Like, I get that they need to make their money back without a theatrical release… but paying the premium ON TOP of the subscription service? For a less than theater experience? At the price of three tickets? To not even own a physical copy?
No way.
Like, I get that they need to make their money back without a theatrical release… but paying the premium ON TOP of the subscription service? For a less than theater experience? At the price of three tickets? To not even own a physical copy?
No way.
Like, I get that they need to make their money back without a theatrical release… but paying the premium ON TOP of the subscription service? For a less than theater experience? At the price of three tickets? To not even own a physical copy?
No way.
I might do it for the Marvel movies to be honest
sigh My family might end up doing it just because we're Asian.
My take on Raya, as a script it was beautiful animated.
! Tropey but not in a bad sense - found family is always a good trope, the history of kumedra and how it was fractured into 5 clans was never addressed; you could travel the whole country/continent in a week(?) boat raid. Fang never faced the consequences of unleashing a civilization end event during a peace conference for a power play, the whole queer baiting between Raya and Fang princess, the too easy heel turn of Noi (con baby) and Tong (Spine chief),
Raya and the Last Dragon was…fine.
! Before anyone asks, no, I didn’t pay the $30 to watch it on Disney+, I saw it in the theater.
! So, this is pretty much Disney’s take on Avatar: The Last Airbender (hell, right down to the title now that I think of it) in that it’s an adventure set in a mystical pseudo-Asian world. And the world and story are fine, but there’s really not much surprising about it. It does about what you’d expect.
! Raya is a fairly typical warrior type of girl, who at first seemed like she was going to be obnoxiously flawless, but she grew on me as the movie went.
! For those who were comparing Awkwafina dragon to Robin Williams’ Genie…yeah, no, she’s definitely not that. But she’s still a fun character. Probably the highlight of the movie.
! The supporting characters, for the most part, are fine, if a bit underdeveloped, but I suppose that’s to be expected from Disney movies.
! Good news is that there’s no surprise villains in this movie, though the ones we do get aren’t that great. The main villain is just a personality-less blob of evil, and it’s a shame they couldn’t have done more with it. And the other isn’t a pure evil villain type of villain, just someone with conflicting interests to Raya. She’s fine as a character. She’s really just the Zuko of the story.
! Structurally, the movie is basically a checklist movie in that, early on, the movie lists out a bunch of locations that Raya will inevitably have to visit to get the McGuffin, while also picking up some companions on the way, tying into the whole unity theme of the movie. The location themselves are nice and well-animated, but story-wise, again, there aren’t any real surprises and you’re kind of just waiting for Raya and co. to make it through all the locations to get to the end.
! Also, the movie has a weird tone problem that, at time, makes it feel like it should be a Dreamworks movie. Stuff like the con-baby or modern lingo inserts like “nerd” or “group school project” just feel a bit too screwball and out of place.
! So yeah, overall, it’s fine. It’s got a good, albeit on-the-nose, message about trust and unity, and you’ll probably have a nice time watching it. Just don’t expect too much.
!
More Dragon than Frozen but this thread is easier to find than the HTTYD one.
Also I guess this to be slightly more on theme.
track breakup
[hide]0:00 Speechless (Aladdin) [Epic Majestic Orchestral]
3:28 I'll Make A Man Out of You (Mulan) [Epic Orchestral]
7:15 How Far I'll Go (Moana) [Epic Orchestral Instrumental]
10:44 For The First Time in Forever (Frozen) [Epic Majestic Orchestral]
15:10 Arabian Nights (Aladdin) [Epic Majestic Orchestral]
18:20 I See The Light (Tangled) [Epic Orchestral Version]
20:43 Part of Your World (The Little Mermaid) [Epic Majestic Orhcestral]
23:55 Colors of The Wind (Pocahontas) [Epic Majestic Orchestral]
26:39 Reflection (Mulan) [Epic Orchestral]
29:53 Kingdom Dance (Tangled) [Epic Majestic Score]
32:48 I Am Moana (Moana) [Epic Orchestral]
35:04 Ultimate Incantations (Tangled: The Series) [Epic Orchestration]
37:41 A Whole New World [Epic Orchestral][/hide]
Also I guess this to be slightly more on theme.
track breakup
[hide]0:00 Speechless (Aladdin) [Epic Majestic Orchestral]
3:28 I'll Make A Man Out of You (Mulan) [Epic Orchestral]
7:15 How Far I'll Go (Moana) [Epic Orchestral Instrumental]
10:44 For The First Time in Forever (Frozen) [Epic Majestic Orchestral]
15:10 Arabian Nights (Aladdin) [Epic Majestic Orchestral]
18:20 I See The Light (Tangled) [Epic Orchestral Version]
20:43 Part of Your World (The Little Mermaid) [Epic Majestic Orhcestral]
23:55 Colors of The Wind (Pocahontas) [Epic Majestic Orchestral]
26:39 Reflection (Mulan) [Epic Orchestral]
29:53 Kingdom Dance (Tangled) [Epic Majestic Score]
32:48 I Am Moana (Moana) [Epic Orchestral]
35:04 Ultimate Incantations (Tangled: The Series) [Epic Orchestration]
37:41 A Whole New World [Epic Orchestral][/hide]
How cool is that? Also I don't remember "Speechless" from Aladdin, what scene was that?
