#so I’ve been rewatching kung fu panda

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Is It Really That Bad?

I think I speak for everyone when I say that Jack Black is awesome. Ever since the one-two punch of 2008’s Kung Fu Panda and Tropic Thunder, Black has steadily seen himself rise to becoming a wacky and near universally beloved cultural icon, with zany YouTube videos and roles such as the gay psychic viking musician Helmut Fullbear in Psychonauts 2 and fucking Bowser of all people in The Super Mario Bros. Movie fully cementing his status as one of the most fun actors working today. But this sort of adoration wasn’t always the case.

Sure, everyone loved School of Rock and Tenacious D had a solid stoner buddy comedy film and some amusing songs, but Black’s career prior to the 2010s was pretty spotty and filled with bad and disposable comedies; there’s a reason he’ s playing the character stuck in a rut of making nothing but flatulent fat joke comedy movies in Tropic Thunder, after all. He still had some speedbumps to overcome before he’d reach Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and Goosebumps even after his well-received 2008 films, and after starring in a film in 2009 that ended Harold Ramis’ career (and that I’m sure you’ll all vote for me to rewatch eventually), he made a pit stop in 2010 to dent his own career… but it wasn’t just him who suffered thanks to Gulliver’s Travels.

You see, this movie has an interesting bit of trivia to it that s likely the only reason it’s even vaguely remembered at all. Emily Blunt was contractually obligated to star in this film as a result of starring in The Devil Wears Prada, which on its own isn’t all too interesting… But because of this, she had to skip out on being Black Widow in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While Iron Man 2 wouldn’t have been better with her in it, the MCU as a whole might have benefited from having an actress as good as her as the first superheroine in the franchise. Maybe we could have even gotten a Black Widow movie sooner, and with less awful villains and terrible CGI!

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This is all the film gets remembered for today, if it’s remembered at all: A footnote for the MCU, and one that hurt the careers of its lead actors for a couple of years until they were able to bounce back with more critically-acclaimed films. At best, those into more niche and obscure media might know that this films has a lot of material reworked from a scrapped adaptation of the Prometheus and Bob shorts from Nickelodeon’s KaBlam! It can’t even be remembered as some ridiculously huge bomb, because even with it making less than half its budget back domestically, internationally it managed to double it!

So hey, maybe those international audiences were on to something. Sure, it was critically reviled but it was also successful overseas, so maybe other countries knew something we didn’t here in America. Is Gulliver’s Travels really that bad, or is this a hidden Jack Black gem that America was too hard on?

THE GOOD

I think what really surprised me the most is the set design and costumes. Maybe I’ve just been absolutely poisoned by the non-stop onslaught of CGI as of late, but it was really nice to see some actual sets, actual costumes, and actual effort on display in a movie, even if it wasn’t the most amazing thing out there.

The film also has some very fun sequences, all of them obviously revolving around Jack Black. There’s the scene where he has to put out a fire and, uh, uses his natural hose to extinguish the flame (which is apparently lifted directly from the original book), which manages to be one of the only funny pee jokes in human history thanks to James Corden becoming doused in urine; there’s a scene where JB has to defeat an armada of ships and manages to do it with an accidental counter attack that eerily manages to foreshadow the climax of Kung Fu Panda 2; and there’s a scene where JB is banished to an island where he is kidnapped by a giant girl and turned into a doll in her dollhouse. Fun sequences like this make full use of the world the film has created.

Also, yes, it’s a bit dumb and cringey how one of the major conflicts in the film is solved by Jack Black randomly breaking out into a musical number, but if you’re gonna pay for Jack Black you gotta get him to sing. This one time, I’ll let the corny dance party ending slide—but it’s on thin fucking ice.

THE BAD

I mean, with both James Corden and T.J. Miller in the film, it’s no surprise there’s plenty of suckiness to the proceedings.

I think the main issue is that the film is too short and doesn’t really do enough with its premise. Now, I’m no expert on the book this is loosely adapting seeing as I’ve never read it, but I feel like they could have done more than just liberally adapt elements for a silly family film, and I also think eighty minutes isn’t nearly enough time to really delve into things. And even having never read it, this is taking one of the greatest pieces of classic literature written by one of history’s sharpest satirists (Johnathan Swift, he of A Modest Proposal fame) and turned it into a wacky vehicle for Jack Black. It’s kind of hard not to feel a bit bitter we didn’t get a straighter modernized adaptation instead of a wacky family film.

Aside from that, though, the worst I can say is that some of the humor is pretty dorky or cringey, and that not a lot of performances really stand out. The former is to be expected from a silly family film like this, but the latter is pretty damn shocking considering the massive amounts of talent in this film. Black is having fun, but his hamming doesn’t always land, nor does his oversaturation of pop culture references; Emily Blunt and Jason Segel are okay, but they feel a bit overplayed and underplayed, respectively; Billy Connolly is barely even trying as the king, but it’s not like he’s given good material; and the rest of the cast are perfectly serviceable but not exactly standout. Everything is just okay (even Corden and Miller, but I hate them so let’s just say they suck).

I think my biggest issue is that even if nothing is done offensively badly here, the film’s story is packed far too tightly with the most expected family film cliches you can imagine. You’ve got a really basic “liar revealed” plot at the core, you have the character getting bad romantic advice from his friend that leads to a third act breakup with his love interest, you have the most shallow romantic arc in the world beside that with one of the most unrealistic reactions you could ever imagine from a woman who has been repeatedly lied to by the guy crushing on her… It’s just really tired and sloppy. You have seen all the plot points here in a dozen better films.

