Special Christmas Review-Beauty & the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas

DISCLAIMER: All images and videos in this blog review are owned by their respective owners.

Summary:
We all know how Beauty and the Beast ends, but what untold tales were there during the course of the movie? This is one such story, when Belle and the Beast still did not get along, and the Beast is haunted by the circumstances behind his curse and how he absolutely despises Christmas...

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Merry Christmas to everyone, and a Happy Holidays to those who celebrate other holidays or don't celebrate. Either way, 'tis the season to be jolly, to look back on the past year, remember the good times we've had, and celebrate this time with friends or loved ones. It's a time for goodwill towards men, to try and spread some holiday cheer towards everyone they meet.

And this review will be my part to try and spread that cheer. What we have here is quite a combination: A Disney movie centered around Christmas. Christmas movies are of course a staple to watch during this time of the year, and I think anybody can name a Christmas movie off the top of their head, be it something like Home Alone 1 & 2, The Grinch, A Christmas Story and the many adaptations of The Christmas Carol, or TV specials like A Charlie Brown Christmas, adaptations of classic Christmas tales like Frosty or Rudolph, and How The Grinch Stole Christmas.

Or some people may just scrape the bottom of the barrel for some truly obscure flicks. Like Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.

Yes, this is a real thing that was made back in 1964

 

So what about Disney Christmas movies? While sure they certainly made some, like Jim Carrey's The Christmas Carol and Tim Allen's The Santa Clause, there wasn't one made specifically in relation to their main body of work: the Disney Animated Canon.

I've briefly gone over the Disney Animated Canon back in my Big Hero 6 review, but I've gushed about them so much already that anybody who knows me are aware of how much I trumpet their good movies as cinematic masterpieces. So the only thing I'll say on praising them is talking about my personal favorite of the entire lot: Beauty and the Beast.

The 1991 classic that needs no explanation

 

Why is this one my favorite? Well, because it seriously manages to be the perfect animated movie. A perfect movie is, in my opinion, impossible, but there are some movies that can come close, and Beauty and the Beast is one of them; perfect story, perfect characters, perfect voice acting, perfect animation, perfect music, just perfection all around. No other animated Disney movie I've seen has come close to Beauty and the Beast...except for Frozen, and even that one has some problems for me despite my perfect rating. But when I give Beauty and the Beast a perfect rating, I can think of absolutely no flaws. To say it's regarded as a Disney classic is an understatement, and if you haven't seen it yet, you better have a good reason why you didn't.

 

THAT BEING SAID.

 

Just because I love Disney doesn't mean I love everything about them. Disney has made plenty of lame and horrible mistakes over the decades, most especially the "tweenage" decade of the 2000's when live action sitcoms that were subjectively funny dominated the scene. Even their Disney Animated Canon has some stinkers, like Home on the Range and Chicken Little.

 

Another one of Disney's horrible mistakes is their direct to video sequels. Key word here is "direct-to-video". The Rescuers Down Under and Fantasia 2000 are not counted because they were released widely theatrically and they are part of the Disney Animated Canon. I'm also not talking about Pixar's sequels like Toy Story 2 & 3, Cars 2, and Monsters University.

 

I'm talking about these.

Six of the 22 Disney DTV sequels based of the Disney Animated Canon

 

Now, if you were growing up during the 90's and 2000's, chances are that you watched at least one of these. But just to be clear, they may be Disney, but they're not made by Walt Disney Animation Studios.

 

 

These were made by DisneyToon Studios, a division of the company that focuses primarily on smaller animated film projects. If you have watched A Goofy Movie, any movie about Tinkerbell's universe, or those horrendous Planes movies, those were made by this division. However their filmography is dominated by TONS of DTV sequels all based around various movies of the Disney Animated Canon. Bambi, Cinderella, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, 101 Dalmatians, Jungle Book, Winnie the Pooh, Fox & The Hound, Little Mermaid, Beauty & the Beast, Aladdin, Lion King, Pocahontas, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Mulan, Tarzan, Emperor's New Groove, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Lilo & Stitch, and Brother Bear all had sequels/prequels/midquels that took the stories and characters in other directions.

 

And most of them were preeeeeeeeeeeeety bad. I think the accusation of Disney being a money-milking machine stems from here because of the besmirching of their masterpieces. They were plagued by subpar stories, less-than-average animation, songs that are far from classic, and a recycling of plots from the original movies. But I don't think it's really fair to blame Disney completely; after all, this is only a division of the company and not their main studio. And it's not as if they're the worst movies ever made. They certainly have an appeal, and are better compared to other stuff Disney has made *cough Tweencoms cough*. When they're good they're certainly enjoyable, but when they're bad they're pretty bad. Point is that there are certainly some gems tnat stand out amongst the garbage.

 

This particular one, Beauty & The Beast: The Enchanted Christmas, is probably middle of the road. Not gonna lie, I watched this one quite a lot as a kid, so this has some sentimental value to me. However looking back it's not all that particularly good, but it's enjoyable in a way. It has some good things about it, and it's not as bad as other DTV sequels.

 

But anyway, let's finally get started. As with my Big Hero 6 and Frozen reviews, I'll be doing this more systematically. I might as well do this for every Disney movie I review on here.

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Story:

The prologue and epilogue of the movie take place roughly one year after the events of the original film on Christmas. As such we get to see characters Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts and Chip as actual human beings. Doesn't mean much but it's nice to see what they look like when not cursed into inanimate objects. Lumiere and Cogsworth are arguing over who saved Christmas the previous year, and Mrs. Potts reminds them of who really did, and begins to tell a tale that's not as old as time.

 

Yes this DTV movie is less a sequel and more a midquel, and takes place during that undisclosed time in the original movie after The Beast saved Belle from the wolves and before their ballroom dance. This story idea of telling tales in an unspecified time gap is both good and bad. Good, because of story potential and ideas. Bad, because there's that argument that sometimes you don't need to see what went down; implications are just as good, if not sometimes better. In my opinion in this case, it's a mix of both. I'm not against the idea of seeing more stories during that undisclosed time, the problem is that the story needs to be fun or entertaining.

 

Anyway, the story flashes back to shortly after Belle was rescued by The Beast from the wolves on Christmas Eve. The castle servants, of course still inanimate objects, try to get Belle and the Beast together, in hopes to break the curse. However there is trouble afoot. In one of the Beast's private chambers is Forte (Tim Curry, Home Alone 2), former court composer and now fittingly a pipe organ. Forte is The Beast's confidant and advisor, soothing The Beast when he is brooding. With so much power and The Beast in his thrall, he naturally doesn't want the curse to be broken. Because Forte is permanently bolted to the wall he instead uses his piccolo minion Fife (Paul Reubens, Peewee's Playhouse) to sabotage the couple's ice skating date. The Beast, enraged at Belle's snow angel, leaves in a huff, angrier than ever.

