Movie Review: Steven Universe: The Movie

(Anthony is running around to find his house to going back and plan to call his fellows for help, since he lost his cellphone when he died. Once He arrives in his home that was overground by plants. However, he notices his own TV is still active that he didn't realized about it, but it has his favorite show into a movie)

Anthony: A movie with my favorite show Steven Universe already? Oh man, after all the months that i've heard, im so overly excited how it goes...!

(One in a half hours later)

Anthony: ... *starts clapping slowly to faster for his thankful reaction* Bravo...! I gotta talk about this movie...!

(Review Starts)

Hey everyone, my name is Anthony and welcome back to my movie review.

Let me start off by saying that, I, Freakin, Love Steven Universe...!  Its one of my favorite show since the 2010's era of Cartoon Network, though i like some shows like "Ok.K.O, lets be heroes!", Mighty Magisword", "Unikitty" and maybe "Adventure Time". But for Steven Universe, this is the show that not only my favorite, but this is also my holy grail that i love to watch with my friends and inspired to make my own story (Well, not prepared, yet...). It is no wonder that it was considered a fan-favorite of CN, unlike some remakes that it makes Disney feel inspired. Aside the controversies of homophobic reactions and some toxic fandom, this show is still great that for the characters, story, comedy and the drama, which is no wonder they made a TV movie.

"Steven Universe: The movie" is a 2019 animated musical TV movie that was written, produced and directed by Rebecca Sugar, Kat Morris and Joe Johnston, co-produced by Alonso Ramirez Ramos, Brian A. Miller, Chance the Rapper, Ian Jones-Quartey (also writing), Jackie Buscarino, Jennifer Pelphrey, Rob Sorcher and Tramm Wigzell, then written by Ben Levin, Hilary Florido, Jack Pendarvis and Matt Burnett.

When we heard about this movie, we're overly hooked up to see for a big story and song and introducing a new villain where it goes. It was first announced in San-Diego Comic-Con in 2018 during the middle of the 5th season of the show (which it had a numerous halts for... reasons), but once it showed a trailer and a new poster, we're anticipated after the end of 5th season. Sadly, when i was anticipated to watching, it was never aired on Canadian channel of Cartoon Network which i got pissed, but i eventually catching it on livestream of US tv. And this is the first time i review a TV movie in my movie review career, even though its rather short.

So, with all that said, will this TV movie holds up after the show, or is this film that will easily lose the rating to put ending of the show?

Well, lets find out.

The Story

With this extended show of SU, its gonna be like another story where Steven has to bring peace for Gem? Definitely. But if anyone haven't seen the lat episodes of "Change your mind", consider this a SPOILER WARNING.

It picks up two years after Steven Universe reveals to be a Pink Diamond, stopping Yellow, Blue and White Diamonds where he uses his power to bring peace of the universe and healing corrupted gems to normal, Steven grew up to older teen where he and fellow Crystal Gems, Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl to building a new town for the remains of gems in Earth. But one day, after singing to live happily ever after, they witness a giant flying drill hits on Earth with a sinister gem name "Spinel" who's targeting at Steven for being "ignored". After poof'd Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl, Steven countered at Spinel by poof'd her, but she wounded Steven that he'll loses his power soon. Once the gems came back, they're not the same, but rather in reboot and the drill starts injecting a deadly toxic for causing the end of the world, its up to Steven for not only bring his Gems back where they are, but also find the way to stop the drill.

I find the story itself is rather surprisingly good, though rather predictable, but still good. At first, i though its gonna be a plot where a gem attempts to capturing Yellow, Blue and White Diamonds to taking over the homeworld before the big trailer, but where wrong. Its more of another invasion plot where an evil gem Spinel plans to destroy the Earth. But of course, the movie has a plot element for the character development, whether its the gems reminder of their origins or even spinel's secret truth. and the plot element with gems in amnesia in reboot is also a pretty good and tricky one where Steven has to find the hard way, it might be hard, but i like the creative amnesia element. However, i have a flaws of this movie, the story is rather short telling us, mainly because story stopped to focus on songs, which il get to that later. Thankfully, it doesn't have time wasting subplot that has nothing to do with main plot, thank god for never including my hated character Ronaldo.

Despite the story got halted from songs and semi-predictable story, but its actually a pretty good one with some executions.

The Presentation

Since this is a TV movie, its no secret the budget remains the same as the show itself. But to be fair, it looks pretty good though.

The setting of s fictional town of "Beach City" is a fascinating set, making it look beautiful and somewhat colorful in the same time with civilians. Specially with Crystal Gems's home that was placed in front of statue of Obsidian. I love the design of the background from beginning to the movie, along with new one like Gems's new town.

The character designs have been changed a lot from beginning to the movie as i said before, i like where our main heroes changing in the show, specially when they poof'd and resurrected to give us a new look, some are favorite and some others, not so much. But the one i like is Steven himself, after being young teen to be playful and peaceful for help, he grew up that even though he looks the same a bit, but he has a new clothing and new appearance. As for the new character designs, well, its rather less, specially its only Spinel, but il talk about the characters later on. Though yes, i know most people criticized artist drew the same character design of CalArt (mainly the heads), i understand where some animators are came from there. Specially some long-waiting remake that it pinches me in hatred, but i won't talk about the controversies.

For the animation, it looks fantastic with colorful and impressive quality in quiet to intense action moments. Even though sometimes its rather quick-pasting at some moments. But with this movie, its kinda slow as it went.

As for the songs, despite it always interrupting the story that nitpicking, but i gotta say, the songs themselves are pretty good, they have some great beats, some best moments and some of the lyrics are well-written with meanings, its all about be together without being forgotten or other even the newcomer like Spinel from her first song.

Even if the character the character designs are rather limited based on CalArt and interrupting songs (since im always enjoy the story and gags/dramas), the animation is still fun to look at, a fascinating settings that we're all familiar with SU and a well-written songs.

The Characters

If anyone like me are familiar with the characters, good for you. But for those you don't know, il explain who they are and how they're depicting in the movie.

First is Steven Universe himself (voiced by Zach Callison), as we all know, Steven is the hybrid human/gem who's the son of Rose Quartz/Pink Diamond and being the young member of the Crystal Gems, he's being cheerful and carefree that he likes to hanging out with fellow gems and his human friends, including Connie. As he grew to young adult, he became a pacifist of Gems after "Change your mind", where as always, use his power to bring peace through out the galaxy, once we find out about him in impressive twist. Though once he was wounded, we're scared if he's gonna die early after attacking at Spinel. Since Steven has been aged, Zach goes his older voice of his character, but as always, he's doing great for his voice acting and his singing.

