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the-ren-and-stimpy-fan-club · 8 days

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R&S Reboot Review: Aw Hell No! (Spoiler Warning)

I honestly did not expect for ONE episode of the R&S reboot, let alone TWO, to leak online on the third of May, but here I am discussing it. I've been anticipating this reboot since the first day I caught wind of it, and my heart skips a beat every single time a leak happens. Thank you to whoever leaked it! We've all been waiting for this reboot for YEARS now, and I'm so glad it hasn't been abandoned. Anyway, I will personally review each episode of the revival as they come out. In case you either can't read or just ignored the title, I'm reviewing Aw Hell No! first.

First of all, the animation isn't too bad. I'm a bit disappointed it's not traditionally hand-drawn, but nothing is anymore, and bland CGI rules our TV screens now. It's pretty fluid and looks way better than I expected. The titular characters, thankfully, have plenty of off-model expressions and don't depend on the model sheets. The backgrounds are also well-drawn. Ren and Stimpy's house still looks like it's from the 1950s, and the colors are pleasing to the eyes.

Now, what about the story? 7 people wrote this episode, so it's gotta be excellent, right? Well, it's meh. The idea of Ren being in Hell and Stimpy in Heaven sounds brilliant, but the plot seems pretty inspired by the original series finale, The Last Temptation. Does Ren going to the afterlife and having to change his ways (or commit one selfless act in the reboot episode) seem at all familiar? The characters are at least in character, though I noticed Ren is pretty soft so far. Near the end, the part where Ren saves Stimpy from being tortured has little to no build-up whatsoever. 7 writers, people! Ren was perfectly fine with throwing Stimpy off a cliff and telling him he's happy in Hell, but when he gets to torture him he suddenly changes his ways? Ugh. The scenes with Stimpy as an angel are precious though. Besides that, God and the Devil are also decent characters, although I'm surprised Mr. Pipe wasn't used for the God role like in The Last Temptation. Also, Billy West does still have great voice work for the duo, but his voice sounds restrained, especially for Stimpy. At least Ren is supposed to sound old.

The jokes fall pretty flat. There are some moments that made me chuckle, such as the cake with mice on top, but the episode felt pretty lacking in the humor department. This doesn't bother me too much, but I hope the whole show isn't quite as stale.

All in all, I rate it 6/10. It was better than I expected, but I'm baffled about how an episode was 7 WRITERS kind of copied the premise of an episode of the original series. The FINALE of all things. But, the animation, voice acting, and just it being way better than APC makes me happy and warm inside.

Tune in next time for my next upcoming review of Squatters!

Note: For Rempy shippers such as myself, there are a few moments. Such as Stimpy setting up a half-birthday party for Ren, Stimpy crying over being separated from Ren for eternity, Stimpy's determination to save Ren, Ren saving Stimpy from being tortured (despite how rushed it is), and Stimpy rescuing Ren.

#ren and stimpy #ren hoek #stimpy #rempy #ren & stimpy #the ren and stimpy show #ren and stimpy reboot #aw hell no!#my reviews

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renpimpiblog · 24 days

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Awaking from my slumber to say....

The leaked reboot episode stinks, lookswise, writingwise, even the theme song stinks, and upon hearing the news that it SUPPOSEDLY got canned I say..good riddance I guess

Sorry for not posting anything, this time there's not an excuse, I just kind of lost interest on R&S in general

So uh..until some time later..

#ren and stimpy #ren & stimpy #R&S reboot #eugh #this aint even a review

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artoatsblog · 5 months

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What your favorite Nick toon says about you but it's EVERY Nick toon

Doug- When you were asked what you wanted for Christmas, you said "plan white bread."

Rugrats- You're a "90's kid" who wants the modern cartoon enjoyers to get off your lawn.

Hey Arnold-Same as Rugrats, but 5 time worse.

Rugrats (2021)- You only said this one to piss off the above two.

Ren & Stimpy- You're a gay man and all you OCs are ugly men who you need to kiss each other or else you'll die (This isn't an insult, you're the strongest member of our society.)

Rocko's modern life- You relate to at least one character way more than you would like to admit to others.

CatDog- Weird furry.

The angry beavers- Weird furry with taste.

Aaahh!!! Real monsters- You like the idea of Tim Burton's movies but your too cool to actually enjoy them, also your probably non-binary.

Kablam- As a kid you wanted to make something with this exact energy and now, you're a youtuber.

Oh Yeah! Cartoons- same as Kablam but you really miss Cosmo's old voice.

The wild Thornberry's- You worship the ground Tim Curry's walks on SO BAD.

Rocket power- Honest 90's kid.

SpongeBob SquarePants seasons 1-4- You're annoying about seasons 5+.

SpongeBob SquarePants seasons 5+- You know better than me about those people being annoying about seasons 5+.

As told by ginger- You were going to say Hey Arnold, but you didn't want to be lumped in with certain other people.

Action league now- You made at least five short films that look exactly like this.

Chalkzone- Your playlist for working out has the theme song for this show looped for five hours and nothing else.

The fairly oddparents- Your trans, and you hate no other person more than Elmer Hartman.

Invader Zim- You were a vary emo kid/teenager in the late 2000's (same, no shade)

Jimmy Neutron- you're really glad that that you picked the show in "Jimmy Timmy power hour" that wasn't made by an asshole.

All grown up- Come on guys "As told by ginger" is right there.

Avatar: the last airbender- I don't want to hear the lore of the fantasy book you wrote.

Avatar: the legend of Korra- Same as atla but You also made a LOT of shipping fanfics.

My life as a teenage robot- Transfem.

The X's- You don't exist, if you're going to go into the comments and say this is your favorite Nicktoon, you're lying.

El Tigre- This is just the good version of Danny Phantom.

Danny Phantom- That was a Joke don't yell at me.

Mr. meaty- You want this odd but cool type of puppetry to come back (if you thought I was going to make fun of this one your wrong.)

Tak and the power of Juju- Your enjoyment of this show is based entirely on the fact that you liked the games.

Back at the barnyard- Shitposter.

Fanboy and Chum Chum- Shitposter but awesome.

Catscratch- Yeah, I think Wayne Knight's voice is hot too.

The mighty B- Gay.

The penguins of Madagascar- I don't have a joke for this one I just think you have impactable taste.

Planet Sheen- You always wanted Jimmy Neutron to have more "Rawr XD" swag.

T.U.F.F puppy- You ether are Jerry Trainor, or you have a Jerry Trainor stan account.

Kung fu panda: legends of awesomeness- You have a three-hour lore video on this franchise, and I hope it does well.

Winx club- You wanted to help them get free from Netflix.

Robot and Monster- It may just be me, but I think you might enjoy Dan vs.

