Introduction
Ah yes, I remember Dr. Seuss and I remember it well. A story about an elephant in the jungle of Nool who we find one day splashing in a pool. He finds a spec of dust that holds a tiny world. Dr. Seuss's stories were truly excellent. I didn't know it then, but they taught me so much and this movie reminded me I need to by my little nephew some of his books. We need to brainwash him as soon as possible!
The Narrative
This movie is based on either the children's book or the animated movie of the same name. And the director, for the most part, seemed to try and capture what the book and the movie relayed. Dr. Seuss is known for his interesting rhymes by making up words and his messages. This particular story's message was about accepting people for who they are. On the surface the narrative is about Horton, an elephant, interacting with people that are too small, "the Who's", for anyone to hear, but none of the other animals believe they exist. The tiny people, ironically, don't believe that there is anything beyond their world. Horton's stand point is a "person is a person no matter how small."
In the big scheme of things, the story says that difference shouldn't be a reason to believe an individual isn't a person. People are people no matter what; is what I take from the story. This, of course, is open to other interpretation.
The critique
The movie was good overall. I enjoyed it because it rhymed in some parts, it maintained the some of political elements of the story, and it had some new things that made it funny. For instance, the narrator adds a line that the "nosy kangaroo thinks she knows better than you", how they do a Japanese Anime action sequence with Horton, or with Steve Carell as one of the voice actors you can't go wrong! And if you like Jim Carrey, then you'll love Horton! Some of the political element it maintained were the people being worried that Horton's ways were going to somehow "ruin" their society. The Wickerson brothers even talk about moving away from the forest of Nool to protect their children from Horton.
The first bad thing is I don't like Jim Carrey that much and so he ruins Horton for me. The story added way too many characters for me and that distracted from what I thought Dr. Seuss would have liked. The movie also didn't rhyme as much as the book or the animated movie, but I think that was because the director may have thought people wouldn't have liked that. Jr. Kangaroo didn't incessantly agree with his mother and her meddling like the original story and I feel this takes away from the point that children will sometimes follow their parents no matter how wrong the parent is.
The Wickerson brother's also weren't that scary, and the forest animals didn't gossip enough about Horton and show how bad people can get when they get together. While I was disappointed with the lack of music, the main thing for me was the change from Dr. Hoovey to the Mayor and the change of JoJo to a more major character. I felt the Who's not listening to the Dr. that warned them was supposed to symbolize how people ignore education. (A mayor doesn't scream the importance of education in my book). And JoJo in this movie had a bigger role, a distracting role. I watched a Youtube video of Horton Hears a Who and people were more concerned about how cute JoJo was than the message of how the words of children can save you if you just listen.
The conclusion
I'm afraid, however, that people may not remember what, I feel, Dr. Seuss wanted to convey. He was a political writer and yes some of his messages lead to some unhealthy options. In reference to the old Horton story, the people turn to Dr. Hoovey and say they'll do whatever he ask: never a good idea just to follow blindly. I, however, Dr. Seuss's point was that people will do this when they are in trouble but it's still not good.
Overall, I think the movie was enjoyable and I recommend seeing it. It is entertaining overall and you may not want a political statement when you go to the movies. If you love Dr. Seuss, then you'll enjoy this variation on one of his classics.
side note: I know I said I was going to try to be short but this movie is really important to me. I'm sorry. :(
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Horton hears a who
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Note to my readers
Hey everyone! I hope you are enjoying my post so far. I just want to take this moment to thank those who have read my blog and commented. I see their are only a few comments so I'm going to try and start being a little less long-winded. I think it's important to share and break the elements of the shows/movies I review down, but maybe I'll get more comments if I wrap things up quicker.
Thanks to all,
~Justiceforusall
Gummi Bears Movie
The Gummibears are back!
or as I first remember them: Gummibärchen
If you're old enough to think of two things when you hear the words "gummy bears," then you'll love this fake trailer! I love College Humor because their site is filled with all sorts of goodies. This time they decided to do a modern version of Disney's Gummibears! Gummibears is an old show from the 80's that aired through the early 90's. The show was inspired by the candy gummy bears but these guys weren’t candy!
The Old Cartoon
The Trailer
The trailer brings a feeling of nostalgia to those who remember it because the director plays on your memories. For instance, at one point in time the main villain proclaims “Let’s see how dashing and daring, courageous and caring you really are!” If you watched/remember the show, this statement was in the theme song. They also flash words from the theme song across the screen like a real movie trailer does for what ever the plot is, and the characters make various references to the show.
