#But somehow better than the live action remake

[mixterglacia]

I want to be expressly clear.

Live Action Remakes are a scourge on the animation scene. They're regularly unwanted, unfaithful, and uninspired.

ESPECIALLY shot for shots. At that point, why in the fresh hell are you making something that does nothing new?

Live action will never, and I truly mean never, be capable of capturing the emotions and visuals of the media they're adapting.

No movie deserves this. Make a sequel, make a prequel, make a non-canon Christmas special, but please don't tell us you're honoring the original with a LARM.

You're grabbing for cash and have no faith in taking risks.

Also, DON'T PAY MONEY FOR THESE THINGS! If you're sick of this trend, why would you not pirate them? Jesus Christ, it's like we have no willpower anymore!

Beyond that, NO movie would work better in live action.

Atlantis needs its style to set our expectations.

Treasure Planet needs its shape language to really push the designs above and beyond.

Hunchback will look lifeless without its colours.

They want you to have low expectations and you're eating it up! Remakes somehow have more merit than LARM's!

Have a little backbone and stop giving them your money! Go see Elio! It's in theaters right now, barely staying afloat! Fuck you if you went to see Lilo and Stitch or HTTYD! You're signaling you want more of this dog shit and I hate you!

Anyways, I'm not the arbiter of what you can do. I just want you to think twice before going to these things. Alright?

[thisrandomstuff]

I can't believe that unnecessary rehash of a "live-action" movie is getting tens on IMDB. I could get sixes — they did steal most of the basic plot beats of the original, after all and some people are dying for any kind of content involving their favourite movies/shows —, but tens? The audience must've been blind and deaf for this.

How does it get a ten, when some of their original movies barely get a seven? I hope that with time that rating will take a plunge, because it does not deserve a ten. It fails as an adaptation, it fails as its own movie and it fails because it doesn't understand the basic, technical aspects of film-making. This movie is fails on a technical level.

So those ten star reviews? Are completely inaccurate.

It currently sits at an 8.2 rating (overall). Admittedly early days, but it shouldn't start off at over 8 on the scale, a movie should work to get there. Otherwise temporary hype is going to keep the ratings off for the long time.

And some of the 10 star reviews include lines like "better than I thought" which alone doesn't explain why the hell you'd rate it ten. Isn't the agreement that generally 10 stars means masterpiece? That the flaws are so minimal that it doesn't matter? That the thing basically changed your life? I don't see how a remake is going to do that considering the vast majority of us have probably seen the original, animated version... unless, of course, you're the kind of person who looks down upon animation (you do realise the dragons in the la are animated, though, right? Just worse... right?), but this should not be rated 10 stars. Or even nine, I mean, it didn't bother changing the plot, but then changed everything around it that made it really, truly work... and they changed it for the worse.

Also, tell my why is this live-action rehash higher rated than any of DreamWorks animated movies? Why is Bluesky not even allowed to have a single movie (not even the first Ice Age movie) sit at an 8.0, but this soulless thing sit at an 8.2?

Let me show you how this compares to the other DreamWorks movies, btw (I'll do you a solid and only include the firsts in a franchise):

Abominable - 7.0

How to Train Your Dragon (animated) - 8.1

Kung Fu Panda - 7.6

Megamind - 7.3

Over the Hedge - 6.7

Penguins of Madagascar - 6.8

Puss in Boots - 6.6

Rise of the Guardians - 7.2

Shrek - 7.9

Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron - 7.2 (this one was 2D, which is rare)

The Bad Guys - 6.8 (what the hell is wrong with people???)

The Croods - 7.1

The Prince of Egypt - 7.2 (Again, 2D movie, underrated.)

And yeah, okay, Bee Movie gets like a 6.1, which is fair enough, however, even that is more creative and more interesting than the live-action How to Train Your Dragon.

The Wild Robot is the only one who makes it to an 8.2 rating... which infuriatingly places it at the same level as that live-action movie. You know people look at these ratings when they wanna decide what to watch, right? I mean, not always, but often, especially if they're undecided. You know how unhelpful it is to have a rehash rated the exact same as a visually stunning, stand out movie which actually tries and understands the medium and does something different? Also, the fact that just based on that rating alone, someone could very likely choose la httyd over Spirit, TPoE, The Bad Guys, Megamind, RotG and PoM is just saddening. On the bright side, I suppose once they've watched that insult of movie and they come across the original — supposing they haven't watched it yet — they'll be mind-blown and maybe, just maybe, they'll raise their standards a little higher and stop listening to IMDB.

The fact that most of these don't even get to sit at 8.0, but somehow audiences have already decided this thing was worth an 8.2. That's an entire star more than The Prince of Egypt, which is THE Dreamworks 2D animated movie everyone talks about. It has powerful music, gorgeous light and shadow, stunning art and animation... but somehow, the worse knock off another movie is rated more? For what reason exactly? Originality? It's not remotely original. And as far as the "remake" part of it goes, it doesn't even remake the thing it was supposed to well, nor does it truly try to do something different. It's this lukewarm middling thing that never needed to exist, which at best should put it at a 6.0, since even the Bee Movie at least did something different. (Yes, the bar is that low.)

Really, it deserves more of 4.0-5.0 rating, because it's a slap in the face of everything that came before (kinda' like the live-action Snow White)... and because it wasn't needed or even really asked for? People certainly would've loved more HTTYD content, but, really, are we so desperate we'll settle for a remake?

