Change Your Image
michelgizy
Reviews
The Legend of Korra (2012)
How is this made by the same people as Avatar?
A lot of people recommended this show to me since I loved Avatar, and when it was airing, I somehow never checked it out. I think I was more into the 2012 TMNT since they were airing in the same year.
Watching this though, I can see why this didn't and doesn't hold up to me. And I honestly never got past season one. I just couldn't continue with this.
The animation is probably the best thing about it. The 1920s thing is cool, but then you've got these radio introductions and that quickly got draining. The first episode is literally insulting the audience in like the first five minutes, and if it's supposed to be funny, it's not successful. Korra knows three out of four elements as the Avatar while still in diapers. 'I'm the Avatar, you gotta deal with it!' made my eyes roll and made me not only annoyed, but it comes off as obnoxious. We see more sky bison, even though it's established in the first series that we already had the last sky bison, Appa. The fire lord was keeping some hidden away, freaking great to show us that in the first episode! And then they tease Zuko's mom, only for it to get shut down and never brought up again.
And speaking of Zuko, we have General Iroh, even though we have an Iroh in Avatar, giving him Zuko's voice. But apparently Zuko still exists, though once again, I didn't get that far into the show to see him. I only knew about it after I saw the first season.
Not to mention that Aang was 12 when he had to learn the other three elements, but god forbid continuity in this sequel series. The bending is just...not. Not about how it's animated, but how it's executed in Korra. Korra herself is a water bender, but she has trouble learning air.
...What?! Like...like seriously, what?
And the non bender to bender conflict is something that is commendable in this show. But I'd be praising it if not for the poor execution, which is a running theme in this series. We don't have any evidence that non benders are being treated terribly, therefore there is little weight to the actual conflict. It feels like they're preaching something that doesn't exist. Sure, it's a Nick show. They probably wouldn't want to show discrimination. But to do this plot line at all is just bizarre if they're not going to be dedicated to the idea. If this show can depict a murder-suicide in the season finale, they shouldn't have a problem with a discrimination subplot. Not to mention we already HAVE movies and TV shows behind kids' networks doing this right.
The characters are all on a race to the bottom. Probably only Amon stands out, but only because of his voice. The others? I mean...they feel like Team Aang, but that doesn't entirely work out in the favor of the main characters. I'm sorry, but Korra is one of the things I cannot stand in this show. I hate how abrasive and tempered she is. And her actions with the love triangle does not help save her. I'll get to THAT later. Meelo is just awful, at least his sisters aren't as bad, but that's not saying much. Not even their parents are immune to this if their past with Lin is of any indication. Bolin is tolerable, but comes across as the bad type of comic relief. Mako is just...an idiot, a stubborn one at that. Asami is probably the second least bad character, but she leaves a lot to be desired for her skills. And pretty much everyone else is either cliche, predictable, awful, or annoying as much as the ones I've listed.
The pro-bending takes up too much episodes as well. I already am not a sports fan, so I imagine that others in the same vein would find it a drag. And good luck trying to understand the rules because they contradict themselves throughout the entire thing! And they never even establish the rules.
The love triangle is another thing that I cannot stand. I don't have a problem with love triangles if they're done well. But this one might be the worst one I've ever seen. And I have seen all the Twilight movies! I'm not kidding. It is that bad. Korra basically kisses Mako in front of Bolin for no reason. Just assuming that she wanted to break his heart. And then there had to be tension between them just as the probending started because why not? Mako can't choose between Asami, who he was smitten by at first sight, and Korra, who had done enough to ensure that I would definitely stay away from her if I was Mako or Bolin. He's with Asami, and yet he can't stop getting jealous for reasons when it comes to Korra.
And the season finale basically ends with a deus ex machina. There is no other way to describe it.
I've heard that season 3 and 4 are better, but after all this, I have no burning desire to keep watching. Definitely not as good as Avatar.
Shark Tale (2004)
The only thing I can take away from this movie is why did this one get nominated for an Academy Award?
Looking at this movie, it is baffling how this was nominated alongside Shrek 2, the best one in my opinion in the entire franchise, and the Incredibles. Not to mention that when this came out, The Spongebob movie existed. Yes, THIS MOVIE got nominated for Best Animated Feature, but the Spongebob movie did not. Why? I legitimately do not know.
