An interesting mix of Kingsman and Sky High with very little original content. It’s fun but neither complex or original. I called the twists way before I should have and felt disappointed rather than proud that I did.
It also suffered from excess world building, making it feel like a pilot episode rather than a movie.
Score: 0
Characters
The characters were pretty much a mixture of superhero and high school stereotypes but they were very well played. The actors made some awkward character arcs seem more believable than they should have.
Score: 0.5
Dialogue
Neither bad nor memorable, the dialogue was passable. There were a few standout moments between the kids and the narrator/teacher and a great scene between the main character and her future queen sister.
Score: 0.5
Visuals and Music
The special effects were okay, but the scenery was great. The camera angles and cinematography were good but not great.
The music was mostly pretty bland until there was someone playing on screen, then it was great. A weird mixture of styles and feels like they’d originally made this a musical and then changed their minds but couldn’t let go of some of the music.
Score: 0.5
Fun
I enjoyed myself and liked watching the characters develop, but it wasn’t gripping.
Score: 0.5
Overall
Bogged down by world building and a derivative script, the movie felt like its goal was to set up the characters and world for a TV show. Nothing about it was terrible, but it wasn’t very good. I’d watch it again for the rock music and impressive actors.
The movie adheres really closely to the original novel. I’m impressed that they were able to create a world where the book exists and then manage to follow almost exactly the same plot.
I’m impressed at the funeral scene where they spent the time to let the two male characters grieve and cry on camera. It’s not often you see men show emotions.
I like that they made the guide a woman and made her hyper competent, but I could have done without the awkward love story.
Score: 0.5
Journey 2
The movie doesn’t follow the story line of the book but that’s probably a good thing. The code breaking at the beginning and the diverse cast is awesome. I found the movie lagged a little as they traipsed around the island from one set piece to another.
The emotion in this one felt a little stilted compared to the first. The “pecs” talk was awkward until the berry part.
It’s a very linear movie without much surprise.
Score: 0.5
Characters
Journey 1
There are three characters in the movie. The dorky scientist that morphs into an action hero, the scared kid who goes on an adventure, and the beautiful and competent mountain guide with daddy issues. The movie spends very little time on any development for the characters, even forgetting the scientists awkwardness mid-movie in order to have him punching things and ripping off his sleeves. They are static but not offensive or flat.
Score: 0.5
Journey 2
The sullen kid became a sullen teen. The rest of the cast is entertaining if borderline annoying. The Rock infuses his character with enough charisma to make him likeable as does Michael Caine.
Vanessa Hudgens is great but has no real reason to fall for the charmless main hero. Luis Guzmán’s character is absolutely fantastic, funny and relatable.
Score: 0.5
Dialogue
Journey 1
The banter between the three characters ranges from dumb to entertaining. Thankfully there’s a lot more quips than awkward flirting.
Score: 0.5
Journey 2
The dialogue between the love interests is stilted and awkward, hopefully on purpose, same with the dialogue overall. Other than a few good lines it was pretty bad.
Score: 0
Visuals and Music
Journey 1
This movie was designed to be shown in 3D in the height of 3D stupidity. To the point where they added extra gags just for the effect. I hate that. The technology and special effects should always work for the story not the other way around. Despite that, the special effects were passable and the scenery was cool.
The music was utterly forgettable but not bad.
Score: 0.5
Journey 2
The special effects are enhanced and take much too much time from the meagre story. (I sound like a grumpy critic.) It’s pretty, but not great. Again, the 3D for 3D’s sake is tiresome.
The soundtrack is meh, nothing exciting. I enjoyed the songs.
Score: 0.5
Fun
Journey 1
I like the book, I liked the old movie from the 50’s, and I had fun with this one. There’s thrills and adventure throughout along with two very pretty leads. I also enjoyed how much my daughter got into the film and reacted to the young boy’s perils.
Score: 1
Journey 2
I’m not as big a fan of the books this was based on. I liked Treasure Island, hated Gulliver’s Travels, and was indifferent towards Mysterious Island. There were a lot of exciting moments but the fun was in the, rarer, character interactions.
