Predator: Killer of Killers Review

 

Alright, a new Predator movie! Let's get right to it!

Predator: Killer of Killers is an adult animated sci-fi action horror anthology and it's also sixth film in the franchise, eighth if you count the two Alien vs. Predator flicks. While Hulu distributed, production was done by 20th Century Studios, 20th Century Animation, Davis Entertainment, and The Third Floor, Inc. Dan Trachtenberg directed alongside Joshua Wassung and Dan also wrote the stories with Micho Robert Rutare.

The story is, we have three stories of three fierce fighters. One a viking raider on a bloody quest for vengeance, one a ninja fighting against his brother in a battle for succession, and the last being a World War II pilot who's out to prove himself. Three different warriors, three different journeys, three different time periods, but they all of one thing in common. They'll have to fight for their lives against the ultimate killer.

Initial Reaction

At first I had no plan to review this, not because I thought it was gonna be bad it's just I didn't know it was a thing. I didn't know about it until I was reading up on another and probably more well known Predator film that being Predator: Badlands. So because of reading about that movie I came across this one and waited for June 6th to come around.

Cons

I've got nothing.

Middle Ground

The middle ground stems from the story. Now let's get to the good stuff. All of the stories offer different but exciting tales. Each segment gives our characters something. For Ursa (the viking) it's revenge, for Kenji (the ninja) it's honor, and for Torres (the WW2 pilot) it's about survival. Each story is highly entertaining and I enjoyed each of them. But the slight issue comes in the form of the final act. There's little bit of tonal shift, I found it especially noticeable with Torres. Now sure he had his funny moments in his story segment [The Bullet], but during the final fight he was way too comedic.

Pros

Let's start off with the thing we all come to see when it comes to Predator films, the action! Folks this brings you plenty of bloody and gorey goodness. The action is a blast. When Ursa goes to the castle to kill the man who killed her father, she has this awesome shield-wielding and slashing scene. I loved it! There's also more creativity with the Predators and their weaponry. One Predator fights with sonic hand cannon, another fights with some badass chain sickles and lastly we get a Predator in an aerial dog fight. Then there's the pacing. Now it's not long to big with, clocking in at an hour and thirty minutes, but I didn't feel like I was sitting on my couch for that. Even with commercials (by the way those were fun to have with your movie. Isn't streaming just totally the better alternative to cable? 😒) I didn't feel like I was watching for an hour. It felt more like only a couple of minutes went by. The last thing I'll praise is the animation. The blending between 3D depth and 2D textures was great. Here's some screenshots I was able to take.

These alone are visually stunning. But what you'll also like about them is how each environment is different. For "The Shield" it's very moody and frost laden, "The Sword" is mostly told during a beautiful night setting but also incorporated daylight that had ink wash inspiration. And "The Bullet" is filled with a fiery yet vibrant look to it. Combined that with fluid movements and you've got a great looking movie.

While it has some problems, I was still surprised with how good this was and I'm greatly I became aware of it during research of Badlands.

My final rating is, Good.

That'll wrap everything up for tonight. Come back on Monday, Jun 9th, for my review of the John Wick spin-off movie, Ballerina. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

A New Segment is Coming

 

Hey guys, so originally I was hoping to write something that'll really hype up what's to come, I couldn't think of anything. So let's just get straight to it. Now if any of you read my Looking Back at the Films of 2024 Part One, I reviewed a fan film called The Spider. After writing my review for that movie it got me thinking of what I want to do next for this blog. So I decided I'm gonna bring a new challenge to myself and review fan films. Doesn't matter if they're new or old, if it's a fan film I'm reviewing it.

So yeah, I'm hoping that peaks your interest. And better yet, I already have the very first movie in mind. On June 16th, I'll be reviewing another Spider-Man fan film but one that's got a lot of history to it. That being 1992's The Green Goblin's Last Stand.

That's all I wanted to tell you. Hoping you'll be there on June 16th. But for now I hope you come back on Saturday, Jun 7th, for my review of Predator: Killer of Killers. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Ultimate Fantastic Four: The Fantastic Review

 

Since the next part of the road to First Steps is the 2015 film and since that movie takes a loose inspiration from this comic book. I figured it'd be fun to review it. Just like I did with the Galactus stuff. Now enough of the intro let's get to the review.

