It was pretty good! This is the first time I've ever seen a movie try to actually adapt the book, which is very impressive.
I must admit that I only read the book once when it was assigned in high school, but I remember some parts of it well enough that they stuck out to me when they did them in the movie.
The movie is pretty violent, and has some body horror with the corpses used to create the Creature, but overall, it barely earned its R rating.
I recommend the movie!
I plan on buying a 4K copy if/when it's ever made available!
I'd heard about this movie for years, and even seen a couple clips here and there, but now I've finally gotten around to watching the 4K disc that I've owned for almost three years. I really need to watch all the movies I own!
The movie was fun! You can tell that the people who were making the movie knew that giant robots fighting giant monsters is inherently silly, and they know that you know that it's all silly, and they delighted in leaning into it all. It is an earnest execution of a patently ridiculous concept, and I appreciate that.
Kudos to the action setpieces for keeping the action focused on the actual fight, and not constantly cutting away to show a crowd of screaming people. Yes, the crowds of screaming people were there, but somehow, this movie made them seem less egregious than say, Godzilla vs. Kong. Seriously, if you cut out most of the chaff from most Kaiju movies so that you focused on the cool creatures, most of them would be just a half hour long.
The CGI has aged remarkably well. This movie could come out today, and nobody would say that the CGI wasn't up to snuff. We've really hit a plateau with visuals, and I only hope that advances in technology just make visuals like this more accessible to make.
The story was alright, and had the usual chuff of traumatic pasts and whatever. It wasn't great, but it was also not so poorly done that it severely detracted from the movie.
I recommend Pacific Rim to anyone who thinks they would enjoy a big dumb action flick!
I try to view movies on their own terms, and don't try to constantly compare them with other movies, especially movies that share the same name. It's also worth pointing out that I haven't seen the 1941 film in so long, I barely remember anything about it.
I actually enjoyed this film! I felt like it was at its strongest when it was blazing new ground, and doing things I'd never seen before. My favorite parts were when they went to Dreamland and showed off all sorts of retro-futuristic stuff and art-deco architecture.
The movie wasn't perfect, and I actually thought that the titular character was one of the weakest parts. I loved seeing Danny DeVito and Michael Keaton playing off one another.
I know people love to hate (ironic) on all the live-action remakes of animated features, but I think their hate is overblown. Most of the ones I've seen have been at the very least, fine. Some of them I think are actually quite good. This one leans more towards being fine, but is nowhere near as bad as the worst, being the 2019 Lion King.
I doubt I'll change anyone's opinions by sharing mine, but there you have it. I enjoyed Dumbo (2019).
I just saw The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea for the first time in over fifteen years.
After watching all three Little Mermaid films in rapid succession, I have some thoughts. First, I really just don't like the designs of so many of the sea creatures, especially Sebastian. These creatures are so far removed from mammals, giving them cartoon faces just ends up looking more weird than anything. Sorry to anyone who thinks that adding big bulging eyes to octopi looks good, but its just not for me. It's a similar reason why I don't like the villain in The Penguins of Madagascar, or the octopus guy in Finding Dory.
As for The Little Mermaid 2, I thought the main story was pretty weak. Ursula's crazy sister? Hiding secrets from Ariel's daughter? Tricking Melody into stealing the trident? When people talk about hating straight-to-video animated sequels, I'm pretty sure those are the kinds of things they have in mind. And in this case, I think I largely agree with them. But I was genuinely surprised at how much I enjoyed Tip and Dash, the two bumbling secondary characters.
Seriously, Tip and Dash stole the show for me. They really don't have much screentime, and a surface-level examination of their role wouldn't make you think they are anything special. But for whatever reason, I thought they were great! They're lines were good, their character designs worked so much better than they had any right to, and... it's hard to describe. I just really liked Tip and Dash!
Overall, The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea isn't great, but it's also got some redeeming qualities. You can tell that it was one of the earlier straight-to-video animated sequels, just by looking at the visuals. Ariel's Beginning came out several years later, and had much better visuals and production values.
I don't recommend The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea, but it's also not one that I would discourage anyone from watching.
And I'm pretty sure Tress MacNeille was in the movie, despite not showing up in the credits. A quick web search seems to confirm that. Kinda crazy that I can pick up some voice actors so easily!
I just saw Beauty and the Beast (1991) for the first time in 4K!
