Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, I'm gonna be covering a Swedish horror film from 1989. That movie is "The Forgotten Wells".
Now I can tell you, guys, a couple of things I know about this movie. First of all, it was co-directed by a man named Mats Helge Olsson. And a lot of you reading this for the first time probably have no idea who that is. Well, the reason why I brought up his name is because I actually covered two of his movies that I reviewed several years ago for this series. The first one was "The Ninja Mission". A movie that was ultimately just a stupid plotless action film with little to no substance whatsoever. And then shortly after that, I reviewed it's supposed sequel "The Russian Ninja". Which actually ended up being worse than it's predecessor, what with it having a confusing plot, acting that was stilted and horribly dubbed in, and it also had some of the worst fight choreography I had seen from almost any movie in a *long* time. Yeah...I wasn't really a big fan of either one of those movies.
And I also mentioned before that I wasn't gonna cover anymore of his movies that were tied into "The Ninja Mission". Because that was his most successful movie and he tried to replicate that success by making at least several "sequels" to "The Ninja Mission", despite "The Russian Ninja" having almost no connection to the first movie at all outside of the title involving ninjas. However, I'm not gonna go too deep into that technicality there. So anyway, while I'm not gonna anymore of his sequels to "The Ninja Mission", I was able to find something else that he directed, which would be tonight's movie. Which I believe may also be the first time I'm ever covering a horror movie from Sweden. So that's definitely something different.
I should also mention right here that this movie is also gonna be Olsson's last chance to try and win me over as a fan. And as much as I'd like to tell you that I have some faith in this movie, there is *one* thing that could potentially destroy it. You see, I was doing a little bit of digging on this movie. And I while was able to not spoil myself on what the plot was about, I did find something out about the writing credit to this movie. You see, guys, this movie, and I am *not* kidding when I tell you this, has a grand total...of 7 writers. Yes, it took 7 people to write the script to this thing! Several of them I can confirm are two of the cast members of this movie and Mats Helge Olsson himself. So if this movie ends up sucking in some way, I can put part of the blame on Olsson, and it'll prove, at least to me, that the man cannot write for shit.
Now I admit, I'm probably getting ahead of myself here. I want this movie to at least be interesting. I almost wanted to say it'll be good, but based on the past couple of movies I watched from this director, "good" is probably asking for too much here. But, it could still be interesting on some kind of level. I don't know if that's gonna be enough to save this movie, but I'm still gonna hold out some hopes here. And the only way I'm gonna find out if this movie is gonna be interesting 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 "The Forgotten Wells".
9 minutes later
OK, I have a really stupid question here, and I know there's probably some kind of reasoning for it, but I want to ask this. So this guy who broke into this mental hospital just released this one patient who's face is also wrapped up in bandages, and the thing I gotta ask about the guy who broke into the hospital is why the hell is he wearing pantyhose over his head? Is that meant to be some sort of disguise for our perpetrator? And if it is, then that has got to be one of the *stupidest* fucking disguises I have ever seen. Couldn't he have gotten something normal to wear like a mask or something? I'm just asking, because his identity would be a *lot* safer that way, rather than wearing pantyhose that doesn't disguise his face whatsoever. But hey, *maybe* that's just me.
11 minutes later
So the title of the movie comes from our description from Savage, as he explains about the mission he's been given to his friends, in which some kid disappeared in a well system that was meant to act as a supply unit for water. And the house that our heroes are going to is suppose to be haunted because it was built on top of the well system that the kid disappeared into 20 years ago. OK, at *least* they explained that much. And honestly, guys, so far, this movie has actually been OK. I can't believe I'm saying that about a movie from Mats Helge Olsson, but it's been surprisingly competent so far! And I'm hoping it stays this way for the next hour or so.
20 minutes later
You know, guys, as much as I'm gonna admit that I'm still interested to see where this movie is going, I just wish it would pick itself up a bit. Because our story is kind of moving at a glacial pace right now, and nothing of interest has happened since then. Hoping maybe the movie will turn itself around soon, though I'm not sure if it will or not.
20 minutes later
I'm really sorry, guys, if I haven't been saying a whole lot, but unfortunately, this movie hasn't really given me a whole lot to work with. I can see that the movie is trying to do something interesting, but for some reason, it just feels a little bit off to me. I'm not sure what it is just yet, but I'll try to get into all that once the movie is done.
The Review
OK, that was a rather...dubious ending there. But anyway, guys, that was "The Forgotten Wells". Let me go ahead and shut the movie off here...OK. Huh, um...where to even start with this one?
Well, I did state earlier that if this movie sucked as much as the previous two films I watched from Mats Helge Olsson, then I would rightfully claim that this guy does not know how to write a decent story. And while I didn't outright say this earlier, I would've possibly banned all of his movies from being covered for this series, because I've given Olsson 3 chances to try and prove to me that he can make a decent movie. Well...I can actually say that while this movie is ridiculously flawed, I am willing to say that it's quite possibly the most competent film he's made so far. Mind you now, when I say it's competent, I am in no way saying that the movie is good. However, when in comparison from his previous two outings, it is far better than what I was expecting. I thought it was just gonna flat out suck like everything else he has made. But no, surprisingly, it turned out to be somewhat decent.
I guess, rather than just me blabbering on about what I thought about the movie, let's actually try to talk about it in more detail. Let's start with the writing. The writing here *almost* works. Like I stated earlier, it's about this TV film crew that goes to this abandoned house to try and locate a boy that fell into a well system about 20 years ago, and that the house itself is apparently haunted, possibly by the kid that disappeared there all those years ago. I should also mention that there is another piece to this story that I sorta left out. The other reason why they're going out to this house, aside from what I just stated earlier, is because this kid has a massive fortune that is gonna be inherited, unless this kid is found within 36 hours. The reason why is because it's almost 20 years ago today that he fell into the well system and was never found afterwards. And unless our film crew can find him first, then the kid is gonna be declared legally dead, and his fortune will be inherited by a different family member. And by family member, I'm talking about our villains for this movie, Lamar and Tanner. Lamar is the more important character of the two, because he's also the Lieutenant of the district he's running, and the abandoned house counts as part of his district. Apparently, from what I could gather, he also wants the fortune for himself, and I'm going to assume that he just wants our heroes dead, which is how we go into later in the film in which it decides to go in a somewhat different direction.
In fact, let's actually talk about something that's been bothering me about this movie. Earlier, I said that the film, even though it was trying to be interesting despite moving at a somewhat glacial pace (which I'll talk about later), something about it just felt a little bit off to me. And I believe I figured what that problem was. See, earlier, I stated this movie's genre as a horror movie. And for like the first 40-45 minutes or so, it was sticking towards that genre. But after Tanner and his gang start to enter the picture, the movie suddenly shifts into being an action movie which then turned into a home invasion flick, as we see our heroes, mainly our two male ones, trying to fight off Lamar's gang in the caves. And it really felt like it was just going back to the same roots that I remembered from when I watched Mat Helge Olsson's previous two outings for this series. Speaking of which, the ending, and I swear to God this just came to me as I was watching the movie, felt like it was a beat-for-beat copy and paste ending to how "The Russian Ninja" played out. Mind you, it's been years since I last watched it and I tried my best to block that movie out of my memory, but for *some* reason, this movie's ending played out almost exactly how "The Russian Ninja" ended, and I *still* somehow ended up remembering it. But basically, my entire point here, guys, is that the movie felt like it had a bit of an identity crisis. And that may be due to the fact that this movie had 7 writers credited for this thing. Which wouldn't surprise me if that was the case, considering all of the randomness that just came in towards the second half of the movie.