How cool is that? Also I don't remember "Speechless" from Aladdin, what scene was that?
Jasmine's song in the live action version.
Good song even if the movie is pointless.
Well that explains it, didn't bother to see it. After Cinderella all the live-action remakes apparently have been awful and/or pointless.
Well that explains it, didn't bother to see it. After Cinderella all the live-action remakes apparently have been awful and/or pointless.
Aladdin is the only one I thought was any good.
Oh boy who you've had guessed that charging money for a movie on a streaming service they already paid was a bad idea?
Yeah no. AUdiences didn't say no to the film, they said no to the pricing.
You'd figure after Mulan someone would've wisened the fuck up but MONEY MOTHERFUCKERS.
Disney fucking movies over with bizarre release strategies isn't new. Any fans of Treasure Planet here? That's one of my favorite Disney movies if only because of setting and art.
Disney fucking movies over with bizarre release strategies isn't new. Any fans of Treasure Planet here? That's one of my favorite Disney movies if only because of setting and art.
Ah yes, love that movie. Incredibly creative and has a very lovable and memorable villain with a satisfying ending~
Ah yes, love that movie. Incredibly creative and has a very lovable and memorable villain with a satisfying ending~
And it still holds up so well. I didn't actually watch it until 2 years ago and I was just blown away at all of the things it does so well. That whole period of Disney films is pretty underrated imo.
If they wanted to get the money they'd normally get from the theaters, all they'd have to do is charge $10-15 (matinee or regular price). But no, THIRTY FUCKING DOLLARS. I thought you were smarter than that, Disney.
Trasure Planet is SO good that when I went to check Stevenson's novel I was kinda disappointed lol
loved the movie's "Long John Silver"
Treasure Island is a good book, it's just not . . . Disney Sci-Fi.
Saw Raya. It was super pretty but I knew literally in the first two minutes I wasn't going to be impressed
non spoiler spoilers
! It starts with an intensive "here's the backstory" lore dump flashback to explain everything that it seems all fantasy things want to do. So as soon as they did that I knew there wasn't going to be an immersive worldbuilding that let you ask questions then answer them later, it just handed everything on a platter. And scenes kept coming up and I just went "Man, if they hadn't explained this at the start I'd be wondering what that was about and drawn in instead."
! The opening 2 minute narrations should definitely have been held for later… and possibly the opening part where she was young as well though that would have been a pretty lengthy sequence to make a flashback..
! which, fine, Disney movie for kids, but there were like three different spots in the film where I went "the lore dump could have happened HERE and it'd have worked better." But. movie for kids.
! Aquafina the dragon I liked. I can understand why she'd rub some folks the wrong way, but she was pretty much the only character I did like. Her facial expressions amused me. Same problem Genie and Mushu have of being really out of place compared to where they are, but it worked.
spoilery spoilers
! it was very clearly a case where they wanted to do a tv series worth of content and adventures and crammed it down to a single movie. Like they tried to do the entire Zuko villain redemptive arc, but because of the formatting they had to do it in about 7 minutes instead of 60 episodes, and it just didn't work for me.
! They also did that theing where, AFTER spending the opening minutes over-explaining the backstory lazily, they start in the middle of an action beat and go "Oh I bet you're wondering how I ended up here? Well, let me tell you…" which I just HATE. It's lazy and extremely hard to pull off well. Just START with omething new and interesting, don't pick a cool moment from an hour in and then loop back around to it. That only works if there's some kind of twist to the first impression and its rare that it works. That's a personal pet peeve but i hate it when I see it.
And its just... too much. Why five kingdoms? That meant you had time to do set pieces and not much else in terms of character or world building. Make it three kingdoms instead and you could maybe have actually DONE something with any of them.
! It was basically the plot of Moana where they had two leads, spread over having six leads. And that's just spread too thin for essentially the same narrative.
! Also, they just completely lost me me they had the super ninja baby. Was it a disguise or a spirit or... anything? No, it was an actual baby that had kung fu and thieving skills with no explanation. They lost me completely there.
! Then the actual ending... they do a death cheat for the dragon and it just... doesn't have weight or impact. The pieces are there and the character reactions are correct but it just... didn't feel right or organic. Probably because they were cramming a 20 episode story into 90 minutes.
! I also don't understand why the magic ball at the end brought all the dragons back to life when it didn't do that the first time around. It was a bright and colorful visual and looked nice but... why?