The plot is basically a mafia movie filled with pop culture references and dumb worldbuilding gags. You've got Gup, Coral Cola, and Fish King...yeah. You've also got them associated with race like with the white fish line from Oscar, and that just confuses me to no end.
I don't really care for the characters, especially Oscar. He is the WORST character in the movie full of bad characters. Oscar is such a jerk that he actively proves against his earned emotional climax and all of the fame he gets. He sells off his best friend's pearl (who, we are told is his best friend from him specifically) to bet the money on a horse, and then starts bragging when Lenny's brother dies even though he should be swimming away. Literally EVERYONE believes him about slaying a shark when the shark is like twice his size, without evidence or anyone who actually saw the 'slaying.' Even though Oscar himself is not particularly likable to everyone. Will Smith is a great actor, I just wish he wasn't playing Oscar. Lenny is...okay...I just can't stand his voice, unfortunately. And the whole vegetarian thing has...much more meaning now than it did when I first watched it. Angie seemed fine for me up until she saw Oscar kiss Lola, and then I just lost all sympathy with how antagonistic she acted afterwards. Sykes is annoying, the jellyfish are a special form of agony, and the other sharks are there, I guess...Lola is kinda okay up until she betrays Oscar by suddenly being in the mafia for...reasons.
The animation, holy lord! I didn't remember it being this awful when I saw it again. Why would you make realistic faces on fishes? What kind of appeal does that make, even for 2004? It's just freaky! And it's wrong! Who wants these designs? And the background characters are not only distracting, but give me nightmares.
The voice acting is decent, but that's probably the biggest compliment I can give the movie. But for me, it's hard to notice when my eyeballs have to be subjected to the animation so much that I can't pay attention to it. The jokes are okay, but it didn't scream that this movie had to be made, yet it was. It's just not really dialogue-based comedy because they expect you to laugh at dumb fish puns and pop culture references and stereotypes, all of which are not funny on their own.
And the ending is nonsensical. Literally every shark is okay with not eating fish (with a restaurant named Fish King that exists in their universe) again, and I cannot buy that. Not ONE shark is going to try to go against that? What killed any chance of this movie being good was that it just wanted to be Shrek, and it failed. Don't watch this, it's a waste of your time, and your eyes don't need to be punished looking at it.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016)
Slightly better than the first--by a tiny margin.
So everytime I watch this movie, I do get some enjoyment out of it a little bit more than the first one. There were definitely some improvements, but...there are some things that I can't ignore that are holding me back from rating it any higher. It's like every time I find something to enjoy, I find something that I have to nitpick.
I will start off with the positives. The turtles...actually look better than the first one! I mean, they still have too much stuff on them, which I wish they'd fix, but at least the colors look better with their designs and the personalities...are mostly there. There is one turtle I have problems with that I will get into later.
I also like Bebop and Rocksteady, even if some of their jokes are a bit childish and forced. At least they were in the movie and they help with the comedy. I also like their designs as mutants, and they are probably my favorite characters in the movie. The humor...more or less hits the mark most of the time, but there are some jokes that just do not work for me.
The action scenes are pretty great too, they're always fun to watch. I mean, if there is one thing I can say about both movies, is that they're always on point with the action. I was never bored watching them, and that's what they should strive for.
The scene with Schoolgirl April is...fun...but I felt like it was unnecessary since it didn't really do anything later on for the rest of the movie, at least, not that I remember. I do think it serves a purpose, but it's just...why?
Kraang is great too! I just wish that they handled him better in the movie, which is a glaring problem that I will soon get to.
And now...I will get into the stuff that holds me back from fully enjoying.
The story is just FULL of plots that it's hard to follow. It's like 'let's throw in Kraang!' But then you have to have the subplot with the turtles contemplating whether or not they're human. And then you have to throw in Bebop and Rocksteady. But wait, there's more! Let's introduce Casey too, and also have the turtles have a conflict with the police. And then you have the sort-of team up with Kraang and Shredder. It's just...too much for me. You can cut like half of this movie out and it would be fine. Would it have been so hard to just have like two, maybe three plots? Not saying you should cut out the new characters, but if they had just focused on the pacing and how this is all being told, I would be fine!
