Disney, Movies, RDT Reviews, Uncategorized

RDT Reviews Toy Story 1, 2, 3 and 4

October 22, 2021 RDTUniverse

Released: November 19, 1995
First Seen: In Theatres Around Release Day
Last Watch: Disney+

Toy Story has a strong argument as Pixar’s greatest film ever. It may not even be a stretch to call it the greatest animated film of all time. Toy Story’s…story is incredible, including excellent and memorable major and minor characters all over the place and a containing many different themes. Toy Story changed the animated movie industry in two ways. One, while partnered with Disney here, later issues between the companies led to a split. Pixar showed in the early 2000s that they were the premiere film animation studio and absolutely contributed to Disney Animation Studio’s slump in the same timeframe. Secondly, before Toy Story computer animation in animated films was more of an easter egg. You’d see it in short scenes (for example, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, a traditionally animated film contained a computer animated Gotham City), or maybe in animated shorts. Once Toy Story and Pixar showed up to the big dance, all of that slowly, then rapidly changed.

Toy Story is a very simple concept to understand. Toys are living beings that assume a lifeless stance when around humans. The toys have a connection to their owner that resembles a traditional love story. That’s pretty much the premise of the entire Toy Story franchise, and it’s such a simple, yet strong idea that it’s carried four films. Woody is an old cowboy doll who, via being owner Andy’s favorite toy, is the leader of all of Andy’s toys. He manages staff meetings with the toys, has friendly relations with all of them and maintains an overall control of the room. He’s also extremely protective of Andy and views his (and all toys’) role as one to bring happiness to their owner. When it comes to a birthday party, all the other toys are concerned about their spots as a new toy could always replace someone. This comes to a head as Andy gets a brand new popular toy, a Buzz Lightyear, comes in and threatens Woody’s spot as Andy’s favorite toy. In an interesting twist, Buzz doesn’t know he’s a toy and believes he’s the actual Buzz Lightyear, a space ranger. Woody accidentally knocks Buzz out the window when trying to knock him behind a shelf. When Andy takes Woody out to Pizza Planet, Buzz finds him and they end up as lost toys. In the middle of nowhere, can Woody get back to Andy’s room? Can he manage to convince Buzz to return with him? Well, it’s been 26 years so I’ll go the spoiler route. The answer is yes. The journey is nothing short of incredible though.

Before we get to the themes of the movie I want to quickly go through the characters. The entirety of Andy’s room is just an amazing cast of characters with perfect voice acting. We have Woody’s trusty friend Slinky (Jim Varney), the brash Mr. Potato Head (perfectly voiced by Don Rickles), the nervous and easily frightened Rex (Wallace Shawn), Bo Peep (Annie Potts) and a piggy bank named Hamm (John Ratzenberger) to play with, and after one film it feels Toy Story wouldn’t be Toy Story without any of these characters (we’ll get there). Even the minor non-talking toys are memorable (the Green Army Men, the Aliens, R.C. Rocky, Mr. Spell, an Etch A Sketch). We didn’t even get to the “villain” of the story in Sid Phillips, a neighbor of Andy’s who likes to destroy toys. I don’t consider him a main antagonist, but more of something Woody and Buzz have to overcome. I also have to bring up how perfectly Tom Hanks and Tim Allen are for the voices of Woody and Buzz respectively. How so many characters are represented so well in just an 81 minute runtime is unbelievable.

Woody and Buzz battle it out under a beautiful cgi night sky

Let’s talk about some of the themes. First of which is the presentation of teamwork. We see it in multiple scenes in the movie. Woody’s communication with the Green Army Men for Andy’s birthday. The toys trying rescue Buzz after Woody knocks him out of the window. Woody and Buzz coming together to escape Sid’s room (Woody: “Buzz, I can’t do this without you”). The actual plan to escape Sid’s house (which involves an entire collection of Sid-deformed toys, and each of them has a role. Woody’s leadership skills really are shown here). And lastly, the Woody/Buzz/R.C. finish. This combined with a strong presence of community in the film, really allows every character to shine. We also have themes of love and jealously, and how important it is to adapt and grow up. Woody is really jealous of Buzz and it takes him a while to understand that if he’s true to what he believes in, al that matters is Andy’s happiness. Lastly, we have two separate journeys of characters trying figuring out who they are. In Woody’s case, he’s been the top toy for so long, suddenly he has to learn to share or even give up that spot, which in turn only makes him a stronger leader. Buzz outright has to learn that he isn’t a space ranger, but a toy, and how important that role actually is. It’s incredible how well those two searches for identity intertwine in Toy Story. Toy Story would have likely been a hit just for it’ being the first fully cgi film, but the actual story and writing is what makes this one of the all time great films.

I didn’t really discuss the writing itself but the movie is very cleverly written. Even jokes that you’d roll your eyes at in almost any other situation somehow get a laugh here, proving the point that sometimes it’s not what the joke is, but how it’s presented. Randy Newman’s “You Got a Friend In Me” worked so well that it’s pretty much the theme of the entire franchise and new songs were never needed. Lastly, it’s worth noting that the cowboy-space ranger rivalry was also a clever idea. Parents around 35-40 years old lived through that transition in media. That’s a nice hook.

Best Scene: The finish once Buzz lights the rocket through he and Woody landing in Andy’s mom’s car. It is an absolutely perfect sequence with an incredible callback from earlier.

Worst Scene: I have to be honest here, this movie doesn’t have a bad scene in it. Every frame just hits.

Personal Story: I still don’t understand how the video game for this movie is so difficult (I don’t really have a personal story I remember, but I know I always loved this movie.)

Final Thoughts: I have said that Frozen was the greatest Disney Animated Studios film ever, but I specified it that way because Toy Story is better.

Grade: S

Released: November 24, 1999
First Seen: In Theatres Around Release Day
Last Watch: Disney+

Before we even begin looking at Toy Story 2, I highly recommend researching the production history (problems) that Toy Story 2 had, as well as the issues between Pixar and Disney regarding the film. The fact that Toy Story 2 made its deadline with such high quality is nothing short of incredible. Originally, Toy Story 2 was to be a straight to video release (Disney had produced some of these, to lets say generously, mixed results at this point). But in 1997 upon seeing how the film was coming along, Disney and Pixar agreed it was good enough for a theatrical release. This led to a contract dispute between the two companies that went on until Disney outright bought Pixar in 2006. While all this was going, the Pixar team worked dangerously unhealthy hours to get the film done, and issues such as 90% of the film being deleted (and luckily recovered) plagued production. Again, incredible the film turned out the way it did.

I’m not going to go over all the returns characters that I listed in the Toy Story review. Almost all of them return and are just as great as the first film. We do have some new characters who are also a lot of fun. Jessie (Joan Cusack) is an excellent addition and Stinky Pete the Prospector (Kelsey Grammar) gives us a fun toy villain we didn’t have in in the original. Bullseye is also a toy horse with really fun expressions. Our human villain is Al (Wayne Knight) owner of Al’s Toy Barn. Just watching the character in the film and knowing Knight you’ll see why that’s a perfect voice casting. Also, Jodi Benson (Ariel from The Little Mermaid) voices a Barbie doll, although that’s a more significant casting later.

What’s brilliant about Toy Story 2 is that it recycles a lot of the themes from the original, but either extends them or does them on a grander scale. Here’s the synopsis. Just as Andy was to take Woody to their annual cowboy camp trip, Andy accidentally tears Woody’s arm while playing with him, causing Woody to be shelved. Woody finds another broken toy there named Wheezy. When Andy’s mom looks for things to sell at a garage sale, she takes Wheezy. Woody goes for the rescue, but he’s found by Al, who seems really excited about finding Woody. Al steals him, and in Al’s apartment we find out what the big deal about Woody: he’s a collector’s item as his character was the star of an old show called Woody’s round-up. There he meets Jessie, Bullseye and Stinky Pete, and completes the collection. They’re on their way to a museum in Japan for the rest of their lives, and because of their past histories, it’s something Jessie (abandoned by a previous owner) and Stinky Pete (never really a popular toy, especially after space toys were introduced) are excited about. They eventually do convince Woody that Andy will outgrow him and Woody chooses to stay with the “Round-Up Gang”. Meanwhile, Andy’s toys are out to rescue Woody and bring him home. Their side of the adventure involves causing a pileup on the highway, finding Al’s Toy Barn (with it’s own hilarious results) and eventually finding Woody in Al’s apartment. Will Woody return to Andy or head to the museum?

A lot of reviewers have said that Toy Story 2 is the rare sequel that surpasses the original. And while this is a great film, I wholeheartedly disagree. Despite an excellent set-up, I find the story falls apart with some rushed decisions Woody, Buzz and Jessie make. Jessie first. Her story is presented as one of the saddest in the franchise. She had an owner, Emily. But Emily grew up and forgot about Jessie, and left her in a box for donations. She’s been in storage ever since, waiting for Woody. She’s feels strongly about Woody’s connections to Andy, something pushed upon throughout the entire film. But when Woody tells Jessie that Andy will play with all of them, she does a complete 180 and gets excited about the idea (Woody even mentions Andy having a baby sister, Molly, but no idea why that would change anything). It somewhat cheapens Jessie’s story with Emily. Let’s talk about Woody. We know about Woody’s devotion to Andy and even his close relationship with all the toys in Andy’s room (something, as we will get to, that really makes Toy Story 4), but here after some prodding he’s all ready to abandon all of that for Woody’s Round-up and the museum. I understand that we’re dealing with a version of a love story and that sometimes people do silly things when it comes to love, but I don’t buy that Woody’s character would ever do this. I also completely disagree with Buzz leaving Woody with the Round-Up Gang, telling the rest of the toys that “he’s not coming with us”. After everything they went through in Toy Story Buzz giving up on Woody is a big thumbs down from me.

Woody almost gave up Andy and his friends for this…

But enough negativity. The rest of the film is still so amazing that these plot issues just turn an exceptional once-in-a-lifetime film into merely a great one, and that’s high praise. Here are some other aspects of the film to think about. The film is much bigger visually than the original. Seeing all the Buzz Lightyear toys in Al’s Toy Barn is a visual treat. The finish of the film on a tarmac with an airplane involved dwarfs the finale for Toy Story. The opening of the film, Rex playing a Buzz Lightyear video game, looks amazing fun and leads to a very fun C (B?) plot in the film (this also leads to a funny homage). Don’t get me wrong, I may not love the conclusion of some plot threads in Toy Story 2, but still is still a tremendous film.

Best Scene: I have to pick two here. The first of course is the famous scene where Woody is fixed and re-painted. It just has a certain beauty to it. The second is Jessie’s story with Sarah McLachlan’s “When She Loved Me” playing.

Worst Scene: The entire plot unravels when Buzz is ready to abandon Woody in Al’s apartment, Woody changes his mind again, then with very little prodding changes Jessie’s entire arc.

Personal Story: I actually didn’t care for this movie when I first saw it, although for different reasons (I felt it was all over the place and it just didn’t stick with me like the original did). It wasn’t until 2009 when I watched it again and appreciated some of the wackiness of it. If the production wasn’t such a disaster I would have bet the Pixar team had a blast creating the film.

