Tag: superheroes

movie

He is the God of Thunder, from the Planet, Asgard – Let’s Review “Thor: Ragnarok” (2017)

Sunayna Prasad

Warning: Contains spoilers***

I’ve never been a superhero fan, regardless of brand or characters. I saw “Thor Ragnarok” at a birthday party a little over a year ago. It turned out better than I thought. However, I will say that I didn’t love it.

The film starts with Thor is some underworld environment. He then joins his father and brother. Thor discovers that the planet, Asgard, is in danger. In fact, an evil woman, named Hela, gains so much power and puts the whole planet in danger as she becomes a tyrant.

Thor is whisked away to another planet, where there are messed up beings and cannibals. Thor is imprisoned somewhere. Not long after, his hair is cut and he has to fight the Hulk in a stadium. Meanwhile, Asgard is falling apart. It takes time for Thor to get others to trust him and try to save his planet.

Unfortunately, the planet is pretty much destroyed once Thor arrives. The people there have to move to Earth.

The film was interesting. I will admit that. But I found some things disappointing, like when Thor had his long hair chopped off (I actually have a super-painful memory of me experiencing my hair chopped off years ago) as well as his eye removed. I felt sorry for Thor’s hair to be cut and right after that, the crowd booing at him. At least the scissors guy let Thor keep his beard. As for the eye, something satisfying happened in the “Avengers” film with all the Marvel characters (I won’t say what, though).

Hela was so evil. She was not only unlikable to the point that I couldn’t even have just the tiniest amount of sympathy for her, but she also wasn’t really believable . She just abused her power. Maybe she has a tragic backstory and wasn’t always evil. But pure evil villains are too stereotypical and even lazy.

Thor’s brother wasn’t too likable, either. The ruler of the planet (played by Jeff Goldblum) or the Grandmaster, was wicked in a special way. He was calm and acted more positively. I think that’s more creative than the approach to developing Hela.

The ending was disappointing too. I know this is an installment, but still. It could have been at least a little more satisfying. Will things turn around later?

I would rate “Thor Ragnarok” 3.5 out of 5 stars. It was engaging. I will also admit that many parts were funny. Just a few things didn’t really work out for me.

TV show

“We’re Here to Fight Crime!” It’s “The Powerpuff Girls: Twas the Fight Before Christmas” – Review (2003)

Sunayna Prasad

Warning: Contains Spoilers***

 

I first saw this special last year, when one of my friends wanted to play it at my birthday party. It kept me curious and engaged. I usually don’t review individual TV show specials. But for the holiday season, I will. And this is the first.

Townsville is getting ready Christmas, which is in two days. The children at the Powerpuff girls’ school, including the girls themselves, are getting into the Christmas spirit. Princess Morbucks is her usual spoiled self. The Powerpuff girls put her down for all the terrible things she’s done. Princess Morbucks gets angry and asks her servants if they think she’s naughty. But they won’t answer. Desperate for her wish to become a powerpuff girl, Princess Morbucks sneaks into the north pole and discovers that she is on the naughty list. And she’s the only one. So she alters the list titles, making herself “nice” and everyone else “naughty”.

Bubbles wakes up to discover coal in her stocking as well as Blossom and Buttercup’s and the other people on their street. Blossom and Buttercup give Bubbles a hard time about looking through the neighbors’ stockings. Then Princess Morbucks shows up as a powerpuff girl. Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup chase her to the north pole. Santa feels upset that everyone, except Princess Morbucks, has been naughty, according to his list. The Powerpuff girls try to tell Santa that this whole mess was an error. Princess Morbucks brags about being nice. However, she gets so out of hand that Santa realizes that she has been so spoiled and bratty. He puts her on the permanent naughty board. Princess Morbucks flies away, but Santa presses his nose, and Princess Morbucks’s powers are removed.

Santa wants to give all the kids who’ve been good for Christmas their gifts. But there is chaos outside with the elves and reindeer. So, instead, the Powerpuff girls deliver the gifts. They return home by dawn, tired. But the professor wakes them up and then they have fun with their gifts.

After not seeing “The Powerpuff Girls” in several years, I found this to be refreshing and cute as well as a great way to catch up with the show’s premise and characters. This is one of those kids’ shows that was an easy watch.

The way the show brings on the Christmas spirit was done well. That being said, it seems that everyone in the PPG universe celebrates Christmas. No signs of anyone celebrating Hanukkah, Kwanza, or any other holidays. I thought that was a bit inconsiderate to those who don’t celebrate Christmas in real life. I know a lot of people who don’t.

