#yes this is in reaction to live action moana | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

storiesforallfandoms · 3 years ago

Text

movie marathon ~ duncan shepherd;house of cards

word count: 1298

request?: yes!

@mikhalxngdon “The reader is a hardcore cinephile and she and Duncan wanted to do a movie marathon and it was almost like a decision of life and death. Duncan KNOWS his girl is very exquisite with her taste in movies so if her boyfriend EVEN dares to choose a stupid movie she will force him to sleep on the couch. Movies weren't just a "thing" to watch it was an EXPERIENCE.”

description: in which she is very picky about her movies, so he has to choose wisely for their movie marathon

pairing: duncan shepherd x female!reader

warnings: swearing

masterlist (one, two)

One of Duncan’s favorite things about his girlfriend was her love for movies. Not just a casual love for them, but a hardcore cinephile. On their first date she talked for nearly an hour straight about her favorite movie and why it was her favorite. She knew things that no one else had ever known in regards to movies.

But she was also something of a movie snob. She was one of those people that decided what movies were “true cinema” and what wasn’t. Duncan found this out the hard way during one of their movie marathon dates. It was Duncan’s turn to choose, so he decided to start with a raunchy comedy movie that he hailed as one of his favorite movies of all time.

They didn’t even start the marathon. (Y/N) had been so offended by his choice that she straight up left and didn’t talk to Duncan for a full day.

After that, when it was Duncan’s turn to pick the movies for their marathon, it became a challenge to make sure (Y/N) was happy. She would always be watching him closely as he’d enter the living room, carrying a handful of DVDs. She’d eye them, trying to decide if she’d be staying or not.

On the night of his next turn, (Y/N) showed up to Duncan’s place with wine and take out as Duncan was setting up the TV. She walked into the living room, a smile on her face, before looking at the TV with a confused look.

“Disney Plus?” she questioned.

“Uh-huh,” he replied. “We’re having a Disney marathon tonight.”

(Y/N) raised an eyebrow at him, giving him a look that he had seen few times before. Duncan got up to stop her before she could walk out.

“Hey,” he said. “Where are you going?”

“To find a better movie marathon,” she replied.

“What’s wrong with Disney?”

(Y/N) scoffed. “The fact that you have to ask is highly offensive itself. You really think I’m gonna sit here all night and watch some kids movies?”

“When was the last time you watched a Disney movie?”

(Y/N) crossed her arms and shrugged. “I don’t know, when I was like 10 I guess.”

Duncan wrapped an arm around her shoulder to guide her to the couch. Reluctantly, (Y/N) allowed this, placing the wine and food on the coffee table in front of them.

“You can’t judge these movies because they’re animated,” he said. “That’s how you miss true masterpieces. Especially recent Disney movies, which are just beautifully made and have all sorts of messages, not to mention great songs. How can you judge them when you haven’t watched them in years?”

(Y/N) settled back against the couch, begrudgingly accepting Duncan’s movie marathon theme. Duncan smiled and dipped to kiss her cheek. She tried not to smile back as he rose from the couch to get glasses for their wine.

She had to give Duncan props, he decided to start off on a high note with a Disney classic: Mulan. Despite her earlier protests, (Y/N) actually really liked Mulan. It was one of her favorite movies as a kid and, although it had been so long since she watched it, she still loved it to that day. She tried not to make it so obvious as she sang along under her breath. Duncan smirked at her as he sipped his wine.

“Seems like you enjoyed that one,” he commented when the end credits started to roll.

“It’s a classic,” she responded with a shrug. “Hard not to enjoy a classic, even an animated classic.”

Duncan was smiling triumphantly to himself. (Y/N) stuffed her mouth full of food, not wanting to admit Duncan may have been right just yet. There was still plenty of time for her to be proven right.

“If you put on Frozen I’m breaking up with you.”

Duncan chuckled. “Don’t worry, I’m not into Frozen either. Way too overplayed.”

Instead, the next movie that Duncan chose was Moana. It was another movie he figured had a great message, and kick ass songs. It didn’t even feature a love story, just a strong female lead and Dwayne Johnson playing a cocky demi-god. What more could one ask for?

(Y/N) was much more obvious with her enjoyment of this movie. She cuddled into his shoulder and swayed along to the music. When he looked down at her, she had a sheepish smile on her face. He felt a cocky sense of pride swell within him to see that she was having such a good time, but he was also just glad that (Y/N) was enjoying the movies.

“I need more movies with Dwayne Johnson like this,” she said when Duncan got up to bring their emptied plates to the kitchen. “He does so many awful action movies, but he could be doing something so much more heartfelt and cinematic.”

“No one would take him seriously because of the action movies,” Duncan commented. “But it’s nice to see you’d be willing to give him a chance if he were in more movies like this.”

“I’ll give any actor a chance eventually. You know my dislike for Adam Sandler, but Uncut Gems was probably the best movie of 2019.” She settled back against the couch as Duncan re-entered the room. “The wine is starting to hit me. I feel so sleepy.”

“One more movie then we’ll go to bed,” he insisted. “I saved the best for last and I want you to watch it.”

With the wine in her system making her feel warm and tired, (Y/N) cuddled into Duncan’s side again and started the last movie he had decided to put on, a recent Disney film called Soul. It was one of few Disney films that had peaked her interest because she had heard so much positivity about it. She never got around to watching it because it didn’t feel like a priority on her “to watch” list.

She came to regret that by the time the movie ended. At some point, (Y/N) had moved from Duncan’s side and sat on the edge of the couch, her eyes wide as she watched the breathtaking animation before her. It was like the tiredness had been completely wiped from her body and now she was engulfed in the world the movie had created. She barley even noticed when the end credits finally started to roll, or the tears that were falling down her cheeks.

Duncan had been watching her more than the movie the entire time. He had a slight smug feeling knowing that she had the reaction he was anticipating, but he was also just glad to see that she had really enjoyed the movies.

When he turned off the TV and turned on the lights, (Y/N) winced against the sudden brightness. Her cheeks glistened with the streaks of her tears and she quickly wiped them dry, although what was the point? He had already seen her cry through the whole movie.

“Ready for bed?” he asked.

The tiredness suddenly fell on her again and she yawned. Duncan smiled and walked over to pick up his sleepy girlfriend, causing her to giggle as she held on around his neck.

She put on one of his t-shirts and got into bed, enveloping herself in his warm blankets. Duncan slid into bed next to her and took her into his arms, wrapping her in warmth.

“Did you enjoy the marathon?” he whispered.

She nodded her head against his chest. “You were right, they were really good movies.”

“Wait, can you say that for me again?”

She smiled. “You heard me, I’m not repeating myself.”

Duncan chuckled and kissed her forehead. “Goodnight baby.”

“Goodnight love.”

#duncan shepherd #duncan shepherd imagine #duncan shepherd x reader #Cody Fern #cody fern imagine #cody fern x reader #house of cards #imagine #one shot #request #fanfiction #fanfic #fandom

64 notes · View notes

shellku · 3 years ago

Text

Film Challenge

Okay guys. Finally did it. As requested.

Have you ever left a theater before the movie was over?

Yes. Only once.

If you ever left a theater what was playing: Savages

Craziest (Random) movie you’ve ever seen:

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

“And thanks for all the fish” -Dolphins

Most disturbing film you’ve ever watched:

Crimson Peak

A film you only watched because (Tom Hiddleston ) was in it: Crimson Peak

A minor role (or movie) with a major actor you greatly enjoyed: Sebastian Stan as Jefferson/The Mad Hatter in Once Upon A Time.

A minor role (or movie) with a major actress you greatly enjoyed: Emma Watson as Pauline Fossil in Ballet Shoes

A movie everyone should see at least once: The Princess Bride

A movie you thought everyone has seen but apparently not: Who framed Roger Rabbit?

A movie you’ve tried multiple times to watch but never get through it: Silence if the Lambs

A movie that legitimately surprised you:

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. While it came out in 1980 I didn’t see it until much later obviously. I wasn’t even ten when I watched it the first time, I and was genuinely shocked.

Movie that you enjoy, that surprises people you enjoy: Scream (1996)

A movie you associated with Religion and it turns out that tracks: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe

A movie you watched a lot as a kid but your not sure why exactly you watched it so much:

Hook. (And) The Sandlot.

My first movie that made me question my sexualité: The Priâtes of the Caribbean.

Sections

Anime

First Anime: Fruits Basket. Vampire Knight.

Anime I watched with my (brother): Full Metal Alchemist

Anime I tried to get into and couldn’t: D Gray Man

Anime I was surprised I enjoyed: The Neverland Promise. (And) Soul Eater

Anime I always liked (even when it confused people): Black Butler

Anime that makes me cry: Your lie in April

Anime that I love but now makes me sad too: Sword Art Online

Anime I’m just not into: One Piece

One that was recommended that I enjoyed:

Blue Exorcist

One that was recommended that I was ehh on and did not finish: Attack on Titian

One I probably should watch: Pandora Hearts

One I watched Randomly : Castlevania

One that I did not watch until (college) that everyone seems to have watched: Sailor Moon

Cartoons

Cartoons Everyone should see:

- The Peanuts.

- Garfield.

- Scooby Doo.

- Tom and Jerry.

- Pink Panther.

Cartoon I never liked: Spongebob

Cartoon I hate now: Kiayu? Idk. The one with the bald kid that whines a lot. Ugh.

Cartoon I can make myself ‘watch’ with the (niece/nephews): Paw Patrol

Films you would Recommend:

80s: The Breakfast Club

Book Adaption 80s: The Outsiders

Murder Mystery:Murder on the Oriental Express

Jim Henson pick: Labyrinth

(Suicide) Satire:Heathers

Romance: Titanic

‘Horror’ Movie: The Lost boys

Horror Movie: The Nightmare on Elm Street

Spy Flick: Saint (1997)

Mind trips: The Sixth Sense.(1999) Donnie Darko.

Stephen King: The Dark Tower

Stephen King Miniseries: Rose Red

Studio Ghibli: Howls Moving Castle. Or. Kiki’s Delivery Service.

Action Comedy: Miss Congeniality

Adventure Comedy: Jumanji

‘Dark’ Comedy: The Addams Family

Romantic Comedy: Legally Blonde

Tim Burton

Tim Burton Animated: The Nightmare Before Christmas

Tim Burton Live Action: Edward Scissorhand

Tim Burton Musical: Sweeney Todd

Dreamworks

Favorite Dreamwork’s Film:

Rise of the Guardians (and) How to Train your Dragon

Disney:

Unpopular Recommendations:

The Black Cauldron (and) The Great Mouse Detective

One that is still rather disturbing: Pinocchio

Best Soundtrack (Golden Age): Fantasia

Best Soundtrack (Modern): IDk?!

Classics (Golden) everyone should see at least once: Snow White (and) Bambi.

Wartime Era Pic: The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr.Toad

Silver Age or Bronze Age: Both!!!

Disney Renaissance or Post Renaissance: Both! If I absolutely had to choose though, Renaissance.

Moana or Lilo and Stitch: Lilo and Stitch

Frozen or Tangled: Both

Soul or Monsters Inc: Monsters Inc

Toy Story I and 2/ or/ 3 and 4? Toy Story I and 2.

Underrated: Candleshoe

Disney Holiday:

Live Action Halloween - Hocus Pocus

Live Action Halloween Series- Halloweentown

Animated Halloween- Frakenweenie

Live Action Christmas- Miracle on 34th Street (and) Eloise

Animated Christmas- Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas, Mickey’s Twice Upon a Christmas, (and) Winnie the Pooh: A very merry Pooh year.

New: The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. (2018)

Disney Reimagined/Live Action:

First that made you rethink the story: Maleficent

Favorite ‘Princess’ Story: Beauty and the Beast

The Surprise: Cruella

The one you worried about but we’re happy with in the end: Lady and the Tramp

The one you worried about but ending up enjoying anyway: Aladdin

The one that was good but you could have done without: The Lion King (which really surprised me!!!I like it but I didn’t love it. Which for me was so strange since I’m a fan of the original and the play.)

The one you had high hopes for and had a mixed reaction too: Mulan. (Ended up really liking it, but I miss Mushu. )

‘Modern’ Shakespeare Adaption:

10 Thing I hate About You (The Taming of the Shrew)

Clueless (Emma)

and

The Lion King Series. (Kid appropriate)

The Lion King: Hamlet

The Lion King 1 1/2: Rosencrantz and Guildenstein

The Lion King 2: Romeo and Juliet

Vampire Pictures:

90s: Interview with a Vampire

2000+: Twilight Series

Tv Series: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Vampire Action Series: Underworld

Classic: Bram Stoker’s Dracula

Dracula with a Twist: Dracula Untold (2014)

Fun Supernatural Flicks :

Witches: The Craft

Male Witches: The Covenant

Fairytale: Red Riding Hood (2011)

Ghost Hunters: Ghostbusters

Multiple Supernatural: Van Helsing (2014)

Werewolf Romance: Blood and Chocolate

Kid Friendly Live Action: Casper

Kid Friendly Animated: Hotel Transylvania

Supernatural Series:

Multi: Supernatural

Animated: Sabrina The Teenage Witch. (And) Scooby Doo.

