Editorial: DuckTales 2017 (TV First Impressions) (SPOILER FREE)

 

So, as of writing this I have just finished the 2017 DuckTales reboot series. The date is Wednesday, November tenth of 2021. For a family activity, my family and I watch some episodes of a TV show or a movie every Wednesday, something I want to watch. We started with Fraggle Rock after I got the complete series on DVD, then we watched a couple movies, and then we began the 2017 DuckTales series, as I started watching it as it was airing, but never got around to finishing it. Now, that it is all on Disney+, I have to ask, is this series any good? And more than that, is it a worthy reboot to a series as iconic, beloved and important as DuckTales?

YES!!!!

Okay, before I get ahead of myself, let's break it down into both questions. Starting with the easy one, is it good on its own? To which I have to say that yes, it is spectacular on its own.

Being a cartoon in the 2010s, DuckTales is a much more serialized show than the original was, and depending on your taste in cartoons, this can be a good or bad thing. Personally, I do lean towards the more episodic cartoons, because it is nice to have something to put on and not have to worry about continuity or call-backs, let's face it, some of us just don't have the time or energy to commit to a serialized show. However, I think the serializing was done rather well here. For the most part, the serialization is really only to tie in to a greater story arc towards the end of the third season, and aside from a few callbacks and minor characters that comeback, you can watch almost any random episode and follow it pretty well. I think Season 3 is the only time you can't do that, but even then it's mostly for the final twelve or so episodes. Still, I would say you got to start from the beginning of this show, and you might as well, you're most likely not watching it as it airs anymore, right? Right?

Still, story is useless if the characters are bad, and these characters are so lovable, so interesting and so amusing to watch. The triplets all have their own personality traits now, each a trait that can be represented in both their Uncle Scrooge and their Uncle Donald. Huey, like Scrooge, loves adventure, but also cataloguing the unknown and finding the truth, but like Donald is very prone to emotional outbursts and wishes for a more orderly schedule. Dewey, admires his Great Uncle Scrooge's fame and notoriety, and wishes for something similar, but like Donald can be a bit of a cheesy showoff. Louie admires Scrooge's wealth and fortune, but like Donald would rather take things easier, thought for Donald it is mostly because of stress rather than laziness. Speaking of which, Donald actually features in this show. Donald is probably my second favourite parental figure in animation, second only to Iroh from Avatar. Still, the list of characters keeps on going, Scrooge is just as fun as he was in the original show, Mrs. Beakley is a no-nonsense but loving person, Launchpad is still the big hearted dimwitted goofball we know and love, and with a bunch of extra Himbo energy. Plus, we get a bunch of more obscure characters from the comics like Gladstone Gander, Cousin Feathry, The Phantom Blot, and returning characters with new twists on their personalities like Fenton who is an eager young scientist at work, Gyro Gearloose who is cranky and foul-tempered (no puns), but a genuinely good person, and Magica DeSpell, who is just that perfect amount of vile that you just love to see. Glomgold is also a total man-child in this show, and I absolutely love it, he's just so fun to watch.

I think the only character that doesn't work for me is Doofus Drake, who is a very creepy and really uncomfortable to watch, most episodes that focused on him were usually my least favourites. However, they more than make up for that with the addition of plenty of new characters, like Lena, Violet, B.O.Y.D., Mark Beaks (Who is also just deliciously vile), and the introduction of a character very important to the duck family. (Yes, you probably know who it is, but I don't want to spoil it). However, my favourite character of the show has to be Webby, who is very excitable, eager to try new things, and also really kicks ass! She is a specially trained fighter, but they also don't forget that she's a little kid, and kids are excitable and emotional, which she is as well.

On top of all of that, there are a lot of callbacks to not just the Disney Duck Comics, and the original show, but also to other Disney properties, and let's just say, for a Dis-nerd like myself, spotting them all became an adventure in and of itself.

To top it all off, we have some absolutely amazing animation. One of the defenses I've heard for the Rise of the TMNT artstyle is that it emulates the comic style that the Turtles originated from, which is true, from the first few episodes I saw, it looked like a comic book brought into animation... Done badly. DuckTales also tries to emulate the comic book style of its origins, but does so successfully. You can see the comic style in the way the buildings are drawn and colouring and shading, but also with the title and how it's stippled to mimic the way a lot of old comics would be coloured. On top of that, I didn't notice any serious or awkward animation flubs, which is not to say there are none, but just that they weren't noticable.