Then we have the Crystal Gems that we're familiar with, Garnet is the big from the fusion, Pearl is the mother figure of Steven and Amethyst is a laid-back one. In the movie, they remains the same, but with an upgrade in the later seasons before the movie

For Garnet (voiced by Estelle) is leader of the group and the fusion between Ruby (voiced by Charlyne Yi) and Sapphire (voiced by Erica Luttrell). From before, Garnet was stoic and kinda emotionless, as the show went, she became relatable, truthful, admitted of mistake and rather good heart, specially the relation between her and Steven. As for Ruby and Sapphire, there's not much to explain that they're the same, Ruby being aggressive and feisty with fire and strength and Sapphire is a quiet and cold one with ice and future vision. In the movie, Ruby and Sapphire goes back from the flashback of "The Answer" where Ruby is the protector and Sapphire is like a fortune teller before the fusion. Aside that, its no secret that Garnet is a fan favorite of the show, especially with great acting and singing performance of Estelle.

For Amethyst (voiced by Michaela Dietz), she's a laid-back and carefree gem that she's like an older sister figure of the group, specially she was described as a defective gems than any other Amethysts from millions of years ago. But the season went, she had an arc that she's losing her love and respect of Crystal Gems, specially for a rivalry at Steven, but she does clean herself up in the end. In the movie, she goes into full on defective for repeating after anyone in front of her. Even though she's sorta of comedic character, but we always like to relating her for her laid-back and carefree defective gem, especially for a fun performance of Micheala.

And for Pearl (voiced by the wonderful Deedee Magno Hall), is a protective and somewhat of a mother figure of Steven since she worked with Rose Quartz/Pink Diamond. Though sometimes, Pearl might having a mental breakdown, since when Rose had a date with Greg (Steven's father), it left her being depressed and overwhelmed with grief, which is no wonder we feel bad for her, considering she cared so much about Rose. In the movie, she changed into a guard and announcer for the entrance. Pearl is another fan-favorite character of the show that we love and feel sorry about her feeling, especially for a perfect fitting cast from Deedee, i mean she does a beautiful work for her signing ability, like it always touching our heart.

As for the new main antagonist, well, we finally got her name. Her name is Spinel (voiced by Sarah Stiles), when we first her, its no secret that her design looks like a mix Jenny Wakeman (from "My life as a teenage robot") and Harley Quinn, which it might be make sense based on her design and her personality. She's depicted as a from happy-go-lucky friend to downright genocide that she wants to kill Steven that she was being forgotten. Despite the copycats, but i find her to be pretty fascinated villain in the movie.

As for the rest of characters, there's not much to say, there's Greg (voiced by Tom Scharpling) who's Steven's caring father, Connie (voiced by Grace Rolek) is Steven's best friend and a human partner of Crystal Gems for swordfight, Lapis Lazuli (voiced by Jennifer Paz), a water powered gem who had a trauma from the past for being trapped, my favorite recurring character Peridot (voiced by Shelby Rabara) is the gem with the brain but with a funny cranky persona, Bismuth (voiced by Uzo Aduba) is original Crystal Gems as a Weaponsmith, Yellow Diamond (voiced by Patti LuPone) is a ruthless and impatient one of the Great Diamond Authority, Blue Diamond (voiced Lisa Hannigan) is a depressed and sentimental one of GDA and White Diamond (voiced by Christine Ebersole) is the big superior who used to be manipulative, passive-aggressive and narcissist for to be perfect.

Like i said, we're always enjoying the character for their likable, great performances and relating.

And now for my final opinion of this TV film.

Overall, "Steven Universe: The Movie" is easily the best CN movie i've ever watched, and i mean a lot better than the godawful TTG movie. Even though the story is kinda unfocused for the songs, but the story is pretty good, the animation is always look great, the characters are likable and the songs are unforgettable. Even though this was only aired in US, which is just disappointing for non-US viewers like myself included, but we can easily catching up on Livestream. It is easily a must watch TV film on Cartoon Network.

So, if you're a fan of Steven Universe or a CN fan, go watch it and it will never disappoints you. As a fan of SU, i love the show and this movie made me feel thankful. Will this show coming back for little more like another movie or even the 6th season? Only time will tell for Rebecca Sugar.

For my rating, il give this movie a 9/10. Go watch it, its highly recommended, even if you're lucky to catching it on livestream.

So this ends of my movie review, if you guys have your opinion or any suggestions, let me know at comment bellow and support me on KO-FI.com/blackevil.

Thanks for reading, and im Anthony, signing out.

(Review ends)

Anthony: Ahhh... Im glad i watched my favorite show into a movie, but i still need my phone to--

*But a light brights behind him, it was witness in front of his house, as he open the front door, it happens to be a portal opens, what is he gonna do about it...?*

To be continued...

Movie Review: The Thief and The Cobbler

Disclaimer: This review isn't a part of storyline of movie review 2019. Readers discretion is advised.

Hey everyone, my name is Anthony and welcome back to my movie review.

For many years, we have some familiar animators for their successful animated films like Don Bluth, Eric Goldberg and few others in the industry. But then, there's one who's the most recognizable who's a British-Canadian and his name is Richard Williams. It is no secret that he's the busiest animating director that made plenty of animated films that well know, from opening sequences of Pink Panther movies (Return of the Pink Panther and The Pink Panther strikes again) to Who Framed Roger Rabbit where he won the Oscars. But, there's one film that it had a long project that it was nearly unfinished for 30 years.

"The thief and the cobbler" is an animated film that written/produced/directed by Richard Williams, co-produced by Imogen Sutton and co-written by Margaret French.

This is one of the animated film that was started all the way back in 1964, where he wanted to make a movie about Nasrudin (which it was based on the book with a same name by Idries Shah), but the Shah family didn't like the idea, which Williams had to change from the scratch for as an original story and keeping some of characters like the thief and ZigZag (who used to be named Anwar). The project had been push everytime due to hardworking, the other films Williams had done like " Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure" and the mentioned "Who framed Roger Rabbit" and the delayed story-boarding. But when 1992 kicked in, everything fell apart Richard, which he ended up kicked out from the project due to the lack from confident producers, investors and Warner Bros, they handed over The Completion Bond Company in order to finish the project in the worst way as possible with some subplots and a questionable songs, which Rich isn't very happy for what happened.

For this review, there are three versions what we have, there's the 1993 version called "The Princess and the Cobbler" that was released by Allied Filmmakers, it had a limited release outside of US such as Australia and South Africa, the 1995 version called "Arabian Knight", which is the bastardized version by Miramax to giving Tack and the thief a spoken dialogue in a very stupidest way of writing (Thanks, Harvey Weinstein...!), and the 2006 to 2013 version as "Recobbled Cut" (Mk 4) by Garrett Gilchrist, which is the one that il talk about today and its a lot better than two previous version for how short and cheap they are.

So, with all that said, will this movie holds up after nearly 30 years of waiting, or is this film is a total waste of time it would've killed off in tragic way.

Well, lets find out.

The Story

For the plot itself, it was rather original, which is all about keeping the valuable items for the town, even if it was rather simple.

