Frozen (2013)

"Why do you shut the world out? What are you so afraid of?"

Since I feel completely out of steam right now due to the holiday season, I'm just gonna cut to the chase and say that not only is Frozen possibly the best musical to come from Disney in the last decade, it's also easily my second favorite movie of the year! (Although, comparing any movie to Pacific Rim just wouldn't be fair) The writing is solid, the characters are memorable, it has a strong message, and overall it's just a lot of fun.

In the kingdom of Arendelle lived two princesses, eight year-old Elsa and five year-old Anna, who were as close as sisters could be, until Elsa accidentally hits Anna in the head with her magical ice powers. Their parents, the king and queen, take Anna to a wise troll to try and save her, who tells them that the only way he can save Anna is if he erases any knowledge she has of Elsa's magic. It is from then that not only were the sisters forbidden to leave the castle, but Elsa was locked away, alone in her room, as she was being taught how to control her powers. As time went by, the two of them drifted further apart and became less attached to reality outside the castle walls. That is, until the day of Elsa's coronation...

Something that caught me off-guard with Frozen was that it had a very different feel from most other animated Disney musicals. Whereas a lot of the more modern ones that come to mind (Aladdin, Mulan, etc.) maintain a good focus on the scale of the main characters' actions, Frozen doesn't seem too concerned with that. The strict focus on character made it feel more like an adaptation of a stage musical than anything else I've seen come from Disney. Whether or not that was intentional (individual CG models can be very difficult to make, after all), I thought it worked in that regard.

What I took away from the movie was that it was a cautionary tale about what happens when children are sheltered from the rest of the world. As a result of how overprotective the king and queen were towards their daughters, Elsa never learned how to be confident using her powers around others while Anna becomes so desperate for company that she falls for the very for man she meets. Naturally, nothing good comes from this, and the rest of the movie shows the two sisters learning how to live their own lives.

What I liked most about it was the soundtrack. In fact, I felt compelled to pick up a copy on the way home from the theater! Two songs in particular, "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" and "Let It Go", are really well-written and evoke so much raw emotion that it wouldn't surprise me if, over the next decade, they become as fondly remembered as "A Whole New World". I'm also going to add that it is not easy to convey emotion convincingly in CG animation. The only songs that I felt didn't add quite as much to the plot were "In Summer" and "Fixer Upper", which were still good songs in their own right.

If you can still catch Frozen in theaters, then do it. In 3D, too, if possible. It may not be like any of Disney's past musicals, but if this is the new direction that they're headed, then I'm behind it completely.

Frozen was directed by Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck, and was inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen.

The Oriental Cartoon Show: Transformers Prime

The Oriental Cartoon Show, a podcast about cartoons and comics of all kinds, has just launched, and I'm one of this episode's guest stars. Listen as we talk Transformers Prime for almost two straight hours.

Click here for a wreckin' good time!

SUPERMAN: UNBOUND (2013)

"I am the knowledge and strength of 10,000 worlds. I am flesh and machine.
I am becoming everything."

2013 is shaping up to be a great year for Superman. With the overwhelmingly positive reactions to the most recent Man of Steel trailers, it seems like everybody is once again ready to believe that a man can fly! However, his first big adventure of the year has already come out, and its name is Superman: Unbound.

After rescuing his girlfriend, Lois Lane, for the 63,842nd time, Clark Kent starts to become annoyed with her taking his powers for granted so she can keep chasing the scoop of the century. While Lois does enjoy the perks of being Superman's girlfriend, she tells him that she also feels like he's smothering her by trying to protect her from every little thing as well, like being hit on by co-workers. Meanwhile, Kara Zor-El, who is still adjusting to her new life on Earth as Supergirl, is growing tired of her older cousin lecturing her, believing that he doesn't know what it's like to be powerless for most of his life, like she was.

When Superman learns that a meteor is about to collide with the Earth, he heads over to stop it, only to discover that it's actually a robot drone. Supergirl recognizes it and reveals that it belongs to Brainiac, a mysterious being that abducted Krypton's capital city, Kandor, as she watched, and left the rest of the Kryptonians for dead. The Man of Tomorrow then tells a disappointed Lois that he needs to go out into space, and then leaves to take on this mysterious invader.

