Reviews

Everybody has seen (or a least knows a little something) about Star Wars. We know the characters, the dialogue, the music, and so forth. Casey Pugh had an idea and that idea was the harness the power the internet and social networking to remake the classic film. The "New Hope" film was cut up into 15 minute segments and fans could select which ones they wanted to remake, the fan-made clips were than voted on and put in the final movie. The final result is a mishmash of different talents from all over the world. We are treated to a mishmash of cut- out animation, flash animation, live-action, featuring an assortment of different actors, family members, toys, cats and puppets playing the various roles. We see homages to various other films including Yellow Submarine, Monty Python, and many others. All and all, it is an interesting experiment in film making for the internet ago.

When you think of Sid and Marty Kroftt, you think of their wacky children's shows that dominated TV in the 1970s. When you think Cesar Millan, you think of the canine behavioral guru, who helps humans handle their hounds. Who ever thought the two would ever come together. No-brainer since all (or most) kids LOVE dogs and puppets. The basic plot is Calvin Millan (Cesar's teenage son) and Mutt (imagine H.R Pufnstuf, if he was a giant dog, geddit "Mutt & Stuff"= "Pufnstuf) run a school/day care center for dogs (played by real dogs).

Rounding out the cast are a talking fire hydrant and two cats who act like Statler and Waldorf. There's not much educational value or kid appeal in this show, but if you want to watch dogs and puppets act silly for 20 minutes, this show is for you!

Netflix is getting more and more series and films that appeal to all ages and audiences. I stumbled on this series while looking for something new to watch. I know it is for very young children and I (usually, but not always) prefer adult-oriented series like "Trailer Park Boys" and "BoJack Horseman". Matter of factually, nobody can resist puffins, the adorable clowns of the Northern seas. The series focuses on two baby puffins and their lives with on an island. The animation is flash, but it has a storybook look and aesthetic, that reminds me of the artwork of Mary Blair and Charley Harper. Not only is the animation and characters just adorable, but you also learn about puffins, their lives, and habitats. It cleverly mixes facts about puffins and other animals with simple storytelling, that makes the series very enjoyable for anyone!

In the 1980s and 90s following the success of animated adaptations of Franco-Belgian comics such as The Smurfs and Tintin, there were several other attempts to adapt these comics which were virtually unknown outside of Europe for the American "Saturday morning and sugar cereal" crowd among them included Disney's Marsupilami, which was more or less the character in name only.

This show was adapted from a comic called "Achille Talon" created by Michel "Greg" Regnier and first published in "Pilote" (who also gave the world Asterix, among many others) which revolved around a Homer Simpson/Peter Griffin "anti-hero" character and his wacky misadventures in everyday life.

This animation adaptation takes the character and places him in the ultimate dream scenario of almost every preteen boy: "What if you had the chance to take the place of one of your favorite heroes for a day and save the day in their place, like say Luke Skywalker, Captain Kirk, Superman, James Bond, one of the Ninja Turtles or Power Rangers?"

"Hero for Hire" Melon's job was to do just that, occasionally with the help of his sidekick/assistant, Bitterbug.

The series had an interesting concept, but the animation and the writing was never that great and the jokes were not very funny.

The second season scrapped the idea of him taking the place of fictional characters and had him becoming historical figures like Christopher Columbus, Thomas Edison, Neil Armstrong instead in an attempt to be more "educational". The writing and animation, which was never really that great, just suffered. The Lewis and Clark episode is pretty cringe- worthy, especially how they portrayed Sacajawea and Seaman the dog.

Overall, interesting idea could have worked better, if they put more effort into it.