It takes place in a fantasy world of Golden land, where in Golden City is in safe from three golden balls without the threat from One-Eye. We introduced the cobbler name Tack who's relaxing in his home before he got annoyed by a nameless thief, which Tack caused a messed entrance at the Grand Vizier named ZigZag. After being picked by the guard to showing at King Nod and his daughter Princess Yum-Yum in order to executing him, but Yum-Yum saves him to not only fixes her shoe, but also proven that Tack is innocent. But when thief accidentally removed three golden balls, all hell breaks loose, when King Nod goes in panic about the missing objects, ZigZag believe that they're magically disappeared from the witch. So its up to Yum-Yum and Tack to get the golden balls back before the invasion from One-Eye.

Even though its rather original for the plot, but its rather too simple what to follow for. Though it also goes to subplot where Tack and Yum-Yum starting to attracting together, as they're falling in love or even a random moment where the thief is messing around whether he steals something or even bumping around, but at least its not a filler than comedy excuse. Which is rather obvious that it mainly focus on the animation, rather than the story.

The story aren't as special to follow, but its rather easy to follow and at least its not another generic damsel in distress, its more about saving the valuable items of the village.

The Presentation

Oh man, what more can i say about this animation, it looks fantastic when it showed.

For starter, the setting and location has a very impressive details for its quality, it looks like something straight out of new quality level of painting background of the village, the rooms and few more locations out there, it looks fantastic where it looks like for the setting, specially its huge.

As for the designs and the animation, i gotta say, the designs is no secret that it takes place in fictional Arabian for the setting and the character designs are rather impressive for the cartoon styles and the colorful appearances. And the animation itself is impressive that it feels like a work of art, thanks to a smooth movement that it feels real at the time and the background animation to give us some optical illusion, whether is the chase of Tack and the thief, the battle sequence the thief's accidentals. Though sometimes, some moments could contains that its not suitable for viewers with photosensitive epilepsy. So if you're one of those people with the effect, i don't recommend to watch it.

Even though its a great looking animation what Rich Williams has done, but it has some flaws, aside from my warning to viewers's health problem. The movie could have a hiccup from high quality to low quality, and then it switches to a sketch animation to a storyboard. Keep in mind, this is the fan-edited version in order to show us the completed story. I know its unfinished, but i understand Garret added some moments that are from rough animation and storyboarding in order to expending the whole story.

Even though the movie has some small flaws from the edits, but its the animation became a huge deal when it comes to the presentation.

The Characters

For the characters themselves, there's not much else to say, they're rather simple in order to follow the story.

First we have Tack the cobbler, a silent and good-hearted who's somewhat of main focus, thanks for being chosen from the palace to save the golden balls. Though i find him to be a fascinated character, but i guess im fine for him being silent.

Then we have Princess Yum-Yum (voiced by Sara Crowe), who's a typical love interest of Tack, but also being chosen for the journey from her father. Even though she looks beautiful and somewhat being the leader of the group, but she has a respect to Tack when they first met, specially where she saved him in order to keeping him for innocence. Though i find her to be a fascinated princess, but why can't she's the main focus than Tack? Aw well, maybe its just me. Though il give a credit that Sara did a nice work of her role.

Next, there's Yum-Yum's father King Nod (voiced by the late Anthony Quayle), he's a king who's very tired during the peaceful time or in conversation with ZigZag. Though sometimes, whenever there's alert like losing three golden balls, he's likely going in panic mode for alerting the villagers. Once again, he has nothing special to give. Though Anthony did a work of his role as a king.

Then we have the main antagonist, the Grand Vizier ZigZag (voiced by the great late Vincent Price), i gotta say, he's a fascinated villain for how sinister he's portrayed where he wants to sabotage the Golden City with three balls and even manipulating One-Eye for invasion. With a combination of great design for the animation and an outstanding performance of Vincent Price for a delivery dialogue with rhymes, its no secret that i find him a rather underrated villain.

And lastly there's the thief, another speechless, but he's rather depicted a comedic character for stealing something and messing around. At first, i find him to be a very unnecessary character that he has no purpose of the plot, but in reality, he has a purpose for the plot when he was distracted from the golden balls, even though he's somewhat being focused rather than being pointless. Once again, he has not much else to say, but at least he does made me chuckles.

As for the rest, there aren't anything else the say, there's Yum-Yum's nurse (voiced by the late Joan Sims), who's Yum-Yum's sidekick than a typical nurse, Chief Roofless (voiced by the late Windsor Davies) is a leader of the dimwitted brigands, Holy Old Witch (also voiced by Joan Sims) who's a riddle witch to reveal Tack is considered a chosen one to fight the evil force, and Mighty One-Eye (voiced by the late Christopher Greener) the evil leader of "One-Eye" to get the golden balls for the threat.

Without all the annoyance and given a dumb written dialogues, they're rather pretty simple to describing the characters, but some has a complex persona, where is Yum-Yum wants to save Tack for innocence or ZigZag being an underrated villain.

Spoiler Alert, for those you haven't seen this movie or if you don't care

The final act is gonna be interesting for the true color of the animation.

When the army of One-Eye showing up for invading Golden City, our heroes are going after them to stop. Tack, being prophesied to save Golden City, is going to fighting against ZigZag. Meanwhile, the thief is sneaking in One-Eye's giant war machine for once again, being distracted from golden balls, which not only he avoids many of death traps, but managed to get these balls. Tack finishes ZigZag off for not only saving Yum-Yum, but also has one tack on the ground that ZigZag got stepped on and falling into a hole to be killed by alligators and his vulture Phido. At the end, Golden City is celebrating that Yum-Yum and Tack (who surprisingly has one line with voiced by Sean Connery) are married and live happily ever after. That is until the thief proceeds to steal the whole film reel and runs away.

Though im kinda disappointed we never seen a whole battle between Tack and ZigZag, but its the execution of the final for not just an impressive animation, but where thief keeps sneaking in the war machine while avoiding multiples of death traps.

And now for my final opinion of this film

Overall, "The thief and the cobbler" is a very impressive animated film what it would've been before Rich got kicked out, which is pretty shame to hear that. The story is simple to where we follows, the animation is a magnum opus for its quality and a smooth movements, and the voice acting is also well performed. Though, most of characters aren't as special, since again, the movie is mainly focus of masterpiece of animation, rather than the story or the character development, cause im a fan of  movie that i like to follow the story and routing for the characters, though it didn't matter, because im very impressed what Williams came up with.

So, if you're a fan of animated films for a new level of hand-drawn animation, i recommend this film, specifically the "Recobbled cut", its longer for expending animation (despite the use of rough animation and a storyboard) and more fascinating than the two versions in the 90's.

For my rating, il give this one 8/10. I would've give this one 9, but for a simple plot development like this, but i had to dropping it to 8. Like i said, im fan of story telling with developments what we relating to. Aw well.

