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After slew of Pixar movies that I had already seen we are back to one that was new to me – Cars 2. This movie wasn’t a total mystery to me has I heard a little bit about it before watching. Mainly that it was “bad” and that it was a spy movie centering around Mater. Of course that premise sounds insane but maybe, just maybe Cars 2 isn’t as “bad” as the internet thinks?
Or is it?
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Up is another Pixar movie that I had actually seen prior. However I only watched once before a while ago and I don’t really recall liking it then. I think my initial thought was it was too much premise and not enough plot. I will say that was bad take to walk away with even at the time. However did my opinion of this movie changed on a second watch?
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Honestly I think The Incredibles was always going to be a hard sell for me, as full-disclosure, I’m not that into to superheroes movies. It’s just not for me. That being said I went into The Incredibles with an open-mind as it wasn’t standard super hero fare
So the question is did I like it?
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Another big Anniversary for Disney is 1986’s The Great Mouse Detective. It was directed by John Musker and Ron Clements. The duo has directed seven Disney movies together including The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and Moana but The Great Mouse Detective was their directorial debut. The movie was based on a series of books Basil of Baker Street written by Eve Titus and illustrated by Paul Galdone.
The Great Mouse Detective does get a bit lost amongst the other titles in the Disney pantheon as it came out at the tail end of Bronze/Dark Age and aside from the villain there isn’t a lot buzz around it.
But is it a bad movie that deserves to be forgotten?
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At this point I should just state when I have already watched a Pixar movie prior to reviewing it because Monster Inc was yet another movie I haven’t see prior. I do have a vague memory of seeing a clip but I didn’t know the plot or much else.
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I hate that this one got randomly picked as it’s a show I have been meaning to watch anyway since I have seen both seasons of Magi and Sinbad was awesome in that show but this what I got so I shall watch it.
So this is season 1 episode 1 which is entitled Child of Destiny.
I don’t recall to much of Sinbad in Magi, except that he was awesome but he was cool but he might be a case of less is more and that worries me about this show. Also I don’t recall if he was some awesome chosen one in Magi. Super awesome child of destiny plots are getting outdated but the show is from two years so methinks of being a tad forgiving.
This show does has a weird tone. One minute is light then tense then light again. I’m not sure how to feel. I guess because it’s an Adventure it can get away with tonal shifts but it still confusing. At least ease the viewer in the emotional or tense tones.
There is also a TON of narration for world building mainly about a war, not the best mechanic but plot exposition has to go somewhere. Again it’s the first episode so we can be slightly forgiving but SHOW don’t tell. Maybe that is not the first thing taught for screenwriters?
Mostly this introductory episode is about 5 year Sinbad’s relationship with his Dad,a war-hero turned social pariah. He teaches little Sinbad what strength means and wars sucks. War does suck.
I would say this wasn’t the strongest first episode of an anime I have ever seen but it was serviceable to get a handle of Sinbad’s origins story, his personality and world-views. Was it the best in execution? No but was middle of the road. I wouldn’t say it would turn me off watching more episodes.
Side-note- I apologize that this post was late. Real-life has been tiring and vexing.
Now that Once Upon a Time is done I thought it would be a good time to do another round of random picks from Netflix but this time with Fantasy movies. Since Fantasy is like Fairy Tales.
Every Thursday in June there will be a review of some random Fantasy movie off Netflix.
Just like last time the selection is through https://reelgood.com/roulette/netflix. There will be no re-rolls, you have my word.
A few guidelines;
First one is on June 7th!
The Neverending Story
Ah, the 1980’s when it was totally ok to traumatized the child audience with creepy imagery, weird complex meta plots and harsh heart-break. This is where the 1984 movie The Neverending Story comes in. It was based on the first half of a book of the same name by Michael Ende
It was a West German English language movie. At the time it was the most expensive film produced outside the USA or the USSR. It also spawned two bad sequels, which I’m not getting in to.