Also, it seems that the whole planet in the PPG universe is on the same time zone. That sounds confusing as the world in real life lives on different time zones, because… we should all know why. And the PPG girls is set in the US (I don’t know what state, though).

However, when the Powerpuff girls are chasing Princess Morbucks while she’s on her way to the north pole, they seemed to have left the southern hemisphere. That’s an inconsistency, unless there’s a secret made-up state south of the equator in the PPG universe.

Another inconsistency is that another villain, Mojo Jojo, was apparently on the nice list when preparing for Christmas. Um, hello? He’s evil too. Shouldn’t he and all the other villains have been on the naughty list too? Princess Morbucks shouldn’t have been the only one just for plot convenience. In fact, it seems unbelievable that she was the only naughty being in the entire world.

But now onto the strengths. The ending of how the Powerpuff girls delivered the presents was very well-thought out. The moment where the professor and the girls are trying to get the tree lights to work was clever. I also supported how Blossom and Buttercup put Bubbles down for using her X-ray vision to see through other peoples’ stockings. I considered that very wrong for Bubbles before her sisters scolded her for that.

Despite some of the confusing flaws and inconsistencies typical for cartoons like this one, I would rate this TV show special 5 out of 5 stars.

movie

It’s a Whole Review of Superheroes-for “The Incredibles 2” (2018)

Sunayna Prasad

Warning: contains spoilers***

 

After fourteen years of little to no hints to a sequel, we finally got it. The same family of superheroes returned to the silver screen. And the beginning picks up from where the first movie ended.

Well, sort of. It starts of with Violet’s crush, Tony. He is being questioned for noticing Violet as a superhero. His memories get wiped.

A few disasters happen. The Parr children are asked to stay behind while the parents fight. The kids don’t listen, though. The disasters destroy the Parrs’ home.

Superheroes are illegal. The Parrs stay in a motel. Helen is offered a chance to make supers legal again. She leaves the family to help make that happen.

Meanwhile, Bob and the children stay in a luxury mansion. Violet deals with romance problems. Dash struggles with math. Bob struggles to watch the kids as they overwhelm him. Jack-Jack reveals that he has more superpowers.

Although the film was very engaging, I will admit that the plot was hard to follow. There were a lot of lights flashing (which can be a bit much for me), action, and fighting.

On the bright note, there were a lot of moments I enjoyed. Jack-Jack seemed to have a lot of screen time and play more of a major role than in the first film from 2004. The moments of how he handled cookies was cute and hilarious.

I was also surprised how Evelyn turned out to be the villain instead of her husband, Winston. I thought it was going to be Winston due to all the hints. But hey, story twists do make the plots less predictable.

I also admired how Bob struggled to look after the kids. The scenes where he helped Dash with his math homework were funny. Dash couldn’t pronounce the word, decimals. The math problems were done pretty well, too.

Overall, I would rate the film 4.5 out of 5 stars. Except for the excessive lights flashing, the movie caught my interest.

 

 

movie

He… is… Lego Batman! Every Hero Needs a Super Review

Sunayna Prasad

I was going to see “A Dog’s Purpose” with a friend, but it was sold out. So we had to pick another movie promptly. My friend let me pick the film. So I chose “The Lego Batman Movie”.

The film starts out with a typical Batman vs. Joker scenario. Not long after, Batman longs for a family. He meets an enthusiastic orphan named Dick Grayson. He is excited to call Batman his dad, which Batman doesn’t want. So Grayson calls him, “Padre”. Their collaboration grows into a bond. Alfred the butler and Barbara Gordon also join.

I enjoyed the movie and thought it was sweet with the importance of family and working together. There was a moment, though, where there was no conflict for a few minutes or so. If I hadn’t been with a friend, I would have walked out of the theatre. But I’m glad I stayed because the conflict grew stronger as the movie progressed.

I was also surprised that the enthusiastic kid turned out to be Robin. I have heard that Robin is usually similar to Batman with his personality. He is also usually not Batman’s son—just a sidekick.

Another aspect I didn’t expect were the villains in the sky area that came from other movies, such as the terminators, wicked witch of the west, and Voldemort. Voldemort used the levitating spell rather than an unforgivable curse. Maybe J.K. Rowling or the Harry Potter movie producers wouldn’t let them.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie very much. Although I was never a fan of Batman, I would give this film 5 out of 5 stars.