Score: 0.5
Overall
Journey 1
This is a fun, easy, and exciting movie. Not the greatest and maybe a little forgettable but fun to watch.
Final Score: 3 Stars out of 5
Journey 2
There was too much time spent of visual gags and action set pieces when this sort of story is supposed to showcase the characters in between. The action often replaces character development instead of accelerating it.
Overall it was fun, but lacked substance.
Final Score: 2 Stars out of 5
S.M. Carrière and I discussed and reviewed Journey to the Center of the Earth from 1958 on the Night at the Round Table. Have a look here:
The story is disturbingly faithful to the original; as with all Muppet movies they add mostly flavour and silliness to the mix.
Score: 0.5
Characters
Other than the Muppets, we have two main human characters. The innocent, daddy issue laden Jim; and the devilishly handsome Long John Silver. Both are portrayed with nuance and depth that is impressive. The Muppets themselves do a great job as well, but the nature of the story and the lack of time between gags means the characters feel less fleshed out than they should.
Score: 0.5
Dialogue
The Muppets almost never disappoint when it comes to quippy, quotable, and cute dialogue. This was no exception.
Score: 1
Visuals and Music
This was a beautiful movie and the ship scenes set my childhood brain’s idea of pirate ships. The music was definitely an influence on future pirate movies. The songs however fell a little flat. Tim Curry is a fantastic singer and they definitely underused him and the actor who played Jim had a nasally falsetto that irked me. The rest of the songs were forgettable with the exception of Cabin Fever.
Score: 0.5
Fun
The majority of the time the Muppets deliver on fun. This is no exception. It had my daughter glued to the screen and me laughing most of the way.
Score: 1
Overall
This is one of my favourite Muppet movies and I enjoyed rewatching it. It’s nice watching a movie you loved as a kid and finding out it doesn’t suck.
If you want a fun watch with pirates and Muppets, this is your choice.
This story is dated in so many ways but still manages to be fantastic at the end. I’m torn between the poor pacing, homophobia, and sexism; and the fantastic message of love and peace.
Score: 0.5
Bogus Journey
The same message resounds through the second movie as in the first, but again there’s more sexism, homophobia, and transphobia to make things awkward. Again the ending is fantastic.
Score: 0.5
Face the Music
The same message of unity and love are sown throughout this movie like the others but with a little more maturity. The twist is predictable but getting there wasn’t. There was none of the previous movies’ sexism, homophobia, or transphobia, but there was a little bit of an awkward fat joke. (nothing compared to Avengers Endgame)
Score: 0.5
Characters
Excellent Adventure
Bill and Ted are well meaning, mostly kind, but so foolish. They have fantastic vocabularies but they really don’t seem to follow everything going on. They are the personification of the slacker. There was an extremely homophobic joke that was out of character and pretty jarring.
The rest of the characters are a wonderful mix of what-if historical characters showed up in 1988.
Unfortunately the women are all pretty useless.
Score: 0.5
Bogus Journey
Once again we get Bill and Ted as sweet, mostly, caring, and pretty fools. They graduated high school and got jobs at the mall.
The evil people are all very much evil and totalitarian. It’s an interesting switch to see the rebels be the ones who want to be controlled.
Score: 0.5
Face the Music
This is the saddest and the most relatable version of Bill and Ted. They are broken by the weight of their own destiny but still trying anyway.
The introduction of the daughters was great. They are the generation that grew up with music-obsessed slackers. They were both believable and perfect. Both actors managed to mimic the original Bill and Ted’s movements and mannerisms better than the original actors did.
I’m happy they gave the princesses both more story and more screen time.
Score: 1
Dialogue
Excellent Adventure
The dialogue is actually impressively clever. They bypass time travel confusion really well and do really well with making their characters sound unique. It’s endlessly quotable in the way only 80’s movies can be.
Score: 0.5
Bogus Journey
Station! The dialogue doesn’t seem quite as special the second time, but there are some fantastic lines. The time travel battle at the end and speech is fantastic.
Score: 0.5
Face the Music
It’s hard to judge the dialogue of this one compared to the others. It’s a lot of self-referential jokes and quips but there’s some interesting bit in there too. I like the consistency in speech patterns and then impressive impersonations of famous musicians.