Final Thoughts: An excellent film that is bigger, more emotional and perhaps even more fun that the original…but with a weaker overall story that didn’t even show much originality either.

Grade: A-

Released: June 18, 2010
First Seen: In Theatres on Release Day
Last Watch: Disney+

If you felt Toy Story 2 left an optimistic future for our favorite toys think again. In a refreshing and clever twist, the story of Toy Story 3 has moved forward in time about 10 years and Andy’s headed to college. Remember all those discussions about how kids outgrow their toys in Toy Story 2? Looks like that viewpoint was right. Kudos to Pixar and Disney going this route with Toy Story 3. This allowed viewers (like myself) that grew up with the first two films to relate to the film. It worked well too, Toy Story 3 made $1 billion (back when that really meant something) and peaked at #3 in all-time box office receipts.

Pixar and Disney were definitely targeting younger adults with Toy Story 3. There are truthfully not a lot of fun sequences for really young children here outside of the opening and I guess Bonnie’s playtime. It wouldn’t even surprise me if young kids were scared watching this film. Before we get into the story and why this is, let’s look at the continuity of the Toy Story franchise and how Toy Story 3 adds to it. The opening scene, one of the best opening scenes I think in theatrical film history, is an action remake of Andy playing with his toys in Toy Story (with some edits thrown in for the additional characters). As for the characters, almost all of them are here, but some are inexplicably missing (we will get to that in Toy Story 4), most importantly Bo Peep and R.C. are nowhere to be seen (although referenced). In fact, there’s only a small crew of toys left and when Andy is around, they just sit in the toybox. All the voice actors are back (even John Morris as Andy!) with the exception of Jim Varney as Slinky. Varney passed away in 2000, and Blake Clark replaces him (not only were him and Varney close friends, Clark does such a good job many do not realize it’s a different voice actor). There are new toys with another kid Bonnie, and while they are fun they aren’t really essential to the main story other than letting Woody know what’s going on (there’s another reason they are there which we’ll get to). Andy’s mom tells Andy to do something with the toys, and while he attempts to put them in the attic, they accidentally end up in the trash. They escape and get themselves donated to Sunnyside Daycare.

We saw in Toy Story 2 how Jessie felt about being abandoned by Emily and we now go one step further. Lotso (New Beatty) is a stuffed bear that’s accidentally left behind. Only this time we see Lotso make its way back to its owner…only to find that its owner has a new Lotso! This darkens Lotso heart, and he eventually makes his way to Sunnyside and ends up running the place like a prison camp. This isn’t an exaggeration either, there are several scenes that were inspired by the movies Cool Hand Luke and Shawshank Redemption. (I remember watching in the theater thinking that Lotso’s speech about Sunnyside to the imprisoned toys reminded me a lot like Warden Norton’s). Anyway the toys make their way to Sunnyside and at first think they’ve hit the jackpot…until they get utterly destroyed being played with by pre-schoolers. Woody escapes on his own (we’ll get to this) and ends up in the possession of another child, Bonnie. After some nostalgic playtime Bonnie’s toys explain to Woody that Sunnyside isn’t the nice place it may have seemed. Woody makes his way back to help his friends escape and get back to Andy’s attic, until Woody thinks of a better idea.

The structure of the story is quite sound, even if it’s much more straightforward than the previous two films. There’s no real secondary plot here (unless you want to count Mrs. Potato Head’s eye) or even twists or turns. We’re just trying to get Andy’s toys back to safety to be there for Andy one last time. That’s perfectly fine and works well (while not necessarily as complicated or as deep, I find this story stronger than Toy Story 2’s because everyone’s motivations make sense). There are no cliff hangers or decisions that could change the course of the franchise (like let’s say, what if Buzz never learned he was a toy in Toy Story 1 or what if Woody did go to the museum in Toy Story 2). The adventure itself is what makes the film. There’s an early hole that bothers me which I will get to, but otherwise the attention to detail Pixar puts into Sunnyside is nothing short of incredible. Sunnyside works like an actual prison, with search lights and cameras and patrols everywhere. There’s even toy politics (for example, Barbie and Ken’s (Michael Keaton)’s relationship and how Barbie gets to be on the safer side of Sunnyside. We end up for the third straight film having something happen with Buzz that returns him to Space Ranger form, and for the third straight time it works again. So the toys have to overcome that (and the result pays off hilariously) as well. The actual plan to escape Sunnyside is similar to the plan to escape Sid in Toy Story 1, but on a grander scale. Every character gets a chance to shine. Sunnyside isn’t without its horrors though, with Big Baby and the Monkey watching every move (the Monkey specifically might give some nightmare fuel). No doubt, Sunnyside is the toy version of Alcatraz. Worse yet, the one way to escape is through the garbage disposal. That doesn’t quite go well either, leading to one of the most emotionally gripping scenes maybe in all of cinema.

Of course, we all know it works out (the how is definitely worth a laugh too). So let’s talk about the ending. You’ve probably read or even felt yourself that Toy Story 3 has the perfect ending to the franchise and at the time I agreed and still kind of do, although Toy Story 4’s ending worked for me. Andy ends up giving Bonnie all of his toys and there’s one last play through with them. (Even though it may be somewhat lame for a 17-18 year old Andy to feel the way he does in this scene, quite frankly who cares. It’s hard not to tear up at this scene to this day). But right there we all should have known what Bonnie is and what her toys represent to the franchise: a sequel. This was never going to be the ending. We should also address the other issues too. The entire escape sequence from Sunnyside is fun and all, but somewhat cheapened by Woody managing to escape on his own earlier (this is addressed, but still doesn’t work). But they had to get Woody out to meet with Bonnie’s toys so I guess that had to happen. I actually would have liked to have seen more from the post Lotso Sunnyside run by Barbie and Ken in Toy Story 4. I thought those toys were way more interesting.

Best Scene: Sure the ending is perfect, but my goodness the opening scene is a whole different level of perfection. We also have to mention the garbage disposal scene of course, even though that was always going one way.

Worst Scene: Like Toy Story, I don’t feel this film really has a bad scene.

Personal Story: This is easily my favorite Toy Story film. I was the perfect target for Pixar and Disney here.

Final Thoughts: A more straightforward story, but one I’m definitely along with the entire time. I personally loved the darker atmosphere and the revelation of the truth that being a toy will more likely than not have a sad ending. Toy Story 3 may have been the perfect “ending”, but all it did was really extend the toys lifespan just a little longer. Bonnie must grow up sometime too, right?

Grade: A+

Released: June 21, 2019
First Seen: In Theatres close to Release Day
Last Watch: Disney+

If you felt Toy Story 3’s ending was perfect and that this movie shouldn’t exist, you aren’t alone. In an era where Disney is clearly busting out live action remakes of their Disney classics in what feel like complete money grabs, there was a real concern that’s what Toy Story 4 is. And amazingly, it’s not. While overall I do feel Toy Story 4 is the weakest film of the four, it’s still in the same ballpark. It may even have the highest highs in the entire franchise. It just has the lowest lows that the other films don’t have. But brilliantly, we thought we saw the only possible conclusion there was with Andy giving Woody and the toys to Bonnie in Toy Story 3, but it turns out there was one more card to play and Pixar and Disney played it perfectly.

I didn’t really discuss Bonnie’s toys in Toy Story 3 but I’ll do so now since they are a bigger part of the picture this time around. There’s the leader of Bonnie’s room, Dolly (Bonnie Hunt), Trixie (Kristen Schaal), Mr. Pricklepants (Timothy Dalton) and Buttercup (Jeff Garlin). Unfortunately, these characters are mostly regulated to the C-plot (which is pretty bad) and after cameos in Toy Story 3 and this showing here, I don’t really care about any of these toys. Mr. Pricklepants has his moments (being in character is important to him, a fun gimmick) and Dolly’s status as leader of Bonnie’s toys does create an interesting dynamic for Woody. But after that, nothing about them makes me excited about them being in a Toy Story 5.

So what was that trump card Pixar and Disney still had to play? Well the first three films focused on Woody doing everything he could to make Andy happy. It’s why Toy Story 3’s ending felt perfect. But what about Woody? Is his story really over just because Andy went to college? And thus, the Bo Peep card was played. Woody and Bo had shown affection for one another all the way back in Toy Story and we didn’t get an answer to why she isn’t in Toy Story 3. The opening to Toy Story 4 (perhaps the most stunningly amazingly animated scene I’ve ever seen in anything ever) answers that question and now see what Woody sacrificed. With a little retconning (Bo being Molly’s toy now), Bo ends up being given away shortly after the events o Toy Story 2. Woody, fresh off a rescue of R.C. (also missing from Toy Story 3, although that’s not explained here), looks to save Bo as well. Only Bo accepts her fate, realizing that Molly is growing up. But then Bo makes an offer that Woody almost accepts…to come with her (“you know, kids lose their toys everyday…”). But Andy’s voice pulls Woody back to Andy one more time. It’s worth noting I felt this one scene was much stronger than the entire enticement of Woody in Toy Story 2.

We move on to present day, and Woody isn’t a favorite of Bonnie’s; often being left in the closet during playtime. But we see Woody’s growth here. He understand that making Bonnie happy is all that matters and if that means being left in the closet so be it. Woody understands his role as making sure the group that came with Andy is ready for playtime. He further decides that a toy needs to go to Kindergarten with Bonnie, and Woody saves the day there too. The one catch is that Bonnie creates a “toy” out of trash named Forky (Tony Hale). When it comes to Forky, I’ve never been so mixed about a character in anything ever. On the surface, I find the character to be a mix of funny and annoying. But I appreciate how clever the character actually is. In Toy Story Buzz thought he was an actual space ranger and not a toy. Well, the same thing is true for Forky, as he comes to life and thinks he’s actually what he is…trash. Bonnie loves Forky though, so despite Forky trying to throw himself out for a quarter of the movie Woody does everything he can to make sure Forky is around for Bonnie. The whole entire question of what makes a toy does have to be asked for sure, but it’s never answered (like why isn’t the Super Nintendo in the earlier films or even the board games alive…but Forky is?)

Anyway, due to Forky jumping out the window, Woody goes out to save him and Forky seemingly understands his role. But when almost back to Bonnie’s RV, Woody spots Bo Peep’s lamp in an antique store. There’s another whole side plot with one of the toys in the antique store, Gabby Gabby. For whatever reason Disney-Pixar decided to try another creepy setting in Toy Story 4 (especially with the “Slappy dolls”). But it kind of doesn’t really hit that level other than a couple of scenes and other toys saying Gabby’s whacked out. It turns out Gabby isn’t that bad, she just wants to impress a kid who visits the store, but her voice box is damaged. It just so happens that Woody’s voice box is the one that works for Gabby. Even though a majority of the story actually takes place here, the conclusion isn’t that important so I’ll roll with it now. Woody gives up his voice box for Forky, but Gabby gets rejected by the kid. Woody ends up taking Gabby along, and then Gabby gets to comfort another kid. It shows Woody being Woody one more time, and it does perhaps justify his decision to join Bo later, but it’s definitely feels like a random conclusion.