I have an issue with everything in the story. Like, every plot point I just mentioned has at least one problem that I can't ignore, which is really sad. Kraang is a great villain, but...he wasn't really needed? They could have had him introduced later on, but he comes out of nowhere with no hints of his presence beforehand, that was really weird. And it also really hurts the main villain of the franchise, the Shredder, because it's the same problem with the first movie. And that problem is that he's not really having a big presence. He gets frozen later on and then he's not relevant at that point. The turtles don't even get to fight him! At least in the first movie, they faced him like three times, but in this one, I don't remember a single direct interaction between him and the turtles. You have the Shredder, use him! Like, just have him find out about Kraang, have him help the alien while fighting off the turtles, and then Kraang gets properly introduced, because Kraang is barely in the first half of the movie. It feels like a first draft effort.
Okay, now we have the subplot with the turtles thinking about what it'd be like to be a human. There's this purple ooze in the movie where, if they modify it, the turtles will become humans. I do like this plotline, but at the same time, I hate it. For one, they said that people in this movie have like a set animal when if they're touched with this ooze, they will become that animal? Why? Wouldn't it make more sense to have people be in contact with the animals or object or thing like they did in the 2012 series? Is it just like a gene thing? Explain to me the genetic possibilities that would make this plausible and believable. But I do like that the turtles think about being human, I don't think that's touched upon too much with any incarnation besides this one. And it also brings some tension with the turtles...which is another reason why I hate it.
I'm sorry...I just don't like Leo during this whole subplot, which is a shame because he's my favorite turtle in the franchise. He just acts like a major jerk about this and doesn't apologize for it at all. It seems way too out of character to me. I do like the tension, but if they're going to make Leo act like an entitled jerk, then what is the point? It kinda felt like 2007 Leo from the movie, to be honest, and that's not a good comparison. Here, Leo benches Raph and Mikey because he himself kept the secret about the ooze. And he pretends that it's not a big problem and that he can just forget about it. Like, I get why he would want to be a turtle. But at the same time, isn't that a decision for his brothers to make? At least give them the opportunity, and if Leo doesn't want to do it, that's fine! But for him to make the decision for all three of them? No. Not okay. That part was just disappointing. The tension was good, but the things leading up to it, I cannot say the same...
Throwing in Bebop and Rocksteady was a good idea, but at the same time, they only fought the turtles once. The only other fight scene that they have later is with Casey. I would've liked more interaction with the two and the turtles. I get that Casey has a goal to catch them, but they are integral to the turtles as well. I feel like they got more interaction with Casey rather than the turtles, the main characters of the franchise and essentially the movie!
Casey is a good character, I will admit. I like his relationship with the turtles, but I wish he got more interaction with Leo and Donnie. He got most of the screentime with Raph and Mikey when it comes to the turtles. But then they have to make him a cop...I mean, it does make sense, but then they have to throw in the fact that he's not an actual police officer. And I don't think we got much more than that with his character arc. I also loved the bar scene with him, that was fun.
Then there's the whole police plot. I...like it...but it's probably the most ridiculous plot in the whole story. So, the turtles get into conflict with the police several times. Even though they are ninjas! There are some pieces of media where they interact with the police, but those were only in a few episodes. Like, in this movie, do they not know what ninjas are? They are supposed to be in the shadows for a reason, even Mikey is supposed to understand this, and yet he wants to be standing out in the open as a turtle. I do like that moment where he took offense to being called a monster. That actually got to me, and it still does when I watch this movie. But then you have them known to the ENTIRE police force, and you expect me to believe that all of the police officers would keep them a secret? And Splinter is okay with this? No! And even if there was a sequel if this movie had done well financially, why have this? This once again feels like a first draft effort.
The Kraang and Shredder team-up is cool, but then it kinda backfires later, but once again, Shredder barely has anything to do in the entire movie. And I've already went into the problems with Kraang's introduction. Like, just have Kraang appear later, and have Shredder be behind everything. At least it would make him feel like he has more of a purpose.
Tyler Perry as Baxter Stockman does not work for me. I don't know what it is, maybe his dialogue? Maybe his delivery? Whatever it is, it's not successful. And then there's Karai, who barely does anything just like in the first movie.
