Hilda Review

Ladies and gents Netflix has been knocking it out of the park recently with there animated shows and i'm going to take the time to talk about a little known shows which came out a week after the awesomeness that is The Dragon Prince and that show is the one and only Hilda.

The set up for the show is Hilda and her friends go on crazy magical adventures around the town of Trolburg. Yeah as you can no doubt tell this show is episodic but you do have to have seen at least the first three or four episodes in order to get a decent understanding of what's going on and the set up is fun and creative enough that i don't mind that much that there isn't a story bu at the same time I think the show would have been better served if there was one.

Starring in the show is Lyanna Mormont as Hilda , Daisy Haggard as Mum , Ameerah Falzon-Ojo as Frida , Oliver Nelson as David and Rasmus Hardiker as Alfur. We have an all British cast for this show and that was something that truly did surprise me just because when you think of Netflix you think of mostly American actors but no every single actor in this show is British and that was something that I loved.

Acting wise the show doesn't fair that well because outside of Bella Ramsey who is once again brilliant the rest of cast are just average at best and given that some of them are newcomers that's to be expected but Rasmus is in the new Thunderbirds series so we know he can act and here he's just passable at best.

Now I cannot work out who did the animation for this show the two choices are Silvergate Media and Mercury Filmworks either wat the animation for the show I personally thought was pretty good it has a certain charm to it that i really cannot describe and like The Dragon Prince this show also has some truly stunning backgrounds.

I can see people complaining about the character designs in this show because they do use what people call the "cal arts" style but for me I enjoyed the simple character designs so if your going to judge this show just based on the designs then get in line with the She-Ra reboot haters because designs aren't everything and yes when the She-Ra reboot does come out I will be taking down those haters.

What you guys might not know is that this series is based on a graphic novel officially making it the first Netflix animated series to be based on a graphic novel / comic book the graphic novel series was written by Luke Pearson who also did storyboards for Adventure Time during it's fifth and seventh season. 

As well as creating the original graphic novel series which currently has five books released he also helped develop this series and he also wrote episodes ten and twelve of this series and I have to say that bringing on the guy who created the character is a smart move because who else would know that world better then the guy who came up with it.

There is something that I have to bring up and that's the fact that the intro is very similar to the opening to Star Vs. The Forces Of Evil you wouldn't believe how similar the intro's for both shows are both intros feature the main character or characters jumping around from scene to scene encountering things we would see in the show i'll admit that they do go there separate ways near the end tho. 

I'm just going to say i'm not going to count the fact that both shows exist in a fantasy type setting as them being similar because that then would imply that the makers of this show aren't creative which is far from the truth in fact I love the fact that this show does have that kind of setting since it helps set it apart from all the other animated shows that are out on Netflix right now.

Just going back to the designs there is one character in episode six that was giving me some serious Coraline vibes and if you've seen the episode you'll know who I mean because the villain of that episode is creepy as heck when she's in what i'm calling Spider-Form how they got that past the guys at Netflix i'll never know.

The comedy in the show I thought was actually pretty decent there's a lot of jokes in this and i'll admit not all of them land but the ones that do are the ones that are worth remembering and that's not something I get to say about any show or movie because of the fact i'm focused on several other aspects of the production but here the comedy is part of the shows charm so I can mention the fact that there are lot of good jokes and those are the ones that will stick with you when you reach the thirteenth and final episode.

Overall Hilda is a show worth talking about and it is truly a shame that it will most likely be overshadowed by The Dragon Prince so if you can I erge you to go and seek this show out you will not regret it and it scores an 8.5 out of 10 from me.

The Dragon Prince Review

Netflix fans I know that this review is coming late but i've finally seen all nine episodes of the companies latest animated show and I have to say that while I don't agree with the 100% score on RT it is a really good show so here is my review of The Dragon Prince.

The plot of this show is two humans and an elf have to try and get an unborn baby dragon back to it's mother. Yes I know that that summery doesn't make the show seem exciting but trust me there's alot more going on and I really liked the story it was very easy to follow and very epic at the same time and the story also gave me strong Avatar vibes but i'll get more into why that was later on in the review my only issue with the story is things get resolved in episode nine when it would have been more right to resolve them whenever the show ends.

