IF (2024) Thoughts

Image credit (Wikipedia)

• I consider the Imaginary Friend Retirement Home in IF an Extension of “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends”. What would happen if a kid like Mac forgot about his imaginary friend further down the line starting from adolescence to adulthood? What would his imaginary friend’s reaction be like?

• Also Foster’s doesn’t have the monopoly on imaginary friend plotlines. A film like IF could make a different variation of this plotline too.

• -Theme: Reconnecting to your inner child and rediscovering imagination through imaginary friends.

• Favorite scenes: The group dance scene and Blossom dance scene. the painting scene.

• Throwback to 80’s, 90’s and early 2000’s family films.

• Theme: Nurturing creativity and imagination.

• Full of heartwarming moments.

Criticisms:

• I would have preferred trained voice actors for the voice of imaginary friends then celebrity voices.
• The worldbuilding is underdeveloped with minimal information for imaginary friends’ backstories. Should Krasinski chose to make this film into an animated series, Fixing the worldbuilding should be a priority. Maybe the animated series should be like an anthology where each episode focuses on a different imaginary friend reminiscing about their adventures with their kid.
• I would have like to have seen more full scenes of imaginary friends reconnecting with their kids instead of a quick montage near the end.

I recommend catching IF in theaters and watching it with your family.

Those families with small children will definitely get some enjoyment from it.

Ranking Winnie the Pooh Movies

Image credit: Evanh123 on Deviantart

10. Winnie the Pooh (2011)

9. A Valentine for You (1999)

8. Seasons of Giving (1999)

7. A Very Merry Pooh Year (2002)

6. Springtime with Roo (2004)

5. Pooh’s Heffalump Movie (2005)

4. Pooh’s Grand Adventure: Search for Christopher Robin (1997)

3. Piglet’s Big Movie (2003)

2. The Tigger Movie (2000)

1. Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)

Honorable Mentions: Christopher Robin (2018) Goodbye Christopher Robin (2017)

Thoughts on Code Lyoko (2003-2007)

Synopsis: When boarding school students Ulrich, Yumi, Odd, and Jeremy discover a super computer inside an abandoned old factory, They discover the virtual world of Lyoko and awaken Xana, a computer virus that schemes to take over the real world. Together with Aelita, a virtual being, All of them work together to defeat XANA. -IMDB.

Code Lyoko gang

Code Lyoko image credit: Code Lyoko Wiki.

The theme song “Un Monde De Sans Danger” is sung by Julien Lamasonne in French while the English version “World Without Danger” is sung by Noam Kaniel. Viewers will also recognize Kaniel from his music compositions for cartoons such as Miraculous Ladybug, W.I.T.C.H. , Mysterious Cities of Gold, Power Rangers, Tara Dunca among many more. (IMDB )

Both theme song versions are delightful to listen to and pump up the audience for the show. You can’t go wrong with either version.

This show was created by Tania Plumbo and Thomas Romain. Romain would later create Oban Star Racers with Stanislas Bronin and Lonic Penon.

The cast of characters having huge foreheads was definitely a unique stylistic choice.

The creature designs gave off an other-worldly vibe which could’ve made for fun collectible figures along with the main cast.

Though, the Lyoko world seems outdated by today’s current technology, It fits the world of the early 2000’s. The fight scenes and their “Lyoko warrior costumes” remain memorable highlights of the series.

My favorite characters were Yumi, Aelita, Jeremy, and Ulrich.

While I am not a fan of the live-action Code Lyoko Evolution series, I appreciate that they kept the Lyoko scenes in CG animation like the original cartoon.

Top 10 Filipino films

Here are my recommendations for Filipino films to watch.

10. Saving Sally (2016)

9. Heneral Luna (2015)

8. The Debut (2000)

7. Ibong Adarna (1941)

6. Anak Ng Bulkan (1959)

5. Panday (198) or (2017)

4. Fabulous Filipino Brothers (2021)

3. Bride for Rent (2014)

2. Starting Over Again (2014)

1. Urduja (2008)

Honorable Mentions: Barcelona: A Love Untold (2016),

Miss Granny (2018) Filipino adaptation, She’s Dating the Gangster (2019),

Hayop Ka! (2020), Rewind (2023)

Ranking Kung Fu Panda films

With the 4th Kung Fu Panda film in theaters, I will rank all 4 films in the franchise.

Image Credit: dlee 1293847on Deviant Art

Kung Fu Panda 1: Fantastic first entry into the serious. Strong characters in Po, The Furious Five, Master Shifu, and Ping. Tai Lung is the first in the lineup of memorable villians.

Kung Fu Panda 2: Second entry is phenomenal and elevates the franchise to a higher level. Gary Oldman as Lord Shen the Peacock is a major highlight. Po’s backstory is revealed through flashback in beautiful hand drawn animation.

Kung Fu Panda 3: Po reunites with his biological father Li and discovers the secret panda village. He trains the other pandas in the village to help fight against Kai. Kai is after the pandas’ healing technique. The highlights of this film are Ping and Li’s interactions and the huge battle towards the end of the film.

