Avatar: The Last Icebender

Frozen 2 is the sequel to one of the most popular Disney movies Frozen. Considering how successful the first one was Disney would have to be stupid not to make a sequel. I always thought if Disney was the make a sequel to Frozen we should find out where Elsa got her powers. Fortunately Frozen 2 does explain the origins of her powers. I am glad that we did get some answers. However the plot twist in this movie such as who saved Anna and Elsa’s dad, who stated the feud, what happen to the parents, and who the fifth element is are really obvious.

The songs of course are really good, I mean it’s a sequel to Frozen so you’d probably expect there to be songs. My favorite song is definitely Into the Unknown because of how epic it sounds. I even like the Panic! At The Disco cover of this song that plays at the end. Some Things Never Change is a great way to reintroduce the characters and Show Yourself was also a nice song in terms of visuals and music. Speaking of animation, the animation here is a major improvement from the first one (which also had great animation too). The elemental spirits especially are wonderfully animated.

I really like the elemental spirits, there all unique and have the different quirks. I think my favorite was the fire salamander. I like how Elsa connects more with the water spirit which makes sense since ice is technically water. While the spirits were cool, the new human characters however are not in the movie that long and don’t add much. I think they could’ve made Lieutenant Mattias more interesting if they dived into his loyalty to Anna and Elsa’s grandfather which would have made in an interesting antagonist (not villain).

Also I will say that the funniest moment in the movie was Olaf recapping the first movie. Much like Toy Story 4 this could’ve been another cash grab and unnecessary sequel. Frozen 2 is not as good as the first one it still has the same characters and world that kids loved 6 years ago. If you love the first Frozen you’ll like this one. That no one is going to let it go anytime soon.

Verdict:
+ Answered questions
+ The animation
+ The songs
+ The spirits
– New characters
– Obvious twists

Score: B+

Can you believe the creator of the minions Sergio Pablos created this? Klaus tells the origin of Santa Claus through the eyes of a new mailman named Jesper force to become a mailman at a feuding town. He meets an old woodcarver named Klaus and from there it becomes a really clever origin of Santa Claus. Before I talk about how great this movie is I’ll just get the bad stuff out of the way first. The song How you like me Now from The Heavy plays in one scene. It’s not a huge issue it’s just annoying when pop songs play during what’s supposed to be a timeless story especially with a holiday feel. Fortunately everything else about this movie is amazing.

Jesper played by Jason Schwartzman is a lot like Kuzco from The Emperor’s New Groove. I was surprised that his personality (more caring about his job) was changed a lot from the teaser but I think it works better for the story. Sure he’s starts off as a prick but as time goes on he becomes very likable. I really like the tough, quiet interpretation of Klaus played by wonderfully by J.K. Simmons. Both characters and their friendship give a lot of heart to this movie. The movie especially has a lot of heart and emotional moments that help make this film so charming.

The best thing about this movie is the animation, my god the animation is amazing. It’s a wonderful merge of 2d and 3d animation. Every character has their own unique character design, and movement. The backgrounds and lighting are amazing and help make the world great to look at. Honestly I feels very much like a Disney movie in terms of animation and story beats (I guess I shouldn’t be surprised since Sergio Pablos worked at Disney). If the Academy Awards chose the best animated feature winner in terms of animation I think this would win (in case Promare isn’t nominated).

Spoilers: I also really like the ending. After twelve years of delivering presents Klaus disappears, but Jesper mentions still seeing him every Christmas Eve. I like how ambiguous it is whether Klaus died or not. I had a prediction that Klaus would actually die and Jesper would become the new Santa Claus. While that’s not the case, it’s still a bittersweet but wonderful way to end the movie.

Klaus is in my opinion the best Christmas movie I’ve seen since Arthur Christmas and one of the best animated movies of 2019 next to Promare. It’s another movie I’m adding to my list of Christmas movies/specials I watch every Christmas along with Rankin Bass, Grinch and Charlie Brown. A great start to the holidays.

Verdict:
+ Ambiguous/bittersweet ending
+ Heart
+ Jesper
+ Klaus himself
+ The animation
– License songs

Score: A+

Taika Waititi is known for directing one of my favorite Marvel movies Thor: Ragnarok and now he’s decided to direct a movie where he plays an imaginary friend that looks like Hitler. That might seem a little off considering Hitler was one of the most evil humans ever but Jojo Rabbit turned out to be fun. Jojo Rabbit is a coming of age story about a boy named Jojo who loves Nazi’s and looks to Hitler as his hero even having a Hitler look-a-like imaginary friend. Roman Griffin Davis is really good as the main character Jojo. Sure he does go through the same “realizing the side you fighting on is bad” story like in Captain Marvel but I think it’s better told here because Jojo is a kid not an adult. He goes through really good character development and it pays off in the end.

The rest of the cast is great too.  Each character has a lot of personality and work off each other wonderfully. Somehow Taika Waititi has managed to make Hitler enjoyable because his performance as Hitler was really fun considering this came from the guy who played Korg. What’s really clever is that Hitler throughout the movie starts to become more aggressive towards Jojo once he starts growing a friendship between him and Elsa (who’s also really great). Another standout was Jojo’s mother played by Scarlett Johansson especially in the scene where she acts like Jojo’s father. I will admit Stephen Merchant while nicely casted wasn’t used to his potential.

For a movie about Nazis there is a lot of laugh out loud moments. Some of the jokes might be a little iffy but there intentionally iffy. For example Hitler trying to comfort Jojo tells him “Oh, this guy’s a lunatic!” “Oh, look at that psycho! He’s gonna get us all killed!”. A lot of the humor also works because of the characters. One of the best jokes is when Hitler going off to eating a unicorn head for dinner and later we actually see him eating a roast unicorn head.

First Taika Waititi made Thor fun and now he’s made Nazi’s fun too (wow I didn’t think I’d say that). Some people might be turned off by the Nazi’s but in the end Jojo Rabbit is a funny and heartwarming movie that has great acting and comedy.

Verdict:
+ Jojo’s coming of age story
+ The comedy
+ The performances
– Stephen Merchant unutilized

Score: A-