 

After creating a Christmas gift for him, Belle decides that throwing a Christmas party might liven his spirits. All the servants agree too, and Lumiere introduces Belle to the Christmas angel ornament Angelique (Bernadette Peters, Andrew Lloyd Webber's Song and Dance), who was once the castle decorator. Despite her misgivings at The Beast making sure he'll hate the holiday, Belle and the servants push through without his knowledge. Fife however spies on them, and relays to Forte, who in return relates to The Beast.

 

And then we discover exactly why The Beast hates Christmas so much and forbids it at the castle: Because the curse that doomed him happened on Christmas!

 

 

And we get a flashback sequence of what just happened. One that I really have to scratch my head on,

 

Now according to the prologue of the original movie, the prince dismissed the old woman twice, and she warned him about the deception of appearances and finding beauty within. Upon being shown her true form, the prince tried to apologize before he and the rest of the castle were cursed. But according to this movie, the prince just acts like a jerk once, and boom.

 

Inconsistencies however are the least of my problems with this scene. It's mostly the idea of making this set during Christmas. While scrooges around Christmas are expected, the entire premise of the movie, the core problem, revolves around The Beast hating Christmas because he was cursed on that day. Really, the curse could've happened on any other random night given what we know of the Beast's personality before he was cursed. By making it on Christmas, it just gives an excuse for the prince to be even more unkind than usual. It's almost a little too convenient. Though I suppose the flashback got one thing right. It happened on a winter's night. :P

 

Back to the present. Despite Belle and the Beast arguing and forbidding Christmas, Belle doesn't give up. After Belle secretly slips her gift into the Beast's chambers, she and Chip try and fail to look for a good Christmas tree in the castle grounds. Beast meanwhile discovers Belle's gift and is in a much better mood. He orders Forte to compose a song for Belle as he steps out. Forte then enacts his plan. First, he has Belle come to him and convinces her to search for a tree in the forest outside the castle grounds, thereby breaking her word of staying forever if the Beast finds out. Forte orders Fife to follow her to ensure she won't come back.

 

The Beast orders Cogsworth to summon Belle for a romantic get-together, but naturally she's not there. Forte eggs the Beast to give into his anger or something like that, and he leaves in a huff to get her back. On the way out, still furious, he destroys the Christmas decor, leaving Angelique heartbroken. In the forest, Fife orchestrates an accident for Belle to freeze to death in the cold water, but he has a change of heart. Just in time, the Beast arrives and rescues her, but the damage had been done. Upon returning to the castle on Christmas midnight, the Beast locks Belle in the dungeon, with any hope of breaking the curse gone. The castle servants visit and try to console Belle, and Angelique has a change of heart when she and Belle realize together that Christmas cannot truly be forbidden. You don't need fancy decorations, gifts or anything, as long as you have each other.

 

It's of course a good, natural message. But I think it's conveyed really poorly here. Again, this stems back to the fact that the Beast's motivation for hating Christmas is poor, and the fact that we don't see Beast 'hatin on Christmas throughout the movie beyond just lip service. Actions speak louder than words, Beast. Your big blowup in destroying the décor and flashing back to your bratty past isn't good enough. Not to mention, How The Grinch Stole Christmas did it before you, and much better handled. The other problem with this is that Belle and the servants had absolutely no problem with just talking about the superficial elements of Christmas before. They were perfectly OK with celebrating Christmas in their own way. I suppose there's Angelique's realization, but that's just as flimsy because the last time we saw her was despairing over the hopelessness of Christmas being destroyed by the Grinch-I mean, the Beast. It's like this plot cul-de-sac is trying to remake How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and trying to mix it with Disney characters. It's a mess of a combination to say the least.

 

But back to the plot. Forte almost convinces the Beast to destroy the rose and let go of his suffering, but at the last second a rose petal falls on Belle's gift. Beast opens it to reveal a book she wrote herself for him, talking about the one shining ray of hope that is always there no matter how bleak the circumstances. And I guess Belle must be a good writer, since Beast immediately has a change of heart, apologizes to Belle, and vows to give the best Christmas ever. Forte, enraged at his failure, decides to go for broke and play so loudly that the entire castle will crumble. Fife finally turns his back on Forte and tells the Beast how to stop him. In a rather weak climax with the Beast mostly just being beaten around, the Beast attacks his weak point 4MASSIVE DAMAGE, and kills Forte. Afterwards, the Beast and Belle make up, and their story continues in the original (and massively superior movie).

 

Characters:

I won't go into full detail on the original characters. For the most part it's as if they were taken straight out of the movie, with a major plus being that all the original voices came back for their roles.

 

So instead, the three newcomer characters. First is the villain Forte. I would question why he in his pipe organ form has some ability of magical control, but as the curse was magic in nature, whatever. It's strange to think that such a being would exist during the time of the original Beauty and the Beast in the implied months of Belle's and Beast's relationship. With the power he has he could've easily been a major antagonist in the original movie, but instead just becomes pissy because he and the Beast will no longer be BFF's. All in all, a good villain in theory, but poor in his execution.

 

His voice actor Tim Curry did a good job in my opinion, but what also really takes us out and unable to take him seriously is his design. He is CGI....AND HE JUST LOOKS SO HORRENDOUS.

 

Have a nightmare fueled Christmas, kids!

 

Next is Angelique. She was...there. As I said previously, her being jaded about Christmas could've worked if they did much more with it, but her change of heart was just out of nowhere without any real buildup. I do compliment the choice of voice though. Bernadette Peters is a Broadway vet of many stage productions.

 

Fife is pretty much the same. He was there mostly as slight comic relief as Forte's lackey. By the end he turns his back on him. That's it. Nothing much else to say.

 

Themes:

One of the downsides to any Christmas movie really is the idea of "been there, done that". Usually all Christmas movies revolve around change, appreciating the goodness of Christmas, looking beyond superficiality, all that stuff. The trick is to either tackling these themes from a different perspective, or putting such an original spin on it that it can trick people into thinking its new.

 

And this movie...does not. As I said previously, the idea of Christmas being at the core of the Beasts's troubles because its when he was cursed just makes it too convenient for the Beast to act like Ebenezer Scrooge, or the Grinch. When the Beast manages to overcome his troubles, it does not feel satisfying because a lot of the drama just feels so forced. Then the idea of briefly forcing the something similar onto Belle and the servants is haphazard because earlier in the movie they already knew how to appreciate it. Angelique being the stick in the mud among the group of goody-gooders was set up, but again, her change of heart just came out of nowhere. Her being the voice of comfort for Belle didn't feel at all natural.

 

As such, I think I feel that there was absolutely no reason to set this during Christmas. Considering the villain of the movie is more about keeping his position instead of something being tangentially related to Christmas, this could've been set any other holiday, heck any day period, and it would've made no difference.

