Big Hero 6 Review - SPOILERS!

I finally saw Big Hero 6. It's been out in Sweden for over a month and I can't believe it took me this long to see it, but now I've rectified it. And my general feeling right now, five minutes after watching it is: disappointment. I'm sad to write that because I honestly want to love this movie, but I'm not sure I do.

The main issue with this movie is probably that it's way too short, it doesn't give time for anything more than the bare minimum story elements. This is a big problem when you have a cast of seven, five of them being big secondary characters. It's only Hiro that gets any character development, at all. Since the title is Big Hero 6 you'd think this was a team movie, like Avengers and Rise of The Guardians, but it doesn't do anything to make us really care about anyone else but Hiro, Tadashi and Baymax.

The character development is really underwhelming. What do we learn about the characters? Wasabi is pedantic, Fred has a rich family. There isn't much else there. They seem to like each other somewhat, but I don't really see any love except towards Tadashi. Do they hang out outside of school? I have no idea. I saw them briefly in the Hamada home when Hiro was building the robots, but where they hanging just for fun or were they helping? I felt no connection between them and Hiro at all, despite them being very excited about his project.

Another thing they could have explored a little more was Tadashi's death, or in particular, the mourning. Since the rest of the movie is based on Hiro wanting revenge, I'd like to have seen a bit more effect on him, and stayed in the grieving face a little longer. Also the scene where Hiro orders Baymax to kill the villain was good, but could have been made a lot stronger.

The scene where they decide to be super heroes was way too fast. Almost no one is objecting (except for "we're just us", which is such a set up line), no one suggests calling the police or even discuss what's happened for very long. They just decide to be super heroes and then they do it. No one seems scared, even though they were almost killed by the villain just an hour earlier.

Finally, Baymax "sacrifice". We all know this scene, someone sacrifices him/herself, then you're sad for two minutes and then you find out they survived one way or another. I didn't mind that there was a scene like that, but I think they should either have made it longer so you really have time to start doubting the return and be sad for a while, or made it very short so it isn't such a big deal. (Robot, remember?)

Let's get onto the good things in the movie. First of all, it's beautiful! The flying scene was gorgeous, the city looks amazing and the animation is top notch. Baymax is the perfect amount of fun without being distracting, and the movie has both a lot of heart and some humor. All the main characters are likeable, and it was interesting seeing a villain that wasn't just evil.

That's where my disappointment comes from I guess. Big Hero 6 could have been a really great movie, but as it is it's only very good. And I was hoping for, and expecting, more than very good. 

Christmas Present Ideas For an Animation Nerd

It's that time of year again. Brace yourselves, Christmas is coming. And with that all the Christmas presents. You might really enjoy giving presents to other people, or you might hate all the stress and wish you could just give hugs. Whatever your feelings on the matter is, I'm here to give you a little help with ideas. This blog post will be a gift guide for all of you that have someone in your life that's into animation. (Disclaimer: if your present receiver is a huge nerd, they may already have all the things listed below. You might want to consider a scarf.)

The Art of The Incredibles by Mark Cotta Vaz

First off, this is a beautiful book. The cover is gorgeous and the art inside it is very interesting to look at. It has forewords by John Lasseter and Brad Bird, and about every other page has some insight to the creation of the characters and the world. This is a must for anyone who is interested in the design or is a fan of The Incredibles.

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

Steve Jobs knew he was going to die and asked Walter Isaacson to write a biography about him. A very Jobs-y thing to do, and you'd think that's a setup for a glorifying biography about the genius Steve Jobs. But it really isn't. Isaacson was allowed to write about both the good and the bad sides of Jobs character and life, which makes it a very well-rounded portrayal. I'd suggest this book to anyone, it's so interesting and really sucks you into the story. If you know someone who's interested in technology or Apple this will be the perfect book to give them, but I think most people can enjoy this one. It's a pretty long book at over 600 pages, but well worth your time.

