Kiki’s Delivery Service: The Heart Of Ghibli

Summary: a young witch begins delivering parcels.

On the site we have covered a number of Ghibli films and whilst other writers have said what their favourites are, for this writer this is a timeless classic.

This is something so warming and wholesome about this film, there is no grand stakes or major villains, but there is a story about self belief and leaning to believe in yourself.

There is a slightly off note quality to the film which is in a lot of Ghibli films and the idea that there is something darker going on beyond the surface of the film, this harms the film. However the broader wholesome elements really help to balance it out.

The animation is of course beautiful and the European influence helps to give this film a distinct sense of identity.

Overall, a wonderful film and possibly one of Ghibli’s best.

4.5/5

Pros.

The charm and wholesomeness

The beautiful animation

The pacing

The music

The European influence

Cons.

The darker undercurrent

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X-Men 97 Season 2: Marvel Animation Continues To Make Problems

Summary: Disney stuffs about ten years of comics storytelling into a handful of episodes.

You’d think that with Marvel’s new X-Men film on the horizon that they may stop with this, as they are ripping through comics storylines that could be whole sagas on their own in a matter of a few episodes. It is spoiling things to come for a more casual audience as well.

Whilst there is a worry and we’ve expressed it before that Marvel’s X-Men film will try and tell a new X-Men storyline despite the decades of pedigree that exists, it is now becoming that they will adapt these storylines for Disney + with 97 instead.

It’s a lot of the same issues from the first season Morph isn’t non-binary, and doesn’t need so much screen time, they also give a hell of a lot to screen time to Rogue whilst Gambit and Storm generally get a lot less development. There certainly is a sense almost to make Rogue the main character of the show, simply as she is the feature of a popular internet meme.

Overall, much the same as the first season, and without the proper space to explore deeper X-Men themes or ideas as it rushes through storylines.

2/5

Pros.

A few good X-Men moments

Some good action

Cons.

The pacing

The ignored characters

The modern dayisms

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Coyote Vs Acme: The Looney Tunes Are Back

Summary: Wiley sues Acme for the millions of bad products they have sold him over time.

Live action animation projects often have a history of producing mixed results however, every now and then there is one that comes along that really works, Looney Tunes Back In Action was this, The Sonic movies too, and very much to its credit so is this film.

It finds a use for all of the most prominent Looney Tunes characters, except for Marvin the Martian, and Speedy Gonzales and creates a world and a story where they don’t feel forced in but like a natural part.

The story itself was very heart warming with the relationship between Will Forte’s lawyer character and Willie becoming the core of the film. The mystery of what Acme is doing is also interesting and quite deep philosophically for a kids film.

The only issue the film has is a structural issue, it makes little sense how the film wraps up, it would have made sense for Acme to be taken down during the congressional hearing. Not as the film does it immediately after Acme winning the case and only because Bugs leaked evidence, it would have made sense for Bugs to show up at the congressional hearing with the evidence as well and have Acme lose.

Overall, the best thing out of the Looney Tunes in years

4.5/5

Pros.

The world

The inter character relationships

Forte and Condor

The references and callbacks

It’s funny

Cons.

The structure of the ending

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Paw Patrol The Dino Movie: Brain Rot For Kids

Summary: the animals find other older animals.

This is soulless if this is what constitutes animation these days then the practice should be shelved permanently. There is no depth in the characters or their bonds, or their dialogue, it is just the most obvious vapid platitudes.

This feels like a glorified advert with the animals needing to get new vehicles and have the disabled dog who was already riding a t-rex, have it upgraded to sell more toys. It was incredibly cynical.

The villain is maybe on screen for about 5 minutes and is just silly without any real motivation, they are also stopped incredibly easily showing no real stakes at all in that.

When you look at a film like Minons and Monsters and compare it to this you can see the difference, one is designed to sell toys and to rot kids brains the other goes a bit deeper, has characters and has a story to tell.

Overall, the series and films need to stop.

0.5/5

Pros.

It has a few unintentionally funny moments

Cons.

It’s shallow and vapid

It doesn’t have characters it has a tick box list of traits

The villain is weak

The pacing is awful

It is just an advert

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Batman Caped Crusader Season 2 Overview: They Continue To Ruin The Batman Mythos

Why not have the Riddler as just another thug, it destroys his character but why not, why not gender flip more classic Batman villains like The Mad Hatter rather than bringing in actual female villains like Lady Shiva.

They make Harley Quinn a girlboss, she breaks from the Joker far too early and easily and it really damages the overall relationship there in terms of dynamics and how that plays out. As well as this they introduce The Dark Knight Returns Robin rather than you know any of the other more well known ones. Again all of this is a choice.

When you look at something like Invincible and yes it does make changes from the comics but it also replicates things as well pretty 1:1 at times, this just seems like vandalism.

Overall: lots of people already aren’t watching this but you shouldn’t either.

1/5

Pros.

There are a couple of cool fights

Cons.

