Reaction & Review | Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust

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 "Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust".

Now, for those of you who may not happened to remember, a LONG time ago, I reviewed "Vampire Hunter D". It was one of my earliest episodes that I had done since doing this series, and I enjoyed that movie quite a bit. In fact, since the time that I reviewed it, I had found a physical copy of the movie on DVD with the original dub, because that was the version of the movie that I watched on YouTube back then. And upon rewatching it, I still, very much, enjoy it, even if the visuals are, admittedly, a bit dated for it's time.

So, now we have this movie that came out 15 years after the first movie. And, much like how I went into "Vampire Hunter D", I don't know a whole lot about this movie. I figured, maybe, that this thing was gonna be a sequel to the 1985 movie. And, I was partially right. This movie IS a sequel...just not to the 1985 movie. No, this movie is a sequel to one of the many D novels called "Demon Deathchase". Which I have not read, nor have I still not read any of the "Vampire Hunter D" novels since I did my review of the 1985 movie. So, any comparisons or plot points that may have happened in those particular novels are not going to be brought up here.

Now, beyond all of that, I don't know a damn thing about this movie. I haven't seen any trailers or clips, so I'm gonna go into this thing completely blind. And I hope it's for the best, because, like I said, I really liked the 1985 movie, and I hope that this movie is gonna be just as good, if not better, than what was shown in the 1985 movie. So, I may as well just quit stalling and see if this movie is any good at all. And the only way I'm gonna find that out, is if I shut up, and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust".

15 minutes later

I just saw D jump over a bunch of giant manta rays that were made out of sand. That was fucking awesome, dude! Moreover, I'd also like to mention that I'm loving the art style in this movie, guys. It totally fits this kind of movie.

12 minutes later

So...this guy is dead now after his shadow was literally stabbed to death. That's...creative. I mean, it does suck that this guy is now dead, but I will say that the kill was sorta creative.

19 minutes later

You know, guys, out of all the ways I was expecting that scene to play out, I wasn't expecting that kind of ending for it. That was totally awesome.

15 minutes later

OK, I know this is a trivial point to bring up, but how long does it take for a vampire to completely die from sunlight? I ask this, because Meier's been out of his carriage for, like, a couple of minutes now, and the fact that he's still walking, weakily mind you, kinda makes me question how long the effectiveness is for the sun to completely kill vampires. I'm really curious about that now, as it's beginning to bug me a little bit.

20 minutes later

Guys, I'm really sorry that I haven't been saying a whole lot. I know that I should be talking more about the movie, but really, guys, this story is so fucking good that I'm totally invested in what's going to happen next! It really is that fucking good.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust". Let me go ahead and the shut the movie off...OK. Holy shit, that ending. That ending was almost beauftiul. I wasn't expecting that at all from this movie, but holy shit, was it emotional. So...I guess, since I played my hand a little early, this movie was fucking awesome. And now, I'm tempted to go and find those "Demon Deathchase" books that I mentioned way early on.

But I suppose I should talk about the movie first. So, let's start this off by talking about the writing. Our story here is a very straight-forward story. So, this woman named Charlotte gets kidnapped by this vampire known as Meier Link. And D has been sent out by her family to retrieve her and get her back from the vampire that kidnapped her. On the same token, we also have another group of vampire hunters called the Markus Brothers. Who are also after the same thing, because Charlotte's brother was also the guy who hired them to get Charlotte back in one piece. So, it's sort of a race to see who can take down Meier first, while also trying to rescue Charlotte at the same time so that one of them can claim the bounty that was set for them by Charlotte's family. And I'm gonna tell you, guys, this story is gonna suck you in from the moment that the movie starts playing. It never slows down for anything irrelevant, and it just keeps going forward. Most of our characters are incredibly fleshed out. I think the only ones who don't get a ton of depth are most of the Markus Brothers. Most of them are just there for the sake of being there to help out with their mission. One of them named Grove can, somehow, turn into a ghost who can shoot laser beams from it's body. It doesn't really make a ton of sense as to how that all works, but it's not really that important in the long run. The only one of the Markus Brothers who does get any depth is Leila, the only female of the group. She really does get a ton of depth in this movie, as we see her not only helping out with her group, but also sharing a bit of character development with D. And it really is some fascinating stuff there.

Speaking of D, his character in this movie is not entirely character driven, but we do get a lot more depth from him when compared to the 1985 movie. In that movie, you didn't really know that much about him, up until the very end when they hinted at who he really was. We knew he was a dhampir, or a 'dunpeal' as it's spelled out in this movie thanks to the prologue, but his character was kept very much to himself. In this movie, it's explored a lot more, as we learn that, at one point, he saved a bunch of children that were kidnapped by vampires. And of the children he saved was this older guy, who sold him a horse. We also know more about his background, mostly thanks to the illusions that were going on during the final act of the movie. I won't go too much into that, because I really don't want to spoil this movie for you guys. While I'm on the subject of D, as I just mentioned, character wise, he doesn't really go through much of that in this movie. But I will say that his personality sorta reminds me of Clint Eastwood, at least when it comes to his Westerns. Where both of them don't say a whole lot, but they still come across as a badass when they need to be. Basically, I want you to imagine if you took Clint Eastwood, and you put him in a world where he was hunting vampires. That's who D reminds me of in this movie, anyway. In fact, as I was watching the movie, I really felt like I was, kinda, watching a Western film. Where it has a bit of a slow buildup, but it has a ton of payoff towards it's climax. And as some of you may know who have been reading my reviews, you guys know that I love Westerns. So, to see some of that in this movie is totally awesome.

I'm trying to think of anything that would be considered a negative, but there's, honestly, not a whole lot. I suppose there is ONE thing that didn't really make a ton of sense, at first, were the illusions. And these illusions take place during the final act of the movie. Now again, I'm not gonna spoil very much here, so I'll try to keep it brief. So, right before it starts off, we get to see Meier and Charlotte sharing character development together. And it goes off to where Meier says that he needs to take care of some unfinished business, that being killing D. So as he goes off to find him, he eventually finds D along the way, to which D states that Charlotte wants to escape from here. And despite the fact that we saw her a moment ago with Meier, she's suddenly very close to D, much to Meier's disbelief. And from there, the movie starts to fuck with your mind as you get hit with a ton of WEIRD stuff that happens almost every other sequence for, like, the next few minutes or so. And for a while, I was starting to question what was real and what wasn't. And then, eventually, the movie actually does stop with these illusions after D breaks free of it, before admitting to Leila that they were just illusions. Now I could obviously go into detail about what they were, seeing as how my summarization may not make a ton of sense to you guys reading this, but it does eventually make sense. It's just that when you first see this, you may start to question what the hell is even going on? And even I was stumped for a bit myself. However, as I just stated, I really don't want to spoil this movie for you guys. Because this movie is really that good. The writing is very sharp, our characters are mostly developed well, and even the stuff I mentioned involving the illusions is, honestly, just me nitpicking. So, to even call this a negative is just me stretching it to find something that would be considered a fault to the movie.

So, now let's get into the acting. Now, I opted to watch the English dub for this movie. And the dub here is, honestly, pretty good. Especially when you compare it with the "Vampire Hunter D" movie from 1985. Because upon rewatching that movie again, I noticed that some of the acting felt kinda stiff. What I mean by that is that some of the actors lines in that movie felt like they were all told in one sentence without any punctuation whatsoever. Basically I want you to imagine myself typing an entire sentence without any punctuation whatsoever with no commas or anything of the sort where no one is given any kind of breathing room to pause in one sentence so that they can give out some of their lines naturally. Yeah, it sounded like THAT. Now, I don't know if that was just a case of poor direction for that dub, or if that's just how some of the actors sounded naturally, but it was something that caught my attention upon rewatching it again. Thankfully, for "Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust", I didn't notice anything that sounded out of place with the acting for this dub. Just about everyone here sounds natural and comfortable when giving out their lines. I also didn't notice any cases of bad acting from this dub, so, at least, everyone here tried. And it honestly pays off really well. The acting here is pretty good, so I can, at least, say that this dub here works really well here.