IS IT REALLY THAT BAD?

Maybe it’s just because I was expecting a lot worse, but I honestly found this film to be kind of charming.

Like, sure, it’s not really anything special. It’s just a goofy Jack Black family film, and as far as those go it’s definitely nothing compared to Nacho Libre. But it doesn’t really overstay its welcome, it has a few chuckles, Black gets to sing, and James Corden gets doused in piss, so I can’t say I didn’t find some enjoyment in it. It’s a silly little disposable bit of fluff that’s fun to watch once and maybe put on in the background if you need some noise, and there’s a place for films like that in this world.

But, you know, I kind of get why audiences didn’t vibe with this. Nothing in this movie is as offensively bad as a lot of other family fantasy films of the time, but there’s nothing that really stands out here either. You’ve got some cool scenes, cool ideas, and Jack Black hamming it up, but none of it really ever gels into something great. This is a completely average, somewhat enjoyable, and kind of forgettable film, and I completely understand why it has faded from the public consciousness besides being a bit of MCU trivia. It’s not offensive or bad enough to really bring out intense emotion, but it isn’t good enough to gush about, and Jack Black has been in so many better roles lately that utilize the traits this film is banking on far better that it’s hard to recommend this unless you’re really curious or bored.

That 4.9 is pretty harsh though, honestly. I gave it a 6, mostly because I just found the whole thing endearingly dorky, but realistically I’d say maybe in the mid to high 5 range is where this movie belongs. It’s got plenty of cringey moments and it’s not really mind-blowing, with it relying far too much on cliché plot elements you see in a lot of bargain bin family films, but I think there’s just enough effort on display here to make this a passable viewing experience. As far as corny Jack Black movies go, you could be doing a lot worse than watching this one.

A lot worse.

[grinning-reaper-black-pearl]

Sibling and I introduced our mother to Overly Sarcastic Production’s ‘Trope Talks’, and she will often wander over to talk about the episodes and try to match the tropes to characters she knows since often the examples given go over her head as a person who doesn’t watch cartoons. She does, however, occasionally watch videos her overly-excited children insist on showing her. 

Obviously. That’s kind of why she started watching these.

But after watching the “Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass” episode, she immediately identified Shawn Spencer from Psych as a detective edition of this trope and talked about how one of the ways they let Shawn be badass without compromising his clownery was to have his partner Gus also act as (a different variant of) comic relief, so they can also have individual characterization aside from being funny. It works well enough for her to willingly rewatch the show, which is rare because usually she finds comedy characters exhausting.

Then she turned to me and asked, 100% seriously, trying to make this a proper conversation instead of infodumping, “Is Etho also this since he doesn’t know why people are scared of him?”

I made a noise somewhere between “what?” and laughing, which did not help because she just repeated it, but she does actually have some scattered evidence from pure osmosis (read: all of her children like Etho). 

I’m still laughing, because she essentially went ‘the narrator talked about the kung fu panda and I thought it sounded like the ninja Etho’ but she does also know some things like “Etho can’t spell shenanigans, pranked everyone with free glass, and didn’t know why people ran from him when growled” vs “Etho is the best at Among Us, regularly makes complex redstone machines, everyone is terrified of his PVP ability.”

So I say something to the effect of “Mum this is very well thought out but he is a person. I feel like calling a person you don’t know a moron by implication is weird.” 

Before Mum can say more than “I meant that the way everyone treats him is like this,” my sibling - the other one who watches Trope Talk - pops up.

“Etho is a legendary Pokemon with the ability Oblivious.”

So I’ve been having a weird night.

[butterflydragon14]

“I have always been proud of you. From the first moment I’ve been proud of you. And it was my pride that blinded me. I loved you too much to see what you were becoming”

[uselessalexis165]

🦚🤍❤️✨

[kabukiaku]

Yeah I’ve also been rewatching Teen Titans and Young Justice as well, also I absolutely love your Kung Fu Panda art as much as your Transformers art as well

Aw sweet! Thanks so much by the way :3

[agentnico]

The Bad Guys (2022) Review

What is it with Billie Eilish writing songs for future films? She released the No Time to Die title song only for the movie to get delayed, and now The Bad Guys is released 3 years after her famous ‘bad guy’ song. Look, the latter may have not been intended as a title song for The Bad Guys, but it should have! It’s literally the title!!

Plot:  After a lifetime of legendary heists, notorious criminals Mr. Wolf, Mr. Snake, Mr. Piranha, Mr. Shark and Ms. Tarantula are finally caught. To avoid a prison sentence, the animal outlaws must pull off their most challenging con yet - becoming model citizens. Under the tutelage of their mentor, Professor Marmalade, the dubious gang sets out to fool the world that they're turning good.

Dreamworks has always been the more cheeky and reckless animation studio cousin to Disney and Pixar. The latter always relied more upon establishing an emotional bond between the viewer and its characters, all whilst surrounded by the feel of a magical otherworldly air. Dreamworks on the other hand lent more into the comedic chaotic side, by either having a panda learn kung fu, a group of zoo animals escaping New York to hang out with some lemurs in Madagascar, or a straight up ogre messing around with classic fairy-tale characters. There’s always an element of ludicrousness, as if Dreamworks is that naughty child whilst Disney is the sophisticated older one who plays by the rules. That being said, in the last few years Dreamworks had lost a bit of its trademark spark. Yeah, there were those Trolls films that offered some mindful colourful fun, but I wouldn’t call them particularly memorable. They’re no Kung Fu Panda ya know? Look, I’ve recently been rewatching those Kung Fu Panda films with my fiancée and gosh are they so enjoyable and hilarious! A Jack Black voiced panda named Po being bullied by a Dustin Hoffman voiced raccoon named Master Shifu? Oh and that turtle martial arts spiritual monk master Master Ooooooooogway who blatantly and conveniently dies when crap is about to hit the fan as if to say “well that’s no my problem suckazzz!!”. Or that peacock from the second one that spends the entire film holding that same perplexingly shocked facial expression?? Kung Fu Panda is great yo and I’ll hear nothing else about it! Anyway, back to The Bad Guys. What did I think? It was okay.

