When this came out I remember it being pretty well received but I had other media projects on my mind and was already planning on delaying my best of 2020 list so I was in less of a rush to watch new movies. After watching Arlo the Alligator Boy and really liking the musical sequences I remembered hearing this movie was also a musical so it seemed like a good next film to watch.
It’s a fun movie. Most of the appeal comes from the visuals but the story itself still has some charm. Like many films from Chinese studios a big focus is on Chinese culture with this movie’s focus being on moon goddess Chang’e and as someone less familiar with that particular character it was interesting to learn about her through this film and recognize influences her story might have had on other media I’d seen before.
The musical element was alright but the songs weren’t that memorable, especially compared to those in Arlo the Alligator Boy. If you’re familiar with Pearl Studio from their work on Dreamworks movies you might know that they’re pretty good at making their words of their films look stunning and this movie is no exception. It is also good to see that between this as Abominable they do have a style that is recognizably theirs that stands out compared to the art styles of other Dreamworks movies which will help it stand out more now they’re releasing movies without Dreamworks.
If you liked any of the movies Pearl Studio made for Dreamworks I’m sure you’ll like this too. One thing this movie made me interested in seeing is the Ghibli movie about Kaguya since I believe there’s some connections between Chang’e and Kaguya’s stories. But before that there is a movie that has also come to Netflix that a lot of animation people on Twitter have been talking about that I had mixed opinions on the trailers for back when it was supposed to come out in cinemas last year…
While I’ve been watching more TV shows than movies lately (not just the Star Trek project, several of my shows have seasons starting/ending at the moment) I still wanted to watch some movies and this one stood out to me as something worth watching.
This is easily one of my favourite Netflix original movies. It’s so much fun, has really catchy songs I’ve been spending the last few days listening to on YouTube, neat character designs and really expressive 2D animation. It’s also going to get a series later this year (also on Netflix) so even characters underused in this movie have an opportunity to get entire episodes focused on them. I have seen some reviews criticize the world building concerning the public perception of the anthropomorphic characters but they’re not really an issue for me.
One of the main strengths of the movie has to be the musical sequences. Not just because the songs are great, they’re scenes where the animation really stands out. Even if this movie doesn’t look like your thing I’d still recommend watching these scenes on YouTube. I really hope the show has songs too.
If you’re a fan of animated musicals I’m sure you’ll have fun with this movie. Looking at my watch lists on Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime I might try watching a few more movies from this and last year while I’m taking a movie marathon break.
Captain’s log, stardate 98870.95. While I’ve seen a fair amount of Star Trek including all the movies and a bunch of individual episodes of some of the shows (mostly The Next Generation) I haven’t actually watched a full season from start to finish (unless you count Star Trek Continues but that’s a fan made series). It’s always looked like too ambitious a project to consider with so much content to watch and so many other shows I’m attempting to watch. But somewhat influenced by the way I’ve chosen to watch the James Bond movies I decided to watch the first season of each show and decide which one has the best first season. But that’s part 2 of this project, before watching the full seasons I wanted to have a comparison to start with and a text of my less traditional viewing order.
So over the last few days I watched the first episode of every series of Star Trek on Netflix and Amazon Prime. For those more familiar with Star Trek who might be wondering I counted both the original pilot episode AND the regular first episode for the original series but not the second pilot Where No Man Has Gone Before as it aired as the third episode in the original broadcast and is listed as the fourth episode on Netflix. Concerning two-parters Netflix made that choice for me by putting them together as one episode however Discovery’s first two episodes are designed as a two-parter (episode 1 does end on a cliffhanger) because they have separate names and aren’t combined by Netflix like the others I only watched the first one. Now for my rankings of these first episodes.
#11
Pilot – The Cage
While a solid introduction to the universe of Star Trek as a whole I don’t think it sets up the potential of its own crew very well. The only character dynamic that is really set up is Pike being in a love triangle between his first officer only referred to as Number One and his yeoman J.M. Colt. There are things to like about it including how having a woman as first officer (and acting captain for most of the episode) is very progressive for its time, so progressive it was one of the reasons NBC rejected this pilot.
#10
Enterprise – Broken Bow
While an interesting point in the timeline to explore this is another example of the crew dynamics just not sucking me in. If I was going to rank the captains right now Archer would be at the bottom and the only thing that really sets Tucker apart from him personalitywise is having sexual tension with T’Pol. Speaking of T’Pol I do like her, Sato and Phlox so there’s still some characters I’m interested in seeing more from when I get to the rest of this season.
#9
Star Trek – The Man Trap
While this is a decent episode judging it specifically as a first episode the only thing that really stands out is a scene of Uhura flirting with Spock serving as an introduction to his Vulcan nature. I am curious if when I get to Where No Man Has Gone Before if it will feel more like a first episode than this one.
#8
The Animated Series – Beyond the Farthest Star
So what pushes this above the first episode of the original series? It uses the change in format to its advantage. As an animated series it can have more unique looking sets and aliens than a live action series at the time could with its budget. While the animation is a bit limited the art for the alien ship ruins is like something out of a Jack Kirby comic. Side note for this one; for some bizarre reason Netflix has season two before season one so I accidentally watched the first episode of season two before searching for the images for this blog and realizing I had to go back and watch the real first episode.