The gender swaps

The lore ruining moments

The girlbosses

The animation itself

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Cinema Issues: The Death of Pixar

We have written before at length in these Cinema Issues posts about how Pixar has chosen ideology over entertainment time and again, and how they have literally had to come out and say they’ll stop. Moreover, we have also said how they have been a one hit wonder emotionally manipulative, sequel machine for a long time.

Today’s article is to talk about the Disney layoffs which are happening across the company but mainly at Pixar. Some people are not understanding how Pixar can be in trouble when Toy Story 5 has just come out and done so well, let us explain.

Pixar has a bad profit to loss ratio in their recent filmmaking. In their ten films since 2020 only three of them have made money with the rest losing the studio money, some of this is the fault of Pixar and the films themselves some of it is the fault of world events or Disney’s wider decisions. However a 3/10 ratio for profitability is not good.

Let’s examine.

First you have the COVID films that lost money due to COVID and the films being sent out to streaming rather than them being bad but still created a deficit at the studio and start to dent the idea of them as hitmakers.

Onward with a budget of 200 million dollars needing to make 500 million to break even yet making 141 (due to the pandemic) lost the studio 359 million dollars.

Soul cost 150 million meaning it needed 375 million to break even but it made 122 million, costing the studio 253 million even with re-releases.

Luca coat 120 meaning it needed 300 million to break even, it made 50 million needing it cost the studio around 250 million

Turning Red cost 175 million meaning it needed 437 million to break even, it made 21 million costing the studio around 417 million dollars

These films were largely written off as most of the films that flopped during COVID where. There was an idea that once cinemas fully reopened things would change. However, Pixar then started to pivot to social activism and sending a message, which would turn out to be a very costly mistake.

Lightyear cost 200 meaning it needed 500 million to break even, it made 226 meaning it cost the studio 274 million dollars

Elemental cost 200 meaning it needs 500 million to break even, despite a strong rally it made 496.4 million dollars meaning it cost the studio 3.6 million.

Inside Out 2 was a smash hit that started to reverse the damage, it cost 200 million to make and made 1.699 billion so it made around 1.199 billion dollars in profit for the studio. This amount of profit more than covers all the past debts of all the films listed above, and leaves the studio around 300 million dollars in the black, however, if this success had then been replicated going forward Disney would likely not have laid off so many people.

Elio cost around 200 to make meaning it needed 500 to break even, It made 154 million meaning it lost the studio around 346 million which in turn eats through the last of Inside Out 2s profit for the studio.

At this point in the entire 2020s the studio had made one profitable film and was back in a precarious financial position again. This led the studio head to stay that the studio was going to stay away from political messaging and try and get back to films for everyone.

The holdovers of the woke era then came with Hoppers costing 150 to make meaning it needed 375 million to break even, it made 389 meaning it made a small profit of 14 million dollars, which in the world of movie making isn’t enough.

Then you had Toy Story 5 which cost around 250 million to make meaning it needed 625 to break even, currently it has made around 960 million and seems posed to go over a billion which will make probably around 400+ million in profit for the studio.

At the time of writing Pixar as a studio is in the black after Toy Story 5 and the small scale success of Hoopers. However Disney doesn’t want a studio that is batting 3/10, Disney doesn’t want a studio that constantly veers between profitably and loss making, Disney doesn’t want a studio that isn’t a sure thing. As such you can see corrective behaviour being taken at Pixar, the original output beyond Gato is being slashed it’s mainly sequels coming in the future, and if they were smart the budgets would come down significantly. The lay offs represent the need to make the studio profitable on a more consistent basis again, the idea of cutting the overhead down so they can lower the budget on these films and have a more consistent hit rate, especially in a landscape with a shrinking theatrical audience.

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Minions and Monsters: The True Story Behind Hollywood’s Golden Age

Summary: a minion with a dream sets out to make it big.

In many ways this film is good, it is funny, has heart and does a lot to show the good that can come from chasing your dreams. The monsters have their moments though it may have been more fun to have had the Minions go through a parade of different big bosses only to mess up and have to move on.

Part of where the film struggles is that it tries to juggle too many plots, you have the filmmaking storyline, you have the goal of the monsters, you have Dort and his love interest, and you have the meta narrative in both the sense of the tour guide telling the story as well as meta references to Minions and Monsters as a real film. There is a lot going on and it can sometimes feel like the film is jumping from one thing to the other a bit too much.

Zoey Deutch voices Dorts love interest, who is a suffragette type figure fighting for women to have the vote. When we first saw this we thought here we go, but no that is all quickly left behind as she becomes interested in Dort and instead cheers him on through his journey as he is trying to save all the world. It was a nice subversion of the modern preachy message.

Overall, another good film in the franchise but one that is narratively weak at times.

4/5

Pros.

The subversion

It’s funny

The characters are likeable

It’s well paced in terms of keeping your interest

Cons.

The tries to do too much and is overly complicated at times

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Maul Shadow Lord Season Overview: The Right Direction For Star Wars?

