Adam's Blog

You would be hard pressed to find a franchise that has been as successful for DreamWorks as the Shrek franchise. While not quite the critical darlings of Kung Fu Panda or How To Train Your Dragon, I don’t think there is one that has been the most financially successful or as iconic. Despite the fact it’s last main installment came out over a decade ago, the series continues to be cherish and meme-ed to death years later. Although it’s been since 2010 since the last Shrek movie, there has been at least two spin-offs that have come out, first with the prequel that was the original Puss In Boots released in 2011 and the second being Puss In Boots: The Last Wish, releasing just in time this year for Christmas day. So why not take the time as we approach the final days of the holiday season/year to rank all six of these movies from worst to best? A disclaimer, I’m only including the films in the franchise and leaving out the shorts, tv specials, or the musical because that would just making this list more complicated than it should. Anyways, let’s do this.

6.) Shrek The Third (2007)

Often regarded as one of the biggest letdowns in movie franchise history, this is the installment that lacks the heart and creativity of it’s predecessors in favor of something more gag heavy, tonally inconsistent, and just plain soulless. Throw in a cold opening with a laughably out-of-place Live and Let Die track, a rather annoying new main character in Arthur, Shrek’s awkward parenthood/mid-life crisis arc, and a completely unengaging main villain in Prince Charming and you get quite an underwhelming experience. It has it’s moments such as the body-swap gag between Donkey and Puss (even if that ultimately goes no where) and the admittedly badass princess escape scene (which re-introduces the world to Zeppelin years before Thor: Ragnarok did) but this was when you could tell that this series was running on fumes and relying strictly on the name of it’s brand to make a quick buck.

5.) Shrek Forever After (2010)

The (to-date) final entry of the Shrek series is another bland and unneeded continuation of the franchise, even if it is an improvement over the last one. This attempts to take a page from the book of It’s A Wonderful Life to make this the culmination of the entire franchise up to this point, which ultimately exposes the lack of creative ideas they have left and sets everyone back to square one. Shrek’s arc is a repeat of his arc from the last one, he’s unsatisfied with his current life and wants to go back to the old one, and it somehow feels even more out-of-place/character than it did before, especially with the outburst he has at the beginning, which makes the movie’s ill-conceived character arc for Shrek fall apart in the first ten minutes. Still, the animation is stellar, Rumpelstiltskin is one of the better antagonists in the series, and has a handful of pay-off moments that might just satisfy long-time fans who grew up with the franchise. I suppose you can do worse but you can also do a whole lot better. Or at least be more memorable.

4.) Puss In Boots (2011)

Puss has always been a side character with unlimited potential for engaging stories of his own. While he mostly acts as comic relief in the Shrek movies, he still does have an interesting backstory of his own and an unique presence onscreen that you could see him carrying his own movie without the worry of not having enough Mike Myers or Eddie Murphy thrown into the mix. The first Shrek prequel/spin-off is able to display that quite well, with Antonio Banderas in the front seat this time with his Desperado-co star Salma Hayek’s Kitty Softpaws along side him, to tell a fun, engaging tale with plenty of creative, beautifully animated action sequences and feeling like it’s own self-contained story. Perhaps more could have been down with some of the other side characters, especially the villains, and it does have an unescapable sense of inconsequentiality to the whole thing but it’s definitely better than the last two Shrek movies.

3.) Shrek (2002)

The original DreamWorks hit that started it all back in 2002 still holds up gracefully! Being able to bring together the traditional fairytale characters and tropes while also doing something incredibly fresh, funny, and subversive with them. Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, and Cameron Diaz all fit their roles like a glove and help make their characters of Shrek, Donkey, and Fiona more iconic than they have any right to be. It also helps that song choices here are inspired, the pop cultures reference actually work well without it feeling pandering or obnoxious, and has an overall nice moral of never judging someone solely on their appearance. Some of the humor might be too adult/juvenile for some and Lord Farquaad is definitely not the most menacing bad guy ever but this still remains a timeless classic. It’s a shame though that certain folks out there only recognize this movie for it’s memes nowadays as they tend to forget that this is still a great movie overall.

2.) Puss In Boots: The Last Wish (2022)

An exciting, triumphing Part Two to go along with the other great Part Twos that DreamWorks animation has created with their filmography. I have a few grips such has as how the different tones can collided with each other at times and the very final scene is a bit of an eye roller, but there’s nothing major that could bring it down for me. The animation is spectacular, the characters are engaging, the set pieces are fun and inventive, the story goes into dark places you wouldn’t think a simple “kids” movie would go, and it teaches a very valuable lesson on how we should live our life to the fullest with the ones we love before it’s too late. This also has perhaps the most scary and intimating villain in not just Shrek but possibly any DreamWorks movie. Never in a million years would I guess that it would be frigging Puss in Boots of all characters that would be carrying this franchise for the past decade but I guess anything is possible.

1.) Shrek 2 (2004)

This is about as perfect as a sequel can get. Taking all the elements that made the original so good and somehow managing to make them even better here. The story is more engaging, the characters are more lovable and charming, the animation is more gorgeous, the voice work is more stellar, the set pieces are more creative, the fairytale/pop culture references are even better utilized, and the humor is much more funny this time around. Add in the wonderful presence of Antonino Bandera’s Puss in Boots, the Fairy Godmother as the main villain, and one of the best climaxes arguably in film history with an AMAZING usage of I Need A Hero and you got one beautifully done animated sequel. There are a handful of logic issues (Like how it takes forever for Shrek and company to get to Far Far Away but only takes Gingy, Pinnochio, and others like a couple of hours to get there) but when a sequel is this well-made, heartfelt, and absolutely HILARIOUS (The C.O.P.S. gag gets me EVERY time!), it’s impossible to care. It’s so whole and satisfying that the Shrek franchise could have stopped here and I would have been perfectly fine with it. Great comedy sequels are really hard to come by and this stands out as one of the very best!

There you have it! I’m unsure of what the future holds for this franchise or where else you can actually go with it. However, after the stellar reception that The Last Wish has gotten thus far along with the strong ratings/viewership this year with the Shrek movies on big streaming services such as Netflix, I wouldn’t be surprised if DreamWorks has something in the works for our favorite ogre and pussy cat in the near future. Until then, we can only cherish the great ones that have come from this series and ignore the not-so-great ones.

Happy Holidays everybody! Have a very, merry Christmas!

It’s always a bold claim to say something is the greatest thing ever just right after being able to witness it before your very eyes. However, after back-to-back days with matches involving American football and worldwide football where historic achievements were made and unforgettable events were displayed, I would be hard pressed to not think of a particular weekend in a longtime that had been amazing for sports fans everywhere. The rarity of being able to witness history like we’ve never seen before in two particular competitive matches that could have not been played in any more different circumstances. The games I’m referring to is the match-up between the Indianapolis Colts and the Minnesota Vikings that took place on Saturday December 18th and of course, the World Cup finale between the countries of Argentina and France that was played Sunday, December 19th! Two games that didn’t really have anything to do with each other but was still shocking to watch.

33-0 Is The New 28-3!

On paper, the game between the Colts and Vikings didn’t really seem all that destined to be a classic. Compared to the other game that I will later discuss, it seemed rather inconsequential. While the Colts went into this game with a poor 4-8-1 record and had been struggling for the majority of the season, the Vikings with a strong 10-3 record needed one more victory of the season to secure a division title, their first since 2017 and clinch a playoff birth, their first since 2019. Little did anyone know that this would result in the best comeback ever along with the perhaps the greatest choke job ever in NFL history!

Everything was going the Colts way in the first half of the game at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. Indianapolis’s defense had absolutely shut down the offense of the Vikings and spur some offense of their own with two touchdowns on an interception and blocked punt, which were both later returned for touchdowns. After the first two quarters and halftime rolled around, Colts were leading an absolute laugher at 33-0 in front of a Minnesota home crowd who were just anxious to see their Vikings clinched the title on their home field! However, just as we’ve seen numerous times over the course of this season in football as well as some other recent history (*cough* Super Bowl LI *cough*), the game is never over until it’s over. Thankfully for Minnesota and their fans, the Viks would later seem to agree.

Once the second half roll around, the stars had finally aligned for the Vikings. The defensive lines were able to come back strong by allowing only one field goal the entire second half and the offense finally woke up by scoring a total of five touchdowns, including an incredible 64-yard run by running back Dalvin Cook just before the two-minute warning hit. It’s then that quarterback Kirk Cousins passed the ball to tight end T.J. Hockenson in a successful two-point conversion to tie the game. What was 33-0 before was now a tie ball game at 36-36 to end the regulation, with the Vikings overcoming a massive 33 point deficit. Inevitably, Vikings kicker Greg Joseph pulled off the finishing touches by successfully kicking a 40-yard field goal just as time expired in overtime. Just like that, Minnesota won the game 39-36, the largest comeback any team has overcome in National Football League history!

While this was certainly not the biggest football game ever, it was able to achieve the kind of history we’ve technically never seen before. The previous largest comeback took place in the 1992 Wild Card round where the Buffalo Bills overcame a 32-point deficit to beat the Houston Oilers, 41-38. And of course, who could forget that jaw dropping Super Bowl LI, where the New England Patriots overcame a 28-3 deficit to beat the Atlanta Falcons to win it all, another heartbreaking choke job that quarterback Matt Ryan was a part off. What could have been a forgettable clincher of game for a sports town that has had their own fair share of heart break over the years turned out to be one for the absolute history books! I guess we will find out in the coming months if the momentum from this stunning victory will be able to carry over to the playoffs.

Greatest Game Ever?!

If you ever wonder why there is such love, heart, and passion for soccer/football or any sport, all you have to do is watch this game and know why. Not only was the final of the 2022 World Cup between Argentina and France is everything you can possibly ask for, it is instantly up there as an absolute classic in sports history and will easily go down as one of the greatest game, if not THE greatest game of all time! There were both countries that had won two prior World Cups with France itself winning the previous one. If they won this game, they would be the first country to pull off back-to-back titles since Brazil in 1958 and 1962. On Argentina’s side, there was the legendary Lionel Messei who is looking to call it a career after this game. The only thing missing from Messei’s phenomenal resume was winning a World Cup and was hoping to help Argentina win their first one since 1986. At Lusail, this match-up had perhaps the highest stakes and most tension than any game in any sport that has ever been played.

