Reviews

And Asha is a Mary Sue

There are good and bad stuff in this movie, but I think the good overshadow the bad.

The good: -Nice visuals -I find it a bit clever that most of Disney's stories were made to derive from this one: Pinocchio's star/wish, Asha becoming the fairy godmother, her goat wishing for Zootopia, Asha's friends being copies of the 7 dwarfs, Magnifico becoming the Magic Mirror, Bambi, and so on. As this is a movie that celebrates the 100 years of the Disney company, I get that they wanted to tell a story that connect everything regarding Disney movies.

-Storywise, I'm glad a few questions were addressed, like what happens if people change their wish, or what happens if their wish is bad, or that if they don't expect a magical resolution to their wish, they can pursuit it on their own. Sadly, there are no answers to these questions, and I wonder how come there were no clearer rules to this. I mean... can Magnifico bring back to life dead people? The would be the 1st wish that pops to mind.

The bad: -Asha is a Mary Sue. She has no real arc, no inner conflict and she is right about everything all the time.

-Both bad guys are males, but the females are all good, which is a recent feminist trend in Disney.

-Some of the dialogue is bad. They have to explain who Ashas best friend is, fast, so she goes "hello you, best friend" or something like that. And of course all the vague dialogue, where Magnifico spills his secrets to Asha within 2 minutes after he met her, and when he misunderstands his evil book, so that the plot can happen.

-Magnifico became a villain due to evil magic, to protect every one. He didn't deserve such a cruel fate. Even his wife was mocking him at the very end! I wish (there, I said it!) that Asha would use her wish to bring him back, so that he continues to rule the kingdom that HE built, in a more sensible manner, perhaps with Asha as an advisor.

The neutral: -Music was fine, but I find musical cringe and ridiculous, as a bunch of people can dance and sing on the spot without rehearsals.

-Story was decent, but stories with wishes always feel stupid, like Wonder Woman 1984 and even the classics Snow White and Cinderella. But it's magic, go with it.

-Both Asha and Magnifico had great points of view but it wasn't really explored.

-Feels weird, but we never got to learn what was Asha's wish!

-So, the Star gave voice to a bunch of animals and plans... and I guess that's why all Disney animals talk. Yeah, fine.

Having misunderstandings to drive the plot, is weak writing. Here, Magnifico doesn't tell anyone what he does, he doesn't lay ground rules to what a wish should be and he steals them from people, giving them false hope. But actually I can't blame the movie for this! Magnifico as the ruler, needs to have the unfiltered people's wishes and screen them. If people don't give him their strongest wishes, they can pursue them themselves and ruin the kingdom if they are evil. This is not explained well in the movie, but this is why I think Magnifico was not a villain, but a father figure that won't get his kid too much candy. Until he opened the green book for no good reason, other than paranoia. That stupid Star ruined everything for him. Such a tragic villain.... or hero?

This is a short movie, around 70 minutes of runtime. At times it feels that it's longer because of the slow scenes and lack of story in the beginning. But if you manage to get past the 40 minutes of slow pace and juvenile jokes, it is a great movie and the dramatic resolution of the plot is pretty perfect.

The first half of the movie was seemingly made for kids, but it was an important part of the story, as you get to know some of the side characters, and of course getting to know Bambi and his mom.

Bambi is a prince like Simba, and we get to see him grow up, fight the "hyenas", lose a parent, defeat an enemy of the same species, survive the forest fire and managing to find a girl and have kids on his "Pride Rock", completing the circle of life!

The dramatic scenes are expertly done and the destructive human element provide a few eco-moral lessons we all need to be aware of.

I just realized that I had a plushy of Thumper as a kid, which I wish I still had, because I loved it!

This animation was history in the making and a marvel of animation, especially in 1937. Having 25 animated animals on screen is crazy, even for today's standards, almost 90 years later.

But judging with today's standards, some things do feel a bit off. I loved how the intro and outro show a book, but it has no vocal narration. This was fixed in Disney's next movie, Pinocchio.

Many things in the book's narration could have been animated, as the background info with Snow White's parents dying, is very interesting. But I get that we don't want to see a horror movie but a feel-good fairy tale.

My main problems have to do with the logic of the story: 1) I don't get why the queen is so obsessed with who is "the fairest of them all", whatever "fairest" means.

