Scooby Doo And The Legend Of The Vampire: Rock On

Scooby Doo And The Legend Of The Vampire is an animated family film directed by Scott Jeralds. The plot follows Scooby (Frank Welker) and the gang as they head to Australia for a music festival, once they get there they find some strange goings on resulting in them coming face to face with a local vampire called the Yowie Yahoo.

So this was another classic from my early 2000’s childhood, I decided to revisit it as the animated Scooby Doo films prove to be great comfort viewing. I have to say I enjoyed it, it held up well. Also unlike Monster of Mexico this film did not rely on cheap stereotypes for characters, and actually had some well written Australian and Aboriginal characters (for a kid’s movie at least).

Though I talk a great deal about the problems with formulas I have to say the Scooby Doo formula works well, you know what you’re going to get and there is some comfort in that. I found the villain, the Yowie Yahoo to be quite interesting and I enjoyed the throughout rock feel of the film, which I thought was boosted incredibly by the return of the Hex Girls from The Witches Ghost.

Overall a fun and entertaining Scooby Doo adventure with interesting new characters and a terrific reunion.

Pros.

An interesting monster

Not using stereotypes

The rock feel of the film

The return of the Hex Girls

Cons.

A tad predictable

4/5

Reviewed by Luke

Ferdinand: John Cena’s Charm Has Limits

Ferdinand is an animated family film directed by Carlos Saldanha. The plot follows a Bull called Ferdinand (John Cena), who doesn’t like to fight. In the Spanish world of bull fighting that proves to be a liability and Ferdinand soon finds himself facing up to some unpleasant truths.

So, I really enjoy Blue Sky Animation, I am a big fan, yes, I know they didn’t make this and that it was actually made by 21^st Century Fox Animation, but I saw their name attached and thought I would check it out. My takeaway? It is a very meh film, sure it is a nice turn your brain off kids movie, but if you’re looking for any substance or originality you’re looking in the wrong place.

The plot feels very been there done that. I can name a whole host of other movies that have a lead character who doesn’t like or can’t do something that his world revolves around. The unoriginality in and off itself is not the damming thing, plenty of films feel samey, my issue is that this film can’t seem to be bothered to do anything new with the premise beyond an unfamiliar location.

Overall, John Cena’s easy charm can’t be called upon to make this a good film. As far as animated films go maybe give this one a miss, you and or your kids won’t gain anything from watching it.

Pros.

I enjoyed the Spanish flair

Cons.

Boring

Seen it before

Kate McKinnon was at her most annoying

The emotion feels hollow

1/5

Reviewed by Luke

Missing Link: Modern Myth

Missing Link is an animated film directed by Chris Butler. The plot follows explorer Sir Lionel Frost (Hugh Jackman), as he sets out to find Big Foot (Zack Galifianakis). Once the two meet Lionel realises that Big Foot or Mr. Link as he goes by is different entirely from how he would have guessed and agrees to help him find more of his own kind in the Himalayas.

I think this is underrated when it comes to Laika Animation, a lot of people get caught up with ParaNorman, Coraline, and Kubo and yes, this might not have the same level of heart of imagination as some of them, but it still has a lot of merit all its own.

The animation is beautiful, it is very refreshing to see a stop motion animation film and that definitely helps it to standout. Moreover, when they arrive at Shangri La and meet the Yeti’s the creature design is simply exquisite.

The voice cast are all giving it their best Galifianakis is the standout for sure and makes the naïve Mr Link quite endearing. Jackman also brings a lot of emotion to his role and we see Lionel go from a rouge to a somewhat good person; though that personality change is incredibly predictable. Emma Thompson as the leader of the Yeti’s Dora is by far the scene stealer of the film.

Overall, a nice wholesome family friendly gem that might have slipped off your radar. It is not Laika Animations’ best, but it is still fun to watch.

Pros.

The creature design particularly the Yeti’s

The voice cast

A nice wholesome adventure

Sets up an interesting world

Cons.

It doesn’t have much charm and loses you a bit as it goes on

3.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

The Emoji Movie

The Emoji Movie is an animated film directed by Tony Leondis. The plot follows the lives of several different emojis on a teenager’s phone as they face deletion.

So, right off the bat I just want to say I can’t stand T.J Miller he is an awful person and has done several disgusting things, look it up, so him being cast as the lead was never going to win any points with me. To be fair he is not the worse thing about this film, he is serviceable as a lead, but he is also incredibly forgettable.