Woody has a child take him out of the antique story into the carnival across the street, and that’s where the epic reunion with Bo Peep takes place. But Bo is a very different toy than we last saw her. You see she’s a lost toy, but unlike everything we’ve been told throughout the Toy Story franchise, it turns out being a lost toy could be a lot of fun! This is a fantastic way to build the world of Toy Story. I find it to be quite similar to a child of a conservative family who really never got out during their teenage years. Suddenly, they’re older and not realizing everything the world has to offer them. Bo Peep was that toy too, until she discovered the world around her. The creativity of how Bo gets around the carnival is also great. Whether it’s using a rolling frisbee to move around or riding around in a skunk car, once again we see the amazing attention to detail that Disney-Pixar has time and time again perfected. Bo knows the ins and outs of the antique store (and we get to meet Duke Caboom (Keanu Reeves), another toy going through his own version of the abandoned toy arc, only this time with the twist that he was abandoned because he was a disappointment).

So Buzz goes out the window too to find Woody and Forky. For some reason, there’s a stupid subplot of Buzz listening to his inner voice (which are his voice commands) and reacting off that. I’m not sure who thought that was a good idea. Buzz ends up finding Ducky and Bunny (Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele) along the way which is a big plus, as they’re pretty hilarious (winner-winner-chicken dinner…plush rush!). They all come together and with some fun teamwork scenes (something else the Toy Story franchise always pulls off) we get to the aforementioned conclusion earlier. Unfortunately with so much going on, we don’t spend a lot of time with the rest of Andy’s toys. In some cases it’s understandable (for example, Don Rickles, Mr. Potato Head’s voice actor, passed away a couple of years prior and all his voice clips are older clips). The c plot here is the lowest point in the series, with Andy and Bobbie’s toys trying to buy time by hitting the brake pedal randomly on the RV and acting as a GPS to cause Bonnie’s dad to drive the wrong way (and cause the cops to stop him too). What a waste really.

Perhaps the ending Woody and Bo deserved

But who cares because the ending is where the money is. If you thought Andy’s good bye was emotional, I hope you’re ready for Woody’s. It comes to time for the toys to go with Bonnie, forcing him to once again say good-bye to Bo Peep. But Buzz lets him know that Bonnie will be okay without Woody, and Woody makes the decision to go with Bo Peep and become a lost toy. This leads to Woody saying good-bye to all of his friends, and in a way it hits harder than the ending of Toy Story 3 actually did. You always know Andy was going to grow up. But did you really expect Woody to say good-bye (again, this is what frustrates me about Toy Story 2). In a moment that’s kind of wasted though is Woody giving his sheriff’s badge to Jessie. It’s not that Jessie isn’t deserving, I just wish she had a stronger arc in Toy Story 4. The very last lines by Tim Allen and Tom Hanks really is a perfect way to end the series (He (Woody)’s not lost, not anymore. To Infinity…and Beyond). The fact that Disney-Pixar took a movie that frankly no one wanted and turned it into another emotionally gripping epic is an amazing feat.

Best Scene: The opening and the ending.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q59l-_QEo-4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxhNXy0JPnY

Worst Scene: The entirety of Bonnie’s dad driving the RV near the end. Just screamed “we don’t know what to do with these characters”.

Personal Story: Sure, it’s my least favorite of the four films and I didn’t even see it a second time in theaters. But I can’t help but tear up at the ending.

Final Thoughts: As I wrote earlier, Toy Story 4 has ridiculously high highs and really low lows. I know Toy Story 5 will come, and I just hope it’s more with Woody and Bo’s crew. That’s definitely the more interesting group. Bo Peep showed us a whole new world, if we’re going to expand it, let’s expand it. Let’s not try to make Jessie Woody 2.0.

Grade: A+

Disney, Movies, RDT Reviews

RDT Reviews Frozen (2013) and Frozen II (2019)

January 5, 2021 RDTUniverse

Somewhere after the Disney Renaissance of the 90s Disney lost a step. At first it wasn’t necessarily a quality issue. The Emperor’s New Groove, despite bombing at the box office is pretty well regarded. Lilo & Stitch brought it back a little (did similar box office as Hercules, but still way short of the films at the tail end of the Reniassance). Things began to slide down with Treasure Planet both from a quality standpoint and box office standpoint. Then Brother Bear (outright critical flop) and Home on the Range (what the heck happened?!) were released and Disney became a complete non-factor from a feature film animation standpoint. What were the causes? Briefly, as I want to get to the review, you have your options between the rise of computer animation (which Pixar and Dreamworks were doing quite well with), the Disney films not being as good or the Disney’s failure to create new fans during the Reniassance (I’m definitely one that lapsed into my teenage years). Disney would buy Pixar, but would keep Pixar and Disney animation studios separate.

Disney went ahead with a few computer animated films, all forgettable (not necessarily bad though). One more classically animated film came after that (The Princess and the Frog, a bit underrated but still disappointing at the box office). Things turned around in 2010 as animated films suddenly became big box office. Toy Story 3 hit the $1 Billion mark (back when that mattered) and then Disney’s own Tangled got close to $600K. The combination of computer animation and a return to the princess fairy tale got Disney Animation back on track. And that leads us to Frozen.

Released: November 19, 2013

First Seen: Theaters, Around Release

Last Watch: Disney+

I was very curious to see how Disney’s adaptation of the Snow Queen was going to work. After the success of Tangled it’s not a surprise that Disney went this direction though. The epic fairy tale was the key to not only getting a whole new generation of young fans, but getting some parents who fell in love with Disney 20 years prior back. A big key, which definitely helped Tangled, would be that the movie had to be good. Did Frozen accomplish that? Yes, yes it did.

Frozen is a beautiful, charming, fantastic film. Everything works so well that the one hour-forty minute run time will just breeze right by. Like fun and even epic songs? Frozen’s soundtrack may be the greatest is Disney’s library. Likable characters? Great and even breathtaking visuals? Check. How about a really fun story that has several nice twists but at the same time doesn’t change or hurt the classic Disney storytelling formula? That may be the highest bar to clear, and Disney manages to clear it with more than enough space in-between.

Let’s look at the story. As children, two sisters, Elsa (Idina Menzel) and Anna (Kristen Bell) are princesses of Arendelle. Elsa was born with magical ice powers, with the ability freeze anything, while Anna has no such powers. They play as children but Elsa accidentally hits Anna with an ice blast, to which Anna has to be cured. Anna is cured, but at the cost of her memory of Elsa’s powers. This turns into a traumatic event for Elsa, as she hides her powers from Anna as they grow up. Everything comes to a head as their parents die in a shipwreck, and Elsa is set to be coronated as queen. What an excellent set-up! In the first five minutes Elsa and Anna’s motivations for their actions throughout the film are completely explained. It helps that part of this was done though an amazing song, “Do You Want To Build A Snowman”, which is fun, epic and then even tear jerking. I was invested immediately.

Before we continue let’s discuss our two main protagonists. Kristen Bell is excellent, voicing a character with a wide arrange of emotions. Anna is quirky, sad, fun, determined, energetic character and Bell hits all of those emotions perfectly. Idina Menzel works well as Elsa too, obviously especially when we get to the singing part. I believe every single emotion these characters portray. Yes, it helps that the computer animation is perfect, but the voice acting really makes it for me. The relationship between these two characters pushes this film to another level.

One of the most beautiful sequences in cinema history…

Continuing on, during the coronation celebration Anna meets Prince Hans (“the one”) and tells Elsa they are going to be married. Elsa doesn’t approve though, and loses control of her previously hidden powers. This causes her to run off, unwittingly leaving Arendelle in a deep winter. Anna loves her sister though and runs off to find her. On the way she meets ice seller Kristoff (and his reindeer Sven) who helps her on her way. They also run into Olaf, a sentient snowman that Elsa created as she set off the nuclear winter. They all get to Elsa’s ice palace (gorgeous), but Elsa’s afraid she’ll hurt Anna again (and then accidentally does). This time the damage is more serious than when they were children, with only an act of true love being able to save her. I’ll look to avoid getting deep into spoilers, but this twist here works really well and cements Anna as one of the all-time great Disney characters for me.

Jonathan Groff as Kristoff is pretty fun too, especially his relationship with Sven. Josh Gad is great as Olaf. Usually the comedic sidekick is a huge hit or miss, and while there are a couple of annoying spots overall Gad gets the job done.

It needs to be stressed that the visuals are incredible. I know Pixar is the king of computer animation and all, but Disney Animation made a massive statement here. Of course the music is incredible as well. Every song hits, and I’m of the opinion that “Let It Go” is the greatest Disney song period. I never thought I could relate to an ice queen running away from her kingdom, but “Let It Go” sure did that. No surprise that it won an Oscar. Of course, the song was covered by everyone on Youtube for years.

Best Scene: The “Let It Go” sequence. I really can’t pick anything else even though there’s a lot of great stuff here.

Worst Scene: Literally the only scene that didn’t sit right with me in the film is right before Elsa accidentally reveals her powers during the afterparty of the coronation. When arguing with Anna, she yells out that Anna should leave, which misses the mark on everything else their relationship is portrayed as in the film. I literally have no other complain.

Personal Story: I was a little disappointed that I didn’t see Tangled on the big screen. Since I like “the Snow Queen” and Disney had started winning me back with Wreck-It-Ralph, I decided to give Frozen a chance. I think i saw the film seven or eight times in theater. It was the first time outside of the superhero genre that I really felt I watched a masterpiece. That and I was singing “Let It Go” for months afterwards.

Final Thoughts: I consider this the greatest film Disney animations has ever released. Really, the main competition here is Beauty and the Beast. And while yes, that’s great as well, I really enjoy the characters (and songs) much more in Frozen. I don’t plan to give this grade out often, but Frozen deserves it.

Grade: S

Released: November 22, 2019

First Seen: Theaters, Around Release

Last Watch: Disney+

Before we delve into this I will give Disney some credit. They very easily could have just done a princess love story with Anna or Elsa and slapped Frozen II on it. Not only did they not do that, but they’ve begun to expand the mythology of world the Frozen franchise takes place in. I definitely would have never expected that beforehand. I didn’t see a trailer ahead of time and was surprised in a good way at the direction Frozen II goes. It’s almost fair to call this an action film.

I have a theory about why this came about. I’m guessing Disney projected that Frozen mainly catered to 8-9 year old girls. Six years later they’re projecting that those same girls are likely reading books like Percy Jackson or The Summoner series. And this is Disney’s attempt at going that direction (I think Pixar did the same with Brave, but I can’t completely say as I haven’t seen Brave). Once again, I’m pleasantly surprised.

We return to pre-Frozen Arendelle and through a bedtime story from Anna and Elsa’s parents there is a mist that closes off the woods from everyone. We also sneakily learn a more about Elsa and Anna’s mother than seems contradictory but I do think works in the film overall. We cut to present day Arendelle and there’s a spirit calling Elsa to those woods. Anna and Elsa have promised one another that they would tackle everything together, so they go off with Kristoff, Sven and Olaf to uncover the mystery. We end up with four stories. Elsa’s, Anna’s, Kristoff’s and the people who are trapped in the mist. Let’s do this backwards.

