The Tale of Princess Kaguya
Showing posts with label princess. Show all posts
Showing posts with label princess. Show all posts
Thursday, November 13, 2014
Movie Review: The Tale of Princess Kaguya
I was under the impression that this movie had a one-night only showing in DC and was unhappy that I wouldn't have a chance to see it, until I checked back a week later and discovered it was a one week showing so I still had time! (and right after I bought this ticket I realized another location had opened up for the next week with a possibly even cheaper ticket price, curses) The movie won't be playing long in the rest of the country either so I bumped this up my reviewing queue a bit and let's get to it!
Monday, October 22, 2012
Movie Review: Brave
So, once again months behind everyone else, I finally had a chance to see the other movie from this summer that I was interested in, Pixar's latest offering. I had heard that a lot of reviews for it were just average/mediocre, and the fact that they switched directors in the middle didn't fill me with confidence, but I was going to try and go in with a positive attitude and see how much I enjoyed it for myself.
Brave
Summary: Merdia is the only daughter and oldest child and since her father is a king this means that she has to marry the son of one of the other chieftains in order to help keep the piece. Merdia feels overwhelmed and unhappy that she has to get married at such a young age and is frustrated by how her mother is going along with all of this and just wants to get her on her side to help. So when offered a chance to change her fate she takes it, although of course changing fate is never that easy and she soon has even more problems to worry about.
The Good: It's nice to see Pixar branch out more and have another movie about an actual human (I know that Up and The Incredibles were about people as well but I can't think of any other movies off the top of my head) and it was nice to see them do a period piece as well. Honestly I keep thinking of this movie and Tangled as if they were sisters, Pixar takes a bit of a Disney-esque plot and Disney takes Pixar's art style, at this point it's really hard to tell where one part of that big company ends and the other begins.
The Bad: I shall be blunt, I didn't like this film. I felt like it was trying too hard to force humor in (when usually a Pixar film has funny events happen in a more natural way, I've seen this kind of parent-child conflict in stories before and have seen it better, Merida and her mother's relationship was just so cliched that I stopped taking it seriously partway through. As others have pointed out, Disney has actually done practically the exact same plot years ago in another film (which I only saw parts of and didn't think was that great either) and, in a more minor nitpick, I really didn't like the witch at all. Sometimes you can pull off having a character in a historical(ish) setting making more modern references and it can be funny but it didn't work at all here, again it felt like Pixar was trying too hard to force the humor and I really wonder if that humor was in the script from the beginning or if it happened after the director change.
The Audio: While it's not uncommon to have insert songs in a Disney film (or really any film) I thought this movie was spamming them with three or four in 90 minutes (the first one came really early as well and made me think of something weird and amusing but I can't remember what, I just remember thinking that it was reminding me of something totally unlike Brave which was a bad thing). Voice acting was fine, I think just about every actor was from inside the UK, quite a few from Scotland itself. The movie certainly had nice production values, just not the story to match it.
The Visuals: One thing I did whole-heartedly like was how this movie looked, the characters look realistic enough that they don't seem strange (like saw the people in the first Toy Story movie, man they were kinda creepy) but are still cartoony, it's a hard balance to strike but it works well here. There was obviously a ton of effort that went into each scene and yeah, it looked really great and as always I wonder how much better Pixar can get since it always seems like they've reached their peak and then they astound us again.
So yeah, did not like this film at all and I'm rather disappointed, they had an idea which (while not groundbreaking) they could've done something nice with and instead it felt like they made a movie because they had to make a movie. Fingers crossed that Wreck-It Ralph turns out much better, or that some of the new Dreamworks films turn out well also.
Brave
Summary: Merdia is the only daughter and oldest child and since her father is a king this means that she has to marry the son of one of the other chieftains in order to help keep the piece. Merdia feels overwhelmed and unhappy that she has to get married at such a young age and is frustrated by how her mother is going along with all of this and just wants to get her on her side to help. So when offered a chance to change her fate she takes it, although of course changing fate is never that easy and she soon has even more problems to worry about.