The issue with this film, the critical problem, is the fact it was written and made by a group of people who clearly aren’t young themselves and have no idea how the teens of today actually are. It reads as an incredibly out of touch move, a hello fellow kids sort of thing. The dialogue in the film itself can’t help but feel incredibly dated, when the characters use happening slang of the time it just makes you cringe.

The other issue with this film is that it was clearly a reactionary move to The Lego Movie. The executives can delay it all they like, but the parallels are striking. The difference between the two however, is that the Lego Movie is a good film and that Lego itself is timeless and has been around for years, whereas emojis are a very new thing and don’t have near the same level of fondness.

Overall, not as bad as you have heard, but still not worth your time.

Pros.

It is watchable

Cons.

It is cringe

It is a clear rip-off of The Lego Movie

T.J Miller

It has no soul or charm

1/5

Reviewed by Luke

Rise Of The Guardians: Forgotten Dreamworks

Rise Of The Guardians is an animated film directed by Peter Ramsey. The film sees the immortal guardians of children, Santa Clause (Alec Baldwin), The Easter Bunny (Hugh Jackman), The Tooth Fairy (Isla Fisher), and Jack Frost (Chris Pine), team up to defeat the evil entity know as Pitch (Jude Law).

So for the most part this was very generic family fantasy fare, the plot went the way you would think it would with an unlikely outcast hero rising to the occasion to save his friends and the world from evil. Same old same old. In many ways I don’t need to tell you what happens in this film because without seeing it you will be able to predict it.

The characters are likeable enough and the voice actors are giving it a valiant try to inject some personality into otherwise quite vacant character husks. However, the script certainly does the film no favours and often feels like it is caught between two different ideas; mainly in regard to tone.

The one positive I will say for this film, is the animation itself is great. It is very distinct and has it owns style that separates it from the rest of the DreamWorks line-up. I especially enjoyed how they showed the nightmare powers of Pitch on-screen, I thought it was very visually interesting to look at and that it also had an impressive scale.

Overall, very standard fare, you will have seen many other animated films just like this. The cool animation and strong voice acting won’t be able to change that fact. Very much a meh.

Pros.

The voice acting

The animation style

Cons.

Incredibly predictable

The characters feel very one dimensional

The tone cannot stay consistent

2/5

Reviewed by Luke

Scooby Doo And The Monster Of Mexico: South Of The Border

Scooby Doo And The Monster Of Mexico is an animated family film directed by Scott Jeralds. The plot sees Scooby (Frank Welker), and the gang head to Mexico for Day Of The Dead, however, once they arrive things start to go awry and of course a monster rears its head.

This is classic Scooby Doo, this to me is the Scooby Doo I grew up on; showing my age a bit there. No racing, no forced needless crossover, no Simon Cowell, just good old fashion mystery solving.

I thought the monster was a touch generic, they could and should have gone into the backstory and the legend of the monster more; that would have made it standout better in the wider Scooby Doo Universe. That said I enjoyed the Mexican twist on the classic Scooby Doo formula, I thought it gave it a nice sense of place and distinct personality.

Unfortunately that Mexican twist proves to be a double-edged sword. Though it has positive aspects, it also leads to the furthering of outdated stereotypes. This could have been a lot worse, but when it occurs on screen it does stick out, giving you pause. It certainly hasn’t aged well.

Overall, this is a fun Scooby Doo adventure that shows why the classic formula is so great, however it ages poorly and could do with further development in certain areas, these issues stop it from being perfect Scooby Doo ala The Witches Ghost.

Pros.

Classic Scooby Doo

A distinct sense of personality

Fun and entertaining

Cons.

The use of Mexican stereotypes

The monster is quite bland

3.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Zootopia: A Reflection Of Our World?

Zootopia is an animated film directed by Byron Howard, Rich Moore and Jared Bush. The plot imagines an andromorphic world of animals where the predators and the prey have come together to forge a shaky society. Enter protagonist Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin), a young rabbit from a small town who dreams of being a police officer. She must overcome her own prejudices to rise to the occasion and prevent the breakdown of their society.

I can’t really review this film without talking about the social commentary aspect of it. Never since Animal Farm have I seen a film like this, clearly this film is talking about race/class-based issues in our society but is using animal stand-ins to make it family friendly. On the whole I go back and forth with whether I liked it, there were times when I thought the film was smart maybe even insightful and other times when they used the obvious themes for nothing more than cheap jokes; so I am undecided.

I enjoyed the lead performance; I think the character of Judy grew on me more over time. The partnership between Judy and a fox named Nick (Jason Bateman), is done well and I found myself really enjoying their dynamic I thought they played off against each other well. The supporting cast is also quite good, with Idris Elba being the one I would single out for praise.

