Summer Wars

I'm continuing this week with my movie reviews for people who donated to the Periscope Studio art books Kickstarter.  A big thanks to Jacob, who requested Summer Wars!  Read on for some spoiler-filled reaction comics!

So here's the thing: I've already seen this movie a few times.  I love it.  It's fantastic.  It's one of those movies I wish I could make everyone I know watch.  It has a little bit of everything--comedy, romance, action, drama...a surprising and amazing film.  The storytelling is fresh and clever.  And the animation is GORGEOUS!  I think the word I used the most in this review was "love".

Basically, just go see this movie if you haven't yet.

I looooooove the big cast, and how well everyone is characterized.  They can have over-the-top slapstick moments, and maybe you could sum each character up in a couple words, but each plays an integral role in the plot, too (I see a lot of similarities with Dickens).  Nana being new to the family means she doesn't know who Wabisuke is, and it's a GREAT excuse to invite the other characters to explain.
The characters interact with one another in many interesting ways, forming different groups at different times the way that real people do (by family, by gender, by opinion, by task).  Nobody is a "good guy" or "bad guy"; they take on protagonist and antagonist roles depending on the situation.  It could have been so easy to fill out the big family with generic characters, but everyone really feels real.  The chaos of the big household is totally believable.  Somehow, the creators manage to keep over 20 characters in character AND keep the plot moving forward.

I loooooove the avatar designs.  They're so personalized and different, I wouldn't be surprised if the film invited a bunch of real people to design their own avatars for the movie to use.  The world of OZ is a delightful tool for the storytelling.  We get to have our real-world story, but also watch fantastic action sequences in a world with anime physics.  And I LOVE when we come back into the real world and see those fights on character's cell phone screens -- how it just looks like normal cell phone game graphics!! xD The visual metaphors for Love Machine messing up the world's systems are GENIUS.  I love the sliding tiles effect when it mixes up the highway system.  GAH.

Kazuma is such a teenage wish fulfillment character.  He games ALL THE TIME uninterrupted by his mother, is the best fighter in the world, has global star status for his character's success...and his gaming ends up saving the world.  Plus, awesome emo hair.

Pretty much xD

Sniff!  Universal cooperation and self-sacrifice....you hit me in the soft spot, Summer Wars.


I haven't even mentioned Sakae Jinnouchi, who is maybe the most interesting character.  I love seeing a matriarch like this.  She can wield a yari, sure, but her greatest strength as demonstrated in the movie is her prowess in conversation, her network of friends/family, and her ability to get people to work together and support one another.  There's a lot of good stuff happening in Summer Wars in terms of what makes characters heroic.  Kenji is smart and willing to stay in harm's way to protect others.  Wabisuke asks for forgiveness and tries to make amends for the damage he's caused.  Everyone seems at their best when they do their duty to serve others and cooperate.

Frozen

Nicolas Hitori De and I just watched Disney's Frozen! :D Read on for some spoiler-filled reaction comics!

Know what I'm saying?

 

I think Nico and I felt pretty similarly apprehensive going into this movie.  We wanted it to be good, but we had heard mixed things and we didn't have high hopes.  Actually, we both really liked it!  The art was gorgeous, the songs were great, and the comedic relief characters weren't bad.  I laughed at Olaf's lines more often than not.

I'm sooooo in love with the songs Love Is An Open Door, Let It Go, and Fixer Upper!!  I've seen a lot of Disney movies send the message to give romantic interests a chance even if you don't like them at first (or straight-up see red flags with the person), but I don't remember any movie before adding, "We're not saying you can change him, because people don't really change..."  Nicely done, Frozen!

Monsters University

I attended a press screening of Monsters University with Jamie S. Rich last week, and I made reaction comics for the movie!  Go see it and then check these out.  Please enjoy~

Disclaimer: I am the only person in the universe who didn't like Paperman.  I'm just so utterly over love-at-first-sight shorts.  I don't care whether or not that girl you JUST SAW is walking the same way as you!  Gag me with a spoon.