Kristoff’s just a one-joke character unfortunately…

Kristoff’s story sucks. He wants to propose to Anna but keeps screwing it up. They clearly had nothing for this character and decided to make him a one joke deal, only that joke is done four or five times. It’s not done well, with one exception (there’s an unexpected song that’s funny). The character outright disappears half-way through. This idea could probably be done well if it received some focus.

Anna’s story isn’t necessarily bad, but it’s forced. Disney really wants to put these two on the same pedestal and the way they decided to do this was to have the sisters agree to do everything together, even if it’s dangerous. Sure, she doesn’t have powers, but Anna does remind us often how much she went through in Frozen and it usually works as a justification to keep her along. We do get to a point where it’s clearly too dangerous for her to continue the journey with Elsa though. While that scene is botched (we’ll get there), Elsa does have to send a message to Anna in order for her to save the day. Again, it’s forced…but I ended up liking Anna more by the end of the film (she’s one of, if not my favorite Disney protagonist). It’s just that…

This is Elsa’s show, no matter how hard Disney tried to include anyone else. Her uncovering why she was born with powers does directly tie into the trapped people in the mist. And quite frankly, this movie would be a lot better if they just focused on that (it’s very similar to Toy Story 4 in this regard). When Elsa’s on screen doing her thing the movie is pretty awesome. There are two incredible music sequences for Indina Menzel this time around. Sure, neither reach “Let it Go” status, but “Into the Unknown” and “Show Yourself” do belong with Disney’s best songs.

Unfortunately Elsa’s story overshadows any story development for the trapped people in the mist. There’s no real consequences when Elsa and Anna resolve the issue either (which would have been interesting). There’s an important discussion about respecting indigenous people and their culture that’s absolutely missing in this film. Everything pretty much gets situated with an “oh, that’s the solution to the problem, yay, everyone’s saved and happy”. Big swing and a miss by Disney there.

Two more pieces: There’s no real villain here this time at all, and frankly the way Elsa is being built up it’s time to bring one in. The mythology is there now. Give us an awesome villain from Frozen III. Also, Olaf has his moments (his re-enactment of Frozen is gold), but he’s much more annoying this time around. He’s really around for three reasons: give kids a laugh, for an emotional scene with Anna (which misses quite frankly), and to remind us over and over that water has memory.

Show Yourself is another amazing song with amazing visuals…

Best Scene: The “Show Yourself” musical sequence. It’s beautiful and it’s powerful.

Worst Scene: When it’s clear Anna can’t go with Elsa anymore because it’s too dangerous, Elsa creates an ice boat then kicks Anna and Olaf away into what turns out to be danger. It’s really eye opening and after Anna tells Olaf it’s okay to be angry about it the situation is never brought up again. It actually took away from “Show Yourself” (which takes place shortly afterwards) for me the first time I watched it.

Personal Story: Despite liking the film, I didn’t bother seeing it again after I saw it the first time in theaters. Overall I couldn’t help but be disappointed that it couldn’t recapture the magic the first film had. Still made me really like Anna’s character though, at least at the end of the film.

Final Thoughts: If I didn’t like these characters so much the grade would be a lot lower. Frozen II misses a lot of opportunities to really be an impactful film. That being said, if the point was to make Elsa a bigger star and to create a whole new mythology for the Frozen franchise, then Frozen II did it’s job. I can even forgive the inconsistencies for the parents from Frozen to Frozen II as I doubt when Frozen was made Disney knew this was the direction the franchise would go in. Now give us a real villain all five of our characters can go up against.

Grade: B+

Disney, RDT Reviews

RDT Reviews The Simpsons Season One (1989-1990)

October 24, 2020 RDTUniverse

I’ve decided to repost my review from my old site for this. I originally reviewed season one in 2016.

We’re looking to review every single season of the Simpsons…but doing a short review of EVERY single episode. Each episode will get a grade, as will each season. First, a little preview.

Season 1

The Tracey Ullman Show was one of Fox’s earliest programs as it had recently taken off with Married…With Children. The Simpsons was an animated short, or bumper, in-between segments and commercials during the program. With Fox still looking to add content as a fledging network, the Simpsons would get spun-off into its own show. There were production problems early on as some of the animation looked terrible for the intended series opener (which in turn became the season finale, “Some Enchanted Evening”). The series began much later than expected and with a Christmas Special (intended to be the eighth episode in the series).

Episode 1 (1) – Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire

In a lot of ways this is a classic despite that a lot of peak Simpsons’ traits are absent here. There’s no crazy version of Homer, he wouldn’t really appear for a few more seasons. Instead Homer’s just a normal man trying to make his family happy for Christmas. He’s relatable in that sense. And while that version of Homer isn’t what made the character famous, it does work. We establish a lot of main and side characters here, which is quite impressive for a 23 minute episode. Bart does no less than three things that show he’s the bad boy, a character that carried early Simpsons seasons (those three things are ruining the school play, getting a tattoo and pulling “Santa’s” beard). Lisa has her moment as well when she defends her father against her aunts, using a detailed explanation that clearly seems advanced for an 8 year old. Marge shows to be the kind hearted matriarch of the family, and even gets a good moment herself (where she hides the Christmas money). Flanders, Mr. Burns and Barney also provide a lot in their few moments. Flanders becomes the neighbor that Homer sizes himself up against…and fails miserably in doing so. Mr. Burns says one thing and you already get an idea of the kind of boss he is. And Barney is, well Barney. There’s a lot here and it’s a great episode as a result. It’s just a bit jarring when you know what’s coming in the seasons ahead.

Grade: A

Episode 2 (2) – Bart the Genius

We learn a lot about Bart here and get to see him interact in the school environment. It’s pretty amazing that characters like Ms. Krabappel and Martin Prince didn’t really change much at all in regards to their core identities. Same goes for Principal Skinner in some respects, although he would become a much great source of comedy later on. While the strength of the episode lies within Homer being proud of Bart’s discovered intellect, the rest of the characters and episode falls flat a bit. It also isn’t drawn all that well either. There are a few great gags in there though (like Homer giving Bart his tie). There’s nothing really wrong with “Bart the Genius”, but it doesn’t really stand out either.

Grade: B-

Episode 3 (3) – Homer’s Odyssey

“Homer’s Odyssey” is the weakest episode so far, although that could be because it was the very first episode written. There are only a few highlights here, mostly centered around Bart and his antics. He provides an entertaining first few minutes and we also get the first prank call to Moe. Once Homer is fired from the Plant, the story takes a nosedive. Homer goes from being depressed and nearly committing suicide to realizing his purpose in life is to make sure Springfield is safe. This all results in Homer getting a new position at the Plant, Nuclear Safety Technician. While it’s funny that Homer (correctly) thinks to himself that he’s grossly underqualified for the position, the whole idea of course is silly in future seasons when we see Homer at work. Nonetheless that can’t be held against the episode as it was the first one written afterall. What can be held against the episode is that Homer’s story isn’t much and the episode suffers for it. On the bright side, we did get the first prank call to Moe from Bart and the first instance of Mr. Burns not knowing who Homer is, both of which would become two long running gags.

Grade: C

Episode 4 (4) – There’s No Disgrace Like Home

Another weak episode here, even weaker than “Homer’s Odyssey”. The entire episode is based around Homer feeling that his family is dysfunctional. Homer as the moral center of the family, a position Marge would usually be in, just feels odd and doesn’t work. While there’s a few solid jokes in this one, there’s really not much else. The fact that the family bonds because they are deemed too unfit for Dr. Marvin Monroe pales in comparison to the stories of the first three episodes. It’s also jarring a bit to see Lisa being as much a troublemaker as Bart. On the plus side, Itchy and Scratchy make their debuts here so there’s that.

Grade: D

Episode 5 (5) – Bart the General

A truly great episode as it foreshadows what made the Simpsons great. While we start off with another standard family story; Bart defending her sister and getting beaten up by a bully as the result, the conclusion is ridiculously over the top that it’s great. We get introduced to Nelson Muntz, who would become one of the most popular recurring characters. We also get introduced to Herman, who while having a big and entertaining role here isn’t used nearly as much in the future. Grampa Simpson is also here and has some funny moments, although like Homer he isn’t in peak form yet. With that being said everyone gets their moments, and Bart clearly breaks out as a star here. I’m pretty sure every 10 year old felt like and wanted to be like Bart after this one.

Grade: A

Episode 6 (6) – Moaning Lisa

Your opinion of this episode will probably be based on whether or not you like the Lisa Simpson character. We learn a lot about Lisa and how much playing the sax means to her. When she meets Bleeding Gums Murphy, a memorable character in his own right, Lisa finally finds someone she can connect with. The result of her arc here has a satisfying conclusion for sure. It’s a bit unfortunate though that the side story involving Bart and Homer steals the episode. Homer and Bart face off in video boxing, which reaches a funny conclusion in itself. We also learn a little bit about Marge and how she was raised. Overall a really good episode with memorable characters…but if you don’t like Lisa you may not like it. There’s a scene with Maggie that made me laugh out loud as well.

Grade: A-

Episode 7 (7) – The Call of the Simpsons

Pretty much everything that made the Simpsons great is here. The first third of the episode, where Homer looks to upend Flanders by buying a nice RV than him, is pure gold. The Simpsons getting stuck in the wild perfectly captures all the Simpsons and even gives us a glimpse of the crazy, insane Homer we get in future seasons. Maggie too has some highlights. Everything works in “The Call of the Simpsons”. The last act can’t be forgotten, where Homer is mistaken for Bigfoot! Of course hilarity ensues there too. Best episode so far and again, all the pieces that made the Simpsons such a great show in its first 10 years are here.

Grade: A+

Episode 8 (8) – The Telltale Head

This is yet another classic Simpsons episode, as well as another that primarily focuses on Bart. It does employ one of my favorite storytelling devices, a frame story beginning in media res. You see Homer and Bart with the head of the town founder Jebadiah Springfield and an angry mob looking to kill them. How the heck did we get here? Bart tells us what happens and it’s little more than a tale of a young boy succumbing to peer pressure and doing something stupid to fit in and be popular. The episode definitely continued to push Bart as the star of the show, and no doubt kids watching probably related with him (something the first season of the Simpsons has done quite well with Homer and Bart). There are some good moments too, Homer in church is definitely a highlight as well as the tormenting of the poor Sunday School teacher with ridiculous questions about who gets to heaven. We also see some characters for the first time (Apu, Krusty, Jimbo, Kearney, Reverend Lovejoy) which is cool, although we only get anything substantial with the bullies. With that being said for a classic episode it feels a little flat. The tone is closer to “Bart the Genius” than the greatness we got in the last few episodes. I also think the characters highlighted in the mob were a bit odd. I get Mr. Burns would care, but seeing him in this angry mob alongside the Skinner’s and Abe Simpson’s of the world felt off. Good, but not great episode.

