user who's trying to make some sense out of all this by NOT killing her. My God, Van has barely showed up in this movie, and I already fucking despise him. I'm hoping, maybe, he'll get better as the film goes along. But, as of right now, I'm kinda having my doubts.

12 minutes later

Guys, I know you can't hear this for obvious reasons, but this song here...kinda sucks. It's partially because of this weird quacking sound that's going on in the background and it's becoming really distracting. Mind you, the movie hasn't made a ton of sense so far, and this song here is not helping it's case.

7 minutes later

I've found a problem with this movie, guys. This movie is giving us a lot of exposition and we're not getting ANYTHING resembling a backstory. I swear, guys, this movie's story is so fucking rushed that anything involving character development and backstory is just completely nonexistent. I guess this is what happens when you only have 1 movie to tell it's entire story, but I'm gonna talk more about that when this movie is done.

19 minutes later

Wait, so when Lord Folken asked this, I'm going to assume, princess earlier that if the Wing Goddess was here, she said yes. And when he asks her again later on, and she says yes for the second time, he's going to grant her a new power in order to go find her. Then why the fuck didn't you do this earlier when she said yes the FIRST time?! Jesus Christ, this movie is not making ANY sense. And I am just becoming more lost with each passing moment that this movie goes by. And honestly, at this point, I can't wait for it to end.

10 minutes later

You know, guys, I will give this movie one thing. The animation during this battle sequence is REALLY smooth and really well done. I will totally say that much, when it comes to this movie.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Escaflowne: The Movie". Let me shut that off...OK. Um...good god, where the hell do I even start? Well, I guess I should say that, going into this thing, I was expecting a lot better from it. But with what it is, it's...Jesus Christ, it's terribly disappointing.

Now, I totally understand that I haven't seen the "Escaflowne" anime series. So, I have no idea what exactly they changed or cut out from that series in order for this movie to be made. But even with that said, as someone who hasn't seen "Escaflowne", even I can tell you that movie is so god damned rushed that it's not even funny. And I understand that when you're making an adaptation of something, be it from a comic book, video game, or whatever, you're bound to take certain liberties in order for your adaptation to work. But that also doesn't mean that you should skip out on certain things, such as character depth or backstory, because that's, like, the core element to help make your movie stand out. Now there are some exceptions to this, but since we're working with a fantasy film, you REALLY need that for your movie. Now I'm sure that if I watched the "Escaflowne" series, I'm bound to find more character and backstory in that show. Because this movie strips out ALL of that. And what we ended up getting was a shallow, piss weak, attempt at adapting an entire series into a movie. Which is, honestly, this movie's biggest problem. I was worried about how exactly this movie was going to take 26 episodes and adapt it into an entire movie. And unfortunately, it didn't work. I know already used the "Berserk: Golden Age" trilogy as an example earlier of how they adapted their series into 3 movies, but I want to use a different example. There was one person who tried to adapt two of the "Lord of the Rings" books into one animated movie, and that would be legendary animation producer and director Ralph Bakshi. He took the first two "Lord of the Rings" books and adapted them with his style of animation that he did back in the day. And I'm gonna tell you this, even though that movie went through production hell, Bakshi was still able to make it kinda work. And he was able to tell a decent story with what he was able to adapt from those books. "Escaflowne: The Movie" does not have that luxury. It's like someone, either, took pages from the manga, or copy and pasted some scenes from the TV series, and tried to stitch it together in hopes that they could make it work. Well, guess what? It didn't. And this is what we ended up getting in the process.

So, seeing as how this movie was a rushed product, our characters are all shallow and lifeless. What bits of character that IS told is still half hazard and rushed. First of all, and this is just a minor thing, even though our main male character's name is Van, it's pronounced like his name was Vaughn. I don't know why they couldn't just spell it like that, but it's not really a huge deal. So anyway, we're told that Van is suppose to get revenge against his brother Folken, because he's the guy who killed his family and people, and that Van is suppose to become a king and rule his people or something. I may have mis-remembered something, but I honestly couldn't tell you what, because they just tell you that he's wanting to kill his brother, but we don't get any backstory about it until very late in the film. And again, what little they show of it is very rushed at best. Hitomi is, honestly, the only one who has any semblance of depth. Which isn't saying much, mind you, but it's still somewhat there. She's this lonely depressed girl that feels like she has no reason to live and just wants to die. So, she ends up getting transported to Gaea, which is the fantasy world that we focus on in the movie. And she ends up getting inside the Escaflowne armor for a while before she's released, and she somehow ends up getting labeled as the Wing Goddess. Although, and it might just be my poor hearing, I could've sworn that some of the characters refer to her as the "Wind" Goddess. Again, it might just be me, but I seriously could've sworn that some characters refer to Hitomi as a "Wind" Goddess instead of "Wing" Goddess. But honestly, that's just me nitpicking there. And there's suppose to be a relationship developed between her and Van, but the chemistry between them doesn't exist in this movie. They interact with each other ONCE when Van accuses her of being a spy for the Black Dragon Clan and tries to kill her without hearing her side of the story. And then they don't meet each other again, until she gets kidnapped by this animal creature, who I'll talk about in a bit. And after some events, Van ends up getting injured after saving Hitomi, to which they end up in some peaceful village where she and Van are resting to heal their wounds. And because this movie isn't allowed to have any down time, Van gives out a brief exposition to Hitomi about what I just discussed earlier involving his brother and all that. And all of that takes five minutes before they're back out on the road to reunite with their companions. You see, THIS is what I meant by earlier when someone from production decided to take some scenes from the anime series, and just stitched it together in some half assed way in order for it to work with this movie. It's so lazily done that I'm almost shocked that they went through with this in the first place.

