Movie Review: Wicked Part One

 I watched the movie "Wicked Part One" and here are my thoughts:

First: Getting the movie. We are not in a stage of life that allows movie theatres so we looked to rent. It was rather confusing to rent from Amazon, but we figured it out and used some digital credits that added up nicely. We had 48hrs to watch it, and amazingly the kids went to bed quickly and stayed there for the length of the movie and a bit longer so we were able to just sit down and watch all three hours at once like it was meant to be. 

Spoiler-free review: Let's just say - I liked it all. But actually not every little trait however small. Let me start out by saying I like the Broadway show so I was set up to like this movie. The costumes, the set pieces, the acting, the singing - all great! I was confused by the lower half of the Shiz uniforms - was it a unisex skort? I couldn't tell but it confused me. The main actors were exempt from the uniform so that means it was hard to get a long look at it which also means I didn't stay confused long as we just moved on. I liked how different Elphaba's actress's voice was from the Broadway actress's voice - both are amazing but in their own different ways. There were a lot of emotions clearly emoted by all, and the many nods back to the 1939 movie and the Broadway play were a treat to spot. The actors were chosen not just for their looks but also for their singing voices and it worked beautifully in my opinion. 

Kid-friendliness: per IMDB, this movie is Rated PG for some scary action, thematic material and brief suggestive material. I stand by my decision to not let my kids watch as they are in the Y7 category (some G is too strong for them - they don't handle "mild peril" well). I think the film was rather tame until they meet the wizard (the final act of the movie as it ends at the intermission break of the musical). There was a bit more than "mild peril" at that point with POSSIBLE SPOILERS HERE (but really the play came out in 2003 so I feel you should know the plot by now) Elphaba reading from the magic book - it felt very witchy (which shouldn't be a surprise in a movie about witches but really more charlatans than witches). The flying monkey scene was rather grotesque body horror, then the guards closing in on our protagonists was very perilous and I'm unsure why this part didn't warrant a higher rating than PG. Yes there was no blood but there was... all that... going on. SPOILERS HERE for "all that": the wings bursting out of the monkeys backs, the monkeys then attacking E&G, the guards chasing E&G, the whole hot air balloon part with people falling from it and it all catching on fire. It was just a lot, and very different than the rest of the movie which definitely had darker undertones but they were undertones in a peppy musical. 

Random thoughts: I feel like this movie was billed as "Wicked" not "Wicked Part One" and I've very glad someone enlightened me that it was only half the musical or I would have been confused at the pacing then disappointed at the ending. I was unsure how it was going to stretch a Broadway musical (2.5hrs) into two movies, the first of which was 3hrs. But they did it well! Lots of camera angles, side conversations, and the like were able to fluff it out without seemed forced. 

Double Review: Camp Cretaceous and Multiverse of Madness

 I'm doing two reviews today so let's start with the child-friendly one: 

Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous.

Summary: I liked it until the final season. If you have seen all six Jurassic Park/World movies, you'll probably like this five-season Netflix series. They do not really break any new ground here. It's dinosaurs, more dinosaurs, and children. The kids want to save the dinosaurs, while the dinosaurs want to eat or stampede the children. The adults are about as helpful as the ones in A Series of Unfortunate Events, which is to say they are either evil or incompetent. 

Pros: Dinosaurs! Fairly predictable plot! More dinosaurs! Likeable characters in the main cast of six camp kids. 

Cons: Fairly predictable plot. Kinda scary dinosaur attacks, especially for the young age group this is aimed at (people totally get eaten, not on screen but you see the person and the dinosaur jaws and the camera cuts away with a scream so yeah). But the biggest negative: Romance :( I am not a fan of any children's series pairing up their pre-teens (how old are these kids? I am not sure. But they are not college aged, so that is too young for romance in my opinion). From the beginning there is a popular rich guy and a shallow blogger girl and you just know they're gonna be paired up. But in the final season the production team decided to pair up both a hetero couple and a homo couple and I feel strongly that they should have just left it all as friends. This show could have just been about pre-teens bonding over dinosaurs and crazy escape attempts and it would have been great.

Summary Restated: I recommend the first four seasons but can't recommend the fifth (final) season. 

