Bilby and Bird Karma Review

Hello there animation fans I thought that i'd do something that I very rarely do and that's review a short film. Now since shorts films in the realm of animation never last longer then ten minuets I thought that to make it bit more fun for me I would review not one but short films and as look would have it two short films came online this morning and so I present to you my review of both Bilby and Bird Karma.

The plot to Bird Karma is very simple it follows a bird who eats alot of fish and one day he finds this orange fish but over the course of the film the bird becomes greedy and it turns into kind of a Road Runner cartoon. Out of the two I can very easily see why this was a short film because there's very little in terms of story. The plot for Bilby is an Australian creature known as a Bilby risks his own life to look after a baby albatross. Again this is a simpler plot but it's one that I think works for this short and out of the two it's one that I could very easily see as a feature film.

This is the easiest part of the review because only one of the short films has acting in it and so starring in Bilby is Dee Bradley Baker as Baby Albatross and David P. Smith as Bilby. I'll full on admit that i wasn't paying to much attention to the acting in Bilby because there was something else that was stunning but from what I heared when I was paying attention to it the acting was fairly solid and alot better then what i thought it would be.

As mentioned Bird Karma has no voice acting in it at all and given how dark that short film gets I think that's a good thing. It also adds to the Road Runner vibe that I was getting from the short because if you remember outside of a few noises neither Wile E. Coyote or the Road Runner had any lines of dialog outside of a few noises from the Road Runner and so to see this short do the same thing really added to that vibe.

The animation for the short films was done by Dreamworks Animation and both ofer a vastly different animation style with Bilby going the 3D CGI route and Bird Karma going for 2D hand drawn animation. The animation for both films is truly great and alot better then the animation seen in a lot of short films but out of the two the animation used in Bilby I thought was alot better and it looked like the kind of animation you'd see in a feature film.

Speaking of Bilby the reason why i think the animation for this film is good is because this was going to be a feature film called Larrikins but it's hard to say how far along in the making of that film the team got before it morphed into Bilby. I'd be so happy if Dreamworks announced that they were going to make Bilby into a feature film because as I was watching it I could see where all the big set pieces would be and how that would play out in a movie.

Both of these shorts are apart of Dreamworks history because they are the first shorts to come out of the companies new shorts programme. I'm so glad that the studio is giving young talent a chance to shine because you know that Disney won't do it unless it's PIXAR so the fact that Dreamworks is taking a chance with new unproven talent can only be a good thing for both the people involved and the animation industry.

If you want to know where you can watch these shorts there going to be on the home video release for the third How To Train Your Dragon movie and given how popular those films are i'm glad that these little known shorts are getting a big push from Dreamworks. It would have been so easy for them to push these shorts under the rug and act like they never happened but the fact that there going to be on DVD for a major film is again a good thing.

In terms of the jokes there are a few goods ones to be found in both films but so few of them are laugh out loud funny. Alot of the really funny jokes do come from Bilby but there is charm to how dark Bird Karma and it's humour is like for example when ever the bird eats a fish you see the fish's skeleton which I thought was cute little gad but it's also a dark as hell joke but like I said the really funny jokes do come from Bilby.

Overall both films do have a certain charm to them and Bird Karma is very freaking dark and I mean very and the ending is darkest ending i've seen in a kids animated short film. Out of the two i'd say Bilby is the best one but that's just me and Bilby gets a 7 out of 10 from me while Bird Karma gets a 5 out of 10 from me.

My First Impressions of Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? Might Contain Some Spoilers

Scooby-Doo is a franchise that will never die it will last longer then anyone on Earth and now there's a new series. I'm just going to come right out and say it that set up to this show show is exactly the same as The New Scooby-Doo Movies i'm not even joking it's the exact same set up , and this is a first for me because this is the first time i'm doing a first impressions for new Scooby-Doo series and it will lead to my first review of a new Scooby-Doo series and so here are my first impressions of Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?.

When I said the set up of the two shows was the exact same I wasn't kidding just based of this first episode it looks like each episode will start of with the gang somewhere else and then will end up running into insert famous person or character here and then they'll do the mystery. There's a case for if it's not broke don't fix it but this formula has been done to death and when another show in the same franchise does this set up then you need to do something different but they don't at least in this episode.

Of course we have all of the Scooby regulars back so that mean we have Frank Welker as Fred Jones and Scooby-Doo , Grey Griffin as Daphne Blake , Matthew Lillard as Shaggy Rogers and Kate Micucci as Velma Dinkley. There acting was exactly what i'd come to expect from them at this point and that's not a bad thing at least in my opinion because you know that these actors can deliver a great performance.

The selling point for this series is that each episode will feature as famous guest star (I wonder what over Scooby-Doo series did that) and the guest star in this episode is basketball legend Chris Paul. His acting in this was pretty bad which I was honestly expecting since he's not an actor so of course it's not going to be as good as the regular cast members and I will admit that this version of him was indeed entertaining.

