Rorschach Reviews Y5: In the Thick of It

[cookie]

15 minutes ago, YourMother the Edgelord said:

The first one is much more light and focuses on a fun action comedy, the sequels if God willing get darker and more deep.

I'll say this: five minutes in and there's already been more creative uses of the Lantern powers than the entirety of the Ryan Reynolds movie.

[Rorschach]

I just got home and started the process of doing laundry. Time for a triple whammy of @YourMother the Edgelord flicks 

[YM!]

27 minutes ago, Rorschach said:

I just got home and started the process of doing laundry. Time for a triple whammy of @YourMother the Edgelord flicks 

 

[Rorschach]

Quote

Medusa attempts to use her stone gaze on Perseus but fails as Perseus explains that is one of his blessings as a demigod.

Interesting change from the mythology. 

[YM!]

1 minute ago, Rorschach said:

Interesting change from the mythology. 

Ya ain’t see nothing yet.

[Rorschach]

Quote

Tom originally lived in a goat herd who wanted to be a man and decided to explore the world seeing all types of crazy things (noting Odysseus’ homecoming was wicked but a massive fight broke out and he dipped)

[Rorschach]

Medusa

 

Once again, a once-abandoned animated project has been brought back from the dead as Endless Animation brings us Lauren Faust's Medusa. Is it as good as Can You Imagine? and My Peoples? 

 

Well, yes and no.

 

Much like another film based on Greek mythology (Disney's Hercules), Medusa takes a lot of liberty with its Greek mythology roots, changing some aspects to fit more of a traditional three-act structure common in a lot of animated films. Of course, it makes sense to do this, given the source material's dark origins that wouldn't really appeal to young audiences. Unlike Hercules, however, it doesn't fall into the trap of being a weird mish-mash of styles and ideas that don't come together... but that doesn't make it perfect. The story itself is fairly predictable, taking the Wicked approach of making a very well-known monster/villain a tragic protagonist. As such, you kinda get the idea of how the film is gonna play out within the first five minutes, leaving you with a fairly predictable film in the process.

 

That isn't to say the movie is bad, not at all. Lauren Faust's animation is fairly fitting with the project, the voice acting all-around is fairly solid with Idina Menzel, Diego Luna, and Hugh Jackman being the stand-outs. The songs are all catchy and memorable and its message of body positivity and accepting yourself as who you are, while fairly done to death, are still very positive messages that I feel kids deserve to know and learn in an animated film like this.

 

Despite some formulaic plot points, Medusa is still yet another great lost in adpatation re-adaptation, or whatever you wanna call it, with a lot of great elements that easily outweigh the "its been there, done that" aspects.

 

B/B+

Edited March 21, 2019 by Rorschach

[YM!]

18 minutes ago, Rorschach said:

Medusa

 

Once again, a once-abandoned animated project has been brought back from the dead as Endless Animation brings us Lauren Faust's Medusa. Is it as good as Can You Imagine? and My Peoples? 

 

Well, yes and no.

 

Much like another film based on Greek mythology (Disney's Hercules), Medusa takes a lot of liberty with its Greek mythology roots, changing some aspects to fit more of a traditional three-act structure common in a lot of animated films. Of course, it makes sense to do this, given the source material's dark origins that wouldn't really appeal to young audiences. Unlike Hercules, however, it doesn't fall into the trap of being a weird mish-mash of styles and ideas that don't come together... but that doesn't make it perfect. The story itself is fairly predictable, taking the Wicked approach of making a very well-known monster/villain a tragic protagonist. As such, you kinda get the idea of how the film is gonna play out within the first five minutes, leaving you with a fairly predictable film in the process.

 

That isn't to say the movie is bad, not at all. Lauren Faust's animation is fairly fitting with the project, the voice acting all-around is fairly solid with Idina Menzel, Diego Luna, and Hugh Jackman being the stand-outs. The songs are all catchy and memorable and its message of body positivity and accepting yourself as who you are, while fairly done to death, are still very positive messages that I feel kids deserve to know and learn in an animated film like this.

 

Despite some formulaic plot points, Medusa is still yet another great lost in adpatation re-adaptation, or whatever you wanna call it, with a lot of great elements that easily outweigh the "its been there, done that" aspects.