C'mon, just re-watch the original.

Also, if you even just visually compare any of these movies — even the ones that aged less well — to the live-action you will see a downgrade, not an upgrade.

And yes, even the bloody bee movie:

(Ngl, some of these might've come from the wrong movies, but they're still DreamWorks animates, so...)

And, again, are you guys seriously going to sit there and try to tell me the live action How to Train Your Dragon deserves a much higher rating than any and all of the ice age movies?

On the bright side, I kinda had fun looking for those gifs. Reminds me how much fun DreamWorks USED to be back when they did what they could to spite Disney, not just copy it. (Though they admittedly did do some of that too, but usually with more effort and a much more creative spin on things.)

Small edit to clarify things: This is not me shitting on Disney's movies. DreamWorks very much started out as the company that made movies basically to spite Disney and it worked for them. I enjoyed a lot of what Disney had to offer before they basically defaulted to live-actions and the occasionally poorly thought out and rushed non-remake. I grew up on and even in adulthood watched a lot of Disney, from animated to live-action. Even the earlier "reboots/remakes" weren't all that bad. Some of them actually did something with the whole idea, like Maleficent. But this re-make trend Disney started, which only seems to get worse with each movie, and now DreamWorks is following? It's a disappointment and humorlessly ironic coming from the studio who acted like it wanted to be the furthest thing to Disney.

[rowie264]

im so upset over season 2 man. im venting rn, but if they just followed the most obvious progression after the end of season 1 it literally would have been fine, even without the other writers. like what tf happened. how do you screw up that bad. they added so many things that just did not need to happen.

also i can't read these writers interviews anymore they seem to be genuinely stupid like how did they ever end up in charge of this

like the intro and the trailers somehow have a better plot than the actual season

What truly upsets me is lost potential. The cinema is now full of remakes, live actions and sequels with prequels from famous franchises. And lately, the level of writing has also been disappointing. But Arcane? It was different. It was so fucking good dammit. It stood out for it's elaboration of characters and story. It was level ahead of everything else in recent years. But what did we get in s2? Product of mcu level. Nothing as deep as in s1. Nothing so well written that you can empathize with seemingly "bad" people. Nothing logical in character's actions. Just fan-service with ships and big badass battle in the end. And it's not like it's very very bad. I can think of media that is much worse. But to say that Arcane is "not as shitty as it could be"? I never imagined that I would say such a thing. Arcane shouldn't be on the same level as mcu for goddess's sake. That's what is really sad.

[joshscorcher]

What to you think of the new teaser trailer of the new How to Train Your Dragon? Cause if you still think like "nobody asked for this and nobody wanted this" then with all due respect but you're sick, you're crazy, you have problems, there's no way around it, don't be the annoying one. Seriously, this thought that "no one asked for it or that it's unnecessary" is ridiculous, unfair, saturated, and it's just a complete nuisance, complain just for the sake of it. The world liked and want it. Facts

Well, what is it going to offer me that I can't get from the original?

Is it going to improve on the original? If not, then why should I give them my money?

From the pattern of these live-action remakes, they tend to be vastly inferior to the original, and in some cases outright show contempt for the original, and I have better things to do than waste my time on something I know I won't enjoy. I don't like this attitude that many seem to have that a film becoming live action somehow inherently improves it. I also don't like this insinuation that I'm obligated to enjoy the live action remake.

[breezemoonriver]

Ok so. The httyd live action. Hoooooo boy.

I went in generally hopeful bc I knew they had Dean back on the team and(while somehow Chris still carries the heart of the franchise case in point httyd3) he at least cares about the movie, so I knew it would be better than the shitty Disney ones

True, it was better, but like, that’s a very low bar xD They luckily didn’t make many changes, I heard ppl complain that it was a shot for shot remake but while that isn’t true I think playing it safe is the better option with an already objectively 10/10 cult classic movie

The changes they made were almost always to the detriment of the movie. Bear in mind I watched it in a different language(which is a whole other can of worms boy was the hundub and translation horrible) but that still doesn’t help the stupid added dialogue. They took away iconic lines too, no “I did this” from Hiccup and Stoick, no “you don’t have to go out there[to fight the red death]” only some stupid bullshit character assassination which I can’t even remember rn, not even the excuse me barmaid scene!! Like how.

Also the humor too, they took away most jokes that landed, only to make it more ““““mature””””, and kept the basic filler one-liners which did nothing, I can’t remember any joke that I laughed on.

The characters were dead, I’m very sorry to Nico Parker especially bc I’m sure she’s a wonderful actress and she does actually give off major Astrid vibes, but the way they rewrote her character to a literal antagonist??? At some point I literally rooted for a dragon to eat her and I’m so surprised bc I’m generally not worked up by characters like this. It’s just complete character assassination and it made the romantic flight cut even more jarring. Astrid even apologizes to toothless, instead of hiccup, who she hurt and why toothless took her on the scare ride and if that doesn’t show complete lack of understanding of the characters idk what does. Overall they’re just much meaner, fishlegs gets bullied a lot, and not like a “yea ok we’re Viking teens we’re assholes to everyone and each other” way as in the original movie, they’re literally bullying him just bc his obsession with dragons? It has a very ableist undertone which I can’t really put into words but I very much didn’t like it. The twins got watered down as well, ik the only thing they had going for them in the first movie is dumb funny pranksters but they’re not even funny here! Tuff got regressed to his httyd3 horrible womanizer self, which I very much hate, and Ruff is just. There??? Idek if she does anything, but she’s now actually rude which is sad. Also she’s played by a plus size actress, which I would have no problem with if they did not do that only to make a fatphobic joke which I very much have a problem with. Like that’s rude af. Hiccup I had little to no problem with, maybe it’s bc he’s the mc and they payed more attention to him but eh who knows. His character mostly suffered from the bad lines and the bouncing off of the others. The one who imo stayed pretty much in character is snotlout. He’s just consistently being himself, and there even was a point (a scene where he vaults over hiccups table to sit next to him and accidentally kicks his cup sending water flying everywhere) where I exclaimed “yea that’s snotlout alright, he would definitely do that”. So overall he’s fine.