The best thing the movie has going for it is its animation. Taking a page from Into the Spider-Verse, the animators blend both 2D and 3D animation to make the movie look like its a motion comic book, which to be fair looks great, especially in the action sequences and car chases does this animation style really pop. But even in the character designs, the use of 2D really brings out some great colours and details. In a nutshell, The Bad Guys looks good! As for the story? Well that is where the movie loses its merit. That isn’t to say the plot is bad, its just that the narrative is quite the generic heist storyline, and the message about bad guys turning good isn’t exactly revolutionary, let alone them being played by animals. Zootopia anyone? Or is it Zootropolis? Or how about the German title: Zoomania?? My personal favourite is the Polish Zwierzogród! Has the nice ring to it! So easily pronounceable!! Regardless, The Bad Guys doesn’t particularly inspire with its story, however its animation is stellar, there’s enough solid jokes in there to keep audiences and younger viewers entertained, and the voice cast fit their characters well. I’d say Sam Rockwell, Richard Ayoade and Zazie Beets probably are the most memorable. Oh, and Anthony Ramos from In the Heights gets to stretch his vocal chords once more by blasting out a musical number which in turn results in one of the movie’s more stand out sequences. It’s all good natured fun which is why I think I enjoyed The Bad Guys for what it was. It’s not a particularly special movie, not one that will go down in history as peak family entertainment, but as one to pass the time its entertaining. It kind of helped that I was fresh off finishing an early shift (don’t get me started on waking up at 5am, holy frijoles!) so didn’t want to particularly challenge my brain, and as such The Bad Guys worked like a charm. The plot twists and turns were super predictable though, just saying. Sorry, just wanted to end the review on a negative. Seemed right.

Overall score: 6/10

[misnomera]

tagged by @pronouncingitwang to list 7 comfort movies and tag 7 people!

((I know it's been like WEEKS this has been sitting in my drafts for so long oh god im SORRY crystal ily thank you for tagging <33))

1. Into the Spiderverse!!! i have seen this movie like 5 times now i think. it is very great i have not yet gotten tired of watching it

2. My Neighbor Totoro. i only watched this somewhat recently actually but idc it is a top tier comfort movie. i have a lot of love for it it’s very feel good for me

3. Rise of the Guardians OK listen it’s been a while since i’ve thought about this movie but i was like actually emotionally attached to it for a very long time in my early teens so i think it belongs here

3. How to Train Your Dragon (the first one). yeah this list is mostly gonna be animated movies. httyd is a good one. listened to its OST non stop during middle school yeah i was that kinda kid

4. Kung Fu Panda (the second one)! yes i know what you’re thinking at this point yes i had a dreamworks phase and yes all evidence of it is on this blog shut up they’re really good movies okay

5. Dead Poets Society. Oh my god oh my fucking god. This movie broke me but at the same time it’s so warm and full of love I just </3

6. Tian Guan Ci Fu is a show not a movie but idc I’ve rewatched every episode of the first season at least twice if not more. the animation is fucking beautiful and its gay and its on netflix now (!!!! as Heaven Official's Blessing !!) so big rec from me here go watch yeayea

7. Big Hero 6. i will allow One (1) disney movie on this list. honestly liked this one a lot when i watched it when it first came out. yeah maybe the us-japan cultural techno fusion is a biiiit ehhhh now that i look back on it but. its good

tagging some mutuals i havent interacted with in a while: @laurenblu @gay-enchilada @couchtaro @fwishbone @staarryy @xihe-jun @creepysnow !! feel free to play along if you would like!!

[ja-khajay]

2020-2021 Animation Watch(ed)list

I haven’t posted about animation in a while that I remember, and I know a lot of my followers are into it as much as me so I decided to make a list of the animated movies and series I watched on the past year or so, coupled with my short, spoilerless take on them. Enjoy!

Organized by

Things I saw for the first time

Things I rewatched

Under a cut for the sake of your dashboards! PS: I have not added any images yet. If you are interested in knowing more about the visuals of these movies, I might make an old fashion ask-prompted imageset list.

Part One: Things I saw for the first time

The Bear’s Famous Invasion of Sicily

Movie, 2019, Italian/French

9/10, a delightful little movie with amazing visuals. It feels like an animated picture book.

One of those “plot is in the title” media! I had never heard of this before but was heavily recommended it by my family members, who all loved it! It’s a sweet story, nothing groundbreaking but the unique colorful visual style alone makes it worth it.

The Castle of Cagliostro

Movie, 1979, Japanese

10/10. Reminded me of all the books i loved reading as a child

I assume its because it’s so old and the art style and themes are so different that it gets little to no love compared to other Ghibli movies, which is a shame! It’s fun with an endearing cast and as always, great animation and music

Mushishi

Series, 2006, Japanese

10/10 three episodes in I knew it was going to be my favorite series ever

One of the few things I’ve seen I’ll describe as life-changing. It’s absolutely lovely but never toots its own horn about it. Humble, calming, emotional and surprisingly mature. It’s pretty impossible to binge due to how intense the experience is. I just want to walk in the forest now...