Before il end this, i wanna give you my confession. The reason why i review this movie, its because of a dedication to the innovative animator Richard Williams. I never grew up with some of his works, but i had seen the clips of his best work "Who framed Roger Rabbit", i was very impressed what we has done for the quality and the use of mix between live action and animation (though maybe il watch "Who framed Roger Rabbit" and sharing my thought on this), though sure he made some that aren't as good like Raggedy Ann and Andy, but again, Williams did an amazing job for the animation. But with The thief and the cobbler, its a tough story to tell for his struggle that i got push over and over before booted out from the lack of confident, i feel bad for him that i understand that making a big indie animated film is a tough one, specially for what quality we chose, either hand-drawn, digital or stop-motion.

But sadly, recently from August 16 2019, Richard Williams is sadly passed away with the age of 86, due to his cancer. Its a very sad end what he could've been a masterpiece if he would've coming back to get his right back from Miramax/Disney in order to finishing what we wanted, like say, going to Disney Animation Studio in order to remaster his project (as "Director's cut") what we wanted, but then it all vanished, due to Disney's bad shape in millennium for average animated films with disappointing box-office and broken down relationship between the late Roy E. Disney and former boss Michael Eisner, meaning not only no enough money, but also a broken down business of Disney. But of course, without Williams, there won't be The thief and the cobbler...

Richard, i just wanna say, i understand you wanted to finishing The thief and the cobbler, but its really hard how stressful it was in order to finishing the project for nearly 30 years, but in fairness, you've done an amazing job of your animation. We will say, thank you, we love your work and we will deeply miss you, forever...

So this ends of my movie review, if you guys have your opinion or any suggestions, let me know at comment bellow and support me on KO-FI.com/blackevil.

Thanks for reading, and im Anthony, signing out

Richard Williams

(1933 - 2019)

Movie Review: Dora and the lost city of gold

(After a powerful snap from Red Diamond's infinity gauntlet, it succeed to resurrecting the universe in half. Once everything is back to normal, Anthony was laying on the ground, he gets back up and notices his town is overgrown from plants and sees everyone are returning from the dead, whether they're aged or not. But for Anthony, he stays in same age)

Anthony: *looks around* What happened here? Am i remember or something?? *but not before he see a ticket of a movie based on educational kid show* Huh... A movie based on Dora the explorer, im not entirely sure if this movie is gonna be good. I mean, i can be that bad as TTG movie right?

*More than 1 in a half hour later*

Anthony: Huh... It was... not bad...

(review starts)

Hey everyone, my name is Anthony and welcome back to my movie review.

you know, making a movies based on the animated shows is rather a risky idea if they have to follow faithfully, unless if they're one of those people who had no idea how to adapting from the show, like "Bratz: the movie", "Mr. Magoo" or even the infamous "The last airbender". But making a movie based on educational kid show, its rather unlikely to make, especially for taking seriously, but also make sure it stays lighter tone for the kids, right?

"Dora and the lost city of gold" is a 2019 adventure film directed by James Bobin, produced by Kristen Burr, then written by Nicholas Stoller, Matthew Robinson (for screenplay) and Tom Wheeler (for story)

When we first heard the project of a movie based on famous educational kid show called "Dora the explorer", it has a very unlikely reaction. This film was originally to be done with Michael Bay, but thankfully he has no involvement, so it was Kristen Burr for this movie. Its no secret that we though that this movie is gonna be very bad when it comes to an adaption of educational show to PG-Rated version either Indiana Jones or Tomb Raider. And before you ask, when i was a kid, i grew up with animations from Disney and occasionally some animated educational kid shows like Blue's clues and maybe Dora the explorer.

So, with all that said, will this movie is worth of educate, or is this film that our wallet got robbed by Swiper the fox?

Well, lets find out.

The Story

For a movie about Dora the explorer, its gonna be obvious that the story is a typical adventure in the jungle to the lost civilization? Well, yeah, but in PG.

It started on childhood imagination where Dora and her cousin Diego loved going on adventure in the jungle for exploration. But unfortunately, it was time to moving on from Diego to going US. Fast forward to 10 years later, Dora grew to teenager, where she still enjoys to live in the jungle for again, exploration. However, her parents are planning to bring her to US for high school. But one day, while in school, she along with her old cousin Diego, Randy and Sammy got kidnapped by mercenary to Inca, which not only they kidnapped Dora's parents, but also plan to hunting a treasure at the lost civilization, its up to Dora and her fellow teens to saver parents and treasures once and for all.

I find the story itself is not bad, its your typical adventure story in the jungle, but instead of get the treasure, its to save the treasures from the mercenaries. However, the movie has a mixed execution, especially from the beginning, since Dora is an explorer, what's the point to sending her to school? Being an explorer is sorta like a job, despite she's a teenager. I know its rather nitpicky for Dora going to school when she's a teenager, which is true, but again, she's a freakin explorer in South America! Sorry for nearly reaching my boiling point for the film's logic. Anyway, but it also have a good execution, its use of a heart of this movie. Its not all just an adventure, its all about be nice and normal person to have some friends rather than being stuck in the past without going too much in front of students. Not to mention, the movie also have a jokes, they're... Pretty slaptsticky and rather childish in the same time. Though i did chuckle at some moment, but i find the joke is rather too childish.

The story is rather descent with a good heart, but sometimes it could be poorly execution for a logic of Dora's path and some childish jokes.

The Presentation

Since the film's budget is nearly 50 million dollars, you think the presentation maybe look good  right?

For starter, the filming location is no secret that it was filmed in Australia from Queensland to Gold Coast, which i guess it because they made the film slightly cheap as possible than filing in US, since its rather expensive in this country, specially with New York and Los Angeles. So in other words, they filmed in Australia to pretend that it takes place Inca and US. Though in fairness, its a nice location choice, specially in Gold Coast, it looks beautiful in the jungle.

The setting of the temple and in the traps looks rather interesting, but the puzzles seems to be pretty easy to solving from cranking the gears to guessing the leavers. This is feels like a puzzle games. Not to mention, some of them has a generic obstacles like sliding, a boulder, throwing darts, flood of water and crumbling ground. They look cool and kinda fun for the action scene, which i find it ironic that our heroes doesn't get hurt from various obstacles. Because its a PG movie, we don't want to include blood and death, i understand its for family movie, but pretty ironic that no one got hurt from the darts or sorts of ways.

Even though most action scenes are done practical, but it also uses a CG effect, but i find the effects are pretty video game-ish, whether is the plants or even the animation of Boots the monkey, which i though Boots is done in motion-capture, but reality, he was done in CG, but rather not in fun way, i understand its for a sidekick with playful and humor. And they did a same thing with Swiper the fox, and to be honest, he looks not bad i think, but at least he's not as nightmare inducing as early trailer of Sonic the hedgehog movie.

But one good thing about the effects, is that it also using a digital hand-drawn animation, which i have to give a credit, its nice what they brought us here. It looks fun and colorful. But of course, the hand-drawn scene has a big quality, since the budget is bigger than the show itself.

The presentation itself is rather a double-edged sword, with nice location and the hand-drawn scenes, but its rather too easy and simple from the traps and puzzles and the CG are rather cheap at the time.