Now, to add on to why this thing felt rushed, there's even more stuff that I could mention that might've been from the anime series that got either condensed, or just flat out cut entirely. I briefly mentioned it a moment ago, and I'm gonna try to explain more of it here. As I mentioned earlier, Hitomi gets kidnapped at one point by this creature that's sort of a mix between a raccoon and a jaguar. And when Van catches up to him, he asks the creature why he and his clan are taking part in this war, despite knowing that his clan doesn't usually get involved in human wars. To which the creature explains that his village and home were destroyed by the Black Dragon Clan. And they also captured most of their clan. So, in order for the creature to see his people freed, he, and the rest of the survivors, made a deal with the Black Dragon Clan that they needed to capture Hitomi and bring her to them. And that if they succeed, the Black Dragon Clan will release their people. And I would probably care more about this, if this was developed more, but it's not. We're just given mountains of exposition, and I don't feel anything for this creature, even before he got killed. Spoiler, in case you really cared. Now, I don't know, MAYBE it was explained more in the anime series, but that's the problem with this movie when it decided to tell it's story in one shot. Now, could this movie have been fixed better? Oh, most certainly. The best thing that this movie could've done was do what the "Berserk: Golden Age" trilogy did. Take certain arcs from the series, and develop each arc within 3 movies. That way, you would have a little more leeway in trying to develop our characters and give more time to flesh out our story. Now again, the "Berserk: Golden Age" trilogy wasn't perfect, what with the horrendous cell-shaded CG and them cutting out certain story elements from the "Berserk" anime series, but it was still halfway decent. If this movie wanted to go the route in where it had 3 movies to develop it's story, then this would've been a LOT better. Unfortunately, being that this movie only had one shot to tell it's story, it's so poorly done and the results just didn't mesh well at all. And I'm somewhat curious to see how exactly the anime series handled telling it's story, when compared to this movie. Probably a lot better, but that's just a guess.

So, the writing here is not very good. And with what I just mentioned, it makes this movie just a little bit worse. Now, we come to the acting. I opted to watch the English dub, and...the dub here is not that great either. Most of the acting ranges from being passable, to just being shit. Dishonorable mention goes to whoever voiced Lord Folken. Every time that this guy appears on camera, he always talks in this low-key gravelly voice that, sometimes, you can BARELY make out. At first, I thought the actor sounded like he smoked a ton of weed before recording his lines. However, that would be an insult to hippies, so I'm not gonna make that comparison. Honestly, he sounds like an even more bored version of Steve Blum, except with Blum, even though I've criticized his voiceover work in the past, CAN act when he wants to give a shit. This actor, however, doesn't sound like he fucking cares. So he just phoned it in and did it mainly for a paycheck. A paycheck that he honestly did not fucking earn, but whatever. The rest of the cast, like I said, isn't that great either. I have no idea if this is the same voice cast that was from the Saban dub, but if it is, then I can kinda see another reason why it was taken out of Saban's hands. But regardless if that was the case or not, the acting from this dub is just meh, at best.

The animation, however, is great. The characters all have a unique look to them, the backgrounds are amazing, color pallets are used very well, too, and it's a very well animated movie. My favorite bit of animation from this movie comes from the Escaflowne armor, as it was battling another giant armored mech of sorts. I brought it up earlier, but that animation sequence between the two looked incredibly smooth. And as far as I could tell, there was no CG in this movie. Everything was traditionally animated, and it looks great, especially knowing that this movie came out well over 20 years ago. And it still looks really good today, if I do say so myself. So yeah, the animation in this movie is great. And it's certainly one of the biggest positives that I can give this movie.

Sound-mix is here is decent. I want to talk about editing for a second, before I get into the music. There was one bit of editing that I mentioned earlier that could be attributed to the fact that this movie was rushed. So, way early on, Hitomi and her friend were discussing about how Hitomi missed a track meet. Now, I want you to note that Hitomi's friend was sitting on a small flight of stairs that were at the top. And Hitomi was standing at the second row of those flight of stairs. First of all, this scene with them talking about this missed track meet comes right the hell out of nowhere, because there was no buildup or any mention that Hitomi was part of a track meet. But that's honestly just more of a reason as to why this movie feels so rushed. So anyway, back to my point on editing. Hitomi's friend was sitting at the top of a small flight of stairs, and Hitomi was standing in the middle of the second flight of stairs. And as they're talking, suddenly, and for no reason at all, it cuts to Hitomi's friend being in FRONT of Hitomi, as she has her hands on Hitomi's shoulders. When the fuck did that happen?! At what point, during this conversation, did Hitomi's friend get up to go in front of her friend? I'll tell you that there was no indication of it whatsoever! It just...happens. And I don't know why that even existed to begin with. Were the animators just too lazy to animate Hitomi's friend getting up to get in front of Hitomi? Or did the people who edit this movie decided that this movie was too long as is, so they decided to cut it because, fuck you, that's why? I don't know. But it was really strange to me that that scene even existed. So, yeah...aside from that, everything else in terms of editing is fine. And the music is also really good, for the most part. Save for that one bit involving that weird quacking sound that happens during one point in the movie that I just mentioned during the reaction portion.

