The Boy And The Heron

So, everyone, we've arrived at the newest Studio Ghibli movie and the 24th one all together, or 23rd depending on who you ask, The Boy And The Heron. As you all know, ever since March, I've been reviewing every other Studio Ghibli movie and I was doing those in preparation for this new film and it was the very first time I ever got to see a Studio Ghibli movie in the cinemas and so I saw it on Wednesday and I was super excited, especially since the general consensus around the film was positive and people were really liking it, not to mention the fact that this was a film Hayao Miyazaki himself wrote and directed, so all that was making me extremely excited for this. And so, in the end, while I don't know if I can say I loved this film and can't say it's one of my favourite Ghibli films ever, it was still really, really, really good and a lot more complicated than I was expecting. I'll get into that later, but first, let's go over the plot. Also, I won't be doing any spoilers in this review at all. I won't even be doing a spoiler section, I'm gonna keep this review completely spoiler-free. So, the story centres on a boy named Mahito who loses his mom during a war and now his dad is taking both of them away to live somewhere else. While there, Mahito keeps running into a heron who's able to talk to him and says he needs his help and after a while, Mahito finds some old tower and once he goes inside it, he's taken to another world that sorta bridges the world of the living and the world of the dead, and, really, the rest of the film is almost kinda like a self-realisation story because Mahito is forced to learn and confront so much. And when I say so much, I do mean that because this movie is pretty long. It's over two hours long. Other Ghibli movies have been that long before, but something about this one being that long made it especially surprising, maybe just because I saw it in theatres. Anyway, before going to see the film, I was honestly expecting the film to be kinda simple, just based on the bit of advertising I saw and also just from the title, I was expecting this to be something like Kiki's Delivery Service or something like that where the film is one of those more laid-back movies, but that's not what this film is at all. This is one of those films that you really, really need to pay attention to to follow along, kinda like Howl's Moving Castle. It also has a lot of different themes in it to because we have so many things happening at once and they touch on different things, like when Mahito and his dad arrive, he has to come to grips with how much his life is changing and it's made even harder when he's thrown into this other world and having to learn different things there too because he's now having to confront all this stuff while he was just trying to do his own thing originally. That aspect of the film is something I imagine might throw some people off towards the film because it gets extremely complicated and hard to follow after a while. And when I say that, I don't really mean that in the same way as Howl's Moving Castle where I was really turned off by that film and just didn't enjoy it all that much, because I liked this one much more, but there's still a good amount of things here that definitely isn't for kids. I don't just mean the complicated story and things like that, I also just mean the fact that the film is pretty gory in some cases. I was surprised how much there was, it's nothing super extreme, but still. I also heard that the original Japanese title for the film is actually called "How Do You Live", and I think that's a much better title for the film overall because the film delves into a lot of different topics as I just mentioned and how it does some of that is done in ways I wasn't always a fan of, but I still thought it was handled very well. Again, I don't think it's handled absolutely perfectly because I was sorta losing track of things after a while, but I think once you get to the ending, it's wrapped up in a really great way. If I did have a couple of problems with the film, aside from maybe being a bit too complicated, I do also think that the film itself is maybe a bit too long as well. I'm not even talking about how some parts are a bit too hard to follow, I just mean that I did think some sequences went on a bit too long. It's like some other Ghibli films where sometimes they have moments in their films that are going really slow and how that doesn't always work. Like I said before, some of their movies do that so unbelievably well, but some, like this, have some moments or sequences that coulda been trimmed down or cut entirely. I also found some elements to be a bit predictable too. Once some characters are introduced, I was able to figure out pretty easily what their role was and I was right. But, with all that being said, I still enjoyed the majority of this film. The way the plot keeps unfolding throughout the film as we keep seeing different things and we see more of how this world works and seeing the different characters in it, it keeps getting more interesting once you get to the ending. Speaking of, the ending gets really insane and trippy as well with a lot of crazy visuals and things like that happening and that's done by some really fantastic animation. Like every other Studio Ghibli movie, the animation is some of the best hand drawn animation you'll ever see and they keep that going all throughout the film. I also enjoyed the different character interactions too. The one Mahito has with the heron and the eventual reveal with him is fun and their dynamic actually got a fair amount of laughs from the audience I was with. I personally think a lot of that is helped by the voice acting too. I saw this in the English dub and everyone involved does a great job. Luca Padovan and Robert Pattinson are really great as Mahito and the heron and other actors like Karen Fukuhara, Christian Bale, Gemma Chan, Dave Bautista, Willem DaFoe, Florence Pugh and Mark Hamill all do fantastically as well. It was also cool to see Christian Bale, Willem DaFoe and Mark Hamill in more Studio Ghibli roles since they've been in others before. So, yeah, everyone, I was just really satisfied watching this film. It was absolutely amazing to finally be able to see a brand new Studio Ghibli movie in theatres, especially since some people think we might not ever get another one again, but we'll see. But even still, just being able to see this one was an amazing experience. Even if this wasn't one of my favourite Studio Ghibli movies and I didn't really love it, I at least loved being able to go to the cinema for it and especially since I already spent this entire year reviewing all the other ones and it was an amazing experience and thank you all for reading them up to this point. I've loved doing these and talking about this and having it all lead up to this was amazing. And so, either way, I do still recommend checking this film out if you're interested. So, that's my review of The Boy And The Heron. Thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think.

Wish

So guys, we've arrived at the newest Disney Classic and probably my most anticipated in a long, long time, Wish. I mentioned before that I was so incredibly excited for this movie. I thought the trailers were really exciting and from how the story was being presented, not to mention the fact that this was technically a film being made to help celebrate the 100 year anniversary of Disney completely, all that was making me so unbelievably excited to see this. Not only that, but, last week, I actually went to the UK Leicester Square premiere of the movie and it was the very first premiere I've ever been to. Though, for about a week now, I've been hearing that critics weren't liking the film and some were saying it was kinda bad. So, I saw this film yesterday and was curious to know what my thoughts would be like, especially since the last few Disney and Pixar films like Strange World, Lightyear and Elemental have all been big disappointments to me that I personally didn't really like. So, in the end, as much as I really, really, really hate to say it, yeah, I gotta agree with the critics on this one too. I personally thought this movie wasn't good and had some really bad elements to it. I really can't stress enough just how much I hate to say that because I really did have a lot of faith in this film, but I just didn't like it. That's not to say there's nothing good in it at all and that it's terrible, I wouldn't go that far, but I thought this was pretty bad. But, let's get into the review and, like always, this will have no spoilers for the first part and then I'll get into the spoilers after a warning. So, what's the story? In a kingdom called Rosas, there's a king named Magnifico who created the kingdom a long time ago and he's also a person who's studied magic and now has the ability to grant anyone's wish once they've given it to him. One day, a teenager named Asha goes to talk to him about possibly working something out for her family, but, while there, she discovers a truth and the rest of the film is about her trying to figure out how to protect the kingdom all while she's being hunted. That's as far as I'll go in regards to the plot, but there's still a whole lot more that happens in the story overall. So, for this review, I'll go over the things I actually liked in the film first and then go into the negatives, cause there are more negatives than positives. So, like almost every other Disney film and the number 1 thing I always say is that the animation is still spectacular. But it's different here because, normally Disney tries to make everything like designs and textures look as real as possible, but they don't necessarily do that here. It reminds me a lot of Spider-Man:Into The Spider-Verse and Across The Spider-Verse and Puss In Boots: The Last Wish. It feels like it's that type of animation, but it's still done in a way where you can still tell it's Disney animation and I really appreciate that. Also, seeing as this is a film being made to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of Disney, they made a whole bunch of Disney references. And some were actually really fun to spot. As a giant Disney fan, it was fun to catch smart Easter Eggs for fans like me. That wasn't handled very well for everything, but we'll get into that later. Plus, the number 1 thing I absolutely adored about the film was the songs. I've been listening to them online for ages ever since they were revealed, and they're really amazing. Two of which have actually become two of my favourite songs ever recently and I really loved listening to them. Again, not every song is great, and, especially towards the end, they were used in "not great ways," but, again I'll get into that later. Also, with the songs being so amazing, they're helped greatly by really great voice acting, especially Ariana DeBose as Asha herself. I feel like she made Asha really likeable and I did really like Asha as a character. And, I guess the last positive I'll say is that the movie isn't really boring. Unlike movies like Strange World or Elemental, I wasn't bored to death watching this and I did at least find it entertaining despite all the bad stuff we're gonna get into, and I am weirdly happy this is the newest Disney Classic and the one celebrating the 100 year anniversary. But, with all that said, this film still has a lot of bad things in it and we're gonna get into those now. For starters, the pacing really isn't good here. It gets into the main plot really quickly. There is a bit of time before that, but it's still done extremely quickly and we quickly find out the main conflict pretty fast. I feel like Moana is a good example of where the pacing is done perfectly at the beginning to get us invested in the protagonists and their lives before the adventure kicks off, whereas here, it's done really quick and the main conflict is set up pretty fast too. That also leads to a lot of the film being really predictable and not very engaging, especially when a twist is revealed at the very beginning. Speaking of twist, the whole eventual villain reveal was not only insanely obvious, though I guess it wasn't really meant to be a surprise given the advertising, but still, that also didn't really help with the writing because, once it's revealed, the villain gets really over the top and campy and a lot of moments from that feel really forced and not done in the traditional loving Disney way, just in a really over the top and campy way. Also, some character moments and motivations felt really out of nowhere and sporadic, which also made some eventual redemption moments feel unnatural and not earned. Also, like I said, the film made a whole bunch of different Disney references, and, again, while some were really clever and fun to spot, others were really forced and shoehorned in and felt almost kinda manufactured. The comedy and humour in general also really fell flat for me. Nothing was awful, but nothing really made me laugh either, except a small moment at the end that got a small chuckle out of me, but, at the same time, there wasn't anything unintentionally cringy like in Strange World or Frozen 2, so I guess I'll give it that. The comedy also was another thing that felt kinda manufactured and felt like Disney wanted some pieces of comedy even when it felt really unnatural. Speaking of unnatural, the ending is also another one of the moments that goes really over the top and had some really dumb and cheesy moments, especially the eventual resolution to the whole thing. That might be the closest the film had to a kinda cringy moment. So, yeah, guys, overall, I was super disappointed in this movie. I was really, really holding out a lot of hope for it and really believed it was gonna be amazing, but it just wasn't good in my opinion. Weirdly enough though, again, I actually would kinda like to see it again. Even with all the bad stuff I just mentioned, a part of me does really want to see this again. Unlike some other recent Disney films like Strange World, Elemental, Lightyear and so on, this one I actually would want to see again, even if it does have a lot of bad elements in it. But, yeah, whether or not I can say I'd actually recommend this is a little tough because a part of me does want to say you should give the movie a chance, but there are still all the problems I mentioned. Honestly, I think you should just decide for yourself if this is something you'd be curious to see, but a part of me does still want to recommend it regardless. So everyone, that's my review of Wish. Thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think. Okay, now we're gonna get into the spoilers, if you don't want anything spoiled, go see the movie, then come back and read the rest of this.

