Reviews

From a pure craft standpoint, Wish is gorgeous. The animation, production design, vocal performances, editing, visual effects, et al are top notch. no complaints there (beyond the intentionally muted color palette of the early portion of the film crossing the line into even more drab than the story called for.) But from a story standpoint, the film feels like they went straight into production on the first draft of the screenplay. Which is to say that narratively the film is a complete mess that either can't seem to ever settle on what it wants to be about, or else can't figure out how to convey that story in a thematically coherent, intelligible way. As just one of many examples of this muddle, the rules of the world are bizarre, overly complex, illogical, counter intuitive in the worst way, and almost impossible to follow or make sense of. People immigrate to a kingdom so they can have their most important wishes removed from their memories at age 18 all for the infinitesimally small chance that the kingdom’s ruler will grant that wish to them at some point before they die? What? Huh? In what universe does that make narrative sense on any level? Who on earth would that “deal” appeal to? This is fantasy world building of the laziest, sloppiest, worst kind. The kind that just makes up the rules as it goes along and then keeps changing them to suit the needs of the story without any regard to logic or internal consistency. Is it possible that the writer’s strike meant the studio just plowed ahead without the necessary revisions to get the world and the story to work? Based on all of the references to classic Disney films and characters laced throughout the film and credits, the filmmakers appear to believe they have made a major meta-statement on the entire Disney catalogue and legacy. But if they have, it was lost on me. I spent the entire time trying to figure out what the darned picture was trying to be about. Most importantly of all, I was never moved emotionally. Not even a teensy tiny bit. What a waste of talent and resources. Wish is pretty, but dead on arrival.

The CommonSenseMedia review is could not be more wrong on all points but one: the age recommendation is spot-on at sixteen and older. This is most definitely not a film for children, which is abundantly clear on virtually every frame. It's Apocalypse Now by way of Bambi with more than a touch of Ralph Bakshi's anti-war epic Wizards. In fact, the latter film is very much a kindred spirit to Unicorn Wars, in that both are intensely violent animated features that stand as powerful anti-war statements., with Unicorn Wars also adding a condemnation of organized religion to the mix. For the CommonSenseMedia critic to fixate on an irrelevant and purely superficial similarity to pernicious YouTube videos that desecrate animation intended for children is to miss the mark by a light-year. And the argument that some of the graphic elements of the film are gratuitous or childish strikes me as itself jejune. While Unicorn Wars doesn't match the richness or depth of its primary influence, Apocalypse Now, neither is it remotely as shallow as the CommonSense review would lead one to believe. Just don't watch it with any kids younger than about midway through high school.

Please note: This review is based solely on the first episode, which my wife and I watched without the kids, as we were a bit concerned about the potential sexual content of the show, as seen in the trailer and referenced in other reviews. Also, please be aware that SPOILERS FOLLOW. The good news is that there are only three brief scenes with any sexual content in the first episode: - Early on, Jennifer Walters, who is to become the She-Hulk, has a conversation with her cousin, Bruce Banner (aka The Hulk) in which she expounds her theory that Captain America died a virgin. Fortunately, this discussion never gets explicit, and only consists of vague innuendo along the lines of (paraphrasing), "I'm just saying that he was drafted at a young age, and then spent the rest of his life fighting supervillains. When would he have had time to...?" If a child asks what she's referring to, one could simply reply "She's saying he never had a girlfriend." or "He never kissed anyone." or something like that. - three men outside a roadhouse take an unwanted interest in the main character and approach her in a somewhat threatening manner while making catcalls of the "Hey, sweetheart, are you alone?" variety. Before the scene can get any further than vague innuendo that will most likely go over the heads of most kids, She-Hulk basically knocks them out. Plus, the three 'hoodlums' don't even look all that threatening, as they're awfully clean-cut and racially diverse for a trio of 'tough guys'. One gets the sense that the filmmakers are intentionally pulling their punches in this brief scene. - Finally, there is a very brief post-credits scene in which Jennifer Walters and her cousin The Hulk discuss Captain America's virginity in more explicit terms. When The Hulk suggests that there had, in fact, been an intimate encounter in Captain America's WWII days, Walters then comes right out and uses the word "virgin" and begins to say the F-word, but it's cut off ("Fu---") This last scene definitely crossed the line for my wife and me as to what we would let our kids watch. However, it's also super easy to avoid, as it comes after the credits and is a quick gag that has no bearing on the plot whatsoever. Just stop the playback before the end of the first group of end credits, and your kids will never be the wiser. Other elements of possible concern in the first episode: The Hulk shows off his homemade bar to his cousin, explaining that their sped-up metabolism allows them to drink vast quantities of alcohol without getting sick. This is followed by a scene of them doing just that, followed by Walters complaining of a massive hangover the next morning. Tons of comic book style fighting, mostly consisting of an extended fist fight between the two Hulk cousins. There are some other fight scenes. Loads of people getting punched and sent smashing into furniture and walls. No blood, with the key exception of a car crash in which Banner's blood drips into a wound on Walters' arm. (A key part of her origin story here.) There were probably a whole bunch of mild curse words throughout the episode, but since that sort of thing is not a big concern in our household, they didn't really register on me, except for the aforementioned not-mild partial F-bomb at the end, which would definitely have been a deal breaker, except, as I mentioned, it's trivial to avoid. Other than that, I found the show to be just as entertaining as I remember the "Sensational She-Hulk" comics of the John Byrne era being. Bottom line: we will probably let our fairly mature 11 year old daughter watch the first episode (but not the coda), but will definitely not allow our 8 year old daughter to watch it (in her case more for the violence than anything else). Again, please keep in mind that all of my observations here refer solely to the first episode. Based on the trailer, I have a suspicion the sexual content of the series will ramp up in future episodes. As a result, I think my wife and I will preview all episodes before letting our oldest watch.