The Characters

We expecting if the characters could have some big development what we're routing for, well its yes and no.

First is our titular hero Dora (played by Isabela Moner), i find her in this movie version is not bad, she's adventurous, cheerful and rather "know-it all". Even though that i though she's gonna be a typical "Mary-Sue", but it also develops her to not just a "be yourself", its more about be with with friend with anyone without being too imaginative. But in fairness, i'd give a credit that Moner did a fun work for her role. As for her monkey friend Boots? Well, he's just there as a helper with our heroes.

Next we have Diego (played by Jeff Wahlberg) who used to be Dora's best cousin before his life was changed teen years later. Though i find him to be pretty dull and boring that he has no personality when he grew up. Even though he does get better, but i find him to be forgettable.

Then we have Randy (played by Nicholas Coombe) and Sammy (played by Madeleine Madden), unlike Diego who looks pretty boring, but these too are the most generic side characters of the movie, where Randy is a nerd of science, video games and movies and Sammy is a spoiled B****. Not to mention, when we're in adventure, they're always whining of "I don't wanna die!!" or "I wanna go home!!!". I mean for the love of god, stop being such an annoying brats just wait while in the adventure and then ready to going back home, instead of B****ing about!!

Again, sorry for my limit...

And then we have  Alejandro Gutierrez (played by Eugenio Derbez), who's said to be an explorer and a friend of Dora's parents. But i find him to be over the top and rather silly of his personality and probably predictable to be a bad guy, since he looks like he's wearing for treasure hunting, something like that.

While the rest is not much else to say, there Dora's parents like Cole (played by Michael Pena) and Elena (played by Eva Longoria ), which i guess its because they want to including some of our familiar actors. In the movie, they're just appears for building up to our main hero Dora. Then we have the group of mercenaries, they're pretty much as a typical treasure thieves, though i find it ironic that they have Swiper the fox (played by Benicio del Toro), but don't bother him, he's a typical thief who ended up being a punching bag. And it also including old woman (played by Isela Vega), who's basically a character helping our heroes for the lost civilization.

The characters are rather average, likely some have a great performance like Dora, but most of them just comes off as boring or even generic.

And now for my final opinion of this film.

Overall, "Dora and the city of lost gold" is rather a above average film, the story is pretty descent, the presentation could be good and bad and the characters are mixed bag for so. From before, i was expecting to be so bad that its unwatchable like one animated film based on the show from last year that made me into a nuclear meltdown, but with this one, its not the worst movie i've ever watched. Though its not perfect, but just an above average film. I know this is film that i was aim for the kids and some nostalgia fans from the early millennium.

So, if you're a fan of educational kids show or any adventure films, i'd say give this one for you. But if you;re like me, maybe we should stick to Indiana Jones or maybe in video games like Tomb Raider.

For my rating, il give this one 6/10. Its not bad, but kinda nothing special.

So this ends of my movie review, if you guys have your opinion or any suggestions, let me know at comment bellow and support me on KO-FI.com/blackevil.

Thanks for reading, and im Anthony, signing out.

(review ends)

Huh, im quiet surprised its not a bad start after i was like disappeared. But how, how did i turned myself into dust from the incident...?

To be continued...

Movie Review: Jaws

Disclaimer: This review isn't a part of storyline of movie review 2019. Readers discretion is advised.

Hey everyone, my name is Anthony and welcome back to my movie review.

Today its Shark Week edition of my movie review, i mean there has been plenty of times that we can talk about the shark's appearance, the other sharks, the shark attack and even a lot of cheap knock off of shark movies. But instead of talking about plenty of crappy movies of sharks, i decided to going back in time for not only created the genre, but also considered one of the best film that we all know and horrified in the same time.

"Jaws" is a 1975 thriller film directed by the famous director Steven Spielberg, produced by Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown, then written by Peter Benchley and Carl Gottlieb.

Over the years, there had been plenty of classic films from the 60's through 70's that most films that we're all familiar with, whether it was successful or others become a cult classic. But when Jaws came out, it changed everything in the movie industry, Not only it was made for the inspiration of thriller movies like Alfred Hitchcock movies, but it was beloved from the viewers and critics in the mid-70's, claiming it was the greatest and terrified when they're young, since it was ironically rated PG. It also considered one of the early example of summer blockbuster that it became a big deal over the years. Not only it was successful at the box-office, but also nominated various awards for Academy Award, including winning three awards from sound effects, editing and soundtrack. And for some reason, we had three movies of Jaws which im not sure why it became a franchise.

So, with all that said, how can this film was considered to be the greatest among the movie goers and critics?

Well, lets find out.

The Story

Even though its a typical story from shark attack to shark hunting, but this one is easily the best example for not the story, but also for the execution of writing. Since this is actually a movie based on the book with a same name one year before the movie came out.

It begins in party fire place with a group of teens hanging out together with smoking, drinking and makeout. One girl name Chrissie likes to go skinny dip at the ocean with a man tries join in, but passed out for drinking. While she swims alone, she was unexpectedly being dragging around from the ocean, which happens to be a night shark attack. Next mourning, we introduce a police chief named Martin Brody, where he discovered a severed hand on the beach with crabs that he believe it must be a shark attack, but when talked to the mayor Arse-Head name Larry Vaughn about a shark attack, but Larry denied about, thinking it was a fatal boat accident that he wants to be good weekend of 4th of July. But during the beach, one kid Alex was being dragged by a shark in a very bloody way and died, resulting into question whether the beach in Amity Island will be closed for 24 hours. Not before we introduce Quint, a shark hunter that he wants to offering $10k to get the shark. Its up to our heroes Brody and his bud Matt Hooper to examine about the shark then hunting down once and fore all before 4th of July.

The story itself is pretty good, since again, its one of early example of shark attack film that it became a mainstream in the mid-70's. The goes from first and second act that its about shark attack, while second in half, third to final act is about shark attack, its a nice use of plot elements where we rooting for our heroes to find out about the victims of shark attack and even hunting down the evil Great White. Speaking of shark, there's a subplot where we see various fishermen boating around to find the shark, which happens to be a Tiger Shark, which this thing has no connection for killing people, which is pretty obvious that it was a Great White, thanks Hooper. Speaking of elements, the movie also brought some reference of real life events like the infamous Jersey Shore shark attack in 1916 where several victims were killed and the other got lucky, but horribly injured. And even the U.S.S Indianapolis, a US Navy heavy cruiser for delivering "Little Boy" nuclear bomb at Hiroshima before got torpedoed by Japanese Navy submarine, where 890 crews where killed from poisons to shark attack and 316 (including Quint) others are survived. But of course, i can the movie has a well-written story and also the dialogues, i like what they building up about the shark for hunting to a suspenseful searching, but it also have some sense of humor for some characters that i did chuckle.

The story is well-written for building suspense, adding real life elements and from beginning to end of shark attack to hunting down. Even though its typical, but it what it makes it so special.