What also works well here is the animation. My god, the animation, and art style, for this movie is absolutely amazing! But then again, one of the companies that helped developed this movie was Madhouse. And I've talked about Madhouse quite a number of times in this series. The stuff that they make, 9 times out of 10, looks amazing. And this movie is certainly no different. The animation here is fluid, and everything is animated very well. The art style is fucking fantastic across the board. All of the characters are designed really well. The color palettes are also used really well, too. The backgrounds look amazing and very detailed in certain shots, especially towards the final act of the movie, mostly involving the illusions. And as far as I could tell, there wasn't any CG in this movie. If there was, then what little is used here works rather well. Guys, I could be here for another hour discussing all of the awesome-looking stuff in this movie, however, I will just leave it like this. The animation, the art style, and everything else involving the look of this movie is just absoutely beautiful.

Sound-mix is mixed well for the most part. Music, in terms of the score, is awesome. A lot of it is very atmospheric, and, once more, it totally works for this kind of movie. I love, just about, everything involving the score for this film.

Ultimately, guys, when all is said and done, am I able to recommend "Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust"? Oh, hell yes, guys, this movie is amazing! I was sorta setting my expectations a bit high for this one, because I had heard nothing but positive things about this movie from a lot of people. And after finally watching it for myself, I can easily say that those expectations of mine sky-rocketed and it wound up being amazing in the end. If you are a fan of horror movies, and you're also into anime, I would highly recommend this without question. This movie kicked tons of ass, and I honestly prefer this movie over the 1985 movie, personally. Because while I still really enjoy the 1985 "Vampire Hunter D" movie, it is, admittedly, a bit flawed in a couple of areas upon rewatching it again that I already mentioned. This thing, however, was able to take those flaws and perfect it really well. This movie is just that amazing, and I'm incredibly happy that I finally got a chance to watch this thing. I also know that the movie is up on YouTube. However, I didn't have to worry about watching it on there, because I got to watch it on DVD for this series. Speaking of which, if you do want to watch the movie for yourself, there should be a couple of copies of it on YouTube somewhere. And if you liked what you saw, find a physical copy of it somewhere, whether it's on DVD or Blu-ray. It really is worth your time, unless you're not into horror anime. However, for me, personally, I can happily say that this movie is going to have a very nice spot next to the 1985 movie on my DVD shelf. Speaking of which, I kinda want to go back and rewatch the 1985 movie right now. So, I'm gonna go and do that next, 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.

Reaction & Review | Munchies

Welcome, one and all, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, I'm gonna be covering a horror comedy from 1987. That movie is "Munchies".

Now, this movie was one of the many films from the 80's that was trying to cash in on the success of "Gremlins" and "Critters" (more so the former than the latter, but still). Two franchises that were centered around little monster creatures. Now, while I haven't seen any movies from the "Critters" series, I have seen both "Gremlins" movies, and I really enjoyed them. Shockingly, I still don't have them on DVD. I watched the second movie on TV years ago, and I saw the first "Gremlins" movie at my aunt's place a while back. I'm probably gonna have to get around to buying those movies at some point, but I'm getting way off track here. Point is, tonight's movie that I'm covering is, supposedly, a knock off of "Gremlins".

Now, the only other thing that I know about this movie is that it was produced by legendary filmmaker Roger Corman. And the person who directed this movie was Tina Hirsch, who also was the editor for "Gremlins". So yeah, this movie is TOTALLY being subtle on the fact that it's not trying to be a knock off of "Gremlins". However, I am not going to hold that against this movie, because it could wind up being really decent. I don't know if it's gonna end up being any good, but I am about to find out for myself. So 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 "Munchies".

19 minutes later

Well, guys, I can easily say that, out of all the characters in this movie so far, this fucking bum is already becoming irritating as shit. He's barely been on screen for not even 5 minutes, and I already fucking despise him. I'm kinda hoping we don't have to deal with his shit for the next hour and 10 minutes or so, otherwise, it's gonna be a bit painful with him around.

6 minutes later

So, now that I'm getting a closer look at Arnold, this Munchie here...well, it sorta looks like if ALF and one of the bird creatures from "The Dark Crystal" got together, fucked, and had a gross baby. Don't ask me WHY I thought of that, it was just the first thing that came to my mind. Still though...at least it looks OK. Puppeteering is decent, too. So, at least, we have that much, so far.

5 minutes later

You know, guys, how I mentioned earlier about how this movie was trying to be a "Gremlins" knock off? Well, this lady is reading a magazine. And on the back of it, they're advertising a creature and questioning whether or not it's a Gremlin. You just gotta love this movie's subtlety, because they obviously hide that fact VERY well.

1 minute later

OK...so, not only do these creatures multiply, but they can talk, too...interesting. It certainly is different. I mean, the only time I can think of any Gremlin that ever talked was in "Gremlins 2", but aside from that, these creatures can fully talk. And their voices are kinda weird, but still, at least it's something different.

4 minutes later

So, guys, I just learned something else about these Munchies. Not only can they talk, but their mouth movements are fucking horrible. Like, NOTHING they have said, so far, matches their mouth movements. I'm kinda hoping, maybe, these mouth movements will get better as the film goes along, but I honestly don't think it's going to.

7 minutes later

OK, I have a BIG question here, and I know it's, probably, a stupid one, but I'm gonna ask it anyway. Why does everyone in this movie have a normal reaction to these Munchies driving around? What I mean by that is, why is nobody freaked out by the fact that these creatures are able to drive a shitty-looking car all by themselves? I'm gonna tell you, guys, if I ever saw a bunch of creatures driving a car by themselves, I would, probably, be kinda concerned about that kind of thing! I understand that this is, probably, trivial in the long run, but my question still stands. Why is nobody freaking out over these creatures that can, casually, drive a car? I'm REALLY curious here.

18 minutes later

You know, guys, I'll just go ahead and say this now, the best actor in this entire movie is Harvey Korman as Cecil Watterman. His character in this movie is just ridiculously hammy, but it works so fucking well. Can't exactly say the same thing about Paul's actor, but I'm gonna save that for when I eventually review this thing.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Munchies". Let me go ahead and shut the movie off...OK. Well, what to even say about this movie? Umm...well, it certainly is an interesting film. But now, I have to actually talk about it.

So, let's go straight into this by talking about the writing. There's no way I can get around this without stating that this is, indeed, a knock off "Gremlins". I know that was kinda obvious going in, but I wasn't totally sure how much this movie was going to live up to being a knock off of "Gremlins". Well, it certainly does take a lot from "Gremlins", but with some minor changes added to it. For example, in "Gremlins", they established in that movie 3 different rules. Never feed them after midnight, make sure they don't come into contact with water, and don't expose them to sunlight. While there are no set rules for the Munchies in this movie, we do find out that if you cut these creatures in half, they will spawn into several different Munchies. Also, instead of exposing them to sunlight, which is what kills the Gremlins in their own movie, in this movie, if the Munchies come into contact with electricity, they will turn into aztec statues. There's kind of an explanation for it, which I won't go too much into, but it kinda ties into their existence. But anyway, those are the only two rules in this movie, which Paul, somehow, figures out from a book that he read that explains how these creatures operate. Well, it wasn't EXACTLY these creatures, it was more so something else. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but it's, at least, an explanation. So yeah, this movie is totally borrowing a lot from "Gremlins". But the funny thing about this is that if you've never watched any of the "Gremlins" movies, and you saw this movie first, you probably would've not noticed any of that. Because this movie's, obviously, not trying to hide the fact that it knows that it's a knock off of "Gremlins". However, there might be those of you who haven't seen "Gremlins" yet, so you probably wouldn't notice that fact, if you had watched this movie first. Others, who have seen "Gremlins", will notice it without even trying to look for it. So make of that what you will.