Witches: Charmed

Fairytale: Once Upon a Time

Darker Fairytale: Grimm

‘Superhero’ Movies:

90s: Batman. (And) The Crow.

Series: Marvel’s Cinematic Universe

Classic Animated: Batman the animated series

Modern Animated: Harley Quinn

Girl Power: Wonder Woman. (and) Birds of Prey.

Something Different: Deadpool

Younger Audiences/Nostalgia: Teen Titans (animated)

Harry Potter

Favorite Film: Idk. Can’t choose honestly.

Least favorite character portrayal: .. Ginny Weasley?

Someone you loved: (so many..) McGonagall

Someone you loved hating: Bellatrix LeStrange

Someone you just hate: Dolores Umbridge

First time you cried: I cried for Sirius and Remus in Prisoner of Azkaban.

First time you jumped: Snakes or Basilisk. Chamber of Secrets. (I think I was 12?)

Someone who was so spot in acting on you can’t see them as anyone else now: Luna Lovegood

Someone who was so good even if the look wasn’t perfect: Emma Granger as Hermione OR Alan Rickman as Severus Snape.

Someone who’s injury hit you harder than the books: Colin Creevy.

Someone who’s death hit you harder than in the books: None. They hit but not as much as the books.

A scene you found just breathtakingly pretty: Christmas at Hogwarts

A scene you found creepy (even when you knew it was coming): Nagini uses a corpse as a mask.

For any Potter heads. Some things that bothered you about the Harry Potter films:

- Where is Charlie Weasley?

- Where is Peeves?

- Where are Neville’s parents?

- The green/blue/brown eye thing. (This is not against Radcliffe. Some special effects could have fixed this easily)

- HarrY DiD YOu PuT YoUR NaMe IN tHe GoBlET of FIRE?! 🔥

- In Sorcerers Stone, Why did you change the snake at the zoos breed??

- “Voldemort” versus “Voldemor”. The silent t.

- Hermione’s. Yule. Ball. Dress. Color. Blue. Not pink. She specifically changed the color.

- Fluffy. Hagrid’s adorable Cerberus was originally bought from a Greek man. Why change it to Irish? I like Ireland but it was a Greek man due to where Cerberus’s initially came from right???

- Harry’s first Weasley sweater color

- Why does Harry only see his parents in the Mirror of Eirsed? Where’s the rest of the family?

- The Underage magic rules aren’t well explained in the movies making the 3rd year summons even more bonkers sounding

- The Patil Twins Yule Ball Outfits. They could have been soooo beautiful. Like this is the Yule Ball! The Twins would have (in my opinion) much more elaborate traditional Indian styled dress robes?? Idk.

- Love Movie Hermione! But some moments take away from Ron. Like when Ron defended her in the Chamber of Secrets. Hermione didn’t know what the slur “Mudblood” meant in the books. Ron had to explain it.

- Dobby needed more screen time. Some stuff Dobby did went to Neville because so many Neville scenes were cut.

- Where’s all the secrecy from the books when communicating with Sirius- “Snuffles”? Something Harry’s godfather insisted on to keep him safe.

- Snape’s title of “The half-blood Prince” is not explained. Neither is it made clear that Severus was also abused horribly at home throughout his childhood. Also that like Harry Dumbledore did nothing to help Severus when he was a student. (Or maybe Tom Riddle when he grew up in an orphanage. I’m sensing a pattern)

- Dumbledore should have still spelled Harry during Dumbledore death scene. No way would Harry just stand there if given the choice.

- Ron was not quite as ‘dumb’ in the books and a lot of his funny moments were cut from the movie. Which makes his jealousy moments all the more unbecoming. He also comes off a bit more arrogant in the movies. (This is not against R Grint. Who is awesome) The movies gave Ron the short end of the stick.

- Weasley/Malfoy Fued. Who else wanted to see Arthur and Lucius have a fist fight in a bookstore? Exactly.

- Albus Dumbledore isn’t all Sunshine and Daisys. He does some really messed up stuff yet no one ever seems to question this.

- Remus was the last Marauder. Yet his and his wife, Tonk’s, deaths are barley acknowledged.

- Also Teddy. Harry’s Godson.

- Harry’s and Ginnys relationship is not built on. It’s just there. Ugh. Heck Movie Ginny isn’t that great. You don’t know much about her except: She’s the only girl in Ron’s family. She’s the youngest Weasley. She’s obsessed with Harry. She’s a good Quidditch player. She has a temper. She was possessed by Riddle’s Dairy when she was eleven. She’s obsessed with Harry.

- Draco is essentially Harry’s antithesis. Where is he in some critical scenes in the movies?

- Where’s the Luna love???? Harry’s pretty rude to her in some scenes.

- There is no S.P.E.W. And Hermione’s more ruthless side is gone.

- The guys hair in The Goblet of Fire. Get a hair cut. Please.

- Some of Molly’s less than Stellar Moments. (Ex. When she believed rumors about Hermione and so treated he coldly. How horrible she was to Fleur. Ect)

- Fleur. Fleur and Bill still get married but the objections to the wedding aren’t as presented in the movies. Not is Molly’s and Ginny’s extreme dislike of Fleur. Or when Arthur apologizes to Fleur. Or really any of Fleurs best moments. The whole courting process is skipped.

- House Elves. The House Elves of Hogwarts.

- Percy Weasley. The ‘betrayal’. The returned Weasley sweater. Him turning to protect his family and fight for Hogwarts at the last minute. All gone. Which involves being forgiven by the Weasley Twins not an hour before Fred dies.

- The connection of the Black sisters. Specifically Adromeda - mother of Tonks. Who is Sirius cousin. Who married Remus Lupin. Tonks and Remus the parents of Teddy.

- Dean Thomas is pretty much gone.

- Rita Skeeter. Illegal Animagus. Hermione kept her in a jar.

- The movies didn’t allow Radcliffe to be sassy and sarcastic enough. Harry Potter is one of the sassiest boys to ever walk through the halls of Hogwarts!

- Harry didn’t fix his wand in the last movie.

- The history of the Marauders.

- The history explaining why Snape could never be comfortable around and trust Remus Lupin.

#disney #challenge #film #movie #mcu #Batman #2021 #Harry Potter

3 notes · View notes

that-shamrock-vibe · 4 years ago

Text

Movie Review: Mulan (2020, Spoilers)

Spoiler Warning: I am posting this review the week following the movie’s release on Disney+ worldwide, so if you haven’t yet seen the 2020 live-action Mulan do not read on until you have.

General Reaction:

I had a very hard time deciding what I thought about this movie. I firstly had time to wait to see the movie as I didn’t watch it on Disney+ on the Friday it was released but instead got to see it for free the following Sunday night. But in that time all the reviews were coming out and while some of them were positive, a lot of them were negative.

I guess my feelings can be categorised into three pillars just as the oath sworn by the imperial army...loyal, brave and true, the first pillar is loyalty as in my thoughts on the original animated Mulan and how this movie holds up.

I will say, had I not seen the original I would probably just like this live-action remake fine enough but because I have not only seen the original 1996 animated version but have a strong connection to that version with it being the first movie I ever saw in theatres but also one of my favoured soundtracks of all Disney movies growing up, it’s difficult as we are literally comparing new for old.

That being said, a lot of what made the original so good for me has been completely gutted in this version. No Mushu, Cri-Kee or even Little Brother. It would be so easy to simply have a Shar Pei or a Shih Tzu roaming around Mulan’s home because they already had a spider taking the place of Cri-Kee in that matchmaker scene but no...we get the horse who isn’t even called Khan in this movie because the main villain’s surname is instead Khan rather than Shan Yu like the original, and a phoenix that...despite all the exposition and my movie trivia knowledge of what a phoenix can do...simply just flies around almost like one of those box kites and acts more like a drone than an ancestral family protector.

Also the grandmother from the original, who I loved because Disney has a habit of doing these elderly cooky women traditionally for comedy but also with some heart, is omitted from this version and instead seemingly replaced with a younger sister for Mulan. Now it’s not like the grandmother was integral to the original story other than giving Cri-Kee to Mulan and without Cri-Kee there is no need for her but if you’re going to replace her replace her with something interesting...this sister does absolutely nothing.

As for the songs, Everyone knew right from the off that this wouldn’t be a musical and so all those great songs from that soundtrack that I said at the time was one of my favourite Disney soundtracks were obviously out...but the way in which the score incorporated the main song “Reflection” is something we’ve already heard in the trailers and used very well played out here, then also two of the other songs “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” and “A Girl Worth Fighting For”, while not scored are referenced as lines from the songs are spoken by the Imperial Army soldiers at times.

Then speaking of ditching characters, Shang who is the main male lead of the 1998 animated Mulan is here split into two different characters. The commander of the Imperial Army played by Donnie Yen and then a soldier recruit in said army who acts as Mulan’s love interest...I think. I get the fact that these were the two sides of Shang’s character in the original...with the addition of dealing with the murder of his father...but it would have made more sense maybe to have the commander be “Shang’s” father rather than literally having Shang A and Shang B.

But while other fan-favourites were omitted, one new addition stole the show for me and that was Gong Li as Xian Lung aka The Witch as she’s referred to throughout in this movie. I thought the addition of magic to this adaptation was an interesting take because the original stands out for not relying so heavily on the fairytale aspects. I mean yes we have a talking dragon and ghostly ancestors, who also aren’t in this movie but are referenced a lot and responsible for the box kite phoenix, but the movie didn’t need magic per-say...here it is almost like the secret sauce for how the major players thrive.

This brings me onto my second pillar, brave...as in this movie takes some big old swings in the dark to not only try and stand out from the original but also be mature. Going back to the magic angle, chi is a massive part of this movie and it seems to be that if you’re an important fighter, you have it man or woman.

The only issue with that being the 1998 animated version of Mulan, despite being Disney, was one of the more grounded Renaissance movies as it didn’t rely heavily on the fantasy angle other than the talking dragon and ancestors.

So when you flip that around and tell me that not only does Mulan effectively have superpowers but also there is a major antagonist in this movie who can not only shapeshift but perform matrix-style Wire-Fu action which she somehow teaches the Rouran army, then it loses what made the original version special in that it didn’t rely so heavily on those fantastical elements.

That being said, despite a major problem with other Disney Live-Action remakes like The Lion King being that they rely too heavily on the source material, this remake is practically a different movie to the original 1998 version.

However, while a lot of the beats of the first half of this movie, and even the second half are met such as the Matchmaker scene, joining the Imperial Army, the avalanche battle and the Emperor being captured, the true emotional moments of the animated movie are completely gone.

That incredibly powerful scene after Mulan and her father argue and she is next seen crying at the Great Stone Dragon statue while watching her ailing father before deciding she must take his place and cuts her hair, disguises herself and leaves home in the middle of the night in the rain...here replaced with Mulan wielding her father’s sword, next she’s in the armor, then she’s travelling to the army camp...no powerful music, no visible emotion at how she comes to the resolve of leaving her family, nothing.

Even though there are no songs sung in this movie, the scene “Reflection” is originally sung in makes the song one of my favourite Disney Princess songs because of the fact it lyrically and visibly shows Mulan’s inner torment at being the outsider within her family and longing to be able to truly express herself. Here you have any resemblance of that scene taken out and instead go straight from the Matchmaker scene to the Imperial Army drafting scene.

As for the comedy, I understand the original animated version was more of a comedy-action movie as opposed to this one which is action-drama, but I don’t think I laughed once while watching this movie.

Yes, the original had Eddie Murphy as Mushu and that’s taken out here, but it also had the likeable funny trio of soldiers in the army. Here there are 5 of them, Shang-lite included, Yao and Chien-Po I think try to be despite not spending enough time on any of them to know who is who. There’s this newish character called Cricket who is supposed to be the substitute for Cri-Kee...but is a recruit in the Imperial Army instead of an insect and I had to look up to make sure it wasn’t Ned from the Spider-Man movies because they look so similar and try to force comedy despite not being particularly funny. Even the river shower scene from the original which was rather funny due to Mulan trying to hide the fact she’s a woman from the three guys, here it’s just Mulan and Shang-lite (Chen Honghui) and is played off more as some weird and awkward romance scene.

It is truly brave of Disney to try and appeal more to China than to Western audiences who loved the original movie and the comedy etc and this brings me on to the third pillar which is True, as in Disney trying to be true to China, it’s culture and respecting Mulan as a legend of China rather than a Disney Princess.

That being said, we definitely got more Chinese culture in this version than the original. Obviously you see a lot of China in the animated movie as the Imperial Army moves around a lot like they do here, but it’s never quite as cinematic as it is here. The 2020 live-action Mulan demands the attention of the big screen because for me watching it on my laptop, you can tell a lot of the establishing shots and landscape scenes were intended to be viewed on the silver screen.

Particularly the shots of people running up and down that vast staircase leading up to the Emperor’s palace, just imagining that in theatres impresses me.