2) Why the queen has to ask a mirror? And how the mirror is magic? Who made the mirror? Why the Queen trusts the mirror? It doesn't matter I guess.

3) Why the queen didn't punish the Huntsman? I gues maybe she did but it's not something you want to show this to the kids. Being punished for being helpful teaches bad morals too.

4) Why the queen didn't send others after Snow White? If you want to do something right, do it yourself, I suppose.

5) Why the queen needed magic to change her appearance? Dramatic effect probably. And to show how evil she is. But how can she be sure that she can change back to how she was? Well, magic. And why she couldn't use magic to be fairest? I don't know, go along with it. It's a fairy tale.

So yes, I have my problems with the movie but I can't really blame the movie for them. It's magic, so, accept it. But that my problem with magic. You can do what ever you want with it and you can excuse anything with it if it's not grounded or if the rules are vague.

Saying all that, I have to forgive this movie as the whole movie industry was at it's infancy back then, still trying to find it's foot, and this movie left a very heavy footprint in the history of cinema. Fairytales back then were pure magic that nobody questioned, and the movie conveys just that.

This is a classic animated movie, that has lot's of great things going for it. Awesome for it's time. I remember when I was watching the making of of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" in 1996, the animators were gushing about how cool the multi-layered intro with the camera zooming between the buildings was. Well, Pinoccio had the exact same thing done, twice, 45 years earlier! And apparently it cost 80k!

The movie is amazing for the most part, so I would like to focus on why I'm subtracting points from a 10/10 score. This is mainly for 2 things: 1) Crickets don't breathe underwater. Yes, foxes don't speak either, but there are things you can accept in a fairy tale and things you can't. The underwater breathing also affects a major part of the story, Pinocchio's death. Pinocchio is supposedly drown, but how could he? He also breathes underwater! So, this breaks the suspension of disbelief. Not only that, but Pinocchio's "sacrifice" is what turned him into a real boy in the end. But there was no sacrifice to begin with, if he can breathe underwater!

2) Some story threads remain unfinished. We never get to learn what happened to Candlewick, or other characters in the movie, especially the villains. On than note, none of the villains ever paid for their crimes! Maybe it's because of the movie of a different era, or the runtime, but the Fox and the cat, Stromboli and the Coachman never get punished for their evil deeds.

3) I generally dont like magic and fantasy because the writers can be inconsistent. For example:

1. If Pinocchio is alive by magic, then why does he need to become "real"? He is already alive. In fact Pinocchio is better than a wooden doll because then he is practically immortal!

2. Pinocchio can breathe out from his nose, when his nose has no holes 3. Pinocchio is a wooden doll but can have live donkey ears?

4. How can a fox and a cat talk, but Figaro the cat can't talk?! THis is a world populated by humans after all!

5. If kids magically are transformed into talking donkeys, does that mean that the talking fox and cat are also kids who were transformed? New conspiracy unlocked!

I haven't read Crisis on Infinite Earths. So all I know about it is this half of a movie. And it sucks.

1) The art style is weird. I seen it before in one or two DC animated movies and it's still bad. Black thick lines around the ears, No black lines around the hair... feels inconsistent and wrong.

2) The animation is cheap. Most times it's just moving layers.

3) The story! Why is this a good story? We had 17 gazillion multiverse movies last year alone. I can't blame this movie for it's subject matter and premise, but I can hate it for being sub-par to EVERY other multiverse movie I have seen. The story is stupid and convoluted. And boring. Something that could have been said in 30 minutes, it took them 1,5 hours because they keep repeating animations and dialogue. I was sick after watching the speed force circle sequence after 385 times. I lost all interest after watching 385 random sequences between Barry's time travels, just because they wanted to show the story out of order and with no initial context - it felt random. I got angry when Owlman and the other bad guys all they could think about was to "punch" the evil energy, or throw cars at it to save their world! I was dumbfounded when the monitor only asked the help of the good guys but not Lex Luthor - not only he is super smart and super rich, but he would want to survive this crisis!

So, the only thing to destroy a magical force field is to build a tower that vibrates the Earth? Stupid "enemy" and lame "solution".

The whole thing is a stupid mess and the only good things about it is that the Question doubts and questions the Monitor, and Batman steps in and they debate as a Think Tank. And how Barry managed to built the tower.

