Reviews

The Muppets have been known for their timeless comedy sketches, admirable musical numbers, and even a continuous series of movies for decades. Since Disney bought the Muppet IP from the Henson Associates, things started to go downhill within the franchise, but not really until after the firing of Steve Whitmire. The Muppet Show is the classic that started it all, Muppets Tonight wasn't perfect but still managed to continue the charm of the Muppet legacy, The 2015 ABC Muppet sitcom was different but still made the Muppets feel alive in some way, but Muppets Now is where I barely even feel like I'm watching "The Muppets".

When this Disney+ series was advertised I was actually quite excited, it's been some time since the Muppets have really done anything. By the time I watched it, I was honestly confused. When I saw Episode 1 I thought maybe it's a good thing we don't see the Muppets around as often as we used to anymore.

First off as I've briefly mentioned in my review, let's get the elephant out of the room. Disney fired Steve Whitmire all because he told them he doesn't think Jim Henson would like what they're doing with his creation, Whitmire deserves justice because he not only was the perfect successor to playing Kermit after Henson's death, but actually cared far more about the Muppets than Disney currently has and still is. Disney then ended up casting Matt Vogel to play the amphibious mascot, you know who played Costantine from Muppets Most Wanted. Like many have said, Matt Vogel fails to replicate Kermit's rubbery voice in almost every way possible and defeats the whole point of his casting in the Most Wanted film, he was meant to be a noticeably different imitation of Kermit the Frog. There are many other people I've even seen on YouTube who are able to do a much more accurate impression of the character, some who can even sound like Kermit naturally.

With that out of the way, I want to talk about the writing and how even the idea fails. Apparently this show is unscripted, and that may be the main reason why the writing is at its worst. This show tries way too hard to modernize the Muppets by having them all on a Zoom call through complete focus on a computer screen and constantly making meta jokes like "hashtag get out of my shot" as Muppets interact with mobile devices. While it may seem cool to some, it noticeably takes away a lot of the charm of the Muppets the more you may watch it. This trying to be a variety like the classic Muppet show, it only has a small number of skits throughout the 30 minute runtime. Not once did this any of the skits make me laugh and quite a few of them honestly made me cringe. The skits try to use the formula from Sesame Street but in some of the worst ways possible. For example, one skit features Miss Piggy in a slap spa where the guest star gets gentle relaxing slaps by a nurse and Piggy gets slapped hard. Another example is where Pepé interrupts Scooter's entire game show making dumb questions and challenges to the guests that aren't entertaining in the slighest. The show was originally meant to just be a series of shorts focusing more on the sketches which probably would've worked better in its favor of improvising.

In order to talk about more of the skits, I also need to bring up the Muppets themselves. Kermit is surprisingly out of character here as he's barely even hosting the show and never has that side where his patience can be easily tested when something goes wrong. Kermit acts unusually fine with everything and in one skit he says he's a "photobomber". Yes, Kermit the Frog's personal entertaining purpose here is to photobomb people. Like aren't there other much dumber/sillier Muppets that would fit into this kind of thing a lot more? This isn't like Kermit at all. Miss Piggy is also more of an egotistical jerk obsessing over her fashion, which I guess makes sense to why she got slapped in that one skit, but doesn't excuse how painfully unfunny it is. We never even get the kind of moments of Kermit and Piggy's relationship where Kermit is jealous when Piggy talks to any male guest stars or when Piggy is easily offended by the others. Fozzie's unfunny jokes were intentionally unfunny in the OG Muppet projects, and while they aren't funny here, he basically stars in the show just to interrupt Kermit's conversation with a celebrity. They managed to make Fozzie an annoyance to the audience as well. While Gonzo still acts as an out of this world proud weirdo, his moments don't last long and aren't packed with the enthusiastic energy he continues to have. The Swedish Chef has some of the most boring overly long segments in the show where instead of his quirky antics of failing to cook an alive Muppet or spend time making an insane recipe, he attempts to compete with a turkey using basic amounts of generic foods like mushing overripe bananas together, which is just gross to watch. The segments where Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beak-R run experiments are just frustrating to sit through. A couple of examples are just Bunsen wasting and destroying tons of good foods and torturing Beak-R a lot more deliberately by destroying his favorite things.

Other Muppets like Sam the Eagle, Bobo, Rizzo, Rowlf, Sweetums, Statler and Waldorf, and the Electric Mayhem either barely get a role or don't even appear in the series. A lot of potential was wasted hardly including a lot of these Muppets to make the show interesting and fun. The celebrity guests are boring and act like they have nothing to do, sometimes they even have weak acting. The show never really tells us anything about them or what their purpose in the show is as they're usually off to the side in each poor sketch comedy. It's also distracting how there's a few celebrities in every episode instead of one so I can understand these people better.

Additionally this show has little to no musical numbers which is something the Muppets are well known for. We've even seen Disney give the Muppets new songs to perform in the latest Muppet movies and even a few instances in the 2015 sitcom. I mean sure quite a few were covers of existing songs, but they still were entertaining and kept the heart of the Muppet chorus nonetheless. The idea of including memorable music in this series is absent especially since no writers for the script were apparently involved.

I feel like nobody actually knew what they were doing when attempting to revive the Muppets into this generation, like seriously an unscripted Muppet series? When has unscripted ever truly been proven to work in television? This really just feels like a desperate attempt to milk the franchise and grab people's money to pay for Disney+. This feels nothing like the Muppets I loved. Reality shows were already horrible and the Muppets ended up tagging along with this unwanted trend. I can see why it didn't continue after only 6 episodes, Disney is clearly just about out of ideas.

I've been a fan of Garfield since I was a kid. I read tons of the comics and enjoyed the TV specials, the Garfield and Friends series, and maybe even the live action movies. It's amazing how long Garfield has continued throughout these generations as Jim Davis keeps him alive, but this movie unsurprisingly isn't good.

