Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero – Review

And here we have one of the movies I’ve been looking forward to the most this year. Last time I went to see a new Dragon Ball movie I had to go to another city to see it subbed but this time my brother noticed our local Vue had subbed screenings and we went to see this together.

While I still need to watch a bunch of Dragon Ball movies this is easily one of the best ones I’ve seen up there with Battle of Gods and Super: Broly. It’s also the funniest Dragon Ball movie I’ve seen and has the best balance of nostalgia while still feeling new. The Red Ribbon Army really are the perfect villains to do this with because not only are they a classic pre-Z Dragon Ball enemy but they’re also tied to one of the Z era storylines by being behind the Androids and Cell so fans who only watched Z, GT and Super still have a connection to them. I’m also glad they’ve gotten closer to the end of the manga with an older looking Goten, Trunks and Pan (Pan is adorable in this movie btw).

I also love that this movie is focused on Gohan and Piccolo with Piccolo as the main characters whose perspective we spend the most time with. So much of Dragon Ball Super has just been the Goku and Vegeta show with the rest of the cast falling so far behind them that it’s nice to have a movie where Goku and Vegeta aren’t available giving at least Gohan and Piccolo a chance to catch up. Also as someone who reads the manga it’s great seeing Gohan wear Piccolo’s gi in the anime again and I’m looking forward to seeing this design make it to the games along with the new transformations and the Gammas (I made a Xenoverse 3 wishlist about this, though as I said there I expect these will arrive in Xenoverse 2). Speaking of the Gammas Gamma 2 is a lot of fun.

The CGI looks great, Dragon Ball has appeared in CGI form a few times thanks to video games with varying results (most of the new Fortnite skins look awkward at some angles while FighterZ is really impressive with its visuals) but this is the first time it’s been used for a whole movie and has the right balance of still feeling like 2D while also using the benefits of a 3D camera… Gohan’s new form does look off at certain angles though. If you’re a Dragon Ball fan and your local cinema is showing this I highly recommend it.

DC League of Super-Pets – Review

So recently things got pretty ridiculous over at WB. Since my last DC movie review Discovery decided to cancel a bunch of WB projects including the upcoming Batgirl and Scoob movies. So I guess now whenever I do one of these DC reviews and look at the future of the franchise any film of interest could be cancelled. It also means I lost a great opportunity for another Scooby-Doo marathon. Anyway speaking of WB, DC and dogs…

This movie was fun. A lot of the jokes are very funny and include a few neat DC references, the plot is even built around versions of Kryptonite that aren’t green which is very rare in Superman media I’ve seen. Also after how horribly Batman V Superman treated her (and Jimmy Olsen) it’s nice to see a depiction of Mercy Graves that isn’t just there to be pointlessly killed (yes, I’m still angry about that) and that they used Jessica Cruz as this film’s Green Lantern.

I’m surprised it’s taken this long to have a movie built around Krypto. This was such an obvious animated DC spin-off movie concept and I think this is an effective delivery of the premise. This is a very different take on Ace than I’m used to (especially with the main example that comes to my mind being Batman Beyond Ace) but it works as a contrast to Krypto and a lot of what makes it work is Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart have experience playing off each other in other movies.

This is one of those movies where the differences between the US and UK versions are noticeable. The corgi that Krypto talks to in the trailer has a different voice and because all the trailers used the US voice it really stands out that the voice is different compared to other films where I heard the UK voice before the US voice it replaced. There’s also references to the Great British Bake-off which I know for legal reasons is called the Great British Baking Show in the US so that also stood out. With everything happening at WB right now I don’t know if we’ll get the next two movies from Warner Animation Group or not but they also seem to be animal focused so maybe if this does well they’ll still come out.

Prey – Review

Often with newer Predator movies the problem tends to be that they don’t do anything new with the setting so you’re just seeing the Predator do the same things in the same environment. A big part of why I liked the first Alien vs Predator and Predator 2 is they actually put the Predator in a completely new scenario and a big part of the appeal of this movie to me was that they were not just mixing up the setting but the time period.

This was great, easily the best Predator movie in my opinion. While there are still scenes in the forest surrounded by trees it’s not the only environment of the film, we see a nice range of settings with their own unique things for the human characters and the Predator to interact with.