So yeah, as a show on its own merits, it's fantastic, hands down one of my all time favourites. Yet, as with any reboot, sequel or spin-off, we aren't just looking at it on its own, we are looking at it as a reboot, sequel or spin-off, and how does this fare as a reboot?

Honestly, I think it's a lot better than the original series. Sure, the original isn't bad, and having watched a few episodes myself between episodes of this show, I can say it holds up a lot better than most eighties cartoons, but let's be real here, the show has aged. Now, aging is fine, it is a natural part of life for humans, most animals as a matter of fact, as well as wine, cider and cheese, and DuckTales, for the most part has aged fairly well, not exactly a fine wine, but still very well. A lot of the original shows short comings can be attributed to the original comics, as the triplets were still thought of as one entity to many of the people working on the show, in fact, in the comics they were thought of as one entity so much, that when they had to draw one of the three on a chair and the other two on the floor, they would draw one triplet on the chair, and three on the floor, an artist flub that fans have taken to calling, Phooey Duck!

However, in other places the original show has aged rather poorly. These is a lot of stuff that would not be rather PC by todays standards, not that the depictions of natives are all negative, but even the more neutral ones are very "of their time".

Even still, comparing the two shows is just sad. The Reboot is better in almost every way, and it really is not fair to the original. It's like comparing the original 1966 Grinch special to the 2018 Grinch movie. Like, yeah, on its own the 2018 movie isn't awful, but when you compare it to the original, it's just lesser in almost every way. Back to DuckTales, the artstyle is better, the characters are better, the writing and adventures are better, it really is no comparison. By all means, watch the original, but if you start with this series, lower your expectations a bit.

Really, I think that is all there is to say, on its own it is a fantastic show, and as a reboot it improves on the original in every way. So, really what else is there to say? High Recommendation!

The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie (1979) - An enjoyable, but outdated way to enjoy classic shorts

 

It's weird to think in the era of streaming services and independently created content that there was ever a time that you had to hope and pray that the movie or show you wanted to watch was going to air on TV that night. Home media didn't really take off until the 1980s, so what was someone supposed to do then? Well, someone at Warner Bros decided to take some of the classic Looney Tunes segments and put them into a movie. However, this wouldn't be any old compilation movie like the Fantastic Animation Festival movie from 1977, this was going to have some semblance of a narrative. Even still, in the age of Streaming and DVD boxsets, is a movie like this worth coming back to?

Much like with the Fantasia review, there really is not much else to this movie other than a collection of shorts with a few wrap-around segments. However, unlike Fantasia, the wraparounds do give this movie somewhat of a narrative. Essentially, we drop in on Bugs Bunny, as he talks to us about his life, which are shown as various Looney Tunes shorts. These range from shorts starring his cohorts, to shorts all about him. I will talk about the segments, but not as individually as I did with Fantasia. There are a lot of shorts in this movie, and I have varying opinions about them. So, other than any new segments and the ending segment, most of the Looney Tunes shorts I'll be talking about in groups.

The first segment is, from what I can tell, an original segment about the history of chases. It's told as you'd expect a joking cartoon character to tell a joking history. It's not that funny, and is rather slow. Probably due to the fact that at this point, everyone behind the Looney Tunes was much older, although I will give credit that there may be some actual true information in this segment. See, sometime in the early 2010s, researchers discovered that when lit up in certain ways, some paintings in the Chauvet Cave would actually form the illusion of movement. So, in a sense, this segment was correct that animated pictures began on cave walls. I find that kind of amusing, but then again I am a media history nerd.

After this we get out first Looney Tunes short, "Hare-way to the Stars", this short has some cute gags, but I don't think this was the best short to start off with. Thankfully, after this we get three Daffy Duck shorts in a row, starting with "Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century", an all time classic short, "Robin Hood Daffy", which is funny even in this shorter state, and "Duck Amuck", one of my all time favourite animated shorts. I've talked about this one before, so if you want my detailed thought on it, here's a previous post to check out.

Next are three shorts that focus on Bugs dealing with a more intimidating adversary, starting with "Bully for Bugs", a great short, but maybe not the best way to start this stretch of shorts. The rest of the three also feature Daffy, so maybe if they reversed the order of these three, it would have worked better. Our next short is "Ali Baba Bugs", which I am skipping right past because I don't want to get into a discussion over whether this short is problematic by today's standards or not. It was never one of my favourite shorts in the first place, mostly because of its ending, I never really found it that funny. Thankfully, the next short is "Rabbit Fire", which is probably my favourite Bug and Elmer short.

