Wednesday, July 13, 2016
What do I think of Pokemon Go?
I cannot believe it, but PokeMania is back and it is bigger than ever, all thanks to a smartphone game known as Pokemon Go. For those unaware, Pokemon Go is an augmented reality (or AR) game developed by Niantic, Nintendo, and The Pokemon Company with the concept of catching Pokemon in the real world. Essentially, the game plays similarly to the main series of games available on Nintendo's line of handheld consoles, but through the use of a smartphone's camera one is able to see a computer generated image of a Pokemon to capture right before your very eyes, which I find to be absolutely amazing. I downloaded Pokemon Go the very moment it was announced to be available in the United States, and I have played it in short bursts daily for almost a week. To be completely honest with all of you, this is actually something I have been hoping and wishing for since childhood, and I am hoping that someday, a similar feature is added to the main series of games. I enjoy this game, and it is exceptionally rare for me to enjoy a smartphone game, the only exceptions being this and the iOS ports of the Ace Attorney games (on a side note: Capcom, when are you going to release an iOS port of Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney and the Investigations: Miles Edgeworth spinoffs?). Catching Pokemon is a bit addicting, and while I do enjoy it, I have a complaint or two to address. Catching Pokemon is easy, almost too easy for my tastes. Unlike the main series of games, you do not need to weaken the Pokemon to capture it, you simply need to throw a Pokeball at it and you essentially have it captured. The Pokemon you capture as you play are essentially underused, which is my next complaint. The Pokemon you capture are used to sacrifice for evolution candies. I felt bad sacrificing many Pidgeys and Rattatas to evolve their respective species fully. Why couldn't evolution and leveling up Pokemon be more like the main series games, where you use them to traditionally battle other trainers and wild Pokemon, which allows them to gain experience and evolve. Also, the selection of Pokemon (and it may just be the area I am in) is limited to Weedles, Pidgeys, Zubats, and Rattatas. In a future update, I would like to see a wider variety of Pokemon in my area, maybe some from Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, and Kalos, and I would love to see a more traditional battle system similar to the main series of games. Nintendo, Niantic, and TPCi, you are off to a solid start and I enjoy the product that you released. However, you still have a long way to go before this game is perfected and a smartphone/mobile device seller. I offer you some advice as a conclusion, improve the servers and the GPS, work on the bugs in this version, add more Pokemon, and bring back a traditional and complex battle system similar to the main series of games. If you can achieve this and fix these issues, then Pokemon Go will be even more successful than it is now, and people will be flocking to download the app for years to come. For those who are debating on downloading this game, I would suggest waiting until a properly stabilized version with more features is readily available.
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Next Month's Character Spotlight
Hey everyone,
I hope you all enjoyed this month's character spotlight that I posted last night. If all goes well I hope to do one once a month, and I need your help deciding next month's! In the comments write which of the choices you would like me to to a Character Spotlight on, whether it may be:
1. Mowgli
2. Harry Potter
3. Quasimodo
4. Kunta Kinte
I look forward to hearing input from all of you and I hope you enjoy next month's character spotlight!
I hope you all enjoyed this month's character spotlight that I posted last night. If all goes well I hope to do one once a month, and I need your help deciding next month's! In the comments write which of the choices you would like me to to a Character Spotlight on, whether it may be:
1. Mowgli
2. Harry Potter
3. Quasimodo
4. Kunta Kinte
I look forward to hearing input from all of you and I hope you enjoy next month's character spotlight!
Monday, June 20, 2016
Character Spotlight: Jean Valjean
Out of the dozens of characters I have read about over the years, very few have prominently stuck out over the course of my life, such as this one. This particular character is an underdog, a philanthropist, a Christian, and a redeemer. He is known by many names such as Prisoner 24601, Prisoner 9430, Monsieur Madeleine, Monsieur LeBlanc, Ultime Feauchelevent, and his name given to him at birth, Jean Valjean. Why has this character stuck out from all the other characters I have read about? What makes him so special? Before I can answer these two questions, let's go over his story and struggles as told in the pages of Victor Hugo's Les Miserables, published in France in 1862.