First off, I want to say I'm glad that this version is the theatrical version, which means it doesn't include the song Human Again. The song is alright, and the animation is neat, but it really doesn't belong in the movie. I'm glad they include it in the bonus features though.
This movie is absolutely beautiful! I'm so glad I have it in 4K, because there is so much detail that comes through that you don't get in lower resolutions. It's crazy to think how bad VHS is when you compare it to 4K.
The thing that really stuck out to me this time watching the movie is how fast paced everything is. The entire story takes place over what looks like a week or two. I'm also impressed by just how many songs there are. This movie really does a good job of using songs to move the plot forward.
The CGI the movie uses sticks out quite a bit. I remember hearing how the ballroom scene was a big deal that it used 3D to allow for sweeping camera angles. The camera moving is impressive, but not because of the 3D ballroom, but because of the incredible 2D character animation that goes with it. Moving a camera around a 3D model is not impressive to me. But someone being able to draw two dancing 2D characters in such a way that they match what that moving camera is doing? Now that is what I consider to be incredibly impressive.
Belle is also really pretty, and she wears some absolutely stunning dresses!
This movie is truly a masterpiece. I can't recommend it enough.
I just watched The Little Mermaid (1989) for the first time in over ten years, and for the first time with my 4K disc.
I gotta say, the story and characters aren't as good as I remember. It's still all pretty good, but it just didn't resonate with me this time.
What did resonate with me were all the visual details I picked up on that I never noticed before, like seeing Ariel transform into Ursula's cursed form, or how the eels were destroyed into little bits. So much disturbing detail I never noticed as a kid.
I think the visuals of the movie hold up pretty well, but the CGI they used stuck out to me like a sore thumb this time. Disney really struggled with CGI in the early years, and even when they had their Deep Canvas, it still never really worked all that great all the time.
The music is good, and the songs are good as well.
Overall, it's a good movie, but it didn't seem to be the timeless masterpiece I thought it would be.
I just watched Surf's Up 2: Wave Mania for the first time.
First off, I have to hand it to the DVD release. Most of the time, when I watch something on DVD, I am constantly thinking about how much better it would look on Blu-ray. But this movie's DVD actually looked pretty good for the most part!
It wasn't until after I had purchased the movie that I found out that it had ties to Pro Wrestling. That did dampen my expectations a bit, but my motto is to never judge a movie until I've seen it, and that motto turned out to prove correct once again.
Surf's Up 2 is surprisingly good! That doesn't mean it's "good" good. It means that it's not nearly as awful as some people say it is, and that it's not constantly cringe-inducing at every turn. Some of the story beats actually stuck the landing, a lot of the voice performances were actually pretty good, and the visuals frequently impressed. Yes, the movie is a massive downgrade from the first film, but for a straight-to-video sequel? This movie actually looks pretty good. Especially the character animation. The characters often move well, have good facial expressions with good lip sync, and the action setpieces often work surprisingly well.
I will say that the story wasted no time throwing most of character growth established in the first movie out the window, and practically ret-conned Cody's past, which didn't feel nice, but once the story got going, it was alright. I wasn't sure about following some pro wrestlers being voice actors at first, but it ended up being fine. Not bad, not great, but fine. Though the Undertaker guy was probably my favorite.
Can I ever recommend this movie to anyone? Of course not. I doubt anyone else would share my open-mindedness for straight-to-video animated sequels, and wouldn't even last ten minutes before leaving. But I'm glad I watched the movie, and once again, proving wrong so many people who dismiss movies as being "bad" without leaving any room for nuance. Is Surf's Up 2: Wave Mania a good movie? Not really. But it isn't some piece of garbage with zero redeeming qualities either.
Complete Animation
Complete Animation
I just saw Frankenstein (2025).
It was pretty good! This is the first time I've ever seen a movie try to actually adapt the book, which is very impressive.
I must admit that I only read the book once when it was assigned in high school, but I remember some parts of it well enough that they stuck out to me when they did them in the movie.
The movie is pretty violent, and has some body horror with the corpses used to create the Creature, but overall, it barely earned its R rating.
I recommend the movie!
I plan on buying a 4K copy if/when it's ever made available!
6 days ago | [YT] | 52
View 8 replies
Complete Animation
I just saw Pacific Rim for the first time!
I'd heard about this movie for years, and even seen a couple clips here and there, but now I've finally gotten around to watching the 4K disc that I've owned for almost three years. I really need to watch all the movies I own!
