Movie Review: 'Sonic the Hedgehog' (2020)

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I saw Sonic the Hedgehog with my sister and her friends last Friday, and, similar to Detective Pikachu from last year, I think it is a well made film. Not groundbreaking by any means, but still enjoyable.

There is an interesting story surrounding this film's production, of which you should be aware. Last year, the first trailer came out and Sonic's design was...less than accurate, to say the least.

Put that thing back where it came from, or so help me. Source

People online were furious that a big budget Sonic movie would portray him this way, and they complained and memed for days on end. This got wind of the director who, realizing that the film would flop if Sonic's sucky design remained, decided to change the release date from November to February and give Sonic a much needed makeover. The result is a better-looking design for the little blue hedgehog.

Much better. Source

Blu-ray Review: 'Neon Genesis Evangelion'

A week ago, I was browsing around online for home video releases of Neon Genesis Evangelion for the heck of it. Then I stumbled upon a link that caught my attention almost immediately. The website (that shall remain anonymous) listed a Blu-ray set of the entire Evangelion TV series plus the 90s films, all for $89. There were only 11 left in stock at the time, so I went ahead and bought it a while later.

Today I'll be reviewing the Blu-ray set itself, not Neon Genesis Evangelion. If I did, I would have named this post "Anime Review." I suppose in the future I can go over the series and films proper, but that's for another time.

As you can tell from the above image, this is a set of two Blu-rays. And I'll go ahead and say this right off the bat: these are bootlegs. As of this post there is no official physical media release of Eva in the West, excluding the Rebuild movies. There were DVDs made in the early 2000s, but those are now out of print and are outrageously expensive. And yes, I am aware that the series is on Netflix since last year, but it has a new dub and altered subtitles and excludes "Fly Me to the Moon" from the ending theme, because apparently Netflix can't get the rights to the song (despite the fact that they were willing to spend $100 million to keep Friends on their platform a while longer). Because of that, I prefer to stick to the original sub and dub. Ergo, why I bought this in the first place.

Anime Review: 'Princess Tutu'

One of the best anime series I've ever seen! Source

I recently finished the 2002 anime series Princess Tutu. After getting the complete series on Blu-ray for Christmas, I began watching in earnest. I knew this was a good show by reputation beforehand, but man, I had no idea how good it was!

The premise is as follows: a yellow duck named, well, Duck, sits in a lake all by herself. Then she sees a boy dancing nearby. She wishes she could dance with him, and a mysterious old man appears granting her a red pendant. When Duck puts on the pendant, she becomes a human girl. Afterward, she enrolls in an arts academy in a walled town and enters the ballet division. It is there that she meets her two friends, Pike (pronounced "PEE-kay") and Lillie ("LIH-lee-ay") who are also ballet students. Other characters soon appear: Mytho ("MEW-toh" for some reason), Rue, and Fakir. Duck soon finds out that Mytho is a prince from a story called "The Prince and the Raven" who shattered his own heart so that the raven could be sealed away. Because of this, he has no emotions. When Mytho falls from a building trying to protect a bird's nest, Duck rushes in to save him, and her pendant transforms her into Princess Tutu, another character from the aforementioned story. Rue and Fakir are also important, but I don't want to give away too much, so I'll just leave it at that.

Many people view this anime as the spiritual successor to Revolutionary Girl Utena, another magical girl anime that utilizes fairytale aesthetics, surreal visuals, menacing men that seem to control things in the background, and a mysterious plot that is fully revealed at the end. After seeing this, I can definitely see why viewers would draw that conclusion. Now that I think of it, there is another similarity: both protagonists have pink hair.

The series takes obvious inspiration from fairytales and ballets such as Swan Lake and The Nutcracker, even going so far as using music and naming episodes on those plays. Heck, the main villain's name is Drosselmeyer! Apparently a real ballet studio assisted in production, so the dancing you see is the real thing. The town seems to be based on Germany, with signs being in German. Not surprising since many fairytale stories we know and love come from Germany. The citizens of said town are a mix of humans and animals; one such anthro animal is Mr. Cat, the ballet teacher.

