Spellbound: Rachel Zegler Is Banned From The Press Tour

Kids learn about the wonders of divorce from an early age.

So the plot of this film is that a royal couple argue a lot and it turns them into monsters and only when they realise that they cannot be together any more can they turn back into their old selves. Is that message on the nose enough for you? Or does it need to reach into your living room and clip you around the ears?

Moreover, the film stars one of the most unlikeable people in Hollywood right now in Rachel Zegler, who is an overly opinionated young person who thinks she knows better than people twice her age. The question is am I talking about Zegler the person or her character in the film? It’s a trick question, the answer is both.

Furthermore, even with all of that aside the film has no charm, when you consider that the director is the same person who directed the original Shrek one of the most charming animated films ever, you are left to question what happened?

Overall, Skydance animation really need to overhaul their approach because so far they have been making dud after dud and surely they can’t afford to keep that going forever.

1/5

Pros.

It is short

Cons

Zegler

The message

It is generic

It is badly paced

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Moana Two: Sailing The Seas Of Mediocrity

Summary

We take to the seas once again, why? Well there isn’t really a reason for that.

This film is one of the worst written animated films I have seen in a long while. It is abundantly clear that Disney just think that kids and families will eat up any old slop so what’s the point trying to make it good.

Moreover, much like more soulful animated fare from this year like The Wild Robot there is no charm here. They try and have it be oh this is a big emotional journey and it wants to make you feel, but you don’t. It is hollow and soulless and at times feels like they have taken the carcass of the first film ripped any remaining meat from its withered bones and just thrown it out in cinemas.

I question narratively what is the point in this film it doesn’t really change the status quo all that much and it doesn’t develop the characters in any meaningful way, it just feels like you’re going through the motions repeating things you liked more in the previous film.

Overall, don’t waste your kids life on substandard animated films.

1/5

Pros.

The water looks pretty

Cons.

It is a cash grab

It adds nothing to the characters or the world

It has no charm

It is boring

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Rick And Morty Season 7 Season Overview

Summary

Rick and Morty matures.

After the end of season 6 I had taken somewhat of a break from the show, and so returning now I didn’t know quite what to expect especially with a new voice actors.

However, I found it to be far more of a meditative and contemplative of a season than I was expecting it to be. What I notice was a more overt shift in Rick’s character, he cares more about his family than ever before, this season really feels very therapeutic for Rick as a character.

I found the wrapping up of the prime Rick storyline to be interesting, I am glad they didn’t drag it out. I thought bringing back evil Morty in more positive role was an interesting choice I am surprised they went there, however, after seeing it I am glad they did.

Another thing I noticed is that this season has a number of one off episodes yet they feel from connected to the other episodes, there is not this question, this battle between continuity random silly fun to wed here in a much more fluid way. I think this is reflective of the writing evolving with the show.

This season certainly brought me back to the fold, however, I would say that it was surprisingly sparse on things for the wider family and side characters to do, it was a very Rick and Morty season. Whilst I like the focus being on these two I do also like to see the family developed and explored so that was missed.

Overall, a solid season with good character work

4/5

Pros.

Rick

Morty

Blending continuity with serialization

The more mature themes

Cons.

A lack of family centered episodes

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The Wild Robot: Rewilding In The Extreme

Summary

A robot lands on a planet and tries to help them complete tasks.

So on the surface of it this film doesn’t have much going for it, the premise is a little uninspired and doesn’t do much to get you to engage with the film, however, the film really manages to deliver on the emotional stakes.

I found the film to be quite emotionally impactful and I really ended up caring about the interpersonal relationships of the characters by the end of it. I would argue that this emotional resonance manages to balance out the lack of charm, as unlike other DreamWorks’ film such as Shrek this film didn’t have the same sort of personability or even humour.

I would say that Lupita Nyong’o was the right choice for the role of the robot as she doesn’t have to put in much in the way of emotion into her performance. A lack of emotion seems to be a hallmark of Nyong’o’s acting style.

Overall, an emotional rollercoaster of a film without much charm on the character side of things

3/5

Pros.

The emotion

The ending

The animation

Cons.

A lack of charm

Nyong’o

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Legend Of The Tomb Raid: Series Overview

Summary

Haley Atwell’s turn as Lara Croft is a botch from top to bottom.

It is such a shame to say that Hayley Atwell who was a great fit for Croft, though I would have gone live action, is really wasted here. The series feels very generic and as thought it could be based on anything, the series doesn’t seem to understand the games at all.

Moreover, the physicality of Lara Croft with her looking jacked and pretty masculine doesn’t track either, in the games she doesn’t look like that, in no other fiction is she shown in such a way. That is also true for the fact that now Lara is BI a detail that again has no origin in anything other than it’s a Netflix show so of course she is now.

Crucially the series doesn’t have any of the heart or the fun of the games, raiding tombs doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom and action Lara does have a softer and funnier side, and that is actually shown in the games.

Overall, Netflix has done what it does with everything .

0.5/5

Pros.

It isn’t as bad as it could have been

Cons.

Netflix modernise it

It has nothing to do with the games or the character

It wastes Atwell

It has no fun or heart

It makes Lara look masculine

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Velma: Mindy Kaling’s Career Just Won’t Die

Summary

Velma, voiced by Mindy Kailing, cannot do us all a favour and die and so has to come back as a snarky and thoroughly unlikeable ghost.

Bitter is the word I would use to describe this special, bitter was a word that encapsulated the whole of Velma’s run. Now I know that it was possible but unlikely that win they filmed this they knew it had been cancelled, but it feels as though this special is aware of its cancellation and wants to get in as many jabs as it can in order to settle scores.