Similar to the Colts and Vikings game, it started off being a rather one-sided match-up. Argentina stroke first when Messi scored a penalty kick at the 23rd minute and would get another thanks to Angel Di Maria at the 38th minute. Once the first half came to a close, Argentina had taken a 2-0 lead. If you watch soccer, you would know goals are really rare to come by, especially in a World Cup game. With fields as massive as the ones in this sports along with players who get more tired and exhausted the longer the game goes, it can be quite hard to get points on the board. Any sort of comeback down two later in a World Cup game would take a miracle. Despite having nearly all odds gets them, France was determined to come back to make it game.

After failing to make an attempt on goal until the 70th minute, France finally got on the board when Kylian Mbappe scored on a penalty kick at the 80th minute, to make it 2-1. Then, in a massive 1uick turn of events, less than two minutes later, Mbappe scored again to tie up the game 2-2. In an absolute stunner, France was able to take away the lead that Argentina held for the majority of the game just like that. After 90+ minutes were completed, the game remained tied and when into extra time.

At the 108 minute mark, Messi scored his second goal of the game to give Argentina a 3-2 lead with around ten minutes. However, thanks to the advance of yet another penalty kick, Mbappe was able to complete the hat trick by scoring his third goal of the game to tie the game once again making it 3-3. Both teams failed to score for the rest of extra time and it went to shootout. Yes, unfortunately, we live in a world where a game as glorious as this had to end in a merely shootout. It’s a sad world we live in but it is the only world we live in.

With the way this game has gone, you would think France is the team destined for victory here. After all their amazing comebacks they pulled off, you would think they would be more than deserving in winning their second consecutive World Cup. However, the sports gods seemed to have other thoughts. Argentina, thanks to successful goals by Messi, Dybala, Paredes and Montei, beat France in penalty shots, 4-2, where they won the game 4-3, and won the World Cup! With all that hard fought effort, France simply ran out of miracles and Messi is now able to leave the game fully on top like he deserves. A stunning yet storybook ending thanks to an absolute excellent game played by both sides!

Sports Can Be Meaningful

As much as one can give credit to these comebacks being even remotely possible thanks to controversial calls by the referees or B.S. overtime rules of both sports, it’s games like these two that are so rare to see at around the same time but always remind us all why we love sports. It’s games like these that shows why one can easily become so invested in something that they love so much. It shows that sports can be meaningful to just it’s fans but also it’s players.

These two games involved teams being forced to crawl their way back into it after being down for so long. One team was rewarded for overcoming such adversity while the other team wasn’t so lucky. Regardless, the fact that either one of these games were close or actually ended up having some sort of competition to it is astounding. As much as fans of teams would always love for their side to secure an absolute drama-free victory for each big game, for fans of the sport, they always want to be action and competitiveness down to the last play. While I’m sure millions to billions of hearts were in stomachs from fans of all four teams, that is what sports it’s all about and why we love it so much. While the Colts and France will look back to how they let their chance at victories slip away in heartbreaking fashion, the Vikings and Argentina will be able to look at the right side of history as being able to overcome immense pressure to win a nail biter.

Sports are made for games such as these. Because of that, I don’t think we have ever had a weekend of sports that perfectly displays the meaningfulness of it than we did for these two games. Let’s see the Super Bowl top this in two months!

The release of Avatar: The Way of Water should feel more like a grand event than it actually does. It’s a sequel to the highest grossing film of all time that has has been 13 years in the making along with the triumphing return of legendary (if not ego-filled) director James Cameron. However, aside from the promise of getting an amazing, eye-popping 3D visual spectacle made for the big screen, nothing has come in the way of the hype involving what the actual movie will be about.

I was wanting to write a retrospective piece on the original Avatar a week before this one came out but I couldn’t figured anything that was worth discussing about it. It was the big Christmas blockbuster that came out at the tail end of 2009 right when the 3D wave took movie theaters by storm. Most were enthralled by the impressive visuals and non-stop action that the movie provided in a way that no other movie had done in theaters at the time. It came out at the right place at the right time in cinema. However, if it wasn’t for those incredible visual achievements, then it’s mind blowing success would almost come across as some happy accident.

If you were to ask anyone the name of a certain character or a story beat that DIDN’T remind them of something from another movie, then you will likely be left with that person going “Uhhhhh”. While Avatar more than accomplished it’s goal of being a beautiful spectacle to see on the big screen, it didn’t really leave much of an impact within pop culture when it came to memorable characters, resonated themes, quotable lines, or even some form of meme. Save what you will about the quality of other billion dollar grossers such as The Force Awakens or Infinity War but you can at least remember the names of the actual characters of the movie and even a joke or two. Yet since 2009, aside from that brief nine month stint where Endgame took it’s turn sitting on the throne for #1 movie of all time, Avatar has stood alone in it’s own isolated kingdom of the highest grossing film ever despite not being remembered fondly for it’s actual quality.

Now, we have The Way of Water, a movie that is hoping to make lightning strike twice in cinema by expanding upon the things people like (Visuals, Action Sequences, World Building) about the first movie and perhaps fix the things that they didn’t (Plot, Characters, Dialogue). How does Cameron do on Round Two? Well, about what you expect, for better and for worse. While I still don’t think this is a movie that will stand the test of time nor is it close to the best sequel James Cameron has made, it does meet the expectations of folks wanting to immerse themselves into the world of Avatar with even more effort being put into the things people remember fondly about the original. That being said, I still wonder if I’m gonna feel similarly when watching the movie again when it comes to 4K.

Premise: Taking place over ten years after the first film, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) has been able to settle down with Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) and raise a family with two biological sons named Neteyam (Jamie Flatters) and Lo’ak (Britain Dalton), a biological daughter named Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss), an adopted daughter named Kiri (Sigourney Weaver), and a human boy named Spider (Jack Champion). Their time of peace is interrupted as humans return once again to Pandora to colonize it, some of which have turned into avatars themselves, led by Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang). Jake’s family and tribe is forced out of their homes and retreat to the Metkayina reef people clan at Pandora’s eastern seaboard, led by Tonowari (Cliff Curtis) and Ronal (Kate Winslet). The family must learn to adjust their daily lives there, get along with the reef people, and prepare for battle once again against the humans that threaten their race.

When watching The Way of Water, it’s clear that James Cameron is well aware of the things people like about the first one. There is much more emphasis on the visuals, action, and world building than there was at all in the first film. There’s is more time and thought put into developing the universe this franchise is now a part of along with creating set pieces that has it’s own massive scale that I haven’t seen with any movie in recent memory. While we are mostly gone from the main village in Pandora that we spend the majority of the time with in the first movie, the seaboard ocean that we explore here is even more impressive. Plenty of time is spend on how the family communing with undersea life with the reef people with plenty of beautiful water visuals and dry land shots. If you thought Aquaman looked beautiful underwater, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

And speaking of the visuals, they get an A++ for me! While there was no doubt heavy CGI involved, 99% of it looks convincing and matches the word perfectly that you would be hard pressed to find any screenshot for “Film Twitter” to make fun of. The world itself look incredibly gorgeous with the standout scenes being the mesmerizing flying sequences and any scene taking place at or underwater which feel incredibly relaxing. This is a movie that is undoubtedly worth seeing in IMAX and even in 3D if you have interest in watching it.

Also, as expected the action sequences are masterfully done. James Cameron tend to be the master of action and set pieces when it comes to his sci-fi pictures and there is no exception here. Every action scene is brutal, intense, and redefines epic. Whether it’s on land, in the skies, or underwater, each one is a standout in it’s own right that helps show off the skills of each character and the location that they fight in. Now, you pretty much expected for the visuals and spectacle to be top-tier but what about the elements that were rather iffy about the first one, i.e. plot, characters, dialogue. Well, that is where The Way of Water is both better and worse than the original.

The film gets off to a rather clunky start which contains the same, dull one-note dialogue dump of countless expositions that plagued the first film, which comes across as if Cameron constantly explaining the characters and events from the first movie repeatedly just in case no one remembers. There’s moments throughout the second half which contains a build off to certain subplots that doesn’t get the resolution it should because it’s most likely being saved for the next one. There also doesn’t seem to be as much narrative focus or connective tissue as to of the two main character from the last one as Jake and Neytiri are mostly pushed to the way side this time around to spend more time with the kids, which is both a blessing and a curse at the same time. However, once it starts to take big focus on the family dynamics and the movie lets it visuals do the talking, it’s an absolute marvel!

The family dynamics are well-handled and are the most engaging part of the movie. I did like seeing the children themselves developed and learn to grow with the others, with the exception of that “Spider” kid who is honestly rather obnoxious. The big standouts is the oldest son Neteyam and the adopted daughter Kiri, the ones that go through the biggest arcs of being able to follow in their parent’s footsteps so they may someday be ready to take their spots to lead. At times, they can come across as the audience’s POV, where we see the family discover the ways which this world works and how the people inhabit it operate. It’s still far from the greatest character work ever put film but it is overall more engaging than whatever Jake’s journey was suppose to be in the first one.

The performances are a real standout as well, with even the cast that fell flat in the first one feel more properly utilize here. All of the children are well-casted and make their characters stand out through their already impressive motion capture, especially Sigourney Weaver playing the daughter of her character from the first one, which was an absolute genius move on the part of the casting. Zoe Saldana is still amazing as Neytiri, continuing to prove herself as being one of the best actresses when it comes to franchise movies. Stephen Lang looks as if he’s even having more fun here as the main human turned Avatar baddie. Cliff Curtis and Kate Winslet get a few moments of shine to himself. And surprisingly, even the weak link of the original with the usually uncharismatic Sam Worthington, actually works much better here as the father figure. Perhaps this has to do with Jake not getting as much focus and not having to do as much of the heavy lifting this time around but even he is actually quite serviceable here.