Speaking of something that I hinted at earlier, let's about another issue that sort of bothered me a bit, which is the pacing. Now for the first 20 minutes or so of the film, I was actually invested into what was going on. The set-up was actually pretty interesting, and I wanted to see if the film would be able to keep that pace at a consistent rate. Unfortunately, by the time I said that, the movie slowly started to go downhill, and the pacing mostly attributes to that. See, once our characters get into the house, they start setting up their equipment while they are busy trying to explore the house. And that's what mostly happens for a little over 20 minutes into the latter first half of the film. Nothing else of interest really happens during these 20 minutes other than padding. Which is not a good sign at all, especially considering that this is how the movie wanted to spend the remaining first half of it's runtime. Now I probably would've given this pacing issue more leeway if we had gotten the time to know more about these characters. And unfortunately, you really don't get to know them all that well. I only know of two of the members by name, which are Peter Savage, our main character, and one of the girls being named Debbie. That's it. And even then, they're all basically just there for the sake of this mission and development surrounding them is mostly just non-existent. As for our villains, Lamar is basically just a corrupt Lieutenant while Tanner really doesn't have much of anything going for him until towards the end of the movie. You don't very much about the bandaged-up guy that's been trying to get to the abandoned house other than the fact that he's Lamar's brother, and I'm going to assume he was only let out just so he could cause trouble and possibly kill the entire film crew at the abandoned house. Though that part isn't entirely made clear, nor do we ever find out anything about who or what happened to the guy wearing the pantyhose over his head upon releasing Lamar's brother from the mental hospital.
So yeah, guys, the writing here is just ridiculously flawed in a whole lot of areas. Now normally, I would cover acting next, but I actually want to skip ahead a bit and talk about one of the other big problems this movie suffers from, which is the lighting. You see, guys, for about a good portion of this movie, most of the film is shot in darkness. If I had to take an estimated guess, I would say about 80% of the movie is filled with darkness. And I'm also going to take a guess here and say that this movie was filmed on a pretty low budget. Which would make sense, given that Olsson's other movies were also filmed on low budgets. But going back to the lighting issue, regarding the low budget that this movie possibly had, I'm going to assume that they didn't use a whole lot of stage lighting for most of this movie. And I will say that in some areas, the darkness isn't too bad. But in the later scenes, especially during the scenes where our heroes are trying to outrun Lamar's gang through the caves, the darkness really starts to become an issue, because you really can't see a whole lot of what's going on. There are some instances where some light is shown, but a lot of it is still covered in darkness, and for a good portion of these scenes, a lot of it is just gonna be really hard to make out. Now it could be possible that this may just be the version of it I watched on YouTube, and if this thing were re-remastered on DVD, Blu-ray, or even 4K, I have a feeling that these scenes would be much clearer to see. But with the way that it is now, it's not gonna be the case. So you better have good eyes in trying to figure out what's going on during these scenes involving darkness. Otherwise, it's not exactly gonna be a pleasant viewing experience for you.
Now that I've gotten that part out of the way, let's actually go back through this proper and actually talk about the acting next. Now seeing as how this movie was originally filmed in Sweden, a lot of the actors here probably didn't speak proper English, so a lot of their dialogue was dubbed in by actors who spoke proper English. Well...proper is a little bit of a stretch, because the acting in this dub sounds wooden as fuck. Almost every actor here sounds about as wooden as possible, save for maybe Gareth Hunt as Lamar. He's the only actor who, I think, properly spoke English in the film, while everyone else had to have their lines dubbed in. Which definitely shows, if that is the case, because Gareth was the only one who was given a little more free reign to work in his dialogue. Everyone else, no. Almost nobody else here sounds natural, and it's kind of a double-edged sword here. Because on one hand, since most of the acting sounds wooden as hell, it's probably gonna be viewed by most people as being rather un-listenable. On the other hand, some of this wooden acting can just seen as being laughably bad. Enough to where someone could probably have a lot of fun riffing on this thing, if they wanted to. So hey, at least there is that. But otherwise, guys, the acting here isn't really that good. However, given that the other two movies from Olsson also had the same kind of issue, it's sort of par for the course here. So it's really just a case of take it or leave it for what it is.
Camerawork here is OK for what it is. I've already touched upon the lighting in great detail, so I'm gonna skip that one. The sound-mix is actually really competent here. And the score here is actually OK, too. Granted, it's not something I'm gonna go out of my to listen to again, but I can at least say the music here is OK for what it is.
Ultimately, guys, when all is said and done, am I able to recommend "The Forgotten Wells"? Um...gosh, how the hell do I answer this one? Well, I'm almost tempted to say no...but then again, considering that I was more invested into this movie than I was with "The Ninja Mission" and "The Russian Ninja", that is certainly saying something. Not a lot, mind you, but still, it's at least something. So what I'm trying to say is that I can kind of recommend it. Kind of, but you have to go into it with the right mindset. For example, if you have an appreciation for B-Movies, then this one will certainly be right up your alley. If you want to riff on something with friends on a bad movie night, then by all means, check this movie out. It might actually make for some really fun riffing material. In fact, I might even put a link to this movie for you guys to watch in the description in case you guys are interested in watching it. But with that being said, if you're looking for a good movie, then fuck no. This movie is movie *far* from good. Though in my opinion, it is better than both of the movies from Olsson I just listed. So if anything else, at least that's some sort of an accomplishment. A minimal accomplishment, but an accomplishment nonetheless. Now...I'm gonna go and watch something else. Well, seeing as how the main character for this movie looked like a clean-shaven version of Snake Plissken from "Escape From New York", I think I'm gonna go and watch that next. I still love that movie to pieces, so I'm gonna go and do that next after I get done typing this review up.
And with that, guys, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. And next week, guys, I'm gonna be doing another round of the "Video Game Movie Marathon". So stay tuned for that if you're curious. Until then, guys, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.
Tuesday, March 26, 2024
Reaction & Review | The Forgotten Wells
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Reaction & Review | Belle
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the 200th episode of Reaction & Review! Holy shit, guys, I cannot believe we made it to this point. I am just...stunned that I was able to make it to 200 episodes. I keep saying this, but I honestly thought I would've stopped after, like, 10 episodes or so before packing it in. But no, I'm still here writing this series, and I am very thankful to anyone who has kept on reading these reviews, regardless of whether or not they get any comments.
So now that I've made it to this historic milestone, what movie am I gonna cover for the 200th episode? Well, you kinda know what it is already by looking at the cover, so it kinda already takes the mystery out of it. However, it is a movie that I wanted to save for this particular milestone, and now we're finally at that point. Tonight's movie, for episode 200, is an animated movie from 2021. That movie is "Belle".