So, overall, guys, can I recommend "Escaflowne: The Movie"? Um...no. I honestly can't recommend this movie. If you really want to get into "Escaflowne", go watch the anime series. Or pick up any of the books. That's probably your best bet, if you want to get into the "Escaflowne" series. But as for this movie, do not waste your time on it. It is a lazy half-assed attempt at trying to adapt a series that was, probably, poorly handled in the first place by Saban. And if this movie wasn't able to do the series justice, then that's just a bad sign that the "Escaflowne" series is cursed. Now, I admit, I don't know how much of that is true. But regardless, this movie kinda soiled me on even trying to watch the "Escaflowne" anime series. Now if I'm really bored at all, I may go and watch a few episodes and see how exactly it was handled there, but I'm not all that keen on trying it. At least, for right now. What I AM interested in doing right now is to go watch something that I know is better. And seeing as how this movie was a fantasy film, I'm gonna go and watch my copy of "Castle in the Sky". It has been a long time since I last watched that movie, so I'm gonna go and do that next. And as for this movie...well, I guess maybe this wasn't a good introduction for myself to get into the "Escaflowne" series. And I guess curiosity is really sort of a bitch, isn't it?

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 later. Peace.

Reaction & Review | Killjoy 2: Deliverance From Evil

 

Welcome, one and all, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, I'm gonna be checking out a slasher film from 2002. That movie is "Killjoy 2: Deliverance From Evil". Which comes, once again, as part of "The Midnight Horror Collection" DVD 3-pack that contains the first 3 "Killjoy" films.

Now, for those of you that are new here, a couple of weeks ago, I reviewed the first "Killjoy" movie. And to put it simply, the movie was absolute garbage. It had special effects that were shit, even by the standards of low budget movies. It had plot holes that were so fucking massive that you could feed a baby whale with and still wouldn't be able to fill it's appetite. The characters all sucked, our clown killer was incredibly annoying, there was just NOTHING there in terms of writing that I would consider a positive.

And now, we have the sequel that came out 2 years after the original film. Now, unlike the previous movie, I didn't bother to read the plot for this one, because I wanted to go into it as blind as possible. So, I have no idea how much this movie is going to tie into the first one. The only thing I really want out of this movie is for it to be better than the first one. I have strong doubts that it's going to be good, but, at the very least, I want it to be marginally better than the first movie. That's all I'm asking for. I don't know if I'm asking for too much, but I'm gonna find out if this damn thing is, at all, watchable. So the only thing for me to do at this point, 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 "Killjoy 2: Deliverance From Evil".

3 minutes later

So, guys, the film's just started and I can easily confirm one thing so far. The sound-mix in this movie is fucking awful. I know you guys can't hear it for obvious reasons, but this sound-mix is just garbage. If this is how the movie's gonna sound like for the next hour and 10 minutes, then I fear I'm gonna be in for a torturous ride here.

18 minutes later

So, this blonde chick just shot one of our characters, after they trespassed inside her home. And then she's shot dead from one of our main characters. The sad part is that she was the only likable character that we had up till that point. And now that she's dead, I'm back to not caring about anyone in this entire movie. I hope and pray that Killjoy just kills everyone of these sacks of shits by the time that this movie's done.

2 minutes later

Did she seriously ask if the guy that was shot at a few minutes ago was OK? Lady, he was shot! I don't think anyone who is bleeding that badly could be considered "OK". My God, why are the characters in this movie so fucking stupid?!

9 minutes later

All right, I have a really stupid question that I'm probably not going to get an answer to, but I'm gonna ask it anyway. So, this black lady explains that, when she was really young, she was told a story about Killjoy, and basically gives an exposition of the events of what happened in the first movie. So...does that mean, then, that this movie takes place 20 years or so after the first movie? Because she said that she was told this story when she was really young. So does that mean that she's related to one of our main characters from the first movie? I understand that I'm asking logic from a series that seems allergic to it, but I'm really curious about that, and I have a strong feeling that I'm not gonna get an answer for it anytime soon.

8 minutes later

So, the black lady I mentioned earlier, I'm going to assume, is dead thanks to Killjoy's chattering teeth. I'm going to assume that, because we don't actually get to see the kill in action. All we saw was just the bathroom stall shaking repeatedly. Would've been really cool if we actually got to see the kill, but that would've been the first time this movie would've done something that was considered partially interesting.

7 minutes later

Well, it took the movie this long, but we actually got a decent kill in this movie. In fact, I will say that, even though it's pretty darkly lit, the special effects for that kill were...actually decent. They're not great, mind you, but it's certainly a hell of a lot better than what was in the first movie. So...I guess I gotta give the movie THAT much.

6 minutes later

You know, guys, that kill was sorta creative. Do you know what would've been better? If the actor playing Nick wasn't still breathing from his stomach after he 'died'. My God, this movie is just getting worse, and I don't think the next 20 minutes are gonna get better.

12 minutes later

That's it? That's how Killjoy dies is via getting water splashed in his face like the Wicked Witch of the West from "The Wizard of Oz"? That was fucking shit! Aside from the fact that the water didn't even properly splash on his face, that is probably the cheapest fucking payoff that I have ever seen from any movie in a long time. God...fuck this movie!

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Killjoy 2: Deliverance From Evil". Thank fucking god, it's over. No...shut up! I'm done listening to your bullshit hip-hop music, movie. Fuck off and die! Jesus Christ, that was terrible. Um...I'm speechless, guys. I really am. This movie...oh my god, where do I even begin?

