So before watching this movie I watched the original 1991 version. I thought it still holds up very well. A week later I saw the 2017 version and…after the original this was pretty underwhelming.

I thought the casting had good choices but also meh choices too. Emma Watson just doesnt have the charm of Paige O’Hara as Belle from 1991. Dan Stevens as the beast doesn’t have the intimidation of the original or the likability. There were some good casting choices like Kevin Kline as Maurice who plays him very different from the orignal. Josh Gard was also good as Lefou.

There are some really good things though. One of the things I liked that they added was that the castle has become very broken down due to the curse. Whenever a rose pedal falls part of the castle breaks. Another thing that I really liked was that the servants become more like the objects they turn into. A great scene in the end is where the last pedal falls and the servants become lifeless objects. It’s really sad  and gives them much more sympathy and higher stakes. I just noticed that the good stuff has to do with the curse itself.

I think the narrative structure of the movie is not as good as the 1991 version. An example would be in the original when the “Be Our Guest” song ends Belle asks for a tour of the castle which leads to her seeing the west wing. In this version the song number  literally cuts to black and then shows Belle randomly talking to Mrs. Potts then sees the west wing. The original seems to flow much better from scene to scene.

Now I will talk about a major issue with this movie and it’s the book scene. The enchantress gave the Beast a magical book that can teleport people. Belle and Beast uses it to teleport to Paris where she see’s her original home before she moved. This is a problem because why doesn’t Belle use the book to teleport back to the town and back before Gaston got to the castle? Also the book is never brought up again after that scene. So that makes it completely pointless.

I’ll be honest, I knew this would be good but I also thought, your not gonna beat the original either. My mom really liked it though. I’d say this was better then Cinderella 2015 but not as good as The Jungle Book 2016.

Verdict:
+/-Casting
+Supporting cast sympathy
+The Castle
-Narrative
-The book scene

Score: C+

That’s a duck, what are you talking about don’t you see the skull? LOL

Kong Skull Island is the second film in the Monsterverse. I didn’t see Godzilla yet but you don’t need to know a lot about Godzilla to like this movie. This movie is surprisingly violent with it’s deaths and that’s coming from a guy who just saw Logan. An example is one of the giant spider’s legs goes through one of the soldier’s mouths. It’s really creative but also brutle.

The creatures are really cool because the film workers took inspiration from stuff such as Princess Mononoke, and Evangelion. My brother said after we watched the movie that this was the most anime movie he had seen in a while. The island is nice to look at. It reminds me a lot of Apocalypse Now and Jurassic Park. My favorite set is the boneyard of King Kong’s parents. It just looks really cool and makes for a great location for an action scene.

My main problem with movies are the characters except for John C. Reilly who was probably the best character of the movie. The others however are not very interesting and even after their deaths they still don’t leave an impact. Packard is just Captain Ahab looking for a gorilla instead of a whale. It doesn’t help that there are so many soldiers that die that it’s hard to keep track on who’s who.

Post Credit Spoilers: At the end of the movie there is a post credit scene where James and Mason about information showing that there are more creatures other then King Kong. The monsters are Rodan, Mothra, King Ghidorah and Godzilla. When the film cuts to black we hear the roar of King Kong and Godzilla. It’s really cool and helps foreshadow what is to come in the Monsterverse.

Verdict:
+The creatures
+The island
+Post credit scene
+Brutle deaths
-Meh characters

Score: B

When Vera Lynn’s We’ll Meet Again at the end of the movie, who’s was thinking of Bill Cipher? LOL
FYI: That duck joke was from The Curse of Monkey Island.

Spoilers Warning!

Just so everyone knows I am not a fan of R-rated movies. The only R- rated movies that I would see are comedies such as Deadpool, Sausage Party, and Ted. That said I actually really enjoyed Logan. Logan is Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart’s last film in the X-men film series. This is probably the most dramatic movie in the X-men series. It’s up there with The Dark Knight or Watchmen in terms of seriousness.

The acting in this movie is really impressive. Hugh Jackman plays Logan as this old washup version of himself and Patrick Stewart plays a more crazy Xavier. It’s really heartbreaking to see a wise and intelligent superhero like Xavier striped of all his wisdom. The girl who plays Laura is really good. She doesn’t say much but her emotions really help give her character.

The action is really good. The action however does have my main problem with the movie and it’s that the movie is a bit too violent for my tasted.There’s a scene where Laura comes out of the warehouse holding her a cut off head and throws it on the ground. I know Deadpool was pretty violent but it was mostly for comedy and enjoyment.

Logan is a very bittersweet end to Hugh Jackman’s performance of Wolverine. I can see Logan getting nominated for Best Actor or even Best Picture at the Academy Awards next year. Hey if Mad Max Fury Road which is by the way a sequel can be nominated, who says this movie can’t? I enjoy Deadpool more due to it being more fun to watch but Logan is probably better in terms of acting, and writing.

Verdict:
+Great Acting
+Drama
+Bittersweet ending
+Good action though….
-Too bloody and gory

Score: B

One final note: Who enjoyed the Deadpool 2 teaser? I did.