Spoilers:

So, given all the things I listed already, I'm just gonna go through all the major stuff and give my thoughts on each part. So, when I said the pacing at the start felt rushed, I meant the fact that we get the scene of Asha going to Magnifico's palace to become one of his assistance but then she's told about the wishes kept there and then realises he's never going to grant her grandfather's wish because he think it could start a rebellion to take over Rosas and that's all what starts this whole thing. This is what I meant, that whole part went by so fast. I don't even think the first 20 minutes had gone by and we were immediately thrown into the main plot. Also, the whole idea of Magnifico getting worried about something like that about a wish like that was really weird and, while I do kinda get it, it was still really weird and the fact that that's what starts it makes it weirder. I just feel like there were better alternatives and better ways of convincing Asha that Magnifico was crazy. And, again, the fact that Asha then has that blow up with her family also felt really forced and quick. That did however lead to the This Wish song, which might be my favourite in the whole movie. And then, this whole thing leads to Asha making that wish and making a living star come down to her to help her. That part was actually kinda cool, though I don't really know how I feel about Star as a character because it felt like Disney was trying to make him out to be this huge standout character, kinda like Baymax, but I didn't really feel the same and Star doesn't really do anything that special as a character. He wasn't annoying and has some nice moments, but he's nowhere near as big of a standout character as Baymax was. This also then starts that other big problem I had, which was when the film began to become extremely cheesy and over the top and I'm talking about when Magnifico begins to go crazy after using the dark magic. The whole plot of him going crazier and crazier the more he uses it and begins to use the wishes as a means to get stronger is also a part that felt really insane and not really in a good way. This is also where the acting felt kinda off too. I usually love Chris Pine in everything I see him in, but something about his acting here felt really campy and cheesy like I was saying already. This is also what I meant by some things feeling kinda forced. The whole plot point of him getting crazier and crazier was what I meant by that with it feeling like it came out of nowhere and not being properly built up or developed. I also really didn't like the whole thing about one of Asha's friends betraying her and selling her out, that also was another aspect that felt like it was out of nowhere and was just there so it could be there and at the end when he has his redemption is what I meant by it being forced and unnatural and not earned. And all this eventually leads to the finale where Magnifico captures all of Rosas and tries to capture Star and the rest of the Wishes. Honestly, seeing as I already wasn't liking the direction of Magnifico's character and the fact that some other elements throughout were feeling kinda forced, it made it hard to get invested in this part. Speaking of the ending, this is the other thing I mentioned about how the climax was kinda dumb and cheesy, and I was referring to the fact that all of Rosas basically just all believe together to use against him as they're singing and all this eventually overpowers Magnifico and he's then trapped inside the staff he made. This is what I'm talking about, that whole part just felt really over the top and too cheesy, even if I feel like it was trying to invoke some special Disney feelings in the audience, but I don't think it really succeeded. Anyway, after he's defeated, we get the queen trying to fix everything and Asha watching as the citizens begin to do what they wanted and it looked like Star also supposedly made Asha a fairy godmother. I dunno how I feel about that. I guess that's kinda cool, but, again, just another kinda weird moment that I'm not entirely sure how I feel about. But that last scene is also when we get a whole bunch of other Disney references like the whole Peter Pan thing and, again, references like that felt kinda forced and not well executed. The last shot where we see the kingdom like the Cinederella castle opening thing for Disney was actually cool and I liked that one, though maybe because of the other references I wasn't a fan of, that part was kinda dampened for me a bit. However, I did absolutely adore the end credits where they show characters from every Disney Classic up to that point, that was really cool and I loved guessing which one they would pick for each film. So, yeah, that's pretty much it. Again, I just had so many problems with this film and was really expecting it to be spectacular, but it wasn't and am fairly saddened by how much I didn't like it in the end, even if I do strangely want to see it again. I'm curious to know what the next Disney Classic will be and whatever it is, I hope it's better and does better as well. So everyone, that's my review of Wish. Thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think.

The Marvels

So, guys, we've arrived at the last M.C.U movie of 2023, but one of its least anticipated, The Marvels. This was a film that was gonna be crossing over aspects of the movies and the Disney+ shows that I haven't reviewed yet, but I have watched. So, I'm not gonna lie, I went into this not expecting much. I was honestly expecting this to be one of the most forgotten and unmemorable M.C.U films, especially since the marketing made it look like it was just one of those films that maybe should have just been another show. Not to mention the fact that Captain Marvel is one of the lesser M.C.U movies so a lot of that was indicating to this being another M.C.U property being panned. But, then I heard that audiences were actually liking it fine. No, it wasn't anything amazing, but some were saying it was a very simple and fun time. And, having seen it myself, I can say I think the exact same way. This is a very simple, small scaled movie that actually does have a lot going on, but still feels very small compared to other M.C.U projects, despite what actually happens in the film. I honestly enjoyed it, no, I didn't think it was great or anything and it has some dumb and kinda cringy stuff in it, but I did actually like this more than Captain Marvel and thought it was more likeable. Something that I think helped with that is that I have watched the Disney+ Marvel shows and, even though I haven't reviewed them yet, seeing them definitely helped because this film obviously relies on them a lot. I feel like this film was just one of those small M.C.U movies that was short and fun enough to pass the time. But, yeah, something like that did leave a lot of problems too like some dumb stuff too like I mentioned. But, we'll get into that later, for now, let's talk about the plot, and, like always, this will have no spoilers for the first part and then I'll talk about all the spoilers after a warning. So, what's the story? In space, Carol discovers a new power, but when she gets too close to it, she discovers that her, Monica and Kamala Khan, played by Iman Vellani, switch places when they use their powers and now they need to team up after a new villain decides to go after them. That's really the best I can do without spoilers, but there's actually not that much to spoil in this anyway. So, this is sort of a weird situation of a film where, based on the plot and what we've seen from the trailers, and I guess also just with how the M.C.U has been going lately, it kinda felt like this was gonna be a smaller film despite having big aspects to it. And that is the vibe I got from watching this. I feel like that could also be because the film incorporates aspects of the Disney+ shows that are usually smaller scaled. So, like always, I'll go over the negatives and then positives that I saw personally. So, as far as what I didn't like, and this is something I noticed in all the M.C.U movies this year, but the opening felt pretty rushed and felt like it was trying to get into the main plot really, really quickly. Though, I think I noticed it more here because the pacing in the opening really just gets you into it immediately because we're introduced to our main villain from the first scene and then we see them get straight into the action pretty fast with seeing where Carol, Monica and Kamala are. The effects also didn't all look amazing here. A lot were, but there were some moments where it looked kinda weird, especially one scene in particular where we see a spaceship come into view and it looked really off. The villain is also super forgettable in this. Not memorable or interesting and has a lot of fairly generic villain stuff going on. Plus, with the whole jumping around to different perspectives a lot, it also makes some editing moments feel out of place and kinda messy. Plus, in general, it does feel like a mess with how the story is being told. Just different aspects about it can feel kinda outta place and underdeveloped and not explored all that well and it doesn't always flow as a proper narative. A big part of that is also the fact that this is now the shortest M.C.U movie ever, and while that does sorta help make the film not overstay its welcome, it can also lead to that lack of proper flow or development like I mentioned. And, again, there are some moments that were maybe supposed to be kinda stupid, but there was one in particular that really didn't work for me and that led to that whole section of the film being kinda pointless, despite how it does have a point later on. So, yeah, a lot of that, I imagine, would be stuff that would throw a lot of people off  from the film, not to mention the fact that the film is already pretty much underperforming financially. But, with all that said, I definitely saw some enjoyable aspects in this and, enough for me to say that I was happy enough leaving the theatre. For starters, most of the performances are really good, some weren't and some were really forgettable, but most of them were. There's also some cool ideas in this and I like how it answered some questions left open from some of the previous properties like Ms. Marvel and we got to see. Speaking of, the Ms. Marvel show was one of the most uniquely edited things in the M.C.U and this continued that. Sure, like I said, some of the editing didn't work out very well, but they use some really unique things for them and I enjoyed seeing that make a return in this film. I also just enjoyed the overall sense of adventure in this film. I liked following Carol, Monica and Kamala through this. I will admit, usually I love having characters interact and crossover for the first time in the M.C.U, but here, I will admit, while it was cool at times to see it happen, some of it also did feel kinda forced and not natural. But, overall, the three of them did have a fun dynamic and I enjoyed them together. I also enjoyed other interactions too like all of them and Nick along with Kamala's family and there is a fair amount of fun moments to be had in my opinion, one scene in particular where everyone is having to get off a spaceship. That scene was pretty cool and had some creative ideas. And, honestly, in general, despite having a lot of bad elements and dumb moments, I just felt like this film had a very likeable feel to it that made me really enjoy it. Whether or not I can say that makes the film good is kinda hard to say, but I do believe that I really enjoyed the film nonetheless and am really happy I saw it. Plus, there are some specific things about it that make me really excited and that I'm really looking forward to talking about in the spoiler section, so I'll just wrap this part of the review up. Overall, I'm not entirely sure if I can say this is a good film in general, despite the fact that I did really like it and enjoy it and would really want to see it again. So, I would say take what I've said and decide if this is something you'd be interested in. I personally would really like to see it again and would recommend if you're the least bit curious. And so, everyone, those are my thoughts on The Marvels.Thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think. Okay, now we're gonna go into the spoilers, if you don't want anything spoiled, go see the film then come back and read the rest of this.