But let’s talk about the bigger changes. HOOOOOOO BOY buckle up bc I have some choice words(not really bc I want this to be constructive and objective afai can reach that o-o). So Berk is now some kind of a multicultural nomadesque refuge, which on one hand is actually very cool bc the around 400 ppl in Berk would’ve counted as a massive city the significance of New York in the Viking world, where lots of different people from trade routes all over the world would show up or even settle. The only problem is that the plot doesn’t work in that case. Berk fights the dragons because they’ve been there for 400 years as of rtte and they’re stubborn fucks /affectionate and that island and village is a home to them. Otherwise it would’ve been as easy to just pack up and leave (cough cough that’s why httyd3 doesn’t work cough). The whole “we came here only because we were searching for dragons to kill” is a literal antithesis of the message of the movie???? Like what were you thinking? Smh. Also I did not buy the whole “Astrid wants to be chief even tho hiccup is still in line for the title” thing and the way she seems to be Stoick’s right hand thingy? And how he wasn’t disappointed in hiccup, his own son who he cares about his own way and who literally got a monstrous nightmare on his unarmed twink ass but the very competent Astrid, who went in the arena just to save him??? Like how is that source for disappointment????

Some changes were actually for the better, which surprised me very pleasantly; first off, snotlout got fleshed out a bit, while very briefly but his relationship with spitelout got some scenes, which I’m quite happy about bc it benefits his character and shows why he’s the way he is. (Which is sadly worthless in the live action bc the main bully is actually Astrid) Second, Gothi got a cool af upgrade, got mentioned by name and even got to do some cool vǫlva stuff other than just babysitting the gang. Also her house looks just as cool as in the movies and I hope it’s still on the very peak of the cliff bc it’s so funny and iirc the fandom has/had a running joke abt how she gets up there. Such is the curse of someone who always ends up liking the protag and one specific background character with little to no content xD

The visuals were not bad, the cg was at certain places wonky but I know how hard it is to pull off so no complaints there, but the cinematography left a few things to be desired. Some shots were forced and some looked like volunteer art students took them at a school show. Even the ones they tried to replicate too; mostly the lighting fucks it up. Some landscape shots, especially the wide shots with Berk actually looked pretty tho. But the dragons also looked awful, the one who looked closest to their original counterpart was stormfly(I loved how bright her colors were) and barf and belch were okay but the others are just hideous I’m sorry. Meatlug my sweetheart looks like a week old dried turd and I literally can’t see the dragon shape and hookfang got demoted to Generic GOT Dragon no.13464 #notmyhookfang :,( Toothless also just looked awkward but everyone already dissected his design so I’m not going to beat a dead horse here

The music was mostly good, John Powell wrote a phenomenal score for the original and I think he managed to bring out the best from this hard situation too John Powell is love John Powell is life that man does not have one single bad track god he’s amazing :3 I’m quite sad that they did not bring Sticks and stones by Jónsi and the art of Nico Marlet back for the end credits, that Vikings have their tea football stadium chorus thing with the nature documentary slideshow did not do it for me but that’s just my personal opinion.

Overall, it could’ve been much worse but I wouldn’t watch it again. It was a fun experience especially with me going with my best friend, but I wouldn’t pay a ticket for it. If you’re interested, just pirate it or watch the og one, as soon as I got home and had dinner I sat down with my sister and watched the original just as a brain cleanser. It’s the definition of I’m not mad but disappointed, which is apparently the best we can get at this year and time. At least I got a cool cup and an adorable toothless figurine out of it :3

Also idk if it was a regular fish or something else but either way I really hope Mason got paid very well for the fish scene xDDD

And please don’t look if I made any mistakes it’s 4 am and I’ve been suffering with an insane migraine thx byeeeee <3

[dark-elf-writes]

My niece wanted me to watch the live action little mermaid with her earlier, so we sat down and watched it. Since I've never watched it before, I wasn't quite sure what to expect, and all in all, it was pretty good except for-

The animals.

Dear god, the animals.

Flounder constantly stares at nothing with his huge soulless eyes,

Scuttle has expressions so manically insane that the Cheshire Cat is taking notes,

Flotsam and Jetsam are the only ones that don't inspire the kind of utter uncanny valley terror a gothic horror writer would kill to be able to inflict upon their readers,

And Sebastian-

The less said about him, the better. The horrid little demon skitters through my waking nightmares, and I assume he will still somehow manage to do so even after I am long dead.

But apart from the animals, pretty decent movie, all things considered.

I don’t remember much about when this movie came out but wasn’t there like a running joke that making the fish look live action just made everything look more like animal abuse than a girl messing with her little fishy friend.