The characters are endearing, especially Duck, and the story will suck you in in no time. As the plot progresses, you will find out more about the characters, their motivations, and what exactly is going on. This is something you won't forget long after you've finished it. Do I recommend this anime? Absolutely with a capital A!

Quality Rating: 10/10
Content Rating: 13+

Cartoon Review: 'Hazbin Hotel (Pilot)'

Now that 2020 has begun, it's time for me to update this blog and make it relevant. Today I'll be reviewing the pilot for the animated series Hazbin Hotel, created by Vivienne Medrano. Released October 28, 2019, the video as of this post has garnered over 24 million views. It's a few months after the fact as I type this, but as the saying goes, better late than never.

Before I discuss the episode proper, let me take some time to go over the creator herself, Vivienne Medrano, otherwise known online as Vivziepop. I first became familiar with her work through the web comic series Zoophobia, which is currently in indefinite hiatus. She has also posted various artwork and fan art on DeviantArt and similar websites. Looking through her drawings, it is apparent that she is very talented and has a unique art style with vibrant colors. Then a few years back she began working on the pilot for Hazbin Hotel using scrapped characters from Zoophobia. The result is the subject of this review.

Charlie

As the video begins, we see a montage of demons being slaughtered as part of the yearly purge to combat overpopulation in Hell. Charlie, princess of Hell and our protagonist, sings about why she is a failure and weeps over the deaths from the extermination. We also see cameos of other characters that are sure to be relevant in future episodes.

2010s Retrospective: TV Edition

 

Now we enter the next phase of the 2010s retrospective: television (or streaming). Similar to my last post, the shows will be listed in the order of their premiere dates.

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1. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (2010-2019)

Created by Lauren Faust, whose previous works include The Iron Giant, The Powerpuff Girls, and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic proved to be an unprecedented hit for Hasbro and was popular not only among little girls, but by adult men who called themselves "Bronies." The unicorn Twilight Sparkle and her friends are entrusted with the Elements of Harmony, and together they defend the land of Equestria from various evil forces. The show is very well made, from the characters to the animation done on Adobe Flash. The show is mostly slice-of-life, but the beginning and ending of seasons have some story arcs that last two episodes each. This show is the best version of My Little Pony that's ever been made, at least compared to the generation that came before it which I grew up on and loathed. For anyone who's itching to give this a watch, I would suggest watching the first seven seasons and then watching the 2017 movie and then stop there. As far as I'm concerned, the last two seasons didn't happen. (Season eight adds another "Mane 6" team for no good reason, and season nine adds shameless pandering to the Bronies.)
Official rating: TV-Y / My rating: 3+ (seasons 1-8), 7+ (season 9)

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2. Sym-Bionic Titan (2010-2011)

A show that truly deserved better and ended way too soon. Sym-Bionic Titan is the brainchild of Genndy Tartakovsky who also created Dexter's Laboratory and Samurai Jack. A princess, a soldier, and a robot escape war on their home planet and take refuge on Earth where they disguise themselves as high school students. Unfortunately the show ended after only one season of 20 episodes. The reason was that the show wasn't able to sell toys. Yeah. Sounds like the 80s, doesn't it? Despite its short run, it still offers fun, action, and humor in a way only Tartakovsky can make it, and for that I recommend you check it out.
Official rating: TV-PG / My rating: 10+

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3. Gravity Falls (2012-2016)

Alex Hirsch, who previously worked on The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack on Cartoon Network, gives us a series that has a great balance between humor and mystery. Gravity Falls is about two fraternal twins, Dipper and Mabel Pines, who are forced to spend their summer break in, you guessed it, Gravity Falls, Oregon with their great uncle (grunkle for short) Stan who owns a gift shop called the Mystery Shack. The show slowly evolves from a slice-of-life comedy to a suspenseful mystery and a race against time to stop a powerful demon from another dimension from destroying the world. This show is one of the best shows from Disney Channel and was praised for its clever writing and lore. What's funny is that the show is only 2 seasons with 20 episodes each, yet was aired in four years. This is a must see for fans of animation and fans of mystery stories.
Official rating: TV-Y7-FV / My rating: 7+

2010s Retrospective: Movie Edition

 So begins the first 2010s retrospective post.