Naru has replaced Lex as my favourite Predator protagonist (though Lex is still cool). I like the way she learns about all the different details she encounters in the movie. She learns not just about the Predator but her surroundings, new weapons used by her enemies and new ways of using her existing skills. This is the first film I’ve seen Amber Midthunder in and it’s a great first impression, same goes for Dakota Beavers who plays Naru’s brother Taabe as this is his first role in a film and he has just as much of a stand out performance as her.

I really like the new Predator design and weapon selection. It really captures the feel of everything being a bit less advanced than the rest of the movies while still more advanced than humanity in the present day. Plus the skull helmet just looks cool. Now I already said this was the best Predator movie but since I count the Alien and Predator movies as one franchise how does it compare to the Alien movies?

Yep, Aliens has been surpassed. Also in the time between my review of The Predator and now I’ve only gotten more angry at that movie, way angrier than I ever was with Alien 3 or AvP Requiem. I really hope this movie has an impact on both the Alien and Predator movies and we see more settings and time periods explored. I’d love to see the Predator in the desert during a war or fighting samurai in feudal Japan, an Alien vs Predator movie in space, an Alien movie that takes place in a city. There’s so much potential for this franchise and if this movie does well maybe they’ll do something with that potential.

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie – Review

So here’s an interesting note: I haven’t seen a single episode of Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. This wasn’t out of any lack of interest but considering I still haven’t finished the 2012 series it didn’t make sense to start this one before at least finishing that one. Still I know enough about what makes it unique so these details don’t feel so out of place going in.

This was really good. After my thoughts on the other movies how this ranks next to them is going to be obvious from that statement alone but this was a lot of fun. I knew the animation was one of the biggest strengths of this series but with the amount of action sequences in this film it’s especially impressive.

This movie’s take on Krang is without a doubt the most intimidating version of the character so far, Out of the Shadows tried to make Krang seem like a serious threat but it just didn’t work because the design was so terrible. But this, this Krang really screams otherworldly horror and that also applies to the technology. Here the Technodrome is more flesh than tech instead of trying to recreate the 87 look or the Death Star and it really works as some kind of family friendly body horror, which is a phrase I was not expecting to say (though it’s not exactly a new thing). That said my favourite Krang is still Kraang Sub-Prime, but Krang One is a close second.

I also like the clear Terminator influence on the story with this version of Casey Jones being heavily influenced by Kyle Reese. Also having a John Connor style future self to live up to is a good setup for this version of Leonardo to start to grow to be more like the versions of the character most TMNT fans are familiar with. While I was able to enjoy this without seeing the show if you haven’t keep in mind a lot of this story is built around the show’s change to the dynamic.

It shouldn’t be surprise that I think this is the best TMNT movie, it’s only real competition was the two movies I’d already seen before this marathon and as fun as those movies were they both had some flaws that kept them from the top spot. It looks like there’s going to be another movie next year, in fact if it stays on schedule it should be out almost exactly one year from now. Speaking of amusing release date coincidences another movie I’ve been looking forward to came out today which is why this last review is out on time for once. Anyway it only feels right to end this marathon by saying COWABUNGA!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows – Review

And now I’ve seen all the live action movies and having already seen Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles all of the movies currently available. This has been an interesting marathon even if most of the movies haven’t been good.

Speaking of movies not being good while this is better than the first movie it’s still not a good movie, it just has more fun scenes. Unfortunately a lot of the film film’s flaw carry over to this including another awkwardly horny April scene. I think it needs to be pointed out that while people bring up Megan Fox as April as a flaw of these movies Megan Fox herself isn’t the problem with this version of April. On the subject of the cast I think Stephen Amell works well as Casey Jones but I don’t like that they made him a cop. I do think the small amount of Casey and April romance this movie had works better here than in the original live action movie though.

Most of the newer designs are much better, the only one I didn’t care for was Krang. Bebop and Rocksteady are a good balance of intimidating and goofy and while we don’t see much of it Shredder’s new suit is much better. I do like that as a change of pace it’s Leonardo that’s in conflict with the rest of the team rather than Raphael, you still have the usual Leo and Raph clash but this time the rest of the turtles are on Raph’s side.