FMA: Brotherhood

Series, 2009, Japanese

6/10 Dissapointing adaptation of a classic story

I read the manga for this when I was in middle school and remembered loving it. The animated version does an ok job of presenting the characters and worldbuilding and has some nice action scenes but overall looks really damn cheap and just. Not very good. Seeing I already knew most of the plot I did not have the element of discovery that made me marvel so much reading the original. It’s still a nice series but I really recommend reading it instead.

Code Lyoko (s1+2)

Series, 2003, french

3/10. 1.5 being for the opening song alone

This show sucks ass if I hadn’t been watching this with my bestie I would have dropped it two episodes in. The art style is ugly the stories are always the same and the first season has a (later removed thank fucking god) LITERAL “erase any consequences” button as a plot device in every episode. If you watch it for one thing let it be the nostalgia factor of early 00s Vidya Game Plot

The Legend of Hei

Movie, 2019, Chinese

7/10. Impressive visuals and a poor story

I finally watched this, peer pressured by the load of gifsets on my dashboard! It’s a sweet movie with really impressive animation, sometimes a bit too flashy for my taste (the action sequences go so ham they become not very readable...) but the story was just ok? The setting is barely explained and you are instead bombarded with vague epicspeech about powers and stuff that made me fondly remember Kingdom Hearts lol but that asides it’s a really good time! I need to watch more Chinese movies the few I know are just delightfully off the shits in how they approach action and I love that

Hunter x Hunter

Series, 1999, Japanese

9/10. Superior to the recent one!

I first got introduced to the series via the 2011 one. Comparatively, the 99 series focuses way less on action and way more on the characters, which I love because that fits my personal preferences! Despite mediocre filler episodes and some weird slight pointless plot changes, what it changes from the original manga doesn’t have much of an impact on the characters. The animation quality isn’t always consistent including a huge art style change for an arc (???) but it’s overall pretty nice. The series really shines in the last arc it adapts.

Oban Star-racers

Series, 2006, Japanese/french

9/10 a lovely surprise

This series is completly obscure despite having been created by people famous for their other series (Cowboy Bebop, Code Lyoko that i can name) and it’s a crime! It’s a kids show but without being stupid about it who tells the story of an inter-planetary race. If you liked that one scene in the star wars prequels you know what I mean. It’s got surprisingly nice animation for a TV series, and some truly great character design. The art style is a bit unique in a not for everyone sense, but I didn’t mind it much. It’s also THE most offensively 2000s series i’ve seen in terms of visuals. y2k kids assemble

The Little Prince and the Eight-Headed Dragon

Movie, 1963, japanese

8/10. Classic fairytale format with incredible visuals

Watched this for the art style because I know it inspired Samurai Jack, and it delievered! I dont’ have much to say about this one, it’s a very simply film but it’s sweet. For my pirates out there if you want to find it in good quality with english subtitles it’s VERY hard to find. If you just want to see the looks of it, it’s on Youtube with portugese subs.

We now enter the Gobelins Shorts Zone....!

My Friend Who Glows In The Dark

10/10 makes me cry each time

Pure delight...great animation writing everything. A little short about death and friendship but not in the way you imagine!

Colza

9/10

Visual treat...homely and nice :) not far from a 10 but a 9 because nothing about it is that groundbreaking

Sundown

9/10

If you’ve ever been ten minutes from failing a group project because of a single dude you will REALLY enjoy this. Loved the colors and personality

T’as vendu mes rollers?

10/10

It’s SUCH a sweet little short I loved that one so much

Dix-huit kilomètres trois

10/10

Surprisingly well written dialog. Visuals are great but the humanity of the characters carries this to another level

Un diable dans la poche

9/10

Amazing visuals and the most tense/creepy of Gobelin shorts i’ve ever seen. Chilling

La bestia

8/10

I had some issues with the pacing. Interesting story and visuals choices but I was not fond of the art style

Goodbye Robin

5/10

Confusing but predictable. Both at once??? Yes!

Le retour des vagues

6/10

Cool animation stuff but felt pretty pointless

                                                                ***

Part Two: Things I rewatched

Ruben Brandt: Collector

Movie, 2018, Hungarian

10/10. Underrated as hell

Watched this fully blind for the first time in an animated festival and rewatched it with friends. It’s a crime I never see anyone talking about it given the amount of whining I see about the lack of both adult animation and 2D movies? This film is a unique love letter to art in the form of a weird mix of charming crime story and psychological horror with amazing visuals. I recommend watching it blind and also buying it to show appreciation for how nice it is!!! WATCH THIS MOVIE...

Mononoke

Series, 2007, Japanese

10/10 Visual/storytelling masterpiece in the weird shit departement

If you can stomach intense stuff watch this. The visuals are incredibly unique and beautiful and under the jewel tones and art direction high takes it’s a really cool horror series. My only obstacle to enjoying it the first time I saw it was how dense it is - simply put, it’s so...culturally Japanese it’s not very accessible to me who doesn’t know anything about the culture? Watching it for the second time helped understanding the stories more! 

Corto Maltese in Siberia

Movie, 2002, french

9/10 but really close to ten. A great adaptation!