This is one of the worse DC animated projects. I don't even care about part 2. WB please make more faithful adaptations and drop this 1940's art style.

Three villains have the perfect plan. They kidnap kids and they show their faces to the parents.

The stupid villain get the kid and leaves the doors open so that a 6 year old can escape, the main villain forces himself onto the mom, and the woman villain has showers in front of the husband, watches TV like an idiot and takes a nap. These villains are awesome professionals that have done this 4 times already and their plan works perfectly!

But now, the wife, the husband and even the little girl out smart that in every turn! The mom even deduced that because the main villain talked about a hotel in the city, that he knows her husband? But he already told her that he did his research! That was some moon logic on her part. And then she texted this gut feeling to her husband. Which would make him panic and cause even more trouble. But no! The good guys were right and the husband knows how to medically torture someone and has the means and will to pull this off! How convenient! Also the girl's medication allow her to stay up all night, so that we can have more drama and screen time. The villain woman spills the plan to the husband and allows him (for no good reason) to call whoever he needs to get the villains traced by phone.

Of course there are plotwists that make no sense at all. The main villain doesn't mind to be killed (an obvious and stupid bluff) but he does mind to have his pecker cut off? The girl has asthma and needs constant care, but her mom tells her to run away into the woods? This operation is personal and this is not about the money... but they have done this 4 times already? Who wrote this?!!

Then the go to get the money. The writers can't decide if this is personal or if this is about the money. If it's personal and you want to kill their kid, do it from the start and don't even show your faces! You should already have 1 million dollars from the other 4 kidnappings. Here, you show your face while you commit kidnapping, r*pe and killing a child? Are you completely insane??? Well I guess the villains are all stupid and incapable morons. Just like the writers of this movie.

Then the villain woman tell the main villain not to hurt anybody. But that was the whole plan, the whole bluff! That pwoplw will get killed if anything goes wrong! The stupid fat villain was even ready to kill the kid. And now everyone hears her say that they don't want to hurt anyone. How can she be this clueless? They did this 4 times already!

Main villain tells husband that he will never see his kid again, and he says that next to the wife. I wonder why she didn't attack him right then and there. Also she has no blindfold now and she can freely message her husband about it. The stupidity is unbelievable at this point.

At least the main villain get attacked by wife (big surprise!), and the final scene where the airplane lands, althought stupid, it has some action and explosions. I liked the fact the the airplanelanding merged the 3 stories together into one. The dad almost killed his daughter and the montage was changing 5 cameras per second and it's as predictable as you get get.

How can you have several story-lines during 3 timelines and still be boring? Let me tell you!

The story jumps into past present and future, just like Cruel Summer (2021 TV-series). Thankfully, here you are reminded when you are, so that you don't have to remember yourself, and the time jumps are not as often. But I guess the montage is so convoluted, that even the editor forgets to remind us what year it is at all times, like in episode 5, when they go back to 2009 to visit Dr. King's home. So, no consistency.

In the 4 first episodes, the only interesting part is the sloooow creation of an Ai computer, created by Arab lesbian girl. What's her story so far? Her parents don't want her in the FBI, and the FBI rejects her computer ideas.

The white girl (Poet) is the protagonist and so far she just talks to people here and there, without any motive or drive. She just wants to graduate and date the white guy who doesn't serve any real purpose so far.

The worst character of all is the fat black guy who sleepwalks through every scene. He sucks the energy and pace whenever he is on screen, even during an action scene, in episode 2. I wanted to sleep just looking at him. No spark, no charisma at all.

So, that's it. Nothing really happens in episodes 1-4. Well they go to the house of some bad guy. His wife clearly coerced by him, so she is not to be trusted. And yet the villain lets her guide the FBI agent to the toilet. Surprisingly (not) the wife shows a secret room with evil plans. The wife is shot in the back and she has blood in her chest too. So the bullet went through her. And yet, it didn't wound the agent who was right in front of the wife! So, this one thing happened and it was completely stupid.

Then they caught a guy but instead of focusing on him, every time we see him the scenes waste our time and then they just back and forth in the timeline, where the development has the pacing of a snail. Not to mention how confusing they are, as some times the jumps are all over the place.