Vern is barely in this movie, either. I mean, he gets the credit for everything in the previous movie, which is...fine...I guess. April's okay, she gets less screen time thankfully, but then we have the same problem that happened in the ending: She's the one who defeats Karai. Yeah, no. A regular news reporter, with no ninja training. Like, literally, we are not shown that she is being trained in ninjitsu whatsoever. She's the one who beats Karai, a very skilled fighter and someone who Leo, the most skilled turtle of the whole TEAM, can't beat sometimes. I get that because she's the main female character, they have to have some sort of female empowerment. But you gotta write the plot around something like this! And they do it twice! April can just defeat both Shredder and Karai, both major threats of the Foot, like it's nothing.
As for the movie, I can enjoy it, but the story is pretty bad and cluttered. While it's a bit better than the first one, it's just sort of a disappointment.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)
Some parts good, others not so good
I want to be nice on this film, I really do. But...there are so many things wrong with it that I can't possibly give it a good score.
Let me start with the positives. There are some scenes that don't make this film entirely awful. Like the snow fight scene, or the elevator scene, or the camera flash thing. The turtles are...somewhat accurate in personality. The scenery is great too, and so are the fight scenes, but that's all the nice things I can unfortunately give it.
And now we get to all of the problems that don't make this film work. The designs of the turtles, Splinter, and the Shredder are just...no...why? Only Leo and Raph are decent, but Donnie and Mikey are really lacking and kind of uncanny. But all of them have the same problem: They're doing too much, it's like...tone it down with the clothes and accessories! And Shredder, he looks like a discount Transformer and it's just wrong. And Splinter is just off. I don't know what it is, but he just looks too dark. Leo is probably the best looking considering that he reminds me of Usagi, but even then, all the turtles are unnecessarily huge and bulky. Raph is okay, but it's hard to notice him sometimes in dark environments. Donnie...oh my god... I hate his design the most. Too much stuff on his shell and his body, he has goggles over his mask. And speaking of, what mask? Where is it? Oh wait there it is, behind unneeded glasses. Never mind how he gets a prescription, just give him glasses because we have to showcase he's a nerd! Mikey's face is just all kinds of wrong. They tried to make him expressive, but it doesn't work in his favor at all.
Oh, but I haven't even touched on the fact that the turtles don't appear fully until like 20 minutes into the film! And it's filled with April and Vern shenanigans that could easily have been cut. There is a way to establish those two, but not like this.
And the origin story, ugh. All of it just feels like a huge stretch. I don't know if it's because it's really convoluted or it's because they wanted to be different, but I am not into this origin story. The turtles and Splinter are lab experiments...while also being April's pets. Because sure, that's something that needed to be added. Just have a little girl in a dangerous lab and not have Hamato Yoshi at all. Even though that part is crucial and without it, the Splinter/Shredder rivalry is really pointless and has no sway.
Eric Sacks' plan is just stupid XD He wants to be stupid rich, but he already is, so what's the point? And his character is basically taking away time that could be used on the Shredder. But no, let's have a backstory where we have him being Shredder's student even though the mentor himself is just there and give me a break!
Most of the humor isn't funny, either. The dialogue for the most part wants to get a laugh out of you, but that only happens like...three times. Oh, and let's have fart and butt jokes, those aren't dead yet either!
April takes up so much screen time that she feels like a main character. It's to the point where she stabs Shredder with a sai and then defeats him on her own later. Yeah. The turtles who are supposed to be the central characters in their first time on the big screen for the first time in years are there in like 60-75 percent of the whole film. And they get upstaged by a news reporter instead. I'm not against Megan Fox, I think she's okay, it's just the writing that is the issue.
And even then, the action scenes and the turtles being there and like the two scenes I can remember being enjoyable right now...it's just not enough to save all of these problems. The origin story is just so jarring that it's almost pointless, especially since it does nothing later. We get like 10 minutes of it and that's it. The designs are awful. The turtles are not even the main focus. The humor is cringe-inducing. And the whole evil plot is just dumb. And Shredder is barely even in it that he feels like a background character. I'm not even kidding. Sacks has more screen time than the main villain of the franchise.
It's not the worst turtles material I've seen, but it just reeks of wasted potential.