Ultimate Fantastic Four: The Fantastic is a 2004 comic book storyline that can be found in issues #1-6 of Ultimate Fantastic Four, which much like the Ultimate Galactus Trilogy I reviewed previously, it's also part of Marvel's Ultimate Marvel imprint. The artist for all six issues was Adam Kubert and the writers were Brain Michael Bendis and Mark Millar.

The story is, a young Reed Richards is recruited to a Manhattan think tank and help them enter the N-Zone. Reed, his best friend Ben Grimm, siblings Sue & Johnny Storm, and Victor Van Damme are about to be teleported to the N-Zone but things go wrong and the group are mutated into something. Now the group must not only figure out what went, but also try to understand what their powers can do. But they must find out quick, because underground an evil force is brewing and it's ready to come to the surface.

• Negatives

I've got nothing.

• Mix

The real mix was character depth. Reed and Ben have the most going on. They're friends so we get quite a few moments of them getting along, but we also have moments (particular after the accident) of them fighting. So there's something with them. Sue and Johnny are fine. They service their purposes for the story and I didn't grow to hate them in any shape. However I can't say the same for the villain Mole Man. He's very generic and has no gravitas. He do witness his backstory but it's one-dimensional "They didn't see MY brilliance! They didn't see MY genius! Thus I will kill them!" I mean that sort of character can work, but it didn't here.

• Positives

One good thing is the fresh take. During the original Ultimate Marvel universe, the gimmick was to take the classic characters and give them an update. And this story continued that tradition. They may be the Fantastic Four, but they're not like the ones in the main Marvel continuity. As suppose to being a family like the more mainstream ones, this Four is more like friends long before they become a family. There's also their origin. It's more grounded than the one in the main universe.

There's also the pacing. Now some areas are a bit slow, which is to be expected when reading something (even if he was a co-writer this time around) by Brian Michael Bendis. Because Bendis is far dialogue heavy but, I was still able to read this in one day. Sure I did they same thing when I read Stan Lee & Jack Kirby's Galactus Trilogy, but it took awhile. Not with this one though, I got by it quicker than I thought.

The last thing I'll praise is Adam Kubert's art style. Now I have heard Adam's name being brought up quite a bit along with his brother [Andy]. But I don't recall if I ever read something with his art work attached to it. But after seeing images like these,

I am definitely gonna look more into his work. Especially if it looks as dynamic and larger than life as it does now compared to these. By the way if you think these look good, these images are only from the first three issues. So just think of what the other issues have.

So this wasn't as good as I was hoping, but it's still a pretty good read overall.

My final rating is, Good.

Okay that's all for today. So if you would, come back on Thursday, Jun 5th, for a special announcement regrading a brand new segment coming to my blog. Until then, enjoy the rest of the day.

Karate Kid: Legends Review

 

Karate Kid: Legends is a martial arts drama movie and the sixth film in the franchise. It's produced by Columbia Pictures and Sunswept Entertainment with Sony Pictures Releasing distributing. Rob Lieber wrote and Jonathan Entwistle directed.

The story is, after his mom accepted a job in New York Li Fong has no choice but to move there. But his biggest problem is keeping his promise to give up martial arts after the death of his brother. But when events force him back in, Li will not only fight again to help those in need but learn from the great fighters of Daniel LaRusso and Mr. Han.

Initial Reaction

The reason for why I wanted to see this is because I like the Karate Kid movies...well, the first two and the remake. Three and Next Karate Kid were terrible. And yes I did what Cobra Kai as well. So I was excited for what Legends had in store.

Cons

My only real complaint is the villains of Conor Day and O'Shea. They were very one dimensional. And I found it worse with O'Shea. People can call Conor a Johnny Lawrence knockoff all day, but at least his rivalry with Li gives him some sort of character. With O'Shea I kept forgetting about him. So much so that when writing this review I had to do a quick Google search to know what his name was.

Middle Ground

The mix bag stems from the story. Now yes it's predictable, but for the most part I was entertained. But what I found to be the true gray area is the balance of the plot. At one point Li is helping Victor (a pizza shop owner he befriends) get back into the boxing ring, but when something bad happens to Victor we're all of a sudden getting prepared for a tournament. Now the two stories did have some sort of connection, mainly O'Shea being both Conor's sensei and Victor's loan shark, but this abrupt change does make the narrative uneven.