The Pixar Touch: The Making of a Company by David A. Price

This is one for all Pixar fans. Do you want to know how Pixar got started? This is the book for you. It starts back when Ed Catmull was studying at the university and moves through time to the production of Ratatouille, though an updated epilogue goes further. This book is really good, it's so fascinating reading about everything that contributed to Pixar being just Pixar. It's relatively short at 258 pages excluding epilogue, which is noticeable in some parts where they look over a few things a little fast. But it's good for those that aren't fans of very long books. I think it's a good marriage between too long and too short, but I would recommend the Steve Jobs book for further reading on Jobs part of it. All in all, a very good book.

Pictures from here, here and here.

Review: Simpsorama

I watched the Simpsons/Futurama crossover episode "Simpsorama", and I thought it was really good. It felt a bit short, but many of The Simpsons episodes lately feel that way, I don't know if it has to do with the shortened runtime. And obviously it will feel shorter the more characters you have to focus on, and with a crossover episode there's quite a few.

The story is a pretty good one, simple but gives most of the characters something to do and let them interact with each other. It was very funny with good jokes, and only a few of them was a wink to the audience, wich was nice.

The characters interacting with each other works really well. How the characters react to each other is very believable and I think it suits both shows. The Futurama part I feel is slightly too far out for a Simpsons episode, but it's not enough that it bothers me. I still considered this an in canon episode, though it's sort of a mix between the regular episodes and a Halloween episode. The characters feel true to themselves, which is the most important part of a crossover.

It's hard not to compare this episode to the Family Guy/Simpsons crossover, seeing as they premiered so close to each other. Simpsorama is a much better crossover, mostly because The Simpsons and Futurama could be in the same universe, they are not that far away from each other (unless you count a 1000 years as far) in terms of comedy and how the shows approach subjects. I think Family Guy would do a better crossover with South Park, they feel closer to each other than Family Guy does to The Simpsons.

Simpsorama was a very fun episode, a nice send off to a show that ended to soon, and just a good crossover, so check it out if you haven't yet.

Image: Fox

Review: The Great Bear

The Great Bear (Den kæmpestore bjørn) is a Danish animated movie that came out in 2011. It has English dubbing, if you would like to see it without subtitles. The movie is about Jonathan and Sofie, two kids who spend the summer with their grandfather, who lives at the edge of a giant forest. The grandfather tells them that they are not allowed to enter the forest. Jonathan is not thrilled to have his little sister hanging after him so he tries to loose her, but it goes a little too well. Sofie suddenly disappears and now Jonathan has to enter the forest to find her.

The first thing to notice about this movie is that the animation and 3D isn't really top notch, at least when comparing to the big animation studios in the US. It's made on a relatively small budget, therefore it could never compete with the big North American movies. If you're one who get bothered with animation that isn't great, this might be a hard sit through for you. Now the story isn't terrible, the problem is that we've seen it so many times before, it's the man vs. nature plot. This will not take any big risks with the story, there will probably not be any surprises for you. It's not a very big deal for me, but it does make the movie more boring and I lose attention because of it.

Another problem this movie has, is that it's a bit unpleasant. If you want to make a children's/family film that is a bit darker, you need to know how to do it right. This movie doesn't succeed in that. One thing you need in a dark movie aimed at kids is to have very happy and joyful moments, in the beginning, middle and end. The Great Bear tries that, but the moments are too short, doesn't give enough good feeling and are far between. It's too bad, because they do put in the effort.

But now to the positive, I think the best part of this movie is the bear. First of all, the design of him is great, it's kind of a weird idea that they really pulled off. The bear also look very nice, you can see that this is what they put the effort and money into, to make the bear look good. The animation on him is also tremendously good, which is nice after very uneven acting on the human characters. You can always see what kind of mood the bear is in, without him turning too human.

Something else I really think they succeeded in doing was to create a child character. Sofie feels like a kid. She has a good sense of what's right and wrong to her, and she doesn't realise that she annoys her brother, she just wants his company. It's nice to see a movie kid that isn't annoying.

All in all, this movie isn't the best. There are a few too many things that they don't quite succeed with and it takes me out of the movie. The story is pretty standard and doesn't really do anything new. But despite that I think it's worth a watch. You can tell that the filmmakers tried and were passionate about making a good film. It didn't quite work out for the best, but there is effort there. I might be a little biest since it's from a Nordic country, and it's exciting to see a movie produced in your own part of the world. But if you can find it on sale or for rental, I suggest you give it a try.