Even shots like when you see wide views with either the phoenix or the witch in bird form soaring across the sky, you can tell it was meant to be viewed first on the big screen just to get that feeling of wonder because on a smaller screen it isn’t that impressive.

However, on the subject of “True” I do not understand how in-keeping with the original Chinese legend involved Chi being utilized as some sort of superpower equivelent to Avatar: The Last Airbender whereas in the original animated Disney version, which should really be the one emphasising the fantasy element, you’re either a good fighter or, in Mulan’s case for that movie, you’re not and have to train.

I understand how legends and mythologies can include fantastical elements because that’s what makes them as such, but if Disney want to tell me that in this movie Mulan is practically Wonder Woman because that’s how she is said to be in the legend then where the hell was that in the 1998 animated version because that Mulan is classed officially as a Disney Princess despite not being royalty or marrying royalty and having this type of power would at least qualify her to stand alongside the likes of Pocahontas and Moana.

Getting off the rant and moving to a compliment for a moment, I did appreciate the movie staying true to Chinese fashion because that really puzzled me about the original movie, how every man, woman and child effectively looked like they were wearing the same robes just in a different colour with maybe some different styling depending on if they were royalty or officials in some way.

But here, the Emperor definitely looked regal, the Witch looked regal but in that nomadic styling which was true to her character, and even though all the soldiers were wearing the same uniform, they all had something different enough about it.

Characters:

Alright so I’ve gone on enough generally, now I’m going to be more specific in terms of character, but because most of these characters aren’t fleshed out enough to warrant their own section, I’m listing who I feel are my three stand-out characters and then grouping the rest.

Mulan:

Obviously the movie is about Mulan so I have to start with her, and despite all the negative stuff which to be perfectly honest with you doesn’t overly concern me in regards to how Yifei Liu has been so adamantly in support of the Hong Kong Police drama, I’m judging her solely on how she plays the character here.

She was okay.

I mean this in the best way possible but, in a similar way to last year’s The Lion King remake, Yifei Liu was practically stone-faced the entirety of this movie. Good things happened, no expression, bad things happened, no expression, sad things happened, no expression. Especially when she was pretending to be a guy in the army camp it felt like her acting choice was “If Mulan was to show expression, it may give the game up”, it was just so rigid it made it hard to like her.

Speaking of her “undercover guise”, I know the original movie was animated and therefore the animators can get away with slightly altering the look of the character to make it believable and voices can even be changed as evidenced here with Jet Li...but I did not believe for a single second that Mulan could actually pass as a guy looking like how she looked. She didn’t cut her hair, her clothes weren’t particularly masculine, barely changed her voice and aside from having that leather brace/corsit to hide her chest there was no evidence as to how an entire army camp could not tell the second they saw her...maybe with the exception of Chen but I’ll get to that when I get to him.

Also, I touched on the Chi power thing beforehand, why was she was born with it? Why was it so powerful in her from an early age? None of this was explained, they hammered home the dangers of her having such strong Chi and that was also personified beautifully with Xian Lang aka The Witch as a kind of Ghost of Christmas Future visage, but the reason the original animated version worked so well was because she was flawed, clumsy and awkward yet also caring, strong-willed and outspoken. Really all they did here was take away all of those qualities that made her...you know...human and added the Chi power thing from the start so she didn’t have to learn to fight, she didn’t have to make this massive sacrifice as you know she’s probably going to prevail and again it made her unlikeable because there was no growth or real character development.

All except for the very end when the Emperor offers her a position on the royal guard rather than as an adviser like he does originally, and she rejects it here like she did then as well...but then she is asked again maybe two days later and we don’t get an answer but she probably says yes.

It’s quite clear they’re trying to tee up a sequel by the end of this movie, but there is so much negativity both to the movie and specifically the leading actress that I really don’t see this happening.

If a sequel was to happen it would most likely be Mulan’s struggles with being a female member in the emperor’s guard or even leading the team, but we saw her do that for the second half of this movie.

Literally the halfway point in this movie after a confrontation with Xian Lang, when Mulan’s father narrates how Mulan’s lie died but she herself lived and so she then decided to appear in front of the Imperial Army as a woman despite the obvious consequences I found stupid.

In the original it’s a mistake that she’s found out, it’s towards the end of the movie and she has to fight just for acceptance. Here she pretty much states the obvious in what she knows the villains are doing, suddenly she’s leading the fecking army...despite being told that if she shows her face again she will die...no death but just a promotion.

Finally while talking about Mulan, I can’t really not talk about that fantastic Ming-Na Wen cameo at the end of the movie. It was so great, I had heard prior to seeing the movie that she was going to be in it and so my eyes were peeled throughout the movie.

I love Ming-Na Wen and I do think she is one of very few to hit a Disney trifecta with being a Disney Princess, an MCU hero of sorts and a Star Wars character, though having recently finally seen The Mandalorian I have to say her part was exaggerated a bit considering the one episode she’s in.

It never dawned on me until it was brought up that I even needed Ming-Na to appear in this movie but having seen her I have to say I would be disappointed if she didn;t. Originally I would have suggested she maybe play Mulan’s mother as a type of passing on the torch, but the very fact that her one line and duty in the movie is to introduce Mulan to the emperor it does seem to have the same effect.

Xian Lang:

As I say, the Witch was my favourite character in this movie. Everything about her from when I first saw her in the trailers just worked for me. Her look was stunning, Gong-Li’s acting was on point, her story despite being a secondary antagonist based on the villain’s pet bird from the original movie was very compelling. The parallels between Mulan and Xian Lang were fascinating to see particularly with Xian Lang being a potential future cautionary tale for Mulan.

The first major scene when we see her use her powers was my favourite scene in the movie. I love a great power-set piece and we got to see a lot of the different fascets of Xian Lang’s power. From that gorgeous blend of coloured powders to act as a smokescreen for her shapeshifting, the weapon manifestation, using her sleeves as whips. It all worked so well and Mulan wasn’t even in the scene.

That being said, my next favourite scene is that confrontation between her and Mulan where Xian Lang is trying to get Mulan to admit who she is but she’s insistent on stating she’s her male name, so Xian Lang says “then you will die a lie” and knocks her into a rock which Mulan’s father then narrates “Mulan’s lie did die but Mulan lived”, it’s such powerful stuff and I wish the rest of the movie was as clever as that.

The Emperor:

The only other character I can really single out is Jet Li’s Emperor of China. I’m not a massive Jet Li fan, but I have seen him in a couple other movies and to my knowledge always in non-English speaking roles. However, I have also seen him in interviews so know the voice he has...this wasn’t it.

It was really distracting all the way through this movie because he looked regal, everything around him looked regal and powerful, but then he spoke and I was sat there pondering “Why is that not his voice?”. I mean I know how Hollywood likes to dub voices if the actors they hire don’t fit the roles vocally but do physically, but doing this not only to Jet Li who is one of the more famous Asian actors in Hollywood but any Asian actor in an entirely Asian cast does seem like a huge step backwards in representation particularly after Aladdin.

It reminded me a lot of Ray Park who is one of my favourite underrated actors. In some roles you see him and hear his voice like Toad in the first X-Men movie, however famously you only see him physically as Darth Maul in the Star Wars movies but have his voice dubbed by other actors.

All that aside, the actual character was a lot more fleshed out than in the original movie. I mean all you really need to know about him is that he’s the Emperor of China but here, because he’s Jet Li apparently in body only, he also has some kick-ass martial arts scenes.

Although, similar to the TV series Arrow, I do not understand how magic allows people to catch arrows fired at them, yet somehow Jet Li does and to be fair redirects it in a rather bad-ass way with Mulan doing a flip kick sending it straight into the chest of the main villain guy.

Hua Family:

As for Mulan’s family, I thought they were okay. Again I got more emotional from the original movie and I did miss the grandmother this time around and do not understand how the younger sister was a worthy substitute, but the actual parents were at least acted well.

It was great seeing Constance Wu in a dramatic role after seeing her in Freaky Friday, Tzi Ma was a surprisingly central role this time around as Mulan’s father with a lot more drama put on his character, in the original version you know Fa Zhou is injured from war so when he’s drafted again you can guess he may not survive. Here, Constance Wu states “Be brave for he won’t return this time”.

Imperial Army:

I didn’t like any of these guys, we spend little time getting to know any of them as individuals, maybe with the exception of Donnie Yen’s general character. Having said that, Chen either had to know that Mulan was a girl or simply be attracted to Mulan as a boy. But there were so many looks and so many times where you could tell that he knew but maybe wanted to protect her so didn’t let on.

Rourans:

I didn’t like the Huns in the original movie but at least they had individuality about them, the Rourans had nothing. Jason Scott Lee was obviously the Shan Yu of this movie but he did not have the intimidation factor that he had and really didn’t have a lot else to him.

The one plus about the Rourans is they seemed to take lessons from the Dothraki in Game of Thrones in how to not only ride into battle but battle while riding. It was very cool visually.

Recommendation:

By the time this review posts if you haven’t seen the movie yet you may not be inclined to and I don’t know if this review is really a promotion for it, but when someone asked me for my recommendation I did say it’s worth at least one viewing.

However, I would not pay the excess fee for it. I watched it for free and I feel $30 or however much it is here in the U.K. would feel a bit of a rip off despite the fact Disney+ allows for multiple users and so multiple viewings.

Overall I rate the movie a 6/10, it’s visually gorgeous, Gong-Li is the best thing about the movie and it is interesting to see what is different between versions. I just wouldn’t rank it up there as one of the best Disney Live-Action remakes, too much doesn’t make sense.

So that’s my review of Disney’s Live-Action Mulan, what did you guys think? Post your comments and check out more Disney Movie Reviews as well as other Movie Reviews and posts.

#disney #disney live-action #mulan #mulan 2020 #gong li #liu yifei #jet li #xian lang #li shang #mushu #shan yu

12 notes · View notes

mulanxiaojie · 5 years ago

Link

Disney is releasing a live-action remake of its 1998 animated film "Mulan" in March 2020.

Insider asked the original "Mulan" codirector Tony Bancroft and Mushu animator Tom Bancroft their thoughts on the remake along with its first trailer.

The twin brothers said they're interested in it for the same reasons which may make some fans upset. They're happy it doesn't look like the remake will feature Mushu or be a musical.

"I want these remakes to be as unique and original as possible... It should feel reminiscent of what it's based on, but not be 'The Lion King' in CG animation that is like shot for shot," said Tony Bancroft.

Tom said while he kind of wishes Mushu was in the movie a bit, he says he probably would have been "a little disappointed."

"Mulan" is one of the next Disney movies that's getting remade for a new generation, and already has the thumbs up of the team behind the original movie.

"I was excited about that," Tony Bancroft, the codirector of the original 1998 animated "Mulan," told Insider of the coming remake.

Tony, who worked at Disney Animation for over 12 years during its renaissance period, watched the trailer almost immediately after it came out in July. He remembers receiving a notification about it on his phone while walking to church. He stopped right then and there to watch it.

"Even though it was small and the sound wasn't great, I could see where the director was going with it," he said of his initial reaction to the teaser. "It felt like they were taking the best parts of the story — a girl who will do anything to save her father [and] bring her father and her family honor."

The 1998 film followed Hua Mulan as she took the place of her father in the Chinese army to fight the Huns. She chopped off her hair and disguised herself as a man in order to protect her father.

Production on the live-action movie started in August 2018 with Liu Yifei cast as the lead and starring Donnie Yen ("Star Wars: Rogue One") and Jet Li. The Niki Caro-directed film will be the company's 13th remake of one of its classics since 2010's "Alice in Wonderland."

When the first trailer was released, Bancroft noticed what most fans did. It didn't have any of the iconic songs people associate with the film like "Reflection" or "I'll Make a Man Out of You." That's because it won't be a musical. In 2017, Caro told Moviefone there were no songs in the movie at that time, describing it as a "martial arts epic."

More importantly, the trailer didn't have Mulan's dragon sidekick Mushu, who Bancroft's brother, Tom, animated in the 1998 film. Unlike the fans though, Tony actually liked that the trailer didn't feature either.

"All the things that a lot of fans are upset about are the things that I was happiest about because I really want them to go off and make a new version of 'Mulan.' I love that character. I love who she is," said Tony of being OK with the fact that the remake doesn't appear to have music or Mushu.

"I love what she represents and I love seeing more Chinese culture portrayed in a new different way," he said of Mulan.

Tony's brother, Tom, was also at Disney for about the same amount of time. The two started as interns before working full-time on, what became, many of the studio's classic animated fairy-tales.

Tom said his initial reaction to hearing about a "Mulan" remake was positive and made him eager to see how Caro and Disney would retell the story. After all, Tom and Tony have already seen a string of classics they worked on ("Beauty and the Beast," "Aladdin," and "The Lion King") remade by Disney. What's another one?

But then Tom started to have some questions.

"The fear sets in and immediately after that I'm like, 'OK, but how are they going to do Mushu? How are they going to do this sequence? Are they going to keep that really strong father-daughter relationship?" Tom told Insider of initial concerns for the remake. "When I saw the trailer, I was pleasantly relieved."