Over the years, Superman's amassed a very interesting and varied rogues gallery, and Brainiac, through his many different incarnations, has long been a fan favorite. I find this version of him particularly interesting because in this story, he comes across as an accurate representation of how the U.S. continues to portray the Soviet Union during the Cold War. He's an unsympathetic, calculating, physically-imposing information vacuum that will go through anything and anyone to obtain all the knowledge in the galaxy. Add to that a truly chilling performance by John Noble (The Lord of the Rings, Transformers: Prime), and this take on the classic DC villain makes for an exciting antagonist for the personification of Truth, Justice, and the American Way.

For as powerful as Superman is and how exciting his fights usually are, I believe that he's at his best when he's faced with a dilemma that challenges his sense of morality. What I like most about Unbound is that while Brainiac's invasion of Earth may be the conflict that's at the forefront of the story, the whole event helps Superman to realize the problems that Lois and Kara are going through because of him, and what he can do to save them from himself.

If you aren't really all that familiar with Superman as a character, then Superman: Unbound is a really good place to find out why he has had such incredible staying-power, among his many other powers.

 
Superman: Unbound was directed by James Tucker, and is the sixteenth entry in Warner Bros. Animation's successful DC Universe Animated Original Movie series.

LITTLE WITCH ACADEMIA (2013)

The direct-to-video animation market in Japan used to be a hotbed for up-and-coming animators to be able to spread their wings and show off the full extent of their talents by either creating their own independent short films or adapting comic and novel series'. From the eighties to the mid-nineties, video stores were flooded with many different genres and styles of Original Video Animations (OVAs). Some of my favorites from this era include The Guyver (1989), Riding Bean (1989), and M.D. Geist (1986).

Unfortunately, with the turn that the Japanese economy's taken since then, animation studios have become much more averse to taking any risks. These days, the only DTV animated features being released in Japan are either TV show tie-ins or pornography. Thankfully, an annual project conceived two years ago, called "Anime Mirai", in which the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs funds on-the-job training for new animators, has been resulting in more independent OVAs being released lately. The short film that I'm writing about now, Little Witch Academia, is 2013's entry from Trigger, the animation studio that brought us the amazing Inferno Cop.

After attending a magic show by the dazzling Shiny Chariot, a brash, starry-eyed young girl named Akko enrolls in an academy for witches, but soon discovers it's not as easy as she hoped. She falls asleep in class, her spells backfire on her, and she's bullied by a girl named Diana, who both looks and acts like she might as well be Draco Malfoy's younger sister. When Akko tells her friends that she wants to be like Shiny Chariot, they say that she has a reputation for giving off the wrong impression of what witches do, and is probably a fraud. When it comes time for an exam that requires the students to navigate a labyrinth and seek out treasure, Akko jumps at the chance to both prove her worth and vindicate her idol.

Little Witch Academia sports a nice, safe story that doesn't break any new ground whatsoever, but it's competently written. The plot's solid, and it gives the audience enough of a reason to cheer on its hero. However, an original story was not the intended goal here, since it was created solely as a way for a young artist to put his talents on display, which it greatly excels at. The character designs are original, the colors are vibrant, and the animation is very fluid, which makes it really stand out from what's considered the norm for anime these days.

This was what the OVA movement was all about: letting artists showcase their talents by allowing them to take risks and not feel the need to conform to the industry standard in order to sell home video copies and merchandise. Little Witch Academia oozes that sense of artistic freedom, and in doing so, feels like a breath of fresh air. At only twenty-five minutes, it's able to maintain a good pace and doesn't drag on at all. I recommend it to those who like independent animation and want to show their support for it.

Little Witch Academia is Trigger's submission for the 2013 "Anime Mirai", and was animated and directed by Yoh Yoshinari (FLCL, Gunbuster 2: Diebuster).

MAZINKAISER SKL (2011)

 

"This devil... it will be the god who brings us salvation..."