Kung Fu Panda 4: The storyline is underdeveloped with the characters and themes not matching up. The villain Chamelon is downgrade from previous villians since her character motivation is one-note and too generic. Po and Zhen needed more time to build up their friendship. I liked seeing the comraderie between Li and Ping.

Thoughts on the Boy and the Heron (2023)

Congratulations to the Studio Ghibli for the Boy and The Heron’s Win for Best Animated Feature 2024.

Image credit: posterboyle20 (Ebay)

I watched the film in Japanese with English subtitles so I can’t comment on the English Dub.

• The film score by Joe Hisashi is haunting yet whimsical.
• There are homages to Miyazaki’s previous works scattered throughout the film which some viewers will recognize and appreciate.
• The fish gutting scene is a visceral image.
• The storyline is more character driven and thematic so some story elements won’t make immediate sense until after repeated viewings.
• It deals with themes of grief& loss, legacy, along with life & death.
• The heron’s movements are fluid.
• A passing reference to the novel ” How do you live” is mentioned.
• The relationship between Mahiro and his new step mom could’ve been futher developed.
• The wooden building blocks are great metaphor creation & destruction.

Definitely recommend checking this film out in theaters either in subtitled or English dubbed! https://gkids.com/films/the-boy-and-the-heron/tickets/

Thoughts on Disney’s Wish (2023)

Image Credit: IMDB

Disney’s Wish is a forgetable film but knowing what I know now about the film, I wish Disney went with the original storyline.

I like a couple songs like “This Wish” & “At All Costs”

Chris Pine hasn’t been in a good Disney film since Princess Diaries 2.

The film feels more incomplete and needs a thorough revision to further develop/flesh out characters and themes.

Valentino the goat didn’t need a voice. No offence to Alan Tudyk. His role would be better off silent like the goat Dijali in Hunchback of Notre Dame.

The wishing star is cute but lacks a defined character.

Asha’s friends could’ve been cut down to 2 friends instead of 7.

Magnifico was more entertaining than Asha.

There are better story rewrites following the original storyline on Youtube.

Top 10 DC Films I have Seen with honorable mentions.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

I know I am to the party since other people already made their DC films ranking list.

Here’s my top 10 list of DC films I have seen. This list isn’t extensive since I haven’t seen every DC film.

10. Justice League (Synder Cut)

9. Aquaman

8. Black Adam

7. Superman III

6. Shazam

5. Batman 1989

4. The Suicide Squad

3. Wonder Woman

2. Superman

1. Superman II (Richard Donner Cut)

Honorable Mentions: Constantine (2005), Wonder Woman 1984, Shazam 2, Blue Beetle

Ranking of Miyazaki Films

With the release of Miyazaki’s long awaited film- The Boy and the Heron. I’m ranking his theatrical animated films. Feel free to share your list in the comments section below!

Image Credit: Turner Classic Movies

12. Ponyo

11. Castle of Cagliostro (Lupin the Third)

10. My Neighbor Totoro

9. Porco Rosso

8. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

7. The Boy and the Heron

6. Howl’s Moving Castle

5. The Wind Rises

4. Castle in the Sky

3. Spirited Away

2. Princess Mononoke

1. Kiki’s Delivery Service

A Fairytale After All (2022)

Image Credit: Erik Peter Carlson distributed by Amazon Prime

Synopsis: Sky is a teenage outcast that is transported to a fantastical fairytale world called Celestia where she must save the kingdom from an evil witch.

This ambitious film was written and directed by Eric Peter Carlson. He wanted to replicate the magic of classic Disney films and Jim Henson films like Labryinth. I applaud his effort however, he should’ve done more work on the story; It needed more expansion for character development and world building.

Pros:

I enjoyed the animation done for the storybook prologue and the brief scene in the Fourth Wall song.

The puppets were well-crafted and the puppeteers did a fantastic job bringing them to life.

A few of the songs were good. My favorites were: “Leave me be”, “Home”, “Fourth Wall”,

and “See You Again”

I liked the dresses for Geneva and Madame Mizarabel.

Brian Hull is amazing as Thumbkin.

The relationship between Sky and her father was movie’s highlight especially their duet of “See you Again”.

Cons:

There is set up but no pay off for Geneva’s capture by Mirazabel. If she had been successful in her escape where would she go and for long?

For the story to be futher fleshed out,it would be necessary for the movie to be around 2 hours instead of an hour and twelve minutes.

The begining has a slow burn build up from the real world to Celestia. Some viewers would be tempted to fast forward this section to reach the movie’s fantasy land portion.

I hope the slip on a banna peel transport to Celestia is a joke. It’s an ineffective device to transport between worlds.

In the movie, It is made unclear whether Sky/Princess Geneva are the same person.

What happened to Geneva’s brother during her absence?

Also Sky’s trip to Celestia wasn’t a dream since she has a portal key to move between worlds.

The story is confusing to follow due to the lack of structure and rules in Celestia.

A Fairytale After All is a good effort with its beautiful constumes, animation, fluffy puppets and a few standout music pieces however, the short runtime along with its underdeveloped characters, lack of structure in world-building of Celestia and confusing storyline make the film rewatchable only for specific sequences but not the overall film.