Before his journey began, Valjean was a simple woodcutter who worked to provide for his sister and her starving children. However, that changed one Winter night. To obtain food for his sister's children, he threw a stone into the baker's window and stole a loaf of bread from the shop. As a result, Valjean is arrested on the charge of theft for five years, and is sent to Toulon prison under the name "Prisoner 24,601". However, Valjean strongly desired to return to his family, and made numerous escape attempts which only extended his prison sentence from five to nineteen years. At the end of his sentence, he is put on parole with a yellow passport in his hand. However, there was a bit of a "monkey's paw" to this yellow passport, as wherever he went across the countryside of France, he was unable to obtain lodging, work, and food, as the people he encountered did not trust him, except for one. This man was known as Bishop Myriel of Digne.
For the first time in nineteen years, he felt as if he were an actual human and not an animal. However, Valjean's thieving intentions lingered from the bread incident years ago, and he stole the silverware of the Bishop, only to be arrested the next morning. In a surprising turn of events, Bishop Myriel gives Valjean the silverware and a pair of candlesticks to sell, telling him that he used the candlesticks as an offering for Valjean's soul to God. While travelling, Valjean inadvertently steals a fifty-sous piece from a young chimney sweep named Petit-Gervais, which causes him to break his parole. Desiring to change his life, Valjean abandons his life as an ex-convict and in the course of eight years he becomes a successful mayor in the town of Montreuil-Sur-Mer.
Unfortunately, the shadows of his past loom over him as he is soon greeted by former Toulon guard turned police inspector, Javert. While it may seem that Javert was simply assigned to the town, he had an ulterior motive as he had a feeling that Valjean was hiding somewhere in the town. Needless to say, it was a bit of a shock to him when he found out his boss was the criminal he was searching for. How did he find out, you may ask? Valjean put it upon himself to rescue a man named Feauchelevent, who had been trapped under a toppled and broken cart. While rescuing him, he accidentally reveals his strength to Javert, who begins to piece together that Madeleine is Valjean. After rescuing the old man, Valjean manages to secure him a job as a gardener in a convent in Paris. Later on, he rescues a woman on the streets named Fantine and assists not only in nursing her back to health, but attempting to obtain her daughter from an inkeeper couple in Montfermeil. However, he is interrupted when he learns another man has been arrested under the false pretense that he is Jean Valjean, so he rushes to Arras and confesses that he is indeed the real Jean Valjean. Unfortunately upon returning to Montreuil-Sur-Mer, Fantine passes away from the shock of this revelation and Valjean is arrested once again and branded with the new number of 9,430.
Months later after faking his death, he arrives in Montfermeil and adopts Cosette. However, as was the case in Montreuil-Sur-Mer, Javert is once again in pursuit of him and transfers over to the police in Paris.
Years pass, and throughout, Valjean is caught in a wild series of adventures and events, from becoming a gardener in a convent to assisting in a student revolution. If you wish to learn about more of those adventures, Les Miserables can be easily found online or for free from a digital book seller such as iBooks, as the entirety of the novel is in public domain. Valjean unfortunately dies of grief an unspecified amount of time after his adoptive daughter Cosette's wedding. As he dies, he sees visions of Fantine and Bishop Myriel carrying his soul into heaven.
I asked at the beginning, why is Valjean so significant? Why is he of importance? Valjean shows that despite coming from a rough upbringing, one can overcome adversity and be successful. Valjean manages to go from being a thief to a philanthropist in the course of almost twenty years, nearly the same time span in which he was imprisoned. He evokes change in the people he encounters, change in those with rough upbringings such as Feauchelevent, Fantine, Cosette, and surprisingly Javert. The change he evokes in Javert is so powerful, it drives the police inspector mad to the point of drowning himself in the Seine, unable to accept the fact that this convict he has been pursuing is indeed an honest and changed man. Javert believed that "he should have perished by [Valjean's] hand", and was utterly destroyed when Valjean chose to let him escape rather than kill him when given the opportunity, another aspect of Valjean that causes him to stick out in my mind. Valjean is a man who highly follows Christian morals and values, in a time where science and education were becoming prominent in developing countries.