Where do I begin? This is about an adventure where Garfield gets catnapped, reunites with his dad, and goes on a mission to help a depressed animal find their lost lover. I think that says a lot right there, it's barely a Garfield movie just by knowing what it's about on paper, and unfortunately it's mostly the same on screen. I don't think the producers have seen enough past Garfield media to even give Garfield an almost two hour long storyline. The movie does start off re-introducing Garfield and includes an emotional backstory as a kitten to a new audience and has a fun humorous montage of Garfield's perfect day in the present. Unfortunately by the time the plot really kicks in, it drops to a very generic children's movie. Garfield ends up stuck with a few baddies in the middle of the night with not much happening and has a forgettable quest far too focused on to find a bull's missing cow girlfriend at a farm. The plot really drags on and loses its excitement fast as it really feels like it's just trying to entertain kids. The film's humor also focuses too heavily on slapstick, which at times is funny, but doesn't have the general comedic satire that worked in the source material.

Most if not all the secondary characters feel bland and uninteresting, even more than the farm animals from the US Acres segments of Garfield and Friends. These characters seem to only exist to pan out the runtime and shoehorn celebrities. Speaking of shoehorning celebrities, Chris Pratt's performance as Garfield fails on almost every level, being the most controversial aspect of the film. Garfield's voice in this movie barely fits the character and really just sounds like Pratt is playing himself. He's unable to capture the deep mellow sarcastic tone of his voice in previous media and instead makes Garfield sound more extroverted and energetic failing to replicate what perfected his personality. Yes Garfield does still show arrogance and makes sarcastic remarks, but it feels more like a poor imitation of the titular feline. Garfield's dad, Vic, isn't terrible, the dynamic bond him and his son have throughout the movie is sweet and gets a little good as the story progresses, but doesn't add much of something interesting. Garfield's owner Jon barely gets a role and he was something that helped make the comics and cartoons stand out when the direct focus wasn't always on Garfield. Jon's loser antics and social life made Garfield more funny and entertaining, but that doesn't exist here as he seems more off as a clean good hearted man simply taking care of his cat. And then of course, the villain. Jinx is just another predictable poorly written twist villain I immediately figured out in the beginning who's mad at Vic and wants to basically kill them all. This has been done too many times in recent animated movies and has gotten old a long time ago.

Despite all this, the animation is very pretty. This looks so much better than the attempt to translate Garfield into CGI in the direct-to-video movie trilogy and maybe even The Garfield Show of the late 2000s and early 2010s, it's got a big budget that helps make the characters move properly and are textured very nicely, especially in their fur. While it's not a perfect modeling of the characters, it's a much better visual touch.

Overall, this is a unsurprising disappointment for the lasagna loving cat. Jim Davis was barely even involved so it makes sense that it feels so out of place for something that's meant to be about Garfield, and I already noticed something was off in the trailers. While not the worst thing ever, it really feels like it was just made for kids to enjoy.

This being the second theatrical movie to the television series SpongeBob SquarePants and for the first one in approximately eleven years, it's actually quite a surprise. I was not expecting the notable fact that the creator, Stephen Hillenburg, would return to help make it as well and I can definitely see how involved he was.

So this movie is about SpongeBob and the gang retrieving the krabby patty formula from the evil pirate Burger Beard as it goes unexpectedly missing. Honestly this is actually not a bad concept for a theatrical SpongeBob movie as some may see it as. It's not often in the television series that we see a mysterious threat above water, not even in the first movie. It introduces the villain in the opening which is also not often for any animated film, and starting off as a seemingly good guy he even helps re-introduce SpongeBob to any new audiences who haven't seen the show very perfectly. Then we have the scene of Plankton and Mr. Krabs at war when he first attempts to steal the formula in a military-themed action packed sequence, it's a fun way to start the film when underwater, and when the formula disappears it sets up a mystery and causes havoc in Bikini Bottom humorously and dramatically. Eventually when SpongeBob and the others get together, they go up to find their way to land setting up the adventure quite nicely. I will say it does seem a bit too dramatic that Bikini Bottom becomes an apocalypse over a sandwich recipe going missing, it sounds pretty silly even on paper. However, recalling how the Bikini Bottomites have acted continuously before, krabby patties have been proven to be their main source of happiness in the show. The deliciousness of the krabby patty stands as something to be motivated to everyone, so while arguably not the best idea for this movie, it's understandable for something like SpongeBob. This movie also wants to be more of a comedy than the first, and somehow it actually works in a unique way as many scenes still get funny and entertaining, it even references old SpongeBob jokes here and there as Easter eggs like when Patrick says "Finland".

As SpongeBob and Plankton end up pairing from a failed formula-stealing attempt, the dynamic between them is actually quite fresh. While there were times in the series where they've temporarily connected as friends, it usually results in Plankton using SpongeBob for his own evil plan or selfish needs. Here Plankton really just wants Bikini Bottom to return to normal again when it wasn't an apocalyptic mess and finds the formula far less important in such a severe conflict. Yes Plankton obviously would still wish he'd have the recipe for the Chum Bucket even after the whole adventure and even thinks SpongeBob had it in his head believing it's all a lie, but Plankton is shown to be more than just an antagonist for once. Burger Beard is actually quite a fun and somewhat intimidating villain whom Antonio does a superb performance as. I like how he has a stolen book that can control Bikini Bottom in his power, and he uses the formula to open his own restaraunt similarly to Plankton's usual plan. This works because he knows making the krabby patties will make him rich with complete disregard to Krabs' business. It's also worth noting that the only main flaw with the first movie is the lack of supporting characters on SpongeBob and Patrick's journey as their roles were reduced than in the series. Here Mr. Krabs, Squidward, and Sandy all join the adventure which enhances the excitement and helps make the above water sequences a lot more entertaining and helpful to SpongeBob. Squidward adds more realistic behavior to the film, Mr. Krabs is quite dedicated to the formula, and Sandy comedically knows what to expect on the surface more than the others do. Patrick is also here, but he's mostly just helping SpongeBob similarly to his role in the first film which occasional humor, but it works. Now, I will say that before they all go on the journey to find the formula and save Bikini Bottom, SpongeBob is actually quite mistreated by everyone, including Patrick who is his best friend over not having krabby patties, especially since none of it is his fault despite accidentally grabbing the wrong bottle later in the film. I do find that harsh, but it's passable since this doesn't last for as long. In terms of the criticism about SpongeBob remembering the formula as he cooks krabby patties every day at the Krusty Krab may be a complex problem the movie didn't bother explaining much. I can't really answer this much myself either, but they say no one is allowed to remember the formula in the movie. It could also be that the magic of the delicious patty requires production at some factory and SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs must legally have the original formula to send to them or to receive such secret ingredients to make the patty. That is just a fan theory I have.