Spoilers:

So, there's really not a lot of stuff to talk about in terms of spoilers since, again, the film was pretty short and it didn't lead the way to many surprises, but there's still a lot to dissect anyway. For one, the film really does just sorta get into the story pretty quick because the first scene is literally just showing the villain getting the second bangle and immediately cutting to Carol, Monica and Kamala as Carol and Monica come in contact with that Jump Point that causes all of them to have their powers connected and then we start getting a lot of different information like how the villain has been trying to make some promise with the Skrulls and so we see Carol, Monica and Kamala try to help that planet full of Skrulls and not being able to protect everyone. That part was pretty cool though something I found kinda weird was afterwards when we see that Nick brought Kamala's family with him to that S.H.I.E.L.D carrier in space. I know it was probably because since Kamala was involved, he wanted her family to be safe, but it was still odd and I don't think it made a lotta sense. Anyway, after that is when we see that the villain is doing all this to try to restore life to the Kree planet and so she's trying to take different things from other planets to restore it. This is kinda what I meant because, even though we clearly see what the villain is doing and why, it still doesn't really show the villain herself having much of a character to her. Killmonger I think is a perfect example of having an understandable motivation and we see what he's doing and why, but he still has his own character and so we see him act like a character no matter what he does and that aspect just wasn't apparent with this character. This then leads to Carol, Monica and Kamala properly working together and putting together that the villain is trying to get Kamala's bangle. The film then does try to have some nice moments like when Carol and Monica try to sort out why Carol never came back and we see it's because Carol destroyed the Supreme Intelligence on the Kree planet and that's why the planet's dying and why the villain is trying to restore it back to normal. I'm not entirely sure if I can say they all succeeded in being great character moments, but I appreciate they tried to have moments like that. Especially since we have had that whole thing set up since Captain Marvel. Though, probably the worst moment in the film is when they had to go to that singing planet and had to sing to communicate with the people there. I know the M.C.U has had weird moments like that for comedy before, but this just didn't work, especially since they're able to speak normally to the only person they need to talk to anyway and so that made that whole thing feel even more cringy. I guess it didn't necessarily last very long, so that was good, but still. That then led to the fight on that planet and that was pretty cool with Carol, Monica and Kamala having to switch positions over and over and so that was cool and the whole spaceship fight reminded me a lot of a Star Wars fight, so that was cool. And then, the thing I mentioned before that I thought was really cool was when they went back to Fury and the others and realised the ship was about to explode and they didn't have enough escape pods for everyone but then realised that Goose had baby things and so they used them to eat everyone and have them be in the escape pods to take up less room. That actually was pretty funny and did seem kinda creative. Then as the final fight came along, this is actually where I feel like the film was missing any real stakes. It's a little hard to explain, but when I kept talking about how the film was really small scaled and didn't feel like there was that much to it because of that, it made the finale feel kinda hollow because we have a huge deal going on since the villain was trying to steal the sun and take it away, but, because of how it was being done and because of how the rest of the movie was feeling up until that point, it didn't feel like that big of a deal despite the fact that it technically is a huge deal given the circumstances. I also found it kinda clichéd when the villain was acting like she was willing to cooperate only to try to kill them again and that led to her death, even if it did look cool. And so, that then led to a big thing where Monica is having to absorb so much energy from Carol and Kamala and be into the Jump Point to close it and so that causes her to disappear, then we get a nice ending with Carol and Kamala bonding more. That was a nice ending, I guess, but the main thing I want to talk about is the real ending because we get some scenes that made me really happy and really, really excited. The first is when we see Kamala go and visit Kate Bishop from the Hawkeye show, played by Hailee Steinfeld, which I also saw, and we see her recruit her the same way Nick recruited Tony in the first Iron Man film and so that was really exciting and I heard that this was leading the way to a Young Avengers project with them and also Cassie from Ant-Man, so that was really cool, but then we get a mid credit scene where we see Monica in some other dimension and we actually get to see that she's in the X-Men mansion with Beast. That was so incredible to see. We finally get to see the X-Men in the M.C.U and it was actually Kelsey Grammer back to play Beast again and so that was really exciting. Especially since Deadpool 3 is technically the next M.C.U movie to come out and so that paves the way for a lot of incredible opportunities and I can't wait to see more and I'm really excited for Deadpool 3 next year. Overall, this ending made me really excited for the upcoming projects. So, overall guys, I just found this to be a really likeable and harmless film. Sure, that does lead to a lot of problems like not feeling anything special from it and not feeling like it's a properly structured story, but, for what it is, I really liked it and I really do think this could be one of my most underrated M.C.U projects. I was just happy and fairly satisfied after leaving the theatre for this and I honestly am happy with what we got because I was honestly expecting nothing out of this film at all and was glad I found a fair amount of enjoyment in it and I personally would be happy to see it again. So, whether or not I can say that would intrigue people enough to want to check it out is hard to say, but, I personally would say that I think you should try to give the film a chance. And so, yeah, everyone, that's my review of The Marvels. Thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think.

My Jolyne Cojoh collectible (Review)

So, it's been a few months since I showed one of these, but I'm showing more of my anime collectibles I've been doing this year. I've done plenty this year and this was made all the way back in February, but I'm only showing this now. No reason, I just am. Anyway, this is a collectible I got for Jolyne from JoJo and is another one I got for a JoJo protagonist. I've gotten more since, but this was the third I had gotten at the time because I already had Josuke and Giorno at this stage and was still looking for the others, which I have gotten since, but I had these three at the time. Anyway, as I said when I did my review of Stone Ocean, I still think Jolyne is a super underrated as a character and I'm really glad I have the collectible for her with the others. Anyway, this is my review of my collectible for her and so, here it is and I hope you all like this. 