Next, a movie:

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Summary: Did not like. Would not watch again. Why? Because it was super duper creepy, horror movie style. If horror movies are your thing, maybe you will like it. But it heavily (in my opinion) relies on earlier movies in the MCU (as most in the MCU do at this point), and it influences future movies I'm pretty sure, so you need to be a MCU fan and a horror movie fan. 

Pros: Can't think of any, other than continuing a few stories in the MCU (namely those of Doctor Strange, Scarlett Witch, and a new hero).

Cons: Super duper creepy. Dark magic, zombies, possession, demons, disgusting violence that I didn't watch because they telegraphed what was going to happen so I could disengage until my husband signaled that the gross part was over. I'm glad I didn't watch this one in theaters because I used my phone to escape from the creepiness and grossness of several portions. 

Slight spoilers here: "I am not a monster" says the character who is murdering heroes so she can kidnap a child to sacrifice so she can steal children from a loving home. 

Summary Restated: If horror movies aren't your thing, just get the Spark Notes / Wikipedia summary and enjoy the next MCU movie (not sure what that will be).

Double Movie Review: Luca and Raya and the Last Dragon

Recently we have been seeing what there is to see on our streaming apps. For both of these movies being reviewed, we used Disney Plus (which we got for free when we signed up with our internet provider last year). Here are my thoughts on these two movies:

Summary: I liked Luca but wasn't blown away. I wanted to like Raya and the Last Dragon but did not. 

Reviews:

First up, let's tackle Luca and I'll keep it spoiler-free.
The animation was just what you'd expect from a Disney/Pixar, which is to say it looked excellent with the color palettes and the character designs. I liked the story, no overly scary parts but it was nothing ground-breaking. It was mostly predictable with a few minor twists. Didn't notice any crude humor or youth romance (there could be something between the male lead and female lead but it could easily be read as just friendship like Harry and Hermione from Harry Potter). I don't think there was anything overly scary (the species is called 'sea monsters' but they seem more akin to merpeople and also they call humans 'land monsters' which is kinda cute). There was one character (Uncle Ugo) that I thought looked creepy (he's played off as just odd but I could see getting nightmares from him if I was a small child). I liked the character of Giulia's father - I think he was very well done. All in all, I give it a solid 4 stars out of five - great for a family-friendly movie night, I recommend it and would watch it again. ★★★★☆

Now for Raya and the Last Dragon, again keeping it spoiler-free.
The animation was nice, and the over-all plot was compelling. There were some twists and it kept me engaged throughout the film. I really wanted to like it - there were dragons! Dragons are cool! On that note, why are dragons now fluffy like Elliot in the remake of Pete's Dragon? Is is just for merchandizing? I think it makes them look cute but they aren't very lizard-like. However, I felt the movie as a whole was very militaristic and there was just a lot of fighting for being a children's film. This is a minor point, but I really don't like the font they picked for the title - I keep reading it as Rava instead of Raya. As far as the plot, they has some unexpected parts and I think they came together nicely. I liked the character of Tong - they did a good job in creating an unexpectedly kind character - but he was arguably the only character that I liked. Most of them were annoying, unpleasant, and/or selfish. The reoccurring theme of trust is a good theme and there is a lack of romance (I see that as a good thing in most movies but especially children's ones - there is no need to be pairing off the lead female with whomever), but the film was saturated with violence and there was some crude humor (highlight here to see one example: a character wielding an battle axe is described with the term "bad-axery"). All in all, I give it maybe a two out of five stars - would not watch again, would not recommend. ★★☆☆☆

"Now Lauren," you might say, "how can you be a fan of Mulan but not Raya?" Well, let me tell you - Mulan is an example of a warrior who, while becoming very skilled at war, has the greater skill of creative problem-solving. She uses her brains to figure out how to climb the impossible pole, to orchestrate the avalanche, and to disarm the villain in the final boss battle (using her fan rather than her sword). And that's just three examples off the top of my head - I'm sure there are more. "But Lauren," you say, "I don't remember any of those scenes from the 2020 Mulan movie!" You would be correct, I am not a fan of the remake for many reasons but one major one is the removal or deemphasis on her brains and the emphasis on whatever chi is (seems like a super-power that she barely has to hone). In stark contrast to 1998's Mulan, Raya's main skill is her fighting. She uses her sword skillfully but that seems to be her main characteristic - she knows how to fight and she sees fighting as the main option in any confrontation. Most of the other characters in RatLD are the same - fighting is the main response. 