Even without Mushu? Yes, even without Mushu.

"A lot of people I know I think are surprised by that because I created Mushu, I should be really upset that Mushu's not in it. I'm really not," Tom said of people's reactions when they learn he's fine with the Eddie Murphy-voiced dragon not appearing in the trailer.

He's afraid he would probably be disappointed if Mushu was in the live-action remake.

"While I kind of wished he was [in the movie] a little bit, just to see how that would have happened, I probably would've been a little disappointed," Tom said of an adaptation of Mushu in a remake. "In a way, I think I dodged a bullet."

While Mushu isn't expected to be in the remake (it's been reported he may be replaced by a phoenix), Tom would love to see more of Mulan's relationship with her father in the new adaptation.

"I'm hoping they're going to show a training sequence when she was very young and that her dad would sneak her off and privately train her to be a warrior because that'll make even more sense later on." he said.

Have Walt Disney Studios or Caro reached out to Tony about the remake? No.

"Nothing," said Tony, who doesn't harbor any ill will, "I kind of understand that from the standpoint of the new director. Do you really want to go back and kind of regurgitate old ideas?"

"It's almost better that they work in their own vacuum of researching on their own to try and make it as unique as possible," he added. "I understand it from their standpoint, although it would be great if there was a nod to the original and the team and the directors that worked on those original ones."

According to a press release from Disney in August 2018, the live-action "Mulan" is an adaptation of the '98 animated film, but will also be based on the narrative poem "The Ballad of Mulan." Tom said if they're going back to the original poem, and if they've have already seen the original movie, he doesn't think they need any pointers from them.

"I'm not offended by that," said Tom of not hearing from anyone about the "Mulan" remake. "I've worked for the Disney corporation for so many years that I really don't expect that. Most of the departments don't talk to each other. It's such a big conglomerate."

That seems to be the case for the majority of the remakes. When Insider spoke with "Aladdin" codirector Ron Clements earlier this year, he said he didn't consult with anyone on the live-action remake. In 2017, "The Lion King" codirector Rob Minkoff said that new director Jon Favreau had shown him some of the VR technology that was used to create that remake.

After the trailer release, Tony said he has attempted to reach out to Caro on social media. He shared an early character design of Mulan on her horse which he was reminded of by a shot from the trailer.

"I wanted to show some support for the trailer so I posted online and tagged her on my posts," Tony said of trying to connect with the new director.

"I never heard anything back, so that's kind of a bummer," said Tony. "All I can hope is she isn't online very much."

While they may not be involved with the new 'Mulan' film, the Bancrofts are plenty busy these days teaching, animating, producing, and podcasting.

The Bancroft brothers left Disney in the early 2000s and worked on "VeggieTales." The two are passionate about 2D animation and currently teach animation at universities in California and Tennessee, go to animation expos and conventions, and cohost an animation podcast together, "The Bancroft Brothers Animation Podcast."

Tom is also producing a documentary called "Pencil Test" on the art of 2D animation and its future with interviews from animators like Glen Keane ("The Little Mermaid") and John Musker ("Moana"). You can watch a trailer for it here.

More than 20 years after its release, Tony's contribution to "Mulan" is still recognized worldwide as he continues to work on indie animated features.

"Most of them have connections to China," Tony said of most of his animation films being coproductions with China. "I have a lot of involvement with China these days because of 'Mulan' and they seem to be very interested in working with me on projects."

When it comes to the remake, which will hit theaters in March 2020, Tony says he's very supportive of where it's going as long as it's not a direct rehash of what has already been seen on screen.

"I want these remakes to be as unique and original as possible," said Tony of Disney's reimaginings. "It should feel reminiscent of what it's based on, but not be 'The Lion King' in CG animation that is like shot for shot."

11 notes · View notes

epic-summaries · 5 years ago

Text

List of opening launch Disney Plus animated Disney movie

Blah blah eff off Disney for almost all your choices with this streaming platform. (Seriously I do question a lot of the choices you are making Disney executives). But that’s not the point of this post. There are better people critiquing the business practices. I’m honestly just a simple person who is curious and clicked on a article telling me what will be available for streaming (and hopefully better quality torrents) on opening day.

This really is just me reacting to the animated movies they announced for opening day.

The list

101 Dalmatians - Any movie that I call a vault movie makes sense to be opening day movies. They are well loved classics.

A Goofy Movie - Sure? I’m not dissing the movie, I just assumed they would concentrate on the movies on the official Disney Classic list (57 movies in all). This is not listed as one of them.

An Extremely Goofy Movie - Whatever, you have the first one might as well have the sequel.

Bambi - Time to cry when Bambi’s mom dies. Same reaction as 101 Dalmatians.

Big Hero 6 - Newer movie, thanks for adding this lovely movie.

Fantasia - Where’s Fantasia 2000? You have an Extremely Goofy Movie on this list.

Frozen - MUST HAVE

Fun and Fancy Free - WWWWHHHHYYYY? You prioritized this one? It’s because the second half is a Mickey short? Because eff those domestic abusing bears.

Hercules - WOOT

Lady and the Tramp - makes sense because you have the live action one coming out the same day. Meaning you can compare lol.

Lilo & Stitch - YES!

Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers - Sure???

Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas - Sweet, just in time for Christmas.

Moana - Newer movie that is well loved 👍

Sleeping Beauty - YAY.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - Lets be honest as the first one this was probably first on their list.

Steamboat Willie - That means they will have animated shorts! I’m excited to see good quality version of old shorts! Seriously guys, you don’t how excited I am for good quality Classic Disney shorts. (Hoping people upload the good quality ones on YouTube.)

The Little Mermaid - YAY but just noticed where are the other big four Renaissance movies? No Beauty and the Beast? Lion King? Aladdin?

The Prince & The Pauper (1990) - More hope for the animated shorts. This is only there cause Mickey right?

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (short) - WWWWWHHHHHYYYY?! YOU HAVE FANTASIA. You don’t need this one! People just watch Fantasia.

The Sword in the Stone - OMG REALLY?! Did not expect this.

The Three Caballeros - OMG REALLY?! Though what about Saludos Amigos?

Zootopia - Well loved new movie. 👍

As someone who watches animated shorts on YouTube, I’m happy for the addition of Streamboat Willie because of some YouTube videos of Classic shorts are in terrible quality. And it’s not just because the shorts are from the ‘30s. (Me hoping these shorts will end up on YouTube.)

Also the only ‘90s classic animated movie is Hercules. It’s a weirder choice. (Little Mermaid came out in ‘89)

Where is Winnie the Pooh? Winnie the Pooh is literally your highest grossing franchise? It makes you more money then Star Wars! Is it because there is so much Winnie the Pooh media? Seriously guys, I want my good quality Boo to You Too! Winnie the Pooh. Or the Christmas one! Or the Frankenstein one. I have a lot of trouble finding that one on YouTube and torrents.

Source:

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.polygon.com/platform/amp/2019/9/3/20838384/disney-plus-shows-movies-star-wars-marvel-disney-channel-launch-titles-fall-2019

#also in a corner disappointed but not surprise that nightmate before christmas is not there #disney #disney +

6 notes · View notes

wonderfulworldofmichaelford · 7 years ago

Text

The Incredibles 2 review

I actually scrapped the entire original draft of this review after seeing the reactions to this film.

Every single reviewer I follow on YouTube, or almost every one it seems, has called this movie painfully average or mediocre. Most notably, Adam of YMS gave it a rather middling score and called it a cash grab sequel. And there are so many other reviewers calling this an average, middling film.

And I have to say… did we watch the same movie?

The only reviewer I really fully agree with is Critikal. His Moist Meter review truly hit the nail on the head, and it helped me put this sort of backlash against the film into context. See, what I think the issue is here is unrealistic expectations. The original film was a real game changer; it’s my favorite Pixar movie, a masterpiece that changed animation for the better and pushed Pixar to new heights. And then we have the sequel here, which came out 14 years after the original and unlike the Toy Story movies did not have real time progression, instead opting to pick up at the exact moment the first film ends. And I think the problem is people are expecting this movie to be a massive game-changing film like the first one because of this. None of these people tempered their expectations and expected to be blown away, and became disappointed when… they just got a fun, enjoyable film that doesn’t exactly outdo the original movie in any meaningful ways save the animation.

Considering The Incredibles is one of my favorite films - like, top 25 favorite levels of love - I tempered my expectations accordingly. I would never have gone into this expecting something BETTER; instead, I came in with a cautious optimism that this film would do justice to the original. And… it does! As a direct sequel, it carries on developing and fleshing out the characters we’re all familiar with. The film feels less like a sequel and more like an extension of the first film, and I mean that in the best way.

So what are the Incredibles up to this time? After their fight with the Underminer, the Incredibles gotta deal with the fact superheroes are illegal and their home is destroyed… that is, until the eccentric billionaire William Deavor and his sister Evelyn pop in to give them the opportunity to sway public opinion into giving superheroes legal status again. Because she causes the minimum amount of property damage during her heroics, Helen is chosen to be the debut hero to win the public trust. And while she’s off fighting the evil plans of the mysterious villain known as the Screenslaver, Bob has a different challenge, one that is equally dangerous: being a dad. He has to help Dash with his homework, help Violet deal with her issues with Tony, and try and take care of Jack-Jack, who he soon discovers has a combo platter of powers. Can Helen and Bob overcome the odds and show the world and their family how incredible they really are?

So this is definitely the kind of sequel that is really most effective if you watched the first one, but could still work fine as a standalone feature. The whole thing is really best if you’re familiar with the first film and already know these characters, because again, this film feels more like an extension of the first one, especially because of its immediate sequel status. If you’ve already seen this family go through the emotional wringer that is the first film, the sequel is a nice, refreshing break where the stakes are a bit lower and things are a lot less dark. Yeah, there’s still seriousness here but things are toned down, with much less gruesome mook massacres or people getting sucked into jet engines by their capes.

The plot here is a bit more simple and straightforward here, but that isn’t a big minus for me, because the plot is inhabited by these likable characters I am already attached to. Again, you really need to watch the first film to truly appreciate everything. Bob’s half of the story is probably what I love the most, because it has a lot of great dialogue, a lot of great parental connecting moments, the fantastic return of Edna Mode in all her glory, and perhaps the greatest fight scene in the film: Jack-Jack vs. a raccoon. Oh yeah. This fight is so inventive, fun, and well animated; to paraphrase Critikal, it just completely blows the final battle of Justice League out of the water. A baby fighting a raccoon is more entertaining than the grand finale of a big-budget superhero blockbuster. It’s really just nice to see Bob’s home life and how great of a parent he is, and while it’s toned down a bit, the scenes have that sense of realism and relatability the first film did.

Now that’s not to say Helen’s half is lacking, far from it; she actually gets some really kickass action scenes, including an awesome motorcycle chase where she uses her powers to their fullest extent and a trippy, visually impressive fight scene against Screenslaver. In general, it’s just really nice to see Helen take the spotlight. Still, this part of the movie is a lot more straightforward than the parts with Bob, to the point where you can kinda see where it’s going to end up, which of course leads to…

...the villain. Now here come some SPOILERS, though, I gotta be honest, this is hardly even a spoiler. The villain turns out to be - SHOCKER! - a twist villain! IN A DISNEY MOVIE?! Unheard of! I guess they really didn’t learn from Moana, and they’re content with repeating the same plot beats. In the defense of this film’s villain, she at least gets a good chunk of screentime post-reveal, but she just cannot live up to the awesomeness that was Syndrome, not in personality nor in voice acting. The villain, if you somehow don’t guess it as soon as she appears onscreen, is actually Evelyn. And I gotta stress, I don’t think she’s a bad villain, or that the nature of her ruins the film or anything… It’s just even with lowered expectations she’s pretty subpar. I do gotta give her props, though; unlike most twist villains she’s telegraphed a lot better, doesn’t really have a total 180 to her personality, and still has some good moments here and there, not to mention she actually gets a good chunk of screentime as a villain. It just doesn’t come close to how good Syndrome was. At the very least, her character Screenslaver has some really interesting depth to him.

This movie is fun and exciting, a really good time… and at the end of the day, it really just feels like a really good extension of the first film. Seeing Violet and Jack-Jack come into their own, having Bob’s parenting get focus, having tons of cool action sequences and awesome animation, all in the awesome retro aesthetic of the film’s universe… it’s all so great! But it comes with the caveat that it’s just not as good as the first film… but then again, what is? Go into this with the first film in your mind and with your expectations tempered, and I guarantee you will have a good time. This is a great movie; if the original is a 10 out of 10, this one is at least a 9. Give it a watch, and see your favorite characters go at it again. It’s not gonna tug at your heartstrings, or change the way you view the world, and it’s not going to alter cinema like the first film… but it does prove that these days, even if they aren’t necessarily better, sequels can still be damn good in their own right.

Does it surpass the original? No. Does it work as its own standalone film? To a degree yes, but it’s best viewed as an extension of the first film. Is it a fun, kickass ride regardless of either of those things? Oh hell yes.