Oh yes, guys, I have been wanting to cover this movie ever since it was announced several years ago. Why? Because it's from one of my favorite directors, Mamoru Hosoda. The same man who also directed such awesome movies like "Wolf Children", "Mirai", and "Summer Wars". I wasn't that big a fan of "The Boy and the Beast". I honestly thought that one was sort of his weakest film. But still, the man knows how to make great movies, and I'm hoping this one is definitely gonna follow suit.
Now as for what I know about the movie itself, the one thing I've heard about it is that, apparently, the plot is like an online version of "Beauty and the Beast". Now I should mention that out of all the films from Disney's renaissance era, "Beauty and the Beast" is one of the only ones that has aged the best. At least, to me, it has. But as for what else I know about this movie, I have kept myself away from looking at any clips or trailers of this thing, because I want to go into this movie as blind as I possibly could. And so far, it has worked tremendously for me, as I finally get a chance to see this movie for myself.
So, guys, it is *finally* time for me to sit down and actually watch this thing, and I am damn near excited that I finally get to watch it. Now I know it's possible that this movie could potentially be a letdown, but I am still hoping for the absolute best here, given it's director, along with the studio that made it. So the only thing left for me to do right now is for me to shut up and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, ladies and gentlemen, for the 200th time, it is time to kick back, relax, and let's check out "Belle".
2 minutes later
Wait a minute...an open virtual world, where you have your own online avatar to explore and communicate with others around the world...my god, this is literally almost the exact same opening as "Summer Wars"! No, guys, I'm not kidding, it *literally* is almost beat for beat the same introduction as what was seen in "Summer Wars". I never thought'd I'd say that about a movie from Hosoda, but holy shit, I'm kinda surprised about that. But I'm still gonna give it a chance, and see where it goes.
13 minutes later
Huh. You know, guys, I just noticed a pattern with several of the movies that I've seen from Hosoda. It seems as though they like to comment on the explanation of the main character's names. For example, in "Wolf Children" Hana's name meant the Sun. In "Mirai", Mirai's name meant future. And in this movie, Suzu's name is another word for Belle. I honestly didn't even know that last one, but I do kinda like those details. And if anything else, at least I have an idea as to how this movie got that title in the first place. You really do learn something new everyday, don't ya?
5 minutes later
So let me f I understand this. Belle, which is Suzu's "U" avatar I should mention, starts singing the moment Suzu creates a "U" account. And immediately overnight, she suddenly becomes this online sensation through her singing. What I find kind of hilarious is that a moment before she suddenly got famous, there some random avatars that commented about how she either sounded annoying or didn't look ugly. I honestly thought it would've taken her awhile before she suddenly got famous. But then again, considering how YouTube can make stars out of literal nobodies, I guess maybe I shouldn't be complaining about that.
10 minutes later
Well, guys, I am able to say this much so far. The animation, the music, and most of the acting has been really awesome. The animation, in particular, looks fucking amazing to look at! The story is a little bit on the weaker side, so far, but I am genuinely hoping for it to get better as the movie goes along.
20 minutes later
OK, you know what, I'm actually really digging how they're making this explanation about Suzu holding hands with her childhood friends seem like a computer strategy game. I have no idea if the footage I'm seeing is from an actual game or not, but I will say that the way it's being presenting is actually kind of funny and clever. I really wasn't expecting that.
11 minutes later
So, guys, you happened to remember earlier when I said that this movie was suppose to be some sort of online version of "Beauty and the Beast"? Well, they are now going straight for that here, as we're getting the scene of them dancing together. Mind you, it's been like that for, like, the past 10 minutes so far, but now it's showing it's colors. Mind you, I am in no way saying that this is a bad thing. In fact, this scene that is coupled with Belle's singing is actually really making this scene rather wholesome. I'm actually really starting to like it.
20 minutes later
You know, guys, it's weird. The story here is really fascinating and everything, but there's just something about it that feels...off to me. I'm not entirely sure what it is at the moment, but I'll try to explain it later when I eventually cover this thing.
The Review
OK...well, guys, that was "Belle". Let me go ahead and shut the movie off here...OK. Oh boy, um...where to even start...? Well, I suppose I can start by answering this question. Is this movie good? Oh yes. I'd almost say that it's even great. But unfortunately, I don't think it's one of Hosoda's best, either. It's nowhere near as good as "Wolf Children" or "Mirai", but I would say it is better than "The Boy and the Beast". And as for "Summer Wars", well...it's a tough call, but I would say it's almost as good as that movie was, but doesn't exactly reach it. Now keep in mind, just because I say it's not as good as his other movies, this is just how I see it. I've heard a lot of people say that it's probably one of his best films, and that's totally cool if you see it that way. But as for my perspective, I can't really put it above most of his other movies that I've seen before, and it kinda falls on being just a little beat weak to me.
So, rather than me just summarizing my feelings about the movie itself, why don't we finally talk about it, shall we? And as usual, I'm gonna start with the writing. Now I've mentioned before a couple of times already that this movie is suppose be an online version of "Beauty and the Beast". And, in part, this movie is sort of a retelling of that classic story. In fact, there are scenes in this movie that are very reminiscent to the Disney animated movie. Such as when you see this movie's version of Belle entering the castle for the first time, or how she ends up discovering the broken portrait of what he use to like as a human, or how the Beast yells at her to "Get out!", or the scene of the famous dance sequence that they share together. All of that is very identical to how the Disney animated movie played out. Now granted, I understand Disney, obviously, was not the inventor of "Beauty and the Beast". However, I'm just using that as a reference because that's the version most people remember when they think of that classic story. And while this movie does have those scenes, in some parts, they actually enhance some of those scenes to make it stand out in it's own unique way. Most of that being the dance sequence, which was definitely really solid. I honestly think, in retrospect, it felt like a loving tribute to the Disney animated film. And while it may have scenes that are very similar to how it played out then, it still does just enough here to where it feels fresh and new, and I honestly really liked that aspect of the film.
Now I also mentioned that this movie, right at the beginning, felt very similar to another Hosoda film called "Summer Wars". Where both movies have very similar concepts with their own virtual worlds. The only real difference between the two is that "OZ", which was the online world name in "Summer Wars" was basically just a fancier version of the internet. And in this movie, "U" is basically meant for people to start over a new life through this virtual online world. In essence, it's sort of like an interactive message board where you have online avatars all over the world connecting with each other through social media. Now granted, I understand it doesn't sound *that* much different in how I described it to you guys. But trust me, there is a difference between how "OZ" and "U" works. And those who have seen those movies would know exactly what I'm talking about. So, when it comes to this movie using that similar aspect again here, I don't really mind it, as long as they're able to make it work in some way with the story. Now I will get a little more into that in a bit, but first, I will say, visually speaking, that "U" looks fantastic. It really does look beautiful to look at. Although I may be jumping ahead here, because I'm kinda getting into a little bit of the animation, so I'll save that part for later.
But for now, let's get back to talking about the writing here. The story here, apart from the moments where it's doing a retelling of "Beauty and the Beast" centers around our main character, Suzu. She is basically a socially quiet girl who is going through life at high school. We find out early on that her mother sacrificed her own life in order to save a child that was stuck on a rock in the middle of a dangerous river stream, leaving the child Suzu in her father's care. And since that moment of her life, her passion for singing had also crumbled away. Which then leads into the present day, where thanks to an online post from one of her friends, she is introduced to the world of "U" and is able to get an avatar of her own through this bio-metric feature of "U"' where it gathered the aspects of Suzu's freckles, and thus is how Belle exists. I would question why this bio-metric feature only really applied to Suzu's avatar, while everyone else's avatars looked vastly different from each other. But honestly, that's not really too big of an issue that I have much of a problem with.