The Commonsense review is rather accurate. This is a terrible, utterly pretentious film that is in no way worth anyone’s time. It’s wildly inappropriate for kids, but then, it’s also wildly inappropriate for adults, Utterly inept filmmaking of the lowest order.

Finally got around to watching this with my daughters, ages 9 and 12. My 9 year old wants to be an architect, so she was eager to watch it, whereas my 12 year old had to be coerced with the promise that she could stop watching if she didn’t like the first five minutes. They both sat through the entire film, so that counts as some kind of endorsement. From a technical perspective, the film is spectacular, as one would expect for an IMAX 3D production. The home video release contains three versions on two discs: a 4K UHD disc, and a Blu-ray that contains both 2D and 3D versions in 1080p. We watched the film in 3D on our now-vintage 3D-capable TV. The 3D version is clearly the way to go here, for those who have the equipment, as the film was obviously shot to take full advantage of the 3D imagery on offer. I’d say the CommonSense age recommendation of 8+ is spot on. My rather sensitive 9 year old had absolutely no problem with the brief references to earthquake related deaths and the one referenced drowning, and I’m certain she would have been equaling fine had she seen it last year at age 8. My far less sensitive 12 year old probably could have viewed this at age 5 or 6, but since she’s always been mature for her age, I’d go with 8+ for most kids. The film itself is standard science-oriented IMAX documentary fare, the sort that plays limited runs at science museums. It’s a decent overview of engineering for kids, but does not go into any depth. It’s sponsored by the engineering firm Bechtel, so it does play as a bit of propaganda designed to encourage more future engineers. Which is not necessarily a bad thing.

We watch Hocus Pocus every year as a family because unfortunately it has become an official Halloween “classic”, but “classic” does not equal “good”. I realize mine is the minority view, but I utterly loathe this film. It’s unbelievably poorly written. The supernatural characters (the witches, the zombie, and the talking cat) are entertaining enough, but the human characters are completely insipid, nothing but lazy cliches as far as the eye can see. On top of which, the performances are laughably bad. And the script is both predictable and illogical. Just a mess from top to bottom. The final nail in the coffin, as it were, is the completely inappropriate fixation on the “gag” of the main character being a virgin. For a movie this dumb, which is obviously aimed at a very, very young audience, the incessant repetition of the word “virgin” from beginning to end guarantees that your kids will ask “Mom/dad, what’s a virgin?” at some point during the film. Even were all of my other objections nullified, I would hate, hate, hate the film for this reason alone. A parent’s worst nightmare. Oh yes, at one point the little sister tells her brother’s crush that he likes her breasts (she uses a euphemism). and the crush is perfectly okay with that. Not a message I want my daughters to receive. Did I mention I despise “Hocus Pocus”? I’m giving it two stars. rather than one, solely because the music, costumes, editing, lighting, and most of the other crafts are just fine. It’s only the directing, writing, and some of the acting that is awful beyond measure, I’m setting the appropriate age at 13 solely for the sexual references and mildly misogynistic treatment of the female characters. From an intellectual standpoint, the appropriate age would probably be 7.

My entire adult life (I’m currently 53), I’ve always considered my three favorite films from childhood to be Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and Doctor Dolittle. Since having children of my own (currently 5 and 8), we’ve watched Wonka and Chitty repeatedly as a family, and my daughters seem to love those films as much as I do. With the new Robert Downey Jr. version of Dolittle coming out, I figured it was high time we all watched the 1967 original, which we did last night. And what an eye-opening disappointment it was. For one thing, unlike Wonka and (most of) Chitty, Doctor Dolittle is slow and boring. Sure, Chitty is also long and has a few slow moments, but they pass quickly. The 1967 Dolittle, on the other hand, is tedious from start to finish and will bore the pants off most children. Also, the music isn’t nearly on a par with the other films, despite the contribution of Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley, who later did such an excellent job with Willy Wonka. Even the songs that I remembered fondly, particularly Talk to the Animals, are marred by Rex Harrison’s borderline tuneless recitative style of talk-singing. The far more tuneful memories I had in my head of the songs must have come from having heard at some point different renditions, perhaps the Sammy Davis Junior versions. Most troubling of all was the terrible treatment of the female lead. who is forced to do menial labor on the sea voyage while the men lounge around, all to prove that she’s better than a lowly woman and almost the equal to a man. When my 5 year old daughter asked me “Why does she want to be different from who she is?” I felt I’d made a mistake in showing my kids the film without having first rewatched it with my wife to know what we were getting into. I’m not even going to go into the racist, stereotypical presentation of the African tribe, as it’s just an additional embarrassment added to an already embarrassing film. All of the forgoing might - might - be excusable if the film were moderately entertaining, but it’s not. Doctor Dolittle is a tedious chore to slog through. I highly recommend that any parents who are thinking of watching this with their young children based on fond memories of having done so in their own childhood rewatch the film first without the kids, as I wish I had done, to make sure they’re really okay with their kids watching it.