Noah Hathaway as Atreyu and Falkor
So nerdy, cowardly bibliophile, Bastian is getting chased by bullies and hides out in a creepy book store. He impressive the shopkeep with all the book he has read but the shopkeep tells him that the book he is currently reading is different. Bastian takes to book though he promises to return it. Bastian then skipped a math test to read the book in the school’s creepy attic.
The story is about a world called Fantasia that is quickly being reduced to nothing. The Nothing is some kind of weird force engry thing erasing the world. The ruler of Fantasia, The Childlike Empress is somehow dying and she summons a warrior from the Plain people who hunt the Purple Buffalo, Atreyu to find a cure for her illness. Atreyu has to leave all him weapons behind but is given AURYN which like The Empress symbol and will protect him.
So off Atreyu goes on his quest with his horse pal Artax. They are being follows though by an agent of the Nothing, a wolf-like creature named Gmork. Atreyu literally wonder around aimlessly till he get an idea to ask a great old ancient one named Morla but to get there he has to go through the Swamps of Sadness. There if you let the sadness get to you, you drown. This what happens to Artax, he becomes sad, sinks, and dies, and if you don’t cry at this scene your heartless.
Atreyu meets Moral who is a giant Turtle and is the mountain that Atreyu was standing on, this freaks out Bastian and his scream is heard by Atreyu and Morla. Anyway Morla is a little draft and not super helpful to Atreyu. Moral suggests that Atreyu go to the Southern Oracle who is 10,000 miles away. Atreyu despairs and in nearly caught by Gmork but he saved.
He is saved, treated and brought close to the Southern Oracle by Falkor, a luck dragon who just like children. Atreyu then meets Engywook and Urgl. Engywook is an expert of the Southern Oracle and he shows Atreyu the first gate to get to the Oracles, The Sphinx Gate. Those who don’t know their own worth are killed by the gate. Atreyu tries to pass through but he loses his confidence. He does escape teh blast from the Sphinx’s eyes but Engywook bemoans that he didn’t tell Atreyu about the Mirror gate which shows a person’s true self. At the icy gate Atreyu sees Bastian reading the book, which freaks Bastian out and he throws the book but resumes reading.
Atreyu gets to the Southern Oracles who tells him the only way to save the Empress is for a Human child to give her a new name. Atreyu tries to find the human child but Nothing hits them and he falls off Falkor and he loses AURYN. It’s here that Gmork shows up and tells Atreyu that Fantasia is a place made up of Human’s imagination amd the nothing is like adult apathy. He also says he in league with the nothing because with out Imagination and hope people are easier to control. Atreyu then kills Gmork.
Falkor find AURYN and Atreyu but Fantasia is destory and it just bits of ground. Atreyu wonders if The Empress‘ seat of power, The Ivory Tower exists. They find it intact. Atreyu meets with the Childlike Empress. She tells him that Atreyu did not fail his quest and they he brought a Human child with him who has been with him on his quest. Bastian relieve she is talking to him. She begs him to give her a name. Bastian is hesitate but give her the name of Moon Child, which was his mother’s name, and I can hear him say Moon Child. The Empress shows Bastian the only bit of Fantasia that exists, a single grain of sand but through Bastian dreams and wish he can bring back Fantasia. Bastian then makes a wish to fly Falkor and scare the bullies.
Barret Oliver as Bastian
According to some, the book is better as it has more going on and Atreyu is green. I never read the book though I have heard the author didn’t really like the movie but let’s just keep to the film in question.
So this story is REALLY complex, I’m not sure I can get my head fully around it. That or I’m trying too hard. The story makes it’s clear that Atreyu and Bastian are like two side of the same coin. Atreyu was picked because he was the one to appealed to Bastian and in turn Bastian is a surrogate for the audience watch him.
So does that mean, if I were to read the story in the film’s context that I would get the same story but with a different character? Like the character I relate to does the same things as Atreyu, which really isn’t that much and I give the Empress a new name like I dunno Sally or Mabel Joy Snickerdoodle the Third? Or would be a different story? Or is the battle with the nothing and the the renaming the first time you read the book then after you get the Emptiness and the Babbies? Or something else. See what I mean about over thinking it? But there is this lovely philosophy that the movie has about the power of one’s imagination.