As for our characters, almost everbody in this movie is ridiculously shallow and bland. The only character who has any semblance of personality and character is Cecil Watterman. Cecil is, basically, this entrepreneur who kidnaps Arnold, the Munchie that first gets discovered by Harvey Korman's other character in Peru. And like I said earlier, his personality is what makes his character very charming and stands out the most out of every other character in this movie. Everybody else, I can just write off as fucking shallow as shit. Our main charater, Paul, has no personality to his character. He wants to go to L.A. to pursue a career as a stand-up comedian, but his father won't let him, because he wants Paul to go to college, unless if he can take care of Arnold the entire day while he's away, then he can pursue his comedy act. Mind you, Paul is suppose to be a comedian, and just about all of his jokes fall flat in this movie. Most of that can attribute to his acting, but I'll get to that in a bit. A lot of characters in this movie are either ridiculously annoying, or are just there for the sake of being there. The most annoying character in this movie goes to Dude, who is the bum I mentioned earlier that is also the son of Cecil and Melvis Watterman. Thankfully, he's killed off shortly after he and his Dad kidnap Arnold, so I didn't have to worry about him for very long in this movie. But honestly, nobody here has any real depth, outside of the couple of characters who I just mentioned earlier. Which isn't really saying much, honestly, but still. And as for the Munchies, well, they're kind of a more crude version of the Gremlins. Because while the Gremlins were pretty much little bastards of destruction, they were still charming throughout their run. And while the Munchies do have some capabilities of destruction, mostly early on in the movie, they mostly lean on the crude side of things. They drink beer, they smoke, they like hot women, and they pretty much are just dicks all around. And they talk, too, which certainly gave them personality at first, but by the time that they multiply again, it kinda wears off, because most of them talk the same way, and act the same way. Which is rather disappointing to say the least.

Now, some people are gonna think that because this is a "Gremlins" knock off, that means that this movie automatically sucks because of that fact. Well...no. Because, while I will admit that both "Gremlins" movies had better writing and better characters, this movie does have some level of charm that I, honestly, can't bring myself to hate on. It's certainly aiming for more comedy than horror, which I appreciate, because I love horror comedies. It's not as funny as other horror comedies that I've seen, both for this series and on my own time, but it still has some humourous moments that you, yourself, might actually like out of this movie. So, while I will say that the writing here isn't great, and the characters are mostly shallow and lifeless, as a cheesy horror flick, it does a decent enough job to where you can overlook the shallow characters, with the exception of Cecil Watterman. Speaking of which, let's get into the acting. The acting ranges from being ridiculously hammy to being wooden as all hell. And the latter certainly rings true for Paul's actor, Charlie Stratton. He cannot fucking act. At all. And it's not just vocally that he can't act, this dude cannot express an emotion to save his fucking soul! He is almost on par with Chuck Norris when it comes to not knowing how to express emotions. Paul has only ONE expression, which is smiling. And if he was attemptiing to give out a different expression, then he fails miserably at it, because he's never acted a day in his life. The worst example of his acting comes when he and Cindy enter an ice cream parlor. And as one of the Munchies jumps down and attacks the male ice cream owner, Paul has no expression on his face whatsoever, other than looking bored on camera. He never looks surprised, you never hear him be surprised at anything, and all he does on camera is just giving out the most expressionless look on his face the entire time, and doesn't know what the hell he's doing in this movie. And the worst part about this is that he is our main character, which we follow throughout the entire movie! And when you're main character turns in the worst showing, that is fucking depressing as shit. Now, as for everybody else, like I said, the one actor who pulls in the best showing is Harvey Korman as both Paul's dad, and Cecil Watterman. I should also give a special mention to legendary voice actor, Frank Welker, who voices a majority of the Munchies in this movie. I couldn't tell you WHICH ones, but he does voice some of them. And it's pretty standard stuff for Welken to do here. So, it's fine for what he had to work with.

While I'm on the subject of the Munchies themselves, let's get into the special effects. And I want to talk about the puppeteering on these Munchies. It's honestly not as good as what was seen in both "Gremlins" films, but they are still decent for a low budget movie. However, the noticeable downside to these Munchies is the mouth movements. Because every single line of dialogue they have in this movie does not match up with any of their mouth movements. All of the mouth movements are very cheap and poorly done, too. There was no effort into matching their dialogue with the poorly done mouth movements. Their mouths barely move up and down, and it's so noticeable that it could throw you off a bit. Now again, I totally understand that this movie was filmed on a low budget, but so was the first "Gremlins" film. Now, while I don't know the budget to this movie, it couldn't have been made for more than, let's say, $2-3 million dollars. That's being a bit generous, mind you, but they could've totally improved on these puppets mouth movements a bit. As for everything else involving special effects, the blood effects are pretty good. Pyrotechnics, what few there are, are pretty decent. So overall, the special effects are OK, but they're nothing amazing.

Camerawork here is pretty good, but I did notice a small issue involving the picture quality. There's a scene in this movie where the Munchies are harrasing a couple of women who were swimming at a lake or a river. And as the women were freaking out and screaming, a few of the shots looked rather blurry when it focuses on one of the women in the water, and the Munchies themselves also suffer a bit with this blurriness that happens when the camera is focusing on them. Now, I don't know if it was a technical issue on my end, or if it was the version of this movie that I watched on YouTube. But either way, the picture quality looked a little bit blurry during those shots, and I have no idea if that was an issue on VHS, DVD, or even Betamax. I imagine this thing was also released on Betamax, but I could be totally wrong there. Lighting here is lit perfectly fine. Sound-mix is mostly good, save for one small scene where the parents and their kid that run the ice cream parlor are in a car with Paul and Cindy. And as they're talking, there was a moment where the sound changed quite dramatically, and some of the dialogue was drowned out by the background noise of the car as it was driving. I have no idea why that is, but it was something that caught my attention. But everything else involving sound-mix is perfectly fine. Music here is pretty good, as is the score. It's nothing memorable, mind you, but it is still completely serviceable.

So, when all is said and done, guys, can I recommend "Munchies"? It's sort of a difficult answer to give out. If you're able to look past the fact that this is a "Gremlins" knock off, or if you're someone who has seen "Gremlins", and you're curious to see how a knock off of it would be able to stand on it's own, then I would say yes. I mean, the movie is up on YouTube for free. At least, by the time that I uploaded this review. So, if you have about 90 minutes to spare, go ahead and check it out. It certainly is an interesting movie. At least, to me, it is. However, if you're someone who is a die-hard fan of the "Gremlins" franchise and you don't care to see anything that would, obviously, be a knock off of that franchise, then you can easily skip this. However, I also can't deny that there is some good riffing material to be had from this movie. So, if you want to watch it with friends to make fun of, then I would probably recommend it on that end. But as for myself...I'm not totally sure if it's something I would watch a second time, but it does make me kinda interested in wanting to watch the "Gremlins" movies again. It's just that, well...I still don't have physical copes of them yet. So, I'm gonna go see if they're running on sale on Amazon or something. Preferably in a 2-pack that features both of them together. But if not, then I'll go watch something else. Maybe I'll just pop in a "Puppet Master" movie or something. Who knows? But anyway, I'm gonna go do one of those things next.