No matter what it may be, if it has Go Nagai's name on it, you can sure-as-hell expect to be entertained, and this is no exception. Mazinkaiser SKL is the most recent animated offering from Nagai's company, Dynamic Productions, and exists as a spin-off of the miniseries, Mazinkaiser (itself a spin-off of Nagai's 1970s comic series, Mazinger Z). Thankfully, absolutely no prior knowledge is needed to enjoy this, as this is series is completely stand-alone, and makes for a pretty good introduction to the exciting world of Go Nagai.

In the far future, there exists an island called Kikaijima, where three different tribes have been waging a seemingly endless war for complete control over the island and its resources. The first tribe we're introduced to is the Kiba Army, a large group of Mad Max-style badlanders who rely more on brute force than anything else. Next, the Garan Army, who have a Warring States Era samurai motif, and are more strategy-reliant than the others. The last tribe is the Hachiryokaku, a convent of toga-clad women with magical abilities. The only thing these groups have in common is that they all use the same instruments of destruction: GIANT ROBOTS!

The only thing keeping this small-scale war contained is a device called the Gravity Curtain, which is a powerful force-field that regulates what can and can't enter or leave the island. Unfortunately, due to the amount of power being used by Kikaijima's inhabitants to keep the war going, the Gravity Curtain has become so unstable that it will explode in 66 hours, possibly ending all life on Earth. In light of this, the government has dispatched two former mercenaries and their demonic-looking robot, Kaiser, to the island to crash, smash, and slaughter their way through legions of other robots in order to save the world from a massive cataclysm.

From the time when I found out that Mazinkaiser SKL was being made, I couldn't wait to see it. Ninety minutes of two homicidal psychopaths in a giant robot tearing apart everything in sight in the name of justice while 80s heavy metal masters Loudness belt out some face-melters is exactly the kind of thing I look for in my action entertainment. There isn't a dull moment to be found here. The action manages to remain exciting throughout, which definitely makes up for its very simplistic plot.

Due to the nature of Mazinkaiser SKL as a three-part direct-to-video series from Japan, you really shouldn't go into this expecting a more complex plot than what I described above. Towards the end of the second episode, there are hints of possible character development in the final episode, but all that gets dropped in favor of more robo-carnage. Considering I wasn't expecting any development before watching this, I was able to let it slide.

If the very thought of robots exploding in a huge bloody mess to the sounds of screaming 80s metal gets your blood pumping, then you'll love Mazinkaiser SKL. Just be warned that prolonged exposure to this series may lead to the following symptoms: 1) Adrenaline starts to flow. 2) You're thrashing all around. 3) Acting like a maniac. 4) WHIPLASH!

 

 
Mazinkaiser SKL is based on an original story by award-winning comic book writer/artist, Go Nagai.

THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, pt. 2 (2013)

"Tonight, I am going to maintain order in Gotham City. You are going to help me."

If you haven't read my review of The Dark Knight Returns, pt. 1, you can find it here.

After the defeat of the Mutant gang leader at the hands of Batman, many of the former members have splintered off to form new gangs. Among them is one calling themselves the "Sons of the Batman", a vigilante group who hunts down and slaughters any street criminals they come across. Although it may seem as though crime has been contained in Gotham City, extensive press coverage of Batman's return has re-awoken one of the worst plagues to have ever befallen the city: The Joker!

Meanwhile, President Reagan is doing his best to instill a false sense of security among U.S. citizens while the military is fighting the Soviet Union for control over the island nation of Corto Maltese. At the same time, the press is putting pressure on him to figure out a solution to the Batman "problem", so he sends the most powerful man on his payroll, Clark Kent, to Gotham to try to calm the storm.

I said in my write-up of the first movie that aside from the absence of the main characters' internal monologues, there were no noticeable differences between Frank Miller's original story and this adaptation. For the most part, that's still true, but I was able to recall a couple scenes that had been removed for part two that I believe created a stronger emotional impact in the graphic novel. The one that stuck out most to me was when the Joker was shown applying his mind-control lipstick before appearing on TV, and he doesn't make any use of it. The scene that was cut out was one that I felt not only helped give the audience a chance to guess what the Joker's horrible new weapon could do, but also demonstrated how insane he'd become after ten years of catatonia. It's a deeply disturbing scene that I wish would have been left intact.