 

Music:It of course wouldn't be Disney without music of some kind, so naturally even the cashgrab DTV sequels need songs. To be quite honest, they really don't offer much. There are one or two songs that are just too short to have any real impact, and the few that are really there aren't really necessary in the long run. One of the reasons Disney manages to do so well with its songs in their Animated Canon is because they push the story forward while conveying themes or setting up character in them. In this movie though...if you take them out, nothing much is lost in the grand scheme. Only one song really stands out among all of them is Forte's obligatory villain song, and even then it's not all that great.



 

Heck, this movie has "Deck the Halls" as its first opening song. Way to go in setting up the idea that they're just being lazy by not starting out with an original song.

 

Animation:

Nightmarish CGI pipe organs aside, I'll give this movie some credit. The animation design for the movie is pretty good. It's not as if this was done by a second rate animation team that just rehashes the designs or poorly animates them. In certain spots, the animation doesn't look all that bad. It does actually look like it can be a continuation of the original movie, and is probably one of the better animated Disney DTV sequels out there.

 

Final thoughts:

When you get right down to it, Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas is a mess. It's an unnecessary tale given a lot more gravitas than it should have, its Christmas setting feels tacked on and unnecessary, and its music and animation is like a trick to make you believe that it's just as good as the original.

 

But is it really that bad? Not really. Don't get me wrong I don't think it's all that good, but watching it, you can get that sense that they were at least trying. As this was still in the early years of Disney DTV's, they still attempted to try and make it as decent as possible. It's certainly not offensive, and it doesn't have horrible things or messages, and there are far worse Disney DTV's out there. In fact I'd say that among the ones I've seen, Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas is probably in the Top 10. It's decent at best, and below average at worst, but certainly not horrible.

 

If you're a fan of the original Beauty and the Beast and are looking for a Christmas movie to show, I can recommend it. It's kind of heart to hate on this as a Christmas movie considering that it doesn't give bad messages about Christmas. You can see it, and take it for what it's worth.

 

Once again, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

 

Final Score: 2.1/5

 

Best song: Don't Fall in Love

Worst song: Deck the Halls/A Cut Above the Rest







Cinema: Disney's Big Hero 6

DISCLAIMER: All images and videos in this blog review are owned by their respective owners.

Summary:
In the futuristic metropolis of San Fransokyo, teenager Hiro Hamada is a child prodigy and genius who is bored with his life and spends it time fighting in robot arenas and gambling. His older brother Tadashi convinces him to use his brain and invent something truly wonderful, but shortly thereafter a fire claims Tadashi's life. With Tadashi's friends and his final invention, a robot nurse named Baymax, Hiro will form the superhero team Big Hero 6, apprehend the perpetrator of the fire, and learn the lessons of loss and acceptance along the way...

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Walt Disney Animation Studios have certainly been on a role these past five years. Let's take out our notebooks and have a little history lesson to explain why I think this is a big deal.

The Walt Disney Studios company has many branches that handle their various properties, but the main one is Walt Disney Animation Studios. This part of the company is the one that created Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs waaaaaay back in 1937. Snow White launched what is regarded today as the Disney Animated Canon; main theatrical features of WDAS that are considered some of the best animation the company has to offer. Between 1937-2014, 54 of these movies have been released to various successes. I will explain in a separate blog entry about the history and varied eras of WDAS. I fear if I explain it now, on top of this review, it'll be far too long.

But in short, I freaking love Disney. Yes, they have produced and created stuff I absolutely despise on both television and film, but as far as their Animated Canon goes? I really dig it. I grew up watching these movies, and remembered lines, characters, songs and scenes from them. I think, even more as adult, I appreciate them more because now that I am older I can really see how they are made and the hard work put into them. Heck it's because of a Facebook review of Frozen that I did last year that got me into movie reviewing in the first place. You can find the review here, if you're curious:

Pre-Blog movie review: Frozen (Originally written November 29, 2013)

Ever since Frozen's monumental success, my love for Disney returned, and gave me much more anticipation for their next hit. And that movie is the subject of today's review: Big Hero 6.

Marvel's Big Hero 6

Like almost every other entry in the Disney Animated Canon, this movie is based off a pre-established work. Disney's Big Hero 6 is based off the Marvel comic book of the same name. Said comic book was written by Steven Seagle and Duncan Rouleau in 1998. This Japanese-based team appeared in a handful of stories since then, but they are certainly no big-namers like Spider-Man, the X-Men, and The Avengers. After their final published book, they remained dormant and forgotten among Marvel's other lesser-known properties. I have no real opinions on the comic itself as I've never read it.

For a while after Disney acquired Marvel, there was speculation on whether or not Disney would make a movie based off one of its properties. In 2012, Disney officially announced that one of their future projects would be an adaptation of a Marvel work, and Big Hero 6 was it, making this movie Disney's first movie based off a Marvel comic, and first superhero movie (Not counting Pixar's The Incredibles). Of course, as per the norm, Disney took the property and put their own spin on it, changing details and giving that Disney feel while several Marvel staff served as creative consultants. Despite the Marvel origin, make no mistake. This is definitely 100% Disney, so don't expect the heroes in this movie meet the Avengers.

Disney's Big Hero 6

To follow up on my original Frozen review, I will be much more organized for this one. I shall be judging the movie based on the following categories: Story, Characters, Themes, Music, Animation, and have a conclusion with a numbered score. But to give a non-spoiler summation of my thoughts: I liked it, it was very enjoyable. The two main characters are just perfect, the story is fun, entertaining & tugs at your heartstrings, and the animation was great. The side characters could have used a little bit more development, the music was nothing to write home about, and some may find the plot twist of the movie a little predictable. I wouldn't call it an "amazing" movie, but I felt it was great, and it continues Disney's current successes on their animated movie front.

Story:

The story takes place in the metropolis of San Fransokyo (A combination of San Francisco and Tokyo) and follows a young teenage genius named Hiro Hamada. He graduated high school at an early age but doesn't know what to do with his life and feels going to college would be a waste of time. So instead he uses his robotics knowledge to build a robot that wins him gambling money in illegal underground robot fights. After a particularly nasty incident, his brother Tadashi saves him and berates Hiro for wasting his life. To inspire Hiro, Tadashi takes him to his school and introduces him to his friends: adrenaline junkie Go Go Tomago, laser expert Wasabi, chemistry whiz Honey Lemon, and comic fan Fred. Hiro later meets Tadashi's teacher, Professor Callaghan, and Tadashi's pet project: A robot nurse named Baymax.

Inspired, Hiro attempts to get into the school by creating a robotics presentation. He invents Microbots: tiny swarms of robots that have many applications and are controlled by thought. Hiro gets into the school, but a fire breaks out and Tadashi and Callaghan are killed. A mourning Hiro shuts himself off from the rest of the world until one day, Hiro discovers one of his Microbots still active. With help from Baymax and Tadashi's friends, they discover a masked villain that stole the Microbots, and started the fire that killed Tadashi and Callaghan. After a narrow escape, they decide that, with Hiro's genius and the others's own abilities, they will form their own superhero team to counter the threat of this villain and discover who perpetrated the fire.

