Day: June 27, 2018

Director: Peter MacDonald

Writer: Jeff Lieberman (Screenplay) Michael Ende (Characters)

Starring: Jason James Richter, Melody Kay, Jack Black, Carole Finn, Ryan Bollman, Freddie Jones

 

Plot: A young boy must restore order when a group of bullies steal the magical book that acts as a portal between Earth and the imaginary world of Fantasia.

Tagline –  It’s a brand new beginning in the adventure that never end
Runtime: 1 Hour 40 Minutes

 

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

 

Verdict: What the Hell Happened?

 

Story: Never-Ending Story III: Return to Fantasia starts as Bastian (Richter) is moving in with his new step mum and sister Nicole (Kay), with a new school which also has new bullies known as the Nasties lead by Slip (Black). While escaping from the bullies Bastian jumps to Fantasia only to leave the book in the hands of Slip who starts causing havoc in the world.

Bastian must return to the human world to get the book back and save Fantasia once again and tackle the bullies in the real world.

 

Thoughts on Never-Ending Story III: Return to Fantasia

 

Characters – Bastian is older, but seemingly less wise, he must learn to adapt to a new school where he must once again save Fantasia from the human world this time. Nicole is the new step-sister of Bastian who doesn’t want him in her life ruining her social circles at school, she doesn’t believe him along the way of helping the residents of Fantasia. Slip is the leader of the Nasties, the school bullies that target Bastian and use the book to try and bring down Fantasia.

Performances – The performances from the kids are acceptable for the film, Jack Black is wildly over the top for a bully character, but this is largely terrible for performances when it comes to the voice over characters.

Story – The story shows Bastian in a new home, new school facing a new problem with Fantasia when the creatures come into the real-world. This does make for an interesting twist, but is completely doesn’t work, first of all the attempted humour thrown into the movie misses so often. When Nicole gets the necklace she just uses it to go shopping, come on really is this the best writing we could come up with. The real world references don’t work either.

Adventure/Family/Fantasy – The adventure throws us to the real world which doesn’t seem to work for where the film has gone before, the family might get more of the jokes, but won’t enjoy the adventure side because the fantasy world just doesn’t work for the film.

Settings – Having the film set in the real world takes away the beauty in the landscapes that were created.

Special Effects – The effects take a huge step back here because they all look terrible now.

Scene of the Movie – There really isn’t one.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The awful attempt to make this a comedy.

Final Thoughts – This was awful, what happened is the only question I have left for this movie because it takes so many steps back to become beyond awful viewing.

 

Overall: Terrible throughout.

Rating

 

 

Director: Kenji Kamiyama

Writer: Kenji Kamiyama (Screenplay) Shotaro Ishinomori (Manga)

Starring: (Voice Talents) Chiwa Saito, Daisuke Ono, Hiroyuki Yoshino, Mamoru Miyano, Noriaki Sugiyama

 

Plot: Anime adventure from ‘Ghost in the Shell – Stand Alone Complex’ (2002) director Kenji Kamiyama. Nine cyborgs created for destructive purposes disappeared for over 27 years after they were forced to turn on their creators in the name of justice. Now, as a number of seemingly unrelated terrorist attacks happen in locations throughout the world, the group reunites to battle against the devastating force and restore order to the globe once more.

Tagline – A classic sci-fi tale, reimagined!

Runtime: 1 Hour 43 Minutes

 

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Interesting, but Slow Story

 

Story: 009 Re: Cyborg starts as the see how the world has come under attack from an unknown threat destroying skyscrapers across the globe, Dr Isaac Gilmore recalls his 9 cyborgs from hiding to help their creator stop this impending apocalypse. The cyborgs from all over the world arrive with Joe battle in China, while Great Britain is investigating the streets in search of the answer.

As the terrorist attacks increase the rest of the cyborgs much come together to learn he truth behind the mysterious attacks which leave the line ‘his voice’ surrounding any attack.

 

Thoughts on 009 Re: Cyborg

 

Characters – The characters we meet are the main 9 cyborgs, each from different countries in the world, each trying to protect it from destruction, our main cyborg is 009 Joe who both gets framed and goes face to face with the attacker. Each one of the cyborgs does offer something different about them which does help the story unfold.

Story – The story follows a string of mysterious terrorist attacks hitting the population of the world and nine cyborgs must come together to stop the world be destroyed only to learn more of the origin which plays into religious beliefs. This does make things very interesting to see unfolding even if we do spend way too much time getting through the details.

Action/Sci-Fi – The action is big and plays into the animation style which is what we know we will be getting with the sci-fi world mixing with the religious beliefs.

Settings – The film does take us to known location around the world for the destruction sequences throughout the film.

Animation – The animation throughout the film looks great and helps improve the look of the action.

Scene of the Movie – Final sequences.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Too much explanation about the origin.

Final Thoughts – This is a good animated movie that tells an interesting story even if it can be slow in places.

 

Overall: Animation well worth watching.

Rating