Score: 0.5
Visuals and Music
Excellent Adventure
The production value on this was fantastic, making each time period look authentic (in an 80’s high school curriculum sort of way).
The music was perfect for the movie and really enjoyable.
Score: 1
Bogus Journey
The nature of them going to hell and heaven make so that everything in this movie is more stylized and a little darker.
The music was okay but not excellent.
Score: 0.5
Face the Music
The special effects were updated and beautiful, the makeup work was fantastic, and everything worked towards the story. The locations were authentic and the shots were well thought out.
The nature of the final twist means that the music is less important than the message, but despite that there’s some fantastic pieces. Especially between the historical figures.
Score: 1
Fun
Excellent Adventure
Despite a little cringe and a few really awkward moments the movie is pure fun.
Score: 1
Bogus Journey
There’s some cringe and a few parts that I think drag but overall the movie is a lot of fun.
Score: 1
Face the Music
For both nostalgic reasons and because it was well written with little to no cringe, this was a lot of fun. It kept the entire family entertained and watching.
Score: 1
Overall
Excellent Adventure
The movie is dated but still really heartwarming. They really want to push the love and peace message and like Bill and Ted themselves they stumble a few times along the way.
FinalScore: 3.5 Stars out of 5
Bogus Journey
Like the first movie, it is dated but overall positive. It manages to capture the optimism of the first despite the darker tone.
Final Score: 3 Stars out of 5
Face the Music
The movie manages to pay homage to the first two while surpassing them in fun and quality. Definitely my favourite of the series.
This movie simplifies everything about high school and condenses it into a plot that is much less stressful then the real thing. The loves story, which could have been super annoying, is played low key and the focus is really on expressing yourself through multiple likes and dislikes.
It’s simple and works well to get the message and the music through.
Score: 0.5
Characters
The characters are desperately trying to not be two dimensional in a one dimensional world. There’s growth and even the main characters that could have been bland were endearing.
They are cleverly built and work perfectly for the movie.
Score: 1
Dialogue
There’s nothing fantastic about the dialogue, but there are a few moments of tenderness between the love interests that is both sweet and genuine.
Score: 0.5
Visuals and Music
This is one of the most lavish high schools I’ve ever seen; it’s beautiful in it’s own right. Add in the singing and dancing and it works really well. I’ve always wondered why they have a camel for this musical. The music is poppy and very mid-2000’s but it has heart and is used to push the story forward.
The character framing for the love interests is always perfect, both reflecting their feelings and in showing them vs the world.
Score: 1
Fun
Despite never wanting to be in the same situation, I love the meet-cute at the beginning and the overall feel of the romance.
I despise the teachers and the complete lack of understanding of theatre and science. I also really dislike the “character says something to shut up friends that is mean and gets them in trouble with the love interest” trope.
I’m also extremely amused that this has one of the most realistic portrayals of computer hacking. (The science girl uses a preset macro program to shut the gym down.)
Score: 0.5
Overall
This is a fun movie that reminds me of high school while not looking anything like my high school. The music and story are fun and overall it’s pretty good.
I do wish that the character of Kelsi was more used, or that she got a spinoff.
The story was very well crafted to appeal to both old and new fans. It’s set in the middle-ish of the series and managed to balance character growth without affecting continuity. The humour is the wonderful mix of absurd and heartwarming that we come to expect from Phineas and Ferb. For a movie that has “Against the Universe” in the title, it didn’t feel quite as epic as it could have, more like a really long episode.
Score: 0.5
Characters
These are all the stock P&F characters – there’s little really new. I enjoyed the Isabella vs Doof and the development for Candace is pretty good, but being stuck in the middle means nothing too big or important could happen. (They can’t really wipe their memory again.)
Score: 0.5
Dialogue
This is the distilled power of writers who know their characters and world extremely well, but haven’t lost the love of them. The jokes are sharp and quick. There’s a lot to love from a canoe, to the absurd idea that the aliens explode, to a specific funny noise.