Summary: Darth Maul continues his gangland story set under the reign of the Empire.

If you enjoyed Clone Wars and Rebels you will likely enjoy this, we did for the most part. It is nice to see Star Wars be dark and gritty and the gangland focus was a great way to do that. The action in the series hit where it needs to and seeing the fights with the inquisitors was cool. The only issue with this side of things is that due to plot armour you know neither Maul nor the particular inquisitors could die here as that would break canon.

Maul is a great character to explore the moral nuances within the force and to look at the idea of Sith not being aligned and instead being very hostile towards each other. There were a number of shots that referenced Dracula, or Nosferatu which gave the series a very cool vibe, particularly when Maul is calling to his apprentice as she sleeps.

The stuff with the apprentice and the cop was where things started to fall apart, that is not to say it was all bad. There were some great scenes, however, these stop and let’s talk about our feelings scenes slowed the plot down a lot, particularly when it was the cop and his son. Maul’s escape and the beginning of Devon’s training should have happened midseason not at the end of 10 episodes. There was too much filler.

Overall, a good Star Wars TV show with a lot of promise.

3/5

Pros.

Maul

The homages to horror

The inquisitor fights

Cons.

Filler

Yet more Jedi escaped Order 66

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Lesbian Space Princess: Yawn Haven’t We Been Here Before

Summary: Making one aspect of who you are your entire personality.

So in an era where we should all be supporting independent animation, this film makes that hard to do so.

Firstly, there is nothing fresh about it, this film seems to act like having a lesbian front and centre is some sort of new novel idea, when it has been done for a long time and is no longer new. Believe us when we tell you that this film will really push down your throat the fact the character is a lesbian just in case you forgot.

Secondly, as far as adult animation goes it looks very similar to a lot of other projects, whilst there is nothing inherently wrong with sharing an animation style, it would be nice if there was something to differentiate it.

Thirdly, you have the fact it is adult animation which means cringe and at times edgy jokes, which are met with a sigh.

Overall, if you want to see an incredibly bland film that thinks having a lesbian in it is something new and novel when it isn’t then this is the one for you.

1/5

Pros.

It’s short

Cons.

The humour

The characters

It rama DEI into every pore of the film

It is cringe

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Cinema Issues: Gender, Sexuality and Modern Pixar

For anyone watching Toy Story 5 it becomes clear from the off that there is something insidious under the surface. This is the entire subversion of gender roles. Now this has been explained away by staff as “how little girls play” however this was clearly a deliberate creative choice. Kenna Harris even admitted there were other versions of the play sequences yet they went with the ones they did.

Remember after a string of recent flops Pete Doctor said that the studio would get back to making films for everyone, it sure doesn’t feel like it.

When looking at Toy Story 5 and asking question why did it do that, you only need look at the creative team. Harris was the co director, she has never directed anything major for Pixar before, she was brought in with veteran Andrew Stanton. She is also a woman who views herself as being non binary, showing that to the core of her identity is disputed ideas around gender. One cannot jump to blaming her immediately as Stanton and the wider team at Pixar would have had to sign off on the charges to the characters.

This feels like a continuation of a studio that has one thing one the mind, remember when they forced in a same sex kiss into Lightyear, or when Pixar staff were upset as had to remove the larger LGBTQ+ themes from Elio. Clearly they want to push gender stuff and LGBTQ themes though their kids films, which is dicey.

To answer the Elephant in the room about what they did in Toy Story 5, we can answer in 3 parts.

Jessie- is now far more masculine and aggressive, during the romance scenes with Buzz she is mostly disinterested and focused on her anti tech crusade, she isn’t shown as having any softness bar once.

Woody- as the former male leader character is humiliated, no one respects him, he has to fight with buzz about who get the number 2 position under Jessie. In his interpersonal relationship with Bo he is shown to also be dominated.

Buzz- arguably the most notable case. Buzz was hyper masculine in previous films as he was a space ranger action hero toy. Now he is bumbling, seemingly unable to do anything without Jessie, he gives another male voiced toy the kiss of life at the start of the film. Then you have the wedding sequence at the end of the film, after the proposal Buzz’s leg twists up as is traditionally feminine, Buzz is given away as is what happens to women, Buzz gets the ring put on him first (again women), and Buzz is dipped for the kiss (again submissive). Then you have the fact he’s wearing a skirt, people scream oh it’s a kilt, it’s funny isn’t it we don’t remember Buzz being Scottish before this film. They knew they would get a backlash to him wearing a skirt so added in this cop out.

Not only is it character vandalism, but also one has to ask why are they doing this. Why are they trying to destroy traditional masculine elements and traditional feminine aspects within a film aimed at kids. What the film presents you with is a world wherein men act like women and women act like men, can you see the message there.

Pixar as a studio has made it’s bones very clear about what it wants to do, and why and if this sort of stuff bothers you, you shouldn’t be watching their films. It shows how deeply out of touch Hollywood is from reality

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