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 | The Secret of Kells

Welcome, one and all, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, I'm gonna be covering an animated film from 2009. That movie is "The Secret of Kells".

Now, some of you might be surprised to know that I have never seen this movie. I know that may sound shocking, considering that I am somewhat of an animation buff, and I should've seen this already, but honestly, I haven't. And there's a couple of reasons why, which I'll get to in a bit. But first, I should probably tell you what I know about the movie going in. From what I could gather, this movie is about the making of the Book of Kells, which is basically an illuminated manuscript that has a bunch of religious text to it that I didn't bother to read into, because I wanted to go into this movie as blindly as possible. I also know that this movie was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature back in 2009. Which didn't win, because that honor went to Pixar's movie "Up". Which further proves my theory that it is a policy to kiss Disney and Pixar's ass almost every year when it comes to the Best Animated Feature. However, I am not going to muddy things up here by talking about the Oscar's, seeing as how they haven't been relevant, or worth caring about, for many, many years.

So anyway, there is a couple of reasons why I haven't seen this movie yet. The first reason is the studio that made this movie. For those who don't know, this movie was made by an animation studio from Ireland known as Cartoon Saloon. And a lot of people have said a lot of positive things about their movies, saying that they are all amazing works of art and that they must be seen by everyone. And as much I'd like to agree with that...I can't. Because I've seen, at least, one other movie that this studio has made, which was "Song of the Sea". And I, personally, thought that the movie was kinda dull and boring. Now, I am not going to sit here and tell you that the animation, the acting, or the music was bad. Far from it. All of that was great. I just thought that the writing itself was not up to par with what I was expecting, and the movie ended up, kinda, being a bit of a letdown for me.

Which is also gonna tie into the second reason why I haven't seen this movie yet. You see, out of all the movies that Cartoon Saloon has made, most people cite this movie, in particular, as an instant recommendation. Because that's the movie most people think of when you mention Cartoon Saloon to them. And that could lead into one of two things. Either this movie is gonna end up being as awesome as everyone says it is, OR...it could be a massive letdown. And the reason why I say that is because I have seen people over-praise a lot of movies, to a point where they will set their expectations, and their standards, for a particular movie so high that the movie will never meet those lofty expectations. And I end up skipping a lot of those movies because of that reason.

Now, that's not to say that I am not looking forward to watching this movie. I actually am rather curious to see what this movie has to offer. In fact, the only thing that motivated me into watching this movie was because I found a copy of it on YouTube. So, who knows? If this movie is as good as everyone makes it out to be, then hell, I might actually pick up a copy of this movie for myself. But I am gonna withhold that thought, because I gotta actually watch the movie first. So, I may as well quit stalling and see what this movie is for myself. And 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 "The Secret of Kells".

9 minutes later

Guys, I'm REALLY liking the art style in this movie so far. Not only that, but I'm really digging the score here, as well. It's really making this movie stand out for me. I'm kinda hoping that the story here will do the same. Otherwise, I'm gonna be rather disappointed.

19 minutes later

I'm really sorry if I'm not saying a whole lot, guys, it's just that I'm really getting myself sucked into this story. It's actually rather interesting.

13 minutes later

You know, guys, I'm kinda digging how this movie is implementing it's humor with these scenes. And they're actually kinda funny, too. I wasn't really expecting that with this movie, but it's definitely working.

9 minutes later

O...K, I'm not totally sure what the hell happened to Aisling there. Either she got squashed after opening the door or she closed it after becoming...possessed, I think. I will say, though, her face looked a little bit creepy there.

10 minutes later

Well...in all honesty, I don't really feel sorry for Abbot Cellach taking that shot. He hasn't really been the most likable of characters in this entire movie, so him receiving that shot was totally worth it. And if he ended up dying, then nothing of value would be lost.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "The Secret of Kells". That was...rather interesting. Let me go ahead and shut the movie off...OK. So, what do I start with first? You know, I stated earlier that a lot of people have heaped a lot of praise for this movie, and it left me concerned as to whether or not it was going to live up to all of that praise. Well, after finally getting a chance to watch this thing for myself, I can definitely see why people would really enjoy this movie. It certainly is a rather unique movie. I wouldn't go so far as to say that I loved it myself, but I will get into that later.

Let's go ahead and get into this thing by talking about the writing. And I want to start with the film's pacing. You see, as I mentioned earlier, the only other film that I watched from Cartoon Saloon was "Song of the Sea". And I said that I wasn't really a huge fan of that movie's writing, because it felt rather lackluster to me. Well, there was another reason as to why I didn't like that particular movie. And that would have to be it's pacing. The pacing in "Song of the Sea" was pretty damn slow. Because for a majority of that movie, it felt like it took forever just to get the story rolling. And by the time that the movie wanted to get interesting, it felt like it was a case of too little, too late. And by that point, I just stopped caring about what was going on in that movie. Which is a stark contrast, when you compare it to this movie, because "The Secret of Kells" has fantastic pacing. At no point, in this movie, do you feel like the movie is dragging it's own feet. There aren't any moments where the story feels like it's coming to a dead stop for something else that's not gonna contribute to the overall film. The story here is sharp, and the movie just keeps chugging forward with it's story. This movie is one of the many examples of proper film pacing. And what really helps it the most is it's runtime. This movie clocks in at only 75 minutes. And in a lot of cases, you don't really have the time to boil a slower-paced story. Thankfully, this movie doesn't really waste it's time in getting into it's story. It just goes straight into it, and you're gonna be sucked into the story from the moment the movie starts playing. It really is a fascinating story, and I'm glad that the movie didn't slow itself down for any real reason.

As for the story itself, it's basically what I summarized earlier, about how the Book of Kells was made. Which again, I didn't really know anything about until I did the scant bit of research on this movie going in. But to go a little bit more in depth, the movie centers around our main character, Brendan, who meets this old man named Aidan, and his cat, who for some reason has different colored eyes. It's not really an issue, but it was something that I noticed. But anyway, Aidan wants Brendan's help in trying to finish this one page of a book known as the Book of Iona. Which was earlier described as a book that could turn darkness into light, and that any sinner who would read it would be like reading words as if it was written from heaven. This might sound weird, but think of it as a lite version of the Necronomicon from the "Evil Dead" series, only without demons and such. Anyway, in order for Brendan to finish this page of the book, he needs a couple of ingredients. One of them is ink berries, and the other is a crystal eye that Aidan use to have at one point during a flashback to where his homeland was destroyed by the vikings, and one of them stepped on it by accident. And Brendan has to go and find a different crystal eye. Where he finds that crystal is something I won't spoil for you guys, on the off chance that you want to go and see this movie for yourself. But as I said, the story is really interesting, and it really is fascinating to see where it goes. Our characters here have personality and depth that you can care about. Well...for the most part, but I'll get into that in a second. I will say, though, my favorite character in this movie would have to be Aidan. I just find his personality to be very charming and rather likable. In fact, most of these characters are rather likable, even if there might be some supporting characters here and there that do lack depth. However, it's not something you're gonna be looking for when watching this movie. You're gonna be focusing on the characters that do matter as the movie plays itself out.