Score: 1
Visuals and music
Beautifully animated, if in a simple style, and fantastic music. The animators know how to use camera angles better than most directors.
The songs are peak P&F and absolutely awesome.
Score: 1
Fun
This series has been around for 13 years and the writers have only improved. It’s a fitting continuation to the show. I laughed and my daughter was glued to the screen.
Score: 1
Overall
A wonderful movie for old fans and great introduction to the show. It’s fun and funny, worth seeing but doesn’t really add anything new.
I’ve seen this movie a lot. It’s one of my feel good movies. It’s easy to dismiss this movie because it’s such a happy, and a little silly, story. It has a surprising amount to say about racism and colonialism. The aliens don’t even consider humans intelligent, Stitch is treated as a monster simply for existing, and you have to wonder if a white girl trying to take care of her sister would have as much trouble and scrutiny as Nani does.
It does a great job of showing off the problems in the child protective services system and the mindset that people are what they were born.
There’s also a lot in this about found family, sibling love, deciding who you are, and loving people for who they are.
Score: 1
Characters
Lilo never mocks anyone (except Nani). She genuinely seems to love those around her, even those that treat her terribly. She is a believable kid in pain. There’s a lot of talk that she is coded as autistic but I can’t speak to that.
Nani makes me think of my older brother and I can’t imagine the stress and pain she’s going through.
Stitch is sassy, adorable, and more relatable then you’d expect. He’s also cute and fluffy.
The rest of the characters are both surprising and fascinating in their own way.
Score: 1
Dialogue
This movie is quoted a lot in our family. It’s heartfelt and funny.
If I ever get a fish, I’m calling it Pudge.
Score: 1
Visuals and Music
The movie is a stunning example of 2D animation. The rich landscapes of Hawaii along with the colourful aliens works so well. The plane chase sequence at the end is fantastic considering they had to remake it due to 9/11.
The music is fabulous and the use of Elvis is both jarring and perfect at the same time.
Score: 1
Fun
This movie doesn’t let you get bored. The placement of scenes is such that you get enough time to feel the emotion, but not enough to get bored. It’s a great use of emotion in scenes.
The overall feel of the movie is hopeful and happy.
Score: 1
Overall
This is a classic movie that is just overall a lot of fun. If I could only take 10 movies with me to re-watch forever this would absolutely make the list.
Overall Score: 5* Stars
*A 5 star review doesn’t mean the movie was perfect nor that it is perfect for everyone but it is a movie I believe is as close to perfect as possible.
It’s rare to get a good buddy comedy where the two main characters are good friends and work well together. A lot of films concentrate on the building of that friendship instead of what happens after.
The story isn’t groundbreaking, but it’s well paced and has some interesting things to think about. I like that they mixed up cultures to make it a unique place that can’t be tied to one group of people.
I was not impressed with the angst between the main characters; it felt forced and overdone.
Score: 0.5
Characters
It was all very simple stock characters but the dynamic between the main two is superb. I would have expected that adding the girl would destroy the dynamic but instead it added a new dimension that worked.
The bad guy is a walking fantasy stereotype and not all that interesting. Same with Cortes.
The chief played being the dumb fat leader and ended up being the smart wise leader. In both roles he was always kind which makes me happy.
Score: 1
Dialogue
There are so many quotable parts of this movie. Wonderful dialogue and quips. It’s the gold standard for this sort of movie along with Emperor’s New Groove.
Score: 1
Visuals and Music
This was a stunningly animated movie. Beautiful scenery, action, and detail.
The music was okay. It felt very bland and a little overly similar. I kept wondering why I thought of the Lion King. Beyond Elton John (who is always fantastic) it was a very derivative score.
Score: 0.5
Fun
The movie made me want more. Two kind hearted grifters trying to make a score and quipping the whole way. Lots of laughs and lot of beautiful scenery.
Score: 1
Overall
The movie is fun, non-offensive (except maybe a few sex jokes), and keeps you entertained the whole time. It’s something I’d re-watch without hesitation. The dynamic between the three mains is something I hope to be able to emulate in some of my own writing.
Today we’re talking about the 2020 film Feel the Beat.