The Good: It's nice to see Pixar branch out more and have another movie about an actual human (I know that Up and The Incredibles were about people as well but I can't think of any other movies off the top of my head) and it was nice to see them do a period piece as well. Honestly I keep thinking of this movie and Tangled as if they were sisters, Pixar takes a bit of a Disney-esque plot and Disney takes Pixar's art style, at this point it's really hard to tell where one part of that big company ends and the other begins.
The Bad: I shall be blunt, I didn't like this film. I felt like it was trying too hard to force humor in (when usually a Pixar film has funny events happen in a more natural way, I've seen this kind of parent-child conflict in stories before and have seen it better, Merida and her mother's relationship was just so cliched that I stopped taking it seriously partway through. As others have pointed out, Disney has actually done practically the exact same plot years ago in another film (which I only saw parts of and didn't think was that great either) and, in a more minor nitpick, I really didn't like the witch at all. Sometimes you can pull off having a character in a historical(ish) setting making more modern references and it can be funny but it didn't work at all here, again it felt like Pixar was trying too hard to force the humor and I really wonder if that humor was in the script from the beginning or if it happened after the director change.
The Audio: While it's not uncommon to have insert songs in a Disney film (or really any film) I thought this movie was spamming them with three or four in 90 minutes (the first one came really early as well and made me think of something weird and amusing but I can't remember what, I just remember thinking that it was reminding me of something totally unlike Brave which was a bad thing). Voice acting was fine, I think just about every actor was from inside the UK, quite a few from Scotland itself. The movie certainly had nice production values, just not the story to match it.
The Visuals: One thing I did whole-heartedly like was how this movie looked, the characters look realistic enough that they don't seem strange (like saw the people in the first Toy Story movie, man they were kinda creepy) but are still cartoony, it's a hard balance to strike but it works well here. There was obviously a ton of effort that went into each scene and yeah, it looked really great and as always I wonder how much better Pixar can get since it always seems like they've reached their peak and then they astound us again.
So yeah, did not like this film at all and I'm rather disappointed, they had an idea which (while not groundbreaking) they could've done something nice with and instead it felt like they made a movie because they had to make a movie. Fingers crossed that Wreck-It Ralph turns out much better, or that some of the new Dreamworks films turn out well also.
Friday, June 1, 2012
Manga Review: Sakura-Hime The Legend of Princess Sakura
So by now I have moved back home for the summer and that means I have two totally different libraries to get my books from, although sadly for one of them I've been checking out books from their comic section for almost five years now so there's not a lot of stuff left. This one is one of the new titles they seem to have picked up since last August or so which made me happy since I checked out the first chapter preview on Viz's manga site and it seemed not fantastic but alright. Now, was that first impression an accurate one?
Sakura-Hime: The Legend of Princess Sakura by Arina Tanemura
The Art: Even after enjoying a few of her works I still find Tanemura’s work a bit
jarring, she draws the eyes too large and the faces too pointy for my tastes
and I suspect I’m not the only person who feels that way. Everything else about
the art fine, everything seemed to flow well, characters looked distinct enough
from each other (within the series, compared to all of her other characters it's hard to tell them apart), and the artwork also remained consistent enough. I would
hesitate to recommend this series because of the art since it is very, very,
modern shojo-y, but I expect it won’t bother people who are familiar with her
other works or series like say Fruits
Basket.
So that's it, I'd read more if given the chance but, since I don't, I won't sweat it. Starting to get a little worried since I thought there would be more manga at my public library I'd like but at least I still have the entire section at the college library to get through, I only just began to browse that last year and hopefully that will last me a few more months.
*if you would like to get technical, Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne is the only truly magical girl series she's done but I also count this as Full Moon o Sagashite/Seraching for the Full Moon since that involved magical transformations and there are other series that are considered "magical girl" shows that involve the main character transforming primarily to become an idol (it's also my favorite out of all her works and I was quite disappointed in how the anime made it less tragic).
Sakura-Hime: The Legend of Princess Sakura by Arina Tanemura
Summary: Sakura is an orphaned princess with no living family and so, as much as she hates the idea, will soon be married to her finance, second Prince Aoba. However it turns out there more to Sakura that meets the eye, her grandmother was the legendary Princess Kaguya and she has inherited some of her powers and the perils that come with them.