Speaking of which, this is gonna lead into one of the only problems I have with the writing. There are a couple of characters I am rather disappointed with. One of them is our only female character in this movie named Aisling. Aisling is this girl that Brendan meets when he first enters the forest to go and find the ink berries. This is the one character who, I thought, was going to have more of an impact. At least, when it comes to her character depth. Unfortunately, though, that's not the case. She does form a friendship with Brendan, and does help him get to where he needs to go, but she really doesn't have much of any depth to go on. The only thing she mentions to Brendan was that this dark creature named Crom took away her parents. But aside from that, her character doesn't seem to be very fleshed out. And I was really disappointed with this character the most, because she had a lot of potential when you first see her. It's just kind of a shame that any depth she should've had is kinda wasted here. And the other character I want to make mention of is Abbott Cellach. He is, basically, the most close-minded individual in this entire movie. He's mostly focusing on building this wall to keep the vikings out from destroying the village that he's heading. And he wants Brendan to focus on his work and not wasting time on helping Aidan finishing the book. And this basically leads into him locking Brendan in his room until he comes to his senses. And for a long time, I was suppose to find a reason to care about Cellach. But that didn't happen. And by the time that the vikings invaded, I was hoping that they would just kill Cellach because his character had not changed throughout most of the entire movie. A bit of a spoiler on that, he doesn't die. And by the time that the movie was over, I still didn't care about him, because his character was just that unlikable. As I said, he comes across as a judgmental, close-minded person that didn't care about what Brendan was doing, because what Cellach thought he was doing was right and that nothing else mattered, other than keeping the vikings out of the village. So while he might have more of a character over Aisling, it's not a very likable one, so it's kind of an even split between the two. One doesn't have much depth, and the other is just completely unikable. You can take your pick between the two.

But aside from that, the writing here is really sharp, and the story is really fascinating. And even though the character depth for some characters is a little bit lacking, it's not gonna be enough to bring this entire movie down. This movie has enough weight to stand on it's own, and I really enjoyed what was present in this movie. So with that being said, let's get into the acting. For the most part, the voice acting here is pretty good, but I do have one complaint, and it has to with Aisling's voice actress. At certain times, it sounds like she's phoning it in. Especially, when she has to laugh. The small moments in which she tries to laugh sounds really fake, and it just sounds rather terrible. Now that, in part, has to do with the script she was given. Because her character is kinda lacking in depth, it would make some sense as to why she wasn't given much material to work with. On the other hand, I could also say that some of her acting is a little bit lazy, too. But like I said, it's only in moments where she has to laugh, and, well, like I said, it sounds fucking fake as shit. But aside from that, her acting is still passable. I just wish she could've improved on it some. As for everyone else, the acting is pretty good. Everybody sounds comfortable in their roles. And even though I didn't like the character of Abbott Cellach, his actor was still able to make that unlikable douchebag work really well. So hey, I gotta give some credit to where it's due. So overall, the acting here is pretty good, but Aisling's actress could've been a little bit better.

The animation is really good. This is something that I will definitely say when it comes to Cartoon Saloon, which is that they produce some really solid animation, and the art style is beautiful to look at. For the most part, the characters are animated very well. Though there a couple of hiccups in movements, it's not something most people are gonna notice, or even care about. It's mostly just early on that I noticed it, but again, you REALLY have to notice it like I did, and I would just be stretching it to find any negatives when it comes to the animation. The art style, like I said, is really great to look at. The color palettes are used very well, especially in during scenes where you see the vikings just slaughter villages, and it just looks awesome. There are no characters here that are designed the same, save for the wolves and vikings, so everyone here stands out with a rather unique design to them. Still not totally sure why Aidan's cat has two different-colored eyes, but that's honestly just a nitpick. Overall, guys, the animation and art style is fucking great.

Sound-mix here is mixed mostly well. The music here is also great. But then again, just based off the two films I've seen from Cartoon Saloon, the music is something that has been an excellent track record for them, along with the animation. Everything here sounds atmospheric, and it totally works for this kind of movie. So yeah, the score here is great.

Ultimately, guys, when all is said and done, am I able to recommend "The Secret of Kells"? Absolutely. This movie, while I still wouldn't say that I loved it, is still definitely worth checking out. Animation buffs will definitely enjoy this movie. And if you, yourself, are an animation buff, and you haven't seen it yet, then I would definitely recommend you do so. It really is a fascinating movie that you should check out, even if it's, at least, once. Now, could I recommend this to children? I would say yes. I mean, there's nothing much here that'll scare children. MAYBE the final act teeters on being dark, but it's not really enough to where it will scare children out in wanting to watch this movie for themselves. As for myself, would I buy a physical copy of this movie? If it's at a decent price, then I might consider it. I was skeptical about how much praise this movie got, and for the most part, it does live up to that praise. While I wouldn't say it's something I would watch multiple times over, I am happy to say that I finally got to watch it, and it certainly is a really good movie. Now...I'm gonna go and watch something else. And seeing as how this was a fantasy movie, I think I'm gonna go and watch my copy of "The Last Unicorn". I love that movie so much that I feel like it deserves another viewing. So, I'm gonna go and do that next 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.

Reaction & Review | This Girl Is Badass

Welcome, one and all, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, I'm gonna be covering an action comedy from 2011. That movie is "This Girl Is Badass".

I'm gonna tell you, guys, the only reason why I wanted to cover this movie was because of that title. I kept seeing this movie whenever I was at one of my local video stores, and that title always caught my eye. But for a while, I never bothered to pick it up. Partially because, there were other movies and games that I wanted to buy that were a higher priority to me at the time. And then one day, when I was picking up more movies and games that I wanted to get, I saw that the movie was still there, and I thought to myself "You know what? If nobody's gonna bother picking this movie up, then fuck it, I'll buy it myself". I mean...come on, how often is it that you see titles like that in your life? Chances are, not very often. So I bought it, and as they say, the rest is history.

Now, I'll be honest, I don't know anything else about this movie beyond the title. I tried to look up information about the plot, but even that didn't help me very much, because the synposis's I've found were all very vague. All I could find was that our main character is a bike messenger, who gets roped into a sumggling operation between competing mob bosses and she has to fight her way out of this mess. Which leads me to believe that this movie might, ultimately, be a plotless action film. And for those of you that do read my reviews, you'll know that I am not a huge fan of plotless action movies.

That being said, even though this film might be plotless, there actually might be some redeeming qualities to this thing. I mean, hey, I was able to find a bit of joy out of watching "Doom" back during my "Video Game Movie Marathon", so there might actually be something of interest that I'll find out of this movie. I don't know if it's gonna be any good, but the only way I'm gonna find out for myself, 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 "This Girl Is Badass".

10 minutes later

Well, guys, I can say, so far, that, even though this movie is kinda off to a slow start, our main character is certainly kicking a ton of ass with her bicycle. It actually is sorta cool in how she's able to utilize it while fighting off these gangsters. So yeah, this movie's kinda living up to it's title already.

8 minutes later

OK, I've been meaning to ask this, but what is with this mob boss's voice? It's been really distracting me every time he appears on screen, and it's beginning to sound very grating to my ears every time this guy talks. I'm hoping we don't have to see much more of him in this movie, because it is beginning to get painful just listening to that voice. Just thought I'd let you guys know.

17 minutes later

You know, guys, I can see that this movie is trying to be funny. And bless it, it's really trying...but, so far, I haven't found anything that's made me laugh. I'm kinda hoping that the humor will actually get better as the movie goes along. I'm hoping that we get a more interesting story out of this movie, but I'm not totally sure if any of that is gonna happen.

16 minutes later

OK, you know what? That was kinda funny. I wasn't really expecting him to sing his own theme song like that as the music was playing, but it was still sorta funny. So, I can count one funny thing that's happened in this movie.

16 minutes later

You know, guys, that fight scene would've been a hell of a lot better if most of that wasn't done in slow-motion. I get that the movie wanted to be interesting and cool with that fight scene, but all it really did was slow the pacing of this movie down to a screeching halt. That was just an unnecessary pacebreaker.