My Presumed Plot
The plots a little fuzzy, but some kids travel in the forest one day and the encounter full-size, bouncing bears. They try to tell anyone who’ll listen but of course, everyone thinks they’re crazy. Mayor Duke, a play on the main bad guy of the cartoon, has been investigating large berries in an area called Gummi Glen (place in the cartoon) and none of their scientist returned: yet somehow a recording did.
The kids discover the berries and show it to their scientist friend while Mayor Duke declares the bears a menace. The scientist friend realizes the juice from the berries could give a person super strength and the kids must act. The guy and the girl conflict because he trust the bears while she’s reluctant, but when she realizes that the Mayor has Ogres for project O.G.R.E, she decides to help. Of course there’s a love story and a final battle.
My Impression
Just for fun
Here are the old lyrics to the Gummibears song and a video of the opening theme:
Lyrics:
(verse 1) (verse 2)
Dashing and daring Magic and mystery
Courageous and caring Are part of their history
Faithful and friendly Along with the secret
With stories to share Of gummiberry juice
All through the forest Their legend is growing
They sing out in chorus They take pride in knowing
Marching along They'll fight for what's right
As their song fills the air In whatever they do
CHORUS:
Gummi Bears
Bouncing here and there and everywhere
High adventure that's beyond compare
They are the Gummi Bears
(Second time around)
They are the Gummi Bears!
Monday, March 17, 2008
Spectatular Spiderman
Spidey Returns
It appears that another incarnation of Spider-Man has appeared. This one took the name of one of the titles for the comic-book series. This title is actually from the fourth comic-book incarnation of Spiderman. There have been many before it some were animated while others were live action. This version, however, is another cartoon and it does not try to follow the comic-book title of the same name. The many incarnations of Spider-Man in the past, aside from the comic-book and movie titles, have been :
- Spider-Man 1967 (Cartoon)
- Spidey Super Stories 1974 (Live action)
- The Amazing Spiderman 1977 (Live action)
- Supaidāman 1978 (Live action and Japanese)
- Spider-Man 1981 (Cartoon)
- Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends 1981 (Cartoon)
- Spider-Man: The Animated Series 1994 (Cartoon)
- Spider-Man Unlimited 1999 (Cartoon)
- Spider-Man: The New Animated Series 2003 (Cartoon)
- The Spectacular Spider-Man 2008 (Cartoon)
The Plot: so far
The Spectacular Spider-Man starts off with Peter Parker beginning his Junior year of high school, he already has his powers, and his first villain: The Vulture. He deals with the super-villain in the traditional Spidey way, and he deals with bully's the traditional Peter Parker way: geeky. Peter Parker, a.k.a. Spider-Man, lives with his Aunt May and they are having money problems. He's friends with Gwen Stacy and Harry Osborne. Like some high schoolers, he looks at the new school year as a chance for things to be different for him but of course, they are not. He's still really smart, he's still bullied, and he still isn't popular.
He and Gwen gets an internship with Doctor Connors and finds his freind Eddie Brock working there too! Hints are dropped about an electrician named Max, and if you're familiar with Spider-Man, you know he's going to become Electro, a guy who can produce high amounts of voltage.
After the obvious happens, some modified reptile DNA gets hit by some of Electro's electricity. Doc Connors gives the impression that he's been injecting himself for awhile and hopes it'll help him grow his arm back.
Spectacularly Unique: what's different about the show
The show takes a slightly different time-line than some of the previous creations. For instance, Eddie Brock being a Jock and good friends with Peter Parker. Also, Liz Allan, Peter's crush, is in this show and I can't recall any other show where Liz was a major character. Keep in mind, however, I haven't seen every episode of all of the previous versions of Spider-Man (I haven't seen any of the Japanese version). You usually see Mary Jane Watson, Peter's future wife, but she's hasn't even made an appearance on the show yet. I'm sure, however, she'll be making one soon.
Another new spin is Doc Connors has a Robotic arm instead of his stump that you'd usually see. He lost his arm in the "War" (I'd guess WWII) in the comic books, but they don't mention how he lost it in this show. Another interesting trait in the Connors family is his wife just isn't Martha Connors. She's Dr. Martha Connors. It's unclear how much of a scientist she is in comparison to her husband, but the fact that she is a strong woman character says a lot.
It's interesting to see that the bad guys are getting new/slightly different origins and so it makes you want to watch more, just to see how things are going to turn out. Are these new origins going to change the story of Spider-Man drastically? I guess we'll have to watch and see.