Also Mr. Incredible says “crap.” I’m not kidding. “Crap” is used twice, a character says “damned,” and Frozone almost says “fuck.” If this doesn’t make you wanna see the movie, I don’t know what will.

#Review #movie review #The Incredibles #The Incredibles 2 #Elasti-Girl #Mr. Incredible #Brad Bird #Disney #Pixar #animated movie #superhero movie #sequel

63 notes · View notes

takaraphoenix · 7 years ago

Note

You know what? After watching the trailer for Ralph breaks the internet, I totally ship the Princesses with each other. I know you don't like lesbian ships, but whaddya think about these? (Eg: Tiana and aurora, merida with Moana)

*blinks slowly* Oh dear. If that is what you took from my post about female characters, then either I really expressed myself poorly or you misunderstood me by a mile. ôô

I love wlw ships. It’s why I try to always include at least one wlw ship in each of my fics. My problem is that female characters are never fleshed out enough for me to get very attached to them - writing fanfiction is a time-consuming thing, so I only write for the characters I truly love and most female characters are either too flat, or the franchise in question only offers like two or three female characters and there is just not much shipping opportunity for me to get overly invested. Just because I don’t have any that I love so much that I want to invest hours and days and weeks into writing about them doesn’t mean I don’t like them. Especially since I’m a lesbian. Actually, I am more likely to like canon wlw ships than canon mlm ships. ^^

Sorry. Had to clear that up. The idea of me not liking lesbian ships is disturbing for me so yeah... xD”

And yeees. The trailer was the first time that I had to think about a shared princess verse. Merida, Moana and Rapunzel as part of the Rise of the Big, Brave, Tangled Dragons at Sea thingy, sure, but all the princesses in one coherent universe...? Never really gone there.

The trailer definitely sold me on the idea of Cinderella and Pocahontas. For one, Cindy picking leaves out of Pocahontas’ hair, but another... this Cinderella is either wildly OoC, or she went through some things post movies, because Cinderella is not a violent person. Her smashing the shoe and being ready to attack is extremely out of character. Unless she got some self-defense lessons from her girlfriend.

Maybe Cindy and Thomas settled on being friends and Cinderella realized she really only went along with it because she wanted to get out of her abusive home. And don’t get me started on the shit-show that is Pocahontas’ canon love-life.

Snow White is definitely sticking to Florian though. She’s just a kid. So I don’t want to think about shipping her. But her having like a cute crush on the cute prince, sure. Mainly she is just like... the little sister all the princesses love and are protective of.

Mulan, sorry, really can’t ship her away from Shang. They’re the best canon Disney movie couple ever and the thought of breaking our disaster bi and his badass girlfriend up breaks my heart.

Same goes for Rapunzel, who with Flynn does come in second as best movie canon couple. So no shipping her off into the world of gays either.

Now, with Jasmine it’s a little different. Yes, I do ship her with Aladdin - but not just wit Aladdin. I ship them in an OT4 with Hercules and Megara. Meg and Jasmine are both strong and know to use their sex-appeal to their own gain. I totally ship those ladies, but I also ship them with their canon guys - and, rare one here, I ship their canon guys with each other too, ever since that Aladdin/Hercules crossover episode in the cartoons. So, they’re a total OT4.

Now back to the lesbians.

I kind of like the idea of Belle and Ariel together. Ariel loves the human world and Belle would just read all those amazing stories to her and in return, Ariel would tell her all about how it is under the sea. While I don’t have anything against Eric, I’m also not super fond of the ship so no problem there. And Belle and the Beast? Perhaps the singularly worst canon Disney couple. Seriously, the dude with anger issues keeps her as a captive until she loves him? Yeah, that’s healthy. Nope. Belle packs her talking cuttlery and leaves for a little mermaid. After all, she does not seem to have a problem with half-animal partners... ;D

Tiana has been OTPed with Charlotte ever since her movie. I imagine Charlotte squealing a lot every time she comes and visits her girlfriend in the princess room. *giggles*

And yeah, I mean, Moana and Merida are already OTP and I love writing them with my boys in the big messy modern animated movie crossover verse. But the trailer having them walk after each other and turn toward each other for the first reaction like they’re the ones they immediately seek out? Yes.

Lastly, my precious and beloved Aurora, the princess of my heart. I ship her with Maleficent. Not that abomination of a shitty live-action remake where Maleficent is suddenly winged and plays mommy to Aurora. That was just... filed under movies I wish I could erase from my mind. Nope. The gorgeous badass villain who turns into a dragon. I ship those two so much.

#Disney Princesses #Disney #Shipping #grandpenguintheorist

22 notes · View notes

victorious-harry · 7 years ago

Text

She’s driving me crazy, but I’m into it.

hi yes hello i really want to write a part two to this :-) ALSO IM REALLY PROUD OF THE FACT THAT Y/N IS NOT SKINNY AND IF YOU READ CLOSELY YOU CAN SEE THAT, HERES TOO MY BIG GIRLS (aka me too)

Harry stumbles into his childhood bedroom with the same walls, same posters, but a new girl in his bed. The blankets are up to her nose with her feet poking out at the end. She’s sound asleep with her eyelashes resting on top of her round cheeks. Just like he left her this morning. His old bedside fan is blowing full blast, creating a purr sending through your the air. The noon sun leaks through the curtain, but Y/N clearly isn’t being affected by it. Harry’s heart swells with adoration as he watches his love sleep. He doesn’t want to disturb her, but he doesn’t want to wait to kiss her either. So he plows his shoes off and cuddles up next to her. Resting his lanky arm on her wide hips, and slowly kissing her chubby neck to awake her. Y/N stirs slightly but remains in her slumbered state, “C'mon pet, ’s time to get up. Been asleep all day.” She groans, but doesn’t open her eyes. Harry runs his hands down her fleshy thighs, trying go wake her up more. “Babe.” Harry says a bit more sternly, “I’m up, Harry.” She bites. Harry rolls his eyes and smiles, Y/N has never been the one to wake up.

"Good. I’m hungry.“ He only says that to evoke a reaction, he just ate a few hours ago while out with us old high school mates. “Go eat then.” She grunts while turning over to face him. “Well someone’s a bit crabby,” Harry mentions while kissing her nose. “Hi Beautiful.” He says when her eyes finally open. “I’m so jet lagged.” He chuckles abit, “Wouldn’t have noticed.” She sticks her tongue out at him. “’S ma girl.” Y/N takes the opportunity to nuzzle her head into his neck, breathing deeply to take in his scent. He reacts by wrapping his arms around her and pulling her closer.

They lay there, intertwined in each other presence and silence for awhile until Y/N stomachs gurgles, that’s when Harry gets up, “Cmon pet, let’s get some food in ya.” Y/N whines at the loss of her boyfriends presence before her but doesn’t protest. She climbs off the old bed and throws her hair up. Y/N strips herself of her pajamas and grabs a t shirt of Harry’s from his suit case and spanx from hers. “Lemme brush my teeth.” She mumbles before grabbing her toothbrush and slides past Harry. Harry is waiting for her when she gets out leaning against the door frame with his arms and feet crossed. “You look beautiful.” Y/N doesn’t say anything but he notices the red appear on her round cheeks.

They make their way into the kitchen passing Anne in the living area, bidding their good mornings (more like good after noons). “What can I get ya, love?” Harry asks once they make it to the kitchen. Y/N is already pouring herself a cup of Oj, “You have cap'n crunch?” She asks, Harry raises an eyebrow, “Erm, what exactly is that?” Y/N gasps, horrified that he doesn’t have a clue what Cap'n crunch is, “How can you not know?” Harry laughs quietly, a bit puzzled, kinda holding his head down. Y/N rolls her eyes, “Its a cereal in the States. I forget you have different food here.” Harry immediately perks back up, “Oh. We have shreddies! And we have cheerios! They have those in America, I think.” Harry gets really excited once he makes his discovery, Y/N giggles at her cute boyfriend, “No, it’s okay, how about some french toast?” She asks, raising an eyebrow. “What’s that?” Y/N’s face falls, “O-M-G, do you really not know?” Y/N knows they certainly have that in England. Harry bursts out into a fit of laughter, “Of course I know what French Toast is, dork.” He tells her the while gathering the ingredients.

When Y/N finishes her meal, fighting off Harry all the while. (He said he wasn’t hungry when he was making Y/N’s food, but when Y/N got it, he magically got hungry.) They both settle in the living room watching TV with Anne. They were waiting for Harry’s rest of the family to come over so they could go to the beach. While watching Moana when Y/N realizes that she should probably go find her swimsuit and start to get ready. “Gonna go get ready.” She told Harry when she got off the couch. “Behind you.” He replied and followed her to the room.

Harry grabbed both of their suitcases and put them on the bed, Y/N found her bathing suit and started to put it on. Harry gawked at her the whole time. He couldn’t get over the way her wide hips look in we high waisted bottoms, and creating the illusion of a slimmer waist. Of course, Y/N didn’t need a slimmer waist for her to be beautiful. “You good?” Y/N asked, pulling Harry out of the trance he was in, imagining her on her knees chocking on his cock. “Actually, no,” He replied, walking to her and grabbing her hips, pulling them close to her own. “Can’t get over the scene of you on your knees begging for ma cock.” Harry started to work his way down her neck leaving lazy kisses. “Harry, not here. You know how loud I am.” He hummed into her neck, “Guess I’m jus gonna have to cover your mouth then, pet.” Harry rasps in her ear, already making her wet.

He slides his hand down to her already heated core, playing at her hole, “Its a crime, really, going out in this, where people can see you this way,” Harry whispers, teasing her while nibbling on her ear. “I’m the only who should be able to see you this way..” Y/N moans slightly when he finally enters a finger in her, pumping evenly, “Let’s get you out of this, yeah?” His lanky fingers are already at her bikini top, working it until it unclamps and reveals Y/N’s breasts. “God, pet, look ’s good.” He hums while sucking on her left breast. Y/N hands tangle their way into his dark locks, pulling at them, trying to keep her self quiet from the pleasure rolling through her. Harry laughs a bit against her when she moans and then squeaks and covers her own mouth as she realizes her action.

"Gonna have to be a bit quieter.“ He mumbles against her skin as he pushes her to the bed, ridding her of bottoms and his shirt. “Is the door locked?” She asks Harry while he’s leaving a trail of wet kisses down her stomach, he hums in an attempt to tell her yes. Harry’s tongue plunges into her, eliciting a moan from her. Harry’s hand flings to her mouth and applies pressure, silencing her. “C'mon pet, you can’t be loud. Gonna get caught.” His tongue is working circles around her clit now, Y/N feels her self tighten, and before she can release Harry ceases his actions. "Wanna feel you come.“ He claims and flips her over, she’s on her arms and knees now, waiting patiently for Harry to enter her.

When he finally slips off his boxers and glides in her, it’s a feeling so exquisite she can’t help the dirty moans that fly out of her throat. Harry clamps her mouth shut with his. Harry can’t keep her quiet because the feeling of Harry thrusting his hips into hers while her mouth is covered is something she will never be able to get over. Harry might have just helped her discover a new kink. With Harry’s other hand he gently slaps his hand against her ass, easy enough to make little noise but hard enough to leave mark where his rose ring met her flesh. Her neck is soon littered with dark marks, and Y/N can feel the marks being created but at this point she just can’t seem to care. Because the way Harry is groaning her name in her ear is enough to send her over the edge. She climaxes hard, clenching around Harry’s soon twitching cock. "So good ‘f me pet. Could watch you come all day.” They collapse on the bed talking for a few minutes until they hear his family burst through the door.

While at the beach, Y/N decides she wants to sun bathe. She stands up next to where Harry is sitting, stripping herself of the denim shorts that covered her. Harry’s eyes bulge out of his head when he looks at her ass. Still perfectly imprinted into her ass is his ring. His cheeks flair up with redness as he grabs the closet towel, and wraps it around her large waist. “Haz, what-” Y/N tries to ask, but he’s already pulling her close looking around to see if anybody has noticed, “My rings gotcha, gonna have to cover it with makeup, you have it, yeah?” Y/N cheeks flair up, “Oh my God” She mutters to her self, Harry laughs, “Sorry….looks good though, might have to do it again.”

#harry styles #one direction #harry styles imagine #harry styles blurb #harry styles smut #harry styles drabble #harry styles one shot #body postivity

308 notes · View notes

shelllessturtle · 7 years ago

Conversation

Behind the scenes of this livetext: Mycroft gets a new phone and identifies Iago via haiku; Iago sees Hamilton; "Pride and Prejudice but in Starfleet" becomes a thing; Iago quits their job; SO MANY PUNS; and it turns out that Mycroft has never finished Avatar: the Last Airbender. A year in the making (I'm not even fucking kidding), I present you with: Iago Reads Wizards At War (lightly edited for ease of reading)

Mycroft: Better start bracing yourself for book 8 now

Iago: Oh sweet Jesus

Mycroft: There, no you can't say I didn't warn you

Iago: But you /know/ it's funnier when I get to threaten you with gruesome death!

