DVD Review Update 4/20: Russian Side Versus My Sweet Monster 2021 DVD

Well, it’s time to look at half of the upcoming first Versus in Animation. My Sweet Monster (2021). And, well, just looking at this thing I think I may have a better idea of what kind of pain I might be about to put myself through on this review.

Movie was made by Grindstone Animation Group (in Russia), and released by LionsGate. Also this movie has been approved by the Dove Foundation as being All Ages Dove Approved. And no. That does not mean handling this DVD or the case will clean your hands of 99.9% of harmful germs and bacteria. Wrong Dove.

The Dove in question is the Dove Foundation, an extreme right wing religious group that thinks of themselves as the gatekeeper keeping harmful things away from your kids. By harmful I mean anything to the left of religious right. Yeah… Well this IS LionsGate. The people who make Liberal Democratic politican hit piece movies so… what? If they’re so Right Wing why did HASBRO, a Left Wing company, do a movie with them? That’s because they were trying to buy LionsGate at the time they were doing MLP The Movie 2017 with them.

And that is the only reason why I cazn think of that the movie “leaked” just prior to it’s release. Because the deal to purchase LionsGate was rejected in the 11th hour just prior to the movie release.Doesn’t matter I suppose. HASBRO went on to buy Entertainment One in Canada, aka the Peooa Pig people, and they are now working with them on G5 My Little Pony. So… it all works out in the end.

The case is a glossy foil slipcase, with the actual DVD case beneath the foil slipcase. The effect of the foil on the case, and the raised art on the front, is nice. I’ll give it that. However that seems to be all I can give it. It stars Pauly Shore (from whatever off beat weird movies of the 20th Century you might remember), Hillary Duff and Jon Heder. The movie plot is as follows…

“After rebellious Princess Barbara flees the kingdom on the day she’s set to marrry Bundy, an evil postman, she meets Bogey, an odd, semi-human beast who is king of the wilderness.”

Yes. That was a needlessly long run-on sentence. And… yeah. In this movie the independent Barbara, played by Hillary Duff, is being forced to marry… an Evil Postman… named Bundy. Strange. He may be wearing the Chaos Magic Napoleon Hat in the front of the DVD case, but he doesn’t seem to have a Nazi symbol on his forehead… what? Wrong Bundy? Ok… also yeah. No. Bogey IS a human. He’s a human wearing a furry suit. That’s just a furry suit. He’s not actually half beast. I can see that just from the DVD slipcase art.

“So when Bundy then plots to rob the forest’s supply of a magical, life-giving elixier called Spark, it’s up to Bogey, Barbara, and their bouncy friend Bunny to stop him.”

AGAIN with the run-on sentence. Also yeah. We just went from Shrek clone to ripping off Avatar (aka the Blue Space Smurfs movie). Also Spark not of Allspark and Cybertron. Placing my bet now that it will play an important part in the end of the movie, as someone will need to be given life giving aid… because of sudden unexpected expected death. Calling it now.

“But can they defeat Bundy’s vicious army of giant robotic rats? This enchanting musical adventure is one every family will enjoy!”

Really. Did you notice the diamond headed robots in the shadows on the DVD cover? Notice how they do NOT look like the robots we saw in the trailers? Yeah… also robotic rats? Unless there are more robots in this movie I thought the ones we saw in the trailers were robotic canines, not rats.

Sigh. So what can I say about this one. It’s one half Shrek clone, but it also wants to steal from Avatar. So… yeah. Not an original plot thread in it’s body… well… ok. The use of robots in this one is original. I’ll grant it that. Making it a fantasy kingdom with access to clockwork robotics like in this movie? Now that is kind of an original twist. So that gets my nod in the original department.

It still rips off from Shrek and Avatar, but the addition of robots is something new. So… there is that. Otherwise Bogey is Shrek, Barbara is Fionna, and Bunny (original name there movie) is Donkey… wait. That is also a not original idea, regardless of whether or not it’s voiced by Eddie Murphy. Donkey is not an original name. It’s like Animes whose title is basically the plot synopsis recycled as the series title. I… I don’t like that recent trend in Animes and Mangas. It makes me want to TL:DR… Too Long:Don’t Read.

Sigh. Also… yeah… there does not seem to be any extras on this DVD. Maybe when I look into it I’ll find some extras for this movie. But… It looks like this is as simple as you can expect. Just the movie, with no bells and whistles included. And… well… that’s boring. I’m not the greatest fan of extras, but it could have had SOMETHING!

Anyway, that’s the entry we will be looking at from Russia. When the Ukrainian DVD The Stolen Princess arrives, we will sum that one up and see how it fares in comparison. Stay tuned…

DVD Review Update 4/19: Spider-Man & DreamWorks

So this is just a quick one off update to talk about things I have piling up that I guess I should review one of these days. All my Spider-Man DVDs and my Dreamworks series…

So Spider-Man No Way Home finally arrived. Yay. I ordered this four months ago so… yeah. This was highly anticipated by me. Now I have all the Tom Holland Spider-Man movies… not counting his appearances in Captain America Civil War (which I guess I should get since Captain America continues in movie format with Sam Wilson Captain America). Also don’t have Avengers Infinity War (which is not Infinity War and doesn’t feature Adam Warlock’s evil opposite the Magus) and Endgame… which is NOT Endgame because New Avengers, maybe West Coast Avengers and another Avengers movie series is coming. Yay.

But I have all the Tobey Maguire movies, both New Adventures and Spectacular Spider-Man animated series on DVD, the Andrew Garfield movies (all two of them), and the Tom Holland movies… and the Venom movies. Now I just need to get Morbius… I don’t care if it wasn’t good. I still want it. Bite me Rotten Tomatoes.