Teenage mutant ninja turtles (2012)- You don't like rise of the tmnt.

Rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles- You don't like tmnt (2012).

Sanjay and Craig- You used to freak other kids out with your scabs.

Monsters vs aliens- You can deny Coverton's rizz (sorry).

Breadwinners- Your about to go into every cartoon reviewers house with a shit ton of water balloons.

Harvey Beaks- In the middle/late 2000's you were more of a cartoon network kid, you loved Cowder.

Pig, Goat, Banana, Cricket- Same as Harvey Beaks but with Flapjack instead of Cowder.

Bunsen is a beast- Your Elmer Hartman.

Welcome to the Wayne- You wrote at least one fanfic for the ending of this show.

The adventures of kid danger- We don't talk about this one.

Middle school Moguls- it's ok monster high is about to come to Nick for real.

The loud house- Your ether a sapphic girl or a straight guy with a DeviantArt account who needs to be punished.

The Casagrandes- Same as the loud house but with the added advantages, because if you have a DeviantArt account in this one you're more likely to have a normal relationship with your family.

It's pony- You don't hate the British as much as the rest of us.

Middlemost post- John trabbic III is such a bad ass name though, wait this show has Del the funky homosapien and Tony Hawk as guest stars, I might need to which this.

Star trek: prodigy- You really like Netflix original animated shows don't you.

Big Nate- You haven't read the books.

Monster high- You the perfect in-between of goth and prep.

Transformers: earthspark- Why does this show have better non-binary rep than most other shows...I mean they are called Transformers for a reason.

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new-employeeamillion · 1 month

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Cow and Chicken editing is underway, and man. Whipping out the old Ren & Stimpy borders makes me feel disappointed with my 2019 self nowadays. They’re just MS Paint-tier traces of the credits sceen against a broken gradient. I guess it’s never too late to redo them, which I’m motivated to do after this next review is all finished.

(I do compare Cow and Chicken to Ren & Stimpy a few times, but don’t worry, I never outright call it a rip-off.)

#ren & stimpy

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rararazaquato · 6 months

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Tell us more about le cartoon version of Raincode you have please.

Like of other characters appearing and more dynamics, including episodes.

oh BABY you're in for a treat!!!

i have a whole google doc planned out for this thing, despite me having no animation experience gjgkhkh... this is gonna be the Public Lore Dump Post btw, and spoilers for all of rain code will be under the cut.

so the concept for this whole thing came about while watching the animations of youtuber OkayScreamingNow. super cool animation btw, their "psycho teddy" animation moderately blew up but i'm a huge fan of their "everybody likes you" video.

between watching those, a ton of aimkid videos, wince media's meat bun song, and nicktendo's mighty b review, i started feeling really nostalgic for mid-late 2000s animation, the stuff i grew up on. growing up creepie, yin yang yo, kenny the shark, all these were shows i adored as a kid. so, combined with my current rain code fixation, this little au came to be!

the general conceit of this au is that "Master Detective Archives" is a 2008 animated children's program that lasted for 20 episodes and is majority lost media. only a couple episodes exist in the bowels of shitty piracy sites, and even then those sites keep getting taken down. the more screenshots and concept art i make, the more is "revealed" about the show.

one of the things that interests me the most about children's media is how people worked around the censors. a lot of people are familiar with the story of the ren and stimpy adult party cartoon. for those who aren't familiar, when john "god's mistake" kricfalusi created an adult oriented reboot of ren and stimpy, the show was dogshit. with the new ability to rely on the crutch of whatever grossout sexual humor it wanted, it became a massive stain on john k's career (he has had other horrific stains both before and after apc, but i need to stress, no one liked apc).

for a more positive example, i love pretty much all of jhonen vasquez's work, but i find the humor and even some of the horror of invader zim to be more interesting than the same stuff in jthm, because iz was working under far stricter standards and practices.

what i'm trying to get at is that i enjoy the challenge of seeing how i can take concepts and make them more kid-friendly while still keeping the intrigue and interest the concepts originally had. i worked at a summer camp in 2022, and the driving force behind this little project was "keeping rain code camp-appropriate, but also keeping it interesting".

this ethos will hopefully explain some of the Big Changes i made to the story and characters. i do want to stress that i do not think i am improving on the original work. i think rain code is a story that, inherently, works better as an m-rated, gritty, cyberpunk-y murder mystery. i've just always been uniquely fascinated by this particular genre shift.

so, first major change: nocturnal detective agency has turned into nocturnal detective academy. this is a place where young minds, particularly those with supernatural powers, go to hone their craft. or at least... it was. now it's run exclusively by three people: headmaster Zange Eraser, school nurse and therapist Melami Goldmine, and teacher (and everything else) Yakou Furio.

i grew up with a book series called school of fear, which was about a small group of kids with severe phobias being sent to help conquer their fears at a highly rated school. however, it was actually just a kooky old lady and her massive mansion, and while she helped the kids get over their fears, she did it in unorthodox and occasionally darkly humorous ways. i remember a scene in the books where she put the claustrophobe and the kid afraid of death in a coffin for a few hours, and while that is absolutely NOT how exposure therapy works, the idea of a school that's just a few adults running a lowkey scam out of their house has always tickled my funny bone.

so the nda is a school, teaching detective skills and the like. of course, because yakou is my beautiful failwife, he mostly just sends his students out into the city of Kanai Ward to do their own investigative work and report back with what they've learned... as long as they don't get in trouble with Hecksmile or his goons, at least!

yeah, the other big change is that the peacekeepers are more like team rocket than corrupt cops. while i agree that the police suck, and a lot of older cartoons seem to share that sentiment (even some newer ones like gravity falls), having all the villains be evil, corrupt cops seems like a recipe to get s&p on your ass. so now, the cops just don't do anything, and Hecksmile and his goons just wreak havoc whenever they feel like it.