It’s really difficult for me to say whether or not this is better than the original as a whole or that it was worth the 13-year long wait. The stuff is better is better and the stuff that works does in fact work very well. I love exploring the worlds of Pandora and being able to witness this amazing imagery on the big screen while even find some of the family elements engaging. However, the things that don’t work such as the dialogue, plot points not being given a proper resolution, and not having a cohesive narrative still stick out like a sore thumb and will most likely impact repeat viewings. No doubt that James Cameron has a strange passion and love affair for Avatar and it’s world but I’m still not sure if I’m fully on board with it yet.

Then again, in a time in a post-Covid era where people are not going to the theaters as much as before, perhaps making movies that are mostly experiences made for the big screen isn’t necessarily the worst thing in the world. While The Way of Water will still be a box office smash, it’s success this time around might just be a necessary evil. Just like the original, only time will tell. It’s only then that we’ll see whether or not if better is the new worse or worse is the new better.

As a feature film, this is probably a two and a half out of four stars. As a theater experience, which is my main verdict at the moment, it’s a solid three out of four stars.

Take that as you will!

Sonic Frontiers has been out for a month now. It looks as though everyone that had any interest in the game whatsoever has played it by now. While the reviews from critics were certainly quite mixed, the fan response, if the game being voted into the finalists for Players’ Voice at The Game Awards show is any indication, has been much more favorable. If you read my review, you know that I enjoyed the game a lot but it felt too uneven and repetitive for me to consider it a truly great Sonic experience.

However, there is a promising foundation that has been set by the game in spite of its imperfections. The way Sonic controls, the overall gameplay formula, and the ideas around the open zones and cyber space levels themselves are assets that can work wonders for future titles.

If recent quotes by Sonic Team is true, this looks to be the kind of core gameplay we should except with future Sonic games going forward. While I know Sonic Team is not done with Frontiers quite yet considering the recent announcement of upcoming DLC for next year, there are some areas from the game that I feel can either be improved or expanded upon to make future Sonic installments even better. Perhaps they already have these sort of things in mind but I feel these are worth bringing up anyway.

Here are five elements of Sonic Frontiers that future Sonic games can learn from!

1.) Explore Sonic’s Own World

This is an element that most Sonic games haven’t explored much of outside of the comics and cartoons but I believe future Sonic games should put more emphasis on exploring Sonic’s own home world. Whether that is Mobius or just making up a wholly original world, I would like to know more of where Sonic lives and where exactly he and his friends come from.

If I had any complaints about the open worlds in Frontiers itself, it’s that they felt more like they belonged in a Zelda game rather than a Sonic one. It took quite a while for me to get used to the fact that Sonic is now apart of these strange, hidden worlds despite looking more comfortable in one of Link’s adventures rather than Sonic’s. That problem can be fixed next time around if you chose to create more open zones surrounding Sonic’s own world instead of him visting yet another new one.

Don’t have us go back to Earth with humans or wait for Tears of the Kingdom to come out to take inspiration from that, let us explore Sonic’s actual home where he can have his own epic, crazy adventure at. Heck, I might even tolerate seeing Green Hill for the millionth time if the open zone itself is still fun to explore at. Stop taking aesthetics and designs from Zelda and start taking them from yourselves! Let us see where Sonic and company actual came from!

2.) Original Cyber Space Levels

From a story point itself, it’s understandable why Frontiers had level designs and zones reused from prior Sonic games. The idea of cyber space itself is that it’s this strange isolated place that is stuck inside of Sonic’ head and is suppose to remind him of his past adventures. It worked from a storytelling perspective as it helped with the development of the characters themselves. Their overall arcs was about them reminiscences how far they’ve come as characters and how they look to move past that in the future. If that is the case, then I sure hope Sonic Team takes their word for it and bothers to make actual original cyber spaces/boost-centric levels.

It’s been quite underwhelming how Sonic Team has been unable to come up with original boost levels of their own that play as well as Generations for the past decade. Next time around, they have their chance to redeem themselves in that regard. Come up with different levels, designs, and zones next time around. Provide a fresh and new experience with these kinds of levels like you were able to do with the open zones the first time around. I’m fairly certain it won’t kill any Sonic fan if they didn’t have to play through Chemical Plant zone yet again.

When it comes to the story for the next one, perhaps have that be reminiscence of Sonic’s unknown future instead of his well-known past. It would make for a great contrast with Frontiers and make it a thematically worthy follow up as it could be about Sonic and his friends looking towards a future that they hope it’s bright but might have plenty of rough spots along the way.

Have the cyber space levels be about those rough spots. Have it be places that Sonic is unfamiliar it and ones that look like will be quite a handful for even the speedy blue blur to overcome. Having a past zone in or two won’t kill you but make the majority of the cyber spaces next time out the kind of levels we have never experienced in a Sonic game before. The kind of levels that would make sense for both a story perspective AND a gameplay perspective!

3.) More Playable Characters

Granted, this does seem to be a feature that the upcoming DLC for next year will include. Perhaps this is something that Sonic Team has in mind for future games but even so, the next point is worth noting. Future Sonic games should have Sonic Team coming out of their closet and just make Sonic’s friends playable again.

There have been numerous reasons as to why Sonic Team has strictly made Sonic the only main playable character in recent main title games, most notably reason in that critics has some sort of unknown grudge against Sonic’s “annoying” friends. However, I do think the main unspoken reason for that is that there have been times in 3D Sonic games where playing as Sonic’s friends was an absolute chore. No one wants to play as Big the Cat to just fish or Knuckles and Rouge to just go treasure hunting. They want the characters to play similarly to Sonic with levels design similarly to Sonic with their own gimmick to it that help enhance the experience rather than take away from it. That’s something that the 2D Sonic games such as 2, 3 & Knuckles, Advance, and Rush did incredibly well and there should be no reason for future 3D games to not do the same thing.

All you have to do is copy what the 2D Sonic games did in have the characters themselves control the same as Sonic but have their own unique ability attached to it. Have Tails fly further than Sonic can, have Knuckles glider in the air further than Sonic can, have Amy fly herself into the air with her hammer further than Sonic can, and give every single one of them their own combat style that Sonic doesn’t have. Heck, even throw in characters such as Shadow, Silver, Rouge, and Blaze if you are able to find a story purpose for them. Regardless of which of Sonic’s friends return in future games, it’s time to give them some love. Just don’t make them an absolute slog to play through and I’m pretty sure it won’t negatively affect review scores.

4.) More Sage

I don’t think there was a more delightful surprise in Frontiers than the character of Sage herself. From her early presence and pre-release marketing, I was expecting her to be another generic, forgettable “who gives a s*it” villain that I could care less to ever see again. However, Sage was actually something more than that. Unlike recent baddies in the series such as Infinite and the Deadly Six, Sage is actually giving a compelling, emotional arc that I was shockingly invested in. She actually manages to be something a bit more than just a one-note antagonist but an actual character that learns to grow and inhabit the actions and feelings of living creatures. Her relationship with Eggman made for a rather bittersweet father and daughter relationship that gave the doctor himself a bit more dimension. It’s not the greatest character development in the world but Sage was giving more care and attention than she had any right to be.

Sage is the first new Sonic character since Blaze the Cat that I actually want to see return in the future. And if the overwhelming love and support that the voice actress for Sage, Ryan Bartley, has received from fans on Twitter since the game’s release is any indication, I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who feels that way.

It’s hard to get too deep into details about Sage without going into spoilers as that would give away the character’s fate by the end of the game. However, if one of the final scenes (which may or may not be post credit scenes) is anything to go by, this may not actually be the last we see of Sage. If that is the case, then there is plenty of room for the character to go.

Things such as a deeper dive into the origins of Eggman creating Sage, as that is mostly glossed over in Frontiers, to developing a relationship with her so-called brothers in Orbot and Cubot, and perhaps an even more threatening version of the character, one I imagine was more closer with Eggman’s original vision. It feels like we just scratch the surface with her that future games can explore.

I’m not always one to push for certain characters to come back when they normally should serve their purpose for one game but I believe Sage has the potential to be the most engaging antagonist the Sonic series has had since Shadow the Hedgehog. Hopefully, they won’t feel the need to bring in guns, aliens, and a whole lot of “damns” this time though.

5.) Cut Down On Grinding and Repetition

The last and arguably the most important lesson to learn from Sonic Frontiers, which is something that Sonic Team still has yet to figure out, is to STOP with the constant grinding and repetition of each game. There are many times with Sonic games that the main problem is with Sonic Team constantly getting in it’s own damn way and not knowing when to leave things well enough alone. This is particularly when they feel like their game isn’t long enough and feel the need to design different gameplay styles in a limited amount of time to give gamers more bank for their buck, which ends up just taking them out of the experience rather than adding to it.

In the case of Frontiers, a big issue was how much grinding you are forced to do in order to progress through the story. The grinding involved collecting hundreds to thousands of collectibles to give to characters before getting to the next part of the story. That made the whole experience of Frontiers feel completely exhausting. It may not be too bad once you know every single away to earn and find hearts but it’s still quite ridiculous.

The grinding in of itself makes less sense than prior Sonic games as Frontiers would already be long enough without most of it. A campaign that took 10 to 15 hours to complete and with an extra 5 to 10 hours to 100% the game along with upcoming free DLC would be more than enough to give players their full money’s worth. However, the grinding makes what should be a 10 to 15 hour adventure into a bloated 20+ hour one. As enjoyable as the story of the game was to follow, there’s no where near enough going on in it to last as long as it does.

You especially start to feel the repetitiveness once you realize the familiar pattern that each open zone goes through and you starting asking yourself questions like how Sonic keeps losing the same damn chaos emeralds over and over and over again?!

And don’t get me started on that effing pinball level that is the absolute BANE of my existence or the practically non-existent final boss!

That is what makes Sonic Team so frustrating! They always end up getting so close to making something special but end up so far by feeling the need to throw a bunch of other random gameplay styles in that they don’t need. That has to stop for the foreseeable future!

If you want to have players grind, have so to either level up your power ups and abilities or completing missions in the post-campaign, NOT to progress in the main campaign. There’s no need to introduce other gameplay styles out of no where to pad the game. There’s no need for a random pinball level just like there was no need for a random ball puzzle in 06 or being forced to play 10 different storylines to get the final one in Shadow.

