ChanithaWeerasinghe Reviews

Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous (2020–2022)

Interesting fun show for Jurassic fans!

[8/10 · 11 August 2022]

Camp Cretaceous is an amazing, fun, thrilling animated series which follows an interesting side story to the Jurassic World film franchise set in the same universe. The story starts off lightly and moves on deeper into the bigger plot with intense twists occurring through each season. Season 5 actually gets close to getting related to Jurassic World Dominion which makes the story more and more interesting with dino action being super awesome as usual in Jurassic films.

The main child characters bonding with each other as family through a really hard time of survival is a really nice way to make kids aware of how worthy good friends can be. Also, the story is very heartful as it isn't focused on showing dinosaurs as deadly predators but as nice living beings who follow a similar behavior of humans, protecting their own kind and stuff like that. This makes the story in Dominion more believable on how dinosaurs and humans can coexist.

Overall, this show is one of the best animated series Netflix has provided.

Zombies 3 (2022)

Somewhat enjoyable, great songs but kinda stupid story

[5/10 · 23 July 2022]

Zombies 3 is disappointingly not very good. As it got moved to Disney+, I actually looked forward to seeing a nice musical film with a good budget. Well, they've improved the directing, CGI and done a great job with Alien costumes. But the acting is still dull in some scenes and the story is dumb. It is similarly the same story from the second film with few differences. I feel like the story isn't very meaningful, like there's no point in telling it. There are even some plot holes and I feel that they could've done better with the story.

The only good thing in this film are the great songs and dance moves but oh my god, background music in intense scenes are so awful. They are like those stupid horrible dramatic music played in meaningless Indian melodramas. It's so annoying to hear such music in a Disney movie. The portrayal of Aliens as in not knowing about emotions, feelings and to operate a pencil sharpener was hilarious but still, I think they could've done better without making the film fast paced but giving time for the story to explore itself.

Overall, Zombies 3 is a fast paced, slightly enjoyable movie with nice songs.

Jurassic World Dominion (2022)

Not an actual "Epic Conclusion"

[7/10 · 21 July 2022]

As a massive Jurassic fan, I was so excited for this film since like 2 years ago when they first announced it. But I felt like the excitement wasn't worth it. Dominion had a great hype with its main tagline, "The Epic Conclusion Of The Jurassic Era" and I'm pretty sure everyone expected to see how humans and dinosaurs are going to coexist after the events of the previous film, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. However, the new film, Jurassic World: Dominion, ended up focusing more on the new creatures called 'Locusts' and the clone girl, Maisie, than the dinosaurs. It's like the story took place in a dinosaur living world and because of that, it's a Jurassic movie.

I was really looking forward to seeing a big freaking adventure with the domination of dinosaurs, not Locusts. So, this movie isn't really about an epic conclusion of dinosaurs. Also, I felt like it took much time to get into the actual plot but still the action scenes with dinos were pretty good and intense, though the Malta scene felt like Jurassic World had a crossover with Fast & Furious. The fight between the T-Rex and Giganotosaurus felt kinda inappropriate as we've already seen two alpha dinos fighting in the first Jurassic World film and seeing a new dinosaur that had a very short amount of screen time, die at the end was kinda hurtful.

Overall, Jurassic World: Dominion is an ok film but probably every single Jurassic fan hoped for an actual Jurassic film as the final installment in the JW trilogy.

Secrets of Sulphur Springs (2021–2023)

Fantastic, dramatic, mysterious and bingeable.

[10/10 · 30 January 2022]

Secrets Of Sulphur Springs is the best Disney Channel show I've ever seen. With an exciting story involving a mystery with ghosts and time travelling, this is show is remarkable and easily makes everyone to binge-watch it.

In my point of view, most Disney Channel shows have issues with directing, sets, storyline, actors overacting and those stories don't feel realistic. But Sulphur Springs doesn't have those issues. It has reached perfection and the whole show feels realistic. Paranormal activity shown throughout the show may not be extremely scary but it's in the family friendly way and if you're really into the story, you will get some frights because most of those scenes surprisingly twist the story.

I feel like I want to be a part of the story and help the characters to solve the mysteries. I liked season 2 more because it had a lot of new things going on, went deep into the characters and it gave me the excitement that I had when I was watching a 90s show called "Spellbinder".

Sulphur Springs is really fantastic, dramatic, mysterious and bingeable. After that cliffhanger in season 2 finale, I can't wait till season 3 comes out in 2023 to find out what happens next.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)

Beautiful MCU movie with crazy action scenes.

[9/10 · 24 November 2021]

Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings is the 25th MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) movie which also has the 1st major Asian representation in the MCU.

I loved the film because it had an amazing story filled with a lot of elegant, eye-pleasing scenes and super awesome crazy action scenes such as the bus fight. The movie also includes amazing martial art techniques and beautiful Chinese things too.

This film doesn't have recognizable adult stuff and very violent action scenes as many of the previous MCU productions had, which makes the film, "Shang-Chi" suitable even for younger kids like age 10. I didn't even feel the time passing by when I was watching this film because the story had an amazing flow with the stuff I mentioned before. I can't say anything else about the movie as I might include spoilers.

Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings is an amazing, beautiful, action packed movie for the start of major Asian representations in the MCU.

Just Beyond (2021)

Visual effects could've been better but has important messages in the fun stories.

[8/10 · 22 November 2021]

Just Beyond is a 2021 anthology, kids comedy-horror series based on the book series under the same name by the world famous kids horror story writer, R. L. Stine, who is best known for writing the Goosebumps book series.

Each episode had a fun, unique story giving important advices for kids, teens and adults. The visual effects in some scenes weren't good enough for a Disney show. I mean Disney is like the best in the visual effects department. The rest of the production stages were in a good level. This series might not give you the fears you expect from R. L. Stine stories, but it's good enough for the younger audiences.

Just Beyond is a good family-friendly horror series to create good qualities in a person while giving a fun ride.

Diana (I) (2021)

Beautiful fun Broadway production.

[9/10 · 22 November 2021]

Diana: The Musical is a 2021 Netflix special Broadway presentation about The Rose Of England, Princess Diana.

Even though I don't like musicals that have a very small amount of dialogues, this one really adds up the thrill with it's fantastic Broadway techniques of smooth transitions between scenes and the humor coming along with the songs and acts. As a person who didn't know about Diana's story, I got to know it through this fun Broadway production. The sets and costumes were also well handled according to the 90's styles including realism on the sets. The only downside was that they never showed Diana's sons William and Harry. Maybe they weren't shown as the production took place on a Covid-19 period were children weren't allowed there. But if they were there it would've been more beautiful and complete.

Anyhow, Diana: The Musical is a fun Broadway production which suits for a change in a regular family movie night.

What If...? (2021– )

Amazing animation, casting and new possibilities.

[9/10 · 25 October 2021]

Marvel Studios' 1st animated show "What If...?", tells the alternative stories in parallel universes, which are different from the ones we know in the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe).

The voice casting in this series is amazing. Most of the characters had voices of the same actors from live action MCU movies, but some were voiced by new actors. You won't notice it unless you check the credits. So, they've done an amazing casting job.

At first, I thought this show just shows a bunch of new possibilities in each episode but it was amazing when all the stories lead to an awesome one story at the end. I loved the animation, as movements, visual effects and a lot more were in a very unique animation style from the 2D animations that we're familiar with, such as Scooby-Doo! And Tom & Jerry. I also liked the amazing, dramatic theme intro and all the new possibilities in this show, especially Doctor Strange's, Zombies' and Thor's.

Different kind of valuable messages were given from each episode and the one that I remember is grief could destroy the whole world and even an entire universe, which was shown through two of my favourite new stories.

Marvel Studios has done an amazing job in "What If...?" with the new animation style, casting and the endless new possibilities. I'm excited to watch the second season of this cool show next year.

Nightbooks (2021)

An amazing kids fantasy-horror movie which speaks a valuable major topic.

[8/10 · 16 October 2021]

Nightbooks is a new Netflix original kids fantasy-horror movie based on the book under the same name. In the movie, Alex, who has a passion to write scary stories, get trapped in a wicked witch's magical apartment and finds out that the only way to survive is by telling spine-tingling horror stories to the witch, Natacha. Meanwhile he also tempts to escape from the witch, together with another prisoner.

Even though I didn't like the first few minutes as stuff were just happening, I started to like the movie when it came on track. As this is a kids horror movie, the scary scenes were all family friendly but some of them might be very terrifying for younger viewers. The movie even shows that original versions of some beloved classic tales were darker than the ones we knew. That might really upset small children. I love how they showed each of Alex's scary stories in a wonderful technique with a red colour background and black and white characters.

The movie in a nutshell, shows the major problem of different odd kids with strange passions, who are called in various kinds of names and being amused even by the only friend they have. It also tells such people to ignore haters and continue to follow your true passion along with your true friends who always stick with you and admire you of who you are. Even Natacha gave a very valuable piece of advice for story writing which is that you must always include the truth for your story because it becomes more powerful when it is more truthful.

Nightbooks is an amazing kids fantasy-horror movie which speaks a valuable major topic that should be spoken more often.

Free Guy (2021)

The best video game movie with a great interesting story line, comedy and action.

[8/10 · 10 October 2021]

Free Guy is a story about "Guy", a bank teller in Free City, which is a video game. He even doesn't know that the world he is living in the game! When Guy finally meets the fantasy girl in his mind, he discovers that his world is a game and it's about to fall apart. Together, Guy and his fantasy girl must take a huge risk to save the world that Guy knows.

This movie was really cool, amazing and I loved the story because it is very different and unique than any other game movie. But I didn't like the flow of it at the beginning. It was a bit not so entertaining. Anyway when it got to the line of the story I got powered and fell in love with the story.

Another thing which I didn't like was that little kids used some inappropriate words for their age. However the movie was action packed and very funny too. This movie shows the power of friendships/ relationships/ affairs even between video game characters and real human beings.