I leave you with this, no matter what the upbringing, no matter what the circumstances, and no matter what trials and tribulations one may face, any man can change, and any man can turn his life around. Prime examples have occurred through history, such as Abraham Lincoln, Walt Disney, JK Rowling, and Victor Hugo himself. I bet it has even occurred to many of you in life, or I bet many of you have seen or known people that it has happened to.
Before his journey began, Valjean was a simple woodcutter who worked to provide for his sister and her starving children. However, that changed one Winter night. To obtain food for his sister's children, he threw a stone into the baker's window and stole a loaf of bread from the shop. As a result, Valjean is arrested on the charge of theft for five years, and is sent to Toulon prison under the name "Prisoner 24,601". However, Valjean strongly desired to return to his family, and made numerous escape attempts which only extended his prison sentence from five to nineteen years. At the end of his sentence, he is put on parole with a yellow passport in his hand. However, there was a bit of a "monkey's paw" to this yellow passport, as wherever he went across the countryside of France, he was unable to obtain lodging, work, and food, as the people he encountered did not trust him, except for one. This man was known as Bishop Myriel of Digne.
For the first time in nineteen years, he felt as if he were an actual human and not an animal. However, Valjean's thieving intentions lingered from the bread incident years ago, and he stole the silverware of the Bishop, only to be arrested the next morning. In a surprising turn of events, Bishop Myriel gives Valjean the silverware and a pair of candlesticks to sell, telling him that he used the candlesticks as an offering for Valjean's soul to God. While travelling, Valjean inadvertently steals a fifty-sous piece from a young chimney sweep named Petit-Gervais, which causes him to break his parole. Desiring to change his life, Valjean abandons his life as an ex-convict and in the course of eight years he becomes a successful mayor in the town of Montreuil-Sur-Mer.
Unfortunately, the shadows of his past loom over him as he is soon greeted by former Toulon guard turned police inspector, Javert. While it may seem that Javert was simply assigned to the town, he had an ulterior motive as he had a feeling that Valjean was hiding somewhere in the town. Needless to say, it was a bit of a shock to him when he found out his boss was the criminal he was searching for. How did he find out, you may ask? Valjean put it upon himself to rescue a man named Feauchelevent, who had been trapped under a toppled and broken cart. While rescuing him, he accidentally reveals his strength to Javert, who begins to piece together that Madeleine is Valjean. After rescuing the old man, Valjean manages to secure him a job as a gardener in a convent in Paris. Later on, he rescues a woman on the streets named Fantine and assists not only in nursing her back to health, but attempting to obtain her daughter from an inkeeper couple in Montfermeil. However, he is interrupted when he learns another man has been arrested under the false pretense that he is Jean Valjean, so he rushes to Arras and confesses that he is indeed the real Jean Valjean. Unfortunately upon returning to Montreuil-Sur-Mer, Fantine passes away from the shock of this revelation and Valjean is arrested once again and branded with the new number of 9,430.
Months later after faking his death, he arrives in Montfermeil and adopts Cosette. However, as was the case in Montreuil-Sur-Mer, Javert is once again in pursuit of him and transfers over to the police in Paris.
Years pass, and throughout, Valjean is caught in a wild series of adventures and events, from becoming a gardener in a convent to assisting in a student revolution. If you wish to learn about more of those adventures, Les Miserables can be easily found online or for free from a digital book seller such as iBooks, as the entirety of the novel is in public domain. Valjean unfortunately dies of grief an unspecified amount of time after his adoptive daughter Cosette's wedding. As he dies, he sees visions of Fantine and Bishop Myriel carrying his soul into heaven.
I asked at the beginning, why is Valjean so significant? Why is he of importance? Valjean shows that despite coming from a rough upbringing, one can overcome adversity and be successful. Valjean manages to go from being a thief to a philanthropist in the course of almost twenty years, nearly the same time span in which he was imprisoned. He evokes change in the people he encounters, change in those with rough upbringings such as Feauchelevent, Fantine, Cosette, and surprisingly Javert. The change he evokes in Javert is so powerful, it drives the police inspector mad to the point of drowning himself in the Seine, unable to accept the fact that this convict he has been pursuing is indeed an honest and changed man. Javert believed that "he should have perished by [Valjean's] hand", and was utterly destroyed when Valjean chose to let him escape rather than kill him when given the opportunity, another aspect of Valjean that causes him to stick out in my mind. Valjean is a man who highly follows Christian morals and values, in a time where science and education were becoming prominent in developing countries.