(i've already explained the hecksmile bit in a previous post, but i dont think any of the other names would need changing. maybe if this was the 90s, desuhiko and fubuki would get their names changed to something more eurocentric, but this isn't the 90s and that stuff was cringe even back then.)

there are only seven students at the academy, and i've de-aged these characters to be more relatable to the target audience: our main character yuma, halara, desuhiko, fubuki, vivia, pucci, and aphex. i'll detail them a bit here, because yakou, zange, and melami can all stay pretty similar (actually, melami doesn't randomly feel up strangers to get their clothing measurements anymore, but that's a pretty minor change).

yuma is still our main character, acting as the straight man and audience surrogate. the whole "number one" twist isn't really a thing with how this whole plot is set up, so his awkward and generally "scrunkly" attitude from the game is his natural state here. though none of the ages of the characters are specified, he's often called out as the youngest detective, probably in his preteens or early teenagehood. his coalescence is used for a lot of teamwork-based solutions to problems, but he isn't that great at actual mystery-solving.

this is where shinigami comes in! in the first episode, after some hijinks, yuma accidentally summons a death god. fortunately, he summons a teenage death god. she can only appear in her cool human form in her summoner's dreams, she can't interact with anyone in the physical world except her summoner, and she doesn't even have her reaper's license yet! regardless, she likes having a friend, so she helps yuma see things from different perspectives. i figured death spirits wouldn't be off the table, exactly (i mean, look at billy and mandy), but i think there's a certain humor in a death god not being able to do any soul reaping. i like to think she talks about it like her driver's license. "ugh, i'm not allowed to reap any souls until i'm 16 thousand years old! i'm only 14 thousand!!!" because of her teenagerdom, her human form is going to be far less sexualized. also because i think her canon outfit is a little ugly.

halara doesn't change much from canon. very mysterious and intimidating. no one knows their gender because everyone's too afraid to ask (and to find out, you'd have to pay them about $100 in cash). they still love cats but have an allergy to them, they still don't trust people, etc.

desuhiko changes a lot from canon. he's less actively creepy and more of a wannabe romantic. he has a tendency to fall for grown women, although he has absolutely no chance with any of them. this is played for laughs.

fubuki is another character who doesn't change much from canon. obscenely rich and super out of touch with everything around her. has occasional bursts of intelligence for comedy.

vivia is still everyone's favorite emo sadboy, writing poetry in the fireplace. his passive suicidal ideation, though interesting to explore in media made for adults, is very dangerous to put in a children's show, so we're nixing that. instead, he's just real sleepy and goth. he's also the least interested in doing actual detective work, so when he and yuma are investigating together, it gives yuma a chance to take the lead.

pucci doesn't change much from canon, but admittedly, we don't know too much about her. she's sensitive to noise, very thoughtful and introspective, but very awkward around people being nice to her.

and aphex. what to say about aphex. i don't like aphex for a number of reasons (anyone who played with jpn audio can back me up on this one), but the idea of someone who is initially violent and cruel becoming your (still somewhat violent and cruel) ally is a fun character trope to me. my go-to example is buford from phineas and ferb, and i think that's the role aphex would play. initially a threat, but eventually becomes softer and more well-developed. well, if the show got more seasons.

and that's our main cast! i could talk about kurumi, makoto, and martina, as i have a lot of cool ideas for them, but i have been writing this for like an hour and i think i need to chill ahaha... ty for the ask!!!

#mdarc #rain code #rain code spoilers #mda nicktoon

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piratical-princess · 5 months

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More bad (or in some cases pretty good) Xmas movie reviews here! I’ve tried some odd ones.

EDITED TO INCLUDE:

Christmas on Mistletoe Farm: This was EFFING CUTE. Super British. Quirky kids in hand knitted stuff and big Wellies. Baby barn animals everywhere. Comedic English overacting. As charming as a mouse in a teapot. I would watch it every year twice. The colors alone are scrumptious. 9/10

* Christmas Inheritance - As stereotypical as Christmas romance movies get. Small town, lonely innkeeper, main character returns to town to find the magic of Christmas by helping with some pageant or festival or whatnot. Bland but mainly pleasant but stop making characters do that slow head shake while sincerely singing thing, it’s weird . 4/10

A Christmas Movie Christmas - A fun swing at typical Christmas movies. Christmas magic transports two sisters into a Christmas movie of their own where they wake up every day with their hair and makeup already done and cookies already baked. Parts of it are funny, but it led me to the disturbing revelation that all B actors wear false teeth. 6/10

Christmas Chronicles 2: I was excited for this. Hot Santa, Belsneckel, Yule Cat. Nope. Bad. Please don’t bother, you’ll soil the first movie. 1/10

Dash & Lily : in spite of being about New York, this short series is really good and sweet. It’s a scavenger hunt of literature and romance and the art of loving your own weirdness against the backdrop of Christmas. It’s charming and colorful. Definitely not perfect, it is a high school aged series based on YA romance and that can sometimes lead to “youthful” acting, but it is good and I appreciated it and the music was superb. 9/10

Noelle - dang, I really liked this. It seems a discredit to say it’s like a gender bent Elf, but that is the broadest definition. Very warm and loving. 10/10

Scrooge: A Christmas Carol - this is the animated Netflix version. I have mixed feelings. I thought they took the art in some really interesting places. I thought the music was pretty terrible. I thought they did the lower budget animation thing where some characters look amazing and some look poorly thought out. I thought Scrooge was weirdly hot. 6/10

Mickey and Friends: Duck The Halls - Newer style of Mickey Mouse animation that is part Ren and Stimpy and part midcentury modern, which is awesome. Donald Duck stays in the snowy north for the winter and literally falls apart from the cold, lots of body horror. Hilarious. 10/10

Jingle All The Way - I know, it is weird that as a 90s kid, I had never seen this. I was promised a bad movie and I’m slightly disappointed that I loved the hell out of it. From Arnold expecting us to believe that he works in mattress sales and saying “you’re my numbah one custahmahh” with a cheesy grin to a brawl of underground gang Santas to Phil Hartman having the balls to hit on Arnold’s wife and moaning obscenely over the phone about how good her cookies are while Arnold yells “PUT DAT COOKIE DOWN”, it’s all amazing. But really the best part is the unexpectedly complex buildup of a real hero/villain relationship - the connection, the offer of friendship that gets rejected, the ensuing battle that becomes an insane bid for revenge, culminating in a real costumed fight that ends - in the true spirit of Christmas - with the police hauling away a grown man in a latex bodysuit clutching a toy he has ruthlessly stolen from a child that would grow up to become Darth Vader. 15/10

#Christmas #movies

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medea10 · 3 months

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My Review of Rurouni Kenshin (2023)

If you grew up in the 1990s and early 2000s, chances are you’ve come across this title.

Rurouni Kenshin’s original anime aired in Japan from 1996-1998. It managed to make it out west with being licensed by Media Blasters and aired on Cartoon Network’s Toonami block in the early 2000s. With 95 episodes to its name, Rurouni Kenshin was pretty popular everywhere. In later years, a couple of OVA’s were released. One of them was a prequel that was never seen outside of the manga. The second one was a sequel to the main series that goes in a different route from the manga. And the third was a retelling of one of the series best moments.

And just laying it out there, yes, this series is sadly also known as “Samurai X”. I say “sadly” due to what was done to the series with that name. What with the bastardization of people’s names and what have you! The name of the series is Rurouni Kenshin. If you see that other name, turn around and don’t look back.