Also, just in general, I don’t think any Disney movie needs a live action remake but specifically the little mermaid when so much of the cast is fish seems like a weird choice. I love fish. Fish are great. Fish are not the cutest animals. Like idk maybe just keep that one cartoonish

[nightfury-2001]

THE LIVE ACTION HTTYD IS AMAZING IN FACT BETTER THAN THE ORIGINAL I HOPE DEAN REMAKES THE WHOLE TRILOGY

did you forget the /sarcasm or whatever......if not go attempt to troll/bait someone else please lol. or if you're somehow actually being serious maybe learn what an "opinion" is and accept that other people have different opinions on films than you (and also maybe learn how to actually start and have a discussion without seeming like a low effort troll)

[toothbrushfingers]

˚✧₊⁎ HELLO ⁎⁺˳✧༚

I would like to share my current thoughts on the HTTYD live action, as someone who has been very openly against it for the past 2 ish years

First of all, as of right now, I am looking forward to it.

I KNOW! I’M NUTS! And after all that time of ragging on it??

Yes. I am looking forward to it.

My reasons for ever being against it in the first place were that it felt extremely unnecessary, and that I was worried they would change the story completely.

Now, I haven’t gone to see the new Lilo and Stitch for those two very reasons. And though I usually try to ignore criticism and make my own opinion on these things, the criticism of Lilo and Stitch has been real hard to ignore. (It sounds bad) But that’s not what I’m here to talk about, so Google it or something

The only criticism I have heard about the httyd live action (from those who have somehow already seen it) is that they don’t like the cast of teens, and that it’s literally just a remake.

WELL HEY! ITS JUST A REMAKE?! NO EXTRA STUFF ADDED UNNECESSARILY?? NOTHING IMPORTANT HAS BEEN CUT OUT?!?! HELL YEAH THAT SOUNDS GREAT!!!

And as for the cast? I honestly don’t care that much. If I hear one more person say “I jUsT wIsH tHeY wOuLd’Ve MaDe AsTrId BlOnDe” I SWEAR I’m going to shin kick them. Everyone and their mother has made that argument by this point. Now you’re just saying words. WE KNOW YOU WANTED HER TO BE BLONDE! But she’s not! Please, for all of our sake, get OVER IT！

I think Mason Thames (I think that’s how you spell it) and Nico Parker and perfect for Hiccup and Astrid! After watching all of their interviews, they seem like they have great chemistry and a real love for their roles, which is awesome.

As for everyone else? Well the guy playing Fishlegs (I can’t remember his name) is a great actor and really funny so I’m looking forward to seeing him, Snotlout seems like Snotlout, and the twins seem like the twins. 🤷

I am a little annoyed that they made the twins older than the others..? But whatever, it makes sense that the teens on the island wouldn’t all be the exact same age. My only other critiques about what I’ve seen from the twins is that 1: Ruffnut seems a little too mean and 2: Why are they ginger 😭 (coming from a natural redhead) Like i’m not actually upset about that or anything, I’m not gonna hate on them the same way those neck beards have been hating on Astrid. I’m more so just confused about that lol

———————————————————

Now for the dragons:

I definitely have my reservations about the designs. And I will go into more detail about what I do and don’t like about them.

Toothless

I like that you can tell who he is. He really does look like himself which I appreciate. Buuuuut I think they could’ve done a lot better.

His face is too bulky and almost human looking, his eyes are too green and almost neon, and he no longer has a little spots :( I wanna say that they also shorten his ear flaps.

My hope is that between now and the second movie, they’ll listen to the fans and tweak him a bit.

Stromfly

Now I don’t have as much to say about Stormfly as I do Toothless, and honestly that’s because I think they did a great job!

Two main critiques I have though are that her eyes are a smidge too low and it’s bothering me, and that she, and the rest of the dragons, are just way too realistic looking while tootheless looks like that.. I wish they would’ve either gone all the way with all of them, or (preferably) stuck with a little more stylism.

Meatlug

LOOK HOW THE MASSACRED MY GIRL

So as I’m sure you can guess, I’m not very happy with Meatlug’s design..

Now, they got her basic shape right which I love. My only actual issues are that again her eyes are too low, they took her cutie little antenna and gave her horns, and they made her grey??? Which I really just don’t understand.

She’s still a cutie, nothing could change that. But again, they could’ve done so much better I fear.

Hookfang <3

Now here’s a design that I actually really like. Sure he’s different from his animated counterpart, but most of that I think is for the best. Like his too skinny neck for example.

Literally my only critique is that his face is a bit too skinny, and we were robbed of his underbite.

Barf & Belch

Another design with little negative takeaways. Now, it did take me a bit to get used it their new design, but I think this time it’s for the better. They made the design make sense without changing what made them, them.

—————————————————————

And finally, here is what I’m most looking forward to!!

Dean DeBlois is back and directing!

Gerald Butler is Stoick again!

John Powell is back to make more amazing music!

Cressida Cowell, author of the books, has only said positive things about this movie!

All in all, I think we’re in safe hands. This isn’t Disney after all..

[etheluu]

Burned

🔗 Render credits here

A vent render about an experience of mine. I wanted to make it for literal weeks now but never felt strong enough mentally to actually do so. Finally though, I actually made it and I'm proud of it and I actually feel better mentally because of it.

I'm gonna talk about the experiences that this render represents under the cut. TWs are in the tags.