Issues
If you're not familiar with the Spider-Man plot, then you may be a little confused about why he's having flashbacks. In fact, if you're not familiar with him, you won't realize that they are flashbacks. You may also not fully understand his Spidey Sense and why he doesn't consecutively use it when he's at school. In the first episode, Flash Thompson pushes Peter over and his "Spidey Sense" doesn't go off and on another episode when Thompson and some other bullies throw water balloons at him. Peter promptly dodges about three of them and then he decides he doesn't want to bring attention to himself and so he lets the water balloon.
If you know a little about the show, you'll wonder if he got his power from a radioactive spider, like the comic says, or if he got it from a genetically modified spider. Dr. Connors is a well rounded scientist but in this show he doesn't seem to be associated with radiation experiments at all and because the show doesn't tell us explicitly how Peter got his powers, we don't know whether it was radiation, genetic modification, or perhaps some other type of accident that gave Peter his powers. We just know it has something to do with a spider and he doesn't shoot webs out of his hands like the movie. Peter mentions using a web shooter but we don't get any more information about it.
Eddie Brock is also a little different in this show. He's more like an older brother figure, like in the Ultimate Marvel comic, and he and Peter are really good friends. This is a little strange since he normally is Peter Parker's rival and Spider-Man's worst enemy. The second scenario gives him, in my opinion, a decent reason for hating Peter/Spidey. If they are friends, I question what will happen when he becomes Venom. But I wont speculate about one of Spider-Man's worst super-villains. I'll just wait and see how the story develops.
Also, it's clear the modified reptile DNA, that was hit by Elector's electricity, will turn Doc Connors into the Lizard, but this makes those who know about Spider-Man confused. This means there will be another bad guy will have a new origin.
Conclusion
This show premiered March 8th, 2008 and there are many shows to come. It'll be interesting to see how this show develops and what the show decides to do with our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.
Here's a nice montage I found on Youtube of the various animated Spider-Man's of the past.
Note: doesn't include the 2008 version:
Star Ocean EX continued . . . .
My last post about Star Ocean EX gave a brief overview of the characters I experienced so far and how the story progressed. We have Claude and Rena, the two main characters, traveling through the planet Expel to find the Sorcery Globe. The show is looking and feeling a lot like the game minus the fighting. Rena is much more weak in the show than she is in the game, but Celine is more powerful in the show than she is in the game. There are also some plot changes that make the story of Star Ocean flow a little better than the game.
Show Vs Game
As the show progresses, it seems less and less like the game. The towns have become less important, as have the relationships of the characters to each other. Also, the show has introduced new characters such as Azamukiru which is a guy who will take care of Dias (Rena's childhood friend and their party's newest member: sort of). I believe it's clear that the creators want a completely separate story from the game. The characters appear to be past the city of cross yet Rena still can't fight and Claude hasn't learned any moves. In the game, the characters have learned special moves that make the battles easier. For example, Claude has an air slash move he should know by this point and Rena has press move she would know by this time (depending on how many monsters you fought). But alas, Claude isn't launching a beam of energy across the ground at his foes and Rena isn't dropping a 100 pound weight (falls from the sky) on her enemies. Although, I must say Dias (see below, guy with purplish flowing hair) has his air slash move and uses to promptly defeat Claude.
ProblemsAs the show progresses, Claude has accepted his role as the "warrior of light" but this seems strange since he has no real reason to think this. This could be, however, something lost in translation since the episodes are in Japanese. This is part of the reason why Dias fights him and wins. In the game the characters fight but they do it in a tournament (Dias still wins). This time it was in the woods. Since Dias leaves them at the end of the episode, it didn't seem necessary to even have them fight. Another thing, I've noticed is the characters never mention that they are on the planet Expel, but I know they are because I played the game. Than again, that would be like us saying Earth all the time instead of our city, state, or country. Also, the game offered more things like upgrading weapons (hasn't happened in the show yet), pickpocketing (perhaps the main character shouldn't steal), and item creation (you could make almost anything in the game with the right skills). Either way, the story is progressing nicely even though their are these minor problems.