Unfortunately, I felt this adaptation was really dragged down by its portrayal of Clark Kent. I said in my review of the first part that the internal monologues from the comic weren't really necessary here, as enough of the exposition and emotion was plainly visible through the animation and acting. That's not the case with Clark, as all we're shown is that he now takes direct orders from the president, and will obey them all. This makes him seem very callous, out of character, and sometimes even a little sinister. In print, Clark is definitely an antagonist, but through his thoughts, we're able to discover that he's very reluctant to take orders from Reagan and only does it so he can continue saving lives while remaining within the government's favor. A little bit of that does shine through in the movie, but not until about halfway through his fight with Bruce during the climax.

The acting remains tight, with all of the actors from the previous part reprising their respective roles. I was especially pleased with Ariel Winter's performance as Carrie Kelly/Robin this time around, since she got to show a greater range of emotion. New cast members include Michael Emerson (Lost, Person of Interest) as the Joker, and Mark Valley (ER, Boston Legal) as Clark Kent. Emerson was absolutely perfect as the Joker, and while I could say the same about Valley's portrayal of Clark, the issues I mentioned earlier with the script really detract from what could have been an amazing performance.

This is a very well-done, though flawed conclusion to what started as a nearly perfect adaptation of one of the most important comic book stories ever published. If you've already watched the first half, you owe it to yourself to see how it all ends. For all the other Superman fans out there: don't fret, we're getting a new live-action movie and a new animated movie later this year.

The Dark Knight Returns, pt. 2 adapts the final two chapters of Frank Miller's ground-breaking graphic novel, The Dark Knight Returns.

MADOKA MAGICA: THE MOVIE, pt. 1 & 2 (2012)

"If you ever feel like dying to help the universe, just let me know. I'll be waiting."

When I accepted my friends' offer to go see Madoka Magica at the theater with them this past weekend, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. All I knew was that it was really popular, and that it was supposed to be pretty dark. What I wasn't prepared for was exactly how dark it would become. Don't let any of the cutesy imagery fool you for a second, as this is one of the cruelest, most brutal works of art I've ever had the pleasure to take in.

The story starts out innocently enough, showcasing the start of a typical day at school for our main character, middle schooler Madoka Kaname, and her best friend, Sayaka Miki. After their homeroom teacher finishes projecting her relationship troubles on her students, she introduces the class to a new transfer student, named Homura. It seems like Homura wants nothing to do with anybody else, until she leads Madoka away from the classroom, and suddenly warns her against giving up the life that she has. Madoka and Sayaka spend some time after school pondering what her warning could mean, until Madoka suddenly hears a voice in her head, begging her for help.

The two of them follow it until they come across a very strange-looking cat with serious wounds, being gunned down by Homura. She tells them to get out of her away, until an unnamed blonde girl shows up and tells Homura to leave. After Homura agrees, the three girls are then transported into a strange world that looks like it was animated entirely by Terry Gilliam, and come face-to-face with a giant monster, called a Witch. The blonde girl is able to save Madoka and Sayaka by magically summoning a wall of flintlock rifles and blowing the monster into dust. When they are all in the clear, the cat starts talking to them telepathically. He says that his name is Kyubey, and that he will grant the two of them any wish they desire, as long as they agree to become Magical Girls, and hunt down the Witches that have been wreaking havoc on society. From this point, our heroines delve deeper into this mysterious world of magic and monsters, discovering the grave consequences of those who choose to become Magical Girls, and what Kyubey's real intentions are.

Even after the scene where it appears as though Kyubey is about to meet his maker, Madoka Magica really didn't seem as dark as it had been made out to be by my friends, and every single review of it I had read. It wasn't until a little later when it happened. A moment so shocking and out of left field, that I had to cover my mouth to keep from screaming, "HOLY SHIT!" right in the middle of the theater. It was at that moment that I realized that I actually cared about these characters, and the thought of what cruel fate may await them had me in complete suspense. I knew that the emotional pull was only going to get more intense as the saga continued, and I was completely right. What's especially amazing was how the movie was able to pull this off without feeling gratuitous or exploitative in any way.