One Piece Live Action Season 1

So, this is a really, really, really interesting post for me to make, but I decided to do it. Recently on Netflix, they released the first season for the live action One Piece show. This is something that people have been talking about for a long time and a lot of them, like me, were really nervous because a lot of amazing anime's have gotten really, really terrible live action adaptations before like Dragonball Evolution, Fullmetal Alchemist, Attack On Titan and so on. But, what's interesting about this one is that Eiichiro Oda himself was heavily involved with this himself and helped the people behind the scenes make it and a lot of people were getting really excited to see this when the trailers were coming out and were hopeful this would finally be the anime adaptation that would actually be good. And, to everyone's surprise, it was. After so many failed attempts to adapt anime into live action, they finally succeeded in making a good adaptation and I'm so glad about that, especially since it's a franchise I already love. That's not to say it's perfect, not at all, but I'm still fairly satisfied with the series regardless. Also, this will have spoilers for the whole first season as well as the anime and manga, so, that's your warning if you don't want anything spoiled. So, as a huge One Piece fan, there was a lot of expectations going into this and a lot of fear as well to see if they could actually handle this well. The series covered almost all of the East Blue Saga and had 8 episodes in total, so I'm gonna do this review by going episode by episode and talking about my opinion about each one. Okay, so, the first episode has a lot thrown into it because it combines the first few chapters of the manga together. It starts off with showing Gold Roger's execution and then showing Luffy setting out to sea. They do it kinda like the anime where they show Luffy going out to sea, running into Alvida and meets Koby first, then shows his backstory afterwards where he sees Shanks and eats the Gum-Gum Fruit. It then cuts from that to a scene with Zoro killing Mr. 7 and then Luffy, Koby, Zoro and Nami are all in Shells Town and we see Zoro get arrested. So, right off the bat, even in just halfway through the episode, the first thing that's weird in this series is the pacing. That's something that was gonna be pretty obvious before starting the series. Seeing as this was only gonna be 8 episodes long, it was obvious that this was gonna feel really rushed in terms of the pacing and everything else like that. I also feel like the editing in this and the rest of the series is another thing that's a little off because it's done in a way that makes the series feel pretty disjointed in a few instances. Anyway, as for the rest of the first episode, I enjoyed seeing Luffy meeting Zoro and Nami like him trying to get Zoro to join him but Zoro being annoyed the whole time and Nami being the same but they still agree to work together. Though, yeah, it is a little weird that Nami is there considering they don't meet until Orange Town in the manga. Anyway, this all then leads to the three of them teaming up against Morgan and his officers and this is another scene that's done kinda weirdly in the series because Morgan doesn't actually do anything wrong and just fights them. In the manga, we see him do a whole bunch of terrible things like having that statue of himself be made and ordering his men to kill themselves, whereas here, he doesn't really do anything that bad and so it doesn't feel as satisfying when he's beaten. Speaking of the fight those, that's something I appreciated from the series because the action scenes are done in a way where they're insanely weird and silly and over the top, but they're kinda done in a way where the creators acknowledge it and just have fun with it and so I appreciate that it's something that's weird in live action but is still honouring the source material since it makes sense why given it's based on the manga. Anyway, I also liked how Koby says goodbye to Luffy here and decided to pursue his dream of joining the Marines and Luffy, Zoro and Nami leave. So, just going off of the first episode alone, there's a lot to admire and a lot to complain about. I already mentioned the negatives, so I'll go over the positives. For starters, it is a lot of fun as a live action translation of One Piece. Like I said, it really does feel like the creators really care about the One Piece franchise and really want to honour it and I really admire how in just this first episode alone, they have a lot of things right like how the world looks and everything like that. This really does feel like the One Piece world brought to life. I've always stood by the fact that One Piece has the best worldbuilding of any anime and manga in existence and this really does a great job bringing it to live action. The other thing that's really impressive about the series is the casting. I mean, there's definitely some actors who don't fit their characters that well, but the majority of them do and the two that I think are the best in the whole series are Inaki Godoy as Luffy and Mackenyu as Zoro. They're both absolutely phenomenal and really feel like Luffy and Zoro. They're both really big One Piece fans and you can tell when you watch that they have a lot of passion for this series and these characters. Inaki perfectly capturing Luffy's positive and fun-loving personality and Mackenyu being super cool and feeling like Zoro the whole time and capturing his personality as well. But others like Emily Rudd as Nami, Morgan Davies as Koby and Aidan Scott as Helmeppo do a great job too. Anyway, the second episode gets pretty dark too when we see Buggy and the whole episode is about him in Orange Town. The live action depiction of Buggy is honestly a lot darker than his manga counterpart because this version of Buggy is super messed up. In the manga, he's mostly a joke character and is there as a comedic villain. Here, he's treated almost like he's the Joker because we see that he's destroyed Orange Town, kidnapped the citizens, forced them to take part in his circus and threatens them all the time. So, yeah, this part is pretty creepy. But, with that said, it's still done well and Jeff Ward does an amazing job as Buggy and the effects on him with the Chop-Chop Fruit are well done too. I also enjoyed the actual fight between him and Luffy and, again, their interactions just shows more of why Inaki is perfect as Luffy because the way he reacts to different things in the fight are pretty spot on to how Luffy himself would react in these situations. I also liked how we see the end of Luffy's backstory here where we see Shanks giving him the Straw Hat as a kid. Though, this is kinda what I meant when I said the editing made the show feel disjointed at points because the flashback is split up in different parts throughout the first two episodes and it was pretty weird. Anyway, this episode also places a lot more time spent with Garp as well since he's introduced in the first episode and here instead of seeing him for the first time during Water 7 like in the manga and Garp is a character in this show that I'm kinda mixed on because Vincent Regan does a pretty good job as the character for the most part, but, what I really didn't like was how much screen time he has. I had heard this from a YouTuber before starting that they thought Garp and the Marines had too much screen time here and I agree. While I kinda get what they were going for with giving them so much screen time for the series, I still feel like it goes on too long at points and it sometimes felt a bit tedious to get through those scenes. I'm also not a fan of how Garp is handled at different points, but we'll get to that later. Anyway, this then leads to Episode 3 where we see Luffy, Zoro and Nami go to Syrup Village and see Usopp, Kaya and Kaya's servants. This is another part that shows great acting in the series because Jacob Romero does a great job as Usopp with capturing his cowardice and friendship with the others. The rest of the episode is still fun though when we see Luffy talk about being a pirate to Kaya, him and Zoro talking to Usopp and we even get a really fun Easter Egg with Zoro showing his terrible sense of direction as he gets lost walking through Kaya's mansion. Also, as a lot of people have mentioned already, I love how these two episodes are directed and shot because it's filmed like a horror movie when Kuro reveals himself and goes after them all. Speaking of, I thought Alexander Maniatis did a great job as him and was another character that felt like he was lifted right from the page, and I especially like how we don't spend a whole lot of time in Syrup Village. This part was probably one of the weaker elements of the manga, especially since it does go on a bit too long, but since they kinda go through it quicker, it helps. This might be the only element I think things going really quick helps because they manage to finish this part quickly and then we see them getting the Going Merry and Usopp joins. I will admit, I didn't like that Usopp and Kaya kiss. I like their relationship in the manga more where it's implied that they like each other, but it's never actually stated and I think their relationship works better there. Still though, them getting the ship and finishing the fourth episode like that and Luffy and the others seeing Garp for the first time was fun too. This then leads to Episode 5 where the crew arrives at Baratie and this part here shows off something that's really cool about this show and that's the production design. Throughout the series, a lot of the things we see are actual sets and things that were actually made. This is sorta what I meant when I mentioned how this show felt like the creators really cared about this franchise and wanted to make it look as good as possible. Anyway, we then finally meet Sanji here and this is another great casting. Taz Skylar is really good as Sanji and has some really cool moments, and how they do the whole Baratie thing is really cool with how they spend a lot of time there and we get to see Sanji and Zeff's past and that was nice to see. I also liked how Sanji's past was something we saw all at once instead of at random places and not all at once like some of the others. There's also a lot of other cool things that happen during their time there and I think my favourite is when Mihawk arrives. I will admit, something that I thought was weird about that was the fact that Mihawk is the one who fights Don Krieg here and so he doesn't appear at Baratie which is a weird change considering Luffy fighting him in the manga was the most important fight in that segment. But they made up for it with the rest of Mihawk's scenes. For one, Steven John Ward is absolutely perfect as Mihawk. They made him look perfect and the way he spoke and acted seemed absolutely perfect as well. But the fight between him and Zoro was cool too. This is sorta what I meant when I mentioned the action scenes because the fight looks really ridiculous and over the top, especially when Zoro does his last move, but, again, it's done in a way where it looks like they embraced how weird it was and just went for it is and so I appreciate that they did that while respecting the source material as well. This also still has that problem I mentioned earlier where they keep cutting back to Garp and the others and it can get kinda annoying going back to them. Another thing that I'm kinda mixed on is that Arlong actually comes to Baratie and fights Luffy there instead of like in the manga where Nami steals the Going Merry and goes to Cocoyasi Village herself. This then leads to the last two episodes where Luffy, Zoro, Sanji and Usopp go after them and this leads to the whole Arlong Park incident and there's a lot to talk about with these last two episodes. For one, I do kinda like how Buggy sorta goes with them because that did lead to some funny moments, but even some other moments like Luffy and the others discovering Nami's past was a sad moment too. That being said, there are some things in this that I wasn't a fan of, for one, again, we have more Garp and Marines moments that don't really add much like when they go to Baratie and Garp talks to Zeff. I also didn't really like how the Fishmen, especially Arlong himself, were pretty small. I mean, these guys are supposed to be huge in the story, but they're fairly small by comparison here. But, probably the number 1 thing in this series I really didn't like was the fact that Cocoyasi Village didn't know what Nami was doing, whereas in the manga, they did. I don't know why they made this change since it really doesn't add anything and so that was weird to see. Still though, the last episode was pretty cool with Luffy and the others fighting Arlong and the other Fishmen. Before that though, I loved the Easter Egg when Arlong was talking to Nezumi about Jimbei, that was really cool. Anyway, the fight with the Straw Hats vs. the Fishmen was pretty cool and I thought the final fight with Luffy and Arlong was cool too and the final Gum-Gum: Battle Axe was, again, done in a way that looked kinda weird but I didn't mind since that was another moment I just accepted since it was still cool to look at. Then, the last few moments of the final episode were nice. I liked seeing Luffy get his first bounty poster.

And the other characters in the series seeing the poster and then the Straw Hats leaving, revealing the Straw Hat Jolly Roger and the five of them declaring their dreams was a nice way to end the series. Then, at the end of the last episode, there was an end credit scene that showed the reveal of Smoker, so that was cool to see. So, yeah, overall, I was fairly satisfied with this show. Like I said, as a huge One Piece fan already, I was decently entertained by the series and it was really refreshing to finally have a live action anime adaptation that was actually good. Unlike other ones, this one actually felt like real effort and love was put into the making of this series and I love that. I already mentioned how it wasn't perfect and that I had a lot of problems with it like some weird editing and pacing, some changes that didn't really add anything to the story and spending too much time on different aspects that didn't feel like it needed to be that long. As I said before though, I think a big help to the series was the performances, which is even more impressive considering I can only imagine trying to act in a set up like this given the fact that it's live action, must have been really hard, but they do a really great job for the most part. Again, I feel like Inaki Godoy and Mackenyu were the best parts of the series as Luffy and Zoro. I loved their performances and they really felt like the characters. The only difference with Luffy that I noticed is that he seemed a bit smarter in this one. Not by much, but considering I still feel like Luffy is the dumbest anime protagonist ever, there were some moments where he seemed a bit smarter than the manga version. But yeah, the two of them were really fantastic as them and the rest of the cast does a great job too, especially the stand out ones I mentioned throughout the review. I'm just glad I gave this a shot and am really happy with everyone involved making this as good as it could be and this actually made me excited to see more. Speaking of, recently, it was announced that there will be more because Oda himself has stated that the series has been renewed for a Season 2 and he admitted that Chopper will be in it. So that makes me really curious because I'm wondering if they'll cover the entire Alabasta incident in the next season. If they do, that'll be a lot to cover since they have to go to Reverse Mountain, go to Whiskey Peak, go to Little Garden, go to Drum Island and then go to Alabasta. That'll be a lot to cover, especially if the next season is only 8 episodes long like this was. Not to mention they have a lot of characters to introduce like Chopper, Robin, Vivi, Ace, Crocodile and everyone else and so they could take a lot of this out like they did in this first season, but that's still a lot to do. So, I'm very curious to see more after seeing this. Another thing that's cool about this series is that a friend of mine who doesn't read manga or watch anime decided to watch this and he loved it and now he's started the manga and he's loving it so far.  So yeah, I would say you should check this out if you haven't yet and if you're a One Piece fan like me. So guys, that's my review of the live action One Piece: Season 1. Thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think.