Starring in the show are Jack De Sena as Callum , Paula Burrows as Rayla , Sasha Rojen as Ezran , Racquel Belmonte as Claudia , Jesse Inocalla as Soren , Jason Simpson as Viren and Jonathan Holmes as Runaan. The acting for this show I thought was really good it's not the show's strongest suit but i'll get to that later the three leads all have great chemistry together and all three do deliver solid performances.

In a world where everybody pretty much knows about everything it's a wonder that the team behind this freaking amazing show managed to keep it a secret for as long as they did they didn't even fully announce the show was being made until I think this year if this was any other show by any other company or team the second they said they'd make the show it would have been all over the internet so i'm glad that they kept it a secret for as long as they did.

The show is made by new company Wonderstorm Pictures and it's in the show's animation that we find it's strongest suit because my oh my is the animation in this show truly something to behold i'll admit that I was worried when I saw that it was basically done in CGI but the sell shaded look of the show does actually work in it's favor and that truly shines through both in the show's fighting scenes and it's backgrounds both of which or truly stunning.

I'm going to take a minuet here just to explain why I was late with not only thins review but my Hilda review the short answer is i've been on holiday this was in the cards for a while so I knew that I was going to miss seeing this show in it's first weekend so I made plans to start watching it as soon as I got back and no joke the second I got back home I logged online and I started downloading all nine episodes and I made sure to avoid all spoilers regarding the show.

This show does have a very strong connection to Avatar: The Last Airbender since it's co-created by Aaron Ehasz who was the lead writer and director for the show and is executive produced by Giancarlo Volpe who directed a large amount of episodes for the show so if you were a fan of Avatar then this is something that you might like to check out.

Going back to what I said before about getting Avatar vibes from this show there are alot of story beats and in some cases whole episodes which play out the exact same way as in Avatar and to be honest im not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing it could be good because Avatar was a good show and it's got the same team that worked on that show working on this one but it could also be bad because it's the same team that worked on that show working on this one so they should know that they already did that with a better show.

Unlike Avatar I cannot see this show getting confused for anime because unlike Avatar where it looked like an anime this one you know isn't an anime and that's because the characters look nothing like anime characters they look like characters you would see in a fantasy show but at the same time if you want to call this show an anime just based on it's plot and themes I wouldn't stop you.

There is another complaint that I have about the show and that's the opening to the first episode is so freaking long and it's not something you can skip over because there's a lot of story being laid out in those opening minuets and it made me wish that the creators found a creative way to get all of that information out of the way it's something that they could have done over a number of episodes instead of just doing it all in the opening minuets of the first.

I have to say that my personal favorite character in the whole show is Rayla she is such a badass character not only in terms of fighting skills but in the fact that she's willing to do what's right even if it means hurting her own people and that to me is more badass then just being good with a blade plus it helps that she has two badass blades.

Speaking of the fighting the action in this show is truly beautiful to look at and to me that's when the animation is truly at it's best and not all of the action scenes boil down to who can hit who the hardest either indeed one of the first action scenes in the show someone defeats there enemy by using magic and it's things like that that help keep those scenes fresh and exciting to see.

Overall The Dragon Prince was truly worth the wait in my eyes it might not be 100% perfect but it's damn near close and that's good enough for me and I cannot wait for book 2 or season 2 to start so the show gets an 8.5 out of 10 from me.

Laugh It Up, Fuzzball: The Family Guy Trilogy Review

Hello there Star Wars fans for this review I thought i'd do something a little bit different instead of reviewing one animated series i'd instead take a look three episodes that parody the original Star Wars saga so here is my review of Laugh It Up, Fuzzball: The Family Guy Trilogy.

The basic premise of each of these specials is the power goes out in the Griffins house and in order to stop themselves from being bored Peter tells them the story of each of the films. I have to say that I was really shocked at how well each of these episodes tell the respective stories of each of the films and they do it in more than half the time of the original films.