Grade: B

Episode 9 (9) – Life on the Fast Lane

This is the first time we get an episode that focuses on Marge’s character. Her love for Homer is tested after Homer buys her a selfish birthday gift that he intends to use for himself (a bowling ball engraved with the name “Homer”). She decides to spite him and use it herself. She ends up catching the eye of Jacques, a professional bowler who clearly wants something romantic with Marge. The story is fine, although the actually conclusion seems undeserved from Homer’s perspective and that’s a major gripe from me. Homer doesn’t correct his wrongdoing or anything. He just fears his marriage is falling apart and he doesn’t offer much to fix it. So things working out for them solely works because of Marge’s love for Homer and her family. I suppose that’s great characterization for Marge but it feels so undeserved. Perhaps if there were more scenes with her and Bart and Lisa I’d buy it more. Interestingly the producers spoke about how female fans of the series were frustrated with the conclusion. I can understand why. With that all being said this episode still gets a good mark simply because of its moments and the performance of Albert Brooks as Jacques. The moment Homer unveils his gift for Marge is a great sequence. Marge’s dream about Jacques is visually amazing, especially considering this is still season 1 animation. Jacques is voiced in such an over the top way it’s nothing short of brilliant.

Grade: B+

Episode 10 (10) – Homer’s Night Out

There’s not much to this one. Homer gets caught dancing with an exotic belly dancer by Bart’s spy camera and Marge is furious. There’s ultimately a good lesson to be learned here about women not being treated as objects but other than that and a little of Bart’s mischief it’s a forgettable episode. Also, if you’re following each episode as a chronological story (which…it’s probably best not to) it’s really disappointing to see Homer in this spot after Life on the Fast Lane and the choice Marge made. There aren’t many laughs here either. Bart and his spy camera pretty much take up the good scenes and other than that and Carl’s debut (with a much different voice) this episode is just there.

Grade: C

Episode 11 (11) – The Crepes of Wrath

“The Crepes of Wrath” is a strange episode that foreshadows some of the over the top plots we’d get in future Simpsons episodes. In order to get rid of him for a few months, Principal Skinner comes up with the idea of sending Bart to France in a foreign exchange program. Homer’s fed up with Bart as well, so he and Skinner are both excited to send him off. The Simpsons get an exchange student in return who seems quite perfect. Bart’s side of the story takes an ugly turn as he’s forced into child labor which paints Bart as a sympathy figure who saves the day in France. Meanwhile it turns out the student the Simpsons got back is a spy for another country. Neither side is particularly entertaining other than Homer not realizing he’s giving a spy tons of blueprints and plans to “an unfriendly country”. Also in Homer’s case, these last three episodes showed a really disappointing turn in Homer’s lack of commitment to his family, especially from what we saw in the first few episodes. There are some high points for sure here though, basically all before the two stories come together. Bart’s prank on Skinner’s mother continued that bad boy image that made Bart a star. And, as we’ll get to in later seasons, slapstick violence on Homer Simpson just seems to be money and we get a little bit of that here. I can’t say I liked this episode though. It gets a little bit of a bonus for what I said about foreshadowing over the top storylines in the future though.

Grade: C+

Episode 12 (12) – Krusty Gets Busted

From a theoretical sense this episode probably isn’t considered to be that great. Other than a few moments (the moment Homer sees Krusty in the Kwik E Mart for example) it’s not really an episode played for laughs and the only characters who really get any screen time are Bart, Lisa, Krusty and Sideshow Bob. With that being said who cares! There’s a really good story here and a well done mystery as well. If you were watching it for the first time you can figure out what happened pretty quickly in regards to the crime. Both Krusty and Sideshow Bob are memorable characters right out of the gate and we also establish one of the great rivalries of the Simpsons that’s still being used today: Bart vs. Sideshow Bob.

Grade: A-

Episode 13 (13) – Some Enchanted Evening

This was supposed to be the Series Premiere as opposed to the Season Finale and it shows. The first season of the Simpsons really developed as it went on and as a result “Some Enchanted Evening” feels out of place. That’s not to say some things don’t work because they definitely do. Bart and Lisa’s prank calls to Moe are always good for a laugh and Ms. Botz is an entertaining antagonist. Everything else misses though. We already had two episodes focusing on Homer and Marge’s marriage and for the most part those episodes were stronger.

Grade: C

Season Review

To be honest I found the 1^st season of the Simpsons to be stronger than I remembered it. It’s rather impressive that so many characters that appeared in the season stayed true to their original selves. The only real changes you see over time is like to Moe, who really just becomes a more involved character, and others like Carl Carlson who just needed an identity. The template for the Simpsons peak that would take place over the next nine or ten years was set in stone here. You just have to weave through some of the growing pains too.

Grade: B+

Disney, MCU, Movies, RDT Reviews

RDT Reviews Iron Man (2008)

October 22, 2020 RDTUniverse

The Marvel Cinematic Universe completely changed the game when it comes to big box office comic book films. Catching DC Comics are the right time as it was committed to the Dark Knight Trilogy. Despite The Dark Knight being the arguable greatest comic book film of all time, Marvel took the opportunity to begin a shared universe between the characters it still had the movie rights too. DC wouldn’t be able to begin theirs five years later, and DC was forced to play catch-up. (Yes, Iron Man did come out about two months before The Dark Knight, but the point stands.)

Grading super hero films comes at a bit of a different curve. Super hero films get a bit of a break because at times things happen (or should happen) in the film that happen because of a specific comic book storyline. Certain characters sometimes don’t need an introduction for the same reason. If you aren’t a fan of comic book films, you probably would disagree with all of these grades. With that being said, comic book films also invite comparison to themselves. Lastly, films within a shared universe can have their grade affected by how they treat storylines established by other films in the universe.

Released: May 2, 2008

First Seen: DVD, After I saw Avengers (Late 2012)

Last Watch: Disney+

It’s amazing that the very beginning discussions of the Marvel Cinematic Universe began as far back as 2000 (talks of this film go back even further, to 1990). Ted McCanlies, a writer for the film when it was being produced for New Line in 2000, looked to add Nick Fury in a cameo role in the film to lead to a film of his (McCanlies) own. Just really cool to see those seeds planted so early on. Also interesting in early pre-production is that New Line was on the clock to getting the an Iron Man film out in order to not lose the film rights (which had bounced from Universal to 20th Century Fox to New Line), but New Line couldn’t get it done and as 2005 Marvel retained full rights. There are so many what-ifs with that entire scenario that someone needs to do a youtube documentary or something.

I had actually reviewed this in 2015 on my old site after I re-watched the film last night. Funny enough, I don’t have much to add to what I wrote then and I feel pretty much the same way. So for anyone who remembers my original Iron Man review, I apologize for the lack of originality here.

The first twenty (really fourty) minutes of Iron Man is absolutely fantastic. We quickly learn who Tony Stark is, how he is viewed by others (he absolutely intimidates other soldiers by his mere presence), and once he’s captured, why he decides to become Iron Man. Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark is so strikingly perfect that you’d think Stark was created just so Downey could play him. Another what-if to throw in the MCU bag: what if Robert Downey Jr. didn’t get his life together and didn’t get a chance to play Tony Stark? Would the MCU have been able to reach the heights that it did? By the time Tony escapes his captives, we completely understand why he takes the path he does to become Iron Man. It’s worth noting that the MCU would have very strong minor supporting characters throughout it’s history, and Shaun Toub’s Ho Yinsen is a great start to that legacy. The first half of the film is one of the all-time best origin stories for a superhero film.

On the other side of the coin, midway through the film it’s revealed that Jeff Bridges’ Obadiah Stane is the real mastermind behind Tony Stark getting kidnapped in the opening. While I think Bridges does a good job as Stane, I don’t love how the character is written. He’s not horrible or anything, but he goes from business man to cartoon villain pretty quickly once it’s revealed. I’d even go as far to say he’s rather cringeworthy in the final battle with some horrible one liners. With that being said I still think he’s pretty good overall. Just written somewhat poorly.

Before Stane turned into an absolute cartoon…

Iron Man does a great job with it’s supporting cast too. While this is the only appearance of Terrence Howard’s Col. James Rhodes, I find him to be fine. Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts is almost as perfectly cast as Stark is with Downey. The chemistry they have from pretty much the first instance they are on-screen together is perfect. Other minor characters such as S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Caulson are fun (Caulson is actually involved in the film much more than I remembered).

Some extra notes about Iron Man before I wrap up. Because Disney hadn’t owned the Marvel movie rights yet, you’ll notice Iron Man is darker than later MCU installments (well, for a while). I wonder if they were doing that based off the success of Batman Begins and the upcoming Dark Knight. Obviously the MCU switched directions and that worked better. I want to bring up Obadiah Stane again, because while I do think considering everything he’s a good villain, I’m still disappointed with the overall direction of the character. I also of course need to point out end credits sequence teasing the Avengers. Talk about something to get hyped over.

Best Scene: There are a lot of choices here, but I’ll go with Iron Man going back to the place of his capture and gaining a little revenge. It’s the first time we see the Iron Man we now all know and love in action and it’s pretty awesome.

Worst Scene: Once Obadiah is outed as the bad guy, he makes it a point to visit Tony and explain the whole plan to him with that stupid paralyzer weapon (never seen again in the MCU). It’s unnecessary and quite cliché.

Personal Story: It was odd seeing this after The Avengers and never on the big screen. Boy was I missing out.

Final Thoughts: Pretty great start to Iron Man and the MCU as a whole.

Grade: A

Disney, Movies, RDT Reviews

RDT Reviews The Lion King (1994) and The Lion King (2019)

October 20, 2020 RDTUniverse

Disney’s live-action remakes have led to mixed reviews at best. Looking to cash in on nostalgia, Disney decided to release perhaps their greatest films in a live action setting. If the goal is to makemoney, it’s working as most of the live-action remakes have crossed the $1 Billion mark. Does it mean they’ve all been great films? Well, we’ll get to that…

Released: June 15, 1994

First Seen: In Theaters (Summer of 1994)

Last Watch: Disney+

This is the big one. Disney had done an incredible (and profitable) job rehabilitating it’s brand in the five years prior. The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin all garnered critical acclaim and made big money. Those three films are so good that they re-invented the animated film genre. Would Lion King be a worthy follow-up? Well, sorry to spoil the review, but yes, yes it would.

The Lion King would smash the box office. It probably feels obvious that having a film full of cute animal characters in animated form would be easy money so there’s no surprise here. What really helps The Lion King though is just how memorable the main characters are. Twenty-six years later we still remember James Earl Jones’ voice as Mufasa. We remember Scar singing “Be Prepared”. We remember Simba and Nala as young children and when they reunited under “Can You Feel The Love Tonight”. Even the supporting characters are pretty strong and entertaining. Rafiki, Timon, Pumba, Zazu and the Hyenas are all remembered to this day.

Also, in terms of animation this is arguably the greatest looking film of all time, considering when it was released. Now I may be somewhat biased as the Disney+ version isn’t the very original version we saw 26 years ago, but I’ve seen enough videos on that to stand by that statement. It’s strikingly beautiful. Something else that the visuals really hit is that The Lion King is big. The opening scene while “Circle Of Life” plays shows the vast African horizon is one of the most iconic openings in cinema history. Early on you see Scar’s foot come down on a mouse and it’s huge. And don’t get me started on the stampede, which really needs to be seen in theatres to be truly appreciated.