Along the way, they discover who really started it, and an enraged Hiro wants revenge. After failing to claim the villain's life, Hiro is saddened until Baymax shows him how Tadashi is never really gone. Accepting the loss, Hiro and his friends return to confront the villain once more. In the process of defeating the villain, Baymax is lost, until sometime later Hiro rediscovers how to rebuild him. With their first adventure behind them, the team vows to become San Fransokyo's protectors.

I felt the story was good for the most part. It had a very strong start that showed just how bonded Tadashi and Hiro were. It's especially good as a follow-up to Frozen, which was at its heart a tale of sibling love. So, it was nice seeing that theme carry into this movie too. Tadashi dying was expected, but sad, and really ties into the theme of the movie. The second act of the movie is also pretty strong with Hiro and Baymax confronting the villain for the first time, and getting their friends involved and their subsequent first fight was also good, rife with character interactions, humorous moments, and very sad and chilling scenes.

The third act...I kinda felt this is where the movie dropped a bit. While it did have good action, seeing all of this superheroing after the first two acts of the movie were so strong on character, it just didn't feel right. "Rushed", I think, would be the right term to use for it, and I'll explain why later. But overall I felt the story was strong, just not as strong as it had the potential to be.

Characters:

The real meat of the movie is the interaction and bond between the characters of Hiro Hamada (Ryan Potter, Supah Ninjas) and Baymax (Scott Adsit, 30 Rock). Both of them have strong personalities, strong moments in the movie, and are part off what makes the movie so good. Now of course the idea of "a child and his pet" in movies is not new (Old Yeller and The Iron Giant come to mind), but the key to making old ideas seem fresh is to either have a new take on the idea or to make the same concept just as entertaining. The relationship between Hiro and Baymax is the latter.

Hiro rediscovers Baymax

Hiro Hamada is characterized as being a genius at robotics, but he is still just a 14-year old. As such he goes through typical teenager stuff and has quite a snarky bite to him. The good thing is that while he is smart, he doesn't lord his genius over others or is boastful. He is also socially awkward, which is perhaps one of the reasons why he doesn't want to go to college. Losing Tadashi would be a big blow to him, but as the movie progresses and with the help from Baymax and his friends, he learns how to truly appreciate and understand how somebody lives on in spirit and memory after they have gone, and emerges from his shell and becomes more confident.

Baymax is a robot, which you think might not allow him to be a memorable character, but he most certainly is. Baymax is a robot nurse, and was designed by Tadashi to have an adorable, huggable appearance to help ease the patient. His robotic voice, mannerisms, and literal mindedness contribute to his appeal to the audiences. Like any good robot story, Baymax slowly learns how to interact more with humans, and it leads to some very hilarious scenes and heart-wrenching ones. His literal minded-ness stays true though, and in the end when he willingly sacrifices himself to save Hiro's life, he tells Hiro that he will always be "here". Baymax is most definitely the mascot of the movie and the character everybody remembers. It is my hope that Baymax will join the likes of The Terminator, R2-D2, Mazinger Z, and Optimus Prime as one of pop culture's greatest robots.

A "real" Baymax at the movie's premiere at the Tokyo International Film Festival

Hiro's brother Tadashi Hamada (Daniel Henney, My Lovely Sam Soon) is not in the movie for very long, but his character serves a number of purposes: He's Hiro's inspiration for going back to school, he created Baymax, and his death drives the protagonists to search for his killer and become superheroes. Another character is the Hamada brothers's aunt, Cass Hamada (Maya Rudolph, Saturday Night Live). She serves as their mother figure after their parents died, and does her best to be a parent despite owning a popular café and not knowing much about raising kids. She has even less screen time than Tadashi and probably could have been cut out of the movie. She's there mostly for the humor, but her snarky attitude and demeanor is certainly there.

And then we have the four friends of Hiro and Tadashi, and this is one of the major points where people are divided when it comes to the movie. One, the characters have almost stereotypical personalities and stand almost a little too out when they are with Hiro and Baymax. Two, these four do not really have a lot of character development or story focus to them. Despite the movie being called Big Hero 6, it's really only two of them that get the most focus: Hiro and Baymax. The other four are almost an afterthought, and seem like they were just runoff from the comic. It's apparent that Disney played up the bond between "the boy and his robot" more so than the actual team.

While I can agree with that, I'm kind of happy with what we got. Better, I think, that we got a movie that managed to fit in some character development for the other four instead of risking trying to develop all six of them at once. I also have to disagree with these four being stereotypical. I think that, while they are not all that strong in character department, they have strong characteristics that make them just as memorable as Baymax if you're that invested. Go Go Tomago (Jamie Chung, Once Upon a Time) is a mechanical engineer with a chip on her shoulder and is a woman of few words. Wasabi (Damon Wayans Jr, New Girl) is a plasma engineer with slight OCD and is a neat-freak. Honey Lemon (Genesis Rodriguez, Days of our Lives) is a chemical engineer with a perky, bubbly personality and a passion for her degree. Finally, Fred (TJ Miller, How to Train Your Dragon) is a comic book nerd that is not properly enrolled in the school, but serves as its mascot operator and has an enthusiasm for science. All four of them have their moments in the movie, and serve to help Hiro and Baymax in their quest. Again, could've gotten more attention, but I was satisfied with their presentation in the movie.

Hiro meets Go Go, Wasabi, Honey Lemon, and Fred



Themes:

The main theme of the movie seems to be the acceptance and handling of grief & loss, and the ability to continue as life goes on. This is exemplified through Hiro, Baymax, Tadashi, and our villain of the movie. Hiro loses Tadashi early on in the movie, and Baymax by the end (though he does get rebuilt) and loss of a loved one is one of the motivations behind the actions of the villain of the movie. There is one scene in the movie where Hiro forces Baymax to turn violent and attempt to kill the villain, only for the four friends to get Baymax back under control. Hiro breaks down afterwards after discovering who the villain really is, and mourns Tadashi's loss until Baymax shows him video footage of him. Through Baymax, Hiro learns that someone can truly live on in spirit long after they're gone, and by the end of the movie emerges as a stronger character. Baymax learns to become more human, and learns how to not only treat physical injuries, but mental ones too as he tries to "cure" Hiro. When Baymax sacrifices himself he express sadness that he will die, but is able to detect that Hiro is "cured" and has learned to accept loss, which pushes his resolve to save his life.