Wooo, okayyy time for some heavy topics.

If you know me from Twitter, you might remember that I once posted a render with a message how my ex was a pedophile. If not, here it is anyway:

This post doesn't represent the whole situation in a perfect manner so I apologize for that. I did (and still kind of do) want to remake it, write about it better and find better evidence from what I still have. Although this topic, even 2 years later, is still hard for me to talk about it, especially in greater details.

Either way, yeah, basically I was groomed by my now ex and the trauma lives on.

Back in around the summer of 2023, I attented therapy meeting that made me realize what my ex did to me. I also talked to my friends about this whole ordeal, which helped me to cope with it better. If I didn't actually open up to them about it all, I might have not even realized that I was groomed so I'm forever thankful to them.

And ever since then, I was just at mercy of the trauma that came out of this experience. It's not pleasant.

I haven't really found any way to cope with it all nor found any good outlet for all these emotions. If keeping things to myself was a job, I'd have a pretty stable income and could live comfortably on my own. Although from time to time, I'll make a render to express my feelings somehow, just like this one.

Honestly I was inspired to make it from a post I saw some time ago on tumblr. I can't find it now but it went something like this:

I was freezing and you were a fire. I knew that your flames would hurt me but warmth is warmth either way.

And it resonated with me and my experiences. I was a naive teen who wanted some affection, no matter who it was from. So then I found myself in this situation, where I'm scared/don't want to say no because either I was scared that she'd leave me, therefore I would lose the only source of affection/emotional support/whatever, or I just didn't see anything wrong with her actions at the time.

I remember just zoning out during her having her fun with me (iykyk) when I just wanted to go to sleep. It happened way more than just one time.

Man, I was living in absolute denial about my actual feelings during that relationship. But at least I'm out of it and can slowly heal.

Wish I could say something more about this topic but yeah. Got groomed and now I'm traumatized. But I'm living on, even with that baggage. I'm coping with humor so if you ever see me address this as my character/lore development, then that's the reason.

Also I'm posting this partially because I don't want her actions to be forgotten. I'm petty about it but if I'm being harrased by the consequences of her actions, so does she will be. She's a pedophile forever in my eyes now and I won't be afraid to say it anymore.

[starfata]

Snow White

Went to the cinema today and saw the movie!

Honestly, not a bad movie. Some parts were excellent, Flower Crown girl in particular had me tearing up. I loved Dopey. I liked Jonathan a lot, despite the almost hoodie costume. Rachel Zegler did a good job portraying the emotions she was meant to be portraying, Gal Gadot was Sinister in parts.

The real problem- they couldn't decide whether to do a straight up live action remake of the cartoon, to do an Modern Disney version of the story ala Tangled or Disney descendants, or to do a slightly grimmed up version of the story where Snow White joins a rebellion, or whether Snow White's purity of heart is why she's the true Queen.

So they tried to do it all, and in parts that conflicted.

Gal Gadot started out as a Sinister, deceitfuls sorceress, but her songs were Campy Evil and her ending- was thematic, but mostly anti climatic. The whole taking the kingdom back was anti climatic.

Jonathan- honestly was pretty fine, but they could have had him escape imprisonment through using thief/actor skills. And maybe have included a performance troupe in the same festival with the apple pies. Not necessarily to kick-start the romance, but just for fun/foreshadowing.

The bandits- why the wishy washy of having them be 'fighting in the name of the true king'. Confusing, when they're a bandit troupe ala Mirror Mirror rather than a resistance like Snow White and the Huntsman. I get that was their excuse, but I would have preferred no excuse.

And the Snow White Haircut was my single biggest criticism- I managed to get used to the dress, although I did think it was weird she was wearing such a nice dress to go pick apples when we'd seen her in a maids dress to do her chores but you know what that was in the original cartoon so we'll let it go. But I kept noticing how bad the haircut was.

Best thing to do? If they Absolutely Had to have the haircut, the children's costume ready dress and Very Noticeable necklace? (Which I kept Noticing, almost as much as the hair.)

Have her flee the Huntsman in the last days of Autumn, take shelter with the dwarves throughout Winter, meet with the bandits in Spring for the Queen's second attempt on her life.

Imply more meetings. Jonathan has her necklace out of affection, maybe gives her a token in return for her to wear. Something like a wooden pendant. They're planning to go south, it's getting too dangerous.

The Queen happens again in Summer- Jonathan captured, she takes a disguise and poisons with the first of a new Apple harvest. Uses SW's locket to track her somehow.

You know what? That would have given them a whole new costume to sell And had them let Snow White's hair grow out to show her healing from her time uner the Queen's power And overcome a common criticism of Disney Princesses falling in love too quickly by extending the Romance with the implication of time passing! Good things grow romantic reprise!

The Queen should have either been more obviously concerned with her beauty in and of itself, or been driven to the Mirror with loyal/magicked minions by the townspeople and bandits, attempted to use it in a spell and broken it in a rage when it didn't work because She's Not the Fairest.

Because I get the point they were trying to prove, but the talking was kind of boring. And I didn't really understand why the Queen would come out to try convince her subjects she was a better queen than Snow White. Wasn't her whole deal that beauty=power and might makes right?

If the rebels breaking into the throne room wasn't an option, have the confrontation in the courtyard, with her about to witness Snow's execution- and then have Snow escapes her bonds using a trick Jonathan showed her.