15 minutes later

Guys, I have given up on trying to follow this movie's story. It kinda made sense earlier, but now, I am completely lost as to what's going on. And I have just come to a point where I don't care enough to follow what's happening anymore. I have a theory as to why this is, but I'm gonna save that for when I eventually review this thing.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "This Girl Is Badass", and we're closing out with some bloopers playing over the credits. As interesting as this is, I'm not in any real mood to watch them, so I'm just gonna shut the movie off...all right. So, what the hell do I even start with?

I guess, when in doubt, start with the writing. Earlier, I made a prediction that this movie was gonna be some plotless action movie that wasn't gonna really have much of a story. Because when I read the summarization of the movie from the scant amount of research that I was able to find, it didn't really sound like it was gonna be heavy on it's plot. And I also stated that, even if that was true, I was still hoping to find some redeeming qualities out of this movie. And while I will say that there are some redeeming qualities to be found here, it's not gonna be enough to make you want to go out and watch this movie for yourself, unless if you have some morbid curiosity. The only reason why I wanted to watch it was simply for it's title, regardless if this thing had a plot or not. Well, believe it or not, there actually IS some kind of a plot here. It's just that there's too much of a story here. I know that may sound like it doesn't make any sense, but I'm gonna try to explain it the best way I can. You see, from what I picked up in this movie, there is more than just our main plot. Where our main character, Jukkalan, is a bike messenger that is transporting goods from two different mob bosses. And along the way, she gets into trouble from some of the gang members in one group that tries to tell her to get back the goods to them from their rival gang members within 7 days, or they'll put a bullet in her head. Now, if that was just the entire plot, then I would've not minded that. I mean, OK, it would still fit into the lines of it being a plotless action movie, but it still could've worked if the movie focused on that and made it kinda work.

Unfortunately, though, that's not what happens. This movie has more than just that. And this is gonna lead into the biggest problem that this movie suffers from, which is the pacing. The pacing in this movie is awful. You see, this movie tries to work in several different plots at once. The biggest that I could find involves the character of Uncle Wang, who is the uncle of our main character, who he's raising as his own daughter after her parents died. And he really gets the spotlight for most of this movie, up until the hour mark where he just disappears and doesn't reappear again until the final act. He gets the most development in this movie, as we see him not only trying to raise his daughter, but also, I think, his son, Duan. I'm not totally sure about that part, though, because the movie doesn't really establish this all that well. So, Wang has a love interest for this woman, who is a single mother that has a daughter named Moon. And the daughter, somehow, knows that Wang really likes her mother. And she's been wondering if they'll hook up, to which he tries to brush it off without giving it away to her Mom. And all of this would've been fine, if it were in a completely different movie. But I'll get more into that in a bit. So anyway, we have that plot going on. We also have a couple of other subplots that also don't really go anywhere. I mentioned Duan earlier, so I'll start with him. He secretly has a love interest for our main lead, Jukkalan, and he's been trying to find ways to get her attention. And the reason why he has an interest in her is because, at one point, we get a flashback to when Jukkalan saved Duan from some bullies back when they were kids. And since then, he's been wanting to try and get her to fall in love with him. As I said, this subplot doesn't go anywhere and doesn't have any real conclusion, other than Jukkalan saying to Duan to keep trying. Speaking of Jukkalan, she has an interest in this guitar player named Wong, who she's been trying to get him to fall for her. And this subplot ends rather abruptly when we find out that Wong is gay and that he has an interest in one of his band members. Yeah, he also has a band, which I forgot to mention. But honestly, these people play no real factor into this movie. And once that subplot ends, we never hear from Wong ever again.

And that's pretty much it for plot. Like, this movie was really trying to work in a bunch of different plots, but none of these subplots go anywhere! And the worst part about that is that our main plot is put on the back burner for all of these subplots. Which leads me back into the awful pacing, because our main plot comes to a stop at around the 25 minute mark, and we don't focus on that until the 1 hour mark of the film. And, like I mentioned earlier, the subplot involving Uncle Wang's character development comes to a grinding halt within the 1 hour mark, in which we FINALLY go back to our main plot. And that is terrible fucking pacing, because this movie doesn't know what it wants to really focus on. If this movie were more of a dark romantic comedy, and we took out the main plot of the film to focus on our other subplots, then I think this movie would've worked out much better. I don't know if it would've been good, but it certainly would've been better than what we got. And speaking of comedies, let's touch upon the movie's humor. Again, I could see that this movie was trying to be as funny as hell. But for the most part, the comedy just didn't work for me. The only time that I got a laugh out of anything from this movie was when one of our villains was singing his own theme music. And those bits are certainly rather funny, but it's very few and far between. And while I did get a couple of grins out of it, most of the humor just didn't stick out at me. There's even bits of dark humor. And I'm someone who usually LOVES dark humor, but I didn't really get any laughs out of that, because most of it just kinda fell flat for me. Now, I totally understand that humor is subjective, and it's probably gonna be seen as a minor negative to some people. But I'm gonna tell you, guys, for me, personally, the humor just does not work here. It certainly tries with it's humor. But in certain cases, it just tries too hard, and it doesn't really work for me. And I'm rather disappointed that a comedy was not able to get a lot of laughs out of me.

But setting that aside, our characters here are pretty flat and lifeless. Which, if this thing was JUST an action movie, then I probably would've cut this thing a lot more slack. But because we have something resembling a plot, our characters don't really have much personalities, and the only bits of depth we do get come from Uncle Wang. But other than that, the writing here is just so unfocused and not very good in the process. So, what about the acting? Well, I should mention that this movie does have an English dub, but I didn't watch it, because when I pressed play, the version that I watched came with the original Thai dub, seeing as how this movie was made in Thailand and all. So, I'm gonna be judging the acting that came from this particular dub. And honestly, the acting here isn't too bad. Most of the acting here sounds fine, and from what little I watched from the bloopers before I shut it off, it sounded like the actors were having a lot of fun with this movie. So, I honestly can't fault them too much here, seeing as how they were able to make this kind of unfocused script work with their given roles. I have no idea how the English dub sounds, but, maybe, it's for the best that I didn't watch it, because I haven't run into a lot of good foreign live-action dubs. So hey, maybe I skipped out on an awful English dub. But again, I have no idea what the English dub sounds like. And if I really bothered to watch this thing a second time, I would go back and rewatch it with that dub. However, I'm probably not gonna be doing that, seeing as how this movie isn't really all that good.

I will say, though, that the fight choreography and the stunt work is all really good. Like I mentioned earlier, this movie does have some redeeming qualities, and the fight choreography is certainly one of them. All of the fight scenes are choreographed really well, and it really is cool to see all this in action, as you get to see some awesome-looking stunt work involving the bicycles at one point during the movie. However...there is one problem, and it's gonna tie back into the pacing. You see, all of the fight choreography and stunt work is very spaced out. You get to see two of them in, I think, the first 25 minutes or so. And then you don't get to see them again until well over an hour into the movie. And that, like I said, is just horrible pacing. It also doesn't help that the third fight scene involving Jukkalan is mostly done in slow-motion. And considering how bad the pacing was in this movie, doing a fight scene, mostly, in slow-motion doesn't really help things. But regardless, the fight choreography and stunt work is all great, even if it is rather spaced out. There's only one mention I have to make involving special effects where, during the final climax of the movie, where it's mostly just a shootout, there's a CG snake that appears out of nowhere. Don't ask why, it doesn't make ANY sense why that's there. It might've been hinted at earlier, but like I said, I gave up on following this story well over an hour into the film. The CG is passable, I guess, but it's nothing to really write home about.

Camerawork here is really good, save for some bits of shaky cam during a couple of fight scenes. Lighting here is lit rather well. Sound-mix here is competent. Most of our score is rock music, and, of course, there is that bit involving one of our villains singing his own theme song. Which was pretty cool, but it wasn't anything amazing per se. So, the score here is kinda forgetful, overall.