Now, does this series live up to the hype? Yes and no. While this was one of Japan’s most rewatched animes of all time, the series could have been better. Pretty much everything after what is known as the Kyoto Arc is seen as garbage to many. In some cases, they’re not wrong. It’s just a sea of fillers until the series ended in 1998. I guess some of the blame could be that they changed studio hands during the run of the original anime. Studio Deen has such a lousy reputation for messing with a good thing.

Case and point, Rozen Maiden 2013!

It’s just that when Kenshin gets into the swing of things, it’s a thrill to watch. So, having a retelling of the story and have it be faithful to the manga is welcoming for long-time fans and curious newbies.

Just. One. Thing. Though.

THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM: Nobuhiro Watsuki is the creator of Rurouni Kenshin. Back in late 2017 while he was releasing more Rurouni Kenshin in manga form, it was discovered that he was in possession of child pornography. This news alone is an immediate red flag, drop everything, cancel this bro right stat now kind of thing. What happened was he was arrested, paid a fine, and went back to releasing his manga after a several-month hiatus.

Obviously, everything about the story is disgusting. I’m not sure how much child porn was removed from this man’s place but I feel like it was somewhere between what Jared Fogle had and a fuck-ton. And now every fan is having this moral dilemma of watching this anime if it’s supporting this man. When it comes to me, fuck yeah, I’m still watching it. Do you have any idea how many things I still watch where the original creator is a fuck-bucket? And don’t lie, you probably do the same. Ren and Stimpy, The Loud House, Rick & Morty, Earthworm Jim, all of these and more are the product of some sick ass-banana. Just keep that in mind before tossing stones. You all know who you are and you all aren’t squeaky clean in what you watch. None of us are.

In the end, it’s your call to make on watching this or reading anything else that comes from Watsuki. Certain companies have made their call already when it comes to Rurouni Kenshin. Weekly Shounen Jump still prints whatever Watsuki puts out. Viz Media however has put an end to the latest Rurouni Kenshin manga that’s been put out in the last few years, but has kept the original manga up.

OKAY, NOW LET’S ACTUALLY TALK ABOUT THE ANIME: I know it’s a lot to go over, I just felt it necessary to do the frank discussion before I talk about the anime. This anime is a full reboot. That means, it’ll be a different studio animating it, it will supposedly take after the manga instead of diverting into a different path like the original series, and yes, the cast will be different. Which cast? All of them!

Rurouni Kenshin goes like this. It has been well over a decade since the end of a brutal war. With the entering of the Meiji era, peace was assumed as weapons like swords are banned. Of course, that won’t stop people from killing. And the never-ending fight with the government can cause this peaceful time…it was never really peaceful. Kenshin Himura is a wandering rurouni. He carries with him a double-edged sword despite the sword ban law put in place. Prior to this moment, Kenshin was known as “Hitokiri Battosai”, a ruthless killer. But after certain events, Kenshin swears to never kill again.

One day, he meets a young girl named Kaoru Kamiya. She’s the owner of a dojo that specializes in a certain style. At first, she confronts Kenshin thinking he is the dreaded Hitokiri Battosai. Most of it was a misunderstanding because yes, Kenshin is that, but he’s not the one using the name in vain and using Kaoru’s fighting style. After several incidents between the characters, Kenshin decided to set up shop and stay with Kaoru at her dojo. Eventually, two other characters join along. Yahiko, an orphaned boy who is training to be a great swordsman one day. And Sano, who once served during the brutal war is now a bit of a drifter. But he’ll have Kenshin’s back when they’re in a battle.

BETWEEN THE NEW SUB AND THE NEW DUB…AND EVERYTHING ELSE: I’ve gone on in length about the dubs to Rurouni Kenshin in the past. Prior to the 2023 remake, there were a total of three English dubs. The first one was for the original television run featuring Richard Cansino, Dorothy Elias-Fahn, and Wendee Lee. This was dubbed by Media Blasters. The second one consisted of the OVA’s featuring folks like Shannon Weaver, Gray Haddock, and Katherine Catmull. These were dubbed by ADV films and later Sentai Filmworks. And as for the third dub, that would be Sony’s sad attempt at redubbing Rurouni Kenshin filled with bastard names, a bastard name title, and new voices.

In the beginning, I was hoping for the absolute best-case scenario when it came to an English dub for this retelling. When it comes to me, I will always pick the first dub and that is for one big freakin’ thing. Steven Blum voicing Makoto Shishio. That and I always thought Richard Cansino was the best Kenshin. I’ve already been disappointed when Sentai didn’t reunite the original cast when retelling the Kyoto Arc several years ago and that’s why my skepticism is in play here. Plus, I’m pretty sure some of the original dub cast has already retired from voice acting. Sadly, the original voice for Misao (Philece Sampler) passed away in 2021. Much to my dismay, there was a new cast alright. Who they are was the bigger question.

Crunchyroll dropped the episodes without warning three months after the premier and without stating who would be in the cast. That’s certainly out of character for them. They get chatty when showering the masses who is going to be in an English dub cast everywhere they can including all social media platforms. I would have chalked it up to the SAG-AFTRA strike. But then I remembered, Crunchyroll has a conniption when it comes to that certain union. Plus, it never stopped them before as they’ve been whoring other English lists that same week this dropped. So, the obvious reason has got to be fear of having the audience badger the cast for being in Rurouni Kenshin after what the creator did. Only Kenshin’s voice actor came forward a week after the actor’s strike. The rest, most of us had to guess. Except for Yahiko, he just sounded like an angrier Gon. So, it’s Erica Mendez.

Just so you know, Aniplex had a live festival with seiyuus promoting the shows they’re on back in September of 2023. And what do you know, Souma Saitou and Rie Takahashi were on stage promoting Rurouni Kenshin. Out and about, no one getting doxxed, threatened, hate-mailed, or anything of the sort. I have a few scattered thoughts here. First of all, if there’s any bad-mouthing of Rie Takahashi of any kind, you and I are going to have a problem. Second of all, American fan-bases are fucking toxic and would harass the voice actors relentlessly to the point of no return. And third, why couldn’t they just come up with some fake-ass alias names for the English cast? On the other hand, I’ve seen how people on social media has harassed voice actors over trivial bullshit and it’s only getting worse. So, I kinda understand why this happened.

As for the sub, yes, the voices here have changed. So, when I originally watched Rurouni Kenshin, I watched nearly everything dubbed. It wasn’t until much later when I stumbled upon the sub, I discovered that Kenshin was voiced by a woman. Now, I’m getting another case of whiplash as I’m getting used to hearing Kenshin having more of a manlier voice. With all of that said, here’s the cast of Rurouni Kenshin 2023!