Snow White could have won over Paul etc, but the Captain who tried to put a crossbow bolt in her head? He could have been banished or something. Died with the Queen. Whatever.

[thr4shit]

So, here I am. Fresh off the watch of the live action How To Train Your Dragon film.

A solid 7.5 to 8 out of 10 overall.

A little pro and con list (to me) under cut

The pros:

Good dragon design (save for the Gronkle)

Characters feel real and new but not disconnected from the original film

THEY MENTIONED VALKA IN THE FIRST FILM AND SHOWED MORE ACTIVE FAMILY DYNAMICS (outside of just Hiccup and Stoick)

The Red Death (the Queen) is much more RED (I always hated that she wasn't RED like her name would imply)

The main crew kept their quirks (Snotlout's crush on Astrid and "I'm better than you" attitude, Fishleg's nerdiness and obsession with dragon facts *they introduced his dragon cards*, the twins' chaotic energy and general mischief)

Amplified the personalities and stories of the other trainees to make them feel like more of a focus rather than a backing party to Hiccup

Mentioned other dragons such as Skrills/Skrulls (showed Rumblehorns briefly on screen)

Stoick uses real rallying techniques instead of saying "those who stay look after my son"

Better storybuilding for the society of Berk as a melting pot of Viking cultures from across the land

Plenty of callbacks to the original film, but not so much it felt like a direct copy. It was what it said, an adaptation

Made me cry (from nostalgia)

You can TELL what animal most of the dragons are based on (ie. Nadders being based of birds such as chickens or even off the beastial structure of a cockatrice, or the Terrible Terrrors being based off chameleons, Monstrous Nightmares having a salamander build)

THEY ADDED THE QUEEN/ALPHA CONTROLLING ASPECT IN THIS FILM. (Had one of the dragons have to struggle against the command. Something only seen in the original 2nd film)

AQUATIC DRAGONS VAGUELY SEEN. I REPEAT. AQUATIC DRAGONS VAGUELY SEEN

The cons:

Personal pro: HICCUP IS LEFT HANDED FUCK YEAH!! (op is left handed too and he is like. the one I relate most to)

Gronkles, baby what did they do to you...?

A lot of the "comedic" bits were removed, for a more action-y film

The scene that leads to Hiccup's plan against the Red Death (Terrible Terror "not so fireproof on the inside" scene) removed. Not detrimental, but a little sad

I do feel at times the dragons were a little too scaly somehow in comparison to their original counterparts (much more lizard like than salamander-ish to the original film). But again, their designs were good

Some of the more heartwarming or heartwrenching scenes were changed and lost their precise "flavor" of emotional (although generally they remained well structured)

This is more of a personal peeve to me, but they removed the "your only chance: hide and pray it does not find you" line from the description of the Night Fury in the Book of Dragons (again, not detrimental, but kind of takes away from the perceived "pure evil" or "deadliness" of the Night Fury)

Anyways. Like I said. Solid 7.5 or 8 out of 10, it was a good watch, and it was definitely one of the better live action remake films I've seen in my lifetime. It didn't do the original the utmost honor, but it didn't butcher it either. It was very much a solid retelling.

This adaptation was worth (to me) seeing in theaters, and I hope it is as enjoyable to you as it was to me should you choose to see it. It was wonderful to see an actually GOOD retelling of one of the most important films to my childhood.

[heinzpilsner]

(Writing this instead of watching a new trailer for the live action, because my timing is perfect as ever!)

...Anyway, here's a proper "smart and serious"™ remake of my "mixed signals zutara Southern Raiders" post (because my own poor choice of terminology I'm talking about you Sexual Frustration didn't sit quite well with me). Also, I realized some new things. And I'm a perfectionist of sorts! So, yep.

Let's analyze Zuko's and Katara's heated confrontation in the first half properly.

What Zuko actually said:

"Everyone else seems to trust me now! What is it with you? ... What can I do to make it up to you?"

What Katara heard:

- Zuko doesn't differenciate Katara from all the other group members -> he doesn't think much about their intimate connection in Ba Sing Se;

- He doesn't realise the implications of what his betrayal meant in the context of the said connection (i.e., he's either a callous liar who never really cared about her grief or a volatile person who can change his mind way too easily and hence can't be trusted);

- After hearing her out, he offered to make up for his betrayal, but did not apologize for his insensitivity. He still don't get it, the idiot!

(Was he hesitant to approach this topic directly with Katara being so furious, or genuinely just didn't get it? I wonder. He sounds like a person unaffected by the catacombs, but clearly doesn't act like one. Almost as if he was affected, but never realized the extent by which Katara was affected as well).

What Katara actually said to Zuko:

"Everyone trusts you? I was the first person to trust you! Back in Ba Sing Se. You betrayed me and all of us! ... You could reconquer Ba Sing Se, or you could bring my mother back!"

What she was implying:

- She was personally hurt by his betrayal ("Everyone else"?! She was (is) not just "everyone else" for him!);

- Either she's using the "bringing back the dead mother" idea only as another metaphor of impossibility of their reconciliation, or, as Zuko suspected, this also implies that her anger at him is somehow connected to the topic.