Stop designing gameplay styles just for the sake of padding the game! Stop designing gameplay styles that don’t fit with the rest of the game! Stop designing gameplay styles you deep down don’t want to design but feel like you have to when you actually don’t! Just stick with the main core gameplay you established and then save the rest for the post-campaign! I promise you fans will be much more appreciative if you didn’t make them eat green vegetables in order to enjoy everything else.

Stop getting in your own way, Sonic Team! Stop trying to fix things that don’t need to be fix and breaking what was never broken before! You have a promising foundation ahead of you. Now make the most of it!

Yesterday, The Hollywood Reporter came out with a piece confirming that a massive turning point is about to come for DC movies. With new DC Studio heads James Gunn and Peter Safran about to prep for their new multiyear plan ahead of next week’s presentation to now infamous WB CEO David Zaslav, big changes are set to come. The biggest of which is Wonder Woman 3, which was previously set to be written and directed by Patty Jenkins, the woman behind the first two movies, is not moving forward as it’s pretty much considered dead in it’s current form considering it doesn’t seem to in line with what Gunn and Safran have in mind for DC going forward. Other aspects include basically the end of the so-called “Snyderverse” with many movies attach to it such as Man of Steel 2 and Black Adam 2 likely not moving forward and possibly seeing the last of Jason Momoa as Aquaman in his latest feature next year, Aquaman 2. While the current movies that still have yet to be release such as Shazam!: Fury of the Gods, Flash, Blue Beetle, and the previously mention Aquaman 2 will still likely be released in theaters in their current form, about anything else attached to this extended universe is likely about to be scrapped in favor of Gunn and Safran’s plan for the future. This is looking to be the equivalents of DC’s own Flashpoint, going back to change the timeline of DC movies going forward with taking out of the pieces they no longer want away while perhaps keeping the ones they still want in tact for the future of the franchise. While this is a move that will likely anger and disappoint long time fans, it’s a move that needed to happen.

Regardless how one feels about the overall quality of DC movies since 2013, the year which their supposed cinematic universe kicked off in Man of Steel, their overall continuity and the way they have build the universe has been an absolute mess. With the worst of these movies suffering greatly from trying to rush through all of that hard work and build up just to get to the really good stuff despite none of it feeling genuine and earned while the best of these movies thrived from not putting much focus on any of that and just making a good movie in it’s own right. It’s clear as day that the success of The Avengers and the Marvel Cinematic Universe had a big impact on the way DC look to make their movies going forward but they don’t seem to understand why exactly the series was able to remain intact for so long.

As much as Marvel gets praise for having a plan and being overall consistent with it’s continuity/world building, the movies themselves never put as much focus on that as one my think. With the exception of the Avengers movies and probably the Captain America sequels, the Marvel movies themselves attached to that cinematic universe were fairly standalone and self-contained with only a universe building set piece or two included that could easily be explained in other movies. You didn’t need to watch WandaVision or Loki to understand Spider-Man: No Way Home or Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness. You didn’t need to watch Ms. Marvel or She-Hulk to understand Thor: Love and Thunder or Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Even if any of those were actually connected with one another, it would have most likely had been resolved in a dialogue exchange or two. They might have had a proper road map but the way to getting to each destination was mostly made up on the fly. The thing with Marvel is that because they’ve been (for the most part) consistent in their quality and continuity, they make you THINK you have to watch everything they put out to understand everything but you really don’t. The DC Extended Universe on the other hand, is another story.

The thing that these current wave of DC movies greatly suffered from, at least the ones apart from the Snyderverse, is that the made it’s world building and continuity as a major focus of each and every installment, so much so that they already planned a near saga’s worth of movies even before they even got done with Part 2 with Dawn and Justice. While planning ahead can be a good thing, you have to have a back-up in mind in case the main one doesn’t work out. If at least the first few movies of this were critically panned and/or underperformed at the box office, then there had to be a Plan B in mind or else this whole foundation would just collapse under it’s own weight. Unfortunately, while there might have been some good movies attached to it, this was an outcome that the Zack Snyder-connected DC movies could not avoid.

It’s obvious that DC was not prepared to the mixed to negative response their early movies had gotten such as Man of Steel and Dawn of Justice or their movies not being able to be the guarantee billion dollar hits as other superhero movies with names everyone is familiar with. Because of the fact they put so much effort and thought into their own universe building with making each of these important to understand for the future, they had no choice but to go back and rethink their whole strategy right in the middle of their current plan. That’s what lead to movies such as Suicide Squad and Justice League (2017) getting reshot and reworked along with a massive shuffling around of other DC movies to cut their losses along with hopefully better reviews for their upcoming projects. By trying to play catch-up with Marvel along with doing damage control to their own brand, the whole cinematic universe that they have been trying to construct since 2013 has been nothing more than muddled and messy.

If you don’t want to take my word for it, then I’m fairly sure that’s what new co-heads James Gunn and Peter Safran think as well, which is why changes are coming. Gone are likely the main cast that were part of Zack Snyder’s Justice League squad such as Ben Affleck’s Batman, Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman, Jason Moama’s Aquaman, Ray Fisher’s Cyborg, and (hopefully) Ezra Miller’s Flash. The only one that might have a chance of staying around is Henry Cavill’s Superman if only because of his surprise cameo in Black Adams‘s post credit scene. It’s unknown what the future holds for all the other DC characters attached to other movies in the past decade. While Robert Pattinson’s Batman and Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker will likely be fine as they have proven to be financial successes in their own separate continuities, the futures of the likes of Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn or Zachary Levi’s Shazam! remains to be seen.

On one hand, it does absolutely suck to see certain folks who were apart of this franchise not get their own chance to shine once again. It sucks that Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot won’t get a shot at redemption after the massively underwhelming Wonder Woman 1984. It sucks that Henry Cavill won’t get a shot as Superman with a different director that could perhaps utilize his talent much better. It sucks to see such an ambitious and promising foundation absolutely implode from the inside because the people involved with it never gave it a second thought as to what if something could possibly go wrong and needing to have a back-up plan in mind. While all of this does indeed suck to see, it is needed for the hopes of a better future for DC.

As we approach the ten-year anniversary as to when this cinematic universe of DC began, let this be a lesson to future studios that have ambitious plans with making their own universe. Always make sure to keep your foundation in check at every turn! While planning ahead it’s important, make sure to always have another one in motion in case the main one doesn’t pan out. Make sure that every building block is properly build and that the movies you create work as their own thing. Lastly, be prepared for any kind of fan/critical response and box office results. It’s only thing where your universe can remain consistent for a long period of time and won’t end with a thudding collapse. It’s then where you won’t have to prepare for an inevitable overhaul like DC is about to go through.

I will always have a heart for DC but I do hope they do a better job with their next overall cinematic universe and learn from their mistakes so we don’t have to go through this same song and dance again. The future is in your hands, James Gunn and Peter Safran! Don’t morb it up!

Here’s the piece from yesterday from The Hollywood Reporter:

• https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/wonder-woman-3-not-moving-forward-dc-movies-1235276804/

Here’s also an article that shows James Gunn’s first public statement regarding the report from yesterday

• https://variety.com/2022/film/news/james-gunn-dc-studios-cancelation-wonder-woman-man-of-steel-1235454396/

The Spectacular Spider-Man is widely regarded by fans as one of the best, if not the best Spider-Man show that has ever been made! It’s a series that has enormous respects towards the character of Peter Parker and understands perfectly why Spider-Man is one of the most iconic and relatable superheroes in history. It’s able to greatly showcased these relatable aspects of Peter in his adventures as Spider-Man along with not being afraid to explore mature themes such as stress, relationships, balancing school and work, and even dark/sensitive topics such as gambling and drug addiction. Despite being targeted towards children, it’s able to deliver a quality superhero show that anyone of any age can understand or relate to without needing to dumb everything down. That’s not to say it’s a perfect show by any means. The animation can be campy and unrealistic (especially with the way Spidey is practically defying the laws of physics by web swinging through the skies) and the fast pacing can make certain story elements feel rushed or glossed over but nevertheless, it’s an absolutely great adaption of Spider-Man and one that is a must watch for any fan of the character!

With a show this popular and loved by many fans, you would think it would have lasted for several seasons with plenty of spin-offs attached to it. After all, the initial plan that creators Greg Weisman and Victor Cook had for the show was to make at least five seasons worth with at least 65 episodes along with direct-to-video movies that would also tie into the series. It’s even been stated that there were plans to explore Peter throughout the second half of his tenure in high school and even possibly see him through his years in college. However, none of that ended up being the case whatsoever. The show itself only lasted for two seasons with a combined 26 episodes. How is it that a show this popular and this good in quality could only last for two whole seasons? It’s quite a bit of a story!

During the initial run of The Spectacular Spider-Man, Disney had purchased the rights to Marvel. This was right before the Marvel Cinematic Universe would take the world by storm with Disney clearly wanted some sort of slice of the big money pie that was the Spider-Man IP. At this point, Sony still owned the rights to Spider-Man and was just coming off finishing the Sam Raimi trilogy while trying to figure out what to do next with the character. When it came to negotiations involving Spider-Man, Disney requested for Sony to transfer their television rights or movie rights to the character. Sony chose to hold on to the movie rights while the television rights went over to Disney.

However, despite forking over those specific rights to Disney, Sony still had full control of all production and distribution rights for The Spectacular Spider-Man. It’s never been made clear as to why Sony was still hold on to specifically that but nevertheless, they still did technically owns the full rights to the show. The problem though is that because the television rights as a whole were now with Disney, Sony was no longer legally allowed to make any Spidey show on their own that was under 45 minutes using Spider-Man and any associated characters they had with the television rights. While there was an attempt from both sides to get the show to continue, too many legal problems got in the way and made it’s continuation impossible. As a result, The Spectacular Spider-Man got cancelled before it even had a chance to reach it’s full peak.