Additionally I love how this movie's character Bubbles goes from what is believed to be a villain to a helpful boost to the others later on.

The animation is surprisingly good in this movie and it even mixes different mediums including hand-drawn, CGI, stop motion, and Flash. For the hand-drawn animation underwater it does an even better job than the first expanding the animation quality of the series for the big screen. There is a lot more shading and effects I didn't think I'd see here and the backgrounds are very vibrant. I was even surprised to know that these backgrounds were made the old school way like in the series as the quality is so high. The animation on the characters also looks more colorful and feels more fluid when they move while still maintaining its look from the show. The CGI when the characters are on land is actually surprisingly good too translating SpongeBob and the others into colorful bouncy energetic 3D models. Normally this would result in uncanny cheap-looking jolted models, but these animators had everything necessary to work with. It also helps knowing the budget is doubled from its predecessor film allowing this type of effort to be accomplished in the process. There are even scenes when SpongeBob and Plankton time travels that get very trippy visually.

Most importantly I want to mention that the idea of SpongeBob and friends becoming superheros is actually very executed here, as it also may seem silly on paper. I say this because unlike almost every superhero film, it's done more creatively here where they don't just exist for their superpowers and their power abilities are mostly unique as well. SpongeBob has bubble power, Patrick can summon ice cream, Squidward has a powerful clarinet, Mr. Krabs is a robot, Sandy is a humongous super-squirrel, and even Plankton while simply super strong makes a lot of sense knowing he's tiny. The entire action scene fighting Burger Beard is probably the best part of the movie and spends time playing around with creative ideas in every scene of the sequence and doesn't feel dragged on.

Overall The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water is actually not a bad SpongeBob movie in my opinion. I can somewhat understand why others dislike it and even say that the first movie is better, but I personally feel that this movie is still just as good in its own way. It wanted to be something different, but still maintains most of the elements from the show and creates a fun-filled engaging adventure to bring Bikini Bottom back together and truly revive everyone's favorite famous sandwich. It's an enjoyable second film for SpongeBob fans of all ages and even to new audiences watching SpongeBob for the first time.

As this movie has been constantly delayed by Nickelodeon I've been getting more and more excited the longer I had to wait for its release. Unfortunately even with the extended wait, this SpongeBob Movie flopped like a fish.

In the Sponge on the Run, Gary ends up missing and SpongeBob, as well as Patrick, have to save him. Sounds familiar? Well that's because it's actually been done before in an extended Season 4 episode of the show under the title "Have You Seen This Snail?"

And I think I'm gonna go ahead and say it, the episode did it better. This movie feels like it's only made for young children and doesn't have the humor of the show or the emotional depth the show unexpectedly took in that particular episode this movie is ripping off. The story of this movie has a fun and exciting start and I'm actually happy they brought back the patty wagon that was only seen in the first movie, but it becomes less interesting and eventually tedious by the time SpongeBob and Patrick start their actual adventure. Gary ends up kidnapped by King Poseidon who's supposed to be the villain in the movie which I'll get to in a second. It's also noted that unlike the first two movies, SpongeBob and Patrick are barely out of water here, and when they are above water it's the worst scene of the entire movie. The adventure is very dull and uninspiring making this movie feel longer than it should with only very minor exceptions thrown here and there.

Now for the characters. There's nothing special about SpongeBob in this movie as he just wants to save his pet snail, as we've seen before. Patrick I'll admit was actually a character I liked in this movie as he's a lot more likable than in the modern episodes of the show, they actually did a good job having Patrick as the buddy sidekick and not him just acting dumb for no reason and showing reckless behavior every minute. Characters like Mr. Krabs, Squidward, and Sandy have more forgettable roles in this movie as they mostly just tag along when they know SpongeBob has been out of Bikini Bottom for a while and mostly end up discussing their stories of meeting him at camp to convince Poseidon he means well in an overlong scene. But then we have King Poseidon. King Poseidon is a horribly bland villain that really just exists to speak to children about being bald. In the first film, Plankton framed Mr. Krabs for theft of Neptune's crown to get him killed so he can steal the krabby patty formula, a pirate named Burger Beard destroyed Bikini Bottom with a powerful book also to steal Krabs' formula, King Poseidon's motivation is to use snail slime to cover up his ugliness, that's all. He's barely even intimidating for a villain and is barely a threat to SpongeBob and the others, Gary is not even in any real danger, he's just in for a bit of selfish exploitation. This isn't where it ends either, the celebrity stars are also at their worst here. Keanu Reeves' only purpose in this movie is so he can guide SpongeBob and Patrick to finding Gary as he's saying "words of widsom" which just becomes unnecessary the more he's on screen, because again SpongeBob and Patrick barely encounter any huge threats. Snoop Dogg has no reason to be in this movie as he's only here to make an unnecessary dance scene when SpongeBob and Patrick do end up caged above water for a few minutes. This is honestly worse than the live action scenes from the 20th anniversary special SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout, because atleast SpongeBob and Patrick had something to do above water in those segments. Here there is literally no reason for them to be on the surface. Thankfully this scene isn't that long, but it really missed a perfect opportunity to bring our favorite characters on the surface for a truly challenging part of their journey. Additionally Plankton does try to steal the formula in this movie, but eventually Mr. Krabs just gives it to him, there's never a scene where Krabs revokes the formula from Plankton, so basically Plankton keeps the formula at the end unquestionably.

Despite all these noticeable flaws, I will say that this movie has probably the best CGI-translated animation I've ever seen in SpongeBob media. As they work with the studio behind Captain UnderPants: The Movie and The Peanuts Movie, they capture SpongeBob and the underwater environment they're in surprisingly well in this creative animation style. I really admire how animated movies in recent years are taking this approach with the medium. I really admire the visuals like with Atlantic City, it looks so vibrant and lively and areas have an occasional dark atmosphere as well.

I also will say that the song "The Formula is in You" is a pretty good song featuring the entire main SpongeBob cast singing together. It really shows how connected they are on the inside and has a pretty good message.