Well, I guess, when in doubt, start with the fucking writing. Now, I totally understand that, when you're doing a sequel to a movie, chances are that it's not going to have the same kind of quality as the first movie. Not that the first "Killjoy" movie had any real quality, but I'll get more into that when I talk about this movie. But anyway, sequels usually drop in quality with each passing film. The "Wishmaster" series fell into this trap rather easily, the "Digimon Adventure tri." series is a ridiculously mixed bag when it comes to everything after "Reunion", the first two "Starship Troopers" sequels definitely dropped in quality, even though I did kinda like the third movie, and every direct-to-video animated sequel/prequel that Disney shoveled out in the 2000's are all fucking terrible and should've never been made. So yeah, sequels can definitely drop in quality. But there are rare instances where a sequel can actually improve over it's predecessor. For example, last year, when I covered the "Short Circuit" movies, I actually really liked the second movie more so than the first one, because it actually improved on a lot of things that the first movie suffered from. I'm not really gonna go into too much detail, because you can just go read my review for both of those movies and you can find out for yourself. But anyway, that is one example done right, and it actually proved to be better than the first movie. At least, to me, it did. So...do you happen to remember my little comment I made at the end of the review for the first "Killjoy" movie? The one where I made mentioned that the sequels can't be as bad as the first movie? Well...I think I may have fucking jinxed it, because this thing is, somehow, even WORSE than the first movie. I truly didn't think that this movie would actually accomplish that sort of feat, but, sure enough, it fucking did. And I'm still baffled that this thing was actually worse than the first movie. The only thing that this movie improved on were the special effects, which I'll get to later in this review.

Now, instead of me talking about how much worse this sequel got, let's actually talk about WHY this thing got worse. Our story, what little there is here, is not that much better than what was in the first one. Hell, the first movie barely had a fucking plot, but this movie is just about as plotless as the first one was. So, we have our two officers driving these people to a detention center. And along the way, the engine on the front of the bus breaks down and all of our characters are stranded near the woods. So now, they gotta go find help, while trying to keep our prisoners in check. As for our characters, well, none of them are likable whatsoever. Actually, correction, there was ONE character that I actually liked. And it was that one blonde girl, that I mentioned earlier, that got shot from one of our male leads. I say she was the only one I liked, because she shot one of our idiotic characters that broke into her home. Basically, to set this scene up, all of our male characters try to go find help, and they find this home that belonged to the blonde girl. They knock on the door, but she doesn't answer. So, the main male character, who's name I don't fucking remember, leaves to try and find help, and tells the other three male characters to just relax at the front of the house and wait for him to return. One of the male characters, Ray Ray, decides to be an idiot and breaks into her home via the window. And after stumbling through the darkness of her home, she ends up shooting at him through the back. Somehow, he's not fucking dead, and ends up getting thrown out from the front door. The main male character comes back and decides to be an idiot. How, you may ask? Because instead of trying to calm the situation down and explaining things to her about what has happened so far, he ends up shooting her in the head, because he thought she was going to shoot one of our other male characters. I would've preferred the other way, because then, it would have one less worthless character to work with. But sadly, she's the one who ends up getting shot at, and we don't have anymore likable characters throughout this entire movie. And I'm not kidding about that. Nobody in this movie has any real depth or personality to speak of. Some of our characters swear more often than I do. Which I didn't think was actually possible, but here we are.

Anyway, so we have that for character depth. One of our female characters, Cecile, MIGHT be related to one of our characters from the first movie, but I don't know how much of that is true. Because, like I mentioned earlier, she was talking about the evil spirit of Killjoy and what he had done in the first movie. It was sort of a lazy attempt to try and bridge the gap between the first movie and this one, but at least it's something. And she, apparently, grew up around voodoo magic. And somehow, Nick, one of our other male characters, gets this insane idea of trying to bring Killjoy back to life so that they can save Ray Ray. So...I have couple of questions about that. If Killjoy's an evil spirit, why in the fuck would you even bother trying to resurrect him in order to save someone else? Where's the logic in that? I totally understand that this movie's allergic to it, but I'm just asking for the hell of it. What sense does that even make? Furthermore, how in the fuck did Ray Ray survive this long throughout, almost, half the movie? Because, like I said, he was shot at in the back. At that point, I don't think he has very long to live. Also, I'm not a medical expert in any fashion, but, last time I checked, you should NOT be moving a heavily injured body, especially when they're bleeding. You're suppose to leave the victim flat on it's back and not move it whatsoever. However, our brain dead retards called characters think that it's a good idea to carry the injured victim OVER the shoulder and just drag him throughout a good portion of the movie until they get to the voodoo woman's home. Oh, and, big spoiler, in case you really care about the fate of Ray Ray, he dies due to blood loss. So...not only was it a waste of time to try and move him around while he's bleeding to death, it was also a really stupid idea for Nick to suggest that they should resurrect an EVIL spirit so that they can save the life of some retard that served no purpose in this movie, other than make all of our other characters really fucking stupid. Well correction, they were already stupid to begin with, but still. Oh, and I should mention that male officer who shot the blonde girl again. I am not kidding when I say this, but after he shoots her, he disappears throughout the ENTIRE movie...up until he comes back to take on Killjoy. Why? Well, I guess he had to go and get help. But my answer as to why he was gone throughout the entire movie was simply fuck you, that's why. So, take that for what you will.

