“Ninjatown” is almost exactly like Mr. Men, except that the Mr. Men here are all ninjas, and their enemies are Zombie Ninjas and Wee Devil’s, hand shape monsters who invent devious schemes like destroying the Ninjatown with giant Waffles. Si, giant waffles! “Ninjatown” has no dialogue, no story, no arc, and almost no mythos, and I was able to read the entire 46 pages (or volume 1, as it were) in fifteen minutes.
Tag Archives: Kids
Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008)
Is “The Clone Wars” as bad as people have said? Yes and no. I had fun, I sat through the animated “Star Wars” entry with a chuckle and a half smile and enjoyed these characters yet again. The animated team manages to comprise a film with animation that’s pretty eye catching if below par what the Lucas team is capable of. But then again, there won’t be much of a difference when the Cartoon Network airs the series in a few months. Top that off with the interesting voice work that I quite enjoyed. You have to appreciate actor Matt Lanter for putting life and energy in to Anakin Skywalker, almost completely making me forget the awful performances by Hayden Christensen. Voice actor James Arnold Taylor reprises his role from the original “Clone Wars” mini-series and does a bang up job reprising the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi and giving us the character’s charms and gravitas in full force.
CJ7 (2008)
I’d like to tell you that “CJ7” is Stephen Chow’s answer to “E.T.” but as we all have come to know, Chow would never be about providing ordinary kids entertainment that we’ve seen before. “CJ7” may have the same formula when you get down to it, but Chow gives his own spin on it and it works. It’s a healthy dose of menace, adult edge, and over the top fantasy that has become a dead art in family films and director Chow takes every chance to flex those elements with his own take on the boy meets alien tale. On the flipside, Chow also tries to tell a genuinely emotional tale about a poor down on their luck and father and son struggling to get by living in a junk yard and eating day old food, while character Dickey’s dad always tries to teach him about life and how there are simply no short cuts. Especially when you’re poor.
DC Superheroes: The Filmation Adventures (DVD)
After many years without an official release, Filmation’s adaptation of DC’s greatest superheroes is finally on DVD with a pristine two disc edition featuring some of the most entertaining adventures of DC’s top tier and second tier characters. Primarily consisting of episodes from the Superman/Aquaman Hour, “DC Superheroes” is broken down in to numerous segment clusters that are comprised of episodes spotlighting the likes of The Atom, The Flash, Green Lantern, the Teen Titans and Hawkman, sadly with Superman only a glaring footnote in the compilation.
Space Angel Collection One (DVD)
Syncro-Vox is defined as being an animated still or still picture that is given motion through the lips by an actor whose lips are voicing the character and providing the motion of the lips. If you’ve ever seen “Conan O’Brien” or the opening of “Spongebob” then you know what Syncro-Vox is, and it’s an obsolete method used in the rather creaky science fiction animated series called “Space Angel.”
Much like the animated series “Speed Racer’s” propensity for barely moving the characters at all while talking, Syncro-Vox was used as a form of saving money for the animated team, which is made very obvious when you see what “Space Angel” has to offer.
Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008)
If you’ve never read Jules Vernes’ original novel before, if you’ve never had the pleasure of seeing any of the film adaptations, then there’s a good chance you may enjoy “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” a family adventure film that’s just been released for the sake of cashing in on the 3D gimmick and dumbing down the entire story to where it’s really nothing but a ride. Just like a Universal studios attraction Eric Brevig’s film comes with an interactive device that allows you to sit through an experience that presents the a basic broad premise and wastes no time in plunging you in to a variety of awe inspiring sights and sounds that will make you “ooh” and “aah” and then do nothing more afterward.
Wall-E (2008)
“Wall-E” dares to be anything but predictable. It’s quiet, it’s subtle, it’s intelligent, it features barely any dialogue at all, and it asks us to think of a world where garbage has become so cumbersome we’ve been shoved off our planet by our own waste. “Wall-E” is simply a masterpiece. Continue reading