The animation is being done by Yeson Entertainment with the show being produced by Warner Bros Animation and the animation is where I found my first major issue because while it was good in terms of movements when it comes to some of faces it looks bad with perhaps the best example being Daphne. I will; admit that it was good that they went back to using the classic designs which was honestly something that really caught me of guard.

Not only did they use the same designs for the main characters but they also used the same running poses as well. I know that alot of people won't really pick up on that and that's fair enough but I thought that it was a nice touch and it's something that they didn't have to do so i'm glad that the makers of this version of the franchise went the extra mile. That said tho I would have preferred it if they came up with some original designs just so it would help the show stand out a bit more.

I have no idea who Chris Paul is infact when I heard he was in it I actually thought that he was related to Jake and Logan Paul. In my defence tho i'm not American so i'm not going to know who he is and i'm sure that alot of other none Americans thought the exact same thing as me and i'm sure that some Americans did as well. That said tho I have to wonder why did they start of with him and not someone more universally more well known. 

They also use a new version of the classic Scooby-Doo theme song which while i'm glad that they did use that classic song because it's what alot of people think of when they think of Scooby-Doo. I personally would have preferred it if they had come up with something new because all it did was remind of the classic series which is something I didn't want to be doing I wanted to be thinking about this new one but I couldn't do that when they started playing the Where Are You theme.

SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For some reason they have I think Gofer's but i'm not exact sure and they add nothing to the overall plot of the episode. If anything all it did was remind me of Caddyshack and i've not even seen that movie but I did see A Futile and Stupid Gesture which does include the making of that movie. Adding to that because of those gofer's being in the episode all they do is make Scooby look dumb which is a very bad thing considering he's the franchise main star.

We have to talk about the mystery aspect and this is the weakest aspect of the whole episode in my opinion because the franchise built it self on giving you enough clues to work out who did it for yourself. This one however doesn't do that in fact they give you no clues at all so not only does it come out of know where when they reveal that the culprit was this caddy seen in the above picture but they also explain key points which happened of screen things which would have helped make the mystery good.

In terms of what I thought of the actual comedy in the episode it actually wasn't that bad there was a few moments that got a smile out of me. That's not to say that all of the jokes are good there are alot of jokes that just don't work like for example any scene where they make Scooby look dumb which while jokes like that can be funny here they just don't work. I did however liked that they went back to having Shaggy , Scooby and in this case Chris Paul put on an effort to distract the villain which I honestly thought was pretty funny.

NO MORE SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Overall this series looks to be good and it does give of a better first impression then Yabba-Dabba Dinosaurs! and unlike most shows on Boomerang this show is being released weekly and that means you can expect a review within a few weeks and there is not going to rating from me. 

  

    

My First Impressions Of Amphibia WILL Include SPOILERS!!!!!!

Disney fans the company is back at it again with another animated series and like alot of of you this is one that i've been looking forward. This and Owl House are shows that i've been keeping a huge eye on since they were first announced last year and like The Owl House I was super excited to see this show and well now that the first episode has been made available to watch on Disney Now as well as the official Disney Channel Youtube (if your in the UK sadly it's region locked) so here are my first impressions of Amphibia.

So far there is no real plot forming we do get hints of things to come at the end of the first segment and at the end of the second segment. I'm not going to give it away but the officially released synopsis is kind of hiding something important and i'll get more into that later because for the first time ever my first impressions will include some spoilers for the episodes and I can see why they hid this bit on information.

Starring in the series will be Disney Channel legend Brenda Song as Anne Boonchuy , Justin Felbinger as Sprig Plantar , Amanda Leighton as Polly Plantar , Disney legend and current Goofy voice actor Bill Farmer as Hopadiah "Hop Pop" Plantar , Anna Akana as Sasha , Stephen Root as Mayor Toadstool , James Patrick Stuart as One-Eyed Wally and the always awesome Troy Baker as Grime.

I will say that two of the above listed actors don't play a role until the end of the second segment and even then only one of them speaks but this character was listed because it looks like there going to play a huge role later on. As for what I thought about the acting so far it seems pretty good acting in the first episode is never perfect that's just how it is and the same is true here but just based of these two segments it looks like this show will have solid acting in it.

The animation for the show is being done by Rough Draft Korea, SMIP, and Saerom and I have to say that the animation so far looks freaking fantastic. There's alot of energy in each frame and movement that you just don't see in animated shows these days and it really does go well with this show at least in my opinion. I will say that the designs to me do look pretty bland and generic but i'm hoping that they'll grow on me as the show continues.

Now I have to talk about spoilers here because there's a few things that happen in this opening episode which get me excited for what's to come. The first one being Anne isn't your typical hero and by that I mean she's a lier and a thief that right there gives her such an interesting character arc because you know at some point she's going to have confront that issue and when she does she'll be better of for it.