Guys, the writing in this movie is fucking trash. And I could be here for another hour discussing all of the failings that this movie conjured within it's writing, but I'm gonna try to move on from that. Because I don't want to sound like a broken record here. But anyway, writing in this movie is fucking terrible from across the board. And to add on to that, we have horrible acting. Nobody in this movie fucking tried. At all. I would've said the actor playing Killjoy was OK, but even he phones it in as well. Because, not only was he fucking annoying like he was in the first movie, he's also trying to do a shitty impression of Mark Hamill as The Joker. I'm not kidding, guys. Every time that Killjoy opened his mouth, all I could hear from him was his shitty impression of Hamill's Joker. And it really is THAT shitty, too. So, if you want ANY kind of reason to watch this movie, you can go watch it for his shitty impression. However, I would strongly recommend that you don't do that. But anyway, like I said, the rest of the acting is fucking awful. There are two other actors I want to make mention of. One of them is the actor playing Nick. I mentioned it earlier, but there was a creative kill in the movie that got, partly, ruined by bad camerawork, and also terrible acting. So, the kill involved Nick holding a knife that he was about to use against Killjoy. But Killjoy is actually able to be psychic and is able to use the knife against Nick by cutting himself with it. It looked really creative, and it would've been REALLY cool...if we didn't see Nick's dead body. Why? Because, on two separate occasions, you actually see Nick breathing from his chest area after he 'died'. I thought maybe the movie was setting itself up where Nick was suppose to come back, while barely alive. But no, that was just a case of poor camerawork. And it also tells me that this actor doesn't know how to play dead. And those shots were fucking amateurish at best. Now, the other actress I want to make mention of is the one playing Officer Martinez. Now, I normally would blame this on a god-awful script, because you can only do so much with a bad script. But this actress, I swear to God, does not know how to act. At all. She sounds terribly robotic in all of her lines, and it is fucking painful to listen to her act, because I don't believe she has ever acted a day in her life. And if she ever got acting roles after this movie, then I hope she took extensive acting lessons. Otherwise, she should be nowhere near a fucking camera! She is THAT bad. So overall, the acting is absolutely atrocious from the entire cast.

Now let's get to the special effects. And, believe it or not, I'm actually going to give this movie credit for it's special effects. Because if you'll recall, one of my biggest problems with the first "Killjoy" movie, outside of everything else that was terrible, was that the special effects were all cheap and shit at best. A lot of it was digital effects, and they were poorly done effects, too. Well, this movie was actually able to ditch those cheap effects in favor of practical effects. And the practical effects are pretty decent. Again, they're not amazing, and part of that has to do with the dark lighting, but blood effects that you're able to see are, once again, pretty decent. So, if anything, the special effects definitely improved in this movie. And also, makeup effects are also decent on Killjoy, as is the costuming. So really, special effects are the only real positive I can give this entire movie.

Camerawork here is OK, save for those couple of shots I mentioned involving Nick's breathing body. Lighting here is kinda shit. There is a lot of darkness in this movie, which also covers up most of the blood effects I mentioned a second ago. But for the most part, the lighting here is OK for everything else. Now we get to the sound-mix...oh dear heavenly fuck, the sound-mix. Guys, I have bit of a basic tip for those of you who are wanting to get into filmmaking. When you're filming a movie, the best thing you want to have is a boom mic. That way, you can actually hear the dialogue. It also helps that if you're filming your scene somewhere near traffic, the best thing you want to do is to loop in your dialogue. That way, you can eliminate background noise. Which this movie didn't do for the first third of it. I could BARELY hear the dialogue. In fact, when the officers were first introducing our characters, I could see the traffic that was going on behind the two officers, because the lazy retards who were filming this movie couldn't be asked to have a boom mic on hand, so you can understand what the characters were saying. But as is, the dialogue is completely drowned out by the traffic, so I couldn't tell what they were trying to say about our characters. There was only ONE attempt at looping in dialogue, but it was completely unnecessary. So, as our two officers are driving, one of our prisoners named Charlotte says two lines of dialogue. The first bit of dialogue was fine. The second bit, however, she says something, which I don't remember what, but her mouth is not moving at all! What was the point of adding in dialogue when she wasn't going to say anything?! And I wouldn't have had a problem with this, if it looked like she was mumbling to herself, but no, she made no attempt to say anything else! Yet, her dialogue insisted otherwise. Which there was no need for that at all! Jesus Christ...that bit with the unnecessary looped in dialogue was just awful. So yes, everything involving sound-mix from before our characters get stuck near the woods is fucking awful. And I understand that Full Moon is mostly known for being an indie film studio, but, guys, I've seen Full Moon do better before AND after this. But I guess back 2002, they didn't fucking care. And that is just depressing on a whole host of levels. Oh, and the music is also terrible as well, because it's mainly the same bullshit hip-hop music that was in the first movie. So yeah, the score and soundtrack are shit.

So...when all is done, can I recommend "Killjoy 2: Deliverance From Evil"? No. Fuck no! This movie is fucking shit from start to finish. In fact, it's just as bad, if not WORSE than the first movie. The only thing that this movie has over the first one is that the special effects are decent. But that's not really enough to justify why it's better than the first movie, because the writing is just as plotless as the first one, the characters are fucking stupid as shit, and, it's so fucking flawed on a technical level that it makes this movie cheap as shit! And do you want to know what the worst part is? I still have the third movie I have to sit through in a couple of weeks. I have almost no faith in that third movie being any good, or even watchable. But...I am still a little curious to see if it can prove me wrong. So, until then, I'm just gonna get the horrible taste from this second movie out of my mouth and watch something good. And seeing as how I mentioned Mark Hamill's Joker earlier, I'm gonna go and watch my copy of "Batman: Mask of the Phantasm". Because I need to watch something better right now, just so I can forget about this awful fucking movie.

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 later. Peace.

Reaction & Review | Jetsons: The Movie

 

Welcome, one and all, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, I'm gonna be covering an animated film from 1990. That movie is "Jetsons: The Movie".