The movie was fun! You can tell that the people who were making the movie knew that giant robots fighting giant monsters is inherently silly, and they know that you know that it's all silly, and they delighted in leaning into it all. It is an earnest execution of a patently ridiculous concept, and I appreciate that.
Kudos to the action setpieces for keeping the action focused on the actual fight, and not constantly cutting away to show a crowd of screaming people. Yes, the crowds of screaming people were there, but somehow, this movie made them seem less egregious than say, Godzilla vs. Kong. Seriously, if you cut out most of the chaff from most Kaiju movies so that you focused on the cool creatures, most of them would be just a half hour long.
The CGI has aged remarkably well. This movie could come out today, and nobody would say that the CGI wasn't up to snuff. We've really hit a plateau with visuals, and I only hope that advances in technology just make visuals like this more accessible to make.
The story was alright, and had the usual chuff of traumatic pasts and whatever. It wasn't great, but it was also not so poorly done that it severely detracted from the movie.
I recommend Pacific Rim to anyone who thinks they would enjoy a big dumb action flick!
1 week ago | [YT] | 63
View 4 replies
Complete Animation
Wolfsbane 7-32
The patrol looks over the land, and sees the very thing they hoped didn't exist.
And thus ends Season 7 of Wolfsbane! Season 8 will premier in a bit!
Click here to read Wolfsbane: www.webtoons.com/en/canvas/wolfsbane/list?title_no…
Click here to join my Discord server: discord.gg/db97gpTuYa
1 week ago | [YT] | 125
View 6 replies
Complete Animation
I just watched Dumbo (2019) for the first time.
I try to view movies on their own terms, and don't try to constantly compare them with other movies, especially movies that share the same name. It's also worth pointing out that I haven't seen the 1941 film in so long, I barely remember anything about it.
I actually enjoyed this film! I felt like it was at its strongest when it was blazing new ground, and doing things I'd never seen before. My favorite parts were when they went to Dreamland and showed off all sorts of retro-futuristic stuff and art-deco architecture.
The movie wasn't perfect, and I actually thought that the titular character was one of the weakest parts. I loved seeing Danny DeVito and Michael Keaton playing off one another.
I know people love to hate (ironic) on all the live-action remakes of animated features, but I think their hate is overblown. Most of the ones I've seen have been at the very least, fine. Some of them I think are actually quite good. This one leans more towards being fine, but is nowhere near as bad as the worst, being the 2019 Lion King.
I doubt I'll change anyone's opinions by sharing mine, but there you have it. I enjoyed Dumbo (2019).
1 week ago | [YT] | 84
View 1 reply
Complete Animation
Wolfsbane 7-31
Everyone has had a sinking feeling of dread today, but nobody wanted to speak up.
Click here to read Wolfsbane: www.webtoons.com/en/canvas/wolfsbane/list?title_no…
Click here to join my Discord server: discord.gg/db97gpTuYa
1 week ago | [YT] | 123
View 1 reply
Complete Animation
I just saw The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea for the first time in over fifteen years.
After watching all three Little Mermaid films in rapid succession, I have some thoughts. First, I really just don't like the designs of so many of the sea creatures, especially Sebastian. These creatures are so far removed from mammals, giving them cartoon faces just ends up looking more weird than anything. Sorry to anyone who thinks that adding big bulging eyes to octopi looks good, but its just not for me. It's a similar reason why I don't like the villain in The Penguins of Madagascar, or the octopus guy in Finding Dory.
As for The Little Mermaid 2, I thought the main story was pretty weak. Ursula's crazy sister? Hiding secrets from Ariel's daughter? Tricking Melody into stealing the trident? When people talk about hating straight-to-video animated sequels, I'm pretty sure those are the kinds of things they have in mind. And in this case, I think I largely agree with them. But I was genuinely surprised at how much I enjoyed Tip and Dash, the two bumbling secondary characters.
Seriously, Tip and Dash stole the show for me. They really don't have much screentime, and a surface-level examination of their role wouldn't make you think they are anything special. But for whatever reason, I thought they were great! They're lines were good, their character designs worked so much better than they had any right to, and... it's hard to describe. I just really liked Tip and Dash!
Overall, The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea isn't great, but it's also got some redeeming qualities. You can tell that it was one of the earlier straight-to-video animated sequels, just by looking at the visuals. Ariel's Beginning came out several years later, and had much better visuals and production values.
I don't recommend The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea, but it's also not one that I would discourage anyone from watching.