The Presentation
Before we made a lot of cheap shark films in low-budget CG, its no secret this film was done in practical and occasionally a real shark. But i can probably say that the presentation may look good, but have some flaws.

The filming location of fictional town "Amity Island" in New England was filmed in Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts, which is a nice location pick, the place itself looks pretty nice in one island, perfectly fitting place for fictional town.

Speaking of filming, its no secret that it feels pretty good and disturbing what what's happening next from the beginning, likely the shark attack, it start of horror where Chrissie being dragging around to Alex being dragged with a lot of blood. The movie has a lot of blood and occasionally gore for the killings, which im always interest for the use of violence of killing a lot of blood, i know, im might be a sick person. And one more thing about the violence, did i forgot to tell that this movie was rated PG back in the mid-70's? Yeah, not the best rating pick from MPAA, which PG-13 wasn't introduced before 1984 from a parental problems of Joe Dante's Gremlins and Spielberg's "Indiana Jones: Temple of Doom". Plus, it also including some jumpscares from shark popping out of nowhere to Ben Gardner's body reveal in the ocean, which i have to admitted, my heart was jumoed out when it happened. Speaking of dead body on the ocean, this scene wasn't supposed to be included from Universal, but Spielberg paid 3,000$ for the reshoot in the swimming pool in Encino, California with a help of editor Verna Fields cut different version to make a perfect jumpscares. Though i forgot to mention ita the first time they filmed in the ocean, even if its too much that some cameras will be soaked.

Speaking editing, the editing of this movie good that i can say, especially with transition when Brody checking the beach while still sitting to hoping everything is safe before Alex got killed. Its well shot and well editing. Even if sometimes it had a rushed time from night time to day time. I know it common, but come guys, slow down. Or the most laughable of all is the scene where Brody is demanding for a bigger boat before faded to other shot where Quint whistles while waiting. Kinda clumsy idea, but at least some edits and the sounds of the movie is pretty good though. Also, gotta love the iconic theme song of Jaws that was composed by John Williams, it became iconic when it comes to build up the suspense when the shark is coming to hunting victim down bellow the ocean. Its no wonder why John Williams won the Oscar for the best soundtrack.

And finally, lets talk about the shark itself in this movie. The shark itself is more of a double-edged sword when it comes his appearance. First, its obvious that the shark was done in animatronic from fins, a half body for a head with teeth then the whole body, All of them are constructed by Bob Mattey and i gotta say, the shark itself maybe look creepy, but the way it moves is pretty cheap,it moves and swims awkwardly, which is no wonder that they tried so hard to make it perfect as possible, but ended up with a very difficulty execution what they move and filming. Even though they're filming with animatronic shark, they're also filming with a real shark in Australia, thanks for the help of trainers Ron and Valerie Taylor. Though sometimes it has an accident, there's a scene where a shark got tangled by a cable of an empty shark cage wasn't on the original script, which after the accidental filming and the real shark is ok at the end, they just shrugged off and put it unto the movie.

Here's my favorite fun fact in this movie, during the production when they inventing an animatronic shark, Spielberg likes to give a nickname of a shark as "Bruce", though it never called in the movie, but its just that he likes give it a name after the lawyer's name.

Since i mentioned before a difficulty work like the use of animatronic shark, this film had a lot of troublesome delays from mechanical problems, the mentioned soaked camera, a pneumatic from salt water and some actors had a seasick. This film's production took over 7 months completing the project.

Despite the production is pretty hard to developed the film perfectly as possible, but the presentation is pretty good at the time, with some well fitted location, the build up from the soundtrack, the effects of killing and some jumpscares. Though the shark maybe be scary, but he's pretty cheap and fake as an animatronic.

The Characters
It is no secret we have several characters are likable that we can feel for.

First is police chief Martin Brody (played by the late Roy Scheider), he's a main protagonist that he's aware about a shark attack to warn the mayor about it, but got denied. Though he's also claimed he has aquaphobia from his past, though he did build up to hunting a shark with his pals Quint and Hooper. Its no secret he's the most memorable character for his awareness and his delivery. Here's another fascinating fact about him, his famous like "You're gonna need a bigger boat" wasn't came from the original script, it was Roy Scheider's improvisation, impressive, eh? Brody is a nice character, but Roy did an amazing work of his role.

Next is the shark hunter Quint (played by the late Robert Shaw), he's also a likable character of this movie, thanks to his well written development and his personality. I find him to be another memorable character that he also have some interesting delivery, such as his phrase "Bluegills and Tommy Cods" that it was given from an real fisherman name Craig Kingsbury (who played as Ben Gardner) and similar look from Kingsbury himself. Another fascinated development about is the mentioned U.S.S. Indianapolis, where he survived from the sinking, but received a scar from multiple of shark attack. Even though he's a professional shark hunter, but other times he's more focused on the goal than call for help, which he's sorta being a D*** to Brody when it comes to backup. Aside from his flaws, he's memorable for his developments and a great acting from Shaw.

Second Brody's bud is Matt Hooper (played by Richard Dreyfuss), a consulting oceanographer that for a plot advice about the shark attack and also tell the different between Tiger Shark and Great White. But of course, he's Brody's best bud for not just a research about the shark, but also hanging out together, likely drinking. I find him also fascinated for not just being a BFF of Brody, but also one example that he teaching us about different sharks and even bite radius of shark's teeth size. But of course, Dreyfuss is also did a great work of his role. Not to mention for another interesting fact, Spielberg said that Hooper looks almost like himself as his alter-ego.

Then we have a sorta antagonist of the movie, Mayor Larry Vaughn (played by the late Murray Hamilton), its no secret that always love to hating him, he's pretty much being delusional and denial about shark attack, he believes "everything is all good" and made a bad rumors. He's one of great example for person for being denial about the news of poorly work as either a mayor, owners, corporate or even leader of the country. Though Murray did a great work of his role, but its no secret that he's a type of character that we hated for his denial.

While the rest is pretty not much else to say, like Meadows (played by the writer of this movie, Carl Gottlieb) who's Larry's assistant, Deputy Hendricks (played by Jeffrey Kramer) who's a silly policeman, Ellen Brody (played by Lorraine Gary), who's Martin's wife and Chrissie (played by stuntwoman Susan Backlinie), who's a first victim of the movie, similar to Hitchcock's Psycho.
Here's the final fact of this movie, there had been plenty of rumors that Susan was injured during the first victim scene, but in reality, she doesn't have broken legs or so. Instead, it was the ropes that she's been dragging around to pretend she gets killed by a shark.

The characters are enjoyable that we're rooting for (minus the mayor), but of course, the acting are enjoyable for some of our favorite legendary actors.