I’m a huge fan of the original comic so I entered this a biiiittttt suspicious it would suck but it was a really pleasant surprise! It has all the wonder and charm of the original and the animation was surprisingly good for the little budget. If you’re not familiar with the series, it’s a sort of geopolitical action/adventure movie but with it’s own really poetic vibe to it. It’s almost impossible to find online but happens to be fully on YouTube so go ham I guess?

Redline

Movie, 2009, Japanese

10/10 cinema was invented for this, actually

Every review of this movie i’ve seen gives it five stars and starts by talking about how immensly stupid it is. I’m no different. It’s a masterpiece of escalating energy with the depth of a puddle and it fucking rules. It’s free on YouTube too so there really is no excuse to not watch it. Watched it for the first time on a huge cinema screen and despite this my second rewatch on my small laptop was as/even more enjoyable. If you watch this stoned with friends you might travel to another dimension

Spirited Away

Movie, 2001, Japan

10/10 deserves the love it gets

I watched this a single time as a kid and had little memory of it! I mean it’s Ghibli you know it’s going to be good as hell but this one rly shines in how colorful and detailed it is and in it’s world! It made me remember I had a huge crush on the dragonboy as a kid. I’m gay now

Kung-fu Panda (1&2)

Movie, Usa

10/10. KFP fucking rules

Honestly my favorite franchise of the whole disney/dreamworks/pixar hydra. It’s fun as hell, doesn’t skip a single beat and has amazing animation and character designs. If something is a good time I will not care if it’s deep or not and boy I fucking love these movies

Sinbad, Legend of the Seven Seas

Movie, 2003, Usa

5/10 Some great some really bad and overall generic

I tend to hate american cinema and this includes that era of animation I have no nostalgia for. Sinbad is in a weird place because I love adventure stories and the visuals of the movie absolutely deliver but it’s very predictable and TANKED by the addition of the female character, pushed in your face as “look we have woman!!!” despite her writing being misogynistic as hell lol. The evil goddess rules tho. This movie would have been a solid 9 if instead of the girl the two dudes had kissed

[protagonistheavy]

I watched Kung Fu Panda, I came at it pretty weird because I had never seen it before, but I had watched the second movie ten years ago. And despite how long it's been since I've seen that movie, I can safely say it's way better than the first. This movie was... kinda funky. I had a hard time really vibing with any of the characters, or caring much for the plot. I was really impressed with the action sequences and set pieces, but otherwise, it's just a lot of... stuff... that just happens very straightforwardly.

Not a bad movie, I think younger kids especially were rightfully going crazy for it. But wow is the cast highly underutilized. The Furious Five are made such a big deal, yet we hardly see them do anything, let alone get a feel for their personalities. It's hard to respect these guys or find them as inspiring as Po does when they mostly just act like passive aggressive high schoolers with Tigress being a bit edgier. I want to like them, but the movie gave very little to like about them.

I'd say the movie needed a little more meat to it. There's only a few action scenes worth thinking about, the character relationships aren't compelling outside of Po and Shifu's thing... It's a really disappointing ending too, how the fight between Po and the villain plays out. Like I guess I should've seen it coming, but the villain gets defeated waaaay too easily, it feels like they had to just hurry up an ending and so they cut out like two whole phases of a boss fight.

I hate that turtle dude! Master Oogway I think? Hate that guy! Such an obnoxious character, like, his whole cryptic wisdom vision shit is just so disengaging. It's the kind of mysticism in a plot that just spells out for you exactly what's going to happen... to the point where, added with his aloofness, it just feels like the whole plot is his fault. As if he allowed everything to fall into place... just so it could happen... for no reason other than so it could happen. He predicts the future, then basically says "Nothing matters!" and fucking dies by turning into leaves blowing in the wind, and then... yeah as it turns out, none of this shit really does matter, so long as Po fights the villain, destiny will just... make sure it works out. And it does. So he's not wrong. The universe just, really is crazy like that I guess.

I did find it interesting that the movie played differently with the student-master dynamic, by giving the old man master his own old man master to be taught by. Usually the one old man master is already a pieced together, near-flawless character; giving him his own arc was a nice refreshing change of pace for this type of story. It's the most interesting part of the movie... but again, just mostly underutilized.

Good movie, I think I'm gonna rewatch the second movie to be fair with the series and to have a bit more uh context going into the third movie, whenever that'll be.

[radramblog]

Dreamworks Tier List

It’s a low effort post time!

I asked for a random tier list to do and this is what was handed to me. I can work with this. Time to ruin some people’s opinions of me.

Aight lets get this out of the way.

I’d consider watching some of these- Prince of Egypt and How to train your dragon 2/3 are apparently pretty good, and I’d watch The Croods for Nic Cage alone. But I think the bottom tier are just inexcusable, based off what I’ve seen and heard of trailers and opinions and reviews since their release. And Antz and Sinbad are movies I’ve definitely seen as like, a 5 year old, but I don’t know shit so I might as well not have.

 Shit Tier

If you’ve seen the trailer for Madagascar 3, where Marty does the whole “da-da-dadadada-da-dada circus” for way to long, you’ve seen Madagascar 3. The rest of the movie is just as obnoxious and unfunny.

Similarly, Monsters vs Aliens is just devoid of anything resembling humour or intrigue. The most I remember is the scene of the President trying to communicate with the aliens by…playing Axel F? I remember it because at the time I was like holy shit a Crazy Frog reference, but that’s not something I like to acknowledge being a fan of these days.