Before I begin this lookback, I will let you know that the following films are those that I have seen (though not all because that would take too long), so no, I will not be discussing Avengers: Endgame, Toy Story 4, or other such films simply because I have not seen them. Also, these movies will be listed alphabetically and by release date. So without further ado, let's begin.

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1. Alice in Wonderland (2010)

A surprise success for Disney's live-action branch, making a billion dollars worldwide, Alice in Wonderland is a sequel to the original story by Lewis Carrol and is directed by Tim Burton. Many people panned this film likely because they compared it to the animated Disney version. But when judging it on its own, it's actually pretty alright. I like the designs for the characters, and the world of Wonderland actually being called Underland is a very Tim Burton-y thing. Can't say much for the sequel released a few years later. That was a waste of time.
Official rating: PG / My rating: 10+

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2.  How to Train Your Dragon (2010)

DreamWorks Animation starts the decade off strong with How to Train Your Dragon, a film based on the book series of the same name. In a similar vein to Shrek, the film takes liberties from its original source material. The flying scenes are some of the best animated sequences ever put on screen in my opinion, and the film does not contain any pop culture references, something that is usually present in DreamWorks films. While nowhere near as grand as other DreamWorks classics like The Prince of Egypt and Shrek, it definitely soars above their other mediocre works (*cough* Boss Baby *cough*).
Official rating: PG / My rating: 7+

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3. Tangled (2010)

Disney's 50th animated film in their ever-expanding canon, Tangled is a great Disney princess film that draws inspiration from the fairy tale Rapunzel. The songs are great, the CGI is impressive, especially in regards to Rapunzel's hair, which I've heard was tough to animate, and the characters are endearing and worthy of Mickey Mouse's ears of approval. The film did so well that it even has its own TV series which is still ongoing as of this post.
Official rating: PG / My rating: 7+

"2010s Retrospective" Incoming!

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Welp, time to update this blog. Now that the 2010s is almost over, I thought it appropriate that I do a series of posts that goes over various staples of pop culture that have been released from 2010 to 2019, namely films and TV shows. So be on the lookout, because I should have the first one up soon!

Book Review, Final Verdict: '2001: A Space Odyssey' and 'The Last Unicorn'

So I managed to read most of 2001 and The Last Unicorn. Unfortunately, I have to turn in the books tomorrow since the renewal limit has run out, so I'll just go ahead and give you my thoughts on both books.

As I mentioned in the past, the books are basically what their movie counterparts are in written form, which is not surprising considering both authors wrote the screenplays. 2001: A Space Odyssey has basically the same plot as the movie but with unnecessary rambling. Whole pages are dedicated to explaining the advanced technology and locations, which can get annoying at times. It is because of that I would recommend watching the classic film instead of reading this book. The special effects are phenomenal, especially when you consider they were made without any CGI. Overall Score: 8/10

The Last Unicorn is also a beat-by-beat retelling of what happens in the film. What bothered me was when characters were thinking to themselves and the text didn't become italicized or given any indication that it's the characters' thoughts and not the narrator speaking. But that's just a minor gripe. Both the book and movie are great, and the film has the added benefits of being animated by Rankin/Bass and given an amazing music score by the band America. Overall Score: 9/10

Update on Book Reviews

I have decided to stop reviewing each chapter of the books 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Last Unicorn. Due to my unpredictable schedule, I don't always have time to sit down and write up a bunch of posts. That and I would like to focus on other things on this blog than just these books.

I will finish reading the books and then write a review post for each of them in the near future, hopefully by the end of the month. Thank you all for understanding, and have a good rest of your day, and if you are Christian, happy Pentecost.

Movie Review: 'Godzilla: King of the Monsters'

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Better than Godzilla 2014 in terms of monster screen time and action, but unfortunately contains some anti-human sentiment.