Our next three shorts start off on a bad foot, because it starts with "For Scent-imental Reasons", a Pepe Le Pew short. I never liked Pepe Le Pew, I never really found him to be that funny, not that there weren't some neat gags in his shorts, but the main joke was never that amusing. Next is another shortened cartoon, "Long-Haired Hare", which is still funny in this shortened form. Along this theme, the next short is the iconic "What's Opera, Doc?" one of the most recognized, beloved and remembered Looney Tune segment out there. I like it fine.

The final Bugs Bunny short is "Operation: Rabbit" which is the perfect segue into the final portion of this movie, the Road Runner shorts, which are just played as one big segment. They include a lot of the iconic moments from many of the shorts, such as the Bat-Man's Outfit from "Gee Whiz-z-z-z-z-z-z", the Earthquake Pills from "Hopalong Casualty" and a couple trampoline gags. Road Runner cartoons were always my favourite of the Looney Tunes shorts, so I do really like this big mesh of iconic and hilarious Coyote gags.

Other than all of that, there are the wraparound segments, which don't really serve to tell jokes, but more to introduce each short. All in all, these were fine, but that brings us to a very interesting point. These are the reasons you would want to watch this movie nowadays, because we can get the full version of all these shorts on multiple different DVD releases, so the question remains, are these wrap-arounds worth it? Honestly, I would say no. Though I love a lot of these shorts, a part of me just wishes I was watching the shorts separately rather than the movie. I have a couple Looney Tunes compilation DVDs, and I think I'd get just as much entertainment out of them as I did from this movie. So, how would I recommend it?

As a movie, I'd probably put it in the Slight Recommendations category. Someone might really like seeing this laid back and more casual kind of Bugs Bunny. Then again, we don't spend much time with that Bugs Bunny, we spend a lot of time with the classic shorts, and that is the movie's biggest problem. There is no need for it anymore, we can get the entire series run on DVD now. Remember, this was made before home media really took off. In a way, it's very archaic and a relic of a bygone era where we couldn't just put on our favourite episode of our favourite show with the click of a button. If you are a collector of all thing Looney Tunes, you might have this in your collection, but even then I don't think it's worth watching. Grab a compilation DVD and enjoy.

First Impressions: Muppets Haunted Mansion (2021)

Hey, a new first impressions. Yeah I'm still not super comfortable going to movie theaters, so first impressions have been really slow. However, let's do another one, and let's talk about something else that is near and dear to my heart, The Muppets.

I haven't been the biggest Muppet fan as a child, which was mostly due to not having access to a lot of the material. Nowadays, The Muppets are one of the things I can point to as pushing me down the path of becoming an artist. The Muppet Movie was a life changing experience for me, and The Muppet Christmas Carol is one of my all time favourite movies. That being said, I am not super fond of more modern Muppet material. A part of it is that I don't think the magic is the same, but it could also be that the writing is not as good. So, while I was interested with the new Muppets special, I'll admit, I did have some reservations. How did it all end up?

First and foremost, the original Muppet magic is, I don't want to say gone, but I don't think there is a better word for it. A lot of people would say it was all Jim Henson, but the reality is, especially for people my age, Jim was not a big part of the Muppets. Yes, he was the main guy behind it, and he did build a lot of the puppets, but he also had Jerry Juhl to write for him and a myriad of other amazing performers to bounce off of. Just like the Muppets themselves, there was no One person to make the magic happen. With most of the original team dead, Jerry Juhl having passed in 2005, or have left or been fired, there is no way the original charm of The Muppets can be recaptured. That being said, I think this one came close.

I think this special did a good job in focusing on Gonzo and Pepe, partially because I myself have a bit of trouble really jelling with Matt Vogel as Kermit, but also because it really lets us look into Gonzo's character. I think a lot of us relate to Gonzo because, even in a group like The Muppets, he is an outcast. We know that everyone is a Frog, Bear, Pig, Chicken, Rat, Eagle, Frackle or Gofer. Gonzo has always been described as a "Whatever" or a "Thing", and so when we get to look closer at our favourite Blue Weirdo, it allows us to connect better with him. This is why, while "Rainbow Connection" is my favourite song from the original Muppet Movie, "I'm Going to go Back There Someday" is my favourite scene.