So now I want to talk more specifically about the villain's "defeat" if I can even call it that. Obviously King Poseidon has a bad intention exploiting snails for their slime so he can make himself look good, but as I already said he still fails as a villain. So when everyone is stuck at Poseidon's guarded location, all of SpongeBob's friends try to fight against Poseidon to save him and Gary. Actually no, SpongeBob's friends just go on stage to him with an entire audience that he's mistaken the yellow sponge for being wrong, and they do this by showing the most controversial parts of this movie, the camp flashbacks. We get constant mediocrely paced scenes of SpongeBob doing good deeds to his friends or meeting his friends for the first time at Camp Coral (later being spelled Kamp Koral in its spin-off). While these scenes can be sweet, they also mess up certain things about SpongeBob. SpongeBob and Sandy didn't actually meet as children, they met in the Season 1 episode "Tea at the Treedome" in the series as grown adults, Mr. Krabs didn't really know SpongeBob until he tried to apply at the Krusty Krab in the pilot episode "Help Wanted", and even Gary was actually picked up at the pound in the Season 9 episode "Treats". And yes I'm aware that it was revealed in the Kamp Koral spin-off that came after this movie that Sandy had a machine that let her communicate with her future self, but that was more of a lazy last minute attempt to resolve this continuity error which still barely makes sense. As people have been saying this whole part is against the creator's will, I can see why. It changed what the creator had mostly established early on in a much better way with how these characters met or started to really interact with.

Unfortunately, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run is a disappointing cashgrab. I feel like this movie would've worked way better if Stephen Hillenburg, the show's creator, was actually involved like in the first movies, without him it seems to be very misdirected. I feel like the executives have barely even watched SpongeBob when making this movie, it feels a lot more like a generic underwhelming kids movie. While the movie isn't even close to the worst thing we've seen from SpongeBob, It's still very unoriginal, confusing, and boring nonetheless. Nickelodeon never used their extra time wisely to fix any of these issues before its release, so this ended up being the result.

As many are a huge fan of the Nickelodeon series SpongeBob SquarePants, the extremely popular cartoon, if not the most popular cartoon, got its own theatrical movie to conclude the television series. The movie of course however wasn't the end of SpongeBob due to its extraordinary success, but this was known to be the end of classic SpongeBob especially since its the last SpongeBob media its creator Stephen Hillenburg worked on for over a decade.

This movie has a solid storyline about SpongeBob and Patrick retrieving King Neptune's crown and showing that there is nothing wrong with being a child at heart. I appreciate when movies tackle issues like this as it really helps elevate the movie to a broad audience similarly to the show. The adventure SpongeBob and Patrick go on is fun and exciting, especially when they are far away from Bikini Bottom. The story can undeniably at times feel like an extended episode of the TV show, but it's still fun nonetheless. I also have to say that some moments in this movie are actyally pretty funny, especially in the beginning when SpongeBob dreams of getting a customer his missing cheese and the Krusty Krab 2 ceremony.

SpongeBob and Patrick have a strong bond in this movie, especially Patrick ends up feeling let down too. They both want to be seen as adult men instead of kids and not feel too childish to do big things. It really helps convey the message this movie provides to both kids and adults. Plantkon is also surprisingly darker in the movie than he is in the series, and I love it. If there's something that could've been better with the characters is how Squidward and Mr. Krabs could've had longer roles, but Krabs is frozen throughout most of the movie so it still makes sense for him to not have much of an animate role. I also find it humorous how Neptune is demanding of his crown to be returned since he's embarrassed of being bald in public. Mindy is also quite supportive to Sponge and Pat's journey, despite not having the best acting as the others.

The animation is a good theatrical fit from the TV show. While the animation isn't as vibrant and cinematic looking as other animated movies based on TV shows, it's noticeably bigger and better in its budget. The characters are animated pretty well and very smoothly and has some very pretty background shots. SpongeBob himself is also more perfectly angular and in model here. They also blend nicely when above water.

The soundtrack is also noticeably fantastic. The songs like "Now That We're Men", "Ocean Man", "Best Day Ever", and even the Goofy Goober song are all very creative, charming, and energetic. The singing talents of Tom Kenny and Bill Faggerbakke really shine here and the songs don't feel like distracting musical.

Additionally, this movie has a pretty depressing scene near the end that almost made me cry. SpongeBob and Patrick go through the hardest part of their lives when they try to save everyone.

Overall The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie is a fun enjoyable finale to classic SpongeBob, it even does a pretty solid job introducing the characters to a theatrical audience who haven't seen the show. While not everything is perfect, I think it's an experience fans and even non-fans of the yellow sponge shouldn't hesitate to watch.

I see that Atlantis SquarePants has faced a lot of criticism. This being one of the rare few episodes to surpass the 22 minute runtime, it's quite a mixed bag.

This episode has a storyline that I feel would've worked better if the episode runtime wasn't twice as long. A lot of things that happen in Atlantis SquarePantis barely feels like a special and more like a virtual theme park ride with how much it wants to show us. It has some fun visuals and a couple of cool Willy Wonka inspired ideas they threw in there, but other than that it's just a longer episode about SpongeBob and Patrick desperately wanting to see the oldest living bubble. They don't really do anything special and the bubble is pretty much what you would expect in the end. There's not really any good jokes and the musical numbers felt pretty lame. The fact that David Bowie was casted as the Lord Royal Highness (LRH) surprised me because he's the only character that doesn't sing in this entire special. The entire main SpongeBob cast sings but not him? That was quite a missed opportunity since Bowie was a popular singer. Additionally the Patchy segments were fine, nothing that memorable but are still a little entertaining.

Personally I don't think the episode is that bad but not very good either. Some hate it, some love it? To me It just misses opportunities and didn't need to be as long as it is. It might be the most mid of the episodes in my opinion.

I have never really watched the Fred Figglehorn YouTube series, and I'm sure many consider it a classic. But Fred: The Movie is something I'm surprised was even approved, especially in theaters in the UK and Ireland. This movie has some serious problems.

Reading the plot outline alone should tell you why this movie's existence shouldn't have happened. This dreaded film is about Fred Figglehorn wanting to find his long time crush Judy, but we'll get to that later. I'd like to start off by bringing up the poor production quality.