I could give a more detailed review which would involve spoilers for the film, but I didn't like the film overall so I don't wish to delve further into it. If you like the film, then I'm glad it brought you some joy and you were able to get a positive experience in something that was not wholly positive for me. 

Movie Review: Wonder Woman 1984

Some movie theaters are finally open! Some movies that have languished for a year or so are finally seeing the light of day! Check your local listings to see if any near you are open, and consider doing a dinner and a movie (or breakfast and a movie) to get back a bit of normalcy not seen since 2019 or so.

My brother-in-law mentioned going to see Wonder Woman 1984 (sequel to Wonder Woman, released in 2017) and that clued me in that there's a local theater that is open. We went to see it on MLK Jr. Day and here's my review:

No spoilers: This is a sequel and as is common with those, I feel it did not live up to the full potential of the original (granted, I REALLY liked the first one, see my review here, so it was a high bar to measure against). It was a good movie, but I saw some flaws. Mainly I feel it lacked cohesiveness - I think it stayed in the editing phase for too long. Looking it up, I think the release was only delayed from November to December, but the last phase of production probably took longer due to CoVid delays. The movie had a good central theme (truth triumphing over lies) but there was a point in the movie where I leaned over to my husband and asked 'what is going on?' because I was not following. I feel there was too much of a delay between introducing a plot device and explaining said plot device which allowed for confusion to set in. There were a few points in the movie where I was confused and that, I did not like. Some of the scenes didn't really connect to each other, and it just didn't flow at points. 

Overall, my rating is: it was ok. Not amazing and not bad, just ok. I'm glad I saw it, and I would recommend seeing it. 

A main character in the movie is Pedro Pascal, and he also plays the main character in the Mandalorian. I am amazed that he played both of these characters because they are TOTALLY DIFFERENT and he did an excellent job with both. He has done other things too but I know him from these two places.

Note: this is a given for all movies but especially superhero ones, STAY FOR THE CREDITS! Those people worked hard and you should sit there and read their names. And there's a cool scene which was just awesome. But support all the workers and read the many names that go into making such a big movie!

Movie Review: Abominable

Last week we did a movie night and watched Abominable. I had kinda high expectations because the animation style looked great and clearly a violin played (haha) an important part. I was NOT disappointed! I give it like a 4 out of 5 stars, ★★★★☆, maybe even 4.5. It was super cute, didn't have super scary parts (yes it's a kids movie but sometimes they have random scary parts), had some funny stuff that was not in the trailers, and had a decent plot! Way more than one usually expects from a kids movie.
It is by Dreamworks, and surprisingly didn't have crude/adult humor! It was overall a sweet movie about family and being together. AND there was a female lead with a male counterpart and there was NO romance! They didn't end up together! You'd think there'd be more kids movies without major romance threads.
The female lead plays the violin and it's actually a plot point and I hope kids are impressed by the classical music and desire to play!

Some spoilers ahead.

There is a creature called the Whooping Snake and he is totally cute, harmless, and hilarious. He says "whooOOP" when he pops up, and he does it a few times kinda unexpectedly throughout the movie. ALSO wait for the credits. A story in pictures is told. It's cute, UNEXPECTED, then a happy ending.
The henchmen are great. One is named Dave. He gets darted, makes a joke that they probably paid really good money to make (it involves the Whooping Snake and Tag Team song). Another henchman, when handing a suitcase of money to a witness, says "It's-a-bribe" and that has been quoted several times in my household.

Spoilers ahead.

There is a big plot twist about halfway or more through the movie in which the true villain is revealed and for once it isn't the crotchety rich old man! Truly was a stunning twist.
There is a scary scene near the end (at the climax) where the bad guys have the kids surrounded and the yeti gets tranquilized and someone falls off a bridge (but there's a rope to hold on to) and that was probably the scariest part but it's the climax so you have to have unfortunate things happen. 