Spoiler Alert, for those you haven't seen this movie or if you don't care
The final act aren't as climatic, but it definitely ends with a bang,

Towards the end, after Matt Hooper was escaped from the shark cage that he lost his spear with poison and a knife fight at the shark, the shark jumps out of water and starts sinking at the damaged Orca and Quint got slipped down to the shark and gets eaten to death in the most bloodiest death ever. Brody is left alone in the sinking ship, as the shark attempts to eating him, but he defends himself by throwing an oxygen tank in his mouth, then climbs at the pool to stabbing with a spear, then finishes him of by shooting the tank in the smiling Son-of-a-B****'s mouth and it explodes with full of blood and gore. Brody was happy he killed the shark and Hooper pops out of surface that he glads that its all over as they're swimming Amity Island.

It doesn't have a conclusion for what happened after the shark blew up, but at lest it was a one helluva rollercoaster ride of shark hunting.

And now for my final opinion of this film.
Overall, Jaws is easily the best suspenseful film that we all know, love and feared us to this day. For me, i can see why we love this movie, with simply good story of shark attack and hunting, nice presentation, impressive plot elements, great characters and an A+ acting. Though it have some problems like some editing could be questionable at the time and the shark seems to be look cheap as an animatronic, since this was made in mid-70s.

This is the film that its highly recommend to watch if you to watching something suspenseful. Though its understandable that some viewers will be traumatized after seeing this movie, i mean my dad used to watch this when he was eleven and it scarred him when he young, but at least he's already refreshed. Though i admitted, i was disturbed while watching with some moment really jumped my heart out. Aw well, even though it may not be watchable for viewers with aquaphobia, but this is the film that it has to be seen a believed for it was considered the greatest film of all time by the great Steven Spielberg.

I give this movie 9.5/10. Im so close to give this one a perfect 10, but with some flaws, i toned down a bit to 9 in a half.

And one last thing, remembered that i mentioned that it became a franchise? Should i watch three sequels of Jaws? No, they're pretty bad that it has no reason to be made. Just stay away from them.

So this ends of my movie review, if you guys have your opinion or any suggestions, let me know at comment bellow and support me on KO-FI.com/blackevil.


Thanks for reading, and im Anthony, signing out.

Movie Review: The Lion King 2019

*Red Diamond and Annie look at the concept for making Infinity Gauntlet in order to revive half of livings*

Annie: So, you showed me your concept of your gauntlet based on your authority?

Red Diamond: Yes, because that will perfectly fitting for the "Diamond's Authority", based on the colors, like the fingers are red that was based on me, the yellow on the left part is based on "Diamond Ramsay", the blue one on the right is based on Blue Diamond and the light purple on the forearm is based on Cosmic Diamond, what do you think?

Annie: Hm, thats kinda cool, but i think its too small for other diamonds like Cosmic or Blue, since it has a regular size of human hands like you or Diamond Ramsay.

Red Diamond: Yeah, kinda make sense, because im the only diamond for using the gauntlet. Hope these stones are harmful on my hand.

Annie: Lets hope so. Anyway, catch ya later when your gauntlet is done.

Red Diamond: Ok.

(Review starts and after nearly 2 hours)

Annie: *walks out of movie theater in not very happy reaction* ...  They F***ed it up!

Ok, i think we can all agree that Disney loves remake our nostalgia favorite films from golden age to "Disney Renaissance", i mean there have been plenty of reports of so many Disney's plans to make their live action remakes from their animated classics. From before, we had Tim Burton's Dumbo that it looks not bad, but its obviously boring to watch with lackluster writing and some bad characters. Then there's Aladdin, which it was not as boring as Dumbo at the time for the presentation. And finally, they made a movie from 1994's classic that we all know and love.

"The Lion King 2019" is a... Well, a 2019 animated remake from the original "The Lion King", directed/produced by Jon Favreau, co-produced by Jeffrey Silver and Karen Gilchrist, then written by Jeff Nathanson for screenplay.

Ever since the 2016 "The Jungle Book" was a success and easily the best Disney's remake, it was quickly announced that they made the remake of The Lion King, which we though it was done in live-action, when in reality, it was all done in CG animation with photorealistic look of this film, which most people (including me) aren't as sure that this will be a success than the classic version. When i heard about it, i was easily believe this will never be as good as the original, because all know that making a live action remake of animated films will be a bad idea. (Except for The Jungle Book 2016.) PS: yes, i am aware it was considered ripoff of "Kimba: The white lion" that they wanted to sue Disney, but never happened since Disney has expensive lawyers, but i digress.

So, with all that said, will this movie holds up for the circle of life, or is this yet another cash grab for modern viewers that it made us get run over by the stampede of wildebeest?

Well, lets find out.

The Story

With this remake, you think if the writing could be adding something new for the story? Probably not, because its basically the retelling from the original, but with some slightly new elements, just slightly.

As we already know, it started with a sun rising from animals of Pride Land of Africa witness the birth of a young cub Simba who's presented by Rafiki. Meanwhile, Scar grew bored and possibly jealous that he wants to be the king since Mufasa is a peaceful ruler of Pride Rock. Later on, Mufasa teaches his son Simba about the circle of life for the animals and nature and to be the future king. And after that Scar killed Mufasa (in order to lying at Simba) and tells his nephew Simba to stay away and never come back then the rest...  Well, im sure you already know what's going on.

Like i said, the writing is pretty much nothing special, its just they copy the story element and adding a teeny tiny new element of this film and thats it. Its like the original story was written by a father, but when his son arrived to do the reboot, he just write the story that happens to be a copycat with no originality. Though they did add some new element that i mentioned before, likely the new location and some changing dialogue to make it more drama than comedic for the most part, but not for the execution. Speaking of jokes, i find them to be rather fun for the most part, but unfortunately, i felt foreshadowed that the jokes from the original is a lot more fun and entertaining.

The story is pretty much unoriginal, just borrowed everything from the original, but adding some small different element. It just comes off as lazy for the writing with zero knowledge and effort.

The Presentation
Even though the writing is pretty much dumb down for copying, but at the presentation itself looks rather nice.

The location designs  is no secret that it takes place in Africa, it looks beautiful where it takes place. Though one exception for the change is hyena's home. Where in the original, they live in elephant's skeleton, but here, they live in  mount of rocks in elephant graveyard, which i guess its because we're not sure if a giant size elephant's skull would work for hyena's home.

The visual and the quality looks amazing, since it was done in photorealistic CG, it looks nice and clean that i think that did a good job for most part. At least it looks much better than some movie's quality looks video game-ish. Though the downside is that copy the same moments from the original known as "Shot-for-shot", i get they want to make a bit different, but again, they literally repeating some scenes from the original, but at least it doesn't have the infamous SFX or SEX dust from one scene. Aw well.

The character design are pretty obvious that it was done with a realistic look of animals or even how they move, they look rather good at the time, but some of the facial seems to be emotionless, i know they're trying to make their reaction look real for their gestures or even expression from the ears, but its just they're rather a bit weak, but at least they don't make an ugly cartoony look. But the probably one of the weakest character design is definitely Scar, he looks way too ordinary, just a small scar and change his fur color. Like he doesn't have a sinister look nor even the same color, he's just pretty weak looking that they don't want to designing him seriously.