JAPANESE CAST: *Kenshin is now played by Souma Saitou (known for Diavolo on Jojo’s Pt. 5, Yamaguchi on Haikyuu, Kain on Rinne, and Miyano on Sasaki to Miyano)

*Kaoru is now played by Rie Takahashi (known for Ai on Oshi no Ko, Megumin on Konosuba, Emilia on Re:Zero, Sumi on Rent-A-Girlfriend, Ena on Laid-Back Camp, Mash on Fate/Grand Order, and Tomo on Tomo-chan is a Girl)

*Yahiko is now played by Makoto Koichi (known for Elza on Interspecies Reviewers, Young Jun on Tomo-chan is a Girl, Sumika on Yuri is my Job, and Sakura on Lycoris Recoil)

*Sanosuke is now played by Taku Yashiro (known for Friede on Pokemon Horizons, Natsuo on Domestic Girlfriend, Kouichi on Horimiya, Vulcan on Fire Force, and Arai on Chainsaw Man)

ENGLISH CAST: *Kenshin is now played by Howard Wang (known for Piers on Pokemon Journeys, Anastasia on Jojo’s Pt. 6, Kokonoi on Tokyo Revengers, Atsushi on Lovely Complex, Goshiki on Haikyuu, and Chuusaku on Komi-san)

*Kaoru is now played by Risa Mei (known for Futaba on My Senpai is Annoying)

*Yahiko is now played by Erica Mendez (known for Gon on Hunter x Hunter, Haruka/Uranus on Sailor Moon [redub], Ryuko on Kill la Kill, Raphtalia on Shield Hero, Retsuko on Aggretsuko, and Megumin on Konosuba)

*Sanosuke is now played by Darius Johnson

SHIPPING: Can I delve into this topic without going off the deep end and bringing up spoilers?

No, not really. These spoilers are over 30 years old. Deal with it.

Kenshin x Kaoru is a ship that has set sailed into the sea. No matter how much sex appeal Megumi can throw at it! Trust me on the matter, it’s a signed deal. I know that it almost seems one-sided in these 24 episodes, but that’s how it is.

WHAT TO COVER: In a reboot, you’ve gotta see what this version kept and what they didn’t and if it’s all in the right part of the story. Of course, we get the stories everyone is used to with this series like Kaoru being duped by that old creep and the debuts of Sano and Yahiko. Near the halfway mark, we’re already introduced to Aoshi and watched Kenshin and Sano take on the drug lords that were using Megumi. There have been a couple of episodes dedicated to some familiar storylines like Sano’s old comrade and the young lad Yutarou who wound up on the wrong side of the blade. Meanwhile, I’m squirming around in my seat waiting to hear something from a certain awesome villain. I have made no secret to loving the Kyoto arc and its main villain, Makoto Shishio.

Come episode 19, I heard his name uttered and know that it’s coming up.

Wait a sec! There are only 5 episodes left in the season. If this studio dares to even cram the whole Kyoto arc in that short amount of time, I’m throwing this entire media out the window. There’s gotta be a second season. Even if it’s only like 12 episodes that covers the span of the Kyoto arc, it’s better than the worst-case scenario. Thankfully, they did not cram the entire Kyoto arc into an episode. No mad man would ever do…Studio Deen would do that.

Case and point, Rozen Maiden 2013!

I am now being informed that I have already insulted Studio Deen’s attempt with Rozen Maiden twice now in this review. Let me get back to what I was saying. Thank the great good lord those guys are not in charge of Rurouni Kenshin again.

Actually, two of these episodes were a flashback episode that was originally an extra chapter to the manga. And if you’re wondering if this flashback episode contains Kenshin back when he was the legendary manslayer, it does not. It’s a story of Kenshin a couple of months prior to meeting Kaoru and the rest. For Kenshin’s past…just watch the OVA’s from 30 years ago.

The final episodes of the season set the stage up for the Kyoto arc with the introduction to Hajime Saito. Ten years prior, he was a bit of a rival to Kenshin back when he was the noted manslayer. Now, Hajime is part of the Shinsengumi. Kenshin and Hajime end up facing off like back in the day and he wound up reverting back to his manslayer mode.

Apparently, Kenshin can turn off that mode with a punch in the face.

As one does! The last time Kenshin was in that mode was when Kaoru was kidnapped earlier in the series. This time, Kaoru’s voice had no effect. This moment leads to Kenshin’s crucial decision at the end of the season. After the spar, he is confronted by Okubo Toshimichi, the man who has been trying to make the Meiji era a more peaceful time. He asks Kenshin for help of taking out a certain someone. Yes, it’s Makoto Shishio. Also known as, the man who just won’t die. Case and point, he’s been stabbed, knocked unconscious, and even set on fire. He’s still standing! Hell, he’s even known as the new Hitokiri Battosai manslayer. Kenshin gave this a lot of thought as he wants to remain peaceful and never kill again. Unfortunately, he’s given no choice when Okubo…well, he…

He fucked around and found out!

One of Shishio’s commrades (Soujiro Seta) murdered Okubo and sent a stark warning to Kenshin about going forward with anything brash. Kenshin truly wants for a peaceful nation and doesn’t want to kill again. In the final moments, we see him have a few precious moments with Kaoru before proceeding to leave her.

DON’T CRY, FANS! HE AIN’T GONE FOREVER! But a season two must, must, must, must, MUST COME!

Thankfully, two days after the finale we get the announcement that Rurouni Kenshin is indeed getting a sequel in 2024. Unknown to when in 2024, if the same studio will be doing it, how many episodes it’s going to be, or if Steven Blum is going to return as the voice of Shishio. Seeing as NO ONE from the original English cast has returned to do this project, I’ll shut up about it...

For now.

Was this a great reboot? That’s your call to make. For me, it’s too early to tell as there’s only been 24 episodes and none of them are the classic Kyoto arc. It’s too preliminary to call it a masterpiece or trash. Manga readers are somewhat split as they will always find fault with everything. Not every anime adaptation is going to do everything by the book and that’s their conniption. I read the manga too and I wasn’t picky about the adaptation. It’s not like they skipped 50 chapters and went right into unknown territory.

And before you say, “Oh, there goes Medea again bashing Rozen Maiden 2013”. NO! I was actually poking at The Promised Neverland this time.

Thankfully, Rurouni Kenshin was done well. The art was beautiful. LIDENFILMS did a spectacular job. If you’re not familiar with the studio, they have recently done Call of the Night and Tokyo Revengers. The music was great. Every opening and ending were bangers. Reol was the real stand-out star in that department. They kept the language Kenshin uses when he speaks, that they did. I’m satisfied. I know more fans would want to see some more footage of Kenshin back when he was the notorious Battosai. I’m just going to say to be patient. You’ll see some stuff soon enough. And if you’re an impatient fuck, the OVA’s are around. Trust & Betrayal will give you what you want.