Shark Tale is an abomination unto god, and that’s even before we get to how fucking weird it looks. It’s an entire fucking story built around the “liar revealed” plot, which is easily one of the most aggravating plot archetypes ever devised. Somehow it’s not the worst cinema Will Smith has been in, a fact that is frankly mind-boggling- but After Earth and the second half of Hancock still exist, so.

 Bad Tier

Over the Edge was something I found entertaining as a kid, but I’m not sure why. It does have the climax sequence I did like, but that one blatant reference got a lot less funny when I realized it wasn’t original. For the life of me I don’t remember what the reference is to, but it’s some anime, you know.

Bee Movie is the source of some of the greatest memes of all time, and for that alone it gets a rescue from shit tier. But it’s so, so awful. I really don’t know who signed off this plot.

Madagascar was a series that only got worse as it went on. It didn’t start that good. At least this one has Moto Moto.

Shrek the Third is the worst Shrek, and it’s nooooot particularly close. I don’t remember a huge amount from it, but what I do remember wasn’t good. Why did they make Donkey fuck the dragon?

 OK tier

Madagascar 1 was the best Madagascar, and in a surprising reversal of how this normally goes, managed to be significantly better than it’s Disney (?!) ripoff, Into the Wild. The one with the most genuine emotional moments, and the first one before they started shoving the Penguins and King Julien down everyone’s throat. Sidenote, did you know Julien is voiced by Sacha Baron Cohen??

Shrek Forever After somehow managed to be less bad than Shrek the Third, but it’s not like it was particularly good. It’s a wonderful life but it’s Shrek is more compelling than I would have expected, seeing as it does mean you have to have him actually acknowledge the development of his character. The framing of this, and the “comedy” therein, do not land.

 Good Tier

For what it’s worth, I think Shrek is overrated. This doesn’t mean I think it’s bad, obviously, quite the opposite. It’s a parody that thankfully doesn’t rely too heavily on reference and gross-out humour, but manages to have the comedy actually land in a way I don’t think anyone at the time expected. But it’s really overshadowed by the sequel.

I basically don’t remember anything from How to Train your Dragon, but I’m pretty sure I’d get my throat slit if I put it any lower than this, so. It’s aight? Probably need to rewatch it, but you’d have to force me to do it.

I genuinely forgot the Wallace and Gromit movie, along with the other Aardman Animations films, ended up under the Dreamworks umbrella. I’d argue Curse of the Were-Rabbit is weaker than the original shorts, but considering how perfectly charming those are, that isn’t actually saying that much. Now that I think of it, have I ever watched this all the way through? It might be up here by pedigree alone.

Speaking of Aardman, Flushed Away is genuinely excellent comedy, and would probably be substantially higher if the main characters’ design didn’t weird me out. They’re a little too anthropomorphized.

Kung Fu Panda is best described by the Chinese film producer who said, “Why did we never make this film?” While I find Po somewhat obnoxious, the rest of the movie more than compensates.

Holy shit I need to go rewatch Megamind, that movie was so fucking good but I haven’t seen it since it came out. Somehow I remember a review of the Wii game in some magazine (34ish % iirc) better than I do that film, and that’s a genuine tragedy. I didn’t even realise that meme of the villain from like last year or so was actually from Megamind, aaarrgh.

Top Tier

Shrek 2 is a perfect sequel. It innovates on the parody elements, continues the story in an interesting way, and has genuinely good emotional moments with a frankly iconic climax. I’m not sure I have a single bad thing to say about it. It’s really, really good.

Chicken Run is another one where it’s hard to gush about. It’s just excellent Aardman Brothers animation combined with a solid premise and surprisingly dark elements, and all of those come together to make a genuinely top tier movie. One of the best animated films ever made? Maybe.

But El Dorado is better. What El Dorado feels like to me is the secret 5th member of that period where Disney was just putting out off-beat but excellent animated films- from when we got Lilo and Stitch, The Emperor’s New Groove, and Atlantis. The last glorious breaths of American 2D animation. It’s a peerless adventure film, on a similar stage as the better Indiana Jones films or the aforementioned Atlantis, while managing to be engaging for those of all ages. It’s got witty dialogue for days, and astonishing visuals and music. I don’t think Dreamworks has made a better movie than this, and I don’t think they ever will.

That image this list is using for it looks fucking awful though, holy shit.

[cardgameengineer]

So, this is a little random, but... thoughts on Alexandre Desplat? I have always seen him hyped, but to me his scores sound like YouTube free samples for videos. (Particularly what he did for Harry Potter and Little Women). Which are your favorite OST composers?

A good question. I’m crap with names so I had to look up Desplat, turns out he’s scored a few films by one of my favourite Directors - Wes Anderson.

“The Grand Budapest Hotel” is one of my favourite films ever, and this is partly down to the scoring, which fits into the film and its surreal comedic style perfectly (as with “Fantastic Mr Fox”), elevating those films with an extra layer woven into them.

Potter 7 and 7.5 are the only other films he’s done that I’ve seen, and it’s been a good while since I’ve seen them. However, I can’t remember the scores for those being anything other than background accompaniment of a standard suited to films at that monetary scale. But perhaps if I rewatch them and pay attention to the score I may be pleasantly surprised.

As for my favourite OST composers, this was staring to turn into a big paragraph so here’s a better list of Composer and my Favourite Score:

John Williams - Can’t choose

Hans Zimmer - Can’t choose - Pirates of the Caribbean maybe?