A lot of this movie's success owes itself to its very moody, emotional atmosphere. When it needs to be, the animation can either be deceptively bright and cheerful, or just downright frightening. The scenes that take place in the Labyrinths, the Witches' dimensions, especially, look like the kind of imagery you would see in an actual nightmare. The music really helps set the mood, as well. Except for a couple strangely out-of-place pop songs, the score consists mostly of haunting classical fare, frequently accompanied by chanting.

What really makes Madoka Magica work for me, though, is that it had characters who I had learned to sympathize with as the story progressed, it had a great ending that surprisingly managed to answer every question I had, and that despite the fact that it presents the audience with an enemy that really feels dangerous on a cosmic scale, it never forgets where its true focus lies. It's a story about people learning to live with the decisions they've made, and how to overcome them in the face of a great tragedy, and it does a fantastic job of it.

It's not enough for me to recommend this to just anime or sci-fi fans. I strongly believe that if you're a fan of FICTION, you owe it to yourself to check out Madoka Magica. I'm not one to just toss around the word, "masterpiece", but I feel like this movie really earns that distinction. Just some fair warning: it is absolutely not for the faint of heart.

 
Madoka Magica: The Movie, pt. 1 & 2 was made using compiled footage from the award-winning 2011 TV series, Puella Magi Madoka Magica. A sequel is due out sometime next year.

THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, pt. 1 (2012)

"Tonight marks the ten-year anniversary of the last sighting of the Batman..."

With the success that DC Comics has had in adapting some of its most famous stories into direct-to-video animated features, this one was only a matter of time.

Based on the graphic novel of the same name by Frank Miller, The Dark Knight Returns gives us a glimpse of what would happen if Gotham City were left to fend for itself, without the aid of its caped crusader. While many of its worst criminals, such as Harvey "Two-Face" Dent and the Joker, have been apprehended, crime has been on the rise with the appearance of a new gang calling itself The Mutants. There's no rhyme or reason to their actions. They just steal, kidnap, and murder as they please, with the only person standing in their way being an older Commissioner Gordon.

 

Bruce Wayne hasn't worn the cowl since the death of the second Robin, Jason Todd, which happened ten years ago. However, he hasn't been taking very kindly to his retirement, engaging in heavy drinking and other self-destructive behavior. One night, after experiencing a series of flashbacks triggered by news reports about Dent's release from Arkham Asylum and The Mutants' crime wave, he decides that he can't hold himself back any longer, and that it's finally time to come out of retirement.

The original story, published in 1986, is not only one of the most famous comic book stories of all time, but it is also responsible for how we have viewed Batman since. The Dark Knight Returns has been one of the biggest influences on the vast majority of Batman media that has come out since then, stretching from comic books to cartoons to movies, and there's very good reason for it. Not only is it a fantastic superhero story, it was also a very interesting piece of social commentary for the time (which, I believe, still holds true to this day).

This movie is an extremely faithful, almost panel-for-shot adaptation of the comic. One of the things that I was initially worried about was whether or not modern animation techniques could successfully recreate the dirty, grimy look of the comic. While it may not succeed at that, it manages to recreate Frank Miller's iconic character designs really well and give Gotham City a very bleak look while still looking very modern and sleek. My only complaint is that the small amount of CGI used during the movie doesn't blend in very well with the traditionally animated backgrounds.

The acting is pitch-perfect, with a cast made up of actors who seem like they were all made for their parts, particularly Peter Weller (RoboCop, Buckaroo Banzai) as Batman. Although he may not have been my first choice to play an aging Batman (it was Michael Ironside), as soon as I heard that he had been cast for the part, it only took seconds for me to realize exactly how brilliant of a match he was, and his performance definitely lived up to my expectations.

Something that fans of the original will pick up on almost immediately is that Batman's and Gordon's inner monologues are completely absent from the movie. Their monologues were one of the driving forces behind the comic, and featured many of its most famous lines, but I honestly think they would have dragged the movie down, being an almost purely visual medium. The more important monologues were added to the dialogue, so it doesn't feel as though anything's missing.

I can't recommend this movie enough. Whether or not you've read Frank Miller's original The Dark Knight Returns (and believe me, you should), if you like Batman, this is something you've been waiting for your entire life.

The Dark Knight Returns, pt. 1 adapts the first two chapters of the graphic novel, with the latter two being covered in a sequel due out in the winter of next year.