When Marnie Was There

So guys, after six months of doing these Studio Ghibli movie reviews, I'm finishing with the last of them, When Marnie Was There. I know there was some other movie in 2020, but, from what I've been told, it's terrible and I really don't want to check it out. Anyway, this is another film I had heard a bit about before and had heard it was one of the best Ghibli movies ever. I remember even thinking I didn't think it would be anything that special when I first heard about it many, many years ago and didn't know what to really think of it going in. But, having finally seen it last year and, again recently, I can confirm that this is honestly absolutely incredible. I've seen this movie three times already and I absolutely love it. This is honestly tied with Kiki's Delivery Service with being my favourite Studio Ghibli movie. This film is honestly just that phenomenal. I was curious to know how similar or not similar my feelings towards this would be compared to some other YouTubers and I 100% absolutely agree that this movie is amazing. I've loved it so much every time I've seen it. So, let's get to the story and, as always, this will have all the spoilers. So, if you don't want anything spoiled, you should absolutely go see it then come back and read the rest of this. So, the story follows a small girl named Anna who has asthma and is also a person who finds it hard to get along with people and make friends. She's also a foster child and is living with some people who took her in when she was really young. They decide to help her by sending her to stay with their relatives for the summer. She then goes to a town by the sea and she still finds it hard to connect with people while she's there. However, while there, she sees an old marsh house and becomes interested in it and finds a girl there named Marnie and they begin to develop a friendship while also learning more about each other but something weird keeps happening every time she sees her. So, that's really as far as I'll go in terms of the plot, but, if you've seen the film, then you know a lot more happens, and we'll get to that in a minute. For now, I wanna go over everything. First off, I really appreciated that this is a Ghibli movie that focuses more on the story than anything else. In a lot of these other ones, a lot of them do have a story going on, but a lot of them also focus more on the events happening around the story and focusing on very small thing that maybe don't seem all that significant. Like in Kiki's Delivery Service, I love that movie, but a lot of it was showing Kiki living her life and not that much was happening outside of that. Here though, this one spends almost the whole film giving us information about what's going on because there's a lot going on with this being a more mystery centred story. Even in some instances where you might think it is the typical Ghibli thing where not a whole lot is happening, they find really clever ways to make it relevant later on. But I also think they use it in other great ways for the drama because there's a lot of times when they have Anna and Marnie talk and it reveals a lot about their childhoods and it shows how hard their lives have been and I really appreciate how they make it appropriately dramatic and in ways that I think even kids would appreciate. And, in general, I just love the pacing of the film. It's done perfectly and how they do everything is so incredibly well thought out. It also helps that the characters really help carry the movie so well because of just how likeable they are. I love Anna and Marnie as characters. They're both so likeable and they're so well written too. Anna may have some moments where maybe she does some unlikeable things, but it's done in a way where you don't hate her for it and it's explained really well why it happened. It's also done well because of how tragic they make her. You understand exactly why she is the way she is and you understand why she's had a hard life until now. But she's also developed amazingly throughout the movie. The way she starts the movie being really depressed and how she ends it with being so much happier is done perfectly and is so believable. Marnie is also great as almost like the opposite of Anna because she's more open and carefree and their interactions are so well done. So, like I said, for most of the film, you're constantly trying to figure out what all the weird stuff that's going on is and how it all connects. But, by the end, it all came together amazingly and perfectly when it's finally revealed. So, by the end, it's actually revealed that Marnie is actually Anna's grandmother and all the things Anna was experiencing was Marnie's memories from a different perspective. I swear, I really did not see it coming and how they do is amazing and honestly heartbreaking as well when we hear about Marnie's backstory. I also love how Anna learns all this with Sayaka as well and I really like how their relationship builds through the movie too. And then the actual ending when we see the vision of Marnie saying goodbye to Anna as she leaves, it was just the most perfect ending they could have given after all the questions were answered. Really, I just can't praise this movie enough. I absolutely love it. It has amazing writing, amazing characters and amazing animation. This is honestly Studio Ghibli's best looking movie ever in my opinion. A lot of that is helped by the fact that this is a more recent film, but the movie is honestly one of the most beautiful looking hand-drawn animated movies I've ever seen. The dubbing in this also couldn't have been done any more perfectly, Hailee Steinfeld is absolutely amazing as Anna and Kiernan Shipka does a fantastic job as Marnie. And the others like Grey DeLisle, John C Reilly, Vanessa Williams and Ava Acres are really terrific as well. Like I said, this is honestly tied with Kiki's Delivery Service as far as which one is my all time favourite Studio Ghibli movie. This is also another one of those Ghibli movies that I personally would love as a relaxation film like a lot of the others. So, yeah, everyone, I would absolutely recommend you check this out. I loved it, and I'm so glad I checked it out myself. So, that's my review of When Marnie Was There. So, everyone, after six months of doing these Studio Ghibli reviews, we're finally at the very end. I'm so glad I decided to check these out and review them because they've honestly really helped change my perception of animated movies and I'm so grateful to them for that. I've really loved the experience of going through these with all of you and I hope you've all enjoyed reading these too. Also, Studio Ghibli's next movie is coming out maybe next month, so, if I'm able to see it, I would love to make a review for it so look forward to that whenever it happens. So, yeah, guys, thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think.

The Tale Of Princess Kaguya

So guys, going back to reviewing the Studio Ghibli movies, we're onto the second last one in this series and another one that's pretty interesting for me personally, The Tale Of Princess Kaguya. When I first saw it, I really liked it and even put it in my top 10 favourite Ghibli movies, but recently, again, like the others, I rewatched it and I was surprised to find my opinion stayed the same. I say that because when rewatching some of these other ones, I usually liked the films more or less when I saw them the second time, but, here, I felt it was about the same as when I first saw it and that's that I really liked it, but I do have some problems with it. But, first, let's get to the story. In Japan, a bamboo cutter is cutting down some trees when he finds a tiny, tiny girl inside of the bamboo trees and he's convinced she's a princess and so the man and his wife take her in as their daughter. She begins to get older really quickly and makes friends with the kids around the area. That is until one day when the dad decides to move into a palace far away so she can really be treated like a princess. At first, she's excited and thinks it'll be fun, but, after a while, she begins to hate it and feels like everything is wrong. The mother seems to want to help her, but the dad is completely obsessed with having life be this way and training her to be a real princess. She also gets the name Kaguya and all sorts of things happen where she begins hating her role as a princess more and more. So, yeah, a lot of this does sound somewhat kinda standard, and a bit of it does feel that way, but, I think a lot of what they do in the start and end is really great stuff. I love watching Kaguya make friends in the village she grows up in and they have a likeable connection and they play with it at different points throughout the movie. Though, I will say, when they leave their home and start the stuff in the palace, that's when things slow down considerably and not in the usual really great way like a lot of other Ghibli movies. For one, I find it weird how they even managed to get the palace in the first place considering the parents aren't royalty. I know they kinda explain it when the dad finds the gold in the bamboo, but it's still kinda weird. But, anyway, other things feel like they go on too long too, like when the dad has that party and when Kaguya is being taught all these different lessons and things like that. I think the worst of them is when Kaguya is forced to pick a husband for herself but she doesn't want to so she makes the princes who came look for some tree that's supposed to be impossible to find and that goes on for a long time too, at least almost a half hour. Also, just a quick sidenote, I don't know what they were going for with the dad. Maybe they were trying to make him likeable or unlikeable, but I really hated him. He just seemed like an egocentric idiot who just seemed to care about his own image and not caring about Kaguya's opinion and I really hated him. So, yeah, weird things like that really stuck out to me as nitpicks. But, the rest of  the film does a nice job making it really likeable. Like I said, I really like the opening showing Kaguya having fun with her friends and what they all do together and how we end up seeing them again near the end. Speaking of, the ending is also pretty bittersweet where we see that Kaguya is actually from the moon and so her people from the moon come to take her back and it's pretty sad seeing her leave, especially since they make it clear she's gonna forget everything that happened to her when she does. I also especially liked the connection between Kaguya and the mom because they felt like they had a real and nice relationship. The main thing the film has going for it though is the animation style. I really like how this film looked. It looks like some of those chinese watercolour paintings and how they keep that up for the whole film makes it really gorgeous, especially the scene where Kaguya gets upset at the party and dreams about running away and how they do that is really cool. I don't think this is the best looking Ghibli movie, but it's one of the most unique looking ones. I also liked how this is one of those princess stories where you feel the frustrations of what she's going through and a lot of it does feel very real and relatable. So, I'm kinda torn on this film a little because it has some of the best stuff in any of the Studio Ghibli movies, but it also has some of the worst examples of a slow moving Ghibli movie where I don't think it always works like a lot of the others. However, I will say, I think a lot of what helped it for me personally was the voice acting. I'm sure I would have liked this fine if I saw it in Japanese, but I really, really loved the English voice acting here, especially Chloe Grace Moretz as Kaguya herself. I think she's honestly the best part about the movie because her voice fits Kaguya absolutely perfectly and I don't think anyone could have done her better. Again, I just really do believe her performance elevates the movie so much. And the others like James Caan, Mary Steenburgen, Darren Criss and Lucy Liu are really great too. So, yeah, like I said, I think this is an interesting film for me because, while I think a lot of the good things in this helps make this one of my favourite Ghibli movies, I also don't think this is one of the ones I'd want to watch that many times. I don't know if that makes sense, but that's how I feel. Still though, this is a really good film and I would highly recommend it if you've never seen it just to see all the good stuff I listed. So, guys, that's my review of The Tale Of Princess Kaguya. Thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think.