Disney would eventually follow-up the show’s cancellation with a brand new Spidey toon of it’s own in 2012 with The Ultimate Spider-Man, which was aimed to have a more lighthearted and kid-friendly style tone as it’s been speculated that Spectacular was considered too adult themed for younger audience. Despite the show lasting for four seasons and gaining just over 100 episodes, the overall response to it ranged from lukewarm to downright negative, with many fans criticizing the show for it’s overreliance on slapstick comedy and abandoning the core themes of Peter Parker that many have resonated with the character for years. Disney would eventually follow up Ultimate with another show strictly titled Spider-Man (or Marvel’s Spider-Man) that aired in 2017. The show would last much shorter than the previous one with three seasons and 58 episodes with a fairly similar reception to Ultimate Spider-Man from fans and critics alike. Ever since owning the full tv rights to Spider-Man, it looks as though Disney still has yet to make a show of the web swinger that even comes remotely close to the quality of The Spectacular Spider-Man despite both shows they made lasting for much longer.

It’s unclear as to what’s next for Spidey when it comes to his next animated show. While there had been announcements for at least two Disney Plus series involving Peter Parker in his earlier years in high school with Spider-Man: Freshman Year and Spider-Man: Sophomore Year, recent reports have indicated both shows are receiving a massive production overhaul which could lead to either one of those being put on hold or even canceled. While it seems nearly impossible now and feels like some sort of wish fulfillment fantasy, I still think this now would make for a great opportunity if Disney decide to wait on making a new original Spider-Man show and should consider bringing back the Spider-Man show they canceled altogether in The Spectacular Spider-Man.

Remember when Disney cancelled Star Wars: The Clone Wars shortly after purchasing Lucasfilm and moved on to making Star Wars: Rebels, a decision which upset it’s fans quite a bit? Then, once Disney Plus became a thing, they decided to bring the show back all together for one more season and let Dave Filoni and company give the show that they’ve worked on for so long the worthy conclusion that it deserved. Imagine if Disney is able to let Greg Weisman do something like that with The Spectacular Spider-Man?

Granted, that in of itself does seem like much more of a long shot than it ever was with the revival of The Clone Wars. At least when it comes to the Clone Wars, the show was still fairly recent when it was announced to return on Disney Plus and had a handful of scripts and unfinished animation left over to make that a possibility some day. Not to mention, there was actually some sort of production of the latter seasons before it was shut down, all of this and more unlike with The Spectacular Spider-Man. That being said, I still think that giving Spectacular a revival in similar style would make fans more happy than simply making another inferior Spidey toon.

All of the pieces to make this a reality are still here many years later. Many of the cast and crew are still around and a lot of them have expressed their willingness to return to the show if they were ever able to get the chance again. And with a movement that came out last year with a twitter hashtag trending #SaveSpectacularSpider-Man with even creator Greg Heisman and the voice of Spider-Man himself Josh Keaton taking notice of it along with numerous online petitions, that shows that there is in fact a dedicated fanbase out there that wants the show’s revival badly and are willing to do whatever it takes to bring it back. In a perfect world, that would be enough to get the show back in a heartbeat and see a fully realized version of one of the best Spider-Man movie/tv adaptions ever. Unfortunately, as of right now, we don’t live in that perfect world.

Until we end up living in that perfect world, The Spectacular Spider-Man will go down as one of the biggest tragedies in Marvel history. A tragedy of a show that had potential to be Marvel’s equivalent of Batman: The Animated Series, a complete groundbreaking series of a well-known/loved character from comic books along with many possible spin-off movies to follow. Unfortunately, it simply came out at the wrong place at the wrong time. It came at a time where Disney’s acquisition of Marvel came in and Sony simply rolled the dice in order to keep the film rights to Spider-Man at the expense of their television rights.

It makes you wonder how things could have gone through differently if it was the other around. Imagine if it was Sony holding onto the tv rights and Disney gaining the movie rights? That way, Sony would have still been able to continue The Spectacular Spider-Man with likely little to no legal trouble against them and Disney would have been able to incorporate Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe much sooner instead of later on down the line. While that did at least lead to some eventually great Spider-Man features down the road such as Into the Spider-Verse and No Way Home, there still has yet to come a show with that level of quality. Until that day comes where Disney is able to make a Spider-Man show that blows our minds, we can only sit back and imagine seeing the full version of The Spectacular Spider-Man in the hopes of some sort of comeback. Stranger things have happen but even stranger things is likely to never happen. What a tragedy ineed!

Strange World has been released in theaters for the better part of a week now and it’s tracking to be one of the biggest financial bombs in Disney history! It is set to lose the company at least 100 million dollars, making for easily the most disastrous opening for a Disney movie during a Thanksgiving weekend and possibly ever! How did this happen? As easy and simple minded it is to point the finger at one specific cause, there are at least multiple factors as to what made Strange World sink harder at the box office than the Titanic. It’s the textbook example of how everything that could have gone wrong with the movie’s release did.

So, let’s go over every single logical reasoning behind the sever underperformance of Disney’s new animation flick, which hopefully will serve as a lesson to treat your movies with more proper respect to avoid a terrible outcome like this again.

Lack of Marketing

Let’s start off with the most logical factor of the movie’s dreadful box office results. Strange World had to have the least amount of marketing for a Disney movie in recent memory, not counting those DisneyNature pictures. While I was well aware of this movie’s existence since I’m always looking up which movies are playing each week, the rest of the world did not, aside from openly homophobic individuals, who unironically did more advertising for the film than Disney itself (that will be discussed later on). I can’t recall seeing a single trailer for this movie in any theater showing that I went too for the past few months or seeing a single tv commercial for it until less than a week before it came out. Something which plenty of folks pointed out about before and after the movie’s release, such as the ones I will provide below.

I’ve been to the movie theater over 100 times this year and I didn’t see a single trailer for Strange World.

They do it on purpose. They intentionally bury it so they can say “See? Nobody wants to see movies like this.” Maybe they would if the studio promoted it. https://t.co/Res3q68PE3

— Adam ElIis 𓁹𓂏𓁹 (@adamtotscomix) November 29, 2022

I have not seen a single trailer or ad for this movie what https://t.co/pC4WVGAisE

— Kara 🏳️‍⚧️ (@Karahuset) November 27, 2022

Love how anyone with half a brain cell can put together that Strange World bombed at the box office cause Disney barely marketed it, and yet there's still morons out there who think it bombed solely cause it's "woke". Never ceases to amaze me how willfully stupid homophobes are

— Goro Akechi Enjoyer (@Schaffrillas) November 28, 2022

Regardless if you saw any promotion from the marketing campaign or not, there’s no denying that Disney did not try anywhere near as hard to market the movie as much as they do with their other films. After all, how is anyone going to want to see your new movie if they don’t even know what it is? Even the trailers themselves that were shown felt very vague and didn’t give an indication as to what the movie was actually about other than some crazy family adventure.

This isn’t a first for Disney as they usually don’t tend to put as much focus on a product if they believe it won’t make them a profit. They were practically treating it as if it’s another Disney movie that’s being released at theaters and on Disney Plus at the exact same time (which it is NOT!). Some folks have claimed that it’s hard to sell family movies in theaters in a post-Covid world, but if Minions: The Rise of Gru nearly making a billion worldwide is any indication along with Sonic 2 being the most successful video game of all time in the USA, that does make for a rather premature claim. We may have to wait until Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is released worldwide in the aftermath of Avatar: The Way of Water to make a legit point on that but I’m sure Disney barley acknowledge this film’s existence is a bigger factor into that other than folks would rather wait for it to come to Disney Plus.

So why is it Strange World out of anything that Disney seem to have no faith in? Many folks believe of the obvious reason as to why but there is also a couple of other factors that I don’t think people have put as much thought in. Let’s go on with the most convenient scapegoat from both it’s contradictors and even some of it’s supporters.

The Inclusion Of An LGBTQ+ Character

Within the very little marketing Disney actually did for Strange World, one of the selling points was that it was the first Disney Animation movie to feature a LGBTQ+ teenage character. The character in the movie is a 16-yeard old kid named Ethan who is openly gay and has a crush on another boy named Diazo. That, unsurprisingly, ruffled some feathers from a certain group, likely being the main cause of the movie for being review bombed through Imdb, Google Play, and Rotten Tomatoes. While I’m never one to accuse someone of being homophobic or anti-LGBTQ+, we are still living in an unfortunate reality where folks lose their ape shit over the absolute bare minimum of these kind of characters. Just go take a look at the negative reviews for any one of the websites I just mentioned and I’m sure you’ll find most of them not talking about the movie itself and just getting triggered over the fact that there’s a gay character in it.

As someone as seen the movie, I can confirm that Ethan is indeed gay with his own love interest being another boy. That being said, there’s only about three or four scenes acknowledging that in the whole movie and the boyfriend himself only has about two scenes with only a handful of actual lines of dialogue. They don’t even kiss or make out or anything like that. All they do is hug one another and kind of blush and that’s kind of it. While Ethan being gay is definitely a factor to this character, it’s not the only factor to his character. The story would have played out the same way even if he was straight. With the amount of controversy surrounding this, you would think that Ethan would have taking his boyfriend along with him in his journey and make out with him every chance he got. It’s really sad we have to keep going through this same and annoying dance over and over and over again. That being said, I do believe that it’s inclusion of a gay character in Ethan might have played a factor into the lack of marketing.

Disney has always had a track record of doing the most bare minimum LGBTQ+ representation imaginable, adding a scene or two with with a certain character or two that they can easily cut out of foreign markets so they don’t get banned. Examples include the gay character cameo played by director Joe Russo during the therapy session with Captain America in Avengers: Endgame, a blink-and-you-miss-it moment in Toy Story 4 where a kindergarten meets their lesbian parents after school (which I didn’t even know about when watching the movie for the first time), and at the celebration scene at the end of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker where two female Rebels randomly kiss in the background. It’s mostly came across as more of a thing to check off a list to make sure it’s progressive enough to target that demographic but not nearly enough to enrage those who are incredibly sensitive to this kind of representation. While they have been more open with that in recent memory at the expense of it being banned in foreign markets, particularly with more recent Marvel movies such as with Phasto in Eternals and America Chavez’s mothers in Multiverse of Madness along with Pixar’s inclusion of the lesbian couple in Lightyear, it’s never really been used as a main selling point until now.