Free Guy is the best video game movie with a great interesting story line, comedy and action.

PAW Patrol: The Movie (2021)

An amazing fun animated movie for the whole family.

[8/10 · 7 October 2021]

Paw Patrol: The Movie is a big screen movie (made for theatrical release) from Paramount Pictures based from the worldwide famous animated tv show among children. This film follows the story of the Paw Patrol travelling to Adventure City from their hometown Adventure Bay to stop the nasty chaos that's going to happen from the new mayor, Humdinger, in Adventure City.

This film is a fun adventure ride that is really enjoyable for the young generation. It shows the importance of teamwork like most kids movies do. Actually, for me, the events were happening too fast. It was like just the Paw Patrol saving the town from the mayor's crazy new buildings and silly meaningless upgrades on more stuff.

This movie also shows the mess that can be created when a non-educated crazy person who has zero common sense comes to a high position such as a mayor. Anyway, I loved the 2 beautiful original songs of the film which were, "Good Mood" by Adam Levine and "The Use In Trying" by Alessia Cara. They sort of give the cinematic feeling.

Paw Patrol: The Movie is an amazing fun animated movie for the whole family.

Spin (2021 TV Movie)

A fun entertaining family movie with a great message.

[8/10 · 6 October 2021]

The new Disney channel original movie "Spin" follows the story of a 15 year old music loving beautiful Indian girl, Rhea, who is good at coding and choosing the best music track for every occasion, finds a crush on cute British transfer student, Max, who appears to be a deejay and Rhea explores what she is really good at along with her crush.

This movie portraits an awesome Indian restaurant called "Spirit Of India" owned by Rhea's father, which has a Sunday Dinner Rush with Rhea's Nani's (Grandma) special Hindi dance performance. This restaurant always plays the playlists created by Rhea who also helps her father in serving on night rushes. When she meets Max, she learns how to spin (how to deejay) and realizes she is way better than Max in choosing the best songs to mix which is basically the main thing in deejaying.

The film gives messages that parents must let children to follow their passions and gain happiness in their lives instead of working down to their bones, and that everything that happens around us have hidden music. This film even teaches the basics of deejaying too.

Actually, the ending could've been better. Max's mom wasn't shown at all in the DJ competition where he competed and he just walked away when Rhea won, who also didn't thank Max for teaching her to DJ. That wasn't so good to me. Also the story was a bit predictable yet it was entertaining. Anyway, even this is a TV movie it didn't have that dumb, lazy kind of direction. I loved the directing, the film and the Hindi remixes too.

Spin is a beautiful, heart-warming, sweet movie which would be great if it gets a sequel.

Cinderella (I) (2021)

Beautiful modern style fun remake with wonderful songs.

[9/10 · 6 October 2021]

The new Cinderella movie by Sony Pictures and Amazon Studios retells the beloved famous fairy tale with a few changes and songs in all kinds of genres such as pop, rock, classic...

It's a very entertaining fun inspirational romantic musical film from the beginning to the end with famous songs such as Ed Sheeran's "Perfect", Jennifer Lopez's "Let's Get Loud", Madonna's "Material Girl" and Queen's "Somebody To Love" with two new originals from Camila Cabello and Idina Menzel who also voiced for Elsa in Frozen. These songs give energy to the movie and makes it more fun and entertaining as I said earlier.

The film delivers the messages such as that you can do whatever you want, even if it doesn't stick to the status quo because when you become a success in what you've been working on, the status quo will also change according to you and that there is nothing you can't do if you believe in yourself and work very hard.

Sure, they've added a male for the fairy godmother a and named him as "Fab G", but it didn't ruin the movie for me because if it was a female, the song "Shining Star" played at the scene where Cinderella meets Fab G won't be beautiful as it is with the male. Also, if they didn't do that change, it will be the same movie by Disney with new actors and songs from another movie company. There are more changes but I won't mention them as they could spoil the film.

This new remake of Cinderella is really really great and Sony proved that they could be better than good old Disney.

Hope you would enjoy the movie!

Blue Miracle (2021)

A beautiful heart-warming movie with great acting and directing.

[9/10 · 6 October 2021]

The movie "Blue Miracle" follows the incredible true story of Casa Hogar, the Mexican boys home that entered the world's biggest fishing tournament with a washed-up boat captain to save their cash-strapped orphanage.

The film shows that if you have faith, believe in god, never give up, always do the right thing without cheating, you would succeed of the things you do and that a father should always stick with their children like an anchor.

The moments where team Casa try to hook a Blue Marlin were so thrilling and made me eat the popcorn constantly. The Blue Miracle version of the inspiring song "Fight For Me" is so good too.

I found the movie rich on cinematography because of the impressive views of the sea. The inspirational music played during those views shows the greatness of the music.

Lightning, sets, directing, cinematography, music, editing, acting were all magnificent. The orphanage boys played by Miguel Angel Garcia, Anthony Gonzalez, Nathan Arenas, Isaac Arellanes, Steve Gutierrez have done a great job too.

Blue Miracle is one of the most beautiful, inspiring, heart-warming movies I've ever seen.