! Visuals were pretty though the uncanny valley was strong on some of the more realistic designs. Now that CG animationis getting SO good with skin textures and motion capture and lighting effects, when the characters look real while cartoony... its just jarring. Designs need to be a little more out there or more vibrant for the style to work. I never had the problem with Moana or Tangled, but here I just got thrown off.
! All in all it was an excercise in frustration. the PIECES were there, and I feel like a slightly different edit of the film, with no actual footage change, just things moved around, and maybe a John Powell soundtrack, and it could have been great. It was close but it just completely failed to draw me in.
Basically I wasn't impressed outside of the visuals. My wife liked it okay though.
I sincerely think I would have enjoyed the entire film way more if I had skipped the opening two minutes, but I had no way to know that. Maybe I would have just been confused then. Or maybe I would have been more invested. No way to know.
If they wanted to get the money they'd normally get from the theaters, all they'd have to do is charge $10-15 (matinee or regular price). But no, THIRTY FUCKING DOLLARS. I thought you were smarter than that, Disney.
They charge you full family price. Even if you're alone. And even though its not the theater experience.
Also, Robby, I agree with basically everything you said.
Like I said on my post way earlier, basically I want my 107 minutes back.
Like, imagine if
! We got that one scene where the villain was walking past all the stone dragon statues covered in moss. And we DIDN'T have an explanation for that yet. You'd go "what's that about?" and then they could explain it later. It draws you in that way, it makes you ask questions. Without changing the scene at all… just rearranging the sequence makes a difference.
! Or what if when Kaya talks about her dad being gone and a betrayed friend, we hadn't seen ANY of the childhood stuff, and it was just backstory? And the details came out as we saw their encounters build and flesh that history out as they went? In exposition or mini flashbacks. Take that 20 minutes off the start of the film and just hold it for a bit or spread it to other things.
! Or if Raya had no idea of the history, no one did, since it'd been hundreds of years, until she frees the dragon? By then we've already seen the world, that its got things going on, that there's a purple plague thing.... and we have no idea why.. and then they get answers? Dragon had to exposition dump ANYWAY.
! I know I keep harping on that but I really do truly thing having that opening sequence messed up the film. If all that backstory had just been implicit in the world building and the visual storytelling, and we learned it as we went instead of an upfront info dump... the exact same movie would have been so much stronger.
! Convenient long asleep dragon provides the perfect chance to explain the world's current shape AND learn the origin at the same time and it was squandered.
! And really, REALLY... just cut one of the nations so that instead of a 5 part maguffin hunt it's a 4 part one instead. One less side character and one less set piece would have given everything else another 10 minutes to breathe and that may have helped.
Basically I agree with the video. Moana already did basically the same story, but with a smaller cast and better overall.
I just can't help but think about how something like Nausicaa handled the same things. Yeah its unfair to compare anything to Miyazaki and yet…
It's frustrating because I can't help but think all the PIECES were there and even most of the storytelling, but just... something didn't work and I really think its the opening.
Guys did you watch the latest Amphiabia episode
! What eldritch horror was that at the end? No wonder it's called calamity box.
Honest trailers is hit or miss but. Yeah. That one is spot on.
Honestly didn't know where to put this but this just made my week (and I just got over Covid!)
This is made by NECA, you may have seen their impressive Alien/Predator or Godzilla or TMNT or Back to the Future stuff in stores. I am so hyped to throw more of my money at them!
EDIT: Preorder here! (If you're interested, dont sleep on it. NECA figures can get notorious hard to find)
https://www.bigbadtoystore.com/Product/VariationDetails/156590
the feet size threw me on a Darkstalker loop. some very yaoi hands too, lol.
Daaaaannnggg. Now gimme a Brooklyn.
Extra points for including a jalapeno.
I hope they end up making Xanatos in these figures.
Their twitter says 5 more are already done and ready to go, with more on the pipleline.
No idea who the other five are for a first wave but there's some easy guesses.
gargoyles nut gushing
[hide]
Goluiath is obviously already there. Demona is a no brainer, whenever there's any merchandising that goes beyond Goliath she gets included, rightly so.
The other 4 are slightly harder to guess. Brooklyn, Broadway, Lexington, Hudson, Bronx make up the main clan but with only 4 other slots that's too many. Bronx and Lex probably get the short end here, they're very unique models that they wouldn't be able to reuse for anything else, while Hudson and Broadway can use the same base.. and you need to have some important characters in a second wave..
No way Angela makes it into a first wave. She was important to the show but she wasn't in the first 40 episodes. They'll be able to reuse Demona's mold for her mostly though she she's a no brainer for a second run..
The humans are where it gets tougher. Elisa is super important and the co-lead, but… "boring human." Important to fans, less to casual randoms. So I don't know if her importance would make her a required wave 1 or a "skippable but too important to ignore" wave 2.