Speaking of which, let's get into the issues that I had with this movie. As I mentioned earlier, this movie is partially a retelling of "Beauty and the Beast". And that part, in itself, I don't have much of an issue with. It's really just some of the other stuff that I kind of had an issue with. Mainly, the story felt like it was all over the place. We have the stuff involving Suzu's high school life, then there's also the aspect of her love life which really doesn't go anywhere. And then there's also the 3rd act of the film. Now I won't go into too many spoilers here, because I will say most of it was rather intriguing. But it's at the point where the film had a tonal shift from being a rather sweet slice-of-life story while combining some of the aspects of "Beauty and the Beast", to a rather dark and tense moment that felt like it just came out of nowhere. Now admittedly, I will say, again, that it is rather intriguing to watch. And hell, I was heavily invested into what was going on during that moment. But, now that I'm actually talking about it, it does feel a little bit out place. Not only that, but the whole thing felt really rushed and unfinished as well, and I have no idea if there was suppose to be more than that or not. But I will say that it could be seen as a huge turnoff to some people in regards to the film's sudden tonal shift.
Another thing that sort of holds this movie down for me is more of a personal bias. I mostly hate teen romance stories, and, very rarely, do they ever work. Now I understand this movie is suppose to be a slice-of-life flick, but the teen romance stuff really doesn't add much of any substance to this film. In fact, this movie sort of has the same problem I had with a Studio Ghibli film that I watched which was called "Whisper of the Heart". Where with that movie, the main character was trying to write a story about the Baron, while also struggling with her schoolwork. And it would've been a great movie there if they had cut out the bullshit teen romance angle between her and the main male character. Now this movie, admittedly, handles it slightly better here in which it's mixed in with some of the film's humor. And the humor that is here is actually pretty funny in some areas, even in stuff that features the teen romance angles. Mind you, that's not saying a whole hell of a lot, but I will say at least it's not as badly handled here as it was in "Whisper of the Heart".
Now as for the characters, most of them are developed really well and are very likable. Suzu is honestly the most well-developed character in the entire movie and you really do care about her both in her real life, and as her "U" avatar, Belle. The Beast in this movie is more of an enigmatic character unlike the Disney version. And I will say, by the end, when you do get to know about him, it is some *very* interesting stuff. What followed after is rather debatable, but it still mostly works up to that point. The other characters aren't exactly, like, super developed unlike our main characters, but most of them do get some brief moments to shine. Probably the best supporting character would have to go to Hiroka, the one who wears glasses and also acts as Belle's manager in "U". Her childhood friend, Shinobu, though, is kind of on the bland side. Part of the reason why would have to go to the acting. However, I'll get to that in a second. But out of all the supporting characters I do remember, he's the only one I would have to say is really bland and kind of dull.
Overall, guys, the writing here is not as strong as I was hoping it would be. Now mind you, even though the story has it's weak points, it's not really enough to hold the entire movie down. Like I said, the characters are mostly really likable and have depth, and the retelling of "Beauty and the Beast" is also done really well, too. So I can say that the writing here, while kind of flawed, is still really good on it's strong points. And what also helps this movie is the acting. Specifically, I have to talk about the English dub for this thing. The dub here is mostly really good. The only bits of it that I felt were rather weak was the actor voicing Shinobu. I don't know if it was a case of poor voice direction or not, but Shinobu's English voice actor sounded kind of bored almost anytime his character was on screen. He just had one kind of tone for his voice and it mostly never changes up until the last few moments of the film where his character started to let loose a little bit. Now I have no idea if that's how it was like in the original Japanese version of the movie, but it is something that is worth noting, and I feel like the English voice actor for Shinobu just didn't have much to work with here. Everyone else though, is great. They give out 110% with their performances, and it makes the dub overall feel like it has life to it. Again, minus Shinobu's dub actor, but I'm not really gonna harp too much longer on that issue. So yeah, the English dub here is mostly great. Of course, there is an option on the DVD/Blu-ray to switch it over to the English subtitles with the original Japanese audio. So if you don't like one version over the other, there is that option for you. However, I still think the dub is definitely worth watching. So it's just something you have to take for what it's worth.
Let's get into the animation. Simply put, guys, the animation here is fucking amazing. And similar to "Summer Wars", the movie switches from 2D to 3D animation whenever it needed to focus on it's virtual world. And I'm gonna say this again, the visuals inside the world of "U" look great. And the online avatars you see throughout "U" are all very creative-looking. Now if I had to pick between which of the two virtual worlds I would prefer from either movie, I would pick "OZ" over "U", mostly because of it's more colorful appeal. "U" mostly has a somewhat more darker look to it. However, it still looks great for what it was trying to go for. The character models look really good for both styles of animation, and the color pallets are great. The 2D animation is also really stellar. But then again, considering that this movie is from Studio Chizu, the same animation studio that also made "Wolf Children", "Summer Wars", and "Mirai", I was sort of expecting more of the same beautiful animation, and it definitely delivered on that aspect.
I don't ever get to talk about this much in regards to animation, but I actually want to touch upon the picture quality for a moment. Now to many people, this isn't gonna be noticed by them. But in my case, I did happen to notice it a couple of times, and it sorta stuck out at me. First off, I want to say that the movie, again, looks great, and the picture is mostly just fine. However, there are certain moments that stand out whenever anytime there's a zoomed in shot of a character's face. For whatever reason, almost anytime that these shots happen, the character's mouths look rather unfocused. Now I don't mean that whenever they have to talk, I'm talking about whenever their mouths are closed. The lines on their mouths almost always look really squiggly and I don't know why that is. I don't know if it was an issue of the copy I had on DVD, or maybe if it was just the TV that I watched it on that caused this problem, I don't know. I happened to notice this problem also sometimes whenever I watched "Wolf Children". However, in the case of that movie, it is barely noticeable, if at all. Mostly because, they didn't have a lot of closeup shots in that movie that focused on character faces. Whenever this movie does it though, it stands out, and it stands out in a somewhat terrible way. However, I should mention again that this is really only a problem if you happen to notice it. And when it comes to me, I kinda tend to notice some of the smaller details in movies that almost no one else would notice, or even care about. So again, it's just something you have take for what it's worth. Maybe it was just an issue on my end, but it was still very noticeable to me.
Sound-mix in this movie is great. The music is also gorgeous to listen to. One thing I kinda left out when I covered acting was Suzu's dub actress, who goes by the name of Kylie McNeil. Not only does she provide the voice of Suzu, but she's also the singer of her "U" avatar, Belle. And there are quite a few numbers of songs in this movie that are sung by her. And I'm gonna tell you, guys, she is amazing in this movie. Every song that she sings sounds almost breathtaking to listen to. I may have to look up the soundtrack later to give it another listen, because all of the songs in this movie were really good. And not just the songs that were good, the score is also really good, too. Most of it is orchestral music, and all of it sounds amazing. If there's another true positive I can give this movie, it would have to be the music. It is just that amazing.