There are two possible readings of Katara's slip of the tongue though:

1) Zuko's dense hypothesis: Katara simply projects on him her hatred for the Fire Nation and Yon Rha specifically;

2) Romantic hypothesis (which recontextualizes the whole dialogue in retrospect): Zuko's and Katara's connection in Ba Sing Se was based on the shared trauma of their lost mothers. So, this (in the light of the future events) is just another hint that Katara is hurt by Zuko's insensitivity. It signals she still have feelings for him, which in some measure fuels Katara's fury. This interpretation is supported by heavy romantic framing of the scene (Katara's physical agression adds a hint of sexuality to the mix as well, implying a suppressed desire to touch. It's no more than my speculation though, but usually, when I see a "shoulder check" trop in media, it occurs between two guys in the middle of some school, not between an angry girl and a sad boy under the full moon, you know).

Now, the funny thing. Previously, the second half of the episode didn't make much sense to me after the first one, because I saw those two hypotheses as incompatible within the same narrative logic. But just now, I found a different in-universe logical explanation for such a conclusion.

You see, Zuko's dense reading implies what from the start he saw the whole "facing Yon Rha" business as an attempt to redirect Katara's hate/anger from him onto it's "right" sourse. "Better him than me" logic, I guess. (Gosh, Zuko, not so selfless!)

They go with the plan based on the Zuko's interpretation, and Katara forgives him as a result, which means his reading of the situation was the only correct one, right? Wrong!

Because for once, Zuko was lucky. He didn't really voice his reasons out loud to Katara, and she decided that his primary motivation was lying elsewhere.

Namely, that he finally understood the imortance of their connection in Ba Sing Se and wanted to show her he did sincerely care about her grief (He was also lucky it kinda was the truth. Just... not the whole truth, you know).

(Btw, acknowledging Katara's hurt feelings is the only thing that could turn Zuko's "I waited out here all night" stunt from creepy and inappropriate into more or less okay in her eyes in retrospect, so... Yep. Another evidence for this hypothesis.)

So, while Zuko saw this trip as an attempt to manage Katara's hatred (and what an awful idea it was, but that's not the point now), Katara herself saw it as a test for Zuko's sincerity (which he passed).

And, I guess, as a happy result of this little miscommunication (and despite the crying unhealthiness of the whole "facing Yon Rha" idea), Katara was finally able to forgive him, yay!

(Do not try this at home though, boys and girls. I'm serious, those kids need their therapy.)

... The only problem though is what this miscommunication wasn't exactly addressed openly in the show itself. It's kinda just here, in the middle of the whole "to kill or not to kill" mess, and I had to strain my brain really hard to come to this conclusion (but I'm not really a smart person, after all). Still, this is the only reading of events what turns the episode's narrative into something that feels logical and consistent to me, you know.

But... After such a heavy romantic framing in the beginning (I mean, "What's with her? What's with him?" questions alone are basically screaming "those two have something between them we all can't explain by most obvious reasons"), you'd expect something more substantial would happen between the characters in the end. ... I'm just saying. I know it could't happen.

Ouch.

[themattress]

Yet ANOTHER Xehanort Post

Because I had some thoughts following this post and now I want to get them out.

Not counting any version of Coded where he never appeared except in stingers nor 0.2 BBS which is more of a tech demo / prologue / direct lead-in to KH3 than a full game plus had an appearance that was more of an illusionary mind screw than real, the games where Xehanort shows up can be divided, evenly and neatly, by two lines into Peak, Mid and Ruination.

Peak Xehanort was in KH, CoM, KH2 and Days. He was at his best when he was the amnesiac apprentice of Ansem the Wise who usurped his master's name and position before splitting into a Heartless and Nobody, both of whom fixated on absorbing Kingdom Hearts and remaking the world through utilizing the Keyblade and the Keyblade Master which dovetailed nicely into the not-subtle hints that he himself was a Keyblade wielder in his forgotten past. If Xehanort was to be brought back, then it should've picked up from here.

But instead, it was picked up from BBS, which is Mid Xehanort. Once you get past the weirdness of Xehanort being an old man who possessed a young man before being stricken with amnesia, it works since Terra and Master Xehanort were well-written, with a very good victim-villain relationship and both possessing traits that would surface in the character they ended up becoming. Master Xehanort had a particularly good goal: destroy and remake the world because he wanted to conduct a grand experiment to see what it was like and what would happen, and he wanted it to be him specifically who pulled it off. It tied in perfectly with the traits we already knew of Xehanort: a scientific obsession with broadening his horizons and gaining knowledge, and hubris that twists into a god complex. The issue that held him back was that he was hampered by a two-dimensionally evil portrayal (that was admittedly entertaining), a total blur in regards to what motivated his goal, and a facepalm-inducingly contrived backstory of living on Destiny Islands in his youth. That's what makes him Mid.

What is frustrating about his Ruination is how each successive game in it somehow ruined him even worse than the one before. DDD was bad enough, inventing time travel for his younger self and retconning the lore behind the X-Blade in order to turn him into this nigh-omnipotent mastermind who was progressing a convoluted master plan this whole time (trivializing all of his prior incarnations and schemes in the process, to say nothing of the heroes / players' work in thwarting them) and who split himself into many different characters at once which made him more of a plot device than a person. But at least there he seemed to be formidable enough with how he'd backed the heroes into a corner, and his goal appeared to be the same as before. KH3 not only made a total mockery of him, his plan, and his organization even as it continued to talk him up as "the most powerful Keyblade Master ever" and "planning for every eventuality", but his backstory changed again with the reveal he had been a boy in Scala ad Caelum, the X-Blade lore changed again in a way that blatantly contradicted the previous games which officially made all his actions in BBS make no logical sense, and his blurry motivation became a clear one that had never been hinted as a possibility before (it in fact was in total contradiction to his established character!) which thus changed his goal from scientific curiosity into well-intentioned fascism. The Re:Mind DLC gave him a better send-off, but it also retconned his past some more in a way that made it clear what a tool he was, making all that hype given to him since DDD feel pointless.