Story so far
Things are turning out interestingly because the bad guys they are starting to introduce are new and their is more fighting, mainly done my Celine and Dias, that is until the bad guy uses "silence" on Celine (a move in most RPG's that prevents a magic character from casting). The good thing is, without Celine their to protect the party Claude has to "step up" and although he looses at first, he ends up coping the air slash move Dias used on him. I just hope Claude doesn't have to get hit to earn the rest of his moves!
side note: for those of you interested the move is called kuuhazan in the show and like the game Dias's is way stronger than Claude's
So Dias leaves his "new friends" and as they continue they meet Ashton, they guy with two dragons on this back. The strange thing is that you don't meet this character until after you've met a three eyed woman named Opera, but I wont go into it unless the show mentions her. When I played the game, I never received Opera, Ernest(her husband), or Ashton, but
according to a online walk through, you meet her first if you choose otherwise you get Ashton. The show seems to be taking the Ashton route but unlike the game, Ashton trips and falls allowing the dragons to attach themselves to his back versus it being Claude and his friends fault. It seems with more party members the show has more action. The dragons can take over Ashton's body and increase his power ten times! So this makes me wonder what will more characters bring and will we see a party of eight like the game allows you to have? Or will we just be watching Claude finish the enemies with his now patented Kuuhazan?(to be continued. . . .)
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Street Fighter: The Later Years Part Two
Update on Street Fighter: The Later Years
The previous blog left off talking about Street Fighter: The Later Years and the pros and cons of the series. I'm happy to say the final episode is out and it was done well. For those who need a refresher, this is a strictly online show that has been broadcasting over the past few months. It takes the events that happened in an old video game and treated them like real life. The series meets the characters ten years later, and has them interact with each other in hopes of reliving some of the events that occurred in the video game. The game it chose was Street Fighter II. The previous blog left it out in the open because the series wasn't complete and it could have been another game if different moves were revealed. Now that the series is over and Chun-Li hasn't revealed her kikoken (her fireball) the answer is clear. The series is full of comical moments with classical characters. Although, it can be offensive at times, but any lover of Street Fighter II or any fighting game genre buff, will find the series enjoyable.
The Final Episode
The previous episode left the viewer with a presumably dead Chun-Li, a vengeful Ken who just took out Blanka, and Ryu about to face off with a skinny E.Honda. (If you see the previous blog all these characters are explained.) The final episode follows E. Honda as he runs from Ryu until they face off on a roof-top (Ryu wears the white gi and E. Honda wears the Red one). The battle starts of with a fierce hadoken (literally translates to "Surge Fist") from both E.Honda and Ryu. The two characters are pushed back by the shock wave crated by the collision of their fireballs. After some quick blows are exchanged, Ryu shows himself as the better fighter by unleashing his shoryuken (literally translates to "rising dragon punch", an uppercut attack. This move is actually one of the most powerful attacks in a real martial arts style of Shotokan Karate, and it knocks E. Honda right out of the ring. He chases him into a dinner where there's a food fight, Sagat makes a brief appearance to help his master, E. Honda, but is quickly dispelled by Vega (who apparently has switched to the good side). Ryu corners his enemy and another rising dragon punch knocks his opponent to the roof. Ryu performs another dragon punch and flies to the rooftop. E. Honda attempted to trap Ryu by performing his hundred hand slap while Dhalsim and Zangief comes to the rescue and Ryu finishes him with the classic Hadoken!
The Good
Like always, the good guy beats the bad guy although this defeat is a little unconventional. (you have to watch it to see it) This was a good old-fashioned street fighter brawl that brings back memories to those who are familiar with it, and entertaining enough to those who have never heard of it. There is a little humor in this episode too! Ken is crying over Chun-Li's "dead" body and she promptly awakes and says: "Don't cry, you look like a little b*&#!". This could be offensive to some, but I feel the creators only meant it to be funny. Another potentially offensive scene is when E. Honda goes through a quick speech when he says "how much happier he is" since he lost the weight.
The Bad
While this was a good final episode, there were some minor issues with it. Fans may not like the fact that the shoryuken is more like a realistic uppercut versus the flying uppercut move he does in the game. The picture
on the right is of Ryu performing the shoryuken. I think the producers were running short on time too because they show us Ryu Chasing E.Honda out of the arena and it is nighttime, but in the very next frame it is daytime. You also don't get to see all of the characters that the series worked so hard to produce. It seemed like they wanted to wrap things up. The characters you primarily see are Ryu and E. Honda, all the others are seen briefly. And during the final fight, it appears that E. Honda has cornered Ryu, but in the next frame he isn't. Not sure if this was just bad cutting or if the camera was supposed to show us the characters changing position.
The conclusion
If you don't see any of the other episodes except for this one, that would be fine. The other shows are worth seeing but this episode was the most action packed. It has love, violence, explosions, and jokes. Plus the final line made by M. Bison is absolutely worth it for your true fighting gamer. He completely minimizes Ryu's victory by making a reference to the game. "Yea, Yea, why don't you try a harder difficulty level next time!"