Images: Copenhagen Bombay

Netflix watch: The Tigger Movie

I decided to start a new category of blogposts where I recommend movies you can find on Netflix. These will be spoiler free, so you can read on safely. If you're not familiar with it, Netflix is a movie streaming service where you pay about 8 dollars a month and then you can watch all the movies they have on their site, as many times as you want. There are other sites but I think Netflix is one of the biggest, and they have quite a good selection of movies and series and constantly adding new things. Now they do have a different selection of movies based on where you're located. I'm finding my choices on the US site, so they might not exist on your netflix. But let's get into the movie.

The Tigger Movie focuses, as you may have guessed, on Tigger. When no one wants to jump with him he starts wonder if he has a family somewhere that are just like him, and decides to start looking for them. Winnie the Pooh and the rest of the friends tries to help, but sadly fail and make everything worse for Tigger.

This really is a great movie. The story is simple but powerful, dealing with family and loneliness, and how even the happiest guy in the group can have a hard time. The characters are all wonderful, you have a great time hanging with them. Even though this is Tigger's movie, all the characters get screentime and their "moment", something that can be difficult with a semi big cast but they pull it off well. But they also know where the focus should be, on Tigger. The animation is also really good, it's smooth and they manage to get a lot of expression out of the characters. The movie is heavy with emotion, so I will warn you, you might shed a tear. But it's also funny and very sweet, and if you have missed it, you should go and watch it now.

Images: Netflix.com, Disney.com

Review: The Simpsons Guy (spoiler-ish)

I watched the Family Guy/The Simpsons crossover episode yesterday, and I'm gonna write down my thoughts on it. Though first what I think about the shows themselves. The Simpsons is my favorite show. It's funny, smart and heartfelt. I have five seasons on DVD and I've listened to all the commentaries on them. I've watched all the episodes up until about season 22. I'm a big Simpsons fan.

As for Family guy. I don't think the show is very good. I don't like the humor which often goes too far and is often pretty insulting. The characters are pretty unlikeable and mostly very mean to each other. That said, I do enjoy watching it every now and then when I'm in that kind of mood. Nothing deep, nothing emotional, just want something to take my mind of other things. I've watched maybe five full seasons of it, and many episodes here and there.














So when I go into this episode I feel a bit cringy. I expect it to be pretty bad. The first scenes feels like filler, everyone is just waiting for the part where they meet the Simpsons. I think the writers were thinking that too, which makes the first five minutes pretty boring.

When they get to Springfield, it feels pretty good. It feels home, when Homer shows up it's pretty funny, though I did question why he would pay for their doughnuts. Seing the families together is pretty surreal, as you would expect, but it's handled pretty well. The meetings are fun, especially Brians meeting with Santa's Little Helper. The dynamic between Stewie and Bart is pretty interesting, while the one between Lisa and Meg doesn't really do anything unexpected. Marge and Louis don't get anything to work with. The big focus is of course on Homer and Peter. It's fun to see how they get along and I find it pretty realistic, I'm buying that they could befriend each other, especially from Homer's side, since he has a habit of making friends (not always the best ones).

The conflict in the episode is basically symbolism for the Simpsons vs. Family guy argument and if Family Guy is copying The Simpsons. It's super obvious and that's how they want to runt it. And for a while, it's pretty funny. I laugh at just how many characters are so alike. The writers knew what to do with the episode, they knew it was just gonna be fanservice.

But then, that fanservice gets too far out, the last ten minutes. A long fight between Peter and Homer. I'm sure this is what most people have wanted to see for a long time, but it doesn't do it for me. It's ridiculous even in normal Family Guy episodes, but when Homer is involved it just feels so weird and wrong.

That's the core problem with this episode. Family Guy goes places where The Simpsons will never go. The Simpsons would never have those kinds of jokes, and although Homer has punched people, he has never gotten into this kind of a fight before. And that's where this episode loses me. The Simpsons are acting out of character, which takes me out of it. I know this isn't really Springfield, I know this isn't the real characters. It all feels fake. The Simpsons will never play on Family Guy's rules. The episode felt Family Guy-run, and it's a shame because if it had been run by The Simpsons it would have worked waay better. But as it is now, I was plesantly surprised, but it could have been so much better.

Images: Fox