Probably my favorite part of the movie.  Amaaaazing character design!

WIN for casting celebrities with talent.

Oh, Pixar. ♥ I love how you tackle issues no one else will in all-ages films, like, "I'm not actually cut out for my life-long dream what do I dooooo".  And I flippin' love a movie where the main characters do everything they're "supposed to" by movie-logic to ensure being rewarded with their initial goal....but find out along the way that there's something else that would satisfy what it is they're really looking for.

This movie was GREAT. I was laughing pretty much the ENTIRE time, and would have watched it again immediately if I could have.  I absolutely loved Mike's reaction to Sully cheating, and the whole arc/resolution of them trapped in the human world.  I wish there had been more speaking lady roles, and a bit more to the Dean Hardscrabble arc, but overall I was very pleased!

Brave

I did another series of movie reaction comics.  This time the film is Pixar's Brave, in theaters today.  Here's a spoiler-free text review before the spoiler-full comics:

This movie is fantastic.  If you think that our tastes are at all similar, or you have a heart or a mom, you should go.  The bottom line is: this is a well-crafted, beautiful, fun, surprising, and touching film.  It has been advertised in a cringey, slapstick way to get children into the theater, but don't worry: this is not a lowest-common-denominator animated film.  It's another Pixar masterpiece.  Quite a bit of the movie was withheld in the commercials, and it's WONDERFUL.  You are in for pleasant surprises.  I recommend watching it in 2D; the film is a little too dark in 3D and some of the lovely details and textures faded out.

THESE COMICS CONTAIN SPOILERS.  Go watch the movie first -- these probably won't be funny unless you've seen it, anyway.

 

 

And all of the talk about changing your fate ("You can rise to meet it if you choose").

And the closing gate and trying to escape into the woods.

And the misty, forested mountains.

And the animal mom protecting her human child. 

And the animal mom at risk of becoming an actual demon.

Horses, in my mind, are this feminine symbol of freedom and power and grace.  ...I thought that was a well-documented thing, but apparently it's just an association I have.  I was looking around the internet for any writing that had been done on it, or a catchy name for the trope or something, but came up empty.  ANYWAY, women riding horses = overwhelming 'FUCK YEAH' response in my head.

 

One of my friends pointed out that the triplets are always trying to steal buns/cakes from Maudie that look like boobs, complete with berry nipples.  And now I can't unsee that subtextual subplot wherein the triplets are on a quest for Maudie's goodies xD

 

 

LOOOOOOOVED THIS.  Commanding a dead silence by walking?  So cool.  And that austere expression on Queen Elinor's face?  Just...GUH. PERFECT.
And then Merida demonstrates how much she has grown and come to understand and appreciate her mother (and the power she wields) by performing it just like her.  asdf;ljk.  One of those moments that is so perfectly foreshadowed it's shocking you don't see it coming.  PERFECT.  PERFECT!

 

Also, Merida...even I can sew better than that.  I mean really.

 

TWO LADIES ON HORSEBACK?  A MOTHER AND DAUGHTER ON HORSEBACK?!! *dies*

Cool/funny things that it would be repetitive for me to draw because they were done perfectly in the film:

-"Legends are lessons.  They ring with truths."  (And so do Pixar films)

-Little Merida!  Especially the teeth--somehow they captured little-kid-mouth just right in her design and expressions

-One of the triplets lip synching perfectly with his father during the bear story

-The crow.  Just delightful.

-Every single instance of Queen Elinobear moving in an effeminate way despite her altered stature 

-"I've decided to do what's right and break tradition."  SO much love for that line.

-Merida going toe to toe with her father in a sword fight and winning?!

-Cutting his peg leg out from under him!

-Momma bear getting superbear strength when her daughter is in trouble 

-Mor'du's spirit rising from the back of the rock

-Naked triplets!  Perfect timing, comic relief

I just added a donate button to this blog.  I am by no means starving, and I appreciate your traffic on its own merits, but if I raise a few dollars on these review posts it will help justify continuing to make them.  Thanks again, everyone!