I leave you with this, no matter what the upbringing, no matter what the circumstances, and no matter what trials and tribulations one may face, any man can change, and any man can turn his life around. Prime examples have occurred through history, such as Abraham Lincoln, Walt Disney, JK Rowling, and Victor Hugo himself. I bet it has even occurred to many of you in life, or I bet many of you have seen or known people that it has happened to.
Wednesday, June 15, 2016
Monday, June 6, 2016
Top 5 Deleted Disney Songs
As many here know, as an animator and graphic designer one of my biggest inspirations is the films from the Walt Disney Company. However, it is interesting to know that five of my favorite songs and scenes from Disney were actually cut before the film was released and brought back for remastered editions or their stage adaptations. These songs were cut for various reasons, ranging from the director simply not liking it to more extreme reasons such as story changes or the song dragging down the film's pacing. Today in this review/editorial, I am going to be listing my top five Disney songs and scenes that were left on the cutting room floor as well as giving the reason why I enjoy it and why the song itself was cut during production.
5. Brothers All:
The Jungle Book
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjKZuOOfl6k
Originally, this song was to serve as the opening number back when Bill Peet was still in charge of crafting The Jungle Book's story, which was supposed to have a darker tone more akin to the original Rudyard Kipling Novel. The song was unfortunately cut when Bill Peet was fired due to creative differences between himself and Walt Disney, the latter of which wanting a more lighthearted story. I enjoy this particular version of the opening because it sets the scene much better and sets up the story to come. I was actually surprised when it was not included in the 2016 remake (Spoiler Alert) because the film itself was a merge of the original animated film and Bill Peet's original script which was closer to the book. Matter of fact, this is one of two of the deleted songs on this list not to reappear in any other adaptation of the Disney film, whether it was as part of the stage adaptation or a remake of the film.
4. Snuff Out the Light:
The Emperor's New Groove/Kingdom of The Sun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1pYGvplG5Q
It is interesting how during a production of a film, whether it may be animated or live action, how much a character evolves and develops in complexity as production progresses. Yzma, however, was the opposite. Her character was actually simplified as production progressed to the final film. Yzma was originally a dynamic villain who wished to block out the sun to regain her power and her youth along with overthrowing Kuzco (who was originally named Manco during production). Along with many layers of complexity, a song written for her was also left on the cutting room floor known as "Snuff out the Light". The song provided a backstory for the character as well as giving her a better defined motivation as opposed to "taking over the empire because reasons", the purpose of the song alone being the reason I enjoy it. I would have loved to see this darker and complex version of Yzma as opposed to the one in the final film. (I am not bashing the film that was released, I actually enjoy tENG) Maybe someday they will either remake the film or release a stage adaptation closer to the original, intended concept.
3. Human Again:
Beauty and the Beast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFkksxIDUKE
This song is a bit of a tricky one, as it was later included in both the stage adaptation as well as the remastered version of the film released on DVD, along with being confirmed to be included in the 2017 remake of the film, so it can be considered both an included and deleted song. The reason this song was removed at first was simply due to the fact that it shows a passage of time, as originally time was going to have more emphasis in earlier drafts of the film. However when later drafts showed that time would be somewhat of an unseen enemy in a metaphorical sense (I am guessing the enchantress's rose was something added in later drafts of the script, just as the three wishes in Aladdin were something of post-Ashman drafts and not included in many of the drafts written when he was alive). Once again, the reason I enjoy this song is because it is a song that is used for character development, as it expresses the desires of the characters turned into (or in the case of the stage adaptation, slowly turning into) household objects once they are granted their human forms.