Pros

One pro is the humor. There was a lot of times when I found myself laughing. I think my favorite gag is when Daniel & Mr. Han were showing their different styles and poor Li was being used as the test dummy back to back to back. Then there was the action. I was not only interested in both the training and fighting styles of both karate and kung fu, but also impressed with how the choreography was very well executed, probably helped that Jackie Chan's stunt team lend a helping hand. My last praise is the performances. Now Ben Wang is pretty good as Li. He did good in the fight scenes, and could also provide some good vulnerability to his character. But let's be honest and I hope this doesn't come off as me downplaying Ben, but we all wanted to know how Ralph Macchio & Jackie Chan would do together. And guys they are awesome. Not only will nostalgia hit you but you'll love seeing these two together. Their chemistry together was awesome to see and it was fun to these two interact whether it'd be teaching scenes or a brief action scene.

Now Karate Kid: Legends isn't flawless. But I roll my eyes listening and reading reviews of people calling this bad or (and this is a hot take) call this the worst of the franchise. Really people? Are some of you not aware of The Next Karate Kid? But I digress, the point I want to get to is if you are planning to see this, fine. But just don't rush yourself. This is a movie you can watch but I don't think you need to feel the pressure of needing to see it.

My final rating is, Okay.

That's going to do it for me. Due come back on Monday, Jun 2nd, for yet another comic book review. This time I'll yet again be about the Fantastic Four but, it's about the Ultimate Fantastic Four and the story arc of The Fantastic. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day. 

Road to The Fantastic Four: First Steps - Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer Review

 

Well folks, we're nearing the end. And speaking of end, we're at the end of this era of the Fantastic Four on film.

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer is a comic book movie, the sequel to the 2005 film, and the third movie based on the team. This also takes inspiration from the classic storyline The Galactus Trilogy and Ultimate Extinction. Constantin Film, Marvel Entertainment, 1492 Pictures, Ingenious Films Partners, Dune Entertainment, and 20th Century Fox worked on production. The last of which also did distribution. The story was written by Don Payne, Mark Frost, and John Turman with Tim Story returning to direct.

The story is, a mysterious object has entered the Earth's atmosphere and soon revealed to be a man called the Silver Surfer. After an intense fight they capture him and learn that he works for a planet eater named Galactus, and he's coming towards Earth. Now, the Four must stop the planet eater all while reluctantly working together with their enemy, Doctor Doom.

• Negatives

I've got nothing.

• Mix

First up is the villains. Now the Silver Surfer, he's fine. His got a pretty good storyline. That being him going from enemy to ally. Something very similar to what was done with him in the original Galactus Trilogy by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby. So his story was handled well. Then you have Doctor Doom. I didn't hate him in this, but he didn't have the same kind of the threatening vibe he had in the first despite Julian McMahon's best efforts. Then there's Galactus. Now I've read a lot of people being disappointed by he's design, about how he's just a giant "cloud". I think a lot of people didn't read the Ultimate Galactus Trilogy like I did. Having said that, I was still disappointed because there wasn't much there. What I mean is I get they wanted the story to focus on the Four & Silver Surfer, but they could've at least showed Galactus slowly approaching Earth. But we don't see much for the longest time.

Then there's character development. Reed and Sue's story wasn't too bad, them just wanting to get married and possibly start a new/normal life is actually a pretty good story. But there were a lot of times when things felt like a repeat of the first. Johnny also has a well handled story of how he needs to mature and I liked that. The Thing on the other hand isn't giving anything. He was just the muscle and that was it.

• Positives

One thing that improved from the first were the special effects. There were some moments that were off, but there was still improvement. Despite the negative reception to Galactus' design, the CGI was quite good. The scale of it was truly felt massive. But the best effect is the Silver Surfer. It was a perfect blend of CGI and practical. The effects of the Surfer really shined when in motion. The movements were sleek as well as dynamic.

Then there was the pacing. While the first movie's pacing wasn't too bad there was times when things were rushed. Here the brisk one hour and thirty-two minute runtime was used properly.

The last thing I'll credit is, once again, the cast of Ioan Gruffud, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, and Michael Chiklis. Their chemistry once again is spot on in both humorous and more dramatic moments. But I also want to give praise to Laurence Fishburne giving his voice to Silver Surfer while Doug Jones gave a great physical performance to the character. Along with the effects & writing, these two did a spectacular job bringing depth to the Surfer.