Can I recommend this? Not without having a giant elephant sitting on my shoulders.

For now, Crunchyroll has Rurouni Kenshin 2023 available for streaming.

Now then, for those who are looking for the original series, OVA, and even the live-action movies, here’s where to find them.

The original 96-episode series is currently on Hulu. The recent live-action movies are currently available on Netflix. All of the OVA’s (Trust & Betrayal, Reflections, and Kyoto-arc retelling), I can’t seem to find them streaming wise. Also, unsure if the hard copies are out of print or not.

#rurouni kenshin #himura kenshin #kaoru kamiya #sanosuke sagara #yahiko myojin #makoto shishio #soujirou seta

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oldgamemags · 1 year

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SEGA Visions #15, Oct-Nov '93 - Review of 'Ren & Stimpy: Quest for the Shaven Yak' on the Game Gear.

#Ren & Stimpy: Quest for the Shaven Yak #SEGA Visions 15 #Oct-Nov '93

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krissiefox · 10 months

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Adventures of Sonic The Hedgehog - The Pilot! (Screenshots & Review)

They waste no time showing off how sadistic Sonic can be at times. Poor Robotnik! I was actually going to be wrapping up this review series today with "Sonically Ever After", but I recently got a request to review the Aosth pilot, so I'm giving it a go, first!

There isn't much of a cohesive story to this pilot, as it seems like it thrown together more to give a feel of the shows tone, character personalities, and segments such as “Sonic says”. Also, before I start, I should mention that there are several different uploads of the pilot on Youtube (as well a download on the internet archive), and I decided to go with the one that had the longest length. Part of that extra length turned out to be clips from an episode included in the main series, so I'll be leaving that segment out. And, I do apologize for the incredibly fuzzy screenshots, but sadly I could not find any high-quality recordings of this pilot. I really hope they still exist somewhere!

The first scene starts out with Sonic introducing himself (And Robotnik) in front of a funky looking black and white background.

We then jump to a zoom in of planet Mobius, with a narrator, no less! That's definitely different from the final show. The narrator Gary Owens is fun and over-the-top like something from an old radio drama, and he also guest-starred as the voice of Powdered Toast Man in a Ren & Stimpy cartoon. No wonder he sounded familiar!

We see Sonic vandalizing a wanted poster that Robotnik put up of him, and hot damn, I need to praise how smooth this animation is! As cute and fun as Aosth is, it does feel unfortunate that this level of fluidity couldn't have been present throughout the entire main series.Though, on the other hand, there are a couple of moments in the pilot where Robotnik feels “overly” animated to the point of being visually confusing. Think something like the weird animations in CDI Zelda, but sped up really fast.

Blue arms?! Yup, despite some really nice and art and animation peppered throughout, there was a coloring error even in the pilot. Whoops!

We then see Robotnik telling his badniks about Sonic, in a scene that should look very familiar to anyone who's played Dr. Robotnik's mean bean machine. He's also voiced by Jim Cummings at times, which is odd to hear when I'm so used to hearing him be played by Long John Baldry (which is an awesome name by the way, wish he was still around... ). Sonic enters the room to taunt Robotnik, and all the robots chase him out of the tent in Emerald Hill Zone - which looks really nice! Again, it's a damn shame they couldn't have had this level of quality in the whole series' backgrounds.

I love that pretty and highly accurate Emerald Hill Zone background!

We get to occasionally see Scratch and Grounder in the pilot, but they don’t have any speaking scenes.

At this point, the "story" just kinda ends and the rest of the pilot is just a bunch of unconnected scenes - but they're still a treat to watch. We get to see Robotnik launch a cactus out of a cannon at Sonic. This part of the pilot was reused in the episode “ Untouchable Sonic “ (review here) , which is cool because at-least some of it was preserved in a higher quality this way.

The next scene clip has Sonic rallying freedom fighters and vandalizing a Robotnik billboard (another clip that got included in "Untouchable Sonic”). We then also see the scene that ended up being used for the show's credit sequence, where Robotnik gets squished by his own trap while trying to kill Sonic. The mystery of how he recovers form this at the end of every credits sequence is revealed - Scratch and Grounder come to re-inflate him like an old timey cartoon.

Next, there's a scene where some ...frog?...guy asks Sonic for help with a pond that Robotnik seems to be polluting or sealing the water from. Sonic traps Robotnik in his pipe then goes to relax at the beach with Tails. This is yet another scene that fascinates me because there's an old Archie Sonic comic where a fan submitted pretty much the exact same drawing on Sonic on the beach...but this was an unaired pilot. Maybe the kid who sent the art had a parent who worked on this show's pilot? I’d link the art but I can’t find it online. Maybe later I can do some scans from the original comic...

Wanting revenge for the pond incident, Robotnik attacks again using his little drilling vehicle from mystic cave zone in Sonic 2. He causes Sonic to fall into a hole in the beach, and we hear Tails' voice for the first time, too. It's definitely a different voice actor, whom is apparently rumored to have been a gal named Russi Taylor, but no voice actor was officially credited. The voice for Tails wasn't bad, but I'm so used to kid who voiced him int he mains series that it sounds quite odd to hear, much like with Jim Cummings.

Sonic and Tails take out Robotnik’s drill vehicle, and there's a bunch more chaotic slapstick scenes between him and Sonic shown. We also see a clip of Sonic talking to a character called "King Leo" and eventually a glimpse of Sonic running through Hill Top Zone, too!

I like this goofy screenshot I managed to capture of Tails. Looks like he’s having a sugar rush. :D

I enjoy how Robotnik looks comically small in this shot, and the look on his face is fun, too.

Sonic and Tails have the best little impish grins here. :)

Hill Top Zone!

Lastly, we get to see the very first "Sonic Says!". Sonic saves Tails from being hit by a car, and feeling embarrassed, Tails acknowledges that he knows he was careless to just run out into the road. Like many characters in the pilot, Tails' animation is much more "wild" and exaggerated, but nod distractingly so like Robontik was at times. The scene is quite cute and gives a chance to hear much more of Russi's (?) Tails voice.

“I don’t want any of my pals gettin’ turned into road pizza!”

And, well, that's the pilot! Not much of a story of course, but what makes it such a treat is seeing all the early ideas for elements in the final show, as well as all that great animation and art. I'm really glad this was preserved online by several folks, though I do still hope one day there will be a version with better visual quality and possibly more sound too. Oh right, the sound - another thing I forgot to mention was that some edits on YouTube add music and sounds to make things feel less awkward and empty in the audio department, as it seems the original video was quite lacking in music, sound effects and surprisingly, a lot of voices, too! Til next time, stay cool, and don’t become street pizza!