This movie literally has the main character breaking the fourth wall over and over like this whole movie is a YouTube video. It was made for television and again got a theatrical release overseas. This also looks like it was filmed in less than 2 weeks and most of the time looks like someone is holding the camera when filming. The lighting is terrible, and it doesn't even look like anyone actually made sets for each scene. It honestly looks like Fred's house was filmed the way the real life house actually looked. And almost every scene looks like it was filmed in one particular neighborhood in real life. Even for a $4,000,000 budget the filming in this movie looks effortlessly cheap. A lot of scenes can be done by the popular YouTuber for free. Some of the editing is also terrible, the scene where Fred goes up a roller coaster looks atrocious and green-screened and some scenes look like a PowerPoint slideshow.

Now let's talk about the characters. I'm aware that this movie uses the source material from the web-series, but there's barely anything interesting or recognizable about the characters aside from Kevin and Fred's parents. Judy herself is literally a Mary Sue cliché who has no personality and is usually only seen in Fred's fantasies about her. It's not even established that she's even friends with Fred and only has a minor role if you exclude the fantasy sequences. Bertha who's named is barely dialogued is a confusing character who apparently likes Fred and agrees with his scheme to make a fake party video to get attention, she barely has a personality other than sharing some of Fred's traits. And while Kevin does have a personality, he's very one dimensional and doesn't seem like that much of a villain in comparison to how Fred Figglehorn is. In fact, Kevin is kind of likable in comparison to Fred.

Which leads me to the titular star himself, Fred Figglehorn. Fred is literally an aged up Calliou who yells in almost every sentence with a high-pitched voice, he screams and whines when he doesn't get his way or sometimes just screams for no reason. He's very unfunny and obnoxious shoehorning every cringeworthy joke he says or makes, and constantly comes back to the audience to explain every obvious thing he's doing or about to do. He does stupid things in public and gets angry too easily.

But with all that, Fred's crush on Judy is not only uninteresting and underdeveloped, it's actually kind of disturbing. Fred is severely obsessed with Judy as he literally goes out of his way to stalk Judy when he sees her in her car with her mom and writes everything about her down (which is literally the first scene of the movie after Fred breaks the fourth wall), he finds her address to her new house and looks it up on his computer and even zooms into one of the windows to see if she's inside, he constantly says her name over and over like every 5-30 seconds, he has constant unrealistic fantasies of her and him together, and as the plot describes, he literally risks his life to go find her new house and comes over uninvited. He even says she's his girlfriend a handful of times and it turns out they weren't even friends.

There should've atleast been a scene where Fred learns about boundaries and understands the definition of stalking, a "kids" movie shouldn't even have this kind of unsettling theme. And yet after all this, Judy actually comes over and sings with him as he fantasized. So the moral of the story is if you stalk and obsess with a girl enough, you'll win her over one day. The screenwriters did not think about this at all and just ended up making Fred Figglehorn a borderline psychopath.

This movie shouldn't even exist and yet it somehow got sequels. I can see why it can't be watched anywhere. This movie teaches a horrible lesson about obsessive behavior. Nickelodeon shouldn't have even greenlit this.

I am a big fan of the Hey Arnold television series as it's one of Nickelodeon's best shows putting SpongeBob aside in my opinion. Hey Arnold: The Movie is mostly a decent film, although it definitely has some flaws and missed opportunities. As The Jungle Movie was originally meant to get a theatrical release, we got this in theaters instead.

The storyline of the film is actually not that bad, it's actually exciting to see Arnold as well as Gerald and Helga to save the neighborhood. It still has a lot of humor and heart just like the television series and doesn't feel too much like an extended episode of the show. The only problems is that the pacing can be quite slow occasionally as the runtime is stretched to the hour and sixteen minute mark and there could've been more scenes that gave the plot a more intense tone.

Many of the characters from the series are in the movie and quite a few get a good amount of laughs and screentime, although many of Arnold's friends specifically aren't in the film that much as they're reduced to minor roles or some only being one-shot. It also doesn't help that we never get to see P. S. 118 in this film which could've given Arnold's gang more screentime like everyone else. Helga however does have some character development in this film as she tries to help Arnold in disguise to save the neighborhood instead of bullying him so much, and Arnold's grandparents have some of the best parts in this movie humorously. Arnold himself is even proven to be a great person who eventually goes through the disbelief of saving the neighborhood after feeling the loss of his confidence. The villain Scheck is okay at best, he can be underwhelming for a movie villain but he does have an intimidating side as he even tries to attempt murder failing to run over Arnold and Gerald. I'm also glad they kept all the voice actors from the show while including a few big time stars for the movie characters as well.

The animation isn't that much better than the television series. Some of the characters have a smooth shading effect and the backgrounds do look a bit bigger and prettier, but other than that it looks like the animators could've put more into a theatrical style if they had a bigger budget.

Overall it's not a great film, but it's still enjoyable if you're a fan of the show and just want to see a movie-length adventure with all your favorite characters in their setting. It has flaws and does arguably feel like it should've been a TV movie, but if you put that aside it can still be a fun experience that captures what made the television series so great.

I wasn't really expecting a sequel to the first animated adaptation of Diary of a Wimpy Kid after how badly it turned out to be. As expected, this animated adaptation of the second book with the same name isn't much better.

This one being about Greg Heffley and his older brother Rodrick Heffley learning how to get along is only slightly better in terms of the story. I'll admit there are like three minor improvements being the fact that it's longer than its predecessor with an actual feature length runtime, the fact that it doesn't feel as tedious, and the scene with Greg's grandfather was a nice addon to the story. This is all I'm going to give this film. It still feels like a poorly written brother bond plot that tries to stretch out the story from the original book. The first movie lacked a cohesive story because it was too short, but this one lacks a cohesive story because not much is able to be added. When the live action adaptation of Rodrick Rules was made, the filmmakers also adapted the third book Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw into the picture which honestly helped structure the storyline better due to the simplicity of the second book it's based on. It may sound like a nitpick but not much really happens in this film and the characters still have trouble developing properly.

Rodrick Heffley is meant to be the careless older brother who bullies Greg and his only goal is to play at a school talent show for his Loaded Diper band, unfortunately he's not very imitating here. Greg isn't really unlikable which is good but he doesn't develop either and both Heffleys are just seen arguing in a series of events that leads to mostly nothing. It also confuses me how Greg's parents Susan and Frank Heffley left them at home and went on the Heffley trip without them when neither of them have done anything wrong to deserve it. Oh wait that's because they left out the scene where Rodrick embarasses Greg at church, no wonder that feels off.