For example, in 2034 the white girl has a fake eye for some reason, and when the time jumps to 2034 again, she has normal eyes! How the hell am I suppose to piece everything together if the director doesn't care about giving us each timeline in order? And just as you think you got the handle of it, the present timeline jumps 2 years ahead! Yeah the time in the series is all over the place. What is the point of calling it "the present", when the presents is in 2023 in episode 4, and 2025 in episode 5? The revelation that the series' present is not 'our' present... it's just plain stupid. They should have called it 'current time' or something. Or anything but 'present'.

Let me describe the timeline in episode 5 real quick. We start at 2009. Then we go to the present of 2023. Then we go to the present of 2025. Then we go to the past but we don't get an announcement on display! Then we go to the present of 2025. Then we jump to... I guess it's the present again? Then we jump to 'the present' but we get no year on display. Not only that, but Poet has the fake eye she was supposed to have in the future, not in the present! Nothing makes sense!!! Then we jump to 'the present' for the 3rd time in a row and still we get no year on display. And all that is just the first 20 minutes of the episode. The rest is just as inconsistent.

I guess Poet lost her eye in the HQ explosion? I guess in 2034 she fixed her eye? I assume that I missed some time jump because it wasn't on display? I got no frigging clue what is going on in this garbage.

Quantico (2015 TV-series) was better with flashbacks and way more fun, with just 2 timelines. Here, the past timeline is just uninteresting, the present is somewhat decent but slow, and I hope the future will be more interesting in the.. future, because right now I don't even care about it. I mean, we know from the future timeline that the FBI will use the Ai, so why we care about the 'present' where they struggle to activate it? It will happen, we know that. So the present (and the past) has nothing interesting to say, expect to waste our time with slow scenes.

The joke is that in ep 5, the bad guys explode the FBI HQ, just like in Quantico. To make matters worse, when the HQ explodes, Poet and her bf saved everyone but they are together under the rubble... a cliche that proves that this is nothing more but a girly drama. We don't even see how they are saved, because action and suspense requires talent, and having slow moving scenes and dialogues costs way less.

We do get a glimpse of how the characters evolve in the span of 2 decades. The character aging makeup from 2009 to 2034 is laughable. Especially Poet and her boyfriend, look like they haven't age 1 day. And the way romance works is awkward too. Poet constantly shuts down the pretty white guy, the lesbian wants Poet too, the black guy sees a woman and asks her out in the lamest way possible, and when the white guy proposes to Poet after 20 years is stupid and anticlimactic.

In episode 7 we spend 15 minutes to learn where everyone is going after FBI graduation. This doesn't lead anywhere as the flashbacks stop after that, proving that the "past" storyline was nothing but filler. The only thing I got from it, is that the black fat guy who couldn't run, ended up being the best student and later the head of FBI (with no explanation) and he managed to get married to a black girl because he cried about not going to Montana.

Finally, if you are someone who watches this for its sci-fi elements, know that the computer science is bogus. A major turning point is when they decide to add exceptions as to who the Ai can blame for crimes. This breaks the Ai and turns evil. This is stupid for two reasons. 1) It's code, you can reprogram it! And 2) Have a Yes/No function. The computer has a possible target, and the humans are in charge, so guide it by denying manually certain people! But no, we better feed on vague techno-phobia tropes.

It's insulting how they find, hack, enter and beat the Ai and reprogram it in 5 minutes in the end.

Don't watch this.

The show starts well. A girl who grew up in a morgue, investigates cold cases and manages to solve them. She is also computer savvy as she uses computer hacks she finds online and also gets online help from people to assist her with her investigations. There are also flashbacks that shed light to her character. All very cool.

Until we get to Iceland and a murder happens. The setting and premise is neat, but there plot holes.

• She can talk and interview everyone in the room and she doesn't.

• She follows a masked guy into the snow and she never thinks to check who leaves and the enters the building.

• Everything is monitored by Ai and there is even a 24/7 3D scanning of the building and they use it too late or not at all. In other words, when it's convenient.

• The murderer is omniscient as he knows everything, from hacking to security systems, and yes, that's convenient. But he could fool the system only once at 11:59 due to the systems reset. And yet the murderer steals drugs, enters on people's rooms and so on, at any time, and nobody checks the 3D building scan anymore? Or nobody asks the Ai to see who was where and when?