All in all, I could watch it again. The art style, the humor, the plot, all worked well together.

Double Movie Review: The Nutcracker and the Four Realms and A Wrinkle in Time

Recently (i.e. yesterday which was a holiday) Mark and I watched two movies from Redbox and they were nice one-time in-your-home viewing experiences.

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms:
This one looked nice and if you didn't pay attention too closely, that plot twist could probably surprise you. Sadly, this one hits that bad zone where it's plot and theme are aimed at children but then it throws in some scary stuff that makes it ineligible for most kids (creepy carnival with a mass of mice that swarm into a bear-shaped monster, for example). Reminds me of the Straight No Chaser song "Christmas Can-Can" which mentions "that mouse-king thing freaks me out *scream*". The visuals were nice, the acting was good, and the outfits were great. It wasn't a bad viewing experience, However, I was glad we didn't have any little nieces or nephews watching, and I am fine with never seeing it again.

A Wrinkle in Time:
This one has been out for a bit and I admit, I've never read the book. I rented the audio-book but then we didn't get around to listening to it so it went back to the library. So I came into this one not knowing what to expect other than it's a classic and many people like the book. Apparently the movie strays far from the book. It was a bright visual experience but again, it's aimed at kids but there is a rather scary part where the little brother basically gets possessed by evil (bright red eyes, red lines spreading across his face). It has some good points, about the importance of love and being kind to other people even when they're mean to you. I think it was fairly good acting. But I didn't understand a lot of why/how things were going on. I don't think I'll watch this again but I am interested in getting the audio-book again and actually listening to it this time. Might been good for your pre-teens or teens, to show the importance of kindness and not assuming you know someone's backstory.

Movie Review: Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker

Star Wars Episode IX has arrived and let me tell you, I was fairly excited about it but didn't want to get my hopes up too much since there is so much division going on and I didn't want to be disappointed.
I was not disappointed. I liked it ALOT! I was sitting there with my husband; while he was all calm, I was SUPER excited and it just kept getting better in my opinion.

Here's where the spoilers start so if you for some reason are reading a movie review but don't want plot points revealed, then back out now.

So let's start with the scary - I admit I had to close my eyes during the sorta strobe light scene with the Emperor because (1) the lighting was messing with my eyes and (2) it was kinda scary. They did a good job of being spooky. I didn't like it but I'm pretty sure that's how I was suppose to feel - he's a bad guy and he's not in good shape (because he's bad). Ian McDiarmid did a great job of consistently portraying a creepy evil person through all three trilogies of the Star Wars franchise.

Then we move on, sadly, to what I didn't like. There were two kisses and I didn't like either of them but I ended up being fine with one of them because someone immediately died (that should make it pretty obvious what scene I'm talking about). The other kiss was purely to get the LGBQ check mark and seemed out of place. I prefer my sci-fi without romance, just let a group of friends save the galaxy and maybe redeem a villain. No need for pairing up.

Now we get to what I did like - basically all the rest of the movie. I liked the decisions they made, the dialogue, and the plot. I'm especially happy that Chewie didn't die. He died in the Expanded Universe which is now not canon and I feared for his safety in each movie (until one of the Original Trio died and then I'm thinking they wouldn't kill Han/Luke/Leia AND Chewie in the same movie so he should be safe for now).
Just like in The Last Jedi, I really like fight scenes with two lightsaber users working together vs. whomever. I might just look up the fight scene from The Last Jedi to remember how excellent it was.
I liked the usage of old footage of Leia and Luke, showing that she had made a lightsaber, getting to use the lightsaber, and really how they were able to still have Leia be a central figure and not make it very obvious that it was all recycled footage (you could tell if you knew but they did a good job with what they could do).
The dialogue between Poe and Finn was great, the constant banter, the respect between them, and how they stuck together to help Rey every step of the way.
I liked Ben's redemption arc. I think they did the right thing with him sacrificing himself.
I really liked all the throwbacks - Red 5, ewoks, older fighter pilots who were definitely in the original trilogy or production crew, so many references all around. The decrepit throne room! The remains from the old war! They did a good job.