 

B/B+

I am out of likes but thank you so much.

[Rorschach]

Green Lantern Corps

 

This very well washes the taste of the Ryan Reynolds Green Lantern out of my mouth lol.

 

In all seriousness though, this was a lot of fun. The buddy cop aspect of Hal and Sinestro was definitely the highlight of the film, carrying a lot of the film on its shoulders as it goes. Other than that, the action is fairly entertaining, the worlds the film visits are pretty unique and memorable, and it definitely leaves a lot of room to build upon in further sequels. Unfortunately, it suffers quite a bit from stuffing just a little too much into its narrative to the point where it feels a bit bloated at parts. Its a pretty fast 141 minutes but it manages to stuff a lot in there in that time. If the film had trimmed some of its fat in places and combined some stuff together to make it flow better, I think it would've greatly benefited from it. As is, it is pretty solid though its overall narrative is a bit too large for it to handle.

 

B-

[Rorschach]

I'm gonna wait til tomorrow to review Squirrel Girl as I'm feeling a little loopy at the moment.

[Rorschach]

@YourMother the Edgelord how much of Squirrel Girl did you end up changing for the final version?

[YM!]

Just now, Rorschach said:

@YourMother the Edgelord how much of Squirrel Girl did you end up changing for the final version?

Spoiler

Pretty much the same outside of some character development added for Dana, changed the opening fight villain from Kang and cut the role of Galactus and Silver Surfer for MODOK to streamline.

 

[YM!]

2 minutes ago, YourMother the Edgelord said:

  Hide contents

Pretty much the same outside of some character development added for Dana, changed the opening fight villain from Kang and cut the role of Galactus and Silver Surfer for MODOK to streamline.

 

Also

Spoiler

Shorten the fight scene for the opening scene as the Protectors (ie my Avenger knock-offs) appears during the party scene now.

 

[Rorschach]

I'm still disappointed David Tennant's Bullseye didn't get a moment like this in the film:

 

 

[cookie]

Scrooge McDuck is Bullseye?

 

@YourMother the Edgelord I’m intrigued.

[Rorschach]

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl

 

Much like The Lego Batman Movie and Teen Titans Go! To the Movies, Squirrel Girl is a loving parody of the superhero films that have come before it. And, like the other two I've mentioned, its actually fairly good.

 

While it isn't a completely original story––you could probably predict how the film is gonna play out after the first page or two––Squirrel Girl definitely has a lot of humor in it with some fun relatable characters in it. My favorite character would probably have to be the Destroyer, though most of that is probably because they got Stan Lee (rest in peace) to play him. Other than him, Squirrel Girl, her two squirrel sidekicks, her roommate Dana, bounty hunters Bullseye and Illouise, are probably the other standout characters to me. The film is also chalk-full of pretty entertaining fight scenes and playful character banter you'd expect from a superhero film, but I mean that in the best way possible.

 

There really aren't a whole lot for negatives here: like I said, you can kinda tell where the story is gonna go after you get through the first ten minutes or so. Not a bad thing per se, but it doesn't leave the doors open for many surprises. Another small thing that bugged me was that the "romance" between Squirrel Girl and Speedball really doesn't go anywhere and feels tacked onto the film "just cuz". The two barely have any interaction together outside of maybe one or two scenes and then at the end they get together. It's not really that big of an issue where it drags down the movie or anything but it just feels undercooked compared to everything else. If you ask me, Squirrel Girl and Dana becoming a thing at the end would've made much more sense in the scope of the narrative, but I digress.

 

Still, this is a very solid animated feature with some fun characters, a very faithful animation style, lively comic book action, and just overall being a great time at the movies. It delivers with all of those aspects in spades.

 

B+

[Rorschach]

6 minutes ago, cookie said:

Scrooge McDuck is Bullseye?

 

@YourMother the Edgelord I’m intrigued.

If he had killed someone by shooting a peanut into their throat, I would've given the film an A+

[Rorschach]

Up Next:

 

Spoiler

 

[YM!]

Thanks for the review, surprised you liked it better than Medusa.

[YM!]

14 minutes ago, Rorschach said:

If he had killed someone by shooting a peanut into their throat, I would've given the film an A+

I should’ve added that to the end credits scene.