Starring in the specials are Peter Griffin as Han Solo , Brian Griffin as Chewbacca , Stewie Griffin as Darth Vader / Anakin Skywalker , Lois Griffin as Princess Leia , Chris Griffin as Luke Skywalker , Meg Griffin as the Dianoga / the Exogorth / the Sarlacc , Cleveland Brown as R2-D2 and Herbert as Obi-Wan Kenobi. I know I usually credit the main actors here but I figure that alot of people would have seen the show by now that I might as well as credit the characters and in that regard casting Stewie as Darth Vader is freaking perfect since he's an evil baby anyway.

I really do wish that the Family Guy team would make more Star Wars parodies but tho since the house of mouse has a very tight grip on the franchise that does seem unlikely which is a huge shame because they could have had a lot of fun making fun out of the recent movies and have the characters comment on things that the fans of the franchise say when those movies come out.

As far as I can work out the animation for the specials was done by Fox Television Animation there is a chance I might be wrong tho but the animation in the specials I thought was really well done the animation isn't feature length film good but for three hour long specials it actually looks better then the animation in the actual series and for the third special It's A Trap! they actually use some live action footage which at times can be blended really well other times it's just looks awkward.

What helps make the final special all the more important is the fact that the late Carrie Fisher has a role in it as her family Guy character Angela shows up as Mon Mothma so if you Star Wars fans want to hear Princess Leia herself give a rousing speech to this specials version of Leia then you have to check out It's A Trap!.

Now i'm not sure how much of this is true or not but the Family Guy team didn't have that much of a hard time getting George Lucas to give them permission to spoof what is ultimately his legacy because he's recorded every single episode of Family Guy so they basically just went up there with i'm hoping a story outline for the first special and he just went "yeah that's cool you have my permission" or at least that's how it went down in my head.

For some reason this kind of annoys me about this trilogy but they have the character of Joe play three different characters he plays Biggs Darklighter in "Blue Harvest" , the probe droid in the opening of "Something, Something, Something, Dark Side" and Jabba in "It's A Trap!" why couldn't he have switched roles with someone like Cleveland and play R2.

Out of all three specials i'd say that Something, Something, Something, Dark Side is easily the funniest one not that the other two aren't funny it's just that in my opinion the second special had funnier jokes in it but not all of the jokes in all three specials are good for example in the second special they repeat the knee gag from an earlier episode which just isn't as funny and there's a Chewbacca joke in "It's A Trap" which just isn't funny at all.

Overall the trilogy isn't that bad and they do a good job of maintaining the respective storylines of each film while adding in some humor but at the same time there were certain aspects that could have been better and so this trilogy of episodes score a 8.5 out of 10 from me.

Adventure Time Series Finale / Full Series Review

Eight years spanning ten seasons that's long this show has been running and finally the show that gave everyone hope for Cartoon Network has ended and yes i'm counting this review as a review of both the series finale and the show itself because like I just said there's ten seasons worth of episodes so here is my review of the series finale to Adventure Time.

The plot for the episode is it's the day of the Gum war and in one last attempt to stop the war from happening Finn and Jake take PB and Uncle Gumbald to the dream world and have to try and convince them not to go to war. Yes this summery is as vague as I could possibly make it and honestly the story goes places that I never thought it would go and for me that's a very good thing because I couldn't tell what was going to happen next and the fact that it's a forty minuet special makes this feel more of an event then it already is.

Starring in both this episode and the series are Sean Giambrone , Willow Smith , Jeremy Shada , John DiMaggio ,  Hynden Walch , Olivia Olson , Tom Kenny ,  Niki Yang , creator Pendleton Ward , possibly Justin Roiland among many others. Yeah i'm cutting this of because there's alot of characters in this episode and I have to say that as a fan of The Goldbergs I was surprised to hear Sean Giambrone in this episode.

Acting wise everyone just kills it not only in this episode but in the series as a whole and that's very rare and I can honestly see alot of these actors going on to be voice acting legends because not only do they do great voices but most importantly they can also act and that also makes me miss this series even more.

The animation for both this episode and the series was done by Cartoon Network Studios and I have to say that I have a feeling that the budget for this show and this episode must have been pretty big because the animation is so freaking good it's unreal everything in this final episode looks so good you can tell that the team have a lot of love for the product and that they want it to be the best it can be.

