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Reviews
Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2021)
Very Lazy Shot-for-Shot Retelling of the First Book
I just watched this movie, and it was so dull and lazily written.
The movie acts like its viewers have already read the books, so it doesn't really have to try at surprise you or interest you with anything. This movie is just a shot-for-shot retelling of the first book with nothing new being added to it, and it doesn't try to get you invested in it.
The movie is only fifty-eight minutes long and tries to cram the entire plot of the first book into it, which makes scenes feel very rushed and forced, particularly the scene where Greg and Rowley end their friendship over a comic as opposed to the book and live action movie which had Rowley getting fed up with Greg's mistreatment of him.
Unlike the book and live action movie that gave a lot of good jokes, this movie's jokes are so very basic that I personally didn't laugh at any of them once.
Word of advice: If you want to watch this movie, that's perfectly fine. But, if you're expecting this movie to make you laugh out loud and invested in its writing, I'd say just go reread the first book or rewatch the live action movie. Both of those are so much better and actually try more than this movie did.
Straight Outta Nowhere: Scooby-Doo! Meets Courage the Cowardly Dog (2021)
Everything You'd Expect From Scooby-Doo and Courage Crossing Over, and a Huge Step Forward For the Scooby-Doo! Direct-to-DVD Series
As a Scooby-Doo! Movie in the Direct-to-DVD series, this one was definitely a massive step forward. Unlike some of the previous ones that didn't seem to want to flesh out the supernatural elements and just stick to the franchise's typical bad guy in costume and everything supernatural is fake formula, this was one of the recent Scooby-Doo! Movies that didn't have a problem with dropping the formula and embracing the supernatural elements, which is nice since sticking to the formula would have been playing it safe and be boring.
As a Scooby-Doo! And Courage crossover, this movie was amazing. Even though the creator John R. Dilworth wasn't involved with this movie, it's definitely an example of how something can still be good even without the creator on board. Not that having John on board wouldn't be a good thing since he always had an amazing direction for his show, it just still ended up being a great movie even without him. Noticeably, the movie seems to be more focused on the Courage elements than the Scooby-Doo! Elements like in the climax where it was only Courage who was battling the Cicada, which isn't really a bad thing since every year we're always up to our necks in new Scooby-Doo! Content and we haven't had anything Courage related since the Fog of Courage special.
The Courage the Cowardly Dog cast all seemed portrayed faithfully to the show, though the only difference I have noticed is that Courage seemed more obsessed with food in this movie than he did in the show, and he could also be a bit childish much like Scooby-Doo.
I loved all the references to Courage episodes that were all over the place at the Mayor's mansion. It really did seem like that the people who made this movie had a strong desire to try and make it dedicated to the Courage fans.
All of the voice acting is well done, too. Both Marty and Thea were still great as Courage and Muriel. I love how they got Paul Schoeffer to reprise his roles as Katz and Le Quack. Jeff Bergman was a pretty good Eustace, though a few lines I could hear him accidentally slip into his Fred Flintstone voice. I actually wish that he was cast as Eustace in Fog of Courage instead of Wallace Shawn.
The animation was good, too. Even though it's not as good as the visual design of the show that always had a very unique use of its color choices for its background designs particularly in the episode "The Demon in the Mattress", it was still good.
The only critiques I have for this movie was that there were moments that tended to drag on such as the scene where Scooby, Shaggy, and Courage were trying to fool the Cicada by using disguises, and I wish that Thea White's passing was acknowledged in the end credits since her death was pretty tragic and this is her final time voicing Muriel.
I would definitely consider this a really great Scooby-Doo! And Courage crossover, and also a really great Scooby-Doo! Direct-to-DVD movie. And I can't wait to see the direction for the next movies if it continues to follow the direction of fleshing out its supernatural elements.
My Little Pony Equestria Girls: Forgotten Friendship (2018)
An okay Equestria Girls TV special, and not really the best in this series
Out of all the Equestria Girls movies and specials I've seen, this film had concepts that actually had great potential and some of them do meet up to the expectations, and some of them really don't.
Pros:
1. Sunset Shimmer's reunion with Princess Celestia is hands down the highlight of the film since Sunset was her top student before Twilight came along, and we never really got to explore their relationship in the previous films though flashbacks or see them make amends. And the interactions they have is both funny and heartwarming, and it actually makes the film very much worth watching.
2. Sunset's relationship with Trixie is also worth a watch since they both have plenty of screen time working together and building a chemistry that's as good as the chemistry between Starlight Glimmer and Trixie back in Equestria, which even adds to giving human Trixie some character development on her part.