The second aspect of the movie is less of a theme and more focused on the genre: superheroes. And as I mentioned previously, this is where people may scratch their heads. Because it was originally based on a Marvel property, people might have been expecting something up to the levels of the likes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or perhaps expected the movie to focus a lot more on the actual team than just Hiro and Baymax. As explained, it has less to do with that and more on the bonding of the two. It makes me wonder if Disney was forced to include them in because it was based off a comic. It does have superheroing action to be sure, but it mostly concentrated in the third and climactic act instead of being balanced throughout the movie. Again, I don't really mind too much, but I can understand why people dock points off this movie for not focusing on superheroes in a movie that features superheroes.

Music:

Because this is not a Disney musical (Like Frozen, Winnie the Pooh 2011, Tangled, and Princess & The Frog before it), there's not much to say on the music itself. Incidental and background music we have is OK, I guess. The only major song to note is the movie's tie-in song, Immortals by Fall Out Boy. It is played first in the movie when the team is getting their hero gear ready, and during the credits. It's a pretty catchy song, and it's nice to have Fall Out Boy contribute to a Disney movie, even though some are complaining that Fall Out Boy attaching themselves to this "ruins their image".

Music video for the movie's tie-in song, Immortals

Animation:

A really huge pet peeve of mine when it comes to Disney is when people complain about the current CGI movies and want them to go back to hand-drawn, 2D animation. I respect other peoples opinions when it comes to things, but when you have people complaining for no particular reason other than "New stuff stinks!" or else just hating on anything new, I draw the line. But I think, ever since Tangled came out, Disney has been doing really great CGI work. Big Hero 6, with its really unique backgrounds that blend American and Japanese architecture and miscellaneous objects, gives it a real pop. This is definitely a good looking movie, both during daytime scenes and nighttime scenes. And any who are still complaining about the animation should just accept it and move on, because that is what the movie is aiming to focus on in its themes.

Final thoughts:

All in all, Big Hero 6 is just a great and fun movie. It has its problems and drawbacks to be sure, though. How much they bother you though ultimately depends on how willing you are let them going to bother you, and if you're part of that crowd that doesn't mind the problems, then you're in for something enjoyable. If you're not, well, it's a good movie to kill an hour and 30 minutes. For comparison's sake, it's nowhere as good as Frozen, but it continues to show that Disney is still going strong in this new era of films, and has no signs of slowing down.

My score: 4.1/5

Couch: Doctor Who: New Series 8/Season 34 FINALE PART 2-Death in Heaven

DISCLAIMER: All images and videos in this blog review are owned by their respective owners.

Previous episode reviews:
Episode 11: Dark Water
Episode 10: In the Forest of the Night
Episode 9: Flatline
Episode 8: Mummy on the Orient Express
Episode 7: Kill the Moon
Episode 6: The Caretaker
Episode 5: Time Heist
Episode 4: Listen
Episode 3: Robot of Sherwood
Episode 2: Into the Dalek
Episode 1: Deep Breath

Summary:
The Cybermen have been begun their attack, and not just in the UK, but all over the world, as the dead are coming back to life as these menacing metallic monsters. As Missy, The Doctor's greatest foe, watches in glee, The Doctor, Clara, and the organization known as UNIT try and put a stop to this. For Clara and Danny, the end is nigh...
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And thus we have reached the end of New Series 8/Season 34 of Doctor Who. Do I think the finale is an epic conclusion to my first season of the show, or do I think it's an atrocious waste that ends the season on a horrible note? Let's find out.

So the last review left off with the question of who is "The Master". Well, to put it simply, The Master is The Doctor's archenemy. If Sherlock Holmes has Professor Moriarty, Batman has The Joker, Optimus Prime has Megatron, and Amuro Ray has Char Aznable, The Doctor in Doctor Who has The Master.

The first on-screen appearance of The Master in 1971

The Master first appeared in Season 8 of Classic Doctor Who, during the Third Doctor story "Terror of the Autons". As said in "Dark Water" The Master is the from the same race as The Doctor, a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. He was first introduced to be an old rival of The Doctor before he came to Earth, with the aim of conquering the universe and killing The Doctor.

Like The Doctor, The Master has been seen throughout the show in a number of incarnations through regeneration:

The eight on-screen incarnations of The Master. From L-R:

Roger Delgado, Peter Pratt, Geoffrey Beevers

Anthony Ainley, Eric Roberts

Derek Jacobi, John Simm, Michelle Gomez

Unlike The Doctor though, The Master remained practically the same throughout the various incarnations: Power-hungry, menacing, a tad insane, and harboring an obsession with triumphing over The Doctor. The Classic Show would have the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th Doctors facing off against The Master, while the New Show has the 10th Doctor, and most recently the 12th, facing his archenemy. The New Show would explore further details about The Master, such as how he became friends with The Doctor, why he became insane, etc.



The first New Series appearance of The Master in 2007

In the show's 50 year history, The Master had 26 stories dedicated to his machinations, counting the Series 8 two-part finale. Needless to say, the revelation of the enigmatic Missy being The Master was a HUGE shock to the worldwide Doctor Who fandom.

The Doctor Who fandom explodes, and I pretty much had the same reaction

And it's not just because of the return of The Master that had people freaking out. If you haven't already surmised in that picture of all the versions of The Master, The classic Sesame Street song will give you a hint:



Yep, The Master is, in fact a woman. Missy is short for Mistress, and because of the gender change, a name change was in order too. Oh boy, this is a bit complicated...

For the longest time, every time The Doctor and The Master regenerated, it was always male. But the fictional history in the show has established that Time Lords can change their gender through regeneration as well. It's just that, for one reason for another, they could never implement it...until now.

The revelation that Missy, the mysterious umbrella lady who appeared at the end of "Deep Breath" was The Master the whole time suddenly puts the entire season in a different perspective, and can make us look back at just how long Missy was planning this. But it also...kinda puts Missy's line about The Doctor being her "boyfriend", and THIS shot in "Dark Water"...

Remember, the lady on the left used to be a guy!

...in a different light. But anyway, I've rambled long enough about The Master, and there's still a lot to talk about, so let's continue. For the sake of simplicity, we'll refer to The Master as Missy from now on, and he as a she.

As the Cybermen fly out of St. Paul's Cathedral, the organization known as UNIT shows up. UNIT is short for United Intelligence Task Force, and is a long-time ally of The Doctor that first appeared during the 2nd Doctor story "The Invasion". Their head, Kate Lethridge-Stewart, renders The Doctor and Missy unconscious. As the two are taken away, the Cybermen unleash rainclouds all over the world, specifically in graveyards, mausoleums, funeral homes, and morgues. In the Nethersphere, Danny is in the middle of deciding whether or not to delete his emotions before he and all the souls taken there are released back to their bodies, while in St. Paul's Cathedral, Clara is surrounded by Cybermen before one of its own destroys them and knocks Clara unconscious.