And I'm pretty sure Tress MacNeille was in the movie, despite not showing up in the credits. A quick web search seems to confirm that. Kinda crazy that I can pick up some voice actors so easily!
1 week ago | [YT] | 75
View 5 replies
Complete Animation
I just saw Beauty and the Beast (1991) for the first time in 4K!
First off, I want to say I'm glad that this version is the theatrical version, which means it doesn't include the song Human Again. The song is alright, and the animation is neat, but it really doesn't belong in the movie. I'm glad they include it in the bonus features though.
This movie is absolutely beautiful! I'm so glad I have it in 4K, because there is so much detail that comes through that you don't get in lower resolutions. It's crazy to think how bad VHS is when you compare it to 4K.
The thing that really stuck out to me this time watching the movie is how fast paced everything is. The entire story takes place over what looks like a week or two. I'm also impressed by just how many songs there are. This movie really does a good job of using songs to move the plot forward.
The CGI the movie uses sticks out quite a bit. I remember hearing how the ballroom scene was a big deal that it used 3D to allow for sweeping camera angles. The camera moving is impressive, but not because of the 3D ballroom, but because of the incredible 2D character animation that goes with it. Moving a camera around a 3D model is not impressive to me. But someone being able to draw two dancing 2D characters in such a way that they match what that moving camera is doing? Now that is what I consider to be incredibly impressive.
Belle is also really pretty, and she wears some absolutely stunning dresses!
This movie is truly a masterpiece. I can't recommend it enough.
1 week ago | [YT] | 95
View 7 replies
Complete Animation
I just watched The Little Mermaid (1989) for the first time in over ten years, and for the first time with my 4K disc.
I gotta say, the story and characters aren't as good as I remember. It's still all pretty good, but it just didn't resonate with me this time.
What did resonate with me were all the visual details I picked up on that I never noticed before, like seeing Ariel transform into Ursula's cursed form, or how the eels were destroyed into little bits. So much disturbing detail I never noticed as a kid.
I think the visuals of the movie hold up pretty well, but the CGI they used stuck out to me like a sore thumb this time. Disney really struggled with CGI in the early years, and even when they had their Deep Canvas, it still never really worked all that great all the time.
The music is good, and the songs are good as well.
Overall, it's a good movie, but it didn't seem to be the timeless masterpiece I thought it would be.
2 weeks ago | [YT] | 91
View 4 replies
Complete Animation
Wolfsbane 7-30
Time to get a good lay of the land.
Click here to read Wolfsbane: www.webtoons.com/en/canvas/wolfsbane/list?title_no…
Click here to join my Discord server: discord.gg/db97gpTuYa
2 weeks ago | [YT] | 72
View 1 reply
Complete Animation
I just watched Surf's Up 2: Wave Mania for the first time.
First off, I have to hand it to the DVD release. Most of the time, when I watch something on DVD, I am constantly thinking about how much better it would look on Blu-ray. But this movie's DVD actually looked pretty good for the most part!
It wasn't until after I had purchased the movie that I found out that it had ties to Pro Wrestling. That did dampen my expectations a bit, but my motto is to never judge a movie until I've seen it, and that motto turned out to prove correct once again.
Surf's Up 2 is surprisingly good! That doesn't mean it's "good" good. It means that it's not nearly as awful as some people say it is, and that it's not constantly cringe-inducing at every turn. Some of the story beats actually stuck the landing, a lot of the voice performances were actually pretty good, and the visuals frequently impressed. Yes, the movie is a massive downgrade from the first film, but for a straight-to-video sequel? This movie actually looks pretty good. Especially the character animation. The characters often move well, have good facial expressions with good lip sync, and the action setpieces often work surprisingly well.
I will say that the story wasted no time throwing most of character growth established in the first movie out the window, and practically ret-conned Cody's past, which didn't feel nice, but once the story got going, it was alright. I wasn't sure about following some pro wrestlers being voice actors at first, but it ended up being fine. Not bad, not great, but fine. Though the Undertaker guy was probably my favorite.
Can I ever recommend this movie to anyone? Of course not. I doubt anyone else would share my open-mindedness for straight-to-video animated sequels, and wouldn't even last ten minutes before leaving. But I'm glad I watched the movie, and once again, proving wrong so many people who dismiss movies as being "bad" without leaving any room for nuance. Is Surf's Up 2: Wave Mania a good movie? Not really. But it isn't some piece of garbage with zero redeeming qualities either.
2 weeks ago | [YT] | 74
View 4 replies
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