Tales Of The Jedi: Life And Death

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

We follow Ashoka’s baby years.

Star Wars really is starting to get desperate, the content mine is well and truly running dry. Who thought a show about a baby Ashoka was what was needed to get people into this universe, worse yet it is the flagship opening episode for a new animated Star Wars series and honestly after watching this it makes you want to turn off from the series.

Honestly this is just a bad twenty ish minutes of TV as nothing of note happens and then at the end of it all they say that Ashoka is a Jedi for taming an animal which just feels forced in to try and get a reaction from the audience. The animated side of Star Wars has long been obsessed with Ashoka as a character but this is really starting to take the biscuit.

Overall, who wanted this?

Pros.

It is short

Cons.

It is boring

It feels needless

It is a weak opener for the series

It is a slog to get through

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Lyle Lyle Crocodile: A Surprising Delight

4/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A singing crocodile, voiced by Shawn Mendes, enters a families’ life and changes it forever.

Is this the greatest film ever? No. Will this be the film that gets you into the music of Shawn Mendes? Probably not, but maybe.

Though this film will never set the world on fire I think it was a lot better than it had any right being. The best thing about it is certainly the energy and the heart that the film has, this film is a fun ride that is undeniable and during that ride it will make you feel things, you’ll laugh and you’ll cry and by Jove you might even end up liking the songs of Shawn Mendes. Before watching this I had never heard a Shawn Mendes song but now after watching it I can safely say I might listen to his music now, I feel like the film was a good taster for it.

I think the performances across the board were good, especially Javier Bardem and Constance Wu, both gave off real warmth and had us care about their characters. In the case of Wu this film really reminded me of the charm and charisma she had on the early seasons of Fresh Off The Boat I hope she keeps making films where she gets to have fun and show off that side of herself.

There are some rather obvious issues with the film such as weird CGI for the crocodile and incredibly blatant product placement, but to me I thought both of these added to the so bad it is good appeal of the film. Certainly it is more of a goofy watch then a serious film that you have to sit down and experience, it reminded me in many ways of the recent Sonic movies.

Overall, a lot of fun was had.

Pros.

It is a fun ride

It is very well paced

It makes you laugh and cry

Lyle is incredibly likeable and cute

Cons.

It is nothing new, but in a sense it doesn’t need to be

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Rick and Morty: Juricksic Mort

2.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Dinosaurs return to Earth and they are super advanced and basically force us all into a comfortable retirement.

So unlike some that I am seeing out there on the social media sphere I don’t mind that this episode laughs at and shuts down ideas around the shows cannon. The Dinosaurs fix the space rift and Rick’s portal gun, which he fixes again later in the episode, and most of these big things from the end of the last season are quickly and unceremoniously wrapped up. That doesn’t bother me, what does bother me however is the fact that this episode is no fun at all.

It is not so much that this episode is boring but that there is nothing to it, the Dinosaurs show up put us all out of a job then humans get angry and want them gone really there is nothing new or inventive to that premise. Everything goes as you would expect it to and there isn’t even any humour in the episode that can help to make it better, most of the jokes fall down in a big way.

The only thing I particularly liked about this episode was seeing Lisa Kudrow voice a T-Rex that was a fun addition.

Overall, I really hope the last few episodes can pick this season up because otherwise I might not come back for season 7.

Pros.

Lisa Kudrow as a T-Rex

It is watchable

A few nice Jerry moments

Cons.

It is boring, trite and predictable

It is too smug for its own good

It wastes a pretty good premise

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Rick and Morty: Final DeSmithation

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Rick, voiced by Justin Roiland, and Jerry, voiced by Chris Parnell, go on a fortune cookie related quest to stop the latter from sleeping with his mum.

Right off the bat I just want to say that the whole incest theme running through the show doesn’t particularly bother me, honestly I think it is done out of desperation to try and seem edgy and keep the controversy and in that the attention on the show. No, I don’t think one of the writer’s fetish is bleeding onto the show, it’s just for attention.