Now, I'd like to start off by saying that, out of all the main properties that Hanna-Barbera created, I find "The Jetsons" to be the one series with the most untapped potential. Because when you look at all of the cartoons they created back in the day, what exactly is still around? To my knowledge, the only ones I can think of are "The Flintstones", which exist mainly through cereal. "Scooby-Doo", which, at least to me, they should've put that fucking mutt down ages ago, mostly because it's been the same shit with that franchise, what with them releasing a ton of direct-to-video animated films almost every single year. "Tom and Jerry", as far as I know, had one live-action movie that they came out with last year. But aside from that, nothing else from the Hanna-Barbera lineup has survived. Which, I'm curious as to why "The Jetsons" got the shaft in all this? Because there's a ton of things that Warner Bros. could do with this property, seeing as how they own all the cartoons Hanna-Barbera made after it's closure, but they haven't really done that. The only time that "The Jetsons" got any sort of treatment was this movie, and the animated crossover film they did with the WWE. And no, I'm not kidding about that crossover, it really DOES exist. And I may have to get around to covering it at some point.

But anyway, setting aside what untapped potential that Warner Bros. is sitting on right now, I should probably talk about what I know about this movie going in. I remember when I was a kid that I use to own a VHS tape of an episode or two of "The Jetsons", and I use to watch this tape a lot back in the day. And the one thing I remembered about it was near the end of the tape, they would show a trailer for a "Jetsons" movie. In fact, about a month or so back, I was looking up a trailer for this movie, and, lull and behold, it was the exact same trailer that I saw back in the day as a kid. In fact, I can remember the one time that this movie aired on TV, which I believe was on the WB, back before they became the CW. And it was a LONG time ago, so I couldn't tell you back then that if I liked it or not. Then again, I don't recall if I ever watched the whole thing or not. But again, it was such a long time ago, and I have no memory of this movie, outside of that trailer that I watched years ago.

What I do remember about "The Jetsons" are the character names. I know of George, Judy, Jane, Elroy, and their dog Astro. I, unfortunately, don't remember the robot maid's name, because it has been that long since I last watched anything involving "The Jetsons". However, I am gonna be changing that tonight by checking out their debut film. I'm certainly hoping for this thing to be decent. I'm not totally sure if it's gonna be good, but I am gonna find out momentarily. So the only thing for me to do at this point, 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 "Jetsons: The Movie".

17 minutes later

So, this rock star just asked Judy on a date. Well, he didn't really "ask" Judy, he only asked her name, and then proclaimed that he and her have a date on Friday night...while he's still in the middle of his performance. Setting aside the fact that she didn't say yes or no, is that, like, a thing that happens at concerts? Can you just ask a girl's name and then say that you have a date with them on said night afterwards? I don't go to a whole lot of concerts, but I don't recall that ever being a thing. And the fact that this rock star didn't even ask Judy makes it sorta creepy. I understand that what I'm saying is all trivial and bullshit, but it is something that I kinda wanted to make mention.

2 minutes later

Wait, so just a moment ago, George's family was complaining about moving while they had plans. And when George says that he's been wanting this promotion all his life, 30 seconds later, Jane's like "Oh, you're right. How could we be selfish?" Way to pull a 180 there, Jane! I mean, forget about George forcing his family to move without their concern. The fact that George's wife developed Stockholm Syndrome within the span of a minute just comes across as really strange and sorta unbelievable, really.

12 minutes later

OK, I was gonna comment about that little rap number being shit, but thankfully, it stopped the moment I was about to complain about it. So...I'm kinda hoping we don't get any more rap numbers like that, because that one really sucked.

4 minutes later

You know, guys, I will say that, while this song here from Judy is pretty decent, I just don't find her relationship with Cosmic Cozmo to be believable. I'll get more into this later when I eventually review it, but I just wanted to let you guys know that this crush that she has on him just doesn't really work for me.

8 minutes later

All right, I have a really stupid question that I'm probably not going to get an answer to. So these little furry things have been causing the glitches at the plant that George was made Vice President of...does this place have NO security cameras whatsoever? You would think that a series like "The Jetsons", being that they're from the future, would be known to have some sort of hi-tech security guarding the plant. But no, nothing like that has been set up! Now it's possible that these furry things would've probably destroyed them, what with them getting around the plant and all, but nobody has even bothered to try it because, I guess, Mr. Spacely didn't really think about that when he made George Vice President. And if that is the case, then it makes Mr. Spacely really fucking stupid.

4 minutes later

You know, guys, I am willing to say that this song here is...actually pretty good. The animation I'm looking at right now is sorta off-putting, though. And I mean, it just looks REALLY weird. Still...it's not terrible. And, like I said, the song here is pretty good. So, at least there is that.

17 minutes later

You know, now that I've gotten a chance to see more of these creatures, these Grungies, I will say that they are...sorta cute. They're kinda like a mixture breed of Ewoks and Gremlins, if they ever decided to have babies. Didn't think I'd have to make that comparison, but I did. And it's sorta interesting.

The Review 

Well, guys, that was "Jetsons: The Movie". And we're closing out with a...really awful rap song. Seriously, guys, this song that's playing right now REALLY sucks. Thankfully, you guys can't hear it. But I can, and...oh god, I'm just gonna shut that off before I have to hear anymore of it...OK. Well, um...what to even say about this movie?