Catwoman (2004)
Deserves a -100 rating, but they don't have numbers that high on IMDB
So...when I think about Catwoman, I'm thinking about a feline-themed thief, a complex relationship with Batman, her sassy wit. I'm not familiar with the Batman franchise, but I have played Injustice, so I sort of know how Catwoman is. Batman is a franchise I'm not into, but I know that his TV shows and movies can have deep, complex, relatable characters with a meaningful plot, and with villains that are memorable.
This movie has none of that.
I only watched the movie once and I was like 'never again' but with more and more reviews talking about it still today, when the movie came out almost two decades ago, I don't think I'm too alienated to give my own two cents to this movie.
The plot is just really pointless and disjointed. We have a meek, unconfident lead working as a graphic designer (which is EXACTLY what you think of when you think about Catwoman) dying because she finds out about a makeup line that...makes your face like brick, and if you stop using it, your face will just disintegrate, even though a like million-dollar company like that will lose money and will be subjected to lawsuits if they do this. But I guess it's just like 'screw all our customers, we're evil and we don't care if our company gets a bad name for this.' But then we have Patience Phillips, not Selina Kyle, not really acknowledge this because she gets distracted in a rom-com, so she screws around not caring up until it actually matters to her. What's the point of her knowing about the evil plot if she herself is not going to care?
The whole 'Egyptian cat' thing is just...silly. Like, why is that a plot point?
And the changes to Catwoman's character, they only make the movie worse. She's not Selina Kyle, she's an OC. I was just rolling my eyes when the prologue started, which could've been cut out as well. Especially when she gets revived by burping CGI cats later.
You wish I was joking.
The characters are really lacking. They don't feel like real people to me. And I think I know where some of the budget went because we have Halle Berry, Sharon Stone, Benjamin Bratt, Alex Borestein. Don't get me wrong with the actors, they're great actors. They're just not given good direction. Patience Phillips herself feels like a character I've seen before, and while I love Halle Berry, her performance is definitely not one of the better ones out of all of her films. A lot of people give her flack for her performance, but she is doing her best despite what she's given. And I barely remember much about her otherwise. The cop, Tom I think, is weirdly the most frequently seen cop in this movie. And he's also a creepy stalker, tracking down her workplace to talk to her. To me, he's probably the most likeable character in this movie. And if that's the main characters, how do you think the side characters are? We have 'Man Sandwich', the thirsty best friend...both of them are very annoying, to say the least.
And I haven't even gotten to the villains yet. Sharon Stone is just awful. Her reasons for her scheming and her plan just seem very superficial, I get the same feeling from Diane Simmons from Family Guy. Except, you know, far worse. When you have a character that is more awful from someone from one of the worst cartoons ever, that is saying a lot. Her husband is just an outright jerk, definitely the worst character in the film.
What really gets me in this movie is the editing and the script. The editing is SUPER obnoxious, and the script is not much better. The editing has all of these rapid cuts and establish shots that just made my eyes roll. Not only are they distracting, they give you instant whiplash just watching them. You can barely take in what's going on with the action either because of these cuts, like really, they're so fast and ridiculous. Who even edited this movie? Because even in 2004, we had the means to fix this kind of stuff. We also have characters teleport somehow with no explanation, and then a scene where Halle Berry slips through bars...somehow. And the script, ugh. I don't think one line in this movie works, most of the lines are just forgettable, nonsensical, or stupid. I have to wonder how the actors felt saying these lines because they want you to take this film seriously, but with everything else going on, they are definitely not succeeding in that front. I'm not gonna bother repeating any of the lines, because that would give off the impression that I actually cared enough to memorize any of them. But they make this movie really lame and really unrealistic. The scene I hate the most is definitely the basketball game.
The story is bad, the characters are bad, the editing is atrocious, the script is just insane...just...there is not gonna be a worse comic book adaptation than this. Instead of taking the time to have this movie exist against all odds, they just badly missed the point. I don't know where the 100 million budget went, but it definitely wasn't towards making any sort of effort.
Tom and Jerry (2021)
Good, but not great
Honestly, this movie is a mixed bag for me. When I first heard about it, I was actually hyped. I used to watch Tom and Jerry a lot on Boomerang in my childhood, so I was hoping this movie would bring back memories. So did it do that for me?
Yes...and no. There are definitely some problems that need to be addressed.