Noah Hathaway as Atreyu and Artax
As I mention before this movie has its moments of scaring children, both in the movie and to the audience. First this movie was very hard on the child actor who played Atreyu, Noah Hathway. He was hurt twice and nearly lost an eye. The role was also looked physically exhausting.
But more than that there is the Swamp of Sadness scene where Artax dies and you can see Atreyu’s going through of the stages of Grief and really his performance makes that scene heartbreaking never to the horse just stand there. Also the horse didn’t really die, there was an elevator which admittedly hurt Hathaway and not the horse. The movie shows that you that child can take a lot of dark and sad imagery as long there is a happy ending and at the end Artax is alive again, though that scene will always get me.
Tami Stronach as The Childlike Empress
I’m a character person, I can forgive a lot if I like the characters. So how are the characters? Well, they are interesting in their simplicity. Most are not deep or fleshed out with engaging backstories, problems or flaws.
The most developed character is Bastian since we get a sense him and he is the only was with flaws and a character arc of overcoming being a wuss and learning there is value is dreams and imagination. And even still his is annoying.
The rest of the character have elegances to the way they presented in the movie. Their simplicity makes them likable in a effortless way. I would say for me my favorites character are Falkor and the Childlike Empress but the racing snail was so adorable so honorable mention.
The Sphinx Gate
The technicals in this movie are lovely. Sure at time they look stagy but there is a nice lush and realness to them. It gives the movie a very unique look, tone and atmosphere. Everything looks like it was made to best of the ability at the time and it adds so much to feel of the fantasy.
Also while costumes are really a focus in this movie, I love The Childlike Empress’s Art Noveau pearl white gown, it’s so pretty.
As I just want to add, I love way the world feels very big and old in this movie.
Barret Oliver as Bastian and Falkor
The Neverending Story 
Deep Roy as Teeny Weeny with the Racing Snail
Fair warning, this review is a gush-fest. If you want a movie that causes pain wait till next week and here are two clues for the next review, clue 1
As for The Princess Bride there isn’t much to say. It was based on a book 
I did read the book many years ago and while it was enjoyable I think the movie is better, the book is also weird if I recall.
The story is pretty simple. Westley and Buttercup are young lovers but one day Westley goes off and is presumed dead. Five years later Buttercup is forced into an engagement to Prince Humperdink. Humperdink then hires Vizzini, a genius Sicilian, Inigo, a fencer out for revenge and Fezzik, a kind giant with a gift for rhymes, to kidnap and kill Buttercup in order to start a war with a rival country. However the Dread Pirate Roberts follows them and defeats all of them and runs off with Buttercup. The pirate turns out to be Westley who took on the alias of the Dread Pirate. However Buttercup and Westley are caught by the Prince and his henchman the not very nice Count Rugen.
Westley is tortured and is mostly dead but Inigo and Fezzik get a miracle and storm the castle on Buttercup’s wedding day. Inigo gets his revenge for the murder of his father on Count Rugen who killed him and Buttercup and Westley are together. The whole story is told as a book a grandfather is reading to his grandson.
Typically when I review a movie I have to ask myself what was good about the movie as a general opener but with The Princess Bride it’s more of a question of what is bad and I’m hard press to have a negative.
I guess one thing is that film is very filmy. You can tell the stuntmen from a mile away and your blind. The sets look fake and there are tons of Anachronisms. Like the British discovered Australia in 1606 but the tone of the movie have a Renaissance quality. Even given those flaws they actually add to the atmosphere of fun swash-bucking fantasy romance. And characters more than make up for anything.
The characters are one of the main highlights of the movie which is necessary since the story is fairly simple, which is fine. All the characters are interesting unique and memorable. A lot of that comes from the writing, everyone gets good lines. I just love these characters, argh damn you movie. Even SUPER minor characters are memorable like the king and the impressive clergy man with his “mawwiage speech.”