The
Good: There was an interesting twist in this volume
(not in the first chapter or I would have mentioned it) did set the series apart from other standard magical girl shows (actually, while the twist is very dissimilar it does remind me a little bit of one of her other works, Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne) in a good way. It provides different conflicts and does genuinely make me want to read more, although sadly my library doesn't have any of the other volumes and there are enough things that I don't like that I'm hesitant to blind-buy the rest of the volumes.
The
Bad: With only three or four chapters in the volume
it seemed to go by very quickly and I felt like not much actually happened by
the end of the volume. The volume was the average, 180 pages length but I wish
the pacing at been a tad bit faster (especially since I had already read the
one chapter preview on Viz’s website, which is great but means that even less
of the story was new to me), the last chapter could have easily been three-fourths/two-thirds as long as it was and nothing would have been missed. Also, aside from that twist and it's implications on the plot, nothing is making me want to hunt down more volumes (abet that is a pretty convincing reason). The characters feel flat so far, the setting is more than simply cliched, and this is at least the third magical-girl (kinda) series Tanemura has done*, there's not much new territory covered here. For that reason I'd only recommend this manga to either people who are big fans of magical girl series or someone who enjoys shojo but hasn't read a ton of it (so 15 year old me I suppose).
So that's it, I'd read more if given the chance but, since I don't, I won't sweat it. Starting to get a little worried since I thought there would be more manga at my public library I'd like but at least I still have the entire section at the college library to get through, I only just began to browse that last year and hopefully that will last me a few more months.
*if you would like to get technical, Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne is the only truly magical girl series she's done but I also count this as Full Moon o Sagashite/Seraching for the Full Moon since that involved magical transformations and there are other series that are considered "magical girl" shows that involve the main character transforming primarily to become an idol (it's also my favorite out of all her works and I was quite disappointed in how the anime made it less tragic).
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Movie Review: Tangled
Initially when Tangled came out I had no intent to see it since it was yet another Disney princess movie and I haven’t been really interested in those for a long while now (yes I did see The Princess and the Frog but that was more because it was hand animated). But, partially after seeing this post on Sounis (comparing a main character from A Conspiracy of Kings to one of the main characters in Tangled) and partially because it was playing at school (as I’ve said before, I see a lot of movies here because it’s really hard for a movie to not be worth at least the $1 admission) I saw it recently and ended up enjoying it more than I expected.
Tangled
Summary: Long ago, Rapunzel was the new born princess to a happy king and queen but circumstances of her birth made a witch steal her away and lock her up in a tower, raising Rapunzel as her own child instead. And while she is content with her life in the tower she does long to see the floating lights that appear in the sky every year on her birthday. So when a thief comes to her tower to hide she bullies him into taking her to see those lights and ends up with more of an adventure than she expected.
The Good: From all the trailers I thought that Flynn was the main character (which apparently was the intent of the trailers) so I was happily surprised to find out that Rapunzel was instead and that she was a pretty capable lead*. However, I loved Maximus more than any other character in the movie (actually, the trailers made me think that he was Flynn’s accomplice, not a villain of sorts) and every moment he was on screen was hysterical. A lot of the physical humor was funny actually, I laughed quite a bit and I'd certainly recommend the movie to friends for those gags alone. I was entertained when I saw this movie and that should speak for itself
The Bad: Not my favorite Disney movie (or even Disney Princess movie, Mulan is still my favorite) and Rapunzel acted fairly immature for being 17 or 18 in the movie, wish Disney had just made her 15 or 16 in that case. And I have to admit, one of the early songs with Rapunzel singing about all the things that she did all day (very traditionally feminine things she does all day) just rubbed me the wrong way. No I have nothing against women who enjoy doing things like cooking and cleaning all day (I'm just not one of them) but I felt like Disney was saying "Look at her, she'll be the perfect wife for someone soon!" Just wish she had been a little more, active in her activities, especially considering how active she is in the story later on. Bascially, the horse really was my favorite character and I just didn't like Flynn and Rapunzel as much as I could have.
The Art: I found this post (and this one) after I saw the movie and I’m really amazed at just how much detail the animators managed to stick in this movie. That’s a definite plus to CGI movies I suppose, adding in extra detail without taking up extra time, so I’m glad to see Disney taking advantage of it. I didn’t particularly like Rapunleze’s character design actually (I’ve always thought that Disney eyes are really big, yes this is coming from the anime fan) but the whole movie looked very good.