Here we have Strange World, where Disney has came out and admit to having a full gay character with no ifs or buts about it, and it just so happen to be the one with very little promotion attached to it. I don’t think that is a coincidence and there are many folks that would say the same thing.

Why have the courage to fully represent a certain community only to have the movie you are representing them barley marketed? Is it to prove a point that movie with this representation don’t sell or make a profit? If that’s the case, then why even bother adding in that inclusion? If you’re too afraid of what certain folks out there will think with having a LGBT+ character in the movie, then just don’t bother putting them in the movie. Because then, not only are you not representing the LGBT community properly, you are only just insulting them. If the intentional lack of marketing was done entirely to make some sort of statement, then that is just an incredibly despicable act by Disney itself and should know better.

This lead to another odd coincidence as to how this movie’s dreadful box office results is quite similar to other prior Disney movies in this particularly genre of fantasy-adventure films.

The Treasure Planet Curse

Is it me or does Disney movies with a fantasy-adventure element tend to tank hard at the time of their releases? I don’t know if you can say that’s a coincidence or not but there hasn’t been much luck for Disney movies with a huge emphasis on adventure and excitement with fantastical elements thrown into the mix.

You have Treasure Planet, a movie that just celebrated it’s quiet 20-year anniversary, grossing only $110 million worldwide with a $140 million budget. There’s Atlantis: The Lost Empire, which only made $186.1 million worldwide with a budget of around $90-120 million. And of course, there’s now Strange World, which as we speak has began it’s box office run with a dreadful $29.6 million opening with no signs of matching it’s $135-180 million budget. Perhaps we could also throw Tomorrowland in there as well despite it being live-action. Whether the cause of this is, these kind of movies don’t do so kind for Disney which is why it’s become more rare that they even release these fantasy-adventure movies.

Of course, there are multiple reasons of the cause of all these movies I’ve just mentioned for bombing hard aside from there particular genre/subgenre of films. Maybe it has to do with the ridiculous budget it had for original unproven projects. Maybe it had to do with them competing with other, bigger movies at that time that not even the Disney brand name along could convince audience this was something they had to see in theaters. And of course, maybe it has to do with the quality of the movie itself and lackluster word of mouth that many believe it wasn’t worth the time or money.

Disney animated movies at their core are mostly well known for flicks involving princesses and fairytales. Any other kind of genre or subgenre are mostly secondary compared to the rest of their filmography. Perhaps that is why they felt the need to purchase Marvel and Lucasfilm when they did, as those are companies that would (mostly) provide them with the amount of content that differs from their philosophy that can make a profit where their attempts at it had faltered.

Treasure Planet and Atlantis did eventually go on to become cult classics over the years and I’m sure Strange World will fall in it’s footsteps as well, but there seems to be some unwritten rule that a fantasy-adventure Disney flick must flop at the time of it’s theatrical release in order for the whole world to continue moving forward. It’s a curse that started with Treasure Planet back in 2002 and it seems to still being passed along 20 years later!

In Conclusion

It’s hard to know whether or not Strange World would have fared better if more effort was put into by Disney to let people know about it. Heck, even the audience that have actually seen it don’t seem to be digging it, if the B grade from Cinemascore is anything indication, the lowest Cinemascore grade ever for a Disney Animation picture and the lowest for a Disney property movie in over 30 years. However, Disney putting little to no effort in marketing the thing and basically leaving it to die in theaters certain didn’t do the movie any better.

As someone that seen the movie, Strange World is a fine, enjoyable adventure flick but definitely not one I will remember much of in the grand scheme of things and certainly not one of Disney’s very best. Which mostly seems to be the general consensus overall if the lukewarm response from critics and audiences is anything to go by. Perhaps doom word of mouth would have let to it underperforming regardless.

Even so, it’s blatantly obvious that Disney left Strange World for dead and it makes me fearful to think what other upcoming movies will be given such disrespectful treatment in the future.

I really don’t think we talk enough about how good DreamWorks can be when it comes to making sequels for their most successful franchises. Sure, follow-ups like Trolls: World Tour and The Croods: A New Age were nothing to write home about but they are able to deliver strong sequels when they matter the most. Shrek 2, Kung Fu Panda 2, How To Train Your Dragon 2! All Part Twos that manages to be as good if not better than their already impressive predecessors. Those were all installments that were able to expand upon their respective franchises in interesting ways to make them animated classics! Even Madagascar 2: Escape To Africa was a pretty good sequel to what was mostly a pretty good first film in the original Madagascar as well. And with Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, I don’t think it would be crazy to consider DreamWorks to be one of the better animation studios out there when it comes to delivering absolutely banger sequels where other studios tend to fall flat.

Plot Synopsis: Taking place after the events of Shrek: Forever After and the first movie, Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) continues his stride as hero/fugitive of San Ricardo. After engaging in battle with a giant monster, he is accidentally killed by a bell that was dropped on him. Waking up at his doctor’s office, Puss is notified that he has now lost eight of his nine lives and has only one of them remaining. Once he gets into a match with a deadly bounty hunter that happens to be a wolf (Wagner Moura) and suffers humiliating defeat, the mighty cat believes that it’s no longer worth risking his last life as a fighter. It’s then Puss decides to hang up the cape and hat and heads off to be a personal cat for Mama Luna (Da’Vine Jay Randolph).

As he settles in his new cat life, including meeting a new therapy dog named Perrito (Harvey Guillen), new enemies emerges such as Goldilocks (Florence Pugh) and her three bears (Olivia Coleman, Ray Winstone, and Samson Kayo) who arrive to find him as the deadly wolf that Puss had an encounter with put a bounty on his head. It’s upon their arrival that he discovers a thing known as the Mystical Last Wish, something that Puss believes can help him restore all nine of his lives. With the help of his former counterpart, Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek) and his new counterpart, Perrito, Puss must out of his brief retirement and embark on a journey to claim the mystical wishing star before any of his foes do.

Puss in Boots has always been a side character with unlimited potential for engaging stories of his own. While he mostly acts as comic relief in the Shrek movies, he still does have an interesting backstory of his own and an unique presence onscreen that you could see him carrying his own movie without the worry of not having enough Mike Myers or Eddie Murphy thrown into the mix. The first film showcased that just fine but The Last Wish does it even better. Not only because it’s well made with beautiful animation, entertaining action, intriguing lore, and having a handful of laughs, but the dark angle and engaging direction it goes with the character of Puss in Boots.

The whole “nine lives” for cats thing are usually treated as a myth in movies but here, it not only plays it as it’s real but it helps enrich the development that Puss goes through, with the cat in boots coming to the realization of how many lives he has simply threw away and may never get back. While he had remained strong as an independent fighter who concurred plenty of his foes, that was mostly in the mindset that he still had plenty of extras lives to work with if he had failed. You get killed by your enemies, you can just hit the restart button and try again. Now that he no longer has any more green Mario mushrooms to work with, he can’t take any more lives for granted. And if he is unable to do that, then is he really Puss in Boots that he has built in his infamous legacy or is he just simply an adorable little kitty? That is the ringing question that looms throughout The Last Wish which helps makes the adventure that Puss and his companions go through all the more compelling.

The thing I imagine most will be surprised by with The Last Wish is just how far it goes with it’s dark subject matter involving Puss in Boot’s potential death on the rise. While we see Puss making plenty of wisecracks along the way with Prietto and Kitty, you can tell he’s doing it in a way that comes across as a defense mechanism. Trying to hide that dark, glooming, fearful thought that he may actually die for real if he fails his mission. And if he does die, did he end up living the life he wanted to live with the ones he deep down cares about or would he had been better off as simply a normal house cat? It makes for a nice commentary on not taking life and the ones you love for granted by always remembering to cherish every beautiful moment you have because one day, it will all be gone.

The biggest aspect of the movie that stands out greatly is the animation style. Just like with this year’s The Bad Guys, DreamWorks has taken obvious inspiration for the animation style of their newest movies from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. The kind of style that allows for beautiful, colorful storybook illustrations to help better tell their story, give characters more expressions, and make some well-choreographed, energetic action set pieces. Instead of sticking with the more realistic style like the first one did by simply translating that same style from the Shrek movies, this one puts more focus on a painterly style design to give the film it’s more “fairy-tale”-like feel that it’s suppose to have with a Puss in Boots adventure. And holy smokes, does this animation style fit perfectly within this movie. If this is the kind of direction that DreamWorks hopes to take after this film, then I am more than onboard for it.

The rest of the technical aspects are absolutely stellar as well. The characters themselves look great and blend in perfectly with the animation, save for some cameos that may or may not involve certain characters from another certain franchise that Puss in Boots may or may not have been involved in. Editor James Ryan does a solid job of holding the whole picture together without it being a sore to the eyes. The score from Heitor Pereira is astonishingly superb with beautiful fitting music throughout that are catchy but also soothing. For an animated flick like this, I don’t think you could have asked for a better looking or better sounding movie than what The Last Wish provides.

The voice cast is a nice mix of known talent of old and new. Antonio Banderas is as perfect as Puss in Boots as he’s ever been, especially here where he gets to play a deeper, more complex version of the lovable misfit kitty cat. Salma Hayek works even better here as Kitty than she did in the first movie, being the perfect counterpart to Puss as she makes him question how he views lives and being around the ones he loves. Harvey Guillen does make for a somewhat annoying impression as Perrito at the start but grows on you the more he is on screen making for the right comic relief to have thrown into the mix with what is a personal story of life and death. Florence Pugh fits well as Goldilocks as an antagonist with real human motivations to want to retrieve the wishing star involving family matters, even if her accent is becoming a bit more obvious as time goes on. Olivia Colman, Ray Winestone, and Samson Kayo are all recognizable but functional as their bear counterparts and Goldilock’s lone family.

Arguably the biggest standout in terms of the new characters is with the main antagonists of John Mulaney as Jack Horner and Wagner Moura as Big Bad Wolf. Jack Horner just for the fact that’s is refreshing to have a bad guy that is straight to the point with his badness and is beyond evil for no reason whatsoever other than that’s just who he is, which has Mulaney clearly having the time of his life playing this character. And the Big Bad Wolf for the fact that he is easily one of the more intimidating and threatening villains in recent memory, aided greatly by Moura’s dry and menacing performance which helps make for easily the deadliest foe that Puss has ever encountered.