So, guys, when all is said and done, can I recommend "This Girl Is Badass"? Honestly...no. The only people I can recommend this to are fans that are into plotless action movies. But again, there actually is some plot here, which isn't even that interesting, personally, that probably would've worked in a completely different kind of film. And also, like I mentioned earlier, this movie's action scenes are rather spaced out. And by that point, I could just say go look these scenes up on YouTube somewhere, because I'm sure you'll be able to find them on there. But as for this movie, I seriously can't recommend this to anyone else. And if you were curious just solely based on the title alone, like I was, then this review should be an indication that it's not worth your time. And you know how, earlier, I mentioned that I kept seeing this movie at one of my local video stores mainly for it's title? Well, it's basically another lesson of curiousity being a bitch. And that's what I get for being curious about cool titles. Now...I'm gonna go and watch another action movie. Preferably a better one. And I got plenty of options to choose from. Well...seeing as how it's the month of Halloween, and I mentioned "Doom" earlier, I'm gonna go watch my copy of that next. Because while that movie is by no rights amazing, it's certainly is a hell of a lot better when compared to what I just watched. Plus it is, technically, a horror movie, too. So, I'm gonna go ahead and do that next 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.

Reaction & Review | Xanadu

Welcome, one and all, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, I'm gonna be checking out a musical from 1980. That movie is "Xanadu".

Now, there's a very specific reason why I wanted to review this movie. And no, it's not because of the slightly recent passing of the film's star, Olivia Newton-John. Though my condolences go out to her and her family, that is not the reason why I wanted to review this movie. In fact, I had put this movie on the schedule long before her passing occurred. So I was gonna review this movie anyways, regardless if she had passed away or not. It was sorta the same situation with another passing of an actress that had happened last year involving Philece Sampler. For those who don't know, Philece Sampler was a voice actress who was mostly known for voicing Mimi Tachikawa in the English dub of Digimon. She had also reprised her role for the "Digimon Adventure tri." series. And last year, about a month or two back when I was about to cover the "Digimon Adventure tri." movies for Reaction & Review, I had heard she suddenly passed away. I didn't mention Philece's passing when I covered those movies back then, because I didn't feel like it was really necessary to bring up at the time. And I didn't really want to exploit someone's death like that by mentioning her name, because it would just feel wrong to me. Now while I have mentioned Olivia Newton-John's passing here, I am not going to make that the sole basis of this review. I wanted to review this movie for my own reasons, and not because of what I just mentioned.

But anyway, speaking of which, there IS a reason why I wanted to review this movie. You see, years and years ago, I saw a clip of this movie on YouTube, and the clip involved one of the songs from the movie. And the scene itself was an entire animation sequence done by Don Bluth. Well, more specifically, his animation company. Yeah, somehow, Don Bluth had a hand in this movie, even if it was just for that sequence alone. And ever since I saw that clip, I wanted to see this movie, mostly just to find out the context behind that scene. I don't know if there IS going to be a context, but I am curious regardless.

Now, I have no idea if this movie is going to be any good, but I have not heard a lot of postive things about this movie. Most people I hear say that the movie is weird, it makes no sense, and that it completely sucks. I'm not totally sure about the songs themselves, but I am hoping that they are, at least, better than the previous musical that I covered, which was "Anna and the Apocalypse". Because that movie really sucked. At least, to me, it did. But anyway, I am hoping for the songs in this movie to be decent. Even if the film itself does indeed suck, I am hoping that the songs are going save this movie from completely sucking. But regardless, I still want to find something good out of this movie. And the only way I'm gonna find out if this movie, or it's songs, 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 "Xanadu".

6 minutes later

So, we're up to our first song here, and it's...kinda crap. And the way we got to this song doesn't really make a ton of sense either, but I am hoping that the rest of movie is going to make a little bit more sense.

18 minutes later

All right, guys, this movie is not giving me much to work with. But I am going to say this, now that I've gotten plenty of chances to see our main character, Sonny, on screen. The acting from him is ridiculously wooden. Mind you, the acting from Gene Kelly, Olivia Newton-John, and everybody else has been really good so far, but Michael Beck's acting is kinda bringing this movie down a bit. And considering that he plays our main character, I'm probably gonna have to put up with his wooden acting for, almost, the next hour or so. I'm not totally sure if I'm gonna be able to salvage his acting, guys.

7 minutes later

Well, guys, I am able to say that, after over half an hour into the film, we finally got a really good song. I know you guys can't hear it for obvious reasons, but this song here from Gene Kelly and Oliva Newton-John is actually really good. But then again, seeing as how one of the singers is Gene Kelly, it's almost hard not to find a bad song with him in it. But that's just me.

8 minutes later

All right, I have a really stupid question that I'm not gonna get an answer to, but I am curious about something. I will say that this song here is really good and everything, but who the fuck is operating all of this shit? Like, who's operating the fog machine with the model ship nearby our two cast members? What about the rain water that came out of nowhere, along with the umbrellas? I'm only asking this, mainly because you would think that since this place is technically abandoned and not really suppose to be in use, you would have no one else there operating it. I guess, maybe, the only answer I can come up with is that Kira is the one doing this with magic, considering that's how she's been able to get around. I totally understand that this is all fucking trivial, and absolutely nobody would be thinking about this kind of bullshit, but it is something I am a little bit curious about.

11 minutes later

Guys, I'm really digging the mixture of both classical and rock music. Like, these are some REALLY catchy songs here. I didn't think it would actually be possible to combine two completely different genres of music like this, but it totally works here! I'm probably gonna have to download the sountrack at some point, because these songs are really good, so far.

7 minutes later

Well, guys, we're now up to the Don Bluth animated sequence. And now that I've finally gotten a chance to see this movie up to this point, I, kinda, now know the context for this sequence. It's, admittedly, sorta stupid. But I guess it does make some sense in a rather strange, and kinda stupid way. Actually...it doesn't really make much sense now that I'm thinking about it, but regardless, it's still cool that I'm getting to see the Don Bluth animation sequence in it's entirety here, so that's always a plus.

11 minutes later

You know, guys, if a movie ever started talking to me by mentioning my name, I would probably be a little bit freaked out by that. Come to think of it, I don't recall ANY instance of a movie talking to me. So yeah, if a movie ever started doing that to me, I would probably NEVER watch that particular movie again. That's just rather creepy.

9 minutes later

Guys, this will probably sound like I'm slow on the uptake, and I'm not a religious person as is, but no matter the source material, Zeus is a rather judgmental dick. I mean, I guess that IS pretty accurate to Greek Mythology. And hey, at least this thing is more accurate about it than the Disney version. So, I guess that's something.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Xanadu". And, um...gosh, that was "Xanadu". Let me go ahead and shut the movie off...OK. Good God, where do I even begin? Um...I'm gonna be honest here, guys, this thing is gonna be a very tough movie for me to review. Because, similar to another musical I covered, which was "Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure", there is a lot to like here. But there's also quite a number of questionable choices here that this movie makes.