So ultimately, guys, when everything is done, can I recommend "Belle"? Definitely, yes. OK sure, the writing is a little bit weak in some areas, but I assure you that it is still worth watching, especially if you are a fan of Hosoda's movies. Or if you're someone who loved Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" and you want to see an anime version of that story, then this movie will definitely provide that for you. Plus, coupled with the fact that the movie has some awesome animation and stellar music, it really is worth checking out for all of those points alone. Now again, I want to stress that in terms of all the films I've seen from Studio Chizu, this one isn't as strong as some of the other films that I've mentioned earlier, but I would still come back and re-watch this again at some point. So yeah, guys, if you can look past the flaws that this movie has in terms of it's writing, then go ahead and find a copy of it somewhere, be it on DVD or Blu-ray. Preferably cheap, because the most I can find it for physical copies is about $13, and I'm not sure if it's worth *that* much. I would prefer finding a copy of it around or under $10. If you can find it for that price, then I would definitely say pick it up. Luckily for me, I rented a copy of this thing at my local library. And before you ask, yes, there are libraries that still do that. So take that for what it's worth. Anyway...as for myself, I think I'm gonna go and re-watch another film from Hosoda. I think I'll go ahead and watch "Mirai" again. It has been a little while since I last saw it, so I'm gonna go and do that next after getting this review typed up.
And with that, guys, we have come to the close of the 200th episode of Reaction & Review. And again, I want to thank anyone who takes their time to read these reviews, even if you may never comment on them for your own reasons. So with that said, let's see if we can make it to 300 episodes. I have no idea on what I'll even do if I actually end up reaching that sort of milestone, but hey, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it, right? Anyway, guys, take care, and I'll see you all later. Peace.
Tuesday, March 12, 2024
Reaction & Review | Independence Day: Resurgence
I'd like to state right off the bat that I have seen the first "Independence Day" film many, many times. I've seen it back when my Dad use to own it on VHS, I've seen it whenever it occasionally aired on TV, which then lead me to finally buying the extended edition version of the movie on DVD. Granted, the extended edition really doesn't add much of anything new to it, but at least I have that option whenever I'm in the mood to watch it. So needless to say, I love the first "Independence Day" movie that much.
Which then leads us into tonight's movie, AKA it's sequel...and I already have two major complaints about this thing before I even push play. It's usually not a good sign whenever I have something to bitch about this early on, but this movie is kind of a special case here. Number 1, the very *thought* that the first "Independence Day" film was getting a sequel 20 years later is a *huge* red flag. If this thing had come out maybe a few years after the first movie, *maybe* I wouldn't have that much of an issue with it. OK sure, it would still be a pointless cash-grab sequel, but it would still kind of make sense. The only other instance I can think of any movie that was directed by Roland Emmerich that got something resembling a sequel was the "Godzilla" animated series, which came out a couple of years after the 1999 movie. And it was actually pretty good, even though it still ended up getting cancelled after a couple of seasons. But the very idea of a sequel to "Independence Day" being made 20 years after the first movie sounds like pure desperation for a cash-grab that either Roland Emmerich or 20th Century FOX came up with because the first movie was one of the biggest blockbuster movies at the time.
Which then leads into my second complaint about this movie. It sort of ties into what I already complained about earlier, but since this movie is suppose to be a sequel to the first movie, I gotta ask: Where the fuck else do you go from here? Why continue from a movie that had a perfect ending?! Spoilers, in case you still haven't seen the first movie yet, Jeff Goldblum and Will Smith go to space on an alien fighter ship towards the mothership, plant the virus, and blow it the fuck up, along with all the other alien ships that were wreaking havoc all over Earth. Ta-da! It ended perfectly. So again, why the fuck do you need to continue this story that probably has no reason to exist?!
Oh my god...guys, I know I'm kinda showing my hand early here, but I literally have almost no faith in this movie even being half good, hell, let alone being partially decent. Why? Because, I love the first "Independence Day" movie, and I truly don't believe this sequel is gonna do anything good to improve on what was already a great movie. But...I am gonna press forward. Because, who knows? Maybe, just *maybe*, this movie might actually surprise me and actually be decent. Granted, I understand those hopes are gonna be incredibly low here, but I'm still going to at least see if there is something here that will make this thing worth watching. And there's only one way to find out, which is for me to shut up, and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. God, I *really* don't want to, but I'm gonna have to here. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Independence Day: Resurgence".
3 minutes later
You know what, guys, there is no *better* way to start off a movie then by showcasing Bill Pullman giving out his famous Independence Day speech from the first movie. All of a sudden, I now have an urge to just this shut this movie off and go watch the first one again. We're not even 5 minutes into the film yet, and we're starting off really poorly, guys.
11 minutes later
So, let me see if I understand this. From after the mothership was destroyed in the first movie, David and Will Smith discovered some sort of frequency signal from deep space. Um...at what point was that even brought up in the first movie? Again, need I remind you that once the mothership was destroyed, that should've included almost every other spaceship that was attacking Earth. So unless I missed some other footage from the extended edition, then this just sounds like a fucking plot hole to me, guys.
20 minutes later
All right, guys, I've been kinda patient now with this movie, but I need to ask this. When the hell does it start to get interesting? I'm asking this because this movie is actually doing something that I never thought I'd say about a sequel to "Independence Day", but this movie is actually starting to become boring. How the fuck do you make a sequel to one of the biggest blockbuster films of the mid-90s boring?! That is just fucking depressing, and I truly fear it's not going to get any better. I'm hoping that it does, but based on what I've been seeing so far, I don't think it's going to.
12 minutes later
You know, guys, I would love to tell you that the tension that is going on with this big alien ship wiping out everything looks really cool...and yet, for some reason...it's really not that impressive. I think it's because of the ship itself being covered in a smoke of fire that kinda makes the ship look really lame and shitty. Perhaps maybe if it wasn't covered in all this fiery smoke, I could bring myself to find it visually interesting. But unfortunately, that is not the case here. And that's really disappointing.
17 minutes later
Wow...they even made the dogfights in this movie boring as shit. How is this even fucking possible? The dogfights in the previous film were really cool. Here though, all of this action looks like the same lame ass shit I'd see in the fucking Star Wars prequels. At least with those dogfights though, I could at least see what was going on. Here, I can *barely* make out what is going on because almost all of the ships look the fucking same to me. Guys, I am literally struggling to find *anything* in this movie that is worth caring for, but it's becoming really difficult at this point, seeing as how we're now over the halfway mark of the movie. I'm hoping, maybe, the second hour will actually provide something worth caring for, but at this point, my hopes for that happening are at an all time low.
14 minute later
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, WAIT! So...let me if I understand all this. So the reason why the aliens have been digging holes on Earth is because they've been extracting fuel from the Earth's core to refuel their ships and to improve their technology. OK, so if they've improved their technology for thousands of years during their battle against this other species that this sphere is explaining, then why did the aliens not just do right from the start of the first movie?! If their technology is so advanced ahead of our time, then they shouldn't have had a problem destroying all of the inhabitants on Earth from day one rather than just waiting several days by destroying certain major cities around the globe! Guys...you have no idea how much I'm beginning to hate this movie. I'm hating every minute of it as it passes by, and there's still over 40 minutes of this crap to go! This is *really* gonna hurt.