Just like its predecessor the animation still looks uncanny and unfinished. I would've thought after a whole year of production Disney would let the animation team upgrade the awful 3D models but they didn't. It once again just looks like nobody cares about the visual work of this movie that needs to be polished in order to fit CGI. It's even more noticeable when some of the background characters look like disfigured shapes smooshed together.

Yeah this is pretty much what you would expect from a Disney+ cashgrab sequel to a cashgrab adaptation. They had a chance to improve and they didn't. It's just telling us how worthless these newer animated movies on their streaming service aren't worth anyone's time.

Jeff Kinney's Diary of a Wimpy Kid was honestly my favorite book series and the live action movie trilogy from the early 2010's was surprisingly well produced. After watching this animated adaptation associated with Disney, I did not get the same reaction.

So this is adapted from the first book of the series with the same name being about Greg Heffley trying to survive middle school wanting to become rich and famous while also trying to be a good friend to Rowley Jefferson. The first problem with this adaptation is the fact that it's only 58 minutes long. Like many have already said in the reviews its shortened length keeps it from doing much with the source material and to have room for character development.

The storyline barely goes anywhere during the first two acts. It's most just a very tedious plot where two characters don't learn anything. Quite a few important scenes are missing which include the school play, the safety patrol, and just proper scenes where Greg and Rowley have their dynamic. We don't really see much from Greg's point of view and the dialogue feels very cluttered most of the time.

With that said, the worst part of this movie are the characters. In this animated adaptation, Greg Heffley is truly a scumbag protagonist. While making Greg Heffley unlikable is the point of his character in the book, that's literally his only real trait in this film and it's really frustrating to watch because of how unnecessarily egotistical and self centered he can be for no reason. We don't really learn much about him and there's nothing to sympathize from him either. He's just constantly manipulating Rowley and making narcissistic decisions only until the very end of the film when he saves Rowley from being picked on by having the cheese touch. While Greg is the worst character here, Rowley however isn't much better. Aside from Rowley wanting to be himself he isn't really a good friend to Greg either as he steals his idea for the school comic and never shows any real support to Greg in the first place. The other characters like Rodrick and Greg's parents barely get any screen time who were also important characters that told us why Greg is the way he is. The only character I somewhat liked was Fregley who played a funny scene with his weird house and creeps out Greg. Everyone else is either absent in the story or is also a one dimensional jerk. The character development doesn't even exist here and it's the main reason why the story feels so rushed and poorly paced.

The animation is very misdirected. The 2D book illustrations are poorly translated into 3D with very uncanny CG models and low budget effects made from a cheaper animation studio. What looked like a replication of The Peanuts Movie in the teasers is actually nothing in comparison to them. And because it includes the diary segments like in the live action adaptations, it also doesn't make any sense that this movie is animated. Apparently this means Greg can draw everything the way it exactly looks around him. This somehow breaks an important logic to the visuals as well.

This is probably the only time I prefer a live action adaptation over an animated adaptation especially from Disney. I've definitely seen worse book adaptations, but this is mostly unwatchable. It's just another lazy attempt to get people to subscribe to Disney+ for their latest exclusives.

Man I used to love watching Nickelodeon when their cartoons, live action sitcoms, and movies had actual heart and soul put into them. It's no surprise that this film didn't do well after their serious decline over the past decade. The J Team is basically JoJo Siwa: The Movie, if you don't know who JoJo Siwa is, she's a young and extremely popular singer, songwriter, dancer, actress, and social influencer (atleast back when she was a kid). She's been the Minnie Mouse of Nickelodeon since 2017 and was popular to a much younger audience.

I personally don't have any hate towards JoJo Siwa like a lot of people, not that I'm a fan of her work since I'm simply not the targeted demographic. This doesn't excuse how bottom tier this movie is though. This might even be the worst Nickelodeon film ever produced. The story is about JoJo Siwa getting kicked off her dance team because of a new bossy coach taking over who doesn't approve of her saturated appearance and joyful personality, meanwhile JoJo and her new dance team create "The J Team" to compete against her.

I mean this premise actually sounds passable on paper, but the movie executes it horribly as a "being accepted for who you are" type of film even to kids. It's not only painfully unrealistic and extremely predictable but the movie literally forgets this storyline even exists at times and just shoves musical number after musical numbers into your ears. This is nothing new with musical movies but the message goes nowhere after the first few songs get thrown into your face. This isn't a "Nick Jr." movie like Paw Patrol: The Movie so it can't be excused for a movie made just for preschoolers. It's poorly paced in every way and gets super boring to watch in just minutes and not much really happens aside from JoJo singing about getting herself back on stage over and over, there's no substance or character development throughout the entire film.

Speaking of character development, this movie has some of the worst characters I've seen from a Nickelodeon project. JoJo Siwa does almost nothing other than what I already mentioned, her goal is barely played out like a drama and more like an easy outgoing mission that could've been solved in 15 minutes getting back into dancing on stage with a new team of companions. There's nothing relatable or sympathetic about how she's portrayed in this film like it would be in real life in the music industry. She barely shows any concern and proper emotion because of how one-dimensional her personality is written for this film. The bad acting doesn't make it any better due to how forced the directing feels. Coach Poppy fails as a villain because of how bland her character is for an antagonist. The only reason she kicks JoJo out of the dance studio is because she stereotypes her for her bow and energetic style. Her brief backstory fails to make her an understandable antagonist and more of just an underwhelming plot device who hates happy people for no reason. JoJo's dance friends are also complete jerks to her thinking she betrayed them when getting a new team and her new team is no better, none of the other characters have a personality as they are just annoying cardboard cutouts. It's mean-spirited when JoJo has done nothing wrong for the sake of trying to bring back her happiness without hurting others and not one person gets it in their head. JoJo's dog BowBow only gets a minor role and only appears in two unnecessary musical numbers. You'd think maybe Jessalyn and Jayden Siwa would get an appearance in this film but oh well.