#7
Discovery – The Vulcan Hello
I’m sure some people are going to be annoyed Discovery is higher on this list than the original series but as a first episode setting up its main character and setting it is an interesting one. Out of all the Star Trek shows this is certainly the one I’ve heard the most mixed opinions on so I don’t know who I’ll end up agreeing with on the full season but as far as episode one is concerned this is a nice start. I like that at least for this episode the main character Michael isn’t the captain, it leaves the title as something she might earn later in the series depending on her actions.
#6
Deep Space Nine – Emissary
Here’s where things start getting really good and trickier to figure out the order for. I like the idea of a Star Trek series focused on a space station rather than a ship and the scenes of Sisko and the entity he encounters in the wormhole attempting to understand each other as the latter speaks through the former’s memories is really interesting to watch. Sisko’s scenes with Picard are also effective as you can see how uncomfortable being in the same room as each other is for both of them because of their history. Speaking of Picard…
#5
Picard – Remembrance
Top 5 time. What I really like about this is how it builds on the aftermath of the movies, specifically Nemesis and Star Trek (2009). It’s also interesting to watch so soon after watching the first episode of Next Generation because I got to see Picard at the beginning of his character arc and the end result of it.
#4
Short Treks – Runaway
Despite being a spin-off of Discovery knowledge of the series or its characters isn’t required for this episode. As far as I’m aware Tilly wasn’t in the first episode of Discovery so this was my introduction to her and it’s a good introduction. It also delivers on the concept of the series well, it tells a short story in the Star Trek universe that didn’t need a full episode to cover.
#3
The Next Generation – Encounter at Farpoint
I was not expecting Next Gen to jump straight to Q but it did. This episode sets up a lot even compared to the other shows featuring more members of the crew highlighting what they can do and what their main arcs are going to be. This is the series I’m most familiar with so it’s hard to put aside the bias of knowing where many of these arcs go aside but even doing seeing just how many characters are going to be relevant is an ambitious way to start.
#2
Lower Decks – Second Contact
The newest series in this selection. I do like Rick & Morty and Solar Opposites so seeing that same style of comedy applied to an existing sci-fi property is pretty fun. I like each of the main characters and out of all the shows I’d say this does the best job of selling the individual characters.
#1
Voyager – Caretaker
So what is it that puts this episode at the top? Set up. It’s the best at setting up exactly what the show will be about. Being about the crew being stranded out of reach of the rest of Starfleet I’m glad we got to see a bit of what life for some of these characters is like beforehand so that we understand what and who it they’re trying to get home to.
It’ll be interesting to see how my rankings of the full seasons will differ from these first episodes. Will my opinions on these episodes change after seeing how their stories unfold? Who will my favourite captain be? Who will my favourite character be? Who will have the best arc? Who is the best number one? How will be less traditional viewing order effect my enjoyment of these seasons? These are the questions I’m interested in learning my answers to. To boldly watch how no one has watched before.
And so we get to the movie that I did this marathon to build up to… after everyone else has finished talking about it. I’ll open this review by saying that regardless of my thoughts on his other movies (that I’ve seen) and the end result I can respect that Snyder got to finish this movie on his own terms.
I didn’t like this. It has things that work about it but not enough to outweigh the negatives, so out of fairness lets talk about those first. Some of the moments I liked in the regular version of the movie are still in this, there are character arcs exclusive to this version that work (most notably Cyborgs, though I miss the “Booyah”), cool action sequences exclusive to this version and there are actors exclusive to this version that we get to see the performances of including Ryan Zheng as Ryan Choi with a setup to his version of the Atom being the one planned for this universe.
As for the problems well first there’s the fact it’s too long. I don’t mean the fact this is 4 hours but the fact that scenes drag on too much is a big part of what makes it that long. This movie has three endings and while two were probably planned as mid and post credit scenes (one actually is in the regular version, though that version of the scene has better pacing and a better setup) in this they’re played back to back and are much longer than they need to be. Much like BvS there’s way too much setup for future movies that don’t add anything to this one such as Martian Manhunter’s scenes (the first of which is actually ruined by revealing a character to be him), a bunch of Aquaman’s scenes with other Atlanteans setting up his own solo movie (especially since it’s already out, they could have toned that setup down), the evil Superman Mad Max style future scenes and while the Darkseid scenes made sense there were too many of them. Also speaking of Darkseid having him be introduced loosing to Ares (a character Wonder Woman was able to beat on her own) in a flashback is a bad way of setting up your universe’s most dangerous villain regardless of any “but he didn’t have his powers yet” argument you make.
The theatrical version is better. I hate that I think that I think that because I don’t want to say that Whedon and WB executives improved the movie but Whedon and WB executives improved the movie. Yes there are things exclusive to this movie I liked and things exclusive to the original version that I disliked but the like to dislike balance is important and as my review of Apokolips War made clear good character arcs and moments aren’t enough when my problems stand out more. I barely addressed my problems with the regular version and those I thought were worth bringing up were in this version too. Also the lighting was better in the regular version, I hate Snyder’s lighting so much. The WB logo has better lighting than the actual movie and they even ruin scenes in Themyscira with the bad lighting. Anyway before I go into a rant about vampire Snyder and his hatred daylight lets get to the ranking images already.