The Wind Rises

So, it's kinda been a while since I did a Studio Ghibli movie review, but I'm back to continue them with The Wind Rises. This is apparently another one of the Ghibli movies that was said to be their last movie ever, but they just kept making more afterwards. Anyway, the first time I saw this, I thought it was okay, but I did acknowledge how well made it was and how adult it was in regards to the fact that this is another more mature Ghibli movie that doesn't have that much going on, but, like so many of the other Ghibli movies I've reviewed, I rewatched it again recently and it did actually did get a bit better. I think the reason a lot of these have gotten better on the second viewing is because, when you see a movie for the first time, you're paying attention to the story and trying to follow along and understand it, and when you see it a second time, you know what's gonna happen and so you can enjoy it more and take it other great aspects about it and I think that's what it was like for me with a lot of these. So, moving onto the movie itself, I remembering first hearing about this years ago and not being all that interested like a lot of these Ghibli movies, but, these days, I'm glad I decided to finally watch it and all the others too and it's been great to see my thoughts on this one change in particular. Anyway, moving onto the story, it follows a guy in Japan named Jiro who has a dream of designing airplanes to be made. This also takes place during World War 2 and so Japan is really poor and he's trying to do what he loves with designing planes while all sorts of things happen around him like an Earthquake happens, he meets a girl and they start to fall in love and there's a whole bunch of trouble going on with the military. So, like what I've said for a few of the other Ghibli movies, this is another one that's super realistic and, not only that, but I heard this is actually based on a true story, so that's interesting. And speaking of, even though I usually don't care that much for stories like that, the way this movie does it and tells its story makes even some of the traditional stuff I'd usually find boring very interesting. Something that I think helps with that is the fact that a lot of the characters are very relatable. What I mean by that is that a lot of the movie is spent with Jiro trying to do everything he can to do what he wants to do because he has this huge dream of designing airplanes and how there's some problems going on around him but he's trying to push through to be able to keep doing it. Even though there are a lot of moments of him and the other characters having normal conversations about the state of things around them, somehow, they still manage to find a way to keep it engaging enough to be interesting. And they do it where you can also feel sorry for him in different ways too because a lot of his creations keep failing but he keeps trying to get better with the designs and make the best planes he can, and it's made even better because he's also doing it with his friend you like their relationship too since they try to help each other. It's like what I've been saying about a lot of these other Ghibli movies where, even though there's not that much going on and you're just watching people have casual conversations but they have great dialogue to make it so fascinating. I think I also appreciate the fact that they don't ignore the repercussions of the planes too because since this is set in World War 2 and it's about making planes, they explain how this could take so many lives and cause many people to die. Especially at the end when they show Jiro having a dream of planes crashing and you see him talking to someone he admires and how when he has people flying his planes, he worries since they could never come back from it and I admire the fact that they don't ignore the fact that the pilots could die and they could kill many people. So I totally give them huge respect for having it so that Jiro does do what he wants but that he also has to face the realities of it. So, in terms of that whole stuff, I liked it a lot. If there was one thing in the film I didn't like all that much, it's the romance between Jiro and the girl named Nahoko. I dunno, it wasn't terrible, but I didn't really care for that all that much and it felt kinda rush and not that earned. Maybe it had something to do with making it more faithful to whatever the true story is and so maybe that's why there was a romance at all, but, I still think it was the weakest aspect to the film. I think that also affects the runtime a bit too. I mean, the film is 2 hours and 6 minutes long and, while I give them respect for making a lot of it be involving the creation of the planes, the whole romance did make it feel like it was going on a bit too long. I will say, it was pretty tragic by the end because I'm pretty sure it's implied that Nahoko died, so it does work in that way because you do feel sorry for them. But, aside from that, I still really admire a lot of how this film played out. I love how they somehow took a concept for a movie that I'd generally think was not my thing and made it very entertaining. Again, how they address different things like Jiro's love for his work and creations really helped bring the film to life for me. Speaking of, kinda like what I said about my review for Grave Of The Fireflies, the animation helps with it too because it's a lot more realistic and so it compliments the entire movie, and they do great effects with it like the earthquake scene. The dubbing is also incredible here and, again, the fact that this is so realistic, the voice acting helps make the dialogue more interesting than I'd expect. Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Jiro, Emily Blunt as Nahoko, John Krasinski as Kiro, Martin Short as Kurokawa, everyone is still just as perfectly cast as all the other Ghibli movies. Really, I just feel like this is another example of how Ghibli movies can tackle any kinda movie and make it extremely enjoyable no matter what the subject matter. So, yeah, despite this not being the traditional fantasy kinda story like most Ghibli movies tend to be, I would still say this is a great movie to check out. So, guys, that's my review for The Wind Rises. Thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think.

Outlaw Star (Anime Review)