While there are still problems, Rise of the Silver Surfers still has some entertainment to it.

My final rating is, Okay.

That's all for now. Come back on Saturday, May 31st, for my review of Karate Kid: Legends. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Fantastic Four: The Galactus Trilogy & Ultimate Galactus Trilogy Review

That's right. I'm doing another double comic review, only this time it's on the Marvel side instead of DC. What's the reason this time? Well I'll be reviewing Rise of the Silver Surfer soon, and these comics were inspirations. So much like I did with Winter Soldier & Civil War, I'm reviewing these.

First up is The Galactus Trilogy. The story can be found in the 1961 edition of the comic book series, Fantastic Four. More specifically in issues #48-50. Stan Lee wrote the story along with Jack Kirby, who also did the art.

The story is, the Fantastic Four first do battle with a herald named the Silver Surfer and after this fight they're warned of the arrival of Galactus. A powerful being older than the universe itself and survives by feeding off of planets. Knowing this, the Fantastic Four are the only ones that can stop him.

Why The Delay?

If any of you had read my Lilo & Stitch (2025) review, they you were all expecting these reviews by Monday. So what happened? Well Memorial Day happened. My sister invited me to come over to her place, spend time with everybody, and eat some food. And instead of being a dick and telling her to piss off, I decided it was best to spend time with the family and push this back to Tuesday. Honestly, it was worth it. I got a free meal and some family time. 😆

• Negatives

I've got nothing.

• Mix

The mix bag is the same mix feeling I had with Spider-Man: If This Be My Destiny, which was also written by Stan Lee. That being the pacing. Sometimes the pacing is good, it goes by nicely. Oftentimes however things can be slow. Primarily because Stan Lee's writing is very wordy. He'll have speech bubbles, thought bubbles, and caption boxes. Now having that stuff isn't a bad thing you just gotta know when to use them. And Stan, as great as he was, did have a habit of using all three even it meant slowing down the story. Keep in mind, this is still a great story, but that is a tiny bit of a flaw.

• Positives

Now for the good stuff. Starting with the late, great Jack Kirby and his art. Now I'm gonna be honest, while I'm not the biggest Jack Kirby, it's not because I think he's bad! I just like and am far more attached to the people he's influenced more! But despite that I can't deny his impact. Other artists such as the late, great Will Eisner brought a more cinematic flair to comic books, but Jack Kirby built on that and brought a more larger than life edge and is sometimes credited with perfecting that style. And with images like these...

I can see why.

My other praise goes to the story. Firstly there's the themes. The first theme was the hallmark during Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's run, that being family and unity. The Four's family bond and dynamic not only brought some more lighthearted moments, but this also brought the stakes to a grounded level. The next theme is how this is humanity fighting against a cosmic indifference, in this case Galactus. I saw and read how the Four are not only fighting for survival, but they also question somethings about purpose and what humanity's place is when the universe seems like it's, as I said before, indifferent. There's also the Silver Surfer's story arc. Throughout the story he's questioning if he should continue being Galactus' herald or break free, take a stand, and help save the Earth? I actually found myself being very interested in that part more than I thought I'd be. It added not only another bit of drama but also added to his character. Now I have heard people mention how a certain weapon ends things abruptly, and that's fair. But given all of the other stuff I'm almost willing to forgive that.

My last praise goes to how this story praved the way for cosmic storytelling for comic books. Prior to this trilogy, a lot of comic book villain fights were Earthbound. But when the story came out, years later other cosmic stories would follow. The biggest examples being Infinity Gauntlet and Crisis on Infinite Earths. The story also created a certain arc structure. If you ever want to know where multi-issue story arcs, escalating stakes, character driven conflicts, and huge climatic endings came from, look for than here. For better or worse, Stan "The Man" Lee and Jack "The King" Kirby invented something huge, and creators even to this day are doing what these two did and if comic books keep going (hopefully with the pc woke nonsense finally cut out) we'll continue to use what these two comic titans created.

If you're getting into Fantastic Four or Marvel Comics in general, The Galactus Trilogy is something you have to read. It's an absolute classic.

My final rating is, A MUST READ!