It's hard to do an ending to a long running show and that's something that alot of shows can agree with because you have to A) please the fanbase and B) give us an ending that makes sense and the ending here to me is more focused on pleasing the fanbase then giving an ending that makes sense i'm not going to spoil the ending but tho while it does make sense for a kids show in my eyes and I think many others things are wrapped a little two nicely so there's no wiggle room.

I'm trying not to say or post pictures of anything spoilery but I can say that disregard pretty much everything that was in all the trailers because most of what was shown in them doesn't even cover half of this special and most of it is a lie and im unsure of how I feel about that on the one half it's genius because then we have no idea what's actually going to happen but on the other hand they promised us a war and yet they don't really give it to us.

Now i'm not from America heck I don't even live there but from what I gather of various Youtube videos Cartoon Network really havn't been pushing this episode nor have they been pushing this series for a long time and to me that's not a good thing for them to do because this was one of there best shows and yet they choose to promote shows like TTG over good shows like Steven Universe or Adventure Time in my eyes that should be the other way round because the only reason why TTG is as big as it is is because it's shown all the time but it's also promoted more then there other shows.

I don't really think that this is a spoiler but Rebecca Sugar returns to the series with this final episode she wrote a song called "Time Adventure" and I have to say that it's a perfect fit for this episode and like a certain cast member who was a wreck when they recorded his part I myself was close to being a wreck when hearing it it really is such a good song and it goes to show that even beyond this episode Adventure Time will live on in all us in some way shape or form.

For making this episode over forty minuets long makes sense because that's the only way you could make an ending to this show anything shorter then that wouldn't do this show justice and since they made it over forty minuets long it means that we the viewer get to soak in this world of magic and wonder for one last time.

Now then if you guys think that this is the end of Adventure Time your wrong because Boom Studios aka the guys behind the fantastic power Rangers series are producing Series 11 in comic book form so it will be interesting to see where they go with the series now that the show has ended but tho according to producer Adam Muto since no one from the show is working on the new comic books all of what happens in that series will not be canon.

Overall this was a great way to end the series even if the ending it self wasn't that good and the series itself was great and will forever live on in those who not only watched it but also by those who worked on it and those who take it's messages to heart so for me the finale scores a 7.5 out of 10 while the series scores an 8.5 out of 10.

Paradise PD Review

Animation fans Netflix are kinda hit and miss when it comes to there animated shows for every good one they release they bring out two or three terrible ones and now they are at it again hot of the heels of the release of Disenchantment comes Paradise PD so lets get it on.

The basic set up for the show is a bunch of cops solve crimes but believe it or not there kinda is a story being told I say kinda because it's more of a mystery then a story but I like the fact that the show not only has stand alone episodes but also has episodes that add to this ongoing mystery and it helps that the set up does make the show stand out from other Netflix animated shows.

Starring in the show are Sarah Chalke as Gina Jabowski , David Herman as Kevin Crawford , Tom Kenny as Chief Randall Crawford , Kyle Kinane as Bullet , Cedric Yarbrough as Gerald Fitzgerald , Dana Snyder as Stanley Hopson and Dusty Marlow , Grey Griffin as Mayor Karen Crawford , co-creator Waco O'Guin as Robbie and co-creator Roger Black as Dilbert. 

I'll be the first to admit the acting in the show was alot better then what I was expecting it to be I was expecting the acting to be terrible at best but no the acting was for me one of the best things about the show and for me alot of that comes from who's been cast and I have to admit that for awhile I thought they actually cast Earnie Hudson.

Doing the animation for this series is Bento Box Entertainment and honestly the animation for me is just OK it's nothing really special but at the same time there's nothing really bad about it but tho I will say that for intro they kinda change the animation style to something that I would say is anime inspired and I loved that since it was so well done heck I even thought that that should have been how the police officers see themselves when in reality there not that good but using it for the intro is good to.