Let's start off by talking about the writing. I think one of the biggest problems with turning a musical, like this one, into a movie is that you're not leaving a lot of story here to tell. In fact, I'm gonna be with you when I say this, there is BARELY any story here that is considered partially interesting. The most story we get out of this is when our main character, Sonny, is down on his luck as an artist and he thinks that there is no inspiration for him to continue. Mind you, it doesn't lead to any suicidal thoughts from him or anything, it's just that he doesn't have any real inspiration. And after he tears up one of his sketches, that somehow leads into a mural, which has a drawing of the 9 muses, coming to life. Yeah, it doesn't really make much sense, but just roll with it. And one of the muses, Kira, ends up skating in the park before bumping into Sonny, who she gives him a kiss. And this leads into him wanting to find out more about her, despite the fact he only just met her for about a few minutes at the time. It later ends up with the two of them getting together, and this leads into a problem that kinda stuck out at me a little late into the film. Well, two technically. First of all, our main character, Sonny, is incredibly bland and shallow. Part of that reason is due to his acting, which I'll get to later on. But the big thing that jumped out at me was when, at one point, Kira admits to Sonny that the only reason why she came to Earth was to make Xanadu a reality. And for those of you wondering about the title, the name comes from the roller-disco that Sonny and Danny open. And Kira was not suppose to fall in love with Sonny. I could go into detail about how this relationship seems to almost come out of nowhere, but I'm not gonna worry about that. So anyway, she was only suppose to let Xanadu happen, and not be in a relationship with a human. But the thing that kinda struck me as odd was that she DID fall in love with Sonny. Wouldn't that mean, then, that she should lose her powers as a muse because she broke the rules about not falling in love? I totally understand that I'm not an expert on Greek Mythology, and there's some kind of stupid explanation for it, but you would assume that if Kira fell in love, then her being a muse would be completely null and void, and that she would have to spend an eternity on Earth for breaking that rule. Again, I totally understand that I'm ignorant in Greek Mythology, but I figured that either she would have to spend eternity on Earth, or go through some sort of trials like Hercules did and find a way back home. But that's probably just me thinking WAY too deep into this story.

I want to go back to something I mentioned earlier, and this is gonna tie into a huge problem with this movie, which would have to be the pacing. Since this is a musical that was turned into a movie, I had a feeling, while watching this, that the pacing was gonna be an issue with this thing. And sure enough, that's exactly what happens here. A lot of the songs here take up quite a bit of time, and like I said, doesn't really leave much room here to tell it's story. One song I can think of, in particular, was the song I mentioned earlier that combined both classical music and rock music. And while that song was great, I did feel like it went on for a little TOO long, and it does slow the movie down quite a bit. I could also say the last 20 minutes or so is just musical number after musical number. And the story that we've been trying to follow just gets tossed to the wayside, because the movie really wanted to focus on it's music. Now there is a way that they could've mixed in both sides of the spectrum. There's a movie that was able to combine both writing and music at the same time, and it did so very well. That movie was called "Repo! The Genetic Opera". It was made by the same studio that also created the "Saw" movies, and the entire movie was, basically, a rock opera. And they were able to combine both the writing and it's songs into one medium and it totally worked. By the way, if you've never seen "Repo! The Genetic Opera", I would highly recommend it. It's a really awesome movie. But anyway, this movie could've taken a page from what "Repo! The Genertic Opera" did, and combine both the dialogue and the music into one medium as well. Now, I totally understand that you would have to go out of your way to write more original songs for an already overloaded musical, but the filmmakers still could've made that work in some way. Because since we have scenes that split the songs from the writing, and considering that there really isn't much writing here to begin with, it leaves a very shallow and, kinda, lifeless script in the process. Our characters are not all that developed really well. But then again, considering that we don't have a lot of story here, it would make sense that our characters are pretty bland to begin with. So yeah, the writing here definitely leaves a LOT to be desired.

That being said, as I mentioned earlier, there is a lot here to really like. Let's go straight into the acting. The acting, for the most part, is really good, with the one lone exception being Michael Beck as Sonny. I mentioned it earlier, but the acting from him is incredibly wooden. And unfortunately, it stays that way throughout the entire movie. But the strange thing about this is that I don't know if that's how he naturally sounds when acting, or if it was because the script he was given was kinda lifeless to begin with. I have no idea, but it was something that really bugged me as I was watching the film. But beyond him, the acting is really good from the entire cast. That includes Gene Kelly, Olivia Newton-John, the background singers and dancers. Everyone else looked like they were having a blast with this movie. And you know what? For a movie that had a really shallow script, everyone else, minus Michael Beck, was definitely giving it their all for this movie. So, big props to most of the cast here for definitely trying to make it work. You guys did an awesome job for what was given to you.

Special effects in this movie are absolutely phenomenal. This is some of the best-looking special effects that I have seen from a movie that came out in the 80's. And considering that I was watching it on DVD, which labels this version of the movie as the "Magical Edition", it looks even better. And I am amazed by how good the special effects were in this movie, especially for something that came out during that time. Costuming here is really good for all of the musical numbers. Makeup effects here are pretty good. Our sets here are really good, also. I may as well mention the animation, mainly for the Don Bluth sequence I brought up earlier. Well...guys, this was made by Don Bluth's studio at the time, and the animation looks absolutely fantastic. If I had to pick any kind of negative from it, though, I would say that Sonny's character design, at least when it comes to his face, looks kinda like shit. But that's honestly just me nitpicking there. And considering that this sequence was made a couple of years before "The Secret of NIMH", you could only imagine that the animation would get better from there.

Camerawork here is great, as is the sound-mix. Lighting here is also lit very well. And since I held off on talking about this until the end, let's finally talk about the music. The songs in this movie are fucking amazing. There were maybe, like, two or three songs here that kinda sucked. One of them I could mention is the first song in the movie, and that one was kinda shit. Another one has to do with the Gene Kelly sequence where he's trying on different outfits. And the song that played during the Don Bluth sequence also kinda sucked. But beyond that, every other song here was great. Special mention has to go the song called "Dancin". Which was the song that combined both classical and rock music. That song, for me, was the best song in the entire movie. Second place would have to go to the song Gene Kelly and Olivia-Newton John sang called "Whenver You're Away From Me". But, as I mentioned earlier, it is, partly, a Gene Kelly song, so it's almost bound to be good to begin with. Every other song, including the "Xanadu" theme, is also really good. In fact, this is what I really wanted from "Anna and the Apocalypse". Because if you'll recall my problem with that movie, the songs there were all incredibly forgetful, and I personally didn't remember ANY of the songs after I finished watching the movie. This movie, however, has a lot of catchy songs, and it's definitely something I'm probably gonna be listening to again at some point. I'm probably gonna have to either download the soundtrack or just find the songs off of YouTube and give them a listen there. But overall, guys, the music in this movie is fucking great for the most part.

So, guys, when all is said and done, can I recommend "Xanadu"? Oh boy, um...how to recommend this one...? Well, if you just want to listen to the music, like I said, go find the soundtrack on YouTube or download it. Because there are a lot of songs in this movie that I'll guarantee you'll find something to like out of. But as for the movie itself...that's a rather tough one to nail down. I suppose, maybe, if you have a morbid curiosity, then sure. You can probably find this movie pretty cheap nowadays. However, I have to warn you that the story here is almost non-existent and doesn't really make much sense. I, personally, wouldn't call this a good movie, but if you want to watch it to see a more visual novel of the music, then go right ahead and check it out. You might actually like the goofy bullshit that goes on in this movie. But if you're just looking for a good story out of your musical, then you can easily skip this. As for myself, I hesitate to say that it completely sucks. It certainly is heavily flawed in the writing department, but I still ended up kinda enjoying it for the, mostly, awesome music. And as such, I'm probably gonna be holding on to this movie. It does have enough charm here to where I can overlook the nonsensical story and somewhat lifeless characters. And I stated earlier that I did want this movie to, at least, be good with it's music, even if the movie did suck. And while the movie does kinda sucks, it surpassed my expectations in the music department. So, I consider that a success. Now...seeing as how I mentioned "Repo! The Genetic Opera" earlier, I'm gonna go and watch that. Because I'm in the mood to watch another musical right now. So, I'm gonna go do that next, 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.