Friday, March 1, 2019

Mini-Review: Incredibles 2 and Ralph Breaks the Internet


And once again, Disney garnered praise without doing anything else.

While these movies aren't particularly great, the two films differed in levels of mediocrity. Like Frozen - which sequel I am not looking forward to -, these two films are just average. Nothing that seems to spoke true like Into the Spiderverse.

I repeat I don't find them great. I find them mediocre at worst - looks at Ralph wearily - and relatively good at best. They have their good moments such as the expansion of Violet and Jack-Jack.

RBTI seemed already dated with references to current culture to its detriment. In fact, it's like the Emoji Movie in that sense. The worst part of RBTI is that it broke the established rules of the first movie and OOC-ness and lack of development from characters from the first film. I would not mind them breaking the established rules of the first film if they did something to justify it. Instead, INTERNET CULTURE takes priority above all else. And what's worst about the internet culture in the film was that it's disjointed and has so many cracks in connection to the overall story. VLD and SU have more cracks than RBTI but let it be known that RBTI does not justify breaking its established rules! In Madagascar, the sketches are at least related to one another in the bigger plot that is the Zoosters' friendship and sometimes personal arc.

There is no logical reason why Ralph behaved as he is as an idiot. He's a complete idiot! The Ralph I know from the first movie is sane and smart. Yes, he went Turbo albeit briefly but he understands the consequences of his actions.

I would not mind Ralph and Vallelope deciding to go their separate ways while still maintaining their friendship as hard as it would be.

What I do mind is why the hell is the writers - which yes, including the original ones like Jennifer Lee - are breaking the first movie's rules so casually.

I know better than to break establish rules but expand them concisely. The rule-breaking in the second Ralph movie makes me cuddle up on my dog.

For fuck's sake, we saw them basically went Turbo without any concern for their original games. And none of their friends are concerned about the Turbo nature. Wouldn't the owner and players realize missing characters? From the end of the first movie, we see Ralph got popular as well as the Kart racing game too so why the fuck isn't anybody doing anything? The owner is not doing anything especially when it was he who expressed concern before. Because imagine if I play a game designed with this character in mind, I expect to see the character. It's like not having Mickey Mouse shaped food in Disneyland. Sorry for the food references but I am craving something like it.

They have one of the flimsiest handwaves about now that Candy Kart is now a democracy but that does not justify Vallelope leaving the game altogether when her face is plastered on the side just as Ralph and Felix's. I thought visits as the ending of the first movie implied.

There are other gaming platforms, don't they know that? Not just on arcades like the original, but also on consoles and the fucking PC! I know this because my cousins are gamers in their own right, not competitive by playing on official grounds but still competent enough to know what they are playing online.

Wouldn't instead Ralph and Vallelope meet their counterparts instead? Like they are the arcade version while their alternates are computer versions especially if there is an online game expansion? I'm sure there are Kickstarter to have these games on other platforms due to nostalgia one way or another.

The movie is written by people who barely understand anything beyond old school arcades. The references in the movie are not as timeless in the previous movie.

Just, Ralph 2 is mediocre and nothing will change my opinion about it.

Like I'm annoyed that it's almost like Frozen but at the same time, I know Frozen is everywhere to the point of annoyance while Ralph is not. I am so not looking forward to the cavalcade of Frozen merch.

Brad Bird, Incredibles 2 might be one of your weakest films to date. Incredibles 2 is just underwhelming. Aside from expansion from the cast - which is good because I want to know more of Violet to name one character - the plot just seemed okay. Nothing too fantastic. Unlike Into the Spiderverse, it didn't have anything new or tight about it.

There is nothing wrong with deconstruction and realism. One Piece increasingly became realistic in spite of its usual running on the nonsense world. However, the realism did not hit you like a damn hammer like SU. There is nothing wrong with subversions but focusing on that would lose any bit of character and personality to your story. Focus too much on that and not on the sincerity of your story would make things die fast just like darkness for darkness' sake which happened to be one of VLD's many, many problems. Had anybody ever told you that darkness for darkness' sake is a really bad idea, Monsantos? Because even Banana Fish, a cynical piece of work, has a glimmer of joy to it. Banana Fish, the anime/manga based on a truly cynical piece of work! The last thing anybody wants is to have everything so miserable that it's difficult to have even a tiny bit of hope.

I expect deconstruction and realism out of Brad Bird's films. Ever since the original Incredibles and Iron Giant, I expect some kind of deconstruction but not to the point it takes over the story. Incredibles 2 seems to be that film.

I understand the saturation of superhero films and just how merchandisable they can get. It's a thing since forever. You can criticize that since I'm pretty sure that the story is lampooning that.

However, the confusing way the story is told - the damn girl! How the hell did she even know that is the real villain or not? We never saw her again in said context - makes his relatively weaker films stand out. I like the expansion of the characters we got with them in new roles such as Bob a house husband. It's not disjointed like Ralph 2. It's better in that aspect. I2 is not a bad film but I wouldn't call it great.

Maybe because Incredibles is in my top Pixar films of all time. Because of my strong love for the second Toy Story movie was when I saw the repetition... Really bad there, writers, are you really that unimaginative that you have to write it two more times in the row? Once was enough but the second not so much. Continue the story just like you saw your peers in Dreamworks. Even the worst sequels in Disney Direct to Video continues the story, no matter how badly written it came out. You technically continued the story but how everything started was noticeable (Woody telling the truth of something, toys turned against or refused to listen to him w/o rhyme or reason, toys transported to another destination and thus trying to escape but was stopped by the Big Bad).

I2, overall, is just fine. Not fine as a beautiful crepe cake or rose wine. Fine as in an okay bowl of french fries.

I stand by my opinion that Ralph 2 is mediocre of the pair and I2 is borderline treading the line of good. Both are not great films. A great film is Into the Spiderverse. Hell, even Teen Titans Go To the Movies is a better film than these two. Yes, it has better writing than the two films.

I just don't get why people would grovel all over these Disney/Pixar films because, in my opinion, they're just okay. Nothing fantastic about it. I wouldn't call the first two Madagascar films any more Oscar-worthy either but at least these films have consistent fun than underwhelming.

The UK!

Now I want to travel around the world with Japan being at the top of my list. I do want to visit England one day with spots like Sherlock Holmes 221B and Sherwood Forest. I would rather have my honeymoon in Spain really than Hawaii. Beach vacations are not my thing.

My cousin would obviously get this since she's a huge Pokemon fan alongside Fire Emblem in the mix.

Really, there are lots of things I want out of a UK-inspired region like dragons and myths because England is a huge place for such a thing that even the Hetalia version of England featured the guy having magic. I really want to see something King Arthur-inspired because one of my favorite books of all time T.H White's The Once And Future King is one of my favorite adaptations of said legendary King.

And the sword and shield should imply the Knights of the Round Table. Hopefully. I just hope to Godoka, it referred to that because I would faint just from sheer joy.

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