Pages

Showing posts with label Animation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Animation. Show all posts

Saturday, August 14, 2021

Masters of the Universe: Revelations - Return to Eternia

When I was a child, for a few years, there were some cartoons that I watched after school most days.  He-Man and the Masters of the Universe was one of those cartoons.  I always enjoyed it, but I don’t remember a lot of things since it has been years since I’ve seen it.  I’ve also seen the live action movie several times.  I heard something about another Masters of the Universe, but I didn’t know much about it.  The first part of Masters of the Universe: Revelations was released on Netflix on July 23, 2021.

Masters of the Universe: Revelations is an animated series developed by Kevin Smith.  It is connected to the original He-Man and the Masters of the Universe cartoon and features many of the same characters.  The series is being released in two parts.  The first part has five episodes.  I’m not sure when the second part will be released or how many episodes it will have, but I will definitely watch it.    All five episodes were released at the same time and I did binge all of them at once.  Each of the five episodes was about twenty-five minutes long, give or take a few minutes.    

I am only going to briefly discuss the plot of Masters of the Universe: Revelations.  Several things happen in these five episodes and I don’t want to spoil things for people.  I really didn’t know anything specific about the plot when I watched the series.  

**Minor Plot Discussion**

While a ceremony is going for Teela receiving the mantle of Man-At-Arms, Skeletor and Evil-Lyn start an attack on Castle Grayskull. He-Man, Teela, Man-At-Arms and the rest of the Royal Guard go to deal with the situation.  Things do not go well and all of Eternia is damaged because most of the magic is lost.  Teela ends up going on a journey to ultimately try to deal with the new problems.  She is accompanied by some old friends, some new, and even an enemy or two.

**End of Minor Plot Discussion**

I had not been expecting Teela to end up the main character of  Masters of the Universe: Revelations.  I wasn’t upset by it.  I just hadn’t expected it.  I guess I just figured since He-Man had been the focus of the original cartoon that would be going on in this one too even though his name is not part of the title this time.  I’m fine with Teela being the focus of the series, or at least, of these five episodes.  It was just a little different at first.  Some people may be bothered by that.  I think it works for these episodes.  There were a few things that happened that I didn’t really like, though they did fit with the story.  Some things are resolved by the end of the fifth episode, while there are still other things to be handled in the episodes that haven’t been released yet.  I didn’t think the episodes were predictable.

It has been years and years since I last saw He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, so I really don’t remember much from it.  There are some characters that I don’t remember at all even though I’m pretty sure they were in the original cartoon.  There were some characters that I believe were new for this series.  I was still able to enjoy Masters of the Universe: Revelations.  I think people who haven’t seen the original will be able to enjoy this one.  I also think fans of it who remember more than I do will be able to enjoy it too.  Some fans of the original may not like the direction this series goes in.  There is action and violence throughout the five episodes, though it really isn’t that bad.  The series has the TV-PG rating in the United States.  A few things that happen may be upsetting to younger children.  It may be a good idea for parents to watch the series first to decide if it is ok for their children even though it is animated.  The animation is very well done by Powerhouse Animation Studios.  Dark Horse Comics is releasing a four issue miniseries comic of the same name that is a prequel to the series.  The first issue was released on July 7, 2021.

Masters of the Universe: Revelations has a really good voice cast.  Somehow I had not known ahead of time that Mark Hamill was doing the voice of Skeletor, but as soon as I heard the character, I was convinced it was him.  The voice of Teela sounded familiar to me right away, though I couldn’t figure who it was while I was watching it.  Sarah Michelle Gellar did a good job with the voice.  Evil-Lyn ends up with a decent amount to do in the episodes and Lena Headey’s voice fit the character.  I did recognize Dedrich Bader’s voice for a few characters and Dennis Haysbert.  I really didn’t recognize any of the other voices.  Chris Wood as Adam/He-Man sounded different from how I remembered, which does make sense since it is a different voice actor.  I wasn’t really bothered by that.  It was just different.  

Masters of the Universe: Revelations wasn’t exactly what I was expecting, but it was very entertaining and I think it is worth watching.  I will definitely watch the second half of the series once it is released.  I don’t know if there are any plans for another season of the series or not.  

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Megamind

I was interested in seeing Megamind after I first saw the trailers for the movie.  It is a fun entertaining animated movie.  Some theaters did show the movie in 3D.  I did see that version, mainly because that is the one that was showing when I was able to go see the movie.

Megamind lands on Earth when he is sent away from his home planet by his parents when he is eight days old.  The planet is being destroyed.  Another baby leaves a near by planet.  The other baby has a good life and becomes Metro Man when he is older.  Megamind grows up in a prison and it basically Metro Man’s enemy.  After years of facing Metro Man and failing, Megamind comes out on top.  He is happy for a while, but he ends up deciding that he needs someone to face off against and comes up with the idea to create a new hero to battle.  While doing that, he also starts spending time with reporter Roxanne while disguised.

Megamind is a fun, entertaining animated movie that I do think is worth seeing.  The plot is interesting enough, though it isn’t the most original.  There are definite similarities to Superman.  While it would have been nice if the story was more original, the movie is still very entertaining.  Children may end up enjoying the movie more than adults, though there are a few things tossed in for adults to enjoy as well.  The biggest is probably the music.  There is a good amount of humor to what is going on.  Much of the humor comes from how Megamind’s various plots go wrong.

Megamind is an interesting and entertaining character.  It seems like he is intelligent, but he doesn’t manage to accomplish anything with his intelligence.  Things keep going wrong for him.  Even though he is a super villain, he does have a good side and isn’t all bad.  Will Ferrell does fine with the voice of the character.  Metro Man isn’t around as much, so Brad Pitt doesn’t get as much to do.  Roxanne is also an interesting character and Tina Fey’s voice works well for her.

The animation is done well and looks good, though it isn’t as good as what Pixar does.

It would have been nice if Megamind had a more original plot, but the movie is still very fun and entertaining.  I do think it is worth watching and I’ll more than likely add it to my movie collection.

I did get a longer review posted on Epinions after I saw the movie. 

Megamind