2. Someday:
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiwgDZ1ld-0
Originally, when the directors of HoND wanted to create a song for Esmeralda entering the cathedral for the first time after the events of Topsy-Turvy, they (of course) asked Menken to write a song for that scene. Strangely enough, his first song that he wrote was not "Someday", but the song that is heard in the final film, "God Help the Outcasts". However, the directors wanted a song that was more intimate and heartfelt, which lead to Menken creating "Someday". The song was later re-purposed for the German stage adaptation and later the American version of the stage production, both times serving as a duet between an imprisoned Esmeralda and Phoebus, on the night before Esmeralda's execution in the finale. I enjoy this song not just for the small bit of character development, but it is one that tugs at one's heartstrings and evokes feelings of sympathy for the characters, such as feeling sympathetic towards Esmeralda's desires for a better life in the original version, to feeling emotional as Esmeralda and Phoebus spend one last night together before she is sent off to the pyre to be burned at the stake, as well as being the perfect lead in to the finale (German stage) or Quasimodo's "Made of Stone" (American stage). (I should have put a spoiler alert on this post, shouldn't I? Oh well, a lot of these films are more than a decade old, anyway.)
1. Proud of Your Boy:
Aladdin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kV3D1ASN7Xc
This song is actually one I WISHED was put back in the film when it was re-released on DVD and later Blu-Ray, and I was glad when it was added to the 2011 stage adaptation and kept even in the current Broadway draft. This song gives a such better motivation to why Aladdin desires a better life, to make his mother proud and to redeem himself from his life of theft and swindling to survive, as opposed to having a better life for the sake of having a better life. I can understand the latter motivation, as don't we all wish for a better life sometimes? When you are down on your luck, or feeling down in general, you wish things were better. This song adds a layer of complexity and depth to the character and gives him a better reason for his actions not only during the beginning of the film before rubbing the lamp and maybe acquiring the ring which housed the other genie, (in earlier drafts of the film, there were two genies as opposed to one, a concept later referenced in another cut song known as "High Adventure") but later on in the film when he masquerades as a prince to woo the early version of Princess Jasmine, who was vain and spoiled as opposed to the benevolent princess seen in the final film. (Disney, if you are reading this, two things, one, make me a member of your animation staff as I have always dreamed of working for you, and two, if you ever decide to remake this film or rework the original animated film, put back in Proud of Your Boy in some capacity, whether it may be the reason for the song, the melody of the song in the background, or my ideal wish, the song itself sung by Aladdin) This is one song that I would highly recommend to not only Aladdin fans, but Disney fans as well, as it is truly "a diamond in the rough" in the long pile of Disney songs.
What are some cut Disney songs you enjoy? Do you agree with this list? Is there a song I missed?
5. Brothers All:
The Jungle Book
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjKZuOOfl6k
Originally, this song was to serve as the opening number back when Bill Peet was still in charge of crafting The Jungle Book's story, which was supposed to have a darker tone more akin to the original Rudyard Kipling Novel. The song was unfortunately cut when Bill Peet was fired due to creative differences between himself and Walt Disney, the latter of which wanting a more lighthearted story. I enjoy this particular version of the opening because it sets the scene much better and sets up the story to come. I was actually surprised when it was not included in the 2016 remake (Spoiler Alert) because the film itself was a merge of the original animated film and Bill Peet's original script which was closer to the book. Matter of fact, this is one of two of the deleted songs on this list not to reappear in any other adaptation of the Disney film, whether it was as part of the stage adaptation or a remake of the film.
4. Snuff Out the Light:
The Emperor's New Groove/Kingdom of The Sun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1pYGvplG5Q
It is interesting how during a production of a film, whether it may be animated or live action, how much a character evolves and develops in complexity as production progresses. Yzma, however, was the opposite. Her character was actually simplified as production progressed to the final film. Yzma was originally a dynamic villain who wished to block out the sun to regain her power and her youth along with overthrowing Kuzco (who was originally named Manco during production). Along with many layers of complexity, a song written for her was also left on the cutting room floor known as "Snuff out the Light". The song provided a backstory for the character as well as giving her a better defined motivation as opposed to "taking over the empire because reasons", the purpose of the song alone being the reason I enjoy it. I would have loved to see this darker and complex version of Yzma as opposed to the one in the final film. (I am not bashing the film that was released, I actually enjoy tENG) Maybe someday they will either remake the film or release a stage adaptation closer to the original, intended concept.