Well, I can start by saying this. If I had watched this movie back in the day, and I saw it during my early years, I probably would've loved it. Because while I didn't watch a whole lot of "The Jetsons", I still liked what I saw back then. And if I had seen this thing back when I was 7 or 8 years old, I would've totally watched this thing numerous times, regardless of the flaws that it does have now. In fact, watching it now, knowing that this movie is over 30 years old, it does possess some level of charm to it. Mind you, the movie isn't great, and it's certainly flawed as hell, but I still ended up sorta liking it. I mentioned this earlier, but "The Jetsons" is one of those Hanna-Barbera properties that certainly has a lot of potential to be something else, if Warner Bros. wanted to do something more with this franchise. The only thing I know that they did with it was giving it an animated crossover film with the WWE of all things. And I'm REALLY curious to know how that went. Probably not well, but I am gonna have to give it a watch at some point to see how stupid that thing really is. But anyway, aside from that, I think I may have a theory as to why "The Jetsons" never really went further after this movie. You see, this movie is VERY dated for it's time. For example, there's a bit of a ham-fisted message about saving the environment, which includes the Grungies home world being destroyed by the plant that Mr. Spacely put George in charge of after being made Vice President. I can also say that some of the animation is a bit dated, but I'll talk more about that when I cover animation. I can also say that some of Judy Jetsons's dialogue is really stupid, but again, I'll talk more about that when I get to writing. But overall, I can kinda see why "The Jetsons" never really took off, save for that WWE crossover. I feel like if Warner Bros. took some of this dated stuff, and put it into modern times, it might come across as showing it's age. And thinking about it now, I feel like if "The Jetsons" WERE to make some sort of modern reboot, then I could imagine stuff like forced diversity and gender politics getting in it's way. And, in hindsight, maybe it's better that "The Jetsons" stays as a product of it's time. Now, you COULD make it work, but you would have to avoid the pitfalls I just mentioned if you wanted to reboot "The Jetsons" into modern times. But that's just me theorizing about shit that has, almost, nothing to do with the movie itself.

So, let's actually talk about the movie, shall we? Let's start with the writing. The writing here is...OK. Like, there's nothing about this story that's going to set the world on fire. It's mostly just a longer episode of "The Jetsons". However, I also have to say that some of this writing is a little bit disorganized. And I want to start with Judy, the daughter of the Jetsons family. Earlier, I brought up this relationship she had for this rock star named Cosmic Cozmo. Well, calling this a relationship is a bit of a stretch, because there really isn't one to begin with. She first gets entranced with the guy, who's doing his performance live, and he suddenly asks Judy her name and says that they have a date on Friday night. Now, I may not be a relationship expert, but I'm pretty sure that's not how most of them work. Granted, I haven't been to a lot of concerts, but I'm pretty sure that's not how relationships start. But what I find strange is, during one moment, she meets this guy named Apollo, and says that Cosmic Cozmo was her ex-boyfriend. Um...no, what YOU had, Judy, was a crush. At no time did you ever start dating this rock star, because George Jetson suddenly announced to his family that they were going to move. If anything, Judy should be blaming her father for all this, because she and the rest of the family didn't get a say on how they felt about this sudden announcement. And that's another thing that bothers me. Why the hell did George not consult with his family about moving so suddenly because of his promotion? Don't you think a topic such as moving homes is something you would want to talk about with your family before you decided on this sudden movement? I mean, the family did try to say that they had plans of their own, but George says that "Well, this is something that I've been wanting for you, guys. Don't you support me?" And then Jane pulls a 180 and decides that it's perfectly OK for them to move. And then suddenly, as they're moving, the rest of the family is already happy-go-lucky about it, save for Judy, who's still bummed out because she didn't get to go on her date with this fucking rock star that she barely knows anything about. And mind you, her new love interest, Apollo, barely has any character in this movie. So honestly, it's not that much of a trade off. You miss a chance to go on a date with a rock star who randomly picked you out of a crowd and claimed a date with you, to a blue guy who's just about as bland and shallow as they fucking come.

I mentioned the Grungies earlier, and I wanted to talk about them next. Now again, I brought this up earlier, but it bears repeating. If you have never watched "The Jetsons", one of the things that made the show stand out was that they were known as the family of the future. And you would think, being that this movie IS set in the future, you would expect high-tech security to be guarding this plant that the Grungies have been sneaking around in this entire movie. Well...guess what? There isn't. At no point, in this movie, does anybody set any kind of security at this plant. Which I guess makes sense, considering that the only two employees at this plant are George and the robot known as Rudy 2. Hell, it's even admitted by Rudy 2 that this plant has gone through 4 different Vice Presidents by Mr. Spacely. So...I have a question about that. Why exactly did Mr. Spacely not bother to hire MORE people at this plant? Because if there are glitches that are happening at this plant, why would you not hire more security people to investigate what exactly is causing the glitches? Better yet, if you're not gonna hire more people, then why not build ACTUAL security at this place? I mentioned it earlier, but how about actually setting up security to catch who or whatever is causing these glitches to happen? Or if you don't want to do that, how about setting up something such infra-red lasers? That way, if any of these Grungies actually end up tripping them without noticing, THEN you could get an idea that somebody was sneaking around the plant, and you could figure out what's been causing the problem. Now, I know you could write this all off as the Grungies could just disable all of this security stuff while trying to tear down the plant that's causing damages to their home world, but it still would've been some kind of explanation for the movie to use. But they don't. Like I said, nobody bothers to mention anything involving security, because I guess Mr. Spacely just didn't think that far ahead, even though he's spent so much time and money into the plant. Yet, he still couldn't be bothered to put in some kind of security, just in case something decided to go wrong. And I totally understand that the people who wrote this movie were also probably not thinking that far ahead, and it's just a harmless children's film, but it still could've at least tried to explain the lack of security for this plant.