The animation is definitely my favorite part of the movie, and it's really cool that all of the animals are animated. I like the art style, it's unique. I will say that some of the animation doesn't work (like when Chloe Grace Moretz's character is holding a cat), but it doesn't bog down the rest. The biggest problem I had was the text that appeared when Michael Pena's character was talking to Tom and Jerry separately, and they just repeat everything he says to them. It felt like everything was being told twice in that scene. Other than those minor problems, the animation is one of the better parts of the movie to me.
The slapstick was a hit or miss. I definitely felt like a kid again watching it, but it doesn't happen enough in the movie for it to resonate. Though, all of it felt like stuff I've seen from previous Tom and Jerry shorts. It would've been great if they had created their own slapstick, though that's not saying much since there has been so much of Tom and Jerry in the past. It's predictable, but nostalgic. Even though you can just go out and see all these gags in the shorts.
However...let me get into my three main problems with this movie.
Problem number one, which is arguably the biggest criticism of this movie, the balance between live action and animation is way off. The titular characters have maybe half of the movie's screen time, and this isn't the first time that's happened when they've got into movies. I am so tired of Tom and Jerry movies not giving the main characters enough screen time. Like, I get it that it would get old and tiring to have the entire movie be slapstick, but literally the opening scene are rapping pigeons. There are just so many scenes where the duo aren't even on screen or they do a plot with them, but it doesn't help the wedding plot. For example, Jerry taking the ring could've been cut out entirely. Like, there was no reason to write that in, it doesn't do much for the plot because there's no substance to it. When I first heard the ring was stolen, I thought Michael Pena's character had stolen it, but no, they don't do that.
Problem number two, the live action bits. They don't do it for me. The plot itself feels like they're just shoehorning Tom and Jerry in it. The characters are...alright, but they're not given good direction. The character development is just...I don't know what it is. The main character weasels her way for a job that she's not qualified for...with a ripped up resume. The bad guy literally gets his job back, even though he was sabotaging the main character, and then they give him a potential love interest. The writing isn't awful, but it feels awkward at times. When you spend most of the movie with the human characters with plotlines like this, it works against the live action aspect of the movie, in my opinion. I didn't hate the entire plot, but I just need a reason to be invested in the humans, which they don't do. And most of them do not seem like characters we can relate to. Kayla herself starts off by weaseling her way into a job that she has no experience with, and the backstory to go into this is not conveyed well. Her reasons for her actions is explained, yes, but we never get the hint that this was a point of her character. It might've helped her character more if we get to know besides what we see on the surface. Not to mention that there are too many characters anyway, and I'm having a hard time who to root for in this film with the humans. It's like, do I root for Kayla, who is not even a morally good character, do I root for the hotel manager, the weird bellhop girl, the groom going overboard? And when we do learn about them, we're not given much from them. So not only do you have Tom and Jerry on the sidelines for half of the movie, you have the human characters taking up most of the runtime.
Need I remind you that this movie is almost 2 hours long.
Problem number three, the soundtrack. WHY is it rap and R&B? When I think of Tom and Jerry's music, this movie's soundtrack is definitely the last thing on my mind. I don't even remember the old music being played here. The music in this movie just doesn't add up. It feels like whoever added in it is just trying to be hip and cool with the kids. And honestly, we already have enough shows and movies trying to do that. When your movie starts with rapping pigeons, it doesn't paint in my mind that this is a cartoon about a cat and mouse always fighting. I don't mind the music, it's just...not the right choice for the concept of the film. It's kind of like with Quest for Camelot, but in the opposite direction.
Edit: Another problem I found after rewatching the film. The animated characters do not have one set presence in the movie. For example, Toots and Spike are pets, but then we have animated dead fish for people to eat. And then Tom gets a job, but then he and Jerry are thrown into the pound. Or, and this is the most important, the humans can interact with them, just not without the animals talking. They can guess what Tom and Jerry are trying to say. It's really inconsistent, are they seen as meals, pets, or real people? Is it all of the above? Because if it is, that's really dark. If these animated animals are treated like regular people, you'd think that someone would have a bit more of a different reaction if they're sitting right in front of them to eat. This just creates some major worldbuilding problems.
All in all, it's not the worst Tom and Jerry movie ever, but it's definitely not the best one. But give the movie this: At least it's not the 1992 movie where Tom and Jerry speak.