The Last Movies You Saw... and What You Thought Of them!

I have seen Disney and Pixar's latest animated film Incredibles 2 four days ago with my family and I have absolutely enjoyed it as much as the original film made back in 2004.

What makes the sequel so good as the original is the constant call-backs to the first film and much of the original cast members reprising their roles with much enthusiasm. In addition, the animation is beautiful as always for a Pixar animated film. 

While the plot of the film admittedly kind of rehashes the first film (i.e. a failure to stop crime has made the superheroes be forced by the government to adapt to civilian life, while a mysterious person wants a member of the Parr family to perform superhero deeds), I feel the sequel adds enough twists and side-plots to make it feel original (including the sub-plot of Bob having to raise his baby son Jack-Jack, who is developing superpowers of his own, and his son Dash and daughter Violet while his wife Helen is performing superhero deeds) and it was just as funny as the original film (especially the scene where Jack-Jack is using his powers to scare off the raccoon off their yard).

Overall, it was a very good sequel to The Incredibles and I would highly recommend watching it if you want a good sequel to the original. While it may not be Pixar's best film in the story-telling department (but nonetheless kept me engaged), I feel that the film's beautiful visuals and funny humor makes up for any complaints I had about the film.

On another note, the film does open with a epilepsy warning before the presentation starts due to a sequence in the film that contains bright flashing lights where Helen tries to capture the "criminal" whose technology interferes the town's TV screens and brainwashes the civilians to stare at them, and it's recommended for epileptic viewers to step out of the theater during this sequence. I personally experienced no health issues during this sequence, but the flashing lights during this sequence can be intense to your eyes.

I should watch this one again someday. This movie was quite influential on the Disney Renaissance!

This time I'm filling up my post with two mini-reviews since I plan to see Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald in theaters soon.

UPDATE (12/28/2018): I had finally seen Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald in theaters yesterday and my original post will be updated to include a review of it.

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The Road to El Dorado is an overall enjoyable animated adventure from DreamWorks Animation about two Spanish con men Miguel and Tulio who end up in the new world along with Hernán Cortés's horse named Altivo and are mistaken as gods by the natives of the city of gold, El Dorado. Though the film suffers from tonal issues in the second half of the movie (i.e. it feels like a different movie with more emphasis on the drama aspects than the mostly comedic first half) and suffers from a predictable plot, the film makes up for this by providing memorable dialogue between the two leads, beautiful music composed and sung by Elton John, the amazing 2D animation and visuals (though the CGI effects of gold and the barrels have aged horribly), and overall average and likable characters.

I would say to give this one a watch if you're bored that day and want to watch something that is both silly and goofy.

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I recently saw Ralph Breaks the Internet in theaters and I for the most part, enjoyed and liked it (though not to the same extent as the original film, Wreck-It Ralph, made in 2012).

It involves Ralph and Vanellope going to the internet to retrieve an arcade part of Vanellope's in-universe game Sugar Rush after Ralph unwittingly causes her game to go out of service. They specifically have to go to eBay to get that part and bring it back before her game gets unplugged forever, but they encounter trouble along the way and go through events that will test the two's close friendship as Ralph fears that Vanellope will leave him forever and stay in the world of the internet.

For the film's strengths, I will say that cameos (from Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars in the internet world) in both the arcade world (i.e. Chun-Li from Street Fighter, Sonic the Hedgehog, Pac-Man etc.) and internet world (i.e. Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh, Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde from Zootopia (though the latter was easy to spot, the former took some time to spot), Buzz Lightyear from the Toy Story franchise etc.) were hilarious, made the world feel alive, and were easy to spot as the film goes on. In addition. I found the various Disney Princesses important role in the story to be absolutely funny in how they want to save Ralph near the end instead of being your typical damsel in distress and their antics before that were amusing (such as remarking that Merida from Pixar's 2012 animated film Brave is from Pixar and not Disney). I also found that film's new characters were likable, well-developed and have interesting personalities.

I felt the film's biggest strengths were the film's stunning animation that mimics the graphics of both arcade games and online-only video games very well, as well as the film's message of letting go of your best friend and let them have fun in a universe where they feel more at home. I also felt that the film's ending was quite unexpected (which I refuse to spoil) and fitted the film's intended message well, even if was quite sad but bittersweet.


As for the film's negatives, I felt that they wasted a potentially good subplot of Fix-It Felix Jr. and Sergeant Calhoun having to raise and take care of 15 Sugar Rush racers near the beginning of the film that only gets a weak pay-off in the ending where all of the racers are suddenly now more friendly and nicer than they were previously in the film. The reason why I feel this subplot was wasted is because Felix and Calhoun were married in the previous film and we never get to see how they parent the racers (it also reduces their roles in the film to being almost non-existent). I also found the film's opening to be quite slow-paced compared to the rest of the film and the jokes before Ralph and Vanellope decide to go to the internet were more hit or miss. 

In conclusion, Ralph Breaks the Internet is an entertaining, if above average sequel to the original film. While I do fear that some of the internet-related jokes will become dated in the near future, I believe that the internet world was creative and believable enough for me to avoid becoming an issue. I would recommend watching this film if you loved the first film or if you are a fan of the Walt Disney Company.

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I finally saw Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald in theaters and I enjoyed it as much as the first one.

The film's plot involves the titular Grindelwald escaping from the American Ministry of Magic's prison and decides to go into hiding in Paris. Meanwhile, the British wizard Newt Scamandar goes to Paris along with his friends to track down Grindelwald and stop him before his plan of making pure-blood wizards and witches rule over the Muggles (i.e. non-magical people) come to fruition.

One of the things that I liked most about the film was its cool world-building of the wizarding world, as it was nice to see that were wizarding communities outside of the United Kingdom (the Harry Potter films and books only show the UK wizarding community) and seeing that the Fantastic Beasts series is a prequel series to Harry Potter, it was always a cool world to build upon since the film is set in 1927. I also enjoy seeing the characters get more development as the story progresses and though there are less action scenes than the first film, they were spectacular when they arrived.

I honestly don't understand why critics gave this film such a low score because while I admit the film's plot can become confusing at times (though it does make sense when you pick up details about the character's motivations and backstory) and at times suffers from an unfocused narrative, I believe that the cast's strong, emotional performances and beautiful visuals are enough to make up for any complaints that I had about the film.

In conclusion, I would recommend to go see this film, but you might want to see the first film before this one to have more of an understanding of the characters and the wizarding community in the 1920s. The Harry Potter films were meant to be watched in an episodic order, and the Fantastic Beasts spin-off series is no exception to this rule.

Into the Spider-verse has been hyped up for a while now, and I feel like it's all well-deserved. It takes a deep look into the essential themes of a spider-man story with a unique, interesting plot. It's also very stylized but uses this to its full advantage, never trading style for substance. I also really find the characters and their motivations quite interesting. I liked it all way more than I expected for sure.

My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising! I thought it was really great!

These are ones I've seen before, but I'm gonna put some thoughts down on them anyways since I was stuck inside during the weekend due to snow and a lousy internet connection.

"A Good Day To Die Hard": Yeah, this is definitely the worst of the "Die Hard" films. I guess Bruce Willis really did just stop giving a sh*t at some point between "Live Free And Die Hard" (IMO, I liked that one better on the second watch, inaccurate computer stuff some of the more absurd moments not withstanding) and this. I should not be trying to keep myself from falling asleep during a "Die Hard" movie! Also, man I just couldn't stand McClain's "Massive Chip On His Shoulder" son.

"The Mummy": A classic through and through. It's everything that an adventure movie should be, and I adore it and the characters. Might try and rewatch the second film (maybe not the third though...)