The second one being that at least one of the people that Anne thought was her friend in the human world is in the same frog world as her. If i'm right this is going to tie in to Anne's character arc for this season and if that turns out to be the case then we could be in for an interesting journey for both characters. I only have one wish tho for this subplot and that's that I don't want Disney to resolve it straight away I want them to build it up over the course of the season so then we can have a proper pay off.

Disney did a really unexpected thing that's that they released the first full episode online both on DisneyNow and the official Disney Channel Youtube Channel. Like I said at the start tho you can only view it on youtube if your in America because screw giving us fans in the UK or anywhere else that matter something to watch but in there defence doing this does mean that alot of hype can be built up for the next episode and judging by how well done this episode has been received it's worked.

Overall so far it looks like Disney on to another winner with this show and I for one cannot wait to see where they take this show and this story , I don't think this needs saying but at some point in the future there will be a review of this show i'm just not to sure on when that will be and this show has already been renewed for a second season so you know it's good.

My Thoughts On The News Of A Worzel Gummidge Reboot

Now this is something that not alot of people know about me but I watched Worzel Gummidge growing up no i'm not that old I watched them on VHS so i'm old but not that old. So when I happened to read that the the BBC was looking into the possibility of doing a new adaptation of the books I was of course quite interested and then we got nothing for years and years that was until last week were we got news that the BBC was not making a new series instead rather two TV films and well instead of doing this post straight after finding out I thought i'd wait a week or so and let the news sink in before talking about it so here we go. 

First of I really do hope that they keep the films scary and I don't mean like they have to make them like a horror film but they have to at least scare kids. I say that because the first ever episode and several others episodes of the original 70's show are quite creepy and this isn't just the little kid inside of me saying that this is the fully adult me who got scared when watching one of the episodes a few years back , but tho I can very easily see them not making the films as scary or at least the first just because of when it might be aired which i'll get into later.

Along with the announcement of the films we also got the confirmation that the films will be starring , written by and for at least the first one directed by Mackenzie Crook. Again when the show was rumoured to be coming back a few years ago he was the only person attached to the role and when I read it back then I jumped for joy because he is the perfect person to play Worzel even if you look at a picture of him without any make up on he kind of looks like a scarecrow so it's only fitting that he plays the lead role.

As for the look of the character that one i'm still on the fence about and that was the only reason why I put of doing this post as soon as I found out because I wanted ,my thoughts on his look to be clear one way or other. Sadly tho that's not the case I will say that based of the image that was released by the BBC he looks pretty bad but that design might indeed work for this new version of the character so we'll have to wait and see but so far he looks more creepy then friendly and I think that both works for and against him and i'll go into why that is later.

I don't know if anybody reading this knows this or not but in the original 70's show Worzel had a love interest called Aunt Sally who in the books was his actual Aunt. So it makes me wonder which way they'll go with her character should she be introduced in the new films because they could go either way here so it really does depend on if there going introduce more elements from the books or if there just going by the 70's show.

As someone who grew up with the show i'd like it if they stuck with the series just because that's what I grew up with but i'd understand if they chose to go and adapt more things from the books. If they did go down the book route then it would mean that they could introduce Worzel's wife I forget what her name is but it would make this new reboot standout a bit and I dare say make it a bit more mature.

Now before I mentioned the look of the new character and how the new look makes the character look creepy it works for the character because the character is a scarecrow his job is to well scarecrows so making him look creepy does work in that regard. However he's also meant to appealing to kids and that's where the design doesn't quite work because he looks to scary but like I said before it might work in context with the new films.

Now there is a rumour that the first of these films will debut at Christmas i've read the entire press release and they don't mention when it will debut. The only thing they did confirm was that there's going to be two films and the first one will be sixty minuets long and that's all that was confirmed so if you here anything regarding a release date take it as a rumour unless it comes from the BBC themselves.

So there you have it guys that's my thoughts on the news of a Worzel reboot and you can bet i'll be reviewing both of these when they air and if you guys think this is a good idea I might review older episodes so let me know down below if that's something you'd be interested in seeing.

Looney Tunes Cartoons: Dynamite Dance Mini Review

Cartoon fans you all know me i'm a huge fan of the Looney Tunes and what's not to love there comedy is classic , the animation is nearly always top notch and they had some of the best directors and voice actors working on them. Sadly tho for the past four years the characters have been stuck in a dreadful show which has now thankfully ended and Warner Bros made a smart move by bringing the characters back to their routes and the first new short which is also a trailer for the new show has been released so let's dive head first into Dynamite Dance.