We get a repeat of all of Kailing’s classic lines, such as how she fetishes white guys whilst also having all her characters be super liberal and hate them. She is quirky and insecure yet demands to be the centre of attention all the time. Finally who could forget making the whole affair as sordid and needlessly unpleasant just for the hell of it. It was always clear that Kailing and co had no respect for the source material when they made this show but once again we get that point hammered home for us.

Does this special serve as a fitting end for the series? No, ultimately it chooses to go out flipping everyone, audience included, off one last time rather than trying to set out any meaningful closure for the characters or hint at somethings yet to come.

Overall, this special was just as hateful as you would expect. All I can say is at least it is over now

0/5

Pros.

None

Cons.

It shouldn’t exist

It is hateful

It doesn’t offer an ending or any kind of closure

It is obnoxious

It is unfunny

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Paranorman: We All Need To Listen More

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A young boy, voiced by Kodi Smit-McPhee, can talk to dead people and needs to use his gift in order to save the town.

I think Laika is one of the best animation studios, mainly this is because they are not soulless CGI studios owned by massive studios like Disney, or Universal. Laika along with places like Aardman and Ghibli are some of the few truly original studios left and I think that is incredibly important. The studios talents are on full display here as we see a very gothic inspired world that also has a lot of call backs to classic Americana and the creature features of the 50s and 60s.

There is also something beautiful and timeless about the message of people hating things that scare them even if they pose no real threat to them. It makes the weak and confused message of a contemporary release like Inside Out 2 look so much worse by comparison. In my opinion that is what a lot of recent animated films are missing good central messages.

Overall, a sweet and seasonally appropriate film that is beautifully animated.

4/5

Pros.

The message

The animation

The characters

The world

Cons.

A few pacing issues

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Transformers One: A Film No One Wanted

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The Transformers prequel no one needed.

Who wanted to see Optimus Prime, Voiced by Chris Hemsworth, and Megatron, voiced by Brian Tyree Henry, as slacker bros before becoming enemies? A grand total of no one. The idea of seeing them almost as spoofs of themselves entirely unserious on Cybertron does take away from them as character and seems frankly incredibly out of character.

Moreover, the fact that they can transform makes no sense as the earliest reference point had them scanning earth vehicles in order to assume disguises, yet now they just turn into cars for no reason, they don’t even have a reference point as they haven’t been to Earth yet.

The fact that after this much time they can’t figure out how to make a crowd pleasing Transformers film is frankly baffling. Bring the cartoon, the original, to life have giant robots fighting and maybe a human side kick for good measure if you need to, they shouldn’t be lead, and the baddies should be bad, not this weak stuff.

Overall, a massive misstep.

1/5

Pros.

It has a few endearing moments

Cons.

It is unnecessary

It makes little sense

It ruins the lore of the series

It is dumb

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Futurama Season Twelve Overview: Pulling A Lazarus

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Futurama does something I never thought possible, it turns things around massively in the space of just one season.

I will be referring to the season by both its production and broadcast season numbers in this piece so if you are confused why I call it by two separate names that is why, I will try to keep it to a minimum.

As some of you may know I was sorely unimpressed with season 8/11 whereas this new season 9/12 is a massive improvement. This latest season has a lot of what you would call classic Futurama charm, and ditches a lot of last seasons need to be topical and mention everything from cancel culture to bitcoin.

In my mind there are only two bad episodes this season out of a run of ten. These for me were The One Amigo which felt like a poor Bender, voiced by John DiMaggio, introspection episode. As well as Attack of the Clothes for how much it pushes Cara Delevingne in a way that would make The Simpsons blush.

The rest of the run was either watchable or good, Quids Game which you might imagine I’d have an issue with as again it is trying to mimic something new and popular rather than tell a new story is one of my favourite of the season. The reason for that is that though it’s premise is based on parody there is a strong emotional core there that taps into Fry’s, voiced by Billy West, time in the eighties/nineties.

I am still not thrilled with how the season deals with Leela, voiced by Katey Sagal, and Fry as a couple, they aren’t even shown living together as they were last season, but I did like that the end of the season does push their relationship forward somewhat, even if it does later kill them.

Overall, I would say of this season that it feels at times as though it is almost back to form, it is a million miles away from the husk that was the previous season and shows that the series still has good bones underneath a desire to be topical. Hopefully next year’s batch of episodes continues to refine the formula.

4/5

Pros.

Almost back to classic level

Some good new episodes that add to the wider cannon

A character focus and emotional core

It meaningly moves Fry and Leela as a couple forward

Cons.

It pushes Cara too much

It has two naff episodes

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What If Season 2 Overview

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

What If is back and boy is it a downgrade.

So before we get into the overview lets talk about the basic conceit of the show. It is what if stories based on films in the MCU, it is not new stories that have no basis in the films at all. Yet this season introduces us to a character that has never been in a film or tv show before and centres a whole episode around her.

Moreover, it continues to use characters like Captain Carter, Haley Atwell, and evil but reformed Doctor Strange, Benidict Cumberbatch, rather than focus on new films or tv shows from the MCU. I have no issues with Carter or Strange but I find that I want to watch one off episodes not recurring narratives, that I thought was against the conceit.

I think this show started out with good ideas for what if stories and then slowly over time lost its way, like the wider MCU, and became boring and predictable and not at all like the wacky and out there what ifs we had all been expecting it to be.

Overall, I don’t think we need a season 3

2/5

Some good moments

It is watchable

Cons.

It introduces new characters and breaks the conceit

It is boring

It is repetitive

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