Last but not least, the musics are great, specially with the return of my favorite composer Hans Zimmer. The musical number are pretty good, even if i expected to be slightly different, but least its nice to bring them back at the time like "The circle of life", "Can you feel the love tonight" and "Hakuna Matata".

But probably the weakest song is the remake of "Be Prepared", though at first, they originally wanted to remove this song, but they decided to bring it from our support. But in reality, this version is so bad, it feels like it tries so hard to make it evil for Scar's set up to hunting down Mufasa, but it was poorly execution what the music plays or the sing ability. Its just so bad that its rather cinge on our childhood, but hey, at least it doesn't have Nazi march, right? But don't even give me started with cover version of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", don't give me wrong, the original version is fun and catchy, but in this version, it feels pretty weak that i'd rather skip away.

Though the presentation may look nice in photorealism and a good soundtrack, but its just sometimes, some facial could be too ordinary, some poor designs, some shameless shot-for-shot one bad song.

The Characters
Lets be honest, even if some characters could be likable, but its just that a lot of them remains the same, but with some new elements, sometimes. But for those you're new, il explain who they are, along with a small comparison.

First is our main protagonist Simba (voiced by Donald Glover and JD McCrary for young role), as we all know, Simba is the main focus that not only he's a dreamer, but he's also somewhat brave, curious and playful, especially with his chemistry with either Nala or Mufasa. Its no wonder for what we love Simba in our childhood. In this version, despite he remains the same, but i have to give a credit Donald Glover, he did a nice work to playing as Simba, maybe he's better than Matthew Broderick, considering how Matthew appeared in crappy movie, after crappy movie and after crappy movie since after the 1994 version. (Though yes, i am aware he does a better role in Ferris Bueller's day off, but i digress)

Then we have Nala (voiced by Beyoncé and Shahadi Wright Joseph for young role), Simba's friend/future love interest. Even though she's rather nice with Simba, but she's somewhat of tomboy while playing with him. Though the nice thing about her is that they want her to give a big role a bit for some moment, which im ok with it, which we want to know how did she reunites with Simba. Even though im may not a fan of  Beyoncé, but i think she did a nice role.

Next we have Zazu (voiced by John Oliver), who's basically the reporter for what is going on at the animal kingdom in Pride Land. I find him to be not bad, even if he was used to be comedic at the time, not to mention, he's like in high accent of English (what do you expect about Mr. Oliver). Though John did a nice role, but he's not as fresh as Rowan Atkinson's role.

Then we have Pumbaa and Timon (voiced by Seth Rogen and Billy Eichner), its no secret that we always love to see these comedic duo characters since before, they're always likable for their funny moments and helping out our main hero, specially with Pumbaa is slow-witted and Timon is wise-cracking.. In this version, despite they remains the same, but again, i felt that they're foreshadowed by the original, even though Seth and Billy did a great work, but its not as memorable as previous role from Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella.

Next up is Rafiki (voiced by John Kani), who's a wise shaman, advisor and Mufasa's best friend, since we all know that he's memorable for helping Simba to not only helping him to be the king (for most part) and even sees Mufasa in the air for Simba's hope and bravery. Though he's also have a sense of humor for his wisecracking. Even though he appears small (though they want him to appears more a bit), but like before, he's also likable for his fun persona and wise for our main hero.

As for the main villain Scar (voiced by Chiwetel Ejiofor), as we all know in the original, he's a young brother of Mufasa who's desperate and jealous to be the king, not before he became sinister and manipulative to take Simba away from Pride land on his hand with hyenas. But in this version, he's easily the weakest villain ever, it feels like they tried to make him "psychologically possessed" and "brutal", but it failed what they're trying for the execution, especially with his poor design and his weak cover song. Though Chiwetel did not bad, but this is easily the weakest villain in the remake version. And i though Jafar from Aladdin 2019 is bad, Scar is even worse than i thought.

As for the hyenas? They have some different, likely the names and persona. While the original version has Shenzi, Banzai and Ed, whether is Shenzi being sassy, Banzai being aggressive or Ed being a goofy minion with laughter. In this version, they're completely different.
First, they kept Shanzi's name, but Banzai and Ed was changed to Kamari and Azizi.
And second, they have a new and different personas, where Shenzi (voiced by Florence Kasumba) is somewhat of leader of hyenas, Kamari (voiced by Keegan-Michael Key) serious and kinda aggressive and Azizi (voiced by Eric Andre) is a bored, kinda whiner and idiot.
Though in this version, they're rather pretty average and not as interesting than the original version.

But the only character who's easily the likable is definitely Mufasa (voiced by James Earl Jones), he remains the same, he's wise, gentle, strong and a firm father to teaching Simba to be the king of Pride Rock. He's always a memorable father in Disney films for not just being respectful and lovable father, but also the great performance from James Earl Jones, which is a well deserved reprising role since 15 years ago, especially since returned to play as Darth Vader in "Rogue One".

And lastly there's Sarabi (voiced by Alfre Woodard), the queen and Mufasa's mate. She's pretty much appeared for keep her eyes at Simba and Nala to be with Zazu or even being forced to be with Scar after Mufasa died. She's...   Well, she was just there.

The characters are rather good and kinda likable to see, but its just that whether some of them just plain foreshadowed and a very weak depiction than the original. but at least its nice that Mufasa remains the same, not just his persona, but the voice as well.

And now for my final opinion of this film.
Overall, "The Lion King 2019" is trying so hard to be the big deal for Disney Remakes, but its pretty obvious that this movie is just painfully average with lazy written story, shameless shot-for-shot moments, foreshadowed humors or roles and weak bad guys.
But, at least the presentation looks nice for a photorealistic CG, the musics are not bad, some of characters are good and this maybe the only Disney remake where one character such as Mufasa was voiced by the same actor since the original.

In the end, i felt that Disney really starts to milking the classic films from decades ago in order appeal for modern viewers and of course, a lotta money in the box-office. Ever Since Disney started to borrow a lot of classic films to do the remake, it always pinching my nerve what they're thinking for their goal. The best way to end my statement is: stick to the 1994 version, you cannot beat the classic.

For my rating, il give it 5/10. But im glad its over for Disney's remake in 2019, but once again, it was just the beginning for the future.

So this ends of my movie review, if you guys have your opinion or any suggestions, let me know at comment bellow and support me on KO-FI.com/blackevil.

Thanks for reading, and im Annie, signing out.

(Review Ends)

Annie: Hey RD, how's going?

Red Diamond: Alright, my gauntlet is completed, check this out. *shows her own Infinity Gauntlet at Annie*

Annie: Hm, it looks good.

Red Diamond: Alright, time to put this thing on. *wears her gauntlet, but the Infinity Stones starts to electrocuting at RD in dangerous pain*

Annie: Oh my god...! Are you ok?! Are gonna trying to snapping it?!

Red Diamond: I...!! I will...!!! *lefts her hand in the air, slowly and painfully and finally finger snaps out loud and powerful*

To be continued...!