3. Human Again:
Beauty and the Beast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFkksxIDUKE
This song is a bit of a tricky one, as it was later included in both the stage adaptation as well as the remastered version of the film released on DVD, along with being confirmed to be included in the 2017 remake of the film, so it can be considered both an included and deleted song. The reason this song was removed at first was simply due to the fact that it shows a passage of time, as originally time was going to have more emphasis in earlier drafts of the film. However when later drafts showed that time would be somewhat of an unseen enemy in a metaphorical sense (I am guessing the enchantress's rose was something added in later drafts of the script, just as the three wishes in Aladdin were something of post-Ashman drafts and not included in many of the drafts written when he was alive). Once again, the reason I enjoy this song is because it is a song that is used for character development, as it expresses the desires of the characters turned into (or in the case of the stage adaptation, slowly turning into) household objects once they are granted their human forms.
2. Someday:
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiwgDZ1ld-0
Originally, when the directors of HoND wanted to create a song for Esmeralda entering the cathedral for the first time after the events of Topsy-Turvy, they (of course) asked Menken to write a song for that scene. Strangely enough, his first song that he wrote was not "Someday", but the song that is heard in the final film, "God Help the Outcasts". However, the directors wanted a song that was more intimate and heartfelt, which lead to Menken creating "Someday". The song was later re-purposed for the German stage adaptation and later the American version of the stage production, both times serving as a duet between an imprisoned Esmeralda and Phoebus, on the night before Esmeralda's execution in the finale. I enjoy this song not just for the small bit of character development, but it is one that tugs at one's heartstrings and evokes feelings of sympathy for the characters, such as feeling sympathetic towards Esmeralda's desires for a better life in the original version, to feeling emotional as Esmeralda and Phoebus spend one last night together before she is sent off to the pyre to be burned at the stake, as well as being the perfect lead in to the finale (German stage) or Quasimodo's "Made of Stone" (American stage). (I should have put a spoiler alert on this post, shouldn't I? Oh well, a lot of these films are more than a decade old, anyway.)
1. Proud of Your Boy:
Aladdin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kV3D1ASN7Xc
This song is actually one I WISHED was put back in the film when it was re-released on DVD and later Blu-Ray, and I was glad when it was added to the 2011 stage adaptation and kept even in the current Broadway draft. This song gives a such better motivation to why Aladdin desires a better life, to make his mother proud and to redeem himself from his life of theft and swindling to survive, as opposed to having a better life for the sake of having a better life. I can understand the latter motivation, as don't we all wish for a better life sometimes? When you are down on your luck, or feeling down in general, you wish things were better. This song adds a layer of complexity and depth to the character and gives him a better reason for his actions not only during the beginning of the film before rubbing the lamp and maybe acquiring the ring which housed the other genie, (in earlier drafts of the film, there were two genies as opposed to one, a concept later referenced in another cut song known as "High Adventure") but later on in the film when he masquerades as a prince to woo the early version of Princess Jasmine, who was vain and spoiled as opposed to the benevolent princess seen in the final film. (Disney, if you are reading this, two things, one, make me a member of your animation staff as I have always dreamed of working for you, and two, if you ever decide to remake this film or rework the original animated film, put back in Proud of Your Boy in some capacity, whether it may be the reason for the song, the melody of the song in the background, or my ideal wish, the song itself sung by Aladdin) This is one song that I would highly recommend to not only Aladdin fans, but Disney fans as well, as it is truly "a diamond in the rough" in the long pile of Disney songs.
What are some cut Disney songs you enjoy? Do you agree with this list? Is there a song I missed?