Story
Other than a few little surprises this movie is a sports comeback by the numbers. If you know the type of movie, you’ll know what happens. There’s some fun dances along the way and a few good cheese jokes.
The script could have been tighter. There was a character arc that seemed to be completely forgotten after set-up and a few missed opportunities for inspiring the main character to have fun with dance. Both of which could have been fixed with short scenes.
There was one scene that was completely unnecessary and felt forced where the dads get into a fight with the rivals dads. It felt like the film equivalent of saying the toxic, “Yes, they like dance and are supportive, but they’re not gay.”
Watching this with a family that has danced informed me that the fact that the characters came up with new dances for each stage of the competition is unrealistic. I understand why they did it but it’s a little grating to have it treated like a series of concerts instead of dance.
Score: 0
Characters
The main character is utterly despicable to start and slowly gets better. The kids are pathetic and useless but slowly get better. The dad does the dad thing really well. And the gay best friend is fabulous. Oh and the love interest is pretty and pining.
All these characters we’ve seen before. They’re comfortable to the point of being boring. Thankfully the attention they missed in tightening the story was spent in making the characters feel like they had their own lives, motivations, and interests. No one was a cardboard cut-out and the actors brought a warmth to even the blandest character.
I was impressed that even though the main character was a jerk, she never mocked anyone’s appearance, disability, or ethnicity. The diversity in the dancers was great and motivated the characters. It was nice to see a dancer who was deaf and treated the same as the others.
The dance dads in the movie were extra awesome and other than the dumb fight, I like how accepting and supportive they were. Same with the town.
Score: 1
Dialogue
Ranging from cringe-y cheesy to sweet and funny. The movie dialogue was best when it wasn’t trying to be sappy or important.
Score: 0.5
Visuals and Music
There were some fantastic scenes outdoors and the dances were shot really well. It’s always impressive to me how Toronto can look like Wisconsin and New York at the same time.
The music was ok. The pieces chosen for the dances were fun and not overdone.
Score: 0.5
Fun
Once we were over the part where the main character is a total dick, I started to enjoy myself. I had told my family they could stop it if they were bored or annoyed but I think I would have had a mini riot if I had stopped it.
Watching it with dancers and a 3 year old was a good choice. They enjoyed it and there was an impromptu ballet class after.
Score: 1
Overall
The story isn’t anything new, the characters are fun, and the rest was enjoyable. If you like sports movies or love dance you’ll enjoy this one.
The movie was a fun adventure with a lot of the fun of traditional Scooby-Doo stories but completely lacks in the mystery department. There’s not question as to who the villain is after the first ten minutes.
Score: 0.5
Characters
This had a lot of the 70’s Hanna-Barbera characters. Some felt like great additions to the story like Dee-Dee Skyes as the Blue Falcon’s pilot (she was awesome), others felt a little forced like Captain-Caveman.
The main five characters were all there and shown in much better light than previous movies. They were extremely well cast and well acted. The major problem was that by splitting the group up immediately there was less character interactions between them. It also meant that Fred, Velma, and Daphne all have less screen time and almost no arc.
Score: 0.5
Dialogue
Scooby-Doo usually contains puns, self-referential humour, and breaking of the 4th wall. This movie didn’t disappoint in that. It was great hearing all the little jokes and will take multiple viewings to catch them all.
Score: 1
Visuals and Music
The animation was colourful and flashy. It lacked the depth of the older animations or of the big 3D animation studios. I was never caught up in the beauty or in the little background details. The background details being something that I’ve always loved about Scooby-Doo.
The music was good but not memorable. It did its job but didn’t go beyond that.
Score: 0.5
Fun
There were very few dull moments and the movie was entertaining. I enjoyed what was there but missed what wasn’t. It kept my interest and my daughter’s the whole time and even my 1 year old watched it for a while.
Score: 1
Overall
This had all the elements of Scooby-Doo but lacked the mystery and the background details to make it truly authentic. It was a fun movie but lacked depth.
I hope they can make a second movie with the same cast and truly dive into a good mystery.
Alternately I’d love to see a young Mystery Inc. movie.