Iago: Are you ready for this?

Iago: ...one of the chapter titles is "Acceptable Losses". /I/ am not ready for this.

Iago: Nita needs a vacation from her vacation. Nita sweetie...

Iago: "Neets, is it true he destroyed a whole alien culture in just ten days?" Carmela Rodriguez is my Patronus

Mycroft: Right?

Mycroft: She just keeps getting better

Iago: Roll call at the Callahan home: "three humans, one humanoid, one tree, and one giant bug" and I'm quietly cackling in public

Iago: "The centipede pointed a couple spare eyes at the Christmas tree." Taken out of context, I think that may be the most bizarre sentence I've ever read. In context, it makes perfect sense. I don't know which amuses me more.

Mycroft: Yesssss

Iago: "But her mom had loved those lilacs, and wouldn't be seeing them again." OKAY OW

Iago: Oh sweet minty Jesus

Iago: You weren't wrong.

Iago: And I wasn't prepared.

Mycroft: So not prepared

Mycroft: What's that in response to specifically?

Iago: Basically the entire series of events leading to Kit and Nita becoming Seniors

Mycroft: BASICALLY

Mycroft: IT'S ALL GONE TO SHIT

Iago: Descriptions of wizardries in action never fail to be beautiful

Iago: "The changes in the structure of space then start affecting the thought processes and reactions of all living beings in the area. Their behavior will start to become less and less rational...less committed to Life."

SHE WROTE THIS BOOK OVER A DECADE AGO HOW IS IT SO RELEVANT RIGHT NOW

Mycroft: Oh you have no idea

Iago: God help my soul

Mycroft: So yes, welcome to Tom's Wizardly PowerPoint of universal doom

Iago: I should just go see Moana again. It's far less depressing

Iago: "Uh-oh". Now Nita's getting in on it

Mycroft: Indeed

Iago: Looks like Nita's playing "fake it 'til you make it"

Iago: I don't know if that's good or bad, to be honest

Mycroft: Fairly characteristic tho

Iago: True

Iago: "...yet another lollipop sticking out of his face." That is the greatest description of someone with a sucker in their mouth that I've ever witnessed

Mycroft: Roshaun and his lollipop addiction

Mycroft: The real OTP

Iago: *chokes* oh my gOD

Iago: Sker'ret just called Nita "Senior". I think both Nita and I had a quick internal freak-out

Iago: THEY STILL HAVE BETTY CALLAHAN'S NUMBER IN THEIR HOME PHONE I'M GOING TO GO CRY IN A CORNER

Mycroft: ;__;

Iago: "The universe has started expanding too fast, and we have to stop it before it tears itself apart."

"Um. Okay, I see why you might need a few extra days off for that."

*slightly hysterical laughter*

Mycroft: Same

Iago: "Two weeks to save the universe". Sounds like an album title

Mycroft: I'd listen to it

Iago: "What /is/ grenfelzing, exactly?"

"It's kind of like emmfozing, but with chocolate."

Have I ever mentioned that I both hate and love your ability to quote these goddamn books at me when I ask questions?

Mycroft: I can't recall, but I'm glad to hear it

Mycroft: Also I mean that's the only canon explanation so really, what else could I say

Iago: But you quoted it /word for word/

Mycroft: Admittedly, that was at least partially For The Meme

Iago: I'll allow it

Iago: "...a brief, profound case of amnesia. They'd instantly forgotten why they were there" sounds like my life

Iago: Oh my god what is Spot doing with the TV

Iago: *whispers* How bad is it that my mind is currently in the gutter

Mycroft: Dataaaaaa

Iago: AM I JUST A PERVERT OR DOES THAT SOUND INCREDIBLY DIRTY

Mycroft: It's certainly something

Iago: "But most of the aliens are here for the cocoa plants." Well, I can't exactly blame them...

Iago: Carmela Rodriguez remains a gift

Iago: Oh god Ronan's back

Mycroft: Yessssss Carmela and Ronan

Mycroft: A dangerous combination

Iago: Ronan keeps the Spear in a pen

Iago: *checks date published*

Iago: Feels a bit Percy Jackson to me

Iago: Carmela has the insta-hots for Ronan. This is gonna be fun

Iago: "The fucking heir of an almighty something or other" is still a really good description for Roshaun. In case you were wondering if I had warmed up to him any more

Iago: WHALE

Iago: WHALE ON THE MOON

Iago: Whale On The Moon is the name of my new techno jazz band

Mycroft: Can I join?

Mycroft: I'll learn any new instrument you need

Iago: ...having thought about it, I'm legitimately not certain what instruments would be /played/ in a techno jazz band. So, I mean, if you want to learn the synthesizer...

Iago: Young Wizards book 8 alternate title: Wizards' Reunion

Iago: Lots of air quotes going on right now

Iago: ....I want Darryl's manual

Iago: "Where's your adjunct talent?"

"Playing with rocks, as usual."

Okay now I really want a puppy

Iago: "Twychild". Have I mentioned lately that the worldbuilding in these books gives me a case of the warm fuzzies?

Mycroft: Yesssss Tuyet and Nguyet

Iago: *whispers* Why is there a thought-voice talking in second-person in Kit's head

Iago: The description of Roshaun's living space send help

Iago: "A three-way collision between an antique furniture warehouse, a jewelry story, and a Gothic cathedral carved and decorated by the artistically insane."

Iago: So my brain has given Roshaun's father the voice of Mark Hamill.

Iago: There's a decent chance I'm going to just call him the Phoenix King

Iago: "Speaking truth to power is never 'out'." DAIRINE REMAINS GOD

Iago: (Also if I ever go to a protest I'm putting that on my sign.)

Mycroft: Yessss do it

Mycroft: And which kind of Mark Hamill are we talking here: Skywalker, Firelord or Joker?

Iago: Firelord. Thus the Phoenix King comment

Iago: Oh my god Dairine in the face of implications that she and Roshaun are ~involved~

Mycroft: Blessss

Iago: "You tell those people that they are completely nuts!"

Iago: Did...did Roshaun just /whine/ at his mother?

Mycroft: Yes

Mycroft: Not so dignified now

Iago: *falls off the table in laughter*

Iago: Oh god is Roshaun developing a Thing for Dairine

Mycroft: WELCOME TO THE MADDENING AMBIGUITY

Iago: MADDENING AMBIGUITY IS THE NAME OF MY NEW POLITICAL PUNK BAND

Mycroft: Bless

Iago: This is my favorite game

Mycroft: I know a fair few YW fans who have a particular talent for it

Iago: I have a list. I use them in my stories for bands my characters like

Mycroft: Most excellent

Iago: Ponch wants blue food

Mycroft: As do we all

Iago: I /could/ go for some blue Jolly Ranchers

Iago: Ponch, to Ronan: "You two just talk among yourselves."

Dog sass is best sass

Iago: "It's math, Kit, but not as we know it."

SHE. SHE JUST. SHE FUCKING DID THAT ON PURPOSE

Iago: I'm going to go curl up in a corner and cry with laughter now

Mycroft: Yup

Mycroft: What a nerd, right

Iago: Pot, kettle

Iago: Oh shit Sker'ret is having a fight with his parent

Iago: ...I currently have a desire to cuddle what amounts to a giant centipede. What have you done to me

Mycroft: The magic of Young Wizards

Iago: That was terrible

Iago: But, then again, I love terrible

Iago: Okay so the description of dark matter

Mycroft: Yes?

Iago: I feel like I have something crawling around under my skin

Mycroft: It's unsettling, isn't it

Mycroft: That gets worse

Iago: Oh god

Iago: "Nita for the first time actually saw someone else look out of Ronan's eyes. The expression was one of recognition coupled with a very controlled anger. The one who looked out had seen something like this before."

Oh. Shit. Oh /shit/.

Mycroft: Yessssss

Mycroft: Shit just got real

Iago: I am not prepared for this

Mycroft: Correct

Iago: GIGO

Mycroft: :D

Iago: "For transits like this, we temporarily rewrite the kernel that manages local gravity and mass in our solar system. It's no big deal."

oh my gOD

Iago: They are actually Dairine's children

Mycroft: They've been busy since we last saw them

Mycroft: And it's awesome

Iago: "A world of true computer wizards" get the fuck out

Iago: They're actually calling her Mother s e n d h e l p

Mycroft: RIGHT

Iago: I'm not crying you're crying

Mycroft: I'm not crying I'm eating a quaesadilla

Mycroft: The crying one must be you

Iago: Well I can't see to tell you so who knows

Iago: "Guys," [Dairine] said after a moment, "you make me proud."

"That is our other purpose," Beanpole said. "Our first one."

Iago: I A M D E A D

Mycroft: I knowwww

Iago: "Life's all the time sending /me/ messages I can't read." [Dairine] flicked just a second's glance at Roshaun, who she was starting to think was yet another of those messages.

Iago: Oh lordy

Iago: Oh god above send help

Iago: Spot's becoming less of a machine, more alive. I don't know if I'm in support of this change

Mycroft: Everyone needs upgrades now and then :P

Iago: I don't like change

Iago: I kind of adore the mobiles all bowing to Dairine

Iago: Roshaun raised his eyebrows and produced another lollipop, which he held out to her.

"How many of those things do you have?" Dairine said.

"Not nearly enough," Roshaun said.

Iago: Please excuse me while I go laugh myself sick

Mycroft: Roshaun has his priorities in order

Mycroft: There was always a jar of lollipops on hand at CrossingsCon in his honor

Iago: Perfect

Iago: "I'll give you a dysfunction where you'll have trouble finding it again."

Totally stealing that don't even care

Mycroft: Excellent

Iago: "I may be a mother, but you are /mine/."

Maybe I didn't take enough time to recover after finishing The Slow Regard of Silent Things I'm going to go collapse in an emotional heap

Mycroft: So many Dairine feels, I knowww

Iago: "Enthusiasmic incorporation of the Hesper--"

What? What?! What does it say? What does it mean? I NEED TO KNOW

Mycroft: [rubs hands together; evil laughter] I'M SAYING NOTHING

Iago: Oh god is time moving faster on Metemne

Mycroft: MAYBE

Iago: Oh fuck it's relativity isn't it. Because they're near the source of the dark matter, they're moving faster than the rest of the Universe

Mycroft: Very possible

Iago: Oh no. Introduction of Della Cantrell and MY EMOTIONS CAN'T TAKE THIS HALP

Mycroft: Oh boy

Iago: Nita's phone call to her dad. Direct hit to the feels.

Mycroft: Harry Callahan is such a good dad

Iago: That is part of why it hurts so much

Iago: "Nita, could you please get off me before we accidentally become more than just good friends?"

*cackles maniacally*

Mycroft: BEST

Iago: Holy fucking sHIT ALMOND SPIDERS WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK

Mycroft: Wait what

Mycroft: Remind me of the context for that

Iago: On Rashah. The creatures destroying the trees are almond-shaped and have eight legs. Almond spiders

Mycroft: Oh ok that's what I figured

Mycroft: HELLO TO OUR TERRIFYING NEW ALIEN FRIENDS

Iago: ALMOND SPIDERS. WHY.

Mycroft: WHY NOT

Iago: "They've been fighting each other, on and off, for /millions/ of years?"

"They must be really enjoying it, to keep the war going so long."

Sker'ret is so great

Mycroft: Rashah is not exactly a great vacation destination, that's for sure

Iago: Oh sweet minty Jesus the almond spiders are a remnant after an atomic holocaust I need a drink

Iago: And...they're all avatars...of the Lone Wanker. Better make that two drinks.

Mycroft: WELCOME TO RADIOACTIVE POSSESSED WAR-MONGERING GIANT SPIDER CULT WORLD

Mycroft: ENJOY YOUR STAY

Iago: Where is Nita's dad

Iago: I am Concerned

Iago: Also

Iago: I will never get tired of the "check your spelling" joke

Mycroft: Same

Iago: "Words had just failed Dairine." Gods above have mercy on us all

Mycroft: I appreciate that the narration pauses to note how unthinkable that is

Iago: Also, a "bright" version of the Lone Power

Iago: What does that mean

Iago: Why is bright in quotes

Mycroft: To indicate it's kind of a rough description of a more complex subject, mostly

Iago: But does it mean that we're getting a version of the Lone Power that's more on the good side or a version that's worse than usual

Mycroft: There's more explanation later, but basically picture the LP's non-evil twin

Mycroft: Like its opposite, basically

Iago: I thought /you/ were refusing to give spoilers

Mycroft: Meh, I saw that as more clarification on what you already read, ymmv

Mycroft: But stay tuned

Iago: Well obviously

Iago: Nita doesn't like shooting people who are shooting at her

Mycroft: Krakens don't count but I don't think they were as sentient

Iago: "I'm a wizard, not an engineer" goddammit /again/?!

Mycroft: Yesss

Iago: I shall take myself off to the laughing corner

Iago: Oh god self-destruct at the Crossings

Mycroft: Kind of a terrifying prospect

Iago: Nita just blew up a giant gun

Mycroft: Yesss

Iago: "High-fiving a giant centipede can take a while."