Which brings us to the Dreamworks side of things. And I finally got the second Monsters Vs Aliens DVD which has more episodes of the one season of it’s 2013 series… and no signs to tell me if there is a third DVD to get or if these two discs have the whole series or not… but given my estimates? I say… I might have to find one more DVD to finish this series.

But wait! There’s more! There is also all the series that Universal/DreamWorks are moving to streaming series in order to add content to Peacock! The NBC Universal streaming service! Series like Megamind, and how to protect your city… so sequel. The Crood’s second streaming series… since the first one went for so long and had so many seasons. And adding to my DVD buy list we have Abomidable 2018. Why? Because…

Because Universal DreamWorks wants to do a series called Abominable And The Hidden Village set in the Himalayas, and the Chinese ruled country of Tibet… Nepal? Anyway because of course they do. Why wouldn’t they… sigh.

Hope Universal wasn’t looking forward to keeping China as their friends after this series hits… what? I need to watch Abominable first before I think that this is going to be a disaster? Guess so, which is why I am ordering it, but… sigh.

So yeah. Spider-Man I am all caught up and just need to order Morbius. DreamWorks I do haveONE new add onto it now… and that is going to lead me down the road to Peacock centric series to fill said streaming service with content… I’ll just get the DVDs when they come out.

So yes. I do have My Sweet Monster. That’s the next update. We will look in on that one, localized for distribution in the west by LionsGate. The people HASBRO once tried to buy, and couldn’t buy. Those people. Yay. A movie starring… Pauly Shore and Hillary Duff… Yay. Stay tuned.

DVD Review Updates 4/19: Sorcerer And The White Snake 2011 Review Intro

So I got a pile of mail in yesterday. Today I was told I’m overweight again by a nurse practitioner. Good times… sigh… good times. But hey. It means I’ll focus all my earnings fully into review stock and NOT into snacks. So you at least benefit from my misfortune. Yay you.

So let’s start off with the upcoming May review item Sorcerer And The White Snake, which I see from this case is from 2011 and NOT from 2013 as the information I saw online said. Sigh. This movie hails from Hong Kong. Made by Distribution Workshop, MAGNET (which I am sure is short for Magnolia Entertainment), and Magnolia Pictures.

If you want to see more from this studio? Go to www.magnoliapictures.com and check out their stuff (and any possible movies they are presently working to release) for yourself. I haven’t done this yet, but I am sure to do so as I am looking to add more movies from Magnolia to the schedule in the future.

So let’s see. “Jet Li stars as a sorcerer monk in this epic special effects fantasy film based on a Chinese legend.”

(Legend of the White Snake? Uhh… NOOOO… in THAT story? The sorcerer monk in question was a villainous tortoise who kidnapped the male protagonist, then kidnapped the White Snake after she gave birth to the male protagonist’s child!… yeah Jet Li has played villains before but still…)

“The story centers around a man who falls in love with a thousand-year-old white snake disguised as a woman.”

Uhh… noooo… technically the White Snake fell in love with the male protagonist, and only after he ate an immortality granting food product given to him by a trickster deity, and said deity made him throw it up after he failed to eat for three days. White Snake ate his vomit (threw up into a lake where she and other spirits were attending Chinese Mystical University or something), and declared that their fates were intertwined… she then went on to hook up with an older age appropriate Male Protagonist, marry him, and let him boink her frequently and damn this update went Rule34 really fast!! Anyway The Legend Of The White Snake clearly says SHE fell in love with him.

Did we read the same legend, people of Magnolia Pictures? SPOILER… I guess so, because I see one screen shot in the back of the case which says the Green Snake is also going to be in this movie. Like in the 2020 animated movie so… I guess so. Details might not match but… I’m assuming they are good because the look like they’re fighting so… I ASSUME if this is baed on the Legend? That Jet Li is manipulated by the evil Toroise Sorcerer Monk and has to join forces with the White & Green Snake to fight him? Just a thought.

“Discovering the White Snake’s true identity, the Sorcerer goes to battle believing that in so doing, he is restoring balance and order between man and the supernatural.”

Yup. Anytime a movie’s plot says believes? I’m pretty sure that means said character is about to mess up big time. Why do I have a feeling they either wrote out the evil Tortoise Sorcerer from this version, or made it so Jet Li exposes the White Snake’s true nature and THAT is what killed the male protagonist. Leading to Jet Li having to join forces with the White/Green Snakes to save him. Heck, this might mean they completely wrote out the evil Tortoise and whatever role he had in this story is taken by a kinder gentler… kick ass-ier Jet Li… somehow I wouldn’t be surprised. But we shall see.

Special Features? If you are a Jet Li fan you should like this. We have Behind The Scenes with Jet Li: Fighting, Stunts & Laughs. Behind the Scenes: Visual Effects and Production Design. Behind The Scenes of the Beauties and the Beasts (aka the White and Green Snake and their effects work… and any other beasts that are brought in to fight the two, like maybe the evil Tortoise… who was also schooling under the lake where the White Snake was, and was jealous that she ate all the boy vomit and saved non for him… dude! Order take out if your so damn jealous!). AXS TV: A Look at the Sorcerer and the White Snake Theatrical Trailer. So hey… decently packed extras on this DVD.

About 93 minutes, rated PG-13 for the kind of action and visual effects you expect from a movie like this. Dubbed in English and Mandarin Chinese in Dolby Digital 5.1, with subtitles in English, English SDH (hearing impared) and Spanish. Widescreen format (aka Theatrical format).

So that’s the specifics of the review we are digging into next month. Should be a good one, so I am looking forward to this one. As for White Snake 2020? It shipped yesterday… and I’m waiting for it to begin to make progress before I report more on its trip here. Stay tuned.