Michael Giachino - The Incredibles

John Powell - How to Train Your Dragon

Zimmer + Powell - Kung Fu Panda

Howard Shore - Lord of the Rings Trilogy

[ihamtmus]

tagged by @penguins-united, thank you!!

rules: tag 9 ppl whom you’d like to get to know better/catch up with

last song: dear wormwood by the oh hellos. i had to stop mid listening tho! a crime

last movie: kung fu panda 2!!!!!!! or 1? idk which one was the last, i just kept watching these two on repeat with german dubbing before my german exam. those movies are SO good and i was not bored At All despite having seen them so many times

currently reading: technically i'm reading the witcher but i got stuck for well over a month now.. i've been reading fanfiction in the meantime and i really want to read the queen's thief soon

currently watching: rewatching avatar the last airbender with german dubbing!! the voices are just 👌 and i don't want to finish it with the original voices tbh

craving: i only ate some cake today and i really feel like eating something not-sweet rn. like lasagne maybe

tagging @raneyroo and @enareil if you feel like it!

[smellycinnamonthundahfudge]

heyheyheeeyyyy @that-shy-puff what up 👻👻👻👻?? hahaha it’s been so long since we’ve sorta indirectly interacted hasn’t it?? hahaha anwww im finally getting to one of the tag games ya tagged me in hahahha... i cant answer the other one since i face the same issue as you as being unable to choose just a certain exact 5 so i’ve decided to delay until i kno fo sho and i sttiiilll havent decided til now hahahahahha 🤷🤷🤷🤷🤷✨✨✨✨✨

anwww,,,,,, onto the actual game and i appreciate these things sfm as always,,,, i take a longass time but yall bet it’s always just in da bg of mah mind... imma get to these,,,, they so funnn yallss hahahaha 💖💖💖💖💖✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

Zodiac sign: sagittarius (i think,,, not rlly sure,,, dont rlly care for it,,, sm so dat i had to search it’s proper spelling... which tbh kinda annoys me since idc bout it but im just such an annoying stickler for proper spelling like dat sometimes hahahha)

Height: 5'5

Last movie i saw: parts of Kung Fu Panda (whiCH BTWWWW is a hella good film yallssss!!!!! ahh discovering just ~how~ awesome something is at a happenstance rewatch is pretty dope yalls ✨✨✨✨✨✨✨)

Last thing i googled: saggitarius (hahahahaha das da og how i thought it was spelled hahaha but actually b4 dat, i searched herbal tea or how to know if herbal tea hahahhaa)

Favourite musician: heh.... idk y i’m actually feeling pretty certain i wanna promote filipino bands as of this moment... but,,, Parokya ni Edgar <33333333333333 💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖 ✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

Song stuck in my head: Silhouette by KANA-BOON (if yalls kno..... yalls kno...... :::::”““““““““)))))))))))))

Other blogs: i made one before this one for school and it was super cringey... i dont even kno my username for dat one anymore,,,, i chose to make it about himym cus i was young dumb and cringeeyyy~~~,,,, and i wrote my posts there in my native language cus it was for mah class in dat language hahahahhahaha 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤦🤦🤦🤦🤦🤦🤦

Following: 1736..... yeah.... kinda an impulsive follow type bish..... i dont rlly go to tumblr anymore cus i kno i usually wind up spendin my entire day on it if i did hahahaha

Followers: 328.... nice.... pretty sure i rlly only kno a handful of yalls but,, it’s nice to know yalls nevertheless hahaha,,, much obligeddd haaha 💖💖💖💖✨✨✨✨

Do i get asks: uhhhh yeahh,,, i do actually hahahaha,,, but it’s mostly usually only during on times when i’m rlly active on tumblr i think hahahaha so der~~~~

Amount of sleep i get: 7 to 12.... maybe??? idk,, i dont keep track of time hahaha

Lucky numbers: 13 or 11 or 7??? i actually dont knooo... im thinkin of the grp # mah classmates had that got em to win at a competition,,, but i wasnt even included in the actual competition so gosshhh idkkk i probs dont have one or if i did, i dont notice/pay attention to that type of thang hahaha

Dream job: probably something like a writer-director-actor-comedian who makes books, movies, tv shows that type of thang hahahaha 🤷🤷🤷🤷🤷✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

Instruments: same bruhhh hahaha saammeee... i dont play anything either hahahaha does your voice when you like to sing a lot count??? hahaha

Dream trip: oohhh it is hard to choose just one,,, damn.... ahh,,, but,,, i guess the best choice would just be... JAPAN!!!!! 😍😍😍😍😍😍✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨ (I WANNA EAT SEA URCHINS, REENACT SCENES FROM FILMS LIKE KIMI NO NA WA,,,, SEE SNOW AND SAKURAS!!!!! AND THERE’S MOUNTAINS AND OCEANS THERE/NEAR THERE TOO AREN’T THERE???? soooo japan,,, rn,,, hands down,,,, seems like they have it alll/most of what i want from a trip at the very least hahahhaa 💖💖💖💖💖✨✨✨✨✨✨)

Favourite food: chicken and/or pizza 🤷🤷🤷 (it’s the one i can tolerate the most without getting tired of it anyways hahaha 🤷🤷🤷)

Languages: filipino and english yaaallsssss musta kayooo hahahahaha ✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

Favourite songs: ahhh yaassss finally a prompt that understands me,,,, idk man im just appreciative of the fact that it says songs and not the basic just oneee songgg hahahha....