I'd like to admit something right now I straight up forgot about this show I was so focused on Disenchantment and the upcoming The Dragon Prince that this show just slipped my mind so when I checked some online streaming sites and I saw this up I was shocked so bottom line kids don't just think about the good shows think about the shows that are just OK as well.

As you might have guessed this show is made by the same team behind Brickleberry heck they even share some of the same cast and since I havn't seen that show I can't say which is better but I know that some people liked that show so I thought it was worth mentioning and I guess you could make the argument that the shows have a similar animation style but in terms of character designs the shows are very different so your not going to mix the two shows up.

Just going back to what I brought up before this show does have a season long mystery and while I did find that refreshing the mystery in my eyes was very poorly told they give you no clues at all in this mystery and the episodes that are connecting to the mystery are split up for a long time so the filler episodes just seem like there trying to prolong something that doesn't need prolonging.

I don't know how many of you animation fans have seen the show but for me at least the best character on the show is Gina and it's not just because she's played by Elliot from Scrubs it's because she is just so insane and funny that I honestly found myself just waiting for her scenes because I knew that if she did something insane (which would happen most of the time) then I would laugh but there's more to her then just laughs she also has a troubled family life since all of her family members are robbers.

I don't really think that this needs saying but each episode is only around half an hour long so if you wanted something that's just some harmless fun to binge for a weekend then this is the show for you but I will say do not let any kids watch this show it's not made for them this is an adult animated comedy.

When I say that this show is an adult show I don't just mean that it's adult in what it's themes are I mean that it has alot of body humor and I mean alot I can't even think of ways to word the amount of body humor jokes there are in this show but you also see people's insides in pretty much every episode and that to me is the shows biggest downfall it's an adult show for the sole purpose of having characters swear and do drugs and that's really it.

The jokes in the show overall are a mixed bag like I said there's alot of body humor in this show and if you like that kind of humor then this show has got you covered but for me the best jokes were honestly the meta jokes since they were so well done there's a few more solid jokes in there as well but you have to get threw alot of terrible ones to get to them.

Overall this show is just OK for every good thing about it there's a thing about it that's bad and int his case that to me is a good thing since not every show needs to be deep as Steven Universe or as action packed and full of wonder like Adventure Time so as if you can't guess already this show scores a 5 out of 10 from me.

   

Scooby-Doo! and the Gourmet Ghost Review

Scooby fans a new movie is here with us and that means yours truly is here to bring you my thoughts on the movie and I have to say that unlike the last movie I really wasn't looking forward to this one that much since it looks like the Scooby-Doo franchise is going the same way as the Tom And Jerry franchise and so here is my review of Scooby-Doo! and the Gourmet Ghost.

The plot of the movie is Scooby and the gang investigate the haunting's of a historic colonial inn that's been turned into a state of the art culinary resort. I have to say that even tho the plot is only there to serve the guest stars it does work well for a Scooby-Doo movie and even tho the film is around and hour and twenty minuets long you really don't feel any of it the story goes on for as long as it needs to.

Of course we have the Scooby regulars who are played by Frank Welker , Grey Griffin , Matthew Lillard and Kate Micucci. In terms of the Scooby regulars the best performer for me was who i'm now dubbing the best Webby Kate Micucci she gets all of the best lines in this movie and in my opinion she gives the best performance.

In terms of guest cast we have Bobby Flay as Himself , Giada De Laurentiis as Herself , Marcus Samuelsson as Himself , Maya Haile as Herself , THE voice for Pooh and Tigger as Jeremiah Noseworthy and the Red Ghost and David Kaye as Henry Metcalf and Chef Edward DuFlay. Unlike in the first WWE crossover movie the acting from the celebrities is terrible granted some are worse then others but the overall majority are bad in fact the only guest actor who I really liked was Jim Cummings.

The animation for the film was done by Warner Bros Animation and I have to say that it was really good there's a lot of fluid movement which I always like to see and alot of the backgrounds were really good to look at I did spot the odd off looking drawing every know and then and oddly enough it was always with Scooby himself but they were few and far between.

I would just like to clear up what I said in the opening what I meant was the last dozen or so Tom And Jerry films have had them interacting with other famous stories and as you can tell with all of the celebrities in this movie I didn't really like it because I don't want this franchise to go the same way and be tied to other famous people Scooby-Doo can and has made alot of movies without having insert famous person here popping up.