All in all, I would recommend this movie for Star Wars fans (obviously, since it's a capstone film, you're gonna be lost hopping into Episode IX without knowing I-VIII). I want to see it again once it's in Redbox.

Double Movie Review: Thor 3 and Justice League

Ok, so this review will have spoilers. I will do a super short summary where I will keep out the spoilers, then a full review where there could be some minor spoilers.

Super short with no spoilers: both are PG-13 and I would not recommend for any kids (quite a bit of violence and a little bit of language), but both get positive reviews from me for the age-appropriate audience. I'm not liking the Marvel trend of crude butt humor. I'm not a fan of romance and neither of these movies had much of that, so that was nice. I like light-hearted characters and both movies had these. I went in with too high of hopes for Thor and too low of hopes for Justice League.



Review:
Thor 3: I went in with high hopes for this one - it's Marvel; it's not GotG; it's classic characters Thor and Hulk and Loki. I was a little disappointed but overall still give this one a positive review. The negative is that Disney/Marvel is really on the butt humor trend that GotG2 started but thankfully was not nearly as crude (still kinda crude though). The positive is that it has some good humorous points, there is no romance, and Thor is just a really optimistic character.

Justice League: I went in with low hopes for this one - BvS really dampened my hopes for a DC movie and I just didn't see this matching up to WW. The good news is, they stayed off the crude humor trend, there is minimal romance, and added some really optimistic characters (Aquaman and Flash) which strayed away from the dark doom and gloom of MoS and BvS. I give this one a positive review. The scene with Aquaman and the lasso of truth was hilarious.

Triple Super Movies Review - Wonder Woman, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Spider-Man Homecoming

This summer there were a few major superhero movies that came out, and I watched them, and now I'll let you know how I feel about them.
Note - all three of these are rated PG-13, so when I say I recommend it, I mean for people 13 and older. Ratings are there for a reason. None of these are children's movies.

Here's the spoiler-free reviews:
Wonder Woman - Good! I liked it a lot.
Guardians of the Galaxy 2 - Terrible, do not recommend at all. Just don't. If you have serious FOMO, look up the IMDB summary to get the plot overview.
Spider-Man: Homecoming - Good, with caveats.

And here's the full reviews (may contain light spoilers as it's hard to talk about something without talking about it):
Wonder-Woman - I liked this a lot. It did not glorify violence in my opinion - it showed you can be ready to fight without being eager to fight. It showed that love is greater than hate. I liked how it portrayed WWI, especially since most of history wants to just ignore WWI. I highly recommend it. Granted, it is rated PG-13 so there is some objectionable material and violence (as it is WWI) but I liked most of the characters and the line between good and evil was clearly drawn.

Guardians of the Galaxy 2 - Terrible. I did not like it at all. I do not recommend it at all. I felt embarrassed in the movie theater, actually felt like there was a mix-up because the movie was so crass and objectionable that it could not be a MCU and Disney venture. I feel it should have been rated R, especially with all the terms they used for male anatomy. The trailers were completely misleading, showing a cute baby Groot dancing around rather than the violent, foul scenes that filled the movie. There was disturbing imagery during the pirate mutiny. The main characters are not good people and the secondary characters were clearly bad people, but the movie tried to make you like them? It seems that the producer was under the impression that the end justified the means; since the characters did something good then that negates the murderous, violent, angry things they've done and will keep doing. The plot was thin at best and character development was very minimal. Crude jokes were thrown all over the place and seemed like the child that keeps saying the same thing over and over and hoping you finally laugh? There was not much redeemable in this feature. The teenage Groot scene in the credits was funny? That's about it. And I'm pretty sure I've seen that scene online so yeah.

Spider-Man: Homecoming - I liked this, but there was a lot of juvenile behavior and language. Granted, it is set in high school so that is expected (sadly). I think it showed that kids need strong adults in their life who they can confide in and trust. The main characters were likable, Captain America is my favorite, and the plot was interesting. The main character had awesome (punderful) shirts from a company that I also frequent, so that was cool. Stay for the final scene at the very end of the credits. Overall, I would watch it again. But it would be nice to have a language filter (especially if you want to watch this with your parents) (why must people use male anatomy as a colloquial insult?).