18 minutes later
So, guys, the plan failed because the alien queen had her own shield. Which also means that Bill Pullman's character dies for nothing. And you know what? I do not care. I do not care at this point what happens to everyone else in this movie. At this point, I *want* the aliens to win. I can't believe I would actually say something like this about a movie related to "Independence Day", but this found a way to make me not care about any of the human characters! Mind you, the aliens are not all that better, but I'll get more into that once the film is done.
The Review
Are you fucking serious...? This hunk of shit ends on a fucking sequel hook?! No...*no*! I'm shutting this garbage movie off. The day this shit gets a fucking sequel is the day I go on a massive killing spree! Holy shit...so anyway, guys, um...that was "Independence Day: Resurgence". Quite frankly, guys, I am genuinely too pissed to yell or get angry. And I know being that I'm typing on a keyboard, you probably wouldn't notice that kind of reaction out of me. But if I were to try and convey my words into anger, I would be typing how I feel by capitalizing every word as if I had the cap locks on for the entire review. But I'm gonna try to not do that here, because I feel that would be a waste of time for you, guys. So instead, I'm gonna try to explain into words about how truly awful this movie was.
So...where the hell do I even begin here? Well, I suppose I can start by saying this. Had I never watched the first "Independence Day" film, the worst thing I could say about this thing is that it is just a bland, generic alien invasion flick that we've seen done many times beforehand, and that ultimately, I would write this thing off as just being really forgettable. However, I have seen the first "Independence Day" film many times already. It's honestly one of my favorite sci-fi movies of all time that isn't "Starship Troopers". And the very fact that this movie tries to claim itself as a sequel to the first movie, it actually makes the first movie look *really* bad. OK sure, the first movie wasn't exactly a masterpiece or anything. It was also just a standard alien invasion movie, but one of the things that made it work to it's advantage was that it played itself off as a homage to old school sci-fi B-movies. It was goofy at times, yes, but it also had a lot of charm to itself, and that I loved it so much. This thing, on the other hand, tries to pass itself off as a boring, bland Sy-Fy Channel Original Movie with a bigger budget. It also no charm to it either. It's just a souless cash-in sequel that has no reason to exist. Not just as a sequel, but also as a franchise. And if that sequel hook ever ends up happening, I imagine it would most likely be a straight-to-Disney+ series which would last all of one season before it ends up getting cancelled, because that's something that usually happens in the era of streaming services.
Anyway, rather than just me talking about the "what ifs" for a sequel that hopefully never gets fucking made, let me try to talk about the movie in a little more detail. I'm gonna start with the writing. And as I asked earlier, if these aliens have been sucking planets from their core dry to refuel their ships and to improve on their technology, then why did they not do any of that in the first movie? I'm asking this, because these aliens have apparently been at war with another species for thousands of years. If they've been at war with this other species that is deemed to be a threat to them for that long, then that should mean that the aliens have more than enough experience to wipe out all of humanity back in 1996. I mean, at that time, we barely, if at all, improved our technology. So they should've had no problems wiping the humans out within the first day of doing this, rather than going through the motions of several days leading up to the 4th of July. The only reason why it got stopped was because David, AKA Jeff Goldblum's character, got lucky in figuring out on how to reverse their signals, thus the humans won and saved the day. But still, the idea of the aliens not actually being able to wipe out Earth's population and resources, despite the fact that they've had thousands of years of experience under their belt makes me question on how much of their resources were used up in their war against this other species that the sphere was talking about. It shouldn't have been *that* much, considering the sphere admitted that the aliens nearly wiped out their species. So either the spheres put up more of a resistance than I thought or the technology the aliens have accumulated *really* suck.
Let's touch upon the characters in this thing, shall we? One of the other big things that worked about the first movie was that nearly every character was very likable and had really good chemistry with someone else. Sure, there were a couple of them that didn't exactly have a lot of depth, but what worked about them was the fact they felt very relatable and you could feel the struggles that they are going through in trying to overcome this alien threat. This movie, on the other hand, took all of that likability and *stripped* it out of all them in this movie. There is not one character in this movie that is likable, charming, or even worth caring about. All of them range on either being unlikable, annoying, or just shells of their former selves. And when it comes to that last one, I'm talking about everyone that made a return from the first movie, which includes Dylan, to Bill Pullman's President character, to his daughter, to David and his father, and even the scientist that I thought was suppose to be dead from the first movie is actually alive here for...some reason that's still baffling to me. So yeah, none of the returning characters actually have any real significance to this movie, and any of the new characters are so fucking forgettable that I can't even remember a single name, outside of maybe Chris Hemsworth's character being named Jake. I could be totally mistaken about that, but I honestly don't care if I am or not, because these new characters don't give any reasons to make you care about them at all. In fact, if it wasn't made clear in the movie, Dylan was the son of Will Smith's character from the first movie, and Smith's character dies due to an accident. Which, to me, is bullshit. And the reason why I say it's bullshit is because, even for people who didn't like the first movie, most of them will admit that Will Smith was one of the reasons to watch it, mostly because he had that natural charisma to his character. And if his character wasn't killed off in a half-assed way here, then I think this movie would've been a little more tolerable. Not great, but at least somewhat more tolerable.
But anyway, guys, the writing here is just shit from top to bottom. There is nothing positive here I could say about the writing that is worth remembering for, beyond the fact that it's insulting, both as a standalone movie and as a sequel to the first "Independence Day" movie. And what's even more insulting than that is the acting. There is nobody here that puts in any level of effort. Which isn't really surprising to me, considering that, I've stated many times in this series, you can only do so much with a script that is this fucking bad. All of them turn in wooden, lifeless showings. That includes all of the original cast members that were brought back for this movie, and all of the new actors, who most of them I didn't even recognize, save for Chris Hemsworth. And even then, Chris Hemsworth also sucked in this movie, as well. So yeah, the acting here sucks. However, I can't really blame the actors here because, like I said, they only had so much to work with. And considering how much everyone's character sucked in this movie, it really wasn't much.
Let's talk about special effects. And again, this is something that is also gonna be seen as a huge downgrade. Because one of the things that most people remember about the first movie are the amazing special effects. One of the big contributing factors to it were the alien ships. In the first movie, it gave you a sense of scope of how big these ships actually looked. You felt like there was a big alien ship just hovering over a major city, and that you were apart of it as well. And the effects for these ships looked awesome, especially for the standards given for 1996. "Independence Day: Resurgence" is also very heavy on special effects. However, most of it just feels like you're watching a CG green-screen show. The alien ships themselves don't look that interesting either. They're bigger, definitely, but they don't really leave much of any impact on you. Again, it just feels like more bloated CG, and it's not very interesting CG either. It might've looked impressive if this thing came out a decade ago, but the very fact that it came out in 2016 looks and feels very lazy here. And it's rather sad to think about, especially when you consider that the first movie from 20 years had special effects that looked far better than any of the CG that was present in this movie.