While The Lion King isn’t based on a classic fairy tale as past Disney animated films are, it still tells a familiar story (especially to Shakespeare’s Hamlet). I find it interesting that Disney didn’t stick to a formulaic Disney princess line after Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. It went right ahead and tried different things with Aladdin and Lion King. The combination of cute animals + movie not jut for girls + deep story clearly works. So despite that it feels like Hamlet, The Lion King actually feels fresh and original.

Earlier I wrote that the film looked big, but it also sounds big. The songs with the accompanying visuals are loud, colorful and big. “Circle of Life”, “Can’t Wait to Be King”, “Be Prepared” and “Hakuna Matata” are all in your face songs and classics to this day. The only emotional song is “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” (well, and the Stampede Instrumental) but that’s great too. The Stampede Instrumental is the hidden gem of the music though. Hans Zimmer truly is a musical genius.

stampede lion king — Needs to be seen on the big screen to really feel how big this movie is…

The voice acting is actually hit or miss for me. James Earl Jones is obviously iconic as Mufasa, and I’m a fan of Jeremy Irons as Scar. I think Jonathan Taylor Thomas does really well as young Simba in the film’s most emotional moments. I also like Whoopi Goldberg as Shenzi. Otherwise, I don’t really think much of the voice acting. I actually don’t care at all for Nathan Lane as Timon, or Ernie Sabella as Pumbaa…but that may be because I don’t care for the characters either. Matthew Broderick as Adult Simba also feels forgettable other than one scene. The reasons for this are two fold. The first one we will get to in a moment, and the second is he has to basically live up to Jones as Mufasa and quite frankly that’s some big shoes to fill.

I believe you can split The Lion King into two parts (and frankly am almost surprised Disney didn’t try to milk us with two films with the remakes). The first part is the opening through Mufasa’s death. To me this half of the film to me is up there with the greatest work ever put up on the big screen. It’s fun, it’s emotional, it has great characters. The bond between Simba and Mufasa is perfectly crafted. The music is awesome. It’s especially hard to not be emotionally invested at the very end of this half. It’s a complete masterpiece.

One of the most emotional scenes ever put to film…

Then The Lion King really takes a dip in quality. I know that may not be a popular opinion, but we leave this emotional and gripping story to watch Simba pal it up with Timon and Pumbaa while Scar takes control of Pride Rock. While I understood why Simba ran (Scar made it seem like the whole thing was Simba’s fault), as I got older I never really connected with Simba here. As he gets older it never hit him that he deserted his mother, his friends and I find that to be complicated but also a bit horrible. Not sure, Simba clearly doesn’t think Scar is a horrible person and thinks Pride Rock is still fine, but I can’t really draw the emotional connection between Simba and his mother and Simba and Nala. I get that the Hakuna Matata part of the film is for kids and such, probably to get them to stop crying after seeing Mufasa dead on the big screen (which was jarring to me as a kid). I truthfully don’t recall how I felt back then. Scar is no better. Scar goes from a clever, conniving and sarcastic villain to an absolute whiner. Whether it’s asking Zazu to sing tor complaining about the lioness’ ineffectiveness at hunting, the Scar of the first half is clearly gone for whatever this is. The only part that really gets me back into things in the second half of course is the Mufasa in the clouds scene and the very ending is solid (although, Simba’s family seems to just let Scar walk Simba off a cliff, which is a direct slap in the face of the message of confronting your past).

The Disney Renaissance peaked here. Lion King made all the money and if Youtube existed back then “Hakuna Matata” would have been as popular as “Let It Go”. This was obviously the big success for Disney in the 90s. I actually find it curious that they went back to human-like characters to tell future stories.

Best Scene: Gotta go with two: The entire “Be Prepared” sequence is so ridiculously over the top it’s incredible and the Stampede is one of the greatest scenes in cinema history.

Worst Scene: Hearing Scar whine and complain once he was in charge is such a let down. Making Zazu sing songs? What the heck happened?

Personal Story: I don’t really have one. Hearing “The Morning Report” through in a future special edition almost made me sick though.

Final Thoughts: This is half an S film and half a B. I actually find it to be the weakest of the big four, although I give different credit to The Little Mermaid.

Grade: A-

Released: July 19, 2019

First Seen: In Theaters, Near Opening Night

Last Watch: Disney+

When reviewing Aladdin we went over Disney’s motivations for making these live-action remakes. I’ve generally found the remakes to be somewhat better than public perception. That changed with The Lion King.

There were two common critiques with 2019’s Lion King. The first is that it is a shot by shot remake. I don’t really understand this. While I think it takes much less chances and makes much less changes than the other Disney remakes had, there are still many moments different here than the original. Unfortunately, most of these changes are pretty bad. While I could compile a list, I’ll point out the three worst examples. For one, “Be Prepared” is absolutely butchered (while I still enjoy the scene for different reasons, not having the song and the original scene with it is still a massive downgrade). I find it odd that this decision was made as there are still other songs that remained in the film (also, clearly Chiwetel Ejiofor can sing, as evidenced by what was left of “Be Prepared”). Second, Rafiki in the original tells Simba that “the past can hurt, you can either run from it, or, learn from it”. It’s an iconic line that precedes the scene where Mufasa appears in the clouds. For some reason that’s removed which is quite mind-boggling to me. Third, there whole entire visual representation of the circle of life ends up being a 3 minute expedition of Simba’s fur going through various situations, one of which being rolled into a ball of dung. Language warning here: but I said outloud in the theatre “what the fuck am I watching?” (definitely felt bad because children were in the theater, although I got a laugh and no complaints from other crowd members).

I didn’t even get to the second critique, which was that the film seemed lifeless. And well, yes. Yes it does and it’s distracting. It also ruins any appreciation for the voice acting (which, despite an all-time stellar cast somehow ends up as completely forgettable, even James Earl Jones can’t save it). It also ruins some of the more heart-wrenching moment of the film. In another clearly audible moment I laughed pretty hard at Simba yelling “NOOOOO!” when his father died. It’s done ridiculously bad and it’s truly an embarrassing feat that Disney even put that on the big screen. This critique also puts forth another question. Why did Disney decided to do this film as photo-realistic? Yes, it’s called the live-action Lion King and even I referred to it as that, but other than some shots this film is completely animated. The insistence to have this film be “realistic” when it’s animated is a bizarre choice artistically to say the least. I mean where are the colors? Pride Rock looks lifeless on it’s best shots. Again, this is animated, so what the heck happened? Africa is one of the most beautiful places in the world!

I don’t really have much else to say about the characters or the vioce acting that I haven’t already (again, the look of the film totally distracts from it). Scar is more intimidating but also bland and boring. I actually like Timon and Pumbaa a little bit more. I got some laughs this time from Billy Eichner’s Timon, especially with the “Be Our Guest” bit. Beyonce and Donald Glover amazingly are both forgettable, and “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” doesn’t hold up to the original. John Oliver as Zazu unfortunately is more annoying than funny (which really disappointed me as an Oliver fan). The great James Earl Jones can’t save his scenes either for the previously mentioned visual issues. I do like Chiwetel Ejiofor as Scar as Scar does come off as more vicious, but I don’t like him nearly enough to really make a difference.

Look, I know a wrote a lot more about Aladdin, but there I felt like that needed more of a defense. Quite frankly, the 2019 version of The Lion King sucks. I get that it hit a lot of people on that nostalgic level, trust me, I’ve been there. But my feeling when I left the theater was that I was offended Disney even released the film. The original Lion King was an animated masterpiece, full of striking colors and amazing character designs. And the story ranged on good to amazingly great. This was just an insulting money grab. Unfortunately, because it worked we’re getting a sequel. I didn’t feel this way about Aladdin, Alice in Wonderland, Beauty and the Beast or The Jungle Book. I thought all of those were goodish or at least brought something to the table (yes, that’s my defense of Alice). This didn’t do any of that and it’s a shame.

I didn’t want to end this on a completely negative note, so I will praise two things about the film. One, Hans Zimmer somehow came up with a stronger Stampede instrumental, which insane considering the original is one of the greatest pieces of music to ever hit the big screen (and well now this is). Find it on Youtube and watch it. I also have come to appreciate the version of “Be Prepared” in this film. No, it doesn’t hold a candle to the original and apparently it was added last minute. But it’s still a strong scene. Lastly, Disney has been looking to give women characters stronger roles overall. You see it especially in the remakes, and while I am all for it it’s admittedly hard to make it work with the original story (the issues with Jasmine becoming Sultan in Aladdin, for example). Here Nala is given a little more screen time as she takes initiative into escaping the Scar led Pride Rock to find help. I find that to be a positive change for sure and at least adds some character for her. Sarabi and Shenzi also have a bit of a feud which isn’t expanded upon, but again at least it’s something different and not detrimental to the film or the vision of the original.

Best Scene: Actually going to go with the “Be Prepared” scene. One of the only times I felt anything regarding emotion in this film (yes, that even includes Mufasa’s death, Simba’s scream ruined that).

Worst Scene: The three minute scene of Simba’s fur getting to Rafiki. Some of it is fine for visual reasons, but I didn’t need to see giraffe dung rolled by a beetle to get my nostalgia going. I don’t understand at all why that’s in the film.

Personal Story: Not much to say here. The original Lion King wasn’t one of my favorite films and I’m still offended by this. What should that tell you.

Final Thoughts: $1.6 Billion. Money talks. This is Disney now. It’s not the worst film I’ve ever seen or anything so there’s that, but I wish Lion King fans were more frustrated and frankly not sucked in by nostalgia here. We’d get better results. But I can’t blame Disney. This will certainly pay for other projects and that’s how it goes.

Grade: D

Disney, Movies, RDT Reviews

RDT Reviews Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937)

July 28, 2020 RDTUniverse

Released: December 21, 1937

First Seen: I really couldn’t tell you, but it was on VHS in the 90s.

Last Watch: Disney+

This probably won’t be a long review, I didn’t think ahead of time how difficult reviewing something from 1937 would be until I started thinking about this.

First thing worth mentioning: I actually enjoyed watching this! I wasn’t expecting much, just a prototype of the Disney formula we’re still getting to this day (and that Disney’s made billions off of). And while yes, that’s exactly what it is, there’s much more personality in the characters than I expected. Especially in the titular character Snow White herself. She’s cheerful and pretty much emotes for everything. One hilarious moment is that when one of the dwarves, Grumpy, looks to not take a liking to her she outright mocks him for it. I did not expect this film to make me laugh but here we are.

The story here isn’t particularly deep, but I don’t know what films had deep stories in 1937. The Queen is told by a magic mirror that Snow White is the fairest one of all, so she (the Queen) formulates a plan to have Snow White killed. She sends her Huntsman to do it, but he cannot and instead warns Snow White about the Queen’s plan. Snow White meets some woodland creatures that lead her to the Dwarves cottage where she decides to just make herself at home. The Dwarves do welcome her presence though (well, except for Grumpy at first) and we actually spend some time with them having fun and dancing. That scene is actually quite nice to see, you don’t often see characters get closer to one another like this in a Disney film anymore.