Aboard a secure aircraft, Missy tells The Doctor and UNIT her plan. The rainclouds reanimate the dead bodies as Cybermen, and the souls trapped in the Nethersphere become Cybermen as well. Before The Doctor can take any action, Missy escapes her bonds and kills UNIT personnel while flying Cybermen attack and destroy the plane. The Doctor manages to summon the TARDIS and land safely, while Kate seemingly falls to her death. This is one of my disappointments of the episode, in that UNIT barely did much when they were known to be a very strong organization in the past episodes and seasons of Doctor Who. But we do get a nice payoff by the end of the episode.

Clara wakes up in a graveyard to find the Cyberman that saved her, while dozens upon dozens more rise from the graves, using the corpses. The Cyberman is, in fact, Danny. He didn't delete his emotions, and as a result managed to keep his sanity in check and save Clara from death. As Clara weeps for Cyber-Danny, The Doctor arrives. Clara demands that the Sonic Screwdriver be handed over so as to delete Cyber-Danny's emotions and save him from the pain, even if the removal of Cyber-Danny's emotions means that he could kill Clara. She however doesn't care. It's a sad scene, as the relationships between Clara and Danny throughout the season ends on a really sad note. It'll be much more sad by the end.

Since deleting Cyber-Danny's emotions will link him up to the Cybermen's hive mind and reveal the full extent of Missy's plan anyway, The Doctor allows Clara to do so. And here's where the finale starts to lose it a bit for me. Cyber-Danny is fully cyber now, and says that there will be a second unleashing of rain clouds that will convert humans into Cybermen. Missy lands a la Mary Poppins...and gives The Doctor the control bracelet for the Cybermen. As the Cybermen salute The Doctor, Missy reveals that all of what she has done was specifically for him. Missy argues that, with a Cybermen army, he can now right the universe's wrongs just like he always strived for.

The Doctor refuses, saying that no one should have a right to that kind of power, and it's not a good thing. Missy further states that The Doctor clearly doesn't trust himself, and we a get a good scene where we flashback to all the times this season where The Doctor didn't trust himself or questioned his morality, and where his hatred shone through. As he ponders this, The Doctor has an epiphany; he's not a good man, or a bad man. He's an idiot, an idiot with a box just passing through time and space, out of love for doing good things in the universe. With the final realization in place, he tosses the control bracelet to Cyber-Danny, who retained his emotions because of his love for Clara. To pile on the cheesiness of the scene, Cyber-Danny rallies the Cybermen to fly into the second raincloud and self-destruct. He then leads the Cybermen into the sky, destroying themselves and the cloud.

So basically, the power of love won the day. And don't get me wrong, stories like that are fine and all, but for something like Doctor Who? It's soooooo cheesy and schmaltzy, and very corny. Blegh.

Missy is unperturbed by all of this, even when Clara takes Missy's device and threatens to kill her. The Doctor attempts to stop her, and all Clara can do is chastise him for not doing so in the first place, no matter how he and Missy may be old friends. Even Missy's promise that their home planet Gallifrey is back doesn't stop Clara, so The Doctor has no choice and takes up the device. Finally confronted with all that has happened, and how Missy finally got under his skin, The Doctor declares this victory to Missy...before Missy is suddenly vaporized by a lone Cyberman. Upon closer inspection of the Cyberman, they discover an unconscious Kate on the ground. The Doctor stares at the Cyberman and realizes that this Cyberman is Kate's deceased father, Brigadier Lethridge-Stewart. The old friend of The Doctor and the founder of UNIT, in a very touching (If polarizing) scene receives a salute from The Doctor as it flies to parts unknown. The Doctor surmises that, just like Danny saved Clara, The Brigadier saved his daughter out of love.

Two weeks later, things have not looked up for both Clara and The Doctor. For Clara, the spirit of Danny appears to her and reveals that he can come back to life, but decides to send back a child he accidentally killed in a war instead. Danny says a final farewell to Clara, and Clara sobs at her lost love. Meanwhile, The Doctor uses the coordinates that Missy gave him and heads to space...to find that Gallifrey was not there. Missy lied and had the last laugh, and The Doctor pounds the TARDIS console in anger and weeps at his lost planet. To make things worse, The Doctor and Clara decide to part terms with each other, and lie that their lives are looking up. Clara says that she and Danny are back together and will live out their lives, while The Doctor says he has found Gallifrey. And with a final hug, The Doctor departs in the TARDIS. This final bit of the episode ends with a major high note for me, because of its bittersweet nature after everything that has happened in this series to its characters.

Final thoughts:

I liked Death in Heaven, though it was VERY mixed for me. It started out strong, went down in the middle, and kind of stayed rocky throughout the rest of the episode. I certainly enjoyed it, but it wasn't the epic, strong finale I was really hoping for, especially since this is my first season. There were a ton of moments that made me scratch my head, and the finale at times was extremely cheesy for my taste.

Still though for what we got, Death in Heaven was a nice episode, and it had a lot of good moments that made Series 8 end on a good note. Not a great note, but a good note nonetheless. All in all, this finale could have been better, but I certainly enjoyed it.

My score: 3.5/5.

Oh, and yeah. There's this too, shown as a mid-credits scene.

Doctor Who will be back in its annual Christmas episode!

Couch: Doctor Who: New Series 8/Season 34 FINALE PART 1-Dark Water

DISCLAIMER: All images and videos in this blog review are owned by their respective owners.

Previous episode reviews:
Episode 10: In the Forest of the Night
Episode 9: Flatline
Episode 8: Mummy on the Orient Express
Episode 7: Kill the Moon
Episode 6: The Caretaker
Episode 5: Time Heist
Episode 4: Listen
Episode 3: Robot of Sherwood
Episode 2: Into the Dalek
Episode 1: Deep Breath

Summary:
After tragedy strikes Clara, she and The Doctor vow to resolve it and up in a strange world called "The Nethersphere". What they learn there about the concept of death will change their perceptions of it forever, particularly when it involves Cybermen, and the mysterious Missy...
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Series 8 of Doctor Who has certainly been a wild ride. And after ten weeks of episodes, character evolution, plot development and building mysteries, things start to come to a head in part one of the Seires 8 finale: Dark Water.

Like the review of "Into the Dalek", this review will start off with a brief overview of another one of Doctor Who's iconic enemies due to their crucial role in the finale: The Cybermen.

The first on-screen appearance of the Cybermen in 1966

 

 

Like the Daleks, the Cybermen made their debut during the time of the First Doctor. Specifically, they appeared in the four-parter swan song of the First Doctor, "The Tenth Planet". In this story, The Doctor and his companions land at the South Pole in 1986 and come across The Cybermen: robotic creatures that were once humans from Earth's twin planet Mondas (The titular Tenth Planet), but over the millennia have replaced their body parts with artificial parts as a means of self-preservation. As a result, the Cybermen have become more machine than man; powered by cold & calculating logic, detached from human emotions.