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ferpurple · 5 months

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JESUS H CRISP I FORGOT ABOUT MY OTHER BLOG, SORRY FOR THE LEAKS OF THE REBOOT FOR REMINDING ME OF IT

Erm..go watch it, I'll do a review of the whole series and such, y'know already

As for this account? I dunno..maybe I'll upload some drawings I make, if you care..

#shameless plug #watch my other blog #I have no idea how to use this site #I feel like a old senile bum #ouch oww my bones are cracking #oww my hips

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harpagornis · 6 months

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Merry Little Batman review

Merry Little Batman is decidedly on the lighter side of Batman media, in stark and perhaps welcome contrast to other DC animated films. The character designs are highly caricaturesque, ranging from Alfred looking like a The Thief and the Cobbler reject to Penguin only having three teeth to the one Ren and Stimpy-esque gross out close up.

Where the movie fails, in my opinion, is that it doesn't balance the childish moments with the more adult stuff. There are a few raunchy jokes sprinkled throught, and they feel pretty jarring when it's a typical "kid proves himself" narrative.

For a film set on Christimas the holiday itself almost feels like an afterthought, but I don't mind that much.

Overall, decent with a few problems.

#batman #dc #animation #cartoon

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renpimpiblog · 4 months

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Hello, sorry for the short break, I forgot I had Tumblr again

The next episode is....

This one....ohh man this one..

I really, really, REALLY WANT TO LIKE THIS ONE, it's about two stupid ass cowboys looking for someone to hang, so they get Ren and Stimpy (who, in this scenario, wear some cute cowboy styled clothes as well) to do some bad guy stuff to hang them (I like the idea of Ren being so skinny and Stimpy being so fat that both of them literally can't be hanged), THEN COMES THE SONG, OH MY GOD THE SONG, I LOVE IT SO MUCH, AND YET AT THE SAME TIME I CANNOT UNDERSTAND HOW IT GOT APPROVED TO AIR, IT'S A MYSTERY BECAUSE I REALLY DO THINK SOMETHING LIKE THIS WOULD NEVER NEVER EVER GET APPROVED TO AIR ON A KIDS SHOW.....and yet, I don't really like the episode as is, what a mystery right?

I don't know man, the animation is PRETTY good on this one, the visual aspect is all around fantastic, but the humor (or rather, timing of it?) on this one is so..BORING I DON'T KNOW, it reminds me of fkinggg Chris Savino style humour, where a dumb joke just DRAGS ON FOREVER, the main ""joke"" of the cowboys is that they're dumb as hell, and that's not a bad concept on itself, they're funny sometimes, but THEY SPEND HALF THE RUNTIME OF THE EPISODE JUST BLINKING WITH A STATIC FACE AND YOU JUST SIT THERE THINKING "OK I GET THE JOKE, GO ON" I'm sorry if this may be some """hot take""" or some shit like that, but it really brings the episode down for me, like, to make room for that dumbass joke, not much really happens before the song at the end? I feel like they could've made so much more with the concept rather than spend half the episode watching how two idiots blink, the song is catchy, the designs of all the characters overall are pretty nice with the animation itself being amazing, but the pacing it's the real problem

I give this episode a 6/10, I believe that the song literally saves this episode from being forgettable, even with the good animation provided by carbunkle

There you have it, join us (just me) next time where we'll be watching and discussing "Rubber nipple salesmen" ooooo it's going to be great teehee

#ren & stimpy #ren and stimpy #ren hoek #ren y stimpy #stimpy #here i am reviewing a +20 year old cartoon series like a fucking psycho

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toonrandytalkstoons · 1 year

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Pony in the Studio: The Music of “It’s Pony”

Wow, uh, this is the first ever music review I ever wrote! And although I love music and have been listening to it all of my life – and also amassed a huge vinyl and CD collection – even still it might be hard for me to do at least a great review/retrospective because I’m not really an expert on doing such. But as a fan of and very supportive of one of my favorite animated series, I do think its music is a very underappreciated aspect of it, and that’s why I want to bring attention to it.

It’s Pony has a great underscore and also at times delves into various sounds and even different music genres, thanks to its composer Mike Rubino. The central themes for the series often use twangy country music considering that the stars of the series, Annie and Pony and their family, are farmers and run an urban farm. Its laid back nature gives off a soothing vibe. This also applies to the series’ theme song, composed and performed by Jon Wygens. Some of the biggest and most popular Nicktoons, from Ren and Stimpy to SpongeBob SquarePants to The Loud House, mainly use stock music that you may hear in other series. It’s Pony’s music, by contrast, gets creative and fits the mood and scenes which will be explained later. And the best part: it’s performed by live musicians. (Another great example of a Nicktoon using live musicians for a series underscore is Harvey Beaks, which utilized a Seattle-area symphony orchestra.)

Some time after I noticed the series’ music and fell in love with it, I was asking for Nickelodeon to release a soundtrack album. I thought that considering that It’s Pony wasn’t as popular as the most popular Nicktoons that receive several soundtrack releases. But lo and behold, Nick actually did it, first with It’s Pony – The Best of Season 1, released in November 2021! Again, I thought they wouldn't do it, but was still surprised that they did. Nick followed up with It’s Pony – The Best of Season 2 in May 2022 during the day of the series finale. I think these releases were being done because in recent months Nickelodeon announced that they’re returning to the music business full time with soundtrack and single releases and original artists. They later signed a deal with UMG Recordings and the releases will be licensed to UMG label Republic’s newly created Republic Kids and Family division. Before the deal, Nick had independently released some soundtracks, EPs and single releases at an increasing rate from properties including The Loud House, Middlemost Post, The Barbarian and the Troll, and It’s Pony, presumably to test the waters. The network had a record label called Nickelodeon Records many years ago. However, Nick never promoted the It’s Pony albums, leaving fans like me to promote the album and trying to have as many people to be aware of their existence. The releases themselves are just that good.

As mentioned earlier, the music of It’s Pony features songs and the score of various genres and feels and they are also greatly represented on the albums. They range from the silly and whimsical (“Magic Annie” from the episode of the same name), to funk (“Love at Fish Sight”, from “School Dance”), to line dancing (“Line Dance of Destruction” from “Never Take Advice from a Pony”), to boogie (“Holiday Boogie” from “Bramley Holiday”), to video game music (“Scatterblood Gutloose” from “Game Pony”), to powerful (“Hero Horse” from “Bad Chicken), to heroic (“Unlikely Heroes” from “The Wallet”), to swing (“Get Yourself to Pickleton”, from “Annie’s Voice”), to the mysterious (“Lakey Loos”, from “The Lakey Loos”), to techno (“Underground Dance Off”), to spooky (“Night-Mares” from “Scarecrow”), and everywhere in between. (That’s a lot!) That’s pretty much the main reason why I love the music of It’s Pony – there’s something for every mood or scene. And I’m a music lover, so I really appreciate all the hard work that totally paid off!