I'm also gonna briefly mention the characters. Because since this movie is based off a cartoon series from the 60's, these characters already have established personalities that came from their own show. And if you haven't seen it, then, chances are, you might find these characters a little bit bland. The only character who has any semblance of depth in this movie is Judy. But that's not saying much, since she mostly plays the heart-sick teenager that loves shopping and boys. Also, I don't know if this was a thing or not back in the show, but her dialogue is so fucking cheesy whenever she has to make any galaxy related puns or wordplay. It just sounds way too cheesy, even for me. Everybody else is just kinda there, really. By the way, yes, I did find out that the robot maid's name was Rosie. So, at least I figured that out. But really, none of these characters are gonna go through any real change, save Judy, and I guess, George. At least, until he figures out what his work has been doing to the Grungies home world.

But other than that, the writing here is OK. Nothing about it is going to stand out at you. But at the same time, I don't think it was intending to break any new grounds, either. It's just there to be what it was meant to be, which was a continuation of "The Jetsons" series. And on that end, it accomplishes that pretty well. With that said, let's get into the voice acting. For the most part, the acting is really good. I will say, though, that I wasn't really a fan of whoever voiced Elroy in this movie, because he didn't really sound like a small child. I felt like he was trying to impersonate a small child, but it totally didn't work for me. But as for the rest of the cast, it's mostly really good. There are two actors that I need to make mention of. One of them is George O'Hanlon, who voiced George Jetson from back in the day, and he reprises his role one last time in this movie. And for what he had to work with, it was not too bad for his part. And the other voice actor I'm gonna make mention of is the legendary Mel Blanc. If you don't know anything about Mel Blanc, then go watch any of the Looney Tunes shorts from back in the day. Because he damn near voiced EVERY Looney Tunes character from back then. He is, to some people, a voice acting god in the animation world. And in case you're wondering, he voices Mr. Spacely in this movie, and I'm going to assume even from during the show. He is great in this movie. But then again, no one is ever going to top what Mel Blanc could do, because he is just that damn good at what he did. So yeah, the voice acting is mostly good, save for Elroy's voice actor. That latter voice was just kinda shit, really.

Moving onto the animation. Well, I brought this up earlier, but this was produced by Hanna-Barbera. And the one thing that you need to know about Hanna-Barbera was that their animation style was never top-notch quality. They mostly looked a bit cheap, however, they mostly still provided decent quality to their animation projects. And unlike another animation company, such as Filmation, they didn't always go to the well of recycling their animation. Well...except for a couple of shots in this movie, they kinda did that. And it's mostly the scenes involving the Grungies sneaking around the plant. And in a couple of shots, you see this one machine being surrounded by electricity, and they use that shot at the beginning of the movie, and then again later on when the Grungies do the exact same shit. They also recycle a couple of shots where they clog up a couple of pipes, and those shots are rather noticeable. But other than that, this is still a pretty good-looking movie from Hanna-Barbera. The art style is very reminiscent to how the older show looked like, the backgrounds and characters look very much on par with how "The Jetsons" should look. There is also something new in this movie, which is the utilization of CG. And I'll be honest, the CG, for 1990, looks really fucking good. The CG is mostly used for second-unit shots of the locales that you see in outer space. And a lot of that looks pretty damn solid for the time. Now obviously, you would have to be a complete retard to try and compare the CG from this movie to today's standards. However, for 1990, this is, almost, state of the art for it's time. And I'm really impressed by how the CG looked like from back then.

Sound-mix here is OK, but I will admit that some of the dialogue sounds a little bit off. It doesn't happen often, but some of the audio in which the characters talk sounds a bit muffled. I don't know if it was because of the transfer that Universal did when they put this movie out on DVD, or if it just might've been a technical issue on my end. But either way, the dialogue does sound a little bit muffled in some areas, and it could be seen as a little bit distracting. Mind you, it doesn't ruin the film, but it can be noticed, if you can hear it clearly enough. The music here is decent, save for anytime the movie tries to do rap. Dear God, the rap music in this movie is horrendous. This shit is basically the bane of early 90's hip-hop that sounds like total shit. One of them is very short, which is the one where George Jetson and Rudy 2 start rhyming. It's bad, but like I said, it's pretty short, and you can pretty much overlook it. The other song, though, is awful. It's the song that I stopped playing the moment I shut off the movie. It basically sounds like somebody tried to mix in a little bit of music from a track from Super Mario Kart and tried to change it into a rap song, and it just sounds horrendous. It's honestly one of the worst rap songs you will ever hear in a LONG time. However...beyond that, the music also tries to implement a bit of techno and rock, and most of that is decent. So really, the soundtrack here is OK, save for the awful rap numbers.

Overall, guys, when all is said and done, am I able to recommend "Jetsons: The Movie"? Um...hmm...that's a bit of a difficult question to answer. If you're someone who grew up watching "The Jetsons", then you probably have already seen this. But if you haven't, check it out, you might definitely really enjoy it. For kids...you know what, yes. Because I honestly think there's enough here to where children are going to find something that they'll like out of this movie. Whether it's the animation or the Grungies that they'll definitely find cute. But for anyone else...I guess, maybe, if you want a break from the same old tired shit from "Scooby-Doo", and you're looking for something different that's related to Hanna-Barbera, then I would say check this out. It does have enough charm and material to where you can also find something that you'll enjoy. As for myself, I kinda liked it enough to hold onto my copy. It may be worth watching at least 2 or 3 more times, for me, before I decide on whether or not to sell it. But still, I liked it enough, and I'm kinda happy that it turned out positive results for me. Now...seeing as how I mentioned Looney Tunes earlier when talking about Mel Blanc, I'm kinda in the mood to rewatch my copy of "Looney Tunes: Back In Action". It certainly is a really good movie, and I kinda want to go and rewatch it right now after I'm done putting this review together.

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 later. Peace.