Friday, August 28, 2015
Lifetime's Unauthorized Stories Part 1: Full House (Warning: Spoilers)
Before we begin, I have to get something off of my chest. Lifetime, when you announced The Unauthorized Full House Story shortly after completing The Unauthorized Saved by the Bell Story, I admit that I was excited. Growing up, I would always watch Full House with my grandmother and my uncle on Saturday mornings, usually after a Power Rangers and Digimon programming block on ABC Family known as Jetix. Back then, I wasn't as fond of sitcoms as I am now, and if I had to say what shows sparked my interest in this genre of television, it would be both Full House and Boy Meets World. However, when I finally saw The Unauthorized Full House Story on Lifetime a week ago, I was more disappointed than excited. I was hoping to see the behind the scenes story of what is probably my favorite sitcom of all time, as well as some of my favorite scenes and some iconic scenes from the show recreated. While I saw the behind the scenes story and drama of what happened while filming (albeit in a truncated format, as many incidents I heard about from interviews and news articles were either merely mentioned or omitted entirely), I was severely disappointed by the recreations of scenes from Full House, as out of the three scenes they seemingly "re-created", only one of them actually stayed faithful to the series. What also disappointed me was that aside from the actors who played Bob Saget and Dave Coulier, none of the actors looked like their real-life counterparts. The Olsen Twins were also aged up a bit as opposed to being nine months old when the series began. Also, Lori Loughlin and Andrea Barber's actresses looked absolutely nothing like the people they were supposed to be portraying. At least Candace Cameron and Jodie Sweetin's many actresses in the movie made the effort to at least attempt to look like their counterparts, despite being unsuccessful. I also felt the film focused too much on Bob Saget and his wife than it did with Full House, similar to how a film released in 2005 called Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of 'Mork & Mindy' focused more on the relationship between the late Robin Williams (may he rest in peace) and his first wife.
One last thing as well that irked me was that my favorite character, Steve, (played by Scott Weinger, whom you may know as the voice of Aladdin's title character) was glossed over almost entirely, aside from their poorly made remake of Full House's final scene in which DJ Tanner is waiting anxiously for her prom date only to discover it is her ex boyfriend, Steve, who had left the show in the final episode of the seventh season due to him and DJ breaking up (the break up episode being one of my favorites). However, despite having a mostly negative opinion of the movie, there were some parts I actually liked. One such part is the ending, which surprisingly was not at the show's final curtain call, but a couple of years after the series ended. We actually end the film at the wedding of Candace Cameron-Bure with a narration by Bob Saget's actor, and I felt that was a satisfying ending. Another part I enjoyed was how accurately Saget and Coulier's actors portrayed their characters both physically and in personality. However, I do feel that Coulier's actor acted more like Robin Williams in various scenes. Overall, the film is not bad, but it is also far from a good film. I feel that they should have taken more time with it, maybe even delaying it to give it more polish and refinement. This film had potential, and I feel that maybe with a little more time taken with it, I could have enjoyed it. I would not mind if it had a 2016 release as opposed to the Summer 2015 release it received. The pacing is rushed, the characters are severely bland and undeveloped, and the focus should have been more on Full House than Bob Saget and his wife. I honestly hope that Fuller House arriving next year on Netflix is much better than this film.
One last thing as well that irked me was that my favorite character, Steve, (played by Scott Weinger, whom you may know as the voice of Aladdin's title character) was glossed over almost entirely, aside from their poorly made remake of Full House's final scene in which DJ Tanner is waiting anxiously for her prom date only to discover it is her ex boyfriend, Steve, who had left the show in the final episode of the seventh season due to him and DJ breaking up (the break up episode being one of my favorites). However, despite having a mostly negative opinion of the movie, there were some parts I actually liked. One such part is the ending, which surprisingly was not at the show's final curtain call, but a couple of years after the series ended. We actually end the film at the wedding of Candace Cameron-Bure with a narration by Bob Saget's actor, and I felt that was a satisfying ending. Another part I enjoyed was how accurately Saget and Coulier's actors portrayed their characters both physically and in personality. However, I do feel that Coulier's actor acted more like Robin Williams in various scenes. Overall, the film is not bad, but it is also far from a good film. I feel that they should have taken more time with it, maybe even delaying it to give it more polish and refinement. This film had potential, and I feel that maybe with a little more time taken with it, I could have enjoyed it. I would not mind if it had a 2016 release as opposed to the Summer 2015 release it received. The pacing is rushed, the characters are severely bland and undeveloped, and the focus should have been more on Full House than Bob Saget and his wife. I honestly hope that Fuller House arriving next year on Netflix is much better than this film.
Monday, April 6, 2015
Top Five Favorite Novels
1. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
2. The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
3. ROOTS by Alex Haley
4. Fresh off the Boat by Eddie Huang
5. Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs
2. The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
3. ROOTS by Alex Haley
4. Fresh off the Boat by Eddie Huang
5. Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs
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