So guys, after a while of not putting one of these out, I'm back making another anime review. This one being an anime I got into just a few months ago, Outlaw Star. This is another space themed anime from the nineties like something like Cowboy Bebop. But, if I'm being completely honest, I like this show a lot more. I honestly love this series. For me, this is my Cowboy Bebop. In a similar way to how people feel about that series and love so many things about it and have a great appreciation for it being a space themed anime, that's exactly what this show is for me. I've watched this show three times already and I absolutely love it. It's become one of my favourite anime's ever and I think this is a great series to be able to binge watch, especially since it's only 26 episodes long. I only found out about the series a few months ago and got curious to check it out and so I started watching it on my brother's DVD collection of the series and then I got my own Blu-Ray of the whole show and finished watching it that way. So, let's get into it and, like always, I'll be going into full spoilers so, if you don't want anything spoiled, go watch it then come back and read the rest of this. So, the plot of the series follows a guy named Gene Starwind and his partner, Jim Hawking on a planet where they run a business of fixing whatever someone wants. Gene also has a phobia of space, but that all changes when they meet a lady named Hilda who tricks them into helping her get off the planet. Not only that, but she's also being pursued by some people she stole from and she reveals she stole a girl from them named Melfina, who's actually a cyborg. They get off the planet and find a special ship that Melfina is able to operate because she's a cyborg. When they manage to get it, Hilda is killed by the people that were chasing them and Gene takes over as the captain of the ship and he calls it the Outlaw Star. They then hear about something called the Galactic Leyline, which is said to have a special treasure there. They decide to go and the rest of the series is following them on different adventures to eventually reach it. So, yeah, a bit of that does sound somewhat episodic, but, in my opinion, that's exactly what makes it so enjoyable. After the first few episodes, the majority of the series afterwards is showing them doing different things like jobs to get money to help them get to the Leyline. But the way they do them all is so fun and so entertaining. I love when an anime feels somewhat episodic but the episodes are super entertaining and they show the different things they do helps to show them getting close to what they're trying to do. I think something that helps with that is the rest of the crew they're able to get because, for the first few episodes, it's just Gene, Jim and Melfina, but they start getting more members like a Ctarl-Ctarl named Aisha, who can turn into a tiger, and an assassin named Suzuka. They join up after a while and the way they come together as a crew is a lot of fun and helps make the character dynamics even more entertaining. But, they also manage to have the plot unfold in other great ways too like when they introduce the MacDougall brothers, two of the main villains in the series with Ron being the older and smarter one and Harry being the crazy and violent younger one who's obsessed with having Melfina to himself. They encounter them at different points in the show and in different ways, the first time being when they enter a race with the Outlaw Star and lose, but they still find them and they have a really cool fight with them and then the series goes into being episodic again until episode 15, which is maybe the darkest episode in the show because it has some disturbing stuff in it. Gene is forced to fight someone but he realises he could most likely die and so this causes him to get depressed and miserable and he starts acting cold to everyone, especially Melfina when he's drunk and we get a disturbing scene with the two of them but then we see Gene at the fight and he manages to kill the guy only to see there's another one there who wants to kill him who he met earlier and so the crew decides to help him and they manage to win, but just barely and so it ends with their bond being stronger, but it was still a disturbing episode nonetheless, and how they did it was really well done. The series then keeps going as they keep doing more jobs and encounter more enemies, especially fighting the MacDougall again when they try to invade the ship, and do other things too like the episode where they help a guy get stuff from a sunken ship, or when Aisha takes part in a women's wrestling tournament or when they all get taken into custody or even some smaller stories like when Jim meets a girl on a planet and they quickly become friends but then they unknowingly fight each other in their ships which causes the girl to die and Jim is saddened with her not showing up again and so it's nice when we see someone like Jim get a story like this because, he may be really great with technology and be a great partner for Gene, but he's still a small kid and so having stories like this help us sympathise with him. But, the series begins to come to a close in episode 21 when the crew finds a planet with ruins that they think could help lead them to the Galactic Leyline and they end up fighting the MacDougall brothers again but then they're contacted by a guy named Gwen Khan, who's another one of the main villains, and this leads to an episode where Gene infiltrates a prison to find someone who can tell them where the Leyline is and so they manage to get out and he helps them find out where it is. It woulda been cool to immediately go to the Leyline from there, but then we get the funniest episode in the show where Gene and the others go to a Hot Springs planet and try to get Caster Shells, as in magical bullets for a special gun that Gene has. And this whole episode is just one gigantic laugh after another with Gene being forced to help someone in return for it while some loser idiot is after him trying to kill him but keeps failing. It's honestly one of the funniest episodes in an anime I've seen in ages. But, anyway, that then leads to the last three episodes, which serve as the finale to the whole show. This has Gene and the rest of the crew, along with the MacDougall brothers with Gwen Khan, a bunch of pirates led by a guy named Hazanko, who's basically the final villain of the show, all arrive at the Leyline and the Leyline itself sorta acts like it's alive. It teleports them to different places that meet at the same point and it even takes Melfina because, for a lot of the series, she's trying to figure out exactly what she is and why she was created, but it's revealed that she, along with the Outlaw Star itself, were created as a means of reaching the Leyline and understanding it, and she's taken to the centre of it and Gene and Harry try to get to her back. And we get another cool action scene where Harry tries to fight Hazanko but he kills him and then Ron is seriously injured. Gene then arrives and gets knocked out but Jim manages to help him and this actually helps show that this part has an amazing moment for all the main characters because Jim is helping Gene, Aisha finally gets to go all out with her power as a Ctarl-Ctarl, Suzuka fights the person who killed her family and Gene and Melfina find out more and more information about the Leyline. And this all culminates in Gene, Gwen Khan and Hazanko getting to the centre of the Leyline and getting a lot of information and Melfina has sorta merged with the Leyline and things start going crazy when Gene and Hazanko fight like when it looks like they've all been killed but are deeper inside the Leyline and Melfina explains more about the Leyline to Gene and that she can now grant him any wish. Gwen Khan was also killed after learning the information he wanted and Hazanko got all the power he wanted and Gene says he just wants him, Melfina and the rest of the crew to go back to the way things were and so they manage to get back to the ship and they begin to fight Hazanko and they manage to beat him and the series then ends with them going back to their home planet and Gene decides he wants to keep going around space doing jobs and it looks like everyone is happy and the crew decides to stay together and the series ends with them just flying off to whatever adventure is next. So, in all honesty, I love this show. Even though I'm fairly new to it, I absolutely love it and it's quickly become one of my all time favourite anime's ever. The series just has such a likeable charm to it and is so much fun from beginning to end. Even though the series is only 26 episodes long and is very episodic and feels like filler for a good amount of it, it's still done the best way it could be done and a lot of that is due to how much fun the characters are. I love all the main characters. Gene is a super likeable and fun and funny protagonist, Jim is great as a partner for him and Melfina, Aisha and Suzuka are great characters as well with Melfina being very kind and gentle and compassionate, Aisha being crazy and funny and over dramatic and Suzuka being quiet and a bit of a loner but still being really cool. I think Aisha is the funniest character in the series with being super over the top in a ton of different situations and being super over dramatic and, like I said, I love the different kinds of dynamics they all have with each other with getting on each other's nerves a lot and bickering a lot but still being great friends and having each other's backs. And, while I guess some episodes were better than others, there was never one I disliked and they all had a great charm to them. The episodic feeling to the show also helps make some side characters stand out too like Fred or even Hilda. I'll be honest, I was really surprised when Hilda died. I really thought she would be one of the main character given how integral she was in the first few episodes. The animation is also fantastic in this series. I love how colourful and bright it is and how everything really does just pop. The different way they do colours and designs makes this one of the best looking anime's I've seen in a while, especially since this was a show made back in the late nineties. I also love how even though this is an old anime from the nineties, it still holds up incredibly well. I think a good reason for that is the voice acting with the dub because it's filled with actors I've never seen in other anime's before, but they all do an amazing job. Bob Buchholz as Gene, Brianne Siddall as Jim, Emily Brown as Melfina, Lenore Zann as Aisha, Wendee Lee as Suzuka, every single one of them do an absolutely incredible job and I'm so glad this series introduced me to them all. So, overall, I am so glad I got into this series and so glad I love it the way I do. Like I said at the start, this is honestly my Cowboy Bebop. This is what I wanted that series to be and I genuinely believe this series is the better version of it, which is weirdly kinda fitting since this series actually started shortly before Cowboy Bebop did back in 1998 in Japan and they were both made by the same studio. I had an amazing time with it and I can confidently say that this is one of my favourite anime's of all time. So, yeah, guys, if you've never seen this series before, I would absolutely recommend checking this series out if you haven't. I especially think this is a great series to binge watch since it's not a long show at all. And so, yeah, guys, that's my review of Outlaw Star. Thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think.

Elemental

So guys, we're now at the latest Pixar movie and another one I wasn't super excited for, Elemental. This is a lot like Strange World to me where I wasn't really that interested watching the trailers or anything like that and I honestly saw on the last day of its release here. I saw it on Sunday last week and was just curious to see it, especially since, again, like Strange World, the movie was bombing pretty hard at the box office and the little bit of response I was hearing wasn't very positive. So, in the end, what did I think of it? Honestly, it's pretty mcuh the same as my thoughts on Strange World where I honestly didn't like this at all. In a way, I guess, it was somewhat better than Strange World, at least, unlike that movie, I wasn't completely bored to death. It was still pretty boring, but at least I kinda remembered the characters a bit more. But, overall, this was a pretty disappointing film for me. Also, since this has been out for over a month, I'm going full spoilers from the start, so, if you don't want anything spoiled, go see it and then come back and read this. So, what's the story? It's set in a world where the four elements are alive and have a society and in a town, there's a fire family there with a daughter named Ember. Her family owns a shop and she's hoping to take over it some day. She tries to show she's responsible enough to do it and one day when she's doing it, she causes a pipe to burst which causes a water guy named Wade to come through which starts flooding the shop and so now the two of them try to get to the bottom of what's causing a huge flood to happen. So, I will admit, some of that does some somewhat promising, I think a few elements they implement does help give the film a few cool concepts. Where it falls hard for me though is in the execution. A lot of the film was still really, really boring to me. The main problem I had with it is that the pacing was honestly pretty bad, especially at the start, it felt like the movie was really trying to get into the main plot as fast as possible and so the opening in particular felt pretty rushed. I also feel like this movie was trying to combine other Disney movies together into one like Zootropolis and The Princess And The Frog, except those movies did those plots way, way, way better, and so by feeling like other Disney movies leads to the film feeling kinda forced in its execution and being really bland. The film felt like it was going by really quick and so the relationships forming felt really forced and not earned. The main one I'm talking about is the romance between Ember and Wade. Again, it felt like it was trying to do Zootropolis in this a bit with Judy and Nick's connection, but this one felt really forced and not as well earned. The movie also has a ton of other clichéd moments like Ember and Wade trying to hide from Ember's parents and that eventually leading to them finding put and them getting mad and also Ember and Wade getting into an argument, which also felt really forced and clichéd. I mean, with everything I've said, that's not to say nothing is good in the film because the animation is of course great and actually pretty different from most Disney movies, something about how they do parts of the animation was pretty unique and cool. And the main thing I liked the most was the world because they take advantage of every cool idea you could have with a world like this. They make it so that the world feels unique and how they do a lot of those unqiue things like that makes this a world I would love to explore it. So the actual world building of the film was probably what interested me the most. However, while that is really great to me, it doesn't really make up for the rest of the movie still feeling really forced and really poorly paced. I also really don't like the ending. Like the rest of the movie, it felt forced and not earned with Ember being able to save Wade and the two of them get together. I will say, in terms of some other things that were kinda interesting, the middle of the movie actually was kinda entertaining. I mean, it had some moments I didn't like, but the middle of the movie when Ember and Wade are doing some other small things was actually not that bad and had some entertaining moments, but, for the most part, a lot of the movie just had scenes that made me care less and less and so that didn't really matter in the end. So, overall, I really didn't like this film. It gave me a lot of the same feelings as Strange World did, and while not as bad a feeling as film, still not exactly a good one either. So, yeah, I personally wouldn't want to see this again. All that being said, I honestly do have a lot of faith in Disney's next movie, Wish, which is out in November and I actually do have a lot of faith in that movie. The trailers have looked really cool so far and the animation looks incredible and the way it's being presented makes me really excited and I have a feeling this could be another big movie for Disney like Frozen was. But, as for this movie itself, I personally didn't like it and was really disappointed as a big Disney and Pixar fan. I'd only say check it out if you're curious. And as, everyone, that's my review of Elemental. Thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think.

My Hiei collectible (Review)

So, I haven't shared any of these for a few months, but on my YouTube channel, I've still been doing plenty of anime collectible reviews. The last one I shared on here was the one for Hisoka and I've gotten tons since and this is one I did after I did the Hisoka one, my one for Hiei from Yu Yu Hakusho. It was great to be able to get him since he's another character from Yu Yu Hakusho and Hiei is still my favourite character in the whole series, and possibly my favourite Yoshihiro Togashi character of all time. Like I said, I've been able to get a lot more since the last one I shared, and I'll be showing them all on here for a while too and I'm excited for more of them coming soon to do reviews of those ones too. So, just for this one as a whole, this Hiei figure is possibly part of some set or something because it's not a Banpresto figure and looks different, but it still works well as a Hiei figure and one of him doing an awesome attack with The Dragon Of The Darkness Flame and so it's cool to have him and Yusuke together like this. Anyway, again, I was glad to get him when I did. And so, here it is and I hope you all like this.