Xanatos I could easily see being a wave 1 if they put him in the armor. Especially since from there its really easy to do a recolor job and make generic steel clan. (And also the token variant editions where all the gargs are in stone mode.)
Macbeth and Coldstone are the other biggies I can't see a line ignoring, but they would certainly be second wave characters.
That is a full 12 figures, a proper two waves. Hopefully it does well enough to get that far! A lot of lines don't. Anyone less recurring than that I wouldn't get hopes up for.
Thailog is kind of a no brainer too since he's literally a repaint of Goliath. Thailog with armor might be more of an ask. I would also expect "statue mode" variants of everyone.
(Yeah, I would go all in and get the Pack and Owen and Puck and King Arthur and Griff and whatever else, but I have to think the season 1 characters are mostly going to be the cutoff. And the Pack is hard when there's SIX of them, and they had multiple vastly different designs.)[/hide]
Macbeth is super cool when he's dressed all secret agent-ish, so after Xanatos he seems a no-brainer. He's definitely the human with the most impact on the story after Elisa and Xanatos, unless you count the Princess and Magus (and no way are they even second wave).
But I guess my number 1 want after we get Goliath and Demona is Brooklyn. He's 2nd in-command after all.
There's totally going to be a special edition Goliath recolored as Thailog.
Brooklyn and Demona are my 2nd and 3rd that I want to get after Xanataos. Also Brooklyn better comes with his motorcycle from the first season.
Oooh, is Disneyland going to add Wakanda?
https://screencrush.com/disneyland-black-panther-wakanda/?fbclid=IwAR3WUV8vYbeOLD4j_Kdq9wDfVecG2m4Bj5wgybNFz_o_LgLLAJCOy3YuXbE
Huh, disney + has gargoyles, who knew.
I am a very bad binger, I do it one day and then forget or pospone it too much if it is not holidays or something, I still am halfway through gravity falls. I watched all s1 in a weekend, but then just lost interest.
Some Genie jokes that could have been. Robin Williams was a fucking genius:
The Mr. Rogers just killed me.
Disney delays Amphibia finale on the last minute friday, it was supposed to be reschedule for three weeks after, let it go on air in VOD.
Why the fuck does the Mouse keeps screwing their content creators.
–- Update From New Post Merge ---
Matt is absolutely seething over the VOD leak.
--- Update From New Post Merge ---
he deleted this tweet but sentiment is still there
[hide]
[/hide]
I don't blame him being mad about the entire situation. I haven't seen something this bad with Disney since the cancellation of Wander the Yonder.
He is on his right, the show will probably end on third season like most Disney show, but they take out the finale of the schedule the day before/hours before it airs, haven't allocated it yet, and overall forgot/neglect to tell the sites that have the series on VOD to remove/don't air it. It's completely amateurish. And having watched the leak I probably know what the suits probably want edited out of the episode.
At this point, CN, Disney and Nick compete over who sabotage their shows the most. It's like if this show can't sell a gazillion toys cancel it.
Totally agree, I haven't been fan how Disney, CN, and Nick been treated some of their shows lately. This Amphibia situation is making me somewhat worried about both Owl House and Miraculous Ladybug.
Disney likely wanted the episode edited to censor it but True Colors getting "leaked" the way it did put a stop to that since the edits would have made an even bigger news story. Incompetence on the part of whoever was in charge of the digital releases may well have wound up protecting Matt's vision for the show.
So the content warning was a compromise.
I dont reall watch Amphibia, so I don't mind spoilers, but what the hell can this show do that would warrant such a reaction from Disney? And whatever it was how was it allowed to get to the point of finished animation?
I dont reall watch Amphibia, so I don't mind spoilers, but what the hell can this show do that would warrant such a reaction from Disney? And whatever it was how was it allowed to get to the point of finished animation?
! They "kill" one of the characters by throwing him off a cliff. He's dead for like 60 seconds, tops. But the characters get emotional and start crying during that before its revealed he's okay.
! Then they "kill" another one of the characters with a sword through the chest. For about five seconds.
! Neither is permanent. Or anywhere near as traumatizing as any of the actual deaths in say, Digimon.
! There's also some character betrayal stuff that doesn't mean anything if you don't watch the show but might be "intense" in a drama way
Nothing more intense than your typical anime would pull but it might be a bit shocking for a 5 year old watching.
I don't think anyone older than that would have issues.
It's super easy to see how it got finished, no one on staff would have thought it was controversial. This has to be an exec over-reacting
From how the trailer pictured things, could people also be thinking;
! The toad attack might be a little insensitive to all the protesting movements that have happened in the past year? It seems like they're going pretty far with looting and just being general assholes, instead of just an army trying to overthrow the current leadership. Not to mention anything else going on right now.
! I'm sure the girl getting stabbed was a big part of it though.