Up next on Winning Understatements....

Mycroft: That is so fun to picture

Iago: I know!

Iago: "I don't wear socks."

"Just as well. You'd bankrupt yourself."

That is /also/ fun to picture

Mycroft: As an antidote to the tense battle scene, have a bunch of centipede leg jokes

Iago: Pretty much

Iago: Wait

Iago: /Carmela/?!

Mycroft: Hahahaha yesss

Mycroft: THE GLORIOUS RETURN

Iago: What

Iago: WHAT

Iago: Okay, Sker'ret just /swallowed/ the self-destruct panel

Mycroft: He's got a talent for that kind of thing

Iago: Which, I mean, okay, great way to not lose it

Iago: But

Iago: Can't he digest, like, /everything/?

Iago: And the self-destruct sequence is still going?

Iago: What happens if he takes too long to get the panel back out?

Mycroft: Rirhait stomach work in mysterious ways

Iago: ...is that the canon explanation or your way of saying "don't think about it too hard"

Mycroft: Yes

Iago: Why did I let you talk me into this

Mycroft: Because it's awesome, come on

Iago: Ugh

Iago: *quiet noises of agreement*

Iago: "So I took steps." CARMELA

Iago: (Carmela is the reason I let you talk me into this.)

Mycroft: That's the best answer

Mycroft: This book is Peak Carmela honestly

Iago: *whispers emphatically* Juanita Louise

Mycroft: Yessssss

Iago: Carmela just referred to Filif as "my favorite Christmas tree" and Carmela is all of us in that moment

Mycroft: So true

Mycroft: Filif is tree-mendous

Iago: I fucking hate you so much right now. :b

Mycroft: :D

Iago: "We are on errantry, and we greet you."

"Not that you particularly /merit/ greeting." Nita pls

Mycroft: She's earned the right to some snark, I'd say

Iago: Clearly

Iago: "You get more honey with flies. Wait a minute, that's not how it goes." CARMELA PLS

Mycroft: Oh my god

Mycroft: Get ready for another legendary Carmela moment

Iago: IS SHE BRIBING THE TAWALF WITH CHOCOLATE

Iago: FUCKING SHIT YES SHE IS

Mycroft: YEAH

Mycroft: And now you know why this book made Carmela everyone's favorite

Iago: I'M SO PLEASED WITH THIS

Iago: I mean Dairine is always going to be my eternal favorite but yeah Carmela's a close second

Mycroft: Relatable

Iago: Oh my god now she's threatening to /eat/ the chocolate right in front of them I'm crying

Mycroft: I KNOW RIGHT

Iago: Ponch the almond spider is trying to catch his non-existent tail

Mycroft: Omfg I forgot about that

Iago: It's a hilarious picture

Iago: I think I just witnessed a cult gathering

Iago: "You let me worry about this planet, and I'll let you worry about all the others." HARRY CALLAHAN IS BEST DAD

Mycroft: THE VERY BEST

Iago: NO

Iago: NONONONONO

Iago: TOM AND CARL HAVE FORGOTTEN THEIR WIZARDRY

Mycroft: AH YOU'VE GOTTEN TO THAT PART

Mycroft: WELCOME TO HEARTBREAK CITY, POPULATION YOU

Mycroft: And also Nita

Iago: S E N D H E L P

Iago: Wait are Rirhait mostly purple

Iago: Because if yes than they are my new favorites

Mycroft: They also come in blue, green, and pink, but yeah

Mycroft: I'm pretty sure Sker'ret in particular is purple

Iago: Well I saw that but the book makes a point to say that there are a /lot/ of shades of purple and I fucking love purple

Mycroft: You're in luck, then

Iago: "I would never lose my balance. I am a paragon of grace and stability."

"Oh, yeah. Who said /that/?"

"Roshaun."

Someone help me

Iago: I cannot

Mycroft: Pffft

Mycroft: Classic Roshaun

Iago: Kit is hiding his eyes from "sex stuff" and I'm laughing

Iago: "My dog brings home strays." Kit your dog is a fucking gift

Iago: A ducking gift who knows how to work a situation to get dog treats

Iago: And...and then he gave the treat to the Yaldiv that he brought home.

Iago: Ponch is a good dog.

Mycroft: Ponch is a good dog

Iago: "What is it with these Callahan women that they're always after yelling at you and giving you grief?"

"Not always. Just when it's going to get most on your nerves."

Kit just be glad Nita isn't here because she'd sock you

Iago: Oh

Iago: Oh shit

Iago: Just head the story of the dogs' Choice

Iago: And

Iago: everything is fine

Iago: EVERYTHING IS FINE MYCROFT

Mycroft: E V E R Y T H I N G I S F I N E

Iago: "Even when people mean to do good things, bad things happen in the world."

"They're happening already. Pretending they're not won't help."

Memeki the almond spider is speaking to my soul I'm gonna go start a revolution now

Mycroft: Yes please do

Iago: ALMOND SPIDER ATTACK OH GOD

Mycroft: I'm greatly enjoying your dedication to calling the Yaldiv almond spiders

Iago: NITA AND CARMELA TO THE RESCUE FUCK YEAH

Iago: WAIT WAS THE "THING" NITA WAS SUPPOSED TO GO BACK AND GET ACTUALLY /CARMELA/?!

Iago: BECAUSE THAT WOULD BE THE FUCKING GREATEST

Iago: Also

Iago: What does it mean that Memeki was honored by the Great One

Iago: Is she pregnant

Iago: Is she being nommed from the inside

Iago: Oh. Oh shit. What does Memeki mean by "my time"

Iago: CALLED IT ASSFACES

Iago: I mean

Iago: She's not currently getting et

Iago: But

Iago: Eggses

Iago: EGGSES, PRECIOUS

Iago: ACK NO WHY WITH THE MEMORIES OF BETTY I AM NEVER PREPARED FOR THOSE

Iago: Okay apparently the thing Nita was supposed to bring was /not/ in fact Carmela but rather hEART-WRENCHING MEMORIES OF HER MOTHER'S DEATH

Iago: Oh god Carmela is yanking Kit's chain about having found a manual and I'm experiencing emotional whiplash halp

Mycroft: Carmela is dedicated to yanking as many chains as possible, the audience's included

Iago: THEY'RE ALL LOST THEIR WIZARDRY SEND HELP

Iago: ROSHAUN IS ON HIS DIGNITY SEND A DIFFERENT KIND OF HELP

Iago: *inhuman screeching*

Iago: ACK NO YOU ABSOLUTE WANKHOLE GET YOUR DIRTY POWERS OFF CARMELA

Iago: "Oops," said Carmela...and, very slowly, smiled.

Mycroft: OOPS

Mycroft: The holy grail of Carmela badass

Iago: *screams a lot*

Iago: *so much screaming*

Iago: Oh, now This Bitch is rising from the ashes, because obviously

Iago: *snarls a lot*

Iago: *basically continuous snarling*

Iago: RONAN

Iago: R O N A N

Iago: *screams forever*

Iago: *interrupts eternal screaming for a breath* oh yes Sker'ret is in fact purple *continues screaming*

Iago: ROSHAUN WHAT ARE YOU DOING

Iago: ROSHAUN

Mycroft: ROSHAAAAUN

Iago: *still screaming*

Iago: WHAT THE HAP IS FUCKENING

Iago: WHY IS THE TRANSCENDENT PIG HERE

Iago: WHY IS PONCH A SHADOW DOG

Iago: P O N C H

Iago: PONCH IS SUCH A GOOD DOG

Mycroft: PONCH IS THE BEST DOG

Iago: *cries forever*

Iago: *is also still screaming*

Iago: TOM AND CARL ARE BACK

Iago: BUT ON THE OTHER HAND PONCH

Iago: PONCH

Iago: PONCH IS BACK

Iago: HE'S A SHEEPDOG NOW BUT HE'S PONCH

Iago: TOTALLY CRYING RIGHT NOW BECAUSE IT'S ALWAYS THE ANIMALS THAT GET TO ME

Iago: IT'S THE END OF THE BOOK AND THE DOG TECHNICALLY DIDN'T DIE

Mycroft: The dog did the opposite of dying, ultimately

Iago: PLEASE EXCUSE ME WHILE I COLLAPSE ON THIS BED AND SOB WITH JOY

Iago: Okay I'm going to go collapse in an emotionally exhausted heap and probably read all of A Wizard of Mars tomorrow. So. Be ready for that.

Mycroft: CONGRATS you made it to the last stop on the emotional roller coaster that is Wizards at War

Mycroft: You win a free trip to Mars

Mycroft: Where definitely nothing will go wrong

#from the Wordsmith #let's have a quick chat #Young Wizards #Wizards at War #Iago Reads Young Wizards #Iago Reads Wizards at War #Nita Callahan #Kit Rodriguez #Dairine is actually god #Carmela Rodriguez: omnisexual #everyone's favorite Christmas tree #the fucking heir of an almighty something or other #centipedes in socks #Harry Callahan is Best Dad #Iago plays the reference game #And Iago isn't the only one playing #not you dd #(yes you)#exploding koalas

27 notes · View notes

sapienveneficus · 7 years ago

Text

When Everything's a 10: A Lesson in Effective Activism

So, I'm doing it. I normally try to avoid fandom drama because tumblr is my happy place. However, I can't sit by and see post after post of nonsense without speaking up. So, here goes nothing; let's dive into the Felix/Dan and Phil birthday party catastrophe.

A comedian I enjoy has a theory about activism that I think is spot on. He calls it “when everything's a 10″, and it goes something like this: if people react to every situation with the same extreme intensity, that reaction will diminish the power of their words and ultimately hurt their ability to further their cause, whatever that cause may be.

The recent presidential election here in the US is a good example of this phenomenon. In the months leading up to the election, political activists pinned just about every negative label there is on, then candidate, Donald Trump. He was a sexist, a misogynist, a homophobe, a transphobe, an ableist, a racist, and just about every other “ist” there is out there. And yet, those powerful words, those negative labels, weren't enough to cost him the election. Why weren't the millions of Americans who ultimately voted for him swayed by those words? Well, because over the years, those words had all but lost their power due to overuse.

I imagine this was the basic thought process of most moderate voters who ended up voting for Trump. “Okay, so everyone's saying Trump's this racist, sexist, bigoted homophobe, basically Hitler incarnate. Wait a sec, I thought Mitt Romney was a racist, sexist, bigoted homophobe. And before him, John McCain,and before him, President Bush. So, maybe Trump's not so bad after all.” And there lies the problem. Wherever you stand politically (right, left, center, off the spectrum entirely) I think everyone could agree that the four most recent Republic nominees for president (listed above) are by no means identical. Not in terms of careers, platforms, stated values, policies, or actions. And yet, the same rhetoric has been hurled at each of them in turn. Activists, no doubt well-meaning people, tend to be prone to outrage. In attempting to call out problems, they often fail to properly classify or prioritize the problems. Instead, they've make everything a 10.

Slavery? 10; Jim Crow Laws? 10; Black face? 10; White rappers? 10; Algebra and Geometry? 10 Little girls wanting to dress up like Moana for Halloween? 10 (those last two are recent real-life examples, btw).

How are reasonable people meant to tackle real issues head on when everything's a 10? More importantly, how is any group going to be taken seriously by the general public when they're outraged over literally anything and everything? Short answer, they're not. Worse yet, when real 10s come along these groups, that have for so long been outraged over nothing, won't be heard or heeded.

Okay, enough politics, let's talk about Dan and Phil. Because this phenomenon is not limited to the real world. If anything, I'd say it's even more of an issue for online communities like tumblr. The buzz these past few days has been that Dan and Phil have done something horribly problematic. They've crossed a line and need to be called out. They need to be taken to task for their problematic actions. These are the sorts of phrases I've seen peppered about when scrolling through the phan tag.

I'd like to propose that we take a step back from all the drama and try to look at the situation logically for a moment. What, precisely, did Dan and Phil do that was so terrible? Well, they went to a friend's birthday party. “But wait,” you might be saying to yourself, “they didn't just go to any old birthday party. No, they went to a party celebrating the birth of PewDiePie's girlfriend. And PewDiePie (or Felix), as you well know, is horribly problematic. He's used an actual racial slur in one of his videos! By attending that party, Dan and Phil were supporting everything Felix has ever done. They're supporting it with their silence, and they need to be called out for their complacency and problematic behavior!”

Okay, but do you hear yourself right now? Dan and Phil went to a birthday party that, yes, Felix also attended. And? And nothing. They were there to celebrate a friend's birthday. Let's put aside the fact that Dan shared, on last week's liveshow, that he planned to have a conversation with Felix about some of the things that have happened recently. Because it would be ridiculous to argue against such a plan. Let's instead look at what the outraged group wanted out of this situation and how that desire ultimately helps or hinders their cause. People who were upset by their attendance at this party seemed to want Dan and Phil to publicly disavow Felix and never be in the same room with him again. EVER. What, exactly, does that level of virtual signaling accomplish? Does it further the cause of anit-racism? No. All it does is make their outraged fans feel better about being fans of Dan and Phil. That is until Dan and Phil take a trip to a foreign country and appreciate its culture (those privileged bastards).