The set up for the short is simple and classic Looney Tunes it's just Elmer chasing Bugs with Bugs constantly outsmarting him. With a set up like this you can't really go wrong and with this short / trailer being a minuets and a half there's not much there in terms of plot but what is there to me just screams classic Looney Tunes and after four years of bad jokes and terrible looking animation this is the kind of thing that we've been begging for.

Rather shockingly there is no dialog spoken in this short / trailer so in this regard it's kind of like the classic short Rabbit of Seville where there's just music playing. In all honesty i'm not quite sure how I feel about this since I would have liked to hear Eric Bauza as Bugs since this is first time playing the character so it would have been nice just to hear what he was going to sound like in this new series but on the other hand not having any dialog for a short cartoon is also kind of a Looney Tunes tradition.

Yes i'm calling this a mini review because the short / trailer is only a minuet and a half long and there's not much you can really get out of that. I will say tho that as of this writing i've seen the short / trailer at least four times and it still cracks me up and the reason why i'm calling this a short / trailer is because at the end of it they say that more are coming soon and Wikipedia has it listed as both the trailer and a short so it's hard to fully judge what it is so it's just easier to call it both.

What I don't think anyone was expecting at least certainly me was for the classic Warner Bros Animation logo to pop up at the start. To me that made it feel like I was watching a classic Looney Tunes short and to top it off they also had the classic theme song playing as well so Warner Bros is really trying to capture the old Looney Tunes feel with this new series of shorts and so far there're succeeding.

Speaking of capturing that old Looney Tunes feel the animation in this short / trailer is alot better then what I thought it was going to be. It honestly looks like the old shorts from the forties and sixties even the promo image that they released a few days ago looked like it was from that time frame and the quality of the animation is so close to the quality one would expect from a theatrically released movie that it's unreal it's easily better then the animation seen in New Looney Tunes and for some reason they gave Bugs what looks like yellow gloves which just doesn't look as good as his white ones.

Now this wouldn't be Looney Tunes if there wasn't some jokes and sadly this is where they kind of loose that old Looney Tunes feel they were going for because this short only has slapstick humour which was kind of the Looney Tunes way but they also had great word play. I have a feeling that the reason they went with slapstick for this short is because of the short run time and that's fair enough since alot of the slapstick is well done but it's just not Looney Tunes in my opinion.

Overall this was a great short / trailer and it does get me excited for the new series whenever they decide to release the new shorts and you can bet that i'll be watching this series when the new shorts start coming out and since this thing is only a minuet and a half long i'm not going to give it rating but I will say that if you want to check it out it's on Youtube just search Warner Bros TV and you'll find it. 

Some Animated Shows And Movies That NEVER Happend

Animation fans there are alot of animated shows and movies made every year some turn out to be good others not so much. However what you may or may not know is that there are a lot of shows and films that don't get made and well I thought i'd do something a little bit different and tell you about some of the shows and films that we could have got and just to make things easier i'm not going to include shows that were cancelled and then brought back so here we go.

Power Rangers: The Animated Series

Yes ladies and gents you read that right there was going to be an animated series of Power Rangers a pilot for the show was commissioned by Disney in 2009 with the show to air on Disney XD. Unlike the live action show which uses stock footage from a Japanese show called Super Sentai this was going to an entirely American production all that exists of this project is a pitch video made by Nerd Corps which was put together over one weekend.

Live Action Catwoman Animated Sequel

There have been a lot of bad comic book movies and when I say bad I mean really freaking bad and of those movies was the 2004 film Catwoman. This film bombed so hard that it took Warner Bros thirteen years to make another female lead comic book movie but things could have been different because there was plans for an animated movie there is no word tho on if this would have been a sequel or not but the film was cancelled due to the film's commercial failure.

The Flintstones Reboot

 Everyone has at least heard of the original Flintstones and the show itself is considered by many to be a classic show what many don't know or straight up forgot was that there was going to be a reboot. In 2011 it was announced that Family Guy creator and Flintstones fan Seth MacFarlane would be producing a reboot of the show which makes sense since Seth has spoofed the show and it's characters several times on his shows. According to the lost media wiki page there was a few scripts and some animation was indeed produced for the reboot but it but the project was cancelled due to one of the heads at Fox not loving the scripts.

Deadpool: The Animated Series

There are alot of Marvel animated shows out there some good and some bad but there's one animated show that alot of people were excited for but we never got to see. The show in question is Deadpool this show had so much going for it it was given a straight to series order of at least ten episodes and was going to be created by The Glover Brothers Donald and Stephen but for some reason the show got cancelled and there are conflicting reports as to who's to blame.

Buffy: The Animated Series

This is such a well known show that didn't happen that it would be pointless for me to go into that much detail about the show. The only reason why the show wasn't picked up is because it would be to adult to be shown of children's TV but also seen as unsuitable for some in a prime-time slot but there was a four minuet pilot made for the show which did feature several actors from the show reprising there roles which I do recommend any Buffy fan check out since you can find it on Youtube.