Alright, next up is The Ultimate Galactus Trilogy. The storyline was part of the Ultimate Marvel imprint and consist of the three miniseries. Those being Ultimate Nightmare, Ultimate Secret, and Ultimate Extinction. All three were written by Warren Ellis. Issues 1-2, 4 & 5 of Ultimate Nightmare were drawn by Trevor Hairsine while issue 3 was drawn by Steve Epting. Ultimate Secret was drawn by Steve McNiven for issues 1-2, while issues 3-4 were drawn by Tom Raney and Ultimate Extinction was drawn solely by Brandon Peterson.

The story is, it all started with a broadcast the disrupted the entire world's televisions and computer monitors giving warning of death and destruction. As our heroes continue to investigate of what caused this, they soon realize it's something far worse than they thought. Now, The Ultimates, the X-Men, and the Fantastic Four join forces to stop the force known as Gah Lak Tus.

• Negatives

Nothing to read here.

• Mix

Let's start off with character development. We get some great interactions with the Ultimates (this world's version of the Avengers by the way), the Fantastic Four, and Captain Marvel. We get funny moments like how in Ultimate Secret, Thor is willing to get beers for Johnny Storm and The Thing because he views them as mighty warriors. To a more heated exchange between Reed Richards and Nick Fury in Ultimate Extinction. Those were great moments but, while the X-Men are involved, mainly Professor X and Jean Grey, they aren't given as much development as the characters.

Then there's the artwork. I'm gonna break this down by who I liked the most to the least. So let's start off with...

Now I didn't know who Trevor Hairsine was prior to reading Ultimate Nightmare and I don't recall reading anything recent with his name on it, but even without that in mind I loved what he did here. It's not only cinematic, but his more shadowy style really captured Ultimate Nightmare's horror tone. His art was excellently eerie, especially when our heroes were in the Cold War era bunkers. So Mr. Hairsine, I give you two big 👍🏻👍🏻.

As mentioned previously Steve Epting was only involved in one issue and that was for issue #3 of Ultimate Nightmare, but what little work he did do I still liked. He's was cleaner when compared to Trevor Hairsine, but despite being cleaner his layouts provided awesome action scenes for when the Ultimates & X-Men were fighting against science experiments that were long abandoned.

Now as you can see, Tony Raney has a far more stylized (or cartoonish, whatever word you wanna use) when compared to Hairsine and Epting. But considering how much action was in those issues of Ultimate Secret, I think that more cartoonish style wasn't a bad decision. Some could argue it made the action more dynamic. Although I do admit some of his facial expressions were...odd to say the least. Like this one.

No folks that is NOT Jeffery Dahmer about to enjoy killing his next victim, that's Reed Richards about to enjoy a trip to outer space. I can understand why you'd be confused.

Now Steve McNiven made a name for himself on Marvel story arcs such as Civil War, the Wolverine story of Old Man Logan, The Sentry story in New Avengers by Brian Michael Bendis, and Nemesis by Mark Millar. And I liked his art work on those, but here I wasn't really feeling it. It's not bad, but it just didn't seem to pop like those other stories I mentioned. Maybe this was more of the colorist than the artist. Again, not bad just meh.

The last and my least favorite was Brandon Peterson's work on Ultimate Extinction. Now as you can see those panels are actually really good. I especially liked the Helicarriers and those building panels. Those look really, they look like they could be shots in a movie or the movie's storyboards. As for the characters themselves, once again get a good look.

Now I'm not one of those people who complain about more stylish art in comic books, hell some of my favorite artists like John Romita Jr., Humberto Ramos, and Jorge Jiménez don't draw in realistic styles, but this is far too glossy for my taste. Maybe this is another case of colorist than artist either way it wasn't for me. Still liked Ultimate Extinction's story, but art not so much.

• Positives

Let's move onto to far more positive aspects like the pacing. These miniseries go by fast. I was able to get through all three within one day. Sure I did that Lee & Kirby's trilogy, but it felt like I was sitting on my couch for almost an hour or more. With this trilogy a couple of minutes.

Then there's the sci-fi and horror elements. Ultimate Nightmare has a great moody thriller atmosphere. It almost felt like I was gonna be reading a survival horror comic. And continuing with the horror elements, this Galactus, or Gah Lak Tus, is even more like an apocalyptic sci-fi horror. I would tell you why that is, but when doing any of my reviews I try to keep them spoiler free. There's also so this pretty creepy cult. Again, don't want to give spoilers, but the fact Gah Lak Tus is being treated like a god giving out divine will, adds to the horror elements. Then there's the sci-fi. We get our usual aliens, but it's the technology and Reed Richards scientific ingenuity that'll keep you interested. Especially since they bring up good aspects of the story such as Reed not feeling good about himself creating a weapon that could stun or kill something.