If that wasn't bad enough the songs in this movie feel very rushed and uninspired and only exist because it's a JoJo Siwa movie. There's no creativity put into the musical aspect of this film and only feels like a cash cow to sell Siwa merch. The film literally starts with an unnecessary opening song when JoJo wakes up and doesn't contribute to the introduction of her character or even the actual plot, it could've just been a normal slice-of-life introduction for the few who don't even know who JoJo Siwa is and just wanted to watch a new Nickelodeon film that came out on Paramount+. If the soundtrack was the only reason Nickelodeon allowed this movie then it should've just been a live musical.

Additionally this movie feels extremely TV quality with how it's filmed and edited, I don't know if a theatrical release was originally intended or not but this looks very low budget for Nickelodeon standards. This might sound like a nitpick but visually this just feels like it was shot in 10 days, the only time the visual effects look somewhat finished would be the final dance scenes at the concert between JoJo and Poppy. I've seen better cinematography even from bad Nickelodeon movies.

This movie is just a sad waste of time. Again I do not hate JoJo Siwa but this might honestly be the worst Nickelodeon movie to date. The same studio that brought tears to our eyes from the emotional scene in the SpongeBob Movie gave us this unwatchable lifeless cashgrab. This is all just my opinion and I know it's nothing new to see Nickelodeon make these kind of things, it's just sad to see wasted potential in what Nickelodeon could be doing in this day of age. They just milk everything they get their hands on that makes them the most money.

Snoopy Come Home is the second theatrical Peanuts film based on the Charles Schulz comics and television specials. The story is about Snoopy leaving town to reunite with his original owner also after how he feels around everyone hating on him. This puts Charlie Brown and friends into sadness as they worry about losing Snoopy for good.

While A Boy Named Charlie Brown had a great message and some fantastic visuals, this movie beats it on a whole new level. One thing that Snoopy Come Home does which that film didn't do was a tell a full-length three act story. This is when Peanuts truly felt like it wanted to be on the big screen. In this movie we get to see Snoopy's greatest adventure as him and Woodstock go to find his original owner Lila who is at a hospital. It's very emotional when seeing his first owner currently struggling to survive as she writes a letter to him and when he eventually visits.

This movie takes a very deep step with how sad it can be, and for the characters, while Snoopy may not seem like a perfect protagonist, you have to remember he is just a dog and he has his flaws but shouldn't be hated over them. Snoopy does slowly develop throughout the film and it's fascinating how well I can understand how he feels with no dialogue spoken. The way the animators go out of their way to properly emote Snoopy without having him speak or even using the speech bubbles from the comic strips is true talent to me. But also Snoopy was usually just a comical side character as Charlie Brown's pet in the specials and we would normally see him in his own segments having his own scenes together in the middle of the plot. Here he not only serves a true purpose to the plot but he is what makes the plot work so well. Woodstock makes his animated debut in this film and for a start this is a great way to introduce his character as Snoopy's bird companion and sidekick. They also make a great musical duo. Charlie Brown and the others aren't really mean in this special as Snoopy did get on their nerves in the very beginning, but they all start to appreciate him a lot more as time flies by, even Lucy. Whenever we see them together or just Charlie Brown himself, the scenes really start to get emotional. Charlie Brown goes through one of the hardest times of his child-life losing someone he always cared for and he goes crazy and depressed constantly and wishes he could come back. I can honestly relate to this type of feeling even as an adult which is also what makes this movie so special. And if I haven't said it enough, Lila is another character that used to own Snoopy, and the bond that they start to have is really heartwarming but also sad when Snoopy realizes he would have to leave Charlie Brown for good to stay with Lila again.

As every classic Peanuts film the animation is not much different from the television specials, but the characters honestly look good just the way they were animated in the specials. The backgrounds are somewhat bigger and better here, but like its predecessor, what stands out visually is the artistic scenes, mostly the one when Snoopy and Woodstock apparently have a dream of walking to the hospital to find Lila. So much vibrant creativity was put into them.

Vince Guaraldi actually didn't compose any of the music in this film surprisingly, instead it's composed by the Sherman brothers. Honestly though while Guaraldi is the legendary jazz music artist that undoubtedly perfects the Peanuts soundtrack, the Shermans actually give this film an even bigger feel. One reason is because there's a running gag of Thurl Ravenscroft singing "No Dogs Allowed" whenever Snoopy is kicked out of somewhere for being a dog, which more than perfectly contributes to the storyline. The other songs are also very remarkable as they give this film a more "commercial Disney-like feel" as they said. The Sherman brothers are insanely talented for their work in general and always knew how to make musicals feel top notch and well organized. This film honestly feels just right for them. Every single song in this film, including the instrumental tracks, are top tier in quality. It's too bad that they only made the soundtrack once in the theatrical films.

Snoopy Come Home is honestly the best of all four theatrically released Peanuts films during Schulz's lifetime. It's very underrated and truly feels like it wanted to be a full three-act structured feature film. It's very fun and very emotional and truly captures what the characters and the world around them is meant to be and does a great job expanding the Peanuts universe from the television specials.

Lightyear is the first Pixar film to be a spin-off as this movie is a spin-off of the Toy Story franchise.

The story is about human Buzz accomplishing his goal to fly in an orbit but fails to the point where Alisha eventually passes away. After this, Buzz and his new crew travel to another planet to discover life. It's honestly not a bad premise I will admit, there are a few moments that managed to scream Pixar throughout the film. The problem though is it misses a lot of opportunities to make the planet Buzz discovers interesting and eventually gets a bit boring. This plot works better in movies like Interstellar, but not a movie based on a beloved franchise about toys. Not to mention with this being an action/sci-fi film, it lacks a lot of action scenes especially when Buzz encounters Zurg. Aside from Sox, a lot of the humor relies on taking quotes from the Buzz Lightyear toy from Toy Story which is unoriginal.

The characters are mostly dull compared to other Pixar movies and especially the Toy Story franchise. Buzz Lightyear himself is passable with a decent and relatable motivation for achievement. Sox is a robot cat who helps Buzz and is honestly the best character in this movie with some great comic relief. Izzy is the granddaughter of Alisha who has some minor development, and that's all I can really call good about the characters. The rest are mostly just cardboard cutouts who serve little to no purpose in this movie. Toy Story had so many great characters with unique personalities and appearances, but this movie just has painfully average space rangers who tag along and are just there for jokes. Zurg who could've saved this flaw happens to be yet another twist villain. Not only is it predictable but it makes no sense because Zurg is actually future Buzz? What are they trying to tell us? Why would Buzz Lightyear become evil in the future, that's nothing like his character at all? The characters are probably the worst aspect of this movie because they're so weak and confusing. Not to mention the green alien men don't even exist, maybe I'm nitpicking on this one since some can argue the alien men were just a side marketing for the Buzz Lightyear toy, but it's never been officially explained.