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is an exciting, triumphing sequel to go along with the other superb sequel that DreamWorks animation has created with their filmography. Even the tiny nitpicks I have such as the very final scene being a bit of an eye roller can’t bring down the film in any way. The animation is spectacular, the characters are engaging, the set pieces are exhilarating and inventive, the story goes into dark places you wouldn’t expect a simple “kids” movie would go, and it teaches a very valuable lesson on how we should live our life to the fullest with the ones we love before it’s too late. It’s one of the best animated films of the year, it’s one of the best films of the year period, and is definitely worth checking out in theaters once it releases next month.

We can only hope that DreamWorks will pull a Madagascar 3 with Trolls 3 being the best of the trilogy and Kung Fu Panda 4 will follow the Toy Story 4 trope of at least being good albeit unnecessary, matching it for perhaps the best animated quadrilogy yet. Perhaps then, people will start giving them the credit they deserve and not just pure scorn for their missteps. Even so, great sequels to their most well-known franchises have already been made and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish joins the list of those with grace!

Other comments:

• Fair warning to parents of younger children, there is some mild swearing in the movie and censoring of major swearing in the picture. If you have kids that haven’t been on the internet yet, then you might want to avoid this unless you want your kids to be asking questions to you afterwards what the “bleeping” sound was for.

• The new DreamWorks logo did play in my showing and I was fine with it. It’s only like 30 seconds long and looks even better on the big screen. I don’t understand the outrage over it whatsoever. Could have used a bit more Madagascar and Megamind in it and less Boss Baby though.

• If this is unable to make a profit because it didn’t have enough theater showings due to Avatar: The Way of Water, then James Cameron must pay!

It would probably be hyperbolic to claim that Glass Onion is to Knives Out what The Godfather: Part II is to the original Godfather. By that I mean that it’s a sequel that is arguably bigger, brooder, wider in scope, has more going on thematically, and an all around better movie than the original but still lacks the iconic moments, quotes, character beats, and the overall “spark” that the first one provided. Making what feels like should be a better movie in every single way but just doesn’t. However, it would also not be fair to judge these movies through their lenses since unlike with the two Godfather movies, it’s not aiming to be as symbolic thematically or be a direct sequel to one another but just providing crowd pleasing entertainment that will make for a rocking good time out with the friends. However, like those two untouchable masterpieces, this is looking to be a perfect companion piece that stands well on it’s own without putting so much pressure on itself without concerns as to how they can outdo what they did the first time around.

Here again we have an all-star cast full of great talent being all laid back and having the time of their lives with director/writer Rian Johnson’s top-notch directing and air-tight, witty screenplay able to carry them the whole way through. I don’t know if I liked Glass Onion just as much as the first Knives Out but at the same time, it’s really hard for me to care if I don’t because it’s still remains a blast regardless.

Premise: Taking place in 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic (Yes, that’s actually a thing here!), a high-tech billionaire named Miles Bron (Edward Norton) sends encrypted boxes to four of his closet friends for an invitation to a murder mystery-themed party. Those four friends include, scientist Lionel Toussiant (Leslie Odom Jr.), state governor of Connecticut Claire Debella (Kathryn Hahn), former supermodel turned fashion designer Birdie Jay (Kate Hudson) and twitch streamer and men’s right activist (Duke Cody). A couple of other folks that are also along for the fiesta include Birdie’s assistant Peg (Jessica Henwick), Duke’s girlfriend Whiskey (Madelyn Cine), Miles’ former business partner Andi (Janelle Monae), and the infamous/well-known detective we followed in the first movie Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig).

Despite being informed by Miles himself that he didn’t received an invitation, Blanc is able to stay after he stated to Miles that his arrival is due to the possibility of one of Miles’ friends attempting to murder him during the vacation. As expected, someone eventually turns up dead and ends up spoiling all the fun for the gang. It’s then that Blanc has to put his detective skills to the test along with one of the found members of the group as they look to solve the case of the murder mystery before chaos reigns supreme at Glass Onion itself.

While Glass Onion might technically be a sequel to the original Knives Out, it’s not necessarily a direct one. Knowledge of the events that transpired in the first film is not needed to fully understand this installment. Only Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc and Noah Sean (playing a totally different character this time out) return here for the ride. That in of itself makes it abundantly clear that Johnson sees his Knives Out franchise as one of episodic adventures and not so much of one with a heavy usage of continuity and lore. Even so, Glass Onion puts just as much advantage with that as one can hope that still continues the story of Benoit Blanc but with a new case with new people this time around.

The mystery (No spoilers, I promise!) is even more twisty and turny this time out as you get to see the whole scenario play out through multiple lenses. This is definitely a movie that I will imagine will play well on multiple viewings as just about nearly every plot point and Easter egg involving all the characters involve get a payoff of some sort. There’s so much intrigue with everyone here that you might even forget at times that this is still suppose to be a murder mystery. Not just because the characters themselves are having a good time one another for good chunks of it but it seems like the cast themselves are so into it and stand out so well on their own that it’s unfortunate that someone is likely going have to die. That could be seen as a problem but there’s enough going on here that it makes sure that the whole “who lives/who dies” is not the only thing that matters here.

Despite the murder mystery being the point of the movie, it’s not the only point. Even if you are able to guess who the main killer (or killers (?)) are ahead of time, it’s clear that there is much more to solve in the mystery than just whose guilty of murder and who is not.

What also helps is that the cast is downright terrific here. Every one in the cast bounces each other really well that even those with characterization that is a bit thin such as Jessica Henwicks’s Peg or Leslie Odom Jr.’s Lionel fit so good here that it really doesn’t matter. Daniel Craig is back once again clearing having the time of his life as an over-the-top detective with an amusing but also downright funny accent, who now practically has his own franchise after 007 if he wants to continue doing this for the next decade or so. Noah Segan doesn’t get as much standout moments as before but is still a delight with the minimum screen presence he has. The rest of the cast are tremendous with the big standouts for me being Edward Norton, Kathryn Hahn, Kate Hudson, Dave Bautista, and especially Janelle Monae. It’s hard to describe Monae without getting into spoilers with the character (or characters (?)) that she plays but she has an absolutely mesmerizing screen presence here that will definitely get the attention from those that aren’t familiar with her work.

From a directorial and technical standpoint, it’s about as good as it can get with a movie with this budget. Rian Johnson clearly knows the movies he’s trying to make here and what things he is best at behind the camera. He always seems to know how not only how to make a movie look good but also have his actors look good right in front of it. The cinematography by Steve Yedlin is rock solid along with everything else. Editor Bob Ducsay might have had a more of a challenging time this time out by taking the same story but add multiple viewpoints but he does a good enough job where he is still able to leave things up to interpretation no matter the focus until everything ties together. The one element that I found slightly underwhelming is the score by Nathan Johnson. It’s not bad per se but there are certain character themes that don’t feel like they fit with the rest of the movie and play far too many times than it should. It’s hard to explain but let’s just say there’s a theme that plays for Janelle Monae that is like the equivalent of that over-the-top Wonder Woman theme. Just like with that one, it’s fine in it’s own right but really doesn’t belong in the movies they are in.

If there’s another minor nitpick I have is that I really don’t like how some movies nowadays are inserting the Covid-19 pandemic into their settings. I can understand from a certain point of view why it would be appropriate for a movie like this considering it attempts to tackle conflict and ideology in modern times while also feeling like period pieces for the near future. However, Covid-19 was just an absolute disaster in the real world and the pandemic was such a major globing event that affected many lives for the worse that I don’t think it’s worth bringing into movies. It’s not as part of the plot as say Kimi but it might make you roll your eyes until it’s just forgetting all together. Definitely not the worst example of this but it still remains an example.

Apologies if this review comes up as short and not as in depth as prior ones are but there’s just not much that needs to be say about Glass Onion other than it’s another rocking good time like the first movie. Rian Johnson is clearly at home with these movies, knowing exactly what he wants to do and exactly how to do it. It’s entertaining, the cast is stellar, the screenplay is air tight, there’s plenty of laughs and shocks along the way, and it might even make you hungry for more of these kind of movies.

This might have been originally made as a Netflix exclusive but I believe that’s a mistake in of itself because these are the kind of movies that can keep cinema going as the superhero bubble might be bursting soon and Hollywood looks for the next successful genre or sub-genre to ride the cocktails on. See this on the big screen if you can and watch it again once it comes out on Netflix right around Christmas time! These are the kind of movies I don’t seeing wearing out their welcome for me anytime soon.

Bring on the third one! Heck, bring on three more after that and make a saga out of it! Certainly worse movies out there to make a saga with!

Other comments:

• There’s been recent reports that this movie is actually doing even better at the box office than some other flicks coming out during this holiday weekend. Kinda goes to show how much of a mistake it was to make this as a Netflix exclusive.

• It’s gonna be hilarious to see how many members of a certain political group are gonna think this movie embraces their politics because of Dave Bautista and Madelyn Cine’s characters when it’s actually making fun of them. It’ll be the same people that think Andor supports their politics because of the way the Empire is potrayed!

• Andor is terrific btw! Go watch it!

• Did the movie ever explain how Noah Segan actually got to Glass Onion or was I just phasing out when that happened? Either way, it gave me more Noah Segan so I can’t complain.

• Bring back Janelle Monae in the next one! And have Blanc’s “boyfriend” play a role as well!

Toy Story 2 is wildly considered to be one of the greatest sequels ever made and for good reason! It takes everything people loved about the first movie and expands upon them in every way. With even more memorable characters, stellar animation, hard hitting emotion, and timely themes anyone at any age can relate to, Toy Story 2 is one of the sequels that somehow manages to be as good if not better than the original. Heck, there’s plenty of folks that would argue that Toy Story 2 is the best Toy Story movie out of the four that we have and even the best Pixar movie ever made. With a movie as well-made and loved by so many people, you would assume this would have had the most smoothest, least stressful film production imaginable. You would be wrong! As a matter of fact, you would be seriously dead wrong! If films were judge solely on what kind of production it had, then Toy Story 2 would be on par with flicks such as Food Fight or The Emoji Movie.