I will also admit, some of the gags made me laugh. I liked the joke Uncle Deadly made regarding King Henry VIII, I think I laughed harder at that one than I was meant to. While I don't think it was as funny as Muppet Treasure Island, come on that is a high bar to reach in the first place. Actually, that is kind of the biggest issue with the special, not the only issue, but the biggest one. No matter how good it is, we will, either intentionally or not, compare it to the previous movies and shows. So, is it as funny as Treasure Island or Great Muppet Caper? No. Is it as heartful as The Muppet Movie or Muppet Christmas Carol? No. If you're expecting it to be, you're not going to enjoy this special as much.

On the topic of problems, while I enjoyed the humour of this special, I will say they did run some gags into the ground. The screaming goat especially became less funny with each use, honestly the same could be said for all the running gags. I was also expecting a bit more from the advertised cameos, I get they're cameos, but they literally just showed up for one song they don't even sing, and then show up at the end to deliver one line. If you want my advice, watch this before you watch the new UP series on Disney+, let Ed Asner's final role be that. I also kind of saw the end reveal coming, but let's be real, there weren't a lot of prominent human characters here, so the choice was pretty slim pickings.

Honestly, I kind of wish this was longer, give us more time to focus on Gonzo's fears, give us more time with the cameos, both human and Muppet kind. There were a few lesser known and forgotten Muppet cameos in this special, which was a nice touch. However, I do have to admit that as a special, it was fine. Maybe it would not have worked as a full movie, especially because, again, Jerry Juhl and a lot of the original Muppet cast are not with the series anymore. I will say that this was the best of the Muppet works done without them. I could not get into the 2011 series or Muppets Now!, but this, I could enjoy. I do recommend it for some spooky fun.

Monster High: 13 Wishes (2013) - Nothing special, but harmless

Well, it's the October month, and that means spooky scary fun and also spooky silly fun. Last year I didn't end up reviewing any kind of spooky movie, I got a copy of The Thief and the Cobbler earlier and I really wanted to talk about it, and I also looked at the Recobbled Cut that same month. So, this year I thought I'd make up for the lack of a spooky review by taking a look at a Monster High movie... Goodie. Well, hey I enjoyed My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, I have a soft spot for Jem and the Holograms, and I've watched Ruby Gloom growing up, so maybe this won't be so bad. Also, if you're wondering, I chose 13 Wishes because it is the one I am the most familiar with, in the sense that it was the only one I knew existed and vaguely what it was about. Thanks online internet video game reviewers!

Plotwise it is about the younger sister of Clawdeen Wolf, Howleen (As an aside, I hate these names) finding a magic lantern and summoning a Genie, who gives her thirteen wishes. You can  probably tell where this goes, but to the movie's credit, they do twist your expectations a little bit. First off, this genie has an evil shadow doppelgänger, which is not a part of genies that I have seen before, but also is that while Howleen does begin to make selfish wishes, she actually does start by trying to make others happy. It isn't until she gets bullied by others that the shadow genie begins to manipulate her into using the wishes selfishly. It's actually kind of clever, or it would be if the bullying was more than two sentences. Otherwise, you know what you're going to get with this plot, character gets ultimate power, uses it unwisely and almost puts a great evil in power. The plot is nothing that special.

I think that is my biggest problem with the movie, or should I say, special. Yeah, this would be another "Technically" review, but the movie is over an hour long. Despite that, it really is not written or edited like a movie. Most movies would hold on shots or let scenes linger to really let the weight of the scene take hold, they can do this because they have a rather lengthy time limit to really experiment with. A television show does not have this time to play around with, so emotional scenes have to be done differently. The ending conversation between Pearl and Amethyst in the Steven Universe episode "On The Run" would probably have been written differently if it was for a movie. This movie is not really written or edited like a movie and more like an extended television episode, which I'll be honest, is only a problem if that is not what you're expecting. I hear people complain that some movies based on shows are "Just an extended episode" and I usually never see that, well, now I think I know why, those movies are still written and edited like movies.

Character wise, well... I mean they aren't bad. The main cast are friendly and want to help people, which is nice, Clawdeen is very much the "Big sister", but she doesn't really remind me of my brother like the sister in "Whisper of the Heart" did, in that she doesn't come off like she's trying to be a controlling figure in her younger sibling's life. Gigi the genie is kind of bland, honestly so is the villain Whisp, she's just kind of your basic villain. Howleen is a high school girl, probably freshman, maybe sophomore, I'm sure some Monster High fan is gonna correct me on that one. I dunno, the characters to me never seem to go beyond the basic characteristics that we expect of characters like these. I will say, I do like one of the background characters, just a dude with an eyeball as his head, it's like if someone from The Residents was a cartoon character, and I adore it.