Most of us, remember "The Smurfs" as the Hanna-Barbara show from the 80s, right? Well, this isn't the Smurfs you grew up with. This movie was released in Belgium before anyone in the US knew what they were and later dubbed into English in 1983 to appease the masses yearning for those little blues freaks of nature. Well in the movie, Johan, a young knight and his annoying dwarf sidekick Peewee find a magic flute and a bad guy (not Gargamel!) steals it or something and they have to find it or something, they learn that the flute was made by the Smurfs, who live in an dimension or something so they drop acid or what and go to this other dimension. They meet the Smurfs, well more or less Papa Smurf and his crew. There's no Smurfette, no Baby, no Smurflings etc and they all sing and speak in unison. Hefty doesn't and have a tattoo and Brainy can't shut up. Johan and PeeWee explains to Papa what happened, and the Smurfs have to cut down another tree and make another flute to help Johan and PeeWee. I don't really what happens next all I remember is it end with Pee Wee throwing a hissy fit or something. Any way the Smurfs don't appear until like an hour in the movie, so it's kind of boring, mostly!

This is a Disney short describing the back stories about classic nursery rhymes that almost every little kid in the world knows. The only two stories, I actually remember though is the one about "Mary, Mary Quite Contary". Which was about Mary, the Queen of Scotland whom was executed by her cousin, Elizabeth, the Queen of England. the other was the "London Bridge is Falling Down", actually the real London bridge did fall down, and was rebuilt several times. It's basically one of those cartoons, which is more educational than humorous, but it a great example of Disney or shorts made in the 1950s. They used to air on the Disney Channel when I was a child, before Disney changed it's image in the the late 1990s as a contemporary kids channel, but I think you can now find them on DVD.

I live in the US and my Spanish isn't very good, I took it for two years in High School and failed, but I found some episodes of this on YouTube. Even if you haven't seen or don't know anything the original series, these are very and cute, and a little violent (more Tom and Jerry/slapstick than Sam Peckinpath). The animation was done with flash with CGI backgrounds, but it still looks like a cartoon. I've seen the episodes on YouTube and I really wish someone would dub this into English and show it in the US, maybe on Adult Swim or something and make it like parody-kind of dubbing like the Magic Roundabout or something.

This is NOT, I repeat your typical Peanuts cartoon, there are tons of those and they air on TV every year on Valentine's Day, Halloween, and Christmas. This one is more about Snoopy's desert dwelling brother, Spike and a young woman he befriends (who happens to be a live-action person). This special was made in 1988, around the same time "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" came out, which was cutting edge in new ways of combining 2-d animation and live-action footage. Charlie Brown and Snoopy are the only "regular" Peanuts characters who appear in this special, but only at the beginning and the end, reading the letter Spike had sent them about his experience.

This film from The National Film Board of Canadian is very nice cartoon, simply animated, and incorporated with footage of REAL log drivers. It what you would expect from a cartoon in the simplest of kinds, not too long, not too annoying, just nice and happy to watch. Very simple and nice. It's only under two minutes, which is just fine. So you watch it over and over again if you'd like, because it is such a nice little cartoon. I like the sketchy/cartoon/unrealistic look of it, which really illustrates the old-time spirit of the song and it lyrics, a kind of spirit not really captured in most modern animation these days. It rank right up there with other NFB films like "The Cat Came Back" and "Neighbors" and is a little slice of Canadian life as well!

Buster Keaton was a star in the early days of film, this delightful little piece from 1965 proves he still had that pizazz that makes a great comedy star to till the very end. Falling off London Bridge in England and swimming all the way to Canada is one many funny, great things to be seen in this movie, but I think it really mostly highlights, Canada and it's railroad, plus you get to see the country's scenic beauty and places of the House of Parlament, all along the way and a great Jazz/Country/Bluegrass/Classical score to boot. Let's not forget Buster dodging mighty trains all along the way and doing other crazy stuff.

This is an interesting little movie. The concept is Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas, than two young up n' comers out to take on the film system, with their new company and ways of making films. George has a vision for his new movie, "THX 1138" and to get you have to one thing... make the actors look like skinheads! We see shots of the actors meeting the film people, in places like the park or a baseball game and we hear their recorded thoughts as their hair is trimmed away. The part that is really weird is when one of the actresses, now completely shaved walks past a group of Hare Krisnas on the street! Interesting to watch, it is featured as a bonus on the Director's cut DVD of THX, so you have to watch it.