Here’s what I feel are the best tracks from the two albums:

It’s Pony – The Best of Season 1

“It’s Pony Theme”, “Tails and Noses”, “Hero Horse”, “Magic Annie”, “Roll with Me”, “Holiday Boogie”, “Idea Cakes”, “Evil Dog’s Good Plan”, “Unlikely Heroes”, “Let’s Wrap This Up”

It’s Pony – The Best of Season 2

“Song of the Soil”, “The Fingers Song”, “The Toes Song”, “Country Livin’”, “Lakey Loos”, “Beeware”, “City Life”, “Come Home”, “Underground Dance Off”

Season 1’s album has a mix of songs and score throughout, while season 2’s album starts with songs first then the scores. Note that the titles for both albums contain the words “best of” as not all scores from every episode appear. I’m kinda disappointed realizing that the music from “Annie vs. Pony” that’s so boss when Pony battles his “pet” is not on season 2’s album, and I may have forgotten a few others.

It’s Pony – a wonderful series with wonderful music! I’m glad that there are albums from the animated series. Nickelodeon may not do this, but although I have digital downloads of both I would love to see a vinyl release. Maybe the discs will be colored vinyl!

If you haven’t checked out the albums yourself – and maybe perhaps the series itself – give it a listen!

#it's pony #music #nickelodeon #nicktoons #cartoons #animation

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watching-pictures-move · 11 months

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Movie Review | The Flash (Muschietti, 2023)

This review contains spoilers for this movie and Wonder Woman 1984.

So, if I can point out the positives about this movie, it’s that the special effects, through their shortcomings, achieve a sense of accidental surrealism. I don’t just mean the scenes in the Speed Zone (or whatever, I’m not looking it up), where the effect is intentional, but even things that are supposed to be closer to a superpowered reality. There’s an early scene where the Flash has to save a bunch of babies and a dog and a nurse falling from a crumbling tower, and aside from some conceptual novelty, the monstrous computer-generated faces of the babies make you feel like you’re watching an episode of Ren & Stimpy. What should be cartoonish fun is instead rendered into a grotesque, Boschian hellscape. But the majority of the effects are astoundingly bad, with many of the CGI-rendered characters having that unsettling dead-eyed Polar Express look, , doubling effects (which were perfected decades before CGI) being botched, and many of the scenes of rubbery, weightless supposed spectacle looking about as good as a PS3 cutscene from a decade and a half ago. Never has so much money been spent on effects that look this poor. (One shot in particular brought back memories of watching my brother play RTSs when he hogged the computer growing up.)

And I’ll say that compared to the other actors in supporting roles, Sasha Calle as Supergirl gives the kind of performance that feels like it belongs in a well executed version of these things, in that she actually tries to evoke some kind of emotional reality for her character. (I don’t put much effort in anticipating these things, but it does seem a bit cruel that she’s probably been jettisoned from future entries.) In comparison, Michaels Keaton and Shannon seem to be in a competition to give the lowest energy line readings possible to still meet the contractual definition of a performance Keaton wins, as his eyebrow raising provides a level of charisma that can’t be quashed, while Shannon seems so affectless and so frequently depicted through special effects that I’m not convinced he ever actually stepped on set and didn’t just bark his lines over the phone one afternoon. And Gal Gadot in her cameo gives a line reading so bad that you wonder how she ever passed an audition or screen test.

So aside from that freaky ass baby scene and Sasha Calle, this is quite bad at being an effective superhero movie. At this point I must concede that I struggle to muster much enthusiasm for the majority of entries in the genre, and the fact that this is bad in ways that suggest autocritique makes it a more interesting than a lot of these things. In fact, like Wonder Woman 1984, its badness gave me a lot to chew over. That one, while pretty awful as spectacle, laid bare the implied contempt of the genre and maybe doubled as a commentary for our present political situation. That movie, which has a grifter promising people their wishes will come true only to complicate them with monkey’s paw twists, ended not with Wonder Woman actually doing anything useful to save the day, but with her browbeating everyone for wanting better lives for themselves and taking back their wishes. You see, you shouldn’t expect these things to actually be good (or for our leaders to do anything to improve our situation), and in fact you’re a bad person for wanting that, so fuck you, eat your scraps and be happy. (Perhaps I have some firsthand skin in the game, having been accosted years ago by some fucking weirdo acting like he wanted to start a fight after a screening of Guardians of the Galaxy when he overheard me complaining to my friends. I am a man of peace, but motherfucker was scrawny as a toothpick, I could probably have taken him.)

This one, where the plot is instigated by the hero traveling back in time to save his mother from being murdered and ends with him accepting her death but managing to at least clear his father of the crime, offers a somewhat more optimistic message. We can’t fundamentally change what’s wrong with the genre or the world, but can maybe make things a bit more bearable. That being said, this absolutely is not more bearable, given its total failure as spectacle. (And to be honest, I’m normally one who finds the thinkpiece-brained moralistic handwringing about blockbusters to be a bit obnoxious, between the Oedipal obsessiveness with which this movie ponders the mother’s death and the glee with which it repeatedly kills Supergirl, I found its treatment of women a bit unseemly.) The fact that much of the plot hinges on the Flash trying to go back in time to course correct future events plays like a commentary on its release, having been crapped out by Warner Brothers when it’s in the midst of course correcting its handling of the DCEU, and the flagrant disrespect it shows cultural history (exhuming George Reeves and Christopher Reeve to turn them into unsettling CGI puppets) matches the attitudes of a certain WB exec who’s been in the news more than anyone would like. And perhaps the ending lends a certain self-critical read to this element.

Like Wonder Woman 1984, this feels like the overarching corporate strategy being exposed, or more accurately, falling apart. There’s the awkward mix of irony-tinged Whedonian quipping and solemn Snyderian destruction, executed so as to lack any of the timing of the former or the weight of the latter. And in that sense, Ezra Miller’s twitchy performance feels like a glitch in the algorithm, refusing to work on either level the movie aims for. That they weren’t recast despite their offscreen criminal antics and that this movie was released, despite the abrupt change in corporate strategy and the aggressive PR management these things normally have, give this all a certain morbid interest. The near-empty theatre I watched this in gave this an ambience of archeological decay, like I was watching the detritus of a collapsed civilization.

#film #movie review #the flash #andy muschietti

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