While the animation is impressively realistic, it takes away the true charm of animation. Look I really appreciate how far Pixar has come to the point where they can basically animate an entire dimension without it feeling like it's computer generated, but that's just it. When animated movies look too realistic, they can be visually underwhelming. This movie looks like something that could've been filmed in live action with additional CGI mixed together, the planet especially.

Chris Evans as Buzz Lightyear doesn't offend me, he doesn't sound amazing but nor does he sound awful. His voice acting for human Buzz is okay.

Additionally I'd like to point out how unfinished this film feels because of an unnecessary cliff hanger at the end. Yeah Zurg didn't die or anything he's just pushed away into space, there was no real climax between Buzz and Zurg like I briefly mentioned. I'm not a part of the whole controversy about the kiss scene, if they want to add brief LGBTQ that's fine as long as they do it right.

This can't be the movie Andy watched, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command honestly feels far more accurate than what this tried to be. I'd rather watch the early 2000's Disney Channel series instead than to rewatch this film. It's not the worst Pixar movie ever, it's still better than The Good Dinosaur, but still forgets a lot of important elements that could've made this work.

I think Race for Your Life Charlie Brown is a little overlooked nowadays. This being the third theatrical Peanuts film, it's quite an adventure for the Peanuts gang.

Charlie Brown and the others compete against three bullies and their cat at a raft race and eventually there's a side plot about Snoopy and Woodstock getting lost. It doesn't seem like much on paper for an hour and sixteen minutes but it actually does a decent job. The amount of filler in this film was a lot less than I was expecting and didn't feel as slow paced. The third act did kind of lose its touch when they are close to the finish line and it drags on a little too long. It's not one of Charlie Brown's best plots I mean it doesn't come close to the deep plots of A Boy Named Charlie Brown and Snoopy Come Home but it works for what it is.

The characters are decent. Charlie Brown's motivation is not exactly the focus like in the other movies as he just wants to win against those bullies and be a good leader. Peppermint Patty is a little annoying in this film but it's passable. Snoopy and Woodstock are funny and actually contribute well to the plot during the race. The bullies are okay villains, I mean they're just your typical kids who love to cheat and think it's fun to bully anyone else. The rest of the Peanuts gang have their fun moments and actually have a good amount of dialogue and screen time.

The animation looks really improved mostly with the backgrounds. I really love the background work in this movie, they are painted so beautifully with uniquely drawn angles. I feel like the animation team really did a neat job here.

Vince Guaraldi isn't in the soundtrack since he passed away a year prior unfortunately so the soundtrack is mostly weak in this film. It sounds very TV quality with only a couple good songs that have lyrics. I do think the soundtrack could've been better if the Sherman Brothers made a return from Snoopy Come Home.

Overall this is a good Peanuts film, it has some flaws here and there but it honestly felt deserved for the silver screen.

Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (and Don't Come Back) is the final theatrically released movie based on the Peanuts comic strips and television specials until The Peanuts Movie 35 years later. Compared to the previous films and even some of the television specials I didn't find this one as enjoyable. I love Peanuts and I think Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the gang are a timeless creation by Charles Schulz as I've admired his work for more than a decade.

So this movie takes an approach on the Peanuts gang going on an adventure as they travel to France since Charlie Brown, Linus, Peppermint Patty, and Marcie are being exchange students for a few weeks with Snoopy and Woodstock tagging along. And as they make it there with Charlie Brown receiving an invitation, him and Linus end up wondering who it was inviting the gang to the chateau.

This is not a bad premise for Peanuts especially with them returning to the silver screen. It's exciting to see Charlie and the gang travel somewhere overseas for the first time. However this movie doesn't really have a story until after half way through the runtime. The entire first half of this movie is just seeing the Peanuts gang traveling to France with different transportation every few minutes, not to mention they stop at England which contributes nothing to the plot. There's a lot of filler and the conflict isn't even hinted until they arrive at France in the second half. I will say by the third act the story really gets good though. The climax of the house being on fire was honestly the best part of the movie and puts a nice dramatic effect to everything. But that's the only time I really enjoyed this movie, the rest is just boring. It is nice to see the adults appear on screen who also speak words instead of just hearing the trombone sound effect for the first time and there are some funny gags here and there. I wasn't a fan of the exaggerated accents though. This movie does feel a little theater-worthy still, it just lacks a well told story for all 3 acts of the film.

Charlie Brown has a decent motivation in this movie wanting to make it to his destination for the school and finding out who invited him to the chateau. Pierre is a cool kid who gives us an introduction to the cultures of France. Peppermint Patty on the other hand is really annoying as she constantly gets on Charlie Brown's nerves without any thought of her actions and assumes Pierre likes her when he doesn't at all. She's the least I could understand in this movie since the characters barely develop. Linus makes a good supporting companion to Charlie Brown especially in the climax. Snoopy and Woodstock are fun as they bring comedic effect to the movie. And Violette turns out to be the one behind the invitation but isn't on screen for very long. A lot of the other characters like Schroeder, Lucy, Sally, and Patty only appear in the very beginning of the movie with reduced roles which is disappointing especially since they had exchange students at their school in America. I think an opportunity was really missed there. We could've gotten to know who they were while Charlie and his gang were on their way to France.

Additionally the animation is on par for Peanuts. I really admire the background work for this movie and definitely gave it a big-screen vibe. The soundtrack is okay, it doesn't compare to the talent of Vince Guaraldi or even the Sherman Brothers from Snoopy Come Home but it's fine for what it is.

Overall, this movie could've been much better if the story didn't feel rushed and the characters had more bonding with each other, nobody really learns anything and only 1/3 acts felt completed. I can kind of see why there wasn't another theatrical Peanuts film a few years after this one since it barely accomplished its goal. It has some fun moments for a Peanuts film but nothing truly special or memorable.