The Music: I had forgotten that, since this is a Disney Princess movie, that there would be a lot of singing in it. I didn’t really like any of the songs (which is odd, usually I like at least one of the songs in these movies, as silly as I feel admitting it) but nothing really clicked with me here. Well done music for sure, big orchestra that was well composed but nothing that I loved.
So, I don't have the urge to run out and buy this movie now but I am happy I saw it and did really enjoy parts of it. But I never was as fond of princess stories as other girls were (heck, as a kid I was making up stories about my stuffed animals, especially the bears, and my favorite fairy tale was a toss up between the girl disguised as a boy who saved the prince and the cat and dog who saved the day, I'm just not the target audience here) and I'm still not as fond of them now. Although, I do have the urge to re-read Talking with Dragons now after all the frying pan humor, hmmmmm.
*I approve of having a frying pan as a weapon by the way, ended up reminding me of The Enchanted Forest Chronicles quite a bit and those are some of the books that got me into fantasy in the first place.
Tangled
Summary: Long ago, Rapunzel was the new born princess to a happy king and queen but circumstances of her birth made a witch steal her away and lock her up in a tower, raising Rapunzel as her own child instead. And while she is content with her life in the tower she does long to see the floating lights that appear in the sky every year on her birthday. So when a thief comes to her tower to hide she bullies him into taking her to see those lights and ends up with more of an adventure than she expected.
The Good: From all the trailers I thought that Flynn was the main character (which apparently was the intent of the trailers) so I was happily surprised to find out that Rapunzel was instead and that she was a pretty capable lead*. However, I loved Maximus more than any other character in the movie (actually, the trailers made me think that he was Flynn’s accomplice, not a villain of sorts) and every moment he was on screen was hysterical. A lot of the physical humor was funny actually, I laughed quite a bit and I'd certainly recommend the movie to friends for those gags alone. I was entertained when I saw this movie and that should speak for itself
The Bad: Not my favorite Disney movie (or even Disney Princess movie, Mulan is still my favorite) and Rapunzel acted fairly immature for being 17 or 18 in the movie, wish Disney had just made her 15 or 16 in that case. And I have to admit, one of the early songs with Rapunzel singing about all the things that she did all day (very traditionally feminine things she does all day) just rubbed me the wrong way. No I have nothing against women who enjoy doing things like cooking and cleaning all day (I'm just not one of them) but I felt like Disney was saying "Look at her, she'll be the perfect wife for someone soon!" Just wish she had been a little more, active in her activities, especially considering how active she is in the story later on. Bascially, the horse really was my favorite character and I just didn't like Flynn and Rapunzel as much as I could have.
The Art: I found this post (and this one) after I saw the movie and I’m really amazed at just how much detail the animators managed to stick in this movie. That’s a definite plus to CGI movies I suppose, adding in extra detail without taking up extra time, so I’m glad to see Disney taking advantage of it. I didn’t particularly like Rapunleze’s character design actually (I’ve always thought that Disney eyes are really big, yes this is coming from the anime fan) but the whole movie looked very good.
The Music: I had forgotten that, since this is a Disney Princess movie, that there would be a lot of singing in it. I didn’t really like any of the songs (which is odd, usually I like at least one of the songs in these movies, as silly as I feel admitting it) but nothing really clicked with me here. Well done music for sure, big orchestra that was well composed but nothing that I loved.
So, I don't have the urge to run out and buy this movie now but I am happy I saw it and did really enjoy parts of it. But I never was as fond of princess stories as other girls were (heck, as a kid I was making up stories about my stuffed animals, especially the bears, and my favorite fairy tale was a toss up between the girl disguised as a boy who saved the prince and the cat and dog who saved the day, I'm just not the target audience here) and I'm still not as fond of them now. Although, I do have the urge to re-read Talking with Dragons now after all the frying pan humor, hmmmmm.
*I approve of having a frying pan as a weapon by the way, ended up reminding me of The Enchanted Forest Chronicles quite a bit and those are some of the books that got me into fantasy in the first place.
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