• Rohan died in the middle of a hall, just when we was about to spill the truth. Why they didn't investigate and interview who was the first to find him or who was with who at the time of his death? Nobody stops to make a timeline of events or view the building scanning or even swap info. Sure, the heroine is the investigator, but nobody else cares? Even in the game Among Us, where the players are average people have solved mysteries harder than this!

• Why the astronaut woman just died? She was just tired of living? She had nothing important to say before dying? Even her car crash was stupid... she didn't have to drive this fast. Also her helmet should come off during Manual. That's what Manual means. Manual should be irrelevant to hacking.

• The big question is who wanted Bill, Rohan and the astronaut woman dead? It's hard to know as the secondary characters don't have much screen time. And when they do, nobody asks them the right questions! It's more like "you can't ask them, go to you room", which is frustrating. If you want answers, let people talk! But apparently the screenwriters don't want that to force tension.

Don't these people want answers? Why they just don't meet up and share info! You know, like in Among Us? Instead they are separated and isolated to their own rooms. Which is the stupidest thing you can do in a situation like this! Group them into 2 or 3 at a time you idiots! And stop pretending you are geniuses! Don't tell me that they are clever, show me!

If everything is monitored, then the killed should have been found even without the input of the detective heroine. Also, why everyone has to know each other?

Darby admires Lee. Darby dates Bill. Bill dates Lee (How? Why?). Rohan loves Bill but Darby has never heard of Rohan. Andy married Lee. Andy invites Darby. Lee invites Bill. I don't even know who invited Rohan or why. In short, Darby, Bill, Rohan are nobodies who coincidentally end up in a meeting with Lee and Andy and the best minds of the world. Are you kidding me?

I'm in the middle of ep5 and I can only conclude the Lee is the murderer. Everyone else we actually know is dead. Lee is a hacker and knows everyone involved. If its someone else, like the waiter or the security guy... well they didn't have enough screen time and nobody asked them the right questions. Or checked the 3D building scan or the Ai where they were during the time of the murders or if they left their rooms and if they ever went to the medical bay to mess up with morphine and the pace maker. So who knows. I'm sure I won't get any satisfying answers, because the director seems to avoid giving any, until it's the right time. Which takes me out of the whole experience.

Why everyone is a hacker and also knows Morse code? Why Darby is stupid enough to go alone in the pool and dive in it after receiving an anonymous message, when a killer is on the loose? She went there to find some info so why she doesn't ask for that info after she is saved??

Although the ending's twist was a surprising one, it didn't make much sense. Who killed the astronaut woman? Coincidence, because someone hacked the system to send a message. Who was the master mind who overdosed Bill during camera reboot time? Coincidence because a stupid kid did it. Why the camera didnt see who the culprit was? Coincidence because he was short. Who prepared the overdose? I was just a normal shot. Who attacked Darby? Some irrelevant guy. When they all ended up talking to solve the mystery? In the last episode! I was expecting to see a smart series of events and everything was based on luck and coincidences! How this was revealed? Darby coincidentally wore a VR helmet!

Darby was shy and introvert during the entire plot and at the very end she is smirking in a cocky way as she explains what is happening, which is a bit out of character. I wanted her to be like this since the first murder, so in ep.7 it's too little too late, and too annoying. She even smiles while taking Andy down, but even his crimes were an accident, not his fault really, so why are you so smug Darby? Darby may be righteous, but her methods are unethical and her morals misplaced. She tricks the Ai to spill private thoughts between a patient and a psychologist (of sorts). Clever as it is, it would be inadmissible in court. In the end, it wasn't Andy's fault, it was faulty programming. So stop smirking, Darby. This is a tragedy for everyone, not a win for you.

At least this does pose an interesting question... should your smart-house Ai also be your psychologist Ai? It is nice to have everything in one place, in one app, but that can have unexpected results.

The last stupid thing is Lee getting away with her son. The police is just outside and she leaves footprints in the snow. Is it so hard to find her? She is also walking blindly for many miles to find a small boat in hopes that someone will pick her up as she sails with food in the cold sea? That's not a plan, that's suicide!

This is like a detective TV-series where the detective sees stuff from a psychological perspective. He sees things others don't.

