Marmaduke (2022) wouldn’t be worth it if it was in the $5 bin at Walmart.

Messy and mischievous Marmaduke teams up with a legendary dog trainer to prove that he is the first Great Dane worthy of winning a trophy at the Westminster Champion Contest, a prestigious dog show.

Marmaduke is just truly baffling in the absolute worst ways I could ever think of, for starters I know this is a cliched question to ask but I feel it’s absolutely necessary here….who asked for this? Marmaduke is a comic strip which began from June 1954 to 2015, there was a live action movie in 2010 that was terrible and most people forgot it even happen. Out of nowhere (I believe last month) it was announced Pete Davidson would be voicing Marmaduke in an animated film after that there was silence until the movie was released. Marmaduke (2022) makes Marmaduke (2010) look like a masterpiece, for starters the animation is some of the worst I have ever seen. This is truly something that you would expect out of a straight to DVD animated movie in the $5 bin from Walmart or one of those Pixar rip-off movies like What’s Up or Ratatoing, but nope this was released by Netflix which makes this just more baffling, the characters and voice acting are horrendous how they got Pete Davidson, J.K. Simmons and David Koechner to do this I have no idea. The writing is a complete and total embarrassment there isn’t one piece of dialogue here that worked, everything is either painful to listen to, cliched, or fart jokes that are so painfully unfunny to the point where they are just gross. The characters are about as dull as you can get, I kind of liked Guy (Brian Hull) however he wasn’t enough to save the movie. He was pretty much absent towards the end of the movie so it really didn’t matter. Overall Marmaduke is one of the worst movies Netflix has ever released, this is what I think when I hear the phrase “graphic design is my passion” well in this case “animation is my passion” either way this was horrendous and should be avoided at all costs.

Marmaduke is available on Netflix.

Disgrace To Cinema F

Bubble has beautiful animation but not enough world building or character growth.

Gravity-defying bubbles rain down, cutting off Tokyo from the rest of the world. The city skyline becomes a playground for young people competing in parkour team battles. Hibiki plummets into the sea but is saved by a girl with mysterious powers.

It’s kind of baffling to see how a film like Bubble could have such an interesting idea yet fall short pretty hard. The animation is stunning and adds a lot of detail to the world the movie takes place in and there’s some genuinely touching moments here that work. What hurts this movie is the writing and characters, there’s a shockingly little amount of character development even with the main characters as well. A lot of the characters are restricted to cliche anime type personalities, meaning they have no chance to grow as characters or offer any interesting development. The writing does have a few decent moments but for the most part it leaves a lot more to be desired, there’s not enough world building, we get a few scenes that talk about the world and that’s really about it. The animation does a lot of the work but even that can’t fully describe the world, It’s such a shame because I do think Bubble could have been a decent little movie had the writing and characters been a lot stronger.

Bubble is available on Netflix.

5/10 C

The Bad Guys is an electrifying and energetic ride!

Several reformed yet misunderstood criminal animals attempt to become good, with some disastrous results along the way.

I’ve said this numerous times before but I think it needs to be repeated, I like to give every film a chance to impress, surprise or disappoint. It’s a huge part of why I absolutely love watching and reviewing films, The Bad Guys is an example of a fantastic surprise. First off the voice cast are really strong from Sam Rockwell to Zazie Beetz to Marc Maron plus Craig Robinson and Anthony Ramos everyone has their time to shine and take full advantage of it. The chemistry between all of them is really great as well it really adds to the film and gives it such a fun atmosphere, the jokes are actually quite great as well. Sure some don’t land but It surprised me how well written a lot of the jokes actually were, the film itself is not only a really strong animated film but it’s also a really good crime/heist film as well. It uses a lot of elements you see in the genre but still feels fresh at the same time, the animation is absolutely stunning there’s so much detail and personality in the animation with every scene. The characters have so much expressions, it’s fast paced, the editing energetic and the animation is very electrifying. The characters are absolutely well done, not every character gets a huge amount of development however what remains consistent is that each of them are very fun. They have their own personalities and the voice work makes them that much stronger. Overall Dreamworks hit it out of the park, The Bad Guys is hands down Dreamworks’s best film in awhile and it’s something you should absolutely check out!!

The Bad Guys is available in theaters!

9/10 A

Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood is a masterclass of storytelling and narration.

A man narrates stories of his life as a 10-year-old boy in 1969 Houston, weaving tales of nostalgia with a fantastical account of a journey to the moon.

Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Childhood is a prime example of investing and beautiful storytelling, the film is about a man narrating stories of his life when he was 10 years old living in 1969 Houston and talks about how nostalgic he was and his journey to land on the moon. Right off the bat the animation is quite beautiful it has this style to it that strangely feels nostalgic which is a huge theme of the film, so it matches quite perfectly here. The film is a coming of age story that’s also a look at the daily lives of the people living in Houston during the time, this is a type of element that I absolutely love when films do and this is no exception. The film gives the characters a very grounded feel that’s probably due to the film actually being loosely based on the childhood of Richard Linklater (the film’s director, writer and producer.) which I found just absolutely fascinating, what of the strongest parts about the film is Jack Black’s narration especially combined with the nostalgia feel, I was not expecting to feel so relaxed by this film but the narration did just that. It’s the type of narration where you could sit and listen to it for hours on end and never get sick of it, the narration feels like you are actually having a conversation with adult Stanley and he’s sharing his experiences with you. Lastly there’s Richard Linklater’s direction and writing which is the cherry on top, it’s truly some of the most grounded and beautifully done writing so far this year, it really blends all of the film’s elements together to create something absolutely spectacular. It captures the feel of the time of the moon landing and it captures time passing in general, it’s truly well done film from beginning to end!

Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood is available on Netflix!

10/10 A+

Turning Red is a beautiful film filed with meaningful metaphors!

Mei Lee is a 13-year-old girl who is torn between being her mother’s obedient daughter and the chaos of her youth. As if that were not enough, when she gets too excited, she turns into a big red panda.

Turning Red is Pixar’s most recent film and once again they hit it out of the park. There’s a lot to absolutely love here but I’ll keep things simple, right off the bad the animation is quite great especially combined with the characters who are truly fun in their own ways. What makes the film successful is the writing, it’s truly what turns what could have been just a solid Pixar film into something truly special, the use of several different metaphors for growing up and being yourself are really clever. There’s a lot for the audience to relate to as well each of the characters are given there moments that some may seem small but end up being very important. There’s so much charm that is put into the film to the point where you just can’t help but smile, Domee Shi does an excellent job in the director’s chair, she really brings the film together with surprisingly raw writing at times despite the movie you know being about a girl that turns into a Red Panda. Which leads me back to the metaphors, it’s such a unique way of telling the viewers to be themselves, there’s clearly a lot of love put into the film which only makes it that much stronger. It’s such a sweet blend of a coming of age film and a Pixar film that compliment each other beautifully. Definitely give this one a watch!!

Turning Red is available on Disney+

9/10 A

Quick Reviews: Catwoman Hunted, Through My Window, Bite Me and Book Of Love!

Catwoman’s attempt to steal a priceless jewel puts her squarely in the cross-hairs of a powerful consortium of villains, Interpol and Batwoman.

Catwoman Hunted is pretty solid, the animation is actually quite well done and the characters are pretty fun! The plot really doesn’t have a whole lot going for it, but the movie makes it up with some solid action and the talent involved. Stephanie Beatriz, Lauren Cohan and Elizabeth Gillies all do really strong job in their roles, Black Mask is a really solid villain as well! I do wish the movie expanded upon some of it’s characters and gave them a lot more character development. But for what Catwoman Hunted is the movie is pretty decent and is definitely worth a watch!

Catwoman Hunted is available on all VOD Platforms.

6/10 C+

Raquel has a longtime crush on her hot neighbor, Ares, whom she secretly watches but has never spoken to. Can she make Ares fall in love with her?

Through My Window is another reminder of why you don’t turn Wattpad stories into films, the only reason why I even bothered with this movie was because of curiosity. I didn’t think this could be anywhere near as bad as some people were making it out to be….I was wrong, Through My Window has some of the worst writing so far this year, it sounds exactly like a high school student’s fanfiction that they would be embarrassed if it got out. I truly have no idea what they were thinking here, the acting is horrendous it’s unbelievable that someone actually said “yes that’s perfect!” There’s absolutely no chemistry between the main characters, no strength in the performances absolutely nothing. The pacing is the straw that breaks the camel’s back, it’s atrociously slow making this 1 hour and 56 minute movie feel like 3 hours. I really have nothing else to say here, Through My Window is bottom of the barrel as you can get.

Through My Window is available on Netflix.

Disgrace To Cinema F

After Sarah, a real-life vampire, gets audited by the IRS but finds herself falling for her IRS agent, the hopelessly romantic James, forcing Sarah to confront the idea of falling in love with a mortal man.

Bite Me is if you took the romantic comedy genre and added vampires into it, there’s definitely some good bits such as the cast who definitely looked like they were having so much fun. Outside of the premise itself it doesn’t really do anything brand new, there’s some ideas thrown around in the movie that don’t get fully realized or developed unfortunately. But for what the movie is it’s actually pretty fun at times and there was some genuine love put into it. Plus there were some jokes that I thought were decently done!

Bite Me is available on all VOD Platforms.

5/10 C

Two writers thrown together on a book tour in Mexico.

’ll admit Book Of Love doesn’t have the usual type of humor you would expect from a Buzzfeed Studios movie. However that doesn’t make it a good movie, the major problem with this movie is that it’s very uninteresting and does nothing to drag audiences into it. Sam Claflin is fine enough but he really does not have a whole lot to work with as the script feels like another romantic comedy that’s very cliched. With that said Book Of Love isn’t horrendous, I’ve seen far worse romantic comedies this just happens to be one that is nothing special at all.

Book Of Love is available on Amazon Prime Video.

4/10 D+

The Ice Age: Adventures Of Buck Wild is a unnecessary spinoff to an already messy series.

Buck, Crash, and Eddy try to keep the Lost World from being overtaken by dinosaurs.

