Well I have to say, I was overall disappointed, because there was a thicker plot and more tension and emotion in Night of the Doctor than this movie. The regeneration scene was unnecessarily long, it took even longer than that for the main plot to begin advancing, and there was little to develop characters other than the 8th Doctor himself. That said, I did find Grace Holloway compelling, I just think that more could've been done to establish who she was. Too much of the plot did seem to simple, we never got to see the Doctor play the detective or outsmart his enemies, what he had to do was obvious.
I guess I'm being a bit harsh, there wasn't anything particularly bad about this movie, it just seemed empty. Part of the problem was that I'd actually seen Night of the Doctor (a 7min episode featuring Paul McGann made in 2013) which is among Steven Moffat's best work, if not one of the best Dr. Who stories. Because of that I was expecting more from McGann.
That said I don't blame him, he was easily the best think about this movie, it just seemed the empty plot didn't really provide him with much of a chance to be Doctory. He still conveyed what you'd expect of any Doctor in his situation, just that he didn't get to show of his intellect because there was no cause to out-think his opponent.
I found some of the concepts irritating, like the Doctor being half human (I know it's a cliché to say that) which didn't really add things to the plot. I didn't really like the concept behind the eye of harmony either. I didn't mind too many of the other Americanisms and if the plot was less bloated I think it would've been interesting to see a different style of Doctor Who, as the show does need to change to remain interesting. That said the chase scenes were boring and there wasn't much tension until the last 10 minuets of the show.
Interestingly, it was actually shorter than the standard cumulative runtime of a classic who story (4 25min episodes = 1:40 while the movie was 1:24)
I guess I'm being a bit harsh, there wasn't anything particularly bad about this movie, it just seemed empty. Part of the problem was that I'd actually seen Night of the Doctor (a 7min episode featuring Paul McGann made in 2013) which is among Steven Moffat's best work, if not one of the best Dr. Who stories. Because of that I was expecting more from McGann.
That said I don't blame him, he was easily the best think about this movie, it just seemed the empty plot didn't really provide him with much of a chance to be Doctory. He still conveyed what you'd expect of any Doctor in his situation, just that he didn't get to show of his intellect because there was no cause to out-think his opponent.
I found some of the concepts irritating, like the Doctor being half human (I know it's a cliché to say that) which didn't really add things to the plot. I didn't really like the concept behind the eye of harmony either. I didn't mind too many of the other Americanisms and if the plot was less bloated I think it would've been interesting to see a different style of Doctor Who, as the show does need to change to remain interesting. That said the chase scenes were boring and there wasn't much tension until the last 10 minuets of the show.
Interestingly, it was actually shorter than the standard cumulative runtime of a classic who story (4 25min episodes = 1:40 while the movie was 1:24)