Camerawork in this movie is fine. The lighting here is fine. The sound-mix is also pretty good. The score tries to replicate, and in some cases, reuses stock music from the first movie, but almost none of it has any real soul. Well, aside from the music that was used in the first movie. Speaking of which, one other thing that I want to quickly mention about this movie is that it will do a lot of callbacks to the original film. For example, there are small clips of Bill Pullman's famous speech from the first movie that was used in the opening credits. There are also references to previous cast members and you get to see some cameos from them as well. But none of it feels like it has any heart to it. And a bit of a pro-tip for those of you who are interested in film-making, when you're doing a sequel or remake to something, you should *never* reference the original film in any way. Because if you do that, it's only going to give the viewer a reason to go back and re-watch the original movie instead. And when this movie decided to reuse clips from the first movie within the first several minutes, immediately after seeing that, I wanted to just shut the movie off, and go watch the first and *only* "Independence Day" movie. Yeah, after watching this, I am gonna try and pretend that this movie never existed as a sequel.
And on that note, when all is said and done, am I able to recommend "Independence Day: Resurgence"? What the hell do you think? No! Fuck no! This movie is quite honestly one of the most offensive things I've seen in a long time. It's almost as offensive as the time that I was dumb enough to watch "I'm Not Ashamed". Yeah, it really is *that* bad. If you liked or loved the first movie like I did, then do yourself a favor and avoid this thing at all costs. If you weren't a fan of the first movie, then there's obviously no way in hell I can recommend this because it doesn't do anything to enhance itself as a "sequel". This movie never needed to exist as a franchise. And what I found rather laughable was the fact that, as I was watching the trailers on this DVD, apparently, someone wasted money in making a movie tie-in mobile game to this particular movie. And I would be shocked if it still existed. But considering how poorly received this movie was, I'm gonna take a safe bet here and say that no one would be willing to play the mobile game that supposedly exists or existed. I don't know if it still does or not, however, I should just be putting out my closing thoughts on this movie. Overall, guys, do not waste a moment of your time with this movie. Don't bother getting this on DVD, Blu-ray, or even watch it on Disney+. It is a waste of space as a sequel. And somehow, that's probably gonna be interpreted as a pun, given that it's a sci-fi movie and all. But anyway, I'm done wasting the time on talking about this movie, and the sooner that I trade it in, the better off I will be, because I feel almost physically ill for having a copy of this movie still sitting around my shelf. So anyway...I said that I wanted to re-watch the first-actually no, the *only* "Independence Day" movie, so I'm gonna go and do that next. Because I need to be reminded of a time when some movies didn't need to exist as franchises.
And with that, guys, we come to the close of episode 199 of Reaction & Review. And next week, guys, we approach the big 200. I already have that episode written and I cannot wait to have it uploaded for you guys to enjoy. But until then, take care, guys, and I will see you all later. Peace.
Tuesday, March 5, 2024
Reaction & Review | We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, I'm gonna be covering an animated movie from 1993. That movie is "We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story".
Yes, guys, similar to a few other movies I've covered for this series, I never actually got a chance to watch this back when I was a kid. In fact, the first time I ever heard about it was probably around 10-15 years ago. I *may* have recalled it airing briefly on TV once before, but I never actually watched any of it. Luckily for me, I managed to find a copy of this movie for under $5 at one of my local video stores. So, needless to say, it was a pretty good deal.
So now that I'm finally getting a chance to watch this thing, I should probably tell you what little I do know about it. Well, I know it has something to do with dinosaur's, just basing off the title. And somehow, someway, they end up getting transported from the past to the present. I also know Steven Spielberg is one of the executive producers of this movie, and I also know this movie is based off a children's book with the same name. Whether or not it's actually accurate to the book is something I can't say. I've never read it, obviously. But then again, I'm not one of those sad bastards who demands for perfect accuracy to the source material, like how most people are with nowadays. So, make of that what you will.
Beyond that, guys, I have almost no idea what to expect from this thing. I'm hoping for it to be decent, however, it could also just show it's age and wind up being a pile of shit. But again, I have no idea if that's the case or not. The only way I am gonna find out is thing is watchable 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 "We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story".
5 minutes later
So this bird just realized that the person he's been talking to is actually a dinosaur. But instead of actually being surprised by the fact that he's seeing a living, breathing dinosaur, he instead asks why he's playing golf. Odd, because if it were me, I would ask why the hell is a dinosaur still alive, despite the fact that dinosaurs have been extinct for ages, *then* I would ask how the hell does he know how to play golf. But hey, perhaps that's just me.
2 minutes later
All right, guys, I just learned a very valuable lesson today. If you want to make a dinosaur talk with our language, all you have to do is feed it cereal...OK. I would like to know how exactly feeding a dinosaur cereal would make it talk, but since I don't make cereals, I would be the wrong person to ask this.
4 minutes later
So...let me if I understand this. This old guy created a "wish radio" so that he can hear the wishes of children from any time period. Ignoring the origins of this radio for a moment, if he can hear the wishes of these children, how exactly is he suppose to be granting them with his flying time machine? Is it his day job to just go back through certain points of time to find what these children are wishing for so that he can grant them it? I already have a *bunch* of questions, guys, and I'm not sure if any of them is actually gonna get answered.
12 minutes later
Wait, so the reason why Louie decided to run away to join the circus was because his mother was giving him kisses in public? What fucking sense does that even make?! OK yes, it's a little embarrassing, but I don't really think it's worth running away for, especially to join the circus of all things! God, that is just a dumb fucking reason, you know what I mean?
16 minutes later
OK, I have a bit of a dumb question here, and I know it's probably not gonna get answered, but I want to ask this. So our two main protagonists just signed some sort of contract with their blood to Professor Screweye's circus, and their dinosaur friends just arrived moments after they "signed" the contract. If they know he's dangerous and everything, then what's stopping them from just taking the contract away from him and ripping it apart? If you do that, then I'm pretty sure there's no more reason for them to stay, right? It would make the most sense to me. But then again, I'm probably putting too much logic into a children's film, and I have this strange feeling that they're not gonna do the sort of thing I just suggested. Calling it now.
14 minutes later
You know, guys, I probably should've picked this up the first time Professor Screweyes did this to the kids, but apparently, his screwed-up eye gives him the power to mind control his victims. That's actually sorta cool...and yet, I have to ask how the hell was he able to obtain these sorts of powers? I'm really curious about that now. However, if I attempted to put more logic into this movie, then I don't think it would be good for my head, so I may as well just roll with it, I guess.
The Review
Well, guys, that was "We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story". Let me go ahead and shut the film off here...OK. So...where to begin with this one? Well, I guess I can say that the movie isn't really all that bad, but it's not exactly a great film, either. It's just sort of average at best. Now if I had seen this back when I was a kid, I would've loved it. I mean, what kid didn't like dinosaurs? I mean, it's possible that you could find those sorts of children, but you would be hard-pressed to actually find them. However, being that I'm seeing this movie now as an adult, I don't really feel that kind of nostalgia here unless if I had actually watched the film back when I was growing up. So perhaps that's just my own fault for not seeing this movie sooner.