Overall it is an improvement but still not good. Also I don’t know why they recast Karai. Minae Noji wasn’t the problem with Karai in the previous movie, being a boring terrorist commander was and outside of giving her swords they don’t really fix this problem. Now to just rewatch Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and I’ll be ready for the release of the new movie tomorrow.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) – Review

Since I didn’t review Turtles Forever the opening paragraph of this review seems like the time to bring up my thoughts. It’s a fun movie that pokes fun at the ridiculousness of the 87 show while also using them to expand on the 2003 series. I know a lot of fans of the series are annoyed at the portrayal of the 80s turtles as parodies of themselves but honestly I think it was the best way of highlighting the contrast between them and their counterparts, plus it was funny. Plus after barely having anything to do in most of these films it was nice to see a movie give extra attention to Donatello.

This movie on the other hand, this I understand the backlash for. Despite only being produced by him with a different director and writers you can see the Michael Bay influence on this film, especially during one action scene where for no reason the film decides now is the perfect time for Will Arnet’s character (and the camera) to check out April’s ass. I also didn’t care for the Foot clan being generic terrorists, especially Karai who was a waste of a character in this movie.

The other area that really screams Michael Bay is the designs. The turtles are so big they don’t really work as teenagers and their shells don’t even look like they’re part of their body but by far the worst design is the Shredder who looks like he walked out of one of Bay’s Transformers movies. The only design that wasn’t terrible was Splinter.

The cast was decent enough, every actor feels appropriately cast but most of the time they’re let down by the way their character is written. The turtles themselves are mostly alright writing-wise but Mikey’s flirting with April gets old and creepy really fast. I liked the lift scene, it would have been better with designs that weren’t awful (something we did kind-of get with this scene) but that’s the end of my positive things to say about this film. I hear the sequel is an improvement, the question is how much of one will it be?

TMNT (2007) – Review

I remember when this film was new. I never got around to seeing it but was glad there was finally an animated TMNT movie. At this point there was more media to draw inspiration from with the 2003 series meaning that there would be fans watching this movie more familiar with that show than the 87 show.

This wider range of influences really helps this film stand out compared to the previous three. In fact the movie expects you to be familiar with at least one version of the franchise by referencing that the turtles defeated the Shredder, having some has some neat visual nods to the previous movies and shows (I noticed Splinter having his 2003 outfit and the time machine from the previous film for example) and already having April and Casey as a couple so whoever your turtles were you could imagine this was them.

I said in my previous review that Raph’s arc is usually being in conflict with Leo and while that is the case again here I do think this movie handles said storyline better here than in the first two movies, especially because more attention is given to Leo’s perspective. As far as criticisms go I don’t think the designs for the turtles themselves are that good. The shade of purple for Donnie’s mask often resulted in shots where the lighting would cause me to get him and Leo mixed up and some of the facial expressions looked off.

So far this is the best movie in this marathon but not the best TMNT film I’ve seen. The last note I want to end this review on is this is one of the last films legendary voice actor Mako (best known for playing Aku in Samurai Jack and Iroh in Avatar: The Last Airbender) worked on before he died. He was a great fit for the voice of Splinter and I’m glad from this point onwards more TMNT media made an effort to cast an Asian actor to play him, especially with most of these versions of Splinter actually being Hamato Yoshi. Next up I’m rewatching Turtles Forever and then it’s time to see those other live action movies.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III – Review

So while I never watched the original trilogy before now I do remember seeing the Angry Video Game Nerd review of this movie, and he hated it despite his love for the franchise and the first two movies…

Meanwhile I think it’s the best film in the trilogy. Are there some bad jokes? Yes, but there’s bad jokes in all three movies and at least this time none of them use an ableist slur. It’s still not as good as the animated movies I’ve already seen but with such low expectations I was pleasantly surprised.

I think the best part of the movie is the arc they gave Raph. Usually his arc is “I’m sick of your rules Leo, from now on I’m on my own” but here he’s already had that arc (twice) and is instead helping a child to deal with his own temper and enjoy being a kid. It’s a really nice change of pace for the character.

I also just like seeing the turtles in Japan considering Splinter is from Japan and taught them Japanese fighting styles, I know a lot of fans would’ve wanted Krang but I doubt he’d have worked that well in live action at the time. After three live action movies in a row it’s time to take a look at some CGI.