Month: May 2020

2020 recap part 2

Posted on by jacobsonbblog

Movies:

My Hero Academia: Heroes: Rising: Everything I love about the anime is here. A-

Onward: The fantasy modern world isn’t exactly new but the relationship between the brothers makes this a wonderful addition to Pixar. A-

Trolls World Tour: A run of the mill Dreamworks animated sequel that kind of has interesting world building but not much. C

The Willoughbys: Interesting animation and character designs though does suffer from clichés (like the misunderstanding tropes) I’ve seen before. Also the parents are awful! C+

Scoob: Felt more like a Hanna Barbara crossover with Scooby as the main character than a Scooby Doo movie. C+

Shows:

Steven Universe Future: A wonderful and emotional epilogue to one of my favorite cartoons of all time.

The Owl House: Still great, talk more once season is over.

Ollie’s Pack: A fun cartoon that caught my attention.

The Last Kids on Earth season 2: A decent but fun adaption of a kid’s book series.

Rick and Morty season 4: This might be my favorite season so far. I love most of the episodes.

Harley Quinn: One of the most fun DC adaption I’ve seen. This managed to balanced graphic violence with lighthearted fun. The characters are really enjoyable and the comedy is hilarious.

Solar Opposites: Same humor and violence from Rick and Morty with an interesting C-plot.

The Long Long Holiday: Not really new but it’s ironic that I watched this considering what’s been happening. The animation is great and cute while also not shying away from the realistic horrors of World War 2.

 

Scoob review

Posted on by jacobsonbblog

“Roob!” ris the rirst ranimated rovie rased ron……ok I am not doing this review in Scooby’s language. Sorry for the lack of movie reviews lately due to “you know what” but it’s not gonna stop me from doing what I love. Scoob is the first theatrical Scooby Doo animated movie (or was supposed to be). It’s actually more of a Hanna Barbara crossover where Scooby is the main character which makes sense since Scooby Doo is arguably Hanna Barbara’s most popular franchise. It is a bit neat that they used Hanna Babara characters that haven’t been in a theatrical movie yet like Blue Falcon, Dick Dastardly or Captain Caveman. Heck there’s a lot of clever references to past Hanna Barbara franchises.

The animation from Warner Bro’s animated movies such as Storks and Smallfoot are usually really cartoony and fast paced and Scoob is no exception. The animation makes for some really great facial expressions and character designs without it being too distracting. I mean it’s no Lego Movie but at least Scooby looked better than he did in the live action movies. The voice acting is pretty good too and bring a lot energy to the characters they play. I’m glad Frank Welker reprised his role as Scooby because he has a lot of charm. Will Forte is good as Shaggy and Jason Isaacs has so much fun being enjoyably devilish as Dick Dastardly. One of the things Scooby Doo is well known for is its mystery aspect. It’s always fun because it made you wonder who the monster is, how they pulled it off, and what their goal is. Sometimes it made you feel like a detective. Unfortunately it feels missing here since we already know that Dick Dastardly is the villain. Sure they do have a plot twist on what his plan is but it still doesn’t do much. The humor is pretty much the same humor you see in a lot of kids’ movies.

Scoob is a run of the mill kid’s movie. This movie could’ve been a groundbreaking and though provoking film if it weren’t for those meddling Warner Bros executives and their dog too (one of them probably has a dog). Still if you like Scooby Doo or characters from other Hanna Babara shows you’ll like this.

Verdict:
+ Fan service
+ The animation
+ Voice acting
– Happy ending convenience
– No mystery aspect
– Standard kids movie humor

Score: C+

 

 

I am your Father!

Posted on by jacobsonbblog

For the record it’s “No I am your father” not “Luke I am your father”. Anyway, 40 years ago today Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back released and was considered not only better than the first but still considered to be the best Star Wars Movie. One of the reasons people love this movie is for one of the greatest twists of all time, Darth Vader being Luke’s father. I’ve seen it reference and parodied (Toy Story 2) before seeing this movie so it was kind of spoiled for me but now that I’m older I’ve realized how cleverly written this twist is.

One of the reasons this twist works is the mystery of it. Why does Luke’s face appear in Vader’s mask? Why does Darth Vader seem interested in Luke? Who is Darth Vader anyway? (Stan Pine: So many Questions!) All these answers were revealed in that one scene. You also weren’t sure whether Obi Wan lied to Luke or if Vader was tricking Luke into turning against Obi Wan and joining him. Back in 1980 people had to wait for 3 years until they saw the truth in Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. It turned out that neither Obi Wan nor Vader was lying. It was more of when Anakin Skywalker turned into Vader the good person he used to be was gone.

Another reason this twist is great is that it subverts the villain killing the hero’s parent cliché. In Episode IV: A New Hope, Obi Wan mentions Vader betraying and murdering Anakin. Now we’ve seen stories where the villain has killed the hero’s father such as Scar from The Lion King, Voldemort from Harry Potter, and Clockwork from Sly Cooper just to name a few. Heck this movie came out long before those stories did. It could’ve been the easy route just to have Darth Vader and Anakin be two separate characters and entities but they took the bigger risk and it paid off. Not only does this twist tie both characters together but it also makes Vader into a more complex and tragic villain and character.

Vader mentioning those infamous four words adds more salt on Luke’s wound literally since he just chopped off his hand. Heck only a few people working on the film knew about the twist. The fake line was supposed to be Obi Wan killed your father which isn’t a bad twist but the real one is still better. I’d love to imagine the shocked expression everyone seeing this for the first time had. I am your Father has been considered one of the best quotes and scenes, of the whole series and has cemented as one of the best movie twists ever.

Happy 40th birthday to The Empire Strikes Back and to one of the greatest plot twist of all time.

My Top 15 Favorite Cartoons

Posted on by jacobsonbblog

Happy Birthday to me again! As you all know I love cartoons. To celebrate my birthday I’m going to run through my top 15 favorite cartoons. Considering I don’t really watch live action shows, this is also my favorite TV shows list too. A lot of these cartoons are inspirations for my work and I want to give thanks to all the show creators for making me who I am today.

Honorable Mentions: King of the Hill, Regular Show, The Long Long Holiday, Star vs the Forces of Evil, We Bare Bears, The Loud House, Infinity Train

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