 

Original (and silly, yet terrifying) Cybermen design from 1963

 

Current Cybermen design from 2013

 

 

Counting the two-part finale, the Cybermen have appeared in 20 stories on TV. Unlike the Daleks (and their 31 TV stories), not all versions of the Doctor have faced off against them; The 3rd, 8th and 9th versions didn't face them. Their appearance in the revived series did not occur until Series 2/Season 28, during the time of the 10th Doctor. Since then they have appeared sporadically across the Revived Series, with the most recent being in "Dark Water." They are not entirely the focus of the episode, as this one is revolves around the characters, but they are still the major threat of the story.

 

The first appearance of the Cybermen in the Revived Series in 2006

 

In the Forest of the Night was a massive bore and pretty meh episode, but Dark Water completely made up for it. Full of character moments, a creepy undercurrent of malice, dark and rather scary moments, and a HUGE major revelation in the end, it is a very good episode and an excellent start to the finale.

 

 

The episode starts off some time shortly after the events of In the Forest of the Night. After her experiences with Danny then, she decides to call him up and come clean with everything about what she has been doing these past few episodes. It's a nice indication that despite Clara's confession about travelling with The Doctor, Clara did not completely open up to him yet. Throughout the entire season we've seen Clara become more and more introvert as she kept more secrets, become more introvert, and become more snappy and scathing at various things that annoyed her. In other words, she became more and more like The Doctor. So it's nice to start out the episode with Clara ready to tell Danny over the phone about all the strange things she's encountered, and potentially start a new chapter in their relationship, go into a new level of development and possibly-

 

Then the phone goes silent, and Clara rushes to the scene of an accident. Danny is dead, hit by an oncoming car. Yep.

 

Grieving, Clara goes to the TARDIS and steals all the TARDIS keys while distracting The Doctor, finally knocking him out. In the heart of an active volcano, Clara threatens the Doctor into going back in time and saving Danny, even though she and The Doctor know this is a bad idea without unravelling time itself. In the process, Clara throws the TARDIS keys into the volcano, leaving The Doctor stuck outside the TARDIS, unable to enter, and Clara collapsing in horrification at what she had done...

 

...and waking up. It was just a dream. Clara failed to knock The Doctor out, and instead he knocks her out, leading to the dream state. A bit of a cop-out considering the trailers have really hyped up this moment, but it serves as an in-story test of Clara's character. We clearly see just how far off the slippery slope Clara fell, and the intention of Clara willing to go far is a big blow of betrayal to The Doctor. Despite this, The Doctor is willing to look aside after all they've been through together. It's probably the weirdest element of the episode for me because a plot idea like that should've have more exploration, but as this is the finale, more pressing issues are at hand.

 

Using Clara's psyche and desire to find Danny, the TARDIS travels to a building, a mausoleum, housed with creepy skeletons sitting in chairs and submerged in a dark, almost water like substance. It's here where Missy finally emerges and greets The Doctor, as head of the organization known simply as 3W. After Missy outright kisses The Doctor, they are led to the organization's head doctor. Elsewhere in 3W, Danny wakes up to find himself with Seb, Missy's assistant, who tells Danny what happened.

 

We get a dual plot-exposition as the 3W doctor and Seb explain to The Doctor, Clara and Danny about what 3W really is. 3W is an organization that takes care and preserves the dead. When somebody dies their consciousness is transported here but their physical body is still left where it is. They can also feel whatever happens to their body, as 3W stands for "Three Words". Most of them are "Don't Cremate Me!" implying that the dead consciousness of people can feel what happens to their bodies. It's a really chilling thought, befitting an episode that came out right after Halloween.

 

After an encounter with one of the people Danny killed (A child), he is given a choice to delete his emotions in order to fully let himself go. Through the 3W doctor however, Clara manages to contact Danny. But Danny, horrified at the prospect of Clara sacrificing everything just to be with him again, forcibly breaks the connection. Finally broken with the blood of the people he killed on his hands, Danny considers deleting his emotions.

 

Meanwhile, Missy realizes The Doctor has learned too much, and she kills the 3W doctor. She unleashes the preserved skeletons and removes the Dark Water....revealing them to be Cybermen in disguise. The Doctor confronts Missy and she reveals that she's been using the souls of the dead to power a new army of Cybermen. And there were A LOT of Cybermen. The Doctor also realizes that the way she's been using this was a device made of Time Lord technology. The Doctor is in shock and awe at how Missy was able to get a hold of such advanced tech. Missy is unperturbed however, and says that how she got it is simple: She's a Time Lord, or lady, herself. Missy and The Doctor are the same species!

 

 

Just as a Cyberman is about to attack Clara, the Doctor bursts out of 3W...only to find himself in London. 3W was actually housed inside St. Paul's Cathedral, and the Cybermen begin their invasion. Finally fed up with everything that has happened, The Doctor once again asks who Missy is. The episode ends as Missy reveals who she is...to the utter horror of The Doctor, as the Cybermen begin their march down St. Paul's Cathedral, just like what happened 46 years ago...

 

2nd Doctor story "The Invasion", 1968, as the Cybermen march down from St Paul's Cathedral

 

12th Doctor story "Dark Water", 2014, as the Cybermen march down from St Paul's Cathedral

 

 

And who is "The Master"? Well...

 

 

 

 















Special Halloween Review: The Shining (1980)

DISCLAIMER: All images and videos in this blog review are owned by their respective owners.

Summary:

There is a hotel, the Overlook Hotel, amidst the mountains of Colorado. Built over a Native American burial ground, it is a huge hotel indeed, housing many rooms with almost endless amounts of sustenance, and a gigantic hedge maze in its grounds. It is a popular tourist destination, but its isolation makes it prone to blizzards and is closed from November to May. A winter caretaker is needed to look after the place, and writer/former alcoholic Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) applies for the job, bringing with him his wife Wendy (Shelly Duvall) and young son Danny...

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Happy Halloween everybody! Tis a night of spooks, candy, parties, things that go bump in the night, and many other frights. Some accompany their kids to go trick-or-treating, others decorate their houses for the season, children and even some teens and adults dress up in costumes of all kinds, other cultures focus more on the religious aspect of the day. And then there are those that watch horror movies. In the history of cinema we can't even begin to count how many horror movies there are. A lot of pop culture horror is derived from these movies, which are in fact derived from many sources like legends, novels, etc.

And its a genre that I'm not particularly fond of myself. Don't get me wrong, I can certain understand its appeal. I can see why people would like watching horror movies, like if they want a good scare and whatnot. I'm just not really into them like I am for Science Fiction, Fantasy, animated, and Superhero movies. I'm at the very least aware of the history of horror movies, from the iconic classic monsters like Dracula and Frankenstein's monster, to the bloody glory slashers like Jason Vorhees and Freddy Kruger. In my life I can count the amount of horror movies I've ever seen on one hand.