From Up On Poppy Hill

So, guys, now we're moving onto a really high-up Studio Ghibli for me, From Up On Poppy Hill. This is another one I absolutely love. When I saw this for the first time, I really, really loved it and I rewatched it again recently and I still do. This is another very small stakes movie with people just kinda living their lives and do what they can in different situations. I think this is similar to something like Whisper Of The Heart where there's just people trying to live their lives with some complications in the way. Though, I guess this does have a bit more of a story to it. The film just has a huge amount of charm and likeability to it. The story is about a girl named Umi who lives with her sisters. Her mom is in college and her dad is dead. She goes to a school that has a clubhouse next to it that's going to be demolished and everyone wants to save it, especially the boys who use it a lot and Umi asks her friends to help fix it up to help. Not only that, but the main story outside of that is Umi meeting a boy named Shun and they both don't really like each other but begin to develop feelings for the other after a bit of time but that starts getting complicated after Umi shows him a picture of her dad and he realises that her dad might be his as well so now things are complicated because they think they could be siblings now. So, yeah, a part of this does sound like very typical teenage drama stuff that's been done a lot, but I think what helps make this so special for me is the pacing. Again, like I've said so much about this Ghibli movies already, this is another film that is so slow with its pacing and how long it spends on different scenes, even when the characters are doing absolutely nothing at all, and they still somehow manage to make this super charming, likeable, fun and incredibly engaging. But I think what I liked about the film the most is when the characters are discovering different pieces of information about their history because Umi and Shun are clearly trying to figure out what happened with Umi's dad and see what kind of relationship they really have and how they do a lot of that is done super well. And even the subplot with the clubhouse is really fun with how much time they spend on cleaning it up and also showing how much care they all have for it. And even in some scenes like when Umi, Shun and some classmate of theirs go to some place to talk to someone and all they do is just sit and wait, something about that alone is kinda engaging too. But I also like just general character stuff like when Umi and Shun are bonding and sorta figuring out what they want to do and so on. And all that stuff is great, but just how they go through the rest of the mundane stuff is just as great as it is in the other movies. And I think the ending couldn't have been done any better. Out of all the endings in these Studio Ghibli movies, this is one of the most satisfying because Umi and Shun and all the students manage to save the clubhouse by cleaning it and having one of the higher-ups come and he agrees to leave it alone and then Umi and Shun go to the docks and meet someone who knew Umi's dad and he reveals that Shun's dad was someone else who knew him and Umi's dad. Again, just really fantastically executed and really well presented too. It's also nice how even before that, Umi's mom came back and even explained it to her like that too. So, yeah, again, this film just has the same charm to it that so many other Ghibli films like Whisper Of The Heart and I love it for that. It has such a great way of doing everything it does and makes it so engaging and interesting to watch the whole thing. I think the dub in this is a good reason as to why that is because they all do great, especially Sarah Bolgar as Umi and Anton Yelchin as Shun. So, I'm not exactly sure if this would really appeal to everyone, but I do think you should check this out regardless because I do believe there's some really great stuff in this. So guys, that's my review of From Up On Poppy Hill. Thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think.

Arrietty

So, for the last few Studio Ghibli movies I've reviewed, I've gone over ones that I've enjoyed to lesser degrees than some of other ones, but now we're back to ones that I love and think are some of my favourites, Arrietty. I know in most places, it's called The Secret World Of Arrietty, but, here, it's just Arrietty. Anyway, apparently this is based on some book that I really don't know anything about, so just judging this film on its own, I honestly love it. I feel like this is the same kinda movie as something like My Neighbour Totoro or Kiki's Delivery Service, as in I feel like it gives me the same kinda feels in a way. I feel like I've seen this kinda story before, but the way they do it is very likeable and very charming. The story is about a family of tiny people called Borrowers who live in a tiny house inside a normal house and try to live their lives by taking things from the normal house without ever being seen. One of the members of the family is a teenaged girl named Arrietty who's then spotted by a boy named Sho who's staying at the house for a while and he's really sick. They start to get along and they start to open up to each other but the maid of the house named Haru starts to suspect that they're around and tries to capture them so Arrietty and her family decide to try to move and Sho tries to help. So, unlike some of the past few Ghibli movies that felt like they had big stakes on the rest of the world and stuff like that, this one is definitely back to things being smaller scaled and more relaxed in a way, and you could say it really is small scaled given the premise and what they do. I really like how they shoot this film. It's the kinda thing you'd see in something like Toy Story or A Bug's Life where you follow small characters and so you see the world as massive like they do and I really love it for that. I love how they use common items as tools and the different ways they do all that is really creative. The film is also pretty fast paced. I mean, it's only an hour and a half long but they do a lot really quickly but I think they do it really well too and allow a lot of character moments in it too like showing the connection between Arrietty and Sho and how they get to the point where he's helping her. But I think they also do a great job at hateable characters too, and by that, I mean Haru, the maid of the house because she's constantly trying to catch Arrietty and her family and so she's doing all these things to them and it makes her extremely hateable and so it's extremely satisfying at the end when she fails and you see her be defeated. And, really, all that really helped make this one of my favourite Studio Ghibli movies because even though there's not really anything in this that's insane or masterfully done like other Ghibli movies, just the little things they do do just helps make these characters very likeable and enjoyable and I love how they show that by having the characters be incredibly smart about the situation and knowing what to do at any moment. I especially love how the ending is almost kinda bittersweet because, not only does Arrietty and her family move, but it's shown that Sho could die because of his illness so that's kinda left open at the end too even though he says he's going for an operation. But I still think they leave it open enough to see that there is hope for him anyway. So, yeah, even though this is a more smaller film, literally, I think everything they do in this made it very enjoyable and just very fun to watch. I also love the dub here and how genuine it is. There's actually two versions of this film's dub because there's the American one and the British one and I've only seen the British version, but I think they do an amazing job like Saoirse Ronan as Arrietty and Tom Holland as Sho. I was really surprised to see Tom Holland do a dub for a Ghibli movie, but he does an amazing job. And the rest do a great job too. So, again, this review probably wasn't the most insightful you'll ever see about this film, but it's still just a film I'm really happy I saw and these are my genuine thoughts on it. And, with what's in it, I still love this movie because they do so much that makes the film so likeable and I'm really happy to say this is one of my favourite Studio Ghibli movies. So, I would highly recommend checking this out if you're watching all the Studio Ghibli movies. So, yeah, guys, those are my thoughts on Arrietty. Thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think.

Ponyo

So, out of all the Studio Ghibli movies out there, this one is probably one of the weirdest, Ponyo. And, when I say that, I mean in terms of the movie itself and also how I personally feel about it. I know a lot of people most likely absolutely love this film, but it's honestly just another very okay movie for me. Not bad, just very okay. I don't love this film, but I also don't hate it. You can tell from watching that this is meant to be a more kid friendly film than some other Ghibli movies. Though, and this is kinda the opposite of how I felt about the last few Ghibli movies. I recently rewatched the film to prepare for this review and I think I liked it a bit less than I did the first time. I mean, it's a very harmless film, like I said, but, I dunno, I just didn't really connect with this film at all like I did with a lot of other Ghibli movies. I'll get into that in a second, but, let's get into the story first. The story is about a small girl creature from the ocean that comes to the surface and begins to turn into a human. While there, she meets a small boy named Sosuke who names her Ponyo and Sosuke does everything he can to keep her around and he's also living with his mom who tries to help wherever she can while also doing her job. Not only that, but Ponyo's dad is furious about her leaving the ocean and so he constantly tries to get her back home, especially since her being on the surface is causing all sorts of damage like the sea going crazy and the moon is going to crash into the world. Yeah, this is something that's weird about the film, it starts off so small and simple, but then just becomes completely insane because there's then another element introduced that Ponyo being out of the sea could destroy the planet. But, I guess to be fair, this isn't really a film that was really meant to be taken seriously, I think it was just meant to be a fun small kid's adventure film because everything that happens feels like it's aimed for kids. The majority of the film is centred around watching Ponyo and Sosuke's friendship develop with Ponyo getting insanely over excited for everything and going crazy for it like whenever she eats ham and them getting into strange situations while Ponyo's dad is constantly trying to get her back. This is just kinda what I meant. I dunno, I just didn't really get into the film the way it wanted me too and I didn't really care much for the characters involved. I mean, I liked them, I guess, I just didn't particularly care that much, especially since I've seen this kinda story done before and I've enjoyed it more in other things like that. Again, yes, definitely a film that feels like it's aimed for children so it can get away with that, but in terms of something that would appeal to an older audience, I'm sure loads of people would like it fine, it's just something that doesn't appeal to me that much personally. But that's not to say the film doesn't have anything going for it when it comes to adults because it does because things like the animation is still clearly phenomenal and they did it in a way where the animation looks somewhat more simpler than other Ghibli movies but still look really great. Again, like some of these other Ghibli movies, I appreciate a lot of what they did and I do acknowledge that this is a good film, it's just not one that I think is spectacular and isn't something I think would appeal to everyone like a lot of other ones, but it is still a good film regardless and there are a lot of great aspects, especially the dubbing. They did a really great job with the dubbing for this like Noah Cyrus as Ponyo, Frankie Jonas as Sosuke, Liam Neeson as Ponyo's dad and Cate Blanchett as her mom. I think they all do a great job and how they do different parts of the film interestingly as well. So, this review was really short and probably sounded way too harsh, but I do see this as a good movie and I am glad I saw it. So, I do think you should see this if you're curious to check it out with the other Ghibli movies. So, yeah, guys, those are my thoughts on Ponyo. Thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think.