The 1st episode was neat. The next 5 episodes were becoming boring. I don't mind the cliche that the protagonist has a personal issue that tries to solve as an overarching arc. If anything this gives something to look forward to, while having the episodic villain of the week. The drama with his ex-fife that dates another guy but he needs her to solve some crimes... I could live without it. And his sister with the disgusting hair, just shoehorns her self in every story to make herself relevant.

But I could live with all that if the stories were clever, or it had some action, or some kind of spark. As it is, it's very slow paced to the point of boredom. The protagonist never fails in his theories, and when he knows something he has to say it like reading it from a book... "this guys has this obvious psychological trait yadda yadda yadda". Yes you are a know-it-all, we get it. Apart from the actual obvious parts where someone in a rush wants to see you and you can't really read that he needs you help, and you think he wants a copy of your book!

In other words, the protagonist is clever when the plot needs him to know something from a textbook, but in actuality he can be clueless and unreliable. And nobody calls him out on that.

Ep.2: Luckily the protagonist in one of a few people on the planet that knows of the poison in question. Then they fake a death so that the villain goes to the "dead" person and brags about it, essentially confessing. Isn't that childish?

Ep.3 was good because they tried to figure out why the pilot crashed an airplane, only having a recording.

Ep.4 They try to find a missing girl. It's not too bad but when the son shoots his dad out of the blue and for not good reason (and off screen!), just for drama's shake... it's not too good. The protagonist is not very convincing when he tries to talk down the villain. Not to me anyway.

Ep.5 They try to find a casino cheater. Someone was sending signals to the cheater and they found her because she was slurping down free coffee too fast from being nervous. The funny thing is that the protagonist didn't do much, because the secret was spilled by a scared guy that some bad guys tracked down. It sounds stupid, I know.

Ep.6 Court case where an adversary psychologist had a different opinion. This was interesting, because the protagonist gets challenged in a way. But in the end he collaborates with his adversary and they both win. Decent.

I think the slow pace, slow talk and low energy of everything is damning the show. The protagonist doesn't have an actual character other than reciting from psychology books and having a past drama that doesn't add much to the story. He is not as quirky and doesn't appear as smart as Cal Lightman or Dr. House. He lacks the sparks. And the supporting cast is also boring. They only stood out in the episode where the male student had trouble in speaking to a big crowd. Other than that, they mainly exist as side plots, so that we don't get bored of the main plot. And even that often fails.

Okay, the cute art and the 2d animation are well done. And I get the videogame references. But the story is nonsensical. Is it for kids? Or is it for people who are high on drugs? In any case it's not funny and it's not serious either.

It's an unfunny story where anything can happen. People turn into coins after they die in a fight and that's considered normal. Not even the police is involved in any way. The protagonists don't have parents or someone to care for them? Do they live in complete anarchy?

People fly around the city by skateboarding. That's also normal. People have random superpowers whenever they like. There are even ghosts that come out of nowhere and without explanation. Vegan robots with portal superpowers. Super bulky people fitting in tiny women's bags. Every loser protagonist knows Hollywood superstars and have dated them in the past. And everyone sleeps with everyone. And regarding the main plot... why would anyone think that if you fight the current boyfriend you can win a girl back? How old are you? 14? Well, everyone looks like 14, not 24. So that's confusing too and you don't know what to think of the entire thing.

I just don't get why this is something to rave about and it even had a live action movie at some point. It's super stupid, immature and inconsistent. A complete waste of time.

You never get to understand what is the motivation of anyone in the movie. The intro is a narration instead of showing action and showing anyone's superpowers. You don't know what the hero's superpowers and limits really are, therefore there are no stakes. Cliche overconfident (without a reason) villain that talks too much but doesn't really have a reason to do any of the bad things he does. They even set up things that never pay of. Characters exist for no good reason.

The action starts at 1:15 and until then almost nothing happens and it's very boring. The "story" is full of conveniences and lucky chances where everything just happens nearby so that the plot can happen.

I dont even know what's the target audience of this movie. The plot is too dumb for adults, and the protagonist is a kid. But there's too much violence for kids of that age to see this movie. The movie tries to be serious and is devoid of comedy. I guess, you can say that it is a bad Terminator 2 movie in that regard.

The only saving grace is a plot twist near the end. Other than that, this movie is a mess.