Why don't I like horror? Eh, I'm not really sure. Apart from them just not appealing to me, I'm not really into seeing stuff like people being cut up by a serial killer, jump scares, etc. Heck one of my least favorite film franchises ever is the Saw movies because of its overglorification of torture horror. It's just so squirming to me, seeing stuff like that in film, when we already have enough horrors and psychopathic serial killers along with horrors like terrorism in real life. I'm not above watching classical black and white horror films, or movies that feature horror monsters. But for me it seems that as the cinematic history progresses, horror movies just get worse for me.

But as I said, there are some horror movies that transcend their genre; they go beyond what is to be expected and, while it does have the trappings of horror, it is almost something entirely different. This is one such film: The 1980 classic The Shining, directed by Stanley Kubrick and based off the novel of the same name by Stephen King.

First a little background on the two key players who made this film possible. Stanley Kubrick is regarded as one of the greatest and influential directors of all time. His unique cinematography, realistic details, and adaptations of novels that do the written works justice define him. Highly memorable films such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, Dr. Strangelove, and Full Metal Jacket are all attributed to Kubrick's masterful filmmaking. The Shining is of course among them, but who wrote this particular novel?

Enter Stephen King. He has written more books than we can possibly count, and has tackled many a genre from horror to fantasy, to science fiction and suspense. To say that he loves his work is un understatement. To paraphrase Epic Rap Battles of History, he's a workaholic with a fiction addiction.

He is mostly known for his horror stories however, and is also known for having his books being adapted into various miniseries and movies. Such of these adapted movies/miniseries include of course The Shining, as well as Carrie, It, Misery, and The Tommyknockers. The 1994 masterpiece "The Shawshank Redemption" is also adapted from a story written by Stephen King.

When released, the adaptation of The Shining was met with mixed reception. But like many things, it was reexamined as time passed. eventually became regarded as one of the greatest horror movies of all time, but also one of the greatest movies period. I personally can't agree with the latter, but at least among the horror movies I've seen, I can agree with that. As one who has only seen the slasher, gory films of the 90's and 2000's, seeing something different like The Shining was really a treat. The film has been discussed to death already by so many people, students, film critics and writers, so for this review I'll just give my own thoughts and my likes and dislikes of the film as well as other aspects.
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The only other Kubrick film I've seen by this point is 2001: A Space Odyssey, so I'm not all that familiar with Kubrick's style yet. But right from the get-go the film starts off foreboding. Beautiful, scenic shots of Colorado, combined with some slow, haunting unsettling music and REALLY generic title cards set the mood; the kind of mood that makes you really feel uncomfortable. Already I can see a big difference from The Shining and other horror movies made today; a lot of horror movies are made with being the intention of being scared out of your pants and laughing from the experience. But The Shining can really make you feel unsettled.

We meet our three main characters straight away: writer Jack Torrance played by Jack Nicholson, and wife Wendy played by Shelly Duvall and their son Danny. Jack Nicholson is known for playing a lot of grumpy, angry roles, and this one is no exception. Jack sounds pleasant enough; he's an aspiring writer, but he did have an alcoholic problem in the past and seems like a guy that can be angered easily. Wendy is a caring mother but is pretty meek and seemingly a little weak-willed. Danny has...something to say the least. To further drive home the unsettled-ness of the film, Danny has an imaginary friend. Innocent enough right? Wait till you get to the point where he says, perfectly calmly, that his friend lives in his mouth. And twitches his finger while he's talking to it. And changes his voice to a raspy tone.

As the beginning of the film progresses we learn that Jack was hired by the Overlook Hotel to be the winter caretaker while it's closed during the snow season. Jack is OK with the job as the solitude allows him to focus on his writing, despite warnings and stories about a gruesome murder of a previous caretaker's family by the caretaker himself. It's not all that surprising as this hotel was built over a Native American burial ground. Because THAT'S how it always is isn't it? Horror must always come from a stupid person's decision to build something over a haunted and supernatural place. Wendy and Danny follow later, and we spend a good deal on how the hotel itself works, from the hedge maze, to the kitchen, to specific rooms, to an explanation to just why this movie is called The Shining.

This part of the movie may be regarded as boring by some, but it is supported by, again the unsettling atmosphere of the whole thing. This part of the movie, and other parts, are punctuated by title cards like "One Month Later" and "Tuesday". But they are all in silence, and placed in a way that almost make them seem scary in their own right. While there is a story going on, a lot of the movie is mostly a selection of moments that all serve to pay off by the end. And throughout these moments there are many things that happen, to just the characters interacting inside the large hotel, to some legitimately disturbing imagery, scenes and other moments that almost make you wonder if what you're watching is almost making you as mad and nuts as the characters are getting.

Cabin Fever is pretty much the term here, but we honestly don't know if it's even the type of Cabin Fever we are familiar with. Cabin Fever refers to an extended period of time when a person or two more are locked up in a secluded area. Eventually the situation leads to the character becoming insane because of the situation. In The Shining this changes things differently because we are in a large hotel, and cut off from the rest of the world by a blizzard. And on top of that we don't know if the characters of Jack and Danny are being driven nuts and acting strangely because of their own character issues or if it's the paranormal nature of the hotel itself and its horror stories. It's a fascinating setup that really pays off by the end when things really go down.

Jack Nicholson really, ahem, shines in his role here. The man seems to have made playing psychotic characters an art, and it's his role in the The Shining and the first Tim Burton Batman movie as the Joker where that's apparent. A lot of the greatness of the movie, at least the greatness that we can see with our eyes instead of the spooky weird stuff that is happening up to our imagination revolves around him. Jack Torrance seems like a nice guy but clearly has repressed issues, and the isolation and solitude stuck in the hotel might have made it worse, and again we don't know if it's his inner demons resurfacing or the supernatural energies of the hotel just messing with him. It's an endless cycle of wonderment and thought-provoking that makes The Shining so unique from its other horror movie brethren. It's par the course for Stanely Kubrick naturally, but combine that with Stephen King's work and you're in for a wild ride, to say the least.

By the end of the movie when we reach the climax, all the build up to everything up to that point comes crashing down as the movie, and Jack, descends into madness. It's here where the famous "HEEEEEEEERE'S JOHNNY!!!!" comes from.

And from there...I can even describe what happens. It's not indescribable because it's so freaking weird or the like, it's just that I don't even know how to describe it without doing it justice. This movie needs to be seen to be believed.
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Final Thoughts:

While I can say that The Shining is a wonderful, it really is a film that really has a stingy requirement to like it. You really need to be invested into the movie, you need to watch it in the right atmosphere, you need to buy into a lot of the things that are going on, etc. The movie really relies on a lot of elements to work like Jack Nicholson, the cinematography, the music, and the acting of everyone else. If even one of these elements was not there I think the movie would've really fallen hard. But the right combination makes it work, and if you can check off all those list of requirements, you're certainly in for a wild ride.

Anyway, this review has been going on for too long. I think by this point it's almost an essay. Go and enjoy your Halloween night!

My score: 4.5/5