I also have a few criticisms with the voices. For the most part the actors do fine, I never heard a flat read or a bad take in there, but a few of them out on rather generic accents, and Draculaura's voice is clearly pitched up a little, like other people noticed that right? I just found it really distracting. Otherwise, again the voice acting was fine. That is also my opinion of the animation, it isn't bad, it's smooth and has some appeal to it, but television quality 3D animation is never going to look as good as it could.

Really that is the best thing to take away from this review, this is a television movie, and it feels like it. On some level I do have to admire the fact that they didn't try to emulate a theatrical experience. I think if you go into this movie knowing what you're gonna get, you might have a good time. Nothing about this movie is that special, but it isn't terrible, as a whole I can recommend this is a certain type of audience. Hey, there is nothing wrong with a movie that is made for specific audiences. If you want a silly spooky something to put on this Halloween, well I'd recommend other things first, but if you want to try something new, I don't see the harm in this one. I may only slightly recommend it, but it's still a recommendation.

The Great Mouse Detective (1986) - A cute, but also risque kids movie

The 1980s were an interesting time for kids movies. This was the era that Don Bluth was making his movies in, and Disney was also releasing a lot more movies with darker or heavier themes. This seems to have died in the nineties with the Disney Renaissance, personally I pin the blame on how bad The Black Cauldron turned out, but after that mess was released, they made The Great Mouse Detective, which didn't begin the renaissance, but did it put Disney on the right path?

The movie follows Olivia Flaversham who is found by Dr. Dawson and they both find famous detective, Basil of Baker Street to find her father, who has been kidnapped by a servant of the wicked Professor Ratigan, who has a particularly villainous scheme to become ruler of all of mousekind by replacing the Queen. Plotwise, I gotta say it was all rather tight. It flowed really well and at no point was I ever confused about where the plot was going. Every location was gone to for a purpose and the movie does explain why they're going there. I don't think there is really anything here that pads out the plot, even during a seemingly superfluous musical number, they do slip in something that is plot relevant. It is very well done, no plot holes, no confusing parts, probably one of Disney's most well written plot lines.

I do have to add though, this movie does have some moments that are... not as child friendly as kids movies today would be. There are some scarier moments and there is a scene with a character is dressed in typical showgirl attire, yes... showgirl. The movie's opening would probably be scary to some young kids who aren't expecting it. I would say to not show this movie to anyone younger than seven. It is definitely a movie for older kids and parental guidance.

Character wise, I really like the characters here. Basil is eccentric and enthusiastic, thinking about it, he kind of reminds me of something... plus it is clear he isn't very social. Could he be... oh well. Olivia is also very cute, the way she mimics Dawson occasionally is just adorable. However, the character that steals the show is absolutely Professor Ratigan, who is delightfully devilish, and skirts the line of suave and sophisticated baddie, to blood-thirsty brute. A lot of this has to do with the voice performance. Vincent Price does an absolutely delightful job as the villain, just the epitome of slime and vileness that is his voice. The rest of the cast do an excellent job as well, Barrie Ingham and Val Bettin, even some of the smaller roles had good voice work, even if I could tell one of the voices was Alan Young.

Now animation is where the movie really shines. Of course, being a Disney animated feature, it looks brilliant. I would say that some of the faces looked a bit unsettling, but I think that it was done on purpose, to show that Basil can be as crazy as Ratigan. However, I think the most impressive thing about the animation is the incorporation of CGI. While this wasn't the first of the Disney animated canon to incorporate Computer Generated Imagery, and I don't think it is the best incorporation either (Let's be real it is hard to top that one shot from Beauty and the Beast), the CG is still really well done here. It is really obvious, but the cel shaded look of it makes it blend in better than say, the cave of wonders from Aladdin. Otherwise, the rest of the animation is well done, no obvious problems and a really good colour palette.

Overall, I quite enjoyed The Great Mouse Detective. While I don't think that it is one of Disney's greatest, I can admit that it was a cute and fun little movie that had a little bit more of a risque side to it. I think I enjoyed the characters the most, they were engaging to watch and putting them into this really well woven plot and really good animation made this movie a very enjoyable. I didn't mind the darker and more adult moments, I don't think it is the most extreme in that regard, but most of the other dark kids movies of the era were more emotionally dark like An American Tail or more intense like The Secret of NIMH, so I would advise parental guidance when putting this on for kids. Still, it was an enjoyable movie, I can give it a solid recommendation rating.