Toy Review: Astro Boy- The Movie Toy (2009)

Comment: Got these two Astro Boy- The movie toys at the Dollar Store today. They had these two and also Astro Boy dressed in a blue track suit and an armored-police looking guy (never sae the movie).

Quality is bad, so these may be rejects since most of the regular Astro Boy figure had bad paint applications. Can’t tell what figure collection this is from since it’s not the 3 3/4″ set on the Jazwares site. Picked it up since I needed an Astro Boy figure for the collection, otherwise if it was $2 i would’ve passed due to the bad QA on these.

Rating: 1 out of 5

Movie Review: Planet Hulk DVD (2010)

Comments: The Planet Hulk movie DVD is a screen adaption of the comic book saga of the same name. I’ve previously read the original Planet Hulk graphic novel so I do remember the elements of the series which could be described as Hulk meets the Gladiator-movie genre. So if armored monsters clashing in an arena is your thing, then this animated movie is for you.

There’s a brief bit in the beginning of the film that explains why the Hulk is being sent to another planet by the big-time heroes of Earth. If you do not know the storyline or keep up with what’s happened in the comic books, then you’ll probably not get why Hulk is skyrocketing out of earth and why he’s all of a sudden able to speak intelligently and not the behemoth of old.

There’s some changes in the storyline to accommodate the running time and character use. Planet Hulk covers roughly the beginning and middle of the Planet Hulk storyline with Hulk landing on an alien planet, fighting in the coliseum, and taking over the planet. The portion of the post-“King Hulk” storyline from the comic series isn’t covered and so if sales are good, there might be a sequel. There are some cameos from the comic series in the background and due to licensing issues probably, the Silver Surfer is replaced with Beta Ray Bill (aka Horse-Alien looking Thor).

The action is well-made and there’s a bit of drama going on. Pretty violent, so watch out for the kiddies. Animation style matches previous Marvel films like the recent Iron Man and Dr. Strange films.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Movie Review: Batman: Gotham Knight- 7/9/08

Review: I thought Gotham Knight was a nice looking movie, but very plain and down right boring in parts. “Work Through the Pain” was the best section for me since it opened up another training aspect of Bruce Wayne that shows how he can take all the hits and near-death events and continue to survive.

“Deadshot” was a good section as well, closest to a comic book type story. The rest of the episodes were more in the vein of Batman vs. mobsters and moved slowly for me, they probably kept it this way to tie into the more Dark Knight theme without the more outlandish themes with more comic-type villains.

Did enjoy seeing the original Tim Burton Batmobile though. The animation style is pure Japanese anime, with certain styles reminding me of the over-the-top Fist of the North Star series from the 80s. Still, though it looked nice it had no substance or “wow” moments for a comic book super hero.

Score: 2.75 out of 5

Movie Review: Kung Fu Panda- 6/10/08

Comments: I didn’t have high expectations from this movie but after reading some positive reviews I decided to check it out. It’s a pretty funny and light-hearted romp in animal-infused China with a hilarious Po the Panda by Jack Black. All-star voice cast lends it’s talents to this fast-paced film, runs about 88 minutes so there are not a lot of slow meandering moments.

A DreamWorks Animated Film, I didn’t like their recent Shrek 2 or 3 movies so I was pleasantly surprised at the subtle jokes and kooky plots that didn’t have to rely on crude humor like the Shrek series has become. The story is pretty standard hero comes from unlikely background then learns martial arts after a hilarity-infused training and defeats the bad guy.

I do wish they delved more into the background of the main bad guy (I think he was a snow leopard) and the Five Masters. Still with the brief running time you’ll barely have time to use the bathroom during the film, so go beforehand!

Score: 4 out of 5

Movie Review: Robotech- The Shadow Chronicles- 4/12/07

Comments: As a Robotech fan I give SC a 7.5 out of 10. As a regular movie watcher I give SC a 4 out of 10. As a RT fan I liked seeing a continuation of the RT storyline even if the story was only so-so (but after watching other anime I didn;t think the storyline was that bad, it seemed like every average anime to me), seeing the mecha again and apart from everyone else’s opinion I did like the 2D artwork used.

As a regular movie watcher I did not like how the movie ended with the hanging plot points (seeing how long it to SC to come out on DVD I expect the sequel to come out in 2018). The 3D battles ARE jarring to see, wish they kept them animated like in Mac Zero or Yukikaze. I was hoping to see some ground battles on earth vs. the Invid. The backgrounds on the characters were pretty sparse. And finally…boobs, yes they are big and distracting sometimess…but especially on Ariel and Janice’s bodies sine for some reason they wear the super low V-neck suits.

P.S. What happened to the special features section? It was just a trailer and fan documentary? Not even the United Nations trailer. I did not like how when the producers and HG employees discussed RT or showed clips it was only Mospeada no mention of Macross or Southern Cross or why it took so long for SC to get back on-screen. I was on the look-out for Mokman the DVD…but I don’t know what ya look like!

Score: 2.5 out of 5