Now since this is Scooby-Doo that means there's a mystery and I have to say the mystery was for me the weakest part of the movie since when a certain character came on I pretty much shouted "they did it" and sure enough I kinda got it right I shouldn't know stuff that the characters don't when the characters work out who did it that's when I the viewer should realise who did it and since that wasn't the case in this movie I was just sat there wondering when this person was going to be revealed so I could be proven right.

If your going to do a crossover movie you have to find the right balance of making sure certain sets of characters come out on top and for me that's what this movie does right everytime Giada does something amazing we see Velma actually show us how smart she is and for everytime we see Bobby be impressive we see how Shaggy and Scooby are impressive in there own way.

I just touched on this but this was the first time in a long time that we actually see Velma be smart there's a scene where everyone is being chased by the monster and instead of following them Velma heads in a different direction because she knows something and that for me was a great thing to see because Velma is meant to be the smart one of the group and there are very little times where we see her be the smart one.

Overall this wasn't a bad movie but it's not Scooby-Doo! at it's best it felt like a film meant to promote it's guest stars rather then be a Scooby-Doo! movie and so the movie gets a 5 out of 10 from me and this movie is out right now on Digital and is currently slated for a DVD release on September 11th.

Achmed Saves America Review

Hello there animation fans it's not unusual for characters to be given there own animated movie or series and the same is also said for the character Achmed The Dead Terrorist who is one of the most popular characters that ventriloquist Jeff Dunham created and so in 2014 he was given his own animated movie and so here is my review of Achmed Saves America.

The plot of the movie is Achmed finds himself transported from his homeland and landing in Americaville and he tries to change his ways. Yeah that's the best way to describe the plot since there's not really much story at all it's just basically stuff happens but I will say that this movie is only an hour long and it's pacing is really good.

Starring in the film is the films executive producer and Achmed creator Jeff Dunham , Susan Egan as Ginny , Spongebob as Wayne , André Sogliuzzov as Hassan , Amanda Troop as Cassidy and Chiara Zanni as Kevin. In terms of acting the film does fair a little better but that's only due to the talent involved but the script and sadly the script isn't that good and since the only actors can take a performance so far they do the best with what there given.

The characters in this movie are so dumb the main family don't even notice that there guest has no skin despite the fact you can quite clearly see he has no skin heck he even sings a song about having no skin and they don't even no that Achmed is a terrorist despite all of the evidence proving he's a terrorist.

I have no idea who did the animation for this film and i;m glad because the animation in this film isn't that good in fact it's at best decent but for every decent animated scene there's one that looks bad and I think that's because the film would have had a really small budget thus effectively making it an independent film and with very little budget the crew wouldn't have had the pleasure to go back and redraw something that looks bad.

It's really hard to describe this film since not alot really happens and that's a shame because if your a fan of the Achmed character then I could easily recommend this film to you but at the same time get ready to see pretty much a watered down version of the character.

The closet film I would say this is like is Space Jam because even tho that is a good film the Looney Tunes were just there to say catchphrases and nothing else well in my eyes the same thing can be said for Achmed in this film he's there just to say catchphrases and nothing else and while Space Jam had the advantage of being based of something that alot of people love the same cannot be said for this film so I feel a little more effort should have been put into it.

I will say that if you like Jeff's other characters then you might be happy because some of them do cameo in this film Bubba j appears in the opening which for some reason is done in live action and my personal favorite character Walter appears around the start of the third act and honestly I would want to see a movie just based on him.

Honestly the jokes in this film are extremely hit and miss when they land they can be pretty funny but when they miss may god do you feel it in fact the jokes in this film feel like something you'd see on a bad nineties sitcom that's how dated the jokes can be which for me is a very bad thing because this film was released in 2014 and they couldn't think of any new jokes.

Overall like I said if your a fan of the character then I can recommend this film to you but it is still a very bad film and yes I know this review is pretty short but in my defense i've written two reviews today so i'm pretty tired and so this film scores a 4 out of 10 from me.