What can I possibly say here? The Ice Age series should have ended after the third movie, after that the movies started getting worse and worse. Adventures Of Buck Wild feels like an extended TV episode of a Saturday morning cartoon, there’s some good moments in this movie the problem is a majority of them are at the beginning which afterwards the movie takes a complete nosedive. Out of all the characters to give a spin-off film why on earth did they pick the two most annoying and uninteresting characters Eddie and Crash? At least Buck was somewhat interesting and I actually liked him quite a lot in Dawn Of The Dinosaurs, so I didn’t mind him here. It’s just a shame he has to share the movie with Eddie and Crash, this movie is truly the definition of lazy. The only reason why Disney continued the Ice Age series was because of money and that completely shows here, say what you will about the last two sequels at least there were some sort of effort put into them. They just happened to be terrible movies, with this movie it feels like it’s only purpose is to make money. Overall Ice Age: Adventures Of Buck Wild is horrible, it’s a pointless and horribly dull entree into an already tired series that did not need to continue.

The Ice Age: Adventures Of Buck Wild is available on Disney+

2/10 F

Hotel Transylvania: Transformania offers very little new to a series that’s overstayed it’s welcome.

Van Helsing’s mysterious new invention transforms Drac and his pals into humans, and Johnny into a monster. With their new mismatched bodies, Drac and the pack must find a way to switch themselves back before their transformations become permanent.

What do you want me to say here exactly? This is the fourth Hotel Transylvania movie which is actually very hard to believe. There are some differences this time around although they don’t benefit the movie. For starters Adam Sandler is no longer voicing Dracula it’s Brian Hull who is a Youtuber and I will give him credit. He did the absolute best he could with the script and with his role voicing Dracula. There are definitely times where I thought he completely nailed it and then others where he missed the mark but that’s mainly due to the script. The other difference is the animation that does feel and look significantly cheaper and not as good as the previous three movies. With that said the animation certainly isn’t terrible it’s a bit surprising to see it slip after being so consistent for three movies, outside of those differences it really isn’t that much different from the other movies. This movie is definitely more joke heavy which ultimately does effect this movie and the creativity is just not in this one, it’s a perfectly okay movie for kids as it doesn’t do anything harmful. There’s some nice messages in the movie that does put a smile on your face, it’s just a shame this one feels nothing more than a cash grab.

Hotel Transylvania: Transformania is available on Amazon Prime Video!

5/10 C

Encanto is a magical ride for all the right reasons!

The Madrigals are an extraordinary family who live hidden in the mountains of Colombia in a charmed place called the Encanto. The magic of the Encanto has blessed every child in the family with a unique gift — every child except Mirabel. However, she soon may be the Madrigals last hope when she discovers that the magic surrounding the Encanto is now in danger.

The last half of 2021 has really delivered a ton of surprises when it comes to film and Encanto is absolutely no exception. Before going into the film I was prepared for another nothing special about it Disney film that wouldn’t do anything interesting. Encanto is quite different, first off the characters are all actually really well done. The writing for this film feels much more grounded and feels like the writers wanted to give the characters their own personality and dive more into said personalities rather than just list them and that’s it. It really dives deep into family themes such as relationships and how families can be flawed, when you compare Encanto to a lot of other Disney films that have released over the last few years you can tell it’s very different. The world building is also quite incredible, it shows both the light and the dark side of the world and establishes early on how much the world means to the characters. The music is some of the best from a Disney film in quite awhile, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s choice of music is absolutely spot on and matches the tone, energy and style the film is going for. Which leads to the cast who have beautiful singing voices and completely hit it out of the park when it comes to emotions, each song really hits the viewer with a different emotion. As well as each song having it’s own identity with a lot of energy and strength put into them, overall Encanto is truly a charming film that surprised me. It’s one of the best films of the year make sure to watch this one.

Encanto is available on Disney+

10/10 A+

Rumble is a very forgettable underdog story.

In a world where monsters are tame and monster wrestling is a popular sport, Winnie seeks to follow in her father’s footsteps as a manager by turning an inexperienced monster into a contender.

Rumble is exactly what you think it is, another beat by beat story of the main character wanting to be just as good as their parent, I feel like the release history of Rumble is far more interesting than the movie itself. Rumble was supposed to come out this year but then got switched to February of next year and finally at the last second got switched back to this year and released a few days ago. As far as the movie itself as I said earlier it’s very generic, if you watch the first 15-20 minutes of it you are going to know exactly what happens. I guess the movie has a nice message and the animation is not bad as there were a few moments I found to be quite solid. And for a movie that WWE Studios was involved in this is definitely one of the better ones. Will Arnett is easily the best part of this movie and it’s really not even close, he brings a lot of character and energy to his role and actually works pretty well with what he’s given. Writing wise Rumble is once again exactly what you expect, there’s a few jokes that are okay but a lot of it is just very standard kids movie type of writing. Overall there really isn’t much else to say about Rumble, it’s a completely harmless kids movie that’s entertaining at times by way too generic and predictable to recommend. It truly feels like a case where Paramount wanted to put something on their streaming service around the holiday season so they settled with this movie.

Rumble is available on Paramount+

5/10 C