With that in mind I am starting to question whether I might be tapped out on this show, as I am just finding with this new season that I am not really enjoying it anymore and quite often, though there are good parts to some episodes, I am finding them a slog to finish. Again with this episode I liked that it was a Rick and Jerry adventure, those are fairly rare, and I also liked the fact that fortunes played such a big part of the final battle sequences, but at the same time it just didn’t hit in the same way an earlier season episode would have. Moreover, I also think the social commentary of the show is starting to become far too obvious and on the nose, in short I think the quality of the writing is getting worse.

Overall, the fortune cookie angle is a nice gimmick for the episode but it is nothing special.

Pros.

The fortune fight at the end

Seeing more of Rick and Jerry

It is very watchable

Cons.

It lacks the spark it once had

The writing is not great and that effects the episode in a number of ways

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Rick And Morty: Night Family

3.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The family program their sleeping selves to do all of the things they don’t want to do.

I think this was probably the best episode so far of the new season. I liked the premise and thought that it mixed in a nice amount of horror into the usual science fiction formula, Night Summer, played by Spencer Grammar, was especially creepy.

I also enjoyed the bond between Jerry and Night Jerry, both voiced by Chris Parnell, I thought that the relationship between the two was nice to see and moreover, it is just nice to see someone treat Jerry like an actual human being for once.

The downside of this episode for me was that it all just boiled down to one big car chase which whilst entertaining feels like the most mediocre way to end things. What’s more the whole thing ends up feeling redundant as in the end the Night family win anyway, which further adds to the powering down of Rick, voiced by Justin Roiland, this season.

Overall, a fun episode but not the best the show has ever done.

Pros.

The horror elements

The friendship between Jerry and Night Jerry

It is a good premise

A number of funny moments

Cons.

The ending feels a bit lackluster

Rick is far too easily beaten

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Rick and Morty: Bethic Twinstinct

2.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Beth, voiced by Sarah Chalke, begins an affair with her clone and the rest of the family try and process it.

I think that for a while now Rick and Morty has become more and more mean spirited and depressing, I know there has always been an element of it in the show, but now it is getting hard to watch. The way non-space Beth treats her husband her is really quite unpleasant and makes the whole thing hard to watch.

I enjoyed the Summer, voiced by Spencer Grammar, and Morty, voiced by Justin Roiland, b plot slightly more. I thought the idea of hyper realistic videogames was cool and I enjoyed how the episode showed them reacting to their mum’s affair. I thought they became great stand-ins for the audience here.

Overall, mostly just a depressing episode.

Pros.

The videogame stuff was interesting

Summer and Morty had some good moments

There were a few funny jokes

Cons.

It feels mean spirited

It is quite uncomfortable viewing

It isn’t enjoyable

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Rick And Morty: Rick, A Mort Well Lived

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Morty, voiced by Justin Roiland, gets stuck inside a videogame and Rick, also voiced by Roiland, has to go in and save him. Meanwhile Summer, voiced by Spencer Grammar, has to do a Die Hard.

I thought this was better than the first episode of the series, but was still fairly flawed in a number of ways. During the video game sequence when the various different parts of Morty decided whether they wanted to leave the game and return to the real world with Rick things got far too philosophical. I thought the idea of the using this moment to force Rick to confront how he felt about his grandson and show some warmth was a nice touch and did manage to save this side of the episode from being a total mess.

Summer doing a Die Hard was definitely the highlight of the episode for me as it was fun. Far too much recently Rick And Morty as a show has delved into deep emotional waters whilst ignoring the fun that made the show so watchable in the early days. If you just have a bunch of heavy storylines then it quickly becomes a bummer to watch. In this respect I enjoyed the dumb fun of seeing Summer mow down a group of alien terrorists and thought that it made for a nice break from the heavier elements within the episode.

Overall, a lot better than the first episode, but still not great.

Pros.

Summer doing a Die Hard

Rick saying how he feels about Morty

The ending

Cons.

It gets a bit too philosophical at times

The pacing

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Rick And Morty: Solaricks

1/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Rick And Morty return with such a low effort whimper that it makes you question why they even returned at all.