Toy Story 2 has to have one of the worst and most stressful productions for a big movie that I’ve ever heard of. From confrontation from Disney on whether or not it should released in theaters to nearly all of the files getting deleted to having to rework the plot over the course of one weekend to finish a near two and a half year long development cycle in the span of just nine months, it is about as stressful and pressure filled as a production of a movie can get.

To coumarate the film’s 23rd anniversary, let’s take a look back as to all the problems that Pixar have to face during the production, all of the obstacles everyone involved had to overcome, and despite having everything going against them, they still managed to deliver an amazing film in the end. This is the story of the production of Toy Story 2!

Direct-To-Video or Theaters?

The first conflict of the movie was whether or not Toy Story 2 could be released in theaters. Back in the 1990s, Disney didn’t view sequels as a high priority or movies that had to be seen in cinema. With the commercial success they’ve gained with their sequels that were straight to VHS and DVDs, they usually didn’t put as much focus on the sequels as they do their original films. Whenever they did sequels directly for VHS and DVD, the majority of those would be made by a studio of their own called Disneytoon Studios. Disneytoon Studios are the ones that Disney depends on to deliver these direct-to-video sequels with a cheaper budget, shorter development time, lower resolution, and mostly something they can carve out in a hurry for a quick buck without much concern over the movie’s overall quality. All of those reasons and more is why when a sequel to Toy Story was greenlighted, not only did Disney plan on making it go direct-to-video, but they were considering letting Disneytoon Studios take care of it instead of Pixar. Since they technically own the rights to Toy Story and they still hadn’t acquired Pixar yet, Disney had all the power in the whole to make this happen.

As much blasphemy as that sounds to chose Disneytoon over Pixar, it should be notified that this was back when Pixar was still no where near as known in the later 1990s as they are now. With A Bug’s Life still in the works and all of the other future hits from the company that still had yet to be actual hits, they were still only known as the studio behind the original Toy Story and a couple of short films and nothing more. However, Pixar was a company that took great value in the quality of their work and never wanted to accepted mediocrity. The folks there had to know that if they would going to become anywhere near as big as they would later on, then they would have to always work their butts off to create the best possible feature films they can make.

Eventually, after Toy Story 2 was confirmed, Pixar met with Disney to convinced them that not only they were right for the jobs to helm it but that it should be released in theaters. After looking at some early story reels for the movie, the higher ups at Disney were impressed and agreed to release it in theaters. Despite certain complications with Disney to have the movie come out on the big screen, that turned out to be the least challenging part of production.

Team A and Team B

Once Pixar was hired by Disney to helm Toy Story 2, there was some conflicts surrounding which members of the Pixar team that was actually going to be working on it. The production originally began in a building separated from Pixar as most of the crew behind the original went off to work on A Bug’s Life. In this case, think of John Lasseter (a name which everyone would want to forget nearly two decades later) and the original crew from the first movie as Team A and the team that was originally assigned Toy Story 2 as Team B. Despite having all the intention and confidence in the world to make Toy Story 2 the best sequel possible, Team B just could not get the job done on their own.

Team B would have to go to Lasseter for help numerous of times during the production and the team itself just were never were able to come together as a cohesive whole despite all their best intentions. Shortly after Team A was finished with A Bug’s Life, they came to check in on Team B with the production of the movie….and it was quite a mess. Lasseter and company felt that movie was just flat and was no where near as emotionally affected or engaging as it could be. As I’ve stated before in this piece, Pixar had committed to a very strict policy for themselves to deliver the best movie in terms of quality imaginable. Having a sequel to Toy Story being mediocre or even just “okay” was no where near good enough for them.

With the deadline of the movie approaching (along with other personal matters that we will be discussing), Lasseter and most of the team from the first movie (Again, Team A!) decided to step in to work on Toy Story 2 in the hopes of delivering something better than it’s original state.

So far, the production has been quite shaky but it doesn’t seem THAT much to handle, right? Well, now let’s get into the REAL meat of this catastrophic development! The parts of production that nearly broke Pixar and made Toy Story 2 almost non-existent!

The Computer Accident

This is the part of the story that I believe most people know about when it comes to the behind the scenes of Toy Story 2, the computer files being accidentally deleted. Right before Team A step in to rework the story from Team B, they nearly lost all of the files they had saved for the movie. A member of the Pixar team named, Oren Jacob, who was the assistant technical director, initially attended to delete some files to create more space and make room for the ones they needed for the movie. But in doing so, he began to deleted files from the actual movie itself such as character models, story reels, storyboards, etc. and didn’t take notice of that until it was too late. Despite file servers eventually being shut down while that was happening, over 90% of the files, that took at least two years to make, were deleted and all gone! They did have backup files of their own at Pixar but unfortunately, those also decided to stop working at the worst possible time and they had nothing left! It was all over!

With two years of development flushed down the drain and less than a year until the intended deadline, everything seemed doomed for failure for both Toy Story 2 and Pixar themselves. If Pixar couldn’t get the movie done in some form of quality before their deadline, then why in the world would Disney want to work with them again? This was their one chance to recapture lightning in an bottle and put themselves fresh on the map for everyone to witness their glorious achievements and they blew it! Or at least it seemed like it?!

Galyn Susman, the savior of Toy Story 2 at your service!

If there is at least one person that should stand out as the hero (or heroine) of the production of Toy Story 2, that would be Galyn Susman. Susman, who was the technical director of the film who had been working at home after having her own child, confirmed to have existing backup files of her own in her own home computer. By some miracle saving grace, the Pixar team were able to recover the majority of the files they had lost, save for the work for the last couple of days, and the production was allow to proceed. Even then, it had been revealed that the files they couldn’t save didn’t turn out to be as important as originally intended.

Okay, that was certainly a heart raiser and something NO ONE ever wants to go through but at least it can’t get worse than that, right?! Right?!

Unsatisfying Results

Even with the production still staying afloat thanks to Galyn Susman having backup files of her own that the team could use, Pixar still wasn’t happy with the quality of Toy Story 2 thus far. Team B of Pixar clearly wasn’t working well on their own and was basically helpless without Team A around. With as strict as Pixar is to delivering top quality films, releasing Toy Story 2 in the current state that it was in was simply not an option.

With around nine months left to go, Pixar met with Disney, hoping they would let them delay the picture in hopes of being given more time to redo the film. Disney however refused. They felt the quality of the movie was fine the way it was and that it didn’t need to be redone. As a result, no extension was given to them. Pixar had no choice but to get the movie done on time for it’s November 1999 release date.

Despite having the files to complete the movie in it’s current form before the holidays rolled around, Pixar believed that wasn’t good enough and didn’t want to release the picture in it’s existent state. Despite not having much time left, Pixar decided to start the process over again in the hopes of delivering a more quality project than it was in it’s original form. It was this stage of production that the making of Toy Story 2 turned into a race against time.

Maximum Overworking Overload

With Lasseter and Team A fully on board, the production of Toy Story 2 started the process of being reworked. In order to meet Disney’s deadline, Pixar now have to make an initial development cycle of over two and a half years into just nine months. The first film’s creative team had to redevelop the entire story of Toy Story 2 in the pan of just one weekend. It was then that the animation team behind Pixar were in for what was most likely the most difficult time of their entire careers with the company.

While longer hours and more work days were nothing out of the ordinary for the team at Pixar, especially for Lasseter himself, the immense heavy workload eventually got to many people behind the hard working crew. The team worked shifts that went beyond 10 hours a day and 6 days a week. About a third of the group suffered from repetitive stress injuries and a syndrome known as carpal tunnel. There was even an instance where an animator forgot to drop their kid off at a daycare and left them in the back of the seat of their car by accident. While the child themselves turned out to be just fine, these were just minor details of how much of a massive working overload the process of making Toy Story 2 was and how it was affecting the work-life styles from the folks at Pixar.

The team had to push themselves beyond their limits to make the best sequel they could possibly make to what was already a majorly groundbreaking film for animation in the original Toy Story. The most amazing thing about all of this is how it all worked out in the end. Despite having every reason in the world to fail, Toy Story 2 managed to be one of the greatest sequels not only in animation history but possibly even film history as well! It made it all worth it by the end!

It All Worked Out

I don’t think most people realize to this day what an absolute impact that the success of Toy Story 2 had on Disney and Pixar! It was able to convince Disney that sequels are majorly important movies that deserve to be seen on the big screen and it helped put Pixar on the map as easily one of the best animation studios out there. If this movie was a failure, there’s a big chance we would be seeing a different version of both Disney and Pixar than we are seeing right now or at least we have seen since 1999.

This whole ordeal also help greatly characterized Pixar as a top-tier film company. They didn’t have to go through all of this. They could have just took Disney’s word for it and deliver the same movie that was in the original subpar state that had been already approved by their higher ups and called it a day. But, they had higher expectations for themselves! They wanted to make something truly meaningful and worthwhile to the rest of the world, even if they had to go through hell and back to make it happen.

Although every single creative person from Pixar must have been exhausted to death after all that extra hard work they put in to make Toy Story 2 as good as it was, they certainly have a film to be proud of themselves for. Being able to deliver the movie in some sort of finished form is already a miracle in of itself but having it be one of the best Parts 2 films of all time is surely a sign that anything is possible. That just because a film has a bad and troubled production does not mean it will turn out to be a bad film itself. Anything in filmmaking or even life can be overcome if you have the right team of people to make it all a possibility.

Toy Story 2 could have killed Pixar but in the end, it only made them stronger!

Thanks everyone for reading and I hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving weekend!

Here’s some other links about the production hell of Toy Story 2:

• https://thenextweb.com/news/how-pixars-toy-story-2-was-deleted-twice-once-by-technology-and-again-for-its-own-good

• https://filmdaze.net/toy-story-2-at-20-a-history-of-the-film-that-almost-broke-pixar-and-how-it-became-their-masterpiece/

• https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/toy-story-2-disasters-almost-killed-movie/