But anyway, rather than me delving on the what ifs, let's just dive right into this review, shall we? I'm gonna start with the writing. And the first thing I need to get out of the way is that this movie is almost immune to logic. You may have noticed from my reactions that I kept asking questions about things that didn't really make a whole lot of sense to me. Like the wish radio that Captain Neweyes has that allows him to hear the wishes of all the kids from different time periods, or how his cereal is able to make the dinosaurs seem smarter once they talk, or how exactly Professor Screweyes has the ability of mind control and how did he get these powers? It's stuff like that which is never explained, and I don't really think this movie was aiming for the smarter crowd here. It's clearly meant to entertain younger audiences, and in that concept, it does it's job fine enough. Now mind you, the movie does have it's share of problems, which I will get more into in a moment. But unlike another children's film I covered in the past, which was "Candy Land: The Great Lollipop Adventure", the logic issues here don't bother me as much. Where with the Candy Land movie, the logic issues existed because the characters in that thing were all idiots. And while there are instances of idiocy here, it's not to a point where I feel angered about it. So I just wanted to get that out of the way first before I start talking about my issues with the film in general.
Now that I've gotten that out of the way, let me start getting into the issues that I have with the movie. Now while I'm able to overlook most of the minor issues that I mentioned earlier, the one loophole that still nags at me the most is when after the kids sign the contract for Professor Screweyes' circus. Like I mentioned earlier, as soon as Professor Screweyes starts to show the kids around his dark circus, the dinosaurs show up to try and warn the kids about how bad of a person Screweyes is suppose to be and that they should get out of there. To which Professor Screweyes retorts saying that they signed a contract with their blood, meaning that they can't leave the circus for a very long time. Mind you, he's still holding the contract, so why didn't any of the dinosaurs just grab Screweyes and take the contract from him by force so that they can rip it apart, thus the kids don't have to be contractually obligated to stay at the circus? It doesn't really make that much sense, especially when you consider that they follow him into one of his tents where he has these magical tablets that he forces the kids to take which temporarily turns them into monkeys. And unless the dinosaurs stay in their place and take the tablets that turns them back into rampaging monsters, then Professor Screweyes can't rip the contract and let the kids go. All of that eventually ends up happening, so the kids can be let go. But honestly, this whole thing could've been avoided if the dinosaurs actually just got a hold of Professor Screweyes and forcefully took the contract from him and ripping it apart. On the other hand, considering that they're technically 'smarter' now, I guess maybe they had too much of a conscience to do something like that. I don't know if that's the case or not, but it is something that did kind of bother me a bit.
The other issue I had with the movie are the characters. Specifically, I'm talking about our two main child characters, Louie and Cecilia. I feel like for both them, they kinda get shafted when it comes to their development. Of the two, Louie is probably the worse off from it, because the reason why he leaves to go join the circus is because his mom apparently gives him kisses in public. And that's somehow suppose to be humiliating for him enough to go 'screw it! I'm gonna run away to join the circus!' It really makes no logical sense to do this because, again, while it sounds a little embarrassing to have his mother giving him kisses in public, it really is a dumb motivation for him to run away like he did. OK sure, his wish was that he wanted a friend, but it's still a really weak motivation for him to go through with all this is what I'm saying. And as for Cecilia, she honestly is the more interesting character of the two, because she has more of a layer of depth to work with. Basically, she's the neglected child because her parents are always away all the time and that she never gets to see them. You really do feel for her character, and it would've been a lot more interesting too if it was more focused on her rather than adding Louie to the picture, mostly because he's really kind of bland and boring. The other characters are also not that great, with maybe the one lone exception being Professor Screweyes. He really is an intriguing villain in concept, where he just runs a circus that scares people and that he has mind control powers. That, to me, sounds really awesome. And without going into spoilers, the ending involving him is rather...dark. Cool, but pretty dark, especially for a children's film. But otherwise, he is somewhat more of a cookie-cutter villain overall.
Beyond that, guys, the writing here isn't really that great. As a children's film, it's fine for what it is. But as a whole, it's almost immune to logic, and if you try to think about it too hard, then you're most likely not gonna be able to enjoy this movie. Now as much as I'm able to kinda rail on the writing, I can't really rail against the acting, because the acting is actually really good here. The most notable ones I could make out were John Goodman, Yeardley Smith, and Martin Short. Goodman usually does really good voice-work, so it was pretty natural for him to voice someone like a dinosaur. Yeardley Smith is mostly known as the voice of Lisa Simpson, and it was pretty easy to decipher her voice since it's pretty much the same voice she provides for Lisa Simpson. And as for Martin Short, well, believe it or not, this is actually one of his more tolerable performances in terms of his voice-work. After listening to him as B.E.N. from "Treasure Planet", this was definitely much better. Mostly because he's not in the movie for that long, and it's much less annoying as well. Granted, I understand that's not saying very much, but it's at least something. And as for everyone else, well, like I said, the acting here is pretty solid, and they all had something to work with their given roles. So I gotta give props to all of the cast members here. They really did an awesome job with their roles.
Animation here is also another big positive I can definitely give this movie. The animation in this movie is really good. But then again, it was also produced by Amblin Entertainment's animation studio, which is also responsible for producing movies like "An American Tail: Fievel Goes West" and "Balto". So it would make sense for the animation to look this good. Granted, there may have been one moment where Cecilia's eyes widened in a shot and it looked really off-putting to me, but it's only for one scene and you never see something like that again afterwards. The rest of the animation though, is really smooth and the color pallets are utilized really well, too. There is a little bit of CG involved here as well, and that's just mostly for stuff involving buildings. It's admittedly not that bad, at least for 1993 standards. So at least there is that. But overall, guys, the animation here is mostly great, and I can't add anything more to that.
Sound-mix here is mixed fine. The music, at least in terms of it's score anyway, is pretty good. The only song in the movie that I actually do remember is "Roll Back The Rock". Which admittedly, I didn't even know that it was a song which was originally sung by Little Richard. But I will say that after getting a chance to listen it a little bit during the beginning of the closing credits, Richard's version was actually really good. Mind you now, Goodman's version is perfectly fine, as well. However, I don't consider John Goodman to be a great singer. So it's just something you have to take for what it's worth. But regardless, both songs are fine. I just prefer Little Richard's version over John Goodman's on a personal level.
Ultimately, guys, when all is said and done, can I recommend "We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story"? Um...kind of. Like I said earlier, if you either have kids in some capacity, or if you have some sort of nostalgic feelings for it, then I would say go for it. It's really cheap to find a copy nowadays, and if you have a little over an hour to spare, then by all means, go ahead and check it out. You might actually end up really liking it. However...seeing as how I never had any nostalgia for it to begin with, what with me watching this thing for the first time for this review and all, I don't see myself ever watching it again. And that's kind of a shame because I do think that if I had seen it when I was a kid, then I would've loved and I would've seen it many times over, flaws and all. I've done that with many films such as "Rock-a-Doodle", the 1994 "Street Fighter" movie, and "Doom" to a lesser extent. But I can't say the same for this one. This movie, for me anyway, is just OK. It's not really awful, but it's not really something worth going back and re-watching again. At least for myself, anyway. But hey, at least I didn't have to spend too much on this, so I guess that counts for something, right? Anyway...you know what, since I just mentioned "Rock-a-Doodle" a moment ago, I'm gonna go and re-watch that again. It's been a little while, so I'm gonna go and re-watch that next, because I have more fond memories of that movie, and it's a personal favorite of mine from Don Bluth. So I'm gonna go do that next after I get done typing this review up.
And 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 later. Peace.