....... ......... .... i uh--- i listed like,,, exactly 250 songs just like,,,,, off the bat when i skimmed my playlists for mah faves..... and,,,, i still cant choose,,,,, hahahahaha sooooo here’s the doc link for ref hahahhahaha but it’s mostly pop, hip hop, rap, rock, some angsty, lotta disney, opm, cxg, p&f hahahahha 🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🤷🤷🤷🤷🤷🤷🤷✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

@parallelmarvel, @secretlifeofacloud, @fangirltrash1312, @monchemunche, @zsanelleballeras, @warpedharpy, @ohdarnitripped, @untitledandrandom, @tare8chan, @totheendofthegalaxyandback, @sssunisshining,  @caseopenandcaseshut, @thegeekogecko

[shera-dnd]

Getting to know the blogger

Tagged by @vigilantsycamore

Tagging... no one because I don’t like making people feel like they have to do these, but if you want to then go ahead

Three Ships:

Glmmer/Catra (She-ra)

Ilia Amitola/Weiss Schnee (RWBY)

Carmen Sandiego/Julia Argent (Carmen Sandiego)

Last Song: When Honor Dies by Miracle of Sound

Last Movie: Rewatched Kung Fu Panda for the Nth time

Currently Reading (book): uh... none. I haven’t been able to sit down and read books in a while. Honestly I’ve been having issues just sitting still to begin with

Writing: A LOT OF THINGS. The last chapter of A Day at a Time, more shit for Tales of the Hooded Figure, and some backstory information for my D&D character

Currently watching: The Owl House. Like it’s legit open on the other tab right now

Currently consuming: Nothing?

Currently craving: ...is this just a food thing? If so I’m gonna go with ice cream. Otherwise I’m gonna say a hug

[rustandruin]

QUARANTINE TAG GAME

I was tagged by the wonderful @illgetmerope and the very sweet @charitydingle

If you’re staying home, who’s there with you? Just me and my parents! (Or as we’ve been joking, me and my two “roommates.”) 

Are you staying at home from school/work? I’m currently job hunting again, so I pretty much don’t have a choice. 

Are you a homebody? Yep! But even then this is kind of stressful. 

An event that you were looking forward to that got cancelled? It sounds sad, but not really? I was hoping to maybe go back to school or even start a new job, but I guess those are more of a distant thing at this point. (Depending on whether I start hearing back.) 

What movies have you watched recently? A friend and I rewatched the first Kingsman movie recently, and my father and I rewatched Kung Fu Panda the other day. It was a wonderful break from everything. 

What shows are you watching? Law and Order: SVU, Taskmaster, and now, Brooklyn Nine-Nine again. They’re three of my favourite comfort shows, and it’s nice to crawl into them. 

What music are you listening to? Just Robyn’s “Dancing On My Own” on a loop. (And the Callum Scott cover every now and then!) 

What are you reading? The same few favourite fics on a loop. 

What are you doing for self-care? Mostly I’ve been taking part in a lot of art prompts and challenges I find on Twitter or Insta, as well as colouring in what free colouring pages I can find. Occasionally I’ll take part in some of the Taskmaster “hometasking” challenges Alex Horne posts. 

I’m-a tag: @whatdiknow, @letthe3000rain, @spamela-hamderson, @robertssvgden, @thompsonconnors, @omarandjohnny, @keepersofmyheart, @howellobrien, @amandaj718, @fireangel5683, @tonyspegasus, @bitinglip4robert, @sinisha123, @luststricken, and anyone else who wants to take part! 

[wellmet]

Quarantine Q&A

Tagged by @nahele-huikala​. Thank you dear! ♥

ARE YOU STAYING HOME FROM WORK AND SCHOOL? For the most part. I’m lucky that I can do most of my work from home; I’ve only had to go in 2-3 times for a few hours. School was all online already anyway, so I’m good on that front :)

IF YOU’RE STAYING HOME, WHO’S THERE WITH YOU? My parents and my brother. 

ARE YOU A HOMEBODY? Yes

AN EVENT THAT YOU WERE LOOKING FORWARD TO THAT GOT CANCELLED?  I was supposed to fly to Florida this morning. I would have been there right now for a whole week. :( I was also supposed to take a small road trip with my mom next month, but that’s not happening either.

WHAT MOVIES HAVE YOU WATCHED RECENTLY? I just watched Kung Fu Panda 1/2 (probably 3 tonight!), a bunch of old Disney movies, and I’ve worked my way through Henry Cavill’s filmography lol

WHAT SHOWS ARE YOU WATCHING? I finished the Tudors a few weeks ago (again, blaming Henry Cavill for that), just finished rewatching the Witcher, and I’m currently doing a marathon rewatch of Reign. I just started S3 last night. 

WHAT MUSIC ARE YOU LISTENING TO? Honestly, the Breath of the Wild soundtrack. I’ve always been big into instrumental music, and the BotW soundtrack is gorgeous ♥♥♥

WHAT ARE YOU READING? I’ve actually been reading! So unusual for me. I just finished a teen fantasy book Havenfall by Sara Holland that I really enjoyed. I love renaissance faires and just finished the cutest book about one - Well Met by Jen DeLuca. I’m also reading the Witcher series. I finished The Last Wish and Blood of Elves and I’m about to start Sword of Destiny. This quarantine has been surprisingly good for my reading.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING FOR SELF-CARE? I have been doing jigsaw puzzles like crazy. I’ve always loved doing them and I had a huge stack that I’d been meaning to get through. I think I’ve done 7-8 already? I’ve also been cross stitching. I picked up my big Cinderella one for the first time in a while. It’s very relaxing!

TAGGING @watttine, @soapieturner, @avans-jogias, @eddiediazs, @wanreina, @mandaloriano and anyone else that wants to!