Dark Road then built off him being a boy in Scala ad Caelum, his fascist motive rant, and the DLC scene of his past, giving him a full-on "sympathetic" backstory that really isn't that sympathetic at all (Eraqus suffered the exact same trauma and while flawed he didn't become a straight-up evil psychopath) and even turned him into this special snowflake descendant of Ephemer (the founder of Scala ad Caelum and its order of Keyblade wielders) who is also this important prophesized "Child of Destiny", which officially takes anything that was remotely relatable about Xehanort and throws it in the trash. We even find out that Master Xehanort isn't even that old and just shaved his head, meaning that he had no good reason to ever possess Terra other than "it was etched!" And Melody of Memory is the final gut-punch, as it takes the original Xehanort we started out with and turns him into an idiot who somehow thinks the very young child he kidnapped is a willing co-conspirator and thus talks to her like an adult who would understand or remember all the convoluted jargon that he's espousing, leaving Xemnas as the only remotely respectable incarnation of Xehanort.

You suck, Xehanort. And you suck even harder for making him suck, Nomura!

[piko-rose]

If DreamWorks SOMEHOW manages to make live action remakes better than Disney, I will laugh my ass off and watch the movie on physical release out of respect! XD

[got-your-back-always-will]

Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender live-action remake verdict: Honestly not that bad. Would watch another season if they make another one.

The good: Fire Nation machinations, shenanigans and backstories.

The bad: Some gawdawful, clunky and needlessly expositional dialogue.

Feels like the first season of a TV show that hasn't ironed out its rough edges.

I don't know if it's a case of the creatives really favoring Fire Nation characters or the fact that they could hire more experienced actors for the Fire Nation roles so they could throw more at them but the material for them just felt better. There's a lot of trauma being explored but the material for the Fire Nation characters has felt less clunky than it has for Katara and Aang.

As for the dialogue... there is this thing where even renowned shows have some pretty dire dialogue but they get away with it because they have some great actors who can hide it better, drown it with dramatic background music, put some sort of action onscreen that pulls more of the viewer's attention, or the words are spoken in some sort of British accent and somehow that's enough to distract the viewer from how much the the dialogue actually sucks.

I didn't look over all the screenwriting credits but I wonder if they were a bunch of different people and they were all told to hammer certain points of exposition in and nobody thought, "Hey, we said/showed this is that episode so we don't need to do that again here."

And there's things where you kind of forgive them for concentrating so much material on Omashu because set design production is so expensive that they have to make use of that as much as possible. The cost also goes into why Momo and Appa feel like props more than characters.

(Gotta say it's a little jarring to watch Ozai scenes but your brain is still processing it as Hiroshi Sato's voice. Also kind of amusing that a guy known for playing an "Appa" is playing Iroh here.)

When projects are rebooted or remade I like to ask why it exists. Is it just a cynical cash-grab? Is it a bunch of people who want to cosplay in a fictional world that they love? Is there a specific storytelling reason why it's being made? Is it a take from a different point of view? I appreciate this remake existing but I don't really see a creative reason for it.

[deanpinterester]

the problem (aside from disney's corporate greed) is the utter disrespect for animation as a medium. the point of animation IS that you can have these non-human animals be expressive and not have it seem out of place and goofy. the fact that they looked at the original film and thought "this would be better if it were CG and also completely emotionless" just completely disregards what even made the original film work in the first place. it's the very idea that the final form for every piece of media Must be live action (or "live action"). that's the problem with all of these disney live action remakes. they don't justify why they're live action except to make more money for disney.

the worst part for me is that they absolutely COULD have made the CG animals emotive. we're not in the 2000s anymore. we don't have to put CG mouths on real animals like Charlotte's Web because fully CG animals would have been too uncanny to look at. movies like Call of the Wild (yes the infamous harrison ford movie where a man played a dog in motion capture) had some of the most emotive yet somehow realistic CG animal animation i've ever seen (which did not work for that movie specifically, but would have worked for a fully rendered movie like Lion King). netflix's Okja features a giant super pig as a co-protagonist and you can see the intelligence and emotion in its eyes. i'd argue even disney's own live action Lady and the Tramp had more expression than these lions. The Lion King didn't take advantage of its medium. instead they opted for realism, which should not be the point in a movie where safari animals can talk. they should be showcasing their character animation.

and yes, the movie is beautiful, sure. it is beautifully rendered and very realistic. but plenty of movies are beautiful. Dune is beautiful. Blade Runner 2049 is beautiful. i'm not going to act like Lion King isn't beautiful, but i also wouldn't call it uniquely so. disney could have taken the budget and rnd and the talent of their artists and given them literally any project and it would be beautiful and cool as hell. but instead they put it towards disney live action remake #4726 and told the animators to give the most underwhelming character animation in an ANIMATED MOVIE and decided that was good enough.

I watched the live action version of "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" on Youtube and I was not ready for the utter lack of emotions from the CGI animals.

Nala looking concerned about Simba hiding something about his past, a comparison:

Also, in CGI this song called "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" does not take place at night.