While this wasn’t my most fun movie marathon I am glad I can look at this movie in comparison to other Justice League movies rather than just an alternate version of the same movie. At some point I will do a Superman marathon but after doing two DC marathons in a row I need a break from DC movies for a while. I’m not sure what my next movie marathon will be (maybe Bond part 2 since I am figuring out the lineup for it) but my next viewing project will be TV series focused rather than another movie franchise. Speaking of movie franchises…
It’s always nice when my ranking images get every space filled up with a movie, that won’t last long for this universe though since we are getting a new Suicide Squad movie later this year. It is odd knowing my controversial opinion concerning the DCEU is probably going to be thinking Wonder Woman 1984 is a better movie than Snyder League.
I’ve had mixed opinions on the DC Animated Movie Universe with my problems standing out more than the things I liked. The main Justice League movies were all dragged down by a really boring version of the team and that awful Superman/Wonder Woman relationship (that they thankfully scrapped after a while) making the only really decent Justice League movie in that universe (unless you count Flashpoint, which creates it but only the last scene is in this universe) the previous Justice League Dark movie.
This is a bad movie. It has its good moments and in the spirit of fairness I’ll star with the positives. The characters the movie focuses on (Constantine, Raven, Damian and Superman) have good character arcs, there are some fun character interactions, the “it’s my ex” line from Constantine about King Shark, seeing Darkseid fight Trigon is really cool, Damian Wayne refers to Dick Grayson as his brother, there are some cool action moments and a brainwashed Batman is an effective antagonist. The story itself isn’t my thing but it could have worked, plenty of points of the movie are enjoyable but my problems with it drag it down so much these positives aren’t enough to save it in my eyes.
This is probably the most tame image I can use to represent this but this movie is needlessly brutal. I’ve had a problem with these movies brutally (for a 12/PG13 movie) killing various c-list villains to the point it made doing the same thing in a Suicide Squad mean nothing because it’s not the unique thing tied to that premise. But this time they have an R rating and it’s the end of this universe so everyone is on the table to either be brutally killed or wounded on-screen. There are characters whose only role in this movie is to die a horrible death and it’s just gross. Did we really need a shot of Batgirl being ripped apart by Doomsday Parademons? Did we really need to see Starfire’s guts hanging out in the background of a shot where we see the dead body of Wally West in his only movie in this universe? It’s like the people who made this movie have some kind of fetish for brutally murdering DC characters. I understand wanting the war to be brutal but this movie overdid it. Also Zatanna deserved better than getting fridged in the first few minutes.
I’ve had my problems with this universe but it deserved better than this. The saddest part it the potential previous movies set up that was wasted. In my Teen Titans: The Judas Contract review I ended it by saying I was glad it looked like we’d be seeing more from that Titans lineup and was excited that it ended with a setup for Donna Troy as Wonder Girl. Donna Troy’s only other appearance was in the background for some group shots in this movie and she probably died off-screen. The last film in this marathon will be the Snyder League, I don’t have high expectations for it but hopefully it’ll at least be better than this.
And so we reach the end of the LEGO portion of this marathon. When I started planning this marathon I had no idea just how much of this marathon would be these LEGO movies, also because I watched them back to back in the middle of the other four movies despite being only half of the marathon it really feels like most of it.
This one was disappointing and clearly an example of a premise that would have been better suited to a short than a movie. The premise of Superman filling in for Batman in Gotham City is a good one (there’s a good episode about it in Superman: The Animated Series too) and whenever the movie actually focuses on this storyline it’s a lot of fun.
The problem is that isn’t the main focus of the movie despite being where the title comes from. Instead the focus is on Batman, Nightwing and Batgirl dealing with Bane and Deathstroke. The story itself isn’t terrible but it’s more of a Batman movie with a Justice League subplot than a Justice League movie. The especially disappointing thing is that Batman being out of Gotham is set up as him going on vacation so there really was no reason for his story to be the focus, especially after he was the main focus of the last LEGO Justice League movie. Another disappointing element is that Starfire and Beast Boy are in this (voiced by Hynden Walch and Greg Cipes too) but they don’t really do anything, also no Raven despite Tara Strong being in the movie as Harley Quinn so they could have easily had the full Teen Titans team with their voice actors from their shows.
If I was judging this as a Batman movie it’s alright (certainly better than DC Superheroes Unite which was just video game cutscenes with extra footage instead of gameplay) but as a Justice League movie it’s a waste of a good premise, just watch the Superman episode Knight Time instead. Overall these LEGO Justice League movies are fine for what they are but really don’t lend themselves well to being watched back to back, especially as the best one is the first one. So if you decide you want to do your own Justice League movie marathon maybe set things up so you always have at least one other movie between them, maybe the DC Animated Movie Universe movies so these can serve as a lighter tone after the darker nature of those movies. Speaking of the DCAMU the next movie is the final movie in that universe.
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