She talks to animals and it always impresses…

The Queen finds out where Snow White is, transforms into an old hag and creates a poison apple. She goes to a cottage and gets Snow White to eat the apple, which kills her. The Queen ends up getting struck by lightning though, ending her story. The Prince comes to kiss Snow White to wake her up, which breaks the spell of the apple and they live happily ever after.

Obviously not much of a story but it serves as a template for many if not all of the Disney princess fairy tales over the next century. But, in contrast my expectations were succeeded. It does have some outdated ideas (especially the kiss at the end waking up Snow White and Snow White’s “I’m so alone” mantra) but I keep feeling like I need to go back to “it’s 1937”. It’s also a shame the Queen is nameless, because she becomes a fun villain when she transforms into the old hag and makes the poison apple. I also feel like I haven’t really wrote about the Dwarves, but they’re all fun supporting characters (and see you see characters like Dopey all the time to this day as well).

The fact that this film is still an enjoyable watch 81 years later is very impressive. Sure the animation has been updated but everything still works overall.

Best Scene: The Queen’s transformation to the old hag is just fun.

Worst Scene: I cringed at the idea of Snow White just entering the Dwarves’ home and touching their belongings.

Final Thoughts: She’s the original princess. Even if it’s for pure historical reasons, this has to get a good grade. Maybe it could get an S on those merits alone but I can’t go that far.

Grade: A

Movies, RDT Reviews

RDT Reviews Space Jam (1996)

June 21, 2020 RDTUniverse

Released: November 15, 1996

First Seen: In Theaters (Near Release Date)

Last Watch: Amazon Prime Video

Similar to the Mortal Kombat film, we need to figure out what Space Jam is looking to accomplish. What we have here is a kids’ film with the Looney Tunes and Michael Jordan. Some decent comedy and a simple story would make Space Jam a success. For the most part that’s what we get, although it’s far from perfect.

The good news for Space Jam is that it doesn’t try to do anything crazy. Our story is simple. Mr. Swackhammer (one of those characters that had to be created for Danny Devito) needs new attractions for Moron Mountain and learns of the Looney Tunes. He sends his alien minions to capture the Looney Tunes to be that attraction. The Tunes come up with a way to the defend themselves. Since the aliens are diminutive in stature, the Tunes challenge them to a basketball game. The aliens steal the powers of several NBA stars and become huge monsters (The Monstars), and the Tunes answer by kidnapping Michael Jordan. It isn’t a complicated story and the film delivers this.

Your mileage will vary with the humor in this film. The Looney Tunes do seem toned down overall but that makes sense. Most jokes are as kid friendly as possible and while the slapstick is there, you can’t go overboard here. Some of the jokes are absolute misses (Porky Pig claiming he wet himself, for example) but overall, I do find the Looney Tunes either funny or just non-offensive. You’re either going to find Daffy Duck funny or insufferable. I found him funny. Bugs is funny at some moments too. As a bonus, the NBA players who lose their talent also provide some good humor. Charles Barkley specifically looked to be taking Space Jam much more seriously than anyone else.

The main issue of the film mostly revolves around Michael Jordan. I don’t think Jordan’s necessarily to blame, but knowing the man now and comparing him to the character he is in Space Jam is a bit nauseating. On the film side, Jordan does poke fun at it in the film at times (upon being asked if everyone was mad at him striking out in a minor league baseball game, Jordan replies with “it’s worse, everyone was really nice about it”). We get shown that Jordan has a perfect family and everyone in the world loves him and he’s level headed and a leader in all situations and blah blah blah. It just makes for a boring character who’s there to save the day at the end. The closest thing to a conflict Jordan has in the film is at the very end, when he decides to return to basketball to see if he still “has it”. There’s also the side issue of anything involving Michael Jordan, which is that it turns into a commercial. Stan, Jordan’s publicist in the film (and played by Wayne Knight, which is something else where your mileage will vary) actually has the following line in the film: “C’mon, Michael! It’s game time! Get your Hanes on, lace up your Nikes, grab your Wheaties and your Gatorade, and we’ll pick up a Big Mac on the way to the ballpark.”

Some other odds and ends before we cover the big game at the end. Bill Murray has a weird and completely unnecessary side story where he thinks he can be a NBA player. Larry Bird is pretty funny as well and we get a little of that legendary trash talk. Lola Bunny was added as a new character, but was an oddly sexualized female bunny. But she did become a female basketball icon for a while so I guess that worked? I don’t recall how the film looked back when it came out, but watching it on Amazon Prime Video HD I must say the film animation looks fantastic. The soundtrack is incredible as well. Sure, some songs are hard to listen to now because of who sang them (looking at you R. Kelly). The Space Jam theme though is right up there with the Mortal Kombat theme for best movie music of the 90s though.

As for the big game, it’s fine for what it is. Just some whacky fun with a comeback story attached (and a joke about steroids?). The gags during the Looney Tunes’ comeback are fun enough. Just harmless fun for the most part. MJ of course hits the winning basketball (after upping the stakes…which is hilarious knowing MJ) and everyone lives happily ever after.

Best Scene: The intro with the Space Jam theme is fantastic.

Worst Scene: Porky Pig saying he wet himself is eye-rolling at best.

Final Thoughts: Space Jam is a simple and fun 90 minutes. It’s not perfect, but it doesn’t try to be either. And the MJ-Looney Tunes combo made big money so it’s all good.

Grade: B-

Gaming, Movies, RDT Reviews

RDT Reviews Mortal Kombat (1995) and Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997)

June 16, 2020 RDTUniverse

Coming off the heels of atrocious The Super Mario Bros. Movie, the video game movie business was already in trouble. The Mortal Kombat series had already seen controversy in the video game industry due to it’s ridiculous level of violence (which would spawn the Entertainment Software Rating Board). So how the heck was a Mortal Kombat movie going to work? Well, we ultimately got two of them.

Released: August 18, 1995

First Seen: In Theaters (Near Release Date)

Last Watch: Netflix

Right away we need to set some boundaries and make an exception. In order for video game films to work the film itself doesn’t necessarily need to be great as a film. It can have story issues, weakish plots, etc. as long as it caters enough to the audience of the gaming series. This is what The Super Mario Bros. Movie failed to do. Mario attempted to give us an in-depth story (which failed on it’s own merits) and then strayed way too far away from what made the Super Mario Bros. gaming franchise fun.

For Mortal Kombat in 1995, I think of three things: a fighting game, ridiculous gore and violence and a diverse cast of characters that actually have interesting backstories. The first question mark is the ridiculous gore and violence. There was just no way that was going to make it into this movie with it being rated R. And if you listen to some reviewers on Youtube now, that’s where a lot of their disappointment lies. Hey I get it, but a rated R video game movie in 1995 just wasn’t going to make any money. The storyline we’ll get to later the review, but it’s fine for what it is. Lastly, we get more than enough fighting scenes that perhaps the film can almost be judged for that alone (and it’s what tips the movie into a positive direction).

An iconic logo.

Mortal Kombat’s story is simple and it works for the film. Three of Earth’s warriors must stop the evil Shang Tsung and his warriors from winning a 10th straight Mortal Kombat tournament. If they fail to do so, Tsung and Outworld take over the Earth. The three warriors, Liu Kang, Sonya Blade and Johnny Cage all have their own issue to face (Kang’s out for revenge as Tsung killed his older brother, Blade is a police officer looking for a criminal, Kano, who killed a former partner of hers, and Cage is a movie star that everyone thinks is a fake, so he’s out to prove he’s the real deal) and Raiden, the Elder Thunder God, helps them face these issues. That’s all you need to know to get to the conclusion of this story. It’s simplicity will never win an Oscar, but it’s a story that’s easy to follow and you know where the endgame is.

What Mortal Kombat does well is that it makes it’s characters feel like big deals. Right from the get-go we see what Shang Tsung is all about. We get introductions to Kang, Blade and Cage. In a nice surprise Liu Kang isn’t a one dimensional “destiny” character, he in fact doesn’t believe in all this stuff and just wants a shot at Tsung. Raiden proves to be larger than life as Shang Tsung even seems to fear him. Even secondary characters (and fan favorites) Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Kitana, and Goro all get introductions that make them feel special. By the time the movie gets going you are ready to see what the fate of all these characters are and how they do in battle.

While it’s not award winning acting or anything I also don’t mind the portrayals of all the primary characters. I find Robin Shou pretty funny at times (especially early on) as Liu Kang, Bridgette Wilson pretty much is Sonya Blade and Linden Ashby plays an annoying Johnny Cage (which is just fine). Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa went for an over the top performance for Shang Tsung and it’s arguably the 2nd best thing in this film. Tagawa is so good that he’d been asked to reprise the role for Tsung for TV and games in the future (including Mortal Kombat 11, which came out in 2019). Trevor Goodard’s Kano was also so memorable that the character adopted an Australian accent for the games later on. Your milage probably varies with Christopher Lambert’s Raiden. I’m a fan of the raspy voice with some sarcasm thrown in. The only miss really is Talisa Soto’s Kitana, which is as wooden as it gets.

The fight scenes are the make or break for Mortal Kombat. Sub-Zero looks awesome in a preliminary fight where he just freezes a guy and he explodes. Liu Kang wins a fight against an unnamed opponent, and Sonya takes out Kano (which oddly takes place rather early in the film). The first great fight takes place as Johnny Cage faces off with Scorpion, which ends with a fantastic Easter Egg. But then it once again slows down to a crawl to which we are just waiting for the fights with Goro and Shang Tsung himself. Kang vs. Kitana is a waste of time and Kang vs. Sub-Zero is disappointing. Shang Tsung’s had enough though, and Goro starts wasting people left and right (including Art Lean, a random character thrown in who I’m guessing was just here to take a “meaningful” loss to Goro). For 1995 the effects used for Goro are actually pretty cool. Johnny Cage challenges Goro and the fight itself is entertaining but admittedly disappointing. It’s mostly played for a joke, yet it’s memorable (I can still recite Cage’s line about his sunglasses). It’s cool to see Goro outsmarted like that, but also disappointing as this was supposed to be the sub-boss to Shang Tsung. If we went straight to Tsung here I probably would be disappointed overall.

Here’s where effort and a love for the franchise come into play to tilt Mortal Kombat into the positive. Throughout the film a cgi lizard that Tsung calls “Reptile” pretty much antagonizes Liu Kang anytime he gets close to Kitana. What a good way to pay tribute to Reptile, the secret character from the first game and a wonderful Easter Egg. But it doesn’t stop there. As Liu Kang and Johnny Cage chase Tsung (who had captured Sonya) into Outworld…Reptile makes one last appearance, only this time he comes out as the full character and it’s absolutely awesome to this day. The fight between Liu Kang and Reptile more than makes up for the Goro gaffe (it also led to a couple of broken ribs for Shou). It’s also the one of the only things I remember seeing as a kid in the movie theater itself. Keith Cooke, the actor who plays Reptile, also has a unique moving style that made Reptile feel special. When the film needed a big moment before the end, it delivered. Kang vs. Tsung is a fine finish as well. We do get a teaser for a sequel at the very end, but no doubt that Mortal Kombat finished strong.