The last thing I'll praise is the story. First I love how this is self-contained. You can read this by itself without it interrupting other Ultimate series like Ultimate Fantastic Four, Ultimate X-Men, or even Ultimate Spider-Man. Then there's the humanity's resilience. This is very similar to what Lee & Kirby did. But what separates the two is Ellis' sci-fi while extraordinary, does have quite a bit of grounded realism in it. Regardless of that, we see human ingenuity confronting overwhelming odds. The story does a tremendous job reinforcing hope against what seems to be an unstoppable despair.

My final rating is, Good.

So that's all for now. Come back on Thursday, May 29th, for the next part of the Road to The Fantastic Four: First Steps, with my review of Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Lilo & Stitch (2025) Review

 NOTE!: I WILL BE GIVING SPOILERS AT THE END OF THE REVIEW! IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ THOSE, STOP AT MY FINAL RATING!

Well here we go again. Another round of Disney live-action remakes. Guess apparently the CEO of Disney [Bob Iger] will go to any extent to NOT make anything original.

Lilo & Stitch is a live-action remake of the 2002 animated movie of the same name. Production was done by both Walt Disney Pictures and Rideback with distribution by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. Dean Fleischer Camp directed while Chris Kekaniokalani Bright & Mike Van Waes wrote.

The story is, a lonely girl named Lilo has adopted what she believes is to be a dog and names him Stitch. Unaware to her Stitch is actually a genetic experiment meant for destruction and his only with her and her older sister Nani to hide and avoid capture. The two soon bond and both must avoid something that'll fracture not only their separate lives but their new family.

Initial Reaction

Now I by no means was excited for this. First Dosney remakes their classics like Cinderella, The Jungle Book, Dumbo, then their 90's classics like Aladdin, Beauty and The Beast, The Lion King, and now they're doing the 2000s?! I get they're over twenty years old but come on! Worse off they're making a remake of Moana and that one's not even a decade old! So even though I'm not enthusiastic about this remake I did review the 2002 original and promise a review for the remake, so here I am.

Cons

Oh boy, the problems...where do I even begin? Let's start off with the pacing. I'm honestly astonished with the runtime. The animated original is an hour and twenty-five minutes, this one is an hour and forty-eight minutes. Why is this relevant? Because somehow, somehow the remake feels like the abridged version. I mean it, whenever they copy scenes from the animated movie is almost sped up. The one I remember the most was Stitch's escape at the beginning of the movie. In the animated one, it is quick but we still had a story told. In the remake is like only the most memorable scenes were used. This basically how Stitch's escape in the remake went. Stitch is on trial Stitch is given his punishment Stitch finds a way to escape Stitch escapes Stitch takes a ship and now he's heading to Earth! It's like someone wrote the classic scenes, but they barely remembered went happened. Like I said before, this pacing felt like an abridged version. How do you pull that off when you have an extra twenty-three minutes to the movie you're remaking? The next part I'll touch on is the humor. I admit a couple parts got a chuckle out of me, but the rest is bad. Whenever they reenact a joke from the original they add on to it. Remember that one scene in the original where Cobra Bubbles asked Lilo how things are going at her house asking her if she's being taken care of well, and Nani's behind Cobra giving Lilo hand signals of what to say so it seems like things are going smoothly, and then Nani screws up which leads to Lilo also screwing up. Well they reenacted that scene but they added like three more gags to it. Which they didn't need to. The original joke was fine. The add-ons just ruin it. Then there's the ending. Wow that ending. I'll have to go into more details when I get into spoilers, but what I will say is they really put Nani in a bad light. But the worse, the absolute worse is the characters. I get wanting to do different things with these characters, but this wasn't the way to go. I'm gonna go through the most important alterations one by one.

First is the first titled Lilo. She was really toned down in this. She wasn't really all that weird in this. They don't even have her act like a total brat in this which was a bad decision. Cause in the original, Lilo isn't a brat just because she can be. Her mom and dad died, she's lashing out. Which is something a child would do. But here, not so much. This felt like Lilo in name only...which now that I think about it that can be said for a lot of these characters.