Honestly this episode was crap. I was looking forward to the new season starting and was hoping for a return to more breezy one off episodes rather than the heavy cannon focus we got towards the end of last season and boy was I let down.

This episode basically just goes over everything that happened in the season finale again just in case you had forgotten. That is all it does, no new adventure, some lame portal gun shenanigans is stuffed in as a b plot but even that doesn’t go far enough to be interesting. We get the tease of the evil Rick clone that killed our Rick’s wife and kid being out in the open, and the episode suggests that maybe our Rick will kill him but this just peters out into nothing.

In addition to all of those issues the episode is also majorly depressing and not particularly fun to watch in any way. The episode’s dialogue is basically just the characters saying how bad things are now and how they are sorry for letting things get this way which feels more aptly like the writers acknowledging their fault.

Overall, a terrible start to the season.

Pros.

Space Beth returns

Cons.

It is depressing

It just rehashes the last episode’s plot

It feels tired

It starts the season off on a bad note

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Luck: Mindless Slop That Isn’t Worth Your Kids Time

1/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Unlucky Sam, voiced by Eva Nobelzada, discovers the world of luck.

I have written before about the fact that often animated films aimed at families and children don’t feel the need to try to be good or to match the standards that people would expect from films with the idea that children will eat up any old slop, and this really does embody that idea.

In many ways this film feels dead behind the eyes and truly soulless, there is nothing of meaningful substance here, instead it just went through the motions and churned out tired fantasy tropes that we have seen again and again. They also force in some songs for who knows what reason, probably because a focus group recommended it, and in these song and dance numbers we get another good luck at again studio executives trying to pander to the youth of today in the most cringe way.

I think the vocal performances across the board were nearly consistently terrible, with Nobezada sound bored and asleep at the wheel with the line delivery of low battery robot and Simon Pegg doing his best Mike Myers as Shrek impression. I am a huge fan of Pegg as an actor but I question why he was cast here, he really doesn’t bring much to the film and someone possessing a real Scottish accent who is also a talented voice actor say someone like James McAvoy could have done a much better job of it.

Overall, don’t subject your kids to this, they won’t look at you the same way afterwards.

Pros.

It is pretty bad but it is not unwatchable or offensive

Cons.

Nobelzada

Pegg

The story is stupid and contrived

The songs

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DC League Of Super-Pets: The Horniest Turtle You Will Ever Meet

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Krypto, voiced by Dwayne Johnson and a rag tag group of other pets must come together to save the Justice League after they are bested by Lex Luthor’s Guinea Pig, voiced by Kate McKinnon.

I think this film is very watchable and has a lot of good elements within it, do I think this film is going to set the world on fire? No, obviously not, but I think there are worse ways to spend a few hours.

With the exception of one character that I will get to later, most of the characters are fairly one note of forgettable, and their respective voice actors don’t do all that much to liven up proceedings. Natasha Lyonne does her best as a horny turtle and lands a few laughs but even she can’t save this film on a performance front. Hell even Keanu Reeves himself, the man who can single-handedly save any movie, as Batman isn’t enough. Those are words I never thought I would have to write.

The one exception to this however is Kevin Hart as Ace. The leader of the stray pack and a dog who was chucked out of his home after saving a little girl from falling down the stairs has a massive amount of depth and heart put into his character and Hart really delivers on a warm and tender yet also funny vocal performance. I think truly that this is Kevin Hart’s film and that he outshines all of his co-stars and forms a soon to be beloved animated character.

I also enjoyed all the reference in this film to other films such as the throwaway Warriors bit. Though most audiences of this film won’t have watched that, I found it to be funny. Moreover, on the whole I found myself laughing quite a few times during this film and do think the humour works quite well.

Overall, a watchable and somewhat entertaining animated film with one really strong character, sadly the rest of the characters aren’t quite on the mark.

Pros.

Hart

It is funny

The references

The ending

Cons.

The voice cast is mostly wasted

It has pacing issues

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