Cons:
1. The main plot of everyone forgetting Sunset Shimmer's redemption is a big critique for me because they don't really do much with it outside of everyone thinking that Sunset is still a bully and it feels rather mean-spirited towards her. Even Sunset's friends Sci-Twi and the others forget about her redemption, and they don't do anything with them either. They only made Sci-Twi questioning her nice behavior towards them, but that's completely tossed out the window eventually and none of them actually step up to truly see that if Sunset has changed and it waits until the villain reveals herself, which doesn't really speak out how strong their bond is even if their memories of Sunset are erased.
2. The villain of the special Wallflower Blush is a weak villain. She was meant to be a sympathetic villain who was an outcast and wanted to ruin Sunset's life and prove she hasn't really changed because Sunset ignored her. This is the kind of villain that you could easily make sympathetic and relatable by giving her a good amount of focus and making her motive match up with her actions, but sadly they don't do that and instead make her a twist villain with not much screen time to build up investment in her status as an outcast and she has a weak motive. Her motive is weak due to her targeting of Sunset because Sunset didn't really do anything to match up that intense hatred Wallflower has towards her. They could have made this work if Wallflower was instead written to be an outcast who was the main victim of Sunset's bullying all the time with no break and was still ignored even after Sunset changed her ways with Sunset not even walking up to her to apologize, which would actually feel like a more justified motive that would definitely come back to bite Sunset in the back after being such a nasty bully.
Overall thoughts: This special was fine. It had some heartwarming and funny moments and a touching reunion between Sunset and Princess Celestia. But the rest of the movie feels rather mean-spirited towards Sunset and there's no real justification for it due to the villain's weak motive and nothing really being done with it other than forgetting that Sunset is not a bully anymore, and it also feels a bit unnecessary since Sunset already had a redemption plot back in Rainbow Rocks that was so well received and made her a popular character among the fanbase. Not to mention, I just found it unpleasant because I really warmed up to this character since Rainbow Rocks and she is just such a likable character with so many great moments in this series that watching her go through this stuff in this special without really doing anything to deserve it is just really sad and unjustified. But still, there is plenty that I got out of this, so I'm glad I watched it in the end.
My Little Pony: Pony Life (2020)
Not as good as the phenomenal Friendship Is Magic, but it was at least better than what I was expecting
As a fan of the original show, I was quite sad to see it go and wished they could have continued it with a tenth season. When this show was announced, I was skeptical because of how much of a downfall comedic reboots have been since Teen Titans Go!. But, I decided to give it a chance since many of the staff of past MLP shows and movies in the 2010's would be working on this show. My thoughts on MLP: Pony Life are definitely better than what I was expecting. I definitely couldn't call it the Teen Titans Go! of MLP because Teen Titans Go! is bad in so many ways.
My thoughts on the first two episodes: Both episodes had some funny jokes and the animation that had a very energized flow, which is common for comedic shows. The Mane 6 are their usual selves from the original, but there are a few changes like Applejack being able to break the fourth wall and Fluttershy's "dark side" being front and center more than the original. There's also much greater focus put on there more comedic sides of their characterizations from the original like Twilight's crazy overreactions, Rarity's drama, Celestia's goof ball moments, and I actually think that's one of the things that makes Celestia stand out more in the original. The voice acting is phenomenal as usual, and the characters do sound like they usually did in the original show.
I do have a couple of critiques of this show so far. One is the running time. I felt like the first episode was rather rushed with Pinkie's dilemma about being under pressure, and I think the episode could have spent more time to focus on that with her coming to grips of just being herself with a more better pace so that viewers who can relate to messing up under pressing could relate to it more. With a twenty minute running time like the original instead of eleven, I do think that could have made better pacing. Another critique I have but hopefully this will be addressed in later episodes, is that fan favorite characters from the original like Discord, Princess Luna, and "The Great and Powerful Trixie!" aren't in this show. I really hope they will appear in later episodes because they really helped established an identity for the original, and they always had so many great moments.
My overall thoughts: I think it's just okay. Not bad as a start, it's way better than Teen Titans Go!, it will obviously not surpass the original because of how much of the original established among itself with its world and characters, but I do think this show is nice enough to serve as a coping mechanism for a very great show that helped give the 2010's cartoons an identity with its comedy and likable characters. I don't really think it needed to exist since we can simply watch reruns of the original as it had over 200 episodes which is pretty impressive and good for binge watching , but I still think it's good enough and it may probably improve later on hopefully.