One last thing to mention. I don’t know if overall the film had good cgi for 1995, but it doesn’t look terrible. The soundtrack of course is one of the greatest movie soundtracks of all-time. Just listen to Liu Kang vs. Reptile’s battle theme (an instrumental of Traci Lords’ “Control”). Amazing.

Best Scene: Well obviously it’s the entirety of Liu Kang vs. Reptile. Not even close really. If you never watch the movie just watch this!

Worst Scene: Shang Tsung capturing Sonya Blade is a bit lazy to get to the end.

Final Thoughts: While some contenders have come out in recent years, I’m still perfectly fine with calling this the greatest video game movie adaptation ever. It wouldn’t be my pick anymore, but I wouldn’t argue against it. If you aren’t a big fan of the games or were into Mortal Kombat for the gore then you probably don’t care for this. Otherwise, it’s a lot of fun and you can tell everyone involved cared about the film.

Grade: B

Released: November 21, 1997

First Seen: In Theaters (Near Release Date)

Last Watch: Amazon Prime Video

What has to be considered about the success of the first film is how close it was to being an absolute disaster. Mortal Kombat took care care of it’s characters and as a result got away with some stuff that would be considered bad. Annihilation doesn’t do the same and it suffers as a result.

First thing to note is that a lot of the main characters had been recast. We have new actors/actresses for Sonya, Raiden and Johnny Cage. With Cage is hardly matters, he’s gone in the first five minutes. But with Sonya Blade and Raiden it’s too distracting, especially since James Remar and Sandra Hess are nothing like Christopher Lambert and Bridgette Wilson. Blade’s character specifically seems to be a bland good character now as opposed to the bad ass she was in the first film. Speaking of changes any personalty Liu Kang showed in the ’95 film is wiped away here for just another bland character.

Remember how everyone in Mortal Kombat was treated as a big deal? That’s not the case here. Now we have characters just thrown at us to either fight or to just exist (poor Rain) just because they existed in the video game universe. The ones that are treated as a big deal: Jade, Sindel, Jax, Shinnok and Shao Kahn each have their own issues as compelling characters. I actually don’t mind Lynn “Red” Williams’ Jax, he’s easily the most entertaining of the good characters even if he’s making jokes about how ridiculous the world is. His “lesson” is just dumb. Jade ends up just being a throw-away.

Let’s quickly just get to one of the two biggest offenses in this film. The first is the whole Shao Kahn-Sindel-Shinnok (and Raiden) arc. I wrote about how Mortal Kombat had a simple story, which is why it worked out so well. Here we have to justify why Kahn (Tsung’s emperor from the first film that was mentioned) was able to break the rules and invade Earth even though his forces lost the 10th Mortal Kombat. Well, the legend is that Queen Sindel (Kitana’s mother) is the key to keeping the portal open. So if they reunite Sindel and Kitana, perhaps the portal will close. That alone would perfectly be fine and simple. But no, it turns out the legend is a lie. So we waste 75% of the film on the Sindel/Kitana reuniting plan and then it’s suddenly revealed that Raiden and Shao Kahn are brothers and their father, Shinnok, is an Elder God. This twist was horrible for two reasons. One, that’s not how it worked in the games so this didn’t appease fans. Two, it comes up completely out of nowhere. Worst yet, viewers KNOW that Sindel/Kitana isn’t the key, because Shinnok tells Kahn early in the film that he broke the rules to keep the portals open. Horrendous all around.

There’s nothing to save the film either. Kahn’s actor, Brian Thompson, went the over-the-top route but absolutely pales in comparison to Shang Tsung in the ’95 film. Worst yet, Shinnok existing neuters the character anyway. There’s exactly one memorable fight scene in Scorpion vs. Sub-Zero (with Keith Cooke as Sub-Zero this time so that makes him 2 for 2). Storyline wise that’s a bit of a mess too. Special effects also range from alright to laughable. There’s a moment where Raiden pops out of the sky with no theatrics whatsoever and I can’t help but laugh. Speaking of laughing, just try to take the animality part of Shao Kahn vs. Liu Kang seriously, just try.

Some of the fights overall are okay to even good, but they don’t have the same effect they did in ’95. Kahn vs. Raiden is short but cool. Scorpion and Sub-Zero is fun, but both characters are nobodies in this film. Sub-Zero’s story is especially butchered as he’s the younger brother of Sub-Zero (which is good), but Noob Saibot shows up later as a throw-away (who is supposed to be the original Sub-Zero). It’s stuff like that which alienates fans. Cyrax and random warriors vs. Jax and Sonya is also fun (and Sonya gets a good Easter Egg in at the end with a fatality). But after that I don’t care about any of it. Liu Kang vs. Baraka is whatever (speaking of lazy, watch Rain and Baraka’s death scenes and tell me if you see something similar). Raiden fights three Reptiles for some reason. Sheeva dies when a cage falls on her. Sonya faces off with Mileena (the biggest waste of the film, as this is Kitana’s half-sister) in a mud fight which is completely insulting (and even from a movie perspective, she doesn’t have a mark of mud on her a scene later). As for the final battles Jax vs. Motaro is alright, I don’t care about Sonya vs. Ermac/Saibot, Kitana vs. Sindel is boring and we already laughed at Kahn vs. Kang.

This film sucks and everyone knew it. There was supposed to be a third film with Quan Chi and it got scrapped because of this mess. When you have a delicate franchise and don’t take delicate care of the characters, this is what happens.

But the music is pretty good! Make sure to listen to Panik Control! (Raiden vs. Three Reptiles theme).

Best Scene: Has to be Scorpion vs. Sub-Zero. It’s not better than Scorpion vs. Cage or Reptile vs. Kang from ’95 but we don’t have a lot to work with.

Worst Scene: Raiden revealing that Shao Kahn is his brother. Horrible.

Last Thoughts: There’s potential with a Mortal Kombat story for sure. But not everyone is going to like these characters. And if you alienate the fanbase, you know, the people who do like these characters, then you’re left with nothing. The music and some decent fights save this from F but it was close.

Grade: D

Gaming, RetroSports

RetroSports – The Return of Dale Earnhardt (Introduction)

May 30, 2020 RDTUniverse

February 18, 2001 – The 2001 Daytona 500 is still the darkest day in NASCAR’s history. One the last lap of the biggest race of the year, NASCAR’s greatest driver, Dale Earnhardt, spun out and crashed into the wall. Earnhardt would not survive his injuries. Two cars that he owned as part of Dale Earnhardt Inc. would finish 1-2 in the same race (with son Dale Jr. finishing 2nd). Earnhardt also proved to be a championship contender the year prior and was a title favorite in 2001.

As a tribute, we’re going to change the story. We’ll change it by saying that Earnhardt, while injured, survived his wreck in the Daytona 500. And while he sat out the 2001 season, he announced a return for 2002. The quest for Championship #8 is alive. Let’s see if we can get it done!

On most Sundays the plan is to race NASCAR Thunder 2003 with 100% race lengths. We’ll be on custom difficulty with legend mode speed. Going to use a custom damage system (I’m just not going to survive 100% races otherwise) where if we would have DNFed we’ll take a green flag pit pass through depending on how many times it’s happened. We’ll also being using a custom season schedule, adding night racing (which is awesome) and more road courses (six total, up from the standard two).

All races will be streamed on RDTUniverse on Twitch.tv

First race, the 2002 Daytona 500, will be at 11:00 AM on Sunday, May 31st!

Dale Earnhardt’s career statistics: Here

Gaming

RDTUniverse JINJO CONTEST

March 3, 2020 RDTUniverse

JINJO CONTEST

In Banjo-Tooie, there are nine Jinjo familes that need to be rescued (Press F for the Grey Jinjos). Each Jinjo family is of a different size, and prizes differ based on that size. The catch? Jinjos appear randomly in Banjo-Tooie. Here are the rules:

To win the main prize, your Jinjo family has to be the last one I find all completed members for, regardless if families have no users who chose them. (E.g., only the green and black jinjo families remain, but you have the green one and no one has the black one. To win the main prize green still has to be the last family standing).
There may be a secondary prize. If no one has the final Jinjo family standing, the secondary prize will be given to the person or people who have the last family standing that users had (E.g., only the green and black jinjo families remain, but you have the green one and no one has the black one. You win the secondary prize at a minimum). You do not win the secondary and main prizes if that scenario comes up.
Requirements: You must follow rdtuniverse on Twitch and be a part of the RDTUniverse Discord. Also, do not get yourself banned.
How To Play: In the contests textchannel of the RDTUniverse Discord, you must show you follow the Twitch Channel by using the !followage command (or somehow prove it to me). Name your Twitch channel, then pick your family you want to represent!
Restrictions: Each Jinjo Family is allowed to have as many users pick them as they have members. (So, only one user may pick the 1 member White Jinjo family). First come, first serve. You may change what family you represent up until the deadline.

White Jinjo Family: 1 Member (Max 1 User), Main Prize: $50 worth of Twitch subs to any channel(s) you’d like. Secondary Prize: $15 worth of Twitch subs to any channel(s) you’d like.

Orange Jinjo Family: 2 Members (Max 2 Users), Main Prize: $25 worth of Twitch subs to any channel(s) you’d like. Secondary Prize: $10 worth of Twitch subs to any channel(s) you’d like.

Yellow Jinjo Family: 3 Members (Max 3 Users), Main Prize: $15 worth of Twitch subs to any channel(s) you’d like. Secondary Prize: Tier 1 Sub to any Twitch Channel you’d like.

Brown Jinjo Family: 4 Members (Max 4 Users), Main Prize: $15 worth of Twitch subs to any channel(s) you’d like. Secondary Prize: Tier 1 Sub to any Twitch Channel you’d like.

Green Jinjo Family: 5 Members (Max 5 Users), Main Prize: $10 worth of Twitch subs to any channel(s) you’d like. Secondary Prize: Tier 1 Sub to any Twitch Channel you’d like.

Red Jinjo Family: 6 Members (Max 6 Users), Main Prize: $10 worth of Twitch subs to any channel(s) you’d like. Secondary Prize: Tier 1 Sub to any Twitch Channel you’d like.

Blue Jinjo Family: 7 Members (Max 7 Users), Main Prize: Tier 1 Sub to Any Channel you’d like. Secondary Prize: Tier 1 Gift Sub to RDTUniverse.

Purple Jinjo Family: 8 Members (Max 8 Users), Main Prize: Tier 1 Sub to RDTUniverse, OR a Tier 1 Sub to Any Channel you’d like (only if you have the RDTUniverse sub already). Secondary Prize: None

Black Jinjo Family: 9 Members (Max 9 Users), Main Prize: Tier 1 Sub to RDTUniverse, OR a Tier 1 Sub to Any Channel you’d like (only if you have the RDTUniverse sub already). Secondary Prize: None

DEADLINE

March 15, 11:59 PM EST