Now for the second titled character, Stitch. Later on I'll praise him, but the problem with him was the writers made him playful and tamed way too quick. I mean it, I think sometime after Lilo adopts him, he's already friendly with her. There's no scenes of him pushing her around and being a jerk. So his arc of going from savage to family member is barely there. So ya know what? It's good his Ugly Duckling metaphor was cut out. Cause had they used it in this, essentially with this version of Stitch, it wouldn't have worked.

Then there's Nani. That ending did her dirty, but I'll get into that later. What I will say is this Nani didn't have the same sense of urgency as the original Nani had. The writers want you to believe she's just as overworked and trying her best despite her flaws, but there's one teeny, tiny, itty-bitty problem....THIS NANI HAS A NEIGHBOR/FAMILY FRIEND WHO HELPS HER WITH LILO! So there's no point in Nani having to worry about the case worker. By having this neighbor friend (who's name is Tūtū by the way), Nani doesn't need to worry so much about raising Lilo. Because now there's gonna be someone else who can pick up Lilo after school when Nani's not available, there's someone else to help feed Lilo if Nani is too busy at work, and Nani doesn't need to worry about Lilo being alone if God forbid if she dies, because Tūtū will be right there if that happens. And also because of this addition of Tūtū the social worker story angle is now forced.

Speaking of social workers, how's Cobra Bubbles? Well much like everybody else his character is butchered. Now instead of being a  caring social worker who only wants the best for Lilo while also being a C.I.A. agent, he's now just a generic C.I.A agent. Yep, all of the things you loved about him have been reduced to bland C.I.A agent. Which means he also doesn't get his best comedy moments.

Now let's move onto Jumba. He's the villain now. I get he was antagonistic in the animated original, but he wasn't evil. Here he' irredeemable and basically Gantu. I mean that, a lot of Gantu's character traits were giving to Jumba. Why do that? Why not just have Gantu?! Thanks for the character assassination there writers. 😒

Hey remember David? Nani's love interest and then boyfriend. Well he's an idiot now. Yeah if you thought Cobra had a generic character David is even worse. Instead of being a chilled guy, he's just a dumbass and nothing else.

Middle Ground

It's the performances. Everybody does do very well, especially Maia Kealoha as Lilo. This was her film debut and she did great. And Chris Sanders after so many years of not voicing the character for a long time, still kills it as Stitch. I was so happy to hear him play this character again. Now Zack Galifianakis can be entertaining, he was not the right guy to play Jumba. He was greatly miscasted.

Pros

Now despite me complaining about his story arc, Stitch was the only truly good thing about the whole movie. All of his scenes were fun. So thankfully Stitch is something to look forward to.

Guys, I really don't like this movie. Sure some of the live-action Disney remakes didn't bother me too bad, expect for the live-action Snow White that was terrible whether you did or didn't see the animated original. But this remake really pissed me off. Cause I grew up with Lilo & Stitch. I watched all of the movies and would watch the TV series on Disney Channel. So this is one of those Disney remakes that actually stung.

My final rating is, Bad.

🚨 SPOILER ALERT! 🚨

ALRIGHT! I'M GONNA GIVE AWAY THE ENDING! SO IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT IT IS, LEAVE NOW!

So here's how the ending went. Once Jumba is defeated, Nani, Lilo, Stitch, etc. return to Nani & Lilo's home and repair it. During a conversation Nani gives up her guardianship of Lilo and gives her to, unsurprisingly enough, Tūtū. Sometime later during a mid-credit Nani is studying marine biology in college at the University of California in San Diego and by using Jumba's portal gun, she goes to visit Lilo and Stitch.

This ending did Nani no service. This really puts her in a bad light. Cause now Nani looks selfish and looks like she's only focused on her marine biology. "But Mike, she has a portal gun. She can go visit them". No! Sorry it still doesn't work. The portal gun is a cop out. The portal gun is only there so the writers think you'll be easily tricked into thinking this isn't a poorly written happy ending. Also, Hawaii has more than several colleges and universities. Nani didn't have to go all the way to California.

So apparently in this movie, "Ohana means family, and family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten. Unless that family is in the way of your college dreams, in that case to hell with them! 🖕"

So that's all for now. Due come back on Monday, May 26th, for my comic book reviews of Fantastic Four: The Galactus Trilogy & The Ultimate Galactus Trilogy. That's right, it's a double review! Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.