Maybe it’s all the mold I have breathed in cleaning my basement and the exhaustion of it has melted my brain but I can really find a fault with this movie. I mean I guess the ending song is a prime example of 80s cheesy and Buttercup, the titular character is not the most interesting. But she is brave and once she knows her true love is alive she doesn’t lack conviction. I suppose agmonst the other kickass characters and quotes she isn’t that memorable but she is likable enough, I don’t have an issue with her.
Also since I’m a costume person, the costume are very nice. Everything is one point and looks like the character actually have wore the clothes and have lived in them, which is rare on films. And props for Buttercup’s wedding gown being blue.
So let us don our holocaust clocks and grab a M.L.T sandwich and watch The Princess Bride
Labyrinth
For today’s review I’m donning nostalgia goggles and wearing my I APPRECIATE THE MUPPETS ON A MUCH DEEPER LEVEL THAN YOU T-shirt
Labyrinth is a sort of companion piece to Jim Henson’s 1982 movie The Dark Crystal
Sarah entering the Labyrinth
Labyrinth centers on fifteen-year old Sarah played Jennifer Connelly. Sarah frenquetly has to babysit her step or half baby brother, Toby. One night while babysitting Toby she asked the Goblin King from her favorite book, Labyrinth, to take Toby away. As it turns out the Golbin King, Jareth, played by David Bowie, takes Toby to his castle at the center of the Labyrinth beyond the Goblin city. Sarah begs him to giver her brother back and he gives her thirteen hours to solve the Labyrinth and reach the castle. The rest of the movie is Sarah meeting creatures and friends while Jareth tries to thwart her and falling in love with her all.
Jareth offering Sarah her dreams
Labyrinth has an interesting kind of moral. It’s a coming of age story but the way it handled isn’t very common. Sarah is on the cusp of childhood and adulthood. She rather likes living in her fantasy world of toys, storybooks and costumes and doesn’t like the reasonability of taking care of her little brother. She does haven’t sort wants the freedom to do what she wants, like when she argues with her stepmother about how she doesn’t ask Sarah what her plans for her evenings. It sort of plays at being and adult but keeping a sense of childhood which is fitting for a Jim Henson movie.
Sarah in the Labyrinth
That being said Labyrinth doesn’t have a very strong story, it’s really just a girl in a strange place meeting strange creatures and characters. Is is because most of the movie was done from the artwork of Brian Froud
Sarah and Jareth dancing
Of course the premise structure that with movie has only really works because the technically and the character work well. Let’s start with the characters. Sarah has a lot of growth. She starts off bratty but grows and accepts her adult responsibilities and when she is offered her dreams she rejects them. Jareth is kind of like Sarah. Bowie talked about how he saw his character has taking the responsibility of being the Goblin King but hating the job. So he does his job of taking children and trying to scare the ones who would save them. Bowie brings a lot of complexity to character who might not have had any. The other characters like Hoggle, Ludo and Didymus are also great. Hoggle grows from being a coward and not very nice to be being brave and kind. Ludo is just kind despite being somewhat scary and Didymus is amusing.
Jareth singing Dance Magic
As is standard with Henson movies the technicals are great and a lot of fun. The CG work looks very dated but it was 1986 so it’s forgivable. The costumes are also great. It rare that a movie gives the male villain more costumes than the lead female. The ball-gown she wears is wonderful, it’s like pure 80’s fantasy mixed with Art Nouveau. The whole of the ballroom scene is stunning.
The movie also has a great sound track that David Bowie provided. Who doesn’t love Dance Magic?
Sarah, Ludo, Didymus and Hoggle
However the movie does have some pacing issues. It drags in parts, like the battle has some fun parts BUT it goes on and on and on and then on some more. There also a part before she meets the Fire Gang that is a little dull, also the fire gang is a little bit of a what the fuck scene and in this movie that is saying a lot.
Goblins
Despite Labyrinth 
Also there is a comic book sequel series, Return to Labyrinth 
and 