Overall, a surprisingly real film that doesn’t shy away from talking about our reality.

Pros.

Judy and Nick

The world

The premise

Cons.

The social commentary felt heavy handed at times

Judy only becomes likeable midway through

3.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Moana: The Ocean Rises

Moana is an animated comedy adventure film directed by Ron Clements, Chris Williams, John Musker and Don Hall. The plot sees a Polynesian island becomes the recipient of a curse; this results in life on the island becoming increasingly worse. That is until one day a brave young woman called Moana (Auli’I Cravalho), sets out to find the demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson), and lift the curse forever.

Recent Disney Animation films have been hit or miss for me, so I was cautiously optimistic as I watched this film and I have to say it was much better than I thought it was going to be. Yes it had a fair few problem, but on the whole it was very solid.

So, straight of the bat the plot is very predictable, you can tell from very early on where it is going, and you will have seen many different films very similar to this one. Secondly, Moana herself to me felt quite bland she never really had much to her that made her standout; from the lead she was deeply underdeveloped. Luckily Maui and voice actor Dwayne Johnson steal the show, he is the reason this film works; without his easy charm the film wouldn’t be even half as good.

The songs are quite good, particularly the first song done by Johnson, who knew the man could sing as well. I found them all to be quite catchy and I enjoyed them, my only issue with them was that they were ten a penny, there seemed to be a song every five seconds and yes I enjoyed the most of them, but some of them just felt forced in.

Also, something I will penalise this film heavily for is that they wasted the legend that is Jeamaine Clement, they give his character one scene and then he never comes back; the horror.

Overall, standard Disney fare made better by the presence of the Rock and a few good songs, however it is far from perfect.

Pros.

The Polynesian influence

Dwayne Johnson

Some of the songs

Cons.

Too many songs

It feels too familiar

3/5

Reviewed by Luke

The Angry Birds Movie: Curse Breaker?

The Angry Birds Movie is an animated videogame adaption directed by Clay Kaytis and Fergal Reilly. The plot sees pigs invade Bird Island and no one can see their dastardly intent expect for one angry bird. Red (Jason Sudeikis), must set out on a question to recover the lost eggs and defeat the evil pigs.

I think this was the film that proved that videogame adaptions could be done well, before Sonic. I played the hell out of Angry Birds and I really enjoyed this film, I enjoyed how the film was able to create personalities around the game characters, which were incredibly hollow.

I thought all of the characters were done really well, with Red and Might Eagle (Peter Dinklage), probably being my favourite. The humour of the film is well done, and I often found myself laughing, the comedy itself was surprisingly mature for a kid’s film. However, the thing I connected to the most was the heart of the film.

Red being shunned because be was angry, unlike all the other birds who are happy all the time, was a stroke of genius and it made it feel earned and genuine when the towns people came to appreciate him for how he is and it was said anger that let him rise to the occasion and save everyone.

Overall, this is a nice easy to watch film, that will make you laugh and maybe make you feel something. Not as strong as Sony’s Hotel Transylvania offerings, but still a good watch.

Pros.

Bringing the game to life

Red and the other characters

The comedy and the heart

Cons.

The comedy is a little juvenile at times

The film is poorly paced and feels too long even though it is only an hour and a half

3.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

How To Train Your Dragon 2: Hiccup The Horrible

How To Train Your Dragons 2 is an animated action and adventure film directed by Dean DeBlois. The plot sees Hiccup (Jay Baruchel), and the rest of Berk come under attack by a man who styles himself as the one true dragon master who sets his sights on taming an ancient all-powerful dragon and conquering the world.

I really enjoyed the first How To Train Your Dragons, I thought it had great emotional beats and set up a dense world. However, to me this film is a step backwards in a lot of ways. The emotional beats don’t hit as hard as they did in the first film, the death of Hiccup’s father does not make you emote as much as the almost death of Toothless in the first film, which says all you need to know.

Another thing I didn’t like about this film was the characterization of Hiccup, he goes from an unsure kid with a good heart in the first film, to a cocky, know it all, who blatantly thinks he knows better than everyone else and whose bad actions leads to terrible outcomes.

Moreover, this film makes the world feel far less big than it did in the last film, the villain and the new characters introduced in this film make the world seem to be only as big as the Viking territories. If the villain came from somewhere else entirely in the world that maybe had other fantasy beasts then they could have successfully built on the worldbuilding of the first.

Overall, this film is disappointing.

Pros.

I liked some of the new characters

It furthered the first films story

Cons.

The emotional beats weren’t as strong

The world feels very small

Hiccup is unlikable

2/5

Reviewed by Luke