Let's think for a second about the actual problem and possible solutions. The problem is racism. Something that I believe all reasonable people can agree is wrong. So, when people do something racist, say use a racial slur in a video, what's the best way to right that wrong? Have every YouTuber publicly disavow that person and avoid all social gatherings that person may attend for the rest of their natural lives, or have a friend sit that person down and have an earnest conversation with them? Which action would yield the greater outcome? (hint: it's the latter)

Now, I'm not saying that people who feel outraged shouldn't express how they feel. These online platforms were created for free, self-expression. And we certainly can't be expected to spend all of our time on these sites reading fanfic or reblogging aesthetic autumnal collages. What I am suggesting is that people in this outraged camp try to take a step back and ask themselves two questions.

1. Is my outrage appropriately matched to the offense in question? (Remember, not everything's a 10)

2. Will calling this out ultimately help or hinder my cause?

There, now that that's out of the way, who wants to see a cute cat gif? (because I know I do)

#phan #birthday #danisnotonfire #amazingphil #felix #pewdiepie

9 notes · View notes

frozenartscapes · 7 years ago

Text

Frozen 2: A Hope

I have a lot of ideas for how Frozen 2 is going to go. They range from everything from the Southern Isles declaring war on Arendelle to someone stealing Elsa’s magic to our band of heroic misfits going on a wild adventure in search of answers. There are so many possibilities for how a sequel to Disney’s most popular movie since the Lion King could go, but here is just one thing I hope they touch on (but I’m not too sure if they will):

Parents.

Disney has a bad habit of writing parents into movies, only to them kill them off in often traumatic fashion to drive our main heroes forward into the plot. Often these parent deaths have gone down in infamy for being super sad, and so easily remembered by simply stating the parents’ names. For example: Bambi’s mom. Mufasa. Coral. (Ok that last one might not be as well known, but as soon as you say “Nemo from Finding Nemo’s mom who was eaten alive by a barracuda” people know what you’re talking about.) And while there are a lot of Disney parents that do survive the whole film, it should be noted that a lot of them aren’t Disney Princess parents. And even more interestingly, for most of the Disney Princesses, having a dead parent doesn’t actually mean much. The worst that happens is being forced to live with evil stepmothers. There isn’t a push to go avenge the parent, or to fundamentally change as a character after witnessing a parent’s death as what happens in other movies with male leads. In most of the Princess films, at least one, if not both, parents are dead. Snow White: dead parents. Cinderella: dead parents. Ariel: dead mom. Belle: dead mom. Jasmine: dead mom. Pocahontas: dead mom. Tiana: dead dad. Of the official princesses, only Aurora, Mulan, Rapunzel, Merida, and Moana have both living parents, and of them its really only Merida, Mulan, and Moana who have parents that actually contribute anything to the plot aside from: they were reunited with their kid at the end of the movie. (And even then it really is only one parent that drives the plot.)

And, obviously, Anna and Elsa are also in the dead parents camp. Although I will say that them being dead actually contributes a little more to the plot than for most of the others in this camp. If Adgar and Idun were alive, then Elsa wouldn’t be queen. Elsa not being queen means her powers would have never been revealed to the rest of the world, or to Anna. But the late King and Queen contributed more to Frozen than just kicking the bucket in the middle of the North Sea (which is a horrifying way to go, just fyi). It can be argued that they shaped the whole movie, as it is their reactions to Elsa striking Anna that planted the seeds of fear and anxiety into Elsa’s innocent little head when she was only a child. It was their reactions of closing the gates and limiting the amount of contact to the outside world that drove the point home to a traumatized eight year old that she was dangerous, and couldn’t necessarily be trusted. It was how they acted when they first saw Anna cold and still on that ballroom floor that told Elsa over that she fucked up, big time, and that her own parents are fearful of what she can do.

Granted, her parents were afraid, not just of her but also because their other daughter was injured, and they were dealing with things neither of them were ever prepared for, and they both were still rather young parents who were also likely stressed over keeping their kingdom safe, and also were facing the possibility that said kingdom might want to harm their first daughter should they find out about her powers. So they acted, with fear guiding their judgement. And fear was the enemy.

So much in Frozen happened because of Adgar and Idun. So much of who our main characters were happened because of Adgar and Idun. There are so many possible “what ifs” because of Adgar and Idun. And so far, there has been nothing addressing this.

The musical is actually doing a better job, from my understanding. So far in the lyrics of songs like “Monster” and “Dangerous to Dream” we can see that Elsa still values a lot of what her father thinks of her, despite him being dead. She still looks to both of them for answers they might not even have, but regardless can’t respond or even hear her because, well, they’re gone. And this is where Frozen (movie version) kinda loses it for me in the later acts. Because there were some pivotal moments there when Elsa should have been demanding of herself what her father would think of her, or Anna demanding how her parents could do what they did, or even what they did because not once in the movie was she given an explanation - a real one - as to why any of this even happened. That has been left for us fic writers to fill in, a thousand times in a thousand stories, to the point where I doubt we’ll ever see an actual sit down between the sisters where Elsa tells Anna exactly what happened: the accident, the separation, why it all happened - everything. At this point, it’s just assumed the characters know it because we know it.

But they’re missing a huge opportunity here. Because there is a lot of emotional baggage left by their parents’ lives and deaths. Because yeah, the separation was shitty. But you get the sense during “For the First Time in Forever” that the separation was never meant to be as permanent and drastic as it became. While they might have started it, Elsa took it and ran. At some point her fear became too much for even her parents to help her with, and things were never the same again. But it’s clear that neither Adgar nor Idun wanted it.

They weren’t bad parents. Misguided and fearful at times, yes. But not bad. And they very easily could have been written bad. They could have been awful to Elsa, forcefully locking her in her room or even the dungeons after what happened to Anna. They could have continually driven home the “you’re nothing but a monster” mentality themselves, rather than leaving it for her to develop on her own out of her guilt. They could have neglected her, mistreated her, hell, they could have even cast her out into the cold, wolf infested woods and said “Have a nice life, witch!”. But they did not. They remained patient, and loving. They we shown to be trying, trying to help in whatever way they thought was best. It wasn’t always the best ways, but they didn’t know anything else. And you sure didn’t see those stupid trolls giving them any pointers. And the most obvious time we see this is moments before we never see them again:

Look at how supportive they are. How trusting and confident they are in their daughter when she can’t be in herself. How they both have that warm, reassuring look in their eyes that truly says that they mean it. The know Elsa will be fine. They know she can do this. They love her so much and they know she can do this.

And just like that they’re gone.

Elsa never hugged them goodbye.

Anna only said to them that she’ll see them in two weeks.

I know it’s been three years in universe since the deaths of the King and Queen, but given these two and, Elsa especially, how long they hold onto things that hurt them like that, I don’t think they should be as over it as it seems.

Let’s start with Anna.

Anna had the benefit of being able to actually touch her parents. She was able to rush up to them and throw her arms around them. She was able to interact with them in a casual and friendly manner - much more like a daughter and her parents. While they were probably very busy, they still likely had time set aside for her. They were kind, and loving. They always seemed to know best. They trusted her, and loved her. They were her family after her sister seemingly shut her out of her life. Then they die, taking every secret and everything they never told her with them. The only person left who knows anything is Elsa. And Anna won’t even find out that there are secrets until three years after their deaths. Until that point she still thinks of them the same as she always did, but after? She just found out they lied to her. For most of her life. Sure, she might have figured something was up when they kept making excuses up for Elsa, but how could Anna have possibly predicted the real secret? They didn’t trust her at all, at least not with information as vital as that. They may have been trying to keep her safe, but at what cost? Look at how messed up Elsa is, and their parents just let that happen?

But she can’t ask them about it. She can’t go racing up to them and demand why, just why any of this had to happen. She can’t yell at them for not trusting her, or for freaking Elsa out, or for even closing the gates in the first place. She can’t gain any closure from them, the people responsible for everything, ever again because they aren’t coming back. She can scream at their tombstones until she’s blue in the face but that won’t make a difference. Her parents aren’t even buried there.

Anna’s the kind of person who needs answers. After everything that has happened in her life, she needs that closure. But she’s not going to get it from them.

Elsa faces a similar issue, and an entirely different one. Elsa strikes me as the kind of person who would defend her parents’ actions ‘til the end. She thought the world of both of them, but especially her father. She spent most of her life trying so, so hard to be something he could be proud of, trying so hard in fact that she couldn’t even see that he was. Elsa wanted to be something worthy of her parents’ love, and she wore herself thin trying to be that, despite never comprehending that she actually had it. However that mentality came from somewhere, and that somewhere was the accident. For a brief moment Elsa saw fear of her in her parents’ faces. She saw panic and confusion where there shouldn’t be and knowing she was the cause of it. She heard the worry and disapproval in her father’s voice as he demanded, “Elsa, what have you done?” as he entered the ballroom that night. And Elsa never wanted to experience that again.

I don’t believe either Adgar or Idun blamed Elsa for anything, except for that one moment of raw emotion. In that one, tense moment, those words slipped out of Adgar’s mouth. But that one little slip up was enough. And Elsa has to ask herself how exactly she feels about it, because while they may never have done anything to outwardly cast blame on her again, they did have that moment. And that moment could arguably carry more weight because they were acting on instinct, then, and didn’t have the time to put any thought behind their words or actions. And when they did have the time, their solution was to run and hide from their problems.

Elsa needs to look back on her parents’ decisions and ask herself if it really was ok, if it really was for the best. Did they really think everything through, or were there more questions they could have asked but didn’t? Could things have been better had they acted differently? After all, it wasn’t until their deaths that Elsa allowed Anna back into her life. It wasn’t until they were gone that things eventually returned to a much happier state. Were they standing in the way of Elsa’s happiness?

These are all things I would love to see them address in the sequel. But I know they won’t because this shit is getting too depressing. But they could. I’m not sure how they could execute it, but they have a great opportunity to really build Elsa’s character and at the very least Adgar in a Mufasa-esque kind of way. I kind of see it being built in a similar fashion, where Elsa thought the world of him until certain events convinced her that he would look down on her in disapproval (in the Lion King it was Simba believing he killed his father; in Frozen it’d be after Elsa froze the entire kingdom over and ran away). Even after the Thaw, I imagine Elsa would still hold onto that fear of his disappointment, how despite him being dead she knows he wouldn’t have agreed with her actions back at her coronation and he must think pretty poorly of her at this point. She doesn’t want to really face any of the other issues, either, as reflecting on them only bring up painful memories and thoughts. Maybe she does harbour a bit of anger with him and her mother. Maybe she’s frustrated that they were always so patient with her despite believing that she didn’t deserve that. Maybe she slowly must come to the realization that they weren’t right.

But then maybe through something with Pabbie acting as Rafiki, she’s able to look back on her past and theirs and come to the realization that, despite their flaws and hers, they all loved each other, so, so much. If they even want to go full Lion King, have some kind of vision or magical experience where she can see them and talk to them, and maybe even get some closure from them.

My point being, I don’t really want this instance of Dead Disney Parents to really be swept under the rug for nothing but plot convenience. They have a chance to really develop some female characters’ relationships with their parents past the unconditional love, broken only by a spat about romantic interests, only to then be rekindled when said parent dies thing. Given how little screen time Adgar and Idun had versus how much weight they pulled in the movie, this isn’t something the writers should really ignore. They at least need to address it, in some fashion. Maybe Elsa still has nightmares, only these are about a snowy storm swallowing up a helpless ship in the ocean that looks too much like the one her parents left on. Maybe Anna notices little quirks her sister has that relate back to those thirteen years of separation and gets a fleeting moment of anger that her parents let it get as bad as it did. Just something that gets these characters talking about their dead fucking parents.

And who knows? We have a whole short coming up that looks like family tradition around the holidays will be a key feature. Maybe they’ll bring something up then? It would be really weird if they didn’t talk about it, considering Christmas is the season of family and friends and this one will be their first Christmas together again but not a family again because their parents have been dead for three years. (Which begs the question: just how miserable was that castle around this time of year before the coronation but after the King and Queen’s deaths?)

Another final point I’d like to make, as cheesy and overdone as it might be: Adgar and Idun supposedly died in a shipwreck. But there’s technically not really proof of that. We only see the ship hit a wave. Yes, I’m well aware the actual survivability of any shipwreck in a storm that violent is pretty much 0, let alone one set during a time when virtually no one actually knew how to swim but consider for a moment that it is Disney and people have survived worse. What then? I wrote something once about what would happen if Idun survived (which was technically going to be a two parter but I never got around to finishing the second half...maybe I’ll get back on that). But what if it was Adgar? Or both? How would our characters react to that? How would either parent react to that? I know it’s a bit of a stretch but it would create interesting conflict points for our characters. And honestly it’s not that much more overdone than the “character who has special powers has said special powers taken away by the bad guy” storyline. Which, I’m going to be honest, I’ll be surprised if that isn’t in the plot of Frozen 2.